Good morning!

Ah – isn’t it great to be in summer and specifically for us in church this morning to be in our Pentecost season – where we are actively remembering that God in the form of the Holy Spirit is with us ALL THE TIME – and we are talking about EMPOWERMENT in this series and this season – and well – it surely IS the right time for us to feel empowered to do things but also to know that God loves us so much that He is with us – Be still and know that He is God – He helps us – He gives us His power – He plugs Himself into us – He gives us the juice of the battery to keep moving – He gives us the wind under our sails – and the pickup in our steps. And THIS for His purposes which when we align to Him – we are blessed.

Jesus often must have talked about these sentiments to the disciples (like in John 14:26-27), speaking to them while here on earth but soon to go: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

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So in our study this season, last week spoke of the sermon spoke of walking by the Spirit – and we often talk about the fruits of the spirit from Galatians – I had a sermon last year when we made the tree and hung the fruits on it: the fruit of the Spirit – are: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. What great gifts to tap into when gifted – and for us to strive for.

And in our scripture this morning – we also heard that familiar passage from Jesus (chapter 15 of John, the beginning verses):

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” –  THIS IS NOT A PUNISHMENT BUT A REPLENISHMENT!

So – you know it is a great season for props – I mean planting… so showing prop 1A – a bag of tomato flowers and tiny fruit – I want to mention this pruning I did this morning – specifically for my tomatoes. Well, gardeners know (or someone taught me) that one has to remove the early flowers which are on the young plants – they grow fast out of stress – the goal of plants (not an emotional goal but a botanical one) is to bear fruit and seeds to fill the genetic pool with their own offspring – but we know, as gardeners – that we are to prune off these young sapling’s flowers and maybe even a small fruit – in order to have the plant devote itself (again not emotionally but physically) to making heartier branches – longer vines – better bigger fruit… Peaches are like that too – in that I read the orchard’s Facebook posts and they have to remove some of the smaller flowers and fruits to have the biggest best peaches. They say the first is called the King Blossom.

Pruning – and what about us? Ever feel pruned by the Lord – yeah – ouch – yeah – necessary even if we don’t see the reasons immediately. Pruning – yeah – emotionally and speaking of our EQ like IQ – to be stronger in spirit – to rely on the Lord more – to be more abiding in Him. And pruning can also be a focusing experience – like shutting a door on something – and working on a task at hand. Jesus DID say – to take life one day at a time – let tomorrow worry tomorrow – today has enough to stay tuned into.

And here is ANOTHER prop to help tomatoes (prop 1B) – the tomato cages and stakes – and clips – tomatoes are vines as we discussed and it will help the fruit if we give them a support – just clip the vine and support the growth upwards…

And don’t we need this support too? Don’t we need the direction to Look Above? Yes, we do – I do –  we need help in holding up these mighty fruits of God’s gifting – we are given His help to be stronger – God actually would prefer that we don’t “go it alone”.

This next scripture section is probably the most comforting of this whole passage: “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. – Whew! We as believers and Jesus’s disciples are already clean because of the word – because of Jesus – because we believe in Him and repent to know Him better – to know the way He wants us to go – to be in connection with Him – and to be cleansed by Him – you know what He can give us – through His Vine will grow us and mature us and cleanse us.

Which brings me to this prop  – “Technu” – I love this cleanser – it takes away the oils of the poison ivy and also that itchiness of tomato plants too! After I get inside, I clean my tools, my glasses and especially my upper arms and wherever I may have touched my face – (I leave my gloves outside – wash them later). Technu gives me that peace of mind – I did what I could do to prevent poison ivy.

And regular soap too – my cousins on my recent trip to VA and NC had a soap dispenser that said “This is the day the Lord has made, Let us rejoice and be GLAD in it.” PS118:24. The scripture reminded me to stop and cleanse my hands of course – but my thoughts too – and cleansing thoughts becomes the opportunity to praise – to pause – (stop our complaining) – to say and hope to “BE GLAD”.

A recent devotion I read and thought of as I was looking at the soap –  was to PURIFY –  The Author asking: “are you daily doing the work needed to keep your heart purified and guard it from being contaminated?” 2 Corinthians 7:1 “Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out reverence for God.” [ In our botanical examples, this could mean don’t touch the poison ivy on purpose…] 

It is about realizing who we are in Christ and then walking in humility and awareness. James 4:7-10 speaks to this: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” – Just like our branches to His Vine – and just like those Tomatoes.
  
Jesus tells us to resist evil by standing firm in our faith. Jesus knows we need Him to do this!  

Jesus tells us: we are clean BECAUSE OF HIM – isn’t that an EMPOWERMENT to keep trying our best – to keep going – to do what we can. To REJOICE in today and in forever that the Lord as He washes and covers us with not just the fluffiest of towels but in His forgiveness in His Blood – in His overlay to our sins. God cleans up our acts – so it is best we try too…  (Our friend Deacon Don would say we are to watch our: thoughts words and actions – TWA.)

 And another advantage to staying vined with Jesus is that we want our lives to try to be less choked by the weeds too. These are the distractions and they take up our time – just like weeds in the garden take up nutrients, water and sunlight – blocking the best growth – we need pruning and sometimes we need the big tool – so that brings me to Prop 3 – a small garden hoe and this landscaping fabric – we clean around our precious plants – why not clear and clean our lives too from distractions if possible. Paring away and coming nearer to God… We often have to thin the seedlings – like for radishes – many growing will not be as good as one BIG radish…

I am not going to go through all the many distractions we have in life – but we are to know to look to Jesus – and everything else will fade away as less important.

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ABIDE in Jesus – SO –  for this abiding in Jesus – we need His support, yes, need to listen to His words – about pruning – about resisting – about being less choked by weeds – and about Jesus feeding our branches. So with all this – we will see that His fruit grows. It grows on us and then we’re empowered to share from this bountiful harvest of His Help – we are to give as God has given us.

” Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  – I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. – My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit…”

We sang this morning: ‘Empty Me’  (so we can be filled) – we sang ‘Abide’ (so we can follow) – we sang ‘Breathe’ (so we are given life). We NEED Jesus – we want His help. It IS a strengthening to keep going. So it should not concern us of HOW we are going to bear fruit – but protecting it – like those hot houses I saw in North Carolina last week – and I saw watering systems too – for the tomatoes and for us too – helping our branch to the Vine be out in just enough sunlight – be protected from scorching heat – and not be too far from the water source…  I loved the farm feel – a reminder of home at our pick your own places – a chance to be outside – and a chance to get the freshest – I mean the FRESHEST produce.

I stopped at a separate farmstand – just a cart – on the side of the road for this corn (prop of an ear of the real corn he gave me) and well I only had 2 dollars – thought I would get just one or two for snacking but the gentleman just gave me 4 ears – just for free – asked where I was from – and probably thought my accent was funny. It was so nice of him to share the fruit of his harvest – and his smile. I wanted to pay but not only did he give me this for free – he gave me double what I asked for – now isn’t that like Jesus – giving us so much.

And then what about the spiritual fruits for us to share – we have to figure out what we are going to do to share our skills, our talents, our encouragements – so many options. So, we need that wisdom from God too – from Jesus giving direction – empowered to share – it is OK – it is good – it is right – and honestly if we don’t share our fruits, how will the seeds – the seeds of faith – how will they spread? We are empowered to share.

We don’t want fear that freezes our fruit away – just keep trusting and just keep knowing He has this – and just keep moving forward. It is sinful to stew – let us keep our fruit fresh… 

Well, God doesn’t feed and leave – no – God is always with us. Just like when Moses has passed – Joshua was chosen by God to finish the leading – to lead the wandering folks into the promised land – and God said: 9 ”Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Yes – we are to know God is with us. We can ask for His Help in living our lives for Him.

Amen – Won’t you please pray with me?

Lord, we do pray that You do help us to prosper and be fruitful – to listen and obey – to put others in front of ourselves – and to put You, Lord Jesus, above all. We know Lord that You do have plans to prosper us – to give us a hope and a future – and You DO want our help in sharing the fruit that You give us –  In Jesus name we pray, Amen  

Benediction – read excerpt of Psalm 139 – God loves us – He really does – and He wants to help us and empower us! (also read and handed out the names of Jesus on a bookmark.)