August 12th, 2025
The Upward Look, by Jon Forrest
You Can’t Hide The Glow!
Three prospectors found a rich vein of gold in California during the gold rush days. Realizing their great discovery they decided, "We have a great thing going here so long as no one finds out about it." So they each took a vow of secrecy.
They headed for town to file their claims and pick up the equipment needed to mine the gold. True to their vows, they didn’t say a word to anyone. They filed their claim, bought the equipment and headed back to their mine. On their way back they discovered that a crowd of people had followed.
How could this be? Unintentionally, they had given themselves away. Their faces glowed with anticipation of the wealth that soon would be theirs. People knew that they must have found something very special. So a crowd followed them back to their land to see what was inspiring such joy.
In the 15th chapter of John we find the glory of connection. When your life is connected to Jesus Christ like the branches to the vine, you cannot help but demonstrate his presence and attributes. They flow out into your life. As a branch produces the fruit that comes from the vine, the one connected to Jesus produces the fruit of Christ. Jesus explains that the connected disciple will glorify God, obey Christ’s commands, flow with the expression of His joy and ultimately love, love, love and love people.
Why does this happen? Because these are attributes of the vine. And the connected branch cannot help but produce what flows from the vine. If you want to have these attributes, you cannot manufacture them from your will. You can only demonstrate them by staying connected to the source, the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, you can’t hide it, if you are connected. People will follow you to find out the source of the glow on your face.
Sunday we will look at this passage of Scripture as we look at a message titled, “Connected” based on John 15:1-17. I hope you will come and connect with Jesus and the family of God.
Glowing,
Jon
You Can’t Hide The Glow!
Three prospectors found a rich vein of gold in California during the gold rush days. Realizing their great discovery they decided, "We have a great thing going here so long as no one finds out about it." So they each took a vow of secrecy.
They headed for town to file their claims and pick up the equipment needed to mine the gold. True to their vows, they didn’t say a word to anyone. They filed their claim, bought the equipment and headed back to their mine. On their way back they discovered that a crowd of people had followed.
How could this be? Unintentionally, they had given themselves away. Their faces glowed with anticipation of the wealth that soon would be theirs. People knew that they must have found something very special. So a crowd followed them back to their land to see what was inspiring such joy.
In the 15th chapter of John we find the glory of connection. When your life is connected to Jesus Christ like the branches to the vine, you cannot help but demonstrate his presence and attributes. They flow out into your life. As a branch produces the fruit that comes from the vine, the one connected to Jesus produces the fruit of Christ. Jesus explains that the connected disciple will glorify God, obey Christ’s commands, flow with the expression of His joy and ultimately love, love, love and love people.
Why does this happen? Because these are attributes of the vine. And the connected branch cannot help but produce what flows from the vine. If you want to have these attributes, you cannot manufacture them from your will. You can only demonstrate them by staying connected to the source, the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, you can’t hide it, if you are connected. People will follow you to find out the source of the glow on your face.
Sunday we will look at this passage of Scripture as we look at a message titled, “Connected” based on John 15:1-17. I hope you will come and connect with Jesus and the family of God.
Glowing,
Jon
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