Secrets Of The Vine Series

How many of you were here a few weeks ago when I shared my secrets to doing laundry? I shared how you have to make sure you sort the clothes. You have to check the pockets. You might have to treat some of the stains and you have to use the right water. You might have been impressed that I knew so much about doing laundry. If you were here last week, you would see that not only do I know how to do laundry; I know how to do accounting. As I shared last week, I know the difference between debit and credit. I know some basic bookkeeping skills. Today, I am here to share with you some of my secrets of planting, growing, and maintaining a very productive vineyard. Some of you know that going on eight years in June Debbie and I have been married. When we first met I had some reservations because she is 100% Italian. I am about 100% German. That was a tough transition because Italians bring a lot to the table. As a German, the only thing I bring to the table is a good recipe for sauerkraut and bratwurst and maybe a good Polka tune. I just really don’t bring a lot to the table. I thought maybe I can impress her by learning a little bit about her culture, specifically learning how to maybe grow a vineyard. Over the years, I have gotten pretty good at it. There is a picture here that shows what my vineyard in my backyard would look like. There I am. Look at the size of that clusters of grapes. Aren’t you impressed? I have learned a lot about growing a vineyard in the last few years. I would like to share a little bit of those secrets. They are not that tough. They are not really secrets. The first thing you have to know when you plant a vineyard, you have to make sure you are planting in an area that has plenty of sunlight. Especially if you are going to be planting a grape of the European variety such as the Cabernet Sauvignon or the Pinot Noir or the Cabernet and those types of things. You have to make sure that it has plenty of sunlight. The soil isn’t even as important as the sun. You also have to make sure if you are planting a vineyard especially early on that the vineyard gets plenty of water and that you have a good irrigation system. You may have to water it every day when it first begins until those roots begin to sprout up. You have to water it on a consistent basis. But you don’t want too much water because if you have too much water you will flood it and the grapes don’t like the excess water. Not only do you need sunlight and water, but you have to make sure that occasionally, at least once a year, you go and prune the grapes. Specifically go and prune off the bad branches because there is a lot of dead wood there that is sapping the energy away from the producing parts of the branch. Not only do you need to prune it, you need to periodically get in there and clean the branches. Clean around the vine. What happens is the branches end up going into the ground and get dirty and basically become a place that would attract insects, bugs, and possibly even disease. Those are the basics of planting and maintaining a successful grape vineyard. Like I said, it is not too hard to learn about that. In fact, I found out everything I just said on Google. Just typing in “How do you make a successful vineyard?” The good thing is you don’t have to go to Google to find out how to plant a successful vineyard. All you have to do is open up the gospel of John to chapter 15:1 and you are going to see how Jesus teaches us how to plant and maintain a very productive vineyard. So turn your Bibles to John 15:1.

As a refresher, we have been looking at the book of John. In the table setting, the supper setting, we saw starting in 13 that Jesus was giving some last-minute instructions to the disciples. And how in 13 he got up and washed the disciples’ feet. We saw the betrayal of Judas in there. We saw how Jesus handed bread over to Judas and Judas took the bread and immediately he was filled with Satan and it became night. We saw how Jesus predicted the denial of his closest disciple Peter. At some point, Peter was going to deny Jesus not once, not twice, but three times before the rooster crowed. We saw how Jesus let his disciples know that he was going to go away. He was going to go away to his Father’s house and he was going to prepare a place for the disciples and he was going to come back to get them. Last week, we saw how Jesus said I am going away but I am not going to leave you as an orphan. In fact, I am going to leave you my spirit. I am going to leave the comforter that is going to be with you this whole time to walk alongside you. Today, we see the parable of the vineyard. We see in this story how Jesus is letting the disciples know that if you stay connected to me, you are going to be a good branch. You are going to be a branch that not just produces fruit but produces good and plenty fruit. We are going to read starting at 15:1 and read down to verse 17. (Scripture read here.)