Steven Furtick - The Secret of Sustainable Success (06/06/2017)
In Week 4 of "The Power of Same," Pastor Steven Furtick preaches from John 15 on the secret of sustainable success: your success is only as sustainable as its source. Jesus declares, "I am the vine; you are the branches." Remain in Him for lasting fruit. True sustainability comes from a constant calling, constant counsel (Scripture), constant character, and constant connections—rooted in Christ's unchanging love, not our fluctuating efforts.
Welcoming E-Groups – Real People, Real Community
Week 4 of The Power of Same. And everybody knows fourth installments are the best. If you don't believe me, just watch Rocky. Coming up behind me, you'll see some of our e-groups from Elevation Church. I wanted to bring up some of the people who... And I'm going to kind of stall a little bit while they get set up. They're going to do it quickly, like ninjas.
But we wanted to bring some of these people up so you could see how normal they look. So when we ask you to sign up for an e-group, you can see, wow, these people actually look like good human beings. As a matter of fact, you guys are so good-looking, I think we overdid it. I do. I think that these people are going to think it's professional actors.
These are not actors. These are people who actually meet together every week all across our different cities. And they've come from all of our different locations. We're going to get you a chair. I promise. Oh, that's a big chair for one guy. We're going to put two black shirts on that for the next worship experience. Make a note.
It's great. But we wanted to bring them up. And a couple times a year, I bring up an amen corner. So if I'm preaching to students, I might bring up some students to sit on the stage with me. Or if we're preaching about e-groups, I just want you to see. These are people, they're sitting in clusters. They've come from as far away as Gaston County to be with us today at Blakeney.
From the rugged hills of Gaston County. All the way to the calm waters of Lake Norman. And I believe almost all of our campuses are represented. I won't take a lot of time to set that up. But they're just going to be up here. Kind of, you know, they have to hear the same sermon three times. So pray for them today that they might not look bored.
Jumping Straight into the Word – John 15
But I'm actually going to jump right into the message. And guys, if they start looking a little hateful, I'm going to turn around to you. I'm counting on you for secondary love. So like I'm going to preach to you guys. But if it's not going too well this way, I'll just turn around. And y'all can do the wave.
But I want to preach to you on this fourth installment of The Secret of Sustainable Success. The Secret of Sustainable Success. How many want to know The Secret of Sustainable Success? Not this short-lived stuff that sprouts up, looks good, and dies. But The Secret of Sustainable Success.
I'm going right into John chapter 15. Somebody asked me why I'm not quoting these scriptures. I actually do know all the way to verse 17, but it's painful for me to recite it. It's more like a dial-up modem for all of you who are prehistoric, like I am. And I don't want to put you through that.
But I did, Holly, get all of my verses correct. Zero point deductions all the way through 17. And Elijah's got it through 17 also. And he's much better at it than I am. I might have him quoted at the next worship experience. He comes in and listens at the next one.
But for today, I'm just going to read a few verses. And I want to lift verse 4, 5, and 16. So many powerful verses. You'll notice I trimmed the message down since you heard it last time. I felt very frustrated with myself because the last one I preached, I didn't manage my clock. By the time I got to the big thing I wanted to get to, I was all out of time.
I'm not going to do that again. So I'm going to move quickly through this and just lift a few verses. John chapter 15, verse 4, Jesus says, Remain in me as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
I am the vine. You are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. Apart from me, you can do. Okay, now verse 16. Verse 16. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you might go and bear fruit. Fruit that will last.
Fruit that will last. I don't just want lust. I want love that will last. I don't just want results. I want deep down, abiding, flowing fruit that will last. Amen. I don't just want a diet where I lose weight for four months. I want a lifestyle where the product of my effort will last, carry over, change habits, change mindsets.
And so that whatever you ask in my name, the Father will give you. What is the secret of sustainable success? I'm going to give it to you right out of the gate. You don't have to wait until the end or anything. I'm going to give you the secret of sustainable success in the first four minutes of the sermon.
Here it is. Write it down. It's coming on the screen. Your success is only as sustainable as its source. Good God in heaven. Peter, Paul, and Mary, that's a good statement. Your success is only as sustainable as its source.
The Core Truth – Success Tied to Its Source
And that's one of those statements. The more you think about it, the more convicting it gets inside of you. And the more you think about that thing, the more it's going to cause you to call into question, well, what is the source of my success? Because your success is only as sustainable as its source.
Isn't that the point Jesus is trying to make in these verses that we read? Where he shows us, look, that no fruit can be better than the vine that produced it. It's true in agriculture. It's also true in our lives. That your success is only as sustainable as its source.
And I want to talk about sustainable success because it's so trendy. Everybody's talking about sustainable energy and, you know, sustainable farming. And Jesus is so ahead of his time. He's teaching about sustainable living, sustainable faith, sustainable spirituality, sustainable success.
Yes, God wants you to be successful. Success is not a bad word for Christians to use. Success is a Bible word. I said, success is a Bible word. He told Joshua, I will give you a good success. But if there's a good success, there's a such thing as a bad success.
And a good success is one that's sustainable. A good success is one that... Well, let's put it this way. A good success isn't just based on results. A good success has deep roots. Because if you have results without roots, it's possible that your talent can take you where your character can't keep you.
You can have a gift or a charisma that can get you in places where the infrastructure can sustain you. And Jesus doesn't want that for you, and he doesn't want that for me. You know, you can impress a woman to the point where she might marry you, but if you carry into the marriage all kinds of issues that are the result of a dysfunctional disconnect in your relationship with God, your swag might get her to say yes, but it's going to take more than your swag to get her to stay.
Come on, somebody. So I don't just want her to come, I want her to stay. Jesus is talking about having spiritual staying power. That's one way to put it. Do you have staying power in your relationship with God?
What Is Your Constant? – The Key Question
What does a relationship with God look like that has staying power? If your success comes from the wrong source, it will always be short-lived. So if the source of your success is people's opinion of you, then your success is only as sustainable as the source.
It means when people's opinion change, you will be at the mercy of their opinion to determine your success. We need to tell teenagers this, because if you think success is being popular, popularity polls are a very fickle foundation to build on.
So, Jesus says, I'm the true vine. That means there must be a fake vine. And so, are you finding your flow from fake vines? If you have the wrong flow, you'll never flourish. And Jesus says, if you're cut off from the flow, you'll never flourish.
And we've got a lot of people whose success is not sustainable. They get up for this, and they get up for that, and they make it happen for a minute, and they're excited for a season, but your success is only as sustainable as its source.
When I got that thought the other day, I was thinking about if you build your success on an image you create. Your success is only as sustainable as the source. And since the source is an image that's not really you, you won't be able to keep up those appearances for long. And it will eventually implode, because there's no integrity to the source.
If the source of your success is your own strength, that's a limited supply. But in John 15, Jesus is talking about an unlimited source of spiritual success, real success, spiritual strength, relational success, real success, godly success, real success, legacy success, the secret of sustainable success.
Okay, so if you want sustainable success, I think what you need more than anything, and we've been using a lot of math illustrations in this series, which is hilarious, because I am terrible at math, and now I'm up here sharing with, you know, 17,000 people from a math analogy that I'm praying is accurate, and forget about April, if my math teachers could hear this sermon, they would be rolling, they would go into cardiac arrest because, you know, Mr. Peek, remember Mr. Peek, Mr. Peek would laugh if he heard me talk about math.
But I think when I talked in week two about the pattern, and the pattern creates the product, and if you want to change the product, you've got to change the pattern, I think there was something to that. And when I talked last week about time as a multiplier, and time simply multiplies back to you what you put into it.
But I think this week what I wanted to tell you about was, you need a constant. You need a constant. And I was telling Elijah, the nine-year-old that I'm telling you is smarter than me already, when I was telling him about this week's sermon, I said, this week I'm going to preach about the constant.
And he said, remind me again what that is? And I was like, yes, I got him. Advantage, Dad. And I told him what a constant was, because I looked it up on YouTube earlier in the day. Here's a constant, and you remember this from mathematics. If you have 5x plus 1, 1 is the constant.
You know, x is the variable, 5 and x, that value will be different every time. But a constant, put it on the screen, is a fixed value that does not change. A constant is a fixed value. 5x plus 1, what 5x plus 1 is going to equal is going to be different every time.
There are a lot of variables that x can represent. There are a lot of variables in life, but one will always be one. Every time. One will always add the same value. And I think the secret of sustainable success is a constant.
This brings me to my question, what's your constant? I want to spend the rest of my time that I have, and I'm so privileged to be able to preach to you every week, and I value every moment. I want to spend all the time I have left answering this question, or asking you to answer this question.
What's your constant? And before you answer that real quick with the Sunday School Church answer, God is my constant. Okay, that's awesome, Sling Blade. I'm glad you got the right answer. But that's not concrete enough. That's... Okay, that's... You're saying that, but we've got to break it down.
And one of my staff members sent me a scripture this week. I was saying I was going to preach on constant. And this is a version of the Bible. I want you to check it out some. It's called The Message, and it was written by a pastor named Eugene Peterson. And it's a paraphrase that he wrote for his congregation so they can understand the Bible in our terms.
And so you'll see it on... If you have a Bible app, it'll say MSG. That's The Message. And if you read it, sometimes it'll... It just has... There's some great language and modern vocabulary to it. And he put a translation of Romans 15, 4 that's real similar to what Jesus is saying in John 15.
And he's talking in the context of community. And when I was reading this passage, I thought about our e-groups that are in the church. And he's talking about don't just look out for your own interest, but look out for the interest of others. And don't just draw your life up and pray that God will give you enough resource to bless you.
But you want enough resource that God gives you so it can overflow, so you can be a blessing to others. Not just so you can make it through the day, but so you can help somebody else make it. That's mature Christianity. And so he quotes a Scripture about how Jesus did this, how Jesus looked out for others.
And then he says in Romans 15, 4, referring to that Scripture, he says, Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it's written for us. Now, that's one thing I love about the Word of God, is that I can preach one Scripture. I can take the same Scripture and preach it, and 17,000 people will hear it 17,000 different ways.
Isn't that amazing? That I can take one Scripture, like last week I preached, remember, about the vine that gets pruned and about the scissors and the fruit. And so I'm preaching from one Scripture about the scissors and the fruit. And while I'm saying the scissors, how God allows your life to be pruned, one person is hearing me talk about a divorce they went through two years ago.
And one person is hearing me talk about a medical diagnosis. And one person is hearing me talk about a business that failed. And it's the same Scripture, but everybody is receiving it on a personal level because the Word of God is alive and active. And then I'm talking about fruit, fruit that remains. And one person is hearing about fruit, and they're thinking about fruit in their marriage and love in their marriage.
And one person is hearing about fruit, and they're thinking about provision for their household. And one person is hearing about fruit, and they have plenty of provision. They have plenty of material assets, but they don't have any peace in their hearts, so I'm preaching about provision, and they're hearing about peace.
And so I'm preaching about fruit. I'm preaching about scissors. But we're all hearing what we need to hear on the level we need to hear it on. Some of us need it real remedial. And some of us hear it a little bit more advanced. But we're all hearing the same... It's the power of saying.
We don't need some new ideas to face these modern times. Yes, there's a lot of variables in the way the world works. But there's one enduring, eternal word. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His word is just as true today as it was a millennium ago, as it was in the beginning. So it shall be world without end.
Ask somebody next to you. Ask them, what's your constant? What's your constant? What's your constant? Like, what is the constant that you keep coming back to? What do you reach for? What do you build on? What's your real constant? The Lord. Let's go deeper.
Three Constants for Sustainable Success – Calling, Counsel, Character
Romans 15.4. Even if it was written in Scripture a long ago, you can be sure it's written for us. God wants the combination of his steady… Everybody say, steady. I'm going to throw in a marriage seminar real quick. Steady is sexy.
How many single people do we have in the e-groups on stage today? Okay. Just write that on the notes, because when you want to know what to look for, steady is sexy. No, no, six-pack is sexy. No, no, no. Six-pack is not sustainable. But steady is sexy.
I've got to manage my clock. He wants the combination of his steady… What's the next word? Constant. Constant. And then he lists three things, and they all… It's beautiful. It all starts with the letter C, preacher's dream.
Three things that need to be constant in my life if I'm going to have sustainable success. If you want to be here today, gone tomorrow, one-hit wonder, Hanson, you can ignore this verse. Why are all my pop culture references 18 years old? Pray for me.
His constant, number one, calling… Calling. You need a constant calling. His warm, personal counsel… That's number two, is counsel. Not just any counsel, the counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us. Number three is character.
You're constant. What is your constant? You need a constant calling. You need constant counsel. And you need constant character. Look at the next verse. It's good, too. Verse five. God, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next.
So you can't be ready for what he's going to do next if you don't have a constant. When you don't have a constant, life feels chaotic. When you don't have constant, decisions are confusing. You need a constant. So you can know what God's going to do next.
May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Great. Let's talk about all three.
Constant Calling – The Fire That Never Fades
Number one, let's talk about a constant calling. A constant calling. I hear a lot of people wait for their circumstances to confirm their calling. But you can't do that. I was thinking about how, you know, in all the years that I've been preaching, you're like, you're young. It can't be that many.
It's coming up on almost 20 years. Because I started preaching right after I was singing Hootie. And just a few years after that, I started preaching anywhere I was invited. You know, and that sounds glamorous. It might have been three people at first. But you know, I thought about that thing. It was a different size crowd when it was three people, but it was the same calling that was beginning to develop.
It was the same calling. The crowds over the years have changed. And some crowds that I get to preach to are bigger than others. But you know, when I go in to meet with our interns, I go to speak to our interns every semester that they come in. I can honestly tell you, I put as much passion into the time with them that I do.
And there's a, I think, a former intern saying, yeah, you do. Because they remember when I came in, it was scheduled for an hour and a half. But I think I went three hours with the last class. And I'm not saying that to brag, but I'm saying it to say that if your calling isn't strong enough to produce a great passion in small places, you won't be successful if God gives you a bigger opportunity.
So I'm preaching with the same passion to those interns that I would in an arena. I preach to big crowds now. But looking back over it all, it was the same calling at every stage. It was the same calling working. And it was the same calling when me and Holly traveled to every small town in South Carolina and we'd do backyard Bible clubs by day and church revivals by night.
Same calling. We had a theme called Run to Win. I went out to a lake house. Somebody was there, actually a trailer. They told me it was a lake house. It turned out to be a trailer. But I wasn't mad at them. And I went out there and you got to get details. And I went out there and developed our first theme, Run to Win.
It was the same calling. It was the same calling when we didn't have a bunch of screens for the church and we were beating the streets and I was preaching to our core group. It was the same calling. It's a different circumstance, but the same calling.
Enter David, Shepherd boy. He shows up on the battle lines one day and there's a giant. He's never seen a giant like this before. He's never fought a giant like this before. But he said something interesting. He said, the same God that delivered me from the paw of the lion, that was the last circumstance, and the paw of the bear, he will deliver me from this uncircumcised Philistine too.
So it's a different circumstance, but it's the same calling. It's a different circumstance. I was telling a guy one time, I don't do well with my kids at that stage where they can't talk. He said, but there's going to be another stage where they won't talk. He said, so you better learn what to do when they can't talk so you can use it when they won't.
What's he saying? You have to be called to be that child's parents when they're cute and cuddly, and you have to learn how to be that child's parents when they look more like the lion or the bear. And say, the same God that taught me how to change your diapers and get up in the middle of the night is going to enable me to be your mama and figure out what friends you're hanging out with and do all this complicated stuff.
Because you have to have a constant calling. Look, if my pastoral ministry was circumstantial, if I went off of what people like and what people say and what people think and what people do, I wouldn't have a sustainable passion for it. But if you do it because there's a fire set up in your bones, if you do it because I'm weary from holding it in and I have to speak and woe be to me if I don't… It's a calling.
I got to do it. I got to do it. I got to do it. I got to do it. I got to do it when it feels good. I got to do it when it's exciting. I got to do it when they're cheering. I got to do it when their arms are folded. I got to do it. It's a calling. I got to do it. I got to do it.
Tell seven people I got to do it. It's a calling.
Constant Character – Core Convictions That Hold Firm
Now let's talk about character. A constant character. Are you a person of constant character? Constant character. Not just when the lights are on. Constant character. If I were to put it in a different phrase, I'd say, do you have any core convictions? Core convictions.
Stuff that when circumstances shake you, it stays steadfast. Steady. Core convictions. For me, one of the core convictions that I try to live by is to be a person of honor. I only have two tattoos. I have a wedding ring tattoo that we just did last year. And I have, because I figure I'm going to be constant with that.
I even got it to say H and S. Holly and Steven. I didn't want it to be interchangeable. It's kind of a commitment when you put the... and it narrows it down. You know, Heather, Holly, you can only have a few options if you put the H. My other tattoo says... it's on my back. It says, Kavad, and that's honor in Hebrew.
And the word honor means weight or glory or value. And I decided early in the ministry. about how we were going to be a ministry of honor. That means you'll never hear me speak bad about other ministries from this pulpit. And from time to time, people have come to me and said, you know, so-and-so is talking about you.
What does that have to do with what I say about them? That's who they are. I can't change who they are. Do you let who they are affect what you do? Then you don't have a core conviction. Another core conviction of mine would be generosity. And I believe it to be true that I was generous when I didn't have much and as God has given me more, I've tried to maintain a spirit of generosity.
See, generosity is a value. It's a character thing. You're either generous or you're not. And when you think about all the nice things you would do for people with money that you don't have if you had it, that's not generosity. Generosity is reflected in the habits of your character.
A couple of months ago, somebody... They didn't keep up their end of a bargain from my perspective. I know it's two sides to every story, but I was telling Chunks, our CFO, how I wasn't going to pay them. Because they didn't do whatever. But he said something to me. He said, you know, I've been with you a long time now, and God has always blessed you for being generous and honoring others.
That's all he said. And it kind of put me back into alignment with it doesn't matter. what they do or don't do. Generous is who I am. So if I walk into a restaurant, I start with a 20% tip. That's where I start. If you spit in my Diet Coke and put it on my table in front of me, 20%, that's the minimum. That's the minimum.
And from there, we're just moving on up. Now that's the 70s. That's even worse. But see, I'm not tipping you. first and foremost on the basis of the service you give me. I'm doing it because I am a generous person. And I'm not as generous as I want to be, and I have selfishness, and God's still working on me.
But where I'm trying to go toward is to be a person of generosity. And then you've got idiots like my friend Eric Phillips, who's in this worship experience. He has been so generous at points in his life. You remember that time we went to the Waffle House after I preached at Clemson FCA? And you remember you said, this is on me. I got this.
And I was so impressed. You paid for the meal, and you tipped the server $20. until we got to the parking lot and said, hey man, you got a few dollars for gas so I can get home? Real generous. Real ignorant. No, not all. You didn't have to loan him the gas money.
And I'm saying that you either are or you aren't. You know, this is why I teach the tithe. And most people have never understood the power of the tithe. The tithe says, God says, of everything I've given to you, I want you to bring the first tenth back to me. Tithe means tenth.
Off of every paycheck, off of every bonus, off of every investment income that you receive, off of every royalty, ten percent, bring it back to me. Why? Because I'm your constant. Because it establishes me as the source of your success. And when you carve out that first ten percent, ten percent, that's kind of a lot.
No, I kind of thought ninety that God let you keep was a lot. So God says, when you carve out that first ten percent, what it does is it makes room for me to remind you of all the ways that I am your source. It's really a beautiful worship thing. It's not some Old Testament thing. It's not some Elevation Church thing. It's a constant.
It's saying to God, I'm starting with ten percent because you're a good God. Because that's your character. You're a provider. And so I'm going to give it back to you. Not if it's leftover. Not if it feels good. Not if I have a little extra to go around this one. But it's my constant.
I wrote this in my notes. I'm studying a book on creativity. right now. And the author, she talks about. triggering rituals. How you can create a habit in your life through a ritual. And I'm watching the Australian Open right now. And I watched all these tennis players. They bounce the ball a certain number of times. Always three times. Always five times.
They all have different things they do. And it's because that ritual triggers a sense of calm in them to bring them back to a place where they're not playing out of their mental state but they're playing from their instinct. You know what I wrote in my notes? Tithing triggers trust.
Tithing triggers trust. And when you set it up where it's like okay, God, the first and the best comes to you. Not the last of what's left. not the last of what's left not let me see how my year goes and then I'll make it up but the first and the best it takes faith to put you first so when I put you first it triggers trust and it's not just now a financial thing it's a faith thing.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your past. How do you do it? Proverbs 3, 9 and 10 honor the Lord with the firstfruits of your wealth. it triggers trust in your life.
what. what are your core. convictions what are you going to get tattooed on your back in Hebrew. if you're 21 or older and your parents think it's a good idea and your wife thinks it's sexy. is your life driven by convenience or conviction.
sometimes in church I can tell I'm preaching the best. when there's a very loud silence. and that would be one of those places. where I would ask you to pause. convenience or conviction. you person of character. when someone asks you to do something can they Mark it off their list or do they have to highlight it and star it
And circle back to it in three days. Because last time they asked you, you didn't get it done. Because your mom had this bad night. And you had to go see her at three o'clock. And always an excuse and always a reason. But are you countable? Can I count on you?
Are you... I think church attendance ought to be a constant in your life. I do. Because I think, whether it's here... A lot of people watch online. I'm not just saying this church... I think one time a week, you ought to have to show up and sit somewhere where somebody can scream Bible verses at you. Just one time a week.
Because at least I know life is crazy. Life is busy. Life is hectic. I have a lot of voices in my life. But one time a week, at least one time a week, I'm going to get together with people who are trying to follow Jesus. And people who are trying to be people of faith. And people... And I think e-group is like that too.
It can be a constant. Are you a person of character? I'm going to throw this in because I keep trying to skip it, but the Lord keeps bringing it back to me. Do you speak more favorably to people than you do about them? If so, you're not a person of constant character.
You know, you hear these people that are always talking bad about other people. What do you think they're saying about you when you're not around? Just saying. Are you one person here? One person there? If so, God wants 2015 to be the year that you bring into alignment your character.
Your belief in Christ ought to be reflected in your character. Yeah, so character, constant character.
Constant Connections – The Power of Community
And then the last one. I said counsel, but can I make it broader? Let's talk about connections. Constant connections. Like I've told you up here on this stage, we have a lot of different kinds of groups. There's a Spanish-y group on stage with me.
Did I tell you when I was in college, one of my black roommates that lived on the dorm with me said, Steve, you ain't white. You Spanish or something, isn't it? I look it, but I don't speak it. But all kinds of different groups. Student-y groups. You're going to get to join one today.
I want you all to go join one. Because you need some constant connections. I've often said, you have to follow Jesus for yourself, but you can't follow him by yourself. At least not effectively. Your spiritual success will only be as strong as your support system.
And Jesus is divine, but to stay hooked into him, you're going to have to be growing around some other good fruit. Holly was telling me the other day how one rotten fruit can start to rot another one. Is that true? If you leave one rotten orange next to another orange, or the bright orange, that other, and life is what you're connected to.
What you rub up against. The attitudes that you're around. And some of you, you have to deal with enough hell in your career. You need to get to connect to some good people in church that can help you remember what's really important. Or you're never going to be able to sustain your spiritual success.
I got to hurry, but I want to tell you about this one group on stage where one of our single mothers in our church, she has two young children, a six-year-old and a four-year-old. In August, she fell down a set of stairs at her house while taking the kids to school. She was injured and out of work, unable to drive, doctor's orders.
And as a single mom, she's doing everything, trying to do it on her own. Trying to do it on her own. But her group, and they're up here, and I'm not going to single them out, but they're up here. See if you can identify them. They rallied together, raising money. They covered her rent. They took her grocery shopping. They helped her clean her home.
I like this one, too, because sometimes we think we just meet people's physical needs, but I like how they went over and had a game night at her house because sometimes you need someone to lift your spirits, not just help your circumstance. Isn't that so cool?
See, God does those things he provides, but he does it through our connection to other people. He does it through the... God speaks, but he does it through the counsel of others. I just need the Lord to speak to me. And God's going, no, no, no, not... I'm going to speak to you through some people that I put in your life sometimes. Amen.
Constant connections. I wouldn't make it if I didn't have a wife who was a constant connection to God's grace and love for me. I wouldn't make it. I wouldn't make it. I wouldn't be able to do this if I didn't know. Man, I'm telling every wife in here, don't underestimate the power that you have to pull a level of consistency out of your man by just being a constant source of encouragement for him.
You can trick him into thinking he's more talented than he is. He'll believe you. Constant connection. We were organizing some stuff in our room recently, and I found a gift that Holly had given me called the marriage code. We have a code in our church where we have our values, what kind of church we want to be, the constants that we don't want to change.
Jesus is the center. We believe big and start small. We honor one another to glorify God. We eat the fish and leave the bones. We think inside the box. Things that we want to be constant about the way we are. Well, Holly leads an e-group for young married women, and she made, as a part of a project with one of those e-groups, she made a marriage code.
She made it for me, and it's so brilliant. I said, Did you make this up? This is amazing. Every wife should get to see this. Every husband should get to see this, because she was reflecting the fact that she's going to be a constant for me. She was saying, This is how I'm going to love you, and it's not dependent on how you treat me.
See, it's what's within me. I'm not going to be a thermometer in this relationship. My love for you is going to be a thermostat, so when you're struggling, I'm going to help you through the struggle. She's not perfect, but she's saying, You can count on me. I'm going to be a deep-endable wife.
Did I say that funny? Deep-endable. It means when we get in the deep end, when we get in over our heads, when we get where we can't sustain ourselves anymore, I am deep-end-able. I'm going to try that out. He didn't like it. Tell somebody, I'm deep-end-able.
When the waters are calm, anybody can be your friend. But you need some constant companions who can give you some constant counsel, who can tell you what you need to hear, not always what you want to hear, who are more concerned about you as a person than they are about their popularity with you. Constant. Constant.
The True Constant – Remaining in Christ's Love
I told you all this. I told you all this, that we need to be people with a constant calling. We need to be people of constant character. We need to be people with some constant connections. But yet, I told you all this just to tell you. that you can't do any of it.
that everything we just said, everything we just said... See, if you go through the Gospels, and I encourage you to do it, read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John sometime. Read Matthew, Mark, when we get done with John 15 every day, when you finish memorizing that, read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and specifically study the last week in Jesus' life because each of the authors of those different books, they're giving an account of Jesus' life, but they're giving it from a different perspective.
So, it's not a different account, but it's a different perspective on the same account. Okay. So, I was studying this week, John 15, and I thought, huh, this is what John recorded about some of the last things that Jesus said. of how to sustain what he started.
I'm the vine, you're the branches, rain in me, if you don't rain in me, you can't bear much fruit. That's what John wrote down. But he's the only one who wrote this down. He's the only one who wrote these words down. On the night that Jesus was going away to be arrested, he washed the disciples' feet.
He said, as I've done for you, you ought to do for one another. It's the power of saying. It's the power of example. And he told them that there was a betrayer among them. And then they left the upper room and they went downstairs and they went toward the Mount of Olives. Follow me.
The Mount of Olives where Jesus probably used some grates as a prop to say, I am the vine, you are the branches. When it came time for John to write the secret of sustainable success, he wrote that down. He said, remain in me.
But I was reading what Matthew said about that same night. And isn't it interesting how you can remember the same thing that somebody else remembers a completely different way? Matthew 26, verse 30. It says, When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
So it's the same scene as John 15. They're going out to the Mount of Olives. Same scene, same night. And then Jesus told them, This very night. you will all fall away. on account of me. Huh? Wait a minute. You mean in the same conversation that he was saying, Remain in me? He was predicting that none of them would?
I don't know which one he said first. I don't know what the order was. But he tells them, You will all fall away on account of me. For it is written, I will strike the Shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I've risen, I'll go ahead of you into Galilee.
And Peter replied, Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will. Because I'm the constant. I'm the rock. Remember, you changed my name from Simon to Peter. I'm the rock. You can count on me. I'm deep in able. You count on me, Jesus. I'll never fall away.
And Jesus is thinking, Yeah, you will. Peter said, No, I will never fail you or forsake you. And Jesus is going, Yeah, you will. But it's all right. Because the constant. is not your love for me. The constant. is my love for you.
The Power of Remaining in His Love – The True Constant
Now, I've been reading John 15 every day. And I've tried to find where Jesus said in John 15, Maintain your love for me. I can't find it. All I can find is Matthew 26, where he says, You'll all fall away. Every single one of you are going to go through seasons where you lose sight of your calling.
Every single one of you are going to go through seasons where your character is all over the place. Every single one of you are going to go through seasons where you lose your connection to other people. But he didn't say, maintain your love for me. And that's how we live.
Oh, man, I just got to love God more. I got to love Jesus more. I got to love him more. I got to love him more. But he never said, maintain your love for me. He said, remain in my love for you. What's the secret of sustainable success? It's not your ability to maintain your love for Jesus.
It's your willingness to remain in his love for you. He's the constant. He's the vine. You're just a branch. You're just a branch. You're just wood. He said, I am the vine. Seven I am statements Jesus made that were recorded by John. I am the vine. I am.
That's the constant. That's the one. That's not the X. That's the one. That's the one. I am. I am. Well, life isn't always, but I am. And you won't always, but Jesus said, I am. And your love for me won't always be strong, but I am.
See, the scripture says that God is love. He is love. That's the constant. That's the constant. What's your constant? Not your love for him. His love for you. Not your calling, but his calling. Not your character. His character flowing to you, flowing through you, flowing for you, flowing toward you.
Come on. If you got a constant that never fails, Because if you got a love that never runs out, you ought to shout about it! Good love! Good love!