back to indexBerean Community Church - Sunday Service 5.17
00:00:44.080 |
♪ Our heart is filled with a thousand songs ♪ 00:03:29.740 |
Said let there be light to a dark and formless world your light was born 00:03:48.740 |
Said let there be light to a dark and hopeless world your son was born 00:05:06.740 |
Your eye has fully seen how beautiful the cross 00:05:12.740 |
And we have only heard the faintest whispers of how great you are 00:14:36.740 |
Again, we want to welcome all our church members 00:14:40.740 |
who are joining us for Sunday morning worship 00:14:42.740 |
and also for the guests who have been invited 00:14:45.740 |
and you're here participating in the worship together 00:14:54.740 |
We are planning and we're trying to do everything 00:14:57.740 |
that we can to prepare for at least in the first phase 00:15:02.740 |
We'll have a little bit more detailed announcements 00:15:09.740 |
or maybe you're not a member but you're participating 00:15:14.740 |
we'll have that information on the Facebook page. 00:15:19.740 |
we will also be sending that out to you on email. 00:15:48.740 |
We have some very important announcements to make 00:15:56.740 |
The door to that or the room will be open at 2.45. 00:16:02.740 |
and hang out with some people, you can do that. 00:16:38.740 |
no dates that we give you now will be permanent 00:16:45.740 |
But again, all those stuff, we'll give more announcements 00:16:57.740 |
we're going to have at 8.30, 10.30, and 12.30, 00:17:06.740 |
to be able to sit with you and not move around, 00:17:13.740 |
And again, afterward, they would have to leave. 00:17:20.740 |
only the main sanctuary with social distancing 00:17:30.740 |
and so there is a survey that's going to be sent out, 00:17:37.740 |
because there's a possibility that we may open up 00:17:41.740 |
whether that may be later afternoon or early afternoon, 00:17:58.740 |
and what time, and so please look out for that 00:18:01.740 |
so that you can sign up so we'll kind of have an idea 00:18:11.740 |
that you cannot be in the service together with the children, 00:18:16.740 |
online live service will continue during that period, 00:18:23.740 |
the coming week is our 16th week of Ephesians, 00:18:26.740 |
and typically we take a long break during the summertime 00:18:34.740 |
we thought it would be beneficial for the church 00:18:47.740 |
to finish up the study of the book of Ephesians 00:19:05.740 |
for doing a great job sitting with your parents. 00:19:08.740 |
We want to, again, congratulate Olivia, Maddie, and Arthur Lo. 00:19:19.740 |
Maddie, there's a pink lollipop waiting for you afterwards. 00:19:23.740 |
We have some birthdays that we want to give a shout-out. 00:19:38.740 |
Timothy Irving, Jr., he is turning 8 this week, 00:19:43.740 |
And then we have a special boy named Isaiah Kim, 00:19:56.740 |
Gracious and loving Father, we thank you for your mercy. 00:20:04.740 |
Lord, you know our hearts, you know our thoughts 00:20:10.740 |
We pray, Father God, with all the stuff that's going on 00:20:23.740 |
Help us, Lord God, that our confidence in our refuge 00:20:29.740 |
I pray especially for our brothers and sisters, Lord God, 00:20:34.740 |
who are wrestling because of the uncertainty of their business 00:20:37.740 |
or financial situation because of their jobs. 00:20:41.740 |
I pray, Father God, that you would continue to remind them 00:20:52.740 |
And so we pray, Father, that you would help us 00:21:00.740 |
help us, Lord God, to give as an act of worship. 00:21:03.740 |
That it may be multiplied to magnify your name 00:21:59.740 |
We've seen your glory, Lord, and looked away. 00:22:28.740 |
Drive our dark away until your glory fills our eyes. 00:23:02.740 |
So we often go astray, chase the world, forget your grace. 00:23:38.740 |
Drive our dark away until your glory fills our eyes. 00:24:07.740 |
Drive our dark away until your glory fills our eyes. 00:25:19.740 |
'Cause when we see you, we find strength to face it. 00:25:27.740 |
And in your presence, all our fears are washed away, 00:25:46.740 |
You are the God who saves us, worthy of all our praise. 00:26:28.740 |
'Cause when we see you, we find strength to face the day. 00:26:36.740 |
And in your presence, all our fears are washed away, 00:26:54.740 |
You are the God who saves us, worthy of all our praise. 00:27:10.740 |
I'm at the break of your windows, broken in your dreams. 00:27:19.740 |
When we see you, we find strength to face the day. 00:27:28.740 |
And in your presence, all our fears are washed away. 00:27:43.740 |
And in your presence, all our fears are washed away, 00:28:01.740 |
You are the God who saves us, worthy of all our praises. 00:28:17.740 |
I'm at the break of your windows, broken in your dreams. 00:32:54.740 |
We're going to be finishing up the "I Am" statement. 00:32:59.740 |
I didn't get to finish last week, so we're going to finish the part 2 for this week. 00:33:03.740 |
So please turn your Bibles to John chapter 15. 00:33:14.740 |
I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 00:33:17.740 |
Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, He takes away. 00:33:20.740 |
And every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 00:33:25.740 |
You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 00:33:29.740 |
Abide in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine. 00:33:39.740 |
He who abides in me, and I in him, he bears much fruit. 00:33:45.740 |
If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up. 00:33:49.740 |
And they gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 00:33:52.740 |
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 00:33:57.740 |
My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. 00:34:02.740 |
Just as the Father has loved me, and I have also loved you, abide in my love. 00:34:07.740 |
If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, 00:34:10.740 |
just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. 00:34:14.740 |
These things I have spoken to you, so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. 00:34:22.740 |
Gracious Father, we pray for your blessing over this time. 00:34:26.740 |
We pray, Father God, that your Holy Spirit would illumine our hearts, 00:34:30.740 |
that we may understand, and that we may be convicted, 00:34:34.740 |
that we may live lives truly bearing fruit as we abide in Christ. 00:34:41.740 |
Alright, so I think we're in what, seventh or eighth week into our lockdown, 00:34:45.740 |
and I know many of you, your life doesn't look much different. 00:34:49.740 |
Maybe you're even busier than before because you're going to work physically, 00:34:54.740 |
and you come home and you've got to take care of the kids who are not at school, 00:34:57.740 |
and so maybe some of you, I know some of you are busier, but there's a lot of us, 00:35:02.740 |
and again, we're home, we're eager for the doors to open and for us to come back to church, 00:35:09.740 |
and being locked down, sometimes I wake up, and I don't know if it's Monday, 00:35:14.740 |
I don't know if it's Saturday, it's kind of like Groundhog Day. 00:35:18.740 |
I don't know if you've ever saw that movie with Bill Murray, where he wakes up 00:35:21.740 |
and the same thing happens day after day after day, and sometimes it kind of feels like that. 00:35:27.740 |
Even this morning, I was talking to Pastor Mark this morning, 00:35:30.740 |
I actually had to go record a sermon for a friend's church, 00:35:34.740 |
and usually I know it's Sunday because I preach. 00:35:37.740 |
I wake up in the morning thinking about the sermon, so I had to give a sermon yesterday, 00:35:42.740 |
and I went to sleep kind of winding down, and then I woke up this morning thinking it was Monday, 00:35:48.740 |
and I was just relaxing on my bed, thinking like, "What am I going to do?" 00:35:51.740 |
I grabbed some coffee, do my devotions, and then it all of a sudden hit me, 00:35:55.740 |
it's like, "Oh shoot, it's Sunday," and so I kind of had to hurry and get out of the house. 00:35:59.740 |
I don't know about you, but the days are kind of bleeding into the other days, 00:36:04.740 |
and again, I'm eager to have the country open back up and us getting back to work and what we need to do. 00:36:12.740 |
You know, bearing fruit, we talked about last week, is absolutely important, 00:36:20.740 |
whether it's as a Christian or just a regular part of life. 00:36:23.740 |
If you're doing anything and you don't see progress, eventually you're going to lose motivation. 00:36:30.740 |
The text that we're looking at this morning is about bearing fruit, 00:36:33.740 |
and the reason why Jesus says this to his disciples before he leaves is because he's preparing them 00:36:38.740 |
to continue the work that he started after he leaves, 00:36:42.740 |
that their primary task was to take this gospel message, the hope of his death and resurrection, 00:36:47.740 |
and go plant churches and spread the gospel and make sure that the world hears about 00:36:52.740 |
and knows about the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. 00:36:55.740 |
But as he is preparing them, he also wanted to warn them that the only way that they're going to really bear fruit 00:37:05.740 |
That is the only way that they can truly bear fruit. 00:37:09.740 |
In John chapter 15, verse 4, it says, "Abide in me, and I in you, and as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself 00:37:16.740 |
unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me." 00:37:20.740 |
So let's stop right there and really understand what he is saying here in verse 4, 00:37:27.740 |
He's not saying that you're not going to bear good fruit. 00:37:31.740 |
He's not saying that you're not going to bear much fruit. 00:37:37.740 |
You can't bear any fruit unless you're abiding in me. 00:37:41.740 |
So in other words, from this point on, after I leave, the Holy Spirit is going to come, 00:37:46.740 |
and if you do not abide, if you do not continue, you will bear no fruit. 00:37:55.740 |
You will plant church. You will do all of these things, but you will bear no fruit. 00:38:01.740 |
You know, I think one of the biggest lies that the world tells, 00:38:11.740 |
is that you would see a great basketball star after he wins the championship, 00:38:17.740 |
and they interviewed him, "What's the secret to your success?" 00:38:20.740 |
And you would hear this cliche that if you believe in yourself, you can accomplish anything. 00:38:27.740 |
I mean, he may believe that, but it is an absolute lie. That's a lie. 00:38:33.740 |
If you believe in yourself that you can fly, you're not going to fly. 00:38:40.740 |
You know what I mean? You can believe in yourself. 00:38:42.740 |
If you're 5'5", 250 pounds, or whatever you may be, 00:38:47.740 |
you're not going to dunk, no matter how much you believe in yourself. 00:38:56.740 |
But if you're being trained, like, no, if you believe in yourself, 00:38:59.740 |
you just put your effort in, somebody wins a-- 00:39:01.740 |
somebody has a company that's multi-billion dollars. 00:39:04.740 |
If you just believe in yourself, you'll be a billionaire yourself. 00:39:13.740 |
You could try harder, but the problem is that they can endeavor to do something, 00:39:19.740 |
and not only not achieve that, but in the process, just being utterly broken. 00:39:27.740 |
It doesn't even come close, and then you kind of lose motivation to do anything else. 00:39:33.740 |
There's a lot of Christians who are working hard and laboring and sacrificing, 00:39:40.740 |
and maybe you've done that for many, many years, and you look at your Christian life now, 00:39:44.740 |
and it is nowhere near where you thought you would have been. 00:39:49.740 |
I mean, I could tell you, I'm one of those people. 00:39:51.740 |
I got saved early, and I thought by the time I was 40 years old that I would have had-- 00:40:00.740 |
I would have had the whole Bible memorized when I was younger. 00:40:05.740 |
The ministry that we were a part of was really into Bible memory, 00:40:08.740 |
and I knew this guy who was--even before Pastor Peter Chung, 00:40:11.740 |
we had a guy in our Bible study who would memorize books. 00:40:15.740 |
We would come with two verses, and he would come with, "Oh, I memorized 1 Timothy this week," 00:40:19.740 |
and then a month later he would say, "Oh, I got 2 Timothy done," and he was just memorizing. 00:40:24.740 |
So I remember when I was young, being in that Bible study, thinking, "You know what? 00:40:29.740 |
My memory's not as good as him, but by the time I'm 40, I'm going to have this, 00:40:33.740 |
and I'm going to have this memorized, and I'm going to have this much of the Bible. 00:40:36.740 |
I'm going to have so many people evangelized, so many people discipled." 00:40:41.740 |
Well, I'm over 50, and I'm nowhere near what I was hoping to be when I was 40 years old. 00:40:50.740 |
There's a lot of us who are frustrated, maybe frustrated, because we-- 00:40:58.740 |
You've tried, and it just didn't turn out the way that you were hoping for. 00:41:04.740 |
He says clearly, "True fruit is only going to happen when you abide in the true vine." 00:41:16.740 |
That pretty much summarizes everything I'm going to say this morning. 00:41:20.740 |
So if you're going to go to sleep, make sure you memorize that. 00:41:24.740 |
True fruit can only happen when you abide by the true vine. 00:41:29.740 |
So when you're not abiding by the true vine, whatever fruit that you may think that you see 00:41:37.740 |
may not be real fruit, unless the Bible is lying. 00:41:44.740 |
True fruit can only come from abiding by the true vine. 00:41:51.740 |
You can teach the Bible regularly, not abiding in Christ, and really bear no fruit. 00:41:59.740 |
You can go to short-term missions, share the gospel with many people, 00:42:08.740 |
You can have a growing church filled with hundreds, even thousands of people, 00:42:12.740 |
when we are not abiding in Christ isn't true fruit. 00:42:18.740 |
Everything that we experience, or what seems to be fruit, outside of abiding in Christ 00:42:27.740 |
And sometimes it's actually more dangerous to be surrounded by what we think is fruit 00:42:33.740 |
when the Bible says, "No, it's not real fruit at all." 00:42:36.740 |
Because He said you cannot bear any fruit unless you are abiding in Christ. 00:42:41.740 |
How central is this message to the church and to Christianity in general? 00:42:48.740 |
In everything that we do, how central? This is the core. 00:42:54.740 |
Again, if you missed this, you've missed everything about our Christian faith. 00:42:58.740 |
So our primary pursuit, before we evangelize the world, before we attract people to the church, 00:43:04.740 |
before we even open it back up so that we can have corporate worship, 00:43:07.740 |
our primary pursuit has to be, "Are we abiding in Christ?" 00:43:13.740 |
Luke 6, 43-44 says, "For no good tree bears bad fruit, 00:43:18.740 |
nor, again, does a bad tree bear good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. 00:43:23.740 |
For figs are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor are grapes picked from bramble bush." 00:43:33.740 |
So the central question that we have to ask is, "Then what does it mean to abide in Christ?" 00:43:41.740 |
I remember the first time when I was studying this passage and doing quiet time, 00:43:45.740 |
I just assumed abide basically meant to obey. 00:43:49.740 |
Obey Christ. And as long as you obey, as long as you do what He tells you to do, 00:43:56.740 |
But the word for abide here is much more nuanced than just simple obedience. 00:44:03.740 |
He's telling His disciples more than just, "Just do what I say," which is part of the meaning. 00:44:09.740 |
In fact, I asked you, I think, last week to look up different translations 00:44:13.740 |
to see how this word is translated because this is one of those words 00:44:16.740 |
that can't be translated with one English word. 00:44:19.740 |
So if you speak more than one language, you know that there are certain words 00:44:23.740 |
that you really need to understand the culture to be able to translate 00:44:27.740 |
and really have a correct and precise understanding of that word. 00:44:31.740 |
Well, this is one of those words. In the Greek, it's "meno." 00:44:35.740 |
So some of your translations will say "abide." Some of your translations will say "to remain." 00:44:40.740 |
Some of your translations in other parts of the Bible, that same word is translated "to dwell." 00:44:47.740 |
So what I want to do this morning is, again, to jump into the specific nuanced meaning of this word 00:44:54.740 |
because it's central to us bearing fruit, no matter what we do. 00:44:59.740 |
The first and the most obvious thing that He is saying is to dwell. 00:45:04.740 |
To dwell in Christ. To dwell in Christ. In other words, to make your home in Christ. 00:45:12.740 |
How the Holy Spirit was sent and He dwelt within us. 00:45:17.740 |
And so He said the Holy Spirit isn't going to leave us as orphans. 00:45:21.740 |
And so as He dwells in us, He says that you need to also dwell within Him to make your home. 00:45:30.740 |
As, like, sleeping at a hotel, this is where you sleep versus your home. 00:45:35.740 |
And you know what your home is. Home is, you can go out and have the best vacation, 00:45:40.740 |
but at the end of it, you know, you always look forward to going home. 00:45:43.740 |
Because home is where your bed is. Home is where your fridge is. 00:45:47.740 |
Home is where your bathroom, your showers, right, and your comfortable stuff is. 00:45:54.740 |
And so when you are at home is when you find refuge, when you find your comfort. 00:46:00.740 |
So when He says to make your dwelling in Christ, He's saying make sure that Christ Himself is your refuge. 00:46:08.740 |
He's your home. He's the one that you run to before you run to your friends. 00:46:16.740 |
Before you run to see if your bank account has enough money. 00:46:23.740 |
You know, as soon as the lockdown happened, and you can just see the various responses that people have, 00:46:31.740 |
And understandably, you know, a lot of people freaked out. 00:46:35.740 |
A lot of us freaked out because the real threat of death, if, you know, 00:46:39.740 |
they were throwing out this outrageous numbers of millions of people may possibly die. 00:46:45.740 |
And every single one of us is going to know somebody who's going to get it and then die from it. 00:46:50.740 |
And so these crazy numbers were being thrown out. 00:46:52.740 |
And a lot of this lockdown happened because of fear of death. 00:46:57.740 |
But I think in some sense was good for us as Christians. 00:47:01.740 |
Because it caused us to take a step back and ask ourselves, 00:47:12.740 |
What do I run to? Do I run to the supermarket and if I have enough things stored up in my garage that I'm safe? 00:47:19.740 |
Did I get enough toilet paper? Did I get enough hand sanitizers? 00:47:22.740 |
Is my job going to be safe after all this is over? Is that going to happen? 00:47:26.740 |
Or if I don't have enough money, is the government going to pass a bill where they're going to help me for a while? 00:47:34.740 |
Well, first and foremost, Jesus is saying, I'm going to leave you. 00:47:36.740 |
And he's talking to people who are anxious because he's about to leave them. 00:47:39.740 |
And he says, I'm not going to leave you as orphans. 00:47:42.740 |
As the Holy Spirit is going to be sent and he's going to indwell in you, 00:47:52.740 |
One thing I have asked of the Lord that I shall seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. 00:47:59.740 |
When he says one thing that I ask, he's not saying he's one of many things. 00:48:03.740 |
He's saying above all these other things, I ask more than anything else, 00:48:08.740 |
more than long life, more than prosperity, more than safety from this world, 00:48:13.740 |
more than a good government, more than a good king. 00:48:15.740 |
One thing that I ask, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. 00:48:24.740 |
Because beholding his beauty, beholding his glory can't be done when we are away from him. 00:48:32.740 |
When our hearts are chasing after the things of this world, 00:48:35.740 |
the greatest consequence of drifting away from God is that we no longer behold his glory. 00:48:41.740 |
And that's why he says, I want to be in the house of the Lord, 00:48:43.740 |
that I may continue to behold his glory and to meditate in his temple, in his home. 00:48:49.740 |
For in a day of trouble, he will conceal me in his tabernacle. 00:48:54.740 |
In other words, if Christ is our home, if he is our dwelling, 00:49:04.740 |
Not the walls of my house, not the economy, not some vaccine, but he will concede me. 00:49:11.740 |
In the secret place of his tent, he will hide me. 00:49:19.740 |
We can find a vaccine tomorrow, and all of a sudden this fear of death goes away. 00:49:26.740 |
There's a thousand different ways that we can die, 00:49:28.740 |
but at least this part of it that's being hyped up right now, that will be taken care of. 00:49:34.740 |
But the psalmist says, that's not where I find my refuge. 00:49:42.740 |
He says, it is in his temple. It is in his house. 00:49:48.740 |
That's what it means to dwell, to remain in Christ. 00:49:55.740 |
"For a day in your courts is better than a thousand outside." 00:50:01.740 |
I would rather stand at the threshold of the household of my God 00:50:06.740 |
In other words, he's saying, I'd rather be in a courtyard of my God's house 00:50:13.740 |
In other words, in its comfort. That's what he means. 00:50:20.740 |
than to be in the inner chamber of the world. 00:50:27.740 |
No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. 00:50:36.740 |
The question that we have to ask ourselves and answer 00:50:40.740 |
repeatedly over and over again from time to time is, 00:50:46.740 |
When Jesus says he is the resurrection and life, 00:50:55.740 |
When he asks his disciple, who do men say that I am? 00:51:12.740 |
And so the question isn't, what do my pastors believe? 00:51:28.740 |
you know, obviously the founder of Calvary Chapel, 00:51:31.740 |
and he probably had one of the biggest spiritual influences, 00:51:34.740 |
that God used him to bring the Jesus movement in the 1970s. 00:51:39.740 |
And he gives a testimony about how in the earlier part of the church, 00:51:44.740 |
how he, you know, really felt like that this is a church that he needed to build, 00:51:49.740 |
and he started a project to build this church, 00:51:54.740 |
And he was praying, and they had a certain bill that was coming up, 00:51:57.740 |
and he was praying to God, and he was getting anxious and anxious 00:51:59.740 |
as the time was coming, and all of a sudden he said, 00:52:02.740 |
a member, somebody he didn't know that well, called him and said, 00:52:07.740 |
"Pastor, God really convicted me to give you an offering." 00:52:10.740 |
And then he said, "I'm going to be sending you a check." 00:52:14.740 |
And when he said the amount, he said he was floored, 00:52:18.740 |
because that was exactly the amount of money that he needed to get to the next stage. 00:52:24.740 |
And he said that he was rejoicing and thanking God for answering his prayer, 00:52:34.740 |
but then he says afterwards he felt a strong rebuke in his heart, 00:52:44.740 |
he rejoiced more over the promise of that man over the phone 00:52:47.740 |
than the promise that God gave him, that if you seek his kingdom 00:52:50.740 |
and all his righteousness, all these things shall be added unto you. 00:52:55.740 |
And he shares in his testimony how it revealed in his heart 00:52:59.740 |
that he trusted more from what that man said on the phone 00:53:07.740 |
And so he shares how God revealed early on in ministry, 00:53:15.740 |
where we use our own effort and our confidence comes from man, 00:53:21.740 |
And so that's the first understanding of the word. 00:53:30.740 |
The word to remain means to continue, to keep going. 00:53:34.740 |
And again, this was given to the disciples because Jesus was leaving, 00:53:41.740 |
and he also knew that the disciples were going to be scared, 00:53:45.740 |
and that the leaders of Israel, just like they came after Jesus, 00:53:50.740 |
And he's telling them that when this happens, Peter, 00:54:01.740 |
remember, the safest place for you to be is to continue with me, to remain. 00:54:11.740 |
that if we continue with Jesus, we may actually go to the cross. 00:54:15.740 |
And they were probably thinking, they probably remember, 00:54:18.740 |
Jesus said, "If you want to come after me, you must pick up the cross." 00:54:21.740 |
And maybe they kind of heard it metaphorically, 00:54:26.740 |
Even when Jesus says, "I'm going to the cross," they didn't understand. 00:54:29.740 |
So maybe when they heard it, they kind of said, "Oh, maybe he meant sacrifice." 00:54:33.740 |
Kind of a lot of the way that we take it, right? 00:54:36.740 |
It means to live, you know, persevere through persecution, 00:54:45.740 |
I'll bet you it was kind of going off on their heads, 00:54:50.740 |
He literally meant, "He's going to die, and you need to die." 00:54:57.740 |
That's exactly what he meant to his disciples. 00:55:00.740 |
"If you want to come after me, you need to deny yourself, 00:55:05.740 |
And so he's telling his disciples, when that temptation comes, 00:55:08.740 |
if I continue to go down this path, there's uncertainty. 00:55:19.740 |
I may not be able to continue to go down this path. 00:55:21.740 |
And you have people, maybe even other Christians, 00:55:24.740 |
who are trying to dissuade you from picking up your cross. 00:55:28.740 |
And Jesus reminded his disciples, he says, "No, you continue. 00:55:45.740 |
For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. 00:55:54.740 |
Now, when John was writing this epistle, 1 John, 00:55:57.740 |
he was talking to a different group of people 00:56:01.740 |
from the time of Jesus' death and resurrection. 00:56:04.740 |
But I bet that Apostle John never forgot about Judas 00:56:10.740 |
because what he says here is exactly what Jesus said about Judas 00:56:24.740 |
And so John is saying it's because he did not continue. 00:56:28.740 |
If he was really of us, he would have continued. 00:56:34.740 |
And so now he reminds us of what Jesus said to them. 00:56:44.740 |
In Hebrews 3.6, we're going to be jumping back into Hebrews pretty soon. 00:56:49.740 |
I'm not going to guarantee it's going to be next week, 00:56:53.740 |
But we've been studying through the book of Hebrews, 00:56:55.740 |
and the whole book of Hebrews is a warning and encouragement 00:57:01.740 |
So you will see that idea repeated over and over again 00:57:08.740 |
central thing that he's warning the recipients of this letter is not to drift. 00:57:13.740 |
And that's why he says over and over again, Hebrews 3.6, 00:57:16.740 |
"And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence 00:57:33.740 |
It's just that when it was a little bit too hard to go this path, 00:57:41.740 |
and they kind of toned it down and said it the other way. 00:57:44.740 |
A lot of the ways that we avoid hardship in our lives 00:57:54.740 |
You can preach the gospel, but don't say that. 00:57:57.740 |
You can tell them about the love of Christ, but don't talk about hell. 00:58:02.740 |
but don't say he's the only way and all the other ways are wrong. 00:58:10.740 |
And we try to make the path that we're on as easy as possible. 00:58:19.740 |
is that these truths that you are convicted about, 00:58:26.740 |
Hebrews 3.14, "For we share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence 00:58:34.740 |
That the things that we were convicted about, 00:58:36.740 |
when he opened our eyes to see the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, 00:58:40.740 |
that ten years later that you've become compromised and you've drifted. 00:58:46.740 |
Hebrews 4.14, "Since then we have a great high priest 00:58:49.740 |
who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. 00:58:57.740 |
And we just kind of, "Ah, I got on the boat so we're safe." 00:59:01.740 |
A lot of confessing Christians are more than perfectly satisfied 00:59:07.740 |
that they made a good decision sometime way back in life. 00:59:12.740 |
And then now we're just kind of, "I'm on the boat, 00:59:17.740 |
And so, you're the captain, so take the boat, and I'm just on it. 00:59:24.740 |
these second, third-generation Christians, and even in the first century. 00:59:27.740 |
They were just beginning to drift and not holding fast. 00:59:31.740 |
Hebrews 6.11, "And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence 00:59:36.740 |
so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end." 00:59:42.740 |
Again, there's a lot of people who are absolutely certain of their faith 00:59:51.740 |
they have a lot of doubts that crept into their hearts. 00:59:54.740 |
And the reason why is because they weren't holding fast. 01:00:05.740 |
It is not a present thing that you are experiencing. 01:00:13.740 |
and you're always trying to look back and say, 01:00:28.740 |
So he says, "Hold fast to show the same diligence to continue to remain." 01:00:33.740 |
Hebrews 10.23, "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope 01:00:36.740 |
without wavering for he who promised is faithful." 01:00:41.740 |
Same Christ that we met when we first met him is the same Christ today. 01:00:45.740 |
The same things that he desired of us when we first met him 01:00:49.740 |
is the same Christ that desires the same thing of us today. 01:00:55.740 |
You know, years ago, I had a friend who was getting married, 01:01:01.740 |
and we decided to take him to whitewater rafting. 01:01:10.740 |
And they made a sign, a waiver, saying that you can drown, 01:01:14.740 |
you can die, all this stuff, and it's like, "How dangerous could it be?" 01:01:19.740 |
I know that we don't normally sign these waivers that we may get hurt or die 01:01:26.740 |
And it's kind of nerve-wracking to get into a boat, a tiny little raft. 01:01:32.740 |
But we think, if they do this for a living, it can't be too bad. 01:01:36.740 |
But what we didn't realize was right before we got into that boat, 01:01:42.740 |
And so there was a lot of water that wasn't normal, 01:01:48.740 |
And so we got into the boat, and we were going down the raft, 01:01:56.740 |
"I can't believe they're letting beginners onto this raft," 01:01:59.740 |
because we had pictures where we're literally in the water, 01:02:03.740 |
and all you see is water around us because the raft was bent in half. 01:02:08.740 |
And so we were about an hour into it, and we pulled over to take a break. 01:02:12.740 |
And all of us who were there to have fun, we were a bit terrified. 01:02:24.740 |
And then that's when they explained to us, "Oh, yeah, this is not normal. 01:02:27.740 |
Usually it's pretty calm, and there's a couple places where it gets kind of hairy. 01:02:32.740 |
But because of El Nino, the whole place is like that, 01:02:38.740 |
Well, after we took a break, we got back onto the raft, 01:02:40.740 |
and then we turned a corner, and there was a huge rapid, 01:02:43.740 |
and we hit it so hard, one of the guys who was sitting next to me, he flew, 01:02:49.740 |
and he ended up hitting the instructor on the forehead, 01:02:51.740 |
and he ended up breaking his nose, and then the instructor had stitches, 01:02:55.740 |
so we had to pull over, and he had to be taken to the hospital, 01:03:04.740 |
They got a new instructor coming in, and so by that time, we're freaking out. 01:03:07.740 |
I was thinking, like, this is before we had kids, that, "Oh, I'm going to bring Esther here. 01:03:14.740 |
But after that, I said, "No, I'm not bringing Esther here. 01:03:20.740 |
We have about another 30 minutes, and it was just as hairy. 01:03:30.740 |
We're kind of at the tail end, and so we think, 01:03:33.740 |
"You know, we have maybe about 20 more minutes of this, 01:03:38.740 |
But right before we make this turn, our instructor pulls us over for no other reason. 01:03:45.740 |
It wasn't a lunch time, but no other reason other than to get us ready, right? 01:03:51.740 |
And she said, "Everything that you've experienced up to this point 01:03:55.740 |
was pretty elementary compared to what's coming." 01:04:01.740 |
Our instructor had to be changed because she had stitches. 01:04:03.740 |
One of our friends broke his nose, so he had to get out of the boat. 01:04:06.740 |
And you're saying that compared to what's coming, it was pretty easy. 01:04:15.740 |
And I could tell the instructor himself was starting to get anxious. 01:04:22.740 |
What's around this corner that this guy does this for a living? 01:04:25.740 |
And he's like, "There's some fear in his eyes." 01:04:28.740 |
So he said, "When we turn this corner, we hit this raft, 01:04:31.740 |
the waters are going to be pretty high, and once we get into it, 01:04:36.740 |
So if you fall into the water, typically their plan is they're going to throw a line 01:04:42.740 |
and then they're going to try to pull you back in, 01:04:44.740 |
or the next boat that comes will come and grab you and bring you back in." 01:04:49.740 |
But he said, "When we get into this, it's going to be so rough. 01:04:53.740 |
If you fall into the water, we're not going to be able to get you. 01:04:56.740 |
You're going to have to ride this out, you know, 01:04:59.740 |
and you're going to end up drinking some water and we'll see you at the end. 01:05:02.740 |
When it comes calm, then we'll bring you back into the water." 01:05:07.740 |
And he said, "The only way that we're going to be okay is if you do exactly what I tell you, 01:05:14.740 |
and when I tell you to throw the oar into the water, 01:05:17.740 |
you guys do it because the only leverage that we have"-- 01:05:20.740 |
again, this has become longer than I originally planned. 01:05:24.740 |
But he said that on the raft, if you've ever gone whitewater rafting, 01:05:28.740 |
they don't have anything to bind you into this boat just in case the boat flips 01:05:33.740 |
So the only way that you have any kind of leverage is through the oar into the water, 01:05:36.740 |
and that's the only way you can grab onto it. 01:05:39.740 |
So he said, "When I tell you to dig, you just dig and you stay in." 01:05:43.740 |
So we were all hyped up, we're ready to go, and we turned a corner, 01:05:47.740 |
and the water was so high we couldn't see on the other side of that. 01:05:51.740 |
So we're freaking out, our instructor's freaking out, we're going, okay, we're ready. 01:06:02.740 |
one of our friends, we turn around, just slips into the water. 01:06:06.740 |
So we're looking at each other like, "Oh, my gosh, we're not in the water yet, 01:06:12.740 |
So we're looking at each other, we're looking at the instructor, what should we do? 01:06:15.740 |
But as we're looking at each other, we're headed to this water. 01:06:18.740 |
So you can tell she's kind of hesitating, and then she says, "Forget him, 01:06:23.740 |
because if we try to bring him in and we hit the raft, we're all going to go in." 01:06:27.740 |
She said, "Let him be, and dig yourself into the water." 01:06:32.740 |
So as soon as he said that, we were ready, and we were ready to turn around, 01:06:36.740 |
and we hit the water, and when we hit the water, our boat went completely vertical. 01:06:41.740 |
And so half of our friends went into the water. 01:06:45.740 |
They happened to be in the very top, and I just yanked in, 01:06:48.740 |
and I hugged the water with my oar, and that's how I was able to stay in. 01:06:52.740 |
But once we got into it, he was right, we couldn't bring them back in. 01:06:56.740 |
We were so busy, just us trying to stay in the water, 01:07:06.740 |
So they were in the water, the next raft that was coming behind, 01:07:09.740 |
they couldn't pay any attention, so they--I forgot, it felt like a good minute 01:07:14.740 |
that we were going down this raft, and we couldn't pull them back into the water 01:07:18.740 |
We couldn't even see where they were because the raft was so high. 01:07:22.740 |
The reason why I share this story is because all of this is related 01:07:28.740 |
He said, "Whatever hardship that you felt up to this point, 01:07:31.740 |
whatever trouble or anxiousness or fear that you felt, 01:07:38.740 |
There's real danger for your life that's coming around this corner, 01:07:42.740 |
and if you don't pay attention to what I say, if you don't remain in me, 01:07:49.740 |
So as much as this is an instruction of how to bear fruit, 01:07:53.740 |
he's telling them that this only way that you're going to survive 01:08:02.740 |
The biggest danger of where you and I are is not burnout. 01:08:10.740 |
When I get tired and I don't want to teach anymore, 01:08:12.740 |
I don't want to serve anymore, I don't want to do this anymore, 01:08:18.740 |
The biggest problem where you and I live is not burnout. 01:08:21.740 |
It's being rusted out from lack of work, from lack of diligence, 01:08:26.740 |
from lack of exercising our spiritual muscles, 01:08:28.740 |
lack of holding fast the confession that we had at first. 01:08:33.740 |
So we get busy like everybody else does, not necessarily like we're deep 01:08:37.740 |
into sin, but just busy with life just like everybody else. 01:08:42.740 |
The next thing we know, we're not grounded, we're not anchored in Christ. 01:08:48.740 |
But you don't need to be anchored when there's no storm. 01:08:52.740 |
You don't need to be anchored when the waves are calm because you just kind of 01:08:55.740 |
sit there, you know, and you don't feel any real danger. 01:09:00.740 |
Then all of a sudden the storm comes and you lift your eyes and you realize 01:09:08.740 |
See, if we're not anchored in Christ, we don't feel a sense of urgency 01:09:22.740 |
I don't know about you, but the spiritual environment that we are in now 01:09:26.740 |
versus even just 30 or 40 years ago is night and day. 01:09:30.740 |
The hostility that is coming from even government officials toward 01:09:33.740 |
Christianity and churches have grown exponentially just in the last 10 years. 01:09:40.740 |
Persecution, if it's not already here, is coming. 01:09:44.740 |
And we don't realize how far we are until the storm comes. 01:09:55.740 |
And the only way that you're going to survive is if you hold fast. 01:10:00.740 |
I was looking up to see, you know, in BBC in England, they did a study in Europe 01:10:06.740 |
to see how many people die simply from lack of activity. 01:10:11.740 |
They said every year, 676,000 people die from lack of activity, 01:10:18.740 |
lack of activity that is related to heart disease, diabetes, 01:10:22.740 |
whatever it is that comes from lack of activity, just being sedentary life. 01:10:26.740 |
He said 676,000 people die from that every year. 01:10:33.740 |
So if you multiply that all throughout the world, 01:10:35.740 |
it's got a minimum at least double that number. 01:10:38.740 |
So over a million people die from lack of activity. 01:10:41.740 |
Right now, we're living in fear because of COVID-19. 01:10:45.740 |
Legitimately, this is a dangerous disease that we need to be careful about, 01:10:49.740 |
but 311,000 people around the whole world has died because of this. 01:10:55.740 |
See, the greatest danger in our world usually are not things that you can see clearly. 01:11:02.740 |
Usually, the things that destroy us and is most dangerous are things that we are not aware of, 01:11:09.740 |
that we just kind of are relaxed and just kind of let it flow and just kind of drift. 01:11:13.740 |
The next thing you know, when the storm comes, you're not anchored, and the boat flips, and you drown. 01:11:21.740 |
when we don't feel the sense of urgency is when we need to hold fast. 01:11:36.740 |
If we dwell, all of these ideas are connected, 01:11:39.740 |
but again, the specific nuance of this is to dwell with him, to continue with him, 01:11:48.740 |
Whenever we face troubles or trials, whether it's financial or spiritual, 01:11:53.740 |
our natural tendency is to rely on man, whether it's other men or ourselves. 01:11:59.740 |
Let's strategize. Let's have a meeting. Let's identify what the problem is. 01:12:04.740 |
Let's implement some new ideas. Let's organize a little bit differently. 01:12:08.740 |
Let's get some right people in the right place to do the right things. 01:12:11.740 |
And if we do it right, it'll fix the problem. That's usually our tendency. 01:12:16.740 |
When Jesus says, "If you don't abide in me, you cannot bear fruit," 01:12:20.740 |
human problems may be fixed with human ingenuity. 01:12:26.740 |
But the warfare that you and I are in is not against flesh and blood. 01:12:30.740 |
He makes it very clear. It is a spiritual battle. 01:12:34.740 |
So the only way that you and I can have success in a spiritual battle is to engage spiritually. 01:12:43.740 |
You must depend on me. Before we strategize, before we implement, 01:12:48.740 |
before we get the right people in the right place to do the right thing, 01:12:52.740 |
do we come to Christ? Is he our ultimate answer? 01:12:57.740 |
See, in Colossians 129, Paul describes his ministry this way, 01:13:06.740 |
Now if you stop right there, Paul was a hard worker. He persevered. 01:13:14.740 |
And yet he persevered. He is a man who was so committed. We need to be committed. 01:13:18.740 |
Which is all true. But if you miss the second part of what he says, 01:13:23.740 |
you can completely pervert what he's trying to say. 01:13:27.740 |
"For this purpose also I labor, striving according to his power, 01:13:35.740 |
Paul is saying he's able to do what he's doing 01:13:43.740 |
Because you cannot bear fruit unless we are abiding in him. 01:13:47.740 |
Paul is able to do what he is doing because God is doing what he is doing with him. 01:13:52.740 |
Ministry and preaching, leading small groups, 01:13:57.740 |
sharing the gospel, even just living our Christian life, 01:14:01.740 |
isn't simply applying and regurgitating things that we heard. 01:14:05.740 |
You know, I can give a sermon and I could, whatever the sermon is, 01:14:09.740 |
you can say, "Oh, I really like that. I was really challenged by that." 01:14:13.740 |
And then that's where it ends. That's where it ends. 01:14:25.740 |
It has no power to bear fruit because true fruit comes from true connection to the true vine. 01:14:35.740 |
"I'm able to strive because of the work that he's doing in me." 01:14:39.740 |
Philippians 2, 12-13, "So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, 01:14:43.740 |
not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, 01:14:47.740 |
work out your salvation with fear and trembling." 01:14:51.740 |
Again, Paul says, you need to, not only am I striving, 01:14:55.740 |
but you need to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. 01:14:59.740 |
And I get so many questions about that. What does it mean to work out your salvation? 01:15:03.740 |
What does it mean to have fear and trembling? 01:15:07.740 |
Am I supposed to live day to day in fear of God's judgment? 01:15:11.740 |
Am I supposed to strive and really work it out? 01:15:19.740 |
Especially if you've been walking with God for a while and you're faithfully attending Bible study, 01:15:25.740 |
you're sacrificing, you're giving, and you're doing what you're supposed to do, 01:15:29.740 |
and then he says, "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling." 01:15:33.740 |
Am I supposed to look at his judgment and live in fear? What does that mean? 01:15:37.740 |
Again, when you study the Bible, if you don't study it in the context of everything that he's saying, 01:15:43.740 |
you can easily pervert the meaning of what he's saying. 01:15:47.740 |
Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Verse 13, he says, 01:15:51.740 |
"For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." 01:15:59.740 |
You notice how he says, "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling"? 01:16:03.740 |
Because the reason why you're able to do that is because God is working in you. 01:16:09.740 |
God is already working in you for his own good pleasure. 01:16:13.740 |
In other words, he's not telling you something like, "Get your act together and do the right thing." 01:16:19.740 |
No. He said, "Allow the Holy Spirit to continue to do what he was given to do." 01:16:24.740 |
Don't quench the Holy Spirit. That's why Ephesians 5, 18, it says, 01:16:28.740 |
"Be filled with the Holy Spirit." Right? "Do not be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit." 01:16:34.740 |
Now, why does he compare being drunk with being filled with the Holy Spirit? 01:16:39.740 |
He said, "Do not be drunk with wine. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit." 01:16:43.740 |
So he's making a correlation between these two ideas. 01:16:46.740 |
Because being drunk, right? I have no idea what that feels like. 01:16:51.740 |
Some of you guys do. If you've ever been drunk, from what I've been told, 01:17:00.740 |
The alcohol gets into your system, and you say things and do things that you wouldn't normally. 01:17:08.740 |
And it's not, "Oh, that's not him." No, it's you. 01:17:14.740 |
And somebody who's normally quiet can become very loud. 01:17:17.740 |
Somebody who's very loud can become very quiet. 01:17:19.740 |
Somebody who doesn't normally share, all of a sudden they share all these things. 01:17:22.740 |
And that's why in a lot of social settings, people drink first, so that they can be loose. 01:17:28.740 |
There's a reason why he's comparing, "Do not be drunk with wine." 01:17:36.740 |
Anything else outside of the influence of the Holy Spirit is like being drunk with wine. 01:17:40.740 |
If you are influenced by the world and world's ideologies and principles, 01:17:46.740 |
if you are chasing after money and the lust of money, 01:17:49.740 |
if you're chasing after influence, if you're chasing after acknowledgement, 01:17:54.740 |
whatever it is that is not God, it's like being drunk with wine. 01:18:03.740 |
It's influencing what is right, influencing your words. 01:18:06.740 |
He says, "Do not be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit." 01:18:10.740 |
You know what's interesting about being filled? 01:18:13.740 |
The word "filled," "pleru," is in the present passive imperative. 01:18:21.740 |
What's interesting about that, imperative means it's a command. 01:18:25.740 |
So he says, "Sit down." It means you take your body and you put it onto the chair. 01:18:34.740 |
Passive voice basically means to let yourself, you receive the action. 01:18:40.740 |
So, oftentimes when you hear the word "imperative," 01:18:44.740 |
you would think he's telling you to do, you actively do something. 01:18:48.740 |
But because it's in the passive voice, he's saying, 01:18:51.740 |
you actively receive the action of the Holy Spirit. 01:19:01.740 |
he's saying that the Holy Spirit has already been given you 01:19:08.740 |
He was given to you as a seal, as a guarantee, as a deposit, 01:19:17.740 |
And then he said, "The Holy Spirit was given to you 01:19:19.740 |
so that He may intercede and groan with words that you cannot understand, 01:19:24.740 |
so that He may continue to intercede on your behalf." 01:19:27.740 |
So the Holy Spirit is actively working in you. 01:19:30.740 |
There is no Christian where the Holy Spirit isn't working. 01:19:34.740 |
If the Holy Spirit is not indwelling in you, you are not a Christian. 01:19:38.740 |
So when he says to be filled, present, passive, imperative, 01:19:43.740 |
he's saying live in such a way that the Holy Spirit can take full control over your life. 01:19:50.740 |
It's not to like, okay, raise your hand a certain way, 01:19:52.740 |
or if you sing louder, or if you sing more emotional music, 01:19:56.740 |
or if you do certain things, the Holy Spirit is going to come 01:20:00.740 |
He says, "No, the Holy Spirit is already working. 01:20:05.740 |
That's why the Bible talks about not to quench the Spirit, 01:20:10.740 |
In other words, the Holy Spirit is already working in you. 01:20:15.740 |
Do not do and go and do certain things that the Holy Spirit is being resistant. 01:20:20.740 |
And it's in the present tense, meaning to continue. 01:20:23.740 |
It is not something that happens at justification alone, 01:20:26.740 |
but an ongoing, constant work of allowing the Holy Spirit to influence you. 01:20:34.740 |
That's why, again, to remain in Christ is to completely depend upon Christ. 01:20:42.740 |
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you." 01:20:49.740 |
Not when you have memorized enough Scripture, 01:20:51.740 |
although all of these things are good things, 01:20:57.740 |
not because you're older and you have a lot of experience, 01:21:03.740 |
He says the power is going to come upon you when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. 01:21:09.740 |
Humanly speaking, if the task was given to us, 01:21:14.740 |
Jesus Christ was crucified, He's resurrected, 01:21:17.740 |
and this is the most important message that the world will ever hear. 01:21:22.740 |
The consequence of the word not going out is people are going to go to hell. 01:21:32.740 |
There's no greater task than the task that was given to the disciples. 01:21:41.740 |
Jesus says, "I've done my part. Now you guys figure this out." 01:21:45.740 |
I would imagine there would be a great Bible conference that takes place 01:21:51.740 |
with all the top theologians, all the professors, 01:21:55.740 |
all the people who wrote the best systematic theology books, 01:21:58.740 |
all the people who have the largest churches. 01:22:01.740 |
They would get together, and they would have a huge meeting. 01:22:08.740 |
Well, we need to have the right people, like who has the influence. 01:22:11.740 |
We have a senator who's among us. Maybe we can use him. 01:22:16.740 |
We can use his influence and get his money to back our mission work. 01:22:20.740 |
We have all of these things, and none of it in and of itself may be wrong. 01:22:26.740 |
But Jesus was not asking the disciples to do that. 01:22:31.740 |
Jesus didn't call these fishermen, tax collectors, 01:22:35.740 |
these guys who are easily divided, saying, "I want to be better than this guy. 01:22:38.740 |
These guys are going to fail you, but I won't." 01:22:44.740 |
They were not the most educated. They were not the most influential. 01:22:47.740 |
In fact, they just failed miserably, the biggest test in their life. 01:22:52.740 |
And you're going to instruct them to go make disciples? Come on. 01:22:57.740 |
I know you're sovereign, but clearly you don't see what we see. 01:23:02.740 |
He didn't entrust it to his disciples. He didn't. 01:23:07.740 |
He entrusted it to the Holy Spirit through the disciples. 01:23:13.740 |
Because the point that Jesus was trying to make is the same point 01:23:16.740 |
that God has been trying to make through history. 01:23:22.740 |
When the Pharisees said, "Hey, stop them from yelling out, 'Hosanna, Hosanna!'" 01:23:27.740 |
And he says, "If they don't yell out, the rocks will cry out." 01:23:38.740 |
That they would look at these untrained men, uneducated men, 01:23:43.740 |
when they see the power coming through them through their preaching and through their working, 01:23:47.740 |
that people may look at them and say, "These were uneducated men. These were just fishermen." 01:23:54.740 |
In other words, they were clearly remaining in Christ. 01:24:00.740 |
That's why he says before he sends them out, "Wait, because when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, 01:24:05.740 |
you will be my disciple. You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, 01:24:15.740 |
He says, "When the Holy Spirit comes, this is going to happen." 01:24:18.740 |
So he wasn't entrusting it to them. He was entrusting it to the Holy Spirit. 01:24:22.740 |
And he tells us to remain in the Spirit, to continue in the Spirit. 01:24:28.740 |
Again, in Psalm 37, 4, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. 01:24:33.740 |
Commit your way to the Lord. Trust also in Him, and He will do it." 01:24:40.740 |
"He will bring forth your righteousness as a light, and your judgment as the noon day." 01:24:49.740 |
At the end of all of this, at the end of all these instructions about continuing the promise of the Holy Spirit 01:24:56.740 |
and bearing fruit by remaining, he says, "The reason why you need to do all of this, 01:25:01.740 |
John 15, 7, 'If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, 01:25:07.740 |
ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.'" 01:25:16.740 |
the reason why you're going to bear fruit is because you're going to be able to pray more effectively. 01:25:22.740 |
John 15, 16, "You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, 01:25:26.740 |
that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit will remain, 01:25:30.740 |
so that whatever you ask of the Father in my name, He may give to you." 01:25:35.740 |
In other words, why do you need to bear fruit? So that you may be able to pray more effectively. 01:25:43.740 |
"In that day you will not question me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, 01:25:47.740 |
if you ask the Father for anything in my name, He will give it to you. 01:25:52.740 |
Until now you have asked for nothing in my name. 01:25:55.740 |
Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full." 01:26:00.740 |
In other words, the primary gift that God has given us for the purpose of bearing fruit is Himself. 01:26:10.740 |
And the benefit of bearing fruit and abiding in Him 01:26:14.740 |
is that we may have effective prayer, have more of Him. 01:26:21.740 |
Isn't that crazy? And that's why He says in verse 2, 01:26:25.740 |
"Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, He takes away. 01:26:28.740 |
And every branch that bears fruit, He prunes so that it may bear more fruit." 01:26:33.740 |
So you notice here, He says, "Bear fruit, that you may bear more fruit, 01:26:39.740 |
And that's exactly how a living plant is described. 01:26:44.740 |
The fourth seed, that He multiplies His fruit 30, 60, 100-fold. 01:26:52.740 |
How much of our joy comes from knowing and experiencing this fruit in our lives? 01:26:57.740 |
Because we have learned the secret of being content is to remain in Christ. 01:27:04.740 |
Think about all the things that we are concerned about today. 01:27:07.740 |
All the problems that we need to fix, whether it's relational, 01:27:16.740 |
Think about how easily we run to human means. 01:27:21.740 |
And thinking that, you know, we get that done, then we can do some prayer. 01:27:24.740 |
But I don't have time to pray until I've done my part. 01:27:27.740 |
No. He said, "You can't do your part until we first learn to abide in Christ." 01:27:34.740 |
So again, my prayer is that this unique period of time that God has given us, 01:27:39.740 |
that before we run to anything else, that we carefully examine where we're at. 01:27:48.740 |
Are we dwelling in Christ? Are we continuing in Christ? 01:27:53.740 |
And I pray that as we pursue Christ with all our hearts, 01:27:58.740 |
that we may truly bear fruit 30, 60, 100 fold. 01:28:04.740 |
Gracious and loving Father, we ask for your continued blessing. 01:28:10.740 |
We pray, Father God, that however long that we may be in this situation, 01:28:16.740 |
that we would not waste this time that you've given us. 01:28:22.740 |
If we have drifted, help us to see where we're at. 01:28:26.740 |
That we may remember the height from which we have fallen 01:28:29.740 |
and repent and redo the things that you've given us. 01:28:33.740 |
So we pray, Father God, that you would bless our homes, 01:28:35.740 |
bless the moms and dads who are busy taking care of their children. 01:28:39.740 |
Bless our children that the time that they spend with their parents may be fruitful as well. 01:28:44.740 |
We pray for our workers, especially our health workers, Lord God, 01:28:47.740 |
who are on the front line, that you would protect them and keep them safe. 01:28:50.740 |
Help them to be a good witness, Lord God, and not to be overwhelmed by anxiousness. 01:28:55.740 |
But to really use that time, Father God, to show that our fear, our hope, our joy is unlike the world. 01:29:03.740 |
So we ask, Lord God, that all of this ultimately lead to greater glory, 01:29:07.740 |
greater salvation, and greater revival in the church. 01:33:29.740 |
Today I want to conclude our worship with a benediction from God's word 01:33:38.740 |
It says, "For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said, 01:33:42.740 |
'I will dwell in them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 01:33:48.740 |
Therefore come out from among their midst and be separate,' says the Lord, 01:33:52.740 |
'and do not touch what is unclean, and I will welcome you. 01:33:56.740 |
And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me,' says the Lord Almighty." 01:34:02.740 |
I pray that the Lord's peace be upon you and your household for the rest of this week and forevermore. Amen.