11/03/2026
📌📝 SUNDAY RECAP (February 22, 2026)
Abide in the True Vine | John 15:1-17
How can we know that a believer abides in Christ?
I. When a believer continues in the faith.
The relationship that Jesus has with His disciples is compared to a Vine and a branch. Jesus is the vine, and the branches are the disciples. There are two kinds of branches : a branch that does not bear fruit and a branch that bears fruit. This also means that there are two types of professing Christians: one is a genuine Christian, and the other is a superficial Christian.
The superficial Christians, although attached to the vine, yet have no right relationship with God. Outwardly they look religious and calm, but inwardly they indicated something else.
“They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work." - Titus 1:16
Now the branches that bear fruit are described as the genuine Christian. Why? It says in John 15:2b, "...and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” The pruning may refer to hardship that eventually produces faithfulness and a closer relationship with God. A man who is born again would persevere under trials. His faith is being tested through painful trials, tribulations, and hardships. James 1:2-4 tells us, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. Faith that endures to the end is a genuine faith. 1 Peter 1:7 says, "If need be, you have been grieved with various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire..."
II. When a believer continues in the Word.
A genuine disciple will remain in the Word, meditate on it day and night (Joshua 1:8), obey it, and share it with others. Jesus said in John 8:31-32 , ‘…If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” This means that disciples do not only agree in the principles of Jesus, but that they also persevere in obeying His teachings. Those who abide in the Word of Jesus will persevere to the end, and they will find spiritual freedom, that is, freedom from the bo***ge of sin..
Now, among the twelve disciples, there’s one person who did not remain in Christ, and that was Judas. Judas was the branch that did not stay in the vine. John 6:70-71, 'Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is the devil? He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.’
Jesus is warning us not to follow what Judas did. It’s not about his betrayal but that he did not continue; he did not remain in the Word of Christ. He did not remain in the love of God. There was no repentance found in him. Despite the knowledge he had of Christ, there was no perseverance in his obedience to Christ. A branch that is attached to the vine yet has no right relationship with God is defective and corrupted. Jesus makes it clear to the disciples that without Him they can do nothing.
Believers, don’t forget that your identity is in Christ. Let’s examine ourselves to see if our faith is real or genuine and repent for not abiding in Christ.
John 15:1-6
"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He [a]takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned."
----------
⏰ Sunday Worship Schedule
8AM - FILIPINO | 10AM - ENGLISH
⏰ Weekly Prayer Meeting
every FRIDAY 5PM - 7PM
Visit us! We're located at B2 L14 Hawaii Dr, Vincent Heights Subdivision, Brgy. Angliongto Sr., Lanang, Davao City