The true vine

In this parable, Jesus uses a little different analogy to explain the relationship the Lord and the people in the world. This is something we can all understand in this part of the country, most all of has got some kind of grape vine growing around our house, whether we want it or not. The Bible says he is the true (better translated as genuine) vine, and that vine is rooted in heaven, where we all want to wind up one day. The Jesus vine covers the whole earth, every man, woman and child came from this vine. All life on this planet had it’s beginning when God and God the son brought this world into existence, but not every man, woman or child acknowledges that there is a God in heaven who created all that we know - even though he created them, some know him not. It would better to turn your life over to him here in this world and this lifetime, than it would be to bow to him to him in shame on your judgement day. Things that we need to think about while we still got time to think about them. AA.The Bible says that God the Father is the husbandman, he is the vine dresser. He is the one that tends the vine and sees that it is bearing fruit, if it’s not it may need need to work on the vine branches, and I can sure tell you he has worked on this branch many, many times before. Sometimes the he way he worked with me was to let me see through other people what would be best for me, and sometimes it felt like he may be cutting me back a little bit. I remember one time when I was in my mid 20’s, I have gotten a little to big for my britches (as my mama used to say), and I believe he did little pruning this old branch, and got things straightened out quick, fast and in a hurry. Sometimes when the vinedresser goes to work on the branches of the vine, it’s not too bad, but sometimes; it can be trying to get through. But all in all, the vinedresser does what’s best for us that call upon the name of Jesus. He wants us to be the best that we can be because he knows the potential of each person that he has called to salvation.

1.

This evening I want to read from , where the Bible talks about the vine and the branches. When I was about 10 or 11 years old, my Dad said it was time to cut the grape vine back so it would make more grapes. I had no idea what he was talking about but I knew we had a big grape vine at the edge of the yard. I went out there with him when he started and I had a hard time understanding how cutting half of the grape vine down was going to make more grapes, it didn’t seem to make much sense to my young mind. Daddy done messed up my grape vine that I looked forward to eating the grapes off of when they were ready. But he cut it back and we piled up the branches over in the field next to the yard. It was early in the year when he did it, when it finally started putting on leaves, it looked like about half the size it was, still didn’t make much sense to my young mind. But I watched it and filled out again, and it actually looked much better than it did before, and sho nuff, it made much bigger and better fruit. I learned something right there at 10 or 11 years old, sometimes things need to be cut back before it do better, whether it seems to make sense or not – which leads me to what I want to talk about this morning.

I don’t think there is a nation anywhere on this earth that doesn’t know about Jesus Christ, that is one of the signs of the end of days, the gospel will be published everywhere in the world and it looks like that prophecy has come true in our days through radio, TV and now the internet. Jesus is the true vine and his vine has reached out to every nook and cranny in this world. AA.The Bible says that God the Father is the husbandman, he is the vine dresser. He is the one that tends the vine and sees that it is bearing fruit, if it’s not it may need need to work on the vine branches, and I can sure tell you he has worked on this branch many, many times before. Sometimes the he way he worked with me was to let me see through other people what would be best for me, and sometimes it felt like he may be cutting me back a little bit. I remember one time when I was in my mid 20’s, I have gotten a little to big for my britches (as my mama used to say), and I believe he did little pruning this old branch, and got things straightened out quick, fast and in a hurry. Sometimes when the vinedresser goes to work on the branches of the vine, it’s not too bad, but sometimes; it can be trying to get through. But all in all, the vinedresser does what’s best for us that call upon the name of Jesus. He wants us to be the best that we can be because he knows the potential of each person that he has called to salvation.

The parable of the vine and branches tell us many things about Christianity. 1st the branch should be bearing fruit. The person who professes to be a Christian should be bearing the fruit that this Bible says a Christian should bear. You can read a whole list of the fruit the spirit of God produces in a person in - love, joy, peace, longsuffering (patience), gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. Any person who says that they are one of God’s children but doesn’t show a sign of these types of attitudes and characters can only be deceiving themselves about being a child of God. When Jesus saves a person, they are automatically changed, the old person and the old ways start to change from that moment on in their lives; so 6 months into their christian lives and you should see many, many signs of these fruits of the spirit. 10 years into their Christian walk, and you should see most of them. Now granted age does make a difference in most cases, the Bible says that we are pretty vain when we are young. But the fruit of the spirit in a person is the proof of the holy spirit in that person. God wants us to bear much fruit, and he can get us to that place in our life the easy way, when we submissive or the hard way, through trials and troubles - that is something each person has to decide, but if you are God’s child, he will get you there.

1. In this parable, Jesus uses a little different analogy to explain the relationship God has with the people in this world. This is something we can all understand in this part of the country, most all of has got some kind of grape vine growing around our house, whether we want it or not. The Bible says Jesus is the true (better translated as genuine) vine, and that vine has it's roots in heaven, where we all want to wind up one day. The God vine covers the whole earth, every man, woman and child came from this vine. All life on this planet had it’s beginning when God the Father and God the son brought this world into existence, we were all made by them, but not all people acknowledges that there is a God in heaven who created all that we know, some know him not; only those who have accepted Christ as their savior are really connected to the vine – the rest is just dead branches. It would better for each of us to bow to him willfully here out of faith in this world and this lifetime, than it would be to bow to him to him in shame and regret on your judgement day, whenever that may come. Things that we need to think about while we still got time to think about them. AA.The Bible says that God the Father is the husbandman, he is the vine dresser. He is the one that tends the vine and sees that it is bearing the fruit that God wants his people bear, if it’s not; it may need some work on the vine branches, and I can sure tell you he has worked on this branch many, many times before. Sometimes the he way he worked with me was to let me see through other people what would be best for me to do and how I should act, but sometimes it felt like he may be cutting my branch back a little bit. I remember one time when I was in my mid 20’s, I had gotten a little to big for my britches (as my mama used to say), and I believe the vinedresser did little pruning my branch, and got things straightened out quick, fast and in a hurry. Sometimes when the vinedresser goes to work on the branches of the vine, it’s not too bad, but sometimes; it can be a hard and trying time. But all in all, the vinedresser does what’s best for us that call upon the name of Jesus. He wants us to be the best that we can be because he knows the potential of each person that he has called his children.

2. The parable of the vine and branches shows us many things about the Christian life. 1st the branch should be bearing fruit. The person who professes to be a Christian should be bearing the fruit that this Bible says a Christian should bear. You can read a whole list of the fruit the spirit the Christian life produces in a person in - love, joy, peace, longsuffering (patience), gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. Any person who says that they are one of God’s children but doesn’t show a sign of these types of attitudes and characters can only be deceiving themselves about being a child of God. When Jesus saves a person, they are automatically changed, the old person is put to death and the new person rises fresh and anew. The old ways start to change from that moment on in their lives; so 6 months into their christian lives and you should see many, many signs of these fruits of the spirit. 10 years into their Christian walk, and you should see most all of them. Now granted age does make a difference in most cases, the Bible tells us that we are pretty vain when we are young. But the fruit of the spirit in a person is the proof that Jesus is in that person. God wants us to bear much fruit, and he can get us to that place in our life the easy way, when we submissive to him; or the hard way, through trials, tribulation and troubles - that is something each person has to decide, but if you truly are a child of God, he will get you there sooner or later.

2nd the branch that doesn’t bear fruit will be taken away. I don’t know all that God is talking about right here, but I know it doesn’t sound good. If you think about it, all men, women and children are God’s children because we all came from the God vine, there would be no life on this planet if not for God. We all come from him, but all people does not acknowledge him, they are not part of the vine so one day they will be cut off, and cast in the fire to be burned. I want to say this, because it needs to be said when talking about hell, God didn’t make the outer darkness for us, he made it for Satan and those angels he drew to his side in eternity past, but if a person chooses to reject the love of God, and the salvation of God, they themselves choose to be cut off from God and they are cast into outer darkness - it is a conscious choice people make everyday. AA. It’s hard for me to understand why a person would choose the way of pain and agony for eternity over heavenly bliss, joy, peace and happiness - but they do it everyday. But the hope for all people is, while they are still breathing, they can get things right with their Lord and choose LIFE over DEATH. My prayer for you all is that you choose life while there is still time.

3. 2nd the branch that doesn’t bear fruit will be taken away. I don’t know all that God is talking about right here, but I know it doesn’t sound good. If you think about it, all men, women and children are God’s children, because we all came from the God vine, there would be no life on this planet if not for the divine architects creation. We all come from him, but everyone does not acknowledge him as the divine creator, they are not part of the vine so one day they will be cut off, and cast in the fire to be burned. I want to say this, because it needs to be said when talking about firey pit, God didn’t make the the firey pit for us, he made it for Satan and those angels he drew to his side in that war in heaven sometime in eternity past, but if a person chooses to reject the salvation of God, they themselves choose to be cut off from God and they are cast into outer darkness - it is a conscious choice people make everyday. AA. It’s hard for me to understand why a person would choose the way of misery and death for eternity over heavenly bliss, joy, peace and happiness - but they do it everyday. But there is always hope for people, while they are still breathing, they can get things right with their Lord and choose LIFE over DEATH. My prayer for you all is that you choose life while there is still time.

3rd the branches need fertilizer - if you want your vine to give it’s best fruit, go out there and scatter the 10-10-10 to it generously; and see what happens, man that thing will take off, it won’t even look like the same grape vine. Jesus told disciples you have been cleansed or purified by my word. The best fertilizer for the born again believer is the Word of God. We just finished reading the OT last week, we started in sometime in February and by the time we had gotten to Deuteronomy, we could see much clearer with our spiritual eyes and we could hear much better with our spiritual ears. In other words we were revived, that is the effect the Word of God has on the children of God. It’ll make you act better, look better and do better, there is nothing else that can do as much for the Christian as reading the Word of God, it is food for the soul - it is manna from heaven - and it is the thing that gives health to the body. If you need to be pumped up, pepped up or revived, get into the Bible and see what God has to say, it’ll make you bear much fruit like the Christian should be bearing. AA. And prayer is fertilizer for the branches that are connected to the God vine. If there has ever been a time we Christians need to prayer, that time is now. The world is going downhill faster in our days than it ever has before, Christians need to be praying that God will help us through this downhill roller coaster ride the world seems to be on now. By all the signs that we are seeing, we have to be at the last moments of the last days, we need help from heaven to endure to the end.

prayer and surrendering ones self. I read a little quote the other day about surrendering ones self - it said surrender is like a journey a person takes from outer turmoil and trouble to inner peace.

4th the branches must be purged which means pruned, cut back as we might say it in the deep south. I believe we see this on 2 different levels in Christianity today. The first is in the lives of our Christian brothers and sisters and ourselves. Have you ever seen somebody who is basically a good Christian person going through a trying time in their life and you just couldn’t find any reasoning about why they are going through such a hard time? Or maybe you yourself, have been through a tough time and just couldn’t figure out why the Lord would let you struggle so hard. I don’t think any of us are really what God wants us to be when we first are saved, it takes time for us to get to the place where we can bear the good fruit the Lord wants us to bear, and sometimes it takes knocking off those rough edges all of us have, so the world can see Jesus in us. I don’t know anybody who was all they need to be when they first got saved, but everybody gets better than they were in time if they abide in Jesus and let his word do its work in their life. The vinedresser, Father God wants us to bear much fruit and knows how to make that happen through pruning the branches. AA. On the next level we can see God the Father at work pruning body of believers so that body can be the bright and shining light in the world that it supposed to be, or the salt that the world is salted with. The church is the salt of the world, but if the salt looses it’s savor, it is no good anymore to salt the world with, so the vinedresser makes a cut here and a cut there and before you know it, that body of believers is back to where they can reach out to a lost and dying world with the good news of the gospel. Sometimes a whole church has to be pruned, it may not look good or feel good but it is the best for the church. Every Christian in this church should want to see God’s perfect will for this church and every one of us here today is either helping it get to that place or either hindering it from getting there. I want to be helping it get there and I hope you do to.

4. 3rd the branches need fertilizer - if you want your vine to give it’s best fruit, go out there and scatter the 10-10-10 to it generously; and see what happens, man that thing will take off, it won’t even look like the same grape vine. Jesus told disciples you have been cleansed or purified by my word. The best fertilizer for the born again believer is the Word of God, it will show you the way to go. AA. We just finished reading the OT last week, we started in sometime in February and by the time we had gotten to Deuteronomy, we could see much clearer with our spiritual eyes and we could hear much better with our spiritual ears. In other words we were revived, that is the effect the Word of God has on his people It’ll make you act better, look better and do better, there is nothing else that can do as much for the Christian as reading the Word of God, it is food for the soul - it is manna from heaven - and it is the thing that gives health to the spiritual man inside you. If you need to be pumped up, pepped up, hopped up, or reved up, get into the Bible and see what God has to say, it’ll make you bear much fruit like the Christian should be bearing. AA. And another thing that will make the branches full of fruit is prayer. If there has ever been a time we Christians need to prayer, that time is now. The world is going downhill faster in our days than it ever has before, Christians need to be praying that God will help us through this downhill roller coaster ride the world seems to be on now. By all the signs that we are seeing, we have to be at the last moments of the last days, we need help from heaven to endure to the end.

If you are here and you are child of God - does the fruit you bear line up with the Word of God, none of us are above the vinedresser pruning our branch so that we will be what he wants us to be. Looking back in my life to the times I believe that my Heavenly Father cut my branches back, I don’t remember it giving me that warm and fuzzy feeling - but I do remember it getting my attention and refocusing me on what is really, really important in this life - what we have done for the Lord. That is all that will matter one day to everybody here when they stand before the Lord.

5. 4th the branches must be purged which means pruned, cut back as we might say it in the deep south. I believe we see this on 2 different levels in Christianity today. The first is in our own personal lives. Have you ever seen somebody who is basically a good Christian person going through a trying time in their life and you just couldn’t find any reasoning about why they are going through such a hard time? Or maybe you yourself, have been through a trying time and just couldn’t figure out why the Lord would let you struggle so hard. I don’t think any of us are really what God wants us to be when we first are saved, it takes time for us to get to the place where we can bear the good fruit the Lord wants us to bear, and sometimes it takes knocking off those rough edges all of us have, so the world can see Jesus in us. I don’t know anybody who was all they need to be when they first got saved, but everybody gets better than they were in time if they abide in Jesus and let his word do its work in their life. The vinedresser, Father God wants us to bear much fruit and knows how to make that happen through pruning the branches. AA. On another level we can see God the Father at work pruning body of believers so that body can be the bright and shining light in the world that it supposed to be, and so they can be like salt that the world is salted with. The church is the salt of the world, but if the salt looses it’s savor, it is no good anymore to salt the world with, so the vinedresser makes a cut here and a cut there and before you know it, that body of believers is back to where they can reach out to a lost and dying world with the good news of the gospel. Sometimes a whole church has to be pruned, it may not look good or feel good but it is the best for the church. Every Christian today is most likely; either helping God's cause in the church or hindering that cause. I want to be helping; don't you?

CLOSE: The vine and the branches - does the fruit you bear line up with the Word of God, none of us are above the vinedresser pruning our branch so that we will be what he wants us to be. Looking back in my life to the times I believe that my Heavenly Father cut my branches back, I don’t remember it giving me that warm and fuzzy feeling - but I do remember it getting my attention and refocusing me on what is really, really important in this life - what we have done for the Lord. That is all that will matter one day to everybody here when they stand before the Lord.

The true vine

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