Homecoming 2018 - Jesus: The Biblical Jesus and The Personal Jesus
/Welcome To BARAH MINISTRIES a Christian Church Rory Clark Pastor-Teacher\
Good Evening!
Welcome to Barah Ministries…a Christian Church that makes a difference worldwide courtesy of the internet. Barah Ministries…a Christian Church that makes a difference locally in the Gilbert, Mesa, and Chandler, AZ communities. My name is Pastor Rory Clark. At Barah Ministries, our God is the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and we teach the Word of God from God’s perspective, not from man’s perspective.
/TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON Jesus: The Biblical Jesus and The Personal Jesus\
John Chapter 1, Verses 1 to 4…
/JOHN 1:1 In the beginning was the Word (the Lord…God the Son), and the Word was with God the Father, and the Word was God.\
The expression “in the beginning” calls to mind that Jesus is the only Person that has always known you and me.
/JOHN 1:2 He existed in the beginning with God the Father.\
“In the beginning” was not really the beginning for our God…He has always existed, and there never was…nor will there ever be…a time when He doesn’t exist.
/JOHN 1:3 All things came into being through the Lord…God the Son…and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.\
Jesus is the Creator of you and me.
/JOHN 1:4 In the Lord…God the Son…was the resurrection life…and the resurrection life was the Light of men.\
Our spiritual life and our physical life comes from the Lord. He is our Light, and light always has dominion over darkness. When light appears darkness disappears. John Chapter 1, Verse 14…
/JOHN 1:14 And the Word (the Lord…God the Son) became flesh, and lived among us, and we beheld His glory…glory as of the uniquely born One from God the Father…full of grace and full of truth.\
Welcome to the celebration of our uniquely born God…the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…100% God and 100% man in one person forever.
A huge welcome to the members of our non-resident congregation who are home…a huge welcome to my friend and my Pastor, John Farley, and to his son Jack…you two are always home here at Barah Ministries…a huge welcome to the resident congregation…and a huge welcome to all who join us throughout the world on the internet. Here’s a song to welcome all of you…the song is HOME by Phillip Phillips.
/MUSIC AND REFLECTION Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
HOME Phillip Phillips\
I’ve known since I was eight years old that I wanted to teach people about God. What I didn’t know is that He would give me such a wonderful group of people to teach. If I had been picking a group of people to call my congregation…if I had been picking a group of people to call friends…there is no way I could have made better picks for myself than God has made for me in the members of Barah Ministries. Welcome home!
This weekend, I hope you feel my gratitude for your presence in my life as much as I feel it. Welcome to this celebration of our non-resident congregation…Homecoming…a celebration of each of you. And for those of our non-resident congregation members who are not able to be here this time, I encourage you to start saving now for next year. Come to see your Pastor and your family…and make this homecoming celebration a priority in your life…ask God for the means and the time and He will give it to you.
In the lessons of this celebration, our focus is Jesus. As Christians, there is no one more important to us than the Person our relationship is named for…The Christ…The Messiah. How well do you know the Lord and Savior? What would you tell others about Him? Pastor John Farley will help you get to know the biblical Jesus this weekend, and I’ll help you get to know the personal Jesus. It promises to be an enlightening, and deep, and intimate and very personal weekend…and we welcome you home.
In John, Chapter 4, a Samaritan woman had come to a well for a drink. The Lord Jesus Christ, just as He does with all of us, came up to the woman to introduce Himself. After a brief conversation, the Lord makes a startling statement and a wonderful offer…John, Chapter 4, Verses 13 and 14…
/JOHN 4:13 Jesus…said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again…\
/JOHN 4:14 …but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst…but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life (the resurrection life).”\
Immediately, the Samaritan woman wanted some of this water. Let us drink in the water of the Word this weekend…lets welcome June Murphy with a song she wrote that introduces us to the star of our weekend…His name is Jesus…here’s June singing COME SEE A MAN.
/MUSIC AND REFLECTION Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
COME SEE A MAN June Murphy\
/OPENING PRAYER Let us pray...\
Almighty God and Father…thank you for this time of reflection…thank you for this time of fellowship…thank you for this time to experience the unity you have given Your believers as a gift…thank you for this time of learning…thank you for the subject of our study, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who came to earth to live among us…who died to pay for every sin we’d ever commit…past, present, and future…who was buried and stayed in the grave for three full days…and who was resurrected from the dead on the third day to prove that death could not contain Him…open our spiritual eyes to the truth, and help us to learn about the One we worship, Your Son…we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s name...Amen.
/TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON Jesus: The Biblical Jesus and The Personal Jesus\
It’s a pleasure to welcome Pastor John Farley to Barah Ministries. We met years ago, and we’ve been friends ever since. It’s a pleasure to know we will be friends through all eternity.
Pastor John ordained me a little over ten years ago. Based on how we met, it’s clear that it is God’s sense of humor that Pastor John ordained me. I introduced Pastor John to the daily study of the Word of God...and he is responsible for launching me on my teaching ministry. It’s also clear that Pastor John ordaining me was God’s perfection in action.
Without question he is one of my best friends. There are many ways to describe him. He is a confidant...a mentor...an advisor...yet words could never capture adequately all John means to me. He is someone with whom I can completely let my guard down. Under no circumstance, even though he is human, would I ever imagine him betraying me. He’s just not built that way. It’s God’s perfection that I should have a human being in my life that is just as important to me as the Lord is important...and who reflects the Lord so perfectly.
Conversations with him are one of the succulent pleasures of my life...they are always deep...always insightful...always edifying...always refreshing...no matter what the topic. He loves making fun of me, and I value his making fun of me as much as I value every aspect of our relationship.
I love Pastor John Farley.
There is nothing I wouldn’t do for him. There is no mountain high enough...there is no valley low enough...there is no river wide enough...to keep me from him. I can remember when he had a medical emergency and I was in Taiwan. I dropped everything to get to him as fast as I could. It’s just that way between him and me.
Frankly, there is no one I trust with your souls more than I trust Pastor John Farley and it’s a pleasure for me to make room in this pulpit for him to teach you this weekend. Let’s welcome up Pastor John Farley.
There’s nothing better than learning the Word of God...here’s June Murphy to sing about it. After the song we’ll take and extended break so we can get some time to talk to each other before we proceed with the second part of the lesson.
/MUSIC BREAK WORD OF GOD SPEAK June Murphy \
/TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON Jesus: The Biblical Jesus and The Personal Jesus\
Welcome back! Thank you Pastor John for your always informative and always edifying lessons, this time about The Biblical Jesus. Now it’s my turn to talk about The Personal Jesus.
When I think of God the Father, I know I have a Father who is always making plans on my behalf. It’s fun for me, both when I reflect, and when I just watch, to see His skillful and perfect orchestration of my life. He is ensuring that I am conformed to the image of His Son, and I willingly accept His plan as magnitudes better than anything I could ever imagine.
When I think of God the Holy Spirit, I know I have a guide who is leading me into all the truth. I willingly follow His direction as He helps me get to know myself…my strengths…my weaknesses. I gladly accept His enabling power that He keeps on pouring into me, the same power that resurrected the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead…and I am excited about how the Spirit is helping me get to know myself as a new creation in union with Christ.
When I think of God the Son, I appreciate it that He created me.
I am not much for Sound Bite Christianity or Platitude Christianity. A sound bite is a brief and striking remark…
“Because of you, Lord!”
“Exalt God!”
“God willing,brotha…”
A platitude is a trite, overused remark spoken as if it is somehow fresh and profound.
“Jesus Christ is my personal Savior!”
That’s one of my least favorite of the platitudes.
“Jesus Christ is my personal Savior!”
Sound bites and platitudes seem to be what most Christians and Pastors think Christianity is all about. I can tell you that the two men who are in this pulpit this weekend think exactly opposite.
I want to share some feelings with you tonight about Jesus Christ. I happen to think that there is more to Jesus Christ than what the bible says about Him. I’ll do my best to tell you what I mean by that in the next three lessons.
First and foremost, Jesus Christ is my friend.
Do you, as a believer in Christ, see Jesus Christ that way? Is He your friend?
There was a television show in the early seventies called The Courtship of Eddie’s Father. It starred Bill Bixby, Brandon Cruz and Miyoshi Umecki. The series was about a widower magazine publisher and his young son, Eddie. Eddie believes his father should remarry and manipulates situations with women in whom his father is interested. I love the words to the theme song of this television series…
/THE COURTSHIP OF EDDIE’S FATHER THEME
People let me tell you about my best friend He’s a warm-hearted person who’ll love me till the end People let me tell you about my best friend He’s a one boy cuddly toy, my up, my down, my pride and joy.\
/THE COURTSHIP OF EDDIE’S FATHER THEME
People let me tell you ‘bout him he’s so much fun Whether we’re talkin’ man to man Or whether we’re talking son to son. Cause he’s my best friend.\
That’s how I feel about Jesus Christ. Jesus is my best friend.
I have an eternal relationship with Him. I am married to Him. It is the only successful marriage I have had. He is the only Person who has known me forever. He knows everything about me. He knows more about me than I know about myself. That excites me!
I can remember when Jesus and mefirst met. I was in a police car, speeding toward Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago. My Mom was in the front passenger seat, and I was lying across her lap, on my back, cradled in her arms. I was looking up at her, and at the ceiling of the police car. The police siren wailed. All I could think about was that I was going to die. Mom held a white towel soaked with my blood over the gash just above my left eye. It would take twenty-four stiches and skillful plastic surgery to close the wound.
I remember saying, “Mom…I don’t want to die. If God lets me live I will dedicate my life to Him. And I’ll never disobey you again.” Mom had told me that I could go outside, and that I was not to leave the yard. I didn’t listen. And I got my head busted “all the way down to the white meat,” as comedienne, the late Bernie Mac, would say.
I lived.
My best friend honored my request to live and I paid Him back by honoring my promise to dedicate my life to Him. It is a match made in heaven.
Jesus was teaching me, at eight years old, the first and most important lesson of the Christian Way of Life…obedience. You see, if we just do what our friend Jesus says, things always work out.
When I think about a relationship with a friend, it begins by getting to know each other. There is no need for the Lord Jesus Christ to get to know me. He created me, and He has always known me. I had to get to know Him. When you get to know a friend, a closeness develops. Friends often have what you need and they are willing to give it to you. We come to depend on our friends and on the friendship. Our friends are the ones we think of when we are in a bind…when we’re feeling down…when we need someone to talk to.
Friends are those we chose to be in relationship with because they edify us. They are ALWAYS on our side and they are always finding ways to build us up.
Our friends are people we want to talk to daily. We don’ttalk to them daily, but if we did we know that we are always going to leave the interaction feeling better than we did when the interaction started. Our friends are people we can’t get enough of.
Our friends are people who don’t treat us in a familiar manner. They don’t take us for granted. They don’t get casual with us. They’re looking out for us. They don’t neglect the friendship. They feed it.
Our friends love us. For our friends, unconditional love is not hard work. It’s just what they want to do for us. They trust us, and they don’t have any trouble letting us be ourselves, even when we’re being destructive to ourselves. Our friends don’t bother judging us. They certainly express concern for us when we’re heading for the pit of despair and destruction, but they’ll be there for us, no matter what.
Jesus is all these things to me, and more.
At times, I feel that I’m not close enough to Him. At times, I feel like I am not paying enough attention to Him. At times, I don’t really think I’m a good friend. While these feelings may turn into my truth…they are not true…they are just feelings. I certainly know that Jesus doesn’t feel this way about me. He is always paying more than enough attention to me and He is always close in proximity, radiating His love from deep inside of me.
Jesus loves me.
He has made me everything I am today, and He is intimately involved in the unfolding of everything I have yet to become.
Jesus keeps me together when everything is falling apart.
Jesus made me black, but He doesn’t look at me as black. He doesn’t think I’m inferior.
Jesus has proven Himself to be a loyal and faithful friend. He is on my side. He has surrounded me in a sphere of grace and forgiveness and acceptance.
Jesus loves me with no conditions. I can’t disappoint Him. He has never been disappointed with me. I don’t have to do anything to impress Him.
Every resource that is His is at my disposal.
When I make a big mistake, most of the humans in my life abandon me. Jesus’ response to my big mistake is to put me out in front of everyone as the broken one, for the whole world to see.
Isn’t it great that He did the same for the apostle Paul…putting him out in front of everyone when Paul was at his worst? And for Peter! Can you imagine what it would be like if when we make a mistake, Jesus castigates us and abandons us as so many churches and people do?
With Jesus, I am in a worry free relationship. I can be myself and He loves me just the way I am.
I can remember my second quarter at Northwestern, back in the spring of 1973. My last final was the next day. Political Science. If I flunked the final I would flunk the course and be expelled from Northwestern for having two failing grades in a single quarter. I had already failed integral calculus.
I stayed up all night. Jesus was right there with me, orchestrating one more chance. I eked out a D…got to stay for one more quarter…and the next quarter my academic fortunes turned completely in the other direction…three A’s and a B. Thank you Jesus.
First and foremost Jesus Christ is my friend. I look forward to telling you more about my personal friend in the next two lessons. What does Jesus Christ mean to you personally? It’s a great thought to meditate on this weekend.
/GOD WANTS YOU! Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life\
As we close, just a reminder that Jesus Christ wants a relationship with you.
Luke, Chapter 13, Verses 3 to 7 say…
/LUKE 13:3 Jesus told them this parable, saying…\
/LUKE 13:4 “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine sheep in the open pasture and go after the one sheep which is lost until he finds it?”\
/LUKE 13:5 “When he has found it, he lays the lost sheep on his shoulders, rejoicing.”\
/LUKE 13:6 “And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’”\
/LUKE 13: 7 “I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner (an unbeliever) who repents (changes his mind about having a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ) than over ninety-nine righteous persons (believers in Christ) WHO NEED NO REPENTANCE.”\
God is always going after the lost sheep. Let’s hear June Murphy sing about it in her song YOU RAN AFTER ME.
/CLOSING SONG YOU RAN AFTER ME June Murphy\
/CLOSING PRAYER Let us pray...\
THANKS- INTERCESSION- PETITION
/Thanks for coming! Thanks for watching! Thanks for listening! www.barahministries.com\ |