Statements of Faith - I Am A Fruitful Branch

 

JOHN 15:4

Abide in Me, and I in you. 

As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,

 unless it abides in the vine, neither can you,

 unless you abide in Me. 

    Abide: remain, stay, wait (I wait for, I stay in, I remain with)

    How are we fruitful branches in Christ? 

• Matthew 4:19 When we follow Christ, He teaches us how to become 'fishers of men', how to draw people to The Light and Love of God's gospel of salvation.
• Proverbs 11:30 & James 5:20 Be a soul winner in His kingdom. Tell your testimony: what Christ Jesus has done for you, how He saved you and continues to walk your life's journey with you. 
• 1 John 3:24 Keeping His commandments causes us to be fruitful branches, for by doing so, we remain in Him and He in us. 
• 1 John 4:15 & Romans 10:9 Speaking out loud that Jesus is The Son of God shows they that hear us speak such Truth that God is in us and we are in Him. 

    What is a Christian's fruit?

• Our disposition, our character, our attitude - We are to have, cultivate and exhibit the fruit of The Spirit - Galatians 5:22-23.
• Our life and conversation - Live a life of love - Ephesians 5:2
• Our intentions, motives - Live a life of faith in God - 1 Timothy 1:4
• Honor God, do good - Live a life that is worthy of God's call - 2 Thessalonians 1:11 and Ephesians 4:1
• Be an example of what we say we are - Live a life that is worthy of The Lord - Colossians 1:10

    And now we must consider: are we, indeed, fruitful branches in The Vine which is Christ? If we are, we must endeavor to continue to do so. And if you are not, what are you waiting for? You have received a personal invitation to be seated in Christ and He in you which requires a personal response from you. Come, come to Jesus Christ and be grafted into The Vine. Today is your day of salvation. 

PROOF OF YOUR LOVE - For King & Country 

BUILD MY LIFE - Pat Barrett and Cory Asbury 

LIVE FOR JESUS - Evie Tornquist

Guard Your Heart - - Watch Over Your Fruitfulness

 

John 15:5

"I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing."

*Strong's Ex. Conc. No. 2590

Fruit: deed, action, result, profit, gain

From the Greek word 'karpos' (pronounced kar-pos'). Extended definition: everything done in true partnership with Christ, i.e. a believer (a branch) lives in union with Christ (the Vine). By definition, fruit results from two life-streams – the Lord living His life through ours – to yield what is eternal. 

    Our fruitfulness in the kingdom of God depends on our inclination, our leaning, into Christ. Can the branch of a fruit tree bring forth fresh fruit unless it is attached to the tree? No. Neither then can a born again believer produce fruit alone. We need Jesus Christ living in us to "bear fruit". 

    Just what kind of fruit does a Christian bear when Christ (the vine) lives in us and the Spirit (the sap) flows through us?

FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

I liken the fruit of the Spirit to a single fruit, like citrus, which has many segments yet remains an individual fruit.

    Galatians 5:22, 23

22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

23. Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

    When these things are evident in a person's life, when you can see them, then you know that there stands a fruitful Christian. From the inside (where the Spirit works on us) to the outside. 

    Sometimes though the Master Gardener (our heavenly Father) sees the need for our trees, or vines, can be made more fruitful, so He prunes us. Does this hurt? Briefly. But then after a season our branches grow heavy with even more fruit than we think we can bear. Unless the Master Gardener sees there is no fruit, then He removes a branch or two from the tree or the vine. 

FRUITFUL FAITH

    The fruit in the Father's garden is not for physical  consumption, it is the result of a single Seed: the Seed of Righteousness: Jesus Christ, The LORD My Righteousness. This seed is the result of Faith in God which Abram had when God called him to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. (Genesis 22:1-19 and Hebrews 11:17 "By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac on the altar. He who had received the promises was ready to offer his one and only son). 

    It is only by Faith in the promises of God that we are able to spread the gospel of God's plan of salvation, the Seed of righteousness, in His fields. Sometimes, this seed does not take root, as told in the Parable of The Sower. Only when the Seed reaches the heart does it take root and begin to grow. 

    It wasn't just one person telling me about God and Jesus Christ, it was many. The Word says "some plant, some water, some harvest". At some point in my life, someone planted the Seed in my heart where it took root. Others watered my heart with their tears, when they prayed for me. Now the Word grows in me and I'm growing in the Word. When I am perfect, I'll be harvested by the Master Gardener. 

FRUITFULNESS

    Every time I tell you about my Jesus and what He's done for me, I'm planting the Seed. It's up to you whether or not you receive it into your hearts. The tears of my prayers water not just my plantings, but the plantings of others when I pray for their gardens/fields. 

    I grew up singing classic hymns in church, like Bringing In The Sheaves which speaks of the harvest of grain sheaves as compared to the souls which are being saved through the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Bringing In The Sheaves

~Knowles Shaw~1874~Psalm 126:6

He that goes forth and weeps, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

1. Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness,

Sowing in the noontide and the dewy eve;

Waiting for the harvest, and the time of reaping,

We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.

2. Sowing in the sunshine, sowing in the shadows,

Fearing neither clouds nor winter’s chilling breeze;

By and by, the harvest and the labor ended,

We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.

3. Going forth with weeping, sowing for the Master,

Tho’, the loss sustained, our spirit often grieves;

When our weeping’s over, He will bid us welcome,

We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.

(Refrain)

Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,

We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves;

Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,

We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.

    And so we pray. We pray for the Lord's perfect will to be done, not what we want or how we want it. We pray for our families, our friends; for our spouses, our children, and our children's children. We pray for the people our children associate themselves with and for their families. 

    First and foremost, we pray for their salvation. We pray that they be filled with the Holy Spirit, that they all may walk empowered in the strength of the Lord. We pray that their hearts would be filled to overflowing with the joy of the Lord; that their fruit would be evident and sweet. 

    Lastly, we pray that they would remain strong in the Lord and in the power of His might all the days of their life. That they would be a blessing not only to their Lord but to everyone they meet. That's our prayer for fruitfulness in the kingdom of God.

FRUITFULNESS MEDLEY

So Will I

Gratitude

When I Pray

No Other Name

Graves Into Gardens

Give Me Faith

Build My Life

    

Abide With Me

1 Samuel 22:23 “Abide thou with me, fear not: for he that seeks my life seeks your life: but with me thou shalt be in safeguard.”

John 15:4-7,10-11 “(4) Abide in Me, and I and 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. (5) I am The Vine, you are the branches: He that abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without Me you can do nothing. (6) If a man abide not in Me, he is cast fort as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. (7) If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you....(10) If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father's commandments, abide in His love. (11) These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”

1 John 2:28 “And now, little children, abide in Him; that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.”

Abide: dwell, remain, settle, marry, continue to dwell in, inhabit in, bring again to place, remain, return; to stay in a given place, state, relation or expectancy, endure, be present, remain, dwell, be present, stand, tarry for.

(The first definitions are for the word 'abide' in The Old Testament and the second for The New Testament, regarding the three verses given)

     Do you realize as we have studied this together that all three Persons in the Trinity are referred to here? And that born again Christians are they who remain in the branch referred to in John 15? Living for Jesus and living in Jesus are the same. Just being a nice person or glorifying yourself with 'acts of kindness' are not growing you in Jesus. Once you become a born again Christian, it is up to you to open your Bible and read God's Word every day. Do you know that sometimes I get caught up in reading and studying I lose track of time? My husband's day begins at 5 am and ends at 9 pm. He leaves here at 5:30 am and gets back home around 4 pm. One day when I was deep study, he came home and I said, “What are you doing home so early?” and he just gave me a funny look, so I looked at the clock on my computer. Yup. It was 4 pm. His normal return home time. Eight hours of pure bliss had passed through the clock, but to me it was as if I had barely started. Those days are rare and deeply coveted.

     Abiding in Christ is a glorious way to go through life. No one's life is perfect. No one can obtain pure delight in their alone time unless they are alone with Jesus. Being alone by yourself without Jesus, in the chaos of your thoughts, can bring you down. But being alone with Jesus, chaos flees, for it doesn't stand a chance where the Light shines; chaos is darkness and death; Jesus is light and life.

     My life is not perfect, but my Savior is. It is His perfection that lives in me by faith, by believing on Him for my Lord and Savior. Every thing that Jesus Christ is, lives in me by faith in Him. I may not always let His light shine through, but every time I repent of this, I get stronger. I do not want to be cut off from The Branch, nor thrown into the fire. I read God's Word, and keep God's Word in my heart, and am actively applying God's Word to my life, including my family and my children in this, for they are in my life, too.

     Yes, you can memorize Scripture, either passages or individual verses; you can know all The Books of The Bible in order and still not know Jesus Christ. You can go to church, hear the preacher's sermon, and walk right out that door living the same old life you always lived. You have not changed because you have not listened, nor applied the message of salvation that was preached. Our actions determine our outcomes when we hear God's Word spoken or preached.

     If we feel a prick in our thoughts, or our heart, when we hear the message given, and do nothing, our hearts become harder and our ears deafer; we have only strengthened our resolve not to give in to weakness. For that is how some people view born again Christians, people too weak to stand on their own that they must need God to stand for them. Oh you fools! It is the weak God uses to bring down the fool. It is the weak God uses to reach the prideful, the annoyed, the depressed, the confused, the rich, the poor, the sanctimonious, the politician, the lobbyist, the doctor, the lawyer, the lost, the found. It is the weak in themselves who are strong in Christ. It is the weak who admit they are weak who come to the altar and kneel before God to repent of their wicked ways, their sins, and receive forgiveness from God and acceptance into His family. At that moment the weak become strong. For Jesus is now living in their hearts through their faith in and on Him. His blood has washed away the sins repented of and now the weak which you decry are made strong in Him who was crucified and rose from the grave.

     Abide in Him and Him only, as I and my family abide in Him and Him only. For each person who comes to God and believes on The Name of His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ for salvation must work out their own after they believe. Which means you and I and every other believer must learn to live in Jesus. He already knows how to live in us, but we are learning to live in Him. This is why no two Christians are alike: each is responsible for their own growth, for seeking to grow in the things of God, for seeking to grow in The Word of God: searching His Word, in prayer and love, on how to be more like Jesus.

     Do you know God's perfect will for your life? Me, either. But I do know that God's first will for any one's life is be saved. 1 Timothy 2:4 “Who will have all men to be saved; and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” So, what is truth? John 14:6 “And Jesus said unto them, “I am the way, the truth and the life: no man comes unto The Father but by Me.” Jesus is Truth. So, 'to come unto the knowledge of the truth', is to come to know Jesus, to believe Jesus, to learn to live in Jesus as He lives in us, when we believe.

     If you want to know God's will for your life after you are saved, then I expect you will study His Word. If you are not able to access a Bible where you live, while there are many Bible sites, I would recommend Bible Hub Library . This is the one my husband and I use to study with; it has more tools than I have on my bookshelf. And it's free to use by any one. As I walk through The Word in my study times, I will continue to share what I receive.