I want to kind of, I'm talking about discipleship and I'm really trying to understand in the word and grow in the word to where I understand the heart of a disciple. We understand that a disciple is a follower of Jesus Christ. We understand that a disciple denies themselves, takes up his cross and follows after him. there are some practical things that a believer gets from watching and looking at the life of Jesus Christ to where it helps us to become exactly what he wants us to become. It helps us to not just be called a disciple, but understand how to actually walk out being a disciple in this world. Amen? Because we go through things and we deal with circumstances and situations that beat down on us. And so what we want to do is we want to look closely at our example. Jesus is the God man. He is sent to us to save us from our sins, but also to be our tutor, our instructor. As he walked through this life, we are supposed to walk through this life. We're supposed to look at his life and imitate him. Amen. We could try to do it ourselves, but that would make it much, much harder and end in failure. What we wanna do is we want to actually look at what Jesus did and imitate our Savior, our Lord, our Master, amen? Amen. So John 15, 12 through 17, King James primarily this morning. I hope, yes, thank you so much, Keisha. All right, or whoever's up there. All right. The word of God says, this is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this. that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth, I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what the Lord doeth, but I call you friends for all things I have heard of my father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, But I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain. That whatsoever you ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you." Then he says this, closing out this part of the passage. These things I command you. Why? That you love one another. And believe it or not, all that goes together. Amen? Brief review, just so we can kind of put ourselves back on a planet where we were a couple weeks ago. John 15, 10, if we just back up just a few verses, Jesus makes this astounding statement about joy. And I want to speak to you today from the title, True Lasting Joy, Part 2. Part 1 was a couple weeks ago. This is Part 2. True Lasting Joy. Part two. If ye keep my commandments, John 15, 10 says, ye shall abide in my love even as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. Okay, and then verse 11 he says, these things I have spoken unto you that your joy might remain in you, that my joy, rather, might remain in you and that your joy might be full, complete, lacking nothing, amen? We discussed last week that obedience to the commands of Christ brings joy. How do you get there pastor? Well, look, if you obey my commandments, you will abide in my love. Just like I keep my father's commandments and abide in his love. How do you abide in his love? By keeping his commandments. These things I have spoken unto you that my joy may remain in you. Abide in the vine. I'm the vine, you are the branches. Apart from me, you can do nothing. If you want my joy, do what I said. Amen? And I'm not bigger than you. I obeyed my father, you obey me. I'm leading by example here, is what Jesus is saying, not rocket science. Amen? If you want joy, my joy, to remain in you, have long-lasting true joy, then you must obey my commandments. All right. So, obedience to the commands of Christ will bring us true, lasting, long, not fading away, joy. How many people would like to have that? I don't know about you, but because of all the hell I've been going through, that is my number one pursuit. Can I get some consistent joy? Because I have no idea what I'm going to face this week. D.A. Carson says this, somebody I'm listening to lately and studying, he's an amazing theologian, still alive, thank God. He says this, no one is more miserable, oh boy, than the Christian who for a time hedges his obedience in, or hedges in his obedience. What does he mean by hedging? It's where you decide for a period of time that you can build somewhat of a quarantining fence around obeying God. And you pretend to yourself that you don't have to, for a certain amount of time, obey what God is saying, even though you know it's wrong. He's saying no one is more miserable than the Christian who decides to do that. Why? Carson goes on to say that during that time, the reason why the Christian is miserable is because you don't love sin enough to enjoy its pleasures, and you don't love Christ enough to relish in holiness. So it's like you're existing or trying to exist in two different worlds at the same time, but you can't settle down in either one. Why? Because you don't love sin enough to stay there long enough because the Holy Spirit in you will not allow you to get comfortable. Amen? But also you don't love God enough to go after holiness to stop getting into sin that will keep you uncomfortable. So you're like, I can't find any peace, I can't find any joy because I'm doing what I ain't supposed to be doing. And I'm not going after God like I need to be going after God to keep me from doing what I ain't supposed to be doing. Are you seeing it? Nah. Okay. He's basically saying that you're, if you are a believer, he's being specific. He's, ooh, this is, thank you, Holy Spirit. He's saying that sinners are even more happy than Christians who are miserable simply because they decide not to obey. Wow. So Jesus is saying, if you want some joy, do what I said. All right, let me prove that point so you don't believe some theologian that I think I like. Let's prove that with scripture. Let's go old school, let's go Old Testament. Psalm 119. And let's go a simple translation. Give me New Living Translation. Yeah, that's good. Can you give me Psalm 119 New Living Translation? Just see if, hopefully I get that to you. Anyway, it says this. Psalm 19 verse one says, joyful are people of integrity who follow the instructions of the Lord. Verse two, joyful are those who obey his laws, amen? and search for him with all their hearts. Verse three says, they do not compromise with evil, and they walk only in his paths. So this is not new. Amen? You do the will of God, you keep your feet on his path. Amen? You desire to obey him. He's saying that for those who are children of God, who are believers, those who are redeemed, those who are saved, those who believe the gospel, who are now in the family of God, he's saying you do that, you will be joyful. Okay? So first rule of the believer, do not live in sin and expect to have joy. Not gonna happen. Your temporary fun In your disobedience will not produce anything that you like for a long time. You will not have any joy. All right, back to our passage. Let's go John 15, where do I want to go? Help me, Holy Spirit. No, no, no, no. Okay. Verse 11. Yeah. John 15, 11. Okay. So before we get to 12, let's just set it up. These things I have spoken to you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full. So notice Jesus is not saying here that he wants to give us the element of joy. He's saying something very specific, saints. He's saying, I want to give you my joy. And we looked at this last week, where lasting joy, get through my life joy, conquer my emotions joy, really comes from having his joy. Amen? And our example that we looked at a couple of weeks ago was Hebrews 12 and two. Very familiar portion of scripture for those of us who know our Bible. Looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, right? Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. So Jesus, just like you and I, the God man, divine and yet human, amen? He experienced pain. He experienced loss. He experienced betrayal. He experienced crazy family members. He experienced all of it. Church folks that get on your nerves, all of it. Okay? He experienced and felt sorrow just like you and me. Amen? Amen. But Jesus had this joy. that enabled him to persevere through anything. And his example of perseverance is for our benefit as believers. We don't have to doubt the power of Jesus Christ because he's already proved himself, amen? His joy has already been tested, amen? His joy that has been proven to work even with the extreme measures of like going to the cross. Amen? He endured the cross of Calvary. He had enough joy, not only to get through this life, but he had enough joy to stay on his mission, which is key. Amen? He did not let fear, issues, emotions, trials, heartaches, setbacks, disappointments, stop him from his mission. How did he do that? He had joy that was set before him. Okay, look a little closer at that. For the joy that was set before him. Go a little deeper now. True lasting joy will always require hope. True lasting joy will always require hope. For the joy that was set before him, he was able to endure. Amen? Jesus knew what was coming in spite of the tremendous pain and torture of the cross, in spite of the emotional strain that was upon him from being separated from his father because of all of our dirt that we did. Amen? All of our sin, He gave His life and He was able to endure. Why? Because He had joy that He knew was coming. Why? What was that joy based on? It was based on the hope that He is going to be victorious and He is one day going to be glorified and back with the Father after He completed His mission. He was able to endure and have joy because of hope. Amen. So, He was able to push past what he was feeling and set his mind to the task that was given him by the Father to save our souls. I believe there's a tremendous lesson in that. In order to experience victory, not just over your circumstances, but hello, over your emotions, how I feel about going through, not just going through, that's the killer. I can go through, but it's all about how I perceive this thing and what this is really thinking, you know, what it's looking like to me. How I feel about going through. In order to give victory, get victory over your emotions, you have to put your mind on other things. I want you to say that to me, with me. In order to experience victory, I have to set my mind on other things. Just stick your finger there for a minute. Moving past where you are into the hope of where you will one day be, amen, gives you more hope and the ability to push through, amen. Just sitting there thinking about what you're going through ain't helping you. Amen? Maybe that's for me. You gotta put your mind somewhere else, that's the lesson. So, I'm gonna say this and then we're gonna move into verse 12, where we are. This is all, believe it or not, just a setup. Joy, saints of God, I believe this with all my heart now. And I didn't get here because I had a good time. I didn't get to this revelation you know, because I was at a party. I got through this revelation because of pain. Amen? Pain, but also understanding what the Lord was doing. Amen? So joy is the fuel that prevents the believer from running out of gas. Joy is the fuel that stops the believer or prevents the believer from running out of gas. Think about it this way. We've got this reward that's coming to the believer that is guaranteed by the Holy Spirit because we possess the Holy Spirit and God promised that he would give us the Holy Spirit, which is our guarantee that we're going to heaven. We have everlasting life if you believe in Jesus Christ right now. Okay? but we gotta get through this life first. Amen? I gotta survive Oakland first. I gotta survive heartaches first. I gotta survive all the stuff that's going on in my life first. I got heaven coming. I got everlasting joy coming. I got no tears coming. However, I'm shedding tears now. Are you hearing me? So, before I get to this reward, what keeps the believer going? What keeps a believer steadfast and consistent, moving towards his goal? It's joy. It's hope. Amen? That's what Jesus did. That's our example. Real quick before we get into it, one more scripture before we get into verse 12. Proverbs 17, 22. It says this. Proverbs 17, 22. A merry heart doeth good like medicine. but a broken spirit dryeth the bones. Another translation, don't worry about it, trust me, it's there. A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dryeth up the bones. How am I going to get to my reward if I don't even feel like getting up? Huh? The fuel of the believer must remain and must be consistent. Amen? Because this is the truth. All the wicked schemes and tricks that come with Satan's world system basically comes down to two things. Number one, distracting people to the point to where they never become believers. Number two, keeping the ones who became believers so burdened down and distracted to the point that they just give up and lose focus. That's what he's doing. He's either trying to stop you from being a believer or, okay, you got saved, I'm gonna stop you from being effective. I'm gonna just lean on you and pressure you and stomp on you to where you'd be like, I'm saved, but so what? That's what he's doing. Why am I going through all this hell? Because you saved and I don't like you. Get over it. Why am I never getting saved? Because I'm having the time of my life. I'm having a party. But as soon as you get saved, target on your back. Get that one. Stop that one. Too much potential there. Too much power there. If they ever get a glimpse of what they got coming to them, they'll run on this battery life of joy forever, and we can't have that. So all that the devil is doing, either they're trying to stop you from getting saved or keeping the people that are saved so burdened down, depressed, and disgusted with life that they just give up. Amen? What stops the believers, Joy? Unmet expectations. Disappointments, grumbling and complaining. God, I thought that when I got saved, you was going to do what I asked you to do. What happened, man? I don't get what I was supposed to get. You know, I was watching this show, and I don't ever tell people, in fact, I won't even tell you what the show is. But it dawned on me, there was these disciples, and the disciples are all, you know, living their lives, and this is before they actually become, you know, apostles and whatever have you. And it's kind of like, you know, they're showing a kind of background of the disciples' lives. It's really interesting. And there's a few disciples, like, you know, a few of them are working in the market, a few of them are businessmen, a few of them, you know, are fishermen, as we know. And there's, you know, a few of them that are trying to get married and whatever have you. And I sat there and I thought to myself, wait a minute. If I read my Bible, ain't none of them doing these things by the time they get to Jesus. What happened? Well, Jesus did all that. No, you ain't gonna have all that. What you gonna do? You're gonna do something much bigger than all this stuff that you think you gotta do. But if you're not careful to have joy in where you're headed, you'll be disappointed. Your expectations won't be met. You'll be grumbling and you'll be complaining. I thought I was supposed, I thought this life was supposed to be about this. Well, actually, I called you to that. Huh, interesting. So what's that, still believers, joy? Lack of focus on what God is really doing. Unmet expectations, disappointments, grumbling, complaining. But it's not just about the believers walking around and smiling and clapping their hands and you know, just shiny happy people for Jesus all day. It's joy. It's not that joy doesn't include good moments or happy moments or, you know, things when things go right. It doesn't mean that it doesn't include that. Jesus is saying something here that I didn't expect him to say in verse 12, in John 15. I didn't expect that the way to have joy was to do something that is completely against my character. What is he saying? All right, let's go back. You'll have joy if you're obedient to my commandment, right? Do what I say, you abide in my presence, you will have obedience, I mean, you obey me, you abide in my presence, you abide in my presence, you will have this joy. I'm telling you these things, I write these things so that your joy will be full. Okay, what do I gotta do? I gotta obey your commandment. What is the commandment? Well, verse 12 tells us what the commandment is. John 15, 12, this is my commandment. Isn't that amazing how the Bible just breaks it down for us? If you just go line by line, you can just kind of get through it. That ye love one another as I have loved you. Wait a minute, Jesus. That doesn't make sense. It's very interesting that he's saying in order to have this long, consistent joy, that enables you to persevere to your reward, you gotta do the exact opposite of anything that you would think to do. Wait a minute, it seems like if I'm the one that's looking for joy, I need to pay more attention to me. No, no, Jesus says something that absolutely is completely opposite of that. Wait. Even though this is not what we would do or what I would do, the scripture says what it says. The context says what it says. What is the commandment? My commandment is that you love one another. You want the joy? Obey what I say. What am I saying? Love others. I'm the one that's in need, though, Lord. How do I get joy for me by focusing on somebody else? The thing that we must realize over and over again, saints, is God is not like us. Jesus is the image of the Father. There is no difference between God and His Son. You see the Son, you see the Father. They are completely and totally tied. There will be no variance. Amen? Jesus only would say what the Father wants him to say. He says nothing different than what the Father wants him to say. So what he's saying here is that, listen, the thing that we must realize is that Jesus is not like us, and that's why this commandment sounds very foreign to us. The thing that we must realize is Jesus is not like us. We are different from him. You know, it makes you wonder what sin has done to the mind. Sin has messed up the mind so much so that my creator can say something that makes no sense to me whatsoever. I'm way over here, and Jesus is saying, no, I'm way over there. Jesus, I need joy. I, I, I. Get your mind off of I. Huh? Isn't that interesting? Totally opposite in a way that we would naturally think, right? Right? Well, verse 12. This is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you. I want you to love. Watch this. Help me, Holy Spirit. Thank you. I want you to love. Okay, I told you to love your enemies. Right? Yeah, that's true. But in this context, I'm saying love the brothers and sisters in your church. Love the fellow believers in a way that I love you. I'm almost done. Let's back up. Let's get some context here. Go back to, if you can, I probably didn't give it to you, Verse seven, if you look in your Bible, same chapter, John 15, verse seven. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Hearing in, verse eight, is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. By bearing much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples. Disciples bear fruit. Okay? What is the fruit? Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, meekness, faith, temperance, right? Notice the first one is love. That's the fruit of the Spirit. Notice what the byproduct of love is after, in Galatians 5.22, you'll see love, joy. Oh, interesting. I want you to bear fruit. Start loving on people, you'll get your joy. Did you miss that? I want you to bear fruit. You prove to be my disciples by bearing fruit. What is the fruit? The fruit is the spirit. Apart from the vine, you can't do nothing. Attached to the vine, the fruit of the spirit flows into the branches, which is you and I. And we begin to pop up apples. No, we begin to pop up love. Joy. Peace. I have love for my brothers and sisters, which gives me joy. Now I'm walking around in peace. I have the power to be gentle with folks. I have the power to have long-suffering with folks. I can be patient with Sister Jackson instead of, oh, God, here she comes. Huh? Popping up the fruit of the Spirit, right? But then when you're looking at Matthew 13, don't turn to it, trust me, it's there, the parable of the sower, right? He is sowing the seed, the gospel goes into the ground, good soil, pops up what? 60, 100 fold, right? 30, 60, 100 fold, what are you saying? Souls are coming, why? Because of how you treat one another. What did Jesus say? Where is it, where is it, where is it? Yes, yes, yes, yes. If you go back to John 13, right before we get into the discourse of Jesus Christ with his disciples, he says, John 13, 34 says this. A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another. Interesting. As I have loved you, that ye also love one another. What's going to happen? By this shall all men know that you are my disciples if ye have love one to another. What's he saying? He's saying that you have the power of the Spirit to start loving on people that are not like you. There are saints that will get on that nerve. There are people, I'm not talking about crazy family, I'm talking about in the church. There are people that will come from the world and notice how I treat Beverly and Beverly treats me. And they'll be like, these two folks don't seem like they kind of match together. Yet, in spite of that, I see them loving one another, which is not something I see in the world. This is very peculiar. He's saying that this new commandment I've given you, not just, okay, we know the commandment not to drink, not to smoke. I'm not gonna give you joy if you go out there and pop a cap in somebody. That's not what Jesus is saying. What he's saying is I've given you this new commandment. What is the new commandment? Not the obvious commandment that the Pharisees felt like they were doing something really big on and still missed it and killed Jesus. No, it's this new commandment. What is this commandment? That you love one another. By this, people will know that you are my disciples. Amen. Then he says in verse 13, John 15, 13, greater love had no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. A close look at Jesus Christ and his life in the Bible, not, you know, you just make up some stuff. You thought, you know, Jesus did this. I'm talking about if you read the word, a close look at Jesus's life in the Bible will reveal a certain consistent priority. Amen. No one can ever say that Jesus came here preoccupied with himself. No one can ever say that Jesus came in here talking about, okay, I'm the son of God. I want you all to know that. I'm about to run this. And what I need, first off, is someone needs to call me up a real estate agent, because I need a palace. Okay? And then I need some dancing girls. Maybe that's me. And then I need somebody to feed me some grapes. Well, I sit here and be king. And wait, wait, wait, wait. Call up Bentley and give me my chariot. I need, come on. I am the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. It's about me. You cannot tell me you read your Bible and see any of that. No, Jesus didn't even have a place to lay his head. And the first thing he came in doing was serving, loving, dealing with people, treating folks that were just not like him like they were part of the family of God. Are you hearing what I'm saying? You cannot say he came here thinking about himself. But that's the key to his power. That's the key to his joy. You better watch how you treat folks. One of the reasons why we get so frustrated with ourselves is all our problems are connected to us. And if we take our minds off us and start thinking about somebody else, maybe we won't be so frustrated, disappointed, and upset. Are you hearing what I'm saying? If I sit there all day and just go, woe is me, then I'm going to be depressed. And that's going to stop my joy. That's going to drain my battery. Jesus is saying, take your mind off of you and start serving somebody else and see what happens with the joy. Wow. That is so opposite of what I think I would do. I'm the one that's hurting. I need the joy. I ain't got time to be fooling with you. I'm trying to get some joy. That's how we think. It's about me, it's about my kids. I got to get my kids into school. I got to get the best life. Jesus is not coming here talking about, I need college tuition so I can go to the best schools, I can get the best job. No, Jesus wasn't thinking about himself. But isn't that all we think about? And what does it do? Frustrate us. When things don't go our way, what happens? Oh, now I'm upset. Am I right? Huh? You was my boo. We were supposed to be booed up forever. You done saw some other chick and now we ain't booed up forever. Now I'm frustrated. Jesus is saying, let that go and focus on what I have for you. What do I have for you? Stop focusing on you and think about the joy that you're depleting and draining yourself of because you're not focused on what I gave you to do. What did I give you to do? Huh? You want the joy? Obey my commandments. What is my command? Love one another. A new commandment I give unto you that you love one another. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples. Are you hearing what I'm saying? Almost done. You are my friends, verse 14. John 15, 14. You are my friends. If ye do whatsoever, I command you. What do you command me, Jesus? I command you to love one another. Amen? I command you to love one another. If you want my joy, he's reiterating it. You're not slaves. You are my friends. 15 kind of explains verse 14. Henceforth, I call you not slaves. For the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But I have called you friends. For all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you." Jesus is saying that the slave does what he's told, but he's not in on the plans, he's not in on the purposes, he's not in on the rewards, he gets no benefit from it. Okay? What is Jesus saying here? I've told you what the Father told me to tell you. I'm treating you like family. Amen? You are in on God's plans. What's God's plan? The plan is that people would get saved, that they would bear fruit, that they would actually preach the gospel, that others will come in and hear the truth. Amen? that this fruit that we have would be so mesmerizing and perplexing to others that they would want to also make Jesus their Lord and Savior. I'm giving you orders, but I'm letting you in on what it's about. You're not a slave. You're my friend. I share my information with my friends. Amen? I'm telling you this so you will have joy. I'm elevating your status. I'm saying to you, you're just not people that are created. You're people that are in on what God is doing. Are you hearing what I'm saying? And what is God doing? Well, here it is in the context, saints. God is pulling us away from the over-occupation of self into the joy that we will receive by focusing on others. I know that's not a pretty, you know, prosperity-driven, I'm-a-get-it-all-thank-you-Jesus message. But don't you realize there are people that have it all? They don't end up with anything and wish that they had somebody that loved them, that cared about them, huh? Folks that they ain't gotta pay to treat them right. Are you hearing what I'm saying? What I'm saying to you is God's son, verse nine, he's saying, I love you with the love that I have of the Father, John 15, nine. The same love. that the Father has for me is the love I have for you. And I'm letting you in on what we're doing. We're bringing souls into the kingdom and you're going to get rewards for that. And I'm trying to tell you how to extend your joy so you don't run out of gas. because Satan is beating on your head and you're trying to figure out how I'm going to stay on mission with all this stuff going on, Jesus is saying, don't concentrate on the stuff, concentrate on what I told you to do. Abide in my love, keep my command. My command is that you love others. And what will you do? You will squeak, sneak by where everybody else is trapped in. Ooh, did you see what I just said? Everybody else is stuck in this cycle where they can't get any joy because they're over-focused on themselves. Jesus said, I got a way out. If you do what I say, and you focus on others, and you treat others right, and you love folks that are unlovely in your community, you will have joy. And that joy will be so attractive that it'll bring other folks in. And I'm going to reward you for that. But Satan knows that a reward is coming. He can't take your salvation, but he wants to make you ineffective. So what he does is he just beats on you. But I'm telling you how to get out. How do you get out? Love on others. Love on others. You have not chosen me, verse 16, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go forth and bring forth fruit. Amen? God is the one that chose you. Amen? And if God has chosen you, he gives you the resources to actually carry out what he's chosen you for. Amen? Amen? This means that he has chosen us also for salvation. He's chosen us for discipleship. Amen. But it also means he chose us to bear fruit and he's chosen the disciples and appointed disciples to work with him in the vineyard to bring souls in. Amen. And we should bear fruit. Now, fruit may mean the graces of a Christian life, such as love, joy, peace, but it also may mean soul's one, as I just said, for Jesus Christ. But here's the thing, there's a close link between the two. If you don't have any fruit manifesting, ain't nobody going to want to be like you. So if people see us burning down and beat up all the time, why would we want to join any of that? Right? Barbara, where are we going? Man, Jamie, we're going to the spot. What's the spot? You just got to come and see, man. This is killing, man. We went last week. It was the spot, man. You got to come to the spot. OK, that sounds enticing and attractive. Gina, where are we going? It's been a rough week. What you want to do today? Not much, anything. You want to join me? What you going to do? Let's sit here and think about everything that's wrong. Anybody else come with you? Not many. Not many. You want to sit here and be depressed with me? Come on over, I'll make you a key. Come over anytime. See a difference? Huh? You will zap somebody else's strength. He's saying that the joy of the Lord is our strength. His joy is what caused him to get through this life, through his emotions, to keep him on task. Same thing for those who are following in his footsteps. Amen? Amen. Amen. And last but not least, these things, verse 17, says this, I command you, what? He brings it again. I tell you these things so that you will love one another. The incentive to love one another is joy. The power that you run off of to love one another is joy. The believer who hungers for deep intimacy with Jesus must follow his new command. It is not easy to love unlovely ones. It's not easy to love the whiners and the complainers. Amen. Right? Amen. It's not easy to love those that get on our last nerves. It's not easy to love the arrogant. It's not easy to love the gossips where you got to keep your mouth closed every time you come around. Don't tell them nothing. Amen? But the answer that we need to remember is that the branch, as it says in John 15, cannot do anything except that it abides or remains in the vine, right? And that Jesus himself loved his crazy, arrogant, mixed up, confused, immature, whining, complaining disciples, right? Gossiping disciples. You know, he loved them sinful folks. Amen? He loved his silly friends who were no match for his intellect, did not have his foresight, could not know what God was doing unless he told them, slipped and messed up time and time again, disappointed him over and over again. He stayed on task so much so that not only did he disciple them, he died for them. And greater love hath no man in this than one who would lay down his life for his friends. And if we are going to do that and be a disciple of Jesus, we must imitate him, amen? But how do we keep going? We take our minds off of ourselves to the point to where the love for others becomes the joy. Now, here's the thing. He never explained exactly the mechanics of how this works. But I'm gonna say it again. This is the thing I'm coming to. Believers have to get to the point to where we, even if we don't always understand what Jesus is saying, we do what he is saying, to the point to where the experience begins to make it clear. Why? Because I've been doing this my way for decades and it's not bringing me consistent joy. Why don't we try to do what Jesus commanded and see what happens to our heart, see what happens to our emotions, see what happens to our joy, huh? See how much longer we can run if we just take our minds off of ourselves. and obey His commandment. Amen? Amen. True lesson joy, part two. This is it. I'm done.