In today’s Christianity, we have unwittingly replaced Jesus Christ, the Son of David with our idols.
Yet Jesus said in John 16:13-14 said
13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.
He will glorify ME; He will glorify Jesus and Jesus alone.
Today as I look around, I see how much the focus has shifted from Christ Jesus to everything else but Him. Men of God, seminars, Prayer summits, conferences, worship leaders and our favourite songs have all taken pre-eminence.
Colossians 1:17-18
17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 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 may have the pre-eminence.
Scripture tells us that -
u He is before all things.
u In Him ALL Things CONSISTS.
u He is the head of the Church.
u That in ALL THINGS HE may have pre-eminence.
The choice of giving Him pre-eminence lies with us, unfortunately in the 21st century we have given pre-eminence to everything else but Him.
God sent His Holy Spirit not to glorify men but to glorify Christ and Christ
alone. ” That in all things He may have the pre-eminence”.
It is up to us to let Christ have the pre-eminence.
Paul puts it this way in the book of 1 Corinthians 2:1- 5.
And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Three important statements Paul made in this passage were
1. His determination not to know anything except Jesus Christ and Him Crucified- Paul had a great testimony, yet he was determined to preach only Christ and His crucifixion.
2. Paul had a choice to boast of his qualifications, yet he did not boast or display his knowledge of the scripture but to preach Christ in humility.
3. His speech was not to entice or draw people to himself but direct them to Christ.
THERE IS NO OTHER NAME
Acts 4:12
12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
No man is saved by music, it might attract them to Jesus Christ, but Christ is our salvation, He is the gospel of God. Just inviting people to hear your favourite preacher or to your Church is not the gospel, it is good to invite them, but we must always remember that it is to Jesus Christ we are inviting them and not to a denomination. The gospel is Christ Jesus.
Romans1:16
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
Today people come to the house of God, they leave unsatisfied and unfulfilled, still hungry for more, they go from one meeting to another, looking for more of God yet we continue to present them with another Christ. Paul' goes on to say this in
2 Corinthians 11: 3- 4.
3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the [a]simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!
As we are at the end of the year 2024, let us bring Jesus Christ back to the centre stage.
John 14: 6 Jesus puts it this way I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except by me.
This is why we must make Him the centre of everything we do, preach and teach not how good our church or our Pastor is. In 2025, we must let Christ take pre-eminence.
