Month: April 2013

Fruit
April · branch and fruit · Branch and fruit · Christian. · Spring --Vine Branch Fruit · Vine · Vine

Fruit

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The vine and the branch produce fruit.  I think sometimes when we think about fruit in regard to Christianity we think of conversions of non believers to believers.  But looking at Jesus words on fruit and Paul’s definition of fruit of the Spirit, I think fruit is about our lives and our actions.  Do we live our lives in Christian righteousness?  Do we live a life that demonstrates the love of Christ?

Matthew 7:

15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

The Fruit is a direct result of the Spirit in us.  The fruit creates a sweetness in life that others see as pleasant. A Christian filled with the Spirit lives a life different from the world.

Galations 5:

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

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

24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Branch
April · branch and fruit · Branch and fruit · Christian. · Vine · Vine

Branch

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John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

The tender growth are the branches that grow from the strong solid vine.  The eventual fruit of these vines will grow from these tender, well tended, branches.  The branch has several purposes, but without the vine, it does not have the nourishment or stability to create fruit.

We are to be one with Christ. God provided the Holy Spirit to be that force inside us which connects us to Jesus and to the Father.

John 14:

15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

Tomorrow we look at the fruit of the vine; then we can focus on gardening.

April · Branch and fruit · Christian. · Spring --Vine Branch Fruit · Uncategorized · Vine · Vine

The Gardener and the Garden of Pleasure

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15 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman

Check out the word husbandman and it is translated the farmer.

Our God gardens.  Look at his first project.

After creating the world; he created a garden.
He chose a place east of Eden.  The word eden means delight or pleasure.  There the Lord planted a garden.  The world was created with plants and animals.  He created a man and then he created a special place for him to live. A place so wonderful it’s name was The Garden of Pleasure.  We treat the word pleasure like it is nasty, but pleasure should be pure.  Pleasure comes from enjoying the delights God has given us in the setting He provides.

So what did God plant in the Garden?

Genesis 2:8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

9 And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Then God brought the living animals He created to Adam so He could name them.

Genesis2:19 And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

Then God created the woman to be in the Garden with Adam.

Our Creator loves to fashion what is beautiful.  And in the evenings, God came and spent time one on one with Adam and Eve.

Genesis3:8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day:

Now Jesus in John 15 tells us God is gardening again.  Jesus is the vine, we are the branches and the Father tends the vine to produce fruit.

The Vine
April · Branch and fruit · Vine

The Vine

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I am the true vine  — Jesus’ words

I realize many plants grow as vines, but we are talking grape vines.  The vine is the main structure of the grapevine.  The vine winds up from the roots and chooses the direction the plant will grow.  The branches, the fruit, the leaves everything spreads out from the vine.  Running through the vine are tissues (phloem and xylem).  Through these systems the sap and all the nutrients the plant needs are moved from the leaves to where it is needed.  Or minerals and water are pulled up from the roots to supply the branches and to produce the fruit.  The vine stores excess carbohydrates  in the trunk and roots during the good times to provide the plant when times are less favorable.

Jesus, through the Holy Spirit is our vine.  He directs our growth in the direction which is best.  He provides the spiritual, emotional and physical needs for us.  He stores for us what is needed in the hard times.  We are nothing without the vine.  Even the fruit of the vine withers and dries up once picked.  

But Jesus promised to send us the Holy Spirit who makes us one with Christ; who is one with the Father.

John 14:

16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.

20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

It’s Spring–A Time for Growth and Fresh Fruit
Spring --Vine Branch Fruit

It’s Spring–A Time for Growth and Fresh Fruit

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April showers bring May flowers. Spring is in the air and life is starting to return all around us. It is time for growth and preparing to bear fruit.

My April study will focus on the Vine, The Branch and Much Fruit.

John 15

15 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and 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.

12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.

18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.

22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.

23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also.

24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.

25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.

26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.