The Fig Tree || Pastor Diego Mesa

Welcome to the Lesse Podcast. Here at Lesse, we seek the loss,

teach the found, and send the disciples. We truly hope you're encouraged by

this week's message. If you have your Bibles, so you just simply want

to watch or read with us. We're going to Luke thirteen. You're gonna

stand right now and we're gonna read Luke thirteen. Verse just three verses,

verse number six through verse number nine. Luke thirteen. It's going on on

the screen. And he told this parable. A parable is the way Jesus

taught nearly forty parables is the way that Jesus taught. It's a it's a

simple story that had a lot of meaning during his day that brought out truths

and lessons for them to apply in their lives. He says this parable.

A man had a fig tree that was planted in his vineyard. He came

looking for fruit on it, and he found none. He told the vineyard

worker, listen, for three years, I have come looking for fruit on

this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down, say that word

with me. Why should it waste the soil? But he replied to him,

sir, leave it this year one more year, one more year,

until I dig around it, fertilize it. Perhaps it will produce fruit next

year. But if not, you can cut it what you may be seated.

Father, thank you for the privileged to minister this amazing message today as

we talk about the parable of the fig tree today in Jesus name Amen.

A fig tree in our world today, but especially in Israel, was a

very very prized and valuable tree. It has big leaves and it provided shade.

But then it produces an amazing fruit called a fig. When I grew

up, one of my favorite cookies was a fig Newton. Anybody if you

like fig Newton's, Yeah, there's there's anti cancerous elements within a fig.

It lowers blood pressure, it could lower cholesterol. So there's a lot of

nutritional value in the fig. Remember another story, Jesus cursed the fig tree

because it did not produce no fruit. When Adam and Eve had sinned,

they covered themselves with a fig leaf. And then when Hezekiah was sick to

the point of death, the word of the Lord came to him and said,

set your house in order. Then it came back and said he repented.

God said I'm going to extend your life for fifteen years. And then

he got a fig and created an ointment and put it on the womb.

So the Bible has a lot to say about the fig tree, but the

fig tree represented the nation of Israel, and that's what he was talking about

today. Specifically, he was talking about that Israel was unrepentive and the Lord

had been long suffering toward them, and God was going to give them an

additional amount of time to turn to him or then they would be cut off.

But today we're gonna look at the story and break it down just a

little bit more so on your screen, I'm going to break down the story

as you saw it highlighted. I'm going to extrapulate what we just read today.

This is kind of like expository teaching. So if you were in seminary,

this is the way we would break it down. Or you were come

from a Reformed or Calvinistic church, this is the way they'd break it down.

Or you come from a church that does more expository teaching than this is

what you would get. So it says here a man. Now in the

story, the man is Jesus. He says his his declares ownership. You're

not the owner of the vineyard. You don't know nothing. It's his vineyard.

So he's the man. It's his which shows ownership. It says he

came to examine the fig tree. He shows personal interest in our lives.

He's the personal inspector of the fruit of our lives. And he's the one

who not man, not a pastor, not society. He is the one

that shows interest and he inspects your life. Then he went looking looking.

Is that he's watching you, He's seen and he's wanting something from you.

Then it says fruit. The fruit is that he wants growth from our lives.

He wants productivity from our lives. He wants results from our lives.

He wants service from our lives. Here's what the Bible says about fruit and

John. The Bible says this. He says, by this, my Father

is glorified that you bear fruit, So you will you be my disciples.

How can I call myself a Christian? How can I say I'm a christ

follower? How can I say I'm a disciple of the Lord if there's no

fruit in my life. Jesus in another statement said you will know people by

their fruit, not by what they say. But their lifestyle will prove to

you whether they truly are followers of me. Then we'll go back to the

next scripture. Please go back to the next scripture. Here's the kind of

fruit. If you're looking for the kind of fruit he's looking for the fruth

spirit. God wants love from our lives. He wants joy from our lives.

He wants peace from our lives. He wants long suffering from our lives.

He wants kindness from our lives. He wants goodness from our lives.

He wants faithfulness from our lives. He wants gentleness from our lives. And

he wants self control from our lives. Matthew five in verse number sixteen.

Matthew five in verse sixteen, Let your light so shine before men, that

they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven.

It's all about fruit in our lives. And Jesus is obsessed with his

vineyard, and he's obsessed with the fruit that's in his vineyard. Now,

let's go back to the text and break it down. So then it says,

but he found none, zero, nothing, nada was on that tree.

Is it possible for me to be a Christian and bear no fruit.

Yes, according to this scripture, it's possible that you know, I got

saved. I came to the altar, I set a prayer, I asked

Jesus to come into my life. But I've spent the last thirty forty years

of my life with the world in my hip pocket. You know, I

don't have much maturity in my life. My service is not rendered unto the

Lord. I don't have a lot of victories in my life. The flesh

controls me and dominate me. I'm still very very stingy. I'm still very

very selfish. Let's go on. It's possible, he says. Three years.

I just love this thing. Three years. The three years, he

says, I've been waiting three years. I've been expecting three years. I've

been long suffering with my people. I've been long suffering with you for three

years. I've been patient. But in this three years, is this thing

I'm frustrated? Is it? We sometimes when we think of God, we

take away the emotion of God. But the Bible is clear because when you

look at Jesus, Jesus is God, and Jesus is an expression of sincere,

pure and godly emotion. He was angry. He threw the money changers

out of the temple. That's anger when how many of you? And when

you see a man with a whip trying to whip people out of someplace,

that he's probably angry. Yeah, that was Jesus, Absolutely, that was

Jesus. He was at the tomb of his friend Lazareth, and he wept,

and he wept and he wept. He was angry at his disciples over

their competition with one another. He was angry or disappointed with Peter in his

life when he denied him, and the list goes on. He had emotion.

So he says, for three years, there's an element of dis ointment.

Where's my fruit? You're living in my vineyard. I grew you,

I saved you. And he says, three years and I haven't found any

No prayer, life, no victory of the flesh. You still don't tie,

Then you don't give. Then he uses a strong word which we have

a hard time ever thinking, how can a good God ever reflect this emotion?

He said, cut it down. Cut it down reflects that God is

a god of judgment. God is a god of consequences. God is a

God of punishment. God is a god of repercussions, and God is a

god that where people experience losses in their lives. Then he goes on.

He says, this tree in my ground, in my vineyard, that I've

got a water, i gotta give sunlight to it. I've got to keep

the critters away from it. Is way wasting time. It's wasting energy.

It's wasting effort and energy from me. It's wasting opportunity and chances and absolute

experiences. How many remember the story of the produco He was wasting his living.

The Bible says in Proverbs eighteen, in verse number nine, there's a

great scripture. It says, the one who is too the one who is

too lazy to look for work, is the same one who wastes his life

away. The Bible has a lot to say about waste. How many of

you don't like to waste? Food kind of just urge you, you know,

you man, You make this big old thing and you don't eat as

much, and you want to you kind of want to give it away,

or I'm gonna leave it over for leftovers. Or you made something for someone

and they don't finish it, and you just don't like to don't like to

waste food some of you. How many of you don't like to waste money?

Only three of you. The rest of you love to waste money.

How many of you my pet peeves. I hate to waste time. I

could get more money, I can't get more and more time, So I

hate to waste time. If somebody tells me to be here at a certain

time, Diego is never late because he values his time and he values someone

else's time. If you tell me I have an appointment at eleven, I

will be at that appointment. But how many of you know people don't keep

their appointments. It's a waste. It's a waste, and the story is

talking about waste in someone's life. I'm a little bit of an amateur hunter.

In my older years, I've gone gone to something I grew up with

with my father, who was a big game hunter. And I don't mean

for you animal activists to get upset with me. But last year I shot

a wild pig and got the pig meat and gave some of that pig meat

to different people, and I found out that some people didn't eat my pig

meat. They wasted my pig meat, And so I took that very personable

that you don't know the value of my meat. You know the value of

my money for that hunt, you know the value of my time that went

to hunt that pig. You don't value the gift that I gave to you.

And so I recognize that there there's waste. When I took some friends

recently to the Dodger game, this was a couple of months ago, but

we want a one time ate as a guest at this dugout restaurant that they

had there, and I just a very few places do I enjoy eating,

But I enjoyed it because they had like keywa and great salads, and they

had fish, and I just loved it. And so I went there to

take my guests and then we went and sat out, sat at our prime

seats, which was by the dugout. But what I didn't realize is that

when you paid for those tickets at the dugout, you got access to a

restaurant. And so I went into that restaurant and the same food that I

ate over at that dugout place was right there, and I thought to myself,

what a waste of money. I felt so bad with myself that I

wasted money over there when I could have got this thing for free. Nobody,

nobody likes to waste things, and so it is with God. He

doesn't like to waste things. But let's break it down now, because here's

the lesson. The first lesson is this what we can learn from this story?

Where have I been enjoyed the privileges of being in the vineyard without any

return or responsibility or requirements. Am I in God's vineyard? While if you're

a Christian, you're in God's vineyard? And that is a blessing. And

that is a privilege. To be called a Christian, To be translated from

the kingdom of darkness into his marvelous work or life. To have your name

written in the Lamb's book of Life, to be called a child of God,

to never know how, nor damnation nor punishment, to know, like

the song said, like Chelsea says, that He's always with you, that

he'll never leave you, or he'll never forsake you. That he's in your

the palm, You're in the palm of his hand. That's a privilege to

be a Christian. But the reality is is do I enjoy the privileges of

my Christian faith or this vineyard, but have no sense of returning or giving

back, nor responsibility nor requirements. Back in the day, we'd call that

a freeloader. Is that even possible that there could be Christians in this church

and in the Kingdom of God that are freeloaders. No, not in this

church, but in other churches. Those things go on. It's very possible

that that can happen. How many have ever gone to a restaurant, Hopefully

it's not you. You've gone to a restaurant and you see people with their

purse, their handbag or whatever they're carrying. Get a bunch of napkins and

put them in their purse. Then get all the plastic utensils and grab all

those. Then a handful of toothpicks, mints, and then if they got

tea bags, they shove the tea bags in. That's somebody who wants the

privileges of where they are, but they want no sense of returning back or

responsibility. It's that's what I'm trying to do. Whenever I go to the

grocery store, I try to put my grocery cart back in place. Because

I have the privilege of living in America and I have the privilege of being

able to go to a market, and I have the privilege of them giving

me a free shopping cart that I can use. Just a way to think.

If I see paper on the floor, I want to think, you

know what, I can pick that up. I'm healthy, I'm not an

invalid. I'm grateful to live in America. I'm grateful that I'm a clean

person. I'm self conscious of dump and waste. But there's some people that

may not think that way. I want to clean the table after no matter

where I eat, and sometimes people have to rhyme, my oh no,

that's paid for because someone else's job. Because I don't want to just simply

be a taker all the time. I want to be able to return back

the privileges that I have, as in my faith in America, in my

life, in my morals and my character, all those things. I don't

want to take advantage of the privileges that I have without giving anything return.

When I grew up there were about seven eight kids in my neighborhood street.

It was a little bit different the time period in which I grew up.

You freely ran the streets, you did everything in the neighborhood. You rode

your bike everywhere, you played football in the streets. You know, you'd

go door balditching, you'd eat all the fruit of the neighbors trees. I

mean, you get in trouble. But it was fun stuff. It's just

fun stuff. And so we called our We lived on a street called Muscatel

and we were called Muscatel Musketeers, about eight of us. We had a

club. We had a club, and what what happened was Saturday was a

big play day for us, big tip play day for us. So as

soon as we could, we get out of the house and then we go

at it all day long until the sunset, and if it was summer,

we'd be able to stay longer. And we do everything on those things.

But we get hungry, and there was a little store called the egg Hut.

We didn't have big grocery stores like they have today. There were just

mom and pop little stores. It's called the egg cut because it was on

a chicken farm and mostly they sold eggs. But then they had a little

bit of a mark a market there and we would go there. But we

were hungry and we wanted something to eat, and so we'd all look at

each other and say, what can you chip in? What can you give

toward the egg cut when we go there, because what we'd always want to

buy is a big Now, I don't know why. Back then, and

maybe just in my mind, the bags of chips were so much bigger,

and they were filled to the top, not like they are halfway now air

they were filled to the brim. Anybody remember what I'm talking about. So

we get a big lace potato chip, and our favorite was barbecue. That

was our favorite barbecue. And then we get I'm gonna age myself a little

bit, we get some shafts to coke strawberry flavor, and back then it

came in a bottle. Came in a bottle, and so we'd sit there.

But based upon how much you chipped in is how many chips you got,

and how many swigs the Shasta drink. Anybody hear what I'm talking about.

And every once in a while there'll be someone who try to put their

mouth on that Shasta bottle and dip their hand in our chips, who didn't

give Jack Diddley, And we'd say no, but you can watch us eat

it and wipe our mouths. Because even back then on the streets, you

were required to chip in, you were required to give something. And in

the body of Christ we have people that just receive, receive, receive,

receive, and never give back into the Kingdom of God. I also recognize

the second principle. Our sole purpose as Christ followers is for the Master's use.

That sole purpose of the vineyard, that sole purpose of the fig tree

was for the master's use. All my money, all my time, my

availability, my gifts, my talent, my mind, my body is available

for the Master's use. It is to be available, accessible, and acceptable

to him in every aspect of what he wants. Here's what the Bible says

in Second Timothy. The Bible says this, at Second Timothy, no one

serving as a soldier gets entangled in the concerns of the civilian life. He

seeks to please his commanding officer. That's Jesus. You're in the army of

the Lord, and you serve your commanding officer. If he calls you to

a duty and to a function and to a job, you do it.

He's your commanding officer. But it goes on, and it says in verse

number twenty, it says, now in a large house, or in a

large church, or in the large kingdom of God. There are not only

gold and silver vessels, but there are also vessels that are wood and clay,

undeveloped vessels, immature vessels. He goes on to say, some for

honorable use, and some for dishonorable. So if anyone purifies himself from anything

dishonorable, he will be a special instrument set apart, useful to the Master,

prepared for every good work. God's saying, I want you to be

this gold and silver vessel. Get all the wood and all the clay of

carnality, flesh, selfishness out of your lives. I want to use you,

and I use the vessels that have purified themselves by obeying my word.

So I want you to recognize the thought is is that all of us are

for the Master's use. The third principle is this, let us not take

advantage of God's long suffering, God's mercy and patient with us as an excuse

for justification. I could get away with it, an excuse for judgment.

There's no hell, there's no consequences, and an excuse for justice. God.

God is not going to hold me to something I'm an exception and I

could get away with it. No God is a god of justice, whether

it's this lifetime or the next lifetime. Nothing is done in secret that will

not be revealed. But this three year period of time is showing God's not

quick to judge us cut us down. He's long suffering toward us. He

was long suffering toward the world during the days of Noah that gave them one

hundred and twenty years to repent. He was long suffering toward Sodom and Gomorrah

that would repent when Abraham had prayed. He was long suffering toward Antonias and

Saphirah. He was long suffering toward the Tower of Babel. God is not

quick to declare his wrath, but at the same time, he is a

god of wrath. And just because you and I could get away with something,

and just because there's no immediate and that's what so messes us up.

There's no immediate consequences to our disobedience, but there's delayed consequences that could take

place five and ten years from now. That catches you off guard and you

say, what am I doing wrong? You're probably not doing anything wrong now,

but you were doing something wrong ten years ago, and God's long suffering

was asking you to repent of that and to change, but you didn't,

and now you're having to reap the results of it. So this story is

very very clear that there is a time where he says it twice, cut

it down, and cut it down, which is showing a point of separation

that takes place between the trees that are producing and the trees that aren't producing.

There is a time of termination for that tree. There is an expiration

date that tree gets fired sort of speak. Now here's the reality. I've

never been fired on a job. I don't I don't know what that means

to get fired off of a job. I've never been fired. I've never

been terminated off a job. But I'll tell you what. I have been

arrested, and that wasn't fun. That was a form of judgment when I

got arrested, and what took place after that arrest, with what I had

to go through. I have been a race where I've been dqed from that

race, and there was shame and embarrassment that came from that DQ of that

race. I have been in races where I was penalized for doing something that

I shouldn't have been doing in that race, whether it was a form of

cheating or violating a rule. And so in these three situations that I'm giving

you today, where I've been dcuted and I've been arrested and I've been penalized,

there was consequences. And there are people today in the world that believe

they can live any old lives, do anything they want, when they want,

whenever they want, and there's no consequences do it. But this brings

the fear of the Lord into our lives, that whatsover a man sows,

that shall he reap. So now I conclude with the meat of the message.

That was all my introduction, and now I'm going to preach, but

it's real quick. There's just three points. Wat says. Here's the three

points. Here are the three lessons for you to walk away because you're huge.

Watch what needs to be cut out of my life that's barren and wasteful?

What needs to be cut out of your life? Let me These three

things are everyday evaluations for you. These are three things that you can tell

people every day to try to live a successful life or improve their life.

These are three things that you and I need to judge our life like life

about every single day. What in my life needs to be cut out of

my life because it's barren and it's wasteful. It's making me barren in my

life and it's wasteful, and it absolutely needs to be cut out of my

life. So I spend time with my grandchildren, and I'm trying to really

do the best that I can in raising them and being a big active part

of their lives. And I really want to encourage grandparents to do that.

I'm not the kind of grandparent nor Cindy, and I'm not trying to judge

that. I'm going to move to Florida, have fun, do whatever I

want, and then occasionally come back. I want to be actively involved in

my grandchildren's life. I'm just not wired that way. I want them to

know me, and I want to spend a lot of time with them.

So I've done this before it but last week I took Arielle on a date.

She's twelve years old. So I took her on a date and I

called her mama and said, what what does a twelve year old girl want

to do? You know? So she says, oh, there's this revolving

sushi bar that she's always wanted to go to, so she likes Asian food,

and so I looked it up or no, no, no, I'm

Massarry. Ashley gave it to me and I took her there to the to

the revolving Sushi bar. And if you've ever been to one of the song

we're in a booth and you look that way and and it just goes by

with all the all the plates, with all the food, and you just

pick it out and you put it there, and it records it there and

you pick it out and you put it there, and so convey about just

they're coming by all the time, just coming by all the time. Well,

I eat a very strict diet. Okay, there's there's absolutely you know

the story. There's no processed foods and there's no refined sugar in my diet.

So there's literally nothing that I can eat in this restaurant. But I

but I want to enjoy my granddaughter and I just want to sip on water

and look at her eat. So I'm gonna I'm gonna do something that I

don't do. I'm gonna start pulling dishes or I'm gonna start tasting her dish

like having conversation, how did that taste? Area? Do you mind if

I try it? You know, just bonding with her like that. And

so the reality was it took me about a day and a half to flush

my system. And you know what I'm talking about, because my stomach can

handle all that stuff that I was eating. And so I recognize our first

point was this, you got to know those things that you gotta cut out

of your life. I can't eat these things, I can't participate in these

things. So what I'm about ready to say, with one lens in my

glass and the other one out, is what I'm referring to is people in

your life and places in your life, and plans in your life, and

priorities in your life. When I'm talking about his habits, disciplines in your

life, values and routines and practices, or even purchases in your life.

So let's go back to the first statement. What needs to be cut out

of my life? That's bearing and wasteful purchases, people, places, conversations.

Number two, what needs to be given one more year a limited time

frame, and then I'm going to need to make a decision whether I'm going

to keep this or cut it off massive. Right now, I need to

take up another offering just for this statement. Right now, you will set

yourself free right now if you live by that, because some of you are

tolerating boyfriends and girlfriends that you need to give one more year, two And

if I don't get a ring on my finger and they don't get a job,

I'm cutting your loose, bro I'm cutting your loose sister. But you

won't do that. You'll give five and ten years to your life. And

now you're thirty five years old, forty five years old, and now it's

a struggle to find somebody. What are you gonna put a time frame on

people? Places, lifestyles, relationships, business opportunities, business partner. Okay,

I'm giving one more year for this investment. I'm giving one more year

for this business to flourish. If not, I got to go back to

work. I gotta shut this thing down because it's not paying the bill.

We don't do it. He said, I'm gonna give this thing one more

year, and if I come back in another year and there's no more fruits,

you're cut down. You are not in the vineyard anymore. So I

want you to recognize that this is a struggle looking through one eye. I

don't even know which one it is right now. That one more year might

be the one more year might be a family member that's living with you.

Let me just take my time, and well that's too long. Forget it?

See you forget that? How many of you know? It's wonderful to

open our homes and our houses to family members, but you need to put

a time frame on that. I'm giving you one year to get your back

on your feet. I'm giving you one year to get a job. This

is not till Jesus comes. I'm gonna give you one more year where I'm

gonna help you with your bills, take care of your children. But in

this next year, after one more year, if you don't got your lack

together, then I'm sorry. That's that's not hate hateful, that's not saying

you're not being loving in any form or any fashion. Thank you having So

what do you have to give? One more thank you? Wow? I

could see again. That's amazing. That's amazing. Time frame? What more?

One more time frame? So right now, right now, I'm on

a fast from social media. Manifest from social media right now, so I

cut it off. Right now for a period of time, so I cannot.

My favorite form of social media is Instagram. I look at I noticed

that I was being a little bit obsessed with Instagram and the moment I had

a little free time, there I went, and I don't like anything controlling

Diego's life. I will not allow anything, and I'll ask the Holy Spirit

to show me these things. It working out can be very obsessive to me

because I love to work out. What you think is pain is an adrenaline

rush to me. But I challenge myself and I felt like while I was

watching TV. There I went, as I was waiting somewhere, there I

went, and I'm just doing I said, Okay, that's it. That's

it. We're cutting you off for a year. Here we go. It's

not a year, but I'm taking a week time frame. Don't laugh at

me. Why did you take a year? Then, some things you have

to give a time frame off from. You have to give us some time

off. And the last one is this, what do we have that need

that we need to keep in our lives because it's fruitful and it's helpful and

it's beneficial. These things that we're going to evaluate in our lives are hard

to do, and sometimes they're hurtful, especially when they're relationships, and they

can cause us a lot of hassle. But if you look through the lens

of these three things, what do I need to cut off and eliminate?

What do I need to give time to a little bit more to evaluate?

And then three, what do I need to keep into my life? Because

it's helpful and because it's beneficial, it'll help us to live a healthier life,

a blessed life. It will simplify our lives and give us a lot

of victory in our life and a lot of peace of mind in our lives.

I know how much amount of time that I have to pray every day.

I know, and you'll know too if you ask the Holy Spirit.

And you'll know too. If you're dominated by your flesh that I'm telling you're

not praying enough, you're still living in the world acting crazy up and down,

then you better put in some more time. But once you find that

time now where the spirit of God is dominating, doesn't mean you're perfect,

doesn't mean you don't make mistakes, but you're spiritually strong where you were weak,

then you're finding that number. You're finding that amount of time that you

have to put in, just like a gym, how much time do you

have to work out to keep your weight off? Because how much you're going

How many of you if you went into the gym and worked out for five

minutes, you're gonna look really good. How many of you are gonna do

that? Well, there's one, two persons, two liars, two sinners

that are gonna give their life to Jesus today. How many of you know

you figure out I gotta work out at least forty five men, I gotta

work out about an hour. I'll maintain my weight at that. But if

I do less, then you know what I'm gonna start putting it on a

pound here in a pound there. You have to figure that out in your

spiritual life. Every one of our metabolisms, like naturally, are different spiritually.

You can't work out spiritually the way I do. We could use the

same weights, we could use the same running belt or whatever. I mean.

You can see how much I go the Jim treadmill or whatever it is,

stair master or whatever it is. But we all have different times that

we do it. In I end with this story, The eagle is a

majestic bird. It's the master of all birds, the elite bird of all

But this eagle every few years has to go through a multing process where he

is going to get ugly so that he could get beautiful again. So he

will begin to pull out his feathers that are very painful for him because when

he pulls it out, he'll bleed a little bit. But the reason why

he has to do that is because his feathers get dirty, and his feathers

sometimes get damaged, and that makes him uneffective in flying. When he sweeps

up his prey, the wind creates noise that alerts his prey to run.

So he instinctively knows if he's going to be the master of the master bird

and be effective as a predator against enemies, he's got to pluck his feathers

out. He's got to purify himself, and he's got to go through that

pain of knowing what I need to keep. And so he'll look. He

won't pluck all his feathers out, because some feathers are still good, but

he'll look at the feathers that are torn and withered and he'll pull those out.

And then he'll notice ones that Okay, I'm not going to do it

this season or this year, but probably next year I'm gonna have to pluck

those out. Father, thank you for the message today. I pray that

it landed in our hearts today. What do I need to keep? What

do I need to eliminate? What do I need to give just a little

bit more time to and watch and see if it's productive. We learn this

all from the masterful parable of the fig tree in Jesus name. Amen,

before you leave this place, thank you, Thank you for coming to church.

But nowhere in the Bible doesn't say if you go to church, you

go to Heaven. Show me in the Bible where it says that. No

where in the Bible does say if you don't cuss, and you don't drink,

and you don't fornicate, you'll go to heaven. Show me in the

Bible where it says that. Show me in the Bible where it says if

you're a nice person, you're a great humanitarian, you do acts of kindness,

you'll go to heaven. Show me. It's not in the Bible.

Show me the Bible where it says you're a spiritualist, you do a little

bit of this and a little bit of that. You believe in karma,

energy, incense, rosaries, you'll go to heaven. It's not in there.

All those things are called works. And that's the difference between Christianity and

all the major religions of this world. Religion makes you earn something, it

makes you prove something, It makes you work for something to appease a God

that you're never sure is appeased. Well, here's the difference between Christianity.

You don't have to work for your salvation. You don't have to work for

heaven. Jesus came and did the work on the cross. You just have

the opportunity to receive the message today. Today you can give your life to

Jesus Christ and shopshina, earn something, and prove something, and merit something,

and recognize you can never do that, You'll always fall short of the

glory of God. He did the perfect work to pay the price, the

ransom and the penalty for your sin. Now he knocks on your heart with

the invitation to accept what I've done for you, and I will forgive you.

You become pure, and you become righteous, and you come holy not

because of something you've done, but because of something he's done. You're not

good, You'll not be good. I'm not good. I'll never be good

enough for him. But I'm good through Jesus Christ, because Jesus is God's

goodness. And when I've accept Jesus, I accept, I become good.

I become pure, holy and righteous. You said, with a shadow of

a doubt, I'm a Christian, but I'm not serving the Lord as I

should, in and out, up and down right in defensive compromise. And

I really really need to rededicate my life to the Lord. God never left

me, but I left him. Jesus didn't die on the cross, mare,

beaten and naked for me to live this half bag compromise life. Or

you say, without a shadow of a doubt, I'm a Christian. I

love God, but I want the fullness of what God has for me.

In those hundred and twenty were born again, they saw the resurrected Lord because

Jesus walked forty days after his resurrection, and he breathed on them, which

means they received him as their Lord and savior. But then he told them

something very peculiar, to wait ten days in an upper room until they get

filled with the Holy Spirit. If being filled with the Holy Spirit was not

important, then why did he tell these fresh converts to get filled. The

same reason why they needed it is the same reason why you need it.

When I kipt to three, I'm gonna ask you to raise your hand nice

and bold, to accept Jesus, to rededicate your life, or maybe even

get filled with the spirit. Two one two three, raise your hand wherever

you are. God love you. I'm gonna lead you in a prayer right

now. I want you to repeat after me, Dear Lord Jesus, I

give my heart to you. I repent on my sins. I'm not good,

but you are good. And today I accept Jesus as my Lord who

died on the cross. Amen. God bless you. We really hope you

enjoyed the message, and if you said yes to Jesus, we just want

to say congratulations and give you a free devotional to help you walk out your

faith. Click the link in the description or head over to grow dot Faith

to download your devotional. Oh and be sure to subscribe and share this podcast

with your friends. Thanks for listening to ALC podcasts and we hope you tune

in again.