Introduction — “The Gospel According to Motown (and Ma Bell)”
Back in the day of homesteading, some of my relatives lived on a farm.
It was a big day when the telephone company finally strung wire out to the countryside, hooking up rural America to the world.
These early installations usually involved what they called a party line.
Several homes shared the same wire — so if you picked up the receiver and listened carefully, you could hear what was happening down the road before anyone else.
If you were discreet, you didn’t need CNN.
You just needed a quiet room, good ears, and a finger that didn’t jiggle the receiver.
It was the original social media.
Information traveled fast.
So did gossip.
And once something made it onto the party line, you could never pull it back.
That’s where Marvin Gaye’s old Motown hit comes to mind:
> “I heard it through the grapevine…”
But Jesus talked about another kind of grapevine — one that doesn’t spread rumor but life.
In John 15 He said, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.”
In other words, there are false vines out there — lines of communication that look alive but carry nothing of heaven’s power.
So the question today isn’t whether you’re connected.
It’s what you’re connected to.
Because every one of us is plugged into some kind of grapevine.
Some of us are tuned to heaven’s frequency.
Some of us are still eavesdropping on the world’s party line.
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I. The Connection — “I Am the True Vine” (John 15 : 1–3)
The vine was one of Israel’s oldest national symbols. You can still find it carved into the stone lintels of ancient synagogues and woven into temple decorations. To the people of God, the vine represented their identity — their calling to be fruitful for the nations.
But here comes Jesus saying, “I am the true vine.”
Not the temple, not your heritage, not your system of religion — Me.
He’s saying: “Connection to Me is life. Everything else is imitation.”
We all have wires running into our souls.
Some connect us to things that drain us — news feeds, fear, comparison, old voices that tell us we’re not enough.
And some connect us to things that restore us — Scripture, prayer, worship, fellowship.
The branch doesn’t live by its effort; it lives by its connection.
You can tape a branch to a trellis and spray it green, but if it’s not attached to the vine, it’s already dying.
I remember visiting a friend who ran a small vineyard. He showed me a branch that had been accidentally cut during pruning. For days it still looked alive — the leaves stayed green, the fruit even stayed firm. But it was no longer connected. Within a week, it had withered, shriveled, and fallen to the ground.
That’s the picture Jesus paints.
Some people look connected because they’re close to church things, ministry things, religious things — but they’re not connected to Him.
Question: How long can a Christian look alive without being attached to Christ?
The truth is: not long.
Because the life doesn’t come from the branch; it flows through the branch from the vine.
You can’t f ake sap.
When Jesus says, “I am the true vine,” He’s not inviting us to perform; He’s inviting us to remain.
To keep our lives plugged into His love and His Word.
Faith isn’t a weekend visit — it’s a living connection.
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II. The Pruning — “Every Branch That Bears Fruit…” (John 15 : 2–3)
Now, the Father is the vinedresser — the One who cares, cuts, and cultivates.
And if that makes you nervous, remember this: He’s not cutting you off.
He’s cutting you back.
That’s an important difference.
Jesus says, “Every branch that bears fruit, He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”
That means the very evidence of growth in your life may be the reason God brings His pruning shears close.
Pruning feels like loss — like something’s being taken away.
But pruning is actually the mercy of God protecting you from the weight of too many leaves.
When you see a vineyard after pruning, it looks brutal. Branches are lying everywhere; the vine looks almost naked. But every cut has a purpose. The vinedresser knows where to snip and how deep to go. If he doesn’t cut, the vine will waste energy on growth that doesn’t bear fruit.
Maybe God’s been cutting back your plans, your pace, your pride.
Maybe He’s been trimming relationships, habits, or distractions that were sapping your strength.
He’s not punishing you — He’s preparing you.
Rumor-based faith says, “God’s cutting me off.”
Truth-based faith says, “He’s cutting me back so I can bear better fruit.”
And there’s another thing — when you stay connected during the pruning season, the sap never stops flowing.
You may feel the knife, but you’re still attached to life.
That’s why the difference between pruning and dying is connection.
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Pruning Grapes
If you’ve ever pruned grapevines, you know it’s not for the faint of heart.
At first glance, it looks like you’re destroying the plant.
You take what was wild and leafy and cut it back until almost nothing remains.
Every instinct in you wants to stop.
You think, “Surely this can’t be right — there’s barely anything left!”
But the experienced vinedresser knows: a vine left to itself grows long and leafy but produces small, sour grapes.
Too many shoots mean the sap is spread too thin.
So he cuts away what looks alive —but isn’t fruitful.
A friend once told me, “The vine doesn’t understand the cut, but the gardener does.”
That’s exactly what Jesus is saying.
The Father knows which parts of your life are bearing fruit and which parts are just leafy noise.
You might be in a pruning season right now.
Maybe God’s been trimming your plans, or scaling back what you thought you needed.
He may even have removed certain people from your life — branches that looked promising but would have pulled you down later.
When God prunes, it hurts.
You feel exposed, smaller, and sometimes misunderstood.
But what looks like loss is actually investment.
The vinedresser isn’t angry — he’s aiming for sweetness.
Because when next season comes, that trimmed vine will carry heavier clusters, richer in flavor and fuller in joy.
Pruning is proof that you’re alive, that God hasn’t given up on you.
He only prunes what He plans to keep.
So when you feel the shears, don’t panic.
You’re not being punished — you’re being prepared.
You’re not being cut off — you’re being cut back.
Jesus said,
> “Every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”
He doesn’t say some branches — He says every.
That means even the healthy, growing, faithful Christian will face pruning seasons.
Why? Because growth brings new shoots, and new shoots bring new distractions.
Without pruning, even success can choke the sap.
The secret isn’t understanding the cut — it’s trusting the hand that holds the shears.
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III. The Communication — “Abide in Me and I in You” (John 15 : 4–7)
When Jesus says “Abide in Me,” He’s not talking about an occasional visit.
He’s describing a continual connection — a living, breathing relationship.
The Greek word for abide means “to remain,” “to stay put,” “to make your home.”
We live in a world that prizes mobility — new jobs, new cities, new phones, new fads.
But Jesus says, “Stay right here — in Me.”
Don’t just stop by for inspiration; move in for transformation.
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A Vine’s Hidden Conversation
A grapevine has a kind of internal language.
Sap moves constantly through its tissues, carrying sugar, minerals, and signals between the roots and the leaves.
When the sun is too hot, a message travels down the vine to close the pores.
When water is scarce, the roots call for rain.
The whole plant is whispering life back and forth.
That’s what abiding looks like in the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the sap.
Prayer is the conversation.
Scripture is the nourishment carried through the line.
When you pray, it’s not one-way communication — heaven’s sap flows back.
You breathe in His presence and breathe out His praise.
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Tuning to the Right Frequency
If you’re not abiding, you end up living on hearsay spirituality.
You start repeating what you once heard instead of hearing what God is saying now.
It’s like a radio slightly off frequency — static everywhere, fragments of melody, but no clear voice.
Then you turn the dial just a little, and suddenly the signal is clean.
Abiding is that adjustment of the heart that clears the static.
That’s why Jesus said,
> “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
He’s not handing out a blank check; He’s describing alignment.
When His words dwell in you, your desires begin to harmonize with His.
You stop echoing the world’s grapevine and start resonating with the True Vine.
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I Heard About God — or I Heard From God?
There’s a huge difference between the two.
“I heard about God” is secondhand.
“I heard from God” is relational.
Rumor says, “I heard He can save.”
Faith says, “He saved me.”
Rumor says, “I heard He forgives.”
Faith says, “He forgave me.”
The party line passes opinions; the Vine passes life.
Which line are you on?
Romans 10 : 17 says,
> “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”
Every morning, before the day starts buzzing, plug into the right line.
Open your Bible.
Listen for His whisper.
Before you scroll, abide.
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IV. The Fruit — “By This My Father Is Glorified…” (John 15 : 8–11)
Fruit is not performance; it’s overflow.
When you abide, fruit happens naturally.
You don’t have to tape apples to a fence and call it an orchard.
Jesus says the Father is glorified when you bear much fruit — not when you look busy, but when your life drips with His character.
The fruit of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control — is heaven’s produce line.
And each piece tells the world something about the Vine.
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The Evidence of Connection
Grapes aren’t loud.
They don’t advertise.
They just hang quietly until the sweetness speaks for itself.
Real Christianity doesn’t need constant proof-posting; the flavor tells the story.
People around you start tasting something different — grace under pressure, peace under stress, forgiveness under fire.
They may not know the verse, but they know the Vine.
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A Story from the Vineyard
Years ago, a California vineyard nearly lost its harvest because of bad information.
Someone spread a rumor that a pest had invaded the region.
In panic, workers sprayed chemicals that burned the leaves and stunted the crop.
The problem wasn’t the pest — it was the rumor.
Likewise, churches can wither under misinformation.
Gossip kills faster than drought.
Rumor poisons faster than blight.
But truth — truth heals, strengthens, and sweetens.
When a congregation abides in Christ, its conversations change.
The gossip line turns into a prayer line.
The complaint line becomes a praise line.
And fruit begins to show where friction once grew.
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Joy in the Vine
Jesus ends this passage with a promise:
> “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
Abiding doesn’t make life easier; it makes it richer.
You stop chasing happiness — that thin, temporary buzz — and you start tasting joy, the deep, abiding sweetness that doesn’t depend on circumstances.
Joy is the flavor of fruit grown on the True Vine.
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Conclusion — Stay on the Line
Back on those old party lines, there was one unspoken rule:
If you stayed on too long, the operator could tell — the line would hum, voices would fade, and eventually someone would say, “You still there?”
God is asking the same question today: “You still there?”
Stay on the line.
Keep the receiver lifted toward heaven.
Don’t hang up when pruning hurts or when silence lingers.
Because when you stay connected to the True Vine, you won’t have to “hear it through the grapevine” — you’ll hear it straight from the Source.
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Final Appeal
Maybe you’ve been running on rumor faith — secondhand stories of what God once did for someone else.
Today, He’s inviting you to plug back in, to make His presence your home again.
Let the sap flow.
Let the pruning finish its work.
Let His joy ripen in you.
Because the sweetest grapes grow on branches that stayed through the cutting season.
