What does it mean to “abide”? (vv. 7-8)

• To

or reside with to the extent that transformation happens.
• The effect is that our

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are transformed and we communicate with God. As we communicate, He invites us to ask for whatever we wish. The result of transformation is that we wish for God’s will, what He wants. He moves us to ask and the He allows us to see the answer.
• This bearing fruit

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God for His faithfulness, His promise-keeping, His attentiveness to our prayers, and His character to answer.

Abiding in Christ leads us to experience God’s

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(vv. 9-10)

• Do you feel like God loves you? Feelings will

if we lead them. But most people, when they feel something, abide in that feeling. But feelings will eventually follow truth.
• Romans 5:8 | but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. >> Abiding in the truth of what Jesus did for us causes us to experience God’s love.
• Look in v. 10. Experiencing the love of God has a

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component. If we disobey the commandments of God, then we are distancing ourselves from the love of God. That doesn’t mean that He stops loving us or that our salvation is in question. Rather, our experience of His love will not be what it ought to be.

Abiding in Christ leads us to

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(v. 11)

• The word of God received results in a wellspring of joy within us. What is joy?
• Joy is a feeling of inner

or delight. It is an emotion evoked by a sense of well being. In the NT, joy is happiness rooted in spiritual realities. Some have said, “Happiness depends on happenings, but joy depends on Jesus.”
• Joy comes because of the

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He has spoken. That means that fullness of joy is within our grasp. It comes from being hearers and doers of the Word.
• Colossians 3:16 | Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…

Abiding in Christ leads us to love others

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(vv. 12-14)

• Receiving love from God and abiding in His Word results in a desire to

Him. To follow Him is to love one another as He has loved us.
• This is the

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He referred to in v. 10 >> Matthew 22:37-39 | “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Abiding in Christ means the life of God in the Spirit transforms us to look more like Him, to experience love from Him, to be filled with joy, and to sacrificially love others.