How to Be with Jesus | Pastor Chris Baselice | Discipleship Night 2026

How's everyone doing? Good, excited that you guys are here. As Pastor Doug said, my name is Chris, if you don't know me. And I get to talk to you guys tonight about being with Jesus. Now, like in most things in life, order is important. I'm a super structured, super ordered guy. Anyone like that? Anyone love order? Okay, so I love order. But definitely in this lifelong journey of following Jesus, order is important. And before we can become like Jesus, before we can do the things that Jesus did, we must live a life that prioritizes being with Jesus. And so for those first disciples 2,000 years ago, their journey of following him, it did begin with this simple invitation. Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. And basically at its most simplest form, this was an invitation to be with Jesus. But here's the question. Why did Jesus do this? I mean, why would he decide to spend his last three and a half years on this earth with these men? If anything, it made his life much more difficult, did it not? So what was the purpose behind it?

Well, we get a glimpse of that in Mark 3, verse 14. It says this, that he, Jesus, appointed 12, why? So that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach. Now that phrase, be with him, in the original language, it's this word diatribo. And here's what it means. To wear away and to shape through friction. To transform through proximity. So here is the heart behind the invitation that Jesus gave. I wanna be with you so that I can change you. Did it work? Did it work? Absolutely it worked. So for the next three years, these men, they lived with Jesus. They ate with Jesus. They walked with Jesus. They did ministry with Jesus. And it radically transformed who they were. So much so that people began to take notice. And it would be some years later that people would look on at these men who lived with Jesus. And they would not only notice the fact that they had been transformed, but they were also able to recognize the source of their transformation. So in Acts chapter four, verse 13, it says this, that when they saw the courage of Peter and John

and they realized that they were unschooled and ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that what? These men had been with Jesus. You see, it wasn't that they were super talented. The Bible's clear. They were just ordinary people. And it wasn't necessarily what they knew that made them stand out. The Bible says they were unschooled. It's not what they knew. It was who they knew. They knew Jesus. And it wasn't just that they knew Jesus. The Bible is clear. It's because they had been with Jesus. And Jesus would expound on this idea of transformation and the power of where it comes from in John 15, verse five. Some of you may know this verse. Jesus says this, I'm divine and you are the branches. And if you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit because apart from me, you can do nothing. What is Jesus saying there? He's saying the more you remain, the closer you stay to me. The more time you spend with me, the more fruit you will bear. It's just a different way of saying the more you spend time with me, the more you will be transformed.

And here's what I want you to take away from my time with you tonight. There is a direct correlation and connection between the amount of time that you spend with Jesus and the degree to which you will become like Jesus, amen? I have to repeat that because it's so important. There is a direct correlation and connection between the amount of time that you spend with Jesus and the degree to which you will become like Jesus. And so what I hope and pray right now in your heart and mind a question is stirring. How do I? How do I, living in South Florida in 2026, how can I possibly be with Jesus? Well, Jesus accomplished many things for us on the cross. Did he not? One of the greatest things that he has done for us is that he has made us as his followers and children living vessels for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God lives in each and every one of us. Amen? And what that has made possible is that at any time in any moment in your life, morning, noon, and evening, in your car, at home, at work, at school, at the gym, you can be with Jesus whenever you want. Isn't that a great gift? It's amazing. But there should also be, brothers and sisters, very specific times, marked by very specific practices.

When we withdraw from the busyness of our lives and we give our full attention to Jesus. Maybe you've heard it said that Christianity isn't about a religion, it's about a relationship, right? And I want you to think for a second about the most important relationships in your lives. I want you to think about how those. Relationships function and how they're strengthened Because a relationship with Jesus is like another important relationship. And what do you do in those relationships? You give people your attention You listen to them speak to you and you speak to them our relationship with Jesus is no different And this is where the spiritual practices or maybe you've heard them referred to as the spiritual disciplines This is where they come into play and there are many but I just want to talk to you tonight about three of them And the first one is this the practice of silence and solitude You heard that before? Sometimes we use Christian ease and stuff and we're like, I don't know what that means I would say this when you hear silence and solitude. I want you to just think of this as giving Jesus your full attention There has never been a time in history when we have been so distracted and busy as right now anyone busy in here Yeah, we're all busy, right? And doesn't Jesus deserve moments in our day where we give him our full attention Like you ever talk to someone and you're trying to like connect with them and what are they doing? They're on their phone and there's oh, yeah I know I'm listening and they're scrolling and that's not really connecting and how often do we do that with divided hearts and attention with Jesus? And if we are going to have these lives that are transformed into the image of Jesus We need to be a people who set aside time and find a place to give him our full attention. Amen That's silence and solitude Then there's Bible study Spending time in the Word of God when you think about this. I want you to just kind of associate this with listening to Jesus Silence and solitude is giving him your attention reading your Bible is listening to Jesus now Certainly when we read our Bibles, we are reading and understanding truth

We're learning but truth is more than information. Truth is a person. Amen So in John 14 6, what does Jesus say? I am the way the truth in the life and no one comes to the Father except through me Jesus See Jesus is the Word of God made flesh And what we need to kind of adjust our perspective is that when we spend time reading the written Word What we are really doing is spending time with the living Word. I Talk to so many people like I want to hear God's voice and I'm like, why are you reading your Bible? No, I Want like a word from out of the sky But that's not how it works Jesus speaks to us through his Word and his words are powerful. Amen, and that they strengthen our faith They renew our minds and they change how we live and the last practice is simply this the practice of prayer And I want you to associate prayer with just talking to Jesus Just talking to Jesus telling him how much you love him How much you appreciate him how grateful you are for who he is and all that he has done Pouring out your heart your concerns your anxieties asking him for help for yourself and for others and it is through prayer That you and I get to connect to the grace and power of God that not only changes things around us But prayer changes us. Amen now You hear these practices and these disciplines and you're like, what does that look like practically? I'll share with you What my practices look like and know this there is flexibility in these practices depending on your life but I want to share with you my Consistent morning routine and I say consistent and not perfect because it's not perfect When I say consistent, all I mean is that I do this more often than not And so for me my routine wake up at 6 a.m Get my cup of coffee cold brew. I don't do hot coffee. That's gross and And I walk out into my living room and I go to this one spot on my couch I actually have a picture of when I bring you into my living room There's my little rat dog that I have to kick out of my spot every morning if you see her in the corner there

That's my spot That's where I meet with Jesus and I bring my Bible and I bring my journal and a pen Do you know what? I don't bring to that time this But I do have my watch on and so I'll start and I'll set a timer on my watch for five minutes for silence To get myself into the place where I realize who it is. I'm about to talk to I'm about to talk to my father I'm about to talk to the God of the universe. I'm about to talk to Jesus And so I'll be silent for five minutes. And have you ever tried to be silent for five minutes? crazy Your mind starts to drift and so when my mind starts to drift I have one word that I say to draw my attention back to God. I just say father And I sit there for five minutes in silence. The little alarm goes off on my watch and then what do I do? I open up God's Word and I only read a paragraph at a time during during my morning devotions I'll just read one paragraph and I'll read it a few times once twice three times Then I'll open my journal and I'll write that paragraph out word for word on one page and on the next page I'll write it out in my own words and after I've spent about 25 to 30 minutes doing that I have heard the voice of God He's given me a word of encouragement a word of comfort a word of correction He gives and here's the cool thing. Sometimes he'll give give you a word for someone else. And then I pray. I pray about what he just spoke to me. I ask him for help and for strength and grace to apply that to my life. I pray for my family. I pray for the day that is ahead. I pray for many of you. I pray. And here's the cool thing. Jesus meets me in that chair

every single time I make the time to. And the more I spend time with Jesus, the more I become like him. And you can do the same, amen? So I want to invite my friend, Laura, up to tell you a little bit about what being with Jesus looks like for her. Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo!