I have a different message tonight. And if you got your Bibles or your phones or whatever you use, you can turn to John chapter 10. I'm not sure what translation I'm reading from. It might be the Amplified. John writes in chapter 10 of his gospel, starting from verse 1, "'I assure thee, most solemnly I tell you, "'he who does not enter in by the door into the sheepfold, "'but climbs up some other way is a thief and a robber, "'but he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. "'The watchman opens the door for this man, "'and the sheep listen to his voice and heed it, "'and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. "'When he has brought his own sheep outside, "'he walks on before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will never on any account follow a stranger, but will run away from him because they do not know the voice of strangers nor recognize their call. Jesus used this illustration with them, but they did not understand what he was talking about. So Jesus said again, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you that I myself am the door of the sheep. All others who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the true sheep did not listen to and obey them. I am the door. Anyone who enters in through me will be saved. He will come in, he will go out freely, and will find pasture. This is what I'm gonna concentrate on tonight. The thief comes only in order to steal and kill, and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life and have it in abundance, that is to the full till it overflows. I wanna start by asking you a question because I need somebody to talk to me after the message tonight. Jesus said that he has come in order that we might have life and might have it more abundantly. So here's a challenge to those of you that have studied the scriptures. I haven't been able to find anything that defines what this abundant life is. Maybe it comes to someone's mind. And if you do, talk to me after the message, after the service. So therefore, we need to begin to ask some questions of the text. And that's a good place to start. Sometimes scriptures are not always crystal clear and we don't quite get what it's saying. And you know, we can ask questions of the scriptures and ask the Holy Spirit to open our understanding to see if there's something that we're missing when we read the scriptures. So Jesus began this part by saying that the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. The number one thing, and I'm talking mainly to believers here tonight, the number one thing that he comes to steal is the joy of your salvation. You see, there's nothing he can do to remove that. You've been saved. And God's word is true, that if you confess your sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But the evil one comes to steal that away. And so many times in the life of believers where we start out on fire for the Lord, and the next thing, we've lost it. Something's happened. The joy of our salvation has been removed. And he comes to steal that away from the believer. And he comes to kill. And I've thought of this and likened it to, it's like turning off a kill switch. All right, so you're running a big machine and something goes afoul and you just hit the kill switch and everything's gonna stop. And that's what he's done. He wants to hit that kill switch in order to turn the power of the Christian life and the abundant life out of the life of a believer. And sometimes it seems that that can happen very quickly. We run into difficult times, we all do. And during those times, we're either going to turn towards God and seek God's direction and knowing and trusting God in the situation, or we're gonna go the opposite direction and we're gonna fight against it. And that's exactly what the devil's trying to do. He wants to just cut that off. And then he wants to destroy the work that God has started in our hearts. And that is he wants to remove any hope that we might have of the future. You see, you failed, you've sinned, you've done something that you know that as a believer you shouldn't have done. and then you beat yourself up and you come under self-condemnation. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, period. We all fail, we all sin, but it's what we do with it makes all the difference in the world. John, In his first epistle says this, this is the testimony that God has given us eternal life and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life, he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. John is a very interesting disciple. And you know, from the time I was young, and probably most of you have heard it as well, a young believer is very often told, start with the gospel of John. John records some things that are not recorded in the other three gospels. So I would like us for a moment to focus our attention as if and visualize that you're walking side by side with John. John writes his gospel after the other three gospels have been written, probably quite a number of years afterwards. And some of the things that he records that are not recorded in the other gospels, John is going to have to bring back to memory somehow. And I think the Holy Spirit probably brought that back to his memory. Do you remember, John? So we're gonna just do a very brief walk through John's gospel to find out what is this abundant life like? I wonder if John is the one that can convey that to us. First of all, James and John, Jesus called to them. They left their nets and they went and followed Jesus. Jesus had to say to Peter, you follow me. Interesting. But for James and John, Jesus just called. They were attracted to that call. Here's somebody different. They had never seen anybody like this. Imagine tomorrow you meet somebody you've never seen before. And he says, come. And you leave everything you're doing and you go follow them. That's what it was like for James and John. And John now begins to record some things. What it was like after that event. And he began to follow Jesus. They decided themselves to follow. They weren't told to. And one of the main events that John records now is the wedding in Canaan of Galilee. In John chapter 4. John chapter 2 rather. Just put yourself in John's place. They get invited to go to this wedding. They get there. Everybody's having a great time until finally somebody whispers to Jesus' mother Mary, they've run out of wine. What are we gonna do? John's must be privy. to what that conversation was. And John was there when Jesus said, get those, how many was it, six water jars? Now, when I calculated that a while ago, and I should have looked it up, but these were large jars. These are not just water jugs like this. These were big. And it had six of them there filled with water. Bring those. And the next thing, it doesn't go into detail, what did Jesus do? Did he zap it? What did he do? But John was there and he witnessed that water became wine. Man, I mean, he'd never seen anything like that. Can you imagine being with John that day and looking at this and saying, my goodness, you know? And they're coming and they're saying, where'd you get this wine from? Not only was it the best wine, but there were six great big jugs full of wine. Over and above probably what they needed. And John's saying, wow. He's walking with Jesus, okay? In John chapter three, John must be privy to the conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus. And Jesus says to Nicodemus, he says, you must be born again. And he hears Nicodemus. He says, how is that possible that I could be born again? I'm gonna enter my mother's womb again and be born all over again? And Jesus says, no, you're gonna be born of water. And John's thinking, my goodness, what's this all about? This is something he'd never seen in his life before. Can you visualize ourselves being in that position? This is somebody that only days, weeks, months before, we started to follow and we'd never seen him before, but there's something about this man that's so different. And we're following him and they're observing what's going on. Then we come to the latter part of John 3 that we're all familiar with. And John's the only one that records. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. He was not sent into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. And John's recording this many years after the event, it stuck, it stuck in his memory. And John has to record it. Then we'll go to John chapter four, and there's a woman that comes along at a well. Starts talking to her. Now, isn't this something? Just by coincidence, he happens to go and sit in a well in Samaria. By design, he says, it must need to go through Samaria. It didn't have to go that way. He went through Samaria, because he had something in his mind. There was something there that was gonna happen. And Jesus sits at a well, not 100 yards away. He sits at the very well that this woman comes to draw water from. And John and the other disciples are away buying food, and they come back and they're thinking, We've got food, Jesus says, I've got other food. You don't even know about it. What food was that? Oh my, he had had a conversation with this woman who had been married five times and the man she was living with now wasn't her husband. And then that woman goes back into the town where she came from and told them all, I've seen somebody special. This person's told me everything I've done. And a multitude from that city went out to see who this person was. And John's there. And he witnesses this. And he's thinking, wow, what happened here? This woman, Jesus told her everything that she had done, and it wasn't a pretty picture. And the next thing, she's bringing the whole town to have a listen to this man that's told her this. And John files it in his memory. And many years later, he sits down and writes his gospel. Then he goes to Bethesda to the pool. There was a man there that had been paralyzed for 38 years. Couldn't walk. And Jesus comes along and he talks to him. And the next thing, he raises him up off his feet. John had never seen anything like that before. John chapter six, there's a whole crowd gather. Imagine 6,000 people, 5,000 people. And Jesus says to the disciples, go and get some food. We gotta feed these people. And John's thinking, ooh, Philip, he's the one that's kind of questioning it. Where are we gonna get food for 6,000 people? My goodness. Who's in charge of the finances here? John's not here tonight. John, we got enough money to go and get food for 6,000 people that are coming this weekend? This is real stuff. This is not stories. This is real things that happened, and John's there, and he's witnessing it. And after, Philip finds this little boy with five loaves and two fish, and Jesus feeds 6,000 with it, and afterwards, he says, now go and gather up the leftovers. And they got 12 baskets full, and John's witnessing this. Let me ask you, isn't that a kind of an interesting life? I'd love to have been there. John chapter 8, there's a woman brought to him in adultery. They said, we caught her in the very act. And John is there, and Jesus says, he that's without sin cast the first stone. And they all go out one by one, from the oldest to the youngest. And then Jesus says to the woman, Where are your accusers? She says, I don't know, they've all left. They've all gone. Well, neither do I accuse you. I don't condemn you. Go and sin no more. And John's thinking to himself, what kind of teacher is this? He's bound to have wondered. Put yourself in his shoes. You never heard this before. John chapter nine. Jesus heals the man that was born blind. Imagine being a witness. We'd be writing books about it. I was there when he took that man and he healed him. He'd been born blind. Never heard of that one before. We'd be selling lots of books about that event. Chapter 11, we have Lazarus has died. The report comes to Jesus on the way that your friend Lazarus has died. Well, first of all, that he was sick and he delayed coming. And John must've thought, is that what love is about? Goodness sakes, he just stayed, he didn't go right away. I mean, we'd be getting hot to trot and go and find our friend and see what we could do to help. I mean, we wanna do that. No, Jesus stayed where he was. And John was witness to it. He's bound to be wondering, what is this all about? He can't help but think that. John chapter 12, Jesus comes into Jerusalem and there's a whole crowd in Jerusalem heard that he was coming and they went out with palm branches. and he was riding a donkey, and they're saying, Hosanna, blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord, and John's looking. The one that called me not long ago, three years ago, and I've been following him. I've never in the three years that I've been following him heard anybody say this before. John chapter 17 is one that I'm thinking, my goodness. John was privy to Jesus praying to his father. The whole chapter, he's praying to his father. And he's praying about those that the father had given him. And his heart was those that God had given him. And he says, I've come and I've completed the work that you gave me to do. But Father, I'm asking you, I want them to be where I am so that they might be able to behold my glory. And John, decades later, it comes to his memory and he writes down the Lord's Prayer. How many of us have had experiences like that? Not many. What experiences have you had like that in the Christian life? Let's go on. John chapter 19. We come to the crucifixion. And John is the only disciple that's standing there at the cross of Jesus and witnesses everything. The only disciple. And he witnessed something that he would never get that image out of his mind. The one that he loved, this was the disciple that Jesus loved, and he sees that one hanging on the cross. And years later, now, he records that. Chapter 21, he appears on the shore. The disciples had gone out at Peter's behest. He was gonna go fishing. It's all over, let's give up the Christian life. We had all our hopes built up and we thought this was the one that was going to restore Israel and all our enemies would be vanished. And he's died on a cross and he's been buried. We've been witness to it. He's in the tomb. And they're on the shore and they fished all night and caught nothing. How many times do we go fishing all night and catch nothing? I've been there, and it's dry. It's a dry, thirsty land. There's nothing. And you feel that there's nothing. I'm dry, I'm empty. There's no use in going on. And then John's the one. He sees that image of that person on the beach. And he turns to Peter and he says, it's the Lord. Peter, it's the Lord! Peter strips off his outer coat, dives in the water, goes after it. You know the story. So what are we talking about in abundant life? John never would have experienced any of these things if he hadn't been with Jesus. We don't experience the abundant life apart from the fact that we're in company with Jesus. When we're in company with Him, it is amazing the people that God brings into our pathway. I've shared with many of you, there's hardly a week goes by that I don't bump into somebody by chance that God's put something together Why am I here? I asked myself this question lots of times. Some was coming back the end of August, my work is done. Why am I here? You see, when you walk with Jesus, your life is different. It has to be different. This is the one that came and turned the world upside down. This is the one that came to save sinners. And Paul says, of whom I was the first. And he changed the world upside down. If you want your world changed upside down from wrong side to right side, keep company with Jesus. How do you keep company with Jesus? It's very simple. And you've heard it from me many times, but I even spoke about it this morning. To keep company with Jesus, you have to get into the word that tells you about Jesus. Let's start there for one. And you begin through the reading of the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation, not just the Gospels, Genesis to Revelation, and you see the promise of this One that's coming. And then you come to the point where you realize, He came for me. He came to save me from my sins. And when I confess my sins, He's faithful and just to forgive them and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness. And my life has changed. Jesus says, I've come that you might have life, might have it abundantly. I've mentioned this once before, so I'm not getting too old and forgetting, not yet. There's two basic words in the Greek for life. There's more, but I'm gonna just do the two basic ones. One is bios, from which we get our word biography. So that's we were born into this world as a human being, and that life that we received is bios. So the things that we do, the record of our lives and so on, this is life. But Jesus came to give us another life. That life that he spoke to, to Nicodemus, you must be born again. And when you're born again, which is from above, you've been given a new life, a different life, a life in which we can communicate with God. That is a spirit life. And when you begin to do that, And when you begin to get into God's Word, I have found this so many times. I've been reading something, innocently just reading something randomly in the Bible, and I go out that day or a couple of days later, and God brings somebody into my pathway, and they've got a question. I've got an answer because I just read it. Is that not an abundant life? It's an abundant life. You want an abundant life? Stay close to Jesus, follow him. He is at work. He's still at work in our world. I have problems stopping with the stories. One comes to mind, which is probably, I think, early this spring. I went out for a walk, and I have a path that goes up through the trees, and there's a paved path by Piddock Dam. And that day, my sister and brother-in-law invited me for supper and wanted me to come over at three o'clock. So I left my apartment about one, thereabouts, went down to the upper path, I started walking. And this part of the path goes up and down. And as I came into a valley and up towards a hill, I could see a young woman sitting there on what was the stone support for a picnic table at one time. It's only the cement support left. And I saw her bicycle. As I came up the hill, I just said, hello. She says, hi. I says, is that an electric bike you've got? Yeah, it is. And you can get these at Walmart. I got mine used. Let me tell you, my sister phoned me at half past three, I think it was. She says, where are you? I said, oh, I'm at the path down at the dam. I'd been talking to this girl for hour and a half, two hours, easily, right? Wasn't me talking, she was talking. For a change, wasn't me talking. And she started to share with me a few things. And it wasn't long, there was something that she said that I latched onto and I thought, that has to be somebody that's a believer. So I asked her. Yes, she was. She had been a registered nurse. She was working in the old folks' homes, and she just got so fed up with that, because they only gave them 10, 15 minutes to look after people, she couldn't take it anymore, and she quit. She was divorced, I think, prior to that. She had her own kids, who she's looking after. She says, I sold my car. We're renting. She's living as cheaply as possible. We all have bicycles. And I listened and I listened and I listened until finally my back was so sore I had to lean up against a tree because it was so sore. And near the end, she opened up and she says, you know, I'm very concerned because, you see, my mother and I have been estranged since the time I was young. I was brought up by some relatives, but now I understand that my mother's got a brain tumor. Well, of course, I could identify because that's what my wife had. So I knew a bit about it. I was able to share with her. And her concern was for her mother's salvation. Tell me if that's not an abundant life. It's all around us. If we just allow God to work in our lives, He is the one, the Lord is building His church. We're not building it. Let's get that clear. He's building it, and He's better at it than we are. So allow God to bring people into your life, but be prepared. Be in the Word, be walking with the Lord, and you'd be surprised you've got all of the answers that are thrown at you because you've just been looking at it. That's what John was experiencing. John was experiencing an abundant life that he never would have had if he was not walking with Jesus. He'd have been still a fisherman trying to catch fish and make a living. But if we'll just step outside, and for a time, go out and say, Lord, is there somebody you want me to talk to today? Bring somebody into my life. You know, I've experienced that here. Last week, I had more emails than I've ever had from people. Let me just see if I can find this. I'm going to read something to you. I think it's okay to read it. Where is it here? Sorry, because I wasn't planning on this. Okay, this is just the last line of a letter that I had from Charles Price. on Saturday morning. And at the end of it, he signs off with, greetings from Texas. And I trust you have much to encourage you too. And I replied, if I can find it. No, I can't find it. It's here, but I can't find it." I replied, you know, Charles, I have been so encouraged down here in Norwich. I said, encouraged so much that sometimes that leads me to tears. You see, the Christian life that we can all enjoy together and in each other's company and share the stories, share the stories. Share the stories. God's doing a work around each and every one of us. Let's begin to share the stories of what it's like to live this abundant life. We're walking with Jesus every day. If we're in his word and our minds are focused on him, what better life can you have? If you're here tonight and you're not a believer yet in Jesus Christ. The Christian life is not boring. It's not boring, look at me. Why am I standing here? Gotta be God. I don't have another answer for it. It's an interesting life. I've got to know all you people here. Never knew you a year ago. A year ago, that's all. He came that we might have life, new life, his life, and we might have it in abundance. And it's overflowing. I don't know, what's it take to light a flame so that we all just come to see the fact that as we walk with Jesus, we're gonna experience things that's absolutely impossible for the unbeliever to experience. And we're gonna be so full of joy regardless of what we have to face in life. We know that we have Jesus. I have Jesus, what else do I need? You know the old hymn says, he walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me I am his own. It's real. Have you had a talk with Jesus lately? Have you heard him say, I love you? I told you that story, lots of stories come to mind. I can still remember where I was on the road, thinking of what had transpired previously in my life and the disappointments that had come in with people. And the Lord said to me, but Dave, I love you. I was moved to tears, but this is part of the abundant life. I hope we're encouraged. I hope we start looking this week to see where God's at work around us. And as we join Him in what He's doing, you're gonna begin to enjoy this abundant life, and it's gonna catch. As you share your story with someone else's story, you're gonna be amazed to see that God is at work around you that you didn't really realize because we don't tell each other. Let's begin to share those stories of Jesus and His love. I hope you're encouraged.