SPEAKER_00: Well, amen.
SPEAKER_00: And good morning.
SPEAKER_00: It's good to see you today.
SPEAKER_00: If you're new here, my name is Daniel.
SPEAKER_00: I get the privilege of being one of the pastors here at FBC, and it is a real pleasure to get to come today and open God's word with you.
SPEAKER_00: Internally among our staff, we call this Sunday, kind of as we kick off our fall, we call it Discipleship Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: And that's so that's what today is.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the goal for today.
SPEAKER_00: We want to help you as we get a new semester started.
SPEAKER_00: This is a great opportunity for us to pause, evaluate, and say what rhythms need to be part of my life as I go into the fall semester that will help me grow in my walk with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: So that's really what we want to accomplish today through our time in God's Word is to make sure that we understand the importance of following Him, of walking with Jesus, of feeding ourselves spiritually.
SPEAKER_00: And how do we do that here?
SPEAKER_00: What are some easy ways for that to take place right here as we do life together at First Baptist Burning?
SPEAKER_00: So that's what we're gonna do as we jump into God's Word.
SPEAKER_00: So let me go ahead and let you prepare for where we're gonna be today.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna take a break from the Gospel of Mark.
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna be in the Gospel of John, chapter 15, in the first 11 verses.
SPEAKER_00: So I tell you that, because I want you to follow along today in God's word.
SPEAKER_00: So if you brought your Bible, go ahead and be getting there.
SPEAKER_00: If you didn't bring one or if you don't have one, use the one in the seat back there in front of you.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, because I want you to follow along today.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't have a Bible, that's okay.
SPEAKER_00: You do now.
SPEAKER_00: Take that one with you that's right there in front of you and use it.
SPEAKER_00: Read it, get into it, mark it up, take notes in it.
SPEAKER_00: Uh begin to let God's word get into your heart, okay?
SPEAKER_00: So I'll give you a couple minutes to find your place there in John 15.
SPEAKER_00: But if you ever stop to think in our culture, how good we have gotten at evaluating things, at measuring things?
SPEAKER_00: Social media has done this, technology has done this, right?
SPEAKER_00: You we we just use these words that are common vernacular now for us to say things like, oh, how many followers do you have?
SPEAKER_00: How many views does that video have?
SPEAKER_00: How many people were here today?
SPEAKER_00: Is there growth?
SPEAKER_00: Have we seen growth?
SPEAKER_00: Have we seen engagement?
SPEAKER_00: That's another popular word.
SPEAKER_00: It's a buzzword that we use many times.
SPEAKER_00: We measure success, we measure influence.
SPEAKER_00: Now, those things aren't bad in and of themselves.
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing inherently wrong with those things.
SPEAKER_00: But one of the things I think we're discovering as we get more and more focused on measuring those things, here's something I'm learning, and I'm sure you're learning this too.
SPEAKER_00: Just because those numbers are growing does not actually equate to health.
SPEAKER_00: Have you seen that?
SPEAKER_00: That just because something seems to be impressive, right?
SPEAKER_00: The engagement may be growing, it doesn't actually mean something is healthy.
SPEAKER_00: Now, why do I bring that up?
SPEAKER_00: Because I think the same thing can be true in our lives spiritually.
SPEAKER_00: We can know the church language to use.
SPEAKER_00: We can sit in a seat in an auditorium like this every single week.
SPEAKER_00: We can sing the songs, we can serve in a ministry, we can carry our Bibles with us, we can know the answer to Bible questions, but never really pause long enough to ask ourselves this question: Is my walk with Christ actually healthy?
SPEAKER_00: And that's what I want us to do today.
SPEAKER_00: I want us to ask that question.
SPEAKER_00: One of our core values here at FBC Bernie, it's on the wall right as you walk out today.
SPEAKER_00: One of them is health over hype.
SPEAKER_00: And basically we just say, hey, we want to always, as a church, be evaluating whether the ministries, whether our programs, whether the things we engage in are actually based on biblical health and not just fleeting trends or the latest and the greatest thing.
SPEAKER_00: We don't want to get so caught up in hype that we miss health.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason for that is because healthy things grow.
SPEAKER_00: And so the thing we want to lean into is that idea.
SPEAKER_00: Are we healthy?
SPEAKER_00: But here's what I want to tell you today.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want you to ask, are we healthy as a church?
SPEAKER_00: Let's save that question for later.
SPEAKER_00: Today, I want to get more personal.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to ask the question, am I healthy spiritually?
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus, as he always does, gives us a really great way to measure that.
SPEAKER_00: And that's where we come to John chapter 15 today.
SPEAKER_00: So follow along as I read for us today our text out of John 15.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to begin in verse 1 and go through verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, I am the true vine, and my father is the vine dresser.
SPEAKER_00: Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away.
SPEAKER_00: And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
SPEAKER_00: Already you're clean because of the word that I've spoken to you.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 4, Abide in me, and I in you.
SPEAKER_00: As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
SPEAKER_00: I am the vine, you are the branches.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.
SPEAKER_00: For apart from me you can do nothing.
SPEAKER_00: If any one does not abide in me, he's thrown away like a branch, and he withers, and the branches are gathered, and they're thrown into the fire and burned.
SPEAKER_00: If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
SPEAKER_00: By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.
SPEAKER_00: As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.
SPEAKER_00: Abide in my love.
SPEAKER_00: And if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 11, these things I've spoken to you.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: That my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full.
SPEAKER_00: God, as we come to your word this morning, God, I pray that you would remove distractions, clutter from our minds, things that we came in here with.
SPEAKER_00: God, help us to set them aside, to lay them at your feet, and allow you, Holy Spirit, to teach us today from your word.
SPEAKER_00: May we be quick to obey it, apply it to our lives.
SPEAKER_00: It's in the name of Jesus we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: Well, as we jump in this morning, as we work through this passage, I want us to work through the whole thing as a whole, looking at three truths that are woven throughout this text.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what they are.
SPEAKER_00: They're right on the screen for you now.
SPEAKER_00: It's all about health.
SPEAKER_00: Healthy disciples, what do they do?
SPEAKER_00: Healthy disciples, we're gonna see as we work through the passage, they abide in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Healthy disciples welcome the Father's pruning, and healthy disciples bear lasting fruit.
SPEAKER_00: So as we work through the text, keep it open in front of you there because we're gonna go, we're gonna move around throughout the text to see these truths and how they're woven into what Jesus is saying this morning.
SPEAKER_00: So the first one, this idea that healthy disciples abide in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pick up right with verse one.
SPEAKER_00: Look at what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I am the true vine.
SPEAKER_00: This is an identity statement, and there is so much theological weight behind these words.
SPEAKER_00: If you're familiar with the Old Testament, you may actually understand the deeper meaning behind this.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus isn't just picking an analogy for us to say, hey, we're gonna talk about this idea of a of a vine and the branches.
SPEAKER_00: No, he is connecting to something that was conveyed throughout the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: In the Old Testament, God called Israel to be a vine.
SPEAKER_00: He said, You are my vine.
SPEAKER_00: The word of God says that he planted Israel to be the vine.
SPEAKER_00: It says he cared for them, he protected them, and he expected them to bear fruit.
SPEAKER_00: They were to be the vine.
SPEAKER_00: But we see in the Old Testament, in places like Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 5, and in Psalm 90, or Psalm 80, excuse me, and in Jeremiah chapter 2, we see that Israel again and again failed to be the fruitful vine that God intended for them to be.
SPEAKER_00: And so when we come to John's gospel, the disciples listening to Jesus say these words would have understood something.
SPEAKER_00: Israel had failed to be the vine.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus announces in this moment that he has succeeded where Israel has failed.
SPEAKER_00: He is the true vine.
SPEAKER_00: Israel could not be a faithful vine, so Jesus became the vine that they could never be.
SPEAKER_00: Church, that's good news for us today.
SPEAKER_00: That's not just a truth from the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: As we work through this passage today, that's why we're going to talk about abiding in Christ as branches abiding in the vine, because we cannot be a fruitful vine.
SPEAKER_00: We are incapable of that.
SPEAKER_00: But aren't you glad today that because of Jesus, because the gospel is true, that he has succeeded where we could not, and then he offers that gift to you and I.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: So look at what he says.
SPEAKER_00: So this identity statement: I am the true vine.
SPEAKER_00: That's who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: There's life in him, there's health in him, there's fruit that is available when we are connected to the vine.
SPEAKER_00: Now look at the other identity statement that's in this text.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus identifies who he is, he's the vine, but he also identifies who we are.
SPEAKER_00: He says you are the branches.
SPEAKER_00: Now there's a lot of meaning there for you and I, is there not?
SPEAKER_00: If we're a branch and we're not the vine, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: Well, that means that spiritually, life does not originate in us, it comes from Him.
SPEAKER_00: The branch does not produce life.
SPEAKER_00: The branch finds life when it's connected to the vine.
SPEAKER_00: A branch cannot just grit its teeth and say, you know, today I'm gonna try really hard and by myself I'm gonna produce fruit.
SPEAKER_00: It's impossible.
SPEAKER_00: If the branch is cut off from the vine, there is no life, and there is no fruit.
SPEAKER_00: It's only possible when we remain connected to the vine.
SPEAKER_00: But then there's an invitation here, this invitation to abide.
SPEAKER_00: Look at it there in verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, abide in me, but there's an incredible promise attached to the invitation.
SPEAKER_00: Abide in me, and what does he say?
SPEAKER_00: And I in you.
SPEAKER_00: What does it mean to abide?
SPEAKER_00: We could use words, and it would be right to do so, to say, well, it means to remain.
SPEAKER_00: It means to stay, it means to continue, it means to dwell in something.
SPEAKER_00: It kind of has carries the idea of ongoing dependence.
SPEAKER_00: It's what this idea of abide means.
SPEAKER_00: If we're not careful though, we can think of abiding as something that is passive.
SPEAKER_00: That if I just kick it into neutral and just coast, I'm abiding.
SPEAKER_00: Church, can I tell you today that is the opposite of what it means to abide?
SPEAKER_00: Abiding in Christ is not a passive thing, it is a refocusing of our energy.
SPEAKER_00: It is a refocusing of our effort.
SPEAKER_00: Not to think of it as in terms, I've got to do this and I've got to produce this, and it's up to me to do this, but rather to focus that energy and to focus that effort on no, he is divine.
SPEAKER_00: And so I must remain close to him, and I must reprioritize my life and reorient myself to stay connected to him because only he can produce fruit.
SPEAKER_00: I can't produce fruit.
SPEAKER_00: So I shouldn't use my energy and my effort to try to do something that I'm incapable of doing.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, I should remain in him and be faithful to abide and let him do what he can do.
SPEAKER_00: So it's a it leads to an important question that I want us to ask ourselves today.
SPEAKER_00: Do we place ourselves, our lives, in regular rhythms where we depend on him, where we're listening to him, where we're obeying him, and where we're enjoying him?
SPEAKER_00: And you may say, well, of course I do.
SPEAKER_00: I'm here this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sitting here in these brand new, beautiful seats.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: I'm here, I'm doing it.
SPEAKER_00: Did you know that it's entirely possible to use Christian resources without consciously depending upon Christ Himself?
SPEAKER_00: Think about that for a minute.
SPEAKER_00: You can read scripture just to collect more information.
SPEAKER_00: You can pray just to work through a checklist.
SPEAKER_00: You can attend church just because it's Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: You can serve just because your name showed up on a schedule.
SPEAKER_00: You can stand and preach just because it's your turn in the rotation.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, whoops, that one was for me, not for you guys.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry about that.
SPEAKER_00: My bad.
SPEAKER_00: Moving on.
SPEAKER_00: But do you see it?
SPEAKER_00: We can get busy with a lot of activity, but that activity is not actually focused where it needs to be.
SPEAKER_00: It's a danger, it's a warning for us because there's a danger here.
SPEAKER_00: Because we can live our lives in such a way that we don't place them in regular rhythms where we must depend upon and abide in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We can try to figure it out and do it all by ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: There's some freedom statements in these first few verses, too.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to see a couple of them for me.
SPEAKER_00: We've looked at identity statements, we've looked at this incredible invitation and promise, but look at this these statements here.
SPEAKER_00: One's in verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, you are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
SPEAKER_00: Now, without taking a lot of time here, let me just set you free with this statement that is meant to give you freedom.
SPEAKER_00: Abiding in Christ does not equal working to earn God's favor.
SPEAKER_00: Did you guys hear that?
SPEAKER_00: Here's the deal.
SPEAKER_00: Many of us, our Christian lives, if we're honest, could be characterized by believing, God, I know I need you, but the only way I can have you is if I work my way to you.
SPEAKER_00: I've got to work hard.
SPEAKER_00: And in working hard, I'll get myself cleaned up.
SPEAKER_00: And then once I get cleaned up, then you will love me.
SPEAKER_00: And then you will accept me.
SPEAKER_00: Church, many of us in this room today, I believe, need to hear this statement, not with our ears, but actually hear it with our heart to understand.
SPEAKER_00: If you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, you are clean.
SPEAKER_00: You are accepted.
SPEAKER_00: You are right before God, not in your righteousness, but because you are clothed in His.
SPEAKER_00: So you don't work to abide in Christ in order to earn something.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: You are connected to Him because He is holding on to you.
SPEAKER_00: There is freedom here.
SPEAKER_00: You are already clean because of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But then look at this other freedom statement in verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Apart from me, you can what?
SPEAKER_00: Do nothing.
SPEAKER_00: You guys can do a whole lot of nothing for the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Did you know that?
SPEAKER_00: That ought to set you free.
SPEAKER_00: Like you guys should have set up a little straighter.
SPEAKER_00: You should have kind of shook a little bit, go, whoo, that's good news.
SPEAKER_00: Guess why?
SPEAKER_00: Because it doesn't depend on you.
SPEAKER_00: The pressure is not on you to perform in order to please God.
SPEAKER_00: You can't please God on your own.
SPEAKER_00: Apart from Him, you can do nothing.
SPEAKER_00: So let me set you free with the truth of the Word of God today.
SPEAKER_00: You are not called to earn something.
SPEAKER_00: You're not called to achieve something.
SPEAKER_00: You're called to abide.
SPEAKER_00: And when we abide, we do accomplish the things that God has called us to do, not in our strength, but in his strength, because as branches we're abiding in the vine.
SPEAKER_00: You know the sign of a believer who's maturing in their faith?
SPEAKER_00: It's one who understands that they don't need Jesus less and less the more mature they get.
SPEAKER_00: It's spiritual maturity means that we are increasingly understanding how completely dependent upon Him that we actually are.
SPEAKER_00: Is that you?
SPEAKER_00: Are you more aware today as you walk with Jesus of how much you desperately need him for every breath?
SPEAKER_00: Or have you so curated your life that you can pretty much live this semblance of a Christian life without really having to depend upon him?
SPEAKER_00: I think that characterizes a lot of our churches today.
SPEAKER_00: Is that even if God doesn't show up, we could go about our business and do our thing and we really wouldn't miss him.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to be that kind of church, do you?
SPEAKER_00: I want to be a church that says, God, we are dependent upon you for every breath.
SPEAKER_00: So we're not gonna get busy just doing activity.
SPEAKER_00: We are gonna run to you and we're gonna cling to you, and we're gonna make sure we're abiding in the vine because we're just a bunch of branches, and if we're not connected to the vine, there is no life, and there is no fruit, and we can do nothing to advance your kingdom in and of ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Now he goes on and he lets us know there's two kinds of branches in this text.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see that as we as we read through it this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Two kinds of branches here.
SPEAKER_00: There's the there's the verse um two, in verse two we see them.
SPEAKER_00: We see that there are the branches that bear fruit, and then there are the branches that do not bear fruit.
SPEAKER_00: And he does two different things with those branches, does he not?
SPEAKER_00: What does he do with the branches that bear fruit?
SPEAKER_00: He prunes them.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna get to that in a minute.
SPEAKER_00: What does he do with the branches that don't bear fruit?
SPEAKER_00: Says he takes them away.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 6.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone who doesn't abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers.
SPEAKER_00: Now I just need to, just for clarity, let me explain this here.
SPEAKER_00: He's not talking about someone who at one point was saved or was connected to the vine, and now through their own actions and activity, they have somehow been able to detach themselves from the vine and they are now no longer saved.
SPEAKER_00: That is not this picture.
SPEAKER_00: This picture that Jesus is giving is the picture of a branch that was never connected to the vine.
SPEAKER_00: The context here in chapter 14, Judas has been with the disciples.
SPEAKER_00: He's been with Jesus, and what has he just done?
SPEAKER_00: He's left to betray him.
SPEAKER_00: Judas had the look of a churchgoer.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I mean of a branch.
SPEAKER_00: But what do we see in his life?
SPEAKER_00: He does not bear fruit.
SPEAKER_00: So what does his life prove?
SPEAKER_00: That he was not abiding, that he was not connected to the vine.
SPEAKER_00: So this morning, there's some options where categories that we would fit into in this text.
SPEAKER_00: You could be a branch today who understands the truth of this passage, and you are daily prioritizing your life, and you are faithfully abiding in Christ to the best of your ability, allowing the Holy Spirit to give you the strength to do what you cannot do, and you are abiding in Him.
SPEAKER_00: Or you could be a branch who is just spiritually unhealthy.
SPEAKER_00: And today, maybe you need to renew your focus to abide, to understand that, to quit just being busy with activity.
SPEAKER_00: But instead to pursue with your whole heart, with your whole self, abiding in Him.
SPEAKER_00: Or third option, you could be a spiritually dead person who is spending a lot of time adjacent to the things of God without being truly connected to the vine.
SPEAKER_00: Every single one of us this morning, every one of you listening to my voice right now is in one of those three categories.
SPEAKER_00: My prayer this morning is that the Holy Spirit would show you which one you are.
SPEAKER_00: But the truth of this passage, this idea that we're to bear fruit, fruit doesn't make you a disciple.
SPEAKER_00: You can't hold up a list of activity and say, look at my fruit.
SPEAKER_00: I must be good.
SPEAKER_00: I must be following Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: No, fruit demonstrates that you're walking with him.
SPEAKER_00: Fruit demonstrates that you were pursuing Christ and desiring to grow and understand and abide in him and be healthy and healthier.
SPEAKER_00: But please hear me clearly.
SPEAKER_00: Fruit is evidence that you are abiding in the vine.
SPEAKER_00: Fruit is not your entrance into abiding.
SPEAKER_00: There's another one of those freedom statements for you today to understand who is the one doing the work.
SPEAKER_00: It is not us.
SPEAKER_00: And that ought to set you free.
SPEAKER_00: Now let's look for just a moment at this second truth woven into this text that healthy disciples welcome the Father's pruning.
SPEAKER_00: Look at the progression in here.
SPEAKER_00: Every branch that abides in him, it says he bears fruit.
SPEAKER_00: And then what does the father do?
SPEAKER_00: He prunes.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: So that it would bear more fruit.
SPEAKER_00: And then when we get to verse 5, it says, much fruit.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see the progression from fruit to more fruit to much fruit?
SPEAKER_00: What do we learn from this?
SPEAKER_00: That God is not satisfied with just the presence of life in you.
SPEAKER_00: He's committed to cultivating maturity in you.
SPEAKER_00: That because it's his spirit that is working in you, because it's his spirit that is producing the fruit and giving you life, that as he prunes you, you will produce fruit.
SPEAKER_00: And the longer you walk with him and the more you abide in him, you will produce more fruit.
SPEAKER_00: And if you continue abiding in him and walking with him faithfully, you will produce much fruit.
SPEAKER_00: Our Heavenly Father, described as the vine dresser, the gardener in this text, is not satisfied with leaving you where you are because he sees what a branch can't see.
SPEAKER_00: He knows what has to be removed from your life, what has to be removed from my life, so that something healthy can grow.
SPEAKER_00: And so he is faithful.
SPEAKER_00: Not to shame you, not to guilt you, not to weigh you down, but because he's faithful and he longs for there to be health in your walk with him.
SPEAKER_00: So what is he doing as the vine dresser, as the gardener?
SPEAKER_00: He's pruning sinful habits.
SPEAKER_00: He's exposing unhealthy rhythms in your life.
SPEAKER_00: He's shining a light on misplaced priorities.
SPEAKER_00: He's showing you good things that have become way too important in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: So that you will abide in him.
SPEAKER_00: So that you will see your need for him, your dependence upon him.
SPEAKER_00: So what's the posture of a follower of Jesus, a healthy disciple to be?
SPEAKER_00: One who is constantly asking this question, Lord, what needs to be pruned in my life?
SPEAKER_00: Again, another question for us this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Is that you?
SPEAKER_00: Does that characterize regular rhythms in your walk with the Lord that you are asking him in all honesty, transparency, authenticity, to say, Lord, what needs to be pruned?
SPEAKER_00: As I abide in you, help me to welcome the pruning of your hand because it is a hand of love.
SPEAKER_00: It is a hand that longs for my life to have health, to produce fruit, to find joy in life in you?
SPEAKER_00: What's consuming your energy right now, your spiritual energy?
SPEAKER_00: But maybe producing very little fruit?
SPEAKER_00: Are there habits?
SPEAKER_00: Are there priorities, preferences, distractions?
SPEAKER_00: Are there things that if you were honest, you would say, I spend a lot of time on this, but I they're not very fruitful.
SPEAKER_00: Ask the Lord, is this something that needs to be pruned in my life?
SPEAKER_00: With the confidence that as I abide in you, the pruning will lead to more life and more health and ultimately more fruit.
SPEAKER_00: And then the last truth that we see woven through here is that idea that healthy disciples of Jesus bear lasting fruit.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever abides in me, verse 5, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.
SPEAKER_00: Fruit is evidence, it's visible evidence that Christ's life is transforming us inwardly and then transforming us in what we do as we live for him.
SPEAKER_00: As we're faithful to abide in him, Christ is changing who we are.
SPEAKER_00: And as we continue to be faithful there, we become fruitful.
SPEAKER_00: Christ begins to use our lives in ways that we never could.
SPEAKER_00: We're asking lots of questions this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Here's another one for you.
SPEAKER_00: Is your life really changing?
SPEAKER_00: Can you say the longer you've walked with Jesus, is you see visible evidence that his life is transforming your life?
SPEAKER_00: Are you more loving?
SPEAKER_00: Are you more patient?
SPEAKER_00: Are you quicker to forgive?
SPEAKER_00: Are you becoming more dependent upon him?
SPEAKER_00: Are you more generous?
SPEAKER_00: Are you more willing to serve?
SPEAKER_00: Are you more concerned that people who don't know Christ would come to know Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Are you using your time and your energy and your efforts to make sure others are growing in their walk with Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Can the people who are closest to you see evidence in your life that Jesus is constantly transforming you more and more to look like Him?
SPEAKER_00: Now, if the answer to those questions is no, the solution is not, well then pull up, you know, pull up your britches, right?
SPEAKER_00: And you know, put on the boots and step in and just try harder.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: The solution is run to the vine.
SPEAKER_00: Run to the vine.
SPEAKER_00: He's the one who does these things.
SPEAKER_00: If there's a lack of fruit, if there's a lack of evidence that he's transforming you, the solution is not to try harder, the solution is to abide more in him.
SPEAKER_00: I want us to do something that is a little unique this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And some of you, I know, the minute I tell you what we're gonna do, you're gonna kind of, your lips are gonna get a little tight, and you're gonna be like, I'm not doing that.
SPEAKER_00: And that's okay.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna force you to do it.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: You can take the time that those of us in the room who will do it, you can just take that time to pray.
SPEAKER_00: To read back through John 15 for a little bit if you want to.
SPEAKER_00: But here's what I want us to do for just a moment.
SPEAKER_00: This will take about five minutes.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna use five minutes in the service today for a pop quiz.
SPEAKER_00: Alright?
SPEAKER_00: You ready for this?
SPEAKER_00: Look at the screens right now.
SPEAKER_00: You see that?
SPEAKER_00: Get your phone out, get your tablet out.
SPEAKER_00: If you've got something that you can use, scan that.
SPEAKER_00: And that will take you to a little tin question survey.
SPEAKER_00: A spiritual health survey.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what is this?
SPEAKER_00: Well, let me tell you what it's not.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a spiritual report card, it's not a diagnostic of whether Jesus loves you or not.
SPEAKER_00: It's a way for you to measure faithfulness to abiding in him and fruitfulness in whether you are producing fruit.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're gonna play some music softly.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to take just a minute to answer these 10 questions.
SPEAKER_00: They are anonymous, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: I will have no idea what your answers are.
SPEAKER_00: It's just a scale of one to ten, so you can feel comfortable to answer them.
SPEAKER_00: If that's not something that you're you want to do this morning or you're equipped to do that today, to be taking this assessment, just listen.
SPEAKER_00: As you evaluate your faithfulness to abiding in Christ, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: Does it mean that you're arranging your life around rhythms that help you abide in him?
SPEAKER_00: Or do you arrange your life around rhythms that just keep you busy?
SPEAKER_00: Some of the questions ask you to measure fruitfulness.
SPEAKER_00: And that's just saying, as I abide in Christ, do I see evidence that he's transforming me?
SPEAKER_00: Are there visible signs that he's at work in me and through me?
SPEAKER_00: You see, the goal of pausing and having moments like this where we just assess where we are as branches abiding in the vine.
SPEAKER_00: The goal isn't guilt.
SPEAKER_00: The goal isn't, well, I need to try harder.
SPEAKER_00: The goal isn't comparing our life or our branch to somebody else's branch.
SPEAKER_00: No, the goal is just to ask, God, what do you want to show me?
SPEAKER_00: Where am I healthy?
SPEAKER_00: Where am I unhealthy?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, where are you calling me to abide in you in deeper ways?
SPEAKER_00: I know some of you are, some of you are still working, and that's completely fine.
SPEAKER_00: Again, this is not meant to make you leave here feeling guilt or feeling shame or pressure or some kind of comparison or asking, God, do you love me?
SPEAKER_00: No, this is meant to just have us pause for a minute because it's healthy to pause.
SPEAKER_00: It's healthy to pause and ask important questions that help us understand, are we really abiding in Him or have we fooled ourselves into thinking we are?
SPEAKER_00: So I pray that this is just a helpful reminder, maybe it's just a kick start for you as we begin a new semester to ask these questions of your life.
SPEAKER_00: As the passage, our text today concludes, there's some healthy, important guardrails that are given to us in this text.
SPEAKER_00: And they come toward the end of our passage.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 9, it says, As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.
SPEAKER_00: Abide in my love.
SPEAKER_00: Why does Jesus call us to abide in him?
SPEAKER_00: To experience his love.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see the unbelievable message in those words?
SPEAKER_00: As the Father has loved me, think about the love that the Father has, that he's demonstrated and poured out on his son.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, with that same love, I have loved you.
SPEAKER_00: And then what does he invite them to?
SPEAKER_00: Abide in him.
SPEAKER_00: Why is it okay to run to him, even if that means pruning?
SPEAKER_00: Why is it okay every day?
SPEAKER_00: Why can we trust God to say, God, I will abide in you, even if that means you have to clean me up and cut things out of my life that might be painful?
SPEAKER_00: Why can't I trust you enough to do that?
SPEAKER_00: Because he loves you.
SPEAKER_00: The same love that the Father loves the Son, the Son loves you, and He invites you from that place of love to abide in Him.
SPEAKER_00: That is a healthy guardrail for us to remember.
SPEAKER_00: As we think about the importance of abiding, everything Jesus commands us to do flows out of love for us that He has already given to us.
SPEAKER_00: God has demonstrated His love for us in this, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus does not say, obey me so I can love you.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I love you, now abide in me.
SPEAKER_00: Biblical obedience is not the enemy of abiding.
SPEAKER_00: Biblical obedience is the expression of abiding.
SPEAKER_00: Now look at verse 11, the other guardrail.
SPEAKER_00: His love for us is one guardrail that keeps us on this path to abiding.
SPEAKER_00: What's the other one?
SPEAKER_00: Joy.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: These things I've spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full.
SPEAKER_00: The goal of abiding, the destination when we're abiding in Him, it's not exhaustion.
SPEAKER_00: It's not spiritual exhaustion.
SPEAKER_00: It is joy.
SPEAKER_00: Why did Jesus tell us to abide?
SPEAKER_00: He says, Why?
SPEAKER_00: I've told you these things.
SPEAKER_00: So that my joy would be in you and that your joy would be full.
SPEAKER_00: Why should we arrange our life and the rhythms of our life around our relationship with him?
SPEAKER_00: Why should we desire to increasingly know him more?
SPEAKER_00: Why should we desire to become more like Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: To experience the joy that is only found in Him.
SPEAKER_00: The call to abide is not a call to just more effort and more work till you were just exhausted trying to earn something that you don't have.
SPEAKER_00: The call to abide is a call to experience and rest in the love that the Father has demonstrated to you in the sending of his son and the joy that he longs to fill you with to overflowing.
SPEAKER_00: And if those things are lacking in your life, then I would press you today to say, maybe you're not abiding in Christ like you should as a healthy branch.
SPEAKER_00: So it leads today as we close to asking the question: what kind of life are we building?
SPEAKER_00: Is it one that is just characterized by trying hard, by effort of trying to be a branch not connected to a vine?
SPEAKER_00: Or would you say my walk with Christ is characterized by the knowledge that I must abide deeper and deeper and deeper if I want to experience the life and joy and love that is only found in Him.
SPEAKER_00: I've never seen someone who has spiritual health by accident.
SPEAKER_00: It requires intentionality to arrange our lives around things that help us abide in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That's why we do things here like growth groups.
SPEAKER_00: We don't just do them to keep you here for two hours on Sunday instead of one.
SPEAKER_00: We do it to put you in relationships where you have accountability, where you have community, where you have encouragement.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because those are ways God helps us remember we need to stay connected to Him as we're connected to the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It's why we gather to worship, it's why we serve.
SPEAKER_00: It's why we invite you to go on mission and to be kingdom-minded.
SPEAKER_00: Because we know people abiding in Christ will produce fruit.
SPEAKER_00: And part of that fruit is to go and take the gospel to those who have never heard.
SPEAKER_00: It's why we do that.
SPEAKER_00: It's why you study scripture, it's why you invest in relationships.
SPEAKER_00: It's why we say use your gifts to live on mission for Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's because we know that that is the natural outcome of followers of Jesus who are abiding in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And we want to give you every resource imaginable, not to keep you busy, but to give you options and things that might help you at a particular season in your life to abide more deeply in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That's why this fall, there's a couple of things coming up that we want to give you that are just tools for you.
SPEAKER_00: To maybe help you abide in Christ more.
SPEAKER_00: One of those things is a grandparenting conference.
SPEAKER_00: I love that we are leaning into this more and more, helping those in our congregation who are blessed to be grandparents, to say, how do you leverage these years to not just spoil your grandkids?
SPEAKER_00: Because you're good at that already, but to help you leverage it for kingdom purposes, to help your grandkids learn to abide in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We want to give you tools to help you do that, to produce fruit that will bless generations beyond you.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we have another thing coming up at the end of September.
SPEAKER_00: It's a marriage workshop called Navigating Us.
SPEAKER_00: Why would we do that?
SPEAKER_00: You hear the hugglers, they're in the room.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: Why would we do that?
SPEAKER_00: Because one of the most incredible relationships that God gives us, one of the ones that sanctifies us the most, is the relationship with our spouse.
SPEAKER_00: And we want you to learn how to abide in Christ, but also how to have the most healthy marriage you can have because God uses our marriages as a reflection of his love for us.
SPEAKER_00: Healthy marriages.
SPEAKER_00: Shout the gospel to those who do not know Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We want to help you have healthy marriages.
SPEAKER_00: And so we've got a weekend coming up at the end of September that will just give you resources and tools to do just that.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe one of those things, maybe that is something you need to prioritize, not just to add a date to your calendar, but to say this is one of the areas where I struggle, and God needs to do some pruning in my life so that I produce fruit in these areas.
SPEAKER_00: So as I abide in Christ, I'm gonna prioritize this.
SPEAKER_00: Out in the plaza immediately after this service.
SPEAKER_00: The benics are gonna be out there.
SPEAKER_00: They're gonna be at a table in the four-year and they're gonna have information about the grandparenting workshop.
SPEAKER_00: The hugglers are gonna be out there and they're gonna have information about the marriage workshop.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe one of those is something you need.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe Wednesday nights as we kick those off is something for you that you need to engage with.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what God might need to use, but I just want to call us today to abide in Him.
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna sing together to close our time this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Our worship team is gonna come.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what we're gonna use this time for to respond.
SPEAKER_00: To respond to the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that response today is just you quietly at your seat assessing the health of your walk with Him.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe the assessment today has shown you that you are not connected to the vine.
SPEAKER_00: There is no life.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe today is the day that you need to place your faith in Jesus, to be connected to the vine, to find life in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: If that is you, we're gonna have ushers down front who would love.
SPEAKER_00: These are ministers who would love to pray with you, who would love to help you understand what it means to know Christ so that you can spend a lifetime abiding in Him.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you need to use these steps as an altar this morning.
SPEAKER_00: As just an opportunity to repent and say, God, I have not been abiding in you.
SPEAKER_00: I've been trying to do it on my own, but today, as a branch that is dependent upon the vine, I want today to be a fresh start where I understand my need for you.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to rearrange my life in a way to where I am forced to depend upon you.
SPEAKER_00: However, God's speaking, would you use this time of response to be obedient to the call of his spirit?
SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus, would you take this time?
SPEAKER_00: Would you use it for your glory?
SPEAKER_00: It's in your name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Would you stand as we sing?