SECRET #47 OF FOLLOWING JESUS

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The next "I AM" signature of Jesus is a comforting one. It's all about our relationship with Him as a shepherd. He plays the role of shepherd and we are His sheep. Here's how Jesus puts it: "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers."

Several flocks of sheep were held in a pen for the evening, each flock belonging to a different shepherd. When it was time for a shepherd to take his flock out of the pen, he actually called his sheep. And the sheep heard and recognized their shepherd's voice and followed.

In this relational image of shepherd and sheep we who are followers of Jesus are the sheep. As His sheep we hear and know His voice and follow. The challenge for us today is three-fold: FIRST-We must do all we can do to spend more and more time with our shepherd, so we can get to know Him as our shepherd-to get to know His voice when He speaks.

SECOND-We must be careful to take the time to listen for our shepherd's voice. It's too easy to be so busy making noise that we aren't quiet enough to hear what Jesus is saying.

THIRD-The shepherd calls His sheep and leads them out. We must wait for the shepherd to speak and to lead out with His orders and opportunities.

Jesus continues His teaching: "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep."

It's from this teaching that we get SECRET #47: The follower of Jesus relates to the Master as the good shepherd. Jesus views Himself as a shepherd-owner of His sheep. He doesn't see it as a job that He was hired to do, but He has a vital relationship with His sheep. He owns them, He loves them and will do anything He has to do to protect them. So as we relate to Jesus as our shepherd, we have a sense of real security and protection from whatever might happen.

Then Jesus shifts gears a bit and says something very interesting. He says, "I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again." (John 10)

Who are these "other sheep" Jesus mentions here? There have been several creative interpretations of this phrase. The best way to get what Jesus means is to understand who His audience is. He is speaking primarily to a Jewish audience here. So when He speaks of "other sheep" He owns, it seems clearly that Jesus is referring to all non-Jews who will also be sheep who are owned by the shepherd. This will turn out to be a big deal to the Jews. They won't like it and will even violently react to such a thought later.

This can especially be seen in the book of the Acts of Jesus. The Jews had a rough time giving up the idea that they owned the shepherd. NOTE Jesus never says that the sheep own the shepherd, but the shepherd is the owner of the sheep.

Let me take this one step further for your consideration. Just as the Jews had trouble with this concept of not owning the shepherd, so do Christians today have trouble with not being the sole owner of Jesus, the shepherd. Jesus is all-inclusive in that He will work with anyone anywhere. He is not owned by any group of sheep-not even the Christians. No, Jesus is more awesome than this. He is the shepherd-owner of the sheep. If you know Him and hear His voice, then you are His sheep. This is the relationship Jesus wants with you. He wants to be your shepherd. SECRET #47: The follower of Jesus relates to the Master as the good shepherd. So, get to know Jesus as your shepherd and listen for His voice. Follow Him as your shepherd.

SECRET #46 OF FOLLOWING JESUS

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Now we come to the most insightful and vivid image Jesus shares as one of His "I AM" signatures. It's the relationship Jesus wants with His disciples. Jesus is the vine and those who follow Him are the branches. Jesus says, "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He lifts up; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit."

Jesus continues this theme: "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing."

"If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned." Here Jesus makes it clear that not abiding in Him, your life is as unfruitful and worthless as a dead branch.

On the other hand, Jesus says, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full."

This is the basic teaching of Jesus that reveals SECRET #46: The follower of Jesus relates to the Master as a branch relates to the vine. What I'm learning is that abiding in Jesus as a branch abides in the vine must be purposeful. It means arranging your life, arranging your prayer-asking and listening, and arranging your silences in such a way that there is never a day when you give yourself a chance to forget Him. Now, if you are abiding in Jesus in this way, the more you become like the vine itself-you walk, talk, think and love just like Jesus. Your thoughts are so permeated with His thoughts that your inner character is being transformed. Then, it is easy to understand that your wishes are the same as His wishes, so you are walking in sync with Him and whatever wish you ask will be done for you. Now that's mind-boggling! But not out of the realm of possibility and reality. Otherwise, Jesus would not instruct us to be like this. 


This is the most dynamic principle you'll ever encounter! It's a reciprocal relationship! You abide-remain, stay with, wait on, hang out with, continue with Jesus and Jesus remains, hangs out and continues with you. Are you getting this? You are created by God to be completely inhabited by Him through Jesus!

Jesus goes on to say something that blows my mind! I have read this over and over and talked about it more than most passages of Scriptures, but Jesus is speaking of a daily, moment-by-moment reality. Just as a branch is unable to be fruitful on its on, so we cannot do anything without hanging on to our relationship with Jesus. But wait a minute; I can't do anything!!!??? What Jesus is saying is that we cannot do anything without recognizing, depending upon and drawing our strength from Him. Can this be true? Is it true in your life?

SECRET #46: The follower of Jesus relates to the Master as a branch relates to the vine. So, here you have it, IF YOU DON'T ACT LIKE A BRANCH AND ABIDE IN THE VINE, JESUS, you not only can do nothing significant, but you are attempting to live a life that is absolutely useless and unfruitful. All you are left with is "What might have been." It's an amazing simplicity that takes over your life-a simplicity that is really just transparency. "Abide in Me and I in you." Jesus wants to inhabit your life. All He is looking for is your willingness to cooperate!

SECRET #45 OF FOLLOWING JESUS

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We are making our way through 75 secrets of following Jesus. I use the term "secret", because Jesus is said to be the mystery that was revealed to the world. So, the secret has the idea of a continual process of revealing who Jesus is.

Today we come to another significant "I AM" signature of Jesus. Let's examine it: Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life." So the Pharisees said to Him, "You are testifying about Yourself; Your testimony is not true." Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I testify about Myself, My testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh; I am not judging anyone. But even if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone in it, but I and the Father who sent Me. Even in your law it has been written that the testimony of two men is true. I am He who testifies about Myself, and the Father who sent Me testifies about Me." So they were saying to Him, "Where is Your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also." These words He spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one seized Him, because His hour had not yet come. (John 8:12-20)

This is SECRET #45: The follower of Jesus relates to the Master as the light of the world. Just as Jesus is the new manna sent down from heaven, the water from the rock, He is also the cloud, the light of God's holy presence among His people. "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12). Just before this Jesus claimed He was the living water for all those who are thirsty. Now, Jesus claims, "I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD to eliminate the darkness."

Jesus' claim of being THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD is a reminder of the cloud and the pillar of fire that led the people through the wilderness for 40 years-huge and striking in size and symbolized God's presence with His people. This great cloud of glory gave off light by night and illuminated the way for His people. By day the cloud led the nation and gave direction. From the cloud God spoke. The presence of God overshadowed them and went with them in their wandering through the wilderness.

It's the same cloud of glory that filled the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple in Jerusalem when the LORD came down and met with His people. The pillar dispelled the darkness of the night and any would be attackers. However, the glory departed from Israel. Much of the religious ceremonies that continued was only ritual.

In Matthew 5 Jesus said, "You are the light of the world!" Now He says, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.''

So, FIRST-He is the Light. SECOND-You have the Light of life. THIRD-You are now the Light of the world. Then note a few observations of Jesus being the light of the world in us. 1. We are all blind from birth-spiritually. 2. Jesus takes the initiative in healing our blindness. 3. Jesus does a work of creation (regeneration), not reformation. 4. People will notice, when you begin to see differently. 5. It is very easy to get hung up in peripheral theological issues and miss an opportunity for ministry (light). 6. Jesus sees people and the world in a profoundly different light than we do. 7. Some of God's greatest works are done in most desperate human situations (darkness).

SECRET #45: The follower of Jesus relates to the Master as the light of the world. Embrace Jesus in this way and you will never walk in darkness and will never see people in the same light again.

SECRET #44 OF FOLLOWING JESUS

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Of all of the personal signatures-the "I AM's", Jesus shared one that was possibly the most intimate of all of them recorded in John. Not only was it the most intimate, it also stirred up the most controversy. Many disciples walked away from Jesus over this teaching. Their rejection was so hurtful to Jesus that He turned to His early core disciples and asked, "Are you going to walk away from me, too?"

Here's a brief summary of His teachings: Jesus answered them and said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal." Therefore they said to Him, "What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?" Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent." So they said to Him, "What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'HE GAVE THEM BREAD OUT OF HEAVEN TO EAT.'" Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the TRUE bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world." Then they said to Him, "Lord, always give us this bread." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst." (John 6:26-35)

Jesus scolds them for hanging around and following after Him for the free lunch that might come their way, referring to the feeding of the 5000. That bread is nothing, because it will perish! What they ought to do is work for the kind of food that will not perish, but is eternal. That food will only come through God's Messiah-the Son of Man!

The people do an interesting thing. They ask Jesus for a sign. He has just miraculously fed 5000 and shown up miraculously across the Sea of Galilee without a boat, yet they are looking for something more. Their question is a good one: "What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?" Or, "What must we be doing as a habit that we may go on working the works of God?"

Jesus answers them by saying, "This is the work of God-believe in Him whom He has sent!" The work of God is to BELIEVE JESUS-to trust Jesus with your life-every day! The struggle is to SIMPLY TRUST JESUS. This is more than what we need to do, this is all about what God is seeking to do. God wants us to enter into the things that He is doing and that begins and ends with believing in Jesus and trusting Him with your life. We're not to start a new movement, but join God's movement-JESUS! We are in a fellowship-an assembly of believers seeking to walk with Jesus as we learn to walk together. Can you see that this life is not about going to church, but being the church of Jesus?

All of the religions of the world have a religious program of do's and don'ts to absolve your sins-a program of begging to be accepted and to be forgiven. All of the religions of the world have a religious program of works to do to be free to come to God, which becomes a program of bondage to a certain performance of works. By the way, Christianity is not exempt from these religious programs, but has offered some of the most creative of all. Jesus comes to reverse it all! You don't have to do anything to be accepted, forgiven or free; those would be works that perish anyway! The work that God wants you to do is to BELIEVE JESUS! Here we are back to JESUS PLUS NOTHING!

THE WORK OF GOD THAT WE ARE TO DO IS TO SIMPLY BELIEVE JESUS-believe in Him, trust Him and keep on trusting Him.

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." (John 6:35-38)

Those who heard Jesus' words began grumbling against Him. In response Jesus explained further and said: "I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh." Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, "How can this man give us His flesh to eat?" So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats this bread I give, he also will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever." (John 6:48-58)

Manna was sent down from heaven to the children of Israel for their daily use. They could not store it or it would rot, so they had to gather it daily and eat it. It was a daily sustenance for them to be nourished and to remain healthy. Jesus points out to His listeners that this supernatural distribution of the manna in the time of Moses was good, but all who ate of it are not still alive, but they are all dead.

Jesus is really saying with reference to the manna, "I'M THE NEW MANNA IN TOWN!" This is why He says I AM the bread of life-the living bread that offers eternal life to anyone who eats it. If you believe in Jesus and trust Him as your daily manna, you will never hunger, never thirst, have eternal life and will be raised up at the end. As with the old manna in the wilderness, your relationship with Jesus as the living manna must be gathered and cultivated every day. If you try to store it, you will lose its freshness. So, it's a daily trusting of Jesus-depending upon Him as if your life depended on it!

JESUS IS THE NEW MANNA IN TOWN! Take Him into your life and allow Him to be your strength. Embrace Jesus, the "bread", that keeps you nourished, alive and spiritually whole. Jesus wants the most intimate relationship with you possible. He wants you to ingest Him as you would bread and He, the bread of life, becomes an essential reality in your life. It's SECRET #44: The follower of Jesus relates to the Master as the bread of life.

SECRET #43 OF FOLLOWING JESUS

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Continuing with the relational "I AM" signatures, one of the most powerful of all has to do with the story of Jesus' close friend, Lazarus. Jesus was probably in Jerash, a couple of days from Jerusalem, when He heard the news that His friend Lazarus had died. Jesus didn't quickly go to Jerusalem, but seemed to wait awhile before starting out. This hesitation even concerned His disciples, but Jesus took His time. The theory is that Jesus waited on purpose to set up one of the most amazing miracles ever. The longer He waited the longer Lazarus' body had to decompose.

Think about it! If Jesus was there right at the death of Lazarus and raised Lazarus from the dead, people could easily have said that Lazarus wasn't really dead. But after four days, there was no doubt that Lazarus was dead-really dead!

When Jesus did show up, Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, greeted Jesus with the same exasperation. They each believed that if Jesus had only been there, Lazarus wouldn't have died. The account is in the eleventh chapter of John: Martha then said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:21-26)

NOTE Jesus brought up the possibility of resurrection and Martha quickly thought Jesus was referring to the belief of an end-time resurrection. But Jesus wasn't talking about doctrines or a set of beliefs; He was referring to Himself: "I am the resurrection and the life." Jesus was doing what Jesus does best. He made it up close and personal. This brings us to SECRET #43: The follower of Jesus relates to his Master as the resurrection and the life.

Then Jesus moved into gear to prove Himself as the resurrection and the life by raising His friend, Lazarus, from the dead after he had been dead for 4 days. NOTE how Jesus did the impossible and asked the people to do the possible. Jesus asked the people to do three things: FIRST-Jesus said, "Where have you laid him?" Jesus knew where they laid him. He made the cave where he was laid out, but Jesus involved the people in the process and they showed Him where Lazarus was buried.

SECOND-Jesus said, "Remove the stone!" Jesus could have easily moved the stone. Anyone who can raise a person from the dead, after "Behold, how he stinketh!" can certainly move a gravestone out of the way. But again Jesus involved the people in doing what they could do.

THIRD-Jesus said, "Unbind him and let him go." Now, don't you think the grave clothes would have been an easy deal for Jesus to remove? Jesus asked the people there to remove the grave clothes.

Then, Jesus did what only Jesus could do. He walked into the tomb and said, "Lazarus, come forth!" Now here is where Jesus had to move into gear. Only God can tell a dead person to get up and he gets up! So, Jesus proved to be the resurrection and the life by bringing Lazarus back to life!

Jesus wants us to DO THE POSSIBLE BY FAITH THAT HE WILL DO THE IMPOSSIBLE! Jesus is the agent of making impossible things possible! After an encounter with what we know as the "rich young ruler", Jesus and His disciples had a brief discussion about impossibilities. The disciples asked Jesus, "Who then can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "With human beings this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."

You see this same theme throughout the ministry of Jesus. The man lame from birth in the early chapters of Acts, was healed in the name of Jesus. That's impossible! The feeding of 5000+ people with only one sack lunch. That's impossible! The transformation of an impassioned Pharisee, Saul, from one of the most feared opponents of Jesus to become one of His most well-known followers and teachers. Impossible!

Now, here we have the resurrection of Jesus' friend, Lazarus, after he was dead for 4 days. Very impossible, but Jesus did it! It's not just that He pulled off a powerful work of the resurrection; Jesus is the resurrection and the life! SECRET #43: The follower of Jesus relates to his Master as the resurrection and the life. To relate to Jesus in this way means two things. FIRST-No matter how impossible things seem to you, Jesus traffics in the impossible and makes them possible. SECOND-Jesus is the constant hope and power that you can start over no matter what!