0:00:00 - 0:00:29 Home was Freddie Krueger here. Um I um I wanna share some thoughts about, let's see, some thoughts about uh John 15, the The True Vine. Um So I, I wanted to read the first two verses to you off my phone, but Apple's fantastic, technological limitations will not allow me to record while doing that. So 0:00:29 - 0:00:53 it says something like I am the True Vine and my father is the husbandman. And then in verse two, he talks uh there's this cryptic seeming um language about how, well the first part is about if any branch doesn't bear fruit, he taketh it away and he says the branches that do bear fruit, he purge them 0:00:52 - 0:01:21 so that they bear more fruit. So we're gonna get back to that as long as my sleep deprived brain doesn't lose uh the trajectory here. But first I wanna talk about these trees. So I was up on the roof a lot this summer uh here and there doing some painting up there and on one of my take a minute and hit 0:01:21 - 0:01:46 record and appreciate the view and just all the goodness that God is. I was looking over the front yard here and I was looking at this, this set of trees that I planted. So I've got a cottonwood and some paper birches and all this is hard to point. I could never be a weather person. There's another cottonwood 0:01:45 - 0:02:13 over there and I was looking at these trees from above and I said, you know, that tree is way too close to the others and it's just not gonna work and if we're gonna make a change, we better do it now. And, um, so, um, I was resisting the urge to sing man in the mirror by Michael Jackson just then. So 0:02:12 - 0:02:35 , um, now is a good time to do that because it's the fall. So I'm about to dig up this tree and I'm gonna move it to the other side of the yard. So the older the tree is, the harder it is to move or the less likely, well, the harder it is to move, but also the less likely it is to survive the move when 0:02:34 - 0:02:57 we plant trees. Uh, figuratively speaking in our lives, it's really easy to plant them too close together. This one I'm about to show you is not my fault. It was here already. Here are two lilac bushes. You see those and they're way too close together. These are great bushes because, um, we don't get 0:02:56 - 0:00:00 very much rain here and they don't need to be watered and that's wonderful because you get, they don't flower for too long in the summer. But when they do, they smell very nice, the bees like them a lot. And, um, they stay in foliage for most of the summer and then they turn a really pretty kind of, 0:00:00 - 0:03:48 uh, purplish red color, um, in the fall. So, um, we can, we can plant trees and bushes too close together. And when we do that, it's usually as a result of not being audacious enough in our faith in God's goodness. It turns out that cottonwood trees can get pretty big. And, uh, if you don't have any 0:03:47 - 0:04:13 around you in the line of sight, which there's one way across this field. But as far as the ones that I planted, they're all about the same vintage and, um, they're all 6 ft or so tall. So it's easy to get, um, not just short sighted, but that, that's kind of an unintentional pun in this case, but to 0:04:13 - 0:04:34 limit our aspirations to what we see all around us, having, having, uh, been accomplished all around us by ourselves or by others. That is not the way that God works well. Yeah. Beautiful sky. Hm. I'd say what a nice day. But this time of year in Montana, it's like you gotta count the nice periods in 0:04:34 - 0:05:02 five minute intervals because that's how frequently it changes. Um, so, um, instead of looking around, it's much better to look up when you look up, you see some big big trees. So, um, the problem with things being too close together is that you run out of room to grow and it's not just that things get 0:05:02 - 0:05:25 stunted. That can happen sometimes, but uh, sometimes what happens is the plant will die because, uh, plants have to, for, for the most part, most plants need to keep growing to stay alive. The idea that you can stay the same and still stay alive. That's mostly a human imagination kind of thing. That's 0:05:25 - 0:05:52 not really the way that anything works. So the second something stops growing nature, usually it starts dying. So, in fact, um later in life, most growth is actually just, just um how could you phrase this? Well, the rate of growth changes by a lot and the rate of de decay overcomes the rate of growth 0:05:52 - 0:06:18 . It's really what death is. So there's some deep gospel lessons in that. But anyway, let's let's stay on topic. So you have to have an audacity of faith to really trust in God. Now, let's talk about these purging fruits. We could, we could elaborate on that quite a bit and do a word study on, on the 0:06:18 - 0:06:48 word purge, but I don't wanna do that right now instead. Um I wanna highlight the idea that God first off, we, we need to be reminded of this constantly. God never, he never takes things away. That's people are gonna say but, but, but he doesn't, he trades things. He puts, he, he swaps things out for 0:06:48 - 0:07:16 better things and sometimes the process of that. Oh, that bird's not happy the process of that. Um, you know, this is a great example that dang bird, I can't get a picture of it because they, that, that's called the Stellar Jay. They, they hop around and, uh, they're blue, they look like a blackbird 0:07:15 - 0:07:36 dipped in blue paint halfway on its body. And they have these funny spike feathers on their head and uh they eat a bunch of things that I grow, but they don't like me very much. And it's funny because if they knew what was up, it'd be like, uh I'd be like a Disney. Some kind of weird Montana Disney princess 0:07:36 - 0:07:57 out here and they would just like flock around me and uh, I don't know, ask for apples or something and, but they, they really don't like me. So anyway, that's unfortunate. It's a good metaphor though with how we are with the Lord and all good things he sends us, we fight against it, kicking against 0:07:56 - 0:08:21 the pricks is not just for bad, you know, quote unquote bad people. We all do it and we need to knock it off and realize, uh, you know, not bite the hand that feeds us, which isn't just the churchy facets of God, but all the good stuff, man, every single day, every single thing that happens is precisely 0:08:20 - 0:08:49 designed to yield the greatest long term joy. And it's, it's, he's constantly updating everything in real time to adjust, usually for our idiocy but sometimes we, we do something right and boom, it just adjust instantly. So back to the purge. Um so, so purging fruit, you might read that in verse two 0:08:49 - 0:09:08 of John 15, say what the heck, what is this all about? So he's gonna take fruit away to make room for more fruit. Well, I guess more fruit is better, right? Yeah. Yeah, it is. It is. But, and, and there are some things like that if you grow green beans, for example, or peas, the more you pick them, the 0:09:08 - 0:09:35 more we'll grow. But in the vegetable world, there's not really a, a parallel for another idea which might be even more important, which is that God is not just about more, I don't know that he ever does just more. I don't know that there's ever a case where he doesn't also do better. OK. This is really 0:09:35 - 0:10:01 , really, really, really important. And so when he comes and he purges the fruit, which can happen in a lot of different ways, it's always the case that what the fruit that we have the opportunity to grow after that, if we keep going will be better than whatever was there before. Now, each time those 0:10:01 - 0:10:24 fruits get purged, it's a decision point and we get to decide whether we're going to be remain in the second half of that verse or if we're going to, to downgrade to the first half because the branches that don't bear fruit are taken out. But the ones that do they are purged so that they grow more and 0:10:24 - 0:10:56 better fruit. So better fruit, it's not just that those fruits produce greater joy. In fact, sometimes the fruits are just our perception of something that actually did not change in reality. Um So for example, let's say that you are healthy and then you get sick and then you, you return to health, but 0:10:56 - 0:11:17 you have a much greater appreciation for your health, which before you didn't, maybe you took it for granted or you just didn't appreciate it as much anyway. Um So he purges the fruit and he gives us more and better and sometimes that's just our perception, sometimes it's perception and an actual change 0:11:16 - 0:11:54 in external reality and sometimes it's just a change in external reality. And then we have the challenge of adjusting our appreciation for it. Um I had a lot more to say about this, but I don't remember exactly where else I was gonna go. So let's go back to the spacing of the plants. Um Well, it's worth 0:11:53 - 0:12:17 saying that migration or downgrade to the, the first half of verse two that can happen in any iteration of this process. And so there's a funny little box on tax returns, if you're filing in the US and you have a business and it asks if all of your investments were at risk. And a the answer is always 0:12:16 - 0:12:42 yes. In the Gospel, any time you ante up to whatever could be better, you always expose everything you have to, the risk of loss. That's a very important point that uh I can't really do justice to right now. Uh So it's, it's very important that we be ever vigilant to never rest on our laurels and to 0:12:41 - 0:13:10 always increase in our gratitude to God and our uh allegiance to Him, our love for Him. So back to the spacing, we'll tie this up. Um So in the scriptures, we read things like I have not seen the good things God has prepared for those that love Him. We, we read about the Lord's power and his might and 0:13:10 - 0:13:36 his love and his mercy and his grace and his goodness. But the question is, do you, do you believe that like even a little because if you did, your life will probably be way different than it is? I don't mean um the outcomes in it. Although that's true, I'm pointing instead to your choices and how you 0:13:36 - 0:14:03 feel, what you do, why you do it and how you feel while you do it. So if you really believe that trees get big, which, you know, we should. Um And in this case, I'm the, I'm the idiot that messed that one up. Uh And, and you know, I'm gonna blame this on being a programmer by trade because I have this 0:14:03 - 0:14:34 mentality of, um, just do something and we'll make it better later. And that doesn't work with, with construction or gardening. It's, it's a disaster. It's a rolling disaster. But you learn a lot. Um, anyway, I guess with enough tenacity you can make it work. But, um, you have to believe that trees get 0:14:33 - 0:14:59 big. If you really think even just a little of what the scriptures or those who know him have said about God is true, then you have to live with crazy intensity, crazy intensity, you know, it's funny. So Jesus said, uh people think I'm coming to bring peace, but I came to bring a sword. And he also said 0:14:59 - 0:15:16 that he came to bring peace. And that's a really interesting pattern that he'll say I'm not all about this, but I'm also all about this and he'll flip it around and he's trying to emphasize different things and show different layers, subject to limitations of understanding, which are present all the 0:15:16 - 0:15:53 time and it's fun stuff that I'll talk about some other time. But um he, he does come to bring peace. But in order to really experience His peace, you have to get really comfortable with super intense things and this is not what people want to hear. They want to say they want someone to say a church 0:15:53 - 0:16:20 is where you go when you want to stop worrying about stuff and just cruise because everything's OK. They want, I, I call that mommy church. Everything's gonna be all right. It's not that bad. Everything will be just fine. But Jesus, it's a daddy church and he says, hey, not only is it that bad, it's 0:16:20 - 0:16:47 way worse. It's so bad. You can't even think about how bad it is. But he's like, I promise you're gonna get your butt kicked. It's not even a question. I promise you will get your butt kicked. But rejoice, the world is gonna kick your butt. But I have kicked the world's butt. He says in this world, that's 0:16:47 - 0:17:16 the, that's the Rob Smith translation of the following scripture in this world. You will not have peace but rejoice because I have overcome the world and he has and he will be our shield and our buckler, which is funny. Old Testament language, but it means he will be our protection and our bubble like 0:17:16 - 0:17:52 any good husband like the pinnacle of the best husband anyone could be. He gives us a walled garden and uh graciously he allows us to experience a moment where that's not so obvious. And it's so that when he flips it back, we can have joy beyond what we could otherwise have forever having a little clearer 0:17:52 - 0:18:19 idea of just how much he loves us. So that's daddy church. But it's not a message people, most people want to hear because they just want to be soothed and they want all the problems to go away. Jesus can take away problems and I don't want to minimize that, but it's not my mission to call attention 0:18:19 - 0:19:08 to that. There are a lot of other people that can testify that and do just fine. What I have seen is that the Lord will sustain you through all. Mm Affliction. There's no limit to his power or his love. And in our day we need more people who know that so that they can go and comfort those whose trauma 0:19:07 - 0:19:48 , who's suffering, whose challenges are beyond the ability to be soothed by a message of there, there, it'll be ok. It's not ok. It's not ok. And that's really why Jesus had to come because he makes it ok. He makes it worth it. He's our shield, our protection and our strength. He is the source and fulfillment 0:19:47 - 0:20:23 of all meaning and his love is the only thing. It's the only adequate answer to the question of life and suffering. We need more people who know that anyway, when you have the slightest clue of how good he is, you end up putting your trees really far apart and you plant a lot of them. If you have space 0:20:22 - 0:20:52 , you dig a hole and you put a tree in it. It's kind of like I can think of two scriptural stories off the top of my head. There's that uh widow, she had, her husband was a servant of one of the to Elijah and Elisha. And I can never keep those stories straight. I'm sorry. But, um, he died and because 0:20:52 - 0:21:20 he had dedicated his life to this prophet, they didn't really have very much this family. And so the prophet told the widow, you get every pot that you can. And she did and the Lord filled them with oil and then he said go sell this and live off the money and she did. So if she had gotten a thimble or 0:21:20 - 0:21:43 one glass that wouldn't have worked out so well, there's another story and this one is with Elisha, so he's dying. And, uh, I can't remember as the king of Israel, one of the high ups came to see him and said, hey, we're being invaded and Elisha says, take the these arrows and smack them against the 0:21:43 - 0:22:11 floor. And so the guy does and I think he did it three times and Elisha is just, he's like, well, the Lord's gonna help you. But if you had hit it a couple more times, he would have vanquished this, this enemy completely. And so when you get to know the goodness of the Lord, there's a distance in a direction 0:22:10 - 0:22:39 that's all of our actions are oriented that way, distance in a direction. And it's like having a compass with a needle that points in the way that you should go. And then your desire is what determines how fast you go in that direction. And when you know the slightest bit about the Lord, the second he 0:22:38 - 0:22:59 indicates a direction you go and you run as fast as you possibly can. And that's a funny thing because most people have never done that. I remember one time I had a roommate and he had never lifted weights. I said, let's go to the gym and we went to the gym. I was giving him some pointers and I'm like 0:22:59 - 0:23:19 , man, you gotta go all out. I mean, if you don't pass out, you're not going hard enough. And you know, it kind of figuratively speaking. Um I was like, you know, if, if you don't throw up or pass out, you're not going hard enough and he threw up and I was like, all right, you took that kind of literally 0:23:19 - 0:23:45 . But good job, let's dial it back just a tad next time, but good job. Um If we know anything about the goodness of God though, the second, he indicates the direction we run. And so it's interesting because this becomes one of many examples of properties that are, you gotta, you gotta dial it in on the 0:23:45 - 0:24:08 knife's edge. On the one hand, most people struggle with not running fast enough, but there are those of us who run so fast so soon that the Lord has to help us by withholding things because we will do it immediately when he says to do it and we will be all in. And then we also have to develop wisdom 0:24:08 - 0:24:38 to ascertain limitations in that approach in the times where um that applies. But most of us need to grow in the intensity. There's a scripture that says, uh don't run faster than you have strength. I think that's a really funny scripture because almost everyone uses that as an excuse to do less than 0:24:38 - 0:25:10 they could however, or just take longer doing it than they need to. That's not what it says. How do you know if you're running too fast? Well, you can't finish the race. Um, you get hurt or you pass out and so if, if none of those things are the case, you can run faster. Right? Anyway, so much could 0:25:10 - 0:25:37 be said about these things. I really intended this to be a lot more limited than it was. But um, oh, there's that bird again. I, I uh I wanted to share this thought about the tree and the fruits. So hopefully, hopefully something here was, was helpful. You, you know, if we have the slightest clue as 0:25:36 - 0:00:00 to the good things that God has prepared for those that love him. Um, that scripture, it's not, I made a video on a long time ago. Romans eight, I believe 28 maybe 8, 28. Um It doesn't really say what people think it does, but even if you limit it at that, it doesn't say you can't know those things. 0:00:00 - 0:26:25 In fact, in other places, it says you can and I would say you have to, you have to, to, to get to what it's really all about. So, um, the way you come to value what those things that the eye hath not seen. If you want to know how tall trees get, plant the freaking tree. Right. That's how, you know, and 0:26:25 - 0:26:49 you water it, you dig a hole, you put a tree in and you water it. I'm very grateful for this little homestead we have, um, it's afforded so many opportunities to run experiments on, on exactly what is possible and what isn't. And I don't think anybody will ever appreciate this as much as I do. I, I know 0:00:00 - 0:00:29 Home was Freddie Krueger here. Um I um I wanna share some thoughts about, let's see, some thoughts about uh John 15, the The True Vine. Um So I, I wanted to read the first two verses to you off my phone, but Apple's fantastic, technological limitations will not allow me to record while doing that. So 0:00:29 - 0:00:53 it says something like I am the True Vine and my father is the husbandman. And then in verse two, he talks uh there's this cryptic seeming um language about how, well the first part is about if any branch doesn't bear fruit, he taketh it away and he says the branches that do bear fruit, he purge them 0:00:52 - 0:01:21 so that they bear more fruit. So we're gonna get back to that as long as my sleep deprived brain doesn't lose uh the trajectory here. But first I wanna talk about these trees. So I was up on the roof a lot this summer uh here and there doing some painting up there and on one of my take a minute and hit 0:01:21 - 0:01:46 record and appreciate the view and just all the goodness that God is. I was looking over the front yard here and I was looking at this, this set of trees that I planted. So I've got a cottonwood and some paper birches and all this is hard to point. I could never be a weather person. There's another cottonwood 0:01:45 - 0:02:13 over there and I was looking at these trees from above and I said, you know, that tree is way too close to the others and it's just not gonna work and if we're gonna make a change, we better do it now. And, um, so, um, I was resisting the urge to sing man in the mirror by Michael Jackson just then. So 0:02:12 - 0:02:35 , um, now is a good time to do that because it's the fall. So I'm about to dig up this tree and I'm gonna move it to the other side of the yard. So the older the tree is, the harder it is to move or the less likely, well, the harder it is to move, but also the less likely it is to survive the move when 0:02:34 - 0:02:57 we plant trees. Uh, figuratively speaking in our lives, it's really easy to plant them too close together. This one I'm about to show you is not my fault. It was here already. Here are two lilac bushes. You see those and they're way too close together. These are great bushes because, um, we don't get 0:02:56 - 0:00:00 very much rain here and they don't need to be watered and that's wonderful because you get, they don't flower for too long in the summer. But when they do, they smell very nice, the bees like them a lot. And, um, they stay in foliage for most of the summer and then they turn a really pretty kind of, 0:00:00 - 0:03:48 uh, purplish red color, um, in the fall. So, um, we can, we can plant trees and bushes too close together. And when we do that, it's usually as a result of not being audacious enough in our faith in God's goodness. It turns out that cottonwood trees can get pretty big. And, uh, if you don't have any 0:03:47 - 0:04:13 around you in the line of sight, which there's one way across this field. But as far as the ones that I planted, they're all about the same vintage and, um, they're all 6 ft or so tall. So it's easy to get, um, not just short sighted, but that, that's kind of an unintentional pun in this case, but to 0:04:13 - 0:04:34 limit our aspirations to what we see all around us, having, having, uh, been accomplished all around us by ourselves or by others. That is not the way that God works well. Yeah. Beautiful sky. Hm. I'd say what a nice day. But this time of year in Montana, it's like you gotta count the nice periods in 0:04:34 - 0:05:02 five minute intervals because that's how frequently it changes. Um, so, um, instead of looking around, it's much better to look up when you look up, you see some big big trees. So, um, the problem with things being too close together is that you run out of room to grow and it's not just that things get 0:05:02 - 0:05:25 stunted. That can happen sometimes, but uh, sometimes what happens is the plant will die because, uh, plants have to, for, for the most part, most plants need to keep growing to stay alive. The idea that you can stay the same and still stay alive. That's mostly a human imagination kind of thing. That's 0:05:25 - 0:05:52 not really the way that anything works. So the second something stops growing nature, usually it starts dying. So, in fact, um later in life, most growth is actually just, just um how could you phrase this? Well, the rate of growth changes by a lot and the rate of de decay overcomes the rate of growth 0:05:52 - 0:06:18 . It's really what death is. So there's some deep gospel lessons in that. But anyway, let's let's stay on topic. So you have to have an audacity of faith to really trust in God. Now, let's talk about these purging fruits. We could, we could elaborate on that quite a bit and do a word study on, on the 0:06:18 - 0:06:48 word purge, but I don't wanna do that right now instead. Um I wanna highlight the idea that God first off, we, we need to be reminded of this constantly. God never, he never takes things away. That's people are gonna say but, but, but he doesn't, he trades things. He puts, he, he swaps things out for 0:06:48 - 0:07:16 better things and sometimes the process of that. Oh, that bird's not happy the process of that. Um, you know, this is a great example that dang bird, I can't get a picture of it because they, that, that's called the Stellar Jay. They, they hop around and, uh, they're blue, they look like a blackbird 0:07:15 - 0:07:36 dipped in blue paint halfway on its body. And they have these funny spike feathers on their head and uh they eat a bunch of things that I grow, but they don't like me very much. And it's funny because if they knew what was up, it'd be like, uh I'd be like a Disney. Some kind of weird Montana Disney princess 0:07:36 - 0:07:57 out here and they would just like flock around me and uh, I don't know, ask for apples or something and, but they, they really don't like me. So anyway, that's unfortunate. It's a good metaphor though with how we are with the Lord and all good things he sends us, we fight against it, kicking against 0:07:56 - 0:08:21 the pricks is not just for bad, you know, quote unquote bad people. We all do it and we need to knock it off and realize, uh, you know, not bite the hand that feeds us, which isn't just the churchy facets of God, but all the good stuff, man, every single day, every single thing that happens is precisely 0:08:20 - 0:08:49 designed to yield the greatest long term joy. And it's, it's, he's constantly updating everything in real time to adjust, usually for our idiocy but sometimes we, we do something right and boom, it just adjust instantly. So back to the purge. Um so, so purging fruit, you might read that in verse two 0:08:49 - 0:09:08 of John 15, say what the heck, what is this all about? So he's gonna take fruit away to make room for more fruit. Well, I guess more fruit is better, right? Yeah. Yeah, it is. It is. But, and, and there are some things like that if you grow green beans, for example, or peas, the more you pick them, the 0:09:08 - 0:09:35 more we'll grow. But in the vegetable world, there's not really a, a parallel for another idea which might be even more important, which is that God is not just about more, I don't know that he ever does just more. I don't know that there's ever a case where he doesn't also do better. OK. This is really 0:09:35 - 0:10:01 , really, really, really important. And so when he comes and he purges the fruit, which can happen in a lot of different ways, it's always the case that what the fruit that we have the opportunity to grow after that, if we keep going will be better than whatever was there before. Now, each time those 0:10:01 - 0:10:24 fruits get purged, it's a decision point and we get to decide whether we're going to be remain in the second half of that verse or if we're going to, to downgrade to the first half because the branches that don't bear fruit are taken out. But the ones that do they are purged so that they grow more and 0:10:24 - 0:10:56 better fruit. So better fruit, it's not just that those fruits produce greater joy. In fact, sometimes the fruits are just our perception of something that actually did not change in reality. Um So for example, let's say that you are healthy and then you get sick and then you, you return to health, but 0:10:56 - 0:11:17 you have a much greater appreciation for your health, which before you didn't, maybe you took it for granted or you just didn't appreciate it as much anyway. Um So he purges the fruit and he gives us more and better and sometimes that's just our perception, sometimes it's perception and an actual change 0:11:16 - 0:11:54 in external reality and sometimes it's just a change in external reality. And then we have the challenge of adjusting our appreciation for it. Um I had a lot more to say about this, but I don't remember exactly where else I was gonna go. So let's go back to the spacing of the plants. Um Well, it's worth 0:11:53 - 0:12:17 saying that migration or downgrade to the, the first half of verse two that can happen in any iteration of this process. And so there's a funny little box on tax returns, if you're filing in the US and you have a business and it asks if all of your investments were at risk. And a the answer is always 0:12:16 - 0:12:42 yes. In the Gospel, any time you ante up to whatever could be better, you always expose everything you have to, the risk of loss. That's a very important point that uh I can't really do justice to right now. Uh So it's, it's very important that we be ever vigilant to never rest on our laurels and to 0:12:41 - 0:13:10 always increase in our gratitude to God and our uh allegiance to Him, our love for Him. So back to the spacing, we'll tie this up. Um So in the scriptures, we read things like I have not seen the good things God has prepared for those that love Him. We, we read about the Lord's power and his might and 0:13:10 - 0:13:36 his love and his mercy and his grace and his goodness. But the question is, do you, do you believe that like even a little because if you did, your life will probably be way different than it is? I don't mean um the outcomes in it. Although that's true, I'm pointing instead to your choices and how you 0:13:36 - 0:14:03 feel, what you do, why you do it and how you feel while you do it. So if you really believe that trees get big, which, you know, we should. Um And in this case, I'm the, I'm the idiot that messed that one up. Uh And, and you know, I'm gonna blame this on being a programmer by trade because I have this 0:14:03 - 0:14:34 mentality of, um, just do something and we'll make it better later. And that doesn't work with, with construction or gardening. It's, it's a disaster. It's a rolling disaster. But you learn a lot. Um, anyway, I guess with enough tenacity you can make it work. But, um, you have to believe that trees get 0:14:33 - 0:14:59 big. If you really think even just a little of what the scriptures or those who know him have said about God is true, then you have to live with crazy intensity, crazy intensity, you know, it's funny. So Jesus said, uh people think I'm coming to bring peace, but I came to bring a sword. And he also said 0:14:59 - 0:15:16 that he came to bring peace. And that's a really interesting pattern that he'll say I'm not all about this, but I'm also all about this and he'll flip it around and he's trying to emphasize different things and show different layers, subject to limitations of understanding, which are present all the 0:15:16 - 0:15:53 time and it's fun stuff that I'll talk about some other time. But um he, he does come to bring peace. But in order to really experience His peace, you have to get really comfortable with super intense things and this is not what people want to hear. They want to say they want someone to say a church 0:15:53 - 0:16:20 is where you go when you want to stop worrying about stuff and just cruise because everything's OK. They want, I, I call that mommy church. Everything's gonna be all right. It's not that bad. Everything will be just fine. But Jesus, it's a daddy church and he says, hey, not only is it that bad, it's 0:16:20 - 0:16:47 way worse. It's so bad. You can't even think about how bad it is. But he's like, I promise you're gonna get your butt kicked. It's not even a question. I promise you will get your butt kicked. But rejoice, the world is gonna kick your butt. But I have kicked the world's butt. He says in this world, that's 0:16:47 - 0:17:16 the, that's the Rob Smith translation of the following scripture in this world. You will not have peace but rejoice because I have overcome the world and he has and he will be our shield and our buckler, which is funny. Old Testament language, but it means he will be our protection and our bubble like 0:17:16 - 0:17:52 any good husband like the pinnacle of the best husband anyone could be. He gives us a walled garden and uh graciously he allows us to experience a moment where that's not so obvious. And it's so that when he flips it back, we can have joy beyond what we could otherwise have forever having a little clearer 0:17:52 - 0:18:19 idea of just how much he loves us. So that's daddy church. But it's not a message people, most people want to hear because they just want to be soothed and they want all the problems to go away. Jesus can take away problems and I don't want to minimize that, but it's not my mission to call attention 0:18:19 - 0:19:08 to that. There are a lot of other people that can testify that and do just fine. What I have seen is that the Lord will sustain you through all. Mm Affliction. There's no limit to his power or his love. And in our day we need more people who know that so that they can go and comfort those whose trauma 0:19:07 - 0:19:48 , who's suffering, whose challenges are beyond the ability to be soothed by a message of there, there, it'll be ok. It's not ok. It's not ok. And that's really why Jesus had to come because he makes it ok. He makes it worth it. He's our shield, our protection and our strength. He is the source and fulfillment 0:19:47 - 0:20:23 of all meaning and his love is the only thing. It's the only adequate answer to the question of life and suffering. We need more people who know that anyway, when you have the slightest clue of how good he is, you end up putting your trees really far apart and you plant a lot of them. If you have space 0:20:22 - 0:20:52 , you dig a hole and you put a tree in it. It's kind of like I can think of two scriptural stories off the top of my head. There's that uh widow, she had, her husband was a servant of one of the to Elijah and Elisha. And I can never keep those stories straight. I'm sorry. But, um, he died and because 0:20:52 - 0:21:20 he had dedicated his life to this prophet, they didn't really have very much this family. And so the prophet told the widow, you get every pot that you can. And she did and the Lord filled them with oil and then he said go sell this and live off the money and she did. So if she had gotten a thimble or 0:21:20 - 0:21:43 one glass that wouldn't have worked out so well, there's another story and this one is with Elisha, so he's dying. And, uh, I can't remember as the king of Israel, one of the high ups came to see him and said, hey, we're being invaded and Elisha says, take the these arrows and smack them against the 0:21:43 - 0:22:11 floor. And so the guy does and I think he did it three times and Elisha is just, he's like, well, the Lord's gonna help you. But if you had hit it a couple more times, he would have vanquished this, this enemy completely. And so when you get to know the goodness of the Lord, there's a distance in a direction 0:22:10 - 0:22:39 that's all of our actions are oriented that way, distance in a direction. And it's like having a compass with a needle that points in the way that you should go. And then your desire is what determines how fast you go in that direction. And when you know the slightest bit about the Lord, the second he 0:22:38 - 0:22:59 indicates a direction you go and you run as fast as you possibly can. And that's a funny thing because most people have never done that. I remember one time I had a roommate and he had never lifted weights. I said, let's go to the gym and we went to the gym. I was giving him some pointers and I'm like 0:22:59 - 0:23:19 , man, you gotta go all out. I mean, if you don't pass out, you're not going hard enough. And you know, it kind of figuratively speaking. Um I was like, you know, if, if you don't throw up or pass out, you're not going hard enough and he threw up and I was like, all right, you took that kind of literally 0:23:19 - 0:23:45 . But good job, let's dial it back just a tad next time, but good job. Um If we know anything about the goodness of God though, the second, he indicates the direction we run. And so it's interesting because this becomes one of many examples of properties that are, you gotta, you gotta dial it in on the 0:23:45 - 0:24:08 knife's edge. On the one hand, most people struggle with not running fast enough, but there are those of us who run so fast so soon that the Lord has to help us by withholding things because we will do it immediately when he says to do it and we will be all in. And then we also have to develop wisdom 0:24:08 - 0:24:38 to ascertain limitations in that approach in the times where um that applies. But most of us need to grow in the intensity. There's a scripture that says, uh don't run faster than you have strength. I think that's a really funny scripture because almost everyone uses that as an excuse to do less than 0:24:38 - 0:25:10 they could however, or just take longer doing it than they need to. That's not what it says. How do you know if you're running too fast? Well, you can't finish the race. Um, you get hurt or you pass out and so if, if none of those things are the case, you can run faster. Right? Anyway, so much could 0:25:10 - 0:25:37 be said about these things. I really intended this to be a lot more limited than it was. But um, oh, there's that bird again. I, I uh I wanted to share this thought about the tree and the fruits. So hopefully, hopefully something here was, was helpful. You, you know, if we have the slightest clue as 0:25:36 - 0:00:00 to the good things that God has prepared for those that love him. Um, that scripture, it's not, I made a video on a long time ago. Romans eight, I believe 28 maybe 8, 28. Um It doesn't really say what people think it does, but even if you limit it at that, it doesn't say you can't know those things. 0:00:00 - 0:26:25 In fact, in other places, it says you can and I would say you have to, you have to, to, to get to what it's really all about. So, um, the way you come to value what those things that the eye hath not seen. If you want to know how tall trees get, plant the freaking tree. Right. That's how, you know, and 0:26:25 - 0:26:49 you water it, you dig a hole, you put a tree in and you water it. I'm very grateful for this little homestead we have, um, it's afforded so many opportunities to run experiments on, on exactly what is possible and what isn't. And I don't think anybody will ever appreciate this as much as I do. I, I know 0:26:48 - 0:27:11 what it took and I know about all the failures along the way, the learning opportunities. But, um, you gotta get your trees in the ground and if, if you wanna come to know God and why it's worth it to plant the trees, you gotta start planting them. So, anyway, back to work.