Transcript

John 15 transcript

Well, good morning. Nice, bright, sunny. Okay. Maybe not little rainy, I guess, but it's beautiful morning anyways, because it's above ground. We get an opportunity to come in here, get together, sing, worship our God.

This is awesome. I love it. Go ahead and stand if you can. And we're gonna start worship.

I know a place where we can go and lay the troubles down Eating your soul I know a place where mercy flows make the stains make you whiter than snow Like a tide it is rising up deep inside A current that and makes you come alive Living water that brings a dead to life we're going down to the river down to the river down to the river to pray let's get washed by the water Washed by the water and rise up in amazing rain let's go down, down down to the river where let's go down, down down to the river that loves saints I've seen it move in my own life Took me from dusty roads into paradise all of my dirt all of my shame Drowning streams and it made me born again like a giant it is rising up deep inside A current that moves and makes you come alive Living water that brings a dead to life we're going down to the river down to the river down to the river to pray let's get washed by the water Washed by the water and rise up in a baby rain let's go down, down down down to the river well we change let's go down, down down to the river Never the same.

Let.

We're going down to the river down to the river down to the river to pray let's get washed by the water Wash by the water and rise up in amazing grave let's go down, down down to the river where we change let's go down down to the river.

All right, normally I'd hand it off to Toby, but I think Rich is heading this way. I am, I am. I'm coming. I'm here. I'm almost here.

I see him.

All right. Yeah. Can't drop that. It's horrible when you can't remember where you put your drink. And I hope I don't leave it there, but this would be there.

Be up here for the sermon. Hey. Welcome to Restoration Ministries. We're so glad you're here this morning. Shake the hand of the person to your right.

Oh, great. Now, I saw some of you shake the hand to the person to your left. You were not. You were not instructed to do that, but that's fine.

Yes, exactly.

If we can have those who are helping with tithes and offerings come forward, we will take time in the service. It's that time that we worship the Lord and giving the tithes and offerings. We have three ways you can give, you can give through the. Well, I want to say plates, but they're not plates, whatever you want to call these things. In the old days, they were plates.

And then you can drop in the box on the way out or you can do it online through the app. So I only pronounce one of the P's. Okay. So would you join me in prayer, Father? God, I thank you for this day.

Thank you for this time, Lord. We've come together to worship you today, Lord, this is the day you have made. Lord, this is your day. And Lord, we praise you and we live in it. Lord, I thank you that you love us, that you sent your son to die for us.

Lord, I just pray now as we take this time, Lord, just giving to you, Lord, a portion of what you've given to us. Lord, I just pray that you bless each the gift and the giver. And Lord, I just pray that you'd multiply it to the furtherance of your kingdom. For it's in your hands that we give. And Lord, it's in your hands that we trust.

Lord, I thank you and I praise you, for it's in your name we pray. Amen. All right, couple quick announcements. I'm going to be quick and off of here as fast as I can. Vbs.

VBS is coming very, very quickly. It's a family fun, faith filled. Yeah, we just like to make fun of it because it's really about family. That's the key word in it. Come.

There's going to be bounce houses. We're going to do Bible stories that's geared toward families. So if you've got friends, if you've got family, invite them to that. We'd love to see lots and lots of people here. September 13th.

It even sounds gross to say September, but September 13th, following the service, we're all going to get together and we're going to go down to Trine and have lunch together. So you're invited to that. I think it's. It's 13, $14. I've tried to find out, but it's summertime at a college campus.

You can't find anything out. So unless you want to go to school. If you want to go to school, you find all the information you want about registering for classes. So. But I think it's $14.

Something like that. And then September 20th, this is. This is going to be new to some of you and may excite some of you and maybe like, oh, gosh, why are we doing this? We're going to start a Sunday School class September 20th. We are doing it following the service.

We're going to do it. So 11:15 to 11:30 start there will be done by 12:30. And it's a. The Bible. The Sunday school class is kind of like a membership class.

Don't think of it that way. It's kind of where we're starting. It's something that we've developed here at Restoration Ministry. So we want you to be a part of that. No need to sign up as our normal MC would say.

Is there any charge for that? There's no charge for that. So just. Just come. It's right after service.

It'll be a great time. Just learning some new things. Okay. If anybody else has. Men's and women's Bible studies are this week, right, Jody?

Yeah. So this is the week that we. We meet youth group still Tuesday, Tuesday this week, next week. And we'll be starting Wednesday, August 26th. August 26th.

The youth no longer like the men and women, so they're going to go to Wednesday nights instead of Tuesday nights. So I don't. I don't know. I. I try to be nice to them, but, you know. Okay.

Yeah, yeah. They just want to have run of the room, you know. So take note of that. And with that. Back to you.

Enjoy. Back to you. Oh, yeah, look, Toby's been upgraded to MC now. I love that mc.

Cool. Hey, go ahead and stand. We're going to continue worshiping.

There's no space that love can't reach there's no place where we can't find peace there's no end to amazing grace.

Take me in with your arms spread wide Take me in like an orphan child Never let go Never leave my side.

I am holding on to you I am holding on to you in the middle of the sun I'm holding on I am.

Love like this oh, my God. To find I am overwhelmed what a joy divine Love like this Sets our hearts on fire I am holding on to you I am I went and holding on to you in the middle of the dark.

I am holding on to you I am holding on to you in the middle of the storm I am holding out I am.

This is my resurrection song this is my hallelujah Come on this is why it's to you I run.

This is my resurrection song this is My hallelujah Come this is why to you I run there's no space that his love can reach there's no place where we can find peace there's no end to Amazing Race.

I am holding on to you I am holding on to you in the middle of the storm I'm holding on I am holding on to you I am holding on to you in the middle of the storm I'm holding on I am holding on to you I am holding on to you in the middle of the star I'm holding on I am, I am in the middle of the storm I'm holding on I am.

In Christ alone My hope is found he is my light, My strength, My song this corn is home this solid ground Thrown through the fiercest drought and storm what heights of love what depths of peace when fears assume when striving seas My consul air My all in all Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone who took on flesh homeless, crying helpless his gift and love and righteousness scorned by the ones he came to save Till on that cross found Jesus died the wrath of God was satisfied for every sin on him was made Here in the depth of Christ I live.

There in the ground his body lay Light of the world by darkness Then bursting forth in glorious day up from the grave he rose again and as he stands in victory in cherished love Its lip on me For I am his and he is mine five at the breath Precious blood of life.

No guilt in life no fear in death this is the power of Christ in me from life's first cry to final breath Jesus commends my destiny no power of hell no scheme of men can ever pluck me from his hand Till he returns or calls me home Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me I once was lost but now I am found Was blind but now I see Twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears really how precious did that grace of Hear me out I first believe My shames are gone I've been set free My God, my Savior has ransomed me and like a blood in mercy rains amending love Amazing grace.

The Lord has promised good to me his word, my hope.

He will my shield and portion me as long as life is in you My chains are gone I've been set free My God, my Savior has ransomed me.

His mercy reigns Unending love Amazing grace My chains are gone, I've been set free My God, my Savior's life is mercy. Sing, raising grace.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow. The sun forbear to shine.

But God who called me here below Will be forever mine.

Will be forever mine.

You are forever mine.

Thank you, father.

We thank you for your amazing grace. We thank you that our chains are gone. We thank you that every day we get a chance to wake up and worship. We get a chance to wake up and shine, to be that light and this world to show others who you are. We thank you.

You're awesome. May our worship be a sweet sound to your ears, Father.

Holy Spirit, come and fill this place. We welcome you here from top to bottom, left to right, front to back. We want to feel your presence, Father God, we want to hear from you.

Open our hearts, open our minds. Soften our hearts.

May it not just touch our ears, but touch our hearts and touch our lives. Father.

Father, we lift up Pastor Rich to you as he comes to speak. And we ask that you speak through him.

Have him say no more unless that you would have him speak. We thank you for our shepherd, our leader here at this church.

And we thank you for your son, For that sacrifice, for his death on the cross, for his blood that washes us clean. Wow. That's amazing. Grace.

We love you. We worship you. We give you all the honor and glory this morning. All of this we pray in your precious heavenly name. All God's people said amen.

Amen.

Some people are probably thinking this is the end of the world. It's true.

Yes.

Do you see that I wasn't here to anyone.

Could you pretend to be like you used to be?

People break down into two groups.

What a coincidence. You see society that there is someone out there watching over two Caesar. Shift your life and a different chance. I'm sure people grouping two will read those 14 lives in a very suspicious way. For them, your situation is a 50.

50 could be bad, it could be good. But deep down, they feel that whatever happens, they're on their own. And that fills them with fear. Yeah, looks painful.

But there's a whole lot of people who have never won. They see those 14 lights, they're looking at a miracle.

And deep down, they feel that whatever's going to happen, there'll be someone there to help. And that's the thing I hope, since you're ask yourself is what kind of person are you? Are you the kind that sees signs, sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky? Or look at the question this way.

Is it possible that there are no coincidences.

I was at this party once. The moment comes with Ran in the kidney.

She's just sitting there looking beautiful, staring at me.

I go to lean in a kiss really start to go on the doll. So I turn to young voice stuffing the paper, coming into the sofa. Turn around ran. Then McCann throws her all over herself.

I knew the second it happened it was a miracle. I could have been kissing her. What she do up? I'm just hurt for life.

I mean that would have to come.

I'm a miracle man.

Those lights are miracle. There you go.

So much better for you.

Do you feel comforted?

Yeah, I do.

Come on.

I never told her the last words that a colleague said before they let her die.

She said, see?

And her mind's glazed a bit.

And then she said, swing away.

Know why she said that?

Cuz the nerve and even the brain was firing. If she died and some random memory of us at one of the baseball games just popped into her head.

There is no one watching our.

Own.

Britney. If you've never seen that movie, that is another one I would re tell you to watch because you love all the ones I tell you you should watch. But no, if that clip does not make you want to watch the movie signs. If you've never watched it, if you've never watched the movie signs, go watch it. That is, I believe it's one of the best secular movies that talks about who God is.

So miracles or coincidences? What is life full of? Is life full of Those miracles? Those 14 lights that they see out there? They're miracles or are they just coincidences?

Why when his wife was dying, did she say swing away? I'm not gonna give the movie away, but you should want to watch that movie so that you can figure out what that was about. And for those of you that have seen that movie, you're like, yeah, we know what that statement was about.

Miracles or coincidences. Today we're going to be in John 15:1 8, kind of a familiar passage, probably to most of us. It's one of the first passages I remember ever being taught as a kid. So it's an interesting passage, but we're going to draw some things out of this where life is not about coincidences, but life is about miracles. Because Jesus is the true vine.

Believers must abide in him if they are to bear lasting fruit. So verses starting in verse one, it says, I am the true vine, and my father is the vineyard keeper. Every branch in me that does not produce fruit, he removes and he prunes every branch that produces Fruit, so that it will produce more fruit. You're already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me and I in you.

Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit because you can do nothing without me. If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch, and he withers. They gather.

They gather them, throw them into the fire and they are burnt. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you will and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples. Father God, as we unpack this passage for a few minutes, Lord, I just pray that you prepare our hearts and our minds, Lord, for what you have for us. Lord, I thank you for this reminder, Lord, that our power, our strength comes from you.

And when we are separate from that, Lord, we lose our power and our strength. And, Lord, ultimately we lose our power to live.

Father, in you is life and life abundantly. And we thank you for that. So, Lord, just speak to us now. For it's in your name we pray. Amen.

The video clip raises a key question. Is life just a series of coincidences or is God actively at work? In John 15, John teaches. Jesus teaches that the spiritual life is not sustained by. We need to get to those slides.

Did the slides not come through? I was about to get really sad because I didn't print off the answers. So now keep going. We're past that. Yeah.

And of course, it's too small for me to read. Good. In John 15, Jesus teaches that spiritual life is not sustained by self sufficiency. That was the word I couldn't remember. But by abiding in him.

That's what the passage teaches us. It's not about us. It's about abiding in him. What does that word, abide mean? I wanted to look at that and think about that a little bit this week.

What does abide mean? What does that look like? And abiding is living in. It's part of being in something. Abiding is being a part of something.

So our lives. We are to abide in Him. We're to abide in Christ. We are to live in Christ. And it's an interesting idea and an interesting thought when we think about the world around us, because the world around us would teach us the exact opposite.

Follow your heart.

Be who you are. You were created that way.

See, this is the message of the world. The message of Christ is simple, Abide in me.

So first thing is, Jesus is the true vine. Can you guys read that?

It looked really, really big sitting at my computer at home. You know this, but it looks really, really small here. Sorry. I hope you guys can read that.

It's an interesting statement to me because he says, I am the true vine. So if Jesus is the true vine, what does that ultimately mean? There is a what? A false vine. Right.

So there's a true vine and there's a false vine. Have you ever gone to your fence and you saw all this ivy growing up your fence? Okay, the ivy growing up your fence is all tied up with other vines. What's happening to the other vines? They're dying.

When ivy is growing up your fence, it's killing the other things that are around. It could be on the fence, it could be on the ground, it could be in the tree, it could be whatever. But what it's doing is it is taking life away from another vine. Why? Because it's a false vine.

How many of you have a tree in your yard? Well, that's a dumb question. We all have trees in our yard. There's a tree.

What was it two years ago when we had the big ice storm? We had a tree and we had this limb. I'm going to call it a limb. Okay. It was probably as big around as most trees.

Okay, really long. And it came kind of straight out the side. And there was enough weight of ice on it that it broke and it fell off. And when I'm saying it was a limp, I mean, it was probably 8, 10 inches around and it fell off.

And I'm thinking to myself, okay, well, why did. Why did that do that? But nothing else up there that smaller limps. Why didn't they fall off? Well, there were others, but there were others that were smaller that survived.

Why was that? It was interesting the way that it grew, drew it out instead of up. So the limb grew out. It probably. It was probably 15, 20ft long out.

It was 15 or 20ft going up. It would never have fallen off. And I started to investigate the tree. I was interested. I don't know why, because I don't like plants or anything.

My wife does that, and that's her thing. And, you know, but I started to look and the branch actually came out of where there was another branch at one point that probably had been pruned. And as I looked a little bit closer. The center of that branch had a hole in.

Was dying from the inside out. I started to look a little bit more, and it was like. It looked like it was. It wasn't growing from the tree. It was growing from that old branch that had been cut off.

I thought about that this week. I was like, that was what that was showing me. It was showing me that I needed to learn how to use a chainsaw. No, it didn't show me that at all. But this week it showed me that it was dependent upon its growth from a dead limb.

A false vine. Jesus is a true vine.

The trees that grow up, that's part of the true vine. And like so many other things, there is so much of the true vine that is underground.

Had a neighbor one year around the corner. Neighbor. She was up the street a little bit from us. And like most of us, there's these little things that grow up out of your yard called roots. Have you ever had a root in your yard?

Have you ever had hundreds of those roots? I do my lawnmower hits every one of them and. But she got tired of it. So I don't know what she was thinking, but she came and she had somebody cut up all the roots that were all around the tree and remove all the roots so they were no longer. Guess what happened six months, a year later, the tree was laying on the ground.

Why? Because she cut off all the true vines. She got rid of all the strength, all of what held that tree to the ground. She got rid of it. It's like us.

Jesus is the roots that hold us to the ground. Jesus does not offer one source of life among many. He is the true and only source of what kind of life? Spiritual life.

Now, that doesn't help either. So he's the only source of spiritual life. It's like, well, okay, so what's important about that? Every one of us are spiritual beings. We were created with a spirit.

We don't argue about that. We don't disagree about that. Everybody was created with spirit. So if we were created with a spirit, we have spiritualness in us. We are spiritual beings.

Our spirit longs for something. Have you ever felt that you longed for something? You just. Something is just kind of overwhelming in your life and you're longing for it and you want it. You want to experience it.

That's the spiritual life that's within you. And sometimes we take that spiritual life and we say, we need to find it, and we're going to find it anywhere we can. If you listen to any religion, they will talk about spiritual life, spirituality. I mean, you know, Buddhism is all about spirituality. Hinduism is all about spirituality.

Christianity is all about spirituality. The problem with the other ones is that source, that source of life and every other religion you will ever find, that you will ever experience, that you will ever be a part of, that source of life is you. Think about that for a moment. You are that source of life. If you're good enough, you can get to heaven.

And in some religions, if you're really good enough. If you're really good enough, you get to come back as a cow. Okay? Just remember that these are what the other religions teach. It's still a spirituality question.

It's still a statement of spirituality. But, I mean, I don't know. I kind of like the idea of coming back and spending eternity with my creator. That's kind of what I like. I don't want to be a cow.

I don't even want to come back as a millionaire. I don't want to come back as I want to spend eternity with my Father, the One who created us, the One who loves us, the One who sent His Son to die for us. He doesn't ask us to do anything except accept that free gift. That's all we have to do, and that is that spiritual life. The Father is the vinedresser who carefully tends the vine.

So we have a life with Christ, right? Christ, he's the true vine. We're the branches. What happens to the branches that don't bear fruit? Cuts them off.

Now, who cuts them off? The Father does.

So if you are part of that vine that you are abiding in Christ and you're not bearing fruit, he cuts you off. There's something interesting about that statement there. And I had to take a moment and I had to think about what does that mean? Because I don't believe you can just lose your faith. That's just.

That's. I don't. That's not an essential. If you believe you can lose your faith, it's not an essential. My statement to you is, don't lose it.

It's simple, right? But this statement almost makes it sound like you can lose your faith. Because if you're not bearing fruit, he cuts you off and we leave it there. If we don't continue on to think about the whole process of growing, when he cuts the branch off, what happens?

New life comes, right? New life comes when you go out and you prune your bush. When my wife goes out and she prunes her BlackBerry bush. Every fall and cuts it down to about yay big. She's getting rid of all the dead vines, all the dead branches.

She's getting rid of it. Why? Because she wants it to grow back next year, Bigger and stronger and get more blackberries. That's why the father will cut us off. Because he wants us to grow bigger and stronger and produce more good fruit.

It's not about losing your faith. It's about you growing and producing more good fruit. And sometimes we get that way. We get stagnant in our lives and it gets hard for us to move. We know we need to do something.

We know that we need to go in a direction. We know that life is not going the way it should be. And sometimes God just has to come in and cut it off.

He's not cutting us off from him. He's cutting us off from the world. Because the world is what's causing us to produce that bad fruit.

Remember? Little kid, just little, little kid in the inner city. You know your apple orchards? Have you ever seen an inner city apple orchard? You out here in the country, you'd call them crabapples.

How good are crab apples? The only thing they're good for is stinking your yard up. That's what I remember about my grandmother's crabapple tree in downtown Dayton. It's the only thing it ever did was. Was it bare fruit?

It dropped fruit, the fruit would stink. And that's kind of this in a nutshell. You bear fruit, the fruit falls, it dies, and it stinks. When God cuts us off, he's cutting us off to help us grow.

The second thing, the father.

The father that. Oh, dear.

Did I miss one? I couldn't have missed one. Okay, so the father, He doesn't prune. He doesn't prune because this is a fruitful branch. Right?

Okay, we'll go with that. We'll go with that. I told you guys last week, I'm trying to learn something new. And this is actually a step up from what I have been doing. But yeah.

So the father prunes every fruitful branch. I don't think that's correct. I don't think that was what was in there. But if you want to. But pruning may be painful, but it is always.

What does it say? Purposeful. There's always a purpose to pruning. As we just said, the purpose is to help you to grow. When God prunes me, it's to help me to grow.

Pruning is painful. It hurts. Many times in my life, I look back And I remember times in my life where things changed and relationships changed. We've all had relationships come and go. And some relationships, it's like, oh, good riddance.

Gosh, get rid of them. But then there's those relationships that you're like, oh, man, why did I lose that relationship? And the older you get, you get more of those relationships. Why? Because God was pruning those relationships off.

Because there was something in that relationship that was keeping you from bearing good fruit.

It's keeping you from bearing good fruit. God cuts away what is unhealthy so that we may bear. Is it good fruit? Greater fruit. So he's cutting it away so that we may bear greater fruit.

If you've ever had a strawberry bush, anybody ever tried to grow strawberries, did you have any success? Okay, good. But with strawberries, it's all about the pruning process. You have to prune strawberries, and, you know, you get them and you. They're already this big, and you put them in the ground.

You're like, okay, I'm ready for my strawberries.

When is the normal time to harvest strawberries? Do you know what month? June. I only know this because Strawberry Fest is the second week of June. So.

Yeah. Troy, Ohio. If you ever want a great strawberry festival to go to Troy, Ohio, it's only a couple hours away. It's like, you know, they paint everything in strawberries and the fountain becomes red. And, you know.

But it's all about the pruning process. If you're not pruning strawberries, if you put them in the ground, you say, okay, let's go. I'm gonna get me some strawberries next year. No, you're not. You're not getting any strawberries.

You gotta prune them. And you prune strawberries even when they have little buds on them ready to produce strawberries. Why? Because you want better strawberries. Because those first little buds will be the strawberries.

Like this. I mean, nobody likes strawberries like this, right? Strawberry's not like this. It's not worth eating. And they're probably pretty bitter.

The smaller the strawberry, the more bitter they are.

But it's all about cutting off for better fruit. Number three is abiding in Christ is the way to life. No. Fruitfulness. Yes, fruitfulness.

Abiding in Christ is the key to fruitfulness. How many of you like to live a fruitful life? What does a fruitful life even look like? I mean, you know, you think about that. What is.

What does a fruitful life even look like? A branch cannot bear fruit by itself. It must remain connected to the vine. Right. We've cut off limbs.

We've seen limbs laying in our yard. Again, objects in our yard that our lawnmowers love to run over, they'll find every one of them.

But isn't it interesting? You have a limb fall off, you never see leaves on it. I mean, we would like to see limbs on the ground, have leaves, so the leaves can be beautiful and big and. Okay, so what happens in the fall?

What happens in the fall? Yes, you're exactly right. The corn turns brown. When I lived in Massachusetts, they always asked, do you have colors? I was like, yeah, green corn and brown corn.

What other colors are there? But in a tree, the leaves turn colors because they lose their nutrients. Why do they lose their nutrients? Not because they're dead, but because they are alive.

When the leaves turn colors and they fall to the ground and they cause you to have more work, it's actually a good thing. The tree is alive.

It's replenishing. And I know it has something to do with the temperature and the frost and everything that's inside of it, but the reality is, when you see leaves on the ground around your tree, that is a good thing, because there is life. And the more leaves you see on the ground around your tree, the more abundant that life is. I ask you, how many leaves are around you? Are you abundant?

Are you living that life for Christ? Is that life that you have in you producing more and more fruit?

Or are we just walking through life?

Or are we just kind of there? We're just existing. There's so many people that I know that just exist in life. You know them, they're usually negative about everything. They usually pick fights about everything.

It's like, if I'm not fighting, I'm not happy. It's like these people to me, they drain me. I'm an introvert. So, yes, all of you drain me. But, you know, they drain me at a different level now.

I love coming on Sunday mornings. Even as an introvert, this is the best place to be.

Because, you know, I had to help Bob this morning. See the screen over there? See, Bob, I told you it was on. I don't know why you didn't believe me. Tell him.

A branch cannot bear fruit by itself. It must remain connected to the vine. Jesus says, apart from me, you can do what? Everything, right? Nothing.

Apart from me, you can do nothing. Now I see people who are not followers of Christ. They do something. What does it really mean when Jesus says you can do nothing. What is our purpose and goal in life?

What's the meaning of life? We all seek that. We all want to be a part of that. We all want to understand what's the meaning of life. The meaning of life is to be the mirror of the mission of Christ.

Jesus said, I came to seek and save that which was lost. That is our mission too, is to seek and save that which is lost.

So how does that fit into here? Apart from me, you can do nothing. When we take that idea and we say it's our responsibility to seek and save that which is lost, we missed it. That is not our mission. Our mission is to be the mirror of Christ.

Christ's mission is to seek and save that which is lost. We are to point the people to Christ.

Without him, we can't point people to him. If you don't know who Jesus is, you can't point people to Jesus. So where's he at in your life? What part of your life does he take take up? What part of your life does he live in?

And probably more importantly, what part of his life are you experiencing?

See, that's the challenge, because fruitfulness is the result of.

What's it say? Connection.

It's the result of connection, not merely activity. When we look around the world and we see people doing really good things, I mean, there's some really great people in the world. I mean, no matter what you think about some of these people. But Bill Gates gives a lot of money to charity and Bezos gives a lot of money to charity. And you'll see a lot of people doing a lot of different things to help people out.

You'll see good people, but it's not about the activity. It's about being connected to Christ.

In our video clip there, the problem is.

He was not connected to Christ.

He was in that pruning stage. And he decided that because he had been pruned and life got painful, life got hard. Then God does not exist.

He looked over and he said, there's nobody watching you. You're on your own.

Wow. If nobody's watching me and I'm on my own, I'm in trouble.

I'm in trouble because I've lost that connection to the true vine.

Life gets going for you and things are happening and they could be really, really good or they could be really, really bad. The problem is, how do we stay connected to the vine? Because even in good things, we can disconnect from the vine, correct? Hey, look at me go. I don't need Jesus anymore.

Look at the new job I got. Look at the new house I just bought. Hey, my job. I just got a raise. I don't need Jesus.

Well, maybe that those good things that happened are because at some point you were connected to Jesus.

What we have to remember is that things that happen are always a result of something else. I've told you many times that I don't think God said that sin is sin simply because he was choosing what we should do or shouldn't do. God says sin is sin because he knows what it does to relationship.

He doesn't call sin just to be kind of the pick and choose of what we should do and shouldn't do. He calls sin sin because he knows what that does to relationships. Think about the sin in your life and compare that to the relationships and how it's affected those relationships.

Sin affects those relationships.

We're at number four now, right? Yeah. Life connected from, disconnected from Jesus becomes withered. I have other words in my head that are kind of like less spiritual. Like, in my head it says dead.

Same thing. So I'm just trying to make sure that I get the answers correct. Because a life disconnected from Jesus becomes dead or withered. It's dead. A branch that's withering is dead.

Have you ever walked up to a healthy branch, take a healthy branch, right, and try to break it? It's like a piece of rubber, right? I mean, you just. I mean, you could do this all day long and not go break that ranch. You walk up to a branch that's dead and you're done.

You know, you remember, you young whippersnappers won't remember this, but you remember the switch that your mom always asked you to go pick out for you? It better be nice and rubbery. So not only did you have to go pick out a switch, you had to make sure that you broke it off. It wasn't just a snap. You had to make sure that you broke it off.

And then you brought it into her, and if she didn't like it, you were going out and getting another one.

It's because you're a young whippersnapper. My mom didn't. It's like, no, I'm not spending no money on no board. You just go get that switch.

Oh, yeah, there you go. Oh, my goodness.

But the switch, it's about how life. How life is. It's about the life that was coming from the vine.

Are you that live switch, or are you the dead one? Are you the one that just snaps off or are you the one that you have to work with. Separation from Christ leads to spiritual dryness, weakness, and ultimate death. Judgment, same thing. Ultimate judgment.

When God judges us, we're judged guilty. It doesn't matter. Every one of you in here are guilty. Period. It's the end of the story.

Question is, who's gonna pay the price when you break the law? There's always a punishment. If you go down here, and if you're one of the ones that are lucky enough to get to park right out in front of our church about 22 times a day, you're getting a speeding ticket. You've been arrested. You're paying a price.

I don't know what a speeding ticket is, and I don't want to find out. But you're paying a price.

That's what life is like. We've missed the mark. We've sinned. There is a price for us to pay, and that price is paid either by us or by someone else.

And we don't have enough to pay for our sins.

That's why God had to make a way. And that's his son. His son pays the price. When we stand in judgment, it's him who pays the price. It is not us.

If we're paying the price, then we are in trouble.

Then I would say maybe it is better that you come back as a cow.

Because there is no worse setting than being separated from the Father for all eternity.

Hell is a real place. It is real separation from the Father. And everything you think is bad about life. Now just hold on. Coming back as a cow would be much better than spending eternity separated from the Father.

So your sins have to be paid for.

The warning reminds us that outward religion is no suitable substitution for inward. What word did I use there? What is it? Attachment. Yep.

Thank you for helping me through this.

The warning reminds us that outward religion is no suitable, is not suitable for. For inward detachment.

Think about the moment that you came to Christ. Your life changed. Now, you may not have realized it in the moment, but your life changed. Everything about it changed.

Your want has changed.

Following Christ is not. It's not about behavior modification.

We don't come to Christ, so we become better people.

That's not what a relationship with Christ is about. It's a benefit of coming to Christ. The reason we come to Christ is because without him we die.

We wither away. We're no longer useful. And without him, there is no hope for tomorrow.

Number five says, abiding shapes are.

Prayers and glorifies the Father. Abiding shapes our prayers and glorifies the Father. How many of you think you're a good prayer? It's a weird question, right? How many think you're.

I mean, a lot of us are insecure in our prayers. I mean, you know, you've been there. Okay, who would like to volunteer to pray? Please. Please.

If I don't. If I don't see them, they don't see me. If I don't see them, they don't see me. Maybe they'll think I'm still. I'm already praying and they won't.

I just. I don't want to pray in front of people. I don't. I don't want to pray. I don't want to pray.

Please. Ever been there? We've all been there. Here's the funny thing about it. God only wants obedience.

He doesn't want your words. He doesn't care about your words. He really doesn't. He cares about your obedience. So when you're asked to pray, step up and pray.

Why? Because being connected to Christ changes our prayers.

We may not have the most eloquent words to use. That's my SAT word for the day. Eloquent. I'm glad I just have to say it and not spell it.

But think about it for a moment. If we are praying to make a scene for somebody else, then are we truly praying to God? I mean, you've got the example of the publican in scriptures. There's a story of a publican, and he's praying and he says. Basically he says, hey, God, I thank you that I'm not like him.

It's like, I can pray with words and I can ramble on and on and on. And I can make it seem like you and I are really, really connected. And we can make these prayers really sound good. God doesn't care about that.

Take that pressure off yourself. God does not care about your words. He cares about your obedience. Who'd like to volunteer to pray? I will.

Sometimes that's better anyways, because if you don't, that person with the other attitude, you're gonna spend the next 20 minutes in prayer. Okay? There is a benefit to go ahead and say, I'll pray, because he doesn't care about your words. God does not care about your words. He only cares about your obedience.

And when abiding shapes our prayers and glorifies the Father, when Christ's words remain in us, our desires are shaped by his will.

Bearing much fruit brings glory to God and show that we are Christ's disciples, what greater statement is there than that?

Than when we live connected with Christ and Christ is the one who strengthens our relationship. It's not about us. See, here's. I grew up in the 80s, and some of you know where you grew up in the 80s, too. And you understand this.

I went to a Christian school in the 80s. Now, if you were not blessed enough to go to a Christian school in the 80s, just say amen and move on. Okay? Christian school, in order for you to come to Christ, this is what was preached to me as a young Christian who had never really knew Christ before I started going to the Christian school.

But in order for you to be a Christian, a follower of Christ, whatever term they were using at the day, you have to have your act together. In better words, Monday through Thursday, you wear a collared shirt and dress pants. On Friday, you better wear a tie. We're not gonna make you wear a suit jacket, but you have to wear a tie. And if you don't, oh, by the way, if you forget your tie, because, you know, like me being the new Christian, I went to public school.

Those of you that grew up in public school, how many times were you asked to wear a tie to school at a public school? It would be exactly zero, okay? If you were asked more than zero times to wear a tie to a public school, somebody was messing with you.

So if you forget your tie and you don't wear your tie, guess what? We're going to embarrass the snot out of you. We are going to make you wear a tie that we have special for you in the principal's office. It's about three feet wide. It's got about eight different colors on it.

Generally, brown was one of the main colors. I mean, if you. You guys all know Bozo the Clown, right? This is your Bozo was this area, you know, anywhere wore that big, ugly tie. That's what we look like.

So you better not forget the tie. This is at a Christian school, okay? Because they're trying to teach us how to live like Christ. Because we all know that Jesus wore the biggest, ugliest brown tie everywhere he went. Oh, and by the way, if you didn't shave, we got a blade for you.

We're not going to provide the toilet paper. You will have to provide that yourself. Good news is, ladies, you didn't have to experience that. Notice I said we had a blade. Didn't have the other thing that you need to shave.

There was no shaving cream. No. We'll give you a sink and water.

This was all to make sure, that we lived a life like Christ, but you had to have your act together. Anytime you messed up, you were kicked out of school, you were kicked out of school. Now, I understand what they are trying to get at, and Christian school today is nothing like that.

But we grew up in this time called the Moral Majority. And the Moral Majority believed that everybody had to live and look and act exactly the same.

And that's what I was taught for the longest time in my life. I would compare myself to people and say, well, that person is better than me. I'm better than that person.

And that was my relationship. That was how my relationship with Christ was built. That's how I was able to weigh whether I was following Christ or not. How did I look against this person? How did I look against that person?

And what I've come to find out again is God doesn't care.

He doesn't care about any of that. It's all superficial. Where's your heart? Are you living abiding in Christ? If you're living abiding in Christ, that's what he cares about.

Because guess what? If you're living abiding in Christ, you'll know what to wear. You'll know how to act. You'll know where to go and what to do.

Because he will give you those answers.

So this week, am I trying to produce fruit through effort alone, or am I truly abiding in Jesus? Am I trying to create this fruit on my own by doing my own thing, by doing my own actions, doing whatever it is the world is telling me to do, or am I abiding in Christ? That is a real question even for followers of Christ, even for pastors.

We fall prey to the world, too, just like you. Do we constantly have to come back to this question, Is what I'm doing? Is that sermon that I preached today, is it about me, or is it about truly abiding in Christ? Well, that was a good sermon today, Pastor Rich.

Well, sometimes I work harder on them than I do on others. I will be honest, because just like you, I only have 24 hours in the day. And just like you, I work another job. And just like you, I have family to take care of, just like you. It's all there.

Sometimes we understand that. And as followers of Christ, I can't put you on a pedestal as a follower of Christ because it's not about what you do.

It's not about what you do. It's about, are you abiding in Christ? So are you trying to do it on your Own. Are you depending on those coincidences in life? You know, you throw the mud against the wall and hope everything sticks.

So a coincidence is. Are you abiding Christ and living in those miracles that he provides for us each and every day?

Am I interpreting life through fear? And.

Next screen, I think, Okay, Hey, Brian, next screen.

He's. He's like, I wish somebody would change the screen for him.

Okay. Am I interpreting life through fear? I can't even read that word coincidence. Next week are going to be bigger letters so I can read them.

Am I interpreting life through fear and coincidence or through faith in God's presence and purpose?

See, as you go through signs, that is the question that whole movie asks right there. Am I interpreting life through fear and coincidence or through faith in God's presence and purpose? The branch is not called to impress the vine. It is called to stay attached.

Go. Next slide again.

What is it connected? Okay, eyes closed. See, I'm not an sat person.

Connected to the branch, to the vine. The branch is not called to impress the vine. It is called to stay connected to the vine.

Are you trying to impress God with your life?

Are you living your life because you want people around you to see how good you are? Are you living your life because you want all the focus to come to you? Or are you living your life simply because you're connected to the vine?

That's our challenge.

That's what we need to leave with today. How am I living my life? Am I connected to the vine? Or am I connected to my selfish self?

John tells us in John 15, we better be connected to the vine, because if not, we risk being cut off, withering, dying, and spending eternity being burned.

Where are you, Father? God, as we close this time, I thank you, Lord. I thank you for these words that you've given us, Lord. I just pray that as we process through them, Lord, that you would give us wisdom and guidance, Lord, that we would hear from you. Lord, may we, each and every one of us, abide in you.

Because the reality is, nothing else matters if we're not abiding in you. Everything we do is just activity. Father, you are our hope. You are our stay. Father, Life is full of miracles because we abide in you, Father.

May we see those miracles and worship you each and every moment of our life. For it's in your name we pray. Amen.

How many people have actually seen what they would consider a miracle? Or further, about people who have experienced what they would call miracles? A friend of mine here about a month or so ago Was down in Mexico, and he was celebrating the graduation of a couple of his grandkids, Goes to this resort, and then he and about a hundred other people all got food poisoning. That's a rough vacation. I tell you what.

Now, now, my friend, he was, you know, like early 70s, I want to say, and unfortunately, that food poisoning was a little worse on him than some of the other people. He ended up having, like, seizures, went numb on, like, an entire side of his body. And he had to speed, you know, they had to make arrangements for him to get back to. To the States. And so once he finally made it to Wichita, which is where he's from, they got in, got him into the er, they did a bunch of CT scans and discovered he had three strokes, numb on one side of his body and all of this.

And they're looking at the CT scans, though, and they're like, wow, we can see the damage on. On the CT scan. How are you walking and talking now? My friend is a man of faith, and he knows exactly why. And he was giving all glory to his God that he was able to.

He's basically fully functional from my understanding. I haven't talked to him yet, but my understanding is other than a little bit of numbness in his body, he's back to what he was. That's a miracle. And praise God for that. And praise God for all the miracles, the little miracles, the breath we take every day, the opportunities that we get to speak and to shine.

So go ahead, and we're going to finish out the last song.

What a miracle. I'm here.

I've got some blessings that I don't deserve. I got some scars that I. How you learn? It's nothing short of a miracle. I'm here, I think it over and it doesn't matter.

I know it comes from above. I got miracles on miracles, A million little miracles.

Miracles on miracles. Count your miracles. One day, two, three, four. I can't even count them all.

You got me steady so I wouldn't give up you open doors that nobody could shut. I hope I never get over over what you done.

It's not the open heart I want to live like I know who you are. I hope I never get over what you've done.

It's not coincidence and it's not love I know it comes from above. I've got miracles on miracles a million little miracles.

I've got miracles on miracles. Counter miracles, 1, 2, 3. Before I can even count them all. Miracles on miracles. A million little miracles.

Miracles on miracles. Count your miracles. 1, 2, 3, 4. I can't even count them all.

Count them all. I can't even. I can't even count them all. I can't even. I can't even count them all.

1, 2, 3, 4. I can't even count them all.

I can't even count them all. I can't even. I can't even count them all. I can't even. I can't even count them all.

1, 2, 3, 4. I can't even count them all. I can't even. I can't even count them all. I can't even.

I can't even count them all. I can't even. I can't even count them all. I can't even. I can't even count them all.

I can't even. I can't even count them all. I can't even. I can't even count them all. I can't even.

I can't even count them all. I can't even. I can't even count God. Miracles on miracles. A million little miracles.

Miracles on miracles. Count your miracles. 1, 2, 3, 4. I can't even count them all. Miracles on miracles.

A million little miracles.

Miracles on miracle. Count your miracles. 1, 2, 3, 4. I can't even count them all.

1, 2, 3, 4. I can't even count them all.

Father, God, we thank you for those little miracles every day.

I've heard once that if you were only allowed to hold on to those things that you thanked God for in a day, then what would you have left? So let us thank you, Father, for all those little miracles. The breath we have, the friends we have, the family we have, the loved ones.

Most of all, your love. Help us to abide in you. Help us to stay attached to the vine.

Help us to seek you.

And then that fruit that comes from our lives will be able to be shared with the rest of the the world. That light that you give us will be able to share. Be shared for the rest of the world. We are called to shine. We are called to be your light in this world.

May we do that as we go out into the rest of this week.

Keep us safe. Hold us close. Father, we thank you all of this. We pray in the strong name of Jesus Christ. All God's people said Amen.

Thank you. Go in peace. Take a nap if you get a chance. Sunday nap.