Recently while we were in Swaziland, I heard one of the most challenging messages I believe that I have ever heard. My buddy, Matt, preached one Sunday while we were serving at El Shaddai orphanage. It was a very simple, but heavy message. He titled it… “Jesus Is Everything.”
The title itself came from a quote by Mother Teresa. She learned and grasp what it meant for Jesus to be everything. She understood it far deeper than most Christians do today. My prayer is that each of us will grasp this simple yet life changing truth. She learned what it meant to be totally dependent on God. She learned what it meant to have nothing else or any other resource, because truth is, there is nothing else.
Philippians 1:27 says,
“Only let your manner of life be worthy of the Gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the Gospel.” What does it mean to live “worthy of the Gospel of Christ?” Have you ever really thought about that…?
Before we can understand what it is to live a life worthy of the Gospel, we must understand what the Gospel is.
John 14:6 says,
“I am the way the truth and the life, nobody comes to the father except through me.”
This verse says there is no other way to be saved. There is no other way to come to know the One True God. You cannot get to God without Jesus Christ as you Lord and Savior.
John 1:5 says,
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
This verse talks about light invading darkness. The two cannot inhabit the same space. It is impossible. When you open a door, light spills out, darkness doesn’t spill in. You can’t be in darkness and in light. What business does light have with darkness? What would children of light need from the darkness? The power we have in Christ is not at the mercy of sin, the power of Christ is not at the mercy of darkness, it penetrates the darkness.
Imagine this…
There is an evil spirit walking around your town, not being able to invade believers homes. What if he comes across a church member who has things that shouldn’t be in there home? What if he comes across a man who has adultery in his heart? What if he comes across a woman who has greed in her heart? What if he comes across something on television that isn’t appropriate in the home? Then he will say “ah ha! That’s mine. That is my territory!” And he will come in.
Believers and followers of Christ… What place does darkness have in your life? If Christ is in you, the answer is none!
WHY WOULD YOU DABBLE IN BOTH?
Let me give you this analogy… Lets call this, “The Gospel is Heavy”
Imagine a scale. Imagine that on one hand you have the Bible, and on the other hand you are holding what you think is right… Lets say that maybe you are holding a journal or some sort of book that you are referencing information from instead of the Bible. Maybe in the journal you have writen your thoughts. We will say its “Life vs. Gospel.” A lot of times we think we know what is best and we think that we find things in other books that are what we should test our lives against, but if you remember, we are told to test everything to the Bible says. Thats how we tell if its legit or not…
Technically, the Bible (the Gospel) should out weigh our “lives”by A LOT, because it is heavy. Sometimes though, we don’t always like parts of the Bible or agree with it. So what do we do…? We pick and choose what we want to hear, and throw out what we don’t like or don’t want to follow… You following me…? We begin to take things out of the Gospel to make our lives measure up, when we should taking the things out of our lives to allow ourselves to balance out to what the Gospel tells us we are to be living like. We are called to live a life worthy of the Gospel!
Think about this… Source vs. Resource
What’s the difference? Resource is one of the many places we get what I need. Source is where everything comes from!
Is Jesus just one of the places you get what you want, or is He everything?
Remember the story of David and Goliath? Saul, tried to convince David he needed Armor. But here’s the thing, it didn’t fit. Children of God, the things the world will try and put on you will not fit you! The powers of this world will tell you that you need things, certain things, to be whole and to be healed, but just like David said to Goliath, “you come to me with a sword and a shield but I come to you in the name of the Lord!”
The Name of the LORD is enough!
Philippians 4:13 says,
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Thats incredible! Why can we not grasp that?! If and when we do, it will change everything about our lives!
WE MUST BURN WITH IT!!
In Revelation 3:16, we read about being lukewarm…
“So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”
We need to allow the word of the God to change our hearts today! There is no place in The Kingdom for those who are lukewarm, who sit in church pews only to take up space. There is no excitement in those who are lukewarm. Where are miracles and where are the stories of salvation? Where are the righteous ones standing up for purity?
If you find yourself in this place of being lukewarm repent and return so that the LORD himself might be glorified in your life!
JESUS IS ENOUGH… HE IS EVERYTHING… I want to live a life WORTHY OF THE GOSPEL…
I hope this challenges and convicts you… It did me…
OH YEAH! We had the opportunity to do a couple skits while we were at El Shaddai ministry. This skit is called “Everything” by Lifehouse. Its very powerful! Enjoy…
Love yall.
