john 15

I know all I've really been posting is the Word latley. Personaly I see that way more profound than anything I have to say. I was re-reading this this morning and several things jumped out at me. I just saw alot of what we talked about Sunday in here. About the difference of hearing and doing.

"I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away. And every one that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bring forth more fruit. Now you are clean through the Word which I have spoken to you.
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered. And they gather and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done to you. In this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, so you shall be My disciples. "

Ok. Stop right here. This we all know, I'm aware of that. It is just amazing to me how the Word is living. I've read this a thousand times and it has just now really clicked. To bear fruit is the "doing" part of what I have posted earlier. It's one thing to be a fruit tree and another to actually produce fruit. It's funny because you can look at the verse that says "everyone that bears fruit, He prunes so that it may bring forth more fruit." This pruning hurts. It involves a cutting. A cutting of what? You could go now to the "uncircumcised heart" and our process of "moving on to perfection". We always say repentance is a continuous thing, do we really believe it? It seems to me we despise the very thing that will produce more fruit, fruit unto righteousness in our lives. Jesus also says here "abide in me". that didn't sound like an option but rather a command. Jesus said that if we loved Him, we would keep His commands right? right.
The definition of abide is this: to remain; continue; stay; to have one's abode; dwell; reside; to continue in a particular condition, attitude, relationship, etc. To abide in Christ, that means that we have to actually know him. "We will never hear the voice of the Lord without being in intimate relationship with him. Does Jesus know you?" Jesus said that if we don’t bear fruit we would be cast out. We can’t say we are Christians or disciples of Christ if we do not abide in Him and bear fruit.

“As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you; continue in My love. If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love, even as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. I have spoken these things to you so that My joy might remain in you and your joy might be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master does. But I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.”

Right here Jesus said that we had to abide in His love and keep His commandments. He said to love one another. There is that relationship thing. It’s not an option. We have to have fellowship with one another. We have to love one another. If we don’t, we are not considered His friends. Notice the big “IF”. You actually have to KEEP (do) something.

“You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it to you. These things I command you, that you love one another."

Jesus has chosen us to bear fruit so anything less of that is a slap in the face to Him. He said that your fruit should remain. A lot of us have this mindset of “wow, I’m doing good right now.” What is that all about? We are not called to live in an emotional high (flesh) but in the Spirit. People tend to always go uP and DoWn. Jesus said here that “your fruit should remain the same”. This doesn’t mean that you get to one place and stop; this means that you leave Egypt never to return again. The farther you walk, the closer you get to the goal, but you never regress back. You never turn around. You always stay in relationship loving one another.

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, The servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept My saying, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no other did, they would not have had sin. But now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father. But that the Word might be fulfilled that is written in their Law, "They hated Me without a cause."

This right here is interesting. It seems as if he all of a sudden changes subjects but he really doesn’t. You can determine if you are of the world or abiding in Christ by the way the world looks, and treats you. He says that the world would love it’s own. Are you of the world? Is the world dead to you, or does it fascinate you? God said that he called us out of the world, to be in it, not of it. It says that since they persecuted Him, they would persecute us. Why would they persecute us? Well, why did they persecute Jesus? Because Jesus produced fruit unto righteousness. He DID things, lived them out, not just talked about them. The generation today feels uncomfortable when around someone who actually does what he says. Someone who walks the walk, not just talks the talk. This makes them uncomfortable because it shows them how flip-floppy they are. It’s been hard for me lately at school as far as this topic is concerned but there has been much grace through it all.

With this statement I will end this post for now. Really think about this.
Leonard Ravenhill once said, “And there’s no room for Him in the inn. He got a bit older and there was no room in His family, his family turned on Him. He went to the temple and the temple turned on Him. And when He died there was no room to bury Him, He died outside of the city. Well why in God’s name do you expect to be accepted everywhere? How is it that the world couldn’t get on with the holiest man that ever lived and it can get on with you and me? Are we compromised? Are we of no spiritual stature? Are we of no righteousness that reflects on their corruption?”