More of the Word ...
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John Chapter 15
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The Vine and the Branches
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1 ... "I am the true
vine, and my Father is the gardener.
2 ... He 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.
3 ... You are already clean because of the word I
have spoken to you.
4 ... Remain in me, and I will 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 a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear
much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
6 ... If anyone does not remain in me, he is like
a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up,
thrown into the fire and burned.
7 ... If you remain in me and my words remain in
you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.
8 ... This 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.
10 ... If you obey my commands, you will remain in
my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.
11 ... I have told you this so that my joy may be
in you and that your joy may be complete.
12 ... My command is this: Love each other as I have
loved you.
13 ... Greater love has no one than this, that he
lay down his life for his friends.
14 ... You are my friends if you do what I command.
15 ... I 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.
16 ... You did not choose me, but I chose you and
appointed you to go and bear fruit ... fruit that will last. Then the Father
will give you whatever you ask in my name.
17 ... This is my command: Love each other.
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The World Hates the Disciples
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18 ... "If the world hates you, keep in mind that
it hated me first.
19 ... If you belonged to the world, it would love
you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen
you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
20 ... Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant
is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute
you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.
21 ... They will treat you this way because of my
name, for they do not know the One who sent me.
22 ... If I had not come and spoken to them, they
would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their
sin.
23 ... He who hates me hates my Father as well.
24 ... If I had not done among them what no one else
did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles,
and yet they have hated both me and my Father.
25 ... But this is to fulfill what is written in
their Law: 'They hated me without reason.'
26 ... "When the Counselor comes, whom I will send
to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father,
he will testify about me.
27 ... And you also must testify, for you have been
with me from the beginning.
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John Chapter 16
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1 ... "All this I have told you so that you will
not go astray.
2 ... They will put you out of the synagogue; in
fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering
a service to God.
3 ... They will do such things because they have
not known the Father or me.
4 ... I have told you this, so that when the time
comes you will remember that I warned you. I did not tell you this at first
because I was with you.
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The Work of the Holy Spirit
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5 ... "Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none
of you asks me, 'Where are you going?
6 ... Because I have said these things, you are filled
with grief.
7 ... But I tell you the truth: It is for your good
that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to
you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
8 ... When he comes, he will convict the world of
guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:
9 ... in regard to sin, because men do not believe
in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where
you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince
of this world now stands condemned.
12 ... "I have much more to say to you, more than
you can now bear.
13 ... But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he
will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak
only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
14 ... He will bring glory to me by taking from what
is mine and making it known to you.
15 ... All that belongs to the Father is mine. That
is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known
to you.
16 ... "In a little while you will see me no more,
and then after a little while you will see me."
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The Disciples' Grief Will Turn to Joy
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17 ... Some of his disciples said to one another,
"What does he mean by saying, 'In a little
while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see
me,' and 'Because
I am going to the Father'?"
18 ... They kept asking, "What does he mean by 'a
little while'? We don't understand what he
is saying."
19 ... Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about
this, so he said to them, "Are you asking
one another what I meant when I said, 'In a little while you will see me
no more, and then after a little while you will see me'?
20 ... I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn
while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to
joy.
21 ... A woman giving birth to a child has pain because
her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because
of her joy that a child is born into the world.
22 ... So with you: Now is your time of grief, but
I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your
joy.
23 ... In that day you will no longer ask me anything.
I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.
24 ... Until now you have not asked for anything
in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.
25 ... "Though I have been speaking figuratively,
a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will
tell you plainly about my Father.
26 ... In that day you will ask in my name. I am
not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf.
27 ... No, the Father himself loves you because you
have loved me and have believed that I came from God.
28 ... I came from the Father and entered the world;
now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father."
29 ... Then Jesus' disciples said, "Now you are speaking
clearly and without figures of speech.
30 ... Now we can see that you know all things and
that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes
us believe that you came from God."
31 ... "You believe at last!" Jesus
answered.
32 ... "But a time is coming, and has come, when
you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone.
Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.
33 ... "I have told you these things, so that in
me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart!
I have overcome the world."
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Jesus Prays for Himself
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John
Chapter 17
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