“Love the Lord…”

Let me start this week off with an odd fact. The word “relationship” does not appear in most English versions of the Bible. That said, for the last three weeks we’ve found that a relationship with God through Jesus needs to be at the center of our lives. Is this really a biblical concept? Answer: The English word “relationship” did not come into common use until 1744, long after most Bible translators had set the tone and tenor for which English words to use in translating the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures. The second part to this answer, though, is what we will study this week; that is, that Scripture is FULL of “relationship words” that are rich in meaning and give deep and significant definition to what God has intended for us to enjoy in Him.  

Jesus was asked by a religious leader what was the most important command in all of Scripture (Mark 12:28-30). Jesus in turn quotes from Deuteronomy, and then couches His statement that ALL the law and prophets hang on this command. The word “love” used here carries the sense of adoration, closeness of relationship, and a willing, passionate obedience to know and to please. In saying that “all” the law and prophets “hang” on this command, Jesus is basically saying that “nothing else makes sense” apart from a relationship with God. If we miss the relationship and just embrace the religion, we have nothing to hang our truth system on.

PRIMARY VERSE: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:5

SECONDARY VERSE: “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. John 7:38-39a

This week we will do one more “camping” trip – this time camping on Colossians 2:6-8. This is a rich few verses with so much meaning packed into them, they could easily become “life-time” verses as you’ll see. Consider the first phrase from the New King James Version “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him…” The word “As” means we’re dealing with a simile, comparing something to something else which is similar. So, what are the two things that are similar?

It would be the same as comparing two different “times” of your life, like saying “childhood is like retirement,” or “infancy is like adolescence.” In this case Paul, the author of Colossians, says that our “spiritual birth” is like “the rest of our spiritual life.” The New International Version pens the phrase, “as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him.” If this is true, what did we do when we “received” Christ Jesus as Lord?

CONFESS

For me, God’s Spirit woke me up to HOW STUPID I’d been, how I’d lived my life trying to avoid God, and how many things I’d done in my life were a direct violation of God’s good intentions for His good plan for me. I recognized I was “FILTHY” in His sight – totally errant in the way I looked at my Creator, and thus looked at ALL things – I had missed the mark – (which is the meaning of sin!). I just started telling God what He was revealing to ME about myself! That is true confession – and that was part of my “receiving Christ.”

REPENT

Having woken up to these facts, I began to see that the direction my life had taken was totally wrong! I needed to make a “U-TURN,” both in the sense of my behavior, and also my plans. I knew immediately that God’s Spirit was empowering me to make a very positive change of mind, behavior, and life-plans – this is what it means to metanoia (the original Greek word we translate “repent,” to change one’s mind about something).

BELIEVE

I became aware of the fact that I had only trusted and believed in myself! HOW DUMB… If I lived on the east coast of Brazil, and wanted to go to Bolivia on the west coast of South America, I could do it MY way, or I could do it in a jet designed to get me there in 3 hours. MY way – trusting ONLY in my abilities, would mean I start to walk on my own two feet, through the jungle, gathering my own food, across rivers filled with alligators, piranhas, and snakes. TOTALLY IMPOSSIBLE! But I could simply put my trust in a pilot and his airplane, and be “transported” there. My “faith” in Christ is the same – placing my trust for my life forever in His care – no longer trying myself to “earn” God’s favor, but rather believing that EVERYTHING Christ had done on the Cross was enough to earn God’s favor. My trust had been transferred from ME to CHRIST, and my eternal destiny had been transported from DEATH to LIFE!

PRIMARY VERSE: So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Colossians 2:6-7

SECONDARY VERSE: For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:11

Growing Deep

In the tree world, the most vulnerable time in the life of a tree happens from the breaking of the seed-coat and the emergence of a new shoot. A thousand enemies threaten a new tree – hungry animals, plows, foot-traffic, drought, flood, herbicides, etc. Trees that God has genetically programmed to live a long time spend most of their energy doing one very important thing – GROWING ROOTS. The reasons, of course, are obvious; grow a foundation first, and then the top may grow as large as it wants. A mature tree doesn’t worry about hungry animals, plows, foot traffic, drought… it is secure and the secret to its security is hidden underground in a vast root system.

The Christian life works in exactly the same way. Baby Christians start off vulnerable and in need of protection. But as believers root into their unseen relationship in Christ by personal study of His Word and, praying “in secret” (Matthew 6), then the “roots” of the believer are established and founded into something that is TOTALLY SECURE AND UNCHANGING. Other people don’t necessarily “see” these things take place – it happens below the surface, away from the praise or scrutiny of men.

PRIMARY VERSE: So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Colossians 2:6-7

SECONDARY VERSE: For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:11

Making Life Secure

Paul gives insight in Ephesians 4 regarding a benchmark of the maturation process of each believer, saying “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming” (Ephesians 4:13-14). The establishing/strengthening of our faith is NOT AUTOMATIC. Looking deeply into this verse, TRUE maturity happens when our relationship with Christ (knowledge = epiginosko [intimate relationship]) begins to invade every aspect of our life (fullness). This can’t happen in a void, and is almost always the result of lots of relationship time with other mature believers, letting their lives and insight be expressed in a unique type of unity without conformity. “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” (Ephesians 4:11-12) and this is why Colossians 2:7 includes the phrase “… as you were taught.”In the tree world, the most vulnerable time in the life of a tree happens from the breaking of the seed-coat and the emergence of a new shoot. A thousand enemies threaten a new tree – hungry animals, plows, foot-traffic, drought, flood, herbicides, etc. Trees that God has genetically programmed to live a long time spend most of their energy doing one very important thing – GROWING ROOTS. The reasons, of course, are obvious; grow a foundation first, and then the top may grow as large as it wants. A mature tree doesn’t worry about hungry animals, plows, foot traffic, drought… it is secure and the secret to its security is hidden underground in a vast root system.

The Christian life works in exactly the same way. Baby Christians start off vulnerable and in need of protection. But as believers root into their unseen relationship in Christ by personal study of His Word and, praying “in secret” (Matthew 6), then the “roots” of the believer are established and founded into something that is TOTALLY SECURE AND UNCHANGING. Other people don’t necessarily “see” these things take place – it happens below the surface, away from the praise or scrutiny of men.

PRIMARY VERSE: So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Colossians 2:6-7

SECONDARY VERSE: For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:11

The Results of Rooting Deep

The prophet Jeremiah wrote about believers who had matured in their relationship with God by using an amazing word picture common in the desert Middle-East…

This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert in a salt land where no one lives. But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:5-8)

PRIMARY VERSE: So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Colossians 2:6-7

SECONDARY VERSE: For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:11

Under the Surface – Hiding the Word & Secret Prayer

Consider this: We are, in this study, proposing that by having a “relationship” with an invisible God that we will begin to “overflow” and bear fruit EVEN in hard times. BUT – how do you relate to a God you can’t see and who does not speak audibly? One facet of the answer is tied directly to “where” we relate to Him. Consider how God might have spoken to King David as a boy… “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11).

What do you think David meant when he said “hidden your word in my heart”?

Similarly, Jesus contrasted the religious people of His day’s attitude toward public prayer with a very interesting truth…

“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:6).

PRIMARY VERSE: So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Colossians 2:6-7

SECONDARY VERSE: For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:11

“The bright yellow canary birds were an early coal miner’s life insurance policy. Carried below ground in cages, the animals’ highly sensitive metabolism detected methane and carbon monoxide gas traces that signaled potential explosions, poisoned air or both. For instance, when consumed by the effects of carbon monoxide, a canary would sway noticeably on his perch before falling, a much better indicator of danger than the limited struggle and squatting, extended posture a mouse might assume.” (adapted from www.petcaretips.com)

Paul gave the Colossian believers a “yellow canary” for testing any ideas, teachings or philosophies that might try to invade their thinking. Like miners in a cave who worked hard and might not be sensitive to all that was going on around them, they simply had to glance periodically at a small, easy to see bird to be able to test the safety of the air around them. Colossians 2:8 is that test.

PRIMARY VERSE: So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Colossians 2:6-7

SECONDARY VERSE: For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:11

The Deception of “Religion”

All people are born atheists (no understanding of a God or gods). But in nearly 5/6ths of the world’s cultures, a small child will be exposed to some form of belief system that attempts to address what all humans know is true – that we have an eternally big void in our soul that can’t be filled with things that are finite. By analogy, that void exists in every person which in turn creates a “demand for religion,” much like a drug trade exists throughout the globe because there is a huge population segment that has a demand for drugs. Religions would simply not exist if we were “simple” animals without souls created by God.

Even the writer of Colossians, Paul (formerly Saul), was extremely religious; but when he met God face to face his entire life and perspective changed. Paul realized that people had taken ideas about God and molded them into an agenda that was actually “anti-God” like “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13) yet “Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples” (Acts 9:1). Once Paul began his “journey” with God, his entire understanding of the Scriptures changed, and he began to experience the “God of the Bible” instead of “his religion” (Judaism).

PRIMARY VERSE: So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Colossians 2:6-7

SECONDARY VERSE: For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:11

This week we are going on a “Spiritual” camping trip. We are going to camp on this ONE passage of Scripture and try to mine out as much truth as possible from it. I challenge you to memorize the whole passage!

PRIMARY VERSE: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

SECONDARY VERSE: If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. John 15:7-8

PRIMARY VERSE: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

SECONDARY VERSE: If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. John 15:7-8

Four Kinds of Fruit

Throughout the Bible, the writers regularly illustrate 4 types of “fruit” borne in the lives of those who abide in Christ and have God as their Father. See if you can identify and categorize the 4 basic classifications of “fruit” from the following seven verses:

Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Matthew 5:16 “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Colossians 3:12-14 “…clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Hebrews 13:15 “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.”

Colossians 1:28-29 “He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.”

Colossians 2:6-7 “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”

PRIMARY VERSE: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

SECONDARY VERSE: If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. John 15:7-8

The Secret of Fruit-bearing is…

PRIMARY VERSE: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

SECONDARY VERSE: If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. John 15:7-8

Our Role in Fruit-bearing — “My words remain in you”

PRIMARY VERSE: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

SECONDARY VERSE: If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. John 15:7-8

Our Role in Fruit-bearing — “ask”

People in ALL religions pray. Jesus very clearly instructs us to be filled with His Word first, and then “ask” Him to naturally fulfill the new desires put into our hearts as a result of His words (and will) remaining in us. Consider the following statements and respond with True or False:

If we regularly pray to Jesus we obligate Him to answer our prayers.     True     False

If we regularly pray, God keeps a record of this and counts it toward our good works.     True     False

If we regularly pray, at some point we will fill up a request bowl in heaven and get a positive answer.     True     False

If we regularly pray, then and only then will we be protected from evil and earning a good standing before God.     True     False

Praying is how we score points with God.     True     False

Pardon me for these absurd statements, but I mention them because they represent the views of RELIGIOUS people who are walking dangerously close to WITCHCRAFT – not relationship! PRAYER is NOT a mechanistic “hocus pocus” say these magic words and certain things will happen in life kind of deal – that is the spirit of witchcraft! TRUE BIBLICAL PRAYER is the NATURAL OUTFLOWING of a heart that has been filled with His desires, words and will. Remember your first “boy/girl” human relationship? What did your phone bill look like?!!!! BOTTOM LINE: If we have a relationship with Christ (abide/remain), and we have intentionally ingested His love letters to us (the Word), we CAN’T HELP BUT PRAY!!! True prayerlessness is not the result of not enough “discipline” so much as it’s the result of NOT ENOUGH JESUS!

PRIMARY VERSE: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

SECONDARY VERSE: If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. John 15:7-8

“… bear much fruit”

Imagine two sets of parents chatting around the coffee table talking about their young families. Dad number one jumps into a deep subject with his guests… “I tell you what I want for my son and daughter – I want them to underachieve. I’d love to see them excel at laziness. If they could make it through life and have no impact on anyone I would be thrilled!” The mom from the second couple interjects, “I feel the same way; the safest way for our two sons to move through adolescence and into adulthood is to attempt as little as possible. I’d hate for them to discover a cure for cancer or better the lives of the community around them. What a disaster that would be! I certainly don’t want them to be fulfilled, just safe.”

ABSURD!!! What parent would ever say such a thing! Imagine what kind of young adult would be produced from this type of parental atmosphere!?

Now imagine God, who is YOUR heavenly Father – what do you think His thoughts toward you are? He (God) tells us! “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11). As a “Parent,” God wisely knows that the more “fruitful” we are, the more joyful we’ll be. In addition, He knows that our lives will snowball with glorious momentum around Him as we “bear much fruit,” because we will be pleasing the very One toward whom our greatest affection is both owed and deserved. If you are online right now, I dare you to watch THIS video clip.

On day 10, you categorized the four types of fruit that can come out of the life of a believer. One of those types was our witness – sharing and reproducing our faith into the lives of others. Consider the following verse in light of why God wants us to bear much fruit…

Philemon 1:6 “I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.”

PRIMARY VERSE: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

SECONDARY VERSE: If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. John 15:7-8

INTRODUCTION: The Essentials team at Pinedale Christian Church welcomes you to an adventure. Like a great novel with twists and turns, thrills and surprises, joys and cries, if you have just stepped into a relationship with God you have stepped into an adventure! God is about to unfold a story in your life. Your future life represents the blank pages that He is about to write on. Your life history prior to your relationship with God was just a very small forward compared to the chapters He is about to write. How do we know this about you?! God let us in on His secret about your life! Here’s what He told us:

“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him—these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

We feel VERY privileged to be given the opportunity to be written into the early pages of your story. It is a responsibility that none of us take lightly! God Himself has given you a NEW BIRTH. Along with your new birth comes a family of “older” brothers and sisters who’ve had a few chapters already written into their lives. For the next 26 weeks, we’re going to do LIFE TOGETHER. We will all read the same material and cover the same ground. We have only one very simple purpose behind doing this: we desire that your relationship with God grow and mature. It is something that God is going to do in you as you spend the next 6 months with Him.

Let me change analogies for a moment; “eating” is perhaps the most important “job” of a new child. It is a very regular activity of all living creatures. You now have a LIVING spirit within you that needs to be fed – regularly, daily, consistently. We are all going to be feeding together through these next 6 months on the same spiritual food. “Daily” is mission critical to this adventure. We want you to grow and mature in your relationship with God. You will find that with just 5 to 10 minutes a day, your hunger for God and His life for you will grow and mature. To miss a day here and there won’t hurt you, but miss a week and you’ll stagnate! That’s why we are doing this in a setting of accountability. Each time we meet (weekly), we’ll all be responsible to each other about how we did in our study over the past week. In fact, much of the study when we are together will cover what God is showing you individually in your personal time with Him! If you miss a week of study, our whole group will miss out on what God wanted to show you! For this reason, MAKE SURE THAT YOU SET ASIDE YOUR BEST 10 MINUTES OF THE DAY IN ADVANCE. The “best” time for you might be early morning, or after the kids are gone, or at lunch break or break time or in the evening. Choose the best time for YOU - where you can be alone and free from distractions. Write it in, set it aside, and mark your “spot” where you are physically going to meet with God daily. Turn off all distractions and just enjoy God. Be prepared to unload, think, reflect, argue, drink in and cry. God has been waiting your whole life for you to give Him your attention. What He does with you in this secret place will change your world (that’s His promise too!).

Lastly, know one thing. God has poured out SO MUCH love into our lives that we can’t contain it. We love you! We’re committed to you! We want God’s highest and best for you. But each of us is human! We make mistakes and we may make a mistake with you or inadvertently hurt you in some way! Please be quick to tell us where we’ve messed up. God has poured out a WORLD of forgiveness in His Son’s work on the cross. We stand thrilled and excited to see “the things God has prepared” for you as we start this adventure together.


In reading Genesis 1-3 this week, write down a few thoughts you might have regarding what Adam & Eve would have been like considering they were “made in the image of God.” What do you think some of those characteristics would be? 

Genesis 1:26, 28 - Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” 2:9,15,19 The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 3:8-10 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”  He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 

My first “real” job was for a local Chevrolet dealer. I had to clean cars, clean the shop, and organize the spare shop rooms. Occasionally, I would run into a tool that I’d never seen before. Not knowing what it was for, I’d take it to the head mechanic. He would chuckle at my question, “What is this for?” After a few choice words regarding corporate Chevrolet and overpaid engineers, he would explain, “Well, this is a ‘special tool’ designed to hold a set of bearings in place – without this tool, the engineers designed this part to be UN-FIXABLE!” Needless to say, I ran into a LOT of special tools, each with just ONE SPECIFIC FUNCTION. These unique shop tools may not have been used for months, but when it was time to fix a specific Chevrolet problem, the mechanics knew what “special tool” was needed to make the proper repair.

In the first book of the Bible, we learn that Adam and Eve were created for a special purpose. Being made in God’s image, man’s purpose was to represent God on the earth - to act as God’s rulers over His creation and take His character over the whole earth. God made a world that was “pleasing to the eye,” meaning that Adam was the recipient and appreciator of God’s creation. God allowed Adam to name all of the animals in the garden showing that God granted Adam the ability to think independently. God had daily meetings with Adam and Eve and they all shared a moral relationship with few rules. But these rules were very critical to keeping the God / Man fellowship pure. One rule forbade Adam and Eve to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. If they ate that fruit, they would violate their relationship with God, and that action would result in a multi-faceted death. When Adam chose not to obey his Creator and Friend, he severed that relationship and as a result, all of Adam’s off-spring (you and me) were destined for purposelessness, pain, and even death.

We humans are a strange “animal.” We don’t fit. We’re broken. We constantly ask “why” and don’t seem to get answers. Like special tools for Chevrolet, we were made as “special tools” in the hands of God. BUT, we sit around on the shelf, never used, fitting nothing, looking very “purposeful” but with no place to go. We are such complex beings, but we seem to have so little significance. Genesis 1-3 outlines in a very compressed story the most important aspects of our human past. The story gives the context for understanding our way out of our meaninglessness and sinfulness; suffice it to say though, the first thing that needs fixing is Man’s relationship with God. Fix that, and we’ll begin to see our purpose – why we were made… we were made for God!

Almost everyone has one. That “one” person you would go to if something were to go wrong in your life. And that person has a nickname –

“Go-To-Guy” (or Gal).

The amazing thing about coming into a relationship with Christ is that HE is able to be our CONSTANT “Go-To Guy.” He becomes the one person that is ALWAYS there, and out of that relationship FLOWS LIFE. In the verse above, Jesus is actually praying with His disciples the night before His death. Almost as an aside, Jesus discloses a rock solid truth you can build ALL of life on – KNOWING GOD & CHRIST. In the original language of that prayer, there are three possible words for “know.” One word means “to know about / facts / figures.” The second word means to “know” relationally… “I know George Bush” or “I know Harrison Ford” (but they don’t know me!). The third word – the one used in John 17:3 for “know,” means to have “an intimate, personal relationship with, a husband or wife type of relationship – to know and be known by fully.” Now attach the meaning to the verse in its context… This is ETERNAL LIFE, to have a relationship with God and His Son – daily sharing with Him, talking and communing with Him. To know Him fully and to be known — exposing my life fully to Him; this is eternal life! Eternity starts with a FULL BLOWN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE! Nothing better, nothing added, just PURE GOD and the promise He made to be with us “always, to the very end of the age.” Write a short prayer expressing your desire to put Jesus in the exclusive place of “Go-To ‘GOD’” today.

Washington D.C. is full of lobbyists. They are people whose sole job in life is to connect ordinary people and businesses with the powers inside our government. They tend to be “compromised,” since they promise “access for money,” but oftentimes, it is the only way individuals can get the attention of the government. Regardless of your thoughts on lobbyists, their FUNCTION is very clear – connecting those “outside” to those “inside” government.

We see a similar dimension to our relationship with Christ. His last promise before He left this earth was to be with us always. Then, at the very same time, He also represents us before the God of the universe as our advocate. Talk about “access”!!! Jesus even teaches us how to interact with God, by calling Him Father! (Matthew 6:9,10 “… Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come…”) Unlike Washington lobbyists though, our relationship with God THROUGH Christ is uncompromised, pure, perfect, and totally paid for by the finished work of Christ on the cross.

PRIMARY MEMORY VERSE: Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3

SECONDARY MEMORY VERSE: But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ… Philippians 3:7-8

In Genesis 5:21 and following we read “When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.”

If you read the whole chapter of Genesis 5, you get the sense that there was a whole lot of life happening back then – lots of babies being born, people living a really long time, cities being constructed, farms, civilizations etc. But what is VERY absent is man reaching out for God. In fact, in the very next chapter we read “The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So the LORD said, ‘I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.’”

But one guys stands out from the crowd – Enoch. Look carefully at the text. In verse 22, it says that “After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God…” Something happened in Enoch’s life that broke him. Enoch, though he couldn’t see or hear God, suddenly became aware of God and began to have a relationship with Him. Consider the timing. What event caused him to look up?

Enoch spent the next 300 years pursuing God, and then something totally strange happened (strange like out of a Star Trek movie!); he simply disappeared! Could it be that his relationship with God had gotten so close, God decided He wanted to “graduate” Enoch to a heavenly realm? Is there something in Enoch’s life we need to take away?

But this isn’t the last we hear of Enoch in the Bible. Thousands of years later his story is retold in the famous 11th chapter in the New Testament book of Hebrews. The writer of Hebrews pulls something sweet for us out of Enoch’s life – see if you can catch it…

PRIMARY MEMORY VERSE: Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3

SECONDARY MEMORY VERSE: But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ… Philippians 3:7-8

It was the French genius, mathematician, and philosopher Paschal who said, “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.” Others have added to this the observation “… and there is no end to how a man will try to fill that void.” If God is ETERNALLY big, how BIG is that void inside of us!? Our normal condition as men and women separated from God is that we try to fill our empty lives with EVERYTHING BUT GOD! How lost are we?!

But listen to the yearnings of the first man recorded in Scripture to be known as the “man after God’s own heart”! [reread the Scripture above… think]

PRIMARY MEMORY VERSE: Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3

SECONDARY MEMORY VERSE: But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ… Philippians 3:7-8

I love the start of the Book of John. It reminds me of the start of the very first Star Wars movie from years ago; text in the foreground marching into a background of stars, great music score, and content that set up 6 movies and a very interesting story-line (although I must admit I’ve lost interest since the first three came out years ago). But John 1, in a very concentrated and symbolic language matrix gives God’s global view of His “person” and relationship with mankind. From eternity past, God has been somehow “Persons” and “Person” at the same time! This answers one of the great mysteries of Genesis 1… who was the “us” in “let us make mankind in our image”? There in Genesis, we are introduced to the “Spirit” who hovered over the face of the deep, but there is this third Person of a singular yet plural God, One who “from the creation of the world” (Revelation 13:8) had planned to take on flesh and blood and identify with us!!! The mystery of the incarnation and the unfolding of God’s great plan to identify with us by actually becoming like us is the very engine of praise for the universe, igniting both all nations and all of the heavenly hosts to cry out, “You alone are worthy!!!” And so I’ll admit, I am jealous of 11 guys – those disciples of Jesus who had THE MOST AMAZING FRONT ROW SEAT IN HISTORY!

Peter & John (along with James) had the closest seats of all, and it is always interesting to read the first four books of the New Testament through their eyes. Peter, in Matthew 16 being both affirmed and rebuked, and in Matthew 26 denying Christ while in Mark 16 being reinstated by name. He walked on water and saw Jesus in a “heavenly body” along with Moses and Elijah, the great prophets of the Old Testament. John, as well, known as the “disciple who Jesus loved” witnessed these things, and being younger and more introverted than Peter, seemed to be in a position of absorbing much of the “soul of the Savior.” No wonder John finishes his written account of Jesus with these words, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written” (John 21:25). These two men’s souls were BURSTING with a fullness that all men crave and yet never seem to satisfy.

Our hearts were built with God sized dimensions, but we spend a lifetime in the mundane world of finite trivialities. Not so for Peter and John. The great headline of the 1st Century should read: Humble Fishermen Turn World Upside Down. The reporter Doctor Luke quoted some of the early Jewish observers when he wrote, “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13).

PRIMARY VERSE: Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3

SECONDARY VERSE: But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ… Philippians 3:7-8

The young Pharisee Saul (later named Paul) never got to meet Jesus during His earthly ministry. The first we see of Saul, he’s among those giving approval of the death of the Church’s first martyr Stephen. Saul was a religious zealot, a self-righteous, Gentile-hating Jewish perfectionist who was about as far away from having a relationship with the living God as one can imagine! But Luke records for us in the Book of Acts Saul’s conversion TO Jesus and away from religious bigotry and fanaticism…

As he [ Saul ] neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”

“Yes, Lord,” he answered.

The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”

“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized (Acts 9:3-18).

Note a few similarities that your personal testimony has to Paul’s own testimony:
“whatever were gains to me”
“I now consider loss”
“for the sake of Christ”

Note: Because Paul never had an earthly relationship with Christ, he wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:7-9. “Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” In this sense, EVEN we present day believers are abnormally born since we don’t have a physical relationship with God. It was to us and for us Paul penned “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).

PRIMARY VERSE: Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3

SECONDARY VERSE: But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ… Philippians 3:7-8