Three Lies & the Truth

Good morning, man. I'm glad to be with you this morningpy Mother's Day to all the moms in the room and everyone else. Make sure you show some kindness and gratitude this morning to a mom somewhere. Make them feel really special.

Or for some moms, they're like, just leave me alone. Like, that is the best gift. Let's be honest, that some of the moms want right now, and there's a couple of them. I'm looking at you, you're nodding, saying, that's all I really want. Just leave me alone for the day.

That would be great. Either way, I hope to bless you this morning, and I want to encourage you as we get into God's word. Before we do that, though, I've been hanging out with the students on Sunday nights, and a couple of weeks ago, we played the game Two Truths and a Lie. Do you remember this game? There's a person and there's three statements about them, and you guess which one is the lie.

Two things are true. One's it's in the name. I don't know why I'm explaining it. I wanted to play a couple of rounds of it this morning. Mother's Day edition.

And. And so here's our first mom up on the screen. She looks like a crazy lady. She's got four kids. Anyone with four kids is nuts.

If you're a guest, it's my wife and my kids. So I get to say that three things about her. You gotta decide which one is the lie? Three statements related to Daniel Boone. She turns 37 on her birthday, and she loves the outdoors.

You know which one's the lie? 37. Yeah. That's not nice. You're not supposed to say that kind of a thing.

Thank you. Yeah. She won't be 37 on her B day. She'll be like 40 zern on her birthday. I'll give you a second, Mom.

This one's a biblical mom. I could have gone with Mary, the mother of Jesus. That would have been pretty good. But I went with Rahab, so I just kind of went a different way. I love the story of Rahab in the Bible, but three statements.

She was related to Jesus. She was a fisher woman, and she was a Canaanite. Which one's the lie? She was married to a man named Salmon or Salman. I don't know how you pronounce it, but she's not a fisher woman.

Okay, that's good. So the reason I was thinking about this game is because today I want to share with you three lies. And the truth. And I'm going to talk to everyone in the room, but I've been thinking a lot about Mother's Day and about moms, and I'm going to use that as a lens or a framework for everything we talk about today. So let me start with this question to everyone, but really, moms, do you know what it's like to feel like there's the life that you should be living, but you're not really living it?

You know what that's like? Do you know what it's like to feel like there's something more to my life than what I'm living right now? You know what that's like? I think we can all relate to it. Like, there's the.

The life that you think you should be living. It's like where my soul is just burning aflame. I'm full of joy. I'm like a fountain that just pours out all the time for everyone. And people look at me and go, gosh, I just want to be like that.

And then there's the life that maybe you are living that sometimes feels a little like, I'm alive, but just. Just barely, right? I'm alive. But truly, it's just. But by the grace of God.

And sometimes there is a gap between those experiences. And I want you to remember this, that Jesus said I came, that you may have life and that you may have it to the full. Right? He wants that for you, too. He wants you to have a life that is rich and full of joy and satisfaction.

And that is a fountain that is overflowing. And there's an invitation in the text that we'll look at this morning to all of us, to you and to me. But for us to experience that, that closing of the gap between the life that we feel we want, or deep down, we desire and the life that maybe we're living, we have to really pay attention to the details of the invitation and begin to build our life upon it. In the middle of our daily choices that we make, I found this quote by a poet, Annie Dillard. She said, how we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.

Translation, we make our choices, and then our choices make. Make us. Does that make sense? Like, you show me your habits, and I'll show you your future. You've heard someone say that before.

Good or bad, I'm not defining that. You show me what you do every day. I'll show you what your life is going to look like. And I know we've talked about this plenty. Of times before.

But every day you are being formed by someone or something. You realize that none of us are sitting still being unchanged by the circumstances around us and by the choices that we make. Every day you are being discipled by someone or something. The question is, do you know who or what is most in control of your formation? Do you know what it is that is mostly forming?

Who you are becoming as a person? Is it an influencer? Is it a book? Is it an author? Is it an app?

Is it a schedule? Is it someone in the media? Is it a candidate? What is it that is mostly in control or responsible of your personal formation? The answer is going to have to do with making big Word where you abide.

And that's what we're going to talk a lot about today as we get into the text. But if you'll give me just a little bit longer leash this morning, just for a second, I want to just speak from my heart and my experience about three lies that I see that we build our lives on. We very easily buy into three lies that we build our lives upon these and our habits and our choices are built upon these things in our effort to try to find the life that we've always wanted. And we're gonna get to the truth. Three lies, and then we'll go after the truth.

But to be the mom that you want to be, or to be the person or the leader that you want to be, there's three lies that a lot of us, I see it over and over again that we buy into and we believe. The first lie is this, that all I have to do is know more. All I need is to know more. And the stacks of parenting books and leadership books and self help books on my shelf tell you how much I begin to believe that if I could just know more, if I could just know more, I would be all the things that I really, deep down desire to be in this world. But the problem is, and I don't know if this is true for you.

For me, it's not an information problem. I have an information surplus and I have an obedience deficit. Does that make sense? It's not like Kevin just needs to know more information and read more books and take in more content and listen to more podcasts. My problem is I have an information surplus, but I have an action problem.

I have an application issue. In my life and in this age of modern information is the speed of life. I think that we feel like if we could just take in more content, I could think my way into being a Better me. And it would work if I could just think my way there. But information doesn't equal transformation, right?

And think about this. Even Jesus railed mostly against the people who had the most information, not because they had information, but because they didn't have transformation with that information. The Pharisees, they knew more than everyone else did about the law. They had more scripture memorized than anyone else, and yet they couldn't abide in it. Because information doesn't equal transformation.

So it's a lie. If you think, I could just read another book and then suddenly I'll be the mom. I could be the person that I've always wanted to be. All of the dissonance in my soul would be corrected if I could just learn a little more. A second lie is that it will happen automatically, right?

If I just like God, if I go to church, if I love God, I can just let go and let God. Do you have that on a mug? Does anyone have a tattoo? Let go and let God. Like, I hate to be the guy to tell you, I'm not saying you have to get it covered up, but maybe think about it a little bit.

There are biblical, Biblically, there are reasons that we need to let go of some things and let God have control. We try to hold on to some things that God has said, that's not yours to control. Let me have control of that thing. But a lot of us think that if I can am a Christian, and if I'm a part of church, if I could just, you know, like God, then I'll sit back and everything will become perfect in my life. It doesn't work that way.

And this is like the movie the Matrix. How many illustrations have the Matrix given us for the last 20 years? The movie the Matrix. Neo gets in the chair and they plug him in the back of his head. They download all of the information into him, and he goes, I know judo, you know?

And you're like, it doesn't work that way. Not except for in the Matrix. And yet some of us think that in our lives, because I'm a Christian, because I go to this Bible study class, I go to church, I can just sit back and automatically I'm going to wake up and be a kinder person. I'm going to know all of the answers. I'll know what to say, I'll know what to do, I'll know how to act.

But it doesn't work that way, does it? It doesn't work that way in my life. And third lie is this. I can do it alone. That's a lie.

I can do it on my own. It's absolutely a lie. Like, life is a team sport. Families. Parenting is a team sport.

Christianity is a team sport. That's why there are 59 one another statements throughout the New Testament. Because we can't do any of those things on our own. You can't just go home into your prayer closet and serve one another. You can't just go home into your prayer closet and bear one another's burdens.

We were never meant to live life on our own. And we live in this modern age where so much of our life is put on display, where our life is all about participation or not participation, but performance and about achievement and about just displaying for everyone else. And you know this. All of the carefully curated best moments of our life. And what happens is we have a tendency to compare our worst moments to everyone else's.

What best moments? And then because of that, we have a tendency to not be willing to be vulnerable with people. People. And to not show our weakness and not say, I don't got this right and I need help. And the.

The fact is, we're not meant to live life on our own. We're not meant to do it on our own. I. I'll start the trend. Lindsay and I don't got this.

We don't know what we're doing. We can't do it on our own. That's because we're normal. We are people. And we were never meant to live life on our own.

We weren't meant to parent on our own. We weren't meant to chase the Lord on our. We are meant to do it together. Three lies. And the third is that you can do it on your own.

Have that life, that fruit, that joy, that peace that you've always wanted in your life. And you feel like there's a gap right now and you can't find it on your own. Three lies to reject. Now let's go after the truth. Because the fact is, the life that you want doesn't always come by the avenue that you think.

So open your Bible to John 15. Long time to get here, but this is what we came for. Right now, while you're turning there. John 15 doesn't feel like a Mother's Day passage on the surface, does it? It's like there's.

There's no. It's not about moms. There's no little children running around. It's not advice about parenting. It's not about parenting at all.

Jesus is there, but it doesn't say that his mom, that Mary was in the room. We don't know. Jesus is there. John 13. He brings the disciples together around a table.

Imagine this. He begins to prepare a Passover meal for them. He breaks bread, and he gives it to them. He pours wine for them. He says, this is my body that's broken for you.

This is my blood being poured out for you. And they take of the meal that Jesus has prepared. And then Jesus gets up from the table and he makes his way around, and he begins to wash the feet of each of his disciples. After he does that, then he begins to speak to them in verse, in chapter 14. And he begins to warn them.

There's some things that are going to come in your life that's weird. You want me to grab a different one? Yes. Okay, pay attention to the man behind the curtain.

Then he begins to warn them in chapter 14 of all of these things that are coming that are not going to be easy. They're going to go through some very difficult days. But he tells them that they're never going to be alone through those things. Right? And then we get to chapter 15.

The thing that amazes me when I look at the. The Runway to chapter 15 is that Jesus seems like the best mom in the world to the disciples. Have you thought about that? Like, he is just pouring out his life for the disciples. He's serving the disciples.

He's getting down, washing. He's taking care of all of their basic needs. He's teaching them what they need to know about life and how to face the world and how to view the world and how to view themselves. He says, but you don't have to do it alone. You.

You won't be on your own. I'll be with you. He's like, the best mom in the world to the disciples. And how many of you moms does that sound like a typical day for you? Like, you're just pouring out your lifeblood for your people, and all you want is to take care of them.

And, like, the disciples could just be nice boys, quit playing. Like, it's what Jesus is saying to the disciples. Like, half the time in the Gospels, would you guys just get along? And moms, you do that, and you serve and you love, and you put everyone else's welfare ahead of your own. And you're always warning that this is going to happen.

This is how you view this thing in the world. But you promise that you'll always be with us and you'll always be forced. If that feels Like a normal day to you, then good news. Let me encourage you with this. You look a lot like Jesus when you're doing that.

And let that encourage you on the days when you're just feeling absolutely exhausted in it. You look a lot like Jesus when you're doing these things for your family. Jesus wanted to create beautiful things in and through his disciples. And you're just trying to create something beautiful in and through your family. And praise God for that.

Now, chapter 15. Let's read verse one. And I want you to remember that the life that you want doesn't always come by the avenue that you think. John 15:1. Jesus says, I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser.

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes it away. And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it. And why? So it may bear more fruit. Some of you have been in seasons of pruning before.

Maybe you're in it now. Verse 3. You already are clean because of the word which I've spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me.

I'm the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do. What's the word? Nothing.

That was the third lie that we tend to believe, wasn't it? That we can do it all on our own. If anyone does not abide in me, he's thrown away as a branch and dries up. And they gather them and they cast them into the fire, and they're burned. If you abide in Me and my words abide in you.

Ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father's glorified by this. That you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. That's how the world will know that your children belong to you, by the fruit that's born in your life. And Jesus says, disciples, this is how the world will know who I am and that I am on your life.

That much fruit is being born through you. Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Abide in my love. Now you got just. What is this?

Nine verses? Nine verses in, this word abide appears eight times. If you keep reading, it just keeps coming up more and more. Your translation might say something like dwelling in me or remain in me. It's this Greek word, meno, which means to make our home in or to take root in.

And Jesus says that he is the true vine. He says that your life should be built and rooted and should be growing up from only what comes from the vine. That's what it means to abide in him. That's his prayer for us. That's his desire for you.

That's the key to the fruitful life. And it's a key to the joy and the satisfaction that deep down your soul is desiring and longing for. Look at verse 11, these things. I've spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be. What's the word?

Full. That you would. Your soul would be so full of joy that it pours out like a fountain ever flowing. The key is to abide in Him. That's the one thing that we should throw our entire self into because it's the only thing that's really powerful and transforming and the only thing that's truly deeply satisfying to our souls.

It's like Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, Remember he said, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things will be added to you. How much of your waking hours and I'm including like the waking hours at night when you should be sleeping but you're in bed doing your to do lists or evaluating how you should have said it or what you should have done. How many of your waking hours are consumed with all these other things rather than seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and abiding in Jesus? How many of those waking hours are consumed with the other things? And what are the other things?

We don't have to like guess it's there. It says verse 25. It says why do you worry about what you will eat and what you will wear and what how you will live? Why do you worry about the kind of life that you want and the kind of life that you're trying to make and the kind of life that you're trying to create for life, your yourself and for those who you are bringing up behind you. Why are you so consumed with worrying about these things?

Jesus says no, seek first the kingdom of God and quit stressing about all of those things. Just slow down and fix your eyes on Jesus. The kingdom of God, that's the avenue and the fruit or all these other things will be added. That's the fruit that you want. That's that stuff that you've been wanting in your life that you feel like is not there.

Jesus says just abide in me, dwell in Me, dwell with me, trust in me, depend upon me, seek me first. And when he says, seek first, it's about two P's, if you're taking notes. It's about priority and it's about pattern. So seek first. It's about priority and pattern facts.

Most of us seek Jesus with whatever's left over, right? We don't mean for it to be that way. That's not what we intend. That's just the way that we live. Because we're so busy and there's so many things going on in my life, to sit back and seek the kingdom of God feels like it's not very productive.

That's the way we think. It's not saying it's the way it is. In fact, it's the. The most productive thing that we could do is to seek first the kingdom of God and all of his righteousness. And Jesus says, you can't seek me with the leftovers.

You can't seek me last. Don't do that. If you do that, you already will have consumed yourself with worry and with anxiety and with trying to control things that you were never meant to. Don't seek me with whatever's left over. Don't seek me second.

Don't seek me third. Seek me what first. It's about priority and it's also about pattern. Day by day, day after day, each day, I will seek the Lord in all things. When I'm having a bad day, seek him first.

When I'm having a really great day, seek him first. When I know exactly what to do, still seek him first. And when I have no idea what to do, always seek him first. It's the pattern. That's how my life will be built.

It will be the pattern of my life to seek God first. And all of these other things will be added to my life. The desire, the delight that you desire, it's available to you and God. It's what God wants for you. He wants to satisfy the desires of your heart.

But he does so as you abide in Him. That's how it works. He gives you the life that deep down your soul is craving for. He does it by you abiding in him. Here's John 15:5 again.

Jesus says, I'm the vine, you are the branches. Listen to this. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. It's like, seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you.

Remain in me, abide in me. I'll Bear much fruit through your life. That's how it works. And the fruit of your life is the thing that we're talking about. Like, how many of you really know what it's like to think there's the life I should be living and then there's the life that I am living?

The gap is the fruit that we're looking for in our life. We're desiring fruit. You want peace in your life. That's fruit. You know, you want all the effort and the endeavors of your life to have success.

That's fruit. You want good things for your people. That's fruit. You want all of the late nights staying up, serving others, and all of the early mornings getting up before everyone else so that you can have a moment to yourself so that you can then go and serve everyone else in your family. You want all of the.

I never ever get to eat a hot meal because I'm serving everyone a meal first and I'm running around doing everything for them all the time. You want all of the washing feet or wiping bottoms or whatever it is to mean something at the end of the day, like you're willing to do it. Be like, I just want it to matter. Pattern. That's fruit.

That's the fruit that you're longing for in your life. And Jesus wants you to have it, too. He wants you to have that, too. But it's not going to come through the avenue that you think it's going to come in. It's only going to come a soul that is rich and passionate and satisfied and full of joy.

A fountain that is always overflowing when you abide in Him. That's how it comes. And he bears much fruit. A couple of things I want to unpack about the passage. First thing in verse three.

This isn't about salvation. John 15, right. Verse three says, you are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Salvation comes by grace, through faith. Right?

There's no hoops to jump through. There's no work to be done. You're not the gardener. You're not out there pruning. That is our Father in heaven.

He says, God is the. He's the gardener. And in. In the garden, it's not your job to produce salvation. It's not your job to produce fruit.

That's not your job. Right? It is simply by his word that you're made clean. It is by grace, through faith. So this is not about salvation.

This is simply about fruit bearing and abiding in Jesus. The second thing is in Verse two. That was verse three, verse two. There are always seasons of pruning. Look at verse two.

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. If you feel like there's no fruit, hang on. Okay. And I don't know how long a season of pruning is in your life.

I know in my life sometimes those are very long seasons, or at least they feel like very long seasons because the days are long. But there's a purpose in it. What was the purpose in it? Even those that are bearing fruit, he prunes so that it may bear more fruit. Fruit he wants to bear in your life the most fruit that there could ever be in your life.

He wants you to be the most fruitful that you could be in your life. And so when God is subtracting. Look, I'm gonna say this, and it's hard to say it because I know it's hard for me to remember it in my daily life. When you feel like God is subtracting in your life, don't get consumed thinking about what God is doing to you, but start thinking about the fruit that God is about to bear through you. The things that make sense.

It's hard to remember. Everyone is pruned. Every Christian experiences seasons of pruning. And it's good because he does it to bear even more fruit in and through your life. What else do we need to know about pruning?

Listen to this quote from Kent Hughes. He said, God's hand, this is good, y' all. God's hand is never closer than when he prunes the vine during those times of severest cutting, when to us it may seem like he's departed, is actually the closest. When the gardener does his pruning well, it's amazing he leaves little more than the vine. Similarly, the more we're pruned, the more of Christ there is in our life.

He's the reward that we're seeking. He's the one who satisfies our souls. Pruning is good because it cuts away everything that is not the life giving power and presence of, of Christ in our life. Everything that robs us and distracts us from the life giving presence and power of Jesus in our lives. He prunes it so that we could experience more of Christ.

Our problem is we get consumed with chasing after the gift more than the giver. Right, Moms? How many of you think about, you know, a child's birthday and you're wrapping the perfect present? The bluey doll or a video game. I don't know, whatever it is.

How many of you spend your time, you buy the present, you wrap the present, you give the present, and the child loves the present more than the mom who has sacrificed and loved and served and been present and faithful for every day and everything. What is it that you're wanting your child to appreciate? The bluey doll? Or a mom who is always there? A mom who is always there and always faithful and always serving and always pouring out our love.

But we do this with God. We. We love the gift more than the. The giver. We want the fruit, but we're not concerned as much about the gardener and his intent.

And the fact is, the joy and the satisfaction and the peace and the feeling of it all mattered that we're wanting. Deep down, God wants that for you, but he doesn't bring it to you by the avenue. We typically, typically think it comes when we abide. I was thinking about the story in the Old Testament about Joshua and the people of Israel. And remember the story when they came up to Jericho and God comes to Joshua and he says, okay, Joshua, I'm going to deliver you into the land that has been promised to you.

I'm going to give you the fruit, the thing that you've wanted, the thing that your people have been craving and hungering for for so long. I'm going to deliver it to you. Here's what you're going to do. I want you to gather the people and you're all going to get together in a crowd, and you're going to walk around the gates of Jericho, around the walls of Jericho one time a day for six days, and nobody talk. Just get together, Walk around once, go home, come back the next day, do it again.

And on the seventh day, I want you to walk seven times around. And at the end, I want you to give a huge shout of praise. Okay, Joshua, you got. You need to write this down. I got it, God.

And so Joshua gathers the people and he says, God has spoken. And the people are like, all right, let's do it. Let's go to battle. What's the battle plan? What are we going to do, Joshua?

And he goes, here's what we're going to do. We're all going to walk around the city and nobody talk. And we're going to do that seven. Do that one time a day for six days. And the seventh day, we're going to go around seven times.

It's going to be good. God said it's going to be great. Okay, what's the plan? He goes, get your Fitbit. And they start walking.

Shh, be quiet. This is cool. God, you're really good. God's awesome. All right, guys, go home.

We'll see you tomorrow. They come the next day, and it's like, okay, here we go. Our God isn't awesome. No, don't sing. Not yet.

That's the last day. I think this is gonna work. I think so, too. No, I don't. Okay.

And they do this day after day after day. And the last day they come and they walk the seven laps. And at end, the he goes, all right, everybody sing up a shout of praise. And they scream. And the walls come down.

And God delivers them into the promised land. And they have the fruit that they've been longing for so long. And I thought about Jesus. Words abiding in me could just be laid right on top of this. God wants for them more than they could ever want for themselves.

But he doesn't want them to go after it in the way that they think it would happen. Don't think your way into Jericho. Don't fight your way into Jericho. Don't try to control the situation. Just remain in me, abide in me.

Walk with me, trust in me, love me, and I will deliver you. I will bear much fruit for you. That's what he's saying to them. And could you imagine for the people of Israel what the greater joy is? Is the greater joy?

Joshua goes, I have a battle plan. And they devise the plan, and they all show up and they bring ladders and they're climbing walls and they're shooting arrows and they got swords and they're taking casualties and they break through a wall and there's fire and there's devastation, but they get in, even just barely, but they get into the city and they take it over. Or God says, just walk with me. Just take a walk around the city with me. And I want to show you how glorious and how powerful and how good I am to you.

And they do that, and they come through it. And everyone goes, obviously, God is with these people. God is on their side. What an amazing and faithful God that these people serve. He says, remain in me.

Abide in me. Our job is to abide. That's it. It's just to abide. It's not to cleverly devise that path that we are to take or that we're going to employ with our kids to make them the people that we want them to be.

Our job is Just to abide. Let me give you a definition for abide. Abiding means inviting Jesus to fill our minds, to direct our wills and to transform our affections. Means inviting Jesus to fill our minds, direct our wills and transform our affections. To do that church, we have to set aside everything that would cause us to trust in our own strength.

And we have to set aside that thing in us that so deeply wants instant gratification that promises fruit. But we know it's temporary, it's not lasting, so that we might draw deeply on Christ and begin to truly trust and enjoy the deliverance of a fruit that is good and that is lasting in our lives. And, and abiding isn't a one one time activity. Like you can't say, well, I abided once and now there's fruit. The Word is present, it's active, it's indicative.

It is keep on abiding. It is keep on remaining. It's cling to God. And it's a God who is on the move. It's go with God, it's be with God, it's abide in him, priority and pattern each day and every day to fill your mind and to direct your will.

Will and to transform your affections. And he will bear much fruit. I'm going to give you two habits of abiding in the face of what we typically make our habits. Because don't forget, the things that we're doing are doing something to us, right? The things we're doing over and over again make up our life.

So here's two habits. We can't simply think our way into the life we've always wanted or fight our way into it. It's not a feeling, it's not a belief, it's an action. First, habit, Scripture before screens. Because the first thing we look at in the morning and the last thing we look at night, if it's a screen, it is doing something to us.

It is directing our mind and our will, and it is transforming our affections in ways that we could never imagine. That's what we're starting and ending our day with. That's why Jesus said in John 8, abide by my Word. Right? And you can't abide in His Word if you're not immersed in His Word.

That's why Colossians says, let the word of Christ richly dwell within you. Because when you do, you find joy and satisfaction and wisdom and life in the words of God. So Scripture before screens is a habit. Show me your habits, I'll show you your future. There's a second habit.

Speak to God rather than dwell in self talk. Speak to God rather than dwell in self talk because I'm my own worst enemy. If we just dwell with all the complaints and all of the unfulfilled desires of our life and all the frustrations we have, we destroy ourselves. We just break ourselves down into anger and into complaint and into self blame or blaming others. If we just remain in self talk mode, laying in bed at night just frustrated with our life.

Speak to God rather than self talk first Peter 5:7 I've quoted this verse so many times to people. I said, cast your cares on the Lord, for He cares for you. Does that sound right? I'm missing a word though. You know it says cast all your cares or says cast the whole of your care upon the Lord, remembering that he cares for you.

Don't just say I'm going to give God this, but the rest I'm going to, I'm going to deal with. Cast every care upon the Lord, remembering that he cares for you and that he wants fruit for you. When you do that, you're opening your life to Christ. And yes, it may include a pruning, but it also includes a bearing of fruit in your life. Cast all of your cares on him, inviting him to direct your will, inviting him to transform your affections.

Sometimes I'm convinced of this, that if I would just delight in abiding in God, I'd be thankful for the fruit, but I'd be satisfied in the abiding. I might find such delight just walking with the God of the universe. It doesn't matter If I walk six times around the wall or 60,000 times around the wall because my delight was in the abiding. It doesn't matter how much that I'm walking, I'll already have experienced my reward. My problem is I spend so much time and time and self talk that I never come to the invitation to lay my burdens down at the feet of Jesus.

And I never experienced the lightness of his yoke or the joy of his rest. And what you cannot rest from, you are a slave to do. You know that that which you are not able to rest from, you become a slave to that thing. So these are just two applications, ideas, the two habits. In the face of what I normally make.

My habits, screens, push those aside, self talk, push it aside and abide. These habits of abiding are inviting Jesus to fill our mind, direct our will and transform our affections. You will find joy and satisfaction in abiding the Fruit you're grateful for. That's good, God. Thanks for the fruit.

But I'm satisfied by walking with you moms. I want to encourage you if you are feeling overwhelmed, abide. If you're feeling like I don't know what's next, just abide. If you feel angry, abide. If you feel even apathy, abide.

It's the same invitation. Jesus says, come to me all you who are burdened and. And heavy. Heavy, burdened and laden. And I will give you rest.

You won't experience the rest. You won't experience the joy. You won't experience the satisfaction until you come to him and you say, I'm seeking my all in you, not my identity, not my satisfaction, not my fruit. In did I get peace and resolve in this situation, did this turn in the way that I wanted or expected? But I'm finding my joy in you and you alone.

I pray that you'll find that it is the key to the life that you've always wanted. It doesn't come in by the avenue that you think it comes when you abide. Can I pray for you, Father? I'll confess. John 15 is one of the most taught passages in my arsenal.

And yet it's the one that I can't seem to master.

No matter how many times I hear the word abide or I sit on the word abide or I word study the word abide or I pray about abiding, I seem to devolve into my worst self where I just. I look for content to change my life. I fight for change. I'll do almost anything before I seek first the kingdom of God and your righteousness. So forgive our doubt, forgive our fear.

Help us to be a people who seek you first and really believe. Help us to believe, Holy Spirit, that all these other things will be added. And in the economy of God, whatever you give is better than whatever we can make for ourself. Every time you gave us new life to set us free and yet we keep going under the yokes of slavery to so many other things. I pray that we would find our souls rest in you.

In Jesus name, amen.