So lets go on
it says - go back to John 15
verse 2 every branch in me that does
not bear fruit he takes away
now this is something that
i used to be very concerned about
in fact yesterday i was
looking at a commentary
from a 1800's
you know from the period of nineteenth century
a commentary
from one of the scholars a well respected bible scholar
and he commented on this
and he says every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away he said that
that means God will take them home
to heaven
and it is quite frightening he is not the only one
many of them believed that in that day in the 1800s
many of them believed that this verse refers to if anyone does not bear fruit alright
God will take him home.. now does that frighten you?
like i said it should not frighten you because you know you will see Jesus
face to face but that is not what this verse is talking about
now
we have more and more people realizing the truth
and i have shared this down through the years the word takes away in the Greek
is the Greek word 'airo' which actually is
to lift up
You see a vine a vine when it is on
the ground it is supposed to cling
show them the trellis alright this is this is a vine tree
in fact it is very early
it is very early you cant see the thick branches yet
but this is the trellis by the way you can see trellis looks like the cross.
Amen so the nature of the vine alright
the branches will curl around the trellis
and thats how it
bears fruit it must be lifted to bear fruit
if a branch is on the ground and there is
no trellis ok it cannot
bear fruit the reason why many believers cannot bear fruit
is because the devil has cast them down
and they are depressed, they are wallowing
in the dust by the way the number one enemy of
Israel in the old testament is
are the Philistines, Goliath was a philistine
and the word 'philistine' in Hebrew means wallowing in the dust
the serpent's food is the dust
and and as long as the branch is on the dust
by the way some years ago when i was in Israel
i was walking down the road of Emmaus with some of my pastors
and we came across a vine tree
and one of the branches fell no one was taking care of it it was a wild vine
but it was a great vine
alright and this is the branch of a vine tree
that collapsed
and look at the branch it is drying up
it is not bearing fruit no one is caring for it and it is on the ground
the nature of the branch is that it clings to something
sometimes it clings around the pillar
sometimes ah it clings around a tree
and by the way
when when you roll up when you roll in a straight line
the vine tree with other vine trees in a straight line
when the branches come out they will inevitably
twirl around each other keep that in mind
they will twirl around branches will twirl around branches
it is like all of them are holding hands
that is the nature of the church
Amen..we love each other
we are interdependent
Amen and it is the branches it is not just a branch it is branches
you are the branches all of us
can i have a good amen
so you are meant to be lifted up
so the Lord says if a branch is not bearing fruit
God does not kick the branch,God does not slap the branch
God does not - ah too bad you fell
no what the Lord does to help it bear fruit
is the Lord lifts up, isn't the Lord
Jesus always lifting up
He lift up the woman of Samaria
When no one bothered to
to care for her
she came alone to the well
He cared for the woman of Nain when
her son died, He cared for the tears of Martha and Mary
He is always lifting
the bible says He went about doing good
healing all, always lifting up, always restoring
always and He raised Jairus' daughter He lifted her up
and He raised Peter's mother-in-law, He raised
her up, He is always lifting up
and the boy fell to the ground and the demon
was foaming and Jesus said, Leave him
alone, come out of him and enter no more
into him the demon left
and Jesus lifted up the boy, He is
always lifting up
when you dont bear fruit He lifts you up
not He takes you away
and the same word airo lifts up is used
of the ten lepers when they saw Jesus from afar the ten lepers lifted up their voice and said Jesus
have mercy on us, the word lift up their voice is 'airo'
in the Greek
in the book of Acts when the elders
and the priests threatend the apostles
okay to stop preaching in the name of
Jesus they went back to the
company and all of them lifted up their voice
to God 'airo'
lift up their voice
John 11 at the tomb of
Lazarus Jesus came to the tomb
and Jesus lifted up His eyes
Jesus lifted 'airo' His eyes
is the word 'airo', it is not 'take away'
it is 'lifts you up' a sermon from
God shall lift you up, not throw you down
the dust make you feel sin conscious
are you listening people? and how does God
do this after He Lifts us up?
watch this every branch that bears fruit He prunes
that it may bear more fruit
by the way we have fruit right?
we have more fruit
and later on verse 5 we have
much fruit
say fruit, say more fruit, say much fruit
you know what is more and much right?
much you cant count no more
it is much..Amen so be patient with yourself by the way
you start a church or you start a ministry or you start a company
or whatever give yourself two to three years
alright because vine tree by the way does not produce grapes immediately
after you plant the vine
you dont have results in the same year
in fact it takes about three years before
the vine produces grapes
about three years Amen
now some people get impatient, where are the grapes?
the first year, second year by the third year
you know what is happening during this time, during this three years
the root system is going down deep
and the branches is going out wide and strong
so that when the grapes come
they are in the position to hold the grapes
and to supply the nourishment and the water
Amen ..but even then in the third year
it bears grapes..it is really not grapes of wine quality
yet..ok you have to wait for another
5 to 6 years 5 number of grace
5 years alright then you have quality grapes for wine production
ok and you all know that even then
wine is only really good as
it matures the older the wine is
it is like men
the better it gets and all the men say A..men
and ladies as well..Amen ladies who are under
grace..Praise God..hallelujah
you know it gets better and better the longer it is yeah age
becomes a friend Amen you get better and the Lord says
I am the vine, He dint say I am the Durian tree
and you shall bear thorny fruit
some will love thy smell and some wont
no thank God He used the analogy of the vine
and by the way when Jesus turned the water into wine
He actually compressed time
because we all know that it takes about 5 to 6 years
to have quality grapes for vine and then even really good
wine..years
5 to 10 years
to twenty years even quality wine
the longer the better it is Jesus compressed all that
to save a wedding couple from humiliation
when the wine ran out Jesus did the
miracle turning water into wine
so that the master of ceremony not knowing where the wine came from
when he tasted it he says wow he called for the bridegroom
he says you know something most
people give good wine first because when their
taste is still there and they are coherent about what
they are drinking they give them good wine
after their drunk you give them anything they will drink it
but you have kept the good wine until now
Jesus gave that credit to the wedding couple, His first miracle
was showing Himself in this sign from John as the Lord of time
the second miracle He healed from a distance also from Cana ok
He is the Lord of space
and these are the two foundations of science - time and space
He is the Lord of time and space what He is saying is this
you don't have to ask Him to come down from heaven to touch you
He is the Lord of space
you don't have to say the doctor says I will recover in nine months
He is the Lord of time
He can compress time, He can do things in an instant
what takes man a long long time
alright the question is that do we believe because man's system is
so opposite that of the Lord man
says that you have to work before you can rest
God says you rest then you can work effectively
unless you are a branch you cannot you cannot produce
you cannot bear the fruit i hate to use the word 'produce' because it gives
the idea that you are producing the fruit the vine
is producing the fruit you are the
bearing fruit part of the vine
Amen
once a while it is good to sit down and just think
even right now His vine life is flowing
it does not flow intermittently, it does not flow then stop, it flows and then stop
no.. it flows consistently
on a continuum
even right now it is flowing