Introduction:
Are you reaping the benefits that go along with being heirs to the Kingdom of God?
If you profess to be a Christian Disciple of Jesus Christ and you have fully surrendered your heart to God,
and you are obedient and walking in the path that leads to God,
then you should be experiencing and reaping the benefits that go along with your new life in Christ. Amen!
Do you even know what the benefits of being a true follower of Jesus are?
You would if you knew the Word.
You would if you had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
You would know all the benefits of being a disciple if you were a true disciple and were being led by the Holy Spirit.
The Bible teaches us that the most important relationship we can have is a relationship with God.
It also teaches that the highest level of knowledge we can obtain is the knowledge of God and God’s Will.
Let me ask you a question, If you suddenly had a heart attack right this moment and died -Would your soul go to heaven or hell?
Would you wake up in eternal joy or would you find yourself in eternal torment?
That’s a question we need to ask ourselves folks and if the answers scares you, maybe you need to pay close attention to what I’m going to say in the next 15 to 20 minutes.
Jeremiah 9:23-25
This is what the Lord says:
Let not the wise boast in their wisdom.
Or the strong boast of their strength,
or the rich boast of their riches:
But let those who boast boast about this,
That they understand and know Me,
That I am the Lord who exercises loving kindness,
Justice , and righteousness on earth.
For in these I delight.
What these words say to me is that ultimately it is only our knowledge of God and the understanding of His will that is important as we go through this life.
If we are going to boast then we need to be boasting about how well we know and understand God and his will because ultimately that is going to be the only thing that will be of great benefit to us.?
One thing I’ve come to realize is that some people think that just because they know of God it is the same as knowing God.
But there is a big difference in knowing of someone and knowing that person.
We all know of President Obama
But how many of us know him personally?
There is a big difference.
Our knowledge of God is crucial to our salvation because unless we come to know God personally we have not obtained salvation and the eternal life that all of us seek after. Amen.
We need to rejoice in the fact that God loves us and earnestly seeks to draw us into a relationship with Him.
That is the reason God speaks to us through His Holy word where he reveals himself to us and tells us how we can come to know him personally. He wants a relationship!
To know God personally is one of the greatest benefits I can think of for being a Christian!
And even though we can never know all there is to know about God, once you get to know Him you will find real joy in seeking after the knowledge of his will and even more joy when you follow his will.
Regardless of what ever state you find yourself, you will have more peace than you could ever imagine.
There are people in the world today who are going through some tough times in their life.
There are people who are really struggling with certain issues and trying to figure out what to do next.
There are people who are out of work,
Who bills are overdue,
Their children have gone astray,
Job related issues,
People with health issues,
In-law problems,
Relationship issues and the list goes on.
But those who know the Lord on a personal level are not disturbed by these things. Those who know God and have him in their hearts wade through these tough times without wavering.
Why because to know God is to have peace of mind.
Because they know that these little set backs that we face in life are only obstacles to be overcome by faith in a God who says, trust in me and I will guide you out of the wilderness into the promise land.
The Bible teaches us that apart from the Word of God it is impossible to know God.
It is from the Word that we get our faith, as it says in Romans 10:17: Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
If your faith is dwindling and you are struggling with dealing with life issues maybe you need to turn to the one who has the answers and solutions.
Maybe you need to turn to God. And if you look closely enough you will find him in here. (Hold up bible) Just waiting for you.
For many years I struggled with a lot of things.
Alcoholism
Drug abuse,
Relationships,
Finances,
A Judgmental attitude,
Fear
Always having to be right,
Not being able to see someone else’s view,
Today these things don’t bother me because I choose to
Focus my attention on building my relationship with Jesus Christ and I don’t have the time worry about
Things of little consequence.
A friend once told me there are two secrets to living.
The first is: don’t sweat the small stuff.
And the second: Remember it’s all small stuff.
Everything in life that does not draw us into a closer relationship with God and the knowledge of his Will is all small stuff!
The more time I spend in the Word of God the more I come to realize how far away from the example of Jesus we have traveled.
As individuals, as a church, as a nation we have missed the mark that Jesus tried to show us while he walked the earth.
Jesus said that the two most important things we can do is to love God with our whole heart and the love our neighbor as ourselves.
But we have failed in our quest to do this because we tend to put ourselves first,
our family second and maybe God falls into line somewhere behind family, often he his much further down on the order of priorities.
I believe until we develop an intimate and personal relationship with God, through the teachings of Jesus,
by the power of the Holy Spirit,--
we will continue to aim for the wrong targets in life.
Through divine revelation God has revealed his word to us and then he sent his Son here in the flesh to teach us and to live out the example that we are to follow.
But somewhere between the Resurrection and January 24, 2010 we have slowly drifted away from following the ways of God and set our own goals and priorities.
Mainly because we have drifted away from the Word of God.
Do you know that almost everything we teach our children is wrong. That the goals we have set for ourselves is wrong.
Am I being radical? Yes I am because there comes a time when you need to get radical.
Now I know that a lot of people don’t want to hear this.
but my job as your spiritual leader is to tell you the truth whether you want to hear it or not. And sometimes the truth is not all that pleasant to listen to.
My job as your spiritual leader is to show you the error of your ways and share the gospel of Jesus with you so you can know the truth –because only the truth will be able to set you free.
The truth is, many of the folks in churches today don’t know God and many of them do not want to know God because God’s way and our way are in conflict with each other.
We believe in living to obtain all the pleasure and happiness we can while we are here on the earth and God says you’re wasting your time building up treasure here on earth and that we should be building up treasure in heaven.
God Says that the wisdom of human kind is nothing but foolishness but we seem to put more value on the wisdom of humankind than we do on the wisdom of God.
We believe that we should work and buy things to make our life more enjoyable while we are here.
We believe our children should have all the things we didn’t have as a child so we rush out and buy them whatever they ask for.
We believe it is more important to receive than to give and to kill rather than to forgive.
Why has our value system changed so much down through the years?
It is because we have not been faithful in spending time developing our relationship with God.
We have allowed the world and its teachings to slowly creep in, generation by generation,
soul by soul and steer us toward seeking temporary happiness opposed to seeking eternal joy.
You see, as I said earlier, one of the benefits of knowing God’s Word and obeying God’s Word is, we get to know God personally through his word.
A lot of folks place a great deal of pride in the fact that they have a secular education with all kind of degrees.
We can have all of the secular degrees possible everything from a BA to a BS but they count for very little in the whole picture of things.
They may make you a big or important person on earth among your peers, but what about your eternity?
Will God recognize your law degree or your PHD as a valuable resource for entering into heaven?
Will my college degrees in divinity make it easier for me to enter the kingdom?
I don’t think so.
How can I make you understand that the information contained within in these pages is priceless and the most valuable source of knowledge you can obtain anywhere on earth.
How can I inspire you to take seriously the question “Where will you spend eternity?”
People are dying everyday and many of them are dying without Christ.
Many of them are dying rich and wealthy with earthly possessions which they had to leave behind because only the soul makes the journey into eternity.
As I said at Tom’s funeral, I have never seen a U-haul behind a hearse.
If you have not heard anything I said all day, please hear this.
The only way for us to get to know God is through his Word. This Bible is like having your own personal tutor available 24/7 to teach you the wisdom that leads to salvation.
Are you using it and reaping the benefits of a Christ Centered Life?
My final words to you today are remember:
God loves you,
And so do I. Amen.
