Walking in Obedience

Walking in Obedience Explore the essence of walking in obedience as a Christian. Learn how aligning your actions with your beliefs leads to a fulfilling spiritual journey. This message looks into practical steps and insights from the Bible that encourage living a life of obedience. Join us as we discuss the importance of obedience and how it impacts your relationship with God.

Kingdom Way Church – https://KingdomWay.ca is our church in Edmonton, Alberta. Watch us live at https://KWay.live Sundays at 10:00 AM Mountain time. Watch Video on Demand at https://Kway.tv Connect and learn more at https://MyKWC.ca

Transcript of Walking in Obedience

Both in person and those who are joining us online. We’re seeing a lot of activity online today, which is nice to see a lot of faces coming back and connecting, and just great to see so many of you here today in person. I’m expecting good things because we serve a good God. Amen. All right, how many of you are awake this morning?

It was a chilly one. It was an unsurprising chilly morning. Kind of expected the groundhog to be a groundhog of his word, but apparently can’t even trust groundhogs anymore. But, yeah, that’s an inside joke. But today we want to deal with again, one of the keys to the kingdom.

These keys to the kingdom are, in essence, the way we unlock heaven’s abundance on the earth. And a lot of people miss this. Fact is that God’s blessings are often contingent upon our ability to steward them well, because God could give a blessing that if you’re not prepared to steward it well, it will actually do more damage than good. And so God will often take you through a process of refining, of nurturing, of growing, of changing, of increasing dependence upon him so that you’re prepared and ready to actually use the fullness of. Of that blessing.

And today we want to deal with the topic of walking in obedience. And this is an interesting topic because it goes directly against our own carnal nature. Like, you can look at a little child, when they’re born, it doesn’t take too long for them to not want to obey their parents, right? Doesn’t take very long before they figure out, I want to do it my way, not. Not your way.

So this is something that goes directly into our very human nature. And it takes a lot for us to shift that priority. And to be honest with you, I don’t think we can do it on our own. I believe we need the Holy Spirit’s help. And that’s what we’re going to talk about today is how do we walk a life of obedience?

How do you do things that God tells you to do? How do you know what God has called you to do? These are all things that play a factor. And until we learn how to be obedient and how to walk in obedience, we’re going to miss out on a lot of the things that God wants to give to us. A lot of his plans, his purposes, his hopes, his dreams, his ambitions, his desires.

These things are all inhibited when we walk in disobedience, when we do not obey Him. So our theme for today is John, chapter 15. John, chapter 15, verses 1. To 11. I am slowly going through the Gospels.

I know. I think I’ve been stuck in the Gospels for about four months now. This is literally this passage I came across a week and a half ago. And I spent about two days just going through the first 11 verses because there’s just so much inspiration. Now we’re not going to spend the next four hours going over it.

So you’re going to get kind of the Coles notes today. But the theme for today is that obedience is the fruit of abiding in Christ. It’s leading to a life of joy, purpose, and fruitfulness. But let me ask you a question as we get started. Have you ever had a time when your computer would not turn on?

How many people have ever had that happen? Yeah, I think most of us. It’s funny, those of you who know, I used to do tech support. I used to work in a. The government agency doing tech support for a lot of individuals.

And I like to have a lot of fun with it. So one of the first questions when somebody would call me is I would always ask, well, is it plugged in? And I would kind of do it in a jokingly way just to kind of break the ice. And some people would just get really offended and mad because they were so stressed out that something didn’t work. And then I just made the obscene comment that maybe it’s not plugged in.

I want to tell you, I cannot count the number of times it was not plugged in. It was a literal, like, is it plugged in? It’s always plugged in. I don’t have to check. I’m like, just check.

Just look. Oh, it’s been unplugged. Oh, you see, it doesn’t matter how powerful of a computer you have. It doesn’t matter how new it is, how modern it is, if it’s disconnected from its power source, it doesn’t work. I want to tell you, you and I are the same way.

You and I are the exact same way. If we are disconnected from our power source, we do not work. Simply put, many believers struggle with their faith because they try to obey God under their own strength. Years ago, I mentioned this inspiration that I had is that Christians often get caught in the sin confess, sin, confess cycle, where they do something wrong, they do something outside of God’s will for their life, then they go back to God and say, God, forgive me for this. And then a little while later, they do the exact same thing.

And then they ask God for forgiveness. And then they do the exact same thing and they ask God for forgiveness. And it just becomes this cycle that goes over and over and over again. And at that time, I gave the revelation that the way to break the sin confess cycle is through repentance. Because repentance, as we’ve shared, is about stopping and turning the opposite direction, doing the opposite of what you were doing.

But I want to add something to that today is it’s not just repentance that’s a huge part of it, but a bigger component and a bigger ability. For us to obey God is by being connected to him. We have to be able to abide in him in order to walk in obedience.

You see, if we’re not abiding in Christ, we cannot walk in obedience or bear fruit.

And those who try to struggle and they try to do the right thing, and this is one of the key factors that the enemy does is he convinces you to do something sinful, okay? Outside of God’s will, outside of God’s plans. And that after he does convinces you to do it, then he condemns you for doing it. Right? Anybody ever been there?

Right. It’s just one of his modus operandi. One of the ways he operates in our lives is by convincing us to do something wrong and then condemning us for doing it. But the way we overcome this is not just by repenting, not just by turning away, but the way we overcome sin is by being connected to Jesus. You can try to will it over and over again, right?

It’s like the old adage I always talked about, like if you have the fresh jar of cookies or the fresh plate of cookies and you keep telling yourself, I’m not going to eat the cookie, I’m not going to eat the cookie. I’m not going to eat the cookie. What are you going to do? You’re gonna eat the cookie? Okay, let’s just be honest, okay?

It’s not just about willpower, because our willpower is not strong enough, okay? I don’t care how stubborn or determined of a person you are, you do not have the physical or spiritual or mental capacity to fight the temptation of the enemy on your own. The only way is to by being connected to Jesus. If you learn to connect to the vine, you will learn to walk in obedience that God has called you to walk in.

Let’s hear what Timmy and Sarah have to say. One Sunday or sunny Saturday morning, Timmy and Sarah were excited to go on a family picnic at the park. Their parents had picked up and packed sandwiches, fruit, and their favorite cookies. But before leaving, their dad Gathered them together. He said, listen up, kids.

The park is fun, but we do need to follow some rules. Dad said that stay where we can see you. Don’t go near the lake alone. And when it’s time to go, no arguing. Got it?

Timmy and Sarah nodded eagerly. Yes, dad, we promise. They arrived at the park and it was full of laughter and fun. Timmy and Sarah ran to the playground, climbing, swinging and racing each other. Everything was perfect until they saw a beautiful butterfly fluttering towards the lake.

Look at that butterfly. Timmy pointed. Let’s follow it. Sarah hesitated, but dad said, we’re not supposed to go near the lake alone. We won’t go in the water, Timmy reasoned.

Just a little closer. Sarah sighed, but followed him. Step by step, they get closer and closer until Timmy’s foot slid on the muddy bank and tumbled forward. Timmy. Sarah screamed, grabbing his arm just in time.

His shoe landed in a splash in the lake. Hearing the commotion, dad rushes over. Kids, what’s happened? Timmy looked down, ashamed. We disobeyed.

I’m sorry, dad. Dad sighed, but smiled gently. I’m glad you’re safe. But this is why obedience is important. It’s not to take away the fun, but it’s to keep you safe.

Timmy and Sarah learned an important lesson that day. Obedience wasn’t just about following the rules. It’s about trusting that their parents knew what was best. And that evening, Timmy prayed, jesus, help me to obey not just because I have to, but because I trust you. Sarah smiled.

Yeah, and help us to listen. The first time, mom and dad laughed. That’s a great prayer. From then on, Timmy and Sarah worked harder at obeying. Not just because they had to, but because they knew obedience led to safety, trust and love.

You see, the lie the enemy uses is that God is a big killjoy and he wants to remove all the fun out of life.

And a lot of people believe that. They look at the commands, the rules, the regulations that God has set forth, and they say, well, that just takes away my fun. No, it does not. It protects you. It saves you.

It’s like a parent who has a child who reaches up to touch the burner and the parent says, no, don’t do that. Is a parent doing that because they want to control their kid? Because they want to tell their kid what to do? No, it’s because a parent has the knowledge that if that child hits the burnt, touches the burner, they’re going to get burnt and that’s going to be bad. And so the parent has the knowledge that the child does not have and as a result, the parent has to step in and say, don’t do that.

That will hurt you. Well, let me tell you, God has a lot more knowledge than you and I. God knows a lot more about this world than we do. After all, he created it and everything on it and everyone on it. So when God tells us to do something, it’s not out of a sense of, I’m God, you got to do what I say.

It’s out of a sense of, I’m your father and I want to protect you.

In John chapter 15, Jesus uses the metaphor of the vine and the branches to show us the importance of staying connected to him.

Remember, walking in obedience is not just simply trying to walk in our own strength or our own understanding. It’s about remaining in him, allowing his life to flow through us. Now today, I want to explore three truths in John 15, verses 1 to 11. We’re going to focus on walking in obedience through abiding on Christ. So let’s read it together.

If you have your Bibles, I hope you do. Mark this passage down. This is something that you should be reading regularly. Have it over and over. But let’s begin in verse 1.

This is Jesus speaking. Incidentally, this is recorded by John, the disciple that Jesus loved. I just. I love how John puts that in everywhere. It’s like, yeah, Peter and the disciple who Jesus loved, that’s me.

It’s like, John, I think Jesus loved all the disciples. But John does have a very interesting perspective in that he really does focus on God’s love for us. But this is him recording Jesus speaking to his disciples. It says, I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me does not bear fruit, he takes away.

And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine. So neither can you, unless you abide in me, I in the vine, you are the branches.

He who abides in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up. And they gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, whatever you ask, you wish, and it will be done for you.

My Father is glorified by this that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I 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 that your joy will be made full.

There is so much in this small passage of Scripture. Jesus is just laying it out and giving such great and amazing revelation for us. But I’m going to test you guys on this, so if you got an answer, shout it out. It’s okay. But first question, what happens when we abide in Christ?

Just shut out. There’s many answers to this. He abides in us. We yield fruit. Grow fruit.

Anything else?

You might have to read this again, but that’s okay. We’ll go through it. When we abide in Christ, we will bear much fruit. John 15:5. Our prayers will align with God’s will.

John 15:7. We will experience the fullness of joy. Verse 11. Think about this. The enemy comes in and says, well, if you obey God, he’ll take the fun out of everything.

And Jesus is saying, hey, if you obey me, you will have more joy than you could ever understand. Think about the contrast between the two. The enemy wants to paint God as some cosmic killjoy, but Jesus has given us revelation that we will have the greatest joy possible if we learn to obey in Him. Second question. What is the role of the Father in our spiritual growth?

Have you ever thought about this? What role does the Father play? Well, in this passage, Jesus describes the Father as a vinedresser who prunes us so we can bear much fruit. So it’s actually the Father who is pruning us, who is changing and transforming us. He removes what hinders our growth and shapes us to become more like Christ.

How about this question? How is obedience connected to love?

Anyone want to hazard a guess on this? John 15:10. Jesus says that if we love him, we will keep his commandments. It’s not if you love me, but also keep My commandments. It’s not two directives.

It’s not saying, love me and keep my commandments. It’s a prerogative where if you love me, you will obey me.

Jesus ties these two things together as an automatic response. If you love God, you will obey God.

Now this is a fun one. What happens to those who do not bear fruit?

We don’t want to think about this, but verse 6 says, if anyone does not abide in me. He is thrown away as a branch and dries up. And they gather them and cast them into the fire where they are burned.

There is a real consequence to not producing fruit.

I think Jesus makes it absolutely clear and he builds a case of why we are to abide in Him. I think it would be imperative to say that if we don’t abide in him, everything else is meaningless. We can only find meaning by abiding in Him. So let’s ask the obvious question. How do we abide in Christ?

What does that mean? How do we abide in Christ?

Well, we’re going to look at three things that answers this question. The first thing, the first key, the first truth of this is that abiding in Christ requires surrender. Everybody say that with me. Abiding in Christ requires surrender. We get that in the first part of John, chapter 15.

Jesus says, Abide in me and I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine. So neither you can abide unless you abide in me.

Jesus here is declaring Himself to be the true vine. That means apart from him, we have no life, we have no growth, we have no fruit. Now, many people will try to attach themselves to other vines. Whether it be success or money or relationships or religion. People will try to attach themselves so they get plugged into something.

But all of those things will fail unless you connect to the true vine. Only by connecting with Jesus can we ever truly be satisfied. I don’t know how many of you saw this survey that was put out and they were surveying the most famous people in the U.S. okay, so these were the most influential people. These were the people who had perceived the greatest success, right?

They were famous, they were wealthy, they seemed to have everything they wanted. And this survey that they filled out revealed that these are the most unhappy people on the earth. They are the most unhappy people. And that just flies in our knowledge. We think, well, if I have all the money, then I’ll be happy.

If I have the influence, then I’ll be happy. If I have the career, if I have the job, if I have the infamy, if I have this, then I’ll be satisfied.

That does not bear out in reality, because the people we think should be the happiest are actually the most miserable because they’re not connected to the true vine. The second part of this is the Father is a vinedresser. God actively works in our lives to shape us into Christ’s image. Anyone here like to be pruned Anyone like being pruned? Yeah.

Good, you’ve learned your lesson. If you agree. Any of you feel like you’re being pruned right now? Yeah, I felt like the last decade has been like that.

Pruning is necessary to remove what hinders growth. This can be sin, it can be distractions, it can be anything that prevent us from bearing fruit. Pruning helps grapes to grow by removing the unproductive and unhealthy parts of the vine and allowing the plant to focus its energy on producing better, healthier fruit. It can also prune good things to provide room for greater things. And this is an area that can be tough for Christians.

Like, when you first come to faith, God is pruning a lot of the garbage out of your life, a lot of the sin, a lot of the things, and that will take place for the rest of your life as long as you’re on this earth. But there is a sense of pruning where God removes something from your life that is good. And this what really shakes us up. This is what. Okay, this is a good thing in my life.

God, why are you taking it out? Well, it’s because he wants to make room for something better.

So God not only prunes the bad, the evil, he also prunes the good. That’s not good enough.

But let’s just take a look at the process of pruning. I have made several attempts trying to grow my own grapes here in the city of Edmonton. It doesn’t work really well. I’ve got two or three clusters in the years that I’ve tried to do this, and they’re just really tiny, small grapes that come out. But when we look at the whole aspect of pruning, a vineyard will not be productive, will not produce anything good, unless pruning is an active part of their process.

They have to prune the tree, otherwise the vine just gets old or the branches get old, they die, and the plant produces nothing. But if they prune it regularly, you can have a vine that will produce fruit for 50, 80, or 100 years. But if you don’t prune it, it will die.

So let’s look at some of the benefits of pruning. The first one to look at is it increases fruitfulness. When a vine has too many branches, its nutrients are spread too thin and leads to small, weak grapes. Pruning directs the vines energy towards the branches that are producing fruit. And they will produce less fruit, but they will be larger and juicier grapes.

The other thing pruning does, it removes the dead or deceased or diseased branches. Often a vine can be damaged by disease or insects, and it won’t be bearing fruit. And it can actually drain the resources and even spread the sickness throughout the entire plant. But when you prune it, when you remove those parts that are infected, that are diseased, the plant itself can stay healthy and strong and productive. Another attribute is that pruning actually allows more sunlight and airflow onto the plant.

Too many branches blocks the sunlight and the air from reaching the fruit, and this can add to mold and disease. But when you prune, it opens up the vine so that the grapes get the light and the air it needs to ripen properly. The other thing it does is it encourages new growth. Pruning stimulates new, healthy branches to grow, which leads to even more fruitfulness in the next season.

You see, this is a truth that has gone on on the earth for thousands of years.

When humans started growing vines, grapes, they very quickly learned that the successful ones were the ones that were pruned.

Now with this, we are the branches.

We are the ones that are referred to as being pruned in Jesus story. And a branch cannot survive on its own. You can’t cut a branch off a vine and go plant it in the ground and expect it to grow and multiply. It doesn’t work that way. But abiding in Christ means daily dependence upon the source of our power, the source of our health, the source of our longing.

And we can do this through prayer, worship, and obedience to his word. Now, we spent time already talking about prayer and worship, and today we want to look at the aspect of obedience to God.

In Luke 9:23, it’s recorded Jesus speaking to his disciples says, and he was saying to them all, if anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. You see, this is an attribute of the modern Christian church that we don’t really present. I know a lot of evangelists who go out and speak to people, and the message is all about, hey, come to Jesus and here, make everything right.

Not everything, it’s still a tough life. Any of you been a Christian for a long time and now life is just perfect? No, because Jesus also promises that in this life you will have trials. In this life you will have difficulty. These are Jesus words to us saying, hey, it’s not just about your comfort.

We all like to be comfortable, right? There’s not a person on this earth that doesn’t want to be comfortable. But the fact is, when you’re Comfortable, you don’t grow.

When you’re comfortable, you do not grow.

It’s a process where we need to be willing to surrender our plans, our hopes, our dreams, our aspirations, our desires. We need to be able to lay them down to God and say, God, pick up what you actually want for me.

You see, we can desire good things. We can desire amazing things, but if they’re not the right thing, we shouldn’t have anything to do with it.

So my question for you is, are you surrendered to God’s pruning? Are you willing to go through that pruning process where God is removing certain things? Now, some of these things can be very obvious. They can be sinful. They can be things that God wants to cut out and have no part of you.

But the pruning could also be God removing good things from your life because he wants to replace it with something better.

Are you at the place where you can just say to God, yeah, God, whatever you want to prune out of my life, prune it out, remove it. Because walking in obedience begins with this surrendering process. Granted, it’s not a fun process, but it can be filled with a lot of pain. But it’s a necessary process. And God puts every individual through this process.

He even puts churches through this process. I’ve noticed this on a corporate level. I kind of consider what we’ve gone through in the last five or six years as being a pruning process in the church where God is pruning us, preparing us for growth. But there’s a catch.

You have to surrender in order for the process to be successful. If you’re resisting God at every turn and you’re saying, God, no, don’t cut that off. Oh, God, don’t remove that. Oh, God, don’t do that, you’re not going to reap the benefits. But if you surrender yourself to God and say, God, and this is tough, this is the hardest thing to do because you can really desire something with every part of your being.

You could really want something. It could be even a vision that God has given you, or a dream God has given you. And what God is saying is, no, you have to lay that down. To me. Jesus gives a story of how the seed has to go into the ground and die before it grows up and multiplies.

Sometimes we have to lay down our dreams. Sometimes we have to lay down our ambitions. Sometimes we have to lay down our desires, even if they came from God. Because what can often happen in a person’s life is those dreams, those goals, and those ambitions can actually become an idol. Where we want those things done more than we want to have that relationship with the creator of heaven and earth.

We got to be willing to say, hey, I lay that down, put that down, God. And if God wants to pick it up and increase it, that’s when the fun things happen. But if he says, no, lay it down, that just means he’s got something better for you. Because the second part of this is that obedience bears much fruit. Everybody say that with me, obedience bears much fruit.

Okay, we get this in the second part of John 15. In verse 5, it says, I am the vine and you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing.

You see, our fruitfulness comes from our dependency upon Christ.

We can’t manufacture spiritual fruit on our own. We can’t will it to be. We can’t really want it so bad that hey, become spiritually mature. No, it comes from abiding in Christ. And one of the areas we have had this defined for us is the fruit of the Spirit.

The fruit of the Spirit are literally the character of God that he wants to install in us. And we find this In Galatians, chapter 5, verses 22 to 23. It says this, but the fruit of the Spirit is anyone. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Against such thing, there is no law.

Get this. This is the fruit that the Spirit of God wants to grow in each and every one of us. Now, when you look at that list, is there anything in that list that you would say, no, I don’t want that? No, every single. Anybody want peace in their life?

Yeah, this is a natural thing that all of us will go towards. Anybody want joy, we all want joy. Patience. Now it’s a tough one. Don’t ever pray for patience.

It’s a prayer God will answer every single time. Okay, kindness. Anybody like to be around somebody who’s kind? Right. Goodness, faithfulness, Right.

These are all attributes that are desirable for us as human beings. Self control, gentleness. And God is saying, these are the fruit I want to manifest in you. These are the fruit I want to grow in you.

Now, it also includes such things as good works. Like our good works are a fruit of his reward, another fruit of. Or another attribute of bearing fruit is answered prayer that as you bear fruit, more and more of your prayers will be answered. Why?

Because we are being transformed to becoming like Christ. So our desires come in line with the desires Christ has for us. So God can do these things now because they are in alignment with his will. But if you ask him to do something outside of his will, he’s not going to do it.

But it also includes leading others to Christ. It’s a process. It’s something that we are commanded to do. It’s called the Great Commandment.

All of these things are looked at as bearing fruit. And it’s only carried out. It’s only accomplished through having a right relationship with the true vine. It flows out of that. And as I said, where a lot of Christians fail in this is they try to do it under their own strength.

They try to do it when they’re not connected to the vine. They know it’s the right thing to do, but they don’t have the strength to do it because they’re not connected. Now, conversely, disobedience leads to spiritual barrenness. Jesus warns that a disconnected branch withers and is thrown away and then is collected up and burnt. When we walk in disobedience, we become spiritually dry, distant, and ineffective.

You can literally feel the distance in your relationship with Jesus when you disobey. And this goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden, right? In Genesis, chapter three, it talks about how Adam and Eve walked with God during the coolness of the day, right? Imagine that, okay? I think that’s outside of our mental capacity to understand and comprehend.

But Adam and Eve literally walked with God in the coolness of the day. But then in verse 8, verse 9, we see the consequence of them disobeying God, of them eating of the fruit of the tree that they were told not to. And verse 8 picks it up like this. And they heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden in the coolness of the day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord.

The Lord God among the trees of the garden. And the Lord called out to the man and said to him, where are you? You see, when we disobey, there’s a natural inclination to want to push ourselves away from God, to separate us from God. And this happens all the time. You want a case in point?

Tell me. Not literally, but tell yourself. The last time you sinned, did you feel like you were closer to God or more distant? You see, we all understand this. We all know this disobedience causes separation.

When we sin, it separates us from his presence, his plans, and his desire for our lives. And it’s not because he’s pulling back from us. It’s that we are rejecting his direction, his guidance, his plans, his purposes. But when we obey God, it aligns us with God’s will. Notice what Jesus says in verse seven of chapter 15.

If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. Now, a lot of Christians like focusing on the second part of that verse. Ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. The whole name it and claim it process that people of the prosperity Gospel.

I hesitate in bringing this up because there’s so much turmoil in this area, and I don’t speak with joy, I don’t speak with anticipation, but it just seems like this world of prosperity gospel people are just collapsing. You look at some of the greatest ministries that were perceived on the earth. There’s this network. I don’t even know if any of you have watched it, but it’s called daystar. Daystar is the largest Christian broadcast system in the world.

It’s literally worth over a billion dollars, and it is collapsing. You can look back and you can trace the roots of why it is, but it’s. You can’t just name it and claim it and get whatever you want. You have to read the first part of the verse.

If you abide in me is the first part. The second part is, and my words abide in you. Those two things have to take place before you can ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. What does it mean if we abide in Him? It means we are connected to Him.

Means we are getting our source from Him. Means we recognize his power, his influence in our lives. The second part of my words, abide in you means, hey, you’re aware of what the word of God is. It’s a part of you. You’ve taken it in.

You know it’s truth. You know it’s understanding. Now, part of this process is when you abide in Christ and when you know His Word, that brings you into a place of renewing of the mind. It brings you to a place of understanding, literally. Okay, get this.

This is not a blank check for selfish desires. That’s not what this verse is about at all. It literally means that when we abide in Christ, our prayers align with his will. You will want what he wants for you. Okay?

That’s the key. Your desires, your will, your thoughts, your understanding will conform and change to his so that when you desire something, you will desire what he wants. And that opens the door for him to answer that prayer. But if your desires are outside of his plans and purpose for your life. He’s not going to do it for you, no matter how much you beg, no matter how much you cry, no matter how much you demand it.

Because he won’t do something contrary to his will.

But when you subject yourself to him, when you submit yourself to his will, when you surrender to it, when you get tied into his presence, when you know your source, when you know His Word. Yes, whatever you ask for, he will do because it comes as according to his will.

Now get this next part. Fruitfulness glorifies God. In verse 8, Jesus says, My Father is glorified by this. That you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

I just love this verse. You’re not a disciple because you got the T shirt. Now there are a lot of great Christian T shirts out there, I’m not denying that. But getting the T shirt doesn’t make you a disciple.

Taking a six week course and getting a certificate at the end that says you passed the discipleship course does not make you a disciple. What does Jesus say makes you a disciple?

That you bear much fruit.

The way to know somebody is a disciple of Jesus Christ is you can see the fruit that they are bearing. Jesus says it in another way. You will know them by their fruit.

Get this. You will know someone is a disciple by the fruit that they are producing.

Those are Jesus own words.

True discipleship is not just knowing about God, but obeying him and producing fruit for his glory. Now know this. James, chapter two 19 says you believe that God is one. You do. Well, the demons also believe and shudder.

You see, it’s not just about believing the right thing.

James is using this point. Yeah, you believe in God. The demons believe in God and doesn’t do anything for them. It’s not just about knowing. It’s not just about knowledge.

It’s about obeying and seeing the fruit of God being released in your life.

You see, this verse emphasizes that mere belief is not enough. True faith is shown through obedience and action. Even demons recognize God’s existence and power, but they don’t submit to him in love and obedience.

So question, Are you producing lasting fruit or are you spiritually stagnant?

That’s not a question I can answer for you, but that’s a question I would fully invest in understanding.

Walking in obedience leads to a life of impact and purpose. So can you look to your own life and can you see fruit being matured, fruit being grown, fruit being harvested? Do you see this in your own life? I’m not here to judge. I’m not here to condemn.

I’m here to say, hey, this is important. This is something as God’s people we need to be aware of. It’s not just a matter of going through life, attending church Sunday morning, having a few Bible verses on your fridge.

It is about producing the fruit that God has declared and determined you will grow in your own life.

So do you feel like you obey God or are you caught up doing your own thing? This is an important question for you to ask yourself regularly.

I’d almost say every day when you wake up.

Now, the key to this is learning how to obey and to do it without question, because obedience flows from love. Point number three.

A lot of Christians do things out of obedience because God told them to do it, so they have to do it. That opens the door for legalism. That opens the door for just a total misunderstanding of who the Father is. The principle here to gather is that obedience flows out of love.

Verse 9. Actually, we’ll go to verse 10. Jesus says, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father, Father’s commandments and abide in his love. See, here Jesus is demonstrating the fact that his obedience of God, of God the Father, was founded in love. We see this most obviously portrayed in the Garden of Eden when Jesus was praying in Luke 22:42, it’s recorded.

It says, saying, and this is Jesus, father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Yet not my will, but your will be done. You see, Jesus saw a foreshadow of what he was having to go through. He saw that he would have to die an agonizing, brutal death on the cross. And he was open and honest with the Father.

He says, father, Father, if you’re willing to remove this cup from me, he’s literally saying to the Father, God, if there’s another way, let’s do that.

But he presupposes all that by saying, not your will or not my will, but your will be done.

You see, he did not obey the Father out of obligation, but out of love. Love for us is why Jesus went through that. He loves us because love and obedience are inseparable.

Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Abide in my love.

If you keep My commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.

We obey Christ not to earn love, but we do it because we love Him. You see, and that’s a huge distinction that I Believe. A lot of Christians totally do not understand.

They think if they do the right thing, if they say the right words or do the right actions, then God will love them more. That’s a lie. God can’t love you more. Why? Because he loves you because of who he is, not because of what you are or what you’ve done.

His love for us comes out of who he is. It’s not because of anything we have done. So there’s nothing we can do that can make him love us more. And when you have that understanding, when you have that clarification, all of a sudden now it becomes, I want to do this as a response to love, not out of guilt, not out of condemnation, not out of fear. But I obey because I love him.

We obey Christ not to earn his love, but because we love Him. Love fuels true obedience. It’s not a burden, but rather it’s a joy. And that’s your true test to reveal your motivation. You see, you can do many things for many reasons.

But as we’ve recently shared, when you operate out of the motivation of love, you get fueled instead of worn out. You see, if you do something out of guilt, you do something because you want to impress somebody. You do something because you have to do it. All of these things are ways the enemy wears us down and tires us out. But when your motivation is love, that’s when those things empower you.

Matthew 11:28 30. Jesus says, Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon me and take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

There’s a lot of Christians today who don’t feel like God’s burden is very light.

Where they feel it’s a challenge, it’s a heavy thing. It’s a difficult thing. Well, I want to just be completely blunt with you.

If what you are doing is wearing you out, you got to check your motivation. You got to check why you are doing it.

And unfortunately, a lot of Christians today operate out of a sense of religious legalism. They come to church because they know they have to come to church. They stand and sing because they know they have to come and sing. They go and reach out to people because they know they’re supposed to do that.

But it all fails because it’s not motivated by love.

And that leads us to the next point. Obedience leads to Joy. In John 15:11. Jesus says these things, I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full. Anybody like to be operating in joy?

Anybody like to have joy as kind of your foremost emotion that’s always there?

Jesus is telling us the way to have joy in your life. And I love the way he emphasizes this. It’s like, yeah, you can have joy in your life, but I’m going to take that joy and make it full. What does it mean to make joy full? It means to fill you up with so much joy nothing else fits.

That’s literally what Jesus is saying here, is to fill you up with so much joy there’s no room for heartache, there’s no room for pain, there’s no room for grief, there’s no room for loss. There’s no room for any of the negative things we all experience and encounter every single day because you’re so full of joy that nothing else fits.

True joy comes from not doing our own thing, but from abiding in Christ and walking in obedience. When we live in step with him, we experience the fullness of joy. Consequently, peace. We talked about that a few weeks ago. That the world cannot give.

But that’s what Jesus has in store for each and every one of us. He wants us to be joyful. And I gotta be honest with you, the last 10 years have not been very joyful. Anybody agree?

But that’s our problem.

We’re looking at the lens through what we see with our own eyes instead of connecting with the Father and seeing what he wants to bestow.

You see, joy is not dependent upon your situation or your circumstances. Happiness is right. That’s why the Bible doesn’t tell us to be happy. Happiness is tied to your situation. However, joy is bigger than that.

And joy is outside of your expectations or your knowledge, your understanding. Joy is what God gives us, where you can always be joyful. And that’s so much better than happiness, right? Like we like to be happy. But happy is actually a phony form of joy because happiness is tied to your situation.

So, question.

Is your obedience motivated by love or obligation? Are you getting worn out or are you getting invigorated? Jesus invites us into joyful obedience where his love sustains us.

So just as we wrap this up, walking in obedience through abiding is not about striving. It’s not about legalism or religious duty. It’s about abiding in Christ so we can bear fruit and live out his joy.

Three things to remember. Abiding requires surrender. Stay connected to the vine and let God prune your life. Obedience bears fruit. While we remain in Christ, we will produce godly fruit that glorifies God.

Love fuels obedience. The more we love Jesus, the more joyfully we will obey Him. So what do you want to do with this? Well, first of all, evaluate your connection. Are you abiding in Christ daily?

Okay, is this something that you’re making time for? Are you allowing this? Do you wake up your day saying, God, what do you have in store for me today? Right. This is a fun thing to do.

And it can be really hard when you wake up, when you’re not ready to wake up. Anybody been in that mode lately? When my alarm clock goes off, I’m just like, you stupid thing, give me more time. But no, it doesn’t. But are you abiding in Christ daily?

The next thing, trust the pruning process. Let God remove what hinders your spiritual growth. Now, one of the ways you can actively do this is by asking God what areas of your life he wants to prune. God, what area of my life do you want to prune today? If you ask that openly and honestly before him, he will reveal it.

He will show you, hey, this is what we’re going to do today. Those are some of the funnest times because you’re just kind of looking around saying, okay, when are you going to do this? I could tell you a story of how God did this for me in one area, but no time. Walk in. Love fuels obedience.

Choose not to obey God out of duty, but out of love. One of the things that can help you with this is take the time when you’re praying to just say, holy Spirit, let me encounter the love of the Father and just wait to see what God does in your life. It’s a simple prayer, but it’s a powerful prayer saying, holy Spirit, let me encounter the love of the Father today and just wait to see what happens. Now, one of the things I’ve done just to facilitate on your way in, you may have this note, but I have A list of 20 things that Jesus has commanded his disciples to do. Now, this is not a legal requirement.

This is an example to show you that Jesus commanded a lot of things. Now, this is not a comprehensive list. You will notice that there are a number of things missing. And I did that intentionally because over the next little while, I want you to keep your own list, okay, of things that God is commanding you to do. We’re giving you these verses in the scripture so you can see that Jesus gave us a lot of commands.

Like, I didn’t even put the foot washing one in here, right? Do you know Jesus commanded us to wash each other’s feet? Anybody washed somebody’s feet lately? Probably the only ones who have done that are parents of little kids, right? They can wash their feet.

But Jesus gave that command. Jesus gave us the command to go and wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon you. Okay? These are things he’s told us to do, and we have to do them out of. Not out of legalism, but out of love.

Because he’s showing us the better way. He’s showing us the way to operate. He’s showing us the way to live.

But there’s another component to this. I’ve given you the logos word here, okay? The written word, the revealed word. But the Holy Spirit also wants to give you the rhema word. And this is one of the more challenging parts of it, because you gotta know beyond knowing that what that voice inside your head is telling you to do is actually God telling you to do it.

But I also want to tell you that this is when life, the Christian life, gets really, really fun. This is where you learn things about yourself and others that you can’t learn any other way. And that’s simply by listening to what the rhema word of God speaks to you. I can tell you hundreds of stories of this taking place where and you guys are in the same boat. I guarantee each and every one of you have had times where the Holy Spirit has led you to do something, okay?

It’s up to us to obey that. And it can be as simple as, hey, why don’t you send that person a text and find. Ask them how they’re doing? It can be as simple as that, right? I can’t tell you the number of times where I’ve sent someone a message and they respond, hey, I really needed to talk to you, but I was too scared to reach out.

So, like, that happens on a regular basis with me where God tells me to contact someone, reach out to them. I’ll tell you one story because this is public knowledge. Many of you may remember that Larry Lindoff and his wife attended our church for a long time. You guys might not understand the process that took place. You see, Larry was removed as a pastor from the church that he was at.

And it was a very messy and ugly situation. I knew nothing about that. All I knew is God said, hey, send Larry a message and just check in on him. This blew me away because I hadn’t talked to Larry in probably eight or nine years and God said, reach out to him. I reached out to him, started a good conversation.

We went out for coffee. He started telling me of all these things that were going on and I’m just like, okay, man, I’m here for you, whatever you need it all. Later he told me that I was the only one who reached out to him during that period. And I didn’t do it because I knew what was going on. I had no clue what was going on.

I did it because the Holy Spirit told me to reach out to him. And I’ll tell you, my, my most favorite testimonies, my most favorite times with God is where he speaks to me and I just simply obey. And it doesn’t have to be some huge monumental thing, right? I could share with you something God shared with me, but I’m keeping this quiet because this is so massive. I believe he shared it for me, just for me to know because there’s nothing I can do about it, right?

It’ll take place tomorrow at 11:08 if anybody wants to know. But yeah, that is just something that God does. He speaks to us to show us the plans and his purposes. It’s up to us to obey. And it could be like, just realize this is practical, this is everyday stuff.

You can be sitting at a table and God tells you, hey, go talk to that person over there. And what’s your first response? No, I don’t want to do that. That could be embarrassing. No, your first response needs to be God.

If you’re asking me to do it, I’m going to do it, okay? That’s what obedience is based in love. Because you don’t know what that person is going through. You don’t know what their face is. And you could be the exact answer that God is providing to the questions that they.

They’re asking. We’ve seen this, I heard this story just recently, but this guy was witnessing to these atheists. The guy considered himself being an atheist and he met him on the street and he prayed over him, right? Because the guy had, I think it was a broken leg or something like that, but he prayed over him. He came up and said, hey, can I pray for you?

And the guy said, yeah, I don’t really believe in prayer, but go ahead. And he prayed for his leg and nothing happened. Absolutely nothing happened. There’s no healing, no nothing. And so the guy stands up and goes, I’m sorry, I just didn’t know.

I thought God was going to heal your leg. He Goes well. This morning I was eating my breakfast and I told God that if you’re real, have one of your people come and talk to me today.

Think about that. This individual thought God wanted him to pray for his healing of his leg because he saw something that needed to be done and wanted to help it. But he was an answer to the prayer just by going and talking to that person.

We don’t get this because we love to hear the big testimonies. We love to hear the big stories.

But God wins the world one by one, one by one. And he can use something that you say to somebody to totally change their life. And it doesn’t have to be deep. It doesn’t have profound. It doesn’t have to be something.

It just has to be what God is telling you to say.

That’s all it is. We learn to be obedient. And I’ll tell you, that’s when life gets really fun. That’s when things really start to happen, because you start recognizing what God is doing. And the fact is, God is doing things all the time.

The difference is, is we don’t catch it. We don’t key into it. So when you start obedience and start doing those things, all of a sudden, now you start recognizing what God is doing. Amen. Let’s pray.

Our dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day that you have made. We thank you, God, that we can trust you, that we can obey you, because you are a good God and you work all things out for your own good, for your own glory. And God, we benefit from that. So, Father, we start off this prayer of closing by saying, father, we repent of those times where we have disobeyed you. We ask for your forgiveness.

We ask for your grace.

We ask God that we would obey you better in the future.

And, Father, I just pray a blessing over this congregation and upon everyone who is listening online, that you would speak loud and clear to them today of something you are calling them to do, of a person you want them to reach out to, of somebody that you want them to impact. And then God, as they explore that deeper, you would show them what you want them to do. And, Father, I want to hear testimony after testimony in the coming weeks of how you have used your people to impact this world around them. And we don’t do it out of our own knowledge, our own understanding. We simply do it by obeying your word and carrying it out in love.

And all of God’s people said amen. Amen. Well, God bless you. Thank you for being here today. Just a reminder as you go, tax receipts have been emailed out.

If you want a printed copy, please let me know. Also, the membership thing, we like to get that wrapped up by the end of February so we can be prepared for our annual meeting. But if you want to apply for new membership, there’s a little card out there you can do that with. If you want to renew your membership, you can either do that online through the email we sent you, or you can do it through my kwc, or you can grab the little card out there and just check the box that you want to renew it. And we’re all good.

This is just our way of keeping our membership roles up to date, making sure that everyone who’s a member is currently with us. So please help us out with this. God bless you, have an amazing time and we will see you all next week. God bless.