Prologue

 Ps 119:49 ז (zain) 49 Remember the word to Your servant, Upon which You have caused me to hope. 50 This is my comfort in my affliction, For Your word has given me life. 51 The proud have me in great derision, Yet I do not turn aside from Your law. 52 I remembered Your judgments of old, O LORD, And have comforted myself. 53 Indignation has taken hold of me Because of the wicked, who forsake Your law. 54 Your statutes have been my songs In the house of my pilgrimage. 55 I remember Your name in the night, O LORD, And I keep Your law. 56 This has become mine, Because I kept Your precepts. 
 

I Abiding In the True Vine

 1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes (καθαιρει), that it may bear more fruit. 3 “You are already clean (καθαροι) because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. 9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love 10 “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14 “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.”
 

II The Word That Abides In You
 

A Depend on what god said about what he has done.

 
• 1 Sam 17:37 Moreover David said, “The LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you!” 
 
• Ps 77:6-12 6 I call to remembrance my song in the night; I meditate within my heart, And my spirit makes diligent search. 7 Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favorable no more? 8 Has His mercy ceased forever? Has His promise failed forevermore? 9 Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies? ​Selah 10 And I said, “This is my anguish; But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.” 11 I will remember the works of the LORD; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. 12 I will also meditate on all Your work, And talk of Your deeds. 
 

B Depend on what god said about who he is.

 
• Exod 34:6 And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth”
 
• Heb 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
 
• Dan 3:18 “But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”
 
• Gen 3:1, 4-5 1 And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” . . . 4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
 
• Nah 1:7 The LORD is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him.
 

C Depend on what god said he has promised.

 
• Matt 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
 
• 1 Tim 4:6-10 7 But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. 8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. 
 
• Titus 1:2 in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.
 
• Heb 6:15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 
 
• Rom 4:20-21 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. 
 
• 1 Jn 2:24-25 24 Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that He has promised us–eternal life. 
 

Epilogue 

 Ex 6:2-8 2 And God spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am the LORD. 3 “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name LORD I was not known to them. 4 “I have also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers. 5 “And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. 6 “Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the LORD; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.
 7 ‘I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 ‘And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the LORD.’ 
 

Questions

 
1. What does independence look like? How do you know if you depending on God or something else?
 
2. What makes dependence difficult? In what areas areas do we tend to think we can manage on our own? Why do we think like that? 
 
3. What are we tempted to depend upon other than God? What's the appeal? When do we succumb to the temptation despite knowing the truth? 
 
4. What is one area where you will decide to obediently and consistently depend on/trust God between now and the end of the summer? What will you have to do differently to insure that you are trusting Him. What could you expect to happen?