1 00:00:01,600 --> 00:00:04,920 Oh, Crossing Nation, it is so good to be with you. 2 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:07,520 I want to welcome all of our different locations, those of 3 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:11,400 you watching online and those of you who are part of the Crossing 4 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:14,520 inside. We announced this a couple weeks 5 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:19,240 back, but I want to restate it. We have every intention of 6 00:00:19,240 --> 00:00:23,840 launching a location in Weaver, Iowa at the very end of this 7 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:26,920 year. We cannot wait to see what God 8 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:31,320 is going to be doing and there might be some of you across all 9 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:34,680 of our different locations who you would love to be part of 10 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:38,280 giving birth to a church. And the reason we are launching 11 00:00:38,280 --> 00:00:42,800 in Weaver is because Weaver is strategically located between 12 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:47,240 two population centers that we have desired to be a part of 13 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:50,640 helping the people in those regions find what we have found 14 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:53,920 in Jesus Christ. It is located about 15 minutes 15 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:57,640 from Fort Madison and about 15 minutes from Burlington. 16 00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:01,240 And to give you context, I live 15 minutes from where I am 17 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:03,880 preaching to you right now, and I'm able to make it to church 18 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:06,600 every week. And so we're thinking, hey, if 19 00:01:06,600 --> 00:01:09,200 it's the same distance that Clayton drives, they can drive 20 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:11,240 it, too. And so we are starting a 21 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:12,640 location. We've already repainted the 22 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:14,360 building. We've ripped out all the stuff 23 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:16,520 that needs to be ripped out with a couple more things to go. 24 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:19,000 But we are looking for some people who would like to help 25 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:20,360 us. And you might be a person who's 26 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:22,480 going, yeah, I would love to be a part of it. 27 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:25,680 And if you take advantage of the QR code, there's a spot on there 28 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:28,360 called the Weaver Launch. We're going to leave this up for 29 00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:31,560 about the next a minute and a half while I talk through ways 30 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:34,320 that you could be a part of what we believe God is doing. 31 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:37,080 One, we are looking for about 200 people. 32 00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:40,400 They'll be willing to say, hey, I would like to help out on a 33 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:42,120 work day. Or I have a gift, talent and 34 00:01:42,120 --> 00:01:45,880 ability that could handle some of the projects that we are 35 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:48,000 trying to facilitate at that location. 36 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:50,720 And you might be going, yeah, or you might have a kid who you 37 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:53,320 just grounded and you want them to rake leaves. 38 00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:57,920 And we've got a spot for them to let us join you in the maturing 39 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:00,280 of your children. The second thing we're looking 40 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:05,000 for is we're looking for 300 people in our church who'd be 41 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:10,039 willing to make a month long commitment to helping out this 42 00:02:10,039 --> 00:02:13,080 location once they launch. And that one month commitment 43 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:17,000 might be an entire month of four consecutive Sundays, or it might 44 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:21,120 be 4 or 4 Sundays over a course of a period of time. 45 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:25,360 Because we want to help this church cover every single need 46 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:28,480 that they're going to have on a weekend from Christmas all the 47 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:33,040 way to Easter. Our hope, hope is that by that 48 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:36,320 time they will be able to go to two services and that their 49 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:39,320 people would be able to work one and attend one. 50 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:43,960 And you might be going, you know what, I would love to be a part 51 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:47,000 of doing that. And you can let us know on the 52 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:49,000 QR code. And there might be some of you 53 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:53,160 who are going. I am not driving to Iowa because 54 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:56,760 Clayton is from Iowa and I don't want to meet more people like 55 00:02:56,760 --> 00:02:59,200 him. And you want to stay safe and we 56 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:02,240 totally acknowledge that. But you might be going, you know 57 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:03,960 what? If somebody else is getting 58 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:07,920 ready to go, I would be willing to backfill at the location 59 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:11,520 where they serve and be a part of participating and making this 60 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:13,800 region the hardest place on planet earth to get the hell 61 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:15,920 from. And if you would like to go, you 62 00:03:15,920 --> 00:03:18,360 know what? I'm not going to go, but I will 63 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:20,760 be in their place at the location that I attend 64 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:22,800 regularly. We would love to give you an 65 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:29,280 opportunity to join us as well. That being said, when I was a 66 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:33,880 10th grader in high school, I was given the chance to go to 67 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:37,520 New York City with the choir. Yep, I was in choir. 68 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:40,160 Don't hold it against me. I made choir cool. 69 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:43,960 I was in choir all right. And while we were there, we we 70 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:46,320 got a chance to go to some Broadway musicals. 71 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:49,080 We got to sing at a couple special events and we went to 72 00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:51,600 the Empire State Building, we went to the Statue of Liberty, 73 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:54,960 we went to Central Park, and of course, we went to Times Square 74 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:58,320 and buy. A stroke of incredible luck. 75 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:04,000 While I was on Times Square, a guy came up to me and I found 76 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:07,120 myself in a position with the ultimate hookup. 77 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:16,800 The guy was selling Oakley sunglasses for only $20 and I 78 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:20,440 had been wanting a pair of Oakley sunglasses, but they were 79 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:23,040 just a little bit out of my financial reach. 80 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:26,440 And so I was like, this is fantastic. 81 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:31,080 So I bought some and then I went a little bit further down the 82 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:35,240 road and it was if God was blessing me on my right and on 83 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:40,520 my left because I met another guy and this guy was selling 84 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:44,440 watches. He had a whole briefcase full of 85 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:47,560 them and he had a bunch of watches inside of his trench 86 00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:50,000 coat. And these were not just any 87 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:52,720 watches. This guy had Rolex watches, he 88 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:55,200 had Tag watches, he had Omegas, he had Cartiers. 89 00:04:55,640 --> 00:04:56,960 I was like, I couldn't believe this. 90 00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:00,120 And guess what? This guy did not realize what he 91 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:04,720 had. He had no idea because he was 92 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:09,600 selling them for an incredible price, way below retail. 93 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:12,280 And so after we got done negotiating and I got to be 94 00:05:12,280 --> 00:05:16,800 honest with you, I felt bad, but I bought A tag watch off of this 95 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:21,680 guy for $50.00. And I was sitting there thinking 96 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:24,800 to myself, I could go into a watch shop. 97 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:28,920 I could sell this thing back and make all of the money back that 98 00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:33,320 it cost me to go on this trip. I'm going to be rolling in 99 00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:35,960 money. And so that's exactly what I 100 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:39,760 did. I went and I walked to the Tag 101 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:43,800 Hauer store and I walked in with my watch and I plopped it on the 102 00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:48,400 glass and I said, listen, I would like to sell this back to 103 00:05:48,400 --> 00:05:51,520 you. And the guy looked at me and 104 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:57,360 said, get out of my store. And I said, I want to sell this 105 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:00,280 to you. You can give it to me at 50% of 106 00:06:00,280 --> 00:06:03,640 what it's worth. He goes, it's a fake, get out. 107 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:08,200 And I came to a harsh realization that I had just 108 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:12,720 spent $70.00 and had nothing to show for it. 109 00:06:13,200 --> 00:06:18,520 Today we are in a brand new series called Counterfeit Fruit, 110 00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:24,160 Establishing an Authentic Walk with Jesus. 111 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:28,080 In our walk with Jesus, it is important to differentiate 112 00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:32,280 between the fruit of the Spirit and its counterfeits. 113 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:39,640 Genuine godly character is not just about outward appearances, 114 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:43,200 but about a heart that abides in God. 115 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:47,000 And I'm going to unpack abide a little bit later in the sermon. 116 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:51,800 You see, Jesus promised that when he left he would send us 117 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:56,040 the Holy Spirit and that the Holy Spirit would produce in US 118 00:06:56,320 --> 00:06:58,840 fruit. And we're told what this fruit 119 00:06:58,840 --> 00:07:02,240 would look like in Galatians chapter 5. 120 00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:07,960 This is what it says, but the fruit of the Spirit is Lovejoy, 121 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:12,280 peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 122 00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:17,400 gentleness, and self-control. Why does this matter? 123 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:20,200 Well, because you and I have been given the gift of 124 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:22,920 salvation. And because of this gift of 125 00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:26,120 salvation, we have access to the Holy Spirit who takes up 126 00:07:26,120 --> 00:07:30,920 residence in our lives. Fruit is expected. 127 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:36,520 It is not accidental. It is expected in the life of a 128 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:38,760 believer. These characteristics that I 129 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:42,440 just walked through should be evidenced in our lives. 130 00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:48,080 And Jesus takes this fruit production very seriously. 131 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:52,520 One time Jesus was walking and he saw a fig tree in the 132 00:07:52,520 --> 00:07:56,640 distance and he saw that had leaves on it, and so he expected 133 00:07:56,640 --> 00:07:59,840 there to be fruit. And so he walks up to the fig 134 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:05,440 tree, and he finds no figs. And then Jesus, with all of his 135 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:09,120 Jesus superpowers, was a little hangry because he thought there 136 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:11,040 would be fruit and there was no fruit. 137 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:17,520 And Jesus cursed the tree and it withered and died. 138 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:24,920 Jesus used this to symbolize what happens to people who 139 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:31,120 profess to be Christian but have no evidence of a relationship 140 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:36,919 with him. Jesus expects fruit. 141 00:08:38,039 --> 00:08:42,120 Let me show you how much so he puts it this way in John 15. 142 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:46,400 Now remember John 15 is Jesus has just concluded his his final 143 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:49,640 meal with his disciples. He is praying. 144 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:52,960 He is giving him his final address before the cross. 145 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:56,800 And this is what he says in John 15 verses one through 6. 146 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:02,600 I This is Jesus in the true vine, and my Father is the 147 00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:07,720 gardener. He cuts off every branch in me 148 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:16,560 that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He 149 00:09:16,560 --> 00:09:20,720 prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 150 00:09:21,760 --> 00:09:24,720 You are already clean because the word I have spoken to you 151 00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:32,360 remain or abide in me, as I also remain in you. 152 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:39,600 No branch, no branch can bear fruit by itself. 153 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:43,960 It must remain, abide in the vine. 154 00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:49,280 Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 155 00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:53,080 I am the vine, you are the branches. 156 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:59,480 If you remain abide in me and I in you, you will bear much 157 00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:04,880 fruit. Apart from me, you can do 158 00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:09,080 nothing. If you do not remain in me. 159 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:13,320 You're like a branch that is thrown away and Withers. 160 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:19,640 Such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 161 00:10:20,560 --> 00:10:25,800 4 things to notice here. One, God expects fruit. 162 00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:29,320 If you have the Holy Spirit in your life, he's going how could 163 00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:34,480 you not be producing fruit? And when he doesn't find fruit, 164 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:41,440 cut off. Second thing, good branches bear 165 00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:47,280 good fruit and he prunes them so they become even more fruitful. 166 00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:51,440 In other words, the godly scissors are coming to you. 167 00:10:52,560 --> 00:10:56,480 They will either cut you off, or they will cut you and prune you 168 00:10:56,720 --> 00:10:59,280 to be even more fruitful. Here's what you need to 169 00:10:59,280 --> 00:11:00,280 experience. Here's what you know. 170 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:06,080 When you feel convicted over a sin, when you feel a prompting 171 00:11:06,080 --> 00:11:11,240 to do something that takes you out of your comfort zone, when 172 00:11:11,240 --> 00:11:14,240 you feel an urging to do something for the cause of 173 00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:19,920 Christ, He's pruning you. He's inviting you into deeper 174 00:11:20,040 --> 00:11:27,040 dependence in Him. Remaining and abiding is how we 175 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:30,920 produce fruit. When you abide in Christ, you 176 00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:37,200 become fruitful. This is not accomplished by 177 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:40,080 human effort. You're going to have to hang 178 00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:41,920 with me because this will make more sense at the end. 179 00:11:42,360 --> 00:11:44,640 So the fruit that we are supposed to produce, we cannot 180 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:47,040 produce on ourselves. God produces the fruit. 181 00:11:47,160 --> 00:11:50,400 We produce the fruit by remaining in Him because we have 182 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:57,560 nothing to offer apart from Him. You cannot live the Christian 183 00:11:57,560 --> 00:12:01,880 life on your own power. You cannot live the Christian 184 00:12:01,880 --> 00:12:06,280 life on your own strength. It is lived through the Spirit 185 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:10,840 with very real implications. And so throughout the series, 186 00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:14,400 we're going to present a couple fruits of the Spirit, and we're 187 00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:16,440 also going to discuss its counterfeit. 188 00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:20,440 And the best way to understand a counterfeit fruit is something 189 00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:23,800 that has the appearance of the fruit, but it lacks its 190 00:12:23,800 --> 00:12:28,360 nutrients. And there are at least 2 main 191 00:12:28,360 --> 00:12:31,360 styles or types of counterfeit fruit. 192 00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:35,960 The first one is cultural fruit, and the second one is what I 193 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:39,400 call good intentioned fruit. Let me unpack them for you. 194 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:45,520 Cultural fruit is when a secular progressive tries to guilt trip 195 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:50,800 Christians into supporting their particular agenda by baptizing 196 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:55,360 it with aspects of Christianity without accounting for the whole 197 00:12:55,360 --> 00:13:00,800 counsel of God's Word. So they take a Christian idea or 198 00:13:00,800 --> 00:13:05,000 a Christian verse, they RIP it from its context, they divorce 199 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:08,600 it from its original meaning, and they make Jesus or the Bible 200 00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:14,280 say whatever they want Jesus or the Bible to say. 201 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:19,120 And when you are done doing all of this, what you have done is 202 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:23,560 you make it seem like Jesus has always been on your side. 203 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:28,560 You've seen this the entire election. 204 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:33,640 Have you noticed that there are plenty of verses for the 205 00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:36,360 Republicans and plenty of verses for the Democrats? 206 00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:39,560 And what they were trying to do is they were trying to get you 207 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:44,520 to believe that Jesus is on their side. 208 00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:49,560 However, look right here. Look right here. 209 00:13:49,560 --> 00:13:55,120 The goal of Scripture, the purpose of the Holy Spirit, the 210 00:13:55,120 --> 00:14:00,960 life of Jesus were never intended to get them on our 211 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:05,360 side. It was to get us on their side. 212 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:09,080 God is not trying to get you to let him. 213 00:14:09,200 --> 00:14:12,280 Would you please let me be on your team, Clayton? 214 00:14:12,680 --> 00:14:15,320 The Trinity is not going. Clayton, please, please, please, 215 00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:17,760 please, please let us play kickball with you. 216 00:14:18,800 --> 00:14:22,760 They are not trying to convince me to let me to let them on my 217 00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:26,560 team. He has been trying to get us to 218 00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:31,040 join him on his team. That is the Book of Revelation. 219 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:34,120 The Book of Revelation can be summed up like this. 220 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:40,600 God's team wins, pick a team. Don't be stupid. 221 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:43,360 That is, that is right. You're like Revelations 222 00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:44,800 complicated. Nope, it's not. 223 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:48,280 God's team wins, pick a team, don't be stupid. 224 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:53,040 The goal of Christianity is not to get us to allow God onto our 225 00:14:53,040 --> 00:14:56,160 side. It is for us to be shifted, 226 00:14:56,160 --> 00:15:00,400 transformed, redeemed, repurposed, to be on His team. 227 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:03,640 If we would have kept going like 6 more weeks in Decisions in the 228 00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:07,480 Desert, we would have walked you through all of the victories 229 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:09,280 that Joshua led the people of Israel through. 230 00:15:09,280 --> 00:15:11,720 And one of the very first victories that they go through 231 00:15:11,720 --> 00:15:13,880 is they've made it their way through the Jordan River. 232 00:15:13,880 --> 00:15:17,120 They are in front of Jericho and they are getting ready to go 233 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:20,040 around this fortified city a whole bunch of times and blow 234 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:22,400 the trumpets. Walls are going to fall down and 235 00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:26,000 Joshua is like, this is going to be a little scary. 236 00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:29,320 And he is. As he's walking around, he sees 237 00:15:29,320 --> 00:15:33,280 an Angel standing in front of him with a sword in his hand. 238 00:15:34,840 --> 00:15:40,560 And Joshua goes, hey, are you for us or are you for our 239 00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:42,520 enemies? Guess what? 240 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:47,400 The Angel said. I am commander of the Lord's 241 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:50,520 army. He's answering a completely 242 00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:54,200 different question. He is saying I'm not for you, 243 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:58,360 I'm not for your enemies, I'm for God. 244 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:02,680 The question you need to ask Joshua is are you on my team? 245 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:07,680 Not am I on your team? So cultural fruit tries to get 246 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:12,200 Jesus onto your own team so that way you feel like you are in 247 00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:16,200 charge and God is a supplement to your life and therefore God 248 00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:18,000 is not the ruler. You're the ruler. 249 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:19,920 God's not the author of morality. 250 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:22,960 You're the author of morality. And we get to point to God and 251 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:27,000 Jesus in service of ourselves. That is a cultural counterfeit 252 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:29,560 fruit. The second counterfeit or 253 00:16:29,920 --> 00:16:33,440 counterfeit fruit is the good intentioned fruit. 254 00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:40,680 Hear me This does the exact same thing as the cultural fruit. 255 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:45,600 It does the exact same thing as the secular progressives, but it 256 00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:49,120 does so with pure intentions. Here's what I mean. 257 00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:54,520 It has a desire to live the life that God called him to, but it 258 00:16:54,520 --> 00:16:58,040 doesn't allow the whole counsel of God's Word to inform or speak 259 00:16:58,040 --> 00:17:01,640 into their actions. They try to live the Christian 260 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:05,839 life on their own personal power by their own strength instead of 261 00:17:05,839 --> 00:17:08,119 the strength and the power of the Holy Spirit. 262 00:17:11,079 --> 00:17:15,599 Cultural fruit comes from people trying to hijack Christianity 263 00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:19,599 and turn it into something that it was never intended to become. 264 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:25,440 Good intention fruit comes from well meaning desires, but an 265 00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:32,960 incomplete theology about God. And there are many of you who 266 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:36,720 probably are in the good intentioned counterfeit fruit 267 00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:41,000 game and you are trying to navigate people who are living 268 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:43,520 in the cultural counterfeit game. 269 00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:49,400 And we think that we are doing the very thing that God desires 270 00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:51,520 us to do and has called us to do. 271 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:56,400 And at the exact moment, we are not at all in alignment with 272 00:17:56,400 --> 00:17:58,680 God's will and purpose in our lives. 273 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:02,600 Why does this matter? If you want to know why I'm 274 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:05,720 doing this entire sermon series, it's right here. 275 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:12,600 In your effort to live the Christian life, you might be 276 00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:17,760 wearing yourself out trying to do something that God never 277 00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:22,400 commanded you to do. And if God never commanded you 278 00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:27,000 to do it, He will not empower you to carry it out. 279 00:18:28,120 --> 00:18:32,000 Must say that again, in your effort to live the Christian 280 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:36,280 life, you might be wearing yourself out trying to do 281 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:39,080 something that God never commanded you to do. 282 00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:43,000 And if God never commanded you to do it, He will not empower 283 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:46,760 you to carry it out. Let's take a look at how this 284 00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:48,440 shows up. And just two of the fruit of the 285 00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:51,760 Spirit, love and joy. I'm going to move fast. 286 00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:56,120 Here we go, love and joy. Christians are to be known for 287 00:18:56,120 --> 00:18:58,440 their love. We are to love God with all of 288 00:18:58,440 --> 00:19:00,480 our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and we are to love our 289 00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:02,240 neighbor as ourself. Love, love, love, love, love, 290 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:06,680 love, love, love, love, love. However, over time many people 291 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:14,760 have begun to believe that love equals no boundaries, and love 292 00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:17,560 without boundaries is a counterfeit fruit. 293 00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:22,400 While there is nothing, hear me, nothing, off limits when it 294 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:25,440 comes to your relationship with God, there are very clear 295 00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:28,480 boundaries for the love that we were supposed to have for people 296 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:34,600 and for this world. Counterfeit fruit equates love 297 00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:38,600 with universal acceptance and unlimited access. 298 00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:44,960 However, God who is love, and Jesus who is the ultimate 299 00:19:44,960 --> 00:19:49,920 personification of love and the Holy Spirit who produces love, 300 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:54,280 are the only ones who have the authority and the right to tell 301 00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:57,680 us what love is and what love is not. 302 00:19:59,120 --> 00:20:02,440 You see, when you give universal acceptance, you step outside of 303 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:06,040 God's word. Look what it says in first John 304 00:20:06,040 --> 00:20:12,280 chapter 2. Do not love the world or 305 00:20:12,280 --> 00:20:17,920 anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love 306 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:23,440 for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world, the 307 00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:26,520 lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, 308 00:20:26,760 --> 00:20:30,720 come not from the Father, but from the world. 309 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:35,480 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will 310 00:20:35,480 --> 00:20:40,960 of God lives forever. Now hear me, there is a 311 00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:45,880 difference between having a love for the people of the world and 312 00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:50,080 the world that God created and one thing to be a part of and 313 00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:54,800 accepted by this world. By being a part of the sin in 314 00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:59,280 this world, allowing the desires that war against our flesh to 315 00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:01,560 interfere with our commitment to God. 316 00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:05,880 Look what it says in First Corinthians chapter 13 verse 6. 317 00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:12,000 Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. 318 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:16,800 You know what that is? That's a boundary. 319 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:26,640 Love does not delight in evil. Love rejoices in the truth. 320 00:21:27,440 --> 00:21:30,640 If was, if love does not delight in evil, and if it does, and if 321 00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:34,320 it rejoices in the truth, then love has boundaries. 322 00:21:35,120 --> 00:21:38,560 A love with universal acceptance is not love. 323 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:44,320 It is a counterfeit fruit. A love with in with unlimited 324 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:47,160 access will turn you into an enabler. 325 00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:52,280 For instance, love is doing for somebody or for someone 326 00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:53,600 something that they can't do on their own. 327 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:58,240 However, enabling is doing for somebody that they could easily 328 00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:01,680 do for themselves or helping them to do something that is not 329 00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:05,320 good for themselves. You see, love disciplines. 330 00:22:05,320 --> 00:22:09,600 The Bible tells us love speaks truth, Love empowers, love 331 00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:15,120 sacrifices, but love does not accept, participate, condone, 332 00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:19,440 enable sin. For instance, you've heard me 333 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:21,120 talk about this. I've tried to make it more PG 334 00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:23,720 because I've always used a different illustration. 335 00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:25,040 I'm like, oh, there's younger kids in here. 336 00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:27,320 So here is here's what I'm saying. 337 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:33,360 If we were good friends and you were an alcoholic, I could never 338 00:22:33,360 --> 00:22:38,200 drive you to the bar. I could never enable you to 339 00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:41,480 participate in that behavior. But if you called me from the 340 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:44,760 bar drunk, I could always pick you up. 341 00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:49,040 Now, could they use that? Could they twist that around and 342 00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:51,160 be like, listen, I only got to pay for the Uber there because I 343 00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:53,560 got Clayton home, right? They could definitely. 344 00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:55,440 And if I found that out, I'd have to navigate it. 345 00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:58,640 But there's some of us who get a couple Bible verses slapped in 346 00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:00,440 our face and we feel like, well, I just got to. 347 00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:02,320 I just got to be a part of this all the time. 348 00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:05,680 No, no, no, no, no. There are things that I can do 349 00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:07,760 because of my love for Jesus. And there are things that I 350 00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:09,640 cannot do because of my love for Jesus. 351 00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:12,800 For instance, some of you, you've had to help somebody out 352 00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:16,360 who's in a bad spot financially. We can definitely help people 353 00:23:16,360 --> 00:23:18,000 who are in a tough spot financially. 354 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:20,600 But you know what you can't do? You can't subsidized poor 355 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:23,720 financial decisions because then you just got to run your budget 356 00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:25,000 and go. So how much do I have to 357 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:27,840 subsidize If you're stupid, right? 358 00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:30,640 Like you're just going to keep making decisions like I got an 359 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:32,640 endless supply of cash. So at least we should both make 360 00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:34,600 decisions about how we're going to spend my money for you, 361 00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:38,160 right? When you get in a tough spot. 362 00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:41,160 How could I not help? But if this is a consistent 363 00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:45,200 behavior, there's a line. Here's why this matters. 364 00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:51,000 Often times people come to faith when they fall into a hole and 365 00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:57,320 hit rock bottom. A lot of people come to faith 366 00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:01,560 when they hit rock bottom. Do you know why we are so 367 00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:03,920 relentless and making sure that somebody's first time at our 368 00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:06,080 church is as great as we can possibly be? 369 00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:10,280 Because people usually don't show up for church skipping. 370 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:15,080 Oh, everything's going so great and I was bored today. 371 00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:20,360 They're coming because everything is falling apart and 372 00:24:20,360 --> 00:24:23,480 what happens is well meaning, good intentioned people. 373 00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:26,160 We see people going through hardship and we put so many 374 00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:29,680 mattresses down in the hole that they never actually hit rock 375 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:33,640 bottom. And then you finally run out of 376 00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:36,880 energy and you run out of resources and you can no longer 377 00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:38,880 give them what they've become accustomed to. 378 00:24:39,120 --> 00:24:44,360 And so they resent you and God because you never, they never 379 00:24:44,360 --> 00:24:47,720 got to fully experience the weight of their decisions and 380 00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:52,640 life without him. Let's that's just love. 381 00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:54,960 Let's do joy. Like, OK, whoa. 382 00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:58,920 All right, here we go. So many people today have 383 00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:02,600 equated joy with what psychologists would call toxic 384 00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:06,320 positivity, according to Psychology Today, so that we 385 00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:07,960 were using their definitions and not my own. 386 00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:11,880 Toxic positivity is the act of avoiding, suppressing, or 387 00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:14,320 rejecting negative emotions or experiences. 388 00:25:14,360 --> 00:25:16,440 I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine. 389 00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:20,760 And we end up faking our emotions and putting on a happy 390 00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:23,720 face and just being strong. Why? 391 00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:26,600 Well, because I, I, I've found this relationship with Jesus 392 00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:29,680 Christ and because of everything I have in Jesus, how could I 393 00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:35,640 possibly not have these harder emotions, these edgier emotions? 394 00:25:36,120 --> 00:25:39,400 And maybe you felt like somehow now that you came to faith in 395 00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:42,000 Christ, you got to fake it in Christ. 396 00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:45,760 And there's this pressure because since we've been made 397 00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:50,280 right with him and he's put eternity in our hearts, then all 398 00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:52,800 of a sudden, like we've got rainbows and butterflies just 399 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:55,200 falling out of our pockets. When we toot, it's like just a 400 00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:58,360 little pocket of gold falls out. We're like, Oh my goodness, 401 00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:03,280 that's fantastic. But then what happens when you 402 00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:07,840 don't feel that way? What happens when you have these 403 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:13,440 other emotions that show up in your life and now you think that 404 00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:17,520 unless you if you're feeling these emotions, that somehow 405 00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:23,560 your baptism didn't take, that your faith is fake, that your 406 00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:25,680 relationship with Jesus is rubbish. 407 00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:29,680 And so instead of going all right, I'm going to figure out 408 00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:32,920 my way through it. I'm going to pretend like 409 00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:37,640 everything is fine so that way I can somehow maintain this 410 00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:40,880 relationship with Jesus that doesn't seem to be working out. 411 00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:48,680 Anyway, Hear me God does not condemn the harder emotions like 412 00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:55,320 anger, sadness and grief. These emotions are a natural 413 00:26:55,320 --> 00:27:00,240 part of life and the human experience, especially since we 414 00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:05,280 live in a fallen world. And rightly handled, there is 415 00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:08,480 nothing wrong with experiencing them. 416 00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:13,000 Let me show you why I talk about good intention. 417 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:17,000 Fruit has a bad theology. All right, pay attention. 418 00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:21,320 God calls us to mourn over sin in Matthew 5. 419 00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:24,800 Weep over disobedience in 2nd Corinthians 7. 420 00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:28,080 Fear eternal separation from God in Matthew chapter 10. 421 00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:31,200 Be angry at injustice in Isaiah chapter 1. 422 00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:35,280 Rather than tamp down these negative emotions, the Bible 423 00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:39,600 says we are to weep with those who weep in Romans chapter 12. 424 00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:44,960 God wants us and welcomes us to be honest in our relationship 425 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:47,760 with him and our relationship with others. 426 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:51,680 It should come as no surprise to us that God knows all of our 427 00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:53,480 thoughts. Like why are you? 428 00:27:53,840 --> 00:27:56,440 It's like remember when you were when you have like the what? 429 00:27:56,440 --> 00:27:59,320 I don't know what size kids are, but what's the side when they 430 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:01,520 like close their eyes and they think that like you can't see 431 00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:03,440 them anymore. What age is that? 432 00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:06,880 Like 17 I don't like I weigh. I don't know what age. 433 00:28:09,160 --> 00:28:10,680 And that's somehow what we do with God. 434 00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:13,960 Like somehow I'm going to fake it so that way God doesn't know 435 00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:19,240 that I'm completely ticked. I can fake it in front of my 436 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:20,520 spouse. I can fake it in front of my 437 00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:21,680 family. I can fake it in front of my 438 00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:25,960 faith friends. And so, you know, can't see me. 439 00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:29,800 But the Bible says that nothing is hidden from God. 440 00:28:29,800 --> 00:28:31,480 Everything is uncovered and laid bare. 441 00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:37,280 Look what it says in Psalm 139. You have searched me Lord, and 442 00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:39,880 you know me. You know when I sit and when I 443 00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:42,160 rise. You perceive my thoughts from 444 00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:46,000 afar. You discern my going out and my 445 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:48,120 lying down. You are familiar with all my 446 00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:54,080 ways before a word is on my tongue, Lord, You know it 447 00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:57,360 completely. OK, let's just, let's just 448 00:28:57,360 --> 00:28:59,240 loosen it up for a second. How many of you have scare 449 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:03,200 cussed in the last 12 months? OK you guys, we're going to help 450 00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:04,360 you guys find a different church. 451 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:08,840 Only perfect people here, OK, before you scare cussed, God 452 00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:15,440 knew it was coming. So when you're going through 453 00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:19,000 emotions, do you know do you know the one person who's fully 454 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:22,080 aware of what you're going through Him. 455 00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:26,880 In fact, he knew you were going to be going through it before 456 00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:30,480 you went through it. If you're looking for something, 457 00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:33,720 go home and memorize. I didn't put it in the sermon 458 00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:35,720 because I'm just going to give you like a nugget for you to do 459 00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:38,120 when you get home. Second Corinthians chapter one, 460 00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:41,320 verse 3 through 4 gives a really incredible description about our 461 00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:44,520 God. It calls on the God of all 462 00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:49,640 comfort. And why would it matter if there 463 00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:53,640 was a God who comforts unless there was a people who needed to 464 00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:59,840 be comforted? And if God is a God of comfort, 465 00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:03,640 that means that you are going to be going through seasons and 466 00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:08,880 things and emotions that need you to be picked up and cared 467 00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:12,520 for. Jerry talked about this a couple 468 00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:14,880 weeks ago about limitations in the Bible. 469 00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:18,600 The author was more than likely Jeremiah, who was described as 470 00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:22,600 the weeping prophet. Imagine me being called the 471 00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:26,440 weeping pastor. He's just just sad and angry and 472 00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:28,080 crying all you're like, actually, he's getting pretty 473 00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:31,320 close. It's called lamentations because 474 00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:37,240 he was lamenting. He was crying, he was wailing, 475 00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:43,800 he was moaning, he was sobbing. So instead of ignoring or 476 00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:46,840 suppressing these emotions, pay attention. 477 00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:50,760 We hold them in the context of joy. 478 00:30:51,640 --> 00:30:54,760 Here's what this means. Joy is described as a sweet 479 00:30:54,760 --> 00:30:57,760 perfume hitting our nose. Fellows, if you ever like your 480 00:30:57,760 --> 00:31:00,920 wife is getting ready and she's been doing all the painting that 481 00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:03,800 she does and then like the last thing she does. 482 00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:06,920 And have you noticed guys put on Cologne like they put on 483 00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:13,560 deodorant on us, right? We take it like on us, not women 484 00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:16,320 because women are not frugal. Women do this. 485 00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:25,600 Oh, I mean, we didn't marry you because you're smart. 486 00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:26,960 We OK. They just. 487 00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:34,360 I don't, I don't 7 squirts in the air and then put it on you. 488 00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:40,840 OK, We put Jesus. I celebrated 15 years this week, 489 00:31:40,840 --> 00:31:42,320 folks. It's a it's a miracle. 490 00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:45,320 Yeah. Yeah. 491 00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:47,800 It's the greatest decision she's ever made outside of her 492 00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:52,760 relationship with Jesus. It's the joy is described as the 493 00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:56,760 feeling after a great harvest or a great promotion. 494 00:31:57,200 --> 00:32:02,600 Hold on a second, stick with me. Farmers, Have you ever had a 495 00:32:02,600 --> 00:32:06,800 great harvest and things were not going good at home? 496 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:18,880 Did you experience both the joy of the harvest and the hurt at 497 00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:23,280 home? That this joy is this perfume 498 00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:27,600 that hits our noses? Watch with me. 499 00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:33,040 Joy is keeping an eye on the on the fact that Jesus is seated on 500 00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:37,320 his throne while we are seated in our circumstances. 501 00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:40,920 This is what set the early church apart. 502 00:32:41,600 --> 00:32:44,240 The early church was marked by joy. 503 00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:47,840 Can I describe to you what the early church experienced? 504 00:32:48,480 --> 00:32:51,480 Yeah, they experienced extreme persecution. 505 00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:53,880 Why? Because Jesus promised that 506 00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:57,400 those who follow after him will experience hardship, persecution 507 00:32:57,400 --> 00:33:00,320 and pain. And at the same time, God says 508 00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:03,160 you, my people will be marked by their joy. 509 00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:08,080 So how do I have joy in the midst of my pain? 510 00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:14,320 Because joy is the assurance that our circumstances will not 511 00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:19,680 have the final word. Joy is knowing that our pain 512 00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:24,360 will not have the victory. Joy is knowing that God, in his 513 00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:29,360 timing, will redeem all things and reward us for our steadfast 514 00:33:29,360 --> 00:33:32,640 commitment to Him in the midst of the storm. 515 00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:37,480 Joy is this trust that God will eventually work all things 516 00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:41,680 together for His good. So when I'm sad and I'm hurt and 517 00:33:41,680 --> 00:33:45,240 I'm struggling, I can still have joy because I know that while he 518 00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:49,080 hasn't redeemed it yet, He will redeem it. 519 00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:53,360 And while it isn't going my way now, it doesn't have to go my 520 00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:57,760 way because my way was crucified with Christ and I no longer 521 00:33:57,760 --> 00:34:01,600 live, but Christ lives in me. So my will has already been 522 00:34:01,600 --> 00:34:04,320 crucified. My life doesn't belong to me, it 523 00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:07,240 belongs to him. I'm his chest piece. 524 00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:10,400 He can move me however he wants to move me because I don't 525 00:34:10,400 --> 00:34:12,400 belong to me anymore. I belong to Him. 526 00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:14,199 And the Bible says that God loves me. 527 00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:17,400 Send his Son to die on the cross for me, so he will redeem it in 528 00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:19,880 his time. What this means is that during a 529 00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:22,960 contentious election, Christians have joy because our leader 530 00:34:22,960 --> 00:34:24,960 can't be impeached, assassinated, and for that 531 00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:28,000 matter, he can't be elected. It means that that our diagnosis 532 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:31,679 is no match for what God has in store for us in eternity. 533 00:34:31,679 --> 00:34:34,760 Why does this matter? It's because this is what the 534 00:34:34,760 --> 00:34:38,000 world needs right now more than ever. 535 00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:42,520 Christians need to be the light of God in this very Dark World. 536 00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:45,760 We need to be set apart and different from the world in the 537 00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:49,040 way that we love and the way that we live in joy. 538 00:34:49,520 --> 00:34:53,080 They need to see the difference and experience the difference of 539 00:34:53,080 --> 00:34:57,640 being around authentic followers of Jesus. 540 00:34:58,520 --> 00:35:02,400 Counterfeit fruit leaves everyone disappointed. 541 00:35:04,360 --> 00:35:09,800 It is an unbiblical burden, an unnecessary burden, and a 542 00:35:09,840 --> 00:35:16,800 devastating burden to bear. However, the fruit of the Spirit 543 00:35:17,320 --> 00:35:23,200 produced in us by him is powerful and effective and life 544 00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:26,720 changing. So how do we produce this fruit? 545 00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:33,720 By staying connected to him. The way I describe it, the way I 546 00:35:33,720 --> 00:35:37,720 describe the word abide is this is going to get weird. 547 00:35:37,840 --> 00:35:40,440 So just stay with me. I've talked about this before, 548 00:35:40,440 --> 00:35:41,880 but it's always, it's a weird illustration. 549 00:35:43,240 --> 00:35:47,520 Have you ever guys OK? A long time ago, I would take a 550 00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:50,000 long hot bath. Guys shouldn't take baths. 551 00:35:50,040 --> 00:35:52,880 It's just weird. Like who wants to walk into a a 552 00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:55,040 room and see their husband with suds? 553 00:35:55,040 --> 00:35:58,880 I mean, it's just, you know, But you know what happens when your 554 00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:01,480 kids stay in a in a hot bath too long? 555 00:36:02,440 --> 00:36:04,160 What do they get? Yeah, Yeah. 556 00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:05,880 We, we call it pruney. I don't even know if that's the 557 00:36:05,880 --> 00:36:08,800 right word, but you get pruney. Now question. 558 00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:13,880 Can you make yourself pruney? Nope, there's only one way to 559 00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:17,520 get pruning and that is to stay in the hot water for an 560 00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:21,800 extremely long period of time. You cannot produce prunes make 561 00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:24,800 me pruning. You can't do it can't. 562 00:36:25,440 --> 00:36:34,000 There's only one way time in. So when you abide in Christ, 563 00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:37,920 what you are doing is you are putting yourself in a position 564 00:36:38,120 --> 00:36:42,560 to get a pruning faith. I'm going to abide, I'm going to 565 00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:46,760 remain. I'm going to stay in His Word, 566 00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:50,640 in prayer, in obedience, in community. 567 00:36:50,960 --> 00:36:58,800 And when I put myself in, the Holy Spirit produces the fruit. 568 00:36:59,680 --> 00:37:03,080 I cannot manufacture God honoring love. 569 00:37:04,600 --> 00:37:08,480 I cannot create God honoring joy. 570 00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:14,320 I cannot manifest it in my life. There is no special prayer. 571 00:37:15,240 --> 00:37:19,520 Holy Spirit, give me joy now stilt it. 572 00:37:22,560 --> 00:37:26,720 I can't make it. He produces it. 573 00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:33,200 The only way He produces it in me is when I choose to remain in 574 00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:37,040 Him. And that is why this matters is 575 00:37:37,040 --> 00:37:39,880 because the world is looking for Christians. 576 00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:43,680 And the only way for us to be the Christians that God called 577 00:37:43,680 --> 00:37:47,480 us to be is for us to produce the fruit that this world 578 00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:51,400 desperately needs. And the only way for you and I 579 00:37:52,400 --> 00:37:57,400 to do that is to have a genuine, authentic walk with Christ. 580 00:37:57,880 --> 00:37:59,320 We're moving to a time of decision. 581 00:38:04,240 --> 00:38:06,880 To those of you in this room and to those of you watching online 582 00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:09,120 who don't have an intimate personal relationship with Jesus 583 00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:12,080 Christ, you need to hear me. You cannot possess these, you 584 00:38:12,080 --> 00:38:17,360 cannot experience these, you cannot distribute these until 585 00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:19,240 you're in a right relationship with Jesus. 586 00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:25,240 And so all the people around you are not experiencing the full 587 00:38:25,240 --> 00:38:29,400 power and potential of God in their lives because it is not 588 00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:35,720 flowing through you, but it can. You might be going. 589 00:38:35,840 --> 00:38:39,440 There's no way God's going to put all of that in me after all 590 00:38:39,440 --> 00:38:42,240 that I've done. But you need to know that that 591 00:38:42,240 --> 00:38:45,040 has been his track record since the beginning of time. 592 00:38:48,720 --> 00:38:53,320 There's only one perfect person he ever used, and that was his 593 00:38:53,320 --> 00:38:56,800 son Jesus. But everybody else in the Bible 594 00:38:57,480 --> 00:39:00,080 was as busted up and broken as you. 595 00:39:00,080 --> 00:39:05,400 He has always used broken vessels to carry His Holy Spirit 596 00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:10,400 into broken places. The question is not not whether 597 00:39:10,400 --> 00:39:13,080 or not you're broken. The question is whether or not 598 00:39:13,080 --> 00:39:16,680 you will take the broken pieces of your life and put it in His 599 00:39:16,680 --> 00:39:20,360 hand so He can make you whole and He can fill you up. 600 00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:24,280 And what I would call that, I would call that an intimate 601 00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:26,080 personal relationship with Jesus. 602 00:39:26,800 --> 00:39:30,640 And that is the heartbeat of this church because we believe 603 00:39:30,680 --> 00:39:37,800 anybody at any time can start it, can have it, can experience 604 00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:41,120 it, and that means it's available for you. 605 00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:44,360 And so if you're here today and you've never started an 606 00:39:44,360 --> 00:39:47,200 intimate, personal relationship with Jesus Christ, please don't 607 00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:51,080 put it off any longer. Right over there, in just a few 608 00:39:51,080 --> 00:39:52,680 moments, when the people around you stand and sing, there's 609 00:39:52,680 --> 00:39:55,240 going to be somebody over there by the baptistry who would love 610 00:39:55,240 --> 00:39:58,880 a chance to talk with you to those of you who already have a 611 00:39:58,880 --> 00:40:03,600 relationship with Jesus Christ. Our world does not need a fake 612 00:40:03,960 --> 00:40:08,000 manufactured appearance of a relationship with Jesus Christ. 613 00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:11,880 They see your Christian bumper sticker leaves, and they see 614 00:40:11,880 --> 00:40:15,400 your Christian calendar and where you're at on Sundays, and 615 00:40:15,400 --> 00:40:17,560 they're seeing that you're calling yourself a Christian. 616 00:40:17,560 --> 00:40:20,480 And then when they show up to eat, there's no fruit. 617 00:40:25,240 --> 00:40:29,920 And sometimes they feel an awful lot like me, feeling like they 618 00:40:29,920 --> 00:40:32,640 just came into this great relationship with Jesus, and 619 00:40:32,640 --> 00:40:37,160 they show up at the tag shop trying to sell it to realize the 620 00:40:37,160 --> 00:40:41,320 prophet, only to find out that what we've passed on to them is 621 00:40:41,320 --> 00:40:45,960 just more pressure of faking this life with Christ than being 622 00:40:45,960 --> 00:40:52,840 honest and real about it. The people around us need to 623 00:40:52,840 --> 00:40:58,720 bump into people who have truly abided in Him so they can 624 00:40:58,720 --> 00:41:01,760 experience what we have experienced in Him. 625 00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:04,240 There might be some of you in here. 626 00:41:04,240 --> 00:41:07,360 You've been trying to live the Christian life instead of 627 00:41:07,360 --> 00:41:12,320 abiding in Christ. This series, I'm going to unpack 628 00:41:12,320 --> 00:41:15,200 it more in like 3 weeks, man. There's this fear I have in this 629 00:41:15,200 --> 00:41:18,200 series that some of you, this will be incredibly empowering 630 00:41:18,520 --> 00:41:21,040 and for others of you, this will be a huge permission slip. 631 00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:25,680 But if you're here today and your walk with Christ is you're 632 00:41:25,680 --> 00:41:28,280 struggling to be genuine and authentic in it, and you're 633 00:41:28,280 --> 00:41:30,480 trying to live this Christian life on your own power and your 634 00:41:30,480 --> 00:41:32,840 own strength, and you're trying to live this life with Christ 635 00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:36,240 without abiding. Oh, impossible. 636 00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:39,800 And so maybe one of the steps we could do is spend a little bit 637 00:41:39,800 --> 00:41:44,200 of time at every worship moment on our knees begging God to help 638 00:41:44,200 --> 00:41:46,680 us be who he created us to be in him. 639 00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:56,720 Would you stand with me? Heavenly Father, your your word 640 00:41:56,720 --> 00:42:04,280 describes the spirit as a wind. And so Heavenly Father, I am 641 00:42:04,280 --> 00:42:06,960 asking you to blow through this place. 642 00:42:08,880 --> 00:42:12,320 Blow through every one of our campuses, blow through every one 643 00:42:12,320 --> 00:42:14,880 of the places where we're gathering inside. 644 00:42:14,880 --> 00:42:18,320 Go through, blow through every place that is watching online. 645 00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:25,560 God help us to catch the wind, catch your Spirit and God take 646 00:42:25,560 --> 00:42:27,520 us to places we never would have been on our own. 647 00:42:28,600 --> 00:42:30,000 In your name I pray. Amen.