Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / April 14 - John 15

Transcript

April 14 - John 15 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here. It's Monday the 14th of April.
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  Great to have your company as we begin Holy Week.
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  That's right, this is the week of morning, Thursday, Good
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  Friday, Easter Saturday, and then of course the glorious, the
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  wonderful Easter Sunday. But we have got, oh, we've got
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  days to go before we get there. And we are going to be up in
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  that upper room with Jesus and then follow him and his
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  disciples as Jesus treads that difficult road to and from
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  Calgary. That is all to come this week,
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  friends. But today, today we begin with
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  another one of the I AM statements, which then leads to
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  my very own confirmation verse which follows on after that.
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  So this is a special one for me. But boy, oh boy, as a disciple
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  of our Lord, this is a special one for all of us.
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  So let us read together John chapter 15.
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  I am the true Grapevine and my father is the gardener.
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  He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit, and
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  he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce
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  even more. You have already been pruned and
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  purified by the message I have given you.
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  Remain in me and I will remain in you, For a branch cannot
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  produce fruit if it's severed from the vine, and you cannot be
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  fruitful unless you remain in me.
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  Yes, I am the vine, You are the branches.
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  Those who remain in me, and I in them will produce much fruit,
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  for apart from Me you can do nothing.
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  Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless
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  branch, and Withers. Such branches are gathered into
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  a pile to be burned. But if you remain in Me and My
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  words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it
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  will be granted when you produce much fruit.
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  You are My true disciples. This brings great glory to My
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  Father. I have loved you even as the
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  Father has loved me. Remain in My love.
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  When you obey My commandments. You remain in My love, just as I
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  obey My Father's commandments and remain in His love.
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  I've told you these things so that you will be filled with my
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  joy. Yes, your joy will overflow.
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  This is my commandment. Love each other in the same way
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  I have loved you. There is no greater love than to
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  lay down one's life for one's friends.
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  You are my friends if you do what I command.
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  I no longer call you slaves because the Master doesn't
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  confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends.
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  Since I have told you everything the Father told me.
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  You didn't choose me, I chose you.
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  I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit so that
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  the Father will give you whatever you ask for using my
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  name. This is my command.
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  Love each other. If the world hates you, remember
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  that it hated me first. The world would love you as one
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  of its own if you belonged to it, but you were no longer part
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  of the world. I chose you to come out of the
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  world, so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you?
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  A slave is not greater than the master.
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  Since they have persecuted me, naturally they will persecute
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  you. And if they had listened to me,
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  they would listen to you. They will do all this to you
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  because of Me, for they have rejected the One who sent me.
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  They would not be guilty if I had not come and spoken to them,
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  but now they have no excuse for their sin.
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  Anyone who hates me also hates my father.
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  If I hadn't done such miraculous signs among them that no one
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  else could do, I would not be guilty.
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  But as it is, they have seen everything I did, yet they still
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  hate me and my father. This fulfils what is written in
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  their scriptures. They hated me without cause.
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  But I will send you the Advocate, the Spirit of truth.
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  He will come to you from the Father and will testify all
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  about me. And you must also testify about
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  me, because you have been with me from the beginning of my
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  ministry. Oh, Jesus, we want nothing more
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  than to remain in you, to stay close to you in your embrace
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  each step of our lives. And you say in this room to your
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  disciples, to us. And the way we stay close to you
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  is by following your commandments to us.
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  And so clearly in this chapter, you tell us that we should be
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  people of love to love one another, Our Lord, that you
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  would please come into our hearts and fill them with your
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  love so that when our love falls short, your love takes over.
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  And that we can love freely all the people around us,
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  particularly those Lord, you know, you know, the ones I'm
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  talking about who were just difficult to love.
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  And we find it so challenging. Oh Jesus, expand our hearts,
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  expand our capacity to love so that we truly can remain in you
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  and follow your commandment of love.
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  Thank you for first loving us against the odds when we hated
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  you along with the world, You just loved us nonetheless.
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  Thank you for that show stopping, world changing love.
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  We are so grateful for you and for your love for us.
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  And so we praise you, and we pray all of this in your loving
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  name, Jesus.