Sermon
The Kingdom is Like
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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We'll turn over to Matthew chapter 13.
Matthew 13 chapter mention
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Thank you, Jesus. Matthew, Chapter 13.
Matthew 13 chapter mention
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Verses 24 to 30, you know, I was, while we were worshiping
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the Lord, the Lord showed me a game last night.
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Actually, I jumped over and watched Florida play Duke in
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basketball. And Pastor Darryl Huffman and
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his son Joshua, you know, their whole family are Duke fans.
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Recently, there's been a little bit of a challenge because
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again, his daughter Anna, all of them are big Duke fans.
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Well, his grandson and a son went to college and was not
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accepted to Duke but was accepted to North Carolina and
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he accepted it. Well, there's been a rift now.
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And so his youngest sister or only sister, you know, she don't
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want to want to have any conversation with him because
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she's she's die hard. And anyway, so I had text Joshua
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earlier in the day. I said go Gators tonight.
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And then I thought I'd watch it. You know, you don't have to
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watch basketball for the last two minutes anyway because
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everything changes. And so obviously it was a nail
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biter. Unfortunately, they got the last
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three before we could. And so we lost by 1:00.
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But when Florida went up by 1 or two, I think it was, man, they
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showed a guy on the stands and he was like screaming.
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And I told my wife, I said men know how to praise.
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They know how to praise. But man, the Duke, because they
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were at Duke, man, that whole stadium was like this.
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Now there's like 30 something seconds.
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That's the whole lifetime in basketball.
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It's just amazing how much you can do in 30 seconds.
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And so, you know, they're all stunned.
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Well, when their team dropped that three and went up by 1, I
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mean, the, the roof would have ripped off.
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I mean, it's pandemonium. Now, if you've been to any
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athletic events ever, whether you've played or you've been in
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it, everyone believes that the home team has an advantage.
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That's why Texas A&M calls it the 12th man.
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And you get into certain places, man, that crowd to start going,
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it will change the atmosphere. You know a lot of opposing teams
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when they come into those stadiums.
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I like what what I don't like. But again, it's.
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Just a reference point. I was watching a interview with
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our new head coach. The ESPN guy was like, you know,
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I'm excited. You're at the cathedral.
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The new cathedral. But well, what an interesting
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reference. That he made.
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For the Swamp anyway, they want you want to go into the opposing
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teams home field and get the crowd out.
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Why is it that something about the shout of the fans can
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motivate the players to do something different?
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But in those sports, right, obviously there's ups and downs.
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It depends on whether you're winning or losing.
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In the church, however, we are always victorious.
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We are in, we can never be defeated.
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We've we've our, our kings never lost the battle ever, period.
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And it wouldn't matter if this if your life seemed like you
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were 10 touchdowns behind, I mean, you walked into the
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stadium full of victory. I mean, you, you cannot lose by
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faith. Can't do it.
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But we all know that an atmosphere is created with the
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mouths of people in a stadium. So, you know, it behooves us to
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find the, the, the songs that cause us to connect, right?
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So one of the daunting task of, of us in praise is finding the
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songs that resonate with us in the spirit because we're not
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here just to sing a song. We're here to connect in the
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spirit where the atmosphere changes because we're in it in
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the spirit. And we're not just talking about
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it from a soulish perspective, because there's plenty of
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soulish worship out there. And they'll leave you on a high
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in the in the service and then you leave and then it doesn't
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help you in life. You got to be able to have
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something that's going to connect in the spirit so that
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when you get out somewhere else, it comes up in the spirit.
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Now, I'm going to be honest with you.
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You know, the praise that is out there is so soulish that, you
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know, I found myself singing more Force frank stuff than I do
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anything, which is crazy. But there's a purity about his
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stuff that, you know, it makes me sing lemonade, right?
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I mean, I can't tell you how many mornings I've come up from
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my sleep not singing some popular worship song, but
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lemonade, right? Because my God, to make some
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lemonade, man, it's good stuff. And then there's this new one on
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sunshine, and I'm all about the sunshine.
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So, you know, I'm just saying it's time to work, right?
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It's time to get to work, all right?
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So my point is, is man know that our praise has an atmosphere and
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and just like in the natural, a stadium is changed when the
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crowd or the fan base is loud and they're enthusiastic.
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How much more in the spirit when we are now it takes
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intentionality. And again, why is it easier for
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natural, carnal, even really lost people to yell to the top
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of their lungs? Yet when we come in here, we
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have a difficulty with the sacrifice of praise Hallelujah.
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Well, why don't we just stand up and practice at one time?
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Come on, let's just do a shout. Come on, stand up, give a shot
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of praise Hallelujah. Glory to God.
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Hey, Lord, we love you, Lord, Glory to your name.
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Glory to your name. Glory to your name.
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Hallelujah. Woo.
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Yeah. Glory, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
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You worthy. Lord, you worthy.
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You worthy. Woo.
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He's never been defeated. Amen.
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Now for the men. I just want to let you know, how
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do you translate that? Just think of that one sports
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moment with your child. Well that game and you jump and
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then magnify that with Christ on the cross in the grave, out of
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the grave, all your sin forgiven.
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I mean that's monumental. You understand.
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It's like that's it's last second stuff when all of a
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sudden here comes Jesus out, the Holy Ghost comes and gets him.
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There's a rumbling going on, man.
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You know, that's pandemonium. And you know, when one person
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that's lost comes into the Kingdom, it says the angels
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throw a shout of praise that we've never even seen on this
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planet yet. Yeah, Yeah.
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Now. But again, it's intentionality,
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right? We have to make it a habit.
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Again. What's amazing is the church has
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to be trained, but yet the world doesn't have to be trained
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because you don't have to go into a football stadium and
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train them to shout. But, yeah, we have to come and
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say, well, you know, notice we have been shouting recently,
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Right. Amen.
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Well, let's say law. All right.
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Have a seat. Matthew 13.
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Thank you for participation. But didn't you sense an
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atmosphere difference even then? Yeah.
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Now, if you're like, well, but if there was a guest, you know,
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they may think we're weird. No.
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No, they won't because they'll actually get in an environment
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they're like, I've never been in this.
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They can, they'll go. Now, I've been to games before,
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but this is different. I've been in stadiums where they
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shout, but this shout has something else in it, right?
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Because we're not of this world. And when we're connected to the
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Spirit, it brings in a spiritual atmosphere that's way different.
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It is not the same. All right.
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And I'm going to prove that tonight.
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Matthew 13 verses 24 to 30 says this.
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Jesus presented another parable to them, saying The Kingdom of
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heaven is like or maybe compared to a man who sowed good seed in
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his field. What kind of seed did he sow?
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Good? OK, verse 25 But while his men
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were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the weed
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and went away all right. But when the wheat sprouted and
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bore grain, then the tares became evident.
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Also. The slaves of the landowner came
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and said to him, Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field?
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How then does it have tares? And he said to them, An enemy
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has done this. The slave said to him, Do you
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want us to go and gather them up?
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But he said, No, for while you are gathering up the tares you
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may uproot the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together
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until the harvest, and in the time of harvest, I will say to
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the reapers first gather up the tares and bind them in bundles
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to burn them up, but gather the wheat into my barns.
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All right? Now we don't have to speculate
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what he meant by this because he goes on in verse 36 to actually
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communicate exactly what this parable is.
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All right, so we're going to jump down there and look at it.
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Then we'll expound just a tad in verse 36.
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He said. Then he left the crowds, so he's
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not talking to the crowds anymore.
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All right, And he went to the house, and his disciples came to
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him and said, explain to us the parable of the tares of the
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field. And he said, the one who sows
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the good seed is the son of man. All right, who's the son of man?
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What's his name? OK.
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And the field is the world. And As for the good seed, these
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are the sons of the Kingdom, and the tares are the sons of the
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evil. 1 The enemy who sowed them is the devil.
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Who is he? He's the devil, and the harvest
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is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.
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All right, then he goes on. He says.
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So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with
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fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.
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The Son of Man will send forth his angels and they will gather
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out of his Kingdom all stumbling blocks and those who commit
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lawlessness, and we'll throw them into the furnace of fire.
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In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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Then the righteous will shine forth as the Son in the Kingdom
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of their father. He who has ears, let him hear.
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All right, so let's go back and look at a few things.
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We're going to jump from 24 all the way down through 43.
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Let's go back to just the parable portion of it and some
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of the Scriptures that are here. First and foremost, we know that
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the Son of Man or Jesus sowed the good seed and that the devil
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is the one who sows the bad seed, and the seed represents
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people, OK? The good seed are those who are
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sons of the Kingdom, or we would say those who are born of God.
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All right, the bad seed, or is those that are not born of God
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at this point. All right, now the seed is sown.
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No one knows that there are two, two different seeds at this
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point, and they do not even know there's two different seeds.
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When they break out of the ground and begin to grow, at
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first it's the same. They're so they look so much
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alike that you cannot tell the difference.
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But there becomes a qualifier, a qualifier, and the qualifier is
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the fruit, the fruits, the qualifier.
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The tares do not produce wheat. They don't produce that fruit.
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So once fruit started to manifest, then those who were
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taking care of the field realized this.
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It's not all wheat. There's bad plants in here.
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They identified them as tares at that point.
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So there's a season that you don't tell the difference, and
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you would never tell the difference if it wasn't for
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fruit. So fruit is the indicator of
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difference. Are you hearing me?
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This is why we've said before Jesus say go into all the world
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and make disciples. Disciples are to bear fruit.
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It's a it's a product of discipleship.
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This is why God never intended the church to make converts.
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Only conversion is when you leave seed state and become a
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plant because a seed. Jesus said unless a kernel of
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seed falls into the ground and dies, it remains a seed alone.
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But if it obviously breaks forth what's in it, it can produce
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after its own kind. Now, again, farmers do not farm
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for the sake of plants. They farm for fruit.
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So you can have a field full of plants, but if it never produces
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any fruit, you have a lost crop, right?
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And so for farmers, it's more important to have fruit on their
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crop, not just to have crop. As a believer, the only
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difference between US and the world is not how we look.
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It's not in our outward appearance.
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Now that doesn't mean our outward appearance won't be
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affected by our inward change. I'm not saying that.
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What I am saying though is that when you're born again, your
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skin suit doesn't technically does not change.
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Now when I say technically, what I mean by that is if you had
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sickness, it can't be healed, right?
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And you can do some things to yourself to make yourself maybe
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look better than what you did technically before you were born
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again. However, your outward is not
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what's making you difference. It's your fruit that's showing
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this inward change. And so if conversion was all
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that matters, then once the plant came out of the seed,
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that's conversion. It's converted from seed state
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to plant state. But the farmer doesn't want
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plant, he wants fruit, and so does God.
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So in US is the ability to make fruit right?
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OK, now here's the thing God, because again the Kingdom of of
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heaven is like the Lord. Then the owner of the field is
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saying do not tear out the wheat with the tares while the wheat
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is not mature. So a a lack of maturity, does it
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make you intimidated by the tears that are around you if
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you'll just continue to allow yourself to be what you are?
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There's a process here that if you will just be what you are at
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your born again experience. This is the natural progression.
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It is not natural for a person who says they're born again to
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not produce fruit of the Spirit, nor to move to maturity.
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Now, if all of a sudden we start taking out tears while our fruit
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is not mature, it can hinder us. So there's something about how
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we handle tears that will affect the maturing of Saints.
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I mean, there's a lot of religion out there that will
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tear down the loss. The loss is already condemned by
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themselves. Now, again, a good doctor would
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never tell a patient if they discovered they had cancer, you
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know, and they had high blood pressure and like, you know
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what, I don't want them to feel bad, don't want to ruin their
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day. So, you know, we're, you know,
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we're going to just deal with their high blood pressure
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because they have a high blood pressure.
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You know, hey, you want to deal with your high blood pressure,
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but we're not even going to talk about the cancer.
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You know, how are you feeling trying to get them to discover,
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but they don't know. See, we have to communicate what
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God says is sin. That's not condemnation.
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You're just communicating what is sin.
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But there is a remedy. Unfortunately, the church has
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gotten so far over in some places where we do not even want
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to address sin because we just want to look all look alike.
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So looking alike is not what God's looking for.
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God's looking for the fruit. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
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OK, so in essence, if we don't watch out, we can start tearing
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down the lost, boycotting, doing certain things at such a level
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that an immature person, basically we're trying to tear
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them out or tear them up in such a way that it can hinder the
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maturing of the wheat. OK, In the end, there will be
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more and more lawlessness. OK, I'll say that we currently
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have an atmosphere in the spirit to be calling things out.
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We see this specifically in the realm of the government arena,
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specifically to where we want to call out things.
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And if we don't watch out, there's a righteous stand you
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need to make. But there's a way you make a
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righteous stand so that you're not tearing out the lost at the
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expense of losing the young believer.
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Does that make sense? Because there's something here.
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And again, I cannot tell you exactly.
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All I know is there's a way that if you're uprooting tears at a
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time while a immature. Fruit bearing believer is there,
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it can hinder them from coming to full maturity.
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Hallelujah. Because we'll see that there are
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fruits we get to bear. And the fruits that we get to
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bear are pretty amazing fruits that help us #1 continue to
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grow. But at the end of the day, the
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tear is going to be dealt with by the Lord.
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Because here's the thing, Your fruit alone testifies that
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you're different. Let's say it that way.
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I don't have to tear out a tear in order for me to be fruitful,
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OK? I don't have to tear down the
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lost in order for me to be better.
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I am going to be fruitful because I am what I am by the
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grace of God and I, if I continue to allow the water,
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because both of us are receiving what God does.
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He reigns on the and the just and the unjust.
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So the tares are getting the provision of God to a degree,
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but again, no fruit. The farmer is going to deal with
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that ultimately, but we are receiving the washing of the
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water with the word and it transforms us to where we are
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producing the fruit to maturity that in essence, when we leave,
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we've left a legacy. OK.
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So this is important because as we get into these last days,
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when there's so much turmoil, when you're having to say what
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sin is, you have to say it in such a way that it's not tearing
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out, but it's, I live this way because it's my fruit.
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Well, why is that? Well, because this is what the
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word says. Now you're identifying their
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lifestyle or whatever they're going through, but you're not
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there to tear it out because at the end, you can be different.
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It's your choice at the end of the day.
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I'm not judging you. I'm just telling you what the
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word says. The only judging we do is fruit
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judgment. I, I can judge that you're not
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bearing the same fruit that I am.
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All right. And they can bear.
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They can judge and bear see that we're bearing a particular fruit
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that they're not bearing. OK?
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So we've got to be careful how we pull it out because again,
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you need to understand this. Being in the world where the
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lost is does not hinder you from maturing.
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So what we don't want, This is why some places have gotten off
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because they wanted to have their own communities.
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They didn't want to be separate themselves from the world.
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And Paul was like, that's not what I meant when I said
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separate and come out from among them.
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It's not what I meant when I you're going to be around
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people, you're going to live in it, you're on the planet, you're
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going to pass by people that are not a part of the same Kingdom,
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but that's not going to hinder your maturity.
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So the power of the world cannot hinder your maturity.
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The only thing that can hinder A believer's maturity is if we
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tear down the lost, tear them out, uproot them in the wrong
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season. Let's put it that way, in the
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wrong seat. Because again, you understand
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God is going to take care of that aspect.
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Anyone who sows to His flesh will reap of His flesh
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destruction. I don't even have to be a part
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of the process. It's going to be its own
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process. And the Lord's going to be a
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part of that process because God is not mocked.
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Whatever man soweth that he will, He'll reap.
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And you can grow in seasons of maturity where you bear fruit
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and then you're coming into a next one of bearing fruit and
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you can be around some of the same people.
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But as you go through life, these people are falling off
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Why? Because they are not in those
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seasons of harvesting, they've been taught, thrown to the
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wayside per SE, because they're not part of the Kingdom of God.
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But you just continue to bear fruit.
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So being in this world does not hinder you from coming to full
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maturity, which tells us being in this world God expects the
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church or believer to mature still.
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So no matter how bad the environment gets, maturity is
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important and God if he knew that you being around the world
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could hinder your maturity, don't you think he'd pull them
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out of the way? So this once again identifies
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greater is he that is in us than he that's in the now if you're
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not giving yourself to the watering of the word, obviously
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you can dry your own root system out and have A and there'll be
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an issue. But again, that'll be your
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challenge. Not because it's God's fault.
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God has given us a ample supply of watering.
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We can go to the well anytime we want to.
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We can run to the river. We have a well we can go to and
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we have a river that can come up so we can be fully refreshed no
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problem. And it doesn't matter how bad
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the world's getting. It doesn't hinder your maturity
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at all. If it was if, if they what they
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did stopped you from being all that God wanted you to be, he
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would deal with them. But we see even in a lack of
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maturity, God says let them grow together because those who are
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mine are going to mature. Are you going to mature?
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Hallelujah. All right, so let's go on then.
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So he goes on then and says this.
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Let's look at verse 40, 41. It says he gathered, the angels
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obviously gather and they gathering out of his Kingdom all
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stumbling blocks of those who commit lawlessness.
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Lawlessness is those who are not following God with all their
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heart, all their soul, all their mind and all the strength, OK?
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And so he removes that. God is the one that ultimately
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knows the heavens and the earth are mine, right?
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And he's going to have a new heavens and new earth and he
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will extract that which is not a part of his Kingdom.
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We don't have to be concerned about that.
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God's going to do that. All we need to do is just grow,
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grow, grow and produce fruit, the fruit that's been planted in
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us because we are children of God.
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Can I get an Amen? So with that being said, look
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over Matthew chapter 12, verse 33.
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Matthew 1233 says either make the tree good and its fruit
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good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad.
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For the tree is what known by its fruit.
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All right? It's the tree is known by its
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fruit. So again, how do I know you're a
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believer? That's how I know I don't know
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you're a believer because you attend church.
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I do not know you're a believer because you're telling me you're
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a Christian. I don't know that you're a
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believer because you quote Scripture.
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I don't know you're a believer because you can sing a praise
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song. I know you're a believer by your
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fruit. Hallelujah.
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Fruit is something someone else can eat and taste.
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Taste and see that the Lord is the reason why we can taste and
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see that He's good because his fruit is good and only good
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because he's only a good God. Now, good doesn't mean God can't
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be angry and cannot respond. In rap.
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Good people can be angry. Anger is not associated with
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evil, all right. Anger is not a good or evil
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issue. Evil people can be angry, that's
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true, but good people can be angry.
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Hallelujah. And we could go on further
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there, but I won't because I'm not going to take that kind of
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time. So they're known by its fruit.
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How did the workers of the Owners field know that Bad Seed
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had gotten in the ground? It was only until they saw the
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fruit of the wheat and then they recognized not every plant is
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bearing and they should be. Which means this actually isn't
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a wheat, it's a tear. Now the thing about tears is
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they look so much like wheat. It's only with the fruit that
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you would distinguish them again.
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That's why Jesus will say, many will say on that day, Lord, Lord
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did not. And there's other passage of
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scripture that says that they'll come in, you know, with all
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their pomp and circumstance, but they are clouds without water.
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And there's a lot of scriptures that talk about people that have
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a form of godliness but deny the power thereof.
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So again, there's something different about fruit that we
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need to get grab hold of because even a tear can mask for quite
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some time, something that looks very similar to the wheat plant.
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This is why through the years I picked up this thought process,
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which is different than what you know, most people have said or,
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and I've said in my past, you get around people that I don't
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really know and I'll say, man, they're but but what little bit
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I've been around them, I say, man, they're really a good
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person. But then I realized maybe
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they're not a good person because I really don't know
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them, but they are really nice. Because an evil person can be
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nice, a manipulator can be nice, right?
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I mean, you can be extremely nice.
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In fact, selfish people with selfish ambitions are extremely
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nice because niceness can get what they want and they'd be
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extremely nice. Nice.
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They can be helpful, they can serve, they can do all that but
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still have bad fruit, can still have bad fruit.
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However, a good person can be nice, can be nice.
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Just like a bad person can be angry, a good person can be
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angry. All right.
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So there's something about the fruit we carry that has to be
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different, that the world cannot mask.
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That's really important for us to recognize that.
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And again, it's so important for all of us because it seems to me
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that the more you get around believers that if we don't watch
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out, we become too departmentalized in our thinking
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and we're losing the the holistic side of God.
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We are a spirit, we have a soul, we live in a body, but we are
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those three as well. See, we say God is spirit and
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God is spirit, but you know, he has a body and when is he
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separated from that? Now this is difficult because we
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don't think of God because we've been taught for so many years
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God is Spirit and you're going to worship him in spirit and in
-
truth. But he still has a spiritual
-
body. So he's a spirit with a body and
-
he's not separated from that. Because when when Moses said I
-
want to see your glory, what did he say?
-
He said, now you can't see my face, which tells me God our
-
Father has a face. He does not get in a suit.
-
But once again, because of teaching, we've separated these
-
elements and we act like we can be something without the rest
-
and we cannot be even us. We will not be without a body
-
all for all eternity. It would be called a glorified
-
body. Hallelujah.
-
I said, Hallelujah, Amen. But he puts him in the cleft of
-
the rock. He passes by and he said you can
-
see my back parts. Now what did that look like?
-
I'm going to assume it looked a lot like man because he was
-
created in his image. So I speculate that God looks
-
like us with a spiritual body that has a spiritual soul and is
-
a spirit, and they're not separated from each other,
-
although they're different. And because we are a spirit soul
-
and body, we had a spirit that was separated from God, still a
-
spirit nonetheless. When we're born again, we
-
receive a new spirit that's created in the likeness of
-
Christ, but yet we maintain the same soul that we had previously
-
and the same body we had previously.
-
And then we are to be responsible because now we've
-
been empowered with this new spirit that we are, that has the
-
Holy Spirit that's inside us, bearing witness with us and
-
communicating with us that now we can renew our minds.
-
And our physical bodies, although decaying in the sense
-
they're breaking down, can still walk in healing and be made
-
whole. Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
-
And I don't see myself separate from that.
-
But again, because we've said, well, we're really a spirit and
-
the rest doesn't matter, then This is why we disregard other
-
aspects. And This is why Paul said, now
-
look, the problem why some believers who are spiritually
-
alive to God sleep early, It's because they don't judge their
-
body correctly. And that judgment came because
-
they weren't judging their mind right, how they were thinking or
-
how they were even eating, and because they did not empower
-
themselves by faith in the finished work of Jesus so that
-
the other two areas could be all that God needs them to be.
-
In essence, as Paul wrote to the church in thesson Thessaloniki,
-
which is may your spirit, soul and body remain blameless until
-
the day of Christ because again, well, it doesn't matter about
-
this. I'm leaving anyway.
-
So we have all these health issues, but I'm a spirit, but
-
the Lord's like, but I've empowered your spirit so that it
-
can renew your mind and you can take control of your body and
-
your body can be as healthy as it needs to be to finish the
-
work. Glory to God, Amen.
-
So as a result of that, that's means that we should not
-
separate these aspects. Well, if we don't watch out, we
-
do it with maturing. We do it with how we interact
-
with the lost. This is why.
-
Well, it doesn't really matter. And I've heard people say that
-
all that matters is that you're born again.
-
Well, if that's all that mattered, then why did Paul
-
Wright have the stuff he wrote anyway?
-
That's not all that matters, right?
-
So it's not all that matters, God.
-
What matters is that God wants you to mature and expects
-
maturity. And it's a it is a natural, when
-
I say natural, supernatural byproduct of the believer who
-
will just be who God says they'll be.
-
And no matter what's going around them in the world does
-
not affect their maturing, they can still mature anyway.
-
Which tells us we can't be a victim in the Kingdom of God.
-
Can't happen, right? Can't happen.
-
We're not a victim. We're a victor.
-
Hallelujah. Matthew 3/8 through 10 says
-
this. Therefore bear fruit.
-
How? Therefore bear fruit?
-
How? In keeping with repentance.
-
Now John the Baptist is calling out religious people in this
-
particular passage. These are ones on the outside
-
are saying that they're good, but Jesus identified them.
-
He said you are full of dead man bones.
-
You're a white washed tombs. That's tough talk, but that's
-
love talking. That's honesty and that is
-
there. There's hope for you if you
-
would repent. So in essence, John says, well,
-
if if you're masquerading as something holy, then I should
-
see fruit. So if we say we've repented
-
Jesus is our Lord, then we are to bear fruit in keeping with
-
repentance. So in verse 9, I do not suppose
-
that you can say to yourself, we have Abraham for our Father.
-
For I say to you, from these rocks God is able to raise up
-
children to Abraham. He said the axe is already laid
-
at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does
-
not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
-
So again we are to bear fruit in keeping with repentance when we
-
confess Christ as Lord. We repented of our sins.
-
We've we received by faith the finished work of Jesus that only
-
he could do, He and the only and we could never do this.
-
He changed our spirit man to come be alive to God, of which
-
the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit.
-
We're children of God and now we are part of the process with the
-
Holy Ghost to make sure our fruit comes to maturity.
-
Amen. So we are to keep bear fruit in
-
keeping with repentance. So if I've repented, that means
-
there's there's fruit from the old source that I don't bear
-
anymore. That's dead to me.
-
I do not let it get to maturity. OK?
-
I have a whole new fruit system that I'm functioning in.
-
All right. Galatians 522 to 23 tells us the
-
fruit we have, but the fruit of the Spirit is OK.
-
Now, this is really important because again, fruit is not
-
emotional. It's not emotional.
-
And so this is something that can be a challenge to our minds
-
because, you know, in our soul realm where we're having to
-
renew our minds through the word of God, You know, there are
-
things we see people do every day that when you look at it,
-
you could conclude certain things, but they're really only
-
soulish, period, Because the fruit of the.
-
So that means then I'm not bearing fruit from my soul,
-
we're bearing fruit from the Spirit.
-
Now, the fruit of the Spirit, which is what Spirit?
-
Obviously the Holy Spirit. But again, the Holy Spirit is
-
like Jesus. Jesus said I'm going to send you
-
another comforter or a carbon copy of who I am.
-
So he's not different than me. Well, but we've been created in
-
the likeness of Christ, so we're not different from Christ.
-
Hallelujah, Amen. So our identity is in Christ,
-
and we are like Christ, and the Holy Spirit is like Christ.
-
And so if this is the Spirit's fruit, then it's going to be my
-
fruit. And that fruit comes from the
-
Spirit, not the soul. So love is not predicated on
-
feelings. Love is not a feeling.
-
Joy is not a feeling. Peace is not a feeling.
-
It's these are states of being. Patience is not a feeling.
-
Kindness is not a feeling, goodness is not a feeling,
-
faithfulness is not a feeling, gentleness is not a feeling,
-
self-control, it's not feelings. These are.
-
And when you're bearing these fruit, it's impossible for the
-
world to bear these fruits. So again, here's the thing, if
-
you know someone is lost and they say man, I'm at peace, how
-
can they be at peace? Because they don't have the same
-
spirit we have, which means they have a counterfeit to peace.
-
And it's really something in the soul realm that they're equating
-
it as peace, but they don't actually have peace.
-
And we have to become wise enough to know there's a
-
difference. And the reason I say that is
-
because this is what gives you confidence when you're growing
-
in the fields that God has placed you because the fields
-
that you're in are full of tears because you're in the world,
-
you're not up. And you have to know that when
-
you're around people that you know does not know God and say,
-
you know, man, that just set me a great piece.
-
Well, if it's something you've said, then you have to identify
-
well, this piece I give because it comes from the Spirit is what
-
you're experiencing now. Someone lost can eat the fruit
-
you have. That's true because it says
-
taste and see the Lord's good. But again, they themselves
-
cannot produce peace because it's it's from the Holy Spirit
-
of production. So again, joy.
-
All these are states of being. They're not emotional.
-
They're not emotions. And I think the church, if we
-
don't watch out when I say the church, you know, people who go
-
to church, if if they're not really renewing their mind and,
-
and, and and asking questions, OK, then what happens is, is
-
that you assume certain feelings are fruit.
-
You wake up one day and you're excited because you have good
-
news. Like, man, the joy of the Lord
-
is my the joy of the Lord is your strength when you're having
-
the worst day of your life. I mean, joy manifests in any
-
environment, and it's not laughing.
-
Laughing is not a byproduct of joy, although you can laugh,
-
don't get me wrong, but there is a strength that comes with joy.
-
All right? Peace, man.
-
Peace comes by the Spirit. You can be going through the
-
worst storm ever, yet be at perfect peace and the waves
-
continue to crash, but you're not moved.
-
Your situation's changed not but you are sleeping in up on the
-
top of the boat in your pillow, and you have no thought
-
concerning it, right? These are states of being.
-
And when you live those kinds of existence, then all of a sudden
-
everyone in your field is going to know they're, they have
-
something different. Now, that doesn't mean we're
-
emotionless. I just want to say that I think
-
sometimes, especially in the Word of Faith circles, is that
-
we, we crush our emotions to where we become emotionless,
-
right? Because, well, we're not moved
-
by what we see. We're moved by faith only by the
-
word, you know, And then we almost become robotic and that's
-
we shouldn't be that way. We emotions are fine.
-
Crying is fine. When when you grieve with your
-
brother, crying is an acceptable response.
-
No problem. If you hear news that is not
-
good news and you cried. I don't know.
-
I didn't mean to cry. I don't want to be.
-
It's a natural response. In essence.
-
It can console other people some.
-
Sometimes it's extremely like in the realm of gentleness or even
-
in the realm of kindness. Though tears could manifest
-
during traumatic times. And you're showing gentleness
-
towards someone else. Well, now it's going to be all
-
right. You know what the word says.
-
Let's get it together. Come on now, don't we cry?
-
I mean, you got to be led by the sphere.
-
Better than that, but my point is, is that we have a lot of a
-
lot of Word of Faith have shut off their emotions and you don't
-
want to do that. We have a soul, we have emotion.
-
You just want your emotions tied to your spirit because again,
-
Jesus was an emotional man. He just wasn't led by his
-
emotions. He was always led by the spirit
-
and his emotions followed his spirit.
-
That's why when he went into the House of the Lord, that was the
-
House of prayer. Something manifested with his
-
emotions because his fruit was intact, but his demonstration
-
was something. I mean, This is why he could
-
come in a moment and weep. And those around think he's
-
crying because Lazarus is in the grave, dead.
-
But really he's got tears for another purpose.
-
OK, so these are states of being which is really powerful, and
-
these can only come by the Spirit, and they're only
-
available to the believer. So when Jesus said the Kingdom
-
of heaven is like a man who sowed seed in his field, and yet
-
the enemy came and sowed some and now we have a good plant and
-
a bad plant and we know the difference because of their
-
fruit that that maturing of the good plant isn't stopped because
-
a bad plant is around or even if the plants root system
-
intertwines. Because again, you know,
-
believers get this fear that you know, well, it's going to get on
-
me. I mean, why don't you be
-
confident? I'm going to get on you.
-
You understand, because you were that plant.
-
You're not that plan anymore. You became a good plan and you
-
have more power now. And you're like, man, you're
-
going to want to rub with me. You're going to want to get
-
around me, right? You're going to want to get
-
around me because again, as long as you're watering yourself and
-
you're allowing what's already in you to come out by faith, you
-
just released, these are fruits that are there.
-
So again, when challenges come, you know what?
-
I've got something here called joy.
-
I need to get to that now. Again, as you grow and develop
-
and depending on what stage or situation you're going through,
-
all of us have to navigate this emotional realm to make sure
-
this is coming OK and get that thing to pop up and begin to
-
show up in this situation. We're like, wow, you know, when
-
you become proficient at functioning and fruits of the
-
spirit, people will begin to think you have no problems.
-
Most of the time they think there will be very few people in
-
your life that know you're going through something.
-
Now, your spouse is going to know if you're married, they're
-
going to know. Outside of that, very few may
-
know. Now, if you're a person who has
-
to tell somebody all the time, well, you need to examine that
-
because that could be like emotional attachments, right?
-
Because you're looking to help feed your emotion, which is not
-
fruit. That's not the fruit we bear.
-
We don't, we're not here to bear emotional fruit.
-
We're here to bear spiritual fruit.
-
That then changes our emotion, OK, because again, I you, I have
-
no problem and the Bible is very clear that we can share things
-
with one another. Now you got to be careful how
-
you share because the Bible even talks about that.
-
Sometimes you can't share certain things to some people
-
that haven't developed some layers of mature as another
-
believer because they can't handle that.
-
So you have to be wise enough to know those boundaries where
-
that's at. Jesus didn't tell everybody
-
everything. He took divided into 3 people
-
the most intimate things, right? So you have to understand that
-
that's part of the process. However, these things as you're
-
navigating them, ultimately the majority of people, if they ever
-
catch wind of what you've been going through, they would be
-
shocked because every time they were around you, they were
-
tasting this. And these, when I say seasonal
-
fruits, they are seasonal, but they are seasonal in both good
-
and bad times. Because obviously you should
-
walk in joy if there's nothing going on.
-
I mean, you know, well, how come I don't see any joy?
-
Well, everything's just great. I haven't had a trial or
-
calamity, you know, it's so easy right now.
-
Just so infuriated and nothing to strengthen me with.
-
I mean, now we laugh. But in the world, some people
-
live from chaos to chaos because they're they're codependent on
-
it. Because if it's everything's
-
going good, then they're like, I got to find chaos because that's
-
their comfort, right? You know, it reminds me of a
-
secular song. You know, you cut yourself to
-
bleed just to know you're alive. And that's the reality in some
-
people's lives. OK.
-
But again, we have different fruit here.
-
All right, Let's close with this verse here.
-
First, Psalms 92 one through 12 through 15 says this last
-
passage. The righteous man will.
-
What's he going to do? He's going to flourish like the
-
palm tree and he will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
-
Planted here. It is planted in the House of
-
the Lord. They will what?
-
Flourish in the courts of our God, Hallelujah.
-
They will still yield fruit in old age.
-
There's no such thing as a grumpy old man in the Kingdom of
-
God. There's no such thing as a
-
grumpy old woman in the Kingdom of God.
-
No such thing. No such thing.
-
We were at the county, and I won't say when because I want to
-
identify, but there was a particular older person.
-
They're grumpy, complaining about everything.
-
Well, they're not producing the fruit, right?
-
Fruit. Now.
-
They think they're bringing a good 'cause they've convinced
-
themselves, but you know, they're really not.
-
They're just bringing turmoil. They have to live in chaos.
-
But here the Bible tells in the Kingdom, they'll yield fruit.
-
And what fruit are we talking about?
-
The fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit, which
-
tells me this, the longer you've been in church, the more fruit
-
production you should produce. This is why Washington or school
-
or kindergarteners, you walk in their classroom, boom, they jump
-
up, you know, first or kindergarten, first, second,
-
third grade, really most of our lower grade.
-
I mean, they'll get in the line. They'll be quiet, super orderly,
-
absolutely compliant, doing everything that the teachers are
-
saying. But then we need to get into
-
that upper grade. All of a sudden, same order
-
doesn't seem to manifest. And what's odd about that is
-
that we've had them coming from the first second.
-
Why are you not producing more fruit now?
-
Why are you letting your hormones stop your fruit
-
production? Because hormones do not stop
-
spiritual fruit. That's why someone born of God
-
can be patient and wait for that woman to come.
-
We got teens growing up in church must be following God and
-
then act like they got to get married and find the first
-
person that's even kind of compatible.
-
It's like, man, be patient. You got that fruit, wait till
-
God brings the right one. And we I mean, you're going to
-
have trouble when you get married anyway.
-
So you make sure it's the right one.
-
I mean, Paul said you're going to have trouble period.
-
I mean, two free will moral agents is going to have some
-
challenges. It's going to be friction.
-
But get get the one that that God wants you to be with so that
-
you know, you have the greatest advantage going in.
-
Hallelujah. But you should bear fruit in
-
your old age. They shall be full of SAP and
-
Berry green. I mean, again, our older people,
-
we you shouldn't be getting aggravated with kids running
-
around. You should be the most patient.
-
Where are these parents at? Their kids running around like
-
they're crazy. I know.
-
Yeah, they are. And that's why we do parenting
-
workshops. We're trying to say, figure out
-
where your children are at, right?
-
I mean, we want them to be safe, too.
-
All right? But again, you are full of SAP.
-
You're very green to declare that the Lord is upright.
-
Why are you full of SAP? Why are you very green?
-
Why are you yielding fruit to declare that the Lord is
-
upright? He is my rock and there and
-
there is no unrighteousness in him.
-
Isn't that amazing? So what do we see here tonight?
-
Tonight we see that the Kingdom of God is like man, He sowed
-
good seed. And did Jesus sow good seed in
-
your heart when you became born again?
-
Now He's giving you the access to the fruits of the Spirit that
-
you're going to be able to yield season after season after
-
season, Good days, you're going to have them.
-
Bad days, you're going to have them.
-
You're going to have it, and you're going to always get
-
yourself in alignment. And anytime you get out, you're
-
not a bearer of a bad fruit just 'cause you do something wrong,
-
you can repent of that. Ask God to forgive you because
-
that's not your heart, that's not your being, that's not who
-
you are in Christ, but you'll recognize because the Spirit of
-
God say, wait a minute, now you're because again, emotional
-
responses are not fruit. Envy is not emotion.
-
Jealousy is not an emotion. It's not an emotion because God
-
is a jealous, but there is a evil jealousy.
-
So these are not emotions, but they create emotions.
-
So how you're acting emotionally is not the fruit.
-
There's something else that's showing up.
-
This is why I can be around the nicest people and walk out and
-
say, man, they're a manipulator. Oh, they're greasy.
-
Some ain't right there. Something is not right there.
-
But yet they were so nice. But you can say it's beyond your
-
niceness, this laugh that you have.
-
There's something there and now it's tangible.
-
This is not like subjective because you know, a lot of
-
believers want to get over into, well, I just sent something.
-
Well, brother, you're not the only one with the Holy Ghost.
-
And again, we can have all kind of people come up to determine
-
whether somebody's got fruit. Because again, if it's two or
-
three witnesses alone in the old covenant, there was that.
-
But you understand, Jesus had multiple witnesses come against
-
him and they were all a bunch of liars.
-
So don't think in your life people won't come against you
-
and they'll all be a liar to your fruit.
-
God will announce your fruit. So don't be afraid of that.
-
But yet you can know now, just when I know doesn't mean This is
-
why I'm kind and I'm good. I have goodness towards a lot of
-
lost people because when when my wife and I come into a
-
restaurant a week or somewhere when we leave a room, I want
-
them to know that fruits different and it's spiritual.
-
Now, it's not emotions, it's spiritual.
-
It's spiritual. Whether or not they accept Jesus
-
because of the fruit we're passing out.
-
I can't control that, can't control that, but I sure don't
-
want to give them rotten good fruit.
-
Amen. Let's be planted in the House of
-
the Lord, and let's grow and bear good fruit.
-
Amen.