Jesus the True Vine. By Kathy Findlay

Jesus The True Vine by Kathy Findlay

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser... I am the vine, you are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, bears much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing."

John 15:1, 5

Jesus was talking to his dear friends one last time in the Upper Room on the night we call Maundy Thursday. He knew he needed to encourage and strengthen his disciples for what was to be his last hours on earth. The shattering events of Good Friday were only hours away.

Jesus spoke of himself as the true grapevine and his Father as the gardener. The disciples were very familiar with how grapevines grew and how they are cared for. They saw the vineyards on the southern exposures of gentle sloping hillsides in Israel. The ground is a sandy or gravelly loam soil suited for grapes. Being close to the Mediterranean Sea, the climate is temperate and rainfall is sufficient for an abundant harvest of grapes.

How is it that Jesus uses this comparison of Himself to a grapevine? Grape plants are staked to a vertical pole with a horizontal wire running between the posts at about six feet off the ground. The plant is pruned so that there are two main branches that are wrapped around the wire going in opposite directions and are secured with ties to the wire. From these main branches all other fruit bearing branches come forth. Was Jesus trying to show his disciples what was going to happen to him? Is he showing us how important it is to stay in close companionship to Him?

Jesus was put on a cross with his arms stretched open wide. He was and is reaching out to us to come to Him. "For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16. Just as the main grapevine brings nourishment to the branches, Jesus is our life-blood, nourishing our bodies and our spirits.

If we as followers of Jesus Christ are to be the branches, what kind of fruit are we to bear? We can see part of the answer to that question in Galatians 5:22-23. "But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!" By remaining in a close relationship to Jesus through prayer, reading God's word, and meeting with other believers, we can grow and become Christ-like.

Our Father God is the vinedresser as stated by Jesus in John 15:1. As the good gardener that He is, He faithfully tends the vines, or us. Sometimes pruning is necessary. According to the Better Homes and Gardens Garden Book these are some reasons for pruning: to remove diseased, dead or broken branches; to renew old plants; to shape for a special purpose; to eliminate suckers and wild growth; to hold plant within bounds; to insure production of larger flowers or fruits. Pruning may seem harsh to a plant, but if done well and at the right time, the plant flourishes and becomes stronger for it.

Is there something God is asking you to cut out of your life?

How is He shaping you to be Christ-like?

What fruit of the Spirit are you producing that others can see?

As long as we each live on this earth God is moving in our lives, shaping us to be more like Jesus. The way may not always be clear or easy, but we are given a promise that we will grow and bear much fruit. "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love." Romans 5:3-5

Who Am I? By Anne Gibson

“Hey! Did you know God wants us to be living dead things?” my friend announced one day several years ago. I looked at her like she was crazy. “How can you be living if you are dead?” I asked. “It’s possible! We are!” she answered. “Look up 1 Peter 2:5!”

I was intrigued, so I wrote down the verse, and later on, opened my Bible to 1 Peter 2:4-5. It read: “As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him--you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering special sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” Living dead things…Living stones? Yes, that must have been what she meant. But I was neither a stone nor a “dead thing”. What did she mean?

We talked about it later on, and the things I learned from her and since that time have made this picture of who I am in Christ a key one for me. Maybe it will be for you, too! J

To understand 1 Peter, we need to step back a few hundred years to the Old Testament. The center of Jewish worship was the Temple, a huge stone structure. It was the Temple that housed the Holy of Holies, which housed the Ark of the Covenant, the dwelling place of the Lord God. It was, therefore, the most holy place in the entire Temple. Only the High Priest, a man from the tribe of Levi, could come before the Lord at the Ark of the Covenant, and only one time a year at that: On the Feast of the Atonement, to sacrifice and sprinkle blood on the Mercy Seat (the top of the Ark) to atone for the sins of the people (Exodus 37:6-9). The Temple was completed by Solomon in Jerusalem in 960 BC, destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC, re-built in 516 BC, and then destroyed again by the Romans in 70 AD. When the temple was destroyed the last time, it sent the Jews into a time of mourning and sadness that continues to this day.

When Jesus came, however, he gave new meanings to the temple, the high priest, and God’s dwelling place. It is in light of this fact that Peter writes about the chosen and precious living Stone, living stones, and later on in verse 6, the chosen and precious Cornerstone. Instead of a physical building, believers are the spiritual house where God dwells (see also 1 Corinthians 6:19), and believers are also a part of the spiritual temple that God is building with all His children. God’s holy presence is among us; not in an ark or a building (Exodus 40:34-38). There are no more sacrifices needed for sin, as Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice. There are no more high priests; Jesus is the high priest (Hebrews 4:14), and as believers in Jesus we are a part of the royal priesthood!

It’s in combining the old understanding of the temple structure and the new understanding of the temple meaning that we need to look at 1 Peter 2:5 and the surrounding verses (4, 6-7). Peter uses structural elements to explain Jesus’ character to us: A cornerstone, and the stones that lay on top of it, forming the structure.

Cornerstones weren’t just pieces of ancient structures. They are important in buildings today, as well! In fact, you’ve most likely seen one on campus, at a church, business, or a historical site. In many cases, you’d have no idea which stone was the cornerstone—Others are more noticeable, and although blend in with the structure, have symbolic engraving on them with the year the construction started. It’s appropriate to bring attention to this chunk of stone, for the cornerstone sets the positioning, design, structure, and is the chief foundation for the building; in every structure, it is laid down intentionally and precisely.

Like a cornerstone, Jesus came to earth in the most insignificant way possible—as a tiny baby, born in a feed trough, amongst the animals. He was rejected by the very people he came to save, dying a humiliating death on the cross. Yet there’s a ton of significance in who Jesus was and what he did! Jesus is the living stone that was chosen by and precious to God! Like a cornerstone, Jesus is the chief foundation and structure for our faith!

In keeping with the building analogy, the stones that are directed and shaped by that cornerstone are believers in Jesus—you and me. By following Jesus, we are able to be built into the design and placed in the position God intended His children to be in.

There is a key piece to this, though: The “living dead thing” part. As people, we are physically alive and free to move wherever we want to. But as believers, we are physically alive and free to remain rooted and grounded in Christ’s love (Ephesians 3:17). We offer ourselves as living sacrifices to the Lord (Romans 12:1). What happens to a sacrifice, though? It dies. (Think “dead things.”) If we are alive, both in Christ and physically, what dies? Our own sinful desires. We are fully alive as a part of Christ’s temple, but dead to our own sinful desires and to those things that would knock us off the precious Cornerstone of Jesus. (Romans 6:11).

This is great news! It’s a key piece to who we are in Christ! We can see through this analogy that we do not have to have it all figured out—Instead, we can look to the Lord for direction. We do not have to have the strength to face everything we’ll have to in life on our own—Instead, we can rest on the Lord’s strength and security. We can be happy about being a “living dead thing”—And just as excited as my friend was that one day a few years ago as she shared with me her revelation!

What does being a “living stone” look like in your life? Are you living for Jesus and dying to your will? Are you slanted too much in one direction or the other? (living fully but not submitted to Jesus—or not living fully enough in the ways God has called you to?)

What are some things that could be changed? (If you can’t think of any, take some time now and pray about it. Pray that your life would be more like the living stone, carefully placed on the precious Cornerstone of Christ.)

There’s a song that really has spoken to me about submitting to Christ, and being a “living stone”. It’s called “At Your Feet” by Casting Crowns. Check it out on YouTube or online if you get a chance. It talks about laying it all at Jesus’ feet, our dreams, wanderings, mistakes, and dwelling at His feet. When we are living stones, resting on the Cornerstone of Christ, we are doing just that.

At Your Feet by Casting Crowns

Here at Your feet, I lay my past down
My wanderings, all my mistakes down
And I am free

Here at Your feet, I lay this day down
Not in my strength, but in Yours I’ve found
All I need, You’re all I need

Jesus, Jesus, at Your feet
Oh, to dwell and never leave
Jesus, Jesus, at Your feet
There is nowhere else for me
There is nowhere else for me

Here at Your feet, I lay my future down
All of my dreams, I give to You now
And I find peace, I find peace
Here at Your feet, I lay my life down
For You my King, You’re all I want now
And my soul sings…

‘Cause I am free (here at Your feet)
All I need (is at Your feet)
I find peace
We’re at Your feet
We’re at Your feet

And I am free (here at Your feet)
All I need (is at Your feet)
I find peace
We’re at Your feet
We’re at Your feet
We’re at Your feet
We’re at Your feet

Here at Your feet
I lay my life down

Who Am I? I am only a vistor of this world in which I temporarily live. By Chuck Taylor

Who Am I?

I am only a visitor of this world in which I temporarily live

By: Chuck Taylor

1 Peter 2:11 (New International Version, ©2010)

Living Godly Lives in a Pagan Society

¹¹Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.

1 Peter 2:9-12 (The Message)

^9-10But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God's instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.

^11-12Friends, this world is not your home, so don't make yourselves cozy in it. Don't indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they'll be won over to God's side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives.

When I was a senior in high school, a foreign exchange student lived in our home for the entire year, and our families became close. Several years later, when my wife and parents and I traveled to Chile for his wedding, my Chilean brother gave us a crash course in some of the cultural differences that we would encounter. We did our best to adjust our habits so that we would “fit in” and not embarrass our hosts, but clearly we never stopped being Americans. Had we stayed for more than a couple of weeks, however, I expect that we would have begun to adopt some of Chile’s cultural norms – both good and bad. (“On time” for a party means something like an hour after the time on the invitation!)

As Christians, we find ourselves in a somewhat similar situation. We believe that we are truly “just visitors” here, and that this world is not our final home. In this passage from 1^st Peter, we’re urged to live exemplary lives here on earth, adopting the good cultural habits of the world so that as Christ’s people, we’re not easily dismissed with, “Oh, they’re just a bunch of Christians!”

But we’re also reminded to never forget who (and whose!) we really are. If we allow ourselves to become too comfortable in this foreign land, it’s easy to also adopt some of the world’s manybad cultural habits. When that happens, when we give in to the sinful desires of greed, jealousy, lust or anger, we move our lives away from Christ and away from the eternal home that he has promised to us.

The Bible is full of stories about God’s people in foreign lands trying, sometimes succeeding and sometimes failing, to keep their faith. They were slaves in Egypt, wandered in the desert, and were exiles in Babylon. Often they strayed far from their relationship with God as they embraced customs in the lands where they lived – even going so far as to worship Baal or other gods. Each time, however, something reminded them of their true home, their place with God, and they returned to Him.

That, then, is our challenge: to live exemplary lives here on earth so that our words and our deeds honor Him and turn others toward Him. At the same time, we’re not to get too comfortable. We need to be always mindful that this is not yet His world; it is still a “foreign land” full of hate, anger, prejudice, temptation and sin. When it becomes a choice between “fitting in” and being true to our faith, as Christians we are always called to Christ – and toward our eternal home with Him.

Questions for reflection:

1. In what ways do I stand out from the culture around me that honors Christ?
2. What do I need to do differently to better live an exemplary life while here on earth?
3. How have I honored God with my words this week? How have I honored Him with my deeds?

On Fire through Faith by Ben Prather

On Fire through Faith

I want to talk about faith with you, I have an idea that I think will help you approach it and gather a better understanding of what it is, what it isn't, and what it leads to.

From the Austrian Alps to America's Grand Canyon there is a new demand from sightseers to see these historic places of wonder from a unique viewpoint. They are called "sky walks" and essentially they are large glass extension that allows the viewing public to see their particular monument from a new perspective. Rather than look from the Sears Tower at the surrounding skyline of Chicago, the viewing public can now get an appreciation for their immediate surroundings by being able to look down. For instance, the sky walk in Arizona extends a glass walkway immediately over the edge of the Grand Canyon, allowing visitors to feel the depth of the canyon floor while suspended mid air into the sky.

I had the opportunity to experience one of these engineering masterpieces while in the CN Tower in Toronto (think Space Needle). While strolling around in the top floor of the tower I noticed a crowd gathering around one section of the floor. People were taking turns trying out this mind boggling creation. As I approached this glass floor my entire body was filled with an uncomfortable feeling of fear, I became hesitant to even take one step out on the glass. In essence, it was going to take faith to walk across that glass floor! It was from this experience that I have a better appreciation of faith.

Faith & Comfort

You may hear many people describing their faith as a great comfort to them and I am sure it is but before we come to faith in anything we begin in discomfort. It was true on the sky walk and it is true in our spiritual life. When we honestly reflect on God, who He is and who we are in relation to Him we ought to be uncomfortable. Much like standing on that sky walk, the realization of being suspended thousands of feet in the air with only a layer of glass between you and gravity is a frightening thing- before we come to faith in Christ as our savior we must realize that we are at odds with a perfect, and holy God who will and must destroy evil. God cannot ignore or condone sin because his nature is morally perfect. This is an uncomfortable place to be, if you honestly look at your life you will see how much you have chosen not submit yourself to this perfect being in order to believe anything that suits your own self-centered life-style. Before we gain the comforts of faith we must first address the problem or discomfort of our situation.

-how have you complained against your creator
-how much you have distrusted where he has placed you
-how much faith are willing to put into God's hands to guide you life?

STOP (and think)

Knowing vs Believing

You see, I knew that the sky walk was safe; I had just watched a whole crowd of people walk across it, lay on it, take funny pictures of themselves over it and yet I was still hesitant. Why? The reason is because there is a difference between knowing the truth and believing in the truth.

All throughout Jesus' ministry people had the opportunity to see miracles and yet they still could not put their faith in Him. They still were not willing to allow Him to guide their life. You can know all there is to know about Jesus and the Bible but that does not translate into saving faith, I imagine the devil knows more Bible verses than any of us! So knowledge does not save, it helps to understand but it does not equate into walking out on that glass floor and believing you are saved.

"For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes... This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, "It is through faith that a righteous person has life." Romans 1: 16-17

Paul tells us that only faith can save us, the Good News shows us both how righteous God is in His plan for us to be saved and also how we may be made fit for eternal life. By trusting Christ, our relationship with God is made right. "from start to finish," God declares us to be right with Him because of faith and faith alone. As we trust God, we are saved; we find life both now and forever.

DROP (on your knees)

Faith leads to...

"So you see, it isn't enough just to have faith. Faith that doesnt show itself by good deeds is no faith at all - it is dead and useless... Do you still think it's enough just to believe that there is one God? Well, even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror! Fool! When will you ever learn that faith that does not result in good deeds is useless?" James 2: 17,19-20

If you say, "I believe in God, I know there is our savior therefore I am saved" I must caution you, you are moving too quickly. Let us start with faith, it is not one more thing we ought to do - if it were, then, again, we are only saving ourselves. Faith is a gift God gives us because HE is saving us; it is God's grace, not our faith, that saves us. In his mercy, he saves us, he tells us we can have a relationship with his Son and even more astounding is that He helps us become like him... Holy.

Once we have an appreciation for what God has done for us but giving us a savior we are more motivated to live for Him. When you appreciate all that Jesus has done for you and is continually doing for you each day God's commandments will change from Him telling us "you must do this" to "I promise you, you will do this." That is what faith is all about, it is a force that changes us into His likeness. Not in a methodical way of, "I'm going to keep the rules" but in a loving way that says "I want to honor this awesome God who loves me so much." Think about it this way, we don't keep God's laws to be saved; rather we do all these things because we're saved.

ROLL (get rolling already!)

The Past is the Past by Jeremy Singer

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. ~Philippians 3:12-14

This was part of the letter that Paul wrote while he was in jail. What God is trying to tell us through Paul is that we as humans will make mistakes. When these mistakes happen we tend to think God will no longer have us and we stray away from Him. However, God wants us to know that we should put all of our wrongdoings in the past and renew our lives in Christ.

Going into high school my faith wasn’t very strong and I did many showed it. However, after I went on my first mission trip I came back changed and wanting to live a life for Christ. One thing I was worried about though was the fact that I did so many bad things before and I was afraid I blew my chance at being a Christian. I talked to my youth pastor about his and he shared this verse with me. It comforted me to know that what I’ve done I’m not supposed to worry about anymore and I should focus on what is ahead.