Intimacy Not Information - Abiding in Jesus | Navaz DCruz

Intimacy not Information - Abiding in Jesus |Navaz DCruz

This message was preached by Navaz Dcruz at Word of Grace Church on  November 4th , 2018. To listen/download the audio please click here. To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here.

PART 2

VERSE 4-5

 ⁴ Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

 INTRODUCTION

In Part 1 we looked at the fact that there can be many vines that we could be a part of but Jesus is the true vine. We saw that if we are to be fruitful we would be pruned. Pruning is not punishment but a process toward more fruitfulness. Jesus wants us to be fruity Christians.

HOW DO WE ABIDE IN A DIGITAL WORLD THAT PINGS, BLIPS,  SCREEN LIGHT UPS EVERY OTHER MINUTE?

Many things are grabbing our attention each day and the immediacy of everything is to the point of being ridiculous. The pressures of work are real, – long hours, long commutes to and from office, deadlines etc.etc.

Our relationship with Jesus cannot and should not be another pressure point; rather he should be the place where all pressure is released.

He said ^28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (Matt 11:28-30)

Jesus does not come to add to your burdens but he is our burden bearer, He is the lifter of our heads.

When you love someone you want to spend time with them. You are not timing it or clocking in.  That is what Jesus is calling us into – a restful abiding in His presence – out of joy and not duty.

VERSE 4 ⁴ Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

I.                 WHAT DOES ABIDE MEAN?

 So while our relationship with Jesus is eternal. No one can pluck you from His hand, what quality of relationship you enjoy is up to you.

The word abide/remain is repeated 10 times in a span of 4 verses. Repetition for emphasis is a style of a good teacher and Jesus certainly was that.  We would be wise to pay attention to what Jesus puts an emphasizes on.

The Word Abide/remain is also translated “to stay/to dwell”. To make your dwelling place. This is reflected in the Old Testament very well in Psalm 91, Ps 84. It is about taking up residence. It’s where you feel secure, relaxed “at home” and have your most intimate relationships.

 In the Old Testament, God’s presence was confined to a geographical space. His death on the cross put an end to that. Today, his presence is not confined to a box behind a thick curtain. 

He has now made is dwelling among us. He now has taken up residence in our hearts. He also says when 2 or  or more gathered I am there among them. 

So we have God’s indwelling presence and his manifest presence in a group of people.

 No branch can bear fruit by itself;

No branch can have life, without it being connected to the main branch. All the branches draw their sap, sustenance from the main branch.

WHAT IS IT TO REMAIN/ABIDE/ STAY CONNECTED?

This requires commitment and covenant. It’s not transactional or conditional.

Another way to say abide/remain is to stay stuck in. Keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and not being distracted by anything else or anyone else.

Jesus is unconditionally faithful, committed to us. Are we unconditionally faithful and committed to him? Is it a relationship of convenience?

 To be disconnect would mean to get dismembered from the Vine.  The analogy is two fold, individual and corporate. Rom 12 This not only affects your relationship with Jesus but with one another as well.

This abiding is 24/7. It is not something we can or should turn on and off.

There is no religious-secular divide in our lives. We can learn to practice the presence of God in our everyday lives.

Jesus lived in a constant commune with His Father. Then He tells us to abide in Him in the same manner and tells us that apart from Him we can do nothing!! In Acts 17:28 we are reminded that it is in Him we live, move, and have our being!  

Its about being God conscious. He becomes our frame of reference for everything we do – in our families, at school, work, in our socializing; in everything.

God desires so much more for us but we often settle for just getting our foot into the Kingdom and not fully enjoying all that we can because of being in the Kingdom.

When we pray His kingdom come on earth. We don’t pray His kingdom come to church!! The church is the display and reign of the kingdom of God gathered. In the week the Kingdom is like salt and light scattered on the Earth.

Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

The branches get its nourishment, strength, fruit-bearing ability, it’s very DNA from the main vine.

We get saved when we believe in Jesus but we get sanctified when we believe like Jesus.

What is the DNA of Jesus?  All the qualities of God that we love. God is love, kind, gracious, slow to anger, forgiving, wise, giving, gentle, gracious, righteous holy and so on.

I will have God thoughts, Christ-like thought patterns that think more about others than myself.

II.              RESULT OF ABIDING

We will be fruity.

Fruitfulness is linked to my relationship with Jesus.  It is not about how well I administer or create programs.

It’s so simple to the point that we actually ignore it or miss it altogether. It’s about me “being” and not “doing”. The focus is on BEING to begin with and then the BECOMING will follow

Fruitfulness comes from intimacy and heart connection. Transformation comes from intimacy and heart connection.

Intimacy with Jesus not information about Jesus leads to transformation.

Abiding will make us live from His presence and not just principles.

John 5:39-40 

 ³⁹ You study^[a] the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, ⁴⁰ yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

When we come into his presence, we get a deeper revelation of who He is. Revelation transforms us, not information.

Knowledge of His word is only the gateway. Then we want a deeper understanding and communion with Him.

Today is an invitation to go deeper with Jesus

Obedience alone is cold, dry and faithless. It will not produce healthy fruit.  The Pharisees did that and it only made them blind to their sin and judgmental of everyone else.

III.             WHAT DOES NOT ABIDING LOOK LIKE?

·       Living to please me

·       Distracted

·       Religious duty

·       Not committed to things that matter to Jesus viz: Time with Him, how we interact with our family, our personal private holiness, our love quotient for other Christians, our diligence at work, faithful in giving, serving.

·       Attracted to worldly pleasures and self-indulgence.

HINDRANCES TO ABIDING?

·       The Bible will keep you from sin and sin will keep you from the bible.

·       Anxiety and fear cloud our thinking and clogs our hearts. Fear and love cannot co-exist. His perfect love will drive away fear and anxiety.

He gives us his perfect peace. Do you know what that is? It is himself – his presence. Peace is a person. Jesus is the prince of peace.

·       Unforgiveness and offense – This not only builds walls towards the people you are offended with, but it also affects your relationship with God.

How do I know that?

1Jn 2:11

  But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.

 We cannot love God and hate our brother. If I dismember myself from one part of the body, I also disengage with the Head i.e Jesus.

Are there people you are avoiding? Here at Word of Grace. You say I love Jesus, I love the worship and the word at this church but I’ll keep my distance from so and so or I’ll only interact with these people, but those people I don’t want to talk to. My friends, you are kidding yourself. Get it sorted because you will hit a heart block in your relationship with God.

Church is messy. Its made up of imperfect people like you and I. Jesus has shown us much grace.  Let us extend lavish grace as well.

IV.             WHAT DOES ABIDING GIVE US?

·       IT gives us Identity. We are called sons. We are no longer orphans. We are chosen by God (v16), we are called his friends (v.15). It will give you rest and you wont strive to prove anything to God or anyone.

·       This gives us security because you know Who you are and whose you are.

·       It gives us purpose and perspective. We will be clear on our calling and we will get committed out of joy and not duty.

·       Joy (v11). If your joy quotient is low, check your abiding quotient. They are directly proportional. The more you abide the more joy you will experience and vice versa.

·       Answered prayer ( v.7)

HOW DO I DO THIS?

Eg) I have a gift for painting, but if I don’t exercise that gift I won’t get good it and people won’t be able to say that is my gift unless they see proof of that.

In Acts 4:13 – They recognized that the disciples were men who has been with Jesus Therefore staying in connection is crucial.

TOOLS TO ABIDING

Colin covered this two weeks ( Click here for the message) ago in his message so I will mention it briefly.

·       Have a time alone with God every day.  

Your reputation is your reputation. As you do this every day you will build a strong relationship with God. How can you know God better? 

Read his Word. It has everything you need to know about him, his ways and his thoughts about you.

·       Pray in tongues. If you have not yet received this wonderful gift, ask one of us to pray for you.

·       Worship – put on some of our worship or go to YouTube and worship along with some of the songs you are familiar with. Let your heart become open and transparent before Jesus. Practice being 100%  with him.

·       Write down what he says to you.

As you do this every day. If you do this for 20 min each day you would have spent approximately 10 hours in the Word each month. You will see the difference in your life.

The word will transform you. The Word is Jesus. His presence and His word are a powerful combination that will transform you from inside out.

SO WHAT DO I DO?

•         Stay committed, stay focused, stay persistent.

•        Do not give up. Do not get distracted.

•        Yield to the loving pruning of God

•         Stay in fellowship, in connection, in communion in covenant with Jesus.

•        When we live like this there is bound to be fruit that counts.

To listen/read Part 1  click here

 Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service.  Word of Grace is a part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org. 

Crave the Word| Colin D

This message was preached  by Colin D'cruz at Word of Grace Church on December 18th, 2016. To listen/download the audio please click here. To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here

Earlier the doctor would do a test on you, to see what was wrong with you. One of the surest sign that someone is unwell is a lack of appetite. That’s why look at their tongue. If that is ture for our physical bodies, it should also be true for the spiritual body. The lack of desire to feed on the things of God is the indicator that there is something wrong,

1 Peter 1:23- 2:3- “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.”And this is the word that was preached to you.” Craving means to have a great desire.

Q. Do you crave the word of God?

John 8:47 says “Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”

John 8:31-32- ““If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” If you know the word and you obey it, then we are his disciples.

In Psalm 1:2 the psalmist says, blessed is he whose delight is in the law of the lord and who meditates on it day and night.

Q. Is it a delight or is it a chore?

Sometimes, it’s our flesh that wars against holy desires. We say to people, youre in my heart. It means, you’re close to me.

Think about this- you wake up late and you have to make a choice between having breakfast or read the word. What would you do? Job 23:12 says I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread! If he had the choice, he’d have read the word.

The normal is that we need to desire and delight in God’s word. 1 Peter 2:1- like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk. Babies are cuddly and lovely. But they are helpless. They can’t do anything. They are only interest in milk! Peter is giving us a strong simile. Once the baby gets hungry there is no more peace. This is the aspect of new born babies that peter wants us to imitate.

Q. How does someone come to know Jesus?

It is only through the word of God. Peter could have said, teach the word, meditate on the word, hide the word on your heart, etc. they are all important, but he says, crave for the word. The starting point is to crave it. We need to ask God to change our appetite.

Q. What do you spend more time on?

It is not what you say you crave, it is the amount of time you spend on what you’re doing.

Peter is reminding us that we are born again by the word of God and so you will crave the word of God. Then he says, rid yourself of all slander and malice,etc. If these things are in your life, you cannot crave the word of God. If a little child has had a lot of junk food, they won’t want to have milk.

The Bible will keep you from sin and the sin will keep you from the Bible.

Pure spiritual milk- is uncontaminated word of God. You need to be careful where you are eating from. When you have kids, you sterilize whatever goes into their mouth. In the same way, let’s start with the unadulterated word of God. Hearing from God is not a very difficult thing to do.

1.      Get a modern translation of the Bible

2.      Start with the gospels if you are reading after a long time. Don’t read sporadically but systematically. The Bible is a series of letters. If someone you love wrote a letter, how do you read it? You start at the beginning and finish at the end.

3.      Read it regularly. Feeding ourselves spiritually is similar to feeding ourselves physically. You don’t eat one big meal once a week. We feed ourselves many times a day- in bits and pieces. How can you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. So also read the Bible one chapter at a time. There is so much in the Bible that great theologians can’t understand it. But so simple that even small children can get it.

4.      Keep a journal, put the date and ask God to speak to you from the word. If you skip a few days, you’ll know how often you’re reading.

Q. How do you know the Bible is true? 

Just start obeying it and you’ll see your life transform. As you keep doing it, you grow strong. 

All the babies came out small and frail, but as they craved milk and fed on it, they have grown big. The same thing will happen in our spirit. 

 Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that have people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.  

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What 's your best prayer? | Pete Harwood

This message was preached by Pete Harwood  at Word of Grace Church  Pune, on the 26th of October 2014. You can listen/download the  audio by clicking here

If you ask a Christian about their prayer life, most will tell you that they feel guilty that they don’t pray as much as they should. We are busy with work, children, etc. Life seems like a never ending cycle of busyness. When we are free we want to relax. The only time we feel motivated to pray is when we are in trouble. So often our prayers are self centered and focused on needs.

We want these prayers to make life easier. Sometime God does not answer out prayers and we feel cynical.

Eph 1:15-19

This passage was written by Paul who was a tent maker and knew what is was like to be busy and under pressure- shipwrecked, beaten, falsely accused. He was writing this letter under house arrest. Yet according this letter he is always praying and his prayers don’t focus on his troubles but on spiritual growth and always praying for more. Paul got what we often fail to.

Peace Joy does not come from all our prayers being answered but from a deeper understanding of his purposes and his glorious purposes for the world.

Verse 16 Paul thanks God for the Ephesians church. He heard that their faith was growing – for everyone the Jews and the gentiles. Thanksgiving is a regular part of Paul’s life. He gives thanks for many things but more for spiritual life. Rom1:8, 1Cor1:4, 2thes1:3.

We find prayer life challenging and when we do pray, we tend to get straight to the point. We pray for physical well being, jobs, homes, families and happiness. It’s great to thank God for these things. We need to learn to give thanks for everything. Are we a : Glass half empty or glass half full person?

W often find it easier to thank God for the physical things around us. Our greatest need is for revelation- to open our eyes to spiritual revelation.

V13-14 Paul mentions that they have received the Holy Spirit. He is now praying that the Holy Spirit who is within them would open their eyes for more wisdom. Gk word Sophia – wisdom that comes from God

Revelation- uncovering, unveiling things that are normally hidden. He opens our spiritual eyes causing us to know spiritual realities. We can be completely oblivious to what is happening in the world and the universe.

The Holy Spirit acts as a microscope revealing things to us we do not and are unable to see with our normal eyes. We need the spirit of God to reveal it to us.

Reading the Bible is great but is not enough because head knowledge will not change our lives. We need the Holy Spirit to make it go from our heads to our hearts. Praying for spiritual revelation is the most important prayer we can pray for ourselves and others.

Don’t just focus on physical things but when you see spiritual growth in your family and friends thank God for it and pray more. When we understand this we will understand physical things too. There are 3 things Paul tells us.

1.Our future is secure – We don’t know the future. And we can worry and be anxious

V18 Paul prayed that they may know the hope (an expectation of a divinely provided future) to which we have been called. This is not “hope” as we use it today meaning wishful thinking. Paul talks of Hope as something God has already done. Once they had not hope but now they have access to all God’s blessings, they have forgiveness, acceptance, righteousness of Jesus given to us, resurrection as we are raised with Him, death is not the end.

2. V18   Glorious inheritance what we receive as a reward from God.   i.e God’s glorious inheritance – not something we get but what God gets. The people of Israel are often called God’s inheritance “in the saints” i.e we are God’s reward!! We are glorious to God? How is this possible?

Heb12 For the joy set before Him… that joy is us!! He values us highly and it’s through us that he wants to display his glory. Thai is the confidence he has in us find for us. We are his treasured possession. When you feel down remember this.

3. Immeasurable power is working with in. There is nothing else like it. Paul uses 4 different words for power it to the raising of Christ from the dead. Jesus is now enthroned (v21) far above every power and authority. The one who went to the cross for us, the one who laid down his life like a lamb led to the slaughter has the power over everything!!

What difference does this make to our live?

If we get hold of this truth it will change our lives We need revelation and this will happen through prayer. So we don’t just pray for temporary things but for spiritual things and for Holy Spirit revelation. This is the most important prayer you can make.

Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that have people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.