Ezekiel | Week 4 | Bill Bush | Full Service

That's kinda what we're gonna see today as we continue in Ezekiel. Today, we're gonna see this big idea. God will prune you so you don't ruin you. And and what that means is as we've looked at Ezekiel, it's this message from this guy that's become a prophet, a pastor basically,

to all these people that are living in a exile in Babylon. They got exiled and carried off into captivity in this foreign land, and they're far away from the homeland of Israel, their promised land, the land that was given to them, the temple, they were the people of God. They got dragged away, and they had these false teachers saying, don't worry. God would never let Jerusalem fall. He would never let the temple be destroyed because we're God's people, so we won't be here very long. And God says, no. You need to tell them they're gonna be there a while. And, yes, Israel is falling. As a matter of fact, the people in Israel thought the the ones that were taken away were the unfaithful ones, and they were divvying up their land, thinking we will never fall and we'll be okay. And God says, no. You're basically the remnant. I protected you. Even though you went off to this dark land, in in this land that seemed like your life was over, why would God let this happen? This was an act of redemption.

It was an act of pruning. And a lot of people that have stayed in Israel, they are rebellious and they will not listen, and they are heading towards their ruin.

And so what we have to see is as we walk through life, they both went through the same thing. The Babylonians attacked, the Babylonian taken over, all this stuff. Same scenario. But for some, it's it's it's it's they're gonna be God's gonna use it to prune. For others, it's a path to being to ruin. Destruction. Discipline.

Destruction. Same things happening. And I think as followers of Christ, sometimes we're confused because we look a pruning can look like an attack. It can look like destruction. What makes the difference? It makes the difference on where you're at. Which side are you on?

Are you trusting God or you're not? Do you know Jesus or you don't? Because if you're not, you're on a path to ruin. If you do trust God, God will use those tough times, he'll even send the pruning shears. And you've got to decide, am I gonna be like my friend Cliff?

I'm willing to ask God the tough question. I'm willing to look at my life and evaluate where am I at? And am I gonna let God grow me through this and help me produce? Because what we're gonna see today we were meant to produce fruit. We were meant to live a life that God made us for and that Jesus died to give us.

The question is, what are you in that? So what we're gonna do is we're switching over to the the section of Ezekiel I just wanna overview. I'm only gonna read a short little passage out of this because it's chapter 12 through chapter 24. It's a pretty big section, but here's how you summarize the section. It's a lot of

wash, rinse, repeat. Wash, rinse, repeat. It's kinda saying the same thing. Because what's happening is he switches now. Ezekiel's message switches from object lessons that he was doing to share these these prophecies to now he switched to more analogies

and parables, kinda the way I like to teach, in letting the Israelites know here is the case that God has against you. Basically, he's a prosecuting attorney now, laying out that this is why it is fair and just and why God is allowing Jerusalem and the temple to be destroyed.

And and he uses all these analogies like unfaithful spouse. All of these things are happening. I wanna look at one example

that actually we're gonna then turn to the New Testament because it's an example that's carried throughout scripture. Jesus actually uses the same example, and it comes to this idea of pruning. It comes to this idea of of productive versus unproductive vines. And how does that work?

So in chapter 14, I'm gonna start, then I'm gonna read chapter 15. But in chapter 14, verse 22 through the end of this chapter, kinda sums up what this whole section's about.

When he says this, he goes he's talking about all the destruction that's gonna happen, but he says in verse 22, yet there will be survivors. So he doesn't even wipe out allow everybody that's in Jerusalem to be wiped out. He says there will be survivors and they will come here to join you as exiles in Babylon.

You will see with your own eyes how wicked they are, and then you will feel better about what I have done to Jerusalem. When you meet them and see their behavior, you will understand that these things are not being done to Israel without cause. I, the sovereign Lord, have spoken.

So you're see their attitudes. You're gonna see what's going on. And you know what you're gonna understand? Now you know why I let this get destroyed. But you're also gonna understand the blessing of you're not the cursed ones by me sending you to here. It seemed hard. It tore your life apart. It was brutal.

But it was also redemptive. And so he's saying, understand that. So then chapter 15 is the one it's a little short chapter. Kinda gives us one of these parables, analogies kind of thing of what he's saying of why is he allowing these things to happen. He

says, then this message came to me from the Lord. Son of man, how does a great vine compare to a tree? Is a vine's wood as useful as the wood of a tree? Can its wood be used for making things like pegs to hang up pots and pans? No.

It can only be used for fuel. And even as fuel, it burns too quickly. Vines are useless both before and after being put into the fire. So he's saying is when you take wood, there's trees, there's wood. A tree when it's dead, when you cut it down, at least can produce a good fire. Vines that aren't producing anything,

you can't do anything with the wood. They're just sticks. And he says the only thing they're good for is for a fire, but they're not even a good fuel. They can't burn long. So basically saying the only thing that's good for a vine that is not producing anything is kindling. That's all it's useful for.

And he says this is the analogy. Says, and this is what the sovereign lord says. The people of Jerusalem are like grape vines growing amongst the trees in the forest. Since they are useless, I have thrown them on the fire to be burned. And I will see to it that if they escape one fire, they'll fall into another.

He says, when I turn against them, you will know that I am the Lord. So what he's saying is, if you don't learn, if you stay dead, you can escape one, you escape it, it's just gonna keep happening. And you know, a lot of us, some of us in this room, and have that's the way you've been living your life.

God's allowing one thing after the other, and it's basically wash, rinse, repeat. You're kinda the living definition of insanity. Trying to do the same thing in the same way and expect a different result. It ain't gonna work.

And he says, and I will make the land desolate because my people have become unfaithful to me. I, the sovereign Lord, have spoken. So he's saying, hey, there's reason. And he compares it to

a vine that's unproductive. Well, Jesus talks about the vine too.

But before we turn there, want you to know that there's hope in all this. Why does God allow this? For one group, it's redemption. For the others, it's ruin. It's God wants to prune you so you don't ruin you. Then if you put faith in Christ, you gotta allow the pruning. You gotta be willing to look at that.

Because what does God do in this scenario that brings hope? What does he do when he lets all the trees be knocked down and cuts back? If you look in chapter 17, I just wanna read a couple verses. It's another parable, another example,

but he sums this up. I just wanna read verse 22 through here because he he gives a prophecy of what he's gonna do in all of this. He says, so this is what the sovereign Lord says. I will take a branch from the top of a tall cedar. These giant trees, they think they're all great, gonna knock them down. And I will plant it on the top of Israel's highest mountain. It will become a majestic cedar, sending forth its branches and producing seed. Birds of every sort will nest in it, finding shelter in the shade of its branches. And all the trees will know that it is I, the Lord, who cuts the tall tree down and makes the short tree grow tall.

It is I who makes the green tree wither, but gives the dead tree new life. I, the Lord, have spoken and will do what I said.

You see, that's a prophecy. He's gonna take a branch, a little piece of this remnant that's gonna produce this giant tree that the illustration, the allegory says, it's gonna produce shade for all kinds of birds, meaning all kinds of people. It's a it's a prophecy of Jesus.

From the remnant I saved is gonna come the savior, Jesus. And from that, I'm gonna grow this new thing. I'm gonna plant a new thing. And birds from all over the world, every tie tribe and tongue, every nation

is gonna come to know me, which is what the mission of Israel is supposed to be, but now I'm gonna make this happen. Out of all of this destruction is redemption. It's gonna come from it. And then he ends this with, I, the sovereign Lord, have spoken and I will do what I said.

And once again, those are those phrases that he says that depending on which side of the table, which side of the fence you're on, that is either incredibly encouraging or very threatening. You know, if God's saying, I will do what I said,

and you are on that part of I am an unproductive vine that doesn't wanna listen to what God says, that's a threat. You're gonna be destroyed. And he promises it. You fight God, you lose. You surrender to God, you win. And he's saying, I make this promise.

Well, if I'm trying to be faithful, I'm trusting in Jesus, I'm trusting the Gospel, hearing God say I will do what I promise to do should be the most encouraging thing ever.

But then you're saying, well, even some of that tough talk, it's old testament God. He became nice in the new testament. It changed. Well, the problem is if you read the whole new testament, initially the letters where Paul, they're trying to deal with false teachings and weird things in church,

Almost every one of them is dealing with the two extremes we take in theology. And it's something to do with the way we're wired as human beings that we we don't understand the right response. We keep taking the extremes.

The one extreme that is fighting, which is the problem they had in the old testament, was legalism. They took the commands of God, the 10 commandments, and they produced when we say the law, there is the true law, the words of the Old Testament. But they had their law to live by, that they had made up 660 something

laws, like little rules and regulations, so they can feel like they've actually obeyed the 10 commandments.

So when they talk about that's legalism. That was basically, we do all the rules and we jump through all these hoops, and then God loves us. So some people, when you hear what it's saying here, when God says, hey, I am the Lord God of the you think, well, if I don't do all the rules, I'm gonna be destroyed. You will be if you think you can

be live by doing all the rules, because you're gonna miss the love. So some people, you take the legalism approach. You say, well, I better do what god says or he's gonna send me to hell and he's not gonna love me anymore. That's one extreme.

The other extreme is usually reacting to that. No. Jesus said he died for our sins, and if I profess, you know, with my mouth that Jesus is Lord, I'll be saved. Yes. We are saved 100% by grace through faith. I put my faith in Christ. But we think that means

pray a prayer, say I believe in Jesus' love, and then go on living the way I wanna live. Paul talks about the love rooms. He's like, when people are trying to understand this grace thing, they're like, so if there's grace when I sin,

why don't we just sin more? Listen to God less and get more grace. And he says, may it never be, Which actually is really close to an English translation of hell no. I'm not kidding. It's pretty much that's what he's saying. That is not what I'm saying. The gospel is you live from his love.

It doesn't mean you take the love and then let it live however you want. In other words, what the what he's saying in the old testament, the same thing. When you have faith, when you know God's love, it will change you. So the question is, if you don't change,

it's not God stop loving you, it's you're a dead branch that has never been a part of the tree. Just because you come to church doesn't make you a follower of God anymore than if you sit in your garage makes you a car.

And so that's kind of the point. Okay? There's the two extremes. The gospel is you need to know my love, but my love if you remain in it is gonna change you. And there is a battle in that. We're not always perfect. We kinda fail, but but at least we're in the battle.

But if I consistently sit there and go, I know what I believe and I'm gonna ignore God and do this and this, you're you're gonna you you might not have a relationship with him at all. You might be like those in Jerusalem. We're good. We have the temple. We go to we've got but they were heading towards their ruin

because they they wouldn't let God prune them. So we're gonna flip all the way to John chapter 15. Go from Ezekiel 15 to John 15. And Jesus picks up this vine illustration

and explains it because we're not stuck in Ezekiel. We're not in that time. We have the whole gospel. We have the rest of the word. We know more of what God's trying to say here. And Jesus lays it out here. He says, I'm gonna read the whole up to verse 19. I'm gonna make three points out of it.

I am the true grapevine and my father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit,

and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit, so they'll produce more. So what did he say? If there is branches that never produce fruit, they're not they're dead. They never really were a living part of the tree, And he cuts them off, and they're burned.

But those that do produce some fruit, he wants to prune it, cut it back so it'll produce even more fruit. That's the idea of discipleship, of growing to be more like Jesus. He goes, you have already been pruned and purified by the message I've given you. Him dying for us is what purifies us. His love first. He goes,

you have already been pruned by the I already read that. Verse four, remain in me and I'll remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Once again, the fruit is produced by me, but you have to be connected to me.

He goes, yes, I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who remain in me and I in them will produce much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. So you don't have to keep saying, I'm the one that does them, but he still has our choices, but we have to stay connected to him.

He goes, anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want and it'll be granted. Wow. Hold that point because most of this room is misinterpreting that.

When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my father. I have loved you even as the father has loved me. Remain in my love. He's taken aback to it. It starts with you need to know his love.

When you obey my commands so he's saying it says in another part of John in in one of the letters other letters he wrote, he says, we can love because he first loved us. So he goes, you remain in his love. You know his love, it now enables you to love back. It says, when you obey my commandments, you remain in my love.

When you do what I say, it shows that you know my love. He goes, just as I obey my father's commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so you will be filled with my joy. That brings joy. We seek happiness and we miss joy. Yes, your joy will overflow.

This is my commandment. Love each other in the same way I've loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for your one's friends. So he says we need to love in a way that's sacrificial.

You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves because a master doesn't confide in his slaves. Now you're my friends since I have told you everything the father told me. You didn't choose me, I chose you. And I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit so that the father will give you whatever you ask for using my name.

This is my command, love each other. And then the last two verses I wanna read is eighteen nineteen. It says, if the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belong to it, but you're no longer a part of the world. I chose you to come out of that world so it hates you.

So there you go. So he uses the vine and he has some tough talk in there. But we understand it more now. Faith means I have remained in his love. I know his love. It starts with his love, but then I need to live from it.

Legalism is living for it. License is just taking it and abusing it and assuming it. Like, I'm saved and it doesn't matter how I live. The gospel is I know his love and that saves me, but now I step out in faith and I live from that love and it produces fruit. I remain in the love.

I live the life he died to gave me to give me. And sometimes we battle it, sometimes we don't. So if you're not listening to him, it's one of two things. Either you're buying into a lie and you need to be encouraged to snap out of it, or you're not a Christian at all. And you are a dried up vine that has no fruit

and you're heading to ruin. And it's my job to give you this message. Otherwise, I'm not listening to what God asked me to do. And it's hard for me to say the tough things because God also wired me to want to be liked. I don't think there's anyone else on the planet that wants to be liked, just me.

But the truth is if I don't give you this warning, I don't love you. If I was a doctor that had a cure for cancer and you had cancer, and I was nice to you and told you things you like to hear, but never told you what the cure for cancer is, I wouldn't love you.

If I just told you the things that make you happy, but didn't told you the things that lead to joy, I would fail you.

So what are the three things he says here? Three things that we need to be challenged with. What does it do? What did what did he say there to remain in his love? What do we have to do as we live from his love and walk this out?

Means if I have faith, the first thing is I need to respond to his word.

To respond to his word. Look what verse seven says. Go back to verse seven again. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want and it will be granted. He goes on to say, if you love me, you'll do what I say. So I need to respond to his word. When God says, here's what I need you to do as disciples. Here's what I need you to do to be the church,

to be a part of it. Because if you are a Christian, it's not a solo endeavor. You are to be a part of a body, a church. What does it mean? What does the bible say we're supposed to do in that? He says, I need to respond to that. And he says, if you do, and you can ask for whatever you want, and it'll be granted.

Now people go, so that means if I just play the good boy or girl, I can get what I really want? No. It's not saying that at all. And that's a lot of you, the game you're playing. I come, I try to be good enough. I try to go, okay, God, I'm gonna do what you said so I can get what I really want.

And what you really want is something you think will make you happy. So I do this, so you'll give me that. The thing is he says, no. The thing I'm asking you to do is where the joy comes from. You find joy, and joy is different than happiness. Happiness is controlled by your circumstances.

So you want you can live a life chasing happiness. And you can even try to live the Christian life thinking, I play this game with God, so I do this so I can get happy. And you're gonna miss out.

Because the problem is happiness is always controlled by the circumstance. So what happens when you're the remnant and God drags you off into Babylon to grow you and prune you and you're it's you're not happy about it. So then you're mad at God. And then you walk away. You're frustrated.

And even if you do a great job of surrounding and doing everything you know how to do in your own life to pursue happiness, you live in a fallen broken world where other people will harsh your mellow. Where life itself,

things like pandemics will come along. It doesn't matter what you're doing in your life, you're gonna have things on the outside that are gonna make you unhappy. So your life is gonna be like this, fleeting moments of happiness with moments of despair and frustration. But God says, if you respond to my word,

I will give you joy.

And I promise that you can ask for whatever you need and I will grant it to you. You know what he's saying is I will give you whatever you need to do what I've asked you to do. It's not you do some things and then I'll grant to you the thing you really wanted to make you happy.

Because he doesn't want us to have happiness. He wants us to have joy. And the bible says joy is a peace that transcends all understanding. That means no matter what the circumstance is, I can be surprisingly filled with joy and hope. Even though everything around me looks terrible.

I don't know about you, but I think I would rather have joy.

And we keep thinking happiness. I'm gonna find that one thing that's gonna make me feel what I'm really craving is joy.

And you're never gonna get it unless you respond to his word. Be faithful to what he's asked you to do. And if you think I can't do that because I don't have whatever it is you don't have, He said, you can ask for what you need and you will get it. But

be ready when I said to be able to ask the tough question and be pruned. The answer sometimes is I already gave it to you but you're using it on something else.

Sometimes he's already given you what you need but you're not using it for what he asked. And that's the real problem. That's the pruning. That's what the Israelites were doing. They were taking all the blessings of God and using it for themselves

instead of using it for what they're supposed to. In other word, to ask for what you want and have it to be granted for your plan. I love to use this phrase. Write this, put on your refrigerator or your bathroom mirror. If you want what God wants, you always get what you want. If

you want what God wants in your life, you will always always get what you want. That's the key. That's the key. Paul said it this way, I've learned the the secret to contentment, wanting what I have. That's basically

what he says. The secret to contentment is not always wanting something different, it's to learn to be content and want what you already have. Instead of, this is alright, I can't wait till I get that.

So respond to God's word. And that leads right into the second thing, is we need to reach out with love. Verse 12 again, look what he says. He says, this is my commandment. Love each other in the same way I've loved you. And he goes on to say, laying down your life. We're supposed to love each other sacrificially.

And it's funny. He says, respond to my word, and then he almost says, and this is probably the number one thing I need you to respond. Step number one, love each other. And you need to love the way I have loved you. The way I've loved you is relationally and completely and sacrificially.

I've taken of myself and denied myself things to give to you. I've actually sacrificed for you. And you know what he's talking about each other? He's talking about Christians. He's talking about the church.

Part of our mission is we go reach new people that need to become a part of this. We're called to share the gospel. We're called to go to the world who God loved and and and teach show them the love of Christ. The primary way he said to do it is John even goes on to say, they will know you're a Christian by your love.

Love of each other. They need to see that we care, that we love our church, that we really do love our church. But the problem is when you say you love your church, what are you saying? Are you saying you love the show you get when you show up on Sunday? Or are you saying my love my church is I show up for my church?

Not just show up at a church service, I show up for the church to be the church.

Because to love each other the way Christ called us love, most of us have so watered down our level of what we think love is that what you call relationship goals, what you would like to have in your marriage, God says we should have for each other sitting in this room. We need to be willing to sacrifice.

And here's where it's kinda simple. It's it's it's very simple when God says love. Love is an action. It's a choice. It's not a feeling. It produces feelings, but it's a choice.

And there's some real there's so many one anothers of what God says, if you're a follower of mine, if you're gonna be a part of the church, the body of Christ, it's not this building.

People are putting on social media, the church isn't a building. And it's really a roundabout excuse to say, I don't have to go be a part of a church. That's hooey. Because first of all, no real Christian church, no real pastor would say this building is the church.

We are the church. Those of us that know Christ that call this home, we are the body of Christ. It just makes more sense to meet in a building when we gather. That's a smokescreen to buy into your excuse to say I can go it alone. I don't need to sacrifice and love others.

And if you look at scripture, it's kind of simple. And in our culture, even what the Bible says over and over again, you need to sacrifice. And the number the two ways that we sacrifice the most is our time and our money. We are called to give of our time to serve and our finances to

allow the kingdom to move forward. We're called to honor God in that by loving each other in that. So do you love your church?

And if you say you do

and you've been a Christian for now if you're new, I'm not talking to you. If you're still checking the Christian thing, yeah. And I I think you get it. You get it. Because you know in your world if I decide I'm going all in, I'm joining in with an organization, I go, I'm in with this, you know that you're probably gonna be expected that I should jump in.

I'm not talking to I'm talking to those of you that are sitting here that have been in the church for years that you think you're a Christian because you know lots of bible. You can even critique how accurate my sermons were, but you sit here and you don't use your spiritual gift, you're not actively serving in the church, and you don't financially give.

You may tip God, but you do not have an intentional plan to give of your first fruits to God. You just won't. And here's the deal, if that's you and you say you love God and you love the church, I'm just shoot the messenger. If you think that you are a mature Christian and maybe even a Christian and you refuse to do that,

you're a liar. You're a liar and you need me to tell you that because you are heading towards ruin. First of all, you're never gonna experience the joy of what it really means to follow Christ. That's best case scenario. Worst case scenario, you're fooling yourself. You're not a Christian at all.

Now, don't take the legalistic I'm not saying do it and then God loves you. I'm saying if you say you're a Christian and you have all these excuses and you won't just do the two most basic things to love each other. You need to get alone and say why do I refuse to obey God on this?

You need to ask why. What do I not understand about his love? And maybe it's not an issue of remaining his love, it's an issue that you've never truly accepted his love. You don't understand what it means for Jesus to have died on the cross for you.

Because if you understand that and understand that you can trust him with your whole eternity and what he did for you, and now you know that he made you and was willing to die to redeem you, you can't trust him with your time or money? That's kinda ridiculous if you think about it. It indicates there's a disconnect.

And for some you are believers, just need to get better connected. Some it might point out you're not a believer at all.

It's that simple. Do you love it? Are you going to do it? And I think here's the deal.

Every time I've had to challenge our church body this way, most new people get it.

People in here that are frustrated right now are freaked out is because you've complicated your faith. You've made some convoluted plan on how you do things, how you live out your faith that makes you feel like I don't have to do that and how dare you tell me to do that. You're the one that's mad.

And every time I share this, a group of you gets it. And when the joy hits, you come back and you thank me. Some of you will leave, which creates more room anyways.

Some of you weirdly enough will just keep coming and taking it over and over again as if you're like, I'm gonna fight you and I'm just gonna dig in and ignore you for years.

As someone who loves you, I am warning you. That's never gonna work. It's never the right way to go. You're gonna miss the joy and some of you might be missing it so much you were never connected to the love at all and you're heading to a place called hell by your own choice. And we have to understand that

and I'm loving enough to tell you that. And you know why we struggle with that? Those of you that are struggling, because you've complicated.

You've done the same thing. There's like, we made all these rules and they did what they took the law. The law of the 10 commandments were supposed to show that you can't do the 10 commandments

on your own. You can't earn God's love. We need to accept his love and let the his spirit, now that we know that he did, his power help us to live that out. But if you make all these extra rules, all these extra systems,

they made this to feel like they were doing it. Some of you have made some convoluted idea of faith. We've over complicated the simplicity of the gospel and what God's asked us to do. We make it too complicated.

More complicated than needs to be. Because you know what? God's love will never truly comprehend how wide and high and deep it is, but we also it's enormously simple. But we don't see it that way. We've made this complex thing to protect us from actually just trusting the simplicity. For example,

in the in the room I have my office in the back here that I wait for to to come out here, and it's my office during the week.

I have two TVs mounted to the wall since we built the building. One was supposed to do something else, but it's never it's useless. It's not used for that. The other one puts up on the screen the service and even has the little schedule of what's up next. So so I know, uh-oh, there's one more song. I gotta, you know, go to the bathroom one last time before I come out here. You know, and and and and and that I need. But the problem is they're the same TV, same type of TV. There's one remote. So if I sit back and if I and I push to turn on, I turn them both on. So I got the one I need and this useless one that has this obnoxious bright light that you don't want on.

So for two years, what I've realized I have to do is I have to walk up and and and do this little dance. I get up there and get next to the one TV, turned away from the other, and point the remote right at the right angle, right at where the sensor is, and get that one to go on without the other one going on.

And sometimes it don't work, and then all of sudden, I've had a few times I'm trying to do it. The other one went on and this one did. And I'm like, what is going But it's just this this dance I do every week.

Well, last week, I said, oh, I didn't turn the TV on. I didn't know what's going on. My my guy that was back there with me goes, hey, I got it. He picks it up. He's sitting over on the couch, and he goes to his go, no. Don't do it. He pushed it and they both went on. And I go, no. This is no. You

gotta do this thing. I'll show you. It's kinda convoluted, but here you go. I come over and I go, now I'm gonna have to kinda point right here. I get this angle and I gotta get it just right to shut the useless one off so I can see the right one.

And right as I go like this, I happen to just look straight ahead off my shoulder and right at my height level, right between the two TVs on the walls where they're both plugged in.

If someone around you didn't laugh, explain how electricity works to them. For

two years, I've done this convoluted remote dance, angling, trying to get it right to make it work. After two years, I finally go, pulled the useless plug, tucked it behind the TV. Now I can sit wherever I want. Turn on the right one. I'm not bothered by the useless one.

Having that useless one plugged in was distracting me, causing time, making it harder, convoluted.

So many of us sitting in this room have done that with your faith, and you've been doing it so long you've gotten used to it. So you have your convoluted reasons on why you don't serve and why you don't give and why you don't love sacrificially the church you're supposed to be a part of.

When it's really simple. The gospel is very deep and complex. We'll never truly understand the true depth of it, but we can experience the simplicity of it. Unplug the useless and plug in the useful. Plug into Jesus and unplug the useless part.

Most of you, the reason you can't do what he says to do to simply love is you are plugged into too many useless things that are shining a bright light and distracting you. That's the simple truth,

and that's the choice you need to make. And we are in a world now that we are, our culture of church now is we are increasingly in Babylon. You need to make a decision as a Christian. It's time to step up.

I need everyone who's a Christian in this church to love their church the way God asked us to love one another. And if you think you if you are believe you're a Christian and have heard this a million times and are still saying I will not do that, I need you to leave.

Go find a church that's empty, where they have plenty of seats and you can sit there as long as you want because maybe it's only someplace else you're gonna actually hear the holy spirit. I just maybe the way I'm doing it isn't getting to you. That's what we need. And here's the cool thing is,

the joy is on the other side of that scary decision. We know, you probably taught your kids this, you believe this, what is always on the other side of hard? Something better than what's on this side. Why do we believe that about everything else than just trusting God's love when he asks us to do something?

You know why? Because you believe lies. The enemy has their TV plugged into you and it's nice and bright and distracting, shows happiness all the time, that you miss the joy.

And it is difficult, it is hard, that's what he says at the end. The last thing is remember it will be hard. It is hard, it is scary. For some of you, I'm not trying to just punch us to destroy us. I'm trying to prune us. I'm trying to bring the word of God that prunes us. You understand? I love you guys. I'm doing this. It's painful to challenge you. It's painful to say you need to. I need you to wake up.

Because it is gonna be hard. Being a Christian is hard. If you said being a Christian is to make life a crutch or easier, it brings joy, it brings a future, it brings this thing way deeper in love. But life will be hard. That's why he said don't be surprised when the world hates you.

There's a way of living. There's a world's way of living. And here's the problem. Does the world hate you? If you've been a Christian a long time, you're like, no. The world's like, I agree with everything my neighbor all my friends that don't know Christ, we don't there's they never think there's anything weird about me or off about me. There's something wrong with your faith if that's the way it is.

We need to love the people in our lives that aren't Christians. We don't need to be in love with the way they live their life. In other words, we gotta know it's gonna be hard. And then when Jesus says that, he's not trying to be an Eeyore. He doesn't sit there and he's not saying, well, you know, if the world hates you,

remember they hated me first.

You say no. Expect it.

Expect it. In other words,

are you a fan of Jesus or a follower of Jesus? A fan or are you family? Are you a fan of a church or are you part of the church family? See this passage, Jesus said you need to be rooted in me. Don't just root for me. A lot of us, we come here on the weekend and we're rooting for Jesus.

But who are we playing for the rest of the week? See the problem with being a fan is it's rooted usually in I'm happy, they're winning. A lot of people are fair weather fans. Some are sadistic, you just keep rooting for bad teams.

Some of you are really weird, you're Seahawks fans, but you know what? I don't think there's any hope for you.

Thought I had to throw that in there. Contractually obligated.

But the problem is I remember when I was a kid, I was naive, I was stupid, I was a little bit on the evil side. I was a Dodgers fan, which I think they might have just got eliminated last night. But

I you know why? But there's a reason why. There was no team here in Arizona. They were the closest team. They were closest team that was good. I mean, could've liked the Angels, but back then, other than Nolan Ryan, the rest of the team. And

so I liked them because they won and they were good. The thing I didn't understand when was a kid about how salary cap space and all that, after 7778,

they went to the world series a couple years ago, all of sudden they started to break this team apart because guys signed bigger contracts. They couldn't keep the young guys because they were good now. And so the team got bad for a little while. And I took down all my stuff and I stopped being their fan.

I stopped rooting for them. See, that's the problem if you're just a fan. If you just root for Jesus, it's great why you feel like you're winning with Jesus, but the second you feel like losing, you feel like you're not getting what you want, you feel disappointed, you're gonna stop rooting for him.

And that's what I think this pastor is talking about. There's a lot of people that just root for Jesus. They're not actual Christians. And they're gonna leave. And so will you. But you need to be rooted in Christ, and it starts by remaining in his love. So the question is, are you rooting for or are you rooted in Jesus?

Which one is it? Which one is it with you? That's the question when I said Cliff's willing to be inquisitive in my opening story and ask the tough question, the pruning question, Are you willing to look in the mirror right now and ask yourself, am I a fan or am I family? Am I just rooting for or am I truly rooted in?

And I believe that's the question Jesus always wants us to ask together as the family whenever we take communion. Whenever we take communion. I believe that's what he's asking.

You see, the night before Jesus died, he broke this bread and said, this is my body broken for you. He took the cup. He said, this is my blood spilled for you. And you know what he's really telling the disciples is? Some of them still hadn't finally answered this question. Some of them were still maybe a little bit fans rather than family, rooting for rather than rooting. They still had this hope that he would defeat all their daily problems, get rid of the Romans, get rid of change all the politics, change all that. But he's trying to say, hey, guys, you gotta I want you to do this. Remember, it's with me. You know why? Because in a few hours, it's gonna get really weird for you.

Because youth, I am the savior of all. I am God, but I'm gonna get dragged off, beaten half to death, and die. A horrible, brutal, demeaning death.

And what I need you to do when you get it back together, because you're all gonna run-in fear because you were a little bit still had a little bit of that fan in you. You had a little bit of that, oh, no. I was only I was bandwagoning

this thing. I thought he was gonna lead us to the greatest victory. And he goes, I am, but it's not the way you think. And so he goes, when you come back together basically, through my love and my spirit, I want you to do this together and remember me by it. Why does he want us to remember that moment?

Because that's the moment it got weird. That's when he said, hey, he's willing to do the hard thing. That faith, you know, he's willing to face that tough thing. He did it for us. He was willing to lay down his life and not just take a brutal death. He took all the guilt and all the shame and everything that makes us be far from God, that makes us the dead branch, and he's the one that it says in Ezekiel that says, I can bring the dead branch back to life.

And he did it by dying for you and for me. So he said he wants us to frequently do this together. Why? It's a reset button. It's a chance to be inquisitive about ourselves. It's a chance to ask God, help me know what I don't know. And the only way you're gonna able to remain in his love

is by always going back and remembering his love. You gotta look square at the cross and say Jesus did that for me. So where in my life am I refusing to still trust his love?

This is the moment to ask yourself, am I rooted in right now? What am I just rooting for? If you're just rooting for, it's all just a game. But God wants you to not just root for, he wants you to be on the team. And some of us, the problem we have is we come and we root for Jesus on Sunday,

but you go play for materialism on Monday. You go play for politics on Tuesday. You play for power or lust on Wednesday. You pray for that search out for the relationship because you think if I'm left alone, I'll never truly be content or happy. So you jump into relationships that are dysfunctional.

You'll you'll you'll sit there in a in a in a just a codependency moan.

You may be rooting for Jesus on Sunday, but who are you playing for Monday through Saturday? That's the question. And the answer, if you want joy, you want life as God meant it, Zoe is the Greek word, real life, It comes through the cross. Accepting that love and then using the power of the Holy Spirit

and the power of that love to live through you, to then respond to his word, to reach out in love, and remember him when it's hard.

So here's what I wanna do. For those of you that you know you know Jesus, just right now reflect on that. Close your eyes. You can start praying and just be honest with God. Talk to him in the simplicity of what you've asked us to do as being a Christian, especially being a part of a church.

What you're refusing to do, talk to him about why. The fear, the anger, the upset, or even maybe you think you have the lack of resource. I don't have the time with my well then ask them, what am I supposed to do with that? Where am I spending my time wrong? Where am I spending my what am I supposed to do?

And then say, because of your love, give me the courage and the power to just step out in faith so I can go be pruned and produce fruit. You start praying. We're gonna take communion a sec. The rest of you I wanna pray with.

Some of you online, some of you in this room, your your struggle with this the whole time has been, you might have been in church, but you've never surrendered to his love.

You've never become born again. You've never really become a Christian. I'm gonna give you a chance to do that right now, to join the family instead of being a fan.

And how that works is the bible says, if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart, confess your mouth Jesus died for you, believe in your heart that rose from the dead, that he forgives you for your sins, you'll be saved.

I mean, I gotta confess and profess. I gotta confess that I am a rebel, that I am a sinner, that no matter how hard I try, I'm never gonna be right. And then profess that that that Jesus is the only way and I'm gonna turn to him and his love. I wanna pray with you. Some of you, some of you online need that right now.

So if you'll just pray with me, just pray something like this, but make it your own words between you and the Lord. Just pray something like, God, thank you. Thank you that even when you bring the tough things, the terrorizing things, that your ultimate goal is redemption.

You want to redeem us. You want to prune us. You want to make us more like you want to make us fruitful and overjoyed. But Lord, we run after happiness instead of the joy. We run after so many things, and that's our problem. That's my problem. I am a sinner that wants to go my own way. But Lord, right now,

by your spirit's drawing in the best way I know how I turn from that, I confess that. But I look to you, Jesus. I look to what you did on the cross, how you died for me and you came back to life, and that you can bring my dead heart back to life.

So I put my faith in that. I thank you for drawing me to this moment. Now help me to go from this moment as I remember you and take communion that it's symbolic, but it means more to me now because what it means is I can go from here and learn each and every day what it means to remain in your love, to remember to live

for your love, by your power and with your spirit. I thank you and I praise you. I pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. He took the bread and broke it. So this is my body broken for you. Take and eat.

He then took the cup and said, this is my blood spilled for the forgiveness of sins. Drink.

God will prune you so you don't ruin you. Amen? Hey. If you just prayed with me online in this room and you just put your faith in Jesus, welcome to the family.

We are excited. We wanna pray for you. We wanna help you in any way we can. Remember, if you wanna talk to someone or pray some more, you can we have our prayer room over here. That's open for anybody in this room. But in that, I I love you guys. We're all good. Right? I love you guys, and go Cardinals. Thanks

for joining us online this weekend. Let us know if we can help you in any way. Make sure to follow us on social media and connect with us on rockpoint.io for prayer and everything happening here at Rock Point.