Stay RIGHT Here

Two clear intentions from Jesus for me from John 15:1-11.

• Jesus wants my to be .
• Jesus wants to give me the of my .

How to get to the fruit Jesus promises in John 15.

| Romans 12:12 |

• Be : takes .
• where you are .
• Become with the .
• Resist the . 
• ALWAYS REMEMBER: God is more concerned about my life’s than my life’s .

Small Group Questions

What do you think?

From Sunday’s message, what particular point challenged you, inspired you, stood out to you, got you to think, or raised a question for you?

The story of your life.

1. This past weekend, Pastor Kyle preached from John 15:1-11. One of the main ideas from that section of Scripture is that Jesus is the Vinedresser who, at times, prunes things out of our lives to make us more spiritually fruitful. Over the years of walking with Jesus, what kinds of things have you sensed the Lord “prune” out of your life? Describe the journey from learning that God wanted a change to be made, to making the change, to the results that came from the change.
2. How do you feel you are tending to your “spiritual garden” right now?

Digging deeper.

1. There is a recurring theme in the Old Testament where God does something amazing for the Israelites, they praise the Lord, and the following generation forgets about the Lord. One way that God’s people combatted this was through the power of divine remembering and retelling what the Lord had done. Turn to Deuteronomy 8. The context is that the Israelites have been delivered from the hand of the Egyptians but are in the wilderness as they head to the Promised Land. Moses is recounting his experiences in this brief sermon. Read the whole chapter, have a few members of the group recap the story using their own words and then answer the following questions.
   1. Which verse(s) struck you the most powerfully?
   2. What does this story tell us about God? People? You?
   3. In light of all of this, is there anything you need to do differently to tend to your own spiritual garden at the moment?
2. Read the following verse groups and then answer questions at the bottom (ex: read all the verses under point a, answer questions d & e, then move on to point b).
   1. 1 Samuel 12:9, Judges 8:34, Psalm 106:21.
   2. 2 Peter 1:12-15.
   3. 1 John 2:20-21.
   4. What do these verses tell us about God? People? You?
   5. In light of all this, how do you sense the Lord asking you to practice the power of divine remembering and retelling right now?
3. If time allows, re-read John 15:1-11 out loud three times (preferably in different translations), answering this question at the end.

What, if anything, stood out differently as you read this again?

Personal reflection and application.

1. Go around the circle and have everyone share one thing someone else said that stood out to them.
2. Pray for one another (men with men and women with women if possible).