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Abiding in ChristIntroduction
Fruit is the part of a plant that produces food and seed.
1. Food symbolizing the sweet flavor of a changed personality, conformed into Christ’s image. (Galatians 5:22,23)
2. Seed symbolizing an effort to share God’s message and life to a lost and hopeless world. (Matthew 13:1-23)
Food
Galatians 5:22,23
The Fruits of the Spirit, which show a changed personality are love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
These fruits, when being expressed in the life of a believer, give us what we need to be able to scatter seed. It also makes us resemble Christ’s character and is good for us and others.
Seed
Matthew 13:1-23
The success of the sower in this parable is based completely on the condition of the hearer’s heart.
Path – Lack Understanding
Rocky Soil – People receive the Word with joy but when testing comes they fall away.
Thorns – Worries and anxieties of life, deceitfulness of wealth, choke out the Word
Good Soil – This person hears and understands producing a crop 30 60 or 100 x’s what was sown.
Here success is attributed to the wise
Proverbs 11:30 (Amplified)
The fruit of the [uncompromisingly] righteous is a tree of life, and he who is wise captures human lives [for God, as a fisher of men--he gathers and receives them for eternity].
Outline
I. Fruit production is very important to God
II. Fruit production for the believer begins with personal holiness.
III. Abiding in Christ is a key to fruit production
III. Abiding in Christ is a Key to Fruit Production
John 15:1-8
A. There are false vines, Jesus is the True Vine.
B. God the Father is the Gardener
C. We are to stay in Jesus just like he stays in us.
D. In the same way a branch cannot bear fruit by itself we can’t bear fruit unless we remain in the vine (Jesus)
E. Abiding in Christ is a key to seeing our prayers answered.
F. Being fruitful is one way we show ourselves to be his disciples.
G. Our fruit is to last and we are to love each other.
A. There are false vines, Jesus is the true vine.
People have a decision to make where they are going to receive a flow of life.
- Worldly possessions
- False Prophets
- Affirmation of people
- Various accomplishments
- The Lord Himself
B. God the Father is the Gardener
He cuts off the fruitless
He prunes / cleans the fruitful so they are even more fruitful.
The Greek for he prunes also means he cleans. Jesus declared the disciples clean because of the word he had spoken to them. v. 3
The Word of God has a component to it that cleans hearts.
Psalm 119:11
11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
Ephesians 5:25-27
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
C. We are to stay in Jesus just like he stays in us
Our commitment to Jesus should be like his commitment to us.
Our love for Jesus should be like his love for us.
It’s pictured by a marriage. Not breakable until death. Jesus would never divorce you therefore you shouldn’t divorce him.
D. In the same way a branch cannot bear fruit by itself we can’t bear fruit unless we remain in the vine.
1. This illustrates how we must abide and remain in Christ.
E. Abiding in Christ is a key to seeing our prayers answered.
- When we abide in Him we’ll pray his will.
- 1 John 5:14,15 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
- This truth should be a faith builder, giving the person of prayer tremendous confidence and persistence.
- James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
- Persistence – The Parable of the Persistent widow. Luke 18:1-8
F. Being fruitful is one way we show ourselves to be his disciples.
A disciple is a student who follows. If Jesus was fruitful and raised up disciples his disciples should be like him and do the same thing.
Loving is another way we show ourselves to be his disciples.
John 13:35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Being fruitful is a way to show love. Sacrificing our identity and life for another is a very high kind of sacrificial love. (The first time I was “Nate’s Dad”)
John 12:24
Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
G. Our fruit is to last and we are to love one another.
The way fruit lasts is that it also bears fruit. Your spiritual offspring raising up spiritual offspring. Having spiritual sons and daughters is great but what about spiritual grand children?
What makes this happen is dying to ourselves and loving someone else, sharing with them, equipping them, serving them until they are prepared to do the same.
It all starts with someone making a decision to follow Jesus.
If you'd like to learn more about becoming a Christian please click here and watch all four videos on the page. Visit with us at Jubilee Family Church this Sunday at 10:15 AM Central Standard Time U.S.A. or Wednesday evening at 6:30 PM Central Standard Time U.S.A. or via internet video on Jubilee T.V.
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45 Thunderbird Dr.
Batesville, AR 72501
(870) 793-9124
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