I so long loved it, for now it meets the planet's ancient fate. I heard of the concerns upon a seashore, but then I found the stars had broken space. I know I can do what seems impossible, I don't know how the poor can save a sailor, or how the streets can cleanse their sanctuary. is is I don't know, I'm leaving now forever. Just from His presence I begin. I meditate on Christ who is eternal, Who called to earth and life for a gentle man. I love and do what seems impossible. God controls eternity. Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave Okay, I'll get mic'd up. I was sitting in Tesco. studying and I got a text from Ben saying, I'm sick. Is there any possibility of you coming to speak? I told him, well, the lady that comes to our church, and I have one lady that comes because we're starting a new church by South Queens Ferry, had to work. I said, so it'd be okay. I could take the service. I know that within a Christian's life there's no accidents. Apparently I'm supposed to be here for some reason, and I'm going to preach my heart out. The Lord's good, isn't He? He's good every day. I was praying, Lord, what would you, because it was sudden, Lord, what would you have me to preach on? And this passage came to mind, and it didn't go away. And when something comes to your mind as a preacher, you know that the Holy Spirit is directing you in that particular way. And I've spoken on this before. Turn your Bibles to John 15, the same passage that you read earlier. John 15. In my mind, This isn't far away from the time that Jesus was going to go and die on the cross. We know that on the temple that there was a vine on Herod's temple and it was Scholars say that it was either leafed with gold or painted gold. But a vine has always been the symbol of Israel. Even on the coins of the Maccabees, they had a vine. It's always been symbolic of Israel, and that's taken out of the book of Isaiah, chapter 5, where God referred to Israel as a vine, and we're going to speak on that. I can remember as a boy, I'm from the country, I can remember being in Indiana. My small town was surrounded by woods. I spent a lot of my time out in the woods. That's why people, when they tell me that there's no God, I just get a small smile on my face. And I say, you haven't seen what I've seen. Just the complexity of nature, even in swamp water, the things I've seen in swamp water. My God made those! And He is a master creator. But today, in John 15, when I was out in the woods, if I was thirsty, and I had a machete with me, I'd cut a vine. I'd cut a vine, and water would come out. And I'd just drink the water. You know that, did you? You can cut a vine and right down the middle, water will flow out and you can get something to drink. So I remember that in my mind. I also remember my dad giving me some advice, basically begging me. I was graduating from high school. I was going to go into United States Air Force. I wanted to see the world and get paid for it. I wanted to learn some skill. All the things they tell you when they're trying to get you to join the service. My brother was in the Navy. I go, nah, I want to do something different. I'll go in the Air Force. I like planes. You can tell I live right by the airport, New Bridge. My dad said, Don, why don't you go just one year to Bible college? One year. I'm begging you as your father. Just consider one year of Bible college. And if after that one year you still feel like you want to go to the Air Force, I won't hold you back. But just one year. My dad begging me. So I love my dad, so I signed up for Bible college. I almost got kicked out the first year, because I was a Christian, but I was way away from the Lord. I was just having a good time. But it was during that year that God got a hold of my heart, and my dad's advice was setting me up for the rest of my life, and I didn't realize it at the time. Jesus in John 15 is giving the disciples Powerful advice that's going to set them up for the rest of their life. Powerful advice. And today, as we look in John 15, just pray, just pray that God ministers to your heart the way that he ministered to John, the beloved disciple, and Peter, as they heard Jesus speaking in John 15. Today we're going to see Jesus instruct his disciples And us, as we read his teaching, in the area of being rightly related to Jesus. This is the seventh of Jesus I Am statements. And here he's going to say, I am the vine. And for the rest of the passage, we're going to try to figure out, well, how's Jesus the vine? And how does that relate to me? A proposition this morning would be, what type of branch are you? What type of branch are you? Jesus Christ is the vine, and if you've accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you have become a branch. You've been grafted in, the Book of Romans says. And you're getting all your nutrients and your sustenance from Jesus Christ. So we're going to look at what that entails. So within John 15, we're going to see that Jesus is the true vine. versus 1 through 3, we're going to see that it is a vital relationship that we have with him. We're going to see that there's a price to be paid for having proper fellowship with the Lord, and the link that Jesus connected abiding in the vine and true joy in our Christian life, which is very valuable. But before I pontificate, and preach my heart out. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I'm here. And Lord, I'm preaching what you have laid upon my heart. I pray that by your spirit, you would energize the words spoken to our hearts. Lord, your word's quick and it's powerful and it's sharper than any two-edged sword. And Lord, I pray that you would do your work as only you can. Lord, if there's anything within my heart, I pray you'd forgive me. I pray that you'd hide me behind the cross as I speak. I pray this in Jesus' holy name. Amen. Let's look at verses 1 through 3. Jesus said, I am the true vine. And my Father is a husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. And every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken to you. You know, there's three different vines found in the scripture. First of all, a past vine, that would be the nation of Israel. God, in His wonderful grace, transplanted Israel into Canaan and gave that nation every possible benefit. Houses that they didn't build. Gardens that they didn't plant, a land flooring with milk and honey. God did all that. God knocked down the walls of Jericho. God gave Israel power over their enemies. And when we get to Isaiah chapter 5, he asks the question, what could have been done more to my vineyard that I had not done in it? God asks the question. I've done everything. I've opened up a land to you. I've given you houses, lands, gardens. I've given you peace and security. And all God wanted was some righteous fruit from the nation of Israel. And in Isaiah chapter five, God goes to reap the food and all he sees is wild grapes. Grapes that are not fit to be made into grape juice or table grapes. They're just wild grapes because basically they've taken all God's blessings and they've forgotten God and lived the way that they wanted to. Jesus even in Matthew 21 gave a parable. about a vineyard, right? The vineyard owner, he sends his servants to collect the rent. They beat the fire out of him. They come back, you know, give a report to the owner. He sends more servants. They beat them up, cast them out of the garden. They come back. So finally he goes, I'm going to send my beloved son. You know, they respect him. And he goes, and you know the story, if you know your Bible, they killed him. Because they were trying to get the inheritance. Israel is that past vine. Praise the Lord, they're going to have a glorious future. And God's a God of mercy, right? Secondly, the future vine. This is the vine of the earth. This will be the Gentile world system that is ripening for God's judgment. They're ripening for God's judgment. Believers are branches in the vine of heaven, but the unsaved are branches in the vine of the earth. This is a picture of the unsaved world depending on the world for their sustenance and satisfaction. We meet people like that every day. Like my car. So what? Like my house. And we say, so what? Because we know that if you don't take any of your things with you, there's no true joy there, but to them it's everything. Look at my car. I live right across the street from a BMW dealer. I see people, shiny eyes, buying these expensive automobiles, trying to be happy within their soul. But I have Jesus. Oh Jesus! I haven't even done yet but I'm happy because I know that when I die I'm on my way to heaven and I have sustenance that they're not aware of and that they're not experiencing. We see the vine of the earth. And I speak to people that are plugged into the vine of the earth. And God has a circle like this. And one day God's going to harvest that vine. God's going to cut that vine down at the Second Coming. When Jesus returns at His Second Coming. The third vine is the present vine. That's our Lord Jesus Christ, of course. In the Greek language here, the word order is, I am the true vine, I am the vine, the true one. Okay? Jesus is emphasizing that of all the other imitations, He is the true vine to the disciples. What would you give to be seated at Jesus' feet while He's giving this discourse, this metaphor about a vine? It's not really a story. He's trying to communicate a truth to the disciples. Remember how my dad begged me not to go into the Air Force? And He was giving me counsel that would benefit me in the future. Jesus is getting ready to die, and He's telling the disciples, when I'm gone, there's a power source that you can plug into, so that you can survive when I'm gone, because you'll be rightly related to me, you'll be plugged in, and I'll strengthen you. Our present vine is the Lord Jesus Christ, and this vine includes the branches. We make up the Bride of Christ. Here is the true vine, that is, the original, of which all other vines are just a copy. And as Christians, we don't live on substitutes. There's water in the vine, there's sustenance. And the vine and the branches are connected, and life is flowing. This is kind of similar to the body, the head and the body. If you're a Christian, Jesus Christ is your head and you're in the body of Christ. Another picture is a vine. He's the true vine and we're a grafted in branch. And now, now we're plugged into eternal life. Now John 3.16 has kicked in. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only unique Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Why? Because we believe, we've repented, we've been plugged into the vine. And we have eternal life. We have eternal life. Jesus in verse one says, I am the true vine. But then he says the father's the gardener. He's the husbandman. No more is Israel the husbandman. God has taken over. And God is going to make sure that the news of Jesus Christ is dispersed all over the world. And he's done a really good job, hasn't he? China, they say, has more born-again Christians than the United States. You know, they try to suppress the teachings of Jesus Christ, even at the point of death, but it doesn't work. Because the vine's alive, and it's pumping sustenance to the branches, and the branches go, I've got to tell people. I've got to tell people what Jesus Christ has done for me. We see a pruning action in verse 2. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. This could be people that were false professors. They go to church, but they have no desire to read God's Word. They go to church, but they don't tell anybody about Jesus Christ because there's no life residing within them. They go to church, but when they sin, they don't feel bad about it. Those are signs that a person isn't a Christian. Okay? Those are signs that we need to take heed to because of the rest of this passage. "...and every branch of barren fruit he purgeth it." As Christians, we don't like that purging. Because sometimes God even takes away good things. So that He can substitute something that's best. I mean, we love that thing! We love it! You know? Like those people that love that BMW. But God, God in His grace, He knows what's good for us. He's a loving Heavenly Father and He'll sometimes renew things that we love. and that you think are good. Have you seen a vine dresser's knife? That little hook? Did you know that they have to study two or three years so that they know how far to cut from the main vine? Certain angles of cuts, so that the vine can keep propagating? There's an art to it. And how to graft in other branches? They study. In Italy and Israel, But God does it naturally because He knows all things. And He sees something in our life we think is good, but it's just a sucker. It's just a small branch that's taking sustenance away, familiars that we need to do better in, and gosh, it's gone. It's gone! And sometimes we cry, you know, because we love that thing, and God said, no, you're pruned. Never branch a berry fruit. Now, when I'd hear this preached as a little kid, I'd feel guilty. And I'd say, I'm not leading a bunch of people to the Lord, I'm not producing fruit. But a theologian that I read, he said there's 33 different types of fruit, and most of them are invisible. They're fruits of character. They're fruits of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace. You can't see those, sometimes they're evidenced by things we say, but it's all going on within, they're invisible. God in the Holy Spirit is doing the work, and it's not always apparent. It says he prayed to the fruit that it may bring forth more fruit. God knows what to remove in our life, bad or good, if we're a genuine born-again believer, so that we bear more fruit. Verse 3. Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Who wasn't clean? Of the disciples. Judas Iscariot. I mean, he looked like a Christian. He went around preaching, even. He controlled the money. He kept the bag, okay? But he wasn't clean. But Jesus said, those of you that have accepted my word, you're clean. Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Part of the reason that we have our devotions in the morning. is so that the Holy Spirit points out to us what needs cleaned in our life. There's something about God's Word. It's living. It's active. And as we read it, it's not a normal book. It's a supernatural book. And God ministers to our heart and points things out, and we go, Lord, My hands up. It's me. Lord, forgive me. We get that light and then just that feeling of pure conscience. Now I can face today. Now I can talk to others about my Lord. Because God's words clean me. Jesus Christ is the true vine. He is the true vine. There is no other. He's genuine. All the rest are only copies. We see secondly, in John chapter 15 verses 4 and 5, that we see the vital relationship between the branch and the vine. Let's look at these two verses. Abide in me, and I in you. I like that I in you part. Abide in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself. except abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches, he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit." Now, you need to underline this next phrase, for without me you can do nothing. The opposite of that would be Philippians 4.13. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheth me. But who do they exclude? They exclude us. God uses us in His grace, but it's only as we're plugged into the vine. I have some questions. I have some questions here. The verses we've read. The key word here is abide. This word is used 11 times in John 15. But what does this word mean? Abide in me. And I in you. Abide. I mean we use it in the English language. Not very often, because it's all in English. But we still use it in the English language, not very much. The Word has the idea of to keep in fellowship with Christ, so that His life can work in and through us. The idea of fellowship, connection. How do we keep in fellowship with God? is a good question. I mean, we go to meetings and we go to use Christian language. I'm going there to have some fellowship. What do we mean by that? What's fellowship? Fellowship involves the Word of God, the study of the Word of God, meditation. It's easy to zoom through our devotions and not ask, God, what are you trying to teach me? My mind goes, I have so many things I have to do to my house. Because the people that owned it smoked, we stripped all the carpets, all the wallpaper, and had a roof leak, a gas leak. That gas leak, that's not a good thing. It needs everything, okay? I like this house. I like it. And it's going to be okay. It's just going to take time. So I have all these things going on in my mind. So when I read the Bible, I use an app on my phone. So the guy with a posh English accent reads God's word to me, and then I see it. So I'm hearing God's word and I'm seeing God's word, but even then, I can go through a whole chapter and not ask the question, well, God, what are you trying to teach me? That's meditation. You know, if we zoom through our devotions and our quiet time with God without asking that key question, it's not going to do us much good. God, what are you trying to teach me? What do you mean? Are you bugging me about this? And we pray. Are you trying to teach me this? And we pray. We can ask God. Does God have the capability of communicating with us throughout the day? Yes, He does. Because He's in us. If we've trusted Christ as our Savior, we have the Holy Spirit residing within us. And he can communicate. He speaks to us mainly through his word, but only if we're plugged in. And we're saying, God, what do you want to teach me? And we're taking the time to fellowship with the true vine, as it were. What else? What else is involved in fellowship? Keeping short accounts of our sin with God. We sin every day. And if you say that you don't sin every day, you are lying. We sin every day. So 1 John 1, 9, if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Amen. Wonderful verse, but we have to do that. We have to say, Lord, forgive me. I know from your word what I did is wrong. I exaggerated. Forgive me of that. Help me to tell the person I'm sorry. keeping short accounts with our sin, also practicing His presence. The Puritans talked about that. What does this mean? You tell me. What's practicing the presence of the Lord? What is that? Okay. But in our mind's eye, we're imagining that God is sitting right there. and he was talking to us. The Puritan said it was called, Practicing the Presence of God. I was speaking to one of the workers, the American workers that came over to help me, put in a triple beam across my roof and a timber mantel with a joist hanger. And he said, here's what he said to me, He's an older man. He's in his 70s. He said, I don't turn on the TV back at the hotel room. He goes, I'm tired. He said, I know if I turn that on, it'd be easy for me to watch something that I shouldn't watch. He goes, my wife's in the States. He goes, I'm not turning on that TV. He goes, and I pray to the Lord. I try to practice his presence, realizing that God's in the room with me, and I say, God help me not to turn on that TV, help me to read your word, help me to draw, and he's talking to me! I'm not his chief confessor! But let that wear in my heart that a guy at his age is still fighting to be plugged into the vine, to do what Jesus wants him to do, and to fight temptation in his life, so that when he prays for his family, God hears his prayers. When he prays for his wife, God hears all prayers. But not only does he hear his prayers, he answers his prayers. He's concerned about that. Keywords abide. Practicing His presence. How about obeying Him? You know, we have the long list of things we're not supposed to do. How about the list of things we're supposed to do? You know, we can sin either way, can't we? It's so easy to sin because we're sinful. But we have the Holy Spirit within us. But when we don't do what we're supposed to do, That's a sin of omission. When we do what we're not supposed to do, that's a sin of what? Commission. We can sin either way. That's why Jesus took the disciples. Maybe they're in the Garden of Gethsemane. They sat down, and John 15 happened. Jesus gave them profound advice, and he's saying, this is a vital relationship between the true vine, me, and you, the branch. Fellowship with me. Jesus is saying, abide in me. Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine or remain. No more can you except you remain in me. Fellowship with me. I am the vine, you are the branches. I don't see any bark here. He's using the pitcher. You are the branches, he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. If we speed through our devotions without asking the question, God, what are you trying to show me? If we speed through our prayer list without saying, God, I can't do a thing today. I can't do a thing unless you work through me. God, I am utterly dependent upon you. God, if you don't do it, it's not going to happen. Lord, I'm here. I'm trying to serve you. Lord, work in and through me. Unless that attitude is in our prayer life, We're depending on ourself. We're saying, I got this. I got this Christian life. I'll be the shiny Christian. But if you're the shiny Christian with pride, you're going to fall. If you're the shiny Christian who's met with his God and allowed the Holy Spirit to point out our sins of omission and commission and just how sinful we are. And we know that. Every day we have to confess. And if you're the Christian that has prayed, God, I can't do a thing. I can do nothing. Nothing means nothing. I can't do a thing unless you work in and through me, Lord. Help me to fellowship with you. Help me to remain with you. Help me to practice your presence, that you're walking right with me, so that I won't do things that my flesh wants me to do. Thirdly, We see the price of not abiding and the promise to those who do abide in verses six through eight. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. Whoa! That's a pretty broad promise, isn't it? Let's go on. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. So shall ye be my disciples. Followers of Jesus Christ. Disciples. Okay. What's the price of not abiding? Well, there's three views. There's three possibilities here. My grandma was a charismatic. She believed possibility number one. You tell me if this is right or not. My grandma believed that those branches that are burned are Christians that lose their salvation. Is that true or not true? Can a Christian lose their salvation? Can you become unborn again? Okay, now defend it. Defend why you believe that. Why? We're in God's Word. Right, so this view would contradict John 3.16, the simple verse we use when we talk to humans about their soul's need, right? Everlasting life. It doesn't mean everlasting until you sin. The idea is, Jesus' blood was so powerful, He could forgive us of our past, present, and future sin. That's powerful. And let's look at a couple of verses. I don't want to fly by this. How about John 5.24? Back to John. We're in John. John 5.24. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life." The idea is he hath everlasting life as a present possession. Let's read on. "...and shall not come into condemnation..." That means they're not going to go to hell. "...shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death Unto life! I'll take that! Okay? Is there anything in John 10 that Jesus said about eternal life? Anything in John 10? Anybody remember? Something about verse 28. Does anybody know that verse? Can anybody quote that verse? I'll start it. And I give unto them eternal life, Okay? What's the rest of the verse? Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. So the idea is, when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we're within the grasp of Jesus Christ. That's why I signed my letters in His grip. Okay? But He's, the idea is, We're also in the Father's hand. We're kind of like in a double-handed grip, okay? Have you ever been gripped by a farmer who does hard work? You know, he fixes plows, picks plows up. You know, he's always working. They have strong hands. And they shake your hand at church, they about crush your hand because they're so strong. Can you imagine the one who made ligaments and muscles? gripping you for eternity and never letting go. So we know view number one is wrong. Because it contradicts scripture, right? Go back to John 15. So, if a man abides not in me, he has cast forth a branch and withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire. See, they say that fire is the fire of hell. That's where they get the Arminian doctrine. So that's one view. Second view, this would be Christians who lose rewards. We know that's going to happen, right? The unsaved will go to the Great White Throne Judgment, where they'll be assigned a degree of punishment in Hell. But the Judgment Seat of Christ, that's for Christians, where they'll receive rewards for service, Or they could lose rewards. Okay? I don't know about you, but I'm going to be like the public and I'm not going to look up. I'll just be so glad that I'm standing in front of Jesus Christ. So some people view this as Christians who lose rewards. But I would view this as professing Christians like Judas. professing Christians like Judas that were really dead branches. From all appearances, it would look like they're a Christian, but they really hadn't trusted Christ as their Savior. I would view this as professing Christians. Not everyone that says, Lord, Lord, is going to enter the kingdom of heaven. You better have some evidences within you. So let me just stop here. You ended at 12, right? Okay. Let me just stop here. It could be that you've come to this church and you've heard Pastor Ben preach his heart out, but you really aren't positive that you know Jesus Christ is your Savior. I'm not going to put an emotional guilt trip on you, but the passage lends itself to asking ourselves the question, am I truly a child of God? If I am a child of God, the book of 1 John gives us evidences. A child of God will love God's Word. They'll be compelled. They'll feel guilty if they don't read God's Word. They'll want to cry out to the Father like in John 8. Abba Father, that means Daddy in Aramaic. We just have this desire in our heart. We want to communicate with our Father. And that's within us. That's a sign that you're a Christian. A Christian When they sin, they feel bad. A person that's not a Christian, they can cheat on their taxes. It doesn't bother them. They can break the speed limit. It doesn't bother them. They can lie. It doesn't bother them. It might bother their conscience for a little bit, but it just passes away. A Christian, it's beyond their conscience. Their conscience bothers them, then the Holy Spirit. What are you doing? Okay, we get that voice. It's not a still, small voice. What are you doing? If you're here today and you don't know Jesus Christ as your Savior, maybe people think you're a Christian, but you know that you're not. You know that the things that I talked about aren't evident in your life. And maybe that's why the Holy Spirit tapped me on the shoulder to preach on this passage. Let's quickly go on. Verses 9-11, and I'll briefly comment. As the Father hath loved me, so I have loved you. We could park there, right? Jesus is telling His disciples that He loves them. That's the kind of religion I like, that God loves us. For God so loved the world. You're part of that world. For God so loved the world. As the Father hath loved me, so I have loved you. Continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. There's joy in having a pure conscience and serving God with all our heart. There's joy there. There's true joy. There's true joy. I like Psalm 1611. Who knows that verse? Something about joy? Do I need to start it? thou wilt shew me the path of life, in thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. Some people, I used to be scared to go to church when I was a little kid, because the pastors kept their faces really serious. They just sat there, they're real serious. I was in fear. I believe Jesus Christ has a sense of humor. Because He designed us with a sense of humor, He's the first cause of humor. You can't work with people and not have a sense of humor. I know Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. But I believe on that journey, as He was going toward the cross, there were times when He laughed. And he shared some joy with the disciples. I think of Hebrews 12.2. Last verse I'll read and then we'll conclude. 12.2, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. You know, a believer is motivated by the wonder of Jesus' love. And we want a fellowship with him. And we know that He's the true vine. We know that we're the branches. And we know that His love is for the Father. And we're to pattern our love after the Father's love in its quality and its effectiveness. Jesus said, remain in my love. And that might seem mystical to us. In a way it is. There's a mystery to our relationship with God, isn't there? Jesus said, remain in my love, but Jesus makes it concrete. And the rebar inside of that concrete is obedience to the Father's commands is the same for the disciple as it was for the Son of God. Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. Active dependence and loving obedience are the proper paths for all of God's children. This helps us to abide. This helps us to fellowship with the true vine, Jesus Christ. How are you doing as a branch? How are you doing? You've been grafted in at salvation. What kind of fruit has the Holy Spirit been producing in your life? And if you're not seeing fruit, why is preventing that fruit from coming to fruition in your life? That's what we need to deal with in our Christian life. If you're here today, and we got to that point where the branches are gathered up and burned, and the Holy Spirit worked in your heart, you need to take care of that. Leave pride aside, you need to take care of that, you need to get saved. You need to make sure that when you die, you're on your way to heaven. It's not something to joke about. It's serious. If you're here as a Christian and you look at your life and you go, I could be closer to the Lord than I am. I've allowed some things to clog up the branch. I'm not getting the pure nutrients I was when I first got saved because I've been getting busy, chaos in my mind, not asking the right questions when I have my devotions. You need to take care of that as well. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come to you in Jesus' name. Father, I pray that you take your word and use it in our hearts. I pray that you would have your will and your way this invitation time. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.