Am I Saved? Questioning You Salvation

Often we may find ourselves questioning if God really can, will, or has saved us. It is to this question that I hope to help you in this brief response to one such person I answered.

Salvation isn’t based on us at all. It rests on Him and His work. He fulfilled all of the requirements we could not.

If He forgave Peter who straight out denied Him, then He forgives us.

If He forgave Paul who stood by while Christians were murdered, He forgives us.

If He forgave the thief on the Cross, He forgives us.

If you asked Him to forgive you, then He does. And the proof of your salvation is that desire in you to please Him, to abide in Him, and to share Him with others. Keep abiding and you have nothing to fear. It isn’t about your “performance” it is all about His work. 🙌🏻

Unleashing the Power

Pentecost Sunday 2023 Sermon Notes – Watch the sermon on YouTube

Intro

‌

We finish our After the Resurrection series with the arrival of the Holy Spirit whom Christ told the disciples when He ascended that He would send. Remember He had told them to go back to Jerusalem and wait until it came.

‌‌Today is known as Pentecost Sunday. The Greek word used means fifty. I want to share a little about the historical Pentecost and what the Pentecost means to us as Christians today in this message.

‌Historical Pentecost

‌Pentecost is celebrated in both Jewish and many Christian circles. Pentecost is not a new holiday for Christians only. It predates our faith going all the way back to the Torah, the Old Testament Law.

‌‌

“To the Jews, this time of celebration is known as Shavuot, which is the Hebrew word meaning “weeks.” This is one of three separate names that are used in Scripture to refer to this important Jewish feast. Besides being called the Feast of Weeks in Leviticus 23, this special feast celebration is called the “Day of the Firstfruits” in Numbers 28:26 and the “Feast of Harvest” in Exodus 23:16. The Feast of Weeks takes place exactly 50 days after the Feast of Firstfruits. It normally occurs in late spring, either the last part of May or the beginning of June. 

Unlike other feasts that began on a specific day of the Hebrew calendar, this one is calculated as being “fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath” (Leviticus 23:15–16; Deuteronomy 16:9–10).” – Gotquestions.com

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It follows the Passover by fifty days.

‌

Pentecost to the Christian

‌When it comes to the Christian Church, and what this day means to us there is much to be seen.

‌Jesus was crucified as the “Passover Lamb.” He rose from the grave at the Feast of First Fruits.‌ Following His resurrection, Jesus spent the next 40 days teaching His disciples before ascending to heaven (Acts 1).

‌Fifty days after His resurrection and after ascending to heaven to sit at the right hand of God, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit as promised (John 14:16–17) to indwell the disciples and empower them for ministry.

‌The promised Holy Spirit arrived on the Day of Pentecost, which is another name for the Feast of Weeks.

‌Let’s recount this event as Luke records it in Acts 2.

‌

What Happened?

‌​Acts 2:1–18 ESV

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” 12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”

Peter’s Sermon at Pentecost

14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:

17 “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
    and your young men shall see visions,
    and your old men shall dream dreams;

18 even on my male servants and female servants
    in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.

Symbolism

‌Wind

‌Many times in the bible we read of people seeking a word from God in the wind. In Genesis it even speaks of the Spirit hovering over the land, this Ruah word in Genesis is translated most as spirit, but can also be breath or wind.

‌‌Think about Jesus’s own words about how the Spirit is like the wind…it blows where it wants to.

‌​John 3:8 ESV

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

‌

‌Fire

‌And Luke records that “tongues as of fire” appeared above people’s heads. Fire is very often used, or seen, as God’s presence throughout the OT. From the burning bush and Moses to the Israelite’s travels during the Exodus, they were led by fire in the night and a column of smoke during the day.

‌God is described as an “all-consuming fire.”

‌‌So there can be no doubt here, that just as Christ had told them, God would send the Holy Spirit…and here He came with wind and fire.

‌‌

Tongues

‌These tongues were not the spiritual gift of praying in tongues or speaking in tongues as Paul speaks of. Instead it was a supernatural ability to speak in languages they did not know so that others would be taught and hear the gospel of Jesus’s substitutionary death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins.

‌

Witnessing

It is by the Holy Spirit’s power that Peter was emboldened to stand up and deliver a message that would have been seen as condemning the very people that had crucified Jesus. The same man that feared them enough to deny even knowing Jesus prior, is now strengthened through the Spirit to speak against them with power.

‌

The Prophecy

‌Peter says that all of this that happened was prophesied. In other words, this was the fulfillment of what the Jews would have already read in the prophets.

‌​

Joel 2:28–29 ESV

“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.

‌​

Joel 2:32 ESV

And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.

‌

Today

‌So what does the Holy Spirit mean for us today? What does it mean for you and me? For the answer, we need to look to Jesus’s own words. It is promised by God in the OT, and Jesus said it would come when He left the earth.

‌

Power

‌Before ascending to Heaven, Jesus told the disciples they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came.

‌​Acts 1:8 ESV

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

‌‌

Isn’t it interesting that boldly witnessing is the first display of the Holy Spirit seen in the disciples? Peter courageously stands up and preaches a highly convicting message to those gathered within the place for the Feast. The people there weren’t there for Jesus, they were there for the obligatory act.

‌The disciples received the Holy Spirit. The people then thought they must be mad or had been drinking because they were hearing these disciples speaking in their languages. People were there from all over the world and yet they heard these Galileans speaking in their languages.

‌Jesus said they would receive power to be His witnesses. This wasn’t a physical, stronger-than-anyone display of power. It was the gift of boldness, the gift of unattainable knowledge, the gift or power to explain the Gospel, to be His witnesses, so that others might believe and be saved. They were telling them of the Mighty Works of God.

‌‌Guess what you and I have the power to do? We, through the power of the Holy Spirit, and our own experience of the mighty works of God in our own lives, have the power to be His witnesses. We can tell others about the work of God in our lives and share the Gospel that God can do the same thing in their lives.

‌The Holy Spirit gives us boldness. Scripture says that He will give us the words to speak.

‌I’m afraid though, that too often we lose our focus on Him, and we look at ourselves, denying His power within us, believing we are too weak, too dumb, to share the Gospel. So we don’t allow the power of the Holy Spirit to work through us.‌ But, we have it. It’s in us. We just need to unleash it on the world around us!

‌

Our Helper

‌Jesus says the Holy Spirit will guide us in all truth. He calls Him the Helper in John 14:26.

‌I need help. Do you need help?

‌‌

​John 14:26 ESV

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

‌‌The Helper will teach and bring to remembrance what Jesus has taught us. How many of you have had that feeling when wanting to share about Jesus to someone and thought to yourself, “I’m not sure what to say. Can I remember enough Scripture to answer their questions?” Jesus says the Holy Spirit will help us remember.

‌We’ve mentioned before how we need the Holy Spirit to open our eyes to learn from the Scriptures. It all seems foolishness without having the Spirit. But when we have Him He illuminates the Scriptures so that we can see and learn and receive the Word of God.

‌

He is Our Advocate

‌The Holy Spirit is our Advocate. Not only does He help us in many ways, but He advocates for us…He speaks for us.

‌Paul reminds us in Romans 8.

‌‌Romans 8:26–27 ESV

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

‌‌We need an advocate, and Jesus gives us what we need.

‌Have you ever had someone advocate for you, and speak for you in life? It felt good right? It made you feel like you mattered. We matter to God, and so the Spirit shows us by advocating, and speaking on our behalf to the Father.

‌

Summary of Benefits

‌‌Guidance and Teaching: Jesus assured His disciples that the Holy Spirit would come to guide them into all truth and remind them of His teachings (John 14:26; John 16:13-14). The Spirit would illuminate their understanding and help them grasp the deeper meaning of Jesus’ words.

‌Comfort and Advocate: Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as the Comforter or Advocate who would come alongside His followers to provide comfort, support, and encouragement (John 14:16-17, 26). The Spirit would be their helper in times of need.

‌Empowerment for Witnessing: Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would empower His disciples to be witnesses of Him, enabling them to testify boldly about Him and His work (Acts 1:8). The Spirit would give them the necessary boldness, words, and spiritual power to proclaim the Gospel.

‌Conviction of Sin: Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would convict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8-11). The Spirit would bring about conviction in people’s hearts, leading them to recognize their need for repentance and the righteousness offered through faith in Jesus.

‌Spiritual Fruit: Jesus taught that the Holy Spirit would produce spiritual fruit in the lives of believers, such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). The Spirit’s presence and work would transform their character to reflect Christ’s likeness.

‌Unity and Fellowship: The Holy Spirit plays a crucial role in uniting believers in the body of Christ, fostering love, harmony, and mutual support within the community of believers (Ephesians 4:3; 1 Corinthians 12:13).

‌

He Seals Us

‌And when it comes to our Salvation, this is a work of the Holy Spirit alone. It is God’s gift of grace to us, and it is offered to you.

‌The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and our need for a Savior. John 16:8. It is He that opens our eyes to recognize we are sinners.

‌‌The Holy Spirit regenerates us. As Jesus taught Nicodemus, we need to be born again. This is regeneration. It is dying to our old self and being raised to new life in Christ, being born again of the Spirit. John 3:5-8.

‌‌The Holy Spirit indwells or lives in us. Romans 8:9. You are no longer your own. Like the Tabernacle the Israelites used to haul around as “God’s dwelling place.” We are His temples now. We are where God, through His Spirit resides.

‌‌The Holy Spirit seals us. The Holy Spirit’s presence in us proves we are God’s saved people. We know we are His when we know He is doing all these things in our lives…giving us power, and knowledge, and helping us to produce the fruits of the Spirit in our life.

‌Paul says:

‌​Ephesians 1:13–14 ESV

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

‌

The Holy Spirit is the unconditional guarantee of our inheritance, of our adoption as children of God, heirs with Christ, or an eternal inheritance.

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‌Sanctification

The Holy Spirit sanctifies us. Sanctification is the work of the Spirit in our life making us more like Christ. He’s forming us into the image of Christ. 2 Corinthians 3:18.

‌You’re not there yet. Me either. But like me, I am sure that if you have believed in Christ and received His forgiveness through the Holy Spirit, then you are a better person now than you were right?

‌You’ve probably seen some of those fleshly desires be crucified in your life. The things you used to find enjoyment in, are now foolish endeavors. In place of them is that joy that can’t be taken away.

‌

Closing

‌Friends, today is said to be the birth of the Church, the Bride of Christ. 

Nearly 2,000 years ago a movement of men and women from all nations received the Holy Spirit and were sent into the world to be Christ’s witnesses for the salvation of the world.

‌The Holy Spirit is why I have given all these words to you today, in the hopes that you too would be filled with the Holy Spirit.

‌That you too would receive His power, become His witnesses, know His comfort, and be sanctified in Christ.

‌May you know Him as intimately as He knows you, and I pray His power would be unleashed in us all.

Don’t Just Stand There!

Sermon notes for the video teaching – 05/21/2023

How many times have you been mesmerized by something, so captured by it that it was like you were in a trance?

The word “mesmerize” dates back to an 18th-century Austrian physician named Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815). He established a theory of illness that involved internal magnetic forces, which he called animal magnetism. (It would later be known as mesmerism.)

Mesmer believed that good physical and psychological health came from properly aligned magnetic forces; bad health, then, resulted from forces essentially being out of whack. He noticed a treatment that seemed to work particularly well in correcting these misaligned forces.

It involved giving his patients medications with high doses of iron and then moving magnets over their bodies (Goodwin, 1999). During these treatments, Mesmer’s patients would go into a trance-like state and emerge feeling better. He saw this as substantiating the success of his therapy.

Of course, the medical community eventually debunked Mesmer’s belief that this was some sort of medical power or treatment, but still, we can find ourselves today in a state of trance about some things.

Often, we may find that we don’t know how to break free of this trance state.

Imagine yourself on the shore of the lake with the disciples of Jesus when Jesus ascends into Heaven. Can you imagine standing there in a trance-like state, not being able to make yourself move?

Let’s read today’s Word and we’ll see where this leads us.

Scripture

In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

The Ascension

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Acts 1:1-11 ESV

Background of Acts

First off, this is the beginning of a new writing by Luke, a physician, and companion of the Apostle Paul. He is likely a gentile man, and his writing dates back to around 60 A.D.

He’s actually writing a letter to a friend, possibly a high-level Greek named, Theophilus. 

He even mentions that this is his second book, referencing that he had already dealt with all that Jesus had said and done until His ascension. And in Acts 1 he begins there telling Theophilus of Jesus’s death and resurrection and His appearing during 40 days time to the disciples.

Within this letter, he tells the story of the beginning of the Church and his and Paul’s activities, along with the other disciples in these early days following Jesus’s ascension into heaven.

Jesus’s Words

Jesus, tells the disciples before ascending, to stay in Jerusalem until they receive the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit will come upon them giving them power. And He says “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

So He says:

  • “Stay where you’re at until you receive the Holy Spirit.”
  • “You will receive power.”
  • “Then you will be MY witnesses.”
  • “To Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

The Trance

Luke then says that while Jesus was ascending into Heaven, the disciples watched and were left “gazing” into Heaven while He went.

I’ll call this their trance phase.

It isn’t until the two men appear next to them asking, “Why do you stand here looking into heaven?”

Notice, the men didn’t give the disciples any further direction, they just asked the disciples why they were still standing there. But the intent in their question was likely to get the attention, or to help the disciples “snap out of it.”

It’s like you telling someone to do something and when you go back to them a couple of minutes later their attention is still affixed on what they were doing when you gave them the task to do.

Like me hearing Allison ask me to do something but I sit there another minute or two to finish a segment of a TV show and she has to come back in and remind me. If she hadn’t come remind me, what might I have done? 

I would have forgotten! I would have remained mesmerized, or in a trance focused on what I was into and not her needs.

Jesus Told Them

So without saying it, these two men, in their question, were reminding these entranced disciples, “He told you what to do, so get to it.”

If it weren’t for these men capturing the attention of the disciples, they might still be there today! Probably not.

However, it is true in our own Christian lives, that we too can become mesmerized with being in the faith to the point of not sharing, or doing the work of the faith.

We can get stuck in just trying to draw closer to Christ through knowledge, and trying to know more about Him, to the point of not actually living for Him. 

Even the new believer can come to Christ for salvation and have this great desire to grow closer to Christ through delving into the bible. 

There’s nothing wrong with these things either, as I too suggest these activities for new and old believers. We must be in the Word. We must know that it is an important part of growing in our faith.

However, we mustn’t get stuck there.

This was one of the problems of the Pharisees. They’d become obsessed with the Law, which in itself wasn’t bad, but to the point where they missed the relationship with God, the work of God in loving others and doing good works for others. 

Their concern had become about not doing bad things to the extent of not doing the good works God had planned for them, and neglecting to do good deeds for the community of believers.

Before ascending to Heaven, Jesus told these disciples…

After they were to receive the Holy Spirit they would have work to do. They would be witnesses “to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

In essence, this was from their hometown, their home state, their nation, and to the rest of the world. And this is the same command, and way, you and I are to work towards spreading the Gospel.

WE Have Work To DO

Jesus doesn’t say, “Keep to yourself. Keep your faith silent, it’s just between you and me, no one else can know.”

No, He says GO! Do! Make and baptize disciples in the Great Commission as we looked at last week. In other words, “Be My witnesses, at home, in your community, in your city, in your state, and progressively support or make me known to the rest of the world.”

What’s God’s Will for My Life?

Many of us, at some point or another, are asking this very question. Of course, many of us are more concerned about our own everyday life than the “ultimate/non-specifically us-defined” purpose or will.

You’re not going to find your future mate or future career listed in God’s Word most likely. But you will find things such as the traits you should have and you should seek in your future mate, or your future career.

What you will also find are explicit commands in how you are to live, and how you are to serve the Lord, being a witness in all you do.   

Listen to these words:

Matthew 28:19–20 ESV

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Matthew 5:16 ESV

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Romans 12:11 ESV

Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.

James 1:22 ESV

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

1 Peter 4:10 ESV

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.

The One Anothers

Love one another (John 13:34-35; John 15:12, 17; Romans 13:8; 1 Thessalonians 3:12; 1 Peter 1:22; 1 John 3:11, 23; 1 John 4:7, 11-12).

Serve one another (Galatians 5:13; 1 Peter 4:10).

Bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2).

Be kind and compassionate to one another (Ephesians 4:32).

Encourage one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11; Hebrews 10:24-25).

Pray for one another (James 5:16).

Submit to one another (Ephesians 5:21).

Forgive one another (Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13).

Build up one another (Romans 14:19; 1 Thessalonians 5:11).

Show hospitality to one another (1 Peter 4:9).

Bear with one another in love (Ephesians 4:2; Colossians 3:13).

Teach and admonish one another (Colossians 3:16).

Jesus teaches to care for and to do for the least of these…the poor, the lonely, the homeless, the outcast.

He says when we do these things we do them to Him.

What better witness is there than that?

When starting Innovate Church, doing what the Scripture say for us to do was to be the DNA of our church. We were, and are, to be in the world doing these commands Jesus has given us, making a difference in local communities as His witnesses.

Paul reminds us to carry each other’s burdens, to pray for one another, to share with one another, and not merely look after our own interests but to the interest of others.

And the Bible is so clear on so many other things, as Paul reminds us:

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:10 ESV

You Have a Purpose, You Have Work to Do

Every one of us, no matter our situation, no matter if we are homebound or free to go where ever we desire, has work to do. We have been given a purpose to live out.

Our purpose is to make Him known to the world by being His witness, by doing the works He commands in His Scriptures, to those nearest to us to those we may never see face to face on this side of eternity.

We cannot be a Holy huddle, we have to move out of the proverbial building, and into the streets and workplaces to spread the Gospel, to do good deeds, so that others may know and become part of the Kingdom of God as you and I are.

Let us hear the call of the two witnesses at Jesus’s ascension calling out to the disciples, “Why do you stand there looking to the heavens?” Go! Do! Make Him known. Be witnesses in all that you do, and do it with purpose.

His Return

Jesus will be returning soon. It may not be in my lifetime or yours but the truth is, as we see stated here to the disciples, He will come again.

When the Master returns He shall find His servants being about His work.

The Messiah Weeps

Sermon notes from Palm Sunday 2023 – video here

Luke 19:28–44 ESV

Today, around the world much of the Church will be singing and praising God just as those praised Jesus on this day some 2,000 years ago.

At first it seems as though it is indeed a glorious day as we read of Jesus riding the donkey into Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives.

The Bible even has the headings often written, “The Triumphal Entry.”

With such headings, you’d be led to believe this was indeed a happy and celebratory day.

The People Celebrated

For many at the time, they’d believed the Messiah was ready to take over! This was the moment they’d been waiting for.

Earlier in Jesus’s ministry His own brothers tried to convince Him to make Himself known, to show the world you might say, that He is who He says He is.

And His response to His brothers at that time was:

“The right time for me has not yet come.

The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I keep telling it that its ways are bad. 

The right time has not come for me.”

Like His brothers, His own disciples were excited because this was the moment He was going to go into Jerusalem as the King to take what was rightfully His, and theirs. 

They thought He was going to retake the City and sit on David’s throne.

The bible informs us, that as He was heading down to Jerusalem from the Mount, as He drew near, 

He wept over the city.

He Weeps Over Jerusalem

Image by Enrique Simonet, 1892

HE weeps saying, “if you had only known the things that make for peace.”

Instead, HE weeps because He knows judgment is coming upon them. He weeps because there will be no peace for them now.

When He is gone from the earth, Jerusalem would be ransacked by the Romans some 40 years later near this same time of year. There was to be no peace for them.

So, He weeps over His people.

He weeps over you and I when we don’t believe or don’t obey.

Sometimes we tend to think He gets angry at us for not obeying Him.

I think instead, He weeps because He knows what could have been for us if we’d obeyed.

He weeps over those of us that have tasted His salvation only to turn away from Him for other idols in our lives.

His desire is always for us to turn and be saved. To endure until the end He often says, to leave the old life behind and be the new Creation He makes of us.

He weeps because He knows our hearts, and He knows who truly loves Him and who is simply going through the motions for attention.

He weeps because He knows the price that has to be paid for His people. The price He paid for you and I.

The prophets of old had it right, the Messiah was coming, and on a donkey. 

And the people believed, at least for a moment, that Jesus was He. 

But in a week’s time, all that changed.

He Knew

Jesus knew it would. 

He knew His people, some of them His very own disciples, would fall away. They would not only reject Him, but cry out for His blood.

So He wept. 

His weeping was due to the future He knew they would face because of their rejection.

He Still Knows

He still knows. 

He knows that many will proclaim Him their Savior one day only to reject Him on another.

He knows that many will call Him Savior yet still choose to live a life that doesn’t glorify Him.

He knows, and He weeps, because some of you will still, like the those Pharisees that were jeering Him that day, you will remain hardened against Him, blind to your own need for Him.

He weeps, because He knows some of you will face the fire of Hell because you have been blinded to the truth that God has offered you grace and forgiveness through His own Son.

He takes no joy in knowing there will be some that will suffer for eternity. So He weeps for you.

We Should Weep

Friends, we should be the ones weeping.

Weeping because we know it is on account of us that Jesus had to endure the beatings, the Cross, and the grave.

We should weep because He loves us enough to suffer all of that for us.

As He says of the rocks, we should cry out, “Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!”

Have You Weeped

Friends, have you cried out to God to save you? 

Have you weeped over your own sins?

Cry out to Him now, and ask for His forgiveness.

No longer make Him weep over you, instead let Him rejoice over you for coming home to your Savior.

Going a Little Deeper

I wanted to share a few words with you, sort of a behind the scenes if you will on this day for our Lord.

The Prophecies He Fulfilled

Zechariah 9:9 ESV

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Isaiah 62:10–12 ESV

Go through, go through the gates; prepare the way for the people; build up, build up the highway; clear it of stones; lift up a signal over the peoples. Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.” And they shall be called The Holy People, The Redeemed of the LORD; and you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.

Why did Jesus ride a donkey?

In Biblical times, it was common for kings or important people to arrive by a procession riding on a donkey. The donkey symbolized peace, so those who chose to ride them showed that they came with peaceful intentions.

Why did they put their cloaks and palm branches on the ground, (also waved)?

It was common practice to lay them down before the new king when he was announced: 2 Kings 9:13

2 Kings 9:13 ESV

Then in haste every man of them took his garment and put it under him on the bare steps, and they blew the trumpet and proclaimed, “Jehu is king.”

Did they believe He was the Messiah?

Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David. Mk 11:10

Mark 11:10 ESV

Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

It was His disciples, the multitude, that were crying out. The Pharisees wanted His disciples to quiet down.

Luke 19:40 ESV

He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

David and the Mount

It is interesting to me that we have Jesus descending from the Mount to go into Jerusalem, when His ancestor King David, ran from his own son, Absalom, up the mountain in fear and weeping himself.

What was this “Hosanna” saying about?

Listen to Psalm 118 and see if you can figure it out.

Psalm 118:19–26 ESV

Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the LORD. This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous shall enter through it. I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Save us, we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We bless you from the house of the LORD.

It translates to “save us,” and it would seem to be a pronouncement of knowing that Jesus was the Messiah they had been seeking.

They recognized He was coming in the name of the Lord.

Watch the sermon here.

Don’t Waste Your Pain

Sermon note for March 26, 2023

In this message we are focusing in on pain, and I believe God can use, and will use, pain in our lives for His purposes.

I’ve been reading a book recently about pain and God’s work through it:

‌Catherine Campbell’s book, “Broken Works Best”

‌

The Truth

The truth is, I believe, we all want to avoid pain. None of us want to suffer. It’s not something we seek out in life. And I believe God gave us wisdom, and created our minds and bodies, to avoid pain as well. It’s a normal human attribute. However, pain is an absolute in this life we live on earth. So what do we do with it? How can we learn from, and not waste pain in our lives?

‌

Don’t Waste Your Pain

The idea of pain and not wasting it came to me in one of the chapters of Catherine’s book…titled: “Don’t Waste Your Pain.” Catherine begins the chapter in the delivery room with a young wife crying out:

‌‌“I’ve changed my mind!” “I don’t want to have the baby now!”

‌‌The pain the mother to be was experiencing was excruciating. And, she was done. It had been a long period of labor, the author shares, and the woman had physically given up. She was too tired to push any more. She was hurting too bad to continue on.

To read the author’s details of the situation, the woman had nearly lost her mind. She was kicking, screaming, and even biting, she tells us.

‌‌And of course, she at some point blames the husband for this situation, telling him it was his fault, saying, “the next time you want to have a baby, you can have it yourself!”

‌Some you know what that’s like.

‌‌But there was a problem looming with the birth of this child due to the mother’s distress. From the author’s stand point, who was holding one of the legs of the young mother, the baby was there and ready to come out. All it would have taken was one good push, but the mother couldn’t do it any longer.

‌Because of the mother’s resistance against the pain, she was obstructing the delivery of the baby.

‌

The baby’s heart rate was beginning to show the effects of tiring, just as the mother had grown tired, but it was threatening the child’s life now.

‌‌Finally a senior midwife entered the room, noted how precarious the situation had become and took charge. She grabbed the tired and spent young mother’s face in her hands and sternly gave her the correct wisdom at the correct time.

‌“Listen to me! Don’t waste your pain!”

‌“The pain is going to give you a beautiful baby. Now don’t waste it, use it!”

‌

Don’t Waste Your Pain

‌‌You may be hurting now, and may be way more familiar with pain than I might be. And so you’re thinking, “yeah, I just want the pain to stop.” And I get that and truly feel for you in your suffering. So I pray you can find some hope and peace in today’s word as well, even while the pain rages on.

‌

Forms of Pain

Of course, we are aware that there are many forms of pain and many things we would say that are painful in this life.

‌‌Pain can be physical, mental, emotional.

Pain can be distressing and discomforting

‌‌Pain is temporary, but can be permanent.

‌‌Pain cannot be avoided.

Pain can be useful And God can, and does, use pain for our good.

‌‌Pain can first and foremost lead us to rely on God more deeply.

‌We don’t tend to seek God in the midst of everything going great in life. It’s most likely when we’re suffering that we are most willing to cry out to Him for relief, for answers. And we may even cry out in anger, I and I believe that is okay too.

‌Like a Good Father, He desires for His children to lean on Him. He also desires that we trust Him. He can use pain to help us to see our own weakness, and to further trust in Him.

‌

‌2 Corinthians 1:9 ESV

Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

‌

‌Paul and his companions had been through some trying circumstances, and you can hear in his words how bad things were mentally for them. Yet he says, “it was to make us rely on God who raises the dead.”

‌‌And when faced with his own ailment, his own thorn in his side he spoke of, he asked God to remove it. God replied:

2 Corinthians 12:9–10 ESV

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

‌

‌You see, Paul knew all about pain and suffering. Not only had he some kind of “thorn” ailing him, but listen to all that he shares he suffered:

‌2 Corinthians 11:23–28 ESV

Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

‌

Yet he also says:

Philippians 4:11–13 ESV

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

‌

‌I Can Do All Things

‌Friends it is that last, all to commonly quoted, word I want you to remember: I can do all things through Christ

‌You see, God uses pain in our lives for good…

‌This was His Word to the Jews living in exile through the prophet Jeremiah, and I tell you this is His Word to you today.

‌Jeremiah 29:11 ESV

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

‌

‌But, He may allow pain to get us to where He wants us to be… Maybe that’s to mold us, maybe it’s to call us to Himself, maybe it’s to cause us to trust Him more.

‌I promise you, there’s a purpose for your pain.

So Don’t Waste It

‌You see, if there is a purpose, then we have to continue on to get to that purpose right? Too often we want to stop in the middle, lay down on the ground and beat our fist until they bleed. Or like the story from the book, Broken Works Best, we want to stop pushing.

‌If we don’t push through the pain then we will miss out on the future glory He has planned for us.

‌That’s the truth of today that I wanted to get to.

‌If you hurt and give up, then you miss out on the blessing, on the purpose of the pain. You waste your pain. It’s like signing up to run a marathon and giving up in the last mile or two. You were almost there, you almost made the goal, but you quit. Don’t quit!

‌‌To be successful at running a marathon, you have to endure the pain of not only the race, but also the training and even recovery afterward. To get anything good really, to improve anything about ourselves, we have to endure some pain, some discomfort. We have to put in the work, the effort, to get there.

‌‌I think it’s important that Paul uses the runner analogy when he speaks of living out our faith. He says to keep running!

‌‌Hebrews 12:1–3 ESV

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

‌

‌Don’t grow weary! Keep running! It is all loss if you don’t keep going.

‌

Philippians 3:8–14 ESV

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

‌

Nothing was worth it unless Paul pressed on! And it was also all loss compared to the prize that laid ahead of him.

‌

Press On!

You see folks, we must press on. We must push once more! One more time, take that deep breath in and push it out like your life depends on it! The prize, not only the eternal prize Paul speaks of, but even the purpose God has planned for you here, is within your grasp. But you’re going to have to push through the pain to get there.

‌And what if it truly is just one more push ahead? What if it takes pushing through one more wall or one more boundary to get to where you can see the Promised Land, the life He means for you to have here and now?

‌What if you have just one more wall to climb and when you get to the top, or to the other side? What do you see?

‌Do you see the person you want to be? Do you see the escape you’ve desired for so long? Can you suffer the pain to get there? Will you waste the pain, or will you use it as motivation to get to where God is wanting you?

‌

Jesus Endured the Pain

‌How important is the future you desire to you?

‌Jesus knows all about the pain you’re suffering or the pain that lies ahead. He endured it all Himself, the mental anguish in the garden knowing the Cross lied before Him. The mental anguish of knowing He was going to have to suffer being so blackened by our sin before the eyes of His heavenly Father as He would hang on the Cross.

‌And oh the beatings He would suffer before the Cross. The betrayal of His friends, and the betrayal of the people He came to set free from the curse of the Law and sin. But He knew. He knew what was on the other side of that bark hole in the ground He was going to spend three days in. He knew His hope, His plan for humanity, was going to cost Him pain to get to the finish line.

Paul reminds us in Hebrews 12:2,

“For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

‌

You and I are the joy He saw when He looked beyond the Cross. He knew that to get us to where He wanted us to be, He’d have to go through the Cross.

‌‌Jesus didn’t waste His pain, and neither should you. He’ll help you get there. He’ll see you through. He’ll give you just enough strength to get you to the other side.

‌

‌

‌

Post Service

‌

Read these words of Isaac Watts

Let me but hear my Savior say,

Strength shall be equal to thy day;

Then I rejoice in deep distress,

Leaning on all-sufficient grace.

‌

I glory in infirmity,

That Christ’s own power may rest on me;

When I am weak, then am I strong,

Grace is my shield, and Christ my song.

‌

I can do all things, or can bear

All sufferings, if my Lord be there;

Sweet pleasures mingle with the pains

While His left hand my head sustains.

‌

​

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. LVII Unparalleled Lovingkindnesses (No. 3,242)

If I were to look within my own heart for comfort and hope, I should often be in despair; but when I look away to my Lord alone, then I realize what he has done and is still doing for me, for he still “healeth” all my diseases.

‌Spurgeon

‌

What About When Healing Doesn’t Come

‌There are times when we have experienced brief physical pain, or great mental pain, that at first we simply want to give up, to give in, to throw in the towel.

But then we awaken, we give thought to the Lord and fall back in complete helplessness on the chest of Jesus. It is at this point that we give up struggling, and resign ourselves to His perfect will. And when we do that, we then experience that perfect peace, that great joy, that can not be experienced at any other time.

‌

Discipleship Lessons from Gardening

Sermon notes on our Parable of the Sower series from Mark 4:1-20.

This series was applied to the work of disciple making. We spent four weeks on the parable and you can find the full teachings on our YouTube channel. Below is mostly sermon notes from the last teaching today but with a little background on the other soils from the parable as well. Feel free to comment, ask questions, or discuss.

My First Gardening Experience

Quite a number of years ago, I tried my hand at growing my first garden. I cut the grass off the top of the soil with a shovel and then using a hand hoe and rake, I tried “tilling” the soil a bit. I may have tried adding some fertilizer but I honestly don’t recall. However, after planting seeds and giving it a few weeks, I had little seedlings popping up through the dirt look as pretty as ever.

As those little seedlings began to grow, my excitement did as well. I couldn’t wait till they’d begin to put on “big leaves” and one day produce some fruit to eat. Eventually though, my excitement turned to aggravation. Along with the little seedlings, almost as if overnight, the grass and weeds began to grow all around my pretty little garden patch. I could see there was no winning the battle against them. Apparently, I hadn’t prepared the area well enough nor did I remove all the weeds and grass enough for my little garden to grow.

The Parable Explained

Jesus speaks of gardening in His parable of the Sower. In the parable, He speaks of a farmer sowing seed and says some fell on the path and was stolen by birds. Other seed fell on the rocky soil, sprung up quickly only to wither when the sun hit it because it had no roots. And yet, other seed fell among the thorns and the thorns choked out the plants that grew up. Then there was this other seed that fell in good soil and it grew and produced grain, some thirty times as much, some sixty times, and some a hundred times as much as was planted!

Jesus explains that His parable is about the Word of God being sowed into the hearts of men (and women). Some it can barely penetrate their hearts because they’ve become hardened to it. And He says Satan steals it. The seed that fell on the rocky ground was indicative of those that hear the Word, receive it with joy, and are glad. But then they do not persevere in the faith due to the trials and persecution for the Word that comes against them. And the seed that fell among the thorns? It was likened to those folks that receive the Word but then are lured away by the temptation of riches and the cares of the world.

Making Disciples

The parable is about making disciples and producing the fruits of repentance and the Spirit. The fruits of repentance is the turning from unbelief and sin to the Lord for salvation, and the fruits of the Spirit are those gifts that are expressed through the saved soul by the Spirit of God…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22). These are the fruits the disciple of Jesus should be producing.

So how does this effect making disciples? Well, I believe, like my garden, the lesson is in the soil, the preparation, and the nurturing of new disciples. You see, making disciples is not an easy task, like gardening isn’t easy either. Both can be hard, slow, and dirty. But, to produce fruit, one must be up to the task and use wisdom in doing so.

I did a 4-week video teaching on the subject if you want to go deeper, but I’m going to try and save you a little time by summarizing four weeks of teaching into one blog post here. Sound good? Cool!

The Hard Soil

The “beaten path” here is the one whose heart is nearly impenetrable due to the circumstances of life they’ve experienced hardening them to the Lord. They’ve been beaten down, and now have been hardened to anything concerning God. It doesn’t mean they can’t be broken; we can try and create cracks in the ground, using God’s Word, His commandments, and pointing out how we have all sinned, showing them the mirror of God’s Law and the salvation offered through Christ.

But, be forewarned. This is truly a hard nut to crack and should usually be dealt with by an experienced “gardener,” (gifted in evangelism). But I’ll dare say we should not simply give up on them! Pray for them for sure, in fact pray for all that need Christ before trying to disciple them!

The Rocky Soil

The rocky soil is the person who has no root, and the sting of hardships in life keep coming at them and has caused them to question the faith. Their initial joy is gone because they thought salvation meant their troubles would end, that they would now experience prosperity and peace in this world. For these folks, and anyone we desire to disciple, we have to be clear about the commands of Jesus and how He warned His followers that troubles and trials would come. We need to try and help them develop roots to protect them against the storms of life by helping them to go deeper into the world and make a deeper commitment to the Lord.

Weeds and Thorns

This is the seed that is choked out by the weeds and thorns of this life, those desires for things and riches of the earth. These wannabe disciples want to accept Christ but still live for the world. They’ve not crucified the desires of the flesh and instead are chasing after the wind. They are lured away by the advertisements of this world, offering them just what they need to have a good life.

If they are the disciple under our wing, then we want to help them to turn off the ads so to speak, to protect themselves from the things the world offers and desires to use to cause division as well. These need to be correctly pointed to the truth that dear old Solomon found…nothing is fulfilling without the Lord.

The Fruitful Spoil

The last of the soils is the fruitful soil and this is the goal of every gardener and disciple maker. It is also what we disciples ourselves desire to be!

My next year of gardening went better. I decided I needed to start fresh, in a way that I could control the environment of my plants. So, I built raised beds for my garden, filling them with fresh black soil and fertilizer. I controlled the soil, had no weeds to worry about, and had an available water source at hand as well. All that was left was to keep the plant supported through their growth and watch out for the pests that would occasionally attack them. Because of this care and wise gardening, I produced the most fruitful of small gardens. I had so much I was giving tomatoes, cucumbers, and hot peppers away!

I believe this taught me the key to helping make disciples and produce the fruit in my own life that Jesus desires of us. I want to be, and produce, fruitful disciples.

In His parable Jesus says this soil, with the seed sown into it, produces grain, or bears fruit, thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and even a hundredfold. This is what a farmer would call, “fertile ground.” Fertile ground is of course where good crops can grow. It contains the right atmosphere the right nutrients, and all the right support materials.‌

Discipleship is about more than getting someone to say a prayer. It is about helping lead another in the right way to live under the reign of Jesus in their lives.

Apprentices

Some say that the better word for making disciples may be “apprentices.” This is more closely aligned with what Jesus did with those first disciples. He taught them, but He also sent them out to be apprentices of His.

‌Paul did this with Timothy.

‌An apprentice learns by hearing, by watching, and then by doing. They are sent out to try the new skills they’ve been taught. So, if we consider this idea of apprenticing along with the seed sowing parable, what does that mean for us as disciple makers? What does it mean for us as disciples of Jesus ourselves?

‌

The Environment

‌When sowing the Seed of God’s Word, we need to make sure the environment is right. For me and my own raised bed gardens, I was able to create the right atmosphere, the right soil conditions, for the plants I was planting.

‌How can we apply this to our own planting efforts?

‌Remember, it starts with fertile soil. It’s hard enough work in itself, but it is all the more difficult if the soil is like those other soils we’ve already looked at in the parable.

‌In sharing the Gospel, in seeking new disciples, we can’t just speak about Jesus anywhere and at any time and expect fruit to just pop up. The environment must be right.

When I used to drink, I was the best evangelist, or so I thought. I had the courage, false courage mind you, to share about Jesus to my friends, but the environmental conditions were wrong.

‌I myself was wrong of course, living in two worlds.

In years past, this “environmental change” was often done by inviting folks to a revival church service, or now, today, we may invite them into a regular Sunday at some churches so that the atmosphere, and the environment, could be controlled and made conducive to creating that emotional response inside a person.

‌I’ve even wanted to use music or some other media, or even a story, to help “soften the soil” you might say.

‌But the truth is, this may work well enough to get one to say the Sinner’s Prayer, or maybe come back to church again, but I’m afraid too often, you end up with one of the other soils Jesus speaks about. Usually the rocky soil or the weedy soil, cuz there’s no root to their faith.

‌‌Man can’t live on bread alone, Jesus says. Bread has no real sustenance, we need real food. We need more than a one time prayer or Sunday church service to grow and be fruitful disciples.

‌‌I too want you, if you’re not saved yet, to say the prayer. But I also know, and honestly most Pastors know, that’s not the end of it.

‌

Repentance

‌This is where I believe repentance needs to be taught and encouraged. Jesus said, “repent and believe.”

‌‌You see, sometimes in gardening we have to transplant little seedlings from indoor protection to the outdoors. This takes patience for one, as well as knowing the right time. In the Spiritual life of a new believer, many aren’t prepared for the outdoors yet. Many have believed the Gospel, but they’ve not come out of the old environment. When they’ve repented, turned from their old lives, then they’re ready for real salvation in Jesus.

‌The Sinner’s Prayer is more than a prayer, it is a dedication to, an agreement to persevere in Jesus.

‌The bible often speaks of believing in Jesus, and this leads to salvation. But to believe in Him, the bible means we are to trust Him, not just believe He exists, or even that He is who He says He is. To believe in Jesus, to have a faith that saves, is to give Him all of your trust, all of your faith, to place the bet that in Him you will find true life in this world and the next.

‌‌Disciples may need to leave friends behind, family behind, work conditions behind, and maybe even find themselves alone for some time as they leave the old environment of temptation and sin to live in the new ground of faith and obedience to Jesus. ‌‌Until you leave, or until you help your disciple to leave the old environment behind, spiritual growth will be stunted.

This is good soil, this is fertile soil that will allow the seed to grow into a new plant.

‌

Soaking It Up

‌The goal of young seed should be to soak up nutrients, right? You plant it in the ground and then water it and feed it nutrients in the hopes it will soak it them and grow. A new disciple is often like that young seedling or plant. They’re hungry and need to be fed the right nutrients. Maybe they’re asking questions of you about Jesus, God, or the Bible.

This is great if so! Make sure you take the time, especially if you don’t know the answer right off, to share with them your thoughts or find the answers for them.

‌They’re usually hungry for God’s Word cuz this new relationship with God they are experiencing makes them want to get to know Him better. Give them the Word, point them to an app, give them a bible, invite them to a bible study with you, or just make sure you have time to spend together in the Word with them.

‌Feed the new plant wisely. Too much fertilizer can hurt the plants too! Be patient but supportive.

‌

Soaking and Sprouting

Do you know anything about growing crops by soaking and sprouting? I read about this earlier; soaking some food items, like beans for instance, to make them sprout. Basically, you just soak them in some water for a time, in order to ultimately lead to a sprouted product. This soaking and sprouting process helps with nutrient absorption, human digestion of their fruit, and nutrient density.

‌‌We want new disciples to sprout! We want them to grow by absorbing all of God they can. And the truth is, when you’re helping one to grow, you’ll find you grow with them, you too will sprout new leaves, new buds, new flowers.

‌This process, in gardens, also helps the new seedling to grow new roots before placing them in the ground, so it can soak up more nutrients. The more nutrients it soaks up the more dense and healthier it becomes. For the new disciple, the more rooted we become, the better able we are to withstand the trials and temptations of life in this world trying to pull us from our faith.

‌

Soaking and Baptism

‌Maybe this soaking is where Baptism comes into play for us disciples.

‌It is similar to Jesus’s words about a grain of wheat…

John 12:24 ESV

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

When a new disciple is baptized, it is as though they have been “buried” with Christ, or cleansed by Christ, and are now able to become fruitful disciples.

‌There are stats on that show baptized new believers have a higher percentage remaining in the faith than those that weren’t.

‌‌Baptism is more than just a display of the faith, or outward expression, as we tend to say of it, but it is a step of obedience to Christ, along with, I believe, a Spiritual transformation process. While not required for salvation, I believe it is required for our growth in the faith.

‌

Further Care

Like my raised gardens, once I’ve done all the work with the environment, and given proper nourishment to the plants, or disciples, I find that it is easier to protect them. Weeds stand out against the new growth that has had some time to grow up a little.

‌Remember in my previous garden attempt, I couldn’t tell the difference between the seedlings and the weeds. However, a true disciple, even a new disciple, when raised up properly, can better see the weeds and thorns coming at them. Once they’ve become separated from, repented from, the old environment, it is easier to defend and stand against the trials and tribulations. It is easier to withstand the scorching and hard winds of the trials of life, because they’ve had time to become rooted in the Vine of Jesus.

‌‌John 15:5 ESV

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

‌‌When we abide in Him, we are protected from the elements of this world. They may hurt us, but they will not destroy us.

‌​John 10:28 ESV

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

The Right Lighting

‌There is one more thing we must have when properly sowing seed into fertile soil.

‌We must have the right Light. Very little will grow in the shadows. When I built my raised gardens, I did so in the most lighted area I could, because truly, it is the sun that gives flavor to your fruits. The same goes for the life of Jesus’s Disciples.

John 8:12 ESV

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

‌

Disciples cannot grow in the dark. They must have the Light of the world within them. It is the Son, the Light of the World, that makes us fruitful disciples.

Disciples cannot grow in the dark. They must have the Light of the world within them. It is the Son, the Light of the World, that makes us fruitful disciples.

Closing

To be fruitful, is our task in this world. If we want to bear fruit, and if we want to raise up other fruit bearers, we need to make sure we are connected to the Vine, Jesus.

‌We need to make sure we have repented and are repenting.

‌Make sure we’re careful of our own environment.

‌Soak up all his nutrients we can through prayer, Word, and service to the Lord.

Your purpose, and my purpose, is to bear fruit in this world. Fruits of our own discipleship and fruits in making other disciples. And may we all be about this for the glory of Christ.

Seeing and Perceiving

Sermon Notes – February 19, 2023

Getting Older

‌I don’t know if you heard or not, but I’ve always heard it said that our forties are the decade of change, or where “everything falls apart.” I’ve personally done pretty good, but I did begin my forties being more active than I am ending them to say the least!

‌In my early forties, I’d still play basketball with youth from church, run and play every game with them, and even challenge some of them to race me on foot. And I usually won the race.

‌I worked out 3-4 times a week, on most weeks, and rarely felt tired. In fact I felt like I had more time in my day than I do today.

‌However, somewhere in my mid-forties I suppose, things began to change. I’ve developed bursitis in one of my knees, making it hard for me, at times, to get down on them without feeling a shock through my legs.

‌So for my photography I was doing, there was no more dropping to a knee to get that low shot. As for basketball, I’d still play early on, but my knees and legs would indeed be sore for days!

‌As for working out, I was honestly doing pretty good until the pandemic, but now, time, I just don’t see where I have it.

‌Time seems to simply fly by. It’s like there’s almost too many things to do and little time to get it done. I’m always having to “fit” something in as best I can. Oh, and I want to rest more often!

‌This past week has truly been an eye opener for me too! I’ve always prided myself on having great eyesight, being able to read just about anything from a distance, and the smallest of fine print. However, lately I’ve been noticing some changes…the eyes not reacting as easily going from my phone to the TV, or being able to read fine print on packages, nor my old favorite bible.

‌So, I thought, I’ve got eye-care insurance, and maybe I should go just to get told I’m all good, normal aging, etc.

‌Well, I’ve not looked at an eye chart in nearly twenty years until Monday. And then when she told me to cover one eye and tell her what I could see! Well, that was for sure an eye opening experience.

‌It was then I realized I had a problem. I couldn’t see as well as I could for so long, and yep, I need glasses. Not just any glasses mind you, I need progressives…a more modern name, and evolution, of “bifocals.”

‌So, I’ve had a lot of revelations this week about just how bad my eye sight has become as Allison has had me “trying on” some of her glasses. It has been a tough week facing this reality.

I’ve been using these to help me read easier…now that I know I have a problem!

These were part of the key to helping me see I wasn’t perceiving things correctly.

Sermon

‌You see, what I thought I was seeing properly, I in fact, haven’t been seeing clearly for some time now. I wasn’t perceiving how bad my eyesight had gotten. To be honest, I probably didn’t want to see it or perceive it properly.

‌I believe that’s a truth with many that pick up a bible today, or have someone tell them about Jesus. 

Most all of us can read, or we can hear properly, but we’re not perceiving or understanding the message, or as Jesus says in today’s Word, “the secret,” within the message of His parables.

And the problem is, some of us simply don’t want to perceive or understand our own standing before God.

‌I believe our text in today’s Word has to do with not only hearing, or seeing, but also understanding and perceiving.

‌What do I mean by this?

‌What does it mean to us? To you?

‌What should we learn from these Words of Jesus?

‌Let’s look at today’s Scripture and then we’ll unpack it some and hopefully learn and be encouraged by it.

Scripture

‌Mark 4:10–12 ESV

And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that “ ‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’ ”

‌

You may ask, “What’s a parable?”

A parable is just a story with a lesson hidden within it. Jesus often used items or experiences His listeners could relate with.

Next week, we’ll be looking at the parable of the Sower that is actually what sparks Him to explain His usage of parables to the disciples and those with them.

‌Like me using my own story of my failing body to introduce today’s Scriptural lesson, and this lesson will unfold as we continue. My parable might be a longer experience, but could have been simply put into a few lines…but I’ve got a sermon to give right?

‌‌But before we jump into the parables of Jesus, it was good to begin here with His “Why?” for using parables.

A Secret

Jesus explains to His listeners that they have been given the “Secret of the Kingdom of God,” but those outside of His disciples are being given parables.

‌You see, for every thing in life, and here in each parable, there is both a physical and a spiritual world.

‌Like I mentioned earlier:

‌Most all of us can read, or we can hear properly – these are the physical abilities we have.

‌But Spiritually speaking, or even simply intellectually speaking, we cannot all perceive or understand the same.

‌As a Leader

‌I’ve been a leader in my career for years, and that means a lot of training and explaining things so my employees can both perceive and understand what I’m trying to teach them so I receive the output, or behavior, I need from them.

‌As a Parent

‌Like trying to teach a child sometimes, you have to use or find ways to help them understand the “secret” or “message” you’re trying to convey.

‌As Us

‌For most of us, there have been times where we needed someone else to communicate something to us in a way that we too can understand. We may have been the ones to cause someone else difficulty in teaching us something.

‌Well, the disciples were specifically called by Jesus to follow Him. And they were taught by Him personally, often. And to them, God had helped them to understand, through Jesus, the Spiritual world that exists.

‌Still we see them wrestle with the parables and Jesus’s teachings often as well. Similar to many of us. We may have grown up hearing and believing about Jesus, but we haven’t always, “gotten it.”

‌Some of us may still not be saved yet by that knowledge because we haven’t understood belief versus saving faith in Jesus.

‌Remember James, Jesus’s own brother (who once didn’t believe Jesus was God in the flesh), himself says, “even the demons believe and shudder,” when He is speaking about faith and works telling his hearers that faith without works was dead.

‌As we taught last week, faith should always be proven by our actions. The same goes for perceiving and understanding.

When we perceive or understand, not just seeing and hearing, we typically change the way we think or act, or believe.

‌Knowledge without acting on it is worthless knowledge right? Just like faith without actions.

‌So the disciples and those with them are the believers that have been given the “Secret” as Jesus says, to understanding the Kingdom…God’s reign on earth, through Jesus…and the Spiritual realm…knowledge that there is more than just the physical realm happening.

The Outsiders

‌Jesus says to you has the secret been given to, but parables are for those outside.

‌Jesus is saying, to His followers, they have received understanding but to those outside…those who do not follow Him and have done nothing but chastise and oppose His works and teaching, everything is in parables.

‌And He says…so that…

So That

So that…gives us the reason or the purpose, it answers, “Why?”

‌It’s like answering your child, or your employee, giving them the reason or purpose behind your teaching. So that you may learn to do right, good, etc.

‌Here Jesus is telling the “purpose” of His use of parables…”so that those outsiders, those that are against me, those that have been teaching the people wrong…so that…”

​

Mark 4:12 ESV

so that “ ‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’ ”

‌They may see but not perceive, hear but not understand, lest…a word that is a negative statement…lest they turn and be forgiven…because they don’t see and perceive or hear and understand.

A Harsh Word

This is a troubling statement for many of us. We read it and we think, “why would God teach them in a way that they can’t understand to keep them from being forgiven? Doesn’t He want everyone to be forgiven?”

‌First off let me point out to you that Jesus is not teaching anything new here. In fact, much of, if not all of His teaching, is based on the Old Testament; the Law and Prophets, that the Jewish people had been taught since birth.

‌And here, if you have good eyesight and a Bible with footnotes, you may find it tells you that this is quoted from Isaiah 6. One of the major prophets in the Old Testament, that Jewish people would have held in high esteem. He was around 700+ years before Jesus.

‌Jesus is quoting these words in reference to God’s judgment on Israel…the Jewish people in the Old Testament.

‌In fact, again, and I can’t make this stuff up, we looked at the Fig tree parable, and we found in Isaiah 5 where God spoke of Israel as a vineyard He was going to judge, and destroy, because of their wickedness and idol worship.

‌Here we are today and Jesus’ is quoting from Isaiah 6, when Isaiah is given a heavenly vision of God on His throne and he sees the angels around the throne covering themselves for protection for God’s holiness.

‌Isaiah sees this and He says, “Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips.” He thought he was going to die right then and there.

‌Then, after this confession of his, an angel flies over to him and touches his lips and tells him, “your guilt is taken away and your sin is atoned for.”

‌So, his eyes are opened to the spiritual realm, he is given the vision to really see, the secret to see, and he confesses to God his sin…and we take from this his desire to repent/change… and then he receives God’s forgiveness.

‌I could preach on that a lot more, but I wanted to point that out as his own “seeing and perceiving” had to be given spiritually for the next part.

‌God speaks of sending someone, sending a messenger apparently, and Isaiah speaks some words you and I may have said before:

‌Here am I Lord, send me.

‌The Lord then gives him a message to deliver…

‌Isaiah 6:9–10 ESV

And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “ ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

A Message of Judgment

‌What is the message Isaiah is to give? It is one of judgment on a people that had decided to follow another god, and to turn their back on the one that had been their Creator and Sustainer through centuries prior.

‌The one that gave them prophets, His own Word, to keep them in line, on the narrow path we’d say today.

‌Jesus wasn’t giving a new message. He was reiterating an old one. One the people should have known. It was a former example of their wickedness.

‌The truth is, many, dare I say most of the outsiders were still of the same heart…they couldn’t see God in Jesus. And they didn’t want to.

‌It’s like me and my eyesight. I couldn’t see how blind I was until it was pointed out to me and I saw the difference using glasses. My eyes had to be opened, accepting the possibility, for me to see the reality.

‌When Jesus said, “Come and follow me.” The disciples willingly responded. When He preached, hearts were opened to accept and believe Him, because they sought the Messiah.

‌Like last week when He told the parable of the fig tree not producing fruit, He used the story of the vineyard owner waiting three years for the tree to produce fruit and it hadn’t, so He had said, “cut it down.” His judgment was at hand, and the message was repent now.

‌So could His teaching of parables, “lest they turn and be forgiven,” be His, God’s judgment on the people? It could indeed.

‌God is sovereign, righteous, and just in all His decisions. And He knows the heart of man, inside and out, and could pass judgment on any one of us knowing the truth of the evil within our hearts. So, our evil in us can cause our judgment righteously and justly.

Encouragement

“Where’s the encouragement in all this?” you may be asking.

‌Well, the encouragement is this. You’re listening to these words I am sharing right now.

‌Are you understanding them?

‌Are you perceiving your own need of God’s grace and forgiveness?

‌Do you see why God gave us Jesus, His own Son?

‌If you can say yes to these things, then you have said yes, or can say yes, to Jesus and receive His forgiveness.

‌Like glasses, and an optometrist, helped me see my need for glasses.

‌Jesus is the key that helps us to see our need of Him.

‌Without the Key, the parables are hard to understand. 

‌The parables are condemnation for the willfully blind and hostile, but a blessing to those of us with eyes to see and ears to hear the Word of God.

‌So for you believers, take heart, He’s given you the keys to the Kingdom of God.

‌And to you outsiders still, He’s giving you one more opportunity to receive His forgiveness. You’re here and hearing me now.

‌But are you perceiving His Word in your heart? 

Do you understand that you are a sinner at the hands of a Holy and righteous God, who has the right to condemn you now, but would rather you receive His grace through Christ Jesus His Son?

Do you want to not only see and hear, but also perceive and understand properly?

‌Don’t put it off any longer, listen and seek to hear Him while you still can.

He Gets US?

With the recent He Gets US ads playing during the Super Bowl in 2023, there have been a lot of opinions given about the campaign. Sadly, it’s been more dividing than I think many would have thought a commercial about Jesus Christ being aired during the biggest event on national TV ever would have. You would think we would all, Christians at least, would applaud the fact our Lord and Savior’s Name is being broadcast to the world! Instead, reviews have been mixed.

It is these mixed reviews I want to tackle here…or at least share what I know of the campaign myself from being personally involved. You see, around the end of 2021, I got involved by responding to an advertisement (if I recall correctly) during the Carey Nieuwhof podcast I frequently listen to. The ad (Gloo) was something about “serving” folks outside your church by receiving messages from them. I thought, “that would be awesome!” I mean come on, as a pastor of a small online only church trying to figure out who and how we can serve folks outside the church, this should be perfect.

At the time, I knew nothing of the He Gets Us commercials. It may have just been a week or two in before I heard of it. Maybe one of my “explorers,” (that’s what they call those that send prayer requests/or ask for more info), had mentioned it in a response to my contacting them. I don’t’ know, but either way, I eventually learned there was more than just the He Gets Us campaign sending those people’s request out to people, pastors, like myself. It was a different campaign, I do not remember.

So that brings us to the “uproar” of some over He Gets Us advertising during the Super Bowl. They had two ads, one called, “Be Childlike,” and the other, “Love Your Enemies.” Both, in my opinion very good and the second was poignant for sure! From the titles alone, both are biblically based on Jesus’s Words about coming to Him as a child, and of course the commandment to love others. And the truth is, I’ve not seen many arguments about the ads themselves…content wise, just a few different “other” views on them.

Understand I want to keep this blog as short as possible so I don’t do a deep dive on all the “arguments” about the ads.

They aren’t Jesus Enough

Well that’s the way I’ll put those comments I’ve seen as. Basically it is the idea that the ads make Jesus “too” human, “too accepting.” These are those that would say the ads don’t “teach” Jesus enough…i.e. they don’t condemn others. They don’t speak of sin. They “whitewash” Jesus some might say, or “fluff” His teachings.

To this I simply say, you missed the point of the ads. (We’ll get to the point in the conclusion of this blog).

A Waste of Money

The cost of a 30 second Superbowl ad in 2023 was about $7M for a 30 second ad. So, quick math tells us, He Gets Us, (it’s founders and partners), may have paid around $21M for 90 seconds worth of TV time. That is in fact a “LOT” of money to everyone reading this blog I am sure. And, the thought of, “what good could have been done with that money?” is indeed a fair question. I’ve asked the same question about many organizations. And everything comes down to ROI in reality, (Return on Investment). For the goals of He Gets Us, apparently, the cost of getting the campaign before the eyes of over 100 million people was worth it.

Again, it is my belief that the problem is people don’t understand the goal(s) of the campaign, addressed in the conclusion.

I Don’t Like Where the Money Comes From

There are those that don’t like one of the biggest investors of the project, David Green, the CEO of Hobby Lobby. You may recall the past uproar over Hobby Lobby’s decision to not fund birth control for its employees, and as a Christian owned organization, the conservative stance of its leadership in moral and political issues. I remember the news about it, but I’m not looking into it here.

Green is of course not the only funding for this project as there are many “un-named” investors.

The ads are the product of Bill McKendry’s marketing organization, Hazen. He and his team are truly the masterminds behind the He Gets Us brand. I listened to him on a recent podcast, (forgive me I don’t recall, but he’s been on many), and he shared their early expectations and how blown away they were when they had the “reactions” of over 14 million people on the first ad within less than two weeks.

I believe this argument is more about the litmus test of what some would consider correct Christianity or not, liberal or conservative, and so on. This is a never ending debate really.

The Heart of He Gets Us

He Gets Us is NOT preaching Jesus, (i.e. theology), to people. It’s not about getting people saved, or condemning them. It is about bridging the gap between the Church (and our messed up history) and those people outside of her that are hurting, seeking help, and are “scared” of going to a physical church building. As Bill himself asserts, and I’m sure you can find more factual numbers if you desire, about most of the population, (especially in the west if not world wide), admires and respects the person, the human person, of Jesus. Seriously, half of the world’s religions speak highly of Him. So the campaign uses that idea, and Jesus’s “humanity” in the idea, that “He knows our struggles.” “He knows our pains.” “He experienced anxiety too.” So, “He gets us.”

The ads are presented with the goal of getting folks to go to the website and click around and explore. Now, when I first started with Gloo, the “explorers” would send a message to Gloo that was usually a prayer request or an “I need someone to talk to,” kind of message. The goal for the one receiving the messages was then to respond as soon as possible to the incoming request with basically a “Hi, I am Gerald, and I received your prayer request. I am happy to pray for you about this situation. If you would like to talk more about it with me, just respond to this text and we can chat.”

My Personal Experience

I was told when signing up that I’d probably receive about 10 requests per week. If I recall, I received about 15 that first week, and most every other week was ten or more. From what could see, the goal was to begin a conversation with these folks that could possibly lead to, eventually, a Gospel conversation. For many it might have been seeking opportunity to meet with the explorer physically. But I run an online only church so my goal was simply to serve them, and if/when the time allowed, let the know a little bit about our church. however, most of my conversations didn’t really get that far and I never pushed the issue.

My bigger problem was I got overwhelmed with so many requests and was stressing trying to get back to them. I also found it difficult to carry on the relationships with those I did actually talk to more than once because frankly, I’m busy and don’t like chatting that much.

Here’s a Few Requests I Received

-Lots of changes. Feel like nobody truly loves me. I think maybe I just expect to much from people.

-My family!  My children have cause so much pain and heart break. I’m drowning in debt in part because of them and they just want more for themselves. It’s sad really. I’m losing sleep worrying about them and they just want to use me the rest of the way up for their own benefits. God help me get on my own feet and let me stop being hurt by them

-I think I have depression I’m only 10 and want to hurt myself I always put a fake smile on and can never sleep I cry almost everyday and have somewhat of anxiety I wanna die and feel like I have to reason to be alive and think that I’m better of dead.

-I have so many heath issues I’m about to give up.

-I’m not very good at talking to people like on the phone or in person cuz of my PTSD and anxiety and stuff but I have this situation where I’m living at and I need to get out of it the only problem is I have no car so I have no way of going nowhere and I’m just stuck here no food no heat no power…

-I just want to know if there’s anyone else like me out there. I have been depressed most of my life, it seemed as if nothing would get better and I failed at everything. I failed at having a good childhood at loving myself. I failed College and finding a job. I failed at being a good brother and son, The only thing I succeeded on was being born and that wasn’t even supposed to happen. I feel like nothing but a mistake and that that is all I will ever be and that I should just leave this world.

He Gets Us Explorers

Yes, I even had a few young kids make contact through the system. For those I would respond back with some encouragement and say I’m praying for you. For the one above, her mother saw it on the daughter’s iPad and called me to discuss…of course wondering who the heck I was. And we had a really good conversation that I pray helped the daughter…and mother.

Conclusion

But as you see, these are just a few of the 100+ I received over a 3-4 month period. These are the kind of requests, and more importantly, PEOPLE, He Gets Us is resonating with. They are bridging a gap between folks being turned off to the Church with Jesus and His loyal servants that want to serve hurting folks. This is why I believe the money, is worth it. This is why it doesn’t matter to me who started it. This is why I hate to see the division promoted by those who feel the need to snub this ministry.

It’s not a waste of money when you’re potentially reaching millions of people in need and connecting them with folks that can help them. The ads aren’t about preaching a theology. They’re about making people think, “Maybe Jesus can help me.” “Maybe Jesus can get me.”

You may not feel the way I do about the ministry. You may take issue with it some way or another. But I do cry out to God that you would allow this ministry to continue to do what it is doing to reach people that sadly are not being reached by traditional means, (local churches). It’s doing a great service and connecting people that need connection.

Where’s the Fruit?

Sermon notes. Watch the recording on YouTube.

Luke 13:6–9 ESV

And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ ”

Where’s the Fruit?

Do you remember, if you’re old enough, the Wendy’s commercials asking, “Where’s the beef?” We had so many laughs at these commercials when I was younger, always asking the tagline, “Where’s the beef?”

This is similar to Jesus’s answer to the question, “What is this parable about?” 

Where’s the fruit?

It’s about the fruit of repentance. “Where is it?” He is asking.

You, I, and possibly His original listeners are also asking, 

“What is it?”

That’s going to be our goal today. To determine what this fruit is, and if we have it. And if we don’t, how do we get it?

History of the Fig Tree

First off, why does Jesus use the fig tree as an example here?

Generally speaking, through much of the bible, the fig tree represents the Jewish people, Israel. 

As always Jesus uses a parable about something familiar to the people He is speaking to. 

It is likely they would have recognized the fig tree’s growth habits as well as the meaning of the fig tree being them.

He speaks of a man that plants a fig tree, the owner, who apparently has hired men that are the ones to keep and work the trees to maturity…to fruit bearing. 

The owner comes to the vineyard where the tree has been planted looking for fruit and he finds none on it.

We’re given the facts that it had been three years, as he tells the vinedresser.

This is important because the fig tree’s normal fruit bearing begins in the first 2-3 years, so this tree is old enough to produce fruit but it hasn’t.

My Apple Tree

Maybe you can relate if you’ve grown something, took the time to do the work and it didn’t produce the expected results.

I’ve got an apple tree we planted…it’s never produced fruit.

The Vine Dresser

So we have the Vine Dresser responding to the vineyard Owner, pleading for one more year. On behalf of the fig tree, He is telling the Owner:

“Give me one more year to focus my attention on the tree’s care and see if it produces fruit next year.”

“If it works, then well and good, but if not, then you can cut it down.”

What Jesus doesn’t give us in the parable, is the outcome. Did the tree produce fruit? Or was it still bare the following year? And if so, what did the Owner do to it?

The Characters

As with any good example, or parable in this place, we need to know the who’s who right? That will help us determine the what.

We already said, the fig tree represents the Jewish people.

The owner then shall be God. He is the Creator of all things. And He is the Judge of all things.

The Vine Dresser then is Jesus. It is He that is pleading for mercy, for more time, for the fig tree, for the Jews.

What we can then learn from this parable is that the Jews had already been given grace by God, their Creation, they were the ones given God’s Law directly, and it was to them that the Messiah, the Savior, was prophesied to come.

That Messiah, that Savior, is Jesus, there in their midst. 

Can we infer the three years of lack of fruit production to Jesus’s ministry lasting three years amongst these people? Possibly.

It would make sense, as He was constantly battling with them about their lack of belief, their lack of proper righteousness.

The Fruit of Repentance

What is the fruit then supposed to be of these Jews whom Jesus is speaking to as being fruitless?

It is the fruit of repentance. 

Context always matters, and to get the context of Jesus’s teaching here we must go back to the previous paragraph and previous chapter. All of which are speaking the message of “repent for the time of judgment, or the Kingdom of God, is at hand.”

Much of the previous teachings are about how the people needed to be ready, have their lamps burning, be dressed, be reconciled, before the Master returns. 

Tie that into this parable and it is the teaching that the time is at hand. 

You’ve been given time, and yet you are still dead, fruitless. The Judge, the Vineyard owner is ready with the ax to chop down the tree and throw it into the fire.

What is the Fruit?

What is this fruit of repentance then you may be asking?

First off, repentance itself is defined as a change of attitude and ACTION from sin and unbelief to obedience to God.

So at its core, the fruit of repentance is change, from what you might have been doing wrong to doing right. From unbelief to belief, from disobedience to obedience.

A few examples of repentance, and what we night call its fruits from the bible are:

A mourning over sin, such as weeping, tearing garments, or wearing sackcloth.

Making restitution for wrongs committed.

Humbling oneself before those wronged.

These are found in the Old Testament.

In the NT we see:

Zacchaeus making restitution for the fraud he committed as part of his job, giving up to half his good to repay those he wronged.

Paul’s change was preaching the faith he had once been bent on destroying.

But notice the Hebrew definition included the word, ACTION.

You see repentance is not only in the mind and heart but should display itself, as we see by the examples listed, by ACTION.

You can’t claim to be God’s child, saved by faith in Jesus, if you aren’t changed or haven’t repented from previous sinfulness.

It’s like Jesus’s brother James says in James 2:14-26 where he contrasts faith alone versus works. Some may take his words to be in opposition of Paul’s teaching, and the primary Christian teaching that we are saved by faith alone.

James is saying the opposite is true, instead he is making the case that you can’t have faith and not produce good works, good fruit.

James 2:26 ESV

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Today we have too many of us walking around claiming faith in Jesus but living as though He is in agreement with the sin in our life. Like we don’t need to repent, we just need to have faith.

Friends faith and repentance, just like faith and works, go hand in hand.

Faith should lead to repentance, and repentance and faith should lead to a changed life of obedience and good works…fruits.

For Jesus telling the Jews this parable, they thought they were saved by keeping the Law of God…which no one can perfectly except Jesus. And they didn’t have faith, believe, that standing before them was God in the flesh, the Savior prophesied, Jesus the Son of God.

Conclusion – 

Where is the Fruit in Your Life?

So where is the fruit in your life? Are you a fruitless fig tree? Or do you have the fruit of repentance for God and others to see clearly?

The moral of the parable again is God has been gracious. As 2 Peter 3 tells us:

2 Peter 3:8–10 ESV

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

This is Jesus’s warning to us all. The ax is ready at the trunk of those that have not yet repented and are not producing the fruit of repentance. It isn’t about just doing good deeds and it isn’t about just having faith. 

You must have both, faith shall lead to repentance and repentance and faith to fruit, to everlasting life in eternity with God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Examine yourself and ask, “Do I have the fruit of repentance?” 

If not, then as Jesus says, repent now, the Kingdom is at hand. 

Give God your life through placing your faith in Jesus Christ.

It might hurt a little…

Like the fig tree in the parable, Jesus, the Vine Dresser, is going to need to root some things out of your life. He’s going to dig around and cut some roots. He’s going to make room for you to grow.

And He’s going to put some fertilizer in there to help foster deeper and better roots to reach the good nutrients, prayer, faith, bible study, Christian community, and more, to help you grow in maturity, in fruit production.

But He promises:

John 15:1-2, 4-6, 8-10

“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 does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.

Next Week‘

The Purpose of Parables

Mark 4:10-12

10 And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, 12 so that

“‘they may indeed see but not perceive,

    and may indeed hear but not understand,

lest they should turn and be forgiven.’”

Don’t Make the Same Mistake!

4 years ago today was our last day serving the youth ministry at our home church.

My wife and I had volunteered for nearly twenty years before I had taken the director of youth ministry position eight months prior. I didn’t plan to go out the way it happened, that choice was taken away from me. Therein lies the reason for these tips for churches, their pastors, and their boards.

1. Support those being called into a different ministry from your church.

As churches we are to equip and send out. The command for all Christians is to “go into the world.” Don’t allow fear of losing people to overcome your commitment to sending out your folks. Even if you’re a struggling church, support anyone that has a true gifting and calling to serve others. It isn’t a competition.

2. Ask how you can help those being called to fulfill their calling?

Pastors, you have experience you can share. Truths can warn them about. You know the tools needed, the stresses faced, and the reality of the calling. Give them the time to learn from you, to be mentored by you.

When I told my pastor I was leaving, in 7 months, to follow this new calling, I expected to be allowed to continue the work I was doing, as well as hopeful I might gain some insight from him. He was a great man, and had served many years. It wasn’t fully his decision to send me out there door a little more than two weeks later, it was a board decision.

3. Pray for their success, their faith, their families during this time of transformation.

It is often a very difficult and stressful decision to follow the Lord’s calling to any ministry, most definitely pastoral ministry.

For me, I had this youth ministry calling for some ten years or more and continued to serve and be there for every single thing the former director scheduled for the youth. I loved what we did, and then when I had the opportunity to be the director, I made all the changes I thought were needed to make the ministry more successful, to serve and help grow the faith of the youth and include them in the life of the church. So it wasn’t an easy decision to follow the Lord’s calling to leave and start something new. I cried, I wrestled, I cried out to God, and my wife did as well.

4. Let them leave well.

It should be the right of that person to announce their calling and leaving to the church family. It isn’t for you to make yourself look good by offering praise of them from the stage but not allowing them to address the folks themselves.

I know every situation is different. For my wife and I, we’d spent more than twenty years serving our church in many facets. However, the decision was made for me not to be the one to share this new calling with the congregation, and I was barely able to tell the kids myself that same evening. This caused a lot of hurt, bitterness, and some others chose to leave that church because of what they witnessed. It could have gone so much better and would have been a witness to all of what it means to send out the faithful that desire to live out the Lord’s calling.

5. Support their families.

Show love to their family. Don’t forget the impact of picking up and moving from a beloved church family to step into the wilderness on the spouse, (and family). The family matters and needs support as much or maybe more than the one being called. They are left trusting their spouse’s word and the Lord’s revelation to their spouse. They don’t have the personal experience of “hearing/feeling” the calling.

This was the toughest part and what hurt the most. My wife was removed from supporting a youth in their faith journey. My wife wasn’t seen as nothing more than, well, I don’t know honestly. It was simply wrong. No love was given, just the removal of her existence from the church she grew up in by those “in control” at the time.

You have an opportunity.

Make the best of it no matter how hurt, scared, you may feel. If the person is in good standing with you, you should surely not ruin the experience by being self focused and fearful. I pray you get it right!

As for my wife and I today, we are blessed. It wasn’t long before I saw God redeem the situation for me and our future ministry at the time. He called, and I, (we), have tried to be as obedient as possible since. I left what I loved, a dream position and passion, to begin the journey to what He called me to in that season. Even now, He has molded and moved us, and our ministry, into what He desires, and that is my only hope and prayer for Him to do.