Embracing Growth Through Discipleship and Pruning

Devotional

Sermon Summary

Sermon Clips



"Jesus declares, 'I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.' Every branch in me that does not produce fruit, he removes and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. You are already clean because of the word I've spoken to you. Remain in me and I in you. Just as the branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me." [00:52:15] (33 seconds)


"Pruning creates fullness and life. So when you prune something, you do it because you want to bring the plant to a place of full maturity. So I have some shears here in my hand. I'm going to try not to prune my fingers. That would not be very fun for anybody. What you do when you prune, you cut it back just like this. So that there will be life." [01:02:08] (34 seconds)


"And you can tell when a plant hasn't been pruned because it becomes very leggy. This plant actually has some of these pieces on here that are kind of leggy. If we didn't cut them back at some point, the plant would continue to grow and fruit will not happen. But what you need to hear is that the places that are pruned are the ones that are bearing fruit." [01:02:42] (23 seconds)


"When he brings pruning, when he removes something out of your life, he does it with the ultimate intent to bring fullness in your life, to fill your life with joy and fruit. That's something that's really important for us to understand. Secondly, we need to understand this about pruning, is that the place where you're pruned. So pruning creates new growth in the place where you experience loss." [01:04:50] (33 seconds)


"The place that is cut back is the place where you begin to grow. And I think many of us don't think that way when it comes to God's pruning in our life. You see, if we look at this plant here, the place that you prune is not just haphazardly anywhere. You want to find an area that's called a eye." [01:05:24] (23 seconds)


"Every single person has their own journey. And God brings about change in his timing because he knows us best. So sometimes we can like compare ourselves to other people and be like, man, they're experiencing this, or they're having such great fruit, or they're growing in this way. And this content gets into our heart. But if we're going to be people who let Jesus actually be the one who cultivates us and is the one who leads us, then we need to let him actually do what only he can do to transform us." [01:11:56] (30 seconds)


"Because the way that we get there is by abiding in Christ. Whatever you want in my life, and if you want to prune me, you're in charge. That's what all of us have done who follow Jesus. Ultimately, we said, it's not about me. It's about what you want to do in me, and my life is yours. See, following Jesus isn't simply trying to get fire insurance. It's about being a person who says, God, I'm yours to do whatever you want to do in me." [01:12:54] (34 seconds)

"And so if you want to follow Jesus, I'm going to invite you to do that simply by praying this prayer with me. There's a lot of other ways to do it, but you can pray this prayer by saying this, Jesus, I give my life to you. I want fruit, not fire. I want to experience fullness and joy and life. And I believe that you are offering that to me, and I accept that offer. And I trust you with my life. Do whatever you want in my life. I'm yours." [01:13:55] (45 seconds)

Ask a question about this sermon