What Does God Have Planned for Me NOW? | Conrad Bess | Sermon Notes — Hello Pastor

Sermon Notes

What Does God Have Planned for Me NOW?

Red Rocks Church • Aug 30, 2026 • 49 min

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Take this message with you through a journey of Scripture, reflection, and prayer.

Summary

In this message from John 15, Pastor Conrad Bess addresses our constant obsession with 'what's next' by inviting us to receive what God has for us right now. He teaches that true spiritual fruitfulness comes not from human striving or artificial ambition, but from abiding daily in Jesus Christ, the true vine. Through divine pruning and remaining close to the Savior, believers are invited to step out of burnout and experience Christ's complete, protective joy today.

Themes

Abiding in ChristSpiritual PruningBearing Fruit vs. Counterfeit GrowthDivine JoyKingdom Ambition

Key Points

1.
Pruning is not God's punishment, but His intentional refining process to cut away distraction and past success so our lives yield greater spiritual fruit.
2.
We can easily confuse artificial busyness and visible ambition with genuine spiritual fruitfulness, producing impressive foliage that lacks lasting Kingdom impact.
3.
Abiding in Christ requires remaining, persisting, and submitting our choices, priorities, and desires to Him rather than striving in self-sufficiency.
4.
Human ambition apart from connection to the true vine leaves the soul starving, no matter how much external success or achievement we manage to manufacture.
5.
Remaining connected to Christ and keeping His teachings close transforms our prayer life and aligns our heart with His will.
6.
The ultimate goal of bearing spiritual fruit is not personal applause or recognition, but bringing honor and glory to God as His true disciples.
7.
Jesus reveals that the ultimate reason for abiding in Him is so that believers may experience His complete, present, and overflowing joy right now.
8.
Believers are called to throw off every entangling weight and sin, running their spiritual race with perseverance by fixing their eyes on Jesus.

Sermon Moments

“Michael Phelps reached the absolute summit of Olympic success only to ask: 'What the heck am I supposed to do? Where am I supposed to go? Who am I?'”

“Like the game show 'Is It Cake?', you can fake fruit with impressive decorations, but you cannot engineer real, soul-nourishing fruit on your own.”

“Dormant season pruning cuts away past growth that no longer serves the upcoming season, while growing season pruning trims excessive foliage so the fruit receives light and matures.”

“Left to ourselves, we can produce a great deal of unproductive growth. God doesn't just care about growth; He cares about fruit.”

“Pastor Conrad's daughter prayed: 'Dear Jesus, will You pray for daddy that he's not nervous so that people would cheer for him?' — a sweet reminder that the glory belongs solely to God.”

“Joy is not an elusive future outcome or distant destination; it is a present reality found in abiding closeness with Christ.”

“It was joy that took Jesus to the cross, and it's joy that He offers us on the other side so long as we are in Him.”

This Week

Identify areas of distracting busyness or past successes in your life that God may be pruning so you can focus on lasting Kingdom fruit.

Commit to abiding in Christ daily through regular prayer and meditating on Scripture rather than relying on your own strength.

Evaluate your current goals and ambition by asking the pastor's central question: "Is it fruit, or just unproductive growth?"

Surrender the desire for personal recognition and redirect all glory and praise to God in your daily work, leadership, and family life.

Release the internal pressure to control future outcomes ("what's next") and engage faithfully with what God is doing right now.

Lay down any entangling weight or sin that hinders your spiritual walk, keeping your eyes fixed intentionally on Jesus.

Receive Christ's complete joy as your present strength, trusting that true joy is found in close communion with Him rather than changing circumstances.

Remember This

True fulfillment and lasting spiritual fruit do not come from self-engineered ambition or striving for what is next, but from remaining connected to Jesus and experiencing His complete joy right now.

A Challenge for You

Would we abide this week? Would we abide every day? Would we keep coming back to the fruit that You've designed for each of us?

These are personal sermon notes shared to help you remember the message — not a replacement for Scripture, your church, or your pastors.