So lets go on it says - go back to John 15 verse 2 every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away now this is something that i used to be very concerned about in fact yesterday i was looking at a commentary from a 1800's you know from the period of nineteenth century a commentary from one of the scholars a well respected bible scholar and he commented on this and he says every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away he said that that means God will take them home to heaven and it is quite frightening he is not the only one many of them believed that in that day in the 1800s many of them believed that this verse refers to if anyone does not bear fruit alright God will take him home.. now does that frighten you? like i said it should not frighten you because you know you will see Jesus face to face but that is not what this verse is talking about now we have more and more people realizing the truth and i have shared this down through the years the word takes away in the Greek is the Greek word 'airo' which actually is to lift up You see a vine a vine when it is on the ground it is supposed to cling show them the trellis alright this is this is a vine tree in fact it is very early it is very early you cant see the thick branches yet but this is the trellis by the way you can see trellis looks like the cross. Amen so the nature of the vine alright the branches will curl around the trellis and thats how it bears fruit it must be lifted to bear fruit if a branch is on the ground and there is no trellis ok it cannot bear fruit the reason why many believers cannot bear fruit is because the devil has cast them down and they are depressed, they are wallowing in the dust by the way the number one enemy of Israel in the old testament is are the Philistines, Goliath was a philistine and the word 'philistine' in Hebrew means wallowing in the dust the serpent's food is the dust and and as long as the branch is on the dust by the way some years ago when i was in Israel i was walking down the road of Emmaus with some of my pastors and we came across a vine tree and one of the branches fell no one was taking care of it it was a wild vine but it was a great vine alright and this is the branch of a vine tree that collapsed and look at the branch it is drying up it is not bearing fruit no one is caring for it and it is on the ground the nature of the branch is that it clings to something sometimes it clings around the pillar sometimes ah it clings around a tree and by the way when when you roll up when you roll in a straight line the vine tree with other vine trees in a straight line when the branches come out they will inevitably twirl around each other keep that in mind they will twirl around branches will twirl around branches it is like all of them are holding hands that is the nature of the church Amen..we love each other we are interdependent Amen and it is the branches it is not just a branch it is branches you are the branches all of us can i have a good amen so you are meant to be lifted up so the Lord says if a branch is not bearing fruit God does not kick the branch,God does not slap the branch God does not - ah too bad you fell no what the Lord does to help it bear fruit is the Lord lifts up, isn't the Lord Jesus always lifting up He lift up the woman of Samaria When no one bothered to to care for her she came alone to the well He cared for the woman of Nain when her son died, He cared for the tears of Martha and Mary He is always lifting the bible says He went about doing good healing all, always lifting up, always restoring always and He raised Jairus' daughter He lifted her up and He raised Peter's mother-in-law, He raised her up, He is always lifting up and the boy fell to the ground and the demon was foaming and Jesus said, Leave him alone, come out of him and enter no more into him the demon left and Jesus lifted up the boy, He is always lifting up when you dont bear fruit He lifts you up not He takes you away and the same word airo lifts up is used of the ten lepers when they saw Jesus from afar the ten lepers lifted up their voice and said Jesus have mercy on us, the word lift up their voice is 'airo' in the Greek in the book of Acts when the elders and the priests threatend the apostles okay to stop preaching in the name of Jesus they went back to the company and all of them lifted up their voice to God 'airo' lift up their voice John 11 at the tomb of Lazarus Jesus came to the tomb and Jesus lifted up His eyes Jesus lifted 'airo' His eyes is the word 'airo', it is not 'take away' it is 'lifts you up' a sermon from God shall lift you up, not throw you down the dust make you feel sin conscious are you listening people? and how does God do this after He Lifts us up? watch this every branch that bears fruit He prunes that it may bear more fruit by the way we have fruit right? we have more fruit and later on verse 5 we have much fruit say fruit, say more fruit, say much fruit you know what is more and much right? much you cant count no more it is much..Amen so be patient with yourself by the way you start a church or you start a ministry or you start a company or whatever give yourself two to three years alright because vine tree by the way does not produce grapes immediately after you plant the vine you dont have results in the same year in fact it takes about three years before the vine produces grapes about three years Amen now some people get impatient, where are the grapes? the first year, second year by the third year you know what is happening during this time, during this three years the root system is going down deep and the branches is going out wide and strong so that when the grapes come they are in the position to hold the grapes and to supply the nourishment and the water Amen ..but even then in the third year it bears grapes..it is really not grapes of wine quality yet..ok you have to wait for another 5 to 6 years 5 number of grace 5 years alright then you have quality grapes for wine production ok and you all know that even then wine is only really good as it matures the older the wine is it is like men the better it gets and all the men say A..men and ladies as well..Amen ladies who are under grace..Praise God..hallelujah you know it gets better and better the longer it is yeah age becomes a friend Amen you get better and the Lord says I am the vine, He dint say I am the Durian tree and you shall bear thorny fruit some will love thy smell and some wont no thank God He used the analogy of the vine and by the way when Jesus turned the water into wine He actually compressed time because we all know that it takes about 5 to 6 years to have quality grapes for vine and then even really good wine..years 5 to 10 years to twenty years even quality wine the longer the better it is Jesus compressed all that to save a wedding couple from humiliation when the wine ran out Jesus did the miracle turning water into wine so that the master of ceremony not knowing where the wine came from when he tasted it he says wow he called for the bridegroom he says you know something most people give good wine first because when their taste is still there and they are coherent about what they are drinking they give them good wine after their drunk you give them anything they will drink it but you have kept the good wine until now Jesus gave that credit to the wedding couple, His first miracle was showing Himself in this sign from John as the Lord of time the second miracle He healed from a distance also from Cana ok He is the Lord of space and these are the two foundations of science - time and space He is the Lord of time and space what He is saying is this you don't have to ask Him to come down from heaven to touch you He is the Lord of space you don't have to say the doctor says I will recover in nine months He is the Lord of time He can compress time, He can do things in an instant what takes man a long long time alright the question is that do we believe because man's system is so opposite that of the Lord man says that you have to work before you can rest God says you rest then you can work effectively unless you are a branch you cannot you cannot produce you cannot bear the fruit i hate to use the word 'produce' because it gives the idea that you are producing the fruit the vine is producing the fruit you are the bearing fruit part of the vine Amen once a while it is good to sit down and just think even right now His vine life is flowing it does not flow intermittently, it does not flow then stop, it flows and then stop no.. it flows consistently on a continuum even right now it is flowing
