Your Great Appointment

Your Great Appointment 

 by David Brenneman 

"You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.  This I command you, that you love one another." John 15:16-17.

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.  Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.  If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.  These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.  This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.  You are My friends if you do what I command you.  No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.  You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.  This I command you, that you love one another.  If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.  Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.  But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.  If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.  He who hates Me hates My Father also.  If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.  But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’   “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning." John 15:1-27.

"for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable." Romans 11:29.

"Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this manner let him walk. And so I direct in all the churches." 1 Corinthians 7:17.

"There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism," Ephesians 4:4-5.

In our world ignorance is growing at an exponential rate both concerning the things of God as well as things in living a daily life.  

Many so-called churches gather people and get them to feel better but aren't equipping them to live as disciples of Jesus Christ. 

While the rest of the chapter is included for context, the opening passage says it all and well.

We have a divine appointment from Jesus to be doers of the Word of God, a particular job to be engaged in for the Kingdom of God until either the Rapture of the Church happens or God calls us home. 

"For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body." 1 Corinthians 6:20.

Need anything more be said?

What all do you engage in to grow in Christ?  Are you only eating Spiritual nourishment only on Sunday?  Are you only talking to Jesus when others are praying and say nothing from your own heart?  

Are you doing anything with regards to living out your salvation in Christ?  

Most have jobs to do to provide for themselves and their families.  After this is the time we have until its time to sleep and rest.  What are you doing with this gift from God?  Yes, it's a gift.  You very well could be caught up in any number of things and probably are not.  Do you use any of it to stop and read your Bible?  Do you use any of it to talk to Jesus about whatever is on your heart and mind?  

When was the last time you had a truly meaningful conversation with Jesus?  

He says He has appointed you to go and bear much fruit.  Have you?  Not all fruit will be seen in this life.  We may only know of some of it or none of it while we yet live. 

We often pray the Lord's prayer but for those who do, have you thought about it?  Give is this day our daily bread.  Jesus spoke to His disciples after the found Him speaking to the Samaritan woman and said that He. had food to eat that they did not know of.  His food was to do the will of His Father. 

Do the will.

We know from the letter to the Thessalonians that the will of God for us is our sanctification.  To become more like Christ in our conduct and character.  

This means homework.  This isn't going to happen by way of time through chance.  This is going to come by way of our personal interactions with Jesus through His Spirit.  We aren't here, after getting saved, to go do our own thing.  

We aren't here to pursue, with God's blessing, a life of personal gain in all areas that the world calls signs of great success.  

We are to grow in respect to our salvation in Christ Jesus.  

We are to be lights in this world for Jesus.  

We are to be about the Father’s business as Jesus was about the Father’s business.  

We are to be workers in His fields as He was a worker in His fields.  

We are to have a life that cultivates a healthy relationship with Jesus.  

This world is fully opposed to that ever happening. 

This world is yet still under the thumb of Satan.  This world wants you to love what it has to offer in such a way that you forget about your obligations to live out your life in Christ in such a way that people see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven. 

There's a really significant reason that there's a passage that reads: love not the world nor the things in the world. 

Traps are everywhere. 

These aren't evident to the point of being recognized as such. 

These are chains of the mind that are only broken by a true devotion to our relationship with Jesus. 

Satan's schemes are meant to disrupt your relationship with Jesus.  

We are to pray for discernment.  We are to pray for eyes that see.  We are to pray for His will to be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.  

Satan's schemes will burn up that time between the end of the physical work you do and the time you must go to bed if you let him.

You will be distracted by anything and everything. 

Anything and everything to try to keep you from your divine appointment. 

Identifying what amounts to wasted time isn't easy nor at first enjoyable.  Next comes acting on what you have identified. 

Jesus said that if anyone desires to follow Him they are to take up their own cross and follow Him. 

Are you doing this or have you allowed so much to occupy your hands and arms that there's no room for the cross you should be carrying?

Are you?

My Dear Reader you are going to stand by yourself before Jesus one day to give an account of your divine appointment that we read about first thing today.  What will yours show of how seriously you took your appointment?  

We will use excuses but will they fare any better than the man who buried the talents he was given and the excuses given were actually factual of his Master that testified against him?

Praying isn't for other people to do.

Prayer is for you to build your relationship with Jesus. 

Prayer is for you to know your appointment and to be empowered to fulfill it.

Reading your Bible is for you to be doing to grow in Christ.  

Too many people claiming to be Christians are in reality anorexic Christians because they aren't eating!

You are not going to be Spiritually strong enough for life if you aren't in the Word of God daily.  

You aren't going to be able to fulfill your calling in Christ if you aren't developing your relationship with Jesus. 

Take a hard look at what you say is important to you and weigh that against your relationship with Jesus.  Many many people need to clean house and get back to Jesus in a fresh new and right way...does this include you?

All NASB 1995 and NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission. (C) Lockman Foundation.