The Final Conversations with Christ- Part 6

I love how God orchestrates the way we receive the teaching of His Word. If you’ve been attending church on Sunday for “The Final Conversations of Christ,” as well as Thrive on Wednesdays for Randy Brokaw’s “A Vital Connection: Are you IN?” then you’ve experienced the connectedness between teachings. And I can assure you that Randy and Aaron did not plan that. The Holy Spirit did.

We probably aren’t strangers to this portion of scripture – John 15:1-17. The whole “He is the vine, we are the branches” passage is one we’ve read a million times, so I was convinced that no new revelation would be presented. Plus, I was a pretty good student back in school, so the vine/branch analogy wouldn’t be lost on me. However, I realized after Randy’s teaching and Sunday’s message that I must have completely spaced out during the biology unit in school regarding horticulture and plant stuff – yes, “plant stuff.”  I realized that I hadn’t grasped the concept as well as I thought I had all these years.

Again, I love the way God orchestrates the teaching of His Word to reveal new revelations to those of us who’ve “heard all of this before” – specifically with the idea of “bearing fruit.” I often read scripture and think, “How does this bless me? How does this make me a better person?” (gasp! ) These teachings on the Vine and the Branches revealed to me how little “bearing fruit” has to do with me at all! When I, as a branch, bear fruit as a result of being in the Vine, that fruit is meant to sustain and nourish those around me. The branch doesn’t eat its own fruit. The fruit is to nourish others with love. If I’m not exhibiting such love, then I’m just like that weird, dead branch that was on the stage Sunday. (See what excitement you lose out on when you miss church?)

As we begin to wind down these final conversations of Christ, my prayer is that I would bear much fruit to bring health and love to those around me! That’s my prayer for you, too!

Written by: Jaime Hlavin

Edited by: Tamara Sturdivant