Well, I want to open with the scripture from John's Gospel,
chapter 16. It says I still have many things
to say to you, but you cannot bear them.
Now. However, when He, the Spirit of
truth has come, he will guide you into all truth.
For He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He
hears, He will speak and He will tell you things to come.
He will glorify me, for He will take what is mine and declare it
to you. Notice I put over this human
development. I've used the Scripture on
several different occasions recently because to me it's a
very appropriate scripture for the present time that we're
living in. The setting of it in the
Scripture is Jesus Christ is getting ready to go to the cross
and through his death, burial and resurrection start the
church. And the disciples would take a
very important part in that place.
But as he's preparing them, he's letting them know that they're
not quite ready to receive everything yet, but they will
later. But the point is also is that he
wants them to understand. Now I might be leaving you in a
physical body, but after I leave, you're not going to be
orphans, but you are going to have the Holy Spirit and the
Holy Spirit of course, will guide you into all truth.
And through the Holy Spirit I will still communicate with you.
But the first thing I want to take note of is he says there's
things for you that you're not ready for it.
Now to me, this Scripture is so significant because as a person
who loves world history and as a person who loves church history,
then of course, one who spends their whole life reading the
Bible and ministering from it. One thing I've observed about
God and that is he created us in the very beginning.
He had an eternal purpose for us, and that purpose has been
unfolding over the generations. Now, the reason it has to unfold
is because there's a process of growth that was necessary in
human civilization to be able to fully receive everything that
God had for them, or for us, I should say.
And so God works in us, in our character and in our person, in
civilizations and society, all to bring to pass His perfect
work. Now when you go through times of
fast-paced change, which is really the time frame we're in
right now with the advent of AI and just all kinds of different
things happening, we're going through a time of great change.
And to be easy to get all upset about the changes and upset and
wonder what are we going to do? Especially when you get my age,
when you see some changes, you think, well, how is this going
to work? Because you remember how it
always was. It's changing now.
So it's easy to get a mentality like where is this going and get
the idea that is not going so well.
But I believe that God is the God of history and it is his
story. And because of that, whatever is
happening in the world, I don't want to get upset by what I see
in the natural, but I want to be a person of prayer so I can say
God. I know that there's all things
happening in the world, all kinds of things happening in the
world. And well, some of them, they're
not going to be so good, I know. But since you are the God of
history, I also know that I should be looking for the good
in this. And what is it that you're going
to bring to pass through your church and through your purpose
in every single one of us? And I believe it's also
important that we would understand as human beings that
each and every one of us goes through a development process.
And as we go through life's development process, we should
also see that God is with us and there's more available as we
mature in the natural and God sees us ready for something more
in the spiritual. So there is this working
together of the natural and the spiritual.
That's why God's doing something so amazing today.
We've got to have our ears open and our hearts open and say, OK,
God, we're ready for something now we were never ready for
before. Can you say Amen to that church?
What an exciting time to be alive.
So there is this process, but we always have to remember that the
Holy Spirit has been given as our guide.
And so the Holy Spirit teaches us, the Holy Spirit speaks to us
so that we can communicate with God.
Now, one of the things that you read in the Scriptures is that
God has always been a God who communicates with His people.
We know He communicates to us through the scriptures, but we
also have to understand that God communicates with each and every
one of us individually. That's why Jesus said my sheep
know my voice and another they will not follow.
We should all recognize that God wants to speak to us
individually. When we first come to the Lord,
often times it's the worst circumstance or situation in our
lives and we think about it as being in the situations.
But we have to understand that God uses situations to advance
us in life, in our spirit spiritual realm, but he also
wants us to know that he wants to communicate with us.
So we're not just kind of getting pushed around by our
circumstances, but in the midst of all that realizing, hey, God
wants to speak to us. He's our guy.
So in the Garden of Eden, the Bible says that the voice of God
walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the garden or the cool
of the evening. You know, later on, God came as
the Angel of the Lord. That's how he met Moses in the
burning Bush. He communicated with him.
Later on, the ministry of the prophet began to grow.
And so God uses prophetic people to hear His voice.
We have a special ability to hear and are able to communicate
that with us. And so of course, when Jesus
Christ came, that was God in bodily form coming to
communicate with us. But now we have to understand
the purpose of the Holy Spirit is for communication.
You can hear the voice of God if you won't let yourself do that.
And there's never been a time more important that we're tuned
into God than in this time of great transition and change.
Now, having said that, I want to go the reference today from John
15. Jesus said greater love has no
one than this, that he lay down one's life for his friends.
You are my friends if you do whatever I command you.
No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not
know what his master is doing. But I've called you friends.
We're all things that I heard from my Father I have made known
to you. Now two weeks ago we celebrated
Easter season and that culminated Holy Week where we
commemorated Jesus Christ going in Jerusalem, dying on the
cross. And I'll be glad we can say he
rose from the dead. Amen.
Now, before he did that, he
wanted his friends to know that there was a sacrifice he was
making. And he said, why don't you think
about this? There's no greater sacrifice
than a person could do but to lay down their life for their
friends. And he was, of course, speaking
that to the disciples. But I believe we should also
understand, of course, because it's in Scripture, it's also to
us. God said, do you know, there's
no greater love that someone could have than a man lay down
his life for his friends? And that's what I'm saying to
you. The Easter sacrifice was God
laying down his life for you. And one of the things important
to understand is he wants us to see that we can be the very
friends of God. Now that's important to
understand because in this I believe with all my heart, God
is saying to the body of Christ, it's a time of a new
relationship. And so each and everyone of us
as individuals, God says, I want to take you to a higher place in
my relationship with you. Wherever you have been up to
this point, set it in your heart.
God wants to take me higher. God wants to take me farther.
And this is an invitation. I believe that God wants each
and everyone of us to open up our minds and our hearts too, in
order that we might walk in this new relationship with Him.
Now He said to them that, well, I want you to be my friends, and
that's possible if you do whatsoever I have commanded you
because He first addressed them as servants.
Now, this is important to understand because there are
progressions to our relationship with God and of the next
Scripture I'll bring out about Moses.
But I want to first of all say how that when we first come to
the Lord, we come as the servant and then we should develop a
stewardship. That's what Ashley spoke about
last week, and it's so powerful to understand how that works.
Now with God, he builds line upon line.
So that doesn't mean that we start as a servant, then we
graduate to being a steward because God wants to lay the
foundation on our hearts. So we're always servants.
But then as we progress, he gives us more responsibility and
develops more of a relationship with us.
And so our goal should be that we would grow from being a
servant to being a steward. And then the invitation he has
for them now because they've been his servants and because
they've been responsible in their stewardship.
If you would now he's saying, I want you to become my friends.
You must, must recognize I didn't just die so you could
have forgiveness, a sin. I didn't just die so that you
could be reconciled to God. That's certainly a part of it.
And I didn't just call you so that you could serve me.
I want a relationship with you and that's what I see happening
in our world today. There really is a cry out there
for relationship oriented living both with each other.
And there's more of an emphasis that even in the business world,
people are beginning to realize there has to be a lot of change
and focus because we can't just treat our employees as servants.
We have to give them the responsibilities that can come
with the development of stewardship in their life.
But then there's also a place where they have the sense of
community and being a part of it because ultimately people want
to have a relationship. And this is a very vital part of
our human experience. And that's certainly why God has
included it. Look at this story of Moses,
Numbers chapter 12. It says, then he said, hear now
my words. If there is a prophet among you,
I, the Lord, make myself known to him in a vision.
I speak to him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses.
He is faithful in all my house. I speak to him face to face,
even plainly, not in dark Saints.
He sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to
speak against my servant Moses? Now, I want to talk a little bit
about the setting of this, but I first of all want you to notice.
Obviously it's His servant Moses.
But then he talks about him being faithful and that's what
stewardship is when you serve the Lord or you have a job and
you do a good job in that, that stewardship, that's saying I'm
going to take responsibility with what has been put in my
hands. And once you move past that,
which is what Moses did. He started out as a servant of
the Lord. He got he met God at the burning
Bush. God said, I want you to go to
Egypt and when you get to Egypt, I have a job for you to do.
And it progressed where he was faithful.
But then the Bible talks about something greater that he has
because he said I speak with him face to face, even plainly and
not in dark sayings. He sees the form of the Lord.
Why then were you not afraid against, to speak against my
servant Moses? So what he's saying here is you
got to look at this relationship that I have with Moses because
ultimately he has a place in relationship with me that sets
him apart. Now again, I want to remind you
of the story here because in Numbers chapter 12, Moses and
Aaron and Moses, excuse me, Moses, Aaron and their sister
Miriam are all working together in their ministry to the Lord.
All been a part of delivering the children of Israel out of
Egypt to do the things that God wanted them to do.
In Numbers chapter 12, the Bible tells us that Moses takes an
Ethiopian woman to be his wife. And obviously understanding how
the Jews felt themselves to be God's special people, you can
certainly find out where they felt they had something to
complain about when they're like, what are you doing?
Why are you with this Ethiopian woman?
And they're fighting with him. And then a voice comes from
heaven. What are you doing fighting with
Moses? I don't know what you, but
that'd be pretty cool. I've joked about this with my
sister Ella Sherry several years ago because my brother Bill and
my sister Jeannie always worked with us in the ministry from the
very beginning. And so it would be kind of like
the same story. And it'd be kind of interesting
if they started confronting me about a situation and God spoke
out of heaven and said, hey, that's Lauren you're talking to.
That's why when I read the Bible stories when I was a kid, you
know, a lot of kids have superheroes as the person that
they follow in life, and Marvel Comics has created all kinds of
them, especially more now than ever before.
But when I was a kid in Sunday school, my superheroes were the
people in the Bible. And what I love about my
superheroes, which is Moses and Abraham and all the other great
power tracks. David, I'll be talking about him
in just a little while. Not only were they superheroes
with superpower, God says He wants us not just to look at
what they can do, but recognize, hey, you're not going to just
put on the costume. You can have a superpower too.
Amen. You can follow God and become
something that is above the natural call that you have in
life. Because when we empower
ourselves by the power of the Holy Spirit, how do you know
that's when we begin to walk in the supernatural power of God?
And so God intervenes in this situation and says, what are you
doing talking about my servant Moses this way?
And the reason I say he became a friend?
Because if you read in Exodus chapter 33, the Bible says there
that Moses spoke to God face to face as a man does a friend.
And that's really what God is saying here.
Moses isn't just a servant. He isn't just good in his
responsibility, but he grew in his relationship with me.
And there are people who have prophetic gifts and they can
hear words and they can have visions.
But Moses is different because he knows who I really am.
The Bible says when a person prophecies or has knowledge,
it's always in part that which is perfect.
Just come. When that comes, all the in part
will be done away with them. What God's saying is as you grow
in your relationship with God, it adds a whole new dimension to
your knowledge, whole new dimension to your spiritual
gift. And that's what God was saying
about Moses. Moses isn't just your ordinary
guy and he isn't just the leader of this tribe or of this
country. He's a person who has a personal
connection with me, says the Lord.
And I truly believe with all my heart that God's people need to
know he hears from heaven. Whatever's going on in your
life, how do you know God hears? And God wants to be involved in
our life, in our situation, and he wants us to recognize.
He wants to be a part, but also to recognize how important it is
for us to do our part, if you would, so we can walk in the
fullness of what he has for us. Jesus goes on to say in our
reading today, as the Father loved me, I also have loved you
abided by law. If you keep my commandments, you
will abide in my love, just as I kept my Father's commandments
and abide in his love. And so it's important for us to
recognize that in every relationship there is a pursuer.
If it's a romantic relationship, one person is going to look at
the other and you're going to say, you know what, I want this
relationship, so you pursue it and something comes out of the
relationship. That can be true of a romantic
relationship. That can be true of a friendship
or just someone who's an acquaintance that you want to be
a part of your life. It's going to usually be a
pursuer. It's not like you might see in
some movie where two people look at each other and all the sudden
we belong together in our relationship with God.
He's the pursuer. Isn't that amazing?
God looked down at you and said, I want to have a relationship
with him. I want them to be a part of what
I'm doing in the earth. I want them to realize that I
don't want them to walk alone in life.
I want to walk right along beside them, says the Heavenly
Father. How much different would that
change our thinking about our relationship with God if we
would always remember? We didn't pursue him, He pursued
us. He's the one who first of all
said we're his. He wants a relationship with us.
So sometimes people go through life and think, well, I don't
know if I can be a good Christian.
Oh, I don't know if I could do this for God.
Oh, I don't know if that fits me like it does other people.
God says, wait a second, if I pursued you and I chose you,
you're mine, Hallelujah. And you need to know something.
It's possible you were uniquely formed for my purpose.
You might not be like anybody else.
That might be different than somebody else who has been
called, but God wants you to know I pursued you.
And so with that, you need to understand that I'm calling you
to a deeper relationship, says the Lord.
Now put up there with expectations because he goes on
to talk about, well, you can be my friends if you do whatsoever
I have told you. Now, that might not seem like
the kind of friend that you would want.
Who's saying to you, well, I want you to be my friend.
If you do everything you're told, you'll be my friend.
I mean, does that make you think I don't want to be your friend?
But looking at this from the context of how God deals with
us, he's talking about the fact that there is a development of a
relationship and every relationship starts with a
certain level of expectation. You don't just enter into a
relationship because, well, this could be fun you under that
relationship because there's something that you're needing
out of that relationship or something that you want from
that relationship. So in reality, all relationships
start with a certain level expectation.
And the creative and artistic world, they like to talk a lot
about people falling in love. And there is a place where we
feel that attraction towards another person, no question
about it. But we also have to understand
that when people are getting together in a relationship, how
many know you're expecting something?
Come on, be honest with me here. But also you have to realize,
hey, the other person has expectations, too, and what we
have to do is kind of figure out what that's all about.
In the old days, it was more common for people to recognize
that even with marriage, the woman would be looking for a
good provider, protector, whatever.
And so every relationship had certain things that people felt
would be a part of that. There's a certain level of
transactional relationship that we have where we have an
expectation. That's not a bad thing, but it
just has to grow. Amen.
And that's what God says concerning us.
So I don't want you to stay at that first level, says the Lord.
I want you to come up to this higher place where you begin to
realize I have a relationship with the Almighty God.
How amazing is that? When you look at the world and
you look at how vast it is, and then you look at our universe
and then you look beyond that and there's other universes and
galaxies and all the things I came and think about how they
name them, but they're billions of light years in vastness of
our universe. Gods of the God of all those,
and yet he came into your life. What a privilege it is to know
him, Amen, and to recognize that he wants to have a relationship
with us. And so the fact that his
expectations shouldn't trouble us, but God wants us to be his
friend. Now, sometimes we think, well, I
want God to be my friend. There used to be a song I used
to love. What a friend we have in Jesus.
Our sins and grease to bear. What a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer. And God says, well, keep singing
that song, but remember, I'm expecting something from you
too. And it's of a relationship, not
just of a service that I'm calling you to, says the Lord,
because I want to be your friend and I want you to be my friend.
You know, Moses was called the friend of God, Abraham was
called the friend of God. And Jesus says to us, I want you
to be my friend. That's awesome, isn't it,
church? And that's why we have to accept
the calling that he has for us at this time.
Which brings me to this man David, who's another superhero
of the Bible. So was when they came, Samuel
the prophet looks at Eliab and said, surely the Lord's anointed
is before him. But the Lord said to Samuel, do
not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I
have refused him. For the Lord does not see his
man sees. For man looks at the outward
appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
Again, this is another story with a setting.
Samuel was a prophet of God who had spoken concerning Saul.
The very first king said, this is God's anointed, I'm going to
make him king, says the Lord, and he became the king.
Unfortunately, because Saul was disobedient to God and did not
accept his responsibility, there came a time when God said, well,
it's time to replace him. Samuel, we got to have somebody
else go to the House of Jesse, and when you get there, I'm
going to show you because my anointed's going to be in that
house. That verse says that when he
first came to the room, he saw Eliab, who in a physical sense
had everything. You would expect a king to be
tall. The Bible says Saul was so tall
that he was head and shoulders above everybody else and he just
had that statue look at him and say, wow, great leader.
God said, no, that's not it. I put up here, what are you
thinking? Has everybody, anybody ever
known somebody, a family member, friend, they tell you they're
going to have a relationship with somebody and you think,
what are you thinking? Come on, what are you thinking
that that's not going to work for you?
Well, what are they thinking? Well, they're thinking they
don't look at things the same way you do.
So Sam, you could have said that to God.
God, what are you thinking? The lion's perfect.
No, I don't go by outward appearance.
I'm looking for somebody who has the right heart.
And that's what the Bible says about David.
He was a man after God's own heart.
And that's why often times people might pick out somebody
that everybody else says, what are you doing that couldn't be
the person for you? Well, because there's something
perhaps you know about the person other people don't know,
something that meets your needs that other people don't
recognize. So that's what makes the
difference. Unfortunately, can also be true
that you think they're going to be the person you're looking for
and they're not going to be. That's why we should always be
careful. Amen.
But the point is, is everything in a relationship always boils
down to the heart, and that's the relationship God has had for
us from the very beginning. Jesus said you have to
understand something. All the some of the law and the
prophets was love the Lord your God with all your heart and your
neighbor as yourself. That's what God's looking for.
It's what he's always been looking for.
Can we take a step into that reality?
Look what David wrote here in his Psalm.
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall
abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge, my fortress, my God.
In him I will trust surely He shall deliver you from the snare
of the Fowler and from the perilous pestilence.
He shall cover you with his feathers, and under His wings
you shall take refuge. His truth should be your shield
and buckler. The secret place.
That's such an important term for us to realize in our
relationship with God. The secret place is the personal
place in a relationship. We all have secret places, if
you would. When you get married, obviously
there's a secret relationship that you have that you're not
going to have with anybody else. And it's also true when we have
close friends, there's a certain aspect of our relationship that
would be unique to that place or person.
God says each and every one of us need to have a secret place
with Him, something I tell pastors from time to time.
Now remember, our vocation is praying and reading the Bible,
but that's not your secret place.
We all have to have a personal relationship with God.
I pray for you, I study for you, I get a word for you, but I also
go to God for myself. Jesus, here I am again.
I kind of like this walk I have with you, Lord.
Sometimes it's challenging, sometimes it's quite different.
But one thing I love about you, Jesus, is you're always with me.
Isn't it exciting to be a Christian Church?
It's such an important thing. But if you want to have a
relationship, you have to understand the need for the
secret place. And it's in the secret place
that there's benefits, if you would.
What that scripture says is he that dwells in the secret place
of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He's my
refuge. He is my help, He is my
strength. The pitcher there is kind of
like an eagle who has great power and soars above the
heavens and goes down and gets its prey.
But when it comes to its nest and protects its young, there's
a place of security and also a place of comfort under those
wings. And God says, you need to know
something. I can take care of you at all
times. Sometimes people say, well, I
know that God's always there. God's going to take care of me.
Well, the beautiful thing about the Holy Spirit is God can give
you the feeling that he is going to take care of you.
Amen. He can give us the feeling of
comfort. He can give us the feeling that
we are dwelling in the secret place under the shadow of His
wings and walking in the comfort that He always has for us as we
walk with Him. That's why Jesus goes on to say
again, You did not choose me, but I chose you.
And what appointed you? That you should go and bear
fruit and that your fruit should remain.
That whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give you.
In this verse he talks about him choosing us first, but he also
says I chose you and appointed you.
That means He has a purpose for your life that's not just about
you and isn't just about your natural life.
God has a purpose for you. Inside of every single one of us
is a desire to fulfill purpose because the Godfather has put
that in US. One thing I've always observed
and the many years of being a pastor and walking in things of
God and someone passes away. People like to kind of go
through and talk about the person's life and think about
their purpose. Or if there is a loss of
somebody, you want to know, is there a greater purpose?
Because something inside of us tells us if there's a purpose in
this, everything's going to be OK.
God says I've chosen you, I've appointed you because there's a
purpose for your life and I want to be a part of your purpose.
And what I love about this is then he talks about authority
that we can have in prayer, that whatever we ask in his name, it
will be given to us. In the charismatic movement, we
had a lot of teachers who talked about the authority of the
believer, and they would use a scripture like ask anything of
my name. It shall be done.
And a lot of people grabbed that verse and thought, well now I'm
in control. How many would like the magic
words to be in Jesus name? So whatever I want in Jesus
name. Well, there's a certain level of
authority God can't give to us until we grow up.
It's so important that we'd recognize that just like in a
family, we raise our children to become mature where they can
make their own decision. So God says, I want you to
become mature and what I have for you to do.
I remember these friends of mine, they were telling the
story about their little boy. He was a preacher's son and he
went to church and his dad was preaching.
Ask anything in the name of Jesus and it will be given to
you. Well, that afternoon he got in
trouble. His father is about ready to
discipline him. He said in Jesus name, stop.
That's like a lot of Christians, Amen.
Lord said no, there's going to be authority with maturity.
These things I've spoken to you that my joy might may remain in
you and that your joy may be full.
Wow, that's building on the joy isn't it?
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved
you. Greater love has no one than
this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.
You are my friends. If you do whatever, I commend
you. There He is bringing back this
reminder, but he talks about joy.
How many? No, joy is a good thing.
Now, when we first come to the Lord, most people can relate to
the fact that there's a joy that came upon you when you received
Him or when you were baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit.
There's something about God that brings joy.
We have to understand that we got to hold on to that joy.
So Jesus is telling us the prescription, if you would, is
how that not only can we hold on to our joy, but our joy can
actually grow and increase. That's amazing.
Joy in the Lord doesn't have to get stale.
Church, this Tuesday I'll be celebrating the 32nd anniversary
of my 40th birthday party. Anyway, and I think about how
about how long I've been walking with Jesus and how long I've
been serving the ministry. I tell you, I'm more filled with
expectation today than at any time of my life.
Amen. Because I know God is going to
do something that's exceedingly and abundantly above all that I
can ask or think. Now my body doesn't always feel
that way, but I do keep the joy. Not only keep the joy, but let
the joy grow so that you can come to the place of fullness of
joy. Amen.
Church, how powerful is that? Jesus said I'm the true vine.
My Father is the vine dresser. Every branch of me that does not
bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that bears fruit He
prunes 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, neither can you unless you abide in me.
In order for us to have this best that God has for us, it has
to be a working relationship and it requires some management.
This is why Jesus is saying, OK, I'm the vine, you are the
branches. And there's a Father who's
overlooking all these things. And as he looks over it,
sometimes he sees a branch that needs to be cut off.
Sometimes he sees a branch that needs to be cut back.
But there's a management involved.
Sometimes life cuts off our branches.
Sometimes we suffer loss. We don't want to.
But as a Christian, we have to say, well, in the end, I'm going
to put my confidence in God. He's my manager.
He knows what he's doing, a man. And sometimes we go through a
pruning, which is mean a cutting back of something.
In all of these things, we are to have a confidence that God
has carefully crafted our life and he's carefully crafting our
life even now as we put our confidence fully in him.
Amen Church and that's what I love when he says you're already
clean, so he's saying now keep in mind I've already did the
part of the forgiveness. You're already prepared for
where I'm taking you now. Just have faith to believe that
you're ready to move because why God has made you ready as the
Father loved me, I also have loved you.
Abide in My love. If you keep my commandments, you
will abide in my love. Just have kept my Father's
commandments and abide in his love.
These things I command you that you what love one another.
Another key to this relationship is extended love.
That's why I went a couple get married.
After that comes children and then you learn that well, love
has to be extended beyond myself.
It isn't just about the union, it's about the children, It's
about our business, it's about our call, as many different
aspects to it, but that'd be a whole new sermon.
But just remember, God says, be willing to extend your love and
begin to extend yourself so that you can have the fullness of all
that I have for you, says the Lord.
This is Pastor Lauren Corbubius from Mount Zion Church.
We thank you for joining us today and invite you to connect
with our church family by visiting mountzion.org and
following us on social media. God bless you.