Stay Connected: Jesus, the True Vine, and the Fruit That Lasts

Hey, did you bring your Bible to church today? If you did, would you get it out right now? If you didn't bring it, that's okay. You could still participate. I'm going to count to three, and I would love everyone to join with me in shouting word on the count of three. If you got a Bible, just hold it in the air like you care. Here we go. All right, here we go. You can hold it together. That's even better. Better together. Here we go. 1 2 3. Word. We're getting into God's word. So God's word gets into us. You know, if you have the newest iPhone and it's not charged, that phone is has no purpose. You You can't take a picture or send a text message or or or check your social media, whatever your preference is. I mean, if you have a phone and it's not charged, it really doesn't do you any good. If you have a car, it doesn't matter how beautiful that car is on the outside. If there's no engine, you're not going anywhere.

You got to have some power inside of that frame. You got to have something inside of you. And today, Jesus is going to give us an illustration that you'll see in your own life that without Jesus, you're missing the power. He He gives a simple illustration. It's going to be profound, and we're going to camp on this for just a little while. He says, "He is the vine and we are the branches." that if you really want to experience all that God's destined you and created you to be, you must be connected to Jesus. If you're not connected to Jesus, you're like that phone just with without the battery. You're like that car without the engine. You might look good. You can fool everyone, but you're not fooling God. You're missing out on the opportunity to experience all that God has for you. So, if there's one theme today that I really want you to get, it's stay connected to Jesus.

Stay connected to Jesus. Stay connected to Jesus. Come on, somebody just tell your neighbor, "Stay connected. Stay connected. Stay connected. Stay connected. Stay connected to Jesus." Today we come to the last of the seven I am statements of Jesus found in the book of John. We're looking at the book of John, one of the 66 books you find in the Bible. John writes about the life of Jesus. And he says, "Seven times Jesus made a statement, I am." The reason that's significant is the very name God gave himself in the book of Exodus to Moses. It's the Hebrew name Yahweh. I am who I am. Now Jesus is here and John chapter 1 says Jesus is God in the flesh. And here now you have Jesus declaring I am. He

says I am the bread of life. In John chapter 6 he says I am the light of the world. I am the door of the sheep. I am the good shepherd. Jesus says in John 10, I am the resurrection and the life. I am the way and the truth and the life. And then finally today we come to the seventh and final I am statement of Jesus. I am the true vine. I am the true vine. Would you say that with me? I am the true vine. These statements of Jesus are are not just statements or claims. They are his identity. It's the certainty of who he is that when we understand who he is, it changes who we are. If you believe in Jesus because of whose you are, you become his. It changes everything. And as we'll see today, this symbol of a vine and a

branch will absolutely change your life if you would let it. Today we look at John 15. If you want to turn there, John 15:es 1-1. I'm going to read you the text and then we're going to better understand the application for our lives. John 15:es 1-11. Would you please stand for the reading of God's word? Jesus is the one speaking and he says, "I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away and every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes 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 by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine and you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. 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 the fire and burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for 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 I have loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my

commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have 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 full. Hallelujah. This is the word of God. You may be seated. If you're just joining us, we're looking at the last hours of Jesus life before he's crucified. Jesus was spending time in the upper room with his disciples and at the very end of John chapter 14 the last word that we read from Jesus is rise let let us go from here. So they leave the upper room and they're they're on a journey to the garden of Gethsemane. And some scholars speculate that as they're on this journey to the garden of Gethsemane that Jesus potentially saw a vineyard and stopped there and and looked at the

vine and the branches and the fruit that's growing. or maybe it was on the side of someone's home growing off of a house and he picked up a a cluster of grapes. And uh who who knows exactly how this works? But we can use our imagination here because Jesus used a symbol that all of us can relate to. Even though this was given in the ancient Middle East some 2,000 years ago, still today we can drive over to the valley in the Oregon wide country and see the beauty of vine and branches. Or you can go to Northern California to Napa and see the beauty of the vines and the branches and the fruit that gets collected every single fall. You see, this is a symbol that that Jesus wants us to know, every believer, how it changes all of us. And he's actually

going back to the Old Testament because vines are frequently used from the book of Genesis all the way to the last book of the Old Testament into the New Testament through the book of Revelation. Vines are so significant because in the Old Testament, prior to Christ being born and the Lord revealing who he is as Messiah, a vine represented Israel. In the book of Isaiah, he's frequently telling us that Israel represents a vine. Isaiah chapter 5, we see it in the Psalms. As you start to study vines, you see that God had a good plan for Israel, but oftent times they did not bear good fruit. In fact, Ezekiel warns us that not every vine is equal. Some vines look like vines, but they're not good. There's a good vine and there's a a bad vine. And now Jesus steps onto the scene. And he just doesn't call himself any vine. He doesn't say he's the

continuation of that vine of Israel. But now he steps onto the scene in John 15:1. And he says, "I am the true vine." He is the true vine. He does not leave any room for misunderstanding in our own hearts. Which vine is he? Is he referring to Israel? No, he's referring to something so much greater. He only produces good fruit. It's who he is. He wants us to understand who he is. In fact, there's an implication here. If he's the true vine, there are false vines out there as well. And if you're the branch, there are tendencies that we try to find the life that's only found in the true vine in the wrong vines. We're trying to find purpose. We're trying to find uh value. We're trying to find our identities. We're we're trying to get something out of us that only Jesus can give.

And Jesus says, "I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser." My father is the vine dresser. So the first feature of today's story is Jesus is the true vine. The second feature is that the father is the vine dresser. I want you to understand what that word means so that you can see how great our God is. If you're reading from a different translation, it might have a different word than vine dresser. I'm reading from the English Standard Version, which is a very literal translation. But then there's an easier translation, the New International Version that calls God the gardener. My father is the gardener, which very much is appropriate to what the original Greek word means. If you've got that King James version, that old English, it says that the father is a husbandman. Whatever husbandman means,

we can understand it means a vine dresser or a gardener. The the the the Greek word for this is uh uh gorges. Gorges simply means a a toiler of the soil. Uh an easier way to say that is a gardener. Someone that not only plants the seeds but tends to the soil, pulls out the weeds when necessary, waters and makes sure that there's life, prunes to make sure that there's even more life. Jesus is pointing out in John 15:1 that our God is a good gardener. Which if you really examine this, as you'll understand in just a moment, you are the branch. So, if I could just point out the intentionality of God, he had a purpose for your life.

You're not a mistake. I don't care what you've ever been told about your own story. Maybe you've been told that you were an accident by your parents or maybe you were the product of a one night stand or maybe even in the evil of what we see in this world, raped. Today, I want you to know that no matter where you came from, God had a plan for you before your mama knew you. Even if you were adopted, you need to know that there are no mistakes in God's eyes. The Bible says that he knit you and formed you in your mother's womb, which means you were never an accident. The devil is a liar and he wants you to believe some narrative that's not true. Our God is a gardener. And when he sews a seed and it comes out, you can know that he's got a purpose and a plan for your life. And the purpose and plan for your life is not that you'd be destined to be in depression and darkness. It's so that you would bear much fruit.

That you would live in the light. That you would know God's purpose for your life. That you would know he's good. That you would know he he looks after you. Even when you couldn't see it, he was looking after you. He is a good gardener. And so today, you'll see Jesus is the true vine. And your God, the father is a gardener. And he's good. And he's got good plans for you. And the whole success of your life depends on the contingency of what you believe in Jesus, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit. One God and three persons. And the success is not in you trying harder or being better. It's allowing God to be God. John 15:2, Jesus is still speaking. He says, "Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every

branch that does bear fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. I want you to see here that God's plan for you is that you would bear fruit. Everyone shout fruit. Fruit. Now, God doesn't stop there. God is so good. If we look at the second half of this verse, God knows the purpose and plan for your life better than you do. Amen. And so what he allows in your life is some pruning from the vine dresser so that you would bear more fruit. Someone shout more fruit. More fruit. Now that's so important that you see because I I hate to tell you this. It's not the good times that are going to help you grow. I wish it was the most easy times in life that just made you the person that you're supposed to be. But Paul says in Romans chapter 5 that you could rejoice

in sufferings because when you know Jesus, your sufferings are not wasted. It it it will turn into something. It will produce something endurance. And you will be stronger. And then that endurance will not just stop there. You'll produce character. And that character doesn't stop there. It produces hope. And that hope doesn't put us to shame. Because when you have hope in Jesus, you realize the whole time you were suffering, he was pouring his love into your heart. He still loves you despite the suffering. And too many times we mistake pruning for punishment. Pruning does not mean punishment. Pruning can actually be the proof of God's purpose in your life. Pruning is proof of purpose in your life. How do we know that? Because Jesus said if you have some fruit, he's not satisfied with some fruit in your life.

God the Father's going to prune out what is already in your life so that you would produce even more fruit. That you would produce more of what God's doing in your life. Which can be difficult when things are taken from you. It can be difficult when you uh lose something, when something's cut out of your life, when when something's been removed or reduced or refined. And too many times we mistake that as God doesn't love me or God's not for me or God must be against me right now. Actually, God might be getting ready to do more than you can imagine. And sometimes it's just trusting in him during those difficult days. And so we see that pruning is the process of God showing us purpose because he doesn't just want fruit in your life. He wants more, more fruit. You're destined for more

fruit. Let me just prophesy that over your life. Whatever you know of God, there's more to know. There's more to be produced in your life. You're still breathing. God has a good plan for you. Now I want to come back to this verse as I did not address the first half of John 15:2 where Jesus says that any branch that is in him he says every branch in me so a branch that is connected to him that is abide in him that does not bear fruit he takes away. Now the problem with our English language is it does not always do justice to the original language that that original word uh the phrase takes away is a Greek word arrow. Arrow actually does not mean to take away that it never gets to be connected to the vine anymore. The word arrow literally means to lift up, to bring up, to take up. Literally, if you look at

what the Greeks would use that word for, they would raise from the ground upwards to elevate. If we better understand gardening, which not all of us understand gardening, uh but to better understand gardening, uh plants were never meant to grow down. They're meant to grow up. The sun points them up. They get life from the sun. But if a if a branch was going down into the dirt, there's a chance it could be trampled upon. There's a chance it's going to get covered in the dirt and not experience the light of the sunshine or it might end up in the shade. So, what a vine dresser would do is they would get a large rock and put that branch up. They would take it away off the ground out of the dirt and up. or you'd get a stick in the shape of a Y and you would plant that stick in the ground and the Y would

then have the branch that would go over it and it would be lifted up. Today we see technology has taught us that we don't just allow vines to grow on the ground as in the ancient days but today we use trelluses. Now a trellis is so that the vine grows up that the branches grow out. How many of you all have seen a trellis in a vineyard? The grapes just don't grow on their own. And the gardener says, "Well, good luck grapes. I hope it works out well." No, they they put them up on a trellis. And if you look at some trelluses, they're actually in the shape of a cross. And Jesus told us throughout his whole life before he was crucified, he says, "The Son of Man must be lifted up." You will see a principle throughout the scriptures that God's ways are always up, but his ways are not our ways. And sometimes the way up is down. You've got

to die to yourself to get the life of Jesus. And so you'll constantly see that God sometimes allows suffering so that you can see healing so that you could see the lifegiver. And we we see it over and over. Jesus did it with Gyrus daughter simply because of a father who had faith. The little girl was lifted up. He did it with Peter's mother-in-law. She was sick and she was on the bed. But God's not just going to let you stay where you are. Jesus healed her. And what'd you do? She got up and served Jesus. Some of you today need to be healed and start serving Jesus. Oh, Jesus didn't just do it with those who are sick. He did it with those who are stuck and lame and sitting on a mat. He wouldn't just let them stay on that mat. He would say, "Get up. Rise. You carry your mat. You lift it up.

You're no longer going to stay in that place anymore." Oh, a great example of what God's able to do. Remember Lazarus? He was just lying down in that tomb. Everyone thought that his story was over. Let me just tell you, your story's never over with Jesus. He called Lazarus out of that tomb. He lifted him up. This is what God does. He's the lifter. Oh, you can find that phrase throughout the whole Bible. Psalm 3:3 says, "But you, oh Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head." So, if you're connected to Jesus and some of you are here today and you're not where you want to be, you're coming to church, you're trying hard, but you're not producing the fruit that God wants in your life. He's not going to get rid of you. He's going to lift you up at just the right time.

You might be down in the dirt right now, but you got to know God has his eye on you and he wants to lift you up so that you may not have fruit right now, but it's coming. And you can't force fruit. It takes time. and what you're going through now might be the very thing that God is going to do to actually produce the fruit in you. So trust the process, but you've got to stay connected to Jesus. You can't produce fruit on your own. You've got to be connected to the true vine. Too many of us are impatient and we just want fruit right away. We want it today. But let me just tell you, this is no McDonald's or Burger King or Taco Bell. That's going to leave your belly sick. This is the good word of God. He is the bread of life. He gives you a sustenance that's going to change you. And what you're going to see is you have a role in this, but you got to stay connected.

You cannot continue to be the same person you used to be. Jesus says that he washes us with his word. Look at verse three. Already you are clean because the word that I've spoken to you. Remember back in John chapter 13, Jesus washed their feet. That wasn't about washing feet. It was about getting rid of the dirt. Jesus was pointing us to something so much more significant. He wants to eradicate the sin in our lives, which is dirt. How do you do that? Through the cleansing of the word of God. That's why I always have you shout word on Sundays. This book is not an ordinary book. It's the word of God. And in Ephesians chapter 5, when the writer Paul was speaking to husbands, he says, "You want to know husbands how to be the best husband? I'll tell you how to be the best husband. Wash your wife with the word of God." Of all the things this world tries to tell

you to be a good husband, the Bible says if you would just wash her with the word, she will be who God made her to be. She will respect you. If you love her the way God loves her and all that was an example of the church, which is meant to be the picture of the bride, and Jesus is meant to be the picture of the groom. And I'll just tell you, this groom loves you so much, he doesn't leave you the same. He gives you his word. And what does his word do? It washes you. The Bible says if you would just confess your sin to Jesus, he's so faithful and just. He's not only going to forgive you, he cleanses you from all unrighteousness. In God's eyes, you're clean. He sees you better than you see yourself. He sees the potential of who you are in his eyes when you receive his word. And it doesn't stop there. Abiding in Jesus

actually brings abundance. Look what verse four Jesus says. Abide in me and I in you. as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide in me. We frequently see this word abide in the text. Unless you have a different translation, it probably uses the word remain. That's because the original Greek word again trying to translate it in English doesn't do it justice here. That word abide or if your translation says remain, it literally means to dwell, to stay connected. It means it's your home. So Jesus isn't looking for some Sunday followers that come and learn about him on Sundays and aren't changed on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The word abide here is the Greek word menow. And it literally means this is who I am now. This is what I

live. This is this Jesus is in me and I am in him. I don't do this sometimes. I don't do this some places. I abide in Jesus and Jesus abides in me. I continue to live in Jesus. There's no separation. He doesn't leave me. So, I shouldn't leave him. So, here's what abiding is not. It's not just attending church. Abiding is not just calling yourself a Christian. Abiding is not just reading the Bible. Abiding is not just praying. None of those things are bad. And you can do those things, but if you're not abiding in Jesus, you won't bear the fruit of Jesus. God's not looking for some weekend visitors. He's not looking for some people that are going to rent out their heart to Jesus. He wants to make your life his home.

He wants you to know that when you are in him, that's when he's going to produce what you're destined to produce. That's when you have the strength now to get through the storm because you're connected to Jesus. That's now where you have joy even though you formerly had sorrow. That's when you have peace even when you're being pruned because you know God knows what he's doing. Come on, somebody. And I don't know about you, but I often leave the vine. I often try to find life somewhere else. I often say I'm not getting the fruit that I want to get, so I try to find it somewhere else. But this fruit that Jesus is speaking of can only be produced by God himself. In fact, the Bible tells us about this fruit is found in Galatians 5. Galatians 5 22 and 23 says, "But the fruit of the spirit is," and there's nine attributes of this fruit. love, joy, peace, patience,

kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. So if you abide in Jesus, it brings an abundance. It actually changes who you are. I know some of you like to blame your genetics for who you are, but in Jesus, it changes your genetic line. You can try to say I'm Irish or Italian all day long and blame that for your anger. But let me just tell you, when you got Jesus, now you're a child of God. He changes that anger now. And he actually brings kindness out of your life. Someone ought to be changed. Someone ought to see your life and say, "What's different about you?" And it's not you.

It's what's been produced out of you, which is the fruit of God, the Holy Spirit, doing the work in your life. I have known so many Christians who call themselves Christians who come to church and they don't produce the fruit of the spirit. And you can see it. They're abrasive. They're mean. They're not kind. And and then yet they want to say, "I want to tell you the truth. You might have the truth, but you don't have the fruit of the spirit. You can't just condemn me with your words and shame me and say somehow that you're doing this all in the name of Jesus. If you are abiding in Jesus, you'll be kind. You'll be gentle. You'll be loving. You You'll want to bring somebody along and you certainly won't have these outbursts of anger just because it's all in the name of truth.

You got self-control. So, you're going to operate in it now. And so, we've got a lot to learn that God's not calling us just to call ourselves Christians. He's calling us to be a branch that's abiding in the vine so that what comes out of you is not just a little bit of Jesus. It's an abundance of Jesus. Jesus is going to continue to teach us in verse 5 so that none of us get confused. I am the vine. And just for clarification, you are the branches. So whoever abides in me, whoever stays connected with me, whoever chooses to say everything I do is in Jesus and I in him, he is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing.

If anyone abides in me, he is if anyone does not abide in me, verse six says, he is thrown away like a branch and withers. And these branches are gathered and thrown into the fire and burned. So we have some clarification in verse six. It's not the same word meaning to be lifted up. Jesus is saying if you're not connected to the vine, you cannot produce fruit. It doesn't matter how close you are to the vine. You could be a branch and you could be right up to the vine. It always amazes me how God does such different work here on Sundays. Some people will hear one word of God and their life is completely changed. Another person hears the same word of God and they leave exactly the same. How does that happen? That's because you can be close to Jesus and not connected to Jesus.

And being close to Jesus is not how you bear fruit. You've actually got to be connected as as Paul says in the book of Romans, you've got to be grafted into the tree. You're no longer who you used to be, but now you are part of the olive tree that God has destined and designed. And when you abide in him, you're no longer who you used to be. You are who God says you are. Now, for clarification in verse six, when it talks about fire, so many of us have the image of hell, which heaven and hell are both very real. But the image here is of fire. And often when we see it in a context like this, it's an image of God's judgment. In the book of Revelation chapter 1, Jesus has eyes of fire. Means Jesus is a perfect judge. that if you are not connected to Jesus, one day you will be judged.

And I'll tell you, a life of abiding in Jesus is not easy. It's hard. But I'll tell you, getting judged by Jesus who knows everything and you chose not to connect with him, that's a lot harder. So, choose your hard this day. Who are you going to connect with? Let's go back to verse five for just a moment. I want you to see how good God is and what he has planned for your life. We're already told that Jesus is the vine and you are the branch and he wants you to bear fruit and not just some fruit. God wants to actually prune you so that you will have more fruit. And that's so important that you see pruning is important. Uh just yesterday, my wife and I did some yard work uh just to get ready for the winter. Anybody else do some yard work yesterday? Come on. Good job. Good job. Good job. I didn't want to do it either, but we did it. Come on, somebody. And here's what we did for the first time while living in our house. We've got this giant rose bush that's outside of a

window and we pruned that sucker about halfway down and we got rid of all the little branches. I mean, I watched about five or six YouTube videos, so I'm a total gardener now. And and here's what we realized. We moved into that house 3 years ago and we weren't pruning it back enough. And this past spring, this rose bush got so big the whole thing tipped over. And my wife's like, "What happened to our rose bush?" And I tried to get string and tie it back. I mean, I was trying to do everything in my my man-made ability to like make this thing beautiful again. But I'll tell you what happened is it didn't get pruned. So, it it had too many flowers. It had too many branches. It had too many leaves that it got so heavy it could not function the way it was designed to function. And and

Jesus lets us know that when we abide in him, the whole goal is not just that you would have fruit, but that you would have more fruit. And now Jesus says in John 15:5 that you would have much fruit. Yeah. Do do you see this abundance here? He is a God of abundance. He cannot run out. So if he's gotten started in your life, it's only so he could do more and he could do more and he could do more so that you would see he's a multiplying miracle working God. Do not settle for what you've experienced in your past because he's not just the God of the past or the present. He's going to do something greater in your life. He wants to produce much fruit. Someone shout fruit. Much fruit. That is a multiplying miracle working God. If you

remember who Jesus is, it changes who you are. That I don't want to do life alone. I want to stay connected to Jesus. If you abide in me, Jesus says in verse 7, if you abide in me, my words abide in you and you could ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. This is so important that we understand this. When you're connected to Jesus now, you want everything Jesus has to offer. You want to get in his word because you know it's good and true and his promises never fail. So, you want to understand what is God's will for your life. If you're new to church and new to reading the Bible, let me just encourage you. Start with the book of John. Any person could do that. No matter what your age is or no matter how far you've been away from the church or you're you're new to coming to church, get in the book of John and hear the words of Jesus because John records a lot of the words of Jesus and your life will be

changed significantly because when Jesus's words are in you, you understand who he is and you want to ask him for what only he can do. He said earlier in verse 5, you can do nothing on your own. So apart from him, you could do nothing. Can I just tell you, you should write this down. God doesn't need you to stress because you're not even the one that does it. He does. Every good gift comes from him. So, it was never necessary for you to stress whether or not you're going to bear good fruit or when the fruit's going to come. It's up to you to stay connected to Jesus to hear his words so that you know that he's the God that can do absolutely anything. So, you start asking him to do what only God can do. That means you believe that he can heal because he healed before. So, you're going to ask him. That means if someone's not saved in your life, you're

going to petition for God to save that person because he's the one that leaves the 99 and chases after the one. You continually come back to God because the prophet Jeremiah says, "Is anything too hard for God? Is anything too hard? It might look dark right now, but I'll tell you when Jesus steps into it, the light has come." He takes death and he brings it to life. And when you are connected to the vine, you start asking. That's why we're doing an intercessory gathering in two weeks. You got to stop just sitting on your hands. You got to get on your knees and you got to start praying for other people. And that's when we're going to see revival. You take Jesus at his word. So now you have a choice today. You've heard it. So either you believe it and go start living it or you keep living the same.

Unless anyone here today says, "But I just don't feel it." Jesus never said you feel it. Because sometimes I feel like God's far away from me when he's pruning me, but he's just a dad that's disciplining me because he loves me and he wants the best for me and he knows what's going to come out on the other side of this. So if you abide in Jesus and his words abide in you, start asking. Oh, unless you misunderstand this, ask whatever you wish. He's not a genie in the bottle. Because when you're connected to Jesus, you want his will to be done in your life as it is in heaven. Oh, but let me just tell somebody today, please, business owner, that your business either just failed or it's about to fail or somebody going through some trial or divorce or something right now, he is a God of abundance. So, if you don't have right now, he can give it to you.

He can give it to you. He taught us to pray, "Our Father, who's in heaven, hallowed be your name." He's a holy God. Your kingdom come, your will be done where? On earth, just like it is in heaven. When you get to heaven, you're never going to be hungry and be like, "Oh, what's for dinner tonight, Lord?" In heaven, you get to eat whatever you want. There's no consequences. And then he says, "Come on, somebody." Then he says, "Give us this day our daily bread." Now, I'm not going to get political here, but I just got to get on the soap box for just a moment. There's a lot of discussion right now about SNAP benefits and the government shut down and not giving away money so people can eat. And we should eat. We should take care of each other. And Jesus says that in Matthew 25. But but let me just tell you real quick. Our dependence should be on God for our daily bread.

When you go to Africa, they pray this prayer because they're praying for a meal that day. Literally that meal that day. We become so spoiled in America, we forget where the goodness of God comes from that if the government gives it to us. It actually didn't come from the government. It came from God. So we've got to realign our priorities where we start asking. If you're hungry here today, start asking God. Start asking God for whatever that need is. He can meet that need. My God can meet all of your needs according to his glory. You can do all things through Jesus Christ who gives you strength. So turn to him. Trust in him. And Jesus says in verse 7, it will be done for you. Believe it. It's coming. By this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

The proof of disciplehip is in your fruit. We want to be a fruitful church. We want to be connected together. We want God to be glorified. Jesus says, "When you go do good works, let them glorify your father who's in heaven." It's not about you. It's all about Jesus. We want to keep coming back to who gets the glory in your life. It's God. You didn't have the strength to do it. How good is God that he he works through you? It was his grace that worked through you. You let God take his rightful place and he gets glorified. And less any of us think that we do this all alone. Here here's how this works in in God's economy. When you realize you're a branch, you realize God has a purpose and a plan for your life. But you know what grape vines do? The these branches go out and they connect to each other. In fact, if you've ever

looked closely, they they intertwine with one another that you can't tell where one branch starts and another branch ends. When we start doing this together, y'all, we're going to be connected. We're going to start helping each other. We're going to see that God's actually doing a good work. And when someone says, "Well, I don't see the fruit in my life." You just say, "Oh, it took a long time for the fruit to come in my life." Stay connected to me. That's why you should come to church. Keep hearing the word of God. You should serve God. Start serving others and you start to see that God's doing a good thing in you and he will be glorified. When Jesus told us to watch for false prophets in Matthew chapter 17, a prophet is one that speaks forth God's word. And every one of us should seek prophecy. And but Jesus warned us in Matthew 7 to be aware that there are false prophets. There are people that are saying things that they say it's from God, but not everyone is. So how

can you tell what's of God and not of God? He says this in Matthew 7:20, "Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. Look at their fruit." And there there are false prophets today. So be aware. Ask the Holy Spirit for help. And when you have fruit bearing in your life, you're going to know what the real fruit is. Jesus said in Luke 6:43 and 44, "For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit." So if you see both together, something's wrong. It doesn't work like that. Apples don't grow on orange trees. Grapes don't grow on on a on a apple tree. For each tree, it says in verse 44, is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor grapes from the bramble bush. So, we want to allow God to produce good fruit in our lives. Let's wrap this up in

verses 9- 11. As the father's loved me, so I've loved you. Abide in my love. If there's a motivation for you to be connected to Jesus, it's because he loves you. That that's the motivation. He's not religious where he says, "Here's your duty. Make sure you stay connected to me. Abide in me. Remain in me." He's saying, "I am love. And when you're connected to me, you'll know that you're loved. You're a beloved child of God. And as a result, it says in verse 10, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. And look what's produced. Verse 11, these things I've spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be what? Full. Joy is the

fruit of abiding. All of us want joy in our lives. It's why we seek pleasure in every area of our lives. We want more joy. But this joy is the joy that comes from Jesus, not the joy of the world. The joy of this world is actually misunderstood. It's called happiness. It's temporary and it's fleeting. This joy is so good that it fills you up that you get to give it away. This is the joy that is the fruit of the spirit. Last week we learned in John 14 27 Jesus says, "My peace I give to you. My peace I give. Not as the world gives do I give to you." which Jesus clarifies. There's a peace the world gives which is an absence of conflict, an absence of war, an absence of problem. That's a false peace because the peace Jesus gives you does not leave

despite your circumstances. So this peace will actually get you through the storm. This is a peace you have in the middle of your problem, in the middle of your pain. You can have the peace because it's God's perfect shalom because Jesus is the prince of peace. Shalom is God's perfect peace that cannot be taken from you. Now Jesus warns in John 10:10. The devil is a thief. And so he wants to steal, kill, and destroy. So the devil wants you to think you can't have peace, you can't have joy, and you're not loved. But we know all of those things are a byproduct from staying connected to Jesus because he gives you love, joy, peace. It's what comes from being connected to Jesus. So if I don't have those things in my life, where do I go? I don't go into the arms of a lover. I don't go to some substance that will eventually go out of my body.

Come on. I don't go to the government. I go to Jesus. I abide in Jesus. I stay connected to Jesus so that what comes out of me is actually already in me. And there's joy. And you can't steal my joy. That's right. No matter what I go through, my joy is not contingent on things being okay. I have joy because of Jesus. So my strength is joy. Just like Nehemiah said, I can have critics. I can have all these things happening in my life. But the one thing that I have that you can't take away is the joy of Jesus and the peace of Jesus and the love of Jesus. And it just continues to be produced in my life. I leave you with this illustration to all you husbands out there or maybe got a boyfriend, a

girlfriend that you want to become a wife. Uh, I've bought my wife many, many flowers in our relationship. How many times have I purchased flowers for you, Kara? Uh, 3,221. So, uh, no, I'm just kidding. Uh, when I buy flowers for my wife, I don't tell her, "Hey, I'm going to go buy you flowers today." Uh, it's usually cuz I done something wrong. But, uh, I it's a gesture to say, "You're beautiful like these flowers. I care about you, and I want to continue our relationship. I want you to know that you're thought about. You're loved. I want you to know you're you're valued. I I I want you to know the beauty of who you are and the beauty of this gift of the flowers. And I I've gotten her so many flowers, but we don't have any of those flowers today because those flowers were cut. And when I give her those flowers, I usually have them in a vase with some water. And that water helps it last for at least a few

more days at most. If they're expensive flowers, because there is a big difference. You get the nice flowers, they last a little bit longer and they maybe last a few weeks, but eventually what happens? They shrivel up and die and they get thrown out because they're cut. They're disconnected. Some of you are looking good right now, but you're not connected. There there's a warning from the very words of God that if you don't stay connected to him, eventually you're going to shrivel up and eventually you're going to experience some serious judgment in your life. And today I want you to know that God's given you an invitation to be connected. So I leave you with this. Stay connected.

If you stay connected to Jesus, you'll bear fruit that lasts. Not false fruit. Not fake fruit. Not none of those plastic fruits like your grandma had on the table. Come on. This is the real deal. If you stay connected, you're going to survive the pruning. Somebody, you'll see that pruning produces purpose. And if God's doing something in your life, like Job, you will testify God gives and he takes away. But blessed be the name of the Lord. And if you stay connected to Jesus, you'll overflow with joy because that joy comes from Jesus. My friend, you don't need a new source today. You just need Jesus. That's everything you need. Everything you need is found in Jesus. I'm not here to say that's easy because a storm still will come. I'm not saying that's easy because you might get pruned by the gardener.

I'm not saying that's easy because you might end up in the dirt and need to be lifted up, somebody. But today, I'm here to tell you that God has a good plan and a purpose for your life. No matter what your age is, no matter where you've been, I need you to know this. God loves you and he wants you to be connected to him. So today, I give you that great invitation. As we close our time, this is the most important decision you could ever make. Have you believed in Jesus? Because the Bible says it's so simple that if you believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sins and that on the third day, he rose from the grave. And if you're willing to testify to that promise, that same spirit that rose Jesus from the grave is the same spirit you receive by believing in Jesus. That is the Holy Spirit. That is the fruit of the spirit is now going to work in your life. And if you want that today, it comes with so

many promises. You get the hope of heaven forever. You get a great inheritance. You get the power of God to work in your life. Every promise that you find in the Bible is yours because in Jesus is the yes and amen. So today, if you want to receive Jesus in your life, I'm going to just simply ask everyone to close their eyes with the exception of those that want to say yes to Jesus. Would you would you raise your hand nice and high and you can open up your eyes and just let me know. Praise God right away. Amen. That whole family is going to change because you guys said yes to Jesus. Changes everything. Praise God. Praise God. I see that. Who else today? Just raise your hand. I want to see you today. You can open up your eyes. I want to see you. You wave. Wave your hand at me. It's the best decision you could ever make.

It's more important than who you will marry, the career you have, how much money you have. This changes everything because now you can ask God for anything. Anybody else? Don't miss this opportunity. You know, not if you have tomorrow. Today is a great day to say yes to Jesus. That's right. Surrender your whole heart. You can be set free from any sin today, not another day. In one moment, he'll set you free from whatever you've been struggling with. You need to confess it to him, though. He's not going to force you to follow him. He's a good God. And he gives you an invitation today. Just raise your hand nice and high. If your heart's racing, your stomach has some butterflies in it like you're in love, that's God trying to push you to say yes. He's saying you're done doing it on your own, I want to do some good things in you. Anybody else? Just wave your hand.

There's no sin so great that he won't forgive you of today. Doesn't matter where you were last night or last week. Anybody else? Just wave your hand at me. I tell you, this is the one decision you'll never regret making. So grateful for those that did say yes. So grateful. You know why the Bible says in Luke Luke chapter 15 that there's more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 who need no repentance. If I could just paraphrase that. Heaven has a party when you say yes because God just loves you and he wants you to be connected to him. So from this day forward, stay connected to Jesus. For all those who are here today, let let's pray with those who have said yes to Jesus. I'm going to just ask you to pray out loud with me. And if you're new

to prayer, you can you can pray to God anywhere at any time. That's how cool prayer is. Prayer is talking to God. It's listening to God. You do not need eloquent words or even the right words. You just need to get real with God. That's prayer. And when Jesus said, "Ask anything," he means it. And if you don't see it immediately, keep asking. Keep going to God. And you're going to grow closer to him. Let's all pray this prayer together. If you want to receive Jesus in your life, say, "Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, I believe in you. I believe in you. You are the true vine. And I am a branch. Today I abide in you. Bear much fruit in my life. I receive the Holy Spirit. Receive the Holy Spirit. Forgive me of my sins. Today I am set free. Today I am set free in Jesus name. In Jesus name.

Amen. Someone shout amen. Amen. Praise be to