SUNDAY SCHOOL - December 13, 2015

[Albert Finch]

John 15:1,2,4 - "I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of Me that doesn't bear grapes. And every branch that is grape bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more....Make your home in Me just as I do in you.....When you're joined with Me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant." - (The Message Bible)

God must show us the great darkness we are in when our soul tries to find its ultimate happiness, consolation, and security in this world.

It is the cleansing, purging work of God to take out this "flaw." He oversees the soul through many hardships, and through times when it feels dry and lifeless.

God shows us the great darkness we are in when our soul tries to find spiritual nourishment and where there is no life.

As God's Spirit cultivates His new type of life in us, the only envy we will experience is a longing to be more like those who exhibit human obedience to Christ. And He uproots our old sluggishness and complaining about obeying God, when it means passing up comforts and pleasures.

For He has revealed the endless crop of boredom we will harvest when we base life on pleasure-seeking -- instead of seeking His PURPOSE FOR OUR LIFE, sowing acts of goodness and love for a harvest of eternal life.

INTO ACTION:

Each time dryness comes -- and it will come back with greater ferocity, like a comsuming hot wind -- stand your ground and retreat in quietness of soul.

The reality of God's presence will come to you, and each time He does, your inner man will perceive more of His transcendent beauty than your natural mind can imagine.