SPEAKER_00: It makes a difference where you are planted.
SPEAKER_00: Where you are planted is in direct relation of how you will grow.
SPEAKER_00: If you are allowing ungodly soil to be where your roots go into, you will produce ungodly fruit.
SPEAKER_00: So I hope all of you had an amazing Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_00: We had an amazing, I'm talking about like you couldn't, it felt like we weren't doing much when we got there because there were so many people that showed up.
SPEAKER_00: Like we were, Sister Helen is the lady who runs it and owns it, and it was her vision that was birthed out of years ago, and God planted that in her heart.
SPEAKER_00: And we were driving her nuts asking her what we could do next because we kept finishing stuff.
SPEAKER_00: We were looking for direction.
SPEAKER_00: And she was probably looking for some peace and quiet.
SPEAKER_00: But it was good, it was good, it was good.
SPEAKER_00: And uh the rain finally let up, and we had some people that were available to go out and even do even more than what was available to us while it was raining, and it was just an awesome day.
SPEAKER_00: And God is using this church house to be the hands and the feet of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And while others do it at popular places that are well known by everybody, we chose to get our hands dirty in places that maybe somebody didn't know about.
SPEAKER_00: Because we didn't do it for us, we did it for the Lord and to further the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: So we're in the middle of this series while you're standing.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to get to the scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Some of y'all aren't there yet, but usually we stand for the reading of the word.
SPEAKER_00: You do not have to, or if you cannot, I promise we won't shoot spitballs at you.
SPEAKER_00: My son is not here, but I'm pretty sure he has that spiritual gift.
SPEAKER_00: We are in the middle of this series.
SPEAKER_00: It's called Living in Faith.
SPEAKER_00: Living is an action.
SPEAKER_00: If you are not living and there's not movement and there's not growth in your life, there is death.
SPEAKER_00: Week one, we kind of broke down what is faith.
SPEAKER_00: You need a good foundation to understand exactly what faith is.
SPEAKER_00: If you missed it, we have it on our church YouTube channel.
SPEAKER_00: Look up Connect Church Longview and you will find us.
SPEAKER_00: Week two, actions required.
SPEAKER_00: You must do something.
SPEAKER_00: If you do nothing with your faith, your faith is pointless.
SPEAKER_00: That's like I say I love my wife, and I never tell her how much I love her.
SPEAKER_00: I never do anything to show her beyond my words, even if I say it.
SPEAKER_00: We can say we have faith all day long, but if we do nothing, we are useless.
SPEAKER_00: We believe here what the Bible says about if someone is sick, if there be an issue in the body, to lay hands on the sick and they will recover.
SPEAKER_00: Some people may label that as us being weirdos until they need healing in their body.
SPEAKER_00: Laying on of the hands.
SPEAKER_00: Week four, faith to see.
SPEAKER_00: That was last week.
SPEAKER_00: Faith to see, even when I can't.
SPEAKER_00: We must have a vision in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: We must have vision in the church.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says, without vision, the people perish.
SPEAKER_00: And my vision for this church, I say it over and over again, it is directly ingrained in the challenge of 17.
SPEAKER_00: Five minutes in prayer, five minutes of reading a word, five minutes of praising.
SPEAKER_00: Do one small act of faith every single day and invite one person to church.
SPEAKER_00: Some of y'all are on point.
SPEAKER_00: Can I get an amen if you invited somebody to church?
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because it's important that you have those values ingrained in your life.
SPEAKER_00: You can't get mad and upset about your children acting wrong when you ain't doing spiritually what you're supposed to.
SPEAKER_00: All right, there's our church logo.
SPEAKER_00: What does that say right there?
SPEAKER_00: Discipline.
SPEAKER_00: If you ain't being disciplined, don't ask your child to.
SPEAKER_00: All right, let's go back to my notes.
SPEAKER_00: Week five is today, planted in faith.
SPEAKER_00: We have to know where our roots are.
SPEAKER_00: We have to have good, nutrient-rich soil to grow in, or you will not grow.
SPEAKER_00: Your growth will be stunned.
SPEAKER_00: And then next week is going to be fruitful in faith.
SPEAKER_00: Today we're actually going to mix a little bit of it.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to talk about soil and the enrichment of the soil and the value that good soil has in your life.
SPEAKER_00: And then we're going to talk a little bit about fruits and what kind of fruits are you bearing, because I guarantee you you are bearing some, whether you're growing on purpose or not.
SPEAKER_00: So our key text today, we've been reading this pretty much over and over again every single week.
SPEAKER_00: James is all about faith.
SPEAKER_00: James chapter 2, 14 through 20.
SPEAKER_00: If you got it, say I'm here.
SPEAKER_00: If you need more time, say hold up.
SPEAKER_00: All right, one of y'all.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna go ahead.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus will come back for you.
SPEAKER_00: Because he leaves a 99 for the one.
SPEAKER_00: Never mind.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: Church joke.
SPEAKER_00: Never mind.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 14 says, What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith and don't show it by your what?
SPEAKER_00: Actions.
SPEAKER_00: Can that kind of faith save anyone?
SPEAKER_00: Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food.
SPEAKER_00: He gives an example here.
SPEAKER_00: Or clothing.
SPEAKER_00: Did we see that Thanksgiving morning?
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you.
SPEAKER_00: And you say goodbye and have a good day.
SPEAKER_00: Stay warm and eat well.
SPEAKER_00: Stay warm.
SPEAKER_00: You see they have no clothes.
SPEAKER_00: You tell them to eat well and you see they're hungry.
SPEAKER_00: Willing to talk about it, but not be about it.
SPEAKER_00: But then you don't give that person food or clothing.
SPEAKER_00: What good does that do?
SPEAKER_00: All you did was recognize a problem.
SPEAKER_00: Good leadership will recognize a problem and will come up with a solution.
SPEAKER_00: What kind of leader and example are you being in your house?
SPEAKER_00: Do you only talk and complain about the problems, or are you presenting solutions?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 16 says, and you say goodbye, good day, stay warm, eat well, but then you don't do or give the person any food or clothing.
SPEAKER_00: What good does that do?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: So you see, faith by itself isn't enough.
SPEAKER_00: Now faith is important.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because faith is the only way that you can please God.
SPEAKER_00: But without action, it's pointless.
SPEAKER_00: Faith itself isn't enough unless it produces good deeds.
SPEAKER_00: It is dead and useless.
SPEAKER_00: And we wonder why we have malnourished Christians in the church is because we talk about a good game of how we need to be the church and we never do anything.
SPEAKER_00: Now, someone may argue some people have faith and others have good deeds, Pastor.
SPEAKER_00: But I say, How can you show me your faith if you don't do good deeds?
SPEAKER_00: I will show you my faith by my good deeds.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 19 says, You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God good for you.
SPEAKER_00: Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.
SPEAKER_00: You foolish.
SPEAKER_00: Can't you see that faith without good deeds is useless?
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we thank you so much for your mercy and your grace.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you, God, for giving us this week of just another way that we are reminded of the good things that you have done in our lives, that we can take a posture and live a life full of thankfulness and being grateful for the good God that we serve.
SPEAKER_00: That we know that if you never do another thing, you have still done more than enough.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you, God, for who you are, for what you have done and what you have yet to do.
SPEAKER_00: In your name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You may be seated.
SPEAKER_00: So if you have noticed, and I hope that you have, but if it's your first time here today, you're gonna get a little recount of the things we've been talking about.
SPEAKER_00: Week one was what is faith?
SPEAKER_00: Faith is action.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Week two is actions required and laying the hands on faith, faith to see, planted in faith, fruitful in faith.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what is the common theme across all of these Sundays?
SPEAKER_00: Action.
SPEAKER_00: If you have faith and you never pray for the sick, it's wasted on you.
SPEAKER_00: If you never lift a finger for anyone else to do anything except what serves you, your faith is pointless.
SPEAKER_00: Matter of fact, your Christianity is pointless because we are called to go, we are instructed to do, to go beyond ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Now, today we're going to talk about different types of faith and different ways and applications of this faith.
SPEAKER_00: But it is always, always, always, every week we're given a different perspective on faith, what it's used for, how you can use it, what it's applied, what is it not, what is it?
SPEAKER_00: And we have to understand that without application, this is pointless.
SPEAKER_00: You can come to the church and you can say, Yes, amen, hallelujah, praise God.
SPEAKER_00: You're right, Pastor, you're right.
SPEAKER_00: But if you never change your habits and never actually put action behind what you are hearing and what you are learning, if you never put action behind what you are reading and studying in the Word of God, it is pointless for you to know God.
SPEAKER_00: And some of us have become so well-crafted in complaining and bitterness that we can't get past it to serve anybody else because nobody else wants to be around us.
SPEAKER_00: So today we're gonna be talking about planted in faith.
SPEAKER_00: Now, in order for a tree or a bush to grow, it first must be planted.
SPEAKER_00: Some of y'all love the scripture like a tree planted by the water, I shall not be moved, and use it as an excuse as your stubbornness.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what it's talking about.
SPEAKER_00: When I say planted, I'm talking about planted in faith.
SPEAKER_00: In the same way, as believers, we know that in order to produce righteous fruits in our lives, we first must be planted.
SPEAKER_00: Planted in faith.
SPEAKER_00: James 1, 19 and 21 says this.
SPEAKER_00: Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters, you must all be quick to listen and slow to speak, and slow to get angry.
SPEAKER_00: I forgot this was in my message, and I literally had this conversation with my wife.
SPEAKER_00: Was it today on the way to church about my smart mouth?
SPEAKER_00: Or was that yesterday?
SPEAKER_00: Whatever it was, I was getting in trouble.
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Well, my smart mouth and my quick wit makes me a good teacher.
SPEAKER_00: She rebuked that devil.
SPEAKER_00: But we must be quick to listen.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you have heard?
SPEAKER_00: You have two ears and one mouth.
SPEAKER_00: You are supposed to hear twice and talk once.
SPEAKER_00: You're supposed to hear more than you speak.
SPEAKER_00: There's a saying when you work with wood, or when you actually work in metal too, what I used to do in a machine shop is you measure twice, you cut once.
SPEAKER_00: I'd measure five or six times to make sure every measurement added up.
SPEAKER_00: But some of us do one time and we start cutting, and we wonder, well, how did that happen?
SPEAKER_00: How come it don't fit together like it's supposed to?
SPEAKER_00: I'm in the body of Christ, why ain't I fitting in?
SPEAKER_00: You need to start measuring better.
SPEAKER_00: You need to do some more measurements.
SPEAKER_00: All right, let's go on.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: Human anger does not say does not produce the righteousness God desires.
SPEAKER_00: It does produce something, most of the time, trouble, but it does not produce the righteousness of God.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 21 says, So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted, say planted, that God has planted in your hearts.
SPEAKER_00: For it is power.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody say power.
SPEAKER_00: It is power to save souls.
SPEAKER_00: When was the last time you led somebody to Jesus or somebody?
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: When was the last time that someone trusted you enough to ask you about God?
SPEAKER_00: And when I say trust, I mean that you have been planting the seeds of righteousness, just displaying it before them.
SPEAKER_00: But here's what, and I said this a couple weeks ago.
SPEAKER_00: What are the church people good at?
SPEAKER_00: We're good at eating our own.
SPEAKER_00: We're good at criticizing, we're good at judging, we'll point out every issue and everyone else's life, and we never stop and take a look in the mirror.
SPEAKER_00: I mentioned vision earlier.
SPEAKER_00: I said it last week, I say it almost every week because my vision for this church is that we need to be mature disciples of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: There needs to be mature people in God's house, there needs to be mature parts of the body so the hand doesn't try to slap or try to cut off what pieces we don't like.
SPEAKER_00: Get out all the filth and evil in your lives.
SPEAKER_00: Now I want you to stop for a second.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to think seriously for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: What has been commercialized in your life, whether on TV, YouTube, what you listen to on podcasts, your music, what has been commercialized and you have been conditioned to accept, but it's actually evil.
SPEAKER_00: You see, we reverses like this, and we say, Yeah, man, they need to get the evil out of their lives.
SPEAKER_00: We're real good at showing the mirror to everybody else, but we don't want to turn it back at us.
SPEAKER_00: I'm afraid what I might see.
SPEAKER_00: What evil are we allowing because it's been commercialized in our lives?
SPEAKER_00: Sister Jesse, she she loves these things where they tell these stories.
SPEAKER_00: What do they call it?
SPEAKER_00: Documentaries.
SPEAKER_00: I think they're stupid.
SPEAKER_00: I they annoy me.
SPEAKER_00: She turned one on the TV actually last night, and I was like, what is this?
SPEAKER_00: Turn on something that I can actually watch and enjoy.
SPEAKER_00: It was they're so dumb.
SPEAKER_00: I know they're informative and history and blah blah blah blah blah blah.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever.
SPEAKER_00: But she was listening to this one who used to be was it a man that was a warlock or whatever the man witch is or whatever.
SPEAKER_00: And they would get assignments or give assignments to demons to go to people's houses.
SPEAKER_00: Now listen to me here.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't use it around that time of year because I didn't want anybody to get upset, but I guess you should be thankful for your pastor and forgive me.
SPEAKER_00: It's that time of year, right?
SPEAKER_00: And this guy said that Halloween was their biggest time and their busiest time.
SPEAKER_00: Now, you may have noticed, or maybe you didn't.
SPEAKER_00: Here at the church, we didn't do anything for Halloween.
SPEAKER_00: Now, your house, I can't say what you need to do in your house.
SPEAKER_00: I can't tell you what to do.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not.
SPEAKER_00: But what I'm saying is, what have we allowed to be commercialized in our lives that is actual evil and we take it as fun?
SPEAKER_00: And then when the devil comes up against us, there were instances in the Bible where somebody tried to cast out demons and he said, Peter and Paul, I know.
SPEAKER_00: Peter and John, I know.
SPEAKER_00: Who are you?
SPEAKER_00: We try to cast out demons in our lives, and we got things in our house that we're trying to get out, and the demons don't know us.
SPEAKER_00: Alright.
SPEAKER_00: Get rid of the filth.
SPEAKER_00: How do you do that?
SPEAKER_00: How do you get rid of filth?
SPEAKER_00: You sift it out with a filter.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're not using and measuring things up to the word of God as your filter, you're wrong.
SPEAKER_00: And if you start comparing to everybody else, that, well, they're a Christian and they do that, you're wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Because they should not be your guide to morality.
SPEAKER_00: God should be.
SPEAKER_00: Because if that was the case, like many, I will call them churches, organizations that allow certain lifestyles to just be a part of whatever they want to do.
SPEAKER_00: They're raising them up to be ministers, having drag queens in the sanctuary.
SPEAKER_00: There was one that was called uh, was it something Miss Pentecost or something like that?
SPEAKER_00: If I didn't pay money for that TV, I would have thrown something at it.
SPEAKER_00: I was so mad.
SPEAKER_00: Because they're trying to blend evil with God.
SPEAKER_00: And these are two things.
SPEAKER_00: They're oil and water, oil and vinegar.
SPEAKER_00: They do not mix.
SPEAKER_00: You can try all you want, but they will never be the same substance.
SPEAKER_00: These are things that we have allowed into our lives, and now they're creeping into our churches, and now we're getting mad because they're literally on our doorsteps.
SPEAKER_00: But we've done no preventative measures to stop it from getting here.
SPEAKER_00: It says, get rid of all filth and evil in your lives.
SPEAKER_00: This is why the Spirit of God is so important to be led in your life because you will not recognize evil when it's in your face.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, let's go back.
SPEAKER_00: Say it one more time.
SPEAKER_00: Get rid of all filth and all evil in your life.
SPEAKER_00: And humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts.
SPEAKER_00: If you have malnourished soil that will not allow God's fruit to grow in your heart, you gotta begin to check.
SPEAKER_00: God, what do I need to get out?
SPEAKER_00: Now you can come to me and we can do some counseling and we can talk and we can I can help you hash it out.
SPEAKER_00: I would love to talk to you, but if you keep going through the same thing over and over again, I don't know what to do for you.
SPEAKER_00: Because there's something that you are holding on to that you are not letting go of.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us here today, it says, The word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save souls.
SPEAKER_00: Who around you is not being saved because you won't submit your power to the all-one authority, and you keep trying to live in filth.
SPEAKER_00: Your soil is dirty, you're malnourished, and you're walking around telling everybody else how they should eat.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us here today are not winning souls to Jesus because of the foul stench and stink of our bad fruit.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say it one more time.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us here today, we are not winning.
SPEAKER_00: It's getting quiet in the church house today.
SPEAKER_00: I'm landing some truth on you, but I want you to really stop and check for a second.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: We just went through Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_00: Christmas is usually worse for people.
SPEAKER_00: You maybe stayed in town for Thanksgiving, but you may go see some idiots on Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to give you some nourishment today up in the church house that you need to stop and check your soul because we're walking around with stinky fruit, walking around like our boo-boo don't stink.
SPEAKER_00: And people don't want nothing to do with God because of the way that we smell.
SPEAKER_00: We don't sacrifice to God anymore.
SPEAKER_00: And we sure don't sacrifice for the church.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go back.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna stop meddling.
SPEAKER_00: And we get angry and we label fleshly factors as righteous anger.
SPEAKER_00: I'll say one more time in case some of y'all didn't catch that.
SPEAKER_00: We get angry and we label things of the flesh, reactions of the flesh, and you say, Well, they're not doing this and they're not doing that.
SPEAKER_00: God's not gonna ask you what they did, He's gonna ask you, What did you do?
SPEAKER_00: And we take fleshly factors as righteous anger, and this is wrong.
SPEAKER_00: This does not bear healthy, nourishing fruit.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, this has the opposite effect in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: It not only spoils itself, but begins to stink, and it will ruin and spoil all of the good fruit.
SPEAKER_00: And it will begin to spoil other people's good fruit.
SPEAKER_00: When you're not bearing good fruit, you will begin to spoil.
SPEAKER_00: You ever been around somebody who's angry all the time?
SPEAKER_00: Somebody who's complaining all the time, somebody who's bitter all the time, you don't even realize, but you start doing it too because misery loves company.
SPEAKER_00: The same type of fruit that You are producing will produce the same fruit in someone else's life.
SPEAKER_00: And if there is a constant issue with relationships in your life, you may be the bearer of bad fruit.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're like me and you've never done anything wrong in your life, and you've never done wrong, never done anything wrong.
SPEAKER_00: You hear that, baby?
SPEAKER_00: I've never done anything wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Let me help you figure out something that's very vital and important to your Christian walk.
SPEAKER_00: If you constantly blame others for the bad fruit in your life and all your problems for everyone else's fruit, and it's everyone else's fault, chances are you're the problem.
SPEAKER_00: And you are growing fruit in self-righteous soil.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say it again.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna back up.
SPEAKER_00: Say it one more time.
SPEAKER_00: If you are constantly blaming others for the bad fruit in your life, and all your problems are everyone else's fault, the problem is probably you.
SPEAKER_00: Let me be a mirror for somebody today.
SPEAKER_00: Because I've had to hold this up in my own face, and it's a hard pill to swallow when you realize that you're the problem.
SPEAKER_00: I have a I had baggage when I first got married.
SPEAKER_00: Baggage.
SPEAKER_00: I've been married before.
SPEAKER_00: I had a kid by the first wife, and there's a lot of things that I thought that I was healed from that I carried into my second marriage, also known as the upgrade.
SPEAKER_00: And she had to deal with the baggage and the bad fruit that I had not yet purged off of my tree.
SPEAKER_00: And I didn't realize, but just because I changed locations, I took that pot of soil with me.
SPEAKER_00: And just because I live somewhere else, I still have to face me, I still have to deal with me.
SPEAKER_00: If you aren't worried about maybe it's you, you are the problem.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you start checking yourself out, you get a spirit of humility on you that can solve any issue.
SPEAKER_00: The problem in the church is we get so high-mindy on ourselves, we start getting roots down in the self-righteous soil, and it's nobody else's problem.
SPEAKER_00: Or so it's not my problem, it's everybody else.
SPEAKER_00: And this is wrong.
SPEAKER_00: God doesn't call you, and it's not a spiritual gift to show everybody else what they're doing wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Not in the book, but from cover to cover, constantly people are having to check themselves because God is showing them, holding the mirror up to them, that hey, maybe it is me.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I am the problem.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe my roots have not been growing in the proper soil, and I'm growing these fruits and it's stinking.
SPEAKER_00: And it ends up being soil of self-righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: You have allowed seeds to be planted somewhere along the way.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if maybe you're selfish, or you're prideful, or you've been hurt, or you're in the middle of the worst storm of your life and the worst season, and you don't know where God is, and you may even question if there is a God.
SPEAKER_00: But somewhere along the way, the seeds have been planted in your heart in the soil of self-righteousness because that's where pride comes from.
SPEAKER_00: That's where never wanting to check yourself comes from.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone else's fault, self-righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: I am right, they are wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Self-right.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't do anything, it's all them.
SPEAKER_00: Mind you have a kid stomping in the store.
SPEAKER_00: I want my toy.
SPEAKER_00: You have allowed seeds to be planted somewhere along the way in the garden of your heart.
SPEAKER_00: They may be hiding in the dark in a back corner somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: But eventually, listen to me now.
SPEAKER_00: Eventually, the fruit will make itself known and it will begin to smell and stink.
SPEAKER_00: And when you walk into the room, others will see it.
SPEAKER_00: To make it a little more real for you, others will smell it.
SPEAKER_00: Now have you ever smelt a bad smell in the air somewhere?
SPEAKER_00: It may be, I mean, we just came through Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_00: Tons of food went in the trash.
SPEAKER_00: You open up that trash can after you're like, woo! Whoa! It was all smelling a lot better when it was separated out on the counter.
SPEAKER_00: And you smell this smell.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you could went over to a family or a friend's house and you you go, you have a good time.
SPEAKER_00: On the ride home, you're like, man, I still smell that.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you got some food in the car.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: You brought everybody took some leftovers.
SPEAKER_00: Because the person who was hosting didn't want to keep it for 15 months.
SPEAKER_00: So you took it home.
SPEAKER_00: You get to the house, you sit down on your couch, you're like, oh, you know, you got the what is it?
SPEAKER_00: The Thanksgiving 23.
SPEAKER_00: Thanksgiving 22, whatever you got.
SPEAKER_00: You sit down.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing else is around you except the furniture in your living room, and you're like, I still smell that smell.
SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness, it's me.
SPEAKER_00: We do this all the time in the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: We have bad fruit.
SPEAKER_00: It begins to rock and spoil and be disgusting.
SPEAKER_00: And we're around people and we think it's everybody else stinking.
SPEAKER_00: We will get in the car and we'll go back home.
SPEAKER_00: And we'll justify it being there from some other reason.
SPEAKER_00: And then when you get by yourself, you still smell it.
SPEAKER_00: You haven't been in the smell so long that you soon and very soon no longer smell it.
SPEAKER_00: The same applies with the fruit of our heart.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us have been burying bad fruit.
SPEAKER_00: We're not willing to open the door and check it out.
SPEAKER_00: We know something's in there.
SPEAKER_00: It stinks.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us have special rooms for our bad fruit that we go pile it up.
SPEAKER_00: Or we can close the door and lock it and never have to look at it again.
SPEAKER_00: The longer we leave it, the worse it gets.
SPEAKER_00: And then soon the smell creeps from the door.
SPEAKER_00: We try glade plug-ins.
SPEAKER_00: Air fresheners.
SPEAKER_00: We watch all the YouTube we can find of how to make our house smell better, but we won't get rid of the smell.
SPEAKER_00: We won't get rid of the root of the problem.
SPEAKER_00: We just want to cover it up.
SPEAKER_00: We want to find something magical that we can just spray in the air.
SPEAKER_00: And it goes away.
SPEAKER_00: We do this in our spirits constantly.
SPEAKER_00: We want to come to church.
SPEAKER_00: We want to get a nice little sprint of that anointing all.
SPEAKER_00: Want to get a little prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe complain and get somebody on our side.
SPEAKER_00: And then we go back home.
SPEAKER_00: And we realize the smell is still there.
SPEAKER_00: Because in order to get the bad fruit out, in order to handle this problem, you have to get your hands dirty.
SPEAKER_00: I believe, and we have seen breakthroughs of freedom in this class that we just got through with, and that we will start again in the spring.
SPEAKER_00: That God wants people in his body, in the church house, that say they are the church to actually be walking in the word like they say they believe.
SPEAKER_00: And that we as the church, when we say that we are free, we actually can say it and not stink otherwise.
SPEAKER_00: That we actually aren't bearing the bad fruit.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes things happen in life.
SPEAKER_00: And if we're bearing bad fruit, we have to check the root.
SPEAKER_00: Because you can keep carrying out that bad fruit and taking it out to the trash, but if it's still producing in there, it's still gonna stain.
SPEAKER_00: You have to check the root.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes things happen to us in life, and we end up allowing bitter seeds to be planted.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing really that will harm the ecosystem, small and insignificant at the time.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing really that stands out, just small little things along the way of life.
SPEAKER_00: But you allow days, you allow months, and you allow years to go by, and in the wrong soil, the bad seeds take root, and before you know it, you are bearing bad fruit.
SPEAKER_01: And you end up allowing that bad fruit to produce in your heart.
SPEAKER_01: Where does that fruit appear?
SPEAKER_00: In your words, in your relationships, in your feelings.
SPEAKER_00: You may get anxiety, depression, loneliness.
SPEAKER_00: All these things are bad fruit that God wants to get out of your life.
SPEAKER_00: But you cannot do that if you do not have the faith to believe that when God said you are free, like we sang earlier, who the Son sets free is free indeed.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what that means is when you believe that, when you believe that God has set you free, when you believe with all of your heart that you have been redeemed, you have been sanctified and restored, that no matter what the devil brings to your doorstep, you can kick it to the curb.
SPEAKER_00: You don't need a pastor, you don't need nobody else, then you can say, devil, I see you, I see your hand, I know what you're doing.
SPEAKER_00: You ain't doing nothing up in this house because I've cleaned out my fruit and I've changed out my soil, and now I got my root planted on the solid rock, deep down in faith, and I will not be moved.
SPEAKER_00: Because when the soil is your faith, the fruit that you will grow will be unstoppable.
SPEAKER_00: You get bad roots, you get bad soil, you'll be growing the wrong things.
SPEAKER_00: You won't be able to worship right anymore, you won't be able to talk right anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Everything out of your mouth will be fruit of bitterness, complaining, suffering, woe is me type attitude, and the devil will steal your joy.
SPEAKER_00: Now, let me tell you something.
SPEAKER_00: Let me open your eyes to this.
SPEAKER_00: The joy cannot be taken from you unless it is handed.
SPEAKER_00: The devil can't come up in your house and take what is not his.
SPEAKER_00: If you have been bloodbought and redeemed, you have the ability to say, devil, I ain't listening to you today.
SPEAKER_00: I'm getting my joy back.
SPEAKER_00: My seeds are planted, my roots are deep, and God loves me.
SPEAKER_00: No matter what you say and whisper in my ear.
SPEAKER_00: Now, then when it's time to let your faith produce action, when you start trying, see, it's kind of like this two rooms next to each other.
SPEAKER_00: And there's a doorway.
SPEAKER_00: And in that doorway, you used to be over here in bitterness and suffering, and it was your prison.
SPEAKER_00: You felt like there was no way out, and all of a sudden you begin to believe what the word of God said, and all of a sudden you begin to see that doorway become open.
SPEAKER_00: And you can see through to the other side of people dancing with joy.
SPEAKER_00: You can see to the other side where people are reading the word and it's coming alive to them again.
SPEAKER_00: You can see to the other side to where, wait a minute, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_00: That person has been set free.
SPEAKER_00: God did something in that person's life.
SPEAKER_00: Well, now wait a minute, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_00: This doorway is here, why not walking through yet?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the answer is you.
SPEAKER_00: So guess what?
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes when we step through, it's like our foot catches and we can't get all the way through.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we start planting the roots in the proper soil over here, and we still got the foot where the devil had us trapped.
SPEAKER_00: It is time that the last root that is attached to who you used to be, to the bad soil that used to grow all that bad fruit.
SPEAKER_00: Shake it loose and shake that dust off, baby girl.
SPEAKER_00: Because God's got a new plan for you.
SPEAKER_00: He has a hope.
SPEAKER_00: He has a plan.
SPEAKER_00: He has a path for you to walk that doesn't have anything to do with where you come from.
SPEAKER_00: But guess what?
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's a good fact.
SPEAKER_00: Here's something about soil.
SPEAKER_00: Good, nutrient-rich soil comes from doo-doo.
SPEAKER_00: Hear me up now, hear me out.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going somewhere, follow along.
SPEAKER_00: See if you can pick up what I'm laying down.
SPEAKER_00: Now, listen to me.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us got some things in our past that stimulates.
SPEAKER_00: And we didn't lock it at the time.
SPEAKER_00: Some things had to be broken down, some things had to be chopped up.
SPEAKER_00: But guess what?
SPEAKER_00: God can use where you come from.
SPEAKER_00: God can use what you've been through to be the most nutritious soil you have ever seen.
SPEAKER_00: I say this all the time, and I'm meaning with my heart's shame.
SPEAKER_00: It's not God's game, it's the devil's game.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because we know that all come on has made us overcomers by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: That means you gotta get your soil out because it's rich.
SPEAKER_00: The thing the devil's trying to rob you from of your story and what God's doing in your life and make you feel like you ain't worth nothing, make you feel like you can't be more than where you are at right now.
SPEAKER_00: Get your foot out of that room and step into freedom where God wants you to be.
SPEAKER_00: Because good nutritious soil comes from cow patties.
SPEAKER_00: And what's weird is that good nutritious soil stinks, but the fruit is good.
SPEAKER_00: Good soil will usually stink.
SPEAKER_00: The things that you feel like you have had baggage to you because you have some sort of past is actually the fuel that God needs to get you going.
SPEAKER_00: This is why it is so important for you to read God's word.
SPEAKER_00: It is the greatest love letter you've ever read in your life, specifically tailored to you.
SPEAKER_00: That's how we know that the word of God is alive and active, because I can read something and it speaks to me in some way.
SPEAKER_00: You could read something, the same passage, the same exact words, and you'll say, Wow, it says it God showed me this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, that ain't in there, and I'll go and look, and then when I see it from your perspective, okay, I can see that.
SPEAKER_00: And then you can read something 10 years later that you know so well from childhood, and you'll go back to the same story, and God reveals something to you.
SPEAKER_00: Man, what a good gracious God that he will speak to us no matter where we are, that he loves us so much that he would make his spirit be in his word, that when we read it, we can feel the pages coming off.
SPEAKER_00: To be alive and active in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: This is why the challenge of 17 is so important.
SPEAKER_00: Five minutes in prayer, five minutes of reading your word, and five minutes of praising.
SPEAKER_00: Some of those things I can read and be mad.
SPEAKER_00: I won't be happy about it, but I can read and be mad.
SPEAKER_00: I can even pray and be mad.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody ever prayed in the heat of the moment?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I wish you'd just get them off the road.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all know I have traffic issues.
SPEAKER_00: But one thing that I've noticed in the short life that I have lived, that it is almost impossible to carry the weight of my problems.
SPEAKER_00: When I begin to come in his presence and begin to praise him.
SPEAKER_00: When we get a body of believers that learns that even in the process and in the pain and in the struggle, we still praise him, anyways, even though we may not see what is going to come out of this, we know that it is just rich soil being produced for the growth that is going to happen in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: And when you have the word of God and you have the Spirit of God inside of you, moving you, speaking to you, speaking through you.
SPEAKER_00: And there's things in our life that we're holding we're held back on that God wants to do in us because we're not getting the filth out.
SPEAKER_00: When you're not planted in faith, but you're rooted in unforgiveness, the fruit of the spirit can't grow.
SPEAKER_00: So we end up having voids in our lives searching for fulfillment or a place to belong, lacking connection or roots, because you've been growing in the wrong soil and producing the wrong fruit.
SPEAKER_00: Can I share something with you?
SPEAKER_00: Anger is a thief.
SPEAKER_00: Unforgiveness is a destroyer.
SPEAKER_00: Anything God is trying to build in your life, if you will not forgive, it will continue to destroy everything God is trying to do.
SPEAKER_00: Your spiritual man or your spiritual woman cannot survive with this kind of fruit.
SPEAKER_00: It cannot be active and alive in our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: You must be planted in faith.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because faith produces hope.
SPEAKER_00: And if you have hope, we have a blessed hope in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: If you're not carrying that around with you, but yet you have bitterness and sorrow in your life, you will never further the kingdom of God, and you will never go further in your relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 11:1 says, Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
SPEAKER_00: What are we if our hope is taken?
SPEAKER_00: We become powerless.
SPEAKER_00: Faith is hope, and hope should be our banner to the lost and dying world.
SPEAKER_00: So, in the same respect, if you aren't planted in faith, you cannot bring hope.
SPEAKER_00: If we aren't displaying hope, this robs and replaces the word of our testimony that gives us the power to overcome.
SPEAKER_00: I'll say it again.
SPEAKER_00: If you aren't displaying hope, if you are not planted and rooted in faith, this will rob and replace the word of your testimony.
SPEAKER_00: Which is how we overcome.
SPEAKER_00: What are you planted in today?
SPEAKER_00: What fruit are you producing?
SPEAKER_00: Ask yourself: are you producing bitterness?
SPEAKER_00: Are you producing anger?
SPEAKER_00: Sadness?
SPEAKER_00: Division?
SPEAKER_00: Attitude?
SPEAKER_00: What you produce is what you are proclaiming.
SPEAKER_00: What your fruit that is coming out of you, and it will make itself known, is what you are proclaiming.
SPEAKER_00: If you do not have faith, you will not be proclaiming healing.
SPEAKER_00: If you do not have faith or hope, you will not be proclaiming salvation.
SPEAKER_00: You will become a bitter self-righteous person and claim to know God, but know nothing about who He is because you're not allowing His spirit to be active and moving through you.
SPEAKER_00: What are you producing?
SPEAKER_00: What are your roots in?
SPEAKER_00: What soil have you allowed for your roots to go down in?
SPEAKER_00: What soil and what seed have you allowed to be planted in your heart?
SPEAKER_00: Because whatever you allow to grow in your heart will come out of you.
SPEAKER_00: What is inside of you will come out of you.
SPEAKER_00: What you allow to go into you will always come out of you.
SPEAKER_00: It may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, it may be a year from now, but one day something you've held on to and not fully let go will eventually come out, and it will usually hurt and destroy the people you love the most.