Levi Lusko - Fresh Life Church
A More Perfect Union
John 15:1-8
The branch cannot bear fruit of itself.
Our power comes from Him.
He repeats Himself - I Am The True Vine
It doesn't speak of perfection, just moving in the right direction.
When we're in Heaven we'll have the perfect union.
Our relationship with God's Holy Spirit is the key to abiding in Him.
After dinner walk.
John 14-17 they're taking about a mile walk - passing by lots of vineyards. At the gates that you use to enter the temple, emblazoned above, was a golden golden vine.
Israel was God's vineyard, God's vine.
The vine to them in that day is as the bald eagle is to the U.S.
Jesus was showing them that there was a new way to God.
Your connection to Jesus now connects you to Life.
A branch is a conduit.
Your garden hose is only as good as what flows through it.
Jesus is saying, you're only going to have what I am offering if you connect yourself to Me.
You can't do it only through the hose, you need the spigot. Jesus is the spigot.
The gaps in your union will stunt your fruit production.
4 words that are true to the relationship with the fruit and the vine ::
1. Organic
I want this life to grow out of you.
Union : the action of being joined or a state of harmony
Who tends to the vines : a husbandman
Organically and not mechanically
A life to grow, not a religion to know!
It's delicate and needs to be fostered.
It's not obligatory.
Is your relationship with God living and growing?
2. Exclusive
If you're a branch you can't hop around where the grapes are bigger.
He says TRUE VINE because He knows He's not the only vine.
There are tons of places to find life, but eventually it will suck you dry.
3. Continuous
A more perfect union with fewer gaps
When there's an interruption of flow there's no life coming to you.
There needs to be a constant connection for the power to flow.
How many times can you connect with God and then do what God tells you to do.
Read the Bible until you are ready to apply what He's telling you to.
Make it hard to forget God throughout the day.
Practice His presence!
Knowing He is always with us.
You cannot grow big and strong with your relationship with God when you're constantly disconnecting and reconnecting.
The fruit comes when you're connected.
4. Productive
Be in cooperation with the vine.
Our productivity is meant to progress.
He intends for more.
Fruit - more fruit - much fruit
A husbandman doesn't want to see fruit until 3 years. He wants the roots to grow down and then grow up and out.
Never stop seeking growth.
The more we demolish stuff the more he'll bring more fruit.
The only way for there to be productivity there must be pruning.
Pruning : the most fundamental of all vineyard tasks.
The vine is full of sap.
Pruning brings the most sap to the fruit.
The light comes in where there used to be shade.
Cuts things away that would otherwise divert the flow.
Need air because where it's too moist it leads to rotting.
Cuts away anything with bugs and disease because those spread.
Do more by doing less.
2 questions husbandmen ask :
1. What needs to be cut off?
2. What needs to be cut back?
We all have 'suckers' in our life that are keeping us from growing fruit.
Pinching is a way they cut back.
On a good branch there is foliage or flowers that are beautiful but they could lead to the sap flowing away from the fait.
It's not bad that you read novels, watch tv, but maybe pinch it off a little bit.
Sometimes it's just seasons.
God's job is to prune.
Through His word + other people.
Our job is to remain.
The lease likely you'll want to remain is when you're in pain.
When you're in pain is when you're getting primed.
We can trust Him!
When you feel the blade, lean into the Vine!
John 12:32
Lifting up vines and branches before pruning.
