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Branches John 15:2 · Life For Toledo

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  I'm thinking today of John 15, 2, in this verse, among others in this area of the Bible,
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  Jesus is preparing his disciples for a time when he will no longer physically be with
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  them.
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  And he says this, he says, every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away.
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  And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.
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  Obviously, this is sort of a vineyard analogy going on here, and pruning means cutting away
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  the dead stuff, the dysfunctional stuff.
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  And so if we restated this verse with the words Jesus and God the Father in there, it
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  would say every branch that is in Jesus that does not bear fruit, God the Father takes
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  away.
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  And every branch that bears fruit, God the Father prunes it so that it may bear more
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  fruit.
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  Basically, it's this, get in, bear fruit, get pruned, bear more fruit.
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  He adds us, he prunes us, he adds the increase.
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  And it strikes me that this is about what he does more than anything else.
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  Praise God.
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  He adds us, he prunes us, he adds the increase.
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  Now you may be going through some really difficult stuff right now, and I get that.
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  It's terrible.
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  We do some of the things I've seen people go through that I've gone through in my life,
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  my family's gone through whatever.
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  Pretty bad stuff.
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  But please allow that it may be some of the pruning that God is using to make you even
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  more productive for him in the future.
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  You'll be able to encourage someone who's going through the same kinds of things that
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  you went through in the past because you stuck with Jesus throughout.
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  And if you die, I forbid, you'll be in heaven with Jesus.
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  But if you don't die, you'll still be able to be here and you can bear more fruit.
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  Praise God.
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  He's at work.
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  He prunes us, he prunes us, he adds the increase.