Hey, church family. It is time for Devo if you've got your Bible. John chapter 15. Again,

the point and purpose of these Devo's is that we would lean into him, trusting he would lean into us.

That's a promise that God gives us in James chapter 4 verse 8. God says, draw near to me and I will draw near to you.

So I want to talk about that draw near.

Jesus says this, John 15, I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser or the gardener.

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away and every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes

that it may bear more fruit. So to prune is you take a healthy branch and you cut parts of it away,

some damaged parts, you cut the parts off on the end, you cut it back, which I know plants don't

feel, but it looks like a very, very painful process.

So anybody that ever told you that if you follow Jesus, then you can expect a pain-free life,

then they made up some other Jesus that is not the Jesus of the Bible.

In fact, the Bible says not only will we walk through pain,

but God will purpose some pain in our life to produce in us

things that would not be produced in us without the pain. In fact, you may be walking

through some pain right now. Loss a job, your income's low, and you don't know how you're

going to pay your bills. There's the pain of not being able to be

with people. I mean, that's a pain. We were wired for relationships. Maybe you're sick. You

maybe know somebody who's sick. And just understand this. God is sovereign over all things. He never

waste a hurt. He never waste the pain, that God is at work in all things,

for the good of those that love him and are called according to his purpose.

And what feels like pain to us could very well be pruning from God the Father

in the life of the believer, the branch who is hooked to the vine, which is Jesus.

...