Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Trust”
Our Bible verse for today: “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me.” John 15:5 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Trust Him to work through you.”
Sometimes Christians are hesitant to attempt meaningful things for God because they don’t believe they have the ability or talent to do much for God. Well, maybe you don’t have many skills, talents, or abilities but it’s actually irrelevant. What you can or cannot accomplish for God has very little to do with what you are personally capable of doing, and it has everything to do with what God is capable of doing in you, with you, and through you.
In John 15:5 Jesus used the example of a grape vine and the branches that grow off of it to make this very point. The grape vine produces and bears its fruit through the branches which grow off of it. As long as the branch stays firmly attached to the vine, the life of the vine flows in the branch and the fruit of the vine is produced through the branch. But if the branch becomes separated from the vine then the fruit of the vine is no longer produced through the branch.
The Christian life works exactly the same way. Jesus is the spiritual vine. He lives His life and produces His fruit through the lives of His followers. As long as the follower of Christ remains firmly attached to Him (in a good and healthy relationship with Him), the life of Christ will flow through and work in the Christian. That then will result in the fruit of Christ being produced in and through the life of the Christian.
The ability of the branch to bear the fruit of the vine depends entirely on the branch remaining in right relationship with the vine. It’s the vine that produces the fruit. The branch just stays attached.
I encourage you to stop worrying about what you are or are not capable of achieving for Jesus. Focus instead on simply remaining in a good and healthy relationship with Him. Then trust Him to do with your life whatever it is that He wants to do with it. If you remain in a good and healthy relationship with Him, He will produce in your life the fruit that He wants you to bear. You can trust Him for it.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 