Christ Jesus in You (March 17, 2024)

The speaker reflects on a recent Bible study session and expresses gratitude for the teachings of Elder Bobby. They discuss the importance of unity and love in the midst of challenging times. The speaker emphasizes that we are living in the last days and encourages listeners to be ready for the return of Jesus. They also highlight the need to love one another and the power of love in overcoming difficult situations. The speaker acknowledges that it's okay to feel anger, but encourages not to let it consume us. They emphasize the importance of love in our relationships and how it is a testament to being followers of Christ. During our life study on last Wednesday evening and I really again want to thank Elder Bobby too for what he does on Wednesday nights as we walk through the book of Revelation and I once again I learned a lot, not necessarily learn it when it comes to all of the revelations that are given unto us by the Apostle John and I'm thankful for Elder Bobby who has consistently and diligently walked us through the leads as we have studied the word through the book of Revelation. On Wednesday night in particular Elder Bobby gave us a profound revelation that has continued to echo within my spirit that I believe just from what I had heard this morning that is so timely for us all in this era of God's great revival and although many of us are seen in a way that's on the news, sometimes it's in the news and it's closer to us than we realize and thank you Sister Nance, Sister Carolyn for sharing and we definitely are lifting up the family in Orlando and Atlanta for the grief and passing of the granddaughter Kennedy. But as all these things are going on in our country, in our world, we're still in this era of God's great revival. God is still saving souls and revival is happening still. I believe that we're speaking it into existence every time that we say in this era of God's great revival. And on Wednesday night Elder Bobby said, I may not have written it down exactly, Elder Bobby forgive me, but I wrote it down like this. Whatever is dividing us, whatever is dividing us, is not love. Whatever is dividing us, we need to be more united right now than ever before as the Ecclesia. And if there's anything that's dividing us, certainly know that it's not love. And the time is at hand. The time is at hand for the Ecclesia to hear that and to know exactly that. Whatever is dividing us is not love. Family, we are living, no doubt, in the last days. We're living in perilous times and it's going to continue to get worse before he comes back. I can't tell you it's going to get better. I can just tell you it's going to get worse before he gets back. And for all the things that we hear and see, it should impress upon our hearts and our minds that the Lord's return is imminent. Hallelujah. It's imminent. I would hope that he could break the sky right now to be honest with you. I would be okay with that. But we need to not just be getting ready, but we need to be ready when he returns. The Lord Jesus is soon to come. And we don't want to be so caught up into gearing ourselves for the Fifth Sunday and Resurrection Sunday that we forget that he is still soon to come. And we know that we're living in perilous times because we continue to hear and continue to see the wars and the rumors of wars. We can see what's happening in Ukraine, in Gaza, in Jerusalem, in the Middle East, in Haiti, in Haiti. Yesterday I was listening to CNN. We were made aware of a young man who took the lives of his stepmother, his sister, and the mother of his two children. We're living in such perilous times that we've gone from homicides to femicides. We're seeing so many women who are being killed, so many black women who are being killed by other black women, other black men. It's amazing to step back and look at the fact that we're actually living in a time that was written about. We're living in perilous times. And regardless of where we are, where we live, there's stories on top of stories to help us to appreciate and comprehend that we are living in the last days. And it also points to the truth that whatever is dividing us is not love, whether it's in the church, in our families, on our jobs, in our communities, even in the classrooms, on college campuses. Whatever is dividing us, it's not love. And we are witnessing in real time that the love of many, Jesus talked about this, but the love of many are waxing cold. But thank God, hallelujah, thank God, thank God the Father gave us another example as revealed unto us by his beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who has shown us, Paul talked about it, but it was Jesus who showed us a more excellent way. He did so in his birth and in his life and in his death, in his burial, in his resurrection, and in his ascension. Jesus the Christ has shown us a more excellent way, hallelujah, hallelujah, to love beyond how we feel and what we feel and who we feel. I don't think it was making him feel good to be on the cross, to be nailed to the cross, having his side pierced. I don't think it made him feel good, but he could see the joy, hallelujah, that was set before him. He could see that God was in him, reconciling us all back unto himself. And so he showed us a more excellent way. And in him, this morning, we come to know the reality of the truth that God is love, that God is love, and that is love never fails. You can reject love. You can despise love. You can nail love to a tree. You can place love in a borrowed tomb and thinking that it's going to be buried forever, but on a resurrection Sunday. On a resurrection Sunday, love will come back strong and declare with power that love never fails because God is love. Love never fails. And as we think about what is dividing us, you know, because I want us to, as we go to the resurrection Sunday, it doesn't mean nothing if we divide, right, family? I'm considering this morning John chapter 13 verses 34 and 35, and the Lord Jesus is recording, having said, a new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. And then he goes on, he says, he says, by this, by this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one to another. We try to do that here. I believe that you who are on the line can appreciate that we try to love you practically as well as in prayer, as well as every moment that we get a chance to gather even in this virtual fellowship, but we love you, and we want to make that love tangible and express it in a way that you can't, you can't never say, you can say a lot of stuff, but hopefully you won't be able to say that we don't love you. Family, the Lord Jesus, he has shown us this more excellent way and has done so by giving us this new commandment, and the new commandment was for us to love one another. Thank God that he just didn't keep it right there, but he had a standard and has a standard for us, because he says, I want you to love one another, but I want you to do so as I have loved you. What manner of love is this that Jesus Christ would be nailed to a cross for us? We should have the same love to just lay down our life for each other. I'm talking about a love that is not based on false pretences. It's not one-rooted and quid pro quo, you know, you do something for me and then I do something for you. We're not talking about fake news. We're talking about the God of love and the love of God, love that is pure, love that is faithful, love that is transparent, and again, the love that never fails. There is a tendency for believers to focus on what they do as opposed to who they do for. As believers, we can focus on whether we have appropriately and properly adhered to the protocol, the protocol having been established. We get caught up in following the tenets of the faith and following after the doctrine of the elders and the traditions of men, and we try to put on our best airs, and we put on our garments of self-righteousness, and on the surface, we have this form of godliness, but we deny the power thereof because we haven't got to the due commandment. That you love one another as I have loved you, and by this all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one for the other. So we can focus, we can focus on the piety of our worship and praise, and we can focus on how many times we attend weekly services, and all of that is okay. We can quote scriptures, and we can debate with the best of them about the things pertaining to God, but the Lord Jesus says, but by this. He didn't say not by that. He didn't say not by how many times you go to church. He didn't say not about how often you give in the offering plate. He didn't talk about what was your dress of time when you went there. Did you have your hat on or didn't have your hat on. He didn't say but by that, but he said by this. Not by that meaning, not by the religious observances, but by this, which means the observances of loving relationships that we have one with each other, but by this all men know that you are my disciples if you have loved one to another. Love unites, love edifies, love strengthens, love harmonizes, love reconciles, love forgives, love heals, and love never fails. We can miss a whole lot, but the cross reminds us again that love never fails. And family, I'm probably the chief of all sinners when it comes to this, and I can appreciate that there is no doubt that we experience at times difficult situations and difficult people, and often in our lives that we have to temper ourselves. We have to bring this flesh back under subjection when people are tripping, when they talk to us any kind of way, when they're treating us any kind of way. That's when we find ourselves in the throes of life. Hallelujah. And it's in the throes of life in those types of circumstances when we feel rejected and despised and humiliated, hallelujah, that it comes back to Jesus Christ showing us a more excellent way as he's being nailed to the cross. And he can say, Father forgive us, but they know not what they do. Sometimes we're just going through the difficult situations, and we're going through the difficult people, and it don't make us feel good. Hallelujah. And I want to let you know this morning that it's okay. It's okay not to feel good I believe that chapter 4 of the book of Ephesians, verses 26 and 27, reminds us that. And what those two verses says is this, be angry and sin not. It's okay to have some sins. Be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. That's verse 26. And verse 27 says, neither give place to the devil. Sometimes we're going through the difficult people and the difficult situations because that's where the devil is trying to establish himself within us. But neither give place to the devil. And when you go on and you read in chapter 4, we get to verse 32. And it's so astounding that Paul would write this, and it's so needed for us right now. And there in verse 32 it says, and be you kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. Family, isn't that what the sacrifice of Christ is all about? Isn't it all about forgiveness and all about healing and all about reconciliation? And when we think about forgiveness in particular, it's not just the forgiveness that we receive, but also more importantly the forgiveness that we extend. Do we even appreciate that his once and for all living and loving sacrifices, the final and full payment for our sins includes those who have trespassed against us? That as Christ has forgiven us, he has also forgiven those who have trespassed against us. Do we really comprehend that the same measure of the love of God that has been extended to us through the Son is the same compassion that we are to extend to each other? I know that we've been in some jacked up situations. I know that people haven't treated us right, and we sometimes haven't even left the church. We haven't left our families. But God is calling us right now to forgive, to reconcile, and to be about this healing process. We are engaged in this ministry of reconciliation. And I came across the scripture and it's still blowing my mind. And I know that we have been taught about being ushered into the presence of God. But Paul shows us another profound reality, and it's found in 2 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 5. And Paul writes this to the Corinthian believers. He says, examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. And then he asks this profound question. He says, do you not know that Jesus Christ is in you? Think about that with me, family. Do you not know that Jesus Christ is in you? Paul is not talking metaphorically. He's not talking prophetically. He's talking about, literally, about the presence of Jesus Christ being within each and every believer in real time. Family, Jesus Christ is in you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. In this hour of God's great revival, I believe the Holy Spirit is awakening within our spirits, and awakening within our minds to the profound revelation and the paradigm shift. Hallelujah. That Jesus Christ is within us, individually and corporately. Yeah, I understand that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was resurrected from the tomb and he descended and sitting on the right hand of the Father. But right now, what we also need to know that Jesus Christ is within us, individually and collectively, as a born-again believer. Jesus Christ is in you. And in my Christological mind, I keep hearing, we don't come into his presence. Hallelujah. We don't come into his presence. His presence comes into us and resides within us. I'm standing at the door and I'm asking you to just let me in so I can fellowship with you. Do you not know yourselves? Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Do you not know yourselves? Hallelujah, that Jesus Christ is in you. Last week, I taught from the subject, see God in everything. But today, as we go higher, I'm asking you to affirm and confirm that Christ Jesus is also in you. I don't want you to miss that God is in you. I know you don't see God in everything, but now I need you to see God in you. Test yourselves. Hallelujah. Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. And then ask yourself this question, do you not know, hallelujah, that Jesus Christ is in you? Do you not know that his love is in you? Do you not know that his forgiveness and his redemption and his grace and his reconciliation is in you? Jesus Christ is in you. As I close, as I close, thank you, Elder Bobby, for reminding us that whatever is dividing us is not love. And we need to let it go, family. We need to lay aside every weight and sin that can so easily beset us from knowing and experiencing the total and full love of Christ. And today, if you see Jesus in Jesus Christ in you, love others as he has loved you, and forgive that person who has hurt you. If you see Jesus Christ in you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you. And maybe you can't see Jesus Christ like that this morning, but I guarantee, hallelujah, I guarantee you that the more you call him, hallelujah, the better you will see him. I remember Bishop Senior would say, the more you call him, the better you will feel. Well, I believe that, Bishop, hallelujah, and the more we call him, the more we gonna see him, the more we gonna know him, and the more we gonna feel him. And then we'll get to a point that we'll begin to forgive each other. And as we're doing that, hallelujah, let us also forgive ourselves. It's okay to forgive yourself, hallelujah. That's why he died, hallelujah, that you would be forgiven, that I would be forgiven. It's okay to allow yourself to know that you've been forgiven. We have all messed up, we have all fallen short of the glory of God, but the essence of the good news of Jesus Christ is that he came to save us, even from the sin and the shame of our own failures. He came to reconcile us back to the Father, and even unto a greater cloud of witnesses, who are indeed the children of God by faith. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? He is. As a born-again believer, Jesus Christ is in you, and there's nothing that can divide us, keep us from the fellowship as the sons and the daughters of the Most High God. This morning we will close out in prayer, but also close out in benediction, with a view to Psalm 51. Create in us a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within us. Cast us not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from us. Restore unto us the joy of your salvation, and uphold us with your free spirit. Then will we teach transgressors your ways, and sinners shall be converted unto you. In Christ Jesus, we ask you these things, we pray these things, and we praise you for having them to be fulfilled even more evident in our lives. Amen. Amen.