Tonight we're looking at Colossians chapter 1 in your Bibles Colossians chapter 1 I was working on this sermon this week and wanted to Get somewhere where the phone wouldn't ring as much So it took a couple hours and went and sat by a park in town and it was nice outside And so there were some kids playing basketball and people running around and I'm sitting in my car probably looking sort of strange but studying God's Word and and I read this quote from a commentary talking about this passage. David Garland wrote this. He said, "...Christians need to make clear for our turn-of-the-century world with its technological wizardry and terrors, its great economic prosperity and economic despair, that our universe is not a godless and impersonal gaming house. Jesus Christ is its center, its origin, and its destiny." Just pondering this passage here that we're going to look at today. That's the point. Jesus Christ is the center, the origin, the destiny of all. He is central. He is preeminent. And yet, just as I sat there, I was kind of looking at the kids over there playing basketball and people, you know, bustling about doing what they were doing and just wondering, you know, are these people giving any thought to the fact that Jesus is central really to all of life and to this day. So much of the world just speeds on and we miss the point that Christ is all that life is about. And this is just such an exalted passage here, such a hymn of praise to Christ, saying that He is first. He's first. And that's what Paul is going to say today. It's fun to see how he gets to it. We've been going through Colossians here in the evening service, and you just get to pick up where we're at if you're visiting with us today. But in the beginning of Colossians, Paul begins and he's praying for this church that's in the city of Colossae. for them the Lord will bless them and then he thanks God for various things and as he's doing that he mentions God's beloved son in verses 13 and 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins and then it's kind of like as he mentions Christ, God's son, it's like oh by the way speaking of Christ and then there's this there's this hymn of praise to Christ that exalts him, one of the most beautiful fitting praises of Christ that's in scripture I wanted to read that for you, but if you'll stand with me again I if you if you can otherwise you can sit and listen Colossians 1 We're going to read verses 15 through 20. That's our text for tonight All the description of Jesus Christ and how he is first above all he is the image of the invisible God the firstborn of all creation and For by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church. And he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross, through whom I say, whether things in earth or things in heaven. Amen. You may be seated. Paul is saying that Christ has first place. Why does he deserve it? Why does Christ deserve to be first? And there's two reasons that he gives. The first one has to do with Christ's role in creation. Number one on your sheet, Roman numeral one, Jesus Christ is first above all creation. and verses 15 to 17 he talks about that and then he kind of there's like two parallel thoughts first he praises Christ and says how exalted he is in relation to creation and then the second half he's going to do kind of the same thing again but he's going to say that Christ is first in the reconciliation of all things but we want to look at the first part first so Christ deserves first place in creation. And in verse 15, first Paul says, okay, here's Christ's position, and it's an exalted one. He gives a couple of titles for Christ. And then he's going to say, and here's why Christ deserves this position, why only He deserves to be first. In verses 16 and 17 he gives us that. So what is his position? Number one on your sheet, Christ's exalted position is that he is the image of God. You see that at the beginning of verse 15? He is the image of the invisible God. When you see Jesus, you see the invisible God. Really, this is another way of saying that Jesus Christ is deity, but Jesus isn't the Father. Paul's careful. You know, there's the Trinity in here. The invisible God there, it's talking about the Father. And Jesus is the image, the way to see God the Father. Turn with me in your Bibles. Hold your finger in Colossians. Go back with me to John chapter 14. Who is the Father's image? It's Jesus. John chapter 14, verses 8 and 9, Jesus talked about this with Philip, his disciple. You'll probably recognize this verse once you get there. John chapter 14, verse 8. Philip said to our Lord, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. I guess that would be something, right? Philip's like, hey, just show us the Father and that'll be good enough for today. Jesus said to him, have I been so long with you and yet you have not come to know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say, show us the Father? You see, Jesus is the image of God. So if you've seen Jesus, there's a sense in which you've seen the Father. Now, would that be true of me if I were to make that statement? I just want to show how Jesus Christ is more deserving of this than any of us, right? If I were to say, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father, I should probably be stoned or something, right? Now, we as God's people, we are to image Him before the people around Him. I mean, they're supposed to be able to see Christ in us. They're supposed to be able to see God in us. And yet there's something unique about Jesus being the image of God, right? He is THE image of God in a way that's not true of the rest of us, just as humans. Though we know Christ, it's more true of Him in many ways. So Jesus is the image of the invisible God. That's quite the description, but Paul's only getting warmed up here. That's just where he's starting, right? So he says in verse 15, he is the image of the invisible God. Then he says, the firstborn of all creation. That's what goes on your sheet there. He is the firstborn over all creation. Some in history have read this phrase, the firstborn of all creation, and thought, okay, if he's the firstborn of all creation, maybe what this is saying is that God created, God the Father created Jesus the Son, see? And then Jesus created everything else, and so Jesus is the first thing that God created. He's above everything else in creation, but he's part of creation. But that is not what he's saying, and you can actually pick that up pretty easily by looking at what follows, right? Is Jesus Christ part of this creation and maybe we can pick that up just as we think of the word firstborn is being okay the first kid that I had you know it's something that's born but that's not what Jesus is saying look at or Paul is saying look at verse 16 the next verse it says for by him by Jesus that is all things were created. Okay, now if Jesus is a created thing, how would Paul have to say verse 16? He couldn't say, for by him all things are created. If Jesus is a created thing, how would he have to say it? I don't know if anybody thinks grammatically like I do. I was schooled in my homeschooling to say this correctly. If Jesus is a created thing, how would Paul have to say that at the beginning of verse 16? Other things, right? Because it doesn't say It doesn't say, for by Jesus all other things were created. All things were created. Anything that was created was created by Jesus, which isn't Jesus. He's not one of the created things. And then if you look at the beginning of verse 17, He is before all things. And you just look at just even this passage, and it doesn't work to say that Jesus is just the first thing that was created. So, if that's not what firstborn means, that he was created, then why? What's this phrase doing? You could jot these texts down if you want to. Exodus chapter 4 verse 22 talks about Israel, and it says that Israel is God's firstborn nation. But, was Israel the first nation that existed? The first one that God gave birth to? No. I mean, there were all kinds of nations before Israel. Being called firstborn doesn't necessarily mean you were the first one or that Even that you're technically at a person that was born right as a nation Also, maybe let's turn look this one up go to psalm 89 verse 27 Psalm 89 verse 27 here this psalm is about David King David is talking about the covenant that God made with him and Psalm 89, 27. Now you could take some of this and apply it to Jesus, but I think if you look at the Psalm as a whole, he's talking about David here. So Psalm 89, verse 27, says this. God says, of David I also shall make him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. Now David, how would David be firstborn? David wasn't the first one even born in his own family, right? He had all those older brothers. And he's not the first king of Israel, because Saul came before David. So what does this mean when he says that he's his firstborn? Well, it's talking about status, it's talking about rank. It's saying that, well, he actually defines it there in verse 27, talking about David, he's my firstborn, he's the highest of the kings of the earth. And so, you can be the firstborn of something. This phrase can be used, this word, firstborn, it talks about status, position, more than, technically, you had to be born before everyone else. And that's the way that Paul is using this when he's talking about Jesus in Colossians. He's saying that He is the firstborn, and I think some translations, instead of saying He's the firstborn of all creation, it says that He's firstborn over all creation. That's the idea. Jesus is set above the rest of creation. The highest rank that you can have it's Jesus. He ranks above all creation That's what he means when he says the Christ is firstborn not that he was born at some point You know that God gave created him and then he created everything else So it's talking about status He ranks higher than everything else in creation. Okay now that being said he's he's talked about Jesus and he said okay Jesus is the image of the invisible God and he is he's the highest ranking One, overall creation. And now, what he does is he says, well here's some reasons why Jesus deserves to be first. Just in case we need proof, why does he deserve such exalted titles, the next two verses he talks about why he deserves it. Number one here, why does he deserve this position? Number one, he created everything and everybody else. Look at verse 16. For by Him, that's Jesus, for by Jesus, all things were created, both in the heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through Him and for Him. wherever it is, whatever it is, everything has been created by Jesus. Whether it be us, whether it be the farthest flung star in all of the galaxies, Jesus created it. Whether it be something microscopic that we can't see. All of these things, if it's been created, Jesus created it, right? He tries to spell it out for us there. Visible and invisible on heaven and the earth. All of these things. Even, I think he specifies the angels here. I think that's what he was talking about there at the end of the verse. Thrones and dominions, rulers and authorities. Words that Paul often uses to refer to angelic authorities. And so, even the angels, all of them created by Jesus. Everything that was created. So, he deserves first place because he made everything. Number two, why else would he deserve that place? Everything and everybody else was created for him. See that at the end of verse 16. All things have been created through him and for him. You know, and this is good for us to think about sometimes because we can get confused and we start thinking that Jesus exists for us to make our lives easy and pleasant and comfortable, but that's not what it's about, right? You were created for him, not the other way around. That is a transforming truth, but that's what Paul says. Everything's created by him, and he created it for himself. Created us for himself. Number three, another reason why he deserves this exalted position, firstborn above all creation, he existed before everything and everybody else. This logically makes sense for him to create everything. He would have had to have been there first, but Paul specifies it there in the beginning of verse 17, he is before all things. And then number four, It's His hand, Jesus' hand, that holds everything and everybody else together. See that in verse 17? He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. How many of you have seen Luis Giglio's videos? Especially the one about laminin like none of us wouldn't know what laminin is unless we've seen those videos, right? It's kind of a cool thing. Um if you haven't seen it I think at a music concert for Chris Tomlin right is where this Was taped where I saw it and and we gig Leo's passion is up there. He's talking about how Scientists have discovered this protein that it's it's it's the glue protein. It's the thing that holds things together and this protein is shaped like a cross, the way that it's put together. And so he points out, well, you know, isn't that interesting? And he quotes this first and says, hey, you know, the Lord has set this up so that when we finally get to this point in advance and we're like, what holds everything together? Here's the cross. And I think the Lord may have done that just so that we could find it and say, yeah, that makes sense, you know. But this verse is saying a lot more than just that the protein that holds things together is cross-shaped, right? I mean, that's not really the main point of this. The main point of this is that Jesus Christ, that He actually holds creation together. Not that He just, at the beginning of time, you know, He decided to speak and speak the universe into existence and get it spinning and now it spins on its own and He can go off and I don't know what else he would do, but he can leave it and we'll keep going. I don't think that that's the idea. I think the idea here is that Jesus's hand is holding everything together and if he were to relax his grip, all of these laws of nature that he keeps running would fall apart. All of this is held together by him. Even you and I, we're held together. The reason we keep existing and living and the reason the world holds together is because Jesus is holding it together. I saw some of the scientific stuff that kind of, where there's these forces that are, why is this staying together, these things and these molecules, and I didn't understand it well enough, just other than to say, okay, well, maybe that's how you explain it, but if I try to explain it, I get lost in it, but somehow, Jesus is holding all of this together. I even was thinking of 2 Peter, you know, where it talks about how this world is going to come to an end, it's going to come to an end in a great conflagration, a fire, right? Well, how is that going to be? Is it going to be that God actively judges the world, or could it be that Jesus was just going to relax his grip a bit, and without him maintaining all of this, it just explodes? I don't know. But Jesus is the one who is holding us together, which is actually kind of a terrifying thought if you're not a believer, right? Because the one that you're ignoring, or the one that you are rebelling against, the one that you shake your fist at sometimes, he's the one that's keeping you together, that's maintaining your life. Jonathan Edwards' famous sermon, he talked about sinners in the hands of the angry God, how we're all just suspended over hell, and the only one keeping us from falling is God, and that's true. It's true, Jesus is the one holding us together. Now, for a believer, this is a comforting thought, because who would I rather have holding me together than the one who's died for me? And he will do it well, you know, and he's promised to. And that is actually the next place that he goes. After talking about Jesus, that he's first, right? He's first in creation, but that's not the end of his qualifications, as if that weren't enough, right? I mean, As if being the one that everything was created for and by and who maintains everything isn't enough, there's more that qualifies him for an exalted position. There's more that says that Jesus ought to be first than just simply that. And that's the next thing that Paul goes into, your second point. He is first in the reconciliation of all things. Okay, now up through verse 17, all of these things have been true from the beginning of time. Jesus is the creator and the sustainer of the world. But the world is a lot different now than it was when he created it, isn't it? It's a lot different. The difference is sin. Satan has rebelled against God. Mankind has rebelled against God in mass. We see it in our nation, we see it around us, in our neighborhood, we see it in our own hearts. And creation itself is cursed. And so everywhere we look we find pain and suffering and death. And this isn't the way that Jesus made this in the first place, but mankind by our rebellion has messed up this world. And Paul is going to say, okay, not only was Jesus the one that made everything, so he deserves to be first, but Jesus is the one who's going to make everything right. He's the one who's going to take this world that's so distorted by sin, and he's the one who's going to set it right again. And so he deserves to be praised for that, and he deserves to be praised for this work that he did. The work of reconciliation of all things. Okay, now, just like he did in the first part, first he starts with some titles for Christ. This is Jesus's position as the one who's going to fix everything that we broke, right? So in verse 18, look there. Christ's exalted position, verse 18. He is also the head of the body, the church. Okay, there's your first blank if you're keeping notes. He is the head of the church. He's the head of the body, which is the church. Okay, just to make sure everyone's still awake, tell me, what does your head do for your body? It's kind of a crucial part. What does your head do for you? It keeps everything going, yeah. It's what's that? The control point? Yeah, there's a sense in which we have to listen to our heads, right? It gives direction. Maybe another thought that I have along that line. So my head tells me what to do. Is there anything else that my head does for the rest of my body? Yeah, it keeps me alive. Like, all of my sustenance and strength and life, it comes through my head, right? I mean, if I don't eat. All of these things come through my head. And I think that those thoughts are there. When he's talking about what Jesus is for us as a church, well, he definitely is the one who we ought to listen to. He's the head of the church. I think about this often just as a pastor. Because I'm always seeing new ministry concepts and people saying, okay, what we need to do, we need to reinvent the way the church runs. Like this quote I came across this week. He says, if we have a new world, we need to have a new church. You know? And some of those things, we can set up the chairs differently and we can eat a different kind of communion bread. We can make some of those changes. But a lot of the things that we do as a church, we do because Jesus told us to do it that way, right? I'm not the head. Fred's not the head. The elders aren't the head. We don't really have the authority to say we're gonna change the way the church is. We need a new church, you know? I mean, Jesus is the head and he's told us how we're supposed to be set up. So, you know, why do we keep doing communion all the time and doing baptism and having men be in leadership and praying and putting the preaching of the word central? We do that because that's how Jesus told us that he wants his church to be run, you know, he's the head. So we need to accept his direction. That's something that we take seriously here at our churches, to try to make sure that Jesus is the head and we're getting our direction from him. And also, he's our source of life. He is the head of the church. Also, in verse 18, there's another description of Him. He's the head of the body, the church, and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. He's the first beginning, the firstborn from the dead. This is what God is doing in the world these days. He's calling people to Himself, and He's giving them eternal life. He's giving to them the hope of resurrection, which is the hope that Bud had, right? after his death, not only does he get to be with the Father as he is now in this instant, you know, in glory, but one day that body of Bud's is going to be raised in a glorified body, you know, and it's a glorious hope that we have, that all of us as believers have. But who went first? Who was the first one that was raised from the dead forever? We talked about this in our Sunday School class this morning. We could think of other people who were raised from the dead like Lazarus, Well, that wasn't quite the saying because they just came back to life in their physical bodies and died again. But the first one, the trailblazer of the resurrection is Jesus Christ. He's the one who died and then rose again to a new glorified body. And this is what he's saying, he's the firstborn, he's the leader of us who will rise from the dead because he's the one that went first. And really, if it wasn't for what he did in the cross and his resurrection, none of us could go that way. I mean, Jesus opened up the way for us so that we can have resurrection. Without him, there would be no such thing. So, his exalted position, he's the head of the church, he's the firstborn over those who will rise from the dead. And then again, what Paul does is he says, okay, now, this is quite a lofty position, to be the head of the people of God, to be the firstborn over them. Why does Jesus deserve this? And so Paul explains it. He says, well, here's a couple of reasons why Jesus should be first over the church. and no one's gonna compete with this. Why does Jesus deserve this position? Verses 19 and 20. Let's look at verse 19. Four, right, he's saying this is the reason that Jesus deserves such an exalted position in the church. Four, it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him. Now, what I want you to do is hold your finger here in Colossians 1, Some of you, if you've got little print, it might even be on the same page. I have to turn a page. Go to Colossians 2, verse 9. There's a couple of things that, like details that I pick up from Colossians 2, 9 that I think that he's talking about the same thing here in Colossians 1, 19. It helps me understand what he's talking about. Okay, in Colossians 1, 19, our text, it says all the fullness, but it doesn't say all the fullness of what? Okay, but go to Colossians 2 9 and when he says all the fullness there He says for in him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form What all the fullness of what is he talking about in verse 2 9? When it says all the fullness dwells in Christ for the fullness of what Yeah, all the all the fullness of deity everything that that it is to be God Jesus is And in fact, it's almost like Paul is saying it stronger than it needs to be said, because if Paul just said, in Jesus is the fullness of deity, you know, if you've got fullness, that's all you can hold, right? But he says all the fullness, just so we don't have any doubt. Like, is Jesus missing anything of what it is to be God? No, he has all the fullness of deity in him. Another question I want that it's something else I pick up from verse 9 and I carry back in my understanding of our verse in 119 it says that it was a father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him But in in verse 9 it adds detail where where does all the fullness of deity dwell in chapter 2 verse 9 It dwells in him and in Yeah, in his body. So in chapter 2, verse 9, we're talking more than just, well, Jesus has always been fully divine. He's been fully divine since the beginning of time, right? But in 2, 9, it's definitely talking about the fact that he was fully divine, and in that, he brought all of this fullness of deity, and he came in human flesh. He became human. We're talking about his incarnation here. And this is an amazing thing, deserving of him being first, right? He is God forever, all that God is, and He took it and He came in human form. And I think that's the same thing we were just talking about back in verse 19 when it says, it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him. I think what He's saying is, here's your blanks for your sheet if you're filling it in, Jesus brought all His fullness of deity and took up human form. This is what Jesus has done. The first step to reconciling all things to Himself is that in the Father's good pleasure, Jesus, God forever, the eternal God, you know, came and took on human form, which is an amazing thing. Now, he did it for a reason, and that's what he goes on to in the next verse. So, let's look at that, Colossians 1, verse 19 and 20. For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him, and through him to reconcile all things to himself. having made peace through the blood of his cross. Through him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. Now, as I was studying this verse, the difficult thing for me to answer in my head, it says that, what does it say that Jesus reconciled to himself through his blood? It says he reconciled all things to himself through his blood. Now it's easy for me to think about how he reconciled us as believers to himself through his blood, right? Because we've received his gift of salvation and we've been given eternal life and we're going to live forever. We are one with God again because of Jesus. But what about the things that aren't us? Other things, you know? Could it be that in some sense this is saying that Jesus reconciled unbelievers to himself through his blood? Did he reconcile the evil angels to himself through his blood? Did he reconcile the rest of creation to himself? Because it's all things, you know? And just as I was thinking about it, I kind of wrestled with that for a while, and I think that... I think that we are supposed to see it that way. That the idea is that Jesus came and in his becoming human and dying on the cross, In that event, that was the key, that was the decisive event for making everything right with the world again. Everything right with the world again. And it all came through Jesus' coming and dying on the cross. Now, what would it look like if everything was right with the world again? I mean, what's it going to look like when everything is right with the world, right? Jesus is going to do that, we know that. Hold your finger here in Colossians, just go back to Ephesians. Go to books previous. Ephesians chapter 1. Here Paul is talking about the end and where everything is going. Ephesians chapter 1 verses 9 and 10. He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his kind attention which he purposed in him with a view to the administration suitable to the fullness of the times. He's saying okay here in the fullness of times this is what's going to happen. the summing up of all things in Christ. Things in the heavens and things on the earth. When time comes to an end and everything is right, what you're going to have is Jesus front and center, right? Jesus is the center of all things. Everything is going to be summed up in Christ. Now, at that time, is everyone going to willingly and happily be giving themselves joyously to Christ in service? No, because at that time you also have people in hell. Now, they too will have bowed their knee to Christ. They'll be submitted to Him. But it's a different kind of a submission to Him than we have. We have the evil angels. are going to be submitting to Christ. The world is going to be at peace again, but because some of us have received Him and some have been forcibly subjected to His rule. And that's right, that's where we're going, that's when everything is better. Christ is at the center, and all the rest of us is here. So if you think about it that way, that Jesus is going to set everything right, You could see where His death is the action that sets everything right. Not just for us, in a more blessed sense for us, but everything. Look at the back of your sheet. If you want to fill in these blanks, you can. Otherwise, just follow along with me. His death on the cross was the decisive action in making everything right with the world again. Everything right equals Christ being at the center. So how does Jesus' death make everything right? what I was thinking. For believers, it's easy. For believers, it gives eternal life, eternal peace, and you can look at the next verses in Colossians, and that's where Paul's gonna go. He's talking about believers and how we're reconciled to him. For unbelievers, the death of Christ is central in why they're going to be judged. In John 3, 18, it says that they're judged because they haven't believed in that. So the death of Christ is central in the destiny of unbelievers. Also, for demons, we're gonna look at this in weeks to come, Colossians 2.15, for demons, the death of Christ is what strips them of their power and signals their eventual defeat. I'm looking forward to looking at that. How is that, that the death of Christ strips the demons of their power? We'll talk about that more, but it does say it in Colossians 2.15, that that's what happened. And for the rest of creation, Why is creation cursed in the first place? Because of our sin, human sin, right? And what is it that's going to take away human sin? The death of Christ. So, the death of Christ is what's going to fix the rest of creation because he solves our problem and in so doing is going to solve the curse. So, for the rest of creation, Jesus' death is the reason for the removal of the curse. And I think that Paul is including all of this, that he's saying that when Jesus came, he took on human flesh, and he died on the cross, that was the act that is going to right the world. Now it isn't all done yet, right? He's still got some things he's going to do, but that was the decisive moment at which we started moving back toward everything being right. And for us, we get this glorious position of it being right and us being on his side, and that's a blessing beyond tell. So, but I think just the point that Paul is making in this passage, I just think it's beautiful. He's saying, look, Christ deserves first place in everything, right? He's the one who created everything for himself, and he's the one that sustains everything. And on top of that, when we mess everything up because of our sin, Christ is the one who came and fixed it. Or he's the one that's in the process of doing that. He is central in creation. He's central in reconciliation. Jesus Christ is first. And I haven't talked a lot, maybe, about application tonight, but how would we apply that? If Jesus Christ is first overall, what should I do? Well, I think the question for us to ask ourselves is, is Christ first in my life? Am I making Christ first in every area of my life? Because He is the center of all creation. Everything revolves around Him. Is he first for me? I just got this list from Arkandt Hughes. He says that Christ must have first place in everything. First place in our families, first place in our marriages, first place in our professions, first place in our mission and our ministry as a church, first place in matters of the intellect, first place in time, first place in love. As our Valentine's Banquet talked about, first place in conversation, first place in pleasures, first in eating, first in play, first in athletics, first in what we watch, first place in art, first place in music, first place in worship. Let us give Him first place. Because He is worthy of that. And all those things, any time I give Christ first place, I'm giving Him the position that He deserves so greatly and fittingly. When I submit to Him and make Him the center, I'm coming in the line with the rest of the universe. This is His rightful place. What a beautiful praise of Christ this is. Let's pray. Lord, we exalt You, Father, and Jesus Christ, we exalt You as the One who is first. We just thank you, Lord, for being so kind and gracious to us that we heard this message of reconciliation that we're gonna talk about in weeks to come and that you drew us to yourself. We thank you for this gift of eternal life that you give to all who believe and what a hope it is so that now we can be in on this and we just agree with the Apostle Paul. Jesus Christ, you are the greatest one, you deserve to be exalted above all and we we add our amen to that. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.