[COUNTRY MUSIC PLAYING] I want to set something up so
you can take a look at this. Throughout this Now
Streaming series, we've taken the names of
popular TV shows, series, and we have illuminated
with biblical truth. And we wanted to end on
the highest note possible. So one of the great
series that has been out the last
several months, is a series called The Chosen. Any of you ever seen
that, or parts of it? I highly recommend it. It's so good. It's based on the life
of Jesus, of course. And I had the opportunity this
week to interview the director and producer, Dallas Jenkins. It's about a
30-minute interview. It's on our YouTube
channel, but I just want to give you
a snippet of that. And then I'm going to
give a message in John 15 on The Chosen. But let's see this
little video interview. Well Dallas, first
of all, thank you so much for doing this interview
and spending a few minutes with myself and Calvary Church. I want to congratulate you
on the success and the impact of The Chosen around the world. I've watched Jesus
movies since I was a kid, from Franco
Zeffirelli's movies to, all of them. But, there is something about
The Chosen that sets it apart, and it's been so well received. So just, right off the bat,
congratulations on epic work. Well, thank you so much. And I really wish I could
be with you in person. I tried to make it work,
but there's so much going on right now,
between travel, and family, and getting season three ready,
and our Christmas special. There's just so much going on. So, I really wish I
could be with you. I really wanted to make it work. But I appreciate you
still having me join you and speaking to
the Calvary family. So I appreciate you having me. Thank you so much. And I know that you're the
writer, you're the director, you're the producer. Was it your idea to
create a whole series, or to just do a movie? Definitely to do a series,
although I have to say, I can't take too much
credit for believing it would actually happen. I did a short film. This is why I love
talking to churches, because The Chosen was
actually birthed in a church. I'll make this story quick,
but it goes all the way back seven or eight years,
when I did a short film about the death of Christ from
the perspective of the two thieves on the cross. And it was received
very well, and then each year for Easter
or for Christmas, I would do a short
film or a vignette. That's actually where I met
Jonathan Rumi, who plays Jesus. We had all these opportunities
to do these short films and vignettes together, always
exploring the stories of Jesus, typically around his
death or Resurrection, from different perspectives. Doing these short
films and vignettes, I remember thinking when I
first worked with Jonathan, this is the best portrayal
of Jesus I've ever seen, even just in the few minutes. Now, that's the
back story for when I did a short film about
the birth of Christ for my church's Christmas
Eve service a few years ago. I shot it on my
friend's farm 20 minutes from my home in Illinois. That short film,
while I was making it, it was called The
Shepherd at the time, and I remember thinking,
man, we are just able to explore so much,
even in 20 minutes, that I've never seen before. Why hasn't there ever been a
multi-season show about Jesus? There's been movies
and miniseries, but a multi-season show, like
the shows that my wife and I love to binge watch together,
allow you to go deeper into the stories they allow
you to connect the characters, and from season to season,
episode to episode, you really care about the
people in the stories, in the shows that you watch
that are multi-season. I thought, man there is
so much to mine here. There's so much to dig into. And that's where the
idea was birthed. So, kind of a random question. What made you land on
The Chosen as a title? Well, The Chosen
has three meanings. So Jesus as the
Chosen One, it's not a common term that is
used for him in the Bible, but it's a term we
believe applies. The Jews, as God's
chosen people, this is a very Jewish show. Even though I'm a
Gentile, I really wanted to accurately capture
the Jewishness of the story and of Jesus, something that
hasn't always been captured in many Jesus projects. And then the people that
Jesus chose to follow him. In the opening credits,
when you see the gray fish all going in one
direction, that represents the people at that time who
are all following tradition, they were kind of
stuck in this one way, and then this teal
fish, the color of life, comes the other way. And one by one, twelve
fish, ultimately-- that's the final
moment of the opening credits-- there are 12 fish
following the one fish. And we just thought
that's a great title to represent who Jesus
chose to follow him, the Jews as God's chosen people,
and Jesus as the Chosen One. Besides the music and
besides the story lines, are what sets The Chosen apart? I'm going to speak
to what we hear, because it happens to
match what we intended. And that is: the word
that is plastered along the walls of this
building, of this project, is authenticity. We devoted, from
day one, that we were going to
embrace authenticity, humanity, raw, real,
and that that was also going to apply to
our communication with our audience, to
you, who watch the show, to you, who we are trying
to get to watch the show. We're going to be authentic. We're going to tell our story. We're going to make this human. And over and over
and over again, we hear the same
thing from people, saying the show feels real. It feels authentic. Now that shouldn't be
such a novel concept, but when it comes
to Jesus projects, when it comes to First-Century
projects, they feel staged. They feel formal. Jesus feels emotionally distant. I heard one person tell
me this great quote, "Any time you see a Jesus movie,
there's always three disciples. There's Simon Peter,
because he's the famous one. There's Judas, because
he's the bad guy. And then there's the
other 10 disciples." [LAUGHTER] They all look the same,
they sound the same. And I don't think you could,
if you thought of all the Jesus movies you could
see, I don't think you could put in your mind a
visual of any of the disciples. Maybe a Simon Peter
from a famous movie like Passion of the Christ,
but I don't think you could have in your head a
picture of any of these people. And so our operating
principle is number one, is this scripturally sound? Meaning even when we're
not showing scripture. Number two, is this plausible
historically, culturally? But then number
three, is this real? Is this human? And I think that our
obsession with finding the humanity in these
scenes, and taking away the formality of most
period pieces, I believe, is, for better or worse, the
secret sauce of the show. I think The Chosen is the
highest crowd-funded media project of all time. What led you to
fund it this way, rather than getting funded
by a studio or a network? Well, a couple of things. One, first of all,
I want to be clear, I thought that the crowdfunding
idea was ridiculous. I thought there was
no way it would work. The idea was from this
streaming service called Angel, and they saw my short film. They heard my idea. They said, we think this is
amazing, we want to do it. And I got really excited,
and then they said, we want to raise the money
through crowdfunding, and I got really depressed. Crowdfunding always
seems to be the thing you see on Facebook,
where they're trying to raise a small amount
of money for some project or for some initiative,
the bar never seems to always get
to the end, and I just thought, to do this
right, it's going to need millions of dollars. The all-time crowdfunding
record is $5.7 million from projects that had big fan
bases, and we have no fan base, and I'm coming off
of a career failure. I thought it was
a ridiculous idea. But I was in a place in
my life, spiritually, where after my failure, God had
spoken to me as clear as a bell through other people. I don't hear God's voice as
well as some other people do. I try, and sometimes I do. But in this case, I
needed other people to tell me this, all
independently of each other. Which is, it's not
your job to feed the 5,000 it's only to
provide the loaves and fish. And that was an
extraordinary concept for me, because I always
felt responsible, not only for success,
but for impact. Even when I had
good motives, like I wanted to have Kingdom impact,
I felt responsible to do it. And so I was in this state,
spiritually, where I was like, I don't care whether
it works or not. I'm just going to do whatever
God has in front of me. And so this ridiculous
idea of crowdfunding, based on a short film that I
did for my church, what have I got to lose? These are my loaves and fish,
I'm going to see what happens, and if it doesn't, then that's
not what God wanted anyway. That short film generated
$10 million around the world, shattering the all-time
crowdfunding record. And that was God
making it clear to me, this is not your project. You are correct. Those five loaves and two fish
aren't enough to feed 5,000. You're going to need
something miraculous. And final question. Is there anything you've
learned about Jesus that you didn't know
before, or that was rekindled in this re-enactment? Absolutely. I think there's two things. One is, I think my relationship
with God has been transformed from doing the show, simply
because-- not necessarily because of the content, although
I'll get to that in just a second-- it's just what God is
doing with this project has made it so clear that this
is way bigger than I am. I've just had a radical
change in my spiritual life in being willing to be
in that place of what my wife calls a Red Sea moment. When the Egyptians are
closing in on the Israelites, and there's only one way out,
and that's through the Red Sea. And I'm not capable of
splitting the waters. So I just have to be content
to sit there and go, all right, either I die, or the
show dies, or this scene that I'm filming doesn't
work, or whatever it is, or you part the Red Sea. What I've learned
about Jesus, though, and I think this is
reflected in the show. Any time you see a
miracle in the show, any time you see something
supernatural, it's intimate. Jesus was not, by and large,
other than a few examples such as feeding of the 5,000,
Jesus wasn't doing magic tricks from a big stage. He wasn't showing off with all
these big supernatural moments for the sake of impressing
thousands of people and proving he
was the Son of God to thousands of people at once. He changed water to wine
as a favor to his friends because his mom asked him to. He healed people on
an individual basis, always in a way that
spoke to their hearts. It was rarely just about fixing
the leg, or healing sight. And told people
to keep it quiet. Yes! More often than
not, it was like, this is not about
upsetting the apple cart. Because Jesus always
had a specific purpose, and it was always intimate. And so that's what the
show is trying to capture. As you've seen in this
show, many times, look up. Or, look at me. Don't look at him, look at me. Don't look at that, look at me. And it was always about that
eye to eye, one on one intimacy that we're trying to
capture in the show, and that's what I believe
Jesus wants with us. Well, job well done. And again, thank you for
spending time with us. The best to you. We continue to pray
and look forward to supporting and seeing
more in the future. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. And I love partnering
with churches. This is what this is,
the body of Christ. And I'm just providing
another tool in the toolbox. But ultimately, the baton
gets passed to church. That's where discipleship
really happens. Yes. Thank you, Dallas. Appreciate the time. God bless you. Thank you for having me. Thanks for having me. Bye-bye. [APPLAUSE] All right let's turn in our
Bibles to John, Chapter 15, this morning. The Gospel of John. There really is a
psychology to being chosen. Whether you're being
chosen for a team, or you're chosen for an award,
or you win a competition. Something goes on in the human
brain, where the pleasure centers of the brain are flooded
with chemicals like dopamine and serotonin, and
in other words, you walk away from the
experience of being chosen feeling really, really good. And to be chosen is to
be valued by somebody, it's to be appreciated,
to be esteemed, to be regarded as important. But to be chosen
by the living God is the most ultimate
experience you could ever have. I mean, for the God
of the universe just to take note of you,
let alone choose you to be part of
this plan and purpose, is the most epic concept. And that's what I want
to talk about today. Now, the whole idea
of God making a choice has, for some reason, become
a point of controversy. Believe it or not, God choosing,
selecting, predetermining-- we call that election-- for God to choose
people for salvation is upsetting to some people. I don't know why it is. Because I kind of
figure it this way, why shouldn't God
be able to do what He enables His creation to do? If He makes you with
the ability to choose, why can't God have
that same power? You get the option to get
up in the morning, or not. You can stay in
bed, if you'd like. You choose what you get
to eat for breakfast. You choose what you're
going to do during the day. You choose who you're going
to marry, where you're going to live, what
occupation you're going to have the rest of your life. You get to make
all those choices, why can't God choose whom
He wants, what He wants, when He wants it? And He does, whether
we like it or not. Last time I checked,
He's throughout the Bible making all sorts of
different choices. He's choosing Abraham to
leave the Ur of the Chaldeas and form a nation. The nation that is formed,
He calls "my chosen people, I've chosen you out
of all the people on the face of the Earth." When it comes to the
supernatural world, there are fallen
angels, and there are angels who did not
fall, whom God refers to as "elect angels," indicating
God has made a choice before all of that happened. Jesus, himself, is referred
to as the Chosen One. Peter said, he is
rejected by man, but he is chosen
by God the Father. And then, one of
the great titles that you and I get
to bear, is that we are God's chosen believers. And perhaps the one
section of scripture, we're going to find it
here in our text. But the other important
salient section of scripture that talks
about God choosing us is found in
Ephesians, Chapter 1. Let me just read a
few verses to you. This is Ephesians chapter
1, verses 4 through 6. "Just as He chose us in
him before the foundation of the world, that we
should be Holy and without blame before Him in love,
having predestined us to adoption as sons by
Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good
pleasure of His will." Now, we're going to read in
John, Chapter 15, where Jesus says to his own disciples
in an upper room, and they're very
disquieted at this point. They're very
discouraged, because of some of the news that he has
told them, that he is leaving. Jesus, I think,
leans in, almost. I'm picturing him with his
hand cupped over his mouth going, "Psst, let me
let you in on a secret. You didn't choose me. I chose you. And I have appointed you." Now they, of course,
remember the day when they did choose
him, when they did leave their nets behind. When they did make a
very cognizant choice to put the past behind
them and follow this rabbi. But Jesus said, actually, let
me let you in on the real story. You are chosen. And what you need
to understand when we talked about God choosing
us, and God electing us for salvation, He doesn't
do that fatalistically or mechanistically,
where we're like robots and we don't have
any choice at all. In fact, we do. There is a cooperation of
God's choice and our choice. Not a competition
between the two. They work in tandem together. In fact, in John 3:16 he said,
"For God so loved the world that He gave his
only begotten Son, that whoever believes
in Him will not perish but have everlasting life." So there is an
element of human will, human volition, human choice. Or, the time Jesus stood in
front of Jerusalem and he said, "Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, how often I wanted to gather your
children together, as a hen gathers her chicks, but
you were not willing." Now, what I want to show
you in John Chapter 15, we're going to look at Verse
9 down to about Verse 17. I want to highlight
for you three choices that God has made concerning
those of us who are saved. Three choices. We are chosen for friendship. We are chosen for fullness. And we are chosen for following. And I want to
explain each of those and drill down
just a little bit. We are chosen for friendship. Let me take you to
Verse 13 of John 15, where Jesus said,
"Greater love has no one than this,
than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are My friends, if you
do whatever I command you. No longer do I
call you servants, for a servant does not know
what his master is doing; but I have called you
friends, for all things that I heard from My Father
I have made known to you. You did not choose
Me, but I chose you." Stop right there. Did you just hear
how Jesus put that? You didn't choose me. I chose you. Now, that's not
normally how it works. Normally, friends
choose each other, if they're going to be friends. So this is how it works. Let's say there's an encounter. If there's an encounter
between two people, there's three possibilities. Scenario number one, two
people meet each other. Let's say it's me
and another guy. We meet, and right off the
bat, we don't like each other. I don't like his personality. He doesn't like my breath,
whatever it might be. We just mutually
don't like each other. Probably, a friendship
is not going to occur as a result
of that encounter. Scenario number two, I meet a
person, I genuinely like him, and I think we could get
along, but he didn't like me. Once again, a friendship
is probably not going to be the result. But
if two people meet each other, and there's a mutual
fondness, a mutual affection, a mutual understanding, that's
the basis of a friendship. It's never one-sided. But here, it is. So Jesus said, you
didn't choose me. I chose you. And he mentions here, I
chose you for friendship. Now first of all,
nobody could ever say that, unless he was God. I mean, I wouldn't go up to you
and go, you didn't choose me, but I'm going to let
you be my friend. I mean, only God could do that. And so this really speaks
to us of His position. He has a greater rank, greater
importance, greater influence because of his position
as Jesus, as God, He can make that statement. You know, it's like
that with famous people, or political people, somebody
who is highly influential. They have to be very
careful who they're going to allow in their
circle of friends, because people can
take advantage of them. And so, typically,
the way it works if somebody is like a King, or a
Prince, or President, or a rock star, it's not like you
can walk up to that person and say, hey, you know what
I think we could really be good friends. They kind of have to let you in. I read an article a while
back about Mariah Carey, that she has in her house-- or I should say in
one of her houses, or actually in one
of her mansions-- she has a level,
a floor, where she allows people who are friends,
but not really close friends. Just OK friends. They're allowed at
that level, but they can't go to any of
the other levels where she really hangs out. God says, Jesus said,
I have chosen you. So, this speaks to
us of his position. Also, this speaks to
us of his election, and I want to kind of drill down
on this idea of predestination, just briefly, and election. When Jesus said, I have chosen
you I think he has in his mind the idea of salvation. That's how salvation works. God, sovereignty,
makes a choice. And I want to take
you down to Verse 19, because it elaborates
just a little bit. Verse 19, "If you
were of the world--" And when you see
that word here, he's not talking about the globe,
where continents and oceans and things exist, he's
speaking about the system of this world, the
values of this world that are opposed to God. "If you were of the world,
the world would love its own. Yet because you are
not of the world, but I chose you
out of the world, therefore the world hates you." So here's Jesus saying,
of all the people that live on this globe and
are a part of the world system, I have picked you out of
that to be on my team. And then Paul will say,
later on in Ephesians 1, you were chosen before the
foundations of the Earth. So before you were
born, before God put planets and
the biosphere, all that we know in the physical
world, God had you in mind. God chose you. Unfortunately,
throughout church history this has become a talking
point, a debating point, a dividing point, even. Where you have, on one
side, the ardent Calvinist, who emphasizes divine election
apart from human choice. That's why the ardent Calvinist
rarely does true evangelism, because after all, if God
is going to make the choice, it's going to happen. You can't do anything about it. They're just going to get saved. On the other hand, you
might have the Armenian who will emphasize human choice
over and above divine election. I say, both are true. Why argue over that fact? You know that, right? You know the two things can
be true at the same time. It's not like,
well, this is true, therefore nothing else is true. No, there's a lot of things
true at exactly the same time. And it's true that God makes
a choice and predetermines and pre-elects,
but it's also true that you must make a
choice, and God will cooperate with your choice. So instead of arguing over
this, let the tension remain. It's OK that God
chooses, and it's OK that you and I have to choose. It's like a suspension bridge. The reason the bridge
stands is because you have two opposing forces
holding it together. By the way, Jesus put both
of those two realities into one single verse. Listen to what he said. This is John,
Chapter 6, Verse 37. "All the Father gives
Me will come to me." That's divine election. "And the one who comes to
me--" that's human choice. "I will by no means cast out." So, think of it this way. If a person is drowning,
somebody on the shore throws a rope. The rope itself
cannot save anybody. The presence of the rope
being there won't help anyone. The person drowning
must make a choice to grab a hold of the
rope, but a person grabbing a hold of a rope won't
necessarily save that person. There has to be
somebody on the shore pulling the rope to safety. So think of it that way
instead of debating over it. God, by election, draws us. We, by our own choice,
grab a hold of the rope. Now, somebody will say,
well, it's just not fair that God should choose
someone to be saved, implying that He chooses
others not to be saved. That's just not fair. Because maybe God
didn't choose me. You know, I can prove to you
today that God has chosen you. Here's how. Choose Him today. Make a choice to follow Jesus. Go all in today,
make that choice, and you will discover
that He has already chosen you beforehand. It's really that simple. No, it's not fair, I don't
know if I'm going to do that. OK, well, maybe
you're not chosen. Well, it's not fair. Well then, choose Him. The idea that God
knows in advance who's going to be
saved, and because He's God can make a pre-elected,
predetermined choice, does not take away
the fact that anyone who calls on the name of
the Lord can be saved. So, it speaks of His election. Also, when Jesus said,
you didn't choose me, but I chose you, it speaks to
us of His affection, His love. You know, God knew all about
you before he chose you, and he still chose you. He picked you anyway. So when Jesus said to his
disciples around that table that night, you didn't
choose me, I chose you. Do you think He knew in advance
what those disciples were going to do in letting Him down? Do you think when Jesus,
for instance, picked Peter. When he said, Peter, follow me. Do you think that Jesus knew
that Peter was going to deny Him, or did He not know? Did He know or not know? He knew, He knew. He knew it was going to happen. The day He walked up
to Judas and said, Judas I want you to follow me. Do you think Jesus knew that
Judas was going to betray Him for 30 pieces of silver? He knew, He knew. When He got James
and John on his team, do you think He knew that
they would one day want to nuke a Samaritan
village, just eliminate it, because they didn't
like those Samaritans? He knew all those things,
yet we're chosen anyway. Charles Spurgeon had
fun with this idea. He said, "It's a good thing
God chose me before I was born, He surely would not have
picked me afterwards." [LAUGHTER] So we are chosen for friendship. Another choice God has
made concerning us, is that we are
chosen for fullness. What He has in His mind is a
full life, not just existence. Not just survival, but thriving. Go to Verse 9, let's
go back just a ways and dip into the
paragraph there. "As the Father loved Me,
I also have loved you; abide in My Love." "Abide" means remain,
stay in, continue in. Abide in my love. "If you keep My commandments,
you will abide in My Love, just as I have kept My
Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I
have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you,
and that your joy may be full." That's the idea of fullness. The word is "pleroo," and it
means to be filled to the brim, to the max. It is used in scripture when you
fill a vessel to the very top. It is used of a human being
when that person is filled, say a person is full of leprosy. It means he has the
disease to the extent that he is dominated by it. So when Jesus talks about
joy, and fullness of joy, it's not like a service emotion
of, I'm kind of happy today. Things are going my way. It's something much deeper
and more profound than that. It's the kind of reality
that permeates your life, and controls your outlook. That's fullness of joy. Listen to it in the
Amplified Bible: "I have told you these things
that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy
and gladness may be full measure complete and overflowing." Now, here's what's amazing. In the upper room discourse,
which is John Chapter 13, 14, 15 and 16, four chapters. Jesus gets his disciples around
a table in an upper room, has the Last Supper, and
says these four chapters. In that discourse, in that
speech he gives over supper, he tells them the
kind of news that is breaking their
hearts right now. He told them, I'm leaving you. I'm leaving you and I'm going
back to my Father's house. And they were discouraged,
they would be despondent and He knew it, and yet
there were three emotions that Jesus speaks about
in this same speech, that He said they could
have, they should have, and one day they will
have three emotions. The first is peace. John, Chapter 14, he said,
"Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you,
not as the world gives, I give it to you." Peace, number one. Number two, love. In these chapters he
says, "I've loved you. The Father loves you. We both love you together. I'm going to reveal
my love to you. Love one another." So, peace and love. And then now, joy. "I speak these things to you
that my joy might be with you, and that your joy would be full. So, peace, love, and joy. While he says, I'm
leaving and you're going to really be
bummed out, you can, and you will one day have,
peace, and love, and joy. And last time I checked,
that's exactly what the world is craving today. If you ask a person,
what do you want in life? They're going to give
you the standard answer, I just want to be happy. What do you want for your kids? I just want them to be happy. You drill down on that answer,
and what they really mean is, if I could only
find inner peace, if I could only find true
love, and if I could only find lasting joy. Jesus said, I'm promising you
all three of those things. You are chosen for fullness. Now, hold that
thought for a minute. Sadly, throughout
Christian history, Christianity has not
been noticed, seen, regarded as a joyful experience. So much so, I told you
this a few weeks ago, when I announced to my friends
that I was following Jesus now, a couple of them said, oh,
I'm so sorry to hear that. Because they figured that Jesus
would take joy out of my life, rather than inject
joy into my life. And think of how
Christianity has been represented over the years. Clergymen, traditionally,
throughout history, wore black. That's like the
color of mourning. Black robes. The music largely sounded
like funeral dirges, not really happy things. The voices of many preachers
were deep and drawling and "Gof bless you. Whatever you do, do not laugh." Really serious stuff. Oliver Wendell Holmes-- I don't
know if you know that name-- Oliver Wendell Holmes went on
to become the Associate Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of
the United States of America. So he had a law profession. At one time, he was
thinking about being a clergyman, a preacher. But he said this, "I would
have entered the ministry if the clergyman I know
didn't look and act so much like undertakers." Who wrote those rules? Certainly not Jesus. Certainly not the New Testament. It is time to overturn that
by joyful Christianity. That should mark us. Fullness of joy. It's my personal joy,
I'm giving it to you, and you can remain in
it, you can remain in it. It can be your
constant experience. I'm almost certain that you
haven't heard this next name that I'm going to quote,
a theologian by the name of Helmut Thielicke. You ever-- did you
talk about that guy yesterday, over a burger? Probably not. Yeah, so he's a
German theologian and yet, for a
German theologian, listen to what he said, I want
to show you what he wrote. "Should we not see that lines
of laughter about the eyes are just as much marks
of faith as lines of care and seriousness? Is that only earnestness
that is baptized? Is laughter pagan? A church is in a bad way
when it banishes laughter from the sanctuary and
leaves it to the nightclub." I like that quote. I agree with that quote. You know, Billy
Sunday was a preacher, I've quoted him before. Billy Sunday was a
baseball player, actually. Major League, professional
baseball player, became an evangelist,
and whenever he preached, people said, man, there's
such joy in this guy. Such enthusiasm and passion and
joy, whenever he would preach. And one of the things that Billy
Sunday used to say is this, "Don't look as if your
Christianity hurts you." Isn't that good? I know people who
are, bless God. Oh, don't do that. Don't advertise. He said, "The
trouble with so many is that they have
just enough religion to make them miserable." So Jesus says to His men, you
are chosen for friendship, you are chosen for fullness,
and here's the third that I will close with. We are chosen for following. We are chosen to be
active disciples, fruit-bearing disciples. Look at Verse 16. "You did not choose Me, but
I chose you and appointed you that you should go--"
please mark that. I've got an idea. I have a commission that
you're to go on a mission you are to fulfill. I have chosen you,
"and appointed you, that you should
go and bear fruit, and that your fruit
should remain, that whatever you ask the Father
in My name He may give you." And because in the fruit of
the Spirit, love is on top. The next verse, "these
things I command you, that you love one another." So get the flow of this. I didn't just choose
you to be my friends, I didn't just choose
you to be joyful, I've chosen you to be fruitful, to
be a fruitful growing disciple. Now fruit, this whole chapter
filled with that analogy of fruit, right. That's how Chapter 15 of
John begins, I'm the vine, you are the branches,
if you remain connected, you're going to bear fruit. And you'll bear more fruit
and you bear much fruit, he talks a lot about that
all throughout the chapter. That's because fruit
is a sign of growth, and growth is a
normal part of life. When something is living,
you expect it to be growing. And when growth
doesn't happen, you're disappointed and shocked. So here's an example, you
can all relate to this. How many of you love babies? Raise your hand if
you love babies. If you don't raise your
hand, we should mark you. So, we love babies
for a lot of reasons. We love the fact that they're
cute, they're soft-skinned, their feet are so thick, I mean
just so cute in so many ways. Their little words they
try to say, la la la. Look, he said my name! No, he didn't, he's
just making a noise, but I'm glad you enjoyed that. And here's one of the
reasons, not the only one, but one of the reasons we love
babies so much is because we know they're not going
to stay that way, they're going to grow. If we thought they were
going to stay that way, we're not going to be as joyful. But one of the
reasons we tolerate their cries, or their
messes, is because we know that they're going to grow. That's normal. Somebody once said, a baby
is just a digestive apparatus with a loud noise at one end and
no responsibility at the other. [LAUGHTER] Pretty good description. But that's OK, we're
good with that. If, however, at 25 years of age,
that son or daughter of yours comes and goes, la
la la, and messes, you're not OK with that. That's problematic. So, there has to be fruit,
there has to be growth. So, Jesus uses the idea of fruit
to depict the Christian life. And there's some obvious
things about fruit. First of all, fruit
is noticeable. If you walk by an apple tree,
you know it's an apple tree. If you're not a
botanist, you know it's an apple tree
because it has apples. They don't grow signs that
say, I am an Apple tree. This is a grapevine. But you know it,
because you walk by it, and you see the fruit. It's noticeable. I'll tell you why I'm bringing
that up, because you really don't have to guess if a
person is a believer or not. You just got to look at the
fruit, pretty noticeable. So every now and then, somebody
will say, is that person a believer, a Christian? Well, I think he is. I think, deep down
inside somewhere in the recesses of his
heart, he believes. Should be a whole lot
simpler than that. Is there any fruit? Is there any evidence of that? It doesn't mean they're
going to be perfect, Jesus said some beer
30, 60, 100-fold fruit, we do it in different
stages, different ways. But there has to be some
visible, noticeable indication that will set them
apart from just a false believer, professor
of faith that has no fruit. So, it's noticeable. Also, fruit is nourishing. Grape vines have grapes. Apple trees have apples. Fruit trees bear fruit. They don't consume
their own product. They do it to bless others. We get blessed by the fruit
that comes from that tree, so likewise, if the life of God
is in you, then the life of God will flow through you. You will become a
blessing to others. You will exist and find
real pleasure in that. In fact, I will
say your life will take a turn for the
better, and and you will start getting
really excited when you begin not just to
consume spiritual things, but nourish others, and bless
others with spiritual things. Where you get engaged, and you
get involved, and you give out. I heard a funny story about a
man driving through Florida. He's driving like
from Tampa to Miami, and he noticed that there
are miles and miles and miles and miles and miles of
orange groves everywhere. Orange trees are everywhere,
millions of oranges around him. He stops at a little roadside
restaurant, orders breakfast. Bacon, eggs and a
glass of orange juice. Why not, I'm in Florida. Fresh-squeezed orange juice. He orders orange juice. The waitress says, and I
kid you not, "I'm sorry, we don't have any orange juice." What? You don't have any orange juice? "No, I'm sorry. The machine broke." Machine? I can go outside right
now, get two oranges and squeeze them into a
cup, that's orange juice. It's not that hard. "We don't have any orange
juice, the machine broke." What is the problem? They are dependent
on the machine. I think we can become
dependent on the machine. It's all about what I'm going
to get out of my experience at church, or my Connect
group, or my women's group, or my men's group. Listen, let your
life be squeezed out, to pour into the
life of other people. That's when the
excitement really begins. Don't just be here
to get something, I'm here to get that I might
pour out and give to others. I love the description that
Jacob had of his son, Joseph. He said, Joseph is a fruitful
branch, or a fruitful vine, whose branches go over the wall. He's such a blessing that he
is fruitful, not just here, but out to others. He blesses other people. His branches go over the wall. I had a neighbor in Huntington
Beach who had a lemon tree, and I'd always pray
for his lemon tree, because his branches went
over my side of the wall, under California State
law, I can take as many of those lemons that are
over my wall as exist. So I was having free
lemonade all the time. Live that kind of a life, were
your branches go over the wall. So, fruit is noticeable,
and fruit is nourishing. Also, fruit is natural. The only thing a branch has
to do to produce an apple? Stay connected. It doesn't have to struggle,
doesn't have to work at it, doesn't have to think about it
too hard, just hang in there. Hang in there, and
you'll produce fruit. Ever see an apple tree sweat? Ever walked by and here
it is, [GRUNTS] Apple! Whew, that was hard. No, it wasn't. It's normal. It happens naturally,
as the branch is connected to the stock or
the vine, it naturally produces. You stay close to Jesus, as
you walk with Him, as you talk to Him, it's going to happen. It's going to happen. But therein is the warning,
because lack of fruit would indicate lack of life. That makes sense, no
fruit, maybe no life. Look at Verse 14. I want you to look at it,
I know you've read it, but this should astonish you. Jesus said, "You are
My friends if you do whatever I command you." How unusual is that? I mean, think of
it in another way. What if somebody walked
up to you and said, hey, I'm so-and-so, and
you can be my friend, but there's only one condition. You have to do
everything I tell you. Yeah, right! That's the reaction! Yeah, right. Like, what, it works one way? Well, kind of, in
this case, it does. Because here's
Jesus, here's God, the Creator of the
universe, saying, you can be my friend if you
do whatever I command you. Now, let's look at it this way. We already know Jesus is a
pretty good friend to us. He's a great friend
to us, right? Didn't he just say, greater
love is no one than this, that a man lay down his
life for his friend? What is he referring to? The cross, his death. I'm going to die on a cross
for you to get to Heaven. So that's pretty good love,
that's pretty good friendship. So we've established
the fact that Jesus is a great friend to us. The question remaining
is, how good of a friend are you to Him? Well, Jesus is my friend. Cool, great, awesome. How good of a friend
are you to Jesus? Not looking for perfection here. What he's looking for
is obedience, submission to His will, a
desire to please Him. "You are my friends if you
do whatever I command you." Notice the word "whatever." Last time I checked, you
know what that means? It actually means "whatever." It means anything
and everything. So, you can't pick
and choose where you live your Christian life. Yeah, well it's
Sunday, so I'm going to smile and be a Christian. But tomorrow is Monday, it's
a dog-eat-dog world out there, and I'm going to bark loud. You can't say that I'm going
to live my Christian life in my business, but
not my marriage, or I'm going to live my
Christian life in my marriage, but not my business. He wants it all. "If you do whatever
I command you." I want to close on
part of that warning. I want you to go
back two chapters. We're in John 15,
go to Chapter 13. Actually turn there,
John, Chapter 13, and look at Verse 17. Where he said, "if
you know these things, blessed are you--" better
word is "happy" are you. "If you know these things,
you are happy if you do them. I do not speak
concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen;
but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, 'he who eats bread
with me has lifted up his heel against me.'" Who's he
talking about there? Judas Iscariot, one
of his "friends," one of the guys at
dinner with him, who, after he announces this in
Chapter 14, gets up, goes out, gets 30 pieces of silver,
and betrays Jesus. "I'm not speaking
about all of you, I know whom I have chosen." It's not Judas. Why Didn't Jesus choose Judas? Because Judas
didn't choose Jesus. God has all foreknowledge. He knows these things. "I know whom I have chosen." Now, 11 of his friends,
the rest of the disciples, will remain, will be
obedient, will bear fruit, will go on to live
vibrant, Christian lives. Now, Jesus is called
the friend of sinners. Question is, will you
let him choose you? Will you let him choose you? Because he wants you. He loves you, and He
wants to choose you. Well, how do I know
if he's chosen me? You can find out
pretty quickly here. In fact, in the next five
or 10 minutes, some of you are going to discover that. Some years ago,
Rich and Patty White traveled to a third world
country to adopt a young child. And as you know
who have adopted, it's very time consuming,
and very costly, very expensive to adopt a child. Shouldn't be, but it is. They went to a
third world country, went through years of
paperwork, spent the money. Finally, the day came
when the trial was set. The judge was going to
adjudicate on the case to give custody to them. The little girl's name
that they wanted to adopt was named Alona Morgan. So the day came, everybody's
in the courtroom. The judge reads the official
document in front of the people who are there, the prospective
parents and the little girl. Now, the little girl
had to hear these words. The judge said, "Inasmuch
as Alona Morgan is orphaned and is unwanted by any
family in this country, and inasmuch as no
citizen of this country wishes to have Alona Morgan,"
and the judge conferred custody to the couple. As soon as that was
done, that couple walked over to the little
girl, got on their knees, hugged that little girl, and
said to her in that courtroom, "You will never have to hear the
word 'unwanted' spoken of you again." They took the little girl
home to the United States and changed her name from
Alona Morgan to Hope White. Hope. You are not unwanted,
He wants you. So much that the best
friend you could ever have gave His life to make sure that
you have a place in Heaven. Shed His own blood, felt
the pain of Roman spikes in His hands, because he knew
it would be enough before a Holy God to get you to be one of
His friends, in His family, and have a place
with Him forever. Greater love has
no one than this. Will you choose the one
who is choosing you? Let's pray. Father, I pray that
some here would. It's not about religion,
it's not about church. These things, in fact, can
blind people to truth sometimes. I'm praying and
all of us here who have an interest
in Your kingdom, are praying for those who may
be with us today, who are here, but they don't belong to You. They're wanted by You,
they're loved by You. I pray that they will say
yes to You this morning. I pray that they will give
their lives to the one who gave His life for them. And I pray that
in so doing, they would have a joy they
have never experienced before in this life. It would be theirs,
because of it. The joy of having
their sins forgiven, the joy of knowing that the
future is in Your hands. You've got it all under control. The joy of walking
with You through life, after and through
that forgiven state. I pray, Lord, that
those who have never said yes to You before, maybe
just hid behind the fact that they grew up in a church,
that their parents believed in God, they've always had
some kind of a nebulous belief. I pray they would push
that aside, and say yes to You for the first time. For an authentic, real
moment, they would say, I'm giving my life to Jesus. And I pray for those
who have wandered away, have walked away. Maybe they once had
a vibrant faith, but they're just not
a walking with You, they're not obeying You, that
they would come home to You. If that describes you, our heads
are bowed, our eyes are closed. If you are willing to choose
Christ, and be chosen by Him, I want you to raise
your hand up in the air. Raise it up high
so I can notice it. And then you can put it down. God bless you, right in the
middle, toward the back. Couple of you toward the back,
right over here on my right. Over here, on my right. Yes, sir. Toward the back, anyone else? Raise those hands up. Just say yes to Him. Yes, God bless you right
over here on the left. Anybody else? Please, raise it up high. On my left, toward the back. If you're outside
in the amphitheater, you can raise your hand. We have a pastor who will just
shout out and make the fact that he or that they see you,
they'll acknowledge or answer you. Raise it up there. Thank you, Father,
for these and pray that You'd strengthen
these to follow You, today and every day. In Jesus' name, Amen. Let's all stand. We're going to
close with a song, and I'm going to ask those
of you who did just that-- just now, raised your hand-- I'm going to ask you
to do something else. I'm going to ask you to get
up from where you are now standing, whether
it's in the back, or outside, or up in the
front, or in the middle, and come and find your way right
up here to the front, where I'm going to lead you in
a minute, to receive Christ as your Savior. This is an important step. So, don't just
bail out the door. Please, just come
forward right now, and let me introduce
you to the Savior. Let me pray with you, and seal
the deal to receive Christ. So, you get up and come. Get up and come, as we sing. Be encouraged by this. (SINGING) Oh, your name,
your name is victory And all praise will
rise to Christ, our King Oh, and your name,
your name is victory All praise will rise
to Christ, our King Oh, your name, your name
is victory and all praise will rise to Christ, our King Your name your name is victory I saw lots of hands go up. I do think it is important
that you make it public. We don't do this to
embarrass anybody, we do this to encourage you. [APPLAUSE] I mean, listen to the applause. This is a joyful day! This is the best decision
you could ever make. So decide today, you're going
to step out of the shadows and step into the light. Jesus said, if you
confess me before men, I'll confess you before
my Father in Heaven. So, get up here. Get up here. (SINGING) Your name is
victory all praise will rise to Christ our King It's your day, your
name is victory, and all praise will
rise to Christ, our King Yeah, yes, it will in
Your name Victory is yours Those of you who
have come forward. Yes, come on up. Yeah, never too late! [APPLAUSE] I'm going to lead
you now in a prayer. I want you to pray these
words out loud, after me. I want you to say
them from your heart. Mean them. Say them to God. You're giving Him your life. You're making a covenant with
the God of this universe, and He allows you to do
that because of Jesus. So say this. Lord, I give you my life. I'm a sinner. Please forgive me. I believe in Jesus. That he died on the cross,
that He shed His blood for me, that He rose again. I turn from my past. I repent of my sin. I turn to Jesus as my Savior. I want to follow Him as my Lord. Help me. In His name, I pray. Amen. Amen. [APPLAUSE] Congratulations. [COUNTRY MUSIC PLAYING] We hope you enjoyed this special
service from Calvary Church. We'd love to know how
this message impacted you. Email us at
mystory@calvarynm.church. And just a reminder, you can
support this ministry with a financial gift at
calvarynm.church/give. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching from Calvary Church.
