Future Church Brisbane
Join Luke Kennedy and friends at Future Church in Brisbane, Australia.
Talks from our gatherings as well as deeper discussions and Application panels around the practicals of Following Jesus.
Future Church Brisbane
Real Presence: Abiding in the Spirit
This episode invites listeners to explore the transformative practice of abiding in Christ, rooted in the metaphor of the vine and branches from John 15. It emphasises the necessity of a close relationship with Jesus, highlighting how intentional spiritual practices can lead to a renewal of mind, emotional stability, and the overflow of the fruits of the Spirit.
• Understanding the metaphor of the vine and branches
• The significance of spirituality in contemporary culture
• The role of the Holy Spirit in our journey of abiding
• Practical habits to cultivate the presence of God
• The principle of neuroplasticity and spiritual growth
• Creating intentional moments of stillness and reflection
• Outcomes of abiding: the fruits of the Spirit
• Call to action: commit to daily reflection and prayer
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to a deep and personal experience with him and I want you guys to come along with me on that journey. So we're going to be doing it this morning. From John 15. We're using this metaphor that Jesus talks about of a winery and the need for a branch to abide or remain in the vine to bear much fruit. So this is John 15, an amazing passage.
Speaker 1:And just for some background, john 15, jesus spoke these words to his disciples and the night before his crucifixion, and during or just after the Last Supper, you have the 11 disciples. Judas had already left at that phase, back in chapter 13. Judas had already left at that phase, back in chapter 13. And this is part of Jesus' farewell discourse to the disciples. So you can sort of imagine the tension in the air and the things that were going on in the upper room and essentially Jesus was teaching them how to stay spiritually connected to him after his physical departure. That was coming. Just a wild situation and I just love how Jesus would use these metaphors, what we're about to read, use these metaphors and word pictures to articulate and embed these transforming concepts and truths to the disciples at that time and now to us, and over. These truths have changed people's lives for literally millennia, and here we are today, able to sit and reflect on them. It is an incredible privilege. So here we are today. So, john 15, 1 to 5, let's follow along. I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser or gardener. So, john 15, 1-5, let's follow along, because the word that I've spoken to you Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me, you can do nothing.
Speaker 1:In this day and age, in this generation, the time that we live, particularly here in Australia, there is an increased appetite for this sense of spirituality. Right, it's like freely embracing practices such as meditation, energy healing, astrology and manifestation, all these different sort of types of modern spirituality. For jared, it's ice baths, which, um, I'm proud of you, mate, and I use these as tools of transcendence and self-discovery. We all, we all see these things in our culture, and this modern spirituality often encourages people to curate their own belief systems and pulling elements from different traditions and it's quite a pluralistic way of doing life and faith. Whether it be Eastern mysticism, new Age practices, this pick and mix approach certainly lacks a firm foundation and coherence and the accountability that the Bible represents and talks about. So, in contrast to all these things, jesus is teaching here in 115 really stresses the necessity of abiding in him and warning that, apart from a living relationship with God, people will certainly wither spiritually. Without a firm foundation in Christ, spirituality becomes shaky and unstable and we can see that throughout our culture. Author and pastor John Mark Comer captures this well. The state of our culture like this, he says the state of our culture like this, he says we have more freedom, more technology and more access to pleasure than any other generation in history, and yet we are more anxious, more depressed and more spiritually starved than ever before. So despite of these fleeting, self-help spiritual pursuits that we see in culture, the spiritual ache remains.
Speaker 1:The philosopher Blaise Pascal famously wrote this. He said there is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God, the creator, made known through Jesus Christ. We all have that hole in us that we are desiring. So John 15, 4, abide in me and I in you. So the Greek word for abide do we have any ancient Greek speakers here? If you can maybe fact check me on this, kenard, if you can just give an army over here the Greek word is meno, which can be translated into remain, to stay, to dwell or make your home in. I love that we could translate this passage abide in me and I in you, as make your home in me, as I make my home in you. I love that.
Speaker 1:So the question is what are you abiding in? What are we abiding in? We are all abiding in something, every single one of you. You are not excluded from this. You are all abiding in something, whether you like it or not, whether you realize it or not. We are all abiding. The question is not are you abiding? But what are you abiding in? What's the source that you are rooted in? The default setting that you return to, that we return to the emotional home we live in, where our mind goes, where we're not busy completing tasks. We all make our home somewhere.
Speaker 1:Okay, so our guide to abiding the Holy Spirit. Who is the Holy Spirit? What does it look to abide? This is the launching pad. So we're going to read from John 14. This is just a little bit before the abide in me passage in John 15.
Speaker 1:So again, this is a farewell discourse from Jesus to his disciples in the upper room before his death. So he says John 14, 16 to 17. And I will ask the Father and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever the spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. So this word, another in Greek, which is alos, means another of the same kind, another of the same kind, another one of Jesus he's going to send, implying that the Spirit would continue to do Jesus' work. And Jesus promises to send another advocate. Jesus' work, and Jesus promises to send another advocate this is the Holy Spirit, which means helper, comforter, intercessor, counselor, advocate. So another of the same kind. And a few sentences later, jesus named this mysterious another one of me as the Holy Spirit, of me as the Holy Spirit as the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:So for those that might be new to following Jesus, it can almost be overwhelming, like where do we even start on this spiritual journey. I believe the baseline, the foundation of following Jesus is simply to be with Jesus. To be with Jesus. Our first goal of discipleship to Jesus is to live in the moment by moment flow of love within the Trinity, to dwell, to remain, to abide, to make God our home, make our home in God. To make God our home, make our home in God. So let's explore what this looks like a little bit.
Speaker 1:So discipleship or apprenticeship to Jesus is turning your body literally into a temple, a place of overlap between heaven and earth. And this concept of a temple runs all the way through the Bible, where God's plan has always been to dwell with us, to dwell with his people, from the physical temple in the Old Testament to Jesus as the new temple, as a true temple, sorry and then to believers as God's dwelling place. The story of Scripture reveals his desire for intimacy with us. It's this dialogue that happens all the way through the Bible. Now Paul, talking to the church in Corinth, 1 Corinthians 6, 19, says do you not know that we as humans have in the entire universe is to let your body become God's home, to let your body become a temple, to dwell, to remain, to abide, to make your home in God, man, it's this constant flow of love within the Godhead. I love that. The AW Tozer love AW Tozer.
Speaker 1:He called it habitual conscious communion, where he wrote at the heart of the Christian message is God himself waiting for his redeemed children to push into conscious awareness of his presence. And again, a 17th century monk named Brother Lawrence who wrote a lot on this topic. He called it the practice of the presence of God. We're going to dig into that a little bit. But as nice as the idea of being with Jesus sounds, it will remain nothing more than a shallow spiritual sentiment until we accept that abiding is not a technique or a thing that we deploy with which we can control and manipulate our relationship with God, but rather it's a skill. It's something that we develop as we abide in the vine. It takes time, it takes intentionality and, like all skills, it takes practice to master. So we're going to talk a little bit about that. So the habit of abiding, practicing the presence of God Are we good? Are we coming along? Let's go, let's go. The habit of abiding, practicing the presence of God. So Dr Donald Hebb, a Canadian neuroscience, coined the phrase neurons that fire together, wire together. Are we aware of that? Have we all heard that Neurons that fire together wire together? Are we aware of that? Have we all heard that Neurons that fire together wire together what is now called the Hebbian learning, the idea that repeated activation of our neural pathways strengthens their connections.
Speaker 1:And Miz and I my wife Miz and I have front row seats to the development of a little 18-month-year-old brain and boy. It is entertaining, it is wild, and something that I've noticed, that we've noticed, is some mornings, when she wakes up or is sitting in the backseat of the car, she just launches and announces into many different types of songs. She's very much into a sing-along sort of season and she loves a good mashup. She has a relatively brief repertoire of songs but, boy, she knows those songs and what she does. It's like, as she's become a little bit more conscious, she is like launching into Twinkle, twinkle Little Star, that quite seamlessly moving to A, b, c, d Now that's pretty easy because it's the same sort of melody. But then, within the same sort of song, the mashup, she's rocking into yes, jesus Loves Me, and I'm like how'd you do that? And like yes, jesus Loves Me, and then rocking out to you know jingle bells at the end, um, quite confidently like bringing it home and I'm like I mean, she's still living well and truly in Christmas. She is, she has not given up on Christmas. She loves jingle bells and it is going to be on rotation well, at least it looks like for some time. But, um, but, it's her little brain just constantly making these connections and absorbing new and it's quite fascinating to watch. It's her little brain just constantly making these connections and absorbing new. It's quite fascinating to watch. It's really, really fascinating. And she's just remixing everything that she's learned at lightning speed.
Speaker 1:And this is the neuroplasticity of a little child's brain. That it is. It is there's a lot of firing and a lot of wiring going on. There's not a lot of barriers within the brain, there is just a lot of activity going on. There's not a lot of barriers within the brain, there is just a lot of activity. Obviously, as we get older, we don't quite have that same flexibility. We sort of lose that over time. But there's a purpose for that, a good reason, but it is still incredibly relevant to us as adults, our brains. Yeah, there's a firing and wiring principle that is just as relevant to us as a little child that the things that we repeatedly think about, that we dwell on and practice, they're the things that shape us. Our habits, our thought patterns and even our faith are formed through repetition and practice. So the question is, what are we wiring into our brains? Because, whether we realize it or not, what we focus on is shaping who we're becoming.
Speaker 1:So when you wake up first thing in the morning, where does your mind go? Where does your mind go when you lay your head in the pillow after a long day? What are your final thoughts as you go to sleep? Through the little moments throughout the day, where is your mind at? Where is your default setting? Maybe grabbing a coffee, or sitting at your computer, going for a walk between the bus and the office? Where is your mind drifting to? For more often than not, it's our wants, it's our needs, it's our fears the future, the past, our wounds, this sense of negative rumination.
Speaker 1:And the Bible talks to us about the reforming and the renewal of our minds Romans 12,. I encourage you guys minds, romans 12. I encourage you guys to read Romans 12. It is one of my favorites. But it says Romans 12, 1 to 2, it says do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So when you have that fleeting mental break, where does your mind go to? I love the concept of compounding growth over time. Those new investors or businessmen would understand this concept well.
Speaker 1:But it's more what we practice. So the more we practice the presence of God, the more his true presence shapes us and reshapes us, our hearts and minds, over time as we abide. So these days it is just so easy to get distracted. There is a constant fight for attention and mental real estate in our minds. We all know that we are just so easily distracted, constantly sucked into hurry and pulled by the noise of our phones and screens, overwhelmed by our internal anxieties and insecurities, stuck in patterns of negative rumination. And I know that I am in need of a daily reforming and renewal within my heart and mind. Can you relate to that? Just a daily reminder, a new default position of my home in Christ how do we cultivate this life of abiding? How do we cultivate the practice of the presence of God?
Speaker 1:And Dallas Willard, who coined the term the practice of the presence of God or wrote about it, he said this incredible quote. So zone in here Dallas Willard wrote. He said the first and most basic thing that we can and must do is to keep God before our minds. This is the fundamental secret of caring for our souls. Our part in practicing the presence of God is to direct and redirect our minds constantly to him. In the early stages we may be challenged by our burdens and habits of dwelling on things less than God. But these are just habits. They're not the law of gravity. They can be broken. A new, grace-filled habit will replace the former ones. As we take intentional steps toward keeping God before us, soon our minds will return to God as the needle of a compass constantly returns to the north. If God is the great longing of our souls, he will become the pollster of our inward beings. What Dallas is talking about here is turning God into a habit to practice the presence of God.
Speaker 1:I know for me my mornings are a time to be with Jesus and I know we all have different chronotypes and different times that our brain turns on. But finding an intentional moment and moments throughout the day to allow the Holy Spirit to sit and counsel is a key aspect of abiding and practising the presence of God. And I'm speaking to myself here not to underestimate the power of consistent practice. Neurons that fire together, wire together. Practise prayer, practise sitting in silence and hearing God's voice, position yourself for a life of worship, away from self and on God, to refine your spiritual practice until those neural pathways strengthen A daily welcoming of the Holy Spirit into each moment of the day. And we all know it's difficult and humbling because we all get sucked back into hurry, we're all at default position. But as we set our rhythms and our disciplines and our habits, the practice of abiding will fill us with joy.
Speaker 1:As we begin to tap into this deepest ache of our souls, which is the desire for God. And over time, as I've tried to form these practices of slowing down and finding that still place as the mind comes to rest, the more I find my own consciousness naturally gravitating to my home in God. But His love and His goodness invade my mental space and I find myself naturally going to worship. It becomes less about me and my flaws and my insecurities and the distractions and it becomes more about the fullness, the faithfulness and the goodness of God. It's this practice that allows space for the Holy Spirit to do His work and I want to encourage us this morning to consider creating your own intentional moments, if you haven't already, and habits to dwell, to intentionally dwell and remain and abide, to make God your home. So what is the overflow of abiding? What's moving beyond knowing God and experiencing him personally? What is the result as we put these practices in place, practicing the presence of God? What's the result of abiding? What's the overflow of abiding in the vine?
Speaker 1:So Galatians 5, a lot of us will know this tells us that when we abide in Christ, we bear the fruit of the Spirit. And we'll get to the fruit of the Spirit in a moment. But it's important to know that transformation happens as we sit and we contemplate and as we gaze, as we look at God looking at us, or, as King David puts it, to gaze at the glory of the Lord, and by doing so we begin to be transformed into his image. We become what we gaze at. That's an important point. John Mark Homer says this. He says you become what you give your attention to. If you give your attention to the things of the Spirit, you'll grow into a person of love, joy, peace. Whatever we abide in, remember we are all abiding in something. It will determine the fruit, for good or not so good. We are all abiding in something. So what's the overflow of abiding in Jesus? So, as we create space and set these intentions and our practice to abide and to dwell, to stay and make your home in Jesus, I can guarantee you will begin to experience the overflow of abiding in the vine.
Speaker 1:Paul puts it like this when he was praying for the church in Ephesus so Ephesians 3, 16 to 19,. And he says and I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide, how long and how high and how deep is the love of Christ. Now listen to this. And to know his love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of the fullness of God. And to know his love. That. Now, paul is not an anti-intellectual here by any means. He's not saying knowledge is bad or pursuit of intellect is bad, but he is aware of the limitations of the human mind. I think we can relate to that. That the overflow of abiding moves us beyond knowing about God to experiencing him personally, from head to heart. To know his love that surpasses knowledge.
Speaker 1:And if you squeeze a mango, what comes out of that mango and I'm not talking about mangoes and 4X mangoes, although the concept would still apply to this but when you squeeze a mango some of you probably didn't get that, but that's all good. If you squeeze a mango, it's mango juice that comes out right. It's not apple juice, it's not lemon juice. It's only what's inside juice that comes out right. It's not apple juice, it's not lemon juice. It's only what's inside that can come out. And the same is true for our lives that when we are pressed, stressed and shaken, what overflows reveals what we are filled with right. So if we're abiding in Christ, then his love and his peace and his joy will naturally begin to spill out right. And it's not just about knowing in our minds and striving to produce fruit, but rather experiencing his fruit as it naturally begins to overflow from us as we stay connected to the vine, stay connected to Jesus. It's critical. And just as a mango tree doesn't strive to produce mangoes, a life rooted in Jesus naturally produces the fruit of the Spirit, which we know in Galatians 5 is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. These are the things, and all of these things will begin to grow and naturally overflow as we are connected to the true vine. It's a powerful idea that the more that we lean in, the more we start to see the fruit, and it's only through being connected to the vine we start to see the fruit and it's only through being connected to the vine that when we abide, when we abide in the vine, we are filled. When we're filled, we begin to overflow, and what overflows is the very life of Jesus through us and the fruit of his spirit, spirit.
Speaker 1:I remember a season last year where I personally was in a constant state of hurry, of chaos, mounting responsibilities and looming decisions that were drifting around in my head were trying to open a project, and it was wild at that time. It was like I guess it was leaving me in a bit of a constant state of angst, and I know a lot of us can relate to this in our work and professional lives, personal lives. There's seasons where you just feel that angst and I remember as part of my practice over this time. There's seasons where you just feel that angst. I remember as part of my practice over this time is I would find a time, find a space in my room where I would simply close my eyes and repeat in my mind, in my heart, a phrase from Psalms, which is just be still and know that I'm God. There was no elaborate words. I wasn't asking, I wasn't even really worshipping at that point. It was just a sense of being still and allowing the Holy Spirit to come into my focus.
Speaker 1:And I found that over this time and I remember it so vividly because it was following me around all the time and I would find that something would shift and it was like a sense of peace that would come over me over this season and it was like the burdens that would creep up and consume me would start to be pushed into the background. It was like the Holy Spirit had taken my whole perspective and reorientated away from the chaos and started to reorientate it back to Jesus and without this pattern, the chaos would consume me. It's making space for communion with him, the inner storm quietened and it's a place where joy started to take root and worship became my natural response. I remember because I would pick up my guitar and I would have a sing or I would put on. I remember putting on. I think it was passion and just having moments where I would let the Holy Spirit do His thing, and this is the beauty of abiding. The overflow of remaining or staying connected to the vine produces good fruit. As we create space and rhythms to stay rooted in him, as we commune with God through the Holy Spirit, something really powerful begins to happen.
Speaker 1:Abiding isn't just about survival. It is about this ongoing transformation. Abiding isn't just about survival. It is about this ongoing transformation. It's this being still and knowing that I am God. It's creating that space to sit. This is not elaborate prayers, not wordy prayers, but we position ourself and I love this. This is Jesus' invitation, where he says come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Speaker 1:So just in closing, I want to throw out a bit of a practical challenge for us this week. Let's consider spending 10 minutes a day in silence and reflection and practicing listening to God's voice. Come with expectancy, create this pattern. We've got to practice, embed these rhythms. There'll be days and moments where we get sucked back into hurry we all do. But just come back, be still and know that I am God and God comes where he's wanted. It says in James. It says Draw near to me and I'll draw near to you that if we abide, we must create space, our own secret place where we meet with him daily, or in our hearts, and the little moments throughout the day when we wake up, in the morning, when we go to bed. If we just dared to practice this over time, what would the fruit be? I think that's very exciting.
Speaker 1:If we want to abide, we must cultivate expectancy for God's real and tangible work in our lives, remembering that abiding is not striving. It's about making your home in Jesus and he makes his home in you through this incredible gift of the Holy Spirit. So I encourage you today, let's make this decision. Let's practice the presence of God, let's turn God into a habit and let's allow the fruit of abiding to transform us from the inside out, because the reward of abiding is not just spiritual formation or growth. The reward of abiding and following Jesus is literally Jesus himself.
Speaker 1:Spend time with Jesus. Allow the Holy Spirit to do what he does this incredible gift. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest Very powerful. Abide in me, make your home in me as I make my home in you. Well, they're gonna pray and just say take some time in your own heart to just welcome god into your week. And uh, remember, it's not striving, we're just creating space for the Holy Spirit to do what he does, that the Holy Spirit is our guide to abiding. The habit of abiding and practicing the presence of God then leads to the overflow of the fruits of the Spirit, moving beyond knowing about God to experiencing Him personally.
Speaker 1:So let's pray, let's position ourselves to receive what God wants to do in our lives. God, we are so thankful for the incredible gift of your Holy Spirit, the incredible gift and the invitation that you give us to abide in you, the necessity it is for us to abide in you, to make our home in you. And God, I want to ask, just in response this morning, that you will plant seeds in our hearts for this week, that you will help us bring our awareness to this practice of the presence of God. That you will help us lean into what you want for us. That you will direct our thoughts throughout the day that we'll discover these little moments. Day that we'll discover these little moments, and, god, I just want to pray that you will help us as a church and as individuals, god, to be still and know that you are God, that you will help us position ourselves to really lean into this idea of abiding in the vine and that, as we abide, that you will prune us. But the reason for the pruning is that it will bear, that we will bear more fruit.
Speaker 1:And, God, I just want to ask that, as we move into our week and our lives, that you will form our hearts and our lives and our minds, that, as we practice this abiding in you, that you will bring clarity, that we will learn to hear your voice. And, god, we are so thankful for the incredible gift of the Holy Spirit that allows this connection, this staying in, for the home that can be made. And, god, we want to stop for a moment and say thank you and I just pray that our response this morning will be practical, will be action, and that we will start to see this fruit overflowing as we sit and be still with you, as we listen to your voice and that formation takes place. God, we thank you in your mighty name. Amen, amen. Very cool.