After a meeting that directly used or referred to Matthew 24:45-47 at least five time (can anyone say gratuitous use), we find out what the Sunday talk will be.
"Facing the Future ... I see nobody is writing so, I won't continue ... oh, you are interested? Facing the Future With Faith and Courage"
"Imitating the Great Teacher" is the talk for tonight. 3 John 11, appears to be unrelated (for a reason) ... be an imitator of what is good. NEWS FLASH! Imitator is a verb! I could have sworn it was a noun, but the CO wouldn't lie. We don't come close to perfection so it is HARD to imitate Jesus (why did Dubya leap to mind, mostly kidding). Tonight, we are gonna find out how on a psychological level!
(Wow! This is exciting!)
If we imitate Christ, we are gonna elevate the quality of what we do. The CO wanted to be like other men, but he couldn't. He couldn't duplicate them. He was frustrated (Freud?).
Thinking about the motive behind why Jesus did what he did will help. Mark 1:34 - THIS IS A GUARANTEE that all our physical ailments will be done away with. (GROSS MISAPPLICATION????)
John 17:3 (Pablum?) the word knowledge is the operative word here ... this is the most important activity that Jesus engaged in on earth ... teaching people. (He didn't say teaching was the most important, he said learning was the most important). CO says: this teaching is the most important thing you could be doing, the most important invocation (sic) a person could have.
How effective was Jesus? John 7:46 - WOW! So profound! So effective that it stopped people who came to do him harm. That is what we want to incorporate throughout the week. What made his teaching so effective and interesting? An old KM says Jesus spoke with authority, kindness, and love. CO says that is difficult to achieve. KM continues, his thoughts were outstanding because of simplicity, conviction, and understanding. (Well, he has the simplicity down pat) When Jesus was on earth did he understand genetics? Sure, but he never mentioned those complex things (but of course the people he spoke to never went to Universities) in his teaching. He explained simple things, simply.
Isn't it true that if a person really understands their subject then they can explain it very simply? (No, not necessarily) KM continues Jesus appealed to all segments of his audience using illustrations that they understood helping them arrive at their own conclusions (how very different from the WTS). 1 Peter 2:21 (more Pablum, ). Focus on model and steps closely. Model (hupogrammos) means copy for imitation. What we have to do, we have to carefully study Jesus (see how well the CO helps people arrive at their own conclusions?).
John 5:19 - Jesus carefully observed and followed Jehovah. We don't know what the word "eons" means. We just know it means a long time. Jesus didn't put people down, there are things we want to do to help us teach today. People will only get life if they apply the things we are teaching them from "God's Word" (WTS) but we might not be spending enough time perfecting our teaching skills (if they die it will be our fault, we're bastards!).
Mark 10:21 - Jesus understood Jehovah's purpose and that God never intended for us to live this way. Jesus coming to earth, he could see what the Romans were doing to their people. Nowadays it is the same. Jesus was motivated to help people out of love. If you feel love you gonna go beyond just the obvious. Not to say standing there and nagging them to death but we mean taking genuine interest in the person.
Anecdote, I didn't write down a house number, I just wrote down the tree with the "X" and when the tree got cut down I lost them. (Stump??)
These people gonna die! We have the divine privilege of helping people. Do we really appreciate that? (Bastards if we don't!)
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