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Well, good morning and welcome to Prairie Lakes Church. We are, uh, we're live across Iowa and online, and here's what that means, okay? Especially if you're new this weekend. Um, we are a multi-site church, uh, which means, uh, in seven different places across our state every single weekend.

Right now, we gather as Prairie Lakes Church, and we've got one of our churches, one of our campuses, has a, a real special weekend this weekend. So I know you guys can hear me literally right now, I'm gonna look right in the camera and say, happy birthday New Hampton Campus.

10 years this weekend. Awesome. So what we're gonna do, what we're gonna do is we're gonna sing Happy Birthday. Happy birthday. I'm just kidding. Just kidding. Some of you were like, horrified right there. Okay? But we're really, really glad that you are here in New Hampton or wherever you're joining us from.

And it's week five of a series that we've been in, um, during this time of year that we call Lent. Okay? Now, here, here's what we've been saying Every single week in this time of year, as we look forward to, to Good Friday and Easter, which is coming quickly, here's what Lent is.

Lent is this time of year that invites us to shift our focus from being the savior, which we all feel every day we show up to work, and we gotta be the savior. We show up to our families, and it feels like we gotta be the savior.

But Lent says, guess what? There's only one you can shift your focus from having to do everything. Remember everything, fix everything, change everything to just, to just needing one. You and me. We need a savior.

Lynn invites us to shift our focus and invites us to lay down our lives like our savior laid down his here. Just a second. Don't say in that slide right now. Okay? So, um, as we have three teaching pastors here, okay? Uh, I am the tallest. Okay?

Here's how, here's how, you know, watch my head. That's, that's set at Pastor John Height right there, isn't it? All right. Um, hey, uh, here's what we've been doing. Sorry, I couldn't resist, okay? Every single weekend as we've worked through Lent here, we're, we're in the, we're in the gospel of John, okay?

And we're gonna be in the gospel of John again this weekend. But we're looking at, um, Jesus's passion week, and John writes a lot about this last week of Jesus' life before he goes to the cross. Okay? So we're gonna be there again this weekend. Um, let's, let's take another step. Okay?

Uh, hey, uh, it's April now, which is hard to believe, um, April, but, but in March last month, um, I turned 44. Okay? I got three woos about that. Fine, I guess you okay? But here's what that means, okay? Means four years ago I turned 40. That's math, okay? Four years ago I turned 40, and for my 40th birthday, for my 40th birthday, my parents, I, I, both my parents are still around.

I'm really grateful for that. They wanna do something special for me because I'm a special guy, okay? Um, and specifically what they wanted to know is, Hey, is there anything, um, that they could do besides just sending me a check in the mail for my birthday? And, and in case you're wondering, yes, my parents still send me money and my birthday, I'm not gonna question it, okay?

I'm not sure how long that's gonna go, but I, I, I enjoy it. Um, and so naturally, so they asked me that. And so naturally, here's what I asked back to them. I said, well, how much you wanna spend, right? I mean, how much I wish I, I'm aware of what that, you know, says about me, right?

But, um, but if I'm a good Iowan, right? You don't wanna like overstep or whatever. So, so they, so they gave me the number, $4 million is what they wanted to, so I was like, okay, go. No, uh, they gave me a number and, and so here's what I asked for.

Okay? Here's what I asked for, and this is what I got seriously and all a hundred percent serious for my birthday. Woo. Okay? I got a pair of Jordan. Oh, yeah, Jordan elevens five people are excited about this.

Okay? All right. Um, now, uh, uh, if you're wondering, are you aware of what this says about you? Yes, yes, I am. Yes, I am. Okay. Uh, I, again, I'm, I'm 44, which means that in 1995 and 1996, the original Jordan 11 Concord Bread elevens came out in 1995 and 96.

Okay? And there's no way that I was gonna afford them back then. Even back then. I looked it, I looked it up, $125 back in 1996. That's 4 million in 2008 or 25, whatever. It's okay. Alright, so, so, so, so, but they came out Jordans, if you're not know, they, they came out, they came out with like a new design when he was playing, like every single year.

This is Jordan Elevenths is like the 11th year he was playing. Totally my favorite. Okay? Now, I bought these from a seller who could guarantee that they weren't fake. 'cause there's a ton of fakes, all right?

The sneaker industry, the sec, the secondary market, I look this up, it's like $10 billion a year, you know? So there's money to be made if you just sell someone something, whether it's, whether it's real or not. So I bought it from myself that I guarantee you that they were authentic.

Okay? Um, I, in fact, in fact, I think I've got it. Yeah, I've got it here. Okay? Little, little if you know, you know, okay. Uh, little, little little sign of authenticity. Now, I know that's a, that's a very long story, um, about sneakers, uh, on a Sunday at church during Lent.

Okay? So there better be a point, right? And there is, here's the point. Here's the point. A gift, A gift is always, this gift was free to me, it's always free. Gifts by definition are always free, but just because it's free doesn't make it authentic.

A gift's always free, but it's, it's not always authentic. I could tell you, Hey, my, my folks bought me Jordans for my 40th, but maybe not right? It, it's free but's. It's not always authentic. Now, that's the point. Still, what, what's the point?

Well, believe it or not, and it might feel like a stretch, works the same way when it comes to our relationship with Jesus, works the same way. Let me, let me, let me describe to you the genuine article, okay?

The genuine article, genuinely Jesus life with Jesus. What it authentically is, how do you auth, how do you really get it? What is it genuinely like, no matter the domination or where you're at in life, or what point in history you lived or, or where you're from, right?

This is how it always, always works with Jesus. The genuine thing, number one is this, okay? Jesus', gift of salvation, it's, it's also free. It's, it's always free. A gift by definition is always free. Meaning, we, we, we can't pay for it ourselves, okay? Even if we wanted to, we can't.

His gift of salvation is a gift because it has to be, it has to be a gift. You and I don't earn our way into it because we can't, sin continues to frustrate even our best of efforts, which is why the Bible is so clear about this. This is from Ephesians two, eight and nine, okay?

Genuinely, Jesus, for it is by grace. You've been saved through faith, and, and, and it's not from yourself. It's, it's a gift of God, not, not by work, so that nobody, nobody can brag about it, right? It's a gift because it has to be.

Our sin just creates this continual debt with God. Every time we fail to love our neighbor like we, we ought to, every time we choose selfishness over being generous, every time we let anger control our tongue, every impure thought we have, every covetous thought that we have, every time we fall short of who we ought to be and what we ought to do.

Every time we do that, we introduce a little bit more distance between us and God. And it's a gap that we just, we just can't close, just gets wider and wider. But thank God for Jesus. Thank God for Jesus, who not only lived perfectly, but lived perfectly for us.

And this is why it's a gift, okay? God makes Jesus' perfect life, perfect for us. Here's how Corinthians describes it, okay? This is, this is where it becomes a gift. He says, you're in Christ Jesus.

We stepped across that line of faith. You're in Christ Jesus who has become for us, wisdom from God. In other words, this is his plan. That, that Jesus would be our righteousness, that Jesus would be our holiness, and that Jesus would be our redemption.

Okay? Uh, if you kind of struggling to wrap your mind around this, just imagine, uh, I've got, I've got, I've got, uh, a freshman in high school right now, and I've got a sixth grader at some, at some point, God willing, they're gonna be, you know, 30 and 27. And probably, let's just imagine, I know it's gonna be hard to, but imagine a 30-year-old or a 27-year-old gets themselves into some kind of financial difficulty.

I know it's hard to imagine. Okay, let's, let's, let's, let's imagine them making a bad, maybe they make a bad decision with a credit card or a loan or something like that. And then let's imagine this. Let's imagine that their parents, my wife and I, decide that we're gonna take some of our own money and zero out their debt 'cause we're loaded.

Let's just imagine. Okay? Let's let, let's imagine that we, that we do, and then let's imagine this. Not only are we gonna do that, but we're gonna come to them and we're gonna say, and the good news, the good news is that you don't have to pay us back.

Our money is yours. That debt that you had, that's gonna become my debt, and I'm gonna pay it off in your square. That's exactly what God does for us in Jesus. That's exactly what he does for us. In Jesus, the life that Jesus lived counts for us.

The death that Jesus died counts for us. And we're gonna celebrate this in a few weeks, a couple weeks here, but, but, but Jesus' resurrection becomes ours. Like we, we will die, but we will live again, just like Jesus did.

And then, and it's not because we did anything to earn it, because we could never authentically Jesus. Genuinely Jesus is a gift, okay? The real article. So one more time. Genuinely Jesus, number one, Jesus' gift of salvation is free. We can't pay for it ourselves. Take another step, okay?

The genuine article, Jesus' Gift of Salvation, it's free, but it, it came at great cost. It came at great cost. It, it, it cost Jesus everything. 'cause he, he had to die and he died for our sins. Okay? It's free to us, but it cost Jesus everything. Uh, it's free to us, but, but it cost Jesus' his life.

And this would've been a concept if you were a Jewish person who lived 3000 years ago, it would've made a lot more sense to you because here's, here's what your experience would've been as a, as a kid, you would've remembered your parents bringing you to the tabernacle or to the temple, and you would've remembered, you know, your parents, um, bringing you in tow, but they were also bringing a lamb or a goat, or a bird or a grain or something.

And they would give that to the priest, and then that priest would, would take that and then offer it to God as a sacrifice. You would've remembered this. You would've had this in your, in your memory and, and, and, and, and you would watch the priest offer it to God as a sacrifice for your sin.

You would, you've plenty of memories and, and real life illustrations of this ongoing spiritual reality that while you fall short, God made a way. You have these vivid images in your mind of blood splattered on the altar.

You'd have this voice of the priest in your mind that pronounced your sins as forgiven. You'd remember feeling like you were walking up to this altar far from God, and then you would remember walking away feeling clean and close again.

And so when the authors of the New Testament talk about Jesus and, and, and what he did for us on the cross, and that's why they say that Christ died for us like a sacrifice for us. Like in one Corinthians or Romans. Here's how they describe it.

Here's the New Testament authors here. How the, here's how they describe it. So for what I received, I, I passed on to you as a first importance that Christ died for our sins. According to the Scriptures, one Corinthians and Romans says, but God demonstrates his own love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, was this gift of salvation free to us, absolutely.

But it wasn't free for Jesus. He secured it by paying for it His life, for our sins to cleanse us and to bring us close to God once more. Okay? So here's where we've been. Genuinely Jesus, right? Uh, first thing, gift salvation. It's always free.

We can't pay for it ourselves. Second thing, Jesus gift of salvation came at great cost. He died for our sins. One final step, and this will complete the authentic, genuinely, genuinely Jesus experience. Okay? Number three is this Jesus' gift of salvation is free to us, comes at great cost and is received by faith.

It's received by faith. And faith in action looks like confession and belief. If we don't get it by paying for it, and we don't get it by earning it, then how do we, how do we get it? Well, we have to confess our need for it.

Like my sin created a debt with God. I gotta admit that. And then we gotta believe that what Jesus did paid that debt in full for me. Here's how a couple of biblical authors describe this. First John, here's what he says. It says, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins, to purify us for all unrighteousness.

You gotta admit that you're dirty. You gotta admit that you need to be cleaned. And then he does. And then author of Acts, Luke says, tell him a story. He says, they replied, just believe in the Lord Jesus and you'll be saved.

What Jesus did for me counts. You know, we, we receive this gift of salvation from Jesus by confessing our need for it. And, but by believing that Jesus paid it all for me. Okay? So, so I know we're repeating a lot here, but just one more time.

Genuinely, Jesus, Jesus', gift to salvation came at great cost, but he died for our sins. And, and we know we can't pay for it ourselves. So we confess and believe, and that's how we receive it. That's genuinely Jesus. And now that we know that, here's, here's my question.

If that's the genuine article behind me, if that's genuine, uh, if that's what it means to be authentic in your faith, in your walk with Jesus, then wouldn't you think that you should always be able to tell when someone genuinely believes it?

Wouldn't you think that when someone claims to have the genuine article, that you should be able to know pretty easily that their claim is true or not? 'cause you and I both know, okay, whether it comes to Jordans or Christians, there's a lot of fakes out there.

It's uncomfortable, but it's true a lot, a lot of people who claim to know Jesus, but who are living a life that makes you a kind of wonder if they really do. And in fact, if I, I mean just gently here, um, as I'm talking, you may go, you know, I, I wonder, I wonder if you're talking about me.

I mean, some of us, we feel that down to our soul. Do I really know if I did, why? Why is it that maybe when you look at the person in the mirror, maybe when you look back on your past, maybe when you think about the path that you're walking down in the present, maybe you're not wondering about whether someone else genuinely knows him.

Maybe you're wondering about you. So how do you know? I mean, that's sort of what I'm asking. How do you know? How do you know? Um, shouldn't you be able to tell? I, i, is there even a way to tell? Well, turns out there, there is, there, there is like a proof of authenticity, so to speak when it comes to the genuineness with our relationship with Jesus.

Just like, and I don't know, you know, but like, when they look at Jordan's, like, is the stitching ride and is, you know, like the, the, this is gonna be like a little milky. Like, I don't know, but like, they know, right? They, there's a way, there's a way to know if they're real or not.

You watch these YouTube videos, this guy, he goes like, and he can hear it, you know, like, okay, right? Like, yeah, got it. Right? But there is when even when it comes to our relationship with Jesus, there's like a proof of authenticity, okay? Um, so we're gonna look at that now.

Now listen to me, before we look at a proof of authenticity test for our relationship with Jesus, before we do, just remember we're not talking about how you receive this gift. We've already seen that, okay? I'm not talking to you about how you receive it.

I'm talking to you about how, you know, those are two very different things, okay? We're not talking about how we get it, we're talking about how we know, because there will be proof, there will, there will be, there'll be signs that what we say we believe we actually do.

Now, I want you to turn your bibles with me to John 13. We're gonna be looking at 13, 14, and 15 as we kind of work our way down to the end here, okay? And we're not gonna read all of that, but, but you know, as you find that, um, you know, last week, pastor John, I don't know, he, he, he, him, he gave, he gave the apostle John a lot of grief last week.

If you, if you, if you listen to that message, he was really, he was really upset with Apostle John for how little he wrote about what Pastor John talked about last week. And I don't know if he caught the irony of that. I caught thought, thought that was kind of ironic.

I mean, well, why would you be making fun of the guy that on some level you were probably named after? Anybody catch that? Yeah. Alright. Um, so, so, so John, the, uh, the apostle, the guy that wrote this, he was one of the first 12 to say yes to following Jesus literally did in his footsteps.

And then John of, of all the 12 probably, if true tradition is right, probably lived the longest. In fact, he, he lived into his eighties or even nineties, and he writes from man from this position of he's seen a lot. And when he writes, it says, though, John hung on every word Jesus ever said.

You just get that sense. Okay? So we're gonna be looking in a few different places in these three chapters. What we're gonna start in chapter 14, um, chapter 14, and, uh, we're gonna start, um, in chapter 14, verse 15. Okay? So proof of authenticity.

Is there a proof of authenticity? Yes, there is. Here's what Jesus says, John 14, verse 15. He says, if you love me, so there it is. If, if it's real, if it's real, okay? If you and I are genuinely friends, here's what's gonna happen.

You'll keep my commands, you'll keep my commands. Now, he says something similar, just a few verses later. Jump down to verse 21 with me. John 1421. Here's what he says. Whoever has my commands and and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my father.

And, and I too will love them, and I will show myself to them. Okay? Now, I I, I've already said this once. I'm gonna say it again. We're not talking about how you get it. We're talking about how, you know, we're not talking about how you get this gift, okay?

We're not talking about how you get a sibling relationship with Jesus. You don't, we're not saying you have to obey hard enough. That's not what Jesus is saying. He's not saying you have to keep enough commands. That's not what he's saying. We're not talking about how, we're not talking about how, we're not talking about how what we are talking about is how, you know, Jesus says, if you and I really know each other, if we're really in a genuine relationship with one another, if we're really friends, if you really have this saving gift of mine, this gift that cost me my life to this gift that I freely give to you, if you really received it by faith, if you really love me and you're loved by me, here's how you'll know.

You'll know, because you'll be someone who does what I say. You'll be someone who lives your life. How I say life ought to be lived. Now, if your mind like mine starts spinning on that one, like, oh, whoa, whoa. Right? Um, because what exactly do you mean Jesus?

Like, keep your commands like all of them, most of them perfectly. To what level? You know, if that's where you go, I just, I encourage you, just calm down. Jesus did not die on the cross for our sins so that we could live a, a life of performance driven anxiety.

It's easy to start to think that, but that's not the case. Galatians, in fact, sums this up, says, if, if righteousness, if right standing could be attained, if, if, if being right with God could be achieved by just following the law, by trying hard to, by keeping enough commands.

If that were the case, then Jesus died for nothing. Okay? So protect yourself from thinking that way. Jesus isn't saying that you need to obey hard enough to earn his love. What he's saying is this, if you really know him, then you will live a life of increasing obedience.

That's what he's saying. Real Jesus followers, the authentic ones will live a life of increasing obedience, but not just generally. Okay? Jesus is gonna get very specific. 'cause keep my commands is a very, it's kind of a general statement, right?

In other words, Jesus is gonna tell us, Hey, listen, it's not just keep my commands. Generally, there's, there's one in particular. It's a hallmark. There's like a, like a dollar bill has a watermark that shows you it's authentic.

Jesus is saying, there is something that characterizes every single Jesus follower. You'll know that this person is obedience by a particular kind of obedience. He's gonna describe this in John 15. John 15, okay? So I want you to turn with me to John 15.

Go down to verse nine 15. Verse nine, what is the hallmark of a Jesus kind of obedience? Jesus says this, as the father of love me. So I've loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my command, you'll remain in my love.

That's what we've seen already. Just as I've kept my father's commands to remain in his love. And I told you this, so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this. Okay? So here's the specific kind of Jesus obedience, right?

Love each other as I have loved you. Now, if we had read John 13, here's what we would've seen. We would've seen this image of Jesus wrapping a towel around his waist and bending down and washing his disciples feet.

When Jesus says this, love each other, God away, love each other as I have loved you. When he says that this image of what Jesus had just done would've been bouncing around his disciples minds, it's just this extraordinary act of generosity, of doing something for someone else that he didn't have to do.

And Jesus goes on to say this, okay? In verse 13, greater love is known than this to lay down one's life for one's friends, you're my friends. If you do what I command, I no longer call you a servants. 'cause a servant doesn't know his master's business. A servant just tries to obey.

But Jesus is saying, you're more than just an obedience monkey. I've called you friends for everything that I learned from my father, I've made known to you. You know the heart behind it. You didn't choose me, but I chose you, and I pointed you so that you might go and bear fruit.

Fruit that's last, a hallmark of Jesus's kind of obedience, so that whatever you ask in my name, the father will give to you. And that's an important kind of like that one. That one gets a commandeered a lot, right? You, you gotta understand if you ask anything in Jesus' name within that kind of context, God help me serve more.

God, help me be more generous. God help me be more selfless. Jesus will always answer that prayer anytime you ask for that. In Jesus' name. This is my command. Love each other. Love each other, love each other. Listen, if someone claims to know Jesus, believe in him.

Have a saving faith going to heaven one day, right? What should you expect to see no matter who they are, no matter where they've been, no matter what they've done, no matter what's been done to them, what should you expect? Here's what you should expect. The proof of authenticity.

The proof of authenticity for a saving faith in Jesus is obedience to Jesus's command, to love one another in the way that Jesus loves us. That's it. Like that's the thing. If we really know Jesus, if we've really experienced the kind of love that comes from receiving this incredible gift that he's given us, here's what should be happening in us, okay?

We should be dreaming about the ways that we can give each other just incredible gifts. We should be dreaming about ways that we can be generous with one another. We should be dreaming about ways to, to give out of what we have for the sake of someone else.

We should, we should be the kind of people who, who, who, who just can't wait to put someone else's needs before our own. We should be praying to God for ways to take all of this generosity that Jesus has given us and use it to bless someone else or serve someone else to love each other in the way that Jesus has loved us.

That's why one of the steps we talk about taking around here is giving generously. It's, it's not, this is not a transactional thing. This is a relational thing. It's something that we do in response to what Jesus has done for us.

It's an act of love. I want you to just grab onto this, okay? With Jesus, with Jesus, living generously isn't an option. It's not something that you either do or don't do. Jesus is saying, when you're with me, it's not an option.

It's proof. It's not something you do to get in. It's something. It's something that you do to show you that you are, to prove that you are with Jesus living generously. It's not an obligation. It's not. It's like a gift. We've had, we've had, uh, a couple of staff people in this last month have babies.

I love that. You know why? I love that as a chance for me and my wife to figure out how can we be just, I don't know, just kind of stupid, generous with them? How can we bless 'em? It's not obligation. It's fun because why?

Because living because with Jesus, living generously isn't something we do for him. He already has everything. He doesn't need your money. We don't do it for him. We do it with him. We communicate to him and to ourselves that what I have is not my own.

It's something that is yours that you've given me to steward. I don't mind, I don't mind telling you this. My wife and I, we, you know, we've, we've, we've tithed for as long as we've been married, okay? We've always done it. I know that's not everybody's story, but that is our story.

Um, and I know not everybody's there. Um, and that's fine. You know, you don't, you don't go up or down at for lakes in the basis of how much you give, right? But we do that and we do that because this is what God's told us to do.

I mean, this is like one-on-one level stuff. What's super cool, what's super cool is beyond that. When God goes, Hey, how about that? Hey, how about this person? Hey, how about this opportunity? When you start to kind of look for opportunities to live generously, it's amazing what he can do with Jesus living generously.

It's not an obligation. It's not an option. It's proof because he loved us so much that we get an opportunity to love others like he loved us. We pray for us. Father in heaven, we're grateful for this message. God, I, this idea of living generously is you, you know, you know what baggage we, we attach to that.

Um, God would you continue to redeem it, continue to open up our minds and our imaginations to what you can do. God, when we give you more access, when we, God, we don't, we don't do this in order to earn your love, but we do this because you loved us.

And bless us, God, as we obey Jesus, we pray this all in your name. Amen.