After the resurrection of Jesus, he began to appear to his disciples; they had expected Jesus to be a political leader.  When they saw Jesus alive, they thought that their plan was back on tract.  In fact, Luke tells us that they even asked Jesus if he was going to restore the kingdom to Israel now that he was alive and back with them.  The disciples of Jesus wanted to know that the plan was now; Jesus gave them the mission, which is the mission of every follower of Jesus.

Kids make their parents happy and proud when they do things according to the standard of their parents; when they do well at school or perform well in the play or at the field. A father was devastated when he was told by his younger son that his brother had said the s word. Later, the father was relief to find out the s-word his son used was “stupid.”

Last week I talked to you about the new identity God’s people have because of their relationship with Jesus.  If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  Being a Christian is to have a new identity.  The Bible uses lots of metaphors or imageries to help us understand who we are and what we are supposed to do.  We are Christ’s ambassadors in this world…
When you become a follower of Jesus you made a transition from death to life, from your old self, to a new self in Christ; you transition from darkness into light.

One of my favorite scenes in the movie Rush hour is when Inspector Lee meet detective Johnson. Johnson was practicing defusing a bomb as the clock was ticking and she needed to make a decision and had only 15 seconds. She then gets distracted by Carter and ended up cutting the wrong wire and booom “I have bad news Johnson, we’re all dead. “I was distracted sir” “Distractions are going to occur in the field, this is why we call this practice. If you can’t handle pressure, then quit.”

Maybe you have heard people say that they love Jesus, but don’t like the church.  These people think they can have a relationship with Jesus apart from his church.  There is even a book written entitled “They like Jesus, but not the church” by Dan Kimball.  There are so many wrong things with claiming to love Jesus and then not loving his church.  If you don’t love the church, then you don’t love God.  IF you don’t love your brother and sister, how can the love of God be in you?

You can be very religious and still not know what you worship.  You could be attending church your whole life and still not know Jesus.  Not because you go to a church where they talk about Jesus makes you into a Christian.  You may attend a church and know the rituals, practices and still not know Jesus.
Jesus himself said that at the end of times, there will be people that have a form of religion, people who thought knew Jesus or had a relationship with him.  They will be shocked to find out they will not be with Jesus.