Remaining & Abiding

In this episode, we talk about what it truly means to remain and abide in Christ. Instead of trying to produce spiritual fruit in our own strength, Jesus calls us to stay connected to the true vine so that love, joy, peace, and lasting fruit flow from Him.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to At the Table, a podcast from Quest Fellowship Church. In each episode, we explore how faith intersects with real life, how we navigate culture, community, and personal growth as followers of Jesus. These are just conversations, not conclusions, and space to simply think deeply, listen well, and walk in this journey together. We hope you enjoy today's show. Alright, Logan, well, we're here. Um today we're gonna be kind of talking about um We've obviously been in the Fruit of the Spirit, right, as like as a church, and there's only so much we can talk about on a Sunday morning in terms of just like there are already enough of them in general. We had to cram five into one message. So it's like there's only so much time you have to kind of talk about the nuances, and then also like today what we're kind of gonna try to talk about holistically across all of them is um what does it look like to kind of abide and remain and be consistent in in actually producing fruit? Because now we've learned about what that looks like, what they are. So now, like, how do we actually apply it, remain in it, be consistent in it, like all that kind of stuff. So that's kind of what we're gonna be talking about today. Um, I guess before I we kind of jump into anything, we we hear a lot about you know being connected to the vine. Obviously, fruit is the analogy here, so that you know it kind of just makes sense. So what what what is your like I guess initial thoughts about a being connected to the vine, and then where does that kind of come from from a historical thing like the whole you know picture that's painted about that in general?

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Yeah. So I'll I'll start with the the context. Yeah. Um so you know, when Jesus was doing all of his teaching and when he was out here uh as a rabbi teaching people about the kingdom of God, he was drawing on a lot of the common stuff that everybody would know to say today. Like if you read through his parables, if you read through his teachings, he's he's not trying to, he's not he's talking about heavenly things in a really earthly way to help connect with people. And one of the main things that he would do is use agriculture as a way of explaining stuff because it's a box that everybody has like they didn't have Fortnite back then. They did not have Fortnite and stuff like that, yeah. Yeah, and that would have been weird. Yeah, it would have been but now he uh he's just drawing on all these different images that people see in their day-to-day lives. And like like I said, you go read through any of his parables, you go read through some of his teachings, you see these metaphors being used. Uh and I mean all throughout scripture as well, there's this idea that God's people are a vineyard. You see that in the old testament and the prophets, they talk about it. Right. So there's this idea of God's people are are like a some sort of vegetation that's supposed to produce something. Yeah, yeah. Um, and that's that's why he's drawing on in this and this idea. Now, I do think it's important because a metaphor helps you understand an idea, but then I think you can get so stuck in the metaphor that you don't actually apply it to your life. Right. Uh armor of God's a perfect example. Like, how much should we just get caught up with the armor and not anything that the armor's talking about? Right, right. Uh, same thing with this, like you know, we we're supposed to abide on the vine and bear fruit. Like, what is that what is Jesus actually saying when he's saying that? I think he's saying, you know, as one of my people, as a follower of me, right, you are supposed to have something change and come out of your life. And it's for the benefit of other people, it's so that you are aware of your connection to me. But something needs to change and something needs to to flourish within you if you are my disciple. And that's what the abiding and and like staying on the vine kind of idea is because he's he's drawing about like the vineyard, the grapes. Right. Like there's a grape vine, and every grapevine has branches that come off of it, and they're small, they're not anything crazy, but it's from that that the fruit hangs. Right. And that's kind of the idea. Like, if that if you cut that branch off, it's not gonna stay there. Right. But that's really where the idea comes from. And I think that's what my thoughts are on it is it's it's about the fact that something's supposed to change in us if we are God's.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

It's not really a like, yeah. It's it's like I think sometimes we can we can try to manufacture the specific things, and it can become very behavioral modification. As opposed to like, because it's like the the branch doesn't think I'm gonna wake up and produce a grape today. It's just a natural progression of being connected to the vine itself, right? So it's not like this, this like force thing. I think like yeah, we get caught up on the specifics of okay, love, so I have to love everybody. Yes, but also like don't just go around trying to be just just love everybody you see in a in an unwise way or in like a non-productive way just because you want to like force the thing. Or like so I think sometimes when we you know, and I think that's where I saw that say that's where like being connected to the vine is important because really it's a it's a symptom of being connected, the fruit of the spirit is. It's not like a they're not the goal. I mean, they are, but it's it's more so just about when you're connected to the father and you have that relationship and you are abiding in him daily, it's just kind of a natural byproduct of like it's an overflow, really, yeah, more so than it is like about the specific thing.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

Well, you think about fruit, and I remember we had this conversation in staff meeting last year, I believe, but the idea that like fruit is never actually meant for the tree, it's meant for everybody else who interacts with the tree, and it's meant to take the seeds that are born in that fruit and and cause that same growth to happen other places. Right. I think that's an important distinction to make because oftentimes we think about fruit, it's like, why am I not seeing fruit in my life? And it's like, well, it's one of those things like with a good design, like it it's supposed to just be there. You're not really right. It's I mean, you can notice it, yeah. You can appreciate it. But like you know when it's not there. Yep. But you want and it should be just automatic because like the idea with the growing, you know, like the the vine pulls nutrients out of the ground and it just flows through the branch to the fruit. Right. And it's just an automatic process. There's not any in like you said, intention having to be done there. I think the same thing's true with us.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

Which is funny too, because I think a lot of times we can project fruit. Oh, 100%. Like, like it's like it's like fake fruit's not a problem until someone's hungry. And then it's like, oh shoot, this is not real. Like that's kind of where the progression you take. Like, like I was thinking about like if I'm a big guy, right? I'm six foot six, you know, I'm not gonna tell how much I weigh, but it's it's it's it's more than most people, okay? I'll just say that. And um if you put me on an NFL field in the the uniform, the shoulder pads, before the game starts, you probably wouldn't notice that I don't belong there. But the minute the game starts, it would be very evident very quickly that I do not belong on an NFL field, you know, because it would be obvious very quickly. And I think like sometimes before the game, we can, in a sense, use that analogy. We can like look like we belong, we can project the thing, but then when the game, when it's game time, the real Brock's gonna come out, which is out of shape, slow, not very strong, and he's good. I'm gonna get pulverized. I see how many steps you can always provide. You know, but um yeah, I mean yeah, steps don't help you when when a linebacker is chasing you. Like that doesn't really, that's not really you know relevant. Um But it's like yeah, it's like what is the like I think CJ in um I want to say it was the the week of yeah, it was the week of everything when he had to do all the gentleness. Yeah, the gent the gentleness. But in specific gentleness was like like you can't fake gentleness if you're not faithful in private. Yeah. Like when the pressure comes, the real whatever you have, whatever you're producing is gonna rise to the surface, whether it's whether it's ugly or or if it's real. And I think like that's a big piece with this, and that like manufacturing part of like it's easy just to to look like a certain thing and to say the right words, to say the right sentences, or to to project like I'm nice. But I think there's an element where it's like not really again, it's easy to do that when there's no conflict and things are great and there's no pressure, yeah. The storm's not there, but then when all that comes and it's like, oh man, I'm not who I thought I was. I think we can fool ourselves. I'm not even saying it's always like you know, with malice to try to fool people. Yeah, I think sometimes we honestly just fool ourselves.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Dude, there so I got locked out of my house today and literally the way you came here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got here on time. But um, I was waiting for a family member to bring me a spare key, and I was just standing in my driveway and I was looking up at this the trees in my yard, right? And I was like, dang, okay, maybe I need to prune some of these things back. But I noticed that there was a branch that was completely dry and dead that was still attached to the tree, but everything around it, all the other like branches had leaves growing off of them. And I was like, dang, okay, that's kind of an interesting thing to think about because you can fool yourself because I'm just in the right spot. Right. But there's nothing growing off of me. I'm just dry. I'm I'm I'm I'm there, yeah, but I'm not abiding. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And there's nothing growing off of me. And eventually what's gonna happen? A good storm's gonna come through, and I'm gonna have to pick up that limb and drag it to the backyard and break into pieces and throw it in the in the pile. Right. I think that's exactly what Jesus talks about when he in in John. He's like, hey, like every tr every branch that doesn't bear fruit just gets pruned. Yeah. It's not good for anything. Yeah, it's not, yeah. Um, yeah, and like we can fool ourselves. I mean, Jesus even in Matthew talks about like if you got an evil tree, it's gonna have evil fruit. And the thing is a fruit can look right and it can look real, but like I mean, you can see berries on it on a branch and not know really what it was, and they could actually be poisonous. Yep. And it's not until you actually get closer and you start to taste the fruit and you see what is coming off of this person's life that you realize, man, that's wild, which I think is important. I think we need to ask people. Yeah. Because we will be either our own worst or own best critic. Yep. And either we're gonna have an overinflated view of ourselves and think we're doing way better than we actually are, right? Or we're gonna be beating ourselves up and not aware of the fruit that's actually on it, depending on the your temperament. Yeah. And sometimes a little bit of both. But I mean, I remember when the thing that launched me into taking my faith so more seriously in high school was I remember talking to a friend and asking her, Do you feel like I actually show that I love Jesus? She's like, No. And like out of all the the the conversations I've had in high school, that one has like just been like a stake in my memory because it was a moment. It's pretty brutal to hear, yeah. Yeah. But I appreciated it. Yeah. Because it was a f it was a good friend stabbing you in the front, which is a loving thing to do. Right. And it actually set me on this whole trajectory of okay, I need to take my faith more.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

But you also responded to it. Yeah. That's that's the key. It's like, and and you didn't respond with more fake fruit. Yeah. You know, like I think that's like the that's the that's ultimately the the crux of all this. And so, like, in that situation, I guess I'll use that example of that story. Like, what what did abiding look like to you to then to start actually producing fruit? Like what like what was that process? Like, I'm talking practical. Like, like how do you how do you continually remain in abide? Like those two words. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

So I mean, up until that point, I mean, I was doing all the things you're supposed to do as a Christian. I'm going to church, I'm going to youth group, all these kind of things. But it was almost like a moment where okay, I need to own this. Yeah. And I just got my license at the time. So I was like, okay, I'm I I go to my church on Wednesdays and Sundays. I know there's a church that has a Thursday night service. I know there's a church that doesn't on Tuesday. So I was like, I'm just gonna be around this more. So I just went and then like kind of saturated myself in it. And I was actually asking the questions like, okay, like, do I believe this? And like wrestling with it. And I think there's something good about the wrestling because that's where you learn a lot. And then I started to fall more in love with Jesus, and it became less of just a yeah, I believe in God, but more of like I love him. Yeah, yeah. And I think that's important because you can do the discipline stuff, but if you don't have devotion, yeah, you're just you're just beating the snot out of yourself. Like you read in Galatians and where the fruit of the spirit idea comes from, and it's like the works of the flesh are the thing right before the fruit of the spirit. And oftentimes when you try to just do the discipline, you're trying to use your flesh to produce the fruit. Right. And the flesh doesn't know how to do that. Yeah. The flesh only knows how to really do be degenerate. Yeah. Um, so if you try to you can do that for a short amount of time, but it's not real, it's not gonna last, it's gonna fall apart, you're gonna get frustrated, you're gonna be worse off than you started. Yep. So I think that's what it's about is is putting yourself in proximity to Jesus, but then going the extra the extra length to really wrestling to be devoted to him. Because if you think about it, even with like self-control, one of the fruit, and really all of them, but self-control is a really good way to think about it. Right, like you are not gonna be nearly as serious about controlling your flesh and controlling your body unless it involves someone else that you love. Like when you are in love with somebody else, you're gonna be way more careful about what you do with your body, how you treat your body to make sure it's healthy. Right. Because you care about the other person. Because oftentimes we won't really take care of ourselves for us. We'll take care of ourselves for the thing that we're devoted to.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I think that's good. And I think like because I mean I've been through similar experiences where I think if I I never actually was bold enough to ask anybody in high school, if I if I look like but I don't I think they would answer the question, unfortunately, the way that you also got your answer. Um But I ended up in the same in the same place eventually, and I think for me it really is a again. I think early on in my faith, and like when I would get like, for example, like if I would get called out, or either, you know, in high school you get in trouble, your parents get mad at you for something, and obviously, you know, a lot of times like when you get I use the word caught or whatever, or you get caught out, right? Then it's easy to be like, okay, well, I'm gonna I'm gonna make all these changes now. But the none of them ever stuck because it was running from consequences, yeah. It's like it's like you're trying to almost like erase the consequences that like well, all like there's just consequences for bad fruit or lack of fruit, it's just objectively true. And and you can't run from that. Now, obviously, Jesus covers all bad fruit and can then produce good fruit within you, but you have to be willing to like do it and do it for you, just just because of out of your devotion, out of your love for him. It should be an outpouring, an overflow. And like, so for me, it that that was a hard lesson to learn. And eventually it got to the point where yeah, there's a like even like this past few years, like you know, it's been a unique time in my life, like a lot of good things. But then also there's like, you know, you and I are both single sitting here, you know, at this table. Sorry to remind you. But I mean, this just the fact, like, I think there's things that we both pray for and desire, right? Yeah, 100%. Um, and that's everybody regardless. I mean, that just happens to be our probably biggest thing at the moment, you know. We can relate to that. And so, um, but at the same time, it's like I kind of got like around October last year, went on sabbatical and just had a really cool God encounter. Um, felt like he spoke to me. And since then, it's been more so in the and with the way he spoke to me, to be clear, it was just him reminding me how much he loves me. And I think like my prayers changed from that. And it was more so less about praying for things and just praying for God to prepare me and make me the man that he wants me to be for whatever he has for me. Yeah. Um, and I think like that's when I I think the the true like abide piece probably really clicked in my brain. Was it was honestly like, I mean, I'm I just turned 29, so like I'm I just now probably fully understand what it means to abide in Christ. So I said to say there's you you know, I don't it doesn't matter how old you are, you can you can still figure this out. But I think for me, and I'll I'm curious to see what your your daily you know routine in this is, but like what is your daily routine in in terms of abiding? Because I I've gotten to the point now where like I've said this on a couple podcasts probably at this point, so sorry if you've heard this already. But I do have like a secret place type chair, like you know, in my apartment that that I sit in, and it and it does look like not scrolling Instagram and letting people talk about Jesus speak into me, but it's just me in the word, me in prayer, me in those moments, and and building that routine in. Because there is a discipline element to this. Yeah, it's not like discipline's absent. Well, discipline plus devotion. Right. And I think that's the that's the secret sauce. And so, um, and so yeah, like that's been super helpful for me. It's simple as just honestly carving out intentional time, waking up earlier, if that means what I gotta do, you know, um, and leaving the phone in the other room. Like those kind of moments, it does really help. Because this can sound overwhelming. Like all the fruit, like I gotta be patient, I gotta be, I gotta love everybody, I gotta do all this stuff. But you just said I have to probably exactly that's what I'm saying. And I and I think the Yeah, because when you do it out of your own flesh, peace looks like I'm just gonna control everything. Yeah. Or or like, or honestly, you almost just get you just get avoidant. Yeah. You're like, you become a peacekeeper, not a peacemaker. Yep. And being a peacekeeper is bad. Yeah, you're just walking on the egg. Yeah, and it's like, and you just end up avoiding any form of conflict. And sometimes like you gotta, I mean, Jesus was absolutely a peacemaker. He's not a peacekeeper. I mean, he came in and absolutely rocked the boat. He called him a brood of vipers. Like literally, yeah, Matthew, really, I'm looking looking at it right now. But um, and so like, yeah, I think when you when you are trying to produce out of your own flesh, that's what happens. So, what do you what do you do in terms of abiding? How does that look look for you?

SPEAKER_01 16:49

Well, I think for me, you know, like you got your your basic stuff. Like you read scripture, you pray. Yep. But even within that, you have to be careful. Because like with prayer, for example, something like you just said, this idea of like your prayers turn from asking God for things to ask him to prepare you for things. Like you're uh I think oftentimes when we pray, it's like our laundry list of things we want to ask God for. Right. Right. Um, which is like, hey, God, give me fruit, versus hey, help me to produce fruit, which is what your prayer is to do.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

Not boxing God into what you want him, how you want him to answer.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then um, like if you I mean you even think about the way Jesus teaches us to pray, it's I mean, there is a petitioning side of it, like God, but it's almost like you got to get the relationship piece right first, which is like the whole beginning of the Lord's prayer, like acknowledging who God is, is resting in the fact that like the God of the universe wants a relationship with you that like that creates the seed bed for a good heart that's gonna pray for the right things and gonna not be like God do this my way. Right. Um I think that's an important thing when it comes to the prayer piece, and I think with scripture too, like for me personally, the danger is being in scripture for other people and not for myself because you know, working for a church, I'm over here cooking food for everybody else, especially with connect groups and stuff like that. Yep, yep. Um, but every now and then I gotta go sit down and and well, I'm I mean, I should more often than I do because really, like you spend enough time in scripture, you're like, Well, I've been in the Bible today.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

And I'll be honest, that's easier for me because my job is not even here. I know I work at a church, but it's not is like direct, like I'm making videos and graphics, I'm not always having to have the Bible right there to you know what I'm saying? So I could see how that would be more difficult for you for sure.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

But like, I mean, I've the the deepest in scripture I've been for myself in the past year has been when I've been reading through first and second kings. And it's just like it's not anything like super wordy, like in Paul's letters and stuff, and it's not something that feels super applicable, but it's just been the best for me to abide and truly be aware of God's presence in the scripture for myself, not just for other people. Yeah. I think that's and I mean to some degree, I think the the depending on people's like lives and kind of what they're trying to do, like if you're a parent and you really want your kids to to understand the faith, like you might find yourself in a similar situation where I'm in scripture for my kids, right? Or I'm at church for my kids, or I'm doing all these things for my kids. And like, or or for my significant other, all these different things. And I mean, those aren't bad things to want, but you gotta be you can't just be feeding other people, you gotta be sitting here for yourself too. Um because you want real fruit. Yeah, and you want real fruit to feed the other people around you, not you just trying to just pass something on like eventually you're gonna you're just gonna fail.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

Yeah. I mean you're gonna you you'll fail even even if it's real because we're just human. But I mean, like if you if you're trying to white knuckle it in a sense, I know we use that phrase a lot this series, but like um yeah, and it's I think that's that's a big piece of it. So I would uh I guess my next question is then like uh the obedience piece. Yeah, how does how does that tie into fruit to you? I mean, I think so like it obviously being obedient to what God's calling us to do, like like those things, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

Yeah, because he says, like, hey, if you if you obey my commands, you are abiding. Right. Because we can just think, you know, being in the same place that I'm supposed to be is abiding, but you're just the dry branch in my yard attached to the tree. Everything else is thriving, but you're dry and dying. Yep. Um and I think the obedience piece, because I'm I mean, I preached about this a couple weeks ago. Like obedience feels like a burden because it's just like, oh my gosh, I gotta do something. But really, the all the chains that come along with that idea are because of disobedience. Right. It's because there's something I know I need to do, but the the the sheer idea of doing it is that's disobedience. And it just feels like way more of a weight. Um, and I think what we'll try to do is we try to carve out a little space between obedience and disobedience, which is like the intention to at some point soon be obedient and preparing ourselves to be obedient, which is still being disobedient. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But we're just trying to like sugarcoat. It's like whenever uh I remember being in college, it's like the time where I was preparing to study, and I would spend a lot of time just you know getting to the library, getting all my stuff out, getting my pens, my books, the the whiteboard over here, writing some stuff out on it. It's like, but that none of that's gonna help me put the test. Yep. It's just preparing for the uh the thing I'm supposed to do, which is the thing that's gonna be that seems a burden. Right. Um, but I mean I think with obedience, anytime you're obedient, it's not always gonna be easy, but on the other side of it, you feel like the you've you've allowed the valve to be switched open. Right. And it's like, okay, in my disobedience, I was putting God on mute. Yep. In my disobedience, I was um like he was trying to come in and I was like holding the door. Yeah. But it's the second I'm obedient that I'm allowing him in, not that he's not already there, but like I'm allowing him to actually act and move in my life.

SPEAKER_00 21:32

And there's a peace in obedience. Yeah. Like it again, not that it's not difficult, and not that it's not gonna be hard, and not you're gonna have to do hard things um and maybe go through some difficult things, but there is a sense of peace simultaneous with being obedient.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

Because like even though even though it might make the situation difficult, right, and it might be hard even after you're out you are obeying, at the end of the day, you could say, I did what the guy wanted me to do. Yeah. Like the guy who's pulling all the strings and runs the show. I'm doing what he wants me to do. Yeah. There's a piece you can rest in that that like the one who's in charge gives you the thumbs up on that.

SPEAKER_00 22:07

And some of that is like being patient in your obedience. Yeah. Being, being, being, you know, all the things that like again, time, the fruit in it, it it's just they all kind of go together. Um, and so I guess my last question for you is the the pruning piece of this to me. I think is like a a part that we don't like to talk about because it just is usually the not not fun parts. And it's in a lot of abiding, you get pruned when you when you when the closeness with with God is there and that relationship is is tighter. A lot of times there are pruning seasons where he's like like you it's um it's just like shining a flashlight on the the branches that aren't producing fruit, yeah, you know, within you. Um and I think that's where the obedience comes in, right? Like again, tying that back in too. So it's like, how do you feel like the pruning has has happened in your life? You don't have to give me like the full life story, but I'm just curious, like like within this whole process of remaining in Christ, being obedient, trying to abide so that the fruit, the the fruit is genuine, like what is that what does that look like for you, the pruning piece?

SPEAKER_01 23:08

So this is this is gonna be a weird picture. This is just how my brain works. Okay, so I'm not surprised. So imagine you got a branch, right? Okay, and like parts of parts of it are producing fruit and leaves, and the other parts are dry and dead. Yep. Like where I'm at in that branch is going to determine how much diff how difficult it is for me to say, okay, let's do the pruning. Like if I'm living my life in the dry spot. I see, yeah. Then like there's other parts, like I'm obviously if it's my whole life, but if if a lot of my attention is in this dry spot and like my identity is in this dry spot, that's gonna be hard for me to let God prune. Yeah. And it's gonna be when once I pull my identity back from some of that stuff that's not good, that's that is dry, and I really start to just invest myself in the things that I know are are fruitful in my life, like that's where you're gonna see good things happen. That's the obedience drawing back from that, pointing into that. Um, and then it makes it easier for God to say, okay, can I take that now? Yep. And you say yes, and he breaks that branch. And because I'm not as invested in my identity in it, yeah, I'm actually it's a weight off of me as opposed to a part of me being removed. Yeah. And I think that's important. Yeah. Because I mean, hey, like God, like he when we come to him, we've got a lot of stuff that he needs to take off. Yeah. And I think that sometimes we don't realize that. And I think we we let our identity be in all the branches that are on us, even the dry ones.

SPEAKER_00 24:34

Well, I think sometimes too, we also get really caught up in maybe the one branch that is producing fruit, yeah, and we ignore the rest of them. Oh, 100%. Because like I have a snake plant in my apartment that is on its quite literal last leg. Okay. Like I'm talking, there's like two Nor snakes. Two plants have legs. Well, you know what I'm saying. Two, two little green, you know, pieces of it, and the rest of it's just dead. And I'm like, I'm like at the point I'm like, do I just throw the whole thing away? Or do I even like try to revive this thing, you know? And um, and I've been ignoring it. I've not been pruning it well. I've probably it's probably too cold in my apartment for it. I probably don't water it enough. Probably water it or too much, maybe. I don't know. You know, all the things. And I think sometimes you can come in and you can ignore those things, and you're like, oh, well, this it's got green on it, so it's good. Yeah, there's green somewhere on it. Yeah, there's green somewhere, and I think sometimes for me that's been that's been a thing. So I've just been I think I told y'all this earlier this year, like as a staff, we're talking about just stuff, and I was like, I'm just not gonna lie to myself anymore. If I'm if like if I'm not if I'm just gonna I'm gonna be as honest with myself as I can possibly be, and I think for all of this is kind of a way to button it up, like be honest and introspective about where you are. Ask God to reveal things to you, um, ask him to show you things in your life that you need to address and and change. Um and ask other people. Yeah, I mean that too, but like wise people. Don't ask the person you always fight with necessarily.

SPEAKER_01 25:53

I mean, you know, like I mean, there's this idea in scripture too, like God's gonna reveal things, but also God wants to work through his people. And like as followers of Jesus as his family, like we should feel comfortable, like with my friend, being able to ask a question of someone that we know and we trust, and then you know he's gonna be able to do that. Give us the true right answer, yeah, and then to accept that. Yeah. Because like God can speak through that too.

SPEAKER_00 26:14

And I think just even even with the fruit thing, praying for discernment, praying for wisdom in how to do that. Because it's not just a love everybody with no wisdom or discernment. Yeah. Everybody does deserve love. It's complicated, but like there's like a there's difference between love and access. Yeah. You know, access is earned, love is love is is everybody deserves love, but access is not not, you don't have to give that to everybody. So there's like there's nuances to all this, but I think that's where there's an element of of yeah, just praying for God to kind of reveal some things to you. And so ultimately, the way to do that is to start abiding. Like if you're at a place now where you feel like you just have a you have no fruit coming out of your tree, like no, you're not producing anything, then then just start here. Like start in the word, start in prayer, start trying to find the love for Jesus. Start trying to, whether you've ever never had it or whether you you're trying to rekindle it. Like, I think you know, you have to become devoted and be desiring and longing to to abide, and then the rest will will fall into place. Don't start with the fruit. Don't start with the behavior. Just just just start with abiding. Don't make it performative, don't make it what it, you know, all the things. Just just just start here, and then the rest should fall into place. 100%.

unknown 27:35

I was hoping to I kept I glanced at this and I know we're back.