"Upper Room" Pt. 4

Hi, this is John Ozanting, lead pastor of Evolved Church, and this is the Evolved Church Podcast.

Thanks so much for tuning in.

We hope that you find today's message encouraging and full of hope for wherever you're at.

We're on a series called Upper Room.

And in the in the whole story of the Bible, there's a moment that we read about in these what are called the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

There's a moment where Jesus and his disciples physically go like into an upstairs room.

And it's in the days leading up to Jesus' death and crucifixion and resurrection.

And the purpose of him spending that time alone with his disciples was to teach them and equip them and empower them for what life was going to look like after he died.

And I kind of think of it like Jesus giving his followers permission to really trust him and learn from him and decide how they're going to live without him physically there.

And there's some incredible teaching, and so this is part four of that series called Upper Room as we're working our way through John chapters 13 through 17.

John 13 · chapter mention

And we're going to be hanging out in John chapter 15 today.

John 15 · chapter mention

So if you brought a Bible with you, you could turn there.

If you don't have a Bible with you, that's cool.

We always put the scriptures on the screen.

Feel free to pull out your smartphone, take photos.

If there's a point or a quote or something on the screen that you're like, oh, I want to remember that.

You can take pictures, you can take notes in a notebook or notes on your phone.

We encourage note-taking at evolve.

We think it really, really matters when we're hearing something taught.

Why do we take notes in grade eight science so that we can remember more when it really, really matters?

One would argue that grade eight science doesn't no, I'm not going to say it doesn't matter, but I digress.

Are there any plant people in the room?

Just as we kind of get going today, I'm curious.

Are there any like plant moms and dads?

I see you, Pat.

I see that hand.

Come on, who's who's like, yes, love them, have them, water them, take good care of them.

Uh, you know, I I know plant people.

I think, you know, Alex uh was part of our church staff for a season as our communications director, and her office was full of plants, and I used to walk in and go, wow, I wish I could do that.

You see, here's here's what's true.

Pastor Nicole and I, we want to be plant people.

Um, but this week we had a moment where we acknowledged that we have more empty pots than actual plants.

That's because many of our plants die.

It's not that we don't like plants or want to take care of plants, it's just that I don't think we're really good at it.

Um maybe we're missing some things.

And so I got thinking about like, who are some people I know, I know charity funk is really, really good at taking care of plants.

Maybe we just need some more time with charity to learn.

Like, how how do you water a fig tree without killing it?

How how do you take care of, I don't even know what that that tree, that plant on my coffee nook shelf that looks like it's nearly dead.

Like I just don't even know how.

And and when we don't know how to do something, we surround ourselves with people that are really, really good at it.

You know, I think every time Brandi Brosny comes over to our house, she looks at our plants and goes, You guys, seriously.

Um, and and we get to learn.

There's a good template.

Why do I share?

Because we're gonna look at Jesus today and something he taught us, uh, which is a really, really cool parable.

It's a story or an analogy that we can look at and learn from.

But also connected to this whole series is a really clear invitation that we get to look at Jesus as a template.

When we hit a moment in our life where I'm not sure how to do that, I don't know how to show up in that way, we can look to Christ.

In John 13, Jesus says, I've given you an example to follow.

Do as I've done.

Uh, now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.

And so the whole heartbeat of this series is what is it gonna cost us to be the kind of people that decide, I'm gonna what Jesus did, I'm gonna do that with my life.

How Jesus lived, I want to live the same way.

What Jesus taught, I want to hear it, and not just hear it, I want to put it into practice.

I want to follow his example.

And I and I recognize that when I follow the example of Jesus, man, God's gonna bless me.

There's lots of ways the world says you're gonna find happiness or success or significance, but ultimately I have to wrestle and decide: will I trust that in Jesus I will find the most significant life I could ever live?

And that's a question every person in this room has to ask themselves, not just today, but each and every day.

Will I trust him?

And so I want to invite you into kind of six words that stood out for me as I was reading through John chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

And if you're a note taker, you could write these words down.

Starting in uh John 15, verse 1.

John 15:1

The first word that stands out is the word pruning.

Jesus says, I'm a grapevine and my father's a gardener.

So here's the analogy.

We're we're in agriculture.

Does any anybody like to go to Kelowna or um Lake Shellan, Washington, or other parts of the world where there's vineyards?

And does anybody like to do vineyard tours and you're fascinated?

So Jesus is talking about vines and branches and gardeners and fruit.

And so it's an analogy for us to learn from.

Jesus says, I'm the grape vine, my father's the gardener.

And then he says, My father cuts off branches that don't produce fruit.

He prunes branches that do bear fruit, so they'll produce even more.

And then he says, This you've already been pruned and purified by the message I've given you.

So Jesus is talking to his followers.

And I'm not sure where you see yourself in the mix today.

You might be in this room out of a sense of just sort of obligation.

You're like going to church on Sundays feels like the right thing to do.

You might be here today because you've come to support a friend or family member that got baptized.

You might be here today because you're earnestly searching for truth in life, and you've heard that there's the truth that has a name.

It's Jesus.

And so you're maybe you're learning about Jesus.

Or you might be here because you've made an intentional, intelligent, educated decision to yield and surrender your life to the leadership of Jesus, and you say, I'm a Jesus follower.

Regardless of where you're at, we get to choose today to be like Jesus' disciples, a kind of people that are pruned or purified by the messages that Jesus taught, by the life that he lived, by the lessons.

And he looked at he says, already you've been pruned.

If you're my followers, you've already been pruned.

And so in this agricultural analogy, there's a grapevine, that's Jesus.

There's a gardener, that's God.

There's branches, that's you.

That's me, that's us.

And there's fruit.

Is your life bearing fruit?

What kind of fruit does your life bear?

Have you been pruned?

Um, are have you been cut off from the vine?

I hope not.

In which case it's never too late.

Come on, be grafted back into the vine.

Uh, that's a that's a great story to tell.

And because one day, branches that are cut off.

Um, Jesus says something really specific about that.

But there's this temptation in life that when things are hard, when things don't go according to plan, when things fall off the rails.

Uh maybe, maybe high school feels a lot harder than I thought it was going to be, and the and the relational connections, and why is it that people have great friends, but I'm all alone?

Why is it that people seem to be doing well in their heart and in their head, but I'm really struggling with mental health?

Or why is it that somebody seems to get opportunities to advance in their career, but I'm always left behind?

Or why is it that that person found meaningful love in a lifelong commitment called marriage, but I'm still by myself?

Or why is it that these people are happy, but people that come close to me end up getting hurt or dying or worse?

What's going on?

Well, there's tension here.

Sometimes life is hard and we experience difficult things.

And I've learned at 49 in the last kind of 28 years of serving church and doing ministry that for a lot of people that say they follow Jesus, when life gets hard, they disconnect from the vine.

Their first instinct is to be like, God's not as good as Jesus said he was, so peace out.

I'm disconnecting.

And sometimes that's our own sin that causes us to disconnect.

Sometimes that's just we we don't understand that suffering is a really real part of being human and living on planet Earth.

But we shortchange our commitment to following Christ.

That's not pruning, by the way.

That's temptation.

Those are really different things.

Pruning is when we're invited into scripture and it challenges something that we think, or it challenges a habit, or it challenges a behavior, and we're challenged to go, I I've been doing it this way, but Jesus says I should do it this way.

I'm gonna choose his way.

That's pruning.

Pruning is like this beautiful, loving pastoral challenge that would say, hey, you don't have to turn to substance, to alcohol, to narcotics, to social media to like quell the storm in your heart.

You don't have to turn to a thing to experience peace, because that peace never lasts.

Everybody I know that's been consumed by alcohol addiction, they would all say, it's a temporary thing.

I'm gonna need it again the next day.

Everybody that would spend a night after a hard day over a glass of Merlot and mindless scrolling on social media never actually feels at peace when they eventually fall asleep on their pillow.

But everybody I know that turns to Jesus to calm the storm says, wow, that's a peace that seems to last forever.

It just never runs dry.

And so we have to choose, right?

Um, and pruning is saying yes to the way of Jesus and no to anything else.

Pruning is saying yes to having Jesus at the center of our lives.

There's a throne.

It's called my soul, my heart.

And we have to decide: does Jesus sit on the throne, or does success or money or failure or pain or trauma, what sits on the throne of my life?

Is it Jesus?

What are you feeling tempted to quit right now?

I want to quit my small group because I'm being challenged too much.

No, you're being pruned.

Don't quit.

Bear the fruit of patience, self-control.

Right?

Don't quit on Jesus if you're being pruned.

Stay attached.

Pruning is important.

To be a branch in the vine, Warren Wearsby says, means that we're united in Christ and we share Jesus' life.

As we abide in Jesus, his life flows through us and produces fruit.

It's possible for the carnal Christian to produce works, but only a spiritual Christian can bear lasting fruit.

Note that fruitful branches are pruned or purged, cleaned, so that they'll bear more fruit.

God wants you to be cleansed so that you can bear more fruit.

We're going to talk about what that means.

Ephesians 5 says that Jesus gave up his life for his church, for you and for me, to make us holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God's word.

When I read about Jesus in the Bible, what I'm doing is looking at a mirror and saying, Am I willing to count the cost of lining up my life with the example and the template of Christ, even if it hurts, even if it's uncomfortable, even if it costs me something?

Will I be pruned by Scripture?

Will I be pruned by the Word?

Will I be cleansed by Jesus?

Will I be washed by His example?

So stay attached.

Embrace the pruning.

The second word that I want to share is the word remaining.

Remain.

Verse 4, Jesus says, Remain in me, I'll remain in you.

A branch can't produce fruit if it's severed.

You can't be fruitful unless you remain.

Yeah, I'm the vine, you're the branches, those who remain in me, I can you hear it?

Will produce much fruit.

Apart from me, you can't do anything.

Anyone who doesn't remain is thrown away like a useless branch.

And it's springtime, and I'm already looking at the trees in my backyard and wondering like, is anything dead?

Right?

If it's dead, if it's not, if it's not producing fruit, we gotta we gotta cut it off and then I'll throw it in the fire pit and we'll roast marshmallows around it, right?

That's basically all it's good for.

And Jesus is using that example.

Like, if people say that they're attached to the vine, but they're not actually bearing godly fruit, if they're not actually templating the way and the truth and the life of Jesus, there's gonna be a cost.

There might be a severing one day.

But eight times Jesus says, remain, and I wonder if that's important.

I know in the Bible when things get repeated, we're supposed to pay attention to that.

We're supposed to be curious.

Like, why is that keep coming up?

But here's what I want to say: it's actually really great news that the gardener, God, is far more concerned with remaining than fruit bearing.

And if you're taking notes, I would love for you to write that down.

God cares more about how I remain rather than the fruit that I bear.

That doesn't mean he's not interested in the fruit.

It just means that he's more interested in how we remain.

And truthfully, our own desires and our own sin nature and the old person that hasn't died yet, that stuff that shows off, has us worried all the time.

Am I good enough?

Am I okay?

Am I doing enough as a Christian?

Are my small group leaders pleased with me?

Do my pastors think I'm okay?

Is my Christian output or my Christian performance up to par?

Are you focused more on performing, bearing fruit, than you are on remaining?

And Jesus would say, Remain, remain, remain, remain, remain, remain, remain, remain.

And I'm like a message received.

I think that matters.

Remaining, how we how we remain really, really matters.

We have some like fig trees at home.

Uh, you know, I've already confessed my sin that I'm terrible at taking care of plants.

But we have four fig trees, one little one, three big ones.

Two of them are taller than me.

I'm six foot six.

Uh, but we've got this one right in our living room.

Like I walk by it.

Every time I go upstairs, I walk by it.

Every time I go to the kitchen, I walk by it.

Every time I go anywhere in my house, I walk by it.

It's right there.

And over the last two months, like in the in the early morning, like when I grab a cup of coffee and I read my Bible first thing in the morning, I literally sit in a chair right beside this tree.

It's not like it's hidden somewhere, it's right there.

And in the last couple of months, um, we've noticed a trend.

The leaves started falling off.

Yeah, you laugh, because it is hysterical.

It's like, oh, that's weird, we should probably throw that out.

And so the leaf fell off and we threw it away.

And and this thing was full.

Like it was green, it was healthy, it was it was probably our best plant in the house.

And then Nicole's sitting on on one side of it, and I'm sitting on and blunk, oh, another leaf fell off.

That's interesting.

Did we do anything?

No.

Why?

Because we were terrible at taking care of plants, and and and eventually we're like, literally, right now, there's four leaves, and they're all at like the very, very top.

It's just like a long stick with four little leaves at the top.

And eventually I'm like, uh, Nicole said, I think the pot's too small.

I'm like, yeah, that makes sense.

It's the pot that it came in, and it's grown a lot since then.

So we went to Home Sense as as good people do.

Um, and I like to like go down the pet toy aisle, and I like to find the squeakiest ones, and I just walk around and squeak them at Home Sense.

If you've ever been at HomeSense and you're like, who is squeaking that dog toy?

It was probably me.

Um, but we found a pot in a much bigger pot, and and literally, I walked the pot into my living room, I put it down, I grabbed the trunk of this fig tree, and I just lifted.

It came right out.

It was effortless, it was dry as a bone.

It came right out.

I just like vroom, punk, put it into a bigger pot, and that's all I did.

I put the small pot in the mud room, and I was like, all right, we're good.

It's got a bigger pot.

Because I'm like, well, maybe it's root-bound, and the roots just need to like stretch out a little bit.

And and we just left it, and and the leaves kept falling off.

Yeah, not good.

So I'm happy to report that as of yesterday, there's fresh soil all around, the pot's full of fresh soil, we've watered the fig tree.

And uh why?

Because things are falling off and dying, and I'm like, my goodness, um, this the integrity of how this fig plant is remaining is in question.

And clearly I can I can see that because the fruit is falling off.

There's something going on here.

And I share that story with you, A, so that you know that I'm terrible at taking care of plants, and that Pastor Nicole's even worse than I am.

Um, but as I throw my she says it's true.

Uh I have her permission to say that.

But I share that simply to remind somebody in the room today that as a branch, you never have to second guess the integrity of the vine.

As a branch, you never have to second guess the integrity of the vine that you're attached to.

The vine's perfect, the pot's big enough, the vine's blameless, the vine has integrity, the vine can be trusted.

Jesus.

The only spotless mediator between us and the Father, Jesus.

The only one who was and is and is yet to come.

And I've heard that Muhammad was a great leader.

I've heard that Joseph Smith was intelligent and was a great leader.

I've heard that Confucius was wise and a great leader.

But I also know that none of them died and were supernaturally and victoriously raised up from the grave to sit as the only way and the only truth and the only life that leads us to human flourishing in God.

I know this to be true.

And I pray that if you don't know that, if you haven't had confidence in that, if you haven't built your life on the historical evidence that God became human and walked among us and templated real life, how to see other people, how to minister to other people, how to care for other people, how to raise up those who had been put down for so long.

Like right now in Canada, if you believe in human rights and you believe in um like equity and you believe in um freedom of speech and you believe in all of these things that we're like preparing to vote on as Canadians, most of the things that we're fighting over right now have their roots in a person named Jesus.

Study it.

I could help you study it if you want great resources.

But if you trace back our values and our sense of moral code as Western Canadians that we all champion and want to fight for, you'll find it all in the person of Jesus first.

Who came to set captives free?

Who came to bring those who were in bondage into deliverance, who came to heal sick bodies?

Why do hospitals exist?

Jesus.

Why does a priority for sick and hurting people exist?

Jesus.

It started in him, and we're invited to continue his work.

And so I need you to know there's no problem with the vine.

The vine is really, really good.

The issue is with the branches, and are we bearing fruit?

In other words, are we remaining attached to the right vine?

Colossians 1 says, same good news that came to you goes out all over the world, and it's bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your life, my life, from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God's wonderful grace.

Some of us here in the room would have no problem saying how our lives are entirely different because of Jesus.

We have been changed.

And listen, bearing fruit is a natural result of branches that remain attached to the vine.

Stop fretting about the fruit, stop worrying about the fruit, stop fruit fretting.

That's hard to say.

Stop fruit fretting.

Yeah.

Focus on how you're remaining.

Let that give you your best all, your best intention.

In other words, how are my spiritual practices, my spiritual rhythms?

One way to know what's the first thing you grab in the morning?

Is it your email?

Is it your text message thread?

Is it your social media?

What's the first thing you go to in the morning?

Or is it the presence of God?

Is it scripture?

Is it a moment of quiet with your king?

That's a good indicator of how you're remaining.

We get to pay attention to that.

Remain.

Number three, producing.

It's not that we're not supposed to produce, it's that we're not supposed to focus entirely on producing, right?

We're supposed to focus on remaining.

Producing is a natural byproduct of how we remain, how we stay attached to the vine.

In verse 7, Jesus says, If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it'll be granted.

When you produce much fruit, you're my true disciples.

So we're invited to remain, and we're reminded we're invited to stay attached to the vine, Jesus, or remain in God's Word with skin on.

What will we see in the Bible, in the Word?

But the result of remaining is a vibrant trust and a vibrant faith that shows up in how we pray and how we pray.

How we walk and how we live and how we serve.

Faith in action is the fruit of remaining.

How we live out our faith is the is the evidence of how we're staying attached to the branch.

And Jesus says, this brings amazing glory to God.

Paul says in Philippians, may you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation.

Righteous character produced in your life by Jesus.

For this will bring much glory and praise to God.

Don't limit the fruit in your life that an abiding branch wants to bear.

When you abide in the branch, your life just naturally wants to bear fruit and lots of fruit.

Faith, prayer, righteous character, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, all of this is fruit.

Warren says there's several different kinds of spiritual fruit named in the Bible.

When we win others to Christ, we're bearing fruit, Romans 1.

When we're a part of this great harvest, John 4.

When we grow in holiness and obedience, we're bearing fruit.

When we're considered Christian by how we give, giving is a fruit of a dedicated life.

Fruit of the Spirit, which I just listed, is a kind of Christian character bearing fruit that glorifies God.

All of this is fruit.

Are you remaining attached to the branch?

Yes.

How will I know your life bears fruit?

It's evidence of a life that's remaining.

And so we're invited to be pruned, to be challenged, to grow.

We're invited to remain attached to the branch.

And then the natural byproduct of how we stay attached is that we produce.

Number four, obeying.

In verse 9, I've loved you even as my father's loved you.

It's beautiful teaching.

I like verse 10.

When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love.

Jesus connects our love for him with how we obey him.

And if you're a mom or a dad in the room today, show of hands if you're a parent, just out of curiosity, a few parents in the room.

Would you say, like, how one of the ways that you want to raise up your kids to like trust you and obey you?

Like it feels loving when your kids say yes and obey you.

Like it feels like, oh, they did what I asked.

Yeah, I'll buy you a dirt bike.

You cleaned your room, right?

Like, does it feel loving when our kids obey us?

Of course it does.

All the kids in the room are like, note to self, obey mom equals dirt bike.

Right?

Um maybe not, but uh my point simply is that love and obedience are kind of interchangeable for Jesus.

He models love through obedience.

In verse 12, he's like, love each other the same way I've loved you.

There's no greater love than laying down your life.

I've done what the Father's asked me to do.

I no longer call you servants.

I don't call you slaves, I call you friends because it matters to me that you know what I think about love and obedience.

It's beautiful verses.

He asks us to remain and to produce through the outworking of love, which is our obedience to him.

Jesus says, uh, forgive.

We say, okay, I'll obey you.

Jesus says, forgive as often, 70 times seven.

Okay, that's gonna really suck, but I'm gonna learn how to do that.

Jesus says, take care of the poor.

Oh, that's gonna cost me, but I'm but because I love you, I'm gonna say yes to that.

Jesus says, put put others' needs ahead of your own.

Okay, Jesus, I love you.

And so I'm gonna figure out how to do that.

And our lives begin to produce the godly character where we begin to look and sound and and and and and smell not smell, I don't know what Jesus smelled like, but that was just struggling with the five senses there.

But we begin to template the life of Jesus.

We do this through self-sacrifice, surrendering our preferences to Jesus' way, surrendering our thoughts to Jesus' thoughts, surrendering my truth, whatever that is, to Jesus as the only truth.

Jesus says, I tell you the truth, the Son can't do anything, he does only what he sees the Father doing.

And then he says, I invite you to do the same.

Look at me.

I want to give us permission as human beings to stop making excuses for like thinking and habits and conduct that don't serve well as a credit to the message of Jesus.

We we give so many excuses connected to our past.

Like I behave this way because so-and-so did this to me 14 years ago.

Okay.

Can we sit in that?

Like I react this way.

I'm I'm an angry person because my dad was angry and my grandpa was angry.

I react this way because so-and-so treated me this way.

Fair, real, true, valid, painful, traumatic, perhaps?

But when did you believe the lie that you're a victim?

When did you believe the lie that because something happened to you, you're forced to live that out?

Will you believe the truth that it is for freedom that Jesus makes you free?

That it is for people who are bound and held captive to the lie and the fear and the wound of Satan that Jesus wants to bring you through the cross to redemption and healing and wholeness and purpose and significance.

You're a child of the Most High God.

Your chains have been broken.

Listen, if you if you need some real help in that, can I ask you to pray from now until the fall about stepping into freedom?

Every twice a year we run a nine-week beautiful experience called freedom that will help you unlock the lies and the hurts and the wounds and the fears that you've believed.

If it is for freedom, if whom the sun sets free is free indeed.

How do I live in freedom?

Come to come to freedom with us in September.

But for today, will you say yes to being pruned?

Will you say yes to remaining?

Will you say yes to producing?

And will you say yes to obeying?

Because you love and you are loved.

Two more and I'm done.

Number five, seeking.

Jesus goes off on the world hating us.

And uh the subtext of verse 18 is the world's hatred.

It's harsh.

If the world hates you, Jesus says, Remember, it hated me first.

The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to the world, but you are no longer part of the world.

But I live in the world, but you're not part of the world.

I live in Edmonton, but you're a citizen of heaven.

I live in Alberta, yeah, but you belong to a different kingdom when you say yes to Jesus.

You're an ambassador for heaven in the city of Edmonton.

You're an ambassador for the way and the truth of the life of Jesus when you show up at work.

You're like, hey, I'm here as a representative of Jesus Christ.

Uh when you walk the hallways of your high school campus, you don't have to give in to the garbage that's being expressed peer to peer, teacher to peer, peer to teacher.

You can be like, nope, sorry.

I'm an ambassador of Jesus.

I'm here as a representative of the heaven's kingdom.

And we don't do that with arrogance.

I'm kind of making fun of this, but I want you to get the point.

We do this because Jesus invites us to be changed.

What are you seeking?

Where are you still seeking love and affirmation from a world that hates our Savior?

In contrast to the bold obedience and the surrender of seeking first heaven's kingdom, the way, the truth, and the life of Christ.

Jesus used the word hate seven times.

They hate me, they hate you, they hate us, they hate me, they hate.

Seven times.

And it's curious.

And literally the word that he's using is a Greek word called Miseo, which means holding in disfavor, being disinclined to.

The world is disinclined to us because they don't understand our Savior.

They don't know him yet.

They think they know about him, but they don't know Jesus.

Relatively little regard for this principle is seen in some other images of our relationship with Jesus.

He's the shepherd, we're the sheep.

So when the shepherd's attacked, it affects the sheep.

He's the master or the teacher, we're the disciples, the learners.

But it's encouraging to know that when God's people are persecuted, that our Lord enters into our suffering.

He's not out there somewhere, he's right here.

The Holy Spirit has taken up residence in our lives.

God's not far removed, he's up close and personal.

Jesus is the head of the body, we're the members.

So when Jesus said to Saul on the road to Damascus, who is killing Christians, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

Anything the enemy can do to us has already been done to Jesus.

And Jesus is with us as we suffer.

Seek solace, seek refuge in the man of sorrows who enters into our suffering.

That's Jesus.

Don't seek love and favor and affirmation from a world that doesn't know him.

Seek ways to be actively in line with the teachings of Jesus.

You're chosen.

You've been called to come out of the world, to be in it, but not of it, to be a representative of heaven's kingdom.

So don't be surprised when your friends or your neighbors or your family members or other Canadians hold you in disfavor or have relatively little regard for the way and the truth and the life of Jesus.

They just don't know yet.

A preview of uh part six of this series, uh Brian Globish is going to teach on like this beautiful prayer in John 17.

Jesus prays to the Father.

He says, Jesus, Jesus prays.

God, I'm not asking you to take my people out of the world, but to keep them safe.

They don't belong to this world any more than I do.

Make them holy by your truth.

Teach them your word, which is truth.

Just as you've sent me, I'm sending them.

Come on, church, we don't belong to this world.

We've been called by God, we've been set apart, we've been made holy.

Let's be a people who are seeking after a deep sense of belonging to heaven's kingdom, not seeking affirmation and favor from people who don't know God.

As we close our service, I have one more thought, and then we're gonna stand to our feet and close today.

The sixth word is the word partaking.

Everybody say, partaking.

Say like you mean it.

Hey.

In verse 20, Jesus asks a question Do you remember what I told you?

Slaves aren't greater than their master.

And Jesus is like, they persecuted me, of course they're gonna persecute you.

We're in this together.

If they listened to me, they would listen to you.

And then verse 21, and I love this.

They will do all of this to you because of me, for they've rejected the one who sent me.

They wouldn't be guilty if I hadn't come and spoken.

They have no excuse for their sin.

He goes on to talk about the miracles that he did and and all the things that he did in the name of the Father that people were still like, man, God's not God's not good.

And verse 26, but I'm gonna send you an advocate.

I'm gonna send you another version of me called the Spirit of Truth or the Holy Spirit.

And he's gonna come from the Father and He's gonna testify all about me.

And then this last verse 27.

If you get anything out of it out of today, I want it to be this.

You must also testify.

You also must testify about Jesus, about me, he says.

Because you've been with me from the beginning.

It's not that you're gonna be rejected when you have the courage to invite your friend out to a campus night or a young adult.

It's not that you're gonna be rejected when you invite your neighbor to come join you on Easter Sunday.

It's not that you're gonna be rejected when when you sit down at work with a coworker and and and seek to understand their heart, step into their pain, and begin to share the love of Christ with them.

It's not that you're gonna be persecuted, there's actually Christ in you.

The world actually doesn't have any excuse for sin.

Most people just they don't know Jesus.

And if they understood that the invitation to surrender their life to Jesus was one of love and mercy and being forever transformed, this isn't religion.

Jesus didn't come to planet Earth to start another religion.

He came to stand in the middle between you and God and say, You'll never qualify.

Let me qualify you.

You'll never be good enough.

Let me hold that space for you.

Of course, there's stuff in me that has to die every day.

And I know that because of the loving obedience that I'm pursuing as a follower of Jesus.

God extends every grace to every daughter and every son, and then we participate by inviting other people into the story of Jesus.

Are you participating?

Are you an active participant?

Are you partaking in the telling of the testimony of Jesus?

Would you stand to your feet with me as we close our time together today?

And I want to invite you to close your eyes in a moment of just quiet in the presence of God.

How do I know that he's here?

I've already seen him work in people's lives today.

I've already sensed and experienced his peace and his love that I can't explain.

And I trust that scripture says where two or more of us come together in his name, that he's right here with us.

And I also know that when I said yes to Jesus, the Spirit of Christ has made himself at home in me and in you.

Of course, God is in the room.

And so, Father, we come.

Not as outsiders, not as curious bystanders, not as consumers, not as servants and certainly not as slaves, but we come as friends.

We come as daughters and sons of the Father in the fullness of what a father means, in the best loving, encouraging, challenging, coaching way that a dad can show up.

We turn to you, God.

And Jesus, you make that possible.

So we hold close to the chest today this picture of a vine and branches growing off and bearing fruit, and a good gardener who lovingly prunes and separates stuff that isn't healthy.

And we just want to say yes to that picture in our life.

Jesus, you're the vine that we want to stay attached to.

There's other vines we could try and anchor our lives to.

We want to be grafted into the vine called Jesus.

We want to be a branch in your ecosystem.

We want to be a son, a daughter in your kingdom.

Because we want to bear the kind of fruit that invites other people to experience Christ, the fulfillment of God made flesh, who walked and lived on planet Earth, and said, yes, obedient to the Roman crucifixion, the most brutal, horrific way a human being could die.

And we know, because over 400 people saw it and gave evidence to a man that was crucified, and the Romans did their job, and he was laid in a tomb, and three days later, that tomb was empty, supernaturally raised to life.

And in that sacrifice, you took the full weight of our brokenness and our shame, our pride, our failure, our sin that has us so stuck and so embarrassed.

You took it all, the weight of the world on your shoulders when you hung on the cross.

You stood in the balance between us and God and said, I'll pay the price that you could never afford.

I'll take the full penalty, the full weight of sin, and I'll cover it.

And all we have to do is say yes to that.

All we have to do is with our mouths and our hearts declare our surrender to this man, Jesus.

And then we get to choose whether or not we're going to remain.

Because when we remain, we produce fruit.

And we live in the tension of obeying the loving command of our Savior and seeking his face and seeking his heart and seeking his approval and partaking in telling his story, sharing our story so that other people might tell a new story as they're found in Jesus.

And so we invite you, God, to just search our hearts.

And maybe just one of these words stood out for you today.

I was like, hmm, I'd like to take some time in that.

How am I remaining?

How am I producing?

How am I seeking?

How am I participating or partaking in the story of Jesus?

But ultimately, am I grafted in?

Am I attached?

Will I be a part of the work that Jesus is doing?

With our eyes closed, we sang this old chorus today called Majesty.

Your grace has found me just as I am.

Empty-handed, but I'm alive.

Forever I'm changed by your love.

The presence of your majesty, King Jesus.

Your life, my life has a throne.

And in a quiet moment of response and prayerful singing, is Jesus on the throne of your life?

You have to ask yourself, what's on the throne?

Is it my ego?

Is it my trauma?

Is it my mental health?

Is it my pain?

Is it my success?

Is it my bank account?

What's on the throne?

What drives you?

What motivates you?

What leads you?

And if it's not Jesus, can you can you sense his loving drawing?

Would you be grafted into the vine?

Would you drink from the well that never runs dry?

Would you would you partake of the bread of life that will feed you and sustain you?

Would you say yes to the sacrifice that Jesus made?

All across the Thank you so much for listening to today's message.

If you're ever in the Edmonton area, pop by for a visit.

And if you need any more information, visit Evolvechurch.com.

We hope to see you soon.