- Eternal Abiding 240-year-old vine still growing in Hampton Court. It is the oldest and largest living vine in the world with a root two feet in diameter. Planted in 1768 by Lancelot Brown, the fruit of this vine was intended for royalty. 500 to 700 bunches of grapes a year that weigh 220 to 320 kg The largest recorded crops of grapes from the Vine were 1,800 bunches in 1798 and 2,245 bunches in 1807. some of the smaller branches are 200 feet from the main stem, they still bear the sweet and delicious fruit because they are connected to the vine. Life flows from that single root and through out the vine bringing nourishment and strength to each of the branches.
Review of Previous Messages Week 1- Eternal Fruit- Getting a Vision of Eternity Week 2- Eternal Discipline- Getting Rid of the Mud Week 3- Eternal Pruning- Establishing Essentials Final Message- Eternal Abiding- Staying Connected Your place is to remain.
“Remain 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. 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.”- John 15:4-5 Nothing is strong language. Isn’t that a little extreme? Why is abiding or remaining in Christ so critical to bearing fruit? “Imagine a grape branch, severed from the trunk and lying in the dust. For that severed branch to produce one new leaf, flower, or grape would be impossible.” “Picture the place where ancient trunk meets vigorous branch… Here is the connection where life-giving nutrients in the sap flow through to the developing fruit. The only limitation on the amount of sap that goes to the fruit is the circumference of the branch where it meets the vine.” The only limitation we have to bearing much eternal fruit in our lives is a lack of connection with God. 1st rule, 2nd rule 3rd rule of the vine, If your life bears a lot of fruit, God will linvite you to abide more deeply with him Abiding, remaining is a command, we must act! My father constantly tells me, “You only get out what you put in!” The reality is that if I do not stay connected to God, all I have to offer others is myself… and my wife, children, church, and community need so much more than just me. Here is a reality we must all understand if we truly want to be a blessing to others, “You can only do so much.” When we are connected to the God that is good, there is a constant flow of goodness in and through our lives… not just temporary acts, or human-driven, human-limited goodness. Abiding in God opens the door to God’s resources of love, wisdom, passion, patience, power, grace, and generosity to flow through our lives. God will only nudge your so long. Drift Happens I once went to the beach and lied down on a lilo. If the current was stronger or if there was a sudden wave, I would have probably opened my eyes and paddled back… but the subtlety of the water kept me oblivious to the realization of my drift.
I think this is a good analogy of what happens with us and God many times. If we are not aware, the current of our culture can slowly take us away. Things seem good, calm, and we don’t even notice a current, but the next thing we know, we’ve drifted. If you go on a treadmill and put the speed to .5 mph, it seems so slow… almost like standing still. The effort it takes to keep up is almost negligable. However, if we do nothing and allow ourselves to drift at .5 mph in one day (16 hrs.), we would drift 8 miles. “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.” What’s scary about all this is that we can drift from God even when we’re doing work for God. We can get so caught up in working for God that we forget to spend time with God. We can get so caught up producing results for God that we forget our own relationship with God. Friendship! We believe God loves us, but do we think God likes us? Jesus is saying sit down, stay a while “The ultimate key to bearing much fruit is not doing more for God, but being more with God.”
Yes, God would love to see more of us get involved in serving. Yes, God would love for those us serving to give our absolute best… but God is reminding all of us today that we must stay in constant connection with Him if we truly want to bear fruit for God and His glory.
If that’s our real goal, not building our own kingdom, or serving just so we can feel good about ourselves… if we really want to glorify God and help others, we must stay intimately connected to real Source of Life.
Eternal Fruit does not equal what we can produce. Eternal Fruit = Staying connected to the True Vine.
Bringing It Home If you were to draw an honest picture showing what your connection or relationship with God is like today, what would the picture look like? Close, tight, intimate…. or hanging on by a thread or disconnected? “If you have been feeling distant from God, guess who moved?”
The good news is that no matter far we feel from God, God is calling us to “open our eyes” and start “paddling back”. It’s never too late. Principle 1: to Abide you must deepen the quality of my devoted time with God
- set apart quality time to be with God
- Savour God’s words to you
- Talk and listen to a person
- Keep a daily written record of what God is doing in your life
Principle 2: To break through to abiding, my devoted time must change into an all day attentiveness to his presence, brother andrew
Spiritual Disciplines- of Abstinence Solitude: Silence: Fasting: Frugality: Chastity: Secrecy: Sacrifice:
Disciplines of Engagement Study: Worship: Celebration: Service: Prayer: Fellowship: Confession: Submission:
Abiding not based on feelings, we need to obey
Maths- work less + spend more time with him = More fruit?
- helps us sense the leading of God
- taps us into the spiritual riches of God
- Gives us rest for need to bear a greater yield
- Gives us the promise of answered prayer
- Nothing gives God greater pleasure than when we ask for what he wants to give
As the fruit grows in you, you will be amazed by the abundance, but you will know you had nothing to do with it! As we close this sermon series, the biggest question we must wrestle with is this, “What do we really want?” Do we really want the eternal, abundant life God desires for us? Do we really want God? What do we really long for?
Conclusion John 21, Peter taking the leap! Leaving all doubt behind, abundnace then flowed We need to take the leap, Do you hear the Lord calling? I hope you jump
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