Bring him to me, Jesus said!

There are those who believe that any religion will get you to God, and into heaven. But I heard a man point out that Buddha did not die for anybody's sins. Neither did Mohammad. Not Krishna, not Gandhi. No. Jesus, Jesus died for your sins and only Jesus.
As I watched the Billy Graham Crusade in New Orleans the other night, I was struck by the fact that Franklin Graham, who was the key speaker spoke for only twelve minutes. From the time he walked to the podium till he asked people to come forward was only twelve minutes.
They came in droves. But see he wasn't there to entertain anybody, His job was not to put on a good show or to even do a great speech. His only purpose was to bring people to Jesus. Took twelve minutes, they came in droves.
Sometimes I think we just talk to much.
There are some verses in the bible ... Did you know that?

Then one of the crowd answered and said, "Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not."

He answered him (The father, not the disciples)and said, "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? (Then he spoke the most profound statemenat in the New Testament) Bring him to Me."

Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.
So He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?"
And he said, "From childhood. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us."
Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes."
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" (If your belief is struggling, remember that Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith)
(see first he took him to the disciples, now he is talking to Jesus.Now he needs to get completly honest.)

When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!" Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, "He is dead." But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.
And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?"

So He said to them, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting." Mark 9:14-29
Now Jesus did not tell them to fast and pray. The boy was already healed. The Demon was gone. Earlier, Jesus did not tell the father to go get more believing, He said bring the boy to me.

Billy Graham crusade..........only twelve minutes and they come in droves..................Only one message and that is come to Jesus!!

Fill your life with Jesus Christ, and He will change your life.

The most changed person I know is me.

I never decided to quit drugs, but they are gone. I never decided to get over my anger and hurt, but they are gone, I never decided to get the demons out of me or my life, but they are gone too!

I got off of drugs with No drug rehab, I got over my enemies and my childhood with no counseling and no twelve, seven or even three step programs. Lost anger without anger management. Even got demons out of my life, without a deliverance ministry. Just lots of Jesus.

The only thing I ever did do, was fill my life with Jesus.
I didn't think I needed to change. I thought all the issues were do to circumstances, not me.

But I filled my life with Jesus and He changed my life. He didn't even ask me.

God won't make you do anything you don't want to do. But He will change your want to. And He won't ask

See we tend to want to bring them to church. Or to bible study. You know prayer group. Teach them some theology or doctrine that will straighten em out. Heaven help us.

In Mexico we are supporting the building an orphanage, for who ? Well, orphans of course. We want them to have a safe place to stay, clothes to wear, food to eat. All Good stuff. But they will grow into unhappy troubled adults if somebody doesn't take them to Jesus.

Every orphanage around the world has statistics to back that up. whether they know it or not.

You can start any program in our public schools you want and very few will get better until they come to Jesus.

Bring em to church, give em a great social program, but until we have taken em to Jesus Christ, we haven't helped em.

Study the bible until your numb in the brain, but without Jesus. Nothing!

Even the Apostle Paul, when he prayed for the early Christians, prayed things like.

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power. Eph 1:15-23

Always that they would know Him better. We should do more of that.

See they brought the boy to the men of God. The men of God could not cure him. We need to remember that.
The only thing I ever did, was I took me to Jesus! over and over and over again and again.
Now that doesn't happen in a prayer meeting very often. It happens during your personal time with Him.
Watch this ...
And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; (unsaved and out of control of your life) but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, Eph 5:18-20

It has to come from inside you and not from any outside source.

See if you do this. ( speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,)
Then your personal time, is not limited to just a quite prayer time. Your private prayer time is just the start. You have taken your self to Jesus, all day long and sometimes all night too!
You gotta take your self to Jesus if you are going to bring anybody else to Him. You can't take Jesus with you. Please don't see it that way. That would put the King of Glory on your agenda and schedule. See it, as taking your self to Him. He is the King.
With Him is where you want to be. So when others need help You can bring them to Him, because you are already there.

I know every body here knows who Jesus is. We know lots of stuff about Him.
But do we really know Him? Personally?
Let me explain what I mean. When I was just little, my adopted father, the one who gave me the name of Adams, but he never gave me Jesus. He used to drag us off to church. I remember a couple of times. I'm sure it was more then a couple of times, but that is all I remember.
but I do remember seeing a picture on the wall and one of the other kids asking who was the man in the picture? Somebody said that was Jesus. I remember thinking good, now I know who Jesus is. But I didn't know Him. He was only a picture on the wall.

See, I know who the Governor is too. But I can't personally take you and introduce you to him in a meaningful way. Because I personally don't know him. But a close family member could. See the difference?
For a lot of us, he is still a picture on the wall. Or a historical figure. Perhaps a biblical subject to talk and argue about. I know we all know who Jesus is.
But as you read this today, do you know Him, well enough that you can help someone get past an unsaved and out of control life? Help them get past church, bible study, prayer group, and counseling so they can be saved delivered and really healed?

Have you gotten past these yourself? You can't bring the boy to Jesus if you don't know how to get there yourself.

Drug counseling won't help without Jesus and an inner change, All the marriage and healing seminars won't change anything without Jesus. No matter what you try, life won't improve much with out you bring your self to Jesus Christ.
That can't happen in a moment. But don't put down this article with out at least starting. Don't think I will do it later.
God told Moses He was the great I Am
Jesus said before Abraham was, I Am.

The Great I AM, not was, not gonna be or wanna be, but ...
The God of right now! I Am!
Not yesterday, yesterday is gone , I was there, used it all up.
Not the God of tomorrow doesn't even exist yet.
But the God of right now! Only This day, this hour, this minute matter.

We become so involved with what happened yesterday or what will happen tomorrow, that we often miss what He is doing and wants to do RIGHT NOW…and we lose out on so much associated with that fact!
Don't try to do this later.
If you have something in your life that needs to be fixed, move closer to Jesus. Right now. If you have someone you know who is having trouble getting something in their life fixed, and you want to help them, get closer to Jesus.
Start right now.