At Gateway Church our Mission is: “Empowering inter-generational Christ-followers to engage a ready world with the hope and joy of Christ.”

If I lived a good life (a life that was “fruitful”) who would benefit? What does a fruitful life look like for me and the life I’ve been given?

John 15:1-17
1“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

By following Jesus we are fruitful -Apart from Jesus, we cannot bear fruit.

7If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

μένω – pronounced men-o – Abide, remain, dwell –

Used 11 times in 17 verses.

Discipleship is both belief in Jesus and
following his commands.

What in my life needs to be pruned/cut away?

12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

The Church is a community of greater love.

“Human life cannot flourish as God intended it to, in a divinely inspired and upheld corporate rule over this grand globe, if we see ourselves as “on our own” – and especially if we struggle to preserve ourselves that way.”
Dallas Willard, Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives

Jesus’ fruit is eternal.

The Day Before the Day
John 15:1-17, Sam Nicholson
February 29 & March 3, 2024
A Fruitful Life

Prayer Requests:


Small Group Questions

1. Who is someone that made a difference in your life? What exactly made such an impact?




2. What has God been pruning/throwing away in your life recently? How are you growing as a disciple of Jesus?




3. Who am I currently helping grow in Jesus’ ways? What eternal fruit am I leaving behind?