Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “A life of service”
Our Bible verse for today: “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in you produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me … My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be My disciples.” John 15:5; 7 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “The life of a Christian is to be a life of service and blessings to others.”
John 15:5 is one of my personal life verses. The truth Jesus expressed there has guided my thinking and has provided the direction and motivation for my life for more than twenty-five years.
Jesus spoke those words on the night before He was crucified. It was His last night with His disciples. They were at the Last Supper and Jesus was giving them their final instructions before He would leave them. In this verse He used the analogy of a grapevine and the branches that grow off of it. The life of the vine flows in and through the branches and it produces its fruit through the branches. It’s the fruit of the vine not the fruit of the branch. As long as the branch stays firmly connected to the vine, the life of the vine will flow through it and the fruit of the vine will be produced out of it. But if the connection to the vine becomes broken, the life of the vine no longer flows through it and the fruit is no longer produced.
Likewise, the life of Jesus flows in and through His disciples. As a result, the fruit of Jesus is produced through the lives of His disciples. As long as the disciple stays firmly connected to Jesus, His life and power will flow in and out of the disciple and His fruit will be produced through the life of the disciple.
What will that look like in the life of the follower of Jesus? Well, that’s the story of much of the New Testament. One of the purposes of the New Testament is to teach the followers of Jesus how to bear the fruit of Jesus out in the world. It’s to be a life of service and blessings. We are to be the hands and feet of Jesus. We are to speak His words, give His hugs, smile His smiles, share His comfort, and bestow His blessings. We are to be the conduits (the branches) through which the world gets to experience the abundant blessings of our Savior and Lord.
All this month we’ll consider what that looks like in a practical way in the day-to-day life of the disciple of Jesus. By doing so we’re going to discover that there is no greater sense of purpose and accomplishment, no greater degree of fulfillment in life, than to be used by God to bestow His blessing upon other people. If you’re willing, you will get to bring the blessings of God into the lives of other people.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 