Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Almighty God, you welcome you. Hey there.
[00:00:06] Speaker B: If you're new to Restored Church, we want to welcome you and thank you for tuning in. You're listening to a portion of our Sunday worship gathering. We believe the church is not an event, but a family you belong to. So we would love the opportunity to connect with you. If you want to learn more about our church or if we can help you in any way, please Visit our website, www.restoredtemecula.church and click on Contact. With all that said, we, we hope you enjoy the message.
[00:00:34] Speaker A: Okay, if we haven't met yet, my name is Tom. I have the privilege of providing leadership to the church as a lead pastor on eldership with incredible people, on staff, with incredible people, partnering with incredible deacons and deacons and leaders.
I'm just so thankful for this church, guys. God has been very kind to us, generous to us, gracious to us, faithful to us in many ways.
Eric already mentioned it this morning is really special.
You get to hear from.
Not only is she my wife, but she's just an incredible person.
Ebony Logue. I'm going to call her up in just a second, but before I do, man, just real talk. I'm going to get out of the way.
Our church wouldn't exist in the way that it does without her.
And I'm not just saying that to sound like a positive intro or to make her look good or anything like that.
I say that because it's true.
Church planting is.
It's like having children.
It's the most beautiful thing, but it's also one of the most challenging, difficult things that you can do. But it's so worth it.
And the reason I say that is because, man, there's been so many of you. So many people have sacrificed a lot. They have given themselves over saying yes to God in sacrificial ways, intentional ways, meaningful ways to see God's kingdom come and specifically and seeing this church not only get off the ground, but grow not just numerically, but like depth, right? Spiritually, disciples, growing children, youth, adults, regardless of your age or stage of life. And many of you, many people have sacrificed quite a bit to see that become a reality. And man, I've just spent some time thinking the last couple weeks I mentioned to you, I just turned 40. And so I've just had this like, reflective lens, I guess, if you will, over my life the last couple weeks and really trying to think more deeply and be more present in my life. Cause every moment's precious.
And I've just been thinking about holy smokes Like, I'm so thankful for Eb So much of her sacrifice. I don't know if anybody sacrificed more to see this church be healthy than she has. And the unique thing about her is that so much of her sacrifice is stuff that no one will ever see.
But I watch her because of her gratitude to Jesus, because of her desire to worship him.
As she has grown and developed and aged in her life, she's less concerned about the praises of other people and more concerned about what her heavenly father thinks of her. And that inspires me.
I have.
Man, oh, man, I admire that about her so much and the message that she's prepared for you guys this morning. It's been one that God's been brewing for a while, and I'm convinced that the time is right now.
And so I really believe God's gonna minister to many of you in the room. But you need to know, and most of you guys know her story, at least a bit of it.
Some of these things that she's gonna share, they are beautiful, they are good.
[00:03:40] Speaker C: And.
[00:03:40] Speaker A: And some of the most beautiful and good things don't come easy, do they?
And so, without further ado, I want to call her up, and I want to ask you to just. Would you bless her with some love right now?
Love you so much.
[00:04:08] Speaker C: Good morning.
Don't cry. Don't cry.
It truly is an honor.
[00:04:17] Speaker A: Hold on, let's fix your mic.
[00:04:25] Speaker C: Hello.
Testing, testing.
Maybe I'm just offspoken.
[00:04:33] Speaker A: Keep talking.
[00:04:33] Speaker C: Okay.
It's okay. It'll work itself out.
This is such an honor, and the reason. This is such an honor to share.
That's okay.
Do I turn it on like this?
Hello?
Okay, I'm gonna get into prayer because we all need it. But before I do, this has definitely been something that's been brewing for years and something that is continually resurfacing.
Basically, I want to share.
Or you know what? I'm just going to pray over technological stuff right now.
Lord Jesus, I just pray that you would rule and reign over all the tech stuff.
Nothing is beyond your limits.
And, Lord, I just pray and ask that your kingdom would come and your will would be done in this morning as it is in heaven.
So I'm going to get started in sharing the story of this wall of vines. So some of you might know, some of you might not know. This has all happened so quickly.
We've been preparing for a move this summer, and we've been renting for, like, eight years, and we were looking into a new rental for this next coming year, and without us expecting it at all, we actually were blessed enough with an opportunity to buy, and so I'm still letting that soak in.
So it's happened really quickly. And in the process of this new space we're seeing, we want to take the steps in painting, painting the exterior. And a really good friend of ours is actually going to come and do that for us.
And so it's going to be a win win in supporting him and his business.
He's a trusted friend and. But in the process, we have a wall that has been beautifully covered with vines. It really is beautiful.
But in order to do this work, it kind of needed to come down.
So I'm going to ask that we put up this first slide, this photo.
This was a week ago last week, while Tom and Vivian were away in South Africa.
My wonderful, stunning mother in law came over and was ready to work.
And we had a long day of unpacking and organizing, and she was just helping with so much.
And I was tired. I was tired from the week of moving.
I was like, already, like, oh, I feel it. I'm tired.
And I was like, okay, I think I'm done for the day. And she's like, I brought my yard tools. She's like, I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go ahead and tackle that wall. And I'm thinking, oh, yeah, okay, I'll go help you. And we'll just trim, cut off some pieces, make it easier to walk through.
She was on a mission, and it was incredible to watch. I was so impressed. I'm just sitting there like, wow, what a woman.
She knows what she's doing. She's ready to get her hands dirty. And she was getting to work.
And this just feels like this continual picture that God has been showing me and teaching me through this picture of vines.
So with that, go ahead and grab your Bibles and we're going to turn to John 15, particularly verse one through five.
Okay. And we have it here on the screen if needed.
So I'm going to start.
It says, I am the true vine, and my father is the gardener.
Every branch in me that does not produce fruit, he removes and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit.
You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches, the one who remains in me, and I in him. Produces much fruit because you can do nothing without me.
All right, And I'm going to pray.
And I'm actually going to pray.
I'm going to borrow a prayer from APostle Paul, Ephesians 1, 17, 19.
This is also my prayer for this morning.
I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him.
I pray that the eyes, our eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the mighty working of his strength.
Jesus, in your holy name, Lord, I just pray. All glory and honor to you, Jesus Christ.
Lord, I just pray that you would have your way this morning.
Lord, help me abide in you. Help us lean into you.
Would you open our hearts and minds to your voice? We love you so much. In Jesus Christ's name, I pray. Amen.
Okay, so right now I'm going to introduce you to a very beloved book that was introduced to me when Millie was like, a toddler.
And actually, Meryl, those of you who know Meryl, do you wanna stop?
Okay. Those of you who know Meryl, put this down.
She had shared this and the connections. It just blew my mind. And it was so. The timing was so sweet, not only in, like, wanting to teach this to my daughter.
Daughters, but also just for myself. I just caught Jesus really teaching me so much through this. So with it, I'm going to read the description on the front flap and we actually kind of have it on one of the slides here, too, so you can follow along as I read.
Begins with every day the small wooden people called Wemix.
I may be pronouncing that wrong, but that's how I've always said it. Do the same thing. Stick either gold stars or dots on one another.
The pretty ones, those with smooth wood and fine paint, always get the stars. The talented ones do too.
Others, though, who can do little or who have chipped paint, get ugly gray dots like Punchinello.
Eli the wood carver helps Punchinello understand how special he is, no matter what the other weemix think.
Okay. And then I am going to go ahead and read a little part of this story just to give you a bigger idea.
I feel like this is a good picture of God our Father, so I'm a homeschool mom, so I might do my voices.
That's all I've known.
All right.
Looks like you've been given some bad marks.
I didn't mean to, Eli.
I really tried hard.
Oh, you don't have to defend yourself to me, child.
I don't care what the other Wemix think.
You don't?
No. And you shouldn't either.
Who are they to give stars or dots?
They're a Wemix, just like you.
What they think doesn't matter, Punchinello.
All that matters is what I think.
And I think you are pretty special.
And just a big takeaway from that is we are his.
That's why we matter to him, and that's why he cares.
All that matters is what he thinks of us and what he thinks of you in a really beautiful way. I'm going to add a little story of when we were teaching our girls when they were younger. We wanted to, you know, we do things in repetition to kind of help them grab ahold of an idea. And one of them was part of their identity.
And so Tom would often kind of remind the girls, and he would talk to them, be like, millie or Vivian, why does Daddy love you?
And then they would just kind of. They already knew the routine of where he was going. He's like, do I love you because you're talented? They'd be like, no.
Do I love you because you're beautiful? They'd be like, no.
Do I love you because you're brilliant?
No. Creative? No. He. He'd just kind of change it up and go down the line.
And then you would ask them again, why do I love you?
And their response would be, because I'm your daughter.
And that just aligns with this of we are his, and that's why we're special.
That's why we're loved.
And along with that picture of the woodcarver of Eli is his name in the book, your father in heaven also crafted you with such intention and care.
He is your maker.
He loves you. God is father, and he is also gardener. So that's. I'm going to go to my first point, which is God is father, and he is gardener.
So with this, I'm going to actually share a story of when we were living in South Bay, Chula Vista, specifically, we were renting a house there, and this loveliest couple were our landlords. And, I mean, they just blessed us beyond belief.
It was crazy.
But they would, like, thank us for being renters. I'm just like, what? Thank you for letting us rent.
And they would leave the sweetest notes with Millie and Vivian's Chalk on the sidewalk, saying, thank you for the work that you're. It was just. They were so great.
And then in the front, there was these beautiful rose bushes that they had there. So they would even come and mow the lawn for us.
But the one request that one of the landlords had, she had asked, okay, I just asked that you would, like, prune the roses and kind of keep them watered and kind of keep them maintained.
And, yeah, this is it. This is the kind of rose bush. And it looked very similar to this. It just kind of was there. And then just over time, some were wilting, some had bugs, all the things.
And it just kind of felt totally out of my realm of knowledge of what to do.
I am not a gardener. And I had to actually look up how to.
She's like, can you prune? I was like, sure, I have to look this up.
So I was reading and watching YouTube videos on pruning, and in the process, it hit me.
God was showing me the spiritual season I was actually in.
So during this time, I was also prayer, journaling, and just recognizing, like, whoa. This season, this process really hits home.
And basically to put the definition up there. So for me also having to look, I have the definition of to prune. So those who want it, it says to cut off branches from a tree, bush, or plant especially so that it will grow better in the future. Example, she spent the afternoon pruning, pruning roses and.
Sorry, forgive me.
As I was kind of getting into this, I stumbled upon that same day a verse, a quote, not a verse, a quote from Christine Caine.
And it just seemed odd, but not odd, that I would come upon this. And the quote says, God prunes us when he is about to take us into a new season of growth and expansion. So this was May 2016, was when this was all happening.
And I could see it. I was experiencing it. I was needing to let go of a lot. He was pruning me some relationships and some. Actually a lot of just idolatry and of misplaced hope.
So, oddly enough, later that day, I came across John 15, verse 2.
And this says, every branch in me that does not produce fruit, he removes. And he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit.
The pruning reveals he is committed to our spiritual growth. And there's a picture I have after this one of just in the vineyards pruning. So it's not unique to roses, and that goes along with our scripture. But I'm going to repeat, the pruning reveals he is committed to our spiritual growth, to our growth and spiritual well being, our sanctification.
And it's a big word, sanctification. So I thought, you know what, let's just throw up the definition for that. Sanctification.
One, the act of sanctifying or making holy, the state of being sanctified or made holy.
Two, the act of consecrating or of setting apart for a sacred purpose, consecration. And with that, what's that big word?
Is the act or process of dedication to God through purification.
So in Romans 8, verse 18, it says, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time, they're not worth comparing with what he is going to reveal to us.
So pruning isn't a one and done course of action.
How I would love that.
In that season, it's like, okay, you're doing a lot. Doesn't make sense, but this is a lot.
And then to continually be pruned, it's required seasonally, so also naturally. Out of curiosity, I asked AI, how often should one prune a plant?
This is current day. This was in 2016.
Their response was, you should prune a plant when it needs it for shaping or health, not on a strict schedule, as frequency depends on the plant species or its growth rate.
Minor trimming of stray or unhealthy parts can be done anytime. But major pruning is best in spring or summer when plants are actively growing.
Avoid heavy pruning in the fall or winter when plants are dormant and move and are more vulnerable to damage and disease.
Now, this is in regard to plants, but we as his children might not fully fit into the schedule of pruning.
Sometimes the heavy pruning can fall into a spiritual winter season where we are more vulnerable and you might feel like it's too much.
I've been there. I've felt that our sufferings feel wrong and unjust, like an unnatural backward process to our growth.
But sometimes what seems wrong to us may be the very work God needs to. To do to propel us forward.
We cannot see in the moment, in the season, but he can.
He is doing a good work and he will finish what he started in you.
Just as a good gardener prunes, a good father disciplines their children.
So I'm going to read Proverbs 3, verse 11 through 12.
Do not despise the Lord's instruction, my son.
Do not loathe his discipline.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, just as a Father disciplines the Son in whom he delights.
Now to go on to Hebrews 12, verse 11. We have it up here.
No. Discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful later on. However, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
I have in my Bible personally circled peaceful fruit.
It yields peaceful fruit.
And I think we can all agree that discipline rarely feels good, especially in the moment.
It's painful.
We are often quick to even reject it. I know I am.
But if we look to the verse, it reminds us that it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
God is Father and He is gardener.
So I'm going to read.
We're going to go back to John 15 and I'm going to hone in on verse one and verse five. I'm going to read this again.
I am the true vine. And of course this is Jesus speaking. I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener.
Verse 5. I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit because you can do nothing without me.
Okay, so this week actually I went to the vineyards to prepare to get some time.
So we've. It's been a very busy summer and all beautiful things.
And while Tom and Vivian were away in South Africa, me and Millie had this one on one time, trying to connect with her, equally unpack, but not overly unpack because just really wanting this, this time that we had together, one on one.
And in the process I.
Yeah, just time. So Thursday I was like, I'm going to the vineyards, I'm going to go prepare, I'm going to go pray.
And as I show up and arrive, I just taking pictures actually happened to run into some great friends there. It was really fun, but I'm taking photos and just kind of praying like, lord, speak to me, what are you doing? And I stumbled upon this interesting image and it's of two contrasting vines.
They look very different.
I just kind of sat with that. I was surprised. I was like, wow, I have never seen this before.
I have never seen this state of one and the one on the right.
The condition of this one was like most of them around.
So this one just stood out like a sore thumb.
And if you catch yourself feeling spiritually stuck, it could be possible, like this vine here on the left that you have attached yourself to the wrong vine, maybe one that perceives promise but has left you dry, withering and hopeless.
It can happen.
I have good news.
We have a savior and his name is Jesus.
So that's going to bring me to the second point of two. Jesus is the true vine.
Not only is he our true vine, but he is our hope, our only hope.
You are in good hands.
God isn't afraid to get his hands dirty, pricked or cut.
He is committed to you and your spiritual well being.
You may be in a season that looks more like the first picture that was showed of the vines in the last slide.
You may be even thinking, that's it, I'm done, I'm a goner.
Or maybe.
And if we could maybe go back to the very first slide.
Thank you.
It might be like a demo like situation that is needed.
I've experienced a season of that as well.
You may even feel you're done with this whole sanctification process.
That's a lot.
But regardless of feelings, because we know that feelings, and I've learned, aren't always the truest thing.
Our feelings are real and they can feel all the things, but sometimes it just lacks what is true.
So regardless of our state or how we might be feeling in a season, he's not done.
And you're not too far gone.
God is a loving father gardener.
[00:32:17] Speaker A: And.
[00:32:17] Speaker C: He is just getting started.
He knows what to do with you.
And Jesus is a trustworthy, true friend.
Abide in him.
Because apart from him, you can do nothing.
You cannot fully thrive apart from Him.
We need to remain in Him.
And I know that this is something we read, we hear.
I am telling you, friend, abide and remain in Him.
And it is life changing.
And like I said, it's not a one and done.
Thank you, Jesus. You saved me. We're good.
It's a continual process.
It's continual. But he is faithful.
He is good.
He loves you.
He is committed to you.
You are precious to Him.
You are worth it and he is worthy of this good work.
Let's pray.
Oh Lord, you know this is out of my comfort.
Thank you.
Thank you. That I get just to receive more of you in this process.
That we get to receive more of you.
You are so good. You are so kind.
Lord, I just pray that you would continually open our minds and our hearts to worship you with not just a little bit of us.
You want all of us.
And you won't stop in the most loving, precious way.
Your love is relentless.
That is the love of a loving father and we have that in you.
So Lord, I just pray and ask that you would continue to do this good work, that we would be open to you as your children. Of light to receive your correction?
Would you lift the veil?
Would you help us see and know the work that you're doing? Even though it feels torturous at times, it is good because you are the way, the truth, and the life.
It is who you are.
You are the same yesterday, today, tomorrow. You are the perfecter of our faith.
Thank you, Lord, that we are not left to ourselves, but that you are with us and your loving father that holds our hand in the most scary seasons of our life.
Thank you, Lord, for being the light in the darkness.
Thank you. That darkness isn't even dark to you.
You break through.
You break through. And I just pray that right now, Lord, I ask that you would break through areas of our life that need your touch.
Your fierce, loving, gentle, caring touch.
I just ask more of you, Lord, in Jesus name, Amen.
[00:36:27] Speaker A: Okay, so, man, I'm proud of you. Listen, I think there's two types of people in the room.
I think you are either in the middle of a pruning season and you know it, or there are things in your life that God wants to prune for your good that you're resisting.
Now you're like, hey, Tom, how can you know that? Stop judging me. I would say you were created by him, so he's taking you through a process. And because of the truth of God's word in John 15 that I've just shared, we know that God is Father and we know that he's a gardener, and we know that we are branches and we can abide in various vines in our life, looking to things to give us life. And Jesus is like, the only thing that's gonna give you what you actually need is me. So. So abide in me. Don't abide in other things. If you don't abide in me, you're gonna look like that junky vine that was all, like, just crumpled up. Yeah, there was fruit, but that fruit is not the same.
And as you're bearing that fruit, you're dying.
So how do I know you're in one of two camps? Because God made you, and he says that you're a branch, which means you're created to produce fruit. And so I really believe this at all times.
We are human, man. We are not perfect.
God is. Either you're in the middle of a pruning season and it hurts. He's removing things from your life, or he's at least attempting to remove things from your life that aren't good for you and aren't good for other people.
Thank you, Jesus. That he does that for us. Like I said, she said, oh, my gosh. When she was sharing this with me, the pruning, it reveals his commitment to you.
And I think some of us really. I needed to hear that this morning.
The things that he wants to remove from my life, that I'm like, no, don't.
That there's idolatry attached to that, that is causing my leaves to wither up and ultimately is going to affect the type of fruit that comes out of my life.
And so what I wanted to ask you to do is I'm gonna ask you to stand with me if you're able. If you're in the prayer team this morning, the ministry team, will you make a way? Come to the front, please.
I just believe that God wants to do something with us this morning.
I believe that he wants to touch your life.
I believe that it's not just about us coming together. And, yes, we want to worship him. We want to praise him. We want to deliver him praise. We want to bless God, like Tracy mentioned this morning.
But I'm here to tell you guys, without the yielding component, without the yielding component to handing yourself over to the father, to the gardener, who wants to prune your life, who wants to transform you more into the likeness of Jesus, that's her whole message. He wants to prune you, to sanctify you. He wants to make you more like Jesus.
And I really believe that some of you need to be set free of this. Like, I'm trying to control my life, and I do so by abiding in vines that I was never made to abide in. And, yes, I'm producing some fruit, but I'm dying.
If that's you, I want you to come forward for prayer this morning, because I think God wants to touch your life. I think he wants to reestablish a deep, intimate connection with you and Jesus, the only one who can give you the life that you were made to live, the only one that can give you the energy, the resources that you need to produce the type of fruit that he made you to produce.
Are you with me? I need you to talk to me this morning. Cause you guys are stoic. It's fine. But, like, I think God wants to do something. If that's you for the rest of the gathering, you come up anytime. Get prayer. If you're here and you're like, I know that there's things in my life that God is pruning, and I am struggling to trust him because it hurts and it's painful and Maybe it's not the way that I would do it. And he's like, will you yield to him?
Will you yield to the Father who is a gardener?
Will you let him lead you, guide you and re, if you will, Abiding in the true vine Jesus.
Two types of people.
You know, God's pruning you, and it hurts. And you need endurance, and it's hard.
And maybe other people don't understand, but he does.
I think God wants to encourage you this morning. Come receive prayer.
And the second type of person, you know it.
You know there's things in your life that he's pruning, and you're struggling to trust him.
You're struggling to yield.
You're struggling to submit to someone other than you.
And I'm here to tell you the best place a human being can be is in a yielded position to their Father in heaven who has good plans for their life.
A Father in heaven who disciplines his children that he loves for their good. And I know it's painful, but it's worth it. So what I'm gonna do right now is I'm just gonna pray over us. We're gonna fill this room with praise. We got plenty of time.
And at any time, you can come forward for prayer. And I really believe God wants to touch you this morning, but it's gonna require you acting, not just thinking. You with me? All right, Father, I just pray right now your Holy Spirit would guide us as a community, would guide us as individuals, into how we might yield to you in your gardening, if you will, of our hearts, not just our behavior. The why.
The why.
I pray for those in this room that are holding onto things that are actually sucking life from them and not providing life for them. I pray that they would trust you right now, and I pray that you would give them fresh revelation that I prayed about it. She borrowed Paul's prayer. Wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Jesus, the one who gave himself on the cross, his body, his blood, his perfect life, his perfect death, in our place. It shows how trustworthy you are even when things don't fully make sense to us in the moment. I pray, Spirit, that you would give us fresh revelation of Jesus, and it would compel us to act in faith by receiving from you through someone else, through the gifts that you've given other people, that we would yield and we would experience your guiding, fatherly hand in our life. Prune us, I pray, Jesus. Prune us, I pray, Jesus. That's my prayer, that you would prune this church and make us glory. Glorify us, Jesus, make us glorious in your sight. Not like a resume, like the world promotes, but no, a resume of, like the kingdom, a resume of service and of love and of sacrifice and of true beauty.
The dignity that you've given every single person in this room. I pray that we would step into that, we'd yield to that, and you would prune us into a beautiful vine. The vineyard, the kingdom of God.
Fill us with faith, to act, to say, yes, Lord, I trust you. I yield to you. I relinquish this, I relinquish that. Because I know that you have good plans for me, even if I can't see it.
Jesus, we love you. We trust you. Help us to trust you more and experience more of your fruitful kingdom. In our lives, through our lives and all around us, we pray it's in your name. Amen.
All right, will you guys lead us? Let's praise Jesus. Come forward for prayer at any time, guys, and then we'll close here in just a bit. Love you. Enjoy him.
