← ArchiveSunday, March 1, 2015DateMarch 1, 2015Speaker—TextJohn 15Passages in this sermonJohn 150:21John 15:513:51Proverbs 321:11Philippians 4:1324:41Acts 1:824:58John 15:726:46Psalms 3728:011 John 428:271 John 528:33John 15:1133:50John 14:2734:07TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00Excellent. Excellent. Thank you so much. If you brought your Bible, I hope you did. If you brought your Bible, turn with me to John chapter 15. If you don't have your Bible and you have your iPad, boot that thing up and get over to John chapter 15. We're going to be looking at0:26these verses over the next few weeks. I'll be reading from the English Standard Version of God's Word. You may be in one other version, but this is a powerful, powerful text. After the supper, that night in the upper room, Jesus grabbed that band of believers, that group of disciples, even the one who betrayed him. He gathered them up and walked them down the stairs0:53by the Mount of Olives in the place called the Garden of the Valley of Kidron, and he broke off this branch, and he began to teach this moment. And these 17 verses kind of set them on their heels. He said these words in John chapter 15, beginning with the first verse. I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit,1:21he takes away, and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself by itself, unless it's unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He whoever abides in me, and I in him, he it is that1:48bears fruit, much fruit, apart for apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers, and the branches are gathered and thrown into a fire and are burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done2:12for you. By this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, in my love, just as I kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.2:42This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you, Jesus says. No longer do I call you friends, servants, for the servant does not know what his3:04master is doing, but I have called you friends for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, I chose you, and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide, so whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.3:28These things I command to you, so that you will love one another. Let's pray. Father God, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, Lord Jesus, be acceptable in your sight today. God, as we unpack these verses today, and we look at the secret to fruit3:51bearing, abiding in you, God, I pray that you just rivet it into our souls today. And God, we love you so much, and we thank you for this great congregation of believers in this room, and those that may not be believers that are here today just trying to find the source that we have so much energy and so much excitement. God, I pray that you do your work in this place today. Thank you for this great assembly4:20of people today, and thank you for the privilege of unpacking your word today. And I pray, God, we handle it accurately today. And as we do, you do your work, and God, you just do what you want to do and do all you want to do in this place. And we give you all the praise and all the glory and all the honor. In Jesus' name we pray. And the church said, amen. Go ahead and look at your watch, and most of us think4:46that you're going to get out at about 11.15, that will not be the case this morning. So if you have a roast in the oven, it's going to burn. So might make a way to get to a restaurant, but we will get you out of here before two o'clock, I hope. I want us to unpack these verses and look at them from a perspective of understanding that we have one calling on our lives as Christ followers. The branch5:14cannot produce fruit on its life. The branch must draw from the vine. Many, many images are found throughout Scripture of the Christ and the believer given in Scripture to emphasize this important concept of union and communion in Christ Jesus. The body and its members, the bride and the bridegroom, the sheep and the shepherd, a member of the body that is cut off. If we cut off one of the limbs,5:43we cut off the leg or the arm or the hand, it cannot live by itself. It will surely die. It needs that nourishment. A marriage union, it's created in a union, but it takes holy and dedicated and daily love and devotion to one another to maintain that communion. You must be together. Now, as I was studying these passages of Scripture, I noticed in the first 11 verses, and depending on your translation, but in6:13the first 11 verses, one word just keeps leaping off the page. The word abide. Now, that's not a word that we walk around in the 21st century talking about. We don't go around and say, well, how are you doing? Are you abiding today? That's not one of those 21st century languages that we use, but it is so important that we understand what it means. The word abide. In verses chapter 15, verse 9, it uses the word continue. It's the same as continue, abide, or the word remain. All of those are synonymous6:43with one another. So, all of those. So, we need to understand what does the word abide actually mean? It actually means to keep in fellowship with Christ so that his life can work in us and through us to produce more fruit. That's what the word abide means, that we are to understand that we are connected to him. How can we tell that we're abiding in Christ? How can we understand that? Abiding church is not7:12automatic. It is not automatic. It's something that we have to do. It demands our total worship in spirit and truth. It demands meditating on God's word. It demands us praying and spending time with God, sacrificing our lives to the lordship of Jesus and in service. So, we have to have all of those to understand what abide in. Many Christians, including myself, many Christians, including myself, we just7:39don't get it. We just really don't get it. We say we want to know God, but sometimes our actions prove otherwise. We just don't get it. We think, okay, I got my fire insurance. I'm saved by his grace. I know that I'm going to heaven. Hallelujah. Amen. My name is in the Lamb's book of life rule. But you see that, take it one step further. We are to work out, not work for, but work out our salvation.8:07We are to do something for our salvation. To prove that God loves us and prove that we love him with all our heart. We need more emulation of Christ to match our exhortation that we stand up and say on Sunday morning. We need to emulate the Christ. We need to be about the work that he's called us to. Surrendering to Christ means to do whatever he reveals to us as Christ followers, no matter what8:36it is. We should say, yes, sir, I'm here. I'm signed on. I'm ready for active duty. The reason that a person does not know the will of God many times in their life is because they're waiting on God to show them some kind of enormous sign, something new that they can do. Abiding is focusing on God and doing8:58exactly what he tells us to do. Can I get an amen to that? Abiding in Christ is that I know what he says for us to do, and then I'm going to follow through. I'm going to do exactly what that is. Now, close in with me. Understand something. Gather in here close. Not all of you are going to be called to preach the message of Christ, but you are called to live the message of Christ. If you're a Christ follower,9:27you are called to live out your faith in the world. You are to proclaim his name in the world. So abiding is focusing on God and doing exactly what he tells us to do. Now, I want you to look at the message truth this morning. It's printed in your little outline there. In the Christian light, there is a difference between union and communion. Union came when you accepted Christ as Savior and Lord. Communion9:52comes by maintaining that moment-by-moment fellowship with Jesus Christ. Now, let me see if I can put this in a, in some form, a tangible illustration. Now, I know there's probably some cat lovers in the room, and you're going to get all wigged out about this, so just get over it, okay? I love cats. I'm glad you love them more than I do. I just don't want them in my, I just don't love them that much. But if we take10:18two cats, and we literally tie their tails, and all the kids are going, oh no, he's going to tie their tails. We're going to tie their tails together, and we throw them over a fence row, what have we got? Do we have union or communion? We've got union because they're tied together. There's not going to be much communion going on if their tails are tied together, right? You see, a union is that when we get ourselves tied to Christ, but communion happens when we have that moment-by-moment daily walk with10:47him. Union happens when we accept Christ as our personal Savior and Lord. We believe on the name of the Son of God for salvation and salvation alone. We confess our sins and our surrendered life for all of eternity. It is simple as the ABCs. Accept, believe, and confess, and receive him as our personal Savior and Lord. Communion happens the moment you say something like this, dear Lord Jesus, I am a sinner11:16separated from your love. Dear Lord Jesus, I need you as my personal Savior, Lord. Dear Lord Jesus, I know that you died on the cross for my sins, and I receive you into my life as my personal Savior, Lord. Thank you for saving me for saving me. In Jesus' name, amen. And the moment you say amen, it happens. That is that lifelong process of that communion, of knowing who God is in your life. God begins to work inside you11:44and out of your life each and every day. Daily prayer and reading of the Word fuels that communion each and every step of the way. I want us to look at six ways that we know that we are abiding in Christ. It's found in these scriptures today. I want you to fill out some blanks with me. We know we're abiding in Christ Jesus12:11when we are so committed, connected to Christ, that witnessing becomes a way of life. Now, I know there's plenty of us Baptists in this room, and we Baptists have a unique ability, more so than most denominational churches. We have a unique ability to program everything. Amen? If we don't program it,12:33then we'll get a group of people and do a study. We call it a committee, and then we'll develop a program. And then we'll get some smart people like Brad, and we'll get them together, and we'll say, hey, how about writing us some curriculum so that we can get this program up and running. And then we go to the printer, and we have them printed, or we make copies of it, and then we have all these fill12:59in the blank things, and these little Bible studies, and there's all goals, and there's nothing wrong with that. And then we say, oh, everybody show up, and we're going to teach you how to share Christ with people. Now, there's nothing wrong with having programs to teach people how to systematically share their faith. But the problem is, that's where it stops most of the time. Most of the time, say, we can't share our faith because it's not Tuesday night. It's not the Monday night visitation program. Folks, let me tell13:28you something. You know that you're connected to Christ, so connected to Christ that witnessing your faith in Christ becomes a way of life. It becomes part of your DNA every day. You're out there every day. Look with me in John chapter 15, verse 5. He says, I am the vine. You are the branches. Whoever abides13:51in me, it is he that bears much fruit. When we are connected to Christ in such a way that we are so connected with him, daily spiritual reading of the word, spirit spending time alone with God every day, talking about who he is in our lives, we are so connected to the vine, we will witness every step14:17of the way. Now, some of you have got jobs to do. I know that. Some of you are going to school. I mean, you're there. We see your grades. We're not sure you're going to school. But anyway, I'm just saying, you know, some of us, some of us go to school and sit there like I did. I mean, when I graduated school, it was laughty, laughty. How did he get out? So what they were, you know, but most of us go to14:43school and we stay, we go through all these things. You say, man, I don't have time to witness all that. Let me tell you something. Every opportunity that God makes available to you, you should be willing to stand up and give an account of your salvation. When we are connected to the faith in Christ, when we're so connected to the vine, witnessing becomes part of our DNA. It's everything. We don't have to go through a program. We don't have to go through a plan. There's nothing wrong with having15:11that. If you need that, we can offer those things to you. But I don't understand why we feel like we have to. Witnesses becomes a way of life. It becomes part of your DNA. It becomes what you do a way of life. It says, I'm the vine. You are the branches. Whoever abides in me. Now, I looked up that word, whoever. What does that actually mean? That means everybody. Everybody that's saved by his grace.15:40This is a non-negotiable. When you're saved by his grace, it's a non-negotiable to share your faith. When it makes available, when God opens up the opportunity. Dwight Moody, one of the great pastors in Chicago, Illinois. He's dead now in heaven, just rejoicing Jesus. But Dr. Moody was walking down the streets in Chicago. And he was walking down the streets in Chicago. This old guy that16:07was intoxicated and been intoxicated on alcohol for many, many, many, many, many, many, many days walked up to him. He says, you're Dwight Moody. He said, yes, I am. He said, I'm one of your converts. Moody looked at him and said, you look just like one of my converts. You see, if he was one of Christ's converts, he might not look that way. Amen? Now, listen to me. I'm not trying to be harsh. I'm just being16:33blown honest with you. We need a wake-up call in America. We need a wake-up call in Moody, in Odenville, in Leeds, in Birmingham, in Trustville. We need a wake-up call. We need the church of the living God who says, I abide in Christ. Start living like they abide in Christ. So we are connected to Christ that witnessing becomes a way of life. Number two, we know that17:02we are abiding in Christ when we receive the Father's discipline as part of the growing process. Look what it says in verse two. I wish he'd have left this verse two out because I'm not real fired up about this one. But look what it says. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes it away, and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it that it may bear more fruit. When I read that about 2517:26times this week, preparing, getting my heart wrapped around this message today, I read that verse over and over and over and over and over and over. And every time I read it, I thought, well, it's going to change. There's going to be some wording change in here. I missed something, Brad, but I kept reading it. It says, every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away, and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it that it may bear more fruit. I wanted to say, what up, God? I'm bearing fruit,17:54then you come along and prune me. I mean, I'm doing the best I can, and then all of a sudden, it's not good enough. No, no, no. Don't misunderstand. When we are so connected to Christ, witness, it becomes a way of life, and as we're bearing fruit, we need that trimming. We need that pruning a little bit. God needs to come along and take away some things that may be standing in the18:20way for us to bear more fruit. Let me illustrate that. I was invited several years ago. I'm getting too old to do it now, and they don't want me. I never was cool. I used to think I was, but never was cool. Just asked my son. He said, Dad, you never were cool. I don't know what made you think you were a youth speaker, but anyway, I was invited to come speak at all these youth events, and I was down in central Florida speaking at a youth camp for this great church down in south Florida18:47called First Baptist Church Fort Lauderdale, and I was the guest speaker for their camp, and they had it, and I loved it because, man, I said yes immediately. I didn't, you said, did you pray about it? No, I prayed about it when I surrendered to the Lord Jesus, so when the opportunity came, I went, and it was in Orlando, and I had a week prior to going to this camp, Brad, and so Miss Debbie and Seth, and he was a little bitty tight at the time, we said, you know what? We'll go to the mouse house for a couple of days and hang out there and have some fun, and go to the mouse house and do some fun19:15stuff, and then I'll go do the youth camp, so we flew in a couple of days early, went to the mouse house. You know where it is, Disney World. Went down to the mouse house and had some fun, then I showed up at the camp, and so we were at this camp. It was in Central Florida. It had this huge lake on the camp, and they brought their jet skis, and I mean, this church had jet skis, so I've never seen that jet ski ministry. I think we all start one of them. Jet ski ministry, man, and I mean, they had their jet skis, and it was fun, man, had a19:40great worship band and drama and all this stuff. They had about 500 kids at this camp. It was just their church and their kids, and it was amazing. I was like, wow, this is awesome. So we're down there, so this guy that owns the camp also was a, he owned an orchard, and he came up to me. We were eating one day, and he said, hey, man, would you like to go look at one? I got to go visit some of my orchards. Would you like to go look at one of my orange orchards? I said, man, in my mind, I was thinking, I'd rather watch paint dry, but you know,20:08okay, let's go. So we go to this orange orchard, and we're driving through this orchard, and he's got all these people that are, I hope we're here legally, but they're here. They're working, and they're pruning, and they're cutting all these trees down. And be like, oh my goodness gracious, they're cutting all your orange trees down. He said, you want orange juice next year, don't you? I said, I absolutely do. He said, we got to prune those trees right there so that they'll produce more fruit. That's exactly what20:36he is saying here. He's going to come along, and he's going to whittle off those things that are standing in the way of us bearing more fruit. It may be some of the things that you think that you need. It may be some of the things that you've had in your life. He said, I'm going to cut those things off. Now, the wiser is saying, well, maybe he's going to prune me away from this guy. No, that's not what he's saying, right? Folks, let me tell you something. When witnessing becomes a way of life,21:05we got to go through the discipline. We got to go through the process. Turn with me to Proverbs chapter 3. You'll know this passage. Proverbs chapter 3, and I want us to read several verses because I think you'll get the gist of what I'm trying to say here. Proverbs chapter 3, beginning with the first verse, my son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandment and lengthen days and years of life, and peace they will add to you. Do not let steadfast love21:31or faithfulness forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart so you'll find favor and good success in the sight of God and man. This is a very familiar passage. You'll know this verse 5 and 6. Trust the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Do not be wise in21:55your own eyes. Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It'll be healing to your body or refreshment and refreshment to your bones. In verse 9, honor the Lord with your wealth, with its first fruits from all your produce. Stop right there. This is a sidebar. This is free. It doesn't say honor him with just what's left over. This is a tithing statement right here. Honor it from the first of your fruits.22:23That means the gross amount or the net amount. Do you want to be blessed off the net amount or the gross amount? Honor him from the first fruits. I didn't get many amens on that, Brad. Then your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will be bursting with wine. Here it is, verse 11. My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him22:52who he loves as a father, the son in whom he delights. Do not reject the discipline of the Lord. Do not reject the pruning of the Lord. Do not reject the pruning of your branch.23:15He needs to cut away some things so that we may bear more fruit. We are so connected to Christ because witnessing becomes a way of life. We receive father's discipline as part of the growing process. Suffering will always take place for the Christ follower. Didn't that encourage you?23:45That didn't encourage me whatsoever. But folks, it's part of the gospel process. It's part of the growing process. We have to go through some disappointing times. We have to go through some suffering times to bear much fruit. Number three, we realize how weak we become without Christ. We realize how weak we become without Christ. Now back to verse 5 in John chapter 15. I'm the vine, you are the branches.24:14Whoever abides in me, in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, for apart from me, you can do nothing. We cannot do it on our own. We have to do it under God's power. Paul wrote to the church at Philippi. Last week, we studied this. John chapter, Philippians chapter 4, verse 13. I can do all things through Christ who what?24:43Say it with me. Strengthens me. I am more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus. I am an overcomer in Christ Jesus because the power, the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit is indwelled in my life. Acts chapter 1, verse 8. You shall receive what? Deuteronomy. The power when the Holy Spirit has come upon me and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the remotest part of the earth. We realize how weak we are without Christ Jesus.25:10We know that we're abiding in him when we realize how weak we are without Christ's power. Number four, we know we're abiding in Christ because he answers our prayers. Now, stop right there. I know some of you are going to say, well, Brother Dan, I thought he always answers prayer. He does, three ways. Number one, yes. He answers prayer by saying, yes.25:37God, we need this. We need that. We want this to happen. Yes. Sometimes you say, God, I have this list. Want this, want this, want this. And he says, no. Then he answers another way. God, we have this. We have this need. We have this. We need this. We want this. Blah, blah, blah. And he says, wait. Now, I have no problem with yes. I like to be moving. I have no problem with no every now and then26:06because I know a no means there's going to be a yes at some point. Right? There's always something greater for me when there's a no. There's always a greater opportunity for me when there's a no. It's the waiting that drives me crazy. I don't do well waiting. I don't do well at red lights. I'm not the best company in a car on a red light situation. I like green. Let's go. Let's move. But there's a lot of people that love waiting. And here's what happens. A lot of people get stuck in the waiting.26:36Prayer is not only a cause, but it is a result of abiding in Christ Jesus. John chapter 15, verse 7. Verse 7 says, if you abide in me. Now, here it is. And my words abide in you. Ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done or will be done for you. Stop right there. Hang on. This is not name it and claim it theology. I know some of you may be thinking, I know, maybe some of you may think this way.27:05Lord, I really do need a new Mercedes. I really do need it. No, you don't. You might need transportation, but you don't need. Now, I'm not saying if you can afford a Mercedes, praise God. If that's what you, that's fine. I have no problem with that. I drive a Toyota. Better car. I'll just be honest with you. It gets better fuel. It's cheaper. Better car. Now, there's nothing wrong with Mercedes. I know lots of people that own Mercedes. I have nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with having stuff.27:36But that stuff, you need to be willing to let go of that stuff at any moment. Prayer is a result of abiding in Christ Jesus. You should say, whenever I wish, whenever you wish, it will be done for you. Ask. You must ask in his name. I want you to look at a couple other verses of Scripture to help. Also, I'll say this. Psalms 37, verse 4. I know you're probably getting tired, but Psalms 37, verse 4.28:03I want you to look at this verse of Scripture. Psalms 37, verse 4. Listen to what it says. Delight yourselves in the Lord, and he will what? Say it with me. Give me the desires of your heart. Lord, I need that new job. Delight yourself in the Lord. He will give you the desires of the heart. I want you to look with me at another verse of Scripture. It's 1 John 4, verse 11. Oh, a great verse. 1 John 4, excuse me. 1 John 5, verse 14.28:33Excuse me. I'm sorry. I got ahead of myself. 1 John 5, verses 15. Let's go to what the Word says. And if you know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request that we have asked of him. So if he knows he wants to bless us, he's going to hear our prayer, we've got to go before him. You say, well, Dan, I've been going over and over. I've been praying for my loved one to get saved.29:03I've been sharing my faith with him, and they still won't get saved. I've been wanting them to come to church with me. They still won't come. Keep praying. Keep praying. You're in that waiting period. God knows. God has heard your heart. Some of you are saying, oh, Lord, please help the pastor search team find the preacher quick. Keep praying. And I'll be gone one day.29:31Amen? We know because he answers our prayer. Number five. We know we're abiding in Christ because we have an unconditional love for Christ and his people. Unconditional love for Christ and his people. Pick it up in verse 9. As the father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. There's that word again. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.30:00Just as I've kept my father's commandment, abide in his love. These things I've spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. Folks, let me tell you something. We are commanded to love people unconditionally, warts and all. We don't have to like them, but we got to love them.30:28Now, I don't know if this is going to shock some of y'all. There's some people out there that just don't like me. I know it shocks you. It shocks me every time Debbie reminds me. She said, you know what? There's some people, Dan Moran, you think like you. They just don't like you. I said, really? She said, yes. And then she's walking away mumbling. I said, what are you saying? She said, sometimes that's me. Folks, let me tell you something. We have an unconditional love for Christ and his people.30:561 John 4, verse 11. Here it is. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Verse 19, we love because he first loved us. Let me tell you something, folks. This loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and body, and not loving your neighbor as yourself is a sin against God.31:26It's a sin against his word. Let me ask you this question. How is that loving your neighbor as yourself? I've heard story after story of many of you that are reaching across your street and ministering to your neighbors, touching their lives. Let me tell you something, folks. Christ's love is simply treating others the way Christ has treated you.31:53The way Christ has treated you. I have a couple of heroes in my life. One of them is a master sergeant in the United States Army. He's a lifer. His dad serves on our board of directors. I've asked him if I could use his name. He said, rather you not because I'm just nobody. I'm just a sergeant in the Army, and I'm just here to serve my country32:21and keep you guys safe. He's done four tours in Iraq and two in Afghanistan, and he's about to go back over in that region again. His best friend saved his life. His best friend fell on a mine and saved my hero's life. And my friend said, why do you call me a hero?32:48I've done nothing. I said, yes, you have. Because every day that you go out there, I get to do what I do. Because you and thousands of others stand a post and hold a rifle so that we can do what we do. Folks, let me tell you something. The next time you see a military soldier, male or female, doesn't matter what rank or what branch they're in, go up there and tell them how much you care for them and how much you love them. Greater love has no one than one laid down his life33:18because I don't know a military man right now that wouldn't lay his life down for us. Folks, let me tell you something. We should be that way about brothers and sisters in this room. We should be that way about brothers and sisters in this room. We know that we're abiding in Christ because we have an unconditional love for Christ and his people. Number six, and I'm done. We know we're abiding in Christ because we have an inner joy and an inner peace.33:45Look with me, John chapter 15, verse 11. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full. Folks, let me tell you something. Christ wants us to have that peace that passes all understanding. Back up to John chapter 14, verse 27. Jesus says, My peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.34:14Let not your heart be troubled. Neither let them be afraid. Folks, he wants us to have that inner joy, that inner peace that passes all understanding. Deep peace comes from abiding in Christ. You've got interpersonal conflict in your life. It's because maybe you're not completely connected to the vine. Maybe you're splintered off just a little bit. You're not loving Christ or loving people like he called you to do.34:41Maybe you're disconnected just a little bit. You're not hearing your prayers answered. Maybe you're not even sensing him hearing your prayers. Maybe you're disconnected just a little bit. Maybe you feel like you're a little bit weak and you don't have that power that you once had when you were saved. Maybe you're disconnected just a little bit. Maybe you're splintered just a little bit. You don't feel the Father's discipline in your life. Maybe somewhere along the way, you don't sense the pruning shears coming your way because you're not connected to him.35:11Maybe, maybe, just maybe, you've never truly shared your life story. The saving grace of Christ in your life was one who has lost. Why? Because you're disconnected somewhere along the way. Folks, let me take the pressure off of you. Christ is the gardener, gives to the vine. The vine gives us to all of us branches. Christ is the true vine. Let me take the pressure off.35:40Only be a branch. Nothing more and nothing less. When you really surrender to his lordship and say, God, I just want to be a branch. You've not asked me to be the fertilizer. You've not asked me to be the trunk, the vine. You've not even asked me to be the fruit. You've asked me to be the branch.36:11And so I'm going to say so connected to you that because of my connectivity, I will bear fruit. Jesus said it best. I'm the vine. You are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him. It is he that bears much fruit. For apart from me, Jesus says,36:40you can do nothing. Be a branch. Nothing more and nothing less. You know, this is probably a good time right at this moment to examine our lives. Every one of us in this room. Man, woman, boy, child, meemaw, pawpaw. Everybody in this room to examine in your life right now. Am I truly connected to the vine?37:09Let's pray. Thank you.37:16Thank you.More sermons on John →
