32. What does God Call Us For?

FLASHBACK

What did you experience with God this week?
In the last few days, did you have the opportunity to share an experience with God with someone close to you that doesn’t know Jesus yet? Or could you pray for them or help them practically?
Do you need God‘s help in an area of your life?

■ Pray together: Give thanks for your experiences, ask God for help where you need it.

■ Pray together to learn new things about God and that your relationship with God deepens and gets stronger.

BIBLE STUDY

Read the passage silently. What words or phrases stick out?
One person reads the passage out loud.
One person retells the passage in his/her own words (Bibles closed).
If necessary, the others complement what was said (Bibles closed).

John 15:1-16

¹“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.²He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.³You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.⁴Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

⁵“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.⁶If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.⁷If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.⁸This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

⁹“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.¹⁰If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.¹¹I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.¹²My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.¹³Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command.¹⁵I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.¹⁶You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.

Jeremiah 17:5-8

⁵ This is what the Lord says:

“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
    who draws strength from mere flesh
    and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
⁶That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
    they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
    in a salt land where no one lives.

⁷“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
    whose confidence is in him.
⁸They will be like a tree planted by the water
    that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
    its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
    and never fails to bear fruit.”

Everyone by themselves:
- What words or phrases stick out now? Are there any differences to what you noticed before?
- Why do you feel drawn to those words or phrases?
- What can you learn about people?
- What could God be telling you?
Share in the group.

SPECIFIC QUESTIONS & ACTION STEPS

There are different types of good fruit: read e.g. Romans 1:13, Hebrews 13:15 and Galatians 5:22-23. Which fruit can you already see in your life?
Is there something in your life that feels fruitless, i.e. you invest time and energy, but you fail to see any results?
What are the requirements for good fruit to grow? Which clues can we gather from the two passages?
Do you meet those requirements?

■ Is there something you should stop doing so you can be connected to Jesus again? Is there an area in your life where you sense that you’re disconnected from Jesus? If yes, confess this in a prayer (everyone for themselves).

■ Is there something you should allow God to do in your life? Some thing you know God has in store for you, but you’re beating around the bush whenever it comes up? Pray in groups of 2-3. Invite Jesus to lead your whole life and shape your future and ask him to fill you fully with his Holy Spirit, so that you can carry lots of fruit. You can find practical steps for that in the unit “Filled“.

OTHER LANGUAGES