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… 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends… 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last…”
John 15:5,8-13,16
• Jesus invites us to simply focus our attention and intention on rooting our identity in Him, being intimate with Him, and then doing what the Father asks of us. The rest is His.
“The degree to which you connect everything in your life to Christ is the degree to which you will experience everything God wants you to have from Christ.” —Dr. Tony Evans
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… 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
John 15:5,8
• If you remain in Christ, your life will produce the fruit of
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”
John 15:12
17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.
Ephesians 3:17,18
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
1 John 4:7,8
No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
1 John 4:12
• If you remain in Christ, your life will produce the fruit of
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
John 15:11
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy…”
Galatians 5:22a
• If you remain in Christ, your life will produce the fruit of
13 “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends… 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last…”
John 15:13,16
We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.
Hebrews 12:2
“If you became His joy, then He can become your joy.” —Pastor, Tim Keller
The Serenity Prayer
by Reinhold Niebuhr
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it;
trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will;
that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.
Amen.