Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 298

October 24;   John 15:8;   83/260(II);   ‘Bearing Much Fruit’

John 15:8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. 

How could I possibly glorify God the Father?  By bearing much fruit.  Fruit, simply put, is a Christian manifesting the character and nature of Jesus in such a manner that others are blessed. Jesus tells us in this chapter, that He is the Vine and we are the branches (v5).  That means that a Christian has in them, what is in Jesus.  What a wonderful truth.  The Lord Jesus also tells us that the more we abide in Him, the more fruit we will produce.  How do we abide in Jesus?  By making the Word of God and prayer priorities in our life.  As you read the Word, you see what the Lord Jesus did and said.  You’ll want to act as He did and say what He said.  As you sincerely pray, you will experience the presence of the Lord and your love for Him will grow and you will determine to help others know the incredible blessing it is to know Jesus in this intimate way.   Jesus is the Son of God.  Think how ‘proud’ the Father in heaven is, when Christians do everything they can to conduct themselves just as Jesus did.  Glorify means to honor or exalt and we do just that when we bear the fruit of Jesus.  Jesus goes on to say in this verse that by bearing much fruit it proves that we are His disciples.  We become converts when we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior.  In John 8:31-32 Jesus says that a disciple continues in the Word.  That means they make the Word very important to them.  This reflects what Jesus said about abiding in Him, we do it by the Word of God.  A disciple is also manifesting His love to others.  This too comes from abiding in Jesus.  Jesus is today revealing Himself through us.