Hope Church LV Sermons
The Life of a Jesus Follower :: Spending Time with The Father
I became a follower of Jesus when I was a freshman in college. I had grown up in a Christian family. I grew up with mom and dad that were first-generation Christians. That means that their parents were not Christians, but they later led their parents to Christ. So I grew up in the church. My dad was a pastor. I grew up around Christianity. But growing up around Christianity and growing up in a Christian home is not the same thing as being a follower of Jesus Christ. It wasn't until I was a freshman in college that I was born again into a personal relationship with God through Christ. I began to understand what it was to have a relationship with God. But because I had grown up in the church and had seen a lot of Christianity lived out in front of me and a lot of people's lives in a very positive way, I made a mistake early on in my Christian journey. The mistake that I made early on in my Christian journey was that I confused spiritual maturity with spiritual activity. I thought that the more I did for the Lord, the happier the Lord was with me. I was reading a devotional this week and I came across this quote by Henry Blackaby. It's not on the screen, but here's what he said. We are so actively or so activity oriented that we assume we are saved for a task to perform rather than for a relationship to enjoy. That's exactly where I was living. I assumed that I'd been saved for a task to perform, that God had brought me into relationship with himself and now the goal and the objective of my life was to live for God, to try to please God, to try to honor God, to try to obey God. The first decade or so of my Christian life was exhausting because I tried really hard to live the Christian life. No matter how hard I tried, I never seemed to measure up. There were always people I would go to church and I would look at their lives and no matter how hard I tried or how dedicated I became or how many commitments or recommitments I made, I couldn't even live up to the people around me, much less live up to the standard that I understood to be the Christian life in the Bible that Jesus had demonstrated for us. It was so frustrating for me that there were even some verses in the Bible that just didn't make any sense to me personally. For example, in Matthew chapter 11, Jesus makes this statement. He says, "Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you," if you know what does he say? Rest. That's a good word, amen? How many of you need some rest, huh? Jesus said, "Come to me, all who are weary, all who are exhausted, and I will give you rest." And then he said, "For my yoke is," what, "easy." And my burden is, you're the rest, easy, light. Does that describe your Christian experience? Because I'm going to be honest with you, for the first decade of my following Jesus, those words could not have been further from the definition of what I was experiencing. I didn't know rest, I knew work, I didn't know easy, I knew difficult, hard, trying, treatment, dedication, resolve, determination, willpower. Jesus said, "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you," what? I didn't know freedom, I'd simply exchanged one set of bondage for another. I was living under the guilt of never being able to measure up to what I thought God expected of me. Freedom? Are you kidding me? The operative word for my Christian experience for the first decade was performance. Every day I was trying to live up to a standard that I thought God expected of me, and how could I do any less after what I read in the Bible about all He'd done for me to save me and give me eternal life and forgive me of my sin. Now the expectation was it's on me to live up to what He called me to. And then God brought me to a place of real brokenness in my Christian life. If you've been walking with God for any length of time at all, you know what I mean when I say a period or a season of brokenness. One of those times when God just brings you real close and He begins to strip you of the props and the things that help you to be comfortable. I won't tell you the whole story, but the end result was just real brokenness. And in that period of brokenness in my life, God brought a mentor into my life. It's a man that I've told you about before. His name is Clyde Cranford, and Clyde was one of those guys that just knew what it was to walk with God. Clyde was one of those people that when you got around him it was just as if God came in the room. And I don't say that to put Clyde on a pedestal, I say that to say Clyde knew what it was, to live with God all over him. And Clyde began to show me that what God had invited me into was not spiritual activity. What God had invited me into was intimacy. That what God's call on my life was was not just ministry, it wasn't performing for him. What God had invited me into was an intimate love relationship with Himself. And everything that God desired to do through my life, He did out of the overflow what He was doing in my life. And it wasn't until I came to that period of brokenness and that discovery that God showed me that I really began to experience what it was to be free. A few weekends ago we began a series here at Hope simply entitled The Life of a Jesus follower and in reality everything that's packaged into this series. God began to first do in my own life after I've been saved about ten years but I was in that period of brokenness and God began to literally set me free from the bondage of religion and performance and trying. And I began to understand for the first time what it really meant to live the life of a Jesus follower. What it meant to allow Christ to literally live His life in and through me. And the foundational statement that we've been using each weekend is that the life of a Jesus follower is all about what say with me relationships. When you came in today you were given a listening guide. In this listening guide are a copy of the notes that I'm going to be going through this morning and I want you to take that and follow along as we walk through this morning because I really want you to write these things down but I don't know that there's another message that I ever preach anywhere at any time in my life that is more the story of what God's done in my life than what I'm sharing with you this morning. I don't know that there's anything that I ever preach that I'm more passionate about that I'm so excited and I would also come into a service with so much anticipation because I've just seen through the years God take these truths and literally set people free. Let me tell you what's going to happen for some of you today. You came in here some of you knowing you were in bondage and you're going to leave free. But some of you came in here not knowing you were in bondage and you're going to experience freedom too. Last weekend I gave you a summary of the Christian life I said there are two goals. First of all there's an overall goal. There's a big picture goal and it's really the whole goal of what it is to be a Christian and we simply said the overall goal is to know God. That's the big picture everything about following Jesus is first and foremost about an intimate love relationship with God where He's brought us into a relationship with Himself so that we could know Him. But then we said there was a second goal it's the daily goal if the big picture is to know God then here's the daily goal it's simply to spend time with God. Here's your goal today let me tell you why you're in here. You're not in here today to go through the motions of church because it's what you have to do to be a good Christian. We're in here today to spend time with the Father. So I want to ask a question that's really the question of this weekend following up to what we did last weekend and here's the question why. Why is spending time with God so important? And to answer that question I want to start by asking three more questions and here's the way this happened for me all right. Clyde was discipling me he was pouring these truths into my life and Clyde sat across a desk for me one day and Clyde asked me the three questions that I'm about to ask you. Now you have an advantage that I did not have when I was sitting across the desk from Clyde I had to answer out loud and I'm gonna go ahead and tell you up front I missed them all right. I blew this this whole test I just I failed miserably now I do not want you to answer out loud all right don't do that I'm not trying to put anybody on the spot this morning but I do want you to answer in your heart that's why I've given it to you in print form so you can write it down don't say it all right because I want you to think about these things before you answer but there's three questions I want to ask to answer the first question here it is does a Christian want to sin does a Christian want to sin well when Clyde asked me that question my immediate response was well absolutely I want to sin if I didn't want to sin it wouldn't be temptation that's why it's temptation because I do want to sin so yes a Christian does want to sin and he said well Vance that's sort of true there is a part of me my flesh that still longs for the things of this world but now that I've been born again to relationship with God Christ in me there's the new creation in Christ no longer longs for the things of this world I now long for the things of God and that's why as a Christian now when I do sin I thought that's what I wanted I thought that's what I desired but as a Christian as soon as I do make that choice immediately I realized that's not what I wanted at all it's what my flesh thought I wanted but when I grab a hold of it it doesn't satisfy me it doesn't feel me it doesn't bring me peace because what I want now is the life of Christ what I now desire is to please and honor God and even though there are times in my life when I choose to do the opposite of that very quickly the spirit of God shows me on the inside as a father of Jesus now that's no longer what I want at all so the answer to the question is no so then he asked me a second question there's a Christian half to sin there's a Christian half to sin now before you answer that question I want you to look at two scriptures that are on the sheet that I've given you that little handout the first one is Romans chapter 6 verses 6 and 7 listen what it says knowing this that our old self was crucified with him that our body of sin might be done away with that we should no longer be slaves to sin for he who has died is what is the next word freed from sin the scripture says that in Christ I have been freed from sin the next one is 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13 look what it says no temptation has overtaken you but such is his common to man and God is faithful that is very important it doesn't say you and I are but it says God is God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also that you may be able to endure here with the Bible said there and every single solitary moment of temptation not based on my faithfulness to him but his faithfulness to me God in his amazing grace provides me with a way of escape in every single moment of temptation now I know what some of us are thinking some of us in the room or students of theology and we love to read theological works and and you're probably thinking exactly what I was thinking when Clyde posed this question to me and the question I had was what about my depravity you say well what's depravity well theologians define it this way it means that apart from the grace of God I would run headlong into every form of wickedness that apart from God's grace I will sin but as a Christian listen to me you no longer have to live apart from the grace of God as a matter of fact Romans chapter 5 says it is that grace now in which we stand not only that second Peter chapter 1 and verse 3 says that you and I have been given everything we need to live a godly life look at it on the sheet there second Peter chapter 1 verse 3 seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life or to live a to life and godliness through the true knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence you see it right there he's given us everything pertaining to life and godliness that literally means that everything you and I need to live a godly life we're not waiting on some second work of grace we're not waiting on some other experience in our lives the Bible said through the true knowledge of him through the true knowledge and relationship with Jesus Christ you and I were given absolutely everything we need to live a godly life you can go down the list and start naming all the things we've been given by his grace but he's given us everything that we need to live a godly life now the answer to the question then is no does the Christian want to sin no does the Christian have to sin no then that leads me to a third question I'll tell you before I ask it this third question is painful when Clyde first ask it to me I didn't like the answer at all here's the third question if we don't want us in and we don't have to sin then why do we sin now when Clyde asked me these questions I'd already blown the first two like I told you I mean I was sitting there with my seminary degrees hanging on the wall behind me and I was failing the test by the time he got to the third question I wasn't answering but the real reason I wasn't answering is because I didn't know the answer is found in a verse of scripture that I want you to turn to in your Bible or you got it right there on the sheet either one but you can turn there John chapter 14 and verse 15 Jesus simply said if you love me you will keep my commandments let me tell you how I heard that verse my whole life as a Christian here's how I heard that verse my whole life if you love me you better keep my commandments emphasis on keep my commandments I'm not saying that's the way that the people that I heard say it said it I'm just telling you that's the way my ears interpreted it that now that that it was my responsibility to show God how much I love him by obeying him and when you hear it that way all the emphasis goes on obedience I'm to focus on doing the right things and not doing the wrong things so that I can show God God here's how much I love you look look how obedient I am look how I'm doing all the right things God you know that I love you and here's the proof you know the problem when you try to live like that anybody done that successfully yet no matter how hard I tried I never had one single moment of one single day where I felt like well I'm ahead of the curve now can I give you another way to hear that verse this is what Jesus said he said if you love me you'll keep my commandments emphasis on love me emphasis on the relationship you see obedience is not the focus of the life of a believer obedience is the fruit of the life of a believer who's living focused on an intimate love relationship with God Clyde said it this way our obedience to Christ is in direct proportion to our love for Christ here's what Clyde said advance the reason you don't obey God is because you don't love God now when he said it my first reaction was I got mad I mean I wanted to come across the desk mad I was my was furious how dare you do you not know the last decade of my life how hard I've tried how dare you you know the problem it was right there in the book if you are I if we have an area of struggle in our lives if we have an area where where we wrestle with obedience it's a constant frustration it's that thing that gets us listen you and I don't have an obedience problem we got a love problem you see I love that more than I love him I love me is the root of it I love me I want what I want I want what I think things make me happy I want the things that I think will give me pleasure and satisfaction I choose my way I love me more than I that's what the Jesus said if you love me so I want to put it up on the screen in the form of a paradigm that I'm going to walk you through it starts with the word sin at the top and it says we sin right out of John 14 15 because we don't love God now don't misunderstand what what Clyde or what I'm I'm saying today it's not that we don't love him at all it's that we don't love him the way we could or should love him if I have areas of struggle if I have situations in my life where I rest it's not that I don't love God at all but it's that I don't love him like I could love him you see my obedience is in direct proportion to my love relationship well it raises another question why don't we why don't we love him more the answer is because we don't know God and it's not again that we don't know him at all it's that we don't know him like we could know him 20 years ago 20 years ago this month I stood before a congregation of people with my bride to be and I declared my love for her I stood before a congregation and said I love this woman and I want to spend the rest of my life with her now I love her today like I could have never loved her 20 years ago because you see I know her today like I did not know her 20 years ago you see I've seen her as a wife as a mother as a partner in ministry I've witnessed her sacrifice and her compassion and her tenderness and her care and her servant spirit and the more I've come to know her the more I love her you know the problem with most of us as Christians our knowledge of God begins and ends with the gospel John 3 16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life that's good news amen hey that's a good place for an amen that's good news amen wonderful truth thank God for the glorious gospel that Jesus did for us what we couldn't do left to ourselves but listen to me that's one verse he gave us 66 books the rest is not filler God wants us to know him and he gave us his word that we can understand his character that we could know who he is that we could see what he's done that we can understand his faithfulness and his glory and his provisions and his power and his strength and his omnipotence all those things about him the Bible says listen the Bible says in 1 John 4 we love him because he first loved us you see I can only love him in response and the more I love him listen there's not anything you'll ever learn about God that doesn't produce a responsible love for him we don't know him you know why I get so nervous when the circumstances in my life get a little out of kilter because I don't know him you see if you knew him the circumstances wouldn't upset you because you know he holds those in his hand he's sovereignly ordained him he's in control of them and he's going to see you out through them on the other side the reason I worry the reason I fear the reason I get angry the reason I choose to to sin is because I don't know him you see if I knew him I know that what he said is better than that well it raises another question why don't we know him more the answer is we don't spend time with him I said a moment ago I love my wife Christy like I could have never loved her 20 years ago what's made the difference 20 years we spent a lot of time together what if I had what if I'd proposed to my wife like this what if I'd said Christy I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you and here's how it's going to look I'm going to come see you every Sunday morning I mean everywhere well it's just a ballgame where you know I'm not feeling too good but other than that I'll be there every Sunday morning I tell you what I'll even get together with a small group of people once a week and you can come now other than that you're not going to see me very much well I'll take that back unless I need something now if I need something I'll be calling if I need something I will do whatever it takes to get your attention if I'm in a point of need I will make sure you know I'm here now we laugh at that why because that's ridiculous no woman in her right mind would accept the proposal like that no man in his right mind would offer a proposal like that in arms length right why because that is not a love relationship that is ridiculous pastor it is ridiculous God I want to give you my life Lord I want to know you God I want to live for you Lord I want to be a vessel for your glory and I'll be there every Sunday morning I'll even go to a small group once a week and you know what's sad we think that's normal we laugh about it when we talk about it in the context of a marriage love relationship but in the context of being a good Christian that's actually at the top of the list we don't spend time with him he's invited me into a constant moment by moment love relationship we're on to live my life out of the overflow of intimate fellowship with God and I can't even sit through church without looking at my watch well why don't we spend time with him the answer is because we don't see the need let me illustrate it how many of you how many of you think spending time with God is a good thing let me see your hand hold them up for a minute just hold them up all right that's what I thought you can put them down how many of you think that spending time with God on a daily basis would benefit and bless your life let me see your hand that's what I thought all right you can put them down how many of you believe that that if you spend time with God on a daily basis it will change your life let me see your hand that's what I thought you can put them down how many of you believe that spending time with God is an absolute necessity every day let me see your hand oh you see the problem is the lives we live don't demonstrate the testimony we just gave here's what we think we think spending time with God is a really really really really really really good option I don't have to I mean it'd be good to I'd be better forward if I did but but I don't have to I can get by today that's why we live our lives sometimes void of the presence of God we go through a whole day and don't even acknowledge his presence we don't seek him we don't invite him into the activities of our life we don't carve out any time to be alone with him because we do think in our heart of hearts it's optional how many of you breathe every day let me see your hand yeah right why you stop breathing you stop living matter of fact breathing is so important you don't even think about it you just do it naturally it's just become a part of how you live right you don't have to think now you're thinking about it right now because I said it but most of the time you're not going okay I took a breath yeah let me take a note listen God wants his relationship with you to be his natural's breathing that's why Paul said pray without ceasing you know what that means right never stop you just live in an attitude of a constant awareness and communication with the God who loves you and has invited you into a love relationship with himself how many of you eat every day let me see your hand yeah some of us more than once right yeah why you don't eat you don't live listen what Jesus said man man cannot live he didn't say you might not he said man cannot live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God Jesus said apart from me you can do what nothing you know the problem we think he said apart from me you can't do big things let a big thing come up in your life and all of a sudden you get very aware of the presence of God well why don't we see the need here's the bottom of the paradigm it's one answer it's one word it's a word pride let me tell you what pride says to God pride says God I don't need you I don't think any of us left our house this morning got in the car and started the engine and said God I don't need you but every day that you live your life without carving out time to be along with him and without living your life moment by moment out of the overflow venomously with God let me tell what you're saying God I'm good today God I don't need you today we have four children in our family and three of them are now teenagers but we have one that's eight and all of them at a certain point in their life have gone through that early preschool three four five-year-old stage of independence now I've I've learned with teenagers it comes back around again it's not just a one time deal right but at three four five that that first streak of I'm gonna do it on my own begins to surface and in my house it usually surfaced around the tying of the shoes we would reach that point one day where it was time for everybody to get in the car and leave and go somewhere and you know you're trying to load everybody up get them to the car and let's get your shoes on day I'm gonna do it myself and I got just enough spite in me to say all right help yourself because here's what I know they don't have a clue there's no way their time has you and they'll sit down with that shoe and they'll try and they'll wrap the string around their leg and around their foot and they can't get it on the right foot you know they they finally do get them on and one's on the wrong foot and the other ones turn around backwards and the strings are all around and they they frustrate themselves and sometimes the shoe winds up being thrown across the room and then after the what seems like an eternity of frustration they come back and say daddy will you help me and in that moment you take the shoes and you sit down and you take their little hands and yours and you say now you take it here and you tie it you pull it tight you put your finger here and you wrap the bow like this and then you pull and as you let go their little hands are holding those bows and you let go and they look up daddy I tied my shoe and you know what you do in that moment you go look at there baby you tied your shoe now all the while I know I tied their shoe but listen I did it through them how many days god I don't need you today I'm good I'll make it today on my own I've got willpower I made a commitment at the conference I'm determined I signed the card let me show you the way the book of James describes it James chapter four and verse six says but God gives a greater grace therefore it says God is opposed to the proud I don't have time to unpack it but the word opposed there is a word that means to stiff arm the word says God says you want to do it on your own all right help yourself and we try and we try we make commitment after commitment we get more determined and more determined and yet every time we fall on our face we live in frustration we can't measure up we can't live the life look what the verse goes on to say but God gives what to the what let me tell what humility says humility says God I need you grace that's a good word let me tell what grace is grace is the supernatural enablement of God to do that which I could not do left to myself grace is God at work in me doing through me that which I could not accomplish on my own grace is God tying my shoes through me let me flip this paradigm real quick put the word humility at the bottom there when we approach God with an attitude that says God I need you what does the word say he gives us he gives us what grace right when he gives us grace we see the need when we see the need we begin to spend time with God and the more time we spend with God guess what the more we know God and the more you know God the more you what love God and the more we love God guess what happens if you love me you'll keep my commandments obedience you see the difference why is spending time with God so important if you look at that sheet in front of you at the top of one paradigm it's the word sin at the top of the other one is the word obedient why is spending time with God so and for Jesus said if you love me now you understand when I say everything everything God desires to do through your life he'll do out of the overflow of what he's doing in your life it's all about the relationship now I want to show you something before we leave this all right I want to put the word temptation up here on the top of the screen now what I'm about to show you works to deal with any temptation all right but we're specifically today talking about the temptation not to spend time with God daily it's one we all face now here's the way we typically respond to even a message like we've heard this morning oh Pastor Vance that is so right man that is so right I know I need to be spending time with God every day and man God's spoken to my heart today so Pastor Vance starting tomorrow morning I'm gonna do it starting tomorrow morning I'm gonna spend time with God every day I'm gonna matter of fact this afternoon I'm going to the family Christian store I'm buying a devotional so that in the morning when I get up I can start spending time with God every day I'm gonna get online I'm gonna find me one of those read through the bible and the year deals and I'm committed to it I am resolved I'm gonna do this and for a little while we we have some temporary success you may make it all week seven days you gonna come back in next week like this man how you doing oh I'm great I spent time with God seven days this week I got this thing licked and then life's gonna happen you're gonna miss a day and you're gonna be so discouraged you're gonna feel the sense of failure and you're gonna have that attitude that says I'm so disappointed in myself I could have done better than this Lord why why did I do it again I made the same commitment I prayed the same prayer I signed the same card and Lord here I am again I ought to be a better Christian than this then you're gonna come back to service you're gonna go to a small group you're gonna attend a conference you're gonna hear some of this stuff again and you're gonna say you know what this time is gonna be different I'm gonna give me accountability partner this time I'm gonna do it this time this time maybe you make it three weeks or a month a whole month of spending time with God every day you've got it down to the system you got folders and tabs and all the rest you come to pastor time and say hey pastor time I think ought to be leading a small group on how to spend time with God because I've been a whole month and I miss the day and then the failure happens again and now the discouragement's even worse because you've set yourself up as an example of how to beat this stuff and now you feel like a hypocrite in a Pharisee because you've professed to be something that you're not living up to I want to drop that circle in there this is all centered around pride and it's what Clyde called the merry-go-round of the flesh and unfortunately this is where most Christians live commitment to commitment weekend to weekend conference to conference service to service spiritual high to spiritual high and here's what happens over time and I know this because I lived it the highs get higher but the lows get lower because you need the the emotional spiritual high because the discouragement and the despondency is so great you need something to tell you it's going to change so you keep chasing these emotional moments these spiritual mountaintops you'll go to every conference you can find just to hopefully hear something different and you'll make every commitment they ask you to make and you'll come back and you'll try harder and you'll be more determined and you'll put every ounce of energy you have into it and you'll still wind up falling flat on your face in discouragement and despondency can I show you a better way today same temptation let me give you a new way God I can't do it Lord I know my heart God I I can't even spend time with you today unless you give me the grace listen listen one of the great dangers of attending a church and hearing somebody teaching preach as you have a tendency to put them on a pedestal I want to I want to debunk that myth today all right listen to me my flesh is as wicked as anybody's in the room if you knew the thoughts and desires of my heart sometimes you'd never listen to me preach a word you see I'm not capable of living the Christian life anymore you are here's how bad it is in my heart there mornings I sit down to have my quiet time I don't even want to open the book every distraction in the world starts coming into my mind and God feels like he's a million miles away here's what I want you to hear me say today that's normal if you experience that at times listen to me that's normal that's okay he didn't expect you to be able to one of my favorite verses in the Psalms is where the psalmist said he is mindful that we are but dust that sets the expectation level pretty low God didn't save me for what I could do for him he saved me for what he wanted to do through me for his glory and when I approach him with an attitude that says God I can't let me tell you how my quiet time starts a lot of days here's how it starts Lord I'm ashamed of it but in my heart I really don't want to be here but I know I need to be here God I know I need you and what does James 4 6 say when we approach him that way he gives what grace no wonder no wonder the songwriter said it's amazing when he gives grace guess what I get I get victory when people come and say man what's what's happening in your life I don't say well I've got this great system and how I spend time with God and here's what you need to do and here are the steps and here's the pro no no no when you understand this when people come they say man what's you say don't look at me it's not me it's Christ he's tying the shoes listen if there's anything of value you get out of being here week in and week out don't look at us it's not us Teddy myself Travis Tom we don't bring anything to the table we just like you it's just Christ in us I put that circle back in there because you see when I say victory it doesn't mean that we don't still experience the temptation we do it's daily it's just now I'm handling it different instead of making more commitments and being more resolved and more determined I just get more humble before God you know what is amazing the more you grow as a Christian you don't realize how more spiritual you are the more you grow as a Christian the more you realize how unspiritual you are see a few years ago I thought I was a little more spiritual than I do now because the more you know him unfortunately the more you know you know when him's a good thing or there's parts of me I wish I didn't know but even when I know what I know about me it drives me to intimacy with him because it makes me appreciate his grace so much more let me show you one last thing and I'm done I know we're long this morning but it just is nothing to say about it it just is John 14 I read at the beginning verse 15 if you love me you'll keep my commandments I can't believe for 10 years of my Christian life I didn't see it because he didn't just say it one time in John 14 he said it four times look at verse 21 he who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me he said it right there again he just reversed the order but he said the same thing he said you see somebody keep in my commandments let me tell you what you say you see somebody who's in love with me then it's what he said and he who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him and will disclose myself to him you know what that means it means to make known here's what that means when I begin to spend time with him and know him and because I know him I love him and out of the overflow of love give me an obeyed here's what he says I'm just gonna make myself more known to you and look at verse 23 Jesus answered and said to him if anyone loves me he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our abode with him you hear how he just keeps leveling up the first one just said if you love me you'll keep my commandments the second one said if you love me you'll keep my commandments and I'm gonna make myself more known to you this one said if you love me keep my commandments man I and the father we're gonna make our abode with you I call it a man or woman with God all over him and let me show you the last one look at verse 31 Jesus said but so that the world may know that I love the Father I do exactly as the Father's commanded me do you hear it what we're talking about knowing God and loving God and out of the overflow of loving obey you know what that is it's just Christ lightness Jesus just said of himself out of the overflow of a love relationship with the Father I I keep his commandments you see how he modeled for us now if you're hearing me this morning I want you to hear this come all who are weary and heavy faith and I will give you rest for my hope is easy and my birth is light you will know the truth and the truth will set you free you know what needs to happen today for some of you today is the day you stop trying and you start trusting