Daily Devotion for April 26

DAILY DEVOTION #1

May 9th is Mother’s Day. You are invited to bring an object that reminds you of your mother to church and place it at the front of the church. Also, if you have a picture of your mom, send it to projection@northridgeumc.org

SCRIPTURE: John 17:20 - 23

20"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

QUESTION:

If you are a parent, do you pray for your children?

What do you pray for regarding your children?

Daily Devotion #3

This SUNDAY is CHANGE THE WORLD SUNDAY.

The youth are preparing two mission trips (SSP).

SCRIPTURE: John 15: 1 & 2

1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

NOTE:

The vine is one of the ancient images in Judaism.

The Cross is one of the “ancient” images in Christianity.

The Eagle is one of the “ancient” images in Americanism.

QUESTION: What image is there in your life?

Interesting enough, the vine/vineyard image was used in the Old Testament as more of a reference when the People of God were not fruitful.

NOTE

This is the last “I am” statements of Jesus.

Notice that the vine is not the People of God in this case, but Jesus.

The following verses remind us that we cannot bear fruit unless connected to THE VINE.

SCRIPTURE: John 15:4

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

QUESTION TO PONDER

How connected are we to God and to each other

Daily Devotion for April 21

This SUNDAY is CHANGE THE WORLD SUNDAY.

The youth are preparing two mission trips (SSP).

SCRIPTURE: John 15: 1 & 2

1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

FOCUS: Relationships (especially being connected to God)

NOTICE: Cannot bear fruit, unless we are in relationship with God (connected).

POINT: Need to remain connected to the vine,

the disciples need to remain connected to Jesus

we need to remain connected to Jesus

if we remain connected, we will bear fruit

TO PRODUCE FRUIT

A grape vine produces grapes

A GOD vine produces what kind of fruit?

Question: what is the fruit that you bear?

And when we are not bearing fruit, does that mean we have severed ourselves from the God vine?

Are there times that we feel severed from the vine?

THOUGHT TO PONDER

to grow spiritually, we need to remain connected and produce GOD fruit

Daily Devotion for April 20

This SUNDAY is CHANGE THE WORLD SUNDAY.

The youth are preparing two mission trips (SSP).

SCRIPTURE: John 15: 1 & 2

1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

NOTES

This section is sometimes called the Book of Glory or the Farewell Discourse. In this discourse, Jesus speaks about three relationships that involve the disciples: (1) their relationship with him, (2) their relationship with one another, and (3) their relationship with the world around them.

John 15:1-11 is about the relation of the disciples with Jesus. The very existence of the group depended on the union of each individual with Christ. Jesus uses the analogy of the vine. Jewish people were quite familiar with vines and their maintenance. Most likely they could have easily seen the vines of Israel during this discourse. And even possibly the great golden vine, the national emblem of Israel, on the front of the temple.

This symbolism has its precedent in the OT. One passage is Psalm 80. Psalm 80 refers to Israel as a vine:

"You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land."

Another example is found in Isaiah 5:1-2, 7:

My loved one had a vineyard

on a fertile hillside.

He dug it up and cleared it of stones

and planted it with the choicest vines.

He built a watchtower in it

and cut out a winepress as well.

Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,

but it yielded only bad fruit....

The vineyard of the Lord Almighty

is the house of Israel,

and the men of Judah

are the garden of his delight.

Questions

1. How important is a relationship with Christ at developing a relationship with others, and why?

2. What is the relationship with Christ and the Father? How does this influence our faith and our relationship with Christ or the Father?

3. How does the analogy of the vine relate to our concept of relationship with Father or Son?

4. What is the significance of these passages?

See you Sunday,

Stan