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PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP!!!
SCRIPTURE – JOHN 15:7
JUNE, 2022
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you,
ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
SUBJECT – WHAT IS A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST?? If you have spent any time around Christians, you have probably heard some of them talking about having 'A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST.'
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Now you might be asking yourself, just what does that term mean, and how important is it??
Well, that is what we are going to examine in this message.
First of all, look at the subject verse. What do you see??
Jesus is saying, 'If!'
That means there is some sort of condition that has to be met. And what is that condition?? That we abide, or take up residence in Him, AND, His Words, are allowed to take up residence in us.
Now we should know, that since Jesus is the Word made flesh
[John 1:1-3, 14], then, what He is literally saying is that the two of us, become One.
Does that term sound familiar???
It should, if you are married, or been to a wedding.
Because somewhere during the ceremony, the official will say something along the lines of 'the man and woman have become one.'
The Bible puts it like this,
Mat 19:5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain[two] shall be one flesh?
When this occurs, then, what you have, is the most personal relationship there is.
Why do I say this??
Because, in this type of relationship, each of you knows exactly what the other is thinking, and how they will react in any given situation.
All of us have a personal relationship with some other person. It may be a child, a parent, a sibling, or some other relative. Or it may be a close friend.
In some instances, it could be a medical professional, or even a member of the clergy, or someone else.
The point is, someone knows you well enough, to essentially be able to testify as to what you will and will not do in certain critical situations. If someone accused you of committing a violent crime, or maybe even a crime in general, this person can say beyond a shadow of doubt, that, that is a lie.
Or maybe you know someone that if someone accused them of the same things, you could rebuke them, and be absolutely correct in your statement.
So, how does a person come to be in this position??
It comes by spending a whole lot of time with them. Getting to know them thoroughly, inside and out. Knowing their deepest thoughts, and fears. And, I am not talking about hours, but days, weeks and years.
Outside of a relative like a parent, child or sibling, this is something that very rarely occurs. The reason being, these people are usually with you 24/7, from the time you are a newborn, up to an adult.
People outside of those, have to rely on your being honest with them. You could be lying to them, or, as they say in the street, 'putting on a front!'
But, for the purpose here, I am talking about the person being totally honest, and above board about themselves, and how they feel.
Well, in the case of Jesus Christ, the same thing applies on both sides of the aisle.
First, He knows each and everyone of us personally, inside and out. The reason being, He is our Creator.
He knows what makes us tick. He knows what is in our hearts and soul[minds]. And as such, He knows our character, and that it is devilish, even though we may try to pass ourselves off as being anything but.
You have probably heard someone say that they know you better than you know yourself. Now while that might be a stretch for them, Jesus really does know us like that.
The Bible tells us that our core[hearts] are so wicked, that it can even fool us. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?[Jer. 17:9].
What this means is, despite of how we may talk about what we will, and will not do, in a given situation, I would dare say without any need for examination, most of us have totally contradicted ourselves by proving we really don't know ourselves.
Now, let's look at it from our position.
How well do you know Jesus??
If you are like most Christians today, you know more about Him, than you know Him!
What do I mean???
You know Him through what someone else has told you about Him, rather than letting Him tell you about Himself.
What's the difference, you might ask?? How about night, and day??
Most people form opinions about someone based on their own personal experience with that person.
What this means is, if someone has not lived up to the image that they previously had about someone, then, they will give you their opinion of that person, based on that.
The problem is, that could be a distorted view, based on how the two of them interacted in a situation.
There are so many factors that go in to how a person views someone else, that I can't mention all of them.
Taking one common example, relationships between a man and a woman.
If a woman finds, what she calls, the man of her dreams, and she goes after him, and a female friend of hers, tells her that he is no good, and that she needs to stay away from him, the question must be asked, how does she know this??
Well, it just so happens that she was either in a relationship with him prior to this, or just maybe, she wants him for herself.
There is the possibility that she had a relationship with him, and he found her to be unfavorable, and broke it off, and she got hurt. So now, she is portraying him in an unfavorable light.
Then too, he may be a womanizer, and he would hurt her feelings if they got together.
Do you see the problem here?? You really have no way of knowing his true character until you try him for yourself.
Needless to say, there is a lot of risk for her to consider. The same thing can be said about women.
The point is, it's a gamble.
Well, when it comes to Jesus, you might think it's a gamble, but, from my personal experience, HE IS THE REAL DEAL!!! In fact, He is the only Real deal, that there ever was/is/will be!!
However, my word is not to be your guidepost as to your relationship with Christ. It should be His Word, to you, that should be your anchor/foundation!!
You see, I could be lying to you, just to get you to follow me, and give something to me, for making you feel good.
This is why I say, you need to have a personal relationship with the One Person, whose Word is impeccable, and never changes. Not only that, but, He is fully capable of backing up what He says, with Action.
With Him, there is no circumstance that can occur, that will stop Him from being able to get you to where you need to go.
Of course, as the title scripture says, these things are only available to anyone who abides[takes up residence] in Him, and allows Him, through His Word, to take up residence in them.
This is where a lot of Christians get lost.
They tend to believe, that He is some type of 'Genie in a Bottle', that is there for us to simply command Him to do something. And, if He doesn't do it the way, and when they want it to be done, then He is not the Jesus they have believed He is. And that is when they get discouraged, and tell others that He isn't all of some of us give witness about.
The problem is not with Him, it is with us!!
We are the ones who need to get our act together so that we will be in the position of being able to ask things of Him, and He will do it!!
The Bible says, we are to have the Mind of Christ
[1Cor. 2:16]. Well, you can't have that, if you don't know all there is to know about Him. And how do you get to that position??? By spending time studying His Word, the Bible.
The apostle Paul said this, 'That I may know Him.....[Phi. 3:10].
Paul emphasized the fact that, even though he was an apostle, there was still more that he desired to know about Christ.
Most Christians today, get saved, and think that's it. They are on their way to Heaven.
What they fail to realize is, unless you are rooted and grounded in His Word, and being conformed to His way of thinking, you could be in danger of forfeiting your salvation.
[Heb. 6:4-6] makes it clear as to what could happen in this situation.
You see, God's Word, gives you the
'full picture', not just the all good stuff. It is all laid out there for you, if you want to get in that relationship with Him.
And, while I am at it, you need to read the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelations, to get the full picture.
Most Christians today call themselves New Testament Saints.
What they mean by this is, since Jesus came here to save us, then, we should only be concerned with the New Testament scriptures. The Old Testament was for believers before Christ.
What they fail to realize, is the fact that from beginning to end, the Bible gives us the total image of Christ, and what He is about.
In your body, you have a framework of bones which is called the skeleton. It's purpose it to support your organs and muscles, so that you can stand up and walk around, and be you. Remove those bones, and all you would be is a blob, rolling around on the floor, if you could. Your organs and muscles would be all messed up.
Well, in like manner, the Old Testament, is the skeleton on which the Church is built. Remove it, and you have one big mess. Things would be all discombobulated and so screwed up, it would have no identity as to what it is supposed to be doing.
In fact, if you look at most churches, and Christians today, you will see what I mean.
They are here, but, they have no real idea as to what is, or is not of God, because their foundation[skeleton], is broken, or totally missing.
A lot of the good, they call themselves doing, is an abomination to Christ. By the same token, the things they reject, as being evil, are what Christ says they should be doing!! And you think Christ is going to Bless them for this???
No way Jose!!!
But you see, this all comes from someone's idea of who Christ is, rather than them studying His Word, and getting to know Him for themselves.
I have been saved since 1978, and as of today, I am still finding out that there is a lot more to learn about Him, that I haven't even scratched the surface as to the breadth, and depth of His personality.
Yet, He is not going to judge me based on how much I know about Him, as much as He will my being inquisitive enough to dig around and find more information about Him, and to align myself with what I do know.
This is why we are urged to,
'Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth [2Tim. 2:15].
I must say this again, don't trust anyone when it comes to rooting yourself in Christ. That goes for me, other preachers, friends and even family. They can all have ulterior motives as to the image they paint of Christ.
The closer you get to knowing Him personally, the more you will be able to know right and wrong in His sight, and be in line to receive what you ask for.,
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