If You Remain

IF/Then

It’s 8:12 a.m. on a Wednesday. You’re running late for work. You’ve got your coffee, your bag, your keys—you're almost out the door. But just before you leave, you glance down and see your phone screen is black. Dead. Not 5%… not 1%… dead. Panic sets in.

You plug it in. Nothing. You try another charger. Still nothing. And then it hits you… all night, you never plugged it in. The phone wasn’t broken. It wasn’t defective. It simply wasn’t connected. Now let’s be honest: that phone is still sleek. Still powerful. Still has all the apps and updates. But right now? It’s useless. Why? Because without power, it can do nothing. It might as well be a paperweight.

And it’s not just phones, is it? You can have the best tools, the right ideas, the most potential… but if it’s not connected to the source, nothing works. It doesn’t matter how many features your phone has—no charge, no function.

Jesus says something similar in John 15. But He’s not talking about phones. He’s talking about you and me. He says: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” — John 15:5

Here’s the logic of the Kingdom: If you remain in Him, then your life will overflow with purpose, peace, and power. But if you disconnect, even if you look the part—you dry up. See, Jesus didn’t just come to plug us in once. He invites us to stay connected—to remain. To live fully charged. Because the life you were made for—the fruit you were born to bear—only happens in Him. So today, let’s talk about what it means to remain in Jesus. To plug in and stay in. Because if you remain in Him, then you will bear much fruit… but apart from Him—you can do nothing.

Remaining in the Vine: The Root of the Matter

Jesus doesn’t just teach in sermons—He teaches in scenes. He paints pictures we can live inside. A farmer sowing seed. A shepherd chasing a lost sheep. A father running to embrace a prodigal son. And here in John 15? He takes us into a vineyard. Now, most of us don’t live near vineyards. But we do know what it's like to try and hold things together—families, faith, sanity—on our own strength. And Jesus says, “That’s not how this works.”

“I am the vine. You are the branches.”

He’s drawing a line we can’t ignore: IF you remain in Me, THEN your life will bear fruit. But if you go it alone—disconnected, distracted, disinterested—you will wither. Not because you're bad. Not because you're weak. But because you’ve cut yourself off from the source. It’s not about trying harder. It’s about staying connected longer.

That word remain—some translations say abide—it’s not flashy. It doesn’t sound like much. But it might be the most powerful spiritual posture there is. To remain is to stay put. To not wander. To not drift. It means planting your soul into Christ, again and again and again.

And here’s the thing: You don’t see a branch straining to produce fruit. You don’t see it grunting, grinding, or gritting its way to growth. No. It just stays connected. The fruit comes naturally—not because of the branch’s strength, but because of its connection to the vine. And Jesus is saying, “That’s what your life is meant to be like in Me.”

So, what does it look like to remain in Him? It looks like waking up and choosing Him over distraction. It looks like trusting His pruning—yes, even the painful parts. It looks like letting His Word take root in you until it reshapes what you love, how you think, and what you do. It looks like staying when it would be easier to run. It looks like being still when everything in you wants to fix or force or flee. It looks like staying plugged in.

Because here’s the IF/THEN truth that Jesus carves into the soil of our lives: IF you remain in Me, THEN I will remain in you. IF you stay with Me, THEN your life will overflow. Not with noise, not with effort—but with fruit. But—here’s the turn—apart from Me… you can do nothing. Not a little. Not barely something. Nothing.

That’s the logic of love that Jesus offers: If you stay close to Me, I’ll make your life fruitful beyond anything you could ever produce on your own. But if you try to live apart from Me—even with good intentions—you’ll burn out, dry up, and wonder why you feel so empty.

The Truth About Fruit (and Why Pruning Hurts So Much)

You may have heard the phrases “spiritual fruit” or “fruit of the Spirit” before. And if we're honest, they can sound a little abstract—like something you read about in a devotional but don’t really know how to live out in a day filled with bills, breakdowns, and bruised relationships. But deep down, I think we all want the same thing. We want lives that matter. We want homes that are healthy. We want marriages that last. We want faith that actually changes us and the people around us.

We want to be fruitful.

And here’s the strange but beautiful truth: that kind of fruit isn’t something you manufacture. It’s not produced by performance—it’s born out of proximity. If you remain in Christ, the fruit will come. Paul describes that fruit this way in Galatians 5: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Not forced. Not faked. But formed in you—when your life is rooted in Jesus.

But Then Comes the Pruning

Now let’s be real. We love the idea of bearing fruit. But Jesus says something else in John 15 that hits a little harder: “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.” (John 15:2)

Pruning.

That’s not a word we like. It means cutting. It means removing. It means God looks at our lives and says, “This has to go—even though you don’t want to let it.” Pruning is what God does when He sees something dead, dying, or dangerous that’s holding us back. And yes, sometimes He prunes the things that aren’t bad—but they’re not His best. Sometimes He cuts away that habit you secretly hide. Sometimes He removes a relationship that’s been your emotional crutch. Sometimes He even asks you to lay down something good—because it’s quietly taken His place.

That’s not punishment. That’s love.

Because a gardener doesn’t prune what he’s given up on—he prunes what he believes has potential. And maybe that’s why some of us are hurting right now. Not because God’s absent… but because He’s pruning. And I need to say this to someone today: Just because it hurts doesn’t mean you’ve been cut off. It might mean you’re being made more fruitful.

Healing and Connection in the Body

There are some families in this church—some friendships, some ministries—that feel like they’re withering. Disconnected. Dry. Like the fruit has stopped growing and the branch is about to snap. And maybe it’s not just what’s been done to us, but what we’ve allowed to grow between us. But Jesus says, “Remain in Me.” He doesn’t just mean individually—He means together.

Because when branches are healthy, they don’t compete. They don’t strangle each other. They don’t break off and try to grow on their own. They grow together—drawing life from the same Vine. So maybe it’s time we stop trying to fix everything by ourselves. Maybe it’s time to lay down some pride, some pain, some silent distance. Maybe it’s time to ask: “Am I still connected to the Vine?” And maybe more than that: “Am I still connected to the branches around me?” Because Jesus didn’t say “you will bear fruit alone.” He said *“if you remain in Me and I in you, you all will bear much fruit.” It’s plural. It’s collective. It’s the Church.

So, if this whole thing hinges on remaining—staying put in Christ—then the opposite is just as true: When we disconnect, we dry up. It might not happen all at once. You can still look connected for a while. You can still be in the church, in the choir, in the pew. But if your heart is unplugged from Christ, eventually the fruit fades. And you’re left holding branches that break under pressure. It’s one of the most logical, yet haunting truths Jesus ever said: “Apart from Me, you can do nothing.” Let that linger.

Nothing. Not “less.” Not “slower.” Nothing. And yet—if you remain in Him… just remain…Even through the pain, even through the pruning, even through the tension of staying…Then your life will bear fruit you never thought possible.

The Power of Staying Connected

Let me ask you something that might sound a little strange: Have you ever seen a branch crawl back to the vine? No? Of course not. Because once a branch is broken off—truly severed—it can’t reattach itself. It’s cut off from the life source. It begins to dry. It becomes brittle. And eventually, it’s tossed aside and forgotten. But you know what’s wild about grace?

Jesus isn’t just the Vine… He’s also the Gardener. And He does what no human gardener ever could. He grafts branches back in. He takes the withered, the wounded, the ones that feel too far gone—and He says, “You still belong. Come back to Me. I can make you live again. ”This isn’t just a story about staying connected—it’s about being reconnected. Because the truth is… some of us have disconnected.

We’ve gone silent. We’ve let anger fester. We’ve let busyness drown out intimacy with Christ. We’ve let bitterness quietly rot the roots of our faith. And we’ve believed the lie that it’s too late. But Jesus doesn’t throw away broken branches. He says, “Remain in Me. Come back. Let Me restore what’s been lost.”

So here’s the twist: This whole passage sounds like a warning—and it is. But buried inside the warning is an invitation. IF you remain in Me… THEN you will bear much fruit. Not might. Not could. You will.

The Future Is in the Vine

So hear this today, Church: If you’re weary from doing everything in your own strength…If your faith feels dry, your home feels broken, your joy feels absent…If you’re tired of producing leaves but no fruit…Then Jesus is calling you back to the Vine. Not to try harder. Not to fake it. But to remain. Stay with Him in the pain. Stay with Him in the pruning. Stay with Him through the tension. Because the fruit is coming. And if we stay connected—not just to Him, but to each other—then the future of this church isn’t just survival… It’s abundance.There is hope. There is healing. There is fruit on the other side of this pruning. Jesus isn’t finished with you. He’s not finished with your family. And He is certainly not finished with this church.

Final Word: The Gardener’s Invitation

So today, if you're dry—if you feel like you're barely hanging on—if you’ve been through a season of cutting and you’re not sure it was worth it—remember the Gardener’s hands are never careless. He cuts what must go, but He never cuts without a plan for what will grow. IF you remain in Him… THEN your life will bear much fruit.

That’s not a motivational quote. It’s a promise. And it’s yours—if you’ll just stay connected. So… will you?Will you remain? Will we remain—together? Because the best fruit is still ahead. And it all starts here…with the choice to stay.

Today you’ve heard the voice of the Gardener—Jesus, the true Vine—calling you to stay close, to reconnect, to remain. Maybe you’ve been running on empty. Maybe you’ve been cut back in ways you didn’t understand. Maybe you've felt disconnected from God… or even from the people around you.

But today, the invitation is simple and powerful: Come back to the Vine. Don’t let pride, pain, or pressure keep you from the only place your soul can truly grow. If you’re weary, come. If you’re hurting, come. If you’re ready to bear fruit again—not in your strength, but through His life flowing in you—come. The altar is open. Jesus is waiting. Will you remain in Him?