Fearless Fruit

GETTING STARTED

Frequently I will engage people in a conversation about what they are most afraid of. It usually leads to a pretty intimate conversation. I am always amazed at the fruit in our lives that is produced by fear. Think of all the things we do or don’t do, or all the things we say or don’t say, as a result of fear brewing at a heart level. 

  • What are you afraid of? And how different would your life be if you were not afraid?

READ THE WORD: JOHN 10:22-30 (ESV) 

22 At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. 24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

DIGGING DEEPER

  1. In these verses, what do we learn about who Jesus is? Who did the Jews ask Jesus if he was? What was his answer (vss. 24-25)?
  2. What did Jesus say was the reason they did not believe he was the Messiah (vs. 26)?
  3. What did Jesus mean when he said, “and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (vs. 28)?
  4. How might you live differently believing that your life is eternally secure in Jesus?

RESPOND TO GOD

This passage makes the strongest statement by Jesus about the eternal security of believers. The Jews straight-up asked Jesus in public if he was the Messiah. He did not directly answer the question but said to them that his works—his miracles—were evidence and proof of his true identity. Make no mistake—Jesus claimed to be the Messiah. He explained the sobering reality that the reason they did not believe him was because they were not his. But for those of us who are his, our life is in Jesus and our ultimate eternal security is in his hands and the hands of God the Father. There is absolutely no one or no thing that can pluck us out of his hands. Friends, there is nothing to fear, so let’s risk it all.

  • If you know Jesus, thank God the Father for giving you to Jesus as one of his own.
  • Ask God for the courage to live today with the confidence that there is absolutely nothing to fear since your eternal security is in his hands.