Pruning and Trimming: The Pastoral Style of the Lord Jesus

To bear more fruit of the Holy Spirit, we must understand what the Lord Jesus said:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. (John 15:1-2)

Brothers and sisters must not have such misplaced compassion. Our Lord Jesus is very strict; a branch that does not bear fruit will be cut off. Some might say, But it hasn't had time to bear fruit yet! That day, Brother WC told me, Pastor, did you know that the Lord Jesus cursed a fig tree? It wasn't the season for figs. The Lord Jesus couldn't find any fruit on the fig tree out of season, so He cursed it, and the fig tree died. This is our Lord. Don't criticize our Lord. Our Lord is our God, and our God is our Lord Jesus. You have no right to criticize Him for what He does. Many people dare to criticize the Lord Jesus, but of course, these are unbelievers.

I am a Christian, a disciple of Christ Jesus. I magnify my Lord, and I honor everything He does because He is Lord. So I want everyone to know today that every branch that does not bear fruit will be cut off. You might think this is a mistranslation; maybe it is, maybe it isn't. But I think that based on the verse we read today, you must know that God will prune people, and God will also cut off those branches that do not bear fruit. In other words, in this process, pruning and trimming are a pattern of behavior of the Lord Jesus.

Today, when we build a church, should we also use pruning and trimming methods? I used to be uncomfortable with pruning and trimming, but recently I have felt more and more that pruning and trimming is a good thing. I used to think, Give it some time, wait a little longer, but practice has proven that no amount of time is useful. When I see those brothers and sisters in the pastoral district who are not very motivated, I first tell the district pastor and cell leader to prune them. How can they bear fruit if they are not pruned? So today, brothers and sisters must know that misplaced compassion is not the way to bear fruit.

In the process of a child growing up, if you don't discipline and prune him, he will not grow into a successful person. If you don't prune a tree, it cannot bear fruit. When does a tree need pruning? Once, when I went home on vacation, I met a friend who runs a large business in Beijing. He planted many fruit trees and hired people to help him prune them. He learned a trick: the branches that bear fruit grow horizontally, while the ones that grow vertically do not bear fruit. So he cuts off the top, and it forces the horizontal branches to grow out, and those horizontal branches can bear fruit. He shared with me that if a tree is not pruned, it will grow straight up and not bear fruit. You must cut off the top to make it grow horizontally, and then it will bear fruit.

So brothers and sisters must know that without pruning, it won't work. I ask you to do pastoral work, and I also do pastoral work myself. What is our pastoral work? Pruning and trimming. Cutting off those bad habits. If there is no pruning and trimming, it is difficult to bear fruit. If a tree does not bear fruit, there must be a problem. If the Lord Jesus cursed the fig tree, don't think the Lord Jesus did something wrong. Who is our Lord Jesus? He is God. He knows everything from eternity to eternity. He knows at a glance whether this is a tree that will bear fruit, so He cursed the tree. If we are not born to be fruitful, and we refuse to bear fruit no matter what, we are cursed, and then we will die, and then we will be nothing. Today, let's take a closer look at the first point: pruning and trimming is the pastoral style of our Lord Jesus.

Reasons for Not Bearing Fruit

Abide in me, as I also abide in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in me. 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. (John 15:4-5)

This is very well said. Why can't people bear fruit? Today they are in the Lord, tomorrow they are not in the Lord, the day after tomorrow they return to the Lord, and the day after that they leave the Lord again. How can such people bear fruit! If a person does not abide in me, he is like a branch thrown outside to wither. People pick it up, throw it into the fire, and burn it. (John 15:6)

What is the real reason for not bearing fruit? It is that you do not abide in the Lord. What does it mean to not abide in the Lord? Old John was a church builder. 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John are all about building the church. Who are the people who leave the church? People who do not abide in the Lord. That is to say, to abide in the Lord, you must abide in the church.

Brothers and sisters, don't think that your self-cultivation has great effect. There is a set of self-cultivation logic in this world, such as: drawing near to God. In fact, Paul did not specifically discuss this in his teachings. What Paul taught me was to build a glorious church, that is, you must always be in the church. The church is the body of the Lord Jesus. If we don't often prune and trim, and then tolerate wolves in sheep's clothing rampant in the church, and pastors don't fulfill their responsibilities, and build a church by means of compromise, then it is impossible to build a church, and the entire church has deteriorated.

Don't think that just hanging up a church sign makes it a church. We must be discerning. The church is not a building. The church is a team composed of a group of disciples who love the Lord. We don't have a church building. Everyone has a computer, and then we love each other in a QQ group. Our QQ group is very anointed. I have heard such a testimony: a person was lying down, weak all over, and then he picked up his mobile phone. When it was 7:30 in the evening for our meeting, as soon as he opened the group video, the disease in his body disappeared immediately, and then he stood up and met with us. Such testimonies are too divine. A glorious church has such effects.

The reason for not bearing fruit is not abiding in the Lord. Don't think that you are a glorious church and practice alone. This practice theory includes the monasteries we have read about since we were young, building a house in the deep mountains and forests, and practicing in it. Can that become the body of the Lord Jesus? Obviously not. If you want to be a disciple of Christ Jesus, you are among the people of the world, and then in the church. You say: No, there are too many problems in the church. Why are there too many problems in the church? It is because the carnal things in each person have not been dealt with and have not been pruned clean, so there will be many problems when people are together. If you say you have many problems, then prune them.

Some of our brothers and sisters never learn the lesson of obedience. For example, this branch is connected to its cell leader, but he does not connect well. He always connects to other people's cell leaders. He does not stay in his own pastoral district, but goes to other pastoral districts. Once, one of our sisters was in one of the pastoral districts, and then she said to the district pastor of another pastoral district: Sister, you see, I have recently agreed with those who left our church. I was strange, she didn't tell her own district pastor, she told another district pastor, this is a bad habit.

You are not a branch. Today you are connected here, and tomorrow you are connected there. If you go to school and belong to this class today, and belong to that class tomorrow, and then run to Peking University and Tsinghua University, are you studying abroad? After you finish your study tour, who will give you a graduation certificate? You are not present when you should be taking attendance, and you are wandering around where you don't need to take attendance.

So remember, whichever cell you belong to, whichever pastoral district you belong to, you should stay well in that place. If you want to change a cell or change a pastoral district, it's not a problem, but if you change one, you must be well committed to that place, and connect well to the branch. You must connect well to the vine. Don't cut it off and connect it here today, and cut it off and connect it there tomorrow, otherwise you will eventually become a vagrant.

So the reason for not bearing fruit is not abiding in the Lord. We Christians cannot stop meeting together, and the Lord Jesus wants us to love one another. A few days ago, I kicked someone out because this person’s bad habits could not be changed. I ministered to her several times. She thought she wanted to keep the Sabbath. I said, How do you keep it? She said, I want to go to the local church. I said, Aren't we a church? She said: I think the local church is the church, it's a big church! After going to the big church, she doesn't know who is sitting next to her, but she comes to us to pray because the local church doesn't pray. I asked her: Can you change? She said: I can't change. If you can't change it, I'm sorry, I can't pray for you either. Who told you that you can't always be on the vine? Do you know that grafted things are cursed in the Bible? Have you read the Old Testament? Do you know that grafted fruit cannot be eaten?

If there are still some brothers and sisters in our remote group who run to church all day long, one person runs to four churches, or six churches, and attends six services a week, and no one sitting next to him in six churches knows him. At best, he participated in a concert. Our church is not a concert. If a concert becomes a church, and a church becomes a concert, the world will be in chaos.

The church is a place where disciples of Jesus Christ love one another. If you read the Book of Exodus, even eating the Passover lamb is eaten family by family, not with strangers. The current church is so big that no one knows who is who. You are surrounded by strangers in the church, worshiping God there. Who do you love when you love each other? If we recognize each other and know each other, we can love each other in our pastoral district and cell.

Apart from the Lord, Man Can Do Nothing

Everyone must know that apart from the Lord, you can do nothing. That is to say, if you leave the church, you can do nothing. You say: No, I am very close to the Lord. I draw near to the Lord all day long. As long as I draw near to God, God will draw near to me. These words sound good, but after you draw near to God, do you bear fruit? If you don't bear fruit, you will be cut off, because the Lord Jesus sent you to bear much fruit. Bearing much fruit is God's Mingding Destiny for us.

If you don't bear fruit, and then if a person does not abide in me, that is, the branch is withered outside, and people pick it up and throw it into the fire to burn it (see John 15:6). Everyone must know that you have no choice, you must bear fruit. It is explained very clearly in the Book of Hebrews that if this place is watered and fertilized, and it still grows thorns and weeds, the end is cursing. Don't think that there is no cursing in the New Testament. Cursing and blessing are from Genesis to Revelation until the Lord Jesus comes again. It is an eternal theme that has never changed.

It Is a Problem If People Do Not See Results in Their Prayers

If a person abides in the Lord, he will have a characteristic:

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. (John 15:7)

This is very well said. What does this mean? Brothers and sisters, it is a problem if people do not see results in their prayers today. Don't think that I have great faith, and even if I don't see results in my prayers, I still have the fruit of the Holy Spirit. It is a problem if you don't see results in your prayers. As an engineer myself, I am very clear that if the result of the computer system is wrong and cannot run, I will not stop there. But to what extent do many Christians believe in the Lord? No matter how you pray, it is useless. It's okay not to pray, but the disease gets worse when you pray, and many strange states appear, and then it ends like this. This thing does not conform to the Bible. If this is the situation, it should not be on the vine.

We must begin to learn one thing: if there is no result in prayer, we must begin to adjust your belief system. It is not normal if there is no result in prayer. Like Paul, his prayers always have results. Even when he was arrested and on the ship to Rome, the ship broke down, he landed on the shore, and the island owner's father had a fever, he prayed and he was healed. It is written very clearly here that whatever you wish, it will be done for you.

It is not that whatever the Lord wishes will be done for you, because it was said earlier that if you abide in me, and my words abide in you, whatever you wish will be done for you. You bear much fruit, and my Father is glorified. Every time brothers and sisters share testimonies and prayers are answered, it is a matter of glory for our Father in heaven and our God. So it is right to have effective prayer.

Abide in Love, Bear the Fruit of Love

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. (John 15:10)

You will find that the Lord Jesus speaks of three things: First, there remain faith, hope, and love. It's not that you can do without love; you cannot. You cannot do without hope, either, nor without faith. It means the fruit you bear must have love. So a person who has love within is one in whom God abides, and who abides in God.

Why am I pushing brothers and sisters to embark on the path of service today? The reason is very simple: it is to let you have a heart of serving one another and loving one another. This is the command the Lord Jesus gave us. These words were spoken by the Lord Jesus before He was crucified, and they are very important. You either become a disciple of the Lord Jesus, with love inside, or you become a disciple of the world, without love inside. Those who have love inside will serve at a cost, because they love their brothers and sisters.

Today, I want to share something with everyone: If you have a child and he has a problem, would you put aside your own affairs to take care of this child? You certainly would. Then why not serve your brothers and sisters in this way? If everyone serves their brothers and sisters in this way, I ask you, would your brothers and sisters have many problems? Certainly not. So today, we really need to change our mode of service. So every time I finish serving brothers and sisters, including those who leave and are unwilling to pay the price.

I often say: Sister, how I serve you today, so you must serve others in the future. This is my requirement. You can choose to do it, or you can choose not to do it; you can choose to bear fruit, or you can choose not to bear fruit. If you do not bear fruit, God will cut it off. So brothers and sisters, can we start to do according to God's word, and start to have love for our brothers and sisters in our hearts? Without love, even if you perform miracles, God does not know you.

There will be Joy Inside

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (John 15:11)

There must be joy inside. What's the point of being a Christian without joy? I met a pastor who once told me: Our cell group leaders can only serve for a maximum of ten years. I asked him: Why a maximum of only ten years? He said: Think about it, if a person has no rest and runs like this for ten years, he will burn out. What do you think you are doing? If you have no joy inside, the way you serve the Lord is miserable, your face looks like a bitter gourd, as if many people owe you money. What are you doing?

In other words, believing in the Lord will surely bear the fruit of joy. Joy is good medicine for the whole body. No one can take away the joy within us, because the Lord Jesus has put His joy in our hearts. Serve happily. If you have love inside, you will serve happily. The more you serve, the more joyful you become, and the more joyful you become, the healthier you become. This is simply living like an immortal. Being a disciple is like being an immortal, living the life of an immortal.

Our Lord Jesus was about to be crucified, so He said He would put His joy in our hearts. Many people do not understand that the Lord Jesus happily ran on this road to the cross, because He knew that He would rise from the dead after three days. Therefore, brothers and sisters, you must know that love and joy are closely related.

When my younger brother's child was young, he would have bowel movements at home in the winter. My younger brother and his wife did not think it was smelly. Later, when I had my son, I was so happy washing and cleaning up my son's bowel movements. But when my son did not have a bowel movement, I was not happy. This is so interesting. With love, wiping his bottom for his son is a joyful thing; it's very interesting.

I think this love can change all the feelings inside a person. You know why I serve the brothers and sisters of our church with such joy? Because what I have inside is the love that comes from God. So sometimes I say something presumptuous: Brothers and sisters, you must imitate me. Although I say this, I don't think I'm going too far. I really serve according to God's word.

Look at those who serve with a bitter face, looking very smelly and working very hard; they must lack love inside. If they do not bear the fruit of love inside, they will get hydrocephalus, heart disease, or some kind of cancer. Love brings joy, and love brings healing to physical diseases. What is love? Love is giving. The Lord Jesus loved me and gave Himself for me, so He died on the cross, dying willingly.

If you have no love inside, you have bitterness inside. If you have bitterness inside, you will get serious illnesses. If you get serious illnesses, it proves one thing: you are very stingy. Which path do you say is right? The path of giving your life and no longer being a stingy person is the right one. When I prayed a few days ago, I attacked the spirit of stinginess. If you are very stingy in your heart, you have to be generous. If there is no love, be a loving person. If you have no joy, joy comes when you have love. Then many diseases disappear, saving a lot of medical expenses. Take away all your time in hospital beds, and start serving with love now.

Bearing the Fruit of the Holy Spirit, You Will Receive God's Revelation

If a person is like this, he will have the revelation of the Holy Spirit, and the revelation of the Holy Spirit is also a fruit.

You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know his master's business; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. (John 15:14-15)

Today, brothers and sisters, if a person often bears the fruit of the Holy Spirit, he will often receive revelation from the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit will often guide him into God's grace, and he will become God's friend and God's child. So today, we really need to know one thing: whether a person has the revelation of the Holy Spirit or not determines whether he is a servant or a friend of God. I want to be a friend of God and a child of God.

But some people are at most a maid or a manservant in God's eyes. God will not give him revelation either. In fact, God never chose us to be servants, because there are no maids or manservants in the kingdom of God. Everyone in the kingdom of God is a child. But the path to being a child is to listen to God's word and do it, and God will surely reveal Himself to you. In other words, obeying God's word will surely bear fruit, and this fruit is called the revelation of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit will surely guide you.

Now Abide Faith, Hope, Love

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide. (John 15:16) Now abide faith, hope, and love, so when you bear the fruit of faith, your prayer is answered. Now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. If you bear these fruits that abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another. Do you see that? It is still the fruit of love. If you serve with love, your prayers are often answered. These things I command you, that you love one another.

If every time you go to a large church, you don't know who is sitting next to you, you're not in a cell group or a pastoral district, no one knows you, and you see only unfamiliar names, and then you say: Brother, sister, I love you very much. How fake. So this is the command of the Lord Jesus, again and again, to bear the fruit of love, to love one another.

When we do this, you will bear another fruit, and that is that the world will hate you, hate you for no reason. In fact, I myself often experience such things. You say, what did I do to offend them? They hate me for no reason. I think that before these people hate us, they already hated Jesus, that is to say, we do not belong to this world, we already belong to Jesus. When we bear these fruits of the Holy Spirit, it will eventually lead to one result: this world will hate you for no reason. In fact, the spirit of the dragon has long hated me to death.

In the past few months, during the process of everyone's spirit of the dragon being released, they all gnashed their teeth at me, hating me to death, hating me to the extreme. I also think it's quite interesting that this demon hates me for no reason. Then I tell you what the Lord Jesus said to these people:

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: 'They hated me without reason.' (John 15:22-25)

So today, brothers and sisters, once we put God's word into practice, our prayers will have powerful effects, thoroughly striking the power of demons and Satan. The demons of this world, these dark forces, will surely hate you to death. If you cannot cause any damage to them, they do not need to hate you. Because although those people bear the name of Christians, they belong to the world. If we do not belong to this world today, and do not follow the logic of this world, but follow the logic of God and bear those fruits of the Holy Spirit, some people will hate you for no reason.

Don't be surprised or strange, because that is how this world hates the Lord Jesus, because you have begun to thoroughly shake the devil's kingdom. If you can shake the devil's kingdom, how can the devil not hate you?

But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning. (John 15:26)

Earlier, it said that they hate us for no reason. As a result, God sent the Holy Spirit to bear witness for God. Do you not think that the words of the Lord Jesus are a bit circuitous? Actually, it is not very circuitous. When we are in this state, it proves one thing: God wants to bear witness through us, and the Holy Spirit will manifest His power and glory through us, and then bear witness for God. And that is what it looks like to be with God. What does it mean to be with God? The Holy Spirit must often be in us constantly, manifesting the glory of God on us. Moreover, this glory is not a hidden glory, but a manifested glory, that is, many testimonies.

The reason why there are so many testimonies today is because the Holy Spirit is working mightily in our midst. I think the words of the Lord Jesus are powerful. So today, brothers and sisters, can we restore a faith that bears fruit in the Lord Jesus Christ?

Conclusion

It is not acceptable not to bear fruit, it is not acceptable not to have testimonies, it is not acceptable not to have the effect of serving, it is not acceptable not to have a heart that loves brothers and sisters. If the Holy Spirit is in you, God will surely manifest His power and glory, so that you can see with your own eyes and experience His wonderful deeds firsthand. In the days to come, we brothers and sisters must begin to uncompromisingly implement God's word and bear the fruit that God wants us to bear.

Hello.

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