Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / How to Abide in Christ - Minister Max Lucado

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How to Abide in Christ - Minister Max Lucado · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

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Speaker 1: Send a special social greeting to those of you who
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Speaker 1: are watching online. Also those of you who are part
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Speaker 1: of one of our campuses in Fredericksburg or Crownridge, North Central,
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Speaker 1: West Side, Alamo Ranch, the Tall Brazil Journey Fellowship, we
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Speaker 1: send you special special greetings. And by now you're likely
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Speaker 1: aware you may not be, that Randy Frazy has sensed
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Speaker 1: a call to pursue a citywide ministry and has resigned
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Speaker 1: as our senior minister. We continue to thank God for
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Speaker 1: the growth that our church experience under his leadership. Can
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Speaker 1: you imagine Oak Hills without campuses in Fredericksburg, the Alamo Ranch,
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Speaker 1: North Central, or the Tall Brazil campuses. We're so grateful
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Speaker 1: for the time we've had to study through the story
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Speaker 1: and through believe all of these were initiatives under Randy's leadership,
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Speaker 1: and we deeply appreciate him and Rose and issue many,
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Speaker 1: many prayers for their new chapter. The elders have asked
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Speaker 1: me to resume the role of senior minister, and after
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Speaker 1: much prayer, my wife Danelon and I have sensed that
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Speaker 1: the Lord is telling us to do so, so we
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Speaker 1: said yes. I felt it would be good. Uh this
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Speaker 1: weekend alone first to step away from our study through
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Speaker 1: the story, and and take just a moment, and and
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Speaker 1: and allow me to share some thoughts with you regarding
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Speaker 1: my heart as senior minister, and uh and what seems
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Speaker 1: right to me that we should focus on as a church.
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Speaker 1: By the way, I'm really glad you came back. I
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Speaker 1: wasn't sure anyone would. So let's pray and then we'll
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Speaker 1: get to work. We welcome you, Holy Spirit. Please forgive
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Speaker 1: our speaker his sins or many, grant that we can
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Speaker 1: see just Jesus through Christ. We pray. Amen. If you
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Speaker 1: knew you had one final conversation with a good friend,
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Speaker 1: what would you talk about? Granted one final meal with
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Speaker 1: some colleagues, what would you want to discuss? A Given
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Speaker 1: one last opportunity to be with your family, what would
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Speaker 1: you tell them? Jesus had the opportunity to answer this
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Speaker 1: type of question on the night before his crucifixion. He
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Speaker 1: had a final meal and also a final conversation with
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Speaker 1: his followers, and that evening gave birth to what we
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Speaker 1: could call his final sermon before the crucifixion. Don't you
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Speaker 1: know he shows his words carefully. Maybe that's why we
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Speaker 1: cherish them so here's what he said. He said, abide
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Speaker 1: in me as I abide in you. Just as the
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Speaker 1: branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in
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Speaker 1: the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.
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Speaker 1: I am the vine. You are the branches. Those who
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Speaker 1: abide in Me and I in them bear much fruit,
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Speaker 1: because apart from Me you can do nothing. Whoever does
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Speaker 1: not abide in Me is thrown away like a branch
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Speaker 1: in withers. Such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire
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Speaker 1: and burned. If you abide in Me and my words,
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Speaker 1: abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it
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Speaker 1: will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this,
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Speaker 1: that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. As
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Speaker 1: the Father has loved me, so I have loved you,
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Speaker 1: Abide in my love. If you keep my command you
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Speaker 1: will abide in my love, just as I have kept
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Speaker 1: my father's commandments and abide in his love. I believe
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Speaker 1: this is a timely message for our church. It's my
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Speaker 1: heart's desire that we learn to abide in Christ, that
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Speaker 1: we like branches to a vine, cling to him. I
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Speaker 1: sense that this is the highest calling of the Christian
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Speaker 1: that our highest call is not to bear fruit, but
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Speaker 1: our highest call is to stay connected to Christ, and
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Speaker 1: the purpose of the church is to help encourage this union.
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Speaker 1: I was not seeking this second tour of duty as
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Speaker 1: senior minister, as you know, I filled this role from
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Speaker 1: nineteen eighty eight to two thousand and eight. Here's a picture,
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Speaker 1: a couple of pictures of the day we arrived at
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Speaker 1: nineteen eighty seven from Brazil in the airport for our
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Speaker 1: first visit to the church. I was a lot younger then,
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Speaker 1: I was a lot smarter than Over the years, I've
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Speaker 1: conducted many weddings, your weddings, buried many of your loved ones.
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Speaker 1: I love this church. I just love this church. Far
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Speaker 1: from a perfect church. In fact, it's quite messy at times.
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Speaker 1: But God's favor, for whatever reason, has been upon us.
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Speaker 1: I love our elders and staff, our leadership team, and
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Speaker 1: those who serve here on the church staff. They're just
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Speaker 1: top notch. I love where we're headed, building strong campuses,
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Speaker 1: impacting neighborhoods through the kindness of Christ. This can work,
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Speaker 1: and we have great days ahead of us. I've since, however,
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Speaker 1: that it would be good for us before we just
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Speaker 1: keep pressing forward. To pause and be quiet and listen.
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Speaker 1: I'd like to kick off forty days of listening prayer
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Speaker 1: today and invite every person who has any connection with
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Speaker 1: this church to take time and pray every day. What
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Speaker 1: are you saying to us? What do you want to do?
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Speaker 1: What is your plan? What are you up to? Where
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Speaker 1: are you leading? You're the shepherd of this church, You're
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Speaker 1: the true shepherd. You're the pastor of this church. Where
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Speaker 1: do you want us to go? And as the Lord
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Speaker 1: speaks to you, let us know. Created a special email
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Speaker 1: address listening at Oak Kills Church dot com. If the
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Speaker 1: Lord gives you a verse or gives you a word,
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Speaker 1: let us know. How do we listen to God? How
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Speaker 1: does this happen well? One way is, like Tom Anthony
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Speaker 1: taught us a couple of weeks back, is to pray
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Speaker 1: and pause, to pray, and then be quiet, just be silent.
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Speaker 1: Another way is to be especially attentive to the messages
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Speaker 1: that come your way. If you've invited the Holy Spirit
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Speaker 1: to speak to you, then be on the alert for
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Speaker 1: a word that comes through a friend or through a
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Speaker 1: passage of scripture. Especially. Maybe you could requisition a part
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Speaker 1: of your day that typically is used for something else
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Speaker 1: like a daily commute or cutting the grass or washing
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Speaker 1: the dishes, and use that in addition to the task
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Speaker 1: to say Lord, I'm listening. I'm listening. I go in
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Speaker 1: with two ears in one mouth and listen more than
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Speaker 1: you speak. Maybe you could gather the kids around at night,
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Speaker 1: or have a few quiet moments with your spouse and
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Speaker 1: just say, Lord, is there anything you're telling us? As
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Speaker 1: a church. I think the Lord loves his church and
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Speaker 1: he wants to guide us. I sensed his guidance during
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Speaker 1: this transition. It's not been an easy transition. I had
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Speaker 1: to make some take some time for some serious prayer.
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Speaker 1: During this whole process, I got a pimple. I haven't
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Speaker 1: had a pimple since college. Delon said it was a
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Speaker 1: stress pimple. I don't know. I don't even remember how
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Speaker 1: to pop those things. Sixty two years old, I'm getting pimples.
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Speaker 1: On the night that Randy shared his resignation with the elders,
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Speaker 1: he and I had agreed to meet in the prayer
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Speaker 1: tower afterwards on the Crownridge campus, and so I was
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Speaker 1: already there, got there good twenty minutes before he and
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Speaker 1: I was having some doubts and I was saying, Lord,
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Speaker 1: you sure you don't have somebody else for this, somebody younger, smarter, faster, quicker. Surely, Lord,
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Speaker 1: or's somebody else for this. And there's a prayer book
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Speaker 1: up in the prayer tower, just a nice little prayer book.
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Speaker 1: You've seen the daily prayer readings that exist in books,
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Speaker 1: and there's one in the prayer tower. And I picked
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Speaker 1: it up and read that day's reading, and the passage
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Speaker 1: itself would not have had any form of equal impact
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Speaker 1: had it not been for what I was wrestling with.
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Speaker 1: I took a picture of it so I would always remember.
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Speaker 1: But the passage from Second Kings two point fifteen said
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Speaker 1: the company of the prophets from Jericho who were watching, said,
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Speaker 1: the spirit of a li Elijah is resting on Elisha.
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Speaker 1: Now I'm not the brightest bulb in the box, but
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Speaker 1: I was praying about transition from one leader to the next,
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Speaker 1: and here's a verse describing a peaceful transition from Elijah
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Speaker 1: to Elisha, that the Lord can orchestrate that. And I thought, well, okay, Lord,
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Speaker 1: if you're talking, I want to be listening. I want
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Speaker 1: to hear what he says to you. It's my desire
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Speaker 1: that we would have a walk with Christ that is
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Speaker 1: so intimate that we would sense when he speaks, and
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Speaker 1: we would know when he moves. I have a hunch
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Speaker 1: that's your desire as well. That's the promise of this
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Speaker 1: passage again. Let's read that text from John fifteen. Abide
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Speaker 1: in me as I abide in you. And just as
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Speaker 1: the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides
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Speaker 1: in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.
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Speaker 1: I am the vine. You are the branches. Those who
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Speaker 1: abide in me and I in them bear much fruit,
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Speaker 1: because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does
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Speaker 1: not abide in me is thrown away like a branch
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Speaker 1: and withers. Such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire
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Speaker 1: and burned. If you abide in me and my words,
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Speaker 1: abide in you as for whatever you wish, and it
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Speaker 1: will be done for you. My Father is glorified by
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Speaker 1: this that you bear much fruit to become my disciples.
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Speaker 1: As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.
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Speaker 1: Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you
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Speaker 1: will abide in my love, just as I have kept
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Speaker 1: my father's commandments and abide in his love. Again, This
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Speaker 1: was Jesus' final sermon, his final time with his followers.
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Speaker 1: They did not know what was coming, but he did so.
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Speaker 1: He escorted them out of the upper room, down the stairs,
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Speaker 1: through the narrow streets of Jerusalem, out the Eastern gate,
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Speaker 1: down a path called the Path of Kidron, into the
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Speaker 1: Kidron Valley, and they came to stand in a vineyard.
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Speaker 1: Can you imagine the disciples as they form a horseshoe
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Speaker 1: around Jesus, Peter, James, and John and Matthew, and as
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Speaker 1: the moonlight falls upon their bearded faces. They have no
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Speaker 1: idea what's about to happen. They have no idea that
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Speaker 1: before the sun comes up again, their leader will be arrested.
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Speaker 1: And they have no idea before the sun sets again
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Speaker 1: their leader will have been crucified and killed. They have
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Speaker 1: no idea that all of the promises they've made just
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Speaker 1: hours before are about to be broken, all those pledges
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Speaker 1: to never leave. They're about to scatter like scared cats.
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Speaker 1: They have no idea what's about to happen. But Jesus
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Speaker 1: knows exactly what's about that happened. So what does he
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Speaker 1: say to them in this his final conversation? Does he
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Speaker 1: tell them to buck up, stay strong. Does he tell
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Speaker 1: them to roll up their sleeves and get to work.
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Speaker 1: Does he tell them to fetch their weapons and get
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Speaker 1: ready to fight? Now? He talks to them about about
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Speaker 1: a vineyard, and he uses a vineyard as an allegory,
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Speaker 1: a metaphor. He says, God is like a gardener, an orchardist,
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Speaker 1: one who's in charge of a vineyard. And he prompts,
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Speaker 1: and he pampers, and he stirs. He coaxes the best
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Speaker 1: out of the vineyard. He wants to bring the best,
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Speaker 1: the best fruit out of us. So the picture is
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Speaker 1: God is in charge. We are not. Are you okay
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Speaker 1: with that? Can we do our thing? We do? Ever?
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Speaker 1: So often raise your hand. I hereby resign as ruler
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Speaker 1: of the universe. God is in charge, Well you're not.
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Speaker 1: Any fruit that happens is up to him, not up
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Speaker 1: to us. So Jesus then is the vine. He's the
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Speaker 1: thick part, the stalk, the trunk, if you will, that
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Speaker 1: digs down into the dirt with roots and draws the
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Speaker 1: necessary nutrients out of the soil and passes them up,
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Speaker 1: cables them, is the conduit for them and delivers them
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Speaker 1: into the branches. That's us we're the branches. And as
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Speaker 1: this process works, as God does his cutting and trimming
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Speaker 1: and nurturing and feeding and caregiving, as Christ receives the
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Speaker 1: nutrients and distributes them, then something wonderful happens. Fruit happens.
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Speaker 1: The fruit of the spirit is love and joy, and
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Speaker 1: peace and patience and kindness and goodness and self control.
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Speaker 1: All of these wonderful things happen. All of us desire
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Speaker 1: to have those fruits, don't we All of us do.
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Speaker 1: But Jesus says that the secret to being fruitful, to
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Speaker 1: bearing these fruits, is not forcing the fruit, but staying
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Speaker 1: connected to the vine. That the secret to bearing fruit
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Speaker 1: is not forcing the fruit, but staying connected to the vine.
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Speaker 1: It does you no good nor me to say, okay
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Speaker 1: today I'm going to be happy today. I'm going to
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Speaker 1: be joyful if it kills me. Forcing fruit doesn't work,
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Speaker 1: clinging to the vine does. This is something wonderfully freeing.
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Speaker 1: And of all the things for Christ to tell his
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Speaker 1: disciples on the night before his crucifixion, the one thing
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Speaker 1: he wanted them to reflect back on and to remember
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Speaker 1: was you just hang on to me. You hang on
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Speaker 1: to me like a branch hangs onto the vine unless
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Speaker 1: we miss the point. Jesus employs the word abide ten
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Speaker 1: times in seven verses. Look at this, Abide in me
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Speaker 1: and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit
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Speaker 1: of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither
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Speaker 1: can you unless you abide in me. He who abides
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Speaker 1: in me and I in him, he bears much fruit.
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Speaker 1: If anyone does not abide in me, he's thrown away
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Speaker 1: as a branch and dries up. If you abide in
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Speaker 1: me and my words, abide in you, Ask whatever you wish,
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Speaker 1: and it will be done for you. Abide in my love.
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Speaker 1: Abide in my love, just as I've kept my father's
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Speaker 1: commandments and abide in his love. What's the key verse?
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Speaker 1: A key word in the verse? Abide, Come and live
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Speaker 1: in me, Jesus says, make me your home. What does
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Speaker 1: it mean to abide somewhere? Most of you, if not
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Speaker 1: all of you, abide somewhere when you go home, quite
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Speaker 1: the odds are quite good that you will relax a
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Speaker 1: little more. You may put on some more comfortable shoes,
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Speaker 1: You may find something to eat. Your home is a
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Speaker 1: place of rest and nourishment. It's a place where you're
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Speaker 1: really your authentic self. You're not trying to show off,
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Speaker 1: You're not trying to impress anybody. It's okay to have
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Speaker 1: bad breath in your home. It's okay to have your
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Speaker 1: hair uncombed in your home. It's a safe place. So
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Speaker 1: Jesus says, let me be that. Let me be that,
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Speaker 1: not a place where you have to perform. Let me
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Speaker 1: be your ultimate place of rest. Let my word, let
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Speaker 1: my promise be the foundation of your home. Let my
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Speaker 1: sovereignty be the walls that keep the cold wind. Let
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Speaker 1: my roof of grace protect it from the hailstorm of guilt.
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Speaker 1: Just make your home in me. You see, I think
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Speaker 1: it comes down to this, that our aim, our only aim,
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Speaker 1: is to be at home in Christ. Now, we Christians
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Speaker 1: tend to miss this, and we banter about phrases like
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Speaker 1: I'm going to change the world, I'm going to make
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Speaker 1: a difference, I'm going to solve all the problems. I
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Speaker 1: think those are noble ambitions. But I've come to see
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Speaker 1: that those are fruits. Those are fruits. Our better statement
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Speaker 1: would be today, I'm going to connect with Christ because
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Speaker 1: he wants to connect with me. So how do we
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Speaker 1: do this? How do we abide in Christ. Well, the
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Speaker 1: answers think different for every individual because we're all different,
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Speaker 1: we have different learning skills or different aptitudes, different personalities,
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Speaker 1: that it will always include some common denominators like encountering, scripture, prayer, worship,
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Speaker 1: finding our unique service, how we can best serve the
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Speaker 1: heavenly Father, fellowship. The truth of the matter is we're
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Speaker 1: like grapes. We do better in bunches and we grow together.
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Speaker 1: We're more fruitful when we're together. I think that's why
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Speaker 1: the devil likes to tear us apart. But you find
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Speaker 1: the way in which you connect to Christ the most.
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Speaker 1: But please remember this, it's his invitation. This isn't something
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Speaker 1: you have to foster. You're not trying to convince God
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Speaker 1: to connect with you. He's trying to convince you to
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Speaker 1: connect with him. What happened in the garden of Eden.
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Speaker 1: He wants to replicate before the Adam and Eve walked
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Speaker 1: with God in the cool of the evening. No shame,
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Speaker 1: no fear. When you wake up in the morning, before
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Speaker 1: you climb out of bed, just incline an ear to
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Speaker 1: Heaven and listen, and you will hear God say, why
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Speaker 1: don't we live this day together? Don't go out by yourself.
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Speaker 1: Let's just go together. I know what's coming. You keep
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Speaker 1: an ear inclined to me, and I'll keep an eye
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Speaker 1: on you. I have a dream that someday I will
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Speaker 1: live a day in which my thoughts about God outnumbered
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Speaker 1: my thoughts about anything else. I'm so far from that.
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Speaker 1: But you know there's a scripture in the Bible that
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Speaker 1: says that God's thoughts about me. God's thoughts about you
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Speaker 1: outnumber the number of grains of sin on the seashore.
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Speaker 1: He can't quit thinking about you. You're on his mind
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Speaker 1: all the time, and so he issues that invitation. Now,
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Speaker 1: if you decline, he'll be sad, but he won't abandon you.
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Speaker 1: He'll come back throughout the day and say, hey, we
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Speaker 1: can walk through this together. Let's just stay connected, connected, connected.
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Speaker 1: So I hear by issue my first edict as senior minister,
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Speaker 1: stay connected to Christ. You just connect to Him. Just
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Speaker 1: connect to Him. You know, the best thing you can
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Speaker 1: do for your marriage be connected to Christ. The best
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Speaker 1: thing you can do is a parent, be connected to Christ.
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Speaker 1: The best thing you can do at your workplace you
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Speaker 1: be connected to Christ. The best thing you can do
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Speaker 1: in your neighborhood be connected to Christ. The best thing
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Speaker 1: you can do in this church be connected to Christ.
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Speaker 1: He won't let you down, he won't walk away. You
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Speaker 1: connect to Him, and fruit in the right way at
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Speaker 1: the right time is going to happen. It's not up
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Speaker 1: to you to force fruit. It is up to you
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Speaker 1: and me to connect to Christ. This is a slightly
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Speaker 1: different emphasis than the one I had when I inaugurated
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Speaker 1: my first term as senior minister. It's some interesting symmetry here.
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Speaker 1: My first time to preach at this church, when Deanlon
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Speaker 1: and I came and visited from Brazil, I was thirty two,
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Speaker 1: and here I am starting this again at sixty two,
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Speaker 1: and somebody said, that's kind of like a Brett Farv
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Speaker 1: of preaching. My first go around. My first message was
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Speaker 1: from the life of Caleb in the Old Testament, and
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Speaker 1: the theme of the message was give me my mountain.
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Speaker 1: That's what he said to Joshua when they were taking
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Speaker 1: the Promised land, give me my mountain. So I said
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Speaker 1: to the church, let's all go get our mountain. It
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Speaker 1: was all rolling up your sleeve and getting to work
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Speaker 1: and tearing them up. It was a raw, raw, raw,
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Speaker 1: go go go message. I think my emphasis is a
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Speaker 1: little different these days. It seems to me that I
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Speaker 1: might have been skipping a step. That before we go out,
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Speaker 1: it's important to look up, and before we march, it's
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Speaker 1: important to rest, and before we take off, we have
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Speaker 1: to receive. And that really the highest call of the
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Speaker 1: Christian is to make Christ our home. To the degree
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Speaker 1: we do that, I think we're happier, more joyful. Would
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Speaker 1: you agree. I think the best advertisement for Christianity is
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Speaker 1: a happy Christian.
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Speaker 2: I do.
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Speaker 1: I think the worst advertisement for Christianity is the other
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Speaker 1: a miserable Christian. I used to ride bikes. I mean seriously,
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Speaker 1: I was one of these guys that you don't like
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Speaker 1: on the road. Wore the tight shorts, tight shirt, clip
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Speaker 1: in pedals, taking up too much room. But I thought
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Speaker 1: it was so much fun. I got into it because
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Speaker 1: I always rode bikes as a kid, and so I
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Speaker 1: found out you can ride bikes as a grown up.
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Speaker 1: I got excited, and so I'd go on these long
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Speaker 1: rides all through the hill country. Oh that is so
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Speaker 1: much fun. I met some other bikers, and as I
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Speaker 1: began to meet other bikers, I came to find out
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Speaker 1: that I was riding a wimpy bike. They told me
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Speaker 1: you needed a faster bike, and also they told me
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Speaker 1: about bike rallies and bike races, and if I wanted
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Speaker 1: to be a part of those, I needed a better bike.
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Speaker 1: So I went and bought a better bike. And this
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Speaker 1: bike we equipped with lots of bells and whistles, all
24:55
Speaker 1: kinds of things that measure everything, not just how fast
25:00
Speaker 1: you're going, but how far you'll go if you keep
25:02
Speaker 1: up at this speed, and also how fast you went
25:06
Speaker 1: last time, and how far you went yesterday, and if
25:09
Speaker 1: you've reached your goal or not. And it had a
25:13
Speaker 1: little GPS, so I always knew where I was. And
25:16
Speaker 1: as if that wasn't enough, I bought another gauge to
25:19
Speaker 1: help me know my heart rate, and or a strap
25:23
Speaker 1: around my chest, and it told me my heart rate.
25:26
Speaker 1: I have no idea why I needed to know my
25:28
Speaker 1: heart rate, but everybody else knew their heart rate, and
25:32
Speaker 1: so I wanted to know mine. And so pretty soon
25:35
Speaker 1: I was biking looking at the gauges a whole lot,
25:38
Speaker 1: not much at the road, but I always looking at
25:40
Speaker 1: the gauges. And then somebody said, oh, you got to
25:43
Speaker 1: listen to a certain kind of music to really bike well,
25:46
Speaker 1: and He's told me about this kind of pound pound
25:48
Speaker 1: pound pound pound pound music, kind of a Lead Zeppelin
25:51
Speaker 1: type of thing, or you just boom boom boom. So
25:54
Speaker 1: I got that going. I got it in my ears,
25:56
Speaker 1: I got gauges in my eyes, and so I'm pedaling
25:58
Speaker 1: and pedaling and pedaling, and you know, I got to
26:01
Speaker 1: be a pretty good monster out there on the road. Well,
26:04
Speaker 1: one day that bike broke and I had to take
26:07
Speaker 1: it in to be repaired and leave it at the shop.
26:10
Speaker 1: In the meantime, I had to go back to my
26:12
Speaker 1: wimpy bike. Didn't have any gauges on it, had no
26:17
Speaker 1: clue how fast I was going. I wasn't listening to
26:21
Speaker 1: music that day for some reason. And after a few
26:25
Speaker 1: minutes with no gauges and no music, I thought to myself,
26:30
Speaker 1: you know, this is fun. This is fun. This is
26:34
Speaker 1: why I got in this to begin with. As a church,
26:40
Speaker 1: we've been peddling pretty hard, been growing, been building buildings,
26:53
Speaker 1: adding staff, been peddling pretty hard, and God's grace has
26:59
Speaker 1: been upon us. I'm wondering if we wouldn't be well
27:05
Speaker 1: served with the time of saying now, why did we
27:08
Speaker 1: get into this in the first place, and going back
27:13
Speaker 1: to the final sermon of Christ, which is really the
27:17
Speaker 1: first call of the Christian and that is connect Are
27:23
Speaker 1: we connecting with Christ? Are we connecting with Christ? Are
27:28
Speaker 1: we connecting with the living, loving presence of the Lord
27:34
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, Each one of us not connecting through a
27:39
Speaker 1: pastor or through a leader, but each one of us
27:42
Speaker 1: having our own connection with the Lord Jesus Christ. And
27:46
Speaker 1: that that is our focus and trusting that He will
27:49
Speaker 1: bring fruit at the right time, in the right way.
27:55
Speaker 1: That's what I'm thinking. I'd love to know what you're
27:57
Speaker 1: thinking and over these next forty days. If you since anything,
28:01
Speaker 1: remember that email address listening at oakhillshirts dot com. I'm
28:06
Speaker 1: really honored to be your senior minister again, but you
28:10
Speaker 1: need to know I have not forgotten from whence I came.
28:14
Speaker 1: The Lord called me first when I sat in a
28:16
Speaker 1: pickup truck at the age of eighteen in a piggly
28:21
Speaker 1: wiggly parking lot in a small West Texas town with
28:25
Speaker 1: six beers in my belly and several more seated resting
28:30
Speaker 1: on the seat between me and my best friend James,
28:33
Speaker 1: and I turned to him and I said, James, there's
28:35
Speaker 1: got to be more to life than this. It was
28:39
Speaker 1: two years before I found Christ, but that's when the
28:42
Speaker 1: journey began. And so your preacher is a converted drunk.
28:48
Speaker 1: That's who I am, nothing more. I'm not real sophisticated.
28:57
Speaker 1: I know this because one of the members, toward the
29:02
Speaker 1: end of my first term said to me, you know,
29:04
Speaker 1: Loo Kato, I've been listening to you now every weekend
29:07
Speaker 1: for twenty years, and I've got you figured out. He said,
29:12
Speaker 1: you say the same thing every week, just with different rapping.
29:16
Speaker 1: I said, well, what do you mean? He said, every
29:17
Speaker 1: week you say God loves you. It's going to be okay.
29:24
Speaker 1: So if that message speaks to your heart, that's probably
29:28
Speaker 1: what you're going to get. I do think we have
29:32
Speaker 1: some great days ahead of us. I do, but only
29:35
Speaker 1: to the degree that we stay connected to Christ. I've
29:40
Speaker 1: invited my wife's Denlon to come and lead a prayer
29:42
Speaker 1: that will serve as maybe a dedicatory prayer for this
29:47
Speaker 1: season of ministry, and I'd like to invite you to
29:50
Speaker 1: join with us as we pray together. If you've never
29:53
Speaker 1: met my wife, you've never met one of God's angels,
29:56
Speaker 1: for she is that.
29:57
Speaker 3: Indeed, let's pray.
30:14
Speaker 4: The Lord says sons and daughters. Pay attention to what
30:18
Speaker 4: I say. Listen closely to my words. Do not let
30:23
Speaker 4: them out of your sight, Keep them within your heart,
30:28
Speaker 4: for they are a life to those who find them,
30:32
Speaker 4: and health to a man's whole body. Above all else,
30:36
Speaker 4: guard your heart, for it is the well spring of life.
30:43
Speaker 4: Oh Lord Jesus, Thank you for interceding on our behalf.
30:49
Speaker 4: Thank you, Father God, for directing the affairs of the world,
30:53
Speaker 4: of the universe, of our neighborhoods, of our homes, of
30:59
Speaker 4: our hearts. Holy Spirit, What can we do except for you.
31:05
Speaker 4: We can't take one step or breath without you leading us,
31:09
Speaker 4: teaching us, comforting us, reminding us of what is true.
31:15
Speaker 4: Lord Jesus, you said that you are the Way, that
31:19
Speaker 4: you are the truth, and that you are life. And
31:22
Speaker 4: so we cling to you today. We cleave to you.
31:26
Speaker 3: We cleave to.
31:27
Speaker 4: Your goodness, to your grace, to your forgiveness. We remember
31:33
Speaker 4: that your love is an everlasting love. That you, Almighty God,
31:39
Speaker 4: creator of the ends of the earth, that you never
31:42
Speaker 4: grow tired or weary of hearing from us, of giving
31:47
Speaker 4: us strength, of giving us power. That you know our weakness,
31:51
Speaker 4: you know our needs, and every person in this building
31:55
Speaker 4: today you know intimately deeply, So thank you for inviting
32:02
Speaker 4: us to abide in you, to rest in you, to
32:07
Speaker 4: dwell in the shelter of the most High, so we
32:11
Speaker 4: can abide in the shadow of the Almighty. Thank you
32:15
Speaker 4: for every promise. That you are our strong tower, that
32:19
Speaker 4: you are our refuge, that you are the shield about us,
32:22
Speaker 4: the lifter of our head. That you are our glory.
32:26
Speaker 3: God.
32:27
Speaker 4: Nothing else is our glory but you. Thank you for
32:31
Speaker 4: all these promises. Thank you for your word that is
32:34
Speaker 4: alive and active all by itself, and when it comes
32:38
Speaker 4: to our mind, when it rises up in our hearts,
32:42
Speaker 4: we receive more life, and we become more active, and
32:46
Speaker 4: we have things, and it's mysterious how it happens. God,
32:50
Speaker 4: But it's all at your commanding, all at your directing,
32:54
Speaker 4: all at all because of your great love for us.
33:00
Speaker 4: So Jesus, we just want to thank you for saying
33:03
Speaker 4: that we can come to you, and we are weary
33:06
Speaker 4: and heavy laden, and.
33:08
Speaker 3: You will give us rest.
33:10
Speaker 4: That you invite us to learn from you, because you
33:13
Speaker 4: are gentle and humble in heart, and your yoke is
33:17
Speaker 4: easy and your burden is light, and you promise rest
33:23
Speaker 4: for our souls. Thank you that you care about our souls.
33:27
Speaker 4: We commit all these things to you and to your
33:30
Speaker 4: sweet care in the name of Jesus Amena.
36:42
Speaker 2: You don't have me, No, you don't have the steak close.
36:54
Speaker 2: As long as you're somewhere out there, that's enough for me.
37:04
Speaker 5: I don't need to hold you near me, don't need
37:08
Speaker 5: promises to keep just the thought that you are breathing
37:13
Speaker 5: somewhere in this world I see even if I'm not
37:18
Speaker 5: beside you, even if you never know, there's a quiet
37:25
Speaker 5: kind of comfort just.
37:27
Speaker 6: In knowing you still glow. I don't need forever, I
37:38
Speaker 6: just need you to exist.
37:42
Speaker 7: You don't have to stay with me.
37:46
Speaker 6: You don't have to feel the same.
37:49
Speaker 5: Just as long as you're still out there, calling softly
37:54
Speaker 5: through my days.
37:56
Speaker 6: You don't have to look my way. You don't have
38:00
Speaker 6: to be my home.
38:03
Speaker 8: It's enough to know where you're living in a world
38:07
Speaker 8: I'm not alone. I won't chase you through the distance,
38:16
Speaker 8: won't disturb your chosen life.
38:19
Speaker 4: I'll just keep you.
38:20
Speaker 8: In my silence, like a star that shines at night
38:26
Speaker 8: through the darkened, through the blue.
38:33
Speaker 7: I still think of you. You don't have to stay
38:40
Speaker 7: with me.
38:41
Speaker 6: You don't have to feel the same.
38:45
Speaker 8: Just as long as you're still out there, calling softly
38:49
Speaker 8: through my days.
38:51
Speaker 7: You don't have to look my way.
38:55
Speaker 6: You don't have to be in my home.
38:58
Speaker 8: It's enough to know you're living in a world I'm
39:03
Speaker 8: not alone.
39:20
Speaker 6: I don't need to be your late. I don't need
39:24
Speaker 6: to cross your mind.
39:25
Speaker 8: All I need is just.
39:27
Speaker 6: The truth that you're somewhere, still alive.
39:35
Speaker 7: You don't have to stay with me, You don't have
39:39
Speaker 7: to feel the same, just as long as you're still
39:44
Speaker 7: after calling softly through my days. You don't have to
39:50
Speaker 7: live my way.
39:52
Speaker 1: You don't have to be my home.
39:56
Speaker 4: It's enough to.
39:57
Speaker 1: Know you're living in a world now not alone.