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Episode 2 | Focused Faith
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Join us for our next episode of Grace Talk with Elder Domonic Ray. This episode will discuss focusing our eyes on Jesus.
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Transcript
Introduction to Grace Talk Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello everyone. Welcome to Grace Talk, a podcast developed by Grace Temple Church Louisville to share godly devotionals and interviews to help save the lost and encouraged to save. Let's go down to our presenter and listen with an open heart and an open mind. Hello and welcome to Grace Talk, a podcast by Grace Temple Church. My name is Elder Dominic Ray.
00:00:25
Speaker
And I'm the director of communications here at the church. And we are so excited that you chose to join us on episode number two, episode number two of our podcast. We want to take the time to encourage you in building your relationship with Jesus, keeping your focus on him.
Following and Subscribing to Content
00:00:47
Speaker
If you are enjoying these podcasts, please do remember to follow Grace Temple Church on all of our social media. We have a Twitter, we have a Facebook, we have a YouTube, we have an Instagram. If you want to continue to listen to our podcast, you can do so here at Zincaster. Also, you can listen to us on Spotify. And again, we want to encourage you today in building your relationship with Jesus, keeping your focus on him.
Faith and Reflection in Stormy Times
00:01:18
Speaker
Have you ever read that story, that story of the disciples in the midst of the storm? You know, it's found in Matthew 14, 22 through 36 and Mark 6, 45 through 56. They're in the midst of a storm and they see Jesus walking on water. They see him walking on water and he's calming the storm.
00:01:43
Speaker
I can't help but try and picture what that must have been like for the disciples to be in a boat. Jesus telling them to go to the other side, they get in the boat. And then as they get in the boat, the storm comes. I attempt to place myself in the disciples shoes are, uh, they're sandals. If you would, um, I attempt to try to think, what would I have been looking for?
00:02:11
Speaker
The storm's coming. Would I have been looking and seeing Jesus walking on the water and being terrified, thinking it's a ghost? Would I have been brave enough to ask Jesus to bid me come, to call me out of the boat like Peter did? What would I have done in that same situation?
00:02:34
Speaker
It's Jesus, our Jesus, our savior, our healer, our deliverer, Jesus who calm the storms of the sea. It's the same Jesus that has the same power to calm the storms that we walk through in our daily lives. He's not only Jesus of the Bible,
00:02:53
Speaker
He's not only King of Kings and Lord of Lords, He's also Jesus, our Savior, the one that the wind and the waves must obey. No matter what life troubles you occur, no matter what wind or waves, or no matter what life trials or struggles you face, don't allow that.
00:03:12
Speaker
your situation to distract you and take your focus off of Jesus. You got to keep your eyes on Jesus for he has complete control. So what storm are you facing today?
00:03:26
Speaker
What storm are you facing as you listen to this podcast that may cause for you to be distracted? If Jesus called you out of the boat like Peter, would your eyes be fixated on him or would they be paying more attention to the situation and the storm? I like to think my eyes would be glued to Jesus, but I have to be honest.
00:03:49
Speaker
A lot more of me and a lot more times I'm like Peter that I probably want to admit. And so I want to share with you some simple yet powerful relationship behaviors that I've learned that will keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.
Building a Relationship with Jesus
00:04:05
Speaker
One, it's a simple yet powerful relationship behavior. It's getting to know him.
00:04:12
Speaker
Get to know him. The only way that we can really get to know Jesus is to get into his word. One simple way we can build our personal relationships with Jesus is to read our Bible every day by reading the Bible. We get to know God. We get to know Jesus.
00:04:29
Speaker
and the great love He has for us. God's Word reveals the very thoughts of His heart to us in the pages of the Scriptures. There we learn of the goodness and the faithfulness and the many wonderful characteristics our Savior had.
00:04:46
Speaker
The more we come to know God by reading the Word, the more we love Him. As we learn about how much He loves us, our response should be that we love Him back. Another benefit of reading the Bible daily is that we learn about the power
00:05:04
Speaker
and the ability to us as God's children. You remember Ephesians 1, 17 through 19? It said it like this, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling.
00:05:29
Speaker
and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power. God wants us to know of his power to usward who believe, and his word is a great place to start to learn about that power. As we learn of the power available to us through him,
00:05:59
Speaker
We can grow in godliness. That is a true and vital spiritual relationship with God. The second and simple yet powerful relationship behavior is communication. Communication, and we do this through prayer. Prayer, 1 Thessalonians 5, 17 says, pray without ceasing. A one translation says, pray constantly.
00:06:24
Speaker
pray consistently. Prayer is so important and vital that it was one of the things that our disciples, that we read about in the Bible, that the disciples asked Jesus to teach them in Luke 11 and 1. It reads like this. He was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord,
00:06:45
Speaker
Teach us to pray. Prayer was important to Jesus and it was important to the disciples. It should also be so important to us. It can help keep our focus on Jesus, especially when the wind and the waves become so fierce. Prayer isn't just a one-way dialogue, it's communication. Talking and listening
00:07:10
Speaker
to God, talking to God and listening to Him. It's always important that after we talk, before we talk and before we listen, that we always invite the Holy Spirit into our prayer. It's important that the Holy Spirit be present there.
Community and Support in Faith
00:07:26
Speaker
The third and final simple yet powerful relationship behavior that we want to grasp today is to surround yourself with like-minded people or like-minded believers. It's no secret that relationships need truthful and honest people surrounding them. The same goes for believers. As believers, we need community.
00:07:49
Speaker
We see in the book of Acts how the early church was intentional in fellowship. You know, Acts 2 42, it picked it up and said it like this, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread.
00:08:08
Speaker
and in prayers. It says that they were devoted. They were dedicated to teaching. They were dedicated to fellowship. They were dedicated to breaking of bread and dedicated to prayers. We see the exact opposite of that today in the world that we live that they're dedicated to being individuals.
00:08:29
Speaker
They're dedicated to doing things on their own. They're not dedicated to fellowship. They're not dedicated to the teachings or to breaking the bread or to prayer. They're dedicated to me, myself, and I. But we hear and we read in Acts two that they were devoted to coming together. We also should be devoted to coming together because we need fellowship.
00:08:54
Speaker
And within that fellowship, we need our brothers and our sisters. We need other believers in Christ to keep us responsible and accountable. When the wind and the waves come, we need those brothers and sisters to remind us to keep our eyes on Jesus. We need them to remind us that if He did it before,
00:09:16
Speaker
that he is more than able to do it again we need them to remind us to go back to the word and what does the word tell us and how does it encourage us and we need them to encourage us encourage us to keep going to keep fighting to hold on but not only all of that but we need
00:09:37
Speaker
fellowship with our brothers and sisters to help us as we stand together in life's hard and difficult seasons because we gain strength from our community. So will we live a life devoted to a relationship with Jesus? You will get to know him by reading his word daily. You will communicate with him through consistent
00:10:03
Speaker
prayer and you will surround yourselves with brothers and sisters in Christ that will hold you accountable and responsible in trusting the Jesus you have a relationship with.
Focus and Feedback
00:10:14
Speaker
Now, when the wind and the waves come and Jesus calls you out of the boat, you will walk towards him and you will walk with him undeterred and undistracted.
00:10:24
Speaker
The Lord may not always remove the distraction from you every time, but if he doesn't, you can be assured and rest assured of his presence in the midst of the storm when you keep your eyes fixed on him. Let me leave you with this scripture, Hebrews 12, two through three in the new international version, fixing our eyes on Jesus.
00:10:50
Speaker
pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners so that you will not grow weary.
00:11:08
Speaker
and lose heart. God bless you. Thank you for your time. If you are enjoying these podcasts and would like to send us comments or have any questions that you would like to be answered, please send those to our email. It's gracetalk at effectivegrace.org. We will reply to those emails and maybe even come back on here in a separate podcast and respond to those emails. Thank you again.
00:11:34
Speaker
for joining Grace Talk, a podcast by Grace Temple Church, Louisville, Kentucky, where effective grace is changing lives. Grace and peace. This concludes our segment. We pray in the hope that what you just heard blesses and encourages you. Please join us next time on Grace Talk. Until then, Godspeed.