Sermon
Produce - Kingdom Disciples
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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The. Title of my message tonight is
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this. I wanted you to see it with your
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eyeballs. All right, this is the title of
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my message. See.
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It's in the parentheses. All right, I want everybody to
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say this word. All right, say it.
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OK. Is it?
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Or is it produce? Oh, so you think you know
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something? I find it interesting that
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produce and produce is spelled the same and technically has the
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same meaning. Produce is fruit or vegetables
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that have matured in order to be harvested so that people can eat
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and grow. But you have no produce if the
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plant doesn't produce or the seed doesn't produce.
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So if you're going to have produce in your spiritual life,
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then you're going to have to produce the seeds sown in your
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life. Are you hearing me now?
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I am going to minister the beginning part of this that I
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ministered to our leaders in the Caribbean because when the Lord
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put this in my. Spirit that we needed to go here
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this this evening. I had just did a leadership
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lesson on Monday and I'm like, man, that is so good.
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I think I'm going to pull that into this context.
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So we're going to take a little journey together.
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Look at Matthew Chapter 9 verse 36 to 38.
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It says this. It says seeing the people, and
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this is Jesus seeing the people. He felt compassion for them
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because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a
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shepherd. Then he said to his disciples,
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the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
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Therefore, beseech the Lord of the harvest.
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Oh, thank you, Jesus. Just send out workers into his
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harvest. Now Jesus in one comment talks
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about the society that they were living in.
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There is livestock and then there's agriculture.
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And so he starts when he's thinking about people, He first
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goes to an analogy of livestock, a shepherd and sheep.
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Then the very next, he's still talking about the same group of
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people. He has compassion for people.
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And when he sees them, they're like sheep without shepherd.
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But then he sees them like they are a harvest.
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It's agriculture. And he said, man, we need to
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pray to the Lord of the harvest that he'd send out workers.
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Now, when you go out to a field to harvest, how many?
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You know, harvesting is not just pulling the fruit off the vine,
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because if we went to Hastings and they started to pull the
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fruit off the bott, by all rights they have harvested the
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fruit and leave it in the field and walk off and there's no.
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Other process What's going to happen to all the fruit that's
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just been picked? It's going to rot in the same
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field that they were harvesting. Oh y'all don't want to?
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So when we think of harvest, unfortunately we have a context
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that we have been, you know, traditionally trained in.
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But I'm I began to ask the question, what was Jesus seeing
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when he said the harvest is plentiful?
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Because again, it's very easy for us to go into scripture,
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find a scripture, find two or three that kind of model that,
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but still miss the big picture. This is why we wrote the book
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The Forest, because again, sometimes we miss the context of
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God's truths within His Scripture because we don't see
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the big picture of what's going on.
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If you've never read our book The Force, you can get it at
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Guest. Relations and it would our
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welcome center it would be a great blessing to you OK.
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And so, you know, there's a lot of truths in the Bible, but if
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you don't have it in the right context, even if it's true, you
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will not have the value or reap everything out of that
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particular truth because you don't understand its context.
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So when Jesus says the harvest is great, what is he looking at?
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Now? Many of us would just say, well,
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he's talking about, you know, people being born again.
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I mean, this is technically the traditional thought that the
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harvest is people who are lost. And they come into the Kingdom.
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Well, is that what Jesus was seeing?
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OK, let's do a little go through scripture.
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Now in Matthew chapter 28 verse 19, obviously Jesus is concerned
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about. People's spiritual condition and
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he doesn't want them to stay in the place they are.
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He wants them into another location.
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As a result of that, he gives this command after his death,
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burial, resurrection. He says that go therefore and
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make what does he make him disciples of all nations,
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baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy
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Spirit. So notice Jesus does not say
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make converts. He doesn't say go get people
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saved alone. He says go make disciples.
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The word disciple means enroll as a student or a pupil, which
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means in essence, if they're going to be trained because his
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word his his preaching in Matthew 417 when he goes to the
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public says repent, that's change your thinking.
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Notice he did not say get a new spirit.
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Do you need a new spirit? Yes, what I'm saying is your
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spiritual change is not all that God was going after.
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God understands that we are not only spirit, but we have a soul
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and a body, and He's here to redeem it all.
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Because we can save our souls through the washing of the water
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of the world. We are to work out our salvation
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with what fear and trembling meaning renew in our mind.
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But one day our mortal bodies that will go to the grave,
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should the Lord tarry, will put on immortality, will be
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glorified and will never die. So your body will never die,
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never have sickness or disease. Your mind will be completely
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open with no sin context, whoo Hallelujah.
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And all of that will reflect your spirit being.
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So when the Lord's like putting a new spirit in us, He expects
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that spirit alone with the Holy Ghost in us to do a work with
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the rest. Because you know, even though
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your body today is mortal, He'll heal it.
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He'll cause it to be strong so that you can accomplish the
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work. He didn't say, well, whatever
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happens to your body, Oh well, I'm not really concerned about
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that. Well, why'd he take stripes on
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his back? So he's concerned about all of
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us. So do not cheapen the the
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finished work of Jesus to solely being saved in your spirit
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because it's way bigger than that.
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Come on, say Amen. So Jesus said go and make
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disciples. In essence, enroll the students,
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which means if they're going to repent, if I'm going to have
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them change their thinking, I'll change their spirit.
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They can't do it. Only I can do that.
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But then once their spirits change and I put my spirit in
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them, the Holy Spirit, they'll be the temple of the Holy Ghost.
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He'll bear witness with their spirit.
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He'll teach them. He'll guide them.
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Right now, what's He teaching and guiding?
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He's there to renew your mind because he wants a disciple.
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Well, what does a disciple look like?
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Because again, a disciple is not someone who is just born again.
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That is not a Bible definition of disciples.
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OK, Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11 and 12.
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Look what Jesus said by the Holy Spirit through Paul writing to
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the church at Ephesus and he says and he that's Jesus gave
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some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelist,
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some as pastors and teachers. Why?
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This is their why for the equipment of the Saints.
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So the FIFO ministry has a very serious assignment and that
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assignment is not just to win the lost and go after the lost
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alone. And many congregations are not
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arriving to disciple level because the emphasis is on a
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harvest of only the loss coming into the Kingdom.
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But no, growing up we are heavy in discipleship.
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This is why we have midweek services.
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This is why we have men's group on a Monday night.
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That's why we have faith Christian University.
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I mean we have a plethora of opportunities for you to grow up
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spiritually. This is why our foundations on
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Sunday morning is why to disciple you because it's not
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enough that you're in his Kingdom.
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God always saw you as a his view of you was let him be a disciple
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and the five folds responsibilities.
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I need to make sure I am feeding them the word that they can grow
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by it, not hold on by it, not wait until they die by, you
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know, and go to heaven by it, but to grow by it, to overcome
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by it, to win, to conquer to. Crucify the flesh to overcome
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obstacles, right? Trials and tribulations.
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We're going to see this. That's the point.
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So then we go over. So a pastor obviously is a type
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and shadow of a shepherd, she said.
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I have compassion for him to like sheep without a shepherd.
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And a shepherd doesn't go to the field and transfer them from 1
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field into another field and then walk away or let him stay
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in. He's always taking them.
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To pastures to feed them. It's to develop and grow them
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All right, so a pastor issue. Equip Saints.
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For this purpose, look at John chapter 15, verse 8.
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John 15-8 tells us very clearly what a disciple looks like.
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He said, My father's glorified by this, that you what bear
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much. And so, so confessing Jesus as
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Lord, does that prove your disciple it it proves that
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you're a child of God. I'll give you that.
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Paul himself in the in in the Corinthian letter said.
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Look, I I can't even speak to you about spiritual things.
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Like we can't even go on to some things because you're carnal.
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You're like babes in Christ. I mean, God never intended you
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to stay, baby, to just be out of the domain of darkness into the
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Kingdom of his beloved son. Live just as a babe until you go
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to heaven, so that when you stand before the Lord, it's as
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if you were saved by fire, like you were plucked out of just
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hell itself. That's about all you, all that
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happened for you, the Lord's. Like I saw beyond that.
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When I saw harvest, I saw fruit. So when Jesus says the harvest,
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he's saying this. I see the potential of someone
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if they would come over into this Kingdom, would have a life
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that would bear much fruit for me, not just be my child that
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has no fruit, that's just holding on until they die.
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That their only confession is that Jesus died on the cross and
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roast from the grave 1 to get in and then the second one after
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that is I'm going to heaven when I die and that's it.
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That's never was God intent and that's not what he saw when he
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saw the harvest. When he saw the harvest, he saw
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men and women coming back into the original purpose that God
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had for man in the first place. In Genesis chapter 1.
Genesis 1 chapter mention
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Let us make man in our image according to our likeness and
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let them have what demeaning or rule?
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Well, you cannot rule or dominate your circumstances and
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situations on the planet if you're staying a baby.
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Babies just in the natural do not dominate their dominate
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their bodies because you know when they 1st come out they'll
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mess all over themselves and be fine with it.
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And look at you like when you changing me.
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If you do whatever, I don't care because if you don't and he gets
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all nasty then I'm going to cry anyway and you're going to have
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to deal with that right? They cannot of their own self do
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anything right now. Everything we do, we do because
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we are following God and God's empowering.
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US. All right.
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Now here's the thing. When you're born of God, your
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spirit man wants to produce fruit.
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The question is, do you? Disrupt it in your soul so.
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Harvest really has has. Has to do with.
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Fruit. So when we acknowledge that
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harvest is just salvation or being born again, that's not
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what Jesus was saying. Because harvest is a salvation
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itself is a just about a transfer from from one domain
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into another domain. That's what salvation.
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When I say salvation, I'm saying born again.
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That one time account of faith is a transfer from one domain to
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the next. That's why Colossians chapter 2
Colossians 2 chapter mention
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says you were transferred from the domain of darkness into the
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Kingdom of his beloved son. Now you're transferred into the
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Kingdom, and Kingdom is not heaven because when I was born
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again, I didn't go to heaven. I was still on the planet.
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I'm still on the planet, but I was transferred into His
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Kingdom. I became a citizen, a royal
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heir. Come on, I'm a peculiar people,
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a holy nation, right? And you know, I'm, I'm working
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with the Lord. So with that being said, look at
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Matthew chapter 13. Now in Matthew 13, what I'm
Matthew 13 chapter mention
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going to do when we do this is the parable of the sower.
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But there are two other gospels that give this account.
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And I am adding in at various verses the other Gospels
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accounts because they say a couple of different things.
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All right, Matthew and Mark are pretty.
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Close together, not a whole lot of difference there.
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Luke definitely has some additional things in there.
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Mark does too, but you know Luke a little bit more.
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And so we're going to embed them so that you can see them.
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So we'll just start again. We're going to be in Matthew
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chapter 13, verses 3 through 9, and then I'm going to insert
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these sections of Mark and Luke into this.
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All right, Matthew, chapter 13, verse 3 through 8, because
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again, we're talking. About harvest, we're talking
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about produce. God saved you not to go to
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heaven. He saved you to become a son
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that will bear fruit, to be a disciple.
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All right, And if fruit bearing was automatic, then we would not
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have the parable of the sower. All right, it's automatic in the
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Spirit. We can disrupt it.
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All right, let's go on. Says And He spoke many things to
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them in parable, saying, Behold, the sower went out to sow, and
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as he sowed, some seed fell by the road.
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Did y'all copy and paste this? Let me look at this.
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Interesting. Feel like I've already missed a
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section. It's probably in the second.
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That's why I'm sorry. You're fine.
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And he spoke these things in parable, saying, behold, the
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sore went out to sow, and as he sowed, some seed fell by the
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road, and the birds came and ate it up, Luke 85 says.
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And it was trampled under foot, and the birds of the air ate it
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up. Others fell on the rocky places
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where they did not have much soil.
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Soil. And immediately they sprang up
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because they had no depth of soil.
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But when the sun had risen, they were scorched and.
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Because they had no root, they withered, Luke 86 says.
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It withered away because it had no.
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Moisture verse seven others fell among the thorns and the thorns
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came up and choked it out. Mark chapter 4 seven says and it
Mark 4 chapter mention
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yielded no. Crop.
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And others fell on the good soil and yielded A crop, some a
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hundredfold, some 60, some 30, Mark 48 says.
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And they grew. Up and increased he who has
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ears. Let him hear.
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Now, Matthew chapter 13, verse 18 is the explanation of this
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parable. All right?
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And so we are going to look at this again.
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I'm going to insert the Mark and Luke account.
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It says hearing the parable of the sower.
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Mark says the. Sower shows the word Luke 8 says
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the. Seed is the word of God, Matthew
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verse 19 says and when anyone who hears the word of the
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Kingdom. So Mark tells us that the sower
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shows the word. Luke tells us that what he is
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sowing is a seed. In that seed is the word of God.
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Matthew says this seed is the Kingdom of God.
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It's the word of the. Kingdom OK, so this let me ask
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this question. Are we?
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Let me say this the The farmer has seed.
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Does he have one? It's important because again, if
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this is only about being born again, then it's just one.
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CI mean we are told to study the word and everything we study are
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seeds. If you're going to have the
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produce of healing, or the produce of provision, or the
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produce of a fruitful marriage, or the produce of great
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parenting, or the produce of being a good employee, or the
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produce you know of overcoming an obstacle, you're going to
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have to have that seed sown in you in order.
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Because again, if just being born again alone was enough
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without any other instruction, then I agree with you.
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We're wasting our time here because it should just, well, it
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just comes up automatic. I'm born again and it
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automatically shows up. Here it comes.
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I know everything to do without even reading.
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No, the word is sown, which tells us faith comes by as I'm
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speaking, I'm sowing, and whatever subject I'm speaking,
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I'm sowing. I'm sowing the word of God.
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I'm sowing the word of the Kingdom.
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Period. Now how this now let me just
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say, this is all the seed good seed, yes, there's nothing wrong
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with the seed. Tell what's wrong with the word
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of God. When is the word of God bad?
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Thank you. So it's not a seed problem.
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This is not a seed problem. So you can't have church hurt
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'cause it's not a seed problem, it's not a seed problem, it's
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not a seed problem. This is the environment the seed
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is entering. It's the environment the seed is
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entering. And I'm sowing seed now into
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environments and OK, I mean, we'll just make it simple.
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God made man He. Formed Adam out of what?
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Thank you. The dust of the earth are dirt,
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so you're just a bunch of dirt fields that I'm sowing seed in.
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That God always expected a harvest out of you as his.
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Now what's in your. Field.
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Is up to you, say. Amen.
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Anyway, see This is why some people can receive the seed on
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certain subjects, but other subjects they do not receive the
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seed 'cause it goes on and says when anyone hears the word of
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the Kingdom and does not understand it.
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Now anyone in this room could fall.
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Victim to this? Because if you're here without
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intentionality to understand, then I will say I will sow a lot
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of seed that's going to fall to the wayside.
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The person to your left and right could be getting it, but
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you're not. So you actually have to have an
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intentionality when you come. It's not my responsibility to
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prepare your soil. It's yours.
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Now. If you have no intention to come
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in, to understand, then you'll leave.
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I didn't understand anything you said.
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And whose problem is that? Because there's nothing wrong
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with the seed. Now I understand that there can
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be people who preach wrong. I get that, but let's take that
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off the table. We're obviously talking about
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the intentionality that God saw. I see the harvest.
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It's ripe, you know. Are you know, there's a harvest
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out there. It's plentiful.
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There are plenty that can come into the Kingdom and bear fruit
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for. Me as disciples, I see their
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potential. We just need laborers.
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Laborers who will do more than cut it off and leave it in the
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field, but take it all the way through the process so that it
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can benefit humanity, so somebody can grow by that fruit.
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Their life can be changed by that.
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Fruit and we'll go through the whole process all right and so.
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We are delivering based upon the Jesus saw that listen fivefold
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ministry, sow that seed, speak that word, give them the context
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of the Kingdom so that it can produce.
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But if they have no understanding, do not come in
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ready, then in essence, the evil 1 comes and snatches away what
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has been sown in his heart. He won't even let you get you
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the front door. He may let you get you the car
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only for an argument to happen with your children or your
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spouse on the way home because the whole time you were here
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anyway, you were checking your social media or every
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notification that kept popping up and browsing through
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Pinterest and looking at different things.
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Right, you know, 'cause I love you all, but none of you have
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photographic memories. I'm just telling you now, some
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of you I will give this. I've had a few say fossil Earl.
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I, I, I don't always take a whole lot of notes because
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you're throwing so much and I know it's recorded and I go back
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and take notes and you know what?
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If you're disciplined, do that. Great.
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But there's a lot you can get by taking notes.
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And I use my electronic device too, you know, So sometimes you
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have to turn off notifications so you don't get distracted,
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especially if the game's on, You want to get a score update.
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These are all things that hinder your understanding and God could
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drop something that now it's not the seed problem, it was your
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problem. All right.
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So he goes on to say Luke 812 says that he'll snatch the evil
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and snatch so they will not believe and be saved.
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Now this word saved is not the word for born again.
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Now what do I mean by that? It's not isolated to only being
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born again. This word saved, when you look
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it up, not only deals with being born again, but it deals with
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any issue of life. Because what's the Bible say?
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He will deliver you out of how many?
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All of your plural not trouble. Well, you're in trouble.
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The only trouble you have is that you're going to go to hell
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when you die. But if you'll get born again,
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then you won't have to worry about that and you have no more
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trouble. No, he'll deliver you out of all
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your trouble. You're in financial trouble.
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He'll, he will save you. He'll save your body from
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sickness and disease. He'll save your marriage.
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He'll save your, your job. He'll, I mean, he's, he's
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constantly saving. I mean, everything he does is
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about saving you so that the enemy doesn't get, you know,
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something on you. We're not even ignorant of the
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devil's devices. So you getting a pickle?
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Guess what? You can go to the throne of
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grace. He's extremely merciful and
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he'll give you help in your time of and that's not only to be
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born again. So the devil he is, he is.
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He is trying to distract you when seed is being sown.
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This is why sometimes I have had meetings in the past with people
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that have not been in church and their life is going all kind of
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crazy. They meet and then when we're
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talking about their life, I'm like, oh man, if you had just
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been in service, we have been talking about how to handle all
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these obstacles. In essence, God knew this was
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coming before you did. He put seed in you so that you
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can bear the fruit in order to overcome.
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But if you're not in the seat, let me say this, you can't sow
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to your own life alone. You can't do it because if you
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could sow to yourself the word alone, then there's no need for
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the fivefold ministry. But the hand cannot tell the I
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have no and God. Placed those gifts in.
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And those gifts are to equip you, which means those gifts
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have a huge responsibility to be doing the greatest amount of
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sewing into your life. Now here's the difference
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between. A YouTube sewer and I'm sewing
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because the YouTube. Sewer can sow seed and you can
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get it and get excited. But I'm here saying Pastor
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Danny, we've got some weeds. Well, how do you know?
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Cuz I'm around you. I hear how you talk.
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I see how you walk. I see how you do this.
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The YouTube sewer doesn't see this.
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So the YouTube sewer is not in your field.
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They're just a commercial selling you some kind of product
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to try to help you. But yet me, I'm in your field.
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I'm all up in your field, Don. I mean, you feel I'm like we're
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going to have to deal with that because that's not the produce
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that God intended. Hallelujah, y'all doing all
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right. I think I just snatched my my
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mic. All right, y'all can still hear
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me. OK, let's go on.
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So. The enemy again all listen.
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Do you understand the devil himself, his number one target
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in your life is to keep you from the word.
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I mean, that's such a profound, simple truth.
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And yet we put less value on the word because if he can, and
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we'll see if he can do other things.
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I mean, he knows what the objective is, all right, because
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he knows the power of the word. He knows the power all right.
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Verse 20 so the one whom seed was sown on the rocky places.
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This is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it
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with joy. We even run around the church.
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Yet he, yet he. Has no firm root in himself, but
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is only temporary and when afflictions.
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Or persecutions arise because of the word immediately.
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He falls away immediately. Are you hearing what I'm saying
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now in the just parable portion talking about the the seed sown
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on the rocky places? It says it's scorched, it
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Withers away and Luke said it had no moisture.
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You know moisture, right? It is the washing of the water
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of the word. You cannot come here here and
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shout and then have no additional watering with your
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own personal life. You do not retain moisture.
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If all you're doing is showing up once a week or two times a
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month. There's no moisture retention
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because Jesus said in this life you will have.
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Trials and tribulations, right? Because again.
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The devil just does not want you to release who you are in
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Christ. And in order to release who you
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are in Christ, you must be a doer of the Word, which is a
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disciple that produces fruit, and he's afraid of your fruit.
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So he's after your fruit because he has no problem with carnal
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Christians. He doesn't care if you're saved
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as long as you don't produce the fruit of the Kingdom, because if
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you act like everybody else, you're actually a better
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billboard for him because you help people delay a response to
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the Lord because they through your life expect that.
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It's just an afterlife question. And again, we've said it here at
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Anchor Bay Church multiple times, and that is this.
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Jesus was not selling a deaf gospel.
-
Where are you going to go when you die?
-
That was never his intent, nor was it his question.
-
What he was giving was sonship. And that's available now.
-
And the Kingdom can manifest in our lives today the full
-
benefits of it. Hallelujah.
-
I mean, I don't understand why a believer will want to delay when
-
they do not have to. All right, so here we have the
-
rocks. There's no moisture, pressure or
-
the heat of life, right? You're going to get in a hot
-
spot. Let's say it that way.
-
Everybody gets in a hot spot. All right?
-
The question is, how are you going to handle it?
-
Because again, running around on a Sunday, lifting your hands on
-
a Sunday, shouting on a Sunday is not fruit.
-
That's right. If it never replicates on
-
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, I mean, singing unto the Lord,
-
praising Him is not a religious exercise.
-
It's an outflow of gratitude. And that's in any circumstance,
-
but again when people do not have a root system and the
-
reason why many do not have root systems or a person wouldn't
-
have. Colin, would you please bring me
-
another piece of tape? I have ripped this and it is
-
just going crazy and I am like hating life and I'm glad we're
-
not filming tonight so we can fix this problem.
-
Say Amen. So the reason why many people
-
aren't producing fruit is because, honestly, they don't
-
get planted, Yeah. Just put it back on.
-
We've been here for 22 years. This has happened.
-
I don't know, only a couple times maybe.
-
Thanks, Colin. All right, I feel way more
-
secure now. Let me just let me just unpack a
-
couple things. OK, so.
-
I love it when people come to Anchor Faith Church because all
-
of a sudden they start hearing stuff they've not heard and
-
they're like, wow, this is amazing, right?
-
Sabrina, how long you been here Now?
-
Three. Oh, yeah.
-
There's a lot in the three. Three to five year.
-
Can we tell you where you're at? You're at the place where.
-
The enemy's like, let's see if they know what they think they
-
know. And it's amazing as an apostle
-
and pastor, you start hearing all these little challenges
-
happening. Well, it's to find out, are you
-
a disciple or are you just a Amen?
-
As long as there's no issue because the minute the pressure
-
comes, do you stand up underneath and bear or do you
-
wither away and die? You get swept out of the church
-
you'd like this thing really ain't working.
-
This don't work for me. Everybody's saying that you
-
could have and I this is not happening.
-
It's because you start saying something contrary to what you
-
were taught. You have no firm root.
-
You're only response because here's the thing, they hear the
-
word. They receive it with joy, but
-
what they're doing is it's temporary because all their
-
experience is just technically emotional.
-
And they have these emotional responses because you get in the
-
presence of God, you're going to have emotions.
-
But God's more than emotion. He's spirit and he will affect
-
your emotion, but he wants to affect your spirit.
-
And a firm persuasion is, it doesn't matter what I'm going
-
through, I know my God will. But someone who just hears
-
recedes with joy. But it's temporary.
-
They're not really meditating. They're not allowing it to seep
-
in. They're not allowing their their
-
roots. They're jumping all over the
-
place, going to this conference, going to this one, maybe jumping
-
from this church to this church, you know, cuz hey, we're all the
-
body of Christ. Well, I'm glad we're all the
-
body of Christ. But you're not producing any
-
fruit in any of the places you're going because you're
-
dancing and shouting and saying Hallelujah and being nice isn't
-
enough to produce the fruit when the heat happens.
-
And again, it's not a seed problem because here's the thing
-
about this. The seed has turned into a
-
plant. But God's not trying to have a
-
plant. He wants the fruit of the vine.
-
Are you hearing me? OK, so let's go on, says in the
-
one in whom the seed was sown among the thorns.
-
This is the man who hears the word and the worry of the world
-
and the deceitfulness of wealth, Mark 4 says, and the desire for
-
other things. Enter in Luke 8 says, pleasures
-
of this life. Oh my goodness, choke the word
-
and it becomes unfruitful. Chokes the word.
-
And what's crazy about this? I years ago, I preached a
-
message called the choke conspiracy.
-
Because what the devil does in this is that everything you go
-
after yourself without God, with God you can actually have.
-
And he deceives you that you can't have it with him.
-
You've got to go out on your own.
-
Look how much you're sacrificing.
-
Look how much better everyone's living.
-
Look how much more money you can make.
-
You know, this is the thing that happens, what people call the
-
ministry because they don't know how to actually add up how much
-
God is doing. I would love to put my life up
-
against a corporate person. I would like to find out how
-
much they're paying into their healthcare from their paycheck
-
and all that money they've done. And then every time they've had
-
to go and every prescription they've had a co-pay, but every
-
surgery they've had everything because again, they're subject
-
to all that. And then me, I don't go to the
-
hospital and it is because I am in the will of God, staying in
-
his plan. Looking back at the faithfulness
-
God, I'm like wow, God knows knows how to keep you healthy.
-
He's the best healthcare system ever and when certain symptoms
-
came. I went to the to the Kingdom
-
asked the Lord, how do you want me to handle this and when I did
-
it his way every time I recovered and most of the time
-
within 24 hours. Now, if I equated that to just
-
spending money in the natural, are you hearing me again?
-
I say this, and we've done this before.
-
We've done the Corps of Engineering.
-
Engineers could build a bridge across the Red Sea.
-
It can be accomplished and money can do it.
-
But how much money did the Lord do at a word?
-
Not even a word Moses raised. And so he parts the sea, he goes
-
on dry ground. And yet we're.
-
Chasing Can I give you one small nugget that I gave the king the
-
first business alliance? It's a rich young ruler goes to
-
Jesus. What must we do to inherit
-
eternal life? The poor go to the rich, but the
-
rich go to Jesus. The poor is always trying to get
-
rich, but the rich in their wealth already knows it doesn't
-
satisfy for life, so they go to Jesus.
-
So why don't you just cut out the rich?
-
Go to Jesus because he is prosperity.
-
OK. I'm just saying a lot of times
-
people don't. I mean, when I think about the
-
blessings in my life, I mean, how do you, how do you calculate
-
that? I mean, if you did an honest
-
assessment, I do try to develop us as critical thinkers because
-
a lot of times we have these fantasies of things instead of
-
realities. Because what happens is here's a
-
person who can hear the word and then starts getting distracted
-
about what's going on out here outside the church.
-
Because the world sells itself, and what good?
-
Is it a man to gain the whole and forfeit your SO?
-
It's not worth it, but yet he will work on it.
-
He'll get you worried about things.
-
Are you being worried about all the wars and rumors of wars?
-
Jesus happened to let us know this is going to happen.
-
So. Don't wring your hands and be
-
worried. Just stay with the king.
-
You'll be protected. Run into his fortress and you'll
-
be. Those are real words.
-
See, this is what a person will produce fruit because they'll be
-
confident in the word of God, not in their own ability, and
-
they'll know that God will do what he says he'll do.
-
So the worry of the world, the deceitfulness of wealth.
-
I mean, God has no problem with you being wealthy.
-
He has no problem with that. There's plenty of wealthy people
-
that followed God. But yet if you're looking to it,
-
if you think, well, if I could just get some more, we can
-
finally get out, you're wrong. That's a deception because
-
money's not your real problem. I mean, you understand God can
-
drop provision like nobody's business.
-
I mean, it's really no problem. There's other issues that are
-
going on. Then the next one is the desire
-
for other things. All of a sudden you desire what
-
somebody else has or what something else or a different
-
type of life instead of the plan and purpose God has for your
-
life or just the pleasures in life.
-
And let me tell you, when you live a.
-
Life unto the Lord to where you are thankful for what God's
-
done, but you realize life is bigger than me and I'm supposed
-
to invest and bear fruit so that I can give off to someone else.
-
So you're always, you know, thinking about others as well.
-
Then there comes It's easy to see so many selfish people doing
-
things for their own, coming and going when they want to, right?
-
And they make it sound so glorious, but it's not.
-
It's called deception. The only glorious place to be is
-
in the slap will of God. The rest of it is actually a
-
fantasy and a fairy tale. But what will it do it It chokes
-
the word because in these three cases, the first thing if he can
-
get you to come to church or not.
-
Basically, you have no desire to understand.
-
I mean, I'll even go further because I have to deal with when
-
I talk with our business people, I actually gave them a pop quiz
-
and I said, name these four things that I said out of this
-
they couldn't do. And I said, why should I give
-
you something else if you haven't even got that down yet?
-
Once again, what will they do with their business strategy?
-
They'll go to the world and people in their market learn all
-
that stuff, pay money to learn it.
-
Yet God has all the answers. But we really don't value that
-
because again, the rich young ruler comes to Jesus, because
-
again, God forbid that the Church can actually give you a
-
plan. Jacob received a plan of
-
prosperity from the Lord, and so did Joseph.
-
Joseph. Didn't say we need to have a
-
seminar, you know, you know, of any other countries that have,
-
you know, say a strategic, you know, crop accumulation so that
-
we can save it, You know, you know anybody who's an expert in
-
that. I mean, if the church has just
-
fallen into a left, it's the deceitfulness, because again,
-
the world knows how to make its money because the devil knows
-
how to distribute to keep you from what?
-
Being fruitful because your wealth is not fruit.
-
That's right. I'm going to show you that the
-
fruit of disciple Nowhere is one of our fruits, finance being.
-
Prosperous does not prove you're a disciple.
-
I'll say Amen anyway. OK, so it chokes the word, It
-
becomes fruitful. Luke 8 says and brings.
-
No fruit to maturity, man. So what's worse about this
-
particular one is that your seed will turn into a plant and
-
actually fruit will show up on your vine, but before we can
-
harvest. It it never ripens, it never
-
matures. And you've heard me tell the
-
story about the banana, right? I'll say it again because some
-
haven't been here, have a banana tree in my yard.
-
And, you know, it was green and it just kept doing green, you
-
know, and I was waiting. On it, I didn't know the sign.
-
I've since learned the sign, but I did not know the sign.
-
And it did turn a little yellow. And I'm like, OK.
-
And I pulled that thing off and I opened it, you know, and it's
-
a little, you know, you know how some of the Publix ones are
-
like, right? And I was expecting Publix,
-
right? It's, you know, not real soft,
-
but that's OK. I don't know what to expect.
-
I've never technically eaten a banana off the actual tree,
-
right? It was a small. 1 So I peeled it
-
and I'm expecting it's going to be like one of those act and
-
I've been into it and it had no moisture.
-
It sucked all of the saliva. I mean it was worse than peanut
-
butter. It was crazy.
-
I was like, I mean, I, I. Felt like I was getting stuck,
-
my mouth was getting stuck. I was like.
-
It was so disgusting. It was so deceptive.
-
I've been waiting on this doggone thing to turn yellow and
-
finally get a little bit yellow on this thing.
-
I mean, it was enough. It covered it.
-
And it's probably when he's like, you know, Publix ones,
-
that's not really ready, but it's yellow.
-
And here we go. And man, it was nasty.
-
So at that point, I just thought they were all bad.
-
I did not know how to harvest the bananas correctly.
-
And again, if your fruit doesn't come to maturity, you're going
-
to leave a bad taste. Cause fruit bearing isn't just
-
for you to taste and see that the Lord is good because the
-
farmer gets a part of the harvest.
-
The, the, you don't muzzle the ox that treads out the corn.
-
The farmer gets his share of the crop so that he can taste and
-
see. But then he has so much fruit
-
that he's able to give it out. You know, if all you can do is
-
produce fruit for your wife and your children, but you can't do
-
it for no other family, You're you don't have a very big
-
harvest. I mean you should produce enough
-
fruit in your. Life you're like I can't consume
-
this all myself I'm just going to give it away Mr. Berry comes
-
in here a lot of times during the harvest season for his what
-
are those calm quam quads So what is whoo man them things can
-
smell when they're ripe I mean they're.
-
Like or guavas. The Guavas.
-
Bro, you know when he brings the guavas in the church, it's like,
-
wow, they leave a smell, right? But he has so many, he has to
-
give it away. Don't you want to walk in so
-
much fruit? You're just giving it away.
-
All right, Verse 23 And the one whom the seed was sown in the
-
good soil. This is the man who hears the
-
word and understands that indeed bears fruit and brings forth
-
some 100, some 60, some 3030 Mark says.
-
And they hear the word and accept it.
-
So it's not just hearing, but it's accepting it.
-
That means you're putting it in practice.
-
You're a doer of the word because everybody's hearing
-
right now, but is everyone doing?
-
Are you accepting meaning I? Accept God's way of doing it,
-
not my way. I accept that because if I
-
accept God's way, then I'll bear the fruit of God.
-
So the. Fruit production of the Kingdom
-
in your life is still dependent on you.
-
It's all dependent on you, Luke 8 says one who have heard the
-
word in an honest and good heart.
-
And hold it fast and bear fruit with perseverance, which tells
-
us when Jesus says the field is right with harvest, the harvest
-
is plentiful. He could, he was having an
-
imagination of what's the word if, if we can have people to.
-
Labor to sow were the word into their lives.
-
It can bring them into another Kingdom by which it can produce
-
a fruit and 3060 and a hundredfold can be moving in
-
their lives. And everyone can begin to see,
-
because they bear fruit and prove, prove that.
-
They are my disciples. Prove prove all right, let's do
-
a few more things. Luke chapter 3 verse 8 says
-
therefore bear fruit in keeping with so if you've really
-
repented may Jesus the Lord of your life and want the Kingdom
-
of God you seek first the Kingdom, then you should bear
-
fruit in keeping with repentance and a repentance is not a
-
religious word. It means change your thinking.
-
So you have to change your thinking about how you're
-
healed. You have to change your thinking
-
and how your marriage is. You need to change your thinking
-
and your relationships with you know all your relationships.
-
You need to change your thinking and you know how you pursue life
-
a career. You need to change your thinking
-
and all that, and you need to do it God's way because you're
-
going to encounter those in the other Kingdom and the enemy is
-
coming after you to determine is it really sewn in you in
-
something good? Have you held that thing?
-
Because when you hold that thing, he can't take it out,
-
can't snatch it away, and it doesn't matter how hard he
-
tries. No weapon formed against you can
-
prosper. It doesn't matter if he sows
-
tears with you. You can continue to grow and
-
you'll pull out the bad at the harvest time, and all you're
-
going to do is the good. Because it's really not a part
-
of you in the first place. So that that tear has been
-
slapping up against you the whole time in the field.
-
But you were like, I know I'm wheat.
-
I'm only wheat. I'm never going to go to a tear.
-
I'm never going to act like a tear.
-
I'm not going to think like a tear.
-
I'm not going to be a tear. And the harvest is coming.
-
And when the harvest comes that that's been trying to beat
-
against me, counterfeit me at life, want me to, to, to be
-
become it. It'll be pulled away, cast and
-
burned. And then here I am producing the
-
fruit. I'm doing it.
-
And in these last days, when it says some will fall away from
-
the faith and Minnie's heart will wax cold, that means
-
there's going to be a lot of unfruitfulness.
-
Yet they're going to say I'm saved and we have to say good.
-
Now let's bear fruit in keeping with repentance, right that way
-
your life in in others you don't leave a bad taste.
-
Look what it says in John 15 got about three more scriptures,
-
maybe 4 John 15 one and two. It says this, I am the true vine
-
and my father is a vine. Dresser every branch in me that
-
does not man bear fruit. He takes away and every branch
-
that bears fruit he prunes so that it What now?
-
This. Is very powerful.
-
So again, let's just be hypothetical.
-
I mean, let's not be hypothetical.
-
Let's use the scripture. The scripture says the seed is
-
the word of God. So the seed produces a vine.
-
The vine is the Lord. We become a branch where we are
-
engrafted in, but we are part of the branch.
-
So the vine looks at the branch that is in it and examines, not
-
its union. Oh y'all don't?
-
It's not saying Oh yeah, but it's in me being in doesn't
-
guarantee fruit production. See everyone and I it's.
-
Troubling, guys. Listen, the Bible, it we say
-
theology, it is the study of God.
-
We're not even studying God. But when we talk about God, you
-
know, we get on such a tangent about God doing everything and
-
we do nothing. You're not going to see that in
-
Scripture where God does everything and man does nothing.
-
You'll see in Scripture where God does what God does and man
-
does what man does because God is not having you in union with
-
him without producing the fruit of his nature.
-
Because again and and listen, this lets us know these are not
-
one time events because there's fruit seasons pruning for more
-
fruit. So, so we already see the first
-
one. If you don't even bear fruit,
-
this is problematic because who's doing the cutting of the
-
branch off? The Lord.
-
I can say a lot more there, but I won't.
-
But every branch in me Jesus says that does not bear fruit.
-
It's not a fake branch, guys. This is not like a branch that
-
was taped on and never engrafted in.
-
This is actually of God. So that means they're born
-
again. They're in me.
-
We use this term all the time here in Christ, in Christ, in
-
Christ, in Christ. You are the righteous of God in
-
Christ. Well, if you're the righteous of
-
God in Christ, you should produce the fruit.
-
But yet we see very clearly Jesus, the head of the church
-
says there's some in me that when I'm examining that branch,
-
no fruit production. And we had another parable that
-
that we see the same thing. The master comes in and says
-
this tree has not bear fruit for three years, cut it down.
-
He says, master, give me another year.
-
I'm gonna dig around. I'm gonna fertilize it, go water
-
it, put a tint to it because God's not at God never intended
-
for you to hang out as a branch and not produce.
-
So again, when people like man, if you go to church that's
-
always wanting you to produce, be productive, that's called the
-
Bible. The rest is called a branch that
-
he himself is cutting off. But the one that does bear
-
fruit, look at this, what's he do?
-
He proves This is why you're going to come to service.
-
You're going to be here for three years, Sabrina, you're
-
going to go through something. You're going to be like, thank
-
God I had that word because that word is coming to stand up.
-
And when this hit me and that hit me, man, I was able to stand
-
and I didn't yield and I didn't go to my emotions and I didn't
-
fall apart and I didn't complain.
-
I stayed with the word. And then you produce that fruit
-
and he's like, wow, that was really awesome.
-
Look at all that I did through you because you believe me, your
-
roots were in good soil. Look at how you produced in this
-
tribe. Tribulation, this test.
-
Now guess what we're going into the next season because you ate
-
the fruit to get through and you gave the fruit away to go
-
through. Now there's no fruit.
-
So now he proves you. He says now we could, we could.
-
Do a little more. How about let's cut this weight
-
off because that says every weight and sin that so easily.
-
You know what, this is not a sin.
-
But, you know, let's let's just get that out your life.
-
And why am I doing? It's going to be more fruit
-
production for you. So technically we should.
-
As we mature and cry, we should have more fruit being produced
-
season after season. You need to learn how to
-
discern. Are you being unfruitful in a
-
season? I mean, you better get something
-
on the branch. You do not want to go through
-
multiple seasons where there's no fruit.
-
It's just, well, I'm going to go to heaven when I die.
-
John 15 five says I'm the bond. You are the branches.
-
He who abides in me and I and him he, he bears what much fruit
-
for apart from me he can do nothing.
-
Galatians 522 to 23. What fruit are you going to
-
produce but the fruit? That the Spirit produces of the
-
Holy Ghost in you in a person's life is Lovejoy, peace,
-
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
-
self-control doesn't say a big bank account.
-
Now the Spirit in you owns the planet, but the fruit we are
-
going to be eating ourselves. I'm going to be eating the love
-
of God here. I'm going to eat the joy of the
-
Lord. I want to cry, but I'm going to
-
get over and joy. I am going to get into joy,
-
right? The morning may last for the
-
night, but joy comes in the morning and I'm going to give
-
myself enjoy how to get yourself enjoy.
-
You begin to read all the scripture about joy and when
-
your situation makes you want to, you're like, yes, God, yes,
-
you're so good. Oh my God, you're so good and
-
you got to get yourself there. It produces for you.
-
But then you get around people at work.
-
Now you're like, oh man, you're so happy today.
-
You know, this ain't happy. This this joy that I have.
-
The world didn't give it to me, right?
-
I mean, it's some like, you know, you're beyond happy.
-
I mean, there's something different about well, let me
-
you're just giving it away and you're going through the worst
-
trial and tribulation of your life.
-
And everybody work then they find out and they're like, we
-
didn't, we never. And you were giving away joy.
-
And they're like, how did you stay like that during that?
-
I mean, y'all, some of you have siblings.
-
Their whole life is a mess and yet God wants you to give them
-
the fruit of how to handle the situation so that they're like,
-
how can you be at peace? Why?
-
Because I have a root system of victories of the Lord overcoming
-
in life and we go overcoming this one.
-
No problem. It's going to happen.
-
So I close with this verse, Matthew 720.
-
It says this so then you will know them by their fruits.
-
Notice it doesn't say you'll know them by their confession
-
that Jesus is Lord. You'll know them by their fruit.
-
The reason why a lot of times people aren't going to the
-
Lord's because the Lord will talk to you about your fruit.
-
That's what he's going to do Lord, I'm the he said, well, I
-
want you to do this. Why?
-
Can't. Alright, you do something.
-
Like you do something, do what I'm saying because I'm going to
-
come through, right? And again, pastor, I need to
-
meet with you. I got this challenge, OK.
-
And then we say, well, what does the word say?
-
Because we're sowing a seed, because we want the fruit of
-
this to manifest in your situation.
-
Now hold to it. Don't let go of it.
-
But you don't. That's irrelevant.
-
This works. It works every time.
-
And then you get around and you start hearing a little chatter
-
here and letting you're like, hey, hey, hey, you're bringing
-
the wrong things into your field.
-
You're losing moisture, you're having anxiety.
-
You're that's not don't put that in your field.
-
That's to try to. Get you so you can't bear fruit.
-
Well, you know, we got so many child.
-
I'm going to have to take a fourth job.
-
I need to get two or three more. I can't come to church.
-
You're going to have to understand.
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So God wants you to go get 3 or 4 jobs to work this out and not
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come to church. Oh man, you know you've got a
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man. Don't work, you're already
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working. That's not your problem.
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You need to get a plan from actually God because sometimes
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I'm like, well are you giving? How can I give?
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I'm so how can you not? Because that is the spiritual
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principle. Give and it shall be.
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But again, God's ways are contrary to the world's ways.
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But it's fruit the world doesn't have.
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So we are produce because we produce the word of God in our
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lives.