Sermon

The Kingdom is Like

Anchor Faith Church

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  1. We'll turn over to Matthew chapter 13.

    Matthew 13 chapter mention

  2. Thank you, Jesus. Matthew, Chapter 13.

    Matthew 13 chapter mention

  3. Verses 24 to 30, you know, I was, while we were worshiping

  4. the Lord, the Lord showed me a game last night.

  5. Actually, I jumped over and watched Florida play Duke in

  6. basketball. And Pastor Darryl Huffman and

  7. his son Joshua, you know, their whole family are Duke fans.

  8. Recently, there's been a little bit of a challenge because

  9. again, his daughter Anna, all of them are big Duke fans.

  10. Well, his grandson and a son went to college and was not

  11. accepted to Duke but was accepted to North Carolina and

  12. he accepted it. Well, there's been a rift now.

  13. And so his youngest sister or only sister, you know, she don't

  14. want to want to have any conversation with him because

  15. she's she's die hard. And anyway, so I had text Joshua

  16. earlier in the day. I said go Gators tonight.

  17. And then I thought I'd watch it. You know, you don't have to

  18. watch basketball for the last two minutes anyway because

  19. everything changes. And so obviously it was a nail

  20. biter. Unfortunately, they got the last

  21. three before we could. And so we lost by 1:00.

  22. But when Florida went up by 1 or two, I think it was, man, they

  23. showed a guy on the stands and he was like screaming.

  24. And I told my wife, I said men know how to praise.

  25. They know how to praise. But man, the Duke, because they

  26. were at Duke, man, that whole stadium was like this.

  27. Now there's like 30 something seconds.

  28. That's the whole lifetime in basketball.

  29. It's just amazing how much you can do in 30 seconds.

  30. And so, you know, they're all stunned.

  31. Well, when their team dropped that three and went up by 1, I

  32. mean, the, the roof would have ripped off.

  33. I mean, it's pandemonium. Now, if you've been to any

  34. athletic events ever, whether you've played or you've been in

  35. it, everyone believes that the home team has an advantage.

  36. That's why Texas A&M calls it the 12th man.

  37. And you get into certain places, man, that crowd to start going,

  38. it will change the atmosphere. You know a lot of opposing teams

  39. when they come into those stadiums.

  40. I like what what I don't like. But again, it's.

  41. Just a reference point. I was watching a interview with

  42. our new head coach. The ESPN guy was like, you know,

  43. I'm excited. You're at the cathedral.

  44. The new cathedral. But well, what an interesting

  45. reference. That he made.

  46. For the Swamp anyway, they want you want to go into the opposing

  47. teams home field and get the crowd out.

  48. Why is it that something about the shout of the fans can

  49. motivate the players to do something different?

  50. But in those sports, right, obviously there's ups and downs.

  51. It depends on whether you're winning or losing.

  52. In the church, however, we are always victorious.

  53. We are in, we can never be defeated.

  54. We've we've our, our kings never lost the battle ever, period.

  55. And it wouldn't matter if this if your life seemed like you

  56. were 10 touchdowns behind, I mean, you walked into the

  57. stadium full of victory. I mean, you, you cannot lose by

  58. faith. Can't do it.

  59. But we all know that an atmosphere is created with the

  60. mouths of people in a stadium. So, you know, it behooves us to

  61. find the, the, the songs that cause us to connect, right?

  62. So one of the daunting task of, of us in praise is finding the

  63. songs that resonate with us in the spirit because we're not

  64. here just to sing a song. We're here to connect in the

  65. spirit where the atmosphere changes because we're in it in

  66. the spirit. And we're not just talking about

  67. it from a soulish perspective, because there's plenty of

  68. soulish worship out there. And they'll leave you on a high

  69. in the in the service and then you leave and then it doesn't

  70. help you in life. You got to be able to have

  71. something that's going to connect in the spirit so that

  72. when you get out somewhere else, it comes up in the spirit.

  73. Now, I'm going to be honest with you.

  74. You know, the praise that is out there is so soulish that, you

  75. know, I found myself singing more Force frank stuff than I do

  76. anything, which is crazy. But there's a purity about his

  77. stuff that, you know, it makes me sing lemonade, right?

  78. I mean, I can't tell you how many mornings I've come up from

  79. my sleep not singing some popular worship song, but

  80. lemonade, right? Because my God, to make some

  81. lemonade, man, it's good stuff. And then there's this new one on

  82. sunshine, and I'm all about the sunshine.

  83. So, you know, I'm just saying it's time to work, right?

  84. It's time to get to work, all right?

  85. So my point is, is man know that our praise has an atmosphere and

  86. and just like in the natural, a stadium is changed when the

  87. crowd or the fan base is loud and they're enthusiastic.

  88. How much more in the spirit when we are now it takes

  89. intentionality. And again, why is it easier for

  90. natural, carnal, even really lost people to yell to the top

  91. of their lungs? Yet when we come in here, we

  92. have a difficulty with the sacrifice of praise Hallelujah.

  93. Well, why don't we just stand up and practice at one time?

  94. Come on, let's just do a shout. Come on, stand up, give a shot

  95. of praise Hallelujah. Glory to God.

  96. Hey, Lord, we love you, Lord, Glory to your name.

  97. Glory to your name. Glory to your name.

  98. Hallelujah. Woo.

  99. Yeah. Glory, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

  100. You worthy. Lord, you worthy.

  101. You worthy. Woo.

  102. He's never been defeated. Amen.

  103. Now for the men. I just want to let you know, how

  104. do you translate that? Just think of that one sports

  105. moment with your child. Well that game and you jump and

  106. then magnify that with Christ on the cross in the grave, out of

  107. the grave, all your sin forgiven.

  108. I mean that's monumental. You understand.

  109. It's like that's it's last second stuff when all of a

  110. sudden here comes Jesus out, the Holy Ghost comes and gets him.

  111. There's a rumbling going on, man.

  112. You know, that's pandemonium. And you know, when one person

  113. that's lost comes into the Kingdom, it says the angels

  114. throw a shout of praise that we've never even seen on this

  115. planet yet. Yeah, Yeah.

  116. Now. But again, it's intentionality,

  117. right? We have to make it a habit.

  118. Again. What's amazing is the church has

  119. to be trained, but yet the world doesn't have to be trained

  120. because you don't have to go into a football stadium and

  121. train them to shout. But, yeah, we have to come and

  122. say, well, you know, notice we have been shouting recently,

  123. Right. Amen.

  124. Well, let's say law. All right.

  125. Have a seat. Matthew 13.

  126. Thank you for participation. But didn't you sense an

  127. atmosphere difference even then? Yeah.

  128. Now, if you're like, well, but if there was a guest, you know,

  129. they may think we're weird. No.

  130. No, they won't because they'll actually get in an environment

  131. they're like, I've never been in this.

  132. They can, they'll go. Now, I've been to games before,

  133. but this is different. I've been in stadiums where they

  134. shout, but this shout has something else in it, right?

  135. Because we're not of this world. And when we're connected to the

  136. Spirit, it brings in a spiritual atmosphere that's way different.

  137. It is not the same. All right.

  138. And I'm going to prove that tonight.

  139. Matthew 13 verses 24 to 30 says this.

    Matthew 13:24–30

  140. Jesus presented another parable to them, saying The Kingdom of

  141. heaven is like or maybe compared to a man who sowed good seed in

  142. his field. What kind of seed did he sow?

  143. Good? OK, verse 25 But while his men

  144. were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the weed

  145. and went away all right. But when the wheat sprouted and

  146. bore grain, then the tares became evident.

  147. Also. The slaves of the landowner came

  148. and said to him, Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field?

  149. How then does it have tares? And he said to them, An enemy

  150. has done this. The slave said to him, Do you

  151. want us to go and gather them up?

  152. But he said, No, for while you are gathering up the tares you

  153. may uproot the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together

  154. until the harvest, and in the time of harvest, I will say to

  155. the reapers first gather up the tares and bind them in bundles

  156. to burn them up, but gather the wheat into my barns.

  157. All right? Now we don't have to speculate

  158. what he meant by this because he goes on in verse 36 to actually

  159. communicate exactly what this parable is.

  160. All right, so we're going to jump down there and look at it.

  161. Then we'll expound just a tad in verse 36.

  162. He said. Then he left the crowds, so he's

  163. not talking to the crowds anymore.

  164. All right, And he went to the house, and his disciples came to

  165. him and said, explain to us the parable of the tares of the

  166. field. And he said, the one who sows

  167. the good seed is the son of man. All right, who's the son of man?

  168. What's his name? OK.

  169. And the field is the world. And As for the good seed, these

  170. are the sons of the Kingdom, and the tares are the sons of the

  171. evil. 1 The enemy who sowed them is the devil.

  172. Who is he? He's the devil, and the harvest

  173. is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

  174. All right, then he goes on. He says.

  175. So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with

  176. fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.

  177. The Son of Man will send forth his angels and they will gather

  178. out of his Kingdom all stumbling blocks and those who commit

  179. lawlessness, and we'll throw them into the furnace of fire.

  180. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

  181. Then the righteous will shine forth as the Son in the Kingdom

  182. of their father. He who has ears, let him hear.

  183. All right, so let's go back and look at a few things.

  184. We're going to jump from 24 all the way down through 43.

  185. Let's go back to just the parable portion of it and some

  186. of the Scriptures that are here. First and foremost, we know that

  187. the Son of Man or Jesus sowed the good seed and that the devil

  188. is the one who sows the bad seed, and the seed represents

  189. people, OK? The good seed are those who are

  190. sons of the Kingdom, or we would say those who are born of God.

  191. All right, the bad seed, or is those that are not born of God

  192. at this point. All right, now the seed is sown.

  193. No one knows that there are two, two different seeds at this

  194. point, and they do not even know there's two different seeds.

  195. When they break out of the ground and begin to grow, at

  196. first it's the same. They're so they look so much

  197. alike that you cannot tell the difference.

  198. But there becomes a qualifier, a qualifier, and the qualifier is

  199. the fruit, the fruits, the qualifier.

  200. The tares do not produce wheat. They don't produce that fruit.

  201. So once fruit started to manifest, then those who were

  202. taking care of the field realized this.

  203. It's not all wheat. There's bad plants in here.

  204. They identified them as tares at that point.

  205. So there's a season that you don't tell the difference, and

  206. you would never tell the difference if it wasn't for

  207. fruit. So fruit is the indicator of

  208. difference. Are you hearing me?

  209. This is why we've said before Jesus say go into all the world

  210. and make disciples. Disciples are to bear fruit.

  211. It's a it's a product of discipleship.

  212. This is why God never intended the church to make converts.

  213. Only conversion is when you leave seed state and become a

  214. plant because a seed. Jesus said unless a kernel of

  215. seed falls into the ground and dies, it remains a seed alone.

  216. But if it obviously breaks forth what's in it, it can produce

  217. after its own kind. Now, again, farmers do not farm

  218. for the sake of plants. They farm for fruit.

  219. So you can have a field full of plants, but if it never produces

  220. any fruit, you have a lost crop, right?

  221. And so for farmers, it's more important to have fruit on their

  222. crop, not just to have crop. As a believer, the only

  223. difference between US and the world is not how we look.

  224. It's not in our outward appearance.

  225. Now that doesn't mean our outward appearance won't be

  226. affected by our inward change. I'm not saying that.

  227. What I am saying though is that when you're born again, your

  228. skin suit doesn't technically does not change.

  229. Now when I say technically, what I mean by that is if you had

  230. sickness, it can't be healed, right?

  231. And you can do some things to yourself to make yourself maybe

  232. look better than what you did technically before you were born

  233. again. However, your outward is not

  234. what's making you difference. It's your fruit that's showing

  235. this inward change. And so if conversion was all

  236. that matters, then once the plant came out of the seed,

  237. that's conversion. It's converted from seed state

  238. to plant state. But the farmer doesn't want

  239. plant, he wants fruit, and so does God.

  240. So in US is the ability to make fruit right?

  241. OK, now here's the thing God, because again the Kingdom of of

  242. heaven is like the Lord. Then the owner of the field is

  243. saying do not tear out the wheat with the tares while the wheat

  244. is not mature. So a a lack of maturity, does it

  245. make you intimidated by the tears that are around you if

  246. you'll just continue to allow yourself to be what you are?

  247. There's a process here that if you will just be what you are at

  248. your born again experience. This is the natural progression.

  249. It is not natural for a person who says they're born again to

  250. not produce fruit of the Spirit, nor to move to maturity.

  251. Now, if all of a sudden we start taking out tears while our fruit

  252. is not mature, it can hinder us. So there's something about how

  253. we handle tears that will affect the maturing of Saints.

  254. I mean, there's a lot of religion out there that will

  255. tear down the loss. The loss is already condemned by

  256. themselves. Now, again, a good doctor would

  257. never tell a patient if they discovered they had cancer, you

  258. know, and they had high blood pressure and like, you know

  259. what, I don't want them to feel bad, don't want to ruin their

  260. day. So, you know, we're, you know,

  261. we're going to just deal with their high blood pressure

  262. because they have a high blood pressure.

  263. You know, hey, you want to deal with your high blood pressure,

  264. but we're not even going to talk about the cancer.

  265. You know, how are you feeling trying to get them to discover,

  266. but they don't know. See, we have to communicate what

  267. God says is sin. That's not condemnation.

  268. You're just communicating what is sin.

  269. But there is a remedy. Unfortunately, the church has

  270. gotten so far over in some places where we do not even want

  271. to address sin because we just want to look all look alike.

  272. So looking alike is not what God's looking for.

  273. God's looking for the fruit. Are you hearing what I'm saying?

  274. OK, so in essence, if we don't watch out, we can start tearing

  275. down the lost, boycotting, doing certain things at such a level

  276. that an immature person, basically we're trying to tear

  277. them out or tear them up in such a way that it can hinder the

  278. maturing of the wheat. OK, In the end, there will be

  279. more and more lawlessness. OK, I'll say that we currently

  280. have an atmosphere in the spirit to be calling things out.

  281. We see this specifically in the realm of the government arena,

  282. specifically to where we want to call out things.

  283. And if we don't watch out, there's a righteous stand you

  284. need to make. But there's a way you make a

  285. righteous stand so that you're not tearing out the lost at the

  286. expense of losing the young believer.

  287. Does that make sense? Because there's something here.

  288. And again, I cannot tell you exactly.

  289. All I know is there's a way that if you're uprooting tears at a

  290. time while a immature. Fruit bearing believer is there,

  291. it can hinder them from coming to full maturity.

  292. Hallelujah. Because we'll see that there are

  293. fruits we get to bear. And the fruits that we get to

  294. bear are pretty amazing fruits that help us #1 continue to

  295. grow. But at the end of the day, the

  296. tear is going to be dealt with by the Lord.

  297. Because here's the thing, Your fruit alone testifies that

  298. you're different. Let's say it that way.

  299. I don't have to tear out a tear in order for me to be fruitful,

  300. OK? I don't have to tear down the

  301. lost in order for me to be better.

  302. I am going to be fruitful because I am what I am by the

  303. grace of God and I, if I continue to allow the water,

  304. because both of us are receiving what God does.

  305. He reigns on the and the just and the unjust.

  306. So the tares are getting the provision of God to a degree,

  307. but again, no fruit. The farmer is going to deal with

  308. that ultimately, but we are receiving the washing of the

  309. water with the word and it transforms us to where we are

  310. producing the fruit to maturity that in essence, when we leave,

  311. we've left a legacy. OK.

  312. So this is important because as we get into these last days,

  313. when there's so much turmoil, when you're having to say what

  314. sin is, you have to say it in such a way that it's not tearing

  315. out, but it's, I live this way because it's my fruit.

  316. Well, why is that? Well, because this is what the

  317. word says. Now you're identifying their

  318. lifestyle or whatever they're going through, but you're not

  319. there to tear it out because at the end, you can be different.

  320. It's your choice at the end of the day.

  321. I'm not judging you. I'm just telling you what the

  322. word says. The only judging we do is fruit

  323. judgment. I, I can judge that you're not

  324. bearing the same fruit that I am.

  325. All right. And they can bear.

  326. They can judge and bear see that we're bearing a particular fruit

  327. that they're not bearing. OK?

  328. So we've got to be careful how we pull it out because again,

  329. you need to understand this. Being in the world where the

  330. lost is does not hinder you from maturing.

  331. So what we don't want, This is why some places have gotten off

  332. because they wanted to have their own communities.

  333. They didn't want to be separate themselves from the world.

  334. And Paul was like, that's not what I meant when I said

  335. separate and come out from among them.

  336. It's not what I meant when I you're going to be around

  337. people, you're going to live in it, you're on the planet, you're

  338. going to pass by people that are not a part of the same Kingdom,

  339. but that's not going to hinder your maturity.

  340. So the power of the world cannot hinder your maturity.

  341. The only thing that can hinder A believer's maturity is if we

  342. tear down the lost, tear them out, uproot them in the wrong

  343. season. Let's put it that way, in the

  344. wrong seat. Because again, you understand

  345. God is going to take care of that aspect.

  346. Anyone who sows to His flesh will reap of His flesh

  347. destruction. I don't even have to be a part

  348. of the process. It's going to be its own

  349. process. And the Lord's going to be a

  350. part of that process because God is not mocked.

  351. Whatever man soweth that he will, He'll reap.

  352. And you can grow in seasons of maturity where you bear fruit

  353. and then you're coming into a next one of bearing fruit and

  354. you can be around some of the same people.

  355. But as you go through life, these people are falling off

  356. Why? Because they are not in those

  357. seasons of harvesting, they've been taught, thrown to the

  358. wayside per SE, because they're not part of the Kingdom of God.

  359. But you just continue to bear fruit.

  360. So being in this world does not hinder you from coming to full

  361. maturity, which tells us being in this world God expects the

  362. church or believer to mature still.

  363. So no matter how bad the environment gets, maturity is

  364. important and God if he knew that you being around the world

  365. could hinder your maturity, don't you think he'd pull them

  366. out of the way? So this once again identifies

  367. greater is he that is in us than he that's in the now if you're

  368. not giving yourself to the watering of the word, obviously

  369. you can dry your own root system out and have A and there'll be

  370. an issue. But again, that'll be your

  371. challenge. Not because it's God's fault.

  372. God has given us a ample supply of watering.

  373. We can go to the well anytime we want to.

  374. We can run to the river. We have a well we can go to and

  375. we have a river that can come up so we can be fully refreshed no

  376. problem. And it doesn't matter how bad

  377. the world's getting. It doesn't hinder your maturity

  378. at all. If it was if, if they what they

  379. did stopped you from being all that God wanted you to be, he

  380. would deal with them. But we see even in a lack of

  381. maturity, God says let them grow together because those who are

  382. mine are going to mature. Are you going to mature?

  383. Hallelujah. All right, so let's go on then.

  384. So he goes on then and says this.

  385. Let's look at verse 40, 41. It says he gathered, the angels

  386. obviously gather and they gathering out of his Kingdom all

  387. stumbling blocks of those who commit lawlessness.

  388. Lawlessness is those who are not following God with all their

  389. heart, all their soul, all their mind and all the strength, OK?

  390. And so he removes that. God is the one that ultimately

  391. knows the heavens and the earth are mine, right?

  392. And he's going to have a new heavens and new earth and he

  393. will extract that which is not a part of his Kingdom.

  394. We don't have to be concerned about that.

  395. God's going to do that. All we need to do is just grow,

  396. grow, grow and produce fruit, the fruit that's been planted in

  397. us because we are children of God.

  398. Can I get an Amen? So with that being said, look

  399. over Matthew chapter 12, verse 33.

    Matthew 12:33

  400. Matthew 1233 says either make the tree good and its fruit

  401. good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad.

  402. For the tree is what known by its fruit.

  403. All right? It's the tree is known by its

  404. fruit. So again, how do I know you're a

  405. believer? That's how I know I don't know

  406. you're a believer because you attend church.

  407. I do not know you're a believer because you're telling me you're

  408. a Christian. I don't know that you're a

  409. believer because you quote Scripture.

  410. I don't know you're a believer because you can sing a praise

  411. song. I know you're a believer by your

  412. fruit. Hallelujah.

  413. Fruit is something someone else can eat and taste.

  414. Taste and see that the Lord is the reason why we can taste and

  415. see that He's good because his fruit is good and only good

  416. because he's only a good God. Now, good doesn't mean God can't

  417. be angry and cannot respond. In rap.

  418. Good people can be angry. Anger is not associated with

  419. evil, all right. Anger is not a good or evil

  420. issue. Evil people can be angry, that's

  421. true, but good people can be angry.

  422. Hallelujah. And we could go on further

  423. there, but I won't because I'm not going to take that kind of

  424. time. So they're known by its fruit.

  425. How did the workers of the Owners field know that Bad Seed

  426. had gotten in the ground? It was only until they saw the

  427. fruit of the wheat and then they recognized not every plant is

  428. bearing and they should be. Which means this actually isn't

  429. a wheat, it's a tear. Now the thing about tears is

  430. they look so much like wheat. It's only with the fruit that

  431. you would distinguish them again.

  432. That's why Jesus will say, many will say on that day, Lord, Lord

  433. did not. And there's other passage of

  434. scripture that says that they'll come in, you know, with all

  435. their pomp and circumstance, but they are clouds without water.

  436. And there's a lot of scriptures that talk about people that have

  437. a form of godliness but deny the power thereof.

  438. So again, there's something different about fruit that we

  439. need to get grab hold of because even a tear can mask for quite

  440. some time, something that looks very similar to the wheat plant.

  441. This is why through the years I picked up this thought process,

  442. which is different than what you know, most people have said or,

  443. and I've said in my past, you get around people that I don't

  444. really know and I'll say, man, they're but but what little bit

  445. I've been around them, I say, man, they're really a good

  446. person. But then I realized maybe

  447. they're not a good person because I really don't know

  448. them, but they are really nice. Because an evil person can be

  449. nice, a manipulator can be nice, right?

  450. I mean, you can be extremely nice.

  451. In fact, selfish people with selfish ambitions are extremely

  452. nice because niceness can get what they want and they'd be

  453. extremely nice. Nice.

  454. They can be helpful, they can serve, they can do all that but

  455. still have bad fruit, can still have bad fruit.

  456. However, a good person can be nice, can be nice.

  457. Just like a bad person can be angry, a good person can be

  458. angry. All right.

  459. So there's something about the fruit we carry that has to be

  460. different, that the world cannot mask.

  461. That's really important for us to recognize that.

  462. And again, it's so important for all of us because it seems to me

  463. that the more you get around believers that if we don't watch

  464. out, we become too departmentalized in our thinking

  465. and we're losing the the holistic side of God.

  466. We are a spirit, we have a soul, we live in a body, but we are

  467. those three as well. See, we say God is spirit and

  468. God is spirit, but you know, he has a body and when is he

  469. separated from that? Now this is difficult because we

  470. don't think of God because we've been taught for so many years

  471. God is Spirit and you're going to worship him in spirit and in

  472. truth. But he still has a spiritual

  473. body. So he's a spirit with a body and

  474. he's not separated from that. Because when when Moses said I

  475. want to see your glory, what did he say?

  476. He said, now you can't see my face, which tells me God our

  477. Father has a face. He does not get in a suit.

  478. But once again, because of teaching, we've separated these

  479. elements and we act like we can be something without the rest

  480. and we cannot be even us. We will not be without a body

  481. all for all eternity. It would be called a glorified

  482. body. Hallelujah.

  483. I said, Hallelujah, Amen. But he puts him in the cleft of

  484. the rock. He passes by and he said you can

  485. see my back parts. Now what did that look like?

  486. I'm going to assume it looked a lot like man because he was

  487. created in his image. So I speculate that God looks

  488. like us with a spiritual body that has a spiritual soul and is

  489. a spirit, and they're not separated from each other,

  490. although they're different. And because we are a spirit soul

  491. and body, we had a spirit that was separated from God, still a

  492. spirit nonetheless. When we're born again, we

  493. receive a new spirit that's created in the likeness of

  494. Christ, but yet we maintain the same soul that we had previously

  495. and the same body we had previously.

  496. And then we are to be responsible because now we've

  497. been empowered with this new spirit that we are, that has the

  498. Holy Spirit that's inside us, bearing witness with us and

  499. communicating with us that now we can renew our minds.

  500. And our physical bodies, although decaying in the sense

  501. they're breaking down, can still walk in healing and be made

  502. whole. Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

  503. And I don't see myself separate from that.

  504. But again, because we've said, well, we're really a spirit and

  505. the rest doesn't matter, then This is why we disregard other

  506. aspects. And This is why Paul said, now

  507. look, the problem why some believers who are spiritually

  508. alive to God sleep early, It's because they don't judge their

  509. body correctly. And that judgment came because

  510. they weren't judging their mind right, how they were thinking or

  511. how they were even eating, and because they did not empower

  512. themselves by faith in the finished work of Jesus so that

  513. the other two areas could be all that God needs them to be.

  514. In essence, as Paul wrote to the church in thesson Thessaloniki,

  515. which is may your spirit, soul and body remain blameless until

  516. the day of Christ because again, well, it doesn't matter about

  517. this. I'm leaving anyway.

  518. So we have all these health issues, but I'm a spirit, but

  519. the Lord's like, but I've empowered your spirit so that it

  520. can renew your mind and you can take control of your body and

  521. your body can be as healthy as it needs to be to finish the

  522. work. Glory to God, Amen.

  523. So as a result of that, that's means that we should not

  524. separate these aspects. Well, if we don't watch out, we

  525. do it with maturing. We do it with how we interact

  526. with the lost. This is why.

  527. Well, it doesn't really matter. And I've heard people say that

  528. all that matters is that you're born again.

  529. Well, if that's all that mattered, then why did Paul

  530. Wright have the stuff he wrote anyway?

  531. That's not all that matters, right?

  532. So it's not all that matters, God.

  533. What matters is that God wants you to mature and expects

  534. maturity. And it's a it is a natural, when

  535. I say natural, supernatural byproduct of the believer who

  536. will just be who God says they'll be.

  537. And no matter what's going around them in the world does

  538. not affect their maturing, they can still mature anyway.

  539. Which tells us we can't be a victim in the Kingdom of God.

  540. Can't happen, right? Can't happen.

  541. We're not a victim. We're a victor.

  542. Hallelujah. Matthew 3/8 through 10 says

  543. this. Therefore bear fruit.

  544. How? Therefore bear fruit?

  545. How? In keeping with repentance.

  546. Now John the Baptist is calling out religious people in this

  547. particular passage. These are ones on the outside

  548. are saying that they're good, but Jesus identified them.

  549. He said you are full of dead man bones.

  550. You're a white washed tombs. That's tough talk, but that's

  551. love talking. That's honesty and that is

  552. there. There's hope for you if you

  553. would repent. So in essence, John says, well,

  554. if if you're masquerading as something holy, then I should

  555. see fruit. So if we say we've repented

  556. Jesus is our Lord, then we are to bear fruit in keeping with

  557. repentance. So in verse 9, I do not suppose

  558. that you can say to yourself, we have Abraham for our Father.

  559. For I say to you, from these rocks God is able to raise up

  560. children to Abraham. He said the axe is already laid

  561. at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does

  562. not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

  563. So again we are to bear fruit in keeping with repentance when we

  564. confess Christ as Lord. We repented of our sins.

  565. We've we received by faith the finished work of Jesus that only

  566. he could do, He and the only and we could never do this.

  567. He changed our spirit man to come be alive to God, of which

  568. the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit.

  569. We're children of God and now we are part of the process with the

  570. Holy Ghost to make sure our fruit comes to maturity.

  571. Amen. So we are to keep bear fruit in

  572. keeping with repentance. So if I've repented, that means

  573. there's there's fruit from the old source that I don't bear

  574. anymore. That's dead to me.

  575. I do not let it get to maturity. OK?

  576. I have a whole new fruit system that I'm functioning in.

  577. All right. Galatians 522 to 23 tells us the

  578. fruit we have, but the fruit of the Spirit is OK.

  579. Now, this is really important because again, fruit is not

  580. emotional. It's not emotional.

  581. And so this is something that can be a challenge to our minds

  582. because, you know, in our soul realm where we're having to

  583. renew our minds through the word of God, You know, there are

  584. things we see people do every day that when you look at it,

  585. you could conclude certain things, but they're really only

  586. soulish, period, Because the fruit of the.

  587. So that means then I'm not bearing fruit from my soul,

  588. we're bearing fruit from the Spirit.

  589. Now, the fruit of the Spirit, which is what Spirit?

  590. Obviously the Holy Spirit. But again, the Holy Spirit is

  591. like Jesus. Jesus said I'm going to send you

  592. another comforter or a carbon copy of who I am.

  593. So he's not different than me. Well, but we've been created in

  594. the likeness of Christ, so we're not different from Christ.

  595. Hallelujah, Amen. So our identity is in Christ,

  596. and we are like Christ, and the Holy Spirit is like Christ.

  597. And so if this is the Spirit's fruit, then it's going to be my

  598. fruit. And that fruit comes from the

  599. Spirit, not the soul. So love is not predicated on

  600. feelings. Love is not a feeling.

  601. Joy is not a feeling. Peace is not a feeling.

  602. It's these are states of being. Patience is not a feeling.

  603. Kindness is not a feeling, goodness is not a feeling,

  604. faithfulness is not a feeling, gentleness is not a feeling,

  605. self-control, it's not feelings. These are.

  606. And when you're bearing these fruit, it's impossible for the

  607. world to bear these fruits. So again, here's the thing, if

  608. you know someone is lost and they say man, I'm at peace, how

  609. can they be at peace? Because they don't have the same

  610. spirit we have, which means they have a counterfeit to peace.

  611. And it's really something in the soul realm that they're equating

  612. it as peace, but they don't actually have peace.

  613. And we have to become wise enough to know there's a

  614. difference. And the reason I say that is

  615. because this is what gives you confidence when you're growing

  616. in the fields that God has placed you because the fields

  617. that you're in are full of tears because you're in the world,

  618. you're not up. And you have to know that when

  619. you're around people that you know does not know God and say,

  620. you know, man, that just set me a great piece.

  621. Well, if it's something you've said, then you have to identify

  622. well, this piece I give because it comes from the Spirit is what

  623. you're experiencing now. Someone lost can eat the fruit

  624. you have. That's true because it says

  625. taste and see the Lord's good. But again, they themselves

  626. cannot produce peace because it's it's from the Holy Spirit

  627. of production. So again, joy.

  628. All these are states of being. They're not emotional.

  629. They're not emotions. And I think the church, if we

  630. don't watch out when I say the church, you know, people who go

  631. to church, if if they're not really renewing their mind and,

  632. and, and and asking questions, OK, then what happens is, is

  633. that you assume certain feelings are fruit.

  634. You wake up one day and you're excited because you have good

  635. news. Like, man, the joy of the Lord

  636. is my the joy of the Lord is your strength when you're having

  637. the worst day of your life. I mean, joy manifests in any

  638. environment, and it's not laughing.

  639. Laughing is not a byproduct of joy, although you can laugh,

  640. don't get me wrong, but there is a strength that comes with joy.

  641. All right? Peace, man.

  642. Peace comes by the Spirit. You can be going through the

  643. worst storm ever, yet be at perfect peace and the waves

  644. continue to crash, but you're not moved.

  645. Your situation's changed not but you are sleeping in up on the

  646. top of the boat in your pillow, and you have no thought

  647. concerning it, right? These are states of being.

  648. And when you live those kinds of existence, then all of a sudden

  649. everyone in your field is going to know they're, they have

  650. something different. Now, that doesn't mean we're

  651. emotionless. I just want to say that I think

  652. sometimes, especially in the Word of Faith circles, is that

  653. we, we crush our emotions to where we become emotionless,

  654. right? Because, well, we're not moved

  655. by what we see. We're moved by faith only by the

  656. word, you know, And then we almost become robotic and that's

  657. we shouldn't be that way. We emotions are fine.

  658. Crying is fine. When when you grieve with your

  659. brother, crying is an acceptable response.

  660. No problem. If you hear news that is not

  661. good news and you cried. I don't know.

  662. I didn't mean to cry. I don't want to be.

  663. It's a natural response. In essence.

  664. It can console other people some.

  665. Sometimes it's extremely like in the realm of gentleness or even

  666. in the realm of kindness. Though tears could manifest

  667. during traumatic times. And you're showing gentleness

  668. towards someone else. Well, now it's going to be all

  669. right. You know what the word says.

  670. Let's get it together. Come on now, don't we cry?

  671. I mean, you got to be led by the sphere.

  672. Better than that, but my point is, is that we have a lot of a

  673. lot of Word of Faith have shut off their emotions and you don't

  674. want to do that. We have a soul, we have emotion.

  675. You just want your emotions tied to your spirit because again,

  676. Jesus was an emotional man. He just wasn't led by his

  677. emotions. He was always led by the spirit

  678. and his emotions followed his spirit.

  679. That's why when he went into the House of the Lord, that was the

  680. House of prayer. Something manifested with his

  681. emotions because his fruit was intact, but his demonstration

  682. was something. I mean, This is why he could

  683. come in a moment and weep. And those around think he's

  684. crying because Lazarus is in the grave, dead.

  685. But really he's got tears for another purpose.

  686. OK, so these are states of being which is really powerful, and

  687. these can only come by the Spirit, and they're only

  688. available to the believer. So when Jesus said the Kingdom

  689. of heaven is like a man who sowed seed in his field, and yet

  690. the enemy came and sowed some and now we have a good plant and

  691. a bad plant and we know the difference because of their

  692. fruit that that maturing of the good plant isn't stopped because

  693. a bad plant is around or even if the plants root system

  694. intertwines. Because again, you know,

  695. believers get this fear that you know, well, it's going to get on

  696. me. I mean, why don't you be

  697. confident? I'm going to get on you.

  698. You understand, because you were that plant.

  699. You're not that plan anymore. You became a good plan and you

  700. have more power now. And you're like, man, you're

  701. going to want to rub with me. You're going to want to get

  702. around me, right? You're going to want to get

  703. around me because again, as long as you're watering yourself and

  704. you're allowing what's already in you to come out by faith, you

  705. just released, these are fruits that are there.

  706. So again, when challenges come, you know what?

  707. I've got something here called joy.

  708. I need to get to that now. Again, as you grow and develop

  709. and depending on what stage or situation you're going through,

  710. all of us have to navigate this emotional realm to make sure

  711. this is coming OK and get that thing to pop up and begin to

  712. show up in this situation. We're like, wow, you know, when

  713. you become proficient at functioning and fruits of the

  714. spirit, people will begin to think you have no problems.

  715. Most of the time they think there will be very few people in

  716. your life that know you're going through something.

  717. Now, your spouse is going to know if you're married, they're

  718. going to know. Outside of that, very few may

  719. know. Now, if you're a person who has

  720. to tell somebody all the time, well, you need to examine that

  721. because that could be like emotional attachments, right?

  722. Because you're looking to help feed your emotion, which is not

  723. fruit. That's not the fruit we bear.

  724. We don't, we're not here to bear emotional fruit.

  725. We're here to bear spiritual fruit.

  726. That then changes our emotion, OK, because again, I you, I have

  727. no problem and the Bible is very clear that we can share things

  728. with one another. Now you got to be careful how

  729. you share because the Bible even talks about that.

  730. Sometimes you can't share certain things to some people

  731. that haven't developed some layers of mature as another

  732. believer because they can't handle that.

  733. So you have to be wise enough to know those boundaries where

  734. that's at. Jesus didn't tell everybody

  735. everything. He took divided into 3 people

  736. the most intimate things, right? So you have to understand that

  737. that's part of the process. However, these things as you're

  738. navigating them, ultimately the majority of people, if they ever

  739. catch wind of what you've been going through, they would be

  740. shocked because every time they were around you, they were

  741. tasting this. And these, when I say seasonal

  742. fruits, they are seasonal, but they are seasonal in both good

  743. and bad times. Because obviously you should

  744. walk in joy if there's nothing going on.

  745. I mean, you know, well, how come I don't see any joy?

  746. Well, everything's just great. I haven't had a trial or

  747. calamity, you know, it's so easy right now.

  748. Just so infuriated and nothing to strengthen me with.

  749. I mean, now we laugh. But in the world, some people

  750. live from chaos to chaos because they're they're codependent on

  751. it. Because if it's everything's

  752. going good, then they're like, I got to find chaos because that's

  753. their comfort, right? You know, it reminds me of a

  754. secular song. You know, you cut yourself to

  755. bleed just to know you're alive. And that's the reality in some

  756. people's lives. OK.

  757. But again, we have different fruit here.

  758. All right, Let's close with this verse here.

  759. First, Psalms 92 one through 12 through 15 says this last

  760. passage. The righteous man will.

  761. What's he going to do? He's going to flourish like the

  762. palm tree and he will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

  763. Planted here. It is planted in the House of

  764. the Lord. They will what?

  765. Flourish in the courts of our God, Hallelujah.

  766. They will still yield fruit in old age.

  767. There's no such thing as a grumpy old man in the Kingdom of

  768. God. There's no such thing as a

  769. grumpy old woman in the Kingdom of God.

  770. No such thing. No such thing.

  771. We were at the county, and I won't say when because I want to

  772. identify, but there was a particular older person.

  773. They're grumpy, complaining about everything.

  774. Well, they're not producing the fruit, right?

  775. Fruit. Now.

  776. They think they're bringing a good 'cause they've convinced

  777. themselves, but you know, they're really not.

  778. They're just bringing turmoil. They have to live in chaos.

  779. But here the Bible tells in the Kingdom, they'll yield fruit.

  780. And what fruit are we talking about?

  781. The fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit, which

  782. tells me this, the longer you've been in church, the more fruit

  783. production you should produce. This is why Washington or school

  784. or kindergarteners, you walk in their classroom, boom, they jump

  785. up, you know, first or kindergarten, first, second,

  786. third grade, really most of our lower grade.

  787. I mean, they'll get in the line. They'll be quiet, super orderly,

  788. absolutely compliant, doing everything that the teachers are

  789. saying. But then we need to get into

  790. that upper grade. All of a sudden, same order

  791. doesn't seem to manifest. And what's odd about that is

  792. that we've had them coming from the first second.

  793. Why are you not producing more fruit now?

  794. Why are you letting your hormones stop your fruit

  795. production? Because hormones do not stop

  796. spiritual fruit. That's why someone born of God

  797. can be patient and wait for that woman to come.

  798. We got teens growing up in church must be following God and

  799. then act like they got to get married and find the first

  800. person that's even kind of compatible.

  801. It's like, man, be patient. You got that fruit, wait till

  802. God brings the right one. And we I mean, you're going to

  803. have trouble when you get married anyway.

  804. So you make sure it's the right one.

  805. I mean, Paul said you're going to have trouble period.

  806. I mean, two free will moral agents is going to have some

  807. challenges. It's going to be friction.

  808. But get get the one that that God wants you to be with so that

  809. you know, you have the greatest advantage going in.

  810. Hallelujah. But you should bear fruit in

  811. your old age. They shall be full of SAP and

  812. Berry green. I mean, again, our older people,

  813. we you shouldn't be getting aggravated with kids running

  814. around. You should be the most patient.

  815. Where are these parents at? Their kids running around like

  816. they're crazy. I know.

  817. Yeah, they are. And that's why we do parenting

  818. workshops. We're trying to say, figure out

  819. where your children are at, right?

  820. I mean, we want them to be safe, too.

  821. All right? But again, you are full of SAP.

  822. You're very green to declare that the Lord is upright.

  823. Why are you full of SAP? Why are you very green?

  824. Why are you yielding fruit to declare that the Lord is

  825. upright? He is my rock and there and

  826. there is no unrighteousness in him.

  827. Isn't that amazing? So what do we see here tonight?

  828. Tonight we see that the Kingdom of God is like man, He sowed

  829. good seed. And did Jesus sow good seed in

  830. your heart when you became born again?

  831. Now He's giving you the access to the fruits of the Spirit that

  832. you're going to be able to yield season after season after

  833. season, Good days, you're going to have them.

  834. Bad days, you're going to have them.

  835. You're going to have it, and you're going to always get

  836. yourself in alignment. And anytime you get out, you're

  837. not a bearer of a bad fruit just 'cause you do something wrong,

  838. you can repent of that. Ask God to forgive you because

  839. that's not your heart, that's not your being, that's not who

  840. you are in Christ, but you'll recognize because the Spirit of

  841. God say, wait a minute, now you're because again, emotional

  842. responses are not fruit. Envy is not emotion.

  843. Jealousy is not an emotion. It's not an emotion because God

  844. is a jealous, but there is a evil jealousy.

  845. So these are not emotions, but they create emotions.

  846. So how you're acting emotionally is not the fruit.

  847. There's something else that's showing up.

  848. This is why I can be around the nicest people and walk out and

  849. say, man, they're a manipulator. Oh, they're greasy.

  850. Some ain't right there. Something is not right there.

  851. But yet they were so nice. But you can say it's beyond your

  852. niceness, this laugh that you have.

  853. There's something there and now it's tangible.

  854. This is not like subjective because you know, a lot of

  855. believers want to get over into, well, I just sent something.

  856. Well, brother, you're not the only one with the Holy Ghost.

  857. And again, we can have all kind of people come up to determine

  858. whether somebody's got fruit. Because again, if it's two or

  859. three witnesses alone in the old covenant, there was that.

  860. But you understand, Jesus had multiple witnesses come against

  861. him and they were all a bunch of liars.

  862. So don't think in your life people won't come against you

  863. and they'll all be a liar to your fruit.

  864. God will announce your fruit. So don't be afraid of that.

  865. But yet you can know now, just when I know doesn't mean This is

  866. why I'm kind and I'm good. I have goodness towards a lot of

  867. lost people because when when my wife and I come into a

  868. restaurant a week or somewhere when we leave a room, I want

  869. them to know that fruits different and it's spiritual.

  870. Now, it's not emotions, it's spiritual.

  871. It's spiritual. Whether or not they accept Jesus

  872. because of the fruit we're passing out.

  873. I can't control that, can't control that, but I sure don't

  874. want to give them rotten good fruit.

  875. Amen. Let's be planted in the House of

  876. the Lord, and let's grow and bear good fruit.

  877. Amen.