I Heard It Through The Grapevine
Illus. By Sermon Central
On a certain isolated Pacific island, when a young man proposed marriage, it was customary to announce it to the entire village. Then he and the whole community would go to the young woman’s home. Her father would come outside and then – in front of the community – the father and suitor would barter.
Obviously, they didn’t view themselves as doing anything chauvinistic, even though we might view it that way somewhat.
The main item of value on this island was the cow. Therefore, the suitor would offer the father a certain number of cows for his daughter. The average bride was worth two cows, perhaps three if she was unusually bright or attractive. The all-time record was four cows.
The most eligible bachelor on the island was Johnny Lingo. He was handsome and wealthy. Imagine all of the excitement among the women of the island when Johnny announced one day that he had selected a wife.
But then he shocked everyone by announcing that his choice was a girl named Lisa. Lisa was not even in the top ten. She was regarded as rather plain and frightfully shy. Some of the jokers in the crowd even suggested that Lisa’s father might have to pay Johnny a cow or two.
The community gathered at Lisa’s house for the bartering. Then came an even greater shock. Johnny’s opening bid for Lisa was eight cows Her father almost fainted, but he managed to say yes. That very evening Johnny and Lisa were married.
They departed for their home on an adjacent island. For a full year no one saw Johnny or Lisa. Then on their first anniversary they returned to visit their parents.
From the moment they arrived at the dock, the Community grapevine went ballistic with gossip. Everybody said, “Come and see Johnny and Lisa You won’t believe it” Everybody came, but nobody noticed Johnny. All eyes were on Lisa.
She had been transformed, she was a vision of loveliness. She was poised, warm, friendly, and confident.
At the end of the day as Johnny and Lisa were preparing to return to their home, one of Johnny’s long-time friends pulled him aside and said, “I want to know the secret of this amazing transformation in Lisa. How did it happen?”
Johnny said, “I will tell you. From the time Lisa was born, she had been treated as though she was not worthy of very much. She had begun to believe what everyone said about herself. But I announced to the community that she was an 8-cow wife, and I have treated her just that way. She has become the vision of herself that she sees every day in my eyes.”
The accuser, with the worlds help (the grapevine) tries repeatedly to do to all God’s children, what the crowd had done for years to Lisa, the girl Johnny chose to marry.
The accuser says repeatedly there’s no value here, but God says differently in the word and throughout all of scripture.
* Oh he’s just a shepherd boy, no he’s a soon to be King.
* Oh she’s just a widowed childless woman, no she’s going to be the grandmother of David a man after my own heart.
* Oh she’s just a young girl, no she’s going to be the queen of the nation and will save the entire nation of Israel.
*Oh she’s just a prostitute, no that woman will be in the lineage of Jesus the Savior of the world!
In the English language there are usually at least two definitions for every word, that’s part of the reason English is so hard to learn. The word grapevine is no different.
: a climbing plant on which grapes grow
: an informal way of spreading information or rumors through conversation
Illus. By Alistair Wearing
OLDEST LIVING VINE
In Hampton Court, there is a grapevine that is reported to be the oldest living vine. It is over 230 years old. This grapevine has one root which is 3.6 metres (12 foot) round, and some of the branches are over 36.5 metres (120 foot) long. Despite its age the vine still produces 500 to 700 bunches (weighing 220 – 320 kg / 485 - 705 lb) of grapes each year.
Although some of the branches are 120 feet from the main root, they still bear the sweet and delicious fruit because they are connected to the vine. Each branch is connected directly to the stem and draws nourishment from it.
Although some of those branches are over 100 feet long, and no doubt hundreds of years old, they are still healthy and they still produce fruit as long as they’re connected to the vine.
Jesus said in John 15:5-8 NKJ
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you[b] will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
The other definition of grapevine, should really be called the gossip line. It is the worst communication devise ever conjured up. It is the only communication devise that lets everyone else no what’s going on and what’s going to happen to you, before you know what’s going to happen to you!
Illus. Song I heard it through the grapevine by Marvin Gaye
It took me by surprise I must say
When I found out yesterday
Don'tcha know that I heard it through the grapevine
Not much longer would you be mine
Oh, I heard it through the grapevine
Scripture says and we just read, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you[b] will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you”
You see, What God is saying is, “you don’t to worry about hearing things through the grapevine, when you are connected to the Vine!”
We don’t have to try to find the source of the Vine, when we are already attached to the Vine!
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you[b] will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”
Every bible hero Of Faith shares this common denominator, “they where all branches of the Vine!”
And they knew anything was possible, because of their reliance and dependence on The God of all Possibilities!
Even when the accuser tries to make you think otherwise in the way things might look and outcome is unsure, it’s only a distraction at best!
When you are connected to the Vine, God wants you to realize you should walk and act differently than those who are in the world. You should have a boldness, or great confidence about you!
Every Christian should rebuke the accuser and step into the abundant life God has ready and waiting for them! How? By realizing the availability the connection to the Vine and all the Vine is willing to supply to them!
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you[b] will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you!”
Will there be times when things might look differently? Yes, as sure as you need oxygen to breathe! But just because things somehow will look differently, doesn’t mean they will stay the way they look!
It’s in those times, the skin on the back of your neck needs to stand up with boldness and say, wait a minute....wait just a minute!
*This is contrary to God’s Word!
*This is contrary to God’s Promises!
*This is contrary to God’s Will for my life!
Don’t be moved by the way things look, be moved by what you know, more importantly by what God Knows! All through the Bible God inspired men to write things God wanted us to know and realize!
Jeremiah 29:11,12,13 NKJ
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart!
You have a God Given inheritance, sometimes you have to remind both yourself and those around you, including the accuser...of that ALL IMPORTANT PROMISE AND TRUTH!
And as long as you are connected to the Vine, you have the promise and assurance from God, that you will never lose your inheritance!
I want to share a story with you, concerning inheritances from the Old Testament we find in the book of Numbers.
Numbers 27:1-11 NKJ
Then came the daughters of Zelophehad the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, from the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph; and these were the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 2 And they stood before Moses, before Eleazar the priest, and before the leaders and all the congregation, by the doorway of the tabernacle of meeting, saying: 3 “Our father died in the wilderness; but he was not in the company of those who gathered together against the Lord, in company with Korah, but he died in his own sin; and he had no sons. 4 Why should the name of our father be removed[a] from among his family because he had no son? Give us a [b]possession among our father’s brothers.”
5 So Moses brought their case before the Lord.
6 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 7 “The daughters of Zelophehad speak what is right; you shall surely give them a possession of inheritance among their father’s brothers, and cause the inheritance of their father to pass to them. 8 And you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘If a man dies and has no son, then you shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter. 9 If he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance to his brothers. 10 If he has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. 11 And if his father has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to the relative closest to him in his family, and he shall possess it.’ ” And it shall be to the children of Israel a statute of judgment, just as the Lord commanded Moses.
What this was, was the first stand or fight for women’s rights. These daughters of Zelophehad said wait a minute! Our father had an inheritance, so we have an inheritance!
Our father wasn’t like the rest of the children of Israel, he was still connected to the one true Vine and did nothing to severe that connection, so we are still connected to the Vine and we want his share of inheritance which is rightfully ours.
His daughters, came to Moses in boldness and with authority! They didn’t wait around to hear the second hand news concerning their welfare through the grapevine. They presented their case to the Vine!
And what did God say?
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart!
And God would have me tell you, “In the thousands of years that has lapsed between then and now, NOTHING HAS CHANGED!”
We can still have the same boldness as these fatherless daughters did in the pursuit of their Inheritance! God is constantly on the lookout, ready to reward Boldness in your quest and desire for your Inheritance!
How many times have we all been guilty of saying, or have thought the phrase...”let me think about it and I’ll get back to you?”
The accuser would tell you, in the art of the distraction...if he can accomplish the let me think about it phrase in someone’s thinking, it’s 99% a done deal for him!
Faith isn’t let me think about what to do, Faith is an action word! Faith is the act of doing what you already know you should be doing, in spite of what you may think!
Sometimes stepping out of the boat can be a little scary, but it’s always rewarding! After the fact, I’m sure every other disciple said to Peter, I wish I would have stepped out of the boat with you!
Faith causes you to action, lack of faith causes you to think!
1st Chronicles 4:9-10 NKJ
9 Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name [c]Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.” 10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my [d]territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.
Most people still today would find it extremely hard to do what Jabez did. Jabez would tell you like Nike tells you, “just do it!”
Boldness in Faith (your connection to the Vine) demands what is rightfully yours! Timid faith or lack of, shows you are willing to settle for whatever you get, dictated by someone else’s interpretation of what they think you deserve!
Jabez didn’t say bless me with a little house at the end of the street like the rest of his brothers and relation. Jabez said Lord, bless me with the whole subdivision, the land around the subdivision, all 500 houses and the ones yet to be built, including the little one at the end of the street.
Now most people would think how could he have the audacity, to do such a thing?
Yet God said he was more honorable than all his brothers! Why? Because he was willing to be so bold to do exactly what he did to lay hold of his God Given Inheritance!
Where am I going with all this? The Inheritance God has for His Children is all encompassing! The Goodness from the inheritance God is willing and wants to share with His Children is incomprehensible!
Healing
Wholeness
Finances
Prosperity
Happiness
Enrichment
His Plans and Peace that passes all understanding
Everything Jesus has available to Him, God has given to Jesus to lavishly give you!
If you were to use all the adjectives in the English language available and put them together in an unending sentence of description, that description would still fall incredibly short of describing all God wants and desires for those whom He loves!
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you[b] will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you!”
Whatever is on your heart today, whatever you have need of, God wants you to come boldly, with the greatest of expectation...before the throne and lay it at the feet of Jesus.
Knowing Jesus stands ready to do the impossible, to bless you indeed, to take you to the high places, higher than you could ever hope or dream!
God would have me tell you first hand, “the best is truly yet to come!”
Do you receive it?
Amen?
