What is your view of God? Some people see Him as a mere observer or a bystander; someone who is watching your life go by, but not taking part in it. In this view God is seen as more of a score-keeper, someone who is just watching your life, seeing the decisions that you make and keeping a record of your performance in order to judge you.
With this view of God, it is very difficult (or even impossible) to have any kind of real relationship with Him. You can never really have any closeness with someone who has real power to affect change and offer assistance, but refuses to act, and instead just uses your pain to judge you. Would you even want to have a relationship with someone like that?
The real question is, is this idea of God truly accurate? Is this the picture of God that we see in the scriptures?
We will explore this today; and the answer may surprise you.
If you have been viewing the studies here for any length of time, you have probably heard me mention that Jesus has made complete redemption available, and that He has made complete provision for your spirit, your soul, your body and even your finances. And indeed we have studied about His provision for your spirit, His provision for your body, and His provision for your finances.
Yet it occurred to me that we had not really explored His provision for your soul (that is your mind and emotions), in quite some time. And this area of His provision is just as important, just as powerful, and just as freeing as the others; and so we will be looking at it today in this study.
We’ve discussed previously about having joy in Christ – and that’s a phrase that’s fairly common; there’s even songs sung about the joy of the LORD. We know as Christians, joy is something that we are supposed to have (and happiness also, even though some deny that today), yet very few people actually seem to have joy or happiness.
I have been to far too many churches and encountered far too many people who put on fake smiles, church-masks, and take on an entirely different persona when they are around others. Inside, they really are not happy. Inside they really have no joy.
And what makes it even worse is that they are afraid, ashamed and embarrassed to mention this fact to any of their Christian friends, because then the friend might look at them differently, treat them differently, or maybe even begin to gossip to other church members (more common than you might think!)
However the reality is that the friend is probably feeling the exact same way on the inside!
So, what I want to share with you today in this study, is how to receive real joy, real happiness, which only comes from Jesus Christ and His finished work. The kind of joy and happiness that lasts, and endures. The kind that can not be taken away.
One of the most famous miracles performed by Jesus, is in-fact His first one recorded in the Bible; the turning of water into wine in John chapter 2. There have been countless sermons preached on this over the years, and debates have even been argued on whether the wine was actual wine or merely grape-juice – which as an aside, it must have been actual wine, because the master of the feast clearly called it the “best wine” and inquired about why it was not served first, which would not have made any sense if it was only grape-juice.
However this first miracle of Jesus, is also often misunderstood. There is some very interesting dialog had by Jesus during this scene, and it has some amazing truth which is also very informative for us today as well. This is what I want to share with you today… how to let Jesus turn your water into wine.
One of the more notable statements made by Jesus can be found in Matthew 6:33, in which Jesus says that we are to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all of the other things will be added to us. Now, as believers we have become fairly adept at seeking God’s righteousness, as that was made available for us by Jesus on the cross. Yet it is interesting that His righteousness was not the first thing mentioned by Jesus when telling us what to search for. Jesus said that we are to seek first the Kingdom of God.
Now in many Christian circles, the Kingdom of God is not talked about very much; most people don’t even properly know what the Kingdom of God even is, or how to define it. We haven’t really sought it first as we were told to, but we have instead been seeking His Righteousness without His Kingdom. That’s why today in this study we will be examining what His Kingdom is, and what it means to seek (and find) the Kingdom of God.
Most of us have heard the phrase before that “Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship”. It has become a somewhat cliché catch-phrase, or something clever and witty to say. Many people say it, many people hear it, and nod in agreement,, but their relationship is really empty on the inside of them; and I am speaking of believers when I say that. And please understand that I am not saying that in a judgmental way and certainly not in a condemning way. I am going to be completely open and honest right up-front that my intention today in this study is to encourage you in your personal relationship with Jesus and how to live every day through that relationship, because really that’s the only way to live.
I have encountered a vast number of people in my time, who will readily claim to have a personal relationship with Jesus because it is expected of them to say that. It’s the “proper Christian response” but inside they are desperately hurting and empty and their spirit is starving because they honestly don’t know how to have a personal relationship with Jesus. So, these people walk around empty, but too afraid of the ridicule of those around them to actually admit that they don’t understand, and suffer in ignorance. In many churches today, Jesus has been reduced to nothing more than a Fire Net that saves you from going to hell when you die and that is it. Yet He is so very much more, and He came to give you much more as well. He’s didn’t come to just be merely a Fire Net, He came to give you Himself, and to enable you to live through Him, and this personal relationship is what we will be studying today.
When people say “Jesus is Risen.” they are making a statement. They are proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus Christ. They are testifying to His completed work for their atonement and justification which His resurrection brings. We often proclaim that He is risen with joy as we sing about the truth of this fact. However sometimes, this statement can become so cliché that the details of the events of His resurrection become lost.
That's why in this study today, we are going to examine the events of His resurrection, and in doing so, we will see a wonderful picture of His heart for us. Even His raising from the dead was done for us, and His love for us never fails.
Wisdom. It's a fairly common word, we often say that this person is wise or that person has great wisdom. But what exactly is wisdom? Specifically when it comes to the Biblical wisdom of God, many people confuse wisdom with trivia, they equate wisdom with merely knowing facts about God or having head-knowledge.
So today we will be studying about the wisdom of God, specifically what it is, how to apply it and how it benefits us in our daily life. I believe that at the end of us study, perceptions of God will be increased and chains will be broken as a result.
Jesus is the meaning and the purpose of life. I want you to meditate on that statement for a moment... take it in, digest it. We have previously studied on how without Jesus, life is empty; this is not an over-exaggeration. People who follow after other things may experience a type of joy for a season, but it is not the true joy that can be found in Christ. I use the term “true joy” because I can tell you from my own life there was a time before I knew Jesus, that I experienced something that I thought was happiness, but it always left me feeling empty. There was a secret sadness, an internal pain that I could never quite fully define. I simply knew that there had to be more to life than what I was experiencing.
Furthermore, Jesus is also the strength of life. This means that Jesus is the source of effectual power that manifests, sustains and maintains life – we know this from Colossians 1:17. Yet this is more than just a grand theory or a pleasant idea for believers to ponder. This is in-essence, the key to unlocking true life in Christ. If we fail to understand the truth that Jesus is the center and supplier of life, then we will continue to life apart from that life, wondering and wandering from one thing to the next with no direction and no source. Is it possible for a believer to miss-out on the abundant life of Christ? Oh yes! So today, we will be studying in detail how to life in new life in Christ Jesus.
Jesus is Lord. What does this phrase mean to you? There are those today who see it purely as a title, or a mantra to be repeated. Yes Jesus is Lord, the God of creation and Savior of the world; never forget that fact... but He is also personal, intimate and able to enrich and provide for every area of your life. Some people recoil from this fact, afraid that it will somehow take away from His Lordship.
This misunderstanding of the nature and character of God has held many people in bondage due to them not receiving from Jesus many of the gifts which He desires to give them; and so we will be studying exactly how Jesus fulfills our lives, and we will be letting the Scriptures teach us these things so that there will not be any confusion any longer.