Pruning Process

Mark Cowan

June 7, 2019

John 15:1-8. 1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

Pruning is a process that is….
PAINFUL:
REGENERATIVE:
UNAVOIDABLE:
NEEDFUL:
INSTIGATING;
NEW;
GROWTH;
This message is about how and why God deals with the issues of the flesh in a Believer.
It is not that complicated.
A vinedresser cuts away or cuts back every branch, including those that bear fruit.
In the natural, this is done after every harvest.
If the branches are not cut back each year then the following year the grapes begin to get smaller.

When he prunes the branches, he is cutting them back closer to the main vine so they get more fuller nutrients in order to produce even greater harvests.
This keeps the nutrients from flowing into branches for no reason, until spring.
When this is done, the vine and it’s stubby branches look naked and not much like what you would want to see. However, when spring comes there will be more fruit.

When God purges the branches of His vine, it is very similar.
Christ is the vine than He cuts the branches back to in order that the glory would all be of Christ.
Even when we as branches produce fruit, we get cut back so that there would be no glorying of the flesh. That is, when a ministry is doing well, it may be purged so that the ministry would not begin to think itself to be the reason for success.
“Our preacher is the best, he is educated and gifted”. Our methods work, so why should we change them?

Just as God corrects and chastises only His children because He loves them, so He prunes and purges out all activity of the flesh so that His branches can bring forth much fruit.

>>1 Corinthians 1:27-31. 27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: 31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.