John 15
The Vine and the Branches
1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17This is my command: Love each other.
The World Hates the Disciples
18"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.'[b] If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. 22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. 23He who hates me hates my Father as well. 24If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: 'They hated me without reason.'[c]
26"When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. 27And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
"A Word With You" by Ron Hutchcraft
Destination Check
Friday, May 02, 2008
All of us airline passengers have just squeezed down that narrow aisle to our seats and everyone is just getting settled in. And the ground agent comes onboard and says, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is a destination check. This is flight 305 to Atlanta." The next part is what I love - it's so diplomatic, it's almost ridiculous. If Atlanta is not in your travel plans for today, this would be a good time for you to exit the aircraft." Translation: "Hey, pal - make sure this flight is going where you want to end up!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Destination Check."
It doesn't matter how nice the plane is, how nice the people are, how sure I was that this was the right one - if it isn't going where I want to go, I cannot afford to be on it. That's obvious when it comes to our travel destination. It should be obvious when it comes to our eternal destination. But often we don't do a destination check.
In a recent survey, 78% of Americans said they thought their destination when they die would be heaven. Since this is the one thing you can't afford to be wrong about, there's an important question that those folks need to consider - all of us do. On what can a person base their eternal expectations? How nice the people are? How nice the religion is? How much I think this ought to be the way to get to God? It's not true for an airplane flight - and it's not true for getting to God and to God's heaven. Only God can tell us how to get to Him, what He says - and only what He says - is the final word.
Here it is - in the words of Jesus Christ Himself. Our word for today from the Word of God, John 3:3, "No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." Those two words have been over used, they've been misused, and they've been abused. But they weren't invented by some cult or some right-wing religionist. It was the Son of God Himself who told us that the way to give ourselves a destination check - to see if, in fact, we will go to heaven when our heart has beaten for the last time is to answer this question, "Are you born again?"
The Bible explains just two chapters earlier how you can be born again - speaking of Jesus - it says, "To all who received Him, to those who believed in Him, He gave them the right to become children of God." You have to be born into His family to be His child, just as you were born into your earth-family. And you were born again at the moment you "receive Jesus." That means welcoming Him into your life. And then it says, "You believe in Him." That refers to putting your total trust in Him as your only ticket to God's heaven.
Why? Because it's your sin that will keep you out of heaven, because sin that carries an eternal death penalty according to the Bible. The Bible calls that hell. And only Jesus could - only Jesus did - die to pay that death penalty so you don't have to. That is how much He loves you. So only He can remove your sin from God's record - and only people with their sin forgiven can enter God's sinless heaven. Jesus left no room for any question. He said in John 3:5, "You must be born again."
You have no more important thing in your life to do than to make sure you have boarded the flight that is going to heaven. To be sure that you have told Jesus you are putting all your faith in Him alone to forgive your sin; to take you to heaven when you die. Only He died to make it possible.
This could be your day to begin your personal relationship with Jesus Christ; to ensure your place in heaven some day, to know every sin in your life has been erased from God's Book forever. It's when you say, "Jesus, I am turning from the running of my own life. I'm grabbing You with both hands like a drowning person would grab a rescuer. I am Yours."
We'd love to help you do that; encourage you to do that and give you some information that will help you begin that relationship if you'll just visit us at our website. I hope you'll go there today before you forget about it. Here's the website. It's yoursforlife.net. I'll send you my booklet Yours For Life if you want to call for it at 877-741-1200. There's still time to change and get on the only flight that God says is destined for His heaven.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 2, 2008
The Patience To Wait for the Vision
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Though it tarries, wait for it . . . —Habakkuk 2:3
Patience is not the same as indifference; patience conveys the idea of someone who is tremendously strong and able to withstand all assaults. Having the vision of God is the source of patience because it gives us God’s true and proper inspiration. Moses endured, not because of his devotion to his principles of what was right, nor because of his sense of duty to God, but because he had a vision of God. ". . . he endured as seeing Him who is invisible" (Hebrews 11:27 ). A person who has the vision of God is not devoted to a cause or to any particular issue— he is devoted to God Himself. You always know when the vision is of God because of the inspiration that comes with it. Things come to you with greatness and add vitality to your life because everything is energized by God. He may give you a time spiritually, with no word from Himself at all, just as His Son experienced during His time of temptation in the wilderness. When God does that, simply endure, and the power to endure will be there because you see God.
"Though it tarries, wait for it . . . ." The proof that we have the vision is that we are reaching out for more than we have already grasped. It is a bad thing to be satisfied spiritually. The psalmist said, "What shall I render to the Lord . . . ? I will take up the cup of salvation . . ." (Psalm 116:12-13 ). We are apt to look for satisfaction within ourselves and say, "Now I’ve got it! Now I am completely sanctified. Now I can endure." Instantly we are on the road to ruin. Our reach must exceed our grasp. Paul said, "Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on . . ." ( Philippians 3:12 ). If we have only what we have experienced, we have nothing. But if we have the inspiration of the vision of God, we have more than we can experience. Beware of the danger of spiritual relaxation
Daily Devotion, by Max Lucado
Saturated in Love
Friday, May 02, 2008
Where God's love is there is no fear, because God's perfect love drives out fear.
1 John 4:15
We fear rejection, so we follow the crowd. We fear no fitting in, so we take the drugs. For fear of standing out, we wear what everyone else wears. For fear of blending in, we wear what no one else wears. For fear of sleeping alone, we sleep with anyone. For fear of not being loved, we search for love in all the wrong places.
But God flushes those fears. Those saturated in God's love don't sell out to win the love of others. They don't even sell out to win the love of God.
Do you think you need to? Do you think, If I cuss less, pray more, drink less, study more... if I try harder, God will love me more? Sniff and smell Satan's stench behind those words. We all need improvement, but we don't need to wood God's love. We change because we already have God's love. God's perfect love
