Everybody, what is going on? You know what time it is. You're listening to join the Journey podcast

with your host, Emma, daughter. Thanks for joining. Do you think the Jews were right to depart after

Saul said Isaiah was right? Should they have been offended? And if Isaiah was right in saying that the

Israelites' hearts have grown dullle and that they hear but,

quote unquote, never understand, what does that say about God's character? Did he give up on them?

A while back at Women's Bible Study last year, I taught on John 15, the passage where Jesus says

he's the vine and all that jazz. And in preparation for that lesson, I studied a lot about plants.

That's why I have this plant knowledge.

I don't just know things about plants.

But simply put, when pruning, a gardener is controlling the plant's growth

in development into specific patterns.

And the gist is this.

Every branch on a plant has a spot that gardeners call the terminal bud, which generally

it's this place on the stem of the longest branch, or it's typically the longest stem springing off of a branch,

which in John 15 represented the believer who's bearing fruit.

They're healthy. They're growing, and this stem is reaching out the farthest leading the charge. However, the problem the gardener must solve is that the longest branch at the terminal bud, it produces this chemical that causes all the buds, all the branches stemming beneath it to grow more slowly. So if the terminal

bud, that long healthy stem thing is removed by pruning, pinching, or breaking off, the supply of

that chemical is slowed, and all the stems beneath it quickly grow and branch out, resulting in a

busier look to the plant instead of a long

spirally growth. It's more full. And what's interesting is that for the most part, pruning a

plant will always lead to more growth. But how severely, how much you cut, how much you prune a plant

will depend on exactly what the gardener wants to

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