Keep My Commands

IF YOU LOVE ME, OBEY!!!

Why???

John 14:15–17 ESV

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

1. Do you really love Jesus/God?

How do you show it?

- Do you participate in church or some other activity that takes you away on Sunday?

Do you stand up for his commands or do you go along with the crowd?

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil.”

“Not to speak is to speak.”

“Not to act is to act.”

“God will not hold us guiltless.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“If you do not speak you are not being neutral, but you are contributing to the success of the thing you refuse to name and condemn.”

Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann

2. If we love Jesus/God we must stand for our belief.

Faith without works is dead.

James 2:14–26 “14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness…”

If you believe, OBEY!

Feed the hungry

Comfort the hurting

Go to church…wherever you are.

Have a day of rest—Sabath

Stand against wrong

Abortion, murder, theft, lying, homosexuality, living together before marriage…

Why, because help is on the way!

Ever wonder why Jesus had to leave the earth, other than being a master carpenter and building a room for me?

He left so the Holy Spirit could come.

Let’s use logic for a minute. Are we limited by our location?

Was Jesus limited by location? Yes, as long as he was in physical form. As the Holy Spirit, another person in the Trinity, He is everywhere and empowers us to do everything. As the Holy Spirit he is not limited by physical location. I can use a lot of different examples where he shows this.

IT BLOWS MY MIND TO THINK ABOUT IT.

Can I give you more good news?

The Holy Spirit is an Advocate

What is an advocate?

a. defends or maintains, b. supports or promotes, c. pleads the cause of another. The Holy Spirit is all 3.

Jesus sent! The Holy Spirit is a; Helper, truth, you know Him and He lives in you.

Is that different than when Jesus was speaking?

Yes!

Then the Holy Spirit was with, now He is in. With or in, what is better?

You are not an orphan!

Your Father knows your name!

He adopted you as his child!

John 14:18–20 ESV

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

My children are not orphans. Let me tell you a little about my kids.

Jesus had to go away.

The world would not see Him any more, but we see Him.

How?

Jesus lives in us, like he lived in the disciples. Jesus is the son, is the Father, is the Holy Spirit and yet he is separate.

I hope you like brain twisters. I have been puzzling over this for years. I am getting closer, but i still don’t get it 100%

Jesus is in the Father

We are in Jesus

Jesus is in us

Part 2: I will not leave you alone

John 14:21 (ESV)

21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

If you love Jesus, then the Father loves you.

Jesus loves you regardless. If you love him and he loves you then he will show himself to you (Manifest).

How cool is that?

If we don’t love Jesus

We won’t do what he said

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. For every standard there is an opposite. For every action there is a response.

Good = good, bad = bad.

God is not the sweet grandfatherly type when we sin. He is the judge and he brings justice. The problem is we don’t always see justice in our timeframe. We want it now, but God has a reason and brings it in his timing, not ours.

What is your choice?

Your choice is life or death, good or evil, with God in paradise or completely separated from him and everyone you love.

What is your choice. If you want to talk about it see me after service. I will take all the time you need.

Let’s pray.