May 22, 2016 - Friends With God

So as you take your seat, I'd like to read from John 15 the passage from which our sermon will come this morning. I'm working cluding a series of sermons over the past weeks on friendship with God. And so I want to remind us of this passage in John 15 from the NIV verses 1 through 8. Jesus speaking to his disciples in his last time with them. I am the True Vine and my father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit while every branch that does not bear fruit. He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You're already clean because of the word I have spoken to you remain in me and I will remain in you know Branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine. Neither. Can you bear fruit unless you remain in me? I am the vine you are the branches if a person remains in me and I in them they will bear much fruit apart from me. You can do nothing if anyone does not remain in me. He is like a branch that is thrown away and Withers such branches are picked up thrown into the fire and burned if you remain in me and my words remain in you ask whatever you wish and it will be giving you this is to my father's Glory that you bear much fruit showing yourself to be my disciples. As the father has loved me. So I have loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love just as I have obeyed my father's commands and remain in his love. I told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this love each other as I have loved you greater love has no one than this that he lays down his life for his friends. You are my friends. If you do what I command, I no longer call you servants because a servant does not know his master's business instead. I've called you friends for everything that I've learned from my father. I have made known to you. Now we've been talking about friendship with God during this series and especially drawing from this passage that Jesus teaches on Vines and branches and fundamentally. We've said the mechanics of friendship apply to our relationship with Jesus and so the mechanics that we understand in regular everyday friendships, Jesus uses that illustration of friendship to talk about our relationship with him. So the idea of spending time with someone and increasing and building trust between ourselves and that other person those are fundamental elements of building a friendship making their friendship stronger and greater and those fundamental principles transfer to our relationship with God through Jesus Christ spending time with Jesus in the word of God, especially in the gospels and looking at the Life of Christ learning about Christ and his character learning more about him being shaped by that knowledge learning to trust him more increasing our trust because we see his character and his example Play it again and again in the scriptures. And so the more we spend time and the more we build that trust the greater. Our friendship is between ourselves and God through Jesus. But there's also also something very unique about being friends with God. There's also a very different aspect of being friends with God because it's not the same as Mitch and I being friends we are peers when I'm friends with God through Christ. Guess what? I'm not appear with God in that friendship and Jesus continues to unpack that that Dynamic when he says, Read my clicker to work here properly. He continues to unpack that Dynamic when he says look I am the vine and we you and I disciples are the branches and God is the gardener. And so there's a difference in the friendship in that Jesus has everything that we need. He has Superior knowledge and Divinity and righteousness until we are dependent on him. We are like Vines to a branch we must be connected to him in order to bear fruit. We can't bear fruit on our own you see that unique distinction. We're not peers and so we can't just say that's okay Jesus. I'll have a fruitful life on my own he say no you don't understand. I'm willing to be friends with you and we will be friends and it will all be about time and trust and building that friendship, but it will be unique in this sense. I'm the vine and you guys are the branches and God is the gardener and so as a Vine connected to branches. You must stay connected to me in order to bear fruit. He's not being mean or bought. Or dismissive about who we are. He's talking about a fundamental reality a Vine or Branch cannot bear fruit unless it's connected to the vine. And so he's telling us this fundamental reality. You can not bear fruit in your life and knowing god and being who you were designed to be unless you are connected to me unless you abide in me and so was unpacking that crucial element of our friendship with him and we talked about these principles from really walk through the Bible teaches you where I got a lot of this wears Wilkerson and you can get a lot of his teaching from walk to the Bible. He's probably talking books until you can pick up his books and find Excellent stuff that I'm packed this but he points out the obvious truth In this passage feel like his language if your life consistently Bears no fruit. God will intervene to discipline you as well. This is the idea of God turning us away from sin. And that's a fundamental principle in scripture. Look when we give our life to Christ. We are giving our life. the Christ when we make that decision and we get baptized we're saying Lord. I want you to be Lord and Savior and master of my life when we make that decision. We are pre making a million other decisions. You see that logic when were saying I will follow you no turning back bow. None go with me. I will follow you if we're making all these other decisions for the rest of our life and to be honest sometimes I know this from personal experience. So here this not saying at the end of you but if it applies to you then then take it and apply it sometimes I am very selfish and stubborn and sometimes I so push against price having his way in my life, especially when he's dying to myself and not embracing my pride not embracing getting my own way not embracing the idea of being offended and saying how dare that person do this and they should have done this and suddenly I'm I'm living out of my own self and it's a way of pushing Christ away, even though in my heart I said, I want you as Lord and Master of my life sometimes my own stubbornness and my own selfishness creates this path that I'm on that requires God the father if he's going to honor what I've told him is my deepest heart squished that I followed him as a disciple that requires him to allow failure in my life. So that I might truly turn back to him.

Can anyone here relate to that? Sometimes I push so against the very thing that I've told God that I want it really is still what I want in my heart more than anything else but my flesh and my struggle in my ego and the culture and I live in that teaches me to be expensive and stand up offended easily and stand up for myself and all these sorts. I think they just get in my life in such a way that sometimes I'm I invite the pruning and the conviction because of the way I'm living my life and still every night. I said to Lord help me follow you better tomorrow and he says well, okay you asked for it, you know. And so I have the struggles in my life at almost mandate that God allow me to fail. When your when your checking account is full of money, you very seldom go to God on your knees and say Lord. I need your help. I don't know how I'm going to pay the bill this month, you know, sometimes he might allow us to have hardships so that we go to our knees and say Lord. I need you. Sometimes he might allow the doctor to sit down on a table across from us and give us a bad news.

Because we said in our heart Lord. I want you more than anything and then our own selfishness and stubbornness have treasured other things more than God and sometimes he doesn't cause it don't miss hear me. He's not the cause of those things the other times in which he allows those things because I've told him in my heart. I want to follow you Lord. I really mean that and sometimes he has to allow hardships in my life to get me a wake up and say God I need you. I'm not the captain of my own ship. I'm not in control of my destiny. I'm worried about my health. I'm worried about my finances. I'm worried about all these different thing and suddenly it calls me back to him. Because if we've given our life to Christ we said I want you more than sin. I want you more than my own selfishness. And so we've given him permission to work in our life and lead us in that direction. So sometimes he's calling us away from sin from from selfishness and stubbornness that pulls us away from him. Also, if your life bear some fruit God will intervene to prune so you can be on a path where you're basically following God in a good way and you're feeling good about it and there could still be things that come into your life. He's a really Lord. I'm half way. I know I'm not perfect. I'm aware. But I'm I'm striving to be a good person. Why is this on my plate and we can get into this false idea that the goal of Life. The goler following God's is for him to rain for our lives to be pretty darn good by our own standards. And so we think wait a minute. I'm following you. Why should I have this career trauma in the middle of my life. I'm doing pretty good told you why should my kids My heart in the way, they behave and I've been faithful and I've raised them up in the church. Why should this be on my my plate and there's time to which even when we're bearing fruit, he will step in their life and and prune in order that we might bear more fruit. He will allow us to go through a career trauma or to pray earnestly for friends or family or loved one because he sees the potential in us to expand even more of our hearts and our life to depend upon him and to beer more fruit because the ultimate goal in our life is being who God created us to be not to have a life without Challenger obstacle. Look at the Life of Christ. Why is his life absent a hardship? Was his life absent of obstacle. No, but he kept trusting the father. And that sort of trust produced a life in him. That's greater than anything we could ever imagine a life that can be snuffed out on a cross and still rises up out of the Grave alive. And that's the kind of life that God wants to carve into our hearts. What a gift. Don't settle for less. I mean Lord save us from a life absence of obstacles. Amen, or save me from my own prayers at my own wishes that I would just live fat dumb and happy from cradle-to-grave. Sometimes we just wish y'all. Can I just slide through and not have these hardships Lord save us from our own selves our own tiny prayers her own tiny Ambitions and father. Okay, then I just how life that cannot be killed created us eternal life now so that the grave itself will not hold us down as we sang that song I Will Rise I will write I thought of my dad. Who spent the last six months of his life on his back unable to even physically stand up, but the day for him is a day when he arrived because of Christ Jesus. I thought I don't have this physical pain too long for that day to pass but I have other pain in my life. I have the pain of my own send I have the the pain of my own easily being offended and the pain of the way in which I've offended others. I have all kinds of pain in my life. You don't have to be full of physical pain in order to appreciate that day that will come when God will wipe away all pain. I'll send all tears and we will rise. And what he wants to do in our lives now is to begin to give us a taste of that resurrected life. So that right now our life can be less full of sin and pain and hardship and more full of price lightning and more full of trust in him and more full of the joy that he wants to give to us so that our joy could be complete. Hebrews talks about it. This way says look our parents trained us for a little while and they did what they thought was best. But God trains us for our good he does this so that we may share in his Holiness. That's the goal. He's moving toward.

I got face it to get it to go. The song that says it this way in this song is in the context of Israel tracing its history, even when it went into captivity, but they still had the inside the song has been this song to say even in the midst of all that hardship Lord what was going on you have tested you have examined dust in your purified over find us like silver removing the drawers. Even the song has had that inside of what God was doing even in the midst of hardship evening in allowing Israel to go into captivity. Did that feel like the blessed life Israel that they feel like will clearly we are the people of God and he is smiling upon us. His Providence is upon us. He's marking us out as his people. Did they feel that way as they were being drugged off and changed to be slaves?

but that Remnant trusted God we trust you more than ourselves. We trust you more than our own understanding. And the psalmist inspires the inside of inside cuz they got we realize what was going on. You were testing us you or refining us you were purifying us. When you give your life to Christ. You give him your heart your mind your body or Soul your children your life your career. You give him everything and you say Lord, you know better than I do do with it. What brings you glory? I want to live a life that will bring the father glorious that will bear much fruit until you give him permission. The discipline you to turn you away from since you give him permission to prune your life so that you can bear more fruit and the challenges to understand these truths that Jesus is teaching a class and to apply them in the way. We follow the goal that God is always working toward in our lives the fruit that he wants to bear his christlikeness. Jesus said it himself and Luke 6:40. He said look when a disciple is mature and complete they will be like their master. Cancel the Christian who is a good Christian to use language that was used as someone who is like Christ in their character and their behavior. They resemble Christ the things that you see Christ doing the gospel the way you see him treat people the way you see him sacrifice for others the way you see him put himself last. Those are the marks of a Christian. If you are a mature disciple, you will be like the master Paul says the same thing at First Corinthians 11, follow me as I follow Christ 1st, Peter 2 says the same thing that Christ left us an example that we should follow in his steps and Ephesians 4 says the whole purpose of the Church of all the gifts of the Church of all the offices of the church is that we may present everyone completes or mature in Christ Jesus. That's different than completing. Everyone satisfied or happy with their Church.

right And I'm as guilty as anybody I like my job. I like drawing a paycheck. I like paying my bills every month. I don't like stress or anxiety. And so it's so easy to slip into the American mindset that what we do in the church is the leaders are the organization and you guys are the customers and our goal is to achieve good customer service and to our goal is to consistently interact in such a way that everyone out there says thumbs-up good job, you're doing it just the way I like it. You know that that last Sunday we had a guest preacher and I had some people come to me and said that was awesome. Thank you so much for having a guest. That was really great.

Oh, we will have special music at the beginning of service and I'll have some people come to me say those also require so much more.

Let me just tell you right now there is no pleasing everyone. It in and I'm not picking on you guys. It's a human thing. Anybody who's worked in any organization on the face of the Earth realizes there's just no way there's just no way so then you end up getting in this dilemma. We say well who we please

I mean do I worry about people you know, I think I think Gary's kind of tough. He could take me to one-on-one. You know, he he works out. So I got to make sure I please the guys that I think could physically, whup me in a fight. You know, that's a joke. not know you could whoop me it's a joke that I I once visited someone at a church at the behest of the Elders of the church. I was pastor of they said that was a young Pastor. I was a sucker they suck. They said yeah, we think he's the one that circulated this letter. Will you need to go to him? He was a deacon of the church you need to go to him and just ask politely if he's the one and if so, we'll address it was a controversial thing will address this with him answers questions that I tried to be polite respectful step outside. We stepped outside in the driveway cuz it won't speak to him in front of his family. And I said, hey the elders asked me to ask you if you were the one who circulated this letter recently. Some people have told him that we could be I was very flat we could be completely and all you have to do is say know what me and I'll take your word for it and it'll be the end of the discussion. He said and I'm not going to quote him completely because it would be bleeped out of TV. He said I will whoop your right here in this driveway. I said and I said are you serious? He said yes, he was so angry that I even dared to ask him that question. I said are you serious? I said the new preacher at the church and a deacon in the church rolling around the driveway here. What kind of witness is that for the neighborhood? I said look if you were that upset about this you can speak directly to the elders and I'll honor whatever it is. They conclude without any hesitation. He spoke with the elders use the same language and to their credit. They said you're done you're done and there is a time and which appropriate to discipline and rebuked but do you make those kind of things? Will it make sure we please the people who are physically threatening to us, or maybe we say, well, I know that you know John over here, he's got a lot of money and even John really wished it was that was a darker shade of blue or he wished. We started 2 minutes earlier or finished 15 minutes later. And so suddenly you're saying but that poop up and I'll jump right through that hoop.

on Judgement Day when we stand before the Lord, who do you think he's going to ask us if we pleased

do you think it's going to say did you please Robbie your pastor and he can be finicky. Sometimes a little bit the man is going to let you go. Will you but did you please him was he happy with you to think he's going to name certain members of the church or the elders. Did you please the elders did you do what the elders want to do? Do you think that's what he's going to ask us? We're told in Scripture that we were saying for him. He's going to ask us about expanding the gospel to The Loft. He's going to ask us about leading others to be christ-like. That's the standard to which were hell. Did you lead others to know me? And did you leave those who already knew me to be more like me to follow me as disciples. That's the standard the boys so easy to slip off that standard and we have to realize the ultimate goal clear as can be from Genesis to Revelation is that God would shape up people into the image of Christ. Amen. That's the purpose of the church to gather together and to grow together in Christ likeness of the we reflect the revealed character of God to a lost world to our prodigal brothers and sisters who are going to Hell Without Christ. Could there be anything any any more important that we do with our time and energy be on reflecting the character of God to those you're going to hell without knowing him? Well, you know, I think that me being please right now for a short season a temporary time be getting things the way I want is more important than person bees eternity. Well, you're wrong.

Can I bear to deny myself enough to live in this lifetime as somebody who saved and going to heaven food salvation is secure should I give up my temporary desires and needs in order to advance the gospel? If a church is going to win this to this world, we have got to stop being about our self. We've got to exist for our Lord and savior whose heart is broken for those who don't know him. Jesus made it clear if he leaves the 99 to find the one could that be any more clear and we constantly say no no stay back here at the 99. Don't be spending your time and energy on that one. What about what I want.

Pep Boys Florence hard and I just feel to have it is anyways, I'm not just trying to fuss at you. I make the same bad decisions over and over and over now. I got to worry about this and I'm worried about that. Maybe I should just do it this way. This would be less controversial this might work, but then it might not work until I leave with the same sort of self-preserving not blaming anybody else. It's nobody's fault, but mine. Okay, when I worry and I make decisions based on anxiety and fear and consequences as opposed to decisions based on faith in Jesus that's on me. And I say that to say I can relate to how easy it is to Simply slip into living your life and we get saved, I want to be really bad right now only get saved but I like pretty much everything else the way I like it. And I like security and I like the absence of anxiety. And so it's self-serving when I make decisions say when we better do what the people want. We better make sure we don't Fender isolator. So suddenly Jesus isn't part of the equation anymore. I didn't think about that for a moment are there churches that live and function and make decisions and Jesus is not part of the equation.

I mean there are because are there times in your life when you live in function and make decisions and Jesus is not part of the equation. When you're just worried about your career or your finances or your children, and it never even occurred to you to bring Jesus into the equation, you just like I just got solve this problem. I got to fix my finances. I got to fix my children. I got to stall about solution then later. We thought you know, I never really sat down and prayed earnestly about that. I never really sat down and said Lord. Wait a minute. What is your will in this area? Maybe my career is going the way it is because you want to see if I love you more than my career.

Maybe you want a moment my life when I sat down and I said Lord guess what career family personal preferences. All of it is on the Altar for you. God might be waiting to do so many amazing things in our life. Just waiting for us to make it clear to him that he is truly Lord of all. He might be waiting to pack these pews full to the max with people who need to know him when we make it clear to him in our hearts that are lost prodigal brothers and sisters. Are more important to us than us. That would be like Christ when it that would be a disciple who becomes like Christ who gave his life up for us. We would give our lives up for others. Priceline this is the ultimate goal of Christianity is not Alta me about restriction, but about Edition 2 and expansion of our very Souls hearts and lives here that It is a false gospel went when you get handed a gospel that says will Christianity is all about don't don't do this and don't do that. It's all about these restrictions young people especially hear me. It's a lie that the adversary magnifies in your ears more than anyone else is that if you're going to be a Christian and you're going to follow Christ and you're going to follow Christianity, it's all about embracing this list of restrictions. If I'm going to be a Christian, I can't do this. I can't do that. As long as I don't do certain things then I'm good. It is about so much more. Amen. The restrictions are just the very beginning of your walk with Christ and they're only focused on getting things out of your way that are a distraction so that you can make room and you can welcome to the greatness of the kingdom of God into your heart the greatest of Christ likeness in your heart. He wants you to get something so that he can bring you this much greater gift. You want you to cast out the 7 demons. Jesus isn't so that you can feel your house was so much more he wants you to get rid of your own self was just so that the very presence of in your heart he wants to give you more than you could ever imagine and do more through you think you could ever imagine and so do not believe the adversaries life and forgive us when we repeat that life that makes you think that Christianity is all about restriction. Well, if you're going to be a good Christian person, you better not do this and do that. I mean, give me a break is that as good as life is going to get just avoiding a few vices. I want a lot more than that, don't you? I want that eternal life that the grave itself cannot defeat. I want to rise one day and not just one day. I want to rise now. I want to defeat some of the issues in my character that frustrate me. I want to be a better dad a year from now that I am now only be a better husband a year from now that I have. No, I don't want to just settle in and have a life that doesn't rock the boat and the drawings of paycheck and slide fat dumb and happy from the Cradle to the Grave. I don't want to be used by Christ to you.

You can trust him you can give up your very lives and trust him. You can give up the things that make you confident about yourself, whether it's physical size or financial wealth or whether it's Prestige or power or stubbornness. Give all that up. Put it on the Altar and say Christ Jesus. I will serve you above off and you can trust him and what will happen will be amazing in your life beyond what you can imagine. What author said, it's Christa Christianity has not been tried and found wanting as much it has been tried and found difficult or has as much as it has been found difficult and left untried But I'm telling you Jesus is right when he says deny yourself lose your life and you will find it.

Jesus said John 10:10, the thief comes only to steal and to kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it to the full what Christ wants to bring to us is a life that's rich and satisfying and full. and even though the church failed at at modeling that every moment of Our Lives that's none the less the truth we point to So forgive us for our failings, but still hear the gospel from us Christ wants to bless your life and make it rich and full and good and he can be trusted to turn your life over to Jesus is the key to living. This kind of life is a biting the key according to Jews as a body that staying connected or close to Jesus. That's the key to living. This kind of life until abiding is based on trust faith in God revealed in Jesus, and we talked about this before faith in God means interpreting life in light of God, not the other way around. Do you understand that distinction? Sometimes we make our experiences in life the Ultimate Reality or authority? And so whatever happens in life. We then take that experience and we turn and we interpret God by that. My bank account is empty. God must not be looking after me. My parents were mean to me and never treated me with kindness. There must not be a guy who's kind and gracious my experience with my church was hard and difficult. Therefore there must not be anything good about following Christ. You see the mistake and taking our experiences and making them the authority in life my personal experience my pain might hurt my history. Whatever it is my joy my hobbies my pet peeves whatever it is, I take that and I may get the authorities that's where I'm still Lord of my life the way I see things the way I do things my opinions my convictions. They Trump everything Faith means that you look into the scriptures you discover God revealed in Jesus. I do let what Jesus taught and modeled in the gospels to determine what you think about life. It's all when Jesus was walking to disciples and they saw somebody who's lying. They said the disciple said to send was it this guy or his parents? Jesus said that's the wrong way to think about it. God's going to heal him and will be to God's glory. The challenges decide what do I know about God as revealed in Christ? What do I know from scripture? And how should that interpret the way? I look at my life. I know that God is good. I know that he gave his life for me. I know the Jesus demonstrated that he chose death over being separated from me. I know that Jesus demonstrated his love for me. There is this permanent historical reality of the Cross which is the demonstration of God's love for you and I I know Paul says in Romans 5 that while we were yet sinners still in the status of Sinners still in the status of sin Christ died for us. All those basic truth should add up to impact the way we look at life the way we look at others. What do we do? When we encounter somebody else who's clearly eat up with send their life is twisted and control my sin. We are tempted to say well, I'll keep my distance from that person. I mean what a mess. I mean who's got time to deal with that puss? What will people think about me if I hang out with that kind of person if they see me leaving a bar, what would they think that guy was in there with people he might even been drinking. He might be leaving this kind of club or this kind of place. And so we make these decisions not based on the truth of the Gospel but based on our culture our worries our anxieties the opposite of faith. But the truth is if those lost brothers and sisters if those lost prodigal brothers and sisters are love while they were yet sinners by God, then he wants me to sit down with him. He wants me to eat a meal with him. He wants me to love them to spend time with him in that the very thing that Jesus kept getting in trouble for it in the Pharisees kept saying, what are you doing hanging out with they will make you unclean. And you said you're misunderstanding. God is more powerful than sin. God is more powerful than the grave. There's no death. There's no stain is going to get on me as Christ when I go to them. I don't become unclean they become clean and he calls us to take his power his grace his forgiveness the message of the Gospel to those who need it. But if we never sat down with them if we never rub elbows, if we remain with the circles, you know, the wagons in a circle. We missed the opportunity for God to use us. That's just one example, if we flip it and we say, you know, what faith means interpreting Life by what I know about God that God is good. And he calls me to reach those who are lost. Even when you when your own experience when you look in the mirror, and you said I'm no good. I stand up messed up again. What's more true your feelings or proclamation of the Gospel?

Take me to often we let our experiences life itself our emotions become reality instead of the truth of scripture. Faith means finding quantity and quality time with God, but you've got to choose one then choose quality. think about friendships Would you rather you and I try to go a friendship and me come to your house everyday for 30 minutes because I think we've got to grow friendship, but everytime I'm there, and I'm here 30 minutes. I know we got about 30 minutes out of diet is somehow grow this friendship. You know, I'm texting here. I'm here. I'm here. What's up? What's up with you? You know would that really be? I mean, I think after a few days minutes, I just forget this you clearly don't want to go this friendship. Sometimes do we go to the routines of going to church or even even come even read her Bible and pray and not actually connect to Jesus. Can you read your Bible and pray as an act of self-righteousness so that you can check that off your list and say I did that so you can't cause me to have a flat later in the week God right? I got I got my pay my dues were missing out on the truth. He'd rather have you really present with him for half an hour. Just going through the motions for 3 hours. I saw the trust means that sort of quality time where you really are honest and open and present with God and you're allowing him inviting him to be Lord of your life either. That means he's going to change stuff you really have got settled in you like on the way they are and you not liking to change it but you still give him permission to do that. Here is an important aside abiding being closer connected to God is Not based on feelings. I said that I just want to make sure that gets clearly said because if you base it on feelings, then you'll go to Godda number of days in a row and you won't have these tingles on the back of your neck that make you feel like God was present and after a while you'll say well that's not time. Well spent Right. It's not based on feelings. How many in your marriage always everyday? You're just full of Goosebumps for your spouse. Anybody here do that. You just wake up and you look over and their breath is just like rose petals and you just say I'm just so thrilled once again, right? Maybe or maybe your spouse has never mind. Wait, wait with your spouse is in all kinds of circumstances day and night dressed undressed makeup. No makeup. All those sorts of things. Right is every single moment. Just Goosebumps. We're just saying, this is awesome. I just can't believe it. It's pure commitment in it. I'm surely only timing cuz I made a commitment.

Though I guess I'll just keep at it for the 24 hours and see what happens then. If we make the mistake of thinking that our relationship with God has to be filled with these emotions these feelings everyday, then we will have this roller coaster or this up-and-down. It is not based on feelings. It is based on trust. Those fundamental truth of scripture that Jesus died on the cross that says that the display of his love for us. It is placing our trust and our faith in the truth of the gospel and living by that truth, even when life or circumstances Vegas and plead with us and products to think differently. We say none the last like George said right though. He slay me and then amazing everything went wrong and job's life and always clearly God's not happy with you cuz everything's going wrong and jokes that you know what God put even slay me yet. I will trust him if this faith in God is greater than as God himself trusting him no matter what Lastly abiding always includes obedience. We cannot abide in Jesus without obeying him. This is just as popular a myth as my walk with God is based on my feelings. You know, I go to retreat I have these great Goosebumps and then I say to myself, you know, I just hadn't been close to God and six months last time. I'm supposed to go on the beach and I just felt close to him and we get deceived into that idea of thinking our walk with God is based on emotions. That's a myth. Like I just said it's based on faith and trust and we can't be dependent on our emotions to say where we stand with God. It's my face when I'm done with you, but I look at the scriptures in scripture says his mercies are new every morning God Is Not a Human he is not a man like me. He does not grow impatient just like that. He's not quick to anger, but he is slow to anger and his Mercy is unlike me and you are new every morning. So by faith I walk with God. I trust him another will miss its rising in our culture has been around forever. Anyway to is that I can walk with god without obeng him. You know anybody that? Things that way now don't don't throw into three things that are clearly observed and expected in a culture Church.

but I'm not really going to rearrange my life I'm not going to change my my finances. My finances are going to be first and foremost about me and my family. This American way, I mean, I'm not going to be some nutty cult member who just joined Christianity and says here's all my money for the kingdom. I'll shave off on average in North America 2.3% I'll shave that off. But 97% of my life is about me. and my family

it's a myth to think that you can abide. With God through Christ and not obey.

Jesus said himself. You love me. You will obey my Commandments now again. Just like our marriage relationship. Do we do it perfectly everyday? Do we fail? Sometimes has anybody here? This is a long drive by here ever had to apologize to their spouse.

Never had to say, I'm sorry. When I say obey in Christ is essential I don't mean there are times when we disobey disobey him. I don't mean there are times when we come to him and say I'm sorry forgive my sin I Repent those times are has frequent live in our marriages that's part of it. But as in our marriages, we are striving toward a healthy relationship. Our goal is to love that other person. Our goal is to love Christ. Our goal is to obey Christ. So we're striving toward that obedience on a regular basis on and on and on and that's what I want to talk about in the next few Sundays that specific tasks. What does it mean to discipline ourselves to increase the frequency of obedience to Christ in our lives? It's also next few weeks before we're off to Mexico in the middle of metal to the end of June. I want to talk specifically about what it means to obey Christ because that's essential to abiding with him that we be striving toward obedience. I'm going to buy the worship team to come forward. Miss a one last thing if I can get that too. It's never too late to Bear much fruit as Jesus describes In this passage. Sometimes we think you know what I'm I'm 25 years old. I'm done with my college degree. I've already sent my path. I'm not going to be religious. I'm not going to you know be a preacher. I mean kind of thing, you know, I've already set my path for kind of just so so Christianity it is never too late to recalibrate and reset your life and your goals and your priorities and seek to serve and Obey Christ fully to give him all of Your Life July him to change everything that you thought you had planned for your life. You may be at the other end of the spectrum you maybe 60 and you may say you don't have already done. I'm just that I'm set in my ways and I've already got a vision for how my life is going to unfold and nothing's going to mess with that. I'm telling you. It is never too late to Bear much fruit for the kingdom of God. The beauty of the grace of God is that any moment and every moment we can start anew. We can start afresh. You may not be able to make a new beginning to your life right now, but you can start right now and make a new end. At any point you can be completely renewed and cleanse by the blood of Christ and you can start fresh to say I want my life to be about you. I want to Bear much fruit for the kingdom of God and God can do more and I like fully given over to him in one year's time. Then he can in 30 years and my life is still not sure if it's fully committed to Christ. So don't let time be the factor for you as we sing the song ask yourself. Am I willing to follow Christ? Am I willing to endure the shame of the Cross to follow Christ The Shame of being the person who may be in some setting doesn't stand up for the for themselves. The way our culture says stand-up you really ought to get mad. They treated you this way. You know what I'm just going to be kind to his right back. I'm going to do something nice for next week for what a wimp you are bich. Is he willing to endure the shame of being a follower of Christ? That doesn't live this life thing. I'm going to get my way or I'm going to take my marbles and go somewhere else and play. Are we willing to endure the shame of being somebody who never boldly says why I've got everything in control, but somebody who says, you know what I always need Christ. I don't care how much people look at me from the outside by that guy's got it all together. That gal's got it all together. The truth is I always need Christ always and forever. Are we willing to embrace that to follow him to have the humility to follow him to take the consequences of obedience and following him. Was we sing the song that's what we're saying. So if you're singing this song, you're saying I cherish the cross. I cherish it. I embrace it on bracelet for my salvation embrace it for the way. I live my life during the song. If you got a decision to make to accept Christ as your lord and savior, I'll be in the back come to me. I'd love to pray with you about that decision or do you just have a prayer concerned? I'll pray with you. They'll also be other folks in the front and the back to pray with you about any concern you have use this time as a time to connect with God, please stand as we sing.