Jesus wanted to remove any misunderstanding about what He meant in John 15:4. He said that no branch can even live, let alone produce leaves and fruit, by itself. Cut off from the trunk, a branch is dead. Just as a vine’s branches rely on being connected to the trunk from which they receive
If we want to be the kind of high-impact salt and light Christians that Jesus said that we are to be, we’re going to have to first take some preliminary steps of self-examination and then be willing to make any needed character adjustments. We must start by making certain that the way we’re
God first compared the Israelites to sheep and later applied that label to all who are called by His name – the church. God’s people are compared to sheep for several reasons. First of all, sheep are one of the few animals that do not have a defense system. Sheep are helpless without a shepherd