Better | Part 1: Jesus Is Greater | Chris Vaught

Sing with me. ♪ And we've come for a move of God ♪ ♪ We've come for the only one all we want ♪ ♪ All we hunger for is you ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ We've come with expecting hearts undone ♪ ♪ Knowing you, you are the only one ♪ ♪ For what only you can do ♪ ♪ The Holy Spirit come like fire on the altar ♪ ♪ Fresh wind blowing through ♪ ♪ We're gonna stay 'til we count on you ♪ ♪ Make us an offering ♪ ♪ Make us an offer ♪ ♪ We're gonna stay 'til we count on you ♪ ♪ 'til we count on you ♪ ♪ Just a spring 'til our eyes hold down ♪ ♪ We're repentant ♪ ♪ This is still your house, yeah, you man it ♪ ♪ When you said you'd pour your spirit out ♪ ♪ So easy, Holy Spirit come like fire on the altar ♪ ♪ Fresh wind blowing through ♪ ♪ We're gonna stay 'til we count on you ♪ ♪ Make us an offering ♪ ♪ Make us an offer ♪ ♪ We're gonna stay 'til we count on you ♪ ♪ 'til we count on you ♪ ♪ 'til we count on you ♪ ♪ Man, sing with us this morning ♪ ♪ We need a move of God ♪ ♪ We need a move of God ♪

♪ We need a move of God, hey, hey ♪ ♪ We need a move of God ♪ ♪ We'll hum, we'll dance ♪ ♪ Lord, open the heaven ♪ ♪ We need a move of God in this city ♪ ♪ We need a move of God in this church ♪ ♪ We need a move of God ♪ ♪ We'll hum, we'll dance ♪ ♪ Lord, open the heaven ♪ ♪ We need a move of God in our family ♪ ♪ We need a move of God in our hearts ♪ ♪ We need a move of God ♪ ♪ We'll hum, we'll dance ♪ ♪ Lord, open the heaven ♪ ♪ Fire on the altar ♪ ♪ Freshman blowing through ♪ ♪ We're gonna stay here ♪ ♪ Until we counter you ♪ ♪ Make us an offering ♪ ♪ Make us an offering ♪ ♪ We're gonna stay here ♪ ♪ Until we counter you ♪ ♪ Fire on the altar ♪ ♪ Freshman blowing through ♪ ♪ We're gonna stay here ♪ ♪ Until we counter you ♪ ♪ Make us an offering ♪ ♪ Make us an offer ♪ ♪ We're gonna stay here ♪ ♪ Until we counter you ♪

♪ We need a move of God ♪ ♪ We need a move of God in our hands ♪ ♪ We need a move of God in our hearts ♪ ♪ We'll dance ♪ ♪ Lord open the hand ♪ ♪ We need a move of God ♪ ♪ We need a move of God in our hands ♪ ♪ Sing that out ♪ ♪ We need a move of God in our hands ♪ ♪ We'll dance ♪ ♪ Lord open the heaven ♪ ♪ We need a move of God ♪ ♪ Sing it out this morning ♪ ♪ We need a move of God ♪ ♪ We need a move of God in our hands ♪ ♪ We'll dance ♪ ♪ Lord open the heaven ♪ We lift our hands to the heavens We're here for you We reach for the hem of your garment We know what it can do We know what it can do We refuse to go through the motions When the king is in the room He's out of our devotion Let it build a throne for you Let it build a throne for you Let everything that has grace, grace, grace Let everything that has grace, grace Let everything that has grace, grace, grace We praise the Lord We've come to pour out all young To wash our Savior's feet Every drop from every bottle Can't compare to your glory We refuse to bring enough ring That doesn't cost us anything 'Cause you're worth everything Let everything that has

grace, grace, grace Let everything that has grace, grace, grace Let everything that has grace In a new song to Lord Let our praises roar, praise, grace We praise the Lord We praise the Lord If He's kneeling in reverence Or He's dancing with joy We'll sing songs never empty We love to bring you praise If His face down me for you Or a victory show With our hands raised to heaven We love to bring you praise You're the God of salvation And you're the great I am You're the Alma Mater We love to bring you praise, praise, praise Let everything that has grace, grace, grace Let everything that has grace, grace, grace Let everything that has grace In a new song to Lord Let our praises roar, praise, grace We praise the Lord We praise the Lord Amen, amen, we are so thankful to worship with you here this morning Whether you're in-house or watching us online, we are so thankful that you are here We especially want to welcome those of you who are new here with us And if that's you and you want to learn more about who we are here at CPC Please scan the QR code or text guest to 573-340-4037 Or use the tab on the back of your chairs We just want to get to know you And allow you to get to know who we are here as a CPC family We are a church that believes in the power of prayer So as you continue in our worship this morning Our prayer workers are going to come up And if you need prayer for any reason Please feel free to come up and be prayed over today Because we believe in a God who heals, saves, and delivers. Amen. (upbeat music)

♪ We're frozen generations ♪ ♪ Falling down and worship ♪ ♪ Sing a song of angels to the east ♪ ♪ All have gone before us ♪ ♪ And all who will believe ♪ ♪ Sing a song of angels to the east ♪ ♪ Your name is the highest ♪ ♪ Your name is the greatest ♪ ♪ Your name stands above the mall ♪ ♪ All throws and demands all paths ♪ ♪ And positions your name stands above the mall ♪ ♪ And the angels cry ♪ ♪ Falling all creation cries ♪ ♪ Holy, you were lifted high ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ If you've been forgiven ♪ ♪ If you've been redeemed ♪ ♪ Sing a song forever to the east ♪ ♪ And if you walk in freedom ♪ ♪ And if you bear his name ♪ ♪ Sing a song forever to them ♪ ♪ Holding a song forever and demon ♪ ♪ And the angels cry ♪ ♪ Holy, all creation cries ♪ ♪ Holy, you were lifted high ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ Here people sing ♪ ♪ Holy to the King of Kings ♪ ♪ Holy, you will always be ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪

♪ Your name is the highest ♪ ♪ Your name is the greatest ♪ ♪ Your name stands above the mall ♪ ♪ All throws and dominions ♪ ♪ All paths and positions ♪ ♪ Your name stands above the mall ♪ ♪ Jesus, Your name is the highest ♪ ♪ Your name is the greatest ♪ ♪ Your name stands above the mall ♪ ♪ And all throws and dominions ♪ ♪ All paths and positions ♪ ♪ Your name stands above the mall ♪ ♪ And angels cry ♪ ♪ Holy, all creation cries ♪ ♪ Holy, you were lifted high ♪ ♪ Holy, you're holy forever ♪ ♪ Here people sing ♪ ♪ Holy to the King of Kings ♪ ♪ Holy, you will always be ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ You will always be ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He's the first board of all creation. By him all things were created in heaven, and on earth visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through him and for him. He's before all things, and in him all things hold together. In him all things hold together.

Jesus is worthy, y'all. He is worthy of our praise. He's worthy of our praise in the sanctuary. He's worthy of our praise when we're at our workplace. He's worthy of our praise when we're in the car. He's worthy of our praise when we're at home. He's worthy of our praise when we're going through hard things. He's worthy of our praise when we're filled with fear and anxiety. He is worthy of our praise. And when we choose to praise him, he fills us up with a peace that surpasses understanding and a joy that is not based on our circumstances. He is worthy. So let's give him praise. Father, thank you so much for allowing us to be here today. Lord, thank you for allowing us to enter into worship. God, we pray that our lives would be filled with worship day in and day out, for our good and for your glory. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen, y'all. So glad that you're here. Welcome, my name is Jeremy. I am the young adults pastor here at CPC. Yesterday, Haley and I got to go to our first CMO football game, and it was a blast, especially because we won. Go Red Hawks. If you are a CMO student, I would love to meet you. My wife and I both would love to meet you. We're out in the lobby, and we have a gift for you. If you show us your CMO ID card,

we'll give you a gift card to the cafe. And so we just want to be able to shake hands with you and introduce ourselves. So I would love to be able to do that. I was told to make this announcement. If you were one of the ones that registered for the make room, your T-shirts are in. And so don't leave church day without your T-shirt. It will be in the lobby outside the other side of those doors. So make sure that you get your T-shirt. Here at CPC, we believe that everybody has a next step. And so if you're looking for your next step and how to get involved here, we would love for you to go to your CPC.church/events. Get registered for starting points. That's the baseline. That's where we start this journey of growing closer to God through our work here at CPC. We would love to take some time to worship the Lord with our giving. Giving is an amazing way to be able to trust God and to see Him move in your life. And here at CPC, you guys are so generous. In November, we're going to try and feed as many people as we can. We have a goal of feeding over 1,400 people in four or five counties. Isn't that amazing? And the only reason that we're able to do that is because of people like you who

are willing to trust God with your finances and be a part of partnering with us and advancing God's kingdom. So thank you for that. Let's go ahead and pray for our offering, and then we'll continue with our service. Father God, thank you so much for providing for us and meeting our needs. Lord, we worship you. You're the Lord of our life, and you're the Lord of our finances. And we pray that every dollar that is given today would go to advancing the gospel, that the hope of Jesus would be given with the dollars that we provide here. We love you, Lord, and we praise you. We ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, how many's glad to be in church today? Come on, excited about Jesus. And just think about what we've been singing about this morning. How many are desperate for a move of God? In your life, in your family? How about in our church, our community, our world? I mean, oh, we need to be desperate for a move of God. Amen. And everything that has breath, praise the Lord. I mean, oh, he's worthy of our praise

because he is holy forever, amen? It's been good to be worshiped in the Lord with you this morning through song or giving or serving. But hey, I wanted to give you a little more reason to give him praise this morning. Last weekend was baptism Sunday. 70 baptisms, 34 decisions to follow Christ. Come on, church. That's something to give him praise for, amen? Amen. Well, hey, if you're new with us today, thank you for being here. We won't welcome you. I'll be right outside these doors after the service. I'd love you to come by and say hello. I've met some really awesome people And something we're doing right now is we are working through the New Testament. And we're doing a reading plan. You can get a copy of this off our website or at the next step station. We're reading the New Testament in the book of Psalms. And it's one chapter a day, five days a week. It's not a heavy amount of reading. And then every week I come in and preach from somewhere that you read this past week. So today you read this past week into the first couple of chapters of Hebrews. And today we're gonna start a three week series as we go through Hebrews, we're gonna call better.

And I want you to lean in closer next three weeks 'cause I wanna tell you, if you really know who you've got in Jesus, you wouldn't choose anybody else. Amen? And that's where we're gonna go today. If you get your Bibles, get your message notes. If you're watching online, you can download these right there off any of our media outlets and hate. By the way, congregation, we need to welcome our online campus and those watching in prisons all across America this morning. Come on, let 'em hear you. We love you guys. Come on in. Be a part of this. Amen. Well, let's open our Bibles to Hebrews. Let's grab our pens and journals or whatever we like. Take notes in. Amen, we're gonna dive right into this this morning. Father, in Jesus' name, thank you for allowing us to come and worship you in song and in our giving. Thank you for letting us worship through serving. Many people serve today. Thank you that we get to worship you in this house and around the world through the online campus. Thank you that God right now, we get to open our Bibles and here's what we pray. That God, you will open our eyes to be hold wonders, truths from your word.

Let our ears hear the whisper of the Holy Spirit. Let our minds comprehend these truths and let our hearts receive them in faith 'cause God our desire today and I pray every day is to look more like you and less like us, to go be salt and light in a world that desperately needs us to shine for you. So Lord, give us a mind of truth. A mind based on your word. Give us voices of hope. Let us never stop sharing the gospel. Give us hearts of compassion. Let us love on people the way you do. Let us be burdened for what burdens you and give us hands of service and feet of purpose. God help us be more like you, Jesus. That's our prayer and we pray it all in Jesus' name and all God's people said, amen. Well, this past week, Lisa and I got a chance to go and spend a few days with some other lead pastors and their spouses and some church planters. And we spent these days just kind of encouraging one another and inspiring one another, you know, the iron sharpening iron piece. We were able to talk about things that our world deals with in leading congregations and churches and life. And so we were able to walk through some things, walk through some things with some of the church planners

and their whole world, it's a different world for them. So we were just able to encourage and inspire children. Great few days at the end of it, one of the guys said, can we get a group picture? And we was all like, yeah, sure, let's get a group picture. And so we all kind of gathered together. We put one of the phones up and put a timer on it. And we got over there and we took our, everybody said cheese, we got our pictures. That was cool, that was awesome. Within a couple of moments, everybody's phone started dinging, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. And what we saw is what we missed. What we missed after the picture was one of the pastors slipped off into the corner of the room. How many know you gotta watch pastors when they slip to the corners of rooms? (laughs) If you didn't know that, you're gonna know it after today. He slips off and while we're all just kind of like saying our goodbyes and man, it was great to see you, he's over here with his phone taking the group picture and using AI to recreate the image. And what we all got on our phone wasn't the original, it was the AI-generated version. And here's what the dude did. And you're never gonna see this picture, by the way. (audience laughs) Because he took out all our wives

and added fake ones in the image. Listen, if I wasn't in the room, if I did not know who my wife is, if I didn't know, and I just saw that picture. This is why you'll never get to see the picture. I would've thought it was a real picture. I would've thought those people were actually in the room. How many of you are as weirded out by AI and technology today as I am? I mean, you can't do anything with AI right now. You can make people leave a picture and put new people in the picture. You can change the background. You can change where you're at in the world. My worship team in the back is having a blast with this today. They're saying, "Prasture, you need the media team "to create a sermon video of you on screen with AI." And I was like, "Yeah, it'll be the best sermon ever preached. "There won't be any flaws in my grammar." And my wife will say, "What a great sermon. "Everybody will know it's AI then, right?" He's like, "It's amazing. But it's not actually you the other day my wife was watching YouTube or listening to YouTube And it was a Lauren Daigle song and she was having her little baptical time around our living room She's just worshiping Jesus. She's so excited. She says to me Chris. This is the best worship song I want our worship team to learn this song. This is such an amazing song Have you heard the new Lauren Daigle song and I like no I haven't and so we googled it guess what? It's not Lauren Daigle It's her voice. It's not her if she didn't write the song. It was all a I generated and if we hadn't have looked it up We would have never known

It is all fun until it isn't And here's what I need you to understand we live in a world that can now create fakes and You and I have to get to this point where we're now questioning what is real and what is not When I was preparing the sermon I got to thinking about that and I don't know if you know this or not But what Maryam Webster's dictionary every year comes out with a new word of the year in 2023 their word of the year was authentic How many know that's what our cry is today everybody wants to know what is real? What can I believe? Is that even a real picture? Is that a real video? Did you know you that AI can now create videos for you to put on your social media feed of things that happen that never actually happened? It's fake from start to finish and you don't even know what is real anymore. What we're starving for is authenticity The editor for Maryam Webster when he defined why they chose this word listen He said it great Peter Sokolowski said this we don't always trust what we see anymore We sometimes don't believe watch us watch us watch us our own eyes or our own ears. How many will agree with Peter? Sometimes we can't even agree a believe in what we see with our own eyes or our own ears That's why today is so important that you lean in close as we open our Bibles to the book of Hebrews Because it's not just about AI generated pictures and videos and voice synthesizers lean and close listen to me This is also true when it comes to our spirituality This is also true when it comes to our faith This is also true when it comes to how we view God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit It is so important that you understand we live in a world full of deep fakes And there's all kinds of versions of who God is like right now You get on YouTube you get on AI and listen by the way You can actually study the Bible with AI and I'm gonna tell you that AI is of the devil I'm gonna tell you the way you use it determines whether so the devil or not It's how you use anything in technology, correct? But like when we were on this little retreat with these these guys this week One of them started asking biblical questions to AI and it came across with some incredible answers I mean like answers like seminary left full like you're like that sounds right

That sounds pretty cool Then we did the hard tests and here's what I want you to lean into if you use AI for anything Here's what I want you lean to then we asked it this simple question cite your sources And why AI came back now y'all can't lie to us because it's a machine right the AI comes back and says this I don't have a source for this. This was my conclusion And she'll come to find out it wasn't even true what it spit out about our question about the Bible It was just a synopsis of what it took off of the web and put it all together and made its own statement You need to always make sure you cite the sources Make sure you see where the source is coming from me about everybody with me now because listen listen our world has all kinds of definitions for God And it's not just AI. It's just our culture today some people think God is this angry judge up on the side of heaven Ready to strike you down because you're just a bunch of worthless failures in life And he's ready strike you down every time you mess up. Anybody been felt that got a note about that heard about that guy? Yeah The devil put that in your head when you fall down like oh don't go back to him He's just going he's just going to judge. He's gonna be but then we got the other problem the other side of that is some people believe God is this Cosmic grandfather who approves of everything you do and every choice you make live However, you want to live just be happy and as long as you can be happy God's okay with that They believe this about Jesus Jesus for some people was just a prophet just another religious prophet for some people Jesus is just a real good dude Just a real good teacher lived a long time ago some people don't even know if he lived or not Then others believe that Jesus is just one of many ways that leads to the same eternal destiny And the question that I want you to ask yourself this morning is, what do you believe about God? What is real? What is real about God? How can you know what God is really like? You can't go off of past opinions or disappointments or what life has handed you. You can't go off of someone else's experience. You've got to wrestle with this question yourself. How do you view God? And when you open your Bible to the book of Hebrews, this is exactly what the writer of Hebrews is dealing with. In fact, the issue that I just addressed to you and I used AI as my open in illustration is not a new problem. It's thousands of years old. When you open up your Bible to book of Hebrews, this is exactly what Jewish believers were struggling with. They were questioning because of all the voices in their

world trying to tell them who God was or like and where Jesus fit in this whole thing, they were wrestling with whether to keep going with Jesus and believe in trust in Christ or to pull away from the gospel message and go a different way. From the Romans, these Jewish Christians or Jewish believers, I want to say, these who are wanting to follow God, but they're of Jewish ancestry, these Jewish believers were being told by the Romans, you can have Jesus, but he can't be Lord Supreme King and Lord of all. He has to be a lower level God. You have to pinch a salt, cast it over your shoulder and say Caesar is Lord and denounce Christ as your Lord. If you'll do that, you could live. If not, you're going to be martyred and early Jewish Christians were losing their lives, but they could save it if they would denounce Christ as Lord Supreme. Would you be tempted to denounce Christ if it meant it could save your skin? You got a question that put yourself in their shoes because on the other side, they were getting pressure from the Jewish community saying, hey, we don't think Jesus is exactly who he said he was. You've got to, even if you want to follow Jesus, you got to go back and follow the same Old Testament laws of Moses. You got to get back to the dietary restrictions. You got to go back to the Sabbaths and the new moons and the festivals and the law, the tort. You got to go back to all of that. You got to have that. You can't just have Jesus. And so when you read the book of Hebrews over the next three weeks, understand the audience, it's a Jewish audience. That's why you're going to read a lot about tabernacles and temples and sacrifices and festivals and dietary restrictions. But here's what you're going to see. The writer of Hebrews wants you to see that everything you've seen in the past and all of that in the Old Testament, here's what he's going to tell these Jewish believers in all points to one man Jesus. And once you've got Jesus, you won't settle for anything less. But you got to get back and understand who Jesus is. And I want to say that to our congregation this morning because in our world with all our distractions, with all our voices, it's really hard sometimes to figure out who in the world and define God and Jesus. And you're going to hear all kinds of voices. And if you're struggling with that today, I want you to lean in close because today what I want to show you out of Hebrews one and two is three reasons why Jesus is greater than them all. I want you to be able to put your faith and your confidence and your worship into Jesus Christ. And if you're struggling in your faith, I want you to pay close attention today because I want God to be able to stir your heart once again because what are we going to see is that when there's, if you know who Jesus is, there's nothing else to go back to. Nothing is better than him. And here's the first truth I want

you to see out of this. And that is Jesus shows us who God is. I love how the book of Hebrews opens. Watch this. This is so powerful. It opens like this. There's so much to this. So please lean in close. Grab ahold of this. Long ago, God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets at different times in the different ways. Remember, he's right into a Jewish audience here. What, we don't know who the author is of Hebrews, but we know he's telling them who Jesus is. That's all about it. He didn't want to be known. Jesus wants to be known, right? And he says, hey, remember how God used to speak to our people. Remember how he spoke to our ancestors through the prophets? He's talking to hear about Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Hosea and Isaiah and Jeremiah and all the Daniel, all the Old Testament prophets and in different ways. And here he's referring back to all the things you're going to read throughout the rest of the book of Hebrews is he's going to show you that the answer is Jesus. When you go back to the Old Testament tabernacle, when you go back to the and all that you read about in the Old Testament. And we read it today, and we're like, I don't understand this. But the Jewish mind understood it, and here's what the writer is saying. All of that, the temple, the tabernacle, the ark of the covenant, the Torah, and all these messages you see throughout Jewish history, they're all pointing to fulfillment in one person, in Jesus. And then watch how he says this. So God used to speak to us through prophets in different times in different ways. We got it, but in these last days, he has spoken to us, read it with me, go by his son. And watch this, now he's going to make sure there's no question in our minds who this guy is. God has appointed him heir of all things.

He has made the universe through him. The sun is the radiance of God's glory. He is, watch this, the exact expression of his nature. And if you've ever wondered, I wonder what God is like. Lean in close, let me tell you something. Here's what the author of Hebrews is going to tell us. If you've ever wondered what God is like in this world full of opinions, if you ever really want to know what God is like, the writer of Hebrews says, you don't have to look any further than look to Jesus. If you can get a clear picture of who Jesus is, you will know who God is. If you want to know what God feels like, what God acts like, look to Jesus. Don't look at someone else's disappointments or opinions don't look at the news at night and go wonder where God's at. If you want to know how God feels about anything, if you want to know his opinion, the author of Hebrews is saying, look at Jesus. He is the exact expression of his nature. These two words, exact expression in the Greek is one word, it's where we get the word character from. How many know that you can be around someone and you can see them, you see how they act, you see, you know, you hear how they talk and all of that. But you really don't know someone until you get to know their character. Their character is what's on the inside.

It's their character that comes out. It's their character that shines up in the hard moments. It's their character that comes up in the difficulties. It's their character that shows up in the mountaintops and in the valleys and everywhere in between. And it's the character where you begin to really know someone. And so here's what the author is saying. Jesus is the exact expression of God's nature. He is the seal, he is the imprint. It comes with a word picture back in ancient days when the kings or those who are in authority wanted to put out a message and they'd write it out on a scroll and they'd roll that scroll up. What the king would do next is he'd take his ring that had a signet image, an emblem on it that only belonged to the king and he would dip that in hot wax and then he would take it while it's still hot and put it on the document. And he would seal the document. And when he pulled his ring back, it was the impression of the ring of the king. And then the messenger would carry that out when someone received that document, the way they knew it wasn't a fake. Is it had the signet image of the king on the document? And God says, if you want to know who I am, look at my signet image, my image is my son.

Get to know Jesus, you'll get to know God. Study the life of Jesus, you'll be studying the life of God. Get a good glimpse of Jesus and God comes into clear view. Jesus is the image of God. He's not the filtered version of God. He's not an AI generated version of God. He's not an artist interpretation of God. He's the exact replica of God. Max Lucado wrote about himself in a book and he wrote, he used a story in his life to talk about this very idea in his book, just like Jesus. It's a great book, by the way, if you've never written, I know it's kind of old, but man, it was a good book. In the book, Max Lucado said this. He said, there was a time that he was an interpreter in Brazil for English speakers. And if you've ever spoke with an interpreter, it's really difficult. 'Cause here's the thing for the translator, right? The translator, here's what he has to do. The translator cannot show any of his own natural self. He can only act out the speaker, the speaker's nature. So here's how it works, right? Like if I was in Brazil preaching in English, my translator would be preaching in Portuguese or in Spanish, whatever the dialect was in that area. And then when I get loud, so if the speaker's voice gets loud, and I do that most time to keep you all awake,

then the translator, his voice has to get loud. But then if I really want to grab your attention and I whisper, I bring it down to a quiet moment. The translator has to whisper and bring it down to a quiet moment. If the speaker uses a lot of body language and really gets involved with his body to speak to the crowd, the translator has to open his arms in the news of his body and speak to the crowd. He has to be the perfect image of the speaker because he isn't really there. He's impersonating the person, the speaker in their language. Look at what Max Ocato said about Jesus. This is a great illustration, look at this. He's, excuse me, I'll come back to that. Here we go, when he walked this earth, Jesus was translating God all the time. When God got louder, Jesus got louder. When God get gestured, Jesus gestured. He was so in sync with the Father that he could declare, I and the Father are one. This is Jesus, the perfect expression of God's nature. And then the writer Hebrews goes on to says this, he sustains all things by his powerful word. You need to understand, Jesus did not have his beginning in Bethlehem. He didn't start at Christmas. He is before the creation of the world. He created all things that are here. And he did it by simply speaking the word.

Genesis one and God said that there be light. The moment Jesus spoke those words, light came in existence. Jesus spoke, and listen, here's what I want to tell you. Let me give you some hope today for the world we're in. Jesus' word is what's holding this world together right now. And it will be this way until Jesus speaks a different command. Jesus sustains us by his powerful word and watch this after making purification for sins. He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Let me ask everyone in the room and online this question. When did Jesus make purification for our sins? That's a reference to the cross. And what does it mean that he is now set at the right hand of the Father, the right hand of the majesty on high? When you read a few weeks ago, the book of Acts, Acts chapter one, Jesus is ascending back to the right hand of the Father. And in the Jewish mind, everyone understood this, he is sitting now in the position of authority. He is king of kings and Lord of lords. This is why the psalmist says that he will make his enemies one day be his footstool because Jesus sits in the position of authority. This is who we worship church. This is who we're serving today, ladies and gentlemen, we are worshiping a God who created the whole world and can speak and things change. He is king supreme.

This is Jesus. He has a name more excellent than the angels. Somebody shout amen. So if he is who he says he is and we believe him to be, what should we do? We must pay close attention to him. You see, number two, Jesus deserves our full attention. Here's what's powerful about the text. So in Hebrews chapter one, it's about the excellently, the splendor, the glory and the majesty of Jesus, the exact expression of God. God in human flesh. And then in chapter two, he gives us a warning. He says, here's what you and I need to do with this knowledge. If you and I truly believe Jesus to be who he says he is, here's how it should affect my life and your life. You ready? Let's lean in close. He says for this reason, for the reason of who Jesus is, we must say these two words when they're ready to go, pay attention all the more to what we have heard. This means what you've learned about God, what you've heard about Jesus, how you've read the Bible and studied the scriptures or been in a small group, the sermons you've heard, how you've studied and followed the Lord. We must pay close attention. We must give attention to what we know about Christ. Why? So that.

And man, whenever there's a so that, you need to see why it's there, amen? So that we will not drift away. And here's why I want you to lean in close for a moment and I want you to capture. The writer of Hebrews did not say, you need to pay close attention to what you know about Jesus Christ and who he is in your life and worship him and give him your full attention. You need to do that because, and you're just gonna decide, I don't want Jesus anymore and I'm just gonna walk away from my whole faith and I'm just gonna walk away from Christ. He doesn't say that. Most people never wake up. One day, worshiping Jesus, the next day, waking up going, yeah, I'll go find something else. That's not generally how it works. Not if we are serious about wanting to know God in our life. Will you please don't wake up and go out? I don't need God anymore. Here's what will happen. If we don't give close attention to who Jesus is in our life and keep our eyes on Christ, we can without realizing it, begin the slow drift away. These two words, drifting away, listen to me, is a nautical term. And it literally means sailing past or drifting past

or passing up your intended destination. Let's have some fun with this. How many has ever been to the beach? They're in the beach. All right, how many has ever went out in the ocean? Some of you go to the beach where you don't go in the water. How many ever gotten the water? And you did some body surfing. Have you ever body surfed in the water? It's kind of fun, right? It's kind of cool. You get out in the water, you get to about waist deep. Big waves are coming in and you decide you're Superman and you're gonna have some fun and you're cool. And as soon as the wave comes in and you feel it, you leap with the wave and it carries you four or five feet and you land back down and you're like, look at that professional surfer, right? And here's the deal, here's the deal. You go out there in the water and when you first went out there, you're like 30 yards out in the water and you look behind back at where you came from, you see your family all underneath the umbrella and all the umbrellas look alike, but you see your family and they all wave at you and you wave back and you recognize the condo or the hotel you just came out of. And you're like, I see you and I know where I am. And then you start body surfing and you start having fun out in the water

and 20 minutes goes by and you turn around because you wanna know if lunch is ready yet and you're ready to see, hey, I wanna, did they see that one, that was my best one yet? And you turn around to the beach and you realize something. Does this ever happen to you? They're not there no more. They moved. That isn't even the same condo you came out of. Those umbrellas in front of you now are the wrong color. And then you realize they didn't move at all. You did. You drifted down with the current and didn't even know it. Anybody know what I'm talking about? You fishermen, you ever been out on the river in your boat and you know where your honeypot spot is and you know where you're gonna catch all the good crappie and you get over and you drop the lure and you start catching some fish and then you're over here and you fix your sandwich and you come back and all of a sudden you're not catching the fish anymore and you're like, what on the world? What do you do? You go back to your little screen over here to see if you're still over the right spot, right? And then you look up at the bank and you realize you didn't know it while you were efficient. Your anchor wasn't holding you where you were

and you started drifting and all of a sudden you drifted way off course. Lean in close and listen to me, ladies and gentlemen. Most of us never drift in our spiritual walk with Christ intentionally, but we live in a world full of distractions and voices and responsibilities and activities and here's how it generally works. We wake up and we hit the snooze one time too many because we stayed up late watching the ball game last night and then we're really tired this morning. Come on, somebody, you know what I'm talking about? Oh, you know, and all of a sudden, so he's like, you know, I don't have time to do my Bible reading this morning. I'll just skip today and how many no after you skip one day is a whole lot easier to skip the second day because it's just a busy season I'm in right now. Anybody know what I'm talking about? You start to pray and you get distracted and instead of fighting through the distraction and refocus in your mind so you can pray, you allow your mind to wander off with the distract, have you ever had that happen? I'm confessing, there's times I start to pray and all of a sudden I'll go through a complete ball game in my brain and then I'll come back and say, oh Lord, I'm so sorry, I was actually praying, wasn't I? And I just had a thought and I followed it because I wasn't focused.

You stop paying attention to the biblical community that you need to be living your life with and you don't go to group or you don't get into a group or you don't show up at students or YA or you skip a couple of weekends and all of a sudden you start wondering why things are coming out of your mouth or thoughts are in your head and then you realize it's 'cause you don't have the same biblical community around you that you once did. I want you to capture this, capture this. Most people don't walk away from Jesus in one dramatic decision. They drift through a thousand small distractions. The devil's a master of this. Amen? Can we all agree? He's a master, and that's what the writer of Hebrews is warning these believers. You've got Rome on you. You've got the Jewish community on you. You're trying to wrestle with who God is, and the writer is saying you need to get back and get your eyes on Jesus, and remember who he is, and put him back in the right priority, and a right alignment of your life. Because if you don't, you will drift before you even know it. And ladies and gentlemen, they didn't have the internet, and they didn't have AI, and they weren't as busy as what we are. Can you not understand why today it is so vital

to us to keep our eyes on Jesus? When you read the Bible, I know times are... Listen, this is why we only give you one chapter a day. (laughs) You ought to be saying thank you, pastor. Do you see what some of those Bible reading plans look like out there? You would love me. One chapter a day, I can do it, all right, five minutes. But here's my challenge to you. When you do read that one chapter a day, don't just read it to check it off. Actually ask God to show you something about him when you read it. And when you pray, don't go through the motions of fact, listen to me, listen to me, listen to me. Prayer should be a continual conversation you have throughout the day. You don't have to be on your knees. Your eyes don't have to be closed. You don't have to have a specific place and time. You can have that. So you can also be talking to the Lord while you're driving down the road. You can be talking to the Lord while you're at work. You can be talking to the Lord while you're getting ready to take that test in school. Come on somebody, I learned to pray that way. You can have conversations with the Lord. You can sit and silence and solitude.

You can turn the radio off in your car and just talk to the Lord and listen for his voice every so often. It is a choice that we have to make. We have to pay attention. And that's what the author and that's what, as your pastor, I'm just calling us to do today, pay attention. Because following Jesus requires our intentional attention. We have to guard our faith. We have to make sure that those moments we're in the word, we're actually trying to get a word from God, that we're sitting in science solitude and when our mind begins to wonder, we call ourselves back to hear from God. I got a friend who has ADHD and this is so hard for him, but he learned to quote Psalm 4610, "Be still and know that I am God." Every time his mind begins to wonder and what he'll do is he will go backwards to get his mind focused and say, "Be still and know that I am God." Be still and know that I am. Be still and know that I. Be still and know. Be still. Be. And it forces his brain to slow back down and he can sit with the Lord again. Why is this so important? Because this morning I started this message

by reminding you of the idea of the theme behind the three songs we sing because it's all about Jesus today, which is always about Jesus, by the way. I don't know if you catch that or not. But anyway, we need to be desiring his move of God and giving him our praise because he's holy forever. Here's what I want you to know. When you start drifting, you can go through that and you don't worship, you just hear music. Right? And what the author is saying is, in the world we live in, ladies and gentlemen, let's make sure we pay close attention to who Jesus is. And sometimes what we got to do so that worship is no longer just music and it actually becomes worship again for us is we need to pull back like Hebrews chapter one and we need to remind ourselves who he is. He is the radiant subcosical. He is the exact expression of his nature. And here is the most incredible truth that when you focus on, it'll help keep you from drifting. And that is this. He came to become like us in order to rescue us. And this is so amazing. Here's what the writer Hebrews does next here in Hebrews chapter two. He says, but we see Jesus. Watch this, watch this, watch this.

Who is made a little lower than the angels for a short time. So that by God's grace, he might taste death for everyone. for everyone. What is this short time that Jesus was made lower than the angels? When was that? I can tell you exactly. He lasted 33 years. This is when he took on human flesh and he was born of a virgin named Mary and he went through infancy and then he went through childhood. He went through adolescence and puberty in the teenage years. God help him. Thank God he went through all that to understand us. He went through young adulthood. Come on somebody. He took on human flesh. He became like us for a short time. So that, why did he even come? That he might taste death for everyone. The whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. I mean, oh, that's a good and a gracious God right there. Watch this. He says, "Since the children have flesh and blood in common." Who's he referring to? Who are the children of Abraham who have flesh and blood? Ladies and gentlemen, that's us. Since we, since God knew we had flesh and blood, watch this. Jesus also shared in these. If you've ever wondered why Jesus came and had to take on human flesh, it's not that he had to. It's that he chose to. He chose to. Jesus shared in these, so that through his death, watch this, he might destroy the one holding the power of death. That is the devil. And from these who were held in slavery, all their lives by the fear of death, Jesus Christ came down, took on flesh and blood because you have flesh and blood. That's not why he took on humanity because he wanted to be like you. So he could destroy the very thing that's destroying you. He could destroy the work of the devil over your life. That's the God we serve. And look at this. He says for it's clear that he does not reach out to help angels. Jesus didn't come to this world to save the angels. He came to help Abraham's offspring. Therefore, he had to be like his brothers and sisters in every way so

that he could become a merciful and a faithful high priest in matters pertaining to God. And I want you to capture the language that the writer is giving. Jesus looks at us like family. He actually says he wanted to take on human flesh like us, the children, because we're brothers and sisters and God is saying I want you to know how real and relational I want to be in your life. He came and brought on human flesh to become like us so that he could become our high priest and watch this so he can make a tome it for our sins. For since he himself has suffered when he was tempted he's able now to help those who are tempted. Is there anybody in this room that can just give God some glory that God didn't say up in heaven and watch us suffer here on earth instead God came and got in our mess so we would know he understands our pain and we got a God who we can run to. He didn't just come to say I feel you. He come to set us free and destroy the very work of the devil himself. No other religion preaches this. Our series title is better. If you really know who Jesus is why would you choose anything else? Yeah maybe you still got questions. Yeah maybe you still have doubts. Yeah maybe you wonder every once in a while where God is working and how all this fits in his plan but I tell you this my friend look at Jesus. Go to Jesus before you try to define God. Go to Jesus to answer your questions because what you have in Jesus Christ is the exact expression of God's nature. You have a God who sees you where you are right here right now in this room and online and in prisons across America and you've got a God who says I see you I get you you can come to me. He became like us and he's not ashamed get listen to me he's not ashamed no matter your past no matter your struggles no matter your fears no matter how far you have drifted he is not ashamed to call you brothers and sisters. Tell me some other God like him there's none better and once you know him and who he is and you cast your eyes back to him you'll never want to choose anyone else. The world's going to offer you endless substitutes for what only God can provide, and none of them will satisfy. In 2025, Newsweek came out with an article off of a survey done by the Vantage Point Counseling Center

that said one-third of Americans have admitted to having an intimate relationship with an artificial intelligence device. And I know you're going to think there ain't no way. Really? Think about it. AI is always available. Always has a soothing, soothing, sweet voice. Always listens and answers all your questions without--you know, all the time. Our family, we chuckle with this. One of my granddaughters a few months ago was bored in the house during the summer break, and no one was talking to her. And so she went into the kitchen and they got one of those Alexa devices on the counter. Anybody know what I'm talking about? She pulls up a stool. We got this on video, by the way. It's awesome. And she's setting there having a conversation with Alexa. Alexa, what's the weather today? Do you believe it will rain today, Alexa? Duh, duh, duh. What do you think I should watch on TV tonight, Alexa? And she's having a full-blown conversation with an artificial intelligence device. It's not as strange as what you may think. When people are looking for connection, we'll look to any source that we feel like can offer it. How many of you seen the recent chat GBT commercial

where the elderly lady is sitting at a table, having a cup of coffee, having a conversation with chat GBT on her phone? She doesn't know. She actually says, "What is your name, honey?" And chat says, "You can just call me chat GBT." And they just have an conversation. Lean in close, let me tell you something. The reason Hebrews was written and the message I want you to hear today is this. God doesn't want you to have an artificial relationship with him. He sent his son his exact expression. So you never have to question. I wonder what God is like. I wonder how God feels. I wonder how God loves. Get to know Jesus. Throw near to Jesus. Take Jesus seriously. Grow in him. Study him. Spend time with him. The more you do, the more you'll realize how much God loves you and wants a relationship with you. And so then when you're suffering, you can go today to a God who isn't distant. He's not on some other far away, heavenly ram where he can't be touched by you. If you come to Jesus today while you're suffering,

you will find God is very near and he understands your pain and your suffering. When you are tempted, maybe you're fighting a temptation today and addiction that you just can't defeat and can't get passed. Listen to me. He has been tempted in all points just as you are. If you're struggling with an addiction, if you're struggling with pornography, if you're struggling with lust, if you're struggling with alcohol, if you're struggling with some other addiction, it doesn't matter what it is, you can bring that to Jesus. Maybe you're struggling with depression today or anxiety or fear or doubt. You can bring it to Jesus. He's not going to tell you no. He's not going to push you away. He's not going to shame you. That little voice in your head that says if you've been drifting, you can't come back to God because God will be ashamed of you because of how you allowed yourself to drift. That's the devil lying to you. That's not the voice of the Holy Spirit. The voice of the Holy Spirit is crying out through Jesus today. Come home. Come to me.

Don't walk away from me. Don't drift away. Don't get your mind on something else. Answer the question. Do you know who I am? And then lean in close and look at Jesus. If your heart is broken today, he's near the broken hearted. Maybe you feel like nobody understands you. He does. Nobody knows where you've been. He does. Nobody knows how to turn this situation around. He does. This is why, in your big takeaway today, when you realize who Jesus really is, and you cast your eyes on him, nothing else deserves first place in your life. Lean in on what Hebrews has taught you today. The one who is greater and created all things, the one who is greater than everything, deserves to be greater than everything in you. He stepped into our world to show us what he was like, and you can approach him today. Heads about all over this room, watching online. My friend, look at Jesus. Lean into Jesus, and when you see Jesus, you'll realize there's nothing else to turn to. Put him back where he belongs, focus in on who he is and allow him

to have first place in your heart and your life. Go all in for Jesus. And wherever you're at, whatever you need today, turn to Jesus and give it to him. Understand he sees you, he knows you, he loves you. And he's here for you right now. Here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna lead us in a prayer. And when we get done, we're gonna stand together. Our worship team's gonna come out and close us out with just a little worship. As we focus in on the holiness of our God who loves us and gave himself for us. And I wanna give you an opportunity. And if you want someone at our prayer team to pray with you, that you're gonna have a moment while we're worshiping, you can come up and have prayer. You can seek the Lord, your seats are here. If you're watching online, we have people to pray with you online. This morning, let's cast our eyes back on Jesus. Let's lean full into his wonderful grace today. So Father in Jesus' name, God thank you for who you are. Thank you Jesus for reminding us today. You are the exact expression of the nature of God. In a world full of fakes, God we can come and know you through Jesus. Thank you for opening up this opportunity for us. Help us to cast our eyes back on you

and not get distracted with the world we live in. Not get distracted with pain or questions or fears or doubts or disappointments or struggles. Let us Lord not get caught up with making money and careers and activities. Let's don't let anything distract us from keeping our eyes on you and allow you to be Lord over all the areas of our lives, keeping you first so that we don't drift. And we realize that wherever we're at today, whatever we're struggling through and even if we realize we've drifted, God all we have to do is turn our eyes back to you to come home, that you're there for us right now. So Father minister to your people as we worship you in Jesus' name, hit, stay bow. If you're here in the room or online, never giving your life to Jesus, today you wanna know him. Maybe you've drifted far from God and you wanna come back home to Jesus. Pray with me Lord Jesus. I believe you are the Son of God. You died on the cross, you rose from the grave. You are the exact expression of God and you love me. I ask you to forgive my sin and grant me the gift of eternal life. And today by faith, I put all my hope, all my trust in you alone. And I receive you now in Jesus' name and all God's people said. (gentle music)