I Am the Vine, You Are the Branches

In one paragraph

Brad Yates brought the message this Sunday, teaching from John 15:5 while Ray was away. He focused on what it means for Jesus to be the vine and for us to be the branches, and what it looks like to actually live that out rather than hold back from it. Brad opened by setting the scene in John 13-17, the farewell discourse where Jesus is gathered with his disciples at the last supper. Before...

Read together

1. 2 Corinthians 4:6 opening verse read to lead into worship, about God making light shine in our hearts so we can know the glory of God seen in the face of Jesus
2. John 15:1-8 broad text read aloud covering the vine and branches, abiding in Christ, and bearing fruit
3. John 14:6 cited as Jesus claiming to be the only path to the Father
4. John 14:12 cited as Jesus saying believers will do greater works than he did
5. John 14:15 cited as Jesus saying those who love him will keep his commandments
6. John 14:26 cited as Jesus promising the Holy Spirit as helper and teacher
7. Genesis 2:15 quoted to show God placed man in the garden to work and care for it, establishing God as creator and sustainer
8. Psalm 16 referenced as David saying the boundary lines are set in pleasant places, used to encourage trust in God
9. Romans 10:9 quoted directly to explain what it means to be saved, declaring Jesus is Lord and believing God raised him from the dead
10. James 2 referenced to show that faith without deeds is empty, contrasting claimed faith with demonstrated faith
11. James 3:1 quoted as a weight on the speaker about teachers being judged more strictly
12. Romans 11 referenced as Paul using the word grafted to describe the church being connected to God's plan of salvation
13. 1 Corinthians 16 referenced as Paul saying stand firm in the faith, used to illustrate the active nature of abiding
14. Galatians 5:22 cited and recited together as the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control
15. 1 Corinthians 11 referenced as Paul saying to become imitators of him as he imitates Christ
16. Galatians 2:20 quoted as Paul saying he has been crucified with Christ and it is no longer he who lives but Christ who lives in him
17. Revelation 2 referenced as Jesus telling the church they have abandoned their first love and calling them to repent and do the works they did at first
18. Romans 8:1 quoted as a closing word of grace: there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus

Talk about it

1. Brad described ways we hold back a percentage of our lives from God, like staying quiet about our faith or managing our money on our own terms rather than God's. Where do you find yourself holding back, and what does that cost you?
2. Brad said he grew up in Texas going to church the same way he went to Friday night football games, and it had about the same effect on his soul. What was the moment, or the season, when the gospel stopped being background noise and started making a real claim on your life?
3. Brad borrowed a phrase from Tim Keller and described the spiritual disciplines as 'disciplines of desire,' anything that increases your view of God and decreases your view of yourself. Which of those disciplines, reading, prayer, worship, confession, discussion, or meditation, is most alive in your life right now, and which one is most absent?
4. Brad pointed to individualism and the poem Invictus as a real gravitational pull even for believers, and he included politics as one of the things we can make ultimate. Where do you see that pull showing up most in your own daily habits and where you spend your attention?
5. Brad said that if you are a healthy branch you cannot help but bear fruit, but that a believer who is not actively bearing fruit may have forgotten how radical their life was before Christ. What does bearing fruit actually look like in your life this week, and is there anything you sense God calling you toward that you have been putting off?