Sunday 13th September 2015 - Abide - Rob Goldring

Abide John 15:1-17 • The picture is of Jesus being the vine and us being the branch v1-2 • Jesus tells us to abide in Him v5. Remain in Him. Stay closely attached to Him. Connect to Him. Spend time in His presence. Get to know Him. • But not just abide in Him, but He in us too v4. • If we do this, we will bear much fruit v5. • We must make time to spend with God. It goes without saying. Read the Bible, pray to Him. But if we do it as a religious exercise, just because we know it is something we out to do, it’s a valueless experience. If we read because we want to get to know Him more and pray with an expectancy that He will hear us, then there will be life in it. • v7 encourages us to let His words abide in us. We need to spend time studying His word. As part of our time with Him, we must spend quality time getting to know what the Bible says. We need to resist things that will pull us away from studying God’s word. • Are there things in your life that you do that prevent you from studying the Bible? Enjoy life, but make God a priority. • But that is only part of it. That is abiding in Him. He wants to abide in us. We must allow Him to work through us. Speak to us. Equip us. Allow His Holy Spirit power to flow through us. • If we can abide in Him and allow Him to abide in us, we will bear much fruit. What is the fruit? • The fruit is therefore the produce of whatever flows through the vine. • v9 says ‘abide in My love’ – if we abide in Jesus, we abide in His love. If we remain in Him, spend time in His presence, stay closely attached to Him, the love that is present in Jesus will flow through Him (the vine) and into us (the branch). It will then produce fruit. We will produce the love that comes from Christ and that is what will impact our life and the lives of those around us. This love will transform our lives. • If you have areas in your life that you struggle with – self-control, anger, jealousy – whatever it may be, fixing it yourself is only going to do a temporary job. Without Jesus you can do nothing v5. It will not count for anything, even if your implementation is successful. • Galatians 5:16-26 talks about walking in the spirit. ‘Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfil the lust of the flesh’. Allow the spirit to fill you and lead you and the desires of the spirit will outweigh the desires of the flesh. v22 tells us the fruit of the spirit. If we abide in the spirit, that will be the fruit. • That’s a personal element. The love that then flows through us will then have an impact on others. • John 13:34-35 tells us that if we love others (which will be a by-product of abiding in Jesus) then the world will know that we follow Jesus. • John17:23 – the world will see that God sent Jesus. That’s what it’s all about isn’t it? Conclusion • 1 Corinthians 13 – isn’t love good! That’s the kind of life I want to lead. • Abide in Him. Response • Are you producing much fruit?