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“I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.” (John 15:11) Pastor John’s Notes: Jesus Christ is the most joyful person who ever lived! He has overcome all temptation, lived in the power of the Holy Spirit, and has overcome even death itself. He sits at the right hand of the Father and reigns over heaven and earth. His is a life of absolute victory, and he wants to…

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples. “As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commands you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” (John 15:7-10)…

“If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.” (John 15:6) Pastor John’s Notes: Here Jesus warns his disciples of the danger of neglecting our walk with him. It should seem obvious that if we were lost without Christ before our conversion, we would be lost without Christ afterward. We all tend toward neglecting our spiritual life in favor of…

“You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.” (John 15:3-5)  Pastor John’s Notes: As Christians,…

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit.” (John 15:1-2) Pastor John’s Notes: The Bible lists spiritual fruit as follows: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control (Galatians 5;22-23). These are spiritual characteristics that will be part of our character for all eternity. As we live by the…

At the end of the Great Commission Jesus said, “And remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” So what does it mean to live by the presence of Christ? Our focus this week will be on Jesus’ teaching about the vine and the branches in John 15:1-11. Let’s begin by reading the entire passage: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. Every branch in me that does not produce fruit…

“I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. (John 16:12-14) Pastor John’s Notes: Jesus has not left us…

“You are a king then?” Pilate asked. “You say that I’m a king,” Jesus replied. “I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:37) Pastor John’s Notes: We live in a culture of warring opinions. It is strange that in one breath, someone will tell us that there is no such thing as objective truth and that one…

“Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, the…

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6) Pastor John’s Notes: Jesus Christ made unique claims. He did not claim to know the way, nor did he claim to know the truth, or the life; he claimed to be them. We tend to think that there are eternal principles in the universe that even God must obey. But there is nothing above God. Truth is…