Abide in Me and Bear Fruit That Lasts

In stark contrast to the January Men’s Beast Feast (where I’m sure there were lots of beards, and belching, and tables covered with brown paper bags), more than 180 ladies stepped into the sanctuary for our NAOBC March Women’s Conference and delighted to the colorful pallet of fresh fruit cascading from lovely glass bowls as the focal point on each table, with black tablecloths, and black chair covers.  “Fru-fru?”  No!  Feminine? Yes! To the army of ladies who spent hours in planning, preparing and setting up everything prior to our arrival – kudos!  We were treated to delicious meals, Spirit-filled corporate singing, break-out sessions that helped us expand on the topic of fruitfulness, and some very sweet fellowship.  Our conference is now in the history books, but surely, guest speaker Candice Watters inspired us to marinate on the topic of being spiritual fruit-bearers.

Her words required total mental concentration to keep up.  We didn’t know it was going to be a roller-coaster ride.  I’ve never been to a Bible Study that was so packed with scripture. Candice delved deep into God’s Word, leading us to investigate the topic of “Fruitfulness: A Life Connected to the Vine.”  Her key passage was John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me, you can do nothing.”  In anticipation prior to the conference, I read the first 11 verses of John 15. “Yeah, yeah, I know that passage,” I thought.  Perusing some notes from Dr. Cook’s sermon series from the book of John, I wondered where Candice was going to take us.  Wow! She had such deep insight and discernment in rightly unpacking God’s Word of Truth! 

Pruning brings fruitfulness
Preparing the way for us to personalize God’s lessons about our responsibility as women (single, married, young, seniors, moms, and grandmothers) to produce fruit because we are connected to the Vine, Candice began in Genesis with Adam and Eve, and God’s instruction to “be fruitful and multiply.” Even though they fell, and God cursed where He had blessed, He still renewed fruitfulness with the promise of the seed of woman (Matthew 1:1-17). We see His call to fruitfulness throughout the Old Testament, and the lineage that led to the birth of His Son in the New Testament – a testimony of His promise, pruning, and preparing His people to bear fruit even today.  All through the New Testament, we see evidence that He continues to “prune us, and transform our hearts to conform us in the image of Christ.”  “Endure hardship as discipline; … For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. …but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 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.” Hebrews 12:7-11 (NIV)

Lack-luster fruit  
Candice shared some historical background about farm-life in the United States, and helped us visualize gardening and apply it to our spiritual relationship with the Vinedresser.  Her husband grew up on a farm, and the family grew most everything they ate. They were quite self-sufficient, and out of their abundance, they shared with their neighbors and friends.  After they married, Candice had a worthy of a Pinterest post idea.  Returning to his child-hood farm, they cut branches from the old grape vines.  Still green with life and pliable, they were able to bend and wind the branches and attach them in their kitchen.  Armed with a glue gun, she hung plastic grapes from Hobby Lobby to the branches.  But, it soon became apparent (with all the dust, cobwebs, and greasy residue that grow in our kitchens) that this was not a true vineyard.  It was pretty for a time, but eventually, the lack of life in the branches and fruit bore evidence that they were not attached to the vine.

“God cuts off the stuff that doesn’t bear fruit.” 
In the spiritual realm, do we bear fruit that looks luscious initially, but has no life because we are attached to branches that are not attached to the True Vine?  “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance… The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” Matthew 3: 8-10 (NIV)

Candice also reminded us of the Israelites exile in Babylon.  They had lost all the promises, experienced all the curses, and yet God gave hope – the promise of the Messiah.  “So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.”  Romans 7:4-6 (NIV)

We sang:

  “A thousand times I’ve failed, still Your mercy remains,
   and should I stumble again, still I’m caught in Your grace.
   Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades;
   Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame.
   Your will above all else, my purpose remains
   the art of losing myself in giving You praise,
   My heart and my soul, I give You control,
   Consume me from the inside out, Lord.
   Let justice and praise become my embrace,
   to love You from the inside out.”
      (Hillsong “From the Inside Out”)

Are we allowing Jesus to be our Vinedresser? Do we see and accept when He is pruning and grafting us to help us bear good spiritual fruit?  The essence of John 15 is “Abide in Me and bear fruit that lasts.”  

-Karen Sizemore

This is the first in a series of five blog posts that will recap the 2014 Women’s Conference: Fruitfulness: A Life Connected to the Vine.  If you’d like to listen to the audio recordings of all the Conference sessions, you can access them here.

Karen Oldham Sizemore was a PK for 21 years, was born again as a teen, was a multi-move military wife for 24 years, has lived the civilian life since 1994, and is now a senior citizen.  (You can do the math.) She is the mother of 2 grown sons, has been a member of NAOBC for 12 years, and has loved directing children’s choirs for 40+ years.