 Okay welcome back everyone to our second session today. I'm just going to go ahead and share my screen and then we can get started. Okay all right so we still have to finish a few things there a couple of verses then in session one are calling to be like Jesus and let's see maybe I might try to finish everything in this session. So let's go to 1st Corinthians chapter 11 verse 1 please. 1st Corinthians chapter 11 verse 1. 1st Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 1. Notice what the Apostle Paul said here 1st Corinthians chapter 11 verse 1. Notice what he says. He said imitate me just as I also imitate Christ. So what was Paul doing in his life and in his ministry? He was trying to follow Jesus. That was his thing. I want to imitate Jesus. So I want to encourage all of us to follow his example. Imitate Jesus. Follow Jesus. Imitate him. Then he can say I tell people hey see my own life. Imitate me. People like how Paul said he just see my example. I'm not embarrassed. I'm not ashamed. If you look at my life because I know I'm trying to imitate or follow Jesus. So he could tell people follow me or imitate me. See what I'm doing because I am trying to imitate Jesus. Very powerful. Very simple. Very powerful. Imitate me as I also imitate Jesus. Totally challenge all of us. Let this be of a passion or of a goal. I want to be like Jesus. I want to imitate Jesus in my life. That will be my what I'm going after. I'll be my pursuit. And even the Apostle John puts that to us. He says in 1st John, we look at two scriptures there from 1st John. Now John is often referred to as the beloved disciple of Jesus. Jesus loved this man very specially. So John says this is the disciple whom Jesus loved. Jesus really John is not saying he had a favorite or anything but Jesus really loved this man. He's called Jesus beloved disciple. So John is telling us something very important. 1st John, chapter 2, verse 6. He says, John says, he who says he abides in Christ or himself also to walk just as he walked, just as he walked. So if you say you are in Jesus, then John is saying this is how I will know you are in Jesus. You have a name. John, Mark, Matthew. No, no, no, no. That's not how I'll know that you are in Jesus. How I will know you are in Jesus. You walk as he walked. That's how anyone who says you are in Jesus, you walk as he walked. Now we all don't start there but we have to get there slowly, steadily. We come to that place where we can walk as Christ walked or you can say put it like this. We live as Christ. We get there. We don't start there but we'll get there. That's the call. That's a very high standard. Live like Jesus. Walk like Jesus. But if you are in Christ, if you say you are abiding in Him, you're living your life in Him, then you have to live like Christ. Live as Christ. So walk as Christ, live, walked. And chapter 4 verse 17, John puts it like this. 1st John, verse 17. He says, love has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment because as he is, so are we in this world. What is John saying? He's saying, look, God loves us. We love God. His love is in us. And therefore, we are not afraid of judgment day. That's what he's saying. See, perfect love has, the love of God, it's taken out all fear about judgment day. They're not afraid of judgment day. Judgment day, hallelujah. Why? Because God loves us. I love Him. His love is in me. I'm not afraid. God is my Father. So we're not afraid of judgment. We're not afraid of being judged by God. That's what he's saying. The first part of this verse, love has been perfected in us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. But then he says, because. So the beginning of this verse is referencing the love of God. But to his end of the verse, he's referencing something else. He says, because as he is, so we are in this. That means, not only do we know how great his love is for us, but we live like Jesus in this world. That means, so this is my science, my part. I walk as he walked. I live as he lives as he is. So are we in this world. Or you put it in simple English. Our life in this world is the same as his life. That means when I'm on basically like this on judgment day is for us as believers, of course, we know we have a different judgment. But just imagine on judgment day, you're standing before God and there are two things that make you bold in the presence of God. One, God, Father, I know you love me. My heavenly Father is sitting as the judge. I know you love me. So God loves me. But secondly, I also know that on the earth, I lived as Christ left. My life on earth was the same as his. And that gives us boldness on the day off. That's what John is saying here. But I picked this word out because I want to emphasize as he is, so are we in this world. That means our life, we live our life in this world the way Jesus lived his life. As he is, so are we. So when Jesus, when people see you, they need to see Jesus. When people see me, they need to see Jesus. As he is, so am I. As he is, so are we in this? So you can think all these things. I'm going to live like Jesus. I live life the Jesus way. That's how I'm going to, I'm going to live like Jesus, live life the Jesus way. I want to follow Jesus. So let's go to session two, which is we must follow Jesus in our lifestyle. I'll break this down. So how do we make sure that our life in this world is the same as his? That is how do we live as he live? How do we walk as Christ walk? How do you do that? Right? So I'll break it down into two parts. One is lifestyle, another is ministry. So in our lifestyle, how we live life, we have to imitate Jesus. We have to follow Jesus. And of course, you know, you can study the life of Jesus in depth and try to learn and observe his life. But I'm just mentioning a few things. And I'm sure that, you know, as you keep looking at Jesus, there'll be more and more things that God speaks to your heart and mind at different times. He said, look, Jesus was like this. You'd be like that. Jesus was like this. You'd be like that. Right? So God will definitely work that for us. But I'm just mentioning a few things here. In our lifestyle, how do we imitate Jesus? Number one, we see that Jesus walked in very close intimacy with the Father. Right? That was very important for Jesus. Intimacy, closeness with the Father. Right? He was so close in his relationship with the Father, John says, he came from heaven to earth. But he still refers to him as he was the one who was in the bosom of the Father. Go with me to John. You look at two scriptures here. I didn't put verses down on these, but maybe I can just reference a few. So just go with me please to John chapter one. We look at two verses here in John. John one verse 18, John one verse 18. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared. So John, this is John the Beloved. John is writing and he's saying, see nobody's seen God at any time. But how do we know God? We see God revealed in the person of Jesus. But what about Jesus? Jesus is somebody who's in the bosom of the Father. It's like he's sitting so close on the lap, on the Father's lap, bosom. But it's figurative language, which is basically saying he is, and the Amplified Bible puts it like this, he is in the intimate fellowship of the Father. Basically that's what it means. So Jesus is in that place of intimate fellowship with the Father. So to imitate Jesus in lifestyle, we have to be wanting to be very close to God, fellowship with God, fellowship, closeness. Okay. In John chapter 3, Jesus was 13. John 3 was 13. It's a very interesting verse. John 3 was 13. John is saying, sorry, Jesus is speaking here, John 3, 13. Jesus is saying, no one has ascended to heaven, but he who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. So think about this. In John 3, Jesus is talking to a man. He's here on earth, he's talking to Nicodemus. And he's saying, Nicodemus, no one went up to heaven, but he who came down from heaven, referring to himself, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. Where was Jesus at that time on earth? Who was he talking to? Nicodemus. He's saying, Nicodemus, I'm talking to you. I mean, he's talking to Nicodemus, and yet he's talking about himself as somebody who is in heaven. Who is in heaven? The closeness, that relationship, that intimacy. Physically at that moment, literally he was here on earth, but he's also saying he is in heaven in that closeness with the Father. Okay. So when you can read through the Gospel of John, you'll find a lot. Jesus walked in intimacy with God. So number one, in our life, cell and earth, our focus must be intimacy with God, imitate Jesus, intimacy with God. Your closeness with God, that must be important in your life, that close relationship with God, that fellowship with God. That must be very important for you, for me, because that was very important for Jesus. And because of that, secondly, we see in his lifestyle, Jesus spent a lot of time in prayer, in church on Sunday mornings. We have been doing a series on following Jesus in prayer, and we're coming to the close of that sermon series, but you can always go back and listen to those sermons from our church website. Following Jesus in prayer, what we see is, Jesus spent a lot of time in prayer. He would wake up early to go pray. He would go away into the jungle to go pray. Let me just see if somebody has asked a question here. Oh, okay, Jesus spent a lot of time. Somebody made a comment. That's fine. Right. So we see this, that the Lord Jesus spent a lot of time in prayer. Prayer was important for, he would have big meeting, a lot of people would come, he'll send the crowds away, and he would go and pray. He was very busy, but he would tell his disciples, okay, come, come, come, let's go. Let's go pray, go pray. He would make it. So we see this in the life of Jesus. Prayer was very important to him. He'd go away alone into the hills or mountains or wilderness. He'd go away just to pray. So as part of our lifestyle, prayer must be very important. So I want to encourage you, develop that in your life. And hopefully as you're going through Bible college here, you will develop that. Right. In the morning, you get up, you have time for prayer, afternoons or evenings, time for prayer. We have group prayer, of course, every day, 12 to one o'clock together, worship prayer. But you also take time to pray by yourself. In the evenings, mornings, it's up to you. But for Jesus, prayer was so important. It was part of his lifestyle. So develop that in your life. And I'm not going through all the scriptures, just making mention of this. Number three, what do we see in the lifestyle of Jesus is obedience. Obedience to the Father's will. And whatever the Father told him, he would always do. If you go with me to John chapter 8, now this reference, you know, a few scriptures, we could look at many, but I just want to point us to a few. John chapter 8, if you read verses 26 to 29, John 8, chapter 8, verses 26 to 29, look at what Jesus says. He says, I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but he who sent me is true. I speak to the world those things which I heard from him. They did not understand that he spoke to them or the Father. Then Jesus said to them, when you lift up the Son of man, then he will know that I am he and that I do nothing of myself. But as my Father taught me, I speak these things, verse 29, and he who sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone, for I always do those things that please him. Notice that. What is Jesus saying? He's saying, see, I speak what the Father teaches me. I do what the Father teaches me. I do everything that pleases the Father. Verse 29, I always do those things that pleased him. I always do those things that please him. He was walking in obedience to the Father. As the Father taught him, as the Father was speaking to him, he would follow obedience. So our goal in our lifestyle must be, I want to obey God. I want to live in close communion with God, close fellowship with God. I want to spend a lot of time in prayer just seeking God. I want to obey God, obedience to God. I want to do the Father's will for my life. I want to obey God. That's part of our lifestyle. Why is this important? Because sometimes some friend will come to influence you. They go here, do that, do this, all kinds of influences will come. People will have a lot of ideas. They'll try to tell you to do this, do that. You get confused. What am I supposed to do? The answer is very simple. I always do what pleases my heavenly Father. That's it. It doesn't matter what all these people are saying. Let them say what they want. Everybody has an idea. Everybody has a suggestion. Everybody has something to tell. Okay, let them say. But I always do what pleases the, that's how you and I must live. God, I want to obey you. I want to please you. I want to live in obedience to you. That is the way I'm going to live. It's okay that people, we can't stop people from trying to influence us and say this and say that and they'll have all their ideas. But that is not what we live by. We live by what the Father wants us to do. We are here to do the Father's will. We are here to please the Father. That's our lifestyle. So in everything you ask, does this please God? If it doesn't please God, no, stay away. Don't do it. Don't go into it. If it pleases God, okay, God, I'll do it because it pleases you, makes you happy, right? Obedience to the Father. Another part of obedience to the Father is the Father's timing. And you see this in the life of Jesus that he followed the Father's timing. He didn't start his ministry arbitrarily. No, when the Father said, now is the time, he started the ministry. So everything he did, he did according to God's timing. God's will and God's timing. So walking in obedience to God. So you and I must follow the timing of God has a timing for your life, for various things in your life. You follow the timing of God. Don't run ahead of God. I said, God, you left me alone. God said, I didn't leave you alone. You ran ahead. No, stay in step with God. You walk with God. He walks with you. When you walk according to God's timing, follow him. I don't, don't be in a hurry about things that you want to do Father's timing. Number four, we see in the life of Jesus is humility. He humbled himself. And Philippians 2, 9 through 11, okay, let's go to Philippians 2. We'll start from verse 5. Philippians 2, this is a very well known passage where the Apostle Paul is telling us to be like Jesus. Philippians 2 verse 5 onwards, let this mind or this attitude or this mental state, right, let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus. Philippians 2 verse 5. So he's saying, you know, imitate Jesus in this, follow Jesus in this, have the same mind, have the same attitude, follow Jesus, let this mind be in you, which is in Jesus. And then notice, he says, he being in the form of God did not consider it robbery or something to be held on to, to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bonds servant and coming in the likeness of men and being found in appearance as a man. He humbled himself. Think about this. He humbled himself from where to where, from being God to becoming a slave. Bond servant means slave. That means he went from the highest place to the lowest place. You can't get any higher and you can't get any lower. So you say, think about Jesus, think about Jesus, have the same attitude. He was blocked and like, you can't get any higher than this. And he became a slave. Bond servant. Can't get any lower than this. What did he do? You see how he did it? He did not consider it something to be held on to. This is verse 6. That means he had this high position, but he didn't hold on to that position. It is, oh, I am such and such. I am such a big man. He was holding on to it very light. Now, he didn't even hold on to it. It doesn't matter. That means, what's he telling us? That means to be like Jesus, to walk in humility. You do not hold on to title, position, power, influence, those things you have. You don't even grip. Don't put a grip on it. You don't hold on to that. Sometimes some people get very offended because you did not call them reverend pastor, reverend doctor, very good friend. Hey, I'm a doctor, reverend doctor. What are they doing? They're holding on. For them, that title is so important. But Jesus, he didn't hold on to his position, his status, his title, his role. That didn't matter to him. Nothing. See, sometimes I'm saying this because I see this. Suppose there's a pastor, maybe he has a church, 100 people, 100,000, whatever, whatever. If he comes, he will want to be escorted to be on the stage. He thinks, I am pastor. My only place is on the, so why can't you sit somewhere there in the congregation? So we purposely, you know, when some big people come, we don't, we don't even recognize that bigness. Everybody sits in the same place purposely. Why? Because we don't honor your title. It doesn't matter. I mean, Jesus gave up his highest position and he didn't hold on to his position, his status, his role. I am gone. He gave it up. So I want to challenge you. Don't hold on to your position, your title, your state. It doesn't matter. I don't care if people call me a pastor or it doesn't matter. They call me pastor because I do the work of a pastor, but that's not, I don't care. It doesn't matter. I can give up, I can give everything up and I can go there. I can just be an ordinary person on the street and I'll still be happy because my joy doesn't come from my being a pastor or having a position or it doesn't come from any of that. I'm doing it because I know God called me to do it. I know it's a responsibility, but that is not my identity. That is not my status. I know who I am in Jesus. That's enough. You understand it? Jesus did not hold on to that position. That means I, let me ask you, are you happy being a nobody? So somebody has no, I have to be recognized as a pastor. Then you've got a problem. You don't have the same mind that Jesus had, but if you have, if you are happy being a nobody, then you have the same mind that Christ had because though he was God, he did not hold on to that position, that place of status or power. He didn't hold on to it. He made next thing. He says verse seven, he made himself of no reputation. That means, so first one, he don't hold on to your position, power or status. Second, you don't hold on to your reputation. Your reputation is nothing. It's good to have a good reputation. That means it's good to have a good name. Right? The Boga Proverbs tells us this, a good name, it's a good thing. But that good name should come because of the life you live. Your reputation should come because of who you are, the life you live, not because of a fame and a branding and positioning, none of that. Yeah. Jesus made himself of no reputation. So I don't, so your reputation is not something you're trying to maintain. Jesus never tried to maintain his reputation. So I honestly don't care what you think about me or what people think about me. That's your problem. Because if I live a good life, nobody can change the testimony of a good life. Reputation is what you think about me. That's your problem. Testimony is how I live before God that you cannot change. You understand the difference between testimony and reputation? Many people are living for a reputation. I want to challenge you. You live to write a testimony. Right? It means your reputation doesn't matter. He made himself of no reputation. I don't care. I'm going to live right before God. What you make of that is your problem. As long as I live right before God, I know my testimony before God. I will get a good report card from God that nobody can change. So he made himself of no reputation. I mean, you don't care about your reputation. Be like Jesus. You don't care. So the difference between testimony and reputation. Testimony is how you live, who you really are. Reputation, what people think. You don't care about that. He made himself of no reputation. And what happened? He took the form of a slave. That means he became like a slave. So what does it mean to be humble? It means you don't hold on to your position or your status or your title. It means you don't care about your reputation. And three, you're willing to go down to the lowest level. I'm sorry. Became like a slave. You go and serve people. I'll serve you. That is being humble, humility. That is humility. That is being humble. And that is the lifestyle you and I must have. I'll try to think about this. Jesus, many things. But can you imagine Jesus washing the feet of his is too much. This is God who became man. And he said, I'll wash your feet too much. He's actually going, washing the feet of his disciples. Actually doing too much. But that is that attitude that Jesus had. And that's the attitude you and I must have. That's lifestyle. That's how we live in that kind of attitude. Humility. And lastly, number five, sacrifice. Sacrifice. Jesus sacrificed everything, even his own. Now, I'm not saying you and I should not enjoy life. You eat biryani, be happy. You enjoy it. You live happily. That's fine. Whatever God has given you, be happy. I'm not saying don't be happy. I'm not saying don't live, you know, the way God has blessed you. However he has blessed you, enjoy whatever he has blessed you with. Fine. We must be ready to sacrifice. What is sacrifice? It means I'm willing to let go, give up. Sacrifice has both sides to it. One is the giving up side. I'm willing to let go. Sacrifice also has the other side where I'm willing to take on, take on responsibility. And both are sacrifice. Because I'm sacrificing, I'm willing to take responsibility of something. I don't have to do it, but I'm willing to do it. I don't have to carry the weight of it, but I'm willing to take the weight of it. That's also sacrifice. So sacrifice has two sides. One side is letting go of your privileges, of what you can enjoy, of what you could be doing. You're letting go. But it also has the other side where you're taking on the weight. You're taking on responsibility. You're taking on the task to do something. That's also sacrifice. And Jesus, you see him doing both. He gave up heaven. He comes down here. He goes to the cross. He took on the responsibility of the cross. He took it. I'll go. I'll do it. I'll die for them. That's taking on responsibilities. He gave up heaven to do that. So imitate Jesus in your lifestyle. Five things. One, have close relationship with God. Two, prayer. Three, obedience to God. Four, you walk in humility. And five, you live a life of sacrifice. Understand? Any questions? Let me say online students. Any questions at this point before we go to the last session? Any questions online students? Okay. So there's a question here. Shiba, a prayer and intimacy with God is a different. Okay. So Shiba, a prayer, so intimacy with God, you can think of as relationship. Right? How close is that relationship? In order to have that intimacy with God, one of the things we do is prayer. Right? So you can think of like, you can think of if you want to think about a husband-wife relationship as an example. Intimacy is the level of their relationship. They are very close to each other. But in order for them to be very close to each other, they have to do many things. They have to spend time with each other. They may, they have to communicate a lot. They communicate a lot. They do things together. So these are things that actually build that intimacy. Right? So prayer is one of the things that we, that we do in order to build intimacy. Other thing, obedience. Because if I'm disobedient, it breaks intimacy with God. Right? That means I'm not doing what's right in his eyes. Then I can't say, oh, Father, I'm so close to you. No, no, no. So what is this? You're going and living like the devil and you're coming and saying, you're my son. No, no, no. I'm just joking, right? So the thing is intimacy is the level of our relationship with God. Prayer, obedience, worship, reading the Word of God. All things help develop that intimacy. Is that okay? All right. Any other questions from the online students? Okay. So we move to the last part. Let's go to the last one. Yes. Timing. Okay. John chapter two. So let's look at the question here in class from Japhina is some examples of how Jesus followed the Father's timing. So I'll quickly give you some references. John chapter two. In the starting of his ministry, so Jesus waited 30 years. How old you are? 20. How old you are? 22. Jesus waited 30 to start this ministry. He was not in a hurry for 30 years till the age of 30. He was working like a carpenter. So if I was like Jesus 20, it's about to be very impatient. God, how long to be working like a carpenter? I want to go and preach. But till age 30, he was working like a carpenter under his father. So he didn't simply go and start his ministry. And then in John chapter two, he's at the wedding feast and Mary comes and says they went out of water, they went out of wine, sorry. And Jesus says, my time has not yet come. So you see John chapter two, verse four. So he hasn't started his ministry yet. He hasn't started doing the miracles. Why? Verse four. My time has not yet come. I mean, he's waiting for the Father to say, okay, ready, go. He's waiting. And at that moment, you can imagine the Father speaks to Jesus. Do it. Time has come. Go. So immediately he says, okay, put, fill the water pots with. So you can see one example, right? John chapter seven, another example of how Jesus walked in the Father's timing, verse six. So this is, you know, Jesus is, his family, they're going to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast. So they say, come, are you coming with us? And look at the response Jesus is giving, verse six. Jesus said, my time has not yet come. So even to go to the festival, to the feast in Jerusalem, it's my time, you go. My clock is half an hour behind your clock. My time has not yet you go. I'll come later. Why? Something between him and the Father about timing. My time has not yet come. So he sends his family first, they go, then afterward, but he goes. So you can find, you can see that there. And I think, like this, you'll find some more scriptures in the Gospel of John where Jesus is very sensitive to timing. Even in his teaching, you will see this in John 16. Even in his teaching, you know, he's very careful. He doesn't teach people ahead of time in John chapter 16. I'll just give this to you, John 16. He says, which one is this? John 16. He says, there are many things that I have to say to you. So in through this chapter, you'll see him talking about timing. And then he says, John 16, verse four, you'll also see it in verse 25. And he says to them, you know, there are many things that I have to say to you, but I will not tell you now. But when the Holy Spirit comes, he will tell you of all things. And he will, verse 12, look at this. John 16, 12, I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot hear them now. But the Holy Spirit will come and teach you. Then in the same chapter, chapter 16, there's a lot of, there's a lot that he talks about timing. In verse 23, he says, in that day, you will ask me nothing, you will pray to the Father. Verse 25, John 16, 25, I've spoken these things to in figurative language, but the time is coming and I will no longer speak to you in figurative language. And then about his own death, verse 32, the hour is coming and has now come. Notice the time is coming and it has come now for me to go to the cross. So in what he's teaching the people, he's sensitive to the timing. He doesn't want to tell them things ahead of time. They can't handle it. In his own life, he knows what is coming and he knows when that has come. And John 16, 32, like this you'll find, again, John 17, verse 1, the hour has come. So you throw the gospel of John, you find Jesus walking very sensitive to the Father's timing. There's a question here on the chat. How not to be rejected by Christ? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you away from me, you evil doers. Okay. So there's a question from Sanjay. Sanjay, that's in Matthew chapter 7. And the real reason there is because they do not do the will of the Father. So Matthew chapter 7, verses 21 to 23. So if you'll read that, there are two problems that Jesus points to. First, they do not do the will of the Father. Matthew 7, verse 21. Secondly, they do not have a relationship or intimacy with Jesus. That is Matthew 7, 23. He says, I never knew you. So there are two things there. Why Jesus said, depart from me. First, there were people who didn't do the will of the Father. Two, they didn't have a relationship of intimacy with the Lord. So these are the two things that the Lord himself was looking for, their closeness with him and obedience to his will. Okay. Matthew chapter 7, 21 to 23. Okay. Any other questions? All right. So we'll take a 10 minute break. I thought I'll squeeze the last session in, but I couldn't do that. I will take a 10 minute break, come back and I will do, we will go the last session. I think it might just take about 20 minutes or 20, 30 minutes. We'll be done. Okay. So 10 minute break. We'll start again at 11 o'clock, 11 a.m. Indian time and we'll finish up the last session. Thank you.