In the Cool of the Garden Pt. 5 // John 15 // Ryan Murphy

This week, Ryan Patrick Murphy shares a message from John 15:1-17 titled "Fruit That Will Last," closing out the series "In the Cool of the Garden: Hearing God's Voice in All of Life." The sermon answers the question the whole series has been building toward: what is the goal of hearing God's voice? Rooted in Jesus' final discourse to the disciples before the cross -- delivered not in an upper room but in a garden -- the answer is fruit that lasts into eternity.

Ryan walks through five keys to fruitful obedience, moving from the gardening reality of pruning (which God does not to punish us but to prepare us for more fruit) to the rhythm of abiding and working that echoes the original creation pattern in Genesis. From there the message turns to a lifestyle of intimacy and intercession -- where God's words move from something we hear to something that lives inside us -- before landing on lovingly obeying the clear commands of Scripture and, finally, the surprising truth that fruitful obedience looks like joy. Along the way, Ryan names the Fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5 as the primary biblical definition of fruit that lasts, and takes an honest look at how thoroughly our screens are discipling us compared to the presence of God -- calling the community not to guilt but to a renewed vision of what consistent abiding actually produces.

The theological anchor of the message is that fruitful obedience is not performance -- it is the natural outgrowth of remaining in Jesus. Hearing God's voice is never the end in itself; it is always in service of a deeper union with him that transforms character, aligns desire, and makes our prayers more effective because our hearts are being shaped by his. Obedience and joy, Ryan argues, are not opposites. God's commandments are not the rules of a cosmic killjoy -- they are the design of a father who knows the pathway to life and wants to set us on it.

Ultimately, this message is an invitation to give God a simple yes. Whether you are in a season of pruning, confusion, suffering, or just the ordinary grind, Jesus is calling you to remain in him, let his words get on the inside of you, and trust that the fruit is coming -- fruit that will outlast every external marker of success and last well into eternity.