The Good Heart Bears Fruit

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Transcript

Let’s open our Bibles to the Gospel by Mark, chapter 4. We’re progressing through the Gospel, and as we go through, we’ve come to the first 20 verses in the 4th chapter, which is Jesus Christ telling a story. He’s telling a scene from life about the sower and the seeds. The emphasis of the story is that from His perspective because He said I’m the one who is putting the seeds out. What I want when I plant seeds is for something to grow, to stay alive, and to give Me back a crop. So, the whole story that He tells is centered on just two verses, the 8th and the 20th verses. Those two verses are all about what we would call fruitfulness, whether or not the seed makes it into the soil, survives, grows, and produces a crop. Fruitfulness.

We’ve been looking at this concept because Jesus said only one of the soils was good. He also says that the soils are a comparison to people’s hearts. So, He said the way you know if you have a good heart is if you, first of all, accept the word. Secondly, He said, and not only accept the word but bring forth a crop, fruit. So, we’re going to begin looking at fruitfulness, looking at what Jesus talks about in verse 8 and again in verse 20 as the degrees of fruitfulness, the power of life in a believer to bring forth that which lasts forever. Fruit, fruitfulness, the good heart, bears fruit Jesus says. God has big plans for you and me. He wants us to make something out of the short time we have here on Earth. He wants us to realize that we have been given time.

Now, I want you to think about that because we’re all at different places on the clock of our time, how much time we’ve been on the Earth. How much time we have left, which, by the way, is only known to God because He’s already set an appointment when we are going to end our life here and come into His presence. But time, like electricity, flows around us. It remains unseen and useless unless it’s captured and harnessed. Think about it. Your time just goes by. You look at an old picture and you go, oh, did I used to look like that? Or, oh, they’ve changed. We are almost not perceiving the flow of time around us. It reminds me so much of electricity because that’s also invisible and it flows. But when you harness electricity, and it works, it’s wonderful. When you harness time, it can be the cause to bear fruit that will last forever.

What do we have in time? What does God call the time in our lives? We are to harness time. We are to take, by the power of the Spirit, time that we use and deposit it before Him in Heaven. What does God call that? He calls that fruit. He calls for us to take from this temporal life and bury something that will last forever. Look down at verse 8, I’ll show you what I mean. It says, And some seed fell on good ground, those are the good hearts, and yielded a crop. That is always the evidence of a good heart, that it falls on the ground and it isn’t eaten away. It isn’t choked out. It isn’t withered. It isn’t crowded, but it finds a place and it bears a crop, fruit. He continues, it sprang up, it increased, and it produced different levels. Some thirty-fold, some sixty-fold, some one-hundred-fold. Continuing down to verse 20, But these are the ones sown on good ground. This is the good heart. This is the good heart that He’s talking about. What is a good heart? Verse 20 continues. Those who hear the word and accept it.

Now we spent quite a while looking at accepting the word. Accepting the word in verse 20 means to welcome for themselves. It isn’t something, as I was sharing with the junior highers this morning, it’s not just something that your friends do, it’s not just something that your parents do, it’s not just something that someone you know does. It’s something you welcome for yourself. That’s an evidence of salvation. It’s not their God, He is my God. It’s not, they praise the Lord. It’s, I will praise the Lord. See, it’s welcome for me. I think one of the great dangers in America is that we have so much Christianity around, that a lot of people converse in it, and they operate in it, and they have not experienced it personally. So, He says they welcome it for themselves.

Then look, continuing in verse 20, it says they accept it, welcome it for themselves, and bear fruit. Now you notice verse 8 says to have a crop. Verse 20 says to bear fruit. So, Jesus transitions and says that the soil is your heart, the seed is the word, and that the crop is spiritual fruit. Some people, it says in verse 20, bear thirty-fold, some sixty-fold, some one-hundred-fold. So, He says there are degrees of fruitfulness. So, what does God call our time and our lives that are harnessed and used and deposited before Him in Heaven? In verse 20 He calls it fruit.

Fruit is what is produced by my life that will last forever. Let me ask you, what are you producing from your life that will last forever? Certainly not your garden. Certainly not your home. Certainly not your deposits of income. Certainly not awards. None of those things will last forever. What am I producing, what are you producing, from your life, from the river of time going around you, that will last forever?

Here are some things that last forever that God’s word says. He says prayers from a clean heart will last forever. In fact, God collects them. Revelation 8 says He collects every prayer that comes before His presence from the heart of those made righteous in Christ. From a clean heart, those prayers He collects. So, there’s something you can get in Heaven; the fruit of your lips offering prayers to God. Here’s another thing He collects, worship from a consecrated life. He said it arises before Him like sweet-smelling incense. Our prayers arise before Him and so does our worship. He inhabits our worship. So, there’s something else that lasts forever. Worship from a consecrated life. How about time lived under the direction of the Holy Spirit? Paul talks much of this. He calls it walking in the Spirit. So, all the time that you and I walk in the powerful direction of the Holy Spirit, lasts forever. That’s an amazing thought to think about. Also, acts of devotion that are prompted by love. Those are those precious sacrificial gifts.

Do you remember the woman that put in two leptons, two little coins? The Greek word is lepton, which means that they fit between your fingers, and no one can see them. They were that small. Actually, in the vernacular, in Greek, they called them onion skins. They were that small. They were that thin. They were the smallest coins. They were the kind like when you walk into QT, people throw pennies on the floor and on the parking lot and between the gas things. They just throw pennies down because they’re worthless. Leptons were smaller than pennies. They were worthless. That woman took those two coins, held them in her hand, and dropped them into an offering receptacle in the Temple. On the other side of the temple, probably a good hundred yards away, sat Jesus Christ with his disciples. Jesus pointed across the temple at that woman. He said that woman put in more than everyone else. Why? Because it was a sacrificial offering of devotion. What does that mean? It means it cost her something. She did it because she loved the Lord. She wanted to offer Him something that cost her personally. Jesus said those things last forever.

Another thing that lasts forever is the souls that are won by Christ. Who are you taking with you to Heaven? Anyone? I would certainly endeavor, if you have never personally led someone to Jesus Christ, I would sign up immediately in children’s ministry. There is a lot of soul-winning going on in children’s ministry. If you’re not into children’s ministry, then I would get in some kind of an evangelistic outreach program because you should before you end your time here on Earth, know that you’re taking someone with you to Heaven. Now if you have a family, I would start working in the church. Why let everybody else have the blessing in our VBS and Sunday school? Why don’t you lead them to Christ?! Do you know how often, back here in the baptistry, I stand next to children and they say, I came home and the pastor scared me to death and I talked to my mom and dad, and they, what? They led me to the Lord. You should want to take someone with you to Heaven because souls brought to Christ will last forever. Saints edified. You could be involved in a ministry of discipleship and edifying saints. That lasts forever. The suffering that’s endured for the sake of Christ lasts forever. Sacrifice is made for Him. On and on we could go. The emphasis is on what in my life am I doing that will last forever. You need to ask yourself that regularly because we get so distracted, don’t we? We get distracted by the temporal and we forget the eternal. Jesus says, reorient yourself away from what will last but for a moment or ten years or fifty or a hundred and start thinking about what you have that will last forever.

Life for each of us contains a lot of time. Okay, I love numbers. God is very digital. The whole universe is made in digital quantum form, and its music is very mathematical. The universe is mathematical. I started thinking about increments of time. Just bear with me. You know I love figures and facts. Life for each of us contains a lot of time. Each day a river of moments flows around us. In fact, every 24 hours we get 86,000 seconds, to be exact. If you have a digital watch that little thing, I see it going 32, 33, 34, 35, 36. If you counted at that level, at the end of the day, you’d be at 86,399, 86,400. That is one day if you counted at that speed of one a second. So, we get 86,400 seconds to be exact. If measured in minutes, life can be seen as a constant flow of time traveling around us minute by minute.

Here’s a summary of how much time we get in our lives in minutes, okay? One year is a half a million minutes. Now half a million you can understand. You can drive around here and see half-a-million-dollar houses. Someone told me that they went to a restaurant and a power couple was there. They both had some kind of expensive car, and their two cars together were almost half a million dollars. So not quite as much as a house, but half a million minutes is what one year is. So, one year of your life, you get half a million minutes flowing by you. So, imagine a river, and that river is a river of time and you’re standing in the middle of it. You’re standing still and the time is going by. As the time goes by, of course, you know we age. As time goes by, we get the opportunity to grab time, as Jesus said, and redeem it. Paul talked about redeeming the time because the days are evil. Time is going by; we can grab it as it flows by. Once it goes by, it’s gone. But every part we touch in the power of the Holy Spirit, for God’s glory, for His purposes, those things we’ve redeemed out of this temporal existence, and they become our fruit that lasts forever.

Here’s something, I told this to my children, it really was a blessing to them. I said a teenage person lives in a home during those teenage years, the years from thirteen to nineteen, for four million minutes. Don’t they feel like it’s forever? They just can’t wait to grow up. They just want to get that permit and get that license and get going with life. They’ve got to hang around for four million minutes. Think about that in school. Speaking of school, a child from birth to heading off to college at age 18 was with you as parents for nine and a half million minutes. How many of those minutes did you invest the word of God in their life? How many of those minutes were you praying for them? How many of those minutes were you encouraging them in righteousness? How many of those minutes were you modeling the love of Christ for them? You had a river, a nine-and-a-half million-minute river. How many of those minutes did you grab with them for the glory of God?

Here’s another one, our whole lifetime lasts 40 million minutes. That’s the average 71.1-year-old person. Excuse me, 77. 1. I just looked it up again. The average American, if you blend men and women, infant mortality, all the way through the 120 year olds, the average American will live 77.1 years. That is just about 40 million minutes of life. That’s a river. What are you doing with your river of time? Before most of us head to Heaven, those 40 million minutes will flow by us in a steady stream, day in and day out. We have to decide whether we are going to bear fruit under the power of God’s Spirit and whether we’re going to be a 30-folder, a 60-folder, or a 100-folder. I guess the more you realize where you’re going, where you’re going to spend forever, and that what you send ahead is all you’re going to have, the more you’re going to focus away from living merely for the moment; learning to take those moments that are flowing by irresistibly and unstoppably around us and redeem that time.

Now, before we get into more scripture, I want to remind you of the incredible challenge that Jesus gives us in these two verses, Mark 4:8 and Mark 4 verse 20. According to what Jesus said in these verses before us, all that will last of your life and my life on planet Earth will be the fruit of what you and I produce for Him while we’re on Earth. All that will outlast us is that which will last forever and that is what we do in His power. He calls it fruit. Everything else of ours will either burn, rot, or rust. Have you paused lately and looked around at all that fills up our lives? That’s going to burn, rot, or rust. All of our deeded-income properties are going to burn, rot, or rust. All of our prize collections, whatever they are: figurines, coins, stamps, antiques, whatever, they’re going to burn, rot, or rust. All of our wise equity investments, all of our real estate, all of our awards, and all of our beautifully built and decorated homes will burn, rot, or rust.

By the way, next time I hear someone tell me they’re building their dream home, I’ll tell them Jesus is building mine. Did you think about that? You’re dream home? I know what they mean. They mean that they finally have a home where the stove is where they want it, the dishwasher is where they want it, and the oven will be right. You know what I mean? I understand all that, but we should be careful because in the world the lost people, really are their dream. They think they will find happiness if they live in the right spot, surrounded by enough comfort and convenience, and security. We should remind them that this world is not my home. I’m just passing through. My dream house is being built by Jesus. I’m sending the materials ahead for Him to build it.

By the way, all of our books, all of our collections of memories and photos, all of our electronic gadgets, all of our plants and pets, and all of our plans, everything will dissolve and go back to Earth. Everything. Everything we’ve ever had will turn to rust and ashes except for what was transformed by Christ into eternal fruit. Everything else will be gone. Christ’s rewards to us are based on what was good, what was fruitful, what was for Him, and what was eternal in His sight. All else attached to our lives, Jesus Christ has promised, that He personally will burn away from us. Remember what it says in 1 Corinthians 3? We’ll get to it a little bit later. It says, Our lives will be made manifest because they’ll be tried by fire. Jesus is the fireman. He gets to flamethrow our lives. He says, don’t worry, it’s not painful. He burns and He goes, that’s what you have left. That much of your life you lived for Me. All the rest I burned up and it’s gone. What’s going to be left after He burns away everything that was not done in His power for His glory?

Chapter 4, verses 8 and 20, I’d like to read and have you hear as the Lord said it. Mark 4 and verse 8, But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced, some thirty-fold, some sixty, and some one hundred. Look over to verse 20, But these are the ones sown on good ground. Those who hear the word accept it and bear fruit. Some thirty-fold, some sixty, and some a hundred. As verse 23 says, If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.

Let’s bow before the Lord in prayer. Father, I thank You this morning that You wish to sober every one of us with your call to fruitfulness. Good hearts bear fruit. Good hearts; those that are going to Heaven, those that are born from above, those who have been cleansed and captivated by You, O Christ, bear fruit. I pray that we will consciously make choices to direct our lives toward what will last forever. The people You’ve put into our lives, the moments that flow by us, we can redeem those moments into those people and bear fruit that will be endless. For your glory, O Lord, I pray that You would help us to learn from Your word. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

If you’re a Bible writer, Mark 4 verses 8 and 20 have the first point. I have five areas we’re going to look at. Number one, fruitfulness is expected. That’s Mark 4, 1 through 20. So, we’re going to finish up by looking at how fruitfulness is expected. It’s not like you can go through life and be a no-fruit Christian. You can go through life for some of your existence, but God does not tolerate that very long, because fruitfulness is expected.

Now, turn with me to John 15, okay? You’re in Mark, go to the right. Here’s something I want you to write in John 15, okay? John 15, the first eight verses tell us, fruitfulness is explained by Jesus Christ. He explains how to bear fruit and how God operates. So the whole first eight verses of John 15 are fruitfulness explained. Mark 4 is fruitfulness expected. It has to be there. In other words, if you can’t get by Mark 4, don’t get to John 15 because John 15 is talking about believers and believers bearing fruit. He explains that because He expects it back in His Gospel presentation. So John 15, when we go through that, it’s going to be fruitfulness explained.

Now look at Colossians, keep going to the right, Colossians chapter 3. I love this because I told you the whole revelation of God is all about this fruitfulness that He expects from us. In the Old Testament, it talks about us being like a tree planted by the rivers that bear His fruit, that’s Psalm 1. God has always been interested in fruit, not formality, not externalism, not fake. He wants authentic, genuine fruit. What is Colossians 3? Look down, starting at verse 12. This is how to encourage, it’s fruitfulness encouraged. How do you encourage fruitfulness in your life? Starting in verse 12, which we’ll read a little bit later, it talks about how we can get in a position to encourage our own life, our own direction, as well as those around us. How to encourage them in fruitfulness. So, if you want to know what God expects, it’s Mark 4, it’s that fruitfulness is expected. Do you want to know an explanation of what that fruitfulness is? That’s in John 15. Do you want to know how to encourage that on an ongoing basis in your life and others? It’s Colossians 3, 12 through 17. It’s fruitfulness encouraged.

Now, keep going to 1 Corinthians, back up to 1 Corinthians 3. Sorry to make you go backward, but it’s okay. 1 Corinthians 3 and starting in verse 13. We could actually start in verse 10, but 13 has the center of it. That whole passage from 5 to 17, but especially 13 tells us that fruitfulness is going to be examined. Your fruit and my fruit are not up to our Sunday school teacher, our wife, our husband, our elder, or anyone else to examine. Jesus is going to examine it. I was just meeting with a precious couple, and they were struggling in one small realm of their lives. After I listened to them talk, I said the problem was the S word. They both looked at me. So, what’s that? I said, submission. I said you, madame, do not understand submission. I said you, sir, do not understand it either. So, you need to work on it, and I talked through it. I said, but for you, I addressed the young lady, who needs to realize submission is to the Lord. You’ll never submit to your husband until you realize it’s to the Lord.

Let me bring that to this fruitfulness. Fruitfulness is not to your family, to your accountability group, to your Sunday school class, to your small group, or your Bible study. It’s to the Lord. He’s the one who says, look at verse 13, Everyone’s work, 1 Corinthians 3:13, will be clear because the day will declare it. It will be revealed by fire. Who’s the one doing it? Who’s the fireman? Jesus. This passage is the fourth step in our look at fruitfulness, and its fruitfulness examined. Jesus is going to examine our fruitfulness with fire. He’s going to burn away from your life and my life every single thing that doesn’t last forever. He’s going to burn that away. It’s going to become ashes and soot. What he’s looking for through the fire is the gold, the silver, the precious stones.

Isn’t it interesting, are you starting to notice the threes? thirty-fold, sixty-fold, one-hundred-fold. Those are the levels of fruitfulness. The hard soil, the crowded soil, the shallow soil; those are the bad guys. Now the bad production; wood, hay, stubble, three of those. The good stuff in this passage; is gold, silver, and precious stones. Do you see the threesies? The Lord is making a beautiful, symmetrical picture for us. He said those whose lives are characterized by the power of My Spirit will bear thirty-fold, sixty-fold, one-hundred-fold. They will bear gold and silver and precious stones, and fruit. Those who are living like the lost are going to be like wood and hay and stubble. They’re going to be consumed with this world, with pleasures and cares, the care of riches, distractions. They’re going to be like wood, hay, and stubble, and they’re going to burn up to soot. Not them, but their life. Jesus said fruitfulness will be examined.

Here’s the last thing. Look at Revelation 19, a lot of times you don’t even think about this. Did you know that you’re in my fruitfulness? It says that in the first eight verses of Revelation 19. If you’re marking in your Bibles, in Mark 4, you should have said fruitfulness expected, John 15, fruitfulness explained. In Colossians 3, fruitfulness is encouraged. In the Corinthian passage, fruitfulness is examined. Now, Revelation 19 says, our fruitfulness, look very closely at verse 8. To her, it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright. So, you and I are going to be wearing, in Heaven, fine linen, clean and bright.

What is that, Jesus? He explains it in the rest of verse 8. For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints; fruitfulness, eternalized. What you are on Earth for Jesus Christ is what you are going to wear, and I’m going to wear it forever. Did you know it does matter how you live your life? Do you know it will matter forever what you did in your 77.1 years on this planet? Did you know you can make it to Heaven and live most of the time like a pagan and you will regret it when you stand before the judgment seat of Christ? You can live for the Lord when you have time and it’s convenient and you will regret it when you stand before the examination of Jesus Christ. Or I can live for Him with that river of time flowing by me, with the half a million minutes that just surround me every year. If I live my 77.1 years I can live for Him with my 40 million minutes. By Your power, through Your grace, and for Your glory, I’m going to redeem time. I’m going to walk in the Spirit. I’m going to be characterized by Your love. I’m going to live in Your joy. I’m going to be overwhelmed by Your peace. I’m going to put on Colossians 3, kindness and tenderness and mercy. I’m going to bear with those that are around me. I’m going to seek the lost to win. I’m going to deny my flesh. There’s actually a crown Jesus is going to give people who deny their flesh.

Do you know what I was telling the junior highers this morning? Someone actually this week asked me a question. Can you believe it? They asked me this, they said: what do you think of the band The Grateful Dead? I didn’t like the name to start with. I’ve never met the people, but they picked a bad name for their group. But I said, I can tell you this, if they are like the majority of other popular entertainers, Galatians says that they are the enemies of God. So, I would have nothing to do with anyone who is an enemy of God. They’re a teenager, thoughtful, they said, why are they God’s enemies? I said because they are enemies of Christ’s cross. They said, what is that? I said the cross of Christ makes me die to my flesh, die to the lusts of the flesh, die to the pride of life, die to the lusts of my eyes, die to live for self. That group makes me want to live for the flesh, live for the lusts of the eyes, live for the pride of life, and live for myself. So, they are God’s enemy. I would not want to be guided by them. That teenager went away thinking about that.

But you know what? That’s what all of life is about because Jesus says in Revelation 19:8 that what you are going to wear and what I’m going to wear forever are our righteous acts. What is that? Spirit-prompted living for the glory of God. Spirit prompted fruit. Spirit energized acts of devotion. Spirit energized denial of the flesh. Spirit energized prayers, and devotion, and worship, and redeeming my time for the glory of God. That is what we’re going to wear forever.

Now when I was young, a little less careful what I would say, I was a youth pastor. In fact, I was a youth pastor for many years. That’s why I love speaking in the high school and junior high and anywhere else. I love young people. I used to be young myself, and I understand them. I remember when I was young and not so careful in what I said, that I used to challenge them. In fact, I did it right here in Tulsa in 1977. I preached at Tulsa Baptist Temple, and I had 1,100 young people packing their auditorium. I’ll never forget that. Packing it I told them, I said, God says you’re going to wear your righteous acts forever. I said some of you are going to be very embarrassed. You’re going to be issued the minimal covering. That was to get those teenagers’ attention. But you know what? We should think about God saying fruitfulness is expected. Fruitfulness can be explained. Get in the word and find it. Fruitfulness can be encouraged by living with putting on and mortifying. Fruitfulness is going to be examined by Jesus Himself and it’s going to be eternalized. It’s what we’re going to wear forever. Because of that, Jesus said, if you have a good heart you’re going to bear fruit.

Let’s look at what He says, going back to Mark. I just want to finish off His expectations of fruitfulness. Mark chapter 4. The question we ask ourselves is, how is our fruitfulness coming today? Do you already have fruit that you have invested for eternity? Are you bearing fruit today? Are you living to protect your future fruitfulness? It all starts with verse 8. Jesus says the seed fell on good ground and it yielded up a crop. That is from within. In fact, if you read the parallel accounts, this sower and the seed passage is in the other Gospels. You will find out it says that it springs up from within. See, fruit is not external. It’s not getting into the right society. It’s not getting in the right group. It’s not joining or mimicking or patterning. It’s a product of something God does inside of me. It’s supernatural. Now, I can discourage that fruitfulness, and I can encourage that fruitfulness, but the bottom line is, that it’s only producible if you’ve been born again. Lost people can’t bear fruit. They can try, they can bear counterfeit fruit, they can bear temporary fruit, they can have imitation, but it doesn’t stand the test of time, or the spiritual test of what Spirit-prompted fruit looks like.

Jesus expects fruitfulness. In the 20 verses, if I were to summarize the first 20 verses, it would be this; in these verses, Jesus describes everyone in the world that will go to Heaven. On that day, Jesus compared life to a field, people to soil, the Gospel to seed, and eternal life to a crop harvested righteousness. That’s all 20 verses in one sentence. In Mark 4, 1 through 20, Jesus said hearts that remain trampled and hardened against God, hearts that remain shallow with God, hearts that remain crowded toward God, those three hearts will never enjoy the pleasures of God forever. Watch out. Unbelievers are characterized by being hard toward God. That means that doesn’t affect me. Unbelievers are characterized by being shallow toward God. They only get this deep into the things of God. They know the vernacular and they say, yeah, I’m not a pagan, but God does not penetrate their life. Unbelievers are characterized by everything crowding out God. You know what? We act like unbelievers when everything crowds out God. How’s God doing in your life? Is He getting increasingly crowded out? You’re cutting back your exposure to Him: you’re feeding on Him, your worship of Him, your prayers to Him, you’re seeking of Him, you’re denying of your flesh. You’re crowding that out. Be careful. That’s what unbelievers are like. Believers can act like unbelievers, but not for very long because God won’t let them.

Jesus goes on to describe everyone on the planet, in verse 8 and verse 20, who will be enjoying Heaven forever as being good. Just as there are three types of lost, hell-bound people, the shallow, the hard, and the crowded, there are three different types of Heaven-bound people. There are three levels, three categories, and three degrees of fruitfulness. There’s the basic, the better, and the best. Among the good, there are the thirty-times-over good, the sixty-times-over good, and the hundred-times-over good that bear fruit that lasts forever.

Taken at face value, the message of this parable of the soils is clear. Of the four soils, only one is good. Only one produces fruit. Thus, that soil alone is of no value to Jesus, the farmer. The one good soil pictures the believer. The weedy soil and the shallow soils are pretenders. The hard soil is the absolute rejecter. So, fruit is always the ultimate test of true salvation. In the harvest, whether you were weedy, hard, or shallow, it doesn’t matter because they are all worthless for the harvest. That’s the message Jesus is saying. Seeds sown on the hard, the shallow, and the crowded soil is wasted. As He says in Hebrews chapter 6, that ground is fit for nothing except burning. So thus, it can’t picture salvation.

Look at chapter 7 of the Gospel by Mark. Go over a couple of pages to chapter 7. I want to show you, that Jesus really enlarges what the bad heart looks like. Starting in verse 20 of Mark 7, He says here’s what a bad heart looks like. This is how you know if you have bad soil. What comes out of a man is what defiles a man. For from within, verse 21, out of the heart of man, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, verse 22, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. That’s the fruit of a bad heart. As I told the junior highers, God says that a righteous person, their heroes are people who are heroes to God. I asked them, I said, who was the chief enemy of God in David’s day? He was the tallest man in the world at that time and David killed him because he was God’s enemy. Let me ask you this, would David have ever had a poster of Goliath in his room? Other than for target practice, I don’t think so, right? Yet, countless Christians have pictures of entertainers, musicians, of media personalities, whose entire lives are devoted to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, which Paul says makes them enemies of the cross of Christ. Watch out for liking those who hate the things of God. Watch out for allowing from within, verse 21, out of our hearts to proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, and all the other terrible things. That’s not the product of a good heart. That’s fruitfulness expected.

I want to read to you John 15. I actually want to expose you to all these. So, you should have written somewhere in Mark 4, that fruitfulness is expected. Now go to John 15. We’re going to read all 8 verses because this is fruitfulness explained. John 15, somewhere by that write down something like, this is an explanation of fruitfulness in this passage. I want to just come back, and I want to explain fruitfulness and how to know what is pleasing to God. This is what Jesus says, look at chapter 15, the first eight verses. I Am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me. By the way, the entire eight verses, every bit of it is dominated by this introduction. Jesus here is talking to believers because He says every branch in Me. Every time He uses that expression, in Me, 100 percent, not 90, not 80, not 70, 100 percent of the time He uses that expression, it’s always talking about believers. So, I doubt if He changed gears in this chapter. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, He prunes that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the words which I have spoken to you. Here is how we produce fruit: abide in me. So, do you know what that does? That explains everything. It’s not what we do, it’s what we are.

See, most people are all caught up in what they do. They’re doing their fruit measuring by, I’ve got to get involved in more things. I’ve got to sign up for that. I’ve got to go to that. Oh, I need to be in this too. They just get frantic, they’re torn, they’re getting spread so thin, they’re getting restless and they’re trying to bear fruit. Jesus said that the essence is, look at this, abide in Me. In fact, 11 times in this short little passage He says, abide, or a form of that word. Abide in Me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself. You can be as busy as a bee and have no fruit because if you’re doing it in your own strength, it doesn’t amount to anything. He’s reminding us. Unless it abides in a vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I Am the vine. I want you to remain in Me. I want you to have a relationship with Me. I Am the vine. You’re the branches. We have a relationship here. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit. So, there are fruit bearers, and now He says, much fruit. Boy, I’m interested in that. But look at the end of verse 5. For without Me, you can do nothing. I love that verse. For without me, you can do, what does it amount to? Nothing. Everything we do; every time we serve in some ministry here or outside of here, every time we give, every time we do anything apart from the prompting, from the moving, from the directing, from the dominating force of the Holy Spirit, everything we do apart from Him amounts to nothing. A great verse.

Verse 6, If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered. Notice he withers after he’s cast out, but he is a branch. What that’s talking about is what Paul spends a great deal of time in the Bible talking about. John talks about it. James talks about it. It’s a big topic in the Bible, and it’s when Christians act like unbelievers, God does something about it. If you and I persist in acting like an unbeliever, God says, I will chasten you. If you continue, I will do more than that. I will cut you off. I will kill you. God says that. You can read it in I John 5. You can read it in James 5. You can read it in Revelation 2. You can read it in 1 Corinthians 11. You will find Paul, you will find James, and you will find John reciting what Jesus said. Jesus said I don’t mess around. If you’re one of My branches and you are persistently resisting My righteousness, I will intervene. I will not let you persist acting like you are of your father, the devil, because you’re not. You are born from above. I will not allow you to persist in that. We’ll get that more when we get to how He chastens and prunes us.

Continuing in verse 6, And they gather it and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. What on Earth is that? You can get all these Arminian teachings on how if you lose your salvation, you’re going to be thrown in the fire. He’s only talking to Christians. When are Christians thrown in fire? In 1 Corinthians chapter 3. You forgot about that one, didn’t you? Everyone’s life will be examined with fire. Not examined if you’re going to Heaven or Hell, but examined on how much of your life was luxurious growth that had no fruit. That’s the part of the grapevine that’s always cut off. They are merciless with grapevines like I am with my roses. I love to cut Bonnie big vases of flowers, and I found out the more I cut the roses, the more flowers I get. The less I cut them, the more leaves I get. I used to have the prettiest green bushes, no color. Boy, I mercilessly cut those things back, and I get beautiful long stalks of roses. It works in vines and grapes, too. Jesus says the part of your life not lived for Me I’m going to cut off and I’m going to throw it in the fire, and you are going to suffer loss. We’ll get to that passage in a minute.

Continuing to verse 7. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you desire and it will be done for you. What a life! And by this, My Father is glorified that you bear much fruit. Now we’ve seen bearing fruit, bearing more fruit, now we’re bearing much fruit, and you will be my disciples. So that is fruitfulness explained.

Keep going to the right. I want to read to you about how to encourage fruitfulness, Colossians 3. It’s Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, chapter 3, starting in verse 12. Therefore, Colossians 3:12, this is fruitfulness encouraged. As the elect of God, holy and beloved, how can I encourage fruitfulness in my life? Put on tender mercies. Put on to encourage fruitfulness, kindness. Put on to encourage fruitfulness, humility. Put on, to encourage fruitfulness, meekness. Put on to encourage fruitfulness, and long-suffering. Put on, to bear fruit in your life, bearing with one another.

Do you know what bearing with one another is? Treating everybody like they’re your best friends, you have a forbearance about it, and you don’t want to hurt them. You don’t want to intentionally cause them pain in their lives, so you forbear with them. You are bearing with one another. You don’t let them have it. You forgive them as God, for Christ’s sake, has forgiven you. How often? Seventy times seventy, completely, Jesus said. Interesting. Forgiving one another, verse 13. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so also you must do. Verse 14, But above all this, if you want to encourage fruitfulness, put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your heart, to which also you were called in one body. And be thankful, and let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. That means you can have the word of Christ and it doesn’t get to dwell and it isn’t rich. See, what He’s saying is you’ve got to open up more and more of your life to fill with His word, more and more of your life to be filled with His word. He says, let the word of Christ richly dwell in you.

My children asked me this week, they said Dad, how much time do you spend in the car? I said, this week, I have spent half of the New Testament in the car. They looked at me, I said, yeah! This week, just this week, I listened from Acts 1 to Revelation 22, just this week. You know what? I don’t even know what the talk shows are talking about these days, but I sure have heard a lot from who? The news, I found out, is so cyclical and so is the weather. In fact, I used to listen to the weather, and it still rained so it doesn’t matter if I listen to it. Now, I’m listening to God. I’m not a traveling salesman by any means, but I listened to half of all the New Testament just this week. Have you listened to the whole New Testament? Have you read the whole New Testament? Do you ever ride in the car? Think about it. Let the word of Christ richly dwell in you in all wisdom, teaching, and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord, and whatever you do, wherever you go, whatever you buy, wherever you are found, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.

In other words, wherever you’re going today, wherever you go this week, in a sense, don’t go there if you can’t declare, I’m entering this room in the name of Jesus Christ and for His glory. If everyone would look at you and go, whoa, you’re in the wrong place, buddy, you shouldn’t go there, okay? Whatever you do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through Him. What are you and I doing in our lives that is going to last forever? Those things God calls fruit.

Let’s bow before Him in prayer. Father in Heaven, I thank You for letting us hear Your voice, oh Jesus. As you said, the good soil accepts the word and bears fruit. I pray that the word that we have heard, that we have read, and more than that, that Your Spirit has communicated to our hearts, we would accept it. We would make the choices in our life today to encourage fruitfulness as that river of half a million minutes has flown by for this year. I pray that we would redeem much of that time, many of those minutes, for eternity, bearing fruit to glorify You that will last forever. Father, I pray for some who are crowded and shallow, and hardened. In fact, they just barely made it through this message. It just didn’t make sense. It was so foreign to them. I pray that right where they sit right now, that they would hear Your voice. That You would knock on their heart’s door. They would realize that the reason they can’t hear is they don’t have ears to hear so they’re deaf to You. Right now, You’re knocking, and You’re saying if you’ll hear My voice, open up. Lord, if they will call out to You and say, yes, be merciful to me, God. I am the sinner and Jesus did die in my place because You are the sacrifice, Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God, to take away the sin of the world. Right where they’re sitting, crying out to You, they could receive forgiveness of sins and life everlasting. Oh Lord, I pray that all of us would have ears to hear today and that we would obey. In the name of Jesus, we ask that. Amen.

What does God call time in our lives that is harnessed and used and deposited before Him in Heaven? FRUIT. Look at Mark 4.8 and 20.

 

Fruit is what is produced by my life that will last forever – prayers from a clean heart, worship from a consecrated life, time lived under the direction of the Holy Spirit, acts of devotion prompted by love, souls won to Christ, saints edified, suffering endured for Him, sacrifices made for Him. And on and on we could go. The emphasis is ‘that which lasts forever produced by my life’.

 

Life for each of us contains a lot of time. Each day a river of moments flows all around us, eighty-six thousand seconds to be exact. But if measured in minutes life can be seen as a constant flow of time traveling by us minute by minute. Here is the summary of time we each get in our lives:

• One year is a ½ million minutes…
• The teen aged years last for just under four million minutes…
• A child from birth to heading off to college at eighteen was with you for 9 ½ million minutes…
• An entire average lifetime lasts for forty million minutes.

 

So before most of us head to Heaven 40 MILLION MINUTES will flow by us in a steady stream, day in and day out.

 

 

Before I read these precious verses again with you, may I remind you of the incredible challenge each of us have. According to what Jesus said in the verses before us, all that will last of your and my life on Earth will be the fruit that you and I produce while we are alive on this planet. Everything else of ours — will either burn, rust, or rot.  Have you paused lately and looked around all that fills up each of our lives?

 

All of our deeded income properties, all of our prized collections, all of our wise equity investments, all of our real estate, all of our awards, all of our beautifully built and decorated homes, all of our businesses we have built, all of our memory books, all of our electronic gadgets, all of our plants and pets and plans – everything will dissolve and go back to earthliness.

 

Everything we ever have will turn to rust and ashes except for what was transformed by our ABIDING in Christ into Eternal Fruit. Christ’s rewards to us are based on what was GOOD or fruitful, all else attached to our lives Jesus Christ has promised He will burn away at the BEMA SEAT JUDGMENT.

 

With that in mind, please read Mark 4.8, 20

 

Mark 4:8, 20 But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” 20 But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

 

Fruit is what is produced by my life when I capture and invest minutes of my days for the Glory of God, in the power of the Spirit changing them into that which lasts forever – prayers, worship, acts of devotion, souls won, saints edified, suffering endured for Him, sacrifices made for Him,

 

• Fruitfulness expected Mark 4.1-20
• Fruitfulness explained in John 15.1-8
• Fruitfulness encouraged in Colossians 3.12-17
• Fruitfulness examined in 2^nd Corinthians 5.1-10
• Fruitfulness eternalized Revelation 19.1-8

 

Now the question we need to ask ourselves is, how is my fruitfulness coming. Do you have fruit already sent up? Are you bearing fruit today? Are you living to protect your future fruitfulness?

 

Note that it is that which “comes from within”. So just as a good heart has fruit that comes from within and that fruit is produced by God. So we should see from within us fruit that springs up, increases, and comes to maturity.

 

We are the company of the unworthy, doing the impossible for the Glory of Another.

 

Never was more asked of anyone than what Jesus Christ asks of you and me TODAY!

 

Fruitfulness expected Mark 4.1-20

 

One day, in one verse — Jesus describes everyone in the world that will go to Heaven.  On that day Jesus compared life to a field, people to soil, the Gospel to seed, and eternal life to a crop of harvested righteousness.

 

In Mark 4.1-20 Jesus said a heart that remains Trampled and Hardened Against God, Shallow With God, or Crowded Towards God will not enjoy the pleasures of God forever.  Beware!

 

Jesus goes on to describe everyone on the planet that will be enjoying Heaven forever as being — Good. Just as there are three types of lost Hell bound people types, there are also three different types of the Heaven bound. There are three levels, three categories, three degrees of fruitful lives. Basic, Better, and the BEST! Among the Good there are the 30 times over Good, the 60 times over Good, and the 100 times over Good.

 

Taken at face value, the message of the parable of the soils is clear: of four soils, only one is good. Only one produces fruit, and thus it alone is of any value to the farmer. This good soil pictures the believer. The weedy soil and the shallow soil are pretenders. The soil by the wayside is an absolute rejecter. Indeed, fruit is the ultimate test of true salvation. In the harvest, weedy soil is no better than the hard road or shallow ground. All are worthless. Seed sown there is wasted, and the ground is fit for nothing except burning (cf. Heb. 6:8). It cannot picture salvation. ^[1][1]

 

The signs of a BAD HEAR are

 

Mark 7:20-22 And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.

 

 

Fruitfulness explained in John 15.1-8

 

John 15:1-8 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

 

Fruitfulness encouraged in Colossians 3.12-17

 

Colossians 3:12-17 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

 

Fruitfulness examined in 2^nd Corinthians 5.1-10

 

Romans 14:10-13 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 11 For it is written: “As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.” 12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. 13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.

 

1 Corinthians 3:5-17 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. 16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

 

2 Corinthians 5:1-10 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. 6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. 9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

 

Fruitfulness eternalized Revelation 19.1-8

 

Revelation 19:7-8 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

 

Revelation 19:7-8 Let us rejoice and be glad  and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)   (NIV)

 

Revelation 19:7-8 “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.”8 And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. (NASB)

 

Fruitfulness explained in John 15.1-8

 

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples” (John 15:7-8).

 

The ultimate goal of discipleship is this: “. . . be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma” (Eph. 5:1-2). This is an ongoing, lifelong process by which the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God, to conform the child of God, into the image of God, for the glory of God. In so doing, He produces in us the fruit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22). That fruit is manifested in a true disciple’s life as an:

 

Galatians 5:22-25 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

 

Jesus wants my Life spent intentionally on fruit bearing for His glory – that means I will Walk in the SPIRIT.

 

Fruitfulness encouraged in Colossians 3.12-17

 

Fruitfulness examined in 2nd Corinthians 5.1-10

 

Fruitfulness eternalized Revelation 19.1-8

 

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God has a big plan for you and me; He wants us to make something out of our time. Time like electricity flows around us and remains unseen and useless — unless it is captured and harnessed into usefulness.

 

What does God call time in our lives that is harnessed and used and deposited before Him in Heaven? FRUIT. Look at Mark 4.8 and 20.

 

Fruit is what is produced by my life that will last forever – prayers from a clean heart, worship from a consecrated life, time lived under the direction of the Holy Spirit, acts of devotion prompted by love, souls won to Christ, saints edified, suffering endured for Him, sacrifices made for Him. And on and on we could go. The emphasis is ‘that which lasts forever produced by my life’.

 

Life for each of us contains a lot of time. Each day a river of moments flows all around us, eighty-six thousand seconds to be exact. But if measured in minutes life can be seen as a constant flow of time traveling by us minute by minute. Here is the summary of time we each get in our lives:

• One year is a ½ million minutes…
• The teen aged years last for just under four million minutes…
• A child from birth to heading off to college at eighteen was with you for 9 ½ million minutes…
• An entire average lifetime lasts for forty million minutes.

 

So before most of us head to Heaven 40 MILLION MINUTES will flow by us in a steady stream, day in and day out.

 

 

Before I read these precious verses again with you, may I remind you of the incredible challenge each of us have. According to what Jesus said in the verses before us, all that will last of your and my life on Earth will be the fruit that you and I produce while we are alive on this planet. Everything else of ours — will either burn, rust, or rot.  Have you paused lately and looked around all that fills up each of our lives?

 

All of our deeded income properties, all of our prized collections, all of our wise equity investments, all of our real estate, all of our awards, all of our beautifully built and decorated homes, all of our businesses we have built, all of our memory books, all of our electronic gadgets, all of our plants and pets and plans – everything will dissolve and go back to earthliness.

 

Everything we ever have will turn to rust and ashes except for what was transformed by our ABIDING in Christ into Eternal Fruit. Christ’s rewards to us are based on what was GOOD or fruitful, all else attached to our lives Jesus Christ has promised He will burn away at the BEMA SEAT JUDGMENT.

 

With that in mind, please read Mark 4.8, 20

 

Mark 4:8, 20 But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” 20 But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

 

Fruit is what is produced by my life when I capture and invest minutes of my days for the Glory of God, in the power of the Spirit changing them into that which lasts forever – prayers, worship, acts of devotion, souls won, saints edified, suffering endured for Him, sacrifices made for Him,

 

• Fruitfulness expected Mark 4.1-20
• Fruitfulness explained in John 15.1-8
• Fruitfulness encouraged in Colossians 3.12-17
• Fruitfulness examined in 2^nd Corinthians 5.1-10
• Fruitfulness eternalized Revelation 19.1-8

 

Now the question we need to ask ourselves is, how is my fruitfulness coming. Do you have fruit already sent up? Are you bearing fruit today? Are you living to protect your future fruitfulness?

 

Note that it is that which “comes from within”. So just as a good heart has fruit that comes from within and that fruit is produced by God. So we should see from within us fruit that springs up, increases, and comes to maturity.

 

We are the company of the unworthy, doing the impossible for the Glory of Another.

 

Never was more asked of anyone than what Jesus Christ asks of you and me TODAY!

 

Fruitfulness expected Mark 4.1-20

 

One day, in one verse — Jesus describes everyone in the world that will go to Heaven.  On that day Jesus compared life to a field, people to soil, the Gospel to seed, and eternal life to a crop of harvested righteousness.

 

In Mark 4.1-20 Jesus said a heart that remains Trampled and Hardened Against God, Shallow With God, or Crowded Towards God will not enjoy the pleasures of God forever.  Beware!

 

Jesus goes on to describe everyone on the planet that will be enjoying Heaven forever as being — Good. Just as there are three types of lost Hell bound people types, there are also three different types of the Heaven bound. There are three levels, three categories, three degrees of fruitful lives. Basic, Better, and the BEST! Among the Good there are the 30 times over Good, the 60 times over Good, and the 100 times over Good.

 

Taken at face value, the message of the parable of the soils is clear: of four soils, only one is good. Only one produces fruit, and thus it alone is of any value to the farmer. This good soil pictures the believer. The weedy soil and the shallow soil are pretenders. The soil by the wayside is an absolute rejecter. Indeed, fruit is the ultimate test of true salvation. In the harvest, weedy soil is no better than the hard road or shallow ground. All are worthless. Seed sown there is wasted, and the ground is fit for nothing except burning (cf. Heb. 6:8). It cannot picture salvation. ^[1]

 

The signs of a BAD HEAR are

 

Mark 7:20-22 And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.

 

 

Fruitfulness explained in John 15.1-8

 

John 15:1-8 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

 

Fruitfulness encouraged in Colossians 3.12-17

 

Colossians 3:12-17 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

 

Fruitfulness examined in 2^nd Corinthians 5.1-10

 

Romans 14:10-13 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 11 For it is written: “As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.” 12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. 13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.

 

1 Corinthians 3:5-17 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. 16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

 

2 Corinthians 5:1-10 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. 6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. 9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.  

 

Fruitfulness eternalized Revelation 19.1-8

 

Revelation 19:7-8 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

 

Revelation 19:7-8 Let us rejoice and be glad  and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)   (NIV)

 

Revelation 19:7-8 “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.”8 And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. (NASB)

 

Fruitfulness explained in John 15.1-8

 

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples” (John 15:7-8).

 

The ultimate goal of discipleship is this: “. . . be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma” (Eph. 5:1-2). This is an ongoing, lifelong process by which the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God, to conform the child of God, into the image of God, for the glory of God. In so doing, He produces in us the fruit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22). That fruit is manifested in a true disciple’s life as an:

 

Galatians 5:22-25 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

 

Jesus wants my Life spent intentionally on fruit bearing for His glory – that means I will Walk in the SPIRIT.

 

Fruitfulness encouraged in Colossians 3.12-17

 

Fruitfulness examined in 2nd Corinthians 5.1-10

 

Fruitfulness eternalized Revelation 19.1-8

TAGS: 040711AM

What does God call time in our lives that is harnessed and used and deposited before Him in Heaven? FRUIT. Look at Mark 4.8 and 20.

 

Fruit is what is produced by my life that will last forever – prayers from a clean heart, worship from a consecrated life, time lived under the direction of the Holy Spirit, acts of devotion prompted by love, souls won to Christ, saints edified, suffering endured for Him, sacrifices made for Him. And on and on we could go. The emphasis is ‘that which lasts forever produced by my life’.

 

Life for each of us contains a lot of time. Each day a river of moments flows all around us, eighty-six thousand seconds to be exact. But if measured in minutes life can be seen as a constant flow of time traveling by us minute by minute. Here is the summary of time we each get in our lives:

• One year is a ½ million minutes…
• The teen aged years last for just under four million minutes…
• A child from birth to heading off to college at eighteen was with you for 9 ½ million minutes…
• An entire average lifetime lasts for forty million minutes.

 

So before most of us head to Heaven 40 MILLION MINUTES will flow by us in a steady stream, day in and day out.

 

 

Before I read these precious verses again with you, may I remind you of the incredible challenge each of us have. According to what Jesus said in the verses before us, all that will last of your and my life on Earth will be the fruit that you and I produce while we are alive on this planet. Everything else of ours — will either burn, rust, or rot.  Have you paused lately and looked around all that fills up each of our lives?

 

All of our deeded income properties, all of our prized collections, all of our wise equity investments, all of our real estate, all of our awards, all of our beautifully built and decorated homes, all of our businesses we have built, all of our memory books, all of our electronic gadgets, all of our plants and pets and plans – everything will dissolve and go back to earthliness.

 

Everything we ever have will turn to rust and ashes except for what was transformed by our ABIDING in Christ into Eternal Fruit. Christ’s rewards to us are based on what was GOOD or fruitful, all else attached to our lives Jesus Christ has promised He will burn away at the BEMA SEAT JUDGMENT.

 

With that in mind, please read Mark 4.8, 20

 

Mark 4:8, 20 But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” 20 But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

 

Fruit is what is produced by my life when I capture and invest minutes of my days for the Glory of God, in the power of the Spirit changing them into that which lasts forever – prayers, worship, acts of devotion, souls won, saints edified, suffering endured for Him, sacrifices made for Him,

 

• Fruitfulness expected Mark 4.1-20
• Fruitfulness explained in John 15.1-8
• Fruitfulness encouraged in Colossians 3.12-17
• Fruitfulness examined in 2^nd Corinthians 5.1-10
• Fruitfulness eternalized Revelation 19.1-8

 

Now the question we need to ask ourselves is, how is my fruitfulness coming. Do you have fruit already sent up? Are you bearing fruit today? Are you living to protect your future fruitfulness?

 

Note that it is that which “comes from within”. So just as a good heart has fruit that comes from within and that fruit is produced by God. So we should see from within us fruit that springs up, increases, and comes to maturity.

 

We are the company of the unworthy, doing the impossible for the Glory of Another.

 

Never was more asked of anyone than what Jesus Christ asks of you and me TODAY!

 

Fruitfulness expected Mark 4.1-20

 

One day, in one verse — Jesus describes everyone in the world that will go to Heaven.  On that day Jesus compared life to a field, people to soil, the Gospel to seed, and eternal life to a crop of harvested righteousness.

 

In Mark 4.1-20 Jesus said a heart that remains Trampled and Hardened Against God, Shallow With God, or Crowded Towards God will not enjoy the pleasures of God forever.  Beware!

 

Jesus goes on to describe everyone on the planet that will be enjoying Heaven forever as being — Good. Just as there are three types of lost Hell bound people types, there are also three different types of the Heaven bound. There are three levels, three categories, three degrees of fruitful lives. Basic, Better, and the BEST! Among the Good there are the 30 times over Good, the 60 times over Good, and the 100 times over Good.

 

Taken at face value, the message of the parable of the soils is clear: of four soils, only one is good. Only one produces fruit, and thus it alone is of any value to the farmer. This good soil pictures the believer. The weedy soil and the shallow soil are pretenders. The soil by the wayside is an absolute rejecter. Indeed, fruit is the ultimate test of true salvation. In the harvest, weedy soil is no better than the hard road or shallow ground. All are worthless. Seed sown there is wasted, and the ground is fit for nothing except burning (cf. Heb. 6:8). It cannot picture salvation. ^[1][1]

 

The signs of a BAD HEAR are

 

Mark 7:20-22 And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.

 

 

Fruitfulness explained in John 15.1-8

 

John 15:1-8 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

 

Fruitfulness encouraged in Colossians 3.12-17

 

Colossians 3:12-17 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

 

Fruitfulness examined in 2^nd Corinthians 5.1-10

 

Romans 14:10-13 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 11 For it is written: “As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.” 12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. 13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.

 

1 Corinthians 3:5-17 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. 16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

 

2 Corinthians 5:1-10 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. 6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. 9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

 

Fruitfulness eternalized Revelation 19.1-8

 

Revelation 19:7-8 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

 

Revelation 19:7-8 Let us rejoice and be glad  and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)   (NIV)

 

Revelation 19:7-8 “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.”8 And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. (NASB)

 

Fruitfulness explained in John 15.1-8

 

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples” (John 15:7-8).

 

The ultimate goal of discipleship is this: “. . . be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma” (Eph. 5:1-2). This is an ongoing, lifelong process by which the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God, to conform the child of God, into the image of God, for the glory of God. In so doing, He produces in us the fruit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22). That fruit is manifested in a true disciple’s life as an:

 

Galatians 5:22-25 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

 

Jesus wants my Life spent intentionally on fruit bearing for His glory – that means I will Walk in the SPIRIT.

 

Fruitfulness encouraged in Colossians 3.12-17

 

Fruitfulness examined in 2nd Corinthians 5.1-10

 

Fruitfulness eternalized Revelation 19.1-8

TAGS: 040711AM

God has a big plan for you and me; He wants us to make something out of our time. Time like electricity flows around us and remains unseen and useless — unless it is captured and harnessed into usefulness.

 

What does God call time in our lives that is harnessed and used and deposited before Him in Heaven? FRUIT. Look at Mark 4.8 and 20.

 

Fruit is what is produced by my life that will last forever – prayers from a clean heart, worship from a consecrated life, time lived under the direction of the Holy Spirit, acts of devotion prompted by love, souls won to Christ, saints edified, suffering endured for Him, sacrifices made for Him. And on and on we could go. The emphasis is ‘that which lasts forever produced by my life’.

 

Life for each of us contains a lot of time. Each day a river of moments flows all around us, eighty-six thousand seconds to be exact. But if measured in minutes life can be seen as a constant flow of time traveling by us minute by minute. Here is the summary of time we each get in our lives:

• One year is a ½ million minutes…
• The teen aged years last for just under four million minutes…
• A child from birth to heading off to college at eighteen was with you for 9 ½ million minutes…
• An entire average lifetime lasts for forty million minutes.

 

So before most of us head to Heaven 40 MILLION MINUTES will flow by us in a steady stream, day in and day out.

 

 

Before I read these precious verses again with you, may I remind you of the incredible challenge each of us have. According to what Jesus said in the verses before us, all that will last of your and my life on Earth will be the fruit that you and I produce while we are alive on this planet. Everything else of ours — will either burn, rust, or rot.  Have you paused lately and looked around all that fills up each of our lives?

 

All of our deeded income properties, all of our prized collections, all of our wise equity investments, all of our real estate, all of our awards, all of our beautifully built and decorated homes, all of our businesses we have built, all of our memory books, all of our electronic gadgets, all of our plants and pets and plans – everything will dissolve and go back to earthliness.

 

Everything we ever have will turn to rust and ashes except for what was transformed by our ABIDING in Christ into Eternal Fruit. Christ’s rewards to us are based on what was GOOD or fruitful, all else attached to our lives Jesus Christ has promised He will burn away at the BEMA SEAT JUDGMENT.

 

With that in mind, please read Mark 4.8, 20

 

Mark 4:8, 20 But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” 20 But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

 

Fruit is what is produced by my life when I capture and invest minutes of my days for the Glory of God, in the power of the Spirit changing them into that which lasts forever – prayers, worship, acts of devotion, souls won, saints edified, suffering endured for Him, sacrifices made for Him,

 

• Fruitfulness expected Mark 4.1-20
• Fruitfulness explained in John 15.1-8
• Fruitfulness encouraged in Colossians 3.12-17
• Fruitfulness examined in 2^nd Corinthians 5.1-10
• Fruitfulness eternalized Revelation 19.1-8

 

Now the question we need to ask ourselves is, how is my fruitfulness coming. Do you have fruit already sent up? Are you bearing fruit today? Are you living to protect your future fruitfulness?

 

Note that it is that which “comes from within”. So just as a good heart has fruit that comes from within and that fruit is produced by God. So we should see from within us fruit that springs up, increases, and comes to maturity.

 

We are the company of the unworthy, doing the impossible for the Glory of Another.

 

Never was more asked of anyone than what Jesus Christ asks of you and me TODAY!

 

Fruitfulness expected Mark 4.1-20

 

One day, in one verse — Jesus describes everyone in the world that will go to Heaven.  On that day Jesus compared life to a field, people to soil, the Gospel to seed, and eternal life to a crop of harvested righteousness.

 

In Mark 4.1-20 Jesus said a heart that remains Trampled and Hardened Against God, Shallow With God, or Crowded Towards God will not enjoy the pleasures of God forever.  Beware!

 

Jesus goes on to describe everyone on the planet that will be enjoying Heaven forever as being — Good. Just as there are three types of lost Hell bound people types, there are also three different types of the Heaven bound. There are three levels, three categories, three degrees of fruitful lives. Basic, Better, and the BEST! Among the Good there are the 30 times over Good, the 60 times over Good, and the 100 times over Good.

 

Taken at face value, the message of the parable of the soils is clear: of four soils, only one is good. Only one produces fruit, and thus it alone is of any value to the farmer. This good soil pictures the believer. The weedy soil and the shallow soil are pretenders. The soil by the wayside is an absolute rejecter. Indeed, fruit is the ultimate test of true salvation. In the harvest, weedy soil is no better than the hard road or shallow ground. All are worthless. Seed sown there is wasted, and the ground is fit for nothing except burning (cf. Heb. 6:8). It cannot picture salvation. ^[1]

 

The signs of a BAD HEAR are

 

Mark 7:20-22 And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.

 

 

Fruitfulness explained in John 15.1-8

 

John 15:1-8 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

 

Fruitfulness encouraged in Colossians 3.12-17

 

Colossians 3:12-17 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

 

Fruitfulness examined in 2^nd Corinthians 5.1-10

 

Romans 14:10-13 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 11 For it is written: “As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.” 12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. 13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.

 

1 Corinthians 3:5-17 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. 16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

 

2 Corinthians 5:1-10 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. 6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. 9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.  

 

Fruitfulness eternalized Revelation 19.1-8

 

Revelation 19:7-8 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

 

Revelation 19:7-8 Let us rejoice and be glad  and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)   (NIV)

 

Revelation 19:7-8 “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.”8 And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. (NASB)

 

Fruitfulness explained in John 15.1-8

 

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples” (John 15:7-8).

 

The ultimate goal of discipleship is this: “. . . be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma” (Eph. 5:1-2). This is an ongoing, lifelong process by which the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God, to conform the child of God, into the image of God, for the glory of God. In so doing, He produces in us the fruit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22). That fruit is manifested in a true disciple’s life as an:

 

Galatians 5:22-25 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

 

Jesus wants my Life spent intentionally on fruit bearing for His glory – that means I will Walk in the SPIRIT.

 

Fruitfulness encouraged in Colossians 3.12-17

 

Fruitfulness examined in 2nd Corinthians 5.1-10

 

Fruitfulness eternalized Revelation 19.1-8

 

 

^[1]MacArthur, J., F. 1997, c1988. The Gospel according to Jesus : What does Jesus mean when he says “follow me”. Includes index. (Electronic ed.). Academic and Professional Books, Zondervan Pub. House: Grand Rapids, MI

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God has a big plan for you and me; He wants us to make something out of our time. Time like electricity flows around us and remains unseen and useless — unless it is captured and harnessed into usefulness.

What does God call time in our lives that is harnessed and used and deposited before Him in Heaven? FRUIT. Look at Mark 4.8 and 20.

Fruit is what is produced by my life that will last forever – prayers from a clean heart, worship from a consecrated life, time lived under the direction of the Holy Spirit, acts of devotion prompted by love, souls won to Christ, saints edified, suffering endured for Him, sacrifices made for Him. And on and on we could go. The emphasis is ‘that which lasts forever produced by my life’.

Life for each of us contains a lot of time. Each day a river of moments flows all around us, eighty-six thousand seconds to be exact. But if measured in minutes life can be seen as a constant flow of time traveling by us minute by minute. Here is the summary of time we each get in our lives:

• One year is a ½ million minutes…
• The teen aged years last for just under four million minutes…
• A child from birth to heading off to college at eighteen was with you for 9 ½ million minutes…
• An entire average lifetime lasts for forty million minutes.

So before most of us head to Heaven 40 MILLION MINUTES will flow by us in a steady stream, day in and day out.

Before I read these precious verses again with you, may I remind you of the incredible challenge each of us have. According to what Jesus said in the verses before us, all that will last of your and my life on Earth will be the fruit that you and I produce while we are alive on this planet. Everything else of ours — will either burn, rust, or rot.  Have you paused lately and looked around all that fills up each of our lives?

All of our deeded income properties, all of our prized collections, all of our wise equity investments, all of our real estate, all of our awards, all of our beautifully built and decorated homes, all of our businesses we have built, all of our memory books, all of our electronic gadgets, all of our plants and pets and plans – everything will dissolve and go back to earthliness.

Everything we ever have will turn to rust and ashes except for what was transformed by our ABIDING in Christ into Eternal Fruit. Christ’s rewards to us are based on what was GOOD or fruitful, all else attached to our lives Jesus Christ has promised He will burn away at the BEMA SEAT JUDGMENT.

With that in mind, please read Mark 4.8, 20

Mark 4:8, 20 But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” 20 But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

Fruit is what is produced by my life when I capture and invest minutes of my days for the Glory of God, in the power of the Spirit changing them into that which lasts forever – prayers, worship, acts of devotion, souls won, saints edified, suffering endured for Him, sacrifices made for Him,

• Fruitfulness expected Mark 4.1-20
• Fruitfulness explained in John 15.1-8
• Fruitfulness encouraged in Colossians 3.12-17
• Fruitfulness examined in 2^nd Corinthians 5.1-10
• Fruitfulness eternalized Revelation 19.1-8

Now the question we need to ask ourselves is, how is my fruitfulness coming. Do you have fruit already sent up? Are you bearing fruit today? Are you living to protect your future fruitfulness?

Note that it is that which “comes from within”. So just as a good heart has fruit that comes from within and that fruit is produced by God. So we should see from within us fruit that springs up, increases, and comes to maturity.

We are the company of the unworthy, doing the impossible for the Glory of Another. Never was more asked of anyone than what Jesus Christ asks of you and me TODAY!

Fruitfulness Expected Mark 4.1-20 

One day, in one verse — Jesus describes everyone in the world that will go to Heaven.  On that day Jesus compared life to a field, people to soil, the Gospel to seed, and eternal life to a crop of harvested righteousness.

In Mark 4.1-20 Jesus said a heart that remains Trampled and Hardened Against God, Shallow With God, or Crowded Towards God will not enjoy the pleasures of God forever.  Beware!

Jesus goes on to describe everyone on the planet that will be enjoying Heaven forever as being — Good. Just as there are three types of lost Hell bound people types, there are also three different types of the Heaven bound. There are three levels, three categories, three degrees of fruitful lives. Basic, Better, and the BEST! Among the Good there are the 30 times over Good, the 60 times over Good, and the 100 times over Good.

Taken at face value, the message of the parable of the soils is clear: of four soils, only one is good. Only one produces fruit, and thus it alone is of any value to the farmer. This good soil pictures the believer. The weedy soil and the shallow soil are pretenders. The soil by the wayside is an absolute rejecter. Indeed, fruit is the ultimate test of true salvation. In the harvest, weedy soil is no better than the hard road or shallow ground. All are worthless. Seed sown there is wasted, and the ground is fit for nothing except burning (cf. Heb. 6:8). It cannot picture salvation. ^[1]

The signs of a BAD HEAR are

Mark 7:20-22 And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.  

Fruitfulness explained in John 15.1-8 

John 15:1-8 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. 

Fruitfulness Encouraged in Colossians 3.12-17 

Colossians 3:12-17 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. 

Fruitfulness Examined in 2^nd Corinthians 5.1-10 

Romans 14:10-13 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 11 For it is written: “As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.” 12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. 13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother”s way.

1 Corinthians 3:5-17 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. 16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

2 Corinthians 5:1-10 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. 6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. 9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.  

Fruitfulness Eternalized in Revelation 19.1-8

Revelation 19:7-8 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

Revelation 19:7-8 Let us rejoice and be glad  and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)   (NIV)

Revelation 19:7-8 “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.”8 And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. (NASB)

Fruitfulness Explained in John 15.1-8 

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples” (John 15:7-8).

The ultimate goal of discipleship is this: “. . . be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma” (Eph. 5:1-2). This is an ongoing, lifelong process by which the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God, to conform the child of God, into the image of God, for the glory of God. In so doing, He produces in us the fruit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22). That fruit is manifested in a true disciple’s life as an:

Galatians 5:22-25 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.  

Jesus wants my Life spent intentionally on fruit bearing for His glory – that means I will Walk in the SPIRIT.  

Fruitfulness Encouraged in Colossians 3.12-17 

Fruitfulness Examined in 2nd Corinthians 5.1-10 

Fruitfulness Eternalized Revelation 19.1-8

 

^[1]MacArthur, J., F. 1997, c1988. The Gospel according to Jesus : What does Jesus mean when he says “follow me”. Includes index. (Electronic ed.). Academic and Professional Books, Zondervan Pub. House: Grand Rapids, MI