WEBVTT 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:07.519 What's up, Pursuing Jesus family? It is so good 00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:10.500 to be back with you on another week of the Pursuing 00:00:10.500 --> 00:00:17.839 Jesus podcast. Hello. What? I don't know. I don't 00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:20.260 know. It was like an ad -lib. It was great. It 00:00:20.260 --> 00:00:23.559 was great. No, it was fine. You said hello. There's 00:00:23.559 --> 00:00:25.920 nothing wrong with what you just did. Why did 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:28.739 you react that way, Sean? Because I wasn't expecting 00:00:28.739 --> 00:00:32.719 it. Dude, you got to work on your podcast technique 00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:37.320 if you attempt to record with two people and 00:00:37.320 --> 00:00:39.259 you get surprised when the other person says 00:00:39.259 --> 00:00:42.340 something. Oh my gosh. Were you monologuing? 00:00:42.380 --> 00:00:44.820 Is that what's going on here? No, I was actually 00:00:44.820 --> 00:00:46.859 reaching the end of what I was planning on saying 00:00:46.859 --> 00:00:48.719 and my brain was like, where do we take this 00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:51.880 next? And then you helped. And I said hello. 00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:53.859 You said hello. Is it me you're looking for? 00:00:54.020 --> 00:00:56.960 I can see it in your eyes. I can see it in your 00:00:56.960 --> 00:00:59.649 smile. I don't want to look at your eyes anymore. 00:00:59.689 --> 00:01:03.130 You're making me uncomfortable. But when you 00:01:03.130 --> 00:01:04.349 did sing it, the first thing I thought of was 00:01:04.349 --> 00:01:07.709 trolls. I actually have never seen trolls. Oh, 00:01:07.849 --> 00:01:10.349 well, it's good. Like I said, it's not something 00:01:10.349 --> 00:01:13.010 like, oh my gosh, how dare you? Like, it's fine. 00:01:13.109 --> 00:01:14.829 It's not like you haven't seen the Lord of the 00:01:14.829 --> 00:01:17.310 Rings. It's got good music. It does have good 00:01:17.310 --> 00:01:19.790 music. Okay, good music can absolutely carry 00:01:19.790 --> 00:01:23.549 a film, though. Like, I'm a hot take here. Interstellar, 00:01:23.549 --> 00:01:25.739 have you seen Interstellar? It's been a minute, 00:01:25.859 --> 00:01:28.780 but yes, I've seen the movie. Would be an incredibly 00:01:28.780 --> 00:01:31.879 slow, dry movie if Hans Zimmer hadn't wrote a 00:01:31.879 --> 00:01:34.760 banger of a soundtrack. Yeah. Relies heavily 00:01:34.760 --> 00:01:37.239 on church organ, incidentally. Like a lot of 00:01:37.239 --> 00:01:39.319 the sounds you hear are... But I think it's like 00:01:39.319 --> 00:01:43.280 the epicness of that movie, and it kind of needs 00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:47.579 those epic sounds. Fair. Yeah. Fair. Well, Sean, 00:01:47.659 --> 00:01:49.560 you know I always have a weird factor or a strange 00:01:49.560 --> 00:01:53.159 question for you to start off. No, really? Is 00:01:53.159 --> 00:01:56.000 that what you do? Don't give me that. I don't 00:01:56.000 --> 00:01:59.400 need that today, okay? I'm sorry. I'm not caffeinated 00:01:59.400 --> 00:02:02.500 enough for this. It is Monday. It is Monday for 00:02:02.500 --> 00:02:04.519 us. Dude, they happen the same time every week. 00:02:04.739 --> 00:02:06.840 No, we've been recording on Tuesdays. We've had 00:02:06.840 --> 00:02:09.639 a whole day in the office. A whole two days in 00:02:09.639 --> 00:02:11.060 the office because we would record at the end 00:02:11.060 --> 00:02:12.740 of the day Tuesday, but now we're recording on 00:02:12.740 --> 00:02:15.439 a Monday. It's a little different. It's a little 00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:17.419 different. We're resetting. We're on a case of 00:02:17.419 --> 00:02:19.979 the Mondays. I don't know that either. Okay, 00:02:20.039 --> 00:02:24.879 what's your fact? Have you heard of Pando? Pandas? 00:02:24.900 --> 00:02:27.039 Yeah, pandas are really cute. They have black 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:29.780 and white little bears. I've seen them in a zoo. 00:02:30.039 --> 00:02:31.560 I will mute you. Oh, not panda. That's not what 00:02:31.560 --> 00:02:34.099 you said. Pando, P -A -N -D -O. So is that a 00:02:34.099 --> 00:02:37.599 male panda? No, it is not. But I appreciate the 00:02:37.599 --> 00:02:41.080 throwback to Spanish word endings for now. I 00:02:41.080 --> 00:02:45.099 don't know what a pando is, man. So the pando 00:02:45.099 --> 00:02:50.939 is the largest living organism ever by weight 00:02:50.939 --> 00:02:55.419 in the whole. world is this trees this is trees 00:02:55.419 --> 00:03:01.080 but it is a tree so uh pando is the name of a 00:03:01.080 --> 00:03:05.699 quaking aspen clone near seaver county utah and 00:03:05.699 --> 00:03:09.240 like the fish lake national forest it is a single 00:03:09.240 --> 00:03:12.740 organism all interconnected genetically identical 00:03:12.740 --> 00:03:17.180 forest that all shares roots, that literally 00:03:17.180 --> 00:03:21.219 stretches over 106 acres. It's a single organism. 00:03:21.400 --> 00:03:25.939 So I'm pretty sure this was featured on one of 00:03:25.939 --> 00:03:30.460 those National Geographic Discovery Blue Planet 00:03:30.460 --> 00:03:33.460 documentaries that were really big a number of 00:03:33.460 --> 00:03:35.800 years ago. Because I guess when you started talking, 00:03:35.860 --> 00:03:37.520 I was like, I remember something about trees 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:40.860 and they're connected. Yeah, so I do know what 00:03:40.860 --> 00:03:42.360 panda is. I just didn't know what it was called. 00:03:42.539 --> 00:03:45.840 Yeah, it's a male panda. Thank you. Thank you. 00:03:46.599 --> 00:03:49.199 No, I had never heard about it. And as I was 00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:52.419 like doing some research on like cool wildlife 00:03:52.419 --> 00:03:54.560 things, it came across my feet. I was like, this 00:03:54.560 --> 00:03:57.139 is incredible. Like it's one living organism. 00:03:57.280 --> 00:03:59.039 Cause like, like the question that I got it from 00:03:59.039 --> 00:04:00.979 was like, what is the biggest living animal? 00:04:01.180 --> 00:04:02.800 And I assumed it was like a, like a humpback 00:04:02.800 --> 00:04:04.620 whale or something. And those, those bad boys 00:04:04.620 --> 00:04:06.979 weigh tons and tons and tons. And then it was 00:04:06.979 --> 00:04:08.199 like, no, that's not it. And it's like, okay, 00:04:08.219 --> 00:04:10.139 well, is it like a dinosaur? Like we're assuming 00:04:10.139 --> 00:04:11.960 by the fossils, how big was it? Like, no, dude, 00:04:11.979 --> 00:04:15.120 it's a, it's a forest. Except for it's all one 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:17.959 big tree connected through roots. It's really 00:04:17.959 --> 00:04:21.639 cool. Very, very cool. Very Avatar -esque. Very 00:04:21.639 --> 00:04:25.120 Avatar -esque. Earth, wind, fire, water. Not 00:04:25.120 --> 00:04:26.939 from that Avatar. Not the one you referenced. 00:04:26.980 --> 00:04:29.379 Oh, you're talking about the blue people. Yeah, 00:04:29.480 --> 00:04:32.600 because the whole planet's interconnected. Aren't 00:04:32.600 --> 00:04:36.420 we all? You know, speaking of, so one thing I 00:04:36.420 --> 00:04:38.980 found that was really interesting about Pando 00:04:38.980 --> 00:04:41.660 is the way that it actually sustains itself. 00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:45.519 So it's a forest, right? And so fires are a thing. 00:04:45.800 --> 00:04:49.500 And so if part of the forest is destroyed, as 00:04:49.500 --> 00:04:52.879 it has been by fires, the other parts of the 00:04:52.879 --> 00:04:56.879 tree respond not like. separate trees, but a 00:04:56.879 --> 00:04:59.680 little bit like our bodies respond to when we 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:02.420 have a cut. It sends resources from other parts 00:05:02.420 --> 00:05:06.060 of the untouched forest into the burned parts 00:05:06.060 --> 00:05:08.720 to heal it and sustain it. That's really cool. 00:05:08.939 --> 00:05:12.500 It is cool. And I couldn't help but think, as 00:05:12.500 --> 00:05:15.259 I thought about different parts of the forest 00:05:15.259 --> 00:05:18.220 sustaining the parts that need sustenance, I 00:05:18.220 --> 00:05:22.220 couldn't help but think of the first part of 00:05:22.220 --> 00:05:27.540 John 15. Because, you know, he is the vine and 00:05:27.540 --> 00:05:30.399 we are the branches. And if we're cut off from 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:34.240 the life source, we would die. Just like if one 00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:38.100 single tree from Pando was separated, you know, 00:05:38.100 --> 00:05:39.920 put into a different part of the park or even 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:43.459 just cut off by nature somehow, not being connected 00:05:43.459 --> 00:05:45.879 to the whole would mean it running out of its 00:05:45.879 --> 00:05:48.660 resources. Okay, so I understand the transition 00:05:48.660 --> 00:05:51.370 you're doing. It was so smooth. It was really 00:05:51.370 --> 00:05:53.810 good. But now I want to go back to the science 00:05:53.810 --> 00:05:56.029 of this. Okay. Because you just said something 00:05:56.029 --> 00:05:57.529 I wasn't even thinking about. And I don't know 00:05:57.529 --> 00:06:00.629 if, like, is this true? Because it's a forest. 00:06:00.870 --> 00:06:03.490 It's a forest. So we see visually separate trees. 00:06:03.629 --> 00:06:07.910 Yes. But they are connected. But one of these 00:06:07.910 --> 00:06:10.610 trees cannot live by itself. Cannot live by itself. 00:06:10.970 --> 00:06:13.149 Really? See, now there's a fact I didn't know. 00:06:13.209 --> 00:06:16.620 You can specifically, like. like give it the 00:06:16.620 --> 00:06:18.120 nutrients that it exactly needs. Right, like 00:06:18.120 --> 00:06:20.079 you could uproot it and try to plant it somewhere 00:06:20.079 --> 00:06:21.920 else and do all the stuff you're supposed to 00:06:21.920 --> 00:06:24.959 do. It was made to exist as part. It would be 00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:27.040 like cutting off a small chunk of our cells and 00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:29.019 setting it on the counter. It'll live for a while, 00:06:29.139 --> 00:06:31.360 which is freaky in and of itself, but then it 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:37.100 dies. Yeah. Pando. Vine. Vine. It works. It works. 00:06:37.220 --> 00:06:40.329 Man. That's really cool. Thank you. I spent a 00:06:40.329 --> 00:06:42.769 lot of time trying to figure out how to land 00:06:42.769 --> 00:06:45.670 these into our text for today. Well, you are 00:06:45.670 --> 00:06:49.350 landing on a passage that is near and dear to 00:06:49.350 --> 00:06:52.230 my heart. It is one. Near and dear. Yeah. So 00:06:52.230 --> 00:06:56.110 someone, I don't even remember who now, but it 00:06:56.110 --> 00:06:58.709 was years ago. Years ago. Years ago when I was 00:06:58.709 --> 00:07:00.850 a young college student, someone preached. That 00:07:00.850 --> 00:07:05.230 was years ago. So long ago. John 15. Someone 00:07:05.230 --> 00:07:10.319 preached John 15. Yeah. And it impacted me. I 00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:14.680 had the way he described Jesus and abiding with 00:07:14.680 --> 00:07:19.680 Jesus and breaking down this illustration that 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:22.720 Jesus did, it impacted me. And it impacted me 00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:26.600 so much that when I came here and we were trying 00:07:26.600 --> 00:07:28.560 to figure out the direction of our ministry... 00:07:29.380 --> 00:07:32.779 this was the passage that I went to to help direct 00:07:32.779 --> 00:07:34.620 us in what we were going to do as a student ministry, 00:07:34.759 --> 00:07:36.819 and it became our theme verse, verse 5 specifically. 00:07:37.160 --> 00:07:40.680 Thus united. Thus united, yeah. So what are some 00:07:40.680 --> 00:07:43.680 of the pieces of this text? And we should probably 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:46.420 read it. It's a short little bout of text here. 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:49.120 Yeah, well, I mean, it goes pretty far because 00:07:49.120 --> 00:07:53.139 it flows into the love and all that. This is 00:07:53.139 --> 00:07:57.459 part of Jesus' farewell discourse. Yeah. I think 00:07:57.459 --> 00:07:58.879 we were talking about that off mic a little bit 00:07:58.879 --> 00:08:02.740 earlier. This section of Scripture right in here, 00:08:02.839 --> 00:08:06.240 especially hearing John, is so powerful. Because 00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:10.199 we know, reading this, that Jesus knew his time 00:08:10.199 --> 00:08:13.240 with his disciples was short. Right. And the 00:08:13.240 --> 00:08:16.920 things that he talks about in the upper room... 00:08:17.160 --> 00:08:20.740 and then in 15 and 16, and as he's going on, 00:08:20.759 --> 00:08:23.779 it's like, okay, he is leaving these disciples 00:08:23.779 --> 00:08:27.240 with these nuggets of gold. You open your Bible 00:08:27.240 --> 00:08:29.199 and throw a dart to anywhere on the page, and 00:08:29.199 --> 00:08:31.699 it's like, okay, these two verses are a sermon. 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:34.500 I mean, yeah, and especially when I opened it 00:08:34.500 --> 00:08:36.460 up and we were looking at the passages that we 00:08:36.460 --> 00:08:40.200 could cover for this week's podcast, and you're 00:08:40.200 --> 00:08:43.220 looking at... All of this from John 14 and then 00:08:43.220 --> 00:08:45.259 going into John 15 a little bit is like, man, 00:08:45.399 --> 00:08:49.440 every day we could record a 30 -minute podcast 00:08:49.440 --> 00:08:51.980 for this week because it is just such good stuff. 00:08:53.070 --> 00:08:55.309 Yeah, so what was your question? I just went 00:08:55.309 --> 00:08:56.929 off on a tangent. Well, I said that we should 00:08:56.929 --> 00:08:58.789 read it, and then I was going to ask about what 00:08:58.789 --> 00:09:02.889 makes this chunk of passage so incredible. Cool, 00:09:02.970 --> 00:09:04.990 so you want to read it, and then I'll talk about 00:09:04.990 --> 00:09:06.769 the passage a little bit, and we'll kind of bounce 00:09:06.769 --> 00:09:09.149 off each other. Here to beat the illiteracy allegations, 00:09:09.490 --> 00:09:12.450 here I go. John 15, 1 through 8. If you're following 00:09:12.450 --> 00:09:16.529 along in your book, this is from August the 20th. 00:09:16.769 --> 00:09:20.049 Jesus says, I am the true vine, and my Father 00:09:20.049 --> 00:09:23.860 is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does 00:09:23.860 --> 00:09:26.419 not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch 00:09:26.419 --> 00:09:29.159 that does bear fruit, he prunes, so that it may 00:09:29.159 --> 00:09:31.879 bear more fruit. Already you are clean because 00:09:31.879 --> 00:09:34.200 of the word I have spoken to you. Abide in me 00:09:34.200 --> 00:09:37.200 and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit 00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:39.580 by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither 00:09:39.580 --> 00:09:43.200 can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, 00:09:43.399 --> 00:09:45.740 you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and 00:09:45.740 --> 00:09:49.279 I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For 00:09:49.279 --> 00:09:52.720 apart from me you can do. Nothing. If anyone 00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:55.100 does not abide in me, he is thrown away like 00:09:55.100 --> 00:09:57.000 a branch and withers. The branches are gathered, 00:09:57.120 --> 00:10:00.100 thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide 00:10:00.100 --> 00:10:02.779 in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever 00:10:02.779 --> 00:10:05.500 you wish and it will be done for you. By this, 00:10:05.500 --> 00:10:07.740 my father is glorified that you bear much fruit 00:10:07.740 --> 00:10:13.049 and so prove to be my disciples. So here's why 00:10:13.049 --> 00:10:17.250 this impacted me so much, these verses. Because 00:10:17.250 --> 00:10:19.570 I remember as a young Christian, I was familiar 00:10:19.570 --> 00:10:23.970 with this. I remember going through college or 00:10:23.970 --> 00:10:26.210 at some point and learning about the I am statements 00:10:26.210 --> 00:10:29.169 of Jesus. Those are found in John. I think there's 00:10:29.169 --> 00:10:31.110 seven or eight of them. I can't remember. So 00:10:31.110 --> 00:10:34.000 either was one of those. And he makes these I 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:37.299 am statements where he uses a symbolism to describe 00:10:37.299 --> 00:10:39.299 who he is. Here he's talking about I am the vine, 00:10:39.480 --> 00:10:41.399 and there's different ones. He talks about I 00:10:41.399 --> 00:10:45.259 am the bread of life, I am the door, I am the 00:10:45.259 --> 00:10:46.860 resurrection. And so there's all these different 00:10:46.860 --> 00:10:48.639 statements, and they're only recorded in John. 00:10:49.139 --> 00:10:53.899 And so I remember when I read this one as a very, 00:10:53.980 --> 00:10:57.700 very young Christian, I got down to the end, 00:10:57.820 --> 00:11:00.269 verse 8, my father is glorified by this. that 00:11:00.269 --> 00:11:02.470 you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples. 00:11:02.769 --> 00:11:05.190 Yeah. So what I got out of that by getting and 00:11:05.190 --> 00:11:07.029 reading the end of this is, okay, cool. All right. 00:11:07.049 --> 00:11:10.669 So my job is to produce fruit because that's 00:11:10.669 --> 00:11:13.289 what glorifies God. Right? Because, I mean, you 00:11:13.289 --> 00:11:15.509 get down to verse eight. My father is glorified 00:11:15.509 --> 00:11:17.990 by this. All right. Here's a directive from Jesus 00:11:17.990 --> 00:11:21.590 that you produce much fruit. Okay, cool. that's 00:11:21.590 --> 00:11:24.409 what I got to do. Right. But that's when, and 00:11:24.409 --> 00:11:26.129 so I never really thought about it again. Yeah. 00:11:26.169 --> 00:11:28.370 Right. I did my study and whatever it was for. 00:11:28.950 --> 00:11:31.350 And I was like, cool. And so I remember when 00:11:31.350 --> 00:11:34.850 the guy came up there to preach this sermon and 00:11:34.850 --> 00:11:37.909 in his sermon, he didn't know, but he was calling 00:11:37.909 --> 00:11:41.610 me out for how wrong I was, you know? And, and, 00:11:41.610 --> 00:11:44.669 and, but when those things happen and you can't 00:11:44.669 --> 00:11:46.789 argue and you see the truth, you're like, wow, 00:11:46.850 --> 00:11:49.950 like, man, I had, and then for him to explain 00:11:49.950 --> 00:11:52.519 what happened. And so Really, when you look at 00:11:52.519 --> 00:11:55.200 this and you don't just focus on the last verse, 00:11:55.399 --> 00:11:58.620 the last verse makes sense when you look at it 00:11:58.620 --> 00:12:01.279 as a whole. And so you have this really cool 00:12:01.279 --> 00:12:02.960 picture where Jesus is saying he's the vine. 00:12:03.080 --> 00:12:04.419 And so there's got a couple different parts. 00:12:04.440 --> 00:12:07.299 One, so let's define the characters of the story, 00:12:07.379 --> 00:12:11.240 right? So Jesus is the vine, the true vine. The 00:12:11.240 --> 00:12:15.840 true vine. God is the gardener. Yep. Vine dresser 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:18.059 is what my translation says. Vine dresser. Way 00:12:18.059 --> 00:12:20.470 cooler. And then... That is actually really cool, 00:12:20.549 --> 00:12:23.350 right? Even that, and we'll get to another word 00:12:23.350 --> 00:12:28.470 here in a couple of the verses. Anyways, and 00:12:28.470 --> 00:12:30.350 then we are the branches, and that specifically 00:12:30.350 --> 00:12:32.730 is talking about those who are believers in Jesus, 00:12:32.889 --> 00:12:36.250 right? Which is part of the cool illustration 00:12:36.250 --> 00:12:38.929 of how we can be grafted in, right? But anyways, 00:12:39.090 --> 00:12:42.149 and so when he goes through here, really the 00:12:42.149 --> 00:12:46.929 crux of this is verse 5. Verse 5 succinctly helps 00:12:46.929 --> 00:12:51.840 define... What is our role, right? And he says 00:12:51.840 --> 00:12:56.019 it actually a couple of times, but in verse 5, 00:12:56.259 --> 00:12:58.700 he says, I am the vine, you are the branches. 00:12:58.820 --> 00:13:02.159 The one who remains in me and I in him produces 00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:05.860 much fruit. So now there's a little definition 00:13:05.860 --> 00:13:07.759 or there's a little caveat. It's like, yes, you 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:11.179 are to produce much fruit, but there's only one 00:13:11.179 --> 00:13:14.240 way you can produce fruit, and that's to remain 00:13:14.240 --> 00:13:18.240 in. Jesus, or as verse 4 says, remain in me and 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:21.179 I in you, just as a branch is unable to produce 00:13:21.179 --> 00:13:24.919 fruit by itself. So going back to your wonderful 00:13:24.919 --> 00:13:28.340 illustration earlier, if we're not connected 00:13:28.340 --> 00:13:31.809 to Jesus, We are not going to produce fruit. 00:13:31.909 --> 00:13:34.409 So is producing fruit really the most important 00:13:34.409 --> 00:13:38.129 thing? No. The most important thing is to remain 00:13:38.129 --> 00:13:41.210 with Jesus. Yeah. Going back to how other translations 00:13:41.210 --> 00:13:43.649 put this, I love when it uses the word abide. 00:13:43.929 --> 00:13:46.429 Yeah. It is such a cool word, and I did research 00:13:46.429 --> 00:13:49.070 on this word years ago, and it's really talking 00:13:49.070 --> 00:13:53.289 about this place of... That's your home almost, 00:13:53.490 --> 00:13:57.090 right? This is where you live. This is everything 00:13:57.090 --> 00:14:00.759 for you. And so... really the most important 00:14:00.759 --> 00:14:04.799 part of our life is I like, you know, I picture, 00:14:04.860 --> 00:14:08.139 you can picture a grapevine, but for me, we live 00:14:08.139 --> 00:14:09.759 in North Carolina and it's easier to picture 00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:11.759 pine trees because I mean, that's why he used 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:13.720 a vine because they were everywhere. Anybody, 00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:16.139 even if you weren't a farmer, grapevines were 00:14:16.139 --> 00:14:18.740 everywhere. And so as soon as he used this illustration, 00:14:19.039 --> 00:14:20.960 he was using something that people would have 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:23.559 known exactly. Oh, I can picture this in my brain. 00:14:23.580 --> 00:14:26.299 Yeah. Right. So for me, I'm from North Carolina. 00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:29.600 I picture evergreens. They're everywhere, right? 00:14:29.679 --> 00:14:32.759 Yes. And so when I picture this and I see this 00:14:32.759 --> 00:14:37.320 trunk, the vine, the main source right there, 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:41.159 and then I see the branch connecting to that 00:14:41.159 --> 00:14:46.299 trunk, that connection right there, that's abiding. 00:14:46.460 --> 00:14:51.120 Yeah. That's exactly where the branch and Jesus 00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:54.299 meet, the branch and the vine meet. That's what's 00:14:54.299 --> 00:14:56.700 most important. And what I've been able to learn 00:14:56.700 --> 00:15:00.840 practically in my life is that when I focus on 00:15:00.840 --> 00:15:04.220 Jesus, when everything in me is I'm just focusing 00:15:04.220 --> 00:15:07.139 on Him, living for Him, trying to stay connected 00:15:07.139 --> 00:15:10.820 in Him in everything I do, then the fruit comes 00:15:10.820 --> 00:15:14.460 natural. When I take my focus off of Jesus... 00:15:14.809 --> 00:15:17.970 and I start living for myself, or I start no 00:15:17.970 --> 00:15:22.950 longer living for and trying to live the way 00:15:22.950 --> 00:15:25.850 that Jesus wants me to, or I'm just losing focus, 00:15:26.029 --> 00:15:29.990 just losing focus, then that's when the fruit 00:15:29.990 --> 00:15:32.529 begins to fail, because I am now trying to be 00:15:32.529 --> 00:15:35.990 my own source of life and not getting my source 00:15:35.990 --> 00:15:38.110 of life from the only one who can truly give 00:15:38.110 --> 00:15:41.230 me life, and that is Jesus. Right. Yeah, so... 00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:43.899 I think this is just an incredible picture. But 00:15:43.899 --> 00:15:46.000 you know what I love about this too? Yeah. Is 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:49.240 it's also a picture of the church because a vine 00:15:49.240 --> 00:15:52.779 connects multiple branches. Yeah. You know? Absolutely. 00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:55.039 And this is actually, so this is part of where 00:15:55.039 --> 00:15:57.460 when we get united, it comes from that word abide. 00:15:57.580 --> 00:15:59.419 That's why our student ministry is called United. 00:15:59.480 --> 00:16:02.860 It's from John 15. And I tell our students, I 00:16:02.860 --> 00:16:04.700 said, here's our purpose. I said, we want to 00:16:04.700 --> 00:16:06.279 be, well, number one, we want to be united to 00:16:06.279 --> 00:16:08.759 Jesus. So that's number one. We just talked about 00:16:08.759 --> 00:16:10.100 that. Absolutely. And the next is we want to 00:16:10.100 --> 00:16:12.320 be united to each other. Because if we're united 00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:15.539 to Jesus and we're united to him, then guess 00:16:15.539 --> 00:16:17.039 what? We're going to be united to all the other 00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:19.159 branches as well. Absolutely. And so that's the 00:16:19.159 --> 00:16:21.460 purpose statement of our ministry is unite to 00:16:21.460 --> 00:16:24.440 Jesus, unite to others. And I feel like in uniting 00:16:24.440 --> 00:16:28.100 to Jesus, like... that allows you uniting to 00:16:28.100 --> 00:16:32.440 others to be through Jesus. Yes. We as humans 00:16:32.440 --> 00:16:35.639 connect on many levels, like shared sports teams. 00:16:36.179 --> 00:16:40.840 Go sports! Shared interests, being from the same 00:16:40.840 --> 00:16:42.559 Hogwarts house there. I said one that involves 00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:46.159 you. Thank you. And we can connect in various 00:16:46.159 --> 00:16:47.940 ways, and that's good. Those are all good things. 00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:50.919 But connecting through Jesus looks different 00:16:50.919 --> 00:16:53.330 than that. Yes. I mean, even to use the Hogwarts 00:16:53.330 --> 00:16:55.909 house as a bit of a silly analogy. No, but you're 00:16:55.909 --> 00:16:57.870 a Slytherin and I'm a Gryffindor. It shouldn't 00:16:57.870 --> 00:17:00.950 work. It shouldn't work. But because we have 00:17:00.950 --> 00:17:03.289 the vine, we're not connected to each other. 00:17:03.769 --> 00:17:05.710 We're connected to each other through the vine. 00:17:06.170 --> 00:17:08.369 We're connected to each other through mutual 00:17:08.369 --> 00:17:12.390 submission to the vine. Because Jesus is the 00:17:12.390 --> 00:17:15.170 one who gets to decide how we connect. Jesus 00:17:15.170 --> 00:17:17.509 is the one who instructs us to prefer one another. 00:17:17.730 --> 00:17:19.789 Jesus is the one that instructs us to lay our 00:17:19.789 --> 00:17:23.190 lives down for our brothers. And so you, though 00:17:23.190 --> 00:17:26.849 a Gryffindor, I can vibe with. And I, though 00:17:26.849 --> 00:17:30.609 a Slytherin, can make crafty plans still and 00:17:30.609 --> 00:17:35.650 yet for your demise, Sean Gryffindor. I will 00:17:35.650 --> 00:17:39.529 say this. One thing that stood out to me in reading 00:17:39.529 --> 00:17:42.710 this again, even sitting down here, is the Father's 00:17:42.710 --> 00:17:46.690 role as the vine dresser. Like elsewhere in Scripture, 00:17:46.869 --> 00:17:49.230 and I was desperately trying to Google it while 00:17:49.230 --> 00:17:52.170 you were talking a minute ago, but Paul talks 00:17:52.170 --> 00:17:58.009 about the vines. He builds on Jesus' vine analogy 00:17:58.009 --> 00:18:01.269 and talks about how the Father prunes the vines. 00:18:01.509 --> 00:18:04.730 And not just prunes in a sense of like... Like, 00:18:04.730 --> 00:18:07.309 oh, you're not bearing fruit, chop. Although 00:18:07.309 --> 00:18:09.869 we should talk about that. But also in a sense 00:18:09.869 --> 00:18:12.690 of like living vines that overgrow in the wrong 00:18:12.690 --> 00:18:15.609 areas need to be pruned for the good of the overall 00:18:15.609 --> 00:18:20.250 tree and for the good of the individual health 00:18:20.250 --> 00:18:24.569 of the branch. It is hard to go through pruning. 00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:30.359 One of the ways that I've been spending my time 00:18:30.359 --> 00:18:32.839 lately is before work, I'll drive into Charlotte 00:18:32.839 --> 00:18:34.640 and I'll go to a climbing gym. Oh, I thought 00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:36.099 you were going to say you went to a garden and 00:18:36.099 --> 00:18:39.099 you pruned stuff. No. Dude, I live in an apartment. 00:18:40.579 --> 00:18:44.259 I go into a climbing gym in Charlotte, like rock 00:18:44.259 --> 00:18:48.700 climbing. And can I tell you the process of pruning? 00:18:49.150 --> 00:18:52.009 me to be better at climbing. Looks like Ben needs 00:18:52.009 --> 00:18:55.130 to drop some weight and to be able to hold the 00:18:55.130 --> 00:18:58.769 weight that he has with his hands. Both of those 00:18:58.769 --> 00:19:02.210 things, both of those things are not enjoyable 00:19:02.210 --> 00:19:05.849 for Ben Smith. It means a lot of cardio and a 00:19:05.849 --> 00:19:07.869 heavy calorie restriction and a lot of hanging 00:19:07.869 --> 00:19:10.509 on my hands. God bless him. Danny Mabry and I 00:19:10.509 --> 00:19:11.829 were talking about this and he's like, we were 00:19:11.829 --> 00:19:13.849 talking about me hanging a climbing trainer in 00:19:13.849 --> 00:19:16.349 my office for my lunchtime. Dude, you just hang. 00:19:16.759 --> 00:19:19.140 Until your fingers and your wrists burn out and 00:19:19.140 --> 00:19:21.160 it's like, this is awful. I can't write anymore. 00:19:21.500 --> 00:19:24.980 But that's physical pruning. Spiritual pruning, 00:19:25.079 --> 00:19:29.000 I think, could be even harder. Absolutely. And 00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:32.859 I see an impulse both in human nature in general 00:19:32.859 --> 00:19:35.180 and in my own self to when I encounter things 00:19:35.180 --> 00:19:39.000 that prune me, it's usually through pain. And 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:41.460 usually my first response is anger at the vine 00:19:41.460 --> 00:19:45.200 dresser. Yeah. Like, God, this hurts. Ow! I don't 00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:48.009 want to do this. Like, why does it have to hurt? 00:19:48.109 --> 00:19:49.849 Didn't you promise me life and life abundantly? 00:19:49.910 --> 00:19:52.410 And he did, but that pruning is the path to get 00:19:52.410 --> 00:19:57.190 there. And that's hard, but we can trust our 00:19:57.190 --> 00:19:59.349 father because though he is the vine dresser, 00:19:59.349 --> 00:20:02.349 he also knows what we need before we ask. Yeah. 00:20:02.390 --> 00:20:04.869 Have you ever watched videos of people making 00:20:04.869 --> 00:20:07.230 bonsai trees out of just all kinds of different 00:20:07.230 --> 00:20:10.390 kinds of trees? No, I haven't. It's really interesting 00:20:10.390 --> 00:20:16.390 because I've seen... I was in a time where all 00:20:16.390 --> 00:20:18.710 these internet videos that were going on, like 00:20:18.710 --> 00:20:20.630 my TikTok or whatever, it was, for some reason, 00:20:20.690 --> 00:20:22.650 tons of bonsai trees. It was just, because it 00:20:22.650 --> 00:20:25.410 was fascinating to me. And what you notice is 00:20:25.410 --> 00:20:28.490 you've got these people making decisions, and 00:20:28.490 --> 00:20:31.309 when they're starting to do these cuts, it does, 00:20:31.390 --> 00:20:34.109 to me, being someone that has no idea how to 00:20:34.109 --> 00:20:37.069 make a bonsai tree or any of this stuff, it's 00:20:37.069 --> 00:20:39.910 like, why would, like, that looked so good. Why 00:20:39.910 --> 00:20:41.769 are you cutting that? Why are you doing that? 00:20:42.490 --> 00:20:45.289 And it's relating back to what you're saying 00:20:45.289 --> 00:20:48.750 is sometimes we look at our lives and we look, 00:20:48.769 --> 00:20:50.170 it's like, God, why are you doing this to me? 00:20:50.430 --> 00:20:53.650 This was going so well. That's what we feel. 00:20:53.710 --> 00:20:56.990 Yeah. But we don't have the eternal perspective 00:20:56.990 --> 00:21:02.750 that God does. We're able to look in the past, 00:21:02.750 --> 00:21:04.690 and when we get through those difficult times 00:21:04.690 --> 00:21:07.289 of pruning that we don't like, that's when all 00:21:07.289 --> 00:21:10.519 of a sudden we go, aha. I now know why you were 00:21:10.519 --> 00:21:14.380 preparing me for what you did. But that's only 00:21:14.380 --> 00:21:16.880 at the end. But it's during those times that 00:21:16.880 --> 00:21:18.779 sometimes we just say, God, what are you doing? 00:21:19.259 --> 00:21:22.099 Why are you doing this in my life? I really enjoyed 00:21:22.099 --> 00:21:25.279 having that in my life. I really enjoyed this, 00:21:25.380 --> 00:21:27.000 whatever it is, and the different situations 00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:31.259 we go through. And even as I've been preparing 00:21:31.259 --> 00:21:34.299 for my sermon for Acts this week, I'm in chapter 00:21:34.299 --> 00:21:40.089 16 where... Paul finally picks up Timothy and 00:21:40.089 --> 00:21:42.049 they were going to head somewhere. And God's 00:21:42.049 --> 00:21:43.890 like, no, you're not going there. Like they were 00:21:43.890 --> 00:21:45.950 going somewhere to preach the gospel. Right. 00:21:46.029 --> 00:21:47.849 And he's like, nope. And then they try to go 00:21:47.849 --> 00:21:51.390 somewhere else. And he's like, ah, think again. 00:21:51.609 --> 00:21:53.690 And then they, he ends up sending them to this 00:21:53.690 --> 00:21:56.210 other part where they go into Asia and Asia is 00:21:56.210 --> 00:21:57.630 able to start hearing the gospel. But it's like, 00:21:57.650 --> 00:22:01.170 sometimes we even, there are good things that 00:22:01.170 --> 00:22:04.019 we want to do in life. There are good desires. 00:22:04.279 --> 00:22:06.480 Yep. Them going to these areas to preach the 00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:07.940 gospel and to go encourage... Objectively good. 00:22:08.200 --> 00:22:10.480 Objectively good. But sometimes God's going to 00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:12.099 say, we need to get rid of good things in our 00:22:12.099 --> 00:22:14.740 life because he's got a better plan for us. And 00:22:14.740 --> 00:22:16.420 it's us being open and willing to listen to those 00:22:16.420 --> 00:22:18.579 things. And better looks different for us than 00:22:18.579 --> 00:22:21.380 it does to him. Oh, 100%. So that's exactly what 00:22:21.380 --> 00:22:24.059 you're talking about in verses 5 and 6. Trying 00:22:24.059 --> 00:22:27.039 to bear fruit apart from him, you can do nothing. 00:22:27.640 --> 00:22:34.099 Even good things can be distractions. Even us 00:22:34.099 --> 00:22:38.519 trying to do good things can actually be us making 00:22:38.519 --> 00:22:41.880 spoiled fruit. My brain kept saying frozen fruit 00:22:41.880 --> 00:22:45.339 for some reason. Even good things can morph into 00:22:45.339 --> 00:22:49.680 spoiled fruit. Absolutely. If we're not careful. 00:22:49.839 --> 00:22:51.700 But that's what it goes back to the abiding thing. 00:22:51.940 --> 00:22:54.660 If we're walking that closely with Jesus, his 00:22:54.660 --> 00:22:56.740 Holy Spirit speaks and he gives us specific directions. 00:22:56.740 --> 00:22:58.579 Well, if we're trying to produce fruit on our 00:22:58.579 --> 00:23:00.720 own, guess what? That's going to be some nasty 00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:04.319 fruit. nasty fruit. And I think God, hear me 00:23:04.319 --> 00:23:07.700 out, I think God calls different people to produce 00:23:07.700 --> 00:23:12.500 different fruits in different seasons. Yes. Oh, 00:23:12.539 --> 00:23:14.099 I'm tracking with you. Keep going. And so for 00:23:14.099 --> 00:23:18.859 me to project my calling on somebody else is 00:23:18.859 --> 00:23:24.019 encouraging them to produce spoiled fruit. I'll 00:23:24.019 --> 00:23:27.619 give you an example. I have a dear friend who 00:23:27.619 --> 00:23:31.710 is a tremendously accomplished musician. It's 00:23:31.710 --> 00:23:35.549 like super duper duper good music. He plays better 00:23:35.549 --> 00:23:37.549 than I do. He sings better than I do. He's got 00:23:37.549 --> 00:23:40.170 thousands of dollars worth of gear and guitar. 00:23:40.250 --> 00:23:42.309 Does he have longer hair? No, he does not. You 00:23:42.309 --> 00:23:44.230 got that? That's the only thing I got on him. 00:23:45.730 --> 00:23:48.650 He's really good. You want to know what he isn't? 00:23:49.250 --> 00:23:52.450 What's that? A worship pastor. Oh, okay. Dude 00:23:52.450 --> 00:23:56.109 works in finance. Interesting. He serves at his 00:23:56.109 --> 00:23:59.849 local church. Yeah. But that is it. For me to 00:23:59.849 --> 00:24:04.009 go to this guy and say, God has equipped you 00:24:04.009 --> 00:24:07.759 mightily for this task. you should be a worship 00:24:07.759 --> 00:24:12.319 pastor, is not only kind of like, oh, that's 00:24:12.319 --> 00:24:14.859 not good. That is me trying to encourage him 00:24:14.859 --> 00:24:17.799 to produce fruit in his own strength, because 00:24:17.799 --> 00:24:19.420 that's not the calling that God's put on him. 00:24:19.500 --> 00:24:23.579 There you go. Which is crazy to think about how 00:24:23.579 --> 00:24:26.119 a good thing that sounds good can actually be 00:24:26.119 --> 00:24:28.400 the exact opposite of the thing, the kind of 00:24:28.400 --> 00:24:30.339 thing that gets pruned off and thrown in the 00:24:30.339 --> 00:24:33.670 fire. Yeah. I even know guys who have pursued 00:24:33.670 --> 00:24:35.869 things like that, and the Lord has not blessed 00:24:35.869 --> 00:24:38.210 them in it. Why? He didn't ask them to do it 00:24:38.210 --> 00:24:40.190 in the first place. Yeah. And this is something 00:24:40.190 --> 00:24:42.769 that I think we've discussed a few times, and 00:24:42.769 --> 00:24:46.190 there's no better place that we should want to 00:24:46.190 --> 00:24:48.670 be than in the Lord's will, right? When we try 00:24:48.670 --> 00:24:51.829 to make things happen on our own because we have 00:24:51.829 --> 00:24:56.079 a desire. I'll actually give you the illustration 00:24:56.079 --> 00:24:58.160 that I'm going to give to my students on Wednesday 00:24:58.160 --> 00:25:00.640 night. Spoiler alert. Well, I guess you will 00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:03.720 have said it already. This is that weird inception 00:25:03.720 --> 00:25:06.039 thing that happens by recording on Monday. This 00:25:06.039 --> 00:25:09.920 is happening both before and after Friday. The 00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:14.960 once in future illustration. So early on in ministry, 00:25:15.180 --> 00:25:18.380 early, early, before I had children early on 00:25:18.380 --> 00:25:21.900 in ministry. Before you had a beard? Yeah, possibly. 00:25:22.200 --> 00:25:24.339 Pre -beard Sean. Possibly. I can't remember. 00:25:25.180 --> 00:25:29.559 This is a sidetrack. I had a beard. I had a beard 00:25:29.559 --> 00:25:33.420 when I got married. And then at my honeymoon, 00:25:33.539 --> 00:25:36.319 I shaved my head. I shaved my head and my beard. 00:25:36.440 --> 00:25:39.579 At your honeymoon? Yeah. You're crazy for that. 00:25:39.779 --> 00:25:41.640 Yeah. How did Tiffany take that? She did it. 00:25:41.740 --> 00:25:45.519 She buzzed my head. I grew my hair out so I could 00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:47.940 have like nice, like, like early two thousands, 00:25:47.960 --> 00:25:50.220 my spiky hair and everything and did all that. 00:25:50.299 --> 00:25:52.920 But then on the honey, we are off topic right 00:25:52.920 --> 00:25:58.750 now. Anyways. So are you surprised? No, not at 00:25:58.750 --> 00:26:01.150 all. I think they like our stories. I hope so. 00:26:01.329 --> 00:26:05.130 Anyways. So early on, before I had kids, me and 00:26:05.130 --> 00:26:07.049 Tiffany almost became missionaries to Italy. 00:26:07.210 --> 00:26:11.069 Yo, no way. Yeah. Dead serious. Like we, we found 00:26:11.069 --> 00:26:13.730 an organization. Yeah. We got accepted by that 00:26:13.730 --> 00:26:16.769 organization. We were about to do like the vision 00:26:16.769 --> 00:26:20.130 trip kind of stuff. And I mean, so once again. 00:26:21.230 --> 00:26:23.769 Good goals. Good goals. Good things that we were 00:26:23.769 --> 00:26:26.309 all looking forward to. And then the Lord was 00:26:26.309 --> 00:26:29.210 just like, nope, that's not what I have for you. 00:26:29.309 --> 00:26:33.210 What did that no look like? I'm so curious. That 00:26:33.210 --> 00:26:36.789 no, oh man, I mean, this is a long time ago to 00:26:36.789 --> 00:26:38.710 figure out the specifics of that. Yeah, just 00:26:38.710 --> 00:26:43.869 top of like 40 ,000 feet view. It was a heart 00:26:43.869 --> 00:26:47.970 change. And for us, I think that there was definitely 00:26:47.970 --> 00:26:52.250 a lot of... We were early in ministry. Yeah. 00:26:52.509 --> 00:26:55.690 I was not a full -time pastor yet. We were looking 00:26:55.690 --> 00:26:57.910 at what is the ministry God has for us. Yeah. 00:26:58.210 --> 00:27:02.470 And we definitely, like, I was recent within 00:27:02.470 --> 00:27:04.890 the last five years of coming back from Argentina, 00:27:04.990 --> 00:27:07.069 from living on the mission field for a year. 00:27:07.130 --> 00:27:09.029 So I was like, man, I missed being on the mission 00:27:09.029 --> 00:27:12.490 field in a different culture, in that kind of 00:27:12.490 --> 00:27:14.809 context. So there was a lot of personal desire 00:27:14.809 --> 00:27:19.920 there. And then even landing on Italy. There 00:27:19.920 --> 00:27:22.079 was a lot of personal desires of us wanting to 00:27:22.079 --> 00:27:26.640 go just to Italy. And then it ended. And we were 00:27:26.640 --> 00:27:28.420 going to be doing children's ministry and youth 00:27:28.420 --> 00:27:30.160 ministry. So all this stuff was working out. 00:27:30.660 --> 00:27:33.599 And then once we got accepted by this organization, 00:27:33.940 --> 00:27:36.319 I don't even remember who the organization was, 00:27:36.460 --> 00:27:38.200 but once we got accepted by this organization, 00:27:38.539 --> 00:27:40.900 we're like, oh, man, this is real. This is awesome. 00:27:40.940 --> 00:27:43.680 We started to do the plans. And then we really 00:27:43.680 --> 00:27:50.240 started to pray separately. I can't remember, 00:27:50.359 --> 00:27:51.980 but I think maybe we were even scared to talk 00:27:51.980 --> 00:27:54.339 to each other about it. Understandable. Because 00:27:54.339 --> 00:27:55.819 separately we were like, ooh, I don't know if 00:27:55.819 --> 00:27:58.059 this is right anymore. But then I remember we 00:27:58.059 --> 00:28:00.380 finally had that conversation, and it was like, 00:28:00.539 --> 00:28:04.599 okay, the Lord is preparing us for something 00:28:04.599 --> 00:28:09.440 else. This is not it. Wow. The reason I ask, 00:28:09.480 --> 00:28:11.920 it's relevant for our people. Just from a perspective 00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:15.079 of looking to do good, unsure of how to proceed 00:28:15.079 --> 00:28:19.180 forward, what does a no? But we have to be abiding 00:28:19.180 --> 00:28:23.539 in our true vine, have to be abiding in him and 00:28:23.539 --> 00:28:25.900 walking with him so that we can discern the path 00:28:25.900 --> 00:28:28.700 ahead. Yeah. And he's kind for when we wander, 00:28:28.799 --> 00:28:31.880 when we stumble. Man, it's one of the things 00:28:31.880 --> 00:28:35.500 that I love about our God so much because we 00:28:35.500 --> 00:28:40.619 are prone to wander. Yeah. We are prone to fail. 00:28:41.119 --> 00:28:44.599 And our God is so incredibly loving and generous. 00:28:45.390 --> 00:28:48.950 And it's a great reminder for us because, especially 00:28:48.950 --> 00:28:52.190 for our pursuers out there, I mean, it's one 00:28:52.190 --> 00:28:54.609 of the things that I know that I do as a pastor 00:28:54.609 --> 00:28:57.390 that Ben does as a pastor. We're honest with 00:28:57.390 --> 00:29:00.390 letting you guys know that we're on this journey 00:29:00.390 --> 00:29:03.849 just like you guys are. And so when you fail, 00:29:03.990 --> 00:29:07.289 get back up, keep going. The Lord's got you. 00:29:07.509 --> 00:29:10.660 Absolutely. You know, Sean, with that, there's 00:29:10.660 --> 00:29:13.519 kind of one more idea I want to tease out of 00:29:13.519 --> 00:29:17.539 John 15, just to ask you. So like, verse two, 00:29:17.720 --> 00:29:20.000 every branch in me that does not bear fruit, 00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:22.079 he takes away. And every branch that does bear 00:29:22.079 --> 00:29:25.079 fruit, he prunes so that it may make more fruit. 00:29:25.460 --> 00:29:27.019 And then verse six, you know, if anybody does 00:29:27.019 --> 00:29:28.980 not abide in me, he's thrown away like a branch 00:29:28.980 --> 00:29:31.640 and withers. And the branches are gathered, thrown 00:29:31.640 --> 00:29:34.500 into the fire and burned. What do you make of 00:29:34.500 --> 00:29:37.500 that in terms of like, so is God saying that 00:29:37.500 --> 00:29:41.000 like, if we don't produce fruit all the time 00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:44.720 that we're destined for the fire? Like, is this 00:29:44.720 --> 00:29:47.119 a fruit as evidence of salvation thing? Like, 00:29:47.119 --> 00:29:51.559 what do you see there? Yeah, no, I don't think 00:29:51.559 --> 00:29:53.759 this is one of those things where like, oh, this 00:29:53.759 --> 00:29:57.359 branch is not producing fruit. You're a Christian, 00:29:57.440 --> 00:30:00.420 but there's no fruit here. You're gone. What 00:30:00.420 --> 00:30:03.640 I view this as is even if you just go out and 00:30:03.640 --> 00:30:07.109 like... you know, once you go out and you look 00:30:07.109 --> 00:30:09.750 up and you look at trees, you see dead branches. 00:30:09.890 --> 00:30:13.309 They stand out. And if the branch is up there 00:30:13.309 --> 00:30:16.250 and it might be up there, but it's not connected 00:30:16.250 --> 00:30:20.289 to the tree. Now where that illustration falls 00:30:20.289 --> 00:30:22.910 short is if it's a big branch, it once was connected 00:30:22.910 --> 00:30:26.210 to the tree. But what I see here is that if there 00:30:26.210 --> 00:30:29.380 is a branch that has not. produced fruit, it 00:30:29.380 --> 00:30:32.220 has never been truly connected to the vine. Isn't 00:30:32.220 --> 00:30:34.900 that interesting? And so, no. So this is not 00:30:34.900 --> 00:30:38.440 a matter of losing salvation. But in our church, 00:30:38.619 --> 00:30:40.680 you know, I think that there are people in our 00:30:40.680 --> 00:30:44.099 church that are lost. Yeah. In every church. 00:30:44.240 --> 00:30:46.680 In every church, absolutely. And I think that 00:30:46.680 --> 00:30:49.380 with that, there are people that are learning 00:30:49.380 --> 00:30:52.119 and that are growing. But I also believe, to 00:30:52.119 --> 00:30:56.079 use another illustration that Jesus uses, there's 00:30:56.079 --> 00:30:59.880 also wolves. And the shepherd is going to protect 00:30:59.880 --> 00:31:03.140 the sheep from the wolves. Absolutely. And none 00:31:03.140 --> 00:31:05.519 of those are fixed categories. No, not at all. 00:31:05.539 --> 00:31:07.500 I firmly believe that a wolf doesn't have to 00:31:07.500 --> 00:31:09.460 stay a wolf unless it wants to stay a wolf. I 00:31:09.460 --> 00:31:11.380 believe that a dead branch doesn't have to stay 00:31:11.380 --> 00:31:13.220 a dead branch unless it wants to stay a dead 00:31:13.220 --> 00:31:17.180 branch. What is it that Tim Keller said one time? 00:31:17.319 --> 00:31:18.740 At the end of the day, there's only two kinds 00:31:18.740 --> 00:31:20.700 of people. There's the kind of people that say 00:31:20.700 --> 00:31:23.599 to God, thy will be done, or that God says to 00:31:23.599 --> 00:31:26.019 them in the end. thy will be done. And it's not 00:31:26.019 --> 00:31:28.440 Tim Keller. It's the goat, C .S. Lewis. It just 00:31:28.440 --> 00:31:30.319 took me a minute to remember it. Yeah, it's such 00:31:30.319 --> 00:31:33.480 a good quote, man. Such a good quote. Oh, man. 00:31:33.579 --> 00:31:36.180 Dude, I finished The Great Divorce, the book, 00:31:36.319 --> 00:31:41.059 the C .S. Lewis book, a couple of days ago. Church, 00:31:42.799 --> 00:31:45.180 if you've never read The Great Divorce, it is 00:31:45.180 --> 00:31:46.980 allegory, so you've got to remember he's not 00:31:46.980 --> 00:31:49.089 speaking literally about... a lot of things. 00:31:49.349 --> 00:31:52.009 It's a really great window into like the human 00:31:52.009 --> 00:31:53.910 condition and what we value and what we love, 00:31:53.970 --> 00:31:56.369 particularly like the idols that we put before 00:31:56.369 --> 00:31:59.630 our lives, um, or put in our, particularly the 00:31:59.630 --> 00:32:01.549 idols in our lives, the things that we put before 00:32:01.549 --> 00:32:03.809 Jesus, but that bits for free. That's just a 00:32:03.809 --> 00:32:06.420 little side note as we end here. I love it, man. 00:32:07.119 --> 00:32:09.819 Okay. Also, but like, as we close Friday, the 00:32:09.819 --> 00:32:11.740 21st, that's, that's when this is going to come 00:32:11.740 --> 00:32:13.240 out. If you're listening on Friday, right? Yeah. 00:32:13.500 --> 00:32:15.660 That's a pretty special day, right? Planning 00:32:15.660 --> 00:32:17.400 center tells me that there's a really special 00:32:17.400 --> 00:32:21.000 day on Friday. The 21st is, is that Tiffany's 00:32:21.000 --> 00:32:23.960 birthday? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So if you're listening 00:32:23.960 --> 00:32:26.500 to this on Friday, it is my wife's birthday. 00:32:26.660 --> 00:32:30.720 Happy hecking birthday, Tiffany. Um, uh, Sean, 00:32:30.779 --> 00:32:33.279 Sean would Sean, uh, John didn't put me up to 00:32:33.279 --> 00:32:36.349 this, but you know, whatever. yeah no we're good 00:32:36.349 --> 00:32:38.930 so yeah it's her birthday so we're actually uh 00:32:38.930 --> 00:32:41.170 so we're gonna be going out to eat tonight all 00:32:41.170 --> 00:32:42.789 right now is this a surprise or is she finding 00:32:42.789 --> 00:32:44.650 this out in real time No, it's like with her 00:32:44.650 --> 00:32:46.529 family. Oh, with her. Okay, so she knows. This 00:32:46.529 --> 00:32:48.150 isn't a surprise. Like, happy birthday, Tiffany. 00:32:48.309 --> 00:32:50.369 This is your present. It's not like a promposal. 00:32:50.529 --> 00:32:54.150 No, no, no. I think she would hate that. Oh, 00:32:54.150 --> 00:32:56.210 man. If she doesn't even hate this. Yeah, exactly. 00:32:56.210 --> 00:32:57.730 Yeah, she's not going to be happy, probably. 00:32:58.529 --> 00:32:59.990 We're spending this much time, so we're just 00:32:59.990 --> 00:33:01.390 going to cut this off. We're just going to cut 00:33:01.390 --> 00:33:03.529 this off. Pursuers, thank you guys for listening. 00:33:04.190 --> 00:33:06.890 Abide in Christ and join the pando of your church. 00:33:07.049 --> 00:33:09.130 That's all we got to say today. Goodbye, pandas. 00:33:09.569 --> 00:33:15.319 Goodbye, pandas. That's our new day! Pursuing 00:33:15.319 --> 00:33:18.319 Jesus is a ministry of Memorial Baptist Church 00:33:18.319 --> 00:33:20.759 in Norwood, North Carolina. To learn more about 00:33:20.759 --> 00:33:24.779 our church, please visit memorial4norwood .com. 00:33:29.940 --> 00:33:32.660 This is how this is going to go. Okay. This is 00:33:32.660 --> 00:33:38.420 great. Okay. Inner peace. Inner peace. Can we 00:33:38.420 --> 00:33:39.799 do that again? Yes, we can. Thank you.