After The Message: I Am The True Vine

Thank you for joining us today for After the Message.

To learn more about Celebration Church here in Orlando, follow us on social media at Celebration Overhealth or visit our website at celebrationoverhealth.org.

I'm uh I'm so excited for the first week of After the Message.

Uh, we just started the I Am series.

Yes.

Um, this this last week was amazing talking about I'm the true vine, how God is our source.

Um, I mean, I loved everything you said.

Can you give like talk about those three things that you talked about towards the end of the sermon that things you want us to remember about God being our source and the true vine and all that?

Yeah, I I think what's what's important about this series overall is is understanding that when we when we know who God is, then we know who we are.

Yeah.

I think so so often we're trying to find identity and we're looking for other sources to do that.

But and we we can often look at like our walk with God to be this thing that's disconnected from like the world.

But if we can understand we get our identity from him, let him be our source.

That sets the whole tone.

So when we know who he is, then we know who we are.

So one of the things that we kind of really focused on um in this message, but then also in a series, and I think it's gonna come up quite a bit, is just like if we want to be, if we really want to be fruitful, we're gonna have to be faithful.

Yeah, we're gonna have to stay like rooted and planted in him and continue to allow ourselves to like really absorb the nutrients of truth instead of like a fresh dose of it, and then I kind of go on my own way, and then we kind of get away from it.

So that's really one of the primary things.

That's super important too, because I think so many times what we can do when it comes to being fruitful is we can expect something to happen overnight, yes, just supposed to actually take time to develop inside of us.

Like we can even be like, Hey, we want the Holy Spirit to move, but like the fruit of the spirit is something that takes time, it takes time to grow in our lives, and so as we give it time to grow and develop, that's where we actually see fruitfulness as long as we stay faithful in those moments.

And here's the key with that, man.

It requires us, like, because again, like we'll notice, and and we talked about this this past Sunday, but we'll notice like there's this there's this theme in scripture where like our growth is always associated with like um with like trees and things like that.

Like, there it's interesting how God uses that as the primary vehicle to communicate, like this is what growth looks like.

And so here's the thing about like trees and things like that.

It's it goes through seasons, yeah.

And so we use that phrase a lot, but I think if we if we if we miss it, we can have like this accelerated mentality of like let's not even get there instead of us looking at our lives through the through the lens of seasons.

We're in a season, and so with every season, there's a purpose and something that God's doing in it.

But if we're trying to get to that season where we're we're God's trying to cultivate something, he wants to plant something in us, but we're in that mindset of like, I want to grow right now, we'll we'll miss what God truly wants to do in that.

Even even when the scriptures speak about Jesus, like they say that he literally was planted in the ground so that he could produce new life for us, but it's understanding your season.

And I think one of the things that we often struggle with is that we we misdiagnose our season because we just want the outcome, but we don't recognize the grace that this that that the season provides for us, you know.

So I think that's that's one of the challenges, man.

How many times do you think that we misdiagnose our season because in that season what God's trying to do is prune some things out of us, but it's uncomfortable, so then we're like, instead of being pruned, we just need to like run, need to get away.

I couldn't I couldn't put a number on it.

And and here's the thing, man, like it's it's not easy.

Yeah, you know, the truth of the matter is, man, no matter how long we've walked with God, like one of the I I learned something a couple weeks ago that I never really considered, but um I heard somebody say, like, we're addicted to comfort.

And and and that's just the way that we are in our society, that's just the kind of way that we're wired.

And no one's running around looking for pain and like, hey man, sign me up.

I want I want the longest route possible.

But we'll see these these patterns in scripture and even in our own lives where man, we just we just want to get the fruit, we just want to get the outcome.

Like you look at the Exodus narrative and and God speaks to Moses and says, like, hey, we're gonna get to a land flowing with milk and honey.

That's the vision, that's the that's the destination.

You're going to get there.

But like three days into the journey, they're like, bro, like, what is going on?

Like, can we just hurry up and get there?

Not realizing that even the wilderness was meant to be a pruning season.

Yeah.

Um, of course, they had to be obedient and some things that God had to walk through them with in that regard.

But yeah, I think that sometimes for us, um, we don't recognize the season that we're in.

And so sometimes we we really I don't always think that it's just like vain ambition or we feel like um that we're being rebellious.

I think a lot of times it's just that we're looking for, we may think that God's not with us.

Yeah.

And I think that's the part that we can often misdiagnose is that when we are in a season of not being comfortable, that maybe that's an indication that God's not with us.

But something that I've recently learned as well is just that just because something's not comfortable doesn't mean that it's not right.

Yeah.

Um we we think about childbirth, like it's there's something that's obviously happening, the process of growing the womb, expanding, all the things that take place.

But but when that deliverance moment comes, like it's not comfortable, but the fruit is coming on the other side.

But we can't get so uncomfortable that we feel like okay, then something's wrong.

No, that actually may mean that something's right.

Maybe God's gonna do something in it.

Yeah.

I mean, I know my generation specifically, that's one of the things that I feel like your generation.

What's your generation?

Tell me what your generation is.

I'm a millennial.

I found that out a couple weeks ago as well.

I didn't think I was.

I did not like when I found out that was a millennial, but it's okay.

Um, there is a season, but there's so many stereotypes too, as well.

But um I think what happens a lot with my generation is that we feel like if it's uncomfortable, if it's causing us to change, if it's causing us to have to do something different, then we don't like it.

Yeah, and we'll push back on it.

And I feel like what I've even had to learn in my own life is that so many times what God is doing in those seasons is He is growing me because now that I am, you know, I'm 33, I'm not super old, not super young as well, but I can look back in seasons where I was uncomfortable and I thought something was wrong because I was uncomfortable, but something was actually happening on the inside of me, and I'm glad that I stayed faithful because now I can see that fruit in my life, especially having kids, man.

Fruit and then you need that in your life like crazy.

And kids will teach you.

Yeah, like it really does teach you because obviously you're now responsible of watching uh a human being grow.

And and then when you get on the other side, I I'm I'm I'm at that stage in my life where I'm almost kind of mimicking my parents, where it's like, well, back in my day, like you kind of start quoting your parents things you never thought that you would do.

Um, but I find myself in that space now when I'm talking to my my kids, and and now my granddaughters are coming up, but like I'm finding myself like looking at the world through their lens, but remembering where I came from and trying to provide context.

But the truth of the matter is, man, like if I if I could be 100 with you, man, like it's not really uh a millennial thing that gave birth to impatience.

We've all had a version of that.

We're just we're just a little more impatient.

You guys are just a little bit more like you've mastered the art of being impatient, but that's not a new thing, man.

That's that's something you see in scripture, that's something that you see in life.

We all kind of want to get to the end result as quickly as possible.

I just think that because the millennials are so innovative and that being able to create all these wonderful resources and tools that we now get a chance to enjoy, we often believe that that should translate into every area of our lives.

So when there is a season of delay, when there is a season of you just gotta wait this thing out, you gotta be patient, that's where the conflict is because we live in a world that is just so much have it your way, that when it's not your way, that's the moment that I think unfortunately with millennials they don't have the fortitude or the the natural recognition of okay, but God's doing the work in it.

And I think that's the part that we can miss.

But that's that's why Jesus says, like, I'm the truth.

But like if you stick with me, look at my patterns, look at my rhythms, if you can stick with me, even if you're going through one of those delayed seasons, those seasons of I'm cultivating something, there's gonna be something that's gonna be produced through this.

Um, if we can stick with him, that even when we're in those seasons of discomfort, he is with us and there's still grace for the season that we're in.

I think that's the that's the lesson that I had to learn.

Like when I when I when I look back over my own life and and I think of moments where whether it be like financial hardships, uh physical hardships, whatever, once you kind of get past resisting it, once you kind of get past uh, what do I gotta do to get out of it, and you really embrace where you are, there's always a grace that comes there when you accept the truth of where you are, because I feel like God's doing something in it.

There's not a place that we can go.

So the psalmist says it this way there's no there's nowhere I can go that I can escape the grace of God.

Like he even says that even if I go to hell, like God is there.

So that means that there's literally not a spot that you can be in that you can escape the grace of God.

I just think that sometimes, like Paul was, he was going against the grain.

Yeah.

So like Jesus shows up and say, man, like you're literally going against the direction of grace.

If you can just embrace what's the reality, then I can move you forward, even if it's in a season of discomfort.

That's the part that I think that we as we're maturing in our faith, we have to come to grips with.

I remember when the very first sermons I ever heard you preach um here at celebration, you were actually talking about how your delay is not God's denial.

And I remember you talking about that.

And then even so this week you kind of even uh went into that a little bit when you're talking about um choosing when we choose life, we avoid death.

Yes.

And talking about like the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and how it wasn't like that God's like, hey, you can never have that, but this isn't good for you now.

Yes.

Um, I thought you've talked to us about that a lot, even as a staff team, just uh of the knowledge of good and evil, and then also the tree of life.

And uh I want I want to hear you talk more about that, like uh some more thoughts.

That's that's uh that could be its own separate thing.

And and honestly, man, I've I've studied it for years, and there's even other like academic um writings and people that have gone into it far better and with more detail than I ever could.

In fact, like even um the Bible project, they did a whole series on the tree of life, and then they had an extended podcast that breaks down all these different um implications of trees and scripture.

So a lot of it was inspired by that in conjunction with some other things that I read, but just um throughout my life, like one of the one of the first times I really kind of encountered my my understanding of how the tree of life works in the context of a modern-day believer.

Like, what does that mean?

Like, because historically my theology was always we got cut off from the tree of life, we don't have access to it anymore, and and that's it.

But then as I began to kind of like engage like freedom content, we know I would look at different books that talk about freedom.

A lot of times there would be this conversation about choosing life.

We got to get back to the tree of life.

Um, and so when you understand like what Eden is, and then you begin to kind of look at the narrative of scripture, get to the end of the book with revelation and seeing like ultimately we're trying to go from Eden, what God had intended, to getting to what it is going to be and at the end, like now you see that God's plan had always been for his people to inhabit this this Edenic environment of like of like wholeness.

But but Jesus also gives us like these indicators like on earth as it is in heaven.

So there's this overlap that that God has intended for his people, his modern-day believers now, that we can experience a life-giving environment.

We do have access to the tree of life.

It doesn't mean that we don't have natural death, but there's a there's this life-giving um access that we have um that we have at our fingertips if we can learn to make the proper choices.

So um, so as I began to kind of process through it and look at all the research that's out there, um, the tree of life is is really like it's really meant to be going back to the source, kind of back to what Jesus said, like let me be the true vine, let me be the source, but but there's that choice that we have to make.

And so for for Adam and Eve, and even for many of us, like that tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Um many would translate and say the knowledge of good and bad.

Like it's not necessarily evil, it's just that things that are good and things that are not good.

Well, unfortunately, man, we we live in a world now where we allow our knowledge to determine what's right and what's wrong.

Um, and so what scripture says is that like wherever there's not a king, that the people did what was right in their own eyes.

That means like, hey, it seems right, like this is right to me.

So this seemed like this is the most appropriate course.

Our logic begins to kick in, like our mind begins to kind of be the driving force for us.

And so what I found more often than not, man, is that whenever we live in that place where we where we we camp out on what we know, even in even in grace-filled environments, we can find ourselves getting away from being life-giving.

Like, I mean, how many times have we seen, whether it be in a Christian context or in an environment where we're just truly trying to be unified and do the right thing, that a lot of times division happens.

It's not because we're choosing life, it's because we're we're resting in what we know.

And sometimes that gets into the way of us actually being able to access the way that God wants us to do it by just simply being life-giving.

So even when we lean into like uncomfortable conversations, like, are we doing it in a life-giving way?

Even when we have to like uh deal with moments that we're we're dealing with inner conflict, are we doing it in a life-giving way?

And and and and here's what I'll say, man.

I think um when we look at Adam and Eve in the Eden context and and realizing that nothing changed about them.

When they when they parts up of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, like literally nothing changed except the Bible says that their eyes were open and now they knew they were naked.

Now they knew they were naked, and then shame came upon them, and now there is this ripple effect that comes from it.

What I believe happens with with us a lot of times, man, is like once we begin to do things the way that we, the way that we feel that we should do them, the things that are right in our own eyes, like it allows us to inherit shame.

It allows us to inherit condemnation, whether for us or we keep it on to somebody else, just because there's a version of knowledge that we have that we haven't matured into.

And so God's plan, man, it really wasn't to keep, it wasn't to keep Adam and Eve from from it eternally.

I truly believe that God had intended for them to mature and their walk with Him, mature as they were as individuals, and allow Him to be the source that helped them to understand what is right and what is wrong, what is what is good and what is evil.

But whenever you fast track moments like that, man, you end up giving yourself access to something that your maturity can't handle, and then it brings upon shame and guilt and judgment and wrath and all those things that we kind of still deal with today.

So that's kind of the consequence of when we bypass the tree of life and want to do things in a way that seems right to us.

That's good.

We talked about that a few weeks ago too.

We talked about David going back and getting the ark.

He got everybody together and they did what they said seems right.

We all voted on, oh, this seems right.

Yes.

Let's go and do it.

They didn't seek God, they just used their own knowledge.

They tried to get the ark.

The first time it fell, and then David was angry and he had shame and guilt because of Uriah actually dying in that moment.

And I remember when we talked about that, it was like if they would have taken a moment to even seek God before they went and did what they did, then they would have had a life-giving situation instead of what happened.

And I I mean I can look back at my life, and so many times I see where, man, if I would have actually asked God about a situation, even like godly situations, like what seems if I would have asked him about it instead of just doing what I thought seemed right, or maybe even what someone else told me was right, I mean, I would have had better results in my life.

I know that for sure.

Why do why do you think, like, let me let me ask you, why do you think we we still, I mean again, it's it's it's the it's the world that we we live in, but just practically speaking, man, why do you think that there are moments that even in spite of scripture, even in spite of kind of what we know um scripture says we should do in regards to engaging God, why do you feel like our default is still to kind of like consult a lot of other sources before we consult the appropriate source?

I mean, I know for me at least, whenever I struggle with that, I mean I'll do the same thing like he even even with my kids.

I remember whenever we started going through the adoption process and we were in Nigeria, the one thing that I did time and time and time again was I would open up uh Google and I would search like for articles on like pretty much like how to parent your kids, what to do with adoptive kids.

I would do all this stuff.

See, I didn't have algebra to my kids, we just had to freestyle and figure it out.

So we tried to freestyle for a little bit, it didn't work very well.

But I mean, I I would open them up and I'd read it and then I try like a new technique, and it would work for like a day and then backfire on me afterwards.

And so I was trying all of these things, and then I remember, I mean, this it's weird.

I can remember, oh I need to probably ask God what to do.

But I've been praying and stuff, but then I finally I was I remember laying in the bed, and it had been a really tough day, and I was just like, God, I need you to speak to me because I do not know what to do in this situation.

And I remember he took me right to the scripture where he said his okay's evil burden is light, and that if I'll let him, I can learn from him.

Yes.

I think so many times we don't want to take the time to learn.

Yes, and maybe we want to take the time to learn, we just feel like we don't have the time to learn.

Yes.

We're so busy, we're so like going from like one thing to the next that we actually don't take time to say, God teach me, like God show me.

And I can look back at every area of my life where I've not done that, and if I would have done that, it would have been different.

You know what I think also, and I think this kind of goes hand in hand.

Not only is it like we don't want to take the time to learn, so there's could be a moment where it's like, I think there's a side where, okay, I gotta figure it out.

Um, I kind of I kind of know enough just based off whatever experience, exposure, conversation.

So I kind of got a good feeling.

So that there's that part of it.

I think another part of it is like whenever you really begin to ask God, that means that you're now gonna be accountable to the answer.

Oh, that's good.

So so now if I really ask God, what if the what if the lesson for me is to unlearn some things?

That's good.

And so unfortunately, I think that we get to a place, whether it be on purpose or um or just subconsciously, we don't ask the question because we really don't want to have to process the answer.

And I say that because I've been there.

There's been many moments where I'm like, man, I I I feel like I got a good handle on this.

This is what I think I'm gonna do.

It seems right, man.

I feel like you know, you can find a scripture to kind of rationalize it.

Yeah, this seems like it's a good idea, and you kind of move forward with it.

But knowing that if you really pause and pray and ask God, now now we're gonna be responsible for the response.

Or I think the other side of that could also be like, what does that practically look like?

And here's what I mean by that.

Like, if I if I pause and I pray, what does that answer?

Yeah, how do I know there's an answer from God?

Because unfortunately, we do have a culture where we're you and I are talking right now, it's super clear.

Yeah, we even read instances in the Bible where it's the audible voice of God, like it's very clear.

Um, Moses Burning Bush, we have these moments where it's very clear, but for others, I think there's moments where it's like, like, how how do I know that God's speaking?

And so that's where you'll have these these aha moments when you're having conversations with individuals, and and I've been on both sides of the conversation where it's like, God told me, God told me too.

And it's like, okay, like, so so God told you that's like what are the indicators?

What are the things that allows you to know that you've heard from God?

And so the pieces that are connected, prayer and the word, they are so essential because prayer is us talking to God.

We pause, we reflect.

But the word is how God speaks to us.

Now, I'm not saying it's gonna be like book, chapter, verse dynamics, but he's gonna speak to you in a manner that's congruent with his word.

So whenever we're really pausing and asking God to speak to us, I think that even for those who may have tried, and they're like, I've prayed and I didn't get anything from it, I've prayed and I didn't get an answer.

Maybe it's because like the language that God is speaking is unfamiliar because they're not enough engaged in the scripture to be able to interpret when he is giving us prompting.

So this is one of the things that I learned early in my faith.

I remember I would pray prayers, um, and then when I would go to church, the pastor would preach a message, and it seemed as if it was like my house bug, like what is going on?

Like, who told?

Yeah, snitched, like you know what I mean.

Like, you're really trying to figure it out.

Like, did you know that?

You didn't have to tell him that.

Like, I thought that was between us.

Like, you know, you have those moments, and if we and if we don't pause to recognize like that is God speaking, yeah, we can look at it as like a spiritual coincidence, or we don't really take it and put it into practice, but God speaks to us through his word, and sometimes it's gonna be through community, sometimes it's gonna be through a message, it could be through a scrolling through social media.

Like, I think that God's gonna show things, but what's important for us to remember is that when God does speak, it will not contradict his word.

Yeah, he's gonna always speak to you in a pattern and a rhythm that's consistent with his nature and with his word.

And so our our our necessity of engaging scripture is is paramount if we're really gonna have these moments where we invite God into whatever season we're in and and allow him to encourage us where we are, but lead us to where we're going.

And like those are those are the vital pieces.

So when we look at the the tree of life narrative and choosing life and avoiding death, it's it's understanding that, man, like I have a choice to make.

And I shared this a little bit on Sunday, but I was I was I was fascinated at the fact that apparently these trees are in proximity of one another.

And so it's like I I want to I want to get to life.

I'm walking, I'm walking towards life, but this this tree of temptation, this this knowledge, what I know is always a default.

And so um the initial example is like, okay, when I want to do good, evil jet with me.

That's that's kind of like the premise.

But I honestly feel like we can make it even more simple.

It could just simply be like, I'm in my job and I'm trying to do the right thing, I'm trying to choose life, I'm trying to be encouraging, but my but this boss or this coworker is still in my ear.

That temptation to just spaz out is still ever so close.

And and I think that's the tension that that people can deal with, man.

So like, what would you say for a person that they're in that space?

Like they're they're living in their own personal eden, so to speak.

They're they're pursuing life, they're doing the best that they can, and and and they want to do good, but that temptation to just wall out is right there.

Like, how would you how would you encourage somebody?

Like, you have a choice to make, we really do have a choice to make.

Um, and what's encouraging is as close as temptation is, so is life.

We just have to choose which one we go to.

How would you inspire somebody to like, man, just just choose life?

Yeah.

I think sometimes we'll make it look, well don't put yourself in those situations, but what about when you're in a work to actually like yourself?

It's not that easy all the time.

It's not that easy.

And so I think it's when you're when you're in those situations, for me, the thing that has helped the most is trying to be very, very cognitive of the choice that needs to be made.

Because what you can do is you can go back to your default really easy.

And so every every moment is a choice.

Everything that you do is a choice.

Um I even think it back in, maybe not work, but maybe kids.

Um, I mean, your kids can be wilding out one minute and like not like you, but the next minute they can want to snuggle with you.

And you gotta make that like decision: am I gonna be graceful?

Am I gonna like be forgiving, or am I gonna be like, well, you actually just you know you mount off with me a minute ago.

I don't want you to snuggle me right now.

Like those kind of things, it's every moment, every moment really is a choice.

And if you can be cognitive of those things and recognize, I can I always can feel when a choice needs to be made.

But it's my choice to then make the right choice.

Yes.

And that that's the hardest thing because I I'll always in those situations, no matter what happens across the board, I'll feel like I know what's right, I know what I shouldn't do, and if I'm not careful and I'm not cognitive about it, I'll just go right back.

Yes.

Here, and so I think a lot of times what we can do in Christianity.

You can try to like remove our mind from the equation.

Yes.

But so many times, and all throughout scripture, it's like you need to be renewed by like renewing your mind.

Take every thought captive.

You talked about that on Sunday.

Every thought that comes in your mind, you have a choice.

Are you going to act on the thought that comes in your mind?

Are you going to act on the word of God?

And that is the that that is the most inspiring thing that you can do is start to be very cognitive, both mentally and spiritually, in those moments when you have a choice to make.

Because, like when we remove our mind, we will just go right back to our default.

And so just renewing your mind and then knowing, man, if I can't end these situations be cognitive mentally and spiritually in these moments.

And if you don't have the answer, like that's okay.

Pray in that moment.

Do whatever you open your Bible, do whatever you need to do.

But especially in moments where you can't maybe remove yourself from that temptation of anger, of impatience, or whatever it may be, like you got to make a cognitive decision to choose life and not just choose the knowledge of good and evil in those moments.

That's that's true, man.

And I think um to add to that, man, there's there's always there's always a uh a byproduct of the choices we make.

And and that just continues to that choice leads to another choice, and that leads to another choice.

So if we look at if we do look at like the the tension between the tree of life, and then we look at the tension of um with the knowledge of good and evil.

Okay, so the enemy comes into the equation, he tempts them, and and ultimately leads Adam and Eve to like, okay, let's let's participate in in this group.

Like, God's holding out on you.

Um, and so if you do things the way that seems right to you, it's gonna be far more beneficial.

Here's a here's a here's a little thought.

I'm gonna I'm gonna give this one to you for quite here's here's how you know.

Yeah, it's okay, man.

We'll we'll we'll deduct it from each other.

Okay, so um here here's here's a little tidbit that I think would be encouragement for us.

How do you know when an enemy is lying?

When he's talking, yeah.

Because Jesus says the truth is not in him, yeah.

And so often I honestly believe that we we we can sometimes believe a lie.

Scripture even talks about how we can believe a lie from the like sin will never deliver all this promise, it'll it'll never actually be able to like give you what you think it's gonna give you.

Like Adam and Eve were convinced, like, oh yeah, like that that makes sense, that seems right to me.

And then there's a deep consequence that goes with it.

But then not only was there shame, but now they had another choice to make because God shows up.

And and and we can play these wet-up scenarios in scripture, and there's times I let my mind go there, but at the end of the day, it's just inference.

But I do often wonder to myself, like, when God shows up and he's like, Adam and Eve, where are you?

Like, I often wonder, like, if they were to say, like, hey God, like we we messed up, man.

Like, I I don't know what happened, yeah.

Um, but this this this serpent came up, man.

We got we got sidetracked, like, man, can you help us?

Like, again, this is just inference, but I often wonder, like, what would have been different if they would have been able to present their flaws and their brokenness uh to God in that moment.

But what they did is scripture says they they played the blame game, but then even before they got to the blame game, the Bible says they covered themselves up.

Again, it seems right.

I made this mistake, I'm dealing with shame.

Yeah, I'm disconnected from the tree of life, I'm looking at her, she's looking at me.

We're we're we feel guilty and all this stuff.

Let us go do whatever we gotta do to try to cover the shame up, and that just continues to perpetuate this idea of making one choice that leads to another choice that leads to another choice, and now we have multiplied sin because now we're still trying to fix my shame in a way that seems right.

So they're like, hey, let me go get some fig leaves, because that seems right.

Yeah, and so it's again like God's like, man, like you've gotten so off track, like if you can just surrender to me.

So I I believe that in the context of church, in the context of ministry, if there's something that I I want people to walk away with, because we all are in moments where sometimes we choose life, yeah, and then there's scenarios where maybe we don't choose life, and then there's like a ripple effect from it.

Be willing to present that to God.

Yeah, no matter what, don't try to continue to cover it up with another choice and another choice and another choice, because at the end of the day, and we'll never get the covering that God has for us until He really can reveal the pain and brokenness that we have here.

So I think that's a that's a true, that's a truly vital component of us walking in fellowship with God, knowing that He's not mad, that there's grace for it, and He's gonna walk with us through it, but we've got to be willing to present it for it.

It makes me think of uh a few weeks ago, Olivia always gets in trouble.

Well, not in trouble, she always gets food all over her every time she eats.

And so we've really been working on, hey, don't get your clothes dirty while we're eating.

Like we're in public, please don't have ketchup all over your shirt.

And so um a few weeks ago, she was eating dinner and I heard her messing around in the kitchen, didn't know what she was doing.

And she had gotten something on her shirt and she'd gone in the kitchen and she thought she grabbed like the uh spray and wash stuff to spray on her shirt.

Nope, she got Clorox and sprayed it all over her shirt.

And then like she realized what she did, and so like I came out there and she was like trying to like hide, she's got a tile trying to like hide behind the tile, it got all over the red tile, so then the red tile got Clorox all over it, all that kind of stuff.

And so after the situation, I like talked to her and she goes, I just I didn't want to get in trouble.

I'm like, I understand.

I'm like, but if you would have brought it to me, then I could have actually taken it, I could have washed it, I could have gotten that stuff out.

And so like I even think about this stuff now.

I think about God a lot more as a father now being a God than I ever have before.

Yes, so many times in those moments, if we'll just take it to God, like right in the moment when it happens, instead of and and I know it's hard when you're feeling the shame, when you're feeling the guilt, when you're like, man, I need to fix this myself.

But I mean, if we can do that in those moments, he's a forgiving God, he's a gracious God.

Yes, um, he's right there for us in those moments, and then those moments will actually, like we talked about, and they'll create momentum in our life because now we're taking it, we're handing it over to God.

Yes, and we're saying, like, hey, like I don't want to do it my way.

I messed up, help me fix it.

Like, you help you you do what only you can do because I'm gonna get clocks and mess everything up.

And and here's the thing, man, that's that's that's beautiful.

Here's the thing with that.

Like, we're gonna be talking about this later on in the series, but but but he is the truth, he's the way, the truth, and the life.

So it it's interesting how like the truth shall set you free.

Yeah, so often like we we don't want to like speak or share our truth with God.

So we live in this perpetual state of shame, condemnation, cover-up, shame, condemnation, cover-up.

But if we can just present it to God and allow the truth to set us free, that's what allows us to be able to live a life that even if there's moments of vulnerability, even if there's moments where I fall short and make mistakes, I can present it to God.

Now we're not gonna continue in sin so the grace may have been down, as Paul would say, but it is understanding that that I can bring this to God because it's only then can I have an encounter with truth which truly will set me free, man.

So that I think that's that's why I'm so excited about this series, is because I really want us to explore the the character of Jesus.

Um, I think that a lot of times we know stories about God, but we don't understand his overarching character and his nature and now, by definition, who we are and what we have access to, man.

So this this past week, man, going with I am the true vine, that sets the tone for all of it.

Because I think if we can get a hold of that, then we know that we can trust everything else we're gonna hear.

So in the coming weeks, man, we're gonna hit on the good shepherd, the door, like really understanding what that means through the biblical lens, what does that mean for us?

Because even whenever God reveals himself to us, not only is there something we have access to, but here's the challenge, there's also something that's required of us.

So in in this past week's narrative, I am the source.

The requirement for you is to abide.

Stick with me, and you'll get the benefits of everything that comes with it.

And each week we're gonna identify this is who this is who Jesus is, this is what we have access to, but here is how you do it.

Yeah, and I think that's the part that I think becomes the practical steps and how we can really begin to walk in wholeness because it's impossible if we don't submit ourselves first to the true God.

Yeah, and I love it.

I mean, that literally that is um I don't even know if it was planned or you planned it to start off with that, but like with him being the source and everything falling from that makes so much sense.

But man, this past weekend was awesome.

We can't wait for the next weekends.

Uh it's gonna be great.

Um, I hope everybody who's listening to the first after the message, you know, next week we'll have the after the after the message, you know.

Uh, but uh subscribe, whatever podcast uh you're listening on, if you're watching on YouTube.

Yes.

Make sure to do that subscribe button and then share this with your friends too.

If you know people who need it, I mean I'm gonna share it with people.

I'm gonna watch it again myself.

I'll probably critique myself too.

I'm just gonna be honest.

This is how I am, even though we're having a conversation.

Present it.

And let God work in it.

And here's the thing, man.

We're gonna get creative with these, man.

We're gonna add more people to the conversation.

Sometimes it's gonna be um longer, shorter, just depending on what we really want who we believe God's calling us to be, man.

But what our heart has always been, man, is to really to extend the conversation, to do as much as we can, move, to make it practical, to help people, but we don't want to just preach messages, we want to teach the Bible, yeah, the whole counsel of scripture and helping people to understand.

Like, I don't want you to just know a story about Jesus, I want you to see him in all aspects of scripture and in your life because we gotta, that's the only way we can experience holiness, man.

So it's gonna be a vibe, man.

I'm pumped.

I'm glad we're doing this, man, and um, we're just getting started.

All right, sounds good.

See you next week.

Appreciate it.

All right.