Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20251221 - GREATER Abiding - John 15:1-3

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#20251221 - GREATER Abiding - John 15:1-3 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Amen.
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Open your Bibles to John chapter 15.
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John chapter 15. We're in the middle of our
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series for the new year that we've entitled Greater, Greater.
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It's the Greek word megas, or where we get our English word
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mega. As we look into a new year, God
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is looking for greater, bigger mega things in your life.
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And as I was praying, putting these studies together, we
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started out the first week with the title of the message,
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Greater Little by little. It's counterintuitive.
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I'm learning with this series of the topics that God has given me
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because we think, oh, greater, bigger, it's going to be
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amazing. But often the work of God is
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little by little. Like with the children of
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Israel, He didn't give them the land right away.
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And he told them straight up, I'm not giving it to you right
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away. You can't handle it.
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I'm going to prepare you for the work I have prepared for you.
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And as we enter into a new year and anticipating great things,
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we also need to remember it's God's timing, it's God's will,
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God's way. Then we learn in our last study
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that God is going to lead us into greater faith.
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Why? Because without faith, it's
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impossible to please God. And we studied through Chapter
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11 of the book of Hebrews, the Hall of Faith.
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And I encouraged you because we just read through it, but I
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encouraged you if you want greater faith.
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When we studied through Hebrews, I took each individual in that
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chapter and we studied their life and how faith affected
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their life. And it will build you because
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what does the Bible say? Faith comes by hearing and what
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hearing by the word of God. And you'll never go wrong
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reading and studying the Bible today.
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Our topic is greater abiding, greater abiding.
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We're not going after and chasing greater things.
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We're waiting on the Lord, renewing our strength, allowing
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Him to do what He desires to do in our lives, staying put, which
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is what Jesus was teaching the disciples here in John 15.
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They're in between the upper Room here on their way into the
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Garden of Gethsemane. If you'll go, if you're going to
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Israel with us at the end of the year, one of our stops is the
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Garden of Gethsemane. There's actually two parts to
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it. There is the more public busy
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part where you go in and see the church they built there and walk
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through a small little garden. But then we rent the private
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garden, which is across the street.
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It's walled and and very, very quiet considering how loud
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Jerusalem is. And you have time to pray in the
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garden to, to seek the Lord. They don't know how important
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the garden of Gethsemane is yet. And on their way to the garden,
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Jesus takes the opportunity while they're walking those
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dusty roads to teach them about the importance of abiding.
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Notice with me in John 15 in verse 1.
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He says I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser.
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Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and
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every branch that bears fruit he prunes that it may bear more
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fruit. You are already clean because of
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the word which I have spoken to you.
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Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit
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of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless
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you abide in Me. Verse five.
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I am the vine, and you are the branches.
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He who abides in Me, I in him bears.
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You might want to mark that bears much fruit, for without Me
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you can do nothing. This part of instruction of
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Jesus. He uses very familiar language
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and pictures. He uses the vine.
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He declares himself to be the vine for the mind of the Jewish
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believer in the 1st century. They know exactly what he's
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talking about because often the Bible uses vine to describe the
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nation of Israel. If you're taking notes, you can
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just jot it down. It's used in Isaiah chapter 5.
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It's used in Hosea chapter 10, and let me read to you in
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Jeremiah chapter 2 verse 21, it says, yet I had planted you a
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noble vine, a seed of the highest quality.
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How then have you turned before me into the degenerate plant of
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an alien vine? God says through the prophet
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Jeremiah to the nation of Israel.
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God's desire for Israel is that they be fruitful.
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That was his desire, that they bear much fruit that glorifies
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him. But instead, over and over again
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we read of Israel forsaking God, jumping headlong into idolatry
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and rebellion. And with that in mind, Jesus
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looks at his disciples and he says I am the true vine.
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A very strong statement. I'm the vine.
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And notice what he says. He says I'm the true vine.
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You can circle that word and right next to it, real or
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authentic, in contrast to the nation of Israel who was
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fruitless, rebellious and empty. Jesus says once again, I'm the
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true vine. I'm the fulfillment of the
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perfection God requires. I will be the one that is
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obedient, fruitful, and full of the will of God.
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And he's instructing his disciples at the same time not
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to trust in their heritage. Just because you're from Israel
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doesn't mean you're going to be fruitful not to trust in their
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religion. As over and over again Jesus
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says what you have heard it said, but I say to you, you have
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heard it said, but I say to you, and can't you hear now in the
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21st century that you can't trust in your heritage?
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You can't trust in the Christian heritage that's been handed down
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to you or your religious experience or even the works
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that you offer to God. You have to be in the vine.
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That's key. He says not only is he the true
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vine, but then he introduces us to the vine dresser.
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He says, my father, my dad, my ABBA, the Hebrew is the vine
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dresser. Now we don't use the word vine
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dresser very much. Let me give you a word that will
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be very familiar to you. The NLT, the New Living
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Translation translates this. My father is the gardener.
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He's like, oh, now I get a gardener.
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All you gardeners in the house are like, finally he's going to
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talk about what I'm into. Yes, you gardeners there.
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Our father is the gardener. The the message paraphrase
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refers to him as the farmer, the tender of the land.
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Jesus is saying I'm the vine and my father, my ABBA is the one
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that takes care of me. My ABBA is the one that tends
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the vine and cultivates the vineyard.
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He is the father my sufficiency I am in, He takes care of me.
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I'm the vine and my father makes sure everything is there for me
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to bear much fruit. Now, these are difficult words
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to receive in a world that we live in that's filled with
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self-sufficiency, maybe even in your own heart, self-sufficient,
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taking great pride in all of your accomplishments and all
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that you've done to hear that you need someone to take care of
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you, that you have someone to take care of you.
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Because as we'll see in a moment, we have the vine, we
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have the vine dresser. But then we're introduced to the
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branches. He says in verse 2, he says
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every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he the Father takes
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away. But every branch that bears
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fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit.
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The branch. Now we have we have the vine,
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Jesus, the gardener, the vine dresser, the Father who is the
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branch, you and me. It's a beautiful picture of a
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real relationship, really. We could say today that
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following Jesus into the new year is a lot like a garden.
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Left untended and uncared for, plants begin to die and weeds
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start to sprout. The weeds, you don't need to
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cultivate them. You don't need to feed them.
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You don't even need to take care of them.
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Weeds have a tendency to grow by themselves with no care at all.
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They're just there and they take over.
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And when spring times comes, I already know there's going to be
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a Saturday. Saturday morning, it's my day
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off. There's going to be a Saturday
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morning when I hear the beautiful voice of Marie through
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the house, and it sounds something like this.
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It's time to go take up the weeds.
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And that's why I hide in the basement.
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It's much harder to hear her down in the basement.
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And that's what we're going to do most of all day Saturday
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before I come into service. We're going to go out, we're
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going to get that little thing that's soft you can put your
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knees on. She's going to, so we don't have
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a very big yard, but it always gets overtaken with weeds.
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She's going to start on one side, I'm going to start on the
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other. And after a few hours we're
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going to meet in the middle and I'm going to hate every single
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second of it because the weeds. And you know what's going to
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happen, 2 weeks later, I'm going to hear that same beautiful
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voice say that they're back. They're back because weeds don't
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need anything. They come all by themselves.
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I always think like, why can't plants be like weeds?
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Because plants need all this attention and all this care and
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to get them to grow and nothing seems to grow very well and
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call, it's so hard, like, why can't plants be like weeds?
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But that's not how it works. The weeds come.
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The weeds come and they're, they're part of the curse.
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You know, it's very, very challenging.
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The plants or the plants need a lot of care, a lot of concern.
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Marie's got these plants all over the house now too.
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And she's rehabbing. Everybody's giving her all her
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plans to rehab. And, and there was one day not
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too long ago, there's a, there's one upstairs right by the right
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upstairs, right by the stairs. And I heard Marie walking by and
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she stopped and started talking to the plant.
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You're doing so good or something.
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I don't remember what she said, but I'll just think about it.
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You're doing so good. You're so beautiful.
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Whatever. So right after she went
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downstairs, I walked behind her and I went to that plant.
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I said I hate you. I don't know what I said, but I
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said I don't know what's your problem.
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You get all my attention, all of my attention from my wife or
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whatever, whatever. But I don't know.
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You know how they do those experiments?
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You talk to plants. You guys know that, right?
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It's like I'm not mean to plants.
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I'm not a plant hater, but it's a beautiful picture.
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Truly. We Jesus taught in such a way
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where you could understand He's the vine.
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You're the branch in the vine and you don't need to worry
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about anything. Your father's going to take care
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of you. He's got it all covered.
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He's going to take care of every aspect of your life.
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All you need to do is stay in the vine.
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That's all you need to do. Just stay put.
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Notice in verse 4, abide in me. You can circle that word abide.
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It means to stay put. If you need a word, the Greek
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word, to help you remember abide.
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It's the Greek word meno. Meno.
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It means what? Stay put.
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Don't move, don't move. Abide in the true vine.
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And here's what's happening today, though there are many
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believers wandering around, tasting different vines, trying
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to plug in a different, you know, there's some new thing on
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YouTube. Oh, great.
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And there's some new thing and some new book and some new
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pamphlet and something, something new.
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And you have left the true vine for someone's interpretation of
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the vine or somebody's new idea or something.
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And before you know it, you're going here, here, here, here,
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here. And you're just soft of your
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energy. You're not bearing fruit
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anymore. You're you're pretty good at
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moving around and running around, but you're not doing
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very well staying put. This is what Jesus said stay in
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me, don't move, stay in me and I in you and we go well, why?
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And he says because the branch that's you and me, we cannot
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bear fruit of itself only if you abide in the vine.
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And then he says that illustration, Neither can you
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unless you abide in me. The place of fruitfulness, which
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is God's will for your life and mine is in the vine where the
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Father takes care of you. He knows what he's doing with
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your life. He knows the why and the how and
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the when and the what, and the way that you have a piece that
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passes all understanding and enjoy life is to obediently
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abide in Christ. Did you notice he says there's
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two types of branches. There are branches that bear
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fruit and there are branches that do not bear fruit.
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I'm not going to spend a lot of time on getting into the
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theological issues about branches that don't bear fruit.
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I did that when we were studying through this verse by verse.
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You can go and listen to that Bible study if you'd like, but I
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do want to emphasize today that there are branches that bear
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fruit and there are those that don't, and those that don't are
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taken away. They are no longer in the vine,
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that that could be the Father, that that could be you wandering
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away, but they're taken away. They're not bearing fruit.
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They're not going to bear fruit because they're not abiding in
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Christ. However, what I want to
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emphasize for the new year are the branches that do bear fruit,
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because the branches that do bear fruit, you know what
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happens in their lives. You know what the gardener does?
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He sees that and he says, oh, I think this branch can even do
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more. And what does he do?
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He prunes, which can be painful. I see that with some of the
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plants that Maria's rehabbing that, especially that one that's
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upstairs. She cut that thing down to
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nothing when she first got it, and now it is tall and got these
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leaves and it is exactly what it needed.
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But I'm sure if it could talk and you were walking up with
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sheer pruning shears. The the please.
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No, no, no, no, no. Don't cut me.
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No, no, no. I can't take pain.
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I don't. I'll be fine.
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I'll be fine. I'll do good for you.
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I'll work hard for you. Yes, of course.
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No plant does that. But I've heard many believers
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say that. No, no, no, no.
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No pain, no difficulty, no hardship.
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God, I'll do good for you. I'll work hard for you.
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How? You know, you might find
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yourself in a pinch today. You go well, you know, God, if
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you Get Me Out of this, if you get, I'll give you my life.
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No, you have to let the Father do what he wants to do with the
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life that you've already given him.
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He doesn't need you making deals with him.
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He's already made the deal. He sent his Son Jesus Christ to
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die for you, and as we remembered in communion today,
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his blood was shed so that you and I could come into a So we as
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branches, we can become branches in the vine, taken care of by
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our ABBA. One of the evidences of a
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Christian is that you have fruit flowing through your life.
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I know that many among us doubt whether they're saved at various
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times in their lives. It is a very popular question we
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get on the radio, just uncertain, and it usually
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surrounds a failure, a stumbling, A difficulty.
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Then you begin to assess as the enemy of our souls, the accuser,
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the brethren shoots, lies at us. What kind of believer you are?
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What do you think you do? You call yourself a Christian
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and then you begin to think, well, maybe I'm not a Christian.
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Let me remind you today believers bear fruit and you can
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look for that in your life. Believers, true believers, 1
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mark of a real Christian is that they bear fruit.
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Now you might be new to the Bible and you're under you're
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like, what do you mean branch fruit?
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What what are you talking about? Well, the pics to picture it's
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like if you planted a apple tree in your backyard and you take
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care of it and you weed it. What are you expecting from the
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tree? Apples.
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You're looking for apples. You go out, it might take a
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couple years for it to get rude or whatever.
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However, that all works. But you're going out in your
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backyard and you're like, I want some apples.
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A healthy tree is going. A healthy, healthy apple tree is
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going to give you apples, and a healthy Christian is going to
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bear fruit. And the Bible actually uses
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that. If you were with us maybe a few
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weeks ago, a few months ago, we were studying through verse by
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verse the book of Galatians, Galatians chapter 5.
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We learned what the Bible teaches, just a few of the fruit
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of the Spirit things that God produces in us.
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You remember them. You may have even memorized
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them. Lovejoy, peace, patience,
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long-suffering, kindness, goodness, gentleness,
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self-control. You can look for those in your
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life, not the type of things that you do so Well, you know,
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Ed, I have become a much more moral person.
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I'm glad that you're a much more moral person.
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But did that come from your relationship with the vine?
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Is that where it came from? For example, you, you might say,
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well, well, you know, Ed, I think, I think I'm a much better
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person these days. What what does that mean
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exactly? Well, you know, I'm, I'm just
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choosing to be more kind. Well, you know, we've always
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wanted you to be kind, but not because you've chosen, but
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because God has made you more kind.
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I'll give you an example. I'll give you an example.
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Some of you before you were saved, before you were born
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again, were a very harsh and nasty person.
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That's just how people knew you. You were very caustic and upset
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and situations just lit. You know, you were had a short
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fuse and you're just like very caustic, but now you respond to
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those situations with a gentleness.
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Think about that. You used to be harsh, but now
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you're gentle and then you're thinking a gentle.
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I don't know, you have to look at me.
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It's like, was that me? Was that was I really was I
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really gentle and and you, you know, you were and you know you
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were because God has been working on that in your life.
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You are a different person today.
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They don't know you. There's people that knew you
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before, are shocked that you're not so nasty anymore, and you
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go, well, I mean, I'm shocked too.
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But I'm happy about it. I'm happy that God is moving in
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my life through gentleness, even though my natural response is to
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be upset. I think of, you know, being
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called into the being called into, you know, you Monday, it's
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Monday morning, you know, you got a meeting at 11 AM.
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You know, it's probably going to be you made a mistake and your
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boss, you know, your boss might be upset about it.
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So this, this gentleness doesn't come on Monday morning when you
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wake up and go, OK, I know I got a hard meeting.
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I really don't like my boss. God, I'm just going to be gentle
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today. That's where I am.
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I'm going to be gentle, I'm going to be gentle.
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You're not even gentle talking about it.
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But when you wake up in the morning, you say, Lord, you
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know, I'm I've got this hard meeting.
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I don't know what's going to happen.
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You know, I made a mistake and and I really need this job and I
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really want so God just be go before me in that office and you
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know my boss and you know how many hardships, you know how
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many difficulties you know they don't like and you just lay the
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situation before the Lord. When you show up into the
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office, guess what? You're gentle.
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God gives you what you need in the you don't even know what you
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need. You might need gentleness, you
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might need self-control. That's what you might need.
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You don't even know what to pray for.
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And So what do you do? You pray and ask the Lord to go
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before you and then you survive. You try to do it in your own
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strength. It's less than 5050.
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Really, it's less than 5050 because there's going to be
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something the enemy uses in that meeting to to trip you up.
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But when you ask the Lord to do that work, the fruit of the
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spirit, when you walk in as a spiritual woman, as a spiritual
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man, the fruit of the spirit come and then you walk on and
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go. Wow, thank you Lord for your
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faithfulness. I think of another example.
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You know, some of you with the before you were saved, you had
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the worst, foulest mouth in your whole neighborhood, like you
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were the 1. And you typically chose words
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that started with just one letter F And your whole
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neighborhood knows you and you're just angry and foul
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mouthed. That's how who you were.
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That's who you were, that's who you were.
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It was the fruit of your life, rotten fruit, but it was the
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fruit of your life. But now, now you are finding
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that less and less and less do those words come out of your
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mouth because God has changed you.
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He's given you what self-control.
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Now you're at the place today where maybe it's not out of your
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mouth anymore. And now God is working on your
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mind. You're not, you know, you're not
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saying anymore, but you're thinking it a lot.
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So he got your mouth, but now he's working on your mind.
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And then when he's working on your mind, you know where
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eventually he's going to hit your heart because Jesus said
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out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
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But where did that come from? Did it come from waking up in
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the morning? God, you know, I got such a foul
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mouth and I'm tired of it. But I, you know, sometimes they
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deserve it and you're just going all through all that you go and
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I'm just going to bite my tongue today.
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This is not your your self-control doesn't come by
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biting your tongue because some of you would have to bite your
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tongue till it fell off. You walk into church all bloody
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and we go, oh, you had a rough week with your mouth, huh?
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Because biting your tongue doesn't work.
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It doesn't work. That's not fruit.
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That's human effort. God doesn't want you to bite
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your tongue. He's given you a new tongue.
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He wants you to use it. The fruit of the Spirit, he
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wants that fruit of the Spirit to flow.
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It's an evidence of being a believer and we want to see more
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and more of it in our lives. To me, it's just so one of the
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one of the great things of being a part of the Church of Jesus
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all these years and also now pastoring and leading in a
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church is watching Jesus invade someone's life and change them.
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Do you know how exciting that is?
24:08
I get to see a lot of people, I get to talk a lot to a lot of
24:11
people before they're saved or right after they're saved and
24:14
they're sharing their story with me and I get to watch Jesus
24:17
invade their life and take over. And as he takes over, he begins
24:22
to rearrange. The best way to think of it is
24:25
like if your light, your hot, your life is like a house.
24:28
And God comes in and he takes over and he starts to clean up
24:33
room by room, room by room. Just rearrange things, rearrange
24:36
the furniture and change things. Go out and clean out the
24:39
basement. Make sure all the closets are
24:41
clean, Even the things you've hidden in the wall.
24:44
He's going to take care of those as well.
24:46
Like he just, it's a beautiful, beautiful thing.
24:49
It's not an easy straight line. Most of the time there's
24:52
struggles. You 3 steps forward, 4 steps
24:55
back. That's normal.
24:57
But it's exciting to watch it. It's exciting to watch God take
25:01
over a life and change you. The problem though, is when you
25:06
lack an abiding attitude, you are preventing God from changing
25:11
parts of your life when you're not abiding.
25:15
You see, well, you know this, this area and this area, but I'm
25:17
not going to give them this area.
25:19
Well, you've chosen not to abide in Christ.
25:22
You've chosen to take the lead like you.
25:24
You want to be the vine dresser now you want to be the gardener.
25:27
I know what to do with my life and I know how to handle it and
25:29
I know how to fix it. I know how to figure it out.
25:32
And you know, none of those things the Bible very clearly
25:35
says in verse 5. Without me, you can do nothing.
25:40
You can put your name in there. Without me, Ed can do nothing.
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Now, he's not saying there's no activity coming from your life.
25:49
Obviously there will be. But what he's saying is you can
25:52
do nothing. That is eternal fruit.
25:54
You can't, you can be a better person.
25:56
You can be moral, you can do good deeds.
25:58
You can, you can give you no money to the poor or whatever.
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But if it's not for the Lord, it's nothing.
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It's nothing. It's nothing like you think of
26:09
giving. You know, it's like you have a
26:11
dollar in your pocket and you give it to someone.
26:12
It's like here, here, I suppose it's Christmas time, I give to
26:15
the poor. But you have to really ask
26:17
yourself, did the Holy Spirit tell you to do that?
26:19
Have you noticed lately you go to the market or you go to any
26:22
of these stores and there's always going to be when you're,
26:24
when you're swiping the credit card, do you want to round up
26:27
for something? You guys see that?
26:29
And almost always I'm like, no, no, I don't want to round up for
26:32
anything. I'd rather be led by the Lord.
26:35
Maybe God wants to give me more than $0.50 to round up for some
26:39
cause, or maybe there's a different cause.
26:42
But I could say yes to every single thing and feel good about
26:45
myself. But that's not necessarily
26:46
fruit. That's just me.
26:48
Click, click, click. Yeah, it's easy, easy, easy.
26:51
I'd rather, I'd rather, personally, I'd rather be a
26:54
giver that's not limited by rounding up or anything, but
26:56
being led by the Holy Spirit and just trusting him and giving.
27:00
I, I'd rather bear the fruit of God speaking to me and leading
27:04
me, not just a cashier asking me and even some of you not even
27:10
being upset, you know, don't get up.
27:11
Don't get mad at the cashiers or anything.
27:13
They, they're just doing their job.
27:14
Like, calm down. You don't need to be upset all
27:16
the time. They're just doing their job
27:18
asking you and you're I'm tired of everyone asking me.
27:21
Well, don't be tired. That's just your flush.
27:23
Do you know when you attempt to do things in the strength of
27:26
man, you get frustrated? Are you frustrated a lot?
27:29
You don't need to answer, but are you frustrated a lot?
27:32
You might want to ask yourself how much energy and effort
27:35
you're putting into trying to be all that God wants you to be.
27:40
Instead of just abiding, just abide.
27:45
Just stay put in the Lord just like you started.
27:48
Sometimes you get so far from God that God calls you back just
27:52
like you did in Ephesians chapter 2.
27:55
He says, you know, I see a lot of good activity in your life
27:58
church in Ephesus, but you've got a big problem.
28:02
You're busy, but it's not out of love.
28:05
He actually Jesus says you have left your first love.
28:09
You have disconnected from the vine.
28:12
And what does he tell us? He says remember from where you
28:17
have fallen. Do you remember where you've
28:18
fallen from the place of peace, safety, fruitfulness, joy,
28:26
confidence. You're just loving the Lord.
28:28
It's not you, it's not your attitude, it's not your
28:31
opinions, it's not everything about you.
28:35
It's just the Lord. You're so happy that you're
28:37
saved, that your sins are forgiven, that there's a future
28:40
and a hope for you. He says remember that.
28:43
And then secondly, what does he say?
28:45
Repent. You're wandering away and
28:49
disconnecting from the vine is a sin to be repented of, to be
28:54
forsaken. It's damaging you.
28:57
It's damaging the body of Christ, our church.
29:00
It's damaging your family. He's saying get back and get
29:03
plugged in. Remember from where you've
29:05
fallen. Repent and then repeat.
29:07
Go back and do the first works from love.
29:11
There is activity from our life, but it comes from love, the
29:15
greatest motivator. It's a beautiful thing to watch
29:18
God invade a person's life and for them to stay there.
29:22
When you start bearing much fruit, Jesus will begin to
29:25
rearrange things in your life so you can bear more fruit.
29:28
What Jesus referred to as pruning, He'll start revealing
29:31
things to you. You know we are a church where
29:34
you're you're welcome here no matter what you're into, what
29:36
your background is. You are welcome in this church,
29:40
but you're not welcome to remain in that place.
29:44
You know God receives you as you are, but then He begins to
29:47
change you because you need and I need to be changed.
29:52
I need my life cleansed. How do I cleanse my life?
29:55
How do I see this cleansing in my life?
29:58
We'll come back and notice in John chapter 15 he says in verse
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three, you are already clean because of the word that I have
30:07
spoken to you. The agent of cleansing is God's
30:11
Word, God's Word, my pastor, we're going to be about, we're
30:16
going to come up on this study in first John.
30:18
We're finally going to finish chapter one on a, on a upcoming
30:21
midweek Bible study. And I stopped and I paused just
30:25
to teach a Bible study on one verse.
30:27
And it's a verse my pastor would always refer to as God's
30:31
spiritual soap first, John 19 And he would say, you know,
30:36
sometimes you just need a washing and a cleansing.
30:39
That's what you need. And you come when you go through
30:42
life and you get all dirty and you, you're just carrying things
30:45
and getting dirty by the world and soil by the world.
30:47
You need to come back to God's spiritual soap first.
30:51
John 19 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to
30:56
forgive us our sins. And what cleanse us from all
31:00
unrighteousness? How is it that we're cleansed?
31:03
And how is it that we are continually cleansed?
31:06
We come back to the Lord, we ask for forgiveness.
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The work of His Spirit cleanses us and we are in His word.
31:14
If, if you remember it, we just read together in Psalm 119, it
31:19
asks the question in verse 9, How can a young man, how can a
31:23
young woman, how can an old man and an old woman cleanse his
31:26
way? By taking heed according to Your
31:30
word, building on our study last time.
31:35
Greater faith comes by greater time in the Word.
31:38
You want mega faith? You need to be mega in the Word.
31:41
Why? Because faith comes by hearing
31:44
and hearing by the Word of God. The Word of God is a cleansing
31:49
agent in your life. It brings you back to reality.
31:54
The greatest thing you can do as an abiding believer is to read
31:58
your Bible every day to read it every day, allowing it to do its
32:05
cleansing work. Turn over to Second Timothy
32:07
chapter 3. Let me show you something second
32:09
Timothy chapter 3 and it's a easy verse to remember because
32:13
it's second Timothy 316, just like John 316 is popular Second
32:19
Timothy 316. Four things that God does
32:25
whenever you read the Bible. He can do all four.
32:29
He can do 1. He can do 2.
32:31
He can do three. He'll never do 01 of of these,
32:35
up to four of them always happens when you and I read the
32:41
Bible. Notice with me Second Timothy
32:45
chapter 3, verse 16. All scripture or another way of
32:49
saying that is the Bible is given by inspiration of God and
32:55
is profitable. So let's stop there for a second
32:57
and let me convince you if I can, that every time you read
33:01
the Bible, it's going to profit you.
33:03
You will profit. It will be the best investment
33:06
of your time, best investment. Now you're not reading the Bible
33:11
to be a scholar. You're not being the reading the
33:13
Bible to be a Bible teacher. You're not reading the Bible for
33:17
all the different roles you hold in life.
33:19
You're reading the Bible because God gave it to you as his gift.
33:24
And when you read the Bible, you learn about the author.
33:26
Just like any book, I'm sure you have favorite authors.
33:29
I have some favorite authors. And when I have a favorite
33:31
author and you're reading and you're receiving, it's like you
33:34
get to know them and you want to wait for their next book to come
33:37
out. Well, God has given us his book.
33:39
He's not coming out with anymore.
33:41
He's given it to us all at once. But as you read it, you're like,
33:44
oh, I like this, I like him. I like this author.
33:48
So notice 4 things that you'll be prophet number one, it says
33:52
that all scripture of the Bible is profitable for doctrine.
33:56
So basically the Bible is saying, when you read the Bible,
33:58
it's going to tell you what's right.
34:00
It's going to tell you what's right.
34:02
That's what doctrine is right teaching.
34:05
When you read the Bible, it's going to tell you what's right.
34:08
It's going to give you insight on what's right.
34:10
You have any kind of question, a question of right or wrong, the
34:12
Bible will answer that question. What is right, What is wrong?
34:16
The Bible will give you clarity in a world that likes to erase
34:19
those lines, in a culture that calls evil good and good evil,
34:23
that we come back to the Word of God and God will tell us what's
34:27
right #2 He also will tell us, and this is not a popular one,
34:32
the Bible is profitable for repute, reproof or rebuke,
34:38
reproof or rebuke. We don't like that, but #2 the
34:45
Bible will tell us what's wrong because we do need to know
34:48
what's wrong. It's the reason why you look in
34:52
a mirror before you leave the house, isn't it?
34:55
You ever thought about that? Why do you look in the mirror?
34:57
Your hair is all messed up. How would you ever know your
35:00
teeth's got all stuff in it? How would you ever know how bad
35:03
you look unless you look in the mirror and get ready to go
35:06
present yourself in the world? That's what a mirror is for.
35:09
Do you know the Bible says it's a mirror?
35:11
That when you open it up, it's a mirror to your life?
35:14
How would you ever know that something needed to be
35:16
corrected? How?
35:17
How would you ever know in a world?
35:19
Maybe you grew up in a home with foul language or a family of
35:22
foul language. How would you ever know that
35:24
foul language wasn't good unless God said you know what?
35:26
Let no corrupt communication come out of your mouth.
35:30
Let your words be seasoned with grace and you look at your own
35:33
words and you're like, oh, my words aren't like that.
35:36
My words are seasoned with nastiness and I need to stop
35:40
that. The Bible will tell you, it'll
35:41
show you. Thirdly, notice what happens.
35:45
Not only is the Bible profitable for what's right and what's
35:48
wrong, but thirdly, it says for correction.
35:55
This is also not a popular one. I mean, who?
35:58
Which of us really likes to be corrected often?
36:03
The Bible corrects us often. But I want you to view
36:06
correction a little bit differently than you ever have
36:09
before. Correction is a very loving,
36:12
gracious, merciful act on God's behalf because He says this.
36:17
This is what's wrong. But I'm going to show you how to
36:21
get right. That's what correction is, how
36:24
to get right so you know what is right.
36:27
God shows you what is wrong and then He shows you how to get
36:31
right. He doesn't leave you stuck.
36:34
Figure it out. This what's wrong with you.
36:36
This was wrong with your life. This was go ahead and figure it
36:38
out and come back to me when you got all figured out.
36:40
He doesn't. He gives us correction.
36:42
He shows us the way in which you were supposed to go.
36:45
And then finally the Bible says that we'll receive instruction
36:50
in righteousness. Instruction in righteousness.
36:54
This is how to stay right, how to stay right, show you what is
36:59
right, what is wrong, how to get, how to correct what's
37:02
wrong, take wrong and make it right and how to stay right,
37:04
which is what I think all of us desire.
37:06
We want to stay right. And then he says, because in
37:09
verse 17 that the man of God may be complete or that word could
37:13
also be translated mature, thoroughly equipped for every
37:17
good work, every area of life is covered as we open the word.
37:21
And it's simple reading. I, I hope I had some things on
37:24
my mind today and I'm just very regularly and habitually doing
37:28
what I normally do. I open up my Bible.
37:30
Actually, I have my iPad, open up my iPad, open up my Bible
37:34
app. And today's the 21st.
37:35
I read Proverbs 21, chapter 21, verse one.
37:40
What does it say? The King's heart is in the hand
37:44
of God, and he moves it like the rivers of water.
37:47
And I had some thoughts about what's going on in the world
37:49
today. I had some thoughts praying
37:50
about the soon return of the Lord.
37:52
You know, and you might have some concerns.
37:54
Look who's in charge and look what's happening in this world
37:57
and all the news and everything and what happens.
37:59
The Lord just go. Let me just tell you something,
38:01
Ed. I want you to know something
38:02
about this world. I don't want you to forget it,
38:04
sitting there on your couch in the dark, waiting for everyone
38:07
to get up. Get ready for just this.
38:09
What I want you to know, I am in charge of the affairs of this
38:13
world. You don't need to worry about
38:16
it. You just look to me.
38:18
You just look to me. Yeah.
38:19
But you don't understand this thing.
38:20
You don't understand this law. You don't understand who this
38:23
is. God.
38:24
God, you know what he says? He's like he says it right there
38:27
in my front room. Ed, I think you don't
38:29
understand. And I was just verse one of the
38:33
Proverbs that already got beginning to speak to me about
38:37
some things that are on my mind, on my heart about the future for
38:41
my kids and my grandkids. That's how I started by the way.
38:46
I started trusting in God. That's how that's all I had.
38:49
I just trust him. My life was already jacked up.
38:51
So I didn't have anything left but to throw my whole care and
38:55
concern upon the Lord. And now 30 plus years later,
38:59
what is the Lord saying, Ed, Just keep doing that.
39:02
Throw all your cares and concerns upon me.
39:05
And he reminded me just with the timely word of a very habitual
39:09
thing I do. I read the Proverbs every day
39:12
and that one verse stopped me and I'm like, yes, Lord, or
39:16
today as we are reading through the Psalms, I know it's we do it
39:19
every week and I know it's a traditional thing that we do,
39:22
but I, I mean literally, I'm reading verse 11 over the church
39:26
hitting your word in my heart so I won't sin against you.
39:29
And some of you, the Holy Spirit was telling you, you haven't
39:32
hidden a word in your heart in years.
39:35
You need to follow David and then all of a sudden what
39:39
happened? Pastor Ed had a follow up on
39:41
that song. Sometimes he does, sometimes he
39:43
doesn't. Today he had a follow up on that
39:46
song, on that Psalm. And what did he say?
39:48
Exactly what God already said to you.
39:51
You don't need a pastor. You have the Holy Spirit living
39:55
in you. You open up the Word of God and
39:57
what will we do? Show you what's right, show you
39:59
what's wrong, show you how to make wrong right, and how to
40:02
stay right every single time. If you are open to the work of
40:06
the Spirit. And how does that happen?
40:08
By abiding, By abiding, which leaves us with one of our final
40:14
questions. And that is, well, wait a
40:15
minute, abiding. What does that mean exactly?
40:19
When you say stay put, Pastor, what are you trying to say?
40:24
That is a good question. I'm very glad you're thinking it
40:27
or might be thinking it later. Let me answer it for you with a
40:30
verse. Acts chapter 2, verse 42.
40:35
Acts chapter 2, verse 42. You can stay in these areas just
40:41
to begin with. This is what made the church so
40:44
strong. When I start to say it, say I
40:46
memorized it. You may want to memorize it.
40:48
When I start to say it, it's going to be familiar to you.
40:51
It's describing the early church.
40:53
What helped them reach the known world within a few years?
40:56
What helped them get through the persecutions?
40:59
What helped them get through the animosity of the government, All
41:02
of that. It says this about them.
41:05
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine.
41:10
So you want to abide in Christ, Read your Bible every day and in
41:13
prayer. A place of staying put is
41:17
praying and in the breaking of bread.
41:20
We did that today as a church. But you don't have to wait for
41:23
your church to take communion, right?
41:25
You can take communion and remember the broken body in the
41:29
shed blood of Jesus Christ anytime you want.
41:34
You don't need a pastor to lead you.
41:36
You don't need a church service, although it's always good for us
41:38
as a church because we come together and do it.
41:40
But you can have a time of communion on a Tuesday night
41:44
with your family and draw the kids together and have communion
41:47
together and say we're remembering the Lord in our
41:50
house. And you can have communion in
41:52
the break room and your office. You just have a little table
41:55
over there and you just take communion under the Lord.
41:57
You got your lunch there, but you're also taking communion
41:59
under the Lord. Continuing steadfastly
42:02
remembering him, examining ourselves.
42:04
And then the final thing they continued steadfastly in
42:07
fellowship with other believers, talking about the things of the
42:10
Lord, that word, Greek word Koinonia, being together in the
42:16
Lord. God desires us not only to bear
42:20
fruit, but to bear much fruit. And for the coming year, greater
42:25
abiding equals greater fruit. A greater emphasis on staying
42:31
put in the Lord will equal a greater abundance of fruit that
42:38
he brings through your life. So while the Bible says without,
42:41
apart from Him, I can do nothing, the Bible also says
42:45
that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
42:50
He's going to lead me in those fruitful places and he knows
42:52
what he's doing. He knows what I need to be
42:54
pruned. He he knows what when I need to
42:56
be tended to. He knows what he, what I need to
42:59
hear when I need to hear it. I actually have had some things
43:03
on my, on my heart lately that I've shared with you before that
43:06
God uses Buckley and Hampton as a corner to speak to me.
43:10
So I rearranged my driving this morning.
43:12
I've been avoiding that corner for a while, actually moving my
43:15
I was sharing this with a sister today.
43:16
I think this is a word for you. I was sharing this with a sister
43:19
because in grief and all that I, I, I found that breaking my
43:23
routine helps get my mind off the routine of just being sad.
43:27
So one of the ways I do that is when I drive to church, I'll
43:29
pick different ways to get here. Even if it takes me a little bit
43:32
longer, doesn't matter. I just because when you're
43:34
driving the same way every single day, you don't think
43:36
about it and it frees your mind up to think about other things.
43:39
So I'm just going different ways.
43:41
I have to pay attention and I'm not familiar with the
43:43
neighborhood. So I've had this pattern
43:45
recently that I've been doing for a few months and I'm
43:48
noticing it's becoming a routine.
43:50
I've got some things in my mind I've been praying about.
43:51
So I'm driving up and decide I'm like, well Lord, you usually
43:54
speak to me at Buckley in Hampton.
43:55
So I'm going to take Buckley all the way up this time and make a
43:58
ride on Hampton. And so I'm kind of getting
44:00
nervous as I'm getting to the corner because I'm talking to
44:03
the Lord and I'm like, I wonder what he's going to say.
44:05
I come up, I'm about 5 cars behind the light and we're
44:09
inching up when the light changes and I turn right and you
44:11
know what happened? Nothing God didn't choose to
44:16
speak to me on it was the process.
44:19
I think that God was using this morning that he's just like it's
44:22
good at that you're seeking me no answer today or maybe at the
44:27
end of the day he'll tell me I gave you your answer in your
44:29
DeVos. I don't know why you're asking
44:31
for other things like I already gave it to you.
44:33
I don't know what it is yet, but I do know this.
44:35
I felt a sense of satisfaction that my heart just in the few
44:39
minutes it took to drive to church.
44:41
I felt that affirmation of the Holy Spirit, that man, it's at
44:44
least it's good you're seeking me like, OK, I'll take that.
44:48
You have all the answers, Lord, you know what you're doing with
44:51
my life. And so I'll follow you even if I
44:54
change things up. And I'm not going to demand that
44:56
you speak to me on Buckley and Hampton.
44:59
And he might have said, I told you something that Buckley and
45:01
Quincy, but you weren't paying attention or whatever.
45:03
I don't know. But the Lord is good, and he's
45:07
calling us to a greater abiding this coming year.
45:10
Amen, Lord, thank you for the word.
45:12
And, and maybe there are those among us today that just really
45:16
need to seek you or have been seeking you but haven't been
45:19
hearing what they need to hear. But really it's not seeking you
45:22
is not about what we can get from you.
45:24
It's just being with you, looking to you, seeking and
45:30
asking and knocking and staying put, staying in the vine,
45:37
letting the gardener, our ABBA, take care of us.
45:41
And we look forward to a new year and I can start today.
45:44
God that you would pour out your Holy Spirit on us as we seek to
45:47
live. Live for you and bear the fruit
45:51
that you desire from our lives in Jesus name, Amen.
45:55
We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study,
45:58
delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church.
46:01
For prayer, call us at 87730 Grace that's 877-304-7223.
46:11
To listen to this message in its integrity or to join us for our
46:14
live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church
46:20
or download our free Calvary Church app.
46:22
Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.