The Trellis and the Vine Week 2: Rule of Faith
Read
John 15:1-11
10 “Truly I tell you, anyone who doesn’t enter the sheep pen by the gate but climbs in some other way is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 They will never follow a stranger; instead, they will run away from him, because they don’t know the voice of strangers.” 6 Jesus gave them this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them. 7 Jesus said again, “Truly I tell you; I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. 9 I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.
Philippians 3:7-11
7 But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith. 10 My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, 11 assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.
Summary
Welcome back to Community Group, we find ourselves in week 2 of our series The Trellis And The Vine. This week we asked the question: What does it mean to build a rule of life? How do these rules of Christian life come together? As Christians, do we really have rules? When we view the Bible as a list of rules, we view it the wrong way. Have you ever seen a young tree that is growing crooked? The gardener comes and drives a long stake right next to the tree, straightens it out and ties it to the stake. Is he restricting the tree? Or is he helping it grow straight and strong? That is what the Bible does, it does not restrict, it helps guide us so we can grow straight and strong.
The Bible helps us build our lives with Christ at the center. It shows us how to have a strong relationship with Him. It guides us as we live our lives. Helping us be better spouses, better parents, better employees, and better friends. It does this by not telling us what we should not do, but what we should do. The Bible does not give us rules, it teaches us to live under the rule of King Jesus.
The first point this week was The Fulfillment Of Life. Looking at today's passage, we see that as Christians, we need to know the voice of our Savior. We should be able to distinguish His voice from the voices of others. This allows us not to fall into the trap of following the enemy. The verse says that we should remain in Christ. What does that look like? We remain in Christ by valuing the gathering with the saints, by reading the Word, by talking with Him daily. In short, we remain in Christ by having a relationship with Christ and His people.
Our second point was Faithful Following, and it came from Philippians 3:7-11. In this passage, we have Paul giving his resume. How many of our resolutions for 2024 are the things Paul is saying are not important. When we are serious about following Christ, we will recognize that what we thought was great, is not. The commitment to the practice of this type of living is not following rules to get to the next thing. It is following Christ, not so you can finish and be done, but so you can finish well.
Our final point was Finish Well. We do this by placing rhythm over resolution, and discipline over motivation. You see. Motivation is temporary, it is endurance and discipline that help you finish well. Motivation does not last, it simply helps light the flame, but discipline is lifelong. Our lifetime does not end when we die here on earth, we are preparing for the lifetime that is eternity. We finish well here on earth, but it does not end there. The rule of life can be easy to fake for a bit, but if it is not consistent and personal, it cannot be maintained.
As Christians, we don’t want to be known for what we can’t do. We want to be known by what we do, and what we do needs to be aligned with what we are called to do.
Announcements
If you are a CG leader, please make sure you are a part of the WhatsApp group! Also, if you don’t hear from your assigned shepherd in the next few weeks, please let us know.
Also we are in need of Volunteers for our Operation Christmas Child Collection Week
Please sign up on our Events Page or contact Meichelle Vasquez
Shepherd Couples:
Herb and Maggie Cuellar
Ismael & Ashley Ledezma
Ozie and Maritza Hernandez
Randy & Yvette Pena
Will and Elizabeth Stewart
Jon and Libby White
You will be hearing from them in the near future!
Pastor Isauro Medina
Cell: (956) 984-9380
Meichelle Vasques
Cell: (956) 566-4762
