As I mentioned in Part 1, the "Main Thing" in reaching the lost and bringing a revival is your personal relationship with Jesus Christ. In Part 2, I want us to look into God's personal relationship with us. No matter what the world thinks of you, God has invested His whole heart in each one that inhabits the earth.
John 3:16--For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. It was His love for you, personally, before you were ever thought of or born that prompted Him to send His Son to die for you. God prepared an avenue of love for each one of us to enjoy a healthy and joyful relationship with the Creator of the universe. Think of it, He didn't do it JUST to keep you from going to Hell. His main objective was to be able to have a One-on-one relationship with every human being that took up the challenge to believe on Him.
Take another look at John 15:1--My Father is the husbandman. It is the husbandman's responsibility to look after the branches to make sure they are well able to bring forth fruit. Think of it. Why have a vine? Why have branches? There is more to being a Christian than just going to Heaven. God fully intended for every believer to bear fruit. Now, that doesn't mean we are all supposed to preach or teach or lead singing. None of that is mentioned in Jesus' teaching about the vine.
What He said in verse eight was--Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. The will of God is that every branch be fruitful in whatever manner the husbandman will bring it to. All of us have heard preachers that really can't preach. We've all heard teachers that really can't teach. And, we've heard some people sing that REALLY CAN'T sing. Amen? It doesn't mean that God didn't save them, it means they are not bearing fruit in THE manner that God intended them to.
Abraham and Sarah would have never been my choice of a couple that I would choose to start a nation. Those folks tried for years and years and years and had to have God's special intervention before they even had ONE child. But, Abraham believed God. God and Abraham had an ongoing relationship. Because of that One-on-one relationship, Abraham believed God when it just didn't look like it at all. Because of Abraham's faith and relationship with Him, God did for Abraham and Sarah, THAT THEY COULD NOT DO FOR THEMSELVES. Wait a minute. Do you sense a deep, dark secret that may be opening up?
What about Moses? He would not be a logical choice to lead God's people. He didn't even LIVE with the Hebrews. He was also a murderer and cowardly runaway who was hiding on the backside of the desert. But, God saw something INSIDE Moses that Moses evidently didn't see in himself. THAT'S THE JOB OF THE HUSBANDMAN!!
Folks, the real secret to being a successful, fruit bearing Christian is not in YOUR education or YOUR self-made possibilities. It lies in what GOD sees in you and how your husbandman desires to bring it out. We have all made so many decisions as to what we think that God wants from us that it is possible that we have missed some of the greatest things that God, our husbandman, has had in store for us. Maybe the reason we have not seen the physical, spiritual and financial promises manifested as they should be lies in the fact that we are struggling to be something the husbandman never intended us to be. Or, maybe, the husbandman has wanted to prune us in a way to where we begin to bear fruit in a different fashion----a different ministry perhaps. Maybe it could be something we would normally consider to be "off the wall."
Here's what we earnestly need to consider. The MOST APPROPRIATE thing for a branch to do is stay connected to the vine, Jesus Christ, and draw from His presence. I know-----that seems kinda foreign and mundane, huh? Where's the glamour? Where's the glitz? That's just it, guys. God's not interested in glamour and glitz. He is interested in reaching into the gutter of life and pulling out someone the He is desperately in love with, cleaning him with His blood and building him into something useful. Please understand His heart. God wants to do something for you, the branch, that you can't possibly do for yourself, like He did for Abraham and Moses as well as others. Also, He wants to work THROUGH you and reach thousands of lives that would not have had a chance at salvation had it not been for a branch abiding in the vine.
End result. Branches abiding in the vine bear much fruit if they let the husbandman do HIS job. Branches abiding in the vine can (vs 7) ask anything and God will do it for them. Now, THAT'S worth staying plugged into the vine for.
Much love in Jesus, Henry.
No comments:
Post a Comment