Happy Dependence Day 2025
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Here at A Branch in the Vine, we are proclaiming our Declaration of Dependence! We are celebrating that every day is Dependence Day for those of us who "live from the life of Another."
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Christ's Ascension to the Father...Key to my Life on this Earth [a Bible Study with live link
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Years ago, I heard a sermon on the Ascension of Christ. To tell you the truth, I had never thought much of the Lord's Ascension. My focus had always been on the death, burial, and resurrection of my Lord...and the incredible benefits to me as His child and disciple. But lately I’ve been pondering anew the glory of it all and its vital importance to my own spiritual walk in this sin-cursed world.
Read MoreThe Rest of the Gospel: Entering God's Rest (Chapter 25)
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Key Verses:
So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. Heb 4:9-11 ESV
Read Chapter 25: Entering God's Rest
1. Is your life characterized by an inner rest? What does your answer tell you about the degree to which you are trusting Christ as your life?
Read MoreThe Rest of the Gospel: Detached Living (Chapter 21)
/Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21 ESV
Key Question:
Are you wholly attached to Christ or is He just "a piece of the pie"?
Read MoreThe Rest of the Gospel: Loving God (Chapter 24)
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Key Verse:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. Luke 10:27 ESV
Key Question:
Who is my point of reference, God or myself?
Read MoreThe Rest of the Gospel: Poured Out (Chapter 23)
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Key Verse:
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:6-7 ESV
Key Question:
How is God's love manifested through us?
Read MoreThe Rest of the Gospel: Making Decisions (Chapter 20)
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The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. Proverbs 16:33 ESV
Key Question:
How do we know the "will of God?"
Read MoreThe Rest of the Gospel: Hearing God (Chapter 19)
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To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers...My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. John 10:3-5,27 ESV
Key Question:
How do we hear God?
Read MoreThe Rest of the Gospel: The Holy But (Chapter 17)
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But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 2 Corinthians 4:7-11 ESV
Key Question:
How does the "holy but" cause us to see our circumstances, good and bad?
Read MoreSong of the Week: I Live, Yet not I...
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My UNION with Christ...I live, yet not I...Christ with and in and through me. This song brings me to my knees in humble gratitude for this awesome truth: I am not separate! I am not alone, trying to do my best with God's help if I believe hard enough and ask Him correctly.
He and I are ONE! You are ONE with Him too, O believing child of God! Hallelujah!
Read MoreThe Rest of the Gospel: Who Does What? (Chapter 14)
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And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Ezekiel 36:26-27 ESV
Key Question:
Is Jesus living His life through you, or are you trying to live it with His help?
Read MoreThe Rest of the Gospel: The Rule of Grace (chapter 13)
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For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2: 8-10 ESV
Key Question:
Do you live under works (the law) or by grace through faith?
Read MoreThe Rest of the Gospel: The Gift of Misery (Chapter 22)
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...that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death... Philippians 3: 10 ESV
Key Question:
How has misery been a gift from God in your life?
The Rest of the Gospel: The Single Eye (Chapter 12)
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The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! Matthew 6:22-23 ESV
Key Question:
What does it mean to "see with a single eye?"
Read MoreThe Rest of the Gospel: God's Process of Growth (Chapter 15)
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I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake.
I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one…. 1 John 2:12-14
The Rest of the Gospel: Revelation -- God's Way of Knowing (chapter 11)
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...that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe... Ephesians 1:17-19a ESV
Read MoreThe Rest of the Gospel: God's Precious Assets (chapter 10)
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Key Verse
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves... 2 Cor 4:7 NASB
Key Question
Am I an asset or a liability to God?
Read MoreThe Rest of the Gospel: The Real You (chapter 9)
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Key Verse
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Cor 5:21 NASB
Key Question
What is the flesh?
Read MoreThe Rest of the Gospel: One Nature (chapter 8)
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Key Verse
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly. Galatians 2:20-21 NASB
Key Question
Am I one person or two? Have I one nature or two?
Read MoreThe Rest of the Gospel: Will not Hunger (Chapter 16)
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Key Verse
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. John 6:35 ESV
Key Question
How can we say that Jesus is our total sufficiency?
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