Bearing Fruit – John 15:1-17

15 09 2008

I said in last weeks sermon that the lukewarm have lousy fruit production.

The Bible talks about two kinds of fruit.

  1. The fruit of the Spirit – Gal. 5:22

  2. The fruit of leading others to Jesus

The second one seems to be the point of the word “fruit” in this passage.

Every Believer Must take part in fruit bearing.

  • It is not just for mature believers.

  • The more you mature the more fruit there ought to be though.

  • Often times it’s the other way around though.  Christians seems to become less missional as they “mature.”

  • It is not optional.

  • I used to act like judging others was not optional and telling people about the love of Jesus was something only reserved for those who I thought deserved it. I used think, I’m not sitting with them, they went and got drunk last night. I’m not talking to them about Jesus, can you believe that shirt she is wearing.

  • It is one of the reasons we were chosen. 16

  • A branch that is in the vine naturally produces fruit.

  • A branch does what branches do.

  1. Abide
  2. Produce fruit
  • If a person has a fruit bearing problem there is also an abiding problem .

If Abiding is necessary to fruit production then, how do I abide or what does abiding look like?

1. Abiding means being in the word. Bible Study. 3, 7

2. Abiding means remembering his love. 9

 

Two warnings

Those that bear no fruit are cut off and burned.

Those that bear no fruit are those that do not abide.

 

Every Believer should desire Much fruit. 2, 5, 8

  • The Father trims us up in order to produce more fruit.

  • The more abiding the more fruit.

  • It is not a true statement to say, “I am close to God, but I don’t have any fruit.” This passage teaches us that that kind of thinking is inaccurate. It cannot be.

What about… we are not responsible for the fruit, just telling them.

  • We have let that truth be a false comfort to us.

  • Sometimes we use good things the wrong way. If we are not seeing fruit from our lives we automatically comfort ourselves by saying, “Well, It’s not my job to save people anyway, it’s only my job to tell them how.” If I don’t bear fruit it’s not my fault. That is not always true. Sometimes it is our fault, because we have not loved enough, we have not sacrificed enough, and we have been too harsh. Sometime we share Jesus like we don’t even want them to be saved. Sometimes we talk about Jesus like Cinderella’s Step-mother talked about her.

  • Would you be satisfied with seeing no fruit?

  • If we are sharing we will see some fruit. Branches bear fruit.





Witnessing @ age 92

7 07 2008





Sermon Summary 11-25-07

26 11 2007

Live Like a Missionary: A Servant to All. 1 Cor. 9:19-23

Know who you are: A servant of no man. V. 19

  • You are not bound to any man.

  • The danger in adapting to others is that we begin to look so much like them that we are no good spiritually for them.

Know Your mission: Winning People to Christ. V. 19-22

  • Don’t be distracted by others things.

  • We should go to sacrificial measures to help people see the truth.

  • Missionaries leave families behind in order to be used by God to save souls.

Know Your Strategy: Voluntarily a servant to All to win Some. V. 19

Paul became like those under the law in order to win them.

  • He partook of their holidays and didn’t eat meat sacrificed to idols, or catfish, pork, even though he was free to do so. He knew that he was not saved by keeping the law, but he kept it in order to earn their respect to teach them the gospel.

  • We are free to eat a rare steak, even though the OT says not to eat anything with blood (Lev. 19:26) in it, because we are not under the law.

  • One missionary ate a rat in order to earn the respect of the natives in Malawi, so he could live with them and share the gospel with them.

Paul became like those without the law in order to win them.

  • Since Paul was free he could also go share the gospel with people who did not live under the law.  He intentionally lived like they lived in order to open the doors for the gospel to be shared.

  • What does this mean for us?

  • It means if we separate ourselves from them we will not win them.

  • It means we should be wise in how we live in the world we are in.

  • It means we should be careful not to compromise the word of God, but by all means do what it takes to lead people to Jesus.

Notice we are to be a servant to all, but we only win some. V. 22

Know the Reason.

1.  Because of the Gospel. V. 23

2. Because it is what a believer does. V. 23

3. Because Hell is real.





Sermon Summary 9-30-07

1 10 2007

Are you Satisfied with Jesus?

Are you delighted with Jesus?  Are you happy with Jesus?  Do you have a soul-satisfying relationship with Jesus?

Satisfied people want to tell people about Jesus.

1. The Woman was satisfied with Jesus.

  • The woman at the well was so satisfied with Jesus that she forgot her water jar. v. 28

  • Maybe you need to leave your water jar behind.

    • The water jars are not sinful, but they can keep us from doing the work of God.

    • Some of us are more concerned about our water jars, than sharing Jesus.

    • We need to ask ourselves, “What are my water jars?”  What things am I more concerned about than telling others about Jesus?

  • The woman was so satisfied with Jesus that she went to tell others about Jesus.

    • Even a new Christian wants to tell others about Jesus

    • One of th proofs of being a Christian is that you care about the eternal destination of others.

2. Jesus wanted to share the good news with this women so bad that he went where no Jew dare go.

  • Telling the good news takes time, sacrifice, and Holy Spirit boldness. We say we’re great Christians? We say we want God to be glorified in our life.  Okay, but do we witness?

3. The disciples were distracted. They were missing out on the work of God, because their minds were on other things.

  • Churches today are missing out because they are too distracted.

  • I believe the reason this church went from over a hundred in attendacne years ago to almost nothing was because (like the disciple) people were distracted by other things instead of telling people about Jesus. When Jesus takes back stage to anything else a church will die. The blessing of God on a church can leave in a heart beat, when people become distracted by other non-essential issues.

  • But there is a new day downing. The Spirit of God has begun to stir in our hearts once again. He is raising a church up from the dead. He is doing this by getting our hearts set on Jesus. He is taking away the distractions. And it is time to get on board. Some need to be saved. Some members need to join the mission, others need to become members here.

  • There are souls ready to be saved and the workers need to get working.

Satisfied people want to be with Jesus. V. 40

  • Your need for Jesus is just as deep today as it was the day you became a Christian.

  • The proof that you have Him in you, is that you still want him, long for more of Him, and delight in him.

Satisfied people want to work like Jesus.

  • Jesus’ work was a satisfying work.

  • Jesus’ work was that of addressing the sin problem.

  • Jesus’ work was for faith. V. 39-40

  • Jesus’ work was a work of reconciliation.

Jesus was satisfied with doing the work of God, which lead to a woman having everlasting satisfaction in Him, which lead to a group of people believing and have everlasting satisfaction. Do you have that satisfaction in Jesus?





Sermon Summary 8-19-07

19 08 2007

 Jesus Brings Salvation.  John 4:1-26

I. Salvation comes because of what Jesus was not.

Jesus is not concerned with social order. - He shares the gospel with all classes of people.

Jesus is not like Jonah. – He shares the gospel with those who other people might not want saved.

Jesus is not a sexist. – He shares the gospel with women.

Jesus is not prejudice. -  He shares the gospel with all races of people.

Jesus does not think she is too sinful. – He share the gospel with ”big” sinners.

II. Salvation comes because of what Jesus told her.

He told her what salvation really is, a gift.

He told her who He was. – Salvation never comes without a true understanding of Jesus.