JN 15:1
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 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. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 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.In order to start growing we need to connect to the vine and remain connected to it. This makes sense to me and it made even more sense when I worked at the Parkland Nurseries and I planted trees. Most of the stock that we had was grafted. I tree of one variety was grafted into a similar, but more hardy, root system. We had dogwoods, ash, maple, and many other varieties of trees but many of them were grafted onto a Siberian root. Without that graft many of these trees would die when it became colder than they would normally be able to handle. Because of the graft they were able to thrive and not just survive.
Grafting Video – eggplant roots to a tomato plant!
Demonstrate a branch graft.
The grafting process is completely necessary when we first connect to Christ and in order to be grafted what needs to happen?
 | Allow ourselves to be cut off from our old root system. |
| Go through a connecting process. |
| Accept filling from another source. |
| Remain connected to the vine. |
| Enjoy our connection to the vine and other branches – take and give. |
| Naturally mature to the point of bearing fruit. |
When we look to Jesus we see His life, death, burial, and resurrection and when we first start growing the first major step is the process of putting to death our old sinful nature.
Colossians 3:1-17 on page 1834 is a great passage for this and we will look at the first 11 verses:
COL 3:1
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. COL 3:5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.We often use the word surrender to connect to this concept, but we may not have too good of an idea what is meant by the term.
vernonchurchofchrist@telus.net