Latest / Time with God with John North / Following Jesus Pt. 3

Transcript

Following Jesus Pt. 3 · Time with God with John North

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Good morning. All this week we're talking about what it
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  Speaker 1: really means to follow Jesus. We've seen that it means
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  Speaker 1: that you have to recognise there's nothing else in life
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  Speaker 1: that's going to fill the void in your life. Bring
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  Speaker 1: real meaning into your life, make your life deeply worth living,
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  Speaker 1: bring you a sense of peace, wholeness, satisfaction about your life.
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  Speaker 1: You can pursue other things, you can try to get rich,
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  Speaker 1: you can try to have lots of friends, you can
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  Speaker 1: try to be
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  Speaker 1: Super popular, you can pursue physical pleasure, you can try
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  Speaker 1: and bury your sorrows in drugs or in alcohol, it
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  Speaker 1: doesn't matter what route you go, if it's not the
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  Speaker 1: Jesus route, you're going to be disappointed.
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  Speaker 1: And when you turn away from those things and say,
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  Speaker 1: all right, I recognise there's no other place. I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to find what my life was really made for and
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  Speaker 1: what brings it together in wholeness other than in Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: I am going to put my
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  Speaker 1: Faith in Jesus, that's when you start following Jesus. The
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  Speaker 1: second step we looked at yesterday is to start spending
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  Speaker 1: time with Jesus by opening your Bible and reading about Jesus' life,
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  Speaker 1: asking him to speak to you and shape you through that.
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  Speaker 1: recognise the living Jesus is there in your life waiting
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  Speaker 1: for you to spend time with Him.
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  Speaker 1: Then today, here's our answer what it really means to
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  Speaker 1: follow Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: recognise that he is your shepherd. You are the sheep,
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  Speaker 1: and follow him wherever he leads in your life. Obey
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  Speaker 1: him and put his agenda before your own agenda.
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  Speaker 1: Let me read you what Jesus said in John chapter 10,
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  Speaker 1: verses 24 to 29 in the Bible.
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  Speaker 1: It says, so the Jews gathered around Jesus and said
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  Speaker 1: to Him, How long will you keep us in suspense
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  Speaker 1: if you are the Messiah? Tell us plainly. Jesus answered them,
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  Speaker 1: I told you, and you don't believe. The works that
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  Speaker 1: I do in my Father's name bear witness about me,
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  Speaker 1: but you do not believe because you are not among
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  Speaker 1: my sheep. And then listen to this.
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  Speaker 1: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and
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  Speaker 1: they follow me.
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  Speaker 1: I give them eternal life, and they will never perish,
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  Speaker 1: and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
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  Speaker 1: My Father, who has given them to me, is greater
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  Speaker 1: than all, and no one is able to snatch them
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  Speaker 1: out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one. Well,
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  Speaker 1: did you catch the crucial line in the middle of
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  Speaker 1: those verses? My sheep hear my voice.
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  Speaker 1: And I know them, and they follow me. Now a
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  Speaker 1: shepherd in Jesus' day didn't, uh, chase the sheep, herding
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  Speaker 1: them to go the way he wants them to go.
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  Speaker 1: The sheep and the shepherd had a deep relationship, and
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  Speaker 1: the shepherd would go out in front, and all the
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  Speaker 1: sheep would follow after the shepherd, and this is the
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  Speaker 1: picture Jesus is saying of what it means to follow him.
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  Speaker 1: You hear his voice. He knows you, and you follow him.
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  Speaker 1: You obey him. You go the way he is going.
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  Speaker 1: You put his agenda before your own in life. Well,
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  Speaker 1: this is where it gets a bit challenging, doesn't it?
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  Speaker 1: Because our agenda is the big thing to us, right?
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  Speaker 1: And we just want our lives to be about that.
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  Speaker 1: But our lives take on real meaning when we put
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: God's agenda first in our lives, and I wonder, how
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  Speaker 1: is that going for you? I remember being really challenged
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  Speaker 1: as
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  Speaker 1: Uh, young Christian, many, many years ago, decades ago, listening
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  Speaker 1: to a DeGarmo and Key song, one of the early
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  Speaker 1: Christian groups.
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  Speaker 1: And the song said, I don't wanna be, I don't
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  Speaker 1: wanna be a casual Christian.
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  Speaker 1: I don't want to live a lukewarm life.
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  Speaker 1: Well, what about you? It's so easy to live casual Christianity.
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  Speaker 1: Just your Christianity is a warm convenience in your life,
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  Speaker 1: a nice add on. But do you ever follow God
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  Speaker 1: in ways that are uncomfortable to you? What have you
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  Speaker 1: ever given up for Jesus? Isn't it time to truly
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  Speaker 1: start following Him? I'm John North.
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  Speaker 2: To go deeper in your faith, visit AFCI.com.au.