KEY SCRIPTURE: John 15:16 KJV” Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.”

We continue with our discussion on John 15:16. We have looked at the facts that we have been chosen and ordained. We have also looked at the call to bear fruit from other verses of this chapter. We now consider the Lord’s instruction to make the fruits we bear remain. Talking about fruits remaining means, the fruit we bear must abide, or they must not be lost. Indeed, we can lose the fruits we bear.

The Lord said in Joh 17:12 KJV “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled”. The Lord said He did not lose any of the men that the Father gave Him, except Judas who was a son of perdition. The Lord kept the fruit He had.  The sad truth is that many Christians never have the mind to raise souls unto God.

How did the Lord and the apostles keep the fruit they made?

The first act of preserving souls is love for the souls. Love is the bases for that inner drive to see these souls remaining. Love is what moves a man to make every sacrifice to help the new brethren stay in Christ. 2 Corinth 5:14.

The next act that needs to be employed to preserve souls is prayer. Souls are snatched from hell and these evil beings never give up on one of them. It takes spiritual power to preserve them. It takes a travailing, prevailing prayer to preserve these souls from being snatched by the devil. Gal 4:19 ” My little children whom I travail in birth  again till Christ is formed in you.”

The next act is association and teaching. This is what is called fellowshipping. At this level we do not wait for these brethren to come to us, we must go after them and teach them till they have matured to the point where they can easily stand on their own. Going after them also involves showing them the true life of the word of God by your own life.

THOUGHT: PRESERVING FRUITS REQUIRES YOUR WHOLE ATTENTION

FURTHER STUDIES

John 17:19 KJV” And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.”

John 17:15 KJV “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.”