Seeing Jesus Clearly | Abide Series Week 3

Come on, Radiant Church, across Tampa Bay. Are y'all excited to be at church today? It is so good to be with you, one church across 13 locations. And my name is Aaron Burke, and I have the honor of being the lead pastor here at Radiant Church. What God is doing across Tampa Bay is unbelievable, and I'm so glad you're at church. I know February is a unique time where a lot of guests come to church, and I just want you to know, you're in the right place at the right time. If you're looking for a good church home, dive all in in what God is doing here at Radiant Church. So Radiant, can we honor our guests? We have a lot of guests that are with us all across Tampa Bay. I know our juniors and seniors are on their retreat right now in the mountains, and I just heard that they're watching this message, so I wanted to give them a shout-out, too, and love what God's doing in Radiant Student Ministries. And lots of exciting things are happening all across the Tampa Bay area. And if you've got your Abide books, I want you to take them out. How many people still got them from week one? Come on, let's see them all out. Love it, love it, love it, love it, love it.

Well, welcome to Abide week three. Our series is helping you find depth, direction, and delight with God. And the whole purpose of this series is for you to help create that rhythm of really connection with Him. I gave you a goal in week one that you would connect with Jesus daily. And I want that daily connection with you and God. This is what you were developed for. This is what you were created for. And that you would find depth in His word. We're gonna talk a lot about that next week. If you really have a hard time in figuring out how to know God's word, we're gonna talk about that next week. And then how to find direction from His spirit. How do you live a spirit-led life? And then really walking in the delight and joy of obedience with God. And you really will never walk into the fullness God has for you until you learn to walk in obedience with Him. And the whole premise of this series comes out of John chapter 15. So let's look at it one more time. He says, abide in me and I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it, what? It abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide in me.

I am the vine and you are the branches. Whoever, there it is again, what? Abides in me and I in him. He will bear much fruit. I don't know about you, but I want much fruit with my life. I want my life to produce a lot. And then he says, apart from me, you can do some good things. Is that what it says? No, it doesn't. But that's what we think. We think we can do some good things apart from Jesus, but that's not where life is really found. He says, apart from me, you can do what? Nothing, nothing. And I wanna help you figure out how to live a fruitful life as we talked about last week. How to embrace the process of being with God so you can be who he's called you to be. The word abide, this word minnow, it means to dwell, to stay, to remain, endure. We're in a culture that loves to start things, but we don't like to endure through them. And he's saying, listen, it's not about just starting with Christ, it's living in him, staying connected with him. And today we're gonna bring this to the next level as we kind of lay the foundation over these first three weeks, and then the next five weeks will be very practical.

But today's message is simply on the idea of seeing Jesus clearly. If you are called to abide with Christ, then the most important thing you're gonna do is have a correct view, a perspective of who Jesus is. And over the few minutes I have with you today, I wanna help you see Jesus clearly so that it creates such a desire inside of you to be with him every single day. I grew up going to these things called the local fairs or the county fairs. And we had one right next to our house growing up, and they would come into town and they would set up a ride just like this. How many remember that kind of ride right there? And I would get on these things all the time with my friends, with my siblings. We'd ride these things all the time. And I know we got like the Strawberry Festival and the big stuff that comes in town here. And I used to get on these. Let's just do a poll across Tampa Bay. How many used to ride these kind of rides all over? Like at least you ride them once, right? How many would be honest and go, I still get on those things. Come on, where are you at? It's so bizarre. The later we go in the services, the more people that ride them.

Earlier services today, nobody raised their hand. They're like, no, we all have wisdom here. I would ride these things all the time until I saw how it was made. Now this is no shade on the fair carnival industry. If that's your upbringing and that's how your livelihood was made, we just want you to know we love you. Good, honest, hardworking people. I'm just not gonna trust them with my life. That thing I realized was on the interstate six hours before I wrote it. And then I saw the guy that was putting it together. I mean, two teeth, a cigarette just hanging out of his mouth, you know, just like bouncing out of his mouth. Little drunk, and I'm like, you put this thing together in about four hours, and you want me to put my life in there? It ain't gonna happen. I stopped riding it when I found out who was making it. Does that make sense? It's not about that I don't trust the machine, I don't trust the man. Y'all understand? So now my family, we're Disney people, all right? We like Disney. So we go to Disney last weekend, and we rode the Neutron ride, all right? The Neutron ride did not get created in six hours

by a guy with a cigarette out of his mouth. It was created in six years, a half a billion dollars for one ride, created by engineers and architects and people with like PhDs that put this thing together. I'll ride it because I can trust the people that put it together. Does that make sense? When it comes to your life, it is massively important that you understand who you have trust in and who you're putting your faith in when it comes to your life based on the fact of like, are you putting it in God, the one who created you, the one who's got it all together? I just want you to understand this. God is not some carnival worker that's throwing this thing together last minute. He is the God of the universe that is strategically putting all these pieces into place and is working all things together for the good. A.W. Tozer says, what we think about God is the most important thing about us. So as we talk about abiding, you have to lean in to this idea that man, your perspective of who God is really determines your trust and your ability to go all in with this life of faith. Going God, I'm giving you my life because I truly trust you.

When it comes to all the chaos that you're going through in life right now, when it comes to all the chaos in the world, it ultimately comes down to this main question. Do you trust that Jesus is good? Do you trust that Jesus is good? Do you trust that he has good character, that he's working behind the scenes on your behalf? Or are you sitting there trusting Jesus at the same level that you trust your spouse or that boyfriend or that girlfriend or the government or your friends, and you go, well, sometimes they're good, sometimes they're not, sometimes they have my best interest of mind, and that's why many people don't live a life of abiding, of being with Jesus every single day, because truthfully, we haven't settled it in our hearts that he's actually good. And if you knew he was good, you'd be with him every day and listen to his voice. I wrote it down this way. When you know who Jesus is, you can trust where he's leading you. And my desire over these next 20 minutes or so is to create such an appetite in you for the character of Christ, to recognize that he is good and that he's worth following. And because of that,

if you'll go to him every single morning and you'll start your day with him and you'll abide with him, he'll lead and guide your life. And even in the tough seasons, you'll be able to say, life might not be good, but God is still good. I can trust the character of God. And there's some people that are watching this message right now, and you're in a very difficult season. And this is the message that God wanted you to hear today, to let you know that even though life might not be good, he's still good in this season. And if you'll trust him in this season, you'll see how he turns all things together for the good. So if you have your Bibles with me, turn to John chapter 10. I want you to see this, where Jesus is giving this beautiful illustration of who he is to this religious leaders of the day. And he's showing them in an illustration of sheep and a shepherd. And it's in this farming agricultural society where he's given this metaphor, but I think it speaks to your life today. And it gives you a clear perspective of who Jesus is, especially maybe through the turmoil and the uncertainty you're dealing with. Therefore, Jesus said to them, 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. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved. This is a bold statement that Jesus starts with, going listen, all those who have come before, all those teachers who have come before, all those ideas that have come before that are all out there, they won't save you, but if you'll come through me, you'll be saved. And then he says it this way, they'll come in and they'll go out and they'll find pasture. They'll find nourishment. They'll find rest. Look at that. Then in verse 10, he says the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. If you were raised in the church, you've heard this verse many, many, many times. He says, but I have come that they might have life and have it to the full. He ends with this phrase in verse 11, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He's giving us this metaphor of sheep and a shepherd and he shows us three statements in here that I wanna present to you today that as you go through life, as you make decisions with your life, that you'll trust the character of God

based off of these three things. He starts with this phrase saying, I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and they will go out and they will find pasture. Here's the first one you can write it down is that Jesus is the gate, the gate. Another word, if you wanted to write it next to there would be the access. He's the way we find access to God. He's the way we find access to anything that God has for our life. And he uses this illustration of a gate. If you have kids, you know what these things are right here. Let me tell you, I've had five kids. I've become a pro at these. So you would learn to do this, okay? So yeah, yeah, you only learn that skill after kid about number three, okay? Just want you to know right there. So that was actually really good. All right, so these are baby gates. And what these are is these are for a parent would put this in their like living room or somewhere. And because the house has a lot of options for a little toddler running around. And so the whole goal is that you bring the toddler into there and they have some snacks and they have some toys. And the whole thing is like inside of here is safety.

Inside of here is life. Let's have a little fun with this. Okay, I don't have a sheep, but. Okay, so, all right, we got a little. All right, so let's see, there he goes. Okay, so Jesus is inviting us in, okay? And he's inviting us into the, here's the problem. A lot of you just want to go everywhere else that Jesus tells you not to go. He's like, you want to go explore out there? And Jesus is like, no, no, no, no, no. There is access. There is a safe place for you to live. This is the stupidest thing I've ever done. Here you go, church. And true story, I didn't have this on our first service. So I had them run to Walmart. I was like, we need a dog. We need a dog that walks. And so we make things happen between services. So it's a lot of fun. All right, so how do you get into what God has for your life? Well, there has to be an access point. There has to be a gate. There has to be an entry point. And so the entry point into all that is safe, all that is secure, all where he says, you'll come in and you'll find pasture. And he goes, and I am that gate.

I am that access point. You can write it on your notes this way. Jesus, as the gate, is our access point to everything we need for an abundant life. Everything you need is found in Christ. And a lot of you are looking for your satisfaction. Here's the reality, is a lot of y'all are in Christ and you found that in Christ, but you're trying to just get out the whole time. You're just going, please get me out of here. It's like a kid. You know, you have those little kids and they're like, they're just trying to, they don't realize that it looks, this thing barks too. That is awesome. It's okay, it's okay. All right, so this has gotten a lot of fun. All right. They don't realize he's not trying to punish you. He's trying to let you know this is where life is. This is where safety is. How do you find access to the things of God? You find it through Christ. So let me just give you an example. So if in Christ is a healthy marriage, well, what's that access? What's the access to a healthy marriage? What's the door that you walk into a healthy marriage? It's through Christ.

It's not at Soho. It's not on Central Ave. That's not where you find access to the things of God. So what you do is you go, I'm gonna be in Christ. I'm gonna be in God's will and God's plan. And as you're in God's plan, you watch how God allows the people in your life and allows the relationship in your life, and why? In Christ, now you can flourish to what he's called you to be, because he's our good shepherd and he's the access point. And what he brings you into, that's where real life is at. And let me just tell you, that's why Jesus says I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. There's so much that God has for your life. It's not gonna be found outside of Christ. That's why the most important thing you'll do with your life is giving your life to Christ and daily submitting and surrendering, saying, Jesus, I belong to you. You are my access to whatever I have, whatever you wanna do through my life. That's why Hebrews tells us this way. He says, therefore, since we have a great high priest, What was the high priest? His goal was to be the mediator between man and God. But he says, now we have a great high priest, Jesus, who ascended into heaven, Jesus, the Son of God. Let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.

So whatever you're going through at times, you need to know Jesus is our high priest. And then it says in verse 16, look at this, how beautiful. It says, so let us approach God's throne of grace with what? Confidence. You see the things of God. He says, you can approach the throne of grace with confidence. I wanna walk into what God has for me next. How do I get into it? I get into it through my high priest, that is Jesus. And as I'm led into this thing, and as I walk into it, then I walk into the abundant life that God has for me. And it's not because of my good works and not because of what I did. It's I got here because of who let me in. I came through Jesus. It's Jesus as my access to get into it. Does that make sense? Let me give you a beautiful idea of this. Because in the ancient Near East, as the sheep were put in their pens, where safety was, where provision was, they thought they were confined. They were actually really protected. Because then at night, as they were resting, the shepherd would lay in front of the gate. And the shepherd would never keep the gate open where anything could just be let in.

What an unbelievable visual idea. Let me just let you understand this. Because nothing would get to them except through the shepherd. Can I just say it across Tampa Bay? Jesus is protecting your life. He is protecting your life, he's guarding your life. When he is your good shepherd, let me just tell you, he won't allow those things in your life that'll break you down and beat you up. Some of you are so mad that that guy or that girl never texts you back. Thank God. You know why they didn't text you back? Because you have a good shepherd who is guarding your life. You think that you're missing out. You're not missing out. You're being protected in your life. You have a shepherd that he's not allowing that stuff to get to you. Some of you are so mad that that deal fell through. God was protecting your life. You're so mad. You're like, I think it should have worked out this way. Watch as you have a good shepherd who is the gate. And if you have a tough season in your life, you go, you know what? I guess God understood that I can handle this with his power because he is a shepherd. He's guarding my life.

And if he allowed it in, he's gonna make me stronger. It's gonna help me go further. I've got a good shepherd in my life. So he's our gate. Here's your second one. He says, the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus says, and I come that they may have life and have it to the full. Here's your second one you can write down. Jesus is not just the gate. He's also life. What a comparison to hear. He says, there's a thief. There's the world. There's life that steals, kills, and destroy. But I've come that you might have life and have it to the full. Here's the problem. It's that something is filling your life. Let's do a little illustration here, okay? Something is filling you up. Something is bringing you strength. Something is bringing life to you. Now, let me show you how this works. Because I was raised by a used car salesman, and we had to tie a lot of balloons over the days, put them on the cars. So you've got these things in your life that'll fill you up, and you think, oh man, that brings me so much life.

And the reality is, is it doesn't have the substance to actually lift you up in difficult seasons. So that guy or that girl, you go, they bring me so much life. Oh, I did that meditation. Positive affirmation. I said the positive words over my life. It's empty. It's, it's, it's, it's, it fills, but it doesn't bring real life to you. When Jesus said, I've come that men may have life, he said the word zoe, which means fullness, abundance. This is different than what the world fills you with. This is the breath of God. This is the life of God. It's not always about quantity. It's about quality. It's something that'll sustain you in your life because he goes on in John chapter six, he says the spirit gives life and the flesh counts for nothing. Some of you, you just had the flesh that feeds. It fills you up, and then you, it counts for nothing. There's difficult times come, and it fails you every single time. There's another bit of life that you can have. There's, let's have fun with this. Throughout the whole day, they're like, hey, Aaron, we can just give you two different balloons. I'm like, no, I have to have the balloons

where I fill them myself. Cause I, no. Cause somebody wasn't paying attention until I was doing this right here. Can I just ask you a question? Are both balloons full? Yes, okay, some of y'all like it's church. I don't know the answer. Jesus! I'm like, no, that's not the right answer. All right, here's the thing. Everyone is filled with something. There's a lot of people that find the fulfillment of the world, they get filled by those people, they get filled by the ideas, the spiritual ideas that are out there, and all these good intentions. And you know what it does? It ends up leaving you empty and always falling down when life gets tough. But there's another infilling of the power of God. When he says that I might come that they may have life and have it to the full. You know what this is? This is an infilling that says, you know what? Even when life gets tough, he's gonna pick you right back up. Even when things get down, you're gonna go right back up.

Why? Because you have the spirit of God on the inside of you. Let me tell you, not all infilling is the same. And that is why we lean into the presence of God who will fill us up to actually bring us up to what God's called us to do instead of something that looks great but doesn't have any power to actually sustain us when the world actually gets tough out there. Make sure you're filled with the right thing. What is abiding? Abiding is daily coming to God and going, I can't be filled with the things of the world that'll only let me down. I wanna be filled with the things of God that'll lift me up and that'll bring me above all the chaos of the world to the plans of God for my life. Come on, church, are you with me today? Thank you so much. That illustration bombed earlier, but we made it happen in the third service to the glory of God. Here's what the abundant life is. When you think of an abundant life, I want you to write down this way. It's a fruitful life. It's a life where your kids are following the Lord. Your business honors God. Your time is something that is making a difference

in the world around you. So when you think of an abundant life, God's come to give me life and life to the full abundance. How do I get that? I get that from Jesus. That is why it's so important that you're at church. That's why it's important you're in groups. Why? Because we're finding abundant life, something that'll sustain us even when life gets tough. I have life in him. Are y'all with me today, church? Number three, he says, and I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Here's how you see Jesus clearly. Number three is that Jesus is the good shepherd. Look at this beautiful outline here. He's the gate. He's our access point. He's life. He will fill you with true substance. He is a good shepherd. He is the one that'll lead and guide your life. And what it means by a good shepherd is that he knows what is best for your life even when it's difficult. Can I just say it this way? Not everyone should be caring for animals. Does that make sense? You know what I'm talking about?

Not everybody should be caring for animals. Not all of your kids should have an animal. My kids, my wife, she bought them a fish their early years. We called the fish Moses. Moses died. Within 24 hours, Moses did not survive through the water like in the Bible. He went upside down. My kids have this traumatic memory of being three years old and us flushing Moses down the toilet. Because not everybody should handle animals. I remember my parents, they bought us when we were growing up. I had me and my three siblings, they bought us these four bunny rabbits. And I don't know why. We were all like under 12, you know, like 12 and over. My youngest sister, she was probably four, three or four. True story, it's very traumatic. I know my sister, my youngest sister, she'll watch these messages sometimes. So I'm sorry for calling you out on this. But she killed three of the four animals. True story. I mean, just accidentally, just tripped one time, snapped one of their necks. It was terrible, traumatic, okay? Like one of them just picked it up, hugged it too hard. Sad. I'm still dealing with this in therapy, all right?

So anyway, so not everybody should deal with animals. You know why? Because they're valuable. They're precious. You know, you should take care of them. All right. Not everyone should have control over your life. Not everybody deserves to guide your life. You should not listen to every video you hear online and follow and obey it because your life is unbelievably valuable and hear me out as the Good Shepherd. Jesus embodies the character and skill necessary to take care of us. I know many of you are frustrated about whatever season you're in right now, but don't lean in to people with really good intentions and go, I'll just follow them. They do not have the skill necessary to guide your life. Jesus is a Good Shepherd and a Good Shepherd has to know how to take care of this sheep. You see, even throughout history, it's shepherds. What do they do? They know their sheep. They know that's my sheep. They know how many they have. They guide their sheep. They protect their sheep. They make sure that wolves or things that are coming, they protect it and they rescue the sheep whenever the sheep gets lost. That's what a shepherd does. And Jesus is your Good Shepherd. And I want you to hear this and Jesus knows you. Jesus is our Good Shepherd. He knows us. He knows who you are. He knows your name. He knows what you're going through even right now. Hear me out. As our Good Shepherd, Jesus guides us. He guides our life. He guides you in the good seasons and in the bad seasons. He's got his hand on your life. He protects us. He doesn't always give you what you want because he's protecting your life. And here's your last one. He rescues us. He rescues us. What does he do? Even when we've gone astray, he brings you back.

And that's why some of y'all are at church today because some of you have made some pretty crazy mistakes and you've had a Good Shepherd that is saying, despite your mistakes, I'm leading you back into the way of life. Aren't we thankful for our Good Shepherd that leads us and guides us? Come on, even when we make mistakes, he's on our side. Finish this with John 10. Look what he says. He says the gatekeeper opens the gate for him. And the sheep listen to his voice. So his job is to lead. Our job is to listen. And many of you don't know how to listen to the voice of God. Well, that's what we're going to get into next week. We're going to learn how to hear his voice, but you can't listen to a voice if you don't trust his character. He says, and he calls his sheep by name and he leads them out. I've got good news for somebody's life today. I don't know what you're in right now, but you have a Good Shepherd that's going to lead you out. He's going to lead you out of the chaos. As you abide in him, he'll lead you into the fullness of life. When you don't know what to do, he'll lead you out. And look what it says. And he has brought out all of his own. He goes ahead of them and his sheep follow him. They follow him because they know his voice. This is the purpose of abiding. That we would recognize that he is our Good Shepherd and say, God, wherever you lead us, we'll go to that place. We'll go to that place. Now, let me just be very clear with you. The Good Shepherd doesn't promise an easy path. There's going to be some difficult seasons. There's going to be some trying seasons, but he does promise that you'll never walk it alone.

He's with you. He's guiding you and you can trust him and he's going to guide you even through the toughest seasons. So what is our part in this? Hear me out. Let's all be honest. We've all got control issues. We all want it done our way. And that's why we get ourselves in the mess that we are in. So our job is to release control to the Good Shepherd and recognize that his ways are better than our ways. And because Jesus is good, because his character is so good, our only proper response is surrender. Is that we daily surrender to him and say, God, your ways are better than my ways. I don't know how to figure this out. So I submit myself to you. And as you surrender to the Good Shepherd, watch how he'll lead you and how he'll guide you. And it might be tough, but it'll always be beneficial and you'll see fruit on the other side. Why? Because in him is life and life to the full. He's a Good Shepherd that you can let guide your entire life. Can we give him some praise today, church? Amen. Let today be your day. Let. Today, be your day where you settle it in your heart. Despite when life is not good, Jesus is good.

He's good. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna take about five minutes. I left this a little early, a little bit of time on the clock. Nobody running around. We're gonna have this moment where we submit ourselves to the Good Shepherd. We release control. I want you to do something. I just want you to take a couple breaths in your seat and just breathe for just a second and just say, God, I release control to you. I surrender to you. I take this moment right now and I release the cares of this world to the Shepherd that I know is guiding my life. I trust, Jesus, that you are good. Come on, just have this moment with you and Jesus right now. God, I release control to you. I trust, Jesus, that you are good. I trust, Jesus, that you are good. I take this moment right now and I release the cares of this world to the Shepherd that I know is guiding my life. I trust, Jesus, that you are good. I trust, Jesus, that you are good. I trust, Jesus, that you are good. I lift my hands to heaven, hear my heart surrender. I tell my soul again, you are Lord of all. And though the seas are raging, you will speak and tame them.

And you will find my rest, you are in control. Through valleys I will trust, your spirit is enough to keep me walking. You guide my every step, speak life to me again, Lord I need you. Lord I need you, Lord I need you. I lift my hands to heaven, hear my heart surrender. I tell my soul again, you are Lord of all. And though the seas are raging, you will speak and tame them. And you will find my rest, you are in control. You are in control. We lean on you, we trust you. I will trust in only you. No one can add to your perfection. You're the beginning and the end, more than I can comprehend. There is no one like you, no one. I will trust in only you. No one can add to your perfection. You're the beginning and the end, more than I can comprehend. There is no one like you, no one. I lift my hands to heaven, hear my heart surrender. I tell my soul again, you are Lord of all. And though the seas are raging, you will speak and tame them. And you will find my rest, you are in control. I lift my hands to heaven, hear my heart surrender.

You are Lord of all. And though the seas are raging, you will speak and tame them. And you will find my rest, you are in control. it seems like nothing's going wrong right I just have to throw up my hands and I say God and you I give control I give it all to you I'll trust in only you his ways are perfect his ways are good he is worth putting your trust in no matter what you're going through so Lord I prayed over your church I pray right now that Radiant Church would live in submission to the Good Shepherd Lord submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in every area of our life that we would not try to find access in anything else we would not try to find life in anything else we would find it in you and you alone Jesus forgive us for the times we've gone to the things of the world to find life when truly it's only found through you and we thank you God that you are a Good Shepherd come on tell him right there God you were good and I will follow you daily God and we thank you how you lead and guide our life in Jesus name we pray