NS Ministries

I’d like to suggest to you that because of Jesus’ resurrection we are not living in a Pre-Resurrection dispensation but rather a Post-Resurrection dispensation.  What I mean by a Pre-Resurrection dispensation and a Post-Resurrection dispensation is:

In the Pre-Resurrection Jesus taught people (and us) about God and God’s Kingdom and following his resurrection HE BECAME God’s revelation and OPENED THE DOORWAY to God’s Kingdom a doorway no one can shut.  Another way of thinking about the Pre-Resurrection and Post-Resurrection is to think about Jesus’ disciples as long as Jesus was with them their spiritual powers were limited for example they were unable to perform miracles but following the resurrection it was a different story.  We are living in the dispensation of “a different story.”

Now that we’ve come to the conclusion that WE NEED JESUS on our own let’s allow Jesus himself to tell us why we need him.

Jesus opens up chapter 15 of John’s Gospel by telling us:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every 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. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide 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. I 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.”  (John 15: 1 – 15:5)

The key verse in understanding why we need Jesus is clearly emphasized in verse 4 (emphasis mine). “Abide 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. I am the vine; you are the branches.” 

In order to put what Jesus was saying into perspective let me borrow your imagination for minute.  In your imagination see our solar system as Jesus and the earth as you.  So long as you abide in the solar system you’ll “bear fruit” (more on that later).  However, if somehow you were move a couple of light years away what do you think would happen to bearing fruit?  I’ll give you back your imagination so you can figure that out by yourself.

Chuck Smith writing in his “Through the Bible C-2000 Series” comments on the process of bearing fruit.

“You cannot bring forth any worthwhile fruit unto God apart from that indwelling power of Jesus Christ. Anything that you endeavor to do for God apart from Jesus Christ is worthless. It is as wood, hay, and stubble that will burn when the day of judgment comes. The only lasting fruit is that which is produced as the result of the relationship with Jesus Christ. And here again, the idea of fruit indicates to us the method of God. The fruit that comes forth from our lives is a very natural thing; it's not forced. That apple hanging on the tree is not out there struggling and striving and pushing and doing its best to get ripe. All it has to do is just hang in there and it's going to ripen. And it's going to come to maturity. And I just need to hang in there, just to abide in Christ, and the natural result of abiding in Christ is my life is going to bring forth fruit. One of the problems in the church today is this endeavor of forced fruit. ‘Now, you ought to be doing this for the Lord...’ And you're being pushed into all kinds of activities, not really directed by the Spirit. And this can become worthless expenditures of energy, unless God is behind it and God is guiding it and God is directing it. Unless you're abiding in Him, you cannot bear fruit of yourself. You cannot sit down and say, ‘Now, this is what I'm going to do for God this year. And these are the projects that I'm going to endeavor. And this is my plan by which I intend to fulfill this goal.’ That bearing fruit that God desires is the most natural thing that can happen to you as you abide in Christ. It's just a natural function. And so, ‘Abide in me. You can't bear fruit of yourself.’” 

What does Jesus mean when he tells us our need to bear fruit? Basically to me bearing fruit is what we do with our lives.  For me we can either bear bad fruit or good fruit depending upon whether or not we allow the gift of the Holy Spirit to germinate in us.  Bearing fruit is similar to what Jesus was saying in the parable of the “Talents” which centered around three men who were given a number of talents.  Two of the men invested their talents and produced more than they were given.  One man buried the one he was given which remained only as one, he did not “bear fruit” with his talent.

I can appreciate what Chuck Smith was saying about bearing fruit without Jesus by pushing ahead without him.  Because I have a tendency to do that especially when I am writing a Glory Seed Evotional or writing an article for NSM or my own Website.  I’ll begin writing and then telling the Holy Spirit to catch up with me when he can!  When it comes to my own life I am learning that my worst enemy is my own impatience.  

However, lately I have begun reminding myself to follow Chuck Smith’s advice to, “…hang in there, just to abide in Christ, and the natural result of abiding in Christ is my life is going to bring forth fruit.” 

Continuing to allow Jesus to tell us why we need him, he at the same time, gives us a powerful reality check!  “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he (God) takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”

Many years ago while sitting in the funeral home during the eulogy for a close friend of mine God provided me with a gentle but powerful hint at what I was facing if I didn’t turn my life over to him and begin “bearing fruit” in my life.  At the end of the eulogy as they closed the casket suddenly everything for me went dark.  It was like they were closing the casket on me!  It lasted less then a heart beat but it was long enough to drive the point deep into my heart and even as I sit here 40 or so years later it’s just as powerful today as it was then.  God in his own powerful way does take care of those who are not willing to follow Jesus and answer his call of “bearing fruit” with their lives!

This may sound strange but as powerful as the experience of my life coming to an end during that funeral service it was not as painful as what happened (and continues) to happen afterwards.  The pain I am referring to is associated with the process of pruning my life in ways that allow me continue to fulfill what it is God has for me to do (bearing fruit).  Please do not get the idea that I am being negative by bringing up the idea that the process of being pruned is painful.  Do you remember the Old Testament story about Elijah encountering God on the mountain and Elijah experienced the still small voice of God?  (You can find the story in 1Kings 19:9 – 19:18.)

I love that story because I too have been to the mountain and I too have experienced God as “the sound of a low whisper.”  I am not sure what Elijah heard God saying but here is what I heard and continue to hear (as the need arises).  “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”   (James 1:2 – 1:4)

I am sure there are those who when hearing a testimony like mine or from someone else saying, “Count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds.”  Respond by either saying or thinking to themselves, “Are you some kind of fool or what?”

And to someone who has never experienced God at work in their life they would be as right as they could be at that point in their life.  However, for those of us who have first hand experience with God knows that, “…God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.  (1 Corinthians 1:27 – 1:29)

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”   (John 14:15 – 14:17, emphasis added)

One of the blessings left in the aftermath of Jesus’ resurrection (in the Post-Resurrection dispensation) is the power to experience painful pruning as joy.  Yet as the power to do so resides in us the power is not ours but belongs to the Holy Spirit.

Since giving my life to God the day of my friend’s funeral I have been fascinated by Jesus’ prayer the night of his arrest.  For me it is Jesus’ testimony that he had spend his earthly life bearing fruit and that upon his return to heaven he would continue bearing fruit to today and beyond!  The last 6 verses speak the loudest to me and they not only tell how I can see joy in the pruning of my life but continue to empower me to bear fruit as well.

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”   (John 17:20 – 17:26)

THANK YOU JESUS! 

And the journey continues…