Sermon on Colossians 1:15-23 – The Supremacy of Jesus: Pursuing depth of spirituality the right way

We are in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  I preached last Sunday (April 20, 2008) at Granville Chapel in Vancouver where Amy and I served on church staff from 1999 to 2005.  Granville Chapel is in the midst of a series in Colossians and I preached on Colossians 1:15-23.  The audio is only 19 minutes 32 seconds including the Scripture reading and the introduction of me.   

The sermon can probably be summarized by this excerpt.

Colossians 1:17 says, Jesus is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
If Jesus were not present, nothing would be made.  If Jesus did not continue to pour out his reconciling power, the universe would dissolve. 
And the Colossians worship angels?!  We scour magazines for tips on making our life better?!

Here is the MP3 audio recording

The Supremacy of Jesus: Pursuing depth of spirituality the right way – Colossians 1:15-23 Sermon MP3

PowerPoint Slides: Download colossians_1.15-23 PowerPoint 2003.ppt

PowerPoint PDF: Download colossians_1.15-23 PowerPoint 2003.pdf

Related:

I mentioned Vancouverite author Eckhart Tolle’s book A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose (Oprah’s Book Club, Selection 61) which is the #1 book on the New York Times Bestseller Paperback Advice list.  Note these related resources:

• Katelyn Beaty’s post "Another Brick in the Oprah Empire" from Christianity Today’s LiveBlog on May  9, 2008.
• Greg Boyd, author, professor, and pastor, April 20, 2008 substantial review: Eckhart Tolle’€™s "A New Earth" Book Review
• Douglas Todd of the Vancouver Sun’s February 9, 2008 article "Tolle has valid insights, but not ‘the answer’"
• Dorothy Cummings of the Catholic Register’s March 7, 2008 article "Tolle’s ‘New ‘Earth’ pains the body"
• I have previously written about Oprah: Frank Rich of the New York Times wrongly says that Christianity Today affirms Oprah’s Spirituality
• ThinkChristian’s April 25th post "Oprah’s New Earth" has a number of other links.

C.S. Lewis quote:

• PDF of "Weight of Glory" sermon by C.S. Lewis.

CBC Television Series "The Week the Women Went" which I mentioned in the introduction.

Update:

My wife Amy Rowell’s sermon from April 27th is now online at Granville Chapel’s website.  See www.amyrowell.net.

Title: Focus on Christ Regardless of the Consequences
Text: Colossians 1:24-2:5
Date: April 27, 2008
Location: Granville Chapel, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Note: The audio begins with Jeannie Wright doing the Scripture reading.  Jeannie is blind and reads using braille.
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