Welcome to a year in the Bible with daily grace. My name is Kristen and my name is Katie and we want to spend a few minutes a day with you walking through the New Testament one chapter at a time.

This year we will fix our gaze upon Christ so that we may know

him, not only with our minds but with our hearts. Together we will learn that

who Jesus is changes everything.

Hi friends, welcome to a year in the Bible with Daily Grace.

My name is Katie and I am one of your co-hosts for season 3 of a year in the Bible with Daily Grace podcast. We are so excited you are here and if you're

new around here we are reading the New Testament in a year taking it a little slow one chapter

a day for five days a week.

Let's take a look at John 15.

I told you as we began John's Gospel that this one is my favorite.

And I think that John 15 might be my favorite chapter

within John. I pray today that you will see why and behold Jesus as the source of

joy that you long for and the fullness of life that you crave.

Chapter 15 begins with the seventh and final I am statement in the Gospel of John.

I am the true vine and my father is the gardener.

Jesus is describing a vineyard in which his father is the caretaker

and he is the barn through which the vineyard bears fruit.

To a first century Jew, Jesus describing a vineyard and his father as the gardener is nothing new.

Throughout the Old Testament, Israel is described as God's vineyard and God is described as its gardener. The gardener takes perfect care of

his vineyard. But in Isaiah 5 we read a sad account of God's vineyard. Though

he did all that he could to care for the vineyard, the vineyard yielded only worthless

grapes. Though God chose Israel as a nation, multiplied them, and saved them from slavery,

...