The Bryce Crawford Podcast - Intimacy with Jesus (EP 30)

Episode Date: May 28, 2024

In this video, Bryce shares how to have an intimate relationship with Jesus Filmed By; Josh Rodriguez @whitehorse.studios MERCH👉 https://www.jesusinthestreet.com subscribe for more! Sow Into My Ministry One-Time or Monthly! Visit 👉 https://www.equipnet.org/missionaries/bcrawford (all donations are tax deductible) Download Our FREE Bible Plan https://growinfaith.readytoconnect.com/join-the-one-year-bible-challenge follow me on other platforms! Podcast Instagram 👉https://instagram.com/brycecrawfordpodcast Personal Instagram 👉 https://instagram.com/brycecrawford Merch Instagram 👉 https://instagram.com/ilovejesus Tiktok (main) 👉https://www.tiktok.com/@brycecrawford Tiktok (2nd) 👉 https://www.tiktok.com/@adventuresofbryce Snapchat https://snapchat.com/add/brycecraww Twitter 👉 https://twitter.com/ibrycecrawford #christianity #christian #Jesus #BryceCrawford #christiantiktok #christianvideos #holyspirit #Jesusheals #viral #christianvideo #venicebeach #evangelism

What's going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Crawford podcast. I'm Bryce. And today's episode is awesome. I feel like I get asked the most in my messages. Like, how do I have a personal relationship with Jesus? What does intimacy with Jesus look like? And gosh, I think this is such a good question because I mean so many people are like, yeah, man, just seek God, brother. And it's like, what the heck does that mean? Like, how do I seek God? People always tell me, how do I see it? God, how are my eyes pointed at him? And you may be someone that says my eyes are pointed at him, but I still want to know how to build that relationship with Jesus. So I'm going to try to give you guys just some Bible verses and encouragement. And if it be by the grace of God, you guys receive any wisdom from this podcast. I'd hope so. Before we get into it, if you want to support us, there's two ways you can. Go to Jesus in the street.com, get some merch, or you can click the link in the description of this YouTube video and support us with a one time or monthly donation. or tie to our nonprofit organization.

It helps us make the podcast and make our street evangelism videos and keeps us mobilize, helps us mobilize Christians to walk in love and helps us reach our goal of reaching 300 million people with the gospel this year. It's going to be super powerful.

But let's get into it. I want to start off with the Bible verse from James 4-8, where James says, draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts.

You double-minded. it's really interesting how James here he's saying if we just draw near to Jesus he will gladly draw near to us you know the Bible is clear that Jesus is the one that knocks on the door of our heart but we have to let him in and sometimes we're going to give him some of ourselves

but not not all of ourself and in Jeremiah 2913 Jeremiah writes you will seek me and find me when you seek me with your whole heart. And so I think James 4 here in Jeremiah 2913 can go hand in hand. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with your whole heart. And then it says draw near to God and he will draw near to you. But you do that with what a pure heart? Like if you really want to know God, God is the only being that can ever know a heart. No man on this earth can know a human heart.

The motives of the heart except God alone. That's why King David writes in Psalm 139, search me, God and know my heart because only God can know the heart and so God will know your heart if you say man I really want to get to know God and you attempt to draw near to God he will draw near to you now what does drawing near to Jesus look like now let me let me point into one verse before we talk about what drawing near to Jesus looks like there's a famous passage it's a very famous passage of scripture it's John 15 all right and Jesus says I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. Pruning is like when you cut limbs off of a tree so that it grows back

more beautiful, right? So when we invite Jesus into our life and intimacy, there's going to be some purification and trial when we invite Jesus into our life. Do you know what it looks like to purify gold? You light it on fire. You heat it up and all the impurities go away. And so the fire might be, things might get a little spicy. Life might get a little. heated, but it's the purification process so that things can, so that your life with Jesus may grow back more beautifully and your relationship with him will grow stronger. Then in verse three, already you are clean because of the word that I've spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you. How can we learn to remain in Jesus? It is the easiest to remain in Jesus when we know we've been made clean.

Jesus Christ through his blood has made every human being clean if they believe in him. The blood of Jesus and forgiveness is for everyone, but we have to receive it. Jesus Christ forgives sins and we have been made clean because of him. And if we can understand that we have been made clean and been given a new slate, then it's going to be 10 times easier to remain in Jesus Christ and follow him and love him. It's a whole lot harder when we fill this guilt, shame, and fear in the voice of the accuser is in our ears. thank God it's the voice of the accuser not the voice of the Lord because the voice of the Lord says you are clean and redeemed in my sight and I've given you new life so if we know we've been made clean it's going to be way easier to remain in him now how do we draw near to Jesus we know we know but how do we draw near to him I'm going to give you guys a few practicals they may seem like cliche practicals but we just got to get into it here it's going to be two main practicals I give you but if you guys really want to know what really relationship with Jesus looks like read Matthew 4 Matthew chapter 4 Matthew chapter 5 Matthew chapter 5 and Matthew chapter six.

Matthew chapter four, chapter five, and chapter six are like blueprints, the Christian faith. It talks about anything from sin, talks about what it looks like to live for Jesus, and something called the beatitudes. The beatitudes are a beautiful thing. Blessed are the poor and spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The blessings, the blessed the beatitudes. It's interesting how it's called the beatitudes, not the do attitudes, right? We don't do them. We be them because he lives inside of us.

And because Jesus lives inside of us, we naturally manifest his character and righteousness through us. So it's something that we be. It's something that we are, not something that we do. So read those. But here's an excerpt from Matthew chapter 4. Jesus says, it is written man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. And John 6 says, do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to

eternal life, which is the son of man will give to you. For on him, God the Father has set his seal. So Jesus says man will not live by bread alone, but he's not talking about physical bread. He's talking about spiritual bread here. And not only that, but he calls himself the bread of life. And in John 6, he says, but for the food that endures to return to life, which the son of man will give to you,

which what did he give? He gives us the word of God. He gives us the spirit, and he gave his life for us. That is powerful. That is what sustains us. And if he calls himself the bread of life, and we need the daily bread to sustain our spiritual well-being with Jesus Christ, then we must seek him every day.

we must read his word we must ask his spirit to fill us with his voice and fill us with the conviction of his spirit and we must ask him for guidance because it's because it's the lord that establishes our steps as it says in the psalms so god jesus christ is the bread of life but we need our daily bread to live and you know what the crazy thing is is if we're not partaking in our spiritual bread something else will fill that we have a spiritual hunger and that spiritual hunger can be quenched by two things the spirit of the the Lord or the Spirit of the world. It could be quenched of one of two things. And if we allow the world to quench that hunger for spiritual things, then we will start to starve ourselves from Jesus Christ and then intimacy with him and time spent with him will slowly start fading away. And then, uh-oh, for some reason, we don't feel like reading our Bible and, and, you know, it's a dread to pick up our Bible and spend time with Jesus.

But if we're feeding ourselves with Jesus Christ and His Spirit, then we will starve ourselves of the things of the world and it will become a natural thing to put down and turn away sin and turn to the Lord and turn to the things of heaven if we want to keep our mind on him so there's this huge emphasis of jesus being the daily bread and how us as believers we need this daily bread if i don't eat food for days i will lose weight i will starve and it will be noticeable and not only will we be starving ourselves of spiritual things if we don't spend time with jesus but people will notice why because the fruit of our life the fruit of our life will be able to tell the fruit of our life will be able to tell the tale now let's read something else

in matthew and the same things four five and six there's also a passage in matthew chapter four where jesus says when you pray go into your room shut the door and be with your father who's in secret and your father who is in secret will reward you open what does that mean not only are we supposed to seek jesus and his presence in the word of god but we also need to pray prayer doesn't have to be our father thank you hallowed be it doesn't have to to be these exotic words. Prayer can look like you talking to me in a personal conversation. Jesus, this is how I feel. I'm really hurt right now. Jesus, thank you for who you are on your cross. I'm just, I'm really struggling to understand this aspect of my life right now. Jesus wants to know how you feel,

what you did today, what you ate for lunch, why you're sad, he wants to collect your tears. He wants your praise. He wants your Thanksgiving. He wants everything. But if we don't talk to Jesus, then how will we know what to do with our life? How will we know where to go? how will we know whether to turn left or right? What do I mean by turning left or right? I mean, what decisions to make with our life? How will we know? God isn't just a genie in a bottle.

You know, God doesn't want us to pray to him just when we need stuff, when we want physical stuff like money or I need a girlfriend. I need a boyfriend. He doesn't want us to pray for just that. God wants to be intimately involved in our life. He wants to know. He wants to be involved in every decision. This might sound really intense,

but he wants to know whether you're eating Chick-fil-A or McDonald's today. Seriously. Jesus wants to be involved in your everyday life. Jesus doesn't want to be a sideline coach that is telling you the plays to make when you need to know when to make a decision. Jesus wants to be involved in every little intricate aspect of your life. That's what intimacy with him looks like. It's inviting him into our daily life, inviting him into the dinner table to bless our food, inviting him into our school and work life, inviting him into our personal life, inviting him into our bedroom when we shut the door and we want to meet with him in secret. When Christians say the secret place, you need time in the secret place.

The secret place is just a significant word that means when you meet with Jesus one-on-one. Because it's easy to put on a smile. It's easy to throw up your hands and worship when the music's loud and no one can hear your voice when you're yelling and screaming because the speakers are loud and everyone's jumping. But what does it look like when you're alone in your bedroom? And do you know, I just want to encourage you guys out there because I think there's this deception here. An encounter with Jesus doesn't always look like tears. Okay. Yes, people cry when they get encountered by Jesus,

but I've also been encountered by Jesus by going, oh my gosh. Wait, I didn't realize that. Or I've also been encountered with Jesus in church like this, just sitting in my chair. And Jesus just speaking to me, dropping things in my head. I'm saying thank you, Jesus. And I'm just my heart's being renewed and refreshed by his voice.

That's powerful. And so if we have intimacy with Jesus, then we're prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks for the hope inside of us with gentleness and respect, as First Peter says. So, guys, I just want to pray that your intimate life with Jesus looks fresh, new, and you have a fresh hunger for it. Jesus, I thank you for everyone watching and listening to this, God. I pray that you will give them a fresh hunger for relationship with you, intimacy with you. Jesus, I thank you for their life, God. I pray that you will just bless them. Give them a fresh hunger for your word and for prayer, God.

In Jesus' name, amen. Guys, thank you so much for watching, listen to this podcast. If you want to support us, go to jesus and the street.com, get your merch. Support us with a one-time or monthly gift, donation or tithe to our ministry. Link in the description of this YouTube video. Follow us on Instagram, Bryce Carver podcast, subscribe, Bryce Carver YouTube, follow us on Spotify. Love you guys. See you guys next time.