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The pruning of a vineyard is the most

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important aspect of producing quality wine from grapes.

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What transpires in the pruning process will determine

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the quality of the wine.

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Jesus often used striking imagery from nature, and

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in John chapter 15, Jesus talks about the

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pruning process in the life of a believer.

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In the opening of chapter 15, Jesus makes

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a startling statement.

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I am the true vine, and my father

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is the husbandman.

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In the original Greek language, the sense is

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more powerful as seen in the following words.

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In contradistinction to anyone else, I am the

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genuine vine.

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Here Jesus declares his uniqueness.

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He is unlike any other.

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All else are frauds, fakes, or poor imitations,

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compared to him, the genuine vine.

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And then he says of his father, and

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my father is the tiller of the soil.

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And it is here, friends, I want us

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to linger in these first two verses of

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John chapter 15 this evening, until we get

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a true sense of just what Jesus is

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really saying here in regard to the heavenly

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father being the tiller of the soil.

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You may as well replace the letter I

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in that last word and insert an O

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there and restate it.

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My father is the tiller of the soil.

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The striking imagery here, friends, is of a

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gardener keeping a garden with divine care and

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intense interest in how the crop will turn

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out.

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Like the owner of a vineyard would take

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immense pains in the pruning of his vineyard,

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knowing full well that it is here, in

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the pruning process, that determines the quality of

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the harvest.

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So, too, God has a minute interest in

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each of us, friends, and how we will

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turn out for him in regard to our

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fruitfulness to him and our usefulness to others.

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I cannot underscore this principle of spiritual development

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any better than from the following story.

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Many years ago I was preaching the Monday

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evening class of the School of Preaching for

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the Stephen Oldford Institute in Memphis, Tennessee, the

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same institution where I myself learned how to

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preach.

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With that particular evening, as I addressed a

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roomful of local pastors, my text that evening

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was from John chapter 15, and I was

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hitting it pretty hard on this aspect of

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pruning.

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My message that evening centered in the activity

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of the Father, who holds a divine pruning

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knife in his hand, and how he fully

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intends to use it.

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I talked about how sharp he kept that

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knife with his whetting stone, and how deep

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it can cut, and for what purposes God

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takes that knife out on us as his

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followers.

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What that group of pastors didn't know that

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evening was I had brought with me to

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that meeting two men who I made sit

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on the back row in silence.

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They were two men I was discipling at

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the time, and I had invested a great

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deal of time in these two Christian men,

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and before that meeting began I told these

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two men I needed them at a meeting

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with me, and I was bringing them along

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for one purpose, and one purpose only.

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Their job was to be in constant prayer

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to God in heaven.

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Well, I addressed those pastors there that night.

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I told them, don't pay any attention to

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what I'm saying.

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I want you both to be absorbed in

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the activity of prayer for that hour or

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so.

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These men were choice men, and they were

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praying men, and they went to praying while

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I went to preaching out of my text

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from John chapter 15, and by the time

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I got to the second verse and I

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read it, every branch in me that beareth

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not fruit he taketh away, and when I

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said those words the faces of those pastors

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changed from smiles to intense solemnity.

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A couple of them even physically moved to

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the edge of their seat with alarm in

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their eyes.

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Then I gave out the rest of the

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verse, and every branch that beareth fruit he

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purgeth it, that it may bring forth more

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fruit, and I told that group of pastors

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that if they truly wanted more usefulness to

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God than a knife would have to fall

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on them and their ministry.

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I believe that group of pastors got serious

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with God that night, and God got serious

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with them.

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For when the meeting was over, and as

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a line had formed to talk to me,

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I spoke with those men one on one,

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and I saw they were intent on being

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more useful to God.

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One man stands out in my memory, an

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elderly black man who was well-dressed in

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a immaculate suit.

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He waited his turn to talk to me,

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and when it was his time, he threw

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his arms around me, and with tears in

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his eyes, this is what he said.

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I've been a pastor now these last 40

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years, but after what happened here tonight, I

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want you to know I'm gonna go home,

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and when I get there, I'm gonna go

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kneel by my bed and ask God to

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get out his pruning knife on me and

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my ministry.

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I believe that man got serious with God

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that evening, friends.

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How about you?

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Do you hunger for greater usefulness to God

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for his glory?

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Are you willing to submit to the sharp

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cutting edge of that divine pruning knife?

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Are you ready for God, brother pastor, to

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use you as an instrument of revival in

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your church and your community?

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The degree of the cutting will determine the

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quality of the degrees of fruitfulness of that

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harvest.

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I believe, friends, we have a God who

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gets serious with those who get serious with

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him.

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Let us pray.