THE service at Crediton Methodist Church on Sunday, October 16 was led by the Church Fellowship Team when the theme was “Fruitful Connections”.

There was a dramatised reading of John 15 “I am the vine, you are the branches, if you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit”.

Hilary said before she moved to Devon she used to visit Hampton Court Palace where there is a grape vine planted by Capability Brown in 1768. It is the largest vine in the world.

There are seven “I am” declarations in this chapter of John and “I am the vine” is the last one - Jesus saying this on the night before His death.

It was obviously of great importance and close to His heart. He was saying that He would not desert the disciples but that the Holy Spirit would continue to feed and nourish them – just as the roots of the vine do.

Why did Jesus say “I am the vine”? Vineyards were familiar in Israel at the time. God had promised that the true vine would come and Jesus was saying that He was God’s son.

Jesus said to abide in Him. He wanted the disciples to know that they should stay connected to Him and should bear fruit.

Abiding in Christ is not just one of the things we are asked to do as Christians. It is THE main thing that we have to do.

To abide in Christ we are encouraged to get together in church and discipleship groups, to read the Bible regularly and to pray.

Prayer is an informal conversation with God and we can pray whenever and wherever we are at any time.

In a reading from Galatians 5 we heard of the fruits of the spirit – generosity, patience, love, joy, faithfulness, kindness, gentleness, peace and self-control.

Pam said sometimes we get the gifts of the Spirit confused with the fruits of the Spirit.

The gifts are wisdom, understanding, administration and can vary in each of us in whatever ways we serve God.

The fruits of the Spirit do not vary from person to person – they are common to all who follow Jesus as Lord and Saviour. They are the product of a life of faith.

As we walk with Jesus the fruits of the Spirit will be evident if Christ is the centre of our lives. We will be living life in obedience to Jesus who is full of these gifts himself.

If we are connected to Christ and living fruitful lives that will be everything, and people will see how we are living.

Bronwyn Nott