{"id":31416,"date":"2024-06-06T22:00:22","date_gmt":"2024-06-07T05:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/john-14_22-31-copy\/"},"modified":"2024-05-28T20:55:36","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T03:55:36","slug":"john-15_1-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/john-15_1-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesus\u2019 Word Makes You Clean and Fruitful"},"content":{"rendered":"

John 15:1-8 \u00a0 (CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is John 15:1-8.\u00a0 I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help, then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

John 15:1-2 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-2:\u00a0 Here Jesus refers to himself as the true vine.\u00a0 Why the \u201ctrue\u201d vine?\u00a0 It\u2019s because Jesus knew that soon his followers would be threatened by persecution and false teaching.\u00a0 Thus in calling himself the true vine Jesus is reminding his followers that he is the way, the truth and the life they are looking for, not anything else or anyone else.<\/p>\n

Here Jesus also refers to God the Father as the gardener, and people as branches on the vine.\u00a0 As branches on the vine we are expected to bear much fruit (v8). What kind of fruit?\u00a0 The fruit of believing in Jesus and becoming more like Jesus. When we are persistently fruitless \u2013 when we don\u2019t believe in Jesus and don\u2019t become more like Jesus \u2013 at some point we will be cut off.\u00a0 But if we are fruitful, God takes steps to \u201cprune us\u201d \u2013 that is, cleanse us, brace us, and lift us up \u2013 so that we can be more fruitful.<\/p>\n

John 15:3 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 3:\u00a0\u00a0 How does God cleanse us, brace us and support us \u2013 i.e. prune us? Through Jesus\u2019 Word.\u00a0 It is Jesus\u2019 word of forgiveness and cleansing that makes us forgiven and cleansed before God.\u00a0 In addition, the more I get into the Word of God and let the Word of God change me, the more I experience God\u2019s cleansing power in my life.<\/p>\n

John 15:4-5 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 4-5:\u00a0 Just as a branch cannot bear fruit by itself and must remain in the vine to stay alive, so we cannot bear fruit apart from Jesus.\u00a0 That\u2019s why a connection to, and a relationship with, Jesus Christ is so crucial.<\/p>\n

John 15:6 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 6:\u00a0 If I don\u2019t remain in Jesus \u2013 i.e. if I don\u2019t believe in Jesus and don\u2019t have a relationship with Jesus \u2013 eventually God the gardener will cut me off and throw me into the fire.\u00a0 Fire here is likely a reference to hell and judgment.<\/p>\n

John 15:7 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 7:\u00a0 In addition to bearing fruit (v5), another benefit of remaining in Jesus and letting his words remain in us is that we\u2019ll experience the blessing of answered prayer (\u201cask whatever you wish, and it will be given you\u201d).\u00a0 That\u2019s because as we remain in Jesus and let His words remain in us, the things we want and the things we ask for in prayer become more aligned with what God wants.\u00a0 We start to experience the joy of God answering our prayers because we are praying the way God wants us to pray when we remain in Him.<\/p>\n

John 15:8 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 8:\u00a0 When you bear much fruit by believing in Jesus and becoming more like Jesus, it brings glory to your Father in heaven and you show that you are truly a disciple of Jesus.\u00a0 May you be a very fruitful branch in Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

Jesus, may I be a branch that remains in You and bears much fruit, for that is why You made me. Thank You that by Your Word You prune me, cleanse me, support me and lift me up, so that I can bear more fruit for You.\u00a0\u00a0 May Your words remain in me today, that the things I want and ask for would be consistent with what\u2019s on Your heart too.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is John 15:1-8.\u00a0 I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help, then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!
\n\u00a0
\nJohn 15:1-2 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
\n2\u00a0\u00a0He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
\n\u00a0
\nOn verses 1-2:\u00a0 Here Jesus refers to himself as the true vine.\u00a0 Why the \u201ctrue\u201d vine?\u00a0 It\u2019s because Jesus knew that soon his followers would be threatened by persecution and false teaching.\u00a0 Thus in calling himself the true vine Jesus is reminding his followers that he is the way, the truth and the life they are looking for, not anything else or anyone else.
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31418,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31416"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31419,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31416\/revisions\/31419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}