What is a disciple?

• A disciple is one who follows Jesus

• A disciple is someone who has been changed by an interaction with Jesus

• A disciple is someone committed to the mission of Christ

You are invited to be a disciple, but it is not something we are left to accomplish on our own strength. 

We have an inner-life and an outer-life.

Isaiah 5:1-5

1I will sing about the one I love, a song about my loved one’s vineyard: The one I love had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

2 He broke up the soil, cleared it of stones, and planted it with the finest vines. He built a tower in the middle of it and even dug out a winepress there. He expected it to yield good grapes, but it yielded worthless grapes.

3 So now, residents of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard.

4 What more could I have done for my vineyard than I did? Why, when I expected a yield of good grapes, did it yield worthless grapes?

John 15:1-17

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples.

9 “As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.

11 “I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.

12 “This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.

17 “This is what I command you: Love one another.

Axiom 6- God does the same work in us and through us.

Here is the heart of deepest spiritual struggles– we want people to see the outward fruit of our spiritual life but don’t want to allow God into the recesses of our hearts. 

Abiding is the only means for fruitful living.

• Abide in me and I in you (vs. 4).

• Abide in my love (vs. 9). 

• Jesus appointed you–to go, produce fruit, and your fruit should abide.

How do we abide in Jesus as He abides in us?

• As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love (vs. 9).

• If you keep my commands you will remain in my love...(vs. 10)

• This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you (vs. 12).

• This is what I command you: Love one another (vs. 17).

As a disciple, how do I give my entire self to God?

• The goal of abiding is to bring together through and in.

• Sin (or separation from God) begins in the heart.

• Love reorients our life away from ourselves and towards God and others.

• "If you seek holiness, you will not find it. If you seek Jesus, you will find holiness." –Rich Villodas

• You reproduce who you are.