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[0:00] Welcome. Thank you for choosing to listen to another faith-building message by Pastor David Entry. Faith comes by hearing and by hearing the Word of God.

[0:12] May your knowledge of Jesus Christ increase as you listen. Be blessed. I want to just throw some light on something in John chapter 15.

[0:24] John chapter 15 verse 16. You have not chosen me. This is Jesus speaking. If your Bible is a red letter edition, you'll see that what we are reading is in red, which means every word Jesus spoke recorded in the Bible is put in red.

[0:45] It's a red letter. That is a direct speech from Jesus, a serious one. So John chapter 15 verse 16 is a red letter statement.

[0:55] So I'm reading one of the red letter statements. You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruits and that your fruits should remain that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he shall give you.

[1:19] This is a very interesting thing. One of the reasons why Jesus said we should bear fruits is one. That's why he chose us. So his reason for choosing us is that I have chosen you.

[1:33] You didn't choose me to be telling me what you want to do. I chose you to tell you what to do. I chose you for a purpose. He says that ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruits and that your fruits should remain.

[1:57] So he said that I chose you and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruits and your fruits will remain.

[2:10] Let me go to the NIV. See if the NIV will render it a little bit different. You did not choose me.

[2:22] But I chose you and appointed you that you might go and bear fruits. Fruits that will last. And so that whatever you ask in my name, the Father will give you.

[2:37] So you see, answers to prayers have been hidden in bearing fruits. Wow. In other words, I've called you so your fruits and your prayers will be answered.

[2:49] But I've called you mainly so you bear fruits. Now once you bear fruits, you to whatever you ask, it shall be done. You have been born fruit and you come and tell me, God, I need back. God, I need that.

[3:00] God, you are telling me what. But I actually called you not for you to come and tell me what you need. I called you for you to bear fruit. Now when you bear fruit, you can actually also ask me or ask the Father what to do and what it should give you.

[3:16] And then when you ask the Father, whatever. Somebody say whatever. Whatever. If you are fruit bearing and your fruits remain. You know some people today, they have bearing fruits.

[3:27] People don't know. But they are talking about constantly and you can depend on you. God can depend. Christ can depend on you. The church can depend on you. On your productivity, your reliability.

[3:37] Some people, they are really not for church. They are just for themselves. God, I need this. God, I need this. God, I need this. Fruitless. Wow. Fruitless to the Father.

[3:49] In fact, what you don't want to see is how God treats people who are fruitless. Wow. Wow. Should I show you? Yes, please. Are you sure you want to see it?

[4:00] Yes, please. It's very scary, you know? It's scary. Are you very sure you want to see it? Yes, yes, yes, yes. Look at verse 6. If anyone abides not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is with it.

[4:18] When you say it's with it, it's like waste away. With it. It's cast off from and is with it. Watch this. And men gather them and cast them into fire and they are burned.

[4:31] You become subject to the wishes of men and to the wickedness of men anyhow. If you don't connect yourself and plug in. You make it to your point that whether they will ask me, they won't ask me.

[4:45] Whether someone knows, somebody doesn't know. I am on a plug-in in mission. I'm plug-in in. Let's see how he starts the whole discourse. He said, I'm the branch.

[4:56] My father is the husband man. The husband man is not like a wife man or a wife woman. Husband man there is the caretaker. The vine dresser. He's the one who makes sure he's always checking the vine or the tree is doing well.

[5:11] Comes to check. So he said, God is the vine dresser. And do you know what? He comes with a knife. Verse 2. Every branch in me that bears not fruit, he takes away.

[5:26] And every branch in me that bears fruit, he proves that he may bring forth more fruits. So any branch that is not bearing fruit, he cuts. You can't cut without a knife. He cuts with a knife to cut some people out.

[5:39] Look at verse 4. Verse 4 said, abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself. He's putting something there. Did you see what he's putting there?

[5:50] He said, the reason why I called you is to bear fruit. And then he's not telling us. Even before he told us the reason why he called us, he started telling us about tree and fruit, branches and fruits.

[6:02] And he says that the only way the branch can bear fruit is to plug and connect himself, plug itself, connect himself, connect itself in the vine, abiding it.

[6:14] You cannot be a loose cannon. You can be fruit bearing. It cannot happen. At the time, a branch gets cut off from the tree.

[6:27] Even the artificial flower or artificial tree branch, the branch that has been cut off, there's no use for it, but from it being put in the fire and burned or wood.

[6:37] So, he says that, abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can he, except he abide in me.

[6:50] Now he's telling us, Pastor, I really want to bear fruit. He said, this is how I bear fruit. Abide in me. Abide in me. Now look at verse 5. I am the vine, he are the branches.

[7:02] He that abides in me and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing. So, Jesus is now trying to point out that he called us for us to come and depend on him and be able to do what he called us.

[7:20] Connect with Christ and stay connected. Stay connected. Whether someone is watching you or no one is watching you. Sometimes, Satan will use different things to discourage you or maybe somebody has upset you.

[7:35] Somebody has done something or you are not really happy about something. All these things come to try and disconnect you. So, once you are in the branch, but you are actually disconnected, so you are not bearing fruit and God will come and use his knife to cut you out.

[7:49] Wow. Now, look at this. Verse 7. If he abide in me, now he's going to show us how he abides in us. He said, if he abide in me and my words abide in you.

[8:03] Initially, he said, verse 4, abide in me and I in you. Christ, how are you going to abide in us? He said it was easy. Verse 7. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, look at what he said in verse 7.

[8:15] Is it not the same thing he said in the verse 16? He said, ye shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. The secret to answered prayers is abiding in Christ and letting his word abide in you.

[8:32] The same way, once you abide in him and his word abides in you, do you know what happens to you? You begin to bear fruits automatically. He told us earlier on that any tree that abides in the branch bears fruits.

[8:47] So once you abide in me, you bear fruits. And he said, when you bear fruits, you can ask the Father anything. He will do it for you. Here, verse 7. He said, if you abide in me and I abide in you, then he said, whatever you ask, it shall be done for you.

[9:02] Wow. So I can realize that this thing is going around to come to our advantage that whatever we ask, it shall be done. Abide in Christ and let Christ's word abide in you.

[9:14] Stay connected. Don't be disconnected. Don't be distracted. Stay connected. Now watch this. Then he changes the subject in still connection with his word. He changes up because he says that, let my word abide in you.

[9:28] And then he said, verse 8, here it is my Father glorified. This is how my Father is glorified, that he bear much fruit. So shall you be my disciples. So he said, when you bear fruits, you are now my disciple and God is glorified.

[9:41] And now watch this. Then he changes the subject. It looks like it changes the focus. Verse 9 begins to talk about, as the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.

[9:51] Continue in my love. Okay. So he said, Father, love me. I'm using that love to love you. But what you have to do is to stay in that love.

[10:03] Continue in that love. Now, so the love that we are meant to continue is the love of God that comes through Christ to us. I need you to watch this very carefully.

[10:13] This is very interesting. So how do I stay in the love of God? If Christ said, I should stay in the love of God, then how do I stay in the love of God?

[10:24] Verse 10, if you keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love. So how do I stay in the love of God? Keep his commandments. Otherwise, his word abiding in me.

[10:38] Watch this. Keep his commandments. He said, you shall abide in me, in my love. Verse 12, this is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you.

[10:50] Oh. So now, if I love my brother and my sister, because Christ has commanded me, not because they are nice people, not because they are not annoying, but because Christ has commanded me.

[11:05] Wow. If I do that in obedience to his commandment, I am abiding actually in his love. Right. So God loved Christ, and the love God loved Christ has been given to us, and he said, if you want to stay in this love, then you have to obey my commandment.

[11:23] And he said, I don't have 10 commandments to give you. I have one commandment to give you. And what's the commandment? Love one another. Talking about, anytime you see one another, it's talking about the relationship within the church.

[11:36] One another. One another inside. Love one another. Then he says that, ye are my friends, if you do what I command you.

[11:48] Verse 17. These things I command you, that ye love one another. You are fasting, but you are very hateful. You are fasting, but you don't talk to.

[12:01] I think after this message, you, that sister you don't talk to in church, send her a message and tell her, I love you, sister. Before, you can think of, oh God, you love me, so do this for me.

[12:13] No, he said, if you want to abide in his love, then you obey his commandment. You love one another. That church sister, that person that you know, you hold something against, or you held something against, or you know, you don't like talking to, you decided to cut off.

[12:29] Send the person a message. Contact the person. Extend a courtesy of love to somebody. Not because you feel everything is fine now. What she did against you, you have not got to abide.

[12:42] You may never get to abide. You don't wait to feel your feelings to be in place before you can love. Love is not a choice. Love is a commandment.

[12:52] He said, this is my commandment, that you love one another, that you love one another. When you love one another, you are abiding in my love. And that love you are abiding in, is the love God sent to you.

[13:05] Special love. This is a love story. And then when you do that, when you abide in Christ, you bear fruit. When you stay in his commandments, you stay in his love. These two factors, if you combine them, there's no way you can be a victim in life.

[13:20] There's no way you lack any necessary breakthrough that is due. Wow. Man. So, my brother and my sister, as you are fasting, think about the commandments too.

[13:33] And think about the purpose he called you to. Commandment, he's given us so we can stay in his love, his love one another. Purpose, for his calling us, is that we will bear fruits.

[13:48] And once you start bearing fruit, you can ask God anything. He said, it's actually said, in verse 16, let me read it again. He said, that whatsoever, you shall ask, blank check, anything, ask.

[14:01] Ask, once you are bearing fruit. He said, heaven will say, no problem. What do you want? Okay. No problem. Take it. What do you want? No problem. Angels do it for her. Angels do it for him.

[14:13] I hear that about somebody in heaven right now. Amen. Amen. Angels, give him the marriage. Angels, give him the child. Angels, give him his uni.

[14:23] Angels, give him that scholarship. Angels, give him that promotion. Angels, give him that house. Give him that doctor. Give him that healing. Angels, do it. Why? Because this is a fruit-bearing Christian who abides in my life.

[14:38] Thank you for listening. To hear more from David Entry, follow him on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Why don't you subscribe to our YouTube channel?

[14:49]  At Carish Church. And subscribe to our podcast so you are always up to date. Be blessed.