ENCOUNTERING JESUS

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INTRODUCTION

OPENING STORY: MALCOLM LITTLE’S LIFE OF CRIME…PAINT THE PICTURE. TORMENTED, GOES TO JAIL. ENCOUNTERS ELIJAH MUHAMMAD. PROVIDE THE QUOTE OF HIS FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH ELIJAH MUHAMMAD AND HOW THIS CHANGED HIS LIFE. FROM PIMP TO PREACHER. POINT: ENCOUNTERS RADICALLY CHANGE US.
WHY SHOULD I LISTEN?
THE JOURNEY OF HUMANITY IS THE QUEST TO ENCOUNTER THINGS THAT WE THINK WILL SATISFY THE DEEPEST LONGINGS OF OUR SOUL. LOVE…WE WANT TO ENCOUNTER THAT SOUL MATE, THE LOVE OF OUR LIFE THINKING THAT’S WHERE GREAT SATISFACTION LIES. SUCCESS…SOME OF YOU ARE ATHLETES HERE AND YOU THINK THAT WILL DO IT…OR IN BUSINESS. SEX…BUT THESE THINGS DON’T QUITE DO IT FOR US. THEY BRING MOMENTS OF MOMENTARY EUPHORIA, BUT FAIL TO SATISFY THE DEEPEST LONGINGS OF OUR LIVES! PARAPHRASE AUGUSTINE- OUR HEARTS ARE RESTLESS UNTIL THEY FIND THEIR REST IN YOU!
SCRIPTURE CAN BE SUMMED UP IN ONE WORD- ENCOUNTER. A BREATHTAKING PICTURE OF ENCOUNTERING GOD AND THE DEEP, ETERNAL SATISFACTION IT BRINGS. ABRAHAM ENCOUNTERS GOD, JACOB, MOSES. PROBLEM IN THE OT IS IT WAS ONLY A PRIVILEGED FEW WHO COULD…HOLY OF HOLIES YOU COULD NOT ENTER IN. GUY WHO TOUCHED THE ARK. NT THE INCARNATION OF JESUS, NOW THE DIFFERENCE IS THAT EVERYBODY CAN ENCOUNTER. THE COMMON PERSON CAN ENCOUNTER. SICK PEOPLE CAN ENCOUNTER. AND THE GIST OF THESE ENCOUNTERS IS THEY CHANGE PEOPLE.
CENTRAL IDEA: WHEN YOU TRULY ENCOUNTER JESUS EVERYTHING CHANGES.
CRABS ENCOUNTERING BOILING WATER- THE COLOR CHANGES AND ITS STATE CHANGES. BECAUSE OF THE ENCOUNTER. SO IT IS WITH JESUS. EVERYTHING CHANGES WHEN YOU ENCOUNTER HIM!
ENCOUNTERING JESUS SATISFIES THE DEEPEST LONGINGS OF OUR HEARTS…OUR LONGING FOR FULFILLMENT, IDENTITY AND PURPOSE ARE ALL ULTIMATELY SATISFIED IN JESUS.

ENCOUNTERING JESUS SATISFIES THE DEEPEST LONGINGS OF OUR HEARTS…OUR LONGING FOR FULFILLMENT, IDENTITY AND PURPOSE ARE ALL ULTIMATELY SATISFIED IN JESUS.

FULFILLMENT- 5:4-8

HISTORICAL CONTEXT: EARLY PART OF JESUS’ MINISTRY. HE’S PUTTING HIS TEAM TOGETHER AND HOLDING HIS DRAFT. THE DISCIPLES…ENTREPRENEUR’S. RUNNING A FISHING BUSINESS. LIFE IS GOING WELL FOR THEM. PROBABLY APPRENTICING THE FAMILY BUSINESS.
EXPLANATION: BEEN OUT ALL NIGHT THE TEXT SAYS FISHING. LITERALLY ‘TOILED ALL NIGHT’. WORK TO THE POINT OF WEARINESS. THEY ARE WORN OUT…NOT JUST PHYSICALLY, BUT EMOTIONALLY. THINK ABOUT IT…YOUR PHYSICALLY TIRED, BUT YOU HAVEN’T CAUGHT ANYTHING…AND THIS IS WHERE JESUS SHOWS UP SETTING THE TABLE FOR THE RADICAL TRANSFORMATION IN THEIR LIVES. TELLS THEM TO PUT OUT, AND THEY END UP HAVING THE CATCH OF THEIR LIVES. STUNNING PICTURE OF FULLNESS, FULFILLMENT. JESUS TAKES US FROM EMPTINESS TO FULFILLMENT. WHAT SETS UP THIS WHOLE THING IS EMPTINESS.
POINT: GOD USES EMPTINESS TO BRING US TO TRUE FULFILLMENT.
APPLICATION: WE’VE ALL BEEN THERE HAVEN’T WE? WE ALL KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE TO WORK FOR SOMETHING BUT COME UP EMPTY. WE’VE HAD EMPTINESS IN DATING, YET ANOTHER BROKEN RELATIONSHIP. WE’VE HAD EMPTINESS IN OUR CAREERS. IT DIDN’T WORK OUT…EMPTINESS IN OUR ADDICTIONS. YOUR EMPTINESS IS AN INDICATOR LIGHT TO GET TO THE FULLNESS CHRIST HAS PROVIDED!
ATHLETE ILLUSTRATION OF THE TIME I TALKED TO ONE WHO HAD JUST SIGNED A CONTRACT AROUND 100 MILLION DOLLARS SEVERAL YEARS AGO. LIVES IN THE BEST NEIGHBORHOOD EVER, BUT HERE WE ARE AND HE SAYS IT JUST DIDN’T SATISFY. I FEEL MORE PRESSURE TO PERFORM THAN EVER.
GAS GAUGE ILLUSTRATION: WHEN IT IS ON E WE GO TO THE GAS STATION. OUR EMPTINESS IS MEANT TO DRIVE US TO FULFILLMENT. THE EMPTINESS WE FEEL IS GOOD, IN THAT IT DRIVES US TO JESUS.

IDENTITY- ;

EXPLANATION: THROUGHOUT JESUS REFERS TO SIMON AS SIMON. BUT THEN IN VERSE 8, AFTER THE BIGGEST CATCH OF HIS LIFE JESUS DOES SOMETHING SUBTLE, HE CALLS HIM SIMON PETER. MORE BLUNTLY IS …POINT: THE BIG DEAL WITH THIS IS THAT A PERSON’S NAME WAS THEIR IDENTITY. WHEN JESUS CHANGES SIMON’S NAME HE IS CHANGING HIS IDENTITY. HE IS FUNDAMENTALLY SAYING BY CALLING HIM THE ROCK, YOU ARE GOING TO BE ONE OF THE MAJOR PILLARS FOR MY KINGDOM HERE ON EARTH. THIS IS YOUR IDENTITY.
BIBLICAL EXAMPLES: WE SEE GOD CHANGING NAMES THROUGHOUT THE BIBLE. ABRAM TO ABRAHAM. JACOB TO ISRAEL. THESE ARE NOT JUST CUTE NAME CHANGES, BUT MASSIVE SHIFTS IN IDENTITY.
POINT: YOUR MOTHER MAY HAVE NAMED YOU, BUT WE’VE ALL NAMED OURSELVES. WE HAVE ALL CONSTRUCTED OUR OWN IDENTITIES. THIS IS WHAT PLASS AND COFIELD CALL THE FALSE SELF, AND WE ALL HAVE IT. “…The false self is an image we create. Most of us create an image that is socially appropriate. As a result we receive affirmation and praise. Yet at its core, our construct is still an image, a facade. It is foreign to our truest identity as being created in the image of God”- Richard Plass, James Cofield, The Relational Soul.
This is what the AA POET PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR SAYS IN HIS CLASSIC POEM ENTITLED, “WE WEAR THE MASK”:
We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.
ALL OF US HAVE THESE MASKS: SUCCESS. MONEY. I NEED YOU TO THINK THAT I’M WEALTHY, BECAUSE THAT’S MY IDENTITY. BEING A GOOD PARENT.
MY MASK: MORALISM. SON OF A PREACHER WHO CAUGHT ON EARLY THAT PEOPLE ASSUMED I WAS A GOOD MORAL PERSON, SO I SPENT DECADES PLAYING INTO THAT IMAGE. THAT WAS MY BRAND. BUT THERE WAS NO FULFILLMENT IN THIS FALSE SELF, ONLY TORMENT.
THE LIE OF THE FALSE SELF- I AM NOT GOOD ENOUGH IN WHO I AM. THAT IF PEOPLE REALLY KNEW THE REAL ME, THEY WOULDN’T ACCEPT ME.
JESUS DEALS WITH THAT LIE IN OUR TEXT. PETER SAYS GET AWAY FROM ME I’M A SINNER. IF YOU REALLY KNEW ME YOU WOULDN’T WANT ME. JESUS REFUSES, AND CALLS HIM TO FOLLOW HIM.
THE BEAUTY AND TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL IS THIS: WE ARE MORE SINFUL THAN WE’D LIKE TO ADMIT, BUT MORE LOVED THAN WE COULD EVER IMAGINE.
ILLUSTRATION OF FRIENDS WHO DECIDED TO ADOPT A SET OF TWINS WHO WERE ADDICTED TO CRACK (BECAUSE THEIR MOM SMOKED IT). THEY KNEW ALL OF THIS AHEAD OF TIME. THEY WERE WARNED OF THE TURMOIL AND POTENTIAL EFFECTS THIS WOULD HAVE ON THEIR HEALTH AND LEARNING. NO WORRIES, THEY STILL WANTED THEM, AND GAVE THEM THEIR LAST NAME. THEY KNEW THE WORST, ACCEPTED THEM AND CHANGED THEIR IDENTITY! COULDN’T TAKE THEM BACK! THAT’S WHAT JESUS DID FOR US! HE KNEW THE WORST! AND STILL ACCEPTED US AND WILL NEVER RETURN US!

TRANSCENDENT PURPOSE-

EXPLANATION: SO JESUS TELLS THEM TO CAST OUT. THIS IS CRAZY. IT’S DURING THE DAY…THEIR NETS WOULD BE SEEN…TRAMMEL NETS. NIGHT TIME WAS THE BEST TIME. NOT THE DAY. THEY DO IT, GET THE CATCH OF THEIR LIVES. AND THE REAL IRONY OF THIS STORY IS THAT JESUS SAYS TO THEM COME FOLLOW ME AND I WILL MAKE YOU FISHERS OF MEN. HE GIVES THEM A TRANSCENDENT PURPOSE AND THEY LEAVE AT THE HEIGHT OF THEIR SUCCESS. I COULD SEE IF THEY LEFT AFTER CATCHING NOTHING…BUT WHAT JESUS STRIKES IS SOMETHING NO AMOUNT OF FISH OR MONEY COULD PROVIDE- TRANSCENDENT PURPOSE! HE’S OFFERING SOMETHING BEYOND THE EARTHLY AND INTO THE ETERNAL.
JOHN COLTRANE ILLUSTRATION: ALMOST DIED OF A DRUG OVERDOSE IN THE MID 50S HERE IN SAN FRANCISCO. CONVERTED TO FOLLOWING GOD, AND SOME OF HIS BEST WORK WAS PRODUCED AFTERWARDS. LOVE SUPREME CONSIDERED ONE OF THE GREATEST EVER. AFTER ONE EXTRAORDINARY PERFORMANCE OF LOVE SUPREME, HE PUT THE SAX DOWN AND WHISPERED NUNC DIMITTIS, WHICH WAS A WELL KNOWN LATIN PRAYER THAT SAYS I CAN DEPART NOW IN PEACE. WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE- HIS WORK WAS DONE FOR THE GLORY OF GOD.
APPLICATION- WE WERE CREATED TO LIVE FOR THE GLORY OF GOD. WHATEVER YOU EAT OR DRINK TO ALL FOR THE GLORY OF GOD- CORINTHIANS AND COLOSSIANS.
DUMMY ILLUSTRATION
GOSPEL CONCLUSION
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