{"id":14532,"date":"2026-02-20T21:09:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T02:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ovcf.org\/ovcf_wp\/?p=14532"},"modified":"2026-02-20T21:10:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T02:10:29","slug":"seven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ovcf.org\/ovcf_wp\/2026\/02\/seven\/","title":{"rendered":"SEVEN"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><strong>2026 THEME: Still the ONE!<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><strong>Title: SEVEN<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><strong>Scripture: John 15:1-11<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>February 22, 2026<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\">Invited to Abide<\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">John MacArthur &#8211; \u201cJust as a branch depends entirely on the vine for life, sustenance, growth and fruit,so<br \/>\nbelievers depend completely on the divine Lord [Jesus] as the source of their spiritual life and effect.<br \/>\nAnd just as a branch cannot bear fruit unless it is connected to the vine,<br \/>\nso believers cannot bear fruit apart from their life-giving union with Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\">THREE SYMBOLS of Jesus\u2019s Metaphor:<\/h4>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Jesus is the (<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>VINE<\/strong><\/span>) [v.5 and v.1]<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">The Father is the (<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>VINE DRESSER<\/strong><\/span>) [v.1-2]<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Disciples of Jesus are the (<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>BRANCHES<\/strong><\/span>) [v.4-11]<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">What is the responsibility of the branch? The command here is not to (<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>produce fruit<\/strong><\/span>)!<br \/>\nThe command here is (<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>ABIDE<\/strong><\/span>).<\/p>\n<h4>What kind of fruit grows on the abiding branches?<\/h4>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">1. The (<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>fruit of the Spirit<\/strong><\/span>) [Galatians 5]<br \/>\n2. (<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Praise<\/strong><\/span>) offered to God [Hebrews 13:15 ESV]<br \/>\n3. (<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Sacrificial love<\/strong><\/span>) that meets the (<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>needs of others<\/strong><\/span>) [Romans 15:28]<br \/>\n4. (<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Holy, righteous and God-honoring<\/strong><\/span>) living [Matt 3:8, Eph 5:9, Col 1:10]<br \/>\n5. New (<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>converts<\/strong><\/span>) who come to Jesus [John 4:35-41]<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>All fruit-bearing comes from abiding. The vine is the source. NO Abide = NO Fruit.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2026 THEME: Still the ONE! Title: SEVEN Scripture: John 15:1-11 February 22, 2026 Invited to Abide John MacArthur &#8211; \u201cJust as a branch depends entirely on the vine for life, sustenance, growth and fruit,so believers depend completely on the divine Lord [Jesus] as the source of their spiritual life and effect. And just as a &hellip; <\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link btn\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ovcf.org\/ovcf_wp\/2026\/02\/seven\/\">Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon-notes","nodate","item-wrap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ovcf.org\/ovcf_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ovcf.org\/ovcf_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ovcf.org\/ovcf_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ovcf.org\/ovcf_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ovcf.org\/ovcf_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14532"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ovcf.org\/ovcf_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14536,"href":"https:\/\/www.ovcf.org\/ovcf_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14532\/revisions\/14536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ovcf.org\/ovcf_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ovcf.org\/ovcf_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ovcf.org\/ovcf_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}