Fall Retreat Saturday Morning

In all of life, you do things based on who you are.

-Husband

-Father

-Student Pastor

-Volleyball

-Band

-Academic

Who You are dictates what you do.

John 15:3 ESV

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

-What does he mean by clean?

-Hand sanitizer

-Clorox wipes?

-Same word in greek as PRUNE.

-To prune, clean, cleanse, make pure, remove the dead and make alive.

-Cleansed because of the WORD?

-FIrst: Because of the literal words of Jesus. The things spoken above.

-EVEN MORE: The overall person and work of Jesus and His words concerning salvation, Son of God, eternal life, etc.

THIS is WHO you are!

-Still being pruned of course, but already in the position of pruning and in the position of fruit bearing.

Not good at much, especially english

-Indicative/Imperative

-Indicative: a verb stating absolute fact.

-To be - I am…I am running

-You are clean - Imperative

-At the relational level, you are in.

-Mess up? Sure. Get it always right? Nope. But His? Yes!

-Its who you are.

-Imperative: the mood forming a command.

-Parents do this all the time.

-You do it all the time to your friends.

-Abide in me, tonight, is in the imperative.

-Why an English lesson?

-The Indicative always comes before the imperative.

The order matters!

-We often treat our Christian faith the other way around.

-We do and do so that we can gain the reality of being in Christ.

-Reverse the first illustration of Husband, Father, Student Pastor.

-Our relationship with Christ and the imperatives that follow are all based on the indicative that has already been spoken over us.

-Now WHO WE ARE dictates WHAT WE DO.

-If we miss this, we will miss tonights message.

-Abiding, remaining, following, obeying is based on who we already are.

-And knowing who we are, he invites us to come deeper.