Can You See Him?

0:11 Open your Bibles today to John 14, John chapter 14. So open your Bibles or your iPhones or whatever iPhone wannabe you might have. And I want to talk, this is really two messages in one. I want to just spend a few moments going through the beginning verses of chapter 14. Because there are several theological things that Jesus talks about that I just want to highlight for just a moment in chapter 14. and then I'm going to go and tell you what I want to talk to you about. I want to talk to you about the title of this message is Can You See Me?

1:02 Yeah, Can You See Me? So in John chapter 14, Jesus talks about some theological things that are important. Your theology will dictate your eternal status. what you believe or don't believe will determine where you will spend eternity.

1:27 And so Jesus in chapter 14 says several key things. He says, in my father's house, verse 2, I'm in verse 2. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. That's very important. You know what that means? Jesus is saying, I'm going away. I'm going to prepare a place for you and then I'm going to come back and get you at verse 3. Let me read verse 3 because verse 3 says and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am there you may be also. That's profound and powerful. Jesus is saying I'm going away. I'm preparing a place and I'm going to come back and get you. And that's a significant deal that we believe in the rapture. We believe that one day Jesus is coming back to take us out of here. Amen.

2:21 Now, my kids always, if they call their mother, they call her cell phone, she don't answer. They call her cell phone, she don't answer. They call her house, she don't answer. They feel that she's been raptured and they've been left. I hear you. So they're always calling, Dad, where's Mom? We called her on her phone. We called the house. She didn't answer. Is she still here?

2:54 Now, she went yesterday to the grocery store without telling me. I had fallen asleep in my office at home. And she comes back in the house. I wonder, who's that coming in the house? And she had left. and I had to tell her, don't do that. Don't leave the house. She had gone to the store. Don't leave the house and don't tell me because if I wake up and you ain't around. Do anybody understand what I'm saying? I'm having some anxieties here for just a moment. Don't do that again. Got me feeling like the kids.

3:36 In verse six, Jesus says something else that's very important. He says, Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. That's an important theological stand because some of y'all think that there are many roads to heaven. But according to Jesus, there's not many roads to heaven. There's one way to heaven and Jesus is his name. Jesus is either God and he's everything he said he was and everything he said is true or he's a liar and a fraud. But I am persuaded and I know he's not a fraud. He's not a liar. He tells the truth. And he said the only way you can get to the father is through Jesus. Verse number nine says this. Jesus said to him have I been with you so long and yet you have not known me Philip he who has seen me has seen the father so how can you say show us the father in their discussion Philip asked Jesus show us the father Jesus says I when you see me you see the father in other words if we want to know what what God looks like Jesus says look at me that's what Jesus said check me out Jesus says and and I'm showing you the father if you want to know what the father looks like. Look at verse 12. He says in verse 12, most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, the works that I do, he will do also and greater works than these he will do because I go to my father. I love that verse because Jesus is saying, I'm going away, but when I leave, I'm going to empower you to do greater works than I did.

5:22 and how many of y'all know that right now I'm doing a greater work than Jesus did what is that? I'm preaching to thousands of people around the world and around the nation from one location Jesus never had the opportunity to do that he empowers us to do greater work somebody say greater works And then he said in verse 13 and 14, and whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. And if you ask anything in my name, I will do it. I love that. Jesus is saying he's a prayer answering God. He answers prayer. He's a prayer answering God. Look at your neighbor and say, God answers prayer. but when we get to verse 19 now I'm going into my message this is my point I want to show you right here right now some of y'all gonna get this some of y'all gonna want to what did he talk about Jesus says in verse 19, this is a strange statement.

6:26 He says, a little while longer and the world will see me no more. But you will see me. Because I live, you will live also. Now, this is a strange statement Jesus makes. He says, the world won't see me, but you'll see me. Matter of fact, it is such a strange question. It is such an unusual statement that one of the disciples say, how are you going to do that? How are you going to make it so we can see you but the world won't see you? And that's what I want to talk to you about today. This is what the message is about today. Have you seen Jesus? Do you see him? Look at your neighbor and say, do you see Jesus? Just ask him. Now some people think they've seen Jesus from a dream or something they saw at the foot of their bed, a nightmare they had.

7:24 But no, no, no. No, no, no. I ain't talking about those kind of visions and experiences that you saw something but it wasn't God. Come on somebody, hallelujah. You ate too much before you went to bed. You watched too many horror movies or something that you did. When I talk about seeing Jesus, I'm talking about being in a situation where you see the hand of God working on your behalf. I'm talking about a problem being solved that you know that only God could have solved it. A miracle being worked out that you know only God could have worked it out. It's when God does something for you. Matter of fact, if the truth be told, I bet you there's a whole lot of y'all in here that God did something so spectacular for you and so special that you can't even talk about it.

8:23 Y'all ever had something, God do something for you, say, I can't tell nobody about that. Anybody ever had that kind of situation? That's what I'm talking about. Jesus said, you're going to see my hand. You're going to see my work. You're going to see me do what only I can do and you're going to know that it was me. You're going to know it wasn't your boss. It wasn't your mama. It wasn't your daddy. It wasn't your bank account. It wasn't your friend. you know only God could have worked that situation out and resolved it and fixed it, and you saw God do something spectacular for you. Do I have any witnesses in here that have seen God do that? But here's the thing. God is careful about who he allows to see his hand.

9:14 He just don't show himself to anybody. Matter of fact, when Moses went up in the mountain to get the Ten Commandments, God said, you're going to look and see me, but I'm only going to let you see my backside. God's careful about who he reveals himself to but here's the great thing I want you to see today and I'm almost finished no I'm not, I feel kind of a long way to go here's what I want you to see I want to live the kind of life and I'm grateful to live the kind of life that I see God doing spectacular things on my behalf that only God could have done it Thank you. Only God could have made it happen. Now, the truth be told, there's some of y'all in here that you ain't never seen that.

10:16 If you were to be honest, you've never seen something so spectacular that you say only God could have done it. And there's a reason for that. And I'm going to show you Jesus talks about it right here. Who will he let see him? Who will he allow to see his hand, see his presence and power? because there are conditions that God establishes for who he will allow to see him. And that's what I want to talk to you about today. Ask your neighbor, have you seen him? Do you see him? Can you see him?

10:49 Now, I want you to slide down to verse 21. I want to start at verse 21. And let me just say this real quick. I want to ask the question, What's the secret of Jesus manifesting himself to us? What is it that is the requirement? What does he require? And it is revealed right here in verse 21. Now, before I get into this, let me just tell you real quick. Let me give you a quick interpretive tool. I'm going to show you one of the ways that you can interpret scripture. Is look for a principle. Somebody say principle. Principle. then look for the program to implement the principle say program and then anybody know what's next promise some of y'all was at the earlier service principle program promise say that Principle, program, promise.

11:46 Say it again. Principle, program, promise. One last time. Principle, program, promise. Y'all got it. A principle is a truth, an unchanging truth. It's a truth that doesn't change, doesn't fade away. It's a truth. God's word is full of principles. The program is how you implement the principle. what you do for the what is it that you practice or put in place in your life to be able to implement the principle into your life and then the promise is what God will do when in fact you embrace the principle practice the program and then you'll see a promise go ahead with your peas pastor I worked hard to develop these peas show me some love will you please Thank you.

12:38 here's the principle verse 21 he who has my commandments and keeps them it is he who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. Here's the principle that I want you to see, that God will do something spectacular for certain people. Who are those people? Here's the principle. He who loves him.

13:09 He who loves me. As a matter of fact, he says it twice in scripture. As a matter of fact, if you look down through these verses I'm going to be reading, on seven occasions in this 14th chapter of John, seven times Jesus talks about the importance of loving him. And that's what his point is. He says, I want to find the people who love me. Now, here's the truth. Most of y'all don't love Jesus. You like him. If you can't say amen, say ouch. Yeah, if the truth be told, you don't really love Jesus. There's some other stuff you love. You just like him. He's your preference.

13:56 You're not committed to him. You're not in love with him. He's your preference. Yeah, he's your preference. He said, but I'm looking for people who love me. I'm looking for people who are madly in love with me, Jesus is saying. He said, I'm looking for some people who are so much in love with me that they'll give up the stuff in the world that they like. Y'all not hearing what I'm saying. Y'all know y'all don't love Jesus like you should because you love too many other things. Yeah, you still got the bar in your house with the liquor all over the place. You still like going to the club. This ain't the club service here. What does this crowd do? Let me see.

14:44 Lounge, the lounge crowd. That's what they are. The lounge. Who said that? Who said that? Thank you, bro. Thank you. Stop going there when you get an opportunity. Somebody say the lounge crowd. We like pornography. We like reading books. We like looking at pictures. We like paying the cable company to stream crap into our houses. Y'all ain't got to say amen. We like that. We liked it that. We want that. We enjoy that. and we wonder why we never see the hand of God in our life.

15:21 I feel tension over in this section right over here. I feel the kickback. I can feel, I feel kickback, resistance. I feel, go ahead. Looking the other way is not going to change the situation. When he said, if you love me, he uses a Greek word. It's a Greek word, agape. See, in the Greek, they had different words to describe love. We use the same word love for everything. We love football. We love to eat. We love our spouses. We love our children. It's the one word, but in the Greek, they had different levels of love, different words that describe different level of love. Agape, Jesus said, if you love me, if you agape me, if you will lay down your life for me, if you will sacrifice everything that you like in order to honor me.

16:15 That's what kind of love, that's what love is. Agape means I give with hopes of getting nothing in return. That's what agape love is. Agape love says, I'm going to do it for you, Jesus, whether or not you do anything for me or not. The fact that, yeah, I don't know where y'all are, but the fact that he woke me up this morning and gave me the activities of my limbs. I laid down in the very image of death, but he still woke me up early this morning. He gave me the activity of my limbs. There's some people who woke up and they couldn't move their limbs, But God, I thank you that I can put my feet in front of each other. I thank you that I can open my eyes and see. I thank you that I have the opportunity to raise my hands and give you the glory for every prayer that you answered and every miracle that you've brought. God, I love you is what we're saying.

17:10 Whether you do anything for us. This is what separates the men from the boys. This is what separates the women from the girls. This is what separates the real genuine people, the real committed people from the people who are just believers. There's a difference between being a disciple and being a believer. The devil believes. That's what the Bible says. The devil believes. But God's called us to not just believe. He's called us to be disciples. Doers of the word. Somebody look at your neighbor and say doers. Look at him on the other side. Say doers.

17:56 So the question is, everybody here got to ask themselves the question, what is it that you love more than you love God? what is it that you're unwilling to sacrifice don't look at me in that tone of face what is it that you will not what is it that you are so enthralled with so in love with so passionate about so unwilling to give up what is it that you love more than you love God?

18:29 I asked y'all a question. Y'all ain't say nothing. Talk back at me. There's something that keeps God from manifesting himself. Matter of fact, the principle is to love God. Here's the program. Here's the program. It's in verse 21 too. He who has my commandments and keeps them. this is point two the point two is is the program and the program is that we have and keep his commandments now let me let me let me just focus in on what that means here's what the word have mean when he says he who has my commandments here's what it means it means to possess it to regard it to consider it it means to wear it to put it on to wrap it around you to to to wear it. That's probably a good definition of what the word has mean. You put it on, you wear it. Then he uses the term, he says has and keep. Somebody say and keep. The word keep means to guard it. It means to put police around it. It means to put protection around it. How many of y'all know that the devil, when you get a word, you come in church, you come to a great church, you get a great word. You're so excited you got the word. You go home, you're going to put it in place and by the time you get to the car you done cut somebody out the devil and took the thing from The devil done snatched it away from you, made you forget about it.

19:56 And you still on the church ground. You cussing other people out. They cut in front of you in the car. They did something to you and the devil has snatched it away. And when he says keep it, it means when you get a hold of it, you put protection around it and you don't let the enemy take it from you. As a matter of fact, he says, he who has and keeps my commandments. Here's the program. Somebody say, it's the commandments. I want you to look at your neighbor and say, God is not into suggestions. He's not into opinions.

20:38 He's into commands. Commandments. And he says, if you have and keep, that word keep means put a guard around it, protect it. Don't let the enemy steal it from you. Take a hold of his prescription. What I love about the word of God, it's a prescription for whatever you're sick of, the scripture has a prescription for you. Some of you have not accepted his prescription for your problem. You think you've got a better idea, a better solution. You think your way is better. How's that working out for you? I'm trying, baby. I'm trying. The ultimate desire for the Lord is that we get a hold of his truth and when God speaks to us, we apply it to our life and we stick to it and don't let anybody take it from us.

21:43 Multiple times in the scripture, Jesus talks about loving and keeping him, loving him and keeping his commandments. Verse 15, verse 15, if you love me, keep my commandments. Verse 15, verse 21, he who has and keeps my commandments loves me. Verse 23, if anybody loves me, he will keep my word. Over and over again, he says, if you love me, if you committed to me, if you're walking with me, he says, keep my word. Walk in my commands. Do what I tell you to do. Practice what I say. Don't pick and choose. Y'all, that's what the saints of the day, we pick and choose which verses we like. We pick and choose what we want to obey. Go on and preach, Pastor. We pick and choose which things we agree with. We pick and choose what goes along that we should obey God. We pick and choose. But I'm here to tell you, stop picking and choosing and obey God if you want to see the hand of God working in your life in supernatural ways.

22:39 Wish I had a praying crowd with me here today. Let me close. What was the first point? Principle. What is that principle? Love God. What's number two? Program. What's that? keep it, keep it, guard it, put a protection around it. Here's the promise.

23:09 In verse 21, I'm going to read verse 21. He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me, and he who loves me will be kept. He who loves me will be loved by my father, and I will love him, I like this, and manifest myself to him. Some of y'all got it. Three or four of y'all got it.

23:36 How many of you know? Here's what I love about God. When he manifests himself to you, everybody around you get to see what God's doing on your behalf. Y'all know how much I love the Lord. Y'all know how good God is to me. You know what my passion is? My passion is to advance his kingdom. And you know how proud, I'm so happy to see God show himself strong on my behalf. I get pride when I tell, I know I shouldn't do this, but I feel so proud when I'm able to shout and say, you know, we have multiple buildings. They're all paid off. We don't owe anybody anything. Do y'all know how many churches in America can say that? Not very many churches. but I give God the praise. He showed himself strong and helped us pay it off. He paid it off. He paid it off. I love that. That I will love him and manifest myself to him.

24:33 Look at verse 23. I'm almost finished. Verse 23. Verse 23. Jesus answered and said to him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him. And look at this. And we will come to him and make our home with him. Amen.

24:58 Somebody say, we. It's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Somebody look at your neighbor and say, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost will come and live with you, hang out with you, stay with you, walk with you, do everything that you need done in your life. He will answer your prayer.

25:19 That's why I keep telling y'all, stop worrying about what Trump did. Trump can't trump God. He can't trump the God that we serve. He's still God. He's still alive. He's still living. He's still answering prayer. He's still a miracle worker. He is still worthy of our praise. who I feel like shouting I feel like running around this building when I think of the goodness of Jesus and then I think of all he's done for me my soul hollers out and cries hallelujah Thank God.

26:12 He is a miracle worker. He is a miracle worker. Somebody help me give him praise. Somebody help me thank him. Somebody help me worship him. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Glory, glory, glory. You are worthy to be praised, Father. You are worthy to get the glory. You are worthy to be lifted up. You are worthy for us to open our mouths. You are worthy for us to raise our hands. You are worthy. Hey, hey, hey.

27:25 Amen.

27:55 Thank you. Thank you. I know some of y'all can't worship, but I'm thankful for those of you who are willing to worship God.

29:06 Oh, yeah. You don't have to beg me to worship God. You don't have to ask me. Nobody has to provoke me. Because when I look back over my life and I see the things God has shown so strong in my life and the prayers he's answered and the miracles that he's done on my behalf, Nobody has to say anything to me. Hallelujah. I just think about the goodness of God. Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!

30:02 Now, Maybe you've never seen God manifest himself to you. but he wants to. but your lack of love is stopping him from manifesting his love in your life. You in love with something else but I tell you today if you let it go and give God his rightful place he promises he promises Thank you. that he will come and hang out with you. Isn't that great news? Isn't that a great promise? That's a great promise.