In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of the blood of Jesus Christ in our lives. He explains that as fallen beings, we are not holy or blameless on our own, but through the control of the Holy Spirit, we can be reconciled to God. The preacher highlights the struggles that teenagers face with self-image and the need for Jesus to set them free from bondage. He also discusses how the scribes and Pharisees rejected Jesus, thinking that getting rid of him would solve their problems, but in reality, they needed to be freed from the Roman Empire. The preacher concludes by urging the listeners to make Christ the Lord of their lives and emphasizes that Christ should have preeminence in all aspects of life.

Well, it's good to be back with you again today on Eagle's Wings. Let me remind you that the scripture says, He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust. His true shall be thy shield and buckler. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. Well, how you doing in this life? Are you making it? Are you living by the grace of God? Are you dwelling under his wings? Are you letting the Lord Jesus Christ be all and in all you do? Christ is all you need. Is he all you want? You know, life's pretty hard. You've gone through some struggles this week that maybe you never did think you'd go through, but Christ is able to take you through them. I want to take a little time today to share with you about the Lord's relationship to the church. Before I do that though, I just wanted to fill you in on some things. I want you to be praying for the Gordon, Nebraska area. I've been up here most of this summer, been preparing for some meetings. I'm not going to be speaking in the meetings, as far as I know. The last meetings that went on in the Alliance, I went for 10 weeks with the Anders family. There were about six or seven preachers that ended up preaching through that period of time. But I'm up here praying, praying with the pastor of the church up there and preparing. I don't know when I'll be back down into our area, in the Joplin area, but I want you to be praying. These meetings start up the 9th, which if things go right on the recording, you should be getting the message about that time. Let me ask you a question. Is Christ the Lord of your life? You know, I've been looking at a passage in the book of Colossians, chapter 1, verse 18, and he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell, and heaven made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself. By him I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. Let's go back up to verse 18, that in all things he might have the preeminence. Christ is all you need in your life. He's all you need in your church. Is he all you want? That's been my question. You know, there are about four main areas of relation of Christ's relations to the church in this passage. Christ is the source of the church. The Lord Jesus said that I will build my church. Is he the source of your church? There have been churches started for various reasons. I know of churches that have been started because people wanted to be important. They wanted to do something and be seen by their friends and their peers and to be in control. Mainly, that's it. I believe they wanted to be in control. I know of a church where they've experienced God's blessing and working in revival and the main leaders have now pulled out because they all of a sudden couldn't be in control. Because of the cleansing of the Spirit of God in that church, the Holy Spirit was brought into the position where he was in control. This passage is very important. It's very important in us in our day when we need revival, and that's my burden is revival. Revival for our nation, revival for us personally. J. Vernon McGee said that this passage in the book of Colossians, this right here, may be the key to the whole book of Colossians. Remember, Ephesians was emphasizing the body. Colossians is emphasizing the head, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's to be the supreme head in the church. Remember I shared with you this story about when I was in Bible college, I had a preacher came and shared with us. His name was Dr. James Bohr, and he shared how the church had been struggling and going downhill and he was on his way to church and had a little neighbor girl riding in the back seat, and she was standing there in the back looking over and she just said, Dr. Bohr, are you the Lord of this church? And at that point the Spirit of God broke him and he said he had to pull off the side of the road. Tears were just flowing so much he couldn't see to drive as the Holy Spirit spoke to him about being the Lord of the church. The supreme goal of the Christian each day should be to do the Father's will. We don't need to be the Lord of the church. We don't need little church gods around. And many times we get all bent out of shape because circumstances don't go our way. He is to be preeminent in the church, not your ideas, not your feelings, not your choices or your ways. I wonder if the struggle that you're going through right now isn't the pastor or somebody else in the church, but it's you. Your own selfish will is in the way. I had one pastor tell me, and maybe I shared this with you, but that he hated a man, a deacon in his church. He just literally hated him. Maybe I told you this week, I can't remember, I've been sharing so much and going around so much, but I thought how can that pastor be free? Well, he wasn't free. He was bitter and he didn't realize it. My wife and I went out to supper with him and we wanted to minister to them and share with them. But the Holy Spirit will have to show him that. I've found that I can't go in and do that. The Spirit of God has to show you where you're at. The supreme goal should be for you to do the Father's will. The Lord Jesus said, My food is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. Is your strength in your life to do the will of the Father? Is he preeminent in your mornings? If he isn't, how will he be preeminent in your day? If we don't start off on our knees, humble before God, we'll start off in the flesh and we will be wanting to exalt ourselves. Christ is not only to be supreme in the church. He is to be sufficient for the church. Christ is all the church needs. Colossians 119, for it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. You know, we we sometimes don't apply the reality of Scripture. Christ is the very image of God. The disciples, they said, show us the Father and and he said, have I been so long time with you? Haven't you recognized that the Father is in me and I in the Father? We have not recognized that he is the fullness. All we need is Christ. There was one pastor that was going around in a hospital asking people to come to his church. He said, if you don't come, the board was going to stop his salary in six months if the church didn't grow. Christ wasn't the fullness of that church. Christ wasn't the fullness in that pastor's life. What is it? Jesus was 100% God. That's what that means by fullness. Thus, he's all we need in the church. 2nd Corinthians 5.4 says, our sufficiency is of God. I heard a story about a couple ladies that had went into a shopping mall and they came back out and they noticed that there's some men standing around near their car and they hurriedly unlocked it and jumped in and the car wouldn't start and these men were beginning to move up closer to the car and to them and and so they prayed Lord would you start this car and then they and and then they tried it again and it started and they drove off and They noticed as they drove off that the expression on those men's faces was just totally shocked they were just shocked and Later when they got home, they told their husbands what happened Their husbands went out and looked at the car and they said there's no battery This car couldn't couldn't have started Well, it did and you know what? so many times we think we need a battery when all we need is God and That's the way it is in your situation right now. You think you need something you don't need that. All you need is God So many times we got to have this we've got to have that when all you need is God Let me read you the passage again The Lord Jesus Christ It says and he's the head of the body the head turns the body He's the head of the body the church who is the beginning the firstborn from the dead that in all things he might Have the preeminence is he the head of your life of your very being of your desires You know it's It's dangerous to replace the Lord Jesus Christ with something else many times that becomes a God and We think That we know what's going on when many times we don't have the the clearest idea We don't have the foggiest idea of what's going on and we think that God's on our side when in reality God is Bringing to head those things in your life You know the Lord Jesus loves you enough to correct you if you're his if you belong to him and he loves you enough to to Correct you and allow some very strenuous things come into your life So that he can be the practical functioning head of your life and in your church There was one pastor and And again, I might have shared this with you He thought the problem was the Deacons and the Deacons thought he was the problem and so they are all going about seeking how they could get rid of each other and The problem really is Christ and Christ isn't the Lord of that church I've been in that church many many times and spoke there many many times and Christ has been slowly squeezed out You can go into a church and you can listen to the prayer meetings You can listen to the prayers and you can tell who's in charge of that church Is there a humble spirit of prayer and people that are needy you say we don't need anything Well, that's the problem. I know one church where they've got almost a hundred thousand dollars in their savings account and they're dying and and Same situation the pastor thinks the Deacons are the problems and the Deacon think the pastor's a problem and and on and on it goes Well, they they've got they've got it built up to where they can survive for quite a while Maybe not too much too very long on that much money But they've got their little savings account and they've fixed themselves up to where they're sufficient. They need to be broken not only is Christ to be the Supreme being in your life in your church and the sufficiency of the church He is to be the Savior of the church in Colossians 1 20 It says then heaven made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself By him I say whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. I think it's a sad thing When somebody can go into a church Maybe today even into your church and they will not hear that Christ died on the cross for their sins. They will not hear That he is all they need for salvation that he died to pay the price for their sin and that he offers that payment freely and all they need to do is repent and receive the Lord Jesus Christ Come to the point where they recognize that they are bankrupt spiritually You know, it says that he will reconcile all things God was since sinned against by us this human race has sinned against God and and as a result we ended up out of fellowship with him and then God devised a plan to Save us and he knew that this would happen But he devised a plan to save us and he paid the price to reconcile us that term reconcile God was satisfied with the payment of his own son Are you? Are you satisfied with what God did with you on the cross? So many struggle with with doubts about their salvation if you're struggling with that Then you're not satisfied with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ Jesus said it was finished when he offered himself as a ransom for you. It was finished all that was Necessary in your life from your salvation to your sanctification to you doing the will of God was finished at the cross It's like two little boys. They were playing with a toy and one of them broke the other little boys toy And he said don't worry about it because he noticed the the worried look on his friend's face and so The next day he came back and he had a new toy and he says I'm satisfied To the boy that broke it. He says I'm satisfied. I've got a new toy. Don't worry. Are you satisfied? I'm reconciled That's what he's saying God is satisfied with Jesus Christ and if Jesus Christ is Lord in your life He will be satisfied with your life and there'll be peace. There'll be joy The test of loyalty Chambers had in one of his little devotions He said and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God And he said it is only the loyal soul who believes that God engineers Circumstances. I know that I am continually dissatisfied with circumstances and unless I bring My mind to the point to seeing that God is the engineering engineer of circumstances I will not be satisfied and Christ will not be sanctified and Lord in my life and glorifying Chambers said we take such liberty with our circumstances We do not believe God engineers him and although we say we do We treat the things that happen as if they were engineered by men to be faithful in every circumstance Means that we have only one loyalty and that is to our Lord in our churches We have too many that are loyal to themself and if their ideas and their programs and their plans are upset or Spoken against they get all bent out of shape and he the Lord Jesus Christ is not preeminent in that life in that church when that goes on my friend We are in desperate need of revival Revival where God comes in and he works and he's the Lord of the church again We need God to suddenly break up our little kingdoms we need God to set up the circumstances that he wants and Chambers said the realization comes Suddenly God breaks up a particular set of circumstances and the realization comes that we have been disloyal to him by not Recognizing that he had ordered them We never saw what he was after and that particular thing will never be repeated all the days of our life God may do one unusual thing in your life Just to engineer it around to where he will be the Lord of your life or your church The test of loyalty will come at that point if we learn to worship God in the trying Circumstances and that let the peace of God rule in our hearts and be the umpire in our lives in all things My friend the power of God will work in your life Instead we have so much the form of godliness, but no power We have a form but there's nothing inside of there. There's no power in God in God's working in your life loyalty to Jesus Christ chamber said is the thing that we Stick at today We will be loyal to work to service to anything but do not ask us to be loyal to Jesus Christ many Christians are intensely impatient of Talking about loyalty to Jesus. Our Lord is dethroned more emphatically by Christian workers than by the world The problem isn't the world the problem isn't the sin in the government. The problem isn't the homosexuals or the abortionists the problem is Right here is Jesus the head of your life in the church and my friend you may be Sitting there or driving or whatever and listen to this and say what's going on in the Spirit of God is saying listen This is what's going on. I'm not the Lord of your life. And that's why your life is so messed up And this is why you're so miserable Can't you see it that you're the problem don't point at this preacher That's on the radio and you don't know what he looks like and you're saying that's a bunch of garbage Listen, the Lord Jesus Christ has the ability to bring you to the point to where you can be free Can't you see it when Jesus came and preached the scribes and the Pharisees? They didn't want him most of them were so mad at him. They their lives were upset and they were bitter They thought the problem around there was the Lord Jesus Christ and when they got rid of him on the cross So they thought their problems would be over and then things would go back to normal. Well, what was normal? Normal was slavery to the Roman Empire They needed to be freed and and God came down to set them free The Lord Jesus Christ said I came to set the captives free. He said I came to break the bonds in your life I came to open the prison doors to let you free and they didn't want him And God's been knocking at your door and you don't want him Behold I stand at the door knock He said if any man will hear my voice and open the door I will come in and we'll fellowship with him and he with me The evidence that you're free is that you have peace and joy in your life Is he preeminent in your life Let me talk to you a little bit about Christ and His relationship to you personally He's the believers reconciler Colossians 121 and you that were sometimes alienated in enemies in your mind By wicked works yet now had he had he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you Holy and unblameable and unreproachable in his sight. I've been thinking about this God is going to receive me as Holy unblameable and unreproachable in his sight. How can that be? We are fallen beings We're not holy in ourself. We're not unblameable and we're not unreproachable Unless the Spirit of God is controlling us. This is where the blood of Christ is sufficient to carry you my friend. I Want you to remember in verse 20 of Colossians 1 It says in heaven made peace through his through the blood of the cross by him to reconcile all things. It wasn't your good works Not by works of righteousness, which we've done. No, it's the blood of Jesus Christ So many of us have bad images the teens struggle so much in in you and I when we were teenagers We struggled it was hard. We had bad self images. We see ourselves as we think we are We think I'm fat or I'm ugly. My arms are too long. My legs are too long. I'm too tall or Whatever we see ourselves in In the wrong way so many times we need to see ourselves as God sees us He sees us as clean and pure through the blood of Jesus Christ And he wants us to come to the point to where our practical life. Is it is the same as our positional life with the Lord? Jesus Christ God sees us not as we are but he sees us as in Christ now that brings me to a important question Are you in Christ? I run into more and more people that are causing troubles and and that are Are a pain in the neck to so many people and the fact of the matter is they may Not be in Christ and this is why I believe so many are trying to control Churches that are in positions a lot. I believe are not in Christ. They are in themselves totally if you're in Christ You're going to let the Lord Jesus Christ be in you and live in you will you accept him as Your Savior and then accept him as the Lord of your life You don't have to push and bully your way around you think the problem at work is the boss No, the problem isn't the boss At work. The problem is, you know, you don't have the right boss in your heart in your life leading and guiding you Christ is All-you-need is he all you want Colossians 1 23 Says if you continue in the faith grounded and Settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you have heard and which was preached to every creature Which is under heaven whereof I Paul and made a minister if you continue in the faith that mean that if means that that something was If Something else is true In other words, he says you're going to continue if you're really saved you're going to continue in the faith So many do not continue Because they're not saved they so many change From this church and that church because they're not settled Unsettled people are very prone to change Now God can engineer things in your life to where where you're changing a lot, but so many are running there's a difference between led by being led by the Spirit of God to make your change and you're thinking about changing your job right now and Moving to another city or you're thinking about changing your church and going to another church Let me ask you to be very honest with yourself. Are you just trying to run? From your circumstances. Are you trying to run from God the main? Element of salvation after we receive Christ as our Savior is then that we will be grounded and settled and not Moved about by every wind of doctrine or every circumstance that comes up We will be secured where we will let God make the choices for us Hudson Taylor Taylor said God always gives his best to those who leave the choice to him Let him make the choices for you my friend We don't have the capacity in ourself to make right choices. God lead us to make the right choice choices Let God make you something for his glory quit trying to make yourself into something Paul said God has enabled me first Timothy 112. He's enabled me. He will enable you He let him be your inspiration The deeper your love for Jesus the deeper your death to yourself Colossians 124 says who we now rejoice Paul said who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ In my flesh for his body's sake which is the church Paul had come to the point where he could rejoice in his sufferings and he could let the Lord Jesus Christ Do whatever he wanted to do in his life the Lord Jesus Christ Was free in his life. Are you free? Are you free in the Lord Jesus Christ? So many are prisoners One of the things that's so predominant around and in lives is criticism and I believe that we have criticism in our life because we're not free a Lot of criticism stems because we don't have moral freedom We have an area in our life where we're not morally free and it doesn't matter who you are If you're not free in that area, you're gonna have a critical spirit somewhere Are you free? Are you Deeply in love with the Lord Jesus Christ Have you been brought to the brought to the point to where he is all you need and he's all you want Let him have his way with you Totally he's to be Preeminent in your life, you know We've been staying on the ranch cattle ranch and I got some chickens there and I've been doing a little work for my father-in-law Working on a barn and then Connected to that barn is the chicken yard and in that chicken yard. There's this cocky old rooster Thinks he's really something and I got to looking at him yesterday He's he's got a wound on his neck where I hit him with a stick. We've had a fight. He'll attack you He's a chicken though. He attacks from the rear You got to watch it, but he's so proud and I was noticing boy He just stretches himself up just as tall as he can get and you know I've I've been told that there's a pecking order among chickens first chicken in the pecking order dominates over all the others, you know and the second dominates all the other all the others except the first and the third dominates all the Others except the first two and so on and this ranking Continues all the way down to the last chicken. Of course, you wouldn't want to be the last chicken boy everybody can pick on you, but occasionally a low ranking chicken may challenge a higher ranking chicken to a fight and and Try to get a little higher order, but they say So I've heard that once the pecking orders established it rarely changes I wonder if there isn't an improper pecking order maybe in your life or in your church and Everybody's got their position and and they're fighting for their position When the whole problem is is is that the Lord Jesus Christ? Isn't first You know if he's the Lord of a church or your life or your home then everything is going to be working in harmony in peace and that's one of the things we've learned in the revival work that we do is that a church must be brought brought to the point where there's unity and Peace where there's a harmonic working of the Spirit of God And that balance is delicate and it's easily lost even after you get it you can lose it Is the Lord Jesus Christ? in your life in Reality in power and in peace Well until next time I trust that God will bless you real good my friend