Lesson 8 Fruit of Spirit: Secret of the Vine

John 15-1-9
Joh 15:1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
Joh 15:2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
Joh 15:3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
Joh 15:4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
Joh 15:5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
Joh 15:6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
Joh 15:7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.
Joh 15:8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
Joh 15:9 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.


1. We are created for Abundance :
• Basket 1 : No fruits
• Basket2 : fruit
• Basket 3 :more fruits
• Basket 4 : Much fruit

2. Lives That Bear No Fruit : God disciplines those He loves
If God lives bear no fruit, God will intervene. His purpose for cleansing is to set us free of our sins so that can live a more abundant life for His glory.

Deu 8:5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
Deu 8:6 Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him.

Heb 12:5 My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth

"My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
Heb 12:6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."

Heb 12:7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?
Heb 12:7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?
Heb 12:8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.
Heb 12:9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!
Heb 12:10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.

Heb 12:11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Key Principles :
• God is the source of discipline
• He disciplines all believers, and
• He always act out of love
• Discipline need not continue its all up to us.

Discipline by Degrees:
• Rebuke
• Chastens (feeling of unfulfilled)
• Scourges (long term sins)

Effect of long term sins
1Co 11:29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.
1Co 11:30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.

3. Some fruits : Pruning for more fruits

V2 : Every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

Vinedresser’s cares for the vine, rampant growth or fruits?. To have More is Less.

Rampant growth represents the preoccupations and priorities in our lives that while not wrong is keeping us from significant ministry for the Lord.

Discipline is about the sin, pruning is about self.In pruning God asks us to let go of things that keep us from His kingdom purposes and our ultimate goal. (clarify ???)

Issue Discipline Pruning
What needs to go? Sin Self
How should we feel? Guilty, sad Relief, trust
What is the right response? Repentence Release-Give God our permission
When does it stop? When we stop sinning When God finishes

4. More fruits : Intensive pruning:Testing of our Faith.

Jas 1:2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
Jas 1:3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
Jas 1:4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

What are situations of testings ?

Our reaction:
Rom 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

The test of faith doesn’t really test anything unless it pushes us past our last test.

Even though the duration and breadth of pruning season will vary, no seasons last indefinitely.

Mature pruning is God’s way of helping us put in practice the command to” seek first the Kingdom of God”

Example of Apostle Paul.
He began with his own description as

Php 3:5 If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more, circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; Php 3:6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.

At the end of his life. We see a man who had been pruned until there was nothing left of his self life. In his final letter in prison, paul wrote :

Php 3:7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.
Php 3:8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
(Php 3:9) and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
(Php 3:10) I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
(Php 3:11) and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
(Php 3:12) Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
(Php 3:13) Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
(Php 3:14) I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
(Php 3:15) All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.

Consider the many trails Paul endured. Consider the incredible size of paul’s harvest. Paul branches are still yielding fruits today

5. Much Fruit : Abiding in Christ

Food for thght :“When our competency increase , our relationship with Him decreases”

V9: abide in Christ love, find nourishment.
How do we abide : Devote Time and increase broadness of time.