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Our theme for 2022 is “Begin Again”
This series is called, “Believe Again”
You may have already believed the gospel, but it is time to believe again.
We began with “Believe in Jesus”
Then we talked about believing in spiritual reality.
We talked about how an encounter with Jesus leads to transformation, living in both realities.
We talked about life - remember the great circle of life - God’s life in us and flowing through us?
We talked about light and how light displaces darkness and exposes what is hidden.
We talked about truth and freedom.
- that knowing the truth about God and about yourself sets you free from guilt and condemnation.
We talked about how Jesus shows us the Father as a Good Shepherd who loves us and who has a plan to redeem us.
Last week we talked about God’s power and how true power is the opposite of what most people think it is.
God’s power is available to us if we believe and obey.
That’s right, the key to operating in God’s power is obedience.
You probably wanted something quick and easy, but obedience takes time.
This week is about believing and abiding.
Abiding is not something that you do quickly - abiding takes time.
We are going to be covering four chapters today - it’s going to take some time.
The Eagles kickoff at 1 pm today.
I will try to have you out by then.
All four of these chapters are part of the “upper room discourse.”
These are the things that Jesus said to his disciples in the upper room at the last supper.
In a sense, they are the most important instructions of Jesus,
because he knew he was going to the cross.
and he wanted to prepare his disciples for what was about to happen.
Believing is not just a “one and done” thing.
So you prayed a prayer once - that’s great!
But what have you done since?
Maybe you were baptized or dedicated as a baby?
Wonderful!
But didn’t they also promise to raise you as a follower of Christ?
Maybe there was a time in your life where you were really on fire for God?
But then life happened, maybe there was hardship and disappointment.
You feel like God abandoned you.
But God is still there, just waiting for you to return to Him.
Believing and abiding is living with and living in the reality of believing.
It is bringing God’s reality into your reality.
Making believing in Jesus part of your everyday life.
What does it mean to abide?
To abide is to do something consistently - like to abide by a decision.
It is to be patient and tolerant.
-like to abide a person or situation.
It is related to the word “abode” which means to live consistently in a place.
Each year I take a personal retreat where I reflect on the past year and set goals for the coming year.
I use a format for reflection that comes from Keith Yoder’s book on “Planning your Sabbatical.”
It began with my sabbatical in 2015 and I have kept a journal ever since.
One of the questions is: “In what characteristics of God shall I abide?”
It helps me to think deeply and clearly about what God saying and how I am being conformed to His image.
What aspects of God’s character am I consistently reading in scripture?
How is the Spirit consistently reminding me?
What am I meditating on so that it works into my character?
I think that it helps to think of abiding as “settling down” like when you know you are going to be living somewhere for a while, so you make it your home.
The first thing you do is make yourself comfortable.
Whether you live in a mansion or a cardboard box, the first thing you are going to do is try to make the place warm and cozy.
The next thing is to find food.
What are you going to eat?
Karie is always thinking about the next meal - or the next week of meals.
I guess because she is usually thinking about this, I usually don’t.
Food just magically appears!
The other thing that you would think about is how to pass your time.
I usually take a book if I know I am going to have time to pass.
Some people entertain themselves with music or movies.
If you are going to believe and abide, you will need to answer these questions:
What gives you comfort? - Abide in love.
What do you feed on?
- Abide in hope.
How should you spend your time? - Abide in joy.
These are the characteristics of God in which you should abide.
Abide in Love.
When it comes down to comfort and human thriving, love is the most important ingredient.
I know that when we think about comfort, we usually think of warmth and shelter from the elements, but isn’t love all of that and more?
Can you imagine living without love?
Maybe you have tried it?
You can have every human comfort, but if there is no love, it’s uncomfortable!
So what is love?
What did Jesus do that was such an important demonstration of love?
Love is serving.
Jesus washed His disciples feet.
He took the role of a servant even though he deserved their honor, he honored them.
And then he says that a serving does not make you greater than the one you are serving.
Why did he do it then, if he is not establishing a “pecking order.”
Christian’s, nowadays, sometimes use their humility to “shame” other Christians.
Jesus is truly loving His disciples.
By washing their feet, He is genuinely honoring each of them.
“I see God in you,” that is why I serve you.
Love recognizes and calls people to their identity as sons and daughters of God.
Love is releasing.
OK.
So not everyone there was a godly character.
When Jesus chose Judas, he was no better or worse than the rest of them.
We read about Judas knowing how it ended with him, but the disciples didn’t know - he was just like the rest of them.
I’m sure Jesus would have liked to change the outcome for Judas - Jesus loved him too!
When you love someone, you have to let them go.
Controlling a person, no matter how good your intentions, is not loving them.
It’s not letting them be who they are - even if who they are is not what you want them to be.
Holding people to our vision of what we want them to be is usually, only driving them away.
Releasing them means that there is a chance that they come back - willingly.
Jesus made a gesture to let Peter ( and Judas) know that he knew exactly what was about to go down.
But he let it happen, because he knew that Judas had chosen the path of trying to control the outcome and he wasn’t going to try to control Judas.
It would lead to his tragic death on the cross, but that was also the plan all along.
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