Prune

Good morning and welcome to CCC. We are so very glad to have you here with us in person and joining us online here this morning.

Let’s Pray

START OBS

Today is week 3 of our Rooted: Grow Deep Live Strong sermon series. In Week 1 we looked Planted, both having the Gospel seed planed inside of us and planting that seed inside of others

Week 2 was Grow. Only God grows the seed and only God Grows you and we looked at the growing process

Today the next step Prune. This is a process a gardener goes through to help his trees or plants produce more fruit.

Same with God and us. Pruning is designed to produce more fruit and since we have seen that we are to produce fruit through the Holy Spirit let’s turn to scripture to look at pruning

John 15:1-5

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““I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 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 that 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.”

This is a scriptural definition of pruning.

This is God trimming the fat so to speak to produce more fruit

First notice the structure.

Jesus is the vine

God is the vinedresser

You and I are the branch which is totally dependent upon the vine… “apart from me you can do nothing”

Next we see what happens to branches who produce no fruit

They are cut away....taken away..cast into the lake of fire

Why?

Isn’t God a loving God? Why would he cut away the branches who do not produce fruit and send them to hell for eternity?

Because He is a loving and holy God that is why. The branches that are cut away were connected to the vine. They knew Jesus yet produced no spiritual fruit so therefore never accepted Jesus.

Just because one is doing something for the church or something that looks like spiritual fruit does not mean it is spiritual fruit.

If it is not done in and through the Holy Spirit to grow God’s Kingdom, plant the seed, or to bring people closer to Jesus, grow the seed, it is not spiritual fruit.

It may be something really good but it is not spiritual fruit.

Saved

Christians

Those that the Holy Spirit produces fruit through

They are not cut away by God but they are pruned by God

God removes you to make way for the work of the Holy Spirit

Why?

Why does God prune His children

Again because

He loves us

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Hebrews 12:6

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“For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.””

It may not always be through discipline, in fact when you are being pruned (I believe that is most if not all the time) you may have not done anything to require discipline from God.

God loves you and me so He prunes us

God is holy and perfect

We are also called to be holy

Pruning produces holiness

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I Peter 1:13-25

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13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for“All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass.The grass withers,and the flower falls,25  but the word of the Lord remains forever.”And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

There is a lot going on here but I felt I had to read it all to you this morning. Most times I Peter 1:16 would be quoted here then we would move on but you need all that is going on before and after 1:16 for proper context

This shows a process.

Prepare your minds for action, being sober-minded.

You and I are to be ready for God and want to be made holy as He is holy. Prepare our minds.

Prayer

Study

Fasting

Seeking God

We must be obedient children, not conforming to the passions of our former ignorance

Choosing God over our former sinful life and lifestyle!

Being God’s child

Being called to be holy as God is holy means we know at judgement day Jesus will cover our sins and we can stand in front of God knowing that we were ransomed through Jesus

Our souls are purified through obedience

God prunes us through obedience....choosing God’s way over our way

I encourage you to spend time here this week in this section of scripture. I have just barely scratched the surface here

For this morning what I want you to get from it is this

You can’t be holy

I can’t be holy

We are only holy because of Christ Jesus

Pruning removes our fleshly, worldly, sinful ways and replaces them with Godly ways through the Holy Spirit which produces fruit and makes us holy

Another reason God prunes us is because

He is Sovereign

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God is all knowing

God is all present

God is all powerful

He always has been

He always is

He always will be

He sees all things

He knows all things

He is always present

Because of all that God knows exactly when and how to prune you and I to prepare us for what He sees and what you and I don’t see

He knows what is coming and prepares us for it.

How does God prune us?

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II Timothy 3:12-17

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“Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

This is a look at one way God prunes us

Life.

Evil

Worldly persecution

Understand as a Christian you will face persecution

Notice it doesn’t say you might face persecution

or you should face persecution

No it says you will be persecuted

Christians are persecuted and evil people become more evil

Look around

Evil is getting more and more evil

People are deceiving in all that they do

People are constantly being deceived

Religions allow ministers to perform homosexaul weddings…some religions allow homosexual ministers!

Deceived and being deceived

As a Christian living in a hostile world if you are having they Holy Spirit producing fruit you will be persecuted

You will stand on God’s Word and the world will hate you for it.

God can and does use that to prune us

When you face persecution you have to be sure in what you believe

It opens your eyes to what really matters Jesus!

Another how

The Bible

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In verses 14-17 we see this

First the Bible makes you and I through the Holy Spirit wise to salvation

You and I don’t just wake up one day and decide to be saved

No we are enlightened by the Holy Spirit usually through God’s Word!

The Bible is God breathed. God spoke the word into existence.

Literally breathed out of His mouth

Why is that important?

Because it means the Bible is God’s Word

Perfect

Infallible

Look at what God says

Profitable…good for you and me…makes us better....improves our lives

How is the Bible profitable

Teaching

Showing right from wrong

Teaches us how God is holy and how we are to be holy

Teaches us who God is....reveals His true character and great love for us

Gives us rules to live by rules to help prosper us not harm us

Reproof

The greek word translated reproof means that by which a thing is tested or proved…conviction

God’s Word is the proof..the way to test what is of God and of satan.

It convicts and proves to us where we are wrong…conviction

Correction

Greek word translated correction here means restoration to an upright or right state, correction or improvement in life or character

Sin puts us in an upside down or wrong state with God

Through His Word He corrects that and brings us back to a right state

Improves our character by making us more like Him

Instruction in righteousness

Greek means whole training and education of children

God’s Word is the whole training and education. You don’t need anything else.

Now I am not saying that reading books is a bad thing to do or wrong but those books must be read in light of the scriptures and if they don’t match get rid of them

God can and does speak through human authors of books. I have been moved on more than one occasion by a book written by a human about Biblical principles. Why because it was based on scripture and it was the scripture that moved me and instructed me in righteousness

I want to close today with this

Don’t fight or despise pruning

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Proverbs 3:11-12

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“My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.”

Here is the deal

You and I live in human, fleshly bodies with sinful natures

That doesn’t change when we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

What changes is we are called to die to those human, fleshly bodies with sinful natures

We are called to conform to the Word not the world

When we come into contact with the Word of God, which is holy and perfect, we will be reproofed, corrected, instructed in righteousness.

We will be convicted because you and I can’t live up to it

Through the Holy Spirit God prunes us.....removes sinful flesh and we become more like God

God knows your stuff......even the stuff you hid from everyone else.

Thoughts

Looks

Behaviors

Beliefs

Hobbies

Ideas

He removes those that are not of Him

Look at this picture

PICTURE OF BEFORE AND AFTER TREE

Look at all the little branches, the buds, the before looks like chaos.

That is your life without God pruning you and me. We have all of these things, some of them really good things

We have a bunch of noise and chaos that surrounds us and is in fact inside of us

If we all are honest there are things right now here this morning that stand between us and God

Sin

Behavior

Language

Thoughts

Worldly loves and lusts

Social Media, I deleted snapchat this morning because God spoke to me through my wife yesterday. I was talking about a funny picture I sent to Logan and Claire and said that I couldn’t send it to her because she doesn’t have snapchat anymore and she said your right and neither should you.

Why

Because if you are honest you can’t look at much of anything on snapchat without seeing sin celebrated and thrown in your face.

Pruning

Removing all the junk

Let’s face it you and I have baggage

We have lots of things that God needs to prune out of our lives.

You will never be perfectly pruned until you get to heaven so this is a life long process here on earth.

Embrace it, when God asks for something sprint to the altar and give it to Him

When God asks you to do something charge forward, even though you will more than likely not know more than the first step. Go here I am send me

This morning as this song plays, answer God’s call

Maybe that is the Holy Spirit awakening you to your need for Jesus and salvation

Maybe that is God calling you to give something up or stop doing something

Maybe that is God calling you to get out of your pew and into the field as the workers are few but the harvest is plentiful

Whatever it is don't fight the pruning or calling answer with Here I am Lord, Send me!

Invitation song Here I am, Lord (Chris Bray)