Abundant Life in Context

In order to receive the promise of abundant life, we must know what it really looks like.  We look at the scripture where Jesus says he came so that we could have abundant life to understand the promise.  We must know the whole promise before we can walk into it.

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Good afternoon, good evening. Whenever you happen to be watching this, God bless you. It is truly a blessing. Welcome back to Word Alive Podcast with Elder Mike. Just here and grateful to be bringing the Word of God to the people of God. It is raining and it is gray outside, but I tell you, the sun is shining bright in here. Why? Because we're not depending on the S U N Sun for our light. We are depending on the SON Sun, the Son of God, our Lord, our Savior Jesus Christ. So we welcome you back to our podcast here, Word Alive. For those of you who did not see our first episode, this is our second. I just want to kind of shed some light on and remind you of some things. If you haven't seen it, to tell you for the first time, some things from our first podcast. Because what this podcast, the heart behind this podcast, is to help God's people walk more and more in the abundant life that Jesus came, that we might have access to it. And last week we looked at some of the reasons why we don't walk in the abundant life. I shared that for the first 32 years of my life, I didn't walk in the abundant life for no other reason than I didn't realize I wasn't already walking in it. For 32 years, I always had a roof over my head, I never missed a meal because there wasn't food in the refrigerator. I had a family that was good and nurturing, I had good relationships, a few troubled uh romantic relationships, but on the whole, my relationships were good. Um, always had a job except for a few brief stints, and my life was good, and I didn't realize that God had more for me than the good life that He had already provided to me. So part of the reason sometimes we miss the abundant life is we just don't realize we're not already living it. Uh, one of the other reasons is that when we finally realize there's more to abundant life than just the good life we've been living, we go about seeking it the wrong way. We go about looking for it the wrong way. I know for about 10 years after I was saved and I realized, boy, you know what? God does have more for me. I went out for about 10 years and I tried to earn the abundant life. I thought that if I worked hard enough, if I served hard enough, if I, you know, did the right things, if I got to know my pastor well enough, right, that I could earn the abundant life through the things that I did. And I came to realize about 13 years ago that we can't earn abundant life, that abundant life is a gift from God. Um, there are different things, different gifts that God has for us. I look at, you know, we talked about last week the gift of eternal life we get just for being his children. Um we see that uh, you know, like a parent would provide shelter for a child, would provide food for a child, uh, would provide, you know, teaching and care and protection for a child, regardless of what the child does, the parent gives these gifts because they're necessary for the child, right? And and God gives us that eternal life unconditionally. We confess, we believe, we receive when it comes to eternal life. Abundant life is a gift from God, but it's a little bit different. I just want to make sure everybody understands this that abundant life is a gift that we need to be prepared to receive. You think about as a parent, uh, you wouldn't give a Swiss Army knife to a three-year-old, right? Because a three-year-old could hurt themselves, kill themselves, or hurt others with that Swiss Army knife. They're not prepared, they're not mature enough to receive it, they don't understand enough in order to receive it. A parent, you know, if they have a their child is 17, 18 years old and has crashed the forward focus three times, right? They haven't displayed enough responsibility, enough maturity for them to say, okay, well, here I'm ready to give you the Mercedes Benz now. It just we don't do that as parents because we know that even a good gift is not a good gift if the child is not ready to receive. So God has this gift of abundant life waiting for us. And as we are prepared, he releases more and more of the abundant life to us. So understanding that abundant life is not a wage to be earned, it's not something we can earn, yet it is a gift that we need to prepare ourselves to receive. Not because the gift isn't perfect, but because it's not perfect for us until we're mature enough and ready to handle it. So today we're gonna begin that journey toward maturity and handling the abundant life gift that God has for us by looking at the context in which he says that Jesus came to give us abundant life so that we can see what it looks like, and we can also see some of the things that we need to do in order to begin on that road to preparation for the abundant life. And we're gonna begin. I'm gonna begin with the promise itself, uh, with the verse itself, which is John 10 10, which says, the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. So we see here that Jesus is letting us know here, I didn't just come to save you. I did come to save you, and if there's only one gift I can get, I want it to be that eternal life, that salvation, that eternal life that comes with salvation. But he also came not just to save us, but to show us how to live saved. He didn't come just to give us eternal life, but he did come that we may have access to abundant life as well. And we do have that access as soon as we confess and believe. But the but the access, the full access, the granting of the gift, requires the preparation. So we see here, beginning at verse 1, we're gonna look at begin at chapter 10, verse 1, to really look at the context of this promise, though, of this gift that he's letting us know is available to us. And it says, Very truly I tell you, Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. Pay attention that I'm gonna repeat again. The sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name, and he leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them. Why? It says, And his sheep follow him because they know his voice. Again, I'm gonna repeat that again. The sheep follow him because they know his voice, but they will never follow a stranger. In fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice. Um, and as I was thinking about this particular verse, right, Jesus is already letting us know how we receive the abundant life before he's even told us what we need. We've got to recognize his voice and we've got to follow him. I think about I have a dog that is very well trained. It's a border collie mix that I adopted when she was about two years old. And she was pretty well trained when I got her already, and not long after I got her, I started walking her off the leash because she had been trained to that point. And as I would walk her through the neighborhood, we would walk the same path every night just to keep everything very familiar for her. Um and I would and she would wander off every once in a while, and and I had no problem with that because there was nobody around, there wasn't traffic. But if she got too far away, I would call her out Callie, and she'd come running back. And after a while, I got kind of tired of calling out Callie all the time. Um so I decided to train her to with a whistle, right? To have her come back on a whistle. And so when she would get too far away, I would whistle. And when she would come back, she would get a treat. When she would come back, she would get a pat on the head, she would get a little bit of a scratch behind the ear, she would hear, you know, reaffirmation that she's a good dog and I was proud of her, and it would make her feel good, and you know, then she'd she'd get her reward, she'd kind of wander off a little bit, trotting with her tail wagging behind her, because she knew the whistle, and she knew that when I when she came to me, when she followed that whistle, there was something waiting for her that was gonna bless her. And then one night, as we're walking along, because we walked the same route all the time, there must have been a neighbor that picked up on what was happening, and so a little bit in the distance, I hear, and I tell you, it fooled me. I I almost thought that that was- I'm like, Did I just whistle? And and Callie, she stopped and her ears perked up and she took a step in the direction of the whistle, but then she kind of looked back at me like, Did you hear that? And her ears kind of tilt and her head kind of cocked, and it was it what happened was they really simulated that whistle very well, but she had walked with me so many times already at that point, she had heard my whistle so many times already before that, and because she knew my whistle, she came because she knew that there was a blessing waiting for her when she followed my whistle. But this other whistle, it almost got her, but from all the repetition, because she knew my whistle so well, she picked up on just a subtle difference in the tone, in the duration, whatever it was where she went, you know what? I know that's not my shepherd's whistle. And I don't know what's waiting for me over there. I don't know how they're gonna treat me when I get over there. So, you know what? I'm gonna stay over here by my shepherd. I'm not falling for that other whistle. And that's one of the things that Jesus is letting us know in the context of the promise here, that in order to receive this abundant life that he came so that we can have it, we've got to get to know our shepherd's voice. We've got to spend time with our shepherd, we've got to take some walks with him, we've got to talk to him, we've got to listen to him, and then what do we have to do? We have to realize, you know what? I've been following him, I've been listening to him, and he has not let any harm come to me to this point. Yes, I've had some trouble, yes, I've gotten, I've had some situations, but yet he has brought me through every one of them. And then you know what? We don't we lose the desire even to go follow that other whistle, to go follow that other voice, because we know that this voice is the one that's gonna lead us to safety. We know that this voice is the one that's gonna deliver us from the trouble. We know that this voice is the one that's going to calm the storm. So before we get to the promise, we've got to understand that in order to receive it, we have to spend a lot of time with our shepherd. We have to get to know his voice, and then we have to follow it when we hear it. And then Jesus goes on, we're picking up at verse 6 of John chapter 10 now. Says, Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them. Therefore, Jesus said again, Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. Verse 9 I am the gate, whoever enters through me will be saved. So item number two that we need to understand is there is one gate. He doesn't say I am a gate, he says I am the gate. This is not a pen that's got six different gates with access to it. There is one gate, and he is the way to enter the pen. He is the gate that we can get access to the eternal life. He is the gate that we can get access to the abundant life. He is the gate that gives us access to the power to do what we read about in the scriptures and even greater things than these. And I heard a sermon a while ago. I don't remember who it is, so I can't give credit to it, but this is not an analogy that I came up with on my own. And it gives us a good example of there are other things out there in life that can bring you to the good life, the life that I was living before I realized that God had more for me. Um but there's only one that can give me the abundant life, and that is Jesus. And the analogy goes like this there was this $20 bill. Um a man was on his way to work, and on his way to work, he stopped at the he stopped to pick up a jacket. He had gotten a stain on his jacket, so he stopped, picked up a jacket on the way into work, and he paid with a $20 bill. A little bit later in the morning, someone else comes in to make a purchase, and in the change that they get back is this $20 bill. And so they they get they go and they get their clothes, they get their change back, and they're on their way now to the utility company to pay their electric bill. They pay the electric bill and they pay with the $20 bill. Okay, a little bit later in the afternoon, a man comes in, and the man comes in and he pays his electric bill, and back in his change, what does he get? He gets this $20 bill. And then as he's leaving the utility company, his wife calls and he picks up the phone, and the wife says, You know what? I forgot I need some heavy cream for my recipe tonight. I need you to pick it up. Are you on your way home now that he says, Yep, I'm on my way home, honey. I'm gonna stop, I'm gonna pick up the heavy cream. And he gets to the store and he buys the heavy cream, and what does he pay with? The $20 bill. So now it's the end of the day, and at the store they're preparing their deposits, they they take all the cash that they receive, they put it into the deposit, and they go to the bank. They go to the bank and the teller stops at that $20 bill, and they're kind of feeling it with their fingers, feeling the texture of the paper, and they hold it up to the light, and the person making the deposit is getting nervous because they've seen this before. They put the bill down on the paper, they put their mark on, they say, I'm sorry, sir, this $20 bill is counterfeit. So we're gonna have to deduct this from the deposit that you're making to the bank, and we're gonna have to send it back to the treasury to be destroyed. So here, this bill did so much good, right? It helped people have a good life. It paid for someone's clothes, it paid to keep somebody's electrical on, it paid for somebody to have what they needed to prepare their meal, pay for some food that was needed for them, right? But for all the good that it did, when it got to the authority, when it got to the final decision maker, when it got to the bank, it was rejected. The person that when it was brought to them, there was no credit given for that $20 bill. And not only that, but the $20 bill could not be kept, it could not be put back into circulation, it had to be destroyed. And when we depend on these other voices, when we listen to strangers' voices, they can lead us into a good life, but only the gate, only Jesus can lead us into the abundant life. That life that is not just about our possessions, not just about prosperity, but about peace. Even in the midst of the storm, to be calm, to know that we have hope and a future and an expected end, to know that even before the temptation comes, we've already got a way of escape. This is the abundant life. That even when we lose a loved one, even when a relationship ends that was so meaningful to us, yeah, we're gonna have some sorrow, we're gonna experience some pain, but even in the midst of that, we can have joy inside of ourselves. That it's not just um that we receive this abundant life, we receive eternal blessings, and we also receive internal blessings that cannot be taken away, cannot be stolen. But we got to remember what? That there's only one gate to enter it, and that is Jesus. Then he goes on to say in verse 9, he goes on to say, I am the gate, whoever enters through me will be saved. And then he goes on to say to end out verse 9, they will come in and go out and find pasture. So we see here, this is where I really started seeing some depth in this because we go by by accepting Jesus, we have access to the pen. And the pen is a place of safety. The pen is a place where the wolves can't get at us. The pen is a place where there is food brought to us, the pen is a place where there is water dumped into a trough, and we don't have to go look for it, we don't have to work to get it, we don't have to do anything to get it, it's brought to us. The pen is a place where if a storm comes up, there is shelter there and readily available. So the pen is a very safe space, it really is. But we weren't meant to live just inside the pen. We weren't meant to live just in that safe space, saying, Okay, I'm in a safe space, and now I'm just gonna wait to receive my eternal life. So, what does he say? They come in, but what do they do? They also go out and find pasture, right? They go out and find pasture. That pasture that he refers to, and this is our abundant life. That pasture is where we have the freedom to move, we have the freedom to roam, where we can feel the wind in our face as we run. It's a place of bounty, a place of abundance, a place of provision in the pasture. Um, so that's the abundant life is that that coming in, that's our that's the security of our eternal life, knowing that no matter what else happens, the protection, the provision is there in the pen. But boy, the abundant life, that fulfilling life, that here's everything you need to be content, to be happy, to be complete. That is represented by the pasture that they go out into. But let's take a look at that pasture. Let's take a look at that pasture. What does abundant life really look like? What does it look like? And he goes on to say in verse 11, he says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, and I love that, I love that. Why? Because you know, there are maybe people in your life that have told you, I would lay down my life for you. Your parents may have told you, I would lay down my life for you. Your spouse may tell you, I would lay down my life for you. You may have a brother that you grow up with, or a friend that you two have been through through all the storms together, and they would say, I would lay down my life for you. But do we ever really know that we know that we know that they would lay down their life for us? No, we don't, but you know, with Jesus, we know that we know that we know. There is no doubt in our minds that our shepherd would lay down his life for us. Why? Because he already has. He laid down his life in a brutal, demeaning fashion, and in a degrading way. It wasn't even just laying down his life. And it wasn't just laying down our his life for us because we were so good to him. It wasn't laying down his life for us because we had been righteous. It was laying down his life for us while we were yet his enemies, while we were still yet in sin, while we were still yet living however we wanted to live, he laid down his life for us. So now that we are his brothers, now that we are God's children, all the more will he do for us. And he was willing to do all that, and we know that he laid down his life for us while we were yet at odds with him. So I love that verse. We know that we know our shepherd will lay down his life. And it says, The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. And this gives us another picture, another view into what we need to do to have and to keep the abundant life. We talked about knowing the shepherd's voice and following the shepherd, but we see that in the pasture, in the abundant life, there is some peril, there is some danger, right? This refers to wolves attacking. And I love that it says, when the wolf attacks, the sheep will scatter. And this is one of the things that keeps us from, even if we have the abundant life to keeping the abundant life, even if we're following him in those good times, even if we're following him in the green grass, even if we're following him to the streams, we've got to nail when the wolf attack comes, when the danger comes, when the financial issue comes, when the marital problem comes, when the health issue comes, when your children are going off the rails, when you've lost a job, when all these things come, is the time not to scatter. If we scatter, we're gonna run away from that source of our abundant life. We're gonna run away from that one that has their provision for us, and we're gonna find ourselves in a worse situation. Why? Because we scattered. So I would just encourage you this once you have that abundant life, once you realize what you need, once you follow Jesus, don't just follow him in the good times. But when the trouble comes, when the struggle comes, draw closer to the shepherd and don't scatter, right? Don't when the financial issue comes, don't instantly run to overtime. Don't instantly run to the second job. Don't scatter and panic and run away from where your protection is. Draw closer to the shepherd. Now, if the shepherd leads you as you're continuing to follow the shepherd, that shepherd may lead you to the overtime. Then take the overtime, right? The shepherd may lead you to say, you know what? Let's give an offering to this ministry here. Let's give an offering. Let's help out this neighbor that's in need. I I've had that happen before where I came out of financial issue. Why? Because my shepherd led me to give to somebody else. And that and that ultimately, once I did that, that's when I came out of the financial issue. So again, we've got to hear know our shepherd's voice, we've got to follow our shepherd's voice, and when the trouble comes, we can't scatter, we can't run, we can't run away. And then he goes on to say, the man runs away because he has a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. The things that we try in this world, because like I said, I spent, even once I started seeking the abundant life, I was trying to earn it. I was depending on those strangers' voices, I was depending on jobs and relationships and my physical strength and my physical health. And you know what, those things work until they don't. Those things work until the trouble comes along that they can't handle, the trouble that puts them in peril, you know what? Then they scatter, they run. And I have found myself, but but when we draw close to our shepherd, that's when we've got the one that will work no matter what it is that we're going through, no matter what it is that we face. He's gonna keep leading us on that path to abundant life. And I and I would say this the dangers go beyond this specifically refers to a wolf attack, but I just want to throw out there as well there are a lot of other dangers in the pasture, right? The sheep have to cross sometimes, they're going from pasture to pasture, and there are times they have to cross dangerous ground in order to get from one pasture to the other. But what happens? The shepherd never sends the sheep first. The shepherd goes first, the shepherd knows the safe path, and he leads them on that path. So if the sheep follow him, they're gonna be okay. If they stray to the right, to the left, or back, they're gonna wander onto uncharted territory that might be dangerous, that might be perilous for them. When they travel, the sheep go through some dry seasons. They may be when they're going from one pasture to another, they may be leaving a stream behind to get to a stream of the next pasture. But you know what? In that journey in between, they may be traveling for a day or two without water. Well, you know what? The shepherd brings along water to give to the sheep. Now, if the sheep wander away again, what happens? If the sheep scatter, what happens? Now they've left that source of nourishment, that source of water that's going to refresh them and it's going to strengthen them. In the pasture, storms can come up. It's not like the safety of the pen where they can cover it up and they're protected, right? Storms can come out in the open field, and but the shepherd knows where the safe shelter is. And the shelter, when this this the when the storm comes up, the shepherd will lead the sheep to that safe shelter. Now, if the sheep have wandered away and can't hear the shepherd's voice, or if the sheep are choosing not to listen to the shepherd's voice, now what happened? They've lost access to that shelter. So I just want to encourage you to stick close to your shepherd because no matter what the peril is that you face, no matter what the issue is, that shepherd is going to be there to provide. Even we think about with sheep that there are parasites and bugs waiting to bite at them and infect them. Well, the shepherd is there with the ointments, with the medicines that are needed to treat it. Again, what happens if you lead the shepherd? You're leaving the medicine, you're leaving the ointments as well, and you're putting yourself in peril. So, again, we get this picture of you see the richness of it, when we see the context of it. We've gotten a good picture of what we need to do to receive the abundant life. We've got to we've got to hear our shepherd's voice, we've got to know our shepherd's voice, we've got to follow him, and we've got to draw closer to him when trouble comes and not scatter. But it also lets us know you know what? Just because you're having a trouble doesn't mean that you've lost your abundant life. It doesn't mean you're not in abundant life still. Stick close to me, and you'll see that you'll come out the other side stronger than what you went in. You'll come out the other side more blessed than when you went in. You'll find yourself in a new pasture with richer, fresher, greener grass if you just continue to follow your shepherd. And he goes on to say, I am the good shepherd, I know my sheep, and my sheep know me. Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this pen, I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. And this is the beauty of our shepherd, that our shepherd has limitless grace, our shepherd has limitless mercy to him, that just as he continues to care for us even when we go astray, he continues to come after the one and to seek and to find and return it to the flock. There is not a sheep that comes along that he will not accept into his flock. When the sheep comes along, the the the shepherd doesn't say, I'm sorry, you've been dependent on the job for 40 years, and now you want to come join my flock. No, he welcomes the sheep into the flock. He he doesn't say, Oh, you know what, you've been seeking pleasures of the world. You've been out there drinking, you've been out there partying. No, he says, Come into the flock, know the benefits of eternal life, know the benefits of abundant life, know the power and the purpose and the plan that I have, that the that any sheep from any field who's been following any stranger, been following any shepherd, our shepherd is waiting and willing to welcome them in. And I and I think about uh just the goodness of Jesus in doing that. That and that even with us, no matter how far away we strike, it doesn't matter if you are the bishop, it doesn't matter if you are the pastor of the church with thousands of people following you, listening to, depending on you to lead them down the path. It doesn't matter if if you're a deacon or a missionary, it's not about a title, it doesn't matter if you're sitting in the back row and and you were out um and you were out drinking the night before. We have the same shepherd leading and guiding us. We've just got to make sure that we're following his voice and listening to him because he does not he doesn't withhold his goodness from anybody, he doesn't withhold it from anybody that wants it and seeks it. Um, so we just thank God that we have a shepherd like that. Um so I hope really that this broadcast has blessed you. Um I pray and I believe that it has probably shown you some things about how to receive the abundant life and what the abundant life really looks like for us, that we've taken a pretty good look in depth here at the context where he gives us that abundant life. And we see the blessings that are in it. We also see that there's some peril in it, that we've got to not always find ourselves in the most comfortable position, that that if we're finding ourselves always seeking out the most comfortable position, if we find ourselves always seeking out the most safe position, you know what? It could be very likely that we have wandered from our shepherd, because our shepherd leads us into green fields. And green fields do have some peril, do have some discomfort in them, do have some challenges in them, um, in order to enjoy the abundance of them. So don't panic if you find yourself in a season of trouble. Uh, if you find yourself uh you know crossing some rocky terrain, some dangerous terrain, don't panic, continue to follow your shepherd. If you're going through a dry season, if you're just you're not feeling the way that you have, if you're not um feeling watered and refreshed, um, continue to press on following the shepherd. He's got that water to give you, he's got that life-giving water, he's got that water where you'll never thirst again. If if you feel like you've got some infections, you've got some ailments, you've got some injuries, don't seek another shepherd to take care of you. Find your shepherd, follow Jesus, draw closer to him, and let him soothe your wounds, let him heal your ailments. That's how you'll make sure that you don't just receive the abundant life, but that you keep walking on that path to a more and more and more abundant life. Because I tell you, I I've learned over the years this abundant life has like levels to it, right? Um, you know, where where if we understand the principles and if we walk and we follow our shepherd and we listen to what the word of God tells us, he this thing is not easy. It's not. We've talked about the perils of the pasture, right? This Christian walk is not easy, but it is simple. Simple meaning that we do have the answers. He hasn't left us in the dark. So um continue to get in your word, continue to seek him in prayer, and ask for the answers to how you get your abundant life, because yours is going to look different than mine. Um, but seek him on how to receive your abundant life, and then follow the shepherd as he leads, because again, he didn't just come to give you eternal life, he came to give you abundant life, to have a full life, to have peace in a storm, to have joy in sorrow, to have all the to have the things in your life that are most fulfilling and most meaningful to you. So I just pray that this has blessed you. I encourage you to continue to tune in as we're gonna begin now looking at those principles that lead us to the abundant life. These principles that if we live by them, the abundant life is gonna find us. That when we follow these principles, the gift of the abundant life is opened up and laid bare before us to you. So I pray that you have a blessed day and never forget that Jesus loves you, and so do we. Have a blessed, blessed day. Thank you so much for watching to the end. I truly appreciate it. And if this really blessed you, I just want to encourage you as well to go to abundantlifeflows.com. You can learn a little bit more about what we do there. And while you're there, at the bottom of the homepage, subscribe to the site as well. Because when you do that, we'll make sure that we send you out our Monday morning encouragement to start your week off right. And also, as these additional resources come available that can help you on your walk to abundant life, we'll make sure that you know about it first. God bless you. Have a great day, and never forget that Jesus loves you, and so do we.