Bearing Fruit
December 28, 2025
John 15:1–8 (NIV) 1 “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 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 will be done for you.
8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
2026, A year to be Fruitful.
Stepping into 2026.
Christians are called to be Fruitful:
Illustration of a Grape Vine:
-Jesus is the Vine. Christians are the Branches that carry the fruit.
-If a Branch does not bear fruit, it will be removed.
(Jesus may be referring to Judas)
-If a Branch does bear fruit, it will be pruned (trimmed).
Being pruned:
a. Makes you more fruitful.
b. It is to remove things that keep you or hinder your life-giving growth, your Connection to God.
c. Can be uncomfortable, painful, or challenging.
The result is:
a. the sweet fruit that brings joy and peace in your life.
b. A life that brings honor and glory to Jesus.
c. You are a true Disciple of Jesus.
-Jesus Cleans us up when we Receive the Gospel, Salvation.
v. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
-We must stay clean: Remain, Abide. Verse 4-8
Not everyone wants to stay clean.
It is important to Jesus that we Remain Clean.
One of the first things Jesus did when He began His ministry on earth was to cleanse the Temple.
John 2:13–17 (NIV) 13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
We must Remain in Jesus.
What does it mean to “bear fruit”?
–To demonstrate outward actions that result from the inward condition of a person’s heart.
-To show outward evidence of true inward faith in Jesus.
The Outward Evidence is:
a. Growth in Character, Compassion and Godly Behavior.
The Fruit of the Flesh vs The Fruit of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:16–23 (NIV) 19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery (lustful pleasures); 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions (division) 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
b. Growth in your knowledge of God and His love for you.
c. Growth in your love for people and lost souls.
Remain in Jesus to Produce Fruit:
1. Believe the Promises of God.
God promises Abraham impossible things
Genesis 12:1–5 (NIV) — 1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. 2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
God fulfills His promises.
Hebrews 10:23 (NLT) Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.
Have Faith that God can do it.
Believe: Even when it looks like it is not going to happen
2. Don’t carry the burdens from 2025 into 2026.
Isaiah 43:1–3 (ESV) 1 But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
God has given victory before (delivered from Egypt)
Now he is going to do greater things.
Isaiah 43:18–19 (NLT) 18 “But forget all that— it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. 19 For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.
2. Put yourself in the Right Place.
The Good News: You can’t produce tfruit, but The Holy Spirit produces the Fruit in you.
John 15:16 (NIV) 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and
appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—
and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.
Ephesians 2:8–10 (NIV) 8 For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good
works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
You must position yourself so that the Holy Spirit can produce the fruit in you.
Example: Trees must be in the right place to get the soil, sunlight, water they need to produce fruit.
Psalm 1:1–6 (NIV) 1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. 3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers. 4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
Draw near to God to produce fruit.
Hebrews 10:21–22 (NLT) 21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
In Prayer
Fasting
The Word of God.
Stay in Church
Hebrews 10:24–25 (NLT) 24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.