John 15:2
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
Jesus presented several stages of fruit-bearing. There is no fruit, fruit, losing, more fruit, abiding, and much fruit. These are the stages that everyone must go through if you are to bear much fruit. Now, there are two stages at the beginning that determine what you become for God. There is one stage where there is no fruit at all. At this stage, Jesus says that any branch that beareth not fruit he taketh away. In other words, God intends for you to bear fruit. God expects every believer to have fruit in their lives. However, if you choose not to be the branch with no fruit, then there are several stages you must take to being a branch that bears much fruit. Let me share these stages of fruit-bearing.
The first stage is fruit. Everyone enjoys this stage because we see something happening with what we are doing for God. We go soul winning and see someone saved. We pray and have answered prayers. We try to build a bus route, Sunday school class, or a church, and we see fruit for our labors. This is certainly an exciting stage for any believer to experience, but you will never bear much fruit if you stay in this stage.
The second stage is purging. You will notice that when you bear fruit, God then purges you so that you can bring forth more fruit. Purging is taking away what you have, but purging is done so that you can bear more fruit. In other words, you will stop growing if God does not purge you. The church that sees growth will also be a church that sees loss, but the loss is so that you can see more growth. God purges you so that He can take away that which is hurting your ability to bear more fruit.
The third stage is more fruit. More fruit means your ability to have fruit in larger numbers than when you simply had fruit. Excitement comes again as growth is obviously seen. Now, you will never get to this stage if you quit in the purging process. You only get more fruit if you continue to do right while God purges you.
The fourth stage is to abide in Christ. Abiding is not changing to get to much fruit. Many churches have changed when they see more fruit because they have a desire to have much fruit. Never compromise what you are doing for the purpose of having much fruit. It is easy to look at others and think you are not doing well, but you must abide in Christ and not change if you are to see much fruit.
The fifth stage is much fruit. When God sees that you will not change for the purpose of much fruit is when He blesses you with much fruit. God needs to see that when purging comes that you will not change, but He also needs to see that more fruit does not change you. Keep doing what you are supposed to be doing and God will give you much fruit.
However, I want to take you back to the purging process. When purging happens, be careful not to focus on what you have lost. If you look honestly at where you are when God purges you, you will find that you have more after the purging process than where you were when you started bearing fruit. Don't become discouraged while being purged; you have more while God is purging you than where you were when you started. If you keep going after fruit without changing, you will find that purging brings forth much fruit.