
“Your heart grows by giving out, but your mind grows by taking in; and both are necessary to a happy and balanced life of service…when you stop reading you stop growing; and when you stop growing you start dying.”—Warren Wiersbe, On Being a Servant of God p.88-89
“Christianity is Christ. It involves a principle of life which pulsates with divine energy and cannot be explained apart from God Himself. It is essentially miraculous even though it does not have to be sensational. It is always supernatural, lying beyond the scope of mortal man, apart from the indwelling presence of the Son of God…the Christian life is nothing less than the life which He lived then…lived now by Him in you.”—Major Ian Thomas
25 “O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; 26and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
John 17:25-26
I. JESUS ENJOYED INTIMACY WITH THE FATHER
Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my on initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.”
—John 14:9-10
“This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
—John 17:3
1) Establish a daily rhythm of time alone with God
“In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place and was praying there.”
—Mark 1:35
2) Practice constant conversation with God
“Pray without ceasing”—1 Thessalonians 5:17
II. JESUS PURUSUED THE MISSION OF THE FATHER
“This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
—1 Tim.2:3-4
“As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
—John 20:21b
23For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
III. AS WE GATHER TOGETHER AROUND THE LORD’S TABLE, WE ARE INVITED TO ENJOY INTIMACY WITH THE FATHER
IV. AS WE GATHER TOGETHER AROUND THE LORD’S TABLE, WE ARE REMINDED TO SHARE IN THE MISSION OF THE FATHER
“But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”
—1 Cor.11:28