Hope Today 029 - Jesus is the Vine

A program of word and music featuring an eclectic mix of christian music and teaching by Pastor Tom Cullen and Brian Evans.  Mac Wigfield starts the program with southern gospel classics.

Produced at Straight Path Studio in Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada.

Christian Artists featured are:

Under Grace

Sweetwater Revival

Gordon Mote

Robin Mark

Todd Dulaney

Allison Lynn

The Haven Quartet

Eli Dummer

Keith & Kristyn Getty

Michael Card

Rend Collective

Thank you for listening to HOPE TODAY. This is a program developed at Light & Life Programming, a registered charity. We are listener supported. If you would like to help with this ministry, donations can be made through our website at www.lightnlife.ca.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Here we are, together again for another encouraging time of music and word on this edition of Hope Today. Thank you for tuning in. Pastor Tom Cullen will be considering the question: what did Jesus mean when he said he was the vine? The relationship between the branch and the vine is essential. More answers today during our program. Let's get started with Mac Wigfield and a time of encouragement in harmony.

SPEAKER_08 0:37

Well, good Sunday morning and welcome to Hope Today. This is Gospel Music Time. Here's a group called Under Grace. A song of testimony. Walking with Jesus, the greatest thrill I've ever known.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

Such a beautiful walk each day. Walking along the way. Walking with Jesus, talking with Jesus every day. Dark clouds have rolled away.

SPEAKER_06 1:03

There's sunshine all the day. Walking with Jesus, talking with Jesus every day. Since Jesus Christ came to this heart of mine, I was trying to say I walk with love in mind. And now I know I know the joy he brings each way. Walking and talking all along the way. And now I overknow with glory in my soul.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

Walking with Jesus, talking with Jesus every day.

SPEAKER_06 1:53

Since Jesus came to me.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

Walking with Jesus, talking with Jesus, everyone. Since sorrows all have passed, I now have peace at last. Walking with Jesus, talking with Jesus, everyone since Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_06 2:18

I walk with love. Walking and talking all along and now I overknow with glory in my soul. Walking with Jesus, talking with Jesus every Jesus, and Jesus came in his heart of mine. Now I miss change. I walk with love divine. And now I know and now I know Joy brings its way. Walking and talking all along the way And now I over with Jesus.

SPEAKER_08 3:30

You can't walk with somebody you don't know, right?

SPEAKER_06 4:08

Come to Jesus, come to Jesus, all of you who burden be when our hearts are broken, and when we need a prayer when our young grows heavy, just come to him and rest. Come to Jesus, come to Jesus, all of you, who burden be Come to Jesus, come to Jesus, all of you burden beasy, his burden light, he will go with us through night.

SPEAKER_03 5:25

Come to Jesus, come to Jesus, all of you who burden me.

SPEAKER_06 5:37

Come to Jesus, come to Jesus, all of you who burden me all of you who burden me.

SPEAKER_08 6:20

This is a master. That's why he's called the Lord Jesus Christ. What is looking for? Well, he's looking for everything. Pastor Tom Cullen will tell us shortly a little bit more what that means. For the moment, Gordon Mode will tell us in give them all to Jesus.

SPEAKER_06 7:16

Give them a life, give them a life, give them all the Jesus, shattered dreams, wounded hearts, broken joys. Give them a give them a give them all the Jesus. And he will turn yourself into joy. Give him all, give them all, give them all the Jesus, shattered dreams, wounded hearts, broken soys, give them all, give them all Give them all the Jesus, and he will turn yourself into Jesus. Shattered dreams, wounded hearts, and broken toys. Give them all give them all give them all the Jesus and he will turn yourself into What a great start to our morning.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

Thank you, Mac. I'm Pastor Tom Cullen, and we're asking the question on hope today. What did Jesus mean when he said he was the vine? I'll warn you, the answer is not an easy one. But if you stay with us and put your trust in Jesus, I can tell you, you will never be the same. You'll discover wonder upon wonder. Here is Rob and Mark and Days of Elijah.

SPEAKER_02 10:37

These are the days of Elijah, declaring the word of the Lord. And these are the days of your servant as righteous as being store. And all these are days of great of that darkness and the Gospel of John, chapter fifteen, verse five, Jesus says that he is the vine and we are the branches.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

And very simply, Jesus is telling us that Christianity is all about a relationship with Him. Just as the branch is in relationship with the vine. I'll always remember Grover from Sesame Street teach about near and far. He begins very close to the television screen and says, Then he runs away and stops and turns and says, Then he runs back into the camera and says, In order for him to be with us, we forgive it. We cannot do it ourselves. Now through faith in the sacrifice of Christ, we are forgiven. Our sin is paid for, and that relationship is restored. The great news of the gospel is that we who used to be far from God have been brought near through faith in Jesus Christ and are able to live with God now and forever. This is the truth that Jesus teaches us in our text today. He's stressing that what counts in Christianity is the relationship. Todd Delaney sings the truth in Proverbs 3.

SPEAKER_04 15:47

I am the vine, you are the princess. He who abides in me will forever be fruitful indeed. Truth and the light, no one gets to the far. Except that he comes through me. So let night manage and truth. Safe for the sake.

SPEAKER_01 19:20

Now that raises the question, does this mean that there are other vines? And the answer is yes. The vine was a symbol of Israel, and they understood that if a person were to have a relationship with God, they would have to be related in some way to the nation of Israel. So Jesus is saying that all the images of the vine used up to this time in history are titles. They are signposts, which all point to him who is the true vine. So now, if you want a true relationship with God, it's not through the people of Israel or through the rules and regulations of Israel. There is only one religion for the There's only one person you should come to, and that is Jesus Christ. The church must stumble and lose its way, and that's heartbreaking, and we must do all we can to truly be the church. But the church's failures are not a reason to walk away from the faith. Our faith must rest squarely upon Jesus Christ. He is the true vine. So let's walk closely with him, as Alison Lynn sing.

SPEAKER_05 21:20

I am weak, but thou art strong.

SPEAKER_03 21:33

I'll be satisfied as long as I walk. Let me walk close to thee. Just a closer walk with thee.

SPEAKER_05 21:50

Just a closer walk with thee. Jesus is my place.

SPEAKER_03 22:05

Let it be, dear Lord, let it be through this world of toils and sneeze. If I falter for who cruise Who with me my burden than the thee, dear Lord, than thee.

SPEAKER_05 22:38

Just a closer walk with thee. Just a closer walk. Just a closer walk. Jesus is my place to walk just a closer walk. Walking closer.

SPEAKER_03 22:57

Let it be.

SPEAKER_05 22:58

Dear Lord, let it be for me with me now. Whoa, waah, won't you get me gently safely all to the kingdom shore to the shore? Just a close up, step close with a close up. Just a close up. It is close to my place. Let it be. Dear Lord, let it be. Let it be. Dear Lord, let it be.

SPEAKER_00 25:10

It was in the Grace Church that he first professed his faith and accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior. He was 17. He remembers that a guest speaker was presenting the lesson that day and asked if there were any present who wanted to become Christians. John remembers that every boy in the class stood up but him. His teacher, Mrs. Binkley, looked at him and gently encouraged him to stand also. Throughout his life, he always remembered the influence of his wonderful teacher. Wilbur went on to become an outstanding pastor, writer, hymnist, and leader in the denomination. But he was most remembered for his evangelism. Hundreds were influenced to take a stand for Christ during his crusades held in the United States, in Canada, and all around the world. In 1910, in the midst of these endeavors, he wrote the hymn, Our Great Savior, or as some know it, Jesus, what a friend of sinners. The Haven Quartet sing for us now, Our Great Savior.

SPEAKER_06 26:16

Jesus was a friend for sinners.

SPEAKER_01 29:03

Think of that image of the vine. You don't have to know much about gardening to know that the vine is the source of life for the branches. If the branch is to grow and bear fruit, that ability is gained through attachment to the vine. So it follows. Some years ago, my son John and I cut down a huge branch from a tree in the forest. It was shaped like a giant wine. So we stuck it firmly on the ground and attached a large piece of bunching cord to each side, making a huge slingshot. It was a ton of fun as we launched golf balls into the air in the summer. And snowballs in the winter. And over that time we noticed that the branch never grew, never born again. Eventually we began to run. But it was essentially dead. For you and for me. So we are to depend on Jesus to reproduce his life in us. All we need to do is rest, to surrender ourselves to Jesus Christ. Raise your voice and sing glory to the King with Eli Doomer.

SPEAKER_06 30:46

Do you see the clouds or the setting sun? Do you feel the winds of the speech moving as broken hearts to Jesus Christ? And the passion and pride for the wedding. We're in just nest Lenin Green and Price the King with one sweet of the invitation.

SPEAKER_01 33:22

What does that mean? I once heard a fellow pastor share his story of how when he and a friend became a Christian at the same time, they would go to prayer meetings and Bible studies and worship together. And the pastor said, I remember one day walking to a Bible study with this girl and saying to her how hard I thought the Christian life is. And to my surprise, she agreed with me. She too had been finding it hard. We had only been Christians for a short time, but we found that there were so many things to do, so many good meetings to attend, so much to read, so many ideas to think about. We were trying too hard. Christianity is not about trying to keep certain rules and walk in a certain way or perform certain rituals. All of them are good and often help in our spiritual development. But these aren't what the Christian life is all about. It is that when you become a Christian, the very life of Jesus takes up residence in you. He now lives in you. And this new life of Christ sets you free from sin and death and enables you to live life for him. So the strength to live the Christian life is Christ alone. Just as a vine is the source of strength to the branches. Here is Keith and Kristen Getty singing of the fruit of his presence here among us. Oh, how good it is.

SPEAKER_03 35:11

Oh, how good it is when the family of God put us together.

SPEAKER_01 37:58

And we at hope today pray that you're building your life on the firm foundation of Jesus. Here is Michael Card.

SPEAKER_06 38:07

How firm a foundation he saints of the Lord is laid for your faith in his excellent word. What more can he say than to you he have said to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled? Fear not I am with thee, obey not dismay, for I am thy God and will still give thee aid. I'll strengthen and help thee and cause thee to stay upheld by my writ just on his potent hand through my retries, thy pathway shall lie, my grace, all sufficient shall be thy supply. The flame shall not hurt thee, my only design, thy trust to consume, and thy goal to reply The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose. I will not, I will not desert to its foes that soul, though all hell should endeavour to shame.

SPEAKER_01 41:39

What does that mean? It means he is our strength. We often pray, Oh God, give me strength. The kids give us a hard time, and we whisper the prayer, Oh God, give me strength. We have deadlines to meet at work, and we pray, Oh God, give me strength. But that's a bad prayer. Because it's not the truth. God does not give strength in the sense that he zaps us with a lightning bolt, so then all of a sudden we have the patience of Mother Teresa, the speaking ability of Martin Luther King, and the physique of Arnold Schwarzenegger. No, no, no, no. Listen to what Jesus is teaching us here. He says he is divine. He is our strength. He doesn't give us a strength. Are you trusting in him alone to produce his life in you? Or are you allowing your faith to rest on some other person or a ritual or a situation? Let me tell you plainly, we will all fail. Only Christ will continually, unfailingly supply you with what you need to live the Christian life. May you join with Ren Collective and affirm that the Lord is your wisdom, your true worth, your vision.

SPEAKER_06 44:00

Presence, my light, you are my wisdom, you are my true word, I ever with you, and you with me, Lord. You're my great father, and I'm your true son. You dwell inside me. Together we're one. Oh, come on, church, you are my bad. She saw it for the fight. You are my dignet. You're my dear life, my shelter, you're my result shelter, and you're my high top. Come raise me, heaven would call my room. Oh, oh, I don't riches. I don't want riches or man's empty praise. You're my inheritance now and always. You and you only the first in my heart. High King of heaven, my treasure you owe. Oh my kid, High King of heaven, when victories won. May I reach heaven? Juggy old bright heaven son. Heart of my own heart whenever before. Still be my vision.

SPEAKER_00 46:27

Hope Today is produced at Straight Past Studios, and it is a joy to bring it to you. If you have any comments, please email them to listener at hope today-lp.ca. Our prayer is that you will be grafted to the true vine and receive the eternal nourishment Jesus alone will give you freely. Won't you bring your friends along and join us next time for another encouraging program in Word and Song? We look forward to being with you. In the meantime, remember that God, our Heavenly Father, does love you.