Real vs. Fake Fruit

So, recently, I had someone come to me and ask me to explain to them the story of Jesus cursing the fig tree. Now, that was a story I had read many times, but it's not one I actually studied deeply so that I could really understand the meeting. So I told them, I'll get back to you in a couple of days. Let me go home and pray over it. I don't want to give you any wrong information. So I went home and I read the story. It's just a few verses. But the more I read it and the more I digged in, the more I started realizing that there is a lot to this story. And I decided it's kind of a message in itself. This is not just a quick answer where I can call this person up and say, hey, this means this. There was a lot more to it. I said, this is almost a message in itself, but I don't have any messages lined up, any dates where I'll be speaking, so I'll figure that out. Maybe I'll just do a recording or something. And not two days later, I walked into church and pastor said, hey, would you like to give the message on the 14th? So I knew instantly that God had started preparing me already before I even knew. And I love how God does that when he starts preparing you for something you don't even know he's preparing you for. And so I'm going to just say a quick prayer and then we'll get started talking about that story. Heavenly Father, I just thank you for the word that you give us, Lord. I thank you for this message that you gave me, Lord. I pray that you open their hearts and their ears to receive what you have for them today, Father. But more than that, I pray that if I say anything that doesn't line up with your word, that

doesn't line up with your will, that you would shut my mouth or close their ears so that they don't hear it, Father. I just thank you and I love you and we thank you in the name of Jesus. Amen. So when you read the story of Jesus Cursing the Fig Tree, as I said, it's just a couple of verses. But I think it's very important when you're studying that you don't just look at those couple verses, okay? You have to look at what's going on around this story. Because the Holy Spirit didn't randomly place stories in the Bible, okay? There is a purpose and an order to every word that's in Scripture. And so when you read a story, it's important we look, well, what was happening before? What happened after? What happened in the rest of the chapter? What happened in the rest of the book? Okay? Because there's a bigger picture and sometimes we get stuck just pulling out one little story or just one verse and we try to figure out what it means without looking at the bigger picture. So while today my message is about the story of the fig tree, we're going to look at more than that today. So we're going to be in Mark chapter 11. If you have your Bibles, you can turn with me to Mark chapter 11. It will not be on the screen today, but I will be reading it. So if you don't have your Bibles, that's fine too. While you're turning there, I want to go back and just talk to you about what was going on before we get to this point, though. So if we accept that Jesus was crucified on a Friday, I'd like to just make that our basis, just today, just so that there's no confusion, just for clarity purposes. Most of us, I think, agree that he was probably crucified on Friday, Good Friday, but there

are theories out there that he was actually crucified on a Wednesday or a Thursday or at different times, and there's some points to those, but I don't intend to get into a theological debate today, so I'm just going to ask that we all assume that he was crucified on Friday, just to make this a little easier for me today. So if he was crucified on a Friday, where I'm going to start is the Saturday before he was crucified. So the Saturday before, he knows that his time is coming close. He knows that the end is near. He knows that he's starting his last week on earth. So the Saturday before he died, he was invited to Simon the leper's house to have dinner. With him were his 12 disciples, Lazarus and Mary and Martha. Mary and Martha were Lazarus's sisters, and Lazarus had just recently been raised from the dead. We don't know exactly how many days prior to this, the Bible doesn't tell us, but it was recent. So Mary and Martha, they were there when they saw Lazarus be raised from the dead, and they were there with Jesus also when they were eating dinner. And they're at dinner, and Mary, she gets out this flask of oil and she breaks it and dumps it on Jesus's head. Now this is not the same story of the woman who dumped perfume on his feet and rubbed his feet. This is a second time that a similar thing happened, and Mary broke the flask. It was customary in those days when you had dinner guests to take just a little dab of oil and dab their forehead as they came in, but that's not what Mary did. Now the flask and the oil were very expensive. Scripture tells us 300 denarii, which is about $20,000 she just used on Jesus. Now the disciples, they weren't very happy about what she did. They started complaining. They started saying, what are you doing? This isn't what you're supposed to do.

You're supposed to dab in oil. You're not acting normal. They started saying, do you know how much money you just cost? Do you know what you could have done with that money? They started questioning. Do you know you could have sold the flask and the oil if it didn't mean anything to you and could have gotten the money and donated it to poor? There's so many better things that you could be doing with this, but Mary didn't care. She didn't care what they thought of her. She didn't care what they thought of her actions. She deeply, intensely loved Jesus, and she wanted to show her love. She understood who Jesus was. She understood his power and his magnificence, and she didn't care what the disciples or anyone else there thought, and it actually turns out it was a good thing she did that. If you read that story and study it a little bit more, she was actually anointing his body for burial. That's a message in itself, but the point is Mary loved Jesus, and she was showing her great love for him. So that happened on Saturday. So Sunday, we wake up and they're in a place called Bethpage. Bethpage is part of Jerusalem, but it's actually outside of the city walls, and Jesus wants to head into the walls of Jerusalem to make what will be called his triumphal entry. He tells his disciples, go into town, you'll find a donkey. Get the donkey. If someone asks you what you're doing, this is what you tell them, and they'll let you take it and you bring it back to me. Because the disciples knew Jesus, they trusted him, they had faith that what he said would come true, so they, in faith, went into Jerusalem, and sure enough, they found the donkey, and they untied it, and people asked exactly what Jesus said they would ask, and they responded exactly the way that Jesus told them to respond, and the people let them take the donkey.

So they brought the donkey back to Jesus, and he rode it into Jerusalem. Now this is prophesied in the book of Zechariah, 500 years before it happened. Zechariah 9, 9 tells us, it says, Rejoice greatly, daughter Zion, shout, daughter Jerusalem, see your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey. This day, this Sunday, is what we call Palm Sunday, because as Jesus rode in, the people were waving palm branches. The people were excited. The people had come to Jerusalem to prepare for the Passover feast, and also a feast of the unleavened bread. So they had come from all over the area, so there were a lot of extra people in Jerusalem, and many had heard that Jesus would be coming, so they've crowded the streets waiting for him to make his entrance, and when he does, they're waving their palms, they're shouting, they're laying things in the road, they're cheering. Verse 10 of Mark 11 says they were shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David, Hosanna in the highest. They're cheering, and they're crying out, and they're celebrating, and they're worshiping. Oh, I bet it was an incredible sight to see. Wish I could have been there. So scripture tells us that when Jesus got into Jerusalem, it was late, so he looked around, but he didn't stay. So he goes home, or goes to a place called Bethany, and we don't know what kind of day, we don't know exactly what time it was when he left Jerusalem, we don't know if Jesus had a chance to eat, but Bible tells us he woke up hungry the next morning. So that's where I'm going to start, it's Mark chapter 11, verse 12. It says the next day, as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, may no one ever eat fruit from you again. And his disciples heard him say it. So Jesus saw a fig tree.

He could tell by the leaves that it was a fig tree, and he went over to it looking for food. Now, I don't know if you know a lot about botany or agriculture. I'm not even sure I'm using the right word because I literally know nothing about gardening or plants or trees. Seriously, we have a joke in my family. I cannot keep anything alive that my hand touches, so I'm terrible. I couldn't grow food for my family if we needed it. But I wanted to know more about the fig tree, so thankfully there's Google, and Google was able to give me the information that I needed. So fig trees are native in the Mediterranean areas, and we're in Jerusalem. Jerusalem's in Israel. Israel's on the Mediterranean Sea. So fig trees are native there. It is a main source of food for the people. It's all sorts of things you can make with figs. The fruit has two seasons, one in June and one around September. Now, as it grows, the figs actually grow first, and then once the fig is formed, the tree grows leaves. Now, that's the opposite of what I expected, but like I said, I don't know a lot about it. Maybe that's normal, but I kind of thought that the tree would grow, and then it would grow leaves, and then the figs would form underneath, but it's kind of the opposite. So Jesus saw the leaves and thought, well, there must be fruit.

So he went to it. Now, this story takes place based on theologians' best estimate. This would have been March 30th. But I just told you that the fig isn't in season until June. So when he got there, it didn't have fruit, and he cursed it. So why would he curse a tree for not having fruit if it wasn't in season? It's a good question, right? Well, when I first started studying this, it was a few weeks ago, and I had to stop because my husband and I left on a trip. And like I said, I don't believe in coincidences. We actually went to Israel. And I believe that was planned because God showed me something while I was there. And we went. We just got home last week. We spent about 10 crazy days fitting in absolutely everything you could possibly see in the entire country, including some places we probably shouldn't have gone. But it was the most amazing experience we've ever had in our entire lives, knowing that you are where Jesus was. And we stood on the Mount of Olives. And we saw Bethpage, where Jesus had dinner with Simon. And we walked the path where Jesus rode his donkey into Jerusalem for his triumphal entry. And we saw fig trees. There were fig trees everywhere. And so we went into the walls of Jerusalem just like Jesus did. Now, you may or may not know this because I don't know a ton about history either,

but Jerusalem is called the center of the universe. It is a religious capital of the world. Okay, there are three major religions that have their hubs in Jerusalem, and that is the Muslims, the Jewish, and the Christian. And when we were in the city walls looking around, it was easy for me to tell who belonged to which faith. Now, not by this color of their skin or the languages that they spoke because there was a variety of skin colors, a variety of languages. It was easy for me to tell who was who based on what they were wearing. Okay, the Muslims, the women were covered from head to toe, no skin was showing, and they had hijabs on their head, which is like a thing that covers their forehead and their hair and their necks. And the Muslim men that were with them generally had robes on, and they had headscarves as well. The Jewish women, they also had to have their hair covered, but not so much of their face. So they had these gorgeous scarves on, I believe they called them tickles, and they were just beautiful, all different designs, very pretty. And the Jewish men all were wearing yarmulkes. Some people call them skull caps, yarmulkes. Now, you can buy yarmulkes everywhere in Israel. Like, every market you go to, they have them for sale. And I have never seen such a variety in something, colors and patterns. We saw Pokemon wands and flag wands and plaid wands. We were actually told that the number one best-selling yarmulke was a MAGA yarmulke, which is Make America Great Again. But I didn't actually see anyone wearing one, so I can't attest that that was actually true. But you could get any kind of yarmulke. But it was clear to tell that they were Jewish because they had their yarmulkes on.

Now, the Christians, we tended to not be nearly as conservatively dry. although still respectful, but usually you could see our arms or the our calves. We weren't wearing things on our hair except for maybe some of the guys had like a Nike baseball cap on. We had cross necklaces and every single Christian there I think had a camera. So it was easy. My point is it was easy for me to stand there and look around and know who was who. I could recognize them by what they were wearing just like Jesus could recognize the fig tree by what it was wearing. It's leaves. But when Jesus went to the fig tree he discovered it was just a show. The fig tree had no fruit. It wanted to give the appearance that it had fruit because I told you the fruit comes before the leaves. It wanted to give the appearance of fruit. It wanted to look like it had fruit but it was empty. And it just got me thinking about all of the people in Jerusalem who were giving the appearance of faith. Were they empty? What were they producing? What was going on on the inside? It's not about how you look to everyone else. It's not about everyone else being able to look at you and know that you're a Christian by your outside behavior. Jesus is looking deeper. Jesus wants to know what's going on on the inside because that fig tree looked luscious and it looked productive and it looked active just like we sometimes look when we're putting our Bible verses on Facebook and we're making a big deal about praying out loud in public for somebody. But what are we honestly producing? Do we have fruit or are we just acting like we do? So I kept thinking the original audience there must have been some people there with fruit, right? I mean just the day before when Jesus came into this city they were praising him and celebrating and they were excited to see him. They showed up on Sunday and were worshiping. They must not be empty, right? Who would show up on Sunday to worship but be empty on the inside or be changed the next day? I hope those people weren't acting. I hope we're not acting because Jesus cursed the fig tree. I don't believe he wanted to but it was empty. So the story goes on and says that Jesus went into the town then. Verse 15 says, on reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there.

He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. As he taught them, he said, is it not written, my house will be called a prayer for all nations, a house of prayer for all nations, but you have made it a den of robbers. There were people there selling things and those people were in cahoots with the priests. They required those coming into the temple to purchase special approved sacrificial animals to make their sacrifice and they charged them an inflated price and they forced them to exchange their currency for an acceptable currency so they could pay their yearly taxes. And of course they did so at an outrageous exchange rate. And they were doing all of this at a place that was reserved for prayer. The temple courts that they're talking about are the area around the temple that was built for God. The temple they built to put the Ark of the Covenant in. The most holy temple that ever existed. Do you know today, even though that temple has fallen down, some of its walls still stand and the Jewish people who don't believe the Messiah has come yet and are still waiting come from around the world just to touch the walls of the temple. They stand there and touch the walls and they pray deeply. And inside the temple was an inner sanctuary where the Holy of Holies was and that's the place where the very presence of God dwelled. And today that's gone but there's a wall you can get to. Now they have built houses above over the wall but you can go underground into a tunnel and touch the wall that was closest to the Holy of Holies. Touch that wall, you're about 300 feet from where the very presence of God dwelled. And again, people crowded everywhere, touching the wall and praying. It was a little overwhelming, and I applaud their passion, but I just wanted to tell them God's not in the temple anymore. God's not there. You don't need to go to the walls of the temple to pray to God. We are his temple now, and he hears our prayers no matter where we are or what we're touching. But when Jesus was on earth, this temple was a very important place.

So Jesus comes and the people, I imagine some of the same people who were celebrating him as he came into town, had set up tables. They were selling things and had turned it into a marketplace for their own financial gain. It wasn't about worshiping God for them. It wasn't about being at a temple to pray or be in the presence of God. It was about putting on a show. It was about pretending to be something they weren't, just like the fig tree. And when we were in Jerusalem, I stood in front of the steps where they say Jesus overturned the tables and the benches, where he knocked things over, where he kicked everyone out. I stood there and I just pictured in my head that happening. And I know that a lot of pastors will stand up here and tell you Jesus was angry. He was mad. What are they doing? Why would they do that to my temple? But when I picture it, I pictured something a little different. What I picture was devastation. What I picture is Jesus wanting nothing more than for these people to really get it. He wanted nothing more than for these people to know the truth. And clearly they didn't understand what was about to happen. I imagine he is frustrated. He is running out of time. His death is coming. He only has a few days left. He's been walking on earth with them for three years, explaining and teaching and showing, and they still don't get it. And he only has a few more days to teach them. I hear him saying, when are they going to comprehend who I am? I hear him crying out because the people are lost. And I think he just wants to get their attention.

He's saying, look, don't you know who lives inside that temple? And I think today he's asking us the same question. Don't you know who lives inside your temple? Don't you know who I am? Don't you know what I did for you? It's not about showing up on a Sunday to worship. It's about truly knowing Jesus deeply and passionately and honestly. But so many people won't let that sink in. And Jesus just wants to save them. It says after that that Jesus left the city. I can just imagine the sorrow and heaviness he feels as he rides out of the city. He only has a few days left, and there's so much more he wants them to hear. So it says the next morning, Tuesday, he wakes up and he's heading back into Jerusalem. Verse 20 says, in the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, Rabbi, look, the fig tree you cursed has withered. Have faith in God, Jesus answered. I tell you the truth. If anyone says to this mountain, go, throw yourself into the sea and does not doubt it in his heart, but believes what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him so that your father in heaven may forgive your sins. What a beautiful message about faith those verses are. I've actually heard this quoted many, many, many times, but I never knew it was in the same paragraph as the part about the withered fig tree. Like, I've always heard, have faith in God, you can move mountains, but it's not a coincidence that it's in the same little section here as the fig tree, right? So it confused me a little bit.

What does this have to do with the fig tree? Why did walking by a withered fig tree spur Jesus to start talking about extraordinary faith? We know the fig tree was empty. So what is Jesus trying to show us here? I really studied it and I studied it and it's like I had a block. I couldn't figure it out so that I'm gonna see what other people think. So I read some commentaries and some some things that were written by other pastors and theologians and this one pastor he had this really great theory and it was about how Peter was surprised when he saw the fig tree had withered. And his message was we should not be surprised when Jesus answers our prayers. And that's true. God's Word is true. He promises to answer our prayers and he will do so. And that pastor had a point. We can be excited when God answers our prayers. We can be overwhelmed with emotions but we certainly shouldn't be surprised that the God we serve does what he says he's going to do, right? I mean that is great. However, it just didn't quite click for me like great message but when I read my version of the Bible it doesn't actually say Peter was surprised. And I just thought well it's a good word but if that's what God wanted me to get out of this I think he would use that word surprised in here. And it wasn't used. So I kept studying and I found someone else who said well it's about waiting for God's perfect timing because Jesus cursed the fig tree and it was the next day when they walked by that they noticed that it was withered. And they said sometimes God answers our prayers but not in the timing we want him to. And that is so good. I can't even count how many times I've prayed to God and expected an immediate answer, an immediate change and it doesn't happen. And then I start to get frustrated and I start to lose faith and why isn't this happening and then in God's perfect timing my prayers get answered. And so that is a great message to get out of this that absolutely things are done in God's timing. God will answer your prayers every time. His answers are always yes yes and amen but it will be his timing not ours. I thought well that must be it. That's good. But then I went

and read this story of the fig tree is in two books, Mark which we're reading but it's also in Matthew and if you read the version in Matthew when Jesus curses the fig tree it says immediately it withered. I thought okay there was no delay in Matthew's version. Now I understand we're getting accounts from two different authors. There will be variations between their telling of the story. However if the purpose God had for us was about the delay I would think it would have been reflected in both versions. So it just wasn't content. There has to be more. So I'm going over in my head okay what can it be? What can it be? What is the connection between faith and fruit? Okay they talk about fruit and then faith and then fruit and faith and then forgiveness because it also talks about forgiveness. So I said well what is faith? Is faith a fruit? Well what about forgiveness? Is forgiveness a fruit? What is a fruit? What about the other things we saw like Mary's great love for Jesus? Is that a fruit? And what about the disciples who trusted him to go and get him the donkey? Is that a fruit? What about the joy in some of the people that we saw on Palm Sunday? The joy at knowing the Lord had come? Is that fruit? What is the fruit that we're supposed to be producing? So let's see what the Bible says the fruit is. Paul lays it out pretty clear for us in Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5 verse 22 says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Wow that that's pretty clear that the fruit Jesus is talking about are those things that we're reading about. Jesus wants you to know that if you have fruit not only will you not spiritually die but you can get to a point where your faith is so strong you can move mountains. So how do you get fruit? Well we know that when we accept Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of us and it says the Holy Spirit gives us fruit. Well I don't know about you but when I got saved and the Holy Spirit came to live inside of me I didn't immediately start having joy and peace and patience and faith. I wanted to. I wanted to have those things.

I tried to act like I had those things. I tried to pretend to be really patient with people, right? Because that's what God tells us to do. And I tried to act like I just loved everybody, right? When deep down inside, that's not how I was feeling. I tried to give the appearance of having all of those fruits, but I failed every single day. I wanted to know how do you get to a point that you can love extravagantly like Mary, that you can trust deeply like the disciples, that you can have joy in the Lord that you're worshiping and shouting and waving palm leaves, not caring what anyone thinks? How do I get to a point where it says forgive everyone? How do I get to a point where I can just forgive everyone? How do I get to a point where my faith is so strong that if I tell a mountain to move, it moves? Well, there's one more place I want to go today, and that's Colossians chapter 1, because I think this is the answer to that question. In Colossians 1, Paul is writing to the church to encourage them, because they've been very devoted to Jesus, and it's tough sometimes, and he wants to encourage them to continue to be devoted to Jesus. Colossians 1 verse 3 says, we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all of your saints. The faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up from you in heaven that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. All over the world, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth. It says you have been bearing fruit since you understood God's grace. I'm gonna skip to verse 9, it says, for this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you might have endurance and patience and joyfully giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. The gospel is writing to the church, telling them he asks God to fill them with knowledge and wisdom and understanding so that they might bear fruit. He says grow in the knowledge of God so that you might have endurance and patience and joy. You'll notice the verses don't say to act like you're living a life worthy of God. It doesn't say try to act good, it doesn't say try to act patiently, try to love others, try to act joyfully, try to have faith in difficult situations. He's saying that if you truly, truly understand who God is, your life will change. Your character will change, your outlook will change. Do you know a fig tree doesn't think about producing fruit, it doesn't try to grow fruit, it doesn't strive to have fruit on its branches, it just simply, naturally does. Just like we will simply, naturally produce fruit when we understand the depth, when we truly understand who God is and what he did, the fruit will just come. Paul tells us in Romans 12-2 that to be transformed, we must renew our minds. We must study the word, we must learn more about Jesus. Paul didn't pray for the Colossians to have fruit. did he pray that they would bear fruit? He simply prayed that they would understand what God has done and who Jesus is. Mary, Mary understood. Mary had first-hand seen the power of Jesus Christ and Mary had fruit. She had deep love. The disciples, they understood. They had spent a lot of time walking with Jesus and learning about him and they had fruit in the faith that they showed. I believe some of the people on Palm Sunday who were truly worshiping, as they're crying out, Hosanna, which means Lord save us. I think they knew who Jesus was. I think they knew what he was about to do and they had joy. I believe some of them had true joy, which is fruit, but the people in the temple sure didn't seem like they did and that devastated Jesus. Now if you go on and read the rest of

Tuesday back in Mark, you'll see where Jesus goes in and talks to the Pharisees and the religious leaders and the priests and they start questioning his authority and who sent you and why do you have this right because clearly they don't understand who he is either. The fig tree is representing people like them, people who act like they have fruit, but they clearly don't understand who Jesus is. They're stuck on the law or they have too much pride or they're busy judging what other people are doing that they can't accept Jesus. Jesus wants you to intimately know him. I always say you can't show love until you know love. So let's talk briefly about how we can do that. How can you know Jesus better so that you can start producing amazing fruit? Number one, study your Bible. Study your Bible, read it. If you don't read your Bible at home, read one verse, read one chapter, read one book, start with the gospel, start with a devotional. Doesn't matter what you start with, just open your book and learn something. There's an app, if you don't have the app on your phone called YouVersion, download it. It's incredible, you can search by topic. If you're just going through something different, difficult, you just put a topic in and they'll bring you up devotionals and Bible verses and stories. Learn something every day. I still learn things every single day about Jesus. I have a ministry page and every day I post something interesting that I learned because I believe once you learn something, why not share that with other people so that they can learn it too? But I believe you should always keep learning, always keep studying. So good for you. We do not read the Bible to know more about God, we read the Bible to know God. Number two, pray. Commit to praying every day. Now you may be like me and I go through my whole day kind of in an ongoing prayer with God. I talk to Him in the shower and in the car and whatever I'm doing, we kind of have this ongoing conversation. But Matthew, Jesus tells us in Matthew 6, 6 to go into our room, close the door, and pray. Okay, Jesus wants just start with five minutes of complete time with Jesus with no distractions, no kids, no work, no phone calls, just five minutes alone with Jesus. And I ask that when you do that, try to spend a few of those minutes not talking. I mean, I like to say, okay God, what do

you have for me today? What do you want me to hear? What do you want me to know? What do you want me to understand? What do you want to tell me today? And then I just sit quietly and let Him speak because if we're always talking, we can't listen. He just wants you to commit. I think a couple weeks ago when Ashley was here and she preached, she showed, talked about this picture she had of how she had this appointment to meet with Jesus every day and when she didn't come, he was sitting there waiting for her. And to me that was just like beautiful. Now God is a God of grace and love and forgiveness, so He's not mad if you miss it, but I just picture Jesus waiting to talk to me, waiting for me to just be away from all distractions for five minutes so He can tell me something. Start with five minutes. I'm pretty sure that if you start with five minutes that'll just grow and grow and grow. So pretty soon they're dragging you out of the closet because you have stuff to do. Three is know God's voice. You have to know God's voice so that you can hear him. Several years ago, I didn't know God's voice and people would always say things like, oh, well, God told me this, or God led me here, or God this, and I thought, how do they know it's God's voice? How do they know it's God's voice and not just their own mind making these things up? And I struggled with it. And so I started praying, God, let me know your voice. Let me hear you. Let me know it's you. Now, some of you may know this story and may have told this story once before, but I was praying that, and one day God said to me out of the blue,

Katie, there's this woman. I want you to send her a check for $1,000. And I was like, that can't be God. God doesn't want me to write a check to a lady. She's well-dressed, educated, sophisticated, like executive type woman. No, that's just me making things up in my head, right? But I kept hearing it. And I was like, why would God want me to do that? But I ignored it, because I just wasn't sure, right? So I ignored it. So I kept thinking it for a couple days. And so I went to my husband because he's just more grounded than me sometimes. And I said, hey, honey, I feel like God's telling me to write a check to this woman. And he goes, what, like $1,000 or something? And I was like, wow, okay, maybe that is God's voice. But I was worried about what other people would think. And I thought, well, this lady's going to think I'm crazy. She doesn't need $1,000. Why would she just get $1,000? She'll think it's weird. And I started going through all these excuses in my head. I'm very stubborn. And so I was like, no, I must not be hearing from God, right? No, there must be something else. And so my husband was like,

well, why don't you just get a little card and tell her that you felt like God put her on her heart and God wanted her to have this $1,000 and send it to her. And I was like, maybe, but I didn't. And I ignored the voice for a couple more days. And one morning I woke up and I went, okay, this is it. I'm just going to do it. I'm just going to put away my pride, put away my embarrassment, and I'm just going to get her a card and do just what Ken said. And I'm going to put the check in it. I'm doing it today. As soon as I dropped the kids off at school. And I literally heard God's voice louder and more clear than I had ever heard anything before in my life. And he said, it's too late, Katie. You blew it. I was like, what? Now that is God's voice. I have no doubt about that. What does he mean? It's too late. I blew it. What does that mean? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's not too late. So I got in my car, I took the kids to school and I'm on my way to the store to buy her a card when my phone rings.

And it's this lady. She called me that morning. And she said, hey, Katie, you have this restaurant. Are you hiring at the restaurant by chance? And her and I had worked in the past. She volunteered at the homeless shelter. And so we had helped her in the past, get some people from the homeless shelter, homes and jobs. So I said, well, we're really not hiring, but what's going on? Who needs a job? And she goes, I do. I said, well, what do you mean you have a job? She goes, you may or may not know this, but about two years ago, my husband was in a terrible car accident and he's a paraplegic. She said, I've been taking care of him every day, but it's at a point where it's just too much for me to handle anymore. And I have to put him into a home, but we don't have an insurance that will cover it. So I need to get a second job to make more money so that I can afford the home for him. And to make matters worse, she then said, you're a Christian, right, Katie? And I said, yes. She goes, the worst part about all of this is I just don't know if God cares. I don't know if God sees my struggles.

My faith is really wavering. I wish that I just had a sign from God that everything was going to be okay. That was certainly not the way that I wanted to learn God's voice. But let me tell you, I've not forgot his voice since. Now, the good news is God doesn't need me, right? God used somebody else to bless her. And I have since seen her and her life is going great. She is doing wonderful now. Her faith is stronger than ever. God didn't need me, but God was giving me an opportunity to be used. So knowing his voice is so important. So then step four though is listen to what God tells you. You learn his voice, but then do what he says. And I've learned if God tells you to do something, to act on it as quickly as possible before you talk yourself out of it, before you make excuses, the more you listen, the more he will speak to you. Because he, Jesus tells us where you are faithful in a. you will be faithful and much when he trusts you with a little and he sees that you're listening and you're doing it, he wants to just give you more and more and more and it's a beautiful wonderful way to know him better, to listen to him. So step number five is communion. The word communion means to share and when you share something with someone else it brings you closer to that person. Now a few months ago my husband and I started studying communion and it's something we actually do almost daily. Now I say almost daily because there are days that I miss and I don't ever want it to turn into a requirement

or a tradition but Jesus when he did the very first communion just a few days after this story that we talked about he said do this in remembrance of me. He didn't say how often but me personally I need to be reminded daily of who Jesus is and what he did for me. So today I would like to take communion with all of you. I think it will help us take us to a deeper place in our faith so that we can better understand the promises that God gives us. So Kenzie will you, is she in here? Come play something for us and will the ushers come pass these out for me. We have these little cups of communion that we're going to take and it may look different than how you've done it before because I want to do it with you just like I do it at home. These are the same cups I have you can buy them on Amazon. It's like a hundred cups for twenty, twenty-five dollars. Anyone who has accepted Jesus can take a cup. How I'd like to do it you peel the top off and take the bread out but don't take the bread yet I'm gonna pray over the bread and then together we'll break it and eat it and then I'll pray over the wine and we'll take the wine together a second time. I'm gonna pray over the bread. Heavenly Father as we eat this bread we know that it represents the body of Jesus and we thank you and remember the sacrifice that you made for us. We thank you that you love us so much that you sent your son to suffer and die so that we could be saved. Let us never take for granted the magnitude of that selflessness. As we break the bread we acknowledge how Jesus's body broke on the cross to deliver us, to deliver us from all temptation, all addiction, all worry, all care, all fear, poverty, lack, sickness, disease, and any other curse of the enemy. We receive that deliverance today and we thank you for it in Jesus' name. Father as we partake of this wine we understand that it represents the blood that Jesus shed. We declare that when we accepted Jesus Christ, we were born again and his blood flows through our veins. With his blood came great power through the Holy Spirit. We know that we have the power to love.

We have the power to have peace in difficult situations. We have the power to be patient, the power to be kind and good. And we have the power to move mountains with our faith. We have the power to forgive anyone who hurts us just as you forgave us. We thank you for the gifts of the fruit that we believe are just going to continue to grow and grow and grow in our lives as we understand you more deeply every day. In the name of Jesus we pray, amen. Amen. So I encourage you to do some research, look into it and maybe make that a part of your daily life also. So I know it's getting late and I don't wanna keep everyone, so I'm going to just pray and pray and pray. And I'm gonna ask you to pray with me as we go through this. I'm gonna ask you to pray with me as we go through this. I'm gonna ask you to pray with me as we go through this. Over everything and then dismiss. However, if there is anyone that needs prayer, the ministers will be here to pray with you. Feel free to come back up if you'd like to receive prayer for something. Be praying for our neighbors who lost their home in a fire last night, everything that they own. The little girls are here today and just have the greatest attitude of peace.

It's such a joy to see. Keep them in your prayers. And again, if anyone else wants prayer, feel free to come up front. And don't forget next Sunday, special service, bring a card, plan to stay for dinner, invite anyone you know that maybe has sat under pastor at one time or another. Heavenly Father, we thank you because you are good. You are so good. As Kenzie sang earlier, Lord, we know you're never gonna let us down. Father, we don't deserve your goodness, but you just keep laying it out for us, Father. And we thank you for that. We thank you for the people that came today. We pray for the people that couldn't be here, Lord. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your son who died on the cross for us. We just thank you for blessing us over and over and over and over and having patience with us as we understand who you are. Please, Lord, as we go about, speak to us. Speak to every one of us every day and teach us something new about you. And if there's anyone who doesn't know your voice, Father, I pray that you show them your voice so that they can learn to speak to you, Father, because I would love to see fruit just pouring out of every single one of us, God.

Help us to just know you and love you in a way that brings you glory. Father, as we go about our week, let us not just be here on Sunday to worship. Let what you do for us sink deeply into our souls, Lord, so that we can live our whole week for you. Father, thank you for the blessings that you give us every single day. We love you so much. In Jesus' precious name we pray, amen.