Yesterday I ended by talking about how Jesus should be more than Someone we work for or just Someone we talk or know about; He should also be our personal Friend, which is the relationship that He wants with us. In fact, Hebrews 2:10-18 reveals that Jesus is not ashamed to call us His brothers, as incomprehensible as that may sound. I encourage you to read this entire passage (Hebrews 2:10-18) several times so that you may better understand why a personal relationship with Jesus is so important. Verse 9 reveals that Jesus Christ suffered death so that He might taste death for everyone. He did not come into this world to gain status or political power; He came for US to gain eternal life. Verse 11 says, “Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.” I don’t know about you, but I find this to be amazing! Furthermore, verses 13-14 says, “…Here am I, and the children God has given me. Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” Thus, because God has adopted all believers as His children, Jesus calls them His brothers and sisters, and we believers are all in the family of God. God through Jesus had to become human (“flesh and blood”) so that He could die and rise again to destroy the devil’s power over death; He took on Himself a flesh and blood nature with nerves, and He knows exactly how the human frame is tuned and how it is tortured.

Yesterday I also mentioned how we cannot change people’s personality by simply telling them to “cheer up” or “look on the bright side”; but God can change how gloomy or pessimistic people can develop a different outlook on life when they have an encounter with God beyond deciding to follow Him. Even people with a gloomy outlook on life will accept all we say about the need to receive the Holy Spirit, but most of the time we do not see anything change in their personality or temperament; they do not cheer up. The answer lies in living in the peace and joy of God’s forgiveness and favor; and this can only be achieved by spending time in the presence of God DAILY through Bible reading/study, through worship and prayer, and through cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit. These are the only things that will brighten up and bring cheerfulness to such a person. Only when we give God complete control of our lives can we find deliverance from the “blues”, deliverance from fits of depression, discouragement and all such moods, which even the most naturally cheerful people suffer from at times.
The Scriptures are full of instructions telling us to rejoice, to praise God, and to sing aloud for joy. However, it is only when we experience Jesus Christ through a personal encounter that we can have real cause to rejoice, to praise, and to sing aloud. If our worship is mechanical and routine or is done because someone says, “Just do it”, we will never experience what it is to really know God or experience revelation knowledge—knowledge that comes from studying God’s Word and communing with Him on a personal level. Being a “Christian” because our parents raised us that way or because it is all we’ve ever known is completely different from coming to know God personally. Only then does worship come from the heart, and our life is changed.

Join Us Every Sunday Morning at 11:00 AM. If you are searching for a Christian church in the Fresno or Clovis, CA, area, I would like to encourage you to join our Bible Study and Worship group. It’s a time when we worship, study the Word, and fellowship with others from our community. Contact us at www.vtabernacle.com to learn more.