Luke 24:13-35
It is the very first Easter Sunday and two of the disciples are leaving Jerusalem, heading for a town called Emmaus.  We have no real idea who these two are, other than one’s name is Cleopas and they have been following Jesus for long enough to have become accepted as disciples.

Continue reading →

John 15:1-21
As Jesus is wrapping up this Parable of the Vine as He literally walks toward Gethsemane and the Cross, in vv. 11-17,  He gives His disciples a glimpse of what their relationship looks like from His point of view.  He has been rabbi, teacher to them and He has been Lord and Master and those things He will still be, but now He reveals to them something much deeper and more intimate; they are His friends.

Continue reading →

John 15:1-21
‘As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.  Now remain in my love.  If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.’ (15:9-10)

We are walking into the night listening to Jesus teach His disciples about bearing fruit.  He has told them that He is the True Vine and His Father is the Gardener who cuts out branches that do not bear fruit and prunes those that do.  He has told them that they are the branches and that in order to bear fruit the must abide or remain in Him and one of the keys to that abiding are His words and that bearing fruit proves they are His disciples, to His Father’s Glory.  Now He continues to expand on just what this abiding looks like.

Continue reading →

John 15:1-17
‘You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.  Remain in me, and I will remain in you…’ (15:3-4 NIV)
‘If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.  My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.’ (15:7-8 NASB)

The Last Supper is over.  Jesus and His disciples have just finished that Passover meal and have gotten up and are on their way to the Garden of Gethsemane.  As they walk, Jesus is teaching the disciples about what it means to bear fruit.  He establishes that bearing fruit is critical to their life in the Kingdom and the only way to bear that fruit is to remain or abide in Him.  Now He begins to expand on that concept to show them just what it means to remain in the Vine.

Continue reading →

John 15:1-17
It is the Last Supper and Jesus is teaching His disciples for the last time.  Directly on the heels of promising to send the Holy Spirit (John 14:15-31), He gives them this Parable of the Vine which is all about bearing fruit.  Jesus uses the imagery of the vine with its harvest of grapes to illustrate what it will take for His disciples to bear fruit.

Continue reading →

Matthew 13:1-23
The final issue here in the Parable of the Sower is the hearts of the world.  The Sower is scattering His Seed, the knowledge of the Kingdom of God into the world with the intent of producing a harvest.  Rocks have been removed, weeds have been pulled and now it is up to the soil to produce, to supply what is needed for the root that has spouted from the seed to feed the new plant and enable it to grow into the plant that produces the harvest.

Continue reading →