GRAPE-BEARERS

“Through him we received both the generous gift of his life and the urgent task of passing it on to others who receive it by entering into obedient trust in Jesus.  You are who you are through this gift and call of Jesus Christ” (Rom 1:1-7 MSG)!

“ I [JESUS] am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer.  He cuts off every branch of me that doesn’t bear grapes.  And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more….” (John 15:1-3 MSG, brackets mine).

“Live in me.  Make your home in me just as I do in you.  In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me” (John 15:4 MSG).

“…I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning.  No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father.  “You didn’t choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil.  As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you” (John 15:11-16 MSG).

Our Real Vine, JESUS, “takes hold of us one by one; He rescues and delivers us out of this world and from Satan one by one.  As we believe the message of this gospel, we are translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light…He is building up His own kingdom; he is drawing men and women unto Himself out of the world; He is going on with the work” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ref#211, p69).