All right, good morning. Hope you guys had a great holiday. Hope you're raring to go. Are you like, yes, it's good to be back in some rhythm. Or do you have a holiday hangover? I just need to know what I'm preaching to. I guess we'll find out. Little bit of both. We are glad that you're here. Like Randall said, every year about this time, we take at least one week, maybe four weeks s to talk about some spiritual rhythms in our life. It seems like a timely time. We're going to be back into James in a couple weeks, but we got today and then next Sunday to talk about just implementing some spiritual rhythms in our life, which is extremely important, hopefully a better grasp of that by the time we're done. There are some books in the resource center to kind of go along with these two weeks that I encourage you to check out. There's also some books in there from our humility Advent series that I would encourage you. They're short, small reads, but we so want humility to be a driving trait of our church that we'd encourage you to pick one of those up. But like Randall said, we're going to talk about abiding. Abiding is one of our values, so hopefully we can get a better understanding of what exactly it means and how to actually do it. So we don't just talk about it, but it's a live reality in our church. Now we'll start with some information and we'll get hopefully more interesting as we go on. But just the word abide, it means to remain or to act according to a rule. Like somebody might say, I'm abiding to your rules, or I'm abiding by the rules. It means to follow or to observe or to uphold. And oftentimes when we think abiding, we tend to think of, like spiritual disciplines. I need to read my Bible. I need to pray. I need to fast. I need a sabbath. I need to implement these spiritual disciplines in my life. And that's kind of where our mind goes when we think of abiding. I'm going to tell you that's part of it. That's part of it. But sometimes I think we make abiding more mystical than practical because this idea of connecting with God and being in a relationship with God, that sounds like I need some candles or I need to be alone in the woods or something. How does that actually happen? And I think it's a bit more practical than we tend to make it. But I want to help us better understand it and look at an aspect of abiding that perhaps we've never looked at before. Because here's our hope. Our hope is that each one of you, as an individual, a part of our church, would be personally close to Jesus. That you would have a close, active, personal relationship with Jesus. Here's how we stated in our values says we believe a fruitful life is directly connected to God or to abiding in God. A fruitful life is what we want. Therefore, we place a high value on encouraging our people to practice personal spiritual rhythms in their lives. We're going to encourage you like here's a Bible reading plan. Follow it. Here's a prayer guide. Do it. We're going to put resources in front of you, like engage in God's word, be in a connection group. Practice these rhythms. We're going to push this in front of you because we believe that if you have an active, close, personal relationship with Jesus, no matter what kind of programming we do, we're going to be like, I like this church. I want to be a part of this church. Like the people in it are godly. That's the most important thing we can do. So that's what we're pushing your direction now. We get this idea of abiding in John 15. So if you got your bibles, turn to John 15. I know in our humility advent series we were all over the Bible because we were trying to get a big picture of what does the scripture say about the issue of humility. Today we're only going to be in John 15, so you can just open that Bible wide on your lap. We're not turning anywhere else. Let's just get into this text and let me read the first eleven verses to give you a context of what we're talking about. I love hearing the pages turn. We're going to go, I am the true vine. This is Jesus talking, and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers, and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. Now, before we get into everything he's saying in that text, and we're not going to get to everything he's saying in that text, but I want us to draw attention to how he ends that section. This is about your joy, and I think we could find some common ground there because you are probably about your joy. And Jesus is saying, I got a joy that's better than your joy, and I want to give you some of my joy. And I want your joy to be full because there is a fullness of joy that can only be found in Jesus that you're not going to find anywhere else. And I'm trying to help you have that joy. And there's another aspect in this text that I think should really make us lean in, if not just joy itself. But there's another thing that's been brought up here that should kind of capture our attention, and that is this call to fruitfulness. Look at verse four and five. He says, this abide in me, and I. And you, as the branch, cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. Now, even if you find a little confusion of like, what does that exactly mean, to bear much fruit? You know, well, that's a good thing. Like, we want to do it. We want to have fruitful lives. It's just, well, what do you mean by that? Now there's a little exercise of contrast at the end there, because he says he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me he can do nothing. Now that is a good place to start to realize our dependence on God. Like apart from him you can do nothing. Nothing. Like we need God. But if apart from him we can do nothing, then with him we can do something. We can bear much fruit. We can be productive in our lives. Think of it like this fruit is God empowered results. Like, God did something in my marriage, God did something in my family, God did something in my heart. Like, I couldn't have done this. This was like a work of God that he produced. Like, he did this. You guys ever experienced something like that? Like a growth in your own heart or your family or marriage? Like, oh, God showed up there, right? Yeah. Okay, man, you, we're there. We'll catch on. We really want you to listen to the rest of this message. Okay. Are you thinking of the fruit of the spirit? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self control. Like, these things are like things that the spirit of God produces in you. You can't just muster up more love, but that's a work of God in your life. Now, we can be active and busy. Like, I'm reading my Bible, I'm going to connection group, I'm going to church, I'm serving, I'm doing all these good things. But we don't want to just be active. We want to be fruitful. So how do we do that? How do we become more fruitful? How do we see more God empowered results in our life? Which can seem like a very difficult question to ask because the fruit production is kind of beyond our pay grade. We don't do that. That's a work of God. We can't just make that happen. God does that. He produces the fruit. But just like, you can't make an apple, you can plant a seed, you can water, you can fertilize, you can put it in sunshine. It's like, what are those cultivating works that we can do to see God doing in us what only he could do? What is that stuff? That's what we want to better understand. And if you've been around here long enough, you're kind of like, I know, read my Bible, new Bible reading plan, get prayer guide, do those things. And yes, that's part of it. But I want to point out an aspect of abiding that you may not have considered before. In fact, a lady last service said, I have never heard a message on that. So that's where we're going. Okay. Something that maybe doesn't get talked about a lot, but it's an extremely important part of abiding. That is the issue of pruning. Pruning. And how important pruning is to having a fruitful life. Now, to prune means to cut. And I'm guessing that when it comes to spiritual growth, you don't often think of cutting something. You think of adding something. I'm not doing this. I need to do this. I need to read my bible more. I need to pray more. I need to get involved more. I need to serve more. I need to give more. Like you're always thinking of adding. But what if one of the most helpful things you can do for your own godliness and your own fruitfulness in life is to do less? But how do you decide what to cut? Let's look back at our text. Look at verse three. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Or then look over at verse seven. If you abide in me and my words abide in you. So when it comes to abiding, which is like being connected, remaining close to Jesus, following Jesus, the word plays an essential role. It plays an absolutely essential role. Look at verse four, though. He says, abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. But then you look at verse seven, and he says, if you abide in me and my words abide in you. So which is it? Is it Jesus abiding in you, or is it his words abiding in you? Which one is it? Yes, right. It's both. Like, don't separate those two. To have the word abide in you is to have Christ abide in you. Don't make a distinction between Christ's word and the person of Christ. We make this separation. And don't think you're going to have this close relationship with Christ disconnected from his word. Like, I'm going to have these really passionate worship experiences. I'm going to have these vibrant prayer meetings, and I'm just going to have this close relationship with Christ, not detached from his word. You won't. He's saying, you want to be close to me, you're going to be close to me, connected to my word. This is what kind of drives this relationship. This is how he says it in verse ten. He says this, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love. So just like James, which we're going to get to in a couple of weeks, we'll get back to that book. But you remember it said, don't just be hearers of my word, be doers of it. And now he's saying, don't just know my word, keep my commandments. Like, participate in them, follow them, know them, obey them, observe what I've taught you, follow what I've taught you or act according to what I've taught you. That is the life giving relational closeness that Jesus is talking about. He's like, when you know what I teach and you do what I teach, I'm actively involved in your life, producing the fruit in you. So don't disconnect that. You want to have this close relationship where I'm working in your life, giving you God ordained results and fruit, then you need to know my word. You need to follow my word. And when you do that, that's the connection. We're going to see my power in your life. So what does that have to do with pruning? Look at verse three. Says, already, you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. You're clean because of the word. Now, when you hear that word clean, we often think of like washed or purified, which is an accurate meaning of the word. But another way this word gets used, which is probably more fitting to the context, is a vine dresser would also clean a vine. And how would a vine dresser clean a vine? He would prune it. He would cut away. He would prepare this vine to bear more fruit by cutting away the excess so that it would produce more fruit. So clean here is pruning. And what did that? What did the cleaning? What did the pruning? The word. The word that Jesus taught. So let me read it again already. You are clean. You've been pruned because of the word I've spoken to you. So here's what he's saying. Let God prune you through his word. He's like, how do I know what to cut? He's like, okay, let God prune you through his word. Let the word of God cut away at your cluttered life. Or you can put it this way, let his word show you what is most important and what should be getting the attention and energy in your life. Because pruning is about focusing energy and nutrients. He's using an agricultural illustration that they would get. But we got to get this. If you're going to prune, it's to kind of focus the energy and the nutrients to the right places, getting nutrients to the right places to maximize growth or fruit production. And if the energy and nutrients are too diversified, they're going all different directions. They're diluted and it stunts growth. And this is a hard lesson to learn, maybe, I don't know if I've talked about it here on Sunday morning or not, but I got some fruit trees at our house, we have six peach trees right now, which technically qualifies us as an orchard. So that's my fallback plan. Each is peaches. Maybe I could do some sales right now. We got some peaches. So we love our peach trees. We really have no idea what we're doing, but we planted them. I said, mars, let's grow stuff. But let's grow stuff that can turn into a dessert. Let's just take that route. So we got a lot of peaches. And learning to prune those was really hard. And I would go and just kind of snip a little bit, and I didn't really know what I was doing. And somebody knew they're doing more. It's like, no, you got to really get after that. You got to cut that up. And it's like, you should prune it so much. So in the winter, you could throw a cat through the tree. It's like, well, we had a cat, so we could test that. And that's what it works. But here's what was so hard about pruning the trees. Like, these offshoots would come out and they would have these knobs on them. And I know those knobs are going to turn into blooms, and those blooms are going to turn into peaches. So why would I cut that away? That's going to hurt my crop. And it was so hard. But that's going to be a peach. And I want peaches. Why would I cut that off? That's going to hurt my peaches. So for the first couple of years, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. It's going to be a peach. I want that peach. Right? But here's what I learned. If I don't cut away, those would be peaches. It's going to hurt my other peaches. Like, I may get a lot of peaches, but they're going to be small and not as sweet. So if I want larger peaches that are more sweet, I need to prune. I need to cut away. But pruning is a hard lesson to learn. Ultimately, it's about focusing on what's most important. So what's most important gets the energy and attention and focus that it needs. So if you're going to prune, the first question is, do you know what's most important? Do you know, according to God's word, what should be getting the most energy, nutrients, tension, time and focus in your life? And I said, according to God's word, not like your passions or your desires or your preferences, but according to God's word. Do you know what's most important? This is about being informed by or in tune with or abiding by the word of God. I know what God and his word is calling me to do. I know what it says. I know the priorities I see in it, and it's directing my life. So let me ask you this. Do you know God's word? And you hear that question, and you might think like, I don't know if I can name all the kings of Israel, and I got some passages, but I can't reference them. And you think like trivia. Let me put it this way. Do you know, according to God's word, what God is calling you to do? Now you hear that? And you may think, I don't know. I don't know if I should go to this school or that school. I don't know if I should major in this or that. I don't know if I live in this town or that town. I don't know if I should marry this person or not. It's like, okay, don't overthink it. Part of getting the unknowns right in life is beginning with getting the knowns right in life. Okay? Don't miss that. Part of getting the unknowns right in life are getting the knowns right in life. So what do you know according to God's word? Like, I know God is calling me to this. I know this is what he's directing me to. It's clear in his word. For example, I'll do my own life. I know that I am to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, that he has called me to take up my cross and follow him, and I am to love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. Matthew 22, the great commandment. That is clear. I know I am to be Marcy's husband. You're like, how do you know that it happened? Like, we dressed up, we made some promises, like, that happened, right? I know I am to be a dad to Moses, Johnny and Rudy, like they were born to me, right? I know I'm to be a father in law to Stacy. Like, under God's sovereignty. This happened. I know I am to be a provider in my home and a leader in my household. Genesis one through three, ephesians five. Like, that's clear. I know that I am to be an active, contributing member to a local body of Christ. One corinthians twelve, you have been placed in the body, and everybody has gifts, and we all need to work together for the cause. Of Christ like I know those things in scripture. I think I'm supposed to be a pastor. I'm employed with that so far. I think I'm supposed to teach the word of God. I've gotten some affirmation in that. I think I'm supposed to do it in Cedar Rapids. It's where I currently live. I want to smoke meat ain't wrong. I want to watch football. I want to go on fishing trips in the boundary waters where there's no cell reception. And those aren't wrong. Those are desires that God has given me. But sometimes desires can just grow fast and wild. And sometimes we let our desires determine our priorities. Or let me put it this way, sometimes our desires take more time and energy and focus than they should, even at the neglect of other things I'm called to. And in time, there can just be a lot of branches in your life, a lot of different branches in your life, and they're all competing. They're all saying, give me some time, give me some tension, give me some focus, give me some energy. So do you know what God, according to his word, is calling you to do? Do you know what God, according to his word, is saying? Don't neglect this. Put energy here, focus here, nutrients here. I'd encourage you to write it down. Start off with, what do I know God is calling me to do according to his word, and here's a hint, not going to be that different than my list. I mean, you ain't married to marcy, but maybe you got your own family commitments. Like, you're called to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. You are called to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. You are called. If you're in a family, you have responsibilities as a husband or a wife or a mom or a dad. You are called to be an active, contributing part of a local body of Christ. Like, it's not going to be that different. But write them out. What? Not to your desires or options, but what, according to the God's word, is he clearly calling you to do? And then write out? What do you think he's calling you to do? Well, I think he's calling me to be a teacher or an engineer or a nurse. Like, this is kind of where I'm employed. This is where I found myself. What do you want to do? What are your interests? Not wrong. God gave you those interests. Maybe you're like, I love hunting, I love crossfit, I love music. Whatever those things, like, write them out. Now, here's where pruning comes in, and this is important to know. Pruning, listen to this. Pruning is not about getting rid of bad things. That's repentance. Pruning is about getting rid of good things for the sake of the most important things. Don't miss that. Look at verse two. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. Now it's a different word, being taken away. And pruning, it's not the same if you don't bear fruit like it's being taken away. Like, if it's not fruitful, it's not helpful. If it's not good, don't prune it. Repent of it, get rid of it. But the things that do bear fruit, the good things, those need to be pruned for the sake of more fruit. It's an exercise that needs to happen. Guys, listen. Pruning is about protecting fruitful production in our priorities or our God given priorities. And since God is the one producing the fruit, how do we focus our energy in what he's most clearly called us to do? And if we want to be fruitful in what matters most? And doing too much hurts the fruitfulness in what matters most. And you got to prune because things grow over time. Life gets more complicated. It gets more cluttered. There's more things demanding your time and attention. And it's hard. It's hard to, like, every now and then, Marcy says, we need to go through your clothes in the closet. And it's like, I haven't worn that in over a year. She's like, get rid of. It's like, but I might like. Who knows when that occasion will come up? It is hard to kind of get rid of things. But if you're always adding and never subtracting, that's not good for a fruitful life. We have to learn to prune. If you are adding but you're never subtracting, you're going to malnourish what matters most. You ever seen a malnourished dog going to wander in the neighborhood? You could see the rib cages, and he's just like, this is not healthy. You ever seen those commercials? A malnourished child, kind of a bloated belly? You're like, you'd know something's wrong. Have you ever seen a malnourished marriage? I have couple in conflict. And you're just like. You have totally neglected this relationship. There's no energy. There's no nutrients. There's no time going to this. Have you ever seen a malnourished family? I have. You never can sit down and have dinner together. You're just running everywhere. You talk more to your son about his homework than his soul. There's just no time and energy and focus going to that. Have you ever seen a malnourished church? Just full of consumers kind of coming and going, but they're so busy, they never pour into it. They never gets any of their time and energy and focus. You ever seen a malnurse soul? It's like, always have time for that Netflix show, but you've just never found time to crack your bible. It's just shriveling up. And, guys, it's not that you don't care about those things. It's just in the midst of everything else going on, they're not getting the focus they should. It's like, I would like to be in a connection group. We're just crazy busy. I would like to just sit together as a family sometime. Church. We just can never get there on time. We got too much going on. Or I'd like to have dinner together. We're just always going in every different direction. Or I'd like to read my bible more. I get up early, and then by the time I get home, I'm tired. I just don't have time for it. And what matters most slowly starves. Or at least it's not what it could be like. Maybe it produces fruit. It's just small and not very sweet. Is that what you want? Yeah, my marriage is fine. Not that sweet. Our church is okay. It's just not what it could be. Our family is doing all right. It's just not really that sweet. Listen, we are finite humans, and we have limited capacity. Limited time, limited energy. And I'm telling you this because I love you. And it doesn't seem like anyone else is telling you this. You can't do it all. You can't have it all. You can't do it all. You are not made that way. But we live in a world that constantly reinforces. Yeah, you can. You can do it all. You can kill it at work, you can kill it at home. You can do all your hobies. You can do it all. You can have it all. But it's not true. And it leaves no room for what John is telling us about the necessity of pruning for the fruitfulness of our lives. Pruning should be a spiritual practice in our lives, and we need God's word to know what to cut. We need God's word to know what to cut. And sadly, pruning is not a very practice, spiritual practice. We add, we add, we add. Our life gets more complicated, more complex, and we never prune. We never cut. And stay with me. Now, maybe more than immorality and sinful actions, what is most harmful to our fruit production as christians is just busyness. It's not necessarily that you're doing anything wrong. You're just doing way too much. And what's most important is not getting the time and energy and focus that it requires. And you have never practiced pruning for the sake of fruitfulness in your life. I think we're often victims of asking the wrong questions. We tend to ask, is it wrong? Is it wrong to do this? Is it wrong to take this job? Is it wrong to get involved in this club? Is it wrong to do this? And it's like, no, maybe. I mean, it's just when you go so black and white, you're asking the wrong questions. Remember, pruning is not about getting rid of bad things. That's repentance. Pruning is about getting rid of good things for the sake of the most important things. So rather than asking, is it wrong, we should be asking, is it wise, is it worth it? Is this going to help and enhance what I'm most clearly called to? Or is this going to hinder and take away from what I'm most clearly called to? Is this going to be an extension of my calling? Or is this going to come at the expense of my calling? Right. If I wanted to coach little league football, that could potentially come at the expense of what I'm most clearly called to. If I'm going to coach my son's little league football team, that could be an extension of what I'm most clearly called to. But you can't do it all. And things take time and energy and focus, and they compete. We have to understand this. So, for example, think of a tree. Got this fun illustration and a laser pointer. So we're about to have some fun now. All right, you got the root system that takes nutrients to the branches that produce the fruit, and we want a fruitful life. And if you think of these branches as kind of the things God has most clearly called us to, in his word, we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. We're to have an active, personal relationship with our God. We are called to live in family units. If you are a husband or a wife or a mom or a dad. You have a God given call to provide nourishment development in your family. We are clearly called to be an active, contributing member to a local body of Jesus Christ in the church. Those are things we're called to. And all those things take nutrients, time, energy, focus. Now here's where pruning goes wrong. You can't chop any of the main branches. You can't say, like, for the sake of my family, we never go to church. That's not being faithful what God's called you to. Nor can you say, I'm so busy at church. We're at something every night of the week. I got no time for my family. That's not being faithful what God's called you to? Or you can't say like, well, achieve my family time and all my church activities, I never have time to actually read my Bible and pursue relationship with God. You're like, is that possible? Yeah. Matthew seven, depart from me. I never knew you. It's like, well, they were really busy doing a lot of stuff. I was in the nursery and given and on board doing all that. So you can't cut any of these main branches, nor can you use pruning as an excuse for laziness to just not do much. It's not about laziness, it's about zeal in the right direction. So if this is the dynamic you have now, we need to filter. How do we make decisions when it comes to pruning? Let's say a man was offered a promotion, a new job, and this new job was going to require a lot of travel. Is that wrong for him to take? That? Maybe seems to be a more simplistic question if it's just right or wrong. I don't know. Maybe a more helpful question would be like, was it wise? Is it worth it? Would this new job mean that his travel means that he can't ever see his son's soccer game? Would it mean that he's never home for dinner to eat with his family? Would it mean that it takes so much time and energy away from him that he can't be involved in his local church? Would it mean early mornings and late nights where he finds himself never being able to read his Bible because it's going to take some time and energy? You just have to ask, what is it taking it from? Or let's say a mom is trying to figure out if she should go back to work. Is that wrong? Maybe. Seems like a very simplistic question. I think maybe a more helpful question is like, is it wise? Is it worth it? How many kids do you have? How old are they? What job are you going back to? How flexible is it? Is this new job mean that you're not going to be home in time to see your kids when you get home from school? That you're never going to be able to eat dinner together? That you're going to be so tired at the end of the week that you can't serve at church? That you're so exhausted that you lost any kind of prayer life? Because it's going to take some time and energy. The question is, what is it taking it from? Or let's say your 7th grader was asked to be on the traveling team. That's exciting. Is it wrong? I don't know. Maybe. I think asking if it's wrong or right is not a helpful question. More helpful question would be, is it wise? Is it worth it? I don't. When are the practices? When are the tournaments? How often do they practice? Does being on this team mean that they practice every Wednesday night and you can never be a part of a youth group and build community in a local church? Does it mean practices go late where you can never sit down and have dinner together as a family? I don't know. Because it's going to take energy. Just what is it taking energy from? Is it wrong to play video games 4 hours a day? Yes, it is. I don't know. Like, Paul doesn't address PlayStation. We don't get that answers. It's not a helpful question to say, is it right or is it wrong? Because as soon as you say like, well, it's not wrong, you justify it. When it may not be wise, it may not be worth it because it's going to take energy. You just have to say, what is it taking energy from? So it's like, yeah, I can do it and it's not wrong. And it's like, well, but you're never able to sit together as a family. You're exhausted. You can't contribute in your church. You have no time to read your Bible. I think it might be wrong, but that means for everybody. Because maybe it's like, no, I have capacity for this. But if you never prune, you will affect the fruitfulness of your life. What are these decisions doing to energy distribution, to what matters most according to God? Because like it or not, pruning is an important part of fruitfulness. And if you are trying to do too much, you are going to malnourish what matters most here's the pruning principle I want to leave you with. Consistently eliminate good things for the sake of the most important things, and let God's word determine the most important things so consistently, on a regular basis, because things grow and you need to come back and say, what good things do we need to eliminate? They're not bad. They're not wrong. They're good. But for the sake of the most important things, what do we need to cut back on? And do we let God's word determine what the most important things are? So here's a helpful question to ask yourself at least once a year. I think tomorrow is a new year, so today is a great time to ask this question. Is there anything I need to eliminate for the sake of something more important? Is there anything I need to eliminate for the sake of something more important? That's some questions you can ask yourself. Are we able to sit down and have dinner together as a family? He's like, not very often. Why not? And what could we cut back on to value that? Am I able to serve and contribute in my local church? No. Okay, why not? What can I cut back on in order to do that? Am I able to daily be in the word of God? No. My day is crazy. Okay, why not? And what could I cut back on to do that? So is there anything I need to eliminate for the sake of something more important? And maybe, let me give you a word of caution. Maybe you look at everything that's demanding your time and attention and energy, and you lay out your calendar and you're super type a and you're super organized. You're like, I figured it out. We can do it, all right, because piano is on Tuesday and church is on Wednesday and soccer is on Thursday. And my job only asked me to travel on Monday. And you just got it figured out. But could it be that just because you can do it doesn't mean it's not still taking time and energy and nutrients? And if you had the courage to prune, might the most important things become more fruitful in your life if you could give more to it? Guys, abiding is so important. Apart from Christ, we can do nothing. Now. He doesn't say, apart from Christ. You can't be busy. You can be busy, but you can't be fruitful. You can't see those God empowered results in your life. Abiding is so important. But if you think abiding is just reading your bible and praying and doing more spiritual disciplines, then you are missing it and you will feel more busy, but less fruitful. Don't miss this, guys. To abide is not just adding spiritual disciplines to an already busy and cluttered life. To abide is not just adding spiritual disciplines to an already busy and cluttered life. To abide in Christ is to simplify your life in order to give more to what God has most clearly called us to. It's to simplify your life to give more to what God has most clearly called us to. So in your relationship with God, in your relationships, in your family, in the activity and the dynamics of your church, you are most fruitful. But let's take it a step further, because church, the ultimate goal is not fruitfulness. It's not about how do we just become more fruitful. The ultimate goal is not fruitfulness. That's just a byproduct of being close to Jesus. And being close to Jesus is better than that. Job promotion is better than the traveling team is better than those things the other world offers us. Because what do those things offer us that are kind of competing for our time and attention? This is going to make you happy. This is going to give you value. This is going to give you fulfillment. But what is Jesus offering us here? Joy. His joy. A joy this world can't offer. So here's the challenge. When you look at your life, do you treasure Jesus and closeness to Jesus enough that you're willing to cut? And I'm not even telling you what to cut. I'm telling you, look at your life, and for the sake of your closeness to Jesus Christ, what pruning do you need to do? And if you're not willing to cut anything for the closeness of Jesus, you have an idol, and it will kill fruit production in your life. Maybe not outright. Maybe you'll still get some small peaches that just aren't that sweet. But if we would treasure closeness to Jesus, I can't explain to you the sweetness to be found in him. And he came and died so that we would have a relationship with him. And when we take communion, what we're saying back to Christ is, I want you. More than anything this world has thrown at me, I want you. And if that would be the cry of our heart church, then this is going to be a church that you love being a part of. Let's pray. Father, I pray that you would open our eyes to the glory of Jesus Christ, that we would treasure you more than anything this world has to offer. And as we turn our attention to the sacrifice that you made, that your body was hung on a cross your blood was shed in order to redeem us and reconcile us back to a right relationship with our creator. May our participation in communion. When we eat of this cracker and drink of this juice, may we be proclaiming not only that we need you for salvation, but we want you for life. And we want the joy that only you can offer. Pray this in your name. Amen.