Exploring the Infinite Reign and Peace of Christ as the Alpha and Omega

Hello friend and welcome to the" Chaplin's Cornernet. This is Chaplin Terry Warner. I'm going to stop the music for a few moments so you can grab a pen and some paper for your foundation scriptures. If you can't get onto a computer because you are driving or at work, when you can get online, you will find my podcast and articles at the Chaplin's Cornernet. Starting at the beginning of the podcast, I will give you the season number and episode number. Thank you so much for listening. My podcasts come out every Monday morning. And now let's get going. Hello friend, chaplin Terry Warner here. This title is Alpha and Omega. It is season 4, episode 6, S4E6. It will publish on February 5, 2024. Your foundation scriptures are Revelation 1, verse 8, Colossians, chapter 1, the Thompson NIV Study Bible 1990 edition and Halley's Bible Handbook 2000 edition. Let's get going. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come. The Almighty Revelation 1:8. Number 2. The Alpha means first, not just first like the number first, but first in all creation, first in everything. Number 3. He is also the last as in being to see the complete beginning. The complete beginning, middle and ending of all things. Number 4. He is also the first born, not only in man, which is included, but first in all creation, and the author and finisher of everything, even our faith. Number 5. He is truly God in every sense, which is also beyond our comprehension. I just get excited just thinking and talking about this. If you haven't figured out who he is, I'm talking about Jesus Christ, number 6. He is the first born over all creation. This does not mean he was created, but rather that he is heir to the created universe, even as the first born in the Old Testament was heir to the family land. Colossians 1:15. Number 7. Thrones, powers, rulers, authority. Colossians 1:16. Ephesians 16:12 says, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of a dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil. In the heavenly realms, in the unseen world, there are numerous varieties of persons and governments of which our visible world is a tiny counterpart, and that Christ's death not only made possible humanity's redemption but the means of restoring the broken harmony of the whole vast universe. Everything he is before all things. That's in verse 17. In him all things hold together Verse 17. I'm talking Colossians 1, and I'm just giving you the verses number Head of the church, verse 18. The beginning, verse 18. The firstborn from the dead, verse 18. In him, all fullness dwells verse 19. Through him, all things are reconciled verse 20. Christ in you is the hope of glory verse 27. Let me back up to the one before this. Through him, all things are reconciled verse 20. God has reconciled this world to himself through Jesus Christ. Let me get back up here. In him, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, in him, all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form. In him you have been given fullness, brought to perfection. Quit striving to enter into his rest. You entered into his rest when you accepted him as God. He'll tell you what to do, when to do it. He will guide you and teach you into all things. You don't have to work at this. All you have to do is be obedient. We always want to go and organize and do everything. I don't know how many times I've told God how to do it and what to do it, and lay it out and plan it out, and He just quietly sits there. He doesn't say anything. He doesn't want it. When it finally dawns on me that I'm not getting any directions, it's because I'm interfering with everything. I need to sit quiet and just be content to wait for the Holy Spirit to show me, tell me and guide me in what I need to do the head over every power and authority. Colossians 2:10. I think about the times I've been sick and I read that Colossians 2:10 there and I could have taken authority over that and drove that sickness out of my body and instead I put up with it. This happens every year at this time. I get the flu, I get this, I get that. I got stomach poisoning, I got food poisoning, I got this kind of. I'm over all that and so many times I wish I had taken authority and used my power and authority that Christ has given me, that I have to rule and control that and get that out of my body. Well, it's not too late to start right now. It's never too late to succeed. Stop and think and visualize the attributes we had just covered Colossians 1:13. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. We're getting it. It's not that we're attaining it. When we accepted Christ, we got it. We were born again, and we were born again complete, not sort of born again. Let us look at 2 Corinthians 17:21. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is the new creation. The old has gone, the new has come. All this is from God, who reconciled himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. God reconciled the world through Christ, and now Christ has given it all to us. We're reconciled, we're in right standing, we have balanced the books as far as God is concerned Verse 19. That God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them, and he has committed to us the message of reconciliation, verse 20. We are therefore ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. God made him, who knew had no sin, to be sinned for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Where did Jesus get that sin that he could be made sin with? It's our sins, it's our redemption. He has redeemed us, brought us back, restored us to our former glory. Oh, friends, we could just grab hold of that. Christ, in you is the hope of glory, Colossians 1:27. To them, the Saints, the believers God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery which is Christ. In you, the hope of glory. It goes on to say that the hope of glory is the fulfillment of God's promise to restore us in all creation. This hope is not a wishful thought, but the confident, expectant, joyful knowledge that we are being changed by God and one day we will see Christ face to face, having been conformed to his image. And him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 1 Corinthians 1:30-31. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God. That is our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore as it is written that him who boast, boasts in the Lord Jesus, is made into me wisdom. Righteousness Isn't that neat, isn't that neat? He's my righteousness, he's my holiness, he's my redemption. For in Christ all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form. And you have been given the fullness in Christ. We've been given the body, we reside in the body of Christ. Our head is Jesus Christ. We are the body, who is the head I'll pick up. And you've been given fullness in Christ. He is the head over every person, every power and authority. In him, you have been given fullness, brought to perfection, see verse 10, that's what we just read Suffering for the church. Colossians 1, 24 through 29,. Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you and I fill up in my flesh or senses what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions. For the sake of the body which is the church, I have become its servant by the commission. God gave me to present to you the Word of God in its fullness, the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations but is now disclosed to the saints. To them, God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of the mystery which is in Christ, in you, the hope of glory. The suffering for the church does not mean that the suffering of Christ is insufficient for our salvation, but rather the church as a whole cannot arrive at perfection until it has gone through suffering. Paul was anxious to bear his share of the suffering, see 1 Peter 4. I have given you these points and comments as I was led by the Holy Spirit. If I repeat myself or seem to jump around, it was because the Holy Spirit thought the topic needed repeating or clarification. In summary, the essence of Paul's message to us today through the letter to the Colossians is this Christ is the head of the universe. We approach Him directly, not through intermediaries, not even through angels. Christ Himself, not this or that philosophy or this or that set of rules, is our wisdom, our life, our hope of glory. Being a Christian essentially is loving Him and living in and through Him. A person of a glorious, divine person, through whom the universe was created and in whom is full sufficiency for mankind's redemption and eternal perfection. You are made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. You have a blessed and victorious day in Jesus' name, amen. This has been Chaplain Terry Warner. My podcasts come out every Monday morning. When you go to my podcast website, there will be a drop down menu for my website. It signs up for my newsletter. You will be able to privately email me with your questions and comments. You will be lifted up in prayer every day. Your information will never be sold or given out. Please like, share and follow me on social media. Thank you so much for listening to my podcast. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace in Jesus' name Amen.