I Have Seen Jesus In My Life

We are influenced and our lives are impacted by everything we experience each day. Today we are talking about how we have seen Jesus in our life.

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

Downloads and Links

Watch the video of this teaching at https://www.celllifechurch.tv/i-have-seen-jesus-in-my-life/

Introduction

Have you ever noticed that when people spend a lot of time together they start to act and sound alike? They use the same phrases and do the same things the same way. Their personalities will start to become more alike. This happens most with husbands and wives, but it also happens with children and their friends. It happens in the workplace and other social organizations we find ourselves a part of.

Everything we experience and every person we interact with has an effect on us. Our lives are a reflection of our environment, our experiences, and those who influence our lives. This can be both good and bad. We must be careful to be a good and positive influence on others and not allow bad and negative influencers to affect us. The best way to do that is to spend more time and energy with good and positive influences and experiences. These can outweigh the negative.

Let’s look at how Jesus influenced others and had an effect on their life.

Jesus Seen In Simeon’s Life

Let’s first look at how Jesus affected Simeon’s life while he was still a baby. Let’s read Luke 2:22-38.

Luke 2:22-35

(22)  When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord  (23)  (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”),  (24)  and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”  (25)  Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him.  (26)  It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.  (27)  Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required,  (28)  Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:  (29)  “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace.  (30)  For my eyes have seen your salvation,  (31)  which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:  (32)  a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”  (33)  The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him.  (34)  Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against,  (35)  so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

Simeon was a good and devout man in Jerusalem. The Lord had told him he would not die until he saw the Lord’s Messiah, the salvation of Israel and all mankind. Simeon’s interaction with Jesus was short, but the effect it had on him, and all of us in reading about him, is great.

Simeon says to God, after seeing the baby Jesus, that he can let him pass away in peace knowing that the Lord’s plan has been set in motion for all nations.

Just seeing Jesus brought Simeon peace. Being able to bless the baby and Mary and Joseph must have brought him great joy. We can also see the prophecy the Lord gave through Simeon about Jesus’ life and mission.

We can easily see the joy and peace that Jesus brought to Simeon’s life. He was moved to do what he could and that was bless the baby and Mary and Joseph. Have you seen Jesus in your life through joy and peace?

Jesus Seen In Peter, James, and John’s Life

Let’s now look at how we can see Jesus in the lives of Peter, James, and John. Jesus had a major impact on the 12 disciples. After Jesus was resurrected and ascended to Heaven, these disciples who were now apostles carried the gospel of Jesus Christ across the known world. Let’s look at one of the interactions Jesus had with these three in particular in Matthew 17:1-13.

Matthew 17:1-13

(1)  After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.  (2)  There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.  (3)  Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.  (4)  Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”  (5)  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”  (6)  When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified.  (7)  But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.”  (8)  When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.  (9)  As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”  (10)  The disciples asked him, “Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?”  (11)  Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things.  (12)  But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.”  (13)  Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.

Initially, the three disciples were in wonder. They were seeing Jesus, who had been transfigured to have a glowing face and clothes bright white, talking to Moses and Elijah. They were in awe and wanted to do something. When Jesus affects us we want to do something about it. Peter wants to build a shelter for each of them.

Verse 5 tells us that while Peter was still suggesting this a cloud formed around them and they heard the voice of God. This terrified them. But Jesus came to them, touched them, and told them to get up and not be afraid. They learned that day that they did not need to be afraid of God. They also learned they were witnessing a much bigger part of God’s plan for mankind than they thought.

Jesus brought wisdom and understanding to Peter, James, and John’s lives. Have you seen Jesus in your life through wisdom and understanding?

Jesus Seen in Pastor Brian & Kelly’s Lives

Today our interaction with Jesus is through prayer and time reading and studying the Bible. There are rare instances where people will hear an audible voice, but more often it is a small still voice in our heart that we hear. Other times, it is through a word of knowledge or prophecy from someone else who often has no idea what we are going through, but what they share is exactly what needs to be heard. Other times, we have to learn the hard way, and that is our story, in part.

When we were starting Cell Life Church, we had a vision and believed the Lord was speaking to us to do something different. We believed we needed to be part of a course correction for the Church that throughout history has gotten off track and needed to be realigned and corrected. Reading many of the Apostle Paul’s epistles will show that the church can get off track in a hurry when they start focusing on anything other than Jesus.

We had a kick-off event for the first meeting of Cell Life Church and rented a space at a community center. We had a very gifted worship leader travel 200 miles to lead us in worship. We had a great 3 point sermon to share after the worship. We had all the chairs lined up in perfect rows.

As I was up preaching and looking at all the faces staring back at me I heard that small still voice say to me, “Brian, what are you doing? I thought I called you to do something different?”

While Brian was up there preaching, the Lord spoke to me as well. I looked around and saw the same thing I had seen in church services my whole life. There is nothing wrong with that, but we were called to do something different. The Lord was clear to me that we were not doing what he had meant for us. We were dropping easily into what we knew and were comfortable with.

Brian stopped his sermon and we went straight to prayer and then a little more worship before we shifted to some fellowship time over some food.

One of our friends, and now fellow CLC minister and church council member, asked us what was going on. He thought we were going to be different. To reach out more like in the book of Acts. We smiled and said, yes, the Lord had already spoken to each of us independently and we shared with each other.

I then thanked everyone for coming and shared we would be sharing more soon. Cell Life Church was born out of that meeting of about 40 people in Richland, Washington that evening in 2012.

Jesus was very clear to us that evening and our lives and ministry have not been the same ever since. We see Jesus in our lives every day as we invite him to counsel us as we interact with everyone we meet. Whether we are at our daytime job, a social function, or something else, Jesus is with us. We invite him to be with us everywhere we go. We listen for his voice and obey what we hear.

It took some pretty humbling moments, but we see Jesus in our lives through our obedience to his call even when it gets hard. How have you seen Jesus in your life through obedience?

Conclusion

If you are watching this video or participating in this teaching in a group somewhere, Jesus has had some impact on your life. We have only touched on a few ways Jesus impacts our lives. He brings us joy and peace. We have understanding and wisdom through his teaching and leading. He speaks to us, sometimes audibly, to help us make course corrections in our own lives or to help others. We encourage you to ask the question, “How do I see Jesus in my life?” Ask that of yourself regularly and ask others, too. It makes people think and helps them to keep their focus on Jesus and take it off of the things that do not matter.

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