Jesus: Like Him I’ll Be!

Jesus: Like Him I’ll Be!                              9-22-19     Kelly Durant

Luke 18:22 So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

2. Back in the hippie times, if a man had long hair and a beard and was somewhat handsome, friends would usually gaze a moment and then comment, “Look, he looks like Jesus!” Some people with a beard and long hair may remind us of the paintings we have seen of Jesus, but exactly how this olive skinned Jewish man actually looked physically, we will never know, artists can only speculate. 

But we can know Him spiritually! Jesus left us with so many teachings that it takes a lifetime to discover all the depths implicated by Him. 1 Corinthians 2:16 

For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

You or me can ‘know’ Jesus, but how? Only by His teaching! Are there not in the world too many doctrines and churches, too many books and personal opinions, and too many immoral bad examples to the point that most of us just want to give up? Never give up! Each of us is special and loved by Him and He will show you what your mission is, what your calling in life is, and where you need to go.

3. Also, learn this: You learn best when you teach a subject! Jesus teachings should be spread and never be limited! Never did Jesus say only have my teachings confined to people going to church! It was the contrary, he sent His disciples out to preach the gospel to every creature! Mark 16:15 

Many people form the idea that Jesus is someone only the preacher should mention, and that is occasionally, that He was a good and holy man that we should ‘try’ to be like Him. Jesus told you and me to…Luke 14:23

Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

After Jesus did healings, He would say, go and show yourself in the temple so others could see the miracle; after Jesus would forgive people of their sins like the Samaritan woman at the well, He would inspire to the point that all that person could do was talk about Him to everyone! If Jesus has touched you, you will not be able to shut up about it! Acts 4:13 It will overflow and people will know you experienced something very real and life changing! We must tell it! It is your story and mine that is authentic and people see the love of God in us and want it.

4. And speaking of telling your story, there are so many people today that have experienced miracles! How many times have you heard, “The doctor gave me 3 months to live but Jesus healed me!”? The miracles have not stopped!

I have seen a person get healed from weak knees and get x-rays to prove they no longer needed an operation to stop the swelling after a prayer! I have seen the miracle of Jesus stopping a car from crashing into us! I have seen people stop using drugs after a prayer and stay on the right path healed afterwards. Miracles do happen and we need to recognize it is Jesus doing them.

And they happen for all to glorify God!Luke 18:42 Then Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” 43 And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. When God does something for you, share the good news, please!

5. We can know Jesus’ love by observing the contrast of those who despise Him. Matthew 11:6 “And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” It is a given, there is a vast majority of people out there that are evil and get offended by Jesus because they do not want to be reminded of their unrepentant ugly sins! 

The fact that Jesus exposed(s) hypocrites, the fact that His presence brings awareness, the fact that He and His teachings are absolute truth is too much for some people!  Liars, lazy ones, and deceivers hate Him for exposing their schemes and this is what makes Jesus so repulsive to them along with the average carnal corrupt individual that conforms to the perverted ways of the world. 

I have been attacked many times over telling others about Jesus and do you know why ‘those people’ never won me over to their side? Because I could feel, see, and hear the hate they had for me just because I talked about Jesus! My logical reasoning mind kicks in in these situation and asks, why would I leave the teachings of Jesus who inspire me to do good for others, to love God and others, in exchange for the cognitive dissident no-reasoning and uninspiring rhetoric they defend? I prefer the beautiful spirit world over the ugly flesh world any day!

6. How do we know the name of Jesus is powerful? Because in society He is rarely mentioned except when used as a curse word in some Hollywood movies! The most loving amazing Son of God is still rejected by the evil ones in power. Before they accused that Jesus had a demon when it was they that had the demon!

The subject of Jesus has been quarantined by our evil societies to not be discussed in the public arena. Jesus cannot be brought up in the classrooms, in the community city halls, and not in the bar-b-ques of  our local civic clubs as it is a topic deemed ‘uncomfortable’ or ‘offensive’ by some. 

Who, and I ask unrhetorically who, is defining our freedom of speech?! We have freedom of religion and speech, at least we should have! I am offended by the politically correct demons trying to silence you and me when the spirit moves on us to talk about Jesus. If a few elites controlling our society, the education, the tech world and the media, who sooner or later are revealed to be extortioners, pedophiles, and filthy corrupters wanting to shut you up, why would you let them have the final say? Are we not offended by them!?

7. To know Jesus we must be born again and become as a child! John 3:3-8 When you or I were a child going to Sunday School classes we ‘got it’, we saw with a fresh mind that Jesus is real, you could hear his loving words and feel in your spirit that He was (is) the powerful Son of God. 

Jesus told us to have the faith of a little child!Matthew 18:3 And said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. To know Him means to become simple, simple in just believing because logic and science cannot explain everything!

We can reason and understand a lot but always at some point we will hit a wall of doubt. It is then when we must just simply trust that God knows best, that He, like a good Father will protect and guide us through obstacles that are bigger than what we are able to handle. Patience, faith, & trust, will we ever learn them? 

8. Your average Christian without the Holy Spirit is unprepared to battle with demonic people who don’t like Jesus. Jesus has to be in you, in your mind, in your deepest convictions, to be real to you in order to give you power. You only can be strong in Him if you are daily reading His word, praying, and seeking to put into practice the example He left us.  1 Corinthians 2:16  For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

The people of the world have no excuse, God can be seen in all the details of His creation. (see Romans 1) Around 300 Old Testament prophecies describe the events in the life of Jesus! There is no doubt that factual evidence abounds to prove Jesus lived, died, and started a revolution to the point that the underground church became above ground 300 years after his resurrection.

Despite having 1,700 years of the Catholic Church, and 500 years of the Protestant Church, atheism, materialism, and Satanic religions thrive because the average Christian is not shining their light as they were commanded to by Jesus! Darkness cannot stand the light! Just bring Jesus into the conversation and see what happens! There will be praise and inspiration, or there will be attacks! 

 9. All of us can know Jesus in a profound way and there is no excuse. Let’s review:

We can know how to be like Jesus by knowing His teachings.

We can know Jesus by how he has touched and changed our own life.

We know that Jesus’ name is powerful or He would not be prohibited publicly.

We can know Jesus’ love by contrasting how others that hate Him treat us.

We can know Jesus having the mind and faith of a child.

And finally I will end with the verse we started with, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” The ultimate followers of Jesus have done what He says here. It requires giving your all to Him, materially and spiritually for all your life! I did that to be a missionary, I did that to serve Jesus as a Salvation Army Officer, and millions have done it to serve Jesus throughout history! Millions have even been martyrs! What have you really given to Jesus?

God supplies our needs and gives us the desires of our hearts! But too few are willing to just give it all up for Him! I cannot imagine living life without Jesus being everything! The question is how much of Him do you want? All the way, or just a little bit?