Live Free with Josh Howerton - Resurrection Power | Ep. 159 | Thursday September 14, 2023

Episode Date: September 14, 2023

Today Pastor Mike looks at the power given to us in when we abide with Christ. The same power that raised Christ from the dead and inspired the Bible is the same power that lives within you. What can you NOT do when you live a life abiding with God? For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hope your day is off to a good start. Thanks for joining us on the daily drive. I know the people listen at all times of the day and in many different locations,

but some of you literally do this in your vehicle on your daily drive to work or to school. So thanks for doing that, and I hope it makes traffic at least bearable in your trip a little more pleasant. I sure do love hanging with you for a few minutes every day, and I pray you're finding this helpful, and that you find yourself knowing and loving God a little more every day. Well, we're closing out week two over 21 days of encountering God in a fresh way, and all kinds of people have been incorporating practices like prayer, fasting, serving, solitude, worship, diving into God's word during this time for the express purpose of drawing close to God. In the past few days, we've been hanging in a few verses from John 15,

where Jesus gives us three words that can change everything about how we approach our life. No matter what this broken, sometimes unfair world might throw at us, no matter what our circumstances are. If we will, here's the three words, remain in him, we will grow, flourish, and produce some amazing fruit. So let's read those verses one last time, at least for this podcast,

and let them sink into our heart. These are the words of Jesus, remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine. And you are the branches.

Those who remain in me, and I in them will produce much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. Now, since Jesus used this whole buying branches imagery thing, we've been using the word sap to describe the payoff of keeping the remain thing the main thing. The S stands for security. When you stay connected to Jesus, you just know who you are. And you walk like he did with a humble confidence. The A, we talked about, stands for awareness.

When you remain in Him, you walk in the awareness that He remains in you. You're living in the awareness of God's presence not only with you but in you throughout the day. And that changes your decisions, your reactions, your tone, your anxiety, your pace. It is a huge benefit of staying connected to the Vine. So when we remain in Him, the true Vine, there is powerful, life-changing sap running through us. There's security, there's awareness, and the P stands for power. You ever get a game for Christmas and you're super excited about it? He wanted to play it, but there are those other three words that change everything?

I'm not talking about some assembly required, although those three words are a Christmas Eve nightmare for any parent. But the three-word phrase that can shatter any kids' day is what? Yeah, batteries not included. And without batteries, it's just not going to be very fun. I remember getting my son Derek a remote-controlled car one year. He was so excited, ripped into it, immediately wanted to play with it, but batteries not included. And I had to explain how Santa was getting older

and couldn't remember everything on his list, and sometimes he just forgets the batteries. But when there are no batteries, all the excitement you have when you open the present goes away as quickly as it came. In order for that game to be all that it was meant to be, there has to be a power source. without it, it's just frustrating. You need to know something.

This new life in Christ, it comes with a power source. Our father did not forget. The batteries are included. He moves in. He remains in us and brings an energy that is this unending source of power. I love what it says in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 19 and 20. Paul says this. He says, I pray that you will begin to understand

the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him. This is the same power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms. That same power, that same resurrection power, Paul says, is in you. The batteries are included. I'm talking about the power to make the right decisions, power to forgive when you don't feel like it, the power to walk away from temptation,

The power to love an enemy. The power to let criticism bounce off of you. The power to say the right thing at the right time with the right tone. The power to love unconditionally. The power to stare fear in the face and move ahead with courage. The power to stay sober for another day. The power to handle bad news with a deep-seated joy and faith. The power to love the way you look, despite what the culture's definition of beauty says.

The power to set healthy boundaries in your life. The same power that blew a rock off a tomb and gave light. to a dead man is in you. Man, that's good news. I love the way the message translates Romans 8. Verse 10 and 11 says it stands to reason, doesn't it? That if the alive and present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself.

When God lives and breathes in you, and he does as surely as he did in Jesus, you are delivered from that dead life. with His spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ. Jesus says, I'm in you. Remain in me, abide in me, dwell in me, stay connected to me, live in the awareness of my presence in you, and you'll have the power to live a life that flourishes. So I want to challenge you today to live in the awareness of God's presence and power in you. Instead of praying to God out there somewhere in the universe, start talking to him like you're actually going to do your

day together. Now, I still get a long way to go, but it's changed everything for me where I sense his voice and his promptings. I feel his encouragement, his conviction to do it better the next time. I know that every meeting I go into, every encounter I have at a drive-through, every conversation that I'm involved in every moment of my day. He's not just with me. He's in me. And in those moments when I'm tempted to walk back into the darkness, he leads me in delight. He leads me in the truth and much better decisions. So today, when you're in one of those moments, start to walk the right direction and say, like he's with you, like he's in you, okay, Jesus, I trust that your power is going to activate in me as I remain in you. I don't want to walk down that old road anymore. I need

your help. Let's do this day connected. Let's do this day together. And I'm telling you, the amazing thing is you will have the power. And you'll be saying, hey, look at me. I'm walking away. I'm actually walking a new direction. He's helping me. He really is. I didn't know one could walk away because I've always tried it on my own strength. But, man, I have power now because I have the Son of God in me. I'd be crazy to ever sever this connection.

So I'm going to remain in him and just see what kind of fruit my life might bear. Man, I hope all of that and more is true for you today. See you next time. great day. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.compt.combe.

Drive.