I Am the True Vine | John 15:1 | Gary Hamrick

good morning everybody welcome to church online here at cornerstone chapel today we're going to be looking at the last of the seven i am statements that jesus makes in the gospel of john from john chapter 15 when he said i am the true vine so grab your bibles let's get ready you know what time it is this is cornerstone connection [Music] and once again good morning everybody this is normally the time in our service when i would do the q a with my son pastor austin but instead today i felt like i wanted to devote the opening few minutes to just discussing what is weighing on all of us right now and that has to do with all of the racial tension around our country and so i just wanted to take a few minutes just from a pastor's heart to talk about this to call us to prayer and then we'll go into the sanctuary we'll worship the lord and then i'll carry on with the teachings today from john chapter 15. you know i'm sure that your heart is just as heavy as mine by what we're seeing right now in our country and we just need to understand that as christians it is our responsibility to step to the forefront and set the example in all of this you know um murder is sin racism is sin so is looting so is stealing so is bitterness and unforgiveness there are a lot of sin issues we're seeing rising to the surface right now in our nation and you know when i look into scripture racism is nothing new because as someone has once said racism is not really a skin issue as much as it is a sin issue we see that the apostle peter struggled with some racism in his own heart as a jew towards gentiles and god called peter to go to the house of a gentile by the name of cornelius in acts chapter 10 and to give the gospel and cornelius and his household got saved the first of the gentiles to get saved up until that time in acts chapter 10 the makeup of the new testament church was exclusively jewish believers in jesus and at first peter was reluctant to go to the house of cornelius because cornelius was a gentile and god had to move peter's heart through a vision of a sheet coming down from heaven with what was typically unclean animals within the sheet they weren't kosher to eat and peter responds to this vision and he says to the lord i haven't eaten anything unclean and he says don't you call anything unclean that i've called clean and god exposed some prejudice even in peter's heart and peter goes to the house of cornelius in acts chapter 10 and as he shares the gospel cornelius and his family gets saved and then peter says something amazing in acts 10 verses 34 and 35 he says i now realize because up to that point he hadn't i now realize that god does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right even the eyes of the apostle peter had to be open to the reality of prejudice in his own heart sometimes we can have it in our hearts and not even be aware of it peter was no exception to that but listen the church of jesus christ is multi-racial multifaceted john sees a vision of what heaven is going to look like in revelation chapter 7 and he says that there are people there from every language and tribe and nation and people so we better get used to it in heaven there's going to be a great mixture the diversity of the body of christ that is something that god celebrates and so should we jesus died for all and therefore all are loved and we need to demonstrate the same love of jesus towards all that he did by dying on a cross for all people and by the way paul tells us tells us in 2nd corinthians chapter 5 that the message of reconciliation has been entrusted to us as believers the gospel of jesus christ is about reconciliation not just reconciliation between us and god which is the main thing but then paul says there in second corinthians 5 now you've been entrusted with this message of reconciliation we need to be advancing the gospel in such a way that all people recognize that all are loved all or are the ones that jesus died for and as an extension of jesus in our world we need to be about reconciliation not division our mandate is to go and and to share the gospel of jesus christ so that other people can know him in a personal way like we do and thereby reconciling one to another and reconciling man to god this is important jesus would say in mark's gospel chapter 12 to love the lord your god with all your heart all your soul all your mind and all your strength that's the first and greatest commandment and he said the second is like unto it love your neighbor as yourself so please christian do your part to represent christ loving god and loving your neighbor as yourself and let's pray that god will do his healing work we can't be responsible for everybody else's reaction going on right now in the country but our response is our responsibility and as believers let's represent christ well and love one another as christ has loved us let me pray and ask you to join me right now as we pray for our nation father you see the unrest you see the hurt you see the sins and we pray lord for you to bring peace for you to bring healing please lord this the the especially the racial divide that has existed for hundreds of years lord and even even before american history lord we see racial divide in scripture we see different times in in world history where man has been unloving towards his fellow man and has enslaved his fellow man and and so lord we pray for your healing grace upon our nation and that would begin with us that the house of god that christians that believers people who call themselves christ followers would set an example of loving one another as you have loved us that you would root out any prejudice that you would root out any bitterness that you would root out any unforgiveness that you would root out any sin issues lord that you would bring it to the surface right now and instead of us looking around at the circumstances in our world that we would first start with ourselves to see if there's anything that you want to do in our own hearts so that we might love one another as you have loved us bring healing to our nation we pray lord we need a miracle we ask you lord to invade our country with your love and your peace and your grace and bring healing in jesus name we pray amen and amen let's continue to pray for this folks this is going to be an ongoing prayer request shifting gears real quickly before we worship we will be reopening church next sunday june the 14th during the announcement time today we're going to have more details to share with you so stay tuned for the announcements a little bit later in the service and i want to end on a a happy note because i mentioned last week that terry and i welcomed a grandson into our family and this week we welcome a granddaughter so last week our daughter lindsey and andrew had a baby boy and this week our son tyler and his wife kayla welcomed a baby girl emma rose hamrick eight pounds one ounce and so we got grandbaby number five now and we're so happy for tyler and kayla and speaking of tyler and kayla he is our high school pastor here at cornerstone and he wants to on this being the sunday of what would have been normal graduation week he wants to welcome recognize rather all of our graduating seniors so here's pastor tyler to pay tribute to all of our high school graduating seniors we're going to worship after this and then i'll bring the teaching hello cornerstone chapel this is pastor tyler and i oversee the high school youth ministry here at the church and i just want to give a shout out and a congratulations to all the senior graduates that have completed high school given these circumstances now with the pandemic over the past several months it's been really tough for me not being able to be with you seniors and just to walk with you step by step but nonetheless i'm praying for you and i'm so proud of you each and every one of you some of you i've known since middle school others i've met for the very first time just this past year but regardless god has a plan for each and every one of you and i'm so happy and excited to what he has in store church would you pray with me as we give these students to the lord they're not mine and i want to remind myself that i'm giving them to you lord and so pray with me now church and let's lift them up to the lord father god we just thank you so much for the opportunity to pray for these young men and women who have just completed a huge accomplishment not only finishing high school but finishing all of great school lord and now as they make this new transition into whatever you have for them a career or college lord whatever it is that you would help it be a smooth transition you would give them peace and comfort and you would guide them and god we also pray spiritually for their hearts lord that they would guard their hearts for it is the wellspring of life your word tells us god that they would make right decisions that they would choose wisely their friend groups and and lord whatever you have for them that they would be bold in their faith and they would be confident in who they are in christ and god i'm just praying for them right now as their youth pastor lord that you would just touch each and every one of them and just put a blessing on them and and walk with them as they make this new transition it's not easy in this day and age and with culture screaming around lord i pray that they would stay true to you and on the straight and narrow path that leads to everlasting life so we give them to you jesus we love you and thank you in jesus name amen amen well congratulations seniors i'm so happy for you i'm proud of you and i hope to see you soon after all this is done before you go off to college or to wherever the lord has you but know that i'm praying for you and i love you all right well that's it for me god bless you guys and thank you so much cornerstone chapel god bless [Music] hey welcome to cornerstone lift your voice and sing with us count on one thing for the same god that never fails will not fail me now you won't fail me now [Music] oh yes [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh yes i will sing for joy when my heart is [Music] i count on one thing for the same god that [Music] [Music] is working all things out working all things out oh yes i will bless your name for yes i will see for joy when my heart is [Music] oh [Music] [Music] glorified nothing can stand against i choose nothing can stand against i will put you higher will bless your name oh yes i will sing for joy but my heart is [Music] oh yes [Music] just one word the darkness has to retreat [Music] just one touch i feel the presence of heaven just one touch my eyes were open to see my heart can't help but believe there's nothing that our god can't do there's not a mountain that he can't move who prays the name that makes away there's nothing that our god can't do just one word you hear what's broken inside me it's just one word and you revive every dream just one touch i feel the power of heaven [Music] [Applause] there's nothing that our god can't do nothing that our god can't do there's not a prison one that can't break down or praise the name that makes nothing that god can't do i will believe for greater things there's no power like the power of jesus let faith arise agree there's no power like the power of jesus i will believe for greater things there's no power like the power of jesus with faith arise little of creed there's no power like the power of jesus i will believe for greater things there's no power like the power of jesus let faith arise let all the grief there's no power like his power there's nothing [Music] [Applause] there's nothing that our god can't do yeah there's nothing that god can do there's not a prison while he can't break through or freeze [Music] god there's nothing that i can do [Applause] there's no power like the power of jesus [Music] who is the great king of glory seated on high in the hands jesus you lord you are the lord god almighty strong in compassion and mercy oh jesus [Music] oh i've searched the world for love that could fill my heart oh but nothing compares to the wonder of who you are holy all the earth singing holy all the angels cry holy jesus you love [Music] jesus [Music] jesus you alone [Music] you breathe your life in creation you walked among your created [Music] oh nothing compares to the wonder of who you are [Music] jesus [Music] all creation sings worthy jesus [Music] jesus when you shed your blood for salvation you broke the curse for our freedom jesus you alone you rose from death with the glory you'll come again in your glory [Music] jesus [Applause] [Music] [Music] all creation seems worthy [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] sings worldly [Music] [Music] me how my heart cries out holy jesus you know oh you're worthy i lift my voice and sing worthy about my life to exalt thee jesus jesus you love [Music] but you are worthy [Music] worthy of all our praise for you are good [Music] and this world has nothing to offer us we've searched the world and yet we've found nothing to satisfy our hearts because nothing compares to you and nothing compares to the promise that we have in you lord in times of need and in times of trouble lord help us to be reminded of your goodness in our life help us to be reminded of your faithfulness [Music] it is you and you alone that we put our hope and our trust you alone we love you and it's in your son's holy name that we pray in the name of jesus amen what is up everybody pastor austin here with a special announcement regarding the reopening of our church building so our target date to have services in person is sunday june the 14th it's an exciting time but in this initial phase of regathering there will be limited ministry so for those interested in attending here's what you need to know first what time will services be on sundays we will have two live in-person services at 8 30 and 11 45 a.m these services will also be streamed online our 10 a.m service will be online only so that we're able to sanitize the building during that hour we'll also have a live in-person service on wednesday nights at 7 pm which will also be streamed online now for both sundays and wednesdays attendance in our sanctuary will be limited to the first 500 people which is roughly 25 capacity in order to maintain social distancing we'll have ushers keep count to determine when we reach that number at which point people will be directed to video venues throughout the building now what about my kids will there be children's ministry and youth ministry well during the initial phase of regathering we will not be providing children's ministry on sundays or wednesdays due to the difficulty in maintaining social distancing between children also during this initial phase we won't have youth ministry during sunday services however on wednesday nights both high school and middle school will be meeting here at the church at 7 p.m in addition our young adults ministry hopes to resume services starting monday june the 15th at 7 30 right here in the sanctuary so where do i go with my kids if i want to come to church individuals couples and families with children aged 10 and up will be able to worship in the sanctuary however families with children under 10 will be directed to video venues where the live service will be streamed these video venues include the chapel cafe auditoriums 700 800 and 900 and the courtyard outside weather permitting the park area will also be available as an audio venue only so what about social distancing well as we gather together let's be patient and honor an appropriately healthy distance between family groups in order to minimize the potential spread of any viruses but for the time being please refrain from physical contact with those outside your family unit we are requesting social distancing in our building following the six feet guidelines however family units and couples may sit together without distancing now do i need to wear a mask well due to the current restrictions for the state of virginia masks will be required however they may be removed for religious rituals like singing during worship church your safety is of utmost importance to us sanitization stations have been placed throughout the campus with purell dispensers wipes masks there will also be a certified cleaning company sanitizing the campus between services and listen if you feel more comfortable staying home in this season we still have an excellent online experience the elderly and those with compromised immune systems are encouraged to stay home and watch online in addition to those who may be experiencing any kind of illness all sunday morning and wednesday night services will be streamed live from our website at cornerstonechapel.net also the mobile app our youtube channel and facebook page will also have the service now i know that's a lot of information so to see an faq page that goes over everything we just covered today please visit cornerstonechapel.net god bless you church we cannot wait to be back worshiping with you again [Music] all right let's open our bibles to john chapter 15. we are concluding today our series jesus is the i am next week when we resume church in person uh we will be starting the new testament with the gospel of matthew so i'm looking forward to that you can be reading ahead in your bibles in the gospel of matthew but for today we're looking at the last of the seven statements that jesus makes in the gospel of john when he asserts his divinity that he is god whenever he talks about how he is the i am and he uses the same language that god did when god spoke to moses from the burning bush in exodus chapter 3 identifying himself as the i am and then what jesus does in the gospel of john is he attaches different metaphors to these seven i am statements so that we would understand how god relates to humanity and so this being the last of the seven let me just run through the list again those of you who have been with us for the last few weeks you are familiar with the list but here it is nevertheless jesus said this number one i am the bread of life number two i am the light of the world number three i am the door of the sheep number four i am the good shepherd number five i am the resurrection and the life number six i am the way the truth and the life and number seven i am the true vine and that's what we're going to be looking at today from john chapter 15 the seventh and the final i am statement jesus says i am the true vine so i'm going to read here from john chapter 15 first eight verses jesus speaking here this is what he says i am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away and every branch that bears fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit you are already clean because of the word which i have spoken to you abide in me and i in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me i am the vine you are the branches he who abides in me and i in him bears much fruit for without me you can do nothing if anyone does not abide in me he is cast out as a branch and is withered and they gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned if you abide in me and my words abide in you you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you by this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit so that you will be my disciples let's pause there and pray father in heaven we commit our bible study to you right now thankful for the cross thankful that you loved us so much that you sent your son jesus to die for us and we thank you for your word and we thank you for the last few weeks as we've been looking at the statements of jesus that he is the i am and today we pray that you would help us to understand what it means that he says i am the true vine and that we are the branches lord speak to our hearts today in the midst of all of the turmoil of our world right now between kobit 19 between all the racial tension we pray for your peace that passes all understanding right now into our hearts and into our nation that you lord would bring your peace and your healing father that you would bring people to a place of greater surrender to you through these times that we're facing right now and that together may the church rise up to be a light that shines in the darkness to reflect you well to be an example of christ in our homes in our neighborhoods in our country we commit our bible study to you now lord use it to speak to our hearts it's in jesus name we pray and everybody at home said amen well we're looking at this story here the last of the seven i am statements from john chapter 15 and i need to give you the context in which jesus speaks these words and so at the end of chapter 14 of john the last verse last sentence jesus says arise let us go from here and so chapter 14 ends by telling us that they left where they were where were they well in this section of the gospel of john jesus has just finished what is commonly known as the last supper with his disciples he has just concluded the final passover meal that he will enjoy with his disciples before he is crucified and so chapter 14 ends by telling us that jesus says let us arise and go they leave the upper room in the city of jerusalem and the bible tells us in the rest of the gospel accounts that they will make their way from the city of jerusalem down over the kidron valley up to the mount of olives where they will find lodging during the night therein specifically the garden of gethsemane and it will be just a few hours from the point of this story when judas will return with a band of roman soldiers and they will arrest jesus and the process of his kangaroo court the mock trials and his ultimate crucifixion is about to begin and so that's the context here in in john chapter 15 as we read this account jesus is basically giving his last teaching to his disciples before he is crucified and as they leave the city of jerusalem on their way to the garden of gethsemane it is believed that perhaps they pass by a vineyard jesus is always using real life examples to serve as illustrations for his for his teachings and he could have just drawn this illustration out of thin air but it's likely that on the way to the garden of gethsemane they pass a vineyard and he uses the opportunity to teach them what he does here in john chapter 15. now if it wasn't that they passed by a vineyard there's another possibility josephus the first century roman historian who was a jew himself writes in his account of antiquities that there was a golden vine that adorned the pillars of the entrance to the temple there in jerusalem and even the historian tacitus picks up on that he writes about it briefly too and so it could be that jesus as he passed with his disciples out of the city of jerusalem on their way to the mount of olives that they may have passed by the entrance of the temple where they would have seen these golden vines adorning the pillars to the entrance of the temple it doesn't really matter other than perhaps that's what jesus was pointing to perhaps a vineyard they passed through perhaps jesus out of thin air decided to give this illustration but the disciples would have been very well acquainted with the illustration of a vineyard because in the old testament historically israel was known as the vine we'll talk about that in a little bit but it's just to say that they would have been familiar with this terminology jesus is drawing on an illustration of a vineyard it was common in jesus day it's common in our day loudoun county is full of vineyards and jesus uses this as a natural analogy he talks here about the elements of the vine he talks about the branches he talks about the vine dresser otherwise known as the gardener any the ultimate point of this story here in john chapter 15 is found in verse 8 by this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit so you will be my disciple so here's the main point of this illustration jesus wants us to be fruitful as his disciples jesus wants us to be fruitful as his disciples now what exactly does it mean to be fruitful as a follower of christ that's one question and secondly how do we get there how do we become fruitful and so first what does it mean to be fruitful as a follower of christ well paul gives us a list in galatians chapter 5 about the fruit of the spirit and there are nine things that he mentions there in galatians 5 22 and 23 i'll put the verses on the screen for you it says this but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long-suffering or patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control against such there is no law in other words paul ends that section by saying there's no limitation on these qualities there's no restriction on these qualities we should have an abundance of the fruit of the spirit and by the way it is literally the fruit of the spirit not fruits the way that it is written in the language indicates that this is to be accepted and understood as one cluster of fruit in other words it's not that christians can say well i have a little bit of the fruit of the spirit but not all of the fruit of the spirit and that's okay god expects us to demonstrate to exemplify all of the fruit of the spirit as a singular thing so try to picture it as like a cluster of grapes there are nine grapes in one cluster and all of it is supposed to be exemplified in the life of a believer so take personal inventory and think in your own life how well are you doing with the fruit of the spirit what does love look like in your life joy peace patience kindness goodness gentleness faithfulness self-control are there any areas in your life where we could all stand to be a little bit more fruitful and so how do we get there how do we become more fruitful how do these qualities become uh more recognized in our lives well in the analogy here in john chapter 15 jesus speaks about how he is the vine we are the branches and god the father is the vine dresser or the gardener and he starts out there in verse 1 by saying i am the true vine now he probably means true in the sense of faithful not in the sense of the opposite of false just that he is faithful and true and the reason why he probably means it that way is because again the disciples would have recognized the analogy israel was compared and called the vine of the of the lord in the old testament in psalm chapter 80 in isaiah chapter 5 and let me just explain a little bit from isaiah chapter 5. there was a rebuke there to the nation of israel in isaiah 5 where isaiah talks about how god planted a vineyard and he tended that vineyard and he cared for that vineyard and he loved that vineyard but then when the vineyard produced grapes they were wild grapes and so because of it god took away the hedges he took away the protection and others came and plundered the vineyard and plucked the grapes and then god says in isaiah 5 7 at the end of this illustration in isaiah 5 7 for the vineyard of the lord of god of hosts is the house of israel and so it was a rebuke god was saying to the prophet isaiah in the old testament that god loved israel planted israel took care of israel attended israel in every way provided for israel but israel decided to become like wild grapes doing their own thing rebelling against god and so god took down the protection and he allowed other nations to come and to plunder israel and to pluck the grapes if you will and so the disciples of jesus would have been very familiar with the fact that up until this point the vine was a reference to the nation of israel in her rebellion against god so jesus comes along and he says i am the true vine i am the faithful one unlike unfaithful israel jesus is saying i am the faithful vine and you he says are the branches and so jesus asserting himself here now as the true vine is looking for followers who were likewise faithful and true jesus is saying unlike unfaithful israel i am faithful and i'm looking for followers who will likewise be faithful and true and then he adds again verse 8 by this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit so that you will be my disciples and so again it goes back to the second question how do we become more fruitful how do we become more fruitful well if you're taking notes i got three things from this text and the first one is we become more fruitful number one when we abide in christ when we abide in christ in verse 4 it says abide in me and i in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me over and over again the word abide is used in fact 10 times just in john chapter 15 is the word abide used and it basically means to remain to stay in fellowship to stay in close relationship in communion with god he calls us to abide in him and when we remain in close fellowship with him we will be fruitful there is no fruitfulness apart from christ we will only exemplify the character of christ when we are connected to christ when jesus dominates my life i demonstrate his qualities and his character when my flesh dominates my life i demonstrate my qualities and my character which aren't good at all in fact paul would say in romans 7 18 for i know that in my flesh in me that is in my flesh nothing good dwells nothing good about us dwells john the baptist would say about fruitfulness in matthew chapter 3 verse 8 produce fruit in keeping with repentance so that's key the way i abide with christ is to keep humbling myself and regularly repent of my own sinfulness so that i might adopt his fruitfulness we have to always be coming clean with god and confessing our sin and getting right with him when i stay close to jesus when i abide in christ then fruitfulness will be natural that's true for all of us a repentant life will be a fruitful life in verse 5 here in our text jesus says i am the vine you are the branches he who abides in me and i in him bears much fruit for without me you can do nothing in other words he says it will be the natural result of abiding in him that we will bear much fruit as long as i abide in christ i will be fruitful in christ it will be as natural as the fruit produced by a fruit tree you know what the branch on an apple tree will produce apples just by virtue of the fact that that branch is connected to the trunk the same is true for pears the same is true for peaches the same is true for grapes as long as that branch is connected to the trunk or to the vine it will naturally fruit and so it is when i am abiding with christ when we are close to him in relation with him walking with him humbling ourselves repenting before him then we will bear fruit another way that we will become more fruitful number two is when we are lifted up by christ now let me show you where we see this if you look at verses 1 and 2 again he says i am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away other translations i think niv says he cuts off now before i explain what this verse means let me tell you what it does not mean because verse 2 has created a lot of consternation among christians who read this and think if i'm not fruitful he's going to cut me off he's going to take me away i'm going to end up in hell all because i wasn't very fruitful okay that's that's not what this means verse 2 does not mean that if you aren't fruitful that god is going to cut you off or take you away there is a reference further down in this text about judgment in verse 6 he says if anyone does not abide in me he is cast out as a branch and is withered and they gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned verse six is a veiled reference maybe not surveilled to judgment and the fire of hell but it is in reference to those who are not abiding in christ at all to those who are not connected to him at all to those who have rejected him and have no relationship with him at all there will be judgment but that's not what verse 2 is talking about in verse 2 in the new king james which is what i'm reading from there is a footnote that the words when jesus says every brethren does not bear fruit he takes away or again niv says cuts off the footnote tells us that takes away can be translated lifts up it's from the greek word arrow a-i-r-o and arrow literally means to lift up now let me explain why it can mean that and and how it fits better in regards to the way that in ancient times that they would grow vineyards in ancient times vineyards would grow along the ground you know today when you drive through parts of loudoun county or even some folks in our church have vineyards you see very pristine manicured vineyards where the vines are trained to grow up over these trellises or over these wires or these or these uh lines and so they're up off the ground and they grow that way not an ancient israel in ancient israel vines would grow along the ground and then the vine dresser or the gardener would come along and at the places where it was starting to produce fruit the vine dresser would place rocks underneath the branches to lift up the branches to get the fruit off of the ground so that then the fruit could grow in a more fruitful way and if it and if it weren't using rocks sometimes they would take a branch and cut it like in the shape of a y and use it like a stick to prop up underneath these branches so then the grapes could hang down and get them off the ground because if the grapes were on the ground they were more subject to blight to disease to mildew to insects so they would come along and lift up these branches and get them up off of the ground and so this is actually something very encouraging that jesus is saying to us here in verse two not discouraging the way a lot of christians have been reading verse two all these years is that you know god's gonna cut me off if i'm not fruitful enough and i'm going to hell if i'm not doing good things for him okay listen god is pleased by the good things we do to honor him and to serve him but works of works never get us to heaven all right and so this is a verse when you look at the original greek arrow it really indicates the idea of how god comes along and lifts us up when you're down god lifts you up it's pretty hard to be fruitful when you're down and discouraged and so what does god do in order to help us to be more fruitful he comes alongside of us to lift us up when we're down this is a beautiful verse here god will come alongside of us and lift us up off of the ground and i love this analogy because jesus is telling us that the father regularly inspects his vineyard [Music] to see where the branches are hanging low and that he comes alongside of us to lift us up so that we might be more fruitful for his glory this is the kind of thing that david alluded to in psalm chapter 3 verse 3 when he wrote this but you o lord are a shield for me my glory and the one who lifts up my head god is the lifter of our head now when david wrote that in psalm 3 you can refer later to psalm 3. the subtitle to psalm 3 talks about when he was fleeing from his son absalom there was a time in david's life where his son absalom rebelled against david tried to lead a coup to take over as king and this just broke the heart of david and david was grieved over what his son absalom was trying to do and he wrote psalm 3 under that kind of grief and it's a beautiful picture about how god is the lifter of our heads when we're downcast here david is he's been betrayed by his own son by his own son who's tried to usurp his his father's authority to take over the throne and david writes psalm 3 out of the anguish of that personal betrayal and he talks here about how god is the lifter of his head it's a picture as if god stoops down and cups david's face in his hands and lifts up his face so that his countenance might be lifted up instead of downcast this is what god does with us psalm 3 verse 3 is a beautiful picture of how god will stoop down to us and cup our faces so to speak in his hands and lift us up he is the lifter of our heads he is the one when he sees us down and not bearing much fruit he comes and he props us up and he lifts us up psalm 145 verse 14 says something similar the lord upholds all who who fall and raises up all who are bowed down this is what god does for us god helps us to be more fruitful by bowing down to lift us up and number three we become more fruitful when we are pruned by christ john 15 again verse 2 the latter part of verse 2 he says and every branch that bears fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit the greek word here for prunes is cathyro we get our english word cathartic so when something is personally cleansing to our souls we say well that was very cathartic that's the word that is used here in the greek god comes along and he cleanses us he prunes us now of the three this third one is the most uncomfortable when god prune when god prunes us the goal of every christian should not be to live a comfortable life but to live a fruitful life and in order to be fruitful we from time to time have to go through a process of pruning where god takes out his pruning shears and he cuts away all the dead stuff in our lives and he also cuts back some of the growth in order that we might be even more fruitful and he deals with things in our hearts that he wants to rid us of so that we again would be more fruitful and so he prunes us this is that process that god goes through as the vine dresser with us to cut away the dead branches and to cut back the good ones to make us more fruitful now you know how this works i mean if you have a garden if you have uh fruit trees if you have rose bushes if you have anything that flowers you know how it is where you have to trim things back in order to make it more fruitful my my wife's grandmother who's since going on to be with the lord whenever she'd come over to her house outside we we would have flowers and she'd go along and she'd snip off all of the dead stuff and i would always be like grandma why are you doing all that and she said because the more you cut away all this dead stuff the more fruitful you're and what more flowering your your flowers will be and so we know this kind of thing to be true i several years ago i was at home depot and uh saw a blueberry bush and decided i'll buy that and i'll plant it in my backyard as if one blueberry bush is gonna do much good i mean maybe produce enough blueberries for a bowl of cereal every season but you know there i was got my blueberry bush planted at my backyard and for years it was completely unfruitful i mean it didn't produce a stinking blueberry and i i i'd go out every spring and i'd look at it and and no blueberries and i i wouldn't curse it but i but i would certainly pray that god would judge it you know and that and that god would deal with it because it wasn't producing any fruit and uh and then i i did what we all do when you want to learn how to do something you don't really know you consult youtube and so i looked at youtube and youtube says you know you got to cut blueberry bushes way back because if you do then it'll become more fruitful so i went out there with my pruning shears and seeing as how it hadn't been producing fruit for years with great joy did i prune that baby back and when i did i can tell you next spring started to produce fruit now my battle is to gather it before the birds do but anyway we all understand this it's the way that things become more fruitful you have to prune back the branches and it seems very counterintuitive that in order to get growth you have to cut the growth back but this is what god does with us in order for us to be more fruitful to represent him he has to deal with things in our lives even if we're doing well as followers of christ we could do even better and god comes along and says i see that and so maybe he needs to prune out for example some selfishness and then we become more fruit for him and then god says well i see that and maybe god has to cut out some pride so we might be more fruitful and then we're more fruitful and god says now i see that i want to deal with some insecurities and then god prunes us back even more so that we might be more fruitful and then we are and then god says well there's some anger there i need to prune away some anger too so that we might be more fruitful and god surgically does it in a very tender way but he prunes us that we might be more fruitful for him what are some things perhaps in your life that god needs to trim back what are some things that he needs to cut out of your life in order that you might be more fruitful we need to examine our hearts and we need to ask the lord lord show us those things that hinder our fruitfulness and lord cut out those things prune our lives that we might be more fruitful for your glory in what ways do you need to be more fruitful for jesus he tells us here in verse 8 by this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit so you will be my disciples as disciples of christ may we bear much fruit for him by abiding in christ by letting him lift us up that we might be more fruitful and by inviting him to prune us back so that we might represent christ in our lives in our neighborhoods in our families in our world and our country as the most fruitful followers of jesus christ let's pray to that end father in heaven we thank you that jesus is the true vine we are the branches apart from you lord we can do nothing but connected to you abiding in you we can bear much fruit lord i pray that we would learn to abide just to walk with you in a way that is constantly in companionship with you and embellish it with you resting in you abiding in you that we would bear much fruit and thank you lord that you lift us up when we're down that you minister to us you are the lifter of our heads you are the one who stoops down to lift us up that we might bear more fruit for you and lord we pray that you would prune back those things of our lives that are hindering our fruitfulness so that we would bear much fruit for your glory even though it's not comfortable at times when you have to prune us lord we pray that you would do your good work that we would bear much fruit showing ourselves to be your disciples this is our prayer lord in jesus name amen and amen well i trust that you have enjoyed the i am series as much as i personally have just getting into god's word and digging this out with you next sunday june the 14th we're going to be back in person at cornerstone again under limited occupancy trying to follow medical protocols all of that all of that information is listed on our website there's an faq page so check it out read through it carefully i understand not everybody's going to want to return to church at once we couldn't handle all the crowds if everybody wanted to come at once so we will still be as we were before cobit 19 airing all of our services live online so you can still watch online or you can choose to join us next sunday june 14th until then god bless you everybody have a great rest of your week you

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

Views: 12,072

Rating: 4.8709679 out of 5

Keywords: Cornerstone Chapel, Calvary Chapel, Gary Hamrick, Biblical sermons, leesburg va, cornerstone chapel leesburg virginia, great sermons by great preachers, I Am the true vine, Jesus 7 I am statements, the 7 I AM statements of Jesus, Im the true vine

Id: 9Cy4twVTfyw

Length: 62min 22sec (3742 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 08 2020