Abiding In Christ!

.....John 15: 1-8 says, "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples."

.....This passage of scripture speaks a lot about abiding in Christ. Let's look at this in a human perspective that fits us for today.

.....Suppose a person is weak. He has fallen into temptation and sin. For example - An Addict or An Alcoholic. He has made a real mess of things; and he is on his way down to a degenerate mind and heart, giving up on life, even to the point of suicide. Now suppose that he has a friend of a strong, lovely, and loving nature, who rescues him from his degraded situation. There is only one way in which he can retain his reformation and keep himself on the right path.

How you might ask?

.....He must keep contact with his friend. If he loses that contact; all of his weakness will eventually overcome him. The old temptations will rear their ugly head again, and he will fall. His salvation, ( or victory), lies in his continual contact with the strength of his friend. Many times a down and out person has been helped by someone, and while in their presence was safe, but when they went out on their own, they fell, or messed up.

.....The main point I would like to bring to your attention today is that we must keep in touch with strength of our friend, Jesus Christ. Abiding in Christ means something like what I have just explained. The secret of the strength and life of Jesus was His continuous contact with God. Again and again, He withdrew into a solitary place to meet and commune with Him. We must do the same with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We cannot do this unless we take deliberate steps, and decisions to make make it happen.

.....An example of this would be to set aside a specific time, like first thing in the morning, to pray and devote that time to God through studying His word, establishing your relationship with Him, and gaining focus for what may lay ahead of you for the day. This ultimately allows us to "Walk in the Spirit", not fulfilling the lust of the flesh.

.....For most of us, we will need a constant contact with Him, and a complete lifestyle change. It will mean rearranging our lives completely in such a way that there will never be a day when we give ourselves a chance to forget Him.

.....Our Christian Discipleship Program is about changing men's lives forever and making Disciples for Christ. There are two distinct things about being a disciple:

1. A disciple enriches his own life; his constant contact with God, through Christ, makes him a fruitful branch.

God's expectation for us is to bear fruit, not to produce it. Our faith is known to others through the good deeds that overflow from our character which is developed through Truth, and Relationship.

2. This in turn brings glory to God; the sight of His life in us turns men's thoughts to God, who created us to be in His image and likeness.

For the greatest glory of Christian life is that by our life and conduct, we can bring glory to Him.

.....One thing is clear from this passage of scripture. What Jesus calls us to do is impossible, without Him. Not difficult, not simply a struggle, not just hard, it is impossible. For apart from Him, we can do nothing, not a little, not a few things, but nothing.
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OUR GLORIOUS BODY!

.....Our natural body was dead spiritually. Sown in it was corruption, dishonor, and weakness. We were made of dust, and under it a force of sin, in which the result or penalty was death. No life was able to be produced from this seed planted within us, through the separation between us and God. The seed of death produced death, that of its own kind. But through the perfect death, The Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus, we have another seed planted within us, today. A seed containing Incorruption, Glory, and Power. A spiritual seed, producing a spiritual body from a Life-giving Spirit. The nature of this seed is to bear the image of the heavenly man, Christ in us. This is not task, although we labor in the Word of God, tending to the seed, watering, weeding, pruning it as it produces a life that it was designed to do. Seeing that in the Seed's Death, Christ Life is produced and the harvest of the fruit is inevitable for which the seed was designed, producing good fruit. Opening up our minds by Faith to see who we really are and what we are, maturing, and growing up to be. The whole process starts from the inside out. First the spirit, then the soul, and then the body, each part giving itself up to a death process to produce the Resurrection Life of which the seed was designed to do. Forming the Body of Christ. Eventually the corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality, resulting in the destruction of physical death itself. A true picture and manifestation of the Transfiguration. Seeing ourselves dead to sin and alive in Christ through a Revelation of the Finished Work of the Cross.

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ARE YOU A DISCIPLE?

.....The first commitment of a disciple is to " Deny" himself. He must renounce his self-centered life, clearing out all of self for Christ. Nothing can be more important to us than Christ. ( A Christ centered life.) The circle above represents your life. Christ should fill up the entire circle. To abide in Christ means that He is to have priority in everything in your life. Christian life is simply Christ living in you, (John 15: 5, John 15: 10) and through you. God has provided a way for Christ to be at the center of your life. This is the second commitment. "Take up your cross daily." Bearing your cross and serving others requires discipline. The above diagram reveals what disciplines a disciple must have.

1. The Word

.....The first discipline that we must have in our lives is "Living in the Word of God." The way to have Christ living in us is to have His Word in us. John 8: 31 - 32 says - "If you continue in My Word, then ye our My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free." The Word of God is food for us. We cannot grow unless we have a regular intake of it. This is done by listening to someone preach it, and by reading it, studying it, memorizing it, meditating it, and then applying it. The result is a continuous process of renewing the mind, thus causing a behavioral change. John 15: 10 says- "That to abide in Christ is to obey Him." This is a crucial step in establishing a close relationship with God.

2. Prayer

.....The second discipline that we must have in our lives is "Praying," ( In Faith.) Faith that is drawn from the first discipline, ( His Word.) A part of living in Christ is living in prayer. John 15: 7 says -"If ye abide in Me, and My Word abides in you, ye shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you." So when we abide in Christ and His Word abides in us, we can ask what we will and God will do it. And open line of communication established between us and God through the Finished Work of the Cross ( Christ.) Refer to the above diagram and notice that God reveals himself and communicates to us through His Word (Christ.) and we communicate to God through prayer. Note the direction (Up to God and Down to us).

3. Fellowship

.....The third discipline that we must have in our lives is "Fellowship with Believers", our brothers and sisters in Christ. John 13:34 - 35 says - "A new commandment I give unto you, that you help one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know the ye our My disciples, if ye have love one to another." God has provided the ideal place for us to grow and mature, - The Church. A body of believers that have made a covenant to carry out Christ's ministry in and throughout the world. The Church is the body of Christ. So we come together to form the body here on the earth. Equipping those to fulfill the callings on their life. Praising and Worshiping God corporately, and equipping the Saints to go and preach the gospel - "The Good News."

4. Witnessing

.....The fourth discipline that we must have in our lives is "Witnessing to the World". Sharing Christ with others. John 15: 8 says - "Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples." A disciple will bear much fruit and that fruit is to be a witness to the world; our testimony, a living epistle to glorify God. The outward expression of an inward change from renewing the mind to what is true of it. The "Salvation of the Soul", or victory of the mind, will, and emotions, through Christ in the Finished Work of the Cross. Through applying these disciplines of living daily in the Word of God, praying in faith and fellowship with God's people, it will become natural and normal to share with others the Christ who is living in our hearts. This is what will make us fishers of men. Hence a true behavioral change.

.....The third commitment mentioned in Luke 9: 23 says - "That if we "Follow" and live in Christ, we will eventually bear fruit." Fruit does not necessarily grow quickly, but it grows continually and bears in season. Fruit bearing is the normal, natural result of the life that has Christ at the center of it. This is produced by the Holy Spirit and is what is called our sphere of influence. This growth is a continuous expansion across the earth equally proportional to the relationship we have with God through Jesus Christ. Fruit-bearing not only consists of good deeds and helping others, it also relates to the fruit of the Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Long-suffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, and Temperance, leading to ministry and service of all kinds. As noted from the diagram, only you limit yourself with God.

.....Our goal in discipleship is expressed in 2 Timothy 2: 21 and says - "If a man therefore purge himself from these (his old ways), ye shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and able for the Master's use, and prepared onto every good work." These disciplines will develop lives that will produce good fruit, as well as balance, according to the Word of God, making true disciples.

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