Transformed Life

Hopefully in front of you you've got a service outline.

If not on your phone, you can see a sermon outline there on the St. Paul's app.

I'm going to pray as we launch into this because John's gospel,

when you start learning the Greek language,

John's gospel is often where you start

because Greek language in John is relatively straightforward.

But the difficulty is while the language might be easier,

Greek language, the ideas in John are very complex.

And so he sort of leads you into thinking the gospel is going to be easy,

but the ideas are quite complex as we launch into this.

Let's pray.

Gracious Father, we pray that you would help us to capture some of the essence

of what the Lord Jesus is requiring of his disciples here.

I pray that you would transform our lives as we remain in Jesus.

Help us to see what you require of us between your first arrival and your second arrival.

Help us to remain in the vine and there bear fruit, fruit that will last.

So help us understand this passage so that we might live lives that glorify you

until you come back.

Amen.

In less than two weeks, James and I are heading to the US.

We're attending a conference, visiting a church and doing some other ministry things.

And it's a trip that I've done a few times.

I've slipped through the departure doors and into customs a number of times.

And I've got to tell you, every time it happens, it never feels, it's never easy.

I never find that journey through two doors that easy.

It's the feeling of leaving behind loved ones.

Whenever Nat and the girls come with me to send me off, I find it particularly difficult.

I hang on this side of the customs doors for as long as I possibly can.

I try to busy myself with paperwork and details.

But I know that at some point real soon, I've got to embrace, I've got to say goodbye, and I've got to depart.

Of course, it's the exact opposite in the experience in the arrivals hall.

You can't wait to get through customs to see your loved ones if they're there.

Hopefully they're not later or something like that.

You just can't wait.

It's a moment of excitement.

It's a moment of joy.

It's not apprehension.

As we pick up John's gospel today, we're in the departure terminal with the disciples of Jesus.

That's where we're sitting.

In John 13, Jesus tells his disciples he's about to depart.

And their world is rocked because they had hopes that Jesus would be the one who would overthrow the occupying Roman Empire and restore the promised land to Israel.

In John 14, what we looked at last week, Jesus comforts his disciples by telling them three things.

Number one, his departure will secure for them an eternal dwelling in the presence of God.

Number two, his departure means that he can send another advocate, one just like him, who will permanently dwell with them.

Not just the presence of God in the future, but the presence of God with them now.

And Jesus says when this other advocate comes, it's going to be better because Jesus is beside them, but the spirit will be in them.

They will even know and experience the father personally in prayer.

Instead of just knowing the father through what Jesus reveals about him.

And number three, Jesus will come back and take them to be with him, with God forever in perfect peace and joy.

So there's a departure and there's a return.

So what happens in the meantime?

What are the disciples to do?

What are they on about?

Do they just sit in the departure lounge or make the way to the arrivals hall upstairs or downstairs or wherever it is and just wait for Jesus to come back?

What are Jesus' plans for his disciples?

Why they wait?

What does he expect of them?

So there's three things I want to draw out from John 15 this morning.

Number one, the necessity of transformation.

Number two, the organic nature of transformation.

And number three, the means of transformation.

In 15 verse one, Jesus says, I am the true vine and my father is the gardener.

And then again in verse five, he says, I am the vine and you are the branches.

Now, all the conversation stopped at this powerful pronouncement.

You see, the force of Jesus' words to his first disciples is something like this.

You know how all of Israel, God's historical people, is pictured as a vine that is meant to produce refreshing fruit.

Well, I, Jesus Christ, am the fulfillment of everything that that symbol suggests.

And the key word here is the word true.

Those who follow Jesus belong to Jesus so that together with him, they become the true vine.

Now, the word true is important because it replaces the old vine.

Israel was the vine that God rescued from Egypt.

Psalm 80 says that they were the root that he planted and grew throughout the land.

But it was a vine that was condemned by God because it produced bad fruit.

As we just saw in Isaiah 5.

Isaiah 5 says that God looked for justice, but saw bloodshed.

He looked for righteousness, but only heard cries of distress.

Jesus Christ was the vine that was condemned by God.

And the point throughout this passage in John 15 is that branches, those who put their trust in the Lord Jesus, must produce good fruit.

Jesus makes it the edifying mark of a true believer.

It is how you identify a true believer.

Not by what they do, not by how successful they are, not by the things they do in the name of Christ, but who they are.

Jesus says, the father who's the gardener, cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit.

If there is no fruit in our life, then we had better reconsider the authenticity of our Christianity.

And the fruits, the fruit that God was looking for in Isaiah 5 were the qualities of justice and righteousness.

And they are both inequalities.

In John 15, the fruit Jesus speaks of is simply the reproduction of the life of the vine in the branch.

Jesus is looking for the fruit of his life in us.

Jesus is looking for change, transformation of our character.

Which is what fruit in the Bible is, and especially so in the New Testament, where it's explicit.

One list of such fruit is Galatians 5.

The fruit, one fruit with a bunch of characteristics.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance.

Which is patience and forgiveness of those who have wronged us.

Kindness, that's unselfishness.

Goodness, which is transparency and integrity.

Faithfulness, which is courage.

Gentleness, which is humility and self-control.

Against such things there is no law.

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

And so what Jesus is saying in John 15 is that my expectation of you is for transformation.

And I, Jesus, am the key to that inner change of your life.

How does the selfish person become unselfish?

How does the controlling, manipulative person become a liberator?

How does the coward become courageous?

How does the whiner become grateful?

How does the taker become a giver?

How does the worrier become a rock?

How does the bigot become understanding?

There is no more relevant question for our society, for our culture.

There's no more relevant question for our city.

There's no more relevant question for your family, for your marriage, for your friendships.

There's no more relevant question for this church as we seek to grow together in humility and unity.

How do you get such transformation?

And when Jesus says, I am the true vine, he's saying I am the key to growth and change for good.

Now, every bookstore in this city is filled with material on how to change and develop your inner potential.

They are mechanical books that give you a technique.

Or they are moral books, morality books, calling you to try a bit harder and be a bit more virtuous.

Or they are magic books telling you how to tap into some kind of power that you currently don't have.

The Bible, Christianity, Jesus offers something different.

It's not a technique.

It's not traditional morality.

It's not new age spirituality either.

Christianity says you need a vital connection with Jesus Christ, the only cosmic and concrete person who ever lived.

Christianity is about a personal relationship with Jesus who is the cosmic Lord of all and drawing on his never-ending pulsating life.

And the promise here from Jesus is that change is actually possible.

Don't you want that when you've been struggling with the same issue for 40 years?

Notice verse 16.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit, fruit that will last.

In fact, in Romans 8, we are told the entire work of Jesus in choosing us, in making us right with God,

is so that we would change to be like him.

That's his purpose.

Everything he did.

All of his plans.

All of it.

The loss of his glory.

The coming to be one of us.

His death on the cross.

His resurrection.

Everything he has done is for the purpose of fruit.

His goal in Romans 8 is to change us into his image until we reflect his glory.

His goal is to take us from the squalor of sin and brokenness and make us great in his presence.

His goal is to glorify us and to put his beauty into our lives.

He's committed to taking his life and putting his life into us.

We may be pessimistic about being able to change.

And Jesus Christ says,

I am the one who brought the universe into existence by just by the sound of my voice.

And all of my power is committed to changing you and dealing with every flaw, every problem, every weakness, every sin in your life.

All of my power is directed in dealing with that.

So there's the necessity of transformation because that's what God, that's what Jesus is doing in working in your life.

Secondly, there's the organic nature of transformation.

This is, this is really important.

In the last paragraph where Jesus leaves behind the vine and the branch metaphor,

he says that we need to hear his word and we need to obey his commands.

Now, if we had just got that, if we just got that bit,

you could easily conclude that Christianity was basically a mechanical and a moral thing.

In other words, to be a Christian, you just need to discipline.

You just need the discipline to do a whole bunch of stuff.

And it's just the discipline to be compliant to a whole set of rules.

But the first part says that what Jesus is really after is to hook us into a vital and organic connection with him

so that his life becomes our life.

Jesus is after organic change through a brand new internal dynamic,

not mechanical compliance through external force.

I'll say that again because it's profound.

Jesus is after organic change through a brand new internal dynamic,

not mechanical compliance through external force.

What I mean is this.

Imagine a work colleague.

And maybe we've all dealt with these work colleagues over the years.

A work colleague who isn't, let's say, not committed to their job.

They arrive late.

They leave early.

Anytime there's lots of work on, the team's trying to work together,

this person calls in sick.

They're just not there.

They're constantly undermining members of the team, gossiping about them.

They're constantly complaining about the company, about the systems.

They're constantly looking for pay rises.

And then one day, human resources, call them in and read out the list of you've done this,

you've done this, you've done this, you've done this.

We've got a few issues with you.

We need to...

Unbeknownst to them or maybe known to them,

they have been kind of being performance managed for a bit

and these issues have been raised over some time.

But in this moment in front of human resources and the boss is sitting there,

all of a sudden your colleague realizes for the first time,

these guys actually think my behavior is really bad.

They actually are taking this seriously.

And I am about to lose my job.

And all of a sudden their behavior, they just realize for the first time,

there's consequences here.

And they break down in tears and they're begging for the job.

They're sobbing and they're pleading.

They've got bills to pay.

They've got mouths to feed.

They need this job.

They'll do whatever it takes.

Just give me one more chance.

I'll change.

I'll change.

Just give me one more chance.

So HR are kind and they decide not to fire him in that moment.

And the person just walks out of there going,

wow, I just dodged a bullet.

The crisis has been averted.

What happens now?

They change.

They start to arrive on time.

They leave when others leave.

For a while.

When they think things have settled back down,

they start to slip back into the old habits.

First opportunity to gossip against someone.

Yeah, I'll jump in on that one.

You see, in that moment,

the short-lived changes were mechanical compliance from external force.

They weren't driven by any form of internal change.

The alternative is they don't slip back into the old habits,

but they get more and more unhappy about the mechanical compliance.

And they'll start looking for another job where they can get away with their behavior.

You see, external force can restrain the heart,

but it can't change the heart.

For a short time, it, in fact, might look like real change.

It may look like real change.

But if there's no connection to the vine, to Jesus,

then it will show over time.

So here it is.

It is very typical when you first get into Christianity

that without realizing it,

you move into all sorts of mechanical compliance

instead of organic change.

How does this body, family, this church work?

What do I need to do to fit in?

We often put all of our focus on getting busy serving Jesus

instead of friendship with Jesus.

We put all of our focus on getting busy serving Jesus

instead of friendship with Jesus.

And when you first become a Christian,

you embrace the truth.

You're not saved by good works,

but you're saved by the grace of God

to you in the Lord Jesus.

But that truth is so, so foreign to the human heart,

it is virtually impossible to believe it.

And so we get busy doing Christian things

like helping people, getting involved in the church

and studying lots of stuff about this newfound faith that I have.

You get rid of the obvious ones, the big sins,

the juicy sins in your life.

And if you're not careful,

you can subconsciously start to think,

surely God must love me because I'm doing all this stuff.

I'm making some big changes in my life.

And if you're not careful,

what you're actually doing is you start moving into a pattern

of inferring the love of God

rather than experiencing the love of God.

Surely God must love me.

inferring his love

rather than drawing on his love.

And without really drawing on Jesus' life

and listening to his words

and praying to him and knowing him

and walking with him and spending time with him,

we are really just busy doing stuff for him.

And when you do that,

after a little while,

you start to realize

that you aren't actually really changing much at all.

It's possible to discover

three years, 13 years, 33 years,

down the track, sitting in church,

there's not much...

I'm really not much more loving.

I'm not much more...

I've still got the same passions and desires

that I've had for the last 20 years.

I'm no more joyful.

I'm no more patient.

I'm no more humble.

No better at taking any criticism.

I'm just as sensitive as I've always been.

I'm not overcoming the bad habits.

There is, in fact,

very little ongoing fruit.

Just settle.

Got to a point and just settle there.

Just been sitting there for decades.

Friends, it's essential to keep coming back

to the center of the Christian faith.

The branch is fruitful

because it has the life of the vine.

It doesn't get the life of the vine

because it's fruitful.

We are saved by grace

and without His grace,

we are not capable of producing

the change that God requires.

Without His grace,

without His life,

we can't change.

Jesus says,

without me, you can do nothing.

You can't change on the inside without me.

The Paris Peace Conference,

also known as the Versailles Peace Conference,

was the meeting of the victorious allied powers

following the end of World War I

to set the terms of peace

for the defeated central powers.

The peace conference began in January 1919,

so 100 years ago now,

and it ended a year later.

That's a very long conference.

I suppose they had lots of things to talk about

that were important.

One of the delightful side stories,

which is not recorded,

I mean, the outcomes are recorded

about the Paris Peace Conference.

One of the delightful side stories

from the conference

was about members from the delegation of Arabia.

These delegates,

who were connected with Lawrence of Arabia,

came from a harsh desert environment,

nomadic life,

living in tents,

where, as you can imagine,

food and water were relatively scarce.

They take them from that environment,

and they put them in hotels in Paris

for this conference.

And the biggest thing for them

was that there was running water

in the hotel room.

Never discovered it before,

never seen this before in their life.

And when they vocated their hotel rooms,

the hotel discovered

that instead of taking the soaps

and the pens like the rest of us,

these guys from Arabia

took the taps off the walls

to take them back home.

I think they had the assumption,

they had the vision of running water

in their tents.

Get these taps and put them in the tents,

and we'll have running water.

It's cute.

They didn't know the taps were useless

unless they were attached to the water supply.

And that's what Jesus says in verses 5 and 6,

I am the vine,

you are the branches.

If you remain in me,

and I in you,

you will bear much fruit.

Apart from me,

you can do nothing.

A Christian is someone

for whom Jesus is their life source.

As C.S. Lewis put it perfectly

in his book,

Mere Christianity.

He says,

the Christian way is this,

and he's pushing against

the idea of just mere compliance,

and just obedience to rules,

and little bits of changes in habits.

He says,

you've got it so wrong.

The Christian life is much harder

and easier.

Christ says,

give me your all.

I don't want your time.

I don't want your money.

I don't want your work

so much as I want you.

I've not come

to torment

your ordinary self.

I've come to kill it.

No halfway measure.

Hand over your whole

ordinary self,

both the things you think

are innocent,

as well as the things

you think are wicked.

I will give you

a new self instead.

In fact,

I will give you myself.

My own will

will become yours.

My own life

will become

your life.

So,

how do we get this

vital connection with Jesus

so that his life,

this change from the inside out

is happening in our life?

So,

last point,

the means of transformation.

There are four things

in this passage

and,

frankly,

I could spend

a whole lot of time

on each one of these things.

They're all connected

in one way or another.

And we need

all four of these things

to have a vital connection

and to see character change.

All four of them

are essential.

They're interconnected,

and they're all essential.

Firstly,

verse 2,

there's the knife

of the Lord.

He cuts off

every branch in me

that bears no fruit

while every branch

that does bear fruit

he prunes

so that it will be

even more fruitful.

Secondly,

there's the joy

of the Lord.

In verse 11,

I have told you this

so that my joy

may be in you

and that your joy

may be complete.

Thirdly,

there is the friendship

of the Lord.

In verses 13 to 15,

greater love

has no one than this

to lay down

one's life

for one's friends.

You are my friends

if you do what I command.

I no longer

call you servants

because a servant

does not know

his master's business.

Instead,

I've called you friends.

For everything

that I learned

from my Father,

I have made known

to you.

A really crucial one.

Christianity

is not,

it's about being

friends with Jesus,

it's not about

being servants

of Jesus.

Finally,

for number four,

there is the love

of the Lord.

Verses 9 and 10.

As the Father

has loved me,

so have I loved you.

Now remain

in my love.

If you keep

my commands,

you'll remain

in my love

just as I have

kept my Father's

commands

and remain

in his love.

I love the connection

between commands

and love

and also,

beginning of the passage,

Jesus says,

remain in me.

And then,

here he says,

remain in my love.

So let's just grab

one of them.

One that I think

pushes against

and rubs against

our comfort-loving

culture,

and that is

the knife

of the Lord.

We won't grow

in true

Jesus-like

character

without pruning.

It won't happen

without pruning.

The end of verse 1.

My Father

is the gardener.

He cuts off

every branch

of me

that bears

no fruit,

while every branch

that does bear fruit

he prunes

so it will be

even more fruitful.

Now,

Jesus is making

a remarkable

statement.

He's saying

here

that when

the knife

of the Lord

comes into

our life

and

things

get taken

off,

these are

things that

we love

and hopes

that we

have,

when that

knife comes

into our

life,

we think

it's a waste.

We see

all the prunings

and we go,

that's a

beautiful flower.

That's a

beautiful

looking branch.

What are you

doing

cutting that

one off?

Jesus

says that

God is a

good and

skilled

gardener

and he

knows how

to prune

for our

good.

He's,

I'm not a

skilled and

a good

gardener.

I run

into a

branch,

I'm not

going to

have another

cut,

you're off

branch,

you're gone.

I did

that to

the tree

out here

years ago,

ran into

it,

walking under

there one

night,

bang,

next morning,

not going

to happen

again.

I pruned

a plant in

my garden

about a

month ago,

it's now

dead.

the

secateurs

get brought

out with

a great

deal of

fear and

trepidation.

I'm not

sure if I'm

killing it

or not.

God is

not like

that.

He knows

what to

prune for

our good.

Now,

let me

clarify here,

God isn't

looking out

amongst

people and

asking

himself,

what will

it take

to make

them look

great?

What will

it take to

make them

be great?

I'll

send terrible

things into

their life.

That's not

what's

happening

here.

This is

not what

Jesus is

saying.

What

Jesus is

saying here

is the

knife

comes on

everyone.

For some

it prunes,

for some

it cuts

off,

but the

knife comes

on everyone.

He's

saying the

same knife

is on

every branch.

God's

is the

way.

It's

because we

wrecked the

world at

the beginning

of the

true garden

in the

garden of

Eden when

we decided

to reject

God and

run it

our way.

And because

of that,

this world's

wrecked and

we face the

consequences of

living in a

wrecked world.

because we

don't know how

to run the

world.

In the

same way if I

got the

keys of my

car and

handed them

to a

five-year-old

and said,

there you

go.

It won't

be long

and the

car will

be wrecked.

Not long

at all.

Everyone

faces trouble

and evil

because of

living in a

broken world.

And what

Jesus is

saying here

is that if

we are

hooked into

him,

the same

troubles and

the same

evils,

that happen

to everyone

in this

life,

will make

you soft,

not hard.

They will

make you

more human,

not less

human.

They will

make you

wise,

not stupid.

They will

make you

into a

great person,

not into

a small

person.

That's

what he's

saying.

If

connected to

Jesus,

the knife

will cut

us and

make us

for more

growth and

for more

inner

transformation.

But if

we're not

connected to

Jesus,

the very

same

troubles,

the very

same

evils that

come to

everyone's

life will

cut us

off.

It will

cut us

off if

the things

that are

being cut

off,

the branches

that he's

cutting off

are our

vine.

If those

things are

our life,

if they are

our life

source,

when they're

taken,

they destroy

us.

Like the

person who

must be

married,

when they

finally get

married,

this is my

life source,

and all of a

sudden the

marriage is a

disaster,

and they

grow in

more and

more in

bitterness.

happiness.

It's the

difference

between

enjoying and

feeling the

loss of the

thing that's

been taken

away, and

that thing in

fact being

your joy.

When Jesus

isn't the

vine, but

something else

is, that is

it's your

meaning, it's

your hope, it's

your joy, we

are crushed

when it's

lost.

But if

Jesus is your

life source,

then when you

get pruned,

what you do

in that

moment, like a

plant, when it

gets pruned, it

draws, it

draws on the

life source, it

draws on the

trunk, it

starts to heal

and grow

again.

We draw on

his word, we

draw on his

promises, we

draw on his

commands, you

listen to him

speak to you

through his

word, you

draw on his

love, you

draw on the

friendship that

you have with

God, you

draw on his

joy for you

and over you

and of you, you

see Jesus

Christ was cut

off from God.

See, that's the

thing we've got to

remember here.

When we are in

that furnace, when

we're facing the

knife of the

Lord, we must

see that Jesus

Christ was cut

off from God.

He went to

the cross

cross for us

so that we

only ever have

to face being

cut back from

God, being cut

back by God.

As Isaiah

says, Jesus was

cut off from the

land of the

living.

He was only

ever cut off, he

was cut off so

that we only have

to face being

cut back.

As hard as it

might be for us

at times, it was

infinitely harder

for him.

The more we

think about what

he has done

for us, the

more we're able

to take the

cuts.

Through the

knife of the

Lord, you

draw more and

more on the

love of the

Lord.

recently, I've

got to say

personally, I've

been feeling the

knife of the

Lord in a range

of areas, but

one area

especially that

has been really

challenging me in

terms of the

knife of the

Lord in

difficulty is as

a father.

It's been

particularly tough

lately.

God has been

pushing me to

my limit of

my capacity

and what's

been surfacing

for me is

one of the

controlling idols

of my heart,

which we've all

got them, but

one of the

controlling idols

of my heart,

which is

control.

It's so much

easier when your

kids are one,

two and three,

you just pick

them up and

you can't do

that as they

get older.

And so it

draws up and

it pushes you

to your limit

and draws up

what is

default setting

of how I

would behave.

What I'm

finding at the

moment is that

I'm seeing it

more.

God is bringing

to my life

more.

I'm not liking

it.

I'm confessing.

I'm discovering

more in God's

word about his

control over the

circumstances of

my life and

everything.

I'm finding that

I'm praying more

for his enabling,

for his wisdom,

for his love,

for his joy.

I'm slowly

resting on him

more.

I've just

realized that

what God has

been doing in

my life over

here in

drawing an

idol of my

heart to the

surface through

this circumstance

is absolutely

essential for

St. Paul's

right now as

well.

Isn't it good

the way he

does that?

that this

idol is

not just

about me

being a

dad, but

it's about

me being a

husband, it's

about me being

a man, it's

about me being

the leader of

this church as

well.

See, right

now we are

seeking to

equip leaders

and to push

decision-making

right now.

And an

idol, sorry,

not idol, a

mentor of mine

said some time

ago, one of the

differences

between our

system, the

way we sit,

one of the

things that we

love in

Anglican

churches compared

to his

system, which

is a major

hindrance for

us, is that

we love order

and control.

We love it.

Maybe, you

know, so, and

so I've been

reflecting on

that and God's

been cutting

back, cutting

back, cutting

back, help me

see, you don't

have control.

You think you

do, but you

don't have

control.

You can't

even control

the people you

brought into

this world, for

goodness sake.

You can't

control that.

And so what I'm

realising is the

big thing, the

big desire of my

heart to develop

here in this

church, to see

people in this

church empowered

and released for

ministry, the

hindrances are

not just systems,

systems, they're

not just

structures, but

hearts.

And it

begins with my

heart.

Oh, how

difficult it

was, and yet

how beautiful it

was to, and I'm

grateful for, for a

very quick rebuke

from a brother on

Friday afternoon

that saw this

default setting of

mind come to the

surface.

Just very

quickly, uh-uh-uh.

Not your call,

Steve.

That was so...

the sinful side.

What do you mean

not my call?

I'm the senior

minister of this

church.

Control, Steve.

Holy Spirit,

control, control,

control.

What is it for

you that God

needs to work in

your heart?

C.S. Lewis

writes in

Mere Christianity,

we must not be

surprised if we

are in for a

rough time.

When a person

turns to Christ

and seems to be

getting on pretty

well, he now

thinks it would

be natural if

things now went

on more smoothly.

When troubles

come along,

though, when

troubles come

along, illnesses,

money troubles,

new temptations,

you begin to get

disappointed.

Why is this

happening now?

Didn't I already

give myself to

God?

God.

It's because God

is forcing us

onward and

upward to a

higher level.

He's putting us

into situations

where we have to

be much more

braver, much

more patient,

much more

loving, much

less in control

than we've ever

dreamed before.

It seems

unnecessary to

us.

It's only

because we've

not got the

slightest idea

of the

tremendous thing

that he needs

to make of

us.

Imagine

yourself, he

says, as a

living house.

First, God

comes in to

make some

repairs and you

understand what

he's doing.

He fixes the

drains and the

leaking roof and

you understand,

yeah, that

important work

that needs to

be done.

You're not

surprised.

But then,

he starts

knocking the

house about

in ways that

hurt

abominably,

if I can say

that word.

And it makes

no sense.

What's he up

to?

Then the

explanation

comes that

he's building a

very different

house than the

one that you

thought he was

building.

He's throwing

off a new

wing in this

direction.

He's putting up

a tower there.

Now, he's

making this

courtyard.

You thought

you were being

made into a

decent little

cottage.

He's building

a palace

because he

intends to

live in it.

Jesus said,

I am the

vine, you

are the

branches, I

have appointed

you for

greatness, and

I'm fitting

you out to

live with

me in

greatness

forever.

I'm cutting

you back, not

cutting you

off.

I'm cutting

you off.

I'm cutting

you off.