May 19, 2025 • 32 mins
Transitions shape our lives, yet they often leave us feeling disoriented and uncertain. What if I told you that Jesus himself navigated every type of life transition—and did so flawlessly? This revelation might just transform how you view your current season of change.
The Gospel of Luke offers us an extraordinary helicopter view of Jesus' transitional journey, from his humble birth to his glorious resurrection and eventual return. Far from appearing suddenly as a fully-formed Messiah, Jesus experienced the full spectrum of human transitions. Did you know his first blood wasn't shed at the cross but at his circumcision when he was just eight days old? Or that between ages 8-12, he relocated multiple times, understanding firsthand what it means to be "the new kid"? At twelve, he astonished temple scholars with his wisdom, yet honored his parents by returning home rather than demanding recognition.
Most surprising might be the eighteen years Jesus spent as a craftsman—working with his hands as a carpenter and stonemason in the family business—before transitioning into his public ministry at thirty. Think about that: eighteen years of routine daily work before his calling was activated! If you're feeling stuck in a job or wondering if your potential will ever be realized, take heart. Sometimes being "a nobody" allows us to develop the character and skills we'll need for our ultimate purpose. Jesus himself demonstrated that transitions take time, require patience, and often involve seasons where growth happens invisibly, below the surface.
Whether you're facing career changes, relationship shifts, identity evolution, or spiritual growth, Jesus provides not just an example but a companion who understands every step. His life proves that our transitions aren't random detours—they're essential pathways to becoming who we're meant to be. Come explore how Jesus' journey through change can illuminate your own path and transform your perspective on life's inevitable transitions. The gold is just beneath the surface, waiting for you to discover it.
Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved!
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearoundthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life.
Shalom to you and your home.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
You know, I was thinking that, if you're
anything like me when it comesto getting a good recommendation
specifically concerning a bookto read, and regardless of
whether or not you're an avidreader or you're just a casual
(00:40):
reader, you like to picksomething up to read.
A casual reader, you like topick something up to read, and
I'm suggesting something veryspecific and that's for you to
pick up from the Bible in theNew Testament, the book of Luke,
in fact I'm going to be talkingfrom the kingdom of God, with
(01:27):
faith in Jesus, or you are aseasoned veteran, a good
recommendation is typically mostalways welcome, right.
Typically most always welcomeright.
And so the book of Luke because, first of all, it is
(01:54):
God-breathed, meaning Luke wasunder the inspiring power of
Holy Spirit when he was writingthis gospel, was writing this
gospel, god was moving him alongin his writing, and so it is
(02:20):
the word of God, and when it'srightly divided, it has so much
to offer.
There is gold underneath thesurface, but sometimes you got
to get underneath the surface toget the gold right.
You got to dig a little bit,and so this book is worth
digging into because it carrieswith it so many nuggets of gold,
(02:45):
man, inspiration, things thatjust if you look at it, on the
surface it could be, you know,informative, but if you go
beneath the surface, it can betransformative.
It can transform your life.
It has mind, it is transformingmine.
(03:08):
In fact, there's one portion ofit right now that has captured
my attention, and it concernsthis whole thing of God bringing
us through differenttransitional places in our life
and using Jesus as the primeexample.
(03:32):
In the book of Luke, I foundsome interesting things.
I'm going to share them withyou so that when you're reading
it, you can also see in it someof the gold that I found.
But find some on your own, foryour personal life, beyond what
we're talking about here, and soI'm just going to give a
(03:57):
helicopter view of the life ofJesus concerning going through
transitions, because he did andhe went through them without
stumbling.
Now, that's inspiring.
(04:19):
That's someone that I canfollow, even though sometimes I
stumble To this very day.
Sometimes I stumble, but I getback up.
Doesn't matter how many timesyou fall down, you got to get
back up, right, if you fail, ifyou blow it, acknowledge it, ask
(04:46):
for forgiveness and move on asbest as you can, with the help
and power of Holy Spirit.
And so we all, in ourrelationship with God, if we
follow Jesus as we're led byHoly Spirit to do so, we're
(05:09):
going to go through transitions.
Things aren't always going to bethe same, even if we like them
or even if they are verydifficult.
Things change.
We go through transitionsbecause going through
(05:29):
transitions brings us to a placeof not only maturity, but it
brings us into a place where webecome like Jesus.
(05:52):
We become like him, we'redeveloped into his very image,
and he is the perfect image ofGod as a man.
And so he's our example.
And in the Gospel of Luke, oneof the first things that we
understand about Jesus is thathe was born right.
He was born into this world,and he was born through.
(06:13):
A woman Gave him birth and heentered into this world just
like we all have, as a baby.
So that was his entry point.
He didn't just mysticallyappear, even though in the Old
(06:34):
Testament we have sometheophanies of him in which he
appeared before his birth as aman, but in this instance he was
born as a man.
Emmanuel, god with us,completely God and completely
(06:58):
man, kind of like the mystery ofthe Godhead Three in one, one
in three Jesus, perfectly God,perfectly man, but yet setting
aside his deity so that he couldlive life as a man.
And so he was born, just likeus.
So he experienced what it waslike to be a baby, and one of
(07:25):
the things that I found outabout the life of Jesus is that
the first time he shed his bloodwasn't at the cross, wasn't in
the Garden of Gethsemane, it waswhen he was circumcised, at the
age of eight days old.
(07:45):
He was circumcised.
He shed his first drop of bloodat the age of eight days old,
entering into the covenant thatwas cut with Abraham.
He cut covenant with his fatherTo live out that covenant and
(08:11):
the law of it perfectly.
No one else was ever able to dothat.
He, to this day, is the onlyone who has ever done that.
But now, when we follow him, wecan fulfill that very same law
(08:35):
by virtue of following him,because he doesn't have to think
about breaking it.
He just lives according to thewill of his father.
Wow, and so eight days old,right, eight days old.
(08:56):
And between the ages of eightand twelve, he has to move a few
times.
And so if you've ever beenyoung and have had to pick up
and move.
It can be a little bitchallenging, because you leave
(09:19):
some friends and then you got tomake some new friends, and then
you leave those friends andmake new friends, and you're
always kind of like the new kid.
And so Jesus knows what it'slike to be the new kid, because
he had to move from one locationto another, and at the age of
(09:43):
12, though at the age of 12, wefind him with his parents going
to a large get-together, a feast, the Feast of Passover, at this
(10:05):
gathering in Jerusalem, andpeople from all over Israel
attended that get-together.
So the place was alive with alot of activity and Jesus was in
(10:29):
the mix, and it came time foreveryone in that particular
party of people to leave, andthey packed up and left, and the
assumption was made that Jesuswas with one of the relatives or
friends of that particularparty, and so they left and home
(10:55):
alone right, that was Jesus,home alone.
They took off and he was leftbehind, and it was several days
later that they realized hewasn't anywhere in that camp or
party of people, and so hisparents were just panicked,
(11:24):
struck in grief, just whathappened to him, and so they're
hoping that, against all hopethat perhaps he's back still in
Jerusalem.
And so they go back toJerusalem and they find him
(11:45):
talking with a group of eldersand scribes, scholars, pharisees
, and he is talking from thescriptures and they are
astounded at his understandingof the word.
He was holding court at the ageof 12.
(12:05):
A prodigy.
So if anyone here is a prodigy,you know the feeling.
You know things and you knowthings, and you know them
because they are clear to youwhere they're not so clear to
(12:27):
other people.
And these men who knew the OldTestament were astounded at the
degree to which Jesus wasexplaining things from the
scriptures.
And his parents found him andthey were relieved, but they
(12:49):
were also a little bit upset andthey asked him Jesus, why did
you do this?
Why did you?
What would you?
Why did you do this?
Why did you do this?
And he said didn't you knowthat I was going about my
father's business?
(13:12):
Now, mary knew and Joseph knewthat Jesus was born.
Mary knew and Joseph knew thatJesus was born, conceived
uniquely, not because of sexualintercourse but because God
(13:34):
overshadowed Mary and implantedwithin her the Word, the seed of
God, and the Word became fleshand dwelt among us and he was
born as the Son of man, but alsothe son of God, and his father,
(14:04):
being his heavenly father, wasthe one that Jesus was referring
to, his father's business, eventhough his adopted father,
joseph, was a craftsman, artisan, carpenter, stone mason, a
(14:29):
worker with his hands bluecollar.
Jesus transitions from thatspot where he could have
(15:01):
demanded to stay and be a youngking prodigy, but he chose to
obey the law by obeying hisparents, to honor his mother and
his father, and he went backwith them, and it says in the
scripture that he grew instature and wisdom with God and
with man.
(15:22):
Favor was upon him until hereached the age of 30.
Now he worked as a stonemason,carpenter, worker with his hands
, an artisan of sorts, craftsman, and had a family business.
(15:49):
So if you as a person areinvolved in business to any
degree, at least to some degree,jesus, least to some degree.
Jesus can relate to you, and hedid, and he had a business For
Jesus.
Then he went at the age of 12,he went to work with his earthly
(16:14):
father, his adopted father, inthe business, as well as going
to school with others.
But he was doing his father'sbusiness as a man.
(16:34):
He was doing his father'sbusiness as a man, and sometimes
we think that that's reallywhere we're going to remain.
We're going to remain at thatjob, and sometimes it's like my
God, god, do I have to remain atthis job?
Or I love my job?
(16:55):
Sure, I'm glad I'm going to behere for the rest of my life.
If we're following in thefootsteps of Jesus, there's
going to be a transition at somepoint in time.
Some of you might be facingthat transition right now, and
(17:15):
Jesus is your example.
He, at the age of 30, 18 yearslater, 18 years, 18 years he was
serving in that business anddoing it well.
But 18 years later and doing itwell, but 18 years later he
(17:39):
responds to the prompting thatit's time for him to make a
transition, and I'm telling youwhat a transition it was.
He was to leave the business ofbeing a carpenter, a stonemason
(18:00):
, an artist and a craftsman andstep into the role of being a
rabbi, a prophet.
A rabbi, a prophet, and one whois called to be a king and
(18:25):
Messiah.
What he was called into anoffice of being Messiah, the one
Some of you have a calling uponyour life, and you know it, and
some of you may have beenfighting it, still fighting it,
(18:49):
still wrestling with it, oryou've known it and you just
wondered when is it going tohappen, or is it ever going to
happen?
And the answer is yes.
Yes to both.
I for one have been one who wasdoing the kicking and screaming
for a while.
And someone asked kicking andscreaming, why would you want to
(19:10):
kick and scream against God'scall upon your life?
I said man, have you ever beena leader?
One guy said the higher up youget on the ladder, the more rear
end you got.
Showing.
It's like volunteering to beugly.
Being a leader, I mean, look,it can look glamorous, but man
(19:36):
looks can be deceiving.
And also, if someone's makingsomething look smooth and easy,
it's probably because there's alot of work going on behind the
scenes.
It's very hard.
Anyway, if you have thatcalling upon your life, god
certainly has not forgot aboutit.
And also, if you're kicking andscreaming, god certainly hasn't
(19:59):
forgot about it.
And one way or the other you'regoing to answer that call.
If you are one who is born againinto the kingdom of God and
you're a child of God, you're acitizen of the and you're a
child of God.
You're a citizen of the kingdomand you're maturing Because,
(20:19):
see, that's the process, theprocess of maturing.
Jesus matured and sometimes ittakes time.
It takes time to mature.
There's something about thingsthat are done behind the scenes
(20:48):
they're never wasted butsometimes it's good to, in
essence, be a nobody, becauseyou can relate with people
better who haven't had a silverspoon in their mouth since
(21:11):
they've been born, in theirmouth since they've been born.
So Jesus, at the age of 30,makes a transition into the
ministry of ministry, butinteresting.
He was baptized into it, it wasrecognized and when you have
(21:40):
people recognize things on yourlife, you can be fairly certain
that it's not going to be toofar down the road, that you're
going to be baptized intosomething that is going to go
over your head in a big way andyou're going to become a new
(22:01):
person or a new assignment.
That's going to require adifferent reliance upon God.
Jesus had to learn how to relyupon his Father in a new way now
to see the manifestations ofthe glory and the power of the
King of God.
Jesus had to learn how to relyupon his Father in a new way now
(22:21):
To see the manifestations ofthe glory and the power of the
kingdom of God, the already andthe not.
Yet.
He was going to start showingwhat the already was, because he
said repent, meaning changeyour mind, change your ways,
because the kingdom of God ishere, is at hand.
What a proclamation.
And he backed it up with signsand wonders and words, words and
(22:44):
works Powerful.
But he had to learn how tobecome dependent upon his father
and the faithfulness of hisfather and the relationship with
(23:08):
his father that was nurturedbehind the scenes.
Nurtured behind the scenes.
But it came time for him tocome out into the open and
demonstrate the fact that thekingdom was here now.
But it's going to come evenmore later.
(23:31):
It's going to be both a mustardseed and a big mustard plant.
Right now, a mustard seed and abig mustard plant.
Right now, mustard seed, latermustard plant and at times a
mustard plant, a big plant, butat times a little seed.
The kingdom is like that.
Sometimes it's manifest and yousee the whole big tree,
(23:53):
sometimes you can't hardly seeit at all.
It's like a little mustard seed.
Same thing goes with faith Likea mustard seed, then boom, it's
big.
These are things of God and weneed to mature into them, and
Jesus did, but he didn't stay.
(24:15):
Even in that place.
People wanted him to stay.
People wanted to take him byforce and crown him to be king.
Because of the things that hewas doing, thousands of people
would flog to him in remoteplaces, whereas the Pharisees
(24:35):
and scribes and scholars of theday could hardly get a couple
hundred people to get togetherand they had to pretty much put
the screws down on them and makethem feel guilty to get them to
obey the laws that they werelaying on people and weren't
even keeping themselves.
They were barring the way tothe kingdom and weren't entering
in themselves.
And here's Jesus to the kingdomand weren't entering in
(24:56):
themselves.
And here's Jesus demonstratingthe kingdom and saying come on
in, but you got to come throughme.
I'm the way, the truth and thelife.
No one comes to the Fatherexcept he comes through me.
No one gets into the kingdomexcept they come through the
gate, the door, and I'm it.
Not just anybody, not just aspiritual experience, not just
(25:22):
spirituality, but relationshipwith Jesus, being drawn by Holy
Spirit.
And come not just to him butinto him, so that he can
introduce you to the Father, hecan introduce me to the Father,
so I can have a relationshipwith God complete, but he's the
(25:46):
way, and he at times had to beclear about the fact that that
was it.
And sometimes we need to beclear about the things that God
has shown us, and that's notalways easy, because sometimes
it would be easier to just makepeople happy.
Give them what they want.
(26:06):
Man, be a people pleaser, givethem what they want, do a few
things that impress them and letthe royalties come on in.
Live the cush life.
You know, please, jesus choseto also hang out with publicans
(26:29):
and sinners, the riffraff, theother side of the tracks people
at times, and yet he could holdcourt with the people that were
the elites.
Amazing the spectrum in whichhe operated in and we're called
(26:53):
into that same spectrum tooperate in.
And so it's going to cause usto stretch, and sometimes the
transitions in life cause us tostretch.
But it didn't stay there.
Jesus then faced the cross, thecrucifixion, the laying down his
life for mankind, and sometimeswe reach a place where we need
(27:19):
to lay down our lives for theones that we care about.
We become sacrificial in ourliving and in our giving, and
Jesus did, and we're going tofocus in on that once again in
the next episode, but for now,he transitioned to a place of
(27:43):
experiencing pain, and sometimeswe're going to experience pain.
It's going to be difficultbeing a leader.
We're going to lay down ourlives on behalf of someone else.
But he didn't stay there.
He experienced the resurrection.
He transitioned into theresurrection, a whole new realm
and way.
Death no longer had him.
(28:04):
He was living above that andwe're called to live above
things.
Come on up so my glory can comeon down, and he ascended.
Come on up so my glory can comeon down.
And he ascended.
He transitioned to be not aperson any longer on the earth,
but still a man.
He ascended to the highestplace and is now seated at the
right hand of the Father and hehas caused us to be there with
(28:27):
him in the spirit, and he'scoming again.
He's going to transition fromthat to come back here and he's
going to get married in theprocess to us Transition and
then he's going to ultimatelydefeat the enemies.
(28:52):
Transition and then he's goingto ultimately defeat the enemies
, the devil and death, and putthem into the lake of fire along
with the false prophet and theantichrist and all that is evil
will go there and there's goingto be a new heaven and a new
earth.
Talk about transitions.
(29:17):
We're in for a ride and it'sjust really now getting more and
more amazing.
It's no longer unbelievable,it's becoming very believable
(29:42):
because of the things that aregoing on in the world today,
right now.
Get ready, get ready to come onup and let the glory of God come
down and see things that youhave never seen before in a
(30:03):
transition.
God is providing.
Let's pray, father.
I thank you once again for whoyou are, for what you're doing,
how you're doing it.
You just I honor you.
(30:25):
We honor you, jesus, we exaltyou.
We hold you in your name.
High Holy Spirit, we thank youfor coming and leading us and
teaching us and guiding us,comforting us.
Thank you, we honor you and weinvite the kingdom of God to
(30:48):
come and the will of God to bedone in earth as it is in heaven
, and we offer ourselves asliving sacrifices in the name of
Jesus.
Amen, amen, amen, amen.
(31:09):
All right, folks, I love you.
If you have any thoughts,questions, concerns, please feel
free to drop us a line atlifearoundthefire, at gmailcom,
or you can type inlifearoundthefire and look us up
on the web.
We would love to hear from youIn the meantime.
God bless you.
Adios amigos.
You know, I was thinking that, if you're
anything like me when it comesto getting a good recommendation
specifically concerning a bookto read, and regardless of
whether or not you're an avidreader or you're just a casual
(00:40):
reader, you like to picksomething up to read.
A casual reader, you like topick something up to read, and
I'm suggesting something veryspecific and that's for you to
pick up from the Bible in theNew Testament, the book of Luke,
in fact I'm going to be talkingfrom the kingdom of God, with
(01:27):
faith in Jesus, or you are aseasoned veteran, a good
recommendation is typically mostalways welcome, right.
Typically most always welcomeright.
And so the book of Luke because, first of all, it is
(01:54):
God-breathed, meaning Luke wasunder the inspiring power of
Holy Spirit when he was writingthis gospel, was writing this
gospel, god was moving him alongin his writing, and so it is
(02:20):
the word of God, and when it'srightly divided, it has so much
to offer.
There is gold underneath thesurface, but sometimes you got
to get underneath the surface toget the gold right.
You got to dig a little bit,and so this book is worth
digging into because it carrieswith it so many nuggets of gold,
(02:45):
man, inspiration, things thatjust if you look at it, on the
surface it could be, you know,informative, but if you go
beneath the surface, it can betransformative.
It can transform your life.
It has mind, it is transformingmine.
(03:08):
In fact, there's one portion ofit right now that has captured
my attention, and it concernsthis whole thing of God bringing
us through differenttransitional places in our life
and using Jesus as the primeexample.
(03:32):
In the book of Luke, I foundsome interesting things.
I'm going to share them withyou so that when you're reading
it, you can also see in it someof the gold that I found.
But find some on your own, foryour personal life, beyond what
we're talking about here, and soI'm just going to give a
(03:57):
helicopter view of the life ofJesus concerning going through
transitions, because he did andhe went through them without
stumbling.
Now, that's inspiring.
(04:19):
That's someone that I canfollow, even though sometimes I
stumble To this very day.
Sometimes I stumble, but I getback up.
Doesn't matter how many timesyou fall down, you got to get
back up, right, if you fail, ifyou blow it, acknowledge it, ask
(04:46):
for forgiveness and move on asbest as you can, with the help
and power of Holy Spirit.
And so we all, in ourrelationship with God, if we
follow Jesus as we're led byHoly Spirit to do so, we're
(05:09):
going to go through transitions.
Things aren't always going to bethe same, even if we like them
or even if they are verydifficult.
Things change.
We go through transitionsbecause going through
(05:29):
transitions brings us to a placeof not only maturity, but it
brings us into a place where webecome like Jesus.
(05:52):
We become like him, we'redeveloped into his very image,
and he is the perfect image ofGod as a man.
And so he's our example.
And in the Gospel of Luke, oneof the first things that we
understand about Jesus is thathe was born right.
He was born into this world,and he was born through.
(06:13):
A woman Gave him birth and heentered into this world just
like we all have, as a baby.
So that was his entry point.
He didn't just mysticallyappear, even though in the Old
(06:34):
Testament we have sometheophanies of him in which he
appeared before his birth as aman, but in this instance he was
born as a man.
Emmanuel, god with us,completely God and completely
(06:58):
man, kind of like the mystery ofthe Godhead Three in one, one
in three Jesus, perfectly God,perfectly man, but yet setting
aside his deity so that he couldlive life as a man.
And so he was born, just likeus.
So he experienced what it waslike to be a baby, and one of
(07:25):
the things that I found outabout the life of Jesus is that
the first time he shed his bloodwasn't at the cross, wasn't in
the Garden of Gethsemane, it waswhen he was circumcised, at the
age of eight days old.
(07:45):
He was circumcised.
He shed his first drop of bloodat the age of eight days old,
entering into the covenant thatwas cut with Abraham.
He cut covenant with his fatherTo live out that covenant and
(08:11):
the law of it perfectly.
No one else was ever able to dothat.
He, to this day, is the onlyone who has ever done that.
But now, when we follow him, wecan fulfill that very same law
(08:35):
by virtue of following him,because he doesn't have to think
about breaking it.
He just lives according to thewill of his father.
Wow, and so eight days old,right, eight days old.
(08:56):
And between the ages of eightand twelve, he has to move a few
times.
And so if you've ever beenyoung and have had to pick up
and move.
It can be a little bitchallenging, because you leave
(09:19):
some friends and then you got tomake some new friends, and then
you leave those friends andmake new friends, and you're
always kind of like the new kid.
And so Jesus knows what it'slike to be the new kid, because
he had to move from one locationto another, and at the age of
(09:43):
12, though at the age of 12, wefind him with his parents going
to a large get-together, a feast, the Feast of Passover, at this
(10:05):
gathering in Jerusalem, andpeople from all over Israel
attended that get-together.
So the place was alive with alot of activity and Jesus was in
(10:29):
the mix, and it came time foreveryone in that particular
party of people to leave, andthey packed up and left, and the
assumption was made that Jesuswas with one of the relatives or
friends of that particularparty, and so they left and home
(10:55):
alone right, that was Jesus,home alone.
They took off and he was leftbehind, and it was several days
later that they realized hewasn't anywhere in that camp or
party of people, and so hisparents were just panicked,
(11:24):
struck in grief, just whathappened to him, and so they're
hoping that, against all hopethat perhaps he's back still in
Jerusalem.
And so they go back toJerusalem and they find him
(11:45):
talking with a group of eldersand scribes, scholars, pharisees
, and he is talking from thescriptures and they are
astounded at his understandingof the word.
He was holding court at the ageof 12.
(12:05):
A prodigy.
So if anyone here is a prodigy,you know the feeling.
You know things and you knowthings, and you know them
because they are clear to youwhere they're not so clear to
(12:27):
other people.
And these men who knew the OldTestament were astounded at the
degree to which Jesus wasexplaining things from the
scriptures.
And his parents found him andthey were relieved, but they
(12:49):
were also a little bit upset andthey asked him Jesus, why did
you do this?
Why did you?
What would you?
Why did you do this?
Why did you do this?
And he said didn't you knowthat I was going about my
father's business?
(13:12):
Now, mary knew and Joseph knewthat Jesus was born.
Mary knew and Joseph knew thatJesus was born, conceived
uniquely, not because of sexualintercourse but because God
(13:34):
overshadowed Mary and implantedwithin her the Word, the seed of
God, and the Word became fleshand dwelt among us and he was
born as the Son of man, but alsothe son of God, and his father,
(14:04):
being his heavenly father, wasthe one that Jesus was referring
to, his father's business, eventhough his adopted father,
joseph, was a craftsman, artisan, carpenter, stone mason, a
(14:29):
worker with his hands bluecollar.
Jesus transitions from thatspot where he could have
(15:01):
demanded to stay and be a youngking prodigy, but he chose to
obey the law by obeying hisparents, to honor his mother and
his father, and he went backwith them, and it says in the
scripture that he grew instature and wisdom with God and
with man.
(15:22):
Favor was upon him until hereached the age of 30.
Now he worked as a stonemason,carpenter, worker with his hands
, an artisan of sorts, craftsman, and had a family business.
(15:49):
So if you as a person areinvolved in business to any
degree, at least to some degree,jesus, least to some degree.
Jesus can relate to you, and hedid, and he had a business For
Jesus.
Then he went at the age of 12,he went to work with his earthly
(16:14):
father, his adopted father, inthe business, as well as going
to school with others.
But he was doing his father'sbusiness as a man.
(16:34):
He was doing his father'sbusiness as a man, and sometimes
we think that that's reallywhere we're going to remain.
We're going to remain at thatjob, and sometimes it's like my
God, god, do I have to remain atthis job?
Or I love my job?
(16:55):
Sure, I'm glad I'm going to behere for the rest of my life.
If we're following in thefootsteps of Jesus, there's
going to be a transition at somepoint in time.
Some of you might be facingthat transition right now, and
(17:15):
Jesus is your example.
He, at the age of 30, 18 yearslater, 18 years, 18 years he was
serving in that business anddoing it well.
But 18 years later and doing itwell, but 18 years later he
(17:39):
responds to the prompting thatit's time for him to make a
transition, and I'm telling youwhat a transition it was.
He was to leave the business ofbeing a carpenter, a stonemason
(18:00):
, an artist and a craftsman andstep into the role of being a
rabbi, a prophet.
A rabbi, a prophet, and one whois called to be a king and
(18:25):
Messiah.
What he was called into anoffice of being Messiah, the one
Some of you have a calling uponyour life, and you know it, and
some of you may have beenfighting it, still fighting it,
(18:49):
still wrestling with it, oryou've known it and you just
wondered when is it going tohappen, or is it ever going to
happen?
And the answer is yes.
Yes to both.
I for one have been one who wasdoing the kicking and screaming
for a while.
And someone asked kicking andscreaming, why would you want to
(19:10):
kick and scream against God'scall upon your life?
I said man, have you ever beena leader?
One guy said the higher up youget on the ladder, the more rear
end you got.
Showing.
It's like volunteering to beugly.
Being a leader, I mean, look,it can look glamorous, but man
(19:36):
looks can be deceiving.
And also, if someone's makingsomething look smooth and easy,
it's probably because there's alot of work going on behind the
scenes.
It's very hard.
Anyway, if you have thatcalling upon your life, god
certainly has not forgot aboutit.
And also, if you're kicking andscreaming, god certainly hasn't
(19:59):
forgot about it.
And one way or the other you'regoing to answer that call.
If you are one who is born againinto the kingdom of God and
you're a child of God, you're acitizen of the and you're a
child of God.
You're a citizen of the kingdomand you're maturing Because,
(20:19):
see, that's the process, theprocess of maturing.
Jesus matured and sometimes ittakes time.
It takes time to mature.
There's something about thingsthat are done behind the scenes
(20:48):
they're never wasted butsometimes it's good to, in
essence, be a nobody, becauseyou can relate with people
better who haven't had a silverspoon in their mouth since
(21:11):
they've been born, in theirmouth since they've been born.
So Jesus, at the age of 30,makes a transition into the
ministry of ministry, butinteresting.
He was baptized into it, it wasrecognized and when you have
(21:40):
people recognize things on yourlife, you can be fairly certain
that it's not going to be toofar down the road, that you're
going to be baptized intosomething that is going to go
over your head in a big way andyou're going to become a new
(22:01):
person or a new assignment.
That's going to require adifferent reliance upon God.
Jesus had to learn how to relyupon his Father in a new way now
to see the manifestations ofthe glory and the power of the
King of God.
Jesus had to learn how to relyupon his Father in a new way now
(22:21):
To see the manifestations ofthe glory and the power of the
kingdom of God, the already andthe not.
Yet.
He was going to start showingwhat the already was, because he
said repent, meaning changeyour mind, change your ways,
because the kingdom of God ishere, is at hand.
What a proclamation.
And he backed it up with signsand wonders and words, words and
(22:44):
works Powerful.
But he had to learn how tobecome dependent upon his father
and the faithfulness of hisfather and the relationship with
(23:08):
his father that was nurturedbehind the scenes.
Nurtured behind the scenes.
But it came time for him tocome out into the open and
demonstrate the fact that thekingdom was here now.
But it's going to come evenmore later.
(23:31):
It's going to be both a mustardseed and a big mustard plant.
Right now, a mustard seed and abig mustard plant.
Right now, mustard seed, latermustard plant and at times a
mustard plant, a big plant, butat times a little seed.
The kingdom is like that.
Sometimes it's manifest and yousee the whole big tree,
(23:53):
sometimes you can't hardly seeit at all.
It's like a little mustard seed.
Same thing goes with faith Likea mustard seed, then boom, it's
big.
These are things of God and weneed to mature into them, and
Jesus did, but he didn't stay.
(24:15):
Even in that place.
People wanted him to stay.
People wanted to take him byforce and crown him to be king.
Because of the things that hewas doing, thousands of people
would flog to him in remoteplaces, whereas the Pharisees
(24:35):
and scribes and scholars of theday could hardly get a couple
hundred people to get togetherand they had to pretty much put
the screws down on them and makethem feel guilty to get them to
obey the laws that they werelaying on people and weren't
even keeping themselves.
They were barring the way tothe kingdom and weren't entering
in themselves.
And here's Jesus to the kingdomand weren't entering in
(24:56):
themselves.
And here's Jesus demonstratingthe kingdom and saying come on
in, but you got to come throughme.
I'm the way, the truth and thelife.
No one comes to the Fatherexcept he comes through me.
No one gets into the kingdomexcept they come through the
gate, the door, and I'm it.
Not just anybody, not just aspiritual experience, not just
(25:22):
spirituality, but relationshipwith Jesus, being drawn by Holy
Spirit.
And come not just to him butinto him, so that he can
introduce you to the Father, hecan introduce me to the Father,
so I can have a relationshipwith God complete, but he's the
(25:46):
way, and he at times had to beclear about the fact that that
was it.
And sometimes we need to beclear about the things that God
has shown us, and that's notalways easy, because sometimes
it would be easier to just makepeople happy.
Give them what they want.
(26:06):
Man, be a people pleaser, givethem what they want, do a few
things that impress them and letthe royalties come on in.
Live the cush life.
You know, please, jesus choseto also hang out with publicans
(26:29):
and sinners, the riffraff, theother side of the tracks people
at times, and yet he could holdcourt with the people that were
the elites.
Amazing the spectrum in whichhe operated in and we're called
(26:53):
into that same spectrum tooperate in.
And so it's going to cause usto stretch, and sometimes the
transitions in life cause us tostretch.
But it didn't stay there.
Jesus then faced the cross, thecrucifixion, the laying down his
life for mankind, and sometimeswe reach a place where we need
(27:19):
to lay down our lives for theones that we care about.
We become sacrificial in ourliving and in our giving, and
Jesus did, and we're going tofocus in on that once again in
the next episode, but for now,he transitioned to a place of
(27:43):
experiencing pain, and sometimeswe're going to experience pain.
It's going to be difficultbeing a leader.
We're going to lay down ourlives on behalf of someone else.
But he didn't stay there.
He experienced the resurrection.
He transitioned into theresurrection, a whole new realm
and way.
Death no longer had him.
(28:04):
He was living above that andwe're called to live above
things.
Come on up so my glory can comeon down, and he ascended.
Come on up so my glory can comeon down.
And he ascended.
He transitioned to be not aperson any longer on the earth,
but still a man.
He ascended to the highestplace and is now seated at the
right hand of the Father and hehas caused us to be there with
(28:27):
him in the spirit, and he'scoming again.
He's going to transition fromthat to come back here and he's
going to get married in theprocess to us Transition and
then he's going to ultimatelydefeat the enemies.
(28:52):
Transition and then he's goingto ultimately defeat the enemies
, the devil and death, and putthem into the lake of fire along
with the false prophet and theantichrist and all that is evil
will go there and there's goingto be a new heaven and a new
earth.
Talk about transitions.
(29:17):
We're in for a ride and it'sjust really now getting more and
more amazing.
It's no longer unbelievable,it's becoming very believable
(29:42):
because of the things that aregoing on in the world today,
right now.
Get ready, get ready to come onup and let the glory of God come
down and see things that youhave never seen before in a
(30:03):
transition.
God is providing.
Let's pray, father.
I thank you once again for whoyou are, for what you're doing,
how you're doing it.
You just I honor you.
(30:25):
We honor you, jesus, we exaltyou.
We hold you in your name.
High Holy Spirit, we thank youfor coming and leading us and
teaching us and guiding us,comforting us.
Thank you, we honor you and weinvite the kingdom of God to
(30:48):
come and the will of God to bedone in earth as it is in heaven
, and we offer ourselves asliving sacrifices in the name of
Jesus.
Amen, amen, amen, amen.
(31:09):
All right, folks, I love you.
If you have any thoughts,questions, concerns, please feel
free to drop us a line atlifearoundthefire, at gmailcom,
or you can type inlifearoundthefire and look us up
on the web.
We would love to hear from youIn the meantime.
God bless you.
Adios amigos.
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