← ArchiveSunday, March 15, 2015DateMarch 15, 2015Speaker—TextJohn 15Passages in this sermonJohn 150:26John 10:100:36Galatians 68:17Galatians 6:78:17Matthew 6:2110:14Psalms 40:213:53Ephesians 6:615:49Ephesians 615:57John 15:1016:36John 416:41John 4:3416:48John 6:3817:37John 6:3717:37Psalms 40:817:51Philippians 218:17John 15:1421:22John 14:2725:25Galatians 525:35John 17:2626:24TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00amen amen thank you greg thank you so much for that wow what a great music amen if you brought your bible hope you did turn me to john chapter 15 we're still in this series0:26as i said earlier and today we're going to cover several verses of scripture john chapter 15 but let me give you the launch verse the launch verse for this entire series is john chapter 10 verse 10 it's written in your in your outline there the thief comes to steal kill and destroy and jesus says i come that you might have life might have it more abundantly might have it more0:48abundantly you should have it more abundantly if you've got life in christ amen he's come that we might have the thief wants to steal our joy he wants to steal kill and destroy everything about us and everything about the new testament church but we have the power of the holy spirit and dwelled in our lives that's why we can celebrate like we did today amen because greater is he that is in me1:14than he that is in the world i am more than a conqueror in christ jesus and as paul wrote to the church at philippi i can do all things through christ who strengthens me more than conqueror in jesus christ several verses out of john 15 you'll also need to keep your bibles open because we're going to look at several verses in fact today in the second part of the second principle today i'm just1:41going to read verses over to you and read over these verses to you and let them just bathe over in your heart today but john 15 beginning with the ninth verse just as the father has loved me i have also loved you abide in my love jesus speaking if you keep my commands verse 10 keep commandments you will abide in my love just as i kept my father's commandments and abide in his love verse 13 greater2:09love has no one than this than one lay down his life for his friends verse 14 you are my friends if you do what i command you now that seems a bit harsh doesn't it seems a bit forward seems a bit blunt but jesus is saying you are my friends if you do what i command i'll explain that in a moment verse 15 no longer do i call you slaves for the slave does not know what his master is doing but i have2:39called you friends for all these things that i've heard from my father i have made known to you there is a a popular misconception that equates fruit with success in personal ministry uh success in outward ministry as well by the stat common standard external religious beliefs and superficial righteousness3:03having a large church or some popular ministry or some successful program are considered fruitful now while some of those are not all bad things it's not bad to have a mega church it's not bad that some mega churches are big it's not that's what he's saying but we equate that to fruitfulness sometimes however3:26the bible nowhere equates fruit with super superficial external behavior in any way or results in any way which deceivers and hypocrites and non-christian cults can even duplicate that there is a phenomenon out there this name it and claim it theology out there that your best life now is going to be just be sweet to everybody and be sweet and nice and and give a lot of money to a local cause and and you are going to3:56enter into the kingdom of god that is nowhere to be found in scripture the church is that jesus died for he died for us to sacrificially give our lives to completely surrender to his lordship jesus further promises those who abide in him will experience his love but we will also go through some trials and tribulations as well that way we know when we're keeping his commandment just as the father has kept his4:22commandments and abide in his love we know that we are connected to the vine when we are keeping his commandments righteous obedience is the key to experiencing god's blessings now there's also a phenomenon over the last several years it comes out and says god honors excellence in everything that we do no he doesn't god honors obedience in everything we do he blesses excellence he blesses when we do4:47things with excellence but he honors and he he honors obedience obedience obedience is a choice we choose to obey god or disobey god the lord promises of his own joy will permeate and control the lives of those who walk in communion with him that is what the psalmist says restore the joy of thy salvation the joy comes from5:14obedient christ followers for those who surrender to his lordships but the obedient receives as peter wrote a joy inexpressible and full of glory so church listen to me obedience is a choice we choose to obey god with every aspect of our lives and some people say well i i'm going to obey him in certain areas but not all the areas5:39there's no picking and choosing what you can obey either you're going to obey god with every aspect of your life or you're not it is that simple salvation is not i think i'll be saved only certain amount salvation is full on when we surrender to his lordship and say jesus come into my life he doesn't just give you half of heaven he doesn't just give you half salvation but we often find ourselves saying well lord my church6:07life is my life and my work life is my life and my play life is my life and my internet life is my life and my movie going life is my life church let me tell you something we either surrender to his lordship completely or we don't so obedience is a choice god's commandments the message truth are truly god's6:32enablements god's commandments are truly god's enablement back up to chapter 14 verse 15 i want to give you some support verses to help drive home this point today if you love me jesus said you will keep my commandments go down to verse 23 jesus answered if anyone loves me he will keep my word and my father will6:56love him we will come to him and make our home with him whoever does not love me does not keep my words and the words that you're you hear is not mine but the father who sent me he says i want you to listen to me if you keep my commandments you love me now wait a minute time out boy that's awful harsh dan7:25not my words his words i'm just sharing with you what the word says i'm not making this stuff up and i'll tell you i got myself beat up i beat myself up this week in my study several times reading i said boy i really don't want to i'm supposed to be the encouraging intentional interim i'm supposed to come in there and love these people through this transition time folks let me tell you something sometimes the word spanks us god's in commandments are truly god's enable he never gives us a beautiful7:54promise that he does not give us a command to do something god's commandments are always god's enables the way that we know we are obeying god because god obeys his own laws we should obey them as well turn with me to galatians chapter 6 i want you to notice what it says here galatians chapter 6 verse 7 and 8 you know you go up to verse 2 i love this one verse 2 says but bear uh bear one another's burdens8:23and so feel the law of christ for if anyone thinks he is something he is he is nothing he deceives himself but then going down to verse 7 he straightforward again paul writing of the illumination of the holy the holy spirit do not be deceived god's not mocked for whatever one sows that will he also reap for the one who sows his own flesh from the flesh will reap corruption but the one who sows to the spirit from8:49the spirit reap eternal life now wait a minute that almost sounds like you're you're working your way for salvation no it says we sow whatever we sow we reap i want you to understand we are the only only living human being only living organism only living organism that questions and disobeys god's will man in and of itself animals they have no control over this but man is the only person that disobeys and9:17questions god's will why because god's grace god's grace gives man his own will to do so we have to make the choice to obey god we have to make the choice to get up and go to worship on sunday morning don't we and we're finding more and more people in north america they're getting up and not going to worship why because it says for we are not forsaking of the assembly of the saints well maybe somewhere along9:46the way we misunderstand what this whole doing church together is all about god obeys his own laws we should also obey them paul with this precept urging us to share with one another the teacher of the word gives spiritual treasures and those who are taught ought to share material blessings with others matthew chapter 6 verse 21 for where your treasure is there will your heart be also true disciple making10:14is true church growth when we say i'm going to surrender to his lordship i'm going to choose to obey god that means we choose to share of our lives not only our resources it's easy to write a check is it not it's easy to throw some money in the plate is it not it's easy to give to a cause is it not but it says i want to give my life i want to spend journey with that new christ follower folks let me10:43tell you something discipleship it's disciple making is not an option for the new testament church true disciple making is true church growth not another program we have created created this idea that we should have more programs than making disciples when we should be duplicating ourselves we must realize that spiritual principles behind this precept god does not want us to give to pastors and teachers and11:11missionaries so that they might have material things now if you want to if you feel the lord is telling you to buy me a mercedes i will receive it i'll probably go sell it and give it away because i don't need a mercedes now if you drive mercedes praise god i like them they're phenomenal cars but i've got a nice little toyota suit me fine right now and but if you want to come and give up you want to come and give11:36the church we'll receive it because we'll turn it around and duplicate it folks what we should do we should be on the uh the idea of giving greater blessings the basic principle of sowing and reaping is found throughout the entire bible god has ordained that we reap what we sow god has also told us to be careful where we sow those seed it is a principle that he's told us we ought to put it into in a fertile ground12:01nothing irritates me what i did this morning i was drinking coffee and i flipped through the channels i was going to watch the news and it's boring and i caught up on all the sports scores okay i got that then i flipped to one of these channels and it was one of those guys he was so pretty he was slick man he was pretty had this huge and tie on he was so good look i said wow he is a very very nice looking guy and you12:25could see the makeup was on him and the lights were on he had this beautiful facility and he was up there saying his sweet things and all of a sudden right in the middle of his i guess talk i don't know if it was a sermon or a message it was more of a talk because i never heard him speak of scripture but he says if you would just send your resources to us we can manage it better i want to say what12:50kind of theology is that you see folks let me tell you something i don't know where we've gone wrong because we have a lot of people that think i'm not going to give to the local church because i've seen that i've seen the misuse of it folks let me tell you something if you're here today and you're not investing in this church this is not part of the sermon this is free if you're not investing in13:16this new testament church called bethel church and you're enjoying the benefits that this church offers you the great biblical teaching from its small group the suspect preaching on sunday morning the fantastic music on on sunday and all the other ministry opportunities and you're not giving back to this local local new testament church let me tell you what you're doing you are not obedient to the commands of god i'm challenging you to dig deep inside your heart god's commandments are god's13:45enablements he will enable you to invest so we should be about obeying god's word amen look with me to psalms chapter 40 verse 2 he drew me up from the pit of destruction out of the miry bog or out of the miry clay one translation and set my feet on a rock making my steps secure church let me tell you something14:11god's god god obeys his own laws we should obey those laws as well secondly because we know we're obeying god because it involves the will by obeying god to receive his blessings now here's where i want you to keep your scriptures open because we're going to read several verses of scripture but let me give you a little sub point from my quiet time this morning because obedience involves the will14:37and by obeying god we will receive his blessings when we obey god god will bless it will he will bless on his time frame in his time way in his way and his time frame every time he won't bless because i'm going to give and he's going to bless he's going to bless you anyway everybody take in a deep breath right now just suck i know it's hard for somebody but suck it in right now just go ahead breathe in deeply15:07now let it go he just blessed you with the ability to breathe you know with the simplest of things sometimes we miss it with every choice there comes a consequence that's one of the things that we tried to drive home into our son every choice you make there comes a consequence and there's some times that he made some bad choices but guess what there were some times i made15:35some bad choices and you've made some bad choices right and consequences always follow the choice whatever it might be ephesians chapter 6 verse 6 i want you to notice with me at this beautiful passage ephesians chapter 6 he's speaking to bond servants do losses and masters obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling and with sincere heart as you would christ not by the way of eye service as people16:04pleasers but as bond servants do losses of christ doing the will of god from the heart it's saying you know i'm not going to do it just get a pat on the back i'm not going to give so somebody will say attaboy look at that super spiritual christian no it is not in the way of man pleasers not in the way of eye pleasers but is in the way of god pleasers pleasing16:30god john chapter 15 verse 10 go back with me our text if you keep my commandments you abide in my love just as i have kept the father's my father's commandment and abide in his love turn with me to john chapter 4 john chapter 4 oh beautiful passage listen to what it says john chapter 4 verse 34 my food is to do the will of him who sent me to accomplish his work jesus is declaring my job is to do god's will and16:56if he has transferred the power of the holy spirit into us it is our job to do the will of god flip over to one chapter chapter 5 verse 30 chapter 5 verse 30 i can do nothing on my own as i hear i judge and my judgment is just because i seek not my own will jesus is declaring this jesus said i'm not seeking my own17:20will but the will of him who sent me we should be like him we want to do the will that he has sent us john chapter 6 verse 38 turn with me one over one page over john chapter 6 verse 37 all that the father gives me to come to me whoever comes to me i will never cast out then he goes on to say for i have17:44come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me psalms chapter 40 verse 8 i delight to do your will oh god my law your law is within my heart church let me tell you something it is not to do our own will it is the will of god that he has chosen for us he has a perfect master plan for18:09each and every one of us now one final verse philippians chapter 2 philippians chapter 2 and i want you to notice this verse in chapter 2 verse 8 and being found in the form in the human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on the cross therefore god highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name that at the name of jesus every knee should bow18:38in heaven and on earth under earth and every tongue confess that jesus christ is lord to the glory of god the father church listen to me we know that we're obeying god because god obedience involves the will and by obeying him we are in the center of god's will understanding the will of god for a person's life19:00has dumbfounded most of us it has it has been one of those things that's kind it's just dumbfounded me over my career in my life in my journey with jesus so i've come with this phenomenal phenomenal theological practical and theological viewpoint on discerning god's will for my life when i'm in the19:24midst of making a massive major decision and that could be a few hundred bucks worth of stuff to spend or a massive house to buy whatever it might be some kind of big decision some kind of small decision whether i should take this church whether i should not tell you whether i should be in this five this ministry or not be involved should i do this however i got when i'm in the midst of making19:49a decision here it is when in doubt don't when i have some major doubt and i said what that earth shaking then you just that just blew you all away didn't it wow how profound is that let me tell you something folks usually when i have major doubt about an issue that i'm about to do if i don't it turns20:14out better if i do i usually make a mistake amen i usually am out of the center of god's will let me tell you something this spiritual pastor that you think that i am i've made plenty of dumb moves plenty of them i'm not going to open my closet door and let you look at them but all of us in this room we have made some colossal mistakes in our lives all of us but when in doubt when you have some doubt20:40i challenge you in this room today don't do it check it out one more step when we abide we obey god's will this simply means submitting our will to him we must realize that the will is the center of the christian life fail to obey we miss the blessings and thirdly as a launch today before we get to the21:06outline we know we're in the will of god we know we're obeying god because obedience releases his power releases his power john chapter 15 verse 14 you are my friends if you do what i command you you you are my friends if you do what i command you when we do what god says do he is in heaven21:31going atta boy atta girl that's my kid i love what the world what the word says when paul says greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world when we disobey god's will we lose his power in us and his his direction for us so we receive we understand the power of the holy spirit in our lives when21:59we are in the center following his obedience that's what he was saying when he was standing in the valley of kidron by the mount of olives when he snapped that branch and began this john chapter 15 discourse he says you are my friends when you do what i command you to do obedience is indeed a choice now here's the22:21message three levels of obedience fill some outline in for you we obey because we have to that's because of our fear of god we obey like oh my goodness if i don't he is gonna get all over me i'm terrified no folks let me tell you something we obey because in awe of god22:49in all of his greatness in all of his glory in all of his goodness we obey because we have to that's because we have a fear don't be afraid of god be in awe of god and when you're surrendering to23:11his lordship he knows that you're gonna make some mistakes he knows that we're gonna make some mistakes and when we do that's okay he loves us when our son would make mistakes and that was quite frequent and i'm sure i'm shocked but i'm sure my brother made a lot of mistakes i'm not so certain that pat and23:38katherine had to get on me too much but i guarantee she they i watched them get on david a lot my brother a lot but they needed to because he was a knucklehead but anyway when seth would get in but you know what when we would when we would spank him when we would discipline him it was all because we loved him and when we loved him he would come crawling back into our lap24:07i mean just last week at 24 sitting in my lap that was fun seriously folks we obey because we have to because of our fear of god's third secondly level of obedience we obey because we need to that's called selfish i need to obey god because i i want something if i don't i won't get what i want24:32that's selfishness thirdly we obey because we love him and that's why we obey him because that's the commitment that we have we don't obey because we're fearful we don't obey because we have to i'm afraid we're going to miss it because i need to25:00we obey because we love him and when we love god with all our heart soul mind and body we are committed to him just as the father has loved me i have also loved you abide connect stay connected as the branch to the vine because we love to the word the lord spoke about peace in john 14 27 he mentions love joy peace25:25faithfulness all the times but the greatest of these is love in john in galatians chapter 5 because we love him we keep his commandments we keep his commandments and we abide in his love and we experience a deeper relationship with him because the father who loved the son he has put all things into the son's hand and he has revealed all things to the son the father loved the son before25:52the foundation of the world and he loved us before the foundation of the world he loved us even to the point of death even death on the cross but god demonstrated his own love towards us and while we were yet sinners christ died for us the amazing thing a believers today we can experience this same personal intimate love relationship with the26:15lord jesus christ john chapter 17 verse 26 jesus prays that the love with thou had loved me may be in them the disciples and the believers so we obey because we love him that is true christ follower commitment god's commandments god's commandments are truly god's enablements let's pray26:45commitment god's commandments god's commandments are truly god's enablements let's pray27:12youMore sermons on John →
