The True Vine!

“John 15:1-5 says “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 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. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 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. 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.” John 6:53, and 56 says “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you…He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.” It is interesting that Jesus uses the vine as a metaphor of himself. The vine then is to produce grapes, that will in the process give blood, or wine. This blood is extracted into the branches who then produce because they are connected to the vine. So this particular passage is about the fruit of the Eucharist. The language is reminiscent of Revelation 2:5 which says “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” Like the candlestick, if it does not continue to burn light, it will be removed, even as the branch that doesn’t bear fruit. It is the Presbytery that are to bring forth the fruit of the Eucharist in the Church that will continue to grow throughout the earth because they are connected to Christ! They are not autocephalous, but are one vine with branches. Verse 7, is key in John 15, because he says if you abide in me, and my words, or his RHEMA abides in you you can ask what you will, why? Because faith comes by hearing, but you are hearing the RHEMA of God thats activated through faith. Christ’s RHEMA presence is abiding in you through faith, and you act upon that prophetic word spoken through the Spirit. When you act on Rhema words that you hear, then you are abiding in Christ.  When you act on RHEMA words spoken to your hearing through faith, it’s as if you pick up the Sword of the Spirit which the rhema of God and use these words as weapons against the enemy (Ephesians 6:17)!”

-Anthony Booker