Bishop James Johnson "INFLEXIBLE DIRECTIVE" Powerful Sermon!

folks he's signifying by what death he should glorify God when he had spoken this he saith unto Him follow me then Peter turning about see if the disciple whom Jesus loved following also leaned on his best supper and said Lord who's he to kataifi Peter's seeing him saith to Jesus Lord and what shall this man do jesus saith unto him if I will that he tarry what is that to be follow me and in 2nd Peter chapter 1 and please excuse me those who would criticize reading a long text 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 12 wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things so you know them and ice established in the present Ruth yes I think it's fitting as long as I'm in this Tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance knowing that shortly I must put office my Tabernacle even as our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me moreover I will endeavor that you may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance and from this portion these portions of the Word of God and somewhat tool in connection with the theme of the Sunday School Department studying to know and knowing to grow I would say some things you tonight from the subject the inflexible director the inflexible directive Jesus told Peter what kind of death was going to be used for him to glorify God in the end of his days when Jesus told it then he turning about he kept on turning his head or his body until he saw John but a cipher whom Jesus loved and he seized the job fast and his attention upon him and he wanted to know from Jesus and what shall this man do the Lord said to him if I will that he tarry till i come what is that to you follow me and that's what I see tonight as the inflexible directive when Jesus told Peter to follow it there are places and things which are personally undesirable to us there are places and things which are unpopular because to others they are undesirable the time of Peters death and the type of Peters death were precisely set by Jesus he told him when you are old you'll be a martyr but neither of these conditions was set for John in st. John chapter 21 verses 15 through 22 we have shades of night and rays of light all right we have burden and glory mystery and revelation the Lord said to Peter when thou was young in other words at the time of your natural advantages you were self-sufficient because I allowed you to be self-sufficient all right and you were self willed because I allowed you B sub wheels but when you shall be all which is commonly a time of natural disadvantages you're going to be relying upon another person because I will direct it so and you're going to move about contrary to your own wheel by divine permission for divine glory and you're going to die as a martyr you're going to come into a condition that is greatly undesired it's a very unpopular quantity as a matter of fact depth and certainly a martyr's death is the topmost of man's undesirable things to us there are undesirable and unpopular directives which are sometimes given to us by the Lord but of all of the things that we may find undesirable or unpopular in our lives I doubt if any is as undesirable and unpopular as death and certainly a martyr's death but then God had a purpose for this undesirable and unpopular directive that he gave to Saint Peter all right and after he told him but he's going to have to give his life in the cause of Jesus Christ he said follow me it was unconditional as some might say if there was no water in the commandment to squeeze out make it any better that was down to the very rock bottom of the matter and that was a heavy thing that the Lord told that right when you get to be an old man time in your life and perhaps naturally things are going against your will in addition to all age and the infirmities that you might have somebody's going to put your clothes on you all right and they're going to take you where you do not want to go and he was telling Peter you're going to have to give your life for my name somebody's going to take they're going to execute you're going to be a martyr then Peter reacted to that and actually he kept on turning until he saw John and when he saw John one who seemed to Peter to be the very opposite and sailing through life in another Bowl he seemed to be a man who was on an altogether different tab and Peter asked a question and it was very naturally human he's really seems did he really seems to say to Jesus Lord am i selected to be different Lord of love and power and justice and what should this man do Lord what about this man Lord are you singling me out I am I alone Lord what of your love for me do you love John more than me or do you love me less then you love him he's saying to Jesus Lord you have told me barely barely that this is going to happen to me now I simply want to know is there very fairly like my verily verily for John then Jesus responded Peter I am NOT announcing a verily verily for John all the way for you and accompanied by an additional mystery follow me there is a mystery in Jesus disposition of John speak there is a mystery in Jesus follow me alright what computer do how can he please deep what about John for here is an unanswered question a hidden mystery and Peters Ashton and where will my journey take me it's an unanswered question it's loaded with mystery Peter is saying there's no question about my in for Jesus you have made that very plain it has no raps of mystery on it concerning the fact of my martyrdom it's open and clean and bitter and dark to Lord what about business and Lord what shall I do amidst this dark mystery and dark revelation so here we have an inflexible unchangeable the inflexible and unchangeable will God and Jesus is saying to him what if in my will there is an immeasurable difference between you and your brother John quiet vary but if you are to die a martyr's death while he lives without ceasing to extremes and there are differences in God's choices or selections for us which are far less than this woman there's a lot of mystery in the will of God there would have been something mysterious about this whole thing but less of a mystery perhaps if Jesus had simply revealed to Peter that John was going to die naturally after a long life or in martyrdom if it's just that he's going to live a long time and then die but he didn't tell him that much all right he left it in the shadows of the mind and what if I will that he lives until I get back what is that to you I have a directive for you that will not be in you follow me in that Jesus added mystery to mystery so Peter then after the day of Pentecost hittable following G he follow Jesus at Pentecost and on a clear day moved by the spirit he is a highly anointed prophet of the Christ fresh from the Upper Room experience he addressed sinful men in the Masters name and wrote truth in their hearts and a letter of fire as the eleven seats strong and the Lord stood by his side supporting him and the result was three thousand new testament converts he followed Jesus Downs of Samaria Chapter II to the book of Acts and again on a clear day and moved by the Spirit of the Lord in his fellow apostles he was a mighty instrument in God's hand and now accompanied by his brother John he ministered to a multitude of men women who had been baptized in Jesus name two giants in Christ prayed for the people then leave the hands on the multitude was filled with the Holy Ghost of the gamin speak with other tongues as the Spirit of God gave our following Jesus or clear day but in Chapter two the day gets a little bit easy just to type Olivia as to his spirits of perception and he's accompanied by certain brethren from Java and was mightily used by the power of God as an honorable vessel of the Lord Jesus Christ to effect the first Gentile conversion to the Christian faith he was feeling his way through this experience however he wasn't seeing it all together in clear terms from the very first but he promised next we find him in Chapter 12 of the book of Acts on a rather dismal day in his history as he becomes a prison inmate all right but he follow Jesus sister but while he was following Jesus as a prison inmate he's not going into the incident alone because prayer was made without ceasing of the church on the god for him oh yes you have the church behind me he wasn't standing alone his feet weren't in shackles and his wrists weren't in change oh no the whole church on the outside was supporting him in France as he followed Jesus he hadn't got to that yet when thou shalt be old while he was sleeping between two soldiers found the chains the keepers of the door kept the prison the hole the miracle is wrought in an angel visit and light came into the prison the angel struck him on the side and said to rise up quickly as change fell off his hands it just said gird you gird yourself put your clothes on and you bind on your sandals and he did what the angel told him and said then you put your garment around about you and follow-me near and so he walks out the prison his company and he knew not that it was true which was done by the angel authority saw vision the iron gate leading to the city open of its own accord and the Bible says that they went out and passed through one Street and immediately the angel departed so Peter had company when he left jail yes sir when this man of God came to himself he said now I know be surety that the Lord has sinned his angel and has delivered me out of the hand of hearing from all the expectation of the people of the Jews when he had considered the thing and came to the house of Mary the mother of John whose surname was marked by many would gather together pray the whole little girl named Rhoda went out and Peter stood before the gate and told him how the Lord and brought him out yes God kind of like they would say in the playwriting world exits Peter at this point and then it is Paul for a little while and he followed Jesus then a little later in the fifteenth chapter of the book of Acts on a cloudy day a much dispute at the Jerusalem Council and here he was with apostles and elders his brethren in Christ and standing among some of the Giants and religion in the world he sold himself under God to be a big man with an arresting conclusion for the argument that was at hand still following Jesus but he never forgot but Jesus told him when thou shalt become an old man oh now I'd like to call your attention to 2nd Peter 1 where Peter has having grown in the Lord all right he's walked with Jesus and he's gone through the bright spots and the dim spots through the clouds through the sunshine with a master now he's almost at the end of the road alright remember it first when Jesus told him he was going to be a martyr he was much concerned about what was going to happen to John but now the man has grown up without preaching and this word of the Lord is talk to him and the glory of the Lord has shined upon his pathway and experience with God who the see now he's a mature safe yes it doesn't look at things like he did before he got the baptism of the holy girl all right he's not viewing the world now as it didn't pass out of seminary he's come to the place where he's resigned to the will of God he opens in first SEC a second Peter chapter one and says Peter a servant Peter and an apostle peter a love slave and an apostle of jesus christ and he mentions the word servant before he mentions the word apostle for he is more concerned now about following Jesus and doing his will no matter what it cost than being a big man in the church hallelujah here's a text which rings with the minds harmony with God rings with servanthood it rings with the motivation of a single eye vision with a deep consciousness of the lordship of Jesus Christ our Lord I suspect by now he's an old man Oh and he's standing in the shadows of the fulfillment of the prophecy of the master oh what a radiant spirit he has how lofty is his faith and how bad is his vision and how caught into the love of God in this how are afraid how unconcerned now is he about John's situation he's a lot to grow up in the Lord he tells those children of God and is good for us tonight I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things and I think it fits whatever others might think of me I think it fit as long as I am in this Tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance I don't want to stir you up by simple Peter excitement I want to start you off by getting on the ball for college town I don't want to stir you up by human fire alone but I want to stir you up first of all by putting you in remembrance yeah I'm ready to talk to you children now yes look what he says next knowing that shortly I'm putting you in remembrance knowing full well that it won't be very long before I must put off this my tabernacle how am I going to put it off I'm not gonna die a natural death I'm not gonna catch a bad call and get the floor no longer it won't be long now I'm gonna have to quit the scene quit the same as the Lord Jesus Christ history I'm just a few steps away steps from martyrdom and I don't know how ruling is going to be I go ha ha I love pain oh it's going to be me now for mine eyes you see the flower trampling out the vintage where The Dream's a rabbit are loosed the fateful lightning of his dabbles the fog and his truth is marching on is marching on in my heart the Lord showed me something I can't get away from the vision I got offer it and as we use it sometimes in TW parliamentary procedure the Lord has an amended the dish I'm visiting the Lord has a stricken the wrath of the Lord has deleted from the page history and I've got the goal as the Lord told the vision is yep a little time and at the end is gonna speak and not lie and I'm waiting on it now even as our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me oh and I'm captivated tonight with that just at work our his beautiful attitude toward Jesus he's grown up he's not willing to call him John's gone John's gone I'm not ready to put off my Tabernacle as John's gone to he's our God yes sir he has my respect the person he's gotten is my god yes he's bad news tom is my God he's my god is my god he's table and is my god he told me is gonna have to be a model I am gone I know he loves me just like he loves John thank you lord thank you lord Oh weatherbeater knew where John loved him but he doesn't even mention a man named cannot concern that much I mean he loved Tommy he's not worried in a relational sense as to whether John was doing a hundred hark was working fine HEIs worth 20 20 years were in good shape or whether John was having a big following a lewd falling or what he wasn't bothered by back he knew that he had a charge to keep himself an adoptive boy if I die to save and sit in for the sky and he is made up in his mind he's gonna serve the Lord till he died hallelujah help us to watch him free and on your sniffing Oh Lord assured if we are touched betray we shall forever die ah with jealous care as in thy sight to leave who thy servant Lord prepare a strict account again this is a day as it has always been the children of God we must be cautious as to how we look at ourselves in the light of the prosperity of others some of us if we don't watch it we find ourselves complaining against God because somebody else has a stronger pilot we have we may want to worry God to give us a body just like it may be that God has decided not gonna give you a body like fast but I am gonna tell you to follow me in a congregation like this there are varying degrees of well we're all yeah we all have the same amount of money at this convention some made come so to speak on a a wing and a prayer all of us came in a cab we come in a Cadillac or Jetta we come in a hot car there's a car you're the quality of with your thank you Jesus in the spa Jesus a follow me follow me I want to know what the Lord wants me to do I enjoyed Bishop talax Sunday School lesson this morning so much and particularly as he treated on the part about being condemned and I mean so much to be content not lazy not part of Industry not sort on vision but until simply trusting every day trusting through estar mealy even when my faith is small trusting Jesus that's all if the goal our stake in sunshine and in shadow with favor without favor praise the Lord whether climbing the ladder and the PFW rapidly or slowly or seemingly not climbing at all whether the big folks are with us or against us are paying us more attention that's not finally apartment the main thing is that we have the pies of God in four damn in the ups and the downs of life little box a small town follow me trust me if my way is clear like it wasn't Peter on summers clear days experience trusting if my path feed rare but we're in danger for him call trusting Jesus that's all thank you lord finally does his spirit shine into this poor heart of mine and while he leads I cannot fall trusting Jesus that's all Wow life Chelan power longer short whether the bundles are thank you Laura with a rubber body always Julie frame to carry my spirit in trusting him while a chalice trusting him till earth be passed till within the Jasper walls trusting Jesus that's what I guess I'm bout ready to wind down now well I'm struck by the word that st. Peter uses after he talks about his coming martyrdom he says more over strange thing but he can talk about martyrdom and then use the word more over I will endeavor that you may be able after my death to have these things always in remembrance do you mean to say from the Peter that there is something more over that there's something beyond death that there's something that can be added to martyrdom mob that was final yacht for the faithful serving time thank you Jesus Dizzy's st. Peter does not seem to see that Mark Martin is an end or an ultimate thing in itself but rather he sees that service can be added to martyrdom he sees that martyrdom is not a quality that stands fearsomely alone but that is edge is somehow funded by service to God and he sees no reason to worry about the interface when I saw mr. ah here's what it ought to be it doesn't really matter he seems to sleep which way we go out in here and how so we go out as long as we die trusting God and serving him with all of our thank you Jesus our vision of what is ultimate in life is very important and I say it again the Union folks tonight there's something there's something all of the darkness which is in corporate and suffering and martyrdom you are invaded by they are pierced through it and overshadowed by the grand and glorious and inflexible directive of Jesus follow me follow me thank you for it like this just follow just follow me just follow me don't worry about he is making even if it's not you don't worry about who's got work who looks like what who's wearing what who's driving what and who's dealing what who's going to get bogged down in this cars map and we may even think the daunting south is unfair to us but somehow he has laid down his rights of lordship and for darkness in our corner where we are there is no knows who you are he knows who I am he sees you where you are he knows how we feeling knows how long we've been around he knows where we wanna go and he knows how we wanna get where a guy let us not set the standards of our living hour be by those around us especially when we have heard the voice from above which has instructed us where to go and how to God what to do and how to do not be bogged down oh these are days when there's a lot going on there's a lot of money in circulation well and there's a lot of talk a lot of talk and I guess sometimes what it's supposed to be testimonies we do brag emoni Fraga not to be hard must be sad if we don't watch ourselves we'll find our little hearts allowing themselves to be shriveled up by the pressures which are brought to bear upon us from the outside Peter said to Jesus Lord and what shall this man Jesus said in him if it is my will that he lives until I get back what's that to you was that don't worry about that I have an inflexible directive for you follow me thank you

Channel: Greater Bethel Temple Louisville - GBTKY

Views: 18,068

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Keywords: learn, the, bible, rader, johnson, teaching, holiness, oneness, preaching, gospel, jesus, christ, bishop james johnson, PAW, Sermon (Literature Subject), Bishop (Religious Leadership Title), Gospel (Musical Album)

Id: 3H3l490IDbI

Length: 40min 14sec (2414 seconds)

Published: Thu May 08 2014