I AM the True VINE

[00:00:00] Good morning, Christine is way too kind. She is also full of the spirit. I just want to thank you all for inviting me to do this team. Thank you, Christine, for inviting me to share my heart about John 15 and it is truly a joy

[00:00:24] for me to be here in more ways than one. Anybody that knows a little bit about my past couple years, it is a joy for me to be here. And it is a privilege for me to be here with each and every one of you. I'm so grateful

[00:00:38] for these times when we can come together when all of us have in our hearts from time to time. Oh, I'd love to see this sister. I'd love to get together with that friend and we just have trouble

[00:00:48] making time and then the Lord carves out these times for us to come together eat a little food together, worship, fellowship together and it is just priceless. It is a privilege and we need to value it

[00:01:02] for what it's really worth. So we are going to be in John 15 today just to get us started a little bit. I want to tell you just one small thing about who I am and my background and my connection with John 15.

[00:01:19] And when I was growing up we lived in a very small town at a rural area and my parents had been married for about 15, 16 years when I was born. I was the fifth child and when I was six

[00:01:34] years old they without having the Lord in their lives didn't feel like they could stay together any longer and so they divorced. And so when they divorced it was of course a very sad and heart-breaking

[00:01:48] time for the children and the family and especially for me but I feel like after they divorced in those following years my mom from time to time even though she didn't know the Lord and she wasn't

[00:02:00] a believer she would find time to either drop us off at church or take us to vacation by school. I'm so happy that Christina does those vacation by schools. That is one of my first experiences

[00:02:12] with hearing about Christ, knowing Christ was in vacation by school and then when I was 13 and 14 years old our church that she called our church but we seldom went to offer it a quote confirmation

[00:02:27] class and it was actually two years long. It was every Saturday morning for three hours for two years and so when I was 13 and 14 she it was very faithful every Saturday she had me at these classes.

[00:02:39] And so I went through all the classes, I didn't become born again, I wasn't filled with Holy Spirit but the teacher was very very good it was actually I'm lead pastor who taught the classes

[00:02:51] and then at the end when we were all confirmed in a Sunday service that we were each given a verse and the little card that they gave me the verse that I was given was John 15 one through eight

[00:03:07] and so from age 14 I had that little card and I had this Bible that I never read but I had the card stuck in there once in a while I'd pull it out and read the card and never it never made sense to me

[00:03:18] it never I couldn't connect with it it just didn't register with me so move forward when I was 18 I went to college and I actually met Jesus and so when I actually met Jesus a few months after that not

[00:03:34] immediately but a few months after that I was seeking and praying it was blessed to be a part of a very wholesome sincere group of believers at that time and prayer was very much encouraged and so just

[00:03:48] praying on my own one day the Lord just like tapped on my shoulder and said hey remember John 15 and I was like oh yeah John 15 so I went back and read it and it was like wow this is incredible

[00:04:02] and so I was kind of assigned that from the Lord I feel like as my life verse not on the how many of you have what you would consider life verses if you have a life verse revisited

[00:04:14] rethink about it meditate on it some more if you don't have a life verse you can ask the Lord to give you a verse that's kind of like an assignment for your life something that will always be

[00:04:24] there for you and encourage you so as I was considering these different I am statements of Jesus that were left after Christina did such an awesome job of teaching about Jesus is the bread of life

[00:04:41] and then she shared with us about Jesus is the light of the world and Denise Colazzo then shared with us Jesus is the way the truth and the life and I was looking at the ones that were left

[00:04:56] and I'm I'm real drawn to Jesus is the good shepherd because I love the whole idea of the shepherd I love Psalm 23 but you know I feel like there's a book written by Philip Keller and

[00:05:10] it's called a shepherd looks at Psalm 23 and I don't feel like I could improve on that book in any way so I'm just going to give you a book recommendation Philip Keller a shepherd looks

[00:05:22] at Psalm 23 and so after I eliminated that one then my eyes landed on Jesus said I am V true vine I was like yeah I just need to share what the Lord has shown me and shared with my heart about

[00:05:43] He is the vine so a few other book recommendations one is a book that was written years and years ago I'm not sure if it's still in print you can probably still get it on you know some websites but

[00:05:55] it's by Cory Tinbow and it's a book called Not Good If Detached. Pretty it's a little book quick read but that really registered with me because in my early Christian life before Christ

[00:06:13] in my early Christian life I still struggled with a lot of times being a loner isolationist I remember in our early Bible studies that we have on the college campus so many times they wouldn't use this phrase and

[00:06:25] they would say there's no lone Rangers in the kingdom of God I love lone Ranger I was like lone Rangers my favorite show why can't we have lone Ranger in the Christian life so

[00:06:38] this book not good if detached it's just so it just cuts to the quick in terms of you know if you're like I was that kind of person who just really appreciate your alone time and can

[00:06:50] you feel you know can easily feel like you can do it on your own I want to tell you you cannot and especially if you're detached if you know about the Lord but your detached from the Lord

[00:07:02] it's gonna cause so many problems in your life so not good if detached another one is chasing vines by Beth Moore I haven't read that quite as much but it's awesome book I've read a few chapters

[00:07:12] that are great and finally secrets of the vine by Bruce Wilkinson you know God has secrets for us I don't care if you've been in church three weeks or three months or three years or 30 years

[00:07:26] you cannot exhaust all the wisdom all the knowledge all the secrets that God has in Psalm 25 14 the Bible says the secret of the Lord is with those who fear him and he will show

[00:07:42] you his covenant the Lord will actually show you as you stay attached to him he'll show you all the benefits of that covenant relationship he has with you and then in Psalm 31 20 says you shall hide

[00:07:58] them in the secret place of your presence I love it when the Lord just shelters us and hides us through a difficult circumstance in the secret place of his presence so in thinking again about

[00:08:17] and just kind of reviewing in our mind all of these I am statements of Jesus include that article the just a simple little article the THE like you're like oh I I really don't need to go to

[00:08:31] Mary and Webster look at the but the is such an important word because the means like there's nobody else included the is the one and so Jesus said of himself of all these different things

[00:08:47] I am the way the truth the life similarly in our verse our passage for today Jesus said I am the true vine he said the true vine so the thing I love about that

[00:09:05] and it made me as I thought about that it made me want to focus more today I hope this isn't disappointing to you but there's been many many Bible studies thought taught throughout the years on

[00:09:17] the pruning part you know you're gonna be there's I'm gonna be gonna be things cut out of your life and locked off your life as you walk with Christ about the abiding part and we'll touch on that

[00:09:30] but Jesus said I am the true vine so that means once we find that connection with him we don't need to look any further he is the one true vine a few other passages that support this in

[00:09:48] first Timothy 2 verse 5 the Bible says for there is one God and there is one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus so it is he is the answer to every question in your heart

[00:10:06] he is the satisfaction of every longing in your soul another a few other passages still that reference this and emphasize this Ephesians 1 3 tells us that Christ has past tense blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places so Jesus is that conduit between heaven and earth

[00:10:34] and he has poured out for us every spiritual blessing he brews one two and three says he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature he upholds the universe by the

[00:10:48] word of his power Jesus upholds the whole universe by the word of his power and yet he has decided to love you to bless you to live in your heart. 2 Peter 1 3 says his divine power has grant us to us

[00:11:08] all things that pertain to life and to godliness through the knowledge of him so like Christina was saying it is so much in our best interest to get to know him better and better and better because

[00:11:22] it's through the knowledge of him that we have everything we need that pertains not only to godliness but also to life. So I want to read our passage for today and I'm reading from the new King James version

[00:11:38] I'm going to reference a lot of verses through this time and I don't want you to have to be scribbling down notes or putting them in your phone so I've actually provided a handout I've kept it to the

[00:11:49] last so you won't get distracted with it. It's going to be on the back table when you leave but it's just a handout of all the verses that I'm going to reference I'm not going to read them all but I'll

[00:11:58] just mention them and then just some instruction I have to stay connected to the vine. So let's pray together before we read our passage. Heavenly Father I thank you again for this time

[00:12:11] thank you Lord that you're here thank you Lord that you love us and Lord I thank you that you've given us the privilege and the capacity to love you in return and Lord for those in this room that maybe

[00:12:28] haven't had that experience yet where they know that you're close and where they know that they can love you. I thank you that they can have that. I thank you Lord that your door is open to

[00:12:41] anyone who will walk through. So Lord we pray that you'd use this time fill it with your presence speak to our hearts in Jesus name amen. So we're in John 15 but I am going to start in John 14 29 just

[00:12:58] for a little context. John 14 29 says and now I've told you before it comes that when it does come to pass you may believe. Jesus was so invested in every person he touched having faith and having

[00:13:15] a believing heart. I will no longer talk to you much but for the ruler of this world is coming and he has nothing in me but the world may know that I love the Father Jesus loves his father in heaven

[00:13:32] and as he imparts his grace into our hearts we can increasingly love his father in heaven and as the Father gave me commandment so do I and then he says arise let us go from here. So they had

[00:13:47] been in the upper room that had the last supper and they're leaving from there and then he continues to talk to them as they walk. In verse 15 he says I am the true vine my father is the vine

[00:14:03] dresser every branch in me that is not bare fruit he takes away and every branch that bare fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have

[00:14:15] spoken to you a bite in me and I and you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine you are the branches.

[00:14:32] I love what Jesus is teaching he brings such clarity where it's so we're so prone to get confused at least I am I'm very frozen I get confused very easily but Jesus is very clear he says

[00:14:44] I am the vine you are the branches how many times have you tried to be the vine and it's you can't but if you allow Jesus to be who he is to be the vine and you're content with being a branch

[00:15:01] life is full and satisfying for you. He abides in me and I and him bears much fruit for without me you can do nothing if anyone does not abide in me he is cast out as a branch and is withered and they

[00:15:17] gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in me and my words abiding you you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. Amazing. Jesus gives us

[00:15:32] a kind of a guarantee about prayer we'll come back to that later. By this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit so you will be my disciples. So you know our perspective about things in life

[00:16:05] is so critical like when you view something from the top or view something from the bottom you can have a totally different perspective or if four people see the same accident from four different corners everybody's going to have a different idea of how that accident happened. So our

[00:16:21] perspective is critical in our lives and you know our perspective shapes our expectations so if I have a perspective of something being a long distance away I might not expect myself to go there

[00:16:37] but if I have a perspective of something being close by I might try to go there or walk there but the difference between our expectations and our experience is that space that can lead to

[00:16:52] disappointment. When we have an expectation of something or someone or some situation or of ourselves even that is one way and then our experience is different that space in between those two things that's where disappointment can creep in. So when we're disappointed usually what we tend

[00:17:12] to do maybe only just me because because of what I told you before but for me when I'm disappointed about something I tend to withdraw I tend to isolate myself and this it with if this happens between

[00:17:23] us and Jesus the true vine it can cause inability to walk in the Christian life, to pray, to reach your Bible, to have a fruitful life. So to give an example of this I recently few months ago

[00:17:44] had a friend that was going to come over to my house and we were going to go for a walk together maybe go down to the beach or something and we had planned this for a few weeks and we knew

[00:17:51] when it was going to happen we had texted the day before and said okay we're meeting at this time and this is what we're going to do and it was all set and then the morning of the time

[00:17:58] we were going to get together she texted me and she said you know Denise I don't know if this is going to work because I checked my GPS and it says because of road work and traffic it's going

[00:18:09] to take me nearly two hours to get to your house so I'm thinking we might need to reschedule and so I texted her back and I said let's such a bummer I go so looking forward to this are you sure

[00:18:20] and she then she texted me back about Tim and Slair and she was like no I had it set on walking so as soon as she corrected as soon as she corrected the setting she said no I'll be over 20 minutes

[00:18:42] so how often is that way life is for us we have the incorrect setting within our heart about who Christ is and then this passage Jesus says I am the true vine now one last thing

[00:19:00] about that phrase before we move on the again is the singular the one and only the above all others it just pushes everything else out and it's the like the grandma's recipe there's only one of those

[00:19:14] the hair brush you use in a certain situation there's only one of those well Jesus says I'm myself I am the vine and the true vine why does he say true we don't have time to go into this but

[00:19:28] one of the reasons he says true is because in the Old Testament specifically and I ZF5 and Psalm 80 in a few other places God spoke through prophets about Israel as being a vine so there was a previous vine

[00:19:47] teaching culture understanding and like in so many other situations in the New Testament sermon on the Mount specifically Jesus said so many times about the old but this is what I say now

[00:19:58] when he shared with them how to pray he said my father in heaven that is not the way they prayed in the Old Testament so he referenced God his father now in this situation he says

[00:20:11] I'm the true vine I am the true vine and when you think about a vine then this is what we're going to focus on mostly today um when you think about a vine it is uh the source and support

[00:20:26] of leaves and flowers and fruit and I have never ever ever seen a branch which is also a part of what we're going to talk about kind of wandering or meandering around looking for a new vine when there's a

[00:20:43] vine and there's a branch on it that vine stays connected or it dies so it's such a vivid illustration so I actually looked up in a Smithsonian kind of thing about a definition of a vine so Jesus is using

[00:21:00] this metaphor that he is the vine we are the branches so the definition I found of vines since we're going to focus on the vine more than anything else today is that vines are long flexible stems with an

[00:21:15] abundance of soft tissue that allows for rapid growth vegetative regeneration and pliability they have an extremely efficient vascular system that specializes in water conduction and lacking internal structural support that's taken from the Smithsonian National Museum for National

[00:21:36] History so in our definition of a vine which it may not work 100% but it does in so many ways I was shocked we see that vines are long flexible stems we see that they have an abundance of soft

[00:21:52] tissue that allows for rapid growth we see that they're regenerative so sometimes a vine can get snapped or broken a little bit and then it'll continue to grow with some new buds on it vines are

[00:22:04] vegetative they're adaptable they're pliable so we're going to look at all the ways that Jesus can be all of these things for us we're going to divide our study in the few minutes we have left

[00:22:16] into three sections the first section just being about verse one the sufficiency of Christ the vine the second section section being verses two and three describing the tender heart of the vine

[00:22:28] dresser and then verses four through eight how important it is to cling to and maintain that connection with the vine to have abundant fruitfulness so can we have the first I just want to share one

[00:22:43] quick little story about as I was preparing for this teaching I was making my bed one warning and we have in on our side yard of our house we have several oak trees and I was a custom to

[00:22:56] looking out the window from making the bed and these oak trees are just beautiful and but their there's small growers they kind of stay stationary they have a lot of leaves and are able to grow

[00:23:07] even in rather dry conditions and I was making my bed that glanced up and here there were huge red balloons like oak trees don't bloom red blooms and so I went to research it a little bit and my

[00:23:23] neighbor had planted one small little plant about six months earlier and this plant had grown into this huge vine that covered both of our fences and up into my tree and this is how my oak tree

[00:23:39] now looks so that illustrates our first point that vines have long flexible stems so when I think about Jesus I am so grateful that Jesus reached to me he has a long reach he is not out of our

[00:24:01] reach he is approachable he is touchable he's reachable and he seeks us out a verse that describes this kind of long reach of God and then God through Jesus is Isaiah 59 1 which says behold the

[00:24:20] Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save nor is His ear heavy that it cannot hear so I don't know who you have on your heart today I don't know if there's someone on your heart that

[00:24:32] you've been praying for for years and years and years but this verse encourages us that God's hand is not too short and Jesus as the vine can grow and grow and navigate and go around obstacles

[00:24:47] and up trees and around corners and they can reach he can reach that loved one so continue in your prayers so in a vine there's an abundance of soft tissue that allows for rapid growth I appreciate

[00:25:02] that so much so in my was born again like I said when I was 18 and when I looked back on it and not that I did anything right in those first six or eight months of my Christian experience

[00:25:15] I just showed up I knew where to go and I showed up and I showed up but I look back on that and I grew so much in those first six or eight months months of my Christian experience that's because

[00:25:31] of Jesus being that soft tender, pliable tissue that allows for rapid growth a few verses to support this idea I love Matthew 11 28 through 30 years so and you're going to remember it quickly when you

[00:25:46] look it up it talks about Jesus being gentle and humble and you know in all the ways I had so many things in my life where I was just I would just bulk like I would be taught something in a Bible

[00:25:58] steady and everybody else would be hooraying in and thinking it was wonderful and I would always be like I don't know but Jesus is humble and he's gentle and he walked me through all those things

[00:26:12] John 10 10 says that the devil comes only to steal and kill and destroy but Jesus has abundance for us and then again in Ephesians 4 1 it says that he is humble and he is gentle

[00:26:28] nothing is he's regenerative so you may have portions of your life and I like I like to think of it like people always talk about well with a liver you can donate part of your liver and cut part of your

[00:26:41] liver off and it regenerates it grows back so I feel like in our Christian experience a lot of times we get discouraged if we feel like oh I've had a dry patch you know I don't know if I can ever get back

[00:26:53] to where I was trust me if you stay connected to the true vine you are going to go beyond where you were before when we when we fail or when we're disappointed is when we feel like we've fallen so far that we can't

[00:27:12] come back and that's never true that is never never never true Jesus is always there for us to come back excuse me for this I just referenced again those same passages that we read before out of Ephesians 1

[00:27:29] and Hebrews 1 and 2 Peter 1 all those verses that said Jesus is completely enough for our lives to be strengthened nourished and even regenerated vines are fruitful vines bear fruit they bear grapes they bear blackberries they bear many different kinds of fruit and the vine itself it amazes

[00:27:56] because vines can so often be so slender and so thin but the vines are sturdy enough to hold that fruit and to bear that fruit so Christ himself was effective and fruitful in his ministry in his life

[00:28:13] you read through some of the gospels and you just see how he's healing he's delivering people he's teaching he was active and Christ himself was effective and fruitful in his life and he always returned

[00:28:28] to who his father the vine dresser he he was God in a human body and yet in those 33 years he walked on the earth he never failed to return to the father to go back to the father to see quiet

[00:28:46] with the father it was always interrupted but he was always seeking out those times to be with the father to be quiet with the father if he does that I feel like I need to do that and now

[00:28:57] I have a leg up in a certain sense because I have Jesus as my mediator between me and God so his faithfulness produced great fruitfulness even to the point of providing us with salvation our faithfulness to Jesus our faithfulness in abiding and being comfortable with him and living

[00:29:24] with him and dwelling with him can make us very very fruitful our comfort with living with Jesus and him living in us us being completely satisfied with that and content with that the goal of it is not

[00:29:42] to make us famous or to make us important or the goal of it is fruitfulness so we need to keep our eye on fruitfulness John 15 16 just a little bit later in this chapter Jesus says you did not

[00:29:58] choose me how many of us think sometimes I was smart I chose Jesus no Jesus refused that he says you do not choose me but I chose you wow why I can't even imagine why Jesus chose me

[00:30:17] but Jesus chose me and Jesus chose you don't forget that it's not that he just chose you 15 years ago he's chosen you today and it says and I appointed you that you should go and bear fruit so that's

[00:30:35] the goal fruit bearing is the goal and that your fruit should abide so not just fruit temporary fruit fruit for today fruit that withers fruit that is gone tomorrow but fruit that remains so that whenever

[00:30:52] whatever you ask in the Father's name he will give to you then Jesus is adaptable and apply but we won't spend too much time on this but as you read through the Gospel it's like I said before Jesus

[00:31:06] was often on a mission to go a certain place especially if you read through Mark 2 3 4 and he read through Luke chapter 7 Jesus was often on a mission going a certain place to teach or to answer

[00:31:21] some request and he would get interrupted he would someone would intervene and ask him to do something and he didn't always comply with those things but very often he did comply with those things

[00:31:32] and he would adapt himself to the needs of the people around him. When that heart of Jesus is growing inside us and we stay connected to Jesus the vine we're going to find ourselves hopefully

[00:31:46] becoming more and more able to adapt to the needs of those around us to not have to separate ourselves from certain people because we can't adapt to their limitations or their strengths or their

[00:31:59] struggles but we will be increasingly adaptable and Jesus was one hundred percent pliable in the Father's hands so John chapter five verses 19 to 20 it says that Jesus Jesus says of himself in those verses

[00:32:18] in John chapter five I am never seeking to do my will I'm always seeking to do the Father's will so as Jesus sought to do the Father's will we can follow his example by setting aside our desire

[00:32:34] our will a teacher we used to follow will always say you know your I want I think our fee I feel that's your cross to bear today so if you can lay those things aside you'll discover his will

[00:32:50] his power his grace in fruit bearing. Sake of time I'm going to move on so point number two is that once we are in Christ we see what a gracious Heavenly Father we have we see the Father God

[00:33:10] from a whole different point of view so let's look at verses two and three John 15 two and three says every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away now me included many people are very

[00:33:23] troubled by that maybe you've studied it out but I hadn't before and that taken away seems very vicious and cruel and heartless but he does call these people that are quote taken away branches

[00:33:37] so they're grafted in they're already his and then it says every branch that bears fruit he prunes and we've learned about that before for the purpose of bearing more fruit well if you

[00:33:49] actually look at the Greek word that's translated takes away it's the Greek word Iro a i r o you can go to blue letter bible dot com you can either look up John 15 two or you can look up

[00:34:04] iro and you'll discover that the word that's translated taken away would really be much much much better translated lifts up whole new meaning so what this verse is actually saying to us is every branch someone who's in Christ someone who believes someone who is surrendered their life

[00:34:25] to him and been grafted in that does not bear fruit is lifted up actually actually like a vindresser does in a vineyard when there are vines that have fallen down and get in the dirt in the

[00:34:39] dust and they're not going to be able to bear fruit down there the vindresser comes along and lifts them up so we can learn from this that the heart of the father is always to encourage us to strengthen

[00:34:52] us to lift us up when we are in him when we made that initial step to be grafted into him a few other verses just to support this different view Matthew 11 29 says take my yoke upon you and learn for me

[00:35:11] for i am gentle and lowly and heart and you will find rest for your souls we talked about that when just a moment ago but the take up take my yoke upon that take up is iro

[00:35:23] and so when we think about Jesus taking us taking up our yoke it's not something that we're going to destroy or hurt or cast out but it's something we're going to lift up onto our shoulders and bear

[00:35:38] another verse also in Matthew that says a similar thing and that uses the same word rather is so they all ate and were filled and they took up 12 baskets full of fragments that remained again take up

[00:35:55] iro it's the word lift up Matthew 1624 then Jesus said to his disciples if anyone desires to come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me that word also

[00:36:12] is that's translated take up is iro Bruce Wilkinson in his book secrets of the vine described it this way if your life consistently bears no fruit God will intervene to lift you up to sometimes make you uncomfortable to encourage you to edify you but remember God's discipline

[00:36:41] our intervention in your life according to Hebrews 12 10 says for they are earthly fathers indeed for a few days chasing us as soon as to them but he got the vine dresser for our profit that we

[00:36:58] made partake in his holiness so this reminds me a little bit of that poster the footprints in the sand where you know there's times when there's two foot prints and two foot prints and two

[00:37:08] footprints and then there's are just one set and those are the times he carried us so if you're in a season of life where you're feeling unfruitful go to God and talk to him about it

[00:37:18] and ask him to carry you through that time to a time of more fruitfulness finally our last point is that Jesus goal of us being grafted into him and being attached to the vine is abundant fruitfulness

[00:37:34] when Jesus speaks of abundance and abundant fruitfulness like in John 10 10 and then in this passage he's not so much talking about the accumulation of goods he's not talking about the way our culture does or sometimes our heart trivialized us the promises of God about abundance to good thoughts

[00:37:52] good feelings good vacations good housing no this is not Christ in 10 in a promising us abundant life when he promises abundant life he's promising us as we abide in him we're going to have abundant

[00:38:10] fruitfulness and that's very satisfying there's nothing more satisfying than I know of in the human life than producing good fruit for God whether that good fruit is the fruit of Holy Spirit

[00:38:23] love joy piece patience goodness mercy and self control as you grow in that your life is more satisfying or whether your fruitfulness is so into your children so into your family working hard at

[00:38:37] your job and being a good witness all of those aspects of abundant fruitfulness our satisfying they make us know that God loves us and that he's there for us and he's going to answer our prayers

[00:38:53] our last few verses let's look at John 15 4 through 8 Jesus says abide in me and I in you very simple one sentence abide in me two way street though Jesus says you abide in me you come to me

[00:39:09] you're grafted into me but I'll take up residence in your heart I love Revelation 320 where Jesus says that anybody who asks will he'll come into their hearts and sit with them

[00:39:21] and drink and eat with them and abide with them as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me I am the vine and you are the branches we

[00:39:32] talked about the clarity of this before you know there's four basic human needs that pop into my brain whenever I think about human nature and lack and abundance and four basic human needs are acceptance belonging connection and definition this little verse right here says

[00:39:51] Jesus says I am the vine I am the source I am where you can come to to glean all these treasures all the things you need all the sustenance all the nourishment you know in Christ there's no

[00:40:05] drought here in California we're very familiar with drought but in Jesus there's no drought you can always come to him and drink and drink and drink finally I just want to share just a

[00:40:19] little bit about abiding have you look up abide it means to dwell which means to live with to live in around through and then it has the aspect of it that's continuous when we dedicate and surrender

[00:40:35] our lives to Jesus it's important that we do not just occasionally reluctantly spend some time with him or just visit him on the weekends in his house but it's so important for us to make our hearts

[00:40:51] adwelling for him and for us to get really comfortable just being with him just sitting with him just thinking on him some 90 verse one one of my all-time favorite passages in the Old Testament

[00:41:12] says Lord you have been our dwelling place in all the generations so making the Lord your dwelling place making him your your comfortable place your place that you can sit and get quiet and soak in

[00:41:27] his humility his gentleness and his promise of abundance in Acts chapter 17 the Bible says he yet he is actually not very far from each one of us for it is in him that we live and we move

[00:41:45] and we have our being. Colossians 1 16 and 17 for by him all things were created that are in heaven that are on earth visible invisible this powerful God whether thrones or dominions, principalities or powers all things were created through him and for him you were created for him

[00:42:09] so in that period of time between when you give your heart to him and you haven't given your heart to him yet it's awkward it's uncomfortable but you were created for him so as soon as you surrender

[00:42:23] your heart to him you're at home you feel at home you sense his presence so abide is only a little bit different than dwell abide has cinnamon's synonyms like remain persevere stay continue

[00:42:43] dwell forever Jesus the true vine is the only one that can give us that staying power as we stay connected to him as we enter into his presence as we worship read his word or cleanse

[00:42:58] by his word he can give us that continuity and that staying power just to close I just want to reread I am the vine you are the branches he abides in me and I and him bears much fruit for without

[00:43:15] me you can do nothing let's pray together Lord we thank you that you're available to us Lord we thank you that you want to produce good fruit in us and abundant fruit through us so Lord this morning we

[00:43:31] want to surrender once again to you we ask God that you would fill our hearts with your love your presence and more that you would teach us how to abide in Jesus name amen