Spiritual Fruit

Hello, and welcome to day two of the Live Bully Podcast, brought to you by Celebration Baptist Church.

My name is Jessica, and today I am once again joined by Pastor Doug, who's going to be speaking on the topic of spiritual fruit.

Pastor Doug, let's start with a basic question.

What is spiritual fruit?

Well, spiritual fruit in the Bible is one of two things.

Either it is the fruit of the Spirit, or it's talking about the fruit of seeing other people come to Christ and grow in Christ.

And so whenever you look in uh John chapter 15, we'll see that Jesus talks about us uh bearing fruit and that it brings glory to God.

John 15 · chapter mention

In that he's talking about his kingdom growing, that people are coming into his kingdom.

And the other kind of fruit is uh what we see in Galatians 5, 22 and 23, where it talks about the fruit of the Spirit.

And so that means that you are bearing the character of Christ, that it's becoming your character, that you're being transformed from the inside out.

And so it doesn't say the fruits of the spirit, so it's not like we can choose one or not the other, uh, but it says these are the things that are going to start coming out of your life and your actions and your attitudes and your behavior that are really going to show that you are Christ and that you're growing in Christ-likeness.

And so that's that's really important.

And and this is a way we can um we can kind of gauge where we are, you know, what's what's coming out of our life, or are we bearing that fruit or not?

You know, it's really, really a good indicator of whether or not we're growing as a believer.

Yeah.

So in your devotion today, you talked about spiritual fruit and spiritual depth.

Why is a lack of spiritual depth an issue, especially in our church leadership?

Yes, one of the things that you know I've seen over the years is that oftentimes we'll give people a position of leadership, maybe like a deacon or a committee member or uh somebody that you know sings in the band or somebody that uh you know teaches a class.

We'll give them that position because you know they may have the skills and ability to do that, but it's more important for them to have uh the character of Christ and leadership, you know, and so one of the things that um that I've seen is that we've put people in there because maybe they do well in business, or maybe they do well, you know, in the in the classroom, or they they seem to have all the right skills, and we say, Oh, okay, well they're great for this position, but we just don't stop and and really look at, you know, are they spiritually where they need to be?

Yeah.

Because if you don't have that spiritual component, if you don't have that maturity, and and we're all on a journey, we're all not haven't arrived yet, so we're all growing, but if they're not a growing disciple of Christ, then they're really not doing the number one thing on their job description.

Yep.

You know, because the say if you were uh if you were a musician and you're and you're singing, but you don't have uh the Spirit of God working through you, then it does not have the same effect.

Because you really got to have that that uh first thing, and that I'm a growing disciple of Christ should be on everybody's job description in the church.

Yes.

In the Live Boldly magazine, you ask people the question: Are you a growing disciple who is discipling relationships?

How do we disciple relationships?

Well, actually, we don't disciple relationships, we disciple people, you know, and so it's through that relationship with those people that we help them to uh to grow in their relationship with Christ and their grow in their impact on others around them.

And so it's really um it's really important to kind of evaluate, you know, am I a disciple of Christ?

Am I growing, you know, through the Holy Spirit and the Word of God in my life?

Am I, you know, allowing others to speak into my life and to help me to grow?

And then also, am I helping others around me uh to grow?

Um, you know, we look at we look in the Bible many times we see like uh Paul and Barnabas and Timothy and all these different relationships, and it tells us that that we always need to have somebody in our life that we're helping to grow in Christ, and we're also learning from others as we go in on our way as a disciple of Christ.

Yeah.

So today's devotional verse is John 15, 4 through 5, which says, Remain in me and I in you.

Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me.

I am the vine, you are the branches.

The one who remains in me, and I in him, produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.

What is the significance of this verse?

I love this verse.

I really love the chapter where Christ really kind of breaks down what does it mean to be a disciple.

But I really like this one in the King James because it uses the word abide.

Yes.

You know, I like remain, remain's good, but I think a better translation is abide, because abide means that you're putting in your dwelling with with Christ.

That you know, it's it's you're doing life in Christ, you know, you're doing life with others.

And so that abide really kind of speaks to that uh that relationship that is day in and day out.

It's not like just on Sundays, you know, just on Wednesdays.

This is like uh, you know, Sunday through Saturday.

This is the kind of life that that really involves all of who you are.

And so the thing that really haunts me about this verse is that last line that says, without me you can do what?

Nothing.

Yeah.

Nothing.

So, you know, I thought that was pretty harsh.

You know, wait a minute.

I mean, I could not be abiding in Christ, and I could get a lot done.

I could be really busy.

I could, you know, uh see a lot of things, you know, accomplished or whatever, and I could do it all in my own strength.

You know, I didn't need Christ.

But then I got to thinking, you know, well, what this verse is talking about, and later on he talks about the fruit, you know, we we mentioned earlier, um, that fruit that coming out of your life, if I do things in my own strength, I only get the applause of men around me.

But if I do things in Christ, I get the applause of God and I get eternal effect.

You know, because if I do it in my own strength, I just get what effect I have, you know, from my perspective.

But if I really do it in Christ, then what I'm doing really does have an impact on people's lives and for all eternity, and it brings glory to God.

Um, and it really does make me a part of that movement, that spiritual movement, the revolution that's happening through Jesus Christ in the world.

Yeah, Pastor Doug, that's awesome.

Thank you so much for joining us again today.

To everyone listening, don't forget, follow Celebration Baptist Church on Instagram, Facebook, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

That way you can keep up with our Live Boldly sermon series and explore anything else that is going on in our celebration family.

Pastor Doug, would you pray for us today?

Yes, I will.

Let's pray together.

Dear Father, Lord, I come before you, just Lord, wanting that kind of relationship with you that changes all of who we are.

Father, we want you to just take us and mold us and transform us into the likeness of your son.

Father, we want to see you glorified because we're bearing fruit that comes from that relationship, and it is fruit that has eternal significance.

Father, help us to be aware of those times that we slip into doing things in our own strength.

We do things by our own wits.

And Father, help us to run back to you and to seek you in all that we do.

And Father, to be so in harmony with you and your purposes that this world has changed because you are at work.

Father, we love you and we thank you.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you, Pastor Doug.

Be sure to tune in again tomorrow for our very last conversation with Pastor Doug.

We'll see you then.