LW24 | Following Jesus: Fathered, Focused, & Fruitful - Patriece Johnson

Leader Weekend Spring 2024
Following Jesus - Fathered, Focused, & Fruitful - Patriece Johnson

This talk emphasizes the importance of being fathered by God, staying focused on Him, and bearing fruit in our lives. Patriece Johnson shares her personal experience of accepting Jesus at a young age and her involvement with the Navigators. The talk explores the invitation by Jesus to follow Him in Matthew 4:19 and cautions against being deceived by pursuing productivity over being parented by God. It emphasizes the need to be deeply rooted in God, align our will with His, and bear fruit through a close relationship with Him.

Transcript

Is everybody awake? Have you had enough coffee this morning? No, not quite. All right. Well, either way, we're going to rock and roll and get started.

I'll just share a little bit about myself. My name is Patrice Johnson, and I am very, very excited to be here with you all. I have the grand privilege of serving as the city director of the navigators here in the greater Cincinnati area. I was born and raised in Cincinnati. I was brought up in a home where my family went to church, really kind of out of religious rituals, if you will.

But I really didn't see anyone really following and obeying Jesus. And I accepted Jesus into my heart and really began to walk with the Lord around the age of 13, where my family hit rock bottom and I was hungry for God's truth. I come from a home where I was actually in a situation where a family was homeless, and we were very desperate. And so the Lord got a grip on my heart around high school, and I struggled in high school. I had 1ft in the world, 1ft with God, wanted to be cool, got my self worth and significance from being involved in a lot of school activities and even some of my significance from being involved in a lot of churchy activities, if you will, to my youth group.

But it wasn't until my freshman year in college that I was really challenged to think about my walk with God in a deeper way. And it was my freshman year, I was going to a christian college down in Jackson, Tennessee, and this is where I met the navigators. And it was the first time I was exposed to this thing called discipleship, and it changed my life. And so for the past 20 plus years, I've had the privilege of serving with the navigators, with or in the military community. So my husband is retired air force, and we've served with the army, with the navy and the air force.

And we would launch ministries like your ministry. We would come alongside young and new believers in the military. We would help them grow in their walk with God, get them grounded in the scriptures, help them get a passion for disciple making, and then mobilize them to other bases or around the world. And that was one of the most exciting, life giving opportunities to minister. But about four or five years ago, I was asked if I would prayfully consider coming back home to Cincinnati after being gone for about 20 years to provide leadership for the navigators here in the Cincinnati area.

And so here I am today. I've got three children, Kara, CJ, and Elijah. Elijah is my oldest. He's 16. And my youngest daughter is 13, and we live in a Loveland area which is about 20 minutes away.

So thank you for having me. Rick and Amy have spoken about you all, and I've been so excited to just put names with faces and just to see the momentum of what God is doing in northern Kentucky. So thanks again for having me. So today, as you all see, you are in the workshop following Jesus father, focused and fruitful, and I think you'll enjoy this workshop, and I pray that God truly has something for you. One of the most exciting invitations, I think, to fall on the ears of mankind was the invitation given by Jesus in Matthew 419.

Does anybody know Matthew 419?

This is where Jesus says, come, follow me and I will make you fishes of men. It was the invitation that captivated and helped the first disciples to say yes to this grand adventure of following Jesus. And thousands of years later, people are still saying yes to the invitation of this great adventure. But the truth of the matter is that many people start the adventure of following Jesus with great enthusiasm. But sadly, many people do not finish well or follow through on this adventure.

Now, why does this happen? We can kind of open up the floor and you all can kind of give a variety of answers of why people throw in the towel, why don't you get started and why don't they finish? But I want to propose that there is a root problem that overarches most of the answers we'd likely give. That is, we are deceived by pursuing fruitfulness over being fathered, or we choose being productive over being parented by God. In other words, if we go back to that verse that I quoted from Matthew 419, there's this natural draw and attraction to the latter part of the invitation from Jesus that says, and I will make you fishers of men.

I mean, we get a rush, right, when we are able to lead someone to Christ, where we're able to lead a Bible study, where we go on a mission trip and we get to see miraculous work of God and we get to be a part of that. That's incredible. And as exciting as these mountaintop experiences can be, they are not sustaining. And God is actually inviting us to be a part of something much more fulfilling. You see, in Matthew 419 in this passage, what precedes I will make you fishers of men is, follow me, follow me.

That I will make you fishers of men is so appealing to the zealous leader. Now, this invitation from Matthew 419 was so much more than just a call to copy or to do the things that Jesus did. But it was an invitation to be deeply transformed by observing and emulating Jesus'dependency on the Father. It was an invitation you were invited to observe and watch how Jesus related to the father. So ultimately, Jesus'invitation to follow him is an invitation for us to watch how his intimate relationship with the Father empowered him to focus and function in alignment with God's will.

Somebody prayed about God's will this morning, which in turn allowed him to be fruitful and fulfill God's purposes for his life. So one of my favorite definitions of ministry or fruitful ministries is that it is an overflow of a rich and focused relationship with father. And it is this rich relationship that fuels and sustains us for the long haul. So you talk about people throwing in the towel. You can say, well, it's because they got caught up in sin.

Oh, it's because they followed this guy or this girl. Oh. Because they stopped reading their Bible. What's the root of that? It's likely they didn't understand what it really meant to be fathered, what it meant to be fathered.

So that is why this workshop is entitled following Jesus fathered, focused, and fruitful. So my hope and prayer for our time together is that you would be more empowered to emulate Jesus and live and labor more fully as a beloved son and daughter whose fruitfulness overflows out of a deep relationship with the father. Okay. All right. Let me pray for us one more time, and we're going to jump into content.

Father, I am humbled first and foremost that you allow us. You allow me to be a vessel of your word and your truth. I can attest that this workshop, this message here this morning is more of a workshop for me, as I have wavered entrusting you as father, as I have wavered in living and functioning out of this beloved sonship relationship you desire us all to have. And so, Father, I pray that you would help me to really align myself with you this morning, that my words would be your words and anythingness of me would fall away. And I pray that what's spoken that's true would penetrate the hearts of those in this room, and they will walk away more, fueled more on fire to carry out your incredible call to make disciples.

But that will be fueled from a deeper, richer place of understanding how deeply loved they are by you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. All right, so let's talk about this idea of being fathered. Now, when you think about the word father, probably what most likely comes to mind first is your own personal relationship with your father.

Right. And the reality is sometimes the picture of our relationships with our earthly fathers aren't as glamorous or aren't as great as we'd like for them to be because we live in a broken, fallen world.

And some of us can attest to having amazing fathers. But we'll come back to that thought. Okay, so the question is, what does it mean to be fathered by God? And I have a working definition here that says one who securely lives and thrives under their God given right to function as beloved, protected, and empowered son or daughter. Okay.

And when I think about this idea of being father, for me, this image of an umbrella comes to mind. When I think about an umbrella. An umbrella is designed to protect, like this protection of love.

It provides something. It provides shelter. It also provides the closeness of the presence of God. But also under the umbrella of God, you're empowered by him. So there's power under this umbrella of love.

And I think this is where we also find our purpose. Okay. So this question of being fathered, being fathered, it's a really interesting concept. And the good news is that we don't really have to look too far on how to define this biblically because there is a beautiful picture right in the gospels of Jesus'relationship with father. In fact, one of the first New Testament references to love is found in one of my favorite verses.

It's a remarkable passage from Matthew 317. So you all, in context, probably remember this story in Matthew chapter three. This is the beginning of Jesus starting his public ministry. And before he even does any miracle or any type of work, he chooses to go to John the Baptist and he gets baptized. And you all remember what happens when he's dunked in the water and he comes back up.

You all remember what happens. A dove comes and descends on his shoulder. And then there's in mark. In Matthew 317, it says, a voice from heaven said, this is my son whom I love. With him I am well pleased.

And what's incredible about this passage, I don't think I really understood the significance of this until way after I've been deemed myself as a performance driven, living apart from the love of God believer. The significance of this passage is that Jesus had not done any public ministry yet, but the father displayed and showed his love for him. He outwardly expressed his deep love for Jesus, and it wasn't attached to his work. It was just because. So Jesus had no doubt from the beginning of this ministry that he was loved by the father.

But also toward the end of his ministry, if you look in one, John 17, this is one of Jesus's last times with the disciples during a prayer time. Jesus flat out says, you've loved me before the foundation of the world. And so Jesus'whole being and ministry was wrapped up in this understanding that he was functioning because of the father's love for him. Now there are about seven references in the New Testament to the Father testifying and proclaiming his love for the son. And similarly, there are seven passages where the son himself is testifying of the fatherly love he experiences.

And I'll just encourage you all to look those up, okay? So Jesus'life was fueled by the love of God, and he modeled for us just how to live in that love. And if you look all throughout the gospels again, you'll see these intriguing situations where people are coming to Jesus and they're wanting to do these miracles or wanting him to do ministry, and he's trying to escape away to be with the father because he knew that he would be sustained and energized. He knew he wasn't doing for them. In fact, in John chapter one, it says Jesus knew the hearts of people.

He didn't entrust himself to man. He knew that men were fickle. And so his ministry had to continue to be almost recalibrated, if you will, in the Father's love, in the Father's presence. And so one of my favorite passages is Mark 135 was this very early morning, while we're still dry, Jesus got up to pray while everybody was still asleep. And so just his faithfulness, his commitment to connect with the Father, love that.

But, friends, despite this model, this incredible model of a father son relationship, we still struggle with living under the umbrella of his love. And I think one of the greatest challenges is how our relationship with our earthly fathers impacts the way we view our heavenly Father. Like I said earlier, no matter how incredible how godly our fathers were, none of them were perfect. And somehow we still end up with these gaps where we're longing to be affirmed by some sort of father figure. Daddy never affirmed us enough, and so we're still looking for it, and we look for it in different things, in different ways.

For me, partially, my father was very inconsistent in my life. He joined the military when I was a young girl and he was in and out of my life. And so what I did was I equated my father's behavior with the character of God. So I believed that God was inconsistent. I believed that God was not trustworthy.

I believe that God was not really one who was faithful. And so I struggled for a long time believing that God loved me. And so I wanted my earthly father. I longed for his approval and his acceptance, and I wanted it so bad because I didn't grow up with him because he was in and out of my life. And so what did I do?

Throughout my teenage years and young adult years, there was this longing in me for affirmation, this longing to be filled, and it really was a longing for God. Okay, so until we learn how to live under the father's love, we find ourselves searching for love and affirmation and places and people that ultimately will never feel. So I wanted to take a look at this diagram, if you will, and you're going to see everything flashed up at the same time because I wasn't able to set it up where I could click one thing at a time, but just kind of follow me, if you will, as we kind of go through this diagram. But this is a diagram that shows the difference between one who lives embracing the father's love and one who is kind of still searching, if you will. And as I share this, for me personally, I've struggled with just about every one of these things in my journey, and I want you to see this and ask the Lord to see if there's anything he would have to share with you in your heart, where you are in terms of how you see yourself positioned under God's love.

Okay. All right, so there are seven, I think, core, I'll call them core lives or kind of core, faulty ways or characteristics of those who are living a part of fathers, of the father's love. And what's interesting is that you really see a lot of this in Christendom. So this is not a circle for non believers. This is what I typically have seen as people who are following and doing the work of the Lord.

So the first one here is this struggle of wanting to always appear perfect. They struggle with the parents. Maybe you were brought up in a household where you had a parent who pushed you to do everything right. When people show up, make sure the house is clean. When people show up, make sure you look good.

If you were a pastor's kids or a missionary kid, when you get in here, you don't embarrass the family. So something in you kind of was the foundation was laid for you to think that you always had to perform. So this person, if you will, they are consumed with keeping the external polished and in check, while really avoiding what's happening beneath the surface in their lives. I think about one Samuel 16 seven. It says, God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

Okay, and we're going to do a contrast here in a second with another diagram that shows how one can kind of break out of each faulty characteristic of love, if you will. The second one is approval. Approval. People who are not living under the father's love, they are living for the approval and the accolades of people because they do not live securely in God's love. And so they're seeking to win that approval from others, whether it be their Bible study leader, the person that's discipling them, their youth group leader, their Bible study leader.

They're living for that.

And you'll probably hear me make reference throughout this message of, I think, probably one of the most obvious stories of the tension between one who was living and abiding, if you will, in God's love, and one who struggled was the story of Mary and Martha. I feel sorry for poor Martha. I think she's always kind of the typical christian example of one who struggles with busyness and performance. But it is true. I mean, think about it.

If we were to walk into a space and we saw Mary and Martha and the dynamics that we see in that passage in Luke where Mary was busy, we would go, oh, good job, Martha. Look at her. A busy Christian. And we look at Mary. Mary, you need to get up, do something.

And so there's something in our culture that affirms this idea of winning the approval through work. And a lot of times these are people who have a hard time saying no because they think, well, maybe my small group leader won't think I'm as faithful. Maybe they don't think so. They can't say no. They have no boundaries.

All right, the third is an actor, y'all. I'm a nerd. So everything has to start with the same letter. That's really, like, performance driven person, an actor. They like to perform.

They wear the mask. So these are people who. That make ourselves into what others want us to be in order to be accepted.

We make ourselves into what others want us to be in order to be accepted. There's a passage in John 1242 about a group of leaders that says, nevertheless, many of the leaders believed in him, but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him, for feared that they would be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the praise from men more than the praise from God.

Friends, if we are living under the umbrella of God's love, we are more consumed with pleasing God than with others. Okay, number four. And I kind of alluded to this earlier, it's interesting.

We're going to talk a little about anxious achievers, but we're living in times where everybody says they struggle with anxiety. Everybody is overworked and tired. I was reading an article about Gen Z, and I think they watched their parents, like Gen Xers and boomers, be overworked and stressed out and never have time for them. So now they're like, there's this article that was like, gen Zers would rather take a 20%, like a huge cut in what you pay them rather than be stressed out to make a million dollars, or they quit if they feel like you're an employer who's overworking them, even if no matter what you offer them, they don't want to be overworked because they feel overwhelmed with being anxious. And they see what the busyness of life, if you will, has done to their parents, has done to the church and has done to them.

And so always busy. This person have this works mentality, and they choose to live all the way up to the margins to the point of where you're compromising your walk with God, your personal time with God. It's typically one of those things that goes first. And for me, being in christian leadership, one of the things I have to fight against is I don't want to get time with God just because I'm preparing a message. I shouldn't be getting time with God just because I'm speaking to you.

I should be drawn to just get time with Jesus just because I love Jesus and I know he loves me.

So again, I think about the story of Mary and Martha. Martha, if he was the busybody, the next one is, if you're not living under the Father's love, you'll probably likely see an air of arrogance or pride. And arrogance and pride. You can look at pride. Pride is typically.

You can look at it from two angles. It's really one who's consumed with self. You think about low pride, people who think, oh, shucks, I can't do it. I'm not good enough. And then there's the kind of the high pride, there's some of us who think we can do it all.

And with this arrogance, you typically see this competitive spirit and know it all spirit. There may be somebody in your group who you feel like, man, that's a junior holy spirit. They're always confronting me and telling me about myself, but do they see the three fingers pointing back at them? So if you will. This person is typically a person who likes to give advice, but they're not really open to receiving it from other people.

Think about proverbs 26 two. Here it says, do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. And then, last but not least, one of the trends and characteristics I'm seeing of people who live apart from the Father's love is this anxious achiever. This is a person who spends a lot of time ruling over the worries or pressures of tomorrow, and they fear not doing whatever they're doing well.

And at the same time, they have this excessive need to be successful. And unfortunately, many people use ministries and churches as a platform to look for this sense of achievement.

Friends, I think this is probably why we keep hearing all these crazy stories of people from different denominations and churches and groups like this great man of God who had this huge following, this huge church like falls. And I think this achievement mentality, I think it eats people alive. It really does. And one of my favorite verses about being anxious, you all are probably familiar. Philippians four, six through seven.

Anybody know that verse? Yeah. That's the way you had it up here. Do not be anxious about anything. I don't have all of it.

No, that's okay.

That's right. Yeah. That's great. Yeah. Thank you.

Thank you, ladies, for starting that. So it says, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, predict your request to God and the peace of God, which transcends all understandings, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Okay, so this is the demise of us when we're living apart from the Father's love. And when I think about my life, I struggle with all of them at different times in my life. As a younger believer, when I was my 20s, before I get married especially, this was just me.

I was this young, excited, zealous new young girl and the navigators, and I was just excited about ministry. I was excited about God using my life. And honestly, I came from so much brokenness that I think a lot of the busyness and seeking the approval was kind of a way to escape from deeper issues that God was wanting to deal with in my own heart. But by the grace of God, I was able to get on another track. And this is the track of living under the father's love.

And so when one finally grasped, and typically, I think, guys, my husband says, when God wants to get your attention, he will kind of whisper, if you will, through the scriptures. And then he'll speak through a person, but then he yells through circumstances. Typically, it takes something tough, something hard, some circumstance that gives you the big wake up call for you to realize that this is a game that's going to lead you to burnout.

And so my hope and prayer and this message was so important to me because I knew I was in a room talking to a group of individuals who are already, if you're hanging out with Rick and Amy, you're already passionate about doing ministry. You already got us thinking about the schools you want to go to and kids you want to help, and that's fantastic. But I want to see you guys 10, 20, 30 years from now still at it like Rick and Amy. Okay? And so for those who live under the father's love, here are the characteristics of them.

One, they have made a lifelong commitment. Instead of being about looking good and appearing perfect, they made a commitment to abide in Christ. This is the person who spends deep, intimate, alone time with Jesus in his word. So instead of playing the game of appearing perfect, they know that the word of God will show them who they really are, and they walk in that type of humility. Number two, they live as those who are already accepted, opposed to one who's looking for approval.

Hey, like me. Like me. Will you like me? I think it's so interesting how most of the social media mediums are all about getting likes and followers. And what that does to the mind of someone who's looking for approval is a false sense of acceptance.

These are people who don't even know you. My daughter the other day was like, mom, I got like 200 likes for this. And I'm like, okay, I guess, but accept it. You're already accepted. I love romans 15 seven.

It says, accept one another. Then, just as Christ accepts you in order to bring praise to God, God already accepts you, just like he accepted Jesus before he had done anything. Number three, instead of functioning as a performer or an actor, you learn how to live authentically in community. This was tough for me. This was really because I wasn't brought up in a christian home, and I was at a christian college, and I was around a lot of people who knew the word more than I did and knew all these kind of the christian jargon and lingo.

And so I felt like in order to fit in, it was hard for me to be my authentic self because I didn't think I would be accepted. So I think it's real easy to even be in your heart, you know, where you really are. But you can come to a space and you can learn the behaviors that are accepted. You can learn the language. You can learn the illustrations.

But when you're alone, you know who you really are, and God sees who you really are. And so that's why authenticity is so important, because really, nothing is hidden from God. And I love the posture of David from Psalm 139, 23 and 24 where he just said, God, search me, try me. Show me what's in my heart. He lived in that space of humility because he wanted to be his authentic self with the Lord.

Number four, instead of looking for worth and being busy through activities, agree with God that you're enough. That you're enough. Your value does not increase based on how much you do or how many good jobs you hear from your Bible study later. Okay?

Remember Matthew 317. Whenever you get caught up in this, that Jesus. That God told Jesus, this is my son, in whom I'm well pleased, before he did anything, it was big for me. Number five, instead of functioning in the arrogance and pretending like you know it all, be one who admit your errors. In fact, if you want to influence people, if you want to be a good disciple maker, I used to think that, man, when I meet with these women, I've got to present myself like I've got it all together.

And that's actually one of the quickest ways to make people kind of, she's uppity. I just can't relate to him. Every time I talk to him, he's like, God is good all the time. I don't hear none of his struggles. He don't struggle with porn, don't struggle with this.

This guy is just like, perfect. Nobody want to meet with anybody who carries himself in that way because God is the only one that's perfect. So I think learning to walk in humility and showing people that you struggle, but you are taking your struggles to God and allowing people into your authentic walk with God, I think, gives more hope than pretending that you're someone that you're not. Okay. And then last but not least, again, I'm a nerd.

So I'm really trying to say, instead of being anxious achiever, be content, I put at ease just really means to be content. To be content.

To be content in God I love in Luke 1041 and 42. Again, this is Mary and Martha. This is the Lord replied to Martha and said, martha, martha, you are worried and upset about many things.

I had to actually rebuke myself this week because I had a very busy week and I felt like I was all over the place. And I had to sit with God and repent of this martha mentality. But he said, martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion and will not be taken from her. And for those of you who remember the story, Mary was the one who was sitting at Jesus'feet.

Okay? So let's be ones whose ministry is an overflow of us sitting at the feet of Jesus, sitting at the feet of the Lord and being filled up by the Lord. Okay? So I wanted to take more time on this, the father part, because this is the foundation of anything else. Everything else, I'll say, and everything else flows from this.

All right, so this is fathering. And so I just challenge you as you look back over your notes later on today, to sit with God and say, lord, where do I kind of teeter off of being under the umbrella of your love? Where do I struggle here? Jesus, what do you want to say to me about this? How can I get off this track and get back under your love?

All right, so if one is truly living under the father's love again, you can be one who is living under the umbrella of God's love and empowered to stay the course and carry out God's will. And this is what we mean by focus, if you will. And before I go there, I want to name this beautiful reality that if you have received Christ. John 112 says, yet to all who received him, to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. He gave the right to become children of God.

Romans 815 says, the spirit you received does not make you slave so that you live in fear again. Rather, the spirit you receive brought you about adoption, adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, Abba, Father.

And then listen to John first. John three one.

It says, see what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are. That is what we are. Okay? And so I want to share that because we talked a lot about Jesus'relationship with the Father, but God is offering that same type of love relationship to us because it's that love that's going to fuel us to function and align it, which is all about this focus session.

It's about being focused to do and carry out what God has called us to in our lives. Okay? But it's got to flow out of that love.

So again, focused. Now, Jesus knew that his life was not his own and that God had this plan for him, from the very beginning, a plan for his life to be a sacrificial life, if you will, unto death, even on the cross. And throughout Jesus'life, you'll see the temptations and the pressure of pulling and the opinions of what other people wanted of him and the expectations from him. And they wanted to make him a king right here on earth. The jewish people did.

They thought, wow, finally we've got this king who can lead us. But again, Jesus knew what was in the hearts of people. He knew that he could not be swayed by their strong opinions and their rallying up on Jesus. Come here, do this. And you see all throughout the gospels how someone would say, jesus, come here.

And he would say, no, it's not my time. Or Jesus, do that. And he would say, it's not my time. So he was really in tune to the Father's will, which I think is incredible example of focus. So Jesus was so focused that he could say yes even when it was hard.

He could say no when the pressure was on to pull him outside of God's will. One of my favorite passages is John 434. In John four. This is a story of the samaritan woman, and he's having this intense conversation, incredible story with the samaritan woman. And the disciples, I think, are feeling a little uncomfortable because he's just talking to a woman.

And they bring up the topic of food and like, hey, is this guy going to eat? And we brought him food. And Jesus says, look, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. That's how focused Jesus was. That's how focused he was.

And that was the posture and the mentality of Jesus all throughout the gospels. Okay, I'm going to read a couple passages to you to really illustrate a little bit more how focused Jesus was. All right. Jesus was so focused that he had total alignment even in his actions. Listen, John 519 through 21.

So Jesus replied, truly, truly, I tell you, the son of God can do nothing by himself unless he sees the father doing it. For whatever the father does, the Son also does. The father loves the son and shows him all he does. And to your amazement, he will show him even greater works than these. And so Jesus did not have an original action.

His actions were so in alignment with the Father that he said, I can do nothing by myself. Everything you see me doing, I'm so in tune with the Father. That's what I'm doing. Okay, number two, his teaching, his teaching were in alignment with the Father. John 716 he says, my teaching is not my own.

It comes from the one who sent me. Y'all remember in John chapter six when Jesus start teaching about drinking my blood and eating my flesh, and people start freaking out like, what is this teaching? And y'all remember what happened in that story? A lot of disciples decided to leave. They were like, this teaching is too hard.

And what did jesus turn to his twelve disciples and say, oh, don't leave me. This teaching is hard, but don't. He said, y'all want to go too? That's how confident Jesus was in his walk with the Father. I'm like, God, could you help me be like that?

I want to have that much confidence as I administer teaching for the Lord, especially if I know it's come from God. All right, number three. His judgments and decisions were perfectly aligned or focused from the father. This is John five, verse 30. It says, I can do nothing by myself.

I judge only as I hear. My judgment is just because I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me. I can't do a solitary thing on my own. This is the message kind of interpretation that says, I can't do a solitary thing on my own. I listen, then I decide that's how tight he was with the father.

Isn't that an incredible example of one who's walking in alignment?

Number four, he was aligned even the way he loved and served his enemies. John 13 is probably one of my favorite chapters in the book of John. I like John 13, too, but John 13 is great. And John 13 three just gives me goosebumps because I think it shows the essence of how Jesus was functioning and ministering during his time here on earth. Listen to John 13 three.

It says, jesus knew that the father had put all things under his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God. So Jesus had a ongoing, keen awareness of who he was and whose he was and where he was going. It was not aligned.

And then if you read verse four, this is what gets me all excited. Verse four of this passage, Jesus, it says, okay, so I'll read it again. Jesus knew that the father had put all things under his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God. So he got up from the meal, and this is the famous story of where Jesus gets up and washes the disciples'feet. Do y'all know?

Jesus washed the feet of men. One men in particular, who was really like Peter, betrayed him, too. But he was washing the feet of men who were going to betray him. That's how aligned he was. He was not moved by, I mean, I think about myself.

If I know that somebody doesn't like me or I feel weird, I'm probably not going to be enthusiastic to wash their feet. But Jesus was so moved by the love of the father, his whole being was aligned with God's will that he kept washing his feet.

And then last but not least, he was aligned all the way up to his sacrificial death.

The garden of Gethsemane, I think, is one of the most intimate pictures of how Jesus related to the father. I mean, you see him, you see a man. I'm a woman. So I think I have probably more of an excuse to cry and show my emotions. But you see Jesus in the garden being so raw and real and vulnerable with these other doughs that he wants to follow him and look up to him.

I mean, he's sweating. His sweat is like blood drops and tears, and he's in such anguish and he's struggling. Matthew 26 39 says, this is when he's in the garden. He's trying to keep the disciples up. And it says, going a little further.

He fell with his face to the ground and prayed, my father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me yet not as I will, but as you will. And we all know the end of the story. Jesus was so focused on the father's plan for his life that he even went to the cross. For us, this is the model that we have. We have to be discipled by Jesus first.

If we're discipled by man or ourselves alone, I think most of us would probably talk ourselves out of making that type of sacrificial decision. Jesus is our model friend. So just like Jesus had the temptation to be pulled away and distracted, the same is true for us. The same is true for us that we'll be distracted. But we have been empowered.

And if we're living under this umbrella of God's love, we can stay the course and we can carry out God's will. All right, now we all know that. No one hardly. I don't think I really know anybody today that travels without a gps. Most cars come with a gps.

I rented a car a couple of weeks ago. I think they all just come with gps, even if I don't need them. And I think God has left us with a spiritual gps, if you will, to help keep us on track, because we're going to get off track, okay, we're going to lose sight. There's going to be people and circumstances, our own sin, our own flesh is going to pull us away, pull us out of alignment with God. But I think the spiritual gps is what God uses to keep us on focus.

And so this is just a practical tool we like to share. These are three eternal investments that you can give yourself to that I think keeps you in the posture that Jesus was in in terms of staying aligned with the father's will. All right, these three things are eternal. One, you want to make a commitment to invest your life and knowing the person, the character and the love of God, get to know God. I mean, we could take a whole workshop and talk about the characteristics and the personality of God.

Unchangeable, he's indescribable, he's omniscient, he's omnipotent, he's everywhere. I mean, you can go down the list, get to know the character of God, because ultimately you probably won't trust, or you probably won't. If you don't understand God's love and really trust that he's for you, I think it would be easy for you to deviate and follow another. So that's paramount. Make a life commitment to knowing God, okay?

And I think we get to know God in a lot of different ways. God is a good guy that he knows to speak, and I think one of those ways is through people. What I love about the navigators is the value of community and having someone invest in you and you choosing to invest in other people. I ask God to give me three people in my life. I always ask God to give me a Paul, someone who's further along than I am spiritually.

Paul, Timothy relationship. I ask God to give me a barnabas appear. People who are on the same level that I am spiritually, they'll kind of sharpen me the iron. Sharpens iron. Proverbs 20 717.

And then I'm also always praying for someone to pour into. Always ask God to give me at least two women a year that I can go deep with, two women a year that I can disciple. I think people keep me sharp. They keep me accountable. So live in community, okay?

Make a commitment. No matter where you go, if you leave this group, ask God to lead you to godly people who will help keep you on track, and that you can help them on track. And last but not least, make a commitment. There's going to be a whole workshop on giving your life to studying the scriptures, okay? The only book that's living and active.

Every time you open it up, you get this incredible opportunity to experience the living God. The word of God in James says, it's a mirror that will show you who you really are. But you've got to look closely in the mirror. You've got to have the humility. Be willing to see the zit.

My daughter, who's a preteenist, I was like, last night, mom, I've got a zit. Like, I don't even see it. It's because she's a teenager and she wants her face to look great. So she looks intently in the mirror. And I think God wants us to have that same posture of looking in the mirror of the scriptures, not because he wants to shame us, but because he knows what's best, and he wants us to be all that he calls us to be and desires us to be.

Okay, so this is just a tool I like to use, the spiritual gps. So when you're struggling with being focused on what God has called you to, you're out of alignment. There's probably something off here in the way you're viewing God. Are you out of community? Are you not spending time in the word?

Okay. All right, friends. Well, we're going to go to this last principle here of this father focused and fruitful workshop, and this is the one that everybody typically gets all excited about. I don't think anybody's excited about a tree that's struggling to bear fruit. You plant something in your backyard and it's not producing, or you plant a garden, it's not producing.

That's just not fun. But the reality is that's life. That's life. There are years that sometimes a plant or a tree will not yield what you'd hoped it to, but God doesn't see that as a waste. Okay?

And we're going to dig into this and wrap up in these last 15 minutes here.

But before we get into fruitfulness, I want to kind of say this thought, too. From ephesians three or Ephesians two, verse ten. I love this version says, for we are God's. One version says workmanship, another one says, God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. And so when you think about the previous principle of being focused and functioning in alignment, that's so important, because before you were even born, God knew the work of the ministry he was going to call you to.

He knew the people that you were going to encounter. He knew the places that you were going to go. He knew that you would be here this weekend. He knew that you would meet Rick and Nami and your Bible study leader. He knew.

He knows exactly what you need. And so the question of functioning in alignment, it's an incredible question because God already knows. He's already got it all mapped out, just like he had Jesus'life mapped out. And so if that's the case, if God really knows the beginning, the middle and the end of your story, and you already know there's going to be adversity and temptation, wouldn't you say it's worth investing and ensuring that you are functioning in alignment with God? Okay.

Again, I think the spiritual gps really sets us up for success, to ultimately have fruitful lives for God. So, fruitfulness, my friend, what do we mean by fruitfulness? Well, ultimately, I have here definition that fruitfulness is an overflow of a rich and focused relationship with the father. It's an overflow of a rich and focused relationship with the father. And the interesting thing about fruit is that you can't force your life to be fruitful.

You can't force fruit. I mean, have you ever walked by a tree and you heard, no, we've never walked by a tree or plant and you heard the strain of this fruit or this tree or plant trying to squeeze out fruit. It doesn't work that way. Okay, we're going to talk about how fruit is produced here in a second. But biblically, when we talk about fruit, usually defined in two ways, one, there's the fruit of people.

Genesis 126, be fruitful and multiply spiritually. Whether it be spiritual children, physical children, we bear fruit. People are fruits, okay? And then, of course, in the next one, we all are aware of the fruit of the spirit, the produce of the fruit of the spirit. From Galatians chapter five.

Fruit is also the character of your life. As you spend time with God, you're going to be changed from the inside out, and you will produce some of those fruit. Anybody remember some of those from Galatians five? And peace, kindness, gentleness, self control, joy. Joy.

Y'all are saying them. Yeah, that should be the overflow for all. Overflow of one who is richly spending time with the Lord. But then, last but not least, I love John 15 eight. John 15 eight says, this is to my father's glory, that you bear much fruit, proving yourself to be my disciple.

So God is pleased. He is pleased. If you want to please God, bear much fruit. And he's wired you to bear much fruit. John 15.

Incredible, incredible passage. Will somebody read that out loud for us?

I got it. Thank you. I am the true vine. My father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit.

While every branch that does bear fruit, he proves that I will be even more fruitful. You're already clean because of the word I've spoken to you. 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 am the vine. You are the branches. Remain in me, and I will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing.

Yes, boy. I tell you what. The last part of verse five is probably one of the most humbling passages or verses in all of scripture. Apart from me, you can do nothing. Apart from me, you can do nothing.

That means we could be doing a lot of different things.

But if it's not us functioning as overflow from remaining, it's nothing. I mean, isn't this the conclusion that Jesus drew when we were reading those other passages from John chapter five and John chapter seven? He says, I don't speak on my own accord. I don't do. I can't do anything unless the father tells me what to do.

He knew that apart from being deeply connected to the father, what was he really doing? What are we doing? What are we producing?

So, John 15, it's a really intriguing passage because it really puts us in our place in terms of how one is fruitful. And there's really, honestly, like, one thing that we're really commanded to do, and that is to remain. Other versions use the word abide. And that's the word for allowing God to make his home with, or your home with God, allowing God to live so deeply in you. It's like he's your home and you're his home.

The word remain, remaining in him, staying, being steadfast, being committed to spending time with him, remaining in him. We can't force fruit now, as my friend Susie Walter would say, we can take on fruit. We can walk in a room. And I know I really don't want to be around these people today. And I just had a fight with my roommate.

I was in traffic. And I'm actually an angry person right now. But because I want these people to think I'm, like, a great christian, I'm going to tape on fruit and act joyful and act this way.

We can have fake fruit. I mean, have anybody ever actually. I like fake fruit. No, I like fake fruit to decorate my house. Have you ever come to my house?

I like fake fruit for decoration. Not in the spiritual realm, but fake fruit that makes me look like I can preserve nice fruit because it makes my little coffee table look nice. So I have a bowl of fake limes and lemons, and people pick them up and they go, are they real? Because I really worked really hard looking on Amazon for fruits that looked real. So I just think, just like that fruit, we're able to fake it sometimes.

And I get it. We have bad days, but I think God is not interested in us faking it. He really wants us to weather the storm and remain steadfast in him so that even through trials, even through trials and hard times, we bear fruit. The second term, pruning. That's not a fun word for anybody who's into agriculture or planting or flowers.

Sometimes pruning makes a tree or a plant look pretty ugly. But we know that the results of pruning, even according to this passage here, is what allows one to be more fruitful. And God is so as divine dresser. He's so intricate and careful and so loving that he knows how to strip away in such a way where we're not damaged. In fact, we're more fruitful for him.

Okay, so fruitfulness really has to do with remaining improving. And I want to challenge you to just sit with the Lord and say, what does it mean for me to remain in you? And how am I being resistant to you pruning? Because those are the only two ways you can be fruitful. There's nothing else you can do.

So I would say figure out what it really means to remain and remember that the power is not in the straining, but it's in the remaining. You can't strain it out. Okay, friends, as I look out at each of you, I am really encouraged. I really am, because I think you all have an incredible opportunity to show a broken and hurting world what a real loving relationship with our heavenly Father looks like. Many people have burned out after Covid with a country being divided.

Christianity is not very popular in America, honestly, it's not very popular around the world, except for maybe some places in China and Africa you read about explosive movements. But in America, Christendom is hemorrhaging for a lot of reasons. Many Christians are disillusioned because I believe many of them were tasting religiosity and not Jesus. They were tasting religiosity, not truly being fathered. So no wonder people are throwing in the towel and deconstructing their faith.

That's the buzzword in it. Everybody's deconstructing. I'm hurt by this Christian. I'm hurt by these set of beliefs. I'm hurt by all these things that the church just haven't gotten right.

But we don't need to be threatened by what is happening around us.

But we must be empowered by who and whose we are. So don't be threatened by the what but I want you to be more and more empowered every day in the tried and true character of God that's your father, of who you are and who you are because people change. The world around you is going to become more and more, I think, aggressively opposed to God and his views and his ways. And you've got to be able to be steadfast in the midst of it all. So, my friends, remember that we are adopted sons and daughter of the king who has rescued and redeemed us to love, to be loved and to love others.

Love them into the kingdom. So may you go out on your adventures to make disciples as one who is fathered, focused and fruitful. Thank you, friends.