Ready for Fullness | Pastor Loren Covarrubias

Well, I want to open with the scripture from John's Gospel,

chapter 16. It says I still have many things

to say to you, but you cannot bear them.

Now. However, when He, the Spirit of

truth has come, he will guide you into all truth.

For He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He

hears, He will speak and He will tell you things to come.

He will glorify me, for He will take what is mine and declare it

to you. Notice I put over this human

development. I've used the Scripture on

several different occasions recently because to me it's a

very appropriate scripture for the present time that we're

living in. The setting of it in the

Scripture is Jesus Christ is getting ready to go to the cross

and through his death, burial and resurrection start the

church. And the disciples would take a

very important part in that place.

But as he's preparing them, he's letting them know that they're

not quite ready to receive everything yet, but they will

later. But the point is also is that he

wants them to understand. Now I might be leaving you in a

physical body, but after I leave, you're not going to be

orphans, but you are going to have the Holy Spirit and the

Holy Spirit of course, will guide you into all truth.

And through the Holy Spirit I will still communicate with you.

But the first thing I want to take note of is he says there's

things for you that you're not ready for it.

Now to me, this Scripture is so significant because as a person

who loves world history and as a person who loves church history,

then of course, one who spends their whole life reading the

Bible and ministering from it. One thing I've observed about

God and that is he created us in the very beginning.

He had an eternal purpose for us, and that purpose has been

unfolding over the generations. Now, the reason it has to unfold

is because there's a process of growth that was necessary in

human civilization to be able to fully receive everything that

God had for them, or for us, I should say.

And so God works in us, in our character and in our person, in

civilizations and society, all to bring to pass His perfect

work. Now when you go through times of

fast-paced change, which is really the time frame we're in

right now with the advent of AI and just all kinds of different

things happening, we're going through a time of great change.

And to be easy to get all upset about the changes and upset and

wonder what are we going to do? Especially when you get my age,

when you see some changes, you think, well, how is this going

to work? Because you remember how it

always was. It's changing now.

So it's easy to get a mentality like where is this going and get

the idea that is not going so well.

But I believe that God is the God of history and it is his

story. And because of that, whatever is

happening in the world, I don't want to get upset by what I see

in the natural, but I want to be a person of prayer so I can say

God. I know that there's all things

happening in the world, all kinds of things happening in the

world. And well, some of them, they're

not going to be so good, I know. But since you are the God of

history, I also know that I should be looking for the good

in this. And what is it that you're going

to bring to pass through your church and through your purpose

in every single one of us? And I believe it's also

important that we would understand as human beings that

each and every one of us goes through a development process.

And as we go through life's development process, we should

also see that God is with us and there's more available as we

mature in the natural and God sees us ready for something more

in the spiritual. So there is this working

together of the natural and the spiritual.

That's why God's doing something so amazing today.

We've got to have our ears open and our hearts open and say, OK,

God, we're ready for something now we were never ready for

before. Can you say Amen to that church?

What an exciting time to be alive.

So there is this process, but we always have to remember that the

Holy Spirit has been given as our guide.

And so the Holy Spirit teaches us, the Holy Spirit speaks to us

so that we can communicate with God.

Now, one of the things that you read in the Scriptures is that

God has always been a God who communicates with His people.

We know He communicates to us through the scriptures, but we

also have to understand that God communicates with each and every

one of us individually. That's why Jesus said my sheep

know my voice and another they will not follow.

We should all recognize that God wants to speak to us

individually. When we first come to the Lord,

often times it's the worst circumstance or situation in our

lives and we think about it as being in the situations.

But we have to understand that God uses situations to advance

us in life, in our spirit spiritual realm, but he also

wants us to know that he wants to communicate with us.

So we're not just kind of getting pushed around by our

circumstances, but in the midst of all that realizing, hey, God

wants to speak to us. He's our guy.

So in the Garden of Eden, the Bible says that the voice of God

walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the garden or the cool

of the evening. You know, later on, God came as

the Angel of the Lord. That's how he met Moses in the

burning Bush. He communicated with him.

Later on, the ministry of the prophet began to grow.

And so God uses prophetic people to hear His voice.

We have a special ability to hear and are able to communicate

that with us. And so of course, when Jesus

Christ came, that was God in bodily form coming to

communicate with us. But now we have to understand

the purpose of the Holy Spirit is for communication.

You can hear the voice of God if you won't let yourself do that.

And there's never been a time more important that we're tuned

into God than in this time of great transition and change.

Now, having said that, I want to go the reference today from John

15. Jesus said greater love has no

one than this, that he lay down one's 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. But I've called you friends.

We're all things that I heard from my Father I have made known

to you. Now two weeks ago we celebrated

Easter season and that culminated Holy Week where we

commemorated Jesus Christ going in Jerusalem, dying on the

cross. And I'll be glad we can say he

rose from the dead. Amen.

Amen. Now, before he did that, he

wanted his friends to know that there was a sacrifice he was

making. And he said, why don't you think

about this? There's no greater sacrifice

than a person could do but to lay down their life for their

friends. And he was, of course, speaking

that to the disciples. But I believe we should also

understand, of course, because it's in Scripture, it's also to

us. God said, do you know, there's

no greater love that someone could have than a man lay down

his life for his friends? And that's what I'm saying to

you. The Easter sacrifice was God

laying down his life for you. And one of the things important

to understand is he wants us to see that we can be the very

friends of God. Now that's important to

understand because in this I believe with all my heart, God

is saying to the body of Christ, it's a time of a new

relationship. And so each and everyone of us

as individuals, God says, I want to take you to a higher place in

my relationship with you. Wherever you have been up to

this point, set it in your heart.

God wants to take me higher. God wants to take me farther.

And this is an invitation. I believe that God wants each

and everyone of us to open up our minds and our hearts too, in

order that we might walk in this new relationship with Him.

Now He said to them that, well, I want you to be my friends, and

that's possible if you do whatsoever I have commanded you

because He first addressed them as servants.

Now, this is important to understand because there are

progressions to our relationship with God and of the next

Scripture I'll bring out about Moses.

But I want to first of all say how that when we first come to

the Lord, we come as the servant and then we should develop a

stewardship. That's what Ashley spoke about

last week, and it's so powerful to understand how that works.

Now with God, he builds line upon line.

So that doesn't mean that we start as a servant, then we

graduate to being a steward because God wants to lay the

foundation on our hearts. So we're always servants.

But then as we progress, he gives us more responsibility and

develops more of a relationship with us.

And so our goal should be that we would grow from being a

servant to being a steward. And then the invitation he has

for them now because they've been his servants and because

they've been responsible in their stewardship.

If you would now he's saying, I want you to become my friends.

You must, must recognize I didn't just die so you could

have forgiveness, a sin. I didn't just die so that you

could be reconciled to God. That's certainly a part of it.

And I didn't just call you so that you could serve me.

I want a relationship with you and that's what I see happening

in our world today. There really is a cry out there

for relationship oriented living both with each other.

And there's more of an emphasis that even in the business world,

people are beginning to realize there has to be a lot of change

and focus because we can't just treat our employees as servants.

We have to give them the responsibilities that can come

with the development of stewardship in their life.

But then there's also a place where they have the sense of

community and being a part of it because ultimately people want

to have a relationship. And this is a very vital part of

our human experience. And that's certainly why God has

included it. Look at this story of Moses,

Numbers chapter 12. It says, then he said, hear now

Numbers 12 · chapter mention

my words. If there is a prophet among you,

I, the Lord, make myself known to him in a vision.

I speak to him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses.

He is faithful in all my house. I speak to him face to face,

even plainly, not in dark Saints.

He sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to

speak against my servant Moses? Now, I want to talk a little bit

about the setting of this, but I first of all want you to notice.

Obviously it's His servant Moses.

But then he talks about him being faithful and that's what

stewardship is when you serve the Lord or you have a job and

you do a good job in that, that stewardship, that's saying I'm

going to take responsibility with what has been put in my

hands. And once you move past that,

which is what Moses did. He started out as a servant of

the Lord. He got he met God at the burning

Bush. God said, I want you to go to

Egypt and when you get to Egypt, I have a job for you to do.

And it progressed where he was faithful.

But then the Bible talks about something greater that he has

because he said I speak with him face to face, even plainly and

not in dark sayings. He sees the form of the Lord.

Why then were you not afraid against, to speak against my

servant Moses? So what he's saying here is you

got to look at this relationship that I have with Moses because

ultimately he has a place in relationship with me that sets

him apart. Now again, I want to remind you

of the story here because in Numbers chapter 12, Moses and

Numbers 12 · chapter mention

Aaron and Moses, excuse me, Moses, Aaron and their sister

Miriam are all working together in their ministry to the Lord.

All been a part of delivering the children of Israel out of

Egypt to do the things that God wanted them to do.

In Numbers chapter 12, the Bible tells us that Moses takes an

Numbers 12 · chapter mention

Ethiopian woman to be his wife. And obviously understanding how

the Jews felt themselves to be God's special people, you can

certainly find out where they felt they had something to

complain about when they're like, what are you doing?

Why are you with this Ethiopian woman?

And they're fighting with him. And then a voice comes from

heaven. What are you doing fighting with

Moses? I don't know what you, but

that'd be pretty cool. I've joked about this with my

sister Ella Sherry several years ago because my brother Bill and

my sister Jeannie always worked with us in the ministry from the

very beginning. And so it would be kind of like

the same story. And it'd be kind of interesting

if they started confronting me about a situation and God spoke

out of heaven and said, hey, that's Lauren you're talking to.

That's why when I read the Bible stories when I was a kid, you

know, a lot of kids have superheroes as the person that

they follow in life, and Marvel Comics has created all kinds of

them, especially more now than ever before.

But when I was a kid in Sunday school, my superheroes were the

people in the Bible. And what I love about my

superheroes, which is Moses and Abraham and all the other great

power tracks. David, I'll be talking about him

in just a little while. Not only were they superheroes

with superpower, God says He wants us not just to look at

what they can do, but recognize, hey, you're not going to just

put on the costume. You can have a superpower too.

Amen. You can follow God and become

something that is above the natural call that you have in

life. Because when we empower

ourselves by the power of the Holy Spirit, how do you know

that's when we begin to walk in the supernatural power of God?

And so God intervenes in this situation and says, what are you

doing talking about my servant Moses this way?

And the reason I say he became a friend?

Because if you read in Exodus chapter 33, the Bible says there

Exodus 33 · chapter mention

that Moses spoke to God face to face as a man does a friend.

And that's really what God is saying here.

Moses isn't just a servant. He isn't just good in his

responsibility, but he grew in his relationship with me.

And there are people who have prophetic gifts and they can

hear words and they can have visions.

But Moses is different because he knows who I really am.

The Bible says when a person prophecies or has knowledge,

it's always in part that which is perfect.

Just come. When that comes, all the in part

will be done away with them. What God's saying is as you grow

in your relationship with God, it adds a whole new dimension to

your knowledge, whole new dimension to your spiritual

gift. And that's what God was saying

about Moses. Moses isn't just your ordinary

guy and he isn't just the leader of this tribe or of this

country. He's a person who has a personal

connection with me, says the Lord.

And I truly believe with all my heart that God's people need to

know he hears from heaven. Whatever's going on in your

life, how do you know God hears? And God wants to be involved in

our life, in our situation, and he wants us to recognize.

He wants to be a part, but also to recognize how important it is

for us to do our part, if you would, so we can walk in the

fullness of what he has for us. Jesus goes on to say in our

reading today, as the Father loved me, I also have loved you

abided by law. If you keep my commandments, you

will abide in my love, just as I kept my Father's commandments

and abide in his love. And so it's important for us to

recognize that in every relationship there is a pursuer.

If it's a romantic relationship, one person is going to look at

the other and you're going to say, you know what, I want this

relationship, so you pursue it and something comes out of the

relationship. That can be true of a romantic

relationship. That can be true of a friendship

or just someone who's an acquaintance that you want to be

a part of your life. It's going to usually be a

pursuer. It's not like you might see in

some movie where two people look at each other and all the sudden

we belong together in our relationship with God.

He's the pursuer. Isn't that amazing?

God looked down at you and said, I want to have a relationship

with him. I want them to be a part of what

I'm doing in the earth. I want them to realize that I

don't want them to walk alone in life.

I want to walk right along beside them, says the Heavenly

Father. How much different would that

change our thinking about our relationship with God if we

would always remember? We didn't pursue him, He pursued

us. He's the one who first of all

said we're his. He wants a relationship with us.

So sometimes people go through life and think, well, I don't

know if I can be a good Christian.

Oh, I don't know if I could do this for God.

Oh, I don't know if that fits me like it does other people.

God says, wait a second, if I pursued you and I chose you,

you're mine, Hallelujah. And you need to know something.

It's possible you were uniquely formed for my purpose.

You might not be like anybody else.

That might be different than somebody else who has been

called, but God wants you to know I pursued you.

And so with that, you need to understand that I'm calling you

to a deeper relationship, says the Lord.

Now put up there with expectations because he goes on

to talk about, well, you can be my friends if you do whatsoever

I have told you. Now, that might not seem like

the kind of friend that you would want.

Who's saying to you, well, I want you to be my friend.

If you do everything you're told, you'll be my friend.

I mean, does that make you think I don't want to be your friend?

But looking at this from the context of how God deals with

us, he's talking about the fact that there is a development of a

relationship and every relationship starts with a

certain level of expectation. You don't just enter into a

relationship because, well, this could be fun you under that

relationship because there's something that you're needing

out of that relationship or something that you want from

that relationship. So in reality, all relationships

start with a certain level expectation.

And the creative and artistic world, they like to talk a lot

about people falling in love. And there is a place where we

feel that attraction towards another person, no question

about it. But we also have to understand

that when people are getting together in a relationship, how

many know you're expecting something?

Come on, be honest with me here. But also you have to realize,

hey, the other person has expectations, too, and what we

have to do is kind of figure out what that's all about.

In the old days, it was more common for people to recognize

that even with marriage, the woman would be looking for a

good provider, protector, whatever.

And so every relationship had certain things that people felt

would be a part of that. There's a certain level of

transactional relationship that we have where we have an

expectation. That's not a bad thing, but it

just has to grow. Amen.

And that's what God says concerning us.

So I don't want you to stay at that first level, says the Lord.

I want you to come up to this higher place where you begin to

realize I have a relationship with the Almighty God.

How amazing is that? When you look at the world and

you look at how vast it is, and then you look at our universe

and then you look beyond that and there's other universes and

galaxies and all the things I came and think about how they

name them, but they're billions of light years in vastness of

our universe. Gods of the God of all those,

and yet he came into your life. What a privilege it is to know

him, Amen, and to recognize that he wants to have a relationship

with us. And so the fact that his

expectations shouldn't trouble us, but God wants us to be his

friend. Now, sometimes we think, well, I

want God to be my friend. There used to be a song I used

to love. What a friend we have in Jesus.

Our sins and grease to bear. What a privilege to carry

everything to God in prayer. And God says, well, keep singing

that song, but remember, I'm expecting something from you

too. And it's of a relationship, not

just of a service that I'm calling you to, says the Lord,

because I want to be your friend and I want you to be my friend.

You know, Moses was called the friend of God, Abraham was

called the friend of God. And Jesus says to us, I want you

to be my friend. That's awesome, isn't it,

church? And that's why we have to accept

the calling that he has for us at this time.

Which brings me to this man David, who's another superhero

of the Bible. So was when they came, Samuel

the prophet looks at Eliab and said, surely the Lord's anointed

is before him. But the Lord said to Samuel, do

not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I

have refused him. For the Lord does not see his

man sees. For man looks at the outward

appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

Again, this is another story with a setting.

Samuel was a prophet of God who had spoken concerning Saul.

The very first king said, this is God's anointed, I'm going to

make him king, says the Lord, and he became the king.

Unfortunately, because Saul was disobedient to God and did not

accept his responsibility, there came a time when God said, well,

it's time to replace him. Samuel, we got to have somebody

else go to the House of Jesse, and when you get there, I'm

going to show you because my anointed's going to be in that

house. That verse says that when he

first came to the room, he saw Eliab, who in a physical sense

had everything. You would expect a king to be

tall. The Bible says Saul was so tall

that he was head and shoulders above everybody else and he just

had that statue look at him and say, wow, great leader.

God said, no, that's not it. I put up here, what are you

thinking? Has everybody, anybody ever

known somebody, a family member, friend, they tell you they're

going to have a relationship with somebody and you think,

what are you thinking? Come on, what are you thinking

that that's not going to work for you?

Well, what are they thinking? Well, they're thinking they

don't look at things the same way you do.

So Sam, you could have said that to God.

God, what are you thinking? The lion's perfect.

No, I don't go by outward appearance.

I'm looking for somebody who has the right heart.

And that's what the Bible says about David.

He was a man after God's own heart.

And that's why often times people might pick out somebody

that everybody else says, what are you doing that couldn't be

the person for you? Well, because there's something

perhaps you know about the person other people don't know,

something that meets your needs that other people don't

recognize. So that's what makes the

difference. Unfortunately, can also be true

that you think they're going to be the person you're looking for

and they're not going to be. That's why we should always be

careful. Amen.

But the point is, is everything in a relationship always boils

down to the heart, and that's the relationship God has had for

us from the very beginning. Jesus said you have to

understand something. All the some of the law and the

prophets was love the Lord your God with all your heart and your

neighbor as yourself. That's what God's looking for.

It's what he's always been looking for.

Can we take a step into that reality?

Look what David wrote here in his Psalm.

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall

abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge, my fortress, my God.

In him I will trust surely He shall deliver you from the snare

of the Fowler and from the perilous pestilence.

He shall cover you with his feathers, and under His wings

you shall take refuge. His truth should be your shield

and buckler. The secret place.

That's such an important term for us to realize in our

relationship with God. The secret place is the personal

place in a relationship. We all have secret places, if

you would. When you get married, obviously

there's a secret relationship that you have that you're not

going to have with anybody else. And it's also true when we have

close friends, there's a certain aspect of our relationship that

would be unique to that place or person.

God says each and every one of us need to have a secret place

with Him, something I tell pastors from time to time.

Now remember, our vocation is praying and reading the Bible,

but that's not your secret place.

We all have to have a personal relationship with God.

I pray for you, I study for you, I get a word for you, but I also

go to God for myself. Jesus, here I am again.

I kind of like this walk I have with you, Lord.

Sometimes it's challenging, sometimes it's quite different.

But one thing I love about you, Jesus, is you're always with me.

Isn't it exciting to be a Christian Church?

It's such an important thing. But if you want to have a

relationship, you have to understand the need for the

secret place. And it's in the secret place

that there's benefits, if you would.

What that scripture says is he that dwells in the secret place

of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the

Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He's my

refuge. He is my help, He is my

strength. The pitcher there is kind of

like an eagle who has great power and soars above the

heavens and goes down and gets its prey.

But when it comes to its nest and protects its young, there's

a place of security and also a place of comfort under those

wings. And God says, you need to know

something. I can take care of you at all

times. Sometimes people say, well, I

know that God's always there. God's going to take care of me.

Well, the beautiful thing about the Holy Spirit is God can give

you the feeling that he is going to take care of you.

Amen. He can give us the feeling of

comfort. He can give us the feeling that

we are dwelling in the secret place under the shadow of His

wings and walking in the comfort that He always has for us as we

walk with Him. That's why Jesus goes on to say

again, You did not choose me, but I chose you.

And what appointed you? That you should go and bear

fruit and that your fruit should remain.

That whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give you.

In this verse he talks about him choosing us first, but he also

says I chose you and appointed you.

That means He has a purpose for your life that's not just about

you and isn't just about your natural life.

God has a purpose for you. Inside of every single one of us

is a desire to fulfill purpose because the Godfather has put

that in US. One thing I've always observed

and the many years of being a pastor and walking in things of

God and someone passes away. People like to kind of go

through and talk about the person's life and think about

their purpose. Or if there is a loss of

somebody, you want to know, is there a greater purpose?

Because something inside of us tells us if there's a purpose in

this, everything's going to be OK.

God says I've chosen you, I've appointed you because there's a

purpose for your life and I want to be a part of your purpose.

And what I love about this is then he talks about authority

that we can have in prayer, that whatever we ask in his name, it

will be given to us. In the charismatic movement, we

had a lot of teachers who talked about the authority of the

believer, and they would use a scripture like ask anything of

my name. It shall be done.

And a lot of people grabbed that verse and thought, well now I'm

in control. How many would like the magic

words to be in Jesus name? So whatever I want in Jesus

name. Well, there's a certain level of

authority God can't give to us until we grow up.

It's so important that we'd recognize that just like in a

family, we raise our children to become mature where they can

make their own decision. So God says, I want you to

become mature and what I have for you to do.

I remember these friends of mine, they were telling the

story about their little boy. He was a preacher's son and he

went to church and his dad was preaching.

Ask anything in the name of Jesus and it will be given to

you. Well, that afternoon he got in

trouble. His father is about ready to

discipline him. He said in Jesus name, stop.

That's like a lot of Christians, Amen.

Lord said no, there's going to be authority with maturity.

These things I've spoken to you that my joy might may remain in

you and that your joy may be full.

Wow, that's building on the joy isn't it?

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved

you. Greater love has no one than

this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.

You are my friends. If you do whatever, I commend

you. There He is bringing back this

reminder, but he talks about joy.

How many? No, joy is a good thing.

Now, when we first come to the Lord, most people can relate to

the fact that there's a joy that came upon you when you received

Him or when you were baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit.

There's something about God that brings joy.

We have to understand that we got to hold on to that joy.

So Jesus is telling us the prescription, if you would, is

how that not only can we hold on to our joy, but our joy can

actually grow and increase. That's amazing.

Joy in the Lord doesn't have to get stale.

Church, this Tuesday I'll be celebrating the 32nd anniversary

of my 40th birthday party. Anyway, and I think about how

about how long I've been walking with Jesus and how long I've

been serving the ministry. I tell you, I'm more filled with

expectation today than at any time of my life.

Amen. Because I know God is going to

do something that's exceedingly and abundantly above all that I

can ask or think. Now my body doesn't always feel

that way, but I do keep the joy. Not only keep the joy, but let

the joy grow so that you can come to the place of fullness of

joy. Amen.

Church, how powerful is that? Jesus said I'm the true vine.

My Father is the vine dresser. Every branch of me that does not

bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that bears fruit He

prunes that it may bear more fruit.

You are already clean because of the Word which I have spoken to

you. Abide in me, and I and you, as

the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the

vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.

In order for us to have this best that God has for us, it has

to be a working relationship and it requires some management.

This is why Jesus is saying, OK, I'm the vine, you are the

branches. And there's a Father who's

overlooking all these things. And as he looks over it,

sometimes he sees a branch that needs to be cut off.

Sometimes he sees a branch that needs to be cut back.

But there's a management involved.

Sometimes life cuts off our branches.

Sometimes we suffer loss. We don't want to.

But as a Christian, we have to say, well, in the end, I'm going

to put my confidence in God. He's my manager.

He knows what he's doing, a man. And sometimes we go through a

pruning, which is mean a cutting back of something.

In all of these things, we are to have a confidence that God

has carefully crafted our life and he's carefully crafting our

life even now as we put our confidence fully in him.

Amen Church and that's what I love when he says you're already

clean, so he's saying now keep in mind I've already did the

part of the forgiveness. You're already prepared for

where I'm taking you now. Just have faith to believe that

you're ready to move because why God has made you ready as the

Father loved me, I also have loved you.

Abide in My love. If you keep my commandments, you

will abide in my love. Just have kept my Father's

commandments and abide in his love.

These things I command you that you what love one another.

Another key to this relationship is extended love.

That's why I went a couple get married.

After that comes children and then you learn that well, love

has to be extended beyond myself.

It isn't just about the union, it's about the children, It's

about our business, it's about our call, as many different

aspects to it, but that'd be a whole new sermon.

But just remember, God says, be willing to extend your love and

begin to extend yourself so that you can have the fullness of all

that I have for you, says the Lord.

This is Pastor Lauren Corbubius from Mount Zion Church.

We thank you for joining us today and invite you to connect

with our church family by visiting mountzion.org and

following us on social media. God bless you.