Remain in me (John 15;1-8)

God is our total source of life. 

He is the vital power. 

That’s why we are in absolute need of Him for true human life. 

He is the true vine. 

We are only branches 

Therefore if we want to get much fruit in our life 

Then there’s one thing that we must do, 

That is to remain in Him. Abide in Him. 

Jesus Christ is the source of supply for our fruitful life 

He is the only one who can strengthen us no matter what. 

That’s why set apart from Him. We can do nothing. 

Because; we are only branches. 

No branch can bear fruit by itself. 

The Bible says in Colossians 1:17, 

“In Him, all things hold together.” 

Everything comes out of Him. 

He is the creator. 

He is the manufacturer 

It’s like a fish, without water, the fish cannot survive, 

It’s the same, if we don’t remain in Him. 

If we are cut off from the Lord. 

Our spiritual life will wither and wither. It will dry up. 

And the Bible says, “It will be thrown into the fire and burned.” 

Brothers and sisters 

God wants you and me to bear much fruit, not thrown into the fire. 

He wants us to be winners and not losers. 

Then how can we have a much fruitful life? 

1st we need to remain in him 

Then what do you mean by remain 

Simple do not leave 

Continue to fellowship with God 

fellowship is communication and relationship. 

Fellowship is an exchange, 

Fellowship is not only receiving, 

It’s giving and receiving. 

so if we only want to receive and not give. 

That is not a good communication. 

That is not a good relationship. 

Fellowship is exchange. 

It’s not one way. Should be coming and going. 

There fore we must spent time fellowshipping with God. 

That is the distinguishing mark of Christians. 

We give prayer to Him. He will answer 

We give praise to Him. He will bless 

We give worship to Him. We will prosper in our spiritual life. 

We go one step towards him 

Then he will also draw near to us 

This is the real fellowship. 

Brothers and sisters 

If you have a good relationship with someone, perhaps you trust in him. 

If you have a friend who is faithful, you will open your mind to him. 

Jesus Christ, our Lord is faithful. 

He is loyal. He is our friend 

You will never have a friend like Jesus. 

Maybe, you had experienced. 

You trusted someone and got disappointed. 

But Jesus Christ will never disappoint us. 

He is not like other people. 

He is not like any of us. 

He will never hurt us. 

Say amen if you trust Jesus 

Yes, we must trust Him whether we are happy or in sorrow. 

Trust Him whether we have money or not. 

Trust Him whether we are sick or healthy. 

Yes we must trust Him in any circumstances. 

Then We will bear fruits in our lives 

2nd we need prune or trimming 

Today’s passage verse 2 says 

“He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, 

 while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes 

so that it will be even more fruitful.” 

We have to prune unnecessary branches in our lives 

When I go to Casibu church 

Ptr James gave us many citrus 

But he said I’m busy to ministry and Church building 

So he did not care for his fruit tree 

That ‘s why it did not produce much fruit and it’s not sweet  

Brothers and sisters 

It is the same with our spiritual life 

To have a fruitful life, we have to prune(trim) ourselves 

We have to prune worldly things in our lives 

We have to cut off our sinful nature 

We have to cut off our old self 

And have to follow God’s likeness 

Even there is a good (high quality) grapevine if not pruned regularly and left alone, 

it will become wild grape that is why it needs to be pruned every year 

Like this we need to prune our lives 

If there is hindrance in the way of our Christian life  

We need to cut off that one 

Depending on your pruning 

you can bear much fruit or not 

As we are born again Christian 

We need to cut off with our past life 

American Sociologist John Breathy Show says. “If you want to go, You have to be able to say good- bye.” 

And it’s true 

If you really want to be a successful Christian, if you really want to become a fruitful Christian 

You have to say good bye 

Goodbye tanduay . tongit . pusoy dos, shabu  Marlboro 

I tell you one story 

There is one couple who were newly married 

And they were in Baguio city for their honeymoon 

While the husband was taking a bath 

The wife called X- boy friend 

And said I miss you and bola bola… 

And her husband heard what she was saying 

Husband got angry 

Wife says to husband I’m sorry 

But it’s too late 

Next day they divorced 

Jesus is our bridegroom 

Then we have to say Good bye to our x-boy friend and x-girl friend 

We should no longer be interested with our Past life 

Focus and fix our eyes unto Jesus only and go forward to the Him 

And as we continue walking with him 

Then we will have much fruit in our lives, amen 

  

In the Bible, we know the story of the prodigal son. 

When the second son got all his inheritance, 

He left his father 

And what became the result? 

He spent all his money. 

And became like a beggar. 

Then he went back to his father. 

But his father waited for him to return. 

And finally he came back. 

The father celebrated his return. 

He was so glad that his son is finally at home. 

Brothers and sisters 

Maybe you know this story very well? 

But today I will not concern prodigal son 

I will consider his elder brother 

He never left his father 

He stayed with his father all the time 

And he worked for his father 

But his father celebrated for his prodigal son 

You might think that it was unfair for the elder son 

That is why the elder son also complained to his father. 

Let ‘s see the Bible in Luke 15:29~30 

'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. 

Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 

But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, 

you kill the fattened calf for him!' 

and do you know what the father answered? 

Let’s continue to read the Bible in Luke 15:31, 

‘The father said to his elder son. You are always with me and everything I have is yours.” (x2) 

Brothers and sisters 

The point is this one, 

If we remain in Him, everything that God has will be ours. 

But if we do not abide in Him, 

If we withdraw our fellowship with Him, 

That person places himself in a position of continual misery. 

He cut off the only source of power to help Him. 

Brothers & sisters 

abide in Him. Continue to remain in our source of power 

Jesus says, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, 

Ask what ever you wish, and it will be given to you.” 

Ask for anything you wish, and you shall have it. 

But there is the condition 

If we remain in him 

Brothers and sisters 

We must really and truly be one with Him by fellowship. 

Abide in him. 

Be united with the Lord 

Then His power will flow into us. 

We will bear much fruit in his season. 

Let us sing 

Father once again we thank you this afternoon 

We thank you massage that you have given to us 

Yes father only you have power we have none 

You are the vine and we are only branches Lord 

So now we proclaim that you are the king of kings 

you are my background I am nothing 

you are my Education I am nothing 

you are my strong tower and bread of life 

you are my everything 

so we surrender to you and rely our life to your hands 

help us to live with in you all the time 

help us to continue fellowship with you 

help us to remain in your power and love 

so that we can take nutrition from you 

and we can get much fruit in our lives 

once again I pray for the ABC 

father you bless Asia bible college 

bless all the ABC student 

while they are training here in ABC 

equip themselves for your will 

and use them for your glory and your kingdom 

thank Jesus that you empower us today 

we give all the glory, honor and praise to you 

in Jesus name