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Growing up… my parents did a
terrible thing to me… no, it’s true…
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they regularly made me talk to a person that I
could NOT stand
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they made me go to a Tuesday after school
program where everyone loved this guy
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they asked me to write down what he said
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they made me read his stories
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…and even memorize the things that he said…
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and things that others said about him
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And, to be honest, I hated every minute of it.
And when it was all said and
done… I still could NOT stand God or His so-called Son…
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I remained distant, disappointed and frustrated
with Him.
Why did it take me 17 years
before I changed my mind about Jesus?
It wasn’t because my parents
weren’t trying… they had me at “church stuff” 1, 2, and sometimes up to 3x a
week through most of my childhood.
Dilemma
For me: the issue was relationship… I didn’t know Him… and I
definitely didn’t want to
That may not be your issue…
For you: you may want to know
God, but you’re not sure how to do it.
I want to explore 2 ideas today
that I think will help us with these problems:
1)
People of the Word actually want to KNOW the author personally
2)
And POW know the author because they don’t read with their heads, but
with their hearts
Let’s PRAY and
then we’ll jump into these ideas.
Word
In the gospel of John, Jesus
encountered a group of people who had the same problem that I had. They KNEW
the Bible… in fact, they were the greatest scholars of the day… they had it all
memorized… they could even teach on the subject of the Christ… but they didn’t
KNOW Him.
And when they met Jesus and met
the people who loved/followed him, it caused all kinds of frustration. They
couldn’t figure out what made him so special… they could figure out why people
would give up every day of their lives to listen to this guy… follow this guy…
worship him?!
In John 5, they came challenging
Jesus’ authority… they came questioning Him… they came with their knowledge of
the Bible… and even of the promised Messiah… but in the middle of Jesus’ long
response to them… He grabs at the heart of their problem:
J 5:37b-40 His voice you have never heard,
his form you have never seen, 38 and you do not have his word abiding (remember
this word) in you, for you
do not believe the one whom he has sent. 39 You search the Scriptures because
you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness
about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
How many of us have picked up our Bibles and not found God!?
How many of us can even quote
Bible passages that we’ve heard?
ü at
weddings (love passages)…
ü at
funerals (times and seasons, new Jerusalem)…
ü prayed
at church or school (Lord’s prayer)…
ü or
even written on a sign at a ball game (3:16)…
ü and
yet even though we might have dozens of Bible passages memorized (do unto
others)… you didn’t realize you knew
so much J …
ü it
hasn’t gripped us… it hasn’t changed us.
When we don’t know the author, why would we care?
Maybe we’ve even learned these
passages with the best of intentions! Because we want to please the Lord and
gain eternal life (see Pharisees) … and yet our relationship with Jesus has
remained stagnant, distant… OR if you were me… I was HOSTILE!
Maybe you’re like me… and the
teachers in Jesus’ day… I
didn’t actually want to “come to Him.”
I knew what that meant… If I
actually believed in Him, I had to trust that what He said was TRUTH… and that
meant my life would have to change… OR worse yet, I’d have to start acting like
a Christian… and I hated the “church-kids” …no, it’s true!
·
Everyone’s
relationship with God felt false to me because I didn’t understand what a
relationship with the Father looked like.
We CAN’T attempt to be POW and refuse to come to Jesus…
If we do, we’ll never truly KNOW
Him…
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His nature
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His goodness
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His passion for our purpose and destiny.
Jesus said it this way to the
teachers immediately after His earlier challenge…
John 5:42 But I know that you do not have the love of God
within you.
And that was my problem…
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I could read the Bible…
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I could quote passage after passage…
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at times, I could even play the “Christian game”
to keep my parents and my youth pastor off my back J.
But the “love of God” had not yet
gripped my heart in such a way
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that the Bible actually meant something…
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could teach me something…
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could encourage my life…
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could change my perspective… my attitude… my
actions… my person.
I hadn’t interacted with Jesus on a “heart level”
…and so when He spoke, I had no connection to what He said… ever have that
happen to you?
·
You meet a neighbor, classmate, cousin or
coworker… they tell stories… challenge you to do a project with them… invite
you to something… BUT because you don’t really “know” them… you listen, but you
never really hear what they say.
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Conversely… think of someone you’ve shared time
with: a college roommate, a
travel companion to a foreign country, OR a teammate from your basketball team
that you made it all the way to state with…
·
When you have a conversation with them, you
listen! You’ve shared time… you’ve “been through the war” together… you’ve
experienced life together. You KNOW them… when
they call or want to have coffee, you go!
The Bible is actually one of the
many ways that Jesus is reaching out to enter into relationship with us… Under
the new covenant, the Father tells us the word will be “written on our heart.”
If you’re like me, you didn’t
understand that you could KNOW Jesus like that. When I had my initial encounter
with the loving presence of God’s Spirit in 1994… I realized something:
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God loved me.
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Faith was something that was birthed in my heart
not my head.
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I realized God was an interactive being.
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After that… I read the Bible like a thirsty dog!
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Why? Because I realized that was Jesus speaking
to me.
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I wanted to hear from my friend.
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I wanted to Know him better!
Jesus says it this way in John 15
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear
fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you
abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I
in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6
If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and
the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in
me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for
you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to
be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my
love.
Let me explain… sometimes it
helps to “know” what Jesus was saying in the original language. The word ABIDE
is the word “meh-known.”
Essentially, it is the act of an intimate knowledge between 2 people… like a
husband and wife… it is literally that Jesus wants to be known: ME KNOWN… check
it out this way.
4 Be KNOWN by me, and I by you. As the branch
cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it IS KNOWN by the vine, neither can
you, unless you ARE KNOWN by me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches.
Whoever is KNOWN by me and I by him, he it is that bears much fruit, for
apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not KNOW me he is
thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown
into the fire, and burned. 7 If you ARE KNOWN by me, and my words ARE
KNOWN by you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this
my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my
disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. KNOW my
love.
People of the word KNOW Jesus personally.
The love of God has taken root &
jumpstarts the relationship.
People of the word are KNOWN by Jesus personally.
They stay
connected, so that the relationship grows stronger and stronger.
Maybe you’ve wanted to Know Jesus
and Be Known, but that journey has been a frustrating one for you… if it has, I
want you to learn the secret.
POW know the secret to the connection:
We read with our HEART and not our
heads.
We don’t go to the Word just to
learn more knowledge… we go to the Word to love Him more!
As we love Him more, we WILL gain
understanding, but that’s not our primary focus… it’s a heart connection with
the Father.
Think about this: I have known my wife since 1996. At this
point in our relationship, I’m not having conversations with her to learn more
facts… I’m not trying to find out her birthday, where she grew up, or the name
of her grumpy dog she had growing up.
I talk to her because I love HER
and I want to “meh-known” her
better!
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Today, I want to understand how she feels about
things… her plans, ideas, prayers.
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The same is true of the Father… I want to
experience his thoughts and emotions.
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What is He saying about my world, my life, my
purposes & plans.
How does this happen?
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When I was drug to church, I did it because I
“had to”
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Changing our language to “get to” makes a huge difference
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Changing our attitude towards a moment of joy vs. obligation is everything
WRAP UP
When you open your Bible, how do
you approach that moment?
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Checklist
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“have to”
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“supposed to”
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fear and trepidation
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boredom
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a thirst for facts
Or does it look like this…
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best moment of my day
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coffee with a friend
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awe of the King of the Universe
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is it time to get to know and be known by our
amazing Savior
Hebrews 8 reminds us of the
promise of knowing Jesus this way…
This is the covenant I will
establish with the people of Israel after
that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God, and they will be my people.
11 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God, and they will be my people.
11 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
This is the promise of the NEW
COVENANT.
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That Jesus has paved the way for us to KNOW one
another…no barriers.
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That God will write the word on our heart in
such a way that when we read the word it will come alive to us.
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That if we approach the word with our whole
heart, we will never be disappointed.
Let me end with this:
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We
make time for the relationships that are most important to us.
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Chad Kiifner
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Corrie
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Because we want to know each other… we want to
be intentional…
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Not just for knowledge, but for intimacy
