Fall Retreat Friday Night

Jesus is better than I am.

John 6:15 ESV

Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

- Take by force and make king

-Covid is done

-Guy breaks up over text he is banned from dating for 6 months.

-Axe body spray has a two spray at a time limit.

-The day after the super bowl is a national holiday.

John 13-17 - Night of arrest

-Run away

-Favorite restaurant, DQ snickerdoodle, movie, family time, friends.

-Not washing feet.

Yet this is exactly what Jesus does. This is the night into which we pick up.

John 15:1

John 15:1 ESV

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

-I Am statements

-Grape stem. Vine, root, stem, center, source.

John 15:2

John 15:2 ESV

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.

-A lot to break down! What does it mean to bear fruit?

-September 11th

-Quarantine

-Encounters with Jesus change us. We look different.

-Holy Spirit ensures it.

-Galatians 5:22-23

-Every believer WILL bear fruit!

-The thrown away ones: not believers.

-Those in Christ, he prunes.

-Katie pruning

What needs to be pruned?

Pride?

CS Lewis: the great sin. It leads to every other vice/sin

Talking behind back: my pride saying I am superior

Dictating friend groups: I am in control.

Identity through my instagram: I need to be seen. Wont people see me in a better light with more followers?

Spiritual pride: Aren’t I something.

Chasing a reputation I know will make me impressive leading me to the drink or drug of choice: Aren’t I something? Don’t I need this to keep up?

My flesh?

Pornography

93% guys, 63% girls during teenage years exposed to porn.

The way we talk or text

The places we have gone physically.

The things we thought we’d never do become just the things we used to do before it went further.

The “what” that needs to be pruned is probably easy.

Why do we need to be pruned?

-We hear this list of sins and think, here we go again. Another church event preaching rules and regulation.

-God doesn’t want less for us, he wants more.

-CS Lewis “The Lord finds our desires not too strong but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by a offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

-Like the son in the far country when home is offered.

Sin is not just messing up, its missing out.

-This is why he prunes us

-End of verse 2: that we would bear more fruit!

-Imagine this life:

-No lingering shame

-One way with these friends, or parents, or at church.

-Our dating relationships honor God and don’t leave us ashamed.

-You don’t have the constant drive to fit in and meet every need of every person to find identity because you have it.

-He wants to give you freedom

-He wants to Prune

-To take those dead parts of you and make them alive again.

How are we pruned?

-The Holy Spirit

John 16:7-8

John 16:7–8 ESV

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:

-22 years old

-His Word

-Accountable community

-What needs to be pruned tonight? Step one of the weekend, lay it before God.