A message for Akron Alliance Fellowship Church, Akron OH, Sunday, September 15, 2024.
For the “Live in Church” audio of this message, click here.
When I was in the market for an automobile three years ago, I wanted to find a capable replacement for my 2012 Ford Fusion. I appreciated the longevity of my car in that I had reached a laudatory 284,000 miles. But a couple of big repair bills indicated it was time for a newer car. I paid a visit to Steve Richards, our family car guy, for a newer sedan. He happened to have on his lot a 2018 Ford Fusion Energi, which is a plug-in hybrid. I had very little foreknowledge of a hybrid let alone a plug-in hybrid, but he shared with me that I should strongly consider this vehicle because gasoline prices were going up very soon (and they did!). The hybrid engine is powered with a combination of gasoline and electric power through an on-board battery system. The plug-in component provides additional battery power before the hybrid engine kicks in. I’ve driven the car now for three years and I average a little over 75 miles per gallon. It was well worth the fuel change from an all gasoline vehicle to a plug-in hybrid. I can plug-in my car at home and also at work while I’m there. It’s very convenient and it saves me a bundle in fuel costs.
In making such a large purchase, prayer must be a prerequisite before signing on the dotted line. In fact, it needs to be saturated in prayer. And not just for a few minutes when you happen to spot that red Mazda Miata sports car on the lot!
For a person who has faith and trust in Jesus, prayer is a necessity.
Colossians 4:2 NIV
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
Jeremiah 33:3 ESV
Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
Let’s remember that we are to always be in prayer and to pray for the large things that concern us along with the smaller ones. Prayer is our ongoing conversation with God about anything and everything. It’s not about bothering God with things that you deem to be trivial. So often, we may find ourselves thinking as if God operates within our own human capabilities. That is inconsistent with the love that God has for us. He is completely engaged with us and involved with all of our thoughts and needs. We are not to underestimate what God can do.
And this is so important to emphasize—if you remain patient in the process of making a large purchase, God can and will exceed your own expectations. You’ll receive comfort and affirmation with your decision.
Philippians 4:6-7 NLT
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
1 John 5:14-15 NLT
14 And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. 15 And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.
Ephesians 3:20-21 NIV
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Our prayers have a “fuel-like” quality that God readily acknowledges. They are like the kindling that you would use to keep a fire going. We are exercising our faith and trust in Jesus Christ with a fervent, fuel-driven prayer life.
Philippians 4:12-13 NIV
12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
So, in this message, we’re talking about living by faith (and not by appearances), but in addition to this, we must go even deeper in our reliance on Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit. In the same manner that a car needs fuel—whether it is gas or electric power—you need to rely on the fuel that moves you with power and grace as a servant for Jesus.
Our fuel to live as a servant of Jesus comes from our relationship with Him through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit:
Ezekiel 36:26-27 NIV
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
Ezekiel’s prophetic message about the indwelling Spirit reflects the definitive changes that a believer in Jesus will experience.
Acts 2:38 ESV
And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19-20 NIV
16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?
19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
Romans 8:9-11 NIV
9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
The Spirit gives life based upon our faith in Jesus as Lord. We are part of His new creation! Without Jesus and His atonement, we are already dead in our trespasses. A vehicle without fuel, whether it is worth $2,000 or $200,000, will not go anywhere. The presence of the Holy Spirit provides the fuel of life to our otherwise dead bodies. We have life because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. He is our fuel for life!
Let’s expand on this further by exploring a couple of sections in Scripture that provide a vivid description of what it means to have connectivity to Jesus, and what it means to not have any connectivity whatsoever. We’re going to give fuel to our narrative (pun intended)that when we see how God operates, there are deliberate uses of terms that indicate how he values His chosen people and how He cherishes the closeness of those who believe in Him.
Jesus refers to himself as the true vine:
John 15:1-2 NIV
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.
Whenever we see Jesus provide communication that lends to visualization, He often pulled from Old Testament references that his audience could relate to. Everyone could relate to the reference of the vine, as in a vine of grapes, and the gardener. The NIV uses the word “gardener” to describe the role that God has while Jesus is the true vine. What does the true vine do? He provides the fuel—the flow of the necessary water and nutrients to the branches that bear fruit. What is this fruit? It is the evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit in those who believe in Jesus:
Galatians 5:22-25 NLT
22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 25Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.
In order for each of us to produce fruit in our lives, we have to have the living water, the bread of life—the fuel from the presence of the Spirit. And look at the fruit! Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The evidence of these things before others in the world reflects the light of Jesus before others. If you are emitting the fruits of the Spirit, you will most certainly be able to develop relationships with others, share the gospel of Jesus and make disciples. We need to always consider the source of our fuel. Look at what else Jesus says about your ability without His presence:
John 15:3-4 NIV
3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, as I also 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.
The thing that we need to see here is how important it is to be connected to the source of our fuel. Jesus is our nourishment, our encouragement, our inspiration, and our Counselor (Isaiah 9:6). If we look at the function of a vine, there has to be pruning that takes place to bring forth more fruit (John 15:2). God loves us within His pruning process to ensure that we can receive more fuel—more nutrients from the Spirit to grow as we learn to produce more fruit. This is the product of our maturity in Jesus through sanctification by the Holy Spirit. Do you see how the Trinity provides the fuel that we need to sustain life and grow in His presence? It is very similar to how the gospel of Jesus goes forth within a principle for a successful gardener:
1 Corinthians 3:6-9 NIV
6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. 7 It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. 9 For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building.
God provides the fuel to make everything run, and for our sake, to also grow. He does it all for us.
But what happens when there is no fuel to move things along? It can be as simple as relying upon your own strength and energy. The description of the vine and branches takes on an entirely different meaning.
When Jesus was referring to the metaphor of the vine and branches, he was referring to the early relationship that God had with the people of Israel:
Psalm 80:8-11 NLT
8 You brought us from Egypt like a grapevine;
you drove away the pagan nations and transplanted us into your land.
9 You cleared the ground for us,
and we took root and filled the land.
10 Our shade covered the mountains;
our branches covered the mighty cedars.
11 We spread our branches west to the Mediterranean Sea;
our shoots spread east to the Euphrates River.
The reference to Egypt has to do with when the Israelites were rescued from Egypt after 400 years in slavery, and from their rescue and settling in Canaan, the people flourished.1
But it was a tough road getting there. It was difficult because of the lack of faith and unbelief by many of the Israelites on the journey. They vexed Moses to no end and complained at every opportunity. It was so bad for them that many of them perished in the wilderness before they even reached Canaan—a generation of unbelievers. This is where we need to look at how the Israelites, who were these branches that extended from the grapevine of God as they were transplanted and cultivated, eventually became useless before God because of their unbelief and poor testimony.
Isaiah 5:7 NLT
The nation of Israel is the vineyard of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. The people of Judah are his pleasant garden. He expected a crop of justice, but instead he found oppression. He expected to find righteousness, but instead he heard cries of violence.
What happens when you are no longer providing good fruit?
Ezekiel 15:1-8 NLT
1 Then this message came to me from the Lord: 2 “Son of man, how does a grapevine compare to a tree? Is a vine’s wood as useful as the wood of a tree? 3 Can its wood be used for making things, like pegs to hang up pots and pans? 4 No, it can only be used for fuel, and even as fuel, it burns too quickly. 5 Vines are useless both before and after being put into the fire!
6 “And this is what the Sovereign Lord says: The people of Jerusalem are like grapevines growing among the trees of the forest. Since they are useless, I have thrown them on the fire to be burned. 7 And I will see to it that if they escape from one fire, they will fall into another. When I turn against them, you will know that I am the Lord. 8 And I will make the land desolate because my people have been unfaithful to me. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”
The branches of the vine that produce no fruit are worthless. They are only good for being burned. Jesus said the same thing about them. Let’s go back to John 15:
John 15:5-8 NIV
5 “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. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are 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 done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
In order to remain useful as a branch for Jesus, He invites each of us to remain connected to Him in order to bear much fruit. This is making the assumption that you are a believer in Jesus. But what about those who do not remain in Jesus? Here’s what we need to consider. Jesus states in verse 6 that if one does not remain in Him, you will not receive any fuel or nutrients; as a result, you will dry up and be worthless for Him in the kingdom.
A relationship with Jesus requires more than just saying you know Him. Remaining in Jesus requires effort. It requires believing that He is who He says He is. It involves reading and studying His Word as we learn more about Him. He informs us that as long as we remain in fellowship with Him AND live in obedience according to His Word, He will answer our prayers as they will be in accordance to His will. He promises that our fruit of the Spirit will be evident before others and glorify God!
In the same manner that we add water and sunshine for plants to grow, we require the fuel that comes from our relationship with Jesus to grow and prosper. If plants have poor roots and rotten stems, it doesn’t matter how much sun and water they receive. They won’t grow. As believers, we must remain receptive to the presence of Jesus, pray about everything and follow His guidance for your life. We are to be the ones who receive His godly wisdom and follows it. Amen.
We need to do whatever we can to stay connected to Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit.
He is our fuel for life.
Copyright © 2024 Melvin Gaines
1 Carter, P., & Paul is the happy husband of Shauna Lee and the proud papa of 5 beautiful children. (2019, September 29). I am the true vine (old testament backstory). The Gospel Coalition | Canada. https://ca.thegospelcoalition.org/columns/ad-fontes/true-vine-old-testament-backstory/
Melvin Gaines 