It's All About Jesus

23_04_20 -Ep.308 - Run With Horses Podcast - It’s all about Jesus

 

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Last week we talked about what it means to follow Jesus. The cliff notes version, do what He says. This week we move on to the next part, it’s really simple and it’s all about Jesus.

 

Welcome to Run With Horses! My name is Norman and my goal is to help you thrive as a follower of Jesus. The spiritual life is both incredibly simple and potentially the most difficult part of your life. God invites you to live intentionally and on His mission. It’s very cool that we can do that together!

 

We are working on what it might look like to live out my working definition of church by going through the definition a word at a time. We are looking at Jesus today.

 

MY WORKING DEFINITION OF CHURCH

A CHURCH is a group of followers of Jesus who worship Him in spirit and truth, humbly offering their lives as living sacrifices, together living out the mission of Jesus as His witnesses to the world, by sharing the gospel and making disciples through teaching obedience to His commands as they edify and equip others to join them on His mission.

 

Last week we considered that we are His followers. Jesus is the “another” of the M-W definitions!

 

Follower – Merriam-Webster

a : one in the service of another : retainer

b : one that follows the opinions or teachings of another

c : one that imitates another

 

 

**** So we follow and obey Jesus but Why? Who is Jesus? Here is a starter list for you.

 

*****

Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis

I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell.

You must make your choice.

Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

*****

Why would Lewis say this about Jesus?

The Bible claims Jesus is God.

Isaiah 9:6

Hebrews 1:8

Titus 2:13 -

John 1:1

Jesus is Savior of the World.

Acts 5:31

1 John 4:14

Philippians 3:20

Jesus is a Miracle Worker. Some of Jesus’ Miracles

Turned water into wine (John 2:1–11)

Healed a paralytic (Mark 2:1–12)

Healed a withered hand (Mark 3:1–3)

Calmed a storm (Mark 4:35–41)

Healed a servant from afar (Luke 7:1–10)

Revived a dead man (Luke 7:11–17)

Healed a man with leprosy (Matthew 8:2–4)

Healed a bleeding woman (Luke 8:43–48)

Healed a man born blind (John 9:1–12)

Fed the multitude (Matthew 14:13–21)

Walked on water (Matthew 14:22–33)

Cast out demons (Matthew 17:14–21)

Healed a man with a severed ear (Luke 22:50–51)

Resurrected himself (Mark 16:1–7)

Let’s go back to our definition of the church for a minute.

 

MY WORKING DEFINITION OF CHURCH

A CHURCH is a group of followers of Jesus who worship Him in spirit and truth, humbly offering their lives as living sacrifices, together living out the mission of Jesus as His witnesses to the world, by sharing the gospel and making disciples through teaching obedience to His commands as they edify and equip others to join them on His mission.

 

We follow Jesus. Because He is God and Savior and because He is doing something. We all want our lives to matter. We want to do something important. Jesus offers us a part in His mission as His witnesses. There is no greater work we can give our lives to. We follow Jesus because outside of Him our lives have no purpose. Once you truly understand who Jesus is and what He offers you, there is no choice to be made.

His disciple understood that and made the choice to follow Him.

 

John 6:67

 

What is your answer? Will you follow when the way is tough? Let’s be honest, the way can be tough as part of His church family. Relationships can be painful even among believers.

But I don’t believe you can live out obedience to the commands of Jesus outside His church.

Making intentional, serious efforts to obey the commands of Jesus will result in your spiritual growth and the building up of the church. Intentional obedience to the commands of Jesus will connect you directly to Jesus and His mission.

It doesn’t matter how much you know about Jesus if you aren’t practically engaged in following Jesus.

 

The question is how do WE live this HERE, NOW.

 

A life that is Intentional, Relational, and Centered on Jesus

 

Thanks for joining me again today! Stop and say a prayer for your church family today! I’d love to hear from you, write me at norman@runwithhorses.net or leave a comment on the Run With Horses Podcast facebook page. Take time today to pause and thank God for His work in your life and keep running.