In this heartfelt sermon, Martin Chairez, together with his wife Tina, introduces their ministry work and encourages congregants to focus on being present in the moment. Martin delves into John 15, addressing initial feelings of fear associated with the passage's imagery of God cutting off branches. He explains a more accurate translation and interpretation, suggesting that God lifts up branches rather than cutting them off. Martin emphasizes the living, active presence of God and how this perspective transforms our understanding of God’s actions and our relationship with Him. The sermon concludes with reflective questions to encourage deeper engagement with the scripture.

00:00 Welcome and Introduction

00:28 Encouragement to Be Present

01:48 Martin's Sermon Begins

02:35 Exploring John Chapter 15

09:40 Understanding the Gospel of John

20:15 The True Meaning of John 15

35:11 Communion Reflection and Questions

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OC Church of Christ

I know it's already been said, but happy new year.

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Um, I'm up here just to introduce us.

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For those of you who don't know, we

are the Chaitis, Tina and Martin, and

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we have the great privilege of serving

in the Spanish speaking ministry.

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Yes, yes.

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As well as as of this month, we're also

helping to serve and support the South,

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and they have graciously welcomed us.

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So thank you.

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Thank you.

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Thank you for that.

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But I wanted just to take a moment to

encourage all of us to be here now.

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Um, I don't know about you, but

hearing about the fires and other

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things that are happening in our

lives has been a little overwhelming.

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And for me, going to sleep last night,

all I thought about was all the things I

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had to do today and the rest of the week.

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And then waking up this morning,

all I thought about was all the

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things I have to do after service.

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and so sometimes coming in on a Sunday

when it should be a day of rest and

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worship can feel very busy and hectic

and then if you're like me and you're

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a parent and you have two little ones,

you're trying to get out of the house.

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It's even more but I want to encourage

you like I said to be here now.

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God's word is going to be spoke spoken.

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Um Martine will be teaching and preaching

which I'm excited to hear but of course,

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there's less about him and more about God.

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And what he will be saying to

each of us where we are currently

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in our life and in our season.

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So take a breath with me if you will

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And be here And be ready to embrace

what god will say to you and how he

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will lead you Not only today, but

through the rest of this week and

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of course to the rest of our lives.

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So happy new year Here's martin

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Martin: All right, you guys hear me?

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Well, good morning.

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Please turn your bibles

to john chapter 15.

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I do want to say a special shout

out, uh, to our translators who are

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translating in Korean and in Spanish.

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It's great to be part of a church.

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Uh, we are one church

with three languages.

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Uh, and as we come together,

we have translations like this,

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but the rest of the month.

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Uh, we honor language, uh, God does not

call us to assimilate, but honors and

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speaks to us in our native languages.

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And so to be able to have a

Spanish and a Korean, um, church

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and service in those languages is

quite a privilege and a blessing.

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Amen.

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John chapter 15.

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I have a question for

you as we get started.

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Has this ever happened to you?

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You trust in Noel tells you

something about another person

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that you also trust in Noel.

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But what this person tells you

about that person doesn't really

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sound like that person at all.

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Has that ever happened to you?

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Can you raise your hand?

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Has that happened to you?

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It's a mess, right?

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This happened to me

reading the Gospel of John.

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For Us in the Spanish ministry, we

spent two years in the gospel of John.

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And so we have 40 different lessons

in the gospel of John, 40 different

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Sundays between 2013, 2023 and 2024.

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And as I'm reading, you know, trying

to stay ahead of where we are in the

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church, and so I've been Read, you know,

there's kind of a pattern that I have,

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read the entire gospel one time, get

five or six different commentaries from

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different sources, spend at least two

or three hours a week diving into each

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chapter, understanding the big picture.

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I mean, it's just been a

beautiful, it's been great.

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But as I got to chapter 15, I had that

experience based on that question,

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Jesus did not sound like he has been.

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Sounding from chapter 1 to chapter 14

and I just couldn't shake it and I kept

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reading and I'm like why is this why is

there a why is there a knot in my stomach

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when I read John chapter 15 and so I took

a deep dive and I want to you know walk

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us through that deep dive of John 15 here

today amen And so as I said, you know,

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we spent all this time in the gospel

of John and I'll share some thoughts

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and some themes in the gospel of John.

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But first I want to be

able to read John 15.

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Let's see how you hear it

and how you feel about it.

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Verse one, Jesus says, I am the true

vine and my father is the gardener.

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He cuts off every branch in me.

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That bears no fruit while every

branch that does not bear fruit.

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He prunes so that it

will be more fruitful.

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You are already clean because of

the word I have spoken to you.

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Remain in me as I also remain in you.

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No branch can bear fruit by itself.

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It must remain in the vine.

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Neither can you bear fruit.

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Unless you remain in me.

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I am the vine, you are the branches.

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If you remain in me and I in

you, you will bear much fruit.

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Apart from me, you can do nothing.

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If you do not remain in me, you are like

a branch that is thrown away and withers.

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Such branches are picked up,

thrown into the fire and burned.

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If you remain in me and my words

remain in you, ask whatever you

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wish and it will be done for you.

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This is to my father's glory

that you bear much fruit.

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Showing yourselves to be my disciples

and there's more, but we'll stop there.

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So again, we've all had

that experience, right?

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Someone we know and trust

tells us something about

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someone else we know and trust.

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But what this person is telling

us about this person doesn't

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really sound like that's them.

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Again, that happened to me.

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I'm reading John chapter 1 through 14.

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And when I get to chapter

15, I kind of hit a wall.

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And up comes this image of a

God that I should be afraid of.

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Because if I'm not close to this

God, he's going to cut me off.

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But if I'm close to this God

and I bear fruit, now watch out,

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now he's going to prune you.

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So you can bear even more fruit.

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That's how I was reading it.

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That's how I was interpreted.

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I think that's how we have heard it.

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I would even venture to say

that's how we've taught it.

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And so it made no sense.

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Maybe I'm alone here.

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Maybe you can relate.

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Then we were, we were having a zoom

call and those meetings always go great.

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And so we're in a zoom call and, you know,

it's, uh, it was the beginning of the year

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of, uh, I think it was last year or so.

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And so we read this passage wanting

to be encouraging, wanting to make the

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points of remaining in God and abiding

in God abide means delighting in God.

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But we just, all of us

sort of just felt like.

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We couldn't get past this

imagery of watch out with God.

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Watch out with this gardener,

because if you're not behaving,

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he's going to cut you off.

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And not just that, tossed you

into the fire to get burned.

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That doesn't make sense.

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That does not sound like God, because God

in chapter 13 has told us, I have come to

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save the world, not to condemn the world.

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And so today it is my hope to circle

around this theme of trusting in

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God by looking into this picture.

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And hopefully we restore.

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This passage.

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And we can cast off the image

of a God who's out to cut and to

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prune just so you can produce.

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And restore the true

meaning of this passage.

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The God who in chapter 14 says

I give you my peace who here

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he says I give you my love.

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And I give you my joy.

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And if you're familiar with the fruits

of the spirit, those are the first three.

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The God who says I love you remain

in me because I delight in you

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delight in me as I delight in you.

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The God who's not looking for us to

be performative, but the God who's

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looking to form us into his likeness.

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So today our task is to restore.

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John chapter four, 15

and the correct imagery.

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So we have a lot, a

little bit of work to do.

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Amen.

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So let's start with this theme of the

gospel of John, and then we'll come

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back and dive deep into the meaning

of these words in John chapter 15.

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So let me tell you about the

gospel of John a little bit.

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There's a ton of questions

in the gospel of John.

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In fact, Jesus is asked

about 52 questions.

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And so there's a theme about questions.

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But the first human question is,

Jesus is walking and there's two of

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John the Baptist disciples who have

just been told, look, the Lamb of God

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who takes away the sin of the world.

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And so they're following Jesus.

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And so they don't initiate

because they're too shy.

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God turns around.

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God initiates.

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And they say, where are you staying?

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And that is the first human question.

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God, where are you?

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You see, the Gospel of John is

written in a way where on the

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surface it makes perfect sense.

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It's very clear, but it's intended that

way to invite you to a deeper meaning.

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Because when the Gospel of John

says that these disciples asked

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Jesus, Hey, where are you staying?

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On the surface, where are you staying?

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And if you read the Gospel, that sounds

kind of like an awkward question.

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But the deeper meaning is, it's

what the Gospel is trying to answer.

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Where is God located?

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Where is God?

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Because it just told us that the

word has become flesh, that God

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has made his dwelling among us.

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And that's not the arrival of God, because

that would imply that God was absent.

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It is the revelation of God.

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That God reveals God's

self in human flesh.

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And so, now the question is, where is God?

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And so this theme of location continues.

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Because Jesus goes and speaks

to this man named Nathanael.

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And Nathanael is prejudiced.

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He probably inherited.

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But he's like, Nazareth?

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North of sea?

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Just kidding.

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So he says, Nazareth,

what can come from there?

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Well, Jesus is from there.

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Right?

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And again, this idea of location.

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God isn't supposed to work in that area.

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Right?

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And so, Jesus says, You're

going to see great things.

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In fact, you're going to see the

angels of God ascending and descending.

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Did you get that?

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Jesus doesn't say, You're going to see

the angels descending and ascending.

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Jesus says, You're going to

see the angels Ascending.

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And he said, because the beginning

of the commute of the angels is

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the God, the presence of God.

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And so if the angels are ascending

and descending, where is God here?

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And then Jesus goes to the temple, the

historical sight of the presence of God.

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And what does he do?

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He flips the tables.

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I just bought this one.

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I'm not gonna toss it.

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We have to be financially responsible.

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And so, he flips the tables.

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And in there he describes he

drove out cattle and doves.

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Doves represents what?

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The Holy Spirit.

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What is God doing in the temple?

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Leaving the temple.

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God says you have turned

this place into a market.

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It is no longer a market.

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The house of God.

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And again, this question, if this is

not the house of God, then where is

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the house of God leading us to chapter

14 in my father's house are many

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rooms and we're going to get to that.

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But this idea, where is God?

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Because if we're going to trust in

God, we got to identify where God is.

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And God is not an absent or distant God.

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God is a living, present

and active God restoring.

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The brokenness of the world in our lives.

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And so the disciples say, man,

they're reminded later zeal

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for his house will consume me.

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I think there's also a big

misunderstanding there.

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We tend to think zeal for his

house will consume me that God

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was filled with righteous anger.

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And that can justify us

feeling like we can have that.

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But perhaps zeal for his house will

consume me was not a zeal, the God that

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Jesus has, but it was the temple police,

the leadership, the guards that they

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were zealous to the point of violence.

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So zeal for your house will consume me.

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They wanted to protect and

control and domesticate God to

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the point that they executed God.

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to want to keep their status.

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A lot of that going around.

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And so then Jesus interacts with the

Samaritan woman in chapter four, and

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she's over associating the presence

of God in the mountain of her people.

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And God says, Nope, that's

not the place of God, but

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neither is the Jewish mountain.

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There's going to be a third

mountain where all people will

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be able to worship in spirit.

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And in truth, do you see this theme of

where the location of God and we can

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skip over to John chapter 10, the good

shepherd, where it's describing Jesus

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walking these people out of the temple

system that is outdated, broken, corrupt.

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No longer the place of God.

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And the good shepherd knows his flock.

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They know him.

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He knows them by name.

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They listen to his voice.

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He's the shepherd.

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He's the door, he's the gate he's.

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And so he brings them into a new

location where God is present

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so that they are no longer

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confined to that temple system that is

no longer about God, but it's a market.

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And God walks them over because

God is with us, leading us.

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God's always moving God's people.

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Things come to an end and

that's no longer, that doesn't

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necessarily mean a bad thing.

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God's good and faithful and

he moves us to the new things.

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You see that?

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And then the resurrection,

my favorite character in the

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gospel of John Mary Magdalene.

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She runs to the resurrected

Lord and has on the surface

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kind of an awkward interaction.

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Jesus says, don't hold on to me, right?

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I have not yet ascended to the father.

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And I think it's implying that Mary

Magdalene was so overjoyed that Jesus

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is back that she thought things were

going to be the same before the cross.

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And we tend to do that as

human, in our human nature.

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We tend to want to go back to the

past and relive the good old days.

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And sometimes we don't discern,

discern that the present living

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God is doing something new.

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Are you with me right here?

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And so God is always doing

something new, moving us.

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But God is always living,

present, and active.

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And then Jesus gets into this discourse

of the kind of, it's called the kind

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of the farewell discourse from chapter

13 till about chapter 18 or 17.

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And he begins to say, I am

returning to the father.

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And we understand that as he's leaving.

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And I think that's a dominant image that

is hurting our Christianity, our faith,

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how we interpret scripture, how we.

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Uh, view God and how we see ourselves.

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Think about how important

all those things are.

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And I think there's this ongoing

imagination where we feel like God left.

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He ascended.

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He left.

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But, but he left me with a

commission to fulfill the mission

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he was not able to complete.

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And now it's up to me.

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To save the world for the absent

God who one day will return.

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And when we live that way after a decade

or two, you're just burned out because

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you can't carry on what is God's.

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But that's a wrong and God never left.

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God is a living present God.

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And so when Jesus talks about the

Ascension, he's not taught or departure.

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That sounds like leaving.

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That doesn't, that is not what it means.

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What it means is departure

and ascension is God.

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This is us, this is

earth, and here's Jesus.

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And we're, we see him.

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Departure and ascension means a return

to invisibility, but still present.

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And so our God, in his ascension

and departure, does, did not leave.

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He's just now invisible.

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And why is that important?

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Because the word became flesh.

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The incarnation is super

important, but the incarnation

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is limited to a geographical

location and to a historical time.

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You get that?

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Jesus was bound to a geographical

location and time, but in taking the

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cross and in the pouring out of God's

self, the Holy Spirit, God is now present.

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In all, at all times, in all places.

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So where is your God,

brothers and sisters?

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We can trust in the living,

present and active God.

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So when I read John 15, I'm

like, why do I feel scared?

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Because I think what has happened.

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Generally speaking,

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is I think we have read most of the

Bible with predetermined answers.

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And it no longer surprises many

of us, it no longer encourages.

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I was there.

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I confess, I was bored

reading the gospels.

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I felt like I already knew what they were.

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I felt like I already knew what they said.

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That sounds so arrogant.

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Like I didn't say this out loud

because I would have felt like

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probably that's how I felt.

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So I would just skip through them,

but the Gospels are so unique.

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All four of them are very different

and distinct for a purpose.

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I know some of us are great fans

of the show, the show, the chosen.

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I've never seen an episode.

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I hear great things about it.

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I am not saying you shouldn't.

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I'm just letting you know, making

a point here that the God, the

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chosen seems to just blend all four.

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That's cool.

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I'm sure it's really encouraging.

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Keep watching it.

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This is the abundance of God.

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There's a lot of goodness out there.

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But just note, the Gospels were

intended to be distinct for

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a reason, not to be blended.

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Because every Gospel is written

for a unique audience going through

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something unique and different.

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It's intended that way so that every

church in every generation has an

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interaction with the living and

present God through the Gospels.

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So we can ask ourselves as a region

in OC, what gospel world are we in?

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In our local ministries,

what gospel world are we in?

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For the South OC, we have discerned

that we are in the gospel of

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Mark and we're gonna be walking

with Jesus in the gospel of Mark.

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I say all that to say let's

learn or reread the Gospels

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without predetermined answers.

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I think John 15 sometimes sounds

harsh to many of us because it has

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been influenced with ancient stones

from interpreters, preachers like me.

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who go to that passage to warn you

to behave otherwise you're going

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to get cut off and to be humble and

sacrificial because if you're bearing

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fruit God's going to keep pruning you

because what matters is the fruit which

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is ironic because it's the opposite

of what Jesus is saying the goal is

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remaining and yes bearing fruit that

when you're accompanied by God But

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again, let's put some pieces together.

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If we believe God left and is absent

and it's up to us to do the work,

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how are you going to bear fruit?

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How are you going to remain in God?

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But if God is living, present,

and active, and in mission, Yes,

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we need to be connected with God.

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Yes, God calls us to bear good fruit

because he's working in our lives.

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He's working in the lives of our

family members, of our classmates,

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of our schools, of our communities.

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And so we need to learn how

to join what God is doing.

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God is in mission, right?

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And so when we share our hope and

our faith and our perspective and

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our convictions in our lives with

others, we're not the teachers.

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to show them what we're partners

with them, helping them discern

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what has got up to in your life.

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And then it becomes a

conversation about God.

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And hey, let me show you these

scriptures that may give you some

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answers to what God might be up to.

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You see what I'm saying?

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There is a healthier,

better way that is more God.

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It's not centered and there's a lot

of work that we got to do for that.

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We can get into another time.

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And finally, why does this passage

sound so complicated and scary?

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It's a lot of times taken

out of context, right?

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And here's for the second

and third decade students.

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There's a mistranslation in this passage.

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Okay.

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There's many, I'm not going to explain

all the translations and all that, but.

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But here it goes.

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The NIV says, he cuts off every branch

in me that bears no fruit, while every

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branch that does not bear fruit, he prunes

so that it will be even more fruitful.

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Cut off is an inaccurate

translation in most of our Bibles.

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All right, this is why it's

important to get dive in and study

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and all these different things.

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very much.

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Amen.

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That word shouldn't say cut off.

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It should say lift up,

take away, carry, or clean.

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It's the word arrow.

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Uh, you know, my, my Greek

has a Spanish accent.

400

Okay.

401

So John uses this arrow multiple

times and it never means cut off.

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Let me give you some examples.

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In John chapter one, behold, the lamb

of God who takes away, who lifts up.

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The sin of the world.

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John 2 16.

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Take these things away.

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Stop making my father's

house into a market or trade.

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Jesus said to him, get up when

he's talking to the paralytic.

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Take your mat and walk.

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Lift up.

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You see that?

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John 10, 18, no one takes from me, but

I lay down my life on my own accord.

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By the way, Jesus was joyfully

taken the cross in John chapter

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10 in the gospel of John.

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Every branch in me that bears no

fruit, he takes up, takes away.

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So let's see this.

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Let's change the translation.

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Oh, by the way, if we want to

argue, no, it means cut off.

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Actually, John knows how to

write cut off in the Greek.

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He uses it in John chapter 18 verse 10.

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Then Simon Peter, who had a

sword, drew it and struck the

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servant's priest, cutting off.

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And yet that's not the word that's

used in John chapter 15 verse two.

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Ha ha.

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By the way, Peter was

not aiming for the ear.

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He was aiming for the throat.

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This man was a believer in

God, but still had violence.

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That's why Jesus had a compass.

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And appeared to him and restore

him because he believed in

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God, but it was still about

violence, like the temple system.

431

That's a whole other sermon right

there, but I guess you got a free one.

432

Happy New Year.

433

And so John knows how to write

cut off, so let's adjust it.

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I am the true vine and my

father is the gardener.

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He lifts up every branch in me.

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That bears no fruit.

437

Well, every branch that does

bear fruit, he pruned so that

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it will be even more fruitful.

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So God, the gardener, the vine

dresser, he's not out looking.

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Let's see if you measure up.

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But now you're getting cut, but he's

looking, Hey, you're ill spiritually.

442

You're disconnected.

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You're spiritually blind.

444

You are hard hearted,

cynical, and critical.

445

You have just gone, you've been going

through the motions for so long.

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God's not upset with you at that.

447

And he's not going to cut you off.

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What is he going to do?

449

He's going to lift you up.

450

Let's talk about vines here.

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So in those days, in that gen, in that

era, there's not a whole lot of wood.

452

If you go to, you know, wineries and all

that here, you see all the woods in kind

453

of the vines on the top because you don't

want those branches to touch the floor.

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Because if they stay, remain in the floor

for a long time, they start growing roots.

455

And now you're connected to

the vine, but you're connected.

456

You have your own roots.

457

You see what I'm saying?

458

So they didn't use wood.

459

What they would do is they would get

rocks, a lot of rocks in the Middle East.

460

And so you lift up those branches

that were ill and you place them

461

on a rock, something like this.

462

I hope I don't get electrocuted

or burn the place down, right?

463

Now you put a rock under it

there because it's ill so it

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can, so it can get sunlight.

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So it doesn't develop other roots,

but it stays connected to the root.

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So that it gets nutrients.

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So that it can remain.

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Because God is God who wants to save

the world, not condemn the world.

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And so, as that work took

place, I can now read John 15.

470

It's still convicting, it's inspiring,

but it's not threatening me and

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giving me an image that is not true.

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True or accurate to the character and

actions of the living present God.

473

And so if God lifts up every branch

that bears no fruit, when we are ill

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and when we become those things and

we will, and we have been, and we

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will again, that I just described the

faithful, good God lives us up now,

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we must respond to that lifting up.

477

We must choose to be lifted up.

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We must choose to get the help to

get the correction to get the, you

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know, to remain connected to God.

480

And then later it describes, right?

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If you are, if you do get

disconnected, you die off.

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That's not God's doing.

483

That's our doing.

484

That's the consequences of our decision.

485

So we have a healthy relationship

and image of God and we have a

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healthy responsibility of ourselves.

487

That's a good match.

488

That's good Christianity right there.

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But if you choose to be disconnected,

yeah, the Bible describes you die

490

off and it says you are picked

up and thrown into the fire.

491

But please note it does not say God picks

you up and throws you into the fire.

492

If you read it in the context,

it's just consequential.

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That's not of God's doing.

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So it's not God who cuts you

off and it's not God who tosses,

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tosses you into the fire.

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So can we please not have that

kind of image of God because

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that's not true to scripture.

498

So fear and threats should not be

the way we motivate one another,

499

but helping us see the

presence of the living God.

500

The activity of the living God, the

unfailing love of the living God.

501

And it is truly our responsibility

to respond and be faithful and

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loyal to the God who loves us.

503

And so the God is the gardener,

The vine dresser, he carries

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each branch that's ill.

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He lifts them to receive

sunlight and nutrients lifts

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them to avoid competing roots.

507

He lifts them to ensure a thriving

connection with the vine producing

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healthy fruit and some of that

fruit is Jesus gives us his peace.

509

There's no anxiety worry because when

we start fearing you start making

510

bad decisions, you start trying to

take your back your life back and try

511

to control outcomes and you become

someone you were not created to be.

512

God says, I give you my love because if

we're not connected and believe that God

513

loves us, we end up looking for love in

all these different places and meaning and

514

belonging in all these different places

that only leave us more scarred and hurt.

515

But if we allow God to love us,

516

then we can bear that fruit.

517

And God says, I give you my joy.

518

All of that is fruits of the spirit that

come about from us abiding, delighting and

519

remaining and being connected with God.

520

And again, this is not

just I'm just receiving.

521

No, it's participating.

522

It's participating because God,

that fruit is what that fruit is

523

for the sake of others to feed, to

strengthen, to encourage, to invite.

524

It's not self serving, it's outward

focus, not with you as the Savior and the

525

protagonist, but with God leading the way.

526

So I think today we re read this

passage and maybe the entire

527

Gospel of John with fresh eyes.

528

We rediscovered a more accurate meaning.

529

And we released the ancient stones that

others have imposed on passages like this.

530

Let's approach John 15 with a deeper

understanding of, of God's character.

531

May we cultivate a healthier

image of God honoring the

532

scriptures, especially the gospels.

533

May we allow God to continue

transforming how we see God, how

534

we see ourselves, and others.

535

He who has ears, let him

hear the word of the Lord.

536

Here's my wife.

537

Tina: Well, um, I wanted to

just help guide us as we go

538

into communion right now.

539

We're going to have a few moments

to have a time of reflection

540

and thank you, Martin, for all

the things that you've shared.

541

Um, this year will be my 25th

year of being a Christian.

542

And similar to what Martin said

about himself, after reading God's

543

word every day for decades, you can

sometimes be a little disillusioned,

544

or at least I was about what I

read and what these pre-determined

545

answers of what God is saying.

546

And many times going to God's

word trying to find out what do I

547

need today versus a letting versus

allowing God's word to take me.

548

And these last few years of going

deeper into God's word, reading God's

549

word slower, trying to learn and be

present in what God is trying to reveal

550

has literally been life changing.

551

And even reading passages like we

read today, it may be one passage,

552

but reading it and being present

and asking God to take us versus us

553

taking God, um, can really change

the way that we read God's word.

554

So we have three questions up here.

555

So, I have a couple of questions

here and I'm going to read them.

556

What's?

557

So, the first one is what

surprised you the most from

558

today's lesson, study, and why?

559

And we like to ask this question

because God is always working and

560

sometimes there's something that

surprises you that you never thought

561

of, you never considered, right?

562

Second, if we truly believe that God

is living, present, and active in

563

our lives and the world, How does

that reshape the way we connect

564

with God personally as a church and

how we share about God with others?

565

And lastly, number three, how does the

contrast between cut off and lift up

566

in John 15 deepen your understanding

of God's actions and character?

567

Why is it important to understand

God's the difference between

568

these two images, and how does it

influence how you will, sorry, how

569

we perceive God's work in our lives.

570

So a practice that we like to do is

take a moment, a few moments, and

571

with someone near you, around you,

you don't need to get up answer.

572

We'll just one of these questions.

573

So someone next to you, someone

across from you, someone behind

574

someone with someone behind you, you.

575

answer one of these questions and then

we'll have time to pray for communion.

576

So I'll give you about

three minutes, four minutes.

577

Thank you.