Before I begin let me encourage you to get out the bulletin. A couple notes. We have redesigned the bulletin.

Were interested in your feedback. I dont know if you noticed we took

out the order of worship. We are including the Scripture readings and songs. We shared some
ideas at our worship team meeting this past Tuesday about our order of worship. If you have any
suggestions, contact a worship team member.
SLIDE
They are:
Dave Nyberg (chair), Chris Audet, Karen Bakia, Sally Leitch,
Kristel Peters (staff) Pastor Paul (staff)
I do want to encourage you to take notes as I have ___ takeaway
How many of us enjoy Honeycrisp apples? This is one of my favorite fruit to eat in
Minnesota in the fall. Arent they good. They are crisp and juicy and tart. Yum! The
honeycrisp was cultivated at the University of Minnesota. It was patented in 1988 and released
to the public in 1991.
Jesus taught us to bear fruit. If I was going to be a piece of fruit I would love to be a
honeycrisp apple. I so want to be full and developed and help others experience joy.
I did some research this week on how long it takes for an apple to develop from seed to
tree to bearing apples. It can take eight years for a tree to bear fruit.
It is possible to grow a tree from a seed, but there are a lot of steps. The steps have to be
followed exactly. If they arent the tree wont grow. Did you know that an apple seed has to be
cooled from anywhere from eight weeks to three months in order for it to be germinated.
Imagine that you were growing a honeycrisp apple. Imagine that your tree was a small
tree that you had just planted. And a friend comes over to visit you. The friend asks you, when
are you going to eat apples. Youve been tending to that tree for a long time. You now have a
small tree. When can we eat some fruit.

What would you say? It takes a while. This tree is going to bear fruit. But right now its
unfinished.
Your friend kind of laughs at you for waiting so long. Youre putting a long time into
that apple tree.
Im enjoying the process. Because the tree is not ready doesnt diminish the tree.

You

have faith. You have confidence that the tree will develop. But the tree is unfinished.
Jesus wants his followersthat is you and mewe are disciples or followers of Jesus
Christ to bear fruit. He said this:
SLIDE
I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit,
because apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5
We are so like this apple tree. Were growing, but were unfinished. We might be
bearing fruit, but it might not be what we would like. Were not a big, juicy, honeycrisp apple.
Were unfinished.
What does it mean to be unfinished? Are we always going to be unfinished? Are we
ever going to get there? God wants us to bear fruit, but what does God think of us as
unfininshed?
Today Im starting a four-week sermon series called Unfinished. Were going to look at
what it means to be unfinished while God wants us to bear fruit. How does this work? What
does it mean to be unfinished?
During this series each Sunday were going to have a Reflection Time. We have
different stations set up around this space where we can have the opportunity to reflect on a
question that I will give you. I believe that this can be a powerful time for us.

During the next four weeks were going to talk about our heart and not our feet. The
intent of this series is not for us to do more. Were not looking at how we use our gifts to do
ministry. Were not looking at how we can serve more. This isnt a series to get you more
involved at Chain of Lakes.
This series is about our heart. Who am I becoming in here, what is holding me back, how
can I grow.
Who is completely satisfied with the condition of our heart today?
I know Im not. A while ago I was at a meeting. This was not a Chain of Lakes meeting.
I was the presenter at this meeting. Before I could even finish my presentation I was drilled with
questions. I was pressed hard about what I was sharing. The group who was questioning me had
every right to ask me these questions and every right to ask me tough questions. But in the
moment I became stubborn. I repeated my same point over and over again. I was like a
politician who has a three point plan and who will only talk about a three point plan. No matter
what question I was asked I kept coming back to the three point plan.
I really blew it with that group. I left the meeting knowing I had made them upset. I
spent a lot of time reflecting on that meeting. God made an impression on me that I was
resistant.
Ughmessed up again. I am so unfinished
As I was praying about this meeting a few days later I felt God nudge me to make
amends about what had happened. I stopped praying and started writing what I wanted to say to
a few people at the meeting. That day I called a few of them and apologized for being resistant.
The folks were very gracious in accepting my apology.
The incident led me to realizeI am so unfinished.

Have you had a time recently when you did something and you thought to yourself,
Why did I do that?
Each time I do a sermon series I share it with the worship team. I want you to know that
we have a terrific worship team at Chain of Lakes. One of my favorite meetings of the month is
with our worship team. Our worship team is very honest about all that is good and all that can be
improved in our worship services.
When I shared this sermon series one person on the worship team talked about the big
mess. She was thinking about her very young son who had made a big mess recently. We
laughed about the big mess.
The reality is its not only young children who make big messes. We make big messes as
adults. Our own big messes prevents us from bearing fruit.
Lets go back to our reading from John. Jesus said:
I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears
no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. John 15:1-2

What would happen if we substituted the word branch with big mess
I am the true vine and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every [big mess] in me that
bears not fruit. Every [big mess] that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.
Theres good news about these big messesthat are really crappy.
The first take awayand you might want to write this down. God will help us move
through our big messes. We might not ever be able to let go completely of our big messes. They
will always be part of us. I will probably always have a part of me that is resistant or some
people would call it stubborn. God wants me to move through my big mess.
God will use our big mess to help us bear fruit. How does that happen.

2nd takeawayand I encourage you to write this down. God accepts us where we are and
asks us to accept ourselves.
God accepts us. Jesus is the greatest example of someone who accepted people with big
messes.
Remember the story of the Prodigal Son. The younger son made a big mess for himself
by treating his father terribly. He ran away with his inheritance and then blew it all in dissolute
living. He found himself feeding pigsliterally experiencing the big mess of the pigs.
But the younger son came to himself. And came home. The younger sons fatherwho
represented God in the storywaited for his son to come back home. When the father saw the
son he ran to him to hug him. The father didnt even wait for the song to apologize. He hugged
him and loved him and accepted him for where he was.
Remember the story of the woman caught in adultery. This woman had committed
adultery. The religious leaders brought her out into the open to receive the punishment of
stoning. We never hear from the story about the man with whom she committed adultery. There
was a big mess. The leaders wanted to punish her. But Jesus defended her. Basically he said,
Let those who dont have a big mess cast the first stone.
Acceptance is not the same as toleration. This is not I accept you so anything goes.
Jesus accepted people, but he never said that what happened was okay. I dont think he was
okay with what they did, but that didnt stop him from loving him. The younger son had created
a big messit was not okay; the womanalong with the manhad committed adultery. It was
not okay. Jesus kept loving them despite their big mess. He accepted them where they were on
their journey.

If God can accept us, then can we accept ourselves? Can we claim our own big messes.
The point of claiming them is just to acknowledge them. Its like the first step of AA. At an AA
meeting the person says, I am ___ and I am an alcoholic. We claim our big messes. I am Paul
Moore and sometimes Im resistant or stubborn. Even with that quality I can accept myself. I
dont tolerate this part of me and I want to let it go. This is part of my heart.
Theres no shame with God. Theres acceptance.
2nd takeawayGod accepts us; can we accept ourselves.
The third takeaway is to claim our big messes and find some special people with whom
we can share them.
Jesus said this:
SLIDE

Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. John 15:2
Even when were bearing fruit were still being pruned. Its hard. One way we can grow

is to claim our big messes and find some special people with whom we can share them.
This is where the community is so important. This is where small groups are so
important. Because if Im in a small group with people I can share my experiences with them. I
can slowly open my soul and share that with others. If the group is going well this level of trust
develops with the group. I so look forward to getting together. This group of people knows me
and I know that they care for me. They will be tough with me if I need it. They wont just say
things that I want them to say. They will speak the truthin love.
Even if we dont have a small group its essential that we have these sorts of
relationships. We must have one or two people into whom we can confide what is taking place
in our life. It could be our spouse or closest friend; I hope we have one other person at Chain of
Lakes in whom we could have this sort of relationship.

Sometimes God can take our big messes and do something fabulous with them.
SLIDE

Have you heard the story of Lauren Hill? This past Monday evening I came

home for dinner and Lauren Hills story on TV. Lets find it on-line and learn some more. We
watched itand both cried. I didnt actually shed tears, but Im too much of a guythats one
of my big messes. But I cried on the inside.
She is a basketball player. Last fall she committed to play basketball for Mount St.
Joseph College. Its a Division III school in Ohio. 48 days after committing to Mount St. Joseph
she was diagnosed with brain cancer. Its the type of brain cancer for which there is no cure; it is
the type of brain cancer which the doctors cant operate.
She has a big messshe is going to die.
Two months ago she was told she only has a few months to live. She decided that she
wanted to raise awareness for DIPG, a disease called diffuse intrinsic pontine glimoa.
The school decided to have a game where the focus was to raise awareness for DIPG.
For most games the womans basketball team at Mount St. Joseph draws a hundred fans. Any
division III athlete knows this. But something special happened for this game.
Word got out about what was happening and demand to go to the game skyrocketed. The
school knew they wouldnt be able to fit people in their own gym,so they rented Xavier
Universitys arena. Ten thousand people showed up for the game.
They all learned what DIPG was.
Lauren was able to start the game. After the opening tip her team ran a play for Lauren.
She took a pass in the post and scored a layup. Laurens team and coaches ran onto the court to
celebrate with her. They hugged her and helped her off the court.

Lauren stayed on the bench for the rest of the game. Until thirty seconds was left. The
coach called a timeout. Lauren went back in. When she got back in she tried a layup. She
missed. One of her teammates rebounded the ball and passed it to Lauren. She scored again.
The first basket of the night and the last basket of the night.
I dont even know who won the game. But the world could see that this young woman
who had a big mess was bearing fruit.
Were all unfinished. We all have big messes. When we can claim them in appropriate
ways, God can use them to change the world.