The Pre-eminence of Jesus

[Taliya]

The name of Jesus is more than just an ending to a prayer, it is a representation of His character. Jesus is the Name above all names. He is our Lord and Saviour and all of His character floods my mind when I say His name. Reflecting on who He is when we speak His name will bring us back to His heart and change our perspective from just saying “in the name of Jesus” because we have to, into an attitude of awe of who He is.

For Jesus to be at the center of ACOP means for ACOP to be connected to His heart and have their attitude, mission, values, and culture shaped by Him. It means that ACOP isn’t just following Christian formulas or rituals, but they have a desire to know and reflect Jesus.

[Sarah]

I think that Jesus being at the center of the ACOP means that everything we do points back to him. We make a point in my youth group that every time we speak we mention Jesus in some way even if we aren’t talking directly about him. In all we do we try to tie it back to him and our relationship with him. I think the same has to be true of the ACOP – that everything we do, in all we teach, and in all we say, we are ultimately pointing back to him, and empowering relationship with him. That relationship and focus on him has to come first before personal gain, and even the advancement of the ACOP. Our advancement should be that more people know Jesus intimately, not that more people know the ACOP.

[Caleb]

I think through devotion and studying scripture, we can be sure to keep Jesus from becoming a sort of incantation. The reason I think that is you can almost think of spending time in daily devotion as a daily recalibration of the human heart. we set ourselves in tune with Jesus when we spend time with him and in his word. The focus, therefore, will always be on the greatness of Jesus, his preeminence, and the seemingly insanity of his love for us.

The same goes with ACOP. I think for Jesus to always be at the center of the movement there should be regular meetings where time is spent in devotion listening to Jesus. the movement will ever need to recalibrate its heart in order to keep Jesus at the center.

[Rachel]

I think that ensuring the name of Jesus never becomes a formula or an incantation means that we have relationship with him. That he becomes more and I become less. Jesus is a person, not just a name. That’s why when we say, “In Jesus Name,” things happen.