Post Pandemic Preaching -We Ain't Seen Nothing Yet
Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.”
“Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
“Come and see for yourself,” Philip replied.
As they approached, Jesus said, “Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity.”
“How do you know about me?” Nathanael asked.
Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.”
Then Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!”
Jesus asked him, “Do you believe this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.”
John 1:44-50 in the New Living Translation Version
[This is the 8th lesson of this series]
Only one who has met and experienced the Presence of Jesus of Nazareth can describe Him.
[In a previous message we talked about how after Jesus ascended back to heaven, He sent us the Holy Spirit. The earthly ministry of Jesus concluded and it has since been the era of the Holy Spirit.]
Now in the same way with those who experienced Jesus in the flesh, only those who have experienced the Presence of the Holy Spirit can describe Him and their experience, but only to the extent of our (limited) human abilities and intellectual capacities and vocabulary.
And in the same way only those who have, can fully understand what is being described or what one is trying to describe. And this is just a foreshadowing of what it will be like in heaven -- it is merely a foretaste of the Kingdom of God here on earth, the one Jesus ushered and taught about by using stories people can relate with, and analogies, and illustrations, and metaphors, and similes in His time, during His era.
Human Versus Divine
Jesus didn't use flowery language, elaborately crafted sentences and in the manner that religious leaders do. He taught with authority and with signs and wonders. Jesus walked the talk and spoke with love, sincerity and compassion. He is love, in human flesh.
He answered questions with parables (everyday stories) and questions which hid truths behind them, or made the hearer question themselves and their beliefs or unbelief, and the things that they do. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus, and the Spirit of The Creator, they are all the same.
The Spirit leads people to Christ and He speaks the same way Jesus does.
There is only so much we can do and believe it or not, we can do nothing for the cause of Christ and God's Kingdom without or apart from the Holy Spirit.
Encounter
Nathaniel when He first met Jesus and had a brief conversation with Him, instantly believed Jesus, saying He is the Son of God. His preconceived stereotype, reservations and assumptions about Jesus were wiped away in an instant.
Yet Jesus basically was telling Him -- that was easy, but now that you believed, you ain't seen nothing yet.
This is the same way for all of us. After we first believed and even after we have for some time, we still haven't seen anything yet.
Nathaniel when He first met Jesus and had a brief conversation with Him, instantly believed Jesus, saying He is the Son of God. His preconceived stereotype, reservations and assumptions about Jesus were wiped away in an instant.
Yet Jesus basically was telling Him -- that was easy, but now that you believed, you ain't seen nothing yet.
This is the same way for all of us. After we first believed and even after we have for some time, we still haven't seen anything yet.
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