Within: Week 4 Abiding as a Way of Life | Pastor Bryan Jarrett | Northplace Church

Hello, my name is Brian Jarrett, and my wife Haley and I have had the privilege of pastoring North Place Church in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for almost 20 years. We're one church that meets in multiple locations, even on multiple continents, and today you are one of those locations. The church is not about buildings, it is about people, and we have the privilege today of sharing the hope of the gospel with you right where you are. There is no way I can know exactly what you're going through or dealing with right now, but for almost 30 years I have preached about a God who I know, I am confident, knows you, your struggles, knows the very hairs on your head and the thoughts that you think before you think them, and He is passionately in love with you. And our prayer today is that in our time together you feel our love for you and His presence, and we pray that this time together gives you hope. Thank you for joining us. It's so good to see you in the house of the Lord today. We're here to worship the Lord. Just stand together. Just join the river. Hold on a second. I've got a river that's flowing inside. It's full of life. It's ever-growing. I've got a river that's flowing inside. It's full of life. It's ever-growing. I've got a river that's flowing inside. It's full of life. It's ever-growing. It's always lit. It won't go out. It's always burning.

You've given me joy. It's unspeakable joy. Undeniable. Unexplainable. I've got the joy of the Lord. It's always burning. You've given me joy. It's unspeakable joy. Undeniable. Unexplainable. I've got the joy of the Lord. I've got a river that's flowing inside. It's full of life. It's ever-growing. I've got a fire and it's always lit. It won't go out. It's always burning. I've got a river that's flowing inside. It's full of life. It's ever-growing. I've got a fire and it's always lit. It won't go out. It's always burning. You've given me joy. It's unspeakable joy. Undeniable. Unexplainable. I've got the joy of the Lord. Down in my heart. Deep down in my soul.

Uncontainable. It's untamable. I've got the joy of the Lord. I've got joy on the inside. Feels like fire. Can't keep it in. I keep praising in the midnight. The joy of the Lord is my strength. I've got joy on the inside. Feels like fire. Can't keep it in. I keep praising in the midnight. The joy of the Lord is my strength. I've got joy on the inside. Feels like fire. Can't keep it in. I keep praising in the midnight. The joy of the Lord is my strength. I've got joy on the inside. Feels like fire. Can't keep it in. I keep praising in the midnight. The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength. I've got a river that's flowing inside. It's full of life. It's ever growing. I've got a fire and it's always lit. It won't go out.

It's always burning. Giving me joy. It's unspeakable joy. Undeniable. Unexplainable. I've got the joy of the Lord. Down in my heart. Deep down in my soul. Undetainable. It's untamable. I've got joy on the inside. Feels like fire. Can't keep it in. ♪ I keep praising in the midnight ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ I've got joy on the inside ♪ ♪ Feels like fire can't keep it in ♪ ♪ I keep praising in the midnight ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ Come on, North Place Church, are you ready? Are you grateful to be at church today in the house of the Lord today on Baptism Sunday? Come on, who's excited and ready for Baptism Sunday? In just a moment, we're gonna go into this incredible, incredible time together, where we are rejoicing with people, 25 people today across our church

who's going all in with Jesus and water baptism. It's gonna be amazing. About a year ago, we had a conviction as a church. We really, for a long time, we did like two or three baptism services a year. They were huge, and like, there's nothing wrong with that. There's a lot of energy and momentum. But about a year ago, we felt a conviction from God that it was our responsibility to make the main thing, not just the main thing, but a regular recurring rhythm in the life beat in the heart of the church. And so we've moved this now to, we celebrate baptisms monthly because we never want someone who is making a decision to go public with their faith to be any further than four weeks away from being able to make that decision. And it's just been such a life-giving part of our rhythm as a church family, but it also, so I know it's made smaller numbers per service, but there is always a chance. So one, we wanna challenge you. We want you to be praying, and we want there to be a regular rhythm in your life. Who am I praying for for the next baptism? Who am I believing God for? I know for me, there are people in my life I'm discipling and walking with right now. I'm dreaming of the day, I'm praying of the day when they can join the next baptism service at North Place Church.

We want that to be accessible to you and your family, but also we want it to be a rhythm of celebration. And in this service, because of that rhythm that we've established, we get to do something a little different. There's Lauren and her daughter, Jamie, getting baptized today in this service, this 8 a.m. service. Lauren was already registered to be baptized, and just in conversation with her daughter Jamie this week, Jamie said, Mama, I wanna do this with you. I wanna go public with my faith with you. And because of the rhythm we've established, she was able to jump in with Lauren, and we're gonna baptize mother and daughter together this service as we go into this time of worship. And when we do, the family is gonna come out now, and they're gonna start to get ready. We also have an opportunity, because it's just them this service, their family is gonna surround the tank and is gonna pray over them and bless them. We encourage you to be praying for this family as we worship together. And when the baptism moment happens, would you just rejoice with heaven as they make this decision? Lord, we love you. We thank you that you're still moving and changing hearts. We thank you for the fact that Lauren and Jamie

have made this proclamation, are making this proclamation together. Would you be with them and be with us today as we celebrate life change in Jesus' name, amen. ♪ All my words fall short ♪ ♪ I got nothing new ♪ ♪ How could I express all my gratitude ♪ ♪ I could sing these songs as I often do ♪ ♪ But every song must end and you never do ♪ ♪ So I throw up my head, praise you again and again ♪ ♪ Cause all that I have is an alleluia ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ And I know it's not but love, nothing else before a king ♪ ♪ Except for a heart singing hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ I've got one peace, Lord, I've got just one rule ♪ ♪ With my arms stretched wide, I will worship you, oh ♪ ♪ So I'll throw up my hands and praise you again and again ♪ ♪ Cause all that I have is a hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ And I know it's not but love, nothing else before a king ♪ ♪ Except for a heart singing hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ It's all I have to bring, Jesus, we glorify you, God ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ So come on, my son, oh, don't you get shy on me ♪ ♪ Lift up yours, cause you've got a lion inside of those, Lord ♪ ♪ Get up and praise the Lord, come on, lift him up today, sir ♪ ♪ So come on, my son, oh, don't you get shy on me ♪ ♪ Lift up yours, cause you've got a lion inside of those, Lord ♪ ♪ Get up and praise the Lord, we sing ♪

♪ Oh, come on, my son, oh, don't you get shy on me ♪ ♪ Lift up yours, you've got a lion inside of those, Lord ♪ ♪ Come on, my son, get up and praise the Lord, oh, Lord ♪ ♪ We praise you, King Jesus, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ We glorify you, Lord, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ So I throw up my hands and praise you again and again ♪ ♪ Because all that I have is a hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ And I know it's not of nothing else before a king ♪ ♪ Except for a heart singing hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Except for a heart singing hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ There's nothing I'd rather do than worship you Jesus, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, don't you get shy on me and lift up your song ♪ ♪ Because you've got a lion inside of those lungs, come on ♪ ♪ So come on my song, oh, don't you get shy on me and lift up your song ♪ ♪ Because you've got a lion inside of those lungs ♪ ♪ Get up and praise the Lord ♪ ♪ So come on my song, oh, don't you get shy on me and lift up your song ♪ ♪ Because you've got a lion inside of those lungs ♪ ♪ Get up and praise the Lord ♪ ♪ So I'll go to my head and praise you again and again and again ♪ ♪ Sing it again ♪ ♪ This all that I have is an hallelujah ♪ ♪ It's only I can do it ♪ ♪ And I know it's not much but nothing else before a king ♪ ♪ Except for a heart singing hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ I knew my soul was in heaven ♪ ♪ It was my cross He bore so I could live ♪ ♪ In the freedom you died for ♪

Come on, does anyone live in that freedom today? ♪ And now my life is yours and I will sing of your goodness forevermore ♪ ♪ And worthy is your name, Jesus, you deserve it all ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, worthy is your name ♪ ♪ And worthy is your name, oh Jesus ♪ ♪ And you deserve the praise, worthy is your name ♪ And in Psalm 103, David commands his soul to bless the Lord. Can we do that together today and worship Him and respond to His goodness and His love for us? ♪ And now my shame is gone, I stand amazed in your love undeniable ♪ ♪ Your grace goes on and on and I will sing of your goodness forevermore ♪ ♪ And worthy is your name, Jesus, you deserve the praise ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name, worthy is your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, worthy is your name, oh Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, so worthy, you're worthy of my worship ♪ ♪ No matter what I face, so be exalted now in the heavens ♪ ♪ As your glory fills this place, you alone deserve our praise ♪ ♪ You're the name above, come on you sing, so be exalted now ♪ ♪ You fill this place, you alone, you're the name above ♪ ♪ So be exalted now in the heavens, as your glory fills this place ♪ ♪ As your glory fills this place, you alone deserve our praise ♪ ♪ You're the name above all names, be exalted now in the heavens ♪ ♪ As your glory fills this place, you alone deserve our praise ♪ ♪ You're the name above all names, be exalted now in the heavens ♪ ♪ As your glory fills this place, you alone deserve our praise ♪ ♪ You're the name above all names, be exalted now in the heavens ♪ ♪ You're the name above all names, be exalted now in the heavens ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name, Jesus, you deserve the praise ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name, worthy is your name, Jesus, you deserve the praise ♪

♪ You deserve the praise, worthy is Your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is Your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, worthy is Your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is Your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, You deserve the praise, worthy is Your name ♪ Amen, amen. As we welcome our service, all of our campuses into this service, let me just say we, our whole conference experience, we stumbled into it. We had traditionally sent kids to camps, far away campgrounds and all those things and done what you normally do, church camp. But during COVID, we were forced to change and we kind of did this thing that was part youth camp, part conference, which is where you get conference from. And it just became this, wow, we're reaching a whole nother segment of kids. We're able to do things we weren't normally able to do. And we started seeing genuine fruit in the lives of kids and the number of kids we were able to reach. And so we just did it for teenagers for a number of years. And then we started, if it's not working out well for teenagers, why don't we do it for kids? And so we started KidFriends a few years after that. And it's just been transformational. Really encourage you, mom, dad, if your kids are not registered, please sign up. If finances are an obstacle, we have some help there.

We have, we try not to let that be the reason you can't go. It still costs us a lot of money. People are like, you do it at the church, you don't send them, why does it cost so much? Just because we're feeding them meals every day and doing the experiences that we give them. It is still costly, even though we're not at a stay away camp. So, but we don't let finances be the reason you can't come. And if you, the QR codes will be on your screen today to get you registered. If you want to register for KidFriends or CanFriends, they're the second and third week of July. The teenagers are the second week of July, the kids are the third week of July. At every campus today, there's a next generation booth in the lobby where you can ask questions, get more information, you can register and you can stop by the booth if God puts it on your heart to scholarship a kid. We're building some of those scholarships to help people who don't have resources. And so if you, that God puts that on your heart, you can talk to them at the next gym booth about how to do that. And speaking of scholarships, let me just say something to you that was really, really cool to me as a pastor. I just found this out, but a few days ago, our young adult ministry,

so these are the kids that have graduated high school, they're in college or a career role, but they're in that age, they're 18, 19 or 20 somethings. And so many of their lives were impacted by CanFriends during their time here that they got together and started talking and said, we have to help other teenagers have the experience that shaped our life. And they got together and they took up an offering as young adults, college kids, thousands of dollars themselves to provide scholarships for teenagers so they could go to these experiences. These are kids investing in kids. That's pretty incredible to me because it says a lot. It says, first, this must be really significant marker in their life if they're gonna sacrifice at that age to make sure somebody else gets that experience. It also says something about the culture we're trying to create about raising up sons and daughters and building a spiritual family because when your older spiritual brothers and sisters are sacrificing so the younger ones can have that, there is already this tribe, this family they're inviting people into. And it says something about the culture of generosity that is being passed down from generation to generation. I just wanna say thank you for that. Thank you as a church for creating that type of environment, your generosity,

the way you give. It allows us to have the ministries for the next generation that create this, like Camference and to do the things that like we do like Kidference. And you hear me talk about it a lot. The three buckets of generosity, our tithe is what keeps the church alive. It's what brings about the ministries so that the people that are being baptized today can be discipled and grow in their faith regardless of their generation. But then we talk about Kingdom Builders, which is our mission to the neighborhoods and the nations. You've heard in the news about the earthquakes in Venezuela. We've already sent some of our Kingdom Builders resources to Convoy of Hope. They're already on the ground. Responding to the devastation in Venezuela through Kingdom Builders. Your generosity is already showing up and responding to that disaster and then Our our make room initiative where we're expanding at every campus those of you that are in Sachse see it obviously They're pouring concrete right now Obviously those concrete bills are gonna start coming in and hitting so keep being faithful in your make room commitments It's all about more changed lives I can't jump into this week's sermon without praising God for what he did last week Sons and daughters running to the altar flooding these altars Giving their lives to Jesus. I don't know but but if you were here, was it an amazing like it was this really amazing thing? To see and for me service after service after service the altars were full people

came home from The far country some for the first time some for the first time in a long time Something happened in this room and in people's hearts that only God can take credit for And what happened last weekend was just one part of a larger conversation that we've been having several weeks ago I introduced you to a word that many of us are weren't familiar with interiority interiority is making your inner life a Priority and when week one we started learning our Responsibility to pay attention to the life Beneath the life as Paul said in Colossians 1 it's about Christ in you He says that's your hope and then in Colossians 3. He says it's about you being hidden in Christ So this is about Christ in you and you being Hidden in Christ according to the scripture if you're serious about following Jesus your inner life your soul will become Your priority and to be honest in this last day of what will be this series? I kind of got a little sad because I've got all these verses I didn't even have time to unpack because the Bible is full of this conversation And just to show you how much it addresses this idea of interiority priorities Prioritizing your inner life how much that matters to God. Let me just point out a few We didn't even get to Psalm 139 for you created my in most being God Actually created the space in you that he comes to fill and dwell It's where his spirit is at work in you Ephesians 3. I pray that out of his glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being That's where his spirit is at work in you in your inner being It's where the wisdom and revelation of God will come to you Psalm 51 says behold you desire truth in the in most being and in the hidden part of My heart you will make me know wisdom. It's where the wisdom and revelation of God comes to you It's where renewal happens in your life 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 so we do not lose heart though our outer self our Exterior is wasting away. Our inner self is being renewed Day by day and then the wisdom of Proverbs says this in Proverbs 20 the human spirit is

The lamp of the Lord and sheds light on one's in most Being what does that mean? It means that God has given every one of us an inner spirit that acts like a built-in Light and it it reveals our true motives our thoughts and our deepest character God Intimately knows your heart and he uses and shapes your interior life as a compass that guides you So if your interior life gets off The whole direction of your life will be off the Bible Unmistakably is clear on the importance of prioritizing your inner life We established that in week one and week two We learned that you are what you love you become like what you worship like what you pursue like what you love We learned that whatever you truly desire is proven by the level of your passion In pursuit of that thing. We learned that our habits not our feelings But the things we do over and over again Or what shape our loves and desires more than anything else that you can act your way Into the life that you want to live last weekend and week three We saw a man who came into himself the scripture says he had to lose everything on the outside Before he slowed down long enough to take an honest look on the inside and when he did He was disgusted by what he saw, what he had become. But when he returned home, he found a gracious, patient, and forgiving father. But that father was running down the road to meet him to shorten the distance on the road home. Today, in the last week of this conversation, I feel like I need to address what many of us might be asking right now, especially if you were one of the ones that came back to the father last weekend. You came home and you said, okay, I'm in. I want God to transform my interior life. But now, what does that actually look like?

Not a momentary spiritual high, but what does it look like as a sustained way of living my life? And Jesus gives us that answer. And the answer is really just one word. It takes, it's a big, it explains a lot but it's just one word. John 15, Jesus said, if you want life, if you want wholeness, if you want spiritual passion and flourishing and fulfillment in your inner man, in your inmost being, Jesus said, you're gonna have to learn to abide. Just one word. But doing that changes everything. John 15 is an incredibly tender passage. In order to fully understand why it's so tender and meaningful, you have to examine the timing and what was going on when Jesus used these words. He said these things. This was the night before the cross, after the last supper, on the way to Gethsemane, He knew what was coming in the next 12 hours. And in that moment, the betrayal had already been in motion. The cross was waiting for Him. Jesus gathers His closest friends and says, I wanna tell you something that's gonna hold you together when I'm gone and it feels like everything has fallen apart. And here's what He chose to say in that crucial moment. I am the true grapevine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit and He prunes the branches that do bear fruit

so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who remain in me and I in them will produce much fruit for apart from me, you can do nothing. Abiding in Christ is remaining in Christ. That's what it means to abide, remain. Jesus is not just making a casual suggestion here. This is a dying man's urgent message to the people He's the closest to and out of everything He could have said in the hours before the cross, He chooses to say to them, stay connected to me. Don't let go, abide, remain. The word John originally used here to capture what Jesus was saying is the Greek word mino and it appears 11 times in just nine verses, which means it must be really important. Jesus must really want us to understand this. The word means remain, stay, dwell, make your home in, stand fast. It carries the idea of permanence, settled presence of not detaching or leaving.

Because of the meaning of this word, one translation of verse four reads this way, make your home in me as I make my home in you. Jesus is saying, if you want a centered, flourishing, productive, fruitful life, a healthy soul, I can't be the one you visit on occasion. He's saying, make your home in me, move in, dwell, abide, remain in me. Now think about what makes a home a home versus a place that you visit. When you visit somewhere, you may not even fully unpack because you're always aware you're eventually gonna leave, you never fully settle in, but a home is different. Home is where you let your guard down, you don't have to perform, you belong without having to earn it, you're just authentic and real. That's what Jesus is describing, not a spiritual life built around highs or just occasional times with God, but a life where you've moved into it, where you've stopped keeping your bags packed because it's temporary, you've settled in, you stay connected to him, and it's not just. It's the discipline you add to your schedule, it's become as natural as breathing to you. Abiding in Christ is living in Christ the same way a branch is connected to a grapevine. It doesn't strain, it doesn't perform,

that's just how it lives. I wanna slow down a minute and really look at the image Jesus chooses of the vine and the branches because he doesn't choose this accidentally. This has been a long, ongoing conversation in Scripture. Throughout the Old Testament, the vine was God's primary image when he referred to Israel. The prophets used it over and over again, Isaiah 5, Psalm 80, Jeremiah 2. God planted the vine, he tended the vine, he built the wall around the vine, but it kept producing wild grapes. And it kept failing to be what God intended for it to be. But then Jesus comes along on the scene and he says, I am the true vine. Pay attention to the word, the qualifier word. He says in verse one, I am the true grapevine and my father is the gardener. Why did he have to use the qualifier true vine? Because he's making a stunning claim. He's saying everything Israel was supposed to be and couldn't manage to sustain, I am. I'm the vine that actually works. I'm the source that won't run dry. And if you stay connected to me, you will produce what you could never produce on your own. And this is so important, especially for those of us that are strivers. Pay attention to the branches. Jesus doesn't tell us to try harder to produce fruit.

He doesn't say have more discipline. He says, remain in me, abide in me. Because the fruit is not the product of the branches effort. The fruit is what naturally happens when a branch stays connected to the source of life. Now think about it for a moment. Have you ever gone to a pecan grove or an orchard or a vineyard or anything like that and got really quiet and heard any grunting or straining? No, sounds really stupid to even bring it up. It's almost even comical because branches don't grunt or strain to produce fruit. There is no five-step strategy for fruitfulness in a pecan orchard. They just stay connected and the life of the vine flows through the branch until fruit appears. This is the most counter-cultural thing Jesus said about spiritual growth. We live in a culture that believes in self-effort, in systems and strategies and discipline and hustle and willpower. And Jesus says the secret to fruitfulness, to flourishing, to spiritual formation is not more effort. The secret is more connection. Because apart from me, you can do nothing. Not you can do a little, not you will do less without me, but you can do absolutely nothing without me. And that's hard to grasp for people that are used to making things happen. But at the same time, if you grasp it,

it can be incredibly liberating for you because it means that the pressure to produce fruit or for your own spiritual transformation is not on you. The pressure is on you to stay connected to the one who produces the fruit. Fruitfulness is not your issue. Faithfulness is your issue. If you will remain faithful and abide in the vine, it's his job to produce the fruit. All you gotta do is abide, stay close to the source, and when you stay connected to the source, life flows, growth happens, fruit is produced organically and naturally. Abiding in Christ, remaining in the vine is the only way to practice interiority, to live with your inner life as the priority of your life. The deepening of your interior life is not some destination that you eventually arrive at. It is the constant posture of your heart every day, every morning, and every moment of honest prayer and quiet attention. Eugene Peterson, who spent his entire pastoral life trying to help people understand what making their inner life a priority actually looks like in their everyday life, he wrote this. The assumption of spirituality is that God is always doing something before I know it. So the task is not to get God to do something I think needs to be done, but to become aware of what God is doing so.

that I can respond to it and participate and take delight in it. Our task is not to try and convince God to do something. Our task is simply to become aware of what God is already doing in us and in the world and then respond to that, participate in that, take delight in that. That's abiding. Not trying to manufacture some spiritual experience, not performing some burdensome religious activity. It's staying awake and tuned in to what God is already up to in you, seeing it and saying yes to it. Now I can't address John 15 and skip over the most difficult part of the conversation. As much as Jesus talks about branches abiding in the vine and producing fruit, he also says a lot about pruning. Remember, Jesus calls himself the vine. You and I, he calls the branches and the father, he refers to as the gardener or the vine dresser. He, verse two, he, the father, cuts off every branch of mine that does not produce fruit and he prunes the branches that bear fruit so they will produce even more. The father is the vine dresser, the gardener and the gardener prunes. I've had the opportunity many times in my life to prune grapevines. If I have opportunity time-wise today, I'll tell you a little bit about that.

To a bystander who doesn't understand the value and importance of the process, pruning in a vineyard can look violent and aggressive and even wasteful. During pruning, it looks like the vine dresser is removing what is perfectly healthy and if you didn't understand what was happening, you'd think they were destroying the vine but the vine dresser knows something the branch doesn't know. The pruned branch will produce more fruit, not less. When verse two says he prunes the branches, the original word for prunes can also mean cleanse. Pruning is not punishment, it's cleansing. It's purposeful shaping. The father is removing what is draining life from the branch so that more life can flow through the parts that remain. Placing a priority on your inner life, the care of your soul will sometimes feel like loss. God often allows things to be stripped away that we were counting on. Seasons of difficulty come but those times are not proof that the gardener is absent from your life. Those seasons are what actually prove the depth of his care because the vine dresser doesn't waste the storms of your life, he uses them to prune you and shape you into his image. When he prunes, he's not cutting you down. He's cutting away what is keeping you from becoming everything he designed you to be

and this pruning thing, it only makes sense, it only feels right if you're abiding in the vine. If you're disconnected, pruning feels like waste, it feels unjust but if you're staying connected, if you're making your home in him, you can trust the gardener's hands and you can trust his heart even when you don't understand what he's cutting and why. Remember that verse from Colossians 3, we kept referring back to these last few weeks. For you died to this life and your real life is hidden with Christ. The whole conversation in the last several weeks has been about the hidden life, not the exterior life that everybody sees, that's the one Paul says we're supposed to have died to but the inner you, the part of you that God is most interested in, that's where the real you is located. Not out here but in here, not in your reputation or your performance or your public presentation, your real life is in him, in here. So if the real source of your life comes from the hidden and unseen parts of you, it means that Jesus is not asking you to add one more thing to your to-do list, he's not trying to get you to God, he's trying to awaken us to the presence of God that is already within us and he's saying, connect to the Christ in you, remain in Christ in you,

abide in the Christ in you. And Paul says to us what it can produce if we actually live that way, he says don't worry about anything in Philippians, instead pray about everything, tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done then you will experience God's peace when he exceeds anything we, which exceeds anything we understand. His peace, listen to this, will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ. When does that happen? When you live in Christ. God's peace will guard your heart and mind. Your heart and mind is another description of your inner life. If you have any peace in your life, it is there because you have guarded your inner life. The word guard, Paul uses here as a military term, and it means to stand as a sentinel over, like posting a guard at the gate. When you're abiding, when your real life is hidden with Christ, his peace is not a feeling that comes and goes with your circumstances. It is like a soldier standing watch over your soul, guarding what gets in and guarding what comes to your heart and mind. That's the goal of prioritizing your inner life. It's not just about a deeper prayer life or more engagement with God's word.

All that's great, but a person whose inmost being is being guarded by the peace of God is a soul that is so anchored and connected to the vine that the things that used to shake us at the foundations can't find their way past the sentinel of the peace of God that is watching over our hearts and minds. That's what abiding produces. Not perfection, not the absence of struggle, but a peace that doesn't make sense to the people watching your life from the outside, and it may not even make sense to you. It's a peace that passes understanding beyond human comprehension. Abide, stay connected to Jesus, not just in the dramatic moments, not just in the crisis, in the ordinary Tuesday. On the ordinary Wednesday, in the quiet moment where nobody is watching, make your home in him. That's how you live this out in your everyday life. Jesus closes this whole conversation about the vine and branch with what might be the most tender statement in the whole passage. He says, I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain, abide in my love. Not perform for my approval, not earn your place at my table, not prove you deserve to stay, but remain in my love. What he's saying is my love is already there. It was there before you decided to come back home

from the far country. It was there while you were living it up in a life of sin. It was there when you were running down the road to meet him. It was there putting the robe on your back and a ring on your finger, and it's here right now in this room at this moment, settled and certain, and it's not going anywhere. You know how to live this out. Stay there. It is love. Make your home in it. Take up residence in it. And from that place, everything else will follow. The fruit, the peace, the formation, the becoming a new and different person, it all flows from one thing, a branch that decides to stop disconnecting from the vine, but chooses to abide. Now, let me give you something really practical you can start doing right now to put this into practice moving forward. You could call this the daily return. Since you can produce nothing of value apart from him, work this into your prayer life and your daily routine. This is a prayer you can pray. You are the vine. I am the branch. Apart from you, I can do nothing. Jesus, I'm staying.

Jesus, I will remain. It doesn't have to be eloquent. It doesn't have to be long. It just has to be honest and consistent. That's what abiding is. A thousand small returns to the vine. Now, let me leave you with the fun fact that most people don't know, okay? I grew up on a vineyard. That's why the biblical imagery of John 15, the vines and the branches, is always so personal to me because I've actually seen and done everything that Jesus talks about in John 15. I see how it's such an incredible image of what the spiritual life is. My grandfather was a pastor, but also we had a small family farm and we raised, early part of my life, strawberries and watermelons. And like people would come and pay to pick or we would pick and then we would sell and go to farmer's markets. I'm the guy in every country song sitting in a pickup truck, selling off the side of the road. You know, selling turnips in a flatbed truck, crunching on a pork run when she showed up. You know, that old song. Yeah, that's me. I done that. at all my life, working on a farm.

And so the University of Arkansas called my granddad and said, Mr. Gibson, we've created a new seed and it's a Concord grape without seeds. It's a seedless Concord, which is not a big deal now. Then it was a massive breakthrough, but we need some farmers that are willing to give up some land, plant some vineyards, try this. And so they provided all the seed, but we had to provide the land. And so we cleared some new ground and we took out all of our watermelon hills and our strawberry patch, most of that. We left a little and we went all in with the grapes. And we cut every post, like every cedar post. We went in the woods, trimmed them. We made hundreds of posts. I was with him digging every post hole. We strung the lines and then we planted acre after acre after acre of these little bitty vines that we put one by one in the ground. And I remember I was a little boy and I'm like, we're planting this, I want grapes tomorrow. And my grandpa said, Brian, these won't really produce fruit for five years. And for a little boy, that's an eternity. That was, I was barely that old, five years before I can eat a grape off all this work we've been doing. There are some things that you learn when you do the work that you might not know if you weren't in the process. And they were just, let me give you these really quick,

some things that I just jotted down. These are not even on your screen. After I was finished with my sermon, I'm like, I just got to pass this on stuff. I know that I wouldn't know had I not grown up this way. The imagery that Jesus uses for our spiritual growth and formation is intentional because you being formed in the image of Christ is painstakingly slow. And in a culture that is all about immediate gratification and the demands, instant results, we check out on the spiritual growth process. We don't stay, we don't abide because we don't realize it's going to take a long time. You've got to get to the point where you trust the gardener and you choose to remain. This is the long play. It's not overnight. Second, I saw firsthand that pruning really is necessary. It's not wasteful. If the vine dresser doesn't prune often, then the vines eventually become unprofitable. It is costly if you don't prune. That's why God will prune people out of your life. That's why God will prune blessings and good things out of your life. Sometimes He prunes the good things to get you to the best things. And it's hard to be happy when God prunes out the good things because He's not yet given you any hint about the best thing.

And it's hard to let go of the good, but you got to trust the hands and the heart of the gardener. He's taken that because He wants to give me best. Remember what Jesus said, He only prunes the branches that are bearing fruit. He cuts off the branches that are not producing the branches that are not producing any fruit, which means if you are being pruned, you're fruitful. He wouldn't be pruning a vine that's not fruitful. So if you feel like you're in a season of pruning, just know it's because the Father sees some fruit and He believes there's more potential in you. That's the only reason pruning would ever happen. Third, there's fruit hiding there in you and in the other people around you that you don't see. I can't tell you how many times as a kid when they were teaching me how to hide my shears, they were teaching me how to prune or teaching me especially how to harvest grapes. And they always put me in front because they had to clean up all my mistakes. And as a kid, I can tell you how many times, whether it's my grandma or my grandpa, they were coming behind me and I hear this, I'm a few vines up front. My grandma would say, you missed it, Brian. And she'd clip it and pull it up, hold this cluster of grapes. This one was hiding, this big cluster of grapes was hiding behind a leaf.

That's money, she'd say. You're leaving on the vine, it's gonna rot. You better pay attention because there's fruit down there hiding that if you're not careful, you don't see. The biggest clusters of grapes can be tucked away way down in there and they're easy to miss. I'm telling you, there's fruit in your life. If you're connected to the vine, there is fruit in your life. There is fruit in other people's life. The Lord has to remind me of this because I look at some people and say they're a Christian, I'm going, there ain't no fruit there. And the Lord said, treat them like that vine your grandma would just keep digging. It's in there. There's fruit in there, hiding in plain sight. If they're connected, you're connected. Connected to the vine, you will produce fruit. Won't you stand with me across the room, if you will, and have our prayer team make themselves available to serve you today. As always, I have a little prayer for us to pray, just to kind of bring this all together. But this is kind of different than last week where we ran home to the Father. This is like, okay, now we gotta go live this. We gotta go abide, remain, be faithful, let Him work on the fruitful.

That's His business. My business is faithfulness. His business is fruitfulness. These people are here to help you pray about anything in your life. But if you just need to sit in this today and let God do something in your heart, commit to abide in the vine. Here's the prayer. Jesus, You said it clearly, remain in my love. So we do. We commit to do that. We're not visiting anymore. We're not just passing through. We're here to stay. We're branches that have decided to stop allowing ourselves to be disconnected from the vine. Do what only You can do in me from the inside out. Form me, prune me, fill me with more of You. And let the life that flows from You flow through me. Shape my inmost being into Your image. Lord Jesus, as we conclude that moment, I just ask You to bless Your people with the truth of Your Word. Will You bless them and keep them? And will You make Your face shine down on them? Will You be gracious to them? Turn Your countenance their direction today and give them peace. In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen, these all. Hey friends, I just wanted to spend a second with you at the end of this message today and just encourage you. If in some way you've made a spiritual decision, maybe you've given your life to Christ today, you've recently given your life to Christ, you wanna talk to somebody about giving your life to Christ, our team would love to help you. We're on the Pando app and have several ministries into various prisons because God has called us to you. We have a heart for forgotten people and forgotten places. And that means we serve widows and we serve orphans and we serve special needs kids. And God has given us a heart for men and women in the prison system because I believe Jesus died for you. He has a plan and a purpose for your life and we wanna help you know that and discover that. There is an address on the screen that you can communicate with us. We have a team of people that would love to hear from you, especially if you've made a decision to follow Jesus so that we can resource you and point you to tools that can help you grow. Just know that we're praying over you and we're genuinely honored that you've taken time to watch our channel and these messages from North Place Church. Thank you.