Above and Beyond – Above All

Above and Beyond – Above All

One of our reoccurring themes this year will be “above and beyond.” The God who is above and beyond. In this series we are focused on scriptures in Ephesians.

Let’s look at another scripture in Ephesians that points to the above and beyond authority of Jesus. The above and beyond thought for today is this Jesus is the King of Kings and the Lord of lords. He has always been this, he will always be this, and this is who he is today.

Revelation 19:16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

Do you realize how subversive of a statement it was for the early Jesus followers to say Jesus was the King of Kings and Lord of lords? It was a way of telling Kings, “You’re not all that, there is a king above you.”

One thing to get this morning.After Jesus had his Last Supper with his disciples, he spoke a lot about the coming of the Holy Spirit and what the Holy Spirit would do in our lives. And Jesus laid out three things that the Holy Spirit would convince or convict us of, three things that would shape the human heart in order for us to serve God.

John 16:8 (NLV)  And when he (the Holy Spirit) comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. 9 The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me. 10 Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more. 11 Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged.

First – The Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin.

Second –The Holy Spirit will convict the world of righteousness because he does not want to leave you in a broken state.

Thirdly – the Holy Spirit wants to convict you of the judgment of the devil. The Holy Spirit convicts us that Satan has been judged.

Satan is a liar and a boaster and a thief and a murderer and he has some of us convinced in this room today that he is winning. We need a better conviction than that. Jesus is the King of Kings and the Lord of lords. He has always been this, he will always be this, and this is who he is today.

Todays points.

1. From the beginning Jesus was Lord.
2. Jesus entered this planet as Lord.
3. He rules right now as Lord.
4. He will end this whole thing as Lord.

1. From the beginning he was Lord.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

2. Jesus entered this planet as Lord.

While Jesus walked the planet he displayed what we might call kingdom power. Jesus walked around giving us little glimpses of what was going to be like when he was totally in charge of things.

• For instance, Jesus displayed power over nature.
• Jesus displayed power any and every disease and sickness.

And then Jesus declared it outright; Matthew 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

3. Jesus rules right now as Lord.

Ephesians 6:12  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Romans 8:38  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Ephesians 1:19 That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

He talks about angels and demons.

He talks about powers.

He talked about things that separate us or wants to separate us from the love of God.

He’s talking about rulers.

He talked about authorities.

He talked about powers in the dark world.

He talked about spiritual forces of evil in places that you can’t see.

And yet Jesus is above and beyond all of them.

He’s far above every rule.

He is also above all authority.

Jesus is above and beyond all powers.

Paul goes on to a fourth category, something he calls dominions.

And then Paul says that Jesus is far above every name that can be named.

And for good measure Paul says in this age now, but also in the age to come.

They are all under his feet and he will turn it his way.

4. Jesus will end this whole thing is Lord.

Do you struggle like I struggle with why things are the way they are right now? “If he is Lord and King why is he letting this stuff go on?”

But we are told in the book of Revelation that God has taken notice of this.

Revelation 19:11 Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war. 12 His eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him that no one understood except himself. 13 He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven, dressed in the finest of pure white linen, followed him on white horses. 15 From his mouth came a sharp sword to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will release the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty, like juice flowing from a winepress. 16 On his robe at his thigh was written this title: King of all kings and Lord of all lords.

1 Corinthians 15:24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

1 Corinthians 15:51 But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. 53 For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.

Philippians 2:9  Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

    and gave him the name that is above every name,

10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

    to the glory of God the Father.

Even if you don’t understand all these things Jesus is still Lord.

Even when you don’t get it, Jesus is still Lord.

Even when you are disappointed, Jesus is still Lord.

Even when you don’t know why, Jesus is still Lord.

Even when you think Jesus is absent, Jesus is still Lord.

Let’s see what GOD can do!

Pastor Brian Harrell