← ArchiveWhat is Church?Sunday, March 19, 2017DateMarch 19, 2017Speaker—TextJohn 15Passages in this sermonJohn 150:00John 1415:22Titus 323:25Exodus 3329:502 Chronicles 2029:502 Peter 336:22TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00This morning we will open our Bibles and open God's Word to John 15. So if you have your Bibles, go ahead and work your way there. Obviously this is not a passage of Scripture that is preached much because we don't have a video for that. So if you have time this week and want to have a bumper video for John 15, you're more than welcome to begin here. And we're going to look at verse 11. So previous to this, Jesus is saying that He is divine.0:30We are the branches. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. And you have heard that proclaimed over and over and over again. And then for whatever reason, we skip over the next several verses together. So I just want to take time today to encourage you. Sometimes you walk in church and some sermons, because of the text of Scripture, is hitting you in the heart and stepping on your toes from the moment you arrive. This is one of those sermons where I am going to do nothing but encourage you today.0:57So if you leave here discouraged, it is not my fault. You're leaving here discouraged because you just want to be. Not because God wants you to be. There's a difference there. So let's look at John 15, verse 11. Jesus Christ speaks the words and says, These things have I spoken to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.1:19This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than one lay down his own life for his friends. You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing.1:45But I have called you friends for all things that I heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that fruit should remain, and that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another. What does God desire for our lives?2:15Particularly, what does God desire for your life? We're going to look at three things. Jesus, I believe, gives us a Savior's plea. He says, I want you to know this morning that you can be filled with joy in Jesus Christ. That you can be filled with joy. Second is that you are loved, and that you know that you are loved. And lastly, Jesus wants us to know this, that he calls us his friends.2:39He calls us friend. And why would Jesus cement this in our hearts? Because immediately before this, Jesus says that he is the vine, we are the branches. Apart from him, we can do nothing. And after this, if you go home and read the passage this afternoon when you arrive home, Jesus is going to remind his disciples that the world hates you. So in between these two bookends, he reminds us that Christ himself, the Father, loves us deeply.3:07And for that, we need to hear. Let's pray, Father. May we open up our heart to hear the message of love and redemption that comes from you and you alone. Lord, remind us that in Jesus, we are full of joy. And not just to be filled with joy, but that we live a life that is joy-filled, knowing that you call us not only your servants, but you call us friends of God.3:31Lord, open our minds to that truth. Open our hearts to receive it. And open our lives to live it. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. First, I want to encourage you and say this. You in Christ can be filled with joy. You in Christ can be filled with joy. Hopefully you're listening.4:01You're not very joyful at that yet, but by the end of today, you will be. Verse 11, these things I have spoken to you that my joy may remain. My joy may remain. I want to give you three dates this morning. The first is, and hopefully my wife's sitting here, so hopefully I don't miss these dates. The first is July 29th. And these will mean more to her than it will to you guys. The second date I want to give you is June 25th.4:29And the third date is January 30th. Now, for you, those dates really do not hold any significance. But for me, they remind me of days of great joy. Because I remember on July 29th at Casey, my father-in-law's church, standing up there at the front and seeing for the first time my bride walking down the aisle. And then looking and seeing my father-in-law. Looking at my bride, seeing my father-in-law.5:00But remembering the great joy, seeing Casey come down the aisle. Thinking to myself, Lord, why me? And then later thinking, Lord, what have we gotten ourselves into? But a day of great joy. I remember on July, June 25th, for the first time, holding our son. And the joy that holding that child brings. For those of you who don't know, Dan wasn't here last week because he was with his child for the first time.5:28Little Hudson. And we're glad to have him back and a healthy baby. But holding that child, little Hudson, reminded me of holding Eli because he's about the same size and weight. And just remembering the joy that Christ had flooded my life with. And again, thinking, Lord, I am not worthy of this joy. And thinking again, Lord, what have we done? And then on January 30th, the same thing, having a smaller bundle of joy in our little girl, Erin, who is now the vocal part of the quartet in our house.5:57But to have that joy, say, Lord, why are we worthy to even have a glimpse of joy in our lives? And for many of you, you have those moments. For some of you, you have other moments of joy. Maybe it was a special event in your life or another anniversary or a homecoming or a game where you made the winning shot.6:22I believe that God in our lives give us glimpses of joy. I believe this morning when Lexi was baptized, I see her sitting back there, that God gives us a glimpse of joy. Because when one person steps out on faith, the heavens rejoice. And seeing that glimpse of joy, but I believe that the joy of Christ is deeper than the glimpses of joy that we get here in this world.6:48I believe the dates that I have offered you are pointing us to a deeper sense of joy found in Jesus Christ. And we see in him that he offers us his joy. Verse 11, he says, I have spoken you these things that my joy would remain in you. You see, because we live in a fallen world, that the joy we experience now is at best shallow and incomplete.7:19The joy we experience now is shallow and incomplete until we experience the love of God in Jesus Christ. As much as I love my wife and how wonderful that day was, does not compare to the day that I heard the voice of Christ into my life. And I heard, Josh, I have not called you to be a servant, but to be a friend. And that I have died on the cross to redeem you from your sin and your wicked ways.7:50And that is a day that will forever change my life. A day where I was filled with the joy of Jesus Christ. You see, in the Lord, we are offered his joy. And this is an eternal truth for us. Anything that God offers, he has the power to deliver. Anything that God offers us, he has the power to deliver. God does not offer us joy and give happiness.8:18God does not offer us joy and give us a spiritual high or momentary euphoria. Everything that God promises to us in his word, he has the power to deliver. He's not like we are. We sometimes offer things that we have no business offering. God has the authority to give everything that he offers us. And for us, he offers us his joy. And so what does that look like in our life?8:47First, we have to be willing to accept it. If God has offered you and I his joy this morning, are we willing to accept the joy that he has for us? And if so, then what does that look like? Well, we see first in God's word that his joy is this. Verse 11, these things I have spoken to you that my joy.9:07So who is the my here? It is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So the joy that he offers is his. It is personal. You know, we all need a personal touch every now and then. I was reminded of this because I got some junk mail yesterday, in fact. And I opened up the junk mail because it was from an Internet company that I want to have in our neighborhood that we don't yet have access to.9:35For some of you who are around, who are in the Moody area, you know what I'm talking about. So I opened up the junk mail thinking, man, we have service now. And inside the junk mail is a what looks like a post-it note. Inside the post-it note looks like a handwritten note to me, personalized Josh. And I look at it more closely and I realize it's not a personal post-it note.10:01It's a computer generated image. Now, what does that advertisement company know? That we desire personal touches. And I looked at that note and I looked at it and said, this is counterfeit. And I ripped it up and threw it in the trash. And you know what I'm going to do when we get service? I'm going to call them and thank them. Right? But yesterday I showed them. Right?10:31Right? I am in charge of my house. But the joy of Jesus Christ is not counterfeit. The joy of Jesus Christ is personal. And how much do we need a personal touch of his grace, his peace, which he has already said in this passage he will give, and his joy? I think sometimes we go around life and we just don't see the personal joy of Christ in our life. We should know that our most high gives you and I his personal joy and personal truth.11:00And for that, I am eternally thankful. That we need to live out joy because God's joy is personal. Think about that. He is sovereign. He is high. Behold our God who sits on the throne is the same God that says, I will personally give you my joy. He can send his angels and give us joy and we should be thankful. He can send joy in the rocks and we should be thankful.11:29But he says to us, I will give you my joy. What a wonderful truth that is. Not only is the joy of Christ personal, but look at this. If it is coming from Christ, it is intentional, it is eternal, and it is supernatural. G.K. Chesterton says it this way, joy, which is the small publicity of the pagan, is the gigantic secret of the Christian. Joy, which is the secret of the Christian, is the gigantic secret of the Christian.11:59Why would he say that? The book of James says it another way. James says, count it all joy when you face various trials. Now, what does it mean to count something joy? It means that we should be intentionally pursuing Christ in our life. And when we do, we are found in joy in that. So, are you living an intentionally joyful life?12:28Some of you are thinking, well, no, I'm not going to be joyful. Why would I do that? Because Christ offers it. And the reason you don't see joy in Christ in your life is because we are not intentionally living that. How can Paul look at everything that he is going through and say, I have all things through Christ who gives me strength. And before you think that that means God has just filled up your bank account, Paul says, I know what it means to go without. And I know what it means to be full.12:57I know what it means to be shipwrecked and attacked and persecuted. And yet, in all things, in all things, I know the surpassing power of the greatness of my Savior. Paul says that he is intentionally living for joy. So, are you intentionally pursuing joy? James says, are you counting joy daily? And I find this in my life. On the days where I try to count the joy of God, I don't have a number that gets that high.13:24I can't count fully the joy that God has given me. I don't have a number. That is the beauty of Christ. Are we intentionally living joyfully in our life? The joy of Christ is not only to be lived intentionally, but it is to be lived eternally. You see, we live in a world of temporary, fleeting happiness.13:52We live in a world that offers us momentary glimpses of desires. We know that full well. And it's not just a modern invention. And for some of us, we run to addictions and difficulties because we run to substance because substance will give us the high that we're looking for. And yet, it brings with it cruelty and destruction that we're not desiring. Sometimes it can be small.14:23Sometimes around Easter, we love in our house the Cadbury mini eggs. But here's what we found out. I saw some hands raised there. I made the mistake recently of buying the small bag. And in two days, the bag was gone. Because it was momentary. It was fleeting. And the joy of Christ in our lives is not fleeting. The joy of Christ in our lives is constant.14:50And it is a source that will not run dry. So I ask you, are you constantly filling yourself with the joy of Christ? He says that he will fill us to the full. He will fill us to the max. It is eternal. It is perpetual. It is continuing. Are we continuing in joy in our lives? We also see that the joy of Christ is not natural. It is supernatural.15:20In John 14, 27, Jesus says this, Peace I live with you, leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, but what? I give you differently. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. So if the peace that God gives is not of this world, then the joy that Christ gives is also not of this world. And so I just caution us in this way.15:48Be careful the things that we seek that give us joy. Because if we are seeking joy in anything besides Christ, it is counterfeit. It is vain, and it is temporary. Natural joy will never compete with supernatural grace found in Jesus Christ. I am reminded by a story I heard recently. One of the pastors that we listen to often in our house is Alistair Begg. And he related a story.16:18He was preaching, and someone came up to him and sent him a note. He said, I want to give you this, pastor. And he went home, and he read the note, and the note said this. I have a friend that is recently diagnosed with cancer. And has been in the hospital for months. And on his chart, one of the nurses wrote this on his chart that he found. He said, this patient is unnaturally joyful. And then the next note was, this patient is inappropriately joyful.16:48You see, this is the joy that Christ has for us. That we can look at cancer. We can look at difficulty. We can look at the births of our children in moments of great joy. And we can be inappropriately joyful because of the grace that is found in Jesus. This is offered to us fully.17:16And so if the joy of Christ remains in us, then what? You might be saying, okay, I get it. We are offered joy. Now what? Where do we go from here? Look at what Jesus says. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy would remain in you. And that your joy may be full. And so simply this. If we know Christ, then we know joy.17:44If I know Christ, I know joy. And so this is what the world should be thinking now. If I know Christ, then I know joy. The world should look at us and look at this place and say, you guys are inappropriately joyful. What's up? And we should be able to look back at them and say, if you know Christ, we have no choice but to be full of the joy found in the Holy Spirit.18:05Now that does not mean that we are arrogant or inappropriate in ourselves. That does not mean that we walk with someone that's going through cancer and pat them on the back and say, it'll be okay. Because maybe the answer is, it's not going to be okay. But that we as believers can look that in the face and say, God, one day I will die because of my sin.18:33And even in death, I will look death in the face and say, death, where is your sting? Because I have the joy of my Savior. His joy is full. If Christ, then joy. Well, you see, Jesus does not fill us with temporary joy. He fills us to the max. I related this story on Wednesday night and it held true on Thursday morning. Brad and I have a running joke.19:03If you don't know Brad, he's to my right. The joke and I, Brad, have is when we ride together, one of us needs gas. It never fails. I could fill up my tank today and if we ride together in the morning, I'm going to need gas or vice versa. And so again, we were going to a lunch about the persecuted church and we were running somewhat late, pastor late, which means we were going to be late anyway. And usually when you're running late, you jump out of the car because we didn't have enough gas to get to Pell City.19:29So we said, you know what? I'm just going to put enough gas to get there. So I think I put $10 in the tank and I sped off and left. And I began to think about that again and said, Lord, how foolish of me. Sometimes this is how I treat my spiritual life, that you are offering me fullness of joy and I am so rushed that all I want is a quarter tank of joy. And you know what happens when we are we are hoping and praying that we can just get a glimpse of joy on Sunday mornings.19:59You know what happens tomorrow that when we don't fill our tank in our cars and trucks, you know what happens? The yellow light comes on more quickly. Hey, you're approaching empty. And you know what happens when we don't let Christ fill us with his joy? That we get to Monday morning, we say, well, where's my joy? And the Lord says, but if you would abide in me and I in you, then my joy would remain.20:23So I'm going to ask you today to lean into the grace of Christ. Let his joy be full in you. And it's okay to let the world see that. It's okay to let people know that we're joyful. You don't have to look like Bitter Betty. And that's for the men. I don't know what the women look like. But we don't have to look like we're empty with joy. We should show the world that we have fullness of joy.20:52That they might ask, what is your problem? And we can say his name is Jesus. And he has filled me. I don't deserve it. I don't know how, but he has filled me with his joy. We see the joy that orients my life now makes me joyful for the things that bring Christ joy. That I can look at the things that bring God joy and say, Lord, those things now bring me joy and make my joy complete.21:17And so the question we have to ask ourselves is this, Lord, how should I trust you today? Because his joy is not a secret. It is found in Jesus. And so how is God asking you to open up your life and say, lean into my joy? Trust me. I got this. His joy is offered. And if his joy is offered, take it. Embrace it and live it out.21:47So first, Christ wants you to know his desire for your life. Be joyful. And not just be joyful, but be filled with joy. Secondly, Christ says this. This morning, remember that you are loved by your Father. You are loved by your Father. Verse 12. This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. This is Christ speaking to his disciples and now speaking to his church, speaking to his bride.22:15You see, the chain of love that the Father has to the Son is the same chain of love that the Son has for you and I. You are loved. So let's just say it. That way, at least if we don't hear it here, that we hear it in our ears, that we are loved. You ready? One, two, three. We are loved. But why is that so hard for us to hear sometimes? Why is it so hard for us to say, God, you love me?22:45Because we don't maybe fully embrace the grace that is offered. We are loved. First John says this. Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God. Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know him. Behold, what manner of love the Father has for us. Why would God say that? Because we are loved.23:14In Christ, you are loved. Jesus wants you to understand that. He wants us to live that out, to embrace it. Titus 3, verse 4. But when the kindness and the love of God, our Savior, toward man appeared. God loves you. God loves you. And what a heartwarming truth that is, to know that God doesn't just tolerate us because he has to.23:35God loves us because he allowed his son to die for us. Now, the youth would say this. The struggle is real. They probably said that 10 years ago. I don't know what they say now. The struggle used to be real. Because here's the struggle that we have. I tell you guys, I'm cool.24:04You just don't realize it. The struggle is we hear that, that we are loved. And yet tomorrow, we're going to struggle with embracing that. We know that Jesus loves us, but we're going to struggle because the first person that comes and says, you know what? I don't think God really loves you. We're going to say, well, I'm not lovable, so maybe that's right. What does it look like that God loves us? See, we find it difficult to embrace and accept that the greatest demonstration the world has ever seen of love24:33is found right here in this verse. That a man lay down his life for his friend. Now, this is talking about a man laying down his life for another person, but ultimately, this is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. That the greatest expression of love the world has ever seen for us is that Jesus laid down his life.24:59And I do not understand why he did that. But you know, here's the beauty of the gospel. God didn't ask me to understand it. He asked me to accept it. And if we accept the love that God has for us, we can live out and say, Lord, behold, what manner of love you have lavished on me,25:20that I would be called a son and a daughter of you. God loves us. Therefore, now, how do we live? If the joy of Christ leads to the love of Christ, then what happens to our lives? See, there's an expectation here in Scripture that if we are loved by God, it changes us.25:46So it's not enough for us to say God loves us and that we puff out our chest and say how awesome we are that God loves us. There's an expectation that because we are loved, we do this. Verse 14, you are my friends if you do whatever I command you. Verse 12, this is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. The expectation of the love of God is that we display the love of God.26:17To be loved is now to love others. You see, we live a life that we should do because of the love of Christ. So I ask you, are you living out a life that shows people that you love them? Just yesterday, as the Bible says, my joy was made complete. I saw men that gave up a Saturday morning to build a ramp for a family that they could not do it themselves.26:42And the only reason they did that is because they wanted to show the love of Christ. I saw a life group get together and lead a garage sale for another man that's struggling going through cancer. And the reason they did that is not because they had to. It's because they wanted to show him that we love you because Christ has loved us. And may God open our hearts this morning that we all say, Lord, you have loved me.27:10So now how can I love everyone else? And in your life, that looks differently than it looks in my life. So how are we loving others? And let's just take a moment to say, God, how can I love the world? God, if you love me and I want to embrace that and live that out, then now God is calling us to love. And here's the myth of church, the way we do church. It's hard to love people right now.27:41It's hard to love people at 10, 15 or what time, 11, 10 on Sunday mornings. Because we are getting full of God's word. But the moment we say amen and we go out into the world, that's the moment that the Holy Spirit says, okay, live it. Love the world. Love others. So how are you loving people this week? God is giving us those chances. And I pray for the day that our homes are packed with people because we are showing them the love of God.28:11I am praying for the day that some of you have to wait outside the doors because we're so full, because we're showing the love that people say, I don't get this church. I don't get the way you worship is kind of odd, but I'm here because you love me. And if you love me because Jesus loves you, I want to know that Jesus. May the world see that in our lives.28:39May the world hear that in our mouths. If we are not loving Christ, we are not living out the love in our life. You are filled with joy in Christ. You are loved eternally by your Savior. And lastly, I want to leave us with this this morning. God wants you to be a friend, not a slave, not a servant. God wants us to be a friend, not a servant. Let's look and unpack these final verses. Verse 15, Jesus says,29:09No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends. For all things that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you. And then he says, You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give to you. You see, those who believe in Jesus Christ, he now calls you friends.29:39There were two men in Scripture that were called friends of God, Abraham and Moses. In the Old Testament, 2 Chronicles 20 for Abraham and Exodus 33, verse 10. But I want to remind us that although those men were called friends of God, God was never called a friend of theirs. So before we pause and say, you know what, God is my homeboy now, God is still high and lifted up.30:04So we don't have this buddy-buddy relationship with God. To be called a friend of God means that he is revealing himself to us as a friend would reveal themselves to another friend. And God desires us to have that relationship. You see, the mutual reciprocal friendship of modern society is not in view.30:31God is not your Facebook friend. He's not. And you know what, just while I'm at it, when you like those little things on Facebook, you don't necessarily have a blessed life tomorrow. And if you ignore it, you're not necessarily condemned for eternity. Okay? God doesn't necessarily use Facebook like that. Right? God is not just your Instagram follower.30:59You, right? He's not your Snapchat buddy. But sometimes, if we're not careful, we get in that mentality where we just want to buddy up to God, and we forget he is still sovereign. He is still holy. And yet, he calls us friends. So why would Jesus offer us friendship? First, I want us to remind this thought. We are friend first, obedient second. You see, God does not call us into friendship because we are faithful.31:27This is the ministry of reconciliation. We are his friends because Jesus has reconciled us to God through the death of his son. Having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. So we are brought into friendship with God because of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. God is not your friend because you like him on Facebook. God is not your friend because you are coming to church. God is not your friend because you are baptized.31:57God is your friend because Jesus Christ laid down his life. God is your friend for us. And yet, he offers friendship. And so what does that look like? First, God is in the revealing business. God, in his friendship towards us, wants to reveal himself. God wants you to know who he is. There's a reason God entered the burning bush and spoke to Moses.32:24Now, before you get all excited and say, man, God, I want a burning bush. Remember what God said out of the burning bush. Moses, take off your shoes because this is holy ground. Don't get too friendly, Moses. But I will call you friend. God is revealing himself. He desires to reveal himself to you. You say, well, pastor, how does that happen? I would love to know about God. How does he reveal himself?32:53He has given us. Through the death of his son, through the word of his testimony, and through the power of his spirit, his word, that we can know him. That we know that when we open up the Bible, it's not just a book. It's not just a book where we fill our minds and say, you know what, let's read about the historical Jesus. Let's learn about this God that spoke things into existence. It's important for me to know God is revealing himself through us, to us, through his spirit, in his word.33:21That's why his word is so important. That's why his word is living and active. Because there are days where I open up God's word, and I read one verse, and I close it and say, I don't want to read that. Because I don't, God, you're revealing things about yourself that I don't like about myself. And God says, but the closer you draw to me, friends, the more you will know about me.33:49That we would open ourselves up to his word. John Wesley once reminded in his testimony, he said this, looking back on his conversion in latter years, he described it as a time when he exchanged the faith. He exchanged the faith of a servant for the faith of a son. And why is friendship important in God's economy?34:18Why isn't friendship important with God? You say, well, I just want to serve him. I don't care about being a friend. Well, you see, servants, Jesus says, don't know their master's business. And God reminds us that God doesn't have lazy friends. Church, you hear me? Sometimes we say, well, I'm going to be a friend of God. I can just do whatever I please or do nothing. God saved me by his grace. Now he has saved me to be lazy. God doesn't have lazy friends.34:48But God is revealing himself. That way we can know his business. And that we can see the full blessings of the father. And in the ancient world, we know this. Not only did slaves not know his business, that Jesus says, I will let you in to the heart of God. But that slaves never had full inheritance. Even if the owner of the servants left everything that he had to his servants, they could never fully take part in that inheritance.35:18And by God offering his friendship, he says, one day, you and I will have the full inheritance of the king if we trust. This morning, church, I want you to know this, that you are loved. That you are offered full, full joy in Christ. And that you are offered a friendship that the world cannot take away.35:46God will not unfriend you. Because the death of his son was the perfect, finished work of Jesus. And in that, we have redemption of our sins. We have reconciliation and we have full inheritance. As those who are enemies of God are now brought back into peace with the Savior. So I ask you this morning, are you a friend of God?36:14Are you a friend of God? 2 Peter 3 says this, See, God's desire is that everyone in here be a friend of the king. That God is drawing us into himself.36:43How do we know that? Because he sent his son to die for everyone. That through Christ, we might know God and be known through him. But I also know this, there are people sitting here today that I believe are not friends of God. You are enemies. And if you do not humble yourself, look at your sin and say, God, you sent your son as the answer. As the forgiveness, you will not have friendship with the Savior.37:13But said a positive way is this, if you would look at your sin and say, God, I am not worthy to be a friend. I have fallen short, but Jesus died for me. And I know some of you are going to ask this, well, Pastor, you don't know what I've done. You don't know how much of an enemy of God I am. The Bible would say this, God knows. And yet, while we were still sinners, Christ Jesus died for us.37:43That we who were the chief of sinners might be called friends of him. If you have never put your faith in Jesus, he is offering you eternal friendship. He is offering you eternal friendship this morning. And I'm going to ask you in a couple moments to respond. That if you have put your faith in Jesus or need to put your faith in Christ today, that you would respond in this moment, not waiting to tomorrow.38:09Because none of us are guaranteed that. That you would say, Lord, I will take a stand for you because you took a stand on the cross for me. Maybe you're here and you say, well, I know the Lord, but I just don't feel like I'm loved. I want you to know in your mind that you are loved by the Savior through his Son. And not just know it here, but I want you to live that out. I want your heart to embrace the fact that you are loved because Jesus offers us that.38:37So live a life that is loving because you are loved. And if you are struggling here because like me this week, that you, your gas tank spiritually came on today. And he said, you know what? I have come in this place on empty. And I just want a, I want a quarter tank of God's goodness. Just give me a glimpse. God doesn't offer a quarter tank of his spirit.39:05But what he says is, I will fill you in fullness of joy if you remain. So maybe this morning you need to respond and say, God, I have been living on empty for far too long. And I have not embraced the truth that you have given me fullness of joy. And for that, we should be eternally thankful. Let's pray. Father God, help us respond.← Previous in What is Church?Sunday, March 12, 2017Next in What is Church? →Sunday, March 26, 2017More sermons on John →
