Series: In Pursuit of Relational Knowledge
What can we do, on purpose, and what tools have been given us by God to facilitate Jesus being formed in us?
The One Who has been given to us to help us remain in and continue in partnership with our Vine Jesus is the person of the Holy Spirit.
Goring through 1Corinthians 1-3 will helps us better understand this relationship we have with our Helper, the Holy Spirit of God.
Continue reading
Series: In Pursuit of Relational Knowledge
In Jesus’ parting words to His disciples just before calvary, He spoke to them about being branches which grow out of Him. They were to draw their life from Him and because of their union with Him – would bear life changing, character altering fruit.
Last week we took a verbal stroll through Jesus’ words to the disciples just before leaving the upper room regarding:
• His going to the Father
• That to know Him was to know the Father
• That soon the only way anyone would see Him was by the help of the Holy Spirit
• And that John tells us in 1 Jn. 2 that it is by the Holy Spirit that we are steered into the truth and learn how to abide in Christ.
So this week we will finish up the second half of chapters 14 & 15 and begin chapter 16 then scoot over to 1 Corinthians to see this show up in Paul’s letter to this church.
Continue reading
Series: In Pursuit of Relational knowledge
Out of all the things that Jesus could have taught, just before going to the cross, just before being separated from His disciples, THIS is the one thing He was led to tell them about.
It was and is a very important lesson. You can get nowhere with God if you are unwilling to embrace the intimacy of vulnerability and dependance. The proud of heart can have no admittance and can bear no fruit!
Continue reading
Series: In Pursuit of Relational knowledge
We ventured away from John 15 today as we studied correlating scriptures which help up develop a more broadstroked vista of our position as branches in our Vine.
Our spirits have been made alive in and to God, our souls are being converted to think, see, feel and desire as God does, but we live in a physical body which still has both sin and death in it. So while we have very real desires to honor and obey our God and Father, we also have very real enticements from our flesh to do otherwise.
This inward conflict is not simply one of external morality, but one of intrinsic inner character at war with an external hard wiring. As such, like Paul lamented, “I find myself doing the very things I hate!”
Today we learned a little more about this, so as to better understand how to live out our “branchness” and bear fruit pleasing to God.
Continue reading
Series: In Pursuit of Relational knowledge
Our ongoing study in John 15 is helping us better understand how to properly receive the message of the Kingdom in our hearts. This is so we can do things ON PURPOSE to facilitate knowing Jesus in intimate and fruitfulfulness.
This week instead of pressing forward, we examined where Jesus likely drew this analogy of a vine and branches. It has its roots in Israel from when God first delivered them from Egypt and “planted them as a choice vine” in the promised land. Israel however, never really produced mature and good fruit.
As such Jesus took this illustrative metaphor for Israel and restated it with Himself being the Vine and all who were in the Kingdom… who follow Him in devotion as branches which faithfully produce fruit.
Before returning to John 15, we read the end of John 14 which introduces the Holy Spirit at the One Who facilitates this union.
Continue reading