Jesus promised that He had come to “give life, and life in all its fulness.” (John 10:10).  He also declared that “i am the way, the truth and the LIFE” (John 14:6), and then in John 15:1-11 He teaches His disciples how to stay in this life through the metaphor of  “I am the vine, My Father is the vinedresser… you are the branches…”.

There’s a really confusing and challenging part where “any branch in me that does not bear fruit he (the vinedresser) ‘cuts off'” – what is that about? How much fruit do I have to bear in order not to make the cut?! Am I bearing enough fruit to satisfy the Fathers exprectations? How much fruit is enough? Is this really the heart of the Father?  If you don’t understand this, you are doomed to a life of working to be good enough for God, and that friends, is simply impossible! You simply have to have a better understanding of the heart of the Father / vinedresser to experience the true life of jesus through the gospel of grace, and that’s what this message is about.  In this message I unpack these truths to encourage you that far from “cutting you off from the vine” the great Vinedressor is committed to cutting you off (“lifting you up”) from the dust and darkness world and into the True Vine. I trust this will encurage you and that you will “lIVE LIFTED UP!”

1 Thessalonians 5:9 declares: 

• For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ  (ESVUK) 

• God didn’t set us up for an angry rejection but for salvation by our Master, Jesus Christ. He died for us, a death that triggered life. (The Message)