Friday, October 23, 2015

Preparation for Wednesday October 28, 2015

After digging into what it means to "abide" in the true Vine that is Jesus Christ, this time we are going to focus our study on what it means to "bear fruit".

1.  First thing to consider--to what is the term fruit referring?  A concordance or word-search might help you identify what Jesus has in mind when He says "it is to My Father's glory that you bear much fruit".

2.  Now pick any one of the kinds of fruit you identified above--and think about the difference between "bearing" (carrying) that fruit and "producing" that fruit.  

3.  If you will think this through, you will get at one key aspect of what Jesus wants, i.e. for us to bear fruit as opposed to produce it.  Why to you think it might be important to recognize this distinction?

See you on Wednesday,
Kevin

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Preparation for Wednesday October 21st, 2015

Continue to read John 15:1-9 and spend time meditating upon it.  

Once we understand who Jesus is talking to (this is what we worked on last time) we can begin to work on what He is talking about.  So two things to think about:

1.  What does it mean to "abide" in Christ?  Jot down everything you can think of.  

2.  What does it mean to "bear fruit"?  Again, write down everything that comes to mind.  

See you on Wednesday.

Kevin

Friday, October 9, 2015

Preparation for Wednesday October 14th, 2015

This week we will be privileged to hear from Kris Klebs who is back from extensive missionary travels to the Philippines, Indonesia, and Senegal.  We look forward to hear what the Lord has been doing, the future of her ministry efforts, and how we might pray for her.  Please join us.  

In His grace,
Kevin

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Preparation for Wednesday October 7th, 2015

We will turn our attention to John chapter 15 this Wednesday, as part our study of the "Upper Room" discourse.  This is an immensely rich and deep portion of God's Word, and I suspect we will be here for some time.  In order to help prepare you, let me repost something I posted a few weeks ago (prematurely as it turned out):

Read the first 9 verses of Jn 15.  Two pieces of analysis for you to consider:

1.  Who are:
  - The Vinedresser (gardener)?
  - The Vine?
  - The branches?

2.  This one is more difficult--who are:
  - the branches that bear no fruit?
  - the branches who bear some fruit?
  - the branches who bear much (vs 8) fruit? 

See you on Wednesday.
Kevin