Jesus Concerns | Elder Terence Atkinson

You're listening to a message to go from as Church. We hope this message

will light up your day this morning. I just want to bless you with

what the Lord put in my heart today, and it is to tell you

something about Jesus. It is to share with you about the concerns that Jesus

has for us. But in order for me to get to that, I

want to address what our concerns are. Then we can see how God's concerns

and jesus concerns line up with others. Now, in nineteen eighty two,

I learned something called Masslaw's hierarchy of needs. How many of you have studied

that before? Can I see your hands? While I am not alone,

it's still being taught in universities, I think, yeah, I learned this

when I was doing my levels and it never left me because actually it is

very very true of each and every one of us in our lives. Okay,

so you can see Masslow's hierarchy of needs. It's the colorful slide too.

There you go, what is it? Okay, Before you can go

up in your latent needs, you have to cover those needs that are the

most basic. So i'll just go over that with you a little bit of

a management lesson this morning. All right, it's okay, it's okay.

Physiological needs. Hey, before you want anything else, you want food on

the table, right. I remember sharing with you that when Jesus introduced himself,

what did he how did he introduce himself? I have come to preach

the good news to who the poor? And I remember telling you that the

thing about being poor is the first thought of your days. What am I

going to eat this morning? I'm not gonna have for breakfast? You know?

Do I have water to drink? Clean water? And the next thing

you know is you need food? Okay, you need water, you need

air, good air to breed. You need water, food, shelter,

sleep, clothing, and reproduction or reproduction. Okay. How many of you

know that the poorest countries are the ones with the most people. It's the

cheapest form of entertainment. Those of you that are too young to understand,

one day you will, okay, physiological needs. And this can be very,

very sad. I remember once nineteen eighty six, and I saw a

man in Old Clang Road taking a bath out of the water that was falling

from a shed roof in a rain that was very sad his basic needs were

not met. He had no place to stay. So physiological needs. Now,

after those are met, the next thing you would look at is the

needs for safety, all right, I mean basically you want to be safe,

right, I mean, if you had food on the table, you

won't go and take risks. You would look for a place to be safe.

So Maslow said, the next need is to have personal security, which

includes employment. Why because employment gives you money, honey. And when you

have the money, you have the honey okay, food lah food that Hey,

how many of you thought you have food? Food? Food? Okay,

come on, come on, let's get back to the message food,

health, and property. The next thing you look for after you've got that

is love and belonging, friendships, intimacy, family sense, and connection.

Now this may differ from person to person, but generally this appears to be

quite true. And after you've met that, you want more. You notice

as you go higher you want more, but what you want changes. So

now what it is is you want to be respected. You want to be

recognized for who you are. I mean, when you got no food on

the table, do you care people recognize you? You will go to the

dumpster and look for food because you're hungry. But you see, if all

those meets I met, you'll start to look at life differently. You'll want

to be recognized. You would not want to be seen as weak, you

would not want to be seen as poor. And finally, at the apex

at the top is self actualization. That means you become the most of what

you can be. You want to leave legacy. Wow, you want to

You want people to remember you after you're gone, reaching the pinnacle of life.

You see, that's what we as human beings want, That's what we

crave for. Okay, I won't ask you to raise your hands, but

how many of us know that this is true? Think about it. These

are our concerns, So our concerns drive our needs. Isn't it true?

Whatever our concerns are, whatever's in our minds, that that is what drives

our needs, and in turn, our needs always occupy our thoughts. Those

of you who have children, what are in your thoughts? That they be

safe, that they have a good education. As they grow older, they'll

find somebody good to marry. And then at the very top, when you're

gone, they'll be able to take care of himselves. How many of you

know that that's true? Right, those of you who got kids, this

is true, It is right. So I'm speaking to the converted. So

our concerns, driver needs, Our needs occupy our thoughts. Now our thoughts

determine our actions. Right. The person who is a thief doesn't have,

so what are his thoughts? Get what I do not earn, I'll steal

it? Okay? His needs begin to occupy his thoughts, and then what

does his thoughts do? Driv him to make plans to rob drive his action.

I'm giving you the negative example that shouldn't be and then after that the

actions become the outcomes. So he goes and steals, and what's the outcome?

He gets caught? Puts in, be, put in resign. Right,

that's the same in our daily life. What our concerns, our drives,

our needs, and then we think about it, we focus on it,

and then our actions are determined and we act on it, and there's

consequence or there's blessing. I pray that our actions always cause us to be

blessed before the Lord and not have consequences. I'm getting to why this is

important. So, now are we happy with our outcomes those of you that

do not know Jesus. I'm about to share with you Jesus today, those

of you that don't know him as personal lord. And see they listen very

carefully. But are we happy with the outcomes of our life? Mate?

Me sit down and and our time alone and we talk to ourselves. Are

we satisfying? Are we marthas or are we marry? Are we concerned with

so many things, so many issues in life? But Mary was only concerned

with one thing. I want to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen

to what to say? And what did Jesus say? That which she has

done will not be taken away from her? Wow, you mean to say

if you are concerned with something other than Jesus, it can be taken away

from you. I don't know, but I'll go back to what Jesus said.

She has chosen the right thing and it will not be taken away from

her. So if you want something that can never be taken away from you,

you got to choose the right thing, be concerned with the right thing,

and it can never be taken away from you. Are we souls or

are we? Pauls Now I shared a message the last time I was here,

all right, that you can still be great while you're a soult.

But let's look at at Saul before he accepted, before he accepted the Lord.

Are we some one who thinks we're doing God a favor and completely missing

it? Or are we the Paul who says for me, to live is

Christ and to die is Gain? Are we happy with our outcome? I

remember Paul said this, He said this to a group of people. Why

do you trouble my heart? Why are you trying to make my heart?

Said? I'm willing to go and even die for Christ, and that's what

makes me happy. Ooh, I'm paraphrasing, of course. But if he's

telling the people don't make him sad, and he's telling the people I can

go up and even die for the Lord, he's actually telling the people what

makes him happy. Right when you read scripture, you've got to understand what

the person is talking about. What the guys trying to say. Are we

happy with our outcome? And then I talked to you a different SOULO Are

we sauls Are we David? Are we the ones who think we do God

a favor by sacrificing lambs to him that God has said, I don't want

Or are we David's whom God can say? Here in lies a man after

my old Saul was given an anointing to be the first king of Israel.

But being a king was not good enough. He wanted to be a priest,

and that begin his downfall. You look at David. David did not

want to be a king. David was just just a boy. How many

boys here in the crowd? Okay, how old are you are you?

Sixteen? You're thirteen? You know you're three years younger than when David was

called. And you know what David did when he was between thirteen and sixteen?

Killed the bear? He killed a lion. I think, right,

kill a lion in a bear. But you know what he did when he

was sixteen? You know you don't know he killed a giant? Yeah,

with that one, exactly that one. So are we souls? Are we

David's? Do we think we do God a favor when we do his things

our way? When we do his things away? Or are we David's who

do things God's way? And then are we concerned? Like annonis hey?

I want people to think I'm generous? So I'll sell all my property,

I'll keep some for myself, and I tell him I've given all, or

are we Stevens. I'll get to Stephen in a moment. But Annon High,

do you know the guy missed it, he and his wife. He

should have just said, you know, leaders in church, I sold my

house for a million dollars. I'm giving you five hundred thousand, five hundred

thousand I want to keep for myself. You know what would have happened.

The leaders in church would have said, thank you for your generosity, God

bless you. But instead what he did was he kept five hundred thousand.

Then he went and told him I've given you all, and that offended the

spirit of the Lord. Be careful how we talk and how we exhibit,

and how we portray our desires before the Lord. If we tell God I'll

give you so much, then that's all you need to give him. That's

all you need to say. You don't say I give you. And you

know God's not about false witness. You know, a false witness is when

you do so much, but you say I did so much. Let's not

be anonizers, but let's be Steven's. We just went around doing his thing,

and he tells the truth. I see heaven opened, and I see

the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Father. And for that

simple statement, they killed him. So are we happy with our outcomes?

Now? I don't know if Stephen was happy with this outcome in the beginning

Lund, but for the fact that he just went to sleep after that and

God, you know, received him to heaven, I'm sure he was happy.

I want to talk to you a little bit about God's concerns. So

we know our concerns, right. Our concerns are food, shelter, loving,

intimacy, being recognized, and leaving a legacy. Right, these are

our basic concerns. But I want to talk to you about God's concerns.

God has some concerns for us. Did you know that. I'm not going

to ask you how many of you are nonbelievers, but listen to this very

carefully. In two p. Three nine, it says that the Lord is

not slack concerning his promises. God is not slow regarding his promises. God

is not you know what's the word? The word I'm looking for is Oh,

it's not coming to me. I know what the word is? It

just the word is not coming to me. Okay, irresponsible? God is

not irresponsible regarding his promises as some counselackness. So it's not slack like something.

Slackness is well because my answer has not come quickly? Wow, what's

the matter? God is not? We are so used to an instant coffee

that we don't realize that bru is the best. Okay, how many of

you tasted broke coffee? Your hands? Okay, how many of you tasted

instant coffee? Your hands? How many of you think that broke coffee is

better than instant coffee? Raise your hands. But God is long suffering towards

us. You know that when God takes his time with answering our needs.

You know what the Bible is saying. God is actually he's long suffering.

Long suffering is his patient with us. He knows that we can drive Spider

Man up the wall. He knows that we can be Spider Man, and

he know we can make men Spider Man and drive them up the wall.

But God is patient to us. And that's why sometimes he appears to be

slack concerning his promises. Why because He is not willing that any should perish,

but that all should come to repentance. Now, if God was quick

like what we think quick is, if God was an instant generation when he

said Jesus would come again five minutes after Jesus, when to Heaven Jesus would

have come down, everybody else would have been wiped out. Those who believe

would have gone up, which would be one hundred and twenty of them,

and the rest would have perished. But you thank God and I thank God

that until the Jesus has not come. You know why, because we are

sitting in a chair raising the Lord. We're saved. If Jesus came quickly,

we would not even exist. And God wanted us to exist because he

did not want us to perish, but to come to repentance. In John

three sixteen, it says for God to love the world that he gave he

is only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish. The

second time you're seeing this world should not perish. But what now have ever

lasting life? You thank God, and I thank God. He delays,

we have more time to see I loved one saved. In Matthew sixth that

he says, now if God so clothes the grass, and now you know

we talked about our concerns versus God in John ten ten. Let me tell

you what God's concern is. Besides being saved. The thief comes. The

thief does not come except two steal and kill, and to destroy. Who

is the thief Satan? He comes to do nothing but wreck havoc in your

life. I have come that they who are the day the days us,

that we might have life, that they might have life, and they may

have it more abundantly. You know God has got a concern for us.

And you know what is God's concern. Number One, we will not perish.

Number two, he will be patient with us so that we can understand

him. Three so that we can have the glorious life that He is meant

for us. Those ah, our concerns versus God. But let's look at

some bread and butter concerns. Now, if God we're gonna address Maslow's hierarchy

of needs. If God's so love, If God so clothes the grass of

the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how

much more will he not? Will he not much more clothe you? Owe

you of little faith? Hey, we worry about where are we going to

stay? Right? We worry about our shelter, right, we worry about

our clothing. Right, God is seeing what's the matter with you? Look

at the grass man, It's beautiful, isn't it. Hey, how many

of you know that some weeds in the world is more beautiful than grass.

I've been to a place where the weeds are, or come up with nice,

big yellow flowers. And you have a grass. You have a land

full of weeds, but all your flowers say, please let me hear some

of your weeds in our country. It's so beautiful. God has a sense

of humor. Even what we think is not right. It's really great anyway.

God's taking care of our clothing. And then when we got clothes,

what do we want to do? We want to be clothed even better boss

suits. You know this tie that in Matthew six, Study one, it

says, therefore, do not worry saying what shall we eat? Or what

shall we drink? What shall we wear? Verse study too, for all

these things a gentile sick. But you'll have any father knows that you need

all these things. Hey, food man, how many of us know that

we are not starving? Look at our size? True? Not how many

of us here. Okay, don't look around. How many of us here

do not look like we are skin and bones. That's all of us.

So we have no problem with food because God knows that we need this thing,

and he'll take care of it. But then scripture says, but seek

you first six thirty three. Seek you first the kingdom of God and his

righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. So God is

telling you forget about your concerns. You're with me. My concerns override your

concerns. My concerns will keep you well. I want to tell you.

And I've been running like a freight train because I think maybe I have fifteen

minutes left or something like that. Ok, I gotta get to another place.

Elimibile is sharing in banda datama. I gotta get it there on time.

So let's talk about Jesus. Do you know that Jesus has some concerns

for us? In John four Versus four to forty two is the scripture that

Jesus is meeting this woman by the well. You know that story. He's

meeting this woman by the well and something which he doesn't do because he's in

a later part. You read it that his disciples were kind of surprised that

he was talking to a woman alone. And then he tells this woman this

is a Samaritan. Okay, a little bit of history. The Samaritans were

kind of people that the Jewish people would not, could not then could not

get along with, did not have anything to do with one another. Okay.

And Jesus says to this woman, give me a drink. You know,

when Jesus told the woman gave me a drink, do you think Jesus

actually wanted a drink or Jesus was making a conversation stutter, because if you

read that portion, that whole scripture, I don't find him drinking from the

woman from the water that the woman drew from the well. You read that

whole thing, do you find him drinking water? So he says, give

me a drink. It's not about he's one, but about what the woman

needed. You see, this is the mistake that I tried to correct a

fresh drink from the well of not workship, but worship. Okay, just

not try to find it. I couldn't find it. Okay, So how

many of you, you know, pleaser, you go up there and there's

no such thing. As worship. Okay, worship worship. It's not about

what he wants, but about what the woman needed. It was a fresh

drink from the wealth of worship. And how do you know this? You

know, when Jesus went into the story, the woman was concerned with two

things. She was concerned with. Did you say, you gotta worship like

this? And we say we gotta worship like that, and Jesus says,

no, this is how you worship in spirit ending true. And the second

thing this woman was concerned with was the Bible. The word says the Messiah

will come. So you know what was on our heart? All our heart

was worshiped and the Messiah. And is it any wonder why Jesus made it

a point to stop by to meet her at her need. Nothing happens by

chance. Now Jesus begins to introduce himself as someone who's not quite ordinary.

Bring your husband. Hey, Jesus knows us through and true. His focus

was out was on our need? Is another mistake, It's not out,

it's our need. You know, Jesus has never been concerned about our sin

as much has been. He has been concerned about our hearts. Because when

he said bring your husband. What did the woman say, I have no

husband, And Jesus says, that's right, you've had five in the one

you're with now is not your husband. So Jesus was actually acknowledging that he

knew that she had seen in her life. But did that stop him?

No, how many of us things, we're not good enough. Don't raise

your hands, because I suspect everybody will. But do you know that has

never stopped the Lord from coming to meet and greet you. Jesus knows us

through and through. His focus was on our need and not on our saying.

The question of worship which this woman laid before the Lord leads to a

question of the Messiah, and it gave her purpose and direction. Do you

know that her encounter with Jesus there into an evangelist? Because of her,

the whole town was saved. And what did they say? We believe you're

not because of what you've already told us, but because now we have met

him for ourselves. Hey, how many of you know you can be an

evangelist? Do you know how you can be an evangelist? Jesus meet you,

meets you at your need, irrespective of your sin. And while we

are still yet sinners, we can work for him, because if we are

waiting to be sinless before we go and do work for the Lord, then

you will have a lot of people with wings coming down to talk to us.

Angels. Luck, we have to wait until we're gone, then we

have to come back. By God's never done things deadly while you're here on

earth. Okay, who was she? She was a She was a Samaritan,

not someone that the Jews mix with. But she was also and a

doubt to risks. But she was repurposed. You know what Jesus concern is.

He wants to repurpose us for his glory. You don't know who the

Lord is today. My advice would be get to know him today, build

a relationship with him, receive him because he will repurpose your life and make

you extraordinary. Second concern in John eight one to eleven, let's talk about

the world. Right, you know what the world was interested in the world

was interested in condemning a woman caught in adultery. Wow, it seems like

Jesus dealt a lot with women who were adultresses. Right. I want you

to know that God is not concerned as concerned about our sin as much as

he is concerned about our repurpose and forgiveness. Did you know that jesus great

grandmother several times removed worse an adulterer herself. I think it's rama, right,

Yeah, can you imagine that? So he's got a soft spot for

people who don't make it on their own. He's got a soft spot for

you and I. The world tests Jesus by condemning a woman caught an adultery.

You know what's the thing? They never caught the man. Read about

it, thank you read about it. They never caught the man. You

know why? Because the man was not brought before the Lord. You know

why. It was a set up. The Jews had done this to set

Jesus up. And do you know that every time the devil brings us before

the Lord to accuse us, he wants to set Jesus up. What you're

gonna do? I think that's a song, right, but yeah, that's

a yeah, there you go, what you're gonna get it? The devil

wants to set Jesus up. Where's the man? You know? It's wonderful

that Jesus hardly ever looked up until there was nobody left. Jesus doesn't even

want to address the ACCUSI face to face, because not worth his effort,

the energy to grab and look at you. Can you find it strange?

Jesus paid little or no attention to them. He just did what he wanted

to do. That's why I say again, Jesus is not concerned about us,

and you know why. He can take care of it very easily.

You know how he takes care of yoursel. Jesus, please forgive me forgiven

as quickly you mean as quick as yes, hardly is the word finished from

your mark. You're forgiven, ord, Jesus, please forgive me. He

is still going on. You're already forgiven. You know that that's your lord

and mind. Jesus did not look up until everyone left. And what did

he say? Has anyone condemned you? No? And he says neither.

Do I go and say no more? Would this woman have sinned again?

My short answer is yes, La may not have been adult La. Maybe

other sin. Look, remember I shared with your before. Sin is missing

the mark. When God has a mark for us and we miss it,

that is sin. Is there a difference between adultree and thinking somebody thinking bad?

Or someone? No difference? Before the Lord sin is sin. See,

we are the ones to put classifications. Jesus says, neither do I

forgive you. Here was the was the Lord who would have been very,

very justified if he had condemned the woman, but he did not do it.

I love the Lord. What concerns Jesus. Jesus is concerned about our

forgiveness. Then we move on to and we're coming to an end John twenty

one, fifteen to seventeen. And here we have Jesus meaning Peter. After

Peter had denied him three times, and Jesus said to him, do you

love me? That sounds like another song? Do you love me? Anybody

know the song? Do you love me? And Peter says, yes I

do. Lord, Yes I do, Lord, Yes I do. Hey,

this could be a song. Do you love me? Do you love

me? Yes? Okay, Jesus asked Peter, do you love me?

Peter says, yes, I do. Then he says, tend my sheep,

attend my lambs, right, tend my lambs. And then he asked

Peter again, okay. The first time he says do you love me?

He tells Peter, feed my lambs. He's basically tells Peter, in your

first love me, you have enough to pass that love on to new believe

us. Then he asked Peter a second time, do you love me?

And the Lord answers by saying, tend my sheep. Now it's talking about

I would say, believers who know a little bit more. And what is

God's saying? Help look after them one step higher. And then when he

asks Peter third time, do you love me? And Peter, now flabbergasted,

says God, you know all things, you know that I love you.

Peter was now appealing to God. To Jesus, godship, you know

all things. You know that I love you. You know that I know

that you know that I love you. No more doubt. Now Jesus says,

what feed my sheep? Firsts feed I always wondered why Jesus said feed

my lambs, tend my sheep, then feed my sheep. You are now

ready to look after much older believers and feed them from me because you're fully

fully restored in love. What's the third concern of Jesus love in Jeremiah twenty

nine eleven, For I know the thoughts that I have that I think towards

you, says the lot of thoughts of peace and not of evil, to

give your future and a hope. Are there more than these three concerns that

Jesus had. I I'm sure they did, but these were the three that

the Lord put in my heart to share with you. So I want you

to know that Jesus has a concern that supersedes as sin for nature, and

he wants to restore us. We hope you've been blessed by this message.

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