Living The Abundant Life
Can you hear me now?
John 10:9-10 (NKJV)
I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find
pasture.
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may
have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
God wants a better life for you than you want for yourself
How is that possible
We know ourselves
We know our insecurities
Inhibitions
How can God want a life better for us that we do?
Abundant life is a life you want to live for the rest of your life!
If you informed that you get to live your current life
For the rest of your life
Would that be good news or bad news?
This morning God wants to talk to us about
Accessing a life
That we would want to live
For the rest of our life
When God was talking about Abundant Life
He was not speaking about eternity
To get this
You will have to give up some of your current perspective
Jesus opens this chapter taking about the sheep and the shepherd
Being sheep means
Giving up control
So immediately many of us are repelled
John 10:1-2
"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
For many of us
There are thing that are sabotaging all that God has for us
Some of us
We are our worst enemy
For many
We are the thief and robber in our own life
Verse 3:
To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice;….
Can you hear me now?
When was the last time you absolutely heard from God?
I believe it is possible to hear His voice
1 Samuel 3:
Eli and boy Samuel
Samuel always heard the prophets voice
So now he was pushed to distinguish God’s voice
In John chapter 9
Jesus healed a blind man
So the haters
Tried to make it a bad thing
The man was telling everyone
He could see
He was excited
But the church people
Got together
And felt it was a bad thing
They even got his parents involved
But the man said this
I don’t know about all this church stuff
But I know this
I was blind and now I see
We have to be the same
Those that are constantly drawing us away
Knocking our beliefs
These are hindering us
And the only way to get beyond all this is to get rid of the problem
Stand up
And realize you are a citizen of Heaven
And pronounce the good things that God has done for you
We do not enter into abundant life – HERE
Because we don’t realize we are a citizen of the Most High
If we did
Our perspective would change
And instead of making a statement of faith
We make a profession of faith
We take steps of faith
We pronounce the good things that have happened in our life
For some
We have to start spending more time
With believers
Than with the lost
Our access to the abundant life
Is done by entering through the DOOR
If you are in Christ
You have access!
If you spend more time with others who do not have access
Guess what happens
They drag you down
It’s ok to love family
And neighbors and friends
But if don’t realize you are different
You have a problem
If you view yourself
As the same as them
That’s the problem
If you join in with their woe’s
Agree with their perspective on life
You are giving up your access
To the Abundant Life!
I need to hang with others who have greater faith
And greater expectations than I do
WHY
That lifts me up
It increases my faith
When you hang around those who do not believe the same
You loose access
Greater is he that is in you
Than he that is in the world
But we still have to guard ourselves from attacks
So that we are not barred
from getting to the next level in God
There is a better life for us
Than what we have been experiencing
Although it may seem bad now
It may be dark now
But tomorrow the sun will rise
And the light of the World
Will shine in my life
And it will get better
It will be better tomorrow
A sheep
Lives as the Shepherd directs
Sheep need a Shepherd
The life that the Shepherd has for us
Is better that the life we would choose for ourselves
Psalms 23
David was familiar with being a Shepherd
And was deeply familiar with sheep
Listen:
A Psalm of David.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
For Sheep
The pasture is Abundant Life
He leads me beside the still waters.
Why? Because running water is too rough for sheep
He restores my soul;
That moves me
Does your soul need to be restored?
Do you need peace?
He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.
Not for me
Not for your sake
But for His
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
The thieves and robbers
get to see you being fed and provided for
Stop trying to take care of yourself –
let Christ lead your life
You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
Do you want your cup to run over
Then you need to be a blessing to others
But your preoccupation is with yourself and your own
Instead of with God First
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life;
When we yield to the Shepherd
He won’t let us go down
The greatest testimony is here
When it’s all around us
Goodness and Mercy - all over us
Everyone can see it
And they know it
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.
This is the promise
Your life
Or His
Your life?
Do still want to live your life forever?
Or are you ready to live
His life?
His plans for your life
Will help change the world
But you can’t do it
Unless you are living the
Abundant Life
