Skip to content Colossians 1:15-29 - Part B Sep 15 · 26 min ...more
Colossians 1:15-29 - Part B
September 15, 2026 · 26 min
Pastor Skip explains why the One who holds the universe together is more than able to hold your life together—even when everything feels uncertain.
Series Connect with Skip Heitzig Podcast September 15, 2026 · 26 min · Connect with Skip Heitzig Podcast
Pastor Skip explains why the One who holds the universe together is more than able to hold your life together—even when everything feels uncertain. ...more Show the full description Show less Pastor Skip explains why the One who holds the universe together is more than able to hold your life together—even when everything feels uncertain.
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Skip Heitzig ministers to over 15,000 people as senior pastor of Calvary Church in Albuquerque. He reaches out to thousands across the nation and throughout the
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0:00 Welcome to connect with Skip Heitzig. We're so glad you've tuned in today. Our mission is to help people know God more deeply through clear verse by verse bible teaching that brings biblical truth into0:12 everyday our see our to0:29 see our gonna We're to0:40 see world. How you can preorder your copy today. The Bible is 1 unified story of God's love and redemption, but sometimes it can be difficult to see how all the pieces fit together. In Soaring Above It0:52 All, pastor Skip Heitzig takes you on a 1 year devotional journey through the entire Bible, highlighting the key people, events, themes, and truths of scripture in a way that's approachable,1:03 encouraging, and easy to follow. Preorder your copy of Soaring Above It All today, wherever you buy books.1:10 Now here's today's message from pastor Skip Heitzig.1:14 Now when it comes to being firstborn in ancient times, the firstborn child in a family, especially the firstborn son in a family, that carried with it much1:26 more weight than even it does today. The firstborn was the son of the child of inheritance, got a double portion of the inheritance.1:39 Things went on through Him. And so the idea of the firstborn was even more important. What I want you to notice is the word over.1:51 This will clear it up for you. It just sort of dawned on me as I'm read I've been reading the book of Colossians every day for 30 days just so I get it back into my system. And2:03 what Paul doesn't say is he does not say he is the firstborn of creation, but he's the firstborn over creation. If he was the firstborn of creation, you2:15 might interpret that as being God the Father created Jesus 1st. That's what the Jehovah Witnesses say. God the Father created Jesus 1st, then Jesus created2:27 all other things. But it says He's the firstborn over creation. So the idea of firstborn came to mean in2:38 antiquity not necessarily born 1st chronologically, But it meant having the supremacy. It meant having the most important position.2:50 Let me show you that. When Joseph was in Egypt, he had 2 sons. The firstborn was Manasseh. The 2nd born was3:02 When he brought his 2 sons to his father Jacob to bless those 2 boys. It says Jacob was blind, he couldn't see very3:13 well. And he crossed his hands knowingly to bless his grandsons. He put his right hand on once crossed over and3:25 his left hand crossed over to the other 1. Because he knew that Joseph was going to bring the 1st and 2nd born sons in the position so that Jacob would place his right hand3:37 on Manasseh and his left hand on Ephraim. So he knowingly crossed over. And Joseph, no, no, you can't do that. But it was too late. He already touched them and he already blessed them. And he did it knowingly3:49 Because He knew that Ephraim, though 2nd born, would be in a position of firstborn. Take the supreme position. So to prove that to you, by the4:01 time you get to Jeremiah the prophet, it was long after Joseph, hundreds of years after Joseph, God says through the prophet Jeremiah,4:13 at the same time says the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. The Lord has appeared of old to me saying, yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love, etcetera,4:25 in a straight way in which they shall not stumble for I am, listen, the father to Israel and Ephraim is my4:36 firstborn. So God takes Manasseh, who was firstborn, gives him 2nd place, and God says, though Ephraim was4:48 born 2nd, Ephraim is my firstborn. So because of that scripture and because of that idea that firstborn, prototokos is the Greek word, means5:00 the supreme 1. The firstborn became emblematic of not only a supreme position, but he became a code word for the Messiah. In Psalm5:12 89, God says, I will make my firstborn the ruler of the kings of all the earth. It's prediction of the coming Messiah, whom God calls in5:23 Psalms, my firstborn. And so picking up on that ancient phraseology, that's what Paul means when he says and he uses the word prototokos,5:35 firstborn. He's the firstborn over all creation. He's the supreme 1 over all that He has created. And it says He is created, For that He5:47 created all things. By Him all things were created that are in heaven that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or5:58 powers. These are all rabbinic terms for spiritual ranking of angels. All things were created through Him6:11 and for Him. And He is before all things, not all other things, not that God created Him 1st, not that He's in emanation. He is before6:23 all things, and in Him all things consist. So go back as far as you want to. Whatever you6:35 decide how old the universe is. You might say the universe is 6000 years old, as some young earth creationists believe. You might hold to an old earth creation and they're saying6:46 now that the universe is 10.8 or 13000000000, maybe it's 13.8 is the latest. It sort of changes every few years of how old it is6:59 because science always disagrees with itself. Scientists do disagree. But 13800000000, go back as far as you want to and say that's when it began. And you will find that at7:10 whatever point you begin the universe, Jesus will come out of eternity to meet you. He was there 1st. He is before all things, and in7:22 Him all things consist. The word consist is cohere. It means to be held together. Jesus Christ not only created everything, but he holds7:35 all things together. They cohere. We know that matter is made up of dynamic particles,7:47 moving rap particles that are moving rapidly. And we know that within the nucleus, that's where the protons exist, they're held together by a force. Nobody really knows what it7:58 is. I've done so much research on this, and I've Googled this. What holds since Column's law of electrostatic force says that positive charges8:10 will repel each other, like charges repel each other. What keeps protons bound together in the nucleus of the atom? And they say, oh, it's just8:22 some atomic force. It's some it's given a name, but it's enigmatic what keeps them together and what keeps electrons swirling8:34 around them together. And I found something that I thought you would be interested in. This is by Carl Darrow, a physicist from Bell Laboratory who said,8:46 speaking of the physical nature of the atom, he said, do you grasp what this implies? It implies that all the mass of nuclei have no right to be alive at all.8:59 Indeed, they should have never been created. And if created, they should have blown up instantly. Yet, here they9:10 all are. Some inflexible inhibition is holding them relentlessly together. The nature of the9:22 inhibition is also a secret, 1 thus far reserved by nature for herself. Paul says, no, they're not mysteriously held9:34 together. Jesus Christ is holding them all together. He created all things. He's before all things. He preexisted. He is the only 19:46 who lived before He was born. Get your head around that 1. Jesus is the only 1 who lived before He was born. He's before all things. And in Him all9:58 things are held together. So the question is, what happens if He relaxes His grip? That is exactly how I believe the universe is going to end. At some point,10:10 Jesus is just going to go, I'm done, and will relax his grip. Let me just read something to you that you are familiar with. This is 2 Peter 3 10. The day of the Lord will10:22 come as the thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise. The elements will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be10:34 burned up. It's exactly what that professor Darrow said should happen. It will happen. And then he says, therefore, since all these things will be10:45 dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness? Jesus who holds the universe together, it coheres, will relax his10:57 grip, and the creation will instantaneously become uncreated and dissolve, burn up with fervent heat.11:08 Now, I want you to apply this to your own personal life. If Jesus Christ is indeed the creator of all that exists, if He preexisted before11:20 all matter, all time, if He created the universe and He holds all things together. Do you believe He did that?11:32 If He did that and if He's doing that, if He can hold the universe together, do you think He can hold your life together? Would you take a little bit of solace in the fact that you are11:44 trusting the 1 who holds the atoms, the nuclei together? He can hold you together. He's got you. He knows what you're going through.11:55 Nothing that you're going through surprises Him. Lean into Him. Trust Him. If He can hold the universe together, He can hold your life together. He's before all things, and12:07 in in him, all things are held together.12:11 This is connect with Skip Heitzig. Your support helps reach people every day with biblical truth that brings hope, encouragement, and direction for real life. If you've ever wondered how to stay12:23 grounded when our culture is constantly pulling you in different directions, pastor Skip's study through Colossians is for you. In expound Colossians, you'll gain a deeper understanding of who Jesus12:35 is, why he is completely sufficient for every season of life, and how God's truth gives you confidence to stand firm in your faith. Your generosity helps extend the reach of connect with Skip12:47 Heitzig, connecting more people around the world to God's word. Request expound colossians when you give 50 dollars or more at connect with skip dot com slash offer or by calling12:58 809 2 2 18 88. Now here's more from pastor Skip.13:04 And he continues with the supremacy of Christ. He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,13:17 that in all things He may have the preeminence. He's the head. He's the source. He's the originator of the church. Right? It was His idea.13:31 I will build my church, Jesus said in Matthew 16. So he's the 1 who came up with the idea of the church. He is the source. He is the head. He's the 1 who controls13:43 things that go on in the church. He's the head of His body, the church, who is from the beginning. Here's that word again. The firstborn, but notice this time, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He should13:54 have the preeminence. Same word, prototokos, 1st born from the dead. Doesn't mean he's the 1st 1 who was ever resurrected. We know that's not true. There were people resurrected in the Old Testament.14:06 1st recorded resurrection we read about in scripture is in the book of 1 Kings, the son of the widow of Zarephath. Elijah the14:17 prophet was summoned because this boy had died. And so Elijah takes this boy to his upper chamber where he was living in this little town,14:29 prostrated himself over the child, breathed on him, and prayed, oh God, bring his soul back. And God restored life to that boy. It's a 1st recorded resurrection.14:41 The 2nd resurrection is with Elisha, and that was the woman from Shunamm, the Shunammite's son was resurrected by him. And then my14:53 favorite resurrection story in the Old Testament is Elisha, the prophet, the successor of Elijah. Elisha was buried in a cave. A man had died and they15:05 took his bones, not knowing it was Elisha's tomb, and threw the remains of this man in the cave. And it touched Elisha, and that man rose from the15:17 dead. And so that's 1, 2, and 3 resurrections. Was Jesus the 1st 1 ever raised? Not by a long shot. Even in the New Testament, He wasn't the 1st15:28 1 who was raised from the dead. 1st 1 recorded raised from the dead was the son of the widow from Nain that Jesus raised from the dead. Then Jairus' daughter. Then Lazarus15:40 was raised from the dead. And then Jesus was raised from the dead. But here, Paul says, Jesus is the firstborn from the dead. Same idea15:52 of the supreme 1, the most important 1 whoever raised from the dead would be a better way of looking at it. Why is He the most important 1 who was raised from the dead?16:05 Because Jesus, in His resurrection, is the only 1 who can save people. Death, burial, and resurrection, He of all people who have ever been16:16 raised from the dead takes the supreme slot because only by believing in Him can a person have everlasting life. Therefore, He is the supreme 1. He is the firstborn. He takes that16:28 title, a supreme 1. Firstborn from the dead that in all things He might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father,16:40 watch this term, that in Him all the fullness should dwell. That word fullness was a buzzword16:52 used by the Gnostics. That group that was developing into Gnostics, these heretics from Colossae. It was 1 of their favorite words, fullness. The Greek word is17:03 pleroma. And what they said is the fullness of God, the pleroma of God has been distributed through many emanations that went out from17:15 God. Paul knew that. And so he's saying that in Jesus Christ, it pleased the Father that in Jesus, all the pleroma, the fullness17:27 should dwell in Him. Now I'm going to cheat a little bit and take you to chapter 2, where we're going to be next week. But just let's skip ahead. Look at chapter 2 verse 8.17:39 You see where he's coming from. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to17:50 Christ. For in Him, that is Christ, in Him dwells all the fullness of God bodily or the Godhead bodily, the18:02 God in bodily form, and you are complete in him who is the head of all principality and power. This is a slap to18:14 the Gnostics. This was a way of confronting the Gnostics that in Jesus Christ and Him alone is all the fullness of God. Back to verse 20 of chapter 1.18:26 And by Him, by Jesus, to reconcile all things to Himself by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having18:38 made peace through the blood of his cross. And you, who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet18:50 now He has reconciled. How? In the body of His flesh through death to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable19:02 in His sight. God reconciled us to Him. The word reconciled means He changed hostility into friendship. We were enemies of God. We were at enmity19:14 with God. He changed the relationship of hostility into friendship and acceptance. The idea of being reconciled is to19:25 remove the barrier that stands in the way of acceptance and unity. And thus by removing the19:37 obstacle, the enemies become friends. The hostile ones accept each other, love each other, are in right relationship with each other. It is a19:49 word that is used in 1st Corinthians chapter 7 to speak of a woman being restored in relationship to her husband. It's also a word20:01 used, I believe, in Matthew 5 of a brother being of a man being restored to his brother. So it's an idea of20:13 in relationships what would change hostile ones into friends. In the Greek language, the word reconcile also carries with it a20:24 financial element. That is, there is a financial transaction that takes place whereby 2 parties are reconciled.20:38 We sort of use the idea of reconciliation in financial ways as well. We say, we need to reconcile the checkbook. Right? We have to balance the check. We've to make sure that the statement I get in the mail matches20:50 what I put down. If you even do that anymore, that is old school, I recognize it. Or if you do little books on your computer, you reconcile their statement with your statement. And when they match up,21:02 we say they're reconciled. So there is a financial element. All of that to say this, in God's economy, there must be some transaction21:14 that takes place for God and us to be reconciled. And the transaction that takes place is through the blood of his cross. It's what he did21:26 on the cross that became the transactional element whereby these 2 parties at hostility and odds with each other can now be reconciled.21:38 It's a beautiful, beautiful word that he uses here. So we're reconciled in the body of his flesh, verse 22, through death to present you wholly blameless, irreproachable in his sight.21:52 Verse 23, if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope22:04 of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven of which I, Paul, became a minister. When you read that, you go, now wait a minute.22:17 He just said that he reconciled us and the transaction was at the cross. We couldn't do it ourselves. He did it for us. It was all through that 1 single act. Why does he now say,22:29 if indeed you continue in the faith? Is he contradicting himself? Or is he adding to the work that was done on the cross? Are you saying you have to add to it?22:41 No. What he is saying is he's just practical. Paul is saying, if it's a reality that you've been reconciled to22:52 God, real faith will show that it's real faith by having real results. The real results are your continuing23:04 in your walk with Him. If you have a real faith, it will really continue in real time throughout your life. That becomes the23:16 gauge as to whether or not you have real faith. You want to know if a person has real faith? James says, look at his works. Look at what he produces. These things are not23:28 contrary to 1 another. 1 authenticates the other. So real faith leads to real results. The real results are you continue23:40 in the faith, you're grounded and steadfast, and you are not moved away from the hope of the gospel. It's all by grace, And the proof that23:52 you've experienced the grace of God is your life is transformed. It, however, these truths together should give us a little bit of pause. Because a lot of people say, I24:04 prayed years ago. I went to church and I made that little prayer and accepted Christ. And now I'm just kind of doing what I want. Remember Jesus said, not everybody who says, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven.24:15 Many will come to me in that day and say, Lord, look, we've done this and we've done that. And Jesus will say, depart from me, I never knew you. So they're resting on their laurels of something that happened24:27 in their past that isn't continuing into the present. So this is simply a gauge that he is giving us. If you indeed continue in the faith, grounded steadfast, or not moved away from the24:39 hope of the gospel which you heard, which is preached into all the world, to every creature under heaven of which Paul I, Paul, became a minister.24:49 We're so glad you joined us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before you go, remember that when you give 50 dollars or more this month, we'll send you Expound Colossians as our thanks.25:01 This encouraging verse by verse study will help you discover why Christ is enough, how to stand firm in God's truth, and how to live each day with confidence in him. Your support helps keep25:13 this Bible teaching ministry reaching people around the world with the life changing truth of God's word. Give today at connect with skip dot com slash offer or call 809 225:24 2 18 88. See you next time.25:49 Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.
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