Michael Koulianos emphasizes the unparalleled majesty of Jesus, asserting that true fulfillment comes from living in His presence. He encourages believers to cultivate a deep intimacy with God through prayer and worship, highlighting that knowledge of Scripture is essential for a victorious Christian life. Koulianos shares personal experiences of God's power and compassion, illustrating the importance of relying on the Holy Spirit for strength and healing. He stresses that Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God, the source of all blessings, and the reason for our worship. The sermon calls for a renewed focus on Jesus, urging the church to embrace joy and intimacy with Him.

If we have His presence, we have everything. If we don't have His presence, we can seem to have everything and have nothing. And I want to say there is a way to consistently live in the presence of God, consistently. Paul said, pray unceasingly. That seems to be a tall order, but it is possible by the Spirit. There is a way to allure the Lord with our worship. And over the next few months, especially at the inception of these Sunday morning services, I'm going to teach the nuts and bolts, the fundamentals of being a true Jesus people, what it looks like to be a follower of Jesus, what it truly means. Like, you should be able to quote John 1 before you're able to quote your favorite prophet's monthly word. But sadly, we can't. We should know more about the Beatitudes than what somebody released prophetically. Not that that's wrong, but the Jesus people need to know about Jesus according to the words of Jesus. I, as you know, I grew up playing golf. I'm still playing golf. Still believe in the days coming where I'll put on a green jacket. Or at least have Jesse buy me one, and I can put that thing on just to feel better. What an ecstasy that would be. But a great teacher or a great coach tells you what he's going to say. He tells you what he's saying, and then he tells you what he said. Let me say that again. A great teacher tells you what he's about to say, or what she is about to say. Then they tell you, and then they tell you what they said. It could be Tiger Woods or a five-year-old kid. Any good coach is going to check their grip, posture, ball position, and alignment. It doesn't matter if you won the Masters or the Orlando City Championship in the eight-year-old division. A great coach is going to check the same stuff every time. And the Christian life is much that way. If you learn to love the Scriptures, if you learn to spend time in prayer, if you learn to enter the presence of God with the people, if you learn the nuts and bolts of the Word of God, you will live a victorious Christian life. Amen. In our school context, we've discovered that when stuff goes wrong, our first question is, are you spending time with Jesus? Ninety-nine percent of the time, if it's a moral failure, whatever it might be, whatever they're struggling with, 99% of the time there is a deficiency in intimacy with God. Power, listen carefully, power is needed. We call that the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the power of the Holy Spirit. It is absolutely needed. It requires power to get a tumor out of somebody's body. I'll never forget preaching for my dad. He used to have these meetings at Hampton Inn in Clearwater, Florida back in 2008 or 2009, I don't remember. But I was preaching, and a family from Nashville drove down that night. They heard I was going to be there. They must have been like one of the eight people who had actually heard of us at the time. And they came down with a little three-year-old, literally put the three-year-old in my chest and said, we have no hope. There is a grapefruit-sized tumor growing on this little three-year-old's brain. Please help us. The doctors have given up. Well, that's a big deal. Even if it's not your child, that's a big deal. It should move us. You know, the Bible says Jesus was moved with compassion, and that movement caused Him to heal the sick. I started weeping over that little baby, and I heard the voice of the Holy Spirit so clearly. This is what He said, I'm so glad you're weeping. I'm glad this moves you. It needs to. But now I need you to do your job. Ask me to get this tumor off this baby. I could feel that aspect of the Lord's personality being revealed to me in a second. It was like I was experiencing the weeping, compassionate man of Galilee and instantly the Lion of the tribe of Judah in a second. He said, do your job. Get that thing off him. And so I said, Lord, I thank You for Your power. We rebuke this tumor. Nothing happened until they got in the car to drive back to Nashville. And that tumor started shrinking right before them on their drive up back to Nashville that night. Yeah, you give the Lord praise. We need power. Of course, of course, we need the power of the Holy Spirit. But we are not built up for longevity by the gifts of the Spirit. We need them. But a people are not built together with power outflow. We are built in the presence of God and in the Scriptures. So this church family is going to experience a slow drip, a slow drip. But you're going to have to trust me. You will be built up in the faith, built up in the faith. My goal is not me. I do want you to leave happy. Why not? What's the alternative? So being sad is really not fun. It's overrated. So if I had a choice, I want you to leave happy and uplifted. And the joy of the Lord is a real thing. We need it. The church is too sad right now. Jesus is on the throne. You cannot elect Him. You cannot impeach Jesus. He is there. He's just there. The church should be happy. You don't get a vote. We don't get a vote. We didn't vote Him in. So the church should be happy that they serve another King, one named Jesus. All right. So I want you to leave that way, full of the joy of the Holy Spirit. But beyond that, that's not my only goal for you. On the day you meet Jesus, I want you to love Him more than you do now. I want your marriages to be Jesus glorifying marriages. I want your children to serve the Lord. Why did we believe the lie that any people involved in ministry are going to have backslidden kids? No, just ground them. It does work. No, I want you to end burning. I think one of the most provoking lessons I learned coming up in the ministry in my early days, specifically when I was helping my father-in-law, I would meet all of these wonderful champions, and many of them would pull me aside and tell me about the old days. And they weren't just telling me about great miracles. Some would even talk about how much they loved Jesus when they started. One even said publicly, I used to love Jesus. There was a man carrying the cross. He's still carrying the cross around the world. I think right now he's somewhere, I think, in Paraguay. He's a dear friend, and he carries the cross all over the world. And he was speaking at an event, and a great man of God was there. And he took the mic, and he said, I used to love Jesus like Him, and then I just became a Christian executive businessman. There's nothing wrong with that. He's talking about as a preacher. He went from being a fiery, Jesus-loving preacher to just running an organization as an executive. Those comments marked me. And so I made it a personal quest. I've got to love you more when I end than when I begin. I have to. I have to. I have to. It's not in the nature of God to shrink aflame. Our God is a consuming fire. Are you following me? So we're going to walk together in this way. You know, for those of you who were ever on a sports team, nobody liked running wind sprints at the end of practice. They seemed like a waste of time until you're in game seven of a state final, and you're happy you're not worn out because you've put in the preparation. Such is the spiritual life. Such is the spiritual life. We want to be strong in the Lord, mighty in the Lord. The Bible says that God is searching the earth, looking for someone to show himself strong in. Then he goes on to say whose hearts are loyal to him. If there's ever been an hour where God is looking for loyal Christians, it is now. There's a great line of demarcation going straight through the middle of the church. And what it's doing is separating attendees from the real church. See, you can grow in attendance and not grow the church. Jeremy Riddle said something two days ago that I thought was perfect. I was shocked to see that there would be any room to disagree. He talked about worship, and worship being about Jesus, not about the charts and the ratings. Amen. It's very simple. If the win is the Lord, you win. Period. The Scriptures the Scriptures actually tell us what it means to win at worship. According to the Scriptures, which is the Word of God, say amen. According to the Scriptures, there was only one way to know that God accepted the worship. He came in fire. Period. If he didn't like it, he didn't show up. If he didn't like it, he came. So nowhere on the list is how many views, how many likes, how many downloads, how many streams. None of that. This is how you knew that God accepted the sacrifice on the altar. He came. He came. And his presence among us is measurable. It is known. Lives change in the presence of God. The prideful become soft in the presence of God. The judgmental become merciful in the presence of God. They become understanding in the light of Jesus. Rifts and families are healed in the presence of God. Once you're around Jesus, you realize, oh, I'm about ten minutes of horrible thinking away from being just like the person I'm judging. The Scripture says that it's in light that we see light. Think of that. In other words, unless Jesus is in the room, you don't know he's there. What that means is this. You need him just to see him. That's how desperate we are for the Lord. It's only in his light that I can see light. He's the diagnostic and the surgery. He's the x-ray and the one who's got the scalpel in his hand. We need him to know what we need to give him. And then we need him to fix what we need to give him. That is the language of holy desperation. So, we're going to walk with Jesus consistently, beautifully, I pray faithfully, lovingly, and full of fire. I said, and full of fire. So, we're going to build properly. You know, the Bible doesn't say what a man thinks in his heart, thinks in his heart determines who he is. The Scripture says, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. In other words, you can think the right stuff, but if you think it out of order, it changes the game. If you think the right things in the right order, so you are. So, it's important we build in the right order. And today, I want to talk to you for the next 20 minutes about the majesty of Jesus. We may not recover, and I just want to tell you off the bat, this could be a 12-year series. This is part one of a 400-part series called The Majesty of Jesus. Please elbow the person next to you in the most loving way. Colossians 1, 13-18. If you're ready, say yes. He has delivered us from the power of darkness. Hallelujah is right. Somebody got it. Hallelujah. If you're going to hallelujah after every sentence, we're going to get stuck in these teachings forever, but I love it, so please do. Whatever you do, don't just stare at me. He has delivered us from the power of darkness. I'll say it again. Hallelujah. And conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. You should say hallelujah again. In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. All right, all right. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him, and He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have preeminence. My Lord, I feel the anointing of God so strong. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Jesus is the firstfruits from the dead. Now, we are working our way into Holy Week and then Easter, and I'll be teaching on on different platforms here, Sunday night, and then on different media platforms, on the passion of Jesus, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. It's going to be an amazing journey together. Jesus is the first to break the ground open on His own. Notice Elijah, Elisha, Moses, nobody was sent to the tomb to get Jesus up. I'm currently writing a book on the resurrection. The resurrection was a declaration of the perfection of Jesus. In other words, if that cave holds Him, if His body sees corruption, He is not who He said He is. But because He comes out of the ground, He's the firstborn over all creation. And look down at the Scriptures here, for by Him all things were created that are in heaven and on earth. So Jesus made everything. The Father, listen carefully, remember, write this down if you're taking notes, and you're probably going to want to get a notepad and a Bible. And if you don't have a Bible, John Reed will buy you one. We'll get you one. Does that sound better, John? Just get him one? Okay. Everything God does, He does as Trinity. He is one God, three in one, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Within that Trinity relationship, the Father wills everything. Jesus administrates it as the faithful Son who lays His life down from eternity past. He's always the one who says, not my will but thine be done. The Holy Spirit is the power, the person who accomplishes everything the Father is willing that Jesus is administrating. The Holy Spirit accomplishes it all. Here we see that Jesus is creator and has created everything in heaven and on earth. Think about that. Everything seen and unseen, visible and invisible, whether thrones, dominions, or principalities. Please be more into Jesus than angels. Please. I love the passage that says, He makes them flames of fire. Why is that? Because when they pass by, they catch fire. He maketh them flames of fire. When they get near Him, they're lit up with His glory like a moth. Here we find that Jesus has created everything, whether thrones, dominions, principalities, or powers. Look, all things were created through Him. That's that second person of a Godhead. And for Him. Wait, listen. Niagara, as beautiful as it is, as amazing as it sounds. I've been, by the way, and when I heard the falls, I thought, now I understand what you meant in the Scriptures when the Scriptures say His voice is as many waters. I could just think of the Lord's voice with that nature. You get near Niagara Falls and the sound goes through you and in you. It's amazing. But Niagara is beautiful, and the Lord loves it when we enjoy His creation. But it wasn't created primarily for us. The falls were created for Jesus. But why? Because He likes them. So He created them. He's before everything. Listen to this. He is before all things, and to take it a step further, all things are in Him. He's before them. He created them, visible and invisible, and to mess us up just a little more. The Scripture now tells us all things consist in Him. That means the air owes its existence to Jesus. And He is the head of the body. In other words, Jesus is in charge. The church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have preeminence. The primary role of the church is to host Jesus in such a way that it declares His preeminence to all who come in contact with her. And of course He has preeminence because He's before everything. So John the Baptist says about Jesus, He is preferred above me or before me because He was before me. Side note, I find it very interesting that John is looking out over Israel, the nation of Israel, on the shores of the Jordan, and he says this about Jesus, There is one who stands among you, whose sandal strap I'm not worthy to lose. Think about that. He's saying, I know He's standing in this crowd. I know He's out there. I can feel Him. I just haven't seen Him yet. But I know He's there. You see, the church wants visions and dreams before it's willing to steward His presence. But John was so aware, he said, I know this feeling. I first felt it when I leapt in my mother's womb, when He came near in the womb of a little virgin named Mary. Once He comes around, you never forget it. Hebrews 1, verse 14. You're about to drink from a water hose, a fire hose. Hebrews 1. We're going to begin in verse 1 and read through 14. God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son. Let's stop there. God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us in or by His Son. Let me say it this way. Can I come down, media team? Am I allowed? Okay. Okay. The scripture here is saying that the Lord spoke to the fathers, the fathers of Israel, through the prophets. That makes sense. Each generation, fathers emerged, they heard the message of God through the prophets, through Isaiah, Jeremiah, all of the prophets, Ezekiel, Daniel. They were the agents by which God spoke to the nation. To get to God, you had to get to Israel in those days. To hear His message, you had to get to His covenant people. All right. But the writer to Hebrews here says, which most believe is Paul, he says this, in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son. Two things I want to touch on. Number one, the Father has one sermon. It is Jesus. A scattered soul comes to the Father and says, tell me all of the stuff I need to know and the stuff I need to do. A Bethany heart comes to the Father and says, speak, Son, to me. Just give me Jesus. Because after reading Colossians 1, I have discovered when I get Jesus, I get it all. So I begin reaching and grabbing and I want this and that and where to go, what to do, this anointing, that breakthrough, and I'm just reaching, reaching, reaching, reaching, and I've disconnected what is of God from God. So I'm more into the prophetic than the chief prophet. I'm more into evangelism than the great evangelist arising within me. It's a big deal and you can go this route. I've seen people get so into souls that they forget the lover of their soul and they stop winning souls because they become a powerless harvester. And God has to let them go that route so they can discover their own bankruptcy so they can fall in love again and then He empowers them to win the lost. Jesus is a much better evangelist than I am. If Jesus is all things, you stop looking elsewhere. All right, write this down now. This is simple. This is simpler math than my children are studying and I can tell you I don't even get their math. My son Theo said to me the other day, am I going to use this stuff in life? When I looked at it, I go, no, you're definitely not. You're probably not unless you build a space shuttle. He said, at what point am I going to use this? And I go, probably never. He said, then why am I doing it? I go, I don't know. Pray for America. I have no idea. I don't know why you're doing it. Simple math. You cannot possess more than everything. You cannot possess more than everything. There's another way of saying it. It is impossible to have more than all. He is all. He is all. So Jesus is the X on the treasure map we call life. In fact, he's the whole map. I heard people say, why would I want to keep Jesus as the center? I said, good luck, buddy, because he fills the whole thing. You can't keep him as the center. Then who's on the edge? Who fired him? Who removed him? Who actually removed a portion of his expansive nature? And I understand what we're saying. I want to keep Jesus as the center. No, no, no. He's not okay with being the center. He actually cares about the corners. He wants the whole field. And he is the whole field. Why am I talking like this? Because when you begin to see him according to the scriptures, you cannot help but worship him. Your ability to worship is directly related to your ability to see him in the word. When you teach Jesus from the scriptures, worship naturally erupts. We never once started this movement saying, we need to have a worship movement because it seems cool, and a lot of people have one. We began to behold him, and it was just right to worship him. All right. In various times, in times past, God spoke to the fathers by the prophets. In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son. Another way to say that is this. He has spoken Son unto us. All right. Write this down. Jesus is the Father's only and final sermon. Jesus is the Father's final and only declaration to humanity. He is never going to say anything else. Never. Now, if you think He's got something else up His sleeve, you've never seen Jesus. This is what I can promise you. If Jesus walked in to this building on the platform, hopefully none of us would say, who else did you bring with you? Would anybody here go, we're glad you're here, but move to the side. Did you bring any goodies with you? Would any of you look for a manual in His hand? Or a dry erase board? Do you think Jesus would roll in with a dry erase board? Give me five more minutes. Ephesians 1.3, blessed be the God and Father, listen to this, of our Lord Jesus Christ, this is Ephesians 1.3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. We all grew up hearing this. I'm just not sure we all got it. You can't get it outside the Spirit. We all grew up hearing this phrase, Jesus is all I need. Nothing could be more true. Nothing could be more biblical. Jesus is all we need. Somebody came here once to our school, who I love, and said, hey guys, Jesus isn't all you need. And you would have thought it was war in our students. Like they got their brave heart pain out, grabbed their axe, and they're like, we love you, but you're going to die behind that pulpit. You just said the wrong thing at this school. Man, the emails blew up. They weren't confused at all. In that regard, they were just like, we love you, but you're wrong. You can say that somewhere, but if you say that at Jesus school, just get the gloves out. Of course, He's all you need. He's all things. Every blessing, every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places is found in Jesus. Ephesians 1, 17, verse 23, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Say, yes, Lord, I receive that. Say it again. Yes, Lord, I receive the spirit. Say it. The spirit of wisdom and revelation. Say, I receive the spirit of wisdom and revelation. In the knowledge of Him. So what does the spirit of wisdom and revelation come to do? Give you a knowledge of Jesus. That the eyes of our understanding, being enlightened, that we may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His mighty power, that is the person of the Holy Spirit, which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at the right hand in heavenly places. Listen to this. Far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, as though He needs to say more, not only in this age, but now we're talking about eternity, the age to come, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. I'm going to leave you with these two verses. I pray the Lord stabs you in the heart and then I'm walking off the platform to let you bleed for a week. And I pray it's a holy wounding. We need the lance of the Lord to get in and cut us open. Listen to this. Listen to this. Isaiah 44, 6, this is going to sound very, very familiar to you. If you're wondering or possibly questioning the majesty of Jesus, Isaiah 44, 6, thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and His Redeemer, the Lord of hosts. By the way, the Redeemer is the Lord of hosts as well. I am the first and I am the last. Beside me, the Redeemer, there is no God. I am the first and I am the last. That sounds familiar, Revelation 1.8. I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord. If you're wondering if He's bound by time, just listen to this next phrase, who is, who was, and who is to come. That leaves you with nothing, by the way. If you were, you are and are to come. There's nothing left. And to close it off, just so we bleed a little more profusely this week, I am the Almighty. I have all power. I am all in all. I dwell everywhere. Everything dwells in me. I am above it. I am beneath it. I created it. I am before it. I am during it. I will be after it. And I am Almighty. That, my friends, is why we worship.