John 15

1 – 2

I am the true vine; my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that does not produce fruit. And He trims and cleans every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce even more fruit.

God takes things in steps like a surgeon. He sees that there is some fruit in us, but He sees that there can be more fruit if certain things are cut out of our lives.

3. You are already clean through the Words I have spoken to you.

The washing of the water of the Word. Ephesians 5:26

4. Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. No branch can produce fruit alone. It must remain in the vine. It is the same with you. You cannot produce fruit alone. You must remain in Me.

You cannot just pray a prayer and then walk alone without staying close to Jesus, you will have no fruit in your life or anyone else's.

5. I am the vine, and you are the branches. If a person remains in Me and I remain in him, then he produces much fruit. But without Me he can do nothing.

An apple cannot make itself grow, it just stays on the branch. We can make a list of things that we tried to do but we were not able to do them. When we are not staying in touch with the Lord through His Word and in prayer then we are like a branch that is not connected to the vine. I can do all things through Christ. Philippians 4:13

6. If anyone does not remain in Me, then he is like a branch that is thrown away. That branch dies. People pick up dead branches, throw them into the fire, and burn them.

Some teachers say that this is not possible. Why would Jesus say it is possible that somebody may choose to not remain in Him?

7. Remain in Me and follow My teachings. If you do this, then you can ask for anything you want, and it will be given to you.

What if the devil's words are in you instead of the Words of Jesus? 2 Corinthians 10:5

8. You should produce much fruit and show that you are My followers. This brings glory to My Father.

Our lives should be useful for Him. There are jobs that He gives us to do for Him. If we will not do the job, then He will give it to someone else.

9 - 10

I loved you as the Father loved Me. Now remain in My love. I have obeyed my Father's commands, and I remain in His love. In the same way, if you obey My commands, you will remain in My love.

It does not mean very much if you only say that you love Jesus but you never do anything to prove it.

11. I have told you these things so that you can have the same joy I have . I want your joy to be the fullest joy.

Some Christians walk around with an angry look on their face. Your emotions may change from happy to sad, but joy is something deep down in your spirit. If your joy tank is empty ask God to refill it.

Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross. Hebrews 12:2

12 – 13

This is My command: Love each other as I have loved you. The greatest love a person can show is to die for his friends.

We immediately think of how the Lord may ask us to give our life to protect someone that would love. God may also ask us to give up our schedule, our money or something else to lay down our lives for our someone else. If you do this you will begin to understand and see miracles in your life: provision and peace and forgiveness and joy!

It has been proven that unbelievers are surprised and ready to listen when we say, “My life is not for myself. My life is for you.”

14 – 15

You are My friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants now. A servant does not know what his master is doing. But now I call you friends because I have made known to you everything I heard from My Father.

The Almighty God who created the world is asking you to be friends with Him. If we do not do what He shows us to do in His Word, we are saying, “No thank you, I do not want to know You so closely.” You are no longer a servant. Galatians 4:7

16. You did not choose Me; I chose you. And I gave you this work, to go and produce fruit. I want you to produce fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you anything you ask for in My name.

Before He created the world, God planned that all who would believe the Gospel and trust Him would be the ones that He chose to be with Him.

He has given us the job of taking care of fruit for Him so that it will last. This means that when we bring the Gospel we do not leave people to walk alone. We stay close to them so that this fruit can grow.

Remember that when we pray we are not asking God to listen to our instructions of what He should do. The Lord taught us to pray by honoring God first and only asking Him to supply the things we need. Tell God what the problem is and tell Him that you know that He knows what to do better than you do. Ask Him to take the situation off your hands and do whatever is best in His eyes.

17 - 18

This is My command: Love each other. “If the world hates you, remember that it hated Me first.

The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other. Galatians 5:17

19. If you belonged to the world, then it would love you as it loves its own. But I have chosen you out of the world. So you don't belong to it. That is why the world hates you.

When you are talking to an unbeliever, pray against this spirit of hate that is coming against you. It may seem that you are having a good conversation but a voice is speaking to them, telling them not to listen to what you say. They cannot explain it, but there is something inside of them that tells them not to accept you completely.

For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12

20 – 21

Remember what I told you: A servant is not greater than his master. If people did wrong to Me, they will do wrong to you, too. And if they twisted My teaching, they will twist your words also. They will do all this to you because of Me. They do not know the One who sent Me.

People have twisted the words of Jesus and they will twist our words to make us look stupid. We bow our heads and say, “Thank you Lord for letting me experience what You are feeling.”

22. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin.

God will not punish you for things that you did not know were wrong.

It is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it. James 4:17

23. He who hates Me also hates My Father.

Why do people hate the Lord? Many times it is because of something that a Christian did to them. God may ask us to say, “Would you please forgive what my Christian brothers did to you? They could not know what they were doing or they would not have done that. I am very sorry that this happened and I can promise you that this is not the way Jesus treats people. So now you have to decide if you are angry at them or at Jesus?”

24 – 25

I did works among them that no one else has ever done. If I had not done those works, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen what I did, and yet they have hated both Me and My Father.

25. But this happened so that what is written in their law would be true: “They hated Me for no reason.”

Almost 100% of the problems in this world are about people wanting to control their own lives. If you try to control someone they will find some small thing which they are able to control in secret. The main reason men hate God is because they want to control their own way of life.

We do not to want to have this man rule over us. Luke 19:14, Psalm 69:4

26. “I will send you the Helper from the Father. He is the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father. When He comes, He will tell about Me.

The Holy Spirit continues doing the same things that Jesus did while He was on the earth.

When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own but will tell you what He has heard. He will tell you about the future. John 16:13

27. And you also must tell people about Me because you have been with Me from the beginning.

We have seen the things that God has done in our lives and in the lives of others, how can we not tell anyone about it?