WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:06.559 Well, this past week, uh thinking about this passage at the same time, uh, we went to Blue Skies Camp. 00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:13.679 So Blue Skies is a a camp for uh families with children uh with cancer. 00:00:13.839 --> 00:00:23.679 And so uh families with children cancer can apply, and if they get accepted, then they can go for free to this this uh it's a a week at the beach where they are pampered. 00:00:23.839 --> 00:00:26.079 They are absolutely just loved on. 00:00:26.239 --> 00:00:29.760 It it is something they they cannot buy this with money. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:31.519 You cannot buy this with money. 00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:36.560 I mean you're getting the four seasons treatment, but you're getting loved. 00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:45.039 Um, you're getting handwritten notes, uh, you're getting uh devotionals, you're getting friends, you're getting community, you're you're getting family. 00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:51.200 And so we went as a volunteer family, and I preached uh four times and did some devotionals for the volunteers. 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:54.320 And uh so we were there, so we drove down, it's at Port St. 00:00:54.479 --> 00:00:54.640 Joe. 00:00:54.799 --> 00:01:04.000 So we drove down there and we get there, and so in our condo we shared with another family, teenagers, and so our our our side of the condo is two bedrooms, and we got there and you know, pack and play in the bathroom. 00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:12.719 You know, we always make Greta sleep in the bathroom, and so she's in the bathroom, and the bigger girls are in one bedroom, and Christy and I are in the other bedroom, and then the other family's on the other side. 00:01:12.879 --> 00:01:17.040 And so we're unpacking, and we put some of the clothes away, and we do some of that, but I mean, all of y'all know this. 00:01:17.120 --> 00:01:20.239 You you go on vacation somewhere and you sort of unpack, right? 00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:22.400 So like the food still kind of stays on the counter. 00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:27.599 You don't you don't take the trouble to like put it up in the cupboard, and Christy sort of unpacks, gets her clothes up. 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:30.879 I'm like kind of a hybrid, um, because you're not settling in. 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:34.400 I mean, you you know this is this is not your it's not your home. 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:37.920 This is this isn't really the place you live out of. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:41.680 Um it's definitely not the place you abide and you you you remain. 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:43.760 So Saturday morning comes and what do we do? 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:46.400 We put everything back in the bags, put everything back in the car. 00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:50.560 Um, we drive back home, and now now when you get home, it's totally different because it's your home. 00:01:51.040 --> 00:01:52.879 This is the place you settle in. 00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:54.719 So you're fully unpacking. 00:01:54.799 --> 00:02:02.719 You're on the suitcase is totally empty, and the suitcase goes like up in the attic or in the closet or whatever, because this is this is the place you settle in. 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:04.799 It is the place you make your home. 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:12.639 And and so we unpacked everything, and by late afternoon yesterday, I get up into my my study to kind of look over the sermon after not looking at it for a few days. 00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:27.759 And and the thing, reading this passage in John 15 that we're gonna read here in a second, the the thing that just kind of kept kept coming, I kept hearing um in my heart was was, you know, don't, you know, kind of the Lord saying, not an audible voice, nothing, nothing like totally weird or anything. 00:02:28.080 --> 00:02:33.919 Just in my heart, don't make me a condo at the beach where you don't settle in. 00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:44.000 You know, so don't like don't make me and my grace and my love to you something you sort of stop in, and that's like the entry point to your faith, and now you're gonna go back to living somewhere else. 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:53.680 Usually for somebody who comes to Christian faith, kind of like enter by grace, and then I'll maintain by my own self-reliance and just sort of return to a non-gracious relationship. 00:02:53.759 --> 00:02:55.919 But really, at the end of the day, I have faith in myself. 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:58.560 And it's like the Lord said, don't do that. 00:02:59.199 --> 00:03:02.960 You know, settle in, settle into me. 00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:06.800 Um I'm I'm your home, the incarnate love of God. 00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:13.199 Not service, not disciplines, not coming to church, not giving money, not all your good deeds, not not your fruit. 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:17.039 Not your fruit, but but me. 00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:24.560 And so we're gonna read John 15, 1 through 11, work our way through this passage. 00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:27.439 Jesus talking to his disciples. 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:31.840 We're still at the we're still at the table in the upper room, been there a while, long conversation. 00:03:32.080 --> 00:03:34.879 Pretty, pretty strong conversation we've been having here. 00:03:34.960 --> 00:03:39.439 Um probably took the disciples the rest of their lives to kind of unpack this and figure out what he was talking about. 00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:40.719 Uh here, verse 1. 00:03:40.879 --> 00:03:41.759 I am the true vine. 00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:45.360 This is Jesus talking to his disciples, and my father is the gardener. 00:03:46.240 --> 00:03:52.159 And what we're gonna see is we think he's talking about a garden, and he is sort of, but he's really talking about home. 00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:54.879 The father's the gardener. 00:03:54.960 --> 00:04:00.800 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes. 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:04.479 So that it will be even more fruitful. 00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:09.120 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:12.240 Remain in me as also I remain in you. 00:04:13.520 --> 00:04:17.199 No branch can bear fruit by itself, it must remain in the vine. 00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:19.680 Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 00:04:19.839 --> 00:04:21.600 I am the vine, you are the branches. 00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:23.920 If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. 00:04:24.079 --> 00:04:26.399 Apart from me, you can do nothing. 00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:30.800 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away in withers. 00:04:30.959 --> 00:04:36.480 Such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire, and burned. 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:41.279 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, it will be done for you. 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:43.920 And go, okay, oh man, so I so that's like a free pass. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:44.959 I go, whatever I want. 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:46.160 Well, we we know that's not true. 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:47.199 We've all tried it, right? 00:04:47.279 --> 00:04:48.560 I mean, we've all been trying it. 00:04:48.639 --> 00:04:50.319 I still try it, and it doesn't work out. 00:04:50.399 --> 00:04:58.800 What it means is if we're remaining in him, our concerns are becoming his concerns, and we're praying for his concerns, and those things will actually come to fruition. 00:04:58.959 --> 00:05:00.639 This is to my Father's glory. 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:02.000 Usually we're praying for our own glory. 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:04.480 If you're like me, you're praying for your own glory and your own comfort. 00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:11.680 Uh, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples, as the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. 00:05:11.839 --> 00:05:13.600 Now remain in my love. 00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:15.360 So remain in me, remain in my love. 00:05:15.439 --> 00:05:16.399 That's what you're remaining in. 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:22.959 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain as love in his love. 00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:24.639 I'm tempted to preach on that verse again. 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:25.920 We did a few weeks ago. 00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:28.160 I just love it, but just re-listen to that sermon. 00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:29.040 Verse 11. 00:05:29.439 --> 00:05:33.439 I have told you this is so that my joy may be in you. 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:37.600 So I'm not telling you to burden you, not telling it to scare you. 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:42.319 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 00:05:42.399 --> 00:05:45.120 So we're gonna focus on verses one through six and work our way through them. 00:05:45.279 --> 00:05:47.439 But verses seven through eleven, there's a there's a lot there. 00:05:47.519 --> 00:06:00.720 I mean, you know, I he's saying, I love you, you're gonna love me in return, you're gonna bear fruit, and actually that fruit is gonna bring not glory to you, and and your little you know, peach or pear or apple and your fruit is actually gonna bring glory to the gardener, right? 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:09.120 You walk into somebody's garden, you walk into somebody's garden, and you go, Man, somebody has been taking some care to this place, right? 00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:13.680 I mean, I mean, why the the glory, the glory always goes to the gardener. 00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:16.879 So let's talk about this garden, but let's let's talk about the gardener. 00:06:16.959 --> 00:06:19.199 So um there's two kind of two parts to the sermon. 00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:22.399 The first is um the problems in this passage. 00:06:22.879 --> 00:06:24.560 There's a couple kind of big verses in there. 00:06:24.639 --> 00:06:27.199 You're like, oh, I don't, you know, I don't know what to do with that. 00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:28.720 I'm kind of uncomfortable with that verse. 00:06:28.879 --> 00:06:31.120 So we're gonna talk about the problems we perceive. 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:34.160 Actually, the problem's not in the passage, it's our perception of the passage. 00:06:34.319 --> 00:06:39.680 The problems we perceive, and then the second part is the overarching promise of the passage. 00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:41.199 So, first, the problems. 00:06:41.360 --> 00:06:46.800 I mean, I I can remember growing up and I would read verse 2, and it would just sort of you know scare me. 00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:50.160 He cuts off every branch that bears no fruit. 00:06:51.519 --> 00:06:52.079 What? 00:06:52.399 --> 00:06:54.560 I mean, what I mean it was kind of scared me. 00:06:54.639 --> 00:06:56.319 Like, I've got to do better. 00:06:56.560 --> 00:07:01.199 I mean, I've got to do more, and if I don't, I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be cut off. 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:03.120 He's gonna get rid of me. 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:05.199 He's gonna pass me off. 00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:07.360 He's gonna like unchild me. 00:07:07.920 --> 00:07:08.720 But that's not true. 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:11.199 It's not the point of the passage where you're gonna see that. 00:07:11.360 --> 00:07:12.079 So what's the point? 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:14.879 What's the point of Jesus saying it like this? 00:07:16.160 --> 00:07:24.319 The point is turn from your own merit and your own achievements and look at what he achieved for you. 00:07:25.519 --> 00:07:45.199 See, if you if you make your home and your own self-reliance, faith in yourself versus faith in him, if you make your home there, trying to manifest fruit of like Christian life or like good things and good deeds, if you're trying to do that, so much of that's going to be coming out of fear and pride. 00:07:47.040 --> 00:07:48.319 That would be driving it. 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:50.319 If you do that, here's what Jesus is saying. 00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:53.199 If you do that, you're like a withering branch. 00:07:55.360 --> 00:07:59.759 And like the branch a gardener just cuts off and throws away because you're dying. 00:07:59.920 --> 00:08:00.800 It's death. 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:02.879 That way of life is death. 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:05.040 And you get verse six, another sort of scary one. 00:08:05.199 --> 00:08:10.800 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers. 00:08:10.959 --> 00:08:15.279 Such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire, and burned. 00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:17.120 So he could be speaking about hell here. 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:21.360 Some people think he's talking, you know, some people, you know, it's like, oh, fire, hell, you know, I mean, every time. 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:24.240 I don't I don't know if I definitely, you can think that. 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:25.839 I don't think I think that too much. 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:29.519 I more think this is just him talking about how a garden works. 00:08:29.759 --> 00:08:32.159 I I just think it's a little more simple than that. 00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:34.159 I just think it's he's talking about how the garden works. 00:08:34.320 --> 00:08:44.879 So a few weeks ago, uh I think maybe it was even Sunday afternoon, uh, I had seen a couple bushes in our backyard or were overgrown and they're they're up against the house, you know, and you gotta cut them back. 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:50.240 And so I knew I was gonna do that, and so uh Christy had had gone off and I had the two bigger girls. 00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:57.039 And so um, after rest time, uh I have them kind of like nice shorts and a nice shirt, but I'm thinking it's just two bushes, you know. 00:08:57.120 --> 00:09:11.679 And so I go out there, my sandals, and I get my my big clippers, and I get over there and I clip them down, and then I look to my left, and there's all these like overgrown Nandinas, which is a shrub, just to let you know. 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:16.080 Uh overgrown Nandinas and I start cutting them, right? 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:25.039 It's like kicking an anthill, and I start cutting them, and then I cut, and then and then I keep hitting this these uh branches with thorns, it's just nasty, like it didn't belong. 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:30.960 It's a group of Nandinas, and it's a thorny, and I'm cutting it, and as I'm cutting, I'm beginning to see kind of like this. 00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:34.639 That's actually a pretty big bush, like within the other bushes. 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:37.840 And so I'm like, I mean, I'm I'm I'm taking that guy out. 00:09:37.919 --> 00:09:48.720 Like we're it's it's go time, and so I cut my way a path to get back in there, and I get back in there and I'm cutting, I'm pulling, and I go get my gloves, and I'm still having my nice clothes on because I'm an idiot. 00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:59.519 And so I'm back in there and I'm pulling, I get sweatier, I'm getting dirtier, and then finally I'm back in there with a pickaxe, a hatchet, I've dug a hole. 00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:01.919 And and why why am I doing this? 00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:02.960 What am I doing? 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:06.080 I I'm I'm going after the root, right? 00:10:06.320 --> 00:10:07.279 We know this. 00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:12.960 If I just if I just if I just trim that branch, he's gonna keep coming back, he's gonna keep coming back. 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:14.799 And why is this? 00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:18.720 Because life always comes from the root. 00:10:21.279 --> 00:10:23.759 This whole passage is this wonderful lesson. 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:24.960 And it's the same thing. 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:30.799 What a what a root and a tree trunk is to a tree, Jesus is to human life. 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:37.679 What a root and a tree trunk is to a shrub to a to a tree. 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:40.799 Jesus is to human life. 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:48.399 So don't forget Jesus on your way to being a productive Christian. 00:10:48.799 --> 00:10:50.240 Because we can do that. 00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:53.519 And if you've done it before, you know what I'm talking about. 00:10:54.159 --> 00:10:56.000 So that's the problems. 00:10:56.480 --> 00:10:58.559 The problems in the past that scare you. 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:00.639 The problems are just saying, you know what? 00:11:01.679 --> 00:11:05.519 If you leave Jesus, he's not trying to scare you, he's just trying to jolt you. 00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:08.960 Jesus' language is trying to not scare you, but jolt you, like, hey, wake up. 00:11:09.039 --> 00:11:10.559 Don't live out of your own strength. 00:11:10.799 --> 00:11:17.519 If you live out of your own strength, you're like, because two hours later, after I did all the Nandinas, I did all the bushes, there's all these limbs on the ground. 00:11:17.759 --> 00:11:19.120 And what did I do? 00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:22.000 I went by and I picked them all up and I put them in a pile. 00:11:22.080 --> 00:11:27.600 I didn't burn them as I'd probably be arrested by City Marietta, but I put them in a pile out by because that's what the gardener does. 00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:30.639 He gets rid of the stuff that just doesn't produce life. 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:39.120 Jesus is not trying to scare you, just trying to jolt you to say, hey, if if you live out of your own strength, it's just, it's, it's just, you're dying. 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:40.879 You're withering. 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:52.639 The overarching promise here is about God's love for us, his promise to us. 00:11:52.799 --> 00:11:59.440 Uh when I was in tenth grade, I got involved, sort of like my first Christian community, like Christian group. 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:01.279 I mean, it was FCA at my school. 00:12:01.360 --> 00:12:03.759 I'd become a Christian about a year or so before. 00:12:03.840 --> 00:12:05.200 And this was my first experience. 00:12:05.279 --> 00:12:08.720 And there was this older, he's a senior, his name was David. 00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:10.320 He later became a good friend. 00:12:10.559 --> 00:12:13.759 I realized he wasn't as perfect, still close to perfect, Christy would agree. 00:12:13.919 --> 00:12:14.799 Pretty perfect guy. 00:12:14.879 --> 00:12:17.120 Um, but he wasn't as perfect as I thought he was. 00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:24.960 But when I was in 10th grade and he was a senior, he's like the he was like the class president, he's the head FCA, and he's good looking, um, and he was just good at everything. 00:12:25.120 --> 00:12:26.639 He was so kind to everybody. 00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:33.519 I mean, he was like the Christian guy, and I'm I was like this little low, and he had he had like big muscles, and this like little skinny, scrawny guy. 00:12:33.600 --> 00:12:35.600 I mean, I can do skinny, I can't do that. 00:12:35.679 --> 00:12:43.279 And I'm I'm looking at him, how kind and nice he is, and and I'm just going, man, I could I could never, like, I could never be like that. 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:45.039 I could never be like him. 00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:58.960 I mean, he's he's just he's such a leader, I mean, he's so good at the Christian life, I mean, he's so disciplined, he's so devoted, and it's like these, just these, like, like I have these wounds and I have these lies I believe, and this lust and this insecurity. 00:12:59.039 --> 00:13:01.600 Like, I could never be like that. 00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:03.679 Y'all know what I'm talking about, right? 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:07.679 Like you view somebody like that, and they're not really like that, but you view them that way. 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:11.840 And you're like, man, look where look where I come from. 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:13.200 Look what look what I've done. 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:15.600 Look what people have told me. 00:13:16.960 --> 00:13:20.080 Or maybe you've tried and you've come up short. 00:13:20.799 --> 00:13:40.799 And this is this is where this passage is just so promising and good for us, who have looked at like a Christian or the Christian life, and either you've tried it and you went at it in your own strength or trying to like perfect it, and and you got uh more and more tired and exhausted, and you're just like, forget it. 00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:43.519 Or maybe you just said forget it from the very beginning. 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:45.200 Like, I can't do that. 00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:46.559 That's not me. 00:13:47.279 --> 00:13:49.679 And this is where this promise is so great. 00:13:49.840 --> 00:14:00.240 Verse 3 if you're in faith, faith in Christ, verse 3, Jesus says, You're already clean. 00:14:02.559 --> 00:14:04.960 Because of the word I have spoken to you. 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:12.000 Not the word you're speaking, not what you're manifesting and producing, but what I am giving to you. 00:14:12.159 --> 00:14:12.960 You're already clean. 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:14.799 You're made righteous by me. 00:14:14.960 --> 00:14:17.600 You're secure forever because I made you clean. 00:14:17.759 --> 00:14:19.759 You're all you're already clean. 00:14:21.039 --> 00:14:22.399 That's what the cross is. 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:38.559 The cross is all of our dirtiness and damage and guilt and burden and shame and just all of it, the sin put on him and all of his goodness and his righteousness and his wholeness is put on us. 00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:46.240 So we are deemed by position, even though we're not maybe even close to practically being a by position. 00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:54.720 We are deemed because of him that we are righteous, and we are whole, and we are complete, and we are noble. 00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:00.080 Verses four and five. 00:15:02.399 --> 00:15:03.759 Remain in me. 00:15:06.559 --> 00:15:08.000 As I also remain in you. 00:15:08.240 --> 00:15:11.759 Some versions, maybe if you look in your Bible, it'll say, and I will remain in you. 00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:16.639 I don't really I think this is a little bit closer to the truth here. 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:18.639 Remain in me as I also remain in you. 00:15:19.039 --> 00:15:23.279 The idea of remain in me and I will remain in you sort of sounds like, well, if you do this, then I'll do this. 00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:26.320 And that's not that's not the story. 00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:30.240 No branch can bear fruit by itself, it must remain in the vine. 00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:32.559 Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 00:15:32.639 --> 00:15:33.279 I'm the vine. 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:34.080 You are the branches. 00:15:34.159 --> 00:15:34.720 Understand who you are. 00:15:34.799 --> 00:15:36.559 You're not the vine, you're not the root, you're the branches. 00:15:36.720 --> 00:15:41.679 If you remain in me, and I in you, you will bear much fruit apart from me, you can do nothing. 00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:44.960 So verse 4, you're to, but you are to do something. 00:15:45.039 --> 00:15:54.639 Just the something is not really all that much because the something is totally within the bounds and the covering of his being everything for you. 00:15:56.879 --> 00:15:58.080 So Jesus says, Amen. 00:15:58.399 --> 00:16:00.480 Make your home in me. 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:08.320 Settle in, unpack the bags, bring the sofa, bring the curio, bring the washer and dryer, unpack everything. 00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:14.559 Get it settled in in me, that I'm enough for you, and you don't have to add anything to it. 00:16:14.639 --> 00:16:16.080 Settle into that. 00:16:21.200 --> 00:16:23.200 He's saying, remain, abide rest. 00:16:23.600 --> 00:16:25.679 It's sort of how do we put this into words? 00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:28.240 Sort of like restful engagement. 00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:37.200 So we're engaged, but it's within the context of being at rest and within the context of being relieved that we're already something that we're becoming. 00:16:38.799 --> 00:16:40.639 So yeah, we're we're in the word, man. 00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:44.960 We need to be in the word because we need to be learning, we need to be praying, we need to, we need to do that, we do that relationship. 00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:46.720 I mean, it's taking walks with the Lord. 00:16:46.879 --> 00:16:49.279 I mean, it's it's uh if you like art, it's painting. 00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:50.159 But you know what it is? 00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:52.159 It's when you're doing the dishes. 00:16:52.879 --> 00:16:55.039 And you're just going, man, I'm just like under it. 00:16:55.120 --> 00:16:57.120 Man, I can never get ahead. 00:16:57.360 --> 00:16:58.480 And you're like, you know what? 00:16:58.559 --> 00:16:59.200 I'm good. 00:16:59.360 --> 00:17:07.119 I'm loved, I'm accepted, my housework does not define me, or you're at work and you haven't achieved what you wanted to, and you're like, you know what, this is not going to define me. 00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:10.160 I'm already I'm already clean, I'm already righteous, I'm already validated. 00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:19.119 I don't have to use any of this to feel clean or accepted before God because I live in a different home. 00:17:22.400 --> 00:17:24.960 And there's all these lies that come against us, right? 00:17:25.039 --> 00:17:28.480 And the lies like you'll always be a failure. 00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:30.720 You're never gonna live up to it. 00:17:31.759 --> 00:17:34.720 That thing your dad told you is true. 00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:37.759 You're really a coward. 00:17:38.160 --> 00:17:44.240 You're not really as pretty as your friend or your neighbor. 00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:54.400 Like you're not really loved until you but you're not listening to that. 00:17:54.640 --> 00:17:57.279 And this is what remaining in me is about you're not listening to that. 00:17:57.599 --> 00:18:08.079 Because you've unpacked your bags in a different house, and and this is a house of love and acceptance that he already made you clean. 00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:10.240 That's the word spoken to you. 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:14.160 And that the Father loves you because you're his. 00:18:15.359 --> 00:18:25.119 And you're just rooting into that deeper and deeper and deeper, and you're receiving life from that root up through that branch out to your brand, to the fruit coming out. 00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:31.920 So your question that you're asking yourself is not kind of sort of this question like, um, okay, grace of God, I'm forgiven. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:33.200 Now what do I what do I need to do? 00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:34.240 Like, what are the five things? 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:38.960 If I get the five things right, then then now I'm really, like I'm really, now I'm now I'm a mature Christian. 00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:40.799 I'm not just like a Christian who's entered. 00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:42.559 I mean, that that's not your way of thinking. 00:18:42.720 --> 00:18:45.680 The way of thinking is I need to remain more, I need to abide more. 00:18:45.759 --> 00:18:49.519 So the question is, how do I abide deeper in him? 00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:57.200 Into him who already made me completely righteous. 00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:09.440 We were this week at the Blue Skies at the camp we were at, uh, preached in the morning psalms, and after the preaching, we we'd have these counseling groups. 00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:14.720 And so that this was for all the parents of the children with cancer. 00:19:14.799 --> 00:19:27.599 So there's nine couples in this condo, and then me and a couple people who were mediating and running it, and I just sat and listened, and and they just just story by story by story. 00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:31.839 I mean, one family that lost their oldest daughter to cancer. 00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:34.079 You know what you think, right? 00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:39.039 Like, we took our shot, like we're good now, and now their youngest son has cancer. 00:19:40.480 --> 00:19:54.559 You know, some families are just going, man, we've been in this for six years, we've been in this for three years, it has just been surgery and feeding tube, and my child withering away, and we're not getting out of it. 00:19:54.799 --> 00:20:01.920 And we think we're okay, and then we're not, and then something happens, and it comes comes back again, and it comes back again. 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:15.200 And this one guy spoke, it was it was the first day, and he said, uh, he said, I I I really believe I I cannot add a day to my life. 00:20:16.079 --> 00:20:19.039 He said, The scriptures say that, and I just believe it. 00:20:19.359 --> 00:20:22.799 I don't think I can take a day away, and I don't think I can add a day. 00:20:23.279 --> 00:20:26.079 And he's like, and I I believe that for my child too. 00:20:38.720 --> 00:20:43.279 It wasn't that that makes him okay with everything. 00:20:43.599 --> 00:20:56.640 But it was like he'd settled into a home that some of the people didn't know about of God's care for him and for his children, his life, and even if we lose her, we haven't really lost her. 00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:12.400 And it I don't think there's a few couples that it felt like that, listening to talk, that they'd settled into that home of God's care and provision and sovereignty for their life, for their family, for their children. 00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:15.440 And it wasn't that they had like more compassion than the others. 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:18.319 I don't think I think this group got compassion. 00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:22.319 I mean, you want to put a group of people together who are compassionate, you this is the group. 00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:24.559 They're all compassionate. 00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:32.480 But they did seem to have a greater joy and peace in the midst of uh suffering while being sad. 00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:35.279 And was it because they were doing something? 00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:36.880 No. 00:21:37.519 --> 00:21:38.960 I mean, wasn't it because they were doing something? 00:21:39.119 --> 00:21:40.559 It's just because they had a home. 00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:43.279 They were they were living out of a different place. 00:21:43.440 --> 00:21:46.640 So fruit was coming, even in suffering. 00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:50.559 You could see some fruit, and you're like, wow, that's incredible. 00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:55.920 Maybe you're here, it's still in the back of your mind, you're gonna preach, all right, preacher, good emotional story. 00:21:56.319 --> 00:21:59.440 Wait till I kind of pull us in, but you don't know me. 00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:01.920 You don't really know me. 00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:04.000 You don't know what I hear in my head. 00:22:04.079 --> 00:22:04.960 You don't know what I've done. 00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:07.279 You don't know my addiction. 00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:08.640 You don't know my habits. 00:22:09.039 --> 00:22:10.799 You don't know that I just can't do it. 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:12.319 I just can't. 00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:17.200 Do you hear the promise in verse 4? 00:22:19.599 --> 00:22:21.279 He's making a home in you. 00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:24.079 Like in you. 00:22:24.240 --> 00:22:25.920 He's not a passive inviter. 00:22:26.880 --> 00:22:28.000 He's making a home. 00:22:28.079 --> 00:22:32.960 I mean, he is saying to you, I'm unpacking my bags into your fear. 00:22:33.599 --> 00:22:36.960 I'm unpacking my love into your apathy. 00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:39.599 I'm unpacking my patience into your selfishness. 00:22:39.680 --> 00:22:41.680 And I'm going into the den, I'm going to the bedroom. 00:22:41.759 --> 00:22:42.640 I'm going to be in the laundry room. 00:22:42.720 --> 00:22:44.079 I'm going to be in the basement. 00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:49.440 Into your dingy, insecure heart and mind. 00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:51.599 Holy God. 00:22:53.920 --> 00:22:55.119 I'm coming in there. 00:22:55.599 --> 00:22:57.359 I'm going to make a home. 00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:02.480 And I'm saying, hey, you make a home in me while I'm making a home in you. 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:07.519 That promise, so what the promise is saying is, yeah, I know about that. 00:23:07.599 --> 00:23:08.640 He's saying, I know about that. 00:23:08.720 --> 00:23:09.440 I know about that fear. 00:23:09.519 --> 00:23:10.640 I know about that wound. 00:23:10.799 --> 00:23:11.839 I know about that lie. 00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:14.000 I know about it. 00:23:14.720 --> 00:23:16.480 But I'm making a home in you. 00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:25.599 And what we see once again is that Jesus' grace precedes our faith. 00:23:25.839 --> 00:23:27.920 His love prompts ours. 00:23:28.240 --> 00:23:29.440 So relieving. 00:23:30.559 --> 00:23:35.519 So in his love, he loves us, and then we love him, and then great fruit will come from it. 00:23:35.680 --> 00:23:38.799 Here's the brilliant, beautiful thing about you won't even know. 00:23:39.680 --> 00:23:40.960 You won't even know. 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:46.640 You won't even know how much fruit because part of the fruit is humility. 00:23:46.960 --> 00:24:00.880 So you're being free from counting all the apples and all the oranges and all the pears and sort of validate yourself because part of the fruit when you're remaining in him is that you're being humble and you're being free from having to count all the fruit to present it back to him or to show everybody else and look at how I'm performing, how good I am. 00:24:00.960 --> 00:24:03.519 You're being free of all that because you're just remaining in him. 00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:10.480 And what he's showing you is he's showing you another room and another room of your insecurity and your fear and your worry. 00:24:10.960 --> 00:24:20.000 And at the same time, you're discovering room after room after room after room after room of his love and acceptance for you. 00:24:23.359 --> 00:24:26.799 And you'll think there just can't be another room. 00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:29.839 There can't be another room. 00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:32.880 There can't be another room for him to love me. 00:24:33.039 --> 00:24:34.160 There can't be. 00:24:35.119 --> 00:24:37.440 And then he shows you another room. 00:24:38.640 --> 00:24:44.559 And he's in that room unpacking his bags, settling in, loving and accepting us. 00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:49.279 So we make our home in him as he's making his home in us. 00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:50.319 Let's pray together. 00:24:54.000 --> 00:25:01.839 Father, we confess this morning that we often sort of walk out the front door and go and take a suitcase to another home. 00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:04.400 And it just doesn't work. 00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:08.319 You are the root. 00:25:09.119 --> 00:25:11.920 You are the vine. 00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:13.839 You're the tree trunk. 00:25:13.920 --> 00:25:15.839 You are the source of life. 00:25:16.720 --> 00:25:21.920 Help us to root into you, to remain in you, to abide in you. 00:25:22.559 --> 00:25:24.880 For there's no other place for life. 00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:35.359 There's no other place to receive the love and acceptance we need to break us of trying to find love and acceptance everywhere else. 00:25:37.119 --> 00:25:50.960 Father, we pray, please show us another room of our own fear, of our own pride, of our own insecurity. 00:25:52.480 --> 00:25:58.000 Help us to see another room of your love and of your acceptance. 00:26:01.200 --> 00:26:04.720 And your joy in us that we might have joy in you. 00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:06.640 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:26:06.799 --> 00:26:07.279 Amen.