Dandelion Church

It was a holiday morning. On this day of the First Fruits offering, people were crowded into Jerusalem, bringing their first harvest of the new year to the Temple. Wheat and barley farmers were bringing wagonloads of grain – lettuce and cabbage farmers were bringing heads in donkey baskets, the early figs were being carried in. And in an upper room, a group of about 120 people had gathered to continue their study of scripture.

They had studied Isaiah and Ezekiel, and in Ezekiel they found the prophecy of the dry bones in chapter 37, bones of men and horses that had been long dead, years, even centuries dead. And it is important, critical to understanding for us to know that the Hebrew word ruach means not only breath, but wind, and also Spirit. One word means all of these ideas: breath, wind, Spirit.

Ezekiel was given the vision by the Spirit of the Lord. The Lord asked Ezekiel – or was it another, for the Lord addressed him as “son of man”? The Lord asked the "son of man" if these bones could live, and Ezekiel wisely deferred to the Lord, saying, “only you know.”

The Lord said for Ezekiel to speak the words of the Lord to them, these words: “I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

Or should we translate it as: “I will make Spirit enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put Spirit in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”?

Ezekiel 37:1-14, Psalm 104:24-35; Acts 2:1-21; John 15:26-27; 16:4-15 

The son of man did as he was told and the bones came together, skeletons were reformed, the muscles and tendons formed on them, and then the skin came over them. But they were not yet alive.

And so the Lord told the son of man to prophesy to the four winds and speak these words, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’”

The son of man said these words, and the bodies came back to life and stood up as a great army. The Lord spoke again:

“Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel.

Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them.

I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”

The men in the upper room that day of the First Fruits had studied this passage. And they remembered what their leader, the Rabbi Jesus, had told them a little over a month earlier:

“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.”

Jesus, their leader who had often called himself the “Son of man”, had told them about this Spirit of God the night before he was executed, the Friday before he came back from death, three nights before his own bones and muscles and skin and body had received new breath from God! In the month in which he came back and talked with them, he had spoken often of this Spirit to come. But he had gone to heaven a week and a half ago, telling them to remain in Jerusalem until they received power from God.

And they had recently read the prophecy from the prophet Joel:

In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
That was what was on the mind of those 120 men and women that morning, as they studied scripture, smelled the wonderful cooking smells, heard the people and animals in the street outside, and quietly prayed. It was particularly on the mind of Simon, the fishing boat captain that Jesus had named "Peter". "Rock".

And then it happened.

There was a sound like the rushing of a mighty wind – or should we say, a mighty Spirit? Tongues of fire appeared in the room, separated over each of their heads, lighting up the room as something wild happened, they felt a power rush into each of them as the Spirit of God possessed them, and they began to praise God in many different languages, "Praise God, Praise God, Praise God!"

The noise attracted people in the streets around, thousands came running and heard God being praised in their native languages, some were wondering what it meant, some comedian said they were drunk and then Peter stood up, Peter walked out in front of the crowd, Peter, with the other Eleven disciples behind him, nodding in agreement with every word the strong fishing boat captain said. Yes! In a voice used to commanding a boat in a storm, Peter shouted down the crowd:

“Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

“‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

And then Peter spoke to the crowd about Jesus.

But God had already spoken. God had already created new life with God’s words. God had already breathed new life into the people of Jerusalem because Jesus, the Son of man, had taught for three years and the Holy Spirit, the Holy Breath of God had come upon the hundred and twenty followers of Jesus who were there that day...

I was watching a dandelion in my yard over the last month.

I watched it put out leaves, I watched it bud and then put out a flower. And then, I saw it put up its head of seeds and then the Holy wind of God came and the seeds blew away, scattering across the yard and beyond to who knows where. Perhaps to your yard.

And I thought, that is the way a good church should be.

A seed is planted. The church grows, gaining energy as people develop and learn to contribute to the church by time, talents, presence, treasure and witness. The church begins to bud and flower as new ministries develop, as more people become more committed to the mission of God – and then the Holy Spirit, the Holy Breath of God comes and people begin to fly away from the church as church seeds, some to lead other churches, some to plant new churches, some to start ministries in the community, some to lead other people to the knowledge of Christ.

Tuesday evening, Jim Berner, the state Methodist treasurer and pensions man was here. He told us a few things.

He told us that the average age of the 300 pastors on the medical plan is 62. He told us that another 300 who are over 65 use the Medicare supplement. And he told us that 60 pastors will be retiring next June. One in ten of our total group of pastors. About 150 pastors will likely be retiring over the next three years, a quarter of our pastors. The baby boom generation is retiring.

When I came here five years ago, I asked you to do a simple thing. I asked you to praise God, just like the Psalmist wrote:

I will sing to the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

It is what happened on the Day of Pentecost, the day of First Fruits when everyone was praising God.

And some of you have praised God. Some of you have developed the habit of praising God in public. And those of you that praise God have developed a reputation among your friends, family, and neighbors of knowing something about God. And that has caused you to see certain things.

You’ve seen people look at you strangely, wondering if you've lost your mind!

But you’ve seen people ask you to pray for and with them. (Always pray right then and there – otherwise you’ll forget! Also, when you pray with someone, it touches their heart and brings them - and you - closer to God right then. )

You’ve heard people ask you questions about God – some of which you could answer, and some of which you couldn’t answer, but all of those conversations brought your friends, neighbors, and family - and you! - closer to God.

You’ve become closer friends with those who have talked with you about God and Christ.

And some of you have been rewarded with seeing members of your family, your friends, or your neighbors declare their belief in Christ’s saving grace, become baptized believers, or start attending church again.

If you’ve been baptized, confirmed, or joined this church over the last five years while I’ve been here, will you stand?

If you’ve praised God outside the church and seen people ask you to pray for them, will you stand?

If you’ve had deep conversations about God or Christ or the church because you’ve praised God, will you stand?

Praising God works. It worked at Pentecost and it worked for the early church on a daily basis – See Acts 2:42-47 – and it still works today. If you’d like to lead people to Christ – the first step is very simple. Just praise God to your friends, neighbors, and family.

Now our culture doesn’t buy this. Our culture assumes that God is an opinion, not a person. Our culture would have us believe that the key to spreading the Gospel is a huge amount of advertising – in newspapers, on the television, on the radio, online. And a certain amount of advertising is useful – but within limits, thinking carefully about where the people are that we are most looking for.

Our culture assumes that God is an opinion, not a person. So religion must be a matter of psychology, right?

But the strength of Christianity, the reason it works, is that it describes reality better than any other system of beliefs, better than any other religion, even better than science. And remember – my training was in physics, in business, and in mathematics. It was only later that I realize that truth lies in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Son of man!

Truth lies in God the Father who created the Universe. In God the Son who died upon the cross and was resurrected. In God the Holy Spirit who is there to advise us, to walk with us, and to give us  life-giving POWER when God wants it.

As you have learned to listen to the Holy Spirit, as you have learned to praise God, as you have learned to read Holy Scripture and let the Scripture run your life instead of letting the culture run your life – your life has come together. 

• You may not have extra cash – but you have become rich. 
• You may not have perfect health, but you deal with the world in a healthy manner. 
• You may not be ethically and morally perfect – but you now see many of your flaws and are repairing your soul, which is the temple in which the Holy Spirit resides. 

And the key to all of this is not “believing in God’s existence”. That is only a first little baby step.

The key is following Christ, the key is reading and acting upon Scripture, the key is listening to the gentle words and nudging of the Holy Spirit and responding as the Spirit leads you.

The world has changed. It began to change when Christ rose from the dead, and it has continued to change as people, ordinary people, connected through Christ to the power of God, learned to read scripture and listen to the Holy Spirit, and then did what the Spirit asked in the power of the Spirit.

Go back to the dandelion church...

Here you sit. You came here today thinking about your life. In your life, there is something that isn’t right. Your life is just a bit out of sorts, a bit off. It’s better than it used to be, but still, there is this nagging feeling that the life you’re living isn’t the life God might have for you.

I’ve just told you that in one year, there will be about 60 openings for pastors in West Virginia. Everybody starts part-time. Everybody starts with small churches of 15 to 25 people. Everybody starts with churches that are only about the size of a large Bible Study.

Perhaps one or two of those small churches is what God has in mind for you. Perhaps you are a dandelion seed that is ready to be blown away by God’s Holy Breath. Perhaps those churches are where you can really learn about God’s plan for you, where you can really let the Holy Spirit guide you, where you can share with other people some of the wisdom you’ve gathered about God and Christ and the Holy Spirit over the last decade or so. We always learn more by teaching and leading than by sitting in the class or following.

If you have the will, don’t worry about the training and education. We have the training and education programs which will teach you what you need.

If you have the will, don’t worry about the time. When I was a half-time pastor, I taught high school math full-time, taught two evening college courses, took a full-time graduate school course load online, helped Saundra raise three teens at home, helped with a business, and led two churches which were 40 minutes from our house. It can be done.

If you have the will, don’t worry. God will be with you to make it happen.

That last point is most important. The culture tells you that you will be alone.The culture tells you you won't have the money. Christ says that He will be with you always, that God feeds even sparrows, and that the Holy Spirit will teach you all truth. God’s will is that you know God and bring the Gospel to others.

About two thousand years ago, Christianity began when Jesus came back from the dead. Fifty days later, the Holy Spirit arrived on Pentecost and the church exploded. Did you know that 3000 people were baptized on that single day in Jerusalem?

Today, about 2/3rds of the people in this state don’t have a church home. Will you be the person to reach some of them, will you be the person who brings the Good News, will you be the messenger of God to your friends, neighbors, family…or a stranger? You can make an eternal difference to someone’s soul.

Which will you follow?

The way of the culture – or the way of Christ?

Thoughts about Mary, Christ, and the Holy Spirit on Mother's Day

In the spring of the year 33 or 34, on a day in the middle of May, near Jerusalem, over a hundred followers of a small town carpenter turned religious teacher walked up the Mount of Olives toward Bethany, a small village whose name means “house of the poor”. How many were there that day? Either a hundred and twenty or so – or over five hundred.

One amazing thing about this journey was that the teacher had been executed for blasphemy about a month earlier, and the followers were still together. Yet this was not the most amazing thing, for we are familiar with moral teachers whose followers get together to remember the teacher even years after the teachers’ deaths. The amazing thing was that the teacher was there that day, leading them and speaking with them. For Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, had come back from the dead three days after His execution by beating, blood-loss, and crucifixion just outside Jerusalem. A Roman soldier had even stuck a spear in his side – just to make sure Jesus was really dead. His mother was standing there watching.

Mothers, can you imagine the pain Mary felt that day? On Mother’s Day, we are tempted to go down the road of sweet sentimentality for our mothers, but there is a side to motherhood that is not pleasant, not sweet, and not something we like to dwell upon – it is the fear that sometimes children die before their mother dies, and, as old Simeon told Mary when she presented the week-old Jesus at the great Temple in Jerusalem - “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

That Friday in Jerusalem when Jesus was executed, the day had come for Mary’s soul to be pierced. The strong, robust man who had worked with Joseph, who had walked hundreds of miles over the last few years across the rough paths of Palestine could barely stand as they put him on the cross. A few hours later, he was dead, and Mary was stricken with grief on that Friday afternoon.

Early Sunday morning, Mary had gone with other women to the tomb to wash and coat Jesus’ body with embalming spices. But Jesus wasn’t there. Imagine the grief, the horror, the anger Mary had that day! Someone had clearly stolen her precious son’s body! We know how the story ends, but Mary did not yet know. Her son’s body had been taken away!

But over the next few hours, new details came to Mary. Several people reported seeing Jesus alive. Finally that evening, Jesus appeared to ten of the disciples. And Mary’s grief turned to joy. And He appeared multiple times over the next forty days.

The group of followers heard from Jesus. He spoke in a clear, loud voice that was heard by most. Several remembered what He said, and twenty or thirty years later told an educated traveler named Lucian or Lucas or Luke wrote down what Jesus said:

“This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

After this speech, Jesus led them to Bethany, and then rose up to heaven in plain sight.

And so many people around the world say, “Right. SURE!”

After all, we who sit in the 21st Century are familiar with charismatic leaders who bring people together for this cause or that cause. We have seen the cult leaders who bring together dozens or even hundreds of people and brainwash them into believing in their movement. We are sick of the people who write books and make videos promoting this or that idea, all for the sake of making money. Yes, we’ve seen the leaders.

And when those leaders die, their movement continues for ten or even twenty years, as the lieutenants continue the teaching. But the task becomes too difficult, the life the lieutenants have becomes too easy, and the movement begins to die as the lieutenants settle into an easy retirement funded by their book and speaking royalties, like the Beverly Hillbillies settled into their new Hollywood mansion funded by the oil discovered on Jed Clampett’s land.

Do you remember the Beverly Hillbillies? We remember Granny, who held to mountain ways, Jethro Bodine, who was truly gullible, Ellie May, who loved animals. And there was Jed, the father who wasn’t quite as dumb as the sharp banker and his friends thought.

Something different happened with this movement started by Jesus. It didn’t die. Something happened that led people who did not personally see the Risen Jesus to believe, to change their lives, to follow Jesus.

It is one thing, you see, to study and read about the life of a teacher like Jesus. It is one thing to hear about the miracles and sayings of the great man. It is one thing to learn the stories of a Socrates told by a Plato, the sayings of a Buddha told by a disciple, the speeches of a Martin Luther King Jr. But it is something else to become possessed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Jesus movement did not take off and grow just because people heard the story of the Resurrection and naively believed it. There is a tendency among us, the sophisticated people of the 21st Century to look at the people of 2000 years ago as easily misled, as idiots, as a bunch of country Jethro Bodines easily tricked up by someone with a bit of “big city” knowledge.

But the people of 2000 years ago invented concrete. They knew advanced farming techniques like grafting. The Romans ruled a country that was the physical size of America. They built roads that have survived to this day in usable condition – unlike some of our roads. They extracted a purple dye from a type of clam. They built massive stadiums that are essentially designed like our modern football stadiums – yet the Coliseum in Rome also had the ability to be flooded for ship to ship combat. Water was brought into fountains from over 30 miles away. No, the people of 2000 years ago were not idiots.

And so, when the story of the Resurrection was told, there were skeptics, just like today. Yet some of these skeptics were overcome when the twelve apostles stood as a group and gave testimony to what they had witnessed and experienced and lived through. Twelve men testifying, in a society that determined truth by the testimony of 2 or 3 men. Twelve men testified that the truth was that Jesus had lived, claimed to be God’s Son, died, and then came back to life. And behind them were another 500 who had seen the Risen Christ.

But as the years went on, as the distance from Jerusalem grew, as the number of disciples testifying together dropped from twelve to a half-dozen, to a couple, to perhaps a single man walking alone a thousand miles from Jerusalem…This testimony was challenged more and more often. The Book of Acts is full of the Testimony of these men – Peter, Stephen, Philip, Paul.

But still the movement grew.

And the movement grew, not just because of the testimony of these men – and increasingly, groups of women – but because these men and women were different.

Con artists are smooth talkers, they have a good story, they can point to proofs for their stories, but con artists usually walk away wealthier than they arrive. The men and women who talked about Jesus were different. While they might accept food for the journey, they gave so much more than they received, for they gave peace, tranquility, and joy. The listeners sensed the sincerity of the Jesus speakers. For you see, they had someone walking along with them – the Holy Spirit of God.

And how did they receive the Holy Spirit?

The Book of Acts is clear about this. Simple water baptism was not enough, for there were many people who were practicing the repent-and-be-cleansed-from-sin baptism that John the Baptist had begun. As the apostles traveled, they ran into people who had received this baptism. But the Holy Spirit was not present with many of these people. The apostles had to lay on hands and pray for the Holy Spirit to come onto the people – and then, the Holy Spirit possessed them.

It wasn’t always this way – a Roman household received the Holy Spirit just through Peter’s preaching before they received water baptism – but this was the normal way – water baptism and then the laying on of hands and prayer to transmit the Holy Spirit.

For you see, it is not just the knowledge of the Gospel of Christ that changes people. It is not just the knowledge of God’s love, the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, His death and Resurrection that changes people. It is the reception of the Holy Spirit of God, the recognition that the Holy Spirit is walking beside us, speaking to us, and our choice to carefully listen to what the Spirit is saying, our choice to allow God’s Spirit to possess us, our deep understanding that we don’t have the wisdom to make good choices, but God does have that wisdom which God gives to us through the still, small voice of the Spirit which makes the difference in our lives.

We have to let go of what the world has taught us, and turn around to our true Father, who is God.

We have to surrender as Mary did to the Holy Spirit, that a new life will flow from us, an eternal life, a joyous life, one that can go through all sorts of hardship, even death, and still proclaim one morning, as Jesus did that Easter morning: “Rejoice!”

Go And Bear Fruit

In the spring of 1944, on the Atlantic Ocean and on the Island of Britain, the end of World War II was developing. Over the winter of 1943-1944, there was very little activity. Oh, yes, in the summer of 1943, the Allies had invaded Sicily and then Salerno Italy, south of Naples, many miles south of Rome. And there, they had stuck. Nothing much happened all winter – to the action-oriented person.

But the war was being decided.

In the middle of the Atlantic, huge convoys of ships – 40, 50 ships at a time – were bringing over thousands of American jeeps, tanks, and trucks. Gasoline was being stockpiled. Ammunition was brought over to Britain. And troops – hundreds of thousands of young American troops were getting on ships in New York and getting off those ships in England. Thousands of airplanes were flying across the Atlantic.

It had not always been that way.

In June, 1940, just four years earlier, the British Army had left almost all their heavy equipment on the beach at Dunkirk, as they core of the British Army was loaded up on small boats and rescued from the Germany Army. The American Secretary of the Army George Marshall loaded a ship with 8 million rounds of ammunition and a hundred thousand rifles and sent it from New York to England because the British equivalent of the National Guard were practicing with broom handles because they didn’t have enough rifles. If a German invasion had come and made it to the beaches of Britain there would be little more than bird shot, sickles, and spears to stop the Germans.

In France, in Poland, in the Netherlands and Belgium, even in Germany itself, there were underground units, groups of 10 or 12 people who had learned how to spy, how to make small bombs that would destroy bridges and railroad tracks, how to cut telephone wires. They had trained and they waited, slowly growing in numbers, waiting for the coded messages that would come one night on the BBC Radio broadcast from London. They had first formed when the army was in retreat, and they had despaired many times as many countries were overrun by the Nazi’s, but they had survived. They had survived, practiced, and waited. And they waited. 

Acts 10:44-48, Psalm 98; 1 John 5:1-6, John 15:9-17

But now, there was an army, a huge army backed by tanks, self-propelled artillery, and airplanes. There were a dozen battleships in the Atlantic, dozens of destroyers, and multiple aircraft carriers. The combined armies of America, Britain, and even the Free French, the Free Poles, and many other countries were building up and training in towns all over southwestern England. They were tired of playing defense – they were ready to go on the offensive, an offensive that would start one night in early June as the ships loaded up and sailed 20 or 30 miles to a place called Normandy. And that night, the coded messages would go out from London to the underground.

In ancient Israel, the people of God had played defense for an even longer time. A thousand years earlier, King David and then King Solomon had led the strongest kingdom in the Middle East by staying close to God. But the kingdom had divided, many of the people had turned from God, first the Northern kingdom of Israel was overrun, then the Southern Kingdom of Judah had been occupied, with the people being taken away into captivity to Babylon, 80 miles from what today is Bagdad.

Around 250 BC, things had improved for a while, the Jews had their own, independent kingdom under the Maccabees, but soon, the Romans had occupied the country, playing one local ruler off against another, as the agenda of different factions led them to fight each other more than they fought the Romans.

And then, Jesus came along. God had decided to start an underground.

For three years, Jesus trained His disciples. He taught them why He had come. He taught them how to treat each other. He taught them about their mission. And then, He was captured, tortured, and killed on the Cross. But then, He came back from death, talked to His disciples again, and it was like the underground had been unleashed.

Like the Nazi defenders of the Normandy beaches, like the train masters who couldn’t move troops because the tracks were blown up, like the Nazi generals who couldn’t get telephone messages, the evil that controlled the world of the Roman Empire didn’t know what was going on. God had decided to bring a full-scale underground into the world, and God was doing it through the hunger and thirst of ordinary people for freedom from sin.

The Christians took Jerusalem, then Samaria, then the coast of Palestine and began to spread their movement down into Egypt and Ethiopia. Groups of Christians moved north to Antioch, to the Island of Cyprus, throughout Greek-speaking Turkey and into Greece proper. A massive group of underground organizers, led by a man named Paul converged on Rome in the heart of the Empire, while other Apostle leaders moved East and even further West into Spain and France.

It took about 300 years, but the Roman Empire surrendered to Christianity when a general named Constantine became Emperor and declared Christianity to be the preferred religion of Rome.

Christ conquered the Roman Empire and then the rest of Europe. Christian missionaries conquered North and South America, and Africa south of the Sahara. They conquered Russia, the Philippines, South Korea, and parts of India. And today, after setbacks in Russia and China, they are coming forth in strength again in those lands.

Here in America, in West Virginia, in Harrison County – the enemy has recently strengthened. We Christians let down our guard for a generation.

We forgot that our training manual is this Bible and that we actually have to read to survive.

We forgot that two-way prayer is our communications and if we leave it set only to transmit we can never hear from Headquarters and God, our Central Commander.

We forgot how to use Holy Scripture as a sword to defeat evil, how to use faith as a shield against the attacks of evil, how to wear righteousness as a breastplate to defend our hearts. We became barracks soldiers, looking nice in our uniforms of suits and dresses, but utterly unable to fight the enemy.

And so we have almost lost our community to evil, particularly the evil of addiction.

Yet, over the last few years, some of you have learned again to read your Scripture. Some of you have learned how to use the radio of two-way prayer, listening to headquarters as well as simply sending requests to God.

Some of you are finding the power in Holy Scripture. Some of you are training your children well in those same scriptures, some of you have chosen to walk a more holy path, and many of you have developed your faith.

The night before His sacrifice, Jesus walked to the Garden of Gethsemane with His disciples, a place filled with olive trees. As they walked, Jesus spoke to them and gave them His command:

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other." 

Perhaps this is our culture’s greatest deception that harms us more than anything else. We believe that we choose to follow Jesus. Jesus says that this is not true.

"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you… "

Jesus chose each of us. We just thought we were choosing Him.

We were chosen for a mission. As Jesus put it, “I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last.”

Consider whether you have followed Jesus' commands. 

Have you borne fruit?

Have you led others to know Christ? Children, adults, old people. Who have you led to Christ?

Jesus could have conquered this world with angelic power. He has told us in the Book of Revelation that this will happen someday. But until that day, we are the underground, the leading edge of the army of God that is conquering the world.

We are to conquer, not by weapons of steel, of gunpowder, and of atomic power, but by weapons of love, of peace, of kindness, of grace, of a better way of living, a way of trust, not force, of life, not death, of calmness, not violence.

Following Jesus’ Way, Christianity has conquered the hearts of a third of the world.

Our task, the fruit we are to bear, is really quite simple:

1. We are to connect people to the underground, to the Love of God through Jesus Christ. In this way, we Love God. 
2. We are to train the people of the underground to read the Word of God and listen to the Holy Spirit so they will receive their full instructions from God. 
3. And we are to Love each Other. 

Consider what you have learned:

Do you know the story of Jesus Christ? Do you know that He loved you so much that – if everyone else in the entire world was okay, He would have died just to save you? Do you know that He did die to pay the penalties that you should have paid, that you couldn’t pay, the death sentence for your crime of rebellion against God the Father?

Do you know that He claimed to be God Himself and the people around Him understood this? Do you know that Jesus was executed for the crime of claiming to be equal to God, God Himself, the Son of God?

Do you know that He came back alive, that this was witnessed in over eleven separate occasions by over 500 witnesses, that a half dozen men put pen to paper to tell the story, that eleven of His twelve closest followers died violent deaths while holding to the story that He claimed to be God, that He died, and that He rose from the dead? The other one died of old age.

Do you read your Bible regularly? Do you practice two-way prayer, being sure to listen for the response of the Holy Spirit?

Have you learned to love all people, doing acts of kindness for absolutely all types of people, the worthy and the unworthy, the clean and the dirty, the ones like us and the ones who are different from us?

Have you learned to love all people by controlling your tongue, by speaking words that raise up instead of tear down, by speaking kindly instead of harshly, by telling stories of what Christ has done for you and your friends and what He could do for the person to whom you are talking?

This, my friends, is the path of holiness. This is the path that bears fruit. This is what Christ has asked us to do because this is what is holy and good for our souls. It is what is good for the world.