The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Falling in Love with Jesus!

Episode Date: November 16, 2018

When it comes to falling in love with Jesus, we must remember that God has chosen us first. To love Jesus is to respond to that a call. Today, Jeff talks about how we can embrace this invitation, fall in love with Jesus, and then share this good news with others. "As the Bride of Christ dressed in white, catechumens will enter into the purity of the Lamb of God himself, and partake of the marriage feast of the lamb." Go to media.ascensionpress.com/category/the-jeff-cavins-show/ for detailed shownotes and references.

You're listening to the Jeff Kaven Show episode 90, falling in love with Jesus. Hey, I'm Jeff Kavins. How do you simplify your life? How do you study the Bible? All the way from motorcycle trips to raising kids, we're going to talk about the faith and life in general. It's the Jeff Kaven Show. And I welcome you to the deep woods of Minnesota, where we're sitting by the lake and cabin talking to you about all things related to discipleship. And we're talking about ways that we can

become closer to the Lord and serve the Lord in everyday life. So it's great to be with you. Had a big happening, actually, at the cabin this week. It was my birthday, and I am now some years old. And my family gave me something that really was a blessing to me. They, We have a tree in the backyard, and I'll put this picture in the notes for you. We had a tree in the backyard that was cut down except for about, I don't know, 15, 20 feet up in the air. And my wife had an eagle carved with a chainsaw carver from the Minnesota State Fair, a beautiful eagle, and mounted up on this tree in the backyard overlooking a lake in the deep woods of Minnesota. and I'm going to put a picture of that eagle in the notes there, and it always reminds me.

I named the eagle Isaiah, because in Isaiah, it talks about how he will lift us up with like wings as eagles. We'll walk and not be weary, run, and not get tired, you know. And so I'm really excited about that. I'll put a picture of it there. I'll show you, Isaiah, the eagle in the backyard of the cabin in the northern woods of Minnesota. Hey, today I'm going to talk about falling in love with Jesus, and this is a little bit of information that's taken from my new book that just came out this week. Ascension Press just announced that the book is now ready for shipping. It's called The Activated Disciple, taking your faith to the next level. Man, am I excited about this topic? You know, I have been a part of this whole movement for years and years, and there's two ways you can look at it.

One is that you can study and study and study and know everything about everything but not do anything about anything. And that's frustrating to me, actually. And so I wrote this book, The Activated Disciple, to challenge people to go to the next level. It's time to become activated. It's time to become like Jesus Christ. And if you're going to become like him, that means you've got to know him. And if you know him, you know the process of falling in love with Jesus, and that's what I want to talk to you about today. Been getting some great email. Marvin writes and said, I would like to thank the Lord for making you as an instrument for me to better understand our Catholic faith and establish a deeper

connection with God. Your podcasts are so meaningful, easy to understand, and full of insights about God, faith, and life in general. I always listen to your podcasts as I am enlightened and inspired by the stories and the teachings. You maintained a balance between theological richness and practical application. He says, I love the way that you deliver the message of God in a humorous yet serious way. One of the many episodes that made an impact to me, Marvin says, is the episode, Who's in Your Spiritual Posse? The teachings in the episode opened up my mind fully to the role of saints in our lives. Prior to hearing this, I used to think of saints simply as much. model, models whose stories you should know and try to imitate. And of course, in that episode, Who's in Your Spiritual Posse? We suggest that you develop a posse, start walking with the saints, get to know them, ask for their prayers, consider them heavenly buds.

Stefan writes, great episode, and confirms what the Lord was putting on my heart the past week. I go to great lengths to stay in my comfort zone. That was the last show, by the way we did. He says, I go to great lengths to stay in my comfort zone due to struggles with anxiety have been for decades. I've had times where I stepped out, of course, for instance, when my three daughters were born and raising three daughters requires me to step out often. But I always try to step back in. Well, this week, he said I registered to become a Knight of Columbus. That's his way of getting out of the comfort zone.

and I think that's a good choice. Thanks, Stefan. Kendall writes, I listen to your podcast in the mornings getting ready for work. What a great way to start my day. Thank you for all that you're doing to advance Bible study in the Catholic world. I love my new great adventure Bible. Hey, by the way, speaking of the Great Adventure Bible, I've been on interview after interview after interview around the country in the last couple of weeks, and I got to be honest with you, I'm blown away by the enthusiasm around the country for the Great Adventure Bible. It's the only Bible that I know of that actually teaches you how to read the Bible in chronological order as a narrative.

And the first printing at Ascension Press shocked all of us. I mean, literally, they were looking at the Internet, and it was just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, it sold out. Well, the good news is we got a lot of them coming in very shortly here. and if you go to ascensionpress.com and you order the Ascension or the Great Adventure Bible, it will be coming to you in short order. So, and by the way, that reminds me of something. I was thinking about this earlier, and that was that not too many weeks from now,

people are going to be making New Year's resolutions. And one of the great resolutions besides losing weight and all that is that people say, well, I'm going to read the Bible this year. So what I'm suggesting to you is get your great adventure Bible, which has in it a three-month reading program, which will take you through the entire narrative in three months, and make it your New Year's resolution, starting now, get prepared, order the Bible, and January 1st, let's read it together. We'll go through in three months the entire narrative. So we'll put that link in the show notes, Ascension Press, and how to order your great adventure Bible.

Well, we're talking today about falling in love with Jesus, and I'd like to take you through a little bit of a process in the show today to talk about how do people fall in love with Jesus? What is the customary procedure that people would go through to become a member of the church to solidify that covenant relationship with the Lord? I hear from a lot of people, as you look at the internet and television shows and all that, a lot of statements like, I made Jesus Lord of my life. I gave my life completely to the Lord. I this, I that.

When the truth of the matter is, it really started with Jesus, and it started with an invitation. Lech, Ahre, come follow me. I choose you. Remember when he said, you didn't choose me, I chose you. And so as you're listening to this show today, I want you to know, God has chosen you. And he chose you because he believes you can become like him, but he knows you cannot become like him without him. And so we have to have the relationship. One of the areas that we fall short of so often in the Catholic Church is in the area of leading other people to Christ.

The statistics show, and it's quite sad, that most Catholics today will never in their lifetime lead anybody. outside of their children to Christ. It's not even on the radar to do that. And that was a Greek word for it. That stinks. Okay? That really stinks because this is what we're called to do. And there is a procedure for coming to Christ that is so beautiful in the church.

And I want to outline that for you today and encourage you to get to know this process in your local parish so that you can start inviting people to Christ and bring them to a great RCIA program, which we'll explain here in a minute in your parish. Now, the good news for us today is that we can hear the call to follow Christ and respond to that call to become his disciples. Not only can we hear the call, but it is just as fresh, just as challenging, and just as adventurous as it was for the 12 apostles. Now, modern day discipleship must go beyond study and intellectual agreement. It must go beyond simply content at conferences. It must result

in an active life of prayer, study, service, and evangelization. And the first step toward living as an activated disciple is really to acknowledge that God loves you and has extended an invitation to walk with him and embrace the good things he has in store for you. And so there's a process that the catechism outlines in paragraph 1229. That'll be in the show notes if you're driving. Do not write that down right now as you're going through that intersection. The initial steps toward discipleship are described in the catechism, and it's in paragraph 1229, and it goes like this.

From the time of the apostles, becoming a Christian has been accomplished by a journey and initiation in several stages. This journey can be covered rapidly or slowly, but certain essential elements will always have to be present. Proclamation of the Word, acceptance of the gospel, entailing conversion, profession of faith, baptism itself, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and in mission to the Eucharistic Communion. Now, what I have seen in this process is a parallel, and Dr. Scott Hahn writes about this. In a couple of his books, the two of us wrote a small book together years ago. It's out of print right now, about covered three stages of coming to know Christ.

And it's very similar to what a man in a woman. woman will go through as far as courtship, commitment, communion, those three. They'll go through a relationship where there's a courtship period, and then there is a commitment period, and then there's full communion, right? So that's the same as it is in our relationship with Christ. First of all, you have the courtship period. At this first phase, much of our relationship is based on our own needs. We meet Christ. Somebody shares Christ with us. Maybe you shared Christ with somebody else. And suddenly they got really, really excited. Well, much like a newborn hungering for food, we cry out to God out of a hunger, a hunger deep within our hearts. And we say, I need this new

relationship. Maybe somebody told you about Jesus. And you thought, oh, man, oh man, I need that. You know, I need that. I need that new relationship. And there is an emptiness in my life that longs to be filled. And because of this, personal desire, there can become a one-on-one quality to the way that we view our relationship with the Lord. Courtship phase of conversion is that period in which a budding believer can be particularly focused on me and Jesus, me and Jesus. You know, I remember when our girls were born. They were born in the first three years.

They had no community awareness whatsoever. You know, when they cried, they never screamed out. This is a community affair. No, it's me. I'm hungry. Feed me. And that's the courtship phase when it comes to our relationship with the Lord. It is also during this courtship phase that the young seeker often exhibits of voracious,

a voracious appetite for all things God, reading, scapulars, medals, conferences, CDs, books, they can't get enough. They can't get enough of the Lord as they read these good books, listen to recorded talks, conferences, and so forth. It is a beautiful thing to see young love as someone suddenly discovers the love of their life. And the realization of just, how important the church is to life in Christ often becomes more clear in the commitment phase of the relationship. Suffice it to say that at this stage of courtship, the beginnings of the relationship, the sacred scriptures become a word from God that deeply, deeply calls out and woos the beloved

in the same manner that a love letter captures the heart of a young woman. or a young man. Now, I'd like to introduce you to a step that is often overlooked or considered unnecessary when it comes to leading people to Christ, an acceptance prayer. And acknowledgement of the need for Christ is common among many Protestant believers. In fact, they'll pray for you to accept Christ. Now, after proclaiming the gospel to a friend, the proclamation is often followed with some kind of sinner's prayer. That's what happens among our Protestant friends. Listen, this in itself is not a bad thing,

nor should it be characterized as something that only Protestants engage in. It can act as a spiritual starting line for what will be a much longer walk through life. Now, there are two different kinds of prayers that if you lead someone to Christ and they have not gone through the church yet, but you have just been talking to them.

They are excited about this new relationship. There are two different kinds of prayers that can be said at this point, depending upon where the person is in their pursuit of Christ, in the courtship phase, of course. For the new believer, who has not previously responded to Christ's call to conversion, a good prayer may sound like this. And I'm going to put these prayers in the show notes. Dear Lord Jesus, I thank you that you love me,

and have a wonderful plan for my life. I thank you that you have sought me out and have begun to reveal yourself to me. I know that I have sinned, and my life is in great need of your love and forgiveness. I want to repent of walking contrary to your ways and asking you to forgive me and created me a new heart. As I begin my new walk with you, I pray that I will love you more deeply every day. As I submit myself to your covenant family, the church, help me to walk humbly and discover my place in your family. Thank you for this new beginning. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Now the second kind of prayer that could be recited is for the Christian who has been baptized but has not consciously pursued their relationship with the Lord. This prayer is aimed at renewing the

graces that they previously received in their baptism, confirmation, First Eucharist, and may sound kind of something like this. Dear Lord Jesus, I thank you that you love me so much that you came and died for me. I repent of walking contrary to your way and ask you to forgive me and created me a clean heart. I do confess that you are Lord, and I am in great need of your life. As I renew my walk with you. I pray that I will love you more deeply every day, evidenced by a life of obedience. Help me, Lord, to renew a love for you and participation in your family, the church. I also thank you for the church, a place where I can be fed, encouraged, and healed in the name of the Father's Son, and the Holy Spirit. So a very important, by the way, those will be in the

show notes, but a very important point to be made is that saying a prayer of acceptance is not a salvation formula. Let me be clear about that. It's not a salvation formula or a non-revocable ticket to heaven, but is the beginning of approaching salvation and walking with God. Saying this prayer is similar to accepting the offer for a first date. The prayer is purposeful, can be very moving, but it is not binding at this point. The relationship, listen to this carefully, the relationship will be raised to a covenant relationship only in the celebration of the Eucharist at the Easter vigil. That is so important. The next phase after this first phase, where we're very, very excited about courtship is commitment. And I'll

pick up with that right after this. Reading the Bible is something we as Catholics know we should do, but let's be honest, it can be kind of complicated. Even though it's a complete story, the Bible isn't really one book. It's more like a library, with dozens of books and dozens of genres. There's poetry, prophecy, and prose. There are apocalypses and revelations, historical accounts, and allegories. No wonder it's difficult to keep a finger on the story of the story.

of God's love and plan of salvation for his people, the thread that keeps all of it together. If you're wishing there was a simple guide to help you tie all of this together, then you're just like Jeff Kavins and Tim Gray. That's why they wrote the book, Walking with God. Walking with God is a single book that traces the story that ties the Bible together. It helps you to understand the big picture of the Bible. If you're looking to read more of the Bible, with God will help you do it with confidence, peace, and clarity. You can find out more and order Walking with God on ascensionpress.com or on Amazon. Welcome back to the Jeff Kaven show. We're talking about falling in love with Jesus,

kind of following the way that a man and a woman fall in love. And how does that fit into the church? Well, we have that courtship phase where people are infatuated with Jesus. Somebody told them about Jesus and they can't get enough. They're reading, they're listening, they're going to conferences. Man, this has really caught their heart. But then we come to the second phase, which is commitment, and that's where a deeper, deeper commitment must be made. You know, I remember the day I was first attracted to Emily, my wife, over 40 years ago. It was the first day of my second semester of college. I remember after a couple of weeks, I got the nerve to introduce myself to her after I saw her in my cultural anthropology class.

And shortly after that, we began to go dating. And while I liked her a lot and may have had even used the word love, there certainly wasn't any formal relationship. She was free to date others as I was. And then there came a point when I realized I wanted to go deeper in my relationship with Emily. And if I wanted to go beyond boyfriend and girlfriend, I would have to marry her. And I could have taken her to Vegas and considered it done, but there was something so special about our love that I wanted it to be expressed with beauty and permanence. I wanted both of our families to be a part of the celebration. And I wanted all my friends to know. I found the one. and it would mean opening myself up to all that was in her world,

her father, her mother, her siblings, her DNA, her history. And I formally asked Emily to marry me after talking to her father, of course, and he accepted, praise God, and we were engaged, and she was now my fiancé. This engagement period, the commitment period, is something that a believer will go through once they have said, you know what, I'm in the courtship phase, I want Jesus, I want to go deeper, I want this to be permanent, then they go into the commitment phase, the fiancé phase. An engagement is a more serious and deeper commitment than courtship. The catacuminant is an expression of a deeper commitment.

Once a person is enrolled in the catacuminant, oh, metal language, catacuminant, that is the process. of becoming a member of the church. And once a person is enrolled in the catechuminant at their local parish, they guess what? They are already joined to the church. They are already of the household of Christ and are quite frequently already living a life of faith, hope, and charity. And with love and solitude,

Mother Church already embraces them as their own. pastors and parish educators, you need to take care to communicate to the entire parish when and how new believers are enrolled in what sponsoring and mentoring someone in the RCAI program entails. In several non-formal surveys, I have found at least that the vast number of faithful Catholics are not familiar with this process at all, at all. After courtship, we moved to commitment. You're committed now. You're part of the catechuminate. Now we're going to go to full communion. June 3rd, 1978. Finally, the day came. Emily and I were married in all of the preparations of the engagement period was now becoming a celebratory reality. And the catechuminate process comes to a culmination in the Tritouin, the three days around Easter, culminating in the Easter vigil and the special mass. You see, it is that Easter, the Easter vigil, that life-changing transformations take place.

As the bride of Christ dressed in white, catecumans will enter into the purity of the Lamb of God himself and partake of the marriage feast of the Lamb. They will undergo the sacrament of baptism, which not only purifies them from original sin, but also makes them a new creature, an adopted child of God, who now partakes in the divine nature. In addition, baptism will mark the point

when the new believer is more closely bonded to the body of Christ, the church. The family of the groom becomes our family, complete with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus, Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, becomes our spiritual mother, and the saints become our brothers and sisters who provide great examples of how to be disciples and are before God praying for us. Wow.

Confirmation is also received for those coming into the church, and it's at this point that the catechumenit receives the full outpouring of the a Holy Spirit and his gifts and is empowered to become an authentic witness to Christ. You become an authentic, empowered witness of Jesus Christ, an official witness. Read about it in paragraph 1304 and 1305 in the catechism. It's amazing. We'll put that in the show notes, too, so you don't get into an accident. you get the Eucharist. Oh my Eucharist. It's the source and summit of the Christian life as it truly is the body and blood of the Lamb of God. The greatest, the greatest, the greatest, the greatest source of grace. What's grace? It's the life of the Trinity. That new believer receives the body and blood of Christ. You talk about intimacy. You talk about communion. You've gone.

from courtship, we're dating. I love you. I'm infatuated to commitment, the catacuminate. I'm going to give my life to you. I want to prepare myself to receive you Christ in the heart of your church, to full communion. You and I have become one. Oh my. What a hint at the glory that we're waiting for in heaven to become one with the second person of the Trinity. You know, I was interested in Texas holding poker for a while a few years ago. It's kind of fun. I mean, it lasted a couple months, but there was a phrase that they would use, and it was called to be all in, all in. And those of you who are familiar with poker know that when a person recognizes that they are holding a fantastic, hand that can't be beat. They are inclined to push all their poker chips into the center of the

table and declare, I'm all in. Now, when they say that, they're basically proclaiming that they are completely confident in what they possess, and they're willing to risk it all. When we say yes to Christ and his invitation to become his disciple, and we have properly prepared our hearts by enjoining the process the church recommend. we are saying more than yes, I believe and align myself with others who believe by saying yes to Jesus. We are saying we're all in. I possess a hand that is unbeatable and I'm confident and I'm all in. That's what we need to do as activated disciples. That's what we need to do. And so I encourage you this week, if you have gone through that process and you're all in,

begin to learn what it means to be the body of Christ because the members of the body of Christ is not just a theological, you know, theory or doctrine or something. To be a part of the body of Christ is to literally be joined to him not only in communion as far as the Eucharist, but in the Eucharist, the mission, to carry out what he was doing 2,000 years ago. That's what we're about. I hope in my prayer is that this week you will fall in love with Jesus. And you will go beyond the courtship, and you'll go beyond the fiancé commitment stage. And you'll enter into full communion where you realize that, my Lord, you have given yourself to me.

And I want to give myself to you, and the way I can do that is to carry out your mission. I love you, Lord, and I love what you've done in my life. Will you pray with me today that we can take this to the next level? If you haven't yet, go ahead and order the activated disciple. That'll be in the show notes here. And how you can get your copy, it's now shipping the activated disciple, taking your faith to the next level, and when you're done reading it, I'm going to invite you to a 40-day challenge.

and I have a journal prepared for you, a 40-day challenge to act like a disciple. If it's not for you, you can go back to your regular Catholic life, but if it is, it'll change your life. Let's pray. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord, we love you, and we thank you for inviting us to deep communion with yourself. And whether we are at the courtship phase or the commitment phase, Lord, we want to to go deeper. We really want to walk in that intimacy that you invite us to, or we are one with

you, and we celebrate the Eucharist every Mass and commune with you. Lord, help us to see that your mission is our mission. Your power is our power. Your equipping is our being equipped to do your work. Help us, Lord, to fall in love with you more deeply. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. My friend, if you want to get in touch with me, you can write me at The Jeffcaven Show at ascensionpress.com. Love to hear your feedback. I want to know how you are dealing with your new Great Adventure Bible, and now the activated disciple. You have a great week.