Sermon I Saw Jesus Part 3 [7/2021] "Inspire them to love Me," Says the Lord.
It is clearly evident that Jesus would say “Follow Me” during His Ministry when He walked this Earth. > My Research shows that this phrase is recorded 51 times in the 4 Gospels. < So many people followed Jesus that they were Trampling Upon or Crushing Each Other just to be near Him. + After Jesus fed them Spiritually & Physically He would Command them to go back home! = Jesus had to send them away So that he could connect with more || different people. # But – Without Doubt – Jesus was Inspired to say Follow Me
PAUSE How we follow Jesus for each of us is different+ IT's G ? Peter & John & Others are with Jesus before Jesus Ascends into Heaven ? # But Jesus is still saying “Follow Me” even tho He fully knows these are His Final Moments on the Earth. + Also ? We can see from the Acts of the Apostles & Peter's Writings & John's Writings & History Itself that ? Peter & John had very different lives & positions in the church ? & very different ministries as well. > In other words ? How they both followed Jesus was different. ? They had different callings || gifts. < Jesus appears to be teaching here In today's Gospel that Both would follow Jesus in accordance with Jesus' own will. Amen? = Jesus is still the Boss even tho He is about to Exit this Earth So that teaches us that we will all follow Jesus in different ways + We have different calls on our lives ? & different gifts to fulfill that calling ? But we are all called to Follow Him. Whether we are talking about Peter & John -Or- You & me ? We are All called to follow Jesus || His Will || His Word. = So ? How do we do that in this Day & Age?
I believe there are at least a couple of Biblical Principals we can agree upon to following JC Now & Beyond. > First ? We need to have a knowledge of God's Word. < God's Word is God's Will. ? If it is in His Word then He wants us to do it! ? It's not that complicated. + For example ? A couple of Teachings come to mind ? Namely ? The 10 Commandments ? & Jesus' Command that we love one another. = If we would just do these 2 Things ? Obey the 10 Commandments & Truly Love One Another ? ? Then God would easily guide us into His Pathway for Our Lives. God made every person Unique ? With a Unique Heart ? & Intelligence & Gifts to serve Him & One Another. + If we would be fully alive & fully ourselves we would All serve God in a remarkable way. > I'm Not talking about being Powerful or Famous or Anything like that. < I'm talking about being a humble servant in His Kingdom! = The one who wants to be greatest should be the least among us! Amen? ? That's how to follow Jesus!
^ Thus ? A knowledge of God's Word ? With a willingness to Implement that Word is a Big Part of Following Jesus in these times. ? It always was ? & always will be!
With that ? Secondly ? Remaining Sensitive to the work of The Holy Spirit in our hearts is essential to fulfiling our destiny as individuals & as a church. > I don't know what God is calling you as an Individual to do Nor do you know what God is calling me to do ? # But THS is calling us All to Follow JC in a particular way. < If we listen we will fulfill our destiny as Individuals ? & as a Church. ? God will speak to our hearts to guide us! = God speaks to every human heart. > Some people never surrender & are never born again. < They completely miss God's Plan for their lives ? & they are not saved. = It takes a hardened, stubborn heart Not to find Jesus. > Once we are Saved || Born Again ? I believe the best way to remain connected to God is thru prayer. < I've always heard & I have likewise always taught ? That if you are serious about your relationship with God & If you want to be used in a mighty way by Him ? Then we should be spending an hour a day in prayer. < I am completely open to breaking that into two half hour periods for those of us who are still working or in school ? & struggle to find a whole hour to be with the Lord.
# But ? If we would spend an hour a day with Jesus ? I know He would work with us ? & keep us on that straight & narrow path to Eternal Life. # But Not only Us ? If we spent an hour a day with the Lord ? He would use Us & our lives to gather many other souls || people to Him. = Jesus would use our lives to build up His Kingdom. But it all begins with a Knowledge of His Word watered by plenty of prayer! ? Making Jesus Lord of our lives! = Prayer connects us to God ? & Opens Up the Portals of Heaven. > In our Prayer we ask God to fill us with His Spirit to Overflowing & He will do it! < That is a prayer God wants to Answer in a mighty Way. = Therefore ? I Believe ? The Best Way for us All to follow Jesus || God's Plan for our lives ? ? Is to have a Knowledge of God's Word & to Follow the Inspiration || Promptings of THS to Implement that Word. ^ Should we do these things well ? We will not only save our own souls but God will use us to save many others! + All Glory to God ? Whose Grace works in our hearts!
Jesus will give us all the Grace we need to remain on track. > He has plenty of it! ? I'm sure He is more than happy to give more & more Grace to each one of us! < I may not know what you have suffered in your life ? -Or- All that you've gone thru ? But God's Grace is sufficient to get us thru.
+ God isn't stingy with His Love || Grace || Holy Spirit. = The Question is ? How much to we really want? = He will give more & more of His Grace if we ask Him. + I Saw Jesus & He was absolutely full of Grace. ? By that I mean there was no room in Him for anything evil. ^ I Saw His Hair & Beard as He looked when He was still on the Earth.
= His hair was difficult to describe. + His hair was not like the nice little pictures we carry in our wallets or hang on our walls. ^ His hair was dry & wind swept. ? It was like the way your hair gets when you spend the day at the beach. + His hair was also very, very thick ? like he had never had it thinned out. = If you can imagine a man who had never had his hair thinned out and wind swept by the hot sun, ? ? This is what Jesus' hair looked like when I saw it. = It wasn't at all dirty but just looked caveman-like. = His beauty was Interior ? & Not exterior ? altho He was & Is a well built man. = He Is Not heavy & Not Skinny ? Just sort of looks like a what a well built carpenter would look like. = Jesus looks strong. = Scripture says in John 2:15 that Jesus made a whip “ & drove them all out of the temple.” ? It takes a healthy strong man with some muscle to do that! = I know I would not want to face His wrath. ? I would do everything I could to be & remain friends with this person!
If I had the wisdom now that I didn't have 40 years ago ? I never would have went into the Catholic Priesthood. > I said last week – If you weren't here – That an older man told me that God Said He wants you to be a Catholic Priest. < So ? Foolishly ? I dropped everything I was doing & pursued that for 10 years. Like I also said ? While I was a Franciscan Friar ? I did a lot of good works But I was Not following Jesus.
? I Worked with the Youth ? I Visited with many people in the Hospital ? I Worked in a Cancer Hospice for one summer & Also Visited with Inmates at the local prison quite a few times ? # But I followed after a Goal that Jesus did not set for me. I followed after a lifestyle that God did not want me to have || that I didn't have the strength to live || that didn't bring me any joy or satisfaction! ? I was not following Jesus. = Now ? Don't get me wrong ? Anything we do in Jesus Name we do get credit for. > Every act of love we make will be rewarded ? But it should be with the strength God gives us. < If we do things under our own will & strength we are doomed to fail.
+ As part of my training for the Catholic Priesthood I was sent to Tokyo to study the Japanese Language. They say Japanese is 10 times harder to learn for a Westerner. > English comes out of the Spanish & French &
Latin {I was told} so any of those languages are far easier for us to learn. < What do you call a person who knows only one language? = An American, of course! # But Japanese was really difficult for me to learn ? & I developed a headache while trying to learn it. > So I quit studying Japanese & left my priesthood studies altho I did eventually graduate. ? & my headache lifted after my children were born in 2002. ? < So the lie I swallowed took about 20 years of my life! I don't think Jesus healed me. ? I think just living a normal life within normal biblical patterns brought a lot of healing into my life. ? Thank God ? I feel very healthy now. > I feel strong & I have some Joy in my heart ? & I'm excited about my future ? & seeing Jesus again one day. < I don't think I've lived the best life ? Nor do I think I've lived the worst life ? But I do feel like I've learned a lot about how to follow Jesus in the process. + Unfortunately, It's taken me a lifetime to learn how to do that. ? For a good while there, I'm pretty sure I was pursuing the Opposite of everything God wanted to give me! = If I had simply Followed Jesus ? If I would have simply followed the Word of God ? & Normal Biblical Patterns set forth in His Word ? None of those struggles would have been mine! Amen? I endured a great deal of needless suffering.
= So the Obvious Conclusion is ? Follow Jesus ? ? We should simply follow Jesus! We primarily know Him thru His Word & the action of The Holy Spirit at work in our hearts. The Two Work Together to bring us to The Father. All Glory & Praise to The Most Holy Trinity.
# We live & learn. Amen? That's why good biblical teaching is important. Amen? ? Things could always be worst! ? We need to be grateful for what we still have! = So ? Let's just follow Jesus! ? & How do we do that? #1 Develop a knowledge of His Word ? #2 Ask THS to lead us & guide us in the way we should go! >< Not someone else! ? God's (Ongoing) Plan for your life is in your heart! ? = The answers are inside of you!!! Glory to God.
Please check out my website to learn more of what God is teaching me: anti-ChristRevealed.com || antiChristRevealed.info || antiChristRevealed.org.
May the Lord Jesus Christ keep you all in His peace.
