Mountainside Assembly of God
ROOTED: PRUNE (3 OF 4)
Locations & Times
Mountainside Assembly of God
1900 Trevorton Rd, Coal Township, PA 17866, USA
Sunday 10:30 AM
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https://mountainsideag.churchtrac.com/A natural part of an organic relationship with God is the process of pruning. Just as a plant is healthier after pruning and has revitalized growth, so a Christian experiences growth when unhealthy areas of their lives are trimmed or thinned. Though this process can be painful in the moment, the outcome is divine and beautiful. As a follower of Jesus, we must see God’s work in our lives as something that has our best in mind and his glory at stake.
God is the divine gardener who has our spiritual growth as his goal. God will use anything in our lives to shape us into the people that he wants us to be. If there is something in our lives that is unhealthy for us, God will want to prune it. If there is something in our lives that is good but not the best, God will want to prune it.
Jesus is the source of all life, and every person must be careful to remain connected to him. To grow deep roots that will sustain us through anything we will face in life, we must receive acceptance, guidance and love as a branch receives from a vine.
We mustmake a conscious decision to welcome God’s pruning in our lives. Join him in actively seeking out areas of our lives that he would like to effectively change.
Last week we talked about growth and how it is God who brings growth and how we can all play a part in the process. This week we will be talking about another aspect of growth called pruning.
Pruning is defined as, “to trim by cutting away dead or overgrown branches or stems, especially to increase fruitfulness and growth.”
Like many aspects of our faith journey, pruning isn’t always easy, but it’s necessary for healthy new growth to occur.
To frame our time today we will be drawing from Jesus’ words found in…
John 15:1-5— “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.
3 You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. 5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”
#1—God’s Green Thumb
John 15:1— “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener.”
Two things are communicated in the first verse of chapter 15.
1. Jesus makes it clear that he is the vine. He wants the listener to understand there is no life apart from him. Just as all the nutrients needed for a plant to grow travel through the roots to the limbs by the trunk/stem, so all we need for life, life to the full, comes by and through Jesus.
2. The one who is responsible for cultivating the growth in the lives of people is God. There is no other being who is more qualified to oversee the growth process than the one who is the author of life in the first place. God is a divine gardener, and he is an expert at facilitating growth.
These two things are incredibly important to keep in mind as we talk about pruning. It’s crucial to remember who is behind it all and that God, the Diving Gardener, has the bigger picture in mind. “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
#2—The Gentle Art of Elimination and Cultivation
Think back to our definition of pruning, “to trim by cutting away dead or overgrown branches or stems, especially to increase fruitfulness and growth.”
One of the main jobs of a gardener is to remove dead, fruitless or broken limbs from a plant.
Often a plant will be hindered by a dead portion of its branches because that dead portion gets in the way. Sometimes a plant will waste energy and nutrients to help branches that don’t produce any fruit.
In our lives we often have similar areas that are hindrances to us.
It may be sin that needs to be removed, it may be discipline in our lives that we need to accept, it may even be something good in our lives that is distracting us from something great. The gardener will prune these things that we might have a better opportunity to grow.
If the earthly gardener is interested in fruitfulness and healthy growth just imagine how much more so the Divine Gardener and cultivator of the entire Cosmos is interested in the same thing.
#3—Less Can Be More
Hebrews 12:1— Since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.
The pruning that God does in our lives is not because he is angry with us and wants to punish us. It’s quite the opposite. According to Hebrews there is a race that has been marked out for us that results in a heavenly prize. To run this race well we must remove those things that will disqualify or hinder us from reaching the finish line.
This is not an easy and comfortable process, but in the end as the things are removed that aren’t healthy for us, we find something more from life that could not have been found without the pruning.
#4—A Healthy Connection to the Vine will Produce Good Fruit
John 15:4-5— Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. 5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.
A Christian is someone whose strength comes by living in connection to Jesus Christ.
Galatians 5:22-23— The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
Think for a moment about the fruit listed in the Galatians passage. These are areas that most every believer has some desire to grow in.
The only way this fruit can grow day to day in our lives is for us to remain connected to Jesus through full surrender and unwavering faithfulness.
As we remain connected, the Divine Gardener prunes away the unhealthy and fruitless parts of our lives. Remain in Him through adversity, through trial and hardships. Remain connected to the vine and remember, apart from Him you can do nothing.
Spiritual growth does not and cannot happen by accident.
The Christian life is a process that we enter when the seed of the gospel is planted, and we open our lives to God.
To grow in faith takes intentional effort, fierce determination, and the unquenchable grace of God. It is true that God loves us just as we are, but it is equally true that he doesn’t want us to stay that way.
What are some specific areas of your life that could use some pruning to allow for healthy growth to happen?
What are some areas that need to be completely lopped off for the sake of future growth?
Are there areas in the past that you now recognize God pruned away for healthy new growth to occur?
Trust that God knows what he is doing and even though the process of pruning can be painful, it will also be fruitful in the hands of the Divine Gardener.
God is the divine gardener who has our spiritual growth as his goal. God will use anything in our lives to shape us into the people that he wants us to be. If there is something in our lives that is unhealthy for us, God will want to prune it. If there is something in our lives that is good but not the best, God will want to prune it.
Jesus is the source of all life, and every person must be careful to remain connected to him. To grow deep roots that will sustain us through anything we will face in life, we must receive acceptance, guidance and love as a branch receives from a vine.
We mustmake a conscious decision to welcome God’s pruning in our lives. Join him in actively seeking out areas of our lives that he would like to effectively change.
Last week we talked about growth and how it is God who brings growth and how we can all play a part in the process. This week we will be talking about another aspect of growth called pruning.
Pruning is defined as, “to trim by cutting away dead or overgrown branches or stems, especially to increase fruitfulness and growth.”
Like many aspects of our faith journey, pruning isn’t always easy, but it’s necessary for healthy new growth to occur.
To frame our time today we will be drawing from Jesus’ words found in…
John 15:1-5— “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.
3 You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. 5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”
#1—God’s Green Thumb
John 15:1— “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener.”
Two things are communicated in the first verse of chapter 15.
1. Jesus makes it clear that he is the vine. He wants the listener to understand there is no life apart from him. Just as all the nutrients needed for a plant to grow travel through the roots to the limbs by the trunk/stem, so all we need for life, life to the full, comes by and through Jesus.
2. The one who is responsible for cultivating the growth in the lives of people is God. There is no other being who is more qualified to oversee the growth process than the one who is the author of life in the first place. God is a divine gardener, and he is an expert at facilitating growth.
These two things are incredibly important to keep in mind as we talk about pruning. It’s crucial to remember who is behind it all and that God, the Diving Gardener, has the bigger picture in mind. “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
#2—The Gentle Art of Elimination and Cultivation
Think back to our definition of pruning, “to trim by cutting away dead or overgrown branches or stems, especially to increase fruitfulness and growth.”
One of the main jobs of a gardener is to remove dead, fruitless or broken limbs from a plant.
Often a plant will be hindered by a dead portion of its branches because that dead portion gets in the way. Sometimes a plant will waste energy and nutrients to help branches that don’t produce any fruit.
In our lives we often have similar areas that are hindrances to us.
It may be sin that needs to be removed, it may be discipline in our lives that we need to accept, it may even be something good in our lives that is distracting us from something great. The gardener will prune these things that we might have a better opportunity to grow.
If the earthly gardener is interested in fruitfulness and healthy growth just imagine how much more so the Divine Gardener and cultivator of the entire Cosmos is interested in the same thing.
#3—Less Can Be More
Hebrews 12:1— Since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.
The pruning that God does in our lives is not because he is angry with us and wants to punish us. It’s quite the opposite. According to Hebrews there is a race that has been marked out for us that results in a heavenly prize. To run this race well we must remove those things that will disqualify or hinder us from reaching the finish line.
This is not an easy and comfortable process, but in the end as the things are removed that aren’t healthy for us, we find something more from life that could not have been found without the pruning.
#4—A Healthy Connection to the Vine will Produce Good Fruit
John 15:4-5— Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. 5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.
A Christian is someone whose strength comes by living in connection to Jesus Christ.
Galatians 5:22-23— The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
Think for a moment about the fruit listed in the Galatians passage. These are areas that most every believer has some desire to grow in.
The only way this fruit can grow day to day in our lives is for us to remain connected to Jesus through full surrender and unwavering faithfulness.
As we remain connected, the Divine Gardener prunes away the unhealthy and fruitless parts of our lives. Remain in Him through adversity, through trial and hardships. Remain connected to the vine and remember, apart from Him you can do nothing.
Spiritual growth does not and cannot happen by accident.
The Christian life is a process that we enter when the seed of the gospel is planted, and we open our lives to God.
To grow in faith takes intentional effort, fierce determination, and the unquenchable grace of God. It is true that God loves us just as we are, but it is equally true that he doesn’t want us to stay that way.
What are some specific areas of your life that could use some pruning to allow for healthy growth to happen?
What are some areas that need to be completely lopped off for the sake of future growth?
Are there areas in the past that you now recognize God pruned away for healthy new growth to occur?
Trust that God knows what he is doing and even though the process of pruning can be painful, it will also be fruitful in the hands of the Divine Gardener.
