Inspire Ohio 2013: Look Up!

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Advent HOPE Kettering

Jeremy Wong

To Be Connected

Father in heaven, Lord on this Sabbath morning we come before you with hearts of praise.

Lord as we contemplate your awesomeness and your faithfulness, Father the only reaction we have is a reaction of awe.

Father we're so thankful Lord that you are a God that loves us and a God that wants to intimately know us.

So Lord, this morning, as we spend time talking about you and getting to know you better, I pray that your spirit will be here with us.

Lord, may the distractions that want to distract us, may they be quieted down and may your voice be the only voice we hear this morning.

Father, I pray that you use this broken manservant.

I pray that you would use me, Father, speak through me the words you want to be spoken.

And I pray that you will hide me behind the shadow of the cross.

And may your name, your name only be lifted up this morning.

The society we live in this morning is a very connected society.

We don't only have cell phones, we have smart phones.

We have Facebook, we have Twitter, we have Instagram, we have all these social medias and all these ways to stay connected.

You know, I was at Panera Bread yesterday, and I was ordering a smoothie from Panera Bread.

And I saw this couldn't be older than 8 or 9 year old little girl.

And she had an iPhone, and she was playing with it as she was waiting for her food.

You know, this society we are over connected sometimes.

You know, I was thinking about this as I was preparing my sermon.

My first cell phone I got when I was in, well, when I was in eighth grade And I thought the 13 years before that time, I lived without a cell phone and I still survived.

But now that I have a cell phone, It seems like I can't survive without having it with me.

Yesterday morning I forgot my cell phone as I was going to the school to do some Bible studies, and as I reached into my pocket, this empty feeling came over me as I noticed that my cell phone wasn't in my pocket.

You know we have to take our cell phones everywhere, it seems.

Even our cell phones have capabilities of silencing your phone or having a busy tone on it when you go into meetings.

It seems like everyone is connected to something.

How about in your spiritual life, Are you connected to Jesus this morning?

Just like you're connected to your friends on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram, on texting, and through your cell phone, are you connected to Jesus this morning?

This morning, we're going to open our Bibles.

So if you would open your Bibles with me this morning, we are going to open our Bibles to John chapter 15.

I want to propose to you this morning that just like we're connected socially, we should be connected to Jesus spiritually.

As you're turning there, I want to give you some background information to the text that we're going to be reading this morning.

This chapter, John 14, 15, and 16, is a part of Jesus' last speech to His disciples before He was crucified.

The desire of ages tells us that Jesus was walking towards the garden of Gethsemane.

And at the foot of the Mount of Olives, Jesus gave his discourse found here in John chapter 15.

The Word of God says, I am the vine, you are the branches.

Let's stop there and talk about that for a little bit.

You see, the Greek word here for abide is a very interesting word.

And it is This Greek word, this specific verb form this word is in, is in the present participle form, which means that it's not only abiding now, but it is a continuous action.

So if we were to translate it Straight from the Greek, it would say, He who is abiding, who is abiding now and continuously abiding.

There's some people this morning, there's some people today who believe, who believe that abiding with Jesus just means getting up in the morning and taking 30 minutes and spending time with Jesus and His Word.

They just get up in the morning and they get their spiritual fill up and they think they're good for the day.

Just like we go to the gas station when our car is on E and we fill it up with gas and then we're good for I don't know how many weeks depending on what car you have, days.

And sometimes people believe this with their spiritual life.

They think, hey, I can just wake up in the morning, get my spiritual fill, and I will be good for the day.

I want to propose to you this morning that this theory leads to a weak spiritual life.

My friends, Jesus is not asking us just to abide with Him in the morning.

This whole conference is focusing on the devotional life and spending time with Jesus.

I'm here this morning to propose to you, it's not just in the morning time that we abide with Jesus.

Jesus asked us to abide with Him every hour, every minute, every second of every day.

It's not just in the morning time when you're in your prayer closet.

It's in the time when you're in your car driving to work and that person cuts in front of you and cuts you off.

He asks us to abide with him when we're at that stoplight that takes forever to turn green.

He wants us to abide with him at the grocery store when that person takes that last can of Prego spaghetti sauce.

He wants us to abide with him at work when your boss or your co-worker seems to be annoying you to no end.

Jesus wants us to abide with Him every second of every day.

But you might be asking me this morning, well, why should we abide with Jesus?

He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me You can do nothing.

The first reason is the natural result of abiding with Jesus is to bear fruit.

But the text doesn't say just fruit, it says much fruit.

So the first reason is because the natural result of abiding with Jesus is to bear fruit.

But you might be asking me, well, what kind of fruit is this text talking about?

Let's turn, and our Bible is to Galatians chapter 5.

So stick a finger or bookmark and John 15 will be back there.

Galatians 5 verse 22, the Word of God says, So the fruit that Jesus is speaking of in John 15 is the fruits of the Spirit.

Those fruits that are a natural result of being with Jesus.

It is basically having Jesus' character being implemented into your life.

That's the fruit Jesus is talking about in John chapter 15.

But just like fruit in the real world takes time to grow and to become ripe, so in your spiritual life, my friends, it takes time to grow your spiritual fruit.

It doesn't happen in the blink of an eye.

1 author puts it, Sanctification or being, the process of being more like Jesus takes the process of a lifetime.

So just like real fruit takes time to grow, your spiritual fruit will take time to grow as well.

So the first reason we should abide with Jesus is because the natural result of it is to bear much fruit.

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To Be Connected

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