The Fruit of the Spirit Week 3 • Psalm 51

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Thanks for listening.

Amen.

Well, good morning.

God that you guys are here.

If you've got your Bibles, open them up to Psalm 51 and John chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

As you turn there, a couple of announcements that I want to remind you of.

First is tomorrow starts VBS for us as a church, and that's a big week for us as Willow Ridge

Church.

As we come together, focusing on our kids and on the families and celebrating who Jesus

is, and just the opportunity for us to do this together.

Hopefully, you're just not realizing for the first time some different decorations that

we have up around the building, right?

And so there's been a lot of hard work, a lot of time, a lot of energy that have poured into

this.

Lisa Van Ham has stepped up to be our VBS director this year, and Lisa's done a wonderful job in

leading out in that capacity.

And it feels like every time that we come up here to the church office, there's some

consistent people working, there's different people working.

And so instead of trying to list all the people who have volunteered in order to make this happen,

I just want to say thank you.

If you've given a moment, a day, a week, a month, a season to help do this, we just want

to say thank you for all that you've done.

Now, if you're sitting here and you're thinking, well, we're not registered for VBS, well, there's

still time, all right?

We're Willow Ridge Church, we knew that you were going to wait to the last minute, because

that's how we roll, all right?

So you can still register today in both buildings.

There are places to register, and I believe you can go on our website as well and then do

that.

Now, after the service is over with, if you're a parent and your kids are going with me

to Somersault, yep, you heard that, that's right, I'm coming out of Youth Pastor Retirement

and I'm going to youth camp.

So pray for me, all right?

Pray for me.

It's going to be a long, hot, wonderfully tired week, but pray for me.

In a couple weeks, we'll take off and go to Somersault, but after the service today, we

will have a meeting with the parents where we got some important forms for you guys to

fill out and give you some information.

I promise we won't go too long with that.

And then, definitely last and definitely not least, the most wonderful surprise that I

got as I was walking down.

I looked over and Rick and Tina and Nolan are sitting right here on the front row.

And so if you don't know Rick and Tina and Nolan, they're a part of Willow Ridge Church

and they've been on the mission field in Greece for two years now, serving and working with

Afghan refugees.

And so they are here with us now and they're going to be worshiping with us some of the

courses they transition into their next season of ministry.

And so what we're going to do, so I know a lot of you have kept up with them.

A lot of you have, we shared, know what they've been doing and what God's been doing in

their life.

And so on July the 10th, I believe, I don't have my notes because we got that right.

Is that right or am I wrong?

Sometime in July, right?

Yes.

That is a true statement.

All right.

Sometime in July, we're going to have a Sunday night where we're going to gather together as

a church family and just a wonderful time of refreshments and fellowship.

And Rick and Tina are going to be able to share the story of all that God did and how God

used them in Athens, Greece.

And then they're going to also be able to share with us what God is going to be doing

in their lives in this next phase or this next stage of ministry.

And so we look forward to that time together.

But we know a lot of you, you want to spend some time, you want to take him out to dinner,

you want to talk to him here on Sunday mornings.

And that is absolutely wonderful.

And what we want to do, though, as a congregation is support that and protect that, okay?

And so definitely talk to him, definitely love him, definitely do all of those things.

But we also want to recognize that when we come here, we come here to worship, all right?

And so if you've got the great questions and you want to hear what's happened in the last

two years, maybe that's not a Sunday morning conversation, all right?

Maybe we can wait until July and we can do that together.

And so, but it is wonderful to see your faces and can't wait to hear all that God is doing.

Well, we are going to continue on in our summer series as we look at the fruit of the Spirit.

And so if you're wondering why you're in Psalm 51 and John 15, we're going to get there.

We're going to get there at the end of the message, though.

So just kind of hang tight, maybe take a piece of paper, tear it off, put it there.

For both of those, we will get to those.

But as we get going, let's read Galatians 5, 22 through 23.

Paul writes and says,

And so we've been working through this.

This is our third week of looking at the fruit of the Spirit.

And week number one was an important week for us because we didn't just jump in and look at love.

Instead, we took the introduction to this whole passage and the context.

And what we found out was so vitally important if we're going to understand the fruit of the Spirit.

Because Paul gives these phrases.

He says, walk by the Spirit, live, or be led by the Spirit, and live by the Spirit.

And we gave this imagery of it's the difference between running in a NASCAR event behind the pace car, right,

where you're cutting your tires and you're going your own way and you're trying to figure out how to get around

and you're bobbing and weaving and doing all those things until the pace car gets off the track.

And then, boom, you can go.

That's not it.

But it's more like a train track.

We got those as we walk in.

And it's the locomotive that's doing the work, that's pulling.

And that's the Holy Spirit in our lives.

That we're not determining our track.

We're not determining our speed.

We're not determining where we're going.

But instead, in the dependency of the leading of the Lord, we are walking by.

We are living by.

We are being led by the Spirit.

So wherever He leads is where I go.

Whatever He says is what I do.

And that we also understand, and it's so important, Paul doesn't say, but the fruits of the Spirit.

He says, no, it's singular.

It's the fruit of the Spirit.

That it's this entity of one within the body of a believer.

Now, as you read through there, are there ones that you identify with that more so than others?

Absolutely.

Are there those that you're like, yeah, I think I've matured a little bit more in this character, in this aspect?

Absolutely.

But in this, in the full description of the follower of Christ, that this is what it is.

And it's the singular.

It's the fruit of the Spirit.

And then last week, we looked at love.

And we looked at God's love.

That God's love is our standard for love.

And that God's love is different than the love of this world.

It's different than the love that we think of.

It's different than the love that's portrayed.

And so what we do is we don't take our definition of love and then put that onto people.

Instead, we embody how God has loved us.

And then we are called to love others in that manner so that God is seen and that God is glorified.

So that we don't love each other in our ability, but we love one another in God's ability.

And we love one another and we love others in the same way.

And so this week, what we're going to look at is we're plugging along through.

Had somebody tell me this morning, let me guess, joy.

Yep, that's where we're at today, right?

So we're going to look at joy this morning.

Now, oftentimes, and I noticed this as I was studying this week, that when we think of joy

and we talk about biblical joy in the context of Scripture, there can be, and I think, an incorrect bent

to discuss joy, but discuss it in the opposition of happiness.

Like they're competing against one another.

I'm watching right now, I'm big, I love the NBA.

I know a lot of people don't like the NBA, right?

I love the NBA and I love the Boston Celtics.

And the Boston Celtics are in the NBA finals right now, and they're playing the Golden State Warriors, okay?

And so when I watch the game, it's Boston versus Golden State, all right?

They're opposing one another.

They want to defeat one another.

And sometimes we can look at joy and happiness and apply that same standard,

meaning they can't coexist or they shouldn't coexist.

So I want to kind of talk about the differences a little bit.

Number one, when we think of joy and happiness, let's do understand, and this is what we're going to pull from,

joy and happiness are different.

They're different.

And you're largely going to see this as we talk about the depth of joy of what God has for us and what God desires from us.

That joy and happiness are different.

But the feeling of happiness is given to us by God and is used by God in our lives.

Happiness is a feeling, though, that is bound to a set of time and can leave as quickly as it came and it can return as quickly as it left.

Let me walk you through the worst morning I've had in a long, long time.

We in the Bradbury house love coffee, right?

If you know us, you know that we love coffee.

And we used to, from time to time, run out of coffee.

And then I found on Amazon, subscribe and save, that I can have, delivered to my door, for cheaper than I can buy it from the store,

six bags of Starbucks coffee delivered to my house every month.

And you may say, well, that sounds like a lot of coffee to go through in six months.

Don't judge me, all right?

Like, that's not what we're here for.

So I know that I've always got coffee because I'll be honest with you, we go through about five bags in a month.

So there's one that carries over just in case stuff gets crazy, all right?

That's what we have it for.

And so I come downstairs that morning and I'm not a morning person.

I don't like to talk in the morning.

I grunt, I shuffle, right?

But I know what I have to do every morning.

And the only part that excites me about waking up in the morning is coffee.

And so I come down the stairs and we got a little coffee.

We're those people.

We have the coffee area of our house, right?

Just coffee is there.

It's all the mugs and everything that we need and multiple coffee machines and the box of filters.

And I go and I grab that box and I pull it out and I reach down in and nothing, nothing is in there.

And I literally about have a meltdown.

How in the world am I going to function over the course of the next several hours as I've got to get Erin and everything for her and the kids and everything for them and get them to school.

And then I get happy.

Because I remember right after I dropped the kids off from school, right down the road, there's a Starbucks, right?

So I was happy because I'm going to get coffee.

Then I'm sad because there's no coffee filter.

Then I'm happy because there's coffee in my near future.

So I get the kids.

I'm persevering, right?

I know what perseverance means now.

I persevered for that hour and a half.

And I got the kids loaded up and we took off and I dropped them off at school and it was y'all have a wonderful day and I head to Starbucks.

Now, I'm on a time restraint because I got a meeting to get to.

And I get to the Starbucks out by Lexington High School.

And I immediately think, there must have been a wreck.

There wasn't a wreck.

It was the line to get coffee from Starbucks, all right?

Now, if I'm getting coffee from Starbucks, I like two things in my coffee.

Coffee, bean, water.

That's it.

Anything else other than that is called a milkshake, all right?

So that's what I get.

Water, coffee, bean, that's it.

But what takes long are people who order milkshakes.

So now, there's the determination, what do I do?

And I'm sad.

I can't make the meeting.

And so I get in line.

And as God parted the Red Sea, that line started going.

And I got up there and said, I would like a Venti Pikes Place, please.

And he said, I'm sorry, sir.

But we're out.

And there was a pause.

And then he said, but I can make some more.

I'm like, yes, yes, that's what we do.

And so I'm happy again.

And then I got my coffee.

And then I'm happy, right?

But when we look at that, that's how happiness can be in our life.

Moment to moment, event to event.

And I'll be honest, my story is silly.

But when you look at the course of your day, you can have so many different things, so many

different circumstances, so many different conversations, so many events that can happen in your life

where you're walking in and everything's going good and your happiness is there and you're ready to tackle the day.

And then you sit down and have a difficult meeting and you're here.

And then you're up here.

And then you're up here.

Right?

You've been there.

You've done that.

You've walked through that.

But God gives us these feelings.

God gives us happiness.

And he gives us where we can have.

Last night I watched my daughter dance at her spring performance.

And I'm just sitting there watching the beauty of my little girl and the dancing that she's doing.

And there is the happiness that's there.

And I can't wait for her Christmas performance.

Because I'll sit there and I'll watch it and I'll experience it again.

And then I'll wait for her next spring performance and I'll sit there and I'll watch it and I'll experience it again.

But you know what?

That feeling doesn't stay with me from now until then.

Right?

And so happiness does have its moments where it goes.

Another thing I want you to understand about happiness is this.

Don't feel less spiritual because you're happy.

And don't feel less spiritual when you get sad.

I think sometimes there can be this spiritual arrogance.

Right?

That when someone's happy, people are like, well, they're not aware enough of the sin of the hurting of the world.

I don't think that's true.

I think maybe they're just having a moment where they're at their daughter's ballet performance and they're happy.

They're at the moment where they've had a wonderful conversation with their spouse and they're happy.

At the same time, there's not a, you shouldn't think of yourself as less spiritual when you experience moments of sadness.

Right?

We experience that.

Hopefully it's not over petty things like coffee lines.

Like me.

But we do.

We experience the sadness of life.

It's a part of the reality of experiencing loss and journeying through the difficulty of the day.

But happiness and joy are different.

And this morning, what I want us to look at is that when we look at biblical joy, what I believe in my study this week is we will find overwhelming evidence that connects joy to spiritual matters and matters of the faith.

That when we talk about joy, there's a connectivity to our spiritual life with the Lord, our connection to our faith, our connection to salvation.

And so I want us to look at those and we're going to look at some different passages and then we're going to jump in and we're going to tie it all together with Psalm 51 and John 15.

So number one is this, that joy is experienced, what we see in scripture, when the lost is found.

When the lost is found.

Now, raise your hand.

Join me together.

A little interaction this morning.

Raise your hand if you've ever lost something.

Raise your hand.

Fantastic.

We've all have lost something at some point in time.

Now, raise your hand and I'm going to leave mine up because this is me.

All right.

Raise your hand if you are known for losing your keys.

Raise your hand.

Fantastic.

Fantastic.

You are my people.

I get you.

I understand you.

Nothing creates more panic in my life than realizing that I've lost my keys.

So what I did a couple years ago, my wife who does not lose keys, I gave her one set of keys and I said, keep these from me.

All right.

Don't let me know where they are because there's going to come a point in time where I'm going to need them.

And if I entrust myself with them, I will lose them too.

All right.

This happened yesterday.

All right.

And so now I know when I get home, I've got to entrust her with those and I've got to search around the house and I've got to look for the key to my truck.

And when I find it, it's going to bring me happiness.

But what we see here in scripture is Jesus tells a parable about something greater than finding a lost key.

In Luke 15, Jesus is teaching through some parables and he tells the parable of the lost coin.

He says, or what woman having 10 silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it.

So each silver coin was worth about $300.

And when she found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors saying, rejoice with me for I have found the coin that I have lost.

Verse 10, just so I tell you, just so I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

Joy is experienced when the lost is found.

Jesus has seen a lot of sinners repent.

We've got a room filled with them.

A lot of messed up, broken, jacked up sinners who have repented.

She didn't lose all of her coins.

But when the one is found, when the one, like maybe there's one, two, three, four, some in here.

When they're found, joy, joy in heaven and perfection is expressed.

I think we miss that sometimes.

We miss that sometimes.

Jesus doesn't get lost by the number of the masses.

Jesus doesn't miss in the moment over the one who's there.

And so joy is experienced.

Joy is expressed when the lost is found.

But secondly, what we see about joy from Scripture is that God is the source of joy.

We look for joy in a lot of places.

We're going to talk about that in some depth in just a minute.

But that's what we find ourselves doing sinfully a lot of times in our life.

But here's what Paul writes in Romans 15, 13.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

And so God fills us.

God fills us with joy from our faith.

So as we walk through, as we see this, when we find what we're looking for and what we're searching for, for joy, we have to understand that God is the source of joy.

And he doesn't give out joy in small sampling sizes.

God hits us with joy as he backs up the Brinks truck of it into our life.

And that he is our source of joy.

Jesus says in John 16, 24, until now you have asked nothing in my name, ask and you will receive that your joy, that your joy may be full.

Right?

And in this passage, Jesus is talking about taking your sorrow and turning it into joy.

And he gives an illustration that some of us can identify more with than others, but all of us have an understanding.

He gives the picture of a woman giving birth.

And in the moment of her giving birth, what we see, what she experiences is pain, suffering, and torment in a difficult battle.

But what comes from that is life.

And so Jesus says that in our life, here's what we're going to go through.

We're going to go through pain.

We're going to go through suffering.

We're going to go through torment.

We're going to go through the difficulty of the battle.

We're going to go through all of these moments.

And we're going to feel like joy has been removed.

But it's building.

Full joy.

Overflowing joy.

And that it's not that it's not there.

Jesus says, ask.

Ask.

I want to come, like Joe and Dave, thank you for that moment of teaching in that song.

And Leslie and leading in that song.

And Dave walking us through that.

Of just coming before the Lord in the name of Jesus.

Asking.

I don't feel joy.

Have you asked?

Have we asked?

Number three.

Joy is beyond the resources of this world.

I'm going to read Romans 14.

But in this section, Paul is discussing not being a stumbling block for others.

And we've looked at this at different points in time a lot recently.

And what we walk away from is, if there's something that's causing another brother to stumble, then what do we do?

We do it more.

No, that's not what we do, right?

We give it up.

We give it up.

We don't say, well, it's my right.

It's my freedom.

We say, no, if it causes a brother to stumble, then it's just not worth it.

And I give it up.

So Paul writes this in Romans 14, 17.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

This is what we see.

This is what we see.

God's saying, like, this is what this life is about.

It's not about the things of this world.

It's not about the things that we can do.

It's not about the eating.

It's not about the drinking.

It's not about any of those things.

But instead, God says that it's the joy that comes from God.

The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

So are we having the attitude and the positioning and the approach of life that may cause sacrifice, but what it brings for is joy?

I read this this week, and I thought it was something that was worth throwing up on the screen and letting you guys see.

And it's talking about our search for joy, our desire for joy, and our longing for joy.

And it says this, when we search for joy in anything or anyone other than God, we do not find our joy, but we may find our idol.

I love that.

When we search for joy in anything or anyone other than God, we do not find our idol.

When we look for joy in anything other than God, we will never find joy, but we will find our idol.

My wife brings me happiness.

She was never intended to bring me joy.

My kids bring me happiness.

They were never intended to bring me joy.

You bring me happiness.

You were never intended to bring me joy.

God is the source of joy.

And he uses people.

He uses situations.

He uses moments.

But they in and of themselves are not the source of joy.

He is.

He is.

And lastly, in this section, joy is not found in circumstances.

Joy is not found in the source of circumstances.

In the book of Acts, at the very beginning, especially the church is booming.

People are getting saved.

The church is growing.

And there's a story that unfolds in Acts chapter 5 where the apostles have been out and declaring the name of Jesus,

Acts 5 · chapter mention

and people are getting saved.

And the high priests, the religious leaders, they hear of this, and they have the apostles arrested.

But the angel of the Lord comes into the prison cell that night and sets them free with clear instructions.

Hey, go back and continue to preach.

Continue to teach in the name of Jesus.

So what you're doing to get thrown in here, go and do that some more.

And when the religious leaders had found out that they had gotten out of prison,

they sent for them, and they questioned them.

If you got out, why did you start to do what we told you not to do?

And Peter answers them, and he says this, and this is kind of in my paraphrase.

Peter says, because we listen to God, not to you.

And he says, in fact, the Messiah you've been waiting for, you murdered.

His name's Jesus, and God resurrected him from the dead.

And so for political reasons, the religious leaders just decided, let's just beat them.

Let's beat them.

And then they'll listen.

And then they won't do this anymore.

In Acts chapter 5, verse 41, it says,

Acts 5:41

Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.

Right?

Let's understand some proper theology here.

They weren't rejoicing because of the pain they experienced.

They weren't saying, man, I wish you'd hit me a little bit harder right here.

That this part isn't bruised.

That wasn't it at all.

They're rejoicing because of Jesus.

Because of the dishonor of the name.

Because of the faithfulness that had happened.

And so if the circumstances we find in our life that we are facing are taking away our joy,

then understand we've been looking for joy in all the wrong places.

Let's talk practically.

459 a gallon doesn't make me happy, right?

But it doesn't rob my joy.

Because if it did, then money would be my source of joy, and then money would be my idol.

A bad report from the doctor doesn't make me happy.

But it doesn't rob my joy.

Because if it did, then my health would be my source of joy, and would then therefore be my idol.

Losing a loved one doesn't make me happy.

It causes me to experience sadness, and to mourn, and to grieve.

But it doesn't rob my joy.

Because if it did, then my loved one would be my source of joy, and my idol.

I apologize, this verse isn't on the screen, but I wanted to include it this morning.

It's James 1, 2.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.

Count it all joy.

Count it all joy.

All joy.

Every part of it.

The tears, and the sadness, and the grieving, and the mourning.

The celebrating, the happiness.

Count it all joy.

All joy.

Every single part of it.

So, I want to ask this question this morning, and this is what we're going to look at as we wrap up.

Two pretty long pieces of scripture, but we're going to draw a couple quick things out of them.

What hinders you from living in joy?

If you're a believer and a follower of Jesus Christ, you've been saved, adopted in the family of God, but you're struggling right now with joy.

Now, not happiness, because we know that comes and goes.

But you're struggling with joy.

The question is, why?

It's a question that I've had to walk through a lot with myself this week.

It's a question that I've had to examine within my own life and my own faith through looking at scripture.

And ask, what hinders me and what hinders you from living in joy continuously?

So that we can be like the apostles who were beaten because they were obedient to the Lord.

And they rejoice because they've been counted worthy.

That we can be like Paul who was beaten and put into the bottom of a prison cell.

And instead of, oh, poor, pitiful me, sing psalms and hymns and rejoice because of who Christ is.

But I don't see that in my life.

So what causes that in your and my life?

It's sin.

It's your sin.

It's my sin.

What hinders us from living and experiencing in the joy that God has for us is sin.

In Psalm 51, so turn there.

We're going to look at that first.

David writes this after a pretty monumental moment in his life.

He's already previously assaulted Bathsheba.

He's found out that she was pregnant.

He's had her husband killed.

And then Nathan,

Prophet Nathan calls him out.

Let's watch David's response.

Verse 1.

Have mercy on me, God.

Oh, God, according to your steadfast love.

According to your abundant mercy,

blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity

and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.

Against you and you alone have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight

so that you may be justified in your words

and blameless in your judgment.

So let's begin with this.

David knows the depth of his current sinfulness.

David doesn't blame a culture of entitlement around him.

David doesn't blame if there were others who would step in and prevented him.

David doesn't say, well, where was this person and this person and this person?

David doesn't say, well, you made me a man and made me this way.

David steps in, my sin, my transgression.

He understands the depth of his sinfulness

and ultimately, in spite of all that has been affected and offended by his sin,

who does he say his sin is against?

The Lord.

Let's keep reading verse 5.

David says, behold, I was brought forth in iniquity

and in sin my mother conceived me.

Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being

and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

David knows what helplessness God saved him from.

David knows he didn't earn God's love,

earn his way to salvation, figure it all out.

He knows the helplessness that God saved him from

and what God desires from him.

He continues on.

Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean.

Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness.

Let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins and blot out my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from your presence

and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

Verse 12.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation

and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors your ways

and sinners will return to you.

Deliver me from blood guiltlessness, O God,

O God of my salvation and my tongue

will sing aloud of your righteousness.

O Lord, open my lips and my mouth

will declare your praise.

For you will not delight in sacrifice

or I will give it.

You will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,

a broken and contrite heart.

O God, you will not despise.

Do good to Zion in your good pleasure.

Build up the walls of Jerusalem.

Then you will delight in right sacrifices

and burnt offerings, the whole burnt offerings,

and bulls will be offered on your altar.

There's so many things that David packs

into these verses.

But in the context of what I want us

to look at this morning

is we understand that our sin

is the joy robber in our life.

And so how can that joy be restored?

And David gives us a glimpse into it.

We begin by seeing repentance.

Repentance.

What's repentance?

What is biblical repentance?

What does that look like?

What does that mean?

Does that mean just like creating a list

of things that we've done

that we're gonna do again

and saying, hey God, my bad?

Is that it?

No.

No.

That's not what we see in David.

What do we see from Scripture in repentance?

Number one, it's recognizing

and grieving our sin.

Like, we don't realize

how offensive we are.

We don't realize

how offensive our sin is.

David does.

And it's the words that we see.

Repentance is asking God

and God alone

to forgive

and to restore

the process that God did

that we cannot do in ourselves

and that we need Him

to do again

graciously for us.

And then also,

it's choosing differently.

It's choosing differently

of what we were

is no longer who we are.

And my choice

as I move forward

are the choose

the things of God.

Which comes into the second one.

Not only do we seek repentance,

but we seek obedience

from brokenness.

The depth of obedience

is not found

out of a religious obligation,

but from the perspective

of brokenness.

Dave says,

for you will not delight

in sacrifice

or if I would give it.

The sacrifices of God

are a broken spirit,

a broken and contrite heart.

Oh God,

you will not despise.

It's not obedience

because I have to.

It's obedience

because I get to.

It's obedience

that flows from grace.

It's obedience

that understands forgiveness.

It's obedience

that understands our sin.

In the last,

and we'll conclude with this,

we jump to the New Testament.

Look at John 15.

Very popular passage of Scripture.

John 15,

starting in verse 4.

Jesus says,

abide in me

and I in you.

As the branch

cannot bear fruit

by itself

unless it abides

in the vine,

neither can you

unless you abide in me.

I am the vine,

you are the branches.

Whoever abides in me

and I am him,

he is,

he,

it is

that bears much fruit

for apart from me

you can do nothing.

If anyone does not

abide in me

he is thrown away

like a branch

and withers

and the branches

are gathered

and thrown into the fire

and burned.

If you abide in me

and my words abide in you

ask whatever you wish

and it will be done for you.

By this my Father

is glorified

that you bear much fruit

and so prove to be my disciples.

As the Father has loved me

so I have loved you

abide in my love.

If you keep my commandments

you will abide in my love

just as I have kept

my Father's commandments

and abide in his love.

In verse 11

these things

I have spoken to you

that my joy

may be in you

and that your joy

may be full.

Last thing we can do

and we probably

don't have to throw it

on the screen

you can look at that verse

that passage

and see it

is what?

Abide in Christ.

We got to abide in Christ.

Thought about that

this week.

We talk about

what our relationship

with Christ

looks like.

You and I

and I know

I say this

all the time

and God has checked

my heart on it

let me explain myself

for just a moment

and I say

well man it's good

I have my time

with Jesus

every day.

Now let me

pause

for just a second.

I'm not saying

waking up

and having a quiet time

having a time

with Jesus

is a bad thing

it's a wonderful thing

it's a great thing

I have it

you need to have it.

I'm not saying

that spending time

in prayer

with Jesus

designating

and setting

across time

to commit

to do that

is a bad thing

that we embrace

that as a church

and did the 24 hours

where we're praying

through for I think

five weeks

that we did that

together as a church

it's not a bad thing

it's a wonderful thing

it's a great thing

you need to do it

but if all we have

with Jesus

is some time

that we've set apart

during our course

of our day

then Jesus

becomes a box

to be checked

and obligation

to be fulfilled.

Jesus doesn't say

in those who spend

a little bit of time

with me

each morning

no no no no

Jesus says

those who

abide with me

in 1 John

John talks about

abiding

and he defines it

as knowing

Jesus

not knowing about

but a depth

of intimacy

of knowing

carrying with it

a word to live

to continue

and to remain

and so I want

to close

and just ask you

these handful

of questions

number one

do you live

with Christ

or are you

just visiting

when you need

to from time

to time

number two

is your

relationship

with Christ

a continuous

relationship

or is it

momentary

moment

by moment

when needed

and lastly

when it comes

to your

relationship

with Christ

do you

remain

in him

or

do we just

reach out

for him

when we need

him in that

moment

Jesus

says

abide

with me

live

with me

continue

in me

remain

remain

in me

and to

live

in the joy

in the fullness

of what God

has given

let's pray

God we thank you

for the joy

that you've

given

we thank you

for the joy

of our

salvation

or a joy

that's not

defined

by the

difficult

hard

painful

circumstances

of this

world

or the joy

that is not

based in

the resources

and the means

of this

world

but Lord

joy that

comes from

you

that you're

the source

of

joy that's

found and

rooted in

our salvation

Lord

of who we

are in

Christ

and so

Lord we

come to

you this

morning

may we

come to

you as

David

came to

you

broken

for our

sin

understanding

the depth

of our

situation

in repentance

in brokenness

in obedience

and Lord

abiding

in you

and in you

fully

Jesus I pray

that as we

those of

us who

are

believers

this could

be the

daily

reminder

of our

lives

and Lord

if there's

anyone here

who's not

a believer

and let's

be honest

this

conversation

didn't

overly

make sense

to them

they've

been searching

for something

they haven't

found

they've

looked for

joy

all over

and what

they find

is lacking

where they

could be

found this

morning

in Christ

in Christ

alone

so Lord

I pray

in the

working of

your spirit

that you

will draw

their hearts

to you

Lord that

they'll respond

in brokenness

and repentance

before you

and that

today

could be

the day

of their

salvation

and it's in

Jesus

name we

pray

amen

thanks again

for listening

to the

Willow Ridge

Church

weekly podcast

we hope

that you

enjoyed

listening to

this week's

message

if you'd

like to

learn more

about who

we are

or explore

additional

resources

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www.willowridgechurch.com

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