WEBVTT
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Good morning.
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I uh I get the privilege to read the scripture today.
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Uh my name is Katie Hebden and I'm Isaac's wife.
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Um mom to three amazing kids and a bonus son, Trenton.
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Um Yeah, we've been here for a while and I just am so thankful to be here.
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And I'm thankful for each of you to be here.
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Uh what Isaac said about um his mercies are new every morning, and I'm so grateful for that and the good times and the bad times in the middle of it all.
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Um I'm just thankful to God.
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I'm thankful for you guys.
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Um it's been 20 years in November since we've been here, and so um it's just been an amazing journey, and I'm so thankful to be on it with you guys.
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So welcome in today's scripture is John 15, 1 through 5.
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I am the vine and my father is the gardener.
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He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will bear even more fruit.
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You already clean I you are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
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Remain in me as I remain in you.
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No branch can bear fruit by itself, it must remain in the vine.
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Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
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I am the vine, you are the branches.
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If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.
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Apart from me, you can do nothing.
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Thank you so much.
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Thank you.
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Incredible.
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Yeah.
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A big cheer, thank you.
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Uh well, good morning.
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My name is Isaac.
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If you're new, I'm the lead pastor here at the intersection.
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It is a joy to see each one of you here this morning.
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Uh I cannot believe it is already October.
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I told a few people this past week I'm still working on my February to-do list, a little behind.
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Hope there's a few of you there.
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Uh, but in October, normally what happens in October is we have a long tradition here for over 20 years.
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Uh boy, I think it's almost 26, 27 years, of doing trunk or treat, where we have on Halloween night all the kids coming and we we love our communities well, and we just we give them tons of candy, and we're gonna change things up a little bit this year.
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We have loved our community well, and we're gonna try something that uh we're gonna just give it a shot this year.
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We want you to go into your neighborhood and love your community well.
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So take the candy and the joy and the fun that you experience here on Halloween night and take it to your house.
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And, and I mean this sincerely, love your community.
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Part of the benefit of having a trunk or treat here is to love those around us.
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And I really want us to be people who are in our neighborhoods, workplaces, families, to love this people there as well.
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So, what we want you to do this year is love your community, get in groups, celebrate, love the people around you in a way that when you're they come to your door, you're giving them the joy of Jesus in your neighborhood.
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That's how we're gonna handle it this year.
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And um, I think it's gonna be I can't wait to hear how your community has come together and you've made your neighborhood a better place this year.
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So that'll be trunk or treat, what's happening this upcoming year.
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Okay, now I'm gonna do something this morning that is a bit unorthodox.
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If you are new or don't really pay attention to the sermon structure, which is totally fine by the way.
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Normally what happens is I teach in a sermon series, and there's a lot of reasons for it, mostly so that we can kind of capture an idea over the course of several weeks or a month or two, and so we kind of have one theme over and over again that you can kind of help us work through a process.
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Uh the idea is to help cover some kind of ground.
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Now, lately we have been in the middle of a sermon series called Pillar Principles, where we have looked at the life of Peter as the Holy Spirit has transformed him into a person whose name was Simon.
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Jesus changes his name to Peter, which means the rock.
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And then we learn in Revelation and throughout the New Testament that Peter becomes a pillar in the church.
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And then in Revelation, Jesus says, not only is Peter a pillar in the church, we can become pillars in the church of God.
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So we've been looking at that.
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So how do we how do we become pillars?
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Why would we want to be a pillar?
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This is what we've been talking about.
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Now, I am not abandoning that, but this week we're gonna pause.
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I'm actually, I've really enjoyed the pillar series, but we're just gonna pause this week.
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And the unorthodox piece is I keep running into a theme, several passages of scripture that I come back to over and over again since really this past summer, and just about every week, study, conversation, something comes up that puts me back to the sermon series from this past spring that we called Untroubled, where we were in the middle and of John 14, and then right at the very end we hit John 15.
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So if you're keeping track at home, which I can see many of you are very concerned about this, we're jumping back into the Untroubled series because I want to talk about John 15.
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Just for context, that's what we're doing here.
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I just can't shake it.
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Now, Pastor Kim, she often asks a question in situations like that.
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If I was, uh, I don't know, should I say it?
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Should I not?
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She asks the question, well, is this for you?
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Is this for the other person to share, or is it both?
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And as I've reflected through coming back to John 15 over and over again, I think it's I think it's definitely for me.
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Perhaps there might be some of you out there that says that you can uh appreciate this passage as well.
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So I think it's gonna be both of us.
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So we're gonna jump back into John 15, 1 through 4, and uh again, just for the untroubled series, but mostly John 15, 1 through 5, which my wife Katie just read for a few minutes ago.
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Now, I keep returning to this passage because of the weariness that surrounds many of us.
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I keep hearing stories of loneliness, isolation, confusion.
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I hear stories of people feeling unfulfilled, wondering what is next.
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I hear stories of people feeling like they never measure up to expectations.
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And we work and we work and we work, we toil, and we toil, we're grasping for approval and striving to be noticed and longing to matter, and we never seem to be able to get ahead.
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Anyone, you don't have to raise your hand, but anybody feel like I can just never get ahead.
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I save up money for a vacation, my car breaks down.
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It just keeps striving and striving and striving.
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Our world is exhausting.
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We live as if life depends on us.
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We are a self-reliant people.
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We come from pioneers.
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We come from people who left their own land and journeyed across the world, leaving their families, their people, their land for something different.
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My great-grandpa left England at a 12-year-old boy all by himself for Canada, made his way down to Spokane.
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We come from pioneers.
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This is what happens.
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Our country is built by people who have struck out on their own trying to do something daring and new.
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And we still carry this with us today.
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This is our American society.
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We are a pick yourself up by the bootstrap type of people.
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How many times have people asked you, can I help you?
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And you say, No, I'm fine, I've got it.
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And you are neither fine nor do you have it.
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From birth, we are formed to be individuals.
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We buy a crib for our kids.
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We put them as early as possible in that sweet crib.
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We walk away, shut the door, and we pray, oh Jesus, let this kid cry it out and fall asleep.
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What are we doing?
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We're teaching them to literally soothe themselves.
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We want them to be able to fall asleep at a very tiny age, all by themselves.
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This is our society.
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Not all parts of the world are like this.
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In many nations, there are children who sleep in the same room or in the same bed as their parents until they're five or six years old.
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This is called co-sleeping or bed sharing, and it's the norm.
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In their eyes, these we are abandoning their ch the children.
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We are the ones who are the unusual ones.
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They wonder why are we so desperate to separate ourselves from the kids?
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We're the ones who are different.
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We have high chairs, and we teach our kids to feed themselves again as early as possible.
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We want them to take that little cupcake and jam it in their mouth and the Cheerios and whatever it is we're feeding them.
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We want them to feed themselves.
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Not so in many nations like Indonesia, especially in poor rural areas.
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They don't have high chairs.
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The parents sit on the floor with the children and feed the children.
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My friend Eka, who grew up in Indonesia, he says it's common for parents to chase around five and six years old trying to get them to eat.
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Why?
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Why would they do this?
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Because they are communal.
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This is normal.
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They are in this together.
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It's not feed yourself, little one.
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It's no, we are a family.
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We do this together.
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This is, they come and exist in a form of community.
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In 1985, some socialists, including a man named Robert Bella, he looked at the American Society and wrote a landmark book called Habits of the Heart, Individualism and Commitment in American Life.
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In this book, he writes, individualism lies at the core of American culture.
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His main argument is that Americans, their main lens that they look through life is individualism.
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It all depends on me, is the lesson we have learned since the birth of our nation.
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This is how we live.
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This is the air that we breathe, the water that we swim in is individualism.
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Me, me, me.
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Why?
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We are individuals.
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We're mavericks.
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We're pioneers.
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I am responsible for my own fate.
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Unless I fail, then it's your fault.
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That's another sermon.
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But what do we do when life gets hard?
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When life gets boring?
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When it turns difficult?
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Well, we strike out on our own like our ancestors.
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And once again, we pull up the roots that we just tried to establish.
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And individualism, I want to make sure it's clear, individualism in and of itself is not bad.
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I am grateful for the responsibility that we have as Americans.
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There's so lots to be said about American individualism.
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There's a lot of beauty.
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There's a lot that we do have our own personality, our own personal gifts and abilities.
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The concern I have about it is making sure that we are aware of it and what it is doing to us and how we it show it's how we view the world.
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And this viewpoint is shaping us, it is forming us whether we know it or not.
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And this this is the world that we're swimming in, and many of us don't realize it.
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So when it all depends on me, we can become exhausted, overwhelmed, and when it doesn't work out, we move on.
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We wonder why we feel so alone.
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We are more likely to abandon something when it is hard or boring or frustrating or tedious because, well, I can go find something else to do.
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I will go find another group of people, I will go find another job, I can find something that'll pass my time.
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So if marriage becomes difficult, I will leave.
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Surely my life would be better off if I was not with this person.
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If parenting gets hard, we send the kids to camp or activities, send them to camp to coaches and sporting events, and let somebody else deal with them for a few hours.
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If my boss expects me to work five days a week, and occasionally on a weekend, we say, I can find another job that doesn't demand that.
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Where can I get paid full time for 20 hours worth of work?
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I will find it.
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This is what we do.
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This is our society.
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And if my small group seems a little harsh, I stop coming and I or I find another group.
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If I have a bad experience at church, and then somebody's a little rude to me at the next one, it's just not worth it.
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I can just go, I can just stay at home.
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And we have come to believe that if something is difficult, it must not be the right thing to do.
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If it's hard, I should stop doing it.
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If there's a little bit of pain, a little bit of tension, surely there's another way around this.
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When life gets difficult, we leave.
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We find something else to do, somewhere else to go, because I can, I can have a better experience somewhere else.
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This is the world we live.
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What does the Bible say?
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Well, Jesus teaches us in John 15, 1 through 2, 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 every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
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In this teaching by Jesus, he says that he is the vine, and his father is the gardener or vine dresser.
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He's the one that takes care of it.
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We are the branches.
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The branch's job is to produce fruit.
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What comes from us should be grapes or some kind of substance, some kind of fruit product.
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And the way the branches do this is by being connected to the vine.
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If there is no connection to the vine, there is no fruit.
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The branches must be with the vine.
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They must be together.
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We are the branches.
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Okay, so now notice what the vine dresser does.
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If he notices that a branch is not producing fruit, what does it say?
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It says in our translations, he takes away the branch.
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Now, this is a bit technical, so hang with me for just a second because it's really, really important.
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Our verse just told us that if we do not produce fruit, we are taken away.
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It sounds a little harsh.
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The vine dresser comes and we're not producing fruit, out you go.
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That's kind of the view we have of this passage of scripture.
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Later on, just several verses later, we hear that if the branch does not abide in the vine, it is gathered up and thrown into a fire.
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And so we kind of take these two, we blend these two different situations and we blend them together, and it sounds like if I don't produce fruit, the vine dresser God will take me and throw me into the fire.
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If I'm not, if I don't have produce instantly, then I am worthless to God and He's gonna send me into the fire of hell.
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That's what it sounds like.
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I don't think that's what's happening here.
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We we imagine the vine dresser and he seems very, very harsh.
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That's not the tone of what Jesus is saying here.
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This is why many of us uh have friends who would say, I uh they don't come into church because, well, if I go into a church, I'll be struck with lightning.
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It's because they have this view of God who's looking, looking for fruit, and if you're not producing it, out you go.
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I'm gonna throw you.
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He can't wait to start a fire with us.
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That's how it looks.
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Here's the problem, though.
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The problem is language.
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And here's what I mean by that.
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It was originally written, this passage was originally written in Greek.
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We translated it into English, and we were translating sometimes words are complicated.
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So in this situation, the Greek word is uh that was written there is the word Iro, Iroh.
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Now it can mean take it take away, it can mean that.
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But it also means lift it up, lift it up.
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And so what happens is we see this, for example, in Matthew 9, 6, when it says, Jesus says, pick up your bed and go home.
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He says, I row your bed and go home.
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So pick it up and go home.
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Does it mean take?
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Yeah, kind of, but mostly it's lift up and then go.
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We also see this in Luke 9, 23.
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And Jesus said to me, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and I row his cross daily and follow me.
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Pick it up.
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And so what I row is happening here is there's the vine dressers coming in, he's looking at the branch and he's lifting up the branch when he sees there's no fruit.
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Viticulturalists, and viticulturists is what um people who work in vineyards, so the viticulturalists will tell us that a branch that is in the shade is six percent less efficient and will produce six percent less fruit than the branches that are in the sun.
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So the image here is the vine dresser looking at the branch going, Ho, you need to be more in the sun so you can receive the nutrients of the sun.
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So it's the vine dresser lifting up the branch and getting access so that the branch can receive the nutrients around it.
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And when we read this passage, it's the vine dresser saying, Oh, you're not producing fruit.
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Let me let me pick you up and put you in the right place.
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Let me get you access to how you can receive the full benefit.
00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:11.200
So the image is he's putting us in the proper place so that we can have access to him.
00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:17.200
This is a lesson about this is a God who never gives up on me.
00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:19.599
Even when I'm not bearing fruit.
00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:22.160
He's not anxious to cut me off and take me away.
00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:28.799
What he wants to do is lift me up and give me some help, give me access to him and his and who he is in his spirit.
00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:32.240
He is a God who will not give up on us.
00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:35.839
This is an image of a God who will not cast us aside.
00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:41.759
It's not an image of a cruel God, but a God of love and patience and care.
00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:45.119
This is what he is doing.
00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:49.279
Some of you walk in this morning and you may need lifted up.
00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:51.119
You're tired.
00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:56.079
You've been experiencing a time where you are weary and broken and frustrated and lost.
00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:59.599
And when we read this passage, we're reminded that God sees you.
00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:08.559
He goes to every vine and looks at all the branches, and he lifts up those that need a little encouragement, a little light, a little sun.
00:19:09.200 --> 00:19:13.680
He lifts us up and puts us in the right spot to receive more of Him.
00:19:14.559 --> 00:19:19.680
This morning, what I hope you experience is that God sees you.
00:19:20.160 --> 00:19:21.359
He loves you.
00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:27.920
This is what this is why we gather in this community, to be reminded that we are not alone.
00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:33.359
We gather and we turn to one another and we sing songs and we have lights in here so we can see one another.
00:19:33.599 --> 00:19:42.079
Because we are, we as the church house the temple, we are the temple of God and we worship together, and when we sing together, we strengthen each other.
00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:44.000
Look at all these people that love Jesus.
00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:46.720
I'm not feeling it, but I sure can sing with these people.
00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:51.200
We gather as a community to strengthen one another.
00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:53.759
This is what's happening this morning.
00:19:54.799 --> 00:19:57.839
Now, the second part of that sentence is a bit harsh.
00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:00.240
It is the image of pruning.
00:20:00.480 --> 00:20:04.559
And the reality is that good fruit takes time, care, and pruning.
00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:07.200
Pruning is not a painless process.
00:20:07.440 --> 00:20:12.400
Pruning is cutting and it is hurtful, but the point is to bear more fruit.
00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:21.119
So some of you may be going through this process where you are being pruned, not to cause you pain, but so that you can bear more good things in your life.
00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:26.400
I mentioned this a few weeks ago, a quote from our former Whitworth professor Dale Bruner.
00:20:26.559 --> 00:20:32.880
He says this cutting back or pruning is not a painless procedure for the object.
00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:37.920
The activity even seems at first sight superficially to be hurtful and counterproductive.
00:20:38.079 --> 00:20:47.119
But orchidists, farmers, and even home gardeners tell us that this seemingly harsh or backward procedure is actually good and is indeed fruitful for plants.
00:20:47.440 --> 00:21:08.559
A possible encouragement in this picture for some disciples, it is not an encouraging for all disciples, is that some can look at experiences in which they seemed or still seemed to be experiencing diminishment, hurtful, cutting back, severance, reduction in influence, and nevertheless, in light of our text, can say to themselves in hope, pruning, and so gain a whole new perspective.
00:21:08.880 --> 00:21:10.079
Pruning is painful.
00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:12.240
Some of us are experiencing that.
00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:14.880
And yet God is doing good work in that.
00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:24.079
He's cleansing us, he's purifying us, he's cutting back so that in the end we'll be able to experience more fruit, joy, goodness, love, hope, patience.
00:21:24.319 --> 00:21:26.480
That's, and it's a difficult process.
00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:33.279
Can you imagine if you're going through a difficult season and you say, pruning, yes, I'm being pruned.
00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:35.440
But that's the image here.
00:21:35.839 --> 00:21:37.119
That's the image here.
00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:39.119
This is what God invites us to.
00:21:39.359 --> 00:21:43.359
Some of you are not experiencing that pruning moment yet.
00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:46.400
But that's what we're invited to do.
00:21:46.559 --> 00:21:50.960
I will not uh belabor this point as I spoke about more on the pruning thing on July 5th.
00:21:51.039 --> 00:21:56.480
You can go back into YouTube or our website and see some of that sermon from July 5th if you're interested.
00:21:56.640 --> 00:21:57.920
But I don't want to repeat myself.
00:21:58.000 --> 00:21:59.519
So go back and there's more on pruning there.
00:21:59.599 --> 00:22:05.599
But What I want to get to though is our passage and the we are the branches and that Jesus is the vine.
00:22:05.839 --> 00:22:11.279
And as I mentioned, what cannot exist without the vine of branches.
00:22:11.759 --> 00:22:15.680
If there are, if there is no vine, then there can be no branches.
00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:18.240
We our life springs out of it.
00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:24.799
I was out of town at some meetings a while back, and at the meeting it was held at a vineyard, and so I was able to wander around a little bit.
00:22:24.880 --> 00:22:32.000
And I took two pictures, and we can see from these pictures that there is just, there's not, that's not just a branch.
00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:34.559
There's just not one branch producing fruit.
00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:39.039
There's a bunch of branches, and all of them come from the vine.
00:22:39.359 --> 00:22:40.559
Here's my point.
00:22:40.799 --> 00:22:43.680
You cannot be a branch without a vine.
00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:47.839
If you you would be away from the vine and you would eventually be dead.
00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:52.720
You would be, you would be crusty and hardened, you'd not be able to produce fruit.
00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:55.039
But all of the branches, there's all there.
00:22:55.119 --> 00:22:55.519
They come.
00:22:55.759 --> 00:22:58.000
Life comes from the vine.
00:22:58.640 --> 00:23:04.880
From the outset of our life, we are communal, meaning we spring from Jesus.
00:23:05.039 --> 00:23:06.799
Our life comes from Him.
00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:08.400
We are in a community.
00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:11.599
Once we say yes to Jesus, we are in a community.
00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:13.440
There's all those branches there.
00:23:13.599 --> 00:23:15.279
They're in this together.
00:23:15.599 --> 00:23:19.359
There's no pioneer branch just doing whatever it wants.
00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:23.920
There's no maverick branch just out in the middle of the field just doing its thing.
00:23:24.160 --> 00:23:26.160
That's not how the system works.
00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:28.799
We are in a community.
00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:32.880
This is the vine is what gives existence to the branches.
00:23:33.599 --> 00:23:43.119
For those philosophy students out there, John Locke tells us that our original state of being as humans is complete freedom and independence.
00:23:43.440 --> 00:23:47.839
We are individuals first, and in our individual state we form communities.
00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:49.279
This is the American way.
00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:50.559
So it looks like this.
00:23:50.640 --> 00:23:51.920
I think we have a graphic of it.
00:23:52.079 --> 00:23:54.079
Individuals form communities.
00:23:54.319 --> 00:23:55.759
That's the American way.
00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:59.119
Jesus says, nope, that's not what happens.
00:23:59.359 --> 00:24:01.279
From the vine come the branches.
00:24:01.440 --> 00:24:03.440
We are born into a community.
00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:04.960
Let me put it like this.
00:24:05.759 --> 00:24:08.559
Is there anyone here that birthed themselves?
00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:10.160
Nope.
00:24:10.400 --> 00:24:11.039
No, no.
00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:14.319
There was a community, let's call them mother and father.
00:24:14.480 --> 00:24:18.720
And from my mother and father come a baby.
00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:21.519
And uh none of us birthed ourselves.
00:24:21.680 --> 00:24:33.359
We all come from a heroic lady called a mother who just went through tremendous pain and sacrifice for a significant amount of months, and through that experience, we were born.
00:24:33.599 --> 00:24:39.839
And then we're put into a community with brothers and sisters and cousins, and we're gonna call that a family.
00:24:40.079 --> 00:24:42.400
That family forms us.
00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:48.240
Your birth order, you just will help navigate what kind of person you will be.
00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:50.559
You see this in all kinds of birth order situations.
00:24:50.720 --> 00:24:54.559
I follow a guy on Instagram and I think, how does this guy know my family?
00:24:55.119 --> 00:24:59.440
This is the most the yes, that's the firstborn, secondborn does that, thirdborn, yep.
00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:00.160
Why?
00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:03.599
Because communities form individuals.
00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:05.279
That's what happens.
00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:08.480
We, when we come together, are being formed here.
00:25:08.720 --> 00:25:10.640
When we follow Christ, we form here.
00:25:10.720 --> 00:25:15.519
So only out of communities are we're just birthed into that situation.
00:25:15.839 --> 00:25:19.680
Now, a branch does not bear fruit on its own.
00:25:19.839 --> 00:25:21.359
We come from a community.
00:25:21.680 --> 00:25:25.680
Community living is very difficult sometimes.
00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:29.759
In a community, we have to deal with people.
00:25:31.359 --> 00:25:37.599
Sometimes those people, like branches, bump against one another, and we would rather not.
00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:43.200
The wind blows and we rustle around and it becomes very annoying.
00:25:43.519 --> 00:25:46.880
I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hand, but that's what can sometimes happen.
00:25:47.039 --> 00:25:49.680
But we're in a community and it forms us.
00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:53.200
This is the way for fruit to be produced.
00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:55.119
You cannot do it on your own.
00:25:55.359 --> 00:25:59.920
If we want fruit, we must, we must be in a community.
00:26:00.160 --> 00:26:06.400
And it starts with the community of the Trinity, God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, together.
00:26:06.559 --> 00:26:12.720
And then a community of believers where we are together, where we worship together, we help one another.
00:26:12.799 --> 00:26:17.440
And sometimes that's in celebration, and sometimes that's boy, this person's driving me crazy.
00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:21.359
But we stay in a community and it forms us, and from that fruit happens.
00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:30.480
And I say this with love because I know that in our society, remaining or being in a community can be very, very challenging.
00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:33.759
It can be difficult to make friends and to keep friends.
00:26:33.920 --> 00:26:39.839
That's part of why we have such an isolation and loneliness epidemic, because it's really, really hard.
00:26:40.400 --> 00:26:43.200
And to you, I'd say, don't give up.
00:26:43.519 --> 00:26:46.640
Keep staying in community, keep trying.
00:26:46.880 --> 00:26:51.440
As long as it depends on you, keep making attempts at being in community.
00:26:52.240 --> 00:27:01.200
John four, uh, John 15, verse 4 says, Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine.
00:27:01.359 --> 00:27:04.400
Neither can you unless you abide in me.
00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:10.160
And that word abide means, you know, stay, remain.
00:27:10.319 --> 00:27:11.920
Stay right where you are.
00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:21.759
If you want to have life and meaning and purpose, if you want to have produce, you want to produce fruit in your life, the way we do this is we have to remain in the vine.
00:27:21.920 --> 00:27:23.839
We have to remain in Christ.
00:27:24.880 --> 00:27:30.960
If it if you did not, again, you'd be a stick out on the ground and you'd be good for a fire or something like that.
00:27:31.440 --> 00:27:34.480
Your reason for existence would be to be productive.
00:27:34.559 --> 00:27:35.920
You wouldn't be producing fruit.
00:27:36.160 --> 00:27:44.319
So the way for a branch to remain full of life, lush, flexible, pliable, fruitful, is to reside in Christ.
00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:49.759
Now that word abide occurs 12 times in this chapter.
00:27:49.920 --> 00:27:51.519
And it's the Greek word meno.
00:27:52.079 --> 00:27:53.920
Meno means to abide, reside.
00:27:54.079 --> 00:28:09.920
So normally if you say I reside somewhere, we get the image of I'm gonna live at home, but then I have errands to run, and so I leave, and then I come back, and then I have school, and then I come back, and then I have work, and then I have come back, and then I need to go get food, so I'm gonna go to Chipotle or wherever it is you like to go, and then you come back.
00:28:10.079 --> 00:28:10.319
Right?
00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:13.119
You live there, but there's just constantly coming in and going back and forth.
00:28:13.359 --> 00:28:14.720
But this word is a little different.
00:28:14.880 --> 00:28:18.720
The meno is, yeah, it means reside, but it means like stay.
00:28:19.039 --> 00:28:20.079
Remain.
00:28:20.799 --> 00:28:21.440
Stay.
00:28:21.680 --> 00:28:23.359
Stay right where you're at.
00:28:23.599 --> 00:28:28.079
The abide here is not an invitation to go anywhere.
00:28:28.240 --> 00:28:31.680
The invitation is you stay right where you're at.
00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:35.519
We are not in pursuit of anything.
00:28:35.759 --> 00:28:38.160
The invitation is to stay.
00:28:38.960 --> 00:28:40.240
So where are we?
00:28:40.559 --> 00:28:42.160
We are in Christ.
00:28:42.400 --> 00:28:45.119
And Jesus says, stay right there.
00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:47.359
Don't go anywhere, remain.
00:28:47.519 --> 00:28:56.799
When life gets difficult, when we experience challenges, we are not to flee or try new things, we don't explore other opportunities.
00:28:57.039 --> 00:28:59.920
We don't say, ah, this just isn't working for me.
00:29:00.160 --> 00:29:02.319
Jesus says, stay in me.
00:29:02.799 --> 00:29:06.720
The branch remains connected to the vine no matter the weather.
00:29:07.039 --> 00:29:08.559
No matter the weather.
00:29:08.880 --> 00:29:18.799
I mentioned a few weeks ago that vine dressers have learned that the more difficult a season, what happens is the vine actually produces, the grapes are actually better fruit.
00:29:18.960 --> 00:29:21.599
They're just sweeter when it's a little bit of stress.
00:29:21.839 --> 00:29:30.160
When we stay in Christ, what happens even in the midst of difficult, stressful seasons, the fruit that comes out of it in the end is often better.
00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:31.599
We remain.
00:29:32.400 --> 00:29:53.039
When we pray and we feel like nothing is happening, when we wonder what is even the point, when the temptation to leave begins to occur in us, when the temptation to find another activity, to find our to fill our time and to satisfy the longing of our soul happens, branches stay.
00:29:53.680 --> 00:29:54.960
Branches stay.
00:29:55.200 --> 00:30:02.319
Our church history is filled with uh is rich with men and women who bravely and faithfully followed God.
00:30:02.400 --> 00:30:05.519
And one of our early church fathers is a man named Abba Moses.
00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:13.119
And one day, so he lived in a monastery, and one day a man came up to him and he's kind of he's kind of some trouble and he wanted to go wander about.
00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:17.200
And Abba Moses said to him, Go in your cell, and a cell is a room.
00:30:17.279 --> 00:30:20.079
You just, you know, think of a monastery, it's a little room.
00:30:20.240 --> 00:30:24.000
He says, Go in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything.
00:30:24.160 --> 00:30:28.160
What Abba Moses says is go stay in your room.
00:30:28.400 --> 00:30:31.920
Remain right there, and you're gonna learn all you need to learn.
00:30:32.880 --> 00:30:34.160
What's the point of this?
00:30:34.480 --> 00:30:39.200
Our temptation is to go somewhere more exciting.
00:30:40.160 --> 00:30:44.240
Hop on our phone to see what alternative options we have.
00:30:44.640 --> 00:30:53.680
Uh we think of something, oh, you sit down and you start to do, you maybe pray and read your Bible, you get out your devotional book, and then you think, oh, the dishes.
00:30:54.000 --> 00:30:55.759
You get up and we do the dishes.
00:30:56.079 --> 00:31:03.519
You sit down, you you go back to reading and you think, oh, man, I forgot I had to put this away.
00:31:03.920 --> 00:31:10.480
There's this constant need to do more, to keep moving, to wander around.
00:31:10.720 --> 00:31:14.720
And the invitation for us is no, no, just stay.
00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:15.680
Remain.
00:31:15.839 --> 00:31:16.559
Stay right there.
00:31:16.640 --> 00:31:17.599
Just give it some time.
00:31:17.759 --> 00:31:18.799
I'm I don't know about you.
00:31:18.880 --> 00:31:19.519
Can I just be honest?
00:31:19.599 --> 00:31:20.480
I'll be honest with you.
00:31:20.559 --> 00:31:24.720
Uh I go to read my Bible, I'm reading about three verses, and I think, I wonder what time it is.
00:31:24.960 --> 00:31:26.720
Pick up my phone, set it down.
00:31:26.880 --> 00:31:28.960
Okay, then I read, okay, how long has this been?
00:31:29.119 --> 00:31:30.240
Pick up my same time.
00:31:30.400 --> 00:31:32.240
And then, oh, did somebody text me?
00:31:32.480 --> 00:31:32.799
No.
00:31:33.039 --> 00:31:42.559
I don't know how many times I am tempted to pick up my phone while I'm doing my devotions, and I get paid to do my devotions.
00:31:44.240 --> 00:31:44.640
Right?
00:31:44.799 --> 00:31:49.039
And so it's just a real challenge for me.
00:31:49.680 --> 00:31:53.119
The temptation is to not remain.
00:31:53.680 --> 00:31:56.799
But what Jesus is saying is, no, no, stay there.
00:31:56.960 --> 00:32:02.160
When it gets hard, when it gets when you are bored, do not get up.
00:32:02.559 --> 00:32:03.200
Stay.
00:32:03.839 --> 00:32:05.359
Stay in Christ.
00:32:05.839 --> 00:32:08.240
If a conversation gets boring, we move on.
00:32:08.400 --> 00:32:08.880
A book.
00:32:08.960 --> 00:32:10.640
We just we find we find something.
00:32:10.720 --> 00:32:12.079
We're constantly scrolling.
00:32:12.240 --> 00:32:12.640
Why?
00:32:12.880 --> 00:32:15.599
Because we do not want to be bored.
00:32:16.799 --> 00:32:18.720
We cannot remain.
00:32:18.880 --> 00:32:20.480
It is hard for us.
00:32:20.640 --> 00:32:30.960
And here's what's interesting: the monks who lived in the fourth century in a desert had the same problem, and they did not have Wi-Fi.
00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:34.799
You know, they didn't have streaming devices.
00:32:35.359 --> 00:32:39.920
And we how much more do we struggle with this idea to move on?
00:32:40.079 --> 00:32:43.440
And Jesus says, no, no, stay in me.
00:32:43.680 --> 00:32:48.799
Don't fill your mind with just stay, pray, read the Bible, stay, stay with me.
00:32:48.880 --> 00:32:52.960
We we love to distract or numb ourselves with something new.
00:32:53.519 --> 00:33:09.759
This is the story of our culture, and I'm sensing Jesus saying, reminding us to just slow down, keep your television off for a few extra minutes, keep your phone on the ground, or put it in another room for just 10 minutes.
00:33:10.240 --> 00:33:16.000
Turn off your stereo while you're driving for just one stop.
00:33:16.559 --> 00:33:18.640
Just remain with Christ.
00:33:18.880 --> 00:33:20.960
Give him space to speak.
00:33:21.119 --> 00:33:26.400
Even if you don't hear anything, the point is just to remain with Jesus.
00:33:26.960 --> 00:33:33.839
Listen to the words of pastor and author of Eugene Peterson about our need to find the fresh and exciting.
00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:40.640
He says, many claim to have been born again, but the evidence for mature Christian discipleship is slim.
00:33:40.880 --> 00:33:47.519
In our kind of culture, anything, even news about God, can be sold if it is packaged freshly.
00:33:47.680 --> 00:33:51.200
But when it loses its novelty, it goes on the garbage heap.
00:33:51.440 --> 00:33:54.799
There is a great market for religious experience in our world.
00:33:55.039 --> 00:34:05.039
There is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier generations of Christians called holiness.
00:34:05.440 --> 00:34:10.159
The life of a branch connected to a vine is not about excitement or dopamine hits.
00:34:10.320 --> 00:34:11.599
It's about connection.
00:34:11.760 --> 00:34:15.039
And I used the term a few months ago about mutual indwelling.
00:34:15.280 --> 00:34:17.760
We are in Christ and Christ is in us.
00:34:18.480 --> 00:34:20.559
Sometimes that's really difficult.
00:34:20.719 --> 00:34:22.719
Sometimes we don't understand.
00:34:22.880 --> 00:34:26.000
Sometimes, as I've said a few times, we would just rather not.
00:34:26.159 --> 00:34:29.440
We would rather distract ourselves or go find something easier.
00:34:29.840 --> 00:34:35.840
The invitation this morning is to keep praying, keep trusting, keep reading scripture, stay faithful.
00:34:35.920 --> 00:34:39.840
Even when you don't sense you are benefiting from it in those moments.
00:34:40.159 --> 00:34:41.760
We remain faithful.
00:34:42.000 --> 00:34:47.039
As Eugene Peterson once put it, we have a long obedience in the same direction.
00:34:47.280 --> 00:34:49.519
We just keep doing that.
00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:58.719
We need these moments of what we need in these moments of wondering whether or not it's worth it is to remain, is to have a practical thing so that can hold us together.
00:34:58.880 --> 00:35:05.119
I've mentioned a few of them: prayer, scripture reading, fasting, Sabbath keeping, staying in community.
00:35:05.199 --> 00:35:07.760
These help us remain in the line.
00:35:08.480 --> 00:35:11.360
We also continue to receive communion.
00:35:13.519 --> 00:35:17.360
I do think this is an odd custom we have.
00:35:18.800 --> 00:35:21.440
We eat this little piece of bread, we drink this little juice.
00:35:22.880 --> 00:35:29.760
But what we are doing is we are regularly eating bread and we're drinking fruit of the vine.
00:35:30.880 --> 00:35:34.239
These elements of communion remind us of death.
00:35:37.280 --> 00:35:42.639
They remind us that Jesus Christ came into this broken, hurting world and gave his life.
00:35:45.760 --> 00:35:48.960
We're reminded that suffering is a part of our current world.
00:35:49.039 --> 00:35:55.519
And when we eat this together and drink the fruit of the vine together, we are reminded that life is hard.
00:35:55.920 --> 00:35:57.440
Suffering does exist.
00:35:57.760 --> 00:35:59.119
We are reminded of death.
00:35:59.199 --> 00:36:01.039
We're reminded of his death.
00:36:01.519 --> 00:36:06.480
And we're reminded that he invites us to pick up our cross and follow him.
00:36:07.039 --> 00:36:09.039
Our world is full of trouble.
00:36:09.840 --> 00:36:12.320
This meal reminds us of those troubles.
00:36:12.800 --> 00:36:14.559
It names those troubles.
00:36:14.960 --> 00:36:18.400
And it boldly proclaims the resurrection.
00:36:18.800 --> 00:36:30.239
We are reminded that Christ's body is broken for us and it is now restored, and he is living his resurrected physical body at the right hand of the Father today.
00:36:30.800 --> 00:36:36.880
We are reminded that our broken, beaten-down bodies one day will be given a resurrected body.
00:36:37.119 --> 00:36:39.119
We're reminded of that with this.
00:36:39.840 --> 00:36:46.159
We're reminded that Christ's blood, which was shed and is now pumping through his body alive and well.
00:36:46.320 --> 00:36:49.360
And we are reminded that we have new life in him.
00:36:50.159 --> 00:37:00.559
So every time we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim his death and his resurrection and our hope in him, no matter what the circumstance is.
00:37:00.800 --> 00:37:08.400
So we eat this bread and we drink this cup to remind ourselves that Christ dwells in us and we remain in him.
00:37:10.559 --> 00:37:14.079
If you've not received the communion elements, go ahead and raise your hand.
00:37:14.159 --> 00:37:20.239
If you you missed that when you walked in, we have our ushers prepared to provide you with a cup and bread and juice.
00:37:21.599 --> 00:37:24.960
If the way we handle it here is if you love Jesus, you're invited.
00:37:25.039 --> 00:37:26.000
It's not about membership.
00:37:26.079 --> 00:37:27.119
It's do you love Jesus?
00:37:27.199 --> 00:37:28.480
You're invited to come to the table.
00:37:28.559 --> 00:37:34.159
There's some people up this direction, but we are invited to receive the communion together.
00:37:34.320 --> 00:37:36.239
I want to read from 1 Corinthians.
00:37:36.320 --> 00:37:41.039
Paul writes this for I received from the Lord what I delivered to you.
00:37:41.280 --> 00:37:45.760
That the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it.
00:37:45.840 --> 00:37:47.920
And he said, This is my body which is for you.
00:37:48.079 --> 00:37:49.679
Do this in remembrance of me.
00:37:49.920 --> 00:37:54.880
In the same way also he took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant, my blood.
00:37:55.039 --> 00:38:03.599
Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me, for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
00:38:04.719 --> 00:38:19.599
Being reminded, you take out the bread, being reminded of Christ's broken body, his suffering, and being reminded that we too may suffer, and our bodies may be broken, our desires seemingly unfulfilled.
00:38:19.760 --> 00:38:24.559
We are reminded of the resurrected body of Christ and the ones that await us.
00:38:24.800 --> 00:38:27.280
This is his body broken for us.
00:38:27.440 --> 00:38:29.039
Let's eat together.
00:38:34.800 --> 00:38:51.920
Then we can take the juice and be reminded of Christ's blood, which he shed for us, his life he gave for us, dying alone, betrayed, condemned, abused, naked on a cross, and we too experience shame, loneliness, betrayal.
00:38:52.079 --> 00:38:53.920
We experience sin and death.
00:38:54.079 --> 00:39:06.960
We are reminded that he rose from the grave fully alive, defeating the bonds of sin and death and shame, and offering in its place forgiveness and grace and life.
00:39:07.199 --> 00:39:09.679
This is his blood shed for us.
00:39:09.840 --> 00:39:10.960
Let's drink together.
00:39:15.119 --> 00:39:17.519
These elements help us remain.
00:39:17.840 --> 00:39:20.800
They help us stay, abide in him.
00:39:21.360 --> 00:39:28.880
We're reminded of that every time we gather together and experience this act of worship with one another.
00:39:29.199 --> 00:39:32.000
So, how do we practice remaining this week?
00:39:32.320 --> 00:39:39.920
Well, there's all kinds of ways, and I'll let the Lord lead you, but practice doing prayer or scripture reading or silence or solitude.
00:39:40.079 --> 00:39:43.280
Some of you may want to fast this week or practice Sabbath.
00:39:43.840 --> 00:39:48.639
Find a spiritual practice that you have just said, I'd rather not.
00:39:48.800 --> 00:39:49.840
And remain in that.
00:39:50.159 --> 00:39:51.039
Give it a try.
00:39:51.199 --> 00:39:54.880
If it's fasting, just skip a meal and pray instead.
00:39:55.360 --> 00:39:57.920
Or sit for five minutes in silence.
00:39:58.079 --> 00:40:02.719
Put your phone away and just sit and pay attention and remain in Christ.
00:40:02.880 --> 00:40:04.000
Be attentive of Him.
00:40:04.159 --> 00:40:05.760
Practice that this week.
00:40:07.360 --> 00:40:10.880
The message of the vine is one of community.
00:40:11.519 --> 00:40:14.079
We are born into Christ.
00:40:14.400 --> 00:40:18.480
John 3 tells us that we are born from above and he gave us life.
00:40:18.559 --> 00:40:20.320
And so that's the story of us.
00:40:20.400 --> 00:40:24.800
We're born into this community of fellow believers based on life in Jesus.
00:40:25.039 --> 00:40:28.719
And then our temptation is to go off on our own.
00:40:28.800 --> 00:40:31.840
And Jesus reminds us, no, no, stay in him.
00:40:32.719 --> 00:40:34.559
Stay connected, remain with him.
00:40:34.800 --> 00:40:44.559
Even, even if life gets difficult, even if it's boring, even if it's tedious, even if you look for a couple of months and go, I don't see any fruit here.
00:40:44.639 --> 00:40:46.559
I'm just wasting my time.
00:40:46.960 --> 00:40:48.639
Jesus says, remain in him.
00:40:49.519 --> 00:40:50.719
Remain in him.
00:40:51.519 --> 00:40:52.800
That's where life is.
00:40:52.960 --> 00:40:57.199
And some of you are invited to remain in him, even if it's been a difficult season.
00:40:57.440 --> 00:41:01.920
If you're tired, if you're frustrated, if you want more excitement in your life.
00:41:02.079 --> 00:41:04.800
There's nothing more exciting than following Jesus.
00:41:04.960 --> 00:41:06.480
It just takes some time.
00:41:07.920 --> 00:41:09.119
Let's pray.
00:41:11.039 --> 00:41:17.440
Lord, I'm reminded that there are many in this room who are experiencing just difficult seasons.
00:41:17.760 --> 00:41:25.599
Pain, frustration, a lack of purpose, confusion, being overwhelmed.
00:41:26.480 --> 00:41:30.960
And God, we are reminded this week that we cannot carry it all.
00:41:31.119 --> 00:41:32.800
We were never intended to.
00:41:33.039 --> 00:41:35.760
Instead, we remain in you, and you are the vine.
00:41:36.159 --> 00:41:38.320
You are the one whom gives us life.
00:41:38.880 --> 00:41:42.960
And so, Lord, in the midst of our pain and sorrow and difficulty, we need your help.
00:41:43.760 --> 00:41:45.119
We want to remain in you.
00:41:46.079 --> 00:41:47.360
Strengthen us, O God.
00:41:48.639 --> 00:41:50.159
Give grace and give comfort.
00:41:51.760 --> 00:41:53.039
We need you this morning.
00:41:53.679 --> 00:41:56.320
Help us to stay in you this week.
00:41:56.719 --> 00:41:57.679
In your great name.
00:41:57.840 --> 00:41:58.480
Amen.
00:41:59.920 --> 00:42:02.239
As a reminder, we do have prayer teams in the back.
00:42:02.320 --> 00:42:04.239
You're also welcome to come pray with me at any time.
00:42:04.320 --> 00:42:05.440
I'd love to pray with you.
00:42:06.079 --> 00:42:08.320
We do have discussion questions this week.
00:42:08.559 --> 00:42:15.599
They are when you are tempted to leave or check out, what do you do to help you remain in that situation even though it is difficult?
00:42:15.679 --> 00:42:16.800
So here's what I mean by that.
00:42:16.960 --> 00:42:20.800
Let's say you're having a conversation and you just go, I gotta get out of this place.
00:42:20.960 --> 00:42:22.480
This guy is boring.
00:42:23.039 --> 00:42:23.840
What do you do?
00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:25.440
Well, how do you stay attentive?
00:42:25.599 --> 00:42:30.719
Or if something is hard, you're paying bills, and you think, surely I can go watch Netflix instead of paying bills.
00:42:30.960 --> 00:42:33.840
How do you remain focused on the idea?
00:42:34.000 --> 00:42:37.360
When you are tempted to leave or check out, how do you remain in that situation?
00:42:37.519 --> 00:42:41.599
And number two, how are you going to stay in your cell or room this week?
00:42:41.760 --> 00:42:44.480
What are you gonna do to remain with Christ?
00:42:44.719 --> 00:42:45.840
That's the question this week.
00:42:46.000 --> 00:42:48.079
Let me give you a prayer of blessing as we go.
00:42:48.719 --> 00:42:51.280
The Lord bless you and keep you.
00:42:51.599 --> 00:42:54.960
The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
00:42:55.199 --> 00:42:58.639
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
00:42:58.960 --> 00:43:01.440
Intersection, you are loved.
00:43:01.679 --> 00:43:02.400
Go in peace.
00:43:02.559 --> 00:43:03.440
Have a great week.
00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:01.280
Good morning.
00:00:01.520 --> 00:00:05.360
I uh I get the privilege to read the scripture today.
00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:10.160
Uh my name is Katie Hebden and I'm Isaac's wife.
00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:16.640
Um mom to three amazing kids and a bonus son, Trenton.
00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:22.800
Um Yeah, we've been here for a while and I just am so thankful to be here.
00:00:22.879 --> 00:00:24.879
And I'm thankful for each of you to be here.
00:00:25.039 --> 00:00:35.600
Uh what Isaac said about um his mercies are new every morning, and I'm so grateful for that and the good times and the bad times in the middle of it all.
00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:37.840
Um I'm just thankful to God.
00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:39.200
I'm thankful for you guys.
00:00:39.439 --> 00:00:49.759
Um it's been 20 years in November since we've been here, and so um it's just been an amazing journey, and I'm so thankful to be on it with you guys.
00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:55.520
So welcome in today's scripture is John 15, 1 through 5.
00:00:58.399 --> 00:01:01.280
I am the vine and my father is the gardener.
00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:11.120
He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will bear even more fruit.
00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:19.599
You already clean I you are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:22.079
Remain in me as I remain in you.
00:01:22.239 --> 00:01:26.239
No branch can bear fruit by itself, it must remain in the vine.
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Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
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I am the vine, you are the branches.
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If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.
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Apart from me, you can do nothing.
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Thank you so much.
00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:43.120
Thank you.
00:01:43.359 --> 00:01:44.319
Incredible.
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Yeah.
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A big cheer, thank you.
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Uh well, good morning.
00:01:52.079 --> 00:01:53.200
My name is Isaac.
00:01:53.280 --> 00:01:55.840
If you're new, I'm the lead pastor here at the intersection.
00:01:55.920 --> 00:01:59.280
It is a joy to see each one of you here this morning.
00:01:59.519 --> 00:02:03.359
Uh I cannot believe it is already October.
00:02:04.079 --> 00:02:09.439
I told a few people this past week I'm still working on my February to-do list, a little behind.
00:02:09.599 --> 00:02:10.960
Hope there's a few of you there.
00:02:11.039 --> 00:02:16.479
Uh, but in October, normally what happens in October is we have a long tradition here for over 20 years.
00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:31.840
Uh boy, I think it's almost 26, 27 years, of doing trunk or treat, where we have on Halloween night all the kids coming and we we love our communities well, and we just we give them tons of candy, and we're gonna change things up a little bit this year.
00:02:32.080 --> 00:02:37.439
We have loved our community well, and we're gonna try something that uh we're gonna just give it a shot this year.
00:02:37.599 --> 00:02:41.439
We want you to go into your neighborhood and love your community well.
00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:49.199
So take the candy and the joy and the fun that you experience here on Halloween night and take it to your house.
00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:52.159
And, and I mean this sincerely, love your community.
00:02:52.319 --> 00:02:56.800
Part of the benefit of having a trunk or treat here is to love those around us.
00:02:56.960 --> 00:03:04.800
And I really want us to be people who are in our neighborhoods, workplaces, families, to love this people there as well.
00:03:04.879 --> 00:03:17.919
So, what we want you to do this year is love your community, get in groups, celebrate, love the people around you in a way that when you're they come to your door, you're giving them the joy of Jesus in your neighborhood.
00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:19.840
That's how we're gonna handle it this year.
00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:26.639
And um, I think it's gonna be I can't wait to hear how your community has come together and you've made your neighborhood a better place this year.
00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:29.919
So that'll be trunk or treat, what's happening this upcoming year.
00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:36.319
Okay, now I'm gonna do something this morning that is a bit unorthodox.
00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:43.360
If you are new or don't really pay attention to the sermon structure, which is totally fine by the way.
00:03:43.599 --> 00:03:57.919
Normally what happens is I teach in a sermon series, and there's a lot of reasons for it, mostly so that we can kind of capture an idea over the course of several weeks or a month or two, and so we kind of have one theme over and over again that you can kind of help us work through a process.
00:03:58.159 --> 00:04:00.319
Uh the idea is to help cover some kind of ground.
00:04:00.479 --> 00:04:13.120
Now, lately we have been in the middle of a sermon series called Pillar Principles, where we have looked at the life of Peter as the Holy Spirit has transformed him into a person whose name was Simon.
00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:16.639
Jesus changes his name to Peter, which means the rock.
00:04:16.800 --> 00:04:22.879
And then we learn in Revelation and throughout the New Testament that Peter becomes a pillar in the church.
00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:30.639
And then in Revelation, Jesus says, not only is Peter a pillar in the church, we can become pillars in the church of God.
00:04:30.879 --> 00:04:32.240
So we've been looking at that.
00:04:32.399 --> 00:04:34.639
So how do we how do we become pillars?
00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:36.639
Why would we want to be a pillar?
00:04:36.879 --> 00:04:38.319
This is what we've been talking about.
00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:42.079
Now, I am not abandoning that, but this week we're gonna pause.
00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:45.759
I'm actually, I've really enjoyed the pillar series, but we're just gonna pause this week.
00:04:45.839 --> 00:05:12.240
And the unorthodox piece is I keep running into a theme, several passages of scripture that I come back to over and over again since really this past summer, and just about every week, study, conversation, something comes up that puts me back to the sermon series from this past spring that we called Untroubled, where we were in the middle and of John 14, and then right at the very end we hit John 15.
00:05:12.399 --> 00:05:22.079
So if you're keeping track at home, which I can see many of you are very concerned about this, we're jumping back into the Untroubled series because I want to talk about John 15.
00:05:22.319 --> 00:05:24.560
Just for context, that's what we're doing here.
00:05:24.720 --> 00:05:26.000
I just can't shake it.
00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:29.279
Now, Pastor Kim, she often asks a question in situations like that.
00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:31.519
If I was, uh, I don't know, should I say it?
00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:32.000
Should I not?
00:05:32.079 --> 00:05:34.160
She asks the question, well, is this for you?
00:05:34.399 --> 00:05:37.360
Is this for the other person to share, or is it both?
00:05:37.519 --> 00:05:44.639
And as I've reflected through coming back to John 15 over and over again, I think it's I think it's definitely for me.
00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:49.920
Perhaps there might be some of you out there that says that you can uh appreciate this passage as well.
00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:51.120
So I think it's gonna be both of us.
00:05:51.199 --> 00:06:02.079
So we're gonna jump back into John 15, 1 through 4, and uh again, just for the untroubled series, but mostly John 15, 1 through 5, which my wife Katie just read for a few minutes ago.
00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:08.959
Now, I keep returning to this passage because of the weariness that surrounds many of us.
00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:14.879
I keep hearing stories of loneliness, isolation, confusion.
00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:20.319
I hear stories of people feeling unfulfilled, wondering what is next.
00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:24.560
I hear stories of people feeling like they never measure up to expectations.
00:06:24.720 --> 00:06:37.600
And we work and we work and we work, we toil, and we toil, we're grasping for approval and striving to be noticed and longing to matter, and we never seem to be able to get ahead.
00:06:37.839 --> 00:06:41.600
Anyone, you don't have to raise your hand, but anybody feel like I can just never get ahead.
00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:44.000
I save up money for a vacation, my car breaks down.
00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:46.879
It just keeps striving and striving and striving.
00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:51.199
Our world is exhausting.
00:06:52.319 --> 00:06:55.759
We live as if life depends on us.
00:06:56.319 --> 00:06:58.399
We are a self-reliant people.
00:06:58.560 --> 00:07:00.240
We come from pioneers.
00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:09.439
We come from people who left their own land and journeyed across the world, leaving their families, their people, their land for something different.
00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:18.879
My great-grandpa left England at a 12-year-old boy all by himself for Canada, made his way down to Spokane.
00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:21.439
We come from pioneers.
00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:22.879
This is what happens.
00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:29.759
Our country is built by people who have struck out on their own trying to do something daring and new.
00:07:29.920 --> 00:07:32.000
And we still carry this with us today.
00:07:32.079 --> 00:07:34.160
This is our American society.
00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:38.480
We are a pick yourself up by the bootstrap type of people.
00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:42.399
How many times have people asked you, can I help you?
00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:45.680
And you say, No, I'm fine, I've got it.
00:07:45.839 --> 00:07:48.720
And you are neither fine nor do you have it.
00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:54.959
From birth, we are formed to be individuals.
00:07:55.600 --> 00:07:57.839
We buy a crib for our kids.
00:07:58.079 --> 00:08:01.839
We put them as early as possible in that sweet crib.
00:08:02.079 --> 00:08:08.160
We walk away, shut the door, and we pray, oh Jesus, let this kid cry it out and fall asleep.
00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:09.439
What are we doing?
00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:12.879
We're teaching them to literally soothe themselves.
00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:18.319
We want them to be able to fall asleep at a very tiny age, all by themselves.
00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:19.920
This is our society.
00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:24.399
Not all parts of the world are like this.
00:08:24.639 --> 00:08:32.080
In many nations, there are children who sleep in the same room or in the same bed as their parents until they're five or six years old.
00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:36.159
This is called co-sleeping or bed sharing, and it's the norm.
00:08:36.320 --> 00:08:40.480
In their eyes, these we are abandoning their ch the children.
00:08:40.639 --> 00:08:42.639
We are the ones who are the unusual ones.
00:08:42.799 --> 00:08:46.960
They wonder why are we so desperate to separate ourselves from the kids?
00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:49.279
We're the ones who are different.
00:08:49.679 --> 00:08:56.000
We have high chairs, and we teach our kids to feed themselves again as early as possible.
00:08:56.159 --> 00:09:01.759
We want them to take that little cupcake and jam it in their mouth and the Cheerios and whatever it is we're feeding them.
00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:04.320
We want them to feed themselves.
00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:10.480
Not so in many nations like Indonesia, especially in poor rural areas.
00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:12.240
They don't have high chairs.
00:09:12.480 --> 00:09:16.639
The parents sit on the floor with the children and feed the children.
00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:25.120
My friend Eka, who grew up in Indonesia, he says it's common for parents to chase around five and six years old trying to get them to eat.
00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:26.320
Why?
00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:27.840
Why would they do this?
00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:29.679
Because they are communal.
00:09:29.919 --> 00:09:31.039
This is normal.
00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:32.639
They are in this together.
00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:34.559
It's not feed yourself, little one.
00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:36.240
It's no, we are a family.
00:09:36.399 --> 00:09:38.080
We do this together.
00:09:38.559 --> 00:09:42.879
This is, they come and exist in a form of community.
00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:57.039
In 1985, some socialists, including a man named Robert Bella, he looked at the American Society and wrote a landmark book called Habits of the Heart, Individualism and Commitment in American Life.
00:09:57.279 --> 00:10:03.279
In this book, he writes, individualism lies at the core of American culture.
00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:10.799
His main argument is that Americans, their main lens that they look through life is individualism.
00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:17.440
It all depends on me, is the lesson we have learned since the birth of our nation.
00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:19.679
This is how we live.
00:10:19.919 --> 00:10:25.360
This is the air that we breathe, the water that we swim in is individualism.
00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:26.879
Me, me, me.
00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:27.679
Why?
00:10:27.919 --> 00:10:29.039
We are individuals.
00:10:29.120 --> 00:10:30.320
We're mavericks.
00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:31.600
We're pioneers.
00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:34.720
I am responsible for my own fate.
00:10:34.879 --> 00:10:36.720
Unless I fail, then it's your fault.
00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:38.159
That's another sermon.
00:10:40.159 --> 00:10:43.519
But what do we do when life gets hard?
00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:45.759
When life gets boring?
00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:48.000
When it turns difficult?
00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:51.840
Well, we strike out on our own like our ancestors.
00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:56.399
And once again, we pull up the roots that we just tried to establish.
00:10:56.559 --> 00:11:03.039
And individualism, I want to make sure it's clear, individualism in and of itself is not bad.
00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:06.879
I am grateful for the responsibility that we have as Americans.
00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:10.399
There's so lots to be said about American individualism.
00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:11.840
There's a lot of beauty.
00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:17.039
There's a lot that we do have our own personality, our own personal gifts and abilities.
00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:27.840
The concern I have about it is making sure that we are aware of it and what it is doing to us and how we it show it's how we view the world.
00:11:27.919 --> 00:11:33.759
And this viewpoint is shaping us, it is forming us whether we know it or not.
00:11:34.080 --> 00:11:37.679
And this this is the world that we're swimming in, and many of us don't realize it.
00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:48.399
So when it all depends on me, we can become exhausted, overwhelmed, and when it doesn't work out, we move on.
00:11:48.799 --> 00:11:50.879
We wonder why we feel so alone.
00:11:52.480 --> 00:12:04.879
We are more likely to abandon something when it is hard or boring or frustrating or tedious because, well, I can go find something else to do.
00:12:05.120 --> 00:12:11.600
I will go find another group of people, I will go find another job, I can find something that'll pass my time.
00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:16.399
So if marriage becomes difficult, I will leave.
00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:21.600
Surely my life would be better off if I was not with this person.
00:12:22.159 --> 00:12:33.759
If parenting gets hard, we send the kids to camp or activities, send them to camp to coaches and sporting events, and let somebody else deal with them for a few hours.
00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:43.679
If my boss expects me to work five days a week, and occasionally on a weekend, we say, I can find another job that doesn't demand that.
00:12:43.840 --> 00:12:47.120
Where can I get paid full time for 20 hours worth of work?
00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:48.399
I will find it.
00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:50.559
This is what we do.
00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:52.080
This is our society.
00:12:52.799 --> 00:12:59.679
And if my small group seems a little harsh, I stop coming and I or I find another group.
00:12:59.919 --> 00:13:07.200
If I have a bad experience at church, and then somebody's a little rude to me at the next one, it's just not worth it.
00:13:07.440 --> 00:13:10.320
I can just go, I can just stay at home.
00:13:10.639 --> 00:13:16.639
And we have come to believe that if something is difficult, it must not be the right thing to do.
00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:20.080
If it's hard, I should stop doing it.
00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:25.600
If there's a little bit of pain, a little bit of tension, surely there's another way around this.
00:13:26.639 --> 00:13:28.399
When life gets difficult, we leave.
00:13:28.480 --> 00:13:36.799
We find something else to do, somewhere else to go, because I can, I can have a better experience somewhere else.
00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:38.559
This is the world we live.
00:13:38.799 --> 00:13:40.720
What does the Bible say?
00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:48.720
Well, Jesus teaches us in John 15, 1 through 2, I am the true vine, and my father is the vine dresser.
00:13:48.960 --> 00:13:56.639
Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
00:13:56.960 --> 00:14:03.759
In this teaching by Jesus, he says that he is the vine, and his father is the gardener or vine dresser.
00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:05.279
He's the one that takes care of it.
00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:07.039
We are the branches.
00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:10.960
The branch's job is to produce fruit.
00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:16.639
What comes from us should be grapes or some kind of substance, some kind of fruit product.
00:14:16.879 --> 00:14:22.000
And the way the branches do this is by being connected to the vine.
00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:25.840
If there is no connection to the vine, there is no fruit.
00:14:26.080 --> 00:14:29.039
The branches must be with the vine.
00:14:29.200 --> 00:14:30.639
They must be together.
00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:32.080
We are the branches.
00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:35.039
Okay, so now notice what the vine dresser does.
00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:40.159
If he notices that a branch is not producing fruit, what does it say?
00:14:40.320 --> 00:14:44.080
It says in our translations, he takes away the branch.
00:14:44.320 --> 00:14:50.159
Now, this is a bit technical, so hang with me for just a second because it's really, really important.
00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:55.679
Our verse just told us that if we do not produce fruit, we are taken away.
00:14:56.639 --> 00:14:58.000
It sounds a little harsh.
00:14:58.240 --> 00:15:01.360
The vine dresser comes and we're not producing fruit, out you go.
00:15:01.519 --> 00:15:04.720
That's kind of the view we have of this passage of scripture.
00:15:04.960 --> 00:15:13.600
Later on, just several verses later, we hear that if the branch does not abide in the vine, it is gathered up and thrown into a fire.
00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:25.519
And so we kind of take these two, we blend these two different situations and we blend them together, and it sounds like if I don't produce fruit, the vine dresser God will take me and throw me into the fire.
00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:33.120
If I'm not, if I don't have produce instantly, then I am worthless to God and He's gonna send me into the fire of hell.
00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:34.720
That's what it sounds like.
00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:37.039
I don't think that's what's happening here.
00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:43.039
We we imagine the vine dresser and he seems very, very harsh.
00:15:43.279 --> 00:15:46.080
That's not the tone of what Jesus is saying here.
00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:55.840
This is why many of us uh have friends who would say, I uh they don't come into church because, well, if I go into a church, I'll be struck with lightning.
00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:03.360
It's because they have this view of God who's looking, looking for fruit, and if you're not producing it, out you go.
00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:04.080
I'm gonna throw you.
00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:06.720
He can't wait to start a fire with us.
00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:09.039
That's how it looks.
00:16:09.279 --> 00:16:10.720
Here's the problem, though.
00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:13.600
The problem is language.
00:16:13.840 --> 00:16:15.200
And here's what I mean by that.
00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:19.200
It was originally written, this passage was originally written in Greek.
00:16:19.440 --> 00:16:24.159
We translated it into English, and we were translating sometimes words are complicated.
00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:30.799
So in this situation, the Greek word is uh that was written there is the word Iro, Iroh.
00:16:30.879 --> 00:16:33.759
Now it can mean take it take away, it can mean that.
00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:36.960
But it also means lift it up, lift it up.
00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:45.279
And so what happens is we see this, for example, in Matthew 9, 6, when it says, Jesus says, pick up your bed and go home.
00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:48.159
He says, I row your bed and go home.
00:16:48.480 --> 00:16:51.120
So pick it up and go home.
00:16:51.840 --> 00:16:52.559
Does it mean take?
00:16:52.879 --> 00:16:55.360
Yeah, kind of, but mostly it's lift up and then go.
00:16:55.600 --> 00:16:58.159
We also see this in Luke 9, 23.
00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:04.640
And Jesus said to me, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and I row his cross daily and follow me.
00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:05.920
Pick it up.
00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:15.920
And so what I row is happening here is there's the vine dressers coming in, he's looking at the branch and he's lifting up the branch when he sees there's no fruit.
00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:33.759
Viticulturalists, and viticulturists is what um people who work in vineyards, so the viticulturalists will tell us that a branch that is in the shade is six percent less efficient and will produce six percent less fruit than the branches that are in the sun.
00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:43.440
So the image here is the vine dresser looking at the branch going, Ho, you need to be more in the sun so you can receive the nutrients of the sun.
00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:51.759
So it's the vine dresser lifting up the branch and getting access so that the branch can receive the nutrients around it.
00:17:52.480 --> 00:17:56.720
And when we read this passage, it's the vine dresser saying, Oh, you're not producing fruit.
00:17:56.880 --> 00:18:00.000
Let me let me pick you up and put you in the right place.
00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:05.920
Let me get you access to how you can receive the full benefit.
00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:11.200
So the image is he's putting us in the proper place so that we can have access to him.
00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:17.200
This is a lesson about this is a God who never gives up on me.
00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:19.599
Even when I'm not bearing fruit.
00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:22.160
He's not anxious to cut me off and take me away.
00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:28.799
What he wants to do is lift me up and give me some help, give me access to him and his and who he is in his spirit.
00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:32.240
He is a God who will not give up on us.
00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:35.839
This is an image of a God who will not cast us aside.
00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:41.759
It's not an image of a cruel God, but a God of love and patience and care.
00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:45.119
This is what he is doing.
00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:49.279
Some of you walk in this morning and you may need lifted up.
00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:51.119
You're tired.
00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:56.079
You've been experiencing a time where you are weary and broken and frustrated and lost.
00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:59.599
And when we read this passage, we're reminded that God sees you.
00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:08.559
He goes to every vine and looks at all the branches, and he lifts up those that need a little encouragement, a little light, a little sun.
00:19:09.200 --> 00:19:13.680
He lifts us up and puts us in the right spot to receive more of Him.
00:19:14.559 --> 00:19:19.680
This morning, what I hope you experience is that God sees you.
00:19:20.160 --> 00:19:21.359
He loves you.
00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:27.920
This is what this is why we gather in this community, to be reminded that we are not alone.
00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:33.359
We gather and we turn to one another and we sing songs and we have lights in here so we can see one another.
00:19:33.599 --> 00:19:42.079
Because we are, we as the church house the temple, we are the temple of God and we worship together, and when we sing together, we strengthen each other.
00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:44.000
Look at all these people that love Jesus.
00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:46.720
I'm not feeling it, but I sure can sing with these people.
00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:51.200
We gather as a community to strengthen one another.
00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:53.759
This is what's happening this morning.
00:19:54.799 --> 00:19:57.839
Now, the second part of that sentence is a bit harsh.
00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:00.240
It is the image of pruning.
00:20:00.480 --> 00:20:04.559
And the reality is that good fruit takes time, care, and pruning.
00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:07.200
Pruning is not a painless process.
00:20:07.440 --> 00:20:12.400
Pruning is cutting and it is hurtful, but the point is to bear more fruit.
00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:21.119
So some of you may be going through this process where you are being pruned, not to cause you pain, but so that you can bear more good things in your life.
00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:26.400
I mentioned this a few weeks ago, a quote from our former Whitworth professor Dale Bruner.
00:20:26.559 --> 00:20:32.880
He says this cutting back or pruning is not a painless procedure for the object.
00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:37.920
The activity even seems at first sight superficially to be hurtful and counterproductive.
00:20:38.079 --> 00:20:47.119
But orchidists, farmers, and even home gardeners tell us that this seemingly harsh or backward procedure is actually good and is indeed fruitful for plants.
00:20:47.440 --> 00:21:08.559
A possible encouragement in this picture for some disciples, it is not an encouraging for all disciples, is that some can look at experiences in which they seemed or still seemed to be experiencing diminishment, hurtful, cutting back, severance, reduction in influence, and nevertheless, in light of our text, can say to themselves in hope, pruning, and so gain a whole new perspective.
00:21:08.880 --> 00:21:10.079
Pruning is painful.
00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:12.240
Some of us are experiencing that.
00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:14.880
And yet God is doing good work in that.
00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:24.079
He's cleansing us, he's purifying us, he's cutting back so that in the end we'll be able to experience more fruit, joy, goodness, love, hope, patience.
00:21:24.319 --> 00:21:26.480
That's, and it's a difficult process.
00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:33.279
Can you imagine if you're going through a difficult season and you say, pruning, yes, I'm being pruned.
00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:35.440
But that's the image here.
00:21:35.839 --> 00:21:37.119
That's the image here.
00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:39.119
This is what God invites us to.
00:21:39.359 --> 00:21:43.359
Some of you are not experiencing that pruning moment yet.
00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:46.400
But that's what we're invited to do.
00:21:46.559 --> 00:21:50.960
I will not uh belabor this point as I spoke about more on the pruning thing on July 5th.
00:21:51.039 --> 00:21:56.480
You can go back into YouTube or our website and see some of that sermon from July 5th if you're interested.
00:21:56.640 --> 00:21:57.920
But I don't want to repeat myself.
00:21:58.000 --> 00:21:59.519
So go back and there's more on pruning there.
00:21:59.599 --> 00:22:05.599
But What I want to get to though is our passage and the we are the branches and that Jesus is the vine.
00:22:05.839 --> 00:22:11.279
And as I mentioned, what cannot exist without the vine of branches.
00:22:11.759 --> 00:22:15.680
If there are, if there is no vine, then there can be no branches.
00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:18.240
We our life springs out of it.
00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:24.799
I was out of town at some meetings a while back, and at the meeting it was held at a vineyard, and so I was able to wander around a little bit.
00:22:24.880 --> 00:22:32.000
And I took two pictures, and we can see from these pictures that there is just, there's not, that's not just a branch.
00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:34.559
There's just not one branch producing fruit.
00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:39.039
There's a bunch of branches, and all of them come from the vine.
00:22:39.359 --> 00:22:40.559
Here's my point.
00:22:40.799 --> 00:22:43.680
You cannot be a branch without a vine.
00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:47.839
If you you would be away from the vine and you would eventually be dead.
00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:52.720
You would be, you would be crusty and hardened, you'd not be able to produce fruit.
00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:55.039
But all of the branches, there's all there.
00:22:55.119 --> 00:22:55.519
They come.
00:22:55.759 --> 00:22:58.000
Life comes from the vine.
00:22:58.640 --> 00:23:04.880
From the outset of our life, we are communal, meaning we spring from Jesus.
00:23:05.039 --> 00:23:06.799
Our life comes from Him.
00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:08.400
We are in a community.
00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:11.599
Once we say yes to Jesus, we are in a community.
00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:13.440
There's all those branches there.
00:23:13.599 --> 00:23:15.279
They're in this together.
00:23:15.599 --> 00:23:19.359
There's no pioneer branch just doing whatever it wants.
00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:23.920
There's no maverick branch just out in the middle of the field just doing its thing.
00:23:24.160 --> 00:23:26.160
That's not how the system works.
00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:28.799
We are in a community.
00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:32.880
This is the vine is what gives existence to the branches.
00:23:33.599 --> 00:23:43.119
For those philosophy students out there, John Locke tells us that our original state of being as humans is complete freedom and independence.
00:23:43.440 --> 00:23:47.839
We are individuals first, and in our individual state we form communities.
00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:49.279
This is the American way.
00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:50.559
So it looks like this.
00:23:50.640 --> 00:23:51.920
I think we have a graphic of it.
00:23:52.079 --> 00:23:54.079
Individuals form communities.
00:23:54.319 --> 00:23:55.759
That's the American way.
00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:59.119
Jesus says, nope, that's not what happens.
00:23:59.359 --> 00:24:01.279
From the vine come the branches.
00:24:01.440 --> 00:24:03.440
We are born into a community.
00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:04.960
Let me put it like this.
00:24:05.759 --> 00:24:08.559
Is there anyone here that birthed themselves?
00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:10.160
Nope.
00:24:10.400 --> 00:24:11.039
No, no.
00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:14.319
There was a community, let's call them mother and father.
00:24:14.480 --> 00:24:18.720
And from my mother and father come a baby.
00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:21.519
And uh none of us birthed ourselves.
00:24:21.680 --> 00:24:33.359
We all come from a heroic lady called a mother who just went through tremendous pain and sacrifice for a significant amount of months, and through that experience, we were born.
00:24:33.599 --> 00:24:39.839
And then we're put into a community with brothers and sisters and cousins, and we're gonna call that a family.
00:24:40.079 --> 00:24:42.400
That family forms us.
00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:48.240
Your birth order, you just will help navigate what kind of person you will be.
00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:50.559
You see this in all kinds of birth order situations.
00:24:50.720 --> 00:24:54.559
I follow a guy on Instagram and I think, how does this guy know my family?
00:24:55.119 --> 00:24:59.440
This is the most the yes, that's the firstborn, secondborn does that, thirdborn, yep.
00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:00.160
Why?
00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:03.599
Because communities form individuals.
00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:05.279
That's what happens.
00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:08.480
We, when we come together, are being formed here.
00:25:08.720 --> 00:25:10.640
When we follow Christ, we form here.
00:25:10.720 --> 00:25:15.519
So only out of communities are we're just birthed into that situation.
00:25:15.839 --> 00:25:19.680
Now, a branch does not bear fruit on its own.
00:25:19.839 --> 00:25:21.359
We come from a community.
00:25:21.680 --> 00:25:25.680
Community living is very difficult sometimes.
00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:29.759
In a community, we have to deal with people.
00:25:31.359 --> 00:25:37.599
Sometimes those people, like branches, bump against one another, and we would rather not.
00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:43.200
The wind blows and we rustle around and it becomes very annoying.
00:25:43.519 --> 00:25:46.880
I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hand, but that's what can sometimes happen.
00:25:47.039 --> 00:25:49.680
But we're in a community and it forms us.
00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:53.200
This is the way for fruit to be produced.
00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:55.119
You cannot do it on your own.
00:25:55.359 --> 00:25:59.920
If we want fruit, we must, we must be in a community.
00:26:00.160 --> 00:26:06.400
And it starts with the community of the Trinity, God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, together.
00:26:06.559 --> 00:26:12.720
And then a community of believers where we are together, where we worship together, we help one another.
00:26:12.799 --> 00:26:17.440
And sometimes that's in celebration, and sometimes that's boy, this person's driving me crazy.
00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:21.359
But we stay in a community and it forms us, and from that fruit happens.
00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:30.480
And I say this with love because I know that in our society, remaining or being in a community can be very, very challenging.
00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:33.759
It can be difficult to make friends and to keep friends.
00:26:33.920 --> 00:26:39.839
That's part of why we have such an isolation and loneliness epidemic, because it's really, really hard.
00:26:40.400 --> 00:26:43.200
And to you, I'd say, don't give up.
00:26:43.519 --> 00:26:46.640
Keep staying in community, keep trying.
00:26:46.880 --> 00:26:51.440
As long as it depends on you, keep making attempts at being in community.
00:26:52.240 --> 00:27:01.200
John four, uh, John 15, verse 4 says, Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine.
00:27:01.359 --> 00:27:04.400
Neither can you unless you abide in me.
00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:10.160
And that word abide means, you know, stay, remain.
00:27:10.319 --> 00:27:11.920
Stay right where you are.
00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:21.759
If you want to have life and meaning and purpose, if you want to have produce, you want to produce fruit in your life, the way we do this is we have to remain in the vine.
00:27:21.920 --> 00:27:23.839
We have to remain in Christ.
00:27:24.880 --> 00:27:30.960
If it if you did not, again, you'd be a stick out on the ground and you'd be good for a fire or something like that.
00:27:31.440 --> 00:27:34.480
Your reason for existence would be to be productive.
00:27:34.559 --> 00:27:35.920
You wouldn't be producing fruit.
00:27:36.160 --> 00:27:44.319
So the way for a branch to remain full of life, lush, flexible, pliable, fruitful, is to reside in Christ.
00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:49.759
Now that word abide occurs 12 times in this chapter.
00:27:49.920 --> 00:27:51.519
And it's the Greek word meno.
00:27:52.079 --> 00:27:53.920
Meno means to abide, reside.
00:27:54.079 --> 00:28:09.920
So normally if you say I reside somewhere, we get the image of I'm gonna live at home, but then I have errands to run, and so I leave, and then I come back, and then I have school, and then I come back, and then I have work, and then I have come back, and then I need to go get food, so I'm gonna go to Chipotle or wherever it is you like to go, and then you come back.
00:28:10.079 --> 00:28:10.319
Right?
00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:13.119
You live there, but there's just constantly coming in and going back and forth.
00:28:13.359 --> 00:28:14.720
But this word is a little different.
00:28:14.880 --> 00:28:18.720
The meno is, yeah, it means reside, but it means like stay.
00:28:19.039 --> 00:28:20.079
Remain.
00:28:20.799 --> 00:28:21.440
Stay.
00:28:21.680 --> 00:28:23.359
Stay right where you're at.
00:28:23.599 --> 00:28:28.079
The abide here is not an invitation to go anywhere.
00:28:28.240 --> 00:28:31.680
The invitation is you stay right where you're at.
00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:35.519
We are not in pursuit of anything.
00:28:35.759 --> 00:28:38.160
The invitation is to stay.
00:28:38.960 --> 00:28:40.240
So where are we?
00:28:40.559 --> 00:28:42.160
We are in Christ.
00:28:42.400 --> 00:28:45.119
And Jesus says, stay right there.
00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:47.359
Don't go anywhere, remain.
00:28:47.519 --> 00:28:56.799
When life gets difficult, when we experience challenges, we are not to flee or try new things, we don't explore other opportunities.
00:28:57.039 --> 00:28:59.920
We don't say, ah, this just isn't working for me.
00:29:00.160 --> 00:29:02.319
Jesus says, stay in me.
00:29:02.799 --> 00:29:06.720
The branch remains connected to the vine no matter the weather.
00:29:07.039 --> 00:29:08.559
No matter the weather.
00:29:08.880 --> 00:29:18.799
I mentioned a few weeks ago that vine dressers have learned that the more difficult a season, what happens is the vine actually produces, the grapes are actually better fruit.
00:29:18.960 --> 00:29:21.599
They're just sweeter when it's a little bit of stress.
00:29:21.839 --> 00:29:30.160
When we stay in Christ, what happens even in the midst of difficult, stressful seasons, the fruit that comes out of it in the end is often better.
00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:31.599
We remain.
00:29:32.400 --> 00:29:53.039
When we pray and we feel like nothing is happening, when we wonder what is even the point, when the temptation to leave begins to occur in us, when the temptation to find another activity, to find our to fill our time and to satisfy the longing of our soul happens, branches stay.
00:29:53.680 --> 00:29:54.960
Branches stay.
00:29:55.200 --> 00:30:02.319
Our church history is filled with uh is rich with men and women who bravely and faithfully followed God.
00:30:02.400 --> 00:30:05.519
And one of our early church fathers is a man named Abba Moses.
00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:13.119
And one day, so he lived in a monastery, and one day a man came up to him and he's kind of he's kind of some trouble and he wanted to go wander about.
00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:17.200
And Abba Moses said to him, Go in your cell, and a cell is a room.
00:30:17.279 --> 00:30:20.079
You just, you know, think of a monastery, it's a little room.
00:30:20.240 --> 00:30:24.000
He says, Go in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything.
00:30:24.160 --> 00:30:28.160
What Abba Moses says is go stay in your room.
00:30:28.400 --> 00:30:31.920
Remain right there, and you're gonna learn all you need to learn.
00:30:32.880 --> 00:30:34.160
What's the point of this?
00:30:34.480 --> 00:30:39.200
Our temptation is to go somewhere more exciting.
00:30:40.160 --> 00:30:44.240
Hop on our phone to see what alternative options we have.
00:30:44.640 --> 00:30:53.680
Uh we think of something, oh, you sit down and you start to do, you maybe pray and read your Bible, you get out your devotional book, and then you think, oh, the dishes.
00:30:54.000 --> 00:30:55.759
You get up and we do the dishes.
00:30:56.079 --> 00:31:03.519
You sit down, you you go back to reading and you think, oh, man, I forgot I had to put this away.
00:31:03.920 --> 00:31:10.480
There's this constant need to do more, to keep moving, to wander around.
00:31:10.720 --> 00:31:14.720
And the invitation for us is no, no, just stay.
00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:15.680
Remain.
00:31:15.839 --> 00:31:16.559
Stay right there.
00:31:16.640 --> 00:31:17.599
Just give it some time.
00:31:17.759 --> 00:31:18.799
I'm I don't know about you.
00:31:18.880 --> 00:31:19.519
Can I just be honest?
00:31:19.599 --> 00:31:20.480
I'll be honest with you.
00:31:20.559 --> 00:31:24.720
Uh I go to read my Bible, I'm reading about three verses, and I think, I wonder what time it is.
00:31:24.960 --> 00:31:26.720
Pick up my phone, set it down.
00:31:26.880 --> 00:31:28.960
Okay, then I read, okay, how long has this been?
00:31:29.119 --> 00:31:30.240
Pick up my same time.
00:31:30.400 --> 00:31:32.240
And then, oh, did somebody text me?
00:31:32.480 --> 00:31:32.799
No.
00:31:33.039 --> 00:31:42.559
I don't know how many times I am tempted to pick up my phone while I'm doing my devotions, and I get paid to do my devotions.
00:31:44.240 --> 00:31:44.640
Right?
00:31:44.799 --> 00:31:49.039
And so it's just a real challenge for me.
00:31:49.680 --> 00:31:53.119
The temptation is to not remain.
00:31:53.680 --> 00:31:56.799
But what Jesus is saying is, no, no, stay there.
00:31:56.960 --> 00:32:02.160
When it gets hard, when it gets when you are bored, do not get up.
00:32:02.559 --> 00:32:03.200
Stay.
00:32:03.839 --> 00:32:05.359
Stay in Christ.
00:32:05.839 --> 00:32:08.240
If a conversation gets boring, we move on.
00:32:08.400 --> 00:32:08.880
A book.
00:32:08.960 --> 00:32:10.640
We just we find we find something.
00:32:10.720 --> 00:32:12.079
We're constantly scrolling.
00:32:12.240 --> 00:32:12.640
Why?
00:32:12.880 --> 00:32:15.599
Because we do not want to be bored.
00:32:16.799 --> 00:32:18.720
We cannot remain.
00:32:18.880 --> 00:32:20.480
It is hard for us.
00:32:20.640 --> 00:32:30.960
And here's what's interesting: the monks who lived in the fourth century in a desert had the same problem, and they did not have Wi-Fi.
00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:34.799
You know, they didn't have streaming devices.
00:32:35.359 --> 00:32:39.920
And we how much more do we struggle with this idea to move on?
00:32:40.079 --> 00:32:43.440
And Jesus says, no, no, stay in me.
00:32:43.680 --> 00:32:48.799
Don't fill your mind with just stay, pray, read the Bible, stay, stay with me.
00:32:48.880 --> 00:32:52.960
We we love to distract or numb ourselves with something new.
00:32:53.519 --> 00:33:09.759
This is the story of our culture, and I'm sensing Jesus saying, reminding us to just slow down, keep your television off for a few extra minutes, keep your phone on the ground, or put it in another room for just 10 minutes.
00:33:10.240 --> 00:33:16.000
Turn off your stereo while you're driving for just one stop.
00:33:16.559 --> 00:33:18.640
Just remain with Christ.
00:33:18.880 --> 00:33:20.960
Give him space to speak.
00:33:21.119 --> 00:33:26.400
Even if you don't hear anything, the point is just to remain with Jesus.
00:33:26.960 --> 00:33:33.839
Listen to the words of pastor and author of Eugene Peterson about our need to find the fresh and exciting.
00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:40.640
He says, many claim to have been born again, but the evidence for mature Christian discipleship is slim.
00:33:40.880 --> 00:33:47.519
In our kind of culture, anything, even news about God, can be sold if it is packaged freshly.
00:33:47.680 --> 00:33:51.200
But when it loses its novelty, it goes on the garbage heap.
00:33:51.440 --> 00:33:54.799
There is a great market for religious experience in our world.
00:33:55.039 --> 00:34:05.039
There is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier generations of Christians called holiness.
00:34:05.440 --> 00:34:10.159
The life of a branch connected to a vine is not about excitement or dopamine hits.
00:34:10.320 --> 00:34:11.599
It's about connection.
00:34:11.760 --> 00:34:15.039
And I used the term a few months ago about mutual indwelling.
00:34:15.280 --> 00:34:17.760
We are in Christ and Christ is in us.
00:34:18.480 --> 00:34:20.559
Sometimes that's really difficult.
00:34:20.719 --> 00:34:22.719
Sometimes we don't understand.
00:34:22.880 --> 00:34:26.000
Sometimes, as I've said a few times, we would just rather not.
00:34:26.159 --> 00:34:29.440
We would rather distract ourselves or go find something easier.
00:34:29.840 --> 00:34:35.840
The invitation this morning is to keep praying, keep trusting, keep reading scripture, stay faithful.
00:34:35.920 --> 00:34:39.840
Even when you don't sense you are benefiting from it in those moments.
00:34:40.159 --> 00:34:41.760
We remain faithful.
00:34:42.000 --> 00:34:47.039
As Eugene Peterson once put it, we have a long obedience in the same direction.
00:34:47.280 --> 00:34:49.519
We just keep doing that.
00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:58.719
We need these moments of what we need in these moments of wondering whether or not it's worth it is to remain, is to have a practical thing so that can hold us together.
00:34:58.880 --> 00:35:05.119
I've mentioned a few of them: prayer, scripture reading, fasting, Sabbath keeping, staying in community.
00:35:05.199 --> 00:35:07.760
These help us remain in the line.
00:35:08.480 --> 00:35:11.360
We also continue to receive communion.
00:35:13.519 --> 00:35:17.360
I do think this is an odd custom we have.
00:35:18.800 --> 00:35:21.440
We eat this little piece of bread, we drink this little juice.
00:35:22.880 --> 00:35:29.760
But what we are doing is we are regularly eating bread and we're drinking fruit of the vine.
00:35:30.880 --> 00:35:34.239
These elements of communion remind us of death.
00:35:37.280 --> 00:35:42.639
They remind us that Jesus Christ came into this broken, hurting world and gave his life.
00:35:45.760 --> 00:35:48.960
We're reminded that suffering is a part of our current world.
00:35:49.039 --> 00:35:55.519
And when we eat this together and drink the fruit of the vine together, we are reminded that life is hard.
00:35:55.920 --> 00:35:57.440
Suffering does exist.
00:35:57.760 --> 00:35:59.119
We are reminded of death.
00:35:59.199 --> 00:36:01.039
We're reminded of his death.
00:36:01.519 --> 00:36:06.480
And we're reminded that he invites us to pick up our cross and follow him.
00:36:07.039 --> 00:36:09.039
Our world is full of trouble.
00:36:09.840 --> 00:36:12.320
This meal reminds us of those troubles.
00:36:12.800 --> 00:36:14.559
It names those troubles.
00:36:14.960 --> 00:36:18.400
And it boldly proclaims the resurrection.
00:36:18.800 --> 00:36:30.239
We are reminded that Christ's body is broken for us and it is now restored, and he is living his resurrected physical body at the right hand of the Father today.
00:36:30.800 --> 00:36:36.880
We are reminded that our broken, beaten-down bodies one day will be given a resurrected body.
00:36:37.119 --> 00:36:39.119
We're reminded of that with this.
00:36:39.840 --> 00:36:46.159
We're reminded that Christ's blood, which was shed and is now pumping through his body alive and well.
00:36:46.320 --> 00:36:49.360
And we are reminded that we have new life in him.
00:36:50.159 --> 00:37:00.559
So every time we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim his death and his resurrection and our hope in him, no matter what the circumstance is.
00:37:00.800 --> 00:37:08.400
So we eat this bread and we drink this cup to remind ourselves that Christ dwells in us and we remain in him.
00:37:10.559 --> 00:37:14.079
If you've not received the communion elements, go ahead and raise your hand.
00:37:14.159 --> 00:37:20.239
If you you missed that when you walked in, we have our ushers prepared to provide you with a cup and bread and juice.
00:37:21.599 --> 00:37:24.960
If the way we handle it here is if you love Jesus, you're invited.
00:37:25.039 --> 00:37:26.000
It's not about membership.
00:37:26.079 --> 00:37:27.119
It's do you love Jesus?
00:37:27.199 --> 00:37:28.480
You're invited to come to the table.
00:37:28.559 --> 00:37:34.159
There's some people up this direction, but we are invited to receive the communion together.
00:37:34.320 --> 00:37:36.239
I want to read from 1 Corinthians.
00:37:36.320 --> 00:37:41.039
Paul writes this for I received from the Lord what I delivered to you.
00:37:41.280 --> 00:37:45.760
That the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it.
00:37:45.840 --> 00:37:47.920
And he said, This is my body which is for you.
00:37:48.079 --> 00:37:49.679
Do this in remembrance of me.
00:37:49.920 --> 00:37:54.880
In the same way also he took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant, my blood.
00:37:55.039 --> 00:38:03.599
Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me, for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
00:38:04.719 --> 00:38:19.599
Being reminded, you take out the bread, being reminded of Christ's broken body, his suffering, and being reminded that we too may suffer, and our bodies may be broken, our desires seemingly unfulfilled.
00:38:19.760 --> 00:38:24.559
We are reminded of the resurrected body of Christ and the ones that await us.
00:38:24.800 --> 00:38:27.280
This is his body broken for us.
00:38:27.440 --> 00:38:29.039
Let's eat together.
00:38:34.800 --> 00:38:51.920
Then we can take the juice and be reminded of Christ's blood, which he shed for us, his life he gave for us, dying alone, betrayed, condemned, abused, naked on a cross, and we too experience shame, loneliness, betrayal.
00:38:52.079 --> 00:38:53.920
We experience sin and death.
00:38:54.079 --> 00:39:06.960
We are reminded that he rose from the grave fully alive, defeating the bonds of sin and death and shame, and offering in its place forgiveness and grace and life.
00:39:07.199 --> 00:39:09.679
This is his blood shed for us.
00:39:09.840 --> 00:39:10.960
Let's drink together.
00:39:15.119 --> 00:39:17.519
These elements help us remain.
00:39:17.840 --> 00:39:20.800
They help us stay, abide in him.
00:39:21.360 --> 00:39:28.880
We're reminded of that every time we gather together and experience this act of worship with one another.
00:39:29.199 --> 00:39:32.000
So, how do we practice remaining this week?
00:39:32.320 --> 00:39:39.920
Well, there's all kinds of ways, and I'll let the Lord lead you, but practice doing prayer or scripture reading or silence or solitude.
00:39:40.079 --> 00:39:43.280
Some of you may want to fast this week or practice Sabbath.
00:39:43.840 --> 00:39:48.639
Find a spiritual practice that you have just said, I'd rather not.
00:39:48.800 --> 00:39:49.840
And remain in that.
00:39:50.159 --> 00:39:51.039
Give it a try.
00:39:51.199 --> 00:39:54.880
If it's fasting, just skip a meal and pray instead.
00:39:55.360 --> 00:39:57.920
Or sit for five minutes in silence.
00:39:58.079 --> 00:40:02.719
Put your phone away and just sit and pay attention and remain in Christ.
00:40:02.880 --> 00:40:04.000
Be attentive of Him.
00:40:04.159 --> 00:40:05.760
Practice that this week.
00:40:07.360 --> 00:40:10.880
The message of the vine is one of community.
00:40:11.519 --> 00:40:14.079
We are born into Christ.
00:40:14.400 --> 00:40:18.480
John 3 tells us that we are born from above and he gave us life.
00:40:18.559 --> 00:40:20.320
And so that's the story of us.
00:40:20.400 --> 00:40:24.800
We're born into this community of fellow believers based on life in Jesus.
00:40:25.039 --> 00:40:28.719
And then our temptation is to go off on our own.
00:40:28.800 --> 00:40:31.840
And Jesus reminds us, no, no, stay in him.
00:40:32.719 --> 00:40:34.559
Stay connected, remain with him.
00:40:34.800 --> 00:40:44.559
Even, even if life gets difficult, even if it's boring, even if it's tedious, even if you look for a couple of months and go, I don't see any fruit here.
00:40:44.639 --> 00:40:46.559
I'm just wasting my time.
00:40:46.960 --> 00:40:48.639
Jesus says, remain in him.
00:40:49.519 --> 00:40:50.719
Remain in him.
00:40:51.519 --> 00:40:52.800
That's where life is.
00:40:52.960 --> 00:40:57.199
And some of you are invited to remain in him, even if it's been a difficult season.
00:40:57.440 --> 00:41:01.920
If you're tired, if you're frustrated, if you want more excitement in your life.
00:41:02.079 --> 00:41:04.800
There's nothing more exciting than following Jesus.
00:41:04.960 --> 00:41:06.480
It just takes some time.
00:41:07.920 --> 00:41:09.119
Let's pray.
00:41:11.039 --> 00:41:17.440
Lord, I'm reminded that there are many in this room who are experiencing just difficult seasons.
00:41:17.760 --> 00:41:25.599
Pain, frustration, a lack of purpose, confusion, being overwhelmed.
00:41:26.480 --> 00:41:30.960
And God, we are reminded this week that we cannot carry it all.
00:41:31.119 --> 00:41:32.800
We were never intended to.
00:41:33.039 --> 00:41:35.760
Instead, we remain in you, and you are the vine.
00:41:36.159 --> 00:41:38.320
You are the one whom gives us life.
00:41:38.880 --> 00:41:42.960
And so, Lord, in the midst of our pain and sorrow and difficulty, we need your help.
00:41:43.760 --> 00:41:45.119
We want to remain in you.
00:41:46.079 --> 00:41:47.360
Strengthen us, O God.
00:41:48.639 --> 00:41:50.159
Give grace and give comfort.
00:41:51.760 --> 00:41:53.039
We need you this morning.
00:41:53.679 --> 00:41:56.320
Help us to stay in you this week.
00:41:56.719 --> 00:41:57.679
In your great name.
00:41:57.840 --> 00:41:58.480
Amen.
00:41:59.920 --> 00:42:02.239
As a reminder, we do have prayer teams in the back.
00:42:02.320 --> 00:42:04.239
You're also welcome to come pray with me at any time.
00:42:04.320 --> 00:42:05.440
I'd love to pray with you.
00:42:06.079 --> 00:42:08.320
We do have discussion questions this week.
00:42:08.559 --> 00:42:15.599
They are when you are tempted to leave or check out, what do you do to help you remain in that situation even though it is difficult?
00:42:15.679 --> 00:42:16.800
So here's what I mean by that.
00:42:16.960 --> 00:42:20.800
Let's say you're having a conversation and you just go, I gotta get out of this place.
00:42:20.960 --> 00:42:22.480
This guy is boring.
00:42:23.039 --> 00:42:23.840
What do you do?
00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:25.440
Well, how do you stay attentive?
00:42:25.599 --> 00:42:30.719
Or if something is hard, you're paying bills, and you think, surely I can go watch Netflix instead of paying bills.
00:42:30.960 --> 00:42:33.840
How do you remain focused on the idea?
00:42:34.000 --> 00:42:37.360
When you are tempted to leave or check out, how do you remain in that situation?
00:42:37.519 --> 00:42:41.599
And number two, how are you going to stay in your cell or room this week?
00:42:41.760 --> 00:42:44.480
What are you gonna do to remain with Christ?
00:42:44.719 --> 00:42:45.840
That's the question this week.
00:42:46.000 --> 00:42:48.079
Let me give you a prayer of blessing as we go.
00:42:48.719 --> 00:42:51.280
The Lord bless you and keep you.
00:42:51.599 --> 00:42:54.960
The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
00:42:55.199 --> 00:42:58.639
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
00:42:58.960 --> 00:43:01.440
Intersection, you are loved.
00:43:01.679 --> 00:43:02.400
Go in peace.
00:43:02.559 --> 00:43:03.440
Have a great week.
