Gateway: Abide in Me

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Series Description: In this series on the Book of Mark, Pastor Shawn highlights Jesus as the main attraction. This week, he explores Mark 12:1-12, where Jesus shares the parable of the Tenants, inviting us to examine how we’re stewarding what God has entrusted to us.

Altar Instructions: Please come up when I begin the sub point of last point entitled “God is JUST”

Altar Instructions: Please come up when I begin the 1st of the last 3 sub points during point 3.

Honor Lance and Olivia & Church

Lance & Olivia are dear friends…

And they are the real deal… no fluff… just authentic… people.

One of the things I love about them both is they have the same same passion and love for Jesus as his people… as they did when they we’re in their early 20’s.

You are a blessed church…

My wife and I are incredibly honord to be with GateWay today!

You have been nothing but Kind to us…

How many of you know… its easy to like people that are likable :)

Well… how many of you are ready for the WORD…? This message is part two of a series called…

Series | The Great Invitation

Over this series we’re looking at 3 invitations… that Jesus gives... noticing how they relate to us today as modern believers.

My assignment today is to talk about this 2nd invitation of Jesus… which is found in John 15…

and also the title for our message today… and that is… the Invitations to…

Abide in me

With that… let’s open your bible to… John 15… we’ll begin reading at v.15:1

Main text: John 15:1-11 (ESV)

Before I read it’s important to understand

Context:

That John 15 builds on earlier chapters like John 12 and 14, where Jesus repeatedly invites people to BELIEVE in His words.

Coming off the heals of the Last supper he gives them this Great Invitation..

Ok here we go… John.. ch 15.. v. 1 Jesus say’s this…. speaking to his disciples

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that DOES NOT bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that DOES bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

Notice there are two groups of people here in v.2

Unfruitful people

Fruitful…

Now as he is talking to his fruitful disciples here is what he says to them…

3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

As we enter v. 6 he reiterates what he has said in v. 2 the unfruitful

6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

As we enter v. 7 he reiterates his promise to those that ABIDE - the fruitful

7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. (It’s this genie in the bottle kind of thing? NO! He knows that fruitful believers are only interested in his will… and asking for things according to his will… and prayers like that God promises to fulfill.)

8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

He continues in v. 10

10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.

11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy… may be in you, and that your joy… may be full.

Before we pray…

***How many of you believe God still speaks to us today?

You might be in the room and thinking to yourself… I have never heard God speak to me today..

Let me help you listen..

There will be moments in the message today where

You find yourself… circling, highlight, underline… something in the passage… something in your notes… maybe something spurs on a thought and you write something down…

Something hits strong in your heart.

These are often moments the Holy Spirit wants to get our attention

LETS PRAY

Introduction

Well there is a LOT in this passage today… we don’t have time to go in depth… so I am going to briefly… point out three things that I observe in our passage.

Before we do that let me ask you this question…

Question: Do you have something in your life that needs changing? What is it?

It can be spiritual… or something very practical..

Write it down…. use code words if you don’t want your neighbor to know what it is. Do that

What types of things are we usually trying to change?

Physcal health -

Spiritual health

Emotional or mental health

Relational health

Of course there are many other things..

I want to submit to you that…. the way most of us go about CHANGE is actually unbiblical…

I believe the answer to not just change is found. in the Great INVITATION to

Abide in me

Well.. what exactly does Jesus mean mean when he invites us to ABIDE in him?

Well if your taking notes… the first thing I notice here is… this IN YOUR NOTES…

The Biblical BACKGROUND.

To understand the full scope of abiding… we need to understand a little Biblical background.

The Parable of the Vine and the branches is discussed in other parts of scripture to help give us broader context.

You will notice at the top of your fill in the blank… I gave you some other Helpful passages…. to shed more light on this text.

As modern readers… here is the question… always have to ask…

How did the original audience in this passage hear the words of Jesus… in this case they we’re Jewish?

What came to their mind when Jesus talked about the Vine and the Branches?

Here is what’s important to know…

This is not the first Vine parable… they had ever heard…

The 1st Vineyard parable is found in Isa. 5:1-8…

We don’t have time to read this passage in detail… so I will paraphrase.

God tells Israel

You are my beloved vineyard… my Vine. (This was Israel’s Identity - they we’re the vine of God)

God says… I took great care in planting my vineyard in fertile soil… to nurish you

Put a fence around you to protect you

I looked forward to a fruitful harvest... but your vines yielded wilded grapes… not pure grapes.

In fact Isa… follows up and say to the people of Israel…

What more can I do for you that I have not already done?

God is clearly disappointed with this vineyard that is NOT producing his fruit… but a different kind of fruit that’s WILD and unruly.

Here in John 15 he is let’s them in on this huge news….

As Jesu says..

As many of you thought that Israel is the true vine... things are changing…

IN v. 1 we see him say.. First, I want to clarify that…

I AM the Vine… not Israel

They only produced wild fruit…

I expect pure fruit… that will now be produced through me.

In v.5a he say’s… Next, I want you to know…

YOU are the BRANCHES…

People are the branches of his Vineyard…

We are all create by God for God

In v.2a he say’s… Next, I want you to know…

You are NOT alone… The Vindresser/Gardener is my father

My father is the care taker, of his BRANCHES… walking amoung the garden to prune, and nurture the Branches in His field.

What does this mean for us today as Modern Day readers?

I believe it means… if we want to see change in our life… IN YOUR NOTES

Being fruitful begins with a sense of SURRENDER into the hands of the VINE and the GARDENER.

Israel took things in their own hands… and produced WILD Grapes… they we’re unwilling to surrender….

They were unwilling to depend on the Vine and the Gardner… they wanted to do things their own way.

How many of us do the same thing…?

We try to take over… and take control….

We think everything us up to us… so…

We TRY HARDER instead of TRUSTING MORE

Here is what I believe Jesus is saying…

IF YOU WANT TO BE FRUITFUL IN MY VINEYARD…

IT BEGINS WITH SURRENDER… and continues with surrender…

We know many of the religious leaders did NOT like the ways of Jesus and resisted rather than surrender.

This is the great struggle of humanity… we are resistant to the ways of Jesus… we see this both inside the church and outside

We’re talking about the GREAT INVITATION… to….

Abide in me

The 2nd thing I observe… in our passage today… If your taking notes… it’s this…

Abiding is about PRODUCING 1-3

Yea… it’s not about just being “associated” with Jesus.. it’s about ABIDING in Him…

What do the branches that abide in the vine do?

If your TAKING NOTES….

Abiding produces FRUIT v.2b

Yea… - it’s NOT ROCKET SCIENCE :)

We see this in v.2b… of our John 15… it says..

v.2 b While every branch that does BEAR FRUIT….. he PRUNES so that it will be even MORE FRUITFUL.

Now… the vine does not just any fruit… this is key… they produce the a specific fruit…

Notice… it is not fruit(s) it’s fruit…

I want to suggest here that this is NOT talking about the FRUIT(S) of the Spirit as we might think.. although could be broadly apply…

But I believe this passage is more specifically speaking about… the FRUIT of BELIEF.

Why do I think this?

Becuase… this is the fruit that Israel - LACKED… this is why the Gardner removes them from the vineyard.

This means… if your a believer in Jesus - and you are producing the fruit of belief… rest easy… you don’t fear that he will abruptly throw you out… of the vineyard… becuase of your poor works… NO… thats not the point of this parable… He throws out FRUITLESS branches that do NOT produce believe that leads to SALVATION in JESUS.

Here is the picture I want you to see about the - FATHER… the Gardner… He walks through his vineyard with his pruning sheers…

The Father say’s to the believer… in v. 2… come here my son… my daughter… it looks like you got some thorns growing around you… it has stunted your growth… you got some branches with sickness and desease in them…

let me prune your branches… I know if I leave you here.. you will just be overtaken by desease… ad weeds..

Don’t worry… I’ll do the heavy lifting… I’ll seat in the sun all day for you… drag my knees through the ground for me… becuase I know when I am done with you… there will be MORE FRUIT…

You might want to write this down…

“If you want to PRODUCE more… let him PRUNE more.”(REPEATE)

What is he pruning?

Since we know that fruit in this passage is about BELEIVING…

I want to suggest that he wants to prune your wrong beliefs.... wrong systems of thinking… lies of the enemy that lead to your old sinful ways… so you can BE MORE FRUITFUL. (This is the process of sanctification)

Then in V. 3 Jesus declares this over his fruitful branches… those who have believed… he say’s… let me remind you who you are…

“You are clean because of the word I have spoken to you”

He declares this to the disciples…

He declares the same thing to believers today…

Here is the question I believe scripture is asking us today?

Question: What needs to be pruned out of you?

In the beginning of the message I asked you,

“How many of you have something in your life that you want to change?”

Now whatever you write down… I want you to ask the Holy Spirit…

Holy Spirit, what false belief do I have… that is causing this ungodly fruit in my life?

This bad habit, addiction, constant relationship issues… bitterness.. un-forgiveness….

Or maybe its around your health choices..

I’m not a morning person

I’m not disciplined like them…

What lie do I continually believe that produces this kind of fruit in your life?

Would you TRANSFORM my thinking….

Why do we need our thinking transformed/Changed…

Because..

BEHAVIOR follows BELIEF (REPEAT)

Prov. 23:7 -As a MAN THINKS in his heart… what SO IS HE…

You can not life beyond how you think..

If you think God is holding back on you.. guess what you will do … take control… make sure you get what belongs to you..

If you think God’s got your back.. you will FEAR not, You will be Generous… you will do hard things…

We’re talking about the GREAT INVITATION… Jesus’ great invitation to us is… is this…

Abide in me

The last thing I observe… in our passage for today.. . IIN YOUR NOTES. it’s this…

Abiding is about STAYING. 4-5

In v. 4 Jesus reminds the beliers in our text that being fruitful is connected to our ability to abide… He say’s in V. 4.. Lets look at it on the screen…

4 Abide in me, and I in you.

Lets talk for a min about this word abide

This word ABIDE is the greek word = Meno - it means to stay…

This is about staying locked into the vine…

Allowing him to prune…

Becuase without him… what does v. 4 tell us… it say

As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself…

It needs constant help and nourishment from the vine (JESUS)

Friends… you will NEVER NOT need help from the fine…

Some people live their life this way…

We’re detached from the word of God…

We’re detached from worship…

We’re detached from the body of Christ.. .

‌We wonder why we are struggling… why we are mal nutrition… …why we are barly surviving…

As Isaiah said to Israel… what more can the father do for you that he has not already done… he created a perfect vineyard for you to abide in… but you come and go… like

Let’s get real practical here… How does a Christian go about abiding.

Well.. when we look at the ancient tradition of ABIDING in Christ we can see that…

• King David prayed seven times daily.

• Daniel prayed three times a day.

• Jesus regularly withdrew to be with the Father.

and After the Resurrection Jesus’ disciples continued to pray at certain hours of the day.

This tradition of prayer continued beyond the 1st Century

In AD 525, a monk named Benedict prayed eight times daily… this was called the “daily offices.”

When the prayer bell rang in the monastery, the monks saw this as the beginning of their most important work.

They would immediately stop whatever they were doing…. and speedy go to be with the Father.

While I’m not suggesting we all become monks, we can learn from their devotion. Few things in life offer pruning like abiding with the Father in prayer.

I want to introduce you to a practical tool called..

The Daily Office

It involves 4 things… they are really easy… the first… IN YOUR NOTES…

The daily office involves STOPPING. Ps. 23:2

Stopping your daily task to get away from the noise and be with God and rest.

This can take place for 10-15min before you leave your home or enter your office at the start of the day.

Here is the point… our soul needs a rhythm of work and rest.

Author Pete Scazzero’s said this… “When we don’t rest we do violence to our own soul.” When we stop we are saying…  

I TRUST you GOD.

When I am at rest… you are still at work.

TO resist stopping is saying with our life

God – I don’t need you ... I will remain in control...

How can he prune when we refuse to STOP?

Stopping… reminds me of a Passage your Pastor preached on a few weeks ago… Ps. 23… lets LETS LOOK AT IT TOGETHER ON THE SCREEN

Psalm 23:2a (ESV)

He makes me lie down in green pastures…

I don’t know about you.. I would rather stop of my own will VS God putting a brick wall in front of me so I will be forced to slow down… rest and abide.

the 2nd thing… IN YOUR NOTES…

The daily office involves SILENCE. Ps. 46:10

Did you know that the average person thinks about

60 - 80,000 thoughts a day?

Abiding is about stoping not just our body… but also our minds.

Silence is a way of making our minds still… to make room for his thoughts… and aligning ours to his…

This is our way of living out scriptures like Ps.46:10.. LETS LOOK AT IT TOGETHER ON THE SCREEN

Psalm 46:10a (ESV)

“Be still, and know that I am God.

No movement in my body… and no a movement in my mind…

This is probably one of the hardest activities in the daily office.

Restoring all things

the 3rd thing… IN YOUR NOTES…

The daily office involves SCRIPTURE. Ps. 107:20

Ps. 10:20 says it like this… LETS LOOK AT IT TOGETHER ON THE SCREEN

Psalm 107:20 (ESV)

‌He sent out his WORD and what… healed them or stitched them back together… , and delivered them from w… who’s destruction? their destruction. yea… our old ways of thinking lead us to destruction

So he say’s…

Sitting in the word and allowing it to HEAL YOU..

This word heal.. means “to-stitch” he will stich you back together and bring healing…

How many of you know… we get beat up every day… and we need to abide in Christ…. to be stitched back together… to receive care and nutrition… to produce MORE FRUIT>

the 4th and final thing… IN YOUR NOTES…

The daily office involves PRAYER. v. Jn. 10:27

I love what John 10:27 says… it say’s this… lets read it …

John 10:27 ESV

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

Friends… sheep spend time resting in the field with the Shepherd…

They become familiar with his way… with his voice…

Here is the question I believe scripture is inviting us to ask ourselves today…

Question: How can you implement the daily office in your life? What days, when?

Text

Trans

PAUSE -CLIP BEGINING

PAUSE -CLIP ENDING

CHECK TIME

BLIZZARD STORY:

“In his book a hidden wholeness, Parker Palmer tells a story about farmers in the Midwest who would prepare for blizzards by tying a rope from the back door of their house... out to the barn as a guide to ensure they could return – home - safely. These blizzards would come quickly and fiercely.

They we’re so bad it’s said that a farmer could not see the end of his or her hand in the middle of the storm. In fact,.. many froze to death in those blizzards, distorted by their inability to see.

If they lost grip on the rope it was almost certain death. Some froze within feet of their own back doors never realizing how close they were to safety. To this day in parts of Canada and the Great Plains, meteorologists counsel people that, to avoid getting lost in blinding snow when they venture outside, they tie one end of a long rope to their house and grasp the other end firmly.” Sabbath is like the ROPE in the Blizzard of life – it keeps us connected our Home... which is our life IN Christ... The world will push agenda on us... Satan will push temptation on us... and religion will get us working to death trying to prove our worth to God.

The Daily office is like the ROPE in our Blizzard:

The Daily office… will slows us down from the insanity and keeps us moving at a sustainable pace for a loving relationship with Jesus and others.

It is our ROAPE in the Blizzard keeping us anchors… and abiding in JESUS.

PASS TO LANCE

So today… if you do NOT know Jesus as your Lord and Savior today is your day…

Salvation Altar Call

I believe Jesus is here today… and I believe he wants to save you.

The same way it took the power of God and the faith of that woman to believe in Jesus… is the same way your receive salvation.

Believing in Jesus is about beleiving everything that Jesus reveals to us…

It’s about believing

What he say’s about Sin and the eternal punishment.

It’s about believing

That … His death on the cross paid the penalty of our sin….

Because of this we can be made right in the sight of God.

According to Eph 2:8 – there are 2 things required for Salvation

For it is by Grace that we are saved through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—

1st is this... Gods Grace

What is his Grace: It’s when God gives you something you do not deserve because of his incredible love for you– What does he give us... He gives us His forgiveness and His life

2nd is this... Faith.

He invites us to PUT our FAITH in him... for our salvation

1. If you have never asked Jesus to save you and made a public profession of faith… today is your day…

a. All across the room....

b. If you would like Jesus to save you today… RIASE YOUR HAND ALL AROUND THE ROOM….

I want to invite you to Repeat a prayer after me

· There is nothing magical in this prayer.. it simply is a way of declaring to Jesus what has taken place in your heart.

Here is how I would like to end the service for everyone else….

As this woman pictures… every believer who is loaded down with a heavy burden… Jesus is here today if you want to touch the hem of his garmet.

Call to Action Altar Call

We’re going to end the service with A question as we do nearly every week.

ALL ACROSS THE ROOM – HAS THE HOLY SPIRIT spoken to you in anyway today?

Because the truth is

“There are many UNBELIEVING-BELIEVERS in the Church today”

I’m not talking about the BELIEF required for SALVATION.

I’m talking about changing the way you “think” - that leads to behaviors that you could never change on your own.

Friends, if you could change your mind about things.. you would have done it by now…

You need some to help you change the way you think… (TRANSFORM YOUR MIND)

Going Deeper

Do I have something in my life that needs changing? What is it? (Behavior Driven)

What needs to be pruned out of me? (Thought life driven)

How can I implement the daily office in my life? What days, when?

What might the Holy Spirit be saying to you in light of this teaching?

How might the Holy Spirit want to transform you in light of this teaching?

What actions might the Holy Spirit want to take in light of this teaching?

Tongues & Interpretation

1. To STRENGTHEN the Church (1 Cor14:5)

For prophecy is greater than SPEAKING in TONGUES, unless someone interprets what you are saying so that the whole church will be STRENGTHENED.

Believers, God has operated through this gift today to strengthen you today. Let your faith be strengthened and know that God is in control and using supernatural measures to speak to us.

2. Is a SIGN for unbelievers. (1Cor. 14: 21a, 22)

1 Corinthians 14:21–22 (ESV)

In the Law it is written, “By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.” Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers.

22 -  So you see that speaking in tongues is a SIGN, not for believers, but for UNBELIEVERS.

The Bible explains to us God has chosen to use this gift to be a sign for you. A sign for what? It is a sign of his realness for those of you who have been doubting or questioning the existence of God. He wants you to know he is REAL and he wants to bring you spiritual life and health. If you're in here today and you don't know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior... he wants you to know he has gone to great lengths to show you his love today. (Great opportunity for a salvation altar call if it fits).