Author: pastortravislv

I am a husband, and father of three, serving as pastor at Providence Reformed Church in Las Vegas, NV. We came here on July 1, 2015.

An Important Resolution

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On Tuesday, October 23, the Olney Baptist Association passed the following resolution as part of its annual meeting:

Concerning integrity in church membership

Whereas the Baptist Faith and Message states that the Scriptures are “the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried” (Article 1); and

whereas life in a local church should be characterized by loving discipline as the Bible teaches in passages like Matthew 18:15-18, 1 Corinthians 5 and Titus 3:10-11; and

whereas the ideal of a regenerate church membership has long been and remains a cherished Baptist principle as described in Article VI of the Baptist Faith and Message; now, therefore, be it

resolved that the messengers of the Olney Baptist Association urge the churches of our association to repent of our failure to maintain responsible church membership, and be it further

resolved that we urge the churches of the Olney Baptist Association to repent of the widespread failure among us to obey Jesus Christ in the practice of lovingly correcting wayward church members (Matthew 18:15-18), and be it further

resolved that we plead with pastors and church leaders to lead their churches to study and implement our Lord’s teachings on this essential church practice, and be it further

resolved that we encourage associational servants to support and encourage churches that seek to recover and implement our Savior’s teachings on church discipline, especially when such efforts result in the reduction in the number of members that are reported in those churches, and be it finally

resolved that we commit to pray for our churches as they seek to honor the Lord Jesus Christ through reestablishing integrity to church membership and to the reporting of statistics in the Annual Church Profile.

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While the language, to some, might seem a bit lofty, it is doubtful that the Olney Baptist Association could have passed a more important resolution during our annual meeting. By passing this resolution, the messengers of the OBA unanimously declared that it is inappropriate for our churches to continue with our present practice of membership. We agreed together that we must do something about the outrageous discrepancy between official church membership and actual church participation.

What does all this mean? First and foremost, it means that our churches have been urged by their association meeting in annual session to repent of our failure to rightly handle our churches’ membership. We are to make it a priority to seek out those who are officially our church members, but who, for whatever reason, are no longer actively participating in our churches. We are to follow the clear biblical understanding that only believers be allowed to be considered members of a local church. We are to call those who are living in sin by refusing to participate in the life of any local church to repentance. We are to urge our churches and their leaders to be honest and accurate in reporting statistics to our state and national agencies. We are to take responsibility for those who have placed themselves under the care of the local church, even if that responsibility means that we involve them in loving church discipline as commanded by the scriptures.

If you understand what all this means, you will recognize that the above resolution has the potential to have a major impact on the OBA as well as all those associated with us. If our churches will follow this resolution, some of them may have their membership statistics drastically decreased. However, if we will follow this resolution faithfully, we will also have churches which are more honest to the association, to the church itself, and to the community around them. We will more faithfully honor Christ by seeking out the sheep who have strayed. I think it is doubtless that we will find our churches blessed by God as we seek to faithfully care for all of our church members.

An Acknowledgement of Justice (Revelation 16:5-7)

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Revelation 16:5-7 -And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, “Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!” And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments!”
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This text, found in the middle of the bowl judgments in the book of Revelation, reminds us of a very significant point. Regardless of how harsh the judgment, in eternity, all who witness the judgments of God will declare those judgments to be just and right. In our lives, we experience many things that are very difficult to comprehend. We struggle to know why it is that God would allow certain things to happen. We may, if we allow our sinful minds to wander, actually wonder if God is doing the right thing. But, when all is said and done, none of us will question the will and the works of God when we are in his presence for eternity.

Before putting this thought away, think of the significance of it. There are things that we will discover in eternity that, if we understood them now, might seem hard to take. But in eternity, there will be no question. If we find, in eternity, that someone was not truly saved that we believed to be saved, we will not accuse God of being unfair or unjust. We will declare what we see the altar declare in verse 7 above, that God’s ways are just. If we find that a truly evil person on earth was saved on their death bed, we will not complain. Instead, we will declare that God’s mercy is great and wonderful to behold.

It will do us good to acknowledge here on earth that we know that in eternity, all of God’s works and all of God’s ways are perfect. Even if we do not understand how God does things or why he does them the way that he does, we will never question his perfection or his justice. And if it is true that we will not question those things in eternity, maybe we can better learn to trust him now.

Still My Brother (1 John 4:2-3)

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1 John 4:2-3 – By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.
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These verses were good ones for me to read this morning, and are likely good for the readers of any Christian Blog. As we study, pray, and strive toward godliness in all that we do, it is often easy to find ourselves drawing battle lines in connection with theological issues. This practice is not all bad, as we must be careful to discern which doctrines are of God and which are not. However, we also need to be careful to remember that theological differences, if not primary-level issues, are not reasons to consider someone to be outside of the faith.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is not a difficult story. God is perfect in every way. He is also just, and must justly punish sin. Man is sinful. All human beings, with the exception of Jesus Christ, have sinned and earned for themselves the wrath of God for infinitely offending an infinitely holy God. None of us could ever pay the penalty for our own sins, as the penalty would never end. But Jesus Christ, God in flesh, died to pay the penalty for all who would come to him. Jesus’ death was the perfect sacrifice for our sins. All who repent of their sins and come to Jesus, in faith believing that Jesus is the Son of God and that Jesus’ death on the cross is sufficient to pay the penalty for all their sins, have their sins forgiven.

Those who believe the true, biblical gospel of Jesus Christ are brothers and sisters in Christ. These people may disagree over all sorts of issues. We may disagree over issues of free will and predestination, over the timing of Jesus’ second coming, over Purpose-Driven or 9-Marks church models, over the biblical definition of baptism; but if we agree on the gospel, we need to recognize that we are brothers and sisters in Christ. There are people who embody the spirit of antichrist. The text above tells us that those people are those who deny Jesus.

Where I am challenged this morning is to recognize that there are people out there, people with whom I strongly disagree regarding certain doctrinal issues or ministry approaches, but who are still believers in Christ. While I will never stop seeking truth in theology and right doctrine in our churches, I must be careful to remember that there is room for others to differ with me on issues that are not the gospel, and yet if we agree on the gospel, those others are still my brothers and sisters in Christ.

By no means should anyone read this and take it for a call to stop disagreeing over theological issues that are not the gospel. There are important doctrines that must be discussed and understood. There are strong, God-glorifying debates to be had. But, we must learn to have such debates with a spirit of love and humility. We must learn to remember that, if it’s not the gospel, it still may be important, it may still be worthy of a strong discussion, but those on either side who have Christ as Savior are truly brothers and sisters in Christ.

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Immediately after publishing this post, I read an article about the meeting of the Anglican Church in New Orleans that reminded me that I had better come back and clarify just a bit more. If someone in the church is clearly denying the authority of the scripture to regulate our life and doctrine, we can not have genuine Christian fellowship with them. While it is possible that such a person may have come to Christ for grace, they deny so much at the very heart of Christianity that they will eventually tolerate or even encourage sin. The Bible is clear that in such a case, we can not treat such a person as a brother or sister in Christ. So, in the case of those claiming Christ but who are ordaining homosexual ministers or performing homosexual marriages, we are divided too deeply to truly have fellowship as believers. We can not claim to love Jesus and then present a wholesale denial of his commands. If you love Jesus, you will obey his commands (John 14:15).

Shocking Grace (2 Chronicles 33:12-13)

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2 Chronicles 33:12-13 – And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.
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How Gracious is God? I do not think we can even begin to imagine.

King Manasseh was arguably the most wicked king Israel had ever known. He did everything wrong. He worshipped idols. He set up idols in the temple. He sacrificed children to false gods. He did evil and led the people of Judah into evil. And, as you would expect, God sent in an enemy force to take care of this king.

But then come verses 12 and 13, and anyone who reads this story for the first time should be amazed. Manasseh, while in distress, calls out to God, repents, and God forgives him. God forgives him! God, the Holy and Just God who can not allow evil to stand before him, forgave this evil, idol worshipping king.

There are lots of things to think about when pondering this event, but let’s think about one thing: God is absolutely, positively, unbelievably gracious. There is absolutely nothing that compares to the infinite, matchless, unfathomable grace of God. He forgave an evil king who broke every law he could think to break. Yet, when he repented and placed his faith in God, when he cried out to God for grace, God forgave him.

If God can forgive Manasseh, you can bet that there is nothing that you or I can do that God can not forgive. He can forgive anyone of anything, so long as they come to him in faith, trusting in Jesus Christ for forgiveness. Nothing in your past, your present, or your future can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. If you are in Christ, you are forgiven, as forgiven as Manasseh. This is no license to sin; but it is a wonderful reminder of the great depth and beauty of God’s grace.

And, lest you say that you are not as forgiven as Manasseh, let me remind you that all of us have sinned before God. God is infinite in his perfections. Therefore, all sin before that infinitely perfect God is an infinite offense before him. The sins of Manasseh or your own tendency toward selfishness are each worthy of an eternity in hell. Yet God has offered you grace in Christ, a grace that pays the infinite price for your sins and makes you clean enough to live with God forever. Grace truly is amazing.

3 Simple Truths (Psalm 86:5)

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Psalm 86:5 – For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
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Sometimes the simplest truths of Christianity are the absolute best for us to remember. This verse, in the middle of the Old Testament, reminds us of so very much of God’s character. He is good. He is forgiving. He abounds in steadfast, covenant-keeping love toward all who seek him.

Think, just for a moment, if any one of those things was not true of God. If God were not good, we would have no understanding of good. Were God cruel, evil, capricious, or just plain mean, we would have absolutely no hope of anything. We could not trust in his promises. We could not find meaning in our suffering. We would be in utter despair.

Were God not forgiving, we would all be lost. God is holy and perfectly so. He is pure, righteous, and he must punish our sin. Were God not forgiving, it would be for you and me to pay the penalty for our sin before God. Since we have sinned, offering infinite offense before an infinitely holy God, we would have to suffer an infinite punishment for the punishment to match our crime. Were God not forgiving, we would all suffer an eternity in hell.

If God did not abound in love toward those who call on him, we would have no hope of being forgiven. God saves those who call upon him for salvation. God loves those he saves. Thus, we have hope for our eternity, because God abounds in steadfast love toward us if we have come to know him by calling on the name of Jesus, the one name in which we can find salvation.

Think of this verse the next time that you are suffering a hardship. Let it help you to focus your mind rightly as you evaluate your circumstances. No matter what you experience or what your friends tell you, these truths are sure: God is good, God is forgiving, and God abounds in love for those who call upon him.

Truth (John 18:37)

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John 18:37 – Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
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Christians will say a lot to be thought of as tolerant; especially since the world has branded Christianity as intolerant or closed-minded. We, of course, are actually closed-minded, as we believe that there is only one way to heaven—through Jesus. But, as many Christians attempt to share the gospel with people from other religions, often they are tempted to say something to make themselves look more tolerant and open-minded. Such a statement might sound like this: “We know that there is truth in all religions.”

That statement may sound open-minded, and it is in fact open-minded, but it is not true to Christianity; and we would do well to stop using it. Look again at the words of Jesus to Pilate in the verse above. Jesus said that everyone who is on the side of truth hears his voice. Jesus is claiming exclusive ownership of truth. In John 14:6, Jesus claimed to himself be the truth. So, while there maybe correct statements of fact in other world religions, we ought never to go so far as to say that those religions have truth in them.

Let me illustrate. Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists would all generally agree that committing murder is wrong. Because of that fact, many Christians would argue that Islam and Buddhism have “truth” in them. However, we do not actually agree as to why murder is wrong. Buddhists might say that murder is wrong because of the cosmic connection between all living things (I’m guessing here, as I really don’t know). But that is most certainly not the reason why murder is wrong from a Christian understanding. A Muslim may say that murder is wrong because the Creator has declared it to be wrong. This, of course, sounds really true. However, we must recognize that Christians and Muslims have a fundamental disagreement about the identity of the Creator. Thus, while Muslims and Christians agree that the one who created us declares murder to be wrong, we are on opposite ends of the spectrum as to who that Creator is. So, while the Buddhist and the Muslim agree with the Christian that we ought not murder, we do not agree from fundamental truth. Thus, we must not say that the Buddhist and Muslim opposition to murder is “truth” in those religions.

The fact is, Jesus declared that all who grasp truth hear his voice. He claims exclusive right to the claim of truth. For us to say that other religions have truth, then, is for us to declare that other religions have Jesus. Since other religions do not have Jesus, other religions do not have truth, not real Truth with a capital T.

Christians, it is time to stop trying to win points with those with whom you are sharing the gospel by compromising the claims of Christ. Jesus claims to be the truth. Tell them that instead of trying to make them think you are an open-minded person by accepting part of their religion. Christianity is an all-or-nothing proposition. It is Jesus or nothing. So, let’s make sure that we do not say anything different. Jesus is the truth, and that is enough.

The Danger of Success (2 Chronicles 26:16)

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2 Chronicles 26:16 – But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.
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Perhaps the most dangerous time in life that any of us faces is when things are going well. We strive for and often pray for prosperity. Some Christian teachers shout from the roof tops that success is our due as children of God the King. However, it might be wise for us all to recognize that with worldly success comes the greatest of dangers. With success, comes the danger of pride.

King Uzziah started well. The Bible indicates that he was one of the kings who followed the Lord. Yet, at the end of his lifetime, he became arrogant in his success. He went into the temple to burn incense before the Lord even though doing so was forbidden to all except for the Levites. King Uzziah assumed that his success meant that he could do anything he pleased. And his pride led to his own destruction. That day, in the temple, he was struck by the Lord with leprosy. Uzziah died in disgrace because he became proud during the time of success.

Before moving on, I must also mention that this passage teaches us very clearly that God is the one who will decide how he will be worshipped. It is not for us to come up with new and creative ways to worship that are beyond the principles of scripture. God has told us what to do that will please him. We dare not assume, as did Uzziah, that we can come up with a new and better way to honor our Lord. So, let us learn to embrace the things that God has told us to do: pray, sing, read the scripture, listen and respond as the scripture is taught, participate in the ordinances, etc.

But, what about this pride issue? Uzziah became prideful during the time of success and he fell. How is life going for you? If it is going very well, be careful. Be careful not to allow your success to make you grow soft in your diligence to worship God. Do not let the success with which God has blessed you to make you think more highly of yourself than you ought. Instead, realize that with success comes the danger of self-destructive pride.

And, what about you who are not doing so well. You are facing challenge after challenge. My advice to you is to recognize that, at times, a lack of success is God’s protection against the danger of pride. It is far better to have some struggles and to work through them to the glory of God than it is to have success followed by pride followed by destruction. Sure, you will strive to succeed, but only do so to the glory of God. Seek success if that success will honor Christ. Make the glory of God your main priority, not earthly riches, fame, or comforts. You can find the glory of Christ in the midst of your darkest trials, truly succeeding no matter what your circumstances. And, as your heart is focused on the glory of God, you will be protected from the destructive pride that brought down King Uzziah.

A Look at Christians & Politics (2 Chronicles 20:31-33)

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2 Chronicles 20:31-33 – Thus Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. He walked in the way of Asa his father and did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of the Lord. The high places, however, were not taken away; the people had not yet set their hearts upon the God of their fathers.
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For the most part, King Jehoshaphat was a good king. He had his flaws, but he followed God as he had seen his father follow God. When he messed up, he repented, and he strove to lead the nation of Judah back to following the Lord. However, at the end of his life, we see that, no matter how much King Jehoshaphat enforced the rule that the people should worship only the Lord, the text tells us that the people’s hearts were not fully for God.

There is a lesson in that last line of the scriptures. No matter how good a king or government is, that king or government can never cause people to change in their hearts. It would not make more people become believers in Jesus if we had an entirely Christian government. The hearts of men are dark, deceitful, and wicked. No governmental structure, no state endorsed church, could ever do anything to make the people of a land actually follow God in their hearts.

For us here in America, we can learn from Jehoshaphat. First, we learn that our nation was pretty wisely put together. Unlike our forefathers in England, we have no established state church. Our founders understood that no government-run church could ever actually change the hearts of the people. At the same time, they designed our government so that Christians would be free to follow Christ with their whole hearts with no penalty from the government.

Second, we can realize that political reform must not be the end-all mission of the church. I am all for Christians voting. We have been granted a great responsibility to elect men and women of character who will lead our nation in ways that will honor God and promote justice. However, we must recognize that, no matter whom we elect, we will never change our nation through the political sphere. The nation can have wonderful, godly leaders, but if the hearts of the people do not change, nothing will truly change in the nation. While evil acts like abortion, gay marriage, and euthanasia (to only name a few) are things that Christians should stand and vote against, we dare not think that stopping those things will have made us a Christian or God-honoring nation. If we want our nation to change, if we want our world to change, the solution is not politics; the solution is the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Let us learn from the life an times of Jehoshaphat. Let us be committed to changing a nation by changing the hearts of people through the power of God and the gospel. Start locally. Share the gospel. Begin a true revolution by taking the love of Jesus to a lost and dying world.

The Cross is About God (John 12:27-28)

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John 12:27-28 – “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”
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An old native American proverb goes something like this: Whatever a man is most filled with is what spills over when he is bumped. The concept behind this wise saying is that whatever is most in one’s heart is what will be on display when things get difficult. Granting the notion that this concept is true, we would expect that we can learn what was of great importance to Jesus when he faced his toughest moment. And John 12:27-28 illustrates for us Jesus’ response to the horrific time that faced him.

IN John 12:27-28, we are allowed a glimpse into the prayer time of Jesus. Clearly, God wants us to see what is on Jesus’ heart as he looks toward the crucifixion. For 11 chapters, Jesus has continually said that his “hour” had not yet come. Now, the “hour” is at hand. That “hour” is the time when the Son of God would sacrifice his own life in order to pay for the sins of those whom God would redeem.

So, what was on Jesus’ heart at this crucial moment? He clearly knew that what was to come would be awful. His soul was troubled. But he would not shrink back from the coming events. Why? Because something was more on Jesus’ heart than his own personal comfort—more than even the comfort of avoiding the infinite wrath of an infinitely holy God. Jesus was willing to suffer all the horror of the cross and the wrath of God over the sins of humanity (even though Jesus committed no sin) for one purpose. And, before we get too self-centered, let me make it absolutely clear that you and I were not that purpose. God loves us, no doubt, but we are not the central reason that Jesus willingly walked to the cross. The purpose is spelled out for us in verse 28.

Jesus said that it was for “this purpose” that he would go to the cross, the very purpose he came into the world to begin with. The purpose of Jesus and the Father was that God would be glorified. Jesus told the Father, “Father, glorify your name.” Jesus Christ died, first and foremost, for the purpose of bringing glory to the name of the Father.

Now, how is it that Jesus’ death glorified the Father? Take some time on your own to read through the book of Romans, and you will find the answer to that question. In Romans 3:23-ff, we see that Jesus’ death on the cross demonstrates that God is just, even just when he forgives the sins of people like you and me. In Romans 5:8, we see that Jesus’ death demonstrates God’s glorious love. The end of Romans 11 reminds us that all things are for God’s glory, which includes all that Jesus ever did. Thus, there is no true doubt that God’s glory is the central event and the central purpose of the cross.

“Why,” one might ask, “is this good news for me?” Taking yourself out of the position of being the central purpose of the cross is a bit painful. Old gospel songs declaring things like, “When he was on the cross, I was on his mind,” lose their theological accuracy when we see that God’s glory was primary in the focus of Jesus. And, it hurts a bit to see that it was not, after all, completely about “me.” But, there is something that is wonderful for us in the fact that the glory of God was at the center of the cross, magnified for all the world to see during the most important, most earth-shattering moment in human history.

Why is it good that the glory of God is the central purpose of the cross? God created us for a purpose: to display and enjoy his glory. Nothing will ever truly make us happy, nothing will truly satisfy our deepest soul longings except for one thing—the thing for which we were created. So, when God makes the cross about his glory, he makes the cross about the only thing that will truly give us joy and satisfaction in the deepest part of our being. The cross is for God’s glory, and that actually, when we grasp it, has the power to satisfy our souls more than any other truth in the world.

How can we make the fact that the cross is about the glory of God something we love? The only way that this truth will truly make our hearts happy is when our hearts are truly devoted to the glory of God. When our hearts are busily chasing after idols such as fame, success, money, earthly happiness, sexual gratification, etc., our hearts will not see the beauty of the fact that the cross is a bout God’s glory. But, when our hearts delight in God, our hearts will be fully satisfied when they see that God’s glory is depicted for all to see on the cross of Calvary (Psalm 37:4). Thus, for us to truly have the deepest happiness possible, we have to train our hearts to seek out and rejoice in the glory of God. As we learn to seek the glory of God, we will find our hearts truly satisfied by the glory of God. As our hearts are satisfied by the glory of God, our hearts will truly learn to rejoice in the truth that the cross, while demonstrating God’s love for us, is centrally about the glory of the Almighty.

So, make it a goal of yours to practice loving the glory of God. Look into God’s word to see his glory. Pray that God will make your soul happy by demonstrating to you his glory. Sing of God’s glory, and find the joy that can only come by doing what you were created to do. Read Christian authors who are focused on the glory of God, and let their writings urge you toward the glory of God (C.J. Mahaney, John Piper, John MacArthur, and Jonathon Edwards are all a good start). Do whatever you have to do to seek your own soul’s satisfaction in the one place that can truly offer that satisfaction, the magnificent glory of the Almighty.

Depending on God (2 Chronicles 16:7, 12)

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2 Chronicles 16:7 – At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you.”

2 Chronicles 16:12 – In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but sought help from physicians.

Asa’s story is a sad story of a man who started well, but who finished poorly. In the early days of his life, Asa sought God. He relied on God for his needs to be met. Yet, in his latter days, Asa forgot the faithfulness of God, and he relied on his own strength, cleverness, and resourcefulness. It turned out that Asa was relying on the wrong things at the end, and the Lord was not pleased with him.

There is something greatly worth learning from Asa’s life. Asa relied on outside help instead of God when his army was in trouble. He relied on doctors instead of God when he got sick. I do not think that God is saying in these passages that we should never let others help us out or go to doctors. However, when we rely on others’ help or when we rely on doctors’ abilities to the exclusion of seeking the help of God, we dishonor God greatly. We need to seek God’s favor, his healing, his help first and foremost. We can seek God’s favor as we go to the doctor when we are sick, but we dare not forget to seek God’s help and rely solely on the advances of modern medicine.

In reality, we have lessons to learn from Asa for every part of life. Where do you rely on your own strength or the strength of others? Where is your trust? Are you thinking that you are safe and secure because your country has a strong military? Are you feeling like you will succeed because you are bright and energetic? Are you thinking you will remain healthy because you have a good doctor and a fine hospital? Do you think your church will grow because the pastor is gregarious and his sermons are riveting? If any of those things are your hope, without relying on God, you are dishonoring God just like Asa did. Repent, and recognize first and foremost that the Lord is the one in whom we trust. It is God who meets our needs. Only he is enough to care for us, and we must not think, even for a moment, that we can accomplish, even the simplest task, apart from him. Remember John 15:5: if we remain in Jesus, we will bear much fruit; but apart from Jesus, we can do nothing.