Transcript: Alright. Thank you for listening. I’m hoping that making these voice notes is working. I’ve talked about in previous posts on here that when I was studying the Bible and studying commentaries to try and find out what’s the answer for when you’re struggling. You’re having a difficult time. What’s the key? The thing that they always point you to as the key is being spiritually minded. So There’s a Bible verse about set your mind on the things above. And so that involves…spending time studying the scriptures and learning more about God, and I had explained that when I was little. I believed in God. I knew that he was there. I could feel that he loved me. But I had some ideas of God that were not all the way accurate. It’s not like they were wrong, but it just wasn’t. I didn’t know enough about it.

So, I talked about in a previous post There was a time that I was at church, and there was somebody that was dressed like Jesus, and I didn’t realize that it wasn’t Jesus. It really confused me when he walked past me without saying anything, because I thought Jesus was walking past me. And I felt a lot of relief when I realized that wasn’t really Jesus. I think I was telling that story in the last post. And so… God kept bringing that to mind.

Because this was at the time I was in middle school, in the mid-90s, and that was when the talk had started that the world was going to possibly end in 2000. You were afraid of being left behind, and I thought Jesus had walked past me. And  God would bring that to mind again. Later, and like, um,remember that wasn’t me. And he was telling me that when I was struggling, like  feeling he wasn’t hearing me or just what was going on. He would say, Remember, it’s just that you don’t know enough about me. And he was calling me to his word, to study his word, to learn more about him.

So I think… well, I’ve explained before that I think I had the idea in my mind, and I think most people probably have that idea of God as kind of being like an helpline that you call in crisis. And so if you’ve called that helpline and you’ve Things didn’t change. You feel like he didn’t answer your call. What’s wrong? What’s going on? Does God not love me? Does he not care what’s happening to me? What’s going on? And, again, the answers are there. That um God hears you. I was thinking about this one hymn that I haven’t posted on here yet. It’s one of my hymns, but the words are. It’s that I was writing out a prayer like that, feeling like that God wasn’t hearing me. And his answer to me was, he said, I heard every prayer. And I felt your every tear, like he felt me crying, he felt my pain, but then he explains And it talks about, it’s talking about what happened at the time that I was studying was that He has these purposes that he’s working out. We’ve got to know more about what to expect of life in the fallen world. And then we won’t experience as much confusion. if something painful is happening or if you’re going through an illness or something like that.

So As I was talking about when I was little, I thought of God as that helpline, or when I was really little. I probably would have described Jesus as being the nice man in the white robe that’s so nice to people. and that’s accurate. It’s just that he’s more than that. And I had heard it said, these are things that I’m trying to get my thoughts together here because … so I hope I’m making sense while I’m talking. One of the things about learning about Christian meditation when you’re doing that, it’s taking time to stop and really think about things. and you’re forming the imagery in your mind so that you know it off the top of your head and then And I think just in life I really haven’t taken time to sit down and do that. So like I had heard of Jesus being talked about as king. I knew he was God. But I wasn’t taking the time to really form that image of him in my mind. And it really helps when you do that.

So, Jesus is the nice man in the white robe. It’s important to remember that he was the God-man. So, he was God made flesh. And…I’m trying to summarize like a lot of different things that I’m hoping to get to talk to you about. It’s hard to summarize it briefly um but these are things that like what I’m hoping to be able to do is like um I’ll talk to you about what I’m studying on the day I was studying it, because I’m summarizing, like, I’ve already read the John Gill book so…

I’m trying to summarize the entire book in a few minutes and so I’m having trouble trying to figure out how to do that.

So, I think the main thing is Before I started studying the Bible on my own and then studying the older commentaries with it, I knew about Jesus’ life I knew that he had died on the cross.

I knew he was the Son of God. It’s important to know all of those things. What’s helped me to learn about is everything that’s still going on now. everything that he’s doing for us now, and where we are in the timeline of history. So, for all of us, we’re living in the time after Jesus’ death and resurrection and ascension and before his return. And Jesus is still our mediator. So, after he ascended, he sat down at the right hand of God.

All authority is given to him on heaven and earth. He’s ruling over a mediatorial kingdom Until the last day. So, what you’ll learn about in the John Gill, which, he’s studying the Bible, so you’ll learn about it in the Bible These pastors explain the scriptures to you, give you insights into the scripture. So

Jesus has three offices of prophet, priest and king. And

He’s our great high priest, so every time we’re praying, he offers our prayers to God for us. Which is why it’s really important to learn the Old Testament and to learn about the priesthood and the sacrificial system that they had. It was all symbolic. It all pointed to Jesus. And then he’s our great high priest now. So he’s always interceding for us with the Father. He’s watching over us. He’s the good shepherd. So. Again, I’m trying to summarize a lot of things in just a few minutes.

So the main point I’m trying to make in this post is that if you can start really visualizing, meditating on Jesus as King. See, him there on his throne. It can help you move out of that feeling of wondering if he’s there, wondering if he’s hearing you, wondering if he sees what’s happening to you. to seeing that He’s there on His throne in heaven. He has a plan for the world and he’s working out his purposes. And you’re seeing how you fit into his kingdom like what what your calling is, what your place is in the body of Christ, rather than what I talked about The mindset that I’m still trying to get out of that I learned when I was little was that If I set my mind towards something, I could make it happen. That I think I can, I think I can, I think I can energy. And it was really only by trying that so many times and having it not work. You get to the point where you stop saying I think I can and you start saying I can’t. I know I can’t or you know just this isn’t working. This Something is off here. There’s got to be another explanation of what you’re supposed to be doing. So, it’s about…You learn about God. You learn about His will. You learn about how to walk with Him and to live in communion with Him and you’re Seeking his will for your life. Trying to find out what is the calling that he has for me. And

So it’s really helped me through a lot of things.

one thing too about the nice man in the white robe remembering that he was God made flesh And he dwelt among us. So, I know we just had Christmas recently. There’s so much that could be talked about there. you’re remembering like one thing that I didn’t know when I was little or didn’t register with me things to remember about that, that we’re supposed to be in awe that the Almighty God took on human nature and was born in a humble state and then he went through life here.

to save us. So there’s some hymns that talk about that. There’s one that I’ve posted on here. It’s called He Wore a Crown of Thorns. And the first verse says, “‘Twas God’s own Son who came to earth, who chose to know a lowly birth.’” But though a king of matchless worth, he wore a crown of thorns.

He wore a crown of thorns, that I might wear a crown of glory.

he laid his heavenly splendor by to tell me love’s sweet story in poverty he walked life’s way In Olive’s garden, bowed to pray, he wore a crown of thorns that I might wear a crown of glory.

So. That’s what we’re supposed to be in awe of, that the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Almighty God, laid aside his glory, came to earth, and he wore that crown of thorns. So that we could go to heaven with him and we’ll have a crown of glory.

And there’s another one that’s called, that I have not posted a recording of yet. But it’s called Left Outside by Ada Habershon.

H-A-B-E-R-S-H-O-N It says, A manger a cross a grave. were all that the earth could give to him who had come to save, who suffered that we might live. No room for him. No room for him. In the crowded inn. In the world of sin. No room for the Lord of all. Let me try and read through these other verses real quick.

The world had been made by him, yet offered him nothing beside. No room could they find for him. The Savior was left outside. He came to his own dear land, yet was by his own despised. But they who received him knew their king who was thus disguised.

I think when she says there, him who was thus disguised, saying that, remember, he had laid his glory aside. they had been thinking that the Messiah would be an earthly king that would restore an earthly kingdom in Israel and then when the Messiah was born You know, there was no room for him in the inn. He was placed, he was wrapped in swaddling clothes. Excuse me, swaddling clothes. And laid in the manger a feeding trough for animals and But they recognized him. many recognized him. So… Um, that’s one thing that I talk about at Christmas time, seeing when you’re driving by and you’re seeing the baby in the manger. There were… Jesus at times would ask his disciples, Who do you say that I am? Who do you say the Son of Man is? And as Christians we answer that by saying, He’s God.

See, my Lord and my God, we recognize that that’s God’s Son, who took on human flesh, and came here. to save us from our sins.

So I’m looking at my notes here. I tried to write down an outline of some things to try and talk about. It’s that thing that when you see When you really spend that time meditating, even if you just spend five or ten minutes thinking about it, as Jesus as king on his throne. you can just start changing the way that your mind works. It’s those terms. It’s just an expanded framework. It expands your mind. And you can feel comforted to see him there that he’s working his purposes out.

Seeing that God is working His purposes out.. And you’re seeing where you fit into His kingdom.

So there’s another hymn. I was going to mention another hymn when I was talking about it helps to know all that Jesus is doing for you now. Ah. Well, that actually, I’ll wait to talk about that another time because I’m trying to finish up here for today, but it’s that, um, so.

We’re trying to get a fuller picture of Jesus than the nice man in the white robe because there’s just so much more there. There’s so much more that he can do for you. And the answers again are being spiritually minded and it’s learning about communion with God. That’s the key there is you get to spend time with Him. That’s what can help you out of a depression or out of anxiety or doubts or struggles, really spending time with him. That’s what He wants you to do. He’s calling you to have communion with Him. and the way to really be able to do that is we need to know more about more about Him, know more about who we’re putting our faith in, who we’re trusting. And

I think it’s in the John Gill book. He was explaining that in ancient times. This was before anybody had devices where you could send someone a picture to show them what you look like. We could…you know everybody has profile pictures now so you can know what people look like but at that time if there was um you know, a distant kingdom, and they were hearing about another king. they would want to know who they were talking to or who they were hearing about so someone would paint a portrait of that king and they would send it to the distant kingdom So that they would know who that king was. I think it was John Gill that was explaining That’s what the Bible is for us. It’s a portrait of who Jesus is. And when he was saying that, it made me think of that. We had this picture. It was a painting of Jesus that we would have in our kitchen. And I was a little kid when that was first up there, and I didn’t realize that that wasn’t literally a painting of Jesus. It was someone’s idea of what he looked like. We don’t actually have a record of what Jesus looked like I think it was Matthew Henry that was saying if we needed to know then we would know like there would have been like a a drawing or something but we don’t know exactly what he looked like that’s an idea of what that artist was thinking of as Jesus. And it’s not that it’s all the way wrong. You’re just trying to get a more expansive view of it when you expand out and focus on the portrait that Jesus himself painted in the scriptures the Holy Spirit gave us. then that’s where the answers are. It’s too limited of a view if you’re just seeing that’s the nice man in the white robe. When you expand out and are thinking of him as prophet, priest, and king, and we study through all that he’s told us about himself, all that he’s taught us about what to expect in this life, That’s where you get those answers that can quiet your soul if you’re struggling with, you know, what’s happening in your life. As I was saying, like, when I was little, I knew God was there. and so I just, um…I was confused as to what was happening, and that it was in this process of finding those answers. So I’ll probably try and stop there for today.

As these again are things that we can talk about over time on here, I hope it’s working to have the voice notes. Thank you for listening. I’ll post again sometime soon. Thanks.