More Like Jesus

Open your Bibles to Acts chapter 1 and meet me at verse 8. Acts chapter 1 and verse 8. Luke, the writer of the book of Acts, is quoting Jesus here as saying, but you shall receive power. Somebody say power. Power. When the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.

Over the last several weeks, we've been talking about the Holy Spirit, and my plan is to continue to talk about the Holy Spirit over the entire summer to get us more acquainted with, to give us more understanding of who we possess, who is in us, and who is on us. I was considering a cell phone and my iPhone, for example, can do a whole lot of stuff. Just like your iPhone, Android, whatever you got, Google, whatever you got, can do a whole lot of stuff.

And there's so much that we don't know that it can do. I mean, we're limited to social media and phone calls and texts, but there's a lot of things that that phone can do. And occasionally I'll receive emails that have tips and they say, okay, did you know your phone could do this? Did you know it could do it? I'm like, oh my goodness, I didn't know all of this. And I begin to acclimate those tips into my daily life.

And I begin to learn more about the phone. And I started thinking about how the Holy Spirit is in our lives. There is so much the Holy Spirit can do for us, but we don't even really know what he can do for us. And I want over the summer, to enlighten you, to reveal to you, to show you what you possess. Who you possess, who is in you, who is on you, why did Jesus leave him, and what we're supposed to accomplish because we have the Holy Spirit.

It is so important to know what we possess, because if we don't know what we possess, then we will begin to abuse. And we don't want to abuse something that's been a gift given to us, someone that's been a gift given to us by God himself. And so Jesus tells us here, he was talking to the disciples because Jesus had risen from the dead and he told them to go to Jerusalem and hang out because I'm going to send you the Holy Spirit.

And when the Holy Spirit comes, you're going to receive power when he comes. And that word power, we talked about it last week, means might, efficiency. It also means ability, power. The power is to transform your ordinary everyday life into something extraordinary. The job of the Holy Spirit is to take your little bit and make it much. Matter of fact, God ain't never, excuse my English, but he ain't ever. Never ask for a whole lot from anybody.

He's always looked for the broken, the ones that don't feel like they have enough, the ones that don't think they have enough. I remember when he approached Jeremiah, Jeremiah said, I can't even talk. Moses said, I need an interpreter. I stutter. I mean, he never asked anybody that was perfect and able to do anything.

Thing he always knew that he would empower you to get what he wants accomplished in the earth and that is the purpose of the Holy Spirit to empower you to do what he's called you to do the important thing is to realize what has he called you and I to do and last week I touched on it but the Holy Spirit told me to go a little more in depth regarding what he has called us to to do and to accomplish. And we'll see in Romans chapter 8 there, and I believe, meet me at verse, is it 28?

Romans chapter 8 and verse 28. Now watch this. Paul tells us, he wrote the epistle to the Romans. He says, and we know that all things work together for good to those who are called, to those, sorry, to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. Now, So I want to pause here for a second.

Notice that this verse only works for a select group of people. He says, all things work together. So not some things and things are not working in isolation. All things are working together for good. All right. So God is going to work all things together for your good to this select group of people, to those who love God, not to everybody. How many of you love God in the house today, online, you love God. So you have fulfilled one portion of this verse to those who love God.

He's going to work all things together for your good. Everything you've been through, everything you've experienced, everything you're going through, God right now, if you love him, is working it together for your good. It is coming together for your good because you love God and because you are called. And I like this verse. This stood out to me when I was reading this week. It says the call to those who are the called. And I thought that I thought there was a typo when I was writing it out.

And I went back and looked at this translation. It's it's no, it's the called. Say I am the called. The called according to his purpose now before I get there I need to I need to share this with you and I hear it in my heart one of the reasons I moved to Charlotte North Carolina I was living in Fort Worth Texas. And it was on my heart. I just felt a stirring on my heart to do something different. And I was single at the time, didn't know what I was going to do. I had youth pastor experience.

And I was at that time pastoring, a youth pastoring at a church. And there was a couple of churches that interviewed me. They wanted me to be their youth pastor. None of that was really working out. And then I got fired from my job. Literally out of the blue, just fired. I was the only one. They said there was attrition happening. No, no, no. I was the only one that got fired. And I'm like, what in the world? I mean, that's a good producer right here that you let go, right?

I got fired. And man, that brought me down. It really did. And I didn't want to do anything because I worked for a ministry. And I didn't want to do anything that had anything to do with ministry at the time. I was done serving the Lord, all that. I was done because they fired me. And I begin to think, well, I don't know what I'm supposed to do. And next thing I know, Charlotte came on the map and I knew a couple here that had started a church and I stayed in contact with them.

They're like, why don't you come to Charlotte? And I thought, you know what? I'm not doing anything else. I moved to Charlotte, come out here. I served their church for seven years. You guys know my story. I worked in corporate America, so on and so forth. I met my wife, Stacy, glory to God. And the point I'm making as bad as I felt when When I got fired and didn't know the direction I was headed, God was working that together for my God.

So that I can move to Charlotte. And Stacey will tell you the only reason I came to Charlotte was to meet her. That's what she'll tell you. But met her, and then the rest is history. I didn't want to get fired. I still think I was wrongly fired. I still got good connections at that ministry, so no hard feelings. But that wasn't the purpose or plan. I didn't want that to happen, but God was working it together for my good. And so I love God and I am the called man.

According to his purpose. Now, the called means the invited. Or you could say the ones that have been divinely selected. All right, so follow me on this. That God is inviting all of us. We are all called. Sinners are called. But those that have answered the call are the ones God has selected. Now, follow me. Everybody's called. And anybody can answer. But once you answer it, you've been selected.

Many are called, few are chosen. Which ones are the ones that are chosen? The ones that have answered the call, right? So the call, the ones that have answered the call, the divine selection that you said yes to the invitation, if you love God and you said yes to his invitation, everything is going to work together for your good.

All of it is going to work out all right everything is going to be fine for you even if you're going through a tough time it's going to work out because he's working it together for your good even if you're having a good time and you might get ready to go through a bad time don't worry about it it's all going to work out because he's working it together for your good somebody say amen now in verse 29 is what i want you to see here look at romans chapter 8 verse 29 watch this Now,

so we just talked about you being called, you loving God, it working together in verse 29, as he says, for whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. So keep that on the screen, guys. I want to break this down. A lot of big Bible words, but let's break it down because it's very, very simple. So we're called... And then it says here, for whom he foreknew. So he being God, foreknew means he knew beforehand.

He knew before. Fore means before. For whom he knew beforehand, he also predestined. Predestined simply means he planned ahead of time. If I am going down to Charleston, South Carolina, I'm going to predestine my destination down there. I'm going to plan ahead of time how we're going to get to Charleston. So God knew beforehand, he also planned ahead of time to be conformed. That word conformed means to look like.

So he knew ahead of time, he also planned ahead of time that you would look like the image. The word image is the word picture. So God knew ahead of time and he planned beforehand that you would look like the picture of his son. That he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Look at verse 30.

Moreover, whom he predestined, whom he prepared beforehand, hand, these he also called or invited or divinely selected and whom he invited or divinely selected, these he also justified, that simply means that he declared you righteous, that he is looking at you as if you've never sinned before. He declared you righteous. He's viewing you like you've never sinned. And whom he declared righteous or justified, these he also glorified, meaning he is going to cause you to shine.

Now watch this. All of this is because of verse 28. Go back to verse 28 if you don't mind. At the end, it says, those who are called according to his purpose. Purpose means the reason why you exist. And all of us are looking for purpose in our life. Each and every one of us are trying to establish what is the purpose of our life. Everybody wants to know why they exist. There's been a lot of turmoil. There's been a lot of confusion surrounding purpose.

We're not born with the knowledge of our purpose. No one's born with the knowledge of their purpose. Purpose has to be discovered. Your reason for existence has to be discovered. If you don't discover your purpose, then you will use and be abused and there would be abnormal use or abuse if you don't know your purpose. So you'll begin to abuse your life and abnormally use your life when there's no purpose. Do you know why our society is in the places in the day is because people lack purpose.

They don't know why they exist. So they'll begin to abuse themselves, abnormally use themselves, and begin to do all type of crazy things because they don't know purpose. But I have some good news for you today. A creator always creates with purpose. Everything you see that's been created, the creator had a purpose for it. Nothing was created without purpose. The chair you're sitting in was purposely created for you to sit in it.

And don't you like how comfortable it is? Because we paid good money for it to be comfortable for you. Come on, somebody. Amen. I got to tell this quick story, Kurt. But when we first got to church and they said, we need a budget for the chairs. And I thought the budget for the chairs, oh man, a thousand dollars.

And they came back and they had some of the hardest looking, worst, uncomfortable chairs ever they said they said pastor this fits our budget i was like i can't ask the people to sit in these chairs they're not comfortable i said i need some church chairs, and so they sent back how much church chairs cost the ones you're sitting in and it was quadruple, the amount i said oh lord i don't want to pay that much for the church chairs

and i thought but we gotta i mean you if i'm asking y'all to sit here to wear it you gotta your fanny's got got to be comfortable. I said, Lord, you got to bring in some extra money because we need these chairs, but we don't have the money. Lo and behold, a guy comes and we were at this, we were getting this place, getting ready, get it going to move in. A guy comes in here. He was pretty big guy too, six, four, six, five. And I thought he was going to come help us.

And he came and we were ripping up carpet and getting stuff done. He just came in and he had an envelope. He said, the Lord told me me to bring this to you. And he walked out. I was like, dude, we need help. What do you mean? I don't want no envelope. I need physical labor here. And he left. And later that night, I grabbed the envelope. Like, what in the world is an envelope? It was a check to buy all of the chairs.

Cast, glory be to God. So the chairs you're sitting on are paid for in Jesus' name. And so everything Everything you have, everything you see, your reason for existence is purposeful. The creator did not create you without a purpose.

You are here to solve a problem. Everything that's been created is to solve a problem. Just consider it. This chair, like, for example, it's to solve a problem. We need to be comfortable. The chair was created to solve a problem. Everything that's been created is to solve some kind of issue or problem or to make things more convenient than they have been before. God is known. The word God means creator. So he created everything and you for a specific purpose that only you can fulfill.

Listen to me now. And so that means you're not here by accident. I don't care if your mom and dad don't like each other and they didn't mean to have you. None of that matters. I don't care if they wanted to abort you. None of that matters. I don't care if they say they didn't love you.

That don't matter. you are here with a purpose on purpose and the reason why the devil has attacked you a lot as a child the reason why you've experienced so much trauma as a child the reason why you've seen so much as a child is because the devil is trying to get you off of the purpose that god has because he know everything that came on this earth was came with purpose and intention there's a reason for his existence,

so the enemy's been attacking and attacking and attacking to get you off course. Say, I have purpose. You have purpose. You are here for a reason. And God wanted you here in 2024. If he didn't, he'd have had you back in 1500. Like people say, you ever hear people say, I couldn't, man. I couldn't live back in the 1500s. Or I couldn't live back in the 60s or, you know, during slavery or the 1800s. I couldn't live back. That's true. That's why you're not there.

Because you couldn't. That took a special breed of person. You listening to me? that I respect, by the way, that went through all of the stuff that they went through back then. It took a special person to do that, and God created them for that time. Now we're living in this time, and this is a difficult time to live in too.

Everything has been made simple, but there's so much chaos and craziness going on because of the simplicity of everything created that this is a weird time to live in as well. And so God called you to live in this season, in this time to fulfill a function and to answer a problem that he had on the earth. So he had you and I, and here's what he wanted us to do. Let's go back real quick to Romans chapter eight. Let's go to 28.

I'm going to read it in unison to verse 30. And we know that all things.

Look at verse 29. Verse 29. That he might be the firstborn among many brethren, moreover, whom he prepared ahead of time. These he also invited, whom he invited and divinely selected. These he also declared righteous and whom he declared righteous. These he also glorified.

My assignment today is to tell you that your purpose on the earth, if you're trying to figure out what God's called you to do, if you're trying to figure out why you are here, if you're trying to figure out what you need to accomplish, I'm going to free you today. You are called to look like Jesus. That is your calling. That is your purpose. My purpose on the earth is to look, sound, and act like Jesus. Now, not in appearance. I'm not going to look like him in appearance.

We all have different colors, different shapes, different sizes, different genders, whatever. but to look like he would look, to reflect his glory, to sound like he would sound, to talk like he would talk, to act like he would act. That is your purpose. That is why you were called to look like Jesus. Say this after me. I'm called to look like Jesus. Now, I wrote 10 characteristics down of what Jesus possessed and how he administered the Holy Spirit on him and in him on the earth.

Jesus had the Holy Spirit with him, in him and on him. He said in Luke 14, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me for he's anointed me. So he possessed the Holy Spirit. Guess who else possesses the Holy Spirit? Don't throw rocks at me. You have the Holy Spirit. Not a different Holy Spirit than Jesus had. The same Holy Spirit that was on Jesus is on you. Not a different one.

The same. And so there are characteristics that Jesus possessed with the Holy Spirit that you and I possess with the Holy Spirit. What we're going to have to do is activate it. Now, I don't want you to remember all 10. I just want you to remember two, two or three.

OK, I'm going to go through 10, but I don't want you to remember all 10. Just take two or three that you can apply to your life and begin to ask the Holy Spirit to activate these things in my life. Are you ready? I said, are you ready? The first quality and characteristic Jesus possessed, I believe, and this is in no particular order, is love. God is love. Love, agape love, unconditional love, love that is by choice and not by chance. Love that doesn't ask, what have you done for me lately?

Lately love that does not move by what you're doing and how you're responding not keeping score no record of wrong this is agape love he's chosen to love you he loves you because he decided to love you no matter what you've done he loves you this is the love that Jesus possessed it's the love that he had for others unconditionally it's the love that he had for his enemies easy to love your friends, but the love he has for his enemies. And this love is founded upon two pillars.

I want you to hear this. The pillars are patience and kindness. Love is built on patience and kindness. Kindness is I'm going to act in with love. Patience is I'm going to react with love. You hear that? Kindness is an act. Patience is a reaction. And so Jesus exhibited love, patience, and kindness, and it was unconditional for everyone. That's one characteristic that the Holy Spirit impressed upon Jesus' love. The next one, and like I said, no particular order, is empathy.

Jesus was very empathetic. He felt what others felt. That's what empathy is. He felt what others felt. He showed deep concern and care for others, especially those who are suffering. Empathy. Those that are suffering, he felt what they felt. And he was moved with compassion to the point that it moved him to action. Ask the Holy Spirit to ignite empathy on the inside of you. You're not, no human being is better than another human being.

Let me say it again because I didn't get a hearty amen with that. No human being is better than another human being. I don't care how, yeah, amen back there. I don't care how much money you have in the bank account. I don't care how good you look. I don't care what color you are. No human being is better than another human being. And empathy says, I'm going to feel what you feel. And then compassion says, I'm going to act and I'm going to do something about that. Come on, somebody say amen.

The third one here, quality Jesus possessed with the Holy Spirit on and in his life is forgiveness. Somebody say forgiveness. Letting go of feelings towards those who have hurt you. Just releasing feelings. Of forgiveness, letting them go because they have hurt you. So we have love, we have empathy, we have forgiveness. The next one is humility.

Humility. He served others. Now listen, humility means no pride. Too many of us have pride. To many of us, be honest, the reason why we get upset about certain things is simply because of our pride. It has nothing to do with anything but you made me look bad. You're making me sound bad. You remember when the Popeye's chicken sandwich came out and everybody was lining up for the Popeye's chicken? Then they said people died. Some people got in a fight over you cutting line over the chicken.

It wasn't over the chicken. It's over pride. It's over pride. And pride will cause you to do some things that you know you ought not be doing. I've been saying this to myself. I am a man of no reputation. What do I mean by that? I've been telling myself, I don't care what I think someone thinks about me. You know what? I don't care. I'm going to be a man of integrity and character. And whatever you think, that's what you think.

But when you got pride, I've got to convince you this and that and this and that. No, no, no. Humility says no pride. Humility, listen to this. Listen, I want you to hear this clearly. Humility is not thinking less of yourself. It's thinking of yourself less. Let me say it again. Humility is not thinking less of yourself. self. It's thinking of yourself less. And so, if we're going to be humble, Jesus, he operated with humility.

Ask the Holy Spirit, activate. Just like the cell phone illustration, you got it already. Just needs to be activated. Holy Spirit, activate humility in my life, and then you begin to walk it out. The next one is integrity.

Integrity. That means honesty. Jesus was honest. That means doing the right thing even when no one is watching. That's integrity. Doing what's right, doing it right because it's right. Even when no one is watching, we are operating with integrity. Integrity is a really big one for me that I want to be known as a man of integrity, a man that you can trust and you can depend on. Well, how do you build your integrity?

Well, one, you ask the Holy Spirit. Jesus had this operate in his life, Holy Spirit activated my life, and two, you continue to do what's right each and every time. You be honest. Even when you are tempted to lie, You be honest each and every time. Somebody say integrity. Integrity.

Another quality that Jesus possessed was generosity. Generosity. He was generous with his time. I mean, how often did he take time with people? Generous with his time, generous with his talent, generous with his money, time, talent, treasure. He was generous with it. He began to share his time. And I want you to share your time, your skills, and your resources generously.

Generously. Jesus was generous. In Acts chapter 10, verse 34, it says how God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with power who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil. If you see the word doing good, that is the word philanthropy. Meaning he went about doing good. He went about doing good. That's who Jesus was and is. And that's what we possess when we have the Holy Spirit in our life.

Another characteristic that Jesus possessed. And like I said, I don't want you to remember all these, except I want you to apply two or three in your life, was his words. He was very clear. He was very determined and purposeful about his words. His words brought life and encouragement to people. He always said what he meant. He never responded impulsively. His words brought life and encouragement. He said what he meant. Your words are powerful.

And Jesus understood the power. Matter of fact, he is known as the word. The word made flesh, that's Jesus. Your words are so powerful that it can tear people up or build them up. Tear people down or build them up. Your words are so powerful that it can motivate or deflate people. I think about that often because, you know, I preach for a living and I talk for a living and I understand the weight that words carry. You can hear a message like this and get inspired to go out.

Or if I come preaching Chuck and Jive and, you know, some do-do-do-do-do and y'all leave here and nothing happens, right? there's power in the words that have taken place. And your words are so very powerful. I'll use this illustration, but think about Adolf Hitler. He wasn't a big man that would beat you up with his fist. He used his words, and his words changed the entire nation, the culture, and his words were hateful and created a culture of hate and changed people.

Simply by his words conversely if you were to use your words for life for encouragement for inspiration it could change people and change literally the trajectory of somebody's life somebody say amen jesus was also obedient he always did what the father told him to do. Some of your prayer need to be, Lord, help me to be obedient. You know, I don't want to be rebellious. I don't want to always fight and push against and kick against the goals. I want to follow the word of God.

Jesus also preaches that we should also follow the leaders he has placed in our life. That's what obedience is all about. Following his word and following the leaders God has placed. This is why it's important to have a pastor. I was excited that new members are a part of the church because now they have a pastor and they have a voice they could follow and obey. That's very important. You can listen to a lot of preaching, but you obey the voice of your pastor.

Now, if he's saying something ridiculous or dumb or stupid, then you don't obey that voice. All right? But if he's talking in line with the word of God, you obey the voice of your pastor.

Jesus also was a witness, was he not? Everywhere he went, he shared the gospel. Everywhere he went, there was a message of love, hope, and faith. Everywhere he went, he was a witness. And that's what the Holy Spirit wants to create in your life, wants to activate in your life, that you are a witness everywhere you go.

You share the gospel, that you become a Bible that most people will never read, that you become an inspiration, that you become a beacon, in with the Holy Spirit on you that people will begin to say something's different the day and age we live in today listen to me you walk up to somebody say are you are you overwhelmed with your sins they're gonna look at you like what are you talking about. Do you need to be sanctified? They're going to be like, what in the world are you talking about?

No, you're going to have to attract people by your lifestyle today. And then they'll listen to your words. When they notice that you're walking around with peace and joy, and they're walking around sad and overwhelmed, they'll begin to ask you, what are you doing? Why are you not upset by this? Why are you not rattled and frazzled and, you know, running around like a chicken with your hair cut off? Because I have Jesus.

And the peace that passes understanding is in me. And the Holy Spirit, do you want to know Jesus? I want to be like you. Let me introduce you to Jesus. This is how it works today. You're going to walk somebody, you've been blood bought. What? They don't know what you're talking about. out. You have to show and share that the Holy Spirit is working in your life. Somebody say amen.

And the last one I want to share for today is Jesus was strong. He was the opposite of weak. He's resilient. He's bold, determined, strong. And so the 10 that I want you to consider, or one or two, I'll read them again. He possessed love, empathy, forgiveness, humility, integrity, generosity, his words, he was obedient, he was a witness, and he was strong. Now of those 10, I want you to take two or three, and I want you to ask the Holy Spirit to activate the.

What was on Jesus' life to appear in your life? In 1 John chapter 3 and look at verse 8. I believe it'll be on the screen. 1 John chapter 3 and verse 8. I don't know if I sent it to you guys or not. Oh, I did. Okay, praise the Lord. 1 John 3, 8, it says, He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. Now watch this. For this purpose, somebody say purpose. Purpose. The Son of God was manifested.

So what was his reason for existence? That he might destroy the works of the devil. You are purposed this morning. And why do you exist? Just for the same reason, Jesus, to destroy the works of the devil. If you implement, start out one, two, three of these 10 I just mentioned this morning, you will be a person that's destroying the works of the devil. Jesus' purpose was to do that and your purpose is to look like Jesus. To be more like him. And you are not doing this in your own willpower.

You have the Holy Spirit. And all you need to do is ask him. Release these things in my life and begin to operate as if you already have it working in your life. This is how you experience true life.