September 13, 2026
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Last week we talked about the importance of developing our personal relationship with Jesus. We said the Bible is not a rule book. Rather, it is a love story. It is all about our relationship with the One who loves us so much that He gave His life for us, so that our sin would be forgiven in the eyes of Father God. Jesus did not suffer and die for us only to see us fall from grace. He did not go through all of that just to see us fail someone’s test of righteousness. Here is what He said about being in a long-term relationship with Him.
John 10:
27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;
28 and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand.
29 “My Father, who has given [them] to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch [them] out of the Father’s hand.
30 “I and the Father are one.” (NASB)
Jesus also warned the religious spirit in our churches, those who judge others and set up roadblocks that prevent others from coming into the Kingdom.
Matthew 23:
13 ¶ “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from men; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
It is important to Jesus that we not get wrapped up in religious rules and neglect our relationship with Him. We talked about how Jesus saw the Apostles Peter and Paul through their failures and kept them in relationship with Him to do great things for the sake of the Gospel.
We also discussed the importance of having communion as a way of growing closer to the Lord. Jesus told us to eat of His body and to drink of His blood in remembrance of Him. And while Paul warned us not to take communion in an unworthy manner, he also prescribed the way to confess our sin and then partake.
1st Corinthians 11:
27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
Last time I encouraged you to take communion in your homes as often as possible because of the many healing benefits of eating His body, and the favor of remembering the forgiveness of His blood which washes away our sin.
Some struggle with the idea of having communion outside of church, but when Jesus commanded us to have communion, and when Paul penned his words, there were only home groups. The Christian Church did not have bricks and mortar. I would encourage you to have communion in the intimacy of your home as often as you can because the word “commune” means to communicate intimately.
Today I want to talk about some things we can do, and not do, to stay in relationship with our Lord.
- Receive the Holy Spirit
There is no greater thing you can do to stay in relationship with Jesus than to receive the Holy Spirit, to seek His presence, and to enter His presence with thanksgiving and praise.
John 16:
7 ¶ “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
8 “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment;
9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me;
10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you no longer behold Me;
11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
12 “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear [them] now.
13 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
The Holy Spirit guides and directs us into all truth. He does that by convicting us of sin, righteousness, and judgment. The word “convict” in the Greek means to convince or to admonish. The Holy Spirit speaks into our spirit and convinces us when we are about to stray from Jesus. He convinces us that we are walking in unforgiveness or in unbelief. Note verse 9 equates sin with unbelief. When we do not believe in Jesus, when we do not receive His word, or obey His commands, that is sin.
When we fall short, the Holy Spirit will convict us and restore us into right fellowship with Jesus. I remember back in the day when I was Catholic, I used to go to confession. I would try to remember all the sins I committed since my last confession, and I would get frustrated because I would always forget something (there were so many sins). My problem back then was I did not have a personal relationship with Jesus and therefore I was unable to engage the Holy Spirit so that He could convict me of wrongdoing and wrong thinking.
But notice the other two things that Holy Spirit convicts us of in verses 10 and 11: righteousness and judgment. He convicts us of righteousness because Jesus has gone to the Father and we can not see Him. We do not have the ability to be righteous or even to recognize righteousness without the Holy Spirit. We must depend on the Holy Spirit to stay in relationship with Jesus. We must soak in His presence to be like Him.
Verse 11 says the Holy Spirit convicts us of judgment because the ruler of this world has already been judged. This is an important word. Satan has already been judged and there is no need for us to judge anyone else. That is why Jesus tells us not to judge others because judgment is a done deal – those walking in unbelief when Jesus comes will be judged by Him, not us.
John 3:
18 “…he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
Our focus needs to be on speaking the truth of God’s word to a confused world, not judging others.
2. Engage in Mercy & Truth
To stay in relationship with Jesus, we need to engage in mercy and truth. This is in line with the no judgement word from John 16:11 above and Matthew 7 below.
Matthew 7:
1 ¶ “Do not judge lest you be judged.
2 “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.
James 2:
13 For judgment [will be] merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
In Proverbs 3, we are taught to make friends with mercy (kindness) and truth.
Proverbs 3:
3 Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 So you will find favor and good repute In the sight of God and man.
The Hebrew word for “kindness” in verse 3 also means mercy. But note that we are to combine mercy with truth. That means we cannot accept what goes against the word of God, but we are to do so with mercy (kindness). When you love someone, you speak truth with kindness. We can have mercy because we are not in charge of judging, but we are charged with speaking the truth.
3. Avoid What God Hates
Staying in relationship with Jesus means we have to avoid what He hates.
Proverbs 6:
16 There are six things which the LORD hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him:
17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood,
18 A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil,
19 A false witness [who] utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers.
The term “haughty eyes” refers to a proud look, or a prideful spirit. God is opposed to the proud. He hates lying and the shedding of innocent blood. He hates wickedness and evil, false witnesses, and anyone who spreads strife among brothers. That last one is significant because there are many who spread strife when they do not engage in mercy.
4. Put Away Anger & Wrath
Handling our anger, even if we think it is righteous indignation, is a key to staying in relationship with Jesus.
Ephesians 4:
26 BE ANGRY, AND [yet] DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
27 and do not give the devil an opportunity.
Paul is acknowledging here that we will feel anger, but he teaches us not to stay in anger. If we stay in anger, if we do not acknowledge it before the Lord and surrender it to Him, then we sin.
And further, we grieve the Holy Spirit when we hang onto anger.
Ephesians 4:
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
32 And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
We will not stay in relationship with Jesus if we walk in bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, and malice. These are not Christ-like characteristics. You will not find these things in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Instead, you will find the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
Here are some other scriptures that encourage us to avoid anger and wrath:
James 1:
19 ¶ [This] you know, my beloved brethren. But let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak [and] slow to anger;
20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.
Proverbs 14:
29 ¶ He who is slow to anger has great understanding, But he who is quick-tempered exalts folly.
5. Choose Love
Staying in relationship with Jesus requires us to choose love. Galatians 5 tells us that the fruit of the Holy Spirit includes love. In Matthew 22, Jesus commanded us to love.
Matthew 22:
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
37 And He said to him, “‘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 foremost commandment.
39 “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’
40 “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
In addition, 1st John 4 says that God is love so we must walk in love to know Him and stay in relationship with Him.
1st John 4:
7 ¶ Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
Finally, let’s look at what love is and is not.
1st Corinthians 13:
4 ¶ Love is patient, love is kind, [and] is not jealous; love does not brag [and] is not arrogant,
5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong [suffered,]
6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love does not take into account a wrong suffered. That means love forgives, just like Jesus forgave Peter, Paul, and all of us. Love is forgiveness.
Closing
In closing, we have discussed five things we need to do to stay in relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus: 1) receive the Holy Spirit, 2) engage in mercy and truth, 3) avoid what God hates, 4) put away anger & wrath, and 5) choose love.
All these things are easy to say, but hard to do. In fact, if we fail to do the first one, if we do not receive the Holy Spirit, the others are undoable. So, let’s return to Jesus’ words in John 16.
John 16:
8 “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment;
9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me;
10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you no longer behold Me;
11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
12 “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear [them] now.
13 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
The Holy Spirit will convict us if we are not walking in mercy and truth, if we are doing what God hates, if we have anger and wrath in our spirits, and if we are not walking in love.
Give glory to Jesus!
Let us pray.
Father God, thank You for the Holy Spirit, who enables us to stay in relationship with Jesus. Quicken us to be merciful and truthful, and to avoid those things You hate. Convict us of pride, speaking untruths, spreading strife, and all things which are an abomination to You. Help to put away anger and wrath, and to instead choose love. In Jesus’ name we ask these things. Amen.
If anyone has not yet received the Lord Jesus Christ in their heart, and desires to do so, please repeat this prayer after me:
Father God, I repent of my sin and ask for forgiveness today. I confess and declare with my mouth that Jesus is Lord, and I believe with all my heart that You raised Him from the dead for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus, please come into my heart and change me. Send the Holy Spirit to guide and direct me in wisdom and to enable me to overcome temptation from this day forth. Thank You for my salvation. I look forward to the day of the Rapture when I can be with You forever. Amen.
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