Don't Lose Your Focus | David Washington

Today's speaker is a uh very, very important person to me.

Uh he is someone who has been with me from the beginning of the church planting process.

Um he's someone that we have had many conversations with, we've spent time together, flew together, talked, been in hotels together.

Uh I've learned a lot from him and his wife, and their faithfulness and ministry, their love of God and their commitment to their community.

And uh we we joined the church planting process at the same time.

And so, sisters and brothers, I would love to present to you my brother, my friend, Reverend Dr.

David Washington.

Oh man, this is beautiful.

It's been a joy.

Um, worshiping with you all this morning.

This feels like the kingdom of God.

Oh, all people, all races, all background, God bringing those who have been separated together to worship in the beauty of holiness.

It's a beautiful thing, you all.

We don't see this every Sunday at every church, so give God some praise for what He's doing here in this congregation.

Um, I bring you greetings from the Roseland community.

We call the Wow Wow Hundreds, where I'm from, Chicago on the far south side.

Um, and this is my Marian church, amen.

So I'm a part of you all.

I was uh with Drew when all of this was just a vision, a hope, a desire in his heart.

And to see how God has put feet to his faith, to see how God has brought all of you all together to be a city that sits on a hill in Marion that cannot be hidden.

All to God be the glory for what he has done.

Um want to congratulate you on 10 years of congregational ministry.

I want to give honor to the angel of this house and your pastor, uh, Pastor Drew Morrill.

Thank God for this brother.

This brother is on fire for God.

And it's a joy to see what God is doing in your midst.

Well, there is a word from the Lord.

I don't want to take up any more time because there's a lot to say this morning.

So if you would just join me in a word of prayer, every head bowed, every eye closed.

Our Father and our God, we thank you for this day.

This is the day that you have made, and we rejoice in it.

We are exceedingly glad.

I pray, Father, today that you would give us ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.

We pray, Father God, that you will give us eyes to see, visions, to see things, not as they are, but as you will have them to be.

Pray, Father God, that you will give us a heart to receive, Lord.

But not only that, Lord, let us not just be hearers of your word, but doers as well.

Lord, arrest this time and have your way.

Lord, bless this time and bless this space.

Lord, give me the words to say, Lord God, write them upon my heart and upon the heart of this church.

And we pray, Father, that you will be glorified and magnified through all that we do.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

If you have your Bibles, you can meet me in 2 Corinthians, the fourth chapter.

2 Corinthians, the fourth chapter, beginning at the fifth verse.

And I'll be reading from the New King James Version.

It may sound a little bit different.

2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 5 declares, for we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves, your bond servants, for Jesus' sake.

2 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed.

We are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, praise God, but not destroyed.

Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our bodies.

For we who live are always being delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

So then, death is working in us, but life in you.

Can somebody give Jesus praise this morning?

Can somebody give him glory this morning?

Y'all know how to say amen this morning.

Why don't you look at your neighbor, someone sitting next to you, and help me announce this subject for today?

Say, neighbor, don't lose your focus.

Look at somebody else and say, neighbor, it's been ten years, but don't lose your focus.

The Bible is clear that focus is important.

This is why the apostle Paul says, I forget those things that are behind me, and I press ahead for the things that are ahead.

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high call of God in Christ Jesus.

This is why, beloved, the author of Hebrews tells us to fix our eyes on Jesus, focus on Jesus, who is the author and perfecter of our faith.

This is why in Colossians chapter 3, verse 2, Paul tells us to set our minds on things that are above and not on things that are upon the earth.

Colossians 3:2

Beloved, this is why we are exhorted in Philippians chapter 4, which says that finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things, focus on these things.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

It's been 10 years.

And that is something to give God praise for.

It's been 10 years.

Church planting can cause you to lose your religion.

Y'all ain't gonna talk to me today.

Church planting is tough stuff, you all.

And so when we celebrate 10 years of congregational ministry, we're not just celebrating the fact that the church has been in existence for 10 years.

We're celebrating the fact of all the stuff we had to press through to get to where we are right now.

Congregations inevitably face situations and circumstances that are beyond its control.

But there's one thing that every church can have control over, and that is focus.

You get to decide what you give your attention to.

You get to decide what you will focus on.

You get to decide what will be the center of attention and attraction for you.

You get to decide not to let the wows of the enemy, the snares and the traps of the enemy to distract you and determine for yourself, I am gonna stay focused on who God has called me to be and what God has called me to do.

You have that control.

You don't get to control what your battle is, you don't get to control when the enemy comes in, you don't get the control when you're discouraged, you don't get to uh control when you don't feel like moving on, but you get to control what you're gonna focus on.

So, real community, don't lose your focus.

The fruit of the church is unmistakably tied to the focus of the church.

That's what we learn from our passage today.

Longevity in Christian ministry requires unwavering focus.

Real community, you've been around for a while.

Ten years is something to celebrate and to thank God for.

But I would also know that as a church plant, you will not survive without learning to fix your focus on Jesus, who is both the author and perfecter of our faith.

So is the message for Paul in our text today, where he is communicating with the assembly at Corinth, that the church, that Christians, while being fragile, suffering jars of clay, actually display the life-giving power of God when our focus is on the master, his might, and his mission.

We get to do that.

So as you celebrate this time and as you celebrate ten years of congregational ministry, and rightfully so, give the glory to God.

But also know that God isn't done with you yet.

So don't lose your focus.

The city of Marion needs churches that are focused.

The city of Marion needs churches that are about the father's business.

The city of Marion has people living in poverty, people who are on drugs, people who are without parents, people who are struggling in this uh system that they have to live in.

They need a church that's focused, not on the glitz and glamour, not on the lights, camera, and action, not on how big our church is, not on how our acquire concert.

They need a church that's focused on pulling down the powers that got people living in bondage.

We don't have time to play church.

We don't have time to play let's let's worship on Sunday and run around on Sunday, and then I'll see you next week when we do it again.

No, there's some things that happen on Monday.

There's some things that need to happen on Tuesday and Wednesday.

We need a church that's focused on the fatherless and the motherless and the incarcerated.

We need a church that's focused on those who are living on the margins of society.

We need a church like this that would say all people can come together under the bloodstained banner of Jesus Christ and tell people that he saves.

What is the gospel?

The gospel is the good news that Jesus came and lived and died to liberate us from the penalty.

Most people stop right there.

He delivered me from the penalty of my sin.

That's individualistic, right?

But he didn't just deliver us from the penalty of our sin, he's delivering us from the power of our sin and the presence of sin.

When we look at the gospel as only Jesus saved my soul, uh, we disconnect the gospel from the community impact that the gospel has.

He delivered us from all sin, from the power of sin that causes some people to live in wealth and some people to live in poverty.

From the power of sin that determines where some people get to live and other people get to live.

Are y'all with me today?

Deliver us from political systems and sinful systems around us that that causes people to live an abused life.

The gospel is the power to bring salvation not only to your soul, but to your life.

The gospel is what we have to focus on.

In verse 5 of our text, Paul tells the church, we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves, your bondservants, for Jesus' sake.

Two things here.

First, we preach Jesus and not ourselves.

I'm glad you got a Cadillac.

I'm glad you got a nice home.

Y'all ain't gonna talk to me today.

I'm glad God is blessing you, but that ain't the good news.

Are you with me today?

People need to know I was on drugs, but the power of Jesus got me off of drugs.

People need to know I was in a gang, but the power of Christ got me out of the gang.

People need to know I was on poverty.

I was living homeless, but God got me back on my feet.

He gave me a house, he gave me a job.

People need to know.

We need to preach Jesus, not ourselves.

We need to preach the good news, not ourselves, because it is the power of God to bring salvation to those who believe.

Second, we are servants of people, but we are servants for Jesus.

How does he say it?

We do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bond servant for Jesus' sake.

One thing I learned about the church is uh we suffer with amnesia.

We forget so quickly.

This is why Jesus tells us to have communion often.

Because he knows we have a propensity to forget.

You can serve people well, you can learn love people well.

And do you know people will believe lies about you from people they never even knew and forget about who you have been to them?

Yes, sir.

Serving people ain't easy.

Because sometimes people don't appreciate your service.

Service ain't easy because sometimes people just disrespect you, don't appreciate your service.

But when that happens, we gotta remember what Paul says.

We are not doing this for the people.

We are doing this for Jesus.

So so so if you're serving to get a pat on the back, if you're serving to be recognized, if you're serving to be appreciated, uh look to be appreciated by Jesus alone, not the people you serve.

People can't see the glory of Christ due to the hardness of their heart.

The context of the passage that we're walking through today is that Paul is talking to the Corinthian church about the veil that covers the hearts of people.

In chapter three, he uses the analogy of Moses in the wilderness on Mount Sinai, that the glory of God was so much on his face that he had to wear a veil to hide the fading glory on his face.

Because people did not want to look at the glory on his face.

Metaphorically, Paul is saying that these same people in the reading of the scriptures, in the reading of the Old Testament, they have a veil over their hearts, refusing to see the glory of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament scriptures.

You do know all of the Bible is about Jesus.

And when you read through the Old Testament, you can see Jesus just as clear as you can see him in the New Testament.

But the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the religious leaders, they refused to see Jesus for who he was.

They had a veil over their hearts.

And for the pagans, for those who were Gentiles and outside of covenant with God, their eyes were veiled, Paul says, because Satan, the God of this world, has blinded them from seeing who Jesus is.

So our mission and our assignment is to help remove the veil from the hearts and the eyes of people.

People can't see the glory of God due to their hardened hearts that make it difficult for people to see and recognize Jesus for who he is.

That's why we need churches that are focused on the gospel.

There's an old prophet from the 1970s, goes by the name of Bruce Lee.

He says it this way.

It's like a finger pointing away to the moon.

Don't concentrate on the finger, or you'll miss all of that heavenly glory.

Beloved, don't focus on the pointing finger.

Focus on the faith in the gospel we must point our communities to.

Our focus must be on the good news.

Our focus must be on the gospel.

We cannot be ashamed to say Jesus.

We cannot be ashamed to talk.

Well, I don't want to push people away.

I don't want to make people get uh push people further away to God.

Let me tell you what my pastor used to tell me.

They already on their way to hell.

How much further can you push them?

Our focus must be on the gospel in everything we do, in the conversations we have, in the meals we gather and eat together.

When we're outside giving away food or giving away resources, everything we do got to be a platform for the gospel to be declared.

Only way we can remove the veil and shine the light of the knowledge of God's glory through the gospel is through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Verse 6 tells us it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God.

How?

In the face of Christ Jesus.

God who spoke this world into existence.

God who saw darkness and said, Let there be light.

This same God can bring the light of the good news of Jesus into our hearts, but not if we don't share Jesus.

God who created visible light out of darkness at creation is the same God who can cause people we thought would never give their lives to Christ to come to Him.

How does He do it?

Through the message of the gospel.

That's why we got to stay focused on the gospel.

It's good to do good things, but God didn't call us to just do good things.

God didn't call us to just be good to people.

God didn't call us to just feed people and just clothe people and just help people find work and find jobs.

God called us to help people find Him.

And they will not find Him if we don't preach Him.

Don't depend on strategies, methodologies, and substitutes to try to win people to God.

It's the gospel that saves.

It's not our method, it is our message that carries the power to bring God, bring people to salvation.

Are y'all with me this morning?

But how will they believe on him of whom they have not heard?

And how will they hear?

Unless y'all tell them.

And how will they hear?

Unless you preach.

And everything we do, Jesus, gotta be the focus.

Focusing on Jesus is the only way the blinders can remove, be removed, and cause God's light to invade the dark hearts of people that they may know him.

I grew up in the Roseland community as I shared.

You wouldn't believe the kind of life I had to live.

I didn't go to church.

I was in the street.

I was deep in the street.

Gang warfare.

Fighting to survive.

People trying to catch me and take my life away from me.

People dying all around me.

18 years old, drug addict, alcoholic, drug dealer, gangbanger, you name it.

Why am I here now preaching the gospel?

Because there were some people who were not afraid to come on our block in our community and talk to us about the good news of Jesus Christ.

Don't be afraid of the gangsters and the drug dealers.

Don't you know?

Remember when the Assyrians was were surrounding the people of God and Elijah and his prop his servant was out there, and and he was like, Oh, don't worry.

Elijah told the servant, don't worry.

They that are with us is more than they that are with them.

And the servant looked at him and said, One, two.

It's 20,000 of them.

The prophet said, Your focus is wrong.

You looking at the wrong place.

God opened his eyes so he can focus on what I'm focusing on.

And all of the people that were surrounding them were surrounded by angels with flaming swords all around them.

When you walk for Jesus, please know that you are walking with Jesus.

And a greater is He on the inside of you than He is who is in the world.

Focusing on Jesus and focusing on the gospel is important.

But we must also stay focused on God's power.

We have been called to a work that is impossible.

Every person that gives their life to Jesus Christ is a miracle.

Look at somebody and tell them, I'm a miracle.

Look at somebody else and say, I'm a miracle.

The greatest miracle is for a person to be born again.

And we have been called to help people be born anew.

That is an impossible task for any human being.

We need the power of God to change people.

We need the power of God to change communities.

We need the power of God to change the way we live and the way we think and the way that we live our lives.

It requires God's power.

I don't care how many conferences you've been to.

I don't care how many books you've read.

If you don't have the power of God, you won't be able to do this work.

Don't fall for the trap so many churches have fallen for.

Looking to recruit the best.

Shunning other people because they don't look polished enough.

Ignoring other people's potential because they don't see it.

Looking to recruit the finers, finding the most experienced and credential candidates to serve the church.

But Jesus didn't choose the seminarians of his day, he chose fishermen.

Don't get me wrong, gifted people are important, but we must not trust in them and their gifts alone.

So many trust in the abilities that they possess that they forget to seek the power of God that they need.

In this work, you must pray.

Y'all ain't hear me.

In this work, you gotta pray.

You know why churches don't pray?

Because a lot of churches don't do things that require prayer.

We used to have campfires by the drug houses.

That requires prayer.

Are you with me today?

If you know you're going to do something that you need God to get done, you know you're gonna pray.

See what we do when we go out to do things based off of our gifts, our experiences.

I've done this before.

I know how to do it.

What we're doing is we're telling God, God, I don't need you.

I got this.

Don't forget to pray.

Don't forget to fast.

We must stay in God's presence and know that you're depending on God's power and not your own.

Ministry is not something that we do, it is something that God does through us.

Our work is natural, it is not natural, it is spiritual and supernatural.

Winning souls, changing lives, transforming communities, tearing down corrupt systems is not done by the arm of the flesh alone.

We need the power of God.

And our community, our church got together.

We we we had liquor stores on every corner in our community.

We came together as a church, we prayed, we fasted, we strategized, we organized, we went out into the community and knocked on every door and asked everybody in the community to uh get on the ballot that we can vote our community dry of alcohol.

And do you know for the first time ever, the Roseland community was voted dry of alcohol, so so systems and powers uh of the enemy can be pulled down, but it requires the power of God.

Paul understood this.

Paul understood that he needed God's power.

This is why he goes on to say we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.

We have the gospel, we have the power, we have the treasure, but we are also weak.

Tell somebody I'm weak.

We need God's power to do this.

This treasure that Paul is talking about here is the knowledge of Christ.

How many glad you know Jesus?

How many are glad you know Jesus?

There's a difference between knowing about Jesus and actually knowing Jesus.

Some of us know about Jesus, but the question is, do you know Jesus?

But the paradox here is that this powerful treasure is stored in such fragile, weak vessels as we earthen vessels, mud, crack pots, jars of clay.

Isn't it something how God uses us?

And God knows us like nobody else knows us, and he still uses us.

The paradox of this passage is the great splendor and power of this treasure is stored in earthen vessels.

Treasures are normally stored in stable, resilient, strong vessels so that they can protect the content that they carry.

Are you with me today?

When you take your money, when you get your money, unless you're from the era of the depression, you know, they them folk don't trust banks.

They put their money in a can and they bury it and they put it in the, they go down south and they bury it and put it, put it in the ground.

Are y'all with me?

But we take our money to the bank because we want it to be protected, and the bank puts our resources, their resources, in a strong vault because it is to protect the content that it carries.

But what grabs my attention here is that God chose fragile, weak vessels to store such a valuable, powerful treasure.

He chose you, he chose me.

Number one, the fact that we are clay, please notice, doesn't in any way minimize the power of the gospel.

But I'm weak, Pastor, the gospel ain't weak.

But I'm flawed, uh, the gospel ain't flogged.

I don't have it all together.

The gospel does.

We're weak, but that don't mean the gospel is weak.

That's when we are trusting on our power rather than trusting in God's power.

Second, God knows just how weak we are, and yet he still entrusted us to carry this valuable treasure.

I said, He knows how weak you are.

I said he knows how flawed you are, he knows what your struggles are, he knows when you fall, he knows when you fail, he knows what you wrestle with, he knows you, and yet he still chose you.

That's right.

I'm a living witness.

God is able to use the weak.

God is able to use those who are not powerful.

Paul to the same church in his previous letter in First Corinthians chapter one, verse 26.

Paul tells them, for you see your calling, not many wise according to the flesh, not many noble.

But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise.

God has chosen, watch this, the weak things of the world to put to shame those that are mighty.

God intentionally chooses the weak.

Because when he chooses the weak, his power is on display.

Most of you think you gotta be perfect, you gotta be mighty, you gotta be strong, you gotta be wise, you gotta be smart, you gotta know the Bible back and forth like a scholar.

You gotta be gifted to be used by God.

So when you struggle, you feel incapable of being used.

But the truth is, and this is what makes me happy, the truth is God chose us not because we are strong.

He chose us because we are weak.

Why?

So that all of the glory will go to him.

It really blesses me to know that while uh usually the purpose of the vessel is to protect the content that the vessel carries.

I said the purpose of the vessel is to protect what it carries, but God flips it here, and it's the content that the vessel carries that actually protects the vessel.

Lord have mercy.

Let me say it this way.

Let me say it like this: God didn't give us the gospel because it needed us to protect it.

God gave us the gospel so the gospel would keep us and protect us as fragile jars of clay.

The gospel protects the vessel from the attacks we endure while we're serving the God that we serve.

Verses 8 through 9 say it like this we are hard-pressed on every side.

Yet we're not crushed.

Now tell somebody the gospel is protecting us.

We are perplexed, but not in despair.

Y'all remember that?

Doing the butt.

Paul is doing the butt.

We are hard-pressed, but we are not crushed.

We are perplexed, but we are not in despair.

We are persecuted, but we are not forsaken.

We have been struck down, but we are not destroyed.

It is the gospel that we carry that actually protects us, even though we are weak.

Paul would be the first to tell us church planting ain't no joke.

Paul has been through so much over the churches that he's planted.

He's been stoned and drugged outside the city, left for dead.

He's been beaten and flogged and imprisoned and chained to stocks against the walls of a dungeon.

Paul knows that as we do this work, we will have to go through some things.

That's why he says in verse 10, we are always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.

This is a call to suffer.

Come on now.

Yes, sir.

This is a call to hardship.

That's what the center of the gospel is.

He says, always carrying in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

Verse 11 says, For we who live are always, somebody say always, always delivered to death for Jesus' sake.

He said we are always under attack, always delivered for death.

At any moment we could lose our lives, but why?

That the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

Then he sums it up here in verse 12.

So then death is working in us, but life in you.

In other words, what's killing us is bringing life to other people.

Nothing you go through will be wasted when you're doing it for the Lord Jesus.

Nothing you struggle with will be wasted when you do it for the Lord Jesus.

What is killing us is bringing life to you.

Beloved, that's what the gospel is.

The gospel is that Jesus was willing to die so that we could be able to live.

If you think you can bring reconciliation and not experience hardship, you got it twisted.

If you think you can Get black people and white people in the same room celebrating the same Jesus, loving on each other, calling people out of racism, calling people out of classism, calling people out who are rich to get to give back wealth to those who are poor.

If you think you can do that and not have any problems, you got it twisted.

You got it twisted.

But the good news is the problems that you have is worth it because it is going to bring life to the people you intend to serve.

Affliction is the price we must pay for deliverance.

Marion needs churches that are focused on the gospel.

Churches that are focused on God's power.

Let me close by saying we also need churches that are focused on bearing fruit.

Why do we go through what we go through?

Why do we struggle?

It's like being in a incarcerated in a prison with an open door.

We can walk out at any time.

For some reason we can't walk out.

I used to call uh the ministry a church planting an abusive relationship.

Though it beats me, I still love it.

Though it beats me, I cannot live without it.

I cannot walk away from it.

But why?

Because we want to bear fruit.

We want to see the lost found.

We want to see the homeless come out of poverty.

We want to see the racist turn away from racism.

We want to see change.

We want to see fruit.

If the gospel can't bear fruit, why go through this?

We are in this for fruit.

Fruit is what brings glory to God.

Fruit is what points people to God.

When we bear fruit, people can see God at work in our community.

We are not in this to bring glory to ourselves.

We are not in this so everyone can talk about how good our church is.

We are not in this to get a pat on the back.

We are in this for transformation of people and communities.

We're in this to change things so that people will see our good works and glorify the Father.

Verse 13 through 14 here says, And since we have the same spirit of faith according to what is written, I believed and therefore I spoke.

We also believe and therefore speak.

Knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus and present us with you.

What do you do when you're experiencing hardship in ministry?

What do you do when your marriage starts struggling because of ministry?

What do you do when your children start to resent you because of ministry?

You serving God, but but but it seems like God, if I'm serving you, I shouldn't have any problems.

That's wrong.

The call is to suffer.

What do you do when you're experiencing hardship in ministry?

Paul tells us in verse 13, I believe, and therefore I speak.

This is a quote from Psalm 116, verse 10, where the psalmist says, For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from falling.

Psalms 116:10

I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

I believed, and therefore I spoke.

Tough, more tough stuff is coming, real community.

Tough stuff is coming and is designed to make you give up.

But you need to do what Paul did, speak the word into your situation.

Don't let your trouble silence you and stop you.

Let your faith in the word cause you to speak into your own life the same gospel you are carrying to other people's lives.

Because when you believe it and see it for yourself, you can share it with power and conviction with others.

The secret to Paul's resilience here is that he had the same kind of faith that the psalmist spoke of.

He believed the gospel, and so he spoke it.

True faith can't remain silent.

Because if you really believe it, you can't help but share it.

You get a severe case of the I can't help it.

Jeremiah said it's like fire, shut up in my vone.

I tried to keep my peace.

I tried to remain silent, but it was like a fire, shut up in my vone.

I can't keep the goodness of Jesus to myself.

When you share it, don't share it to be seen by people.

When you share it, don't share it to be recognized by others or celebrated by them.

We don't do it for the fame.

We do it for the fruit.

Look around this room.

You all are fruit.

I remember meeting with Pastor Drew before it was one person in this church.

And look at what God has done over the course of 10 years to God be the glory.

Paul says in verse 15.

And I'm done.

All things are for your sake.

They beat me.

It's for your sake.

They imprisoned it.

It's for your sake.

They took an oath not to eat food until they killed me.

It was for your sake.

Everything that we do and everything that we go through is for the sake of the fruit.

The fruit that God has called us to bear in our community.

That grace having spread through the many may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.

We endure it for the sake of the fruit that we bear.

Fruit is what gives us joy.

Fruit is what makes it worth it.

And we do it all for the glory of God.