John 15:5-8 “I am the vine, you are the branches.
He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you
can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out
as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into
the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide
in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for
you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you
will be My disciples.”
Continuing Pastor Kyle’s
message about the vine and the branches, he proclaims that Almighty God created
everything, owns, has authority and sustains all; He is the vinedresser. Good
gardeners constantly prune their vines with expert knowledge and precision to
produce as much fruit as possible. A garden is different than a jungle. In a
jungle, all vegetation growth is good. But, an organized garden must be pruned
and properly dressed for maximum fruitful production to take place.
Job 1:21 says, “The Lord gave,
and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of
the Lord.”
Sometimes, God (our
vinedresser) cuts off things in our life that are overgrown and counter-productive.
These pruning times may seem too much and ugly, but we must trust the Gardener,
the Lord. He pulls the weeds robbing nutrients, trims off unproductive areas,
and re-supports the branches to be more productive, while throwing the dead
wood into the bonfire to consume. The Holy Spirit takes out the trash. Bottom
line: It’s not about losing your salvation, but pruning.
Jesus explains about those
who do not abide with Him in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the
kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in
heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in
Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew
you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” Jesus explains
how this happens in a parable in Mark 4:14-19 “The Sower sows the word. And these are the ones by the
wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and
takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. These likewise are the
ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it
with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for
a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake,
immediately they stumble. Now these are the ones sown among
thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares
of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other
things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”
The Apostle John reinforces
this in 1 John 2:19, They went
out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they
would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be
made manifest, that none of them were of us.” In this case, the seed and
root of faith never took hold in the heart. They didn’t change and lose their
salvation; they never really had it. True Christians cannot lose their
salvation, but can lose their fruitfulness for the kingdom of Heaven. In a
pattern of disconnection, the disciple is not being useful to the work of the
Lord and that unproductive area of the branch shall be pruned, removed and
thrown away so that new growth may occur and good fruit for the kingdom generated,
accomplishing results with positive, prolific and fruitful eternal
consequences.
Let's finish Pastor Kyle's message on abiding in Christ in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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