February 21, 2016 John 15:1 – 19
Download discussion questions: John 15_1-19 The Vine
Download discussion questions: John 15_1-19 The Vine – highlighted
“John 15? That’s the passage about the vine and the branches.” That is often the first reaction from Christians who have been around church and Bible studies for a while. Familiarity can be an obstacle to good inductive study. If we come to a passage already decided about what it says, we will have difficulty seeing new insights the Holy Spirit may want to illuminate for us. The goal this week will be to discover what else Jesus says in this passage, and how those subjects relate to the Vine and the branches.
The second handout (the “highlighted” version) already has the beginning of the Observation phase, but if you want to start completely fresh, the first handout is just the passage with similar questions for your own observation of repeated words. Download one or both and see what you discover in this powerful passage.
I just read the handouts – well they probably knew all about pruning. The question about what is the fruit and all the suggestions are tthought provoking – i wonder what the class came up with. The branches that are ‘taken away’ in the NKJV chain reference has a note that indicates the term ‘ lifted up’ and i wondered if it could be like the tree the gardener was going to dig around and fertilize.
Well those who are humble and follow God have throughout scripture like Moses and David have been known as friends of God .