The Vine - #6 - More Fruit
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- 1. The Vine - #6 - More Fruit John 15:2 If you read lesson five
in this series, you noticed that there are two main categories of
fruit that are talked about over, and over in the Bible. The seven
fruits of the Holy Spirit is one (Galatians 5:22), and the fruits
of our labors for God (souls saved By His Grace) is the other of
the two major categories continually taught. The San Francisco
Newspaper called SFGate.com has a regular series that they provide
for their audience. Live link #1 below will take you to that
series. However, I have provided the following quotes from one
particular article dealing with the 'work of the husbandman' that
he must do every spring to insure that the fruit of the branches
will not only be healthy, but will produce a more perfect fruit.
Grapes require a significant amount of annual pruning to remain
healthy. While most of the pruning is completed in late winter when
the grapevine is dormant, a spring trimming is essential to good
fruit production. As the new vines vigorously sprout from the
canes, spurs or trunk, careful management is necessary to prevent
the grapevine from growing into a crowded, twisted mass of
[branches] and foliage. The grapes require both sunlight and good
air circulation as they develop into plump, juicy, sweet
fruits.
- 2. Trim the newly sprouting vines after examining them
carefully. Remove all the excess sprouts from the trunk except the
canes or spurs that you selected during the late winter pruning.
Select one [branch] per node on the spurs or canes. Remove any
other [branches] on that node to prevent a crowded mass of
[branches] from developing and overwhelming the arbor or trellis.
Remove suckers as they develop. These [non fruit baring branches]
rapidly grow vertically from the established, older canes, often
shading the fruiting vines. Let's watch this short video (3:31)
from the Winemaker's Journal showing one of the many things that
the earthly husbandman does to help the branches of the vine bare
more, and better fruit! See the live link #2 at the bottom of this
piece to go to the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--Hfol2AEOk The positioning of the
branches by the husbandman of the vineyard is important. The
branches can crowd each other and detract from the development of
the fruit on all of them. A good example of this lesson is that
Jesus sent His disciples out by twos on missions of mercy to the
world.
- 3. He didn't send the whole bunch of them together. This
allowed them all to benefit from the personal experience of
witnessing for Him. If He had sent them all together, then the most
outspoken of the group would have been the only ones gaining the
maximum benefit from the experience. There's no doubt that they all
would have gained SOME benefit, but not to the extent that The
Husbandman desired. God certainly knows what we all need, and Jesus
knew exactly which ones to pair up together. Remember that Jesus
(The True Vine) always did exactly what God, His Father (The True
Husbandman) wanted Him to do. Another thing that the True
Husbandman does is He removes things from our lives that we don't
need; things that would just get in the way of our development in
baring fruit. If we allow Him to do it, we are promised that the
fruit we bare will be greater and sweeter than it otherwise could
be. So, how does that 'shake out' in real life? John 15:2 Every
branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every
branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it [cleans it up, or prunes
it], that it may bring forth more fruit. We discovered in many
previous videos that the Husbandman removes the branches that bare
no fruit. The first part of this verse can be likened to God
removing certain people from our lives that He knows would have a
negative impact on His plans for us. When you experience the
genuine life saving friendship with God that is freely available to
ALL of us, you will notice that certain 'friends' disappear out of
your life. They aren't interested in God.
- 4. Sometimes, that can be a painful experience to go through
based upon the love we have for these people, but when we view life
through the 'magnifying glass' of Faith, (Romans 8:28) ...we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to his purpose. There is another
thing that the husbandman does that almost made me jump up and
shout... NOOOOOOO! ...when I first saw it! Let's take a look at
this short (4:51) video. Live link #3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2caNI3OS6aQ We noticed here that
the earthly husbandman even removes some of the fruit that the vine
is producing in order for the remaining fruits to bare bigger,
better and sweeter fruit. The husbandman knows, based upon the
'strength of the branch' that too much fruit can break the branch
off of the vine completely. A lesson we can take from this is that
the branch with too much fruit is focusing on the fruit, instead of
the lifesaving connection to the vine, and the fruit caused it's
demise. Even good fruit can cause us to lose our connection to
Jesus if we begin to focus on the fruit! If we fail to understand
that the fruit isn't ours, but is produce solely from our
connection to Jesus, then we will always be happy with the fruits
that God has blessed us with. The sweetest fruit of all is the
person that is introduced to a life saving relationship with Jesus!
When that happens, as a result of our inability to stop bubbling
over with the love of God in our lives, then we will receive the
reward that God has promised to those who are not ashamed of the
Gospel of Christ. I want to be there in the land where all things
have been made new; where there is no more pain and suffering,
& no more sin. Make sure that you are there with me! We'll hang
out for an eternity of amazing things that will never grow old.
We'll NEVER run out of exciting things to learn & to do! We'll
be writing the second chapter in our book of life. Don't allow the
first chapter to be the last chapter in YOUR BOOK!
- 5. Live link #1
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/trim-grapes-spring-43450.html How to
Trim Grapes in the Spring Live link #2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--Hfol2AEOk The Importance of Shoot
Positioning Live link #3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2caNI3OS6aQ Thinning Grapes,
Dropping Fruit, From 3rd Leaf Grape Vines
- 6. Live link #1
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/trim-grapes-spring-43450.html How to
Trim Grapes in the Spring Live link #2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--Hfol2AEOk The Importance of Shoot
Positioning Live link #3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2caNI3OS6aQ Thinning Grapes,
Dropping Fruit, From 3rd Leaf Grape Vines