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if you have your Bibles will be in John chapter 15 this morning. We're in week three of our

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Advent series week three and our theme this morning is joy. In John 15 just to set up the text in

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John 15 Jesus is talking to his disciples he's having this discussion with his disciples he's

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been he's been speaking with them about how he's going to have to be leaving soon and when he leaves

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he's going to send the Holy Spirit in his place so so these disciples who had given up everything

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to follow Jesus who left their families behind who left their jobs behind have now been told

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that that Jesus isn't going to be around much longer and there's no doubt that disciples were

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saddened by the news that they were receiving that night they they were hearing Jesus like they

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they were hearing them but they weren't getting how that after he was gone from among them that

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they could still go on that the ministry would still go on well well Jesus had the answer and in

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chapter 15 he uses an ordinary vine whether it was a great vine or or some other vine is really

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not relevant to the story but he used the vine in its branches and fruit to illustrate the the only

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way that we're ever going to find joy find fulfillment is going to be through Christ and so this is

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the story he's going to tell him so in the midst of their sadness confusion probably some anger we

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we're able to see how Jesus tells his followers this is how it's going to be in order for them to

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have any sort of comfort and so we're going to read from John 15 this morning I'm going to invite

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Adam to come and read our text this morning as he does that he's going to light our advent candles

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as we remember what we are celebrating this season and so the first candle he's going to light

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represents hope and we talked about how Jesus is our hope and how we are to take that hope to

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the world around us the next one he's going to light is for peace and we get our peace from

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Jesus but also we're supposed to extend that peace to the world around us and the one he's going

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to light this morning is for joy you know we're going to learn about how God is our joy and how

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we can take that joy to the world around us and so Adam's going to read a few verses out of John

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15 starting in verse five if you're able I'd love for you to stand and honor the Lord's word as he

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does that I'm the vine you are the branches whoever abides in me and dying him he it is that

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bears much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing if anyone does not abide in me he is

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thrown away like a branch and withers and the branches are gathered thrown into the fire and

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burned if you abide in me my words abide anew ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you

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by this my father is glorified by you bear much fruit and so proved to be my disciples

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as the father has loved me so have I loved you abide in my love if you keep my commandments

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he will abide in my love just as I have kept my flogged commandments and abide in his life

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these things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full amen let's

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pray father I pray that this familiar passage that we know will just just speak to us today I pray

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that you will speak through your word I just thank you for Adam I thank you for how you're growing

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him and pray God that you continue to give him a strong desire to know you and read your word and

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obey your word and I pray father that you'll just be in our midst as we as we study this your name

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you pray amen thanks buddy so Jesus says in verse 11 that that everything I just said in verses one

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through ten were said that in order that that his joy would remain in us and that in that their joy

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would be full and so God's desire has always been and still is today for his children to

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experience great joy in their life now no doubt all of humanity wants the same thing and certainly

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the disciples wanted it certainly the disciples wanted to experience joy but the problem is is

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that God and man have differing ideas about how that is going to be accomplished see the disciples

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idea of experiencing joy had to do with physically enjoying the presence of Christ and and having

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sort of a hands-on religion that there's was the same idea that man's is today it's about what a man

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can experience and and get out of a worship service or get out of this deal it's the kind of

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religion we hear about in John chapter six that that's great to have as long as you're getting

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your own way as long as everything's going the way you want it to but it's forsaken at the first

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say first hint of hardship that that's the difference between our idea and God's idea of religion

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but but God doesn't really want religion at all but rather a life of faith and devotion to him

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and if true believers can understand God's plan for experiencing joy and practice it daily in their

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lives then they can experience the joy that only comes from above the joy that satisfies the dry

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and thirsty soul the kind of joy for for which your soul longs for can only be found in Christ so

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so how do you do that how do you get it how do you experience it God God doesn't just set aside

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joy for certain people right he doesn't pick and choose okay you get joy and you get joy it's it's

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for all of his children any one of his children can experience joy but only when they observe and

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apply the things that Jesus teaches in today's text and so let's consider three things that we

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need to understand as believers that Jesus pointed out that that will lead you to experiencing the

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joy that he intends for your life the first thing we need to understand is our place we need to

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understand our place in this thing in verse one Jesus said I am the true vine and my father is the

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vine dresser then in verse five he says I am the vine you are the branches right so so that's it

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there it is God the father is the vine dresser or the gardener it is he who owns it all it is he

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who controls it all Jesus is the true vine and we as believers are the branches Jesus is the true

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vine and we are the branches by making this statement Jesus implies that there's other

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vines yet he is the true one so if we're going to have the kind of life the kind of life that we

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find in John 14 6 the kind of life that we find in John 10 10 then we'll only find it in Christ

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the true vine maybe you've tried to find life maybe you've tried to find joy outside of Christ

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because there are other vines yet he is the true one what what that means is that you and I we try

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every means we have available to produce a quality of life and think that this is going to bring us

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fulfillment but Jesus tells us in this passage that you will only find that kind of life in him

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now Jesus is not speaking about salvation here he's addressing people who already claim to be

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saved so he's telling these saved people how to go about finding life what are some of the other

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vines to which people try to connect themselves some try to connect for to popularity for joy

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and fulfillment others try to attach themselves to work or money others find it in marriage or

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other relationships maybe it's your hobby or your recreation where you try to find joy and

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fulfillment in those things and most all men and women try religion of some flavor all at some

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time or another try different ways we all we all do it but as Jesus pointed out a man can gain the

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whole world he can have everything there is to have and yet when all is said and done he will

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have nothing if he's lost his own soul meaning that he's wasted his life searching for something

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in this world that only Jesus can provide Jesus made it clear in verse five that apart from him

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we can do nothing now he's not talking about being able to live life to go out to dinner with your

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spouse to go to your kids games to watch tv what he is talking about is that there is nothing

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that you or I can do apart from him that will ever have eternal value nor is there anything we can

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do on our own that God will find acceptable and pleasing if we're going to get to the father

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then then it's going to have to be through Christ as we remain attached to him Solomon found this out

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he understood it he was a man with unlimited resources more money than you will ever acquire

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he had more wisdom than you and I could ever study and comprehend and he searched the world over

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and over and he attempted a great variety of things to find true fulfillment and joy and living

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and and as he went through all the saying he discovered that all of it was vanity it was all

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useless it leaves man just as empty as he was in the beginning we are the branches that's it

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that's that's who we are as children of God we are not the gardener nor are we the vines our place

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in christian living is to stay connected to the vine and allow him to produce fruit through us

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that's it now that might not sound too thrilling but regardless of our personal feelings about our

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position in life the reality is that we as believers are completely and utterly dependent upon God

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through Jesus Christ our place in the grand scheme of things is to be branches we are servants not

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the master we are slaves not the owner we are creation not the creator you see God has rights

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to every one of our lives because everything there is rightfully belongs to him because he is almighty

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God we we were nothing to God except offensive rebellious sinners and yet in spite of what we were

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God gave up Jesus for what we could be and that's not all God has rights to our lives because he

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is our creator and he has rights to our lives because he bought and paid for us but he also has

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rights to our lives because at some point in time if you are a believer if you are a follower of him

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we willingly chose to make him the lord of our lives we gave him the right we recognized our

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place and then we were given salvation and there there was no greater sense of joy and

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fulfillment to us now we must continue to recognize it in daily christian living if we are going to

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experience joy from above so we need to understand our place then we need we need to understand our

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need to submit to the pruning that God goes does through us verses two through three says every

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branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes

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that it may be bear more fruit already you are clean because of the word that i have spoken to you

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now remember that that jesus is speaking to saved people the the loss are not under consideration

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right now so when we read that there are some branches that that that aren't bearing fruit

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that that that will be taken away john's not talking about god separating lost people from

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saved people he's talking about removing those branches that are useless and are taking up space

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taking up the the valuable resources that could be better used for those branches that are producing

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fruit he says that the branch the the soft flexible portion of the vine that does not bear any fruit

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he takes it away it's not just discarded but it's placed amongst other dead branches

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may i suggest that of all the places that jesus can take you you don't want him to take you to

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a pile of dead branches as men and women in whom the spirit of god resides we ought to want him to

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take us to new heights we've never known we want him to take us to opportunities that that we we've

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only dreamed of he wants to take us to areas of ministry that we've never seen before god takes

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the dead branches away and those branches are taken away because they are dead they don't produce

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any fruit whatsoever and you can understand that right that makes perfectly good sense to us god

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is making great sense here dead branches take up good space dead branches don't give praise don't

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dead branches waste time dead branches don't tithe dead branches complain all the time dead branches

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walk around in bitterness dead branches are a stumbling block to somebody else dead branches

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can talk holy but they walk in an unworthy and unholy way dead branches need to be removed

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but but it's not the job of the other branches to do the removing that's the work of the gardener

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i think there are some branches here that that are producing fruit here in this church is branches

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producing fruit but but even the branches that are bearing fruit experience pruning that the

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greek word suggests that god will clear out or cleanse he will remove things from the vine that

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are hindering its good and proper growth it will remove things that are hindering their ability to

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produce more and even better fruit that every one of us every single one of us as believers have

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things in our lives that hinder our spiritual growth they they they hinder our ability to bear

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the kind of fruit in which god is looking the writer of hebra who's told his readers to lay aside

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every weight that hindered them every single weight that hinders them and when we recognize those

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things in our lives we ought to lay them aside but but very often we don't recognize the sin in our

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lives do we we have blind spots we have areas of our lives that that keep us from growing that keep

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us from producing fruit so god goes to work to prune those things out may i suggest to you today

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that this may be an explanation of what god is doing in your life it may not be but but the

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possibility is there you lose things you lose people possessions that are close to you not not

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to hurt you but to make take you to a higher level that you may become a very productive person in

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his kingdom that you would be able to produce more fruit he will allow you to lose relationships maybe

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lose a job lose your health go through difficult situations as a way of pruning you whatever

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distractions that that are keeping you from serving the lord god says for his own sake not

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your own sake for his own sake i've got to prune i've got to clean your branch but we are being

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pruned not not for our pain not because god is evil but that god would receive the glory

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when god is done pruning out my life he will receive the glory then when he gets finished with me

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my life will give him glory my my ways will give him glory my songs will give him glory my prayers

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will give him glory my my giving will give him glory and i will experience joy in my life because

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of god's pruning work that that i've never experienced before not not because the pruning is ever

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pleasant not not because i look forward to it but because it was necessary in order for me to produce

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more fruit for the gardener we need to submit to that get ready for it the final thing we need to

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experience we need to experience joy is to remain in christ remain in christ jesus said in verse 4

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abide in me and i and you as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine

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neither can you unless you abide in me now that sounds real spiritual right but but but what does

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that mean the word abide comes from a word that means to continue to stay to to dwell perhaps one

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of the simplest ways to think about it is just to ask yourself the question how does a branch

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get the sap it needs without staying connected to the vine how does it stay connected to the

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vine the answer to that question is the answer to our question of how we are to remain in christ

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you see we are to stay connected to christ to to stay hooked up to him to dwell in him to

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continue in him that's what it means to abide and jesus mentions a few things in verses 7 through 10

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that will help us the first one being we must allow the words of christ to remain in us allow the

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words of christ to remain in us in other words we need to get into god's word on a continual regular

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basis we need to have a consistent plan of regular bible reading of bible study of bible

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memorization we need to have a regular time where we just stop and we meditate on the scriptures and

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on the teachings and and how those things apply to our christian life we need to allow the word of

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god to get into our lives and allow it to influence everything we think or say or do it is it should

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be the the filter by by which we view all of life and the standard in which we live now we have

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several bible studies going on right now we have more coming up here soon my encouragement to you

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if you're not plugged in if you are don't have a continuous plan get plugged into a community

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and get into the bible the next thing we see is we must maintain an active prayer life see that in

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verse 7 jesus mentioned asking what we will for the father he's speaking about a habit of prayer

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a habit that is all too often lacking in the life of a believer how can we experience the joy

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that is christian living of remaining in christ if if we fail to do the simplest thing such as prayer

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how in the world can we remain in christ if we don't even communicate with him believers need to be

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praying people because people who aren't praying are not attached to the vine so my encouragement

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to you is join us here on wednesday nigh for prayer and bible study come together with a community

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of people and hear the needs and see the needs and pray for those needs and watch how god responds

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get involved with others as we pray together the third thing is we must continue to continue to

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walk in love for others jesus plainly throughout his life taught that this was the second greatest

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commandment second only to our love for god if we are going to experience joy if we are going to

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be satisfied in this life then we're going to have to love people we're going to have to love people

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and not not in the forced type of love that some of y'all do with your family right like their

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family so i gotta love them that's not what we're talking about here this is this is the love that

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flows out of us from from maintaining the right love relationship from the true source of love

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which is christ like god will help us love the unlovable he will help us extend grace to those

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that we don't want to but in christ we can love all people regardless of who they are in christ we

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can love all people regardless of what they have done to us we can only love others as we rightly

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love the lord if you want to experience joy make sure you're loving others well the final thing

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we see is we must be obedient to the word of god now that might sound like a repeat of the first

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thing we mentioned earlier but but it's not i mean how often do we come across believers who can

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quote the bible how often do we come across believers who who know the doctrines of the bible

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they they know the lord's word yet they struggle with the application of that word if we are going

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to experience what good things god has in store for us then not only do we need to know the word

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but we also need to obey the word we need to do the things we are told to do and we need to avoid

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the things that we are called to avoid in the scriptures so what what happens when a child of

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god refuses to remain in christ what what happens to a believer who is not bearing fruit in his or

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her life that child of god is of no use and god's kingdom purposes he or she has not has chosen to

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not stay connected so they must be cut off they must be set aside i mean how patiently god waits

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while he invites such a believer to get in his to get his rear end and gear and put himself in a

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position where he's able to bear much fruit there are always those of you whose lives can be observed

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over a period of time maybe a few weeks maybe a few years and i'm sure we all have people in our

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lives when we look at them and and and we ask the question are they really saved i see them at church

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but are they really saved i mean that's a that's a horrible question that's a horrible question to

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ask any professing believer but the reality is there are many who who are good at professing

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well they're good at professing what they know about god they're they're good at at living in

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the church life for an hour hour and a half a week but but it doesn't change their life they

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don't apply any of it they're really pretty terrible at living any of it out you may claim to be saved

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but it is the fruit you do or don't bear that ultimately tells the truth about your claim

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if you've just been living a lie and you know that you've never accepted christ as your savior

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you've just been playing church you've just been doing religion the not only are you not connected

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to the vine not only are you not connected to the source of joy you're not connected to the

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source of joy you are completely unable to be connected unless you do something about it

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you need to recognize that without jesus you are completely lost and unacceptable to god

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you have no way to earn his favor you have no way to earn salvation you stand condemned before a

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holy and righteous father however if you realize your lostness today if you're willing to swallow

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your pride today you can be saved your life can be changed but you must confess your condition

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you must confess your condition to christ and be repentant concerning your sin and turn and

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trust christ to save you and he will now some of you have been lacking the kind of joy about which

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the bible speaks this is this is not a joy that comes and goes as the wind comes and goes but

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it is sure and lasting so long as you remain connected to the vine through such things as prayer

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and bible study and applying and loving others all of those things so my question is have you

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been connected have you been longing for that which you do not have has there been something

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missing in your life because of wrong or hurtful choices so the challenge this morning is the same

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challenge that we've had the last two weeks and the challenge is to be a disciple of jesus

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by being the joy to others that comes from him be a disciple of jesus it is it's hard to be the

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joy of christ to others when you aren't attached to the vine it's hard to be the joy when when you've

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spent the majority of your christian life thrown into the dead pile because you were useless to the

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kingdom instead of thinking of yourself sitting in a dead pile of branches i'd rather you think

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about what it would look like to sit on the bench now i played sports growing up and i've spent my

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fair share amount of time on the bench either because i wasn't as good as other players or because

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of my own decisions and i went through a basketball season uh a season on the basketball court where

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where i could just not stay out of foul trouble i was in high school and i was playing high school

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ball and i just could not stay out of foul trouble i'd have three or four fouls in the first quarter

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and so i spent the majority of the basketball game on the bench one time i got benched from

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the game because i i i let out some colorful metaphors towards the ref and towards the other team

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so for the first half of the season i was i was hurting my team more than i was helping my team

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i had some points every once in a while i did some good things here and there every once in a while

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maybe an assist or two but for the most part i was pretty useless to my team my attitude was terrible

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and looking back i definitely deserved to be on the bench although in that moment i sure felt

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like it was everybody else's fault it's the other team the refs are being jerks it was everybody

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else's fault but i see it now and eventually i got my act together and learned from the mistakes

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that i'd been making so that when given the opportunity to get back in the game i watched

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my hands i kept my mouth shut and i tried to do everything i could to help my team win i came

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to the realization that i didn't want to be useless anymore i wanted to be productive

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maybe some of you have been sitting in a dead pile of branches for a long time

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this passage is not talking about losing your salvation because that would indicate that salvation

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is something you earned and that and that god has taken it back this is a call for us to be useful

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in his kingdom get connected again with the vine get off the bench that if you find yourself not

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connected you find yourself not being used if you find yourself not growing then i would suggest

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that you're not walking in true joy because you are not connected to the true vine i want you to

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look at this list one more time what area of your walk with the lord is lacking

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what area are you not connected to the vine

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are you struggling to love others well

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are you struggling to find the discipline to stay in his word continuously

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are you are you struggling in your prayer life you just don't feel like it don't know how to do it

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whatever are you struggle with with that reality of knowing the truth of god's word but having

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a really difficult time applying it if you are lacking in any of these areas you are not walking

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in the joy that he came to bring us and i will walk with you i will help you and i know that so

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many others in this church's will as well you just have to ask you just have to ask for some

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accountability you just have to ask for some help so we are called to continue to live out the joy

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that the lord brings what we're called to do it we're called to continue bringing the joy what can

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you do this week what can you do this week to help others experience the joy that god has given you

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if any of these things on this list are lacking in your life it's gonna be you're gonna have a

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difficult time and so we're gonna we're gonna worship some more we're going to have a time to

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respond to just kind of hear what the lord is telling each and every one of us and so i'm gonna

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i'm gonna encourage you to respond however the lord leads you if that is laying things down if

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that is asking for prayer if that is asking for help if whatever the lord is calling you to do

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in this moment my hope and prayer for you is that you will walk in obedience we want you to experience

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joy we we have a community around us that needs to experience joy and we need your help to for

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them to do it so make sure before you leave this place that you're connected to the vine let me

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pray for us father i pray right now that as we worship and as we sing words god i pray that it

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will be pleasing to you i pray that it will bring honor to you i pray father that you will speak

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that you will convict that you will save i pray father that you will reveal where we might just

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be hanging on by a thread where we need to tap back into those things and i pray that you will

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just speak to our hearts and give us um humblest so that we can walk in obedience

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how we can't do this without you we can't experience joy without you we can't walk in

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fullness of life without you you are the true vine and so reveal to us any other vine that we have

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tried to attach ourselves to and help us walk forward so i gotta pray you minister minister to

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our hearts this morning your name pray amen