Jesus describes Himself as a vine, and that His father is the gardener. We will discuss today what this means, but also how it is that we remain in Him, connected into the vine that we may bear much fruit. And the way we would do this and the way Jesus asks us to remain in Him is through obedience to the commands, His teachings that have run all the way through the book of John. The teachings are these, that we believe in Jesus, and that we as Christians love one another. This is an essential command and when we do this, we can pray and ask for anything and the Father will provide it - not anything that we may prescribe for our own lives, but pray in accordance with the commands that Jesus has told us to keep, which is asking for more faith and greater love for the people of God. Through this process, God will prune and tend to our lives, taking and giving whatever is necessary for us to fulfill this command of Christ to love one another as we faithfully follow Him. May God bless you as you listen today!

What is a nation without leadership? So it is for God's people, the church. Jesus is telling His disciples He will soon return to be with His father, but before that time, He promises that we will not be left without leadership and that we would also have the power of God, to seal us, teach us, advocate for us - this is the Holy Spirit. Jesus, in John 14, introduces this help that comes from God, the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. And while Jesus is gone, the Holy Spirit will be given to guide and protect us. Today we will learn more about who He is, what He does and also how we can be in a healthy relationship with the Father and the Son and also the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, being overlooked, or not enough focus, if at all, put on in our lives as a Christian. I pray that this sermon will be a blessing to you in your walk with Jesus.

It really hurts when we open our lives up to people and love them but they feel like we are holding back from them. Maybe this has happened to you, or you've done that to somebody else. You had a wrong intention towards someone who only had good things for you. Well, Jesus is being questioned by the disciples, after three to three and a half years with Him, they still ask things like, "how can we find the way" to where Jesus was going and also "show us the Father and it'd be enough". There is still a deficiency in their faith. They don't realize that Jesus is all we need. He is the way, the truth and the life. And to see Him is to see the Father. He is this exact representation of His Being. Today we will talk about how Jesus calls the disciples to trust Him, readying them to declare the message of faith, the gospel, to the world, after He goes back to be with the Father. They would do it by the power of the Holy Spirit. Not only to trust and to declare, but also to pray and ask God that He would glorify the Son that He too might receive glory. A huge part of our lives as a Christian is to pray, is to ask God to help others, to challenge others, that as Paul would say, Christ may be formed in them. For we know that our message, though it is heavenly, must be won by which we ask God in heaven to empower the work and the message that we preach and do.

As the time draws closer to Jesus going to the cross, He has commanded His disciples to be servants to one another and to love one another as He has loved them. But now, in John chapter 14, Jesus begins by preparing the disciples for His going to be with the Father. Interestingly, Jesus doesn't want them to focus on Him being separated from them physically. All of us at times may have felt this, where we've been depressed, or anxious and to ourselves we say "if only Jesus was here, things would be better". In a sense this is true but this is not the hopelessness that Jesus wants His people to suffer. Instead, He tells His disciples, and today He tells us, that He is going to prepare a place in heaven and that He will come back for His people. This is a hope and a promise that He takes with Him when He goes. Today we are calling this, homesick Christians. Those who focus more on where they are going than the problems that may exist in front of them right now. Jesus has promised that believing in Him will give us peace but also, we will have trouble. And so, we look ahead to the time when Jesus does return, and our place in heaven secure, and He brings us to be with Him in that place, forevermore. When we think like this, we are encouraged and have great endurance, not hopelessness, not fretting.

Jesus has finished washing His disciples' feet in the upper room, and He now goes on to give a new command. Unlike the old command "love your neighbour as yourself", this new command is one by which Christians must love one another as Christ has loved us. This includes both the sacrificial service that we were taught with the foot washing, but also a love that very much resembles the grace that has been given to us by Christ through His death. And so, Christians are called to a high order of unity, of care and concern for one another - a love that the world has not seen before. Many Christians today may not even see things like this or understand the great call to love. We understand that Satan has been spending much time disintegrating this area of our faith. As we will go, not just through John 13, but also other scriptures in the New Testament, we will see that this is a vital part of us walking out our Christian life properly. And that to not have love is a disobedience to this new and great command. We know that the command to love one another as Christ has loved us is for Christians. Yes, we are to love our neighbours as ourselves and that is a general love that Christians have for all people. But, as we see in this section, Jesus is not speaking to all of His disciples, as He tells Judas to go and leave before He gives this command. We see that though we are to love all people, the love that Christians have for one another is extraordinary. We pray that this would be a blessing for you today.

Jesus, now finishing his public ministry, joins the disciples in the upper room to have a final meal with them before His betrayal and being taken to the cross. During the meal, Jesus does something very out of the ordinary – He dresses up as a servant, take some water and cloths, and begins to wash the feet of the disciples. His first teaching is He reminds Peter that if Jesus does not serve us, we have no part with Him, meaning that we must allow Jesus to serve us by paying for our sins, because after all He is the Servant King and this is the only way by which we can have a part with Jesus by accepting His free gift of life in order that we can be saved. The second teaching that Jesus gives us as He washes the feet of his disciples is that for us it is an example of how we should live for others. It is not the greatest, most charismatic person who seeks power that Jesus looks to as great in His kingdom. Instead, it is the one who takes the lowly position. It is the one who is the servant of all – that is the one who is the greatest in the kingdom of God. We look to this example of Jesus washing feet, realising that if our King is not above such a task, nor are we. We should live lives of servanthood for His glory, as His ambassadors.

At this time, Jesus will give His last public address to the people of Israel in Jerusalem and from John's perspective, things have not gone well. Many do not believe and those that do believe, will not stand with Jesus for fear of the Pharisees and them being kicked out of the synagogue. Jesus will go on and give His last appeal for the reasons why they should believe and not just believe, but stand with Him as others have, like the woman at the well; the royal official; a blind man and some others. In this section, let us take heed and gather our own faith and be prepared, not only to believe in Jesus, but to declare it and be proud to be sons and daughters of God through faith in Jesus.

Jesus, the King of the world, comes riding into the city of the great King, Jerusalem, on a donkey. This is not normal because kings would normally come on the finest war horses, and the people in Jerusalem, even laid down palm branches for Jesus as if He was a King who had won a great battle. In John 12: 12-36, Jesus is going to remind us that His time for glorifying the Father is coming up so very soon, when He dies for our sins. He even asks the people, that they should follow Him, believe in His name, that not only believing but doing what He would do and acting as He would act. We are to be like Christ if we follow Christ correctly. Many of the people still were confused of who Jesus was. Even asking Him, who was this Son of Man? They thought that Jesus would live forever, if He were this true King. Jesus tells them, that while they have the light, meaning while Jesus is here with them, they must walk in the light, they must look to Him, because darkness is coming when His ministry will soon stop and He will die, rise again and go to be with His Father. If we look to Him before He goes, Jesus says, we become children of light. Jesus, His glory dwelling in us who believe and so although we don’t have Jesus here because His ministry on earth is finished, so we have His light dwelling in us.

Today we see many people who make decisions based off hidden motives or underlying intentions. And it was no different at the time of Christ. In this section of Scripture, we will see how some Jews will hand Jesus over to the Pharisees, to try and get Him in trouble for raising Lazarus from the dead. Others in power will be scared to lose the temple, their nation and their hold of power and so will look to kill Jesus. Judas, whose hidden intention is to steal from the money bag, even gives a good reason why more money should go into that bag - for the poor! Hidden agendas and secret motives destroy communities and make us partial and biased when we make decisions. And so, as Christians we must keep far away from this. Here in John chapter 12, we meet the woman, Mary, who with pure intention, wipes Jesus feet with expensive perfume and cleans it with her hair. What a wonderful picture of someone who just has a profound, humble faith in Jesus! And so, we look to good examples as we reject bad ones.

There are many difficulties and struggles in this life, and Jesus, like the good shepherd that He is, will lead us through each and every one of them. But, the greatest difficulty, an enemy that we have, is the power of sin and the penalty and death for that sin. Can we trust Jesus here also? Today, in John 11, we are going to see a chapter that should terrify Satan - he has the power of death, and he has the kingdom and is the Prince of the power of the air to the sons of disobedience, but, in this chapter we will see that Jesus, even over death is able to call forth life. This, a microcosm of what it would be like when He returns, and all the dead will be raised to stand before the Lord Jesus. Those who have believed and lived for Him, they shall go on to eternal life and those who had been disobedient to eternal death. And so while there is still time, John has recorded for us the faith and trust that we can have that even sin and death cannot hold Jesus back from saving His dear people whom He loves and they are unable to be snatched from His hand. Not only that, they cannot even be snatched from the Father's hand - so protected and loved are we! We are going to see people who still wrestle with doubt and faithlessness and despite this, Jesus will go on to be the victorious King and the lover of our soul.