Do You Know Him?

Greetings in the name of Jesus! This is Rob Haymes. This is 15 Minutes With Jesus. I thank God for giving me this program over a year and a half ago. He told me He wanted me to do a 15 minute program, and every single week, except for one week when we were in the hospital, the Lord has given us a program. And today is no exception. This program is called Do You Know Him? Do you know Jesus? Is He your friend? Do you keep his Words? Jesus said, You are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you. Let’s turn to 2 Pet 1:2-21, Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tabernacle, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease. For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And we heard this voice which came from Heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Let’s turn to Mat 11:25-30, At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank You, Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. 

Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight. All things have been delivered to Me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Then Jesus said, Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Come to know Jesus! Learn of Him, for He is meek and lowly of heart, and you will find rest unto your souls. Jesus said, Take my yoke on you and learn of Me! Many of us have taken on a yoke of religion, of one form or another, and we’ve never gotten to know Jesus. He wants us to know Him; know Him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings; Amen, that we may be accounted worthy to attain to the first resurrection. You won’t make it to the first resurrection if you don’t know Him, and the fellowship of his sufferings, and the power of his resurrection. Do not be content with empty religion. Come to know Jesus! You can know Him! You can walk with Him! Phil 3:7-11, the Apostle Paul wrote, But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

2 Pet 3:9-18, The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 

Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen. Let’s turn to Phil 2:5-13, Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in Heaven, and of those on Earth, and of those under the Earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;  for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. We must work out our own salvation. There are things we must do in order for our salvation to be completed, with God working in us , both to will and to do his good pleasure.

Jesus humbled Himself  to become a man and live among us as a man; being tempted as we are in every way, yet without sin; that He might go to the Cross on our behalf, because He loved the Father and the Father loved us and sent Him to save us from our sins. So also Jesus loved us, suffered for us, and washed us from our sins in his own Blood. Let this mind be in you: that you love the Father and his Son, and you love your brothers and sisters, and you live for them, no longer for yourself, and you are ready to lay down your life for them. Jesus said, Greater love has no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you. This is the love of Jesus: that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous. If we love Him, we will follow Him, denying ourselves, taking up our own crosses every day to do the Father’s will. We are crucified with Christ, nevertheless we live, yet not us, but Christ lives in us. Is this your mind? Are you dead to this wicked world and to your own wicked ways, crucified with Him through your water baptism, buried with Him and raised with Him a new creature in Christ, seated with Him at the right hand of the Father in Heaven far above all powers, principalities and dominions, keeping his commandments, obeying Him, overcoming the Devil and the powers of darkness that are set against you to destroy you and your whole family? If you are not being diligent in all these things to know Jesus and to make your calling and election sure, that you may be found of Him in peace, without spot and blameless, you won’t make it! Those powers of darkness will keep pushing you back until you forget you have been purged from your old sins, and you will end up weeping and gnashing your teeth as you are cast into outer darkness. Wake up! Jesus is your Rock! Fall upon Him, and be broken and purged and cleansed and renewed, and stand up in Him. He loves you so much that He gave Himself for you on that brutal Cross. His grace is sufficient for you. He will help you if you will call upon Him with all your heart.

We must continue in the Word of God, reading God’s Word, studying his Word, doing his Word, living his Word, understanding his Word, praying for understanding. In 1 John we read that the Holy Spirit is our teacher. He will reveal God’s Word to us. So we go on with more and more understanding and revelation of God’s Word as the Holy Spirit is teaching us, the Holy Spirit leading us in prayer as it says in Jude: building ourselves up on our most holy faith praying in the Holy Spirit, forgetting what lays behind, not letting the Devil make us guilty over things we’ve done in the past and we’ve already repented of, forgetting what lays behind, reaching  forward to that which is before by praying in the Holy Spirit, building ourselves up on our most holy faith; faith comes by hearing the Word of God; this is how we do it: continuing in the Word, continuing in the Spirit, and pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus! We will overcome, and we will be able to stand! Jesus has made many promises to those that overcome. The Scripture says, They overcame the accuser of the brethren by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. Thank you Jesus! Jesus said, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross every day and follow Me. He said, my sheep hear my voice and they follow Me. If you will humble yourself and follow Him, He will lead you in paths of righteousness for his Name’s sake, and you will overcome. In Eph 1:15-23 we read, Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. This is how we will overcome: with the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus.