The Gift Secured

The speaker starts by reflecting on the importance of Sunday as a day to worship and praise Jesus Christ. They then focus on a passage from John 14 where Jesus comforts his disciples, assures them of his return, and uses the analogy of a vine and branches to emphasize the need to remain connected to him in order to bear fruit. The speaker connects this teaching to references in the Old Testament where Israel is referred to as a vine. They highlight the importance of Christians producing fruit and staying connected to Jesus, unlike Israel's failure to do so. good month this month and studying and looking and we've been we started out looking at thanks be unto God for his indescribable gift and we have looked at receiving the gift and sharing the gift and talking about Jesus Christ this week this week and I don't know about you I was forever before today finally got here that not having candlelight service Christmas Eve I said we've done that for 35 years I guess and that was one of the very count on one hand the number of Christmas Eve's that I hadn't had a candlelight service and then no service Wednesday night I kept telling myself all weekend Sunday's coming Sunday's coming right because you cannot do what you think about Jesus Christ and all that he has done for us and coming and dying on the cross for us and then all of a sudden not be willing to praise him and worship him and and look forward to that day that he returns and so you know I was excited about being here today and I saw on Facebook a bunch this week that several and I've heard it many times before but you know Jesus is the reason for the season and as I kept hearing that phrase I kept beginning to think you know not only is Jesus the reason for the season but he's also the reason for our Sundays you know Sunday is an important time from the very the very first appearance after the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the Sunday was to his disciples on the Sunday and then he comes back and he saw him again and you go through the Bible and you'll see that as he went through these different Sundays they always met on the first day of the week to celebrate the his deal when you get over to Revelation he counted and finally John says I was called up into heaven on the Lord's Day and that was Sunday the first day of the week and so because everybody has always recognized Sunday as being the Lord's Day and so it's just in and I was thinking this week and weekend and as I was thinking about it I said you know we don't really are required we're not really required to celebrate the Sabbath anymore because in Jesus Christ we have our final rest and all that but you know what kind of God set this up you know of any day of the week that he could have risen from the dead any day of the week that he could have set aside for us to worship him he did it right after the Sabbath you had a day for you to rest to relax to focus on everything that God has provided and done for you and then you get to come on Sunday and praise God for doing it it's kind of like me and how in the world God has given me so many gifts and blessed me so many ways in my life and for me not to be here on Sunday to worship and praise him it's a special time and as I began to think about that and I began to look at different passages scriptures and what am I going to do this week and and where am I going to go and I kept coming back to this passage of scripture like Brother Eric said this is one of my favorite passages or it is this weekend anyway because it's the one that I've been kind of focusing on but you start in John chapter 14 and Jesus Christ has now had his Lord suffer we've all month we've been talking about his birth and coming and so I want to go from his birth to the very end of his earthly ministry right before his death and he has now had the Lord suffer Judas has betrayed him you come to John chapter 4 that they sang a hymn and they went out into the Mount of Olives and and they're beginning to make their way across this valley that is there and while they are going Jesus Christ is talking to and teaching his disciples from going from this garden to the cross of Calvary and as they go in John chapter 14 he he starts off with this very famous passage that we all know and hopefully is dear to your heart but Jesus looks at his disciples and tells them let not your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me in my father's house or many mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also and whether I go you know and the way you know you know when you look at the Bible and you study the Bible do you realize that when it comes to talking about our need for salvation when it talks about our baptism and when it talks about the Lord's return which one do you think is in the Bible the most our salvation anything salvation is in there the most what about baptism what about the coming of the Lord that's the most it talks about it's like a hundred thirty-eight times in the New Testament it mentions the return of Jesus Christ and before he gets into anything he lets his disciples know hey I'm coming back I'm coming back and then you jump down to verse 31 the last verse in that chapter chapter 14 and he says but that the world may know that I love the father and as the father gave me commandment even so I do arise let us go hence and it's easy to imagine Jesus Christ as they are now walking there at the Mount of Olives they're heading down to the garden of Gethsemane where we know later this night he would be betrayed he would be handed over to the to the Roman guards and everything and then go through his trials and all of this before his crucifixion and and as they walk toward this garden of Gethsemane Jesus Christ begins to talk and we come to chapter 15 and something there we don't know but something all of a sudden connected and made him start thinking of a vine and a vineyard which the garden of Gethsemane was a a great vineyard and it literally was it was there that that Gethsemane literally means to be pressed out it's where they would take the olive and the olives and the grapes and stuff and they would press them out to make juice and this is where Jesus Christ was going and he begins these words in John chapter 15 in verse 1 he says I of the true vine and my father is the husbandman every branch in me that there is not fruit he taketh away and every branch that bears fruit he purges it that it may bring forth more fruit now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine no more can you except you abide in me I am the vine you are the branches he that abides in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me you can do nothing if a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch and is withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned if you abide in me and my words abide in you you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you herein is my father glorified herein is my father glorified that you bear much fruit so shall you be my disciples as the father had loved me so have I loved you continue you in my love if you keep my commandments you shall abide in my love even as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love you know as we've what prompted this teaching what prompted him to go from talking about his return to all of a sudden focusing on these vines and these vineyards if you you go down this trail where Jesus Christ was going from the Garden of Gethsemane the Mount of Olive to the Garden of Gethsemane heading that direction from the upper room you'll go with and probably they pass near the temple heading that direction and on the temple the the doors to the temple had these great vines that was carved into the door that was there that he probably saw as they pass through the Golden Gate which was also gorgeous vines carved all into that Golden Gate and of course it was also April it was the spring of the year it was that time of the year their first month of the season and and that meant that all of the great vines would have been in full bloom they would have been ready to be productive and as he's heading down there ready for harvest and perhaps maybe Jesus Christ along with his disciples maybe reached out and took some of that vine and pulled it away and used it to teach an object lesson but we don't know but we do know that this teaching is very profound in what Jesus Christ told them what makes it even more profound is if you go back into the Old Testament you find out that Israel is referred to as a symbol of Israel is a vine he goes in Psalms chapter 80 in verse 8 and he says thou has brought a vine out of Egypt who came out of Egypt Israel a vine out of Egypt that has cast out the heathen and planted it thou preparest room before it and it caused it to take deep root and it filled the land the hills were covered with the shadow of it and the vows thereof were like the goodly cedars again Isaiah prophesying in Isaiah chapter 5 in verse 1 and 2 he says now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard my beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill and he fixed it and he gathered out the stones thereof and planted it with the choices vines and built a tower in the midst of it and also made a wine press therein and he looked that it should bring forth grapes and it brought forth wild grapes Jeremiah said yet I planted thee a noble vine holy a right seed how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me Hosea mentions Israel is an empty vine he bringeth forth fruit unto himself according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images you know God sent his son the Lord Jesus Christ into the world to be the true vine he said I am the vine and you are the branches and what Israel and when he took the brought them out of Egypt he set them up to be this fruitful vine that even the mountains would be in the shadow of this vineyard but what happened was is Israel did not produce the fruit that they were supposed to produce and when we look at the New Testament today and we look at Christians today I wonder looking down at our churches today and looking at our people today those that claim to know him as their personal Savior and he looks at the vines and sees what are we producing what kind of fruit are we producing why did Jesus give this teaching well here he's going to his cross there's a lot of other things that could probably be on his mind but yet he starts talking about this vineyard as I pondered this all week long why in the world would Jesus be talking about a vineyard here the conclusion that I came to is guess what they needed it they needed it and I think today we need it also because these men had just been informed that Jesus is going away he is fixing to die he is fixing to give his life from them but he says my work is going to continue I am going to continue going to continue to flourish you're going to continue to grow you're going to continue to produce fruit as a matter of fact in chapter 14 and verse 12 he said verily verily listen very closely I'll say unto you he that believeth on me the works that I do shall he do also and greater works in thee shall he do because I go unto the Father and now we are 2,000 years removed from that night but just look around the work of Jesus Christ is still continuing today it's still going on God is still working through his followers of Jesus Christ to accomplish his work in the will today many of us in here this morning we wonder how in the world are we supposed to do the work of the Lord how are we to produce that kind of fruit in our own lives and the answer is to be found in these verses this morning and so this morning real quickly I want to share with you a few simple lessons just four lessons this morning out of this passage of scripture and I want to preach on this thought that the secure gift now that we have secured Jesus Christ what do we do how do we honor him how do we live for him he says we should bear fruit and so notice the lessons that he gives us in this vineyard and these verses this morning teach us how we can be fruitful branches for the glory of God notice first of all it's a lesson about relationships when Jesus Christ came onto the scene notice what he says in verse 2 he says every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away and every branch that beareth fruit he purchased it that it may be bring forth more fruit he speaking here to these people who are vital to him his disciples he says I am giving you a life-giving relationship I am giving you myself I am going to be coming into communion with you and he's speaking to those that are saved no one can be considered a branch in the Lord's vineyard unless there is a vital connection and he'll notice the phrase every branch in there in me and we're if we are in Christ there is a relationship that is there and we talked about it this Christmas how do we get in Christ how do we become a part of this vine well it only happens by new birth it only happens as we believe Jesus Christ as our personal Savior in Romans chapter 10 in verse 9 if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus shall believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved and then he goes on to explain for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved and and there's plenty of people that are in religion there's plenty of people today that are in the church and there's many who are moral there's many that are outstanding people that are great citizens but that does not mean that they are in Jesus Christ it doesn't mean that they are in him in fact many will be deceived on that matter Jesus unfortunately some of the saddest verses in the Bible he says not everyone that sayeth unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven many will say to me in that day what day when he returns at the judgment seat when we face him many will say to me Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name and cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful works and then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me you that work iniquity we don't want that to happen to us you know that'd be the most scariest thing in all of the world to stand before Jesus Christ and he says depart from me I never knew you but notice what happens the true vine Jesus Christ in Romans chapter 9 and verse 17 he says the scripture sayeth unto Pharaoh even for this same purpose have I raised thee up that I might show my power in thee and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth you see no one can be a fruitful branch no one can bring glory to God no one can glorify God unless they have that vital connection of being in Christ unless they are a part of that vine without that connection you cannot flow that his love and the Holy Spirit cannot flow from him to us and through us to others before you can have hope of heaven forgiveness of your sins folks you have to have a relationship with Jesus Christ can you pinpoint a time in your life when that relationship came to be in your life John 637 he says all that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out see Christmas starts out as a babe in a manger but it's about a relationship remember his name Emmanuel God with he came to be with us he came to give us a relationship and so when Jesus shares this story it's a lesson about a relationship but it's also a lesson about reproduction notice what he says in verse 2 again he says every branch that was in me that's the relationship that beareth not fruit he taketh away and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit the vine itself does not bear the fruit it delegates the fruit that is being born on its branches the vine has fruit but the fruit is in the branches it's the branches that are there and so it is with us with Jesus Christ when we look and celebrate Christmas and we celebrate his birth he came into this world but what was he wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger he came for a purpose not only to fulfill Old Testament prophecy but to die on the cross of Calvary for you and I and so that he came so that he could die for our sins in Mark chapter 10 in verse 45 it says for even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many it says in Luke 19 10 that he came to seek and to save that which was lost and Peter 2nd Peter 1 4 it says whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust see when we are attached to Jesus Christ and we become Christ what happens Christ flows through us that we all of a sudden become partakers of that divine nature we we should God should be seen in us he should be living out in a second Corinthians 517 says if you are in Christ you are a new creation all things are passed away behold all things become new if you'll notice God in these verses indicates that he expects us to bear fruit if we are in Christ the result is is we are going to bear fruit it's going to happen there's there's this progression in our fruit bearing he tells us in John 15 back at verse 2 notice what happens he says every branch in me again that bears not fruit he take it away and every branch that bears fruit he purges it that it may bring forth more fruit he says in John 15 8 herein is my father glorified that we bear much fruit so shall you be my disciples is God being glorified today with your life are you bearing fruit it's not how much you sing to them not how much you read your Bible it's about bearing fruit it's about looking like his son when we speak of bearing fruit what do we actually mean what are we talking about what will we be produced in our lives when we yield when we yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ what does this fruit look like how will we know if fruit is being processed through us and there's three basic fruits that the Lord bears in the lives of the children three things that you can look at and ask yourself this morning are these things present in my life am I bearing fruit the first one is sanctification sanctification we've talked a lot about that this year as we become more like him it's set apart to be conformed into his image and so the first one is sanctification he says in Romans 6 22 that now being made free from sin and become servants to God you have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life sanctification a process what John says when we see him we shall be like him and so that is this process of sanctification Philippians 111 says being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ under the glory and praise of God Colossians 110 that we might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God so the first place that we should be bearing fruit is in sanctification our commitment to Jesus Christ second of all is our spirituality when we become like Jesus Christ we start to behave like Jesus Christ that's what makes us spiritual and that's why while we're no longer carnal but we're spiritual because why we start to behave like Jesus Christ again back in Colossians that we studied last year the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against such there is no law and so we first of all are sanctified we've become like Jesus Christ we behave like Jesus Christ and then their souls we are burdened like Jesus Christ this all has to do with reproduction those voices in Romans 113 but I would not have you to be ignorant brethren that oftentimes our purpose to come unto you but was led hitherto that I might have some fruit among you also even as among the Gentiles and so the question that we have to ask ourselves is Jesus Christ living his life through us today is Jesus life are we bearing fruit for his glory are we being sanctified are we becoming more spiritual and is our soul longing for more fruit and more save people so the process can start all over again that's discipleship that's what God called us to do is to go into all the world and do what preach the gospel baptizing them teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you Galatians 220 says I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me the only way that we can be sanctified spiritual and crave the souls of other people as we have to crucify our fleshly needs we have to attach ourselves to the vine of Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 7 he says you shall know them by their fruits do men gather grapes of thorns do you get it does grapes have thorns no if you've got thorns in your grapevine you've got something that comes in that's not natural or it's not supposed to be there what about pigs the figs come out of thistles he says even so every good tree that bring it forth good fruit but a corrupt tree bring it forth evil fruit a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit every tree that bring it not forth good fruit is honed down and cast into the fire wherefore by their fruits you shall what know them how are we identified by our fruit by what our sanctification our spiritualness our thirst for souls man Matthew 12 33 says either make the tree good and it's fruit good or else make the tree corrupt and it's fruit corrupt for the tree is known by his fruit and so we have this relationship with him and then the next thing that I want you to notice is we also have a lesson here about responsibility we have a responsibility to Jesus Christ he says there in verse four abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine no more can you except you abide in me when we think about fruit bearing we draw back thinking that it's hard right man it's hard to produce fruit have you ever produced fruit have you ever done it it's hard it's difficult because we're trying to do something that is not within our ability something that we cannot do and we think that all of a sudden when we're saved and we're supposed to become some type of super Christian or super saying and and we think that man there's a point in our life that we're going to arrive but that's not what this passage of Scripture teaches bearing fruit of the Lord is not difficult at all matter of fact we have absolutely nothing to do in the bearing of the fruit it's one of the simplest things that we can do and so is bear fruit fruit bearing is an absolutely passive activity how many of you are passive individuals right well guess what your fruit bears you're the ones that God wants in other words he doesn't need us doing anything you cannot produce fruit all we can do is abide in Jesus Christ that word abide is mentioned six times in this passage of Scripture the one thing required of the branches in order for fruit to be a reality is that they abide in Jesus Christ if they are not in Jesus Christ that is out of Christ that the fruit comes we just the branch that it hangs on we have nothing to do with it it's the it's the main vine that gets all the nutrients it's the main vine that sends the DNA to the end of the limbs and everything else all of this happens fruit will always be the result result I have never seen a fruit tree or a vine or any other fruit brand plants struggle to bear fruit if it has everything that it needs in nutrients water sunshine it's going to bear fruit and that's what we are to be we're just to abide in Jesus Christ how does the person abide in Christ how do we if we can't even see Christ if we can't touch Christ if we can't how do we abide in Christ how does the person abide he says you must be in Jesus Christ you must be in Christ and so back to that relationship there has to be a moment that you invited Jesus Christ into your life and you stepped in to his he says there in verse 4 abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine no more can you except you abide in me in Romans chapter 12 he says I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service be not conformed to this world but you be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God how many times is it you you you you you you in that passage right see if we are in Christ all we have to do is yield to the vine we have to abide we have to accept him and then what happens to our responsibility because of our relationship all of a sudden brings reproduction we began to bear the fruit of Jesus Christ in John 15 for again look what he says abide in me except it abide except you abide in me abiding in Jesus Christ sounds difficult let me tell you this morning it's not there's very few people that actually do because while it is simple it's also costly it's also costly because you see some few people really want to pay the price of total surrender to the will of God few people actually want to give complete control over to God and become very passive you know what we say that we're a passive individual until somebody tries to get us to do something that we don't want to do and then we become very active again right and so man it's called something to just relax and be in Jesus Christ and when we do that we can become used in a mighty way Philippians chapter 4 verse 13 I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me where's the fruit come from through Christ how do we get to Christ we got to be in him and so it is the process you cannot do everything by your own power every person who is truly saved by grace has his or her first priority is the glory of God 1st Corinthians 1031 whether therefore you eat or drink how many of you have ate and drank this week more than probably what we ought to and whatsoever you do did you did any of you do stuff this week do all for what the glory of God you are very fruit of God in this process and look at verse 8 herein is my father glorified that you sing just as I am on Sunday morning it says herein is my father glorified that you bear much fruit so shall you be my disciple and then lastly there's a lesson of reality here's where the rubber meets the road he says in verse 2 again he says every branch in me that beareth not fruit notice what he says he taketh away and every branch that bringeth forth he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit notice he uses the phrase taketh away taketh away means actually to lift up or to raise higher we think of lopping it off but that's not what he's doing here he's lifting it up he's raising it higher and this is a picture of a branch that is falling down in the dirt its leaves are all dirty they're covered up there's no way that they can absorb any light therefore they cannot produce any fruit and the gardener sees that branch in that condition and he lifts it back up he cleanses it he puts it in the position where it can receive light where it can gather in the rain and where it can grow like it's supposed to be growing on a personal level this means that when we get to a place in our Christian lives where we are unfruitful when we are barren when we are not producing fruit for Jesus Christ the Lord will reach into our lives and he'll disturb us he'll take and he'll hit the slumber that we've come in and he will lift us up in an effort to challenge us and shock us to grow there's three steps in this lifting process and they're going to be familiar first of all he's going to rebuke you in taking away he's going to rebuke you then he's going to chastise you and then he's going to scourge you to get your attention notice what it says there in Hebrews 12 5 and 6 and you have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto what children my son in other words remember Christmas is about a relationship it is about us being adopted it's about us being a child of God being in Christ the family of God and he says but there's a child my son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord God's going to chasten us he's going to convict us he's going to tell us when we're not doing what we're supposed to be doing and then he tells us don't faint when thou art rebuked of him see if you don't listen to the chastening of the Lord then guess what he's going to start whipping you but don't faint don't get tired don't pass out you know it's temporary he says and then whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and then scourgeth every son whom he receiveth if we don't listen to his chastening his rebuke and then his scourging guess what John tells us there is a sin unto death he said don't pray for the sin unto death what should we be praying for that we will repent that God I'm sorry I'm not bearing fruit lift me up chasten me rebuke me scourge me do whatever is necessary that I might be in you that I might bear fruit that's what he's saying pray for that don't just pray oh God I just give up there's no way I'm gonna bear fruit just take me on home that's not what we should be praying for and how many Christians today do we see that are breathing God's air that are living God's life and yet they're just ready to give up and quit no God says buckle down and do what become a living sacrifice holding an acceptable unto him you know as you look over your life and you look at Christmas has the Lord been challenging areas of your life if he is if he's convicting you if he's chastening you instead of running from God we need to turn and run to him you know Jonah tried to run from God didn't what did he end up doing he ended up running to exactly where God told him to go and where he was supposed to be to begin with after all that the chastisement is always a proof of God's love in Revelation chapter 3 in verse 19 he tells them as many as I love I rebuke and chase and be zealous therefore and what repent don't get mad don't skip it up your neck don't don't blame the preacher that he preached something and he hurt my feelings or he stepped on my toes today the red the response that God is looking for is repent repent is what he wants Hebrews chapter 12 in verse 8 he says but if you be without chastisement if there's convict no conviction if there's no chastisement where of all our partakers then you are bastards and not sons see if you're not being chastened if you're not doing what you're supposed to if you're not bearing fruit in in the gardener is not working and shaping and and taking you away and lifting you up and showing you and pointing out what's bad and all of this he said then you're not in Christ because he's not God is not going to leave us here to not produce fruit he's good back at verse 15 chapter 15 in verse 2 every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away in every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit the taking away is the idea of the chastisement the rebuking the scourging the doing the hard and drastic things to our lives to help us to produce more fruit the purging idea is talking about cleansing it's where the garden sees a branch that is producing fruit but he goes through that branch and he removes all of the things that are unnecessary to make that branch bear bigger fruit better fruit and even more sweeter fruit anything that consumes our life the misdirected shoots the sucker branches that are on us the discolored leaves the spots the places where maybe the bugs have chewed and eroded that's the stuff that the gardener is going to get in and that's this purging it this cleansing it you know when we think about pruning pruning is a scary thing I pruned all of my fruit trees last year and I'm like man I watched a video and I watched a video and then I pulled down images what am I supposed to cut what am I not supposed to cut because it's a drastic thing you can mess something up right if you flop off the wrong something then you're in trouble and so pruning in that very name sounds painful it isn't easy to cut the junk out of our lives but if we don't do it then God's going to because he wants us to bear fruit and so notice again verse 2 Jesus says that his ministry is to be performed on every single branch if we're in Christ we're either going to be taken away we're going to be chastised and rebuked or we're going to be purged and pruned no one is excluded you're not going to get by the Heavenly Father he is the master gardener he is the vinedresser's hand and he challenges us and cleanses us to be fruitful for him in verse 6 he says again if a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch and is withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned when this happens and he's not talking about losing your salvation once you are in Christ you are always in Christ what's he talking about he's talking about fellowship he's talking about fellowship notice the words that he uses here many people have read this verse and they think that man you're just cut out forever you've lost your salvation and that's not what Jesus Christ is talking about because notice he says there he is cast forth as a branch yet is withered you're dying there's no fellowship you're by yourself can that branch continue to survive if it's not attached to that vine no and I see Christians today I look at Christianity today I look at churches today and church members today and it seems like we have a lot of people today that are withering away they have separated their selves they have isolated their selves from the one thing that God has for us this relationship this reproduction that this idea that he has the church and what did he say a perfect passage that was read this morning is that Christ cherishes us and yet we don't even worry about coming to his house or having a relationship with him and we wither away but lastly there's this lesson about reality in verse 7 he talks about this loss of fellowship this casting out not abiding and as I mentioned this is not talking about salvation you can never lose your salvation but you can become no longer attached to Jesus Christ remember the Romans read sometime this week Psalms 51 and David's remember after he committed adultery with Bathsheba he prayed in Psalms 51 what did he say restore the joy of my salvation he said when I lay down at night my bones ache he says I'm withering away he said I can't witness of you I can't do why because sin is in my life and what was David saying David says I am literally dying physically because I have not repented and made things right God heal me wash me cleanse me purge me with his stuff he said man prove me with me do what you need to do but get me back in a relationship with you and so there's this loss of fellowship there's also this loss of vitality he said there that we will be withered possessing no life there's deadness where there should be life there's weakness where there used to be power there's emptiness where we should be feel remember Jesus came to give us life and life more abundantly we're to have joy and joy unspeakable full of glory right this is what God desires for us and lifted my cancel this morning and my prayer this morning is for each and every one of us and everyone to come back and to renew that lost fellowship to start to draw the life-giving juice from the vine and begin again begin to produce fruit for him but then lastly there's a loss of reward he talks about being burned up there are so many who will name the name of Christ and yet they're unfruitful they will experience the loss of every reward and everything that God has laid out for us remember Ephesians God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings but you got to go get it you got to be attached to him in order to get it look what he says in 1st Corinthians 3 13 every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is if any man's work abide which he had built their own he shall receive reward if any man's work shall be burned he shall suffer loss but then notice this next phrase you're not losing your salvation you don't lose your salvation but look what he said but he himself shall be saved yet as by fire you know have you ever watched somebody burn off property what happens when you do a big major burn if there's no life in that tree or it's dead and rotten and withered it burns up but those trees that are healthy that are good that has sap running through them it is amazing no matter how much how hot that fire gets or how it goes across that that tree comes out and it actually is better the next year because of the fire it actually produces more get more nutrients and everything else because all of the undergrowth and everything is pulled out of it and that's what Jesus is saying here we're going to be tried by fire you're not going to lose your salvation but guess what you will lose the rewards so the question I want to ask you this morning is first of all are you in the vine are you in Jesus Christ secondly are you abiding in the vine see once we get in the vine it's our responsibility to abide in the vine it's our responsibility to stay close to Jesus Christ and both we cannot stay close to Jesus Christ in this world without each other it's what Hebrews talks about you know we always quote Hebrews 10 24 forsake not the assembling of ourselves together as the matter of some years but what coming together even much more as the day of Christ's return appears we need each other to be able to help us to abide in Jesus Christ and lastly has the gardener been performing his purifying and pruning ministry in your life is Christ working on you you know that little old kid song that's my favorite song he's still working on me some days he's sitting there and he's purifying me some days he's just trying to help me to bear even better fruit and more fruit but some days he has to do some heavy duty work on me he has to do some purifying rather than pruning and it's painful it hurts it's not always fun but guess what when we bear fruit when we start looking like Jesus Christ then God is glorified I want God to be glorified in my life I want to be fruitful as a matter of fact this year my best that's my word of the year Tuesday night we're going to have an opportunity to share your word for the year and so I'll give you a few days to think about it or even next Sunday we're going to write it on the board and hang it somewhere around here but my word of the year is fruitful and what it's good we will not have services Wednesday night we will have services on Tuesday night we're going to meet in the fellowship hall Tuesday night we're going to have a service I'll bring a message and we're going to talk about hopefully you can share your one word and what that word means to you and what you're trying to focus on and so we're going to have a worship service and then we will have fellowship and stuff and anybody wants to stick around and play games later or whatever that will all be Tuesday night and that'll be our last opportunity to worship and praise God of this year so if you haven't done felt like you've done enough you got one more opportunity then it's next year and then we can start fresh and so we're going to be talking about that transition a little bit Tuesday night and then next Sunday we'll turn back to hopefully our registered schedule and regular programming and schedule and I'm ready I don't like being off on these Sunday nights and Wednesday nights and so but anyway thank you so much and be praying for each other any prayer request if not unspoken request of course God knows each and every one of us pray for me and Lisa and our family we're going to be leaving as soon as church is out we're going to run down to Louisiana and see my aunt she just turned 90 years old and we're going to go and see her huh I remember this one. Any others? six o'clock six o'clock Sunday evening service about six o'clock so if you can kind of help spread that around. Any others? If not then Brother Keith Brayden will you just list us in a word of prayer? 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