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[0:00] Okay, we'll be in John chapter 14.

[0:18] Is my mic on? John chapter 14, there we go.! Verses 15 to 24.

[0:30] I'm pausing because I'm realizing I want to be more and more open every Sunday.

[0:43] You know, Bart Burns has taught me something really valuable about announcements. It should never be like a business meeting. And so I don't want church to feel like a town hall either, right? And so I'm going to start with being really open about this, is that for whatever reasons, the Lord kept me from finishing this sermon this week.

[1:01] And it's not lost on me that I'm talking about the Holy Spirit, because my reliance on Him is going to be pretty huge this morning. And I ask you to not fear that.

[1:13] Because sometimes when we talk about the Holy Spirit in church, it can kind of conjure up memories. Now, you may not know this, but a long time ago when the dinosaurs roamed the earth, I was a part of the vineyard movement in Canada.

[1:28] And there were some interesting things that happened. There were some things that were, you know, truly beautiful and wonderful until people started to try and make something happen.

[1:41] There was an absence of the Holy Spirit after a little while. And you might know exactly what I'm talking about. Where it's like we can have the programs, we can have the things, we can have the stuff, we can have the building, we can do all of that.

[1:54] But without the reliance on the Holy Spirit, it's just human effort. And that doesn't go very far. We all have a gas tank. Sometimes our social gas tank is really little.

[2:05] Sometimes it's very big, depending on if you're an extrovert or an introvert, right? I think we can be like that if we're not careful when it comes to church. God will never leave us or forsake us.

[2:16] He doesn't leave us alone. This was one of the most important things that the Lord got across to me when I first became a Christian. I was just turning 16.

[2:29] And that idea of not being orphaned anymore, this passage meant so much to me. I was raised in a home that was a very alcoholic and emotionally abusive house.

[2:41] Just to run and hide was a normal thing in my house. Okay? And I'm saying that simply because you start to do things on your own at a survival.

[2:54] You get good at being your own help, your own counsel. So when I started to go to church, and it was a lovely, lovely church of people. It really was. People were very interested in helping and loving and caring.

[3:09] And my immediate reaction was like, Nope. Nope. Nope. This isn't normal. You're all not normal, right? And I fought with that so, so hard.

[3:20] I really did. Because the idea of learning that the Holy Spirit is our helper then became something else. I didn't understand what that meant for a while. But at this time, right now, what we're reading, it's the final 24 hours before the cross.

[3:40] And Jesus thought, I've got to hit some things home. I need to get some messages across to the disciples, to the people that were around in my final moments. This is what's closing off what we've been studying through this last little while, which was also called Passion Week.

[3:55] And I took a dip out of Matthew, which we've been teaching through, only because the Gospel of John does something unique. A quarter of the Gospel of John is focused on about six hours of Jesus' life in this evening, which means it's worth actually dipping into that to learn more about the things that Jesus felt are really important for the church to know, for you and me as individuals to know.

[4:20] He'd be taken to trial. Within 24 hours, his body would lie in a tomb. So what he speaks now, he speaks carefully and intentionally.

[4:32] Verse 15, If you love me, you will keep my commandments. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And you might be thinking, all right, what are the commandments of Jesus exactly?

[4:49] And I wrote them out. Love God. Love others. Love like Jesus. Pray. And he taught us how to pray. Go and make disciples.

[5:01] This is an others' first venture. This is an others' first thing that Jesus is calling us on toward. It's important for us to see that because as we were learning last week, it's really, really easy to love the lovable.

[5:20] It's easy to love people that will show us love and like in reward, right? It's really easy. It's not easy to love people that do not like you and do not love you.

[5:36] And this is where the decision of love comes into play. It's not a feeling. It's a decision. I choose to love. I choose the Jesus way. I love that, by the way. I choose to love even when it seems difficult.

[5:49] I choose to love even when it's impossible. I choose to love even when the person is so wildly against you. You choose to love anyway. That's the Jesus way.

[6:02] Do we tell the truth? How do we conduct our lives toward other people? Do we allow things to master us? Because the demonstration of loving others, of keeping his commandments, it's a demonstration of how obedient we are to God.

[6:22] And that's a sobering thing for us to process. How we love one another is demonstration of our obedience to God.

[6:35] Do you really love other people? Or do you just love your chosen? Do you love other people to the point of sacrifice? Or do we just like people until they wrong us and then, oh, we don't like them anymore?

[6:49] Right? Do we love anyway? Jesus commanded them to wash one another's feet, to love one another after the pattern of his love for them.

[7:01] And as we learned last week, that washing of feet, that's a gross job. Really gross job. But I imagine that Jesus did it very carefully, intentionally, meaningfully.

[7:13] He didn't just simply just dump some water and walk away. I'm sure he took time because he wanted his love to be complete for them. And Peter, of course, he gets up and he's like, no, no, no, no.

[7:25] You're not going to do this for me. And I'll say again that Peter was a guy that, I mean, he was at the transfiguration. He saw Jesus. He saw Moses. He saw Elijah. He saw this beautiful experience.

[7:38] Supernatural. Hard to explain. He saw three years of Jesus' ministry. Healing the sick. Casting out demons. Loving people. Reading their mail and understanding them and giving them comfort and care in their situations.

[7:50] He saw all of this for three, some odd years. He walked on water. And like I said, not for very long, but that's not the point. He still walked on water towards Jesus. And even all of that on his resume, Jesus said, if I do not wash you, you have no part of me.

[8:07] No part of me. So this obedience, this walking the Jesus way, it's really important. Really important for us.

[8:18] Because it's very easy of thinking of love with Jesus being emotional. When I am in worship, I tend to feel emotion at times.

[8:30] Because when I really think about the words, when I think of how it hits my heart, and I let myself go to that, I'm so grateful that it's hard to contain it.

[8:41] There are some songs when I've led worship in the past. Like there's one called The Stand. I can't get through that thing. I can't. It's like I stopped leading it because I just, no.

[8:52] I can't. Because it's so personal to me. Okay. But the thing is this. If all our relationship with the Lord is based on feelings, we're missing the point.

[9:04] Because feelings is one thing. And if you're not feeling something with your relationship with God, even that sense of repentance should stir feelings within you.

[9:16] Then there's something wrong. But if we're living our life based on feelings and not obedience, there's something wrong. Feelings are not the answer.

[9:28] And I shared a story, you know, in discipleship class, and I will right now. I forget this from Maria. But it's like there was a time when Maria was really sick.

[9:41] I mean, like telling me who I should marry next sick. Okay. Really sick. And I started running through my mind.

[9:53] Okay. What would it be like as a single father? How would I do this? The three kids, they were young. Really young. I was working full time. Kids needed to be homeschooled at different parts of that.

[10:05] I was just, I felt this sense of what am I going to do? And then it just started hitting me. It's that this is a decision to love.

[10:16] This is a decision. A willful decision to stand up, show up. As Jamie is reminding us constantly right now in the best way possible. Be there. Right?

[10:27] Be there. It's not an emotional decision. You stand up and you do what's got to be done. That is a willful obedience. As a father and as a husband. The best I could do.

[10:38] Those years were hard. Lonely. Okay. But when we base things on emotion, we think, oh, I'm not feeling it right now.

[10:49] I'm not going to do this. I just don't feel it anymore. I don't feel that. That doesn't matter. You do it because you're supposed to do it. You show up as a father because you are meant to parent these children.

[11:01] And you leave them. And you know, I can say with complete blessing that all my kids are either in ministry or moving into ministry right now. And you know what? It has nothing to do with us. It has everything to do with the Holy Spirit.

[11:13] Seizing their hearts. Moving them on through calamity, difficulty and otherwise. Joy and victories. And now they're starting to tell people about Jesus more and more and more. Praise God for this. Our little decisions will cause a ripple effect.

[11:28] Our decisions based on feeling are like a flash in the pan. They're there and they're gone tomorrow. If you have an emotional love for Jesus where your heart is filled with how much you love the Lord and you're grateful for all he's done.

[11:45] Hallelujah. Good. But it's not rooted in that. It's not rooted in emotion. Our love has to be connected with keeping his commands. We can be the most demonstrative worshiper.

[12:01] We could dance in the aisles. We could have flags in the aisles. And you know what? That's just fine by me. But if you're acting like the devil himself the other six days, there's something wrong. You see what I mean?

[12:12] It can't be based on emotion. It can't. There has to be a willful obedience day by day, stepping forward towards Christ. And you worship outside of that.

[12:24] You can't help yourself. And if you're climbing the rafters, you can't help yourself simply because you have a day-to-day relationship with Jesus where you're growing closer to him. You're loving others. You're learning how to pray.

[12:35] You're learning what to do, how to move, how to speak, and how to be more like him. Because disobedience isn't a failure of strength. It's a failure of love. Disobedience isn't, I'm not going to follow this rule.

[12:48] It's no, it's not loving Jesus enough to follow him. That's where the failure comes in. When we love God the most, we will obey him the most naturally and joyfully.

[13:03] His burden, if you want to call that, of obedience is a joy to those who love him. Father, you want to send me here?

[13:14] You want me to do this? Okay. You want me to sacrifice this? You want me to give up that? Okay. It's a natural, joyful approach. You count the cost, but you obey step by step.

[13:28] Some will say, I really love Jesus. I just don't want him to tell me how to live my life. It doesn't work like that. That's a feelings-based approach. I love Jesus the way I want to love him.

[13:41] I read the passages that just tell me, oh, I'm a good boy. But I don't want to live like him. I don't want to sacrifice like him. I don't want to love those who hate me.

[13:52] I don't want to spend my time helping other people. No, no, no. I just want to hear the good things. That isn't the gospel. That isn't the gospel at all. The source of our obedience isn't fear or earning a blessing.

[14:09] It's love. That's the source of our obedience. Love God so much that he could tell you to move to the Arctic and you'd say, when?

[14:22] Love God so much that he could tell you to love your enemy and you'll just say, how? Love God so much that when he says to show up to work on Monday morning with a good attitude, you'll say, yes.

[14:36] Love God so much that when he tells you to read his word and keep it in your heart, you start right there. Love God. That's our motivation for obedience.

[14:48] Because when you love someone, it does not feel difficult to sacrifice for them. It's easy. It's natural. Verse 16. And I will ask the Father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever.

[15:03] Now, this another helper, the original language has two different directions. A helper of a different kind and a helper of the same kind. Jesus was very specific to use the helper of a same kind.

[15:16] And that means he's saying that he's sending the Father, he's sending the Holy Spirit after Jesus leaves him, leaves us, sorry. Okay? And he would be of the same kind.

[15:28] It's like if you were to say, prove the Trinity exists without telling me the Trinity exists. It's like this. The Son asks the Father to send a helper. The Father sends a helper.

[15:38] Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We see such a beautiful example of the Trinity right there. And this is what's happening. And this helper is eternal forever.

[15:50] In a way that we can't wrap our minds around, Jesus is saying the Spirit will be a greater helper. Now, think about that from the standpoint of a disciple.

[16:02] You've been walking around seeing Jesus do his stuff for the better part of three years. You're amazed by this man. You have come to understand him as the Messiah.

[16:14] All that you've been taught is turned upside down. This man right here is the one. And then he starts talking about the end of the world. He starts talking about how he's not going to be around much longer.

[16:27] And a part of you and your heart starts to sink a little just thinking, well, what are we going to do? The normal rabbinical teaching would have been way beyond three years. Much longer.

[16:38] So it would have felt like things were being cut short for these guys. What do you mean you're leaving? We're not trained up yet. We can't just go out there and do this.

[16:49] You can't just leave us. So Jesus is saying, no, no, no, no. You don't understand. I am sending you a helper that will help you more. Eternally. An advisor.

[17:05] A mediator. A legal defender. Someone who comes alongside and helps you. That's what a helper means. Someone who comes alongside and helps you.

[17:17] A mediator. An advocate in some translations. Think about that for a moment. In the times where you felt alone. In the times where you felt like the weight of the world was upon your shoulders and it was difficult and crushing.

[17:32] Jesus is saying there is a helper for you in that situation right now. There is an advocate who will stand beside you and say he's with me.

[17:43] She's with me. There is a helpmate. There is a helper that will come alongside you. Be your friend. Your guide. This is what the Lord has done for us.

[17:55] This is who the Holy Spirit is. You notice how Jesus doesn't call the Holy Spirit an it. That's an important distinction. Because some today will want to treat it like the force from Star Wars.

[18:06] Something to manipulate. Something that can fall. But in reality this is God. Part of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit. And Jesus says him. He.

[18:18] Okay. There's language there. The Holy Spirit has a mind. Will. Emotions. Desires. And the ability to relate to us.

[18:30] He isn't simply God's power. Or this impersonal force. He is a part of the Trinity. He is God. God. Jesus didn't leave his disciples so they could carry on without him either.

[18:43] It was to their advantage. Now I don't know about you. But there have been a lot of times. Where I just. I just want to breathe the same air as Jesus.

[18:55] I want to be close enough to him. Where I can hear him speak. I want to read these words and imagine. And when. You know. I was talking with Annette about this earlier.

[19:06] Just about being in the country. Being in Israel. You know. I remember that there are places where you go. And you're reading the Bible. Exactly. Where. Jesus stood. Or sat.

[19:18] Or walked. And it hits hard. Because you realize. This is an event that happened. Here it is. Here in scripture. There it is there. This countryside. The southern steps where he taught.

[19:31] Right there. And you're sitting on them. There's something amazing about that. So to think that Jesus is sending a helper. Greater than that. A helper that is here.

[19:42] Even now to today. This morning. For you and me. That's a bit mind blowing. But it is exactly what we're being told. The Christian life is not supposed to be.

[19:54] Jesus saved me. Now I'll try really hard to be like him. I'm going to try so hard. It's not like that. It's supposed to be a life in which God himself. Is present within the believer.

[20:07] Teaching. Guiding. Convicting. Empowering. Comforting. And transforming. Jesus. Loves us enough.

[20:18] To pick us where we are. And not leave us there. You've heard that before. I have too. But the heart of it remains the same. He moves us. To somewhere else.

[20:29] He loves us so much. That he sent his Holy Spirit. To be with us. In those moments. So that we wouldn't be the same people. From ten years ago. We won't be the same people.

[20:41] Ten years from now. Let's continue moving on towards him. In obedience. Feel it in the heart. Walk it out with the feet. Right?

[20:53] The evidence of the spirit isn't necessarily. Large emotional experiences. I think it's just simply this. It's a transformed life. You live different.

[21:05] That's the evidence of the spirit that I see. We have spiritual gifts given to us by the Father. But a maturing Christian life that gets closer to Jesus. Looks like better decisions.

[21:18] Prayer. Obedience. Courage. Sacrifice. And asking ourselves daily. What would Jesus do in this situation? Would Jesus have me hate this person?

[21:32] Would Jesus have me deny someone love and goodness? Would Jesus have me forgive? You know the answers to all of these.

[21:44] Right? I don't have to explain that. The spirit leads us towards holiness and love. We have to stay away from pursuing spiritual power.

[21:54] Because we want attention. Or we want position. Or we want fame. In any way. Spirit filled does not always mean the spectacular.

[22:08] Sometimes it can mean a very quiet decision. Done invisibly. That is obedient to God. No, I will not do that. Because my eyes will wander.

[22:20] No, I will not hate that way. Because that person may be affected by that hate. No, I will choose to forgive. Even though they do not forgive me.

[22:32] No, I will choose to do the Jesus way. Even though my flesh feels the opposite. Those quiet little things. Are evidence of a spirit filled life.

[22:46] They aren't necessarily showy. No one may ever know about it. But the Lord knows about it. And he's seeing us make those quiet little decisions. Now that may spill out into something wonderful.

[22:59] Someone may feel led so wholeheartedly to pray out loud. And to give thanks to Jesus in that moment. Great. Good. But it comes from a changed and transformed life.

[23:10] Not the idea to perform. We can actually resist or grieve the Holy Spirit.

[23:21] We can become so afraid of getting it wrong that we shut him down. Well, okay. We can't let any of that craziness happen. Okay.

[23:32] We're just going to, no. We're just going to keep it tight. You know, don't let anything weird happen. Until you understand and you read the ministry of Jesus. Kingdom ministry is messy business. You're dealing with the lives of people that are hurt and broken and needing healing.

[23:46] It can be tearful at times, to say the least. We have to allow that. Don't be afraid of what the Holy Spirit does. But don't grieve him by trying to make it happen either.

[23:59] There was an outpouring that happened in Canada years and years and years ago. When I say outpouring, I mean there was just like a very genuine worship. There was healings that were happening.

[24:12] Some really cool things. And by my reckoning, it lasted about a month. But they kept on trying to do it a year later. And I kept on hearing from people that it just looked like a lot of people trying to make something good happen again.

[24:29] I don't know what grieves the Holy Spirit more. Blocking it or trying to fake it until you make it. We have to be careful with that. We cannot block what the Holy Spirit does.

[24:42] We shouldn't. But we also have to recognize it's not by our power. It's not by our work or our handiwork or our knowledge or our training that will do it. The Holy Spirit does his work.

[24:53] And he always points people back to Jesus. Always. So don't quench the spirit because you're afraid of getting it wrong. Test things biblically.

[25:04] The Bible is our guide this way. If I read it in the Bible, I know it's true. If Jesus did it, I know it's possible. With him. Things that we make up on our own.

[25:16] Well, test it against the Bible. And see if it's in God's word. Scripture remains the standard. But we have to remain open to the Spirit's activity.

[25:31] So the question isn't only, do I have the Holy Spirit? It's am I walking with him? Am I walking in obedience with him? Am I obeying his commandments to show him how much I love him?

[25:45] Because you can have correct theology about the Holy Spirit and practically ignore him your entire life. And that's tragic. Let's live a life with the Holy Spirit.

[25:56] With actual communion with God. Through prayer. Scripture. Stillness. Listening. Obedience. And surrender. Surrender. And don't ask the Holy Spirit to bless your plans.

[26:10] Learn to follow him. It's one thing to rush ahead and say, okay, God, I want you to come and bless this. It's another thing to say, Father, I'm going to follow you.

[26:22] And if that means right now I have to wait, I'm going to wait. But when you tell me to step, I'm going to step even if I don't know where you're taking me. Obey.

[26:34] And love. Another wrong direction we can take in our thinking is, what's God's plan for my life? Man, that's a rabbit hole you can get lost down.

[26:45] Lord, what do you want for my life? I used to have this whole answer, especially being a youth pastor. You get that question a lot, you know. And I used to have this pat answer that I would go down.

[26:56] You know what it's boiled down to today when people ask me that? It's follow God today. Follow him right now. Ask, Lord, where do you want me to go?

[27:08] Who do you want me to speak with? How do you want me to love like you love today? Don't worry about tomorrow. Right now. For the rest of Sunday. Just ask yourself that question.

[27:22] Okay? How do I follow God today? Rather than needing a five-year blueprint, well, you know, and I hate to say it for the planners out there. Right?

[27:33] Because I know some people, and I'm myself included, I'd love to have a five-year plan. That'd be great. But I have a bit of a joke here where it's like I'll come in on Monday and I have a plan for the week.

[27:45] And I'm pretty fortunate if half of it gets accomplished because of other things that happen. Important things that need to happen. That's the way it is. I think that's the way it works with the Lord in our life too.

[27:56] We can think, hey, for the next five years I'm going to do this and this and this. And he has, well, maybe other plans for you. And he directs. Love him by obeying. And it can mean that he's going to call you to something uncomfortable.

[28:12] Maybe giving someone something, sorry, not someone. Giving something away. Serving someone. Speaking up. Changing direction. Confronting sin. Or stepping into something beyond our own abilities.

[28:25] Maybe that's what it's going to take for you. If everything we can do can be explained by human ability, there's something missing. Huge.

[28:36] Are our lives actually distinguishable from lives lived outside of God? Or is it all on our own effort? Is our Christianity created by our own hands instead of something here?

[28:52] Not just a feeling, but a decision towards him day by day. I was thinking long about it this week. I don't want my life to be explainable outside of the Holy Spirit.

[29:06] I don't want my life to be explainable outside of the Holy Spirit. I want to be a follower. And it's going to look nuts from the world's perspective. It really will. And maybe that's what he's calling you on to do.

[29:19] Is to look a little crazy from the world's perspective. That's okay. I'd rather the Holy Spirit think what's happening is pretty awesome. And we follow him. This is a call to live in such radical dependence upon God.

[29:34] The way you love. The way you forgive. Serve. Sacrifice. Give. Endure. Evangelize. Pray. And obey. Cannot simply be assigned to our personalities or our own human efforts.

[29:48] It has to be more. It has to be a move of the Spirit. Through his power. And in Jesus' name. So how does this affect our church? We talk about this from a personal point of view.

[30:00] How does this affect us as a body? Well. The church shouldn't be able to function well without the Holy Spirit. We have a lot of capable souls here. We really do. We have a lot of good people.

[30:12] And I know like if a barn need to be built. The barn would be built. Figuratively and literally. Okay. But I don't want us to be a church that can do anything terribly well without the Holy Spirit.

[30:25] We need him. We need him. Especially when we step on each other's toes. When there's misunderstandings. When there's old things that have not been forgiven or forgotten.

[30:37] We need the Holy Spirit to rewrite our heart. To change us from the inside out. So that we can love like Jesus loves. And we can do things on not on our own strength.

[30:50] The Holy Spirit is here to give us that courage. The words to speak. The actions to take. He's there to guide us as our helper through these situations.

[31:01] And that is why this church is so great. Because the Holy Spirit has been present. In quiet moments. And I pray that he will continue and expand his influence more and more and more.

[31:15] So it's not just human ideas. It's humans following after his leading. We can lead a lot on preaching or music or leadership programs, marketing, facilities.

[31:29] Or just simple administration and organization. And none of that is bad. It's good to have those things. And in good measure. Leaning towards Christ. It really is. The question is whether they are a substitute for dependence upon God.

[31:47] Are our bank accounts. Are they a substitute for dependence upon God? Are our ideas of what leadership should look like a substitute for dependence upon God?

[31:58] I don't know about you. But whenever I've kind of thought too much of myself. God usually shows me fairly quickly. No. Sorry, pal. And that thing that I clung to.

[32:11] Is either removed or put into place. Where I'm reminded that my reliance is upon him entirely. So I don't know about you. But I'd like this church to be dependent upon the Holy Spirit.

[32:24] Completely. Steward what we have well. Love well. Love well. But rely on the Holy Spirit. To show us how.

[32:34] And give us the right courage. Because the church in Acts. It's a community that needed the Holy Spirit. Desperately. They prayed for boldness. They shared positions.

[32:45] They took risks. They were witnessing. They were seeing God do things that they couldn't accomplish with their bare hands. They were seeing God do things.

[32:55] And accomplish things that they didn't understand. But were amazing. Because they were by his spirit. Verses 17 to 21.

[33:06] And I'll close shortly after this. Even the spirit of truth. Whom the world cannot receive. Because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him. For he dwells with you.

[33:16] And will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Yet a little while. And the world will see me no more. But you will see me. Because I live. You also will live.

[33:27] And in that day. You will know that I am in my father. And you in me. And I in you. Whoever has my commandments. And keeps them. He it is who loves me. And he who loves me.

[33:39] Will be loved by my father. And I will love him. And manifest myself to him. Jesus is assuring him. This isn't over. Our time together.

[33:50] Is not over. This is just the beginning boys. It's just starting. Whatever valley. Whatever desert you've been through. That the Holy Spirit has guided you through.

[34:01] It's just the beginning. There are mountains. And meadows. And beautiful things ahead. Just keep following after the Holy Spirit. The disciples would see him again.

[34:13] Because when he rose from the dead. He revealed himself to many. But I kind of like it. That Jesus leaves this example to us. He didn't walk into Pilate's office. And drop a mic.

[34:25] You know how tempting that must have been. I mean to somebody who is not Jesus. Didn't work. Right. Instead he chose to show his love. And his abilities. And his appearance.

[34:35] To those who loved him. And he let the truth speak for itself. We can share a life with God. The Father. And the Son.

[34:46] Through the Spirit. And we are not abandoned. Verses 22 to 24. Judas. Not Iscariot. I do like. I got to stop there.

[34:57] I love that. It was like Judas. Just not that other guy. Okay. Somebody different. Judas. Not Iscariot. Said to him. Lord. How is it that you will manifest yourself to us. And not to the world.

[35:08] Jesus answered 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 home with him. Whoever does not love me. Does not keep my words.

[35:19] And the word that you hear. Is not mine. But the Father's who sent me. This love that Jesus spoke about. Is personal.

[35:30] If anyone who loves. Jesus. Now I hope. That in this church. You and I. Can look across. All of this area. And say.

[35:40] Man. These are people that love Jesus. But it is a really important question. For us to ask ourselves. Do I love Jesus? Personally. Do I love him?

[35:54] We have to ask ourselves that. As a group. We can say. Yes. We love Jesus. Sure. It is in all our documentation. It is everything. You know. He is everything to us. Is he everything to you.

[36:05] As a person. This love relates to the teachings of Jesus. To keep his word. Not simply read it. To keep it. And keeping includes the idea of obeying.

[36:18] But it also means to love it. And to guard it. The world will want us to water down the word. To allow a whole host of other things. That have nothing to do with what's in the word of God.

[36:29] We need to guard that. This is a hill I will die on. We will teach the word of God. Chapter by chapter. And verse by verse. In any way we can. And this is important.

[36:40] Because the world will want us to stray from that. I want us to take one step further. The enemy of God. Doesn't want us rooted in the word of God.

[36:52] Okay. When there's a love for Jesus. There is God's presence. Do you want the father. The son.

[37:03] And the holy spirit. In your life. Today. Do you want that. Do you want that helper. To bring you courage. To help you make decisions.

[37:13] To give you the direction that you need. And require. To help you love the unlovable. To love those who do not love you. We need the holy spirit for this.

[37:25] The door is open. There's a promise. And we need the promise of the holy spirit. And there's a truth. That our love in Jesus. And for Jesus. In some measure.

[37:36] Is seen in our obedience to him. And we need the revelation. That God's presence. Is seen in our love for Jesus. And our obedience to his word. So as I pray.

[37:49] Ask the Lord. For a time of refreshing. With his holy spirit. Just ask him. Maybe it's been a while. And it may not motivate you. To do cartwheels in the center aisle.

[38:01] That's okay you know. You don't have to. Right. But it might just make you be kind. It might just make you forgive. It might allow yourself.

[38:11] To be forgiven. The holy spirit moves in mysterious. And mighty ways. Some visible. Some invisible. So ask yourself. Do I love Jesus?

[38:24]  Maybe you need a refreshing time. With the holy spirit today. Ask him that too. Let's pray. Thank you. may may may may!