Deepening Our Relationship with Christ: The 'If Then' Journey

1) "If we are the church, then wherever we go, we carry the priesthood of the church with us. So we invite you to just carry Jesus with you. Today I'm starting a new series, and it is based on if then. Somebody say if then. You see it on the screen there. It's if then. And that is, you know, it's based on a condition on the conditional statements that are made by Jesus. Now, the idea of if then is a concept that is fundamental to logical reasoning. In other words, if you want to come to a conclusion, I think Shawn spoke a little bit about that. Sometimes in computer programming, in mathematics, in philosophy, you might use this idea of if and then in order to come to a conclusion." [01:01:12] (43 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2) "So God himself uses it. He says, if you do this, I will do that. So we can see throughout scripture. And so it's important to understand that, you know, God used that because he wants us to come to a conclusion of what he's saying. You know, very often we have religions around the world, and very often you hear people say, all religions lead to the same God, the same seed. But, you know, that is not quite correct, right? But the word of God is true. And we can come to conclusion when we read the word of God. And we come and we can see this type of reasoning applied across the board in scripture, and it helps us to better understand how God works in our lives." [01:03:55] (39 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3) "Jesus doesn't mix matters. He says, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. You can take it or you can leave it. He makes it very clear, and this is very, he's asserting who he is. I am the way. And he says, no one can come to the father except through me. And then later on in verse seven, as we continue in verse seven. He says, if you had known me, you would have known my father also. And from now on, you know him and have seen him again. Philip said to him, lord, show us the father. And it is sufficient for us. Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long and yet you have not known me?" [01:07:53] (44 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4) "And I think it is important for us to know Christ. That is the primary objective or the primary goal of every christian believer, to know Christ. In fact, that is why he came. He wants you to know him because in knowing him, you will know God. In knowing him, you will know the father. Thats essentially what hes saying in this passage. If you have seen me, you have seen the father. You know, Sister Bonnie always talks about, tells the story about this little boy who calls his father in the night because there's a storm. And his father said, don't worry, son. Don't be afraid. God is with you. And the son says, dad, yes, I know God is with me, but I want somebody with skin on to come and be with me. I want my dad to be with me. And you see, Jesus is God with skin on. Essentially, that's what it is." [01:14:35] (52 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5) "So let's forget about those elementary things and let's understand that we come to that place where we get to know Jesus. Because when we get to know Jesus, you'll find that if he's our light and in our lives you'll realize that no matter what the storms are, he will see us through. The disciples were in a boat one night and as the boat was going through, Jesus had stayed back. This is after feeding 5000 people. And he stayed back to pray. And he's coming and he sees the boat out and the boat is under water and there's a storm. And maybe for hours the disciples are battling the storm. And then Jesus comes and he walks on the water coming to them. And Peter says, lord, if it is you, bid me come. And Peter steps out and he walks on water. Man, what a thing to happen. But the storm is still going because when Peter saw the waves around him, he started to sink. And then Jesus got into the boat and immediately the scripture says as he got into the boat, the wind and the waves ceased." [01:25:25] (58 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6) "The best way to make Christ known is to live a Christ like life. To live a Christ like life, a Christ centered life. How would jesus handle this situation that you're facing? How would Jesus deal with this issue? When somebody comes and whispers something in your ear about somebody else, how do you, you think he's going to do? We know how Jesus is going to respond, right? At one time, there was this woman, and as a matter of fact, there's a bunch of men and this woman, and they had captured her because she was caught in adultery. She was caught in the act. So there were some peeping tombs at somebody's house, and they grab and they bring her before Jesus. And they said, the law says that a woman caught in such a situation should be put to death. What do you say? They're whispering in Jesus air. They're telling him what the law is, as if he didn't know the law because he wrote the law. And Jesus does not look at the woman, but he says, he that is without sin casts the first stone." [01:29:15] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7) "You know, there is something to be said about the power of a personal testimony. You know, we can take the scriptures and we could preach all that we want. But you see, you tell somebody your story, you tell them what God has done for you. When I stand and I tell people, hey, listen, you know what? I had a diagnosis of prostate cancer, but God healed me. You know, you can't beat that. How many of you know that? Because that's what God has done for me. Amen. So we tell others. So we become a witness. We are not only to be a witness again, you know, that's on a personal level. We have to be personal witnesses. Witnesses. He has also given a mandate to the church to go and he says, preach the gospel. Go ye, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Corporately, as a church, we're supposed to go into all the world and make what? Make disciples of all nations. But you can't be a disciple maker until your first aid disciple." [01:32:22] (58 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8) "When you spend time with Jesus, you will eventually get to know him. You know, Peter and. Peter and John, they had an encounter with a lay man at the gate. Beautiful. At the temple. This was just after the descent of the Holy Spirit. So they're pumped and they're really on fire for God. And they're going into the temple to pray late in the afternoon. And as they go, there's this man who's begging, and this was a layman he had been laying from since he was a child. And he's always placed in front of the temple, and he's begging, and he sees Peter and John, and he reaches out to them and to ask for some alms. And of course, Peter and John stop for a moment and they say, look at us. And the man looks at them because he's expecting them. Seneca is the jewish word, the hebrew word for charity. And he says, look on us. And he's expecting to get some money. And Peter and John say, well, silver and gold, we do not have but such as we have, we give unto you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. You see, when you know Jesus, you can give Jesus. Amen. When you know Jesus, you can give Jesus." [01:37:07] (66 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9) "So when we come to know Jesus, there are some things that we are going to conclude and we are going to come to, and I want to share a couple of these with him. Number one is, you will know that he is divine, that he is God. You will not go long saying, well, he's some prophet. He's just a man who lived out there. No, you will understand the divinity of Jesus. Now, Jesus establishes divinity in this passage that we just read a while ago, John, chapter 14. Jesus starts off by saying, let not your heart be troubled. If you believe in God, believe also in me. Think about it from when I were to come to you, and I would say something like that, if you believe in goddesse in me, some of you might be flinging chairs at me right away because you realize that is blasphemy, right? Jesus is saying it and he's saying, if you believe in God, believe also in me. That's saying clearly that he is divine, that he's putting himself on an equal plane with God. Think about that for a moment. Amen. So when we get to know Jesus, we realize that he is one with the father. He established it at the beginning." [01:45:06] (67 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10) "So the question I have today is, do you know Jesus? As we come to the conclusion here today, do you know Jesus? Jesus is saying, if you know me, you will know the father. In other words, if you know me, you will know the way to God. If you know me, you will know what truth is. If you know me, you will have eternal life. That's what he's saying here, here today. And he's challenging all of us to get to know him. I am challenging you this morning to get to know Jesus. Find some books on the real Jesus, go into the scriptures, read the gospel and find out who Jesus is. I will close by saying this one thing. We have four gospels. Have you noticed that? We have Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Why did God decide to put four gospels in one bible? One gospel would have been enough, right? Don't you think so? You see, the thing is, the four gospel gives us an east west, north south picture of who Jesus is. We get a circular view, a 360 degree view of who Jesus is. Amen. We see him from all aspects." [01:50:18] (65 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)