John 10:10
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
The only way into eternal life is through faith in Christ as personal savior.
Once you are saved – do not stop there! Having eternal life is the most important, but there is so much more. Christ said that He came that we might have life more abundantly. ALL believers have life, but not all believers have abundant life.
In order to have abundant life, we need abundant resources. The only unlimited resource is the Person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.
In order to possess this abundant life – we MUST abide IN HIM!
John 15:1-5
15 I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 Now ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you.
4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me.
5 I am the Vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.
This kind of vibrant, abundant living is not for just a select few, it is what God wants for ALL believers. It is a deep spiritual life, and without it, the Christian life is meaningless.
If you do not have abundant life within you – you will soon yield to carnality. The fleshly life around you will overcome your puny resistance, and and you will be surrounded.
1 Corinthians 3:1-4
3 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
The carnal Christian life is circumstance controlled – the abundant life is Holy Spirit- controlled. The carnal Christian life leads to one defeat after another – the abundant life leads to victory in Christ.
Man seems to know everything about life except how to live it abundantly.
Please continue on with this series, and determine that from now on – not to be satisfied with anything less than God’s best – life abundantly.
The Vine Vigil 