Discover Jesus: I AM The Vine
John 14:7 (NLT) If you had really known Me, you would know who My Father is.
“I am the Bread of Life”
“I am the Light of the World”
“I am the Door”
“I am the Good Shepherd”
“I am the Resurrection and the Life”
“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”
John 15:5 (NIV) “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.”
John 15:1-17 (NIV) “I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener. 2 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. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in Me, as I also 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. 5 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. 6 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. 7 If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples. 9 As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Now remain in My love. 10 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. 11 I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are My friends if you do what I command. 15 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. 16 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. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
The Vine
Isaiah 5:1-7 (NLT) Now I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a rich and fertile hill. 2 He plowed the land, cleared its stones, and planted it with the best vines. In the middle he built a watchtower and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks. Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes, but the grapes that grew were bitter. 3 Now, you people of Jerusalem and Judah, you judge between me and my vineyard. 4 What more could I have done for my vineyard that I have not already done? When I expected sweet grapes, why did my vineyard give me bitter grapes? …7 The nation of Israel is the vineyard of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. The people of Judah are his pleasant garden. He expected a crop of justice, but instead he found oppression.
1. He is the Messiah—God in the flesh.
2. He is everything Israel was meant to be…and more.
Are we connected?
The Pruning
John 15:2 (NIV) 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.
Prune — “to cut back, to remove, to trim away what is unnecessary or unhealthy.”
Fruitfulness doesn’t exempt us from pruning—it guarantees it.
Hebrews 12:10-11 (NLT) For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in His holiness. 11 No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.
Can we trust the Gardener?
The Abiding
John 15:4 (NIV) Remain in Me, as I also 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.”
John 15:7 (NIV) If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
Abide — “to stay, to dwell, to continue, to make your home in.”
Are we truly abiding in Jesus, or just occasionally dipping in?
The Fruit
John 15:4 (NIV) No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.
John 15:5 (NIV) If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.
John 15:8 (NIV) This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples.
1. Fruit is not about performance—it’s an overflow.
Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT) But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control.
2. Fruit is never about us—it’s always about others.
Romans 12
1 Corinthians 12-14
1 Peter 4
1 Peter 4:10 (NLT) God has given each of you a gift from His great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.
Jeremiah 17:5-8 (NLT) This is what the Lord says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord. 6 They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land. 7 But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. 8 They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.
Are we producing the kind of fruit that God desires?
The Joy
John 15:11 (NIV) I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
Psalm 4:7 (ESV) You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.
Psalm 16:11 (NIV) You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence…
Isaiah 60:5 (NKJV) Then you shall see and become radiant, and your heart shall swell with joy…
Romans 15:13 (NIV) May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Are we experiencing the joy Jesus promised?