REWIND
The podcast "REWIND" features a collection of past sermons from Organic Church. Each episode takes listeners on a journey through the teachings and messages delivered during previous worship services. The content is a retrospective look at the spiritual guidance and insights shared by Pastor Michael and visiting guests!
Listeners can expect to revisit powerful sermons, meaningful scriptures, and impactful messages that have been shared in the past. The podcast aims to provide a convenient and accessible way for the church community and new audiences to engage with the timeless wisdom and spiritual teachings presented during earlier sermons.
Whether it's a reflection on a particular theme, a series of teachings, or a selection of sermons covering various topics, "REWIND" offers an opportunity for individuals to deepen their understanding of the faith and find inspiration in the timeless messages.
The podcast may also include commentary or reflections on the historical context of each sermon and how it continues to resonate with the present-day congregation.
REWIND
Bearing Fruit That Lasts (March 9, 2025)
Nursery go. Kids are staying with us today. How exciting. I know the kids love it. Emmett, did you bring your Bible? Emmett didn't bring his Bible. He usually follows along. So Alyssa and I I'm going to give a quick update on life before we get too far into this. I wanted to share that last night we went to Sam's Club. How many of you shop at Sam's Club? This is like a genuine.
Speaker 1:I had an aha moment at Sam's Club yesterday. First of all, it's too busy, that's number one. Okay, the carts aren't big enough, that's number two. But number three have you ever eaten in their cafe? Holy smokes. I got an all-beef hot dog. It was humongous.
Speaker 1:I don't like hot dogs. I got an all-beef hot dog and a drink for $1.50. I'm going to start taking my family there for dinner every night. It's cheaper to eat there than it is to cook at home. Yeah, a whole pizza for $8. They had two slices of pizza and a drink for $2.50. What else did? Oh, those pretzels. Has anybody had their soft pretzels? They're as big as your head for a buck and they're good. I don't know Like. Apparently I have missed the cafe at Sam's Club. We've had a Sam's Club membership for years never eaten there.
Speaker 1:Yesterday we went right after basketball, we went in. We're like, let's get something from the cafe. I was like I don't know how people aren't doing this every day Like and I may maybe you don't like hot dogs, you know seven days a week, but for a buck fifty, how do you go wrong? And the pizza right. I'm just anyhow. Okay, I digress. We went there to get candy for the Easter egg hunt. We came home with about 8,000 pieces of candy. It was a lot of candy. We packed the back of the car completely full. So we have that for people to start packing. If you're interested, just let us know. We'll get you bags of candy and eggs and you can get started on that Again. The hope would be that we could be done before the March 28th packing party, but if not, we will gather together and pack with joy, because it is our biggest community outreach of the year every year, and so we're excited to get to do it again this year. It's going to look a little bit different, but it's still going to be great.
Speaker 1:The other thing that I wanted to share is that my daughter and my father have left for Disney this morning, that my daughter and my father have left for Disney this morning. Now, that was probably one of the hardest things that I had to allow happen. Right, seven days she's going to be gone. And she's my princess, right, she's the youngest. So I had to text my mom this morning and just tell her hey, make sure she's safe and try to have fun. I'd rather than put her in a bubble and keep her safe, but you know they're growing up and it is what it is. But I wanted to share this About three weeks ago, two weeks ago, when she learned that she was going to Disney, she had no idea.
Speaker 1:Actually, in fairness, my wife and I didn't know either. My dad had sent a text and it had asked you know, hey, can we have Adeline like the 7th or the 9th, something like that? And we were like, oh yeah, sure, you can have one of those days. We never thought about it. And he comes back and says, okay, everything's booked, tickets are bought, and we're like, wait a second, what Turns out? They were planning a Disney trip. We just didn't realize that's what was happening. But anyhow, adeline said to me we were sitting in the kitchen and she says Daddy, she gets whatever she wants. After that statement right, doesn't matter what she asks. She says I know I'm not allowed to miss church on Sundays to go do things, but can I leave early for Disney? How do you tell her no, right? How do you tell her no? And we don't often miss on a Sunday morning, so I was willing to let it slide. But I just want to tell you that when your kids have that in their hearts and it's not just by force for us, our kids know on Sunday mornings we go to church, but our kids also don't look at it as an inconvenience or something that is a problem for them. They enjoy coming, generally speaking. Now, my kids are also raised in the building. We're here quite a bit, but I just wanted to share with you the difference that it makes to your children when you have them in the building on Sunday mornings every week.
Speaker 1:Amen, all right, let's stand. We're going to honor the word. This morning. We're going to be in 1 John 15. You can turn there first before you stand, if you want. If you're not able to stand, that's okay too.
Speaker 1:I don't know why my tech team just put their finger up as if we've got the wrong scripture. No, I didn't give you the wrong scripture. You wrote down the wrong scripture because it's the same one that's in my iPad. 1 John 15, remember being verse 5? 1 John 15, verse 5. We there, we got it. Yay, nay, a little bit of pressure. Hey, did I bring my coffee with me? Yeah, yeah, yeah, listen, this is a good coffee too. I make a pretty mean latte, don't I? Actually, in fairness, this one was Don's what. This is what I wrote down. People, will you go get my MacBook? It's in the conference room. I need my MacBook because apparently, I wrote it down on my iPad wrong. Okay, I don't know what it started with, because I count on the screen being up there. That's why I need my computer now. We'll get there.
Speaker 1:I was going to say give me a second. Let me chug this one. Roger, I'm going to need a water buddy. Hey, if this is your first time here, welcome Join the party. I don't know what it is, because I count on the screen and it's not there. It's Roger's fault. It's right. All right, let's see if we can figure this out. Let's see if we can sort this mess out.
Speaker 1:What did I do? Well, that's what I put in those notes too. That's not helpful. That is not helpful at all. Let's flip here, let's see. No, you put that right back down there. Spare with me, folks, we're going to be fine. We're going to be fine. Thank you, yes. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus, hallelujah, hallelujah, thank you Jesus, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, thank you Jesus.
Speaker 1:Sis, can you pull up? Just pull up. John 15, 5 through 8?. Does somebody have their Bible there already? Can I see it? Yes, that's what I want. See, I just wrote down the wrong. Okay, what is it? John 15, 5. John 15, five, that's where we're going. I lied to you guys. What? Well, you know it was apparently the latte. No, I didn't have the latte whenever I did that, it was just me typing too quick. Thank you, jesus, you got it up there. That's what we got.
Speaker 1:Yes, I am the vine and you are the branches. Those who remain in me and I in them will produce much fruit, for apart from me, you can do nothing. Leave that up there. You may be seated. Thank you for bearing with me there. You know, here's what I've learned. Sometimes in ministry, things happen fast, right, like it's kind of rapid fire, and when I was writing those notes down, apparently I got ahead of myself, but the enemy would have loved nothing more than for us to just stop right. So we're not going to do that, we're going to keep moving. Now I want to read it again because I want to really get into this. Yes, I am the vine and you are the branches. Those who remain in me and I in them will produce much fruit, for apart from me, you can do nothing. Now, how does that make you feel? Does that make you feel good? Does it make you feel bad, indifferent, empowered I like that word, empowered. But why does it make you feel empowered? And you know that so long as you are in Jesus and Jesus is in you, you can do anything you want to do. Right, amen, okay, but there are some of us sitting in the building who don't know that. We don't have that confidence. So when we read that passage of Scripture, it says to us we'll produce much fruit, for apart from me, you can do nothing. So if you are in fact apart from me, you can do nothing. So if you are, in fact, apart from him, you can do nothing.
Speaker 1:So the problem is is that people show up on Sunday morning, they sit in their seat, they play on their phone, they fall asleep during worship. Whatever the case may be, they can do nothing. And let me tell you you can't sit there and say, oh well, I know Jesus and I'm good with God and I have all. But you show up to church bored, right? You show up to church because, just because you don't like the worship set that's played, listen, I hate Crowder. Yeah, throw your stuff, I don't care, I don't like Crowder music, I don't look, she's like he's the best. I don't like Crowder music, but I knew when I put that set together this morning that how he loved was going to move on somebody today. Right, it is not about me, it's about the people in the building. Amen. And so the problem is, sometimes we like to stop the move of the Spirit because of our own personal desires. But let me tell you something If I say I don't care about the move of the Spirit anymore, all I care about is playing songs that I like, I can do nothing, nothing, because it's not about me anymore. Right, it's not about me.
Speaker 1:Okay, when I started to write this message, I really ended up holding on to last week's message, and I found that when I did it. There were some things left unsaid from last week. All I keep thinking about are that poor plant, poor pathetic plant. Now it's going to go and get new life because Vicki took it home. You're going to have to pray over that plant really hard. Lots of miracle grow because I killed it. Right, that is a fact. It did not get what it needed and I just kept holding onto that and I kept thinking about all those poor dead leaves and oh, how miserable it was. And then I knew that when Vicki said that she would take it home, it was gonna get new life. Amen, that something new was gonna happen for that plant, something that I couldn't see because I would have thrown it in the dumpster, right. But she's going to do something great. Now the same is said for the Word of God. This breathes fresh life into us every single day.
Speaker 1:But the problem is is many of us aren't looking for the nourishment in the word of God. Right, we come to church on Sunday morning and we get filled up or we get fertilized a little bit, and then we leave and we do nothing for an entire week. We don't come back on Wednesday night to get watered or filled up. We don't come back or we don't listen to Christian, we don't watch Christian, we don't do any of the things in life that we should. Instead, we go out and we live like heathens and we say but nobody's going to know. Right, am I talking to myself? I do it too. Right, I leave this building.
Speaker 1:Listen, I got kicked out of an Elvis group the other day. It happens, right, things like this happen in our life. But here's the problem. I got kicked out because I wasn't going to tolerate somebody being rude and obnoxious to me, and the administrator of that group thought that, well, if you block somebody, then you're obviously a scammer. No, I'm not going to tolerate stupidity. I'm not going to listen. I know that I will turn the other cheek and I will allow you to believe what you believe, but I don't need you in my life. I don't need that in my life. Why don't I need that in my life? Because then it's pulling me further away from God, right, because then I start to call you names and I tell you your nose is big and you smell funny. Right, listen, I know you guys have done it and if you haven't said it, you've thought it right, you're probably sitting next to somebody. You're like man I don't know what they're wearing today, but it stinks, right? We've all done it.
Speaker 1:The problem is the problem is that when we get that way and we live in that mindset, we can do nothing. Nothing. I want to produce much fruit. Okay. Now it says that he is the vine and we are the branches. Amen, I am not the vine. Let me be clear I am not the vine, I am a branch.
Speaker 1:Okay, something should come to our realization very, very early. We grow the fruit, we grow the fruit. Right, the fruit doesn't grow on the vine, it grows on the branches that live on the vine. Amen. And so if I am a branch hanging from the vine, I should be producing good fruit. Right, I should not be hanging from the vine dead, because if I am hanging from the vine dead, I don't really know who Jesus is. If he is the vine and I am the branch, I should be constantly and consistently producing good fruit. Whoo, hallelujah. The vine provides the nutrients to the branch so that it may produce the fruit, and in this way, we exhibit the fruit that is grown from the vine through us. Right, we are displaying the fruit on our branch, the branch that we are because of the nutrients that the vine has provided to us. Branch, that we are because of the nutrients that the vine has provided to us.
Speaker 1:Right, think about a tree. That tree trunk is not growing leaves. Right, the branches grow the leaves, but how do those branches get watered? Through the root system, through the trunk and into the branches system? Through the trunk and into the branches? Amen.
Speaker 1:Can I tell you something? Some of us are just dead branches. Today, we're sitting in this building, dead branches, and you know what we're saying. Oh, that's not me. I'm alive and well. The fruit that you're producing is rotten. That you're producing is rotten. The fruit that you are producing is rotten.
Speaker 1:Matthew 12, 33, I think, is right this time. A tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree is good, its fruit is good. If a tree is bad, its fruit is bad. See, this is easy stuff. He's got it. He's got it down. He knows that if you are a bad tree, you are producing bad fruit. Amen. How many of us are sitting here producing good fruit today? Hallelujah, thank you Jesus. How many of us are sitting here producing bad fruit today? You might as well raise your hand, because we know Most of us can see it around us. Amen, all right.
Speaker 1:You brood of snakes, how could evil men like you speak? What is good and right, for whatever is in your hearts determines what you say? Whoo, so if you're a hateful person, if you're a rude person, a disgruntled person, why is everybody looking at Stephanie right now, seriously, her arms went up because, like, heads turned. That was rude Steph, that was rude man. So I would say I would say the tree that you are next to probably has some dead branches that need pruning, right? Sorry, mckenna, I'm just kidding, just kidding. All right, there are three things that can happen when a fruit-bearing tree becomes mature Right, and I want you to hold on to that word mature Right, because you've got people sitting in this room right now who may believe in Jesus, but their faith is not yet matured Right in Jesus, but their faith is not yet matured right. And they may be a tree that doesn't look like every other tree that's planted. Amen, okay, three things that can happen when a fruit-bearing tree becomes mature.
Speaker 1:It can bear good fruit, healthy, yummy, good to look at nice to eat. Healthy, yummy, good to look at nice to eat. And some can bear bad fruit, fruit that on the outside might look okay, but in the middle it's soft and it's rotten. Maybe it's starting to get some flies around it, right? You ever been around those people? Ever been around those? Okay, oh, this is probably one of the worst things that can happen to me in life.
Speaker 1:I love bananas. It's the only fruit that I'll eat. I don't like apples, I don't like oranges, I don't like pears, I don't like peaches. I don't like fruit, except for bananas. Okay, I won't eat a strawberry to save my life, like you would have to like holy smokes. Strawberry banana yogurt is the only flavor of yogurt that I'll eat. Like, I just don't like fruit. All right, have you ever opened a banana and peeled it? A healthy looking banana Looks real great, yellow, Perfect. You open it. It's got a big black spot in it. What's the first thing you do with that banana? Throw it in the trash. I don't even take a bite. That banana is ruined. Right, right Now there are some people who are going to say, oh, I like to make banana bread with it.
Speaker 1:No, you don't. You leave it Sit on your counter until it's black and mushy and it's got fruit flies flying around it, and then you throw it in the trash. You just pretend like you're going to make banana bread with it, right? That happens in my head. There's an apple sitting in my fruit basket right now. The whole top of that's disgusting, and I keep on walking. It ain't got flies yet. I don't have to deal with it, right? Isn't that how that works? Eventually, somebody else will throw it away. Why do I have to do it? And then I realize that if I allow that fruit to sit there and rot, the other fruit around it will also begin to rot. Hallelujah, right. So if I'm sitting in a seat right now with rotten fruit, I am going to start to rot. Amen, okay, we're together right now.
Speaker 1:However, however, there is something that I fear is worse yet than a tree that produces bad fruit, and it is a tree that produces nothing. Now, why? Bad fruit's bad enough, right, but if you are a tree that is watered and cared for and fertilized and nourished and you stand there year after year after year and you produce nothing, what are you doing? Nothing, why? Why are you there? Listen, we should be producing good fruit every moment of every day, and can I tell you, it gets tiring. It is tiring to produce good fruit all the time. Okay, here's the question for today, and I'm going to give you the answer right away. All right, why are we the tree that we are and why do we produce the fruit that we produce? You ready, you are a product of where you are planted. Amen, super easy.
Speaker 1:Let's go back to last week's message for just a second. If you are planted on ground that is rocky and dry, your root system can't begin to grow and you just die. Right, you just die. Now the worst part is is, sometimes you can be picked up and you can be planted in a beautiful field with all of the sun and everything that you might think that you need, but you're not getting any water, and so your roots may be deep, but you're not getting the nutrients that you need in order to continue to bear fruit, because trees don't just bear fruit just because they're planted right. They have to be cared for.
Speaker 1:Nick, what kind of tree did you guys plant in your yard? A peach tree? Did it produce peaches? Yes, okay, what did you have to do to get to that point? So we had one that didn't make it. That's okay. See, so all of the nutrients were washed past that tree. It had plenty of water, its roots were growing, but guess what? It wasn't getting anything. It needed to produce the fruit that it really should be producing, planted correctly, fertilized correctly.
Speaker 1:Listen, do you know how hard it is to plant a tree correctly? The hole has to be a certain size around, it has to be a certain depth right, it has to have soft ground, or maybe some trees require acidic soil versus neutral soil. That's hard stuff to figure out. Listen, I just plant and hope. What else are you going to do? Right, I'm going to put it in the ground and I'm going to say Lord, make it grow. And sometimes the Lord says you didn't do enough.
Speaker 1:Sorry, I had this beautiful red hydrangea we planted at the old house. I love that thing. It was beautiful. It was this some weird hybrid. The leaves were red, the flowers were supposed to be red. We never saw them bloom because it died. But we planted it on the sunniest side of the house and we watered it once a day. But unfortunately we planted it out of season. Now we didn't know Like. We thought you keep it watered, it's going to be. It did not make it. So now we're going to drive past our house because it will come back. We're going to drive past that house this year and then we'll run up and steal it. No, I'm just kidding, I'm not going to do that. Thought about it, though. Not going to lie, we bought it, planted it the spring before we moved. So that's like it hurts my heart a little bit. Hurts my heart, okay.
Speaker 1:Luke 3.8. Prove, by the way you live, that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don't just say to each other we are safe, for we are descendants of Abraham. That means nothing, for I tell you, god can create children of Abraham out of these very stones. Amen. Prove, by the way you live, that you have repented of your sins and turned to God, because when we repent of our sins and we turn to God, we bear good fruit. That's how we do it. This is pretty basic, right. This is easy stuff. Now why are we talking about roots again? Why are we talking about watering and soil and all of those things? It's not because spring is coming and we're ready to plant. We're talking about it because I finally heard somebody say it in a way that I think we can understand it. So the next part of this is not mine. This is something that somebody else has shared that I have adapted for you guys today, because I believe that this is going to take root in your hearts today Amen. I believe that this statement should change the way that we look at life.
Speaker 1:Now here's the question have you ever seen an apple tree eat an apple? Have you ever seen a pear tree eat a pear? Have you ever seen a plum tree eat a plum? Why? It would be cannibalism? No Well, killed the mood on that one now, didn't I? I like this kid. Keep him coming back. Okay, he gets me, because the tree only needs water.
Speaker 1:The fruit isn't for the tree, the fruit is for the people who pass by the tree, amen. So when I am producing fruit and that fruit is falling off of me, it is for you, it isn't for me to eat. So when you come by and you pick up an apple and you eat it from the tree and the fruit that is falling for me, that is for you, not for me. Listen, I have sat in times of worry, in times of trouble, in times of stress, in times of depression, and given sound advice to every person sitting in this room. Why? Because I don't need my own fruit. I need the fruit from you. Right, you should each be producing fruit that I should be able to pick up and eat.
Speaker 1:But where is the fruit? Where is the fruit? You see, I can't just eat fruit once a week and expect to survive. I can't walk into this building on Sunday morning and go well, lord, I hope that I have an encounter with somebody that's nice to me today. I need that seven days a week, right? I can't walk into the building and say, lord, I hope today you make something good happen in my life, because if that's all I expect from him, it's all I'll get. And then I will stand here and I will bear no fruit to give to others. Amen.
Speaker 1:Did everybody get a piece of fruit this morning? That little piece of paper fruit? Keep a hold of that. We're going to need that in a little bit. If I don't talk about that, remind me. Okay, my brain's on a coffee buzz right now.
Speaker 1:Okay, your fruit is not for you, but let me tell you that sometimes, the advice that you can give to somebody else when they're consuming of your fruit will transfer into your own life, right? What does that mean? Have you ever said to somebody this is a big one for me. Hey, you know, you should really reconsider the way that you're spending your money. Well, now I need to reconsider the way I'm spending my money, right? Because if I'm giving you a sound advice but I'm not living with that sound advice, I have to make an adjustment in my own life, right? So, sometimes, when we speak to somebody else, somebody needs to keep his kid around because he'd be preaching back to me, and I'm living for it. Today, I am living for it. He's like amen, hallelujah, it will produce clarity for you.
Speaker 1:You don't have to eat your own fruit, but you need to consume the fruit of those who are around you. You need to grow fruit that, when people see it, they are in shock. Right, I think of the land of milk and honey, and they talk about all of the great fruits that are there, like I'm thinking, like apples the size of your head. Right, you're picking up bunches of grapes. Grapes are disgusting, by the way, but you're picking up bunches of grapes that are as tall, they're nasty, it's like eating eyeballs. But they should look at you and go how can someone grow such amazing and beautiful fruit? Amen, when somebody looks at you as a Christian, as a follower of Christ, as a little Christ. Right, they should be able to see the greatest fruit they have ever seen.
Speaker 1:Now, here's the problem Some people are going to pick from your fruit. They're going to take a bite and they're going to throw it to the wayside, right? You ever had a conversation with somebody that you're like, hey, listen, you really need to know who Jesus is and you share Jesus with them? And they're like, yeah, whatever, and off, they go on their own little way and the next thing you know, you see that piece of fruit that they picked from your tree laying alongside of the road. Here's the thing. It's not your responsibility to grow that seed. That is the responsibility of God. You plant the seed. They ate of the fruit. They have received something of Jesus Because, remember, you are a branch on the vine. You are growing fruit because of the vine. You are growing fruit because of the nutrients that you get from the vine. That means that if you come into church and you sit here and you don't get any of those nutrients from the vine, if you spend your week living in the world and not living for Christ, you're not getting any water from that vine you are going to produce rotten fruit and when people see the rotten fruit, that's what they assume Jesus is the dead leaves. Right, jesus is more than anything that you could be. It is your responsibility to grow and bear fruit that is happy and healthy so that people can enjoy it.
Speaker 1:My wife and I we like to plant flowers in our flower beds. We really do. We love actually, she likes it. I do it because I enjoy spending time with her. Now, do we have disagreements when we're planting flowers in the flower bed? Absolutely, because we planted all of the plants today and tomorrow she wants to move them all. That doesn't work for me. Right, can we do it just once? But this one is going to grow bigger and now it needs to be separated and put over here. With that, for those of us who like to grow flowers, we get that. That happens. Right, she loves it. She thrives when she's in the flower bed. She enjoys spending time doing that.
Speaker 1:And if we were to take a walk or we were to go, we cannot go to greenhouses. Us going to a greenhouse is like Courtney going to Rural King. She's going to come back with 62 chickens. I'm going to come back with 150 plants, right. She held it and put it back. There was two in her pockets, but she ain't talking about those ones. We listen.
Speaker 1:We go to a greenhouse and we see something and we're like, ooh, what is that? We snap a picture of it so we can go back and we have to buy them in phases because ain't nobody got money like that, right. Going to the greenhouse can be expensive, but when we see other people's plants, we look at them. We think, man, that's beautiful. That was a really matter of fact. We picked up our daughter from a friend's house the other day and I said to her I said, man, their landscaping is top notch. They've got all these shrubs out front and it's nice, different shades of green. They did it right when they did it right and I was so excited to see it. And I'm thinking to myself how can I replicate that at my house right Now? I'm not trying to covet their plants. I think their plants are nice. They can keep their plants. I want my own, right, but their plants are inspiration for me, right?
Speaker 1:Your fruit should be inspiration for people around you. You should be able to look at the people around you and go. You know what I really like the way he talks to his kids. Don't look at me for that. I really like the way he interacts with people he doesn't know. I really like the way he treats so-and-so or I like the way he carries himself, whatever it may be. You should be able to look at that and go. I want more of that, and you should be able to go to Jesus and say Jesus, I want my fruit to be bigger and prettier and healthier than any fruit I've ever had today. Right, and when he does that, chances are you're going to be able to carry yourself in the way that you have desired to carry yourself, because Jesus tells us that whatever we ask of him, he will give us, so long as it is within his will. Now I'm saying that I don't want to be like most other people. I want to be unique, right? I want to look at somebody and go hey, that's a great characteristic. I want to carry that.
Speaker 1:How many of you have ever heard me say my pleasure. That's all I say. I don't say you're welcome. My kids ask for a drink and I get it. Thanks, dad. My pleasure, buddy. Do you know why? Because that was instilled in me at a job that I had. Before you could go to the sales floor, you had to naturally say my pleasure. Now, that might sound silly, older folks, you're going to get this. Younger folks, you are not Okay. My pleasure to me feels better than you're welcome or no problem. You will never hear me say no problem, because if I tell you no problem after you've thanked me for something, that implies that there was in fact a problem, that you were an inconvenience to me, and I'm trying to sugarcoat that with no problem. Right, older folks, you get that, because when somebody, when a younger person, says that to you, you kind of get that right. You can feel that. The other thing I don't like to say is you're welcome. Now, I don't think that there's anything inherently wrong with that, but there are things that I do that you don't have to thank me for. Right. If I do the dishes at my house, my wife does not have to say thank you. It is my pleasure to get to serve alongside her. Amen. Listen, dawn has picked that up, she has.
Speaker 1:Sometimes we bear fruit that we don't even realize that we're bearing and it's making an impact on people's lives that we don't even realize. It's making an impact on Right, and when we can do that in a way that is so natural and organic. It is so easy, so easy to just live life to the fullest in Christ, amen. Every day when I wake up I want to bear good fruit. All right, running out of fuel? What? Yeah, pour some of this on the fruit, it'll really get it going. The hard work of other people cultivating the ground allows inspiration for my life. Amen. That is through whatever work God is doing in their lives.
Speaker 1:Listen, sometimes you look at people and you're like I don't understand them and I don't get what it is that they're doing. I don't connect with them, I don't get this, I don't get that, whatever the case may be, and then you realize one small thing that they're doing in their life and God is saying to you take note, it may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, but in 10 years that fruit's going to start to grow for you, right? How many of us and I don't raise your, don't lie to me okay how many of us wish we could read our Bible like Joe does? It's a hobby for him, do you know what I mean? Like he naturally, can pick up that Bible and read it. Most of us.
Speaker 1:When we pick up our Bible and we start to try to read, we're like I don't know. I don't know. You get three or four pages, or three or four sentences words sometimes, and we're like I'm lost, I don't even know what we're talking about anymore. Let me tell you that you need to go back to God and you need to say I need you to relight this fire in my life. Right, I need you to give some nutrients to this, because I ain't growing the way I should be growing. I'm not bearing the fruit that I should be bearing. God, I am not doing what you have called me to do because I am miserable.
Speaker 1:Let's be honest, is that the problem? A lot of times, we find ourselves miserable in life, we're miserable in the world, and so we become miserable in the spirit Because, see, I don't think I have ever once walked into the prayer room and walked out in the same mood that I went in with. It's almost impossible, right, because God's not going to allow me to be in that place and not grow in that place. Right, it's the same in the world that you live in every single day. See, the problem is, if you're miserable, you've planted yourself in the wrong place. See, the problem is, if you're miserable, you've planted yourself in the wrong place. You've allowed yourself to be surrounded by people who will make you, help you and even nourish your miserable nature. Amen, we all have them. We all know them. We all know people who are living like that and won't change the way that they're living. Well, god's not moving in my life. It's because you're living with miserable people. You have chosen that misery. You have to break that cycle. Let me tell you that God is not going to allow you to be miserable your entire life. He is gonna continue to move and shake things up and change things in your life. That's his desire. It's fresh revelation every day in your life that you would have a fresh move of the spirit. It is your choice. Where you go back to right, have you guys ever? I'm not gonna say that. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus.
Speaker 1:What scripture did we just do? Okay, we're gonna go to Luke 13. Luke 13, 6 through 9. Is it hot in here? Thank you Jesus. I turned it back to 66 because I was sweating to death. I'm getting to the bottom of this cup. You know what the bottom is? All that espresso, mmm. Here we go. Luke 13, six through nine, it says.
Speaker 1:Then Jesus told this story A man planted a fig tree. I love this story. A man planted a fig tree in his garden and came again and again to see if there was any fruit on it, but he was always disappointed. How many of us live life disappointed. We're disappointed in other people, we're disappointed in ourselves, we're disappointed in our Walmart shopping experience. We are all because we want to be disappointed. Amen, because the flesh likes that feeling Okay. So he's always disappointed. Finally, he said to his gardener I've waited three years and there hasn't been a single fig. Cut it down, it's just taking up space in the garden. And the gardener said, sir, give it one more chance. Leave it another year and I will give it special attention and plenty of fertilizer. If we get figs next year, fine. If not, then you can cut it down.
Speaker 1:We are always looking for a return on our investment. Roi, baby, if you're a business person, that's what you live for, right. But when we pour into somebody or we give somebody fruit from our branch, we expect a return on that investment. That return is not for you, it's for the kingdom. That return is not so that you can be glorified, but so that the kingdom may grow. Amen. This isn't about you. Remember, the Bible was not written to make you the Savior. Jesus Christ is the only one who should get glory in any of the things that are taking place. Amen.
Speaker 1:Okay, we are always looking for someone that can return the favor. We want someone or something to pay us back for our hard work and dedication, and here's what that passage said to me Sometimes, the fruit I bear will be picked up and the seeds will be planted by someone who doesn't know what it means to be mature. Amen. See, age does not make you mature. I know plenty of grown adults who live in drama. I know plenty of young children who can look at you and go you don't know what you're talking about and chances are they're right.
Speaker 1:Maturity does not come with age. Maturity comes with discipline, and I don't mean like whooping your kids discipline, I mean like your own structure. Discipline when you stop and say you know what. I'm going to get up every morning and I'm going to read one line out of my Bible every day. It may take me 10 years to get through my Bible, but I am committed to the discipline of at least being in the word every single day. Right, that's discipline. Something's a start. We can't do it all and we all can't just swallow multiple pages. Amen, it's not that easy for all of us.
Speaker 1:Okay, they will expect the tree to grow and bear fruit in its first year, but, truth be told, it's never going to happen. How many of you have looked at somebody who is not saved, or who claims to be saved and acts like they're not saved, and you expect them to begin to bear fruit immediately? Right, you look at somebody and you're like well, you come to church every Sunday. Why aren't you doing this? Or why aren't you doing that? Or what's happening over here? What's happening over there? Did you know that it takes between two and nine years for an apple tree to bear fruit? Between two and nine? That's a huge swing. Two and nine years, okay, so in two years, marcus may be growing fruit. It may not be beautiful fruit yet he may just get a couple of apples.
Speaker 1:But some of you who have been saved longer are not getting fruit and you're getting frustrated and you're getting angry and just cut down the tree then, because if I can't produce fruit, then what good am I? And you turn away from God and you blame him because you aren't producing fruit, but when in fact, you haven't been nourished properly. You've planted yourself in a place that you can't grow. Maybe there's rocks on all sides of you and your roots can't grow. Maybe you've placed yourself around a group of people who really don't want to see you saved Hallelujah, hallelujah. We all have those people in our jobs, people who think that you know.
Speaker 1:I had somebody say to me oh so much for a Christian. And I thought to myself yeah, I'm not perfect, but at least I know who Jesus is right, because as a Christian, I would never say that to another Christian. If you tell me that you are saved, I am not in the market to tell somebody when they are and are not saved. I'm gonna believe you if you tell me that you are, and I'm going to pray that God reveals whatever is happening in your life. That is not good, and of him Amen, because that's the only thing I can do. I can't make you more saved. I can't make you actually understand what it is to be saved, because being saved is a very simple process. Is that a fair statement? Because if I confess my sins and I say that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior, I'm saved. Well, it feels like you should have to sign something. Is there a book I have to read or is there a form I have to fill out? No, but the fact is, you won't truly get to that point until you are ready to give up the things in your life that are not of God. That may take nine years Church.
Speaker 1:If we're sitting here with people around us who are not bearing fruit, that's not to say that they aren't saved. It's to say that they've still got some things to work out right. And you can do two things. You can give them good, healthy fruit, something to chew on, something to eat and something to find hope in. Or you can give them rotten fruit. And what I mean by rotten fruit? If I hand you this apple that looks shiny and you go to take a bite of it and you realize it's all soft and gooey in the middle and you know the worst thing about finding a whole worm, there's something worse than finding a whole worm in your apple. It's the half a worm because you've eaten it. And I think to myself how many times do we try to give that kind of fruit to people. Right. And what I mean by that is I'm saved, I know Jesus and I love Jesus and I believe Jesus loves me. And now I'm sitting here and I'm talking about Mel, and you know, can you believe that Mel said or did and I'm saying that to people who aren't necessarily mature in the spirit yet oh my gosh, can you believe that Beth did? Can you believe that Dale did? Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:I was sitting out in the hallway the other day and so-and-so walked by me and oh my gosh, how many of us are bearing bad fruit? How many of us are bearing bad fruit? And here's the thing sometimes people are like, oh no, I don't do that kind of thing, but you fruit. And here's the thing Sometimes people are like, oh no, I don't do that kind of thing, but you're raising kids that are liars. You're raising kids that'll beat up other kids or pick on other kids at school. You're bearing bad fruit because you are the one raising them. Right? It's the truth, folks. Bad fruit is bad fruit, no matter how you slice it.
Speaker 1:You guys ever remember how you slice an apple and you made a little star on the inside. Do you want to? Hey, do you want to come preach? Oh, it's. Oh, that was Elsa. Hey, I thought it was him. Elsa, you want to come preach, sweetheart? No, she doesn't want to. Okay, do you guys remember cutting an apple in half and you can make a star if you cut it one way and the other way it just looks ugly. Anybody remember that? Do you remember that? No, anybody remember that. Okay, thank you. Thank you for those of you who actually remember.
Speaker 1:I don't know how you slice it to make it look pretty, but if that fruit is rotten in the middle, it ain't going to look pretty either way, is it? It's going to be gross and mushy and probably stink a little bit, right? I'm going to tell you something. Sometimes I stink a little bit, and sometimes everybody sitting in this room we stink a little bit, right, and we have to do better. We have to look to the vine to get the nourishment so that our branch can grow good fruit. Amen. Because when we're bearing bad fruit, when we're bearing no fruit at all, when we are mature and bearing no fruit at all, we are doing no good for the kingdom. If you're standing still, you're backsliding Amen. If you are standing still, you're backsliding Amen. If you are standing still, you are backsliding. If you are standing still, you are not gaining anything for the kingdom of God, all right. The last thing I'm going to tell you this morning is a reflection of that passage of Scripture.
Speaker 1:The man that was tending the tree said allow me to apply more fertilizer. What's fertilizer? Poop. Who said poop? A lot of times it's manure of some sort right. A lot of times it's old leftover food, whatever. Because somebody told me that coffee grounds is really good for plants. Use coffee grounds. It makes the soil more acidic, and I've heard that banana peels do really well, eggshells do really well for some plants. There's all of these little natural things. But basically, what he said was allow me to apply some more fertilizer. Let me apply some more manure around this tree, and if it grows fruit, great, and if not, then you can cut it down.
Speaker 1:But I need to tell you something and this is the part that we have to realize as Christians that sometimes you're standing knee deep in manure that you've applied and that tree still ain't going to grow. Do you know why? Because you cannot make the tree grow. All you can do is give it nourishment. Once you get knee deep in that, you need to walk away and say, god, this is yours, this isn't mine anymore. I've given it everything I have and I'm not getting knee deep at this point. Y'all you know why I'm not getting knee deep anymore? Because when I'm knee deep I'm stuck and it is so hard to get out of a cycle of sitting here and talking to you, because typically what happens is I find myself talking bad about other people, right, I find myself saying things that I would never say to anybody else, because I've grown comfortable being stuck with a dead branch, with a tree that isn't growing any fruit.
Speaker 1:Do you know how much easier it is for me to die standing next to a dead branch than it is for me to get a dead branch to grow fruit? I will die faster than you will produce fruit, right, and I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to stand here and die so that you may produce fruit. I'm going to stand here, I'm going to fertilize, I'm going to make sure you have water, and then I'm going to say, god, this one's all yours.
Speaker 1:If you come back and you say Pastor Michael, what you said to me really moved in my life and I've made drastic change, and I'm going to say I'm going to keep pouring. But if I pour into you and you say, well, that was stupid, that didn't do any good in my life, I'm going to say, then you need to seek higher counsel. You need to stop looking to man and look to the word of God. Amen. You need to stop looking for answers from me and you need to start looking for answers from the one who actually has them. All I can do is give you godly advice. He will give you the ultimate answer Amen. Okay, maybe it's time to walk away and let someone else tend that tree. Maybe it's time to say you know what? I've taken this tree as far as I can take it. Maybe I need to send it home with Vicky Hickey, right, because I ain't making a change in that tree. In my mind it's gone, so I'm going to send it to somebody else who can hopefully give it better nutrients, somebody who understands that this one needs eggshells instead of banana peels. Amen, amen, amen. Hallelujah Church.
Speaker 1:I don't think that we can wrap our heads around how easy it is to become a negative person rather than a positive person. How easy it is to get wrapped up in the gossip of the day-to-day lives of the people around us. As Christians, we should not be doing that. Everybody, get out your fruit. You got your fruit. Get your fruit, get it out of your pocket. Everybody got to pick their own fruit. Well, tina gave some of you the fruit because it was. She was like they're just, they wouldn't pick fruit. It was getting complicated. So she's like you get what you get and you don't throw a fit.
Speaker 1:Well, does everybody have a piece of fruit in their hand? Everybody's got a piece of fruit. I'm going to give you 15 seconds to give your fruit to somebody else, because that fruit is not for you. That fruit belongs to somebody else. I don't care who you give it to, but you should leave here with a piece of fruit. I don't have one to give you. Everybody else had fruit except for me, tina, I need a piece of fruit. Tina, I need a piece of fruit. Hurry, thank you. Did everybody exchange fruit? Is anybody holding the same piece of fruit? Good, because I didn't want any dead branches today.
Speaker 1:The fruit that you are holding. Stick that in your Bible. Put that somewhere that this will be a reminder. Put it on your mirror at home. I don't care if you stick it to your car windshield, just not in your line of sight. Please Allow this to be a reminder that the fruit that you are bearing does not belong to you. The fruit that you are bearing you should be passing to other people. The passerby should pick it up and eat it. Amen, amen, let's pray together.
Speaker 1:Father, in the mighty name of Jesus, I thank you and I praise you for just continuing to move inside of this house. Father, allow us to realize how important our fruit truly is. That, father, the fruit is not for us, it is for the people around us. And that, father, we don't have to just consume of the one type of fruit that we produce, that we should be looking for fruit from other people. That, father, we should be able to say, hey, this is for me and I want this in my life.
Speaker 1:God, we trust you to place the right people in our lives every single day. Father, give us a discerning of spirits, because that is where we really need to focus. Allow us to understand that a discerning of spirits and your wisdom is what will allow the fruits to grow in our lives. Father, I thank you for the mighty move in this place today. Father, for an anointed word, I pray that you continue to lead us, guide us and direct us through this week. Father, just allow us to move from this place with a joyful spirit. I thank you for every person that sits here today, that this fresh anointing would take place in their heart, father, that it would begin to take root and that they could see the fruit from your word. I thank you, I praise you, I give you all the honor and glory in the mighty name of Jesus. And the church says