On Friday night I preached on and launched our theme for the rest of the year.... “I’ve been with Jesus”
I believe definition is important because definition gives meaning, meaning gives purpose and purpose gives direction which takes you to a certain outcome. Thus I believe by properly defining who we are and what we are about, meaning, purpose and direction becomes apparent and we will find ourselves seeing the outcome we desire...Salvation to the Northern Beaches and North Shore of Sydney.
Jesus Christ is the ANSWER. General Pants, Glue and Subi Jeans are not the answer. Facebook is not the answer. Even Twitter is not the Answer! Whilst Phil Hubbard has a lot of good answers, he too is not THE ANSWER. Jesus Christ is the way the truth and the life (John 14:6). He is the answer for you, for me and for the world. So therefore to BE WITH Him, truly is the answer for mankind.
Mark 4:13-14
Peter and John in this scripture are recognized as men who have been with Jesus... “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say.”
If I was to arm wrestle Phil Hubbard people would applaud my skill and strength when I beat him because it’s obvious that it’s something very achievable for me to accomplish. But If I was to arm wrestle Jake Bulgin (Arnold Schwarzenegger equivalent) and beat him people would attribute it to some external force or higher power because that is clearly impossible for me to do! In the same way, when people see followers of Christ, walking in and achieveing humanly possible things, they applaud our human effort and recognise our great work as people. But when people see Christians walking in and living the impossible, as the Pharisees did with Peter and John, that’s when they recognize God, they cannot argue against it and therefore attribute the unusual level of freedom, favour, authority and power in our lives to Him (Mark 10:27). Living in the impossible points to God and demonstrates the Answer for the unbelieving world we live in.
If you have ever been in a steam room, (which is full of steam and peoples sweat) you know that the longer you spend in there the sweatier and more flustered you leave. You spend ten minutes and you’ll come out considerably wet with your own sweat from the steam and body heatof the ten other people in there. You stay in there a couple of hours and you are going to come out having lost a couple of kilos and completely drenched in your own perspiration.
POINT: The longer I dwell somewhere the more intensely I reflect that place that I’ve been. The longer I spend just being with Jesus, the more intensely I will reflect Him. The more intensely I reflect Him the more people around me will see and thus receive Jesus Christ. This is how we bring salvation to the multitudes.
Our fight is not against crazy demons trying to set us on fire, or fisty cuffs with non-believers. Our biggest battle is to spend time with Jesus by His Holy Spirit. Not pressing the snooze button seven times, going to bed early enough the night before in order to wake up and pray, making uninterrupted time to spend with God.... I find this is my fight. When I win this fight, I find myself truly reflecting Christ, walking in the impossible and seeing people discover Jesus around me.
When I’ve been with Jesus people start to recognize more of God in me and less of me in me and the result is salvation.
Friday night we saw two people rededicate themselves to Jesus, two people receive healing in their body and the presence of God apparent in the auditorium. That is impossible by human effort or skill. It is only possible with God, through Jesus Christ, by His Holy Spirit.
Can’t wait to see you for Senior High in two weeks on the 15th of July... Phil Hubbard preaching!