Bro. Smith's message Sunday night was so good. He spoke from John 15.
Jesus talked about the vine and the branches in John 15. He said "I am the true vine". That must mean that there might be some that aren't true. The husbandman is the keeper of the vineyard. He prunes and inspects the vines to produce as many grapes/fruit as possible. If you've ever grown tomato plants, you have seen "suckers" that need to be cut off. If they aren't, they will grow up in the middle of the plant and be a nice stem but have no fruit.
The word "ABIDE" means to dwell in, live in. Verse 4 says "abide in Me". Many people just dabble in church but do not abide in Jesus all the time. There is so much attraction in the world to draw you away from God, but just move in with Jesus and He will abide in you also.
How do we abide with Jesus if He's in Heaven? John 6:63 says "the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life". The Lord never leaves us alone. We have His Word and His Presence. Think about that. If you abide with Jesus, you must live in the Word, soak it up. If you do that, eat the Word, then your life changes, the Word gets into your spirit. But first, you have to be in the Scriptures. It takes work and if you aren't in the Bible for days or weeks, you get dull to it. Pick up the Bible again, and you will start to get hungry for the things of God once more. When you hunger and thirst for the Word, the spirit man awakens and desires more of the things of God.
John 15:7 contains that little word, IF. If brings to mind doubts. That tells you that you have a choice. You don't HAVE to do it, but IF you do, you may ask what you will and it shall be done unto you.
IF my words, Jesus said, abides in you, then you will bear much fruit and your Father is glorified. What is fruit? It is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and it comes forth and develops out of spending time with God. The next level is the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, and then that leads into the 5-fold ministry. It's easy to see how this thing snowballs--all from spending time with God in His precious Word. Remember God is never, never ever in error.
We may start to blame Him for unanswered prayer, but He wants you to have your prayers answered. Here is an important fact: If you're in His will, you won't ask anything that's not His will. Simply dwell on the Lord, get alive in Christ Jesus and you life will take on a whole new meaning.
Reading on to verse 11, Jesus comforts us by telling us why He has spoken these words to us. He wants His children to totally rely on Him for everything "that your joy might be full".
