"My Father is glorified by this, that
you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.
Insights: Jamie Pruett preached a
revival service at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church last week. One of his statements went something like
this: The way a lot of churches act regarding
visitors and lost people is like this: they might as well put on their marquis,
“FULL, THE REST OF YOU CAN GO TO HELL.”
Jamie’s point was that even though are churches are far from being full,
or for that matter, even attended by its membership, the church is not actively
engaged in the expectation of God regarding us being witnesses for Him. Now remember, yesterday we learned we receive
the benefit of being able to pray to God.
Jesus then says, “My Father is glorified by this.” The this mentioned is referring back to the
prayers prayed by the branches. As we
discussed as we grow in Jesus our prayer life changes. We begin to pray as the early Christians did
in Acts four when they prayed for boldness in their witnessing. Jesus tells us God is glorified when we pray in
this fashion. Why is God glorified? Because our activities and motivations will
be changed as a result of our prayers.
As we learned last week, there are two kinds of fruit born. Because of this life change through prayer,
our character is changed. When our
character is changed we will want to share the gospel. When we share the gospel souls are
saved. When souls are saved, fruit is
harvested. When fruit is harvested, we
are proving to the world that we really are Jesus’ disciples. Beloved, my prayer is your life is truly a
testimony of fruit bearing. I pray you
are genuinely proving to a lost world that you are Jesus’ disciples. God is brought glory when we live such a
life. My He receive all praise, honor and
glory because of your faithfulness. Let
us not be the type of people Jamie Pruett mentioned. Let us never give up sharing Jesus with the
lost.
Questions:
- Are you sharing your faith?
- Are you proving yourself to be Jesus’ disciples?
Prayer: Lord, I desire to bring You glory. Make me bold in my witness for You as the
early church was. Amen.
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