True Vine
Notes
Transcript
Welcome
Welcome
Welcome to Celebration. We are so glad that you are here. My name is Keith and my wife Maegan and I serve as the Lead Pastors here and we want to thank you for joining us today. If there is anything we can do to serve you and your family, please don’t hesitate to let us know.
Season/Series
Season/Series
We are in such an exciting season as a church. Last Sunday we concluded our Momentum series a powerful panel that centered around mental health, addiction and wholeness. On Tuesday we also had an Equip night that focused on relationships, marriage, and dating. If you missed either one, please go check out our podcast. Additionally, this week we will be launching our new podcast series entitled, After the Message, which will have discussions that focus on expounding on thoughts that we introduce on Sunday.
Today, we are kicking off a new series entitled I am. I am is a very powerful statement in the Bible, both OT and NT. This statement is called the tetragrammaton which is the name God uses to define Himself in terms we understand.
14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”
Exodus 3:
58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
John 8
Context/Background
Context/Background
We will dive into the book of John and explore the 7 powerful statements that Jesus made. These self identifying phrases were loaded as it connected Jesus with the God of the OT. Let me paint the scene for you. Jesus is about to have His last meal with His disciples. Up to this point, He has been weaving in these “I am” statements to reinforce that He, indeed, was the God of the OT. He is the bread of life, light of the world, the door, the good shepherd, the resurrection, the way-truth-life, and He uses this moment to reinforce His last “I am” statement. He washed His disciples feet, introduces communion, Judas leaves and Jesus takes these final moments to say, He is the way, the truth and the life in . He tells them about the Holy Spirit, then brings them to His final statement.
Scripture(s)
Scripture(s)
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
2 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.
3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
4 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.
5 I am the vine; 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.
John 15:1-5
Message Title
Message Title
Today, I want to talk briefly around the idea of staying connected to the right source. Message title is, the True Vine.
Prayer
Prayer
Lord, we thank you for being in our midst. We ask that you have your way. We create space for your Spirit to led and order our steps. Open our eyes, ears, and hearts. In the name of Jesus, amen.
Illustration
Illustration
I am always fascinated at how things go viral in today’s culture. Dance routines, songs, phrases…I often say, how did this become a thing? What about how information is disseminated? More importantly, how things take on an interesting definition the further it gets from the source. Almost 3 years ago, I broke my ankle checking the mail. Nothing screams old man more than losing your balance at the mailbox and breaking your ankle. Maegan and Caleb rushed me to the hospital, where I was diagnosed, referred to a surgeon, then subsequently scheduled for surgery. My wife told my mom, “Keith broke his ankle checking the mail, he’s getting surgery”. My mom sends a message to my family, Keith had an accident at the mailbox, he’s getting surgery, please pray. By the time my brother got the message, he was told, “your brother got hit by a mail truck, got rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery”. It seems no matter the subject, the further we get from the source, the more things take on their own definition.
At the expense of sounding like an old man, but back in my day, when you heard something on the news, you could trust it. Today, the win is who gets there first, even if it isn’t truth. It leaves it up to us to sort through the biased perspectives, because everyone has an angle.
Transition
Transition
This is accurate when it comes to information and how we respond to it. We have so many sources fighting to give us definition of the world and ourselves. Social media. News. Politics. Relationship status. Bank account. They each are sending messages to us that conflict with the message of the Kingdom of God. Outside of the Kingdom, outside of the true source, we lack true definition. We can have labels but will still lack definition.
Jesus says, He is the true vine and staying connected to Him is how we produce fruit. We see throughout scripture this idea of being fruitful. The first instruction given to man is to be fruitful and multiply. With those words God imparted the reproductive ability that we all possess. Please understand that God wants you to be fruitful. He wants you to thrive, not survive. He gives us our drive and dreams. The thing is, we are supposed to draw our inspiration from Him. It’s when we drift and begin to look to other sources that we lose perspective.
25 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
tells us how the Israelites didn’t have a king and the people did what we right in their sight. When we don’t allow Christ to be the king of every area of our lives, we do what’s right in our own sight, don’t we.
12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
informs us that there is a way that SEEMS right, but it leads to destruction.
Jesus tells us who He is, so that we know who we are. When we know who Jesus is, it unlocks who we truly are.
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
There was something on the inside of Peter that he could not access until he recognized Jesus for who He was. When we know who Jesus is, we know who we are. Outside of Jesus, we have labels, but we lack definition. (outside of Christ/inside of Christ: woman with the issue of blood/daughter; leper/healed man; woman bond for 18 years/loosed )
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Observations/Points
Observations/Points
Jesus makes the statement that He is the True Vine. Why? There is really just 1 thing I want you to walk away with, outside of Jesus, we can’t be fruitful. To be fruitful, we have to be faithful.
Be Fruitful
Be Fruitful
Well, we see in scripture that man is frequently associated with trees. Trees are all over the Bible. In fact, outside of God and man, trees are the most mentioned thing in the Bible and there are so many instances where the language overlaps. The consistent thread between man and trees is we are both were designed to be fruitful.
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Points
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
Psalm
12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green,
Psalm
To be fruitful, we have to be faithful. To be fruitful, we have to be planted. To be fruitful, we have to stay connected to the right source. Being faithful means, abiding, remaining, being planted in Him. Vines carry the life giving nutrients that allows for growth for anything that remains connected.
Trees in the Garden
Trees in the Garden
When Jesus says He is the true vine, He is communicating something that goes back to our origin story.
This is why the garden scenario is so important. God, the vinedresser, creates a garden full of trees and puts man in the middle of it to access them, to benefit from them. We are told of two trees that are very close in proximity of one another. The Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (Bad), often referred to as the forbidden tree. God instructs them to eat freely of everything in the garden, but not from the Tree of Knowledge. God said, the moment they ate of it, they would surely die. What does that mean? Their innocence would die.
The Tree of Knowledge was a false Tree of Life. The Tree of Knowledge represents us taking control of the narrative and determining what is good and bad on our own terms.
The Tree of Life was filled with substance. Scholars believe it was literally the life force of God. God had no intention of keeping knowledge from His people, He just wanted to be the one to define it for them. The Tree of Knowledge was a false Tree of Life. The Tree of Knowledge represents us taking control of the narrative and determining what is good and bad on our own terms.
Closing
Closing
On their way to the Tree of Life, they had to walk by the Tree of Knowledge. Isn’t it interesting, whenever we are on the journey of life how the temptation to do things our way is always so easily accessible. When we choose life, we avoid death. Reminds me of what Paul says
21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,
Dt 30:
When we choose life, we avoid death. Truth is, we have been choosing things that lead to death, because we have ignored God’s definition and created our own. We define how our relationships should work. We define how our families should work. We define what our dedication to God should look like. We pick and choose what we want and never get what we need.
Consider the source.
Consider the source.
My biological father left when I was 4 and even though my step father did an amazing job at raising my brother and me, there was a voice in the back of my head that told me, that I wouldn’t be a good father or husband. I allowed the label of absentee dad to be a label. However, once I fully surrendered my life to Christ, I changed my source. Once you recognize that Jesus is the one that defines you, labels can’t confine you. I’m not at alcoholic, divorcee, cancer patient,
Once you recognize that Jesus is the one that defines you, labels can’t confine you.
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