John 15:1-8
God is the eternal being, the beginning and the source of all life. He sent His life into this world through Christ Jesus. In today's Scripture, Jesus said in a parable that God the Father is the gardener, He is the true vine and we are His branches. No matter what, branches should remain in its tree in order to grow thick. The gardener, Father God nurtures us to believe in Jesus for He longs for us to remain in Jesus, the vine. The gardener Father's earnest hope is that all human beings live by the life of Jesus, the Only Son. The vine, Jesus' earnest desire is that all human beings are full of His life and He wants His branches to bear countless fruits by revealing the life of Jesus. "........I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." (John 6:47-51) "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father....." (John 14:12-14) Jesus Christ has invested Himself; He tore His flesh and shed His blood, to make us yield a life full of fruits. Unless any branches bear fruits, He will cut them down, this is the heart of the gardener. The branches without fruits only waste sap from the roots of the tree. The gardner and tree provide sap to the branches in order for us to bear fruits. The church is the body of the Lord, the vine and His part are the branches of the vine. Though His church has a mission to set dying souls free from sin, curse, death and hell, if it doesn't bear much fruits winning souls, He will cut people down who don't bear fruit. Whoever believes in Jesus should bear fruit by cling to Him. Unless we remain in Him it means we are already dead we can't bear any good fruits at all which the Father expects us to bring. Faith means that we are with Him. The reason that His church has to preach the Word of God is to make people bear fruit by giving the sap of life to them. This is the essence and function of the vine, Jesus. Therefore whoever has faith in Him should share the same will with Jesus and be checked as to whether they have or not by the signs and miracles of evangelism. We can not do anything apart from the Word of God. We are men of the Holy Spirit, without the Holy Spirit, we can't do anything and are a fruitless branch. "On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about." (Acts 1:4) "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8) Before they received the Holy Spirit,the diciples couldn't do anything apart from His Word. All the beleivers should be with Him in the work of the Spirit. "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching"(Ephesians 4:11-14) Dear brothers and sisters, we should finish last year without fruits. God gives us a new year for gaining good fruits through me, this is His grace. Let us bear fruits as the will of the Father and the Son. This is a spiritual chance from God. Let us live remaining in Jesus, the Holy Spirit and His Word by love, obedience, humbleness and meekness. This is our instinct for existence. "Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?' " 'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.' " (Luck 13:6-9)
