mm hmm. Now most weeks I'm up here preaching and I'm gonna be back here preaching uh next sunday. But I have the privilege of introducing a very special guest speaker. This is a speaker that I've been listening to for years and years and years. In fact as a child, I would tag along with this guest preacher as he would pulpit supply and preach at little churches in rural towns in Ohio and we would go and I would get excited uh not just for the message because after the message, we would go to Mcdonald's and so I can't promise you Mcdonald's after the message. But what I can do is introduced to you, one of my favorite speakers and my father jim cradle Mhm He's my favorite speaker. So I don't know how that works. And what I liked was when we had to stick around and do the evening service. We usually could find a golf course to go play in the afternoon to amen to that. So that was fun too. So well, thank you for that. If you were to die tonight and stand before your heavenly father and he were to ask you, why should I let you into heaven? What would your answer be? That was the question that we asked people on the street when I was doing a documentary for somewhere Forever Ministry. Somewhere Forever ministries is based on the idea that when we all passed from this life, we all live somewhere forever. And the question is, do you, will you live it with God in a place called heaven, or will you live it apart from God in a place the bible describes as hell. We got a bunch of interesting answers. We had a bunch of folks from different walks of life, we had some atheists, we had some jews that had their own views. Um, we had some Canadians that I'll never forget because they spoke in true, Canadian a they're like, oh yeah, you know, you gotta have jesus, you know? Hey, right. A and I was like, yeah, right, okay. All right. I, I just love those folks, but we had a lot of people that said they believed in God, some would think they're going to heaven just because they don't oppose jesus. I don't have a problem with jesus, I'm fine with you. I'm cool with jesus. Jesus is all right with me. He's kind of like that. Do we Brothers song? You know, Jesus is just alright with me. All right, we gotta, we gotta stop, we'll move on. Jesus is just all right. Oh yeah. All right. We gotta go, we gotta keep going here, do do do do do do, I'm stopping. I'm stopping right now now. You know where john gets it? Right. Was there any question in your mind? Where does john get his, his quirks? I don't know. They come from his dad. So some people bought it as insurance. I don't really know if it's true or not. I don't really care if it's true or not. I just think of it. It happens to be true. I better be covered. So yeah, I'll take jesus, kind of like you take them as an insurance policy just in case uh, they're telling the truth, these christians and they would actually think of jesus as a spare tire in the trunk of their car in case their life goes off the rails, pop the trunk, jesus pops out, solves problems. Boom, Right. I got news for those people. God did not sacrifice his only son on across to suffer and die so you could use them as a spare tire in the trunk of your car. Can I get an Amen? Amen? Alright, Here's some of the most common responses from people that said they believed in God. We throw these up on the screen. Um I've been pretty good. I think I'm better than most people. I've raised good kids. We heard that one a lot. I've been a good mother, I've been a good father. My kids turned out well, I must be doing okay. I must I probably should get into heaven just because I was a good parent. This one always made me laugh a little bit because this is based on the idea that there's 50% divide between heaven and hell and 50% of the people are going to go to heaven, 50% are gonna go to hell. So you don't have to be like a righteously pure person, you just gotta be that 51% person, you know, I'm better than 49% of the other people out there and I'll be ok. And then there was the thought and this was the most common answer. I'm not perfect, but I do the right thing most of the time I've done more good things than bad things. So that was the the real common answer. Um people think that if I just do enough, good God will probably overlook the bad that I do and it'll all work out uh for me in heaven, but you know, even christians fall into this trap. But first of all, we gotta we gotta just stop and list the truth because you really can't get in to heaven based on the number of good works. I'm reminded of Ephesians two verses eight and nine, which was the ah ha moment for someone named martin Luther when he started his protestant reformation and it says for by grace, you have been saved through faith and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works so that no one may boast, but again, christians even fall into this trap. If I just act righteously, I'll be more righteous or maybe put a better way. I know that my life is screwed up and I know that I keep hidden from a lot of people, how messed up I really am. But if I just keep doing good things for other people, then I'll be okay or more important, maybe they'll think I'm doing okay. So we do fight this thing about good works, which brings us to our main idea, our big idea for the day. Our big idea is to stop focusing on fruitfulness and turn your focus to faithfulness. What do we mean by that? Well, if you brought your bibles, you can follow along in john 15, where jesus gives this beautiful analogy of being divine and we are the branches, john 15 verse one, I am the true vine and my father is the gardener, every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to, you abide in me and I and you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine. So neither can you unless you abide in me. And here comes a big one. In verse five, I am the vine. You are the branches he who abides in me and I in him he bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. So there it is. We need to be connected to the vine. And then and only then are we actually able to produce valuable fruit? You see the branches don't go out on their own and produce the fruit and then bring it back to the vine and present. Hey, vine, we went out and made this fruit. What do you think? Is it nice? Good. Right. No, it doesn't work that way. In fact, apart from the vine, the branches can't produce fruit. It has to be a healthy connection to the vine and notice that it's a 24/7 relationship. I don't just love my wife one day a week, right? If you're in a healthy marriage, you don't just love your spouse on a sunday and then it's like good luck, we'll see you in a week or so. No, it's seven days a week, that's what a healthy relationship is. But we tend to get a little bit backwards with, with putting works ahead of the card, ahead of the horse. So that brings us to our second point today. It's not service that leads to better righteousness, it's righteousness that leads to better service. First comes righteousness, then comes the service. Let's go in verse six here on Chapter 15, if anyone does not abide in me, he has thrown away as a branch and dries up and they gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. A branch that tries to live apart from the vine, simply dries up. Notice the vine doesn't kill the branch, the vine doesn't say, well, shame on you, I'm gonna kill you know, once the branch separates from the vine it kills itself, It has no no nourishment, no life sustaining connection. And then we go to verse seven, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it shall be done for you. What really can I just add, wow! If you're connected to the vine, if you abide in the vine and stay connected to the vine, there is nothing you cannot do, says jesus, Who's this is, by the way, we're quoting Jesus here in John 15 and then we get diverse eight by this is my father, glorified that you bear much fruit and proved to be my disciples. You see, Jesus wants us to do good deeds, Jesus wants us to produce fruit. Jesus wants us to do good works. Jesus wants us to serve our community. A big part of john's ministry here, Mission Grove is to serve the community. If you haven't heard that, you haven't been here for a while because he'll say it almost every sunday, we're here to serve the community. And here it is. Right here in verse eight. This is my father being glorified. That you bear much fruit that you serve your community. Why? Because the community then we'll see us and we'll see jesus in us and we'll get a true picture of who jesus is and our heavenly father will be glorified Verse nine, just as the father has loved me, I have also loved you. Therefore abide in my love. So how do we do this actually? How do we actually abide in Jesus? Well, the key is found in verse 10. Here it comes. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. Another translation for the word commandments, here's teachings. Maybe that makes more sense to you. If you keep my teachings, If you follow my teachings, Jesus said, that's when you abide in me and I in you. And by the way, Jesus said, I'm the example, I do this, I keep my father's teachings. I keep my father's commandments, and I abide in his love. I want you to follow that same example. And what does the abiding lead to? In verse 11. Watch this. These things. I have spoken to you, that your joy, my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full. Who doesn't want that? Who doesn't want more joy in their life? Especially in the last 12, 18 months. Who doesn't need a little more joy in their life? Notice how many times that the word abide appears here. In fact, we're gonna play a little game this morning. I hope you can follow along this game. It's kind of the churches answer to the drinking game. What can I say that? No, I can't. What? It's where you take. You hear a word and you take a drink of you know, kool Aid, come on, water, soda pop. All right, We'll just leave it at that. But instead of actually drinking, we're actually going to say the word amen. So here's what I want you to do, Blitzer. Every time you hear the word abide, I want you to respond by saying the word Amen. Let's practice abide. Not bad. Better than the first service. First service was like. And I said, do I have to whisper? Want me to whisper? No, You guys were great. All right, Let's go verse four. You ready? Here we go. Abide in me and I, and you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine. So neither can you unless you abide in me. For I am the vine, and you are the branches he who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing if anyone does not abide in me, he's thrown away as a branch and dries up when they gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. But if you abide in me, keep your energy up now, and my words abide in you ask whatever you wish, and that should be done for you by this is my father glorified that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples, just as the father has loved me. I've also loved you. Therefore abide in my love. Almost done. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide In his love. Amen. Alright, why do we say that? Well, I just wanted to point out that this word is used 10 times where you keeping track 10 times in six verses, jesus goes with the word abide, which brings us to our next point. Abide is the key that unlocks the other doors of your life. Put another way abide is the key that unlocks the other spiritual doors of your life. It's the key abiding in jesus is the key. Who doesn't want the key to unlock it. Movies have been made about getting the right key and here we have it. If we stay connected to the vine and we abide in the vine, we get the key to all the other doors of life. So what is the definition of abide? Well, like other words in the english language, it can have different connotations, You have different context. For words, abide is no different. So you could be like dwelling, you abide in the house, you dwell in that house, you stay in that house, you abide in there for years and years and years. But when it comes to a relationship abide means simply this. The definition of abide is an active, ongoing continuous relationship. I'll say it again active, ongoing continuous relationship. We need to stop focusing on the doing and start focusing on the beam. The being tightly connected to the vine. How can you say you love jesus and not being a healthy relationship with him? I love my wife. I don't know where she is. Haven't seen her in days, Haven't talked to her in a long time, but I love her. I hope she does. Well, I don't want any harm come to her. Is that the sign of a good relationship? No. Is that the sign of a really poor husband? Yes. Why? Because I'm in a loving relationship with my wife. I know where she is most of the time. She knows where I am most of the time. We don't plan it that way. It's just that we're in this relationship called love where we support each other and to do that, we need to know what each other's going through. That's the mark of a healthy relationship. If I say that I love her and I don't stay in touch. That doesn't add up. I'm either a phony or I have no clue what true love really is now. We don't spend every minute of every day together like, you know, couples that first fall in love and then they get engaged and you know, like Andrew and morgan, they got the gushy love going, you know, and it's, it's all good, I'm very, very proud of you for that and but you know, to some people that's very precious to others, it's very annoying, you know, it's like, oh, I love you schmoopsie, no, I love you schmoopsie, I love you more schmoopsie! No, I love you more schmoopsie! You hang up 1st. No, you hang up first. Just hang up. It's precious. It really is. I want this kind of love, it's being invested in the relationship, which brings us to our third point abiding in jesus, is to be invested in your relationship with jesus, active, ongoing, continuous. And here's a simple way to do that. All right, we're gonna take a little quick side trip and I'll give you a bonus point for parents today. Parents. How many of you want your child to be successful? Who's not raising their hands shame on you mom And Yeah, right. Every parents raising their hand. Of course they are. I mean, who's out there thinking I don't care. I don't care. I don't care if they fail miserably. I brought them into the world now they're on their own. Let's let him go. Who cares? No, that's not good parenting. Here's a simple way to help your child become more successful in life. You're ready. This is the teacher in me, but it's good read. More read. More reading is kind of becoming a lost art and I'm not too scared of my generation because we had to read to survive. We didn't have a choice. I hate to say this to a young people. We used to have to go to a place called the library. I know it's a new place. Spooky no, it's actually pretty cool. It's got books on shelves. We actually had to go search for a book and then in the book we had to search for the answers. I know how we're lived in the dark ages, let's just be honest. Right. Yes, we did have electricity and running water too. So it wasn't that long ago, but it's not my generation, I'm worried about it's not even the generation after me because we've kind of forced them to read to get through school to. It's the next generation. I'm a little nervous about the grandkids and the following generation after them because they're growing up in a world that is so electronic and so saturated. I mean, come on, you have facebook and instagram and cable tv and streaming services of netflix and Disney plus and paramount and amazon prime and hulu and on and on and on. There's such competition for everybody out there and then we haven't even touched on this yet and then we get the video games. You're gonna say bad things about video games. No I'm not but you've got to keep it under control right? There's got to be moderation to it. Parents teach your child to love reading and you know what? They'll have a leg up on everybody else in their classroom that spent way too much time on video games. Can I get an amen? All right, teach your child to love read. Here's a few quotes from C. S. Lewis. I just put this out randomly. Reading books gives us perspective. He's talking about how he's not smart enough to know all the answers but he's smart enough to go to where he can find the answers. Especially good at seeing certain truths, reading what other people have written. Good good authors, christian authors gives you a handle on what truth is. We need books that will correct our mistakes. I do a lot of reading of books that correct my mistakes, or at least they tell me how to correct my mistakes. And I love this last one in reading great literature. I become 1000 men and yet remain myself. I hope I hope you've had the privilege of curling up with a good book and just getting lost in the story of that book. It's a wonderful adventure. And again, parents teach your Children to love to read and and and they will be on their way to being successful. Here's a couple of my favorite authors, you may have your own and they may be just as good or better than these. But these are some of mine. I'm just going to throw them out if you're looking for a place to start. Well where should I start? Well battlefield of the mind is a great place to start with. Joyce Meyer, anxious for nothing with max Lucado. If you're stressed by the pandemic or anything else. That is a wonderful book. The case for Christianity by lee Strobel tells us why we believe what we believe, giving the evidence of our faith. I got warren where's beyond their because he's one of my favorites. He's so good at at devotional writing. It's a great for devotions. And then of course my one of my all time favorite C. S. Lewis for mere Christianity. He has such a way. He wrote both nonfiction and fiction and they're all good. Some of his books are a little strange. Honestly his imagination is so far out there but they're still good. Mere Christianity is a great argument. He argues things in such a way that makes sense. For example he argues for truth. He says don't worry about truth. Truth will survive because truth, let's be honest. Truth has kind of taken a beating in the last couple of years right in our country. And C. S. Lewis says don't worry about truth. Truth will end up standing at the end of the day. It's like a man who says two plus two equals five and he goes around and he tells his friends his whole life. No I know in my heart two plus two equals five C. S. Lewis says don't worry about it because at the end of the day guess what? Two plus two equals four. It has always been two plus two equals four. It will always be two plus two equals four. He's saying truth. You see you get it. I love the way he talks truth will stand the test of time. Find authors that explain the truth of scripture. Make an investment in reading more. We can all trade off a little bit of our time when we do this. Now, I know some of you are facing serious battles in life. I know that I know a large part of john's ministry is Mission Grove is to come alongside you and help you fight these battles. Because as much as we all hate it, the storms of life come to everybody. Everybody has to go through the storms of life. We live in a lost and fallen world and we all when nobody gets the sale on smooth waters the entire time. And sometimes these conflicts can seem totally out of control. but you can control how you think about these conflicts. Max Lucado puts it this way, he says, your challenge is not your challenge, your challenges. The way you think about your challenge, basically saying what's your perspective on these challenges, psalms and proverbs 4 23 says that this way, be careful what you think because your thoughts run your life. Last week we looked at proverbs 35 and 61 of my all time favorite passages in scripture, trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not into your own understanding, acknowledge him in all your ways. Can I just add in there, abide in him in all your ways and he will make straight your path. Joyce meyer battlefield of the mind. She says something, I just had to put this quote in. It's a little long, but it's worth it. She says, if you and I meditate on our problems all the time, we will become more and more deeply rooted in them. If we meditate on what is wrong with ourselves and what is wrong with others, we will become more deeply convinced of the problem and never see the solution. Wow, that is so true. There is an ocean full of God's help available to us and the instrument we are given to draw from. It is diligent study and meditation of the word of God. Can I get an Amen? Amen. She goes on to explain how many christians see God's solution to life, like like a shot glass with a little tiny straw. Oh here's got a solution. Oh yeah that was that was pretty good. No it's an ocean full of solutions. It's the big gulp. There's been a 7 11. They got the small size cup. No that's no deals, don't get that. They got the medium size. Alright, if you're not that thirsty, they got the large, if you're like a normal person and then they got the big gulp, Anybody with me on this one, I don't know how they do it, 79 cents. You get like two gallons of soda pop. It's just it's crazy. That's God, God gives us an ocean full of solutions. If we just start looking there there find the authors find the books Mark, driscoll, spirit filled, jesus, wow, powerful. That's a book that will, that will just hit you between the eyes. There's a lot of books out there just start searching for them and you'll be amazed at how much they can, they can contribute and help you through these times of of difficulty psalm 1 19 105 says it this way, it says my word is a lamp until your feet and a light into your path. Some of you are struggling in the darkness and maybe it's your own fault. Let's just be straightforward here. Maybe you've gotten yourself into this mess. Maybe you had nothing to do with it. But the darkness came. Anyway, God's word. Can light up the darkness. God's word is a lamp and a light and can lead you to a better place. You can't control how you think about things. Max Lucado gives a beautiful analogy. It helped me. I hope it can help you. He said, you are the air traffic controller of your mental airport. You occupy the control tower and can direct the mental traffic of your own world. Thoughts circle above coming and going. If one of them lands, it's because you gave it permission. If it leaves its because you directed it to do so you can select your thought patterns. Isn't that wonderful? Here, we've got all these planes have thought going around us. Worry, Here comes the plane of worry. No, don't land. Move on, keep flying. Here comes the plane of doubt. No, you're not gonna land in my mind. You go, here comes a plane of encouragement. Oh, yes, you may land in my mind. Right? Were the air traffic controller of our mind? We get to choose which planes land and which ones don't. You know, my wife takes care of Chloe, john and Sam's little five year old. She's just as cute as a button. She is a handful, I'll be honest, But she is as cute as a button. She charms her grandpa. She didn't get anything for me because she's just so cute. Right? Well, she takes care of Chloe a couple days a week and sometimes they like to go on an adventure. They like to go to fries and Chloe gets to pick out a treat. That's a pretty big deal for a five year old right? Go into a big grocery store and get to pick something out just for me. The problem is they have to walk along kate um boulevard, anybody drive Tatum boulevard. Yeah, it's a pretty busy thoroughfare in north and south here. In fact, I really think the 45 mile an hour speed limit is just a suggestion right for tatum boulevard. I think they should put on the sign, we hope you go 45 Nobody does right, it's just so busy. Travis just whizzing by, it's dangerous walking the sidewalks, you can hardly hear yourself, think when you're doing it, the traffic is so heavy and loud and fast and scary. You know what my wife does to get Chloe ready for that. She doesn't break out maps and say, okay we're gonna walk here and then we're gonna turn here. No, she doesn't break out manuals from the motor vehicle division, say how to cross the street safely. No, all she says to Chloe is Chloe. When we get to tatum boulevard, hold my hand, that's it, that's all Chloe needs because when Chloe is holding the hand of her grandma, she's safe. When Chloe is walking along the dangerous road, holding on to grandma's hand, she's gonna be okay. You see some of you are going through this and you've got chaos going whizzing by you and you're just what do I do, what do I do? And God is just saying, hey, hold my hand, just hold my hand, stay connected to the vine James Dobson. Years ago I had this beautiful story of Lenny. Lenny was a retired chief of police from Los Angeles County. His dream in life was to write the colorado river on a raft. He visited as a boy and he said, I'm going to come back here some day and ride the rapids. And so finally he was going to carry out his lifelong dream. So he went to Colorado. He paid the money, he went to the rafting place and he was, he was shocked really because they had three different levels of rides. They had the green and the yellow and the red. Now the green was for complete beginners. If you don't know how to swim ride the green, okay, Because it's just very gentle ride, very calm, peaceful, little bubbly rapids. No big deal. Okay, I didn't want that. Lenny said I didn't come this far for that. The yellow was more like what he should have done because that goes some rapids but it's not treacherous. It's not dangerous. You don't have to sign a waiver. The red, you do have to sign a waiver. You either had to have training on being a racketeer. They call them and experienced in rafting or you had to sign a waiver saying that you were an expert that you have written the rapids many times. And then he's like mm only here once I'm gonna ride the red. So he lied on his application and got in with the experienced rabbit ears. Well they started down the river and it was awesome. I mean he got bounced around your with the rapid that just throws you you don't have control over it. Just you just bouncing all over the raft and they got to the most dangerous part of the river. listen, this now, this is true, the Colorado River, the elevation drop was 50 ft And you're going 30 mph Over the rapids at dropping 50 ft as you bouncing along. This was pretty scary stuff. But to make it worse as they approach this famous drop in the river back, you actually get a little metal if you actually finish the ride, okay, because it's so it's so treacherous and and there's a huge boulder came off the side of the mountain and tumbled down and plunked right in between two other rocks. And all of a sudden there was a huge obstacle of rocks right in the middle of the river, and then he's like, we're gonna die, that were done right. And to make matters worse, the captain, he saw the rock, he saw it plop, he saw the danger, he's seconds away from it, He turned the rudder, so the ralf went this way and it turns sideways, and then he said, all of a sudden, I'm going sideways down the rapids, and I'm I'm the one who's nearest the rocks, that's gonna hit me first. And he said, it took every every ounce in me, every human instinct in me was to jump off the raft to jump overboard and to take my chances by myself, because we're gonna smash into the rocks, and I'm gonna be the first one to die. And he said, so I yelled back at the captain, what do we do? And the captains like bunker down, hold on, and then he's like, okay, what choice do I have? It's either that or jumping out, I'm gonna stay. So he bunkers down, he holds on, and at the exact perfect moment the captain takes the rudder and steers it the other way. So the raft does a 3 60 around the rocks. Amazing. Let me just say I have tears of joy, I'm saved. I didn't die. So he's talking to the captain afterwards, right? He says, man, that was that was treacherous. Has that ever happened before? I was like, happens all the time, Really? And he goes, anybody ever ever jump out? And the cabin goes, you know, believe it or not, people actually lie on their application to write in the red when he's like, no, who would do such a thing? And he said those people that jump out of the raft, did they survive? The captain is like no! In 15 years, they had four people that were killed on this ride because they jumped out and thought they could save themselves, my friends! Some of you, your raft is going sideways right now down the rapids and it looks like it's headed towards the rocks. And the temptation is for you to abandon God! God, what is this? What are we doing? We're heading towards the rocks. God, we're gonna crash! Come on, I'll tell you what, I'm just gonna bail out. I'm gonna jump overboard and just take my chances on my own. It's the worst possible thing you can do when the captain says bunker down, Hang on, I know what I'm doing. I'll get you safely around the storms of life, right, That's staying connected to the vine. One more scripture verse up here. So, I'm 23 verse four Yea though I walk through the valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil. For you are with me, your rod and your staff. They comfort me. How can anyone dare say that? How can anyone walk through the valley of the shadow of death and not fear anything wow, because they are firmly connected to the vine And that's my that's my challenge to you this morning. Put another way our, our big idea focus on faithfulness and the fruit, the good works, the good deeds, and can we just add the plan? The roadmap for your life will follow. Fruitfulness isn't wrong, faithfulness is more important. Stay connected to the vine and when the storms of life come, that's when you need to eat, bunker down, even more bunker down in God's word, bunker down in the writings of other great christians who have come before you bunker down in hymns, bunker down and singing, bunker down in prayer, bunker down in fellowship with other believers and trust your captain to get you to the other side. Amen, let's pray together. Heavenly Father, We thank you. We thank you that you are the vine. I couldn't be the vine. I'd be terrible at it. Thank you Lord. That as a branch, it's not my job to be fruitful. It's my job to just stay connected to the vine and as I stay connected to you, jesus, you will show me how to be fruitful. Oh Lord! Help us to put faithfulness first and then not worry about what happens after. And when we're challenged in life that we could just bunker down, trusting you as our captain staying connected to you as our vine. Heavenly father. We're so thankful for this in jesus name, we pray. Amen.