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And it was hard getting rid of that and just kind of getting rid of that worldly influence. But I've noticed this, and I do believe that music is very powerful. I preach this, again, many, many times, very powerful. And the times where I have allowed myself to say, you know what, I'm just going to listen to this or whatever, whatever it is, you hear it somewhere, I'm like, man, I want to listen to that song, you listen to that song, you open up the door, but you know what, it's invariably that other things start happening where like, and it's weird because it's not even like necessarily associated with that. But then I can think back and be like, it's got to be, this is the source. You start thinking like you start doing other things, whatever, and you're going, why am I, why, wait, no. And then it's like, well, why did I allow that to happen? I should have never allowed that to happen in the first place. And it would have been good. It's, what are you talking about, passive birds? Everyone wants to know now. I'm not going to tell you. It could be something like, you know, maybe you quit drinking or quit smoking, and this isn't exactly what I'm talking about, but you open up the door to one thing, and then you might find yourself doing this and then doing this and then doing, you know, and it's like, it cascades. It cascades. The leaven spreads. And it doesn't necessarily have to be music. I don't think it's, I don't think it's the music. I think it's the sin. I think it's the leaven. And when you allow it, I mean, you're consciously just allowing this into your life, you're going to see it spread. Because it's a heart problem. It's an attitude problem. It's a, I'm not hating this sin enough, whatever it may be. You know, for me, it's music. For you, it could be something else, whatever. Doesn't matter. Cast away that leaven. That, you know, it's a time to cast away. It's a time to cast away the sin, that leaven, idolatry, whatever it may be in your life, that's leaven. Get, cut it out. It's a cancer. It's only going to get worse. And, you know, there's a time to cast away. It's always the time to cast away the sin, the leaven, to get that out. And it's always the time to cleave and to hold on to and to keep the word of God and the instruction in righteousness. Turn, if you would, to John chapter 15. I'm going to close on this passage. John chapter 15. The time to keep and there's a time to cast away. Now, instead of thinking about this and us keeping and casting away in our life, you know, God has a time to keep and to cast away also. God can cast away. That's a scary thought. And God can cast away believers. I'm not talking about losing your salvation. But you can be a cast away in God's eyes. A cast away is you're good for nothing to him. That's a scary place to be. You don't want to be there. There's a time to keep for God and there's a time to cast away for every single one of us individually. I mean, God holds your breath in his hand. So don't ever forget that. Do you want God keeping you here? Or do you want him casting you away? Think about that. Look at John 15, verse number one, the Bible says, I am the true vine and my father is the husband. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. And every branch that beareth fruit, he purges it that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine. No more can ye except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my father glorified that ye bear much fruit. So shall you be my disciples. As the father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love even as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. And again, this isn't talking about salvation at all. This isn't talking about well maybe you're saved or maybe you're not and if you do all these works and everything else. That's not what it is about at all and I'm not going to really spend any time on that. It's talking about believers. If you look at verse number two again, every branch in me. So this is talking about people who are in Christ. They're saved. Everybody that's in Christ is like a branch, part of the body of Christ. And what is this whole thing talking about? Why is he talking about a vine and everything? He's talking about bearing fruit. He wants you to bear fruit. He wants you to produce. He wants you to be a productive servant. He wants you yielding something for him and he says, look, if you're every branch in me, if you're a branch in me, if you're a branch in Christ and you're doing nothing and you're providing no fruit, well guess what? Every branch that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. He's going to cast you away. Because what good are you then? I mean, your soul is saved. It's not like you need to be saved again. You're already saved. But now you're just kind of taking up the space. If you're not really doing anything at all with it, you're not bearing fruit. Hey, you're in Christ, but you're this branch in Christ now that you're just kind of, you're just there. You're just in the way. Start producing. He says, look, you're clean. Abide in me, I in you. The branch cannot bear fruit of itself. Right? We can't just bring forth our own fruit. The only reason we can bear fruit is because we're part of Christ. Christ is where that source of life come from. We're reproducing other Christians. We're bringing forth fruit, getting people saved, leading people to Christ. But Christ is where the life is. We can't do anything without Christ. We can't do that. We can't bear that fruit without Christ. So we have to be in the vine to bring forth that fruit, of course. But that's what we're called to do is to bring forth that fruit. And if you're a branch and you're not bearing fruit, well guess what? Those branches are just going to be pruned. They're going to be trimmed back so that the branches who are going to bring forth the fruit can grow there. It's a pretty simple doctrine here. I know there's a lot of words and people sometimes get confused over this, but it's not that confusing. Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit. And then he says, so shall ye be my disciples. Again, we're talking about discipleship. We're talking about believers. And he's talking about bearing fruit. But it's very clear that he's talking about. And here's how you know. Look, there's only a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit. And a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit. That's clear. Matthew 7, Jesus teaches us that. We talk about that's how you determine false prophets. Hey, if someone's bringing forth good fruit, that has to be a good tree. If you're in Christ, you're part of the good vine. You're part of that good tree. You will only bring forth good fruit. It's not like you're going to be bringing forth bad fruit and then he's going to cast you into hell. You can't because you're in Christ. The only fruit you can bring forth is good fruit. That's the only kind of fruit that you can bring forth. Or you could just not bring forth any fruit. And if that's the case, that's where he's saying, you know what? You're going to be cut out. You're going to be cast away. Not cast to hell. Just you're done. And look, thank God God's long suffering and merciful and is willing to put forth a lot of effort. And we have the parables where the vine dresser comes out and he's like, hey, I've been trying to get this tree. This is a very big paraphrase. I've been trying to get this thing to grow. It's not producing fruit. So I'm about to get rid of it. He's like, well, wait, hold on a second. Don't get rid of it. Let's dung it. Let's dig about it. Let's water it. Let's try to help it. And then if it doesn't bring forth fruit, then yeah, let's get rid of it. God is willing to work in our lives and work in the areas. You know, you might need to get dung. You might need to get water. You might need to get these things happening in your life before you actually come around and start bringing forth fruit. And God knows that. And just like, you know, when the seed's sown and it brings forth life, well, it's going to take a little bit of time probably before you actually start bringing forth fruit. God knows that. God knows that. And he's willing to work with you. He's very long suffering. But at the same time, you don't want to be this person. It's like, look, you've been in the vine for 30 years. You've been in the vine. What are you doing? Where is your fruit? I want you to bring forth fruit. That's the whole point. And if you're not going to do that, well, just call you home. Like, all right, you're done. And we shouldn't want that to happen because what we do here and the fruit that's produced here has eternal value. It's kind of a shame, too. I mean, think about it. Think about how many servants there are and how many servants there aren't in this world and how many people there are. And for the person who's just not going to do the work, it's kind of like, man, there's not even that many people who are saved. Can't you just go forward and bring forth some fruit? Just do it. No, we need to be careful and make sure that, yes, we understand the time to keep and the time to cast away the things in our life, but then also make sure that we're not going to be in a position, you know, God's going to be keeping and casting away also. So be minded about that, that, yes, everyone here is bringing forth fruit. I mean, I'm kind of looking around going, like, everyone here is committed to being able to bring forth fruit into God. Praise God for that. And I can say that with confidence. I'm just looking at everyone. Just be like, yes, amen. There's people who want to bring forth fruit. But you know what? Don't forget this truth. Don't forget it. You're in the vine now. Great. And you know what God's going to be doing? He's going to be trying the purging because he likes that fruit and he wants more. So engage in the things like the challenges and stuff like that. Let God purge you and then bring forth more. Let him reap and then be like, all right, I want to keep that going, keep that going, keep that going because we don't want to find ourselves in a position where God is going like, man, why come with you the ground? I'm done. And, you know, there's even an example and well, yeah, I'm not going to get into that. I was going to say about the fig tree when Jesus cursed the fig tree. It was still a fig tree but he was just like, you know, hey, I wanted fruit from you, right? We came to the fig tree and there's just no fruit. Like I came to this tree and I expected there to be fruit here. And what happened to it? He cursed it and it died. And it died. Well, God might be looking at you going, look, I've been coming to you all these years, year after year after year expecting some fruit from you. One day he might just be like, look, I've been wanting fruit from you and there's nothing. You're done. I thank God for his mercy and, you know, salvation and eternal life. He's not going to cast you to hell. But, man, what a shame to be someone who was in the vine and you just didn't bring forth any fruit ever, right? Or you just die off. Like, oh, yeah, this branch was really good at producing fruit and now it's just, now it's done. It's over. Keep with it. All right, let's bow our heads. Have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for loving us. We thank you for teaching us this great wisdom on the times to keep and a time to cast away and a time to get and a time to lose. And I pray that you would please help us to be humble, to be content and to understand and look at things appropriately with what we have, with what you've given us, Lord. And I pray that you please help us also to analyze our own lives and determine the things that we need to get rid of, what we need to cast out and what we need to keep, dear Lord. And we just thank you for the knowledge and understanding and please help our children. Please help our church to grow. Help us to reach more people with the truth. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. We're going to sing one last song before we're dismissed. Brother Peter, will you please lead us? All right, church. You can open up your hymnals. You can open up your hymnals. Song number 471. Song 471. Lens me. Song number 471. All right, church. Let's sing this out of the verse. Search me, O God, and know my heart today. Shine me, O Savior. Know my thoughts I pray. See if they're healed. So make me pray in peace. Place me from every sin and set me free. I praise Thee, Lord, for cleansing me from sin. Fulfill my hurting. Make me new within. Failing with fire where blood, cyber, and shame reign my desire to magnify Thy name. Lord, take my life and make it holy night. Fulfill my overarching, mighty, love divine. Take all my will, my passion, self, and pride. I now surrender, Lord, in Thee above. Holy ghost, revival comes from Thee. Stand the revival. Start the working in. Thy working there, Thou health's supply are near. For blessings now, O Lord, I humbly pray. Amen, church. Great singing. Thank you so much for coming, guys. Thank you. Thank you. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. 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