Latest / The Salt Company - Denton / John 15 | The Vine

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John 15 | The Vine · The Salt Company - Denton

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so glad that you guys are here tonight joining us for small company.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: It takes a lot to be here.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, the night before Big Far Treat, we're gonna spend like 48, uh more than 48 hours uh together, which is just crazy uh to think about.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: So so glad that you guys uh joined us.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, we're gonna continue, and actually we're gonna finish uh our series through the book of John tonight.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: But hey, before we do that, got a quick question for you guys.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh in in this, have you guys ever had a friend?
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm mainly speaking to the fellas, but ladies, you might experience this too.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, have you guys ever had a friend who, like, once they start dating someone, just like completely disappear in life?
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like, has that has that ever happened to any of the fellas?
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Surely that has.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Harrison is nodding his head, yes.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: I wonder who that is, okay?
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Is he sitting in this room?
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe, who knows?
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Millie's saying, yes.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's crazy.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like, y'all are good friends, okay?
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: You guys know each other.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you grew up to together, maybe you go into middle school together.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, ladies, maybe you like got friendship voices with this girl fellas, or you're like going to Whataburger every Friday night, you're hooping on the weekends, you know this dude, and then all of a sudden they get into relationship, and it's like, where did that guy go?
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and all of a sudden you like see him in your kitchen one day and you're like, dude, where have you been for like the past two months?
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: I literally didn't know if you were alive or not, right?
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's just like crazy, crazy that that stuff like that happens.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like it is, like it is more common uh with the fellas, but um man, it it feels like I mean that that one person uh has done it, has done that to us.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the whole reason that it does happen in a way is because the moment that your boy gets cuffed, okay, we are in cuffing season right now, the moment that your boy gets cuffed, it's like his whole identity changes.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, what you used to know him as is like totally different.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, all of a sudden, like back back in the day, man, you're going to Whataburger for Friday night.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's like pumpkin patch on Saturday morning, okay?
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: He's gonna ask the girl if he's going like Texas.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Man, you know we don't really have great pump pumpkin patches, but you know, your girl wants that, okay?
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: And he's going with her to it.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, why?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Because the title of boyfriend, man, it's a big deal for this guy.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's a lot to live up to, and his identity in a way determines his activity.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Who he is determines what he does.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I I think in a way this just gets elevated in marriage, elevated in in so many ways.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, from the guy's side of a marriage, okay, ladies, can't exactly speak for you guys.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but from a guy's side of a marriage, I think this uh actually happens as well, right?
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: We we start to care about things that we once didn't really care about care about because our identity changes.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, for example, like fellas, live in single life, you're in college, maybe.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Man, we don't care about throw pillows, like we can hardly wash our own sheets, okay?
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then you get uh married, and all of a sudden you are throwing 15 throw pillows on the bed every single morning, and it takes 20 minutes just to make the bed.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, why are we doing this?
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just getting into bed at night.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: I just I don't need it to be uh look pretty.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: I I'm getting into it, right?
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's something that happens, okay?
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then all of a sudden it's made you care about dancing with the stars.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because your wife cares about it.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: You like having clean floors, the dishes done.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Not because she's doing it, but because she has conditioned you to do it, to like it with her, right?
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's what happens when you get married.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: All of a sudden you uh kind of like the lattes in the morning because it's it's fun.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: But you haven't drank coffee before that.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's fellas, it's gonna happen to you when you get married, okay?
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Just be on the lookout for it.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: But in a way, our identity determines our activity.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, the reason that I bring this up tonight is because in our final sermon through the I Am uh statements in the book of John, we're gonna see this played out in a way.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's in this final section of scripture, the final I am statement, that we see Jesus speaking to the eleven disciples.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's eleven because Judas has done his thing, he's uh kind of uh ditched them, and he's gonna go sell Jesus out, and Jesus is about to get uh captured and murdered the next day.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: But Jesus, he turns to his uh 11 disciples and he's gonna change their whole identity.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Everything that they know, who they are, is about to change.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: In turn, Jesus, I mean, he's gonna call their activity to change along with it.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Their identity changes, their activity is gonna change with it.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: You guys can open up John chapter 15.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna be in verse one.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: If you've got a Bible, it'll be uh up on the screen.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: I guess if you don't have a Bible, it'll be up on the screen.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: If you have one, John 15.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Excited to be in it tonight.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Last I am statement.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what it says in verse 1.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: It says, I am the true vine, and my father is the gardener.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: Every branch in me that does not produce fruit, he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit, so that it will produce more fruit.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you are you are already clean, because of the word I have spoken to you.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Remain in me and I in you, just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you, unless you remain in me.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: I am the vine, you are the branches.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: The one who remains in me, and I in him, produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: If any one does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch, and he withers.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: And he wraps it up in verse eight.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: He says, My father is glorified by this.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: What?
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: That you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's where we're gonna cut it for uh tonight, and we got plenty to jump into.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, we could go into uh a whole, maybe like probably a whole hour of what just this uh section of scripture is.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: We're not we're not quite yet, but we're gonna talk about things like, man, what does it mean to bear fruit, like pruning?
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like what is that?
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Being a dead branch.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna get onto that, but firstly, I want to direct you guys back to the original thought for tonight.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: The thought that our identity determines our activity and how Jesus is gonna change everything.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, now to us, Jesus claiming to be the true vine, like, isn't all that revolutionary, okay?
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Our idea of what we know about Jesus, who he is, being the vine.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Man, in fact, like we'd probably read this and we'd be like, yeah, we'd come to the conclusion, Jesus, man, that's a good thing that he is uh the true vine, and that we need to be connected to the source of life, the one who gives life, uh, uh he gives the nutrients to us, and we want to bear fruit that we can be connected to him.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: But we have to read in uh the the historical lens of the time through the cultural lens of what's happening in John 15.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, everyone here in this conversation, you gotta know this.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone here in this conversation, including Jesus and his 11 disciples, is Jewish.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, all these guys, they're Jewish, they would have been raised uh Jewish, they would have known their scriptures, right?
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: So the uh the Bible, the old scriptures, the prophets, everything, they would have known it and they would have known who their daddy was.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, they would have looked uh back to the line, they would have been able to trace exactly who their dads was, who their dad's dad was, who their uh you know, grandma was married to, everything.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: They could trace it back and they would have held their ancestry to high esteem.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: They would have cared who was on their family tree.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus, when he says this, it's kind of changing everything for them.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of saying, because when Jesus says it, he says, Hey, I am the true vine.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: He's saying this, he's saying, I like I am the true Israel.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: I am the better Israel.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, in a way, all throughout the old scripture, like the Old Testament, God he describes the nation of Israel as uh a vine, as the children of God, right?
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: As a vine.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's not always in a good way, but God, through his prophet Isaiah, says this in Isaiah 5, describes Israel as a vine.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: See if you can see it.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I will sing about the one I love, a song about my loved uh one's vineyard.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: The one I love had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: He broke up the soil, cleared it of its stones, and planted it with its finest vines.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: He built a tower in the middle of it, and even dug out a wine press there.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: He expected it to yield good grapes, but it yielded worthless grapes.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: You can see it.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, God is uh describing his people as a vineyard.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: But in this case, it's a vineyard that doesn't produce good grapes.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: What is a vineyard supposed to do?
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: Good grapes, good wine.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, can't make good wine out of bad grapes.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: If you know the story of Isaiah, then you know that during this time, Israel is in a it in a period of bloodshed and disobedience to God.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: Civil disobedience, uh, civil uproar, economic distress.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: People are are dying.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: But God has provided everything they need in this time.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: Everything they need.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: He's attended to them.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: He is uh kind of helped them grow in a way, and yet at the end of the day, they produce nothing of value to them.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Again, in Psalm 80, the author retells of the Exodus.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: He says, You dug up a vine from Egypt.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: You drove out the nations and planted it, you cleared a place for it, it took root and filled the land.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, what does he do?
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Man, he uh the the author he's thinking back to what has happened in Exodus, that God would take out Israel out of slavery in Egypt, bring them across, you know, split Moses, bang, he'd split the Red Sea and they go through, go into the promised land, clear out the nations.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: The Canaanites would would leave, they would uh find a place there and they might fill it.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: The nation of Israel, described as a vine, a plant that is curated by God, planted by God, and overseen by God.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: So we gotta go back to the story.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, these Jewish guys hearing that Jesus saying that he is the true vine.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Their whole identity in this moment would have been, I am a Jewish man.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's what these guys are saying.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, they hear the history of their families, their fathers, and they would identify with those guys over anything else in this world.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: Anything else in their world, they're identifying with who they are as Jews.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's not like what their job is as you know, tax collectors, scribes, whatever it is.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's not their job, it's not where they live in the city or what tax bracket they're in.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, on Sundays, man, Cowboys fans, like y'all don't care who's winning as long as it's not the Eagles.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, ladies, I've said this.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's like you pick your couple at the start of Dancing with the Stars, Connor and Riley, I'm going to the end.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: My money's on them, okay?
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's like you are staying faithful to them.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: You're tracking like through thick and thin, I'm with those guys.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: This is what uh these fellows would have been like.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: These Jewish disciples, that's how they would have uh thought of their life, of who they are.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: But what Jesus is doing here, I mean, he's changing the entire landscape, the entire thought process of these guys he's changing it.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Their entire history, everything they would have known to this point is in jeopardy when Jesus says, I am the true vine.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: Abide in me.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because what he's saying here is these guys, he's saying, hey, forget, forget the history, forget the ancestry.com.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: I am what you want to be connected to.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: I am the true vine.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: You need to abide in me.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: Your identity needs to be found in me.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: He sums this up in verse four.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Remain in me and I in you.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: He's saying, Hey, I am worth abiding in, I am worth remaining in.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's calling his eleven disciples to no longer identify with the nation of Israel, but with the king of the world, that being Jesus.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: Tell them to change their identity and in turn change their activity.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, Jesus in the same way.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's calling us to do to do the exact same thing.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: Because when we believe in the saving blood of Jesus, the blood that was spilt on our behalf on the cross, when he endured the wrath of God, it changes who we are.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: It changes everything.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: It changes who we are, it changes the identity that we once had.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like before our faith in Jesus' man, you might have been the fun sorority girl who everyone likes.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: You might have been the massive party animal that like every Snapchat video is you doing something crazy, and every weekend you're waking up in some different place.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: You might be the athlete that just is so dedicated to their craft that, like, no matter what, you are gonna be good at this thing, and you just let everyone else do their thing.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: And you don't care about anyone else.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because, but once you're saved, man, once you come to faith in Jesus, the identity changes.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: Everything that we care about changes.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: All of a sudden, now we're man, we're not the party animal who's waking up in a different place every weekend, who's uh at the butt of any every joke.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: No, you are the daughter of God, saved by grace through faith, and are redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus, called to be a light among your teammates, your roommates, and your classmates.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: You are uh no longer the cool guy who everyone wants to be friends with, the cool guy in class.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: No, you are a son of God saved by grace through faith, and are called to live with your hands lifted high to God, who are holy and lifted to him.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: The disciples, may they have their identities changed here by Jesus.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: And when we come to saving faith in him, our identities change in the same way.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Fundamentally, who we are changes.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Which brings us to the second half of what we're talking about tonight.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: If our identity determines our activity, we're hanging out in that activity part for the rest of tonight.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: You can look quickly with me at John 15.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: You'll see what we as Christians are called to do now.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus, he says this.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I am the true vine, and my father is the gardener.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: Every branch in me that does not produce fruit, he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: So guys, he's here's what I was saying.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: In order, I meant to paint a picture of what's happening.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus, he kind of goes back to the uh the analogy that that he uses of a vine.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, the analogy of the Old Testament, Jesus, he's using here in the New Testament of a vine.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, now now we can imagine, right?
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: This this plant uh type deal, most vines back in the day, grapes, you know, wine, everything, it's like Welches, you know, all those ads.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's like that.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we're thinking uh about.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: And it would have it not too far off.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, we've got this plant, probably a small uh, you know, trunk to it, and then vines, branches going everywhere.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: Everywhere.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: So so we can really kind of call this what we got here is like almost a small tree.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, small tree.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: And the thing that we need to understand here is our goal.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, what do we do now as Christians?
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: What's our goal?
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: What is our goal as spiritual plants in the garden of Jesus?
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: If you think like, man, what's the goal of a tree?
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: What's the goal of any plant?
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: Are you you look at that and then it becomes pretty clear.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, you plant uh an apple tree because it grows apples.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: You plant an orange tree because it produces oranges, okay?
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: You you could plant a Coke zero tree because it produces Coke Zero, okay?
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: That would be my house, my entire backyard filled with Coke Zero trees, okay?
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's heaven to me right there.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: The closest thing to heaven we have is Coke Zero.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, but for real, man, we are planted by God, we're saved by him in our lives as Christians start.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: Our goal is what?
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: To bear fruit.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: To be a spiritual plant that produces fruit.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: And when you plant, you know, a Jesus tree in the depths of your heart, there's an expectation that you bear fruit that's similar to Jesus.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: That you bear fruit that looks similar to what Jesus looked like.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure where your where your mind goes, of like, okay, spiritual, spiritual true uh fruit.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: What what are we talking about here?
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what do I need to be on the lookout for to tell me, man, am I bearing fruit?
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Am I not?
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: But the Bible is pretty clear.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty clear on what we need to be looking for.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: Galatians 5, it says this.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: It gives us the fruit of the Spirit, making it easy for us.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: It says, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: So as Christians, man, these characteristics of the Spirit are now what we are expected to represent with how we live our lives.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: How we live our lives, we are looking to bear these.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: That people might look at us and notice that, man, you've you've grown in your patience.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you've grown in your love.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: Your self-control is impeccable.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: That people would notice that where we were once filled with hate, now we we love.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: We're expected to love those people.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: At one point we would escalate every conflict we be in.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now we should have patience, seek peace in those scenarios.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: When before Jesus, man, we would pursue after any desire that we have in our heart, and it would reign over our hearts.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now we're expected to show some self-control.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: And in order for us to achieve all that we have in Jesus, guys, there's a couple things that we must get straight, a couple things that we have to know in our hearts to understand that we might produce the fruit in this life that we are called to produce.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I want each and every one of you guys to live up to the fruit that God is calling us to produce.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I want everyone to produce as much fruit as possible.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because in reality, guys, there's there's two branches in this story.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, if you go back to uh what verse uh uh two is saying, it says, every branch in me that does not produce fruit, he removes.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: He prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, you've got the branch that produces fruit, and you got the branch that doesn't produce fruit.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: I want you guys to be the branch that produces fruit.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: I would hate for us to be the dead branch that's not producing anything that's cut off.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, because at the end of the day, I mean Jesus, God, in his ultimate plan for our life, for redemptive story, okay, he's expecting us to bear fruit.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're not willing to do that, guys, we'll find someone else to do it.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: Later on, it says, I mean, they'll be cut off, thrown out, and burned.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: But guys, I don't want you guys to end up like that.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I want you to bear as much fruit as possible.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: Let's learn how to do that.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: I think we've got two things, fun two fundamental practices that we have to have in our lives in order to do this.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: See if you can catch it.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna read verse four.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: It says, Remain in me and I in you.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: Neither can you unless you remain in me.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: I am the vine, you are the branches.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: My father is glorified by this that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, guys, it's pretty obvious here.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like, pretty obvious.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: If you can read, I which I assume all of you guys can, okay, you go to a division one uh institution, I'm assuming all you guys can read, then you're gonna notice, like, okay, the word remain pops up seven times in five verses.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I've counted.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: Seven times in five verses.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: Which, if you're ever reading any uh sort of scripture, uh especially in that short of uh span, if something comes up that much, it's a good sign that uh God is probably trying to get you to hear a message that he wants you to hear.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, the message here is remain.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: In some translations it says that uh they use the word abide.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: Remain in him, abide in him.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I think in order to be spiritually fruitful in this life, first, first and foremost, we got to remain in Jesus.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because when I was uh in middle school, in high school, even into my college years, guys.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: If you asked me if I was a Christian, okay, I would have totally said, like, oh yeah, I'm a Christian.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: I believe in Jesus.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I would have said all the things that you probably should have, because I grew up going to church, my family, uh, you know, my parents, my four sisters, we go to church every Sunday, even when we had a baseball tournament.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's like we're going to the early service, okay?
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I knew what I needed to know, but I didn't know it in a way.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: If you would have looked at my life back then, you'd been like, yeah, that dude ain't a Christian.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely not.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely not.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: The reason for this, I mean, I think in my like little teenage boy mind, it's like I was totally okay going to church on Sundays.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: Opening up my Bible during the hour, not even the 30 minutes that we had service me, singing some songs, and then just leaving and then living my life however I wanted to.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: Monday through Saturday.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: Me.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: In college, I mean, kind of brought this even to like another level when I discovered what alcohol was.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: It was like crazy, okay?
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: Not great for my spiritual walk, underage drinking, believe it or not.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: But seriously, I it'd be like, man, church on Sundays.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: It was COVID, so I wasn't going to church very much.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it's like I was totally okay with potentially, man, going to church on Sunday, getting my uh, you know, fill of Jesus, then opening my Bible sporadically, maybe praying sporadically, and then just living my life however I wanted to.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: Going crazy on the weekends, drinking with my my friends, doing crazy stuff, waking up the next day feeling all sorts of conviction.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: But there'd be some days that you know I would read, some days that I would pray, but that was just enough to kind of get the conviction out of my life so that I can continue to do what I want to do.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: And right now I feel like I mean, I would hate for that to be some of you guys.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I would think that just because I mean you get the hit on a Thursday night, you get the hit of Jesus that you need on a Sunday morning, that that you're all good.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: That the rest of the week is is free game.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I would have described myself in that time as one person who is one foot in the Word of God, one foot in the world, trying to balance both of these lifestyles.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: Charles Spirit, he says this about the person who's one foot in, one foot out.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: He says the most miserable per miserable person in the world is the half-committed Christian.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: Just enough into God to be miserable in the world, but just enough into the world to be miserable in God.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: Both of them aren't good enough for that person.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: John 15 says that we need to remain in Jesus, abiding in Jesus.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a one time decision, it's not an option for us to remain.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: No, it is necessary.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: Someone says this, uses the same imagery, says, How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked, nor stand in the pathway of sinners, or sits in the company of mockers.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, his delight is in the Lord's instruction.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Meditates on it day and night.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: Get this.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever he does, he prospers.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because we're called to be spiritual trees that have been firmly plant that have been firmly planted next to the flowing waters of Jesus.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: The waters that give life, the waters that never run dry, the waters that ultimately help us bear fruit in this life.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: It says that we're unable to bear fruit by ourselves.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: That we need to be attached to the vine in order to do so.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, that's not a hit at you.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's not like, hey, you're not good enough, but rather, hey, you can't do it without being attached to the vine.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: Be covered.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, let Jesus produce the fruit in your life.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: So we need to remain in Jesus, remain in the vine in order to bear fruit.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: But we also need to be pruned.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: We need to be pruned.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, verse 2, it says, Every branch in me that does not produce fruit, he removes.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: He says this, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: Do we have any botanists in the room?
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, the only reason I know that word is because of the Matt Damon, where he's on Mars.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, he calls himself a botanist.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: But is it anyone who likes likes plants, okay?
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: Anyone got like a windowsill, like plant type deal.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not I'm not talking about the fake stuff, I'm talking about the real stuff.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: Soil, plants, you gotta water it.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: It takes in, you know, sunlight, all that stuff.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: Man, you know, anyone knows that that if you have those plants, then an essential part of growing any plant in in your house or out in your yard is the practice of pruning, okay?
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: Miles knows this, he's a big plant guy, his dad knows it uh probably better.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: Is that you man, you gotta like prune, you gotta prune this plant in order for it to thrive.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, for the longest time, I thought pruning was like what happens when you sit in the hot tub for too long.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, it's like your fingers get get pruned, you know.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's still true, but I'm I'm not entirely sure.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: But guys, this is all something that happens in garden in gardening, okay?
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: What happens is man, gardeners, they look at the plants that they have in their garden.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like what's grown well, what isn't grown well, and what they do is they cut away all the dead branches.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: They cut away all the weeds that are surrounding these plants.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: Not only do they remove the dead branches, but they also very carefully, very selectively, very delicately remove the branches that are deformed, that are diseased, that aren't producing the fruit that they're supposed to be.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: As a result of this practice, I mean, the plant, it's able to thrive.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's able to produce more fruit than what it was beforehand.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: They do this so that the plant might be as healthy as possible.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: They prune it, they cut away the bad stuff, they cut away the weeds.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: And in the same way, a very real part of our lives.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: Being connected as branches to the true vine of Jesus is the practice of pruning.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, so who does the pruning?
• 24:47
  unknown: Right?
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's a question that we gotta ask.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like, do the branches get to decide who stays and who goes?
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's not, it's like, is it up to a vote?
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like, does the the head honcho branch get to uh pick, like, hey, I don't like that guy, he's not doing too much, or I think this guy might be dead.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, no, of course not.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: The branches doesn't do not get to pick who gets to stays.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's the gardener, right?
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's the gardener who does it.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: The vine dresser is the one who keeps the branches.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 1 says that God is our vine dresser.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: God is our gardener.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: He is the one who decides which part of the branches stay.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: Which one stays, which one goes, which one gets thrown out?
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: But how does God do this?
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: How does uh the pruning happen?
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: Do we just wake up one day and we're pruned and everything's great?
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: Of course not.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: I wish it was like that, but it's not.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 4 says this about the word of God.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: It says, for the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: But the avenue that God takes in order to prune us is actually the very word of God.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: The very word that we are called to abide in, to remain in, is the word of God.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: He uses it to very carefully and effectively convict us and to prune any of the branches that are fruitless in our lives.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the obvious next step is like, okay, you know, what needs to get pruned?
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get after this pruning stuff, which I think is ambitious.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: I like it.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm gonna just take a quick time out on that.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's a valid question, but I think there's actually a bigger one that's set before us here.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: And it's this, it's are you willing to be pruned?
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: Are you willing to be cut?
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: Being cut, being pruned, it's not fun.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, it in fact, it actually uh uh uh it implies that we're like going through some sort of suffering.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: That we are cut, that that we would uh a part of our spiritual soul maybe we're like bleeding, we're we're uh get being cut off in a way.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I have a uh a low pain tolerance, okay?
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's like I I I lifted yesterday, I'm still sore.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh my gosh, get this out of me, okay?
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: You you like punch me, I'm probably over in the in the you know corner trying to find some ice for this.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: I have a low pain tolerance.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: I don't like uh, you know, pain.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: I would not like getting cut.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: But guys, if you're pruned, you're gonna be cut.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's a part of the Christian life that if you are pruned, you will suffer in some way.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because what we hope to be like is Jesus.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: The characteristics that we hope for are the characteristics of the spirit, of what Jesus exemplified in his life.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: But how much like Jesus are you willing to be like?
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: How much like the Son of Suffering are you willing to follow?
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: Are you willing to be pruned in the way that Jesus was pruned?
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: His stripes are freedom.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: Are you willing to bear a couple of those stripes to be pruned for his name's sake?
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: Because at the end of the day, because the process of becoming like Jesus, I mean, it isn't simple.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's not simple, it's not quick, and it definitely is not painless.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: In the end, it costs it costs everybody something.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: The cost of following Jesus for some people is everything.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: For some people is uh a part of their life.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like the relationship that you know is not pursued, is not pushing you towards Jesus.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: Man, are you willing for that relationship to get pruned, to cut that person out of your life?
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: The addiction that that's in your life, no, no matter what it be, would it be uh pornography, uh, alcohol, the women, the the bars on the weekend, like are you willing to give that up for the Lord?
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: Because it costs everyone something.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna cost all of us our pride, some comfort, and the momentary happiness that with the fleeting happiness that we get for us to be in the end more like Jesus.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: Pruned to look more like Jesus.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because in order to do this, guys, we have to hop onto the spiritual operating table in order to be pruned.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: We have to be willing to get pruned, okay?
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like imagine if I'm uh you know just hanging out all of a sudden for some reason break my leg.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, it'd be like crazy that that happened, but I've got like a broken, it's clear, it's all the way through.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: I can't walk on it, anything.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, I go to the doctor and he's like, okay, we can we can do this.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what's gonna happen.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna pay me a couple thousand dollars, but we're not gonna talk about that yet.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: And you're gonna uh get up on this operating table, you're gonna get into the gown, and uh what we're gonna do is we're gonna uh cut you open and we're gonna look at the look at the bone and we're just gonna rearrange everything.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: We're probably gonna put like uh you know some some some screws in there, and then in like you know, probably uh four months, we're gonna be good.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, you're gonna be able to walk again, you can play sports again, everything.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and if if I go in there and I'm just like, hey doc, you know, I get that you want me to do that, but in the is like, can you just give me a shot for this?
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like, is there is there a pill that I can take to like heal my bone?
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: He'd be like, dude, not how it works.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: Not how it works at all.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, if you want that, you might have to go spend some more money, probably probably somewhere that's not the US.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: You'd look at me and you'd be like, Oh, and yes, that's not how it works.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta sit through the process, you gotta go into surgery, you gotta get the screws into the bone in order to grow, in order for that to heal.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, we in order for my leg to heal, man, I have to willingly get on that operating table and say, Doc, cut me open.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: We, in the same way, have to do this.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: Spiritually, we have to get on the spiritual operating table and trust that our surgeon, who is God, is going to cut us open.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: To take out the things that are unnecessary in our life and willingly give that up that we might more look like Jesus.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, what does that look like for a lot of people?
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: Man, I think uh to start, it's like man, going to connection group.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: Not only going to connection group on a you know Monday night or a Tuesday night, but actually going and participating and being real and being authentic and caring in, like listening to what your leaders have, answering the questions, confessing sin at the end of your connection group.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: Not only confessing sin, but can confessing it fully and asking for the accountability from your connection group members.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like, guys, keep me accountable.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh CG leaders, keep me accountable.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want this in my life.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: I need help.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: The sin that you have never told anyone is like, will you let that be on the operating table of your life?
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because if we want to grow fruit in our lives, we have to trust in God that He is gonna handle the knife of our spiritual life with care, that He's gonna do it uh precisely, He's gonna do it with care, He's gonna do it effectively, that there's a purpose in everything, that we might look more and more like Jesus at the end of the day.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: God will use the small cuts of pruning to produce in us a fruit that looks like Jesus and is plentiful like Jesus.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: So to be fruitful, we must remain and we must endure some pruning in our life.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: And guys, tonight we could end uh that right there, and uh it would be a solid sermon, but it'd probably do you more harm than good because at the end of the day, I mean, we gotta realize one thing.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: We gotta realize one statement to to end this whole I am statement series.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and it's uh definitely for this one.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, it applies to all the I am statements, but definitely to this one.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: We've got to understand this is that you are not the point.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: That you are not the point at all.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 8 says this my father is glorified by this.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's not you are glorified by this, it's not uh, you know, Emiliano is glorified by this, okay?
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's not Evi is glorified by this.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's that my father is glorified by this, the remaining, the pruning.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: He is glorified by this, that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, which is hard.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_00: Hard to hear that, right?
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: That we might suffer a little bit, that we might suffer in small areas, sacrifice in small areas of our life, and it's not even for our own good.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it's it is for our own good, but it's not even for us to keep.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: The fruit that we bear, man, it's not ours.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's not ours to have or to keep.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: But this fruit, the the end result of our pruning, the end result of our abiding, remaining in him is to exalt the name of Jesus, to glorify the Father.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think too often we try to uh take this whole Jesus thing and we're like, okay, what can I get out of it?
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: I see Jesus, he says all these I have standings, but like surely there's got to be something in there for me that I can take, make my life here just a little bit better.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: We're too often treating Jesus like like a grocery store.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, we go in, uh we we get what we want, we get the fruit, the good fruit that we want.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh some of the dudes, we're not getting fruit.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, you know, the ladies is like, man, we're getting all the good stuff, the good groceries, and we we get what we want, we don't get what we don't want, and we and we walk out, okay?
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: We're having it our way.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's like Jesus is not like Burger King, okay?
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: We're not having it our way, you're not the king, okay?
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: He is the king, though.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: Too often we're trying to treat Jesus like this grocery store where we get it our way, we get what we want, and we get out.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's not the point.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: We are not the point of this story.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: The fruit that we bear is not for us to have and to keep, but it's for the exaltation of Jesus, the glory of the Father.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: And guys, we are not the point because at one point we disqualified ourselves from that.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: This feels like something we gotta know is that we are not the point because at one point, when we sin, we disqualify ourselves from that.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: We sin against an eternal God, which means we have an eternal punishment coming for us.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: He is a just God, he will give what is deserved.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: And we cannot be at the center, we we cannot be at the center of a redemptive story.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because we are sinners.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because we are imperfect beings, ones who need proving.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_00: A sinner cannot be at the center of God's story.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: That is us sinners, unable to do it.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: You guys, can I tell you some of the good news?
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: That we don't have to be the main point in this story because Jesus is.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: We don't have to be the hero in the story because Jesus is.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: He defeated death when he rose from the grave and is seated at the right hand of the throne.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the point, Jesus is the hero, Jesus is the humble king.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus, he asks nothing of our hands.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_00: There is nothing that we can do to get closer to God.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing that we can do that we might uh earn our way to heaven.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus asks nothing of our hands, but he has everything of our hearts.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: He asks nothing of our hands, but he asks everything of our hearts.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: And when you do believe, everything changes.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: Our identity goes from children of wrath to children of God, brought close to the Father.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: Our activity of living in sin that leads to death, it changes.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: Suddenly it leaves a bitter aftertaste in our mouth.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: A meaningless life is now given purpose, addictions are broken, suffering is met with joy, chaos is countered with peace.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: People who were once unforgivable are now forgiven.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: When we believe everything changes, not because of you, but because of Jesus.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, five, six weeks on this.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: Figuring out who is Jesus.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: How does this apply for us?
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: But but can I just tell you exactly who Jesus is quickly?
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: And and we're gonna end with this.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what Jesus says He says that I am the bread of life.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_00: I am the light of the world.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: Who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: I am the door.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: Whoever enters by me will be saved, and he will go in and out and find pasture.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: I am the good shepherd, I know my own, in my own know me.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: I am the resurrection and the life.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: Whoever believes in me, although he may die, yet shall he live.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: I am the way, the truth, and the life.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_00: No one comes to the Father except through me.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_00: I am the true vine.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: My father is the vine dresser.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away, and every branch in me that does bear fruit, he prunes, then it may be more fruitful.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because that is who Jesus is.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus doesn't just feed you, guys, he fulfills you.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus doesn't just give us the light, no, he is the light.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus isn't just a door, no, he is the doorway to eternity.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: He isn't just a lamb, he is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the flock.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus doesn't just prevent death, he conquers it.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus, uh he isn't just uh one of the ways to the Father, no, he is the way to the Father.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_00: He isn't just a way to get fruit.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_00: No, he is the prize that we desire at the end.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: Better than any fruit that we can bear here.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus is.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: I pray that you would.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: So let me close this in prayer.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_00: God, you are eternal.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_00: God, you are good, you are just, you are all-knowing, all-powerful, you are always.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: God, you are.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_00: God, I pray that you would speak to us in that way tonight, that we might just get a glimpse of who you are tonight.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_00: God, I'm so grateful that you have revealed yourself to us through the prophets, through the scriptures, that you have fulfilled those, that you have came and you've walked, you've lived a perfect life that we were unable to live, that you have died a death, that we deserve to die, and you hung on a cross, bearing the wrath of the Father, that we might one day walk with you in eternity.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: God, I pray right now that uh myself, that uh these students here, would that we would take an internal look at our life and that we would examine what needs to be pruned?
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: But before we do that, God, I pray that you would give us the heart to get on the operating table of our lives, that we might lay ourselves before you and say, Lord, do what you must.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: Prune what you must.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: What relationship uh do we not need?
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: What habits do we need to break?
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_00: What addiction needs to go away?
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_00: What I pray that we would give ourselves to be pruned.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_00: God, I pray that we would remain in you, that we can do nothing apart from you.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: God, I pray that we would bear fruit not for our own sake.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_00: That we become more like you, not for our own sake, but that we might glorify you, that we might exalt the name of Jesus.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_00: God, I pray this in your name.
• 39:41
  unknown: Amen.