Participants: Pr. Roger Duncan
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000361
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00:31 I want to welcome you to Faith Chapel today.
00:34 My name is Evangelist Roger Duncan 00:38 from the twin-island state of Trinidad 00:40 and Tobago. I am a member of the 00:43 South Caribbean Conference of 00:45 Seventh-day Adventist. My subject today 00:48 is entitled "When Jesus tarries behind." 00:51 Let's pray. Father, I thank you for this 00:55 awesome privilege of being a voice 00:58 in the kingdom of God for such a time 01:00 like this. I ask you to leap out of these pages 01:04 of history in to our hearts, 01:06 illuminate our minds and our hearts 01:09 to have a fuller relationship with you 01:12 and blessed your people, in Jesus name, amen. 01:18 I want to read in your hearing from Luke 01:21 the 2nd chapter from verse 43 to 46, 01:27 And when they had fulfilled the days, 01:29 as they returned, the child Jesus tarried 01:33 behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph 01:36 and his mother knew not of it. 01:38 But they supposing him to have been 01:41 in the company went a day's journey; 01:44 and they sought him among their kinsfolk 01:48 and acquaintance. And when they found him not, 01:52 they returned back again to Jerusalem, 01:55 seeking him. And it came to pass, 01:58 that after three days they found him 02:00 in the temple, sitting in the 02:03 midst of the doctors, both hearing them, 02:07 and asking them questions. 02:10 When Jesus tarried behind, many places 02:16 in the Bible and even in one's Christian walk, 02:19 it will appear that if Jesus has left them 02:23 and has tarried behind. Jesus does that 02:27 at that time to see if we will pursue him 02:30 unrelentingly. For example, even when 02:34 Abraham was sitting in his tent 02:36 in the scriptures and he saw three persons 02:40 passing by. He ran to them 02:43 and compelled them that they must come 02:45 in his house, so that they could have supper 02:48 with him. As a result of his hospitality 02:52 at that time Abraham was blessed because 02:56 he compelled them, he insisted that they stay. 03:01 You will observe even though kin, 03:03 a nightish woman who it appeared 03:06 as if Jesus was saying to her just go away, 03:09 I am not giving you any bread but because 03:13 of her persistent to make sure that 03:16 Jesus blessed her and stay with her 03:19 she was eventually blessed. Even Jacob 03:23 as he wrestled with the angel he thought 03:27 as he wrestled there and the angel said, 03:30 let me go. Yet Jacob said, 03:33 I will not let you go except you bless me. 03:38 This is the kind of tenacity that a person 03:42 has to have in his relationship, 03:45 his whole relationship with Jesus, 03:47 even though from the surface it may appear 03:52 as if Jesus is saying no, it may appear 03:56 as if He is passing you by like on the guys 03:59 on the route to MAS. You must still compel 04:03 Jesus to stay, you must still wrestle with Him. 04:05 It is people who wrestle with their God 04:08 with a tenacious faith will receive 04:12 the blessings from God. Now in this particular 04:15 chapter in the Book of Luke the 2nd chapter. 04:18 We see that Mary and Joseph had gone up 04:22 to Jerusalem in the pass over. 04:24 It was a wonderful ceremony. 04:27 It was the pass over and like every Jew 04:30 they went up as it was their custom. 04:33 And so while they were there they had 04:35 all the religious activities, the killing 04:39 of the lamb, the pouring of the water, 04:42 all this talk on religious activity 04:45 that pointed to Jesus. And while they were 04:48 there and they decided to return, 04:51 Jesus tarried behind. Now here it is that 04:57 you are coming from a church service, 04:59 you are talking about church, 05:00 you are talking about the wonderful sermon, 05:02 the pastor preach, and the wonderful time 05:05 we have and you're talking about 05:07 what a wonderful service, the temple 05:10 is so beautiful, the stain glass windows 05:13 are so wonderful. Haven't you seen what 05:15 they did with the lamp and it pointed 05:18 to the Messiah, you're talking about things 05:21 of Jesus and the savior himself has 05:25 tarried behind. Therefore, 05:29 it is possible to have just come from 05:32 a religious ceremony, a church service 05:35 talking about the experience, 05:37 talking about how wonderful it is, 05:40 how the lamb points to the Messiah, 05:42 all the things that a Jew will do, 05:45 yet Jesus has tarried behind. 05:48 Now what bothers me is that it is possible 05:52 to go on your experience without Jesus. 05:56 He has stopped. He has tarried behind to see 06:00 what we will do, so it is one thing for Jesus 06:05 to tarried behind, but it's another thing 06:08 not to know because when you don't know, 06:12 you continue your religious experience, 06:15 you continue your religious activity, 06:19 and you continue preaching the sermons, 06:21 singing the song, teaching the class, 06:25 all these things and Jesus has tarried 06:28 behind. As a Christian, as a person 06:31 you must always be operating 06:34 with the frequency of heaven, 06:36 so that you could know when there is a change. 06:39 When there is something happening, 06:41 what I am trying to say is that people need 06:44 to have a connection with Jesus 06:46 that is so strong, that if he stops, you stops, 06:50 if he moves at the side you move at the side. 06:53 In another words I am advocating 06:55 a hand in hand relationship with 06:59 your God, with you savior, 07:01 with Jesus Christ. So Mary and Joseph 07:04 even though they were his mother and father, 07:07 Jesus tarried behind, and they knew it not. 07:11 Jesus was lost to people who loved him. 07:15 Jesus was lost to people who loved him. 07:19 The love of Mary and Joseph was 07:22 not in question but Jesus tarried 07:26 and they knew it not. Now the Bible 07:29 goes in to say in verse 44, but they supposing 07:35 him to have been in their company. 07:37 Now look at the progression, 07:39 Jesus tarries and they don't know of it, 07:44 but then they are supposing him 07:48 to have been in their company 07:50 and went a day's journey. So Jesus 07:55 tarries behind, they don't know 07:58 he has tarried and then they suppose him 08:02 to be there. Now this is a critical point, 08:04 it is critical because you could suppose, 08:08 you can guess, you can think that Jesus 08:13 is in your midst because of who you are. 08:15 I am his mother, I am his father, 08:17 I am a church leader, I have a big office, 08:20 I am the Pastor here, so Jesus is here 08:23 and you suppose, he is there but he is not. 08:26 It is dangerous just to assume that Jesus 08:32 is in your company because of your 08:34 relationship to him in terms of like 08:37 Mary and Joseph. So they suppose him 08:40 to be in their company and they went 08:43 on a day's journey. Now hear this, 08:45 when you suppose that Jesus is in your company 08:49 and you don't know of it, you tend to continue 08:53 without him. Now Mary and Joseph 08:57 continued a day's journey and didn't 09:01 recognize it. So they have people 09:04 who is supposed to have Jesus 09:06 but Jesus is not with them and you continue 09:10 to serve, you continue to serve the Deaconary, 09:13 you continue to serve in your school, 09:15 you continue to serve in your church, 09:17 you continue to serve in your business, 09:19 and you don't recognized that Jesus is not there. 09:22 What happens when people realize 09:25 that Jesus is not there and they don't know, 09:28 they tend to increase effort, 09:30 and so we think is that we haven't see 09:33 of our program or more programming 09:35 or invite a great speaker to change 09:38 your thing and all we need is Jesus. 09:41 What I am saying is that Jesus is still 09:44 the answer to every problem. 09:46 When a person has Jesus continually with them, 09:50 it makes teaching easier, it makes 09:53 preaching easier, it makes your singing 09:56 easier because if you are preached 09:58 and people is blessed, it is really Jesus 10:01 who preached. If you have sung a song 10:04 and people are blessed it is really Him 10:06 that have sung, so we need him. 10:09 We have to make sure that we don't continue 10:13 religious activity and miss Jesus. 10:18 And so Mary and Joseph suppose him 10:21 to be there. The Bible says, they looked among 10:26 their kinfolks and so upon realizing now that 10:31 listen Jesus is missing, Jesus is not with us, 10:35 Jesus has gone somewhere. 10:38 Where is Jesus? You know what they did. 10:40 They looked among their kinfolks. 10:43 Now when you observe that there is a drought 10:47 in your religious experience. 10:49 When you observe that there is a drought, 10:52 you are experiencing barrenness in your 10:55 Christian experience, don't look among 10:58 your kinfolks. Some people look among 11:00 brethren for their solution. They look 11:02 among people, you pick up the phone 11:05 with your problems and you call mama 11:07 and you call daddy and you call elder this. 11:09 Now there is a place for that, 11:11 but once Jesus has tarried behind. 11:15 When Jesus is behind of you, 11:17 once you are not connected with Jesus 11:19 enough, Jesus is the only person 11:22 that can solve that issue. 11:24 So in Mary and Joseph case, the Bible says 11:28 they went a day's journey and they sort 11:31 him among the kinfolks and acquaintances. 11:34 This is a problem that I find happens 11:37 in Christendom today. People that find 11:40 themselves in a terrible situation look 11:42 among people, look among a man, 11:44 you look for great evangelist, 11:46 you look for great pastor, 11:48 you look for great teacher, 11:49 now each one of them have their place. 11:53 But the main ingredient in your Christian 11:57 experience is having Jesus, 11:59 and that is always the focus of this preacher 12:02 because I've have realized a long time ago 12:05 that Jesus is the main stay, 12:08 he is the main character, 12:09 he is the hero of the Bible. 12:11 Peter, John, Daniel, David, all these men 12:15 are just characters moving on the stage 12:18 of life, but the real hero of the Bible 12:21 is Jesus. I would like to say that the Bible 12:25 is a Him book, not hymn it's a Him, 12:30 it's a book about Him, and you have 12:33 to make sure as an individual that 12:36 you never go on without Jesus. 12:38 You always have to test the frequency 12:41 to make sure that Jesus has not tarried behind, 12:45 and that Jesus is continuing and continual 12:49 with you. So Mary and Joseph they love Jesus. 12:53 They lost Jesus in Jerusalem, 12:57 Jerusalem represents the church. 13:00 In other words, they lost Him, 13:03 they missed Him in a church environment. 13:06 Look at his, listen to this point, 13:07 It is possible then to have all the trapping 13:11 again of church have good sermons 13:14 and have all these things and Jesus has 13:17 folded his arms and tarried behind. 13:21 It means therefore, that I only can trust 13:25 my relationship with Jesus to ensure 13:29 that is always active and vibrant. 13:32 So and continuing it says, and they found 13:36 Him not and they turned back again 13:40 to Jerusalem seeking Him. Now when you 13:45 realize that Jesus has tarried, 13:47 the best thing you can do as a Christian, 13:51 as a person, as an individual is to 13:54 turn back to Him. There are millions of people 13:58 out there who know about Jesus, 14:01 who have an acquaintance with Jesus, 14:03 and Jesus has been talking to you, 14:05 all Jesus is saying to you today 14:08 is to turn around. When you turn around 14:11 its like repentance, you are going 14:13 in one direction, Jesus is saying turn 14:16 in around, do not continue your life 14:19 without Jesus. Jesus is a burden bearer. 14:23 He is the heavy load sharer. 14:25 He is the one that could fix your marriage. 14:28 He is the one that could fix your boss 14:30 on the job. He is the one that could give you 14:33 a job that you're not qualified for. 14:36 People don't realize when Jesus 14:39 is in the heart, He makes all things right, 14:42 even though you maybe facing prosecution 14:45 and trials, and temptations. 14:47 Once you have Jesus he makes the difference. 14:52 So that Jesus tarried behind and they 14:56 turn back. This is the key to life, 15:00 turning back to see where Jesus is. 15:04 So Mary and Joseph they turn back to God. 15:08 They turn back to where they first left Him. 15:12 But the Bible says something interesting 15:14 in verse 46, it says. And it came to pass, 15:18 that, after three days, after three days 15:23 now watch this? It took a moment for them 15:28 to miss Jesus, it took a moment for Jesus 15:32 to be lost by them, but it took three days 15:35 to recover him. It is easier to leave 15:40 Jesus behind then to find him back. 15:43 Therefore, I urge people if you are living 15:46 close to Jesus, if you are a Christian, 15:49 continue to stay close to Him because 15:53 if you leave him behind, you may not find Him 15:56 in three days. For Mary and Joseph 15:59 it was three days, but for some of us 16:02 it has been a year, two years, three years, 16:05 ten years. You were a Christian 16:07 when you were small. You went to church 16:09 when you were small. You went with your 16:11 grandmother. You were there in Sabbath school. 16:14 You were there in the church service. 16:16 You had a good time, but eventually 16:18 you allowed cares of this world to choke 16:21 Jesus out and you've left Him behind. 16:24 Now you are trying to raise your kids. 16:26 You are trying to run your family. 16:28 You are trying all these things without Him, 16:30 and you're failing and all Jesus is saying 16:33 comeback. Look how many years you have been 16:36 away from him. Are you successful? 16:38 How do you define success? 16:41 Success as far as heaven is concerned 16:44 is a vibrant relationship with Jesus. 16:47 You may not have any money, 16:49 you may not have a big house, 16:50 you may not have fancy cars, 16:52 but I tell you once you have Jesus with you, 16:55 once you have Jesus in your heart. 16:57 That is why some Christians in spite 17:00 of the fact that they don't have 17:01 a lot of things. Once you have Jesus 17:04 you can say praise the Lord, Hallelujah, 17:07 thank you, because as far as I'm concerned 17:09 you can take my car, you can take my house, 17:12 you can take anything but don't take 17:14 Jesus because in Him I move and live 17:17 and have my being. He is the person 17:20 that helps me. He is the person 17:21 that blessed me. He is the person 17:23 that helped me to stay in my marriage, 17:25 to stay faithful to my wife and children. 17:27 It is Jesus, and so I submit to us. 17:30 Once you realized that Jesus has tarried, 17:34 turn back to Jesus, turn to Him, 17:37 and even though it has been three days 17:40 for them, it maybe ten years for you, 17:43 but the nice thing is if you turn back 17:46 you will find Him where you last left Him. 17:49 Jesus is waiting on you. He is waiting. 17:53 He is calling. He is hoping that you return 17:56 and once you return, He will hug you, 17:59 He will welcome you. When the prodigal 18:02 son returned and turned around, 18:04 the Bible says when he came to Himself, 18:07 when he realized that in his father's house 18:10 there was plenty of bread to spare 18:12 and for the servants, he turned around 18:15 what's this? Salvation begins 18:18 when you turn around. The prodigal son 18:21 still had his dirty clothes on. 18:23 He still had pig food in his mouth. 18:25 He still probably wear his jewels but you know 18:29 what once you turn around, 18:31 salvation begins. You turn around 18:33 now the journey is where you take off 18:36 the clothes, where you take off the jewels. 18:38 When the Father met him then he removed 18:41 his clothes. He blessed him and so when God, 18:45 when God meets you as you come as you are, 18:48 he begins to tell you about what you wear, 18:50 and what you eat, but the thing is come 18:53 as you are, come today, come today to Jesus 18:56 and He will welcome you. Mary and Joseph 18:59 as they turned around, they found Jesus 19:03 in the temple talking with the doctors, 19:06 in the temple hearing them. 19:08 Now I have a serious issue with this part 19:13 of the text. I don't want to ask 19:16 a serious question. If Mary and Joseph 19:21 had continued to talk to Jesus, 19:26 they would have never missed Him. 19:28 I am almost certain that you probably 19:31 walking down in a busy street having 19:33 a conversation with an individual, 19:35 and eventually they stop a little bit behind 19:38 but because you were talking to them 19:40 and it was not a monologue you realize 19:43 quickly that, that person has tarried 19:46 behind. And so if Mary and Joseph 19:49 have not been talking to their kinfolks 19:52 and their families and friends but focusing 19:55 on talking to Jesus, they would have 19:57 not left Him behind, here is the key. 20:00 When you have a vibrant prayer life, 20:03 and you continue a communication 20:06 with Jesus, talking to Him about your issues, 20:09 He will not be left behind. 20:10 But too many people as soon as they are faced 20:15 with a problem, or soon as they are faced 20:18 with an issue, the first thing they do 20:20 is to pick up the phone and begin to complain 20:23 about your friend. But I want to suggest 20:25 to you, your friend cannot solve 20:28 your problems. They can talk with you 20:30 and there are place for friends, 20:32 but what I've discovered is that people 20:35 replace Jesus with family members, 20:38 with friends, and so it's easy to pick up 20:40 the phone and say, hello, Tom or hello, 20:43 Mary, you know I have this problem 20:46 and begin to weep. But I am suggesting 20:48 to all, that if we practice talking 20:52 to Jesus continually, you will discover that 20:55 He still is the great problem solver. 20:58 He is still the great burden bearer. 21:01 He said come to me, talk to me, my burden 21:04 is light, my yoke is easy. 21:07 I am recommending every moment in the sermon 21:10 that Jesus is the key, he is the answer. 21:13 And so if Mary and Joseph had continued 21:19 to speak to Jesus, he would not be left 21:23 behind. But in addition to that 21:26 if Mary and Joseph kept their eyes on 21:30 Jesus even though they had stopped speaking 21:35 to Him. If they kept their eyes on Jesus, 21:39 looking at Him, He would not be lost. 21:41 The problem is people are looking at 21:44 everybody else but Jesus. Some people, 21:49 they say, I am not joining the church 21:50 because there are hypocrites 21:52 in the church. I am not joining this church 21:54 because the pastor did this. 21:56 I am not joining the church because 21:58 the Deacon did this. I am not joining 22:00 the church because this no, no, no. 22:02 They are not your supreme example 22:05 that I am a flesh, I may fail you, 22:08 I am a man, I may feel you, but Jesus 22:11 never fails, and He says, looking on to 22:14 Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. 22:16 The person to keep your eyes on is on Jesus. 22:20 And when you continue to look at Jesus, 22:23 the things of this world, the things 22:27 of this world just goes strangely 22:29 dim in the light of his glory and his grace. 22:34 Jesus is still the answer, keep your eyes 22:39 on Him and people all over, 22:42 they come to me sometimes. 22:44 They all these bad things that happening 22:48 in the church but I want to ask you 22:50 something even though there were animal faces 22:54 in the Ark, there were donkey faces, 22:57 goat faces all these filth in the Ark 23:01 even though the Ark didn't smell too good, 23:04 at least the Ark didn't have water 23:07 and when it was all over the people in the Ark 23:11 was saved, so what I am saying 23:13 if you keep you eyes on Jesus even though 23:16 God's church and God's people may have 23:19 some issues and there are problems, 23:21 you don't study the little filth in the Ark. 23:24 Keep your eyes on Jesus for when the door 23:28 opens you will be saved, and so you cannot 23:31 continue to make that as an excuse. 23:34 In fact, what I've discovered that 23:37 the bad things are happening in church 23:39 and the bad things are happening around you 23:41 is just manual for you to grow. 23:44 The fornicator in your church, 23:46 the adultery in your place, wherever 23:49 they are the hypocrite, all they are is manual 23:52 for you to grow in your Christian experience. 23:54 How you treat with them, how you pray 23:56 for them, how you talk to them, 23:58 so keep your eyes on Jesus continually. 24:02 And when your eye is focused on Jesus, 24:05 you will realize that you keep going 24:08 up and up because the Bible says 24:10 the steps of a good man is ordered by the Lord 24:14 but you have to keep your eyes 24:16 on the prize, keep your eyes on Jesus 24:18 and you will discover that your step 24:20 keep going up because the Greek word 24:22 for the step, was not a descending step 24:25 but it was ascending step and so once 24:28 your eyes are on Jesus you will discover 24:31 that you keep going up and up and up and up 24:34 and you keep progressing a new experience. 24:36 But if you keep your eyes on men, 24:39 men will fail you, men are not your measure. 24:43 Yes, we should be example, yes, 24:46 we should lead a good life but at the end 24:48 of the day we may fail, David failed, 24:51 Abraham failed, Samson failed, 24:54 Solomon like many women he failed, 24:56 so they are not the supreme example 24:59 but Jesus Christ never ever fails, 25:04 so the key is, it is Jesus it all comes down 25:08 to Jesus. And so I suggest to us 25:12 that when Jesus is tarried behind 25:14 even though you have been to church 25:17 and you have a lot of religious activities 25:19 and you've done a lot of things, 25:21 even though that happened when Jesus 25:24 tarried behind. Don't suppose 25:26 He is in your company, just suppose 25:29 find out where He is, pray with Him, 25:32 talk to Him, find out where He is, 25:35 don't just suppose. And when you have 25:38 discovered that he is not there, 25:39 don't look among your kinfolks, 25:41 don't look among your friends and family, 25:44 dial up Jesus, let Him send you a text. 25:47 This Bible, let Him send you a text, 25:50 this is the real text. Let Him send you 25:52 a word and you will discover once you 25:55 turn around, once you turn back to Jerusalem, 26:00 once you face where you left him, 26:02 He will begin to woo you in like Mary and Joseph, 26:06 and so when they found him after three days, 26:09 after three days of searching in sorrow, 26:13 the Bible says because sometime it is painful 26:16 when you have left Him to find Him back. 26:19 It is not easy some of us are drug addicts, 26:22 recovering drug addicts, because we left Him 26:24 ten years ago but the thing is He takes us 26:27 where we are and build us back up again. 26:32 So Jesus is wonderful, so the thing is never 26:35 stop talking to Jesus, talking to Jesus 26:39 is the key, having a pray life, a wonderful 26:43 relationship with Him continually 26:46 communicating and talking. 26:47 But even though you are silent 26:50 but if you are eyes I just focus 26:54 on the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. 26:57 You keep looking at Jesus. Jesus, 26:59 where you are? Oh I see you there, 27:01 I am seeing you, I am seeing you, 27:03 you are there. Once you continue looking at Him, 27:05 you will realize that the path of the just 27:08 is like a shining light that shine 27:10 more and more and more until the perfect day. 27:14 And once you continue following the lamb, 27:16 following Jesus, you know where He leads, 27:19 He leads to heaven and even though 27:23 while you are following Him, 27:24 you may face some dubious and trying 27:27 circumstance. Once you keep with Jesus, 27:30 He has already won the battle. 27:32 He has already fought the fight. 27:33 He got the strips for you. 27:35 He will make sure that you have the victory. 27:38 The key is talk to Jesus, look at Jesus 27:42 and if you continue, continuously 27:45 every single day to keep looking at Jesus, 27:49 you will have no problem. You will gain 27:52 a victory because Jesus is Lord and savior. |
Revised 2014-12-17