Put the Stats Away

Ready:

"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.” John 15:5 NLT

Set:

Sports are all about stats. We measure everything in the world of athletics. The reason we keep stats is so we can track performance. How do we get that performance? It starts with first searching inside of ourselves.

The same is true of our walk with God. When we want to see success in our spiritual life, it begins by making sure our relationship with God comes first. In John 15:5, we see that the vine brings all of the resources and health to the branches. Often in life, we are tempted to provide ourselves with every need, but Jesus is telling us here that He will provide what we need both physically and spiritually. But the choice to remain in Him is up to us.

Should we choose to remain in Christ, we would experience “much fruit.” Being connected to God means being connected to Christ. We remain in Christ by participating in regular worship and prayer, reading and meditating on God’s Word and living in fellowship with other followers of Jesus. 

The challenge to us is, who are we remaining in? We can abide in our dream to become a professional athlete: to be everything our coach wants us to be, to be athletic, to be popular for our athletic accomplishments and so on; but ultimately, abiding in Christ is how we bear fruit and make a difference in both ourselves and the world around us. 

Go:

• What are some things that you have abided in that were not Christ? In what ways did those things fall short?
• How can you practically remain in Christ more?

Weekly Challenges:

Write down some ways to remain in Christ more this week and share them with your teammates.

Reading Plan: 

Day 78 - John 15-17

Day 79 - John 18-19

Day 80 - John 20-21

Day 81 - Revelation 1-3

Day 82 - Revelation 4-9

Day 83 - Revelation 10-13

Day 84 - Revelation 14-18