Description
John 15:1-8
“As followers of Jesus, we are the branches who remain in the True Vine, and our gardener expects us to bear fruit–but not just any fruit…fruit that remains. So, if the branch of a cherry tree produces cherries, and the branch of a pear tree produces pears, then what fruit is produced a branch of the True Vine? LOVE…the best fruit, and the one that remains. Would your fruit pass the inspection?
We Lift Our Hearts in Worship
[Pre-service options include videos (countdowns, worship music, welcomes), worship music CD, or live music by worship band.]
Time of Praise and Worship
How Deep The Father’s Love For Us
Stuart Townend, ©1995 Thankyou Music
Healer
Mike Guglielmucci, ©2007 Planet Shakers Ministries Int. Inc. (Admin. by Music Services)
Your Name
Glenn Packiam & Paul Baloche, ©2006 Integrity’s Hosanna! Music; Vertical Worship Songs (Admin. by Integrity Music, Inc.)
[Traditional Options]
Alleluia! Jesus is Risen
ELW 377; LSB 474; WOV 674; WAR 306
Speak, O Lord, Your Servant Listens
LSB 589; LW 339
Come, Ye Thankful People, Come
BH 75 233; BH 91 637; CH 797; CHH 718; EH 290; ELW 693; HWC 559; HFG 392; HLC 565; HGP 490; HSP 327; LBW 407; LSB 892, LW 495; NCH 422; PH 551; RH 718; STTL 765; WC 281; UMH 694; WAR 721; WHM 89; WIS 87
Invocation and Introduction of Today’s Theme
Pastor: We invoke the presence of our Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. You are welcome in this place.
ALL: We enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Amen.
OPENING PRAYER: [This prayer is offered as an idea] — God of Life, we praise You for giving us life through the Vine, Jesus Christ, and for tending to us as our loving Gardener. Cause us to produce much lasting fruit for you so that we may bring you glory and honor. Amen
Time of Greeting: Please greet someone that you have not yet spoken to this morning. Select
somebody on the other side of the aisle; OR, if you are in the back, please greet someone in the front, or in the front in the back, etc. Ask them, “Do you feel like getting pruned today?”.
Time of Confession and Forgiveness
[Alternate location: following Message]
Pastor: Using the metaphor of a vine and a gardener, Jesus expresses an important truth about Himself and the Father:
ALL: Jesus in the Vine. He is the source of our life, our growth, our loving fruit.
Pastor: The Father is the gardener.
ALL: He cuts off the unfruitful branches and prunes to rest to make them more fruitful.
Pastor: Examine each of our lives, Oh Father; both what is seen to man, and what is only known by You.
ALL: Our role is to remain faithful in Jesus, submitting to Him as He does to the Father.
Pastor: In so doing, we are united to the life and purposes of God’s Kingdom.
ALL: Help us to examine our inward and outward fruit of our lives….[pause for reflection]…we humbly ask You to prune away the rotten fruits of our lives. Rejuvenate those grafted branches to bud, blossom, and produce lasting fruit of love.
Pastor: Let us thank God together,
ALL: We do thank You, our Master-Gardener for cultivating us and for keeping us connected to the vine, Jesus Christ…in Who’s Name we pray and praise and give thanks. AMEN.
We Hear God’s Word
[Read aloud both the introduction and Scripture]
FIRST READING: Acts 8:26-40
As the Ethiopian eunuch read concerning Jesus, “As a lamb is silent before the shearers, He did not open His mouth” from the book of Isaiah, may we also submit to the Father’s will for our lives.
26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” 30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. 31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.” 34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. 36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?” 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. 40 Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
