The Gardener

John 15:1-5

There are many times that we experience pain and suffering, trials and tribulation, or heartache and we wonder why.

We need to look in to God’s word for the answer because sometimes it is because God is getting us to were we need to be in our relationship with Him.

Verse 1-I Am The True Vine

Before we can bear fruit we need to understand where our source is. He is ow source.

Any other source is not true and has no everlasting power. It is an imitation and counterfeit.

Education, Our Job, Physical Appearances, Drugs and Alcohol, Even Relationships... Can be counterfeit, or non-productive to our life if we place them above our relationship with the Lord.

It is in Him we find life, It is in Him we find purpose, It is in Him we find strength, It is in Him we find hope, and it is in Him we find something that last!

The Vinedresser-Who is it? My Father!

The one who knows you best! The one who knows what is best for you!

The one who knows what it takes to get you to be more fruitful!

Verse 2-What is the job of the vinedresser? To get the most fruit out of the vine!

How does he accomplish this? He prunes, but not so much that it kills the vine, but enough so the branches will have new life!

The cucumber plants would have these sprigs or shoot that grew from the branches and you had to cut them off because they would not produce in cucumbers and they would suck up sap from the vine and the cucumbers would not get as big or they might even die!

I need the vinedresser to prune the things in my life that arc robbing me of fruitfulness.

He take away-Why do we see some people who follow God for awhile then you don’t see them any more?

Because God begins to prune them, God begins to mold them into in His image and they can’t handle what is happening in their life and instead of turning to God they turn away from Him!,

He Prunes-Have you ever seen a tree or a bush that has been pruned?

It is not a pretty site and you wonder if it is ever going to look good again, but when it time for it to bloom or to for it to produce fruit, you can not believe how beautiflul it is and how productive it is!

Verse 3-Clean

Prune and clean in that language have the same meaning.

What does it say that prunes or cleanses us? His Word!

You can not study God’s word without it change you or convicting you of sins in your life!

Verse 4-Abide

Guess where the vinedresser is when he is pruning a tree? He is right there next to the tree!

God is right there next to you when He is pruning your life!

He could not be any closer to you that when those troubles come, disappointment arrive, those heartaches appear!

Greatest source of discouragement and frustration in a Christian’s life is:

We want to do the right thing. We want to accomplish great things for God.

We want to please God. But we don’t really understand how that gets done.

We try to live the Christian life but the problem is that it is us trying to live it rather than Jesus living it through us.

Branches-The relationship between the branch and the vine can be summed up in one word: Dependence.

I am dependent upon Jesus as the vine to supply His life thru me.

My life is simply an extension of His life.

Most of us try to live our lives as if we were the vines and Jesus is attached to us, a kind help and support to us, do what we want to do.

We have ow goals, our desires, that we want Jesus to help us accomplish, help us to achieve those goals, those desires!

But Jesus wants us to understand something. He is not an attachment to our lives. We are an attachment to His life.

Verse 5-Bears Much Fruit:

Types of Fruit

Inner Fruit —Galatians 5:22-23-But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Your inner fruit turns into outer fruit!

Outer Fruit — You bear outward fruit when you allow God to work tbrough you to bring Him glory.