Participants:
Series Code: TDYFW
Program Code: TDYFW210031S
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00:01 I want to spend my life
00:07 Mending broken people 00:12 I want to spend 00:15 My life 00:18 Removing pain Lord, 00:24 let my words 00:29 Heal a heart that hurts 00:34 I want to spend my life 00:40 Mending broken people 00:45 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people 01:08 Hello and Happy Sabbath 01:10 and welcome to another 3ABN Family Worship. 01:14 We're glad that you're pulling up 01:16 the chair drawn into our table. 01:17 We've got the rest of the family around 01:19 the table tonight. 01:21 And we're excited to be bringing in the Sabbath 01:25 with our topic, Abiding in Christ. 01:28 I'm Shelley Quinn. I'm JD Quinn. 01:31 It's a joy to have our guests tonight, 01:33 and not just our guests but our family. 01:35 Amen. You want to introduce the family? 01:37 I most certainly can. 01:39 You get to see them every day. 01:40 You get to visit with them every day. 01:41 We got Don and Janelle down here on this end. 01:44 We've seen them many times. 01:45 We have Brian, Brian Dickens. 01:47 And Brian has been here for a while, 01:49 but he's just so busy. 01:51 It's hard to get you to jump in here with us. 01:53 So this is a real gift to us. Yes. 01:55 Well, it's definitely a privilege 01:56 and an honor to definitely be on the Family Worship 02:00 and to be with everybody at home, 02:01 and especially everyone here. 02:03 I mean, we are definitely a family here at 3ABN. 02:07 It's just a wonderful blessing to be here. 02:10 Yes. Indeed, it is. 02:13 Well, Shelley, you want to kick this off? 02:15 This is... 02:16 Well, before we pray, let me just explain 02:18 what we're going to talk about tonight then we'll pray, 02:20 and if you have... 02:22 I hope you've got a Bible, and a pen, 02:24 and a paper to write on because we will look tonight 02:29 at how the Bible describes the relationship 02:34 of believers in Christ. 02:36 You know, God calls us into relationship. 02:39 Jesus said in John 17:3, 02:41 "This is eternal life that they would know God 02:44 the Father and Christ, His Son." 02:48 So He calls us into relationship, 02:51 but if we're going to be in relationship 02:56 with Him, we have to abide in Him. 03:01 So tonight we're going to look at 03:03 what does it mean to abide in Christ? 03:06 How do we abide? 03:09 How do we know that we abide? 03:13 What is fruit? 03:16 And what is the blessing of abiding? 03:19 So if you have an interest 03:23 in knowing that love relationship 03:27 with Jesus on a continual basis. 03:30 I know you're going to enjoy tonight's study. 03:32 We're going to get deep into Scripture. 03:34 Honey, do you want to pray? 03:36 Most certainly. 03:38 Father, as we come to You in the name of Jesus, 03:40 we want to thank You, Lord, for the Sabbath. 03:43 Father, thank You, Lord that we can already 03:45 feel that we begin to relax because, Father, 03:47 we're turning this time over to You. 03:50 Father, let us indeed purpose in our hearts that today 03:54 will be special. 03:55 Father, thank You for this particular topic, 03:57 Abiding in You. 03:59 And, Father, as we go through this, Lord, 04:01 that we will just reach out in hunger to be satisfied. 04:06 Father, we will look into Your Word, 04:08 the Word that came from Your lips, Lord, 04:11 so that we can indeed be satisfied. 04:16 We love You. We thank You. 04:17 Be with each one of us, Lord, empty us of us, 04:20 fill us with You, Lord. 04:21 Many times, we really don't know what direction 04:23 we're going to go in, but, Father, through the aid 04:26 of the Holy Spirit it seems like it makes sense. 04:28 Thank You, Lord. 04:30 Thank You. 04:31 We give You praise and glory in Jesus' name. 04:34 Amen. Amen. 04:36 Well, if you have your Bibles, 04:38 you want to open to John Chapter 15. 04:42 And this is one of the most 04:45 beautiful passages on what the relationships 04:49 of believers in Christ, what it's like. 04:53 So what we're going to do is just read through 04:56 John 15:1-14. 04:59 And I think you're going to see right here, 05:02 we've got all five of our questions 05:04 answered that we just posed. 05:06 But Don, why don't you... 05:07 We're going to read from the Amplified because 05:09 you know what the Amplify does. 05:11 If you see something in parentheses, 05:14 that means they're amplifying the Greek language. 05:19 So if they say a word, and then you see two 05:21 or three other words, this is kind of helping you 05:24 understand the full great meaning. 05:27 When you see something in brackets, 05:29 it's actually a comment of the translator. 05:34 But I love the Amplified Version because sometimes 05:38 it helps us understand better. 05:41 So, Don, why don't you read 05:43 John 15:1-3 from the Amplified? 05:47 Sure. 05:48 It says, "I am the true Vine..." 05:51 And who's speaking? This is Jesus. 05:52 Okay. 05:54 "I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser. 05:57 Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit, 06:00 or that stops bearing, He cuts away, trims off," 06:05 to bear fruit, I'm sorry, "trims off, takes away. 06:08 And He cleanses and repeatedly prunes." 06:11 I like that. 06:12 "He cleanses and repeatedly prunes 06:13 every branch that continues to bear fruit..." 06:16 That's an important statement. 06:18 "To make it bear more and richer and more 06:20 excellent fruit. 06:22 You are cleansed and pruned already, because of the word 06:25 which I have given you, 06:27 the teachings I have discussed with you." 06:30 I just have to make this one comment. 06:32 That reminds me of something my precious friend, 06:35 Mollie Sue Steenson said once 06:37 as we were reading this and she said, 06:39 "Hmm, you're pruned if you do 06:42 and you're pruned if you don't." 06:44 I remember her saying that. 06:45 I remember her saying and that's so funny. 06:47 But that is, you know, so Jesus is saying, 06:50 "I am the Vine," we are the branches. 06:52 So, Janelle, how about verses 4 and 5? 06:55 Okay. 06:56 "Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you, live in Me, 07:00 and I will live in you. 07:02 Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself 07:04 without abiding in, being vitally united to the vine, 07:09 neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me. 07:13 I am the Vine, you are the branches. 07:16 Whoever lives in Me 07:17 and I in him bears much abundant fruit. 07:23 However, apart from Me cut off from vital union with Me, 07:27 you can do nothing." 07:29 Oh, we've got to mention, stop and comment on that. 07:33 What does Jesus mean? 07:35 He says, "I'm the Vine, you're the branches." 07:39 And, you know, 07:41 I think of the vine being connected, 07:45 or the branch being connected to the vine, 07:48 what supports the branch? 07:51 It's the sap. 07:53 I think of sap, S-A-P 07:56 as the Spirit's Anointing Power. 08:00 It's like a life. 08:01 So as we are united to Christ as our Vine, 08:06 the Holy Spirit is flowing into us and bringing us this. 08:11 But what does he mean, 08:13 "Apart from Me, you can do nothing?" 08:15 Yeah. 08:17 It says, "They're cut off from vital union." 08:20 I like the word vital union, 08:23 it's a really powerful thought that, yeah, 08:24 if we're not connected or linked up with... 08:27 And I was reading the... 08:28 There's a little blue box, I don't go too deep into it, 08:30 but it said, "Communication between men and God, 08:34 there's a constant need to communicate." 08:36 So you have to in order to buy this, 08:38 you've got to communicate otherwise there is no point. 08:40 We're going to get into that in just a minute. 08:42 But the point here is that, 08:44 hey, there are some people that... 08:48 wealthy people who are philanthropic 08:52 and they seem to accomplish a lot while they're on earth. 08:57 But apart from Christ, 08:59 you can do nothing 09:01 of eternal lasting value. 09:06 I think the key word there is eternal. 09:08 Yeah. 09:09 I know they might temporarily have some successes, 09:13 but you're going to run out of gas sooner or later. 09:15 And not fulfilled. 09:16 Yeah. 09:18 Okay, Brian how about verses 6-8? 09:21 Okay, verse number 6, 09:23 "If a person does not dwell in Me, 09:25 he is thrown out like a broken-off branch, 09:28 and withers. 09:29 Such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, 09:33 and they are burned. 09:34 If you live in Me, abide vitally united to Me, 09:38 and My words remain in you 09:40 and continue to live in your hearts, 09:43 ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. 09:47 When you bear, produce much fruit, 09:50 My Father is honored and glorified, 09:53 and you show 09:54 and prove yourselves to be true followers of Mine." 09:58 Okay, so we already see that we 09:59 got to be connected to Him to have the sap, 10:03 the Spirit flowing into us. 10:05 But here we see the abiding in the Word. 10:09 Jesus is the Word, is He not? 10:12 And if the Word is in our hearts, 10:15 where it helps us abide in Christ. 10:17 And we're going to break all 10:18 of this down just in second for you. 10:20 Honey, why don't you read verses 9 and 10? 10:24 Nine and 10, 10:26 "I have loved you just as the Father has loved Me. 10:30 Abide in My love, continue in His love with me. 10:34 And if you keep My commandments, 10:36 if you continue to obey My instructions, 10:40 you will abide in My love and live on in it, 10:44 just as I have obeyed My Father's commandments 10:48 and live on in His love." 10:50 So what is the condition we see here of abiding? 10:54 Obedience. Yeah, living in it. 10:56 Isn't it? So let's recap. 10:59 What does it mean to abide in Christ? 11:04 We've got to remain vitally connected to him. 11:08 We've got to walk in His Word, His doctrines, 11:12 His teachings. 11:14 We've got to walk in obedience. 11:16 And I just have to say we don't believe obedience saves us. 11:19 This is after we've been saved by grace. 11:23 But this is one of the signs that we are walking in covenant 11:27 loyalty in love for Him, is that we walk in obedience. 11:32 But how do we abide? 11:34 What did we just read? 11:35 How do we abide? Yeah. 11:38 We're talking about the idea of the Spirit, 11:40 by the power of the Spirit. 11:42 Of course, we're talking also staying in the Word. 11:44 If you don't... 11:45 The Word's not in there, and also walking in obedience. 11:48 We just mentioned that. 11:49 But something that opened my mind this morning, 11:51 yeah, He says, "Something has to be abandoned for something 11:54 else to abide." 11:55 So something has to be abandoned, 11:57 something in us has to be abandoned... 11:58 Oh, amen. 12:00 That's all about yielding and surrendering, isn't it? 12:01 Right, you've to abandon for Him to abide. 12:03 Well, you were saying about obedience. 12:06 You know, what came to my mind 12:07 is that it's a response of your heart. 12:10 It's not like you're altering behavior. 12:14 Yeah, you're motivated by love 12:16 and your heart wants to do what he wants. 12:20 And so that's what motivates. 12:23 Amen. All right. 12:24 So, Brian, the third question is, 12:28 how do we know we abide? What did John 15:1-14 tell us? 12:34 How can we know that we abide? 12:37 Well, it says even here on verse number 7 that I read, 12:41 "When you abide, you vitally are united with Christ." 12:46 You know, whenever you spend your days connected with Him, 12:50 whether it be in the Word, whether it be in prayer, 12:52 and your actions... 12:54 So the evidence is the fruit. 12:57 The fruit that you bear. 12:59 If the branch is abiding in the vine, it's the fruit. 13:03 Correct. 13:05 So what do you think the fruit 13:06 is that he's speaking of, honey? 13:08 Well, the fruit is the gift of the Holy Spirit. 13:12 And the fruit of the Spirit, yeah, I think, 13:15 and we'll get to all of this. 13:17 But, Janelle, let me ask you, what is... 13:21 Why do we want to abide? 13:22 What's the blessing of abiding? 13:25 Well, it's really... 13:28 It's that relationship 13:30 and the reciprocal love that we can share with Him. 13:35 And when we see and we have a small glimpse 13:38 of how much He loves us, and how much He's done for us, 13:41 then we just can't help it. 13:44 It's just a natural thing that comes 13:46 when we want to love Him because it's just... 13:49 It's amazing when you think about how much, 13:52 you know, how personal He is to each of us. 13:55 And when we can know that He's a relatable savior 13:59 and not just someone that came, died for our sins. 14:03 He actually can relate to whatever I'm going through 14:06 and that, to me that's just an amazing thing. 14:10 So the blessing of abiding, if we're not abiding, 14:14 if we're dead branch, we're broken off, 14:17 we're not going to have the abundant life. 14:19 He said in John 10:10, 14:21 "I came to give you life and life abundant." 14:24 So the blessing of abiding 14:27 is that we've got the abundant life now, you know. 14:32 Go ahead. 14:33 No, I've got two, I say I've got, we've got five, 14:37 now we have five peach trees. 14:41 And whenever, I was so excited 14:43 when I got this because I can see what abiding 14:46 and what taking care of, what pruning is all about, 14:51 what sweet peaches taste like, 14:53 and also how the squirrels get all the others. 14:58 You got to protect your fruit. Most certainly. 15:01 But I have also known well, the first number of years, 15:05 I didn't really have enough sense to know that. 15:09 Either I did have enough sense, 15:10 and I didn't want to hurt my trees by pruning them, 15:13 or I didn't have enough sense to prune them, 15:15 but I got lamps everywhere. 15:17 Boy, it's so beautiful. 15:19 I was counting my peaches before they hatched. 15:22 Well, it was so full of leaves. 15:26 Let's just say the sap. 15:28 That sap is like blood within us, you know? 15:30 It's the vitality that runs through 15:33 with all these tributaries that are going out here 15:35 and everything. 15:37 But if you've got too many tributaries, you don't get, 15:40 the fruit doesn't have a chance to really grow. 15:43 Oh, yeah. 15:44 So I finally 15:46 learned that if you go into these little pruning, 15:49 chop, chop, chop, your heartbreaks each time, 15:53 and you question every time you sawing. 15:55 But then the next year, 15:57 wow, there were some nice big peaches. 15:59 If you know somebody, like you're talking about, 16:02 there's a certain time of year when you do that pruning too, 16:05 so there's a timing involved in it. 16:07 And God knows the right time to prune 16:10 and when it's going to be more effective because 16:12 when you prune something, it leaks that sapling out. 16:16 And if you do it the right/wrong season, 16:18 it's going to lose it all. 16:20 See, that's a woman that knows what she talks about. 16:21 So the blessing of abiding 16:25 is not just abundant life now, 16:28 but it's eternal life forever. 16:31 So let's look, let's break this down. 16:35 How do we abide in Christ? 16:38 We abide, I'm going to read the first one, 16:41 and this is John 14:15-18. 16:51 Jesus said, "If you love Me, 16:54 keep My commandments." 16:58 And that's a statement that 17:03 it's related to this. 17:05 It is dependent upon this. 17:08 "If you're walking in obedience to My commandments, 17:11 motivated by love, I will pray the Father 17:15 and He will give you another Helper that He may 17:18 abide with you forever." 17:21 So Jesus is saying, you know, 17:24 Acts 5:32 says, 17:25 "The Holy Spirit is given to those who obey." 17:28 So as we yield and say, "Yes, Lord, I want Your way," 17:32 and you're abiding in Him, 17:35 walking in obedience to His commandments, 17:37 motivated by love, then He sends 17:42 the Holy Spirit. 17:43 And that's the only way we can abide in the Lord 17:47 is when the Holy Spirit 17:48 is abiding and living within us. 17:51 He says, "He will abide with you forever, 17:53 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, 17:57 because it neither sees him nor knows him. 18:00 But you know him, for he dwells with you. 18:03 He will be in you. 18:04 I will not leave you as orphans. 18:07 I will come to you." 18:09 In Romans Chapter 8 Paul says, 18:11 "Oh, you didn't receive the spirit of fear. 18:15 You have received the Spirit by which we cry 18:19 out Abba Father, Papa, Daddy." 18:24 So this is that relational component that you were 18:28 talking about is that God 18:31 wants to be our Father. 18:34 Now, Don, why don't you read 18:36 1 John 4:12-19? 18:40 Okay. 18:42 It says, "No one has seen God at any time." 18:44 I love that scripture. 18:46 "If we love one another, God abides in us 18:49 and His love has been perfected in us. 18:53 By this, we know that we abide in Him 18:56 and He in us because He has given us 18:59 of His Spirit." 19:00 Pause. 19:02 So can we abide in Christ 19:05 without the Holy Spirit? 19:07 No. We have to have Him. 19:09 I mean, that... 19:10 It's a conditional thing. 19:12 If you don't have the Holy Spirit if God, 19:15 you're not abiding in Christ. 19:18 And, you know, sometimes I have people 19:20 who criticize because I said, 19:22 "The first thing you ought to do every morning 19:24 is wake up, pray for the Holy Spirit." 19:27 Because and you see, 19:31 even in the Bible, that there were different times 19:33 when they were filled with the Holy Spirit, 19:36 then they go on, we're leaky vessels. 19:39 So we've got to day by day depend on God 19:43 and on His Holy Spirit. 19:44 So if He's going to abide in us and us in Him. 19:49 He's already used abide twice there. 19:50 So go on with verse 14. 19:52 I was just gonna add something real quick, 19:54 the Holy Spirit, from what I'm looking at I see 19:57 it as the Holy Spirit actually acts 19:58 as the earthly administrator. 20:01 Oh, absolutely. 20:03 In that ways easy earthly administrator when, 20:04 of course, you got Christ and God up in heaven. 20:06 But the Holy Spirit is the one 20:07 who's our earthly administrator, 20:09 taking whatever we're going through 20:10 and relaying that back to Him. 20:11 So it's kind of corny, so I just thought about that. 20:14 If you will, if you have that relationship, 20:18 it's exactly right. 20:20 I think we were on verse 15. 20:22 Fourteen. 20:23 Fourteen, "And we have seen 20:26 and testify that the Father has sent 20:27 the Son as Savior of the world. 20:31 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God..." 20:34 That was all deep in that. 20:35 "God abides in him and he in God. 20:39 And we have known and believe that the love that God 20:42 has for us, God is love. 20:45 And he who abides in love abides in God and God in him. 20:49 Love has been perfected among us in this that we may have 20:53 boldness in the Day of Judgment." 20:54 Praise Lord. 20:56 "Because as he is, so are we in this world. 20:59 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts 21:03 out fear because fear involves torment. 21:06 But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 21:09 We love Him because He first loved us." 21:12 And I thought about that perfect love. 21:14 It's interesting because if you go back to verse 12, 21:16 it actually explains what it is. 21:18 It says there, "If we love one another, 21:20 God abides in us and His love has been perfected in us. 21:24 So we're talking about not just... 21:28 There are people, you know, some people will say, 21:31 "Well, I love, I'm madly in love with my husband." 21:36 So that means I'm okay with God. 21:38 No, that's not what He's saying. 21:40 You know, we can never take something out of context. 21:45 Look at this context, "God is love and His love..." 21:50 You know what His love does? 21:53 It totally separates him from sin. 21:57 There is no sin in love. 22:01 I mean, that's why God cannot sin. 22:04 His government is operated by love. 22:08 Is it not? Right. 22:09 And if you think about the Ten Commandments, 22:12 the first four are love for God. 22:15 The other six are love for mankind, right? 22:17 Yeah. 22:18 I was going to add to that too what you're talking about... 22:20 The first thing that my eye 22:22 went to is in verse 12 that we read. 22:25 It says, "If we love one another, 22:26 God abides in us." 22:28 We can't love each other if we don't love God first, 22:31 the true love that God puts in us for other 22:34 people because it's hard to... 22:36 Sometimes it's hard to love people, you know. 22:39 Some people are easy to love, some people are not. 22:41 Right. 22:42 So we really don't know true love unless we know God, 22:45 unless He abides in us. 22:48 And we can't even know true love without, 22:49 I mean, the holy kind of, the essence of God. 22:54 Romans 5:5 says that God pours 22:57 His love into our hearts by the power 23:00 of the Holy Spirit. 23:02 So without the Holy Spirit, 23:04 we can't have this love that He's talking about. 23:08 But I think that's interesting, because one, two, three, 23:11 four, five... 23:13 I see five, there may be more. 23:15 But in just 1 John 4:12-19, 23:20 we see five references to abiding. 23:23 And it is all about the fruit of the Holy Spirit 23:27 of this love. 23:29 And not just loving God, but loving one another. 23:33 So bottom line, to abide in God, 23:39 we have to have the Holy Spirit abiding in us, right? 23:43 And I might mention about how do we get there? 23:46 By surrendering to Him, allowing God to be God 23:50 and we're going to be bringing all this... 23:52 And what does it mean to surrender? 23:55 If somebody... 23:57 I'll get ready for the sermon on this. 24:00 Well, then you know this topic written. 24:02 So I'll just set in. 24:03 You know, remember 24:06 when you first were asking me for a year, 24:10 I'm trying to explain surrender to him. 24:12 And I'm going through all of these different 24:14 scriptures to explain surrender. 24:16 So not too long ago, I asked the Lord, 24:19 "You got to give me a better way to explain surrender." 24:23 And God gave me three steps to surrender, 24:26 just ping, ping, ping. 24:27 The first is know God. 24:30 If you don't know Him, you can never surrender to Him. 24:35 We love Him because He first loved us. 24:37 When you understand how much He loves you, 24:40 when you understand His power, His plan, 24:44 what He wants to do, you're ready to... 24:48 You're getting close to surrender. 24:49 The second step is that you have to stop and submit. 24:54 Stop resisting His love. 24:57 Stop resisting His plan for you. 24:59 Submit to His authority. 25:01 He is the sovereign. 25:04 And the third step is simply yield to the Holy Spirit. 25:09 Yield to His leading because God 25:11 tells us in His Word that He will work in us to will 25:17 and to do His good purpose. 25:19 So you're right. It's all about surrender. 25:22 It's about day by day, 25:25 asking to be filled with the Holy Spirit. 25:28 But, Janelle, let's look at... 25:30 Okay, we've got to bide by the Holy Spirit 25:35 living within us. 25:37 But Jesus had already said in John 15, 25:40 "You've got to abide in My Word." 25:42 So would you take John 8:31-32? 25:45 Sure. 25:47 "Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, 25:50 'If you abide in My Word, you are My disciples, indeed. 25:54 And you shall know the truth 25:56 and the truth shall make you free.'" 25:59 I know you all have said... 26:01 I know you've got something to say about that. 26:04 Oh, yeah, free indeed. 26:05 Well, I mean, it's... 26:08 Whenever I first looked up the first definition of abide, 26:12 the word that came, 26:14 or the definition that came to me was something 26:15 lasting or enduring, you know. 26:19 As in our walk with Christ, 26:21 we want to have an enduring walk with Christ. 26:24 You know, we want everlasting walk with Him. 26:27 We don't want to just give our will 26:30 and allow Him into our hearts 26:32 and then the next week be back to the same way 26:35 we were. 26:36 We are looking for a true Christian change, you know. 26:39 So whenever we have that enduring walk with Christ, 26:42 He is with us throughout everything. 26:45 We give up everything to God and let Him take control. 26:49 You know, as in Philippians 4:13, 26:52 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." 26:54 Amen. 26:56 You know, it's when we're abiding 26:57 with Him that He takes us 26:59 and He creates this new creature 27:02 and allows us to bear fruit with people, you know. 27:05 And as you're abiding, you know, you get to... 27:08 You were talking earlier about the person, 27:12 I can't remember exactly what you said. 27:14 But you were talking about the person that had the... 27:16 It's right on the tip of my tongue. 27:21 Yeah, you'll get there. 27:23 But just being able to walk 27:25 with Christ for the meekness in people that's 27:30 where I was going to, the sick people. 27:32 The ones that live in fear, 27:34 those are the ones that truly need to abide in Christ. 27:37 But it's abiding in Christ. 27:39 What she just read is abiding in His Word. 27:42 What did it do when... 27:44 I know you've had a conversation. 27:45 Janelle, you've had a conversation. 27:48 Learning the Word, how did the Word set you free? 27:51 You all have a great relationship with the Word. 27:57 You're in the Word all the time. 27:58 Tell us what the Word did for you? 28:00 Love. 28:02 Okay, explain that? 28:03 That's exactly what I was talking about. 28:05 That friend that you were talking about 28:06 who loved her husband. 28:07 Okay. Okay. 28:09 It's easy to love your husband, 28:10 or the person that you're with, 28:12 you know, whenever you marry them. 28:13 It's easy to love somebody that you live 28:15 with for such a long time, 28:17 and is there for you all the time. 28:19 But to love other people, 28:20 to love the people that aren't there to do something for you, 28:26 but to also just to be able to show love for people 28:29 who are weak in nature, 28:32 who are the meek of the earth that will inherit the earth, 28:35 of course. 28:36 But the ones that are sick, 28:38 the ones that are living in fear, 28:40 you know, when you can show them love, 28:43 you know, to help wash away their fears 28:45 and to help wash away their worries, 28:47 to be able to always look to Christ 28:50 whenever you feel weak in this world. 28:52 And this world really does make people feel weak. 28:55 It made me feel weak for many, 28:56 many decades until I found Christ. 28:59 So once you live in the Word and abide. 29:02 But how did you find Christ? 29:03 I think I'm trying to come back to John 8:31 where Jesus said, 29:07 "If you abide in My Word, you will be My disciples. 29:11 You will know the truth 29:12 and the truth will set you free." 29:14 The truth, when you learn the truth... 29:16 Yeah. 29:18 It wasn't easy when you first learned the truth, 29:20 but what did it do to you? 29:22 It made me believe. 29:24 And you totally changed, did it? 29:26 And it set you free. 29:27 Let me bring something out right here. 29:29 And I got to share this yesterday because it was 29:31 shared to me yesterday. 29:33 And this is just, kind of, interesting. 29:39 2 Corinthians 1:20. 29:44 Truth, what is truth because we're used to dealing 29:47 with mankind? 29:49 Mankind's very good in giving half truths 29:52 and half wrongs. 29:53 And so we get, "Who are we going to believe?" 29:57 But then you go in here to 2 Corinthians 1:20, 30:00 it brings some sense into this. 30:02 "For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, 30:06 and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us." 30:10 Paul was sitting there saying, "Hey, I know that..." 30:14 He's talking to the Corinthians is, 30:16 "I'm presenting this to you. 30:18 We're used to hearing man 30:20 and so we don't know what's really truth." 30:22 But there is something that's totally 30:25 separate truth. 30:29 We all want truth. 30:31 And here he's making, 30:33 "For all the promises of God in Him." 30:36 In Christ because Jesus said, 30:38 "I am the way, the truth, and the life." 30:41 You see, "If you abide in My Word, 30:44 then you My disciples are, but then you 30:47 shall know the truth," because He has said 30:49 it and He's saying Himself, there is no Yes or No. 30:54 There's no complexity here. 30:57 Red is red, as you're reading it in Matthew, Mark, Luke, 31:01 and John and then in Revelations. 31:03 You know what I love about 2 Corinthians 1:20 31:06 is because Christ in Hebrews 7, it says 31:10 "He is the surety, the guarantor of the covenant." 31:16 And when He says, 31:17 "All of God's promises are yes and amen." 31:20 He is our guarantee from God to us. 31:24 But then He's also 31:26 the guarantor from us to God 31:27 because He's going to work in us to will 31:29 and to do His good pleasure. 31:31 As it says with the Word, it says, 31:33 "If you abide in my Word..." 31:35 And for me personally, when I abided in that word, 31:38 I founded my value. 31:40 That was the key for me. 31:41 When I found out I was a son of God that just 31:44 totally changed my life, 31:46 that just totally changed everything else. 31:48 It took so long, so many people beat you down with words 31:50 and say things out to you and say these things. 31:53 And the enemy is just really working on you to not 31:54 find truth. 31:56 So you found your true identity. 31:57 Right, through the Word. 31:59 Yeah, so... 32:00 What I was going to add to that when we're talking 32:01 about that verse, John 8:32, 32:03 "The truth shall make you free" is free of shame. 32:06 Yeah, right. 32:07 You know, because the enemy, he just uses shame to make us, 32:11 to push us down. 32:12 And when we know the truth, and that God loves us, 32:16 and that He... 32:17 We mean so much to Him, then we can know that 32:23 and that He wants to adopt us, as we read earlier by adoption. 32:27 We were free from shame because He loves us 32:30 no matter what. 32:31 We can come to Him. Right. 32:32 That's powerful because there's a lot of people 32:34 out there that are fighting that junk of yesteryear. 32:37 And that has become their identity 32:39 because they were there for so long. 32:41 And there is a way out. 32:42 That's what the Word does. The Word sets you free. 32:44 Amen. 32:45 And then we understand what he was saying in Romans 32:48 when he said, "There is therefore now 32:50 no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." 32:55 Right. Yeah. 32:56 Because it's right after that, Romans 7 32:57 is where the Christians struggle. 33:00 Why do I do what I shouldn't be doing? 33:02 And why am I not doing what I should be doing? 33:03 You know, it's like this back and forth this battle, 33:06 and then there's no condemnation. 33:08 Yeah. 33:09 If you're in Christ Jesus. See, how the Word does. 33:10 So see, that's the value of abiding. 33:13 When you abide in Christ, when you're vitally connected, 33:17 there's no condemnation. 33:18 So here this just kind of shows us an example 33:22 of how important it is. 33:24 Once in a while, we've got to be pruned... 33:26 Right. Yeah. 33:27 Because we... 33:28 This is who we were, and that's not 33:30 who I choose to be any longer but then we run into a friend. 33:34 How about those good old days? 33:39 And so it prunes us out, you know? 33:41 So as we grow, well, someday, we'll be nice and clean 33:46 and my goodness, well, that peach is this big. 33:48 Amen. 33:49 And the enemy can make you think that those were 33:51 good days to you. 33:52 But then if you think about the other side of things 33:57 and how it wasn't so good, you can remember, 34:00 "Okay, this is not as good as the enemy 34:02 would like me to believe it was." 34:04 So I think that's where God has shown me, 34:06 you know, where you're talking about pruning it, 34:08 you know, it wasn't as good as I thought. 34:10 That's right. Yeah. 34:11 Yeah. Okay. 34:13 Brian, you want to take 2 John 1:9 34:18 because we're still talking about abiding in the Word. 34:22 If you're going to abide in Christ, 34:24 you need to abide in the Word. 34:26 Okay, verse 9, 34:28 "Whoever transgresses 34:29 and does not abide in the doctrine 34:31 of Christ does not have God. 34:34 He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father 34:38 and the Son." 34:39 Wow! 34:41 So to abide in the doctrine is to abide in the teachings, 34:44 which is to abide in the Word, isn't it? 34:47 And when we do, what is our promise? 34:51 We have both the Father and the Son. 34:56 And the reason being is because if you've seen Me, 34:59 you've seen the Father, is that right? 35:00 Amen. 35:01 I'm thinking that when you guys are talking about 1 John 3:1 35:04 just came out to my mind. 35:05 Oh, man, 1 John 3:1-2. 35:07 It says, "Behold, what manner of love the Father bestowed 35:09 upon us that we should be called the sons of God. 35:12 Therefore the world knoweth us not because they knew Him not. 35:16 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, 35:18 and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. 35:20 But we know that, when he shall appear, 35:23 we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." 35:25 And that's just, the Word gives you that assurance that, 35:28 yeah, look what the Word says about you, 35:30 what the condition you into or think or whatever, 35:33 that that's not who you are. 35:35 God says something totally different 35:36 about you in the Word. 35:38 So that you can ride on those promises, 35:39 it just like, just lifts you up, 35:40 it's just incredible. 35:42 You know, one thing I appreciate so much about you, 35:43 Don, is that you have so much Word in your heart. 35:46 And like you, you know, we all... 35:50 People perceive us in a certain way. 35:53 And I grew up in a very dysfunctional environment, 35:56 but I was like a little mouse at home. 35:59 But then when I went out 36:00 the way I covered up for it 36:02 was to be really outgoing, blah-blah. 36:07 But I was buying into what other 36:13 people were telling me, who I was. 36:16 And when I really got into the Word 36:18 and started accepting God's promises 36:22 and applying them in my life and praying them back to Him, 36:27 because His Word does not return void. 36:29 He's watching over His Word to perform it. 36:32 But when I started speaking that Word like you, 36:37 I had a new identity and I realized, you know what? 36:40 And I'm just going to tell you at home. 36:42 You aren't who you think you are. 36:44 Some of you think you are more special than you are. 36:48 But what I'm saying is some of you think that you're nothing. 36:52 You are not who others say you are. 36:56 You are who God says you are. 36:58 And I guarantee you there's so many beautiful 37:01 promises in here of who you are. 37:03 You just hit on one of them. 37:05 The thing that we will be called the children. 37:08 Amen. 37:09 And that's constant to you. 37:11 That doesn't change because you know 37:12 our identity on earth can shift. 37:16 It can shift in different ways, but the identity 37:21 you're talking about it never changes. 37:23 Amen. 37:24 I mean, this is one of the reasons 37:27 why we abide in Christ is because we stay in His Word. 37:32 And just because you read from Genesis to Revelation once, 37:36 doesn't mean that you've made 100. 37:40 You just go right back, 37:42 let's go back and go through it again because you will get 37:45 more because you got past the hard words, 37:50 you know, that takes a different meaning. 37:52 And that's what settled sin. 37:54 And then I believe through the aid of the Holy Spirit, 37:56 now we've got a little bit better 37:58 cultivated soil to plant seed in. 38:01 We're not on that little hard ground 38:02 out there on those rocks. 38:04 We've got past that. 38:06 I grew up farm in Central Texas. 38:08 Man, it was rock city. 38:11 My grandfather picked up rocks all day long, 38:14 only to bring the plow along to turn more rocks up. 38:18 My dad picked up rocks all day long. 38:21 My brother picked up rocks all day long. 38:24 I picked up rocks... 38:25 And it's still got as many or more than we started with, 38:29 but at least we're making progress. 38:31 Now at least, we get a crop once in a while. 38:34 So it's just that constant cultivation, 38:36 going back to the Word, continue tending. 38:40 Okay, so we've covered two points. 38:42 How do we abide in Christ, so far? 38:45 The Spirit and the Word. 38:46 JD, why don't you take abide through prayer? 38:49 Through prayer, okay. 38:51 Another way to abide in Christ is through our prayer. 38:55 I love this scripture. 38:57 I get to use this scripture a lot talking to different 38:59 people because we're living in a day of anxiety. 39:04 Philippians 4:6-7, 39:07 "Be anxious for nothing, 39:10 but in everything by prayer and supplication, 39:13 with thanksgiving, wow, 39:15 let your requests be made known to God. 39:17 And the peace of God, 39:19 which surpasses all understanding, 39:21 will guard your heart and mind through Christ Jesus." 39:25 This is not brain surgery right here. 39:29 He's saying, "Hey, 39:30 you don't have to have high anxiety. 39:34 Why don't we just sit down over here, find a prayer partner? 39:38 If you're going to have to pray by yourself do it." 39:41 God is very unique and He's got ears to hear 39:44 and He's got eyes to see. 39:46 He cares about each and every one of us. 39:48 He knows the hairs on you, so He multitasks all the time. 39:53 And so if Janelle's got a problem, she can pray. 39:57 Don might be across to her house praying too. 40:01 Just get that stuff out of there. 40:03 But you know, if we got the ability to prune, 40:07 we can thank Jesus. 40:09 Thank you Jesus that I've gone through this because now 40:11 I know that's going to be trimmed 40:13 and I'm ready for the next day. 40:16 So there's eager expectation because there's hope. 40:19 We're waiting for Ma♪ana. 40:22 And then the peace of God, 40:23 that thing we're all looking for, peace, comfort, 40:28 which surpasses all understanding. 40:30 "Oh man, I never knew it'd be this good. 40:32 Thank you, Jesus. 40:33 Will guard our heart and our mind through Christ Jesus. 40:36 Absolutely, fantastic scripture right here. 40:39 And when you think about that, I can't read this scripture 40:42 without thinking about Isaiah 26:3, 40:45 where He says He will keep him in perfect peace 40:49 whose mind is stayed on the Lord, 40:53 who's trusting in the Lord. 40:55 And He will give you perfect peace. 40:57 So sometimes, I don't know about you all, 41:02 but it still happens. 41:04 Sometimes I can just have 41:07 something happen in my peace. 41:08 It's like somebody just spilled the pitcher. 41:14 There it goes, and it's like... 41:17 for a little bit, and then all of a sudden, 41:20 it's like, "Oh, where's my mind focused? 41:23 Am I focused on the problem 41:26 or am I going to focus on the problem solver?" 41:29 And as soon as I pray about it... 41:32 And you know you can cast 41:33 your cares on the Lord because He cares for you. 41:36 And He restores that perfect peace. 41:40 It's amazing. 41:41 I don't know if we have time to share a little story. Share. 41:44 Okay, just speaking 41:46 of that peace that you lost for a moment. 41:48 We had something that happened recently. 41:50 A car that we're borrowing the window got busted out by rock. 41:55 And it was just that moment that we realized 41:59 that the window was busted, we looked at it and we're like, 42:02 "Oh, no." 42:05 And it was just ironic because of all 42:08 so many different details. 42:09 But my first thought was just anxiety, 42:13 all kinds of stuff, you know, and just like, these, 42:15 you know, bad thoughts. 42:17 And few minutes later... 42:19 You're watching several hundred dollars fly up that window. 42:22 Yeah, but God totally worked it out and, 42:25 you know, after a few minutes, 42:26 I kind of just, you know, 42:28 I'm like, "Well, you weren't in the vehicle 42:29 when it happened. 42:31 We didn't get hit by the rock." 42:33 It wasn't an accident, like we weren't in an accident. 42:35 We didn't drive. 42:37 So all these things God was giving me reassurance that, 42:40 you know, like, look what could have happened or even worse. 42:44 But it's just amazing because, you know, 42:47 in that moment, it was like the worst thing in the world. 42:50 But then, you know, God gave me 42:52 some reasoning and they're like, 42:54 "Well, this could have happened but it didn't," 42:55 and He's worked it out. 42:57 To add to that because you just don't know 42:58 how God will work through these things. 43:00 What they meant for evil, God meant for good. 43:03 So, you know, as I took the car to this particular place 43:06 and fixed its windows, I gave the young lady a GLOW tract. 43:09 So I told her it's called what the world needs now. 43:11 It's a really good one and she was really delighted to get it. 43:13 So you just don't know where God needs to lead you 43:16 through these circumstances so sometimes that's... 43:18 It's a good way to look at that. 43:19 Other things too that, you know, 43:21 through that happened, it's just amazing that... 43:23 Some strong relationships. 43:24 You know, it's like if we could just... 43:26 Like you said, "Let God be God." 43:27 And just like, "Okay, take a step back 43:29 and what's God doing here?" 43:31 Amen. I was gonna say... 43:32 Okay, but you mentioned earlier 43:34 when we were in John 15 about the prayer. 43:37 Here it's saying, "If we're going to abide in God, 43:41 why is prayer so important?" 43:45 To me, it's communication. 43:46 You're communicating to God. 43:48 And this is kind of what came to my mind, 43:49 so abiding is more like a lifestyle. 43:52 It's a lifestyle we adopt or it's a habit that we form. 43:55 It's like what JD said, "It's continuous." 43:57 It's not something that's just... 43:59 The relationship. 44:00 It's not like this, it's more kind of like this. 44:02 Yeah, when we first come over, it's like, oh-oh, 44:04 you know, but here you, kind of, 44:05 you start mellowing out. 44:07 It's like they get smoother. More consistent. 44:09 Yeah, it's consistent. 44:10 So I think prayer that's the way... 44:12 We can't see who we're fighting. 44:14 We can't see anything that we're fighting 44:16 because the enemy is all around us. 44:17 And the only way to fight is by asking 44:19 the Lord to come in 44:21 and the only way to ask Him to come in is by prayer. 44:23 You know, there has to be... 44:25 If there's in, there's got to be an out. 44:27 Okay? 44:28 And I would like to think that if you get into the Word, 44:32 if you abide through the Holy Spirit, 44:34 and et cetera, to me what prayer does, 44:37 prayer is my way of escaping because Lord increased 44:41 my faith. 44:42 And if I praise, I kind of think, 44:43 "Oh, thank you Jesus. 44:45 I've just got to pass." 44:47 It at least gets me down the road a little bit 44:49 because I choose to believe that if I'm in the will 44:52 of God, the ocean's going to part. 44:57 At least I can get down the road, okay, 45:00 and that way of communication, to me is through prayer. 45:03 Right. Amen. 45:05 So consequently, a lot of mature as well 45:08 as immature Christians pray all day long. 45:11 Thanks, Lord increased my faith just because I'm praying. 45:14 Am I praying for the prayer 45:17 or am I praying because I know 45:18 that you're working on my behalf 45:20 because you do that for us to hear. 45:22 And, you know, it's that perfect peace 45:25 that God promises in Isaiah 26:3 45:28 as we keep our eyes fixed on Him that peace 45:31 that transcends all understanding. 45:33 Okay. 45:35 Brian, why don't you take 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18? 45:38 Okay, verse... 45:41 All right, 16-18, 16, "Rejoice always, 45:44 pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, 45:47 for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 45:51 All right. 45:52 If the will of God is for us to be rejoicing always 45:55 and praying without ceasing... 45:56 How do you pray without ceasing? 45:59 I mean, does this mean you got to be on your knees 46:02 all day long? 46:03 Of course not while you're driving. 46:06 It's a state of mind really, sorry, Brian. 46:08 I was about to say that, 46:09 you know, praying without ceasing, 46:11 whenever we pray that's our connection to the Father just 46:14 as Christ whenever He would leave the disciples 46:17 and go pray by Himself. 46:18 He would always have that connection. 46:20 Our connection with Christ 46:24 is through that prayer. 46:26 And once we have a connection, we keep a connection with Him. 46:29 In a way, we're kind of like constantly praying. 46:31 You know, whenever you're constantly in connection 46:33 with something, you are always doing that so you're praying 46:36 without ceasing. 46:38 That's good. 46:39 Typically, when I do a prayer line and always before 46:41 I pick up the phone because you don't know 46:42 who's going to be on that phone. 46:43 Maybe some interesting characters you get but 46:45 so I say, "God give me wisdom. 46:47 Please, give me wisdom for this phone call." 46:49 So I usually try to pray that because you just 46:50 don't know what you're going to run into. 46:52 So always praying when you don't know 46:53 what you're going to come up against, 46:54 you really need to pray. 46:56 You know, the Lord taught me something 46:57 when I was going through my recovery for my surgeries 47:01 recently that I always pray that God will give 47:07 somebody who's going through a difficult time 47:09 a divine awareness of His presence. 47:12 You know, I always say, "Oh, Lord, 47:14 give them a divine awareness. 47:15 May they be where they feel you 47:17 right there because He said He's always with us. 47:19 He never leaves us or forsakes us." 47:22 And all of a sudden it was, kind of, like, 47:24 "Lord I need that divine awareness." 47:26 And when I really started practicing His presence 47:31 all through the day, I mean, it was like, 47:33 you know He's in you. 47:35 But it was like He's sitting right next to me. 47:37 Suddenly, it was like my every thought, 47:40 everything I'm doing, I'm just, kind of, 47:41 talking to the Lord. 47:43 I was praying without ceasing. Oh, thank God. 47:46 All right, so we've seen, we abide through 47:49 the Holy Spirit abiding in us. 47:52 We abide in Christ by abiding in the Word. 47:56 We abide through prayer 47:58 because we're keeping that communication 48:01 that relationship flourishing. 48:04 So, Don, why don't you take... 48:07 We're going to talk about... 48:09 It's interesting, 48:11 you ask most people about abiding in Christ, 48:15 and many will mention the Holy Spirit or the Word or prayer, 48:20 but very few talk about to abide in Christ 48:24 means that we are walking in obedience 48:28 as we follow His example. 48:30 1 John 2:6, Don? 48:33 It says, "He who says 48:35 he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He, 48:40 capital H on He walked." 48:41 So walk as Jesus walked. 48:44 And again, it makes me think of that 1 John 3:3, 48:47 "We purify ourselves even as He is pure." 48:50 Kind of same kind of language again, 48:51 the idea that we're to allow Him to purify us 48:55 and so abide in us, like, 48:56 you're saying commandments through obedience. 48:58 So we follow Him in obedience. 49:00 And that He is our example to follow in His footsteps, right? 49:05 Brian, John 15:9-10? 49:10 "As the Father loved me, I also have loved you. 49:13 Abide in My love. 49:14 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, 49:18 just as I have kept 49:19 My Father's commandments and abide in His love." 49:24 So abiding in His love 49:30 requires what? 49:33 Keeping something. Keeping what? 49:37 Commandments, oh, that is to keep my commandments. 49:40 Yeah, if you love Me, keep My commandments. 49:42 You know, if you think 49:43 of God's government 49:48 is by the power of love, 49:50 everything that He is legislated is for love. 49:55 We are to abide in His love. 49:59 We've got to walk according to His instructions. 50:04 And that verse that we read, that's 1 John 2:6 at the end 50:08 of it, it talks about walking as He walked. 50:11 So when you mentioned that it just brought that to my mind, 50:14 you know, walking as He walked and what that looks like. 50:18 And He walked in obedience to God's sovereign will, 50:23 didn't He? 50:24 I was going to mention too the idea that commandments. 50:26 And I know a lot of people see it, 50:27 like it's a burden to keep but, actually, it's a benefit. 50:30 The commandments of God are a benefit. 50:32 They are there to help us 50:33 and a lot people see it differently. 50:34 They see it, kind of, twisted. 50:36 It's like, "Do I really have to do this?" 50:37 And the promise is true. 50:39 You know, that's what's so exciting. 50:40 It's promises of what God will do in us. 50:43 So, Janelle, do you want to take 1 John 3:24? 50:48 "Now, he who keeps His commandments abides in him, 50:53 and He in him. 50:55 And by this we know that He abides in us by the Spirit 50:59 whom He has given us." 51:02 That is the end. How much clearer can you get? 51:08 As you abide in Him, 51:12 you're going to be walking as He walked, 51:14 walking in His commandments, in His doctrine, 51:19 in His Word when you abide in the Word. 51:23 You know 1 John, 51:25 we'd read that earlier and I meant to come in. 51:27 But when it says, "Anyone who says that Jesus 51:31 is the Son of God..." 51:33 The demons said, "Jesus is the Son of God." 51:36 So you can't pull that out 51:37 of context because within the context it's saying, 51:40 "If you believe, if you are living in Him, 51:43 if you are abiding in Him, 51:46 if you are vitally united to Him, you're going to..." 51:51 That's your confession, but let me show you something. 51:54 1 John, I mean, right here, 51:56 we've just got four passages from 1 John 2:6. 52:02 One was John 15:9-10 but by the Apostle John, 52:06 1 John 3:24. 52:08 Listen to this one. 52:10 1 John 3:6-8, 52:14 "Whoever abides, 52:17 whoever is remaining in Christ, 52:21 vitally connected to Him does not sin." 52:25 Oops! Oh-oh! 52:28 Does that mean that I'm not abiding if I sin. 52:33 What he's saying here? 52:36 If you look at it in the Greek and the tense, 52:39 it's whoever abides in Him doesn't make sin 52:44 habitual practice. 52:46 Yes, you're right. He doesn't desire it. 52:47 Yeah, you're not, so you go through that pruning process 52:53 and He says, 52:54 "Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him." 52:57 So if you're desiring sin, 52:59 if you are walking in the habitual pattern... 53:03 And don't be discouraged because, you know, 53:07 I know a man who gave his heart to the Lord. 53:09 I believe he was saved and he had the hardest 53:11 time in giving up smoking. 53:13 And then he said, "Oh, I'm not saved." 53:14 And I said, "Jesus didn't say, 53:17 if you didn't smoke, you were going to be saved. 53:19 He said, if you accepted Him as your savior, 53:22 you will be saved by grace through faith." 53:24 God needed to do some pruning. 53:26 Now, we do have... 53:30 We have standards for fellowship to join 53:33 the Church but God, 53:36 I believe, had taken and He finally gave it up. 53:39 It was this pruning process, 53:41 you know, give it up and then come back 53:43 and you'd have to pull out the weeds. 53:45 But listen to this, verse 7, 53:48 I teach righteousness by faith all the time, but get this one. 53:52 "Little children let no one deceive you. 53:56 He who practices righteousness is righteous, 54:01 just as He is righteous." 54:03 What? 54:05 I thought it was righteousness by faith. 54:07 Well, righteousness by faith doesn't just mean you'll say, 54:09 "Oh, thank you, Lord for crediting 54:11 Your account to mine. 54:13 Thank You, Lord, for putting the robe of righteous on me." 54:16 It is, "Thank you, Lord that You work in me to will 54:18 and to do Your good purpose." 54:20 So when God makes us righteous by faith, 54:24 we will walk in righteousness and practice righteousness 54:29 just as He is righteous. 54:31 And then in verse 8, it says, 54:32 "He who sins is of the devil for the devil 54:35 had sinned from the beginning. 54:37 And for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, 54:41 that He might destroy the works of the devil." 54:45 So salvation by grace through faith 54:48 isn't license to keep on watching pornography. 54:53 Salvation by grace through faith means that God 54:58 is going to save you and He's going to keep 55:03 pruning you in this process to sanctify you, 55:06 destroying the works of the devil. 55:08 He came to save His people from their sins, 55:12 not in their sins. 55:14 Now, Brian, we've got to get just a couple of minutes. 55:17 I can't believe it. 55:18 Proof of abiding is bearing fruit, 55:21 so what does John 15:5 say? 55:24 John 15:5, "I am the Vine, you are the branches. 55:27 He who abides in Me and I in him bears much fruit, 55:32 for without Me you can do nothing." 55:35 So would you say that's a fair test? 55:39 We got to be fruit inspectors, don't we? 55:42 We get to see, are we? Yeah. 55:44 And I think that's the reason that you had 55:46 the vinedresser there, who took care of the garden. 55:49 He is there to assist us, you know, 55:51 so we don't have to do this by ourselves. 55:53 You know, those amber lights come on, come on, come on, 55:56 danger approaching and know we can back off. 55:59 Amen. 56:01 So, honey, tell us what the fruits 56:02 of the Spirit are? 56:03 Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, 56:07 faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, my goodness 56:11 and that is the fruit. 56:12 So if you purpose in your heart 56:15 and you turn it all over to him, 56:17 and pay attention through who's in charge of that garden, 56:21 your garden, you know. 56:23 Well, then, as you extend your hand... 56:25 I love this, boy. 56:26 You know, you extend your hand up 56:28 and God's got His hand coming down 56:30 and you grab hold of each other. 56:33 And that's just thank you, Jesus. 56:35 Is abiding always easy? 56:36 No, 'cause the flesh is... 56:39 If the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, 56:41 and you just say that, yeah. 56:42 Amen. 56:44 But abiding in Him is really something He promises 56:48 if we will just yield. 56:51 Amen. 56:52 If we'll say, "Lord, I want to know You, 56:54 I want to submit to Your authority. 56:58 I want to yield to the leading of Your Holy Spirit today, 57:01 fill me." 57:02 That's God's plan is that you are fully 57:05 dependent upon Him. 57:07 I can't believe our time went so fast 57:09 and we didn't get to all the stories but we gave people, 57:12 I hope, a little bit better idea of what abiding is. 57:16 Thank you so much each one of you for being here. 57:19 And our prayer for you is that the grace of our Lord 57:22 and Savior Jesus Christ, the love of the Father 57:25 and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit 57:27 will be with you always. 57:29 Happy Sabbath. |
Revised 2021-11-04