Shownotes
Pastor Kevin explores the profound message of abiding in Christ during adversity. Discover how God uses pruning for spiritual growth, shaping us into fruitful branches connected to the true Vine. Strengthen your faith in God by understanding His purpose in every season.
Scriptures Referenced
Genesis 50:20; 2 Chronicles 36:15-21; Proverbs 3:5-6; Isaiah 5:1-7; Jeremiah 2:21; John 15:1-5; Romans 5:3-5, 8:28-29, 8:38-39, 11:16-18, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, 12:9; Philippians 2:8-11; Colossians 1:17; James 1:2-4
Key Insights
- Abiding in Christ during adversity strengthens your faith in God.
- Pruning is a sign of God’s love and His commitment to your growth.
- True spiritual growth often comes through discomfort and discipline.
- Your identity in Christ is unshakeable, even when circumstances change.
- God’s grip on you sustains you, not your grip on Him.
- Trusting God doesn’t require understanding every detail of His plan.
https://springhouse.captivate.fm/episode/pruned-to-grow
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Gathering Times
- Sundays, 9:00 AM
- Sundays, 11:00 AM
- Thursdays, 6:00 PM
Contact Info
Springhouse Church
14119 Old Nashville Highway
Smyrna TN 37167
CCLI License 2070006
Transcripts
Well, good morning again! It's a great day to be in the house of the
Speaker:Lord, not because of any of us, but because He's good. And
Speaker:the Holy Spirit of God is here. He has been present, and man,
Speaker:were you not just moved in the baptism time this morning?
Speaker:God is— God is so faithful. And, uh, what struck
Speaker:me earlier whenever I was coming out of the baptism or whatnot
Speaker:is how often we forget that we can have these supernatural
Speaker:moments with the Lord every moment of the day. It's not tied to
Speaker:Sunday mornings when you show up to church. It's when your heart shows up
Speaker:to the throne when He can move, and He'll do a mighty work, and
Speaker:He'll show up, and He'll reveal truths about Himself, Lord, that you just—
Speaker:I mean, extraordinary things that you could never even fathom.
Speaker:Um, I like to meet them with pen and paper, but sometimes I forget,
Speaker:uh, because He gives me such wonderful, wonderful truths. It's a
Speaker:good day to be in the house, Lord. We are in the middle of the
Speaker:Lenten season, as I mentioned before, and I do pray that you are
Speaker:participating with us, uh, on the journey. We've asked you
Speaker:to do 3 things for us. We abide in the Word. I'm asking that
Speaker:you take up a regiment of reading the Word daily.
Speaker:We also are posting a daily devotional for you guys on social media
Speaker:and on our church app for you to, to, for you to watch, 2-3 minutes,
Speaker:uh, just a reminder to zone— to kind of focus
Speaker:you in. And so, uh, that would be the first place in abide. In, in
Speaker:arise, we look at what we are doing with regard to
Speaker:rising up within ourself, what God's doing within us. And so we are
Speaker:fasting bread as a church. Now, if you haven't started fasting bread, guess
Speaker:what? You can start tomorrow. Why tomorrow? Because today's a celebration
Speaker:day. And so I plan on eating some bread today, I'll tell you that much.
Speaker:Uh, but tomorrow, if you will, if you will refrain from eating bread,
Speaker:not only, not only does it center us and remind us, it makes us think,
Speaker:hey, I'm not— I'm I'm choosing not to eat bread so I'm
Speaker:reminded of Jesus. I'm reminded of the things He's doing inside me. But when
Speaker:we do that together, can you imagine what happens when a group of
Speaker:500 people purpose themselves, uh, committed to the
Speaker:Lord? He does some supernatural, extraordinary things. And then the third thing is that
Speaker:we asked you in our advance is that, that you were to write 40 names,
Speaker:and that you were to contact intentionally the people,
Speaker:uh, on your list. Shari and I are still trying to get in that regimen.
Speaker:We've done it every day, but we realize that some of you go to bed
Speaker:before 10 o'clock, and, uh, you know, when we're calling, but we did leave a
Speaker:voicemail. And, uh, uh, but, uh, we're still working out. But
Speaker:man, what a, what a wonderful habit to really try to shape and
Speaker:refine, that we as a family want to pray for somebody every
Speaker:day. And, uh, and so, uh, that's been a joy of our past
Speaker:week, and we plan to continue that. So abide, arise, and advance. I pray that
Speaker:you are participating as we lean in closer, and we're real
Speaker:intentional during the Lenten season, leaning in toward, toward
Speaker:Easter. Well, last time I was up here, I laid a foundation
Speaker:for you guys, uh, as we were leaning into abide for
Speaker:John 15. We talked about the principle of making room.
Speaker:We talked about being planted and being rooted, not,
Speaker:not uprooting. We talked about the power of the Holy Spirit, the
Speaker:necessity of the Holy Spirit. Do you know that you need the Holy Spirit in
Speaker:your life? You need the Holy Spirit in your life. And then also we
Speaker:talked about the Word, the Word of God, and all of this was a
Speaker:setup. All of these ingredients were a setup to get us gets us to the
Speaker:place where we are in John 15, at the top of John 15, where
Speaker:Jesus is addressing His disciples. Now, I want to give you some
Speaker:context here on John 15, uh, and, and, and where
Speaker:Jesus is, because I help— I believe that it will help us
Speaker:understand not only the setup that happened here that we walked
Speaker:through, but also where we're going today. In the context
Speaker:of John 15, Jesus is about to go to the cross.
Speaker:In the context of John 15, Jesus is 24 hours before
Speaker:going to the cross. He is in the upper room with His disciples.
Speaker:Peter has already been told that he's going to deny Christ. Judas is
Speaker:already on the pathway for denying Him— for, I'm sorry, for betraying Him.
Speaker:The disciples are about to lose one of their very best
Speaker:friends, their very best friend, Jesus, and they don't even know what's
Speaker:coming before them. The context of John
Speaker:15 where Jesus is speaking in his first line, he says
Speaker:this, he says, "I am the true vine and my Father is
Speaker:the gardener." This was Jesus starting— this wasn't
Speaker:a random teaching. This was Jesus starting down the
Speaker:pathway of saying there's something, there's a shift that's about to
Speaker:happen here. And he says, "I am the true vine and my Father
Speaker:is the gardener." Now, I don't know about you, but I have a propensity to
Speaker:read scripture always thinking of myself. How is this affecting me?
Speaker:These two statements have nothing to do with you. They have everything
Speaker:to do with you, but they have nothing to do with you. He says, "I
Speaker:am the true vine." That's Jesus. "And my Father is the gardener."
Speaker:We're talking about Father God. Kevin is not in these statements.
Speaker:Are you with me? I'm not in these statements. It has everything to do with
Speaker:me, but has— but these statements have nothing to do with me. These statements are
Speaker:Jesus is the vine and the Father is the gardener. And the
Speaker:reason I emphasize that is sometimes we get mixed up who is
Speaker:God and who is man. Sometimes we get mixed up
Speaker:our placement in this, in this submission,
Speaker:uh, relationship that we have, uh, to the Lord. And so,
Speaker:um, Jesus is about to speak to his disciples and to
Speaker:us about pruning, knowing that he himself
Speaker:is about to be cut down. Now Jesus is not
Speaker:being theoretical here. He's not
Speaker:being theoretical here. He is actually about to go and
Speaker:walk out what he has been saying all along, and the
Speaker:disciples are going to have a firsthand experience with him.
Speaker:Jesus is preparing them because they are going to experience
Speaker:a loss, and in that he gives them one
Speaker:primary instruction. And today in our
Speaker:lives, he gives us one primary—
Speaker:this, uh, instruction. In the midst of pain, in the midst of sorrow,
Speaker:in the midst of instability, which that was a moment of
Speaker:instability, everything is about to unravel here, he gives
Speaker:one instruction and that instruction is remain.
Speaker:That instruction is to stay, is to abide,
Speaker:and we're going to unpackage that, uh, we're, we're unpackaging that
Speaker:all, all year, but we're going to unpack that a little bit more today as
Speaker:we lean in further. This passage is
Speaker:ultimately about stability in an
Speaker:unstable environment. This passage primarily is
Speaker:about stability in an unstable environment. Now,
Speaker:here's the deal. If you are new to the faith, I'm going to say some
Speaker:things today that's going to rock your world, I believe. If
Speaker:you are not new to the faith, but you have not graduated
Speaker:from milk to meat, you're going to have some trouble with some things I'm
Speaker:going to say today too, okay? So I'm just prepping you that
Speaker:today is not a goosebump sermon. Are you
Speaker:with me? Today is a step on your toes message
Speaker:that I am growing from, that I am learning from, and I pray that
Speaker:we are able to learn from too. Do you know that God is a
Speaker:multifaceted God? Do you believe that He's a
Speaker:multifaceted God? See, we like to— we like to tie
Speaker:ourselves to messages that don't challenge us to grow
Speaker:or do anything with our lives. We like to
Speaker:tie ourselves to, to, to watching clips on
Speaker:YouTube or reels or other speakers who give us these
Speaker:feel-good messages. "Oh, that's real good for them.
Speaker:That's real good if they would grab ahold of that." But I believe that
Speaker:this message is not only for everybody in the room, but I also believe
Speaker:that God wants to expose to us a part
Speaker:of His character, a part of who He is that we are not
Speaker:very familiar with. We're actually very familiar with it because we have to feel it,
Speaker:but we're not familiar with attaching Him, uh,
Speaker:to it. God is good because he's good. God is not
Speaker:good because you say he's good. God is a king— he's
Speaker:a king not because you say he's a king. He's a king because
Speaker:he's a king. Let's get that straight right away. Does that sound good? All right,
Speaker:so that is kind of a setup for where we're going today, and it is
Speaker:okay to wrestle when you hear new truths. You don't have to walk
Speaker:out of here completely settled, and that's why I talked to— if you— if it's
Speaker:a hard pill to swallow, go and swallow the pill and work it out.
Speaker:With fear and trembling. Rise today. We're gonna read the scripture together. We're gonna
Speaker:read it with some gusto today. You're gonna prove to me that you came in
Speaker:awake and ready to grow. Here we go. Let's
Speaker:read together. I am the true vine, and my Father
Speaker:is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that
Speaker:bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit
Speaker:he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
Speaker:You are already clean because of the word I have spoken
Speaker:to you. Remain in me as I also remain
Speaker:in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself;
Speaker:it must remain in the vine. Neither can you
Speaker:bear fruit unless you remain in me. I
Speaker:am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain
Speaker:in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.
Speaker:Apart from me you can do nothing. Let's say that again.
Speaker:Apart from me you can do nothing. Father, I thank you for
Speaker:your word that it brings life. I pray that our hearts would be open and
Speaker:pliable today to it, in Jesus' name, amen. So we're gonna look at this
Speaker:in 3 sections because there's 3 section— there's 3, uh,
Speaker:specific things that, uh, Jesus is talking about. We're gonna look at the vine,
Speaker:we're gonna look at the branches, and we're gonna look at the gardener. We're gonna
Speaker:look at the vine, the branches, and the
Speaker:gardener. So here's what we're gonna start with, and for those of you who
Speaker:tune me out after the first few sentences, or you're thinking of lunch, and you're
Speaker:like, "Man, I'm ready to get out of here," okay, if you don't get anything
Speaker:else out of this message, this is what I want you to get today. This.
Speaker:It is, "You are not the vine, he is."
Speaker:You are not the vine, he is. In other
Speaker:words, you are not the source of your life, He is.
Speaker:You are also not the source of others' lives.
Speaker:You are not the source of somebody else's life. So many times when
Speaker:we think we get a little revelation from the Lord, we get a nice little
Speaker:word from the Lord, we feel like it's our— it's our job, it's
Speaker:our responsibility to go on a crusade and make sure every person
Speaker:on the planet knows that this is the truth, and this is what you're supposed
Speaker:to know, and this is what you're supposed to believe. You are not somebody else's
Speaker:source. It is our job, it is our job to point people
Speaker:to the truth, and in pointing them to the truth, we are ultimately
Speaker:pointing them to Jesus. We are pointing them to Jesus. Guys,
Speaker:if you're ever counseling with a pastor, you're talking to somebody,
Speaker:and they are guiding you, instructing you, when you walk away from that conversation,
Speaker:you need to ask yourself this question: Was I pointed more to their ideas and
Speaker:their opinions, or am I been pointed to Christ? If you're pointed to
Speaker:Christ, that always should cause you to go lean in deeper to the Word of
Speaker:God, not think more about the ideas of the person who gave
Speaker:you the give you the information, it should not want— it should not make you
Speaker:want to necessarily draw closer to the person giving you the information. It should make
Speaker:you want to draw closer to God. In the Word of God is the truth
Speaker:of life. He is your source.
Speaker:He is your source. And we all at equal
Speaker:disposition— that's how it is—
Speaker:I can't say the word today. Words are hard today. We equally
Speaker:can get the Word, okay? That's what I'm trying to say. We equally have the
Speaker:Word, okay? Um, we all have access to the Word,
Speaker:alright? Jesus says this, He says, "I am the vine." He is the
Speaker:source. Branches do not manufacture
Speaker:life. He is the source of
Speaker:life. We do not produce life. He's the one who
Speaker:did it. I could— I'd like to take responsibility for my cute baby
Speaker:sitting over here on the front row. God Almighty,
Speaker:the God of the universe, is why I have a baby over there. He, He
Speaker:is the one who really produces, produces
Speaker:life. We do not manufacture life. We are branches. We
Speaker:receive it. This is what Proverbs 3 says: Trust in the Lord with
Speaker:all your heart and do what? Lean on your own
Speaker:understanding. We're supposed to trust in the Lord. It says in 2
Speaker:Corinthians, my grace is sufficient to you, for my power
Speaker:is made perfect in weakness.
Speaker:And so So if He is the vine and He is the source,
Speaker:then when we come upon weak moments, we draw our
Speaker:strength from the source. And that's where we derive our
Speaker:strength. You know what? God can do some really mighty things with
Speaker:weak people. He can do some really mighty
Speaker:things with those who do not believe they have it all together.
Speaker:He has an extraordinary ability to use those who do not feel
Speaker:like they are the one. We have a propensity toward
Speaker:independence. Everything in our life points
Speaker:to you being independent. Do it yourself. You've got this.
Speaker:You don't need anybody. You can do this. You're strong enough on
Speaker:your own. Learn how to do this on your own. Take the next step by
Speaker:yourself. You don't need any help. You don't need anybody else's gift.
Speaker:You just do this independently. That is the world's
Speaker:anthem in the, in the world we live. It is Go ahead,
Speaker:become independent, stand up tall, do it on your
Speaker:own. Might I suggest to you today that you
Speaker:live in a kingdom that is dependent-centric
Speaker:on a king? There is no
Speaker:independence in the kingdom of God. You are
Speaker:dependent on the king, dependent
Speaker:on the source of, of life. Last night,
Speaker:our Knights— uh, LCA Knights won a state championship.
Speaker:And in winning that state championship, we had some
Speaker:really great players on, on the court, but can I tell you,
Speaker:they did not win the game by themselves. It was
Speaker:a team effort. There was dependence on
Speaker:other people on the team, and in the kingdom, you
Speaker:are not independent. You are dependent on a king, and
Speaker:this goes against everything in the context of this world we live in.
Speaker:So you wonder why we are warring with our flesh all the time. You are
Speaker:told on one hand to be independent, but you belong to a kingdom that
Speaker:relies on dependence. I believe that we have the most incredible babies
Speaker:on the planet here at Springhouse, and we have some fantastic mothers
Speaker:as well. My baby, Eliana, is
Speaker:completely dependent on Shari. Abigail
Speaker:is completely dependent on Dana. If Abigail's
Speaker:gonna eat, she needs Dana. If,
Speaker:if, if, if Eliana's gonna sleep, Shari's gotta prepare a bed. If
Speaker:Josie's going to— Josie's gonna be cleaned up, she's relying on her
Speaker:mama. Is that true? Yes, these babies are completely
Speaker:dependent, and in a very similar fashion, we need
Speaker:to be relying on the Lord for our sustenance,
Speaker:for our rest, for our cleaning up, for everything. We
Speaker:draw from Him and His We, we become
Speaker:dependent on Him because He has what we
Speaker:need. You were created to be dependent, and
Speaker:here's the thing. If Jesus is the true vine, everything
Speaker:else is a false source. If Jesus is the
Speaker:true vine, everything else is a
Speaker:false— is a false source. Here's the thing, success can look like the
Speaker:vine. Influence can masquerade
Speaker:like the vine. Approval can masquerade
Speaker:around as your vine, as your source. Your marriage can look like your
Speaker:vine. Your children can
Speaker:masquerade as your vine. Your ministry can masquerade
Speaker:as your, as your vine. All of these things that you're drawing from can
Speaker:masquerade as your source, but here's the thing. If what gives you
Speaker:identity can be taken from you, it was never from the true
Speaker:vine. If what gives you identity can be
Speaker:taken from you, It was never the true— the true
Speaker:vine. Your identity is not in what you do.
Speaker:Your identity is found in Christ Jesus.
Speaker:Now, God Almighty, the one who breathes stars,
Speaker:listen to me, will allow you to be
Speaker:severed from that which is here
Speaker:that gives you identity So that you will be
Speaker:reminded of whose you are and to whom you
Speaker:belong. What, God would take that
Speaker:away from me?
Speaker:God would— God would— God would yank that out of my— No! God put it
Speaker:there! God put it there!
Speaker:God can put it there and He can take it away.
Speaker:He can put it there and He can take it
Speaker:away. And he can take it away. And guys, I believe that this is the
Speaker:crux of why Israel fell. Remember the
Speaker:setup? We talked about Israel.
Speaker:Israel was exiled into Babylon
Speaker:because of their unfaithfulness to a faithful God.
Speaker:And we live in a world today where we have to answer the question if
Speaker:we're going to succumb to the cultural pressures of this world, or are we going
Speaker:to be rooted into the kingdom to which we belong? Hello. And so
Speaker:here's the deal. When we look at scripture, and I'm going to read quite a
Speaker:bit to you today, but I want us to understand this parallel here of
Speaker:this multifaceted God we serve. Over in Isaiah chapter 5,
Speaker:it says this. The— well, first, if I say that
Speaker:John 15 is not the only place that the vine is mentioned, a vineyard is
Speaker:mentioned. Okay, so let's listen to this. I will sing for the one I
Speaker:love a song about his vineyard. My
Speaker:loved one had, one had a vineyard on a fertile
Speaker:hillside. He dug it up and cleared it out of stones
Speaker:and planted it with the choicest of vines. He built
Speaker:a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well.
Speaker:Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded
Speaker:only bad fruit. Now you dwellers in Jerusalem,
Speaker:the people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. '"What more
Speaker:could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it?'" This is
Speaker:God talking to Israel. Israel has yielded bad fruit, and he's
Speaker:saying, "What more could have I done here? When I look for the
Speaker:good grapes, why did it only yield bad? Now I will tell you what
Speaker:I'm going to do in my vineyard." This is God Almighty speaking. Are you ready
Speaker:to listen to this? "I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed.
Speaker:I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. I will make it
Speaker:a wasteland neither pruned nor cultivated, and briars and thorns will
Speaker:grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it." on it. The
Speaker:vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the nation Israel, and the people of
Speaker:Judah are the vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice
Speaker:but saw bloodshed, for righteousness but heard cries
Speaker:of distress. Over in Jeremiah
Speaker:chapter 2, verse 21, it says this: I had planted you like
Speaker:a choise vine of sound and reliable stock. How
Speaker:then did you turn against me into a corrupt wild
Speaker:vine. Understand that he is—
Speaker:we are talking about God's people Israel.
Speaker:It was the expectation of God that
Speaker:Israel would bear fruit. They did not
Speaker:bear fruit, and so God Almighty allowed permission
Speaker:for the Israelites to be exiled away
Speaker:from their land. To have to serve
Speaker:foreign gods. So after the exile came, this is
Speaker:what it said. The Lord— this is in 2 Chronicles. The
Speaker:Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his
Speaker:messengers again and again because he had pity on his people
Speaker:and on his dwelling place. He still has pity on us today.
Speaker:But they mocked God's messengers. Remember I talked about those,
Speaker:those messengers? Jeremiah,— that came and spoke to the
Speaker:people, and they said, "No, you're not, you're not really a voice from the
Speaker:Lord. We're gonna listen to these false prophets that are gonna get— say that we're
Speaker:gonna get out of this." And they said, "But there was no remedy. He
Speaker:brought up against them the king of the Babylonians, who killed their young men with
Speaker:the sword in the sanctuary, and did not spare young men, or young women,
Speaker:or the elderly, or the infirm. God
Speaker:gave them all into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar." He
Speaker:carried them to Babylon, all the articles from the temple of God, both
Speaker:large and small, and the treasures of the Lord's temple, and the treasures of
Speaker:the king and his officials. In other words, they were exiled and all
Speaker:their stuff was given away too. He carried into
Speaker:exile— listen to this— to Babylon the remnant. Would you
Speaker:say the word remnant? [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Hold on to that word, I'm coming back to
Speaker:it. He carried into exile the remnant
Speaker:who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to
Speaker:him who— his successors and his successors until the kingdom of
Speaker:Persia came to power. The land enjoyed its Sabbath rest all
Speaker:the time in its desolation it rested until 70
Speaker:years were completed. Listen to this, in fulfillment of
Speaker:the word the Lord spoke by Jeremiah. Do you know that
Speaker:the Lord your God will always He will always fulfill
Speaker:His Word. His Word will always come
Speaker:to pass. Now, let's back up to
Speaker:remnant. This is what took place. Gonna give you very
Speaker:elementary level. Here we go. Israel sinned. They turned their back
Speaker:on God, and God said, "Okay, since you've done that, there's gonna be punishment
Speaker:and wrath." He, he allowed for a majority of the
Speaker:Israelites to be murdered and
Speaker:massacred. Yahweh. God, loving, holy,
Speaker:wonderful, powerful God allowed
Speaker:for his people to
Speaker:be murdered and massacred, except
Speaker:for a remnant.
Speaker:Why is this important? God did
Speaker:not— listen to me— he did not wipe out
Speaker:his entire people. When
Speaker:God prunes, he never takes everything
Speaker:away. He always leaves just a
Speaker:little bit. God allowed
Speaker:those things to happen and the remnant to
Speaker:remain because he could see something in the future
Speaker:that they could not see. And in your
Speaker:life, when you are going through pain, and tribulation,
Speaker:and trial, and God is cutting things back from
Speaker:you, He leaves just a little bit because when you
Speaker:prune, you prune back just all the way just to the back
Speaker:part. You leave just a little bit because it's gonna become
Speaker:fruitful later. Are you following me? It's going to
Speaker:become fruitful
Speaker:later. So the exile was
Speaker:a national pruning. When you
Speaker:prune a vine, there's always a little, a
Speaker:little left. When Israel
Speaker:failed, they needed someone to succeed. Who do you
Speaker:think that was, that was going to succeed? Who was
Speaker:it? It was Jesus. Jesus is in the upper
Speaker:room speaking to His disciples saying this,
Speaker:"I am the true
Speaker:vine." You could not succeed back here, Israel.
Speaker:You were not able to bear fruit. You were not able
Speaker:to obey. You were not able to be faithful. But
Speaker:Jesus says, "I'm able to be faithful. I'm able to
Speaker:be fruitful." "and I will succeed where you
Speaker:failed." He says, "I am the true vine." We needed the
Speaker:true vine. We needed the source. We needed Jesus
Speaker:to come and do what he did,
Speaker:and therefore Jesus is making very
Speaker:clarifying statements here by saying, "I, Jesus, am
Speaker:the true vine." You no longer are the vine. I am the true
Speaker:vine. My Father— The gardener. And guess what that leaves
Speaker:you as? Branches. It
Speaker:leaves you as branches. So this tells
Speaker:us where we fail, He
Speaker:succeeds. Colossians says, "He's before all things, and in Him,"
Speaker:what? "All things hold together." In Romans
Speaker:it says, "If—" Boy, y'all made that
Speaker:small, and I got glasses on. "If the root is
Speaker:holy," —so are the branches. Guys, if the root is
Speaker:holy, so are the branches. That tells me I'm holy. Why am I holy? Because
Speaker:I'm holy? I'm holy because
Speaker:I'm connected to the— I'm connected to the vine. He's holy. You do
Speaker:not support the root, but the root supports
Speaker:you. For I'm convinced that neither death or life, angels, demons,
Speaker:present, future, powers, height, depth, anything else in creation will be able
Speaker:to— what? That separate us from the love of
Speaker:the Lord Jesus Christ. All of these things are intact
Speaker:because he is the source. The branch does not hold the vine,
Speaker:the vine holds the branch. That tells me that your grip on God does
Speaker:not sustain you, it is his grip on you that causes you
Speaker:to have life forevermore. His grip on you causes
Speaker:you to have life forevermore. He is your security. So let's talk
Speaker:about the branches. Branches. Shari and I were talking
Speaker:the other day, and we came upon this— or she came upon this Greek word,
Speaker:and it is, uh, a tender flexible shoot. This
Speaker:tells me that branches are supposed to be tender
Speaker:and flexible. You are supposed to be tender,
Speaker:and you are supposed to be flexible. And if you're anything
Speaker:like me, I like to be rigid and hard, and I get
Speaker:snapped anytime that happens. We're supposed to be
Speaker:tender. We're supposed to be
Speaker:flexible. Tender branches
Speaker:bend. Immaturity in the Lord says, "God,
Speaker:you have not met my expectations, and so I'm going
Speaker:to take it upon myself to do the work," so that then
Speaker:I become rigid and hard and He can't do anything. Mature faith is able
Speaker:to bend. It's able to be— Flexible. Now, here's where I'm going
Speaker:to start saying a few things that you're not going to like. Remember when COVID
Speaker:arrived on the scene? Who remembers COVID? Glorious
Speaker:moment. When COVID arrived on scene, Shari and I were in Florida on a
Speaker:beach. And I'm not saying this to pat myself on the shoulder. I'm really— it's
Speaker:going to sound kind of haughty, but I'm only saying this because of the work
Speaker:of the Holy Spirit in my life. When COVID arrived on the scene, I
Speaker:was unshaken. I was
Speaker:unshaken. I was unmoved. I was unwavered in my belief in
Speaker:Jesus Christ. And when we had to react
Speaker:to things, most of the time I was not reacting to COVID, I
Speaker:was reacting to the people who were freaking out around
Speaker:me. And the only thing I knew how to do is to get into the
Speaker:Word and to go, "This is what the Word says about this." When
Speaker:9/11 happened, I was unmoved and unshaken. Not
Speaker:because I'm anything great or big, because
Speaker:God was unmoved and unshaken. When Charlie Kirk
Speaker:was assassinated, I was unmoved and
Speaker:unshaken because God is unmoved and unshaken.
Speaker:Guys, you're plugged into the source no matter what
Speaker:the circumstances of this planet become. So
Speaker:who you are should not waver and change based on
Speaker:everything that's floating on around you. But what happens is, is when
Speaker:life tragedies happen, circumstances in the world, we
Speaker:take up arms and go into our corner, and we pull on the little bit
Speaker:of truth we think we know, and then we say, "I'm right, you're wrong, and
Speaker:you better get on board with
Speaker:me." We're supposed to be connected to the truth. We're supposed to be connected to
Speaker:the source. Now let me hone this in a little bit more. Some of you
Speaker:have gone through tragedy just in the last year. You've lost a loved
Speaker:one. You're unable to
Speaker:conceive. You've had a severed
Speaker:relationship. You've had a death. You've had sickness. You have lost an
Speaker:income. And you're going through these trials
Speaker:and situations, and what we have
Speaker:a propensity to do is go, "God, in the middle of what's
Speaker:going on, what's going on? This good God
Speaker:could not ever allow me to suffer and go through
Speaker:X, Y, and Z." X, Y, and Z. Now let me be clear, in all
Speaker:of those aforementioned, uh, circumstances, in all
Speaker:the circumstances you're going, I'm not suggesting to you that God's will is
Speaker:everything that's going on in your life, because a lot of times it is our
Speaker:bad choices and our broken nature that lead us to those things.
Speaker:But what I can tell you is that God is sovereign in every single
Speaker:one of those places. God knows how to take ashy situations
Speaker:and makes them beautiful. And here's what we don't like, and I've got to admit
Speaker:to myself, If I can believe God
Speaker:for reconciliation, then I have to also be able to believe God that
Speaker:he's severing the relationship. If I can believe God for the
Speaker:healing, then I also have to believe he's a God who allows the symptoms
Speaker:to continue. I have to believe that God is—
Speaker:listen, when Job says— when, when Satan comes and says, "Let me metz with
Speaker:Job," God says, "Yes." God didn't abandon Job, he just allowed
Speaker:it to happen. You are going
Speaker:to go through places in your life that it does not
Speaker:feel good. You're going to go through places
Speaker:where you are going to, to, to suffer. And here's the
Speaker:thing, what we are instructed to do is to
Speaker:remain. Remain in him. Draw from the source. Now here's the thing
Speaker:I want us to understand, a fruitful life does not mean a busy
Speaker:life. It does not mean a busy life. It's not birth— John 15 is not
Speaker:birthed by activity. It's birthed by just being there. So let's go through
Speaker:some of the indicators of a fruitful life in the kingdom,
Speaker:and if you can relate to any of these, I want you to stand
Speaker:up, okay? If you can relate to even one, I want you to stand up.
Speaker:Somebody stood up before I even put anything on the board. Okay, here we go.
Speaker:Fruitful life in the kingdom. Are you ready? Indicators of fruitful life.
Speaker:Losing something you loved,
Speaker:being misunderstood,
Speaker:being overlooked. We're talking about fruitful life in
Speaker:the kingdom, okay? Saying no to good
Speaker:opportunities, margin being forced upon you,
Speaker:ego or pride being confronted or
Speaker:illuminated, a timeline being delayed, having
Speaker:to wait longer than you wanted
Speaker:to. Letting go of something or someone you thought— that should say
Speaker:thought— was permanent. Being asked
Speaker:to trust without
Speaker:explanation. Recognition going elsewhere. Look
Speaker:around the room. Springhouse, we
Speaker:have a fruitful church. We have
Speaker:a fruitful
Speaker:church. If you are living your life in the kingdom
Speaker:of God, you are going to experience
Speaker:times of loss, times of hurt, times of pain,
Speaker:and your God has not abandoned you in
Speaker:it. He is with you right in the middle of it.
Speaker:Here's the thing, pruning is rarely predictable, but it is
Speaker:always timely. I wish I could predict what my timing was. I wish
Speaker:I could say, "Hey, Jess, I'm gonna be away in April for about 3 weeks
Speaker:'cause God's planning on pruning me during that season." No, God doesn't ask
Speaker:my permission, Barbie, how? He doesn't ask my permission to prune me. He shows up
Speaker:by my doorsteps with the scissors and says, "Here we go," and I gotta be
Speaker:ready. And guess what else? This is how our loving God does it. He says,
Speaker:"I'm gonna prune you, and I want you to show up to that stage, and
Speaker:you better preach. I'm gonna prune you, and you better show up to work with
Speaker:joy." You better show up with your wife and be faithful. You better show up
Speaker:for your kids in the midst of the pruning. In the
Speaker:midst— don't— no, he doesn't give margin for me to go lick my wounds.
Speaker:He calls me to be faithful because here's the thing. When I'm in that moment
Speaker:and I've got wounds, then where must I draw my
Speaker:strength? I have to draw from him, and if I'm not drawing it
Speaker:from him, sometimes he will choose a season of pruning for Kevin because,
Speaker:Kevin, I think you're doing a little bit too much in your own strength. You're
Speaker:giving yourself a little bit too much of a pat on the back. You're getting
Speaker:a little bit too much recognition, because here's the thing, Kevin, at the end of
Speaker:the day it's all about you looking like my Son Jesus, not like Kevin
Speaker:O'Day. Pruning is rarely predictable, but it's
Speaker:always timely. Can't schedule it, the gardener
Speaker:does. But we also— we glory in our suffering because we know that
Speaker:suffering produces— say that, suffering suffering produces. And it
Speaker:lists what it produces there. It says this, it says, therefore we do
Speaker:not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly we are
Speaker:being renewed day by day. Why? For our light and
Speaker:momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that
Speaker:outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen,
Speaker:but what is, what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is
Speaker:unseen is what? It's eternal.
Speaker:And lastly, consider it— we love James, don't we? Consider it
Speaker:pure joy. Next time you're going through a trial and tribulation and somebody says, "How
Speaker:you doing?" I would say, "I am, I am abundantly joyful
Speaker:today. I'm just, I am, I am on cloud nine. I am exercising
Speaker:the biggest amount of joy." Consider it pure joy. That's what Josh
Speaker:said in the pool. This is why the message literally was in the
Speaker:baptism, the entire thing.
Speaker:Joshua's up there. Joshua Kuruman, he was up there. He's literally saying,
Speaker:"Rejoice!" He said, "The heart is a muscle that must be torn down
Speaker:before it comes back stronger." You understand that you're gonna have to be
Speaker:torn down before you come back stronger? It's a part
Speaker:of the deal, but here's the gl— glorious thing about it. You haven't
Speaker:been abandoned and left alone. He's with
Speaker:you. So it brings us to the gardener. The gardener
Speaker:is more committed to the harvest than the
Speaker:appearance. See, we like the way things look.
Speaker:Genesis 50, Joseph thrown in the
Speaker:pit, pushed down, enslaved. You intended
Speaker:to harm me, but what? God intended it for
Speaker:good. What are you talking about? When was
Speaker:the last time you had to go through some type of trial, tribulation, something
Speaker:you didn't like, and you said, "God's gonna be glorified in
Speaker:this. God's gonna be glorified in
Speaker:this." Romans 8:28, we love the first part of this verse. It says, "And we
Speaker:know that in—" what? "All things God's works for the good of those
Speaker:who love him, who have been called according to his his purpose. But we don't
Speaker:attach the second verse to it that says, for those to God foreknow, he
Speaker:also predestined to what? Be conformed to the image of his
Speaker:Son. Yes, he works all things out for the good so that you look
Speaker:like his Son. Would you please stand if you look
Speaker:like Jesus Christ holistically today? We would like to applaud
Speaker:you. On your feet, you— congrats. No, we don't
Speaker:look like his
Speaker:Son. You are sitting next to somebody who is
Speaker:broken. You are sitting next to someone who God
Speaker:is pruning so that they can yield greater
Speaker:fruit. I believe that he always sees fruit that you cannot
Speaker:see. He always sees fruit that you cannot
Speaker:see. And so the cross is the ultimate fulfillment of
Speaker:this, the picture of this. God the Father— I started with
Speaker:this— he says, I am the true vine, Jesus, and the Father is
Speaker:the gardener. So we look at this verse in Philippians, it says this: And being
Speaker:found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming—
Speaker:what?— obedient to death, even death on a cross.
Speaker:That was Jesus being cut down. But
Speaker:it was because the Father knew that if he was obedient to
Speaker:death, all this other stuff was going to follow. What was it? He's exalted to
Speaker:the highest place. Jesus is given the name above every
Speaker:name, that every knee should bow and every tongue confess and acknowledge
Speaker:he's king. Guys, this did not happen prior to the cross.
Speaker:It happened after the resurrection. All of those things
Speaker:happened after the resurrection. It was the fruit— that the
Speaker:Father saw. And I'm telling you today, Sam, if you're walking through a
Speaker:trial and circumstance— Doug, if you're walking through something
Speaker:that's hard— don't abandon your faith or your
Speaker:God. Continue to remain and understand that
Speaker:he is right there with you, and trust
Speaker:that there's going to be abundant fruit on the
Speaker:other side. Remain in him. Because pruning only
Speaker:happens to living
Speaker:branches. I find that comforting. If I'm being pruned and cut,
Speaker:it means I'm living in Jesus Christ. If I'm going through
Speaker:a hard season, I'm living in Jesus
Speaker:Christ. I'm living connected to
Speaker:the source. And so today, if you are in a
Speaker:place where You're feeling cut, you're feeling
Speaker:bruised and battered, you're
Speaker:feeling abandoned. I want to encourage you today to
Speaker:be tender and flexible because the God of
Speaker:the universe knows what he is doing. He knows what
Speaker:he's doing even when you don't understand it. Do you know, I don't see anywhere—
Speaker:Fred, I don't see anywhere in scripture where it says my understanding
Speaker:is a prerequisite for God's move in my life. I never saw
Speaker:that written anywhere. That means that because he's God, he can do whatever he chooses
Speaker:to do, whether I understand why he's doing it or what he's doing or what
Speaker:he's up to. But here's the cool
thing:I get to benefit from it all. I
thing:get to benefit from the cut. I get to benefit from the hurt.
thing:I get to benefit from the pain. Not like the world tells me I'm gonna
thing:benefit, benefit, but I get the benefit in a way that I may
thing:not understand right now. You
thing:have gone through some hard things, and guess what? You don't think there's
thing:gonna be another COVID, another 9/11, another assassination? You don't think that's
thing:gonna happen? It's probably gonna happen at some point before you go see
thing:Jesus, okay? But when those things happen in your life, or when
thing:those intimate things happen in your life, Take
thing:up a stance that says, "I am connected to
thing:the source. I am going to remain
thing:because I trust God." Do you trust God today,
thing:friends? Stand
thing:with me. I know that this was not
thing:a cushy message, and I'll tell you, part of it—
thing:I would, I would be remiss as your pastor to not
thing:present to you the totality of the truth. You know, sometimes we
thing:just see what's glaring in front of us and we grab it. Kind of like
thing:the other day, the Sheelys gave us a gift and there was a package
thing:of cookies, and I went in there and all I saw was cookies. And so
thing:I went and I grabbed the package real fast because I saw
thing:cookies. But upon further investigation, these
thing:are lactation
thing:cookie bites. These are not meant
thing:for me. You could be grabbing something that's not meant
thing:for you because you're grabbing something without knowing
thing:the whole picture. Don't move without
thing:knowing where God is. Stay connected. Remain
thing:in him. Amen. We're gonna worship together with those who are gonna
thing:minister. I'm so sorry I'm running behind today. Would you guys come down? I
thing:do feel like, as, as was in the
thing:first gathering, if you're in a place today— if you're in
thing:a place today where you have said, "I don't
thing:understand why God is doing what He's doing." If you're in
thing:a place today where you— maybe you're in the middle of it, or maybe
thing:it's something that's already happened. I've had the
thing:greatest relationships in my life happen overnight. And I've had him take away
thing:the greatest relationships in my life overnight. Maybe you're
thing:in a situation right now and he's just doing something
thing:and you don't understand. Well, your prerequisite is not
thing:understanding, but come and agree with somebody that you know where the source is, and
thing:you can ask God, give me the strength to walk through
thing:this pruning, this season, this thing that you're doing in my
thing:life. And then in addition to that, There are people that just flat out have
thing:needs in this place. You've come in with a burden, you've come in with something
thing:heavy, and if we're going to talk about the vine being the source, come to
thing:the source and get some relief, get some answers, give it
thing:to Him, surrender to Him as you're
thing:being connected to the vine. Let's worship together.
