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What are you doing with what you've got? That's the question for this mornings morning. Inspiration. Good morning. I'm Jeffrey Paul and the inspiration today is about challenging you in what you've got, not what you're going after. Let me share something with you that maybe you've heard this before, because it's one story in my life that absolutely illustrated perfectly John 15. And it came from the most unlikely person to teach that lesson.
My father-in-law beautiful man, tough as nails, short, little Italian man, born in Italy, immigrated to this country, raised his family and knew about grapes new, because that was his specialty. He was a incredible gardener and he, he took care in what he did. He was able to graph things together. He'd had a peach tree in a,
in a plum tree. He'd create new fruits. Amazing, amazing guy, but tough as nails. Like I said, wait, he came over our house, a brand new home when we had moved in Zena and I, and I think we might've had one of the boys or maybe two. And again, I was like, you know, try and impress the father-in-law.
And in this property that we bought, there was a grapevine and the grapevine had grown while we were setting up the house and everything else. And I was just so excited. I created a Tampa terrorist over the top of the fence, all these leaves and all these vines and all these, I mean, it was just immense. It was immense. It was about 30 feet long and it was immense.
And I couldn't wait for him to come over. Cause I wanted to prove I'm Italian. And I wanted to prove that I could grow grapes. Well, for those that have heard this story, you've heard what took place next, because I took them out. They're very proud and you know, pride proceeds the fall or maybe this case, the lesson.
And the reality was that he, he took his time. Cause I took him out there. He walked slow and he's looking and I'm watching him look and he had this little Italian hat on and he had his little mustache and he's looking at this 30 foot of vine and branches and you know, just green all over the place. It's a shade. It's like almost a shaded roof.
And he looks at me and he goes, you're stupid. That went right into my heart. What look at these, look at how big the leaves are. I said, look at, look at, look at this. And he said, where's your grapes? Where's the fruit. And I pause for a minute. And I really had to take back a step because I looked around and I figured it wasn't time.
Yet. He goes, it's almost past time. So he said, go a pair of pruning scissors in a garbage can. Well, he then pruned this 30 foot long vine down to the scrubs. There might've been 10 Leafs on it, but as he's going through it, he's teaching about these little suckers. He called them. They come off that SAP out the nourishment of the,
of the, of the vine and all these leaves that SAP out more and more of the nutrients of the vine. So that the vine, which has the production ability to grow great fruit is unable to produce fruit or it's very little fruit. Well, I'm, I'm, he's talking to me through this process. He's cutting this. We filled up three bags,
literally garbage bags. And he says to me, now listen to this. Now, watch your grapes grow well. I was for sure that that wouldn't happen. But the next morning, no, they didn't grow in the next morning, but the next morning I'm in my scriptures and I'm reading my Bible study still frustrated by the embarrassment of this situation. And the Lord guides me to John 15.
And I'm want you to know that I'm going to put that right now so that you don't forget it. The, the John 15 scripture came in my episode of my life experience with my father-in-law with a grapevine expounded, my understanding reveal, but through the holy spirit and incredible lesson that I want to share with you about what are you doing with what you've got?
You see one of the reasons why the grapes and by the way, they grew weeks later abundantly. I was so pleased and he just smirked at me when he came back over. But nonetheless, the real story is why are we not growing? Why are we not manifesting? What we're learning? Why are we not taking and being true disciples as John 15 talks about why is that?
Well, let me share with you a message that the Lord gave me this morning. There were three principles and one of you is probably going to be Johnny, but maybe janitor, Rebecca or Judith, you put this in the comments, there are three addictions or symptoms, or even a, you know, a process in your life in my life that we are like no other generation worse than any other generation.
Although they had similarities worse than any other generation. And these are the three of them. I want you to write them down. T O oh, too much, too, too many. And T O O fast, too much, too many too fast. We are not absorbing and digesting. We're not taking the nutriments. We've got too many leaves.
We've got too many suckers. We have very little food in most cases. So what does this all mean? It means that if you're doing a Bible study and then you're also running off to this study and that study, and you're reading this book in that book, how many of you been there? Raise your hands one way or another, even in the comments,
how many of us have three or four books on our desk ready to go after we've got, you know, one little article and one little sermon and maybe one YouTube. And we're trying, we're trying because we're, we're part of the vine, if you've accepted Christ in your life, but we we're, we got so much. And what we don't want to do,
listen to this. What we don't want to do because of the addiction is that, is that too much, too many too fast is that we don't want to stop and just take one thing, one thing, and really dig down deep into it and allow the holy spirit to reveal a deeper and deeper and a deeper and deeper in regards to the abundance of the fruit that comes from the word of God.
Now I'm going to show you something, hold on. This is a card because this is a symbol of, of what happened when they came back from the promised land. After going the first time in the promised land, they said that they would find abundance and grapes and milk and honey, well, Joshua and Caleb had to bring back a bunch of grapes on a,
on a pole between the two of them, because the bunch was so great. So big. So large. Now of course, that's a little exaggerated, but this is a symbol of ESSA girl, which is the Jewish sign of abundance. And the representation is this, that when we're connected to the vine, when we're focused and it says in John 15,
seven remaining in that take one scripture, take one scripture and extract every bit of nutrients out of it. We, before and after it read a commentary about it, study it, ask the holy spirit to reveal more to you. Even after he's revealed it to you, ask God to expose you to experiments. Life's experiences. My father-in-law, who's not here right now,
but you must have someone in your life. That'll walk into your life and give you the real illustration of that scripture so that it becomes so powerful, too much, too many, too fast. We have so many vehicles from Google to apps, to all the things that are out there. And we're chasing so many instead of focusing and really what's important because then you're no longer a permanent student.
You're a disciple. There's a difference. It could be born again, but with no fruits, but you can be born again, living in the spirit, producing incredible fruits, not by your strength, not by your power, but by what's being generated within you. As the vine feeds you. As the vine produces in you, the nutrients, you just simply pop the grapes and you have abundant graves,
much fruit. And it says fruit that will last. So here's what I'd like you to do for your own challenge. Your own life started verse one and go to the end of chapter 15 of the gospel of John, read it slow, take one at a time. Don't read the whole Bible today. Just take a few verses an over the week,
read and digest and reread again and digest and reread again and go through it so that you really come to the point, not to memorize it, but embody it to embody it so that it truly becomes one with you. And you become one with it. One scripture, I've heard so many authors and so many men and women of the spirit speak about one scripture that has transformed their lives continually.
It's never gotten no why. That's why in the first chapter of John, that God made the word living is the living word. And it will live in you unless you dormant, unless you don't allow it to manifest. Like I was doing with my grapevine in my yard. I hope this speaks to you in the comments. Simply let me know what you got out of this.
Simply let me know what you've gotten out of this, but do remember when you catch yourself too much, too many too fast, know that you have an addiction and firm on who was delivered from an addiction and many, I know what an addiction is and we can convince herself. It's not an addiction. We can convince ourselves that it's, it's good.
It's good because we're not doing bad things, but it's better to do one thing incredibly well. You have a beautiful day. See you tomorrow.