All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others

the beautiful chapter

The Beautiful Chapter ~ John 15. John #76

Listen to this podcast: https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/19c43650/the-beautiful-...

The Master teacher symbolizes just how close we are meant to be to him ~ as close as branches connected to the vine . . . that is, if we want to feel his life flowing through us, if we want to live fruitful, effective lives, filled with love and joy. Can one chapter in John really unlock such things for us?

I give to you the entire chapter (you can listen if you click the aqua-colored podcast button above) . . . what is it that speaks most to you today? What words do you wish you could hear Jesus say directly to you? I have underlined a few, maybe you have others.

Highlighting the importance of a vital, close relationship with him, Jesus said,

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He 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. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. [Another translation says "Abide in me, as I also abide 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 you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’

“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. John 15.

I wanted to stop at a bunch of the sentences and comment, but I guess that's what the next few days will do! Jesus spoke these things to his disciples that last night together - words of challenge, meaning, inspiration, love and even warning . . . all meant just as much for us today. Stay tuned . . .

Christine

PastorWoman.com

5/Prayer: Take a few minutes to pray. You can be certain you will be heard! Ask God for wisdom and favor, for a sense of his presence in and around you, Give God the contents of your mind, open your heart to him - he loves you like no other.

the beautiful chapter

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