John 15:1-11
October 23, 2022
preached by Pastor Ryan Bouton
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Time of Reflection Quotations

“It seemed to me for that living way up there and looking down on the rest of us would make him proud. After a while I saw where that was wrong, and under my breath I said, ‘No, it wouldn’t. It would make you kind instead, if there was any good in you at all.’ …What I had thought was what if it was me and I was all alone up there, with just rabbits and squirrels? Or the only grownup, and the rest were little kids? Sure, I could strut around and show off for them, but would I want to? If one was bad, I could smack him and make him cry. But I was a knight. What kind of victory would that be for a knight?

I decided I would just take care of the kids as well as I could, and I would hope that someday they would get older and be people I could really talk to.”

~The Wizard Knight by Gene Wolfe

“Yet as truly man, Christ’s heart is not drained by our coming to him; his heart is filled up all the more by our coming to him.”

~Dane C. Ortlund, Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers

“I’m like a bull-headed boy these days
Crying my toy’s gone
You’re shiny and new.

‘Cause in just the same way
That the stream becomes swollen
Swollen with cold up over the ground
When my heart draws close
To the close of autumn
Your love abounds.”

~Caedmon’s Call, “Close of Autumn”

Sermon Passage

John 15:1-11 (ESV)

¹ “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. ⁵ I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷ If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. ⁹ As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹ These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.