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Sermon onFour Ways Whereby Jesus will be More Real to YouBy Brian Pepper I do not know what your special needs are but there is one thing that I do know and that is that Jesus knows. He knows the individual needs of every soul. And not only does He know your needs and my needs but He is able to supply your individual needs. It is certainly wonderful to know this; that He will supply your needs if you will contact Him by faith. We read in Philippians 4:19, "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Jesus can do this and He is willing to do this. But there is one thing that you must do and this is very important.
I want you to notice what is written in Mark 6:56 "As many as touched him were made whole." Did you notice what it said? "As many as touched Him were made whole." How were they made whole? Simply by touching Jesus Christ. Everything depends on making contact with Jesus.
In the Gospels we save the wonderful story about a woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years. She had spent everything that she had on doctors, but none could help her. She said, "O, if I could but see Jesus, the great Doctor, and ask Him to cure me, then I would be healed." (Mark 5:25-34) One day she heard that Jesus was in her neighbourhood. But when she went out to find Jesus there was such a crowd around Him that she couldn’t get anywhere near Him. She couldn't go up and talk to Him. All she could do was to edge her way in between other people. Finally she succeeded by reaching in between other people and just touched the hem of His garment as He was walking along. Instantly power was released. There flowed into her being the healing and the help that she needed.
There are four ways by which every person may have constant contact with the Lord Jesus Christ, and have his spiritual needs supplied. I can definitely promise you on the authority of this precious Word that if you will follow these four simple ways, Christ will be more real in your life in the future than He has ever been in the past. And your spiritual needs will be supplied.
First of all, let me tell you that there is a way to read the Bible that makes Jesus Christ real to you. You must take God's promises as the voice of God speaking to you personally. You must put your own name into the text. Here is an example. Hebrews 13:5. This is a very precious text and also it’s a promise. "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Listen, when you read that in the Bible, who is the ‘thee’? Why it is you. Yes that is exactly it. You must take it to yourself. Put your own name in it. That will make Christ more real to you. Put your own name into the promise. When He says "I'll never leave thee" that "thee" is you, and believe it. Then the blessing comes because you know Christ is with you and is never going to leave you. Just like the poet says: "If our lives were but more simple, we would take Him at His word, and our lives would be all sunshine in the sweetness of our Lord." So here is the first way to make Christ more real in your life, and that is to take God's promises in the Bible to yourself, individually and personally.
There is a way to pray will make Christ more real to you. Real prayer is the opening of the heart to Christ as to a friend. So here is the second way to make Christ more real. When you pray, talk to Jesus just as you talk to you talk to your dearest friend. Talk to Jesus simply and naturally. Don’t think that you have to use formal words or set phrases. Just talk to Jesus in your own language. He understands. So the second way is to talk to Jesus in prayer as you would to your dearest friend.
Now there is a way to begin a day that makes Christ more real to us. Jesus has promised that He will dwell in our hearts every day by the Holy Spirit. In Revelation 3:20 He says, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with me." He will come into our hearts and live in our being. Now isn’t that wonderful! We need to give ourselves anew to Jesus every morning. The first thought in the morning should be of Jesus. Turn to Jesus the first thing in the morning. Even before you get out of bed say, "Lord, give myself to Thee for another day. I thank Thee, Jesus that Thou art in my heart." This is the third way to make Jesus more real in your heart. Just open up your heart and pray that Jesus will come in and abide with you every day.
There is a way to go through a day that makes Jesus more real to us. That is to talk to God intimately as you go about your work. Let us notice Isaiah 26:3, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee.” Would you like to have perfect peace? Why, O yes! We have some peace, but it isn't perfect you know that. There are so many things mar our peace. God wants us to have perfect peace. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace (on one condition) Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee." So the fourth way to make Christ more real is to keep your mind stayed on Him as you go about your work. There is a lovely book, it is called the Ministry of Healing (EG White). If you ever get a chance to buy that book you ought to. In Ministry of Healing, page 182, we have this lovely sentence, "By prayer, by the study of His word, by faith in the abiding presence, the weakest of human beings may live in contact with the living Christ, and He will hold them with a hand that will never let them go. Isn’t that so wonderful and yet so simple. |
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