…And Leave the Results to God

thankful for for me this is Memorial Day weekend and I I’m not dismissing kids just yet but they’re free to go but I just wanted them to hear the importance of this every year around this time we we know that the Summer’s about to begin because Memorial Day starts it and labor day ends it we kind of get those benchmarks or bookmarks but there’s something really big about this day that we celebrate that we commemorate really it’s a better word for it those that have gone

before us and given the ultimate sacrifice that’s what Memorial Day is about men and women who put it on the line and they wanted to come home as badly as I would have wanted to come home and they didn’t get to and I’m grateful for that it’s always been kind of a political day or I guess a national holiday of sorts but it became very personal for me 19 years ago now when one of our very own here at Grace Point one of the first to

fall and I in the Iran conflict Eric McRae his father Scott McCray and his mother Terry were part of our church he was and it it was an impactful experience then and it remained so enough said to help you see why it be has become personal not just a hey a party let’s celebrate we are Americans so we get to celebrate but we have a debt of gratitude to people like Eric and his family and many others that you know of so I’d like to lead

us in prayer and I’d like you to stand once again as I do so in honor of people that have fallen for our sake so that we can worship like this and and we will worship you no matter what Jesus in the land of the free in the home of the brave or anywhere else on planet Earth because you are the Living God and you’re the one that said this is my commandment that you love one another just as I have loved you greater love has

no one than this that one laid down his life for his friends and that’s indeed what you did literally the next morning from when you said those words and we look at others that have made sacrifices Eric McRae and his family it’s not just his loss of life but it’s their loss and a profound personal sense too we thank you for them we pray right now for our country that we would live more deserving of their sacrifice and we thank you for a country that it’s

not perfect but it’s not as bad as it could be we pray for the world around us that they would be patient while we get our act together and that we would continue to lead this world not only as a place of Freedom full of Rights but deeply held responsibilities that we live out and that they would know as they look our direction that we are a place where God is at work and that would be true of every person hearing these words this morning and

we love you for giving us the example of laying down your life we bless you in Jesus name amen amen go ahead and have a seat again people with kids you’re off have a great time enjoy your time and we will as well sometimes you kids must wonder what do they do without us Wonder no more if you ever wonder why we’re late to pick you up not just kidding you I’m just joking it’s just a joke so summertime let me ask a question I forgot

to ask it last week show me your hand how many of you received one or maybe two I guess emails from me requesting money I was not ready for that answer about a few of you maybe the whole bunch of you so did you send me any what is wrong with this place well you have you have learned as I have I I suspect we’ve we’re doing an investigation to try to figure out exactly why the repetition here I suspect is something about being a very

public Ministry and I I don’t know exactly why maybe live stream there are people there that know you know lots more than just hey it was a good Worship in time in the word they know a little bit about details of our lives but thank you for not saying if you’re ever curious ever concerned ever worried just trust me I don’t ask for money and secondly if you’re still not convinced then you’re inclined to spend your money to help a version of me in a foreign

country then call the office before you do anything okay so you’ll be kept out of Harm’s Way but I wanted you to know that not all have been that fortunate in past attempts and so it it bothers us but God took care of them and took care of the situation speaking of being gone we were gone for three weeks as you know and while there one of our first stops after we celebrated our 40th anniversary was at Bond University think James Bond you know and it

was Bond University no connection there but it’s where our son got his Doctorate in physical therapy physio they know it in the island and he practiced a couple of years in Perth way over on the west coast and then came home and he’s home now and hoping to get placed in a hospital here in Portland has a couple that are looking at each other about that possibility but I tell you that because that is in fact if you want to look closely later the shirt I

am wearing it’s actually a Bond University shirt and it has plumeria did I say that right yeah that’s the flowers but there’s something really cool on here which is a shark head so it really is a picture of things that we did and fought and faced in our time there no but anyway that explains it people go whoa Hawaii well actually no Hawaii is still about 6 000 miles away from here but it was really a special place and I wear the shirt proudly so enough

of that and and it leads me into my message because it’s really is summer times here right and summertime signals the time I think for me anyway it’s like that circadian rhythms or whatever they call it’s just a feeling I have that hey it’s time to kind of switch things up a bit just feels that way so even if you notice in our ministry year our calendar year we actually have a a kind of a focus we try to from September to May and then we

we shift gears this time of the year and we we kind of move into a summertime series or focus and it’s kind of a fun time weather’s warmer and drier and that favors things like shorts I didn’t wear them today but you feel free anytime you want come come any way you want we always maintain you don’t have to dress up or straighten up just show up okay so that’s cool and that’s up to you and whatever you’re you’re feeling comfortable with but people you know

they wait they they wear like lighter and maybe more casual and even in my case today colorful clothes that that’s cool so it’s summertime is my point and what you do with the longer and it’s been called The Lazy Days of Summer is is kind of fun I’ll bet it’s how many of you change up something in your life in summertime right that’s good that’s I mean you it’s good that you do that and it’s fun hopefully for you refreshing in fact I was thinking about

the word vacation it’s a happy word isn’t it like when you hear somebody say hey we just got back from vacation they they don’t look at you and go oh I’m so sorry so sorry that happened to you you know they’re they’re interested they want to know they’re they’re excited they know it’s why you know kids when they talk ask any child teachers do this hey children what was your summer like that’ll come out in September or late August when school year begins what was your

summer like and your child can’t talk about the summer in most cases without a smile it’s just what it is oh we finish the sentence so let me just say on the front end I’m not a big Alice Cooper fan but in 1972 he put his finger on the pulse of a lot of people with his Billion Dollar Baby schools out forever you know and he just went on right no more pencil no more books come on no more teachers dirty looks right you got it

right and you heard that in church so let’s get serious now okay we’ve got some things no so in that Spirit we’re going to change it up I want to I want to introduce to you a a short Pulpit series starts today here at Grace Point and your title is on the note page that I hope you’ll have plenty to fill today and the title is what I’m calling and leave the results to God you’ll notice it’s done in italics to suggest a an action point

an ongoing thing and it’s a partial sentence whatever goes before it will come up not only today but in the days of this summer series so and some have already asked me even this morning about what about acts you know and my response is Don’t Panic we will come back to our Series in the Acts of the Apostles or what we’ve called reverently the acts of the Holy Spirit and we’ll come back to that in the fall we’re going to finish with a flare okay so

you’re gonna you’re gonna like where we end up we’re actually in chapter 21 so we’ve been cruising but taking it without a hurry because we know there’s deep things that we need to digest and that’s been my Approach so there’s a single word I want to present to you you need to write it down right away and it is in fact the word that expresses I guess my thinking behind this series this new one that starts today and leave the results to God and it’s the

word overreach overreach would you many of USC you’re writing it already so overreach it’s the idea of going too far now in a world where you hear sermons even that are constantly you got to do more get with it go for it lean into it this one’s and the series ahead a suggestion that sometimes therein lies our problem there’s many uses let’s understand the word when I use overreach okay going too far first thought I had I want you to go back to last time you

were on a tall ladder okay some nervous Chuckles I get that all right so you’re on a tall ladder and the ladder has a narrow sort of width to it somewhat approximating the human body right and if you’re like me and you’re power washing or painting up high and I really don’t I’ve got sweaty Palms right now when I tell you that I don’t like doing that and I won’t do it anymore let’s move Debbie this is kind of my new motto but the deal is

I’ve done this I get up high and when I’m up there with a power washer or a roller or whatever I find myself wanting to not just stay in my Lane if I can use that term right now but I’m like that’s odd if I could just get over there then you know I’m calculating my head it will mean less moves of this big ladder and so I lean out a little bit and how many have done that yes you have a room full of dummies

right I mean that’s us why do we think that way and so you lean out and I’m just going to say if you’re that person or thinking of being that person it will not be your brightest move okay it just it it just won’t it will likely not turn out well either because you overreached here’s the second one it’s a little more serious and it’s a little more irritating we know it as government or governmental overreach okay it’s something we’re pretty sensitive about I think we

have sort of a trigger reaction to it when we encounter it what we think is wait you’re going too far here government whoever you are not talking parties here I miss talking about the government here’s the deal we want our leaders to lead well by their example that’s at least why I vote for X rather than y I want them to lead well by a good example or to encourage me to make good choices all right that’s all good that’s all good leadership but when they

mandate for example that we all Drive electric vehicles only Stay With Me stay with me I know some of you are going to kick me to the curb because I drive a diesel I’m going to park that diesel in front of Salem OR Washington DC if they get in my grill just joking that’s just this let’s just forget me if you don’t know that’s just me messing around okay but if they mandate it must say Electric’s not good but if they mandate that that all of

us in fact we’re not going to sell gas much less diesel trucks or anything else in this state or country except Electric then in my humble opinion they’ve overreached there’s another state that’s already done this and I was aware of this yesterday because we had a load of bark dust come and at the end of the load of bark dust there’s something that you need to do clean up the mess and I thought of what it would feel like if I had to get a broom

out there or this is not an easy Dusty mess here let me fix it this is a big sustaining mess if I didn’t have power tools and you say they’re all there’s electric for all that I know there’s electric chainsaws there’s electric leaf blowers there’s electric you know edgers the whole deal mowers and you know have you seen what electric chainsaw can cut it’s just slightly bigger than a toothpick I got a dead tree in the backyard okay you get my point here somebody said something

that was funny John Hurt no I will not put that on the permanent recording of live stream right now it’s just not going to happen so anyway you get my idea don’t go too far it’s sensitive for us it’s a bother to us when we perceive that a good idea I’m not saying pollute the air with all the lawn mowers but come on don’t encourage us and some of us will get there and some won’t quite as fast but we’ll get there here’s a third one

parenting overreach it’s true I’m setting this up because of what’s coming next parenting it overreach is easy to do I’ve had three goes at it and I’m not talking about little children I’ve done this and it and it happens anytime we assist one of our children little people medium people or grown-up adult children anytime we assist them with a daily task that they can and should do on their own that’s parental overreach when we do we’ve gone too far so that means that their room is

Theirs to clean up and pick up my mom did not do that one well she folded my everything and then when I messed it up by the next day looking for something didn’t matter it would be folded again that’s too much Mom should have put me on restrictions for the next month or two or three she should have got my attention she did it out of love right can we say that absolutely but their chores your children’s chores if they’re still in the house are Theirs

to keep up on here’s one that was hard for me their homework that’s not done and it’s due tomorrow I’ll confess it I’m sorry to you teachers but I’ve actually done their homework at times for them and they got terrible grade anyway no how did I blow it in third grade like no but you get the idea you go too far right and when we do that I mean James Dobson used to say we’re clipping their wings we’re making it hard for them to fly don’t

do that let them struggle through it you know anyway caterpillar to the butterfly it doesn’t need help doesn’t need your help you kill it okay one more example that that most of us practice from time to time and maybe often I’d call it you guessed spiritual overreach spiritual overreach it happens listen closely now when we are given a Biblical priority okay not somebody’s will for your life his will for your life not somebody’s good suggestion and they try to kind of dress it spiritually I’m not

I’m not drawing fault at that I’m simply saying it’s a it’s a greater Authority than that it’s the authority that says thus saith the Lord so you come away with a priority here that God has for your life think of them as Commandments that God wants you and me to carry out okay so we start with a good thing things like prayer and giving and forgiving and work and maybe hardest of all obedience yet we fail to leave room for God to work we are overreaching

it’s not clear yet I understand that but it will get clear this morning one of the most frustrating examples I learned by examples I can talk a bunch of principles but when I break it down and give you this example you’re going to go I’ve done that for me personally it’s a spiritual overreach and it’s it’s a it’s a frustration for me but it’s in play in my heart is when I share the gospel or evangelize and it goes something like this let me let me

kind of share how it happens we all know the very last three verses of Matthew Jesus final words go all authorities been granted me in heaven on Earth so I say to you on the basis of that Authority go into all nations and make disciples teaching them everything that I’ve taught you baptizing them in the name of the father son of the Holy Spirit and guess what I will be with you always in that effort to the end of the age right Matthew 28 19-21 or

18 to 20. Okay those of you that were in the acts that he remember Jesus words in Acts chapter 1 the opening chapter of Acts which is Jesus saying hey stay in Jerusalem and when the Holy Spirit comes upon you you will receive power to do what exactly what Matthew recorded to be my witnesses to Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria and to the utmost parts of the world that’s Acts chapter 1 verse 8. So you got Matthew making a final word statement and acts agreeing now

here’s the deal stay with me we’re not told if in our effort to be his witness we’re not told if some many most all or none will believe we don’t know he didn’t say what we know is that we are to be his Witnesses done share the gospel done here’s where my struggle comes for a long time when I couldn’t I’d go on a missions trip I’d speak in Taiwan or Africa or far away places and it was there to reach Souls Reach people and I’d

come home we sometimes tease and call it missionary numbers you ever heard that it’s the embellishment that missionaries aren’t guilty of that it’s just we came to believe that you know man they work magic they go to some Far Away place and everybody that hears I mean I hear Brad butcher one of my favorite people in the world and he goes to India and all of India becomes a Christian in a day and then it happens the next time he goes you know and this kind

of thing but the point is there’s exciting things going on there but here’s the deal if you go to an exciting Place your job or your neighborhood your family and you you share the gospel not big and fancy but you just share the gospel and and you don’t have a conversion story to tell I’m tempted in that moment I want to say everybody believed everybody raised their hand everybody came forward or or where everybody was saved and will be in Heaven someday as a result of

my effort took me a long time to realize that the Bible not only in witnessing but the Bible in so many commands that God gives us to carry out those are the priorities we’re talking about are supposed to be practiced period and we should leave the results to him for the next few minutes I want to explain why that’s been so hard to do and I’m absolutely convinced in the holy spirit that it’s not just for me it’s hard for you maybe for the same three

reasons I’m going to give you quickly or maybe you’ve got your own that I would love to hear about I really would I’m not it’s important Okay so when we don’t leave the results to God that is spiritual overreach it is I thought about why that tendency in me and maybe us here’s the first reason we have trouble at times trusting that God is at work and will carry out his purposes confession time you take what part fits you okay but we have trouble at times

believing that God is at work and will carry out his purposes despite the fact that the Bible says I’m quoting Ephesians chapter 1 verse 11. You’ll eventually open your Bible in a few minutes to Luke 15. But here’s Ephesians 1 in Christ we were chosen having been predestined listen to this according to the plan of him who works everything in Conformity with the purpose of his will he works at everything not some things or most things everything according to plan so to my struggle sometimes to

trust that God’s at work Ephesians is saying that’s not a accurate perception Steve and that’s New Testament flip back to the Old Testament and Isaiah the prophet we’ve come to trust over the years right like anything in the Bible Isaiah says this in chapter 46 verse 10 he’s quoting God these are God’s words I make known the end from the beginning from ancient times what is still to come listen I say my purpose will stand and I will do what I please end quote Isaiah 46

verse 10. When someone says my purpose will stand and I do as I please you assume a couple of things you assume that they are a sovereign that they don’t need to get permission they don’t need to have counsel input they are all wise they are all-knowing and they are all powerful to pull it off right so when God says that that takes me from and I’m not really sure God’s at work I just don’t trust that he’s actually working sometimes behind the scenes the Bible’s

saying not only is he working he’s got it you do your part and remember the four-letter word done do your part so I’m going to press what I just said to an extreme that includes also Jesus death on a cross a situation that got out of hand nope according to his deliberate plan yep these words came out early in our study in Acts chapter 2 verse 23 happens to be early in the message the very first message by Peter the Apostle on the day of Pentecost

he’s trying to explain everything that’s going on and these are his words this man Jesus was handed over to you by Pontius Pilate write down acts it’s in your notes Acts 2 23 it does not say Pontius Pilate or anybody any other human person there it says handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge and you with the help of wicked men put him to death by nailing him to the Cross end quote if what I’m saying is true the Bible is saying I

have a predetermined plan I am absolutely Sovereign and in control of that plan and I do as I please if that’s all true then we need to make some adjustments I need to make the adjustment that that song Waymaker Waymaker miracle worker promise keeper light in the Darkness my God that is who you are and then it goes on to say even when I don’t see it you’re working when we sing songs this just happens to me automatically thanks to the wonderful leadership of our worship

people I visualize that because I don’t see it all the time even when I don’t see it you’re working even when I don’t here’s one more feel it you’re working and then it adds you never stop you never stop you’re always working can I get an amen is that cool or what this is not up to me do those words describe a struggle in you where you’re you don’t see you don’t feel and if you say yeah that’s me sometimes I just go oh I don’t

know I prayed nothing happened said I was sorry and asked forgiveness didn’t change anything shared the gospel with that guy nothing happened much more in those moments do you assume God is or isn’t working I want to tell you the other day I filled up a vehicle at Costco I tried to pick a time of day where I knew the line wouldn’t be long and I was off my planning so I had about 15 minutes in line and that was okay and I was texting people

and doing things that you know you’re not supposed to do when you’re moving and I wasn’t so I get up and I the guy fills up the car and I had Debbie’s car and comes over to my window and kind of stood there it was a little lazy moment I’m like man this place is crazy and he comes in my window I said so bro I said how’s your life going and I know he wanted to ask do you want to receive or not you know

you know the guy right and he he pauses and he walks the length of the car and comes back to the window he goes how could it be going well in the world we live in he says I’m telling you man there’s no one to vote for there’s no good options and I don’t see a good outcome said a couple more things my gas was done I was going to hold up the whole world if I don’t get going and I didn’t say hey you know

what I know there’s a candidate coming up that’s going to be different I said you know what I agree with you which is why I hold on tighter to Jesus Christ than I ever have he went from grumpy gas guy to can you take me home with you I mean it was like seriously it was a moment that’s all I said I’m just saying you know God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life you got 10 minutes I want to share the gospel

with you I just said the answer is Jesus I agree with you this is a bummer time in our world but I I hold on to Jesus amen that’s what I’m saying leave the results to God I went home thinking God I don’t know how you’re going to do it any further but you’re the one working so you see trusting that God is at work and carrying out his purposes is the correct place to land and it and it will prevent something that we’re capable of

and that’s spiritual overreach here’s the second reason that we have a tendency to overreach I think spiritually and that is we are results oriented people who get impatient easily would you write that one down I know it’s admitting a sin but go ahead and write it down and maybe it’s for somebody that’s not here and you’ll be able to share it with him but we are results oriented people which means we get sometimes impatient easily it’s not not hard to get there when we work at

something or wish for something and there’s little to no evidence that it’s happening we instinctively assume something and that is that it didn’t work let me give you a silly example but it happens to me I’m at my computer I click on something and there’s the icon that starts to Circle and they got colorful ones now to keep you from having a stroke you know you just you watch that thing Circle you know how many circles I let it do two two and I X out

and I try it again if it’s still there you know what I do reboot kick that thing to the curb and start over that’s called impatient because man I am I am a guy who wants results and it’s not happening so I’m going to start over painkillers are exactly the same way I know this gets serious I’m not talking anything with oxy I’m just talking ibuprofen okay I take I got a slight little it’s coming so I’ll take a couple right now and it’s how long

do you wait before you take a couple more Advil longer than me I’m here in four hours I’m like you’re kidding me you are a mercenary oh my goodness no I’m just like hey those first two maybe they were old I’ll try a couple more you know that’s you know the the club that’s a well-worn example but you know we go I gotta change it up I got to look a little different getting my one piece this summer and all this and so here’s what I’m

gonna do go to the club kill ourselves for four days and we see little to no results ah that didn’t work none none all right those are silly but here’s importantly where it comes into spiritual things think about a spiritual longing that you have in your heart for a spouse child a parent or a friend it’s a longing you have and I don’t mean any judgment here but you know they’re lost you know it and that’s what drives this longing in your heart your heart feels

a little bit like the Apostle Paul when he was you just need to read Romans 9 again verses one to three he just says listen to this he he had the same ache he wasn’t ripping on his fellow Jew he simply said I speak the truth in Christ I’m not lying my conscience confirms it through the holy spirit that I have great sorrow and increasing anguish in my heart I would be willing to be cursed in hell if they could be saved a passage in Romans

10 has bugged me forever because I don’t quite have it that hard but I feel it deeply so there’s this longing in our hearts and I want to get personal for a sec okay and I I there’s a if most of us made a list of the top three or five scriptures that are stories in the Bible that we we relate to the most most of us would have Luke 15. My Bible’s open there if you turn there real quick some of you are saying wow

it took him 30 minutes to get into the Bible it’s it’s really not true because I’ve been stitching all kinds of scriptures together but this is the story that Jesus told in Luke 15 of an estranged child a son one of two boys he left home in a huff and he went far away for a Time here’s how Jesus told the story verse 11 starts there was a man with two sons the younger one said to his father father give me my share of the estate

so he divided his property between them the two boys not long after that the younger son got together all he had set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in Wild living verse 30 adds more color to the wild learning living verse 14 now after he had spent everything he was in there was a severe famine in that whole country everywhere it was impacted and he began to be in need so he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country

who sent him to his field to feed pigs he longed to feel his stomach with pods that the pigs were eating but no one gave him anything when he came to his senses he said how many of my fire father’s hired servants have food Despair and here I am starving to death I’m going to set out and go back to my father and say to him father I’ve sinned against heaven and against you I’m no longer worthy to be called your son make me like one

of your hired servants so he did he got up went to his father and while he was still a long way off his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him and he ran to his son threw his arms around him and repeatedly kissed him the son said to him father I’ve sinned against heaven and against you I’m no longer worthy to be called your son but the father said none of this he said to his servants quick bring out the best robe put

it on my boy put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet bring the fat and calf and kill it let’s have a feast and celebrate for this son of mine was dead and he’s alive again he was lost and is now found and they began to celebrate glorious story quoted by me read by me to hundreds over the years because it’s so relevant something hit me this week that I not shared given this message even when you don’t see it he’s working if

you wondered as you read even read it again you know for the umpteenth time have you ever wondered what the dad did during the long days of not seeing his son that gets super practical for all of us because all of us know someone that’s lost we want more than anything maybe like Paul I’d give up everything for them to come home and we we ache for that and I’m asking the question of this Dad we don’t even know him except dad father and the father

by my reading with fresh eyes had no contact with his son from verses 13 to verse 20. None we just know he was far away and we knew we knew that he stayed there long enough to be a mess it was a problem yet when we read the details as we’ve done again we know that there was a lot not a little a lot happening behind the scene out of view completely of the sun’s circumstances notably he came to a place of powerful shameful need verses

14 to 16. Don’t tell me shame’s not is an awful terrible thing there are some iterations of shame that actually get a person’s attention he’s feeding pigs he comes to this place of going I was royalty look at this terrible mess I’ve made of my life which brings me to a second thing that was underway he came to terms with the fact that this situation in his life was his fault who leads with I’ve sinned against heaven and against you Dad except somebody that’s done making

excuses and I love verses 19 to 20 man all this behind the scene dad doesn’t know it until the day dad’s like what what it’s him 19-20 says he had resolved and went home this boy and the correct conclusion is God is at work and was at work the entire time this Wayward one was wayward and positive outcomes take time to marinate and we mustn’t become impatient lest we are tempted to overreach one more reason we’ve got time for it we often overreach spiritually and if

something hasn’t been hard for you to hear yet this morning this one might be a little hard for some to hear okay get ready to write again it’s your third one here it is we have a distorted even inflated view of our role and its impact that borders on hubris hubris isn’t just a synonym for pride it’s a defiant Pride it’s a defiant Pride we have a distorted even inflated view of our role and the impact of our touch that borders on hubris have you ever

thought I’m the only one who can pull this off that didn’t click with everybody here’s one that might have you ever thought if it’s up if it is to be I knew you helped me with that one if it is if it’s to be it’s up to me I’ve said that I really meant that and I was really wrong the holy spirit said for real you want to revisit that one bro it’s not up to you when you think like that you too are way off

the mark like I was and whenever it rises up in me not happening if it’s going to be I guess it’s up to me it’s a huge overreach the truth is According To Jesus Christ apart from me said Jesus what you can do nothing that was in John chapter 15 which is the last place you need to stop would you flip just one book over Luke go to John chapter 15 and you will join Jesus in the very last night he was with his disciples before

the cross he said that those words apart from me you can do nothing he said that to his ambitious disciples who’d spent now at this point three years with him and were well trained well equipped and may I say it highly motivated to go after it to get in the game in fact it made me think of a locker room conversation and and if you’ve been in sports you know some of this at some level it’s that coach that gathers the team together one last time

before the big game and they head out to the field or the court or whatever it is and it’s it’s called a locker room like like challenge or chat or something call it a pep talk it’s way more than that it’s like a like a warrior talk it’s this last talk and Jesus gave that last talk John 13 14 15 16 and 17. It was a whole night only chapter 15 is the core of it any any and so Jesus says hey it’s game time fellas

I’m leaving my work in your hands so go get them and good luck right not even close his actual words in this locker room were recorded in John 15. I’m going to read them now and I want you to count how many times a single expression a three-word expression repeats I’ll give you a hint it’s a lot verse one I am the True Vine and my father is the gardener he cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit while every branch that does bear

fruit he prunes it so that it’ll bear even more fruit you are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you remain in me as I also remain in you no Branch can bear fruit of itself it must remain in the vine neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me the hint here I’m emphasizing I am the vine you are the branches if you remain in me and I in you you’ll bear much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing

if you do not remain in me you’re like a branch that’s thrown away in Withers and brand these branches are picked up thrown into the fire and burned if you remain in me and my words remain in you ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you this is my F this is to my father’s Glory that you bear much fruit showing yourselves to be my disciples as the father has loved me so I have loved you now remain in my love if you

keep my Commandments you will remain in my love just as I have kept my father’s commands and remain in his love I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy May be complete remain in me you count 11 of them 11 times stay close connected abide walk in step with me remember I am the vine you are the branches my fathers The Gardener everybody knows their place and their role you will do well if you remember because here’s

the deal I’m in the game with you back to the locker room say where do you get that three of the verses verse 4 verse 5 and verse 7 that we just read it’s a mutual do you see that first of all don’t don’t know don’t miss it I’m not making this up remain in me as I also remain in you verse 4 verse five I am the vine to you if you remain in me and I in you you see that in verse 7 it

just keeps going if you remain in me and my words remain in you We Go Together his point is we walk together in this there’s more to the outcome of this game team then your effort so don’t overreach do your part and leave the results to him I’d like you to bow with me this morning as we wrap this up in song I want the the clearest moment to say to you if you’re in the house or you’re live stream I failed to welcome you in

earlier but we’re glad you’re with us hmm we’re talking a lot about we can only remain in him if we have a relationship with him it’s like we weren’t born into this thing we’re born again into this thing a relationship with a God that says let’s go together let’s walk the road the path ahead as one you need to remain in me and I’m going to remain in you my word wants to have a place at the table when you’re trying to decide your next move

I will furnish that my holy spirit will provide that so we can only remain in him if we have a relationship with him if that’s not true of you it’s no fault in fact it’s the starting point 100 of every person that says I’m a Jesus Lover or follower or a Christian started not in a relationship with him so you’re in a perfect place for it all to begin right now if you’re in the house or in your house will you turn to him right now

and and say you know I want I’ve been overreaching like crazy I’ve been trying to do things that just can’t be humanly done and I want to stop that I want to actually start a relationship with you you can do it right now if if you’re making a move the holy spirit’s moving in to live where he wants to live your heart would you reach out to me no pleasure would be greater in Ministry for my heart and to talk with you and say welcome it’s

good to have you in the family let’s walk together we’ve got brothers and sisters like crazy that’ll back you this great song I told the team before we set to come out here today that I don’t know of too many mom

Transcript machine-generated from the sermon audio, so it may contain errors. 7,603 words.