Daily Gospel Plan

¹" I am the true Vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.

²Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that continues to bear fruit, He [repeatedly] prunes, so that it will bear more fruit [even richer and finer fruit].

³You are already clean because of the word which I have given you [the teachings which I have discussed with you].

⁴Remain in Me, and I [will remain] in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself without remaining in the vine, neither can you [bear fruit, producing evidence of your faith] unless you remain in Me.

⁵ I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him bears much fruit, for [otherwise] apart from Me [that is, cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing.

⁶If anyone does not remain in Me, he is thrown out like a [broken off] branch, and withers and dies; and they gather such branches and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

⁷If you remain in Me and My words remain in you [that is, if we are vitally united and My message lives in your heart], ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.

⁸My Father is glorified and honored by this, when you bear much fruit, and prove yourselves to be My [true] disciples.

⁹I have loved you just as the Father has loved Me; remain in My love [and do not doubt My love for you].

¹⁰If you keep My commandments and obey My teaching, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and remain in His love.

¹¹I have told you these things so that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy may be made full and complete and overflowing.

¹²"This is My commandment, that you love and unselfishly seek the best for one another, just as I have loved you.

¹³No one has greater love [nor stronger commitment] than to lay down his own life for his friends.

¹⁴You are my friends if you keep on doing what I command you.

¹⁵I do not call you servants any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you [My] friends, because I have revealed to you everything that I have heard from My Father.

¹⁶You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed and placed and purposefully planted you, so that you would go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit will remain and be lasting, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name [as My representative] He may give to you.

¹⁷This [is what] I command you: that you love and unselfishly seek the best for one another.

¹⁸"If the world hates you [and it does], know that it has hated Me before it hated you.

¹⁹If you belonged to the world, the world would love [you as] its own and would treat you with affection. But you are not of the world [you no longer belong to it], but I have chosen you out of the world. And because of this the world hates you.

²⁰Remember [and continue to remember] that I told you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.

²¹But they will do all these [hurtful] things to you for My name's sake [because you bear My name and are identified with Me], for they do not know the One who sent Me.

²²If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have [the guilt of their] sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.

²³The one who hates Me also hates My Father.

²⁴If I had not done among them the works (attesting miracles) which no one else [ever] did, they would not have [the guilt of their] sin; but now [the fact is that] they have both seen [these works] and have hated Me [and continue to hate Me] and My Father as well.

²⁵But [this is so] that the word which has been written in their Law would be fulfilled, 'They hated Me without a cause.'

²⁶"But when the Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby) comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of Truth who comes from the Father, He will testify and bear witness about Me.

²⁷But you will testify also and be My witnesses, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

¹"I have told you these things so that you will not stumble or be caught off guard and fall away.

²They will put you out of the synagogues and make you outcasts. And a time is coming when whoever kills you will think that he is offering service to God.

³And they will do these things because they have not known the Father or Me.

⁴I have told you these things [now], so that when their time comes, you will remember that I told you about them. I did not say these things to you at the beginning, because I was with you.

⁵"But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?'

⁶But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts [and taken complete possession of them].

⁷But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him (the Holy Spirit) to you [to be in close fellowship with you].

⁸And He, when He comes, will convict the world about [the guilt of] sin [and the need for a Savior], and about righteousness, and about judgment:

⁹about sin [and the true nature of it], because they do not believe in Me [and My message];

¹⁰about righteousness [personal integrity and godly character], because I am going to My Father and you will no longer see Me;

¹¹about judgment [the certainty of it], because the ruler of this world (Satan) has been judged and condemned.

¹²"I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear [to hear] them now.

¹³But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth [full and complete truth]. For He will not speak on His own initiative, but He will speak whatever He hears [from the Father—the message regarding the Son], and He will disclose to you what is to come [in the future].

¹⁴He will glorify and honor Me, because He (the Holy Spirit) will take from what is Mine and will disclose it to you.

¹⁵All things that the Father has are Mine. Because of this I said that He [the Spirit] will take from what is Mine and will reveal it to you.

¹⁶"A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me."

¹⁷Some of His disciples said to one another, "What does He mean when He tells us, 'A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me'; and, 'because I am going to My Father'?"

¹⁸So they were saying, "What does He mean when He says, 'A little while'? We do not know what He is talking about."

¹⁹Jesus knew that they wanted to ask Him, so He said to them, "Are you wondering among yourselves about what I meant when I said, 'A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me'?

²⁰I assure you and most solemnly say to you, that you will weep and grieve [in great mourning], but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.

²¹A woman, when she is in labor, has pain because her time [to give birth] has come; but when she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of her joy that a child has come into the world.

²²So for now you are in grief; but I will see you again, and [then] your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away from you your [great] joy.

²³In that day you will not [need to] ask Me about anything. I assure you and most solemnly say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name [as My representative], He will give you.

²⁴Until now you have not asked [the Father] for anything in My name; but now ask and keep on asking and you will receive, so that your joy may be full and complete.

²⁵"I have told you these things in figurative language (veiled language, proverbs); the hour is now coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but I will tell you plainly about the Father.

²⁶In that day you will ask in My name, and I am not saying to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf [because it will be unnecessary];

²⁷for the Father Himself [tenderly] loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from the Father.

²⁸I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father."

²⁹His disciples said, "Ah, now You are speaking plainly to us and not in figures of speech!

³⁰Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; because of this we believe [without any doubt] that you came from God."

³¹Jesus answered them, "Do you now [at last] believe?

³²Take careful notice: an hour is coming, and has arrived, when you will all be scattered, each to his own home, leaving Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.

³³I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace. In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world." [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding.]