God desires to have a relationship with us. Jesus emphasized the importance of staying connected with the father and his disciples. That is why in today’s passage, Jesus asked us to stay connected with him; remain in him, abide in him. It also means believing in Jesus, being in union with Him, sharing his thoughts, emotions and power. Jesus Christ calls us to a life of fruitfulness which is conditioned by obedience, love for one another and a living relationship with Him. Jesus Christ calls for a deeper relationship, one that requires you and me to do more than we currently do. He wants us to stay closer to him. In James 4:8, we are encouraged to draw near to God and He will draw near to us. It is in drawing nearer to God that we are able to access and obtain all that God has planned and purposed for us Jer.29:12-14.

1. STAY CONNECTED WITH JESUS

2. •Ways in connecting with others

3. *LETTER OR MESSAGES WILL BE DELIVERED PERSONALLY BY A CERTAIN PERSON THROUGH
RUNNING OR BY RIDING
.

4. TELEGRAM

5. PAGER

6. PENPAL

7. TELEPHONE/CELLPHONE

8. DROPBOX. DROPBOX IS ONE OF THE MOST EFFICIENT AND USER-FRIENDLY CLOUD SHARING
SOLUTIONS. ...
GOOGLE WORKSPACE. ...
MICROSOFT 365. ...
MICROSOFT TEAMS. ...
ZOOM. ...
GOTO. ...
WEBEX. .

9. • The question is what is the value of all those efforts
telagrams, use of smartphones and subscribing to social
media networks? The answer is to get connected with our
significant individual, groups(s) to maintain a good
relationship with them, to remain connected with the
church and vice versa, to also encourage friends and
families and for businesses, to remain connected with
their customers. Thus relationship, spirituality, and
economic and healthcare and wellbeing are the basis for
getting connected with people.

10. •In the same way, God desires to have a
relationship with us. Jesus emphasized the
importance of staying connected with the
father and his disciples. That is why in today’s
passage, Jesus asked us to stay connected
with him; remain in him, abide in him. It also
means believing in Jesus, being in union with
Him, sharing his thoughts, emotions and
power.

11. •Jesus Christ calls us to a life of fruitfulness which is
conditioned by obedience, love for one another
and a living relationship with Him. Jesus Christ calls
for a deeper relationship, one that requires you and
me to do more than we currently do. He wants us
to stay closer to him. In James 4:8, we are
encouraged to draw near to God and He will draw
near to us. It is in drawing nearer to God that we
are able to access and obtain all that God has
planned and purposed for us Jer.29:12-14.

12. •Staying Connected with Jesus;
John 15:1-8.

13. • 15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every
branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear
fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already
clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I
also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in
the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
• 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you,
you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do
not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers;
such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you
remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it
it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much
fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

14. •The vine and the vineyard were old and
sacred images in Judaism (as in most
Mediterranean societies). The vine
represented the covenant people of God,
planted and tended by him so that Israel
would produce fruit (Ps.80:8-18; Isa.5:1-
7; Jer.2:21; 12:10-11) .

15. • Similarly, through Isaiah (5:3-5), God uses the
metaphos of the vine to express his disappointment
over the spiritual laxity of his covenant people and
then tells them the consequence of their spiritual
laxity. Jesus is noted to have used this metaphor as a
teaching device many times (Matt.20:1-7; 21:28;
Mk.12:1-11; Luke 13:6-7). In John 15 however, Jesus
declares that he is the true vine (15:1) and so he
represents Israel as God’s tree planting. God is keen
to see fruit coming from his work tending the vines
(15:2). Jesus highlighted the idea of using the time-
honoured skills of viticulture.

16. •Viticulture is the science, production and the study
of grapes. It is a branch of the science of
horticulture. Thus God as the vinedresser is also
viticulturist whose sole aim is to ensure that we
produce more fruit. He does that by
pruning/trimming branches that are dead, diseased
and undesirable. Fruit-bearing, therefore, requires
a perpetual attachment to the vine. The branch is
productive only when it is connected to the vine.
Our usefulness and fruitfulness is realized when
we abide in Christ.

20. •1. God requires us to stay faithful to
him and in union with Christ so that we
can produce fruit as a byproduct of our
relationship with him. In 1 Cor 3:12
apostle Paul urges us to build our lives on
the foundation laid by Jesus with gold,
silver and costly stones rather than on
straw, hay and wood so that we do not
fail.

21. • 2. God seeks the best in us through pruning (John.15:2).
• · Pruning allows God to remove any undesirable
characters that hinder growth and prevent us from bearing
fruit that last and glorifies God(John 15:16)
• · He removes diseased, dead and useless branches
from the vine so that they do not sap nutrients and water
from the healthy branches. In other words, any act
or including circumstance that will not allow you to be all
that God created you for are removed so that you become
more useful and purposeful for good works. (Eph.2:10).

22. • This is what we called discipline and
it comes when we are being used by
God for his greater works. The
essence is to make us more
dependent on God. (John.15:2, 4;
Heb.12:5-6; Rev.3:19). –
•

23. •3. Remain in Christ.
•v Abide in his word – (John 15:3, 17:17), Jesus
calls us to spend time in his word so that we can
be sanctified, cleansed and transformed for his
work. We attain sanctification through God’s word.
As we spend time with God in his word, he reveals
many things about ourselves, Himself and others.
The more we obey the revelations of God, our
sanctification process continue. Disobedience will
affect us greatly. Therefore be obedient to what
God tells you through his word.

24. • Be opened to the leading of the Holy Spirit as he guides you through prayer and
worship as he takes residence in you (Gal.2:20).
• Stay connected to the vine and allows the life of Jesus Christ to flow through you
so that you can be fruitful. Ultimately, fruitfulness will be the result of an inner
spiritual life with Jesus. (Gal.5:22-23).
• v Your desires become more transformed, refined and wholesome as you seek to
do God’s will; your prayer life becomes more meaningful and acceptable to Christ
(John 15:7; Romans 12:1-2).
• v Continuous obedience to Jesus and growing compliance to his teachings will
make us effective in our prayers since these will be said in line with God’s will(15:7).
• v Lead a life of total submission and surrender to Christ (Phil.2:5-8, Eph.5:21;
Jas.4:7)
• 4. God is glorified when we excel as worthy disciples of Jesus Christ (John 15:8,
16).
• · This happens when we pursue the mission Jesus has entrusted us with so
that together with Jesus we bring glory to God, the father. For the father is glorified
in the work of the Son and in the abundant bearing of fruit by his disciples.

25. •In conclusion, Jesus loves us so much
that he wants to us remain in him so that
we can be more fruitful as his beloved
followers. Remaining in Jesus requires
that we believe in him, pray and stay in
his word, become involved in reaching
out to those who do not know
God(15:16), obedient to stay in his love
and revelations.