Effective

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 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. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “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.

The branch cannot produce its own life; it must draw that life from the vine. For the believer it is our remaining or abiding with Christ through the Spirit that makes possible the bearing of the fruit.

There are many images of Christ and the believer given in Scripture that emphasize this important concept of remaining and abiding:

The body and its members 1 Cor. 12

A member cut off from the body would die

12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

The bride and the groom Eph. 5:25-33

The marriage creates the union, but it takes daily love and devotion to maintain the communion.

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church—30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” e 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

The sheep and the Shepard John 10

The shepherd brings the sheep into the flock, but the sheep must follow the shepherd in order to have protection and provision.

9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

The sooner we as believers discover that we are branches, the better we will relate to the Lord; we will know our own weakness and confess our need for His strength.

To be effective we must remain and abide in Christ

We must follow the Good Shepherd

We are not to try and produce fruit by our own strength

How do we know if we are abiding or remaining in Christ?

We are making fruit?

We are known for:

Trusting God

Listening to God

Obeying God

Our prayers are being answered

We are gaining a deeper love for God

We have Joy

We are being pruned

What is pruning?

Tree pruning (Talk about tree pruning)

Life pruning

Is being convicted of needed change in your life

What in your life has God been trying to prune?

Are you procrastinating finding your purpose?

Are there things in life that are robbing you of your potential?

Time wasters, TV

People that don’t encourage you

Are there things in your life that are robbing you of your intellect

Drugs

Reluctance to learn new things

An attitude of----”this is the best I will ever be”---”I can’t learn anything new.” (Nowhere Man) He’s a real nowhere man, Sitting in his nowhere land, Making all his nowhere plans for nobody, doesn’t have a point of view, Knows not where he’s going to, isn’t he a bit like you and me?

Old dogs and new tricks

Can you say YES your:

prayers are being answered,

you are gaining a deeper love for God,

You have Joy

You are being pruned

Yes I trust, listen and obey God

If you can’t say yes to these things you need to take a closer look at your life?

You need to come to Jesus

Do you need to return to God?

Are you far away?

Decide today to return to God

We are weak without God, Paralyzed——unless

Application

So how do we go about remaining, abiding and being an effective disciple?

Stay connected to the vine “Jesus”

We need to reconnect to Jesus if you have strayed

We can do nothing without Jesus. We are paralyzed! Because what we want to be doing is:

Make more disciples

Make better disciples

Become better disciples

How do I become a better and more effective disciple?

Worships

Grows/learns

Christianity 101,201,301,401

101 Discovering God

201 Growing in Spiritual maturity

301 Discovering your ministry

401 Discovering your life mission

Serves

Connects

So to be an effective church we need to be a church filled to the brim with those that are remaining and abiding in Jesus, “the vine”

Jesus “The Vine” that gives us life and the ability to be effective in all we do.

I know that’s the kind of church I want to be a part of and I hope you do too.

That’s the kind of church we are going to work hard to be.

If we are that kind of church that stays connected to Jesus and lifts Him up I truly believe that He will bless us and we will be fruitful.

We will get to see Him do great things here in cocoa Beach

We will see many come to Christ and be saved.

So let me finish with two questions and a statement.

My first question is to the “one “ that may be here today not connected to Jesus “the vine”.

I ask you now, do you want to be connected?

My second question is to the believer that may need to be reconnected to “The Vine” (Jesus) that allows us to be effective.

Are you ready to reconnect?

And finally to the faithful that have always remained and abiding in Jesus. Well done and thank you for trusting in Jesus to make you effective. You are doing a great job. Keep it up!

Call to action The Path

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