John 17

 Read: John 17, Sing: The Power of the Cross & The Lord is my Salvation

Jesus prays for the church.

As we end today with our formal study it is remarkably fitting to leave off on our precious Savior praying for us. Its overwhelming. We get a snipette of what it looks like as Christ as our Mediator. Jesus transitions as He says, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. That is you and I friend. And all that have come before us and all who are yet to be called. All of us. Christ was thinking of and praying for us before His crucifixion. This is humbling, encouraging, shocking and awesome. He cares for you and for me. 

We could spend our whole lives studying these chapters 13-21. The Gospel. Truly the greatest thing that ever occurred in the history of mankind, and salvation the greatest gift ever given and ever received. Oh that our hearts would yearn for His goodness all of our days. That we would live in this great satisfaction that we are redeemed! In Matthew Henry's prayers even today it says: Give us to draw water with joy from these wells of salvation, Isaiah 12:3(ESV)  and now, O LORD God, let the word that you have spoken concerning your servants be established forever, and do as you have spoken. 1 Chronicles 17:23(ESV)

My heart is overwhelmed as I think of the weight of praying scripture through the Word's of the Lord the hours before the cross. Oh that we would draw with joy from the wells of salvation! That we would be satisfied in Him! That Jesus would be enough!!! That Jesus would be our Yes and Amen!

Jesus ends His prayer "I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them." This last statement is truly incomprehensible. Jesus came to glorify the Father, to make His name known, and then to show us the love of the Father that we may be partakers of it. He offers us not just salvation but union with the Father. Forgiven and adopted. 

My heart soars and breaks at the same time. A portion of the prayer Jesus says, " that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know you sent me and loved me." 2020/2021 has driven so many wedges in the church. Some that had been looming at the door and needed doing, some that simple reveal our disgusting sin nature and selfishness. But when I look, my heart grieves. Stats came out yesterday revealing less than 50% of Americans consider themselves affiliated with a church.(the article lumps in synagogues and mosques with this. Read article here.) That means there has never been more work to do, nor in the past 80 years the church deemed maybe as something not worth being part of. Are we teaching the gospel through our love of one another? We are so hell bent on ourselves that we can't see eternity. May we repent of this. May we stop insisting on our opinion being heard, and start praying for the gospel to flow out of our hearts and mouths and lives. In 100 years, what will it matter most...that you were able to share the good news of the Gospel through out love for one another.

Girl- go to heaven tired. Be exhausted, spent, overflowed and broken nailed....for His sake alone. To God be the glory, Great things He has done! So loved He the world that He gave us His Son!  May our broken country be moved by our praises. May we pray constantly and may the love of God be our motivation. May it start in our home. Jesus IS enough. 

The night before His death, Jesus prayed to the Father, 2000 years later, those who profess Christ are beneficiaries of that prayer. His disciples went, and preached the good news.  May this Easter we be brought back to the Cross, and the empty grave, and reset ourselves and our hearts that they may draw with joy from His Salvation.

John 17:12-19

 Read: John 17  Sing: The Power of the Cross & The Lord is my Salvation

Focus is on John 17:12-19

I love the chart that was attached to today's reading. It comes out of the John MacArthur commentary. I enjoy the break down and understanding of High Priestly Prayer. Today we will consider the prayer for the disciples joy, sanctification, and their mission.

Verse 13 "that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves." Matthew Henry makes these comments:

Observe,

• (1.) Christ earnestly desired the fulness of the joy of his disciples, for it is his will that they should rejoice evermore. He was leaving them in tears and troubles, and yet took effectual care to fulfil their joy. When they thought their joy in him was brought to an end, then was it advanced nearer to perfection than ever it had been, and they were fuller of it. We are here taught,
• [1.] To found our joy in Christ: "It is my joy, joy of my giving, or rather joy that I am the matter of.' Christ is a Christian's joy, his chief joy. Joy in the world is withering with it; joy in Christ is everlasting, like him.
• [2.] To build up our joy with diligence; for it is the duty as well as privilege of all true believers; no part of the Christian life is pressed upon us more earnestly, Phl. 3:1; 4:4.
• [3.] To aim at the perfection of this joy, that we may have it fulfilled in us, for this Christ would have.

It is utterly outstanding to think the Son cared about his disciples having the fullness of joy through Him. He lay with the cross before Him, yet Jesus, cared for those who are His. 

Verse 17: Sanctify them in truth, your Word is truth. Oh that this would be our prayer. The term sanctification is to be set apart. Jesus is praying that the disciples would be set apart through His truth, His word. The task that lay ahead of these men, was great, yet Jesus is greater. 

Jonathan Edwards states in his resolutions #28 "Resolved, to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly and frequently that I may find, and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of them." This resolve seems a fitting way to find ourselves sanctified in truth. 

And finally John 17:19 Jesus prays for the disciples mission. "even so I have sent them..." The disciples, unknown to them, were about to embark on one of the greatest movements the world has ever known. They walked with Jesus prior to the Cross and would be given the awesome responsibility to testify of His Resurrection. They would get to be the first to share the good news of the Gospel. Jesus prays for their joy, their sanctification and then their mission.

I find myself really chewing through this today. As a believer in Christ, do I find my joy in Him, do I desire to be sanctified through Him and His Word and am I on mission to share this glorious truth with others? 

John 17 Holy Week

 Read John 17 Sing: The Lord is my Salvation & The Power of the Cross

John 17:6-19 The prayer for His disciples, particularly the eleven apostles.

It should be noted this prayer is particular but not exclusive. As always the Word is living and active. The notes will focus though on the beauty of the prayer for these men, and the fulfillment of the prayer. 

I am leaning heavy on my notes today from my Bible (Reformation Heritage Bible- Editor Joel Beeke) The following is an exert from John 17:

    *6-12 Manifested thy name: Revealed the glory of God in the Gospel. The disciples were chosen, 'election produces obedience' We see- that saving faith receives Christ as the One appointed by God to save sinners and give them eternal life, as Peter confessed (Mt 6:68-69). 

   *v11 Holy Father- A title of God found no where else in scripture, appealing to His supreme majesty and compassionate love- "keep them in thine own name" Preserve them (the disciples) in the faith by the Gospel revelation of who God is. Unified in Christ with one another.

Lets pause here today. There is a lot to understand about what is going on. Jesus is praying for his disciples. This is truly incredible as persons who have the full counsel of God we can read and know the whole story. We see this answered. In John 14-16 we see these men asking questions, still not certain of themselves. We see in 18 that they will scatter. They are fearful, they are very much human. Yet, Jesus knew. He knew before and this is why moments before His own death He is praying for these men- because what they would face they could not do on their own. 

They are about to see their King Crucified. The man whom they followed- killed. They had to live in the time after the death and prior to the resurrection. Can you imagine the darkness? Jesus knew. 

Then, these men, would be charged to go and share the Gospel! A glorious responsibility and a death sentence to all but John. Jesus knew. 

And He prayed. He went to the Father and prayed on their behalf. He had love and compassion and cared deeply for those that were His. We will see this further tomorrow and as we continue Wednesday with the end of chapter 17 as Jesus prayed for the church ( yes including us today.) Why? Because, Jesus knew. He knew how much we needed Him, before we and the disciples did. That without Him we cannot, but with Him- we can do anything that He asks of us. We can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. 

As we enter Holy week, may we strive for and look for areas we can try and make it more holy. It does not need to be a pious thing, or a religious thing. Make it a Jesus thing. The King of Glory came and died...and rose again! How can we better give our time, or thought life, or devotion or money or resources to Him? How can our lives testify of His truth better? May we pray with confidence in Christ this week. In everything, in every deed may we seek His glory. <3

John 17 Sermon

John 17:4-5

 Read: John 17; Sing: God the Uncreated One

Today we will be covering two days worth of material. So this is our break, our catch up and our meditation till Monday. Looking ahead we will try and finish John 17 by Thursday so that we can be in 18-21 over Thursday through Monday. This year we will finish up our study the week AFTER Resurrection Sunday.

John 17:4-5

There have been so many thoughts, and verses, and moments of tears and humility and awe as I read this text. So many. Today I yet again come trembling to scripture realizing just how great our God is. He truly is awesome in wonder and deed. He is King Forevermore!

"I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father. glorify me in your presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed."

Jesus has accomplished His task. We have already heard him say that the hour has come. Centuries of prophecy, generations of men have longed for this moment. Heaven came down, He had come to set men free. "I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do." Wow. I can't even comprehend fully this statement. So many thoughts rush to my mind. I think on Colossians 1 and Hebrews 1 immediately, that He is the image of the  invisible God, He is the glory of God, the EXACT imprint of His nature; and by Him and through Him were all things made that were made, and He upholds the universe by the Word of His power. This is Jesus Christ. Son of God. In my bible subtitles these portions of scripture are labeled "the preeminence of Christ, and the Supremacy of God's Son. I am overwhelmed even to think of these thoughts. Yet these thoughts are exactly what we should be meditating on. How different would our opinion of and life after Christ be if we delighted in just these few Scriptures alone?

This passage for some reason continually has lead my mind to thinking on Jesus' interactions with people that had demons, or even Satan himself. Perhaps it is because I am in Luke in my private quite time aside from our study, but perhaps not. I am embarrassed by, quite frankly, the demon's recognition of the Son of God and their immediate obedience to His authority, especially when I think on my own recognition of Christ and obedience to Him. Have you ever wondered why they call out to Him immediately in fear? Over and over we hear them shout "Son of Man, what have you to do with us?" The recognize Jesus because...THEY KNEW HIM before. Demons are fallen angels. They once were with Him in heaven. They knew Jesus on earth because they knew Jesus in Heaven. They also understood His power and authority. Not one of them told him no. He said come out, they did. Satan, in the wilderness was the one who had the gall to press Jesus' position; to no surprise as he has been hell bent on authority and equality with God since Eden and before. He even uses God's own words manipulated to persuade him. "Throw yourself down for it is said he has commanded angels concerning you..."(Matt 4:6) Jesus does not retort with His own opinion, pay very close attention here, Jesus EVERY TIME answers back with the Word of Spirit and Truth- He uses Scripture. Every time. Jesus could have used His own words, and in a way he does....because He is the Word. He quotes the Old Testament to combat the schemes and the lies of the devil. May we be very wise to observe this pattern and practice it in our own lives. 

I bring up this point because Jesus in His prayer asks the Father to glorify him in the presence with the glory He had before the World existed. Before man, before sin entered the world and set the trajectory for this hour. Christ is eternal. In light of this, I want to close, with John 1...it is hard not to even weep as I type it out. Consider deeply now, as to why John started the book with this, and the gravity as we hear Jesus call out to the Father.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All thins were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it...And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. Amen.

John 17:1-3

 Read: John 17, focus is on 1-3; Sing: We Long for that Day

John 17:1-3. 

Again, I find myself at a loss as we study this text together. The hallowedness felt is...overwhelming. The Lord communing with the Father. We will never even be able to full comprehend the sacredness of the truths being shared as we study this passage. We are finishing the portion that would be considered within Jesus praying for Himself.

v3 All of my study notes point to the fact that this truth needs to push us past an intellectual knowledge but an experiential knowledge of Christ. A note in my study bible reads, " The Puritans and Reformers loved to preach on John 17:3...they understood that this word "know," as used in this context, meant an intimate kind of knowledge that involved a deeply personal and abiding relationship with God in Jesus Christ."e 

Augustine has expressed it this way,"who created us for Himself, so that our soul is restless unless it finds its rest in Him."

This is a perfect play to pause for reflection today. To asks ourselves do we know the Father? Do we know the Son? Not know because we go to church, and grew up in a Christian family, or listen to christian music or attended a christian college. That means nothing. KNOW, because we have come to abide in Him and He is us. We have become grafted into His vine, we are His sheep, and He knows us by name? 

I love the saying going to church makes you as Christian as sitting in a garage makes you a car.  You can do all the things, but it doesn't make you a child, because only Christ's blood can do that! Oh what lavished love and grace on us! That He would die for us while we were yet sinners so that we could be His. 

Jesus points out what eternal life is here, "that they would know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." Not one or the other, both and. 

I am including 2 sermons today, one on this passage and then one we heard Sunday on 1 John 2 about how to understand if you are in Christ. 

May we take the time in this broken, weary world; to rest in His presence. To be faithful in Him who is able. And to know Him more.

John 17:1-5

1 John 2 How Can I know I am a Christian

John 17:1

 Read John 17, focus is on verse 1; Sing: We Long for that Day

John 17:1 Jesus prays to the Father. There is so much packed into this one chapter. So much. Leading up to so much of what is yet to come in the trial, and crucifixion of Christ, and then the Resurrection.  The prayer follows the truths taught by Jesus the past few chapters. Every day at the bottom I will be linking to sermons on this chapter. 

This prayer differs from the Lord's prayer we see in Matthew 6. It should not be confused. In the Lord's prayer we are seeing Jesus teaching the disciples how to pray. Now, we are getting to hear the Lord petition His Father. We are privy to an incredibly holy moment as the Lord talks to His Lord. Woah. There are some incredibly profound truths that come out. We see Jesus reference His relationship with His Father as it was "before the earth was formed" and we hear Jesus pray for those who are yet to believe, meaning a prayer that still is being answered today, for you and I and those yet to come to Him. 

Part 1: Jesus prayers for Himself and His mission. 

This might seem funny to think that Jesus is praying for Himself, as He is God. But here we see a beautiful portion of His time on earth, He was fully God and Fully Man. He is crying out to His Father for what is about to be the climax of human history to this point, Jesus dying on the cross. 

And in this holy moment, He says, "Father." Jesus actually first lifts up his eyes towards heaven. There is a moment, there is reverence, He is turning His attention to God and begins His prayer with this beautiful intimate term, Father. 

Today, pastors and teachers are destroying this moment. I don't mean that lightly. We are killing this joyful terminology, this hope, this relationship, and trivializing it. I hear pastors on the pulpit using words like..."pops" or "Hey Dad," where they are taking what is a grace given relationship; and making it this loose familiar one. Jesus calls God the Father. Jesus, through His atoning work on the cross paid a price that now we are adopted as sons and daughters into the kingdom. God is our Father, we are His children. We too can call Him, Father, but it is solely because of the Son. Not anything that we did to merit this adoption. 

He calls us child.  This is remarkable. It makes me want to cry from amazement, joy and humility. So when people come in false teaching narratives that destroy this, or minimize this; we quickly loose the sanctity of it. We lose reverence for our Father. Its how we can quickly slip into feelings of entitlement, feeling Jesus owes us anything. Well, I prayed about it...so He should... or I don't understand why I am not getting what I want.... or I want it now. We forget that we are children of the Holy One. The Creator of the Universe. The One who set the stars in place and knows each one by name. The One who knew us before we were formed in our mother's womb, the One who knows the number of hairs on our head and length of our days. THIS, is our Father. And He is our Father because Jesus paid the price for our sins. 

So, as Christ now prays to His Father for Himself, and the mission at hand...we too, can pray to our Father today for ourselves, because of what has been done for us. WOAH. Matthew Henry writes: 

• 1. He prays to God as a Father: He lifted up his eyes, and said, Father. Note, As prayer is to be made to God only, so it is our duty in prayer to eye him as a Father, and to call him our Father. All that have the Spirit of adoption are taught to cry Abba, Father, Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6. If God be our Father, we have liberty of access to him, ground of confidence in him, and great expectations from him. Christ calls him here holy Father, (v. 11) and righteous Father, v. 25. For it will be of great use to us in prayer, both for direction and for encouragement, to call God as we hope to find him.

Finally, Jesus says, "glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee." My commentary reads, "The highest goal of the Father and Son (and Spirit 16:4) is to make known each other's glory."  Christ's ultimate goal is to glorify His Father.

Today, can we say the same of ourselves? Is my ultimate goal to glorify the Father? Westminster Shorter Catechism question #1 What is man's primary purpose? Answer: man's primary purpose is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. May we re-purpose our lives according to His will. <3

John 17- Pastor Josh Scherrer

John 16:25-33

 Read: John 16 Sing: Jesus, Thank You; Listen: Christ the Victor

This will be our last day of the sermon notes format before we return to our traditional model of reading and study.

John 16:25-33

#3 Triumphant Peace

-As we enter this portion, reminded that our joy may be complete, Verse 6 Jesus says they will be full of sorrow and then in verse 24 the same word full is used and this time in the context of joy.

-Christ is enough: He is our strong Savior, He is our vindication and He is our joy.

- Trust Him

-Coming a day we can go direct to the Father.Jesus did not die because His Father is mean and he is nice. 

-v 27 teaches us to understand the Father himself loves you.

Will we let Jesus bring us to the Father?

Do you love Jesus? Do you believe He is who He says He is?

-The result if you do...is triumphant peace Ground for this claim: Father's presence

-Being found in Jesus- "In ME you may have peace" that is a Christ centered truth.

IN CHRIST

-to be forewarned is to be forearmed

-He wants more for us than to simply not stumbling, but peace. Take heart.

-We live in between 2 victories. Christ's Resurrection and His coming again.

Do I live like I believe it?

Martin Luther said, "We should live as if Christ was crucified yesterday, rose today and is coming tomorrow."

How would my life look different is I lived like I believed this?

-Romans 3:7 We are more than conquers through Him who loved us.

WOW, as we conclude our study today of John 16 I am left humbled. Broken by the thought of many misguided thoughts, actions or untrue concepts of sorrow, joy and Christ. I am ever, ever humbled by the absolute stunning majesty of the work of the resurrected Savior.

Yesterday was a hard day for some reason. My heart just felt icky. I felt turmoil of thoughts over this I read ( seriously I need to get rid of social media) and just, busying myself will all the wrong things. Some days I feel as if I can conquer the world and other days it feels like it has conquered me.

It can get me off balance. I want to live with eternity stamped on my eyes on Jonathan Edwards would pray and plea. Yet it is hard is a self saturated culture. We demand long lives, good health, comfort, money, food, good physiques, everything but Christ and yet the Lord of Heaven and Earth proclaims through His glory that Jesus is Enough!

Do I live a life where I take triumphant peace in my Risen Savior and Victorious King? Do I take heart- IN HIM?!

May we chew through this as we prepare for a sobering 2 weeks marching closer to the cross, and the celebrating our Resurrected King.

Concluding Song to worship: Awake my Soul

John 16:16-22

 Read: John 16, Sing: Jesus. Thank You; Listen: Christ the Victor

Sermon notes for point #2 Resurrection joy (comments to follow)

-The disciple hearts would be full of sorrow- it will feel like defeat, but, it's not! They can expect their sorrow to turn into joy.

-Labor analogy Suffering ends in joy. All the pain disappears into tears of joy and relief.

-The disciples sorrow will turn into joy. A proof of the resurrection- these once confused and scattered disciples become full of joy and share the Gospel, unto the point of death. 

-Joy came from the Resurrection

Jesus has been risen! He cannot be taken from us. This is "Steel for our spines," as we fill ourselves with resurrection joy and Christ centered truth.

-our resurrection joy must be based wholly on Christ.

-"are you fixing your eyes on Jesus? Have you fixed your mind on what He has done?"

Personal comments:

I was so struck by today's passage. It is incredibly powerful. I am continually grateful for men who faithfully preach the word, that help exposit these sometimes hard to understand passages, that we can ourselves grow in wisdom and grace.

Do we live expecting our sorrow to turn into joy? Eternal joy? The past year has brought out a lot of bad in a lot of us. At first it was the fear of the unknown, what is this pandemic? Then it might have been job loss, or loss of people we love, or freedom, or school...whatever it was...were we able to set our eyes on things that are above? Did we find ourselves rooted in hopelessness and fear or peace in the Sovereignty of our Savior?

I was shocked at how much idolatry flowed out of my heart. One being the right to live a long life. Aren't we all entitled to 80 years on this year?! Suddenly the fear of death took over the world as we realized our mortality. That something unplanned could shorten our days. Well, truth be known, we don't number our days to begin with. We can hide and protect all we want but we cannot extend our lives even 1 hour past what the Lord has decreed. Our certainty should be built into and on our Savior and what He has done. Because one this is certain, each and everyone of us will die. Each of us will stand before the throne of God. What will our days have been spent doing in the meanwhile? What idols did you feel creep in? Where did you place your hope? On American liberties? On a mask? On social distancing? On our freedom? On our government?! Or...did you find yourself centered on Christ's truth and resurrection joy?

I am sure we have all fluctuated between these. BUT, friend, now is our chance to calibrate! We have a saying in our family when this feel off whack. We call it "righting the ship," we use the time to address things that are either in big ways or little ways steering our ship off course (Christ) and set our hearts to correcting it. Well what better time that Easter/lent to right our ship. To recenter on Christ Centered truths and establish our own hearts in His resurrection joy.

I loved the comment " steel for our spines." Oh that it would be biblical saturation and His word that served as our steel. Am I fixing my eyes on Christ by soaking in His word? That I can help but pour out the love of Jesus? That might seem unrealistic, but lets as ourselves what we soak in now? Does our social media time last longer then our reading and prayer time? Does our exercise routine trump our quiet time in the morning? Do we spend more time picking out outfits or doing our hair or out with friends then we do nestled into Jesus? It adds up. And to many, who might even want to roll their eyes at this, I ask gently why? What have you replaced Jesus with that He is no longer enough?

As we journey through today and tomorrow and into the weekend, we will be wrapping up 16 with more promises of hope. Triumphant joy in Christ. This will lead us into chapter 17, to me one of the most intimate chapters in all of the bible, we get to hear Jesus praying to His Father. May we prepare our hearts and right our ships as we journey to the cross and then prepare for the glorious celebration of resurrection joy!

John 16: 12-15

 Read: John 16; Sing: Jesus, Thank You; Listen: Christ the Victor

Today's focus will be on verses 12-15, if you are listening along to the sermon roughly minute 24-30.

Lets jump into the notes and then again, followed by some additional thoughts and reactions:

Christ Centered Truth  point 1B

- Principle: The Spirit's work goes beyond the disciples to us today- How? By glorifying Christ!

-People like to glorify the Spirit. They either idolize Him or Minimize Him. Idol being that is where people hyper focus and out the primacy of their worship and Minimize by reducing Him to just a feeling or a vibe or a power. He is not a force- but a Person.

-The Spirit's goal is to draw attention to Christ. J.I. Packer says the Holy Spirit has a flood light ministry. The goal is not to look at the flood light but have our attention drawn to what it is illuminating.

The Holy Spirit is not for vague impressions or feelings but to set our eyes firmly on Christ.

-a sign of the indwelling of the Spirit is growing in our need for Christ. It always leads to CHRIST CENTERED TRUTH.

Thoughts: There was so much to chew through and think through today. To put it into context, and ponder the questions and thoughts asked and spoken to us. 

What is your understanding of the Holy Spirit? Does it match the description Jesus Christ himself is giving of the Helper, or is it more based on religious traditions or feelings or fads? Progressive and prosperity gospel churches are infamous for destroying and idolizing the Helper and His work pointing it to Christ often claiming the power of the Spirit to point to themselves. If you have never gotten a chance to watch American Gospel, I cannot tell you enough how much I highly recommend it.

People, particularly spiritual leaders in modern and not so modern trends like to abuse the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to use for personal gain. They will say terms like " The Spirit told me to tell you, or claim new revelations or words that are never mentioned in Scripture. Challenge this at every front. If someone is claiming special deity knowledge outside of the words of Christ, question them. Jesus is telling His disciples here that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world of sin and then here in verses 12-15 to illuminate the Words of Christ and bring understanding into our hearts. 

Where did you acquire your understanding of the Holy Spirit?

There are many ministries today abusing this. I specifically think of a major worship church/ministry. And several others that have followed suit. Challenge the words of their songs to Scripture. If the worship song talks more about how you feel about God or how God makes you feel, or fails to even mention the word Jesus or Christ or God...don't just accept it. Ask yourself why am I singing this and does it glorify Christ? Does it teach and lead me in  Christ Centered manner?

One of the most remarkable things is that Jesus says it is better for him to leave that the Helper might come. This is remarkable. It lends my heart to soar at the thought that now through the Holy Spirit I can have a better view of God through Jesus Christ! And His work and His righteousness! If you want to understand your worth to the Father, if you want to understand your worth as a person, consider it through these lenses. Friend we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and even in that, we are yet sinners in need of a savior and God did just that! He sent His Son for us. And after His Son, He now sends the Holy Spirit to dwell in us! No longer do we have to have someone go on our behalf and offer sacrifices, the work was finished on the Cross. It was finished. And now we have direct access to the Father as adopted sons and daughters purchased with His blood. If that doesn't give you hope, make your heart swell, and leave you speechless in joy filled gratitude and magnificent mercy and grace....well I don't know what will.

Friend, may your truth be centered on Christ alone, today.

John 16:5-11

 Read: John 16, Sing: Jesus, Thank You; Listen: Christ, the Victor

We will be picking up in verse 5-11 as we study along together chapter 16 in the book of John. Included at the bottom of the study another sermon on John 16 on these verses by a local New Hampshire pastor.

Let's consider as we read that the purpose statement given by Jesus was " to keep you from stumbling in your faith." In verses 1-4 we studied yesterday, affliction and persecution would come, and will come yet. BUT we do not need to be 'scandalized,' or have a needless crisis of our faith.

Immediately I think of Ephesians 4:14, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every false doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness or deceitful schemes. Persecution for our faith in Christ, even if it comes from the religious does not need to throw us into a needless tailspin, if we are rooted and grounded in the Word. Jesus is offering safety and Himself as our Rock and our Fortress.

Point #1 Christ Centered Truth (all notes are now from the sermon itself, and I will conclude with further study comments at the end)

His number #1 priority is not safety and comfort-but fellowship with him. Our ultimate Comfort is in fellowship with Christ. At the center of suffering is Jesus himself!

-The Spirit convicts to convince  us of our need of a savior. 

-Convict of righteousness- do we virtual signal our faith or depend on the Lord?

-Ascension to the Father vindicates Christ as the Perfect righteous One.

-Isaiah 64:6 Our righteousness is like filthy rags

-John Bunyan- Grace Abounds to the Chief of Sinners. " Your righteousness is in heaven." Not my good frame that made it better nor my bad frame that made it worse, my righteousness was in Christ.

-The Spirit comes to convict because the ruler of this world is judged. -Satan is judged.

-John Newton " Twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved."

-Ultimate truth by God's Grace in Christ. We have nothing to fear!

Pastor Joel wraps up this portion with a question, " Do we think this way?" Lets pause the sermon at 25:17 (which is where we will pick up tomorrow) and discuss what we read today.

There is something that really caught my heart and mind this study. We need to be convicted in righteousness. So many of us live a Jesus plus lifestyle. Jesus plus works, Jesus plus self help, Jesus plus prosperity, Jesus plus_____.  We read Jesus teaching His disciples that it is through His righteousness alone that we are found in fellowship with our Father. The verse mentioned was Isaiah 64:4 that all that we bring to our faith is but filthy rags. It is actually an incredibly strong and disgusting term that we loosely render filthy rags. But whatever we chose to do, is but a stench in the nostril of our Lord without Christ. Because is is His righteousness that saves us! We are under the cloak of His righteousness and this brings us circle back right to the glorious truths of the Cross! He was the perfect Sacrifice for our sins because we could never be enough. But JESUS IS ENOUGH. He bore our sins that we might be forgiven. Just as our salvation must come from Christ, our faith in Him comes from Him as well! It is all a free gift, and He sends the helper to minister to us.

If you have indeed never come to a place of saving faith, what is holding you back? Do you rely on your own good works to get you to heaven? There is nothing you can do that will ever earn you a place. However, You have a Father that has loved you so much He sent His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish but have everlasting life! Yet, we always stop there. The verse continues, John 3:17 For God did not send His Son to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. WOAH. We are cloaked in His righteousness not ours. The Spirit convicts us of sin, Satan accuses us with no hope. Where do you stand today? May you find yourself " Saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to scripture alone, to the glory of God alone!

The Convicting Ministry of the Holy Spirit

John 16 1-4

 Read: John 16! Sermon: Christ the Victor Sing: Jesus, Thank You

Good morning. praying for you all as we jump into chapter 16 and understand the richness of Jesus' Words.

(Notes will be based off of the sermon and topics that come from the sermon points)

John 16 The main theme is Suffering and Joy.

We will focus on verses 1-4 today and 5-11 tomorrow. If you are following along in our outline we are on point #1- Christ centered Truth.

We are to expect these 2 things in our walk, suffering and joy. In the early Church suffering was not unexpected, people entered faith knowing it might cost them everything. From the time of the disciples to the Reformation to even the 20th century we see examples of this. We have been exceptionally blessed in America to not been under a place of persecution for the most part. Yes, there are certainly one off examples we can all think of, but for the most part we can gather freely and discuss the Bible. It might not always be this way, and Jesus knew for the immediate future of His disciples it certainly would not be that way. All but John would die for their faith. Following Christ can and will bring suffering...and joy. 

Jesus is preparing these men, essentially so they won't have a 'crisis of faith,' when the persecution comes. Trials have a way of sifting us, do I truly believe what the Word says? Being in "union with Christ makes a person fruitful for God- but also places him in direct opposition to the wicked world," Reformation Heritage Bible.Jesus beings with the statement, " I have said all of these things to you to keep you from falling away," and enters chapter 16 with the beautiful assurance, "in the world you will have tribulation. But take heart: I have overcome the world."

WOW. And there is a joy. Rooted and founded in the assurance of Christ.

The question was asked in the sermon, "What are my expectations of what it looks like to follow Christ?" It is good to stop and consider this today? A missiologist was quoted stating that the religiosity presented by American Christianity is so shallow and selfish,  it promises much and demands little. It is completely lacking in repentance, sacrifice, self-denial, holiness and a willingness to die for Christ. 

What do I expect? What do I give? Jesus says we are to pick up our Cross and follow Him. That we will have tribulation. That we will have hardship but to take heart in Him! Our modern day luke warm gospel says we should take heart in health, wealth and happiness. AND, if we aren't experiencing these things we might not have enough faith. It makes me want to weep the differences. Pastor Joel shared that it is estimated 26 million Christians were martyred in the 20th century alone. Just because it is not happening around you, we can not turn a blind eye that for many followers the cost is still everything. 

Which brings us to the thought, if we have been given freedom of faith, what are we doing with it? How are we using this truly God given privilege to share the gospel? Do we seek Christ daily that our last breath would be His story?

Two martyr stories were mentioned, 1 in this sermon and 1 in another I had linked to. I am including links to read about their stories at the bottom. As recently as this week, I heard about 11 people arrested and beaten for their faith by the government in Myanmar. Pray for those who are persecuted, and share the love and hope of Jesus Christ with all who will listen! He came and died that we might live! We have the greatest hope and the greatest joy to offer to people. Christ died for our sins! Do we desire opportunities to tell His story? Do we pray for holiness and practice self-denial in our own lives? Do we train and soak in His word, so that when trials come we don't have a crisis of faith but we have a solid rock to stand on?

Sister take heart! He is a good Father. Ask, and it will be given to you. 

Thomas Cranmer

Lady Jane Grey

 As we catch up and prepare for next week's study, join me!

Read: John 16 Sing: Yet Not I and Christ Will be my Hideway

Listen: Jesus the Victor ( the sermon outline for our notes was included yesterday).

For further study: Christ's Comfort in the Face of Persecution, The Convicting Ministry of the Holy Spirit.

John 16

 Read John 16; Sing Yet Not I and Christ Will be my Hideaway

John 16 is quite the challenging chapter to read through for me. I had as many questions as I had answers and found myself sitting at Jesus feet, saying what does this mean?! For which I am incredibly grateful for modern technology and pastors that record their sermons online. To have us all on the same page I am trying something a bit different and encourage you to join along! In fact I would love to try for a zoom meeting for those would like to participate in this next week.

Here is the link(be sure to click on Jesus the Victor) to the sermon on John 16 that we will be running through the course of next week. In order for us to all be there the rest of the week will give you time to read through John 16 several times and listen to this sermon. Monday we will jump right in.

Outline for notes:

John 16 Jesus the Victor

We are to expect two things suffering and joy.

3 realities of John 16

1) Christ centered truth

2) Resurrection Joy

3) Triumphant Joy

Please listen along! Take notes! Monday we will jump in on #1 Tomorrow in addition I will add 2 more sermons for deeper study before we dive in next week!

John 15-16:4

 Read John 15- 16:4; Sing Yet Not I and Christ Will be my Hideaway

Today's Focus is on 15:18-16:4

If the world hates you, know that it hated me first. We don't like verses like this. They don't make us feel good. In fact, they make us glance over them. We don't want to be hated. Especially in our modern day and age. We are so obsessed with self-love, self-care and our emotions the thought of hatred because of a belief or conviction makes some of us nauseous. 

I read an article that was talking about how social influencers are the new televangelists. To be honest...I had to google the definition of a social influencer. Basically, my definition would be the popular kids on the world wide web that whatever they say or like becomes trendy or mob mentality? I don't have Instagram, I am still not quite sure what TikTok is, you won't find me on Twitter either. Yet, I understand it is these social media giants controlling the narrative, even in the believers lives. And the truth, won't get the amount of likes and views needed to turn a biblical narrative into a money making trend. It never has. And it never will. Actually, I was watching a YouTube video of a sermon given by the pastor I linked to yesterday. I said to my husband, how does this man and his teaching only have 23 views, yet a kitten can get a million. Makes you pause for a second. We have access to rich theology, fantastic worship with lyrics, yet we settle for influencers over preachers and entertainment over worship. When our faith tries to be accepted and cool and liked... we probably lost the message. If you pastor cares more about his likability, looks and hits online... you need to find a new church. 

Jesus says, if the world hates you it hated me first. He was killed because of the truth He represented. In fact the religious HATED him for speaking truth. He was turning their world upside down taking power out of their hands and putting it back in the Fathers. No longer could religious lord over those who were not of high places, Christ came and died once and for all. Making every man, whether slave or free, Jew or barbarian equal.

The Word of God is truth. The Word is Christ. It is through Him that we are able to find our hope and refuge but it is through the teaching and preaching of His word we might find ourselves hated. And that is okay! We should delight in the fact that Jesus said it was going to happen, and then it happens! It shows the accuracy of the word! He says in 16 he was sharing these things so that when tribulation occurred they could take heart in the truth of the Son's word! 

For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son... and the world received him not...and killed him. 

YET, that isn't the end. Christ would raise victorious from the grave. The keys of hell and death in His hands. Jesus died that we might live! And we too can live in Him. 

16:2 Indeed the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. This verse, I cannot lie sends chills down my spine. It happened, for  every apostle other than John standing in that room. And John was not left out from suffering he was exiled. We are trending, if I can use that term, that direction today. As the church is violently splitting over things that don't matter, our hatred in house is getting loud. Even, yes I am going there, masking during Covid. And the gathering of the body. There is such a split that as fellow believers use what they feel is the best knowledge and appeal to their consciousness and scripture we are persecuting them. IN CHURCH. Openly on Social Media. A mass appeal to one science, one thought, for the good of mankind is usurping liberty and individuals rights to look at the facts and make the best decision for their own church. Mask, or don't mask. BUT STOP HURTING EACH OTHER. We don't need to be on this side of the verse thinking we are offering service to God for slamming one another. Sister this world is a mess, and hatred of Christianity is coming. We might have been able to enjoy many a year of being accepted or even liked for our Judea Christian beliefs here in America but that time is quickly wrapping up. As we fall apart in house over masking, not to even mention pro life, pro marriage conversations, we find ourselves unable to even be a light to the world. No longer a city on the hill. We are losing our saltiness.  Matthew 5:13 the salt that looses its saltiness is to be trampled underfoot. Yikes.

Who is your top influencer? Is it Christ and His Word? Is he able to call you friend? Or have you made the world your top priority? Are you known or even hated more for your political affiliations, or choices? Sister, do not let these verses scare you but encourage you! Jesus said His peace He leaves with us, His peace, His banner, His righteousness!!!! Do not trade it in for momentary happiness, find joy in Christ. And as we walk towards the cross, consider the cost; because to lose our lives is to live in Him!

Matthew Henry's prayers for today were spot on and so soul moving I want to close with them:

"Let the love of Christ to us control us to live, not to ourselves, but to him who for our sake died and was raised. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15"

"And Lord, grant that we may not love the world or the things in the world, because if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; 1 John 2:15 that we may set our minds on things above and not on things that are on earth. Colossians 3:2"

Sermons today: Christ, The Vine by Paul Washer

Life in the Vine- Josh Scherrer (one of our pastors!)

John 15:7-18

 Read: John 15, Sing: Yet Not I and Christ Will be my Hideaway

John 15:7-18

Is anyone else feeling their hearts flood with overwhelming thoughts of love, repentance,mercy and grace as we study John? Every day I find myself in tears as I read and study and go deeper. I am moved by the depths of Christ's words, the linking from the Old Testament and then the teachings of the disciples later on in the New. They lived out these 4 chapters that we are focusing on. It is humbling, beautiful and inspiring.

John 15:7-18. There is much to say but lets cover simply 1 point. Verses 9-11. Jesus teaches as the Father loves the Son, which is infinitely non-understandable because of the vastness an greatness of it, so he has loved us. WHAT!!! How many times do we glaze this scripture just getting through our quiet time. Yet Here is the Savior of the world using the Father's love for Him for the measure of His love for us. This is truly incredible. We are loved in a way that in incomprehensible. I think of the song Indescribable by Chris Tomlin, at one point it says you place the stars and you know them by name, you are amazing God.... this all powerful God, who loved the world so much that he sent His one and only Son, to bear the weight of our sins, that Son loves us just as the Father loves Him. In a world that teaches evolution, and that creation is a matter of sludge and it doesn't matter how you live or where your moral compass lies or what you do as long as your happy, we can stare them down and say NO. The Creator of the Universe and all its vastness and all its molecular matter, all of which declares HIs glory, ALL of that is secondary to His love of the Son, and that Son loves us. You matter because God created you. You are an image bearer. You are loved by the Son. 

Do you love Him in return?

Abide in my love. Remain in His love. Cling to His love. Be in His love.  

He goes on, "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. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you and your joy may be full. Its hard not to get excited to the point I lose my thought in typing over this. So bear with me. Christ, who came and lived  and died for us and rose again, on earth abided in His love of the Father and it came out through keeping His commandments. For us to now do this, we must first off, know what those commandments are, and secondly follow them not ritualistically as the religious do, thinking that they earn love, but we follow them because we are abiding in His matchless love. His burden is easy and His yolk is light. His commandments are not rules of affliction they are a love letter to teach us how to live as He lived and abide as He abided. Not only does Christ die for us, but he then teaches us how we can now lay down our lives for him. For 99.9% of us, this will not require martyrdom, but sometimes we act as if His Word is a death sentence. Maybe its because we don't know the Father well.

"These things I have spoken to you, that my joy nay be in you, and that your joy may be full." :::Sigh::: So.much. He loves us as the Father loves Him, and gives us joy, that our joy may be full! Joy, is a fruit of the spirit. Not an emotion. Joy is not happiness, although you might feel happy while experiencing joy. But sometimes joy comes is the depths of sorrow, because our joy is from the Lord, because our joy is IN the Lord. He is our strength and our shield. And this joy, is a gift. That through the helper as Christ will teach, we are able to experience His joy. 

In the sermon yesterday the Pastor discussed how in 14 and 15 we see Jesus teaching on His love, His joy and His peace...and if we jump to Galatians the first of the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy and peace! Crazy! Our Father through His Son,bears good fruit. He is the giver of life. And in Him we are able to partake of His love and joy and peace, and then share it with others! 

Are you living a life that reflects this fruit? 1 John 5: 2-3 says, " By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome." it goes on in the chapter that John writes these things to us who believe that we may know we have eternal life."

We have been given the fruits of the Spirit through Jesus Christ, if we abide in Him. In a world that tells us we need so many things, are these on the top of your list? Do you pray for fruit? Or more Fruit? Do you pray to be holy as He is holy? I noticed myself, just this week in studying, when is the last time I asked for this? When is the last time I asked to be pruned that I may be made more like Him? We have developed a taste for the world rather than a taste for godliness if we are honest with ourselves. May we urge one another to walk in a manner worthy of Christ today! 

John 15

 Read: John 15; Sing: Christ will be my Hideaway AND Yet Not I but Christ

I couldn't decide between these two beautiful songs to worship to this week, and thought, hey, why not! Time spent worshiping is never time wasted!

John 15:7-11

To start this week, I am doing something different. I have been so moved by the sermons by the pastors in Rhode Island and New Hampshire, we are going to start the week with just taking the time to listen. I highly encourage you to listen to John 14 and 15 via audio. And then listen to this sermon. Tomorrow we will cover 6-17 as a larger clump. Find time to listen! Dear friend, join me in learning and digging out of these scriptures all the treasures we might find.

Matthew 13:44 the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, when a man finds it he sells all that he has and goes back and buys the field.(paraphrased) 

May you find Christ in our journey together.

Abiding in the Vine Pt 2

John 15:6 Gathered and burned.

 Read: John 15; Sing: Revelation Hymn (lyrics here) 

John 15:6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown away into the fire and burned.

Today we will be discussing a topic that few do anymore. The reality of Hell. Unfortunately, many a preacher today steers clear of this topic. In fact some even go out on a limb saying it does not exist.  I, personally do not love the thought as it is terrifying and raises all sorts of questions in my heart and mind. How can a loving God...How can hell be real...why would He... Wrong questions. My lack of understanding of how Holy God is, and how vile my sins are shine out when my questions point fingers at God instead of myself. He is Perfect, Holy and Just. And He sent His Son to pay the price I could not, to spare me and you from eternal damnation. 

Again as we slip back into the conversation at the Garden. Eve who walked with God in the garden, who only knew what was good and perfection, still stumbles at the thought when the serpent whispers..." you will surely not die..." Today the whisper is, surely there is no hell.

It is incredible hard to think through this. But we must. We serve a Great Savior, victorious over the gates of hell! Satan is real. He is roaming around seeking whom he would devour. Yet we open the door to him time and time again. Oh come in! He truly wouldn't hurt me? We buy into the father of lies because his bait sounds easier to swallow than the glorious truths of salvation offered by the Father of Christ Jesus. 

We read a devotional each night before bed called Voices from the Past, they are puritan devotional readings. They are SO good. SO good. Truly I love the puritans because I want to see Jesus the way they see Jesus. And live with the zeal and purpose they did. But they lived the ways they did because they believed the Bible was true. Not part true, not kind of true, not a suggestion but the bread of life. 

Anyways, the other night we were reading Thomas Watson, and it shook me to my core. It was the most unpleasant reading moments before sleep I ever heard. But the truth, the glorious truth uttered, needs to be shared today.

Revelation 20:15 And if anyone's name was not found in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

"The wicked will be turned into hell. If anyone should ask where this house of bondage is, I wish he may never know experimentally.  'Let us not so much, says Chrysostom, labour to know  where hell is, as how to escape it.' O the dreadfulness of the place. Could you but hear the groans and shrieks of the damned for one hour, it would confirm you in the truth that hell is a house of bondage and the height of misery. Besides the punishment of the loss, which is the exclusion from the glorified sight of God, there will be punishment of sense. There will be the worm of conscience. There will be the lake of fire. This house of hell is haunted with devils. Such as go to hell must not only be forced to behold the devil, but must be shut up with the lion in his den. The torments of hell abide forever. Time cannot finish it, tears cannot quench it. The wicked are salamanders who live always in the fire and are not consumed. After they have lain a millions of years in hell, their punishment is as far from ending as it was at the beginning. If all the earth and sea were sand,and every thousandth year a bird should come and take away one grain, it would be a long time before the vast heap would be removed; yet if after all that time the damned might come out of hell, there would be some hope, but this word FOREVER breaks the heart. Oh, then such as are delivered from hell have infinite cause to admire and bless God. How the vessels of mercy should run over with thankfulness! How shall I know I am delivered from hell? There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. If you are in Christ, he has put the garment of righteousness over you. Repentance and trust in the blood of Christ will quench the fire of hell so that it shall never be kindled upon you!" -Thomas Watson, The Ten Commandments,pp.41-43

Jesus, on the eve of His crucifixion, knowing he was about to conquer sin and death, for our sake, because of our sins, offers this rather glorious, beckoning call. Abide in me. And I in you. Hell is real friend, but JESUS is enough. He has crushed the serpent's head. There is no condemnation for those in Christ. But as we read in John 15:6 for those who are not in the vine ( who is Christ) will be gathered together and thrown into the fire. 

Do not run from these truths. Allow them to motivate you to share the good news of the Gospel. Because, when we come to the place of understanding that God is Holy and Hell is real, we can truly marvel at just how good the Gospel message is. He died, that we might live. Amen and Amen.

John 15 Abide in Me

 Read: John 15; Sing Revelation Hymn (lyrics here)

John 15:3-5

This text again is so rich. So profound. So overwhelming. I am never sure where to start, where to end and how to consolidate the notes and thoughts and commentary. But especially today it feels heavy on my heart. 

Abide in me. Abide in me. What a glorious and incomprehensible concept. The Savior is inviting the sinner to abide in Him. Jesus came down to earth to rescue us, redeem us, and restore us. He then goes on to open his hand reaching out, saying abide in me. Wow. yet, often, most days, most moments if we are be honest we chose not too. We chose to abide in ourselves or materialism, or earthly pleasures, or religion, rather than Christ. My commentary says in this moment Jesus emphasizes steadfastness and permanence to his disciples. 

Jesus then goes on, abide in me, and I in you. He in us. Us in Him. This is truly incredible. We are just saved we are invited in. We are called by Christ to be in Him and He is us. It truly is the only way. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot bear our own fruit as we talked about yesterday. Everything flows out of Him and His glorious, restorative love. Every breath we are given, every day, week month are a gift. Do we return them in praise?

In the sermon link today for John 15 the pastor asks about this. As we navigate these first few verses. These versus are of utmost importance. They are discussing a true believer. A way to see if you are in Christ alone and the way of telling is if you are bearing His fruit. The pastor asks, if someone were to follow you around for the day- what does your life demonstrate about what it means to be a Christian? I was running as I listened to this and literally stopped. The I kept running and had to pause the message. What does my life show? A false perfectionism where I don't demonstrate grace and mercy because I am shaping what I think Christianity should look like? An abuse of grace where you throw all behaviors to the wind saying to the world, I can look like you and act like you and talk like you and be entertained like you, because God's got this? Or are we able to show that we are striving to be like Christ, because of Christ, because of His love for us, and because of Him and through Him we are offering everything back to Him?

15:5 Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, apart from me you can do nothing.

Sister, friend, what are you abiding in? Are you hoping in Christ, is your salvation in Christ? Are you bearing fruit through Christ? An apple tree should not grow snakes. We are His, and He is ours. Is your life reflecting the most merciful love of our glorious King? 

Abide in Him.

Jesus the vine sermon

I AM the true vine John 15

 Read: John 15; Sing: The Revelation Hymn (lyrics here)

John 15: 1-3

The last I AM statement from Christ as uttered in the book of John. I am the true vine. The vine in the OT is often the imagery used for the people of Israel. Jesus is declaring that he is the true vine ( true as in genuine) and His Father the Vinedresser. We are about to study several verses over the course of the next few days, that are both beautiful and terrifying. Ones that we need to slow down and study and truly understand what is being said and what this means. 

The imagery of farming is found time and time again in scripture. I think of the parable of the seeds, the father and the vineyard the list goes on and on. Here we are confronted with an I AM statement, and a truth that cannot be looked away from. Jesus has come. He is the true vine. He is the way to the Father. We must abide in Him. Jesus says right away in verse 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He (being God takes away), and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes that it might bear more fruit. 

Let us pause here. Those who do not bear fruit are removed. This is talking about more then works here. This is genuine fruit in the life of a believer. One day those who say Jesus yet, were truly not in Him, he will say "depart, I never knew you." We can fake it to the entire world, but God is not fooled. Going to church, does not make you Christian. Being a scholar of the Bible does not make you a Christian. Being raised in a Christian home, does not make you a Christian. It is by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone that we come to salvation. It is through the works of Jesus Christ that we are a Christian- IF- we truly repent and believe in follow Him. This would be a good day to pause an examine your heart. Is your profession of faith found in a church, or a pastor or simply in saying I think there is a God? Or is it rooted and grounded? Have you been grafted into the Vine that you may be part of Him? I am not talking about a life of shallow perfectionism of what we think Christianity can be, duct taping fruits of the spirit all over your vision board of Christianity while still living for yourself. No, I am talking about the full surrender and deep abiding love of Jesus Christ as the means and justifier of your faith and salvation. A complete dependence on Christ because we know without Him we are unsaveable. Or are we caught in between like the rich young ruler who says " I have kept all the commands," yet can't give his heart to the Lord. He loves this world too much.

Jesus follows this statement with those who are in the vine bearing fruit the Father will prune so they bear even more. Oh, pruning. If you are around me often, you know I talk about the painfulness of sanctification and the remarkable amount of pruning I apparently need. So often we can look to our Father and be like, "Hey, I made this!" and its a little bud of a flower. We are excited...not even thinking all the power and nutrients and capability to make said flower bud came strictly from the fact we are in His vine and He is supplying all our needs. And our Father answers back...great! Nice bud... now if I cut here ( OUCH) and here ( DOUBLE ouch) and here....and as we cry out why are you doing this... we stop in our tracks. Because now our little bud under His care is a branch of blossoms. We get in the way so often trying to take credit or do things on our own. But if we abide in Him, and allow Him to work in us and through us, He will not only make the fruit but remove things from our hearts and minds that prevent it, or stand in the way, or keep us from being Holy as He is Holy. Sanctification. Different than salvation, it takes a lifetime to work itself out not being complete until we are with Him. 

I am reading Matthew Henry's Methods of Prayer this year. It teaches how to pray with and through scripture in such a beautiful way. Like nothing I have ever experienced. Today's prayers were so fitting as the topic was, " That where it has begun it may be carried on and at length perfected, and the foundation that has been well laid may be happily built upon." I will leave you with the last 3 verses to pray through today.

"Fulfill in us every resolve for good and every work of faith by your power. 2 Thes. 1:11"

"Let the God who began a good work in us bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Phil. 1:6"

"Fulfill, O God, Your purpose for us; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever: do not forsake the work of your hands. Ps 138:8"

Prune us, oh Lord, we pray. Amen.

John 14:25-31

 Read: John 14 and 15; Sing: The Revelation Hymn (Lyrics here)

I want to stay here for the rest of the week, but, I know Easter is coming and to get through the Upper Room we must move on. Oh but the richness of these last verses in chapter 14. It is incredibly overwhelming. Lets jump in.

The Helper, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. The Helper, who is the Holy Spirit. Often we have made this out to be something more mystical or magical than it is, to try and wrap our brain around something we cannot. The Holy Spirit is a part of the Trinity. And it is through the Helper that we find our strength in Jesus Christ. It is through the Helper that we are convicted of sin. Fascinatingly here, we see how the New Testament is to be written. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit! HE would bring to mind to the disciples all that the Lord had taught them. 

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Peace is a fruit of the spirit. It is something that occurs when the Spirit dwells within us. Christ is gifting us a peace that surpasses all understanding when we trade our yoke for His. He promised that He would dwell in us in the previous verses, and He does.  We will see this reiterated in chapter 15 as we read about the vine and the branches. He in us and we in Him. Through this, we are able to experience peace that comes through Christ.  This is not a peace of the world. This is not something that comes from clearing your mind, or having a good day, or when all seems sunshine and roses; this is peace in the midst of a storm, peace when life doesn't make sense, and peace when we can't even breathe. This peace, is a gift from Christ. Trusting that He is sovereign over all. It is not easy, but through the power of the Holy Spirit we have the ability to live in this peace, we can not do it on our own.

Verse 31 " but I do as the Father commanded me, so that the world may know I love the Father." A blanket statement. I do as the Father commands, so the world may know I love the Father. For Christ in this very moment He knows His command is a death march to the Cross to bear the sins of the World. And He is walking steadily forward. Pausing to minister to His disciples moments before he literally bears the weight of the world. Jesus Christ came and lived a sinless life, died in our place, to atone for our sins. He bore our iniquity because we could never pay the price. Sister, you are not enough. Its true! We could never be enough, but through Christ, under His righteousness, we are under the banner of Christ's love...which is the perfect enough. JESUS IS ENOUGH. Do we believe that? Do we live as our Father commands, so that the world may know we love Him? What does our life say we love? If we are striving for worldly peace, worldly love, worldly ambition... we are telling the world we love them more. That the world will satisfy our needs and that the world will help us earn our way to heaven. RUN from this lie. There is nothing we add to our salvation other than sin and the need for a Savior. Jesus Christ. The perfect Son, came and died that we might live! 

The prophecies of the Old Testament are starting to crescendo here in this room! Everything that was promised is about to be fulfilled in Christ. The Promised Seed is about to crush the serpent's head.  This great and glorious God, steadfast in His love, is about to take away the sins of the world. May the world know we love Him today. 

John 14: 21-24

 Read John 14 and 15! Sing: Revelation Hymn ( Lyrics here)

There is so much to write that it feels overwhelming. In fact rather than go on and on I will keep it short so we can meditate on the Words of Christ today.

Today's focus is John 14:21-24. Our last question by the disciple Judas ( Not Iscariot).  Jesus has just finished saying that whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me. A pretty blanket statement. If we have His commandments and keep them, we demonstrate our love of Jesus. On two counts... we have His commandments... it multiple translations and multiple platforms. Bibles, phones, tablets. Dozens of languages and variations...i.e. NIV, ESV,NASB, KJV. The list goes on and on. We have the easiest access to scripture of any generation. Yet, most of us find the second portion hard to swallow... and keeps them. This does not mean keep in a legalistic form. We do not earn our salvation through the keeping of His commandments, because we cannot keep them perfectly. Only Christ can. We keep them, because we love HIM. 

Judas interjects with his question here. How is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?  Jesus corrects his understanding. If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 

God comes to us. He dwells in us, through the Word, and the power of the Holy Spirit. This is an incredible thing being told. And we need to step back and realize the magnitude here. At this time, the presence of the Lord was something thought to be contained. The Holy of Holies still exists, the Ark of the Covenant is still in use. God's presence was something that you couldn't just walk into. And now, Jesus is teaching that God is about to dwell in every believer through the Holy Spirit... or the Helper as we will read. The curtain would be torn and Christ would make His dwelling place among us. In us. Woah.

And then the statement that caught me, "whoever does not love me, does not keep my word." Simple, direct to the point. Yet, so much contained. What is your relationship with the Word? Does it demonstrate a love of Jesus? Do you actions, thoughts, goals, conversations demonstrate a love of Christ Jesus through the keeping of His word? Breaking it down the the two Jesus discusses, to the love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. How can we ensure this today?