Questions for Reflection/Discussion:

1. Take a moment or two for silence, and then lead in with a prayer asking the Lord to work through each of you during this time together.

2. Share some stories of successes or failures you’ve had with gardening. Are there any good lessons or tips you learned? How is our faith and our following Christ similar to plants and gardening?

3. What are some of the ‘tools’ God uses on your heart to draw you near to Him, to prepare your heart, and to help you bear fruit?

4. Share some experiences where you’ve seen Jesus come alive in scripture and you were able to ‘abide & remain’ with Him. What are some tips and tricks you’ve learned for how to remain in God’s Word?

5. Share a story of a joyful or difficult time when you saw Jesus working through other believers (His Body) and you were able to ‘abide & remain’ with Him through that. What are some of the benefits of remaining plugged in the Church body? What are some of the difficulties when we don’t remain plugged in to the Church body?

6. Share a time when God did some pruning in your life. What was that like? Was it difficult at the time? How do you look back on that now?

7. Take a moment to think through some areas where God may want to prune either sideways energy, or negative fruit, from your life. Share with the group and pray for one another.