Week 2 - BEAR FRUIT
CONNECT
What are you thankful for?
What challenge are you facing?
Have there been any answers to prayer?
Pray for each other.
Did anything stand out to you from last week’s follow-up Bible readings?
How did praying this prayer go for you last week?
GO with Jesus
Lord, how can I join you in mission to those around me?
How did your “I will …” statement from last week go?
How did your sharing goal from last week go?
DISCOVER
Let’s start with a review.
Our mission is to Join Jesus in making disciples of those around us by living a Prayer > Care > Share > Dare lifestyle.
JOIN JESUS
Jesus is on a mission to seek and save the lost. Not only does Jesus call us to join Him as His disciples, but He also calls us to join Him as His mission partners. As we join Him in this mission of making and maturing disciples, Jesus has promised to join us.
And now …
BEAR FRUIT
This mission is to be the fruit of our relationship with Jesus. Only as we remain in Jesus can we bear the fruit of a Christlike life and the fruit of making and maturing disciples.
Ask God to speak to you as you read His Word.
John 15:1-17 (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.
9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now 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 this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 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. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
Have someone retell these passages in their own words.
What stands out to you in these passages?
What do these passages say about God (The Father, His Son Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit)?
What do these passages say about people, including ourselves?
What do these passages say about the life God invites us to live?
Digging Deeper
What fruit is Jesus talking about?
Does the branch bear fruit to remain in the vine? Or does the branch remain in the vine to bear fruit? What’s the difference?
Why is remaining in Jesus the only way to bear fruit?
The Fruit of the Spirit
Galatians 5:22-23 (ESV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Philippians 1:9-11 (NIV)
9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
How would you describe this fruit? How do these fruit describe the character of Jesus?
Why must we remain in the Vine to bear this fruit?
Which fruit in particular do you need the Spirit’s help (and your group’s encouragement) to mature in?
How would this fruit help your witness for Jesus?
What happens to our witness if we don’t bear the fruit of righteousness and the fruit of the Spirit?
The Fruit of Disciples
John 4:35-36 (NLT)
35 You know the saying, “Four months between planting and harvest.” But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest. 36 The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike!”
Romans 1:13-17 (CSB)
13 Now I don’t want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I often planned to come to you (but was prevented until now) in order that I might have a fruitful ministry among you, just as I have had among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I am obligated both to Greeks and barbarians, both to the wise and the foolish. 15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.
How would you describe this fruit?
Why must we remain in the Vine to bear this fruit?
Why would not being ashamed of the gospel be important to bearing this fruit?
What happens to our witness if we are ashamed of the gospel?
The Fruit of His Father
John 5:19-20 (NLT)
19 So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing.”
Did Jesus pursue His mission on His own are did He remain in His Father?
The Fruit of Jesus
Just as Jesus’ mission was the fruit of His relationship with the Father, so too our mission must be the fruit of our relationship with Jesus. Or to put it another way. Just as Jesus partnered with His Father, we too must partner with Jesus.
Fruit-bearing, then, isn’t about what we can do, but Who we are with. It’s not about human achievement, but human receive-ment. So if we want to have a fruitful mission of living a Christlike life and making and maturing disciples of Jesus, we will have to remain in the Vine. Our first missional priority, then, is to stay relationally connected to Jesus.
Why is a personal and maturing relationship with Jesus so important to our witness?
How could you grow in this relationship?
Not Able but Enabled
God never intended for us to live the Christian life in our own strength. Instead, He calls us to stay connected with Jesus so we do everything through His strength. Then what we could never do on our own, we do through our relationship with Jesus.
Mission Assignment
In FAITH, you were introduced to the Daily Connect connection prompts.
How have they helped you to stay relationally connected to Jesus?
Keep practicing the Daily Connect for the purpose of living a missional life for Jesus. Once again, especially focus on:
GO with Jesus
Lord, how can I join you in mission to those around me?
Fruit’s Memory Work
Here’s our memory work for FRUIT:
John 15:5 (NIV)
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.
LIVE
What truth have you discovered from today’s Bible passage(s) and conversation?
What would stop you from believing and obeying this truth?
How will you live out this truth this coming week? Finish this statement: “I will ….”
Who else needs to hear this truth? How could you share it with them?
When will we meet again?
Who will facilitate that meeting?
Pray for God’s help as you seek to follow Jesus this coming week.
FOLLOW-UP BIBLE READINGS
After each group meeting, there will be 3 Bible readings to help you dig a bit deeper into what we have discussed.
To help you connect with Jesus, we encourage you to use the Daily Connect connection prompts with the first two Bible readings and the Lord’s Prayer with the third Bible reading.
Here are the Bible passages you are encouraged to read this coming week:
BUDDY SYSTEM
It’s recommended that you set up a buddy system for ongoing encouragement and accountability. Buddy people up and have them contact each other for a midweek check-in. Think of this as a five-minute phone call, rather than an in-person sit-down meeting. Touch base and ask these questions of each other:
How are your readings going?
How’s your “I will …” statement coming along?
How’s your sharing goal coming along?
How can I pray for you?
PRINTABLE PDF
FRUIT - Week 2 printable PDF
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