Abide in Jesus
“Staying” In Jesus Is The Key To The Christian Life
John 15 contains a word that isn’t used very often in today’s English language. Yet Jesus uses this word as a summary instruction for how to live in His absence. The word is abide. To help His disciples understand what it means to abide, He used compelling imagery - imagery of a life-filled vine and branches that are wholly dependent on that vine for anything, especially bearing fruit. At the end of the discussion, while we might be tempted to believe that “abiding” is some special spiritual technique, to abide is to simply “stay”. The simple discipline of staying is the single most important, yet most difficult discipline of the Christian life.
On Sunday, pastor Kyle identified 8 of life’s greatest needs from John 15 for which abiding in Christ is the key. If he was going too fast and you didn’t catch them all, here they are again:
The Key To Connection (vv. 3, 4a)
The Key To Fruitfulness (vv. 4b-7)
The Key To Joy (v. 11)
The Key To Love (vv. 9-10; 12-15)
The Key To Identity (vv. 8, 16)
The Key To Purpose (vv. 16-17)
The Key To Security (vv. 18-25)
The Key To Witness (vv. 26-27)