Dake Bible Discussion Board ⇒ Powerless to Produce

[titus213]

Sometimes we wonder why it is that we see so little evidence of God's work in our world, especially when compared to the evidence of the Enemy's work in the world. And it's not just a concern for 'out there' . . . we see so little evidence of God's work in our own lives. There may be the occasional flare up that gives us temporary hope, but it soon dies back down.

Jesus had a wonderful way of explaining things simply and naturally, often using commonly recognized illustrations. He does that in John 15 when He describes Himself as the "true" vine that produces good fruit in contrast to the "false" vine, Israel, which had produced wild grapes. There are many lessons we can draw from this metaphor Jesus used, but one of the obvious ones is summed up beautifully by Dake (John 15:5, note m). Jesus has just said: "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you abide in me and I in you, then you will produce much fruit. Without me, you can’t do anything." Dake comments: "Again He repeats that He is the true vine and believers are the branches; and they are powerless to produce fruit if they do not abide in Him".

There's no mystery to this. When Jesus drew His picture of the vine He knew what He was talking about. The vine was grown all over Palestine as it still is. It's a plant which needs a great deal of attention to get the best fruit from it. That's the Father's business -- He is the "husbandman", the keeper of the vineyard. The business of the branch is simply to "abide" -- to keep in contact with the vine. It is obvious that if the branch loses contact with the vine it won't produce anything. It is deadwood. Powerless to produce.

So when we bemoan the lack of God's power in our world, our church, or ourselves it may be a good idea to see if there has been a separation from the Vine. We may be the deadwood! It does no good to beg and plead for God to send His power when He has already made it available. The secret of the life of Jesus was His contact with His Father; again and again He withdrew into a solitary place to meet Him. We must keep contact with Jesus. We can't do that unless we deliberately take steps to do it.

But if we do, we discover the power to produce was there all along.

[branham1965]

keep on preaching!!

[Ironman]

"Sometimes we wonder why it is that we see so little evidence of God's work in our world, especially when compared to the evidence of the Enemy's work in the world. And it's not just a concern for 'out there' . . . we see so little evidence of God's work in our own lives. There may be the occasional flare up that gives us temporary hope, but it soon dies back down."

.

Most people, even believers simply do not fully comprehend what The Word did for mankind, what He went through.

I re-watched Mel Gibsons, "The Passion Of Christ," last night. I had tears in my eyes throughout most of it. Even though it is an extremely horrendous portrayal of what they did and what Jesus allowed

them to do to Him, I know it was even worse than what was shown, for example, they never portrayed His beard being pulled out of His face as mentioned in the Scriptures, and in the end, as horrible

as it was, it was still possible to recognise Him as a man?

Watching that again was a stark reminder of what Jesus did for us and what He and the Father allowed men to do, and why they did so much.

Please, Get a copy of this movie and force yourself to watch it over and again, then multiply the suffering and brutal treatment Jesus endured before He was crucified by two. If that does nothing to

hook one up with Jesus forever, nothing will.

John 14:12, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father."

How many of Christs saints on earth today are doing the works Jesus did, let alone greater greater works than Jesus did?

Have mercy on us Father, in Jesus Name!

[macca]

Sometimes we wonder why it is that we see so little evidence of God's work in our world, especially when compared to the evidence of the Enemy's work in the world. And it's not just a concern for 'out there' . . . we see so little evidence of God's work in our own lives. There may be the occasional flare up that gives us temporary hope, but it soon dies back down.

Jesus had a wonderful way of explaining things simply and naturally, often using commonly recognized illustrations. He does that in John 15 when He describes Himself as the "true" vine that produces good fruit in contrast to the "false" vine, Israel, which had produced wild grapes. There are many lessons we can draw from this metaphor Jesus used, but one of the obvious ones is summed up beautifully by Dake (John 15:5, note m). Jesus has just said: "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you abide in me and I in you, then you will produce much fruit. Without me, you can’t do anything." Dake comments: "Again He repeats that He is the true vine and believers are the branches; and they are powerless to produce fruit if they do not abide in Him".

There's no mystery to this. When Jesus drew His picture of the vine He knew what He was talking about. The vine was grown all over Palestine as it still is. It's a plant which needs a great deal of attention to get the best fruit from it. That's the Father's business -- He is the "husbandman", the keeper of the vineyard. The business of the branch is simply to "abide" -- to keep in contact with the vine. It is obvious that if the branch loses contact with the vine it won't produce anything. It is deadwood. Powerless to produce.

So when we bemoan the lack of God's power in our world, our church, or ourselves it may be a good idea to see if there has been a separation from the Vine. We may be the deadwood! It does no good to beg and plead for God to send His power when He has already made it available. The secret of the life of Jesus was His contact with His Father; again and again He withdrew into a solitary place to meet Him. We must keep contact with Jesus. We can't do that unless we deliberately take steps to do it.

But if we do, we discover the power to produce was there all along.

thanks