John Chapter 15 by Song Ting Kee dated 10 Nov.2013

John Chapter 15 The Vine and the Branches by Song Ting Kee dated 10^th Nov 2013

Bro.Song shared that since he retired as a teacher he has been a farmer.  He planted fruits trees such as papaya as well as durian trees.  One papaya tree bore only one fruit after several years, and he thought of chopping it down, but his wife said you must add top soil.  That was what he did and the tree bore many fruits.  Bro. Song said he learned from his farming.  God said we must bear much fruits.  We remain in Him and He remains in us.  He remain in our word, in our love.  We abide in Him and He abides in us.

Bro. Song shared a story of a Kayan pastor he met recently.  Prior to be a pastor he has been working for Petronas drawing a large salary.  Why did he leave?  This pastor said many years ago while in secular work he suffered from severe headache which came at night.  He seek all medical treatment without a solution.  One day a Christian friend brought him to church, while worshipping he was drawn to worship and read God’s words.  That night he went home to start reading the Bible, and for a whole year he read the Bible.  Amazingly after one year his headache was gone!  He asked God why He healed him only after one year ?  God said if He had healed him immediately he would have gone to his old ways again.

How to abide in His love?  Love one another and the world will know you are different and God is in you.  He related how he and his wife have been encouraging the trainees teachers to help at Salvation Amy.  Bro. Song advice these trainees to love the children first, hold their hands, pray for them before starting to teach them.  Some trainee teachers shared with him that after going back to their rooms they continued to pray for the children.

Are we attached to the true vine or false vine?  Bro. Song said if we are attached to the false vine it is like a tree parasite that killed a large part of his tree in his farm.  True vine bears good fruits, and false vine bears bad fruit.

Galatians 5:22  ^“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,…”

These are the fruit God wanted us to bear individually or corporately.

Genesis 2:8, 9 “⁸ Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. ⁹ The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

Two trees , tree of life and tree of knowledge.

Proverb 11:30 “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and the one who is wise saves lives.”

God wants us to be like a tree of life which is righteous.

Bro. Song shared about Gospel singer and his wife Kelvin Soh and Suzanne who have been an inspiration to many.  He was humble and said he was one of the many who testified about goodness of God.  Bro. Song said he is like a tree of life giving hope to many who are lost.

1 John 1:9  “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

We are human, but when we sinned we ask God to forgive us.  He has a plan of each of us.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”