Fruitfulness in Christ

6 · Transitions from Pauline theology to the primary text by establishing that 'in Christ' is not merely doctrinal language but a relational reality, setting up John 15 as the clearest illustration of union with Christ

So what's powerful about this is that that language isn't just theological, it's deeply relational. It's paradigm shifting and helps us to understand that we don't carry merely a title or a label of being Christians. It helps us understand that being followers of Christ, about being united to Christ. This reality is illustrated most clearly in John 15, where Jesus gives his disciples a profound metaphor of their relationship with him. The vine and the branches.

7 · Provides crucial historical-emotional context for the passage by situating it in the farewell discourse on the night before the crucifixion, when the disciples feared losing their connection to Jesus — establishing that the vine metaphor is Jesus's answer to their fear of abandonment

But before we dive in, it's important to understand the moment in which Jesus spoke these words. So this passage is part of what's known as the farewell discourse, which is John 13:17, Jesus's final words before his arrest. In John 13:33, Jesus had told them, where I am going, you cannot come. In their minds, their Lord and master, the only one they had left, everything to follow was about to leave them. They were afraid what would happen to them? What would happen to everything he started? Would their connection to him be severed? It's in this moment of uncertainty that Jesus gives them an image of reassurance. I am the vine, you are the branches, abide in me. In other words, his physical departure would not end their relationship with him. Their union with him would remain. And from that abiding connection, their lives would bear lasting fruit.

8 · Articulates the sermon's controlling thesis — that union with Christ is the essence of Christian life and the source of fruitfulness — and introduces 'abiding' as the operational concept that produces fruit

So what we see clearly in this passage is that union with Christ is the very essence of the Christian life and the source of all fruitfulness. John's Gospel, and particularly this passage, emphasizes the word abide, which in the Greek it means to remain or to dwell. Jesus is showing his disciples and us that the Christian life is about abiding. And when we abide, fruitfulness is the natural result.

9 · Explicit structural signal previewing the sermon's three-part movement through ascending levels of fruitfulness

So in this passage, Jesus describes three aspects of fruitfulness that flow from this abiding relationship. That's what we're going to look at today from a high level overview. More fruit, much fruit and abiding fruit.

10 · Uses a self-deprecating story about YouTube research instead of visiting a winery to demystify the term 'vinedresser' and establish that pruning is a real, ongoing agricultural practice — building credibility for the metaphor's application

So as part of my homework for this passage to preach today, I, I guess I, I could have gone to, I think it's La Vigna winery or something out in Anthony to check out the vines. If somebody has a connection, let me know after the service. I'd like to go check it out firsthand. But I went the easy route and I went to YouTube instead of taking the drive. And I'm like, what? Let me see this vine dressing in action, right? Because I think a dressing is going to sound funny, right? But vine dresser is not necessarily a term that we're throwing around so commonly and easily, right? So I'm like, dresser is like what? Like he dresses people with clothes or like I think of ranch dressing. You know, maybe I'm thinking about food, my mind's in the wrong place. But what does a vinedresser do? Well, I'd like to announce to you today, based off my research, vinedressers still exist today. Okay? And pruning is still an essential part of the vineyard management. In fact, pruning is one of the most critical agricultural practices in viticulture or grape growing and has been for thousands of years.

11 · Expounds the Father's role as vinedresser, explaining three agricultural reasons for pruning (fruitfulness, disease prevention, growth control) and applying them spiritually as divine discipline that removes hindrances and produces righteousness — with a doctrinal aside clarifying that unfruitful branches represent false attachment, not lost salvation

Okay, so let's look at verse one again. It says, I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruity takes away, and every Branch that does bear fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. So in this metaphor, the Father plays the role of the vine dresser, the gardener if you will. So why do vine dressers prune? Well, one of the reasons why is it encourages fruitfulness. So just like in Jesus metaphor in John 15, pruning removes unproductive branches so that the vines energy goes toward producing more and better quality fruit. And I want to make a quick note here on verse 2 which says every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. I want to make a quick point of clarity. It's not going to be the message today. We don't have time. But this is not to be confused with being able to lose our salvation. We won't get into it for the sake of time. But Piper has this to say that I think is helpful regarding this verse. There is a type of attachment to Christ, Piper says, that is not a saving attachment. So we might even look to the example of Judas in the immediate context and his apparent attachment to Jesus, but was never truly in him. It is not possible, brothers and sisters, to truly be in Christ and not bear fruit. I even think of a scripture further on where Paul says that. He describes people that have a form of godliness, right, but they deny its power. There's some kind of an association to Jesus, but you deny the very power of it, which is Christ in you. Second reason why pruning is done, it prevents disease. So overgrown tangled vines can harbor mold and disease. Pruning promotes airflow and sunlight exposure, keeping the plant healthy. Third reason why pruning is done, it controls growth. So without pruning, vines can become wild and unmanageable, producing a lot of leaves but little fruit. Likewise, the Father prunes our lives, removing distractions, sins and maybe even good things that hinder our ability to increase in fruitfulness. This can no doubt be uncomfortable and painful at times no one enjoys being pruned. And I'm reminded of Hebrews chapter 12, verse 6, which reminds us, for the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives. And also chapter 12, verse 1. For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant. But later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. So his pruning is proof of our sonship and his care for us. Without it we would remain stagnant, never increasing in our fruitfulness.

12 · Direct application urging the congregation to reinterpret suffering as divine pruning rather than abandonment

So when we go through trials, setbacks or seasons of discipline, we must ask, could this be God pruning me? If so it's not rejection, it's preparation for greater fruitfulness.

13 · A personal testimony about a church planting assessment exercise where mapping life's high and low points revealed that spiritual growth consistently followed seasons of pruning — validating the theological claim that pruning precedes fruitfulness

So another story about me being at the Church Planters assessment, we did an interesting activity where we had to share a timeline of our lives and we had to plot the three to five high points of our lives and the three to five low points of our lives and then share it with the group. It's encouraging to look back and see that these so called low points in our lives were actually moments of pruning. After the activity, we went over observations that we all made regarding the exercise and we all discussed how the greatest spiritual growth or increase in fruit that we had in our lives always came after a low point or a season of pruning and how low points were frequently followed by high points. Found that exercise super helpful and interesting to see how the Lord is weaving our lives together season by season. Low points and high points all for our ultimate good and his glory.

14 · Pivots from the Father's pruning (more fruit) to the Son's supply (much fruit), signaling the sermon's shift from discipline to dependence

But pruning is only part of the picture that we see here. Being fruitful in Christ isn't just about what God removes and cuts away, but it's also about what he supplies, which is much fruit.

15 · Expounds Jesus as the vine and source of all life, emphasizing total dependence — apart from him we can do nothing, but abiding in him produces much fruit that glorifies the Father and proves discipleship

Let's look at verse four and verse five. It says, abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. Verse 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that what bears much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. And look at verse 8. By this my Father is glorified that you what bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. So the Son plays the role of the vine in this metaphor. He is the source of all life. He mentioned this earlier in the farewell discourse in John 14:6, when he said, I am the way, the Truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me. He had declared to them and was teaching them more plainly. He's the source. He's the source of all life.

16 · Contrasts God's vision of abundant fruitfulness with the common Christian drift toward mere survival, establishing the standard believers should measure their lives against

God's goal for our Christian's life is not little fruit, brothers and sisters, but much fruit. He wants us not just to exist and survive, but to live a fruitful life. This is important for us to know because many times as Christians, we can so often drift into our goal being survival, not fruitfulness.

17 · A vulnerable confession of the pastor's own years of frustration trying to produce fruit through self-effort, establishing empathy with the congregation and validating the impossibility of fruitfulness apart from abiding

And here the emphasis shifts from pruning to dependency. The disciples, like many of us, may have thought that their fruitfulness depended on their own effort, but Jesus dismantles that, and I'm Glad he does that because many years of my early Christian walk, I was so frustrated with the ability to bear more fruit. Trying to make it happen in my own strength and my own power, it's extremely frustrating. It's a horrible task. There's no joy in serving Christ like that. Seeing man. Why am I not more loving? Why am I not more joyful? Why can I grow in holiness in this area?

18 · Exegetes the radical claim 'apart from me you can do nothing' as literal truth, dismantling any notion of partial dependence and establishing that fruitfulness is Christ's work in us, not our work for him

Look at closely at verse five. Again, Jesus says, apart from me, you can do nothing. That is not an exaggeration, it's a reality. We don't need Jesus a little. We need him completely. Just as a branch has no life apart from the vine, we have no spiritual power or spiritual life apart from Him. When we stay connected to him. Fruitfulness isn't something we manufacture, it's something he produces in us.

19 · Two diagnostic questions confronting the congregation with the central choice: self-effort or abiding dependence

Are we trying to bear fruit in our own strength? Or are we staying connected to the vine, allowing his power to flow through us?

20 · Transitions to the third aspect of fruitfulness (abiding fruit) by establishing that God's aim is not temporary but lasting impact

This third aspect of fruitfulness, abiding fruit, our calling as branches. But Jesus doesn't just want us to be fruitful for a season. He wants us to bear fruit that lasts.

21 · Another personal testimony about the impermanence of self-generated fruit, validating the text's emphasis on abiding fruit versus temporary results from willpower

And I remember back to my early days in my Christian walk trying to do this in my own power and still having a disconnect between relying fully on Christ. The fruit would only last temporarily. It's very interesting that the Lord Jesus would highlight this because it's just putting all that effort is only going to last as long as you still have your will intact to make it happen. That's not the kind of fruit the Lord is asking for.

22 · Expounds verse 16 to establish that election precedes and secures lasting fruitfulness — God's sovereign choice and appointment are the foundation of abiding fruit, not our initiative

Verse 16. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should what it should abide, it should last. We play the role of the branches in this metaphor. And our calling throughout the entire passage is abide. We see it at least 11 times in this passage. Isn't it so refreshing and reassuring to know that this is all God's idea and not ours? It says he chose us, right? That our lives and the progression of our growth is all completely in his hands. He chose us. This glorious union and process started with Him. He chose us not because of anything we have done, but because of his grace. Not only did he choose us, brothers and sisters, he gave us a purpose. He appointed, ordained us to be fruitful in him and that the fruit we bear, that it should last.

23 · Explicit structural signal transitioning from theology of abiding to practical means of abiding, addressing the anticipated question of how to obey the command

So if our calling in this passage is to abide right, this concept of abiding has been mentioned repeatedly. We should be asking ourselves Naturally. Well, how do I do that? How exactly can I abide in Christ? Well, I want to briefly mention three ways that this text tells us that we can abide.

24 · Establishes the first means of abiding: getting God's Word in us, grounded in the first half of verse 7

The first, we're going to take verse seven and kind of chop it in half. Let's look at the first half of verse seven. If you abide in me and my words abide in you. If my words abide in you by getting the Word in us, that is one way that we can practically can abide in Christ. There is a powerful effect that the Word has in our lives.

25 · Reframes Bible intake from checklist duty to life-sustaining medicine through an analogy to daily medication — the Word has power that produces effects when taken in

And I was just thinking, you know, when we think about reading the Word, sometimes when we get into the means of grace, we get a little bit to do, Listy, you know, and a little things that we need to be checking off. Have I read my word? Have I prayed? Have I? But we gotta allow this paradigm shift to happen, right? I think of I have to take blood pressure medication and I don't know if anybody here, I'm not gonna ask you to confess here, your health issues, right? But maybe there's something that you need to be taking on a daily basis basis, medicine wise. If I don't take that, I'll end up in the hospital, right? And you'll be praying for me because I'm there, because I didn't get it in me. Right? So it's not so much about a task of getting the Word in us or a chore, but realizing that that Word has power in it. And when you get it in you, it's going to do something in you. Right?

26 · Uses Sinclair Ferguson's authority to shift the paradigm from doing the Christian life to letting the Word work in us, supported by 1 Thessalonians 2:13 — the Word is God's active agent, not merely information to apply

Sinclair Ferguson says something helpful here. Modern Christians, I think, have this notion that the Christian life is largely of our doing. And so we're always looking for counsel and advice to do the Christian life better. But the biblical perspective is somewhat different than that. The biblical perspective is that first and foremost we need to let the Word of God do its own work in us. Sometimes we feel like we need to do something more, when in reality it's not what more we need to do, it's letting the Word have its way with us. We can at times be tempted to be self absorbed and we want to do the work. But unless the Word does the work in us, like Paul reminds us in 1st Thessalonians 2:13, he said, when you received the Word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as what it really is, the word of God which is at work in you. So that's interesting, huh? As many times we can say, man being a Christian means receiving the Lord as your Savior. Get out of hell free card. That's not what our salvation is limited to. We don't just receive him as Savior and he's a glorious Savior and we have sung of his saving power, but he's a glorious Lord as well. We have received him as the glorified Christ who has authority over our lives. And when we hear the Word of God, it's not just the book, it's not just theology. It's not just another fact to know. It's a powerful word that is at work in us.

27 · Gives concrete practices for getting the Word in us (sitting under teaching, listening, reading, studying, meditating, memorizing) and reinforces the theological rationale with Hebrews 4:12 on the Word's power

So what are some ways that we can get God's Word in us? Sit under the teaching of God's Word. That's one of the reasons why we come on Sundays, right? Why go to church? Can I be saved? Apart from going to church? You sure can. But to be a Christian, to be in Christ, is to be in community and sit under the teaching of the Word. Because we don't receive it as the Word of man, but as what it really is, which is the Word of God. We listen to God's Word, we read God's Word, we study God's Word, we meditate on God's Word. That's what we're doing at the community group. When we're asking questions and we're talking about application, we're meditating. Well, what does this text really mean? It's beyond just the Sunday what we heard once. But it's a meditation, right? Memorizing God's Word. That's how we get it in us. We need to remember Hebrews 4:12. For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. That's the Word. It's powerful and we got to let it have its effect in our lives as a means of abiding in the vine a second way.

28 · Establishes prayer as the second means of abiding, grounded in the second half of verse 7 and verse 16, framing prayer as vocalized dependence and constant communication with Christ, supported by Piper's definition

We're going to take the second half of verse seven that I just chopped in half. Ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. And again in verse 16, so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, he may give it to you by praying is another means of abiding in Christ, of remaining in Him. Prayer is how that dependency we talked about earlier comes into play. Prayer is how we lean on God for strength and help. Prayer is how we keep in constant communication with Him. This is part of the dynamic aspect of abiding in the vine in a sermon Titled Prayer Vocalizes our Abiding in Christ. Piper says he wants to help people experience prayer as the vocalization of abiding in Christ.

29 · A deeply personal testimony about losing his father to cancer, where moment-by-moment prayer became the means of drawing life from Christ — not a duty but survival, not immediate relief but sustained connection that kept him abiding in the vine through suffering

When I think about abiding in Christ through prayer, I think about a very difficult trial that my family went through recently where I lost my dad to cancer. He was 62 years old, and we got to see his life decline, his health decline over a period of more than a year. It's difficult to watch and somebody that you love, difficult to see. And it just feels like at times we were praying moment by moment, hour by hour, constantly drawing from the source for life to persevere. We were praying before he took his medication. We were praying before every doctor's visit. We were praying every time we visited him at home. That was just my perspective. You can imagine my mom who lived with him, praying probably minute by minute. And that's what this prayer is about, right? You see how it's less than a chore? I mean, it's more than a chore. That choreyness and to do ness is so low of a view, right? When really prayer is. That's how we draw our life from the vine. That's how we survive. That's how we persevere. So we move forward. And I'll tell you, when we were praying, it wasn't like we automatically felt better. It wasn't like we felt like, that's it, you know, the cancer's gone, or I'm Superman. No going through that, we can't see what's happening. Just like the word, right? We can't see. But the reason why I'm standing here before you today and I'm still in Christ is because of the means that God has given me to be plugged into the Source. And because I drew that life. That's why I'm still here. See how prayer is not so much of like man, I gotta do it. I have to. No, that's your moment by moment dependence on the source of life.

30 · Three pastoral scenarios (suffering, habitual sin, ministry discouragement) each met with the same application: draw strength from Christ through prayer — personalizing the theology of dependence for specific congregational struggles

Maybe you're here today and you find yourself going through a very difficult time and you don't know how you will continue. I want to encourage you today, draw your strength from your dependence on Christ through prayer. Maybe you're here today and you're frustrated with your progress. I've been there. I have been there. Like man. Here's this habitual sin. Here's this thing that I just can't stop doing, that I can't get rid of that. Why am I. Why is it so slow? I read all of Piper's Books. Why am I not changed? Right? What's going on here? Draw from the source of all life through prayer. Perhaps you're discouraged with some aspect of ministry. I want to see more fruit. Vocalize your desire for fruit to God.

31 · Establishes the third means of abiding: loving one another, grounded in verses 9-12, clarifying that obedience is not legalism but living in the reality of Christ's love by extending it — and that love is the primary fruit of abiding

Look at this third point as the Father has loved me. This is. This is gonna. We're look at verse number nine. I'm sorry, look at verse number nine. And we're gonna look at a third way that we can abide in Christ. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. And this is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. This is a point that I couldn't leave off. Right? Prayer and the Word are easy means to think of abiding in Christ, but you don't so quickly make the conclusion that by loving one another, we're abiding in his love and abiding in Christ. But he makes it a big point towards the end of our passage, and I can't leave it off. Jesus makes it clear that abiding in his love is inseparable from obeying his commands to love one another. This isn't about legalistic rule keeping, but about living in the reality of his love by extending it to others. In fact, love isn't just a fruit of abiding. According to this text, love is the primary fruit of our abiding in Christ, the primary fruit that we give.

32 · Cross-references the Great Commandment to reinforce that vertical love for God and horizontal love for neighbor are inseparable — the fruit of love flows from abiding in the Savior who gave his life in love

Think about the time that the teachers of the law tried to trap Jesus and ask him what is the most important commandment? And what was his response? He said, love. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And he didn't leave us off the hook. You know, it would have been great if he ended it there, but he didn't leave us off the hook. He says, and a second is like it, that you should love your neighbor as much as you love yourself. So making it inseparable, this fruit of love that you bear, you're connected to a. To a savior who gave his life in love. So this dynamic of abiding in him, this vertical connection of love to him is going to spill over into a horizontal of loving one another.

33 · A domestic analogy using dishwashing and a cup under a faucet to illustrate that love overflows to others only as long as we remain under the flow of Christ's love — pulling away from the source causes the love to run dry

So I don't know what is the least favorite chore that you guys do in your house. And my wife is in the second service, so I Better really walk this line carefully. But there's washing clothes and drying clothes and sweeping and mopping and dusting and making beds and picking up and dishes, which that's my least favorite chore to do. And she's sitting over there saying, you hardly ever do it. You can count with one hand how many times you've washed the dishes. But I wash the clothes, and I'm an expert sweeper and mopper. But dishes is not my favorite, and there's times where those pile up. In our house, we're a family of six. And so you use a lot of dishes, right? And sometimes they pile up. And you can't just do dishwasher. You gotta get your hands dirty and do the old way, right? Roll up the sleeves, turn on the faucet and get it going. So the few times that I have done it, I mean, it's so boring and so monotonous. And I'm taller than the farm sink and my back hurts and I'm going through it. And sometimes I'll just find myself, like, holding a glass under the faucet at full blast and just watching the water spill over. And I don't have ADHD, I don't think. But I'm just like. After the 20 glasses, I'm like. I'm just kind of. It's kind of like therapeutic, you know, in the middle of doing that chore. But if you think about that, imagine holding a cup under a running faucet. As long as the cup remains under the flow, it keeps filling up and overflowing to whatever's around it. But if you pull it away from the water source, it quickly runs dry, right?

34 · Defines the love Jesus commands as sacrificial, not passive, grounded in verse 13 where Jesus laid down his life — challenges the congregation to count the cost of love and give without expecting return

The kind of love Jesus is talking about here is not passive, it's sacrificial. Jesus laid down his life for his friends. Verse 13 says, so ask yourself today, what will my love for others cost me today? Maybe time, pride, comfort. He calls us to a love that costs something. Loving, like Christ, means loving even when there's no return. How can you show love to someone without expecting anything in return?

35 · Defines agape love as the highest form — selfless, sacrificial, unconditional — and establishes that it is impossible apart from abiding in Christ, reinforcing the sermon's central dependency thesis

Friends, Jesus isn't calling us to just any kind of love. He's commanding the highest form of love, which is agape love. It's selfless, sacrificial, unconditional. It's a love that flows from our connection to Christ. Just as a branch draws life from the vine without abiding in Him. This kind of love is impossible. It's impossible to bear that type of love, that fruit of love.

36 · Returns to the opening question 'What does it mean to be a Christian?' and answers by contrasting behavioral/institutional definitions with the relational reality of union with Christ — synthesizing the sermon's arc and connecting Jesus's vine imagery to Paul's 'in Christ' theology

So at the very beginning of this message, I asked the Question, what does it mean to be a Christian? And some might answer with behaviors, beliefs, or even church attendance. I'm a Christian because I go to church. I'm a Christian because I carry the Bible. I'm a Christian because it's my religious affiliation on the census. But from the words of Jesus himself, we see that being a Christian is not primarily about what we do, but about what we are in Him. This is probably why Jesus used the image of the vine and the branches, because it's about union. Union with Christ is the very essence of the Christian life and the source of all fruitfulness. Perhaps now we begin to understand more clearly why the apostle Paul used this phrase in Christ so much. And my prayer is that we would start to view our Christian life that way as in Christ. And it's life changing, right? When you see the word that way, when you see prayer that way, when you see loving one another practically, that's a way of, of us keeping each other right in Christ. Means of abiding.

37 · Final diagnostic question for believers (are you abiding?) and evangelistic invitation for non-believers (Christ invites you into this life-giving relationship)

So as we close, the question remains, are you abiding in Christ? Are you drawing your life, your strength, your love from him? And if you are here and you haven't yet trusted in Christ, know this, he's inviting you now even into that life giving relationship.

38 · Climactic encouragement grounded in Jesus's high priestly prayer in John 17:20 — he prayed for future believers (us) on the night before his death, which secures our union and removes all fear of separation, driving toward doxology as the sermon's final register

So as we close today, I want to invite you to stand to your feet and I want to share with you one last thing that I think is extremely amazing, extremely mind blowing to me and I want to use it to encourage you today. On the night before his crucifixion, Jesus didn't just teach this fruit, he prayed for us to live in it. In John chapter 17, verse 20, which kind of marks the end of what's called the farewell discourse. Just a short while after speaking these words, Jesus prayed. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. In case you didn't catch that, let me read it one more time. I do not ask. This is Jesus praying the priestly prayer. I do not ask for these, only these 11, but also for those who will believe, who will believe in me, the future through their word. That means church. He was praying for you. He was praying for me. He was praying for us. For every believer who would one day hear the Gospel and abide in him. That I don't know how you see that or how you view that, but man, it's so encouraging to know he chose you. Sometimes we worry, right? We worry. Like let me tell you right now, you can't, you can't if you're truly in Christ, you can't sin yourself out of the vine. I've sinned a lot. I'll testify. Can't sin yourself out of the vine. There's no storm or wind or gale that can knock you off of the vine. I'm here to testify today. No financial difficulty, no sickness, no trial. We hear Paul use the language of Nothing can separate us from the love that is in Christ. In Christ Jesus, not even death be encouraged today. He chose you. And he didn't just save you. He didn't just want to forgive your sins. He. He wanted to make you like him. He wanted to conform you to the image of His Son. And every day that we walk this life, high points, low points, abiding in him, his words, abiding in us, abiding in his love, asking according to his will, every day, being nourished, being conformed to the vine. Amen.

39 · Closing prayer celebrating the glorious reality of union with Christ, using the Damascus road encounter to illustrate the depth of union (persecuting believers is persecuting Christ), and asking for a paradigm shift in the congregation's understanding of their identity in him

Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we come before you this afternoon. Now. And God, thank you for this glorious reality. Thank you for this glorious reality. Thank you. Because this truth clarifies our identity in you. And may we never be knocked or moved from it. May we understand that we're not just a title, that we're not just Christians. And that isn't so much about our doing, but it's more about what you've done already for us. And we're connected to the strongest thing possible. And we're connected to the very source of life. God. God. I think of old history, of people even searching for the fountain of youth, for the fountain of life. They believed it existed. And you know what? We have found it in you. And being connected to you is what this life is all about, being united to you. It's such a glorious reality that I'm reminded of when Saul was knocked off of his horse by a bright light. And the words that came out of your mouth was, saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? You didn't say, why do you persecute the church? Why do you persecute the Christians? He said, why do you persecute me? Because whatever they do to Jesus, they do to those who are connected and abiding in Jesus. That's how glorious this reality is. And I pray that by the power of your Holy Spirit, there would be a paradigm shift for every single one of us here at Cross of Grace.