Engedi Church | September 27, 2026

- I pray Jesus in the world today. Come on, thank you Lord. Hallelujah, come on, let's worship the Lord today. (upbeat music) ♪ Thank you, Jesus ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Come on, let's sing ♪ ♪ Black ground into the atmosphere ♪ ♪ The speed of God we hear you heard ♪ ♪ All the dole in you ♪ ♪ I pray over my heart in mine ♪ ♪ I'm hereby listened to blood ♪ ♪ The cliffs that I am torturing ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I pray, calling on the power of heaven ♪ ♪ I proclaim ♪ ♪ Every weapon formed against me ♪ ♪ Must pray in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I draw for an impounder ♪ ♪ Hear me that no rights to come ♪ ♪ Hear my family ♪ ♪ No seed will forever hunt to the gut ♪ ♪ No matter the circumstance, the cross ♪ ♪ To seal my ears to be ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I pray, calling on the power of heaven ♪ ♪ I proclaim ♪ ♪ Every weapon formed against me ♪ ♪ Must pray in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪

♪ I know all the power of heaven ♪ ♪ And all this must go ♪ ♪ He's ever key to every bit to me ♪ ♪ I hope in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ In the holy name of Jesus ♪ ♪ In the enemy he calls me ♪ ♪ On the glory of my life ♪ ♪ He's the good of people to sing ♪ ♪ And I will not fear, I will not fear ♪ ♪ There's an army of angels here ♪ ♪ I'm protected on our side ♪ ♪ By the blood of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ And I will not fear, I will not fear ♪ ♪ In the enemy he comes here ♪ ♪ On the door frame of my life ♪ ♪ He's the good of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ And I will not fear, I will not fear ♪ ♪ There's an army of angels here ♪ ♪ I'm protected on our side ♪ ♪ By the blood of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I pray, calling on the power of Him ♪ ♪ I'll proclaim, everywhere faithful against Him ♪ ♪ I pray, in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I know, I know ♪ ♪ All the power of Him and darkness ♪ ♪ Must go ♪ ♪ Just every key to everything ♪

♪ I know, in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) ♪ I've lived too ♪ ♪ Please come in ♪ ♪ And don't lose your fights in the fight ♪ ♪ Oh, please come in ♪ ♪ And I think the rise ♪ ♪ I think the rise will come in ♪ ♪ When we prophesy and prophesy ♪ ♪ We come in ♪ ♪ Walking up, walking up, walking up ♪ ♪ Walking is true ♪ ♪ Just fix your eyes on Jesus ♪ ♪ Just fix your eyes on Jesus ♪ ♪ We'll give you a soul of confidence ♪ ♪ Sing in the face of sorrow ♪ ♪ Forever you feel your heart ♪ ♪ You're gonna sing out the truth and know ♪ ♪ But in the moment we're here today ♪ ♪ The spirit of God will be here today ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy, holy Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ You can hold the soul ♪ ♪ And the soul you're not alone ♪ ♪ Just remember, oh ♪

♪ Oh ♪ ♪ We took your soul, we took your soul ♪ ♪ Joy is coming ♪ ♪ Sing in the night, sing in the night ♪ ♪ Joy is coming in you ♪ ♪ You won't paint your eyes, I'll paint your eyes ♪ ♪ You will sing in the kingdom of the life ♪ ♪ The keeper of life is on your side ♪ ♪ He can choose the end ♪ ♪ He's on day for the end ♪ ♪ And maybe a soul of confidence ♪ ♪ Sing in the face of sorrow ♪ ♪ Forever you feel your heart ♪ ♪ We'll sing out the truth and know ♪ ♪ But in the moment we're here today ♪ ♪ We're spirit of God, we're here ♪ ♪ We're all in your holy power ♪ ♪ In Jesus Christ, we call the soul ♪ ♪ 'Cause soul you're not alone ♪ ♪ We took our soul, we took our soul ♪ ♪ Oh yeah, we light ♪ ♪ That's not the end, that's not the end ♪ ♪ You gave a better heart to me ♪ ♪ That's what I'll sing, that's what I'll sing ♪ ♪ The devil tried to keep me down ♪ ♪ But that's not the end, that's not the end ♪ ♪ Oh we'll hear the hands of darkness ♪ ♪ Worship the land, worship the land ♪ ♪ You gave a better heart to me ♪ ♪ That's not the end, that's not the end ♪

♪ You gave a better heart to me ♪ ♪ That's what I'll sing, that's what I'll sing ♪ ♪ The devil tried to keep me down ♪ ♪ But that's not the end, that's not the end ♪ ♪ Oh we're here to go up again ♪ ♪ Worship the land, we give you a song of confidence ♪ ♪ We'll just sing in the face of suffering ♪ ♪ We'll never feel your heart forget ♪ ♪ Sing out the truth you know ♪ ♪ You're riding the ball that you're getting in ♪ ♪ You're swearing to God, we'll breathe again ♪ ♪ And all of you hope be found in Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ We call it a song ♪ ♪ This is a song of confidence ♪ ♪ We'll sing in the face of suffering ♪ ♪ We'll never feel your heart forget ♪ ♪ Sing out the truth you know ♪ ♪ Riding the ball that you're getting in ♪ ♪ You're swearing to God, we'll breathe again ♪ ♪ All of you hope be found in Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ We call it a song ♪ ♪ This is a song of confidence ♪ ♪ We'll sing in the face of suffering ♪ ♪ We'll never feel your heart forget ♪ ♪ Sing out the truth you know ♪ ♪ Riding the ball ♪ ♪ The spirit of God will breathe again ♪ ♪ Hold on to hope ♪ ♪ I'll make you laugh ♪ ♪ Don't come home to stone ♪

♪ It'll show I'm not alone ♪ ♪ I love you Lord ♪ ♪ I'll make you for the cross ♪ ♪ Thank you Lord ♪ ♪ Thank you for the cross ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Thank you for the cross ♪ ♪ Would we not forget ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ The cross has the fire in white ♪ ♪ And the cross has the fire in white ♪ ♪ He tried it out ♪ ♪ He tried in white ♪ ♪ The cross has the fire in white ♪ ♪ Thank you Jesus ♪ ♪ The cross has the fire in white ♪ ♪ And the cross has the fire in white ♪ ♪ And the Savior has come with the fire ♪ ♪ And in white the cross has the fire in white ♪ ♪ You have the fire in white ♪ ♪ You have the fire in white ♪ ♪ Come on just begin to cry out to the Lord ♪ ♪ He's in the light ♪ ♪ He has the fire in white ♪ ♪ You have the fire in white ♪ ♪ This will love ♪ ♪ This will love in Jesus ♪ ♪ This will love in Jesus ♪ ♪ Come on if you came here broken ♪ ♪ Would you just fix your eyes on Jesus ♪

♪ Come on if there's a knee ♪ ♪ That means that the Lord is gonna meet you here ♪ ♪ That the blood has the final word ♪ ♪ Would we not forget the cross ♪ ♪ Would we not forget what Jesus did for us ♪ ♪ Would you just fix your eyes on Him ♪ ♪ You still love Him ♪ ♪ You still love Him ♪ ♪ Can't Jesus ♪ ♪ There's no light keep in the hands of all you ♪ ♪ There is no light keep in the heavens and all the earth ♪ ♪ There is no light keep in the hands of all the earth ♪ ♪ There is no light keep in the hands of all the earth ♪ ♪ There is no light keep in the hands of all the earth ♪ ♪ There is no light keep in the hands of all the earth ♪ ♪ There is no light keep in the hands of all the earth ♪ ♪ There is no light keep in the hands of all the earth ♪ ♪ There is no light keep in the hands of all the earth ♪ ♪ There is no light keep in the hands of all the earth ♪ ♪ There is no light keep in the hands of all the earth ♪ ♪ There is no light keep in the hands of all the earth ♪ ♪ There is no light keep in the hands of all the earth ♪ ♪ There is no light keep in the hands of all the earth ♪ ♪ There is no light keep in the hands of all the earth ♪ ♪ There is no light keep in the hands of all the earth ♪ ♪ There is no light keep in the hands of all the earth ♪ I'm the one that I'm in There is no one like you in the head No sleep, no sleep The bed of hearts makes you shake me full

No one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long There is no one like you in the head No one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here

There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here

There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here There is no one like you in the head so long here So breathe on me breath of God I throw my hands up in the air You can take me anywhere So breathe on me breath of God I need a fresh touch I throw my hands up in the air You can take me anywhere Ooh sweet I surrender Ooh ever take over me Gotta wanna be baptized here Ooh fine take over me Yeah Let's take over me life Forgive me when the God Somewhere in the heaven knows Somewhere so incredible Nothing to take on me I'm letting go of God

I'm getting good at letting go It's better when you live control Just commit our surrender Forgive me take over me Gotta wanna be baptized here Ooh fine take over me My body is a temple For all my love will be a vessel Who's doing all take over Take over me take over me Yeah Come take over me Jesus Take over me Lord Take it over me Lord We're about to survive I remember knowing There's something I could buy The impossible I think the world was red It's better when you're good (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)

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(upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ In the bottom, in the Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ Now we get a fire, now we get a heart ♪ ♪ Now we get a fire, now we get a heart ♪ ♪ In the Holy Ghost, now we get a fire ♪ ♪ In the Holy Ghost, now we get a fire ♪ ♪ In the Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ So breathe on me breath of God ♪ Come on, can you tell me more time? ♪ So breathe on me breath of God ♪ My body is a temple. ♪ My body is a temple ♪ ♪ For all my life I'll be a vessel ♪ ♪ All this nearly come, take over ♪ ♪ Take over ♪ ♪ Take over ♪ Yes, yes, yes, yes. Yes, yes, yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Yes, yes. Oh Father, we just want to say that's our heart and that's our hope that you would take over our lives fully and completely. Jesus, would you be present to us even today? Holy Spirit, would you fill us even today with everything that we need? We believe you are fully capable of doing just that. And so would this day be a day of supernatural ministry? In Jesus' name we pray it and everybody said, Amen, amen, go ahead and grab a seat. Well good morning everybody, it's so good to see you today and if we have not met before,

my name is Brian and I want to welcome you to Engeti. We're so glad you're here today. I wonder if we can make some noise for all of our first-time guests at every campus today. Can we do that Church? (applause) I want to say good morning to Engeti Española. I want to say hi to all of those in jails and prisons around the country who right now are worshiping with us. We are honored to be your brothers and sisters in Christ. And I want you to know also this unique privilege that I get to preach live and Grand Rapids at the 11 o'clock, so go Grand Rapids, alright? Now today we got a great day ahead of us in the Word, but before I get there I want to just comment briefly on what Christina mentioned earlier, which is our group's fair happening in the lobby. When you read the New Testament what you discover is that the people of God met in large settings like this with lots of people, but then they also met in homes where they could be known to each other, where they could encourage each other and pray for each other. And so I want to really encourage you, if you're not yet part of a life group here at Engeti, this is your time to take that risk and to take that step. We have groups of every kind, like just go through the tables and check them out. We have groups that only are going to meet eight or ten times. That's all you're commitmentists, because I know some of you are like, "I don't want to get in one of these groups I'm going to be in for..." Alright, eight or ten times is all I'm asking. But take a risk in faith in Jesus' name and discover the power of God. we're part of. Amen Church. So I want to encourage you to join a life group, check that out. And today we're going to continue in a series that we started last week called Followers, Not Fans.

Now Pastor Lungs was here last week as a study on discipleship and Pastor Lungs led us off last week with not only what I believe is probably the best message I've ever heard Pastor Lungs preach, but what may be one of the very best messages that has ever been preached at and get a church, all right? It was an incredible start to the series. I implore you, if you missed last week, please go back and watch it on YouTube and take part in what the Spirit of God did in our church family last week. In fact, while you're on YouTube two weeks before that, I did our vision casting message for the year. And I want to encourage you if you missed that, go back. I'm giving you some homework right at the start today, all right? You got two messages to catch up on if you missed the last couple of weeks. But today we're going to continue in our series Followers, Not Fans. The reason why we're going to spend a few weeks just talking about discipleship, talking about what it means to be a follower of Jesus, is because listen to me closely, Jesus never sought to gather crowds. Jesus sought to build disciples. There's a difference. All right. Crowds can come in. They can be present for one moment. But then the next moment, they're like, oh, you know, I want to, I'm going to skip out and do whatever crowds or fickle crowds are just there for the attraction of it. And Jesus had some crowds, but at times the crowds walked. Jesus was okay with that because Jesus was never about just the massing crowds. Jesus was about building disciples of Jesus Christ who actually followed him with their whole lives. I want you to know, I celebrate when we have a room full of people like this. I love when the Grand Rapids campus is full. I love all of that.

But what we're passionate about here at Engetty is building disciples of Jesus, amen church. We want to build a community that follows Jesus. Can I get a good shot of amen on that? That's what we're about. And so like every teaching series, we've got a Bible reading plan that's available for this series. If you are not already on a Bible reading plan, you can go to our website or you can go to our app and you can get on the Bible reading plan for this series. It's going to help you get in the Word of God. But today what I want to do is look at another biblical text that is absolutely fundamental to what it means to be a follower of Jesus, not a fan. If you have a Bible, I want to ask you to turn to John chapter 15. This chapter is in a series of teaching as Jesus gives, not long, honestly, before he goes to the cross. So there's a specific kind of weight to the words that we're about to read. John 15, beginning in verse 1, this is Jesus Christ speaking to us and saying this, I am the true vine and my father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit. All every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, so that it will be even more fruitful. Somebody shout out fruitful. You're already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me and I will also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit Jesus says, unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. This is to my father's glory that you bear much fruit, showing yourself to be my disciples. And so father in these next moments we pray and ask that you would meet us the study of your word. Come here with hearts of expectancy, not just doing the motions of church, but believing that the same Holy Spirit that we just got done singing about is present even right now. And so we say Holy Spirit would you speak to us right now. For the person in the room who is not yet a follower of Jesus, thank you for drawing them to this family, to this church today. Would they be encouraged by you? And now Father we say speak to us in Jesus name and all God's people said, amen. So here's what I would like to do today. I really want to help us have an understanding of what healthy spiritual growth looks like. And I was thinking about this topic and it made me think of a surgery I had a number of years ago. I had a sinus surgery, some of you have had this very uncomfortable, very unpleasant process where a doctor goes surgeon, goes up in your nose and straightens all the things around and then says like you can breathe again. And so I had that surgery and I was really excited for the results. I went under obviously like they fully put you to sleep for that major surgery. And when I woke up, I've got a picture to show you, I looked like this. Okay, now what my doctor explained to me is is what he said, what you're wearing right now, we call a nose bra. You heard me right. He said to a grown man, for the next days you will be wearing a nose bra. And I remember hearing him say that and I followed up with a question immediately which was help me understand what a healthy recovery journey looks like. Help me understand the milestones and the mile markers here. I wanted to know, you know, in the next days and weeks and even months to come what that

looked like. But of course, what I really wanted to know is when do I get to take the nose bra off? All right, this is emasculating right now. What I want to do today is help you understand what a healthy spiritual journey looks like. If you are a follower of Jesus, what are the milestones and mile markers that would indicate? You are moving in the right direction towards Jesus. Sound good everybody? So let's take a look beginning at verse one. We're asking what does it mean to be a follower, not just a fan of Jesus. And Jesus says this, it's a bit of an implicit kind of acknowledgement of what it means to have a healthy spiritual journey. He said, I am the true vine. My father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me, that's important, that bears no fruit. While every branch in me that does bear fruit, he prunes. Why is this? Your first step of healthy spiritual life is to be a branch that is connected to the vine who is Jesus. First step of having healthy spiritual growth is to recognize you cannot do it by yourself. You cannot produce fruit by yourself. You cannot get healthy by yourself. You cannot grow by yourself. You need to be connected to Jesus who is the source of life and who is the source of fruit, amen? How do you get connected to Jesus? Romans chapter 10 and verse 9 says this, if you declare with your mouth, Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. If you're interested in being connected to the vine, that is Jesus, if you're interested in spiritual growth and producing the kind of fruit that Jesus described, please, please understand.

Becoming connected to the vine isn't a product of your own work. You don't earn it. You don't deserve it. You don't strive for it. Becoming connected to the vine, being connected to Jesus is as simple as saying, "Jesus, I am a sinner. I have brokenness in my life. There is a punishment to do that brokenness that I cannot pay, but thank God I don't have to because Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins. I trust you, Jesus, as the Savior of my sins, and from this point forward, I call you and identify you as the Lord and as the leader of my life." And remember what we said last week. Jesus is either Lord of all or He is not Lord at all. What does it mean to have healthy spiritual growth? First it means you are connected to the vine who is Jesus. You have said, "Jesus, forgive me of my sins. I'm calling out to you as Lord. I'm no longer calling the shots over my own life, my own direction, my own dreams, my own relationships, my own sexuality. I'm saying, "Jesus, you're Lord." That's how it starts. I pray that if you are in the sound of my voice today and you haven't yet taken the step of being connected to the vine, that today will be the day you put your trust in Jesus. I believe God brought you here today if you're not yet connected to the vine because today And so a healthy spiritual journey begins when you get connected to the branch. Now, what's clear in the text is the natural path forward. Once you are connected to Jesus, you are a vine connected to the branch is that you start to grow and produce spiritual fruit. In the eight verses that we read, eight verse seven times, Jesus talks about being fruitful. First He says, if you're connected to Him in the vine, you're going to produce fruit.

Then He takes it a step further and He says, if you're producing fruit and you're connected to Him, you're going to be pruned so that you will even be more fruitful. And then the final thing He says in verse eight is that it is to the Father's glory that you produce much fruit, somebody shout out much fruit. Do you know this is what God wants to do in your life church? He wants to produce much fruit through you. And so we need to understand the normal natural path of a disciple is to produce increasing amounts of spiritual fruit. Now the question I want to ask is, what does that fruit look like? What does it look like when you are connected to Jesus and He is producing His fruit through your life? I think Christians get confused on this at times. I think sometimes we mistake spiritual blessings from God with spiritual fruit. What I mean by that is for some of us we go, oh man, I got into the school, the college that I wanted and I'm good in good grades, spiritual fruit, it's actually spiritual blessing. We say, oh man, I got a promotion at my job and I'm doing really well right now and income is good, spiritual blessing. We say, oh man, I've been hoping that God would introduce me to someone like you lady. Maybe you're sitting by her today and you don't know, okay, I'm one minute to mingle every Sunday, I'm just giving you guys a chance, all right? And you're like, I finally found her and maybe you're married now and maybe you're thinking about kids, spiritual blessing. But be careful, spiritual blessing is not the same as spiritual fruit. So I studied the entire New Testament on this subject. And what I discovered is there are only five types of spiritual fruit identified in the Bible. Can I tell you what they are, church? Five types of spiritual fruit. This is what Jesus wants to produce through your life. I'm going to move fast.

I would encourage you to take notes right now. First spiritual fruit named in the New Testament comes from Hebrews 13 verse 15. Through Jesus it says, therefore let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise. Watch this. The fruit. Everybody say the fruit. The fruit of lips that openly profess his name. First fruit of being connected to Jesus is growing passion for worship. The first fruit of that you are growing in Christ is that you have a greater and greater desire to love God with all of your heart and all of your soul and all of your mind and all of your strength. The first fruit of a growing relationship with God is that your spiritual life isn't just something you keep on the inside, but the text says you openly profess the goodness of God to anyone who will listen. This is the fruit of growing passion for worship. Second fruit that Jesus produces in someone who is connected to him as the true vine. Galatians 5 verse 22, you're going to know this verse, many of you, the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The fruit we're describing here is growing Christ-like character. As you are growing in Christ, you are seeing your life become more and more like Jesus Christ. Sin is increasingly losing its attraction to you, losing its place and its foothold in your life. That does not mean I'm saying we don't wrestle with sin still. We will wrestle with sin until we get on the other side of the grave and we meet Jesus face-to-face. There is still a battle with sin, but as you grow in Christ, how many of you experience this sin doesn't look as good. You don't see sin as present in your life, why? Because more and more you just want to follow Jesus. You see his character, the way he thinks, the way he feels bearing out in your life. the type of fruit is growing in Christ's likeness.

Third type of fruit. Third type of fruit of someone who is growing in Christ is you have a growing desire, watch this, to serve people. Increasingly, you look at your life and you are able to say, "I'm putting my needs and my preferences second so that I might serve somebody around me and put them before me." I love the passage that shows up in the book of Galatians where Paul is writing about this very practice and he says, "Let us do good to all people," right? Especially those to those who belong to the family of believers, he's talking about doing good to the church, amen? So third type of fruit. You guys hanging in there so far? I told you I'm going fast, I got two more to go. So number 4. Philippians chapter 4 verse 16. Paul writes, "Even in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs once and again," and he's talking about financial help. He said, "Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit." What Paul is identifying here is the fruit of growing kingdom generosity. What Paul is describing here is the person who as they are growing in Christ has an increasing desire to leverage their personal resources for the advancement of what God is doing in the world. The fruit here is you have less of a desire to continue to constantly be dreaming about how you can get the next thing on your wish list and you find yourself actually increasingly dreaming about how you can give more of your money away to God's purpose. How many of you know generosity is the fruit of God's work in your life? We just are wrapping up actually today a campaign for an organization that we partner with called Black Box. And Black Box comes alongside persecuted Christians around the world. Christians who have been beaten, jailed, secreted away to places we don't even know leaving their families behind, Black Box steps in and supports those very believers. That's what this partnership is about. That's what this giving campaign is about. Now listen, I understand not everybody is called to give to Black Box. That's okay. But here's what I believe. Every growing Christian should at least want to give to Black Box. Every growing Christian should hear stories of Christians who are literally being thrown in jail as the primary breadwinners and don't even know when they're going to get out all because they will not back down from the name of Jesus. And if you are a growing Christian, there should be something inside you that says, "God, I really would like to help with that." It's a fruit of growth in Christ. Now listen, God, you might pray about it and God says, "Hey, not this time. This giving opportunity is not for you, but I would contend if you are healthy in Christ, you at least want to give." Amen Church? I'm talking about kingdom generosity here, fourth mark of healthy growth in Jesus Christ. And then the fifth mark of fruitfulness in Christ is identified in Romans chapter 1 and Paul again is writing the Apostle. He says, "I planned many times to come to you in order that I may have a harvest among you, a harvest of fruit among you, just as ever I have had among the other Gentiles. And here the fruit Paul is identifying as growing evangelistic impact. What Paul is saying is, as you are growing in Christ, you carry within you an increasing burden from those who are living apart from Jesus and heading toward a Christless eternity. You are no longer content to walk into school or work or drive into your neighborhood and be casual about the thousands of people around us that are perishing apart from Christ. Your heart is freshly and increasingly alive towards those who do not know Jesus and you are eager to share your faith with them that one more might come into the kingdom of heaven." Now you remember two weeks ago I gave you an assignment and I said this year I want every single person to identify who is your one more that you're going to pray for this year, that you're going to love, that you're going to encourage and that you are going to believe is going to step into the family of God through the blood of Jesus this year. How many of you got one more? All right, well, who's your one more? Shout out to the name. Ben, all right, another hand over here? Who had a hand up? Who's your one more?

Shannon, all right, I need a dude right now. Dude, okay, right there, white shirt. Sagan? Denea, got it, right here. All right, that's Houston? Easton, Easton, all right, I love that name. Okay, I'm gonna count to three, and I want you all just to shout your one more at the same time, all right? One, two, three. All right, would they come to know Jesus this year in Jesus' name, right? This is growing evangelistic fruitfulness. We are praying that God would produce greater burden for lost people in our lives. Now, watch this, these are the five biblical fruits. Remember I had the nose brawn, I said, I want the mile markers, just tell me doctor, where am I supposed to be at day two and day five and week three and, you know, all that? These are the mile markers on if your walk with Jesus is in a healthy place, you're seeing these five fruits in increasing measure, growing worship, growing Christ-likeness, growing service to others, growing generosity and growing heart for evangelism. And I have to tell you friends, that list encourages me because I read those things and I'm like, yes God, that's who I wanna be. I'm like, thank you God, that those are the fruits that you wanna produce in my life

because I wanna be a person who loves Jesus more, don't you church? I wanna be a person who carries a greater burden for lost people, don't you church? I wanna be the kind of person who gives my life a way to other people and isn't always dreaming about how I can put myself as number one and buy the next thing for me but said, God, would you use me to be a blessing to others? You want that church? I love these fruits so much. And you know what's cool? When you see these fruits growing in your life, your life actually gets better. You realize that? I've been married to this girl in the front row for 29 years. And can I tell you, that's amazing. 30 you really got it here though, I'm not even kidding about that, all right? 29 years and I can tell you, and she could say the same thing, we talk about it regularly, in all sincerity, every single year of our marriage has been better than the previous one. Why? Is it because we don't have arguments and we don't annoy each other? No, I annoy Christina a lot, just ask her on it,

she'll tell you. But the reason why I can say every year of our marriage has gotten better is because every single year of our life, Christina and I have gotten closer to Jesus. And I'll just say it, all right? The woman I am married to today is not the same woman I married 29 years ago. The woman I married 29 years ago, she was great, but I want to tell you, the woman I married to today is way better, all right? Why? Because she's been walking with Jesus for 29 years. The fruit of the spirit is evident in our life and it's made our marriage better. Are y'all hearing me right now? All right, let me give you another example. I was thinking about a story I told a number of weeks ago here at Engetty about a woman who works at a large company here on the Lakeshore. And she worked and started in the production line at her company, no management experience and no management responsibilities, just the lowest level position. But the fruit of the spirit of God was present in her life. And people saw how she treated people and people saw how she carried herself and her managers gave her a chance to step into leadership. They promoted her once, they promoted her again,

they promoted her again, they promoted her again. And now this woman who was starting just on the production line floor is managing leading, coaching, and encouraging. Hundreds of people, why? Because the spirit of God is evident in her life. There are people all around her, I can see something's happening in this woman's life, all right? It's not just that God wants to produce these fruit in you, it's that your life actually gets better. There's a couple at our church that was having a really hard time with one of their children. And this wasn't like a little late on the curfew hard time, I mean it was tough. Some of your parents know what I'm talking about. And I love what they did, rather than just get caught up and how badly their son was misbehaving. They looked in the mirror and they had a realization. They said, "We are taking our family to church every Sunday." But mom and dad said, "We actually haven't surrendered our lives to Jesus." And so they made a decision to give their lives fully and finally to Christ. And at that very moment, God began a new work in them. Watch this, their kids witnessed mom and dad's transforming, the child that was giving them such a hard time. and their family is functioning in harmony. I'm just saying, the fruit of the Spirit of God makes your life better. Somebody shout out better. I guess so excited about God wants to produce this in me.

Don't you? This is what he wants to do. This is his heart. This is what Jesus can accomplish in your life. Now, obviously, there's a growth process. As much as it's God who produces the fruit, as much as it is God who grows you spiritually, you and I still have a role. And our role in the growth process can be summarized by two words. Remain, everybody say remain. First one's remain, and the other is receive. Everybody say receive. Take a look at verse four. Jesus says, remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. You notice the theme here, everybody. I mean, Jesus saying the only way that you're going to actually be fruitful, that you're going to produce those five fruits we talked about earlier, is if you remain in Jesus. And you might think, okay, what's it mean to remain in Jesus? How do I do that? Is it just like I got to pray a lot, or what? Well, Jesus answers that very question. Just a couple of verses later, verse 10, he said, listen, if you keep my commands, Jesus said, you will remain in my love.

Just as I have kept my father's commands and remain in his love. I love this, by the way. How many of you know Jesus doesn't call us into something that he himself didn't live first, right? Remaining in Jesus turns, listen to me closely, everybody. Remaining in Jesus turns, on knowing and living the Word of God. How do I remain in Jesus that I might say fruitful? Remaining in Jesus turns, on knowing what the Word of God says, and obeying what the Word of God says. Why are we so passionate about Bible reading plans here in Getty, because I want you to remain in the Word of God? I know if your life is not soaked in his Word, you cannot remain in Jesus, which means you will not be fruitful. That's why we're constantly pushing Bible reading plans on you now. If you are reading your Bible, it's very important you don't trick yourself and think, just because you are reading your Bible, that means you are remaining in Jesus. You remain in Jesus, not just by reading a book but by obeying what God has said. If you want to remain in Jesus, here's what I do every morning. Before I even read the Bible, I say God, how are you calling me to live differently from this Word?

Not God, how can you make me have some feelings right now? Not God, hey, can you just give me some like nice spiritual thoughts to start my day? God, what do you want me to do with this Word? I want to remain in Jesus, and I know if I'm going to remain in Jesus so I can be fruitful, I have to know the Word, but I also have to walk it out, amen, church? And so the first word as part of the growth process is remain, but then there's a second aspect of staying close to Jesus, of remaining in Him, of producing fruit, and that is receiving pruning from God, letting God shape you through hard experiences. And it's funny when it comes to pruning, because this is a subject I think a lot of Christians get really weird about when we start talking about pruning. Christians are like, oh man, the last thing I want is God to prune me. Oh man, I'm entering an uprooting season right now, I can't wait till it's over, I don't like this pruning. We talk about pruning like it's a death sentence in the church, right? Oh, the last thing, it's just terrible to be pruned by God. Can I remind you of just a couple of things, church? Number one, Jesus only gives you two options in the text, either live a lifetime of pruning or being cut off and burned. How many of you think pruning is a lot better option of those two, right? I'm like, you know what, pruning may have some challenge to it, but I might take pruning over cut off and burned,

you know, 10 times out of 10. That's the first thing I want to remind you of, but the second thing I want to remind you of when it comes to pruning is who is doing the pruning? Because at the very beginning of the text, God says that our Father, Jesus says that our Father is a loving gardener when he prunes us. Now, let me just ask you an honest question. Anybody ever met a mean gardener? Really? Anybody ever met a gardener who just like, you know what, I'm going to just get the shears out, I'm just gonna chop this. I don't even care about you anymore, plant. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, nobody's ever met him. Gardeners are so patient, patient and kind and mild and they always believe like Christina's had plants that I'm like, can we just put this thing in the trash and say, no, if I just change the water and I just snip it in the right places, I think it'll grow back and just be beautiful plant again, all right? Gardeners believe the best for the plant. They're so kind to the plant. I even read some stories and you can look this up on the internet. There are gardeners who have partnered with scientists to study if talking to your plants makes them grow better. Only a gardener would think of that, right? There's not a mechanic in the land that's like,

you know what, let's just try talking to the car and see if that fixes it, right? No, nobody does that, that's the heart of a gardener. And all I'm trying to say is, listen, if you're a follower of Christ, you do not need to be afraid of the father's pruning because how many of you know our father is a good gardener? Our father is a loving gardener. Our father believes the best for you and wants the best for you. You don't need to be afraid of the father's pruning. I wanna read to you what is probably in my mind the best verse in all of the Bible when it comes to what the pruning process is like. It says this in Hebrews chapter 12, "My son do not make light of the Lord's discipline." And do not lose heart when he rebukes you because the Lord disciplines the one he loves. And he chastens everyone he accepts as his son. Endure hardship as discipline. God's training you as his children. God disciplines us for our good in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. And so yes, God disciplines us. Yes, God leads us through hard times, but can I tell you, church, it's for your good.

Yes, at times that process of pruning is painful and yes, at times it's weary, but can I just tell you if God is pruning you, it's because he loves you as his son or as his daughter. Here's the key phrase though. It's right at the end of the verses I read. He says, "God produces a harvest of righteousness "for those who have been trained by his discipline, "by his pruning." The question you and I need to ask today, is are you allowing God's pruning to train you? Are you allowing that hardship? Are you allowing that difficulty to make you into something more? Are you inviting Jesus into your place of pain and maybe even suffering? (gentle music) I remember some time ago, I was going through a time of suffering in my life, and there were people saying things about me that weren't accurate and were just mean-hearted. And I remember talking to a friend whose name is Craig. And I sat down with Craig and I just kind of rolled out all my problems. They're saying this and it's not right and it's not fair and it's so difficult and it's so painful and I just bellyache and anybody ever does. That's what you need a good friend for, right? That's why you need to get a life group. I just want to bellyache and unloading on this guy.

And Craig listens to everything I have to say. And after I get done with my long stream of complaints and injustices, Craig says, Brian, you know you're right, what you're going through is unfair and it is hard. But he says it seems to me that God is allowing you to go through this. And so the only question you need to be asking is how does God want to grow me through this experience? Now I have to tell you when Craig gave me that question or that piece of advice, I thought this is the stupidest thing I've ever had in my life right there. I mean, this is the last thing I wanted to hear. I'm going through something difficult. I'm suffering right now. I'm going through a hard time and my guy doesn't, I wanted to sympathize with me. Oh, Brian, you're so hard. Oh, Brian, it's so difficult. I wanted to say, hey, let's go get some baseball bats and knock over some mailboxes of these people. I don't know, whatever, right? I'll take any of it. Instead, he asks me the question that I least wanted to hear, but I'm most needed to hear. How do you know that? Listen, I understand right now some of us are going through incredibly difficult times and I want to just ask you, are you letting God into it? How does he want to grow you through it? Because I believe as you invite God into that cancer journey, he's going to produce fruit in your life. As you invite God into that job loss, he's going to produce fruit in your life. As you invite God into that marriage breakdown, how many of you know God is going to produce

fruit in your life? God is a good gardener, he prunes us, but he prunes us always for good. If you know that, can you just give God a good praise right now? That's the heart of the Father for you, not to prune you to be mean to you, to prune you to produce the harvest in your life. And there's one outstanding question that we need to ask. What if you are not seeing increasing spiritual fruit in your life? What if those things I mentioned earlier aren't there? What if you're not growing in worship, not growing in Christ's likeness, not growing in a desire to serve others, not growing in generosity or evangelism? The first thing I would say is this, do not ignore this spiritual warning sign. Did you hear me church? Do not ignore this spiritual warning sign. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 7 verse 23 that there are going to be people who are church people, who meet him someday face to face on judgment day, and Jesus' word to them is depart from me. I never knew you. John chapter 5 Jesus says there are people who know the word of God. They've got their Bible reading plans and yet Jesus says they refuse to come to him for life. If you do not see spiritual fruit in your life, do not ignore this warning sign because Jesus says branches without growing fruit will be cut off and burned. Secondly, if you don't see the fruit we covered growing in your life, don't go try to leave church today and just go, oh man, I'm going to go produce a bunch of fruit this week. I'm going to go make, I got the list all those five things. I'm just going to make some stuff happen. Watch this. Fruit is not something you produce. Spiritual fruit is a byproduct of abiding in Christ. You hear the difference church? Fruit, spiritual fruit isn't like pastor gave me a list. So now Monday morning I'm knocking those things out and make sure like I'm doing good man. No, no, spiritual fruit is a byproduct of abiding in Jesus. You go out and you try to produce a bunch of fruit. I guarantee you might produce fruit for one or two days or maybe even weeks and then it's all going to go away again because it didn't come from abiding in Christ in the first place. If you look at your life, there's such a concern for me right now. If you look at your life and you say, I may be in church. I may read the Bible sometimes. I may listen to some sermons but I don't see growing spiritual fruit. What the Bible identifies as spiritual fruit, then my encouragement to you is to repent of your sins and put your trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior. Turn to him and say, Jesus, I need you to forgive my sins. And I'm calling out to you for right now as the Lord of my life. And so I want to pray right now and we're just going to ask God to make us even more fruitful. Father, thank you. Thank you that you are a loving gardener. Thank you that your

heart is not to just produce some fruit in our lives. Thank you that your heart is to produce much fruit in our lives. Thank you, Father, that you want us to grow and worship, that you want to help us grow in Christ's likeness, in service to others, in generosity, in sharing our faith. That is who we want to be and we pray that is the fruit that you will produce. Listen, God, there are some of us here today that we haven't yet given our lives to you. And maybe we've told ourselves we're good spiritually because after all we attend church, we're good spiritually because after all we listen to the Bible on audio, but the truth of the matter is we have not really surrendered our lives to Jesus. He is not Lord of all. I want to just say if that's you, this is your moment to give your life to Christ. If that's you, this is your moment to quit playing games and to say, Jesus, once for all, I'm going to call out to you as Savior and I'm calling out to you as the leader of my life from this point in a moment I'm going to count to three, and when I say three, I'm going to ask you to put your hand in the air as a way of saying, today I'm giving my life fully to Jesus Christ. One, I want you to know God loves you so much He gave his son to die in a cross for you. Two, that same Jesus who died on a cross was raised to life three days later, so that not only could he have victory, but you could have victory through him, and three. If you want to give your life to Jesus Christ today, could you raise your hand in the air as a way of saying, I am declaring from this moment forward, I'm asking to forgive my sins, I'm calling out to be my full leader over my whole life. If that's you, I want you to declare it with raised hand. If you're in jail, if you're in prison, if you're watching from home, this is your moment to say,

I am giving my life to Jesus. And Father, for each person who would take that step, I pray that this would be the moment your blood would cover every sin, and Father, even beginning this moment, that you would set them on a new course as they call out to you as the leader of their lives. Now, I know some of you are in seasons of pruning right now, and I know that that season is difficult. I'm gonna ask you to do something bold. If you feel like you're in a season of pruning right now, I want to pray for you, could you stand up wherever you are? If you're in a difficult time, if you feel like God is doing a work in your life, or at least wants to, could you stand up? If right now you're recognizing this is just a season of pruning for me, this is a hard time. And I think God wants to do something through me. I think God wants to do something in me. Have a little courage right now. Stand your feet if that's you. The first thing I want to speak over every person who's standing is it's okay to admit pruning is difficult. And maybe you have tears at the ready, or maybe you need to wail, and I want you to know it's a safe place in church to express the pain and the emotion of being in a season of pruning, that's all right.

But we're going to pray over your lives right now. In fact, if someone is standing by you and you know that person, maybe you want to just lay hands on them right now as we pray over them. For the rest of us, maybe you could stretch out a hand to someone who's standing. And we're just going to pray over those who are standing right now and say, God in the midst of this pruning season, would you produce abundant fruit in each person's life? Many of us are struggling. We're going through a difficult time right now. There's folks throughout this entire space. And I know online, and I know in jail right now who are saying, this is a pruning season for me. And so I pray over the person who's experiencing job loss right now, would they discover you as faithful provider in this season? I pray for the person who's going through parenting struggle right now, would they discover you God as their hope and as their strength in difficulty? I pray for the person who's going through marriage problems and breakdown, would they discover you Holy Spirit as their comforter in a whole new way during this time? I pray for the person who's gone through betrayal of a friend or a family member. Would they discover you Jesus as their faithful friend like never before? I pray for the person who's going through a health pruning

right now or battling a health issue. Father, would those people discover you as their healer, the source of their love, the great physician who is committed to their good? For each person today who is going through a pruning father, we pray, would your hand be upon them? Would they receive the pruning that you're giving? Would they not resent it? Would they not regret it? Would they receive the pruning you're giving that you would produce in their lives much fruit? We pray it in Jesus' name and everybody said, "Amen, can we give God a hand, please? "Can we give God praise? "Can we celebrate new life?" (congregation applauding) Hey, let's all stand up to our feet, let's all stand up, we're gonna close and worship today. And listen, if you made a decision today and you gave your life to Jesus, then I wanna just encourage you, we've got some folks here with Bibles and some books that are gonna help you get started in that journey so as they make their way back, and we just wave at them if that was you, and make sure you get a Bible and a free book today to just help you get you started in your walk with Christ. Less right now, spend time lifting up Jesus, maybe even bring our pruning place and time to Jesus that he would produce fruit in us and through us,

for his glory. [MUSIC PLAYING]