The Making of a Fruitful Life | Abide Series Week 2

Radiant Church all across Tampa Bay. Are you excited to be in church today? Man, I'm so glad you're joining us today. My name is Aaron Burke. I have the honor of being the lead pastor here at Radiant Church. One church, 13 locations across the Tampa Bay area. Welcome to church. And if you're a guest with us, your church shopping is over. You have found your home. Radiant, can we honor our guests? Make them feel super loved. It's a big deal that you're with us today. Take out your books that you got in week one of Abide. We are gonna continue this series where we're finding depth, direction, and delight in being with Jesus. And if you missed week one, let me kind of give you an overview of what it means to abide. There's a goal of this series, which is simply to connect with Jesus daily, to connect with Jesus daily. I want you to have that daily time with God. I want you to find depth in his word, direction from his spirit, and delight in walking in obedience with him. So I want you to look at this one more time. We're gonna connect with Jesus when?

Daily. Come on, daily at all of our locations. We're gonna find depth in his word, direction from his spirit, and delight in walking in obedience. And I think this is not just a sermon series to encourage you. It's a sermon series that'll be a lifestyle change for you of being with God on a daily basis. That's why we gave out those books. There's tons of resources available for you in those books. Make sure you check it out. How many remembered their books and brought them after week one? Come on, across Tampa Bay. Proud of you guys. If you forgot it, we will have a moment at the altar at the very end of this message today. I was doing research on abiding, and one of my favorite authors, preacher from the 80s and 90s, is a guy by the name of Leonard Ravenhill. If you've ever read Why Revival Tarries, it will mess you up. He was an incredible preacher, and he talked about abiding this way. He says, the true abiding Christian has joy unspeakable, a faith unshakeable, and a peace that is indestructible. I don't know about you, but I want that in my life. I want joy unspeakable, a faith unshakeable,

and a peace that is indestructible. That is what is available if you will learn to abide, be with Christ. So in week two, we're gonna talk about the making of a fruitful life, the making of a fruitful life. I don't know how it works with your family, but plants come to my house to die. Is there any other families like that across the Tampa Bay area? Something about Katie and I, we just don't have a green thumb, and so anybody that gives us a plant, anybody that gives us flowers, I don't know how long they're supposed to last, but they don't last very long at all. And we've tried, we try to do our part to make these things grow, but it just doesn't work. About five years ago, I preached a message where I had an orange tree on the stage, and so the benefit of preaching the message with the illustrations, you get to take the illustration home. So my daughters were helping me, my two oldest, with the illustration. So I said, what we're gonna do is we're gonna go home, and we're gonna plant this orange tree right in the front of our house, and then it's gonna grow. I used to live in Lakeland.

You see all these big orange trees. I was like, this is what we're gonna have, and we're gonna pick fruit from it every year, and it's gonna be beautiful. And I actually named the tree Lily Bell for Lily and Annabelle, my two oldest daughters, and I was so excited. It's been five years. That thing hasn't grown an inch. It's barely hanging on, and I talked about it from people, and they're like, oh, your soil must be wrong, and your pH, and I'm like, all right, let the thing die. Let's just go buy some oranges. But I want you to get this idea into your mind that God has created you to live a fruitful life, a fruitful life, and it's not easy to walk into a fruitful life, but it is the purpose of your life, that you would have kids that would grow up to follow the Lord, that you would walk in God's favor and his blessing, that you would have peace in the chaos of the world that we're in right now, that you truly would make a difference with your life. This is a fruitful life, and hear me out. A fruitful life is the byproduct of a life that abides. You see, your fruit of your life right now is directly connected with whatever you are abiding in, and if you're abiding on TikTok all day long, then guess what? Your fruit of your life is gonna look like your algorithm.

If you're abiding in just your friends and culture, the fruit of your life is gonna look like that, but I have a challenge for you, is that you would learn to abide with Jesus daily and watch the fruit of your life be that of love, and joy, and the fruit of the Spirit, and true character, and a life that actually makes a difference. Is anybody with me today? You're called to live a fruitful life. So how do we see it happen? Let's turn in our Bibles to John chapter 15. It's our key passage on abiding, and I want us to look through it and see how to live a fruitful life. This is Jesus. with his disciples right before he's gonna be betrayed and go into heaven and go to the cross and then eventually be resurrected and go into heaven. But he gives this final challenge. John 15, verse one, I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that bears fruits, he what? He prunes. We're gonna talk a lot about that today. That it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you. And as a branch cannot bear fruit by itself

unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. I don't know about you. I want my life to bear much fruit, much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered. And they gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned. But if you abide in me, that's the whole purpose of this series. We'll learn a lifestyle of abiding with him. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask whatever you desire and it will be done for you. By this, my father is glorified, that you bear much fruit so you'll be my disciples. And all God's people said, amen, amen. He uses this word abide 10 times in this one passage. The word abide in the Greek is this word minnow. We talked about it in week one. It means to dwell, to stay, to remain. If you have an NIV version of the Bible, the word doesn't use abide, it used remain, remain, remain. It's something about not just starting, it's about staying with it. Come on, how many know it's easy to start,

it's hard to sustain this thing? And what he's telling us is a lifestyle that bears fruit is one that abides, remains, endures, staying connected. And then he uses this vineyard analogy that is so amazing. And I wanna show it to you because there's different parts that I want you to identify, especially as it's working in your life. So he starts with the vine, which we see that as Jesus. Jesus is the vine. He is, his function is he is the source of life and nourishment, life and nourishment. So if you're connected with Jesus, you're connected with life, nourishment, everything you need. Then we have the vine dresser in our passage. And he tells us who that is, that's the Father. This is the one that cultivates the growth in our life. And I'm gonna show you how he cultivates growth because it's amazing what he does. Then we have the branch, which is us. It's the believers. It are those who are connected to the vine. And our entire job is simply to remain. We're called to remain. This is, we stay connected with him. This is not a message and this is not a series about doing more and more activity. It's more about connecting more with him,

finding that daily time with him, and then watch what will grow out of that. Then we have the work, like what's making this all happen behind the scenes? And we know that's the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the one that's doing the work in our life and through our life. And he's the power behind the process. So when we think, how does this all work? How do I connect it with Jesus? And how does the Father work in me? It's all through the Holy Spirit. And then we have the goal. The goal of your life, you can write it down, is fruit. It's in that that we wanna have a life that truly bears fruit, both internal and external, which we'll talk about at the end of the message. And this is the outcome of abiding, that your life should bear fruit. And you look at the roles and you look at the function, and it's beautiful because you actually see the entire trinity here. You see the Father as the vinedresser, the Son as the vine, and you see the Holy Spirit being the one that's doing the work. And then the goal of that is we, as the branches, would bear fruit with our lives. And this is the entire goal. Seven times in eight verses, the idea of bearing fruit comes up.

What is he showing us? There should be a byproduct of your life that is fruitful, that is making a difference, and it should be connected with what you are connected to. So let's look at what a fruitful life is. Three things, you can write it down. First of all, it starts with the fact that we are connected. This is where salvation is found. Again, this is not a series about trying to get you to do more things. It's a series that understands and helps you realize that everything you need is found in Jesus. He is our source. He's the one you're connected with. I don't know if you ever had one of those moments where you're in a heated conversation on the phone and they say their part and you're listening and you're hearing them go on, okay, okay, okay, what do they got? And then it's your time to respond. And I don't know if you've ever had this moment, I had one a couple weeks ago where I'm there and I'm talking and I'm going hard, like I'm saying all my points and I'm winning this thing. And they're really quiet because they know I'm winning this conversation on the phone, until I look down and realize they're really unusually quiet. How many have had this happen? It was disconnected the entire time.

Anybody have that happen? It's frustrating. And so then you do the callback and you go, where did I end up at? Either way, I just want you to know, I won the argument, it was really, really good. Here it is, when it comes to you and God, make sure that none of this comes out of you going, I'm gonna work harder, I'm gonna do these spiritual practices, I'm gonna give more money. None of that matters if you're not first connected. And connection is only possible because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. Because of his saving grace, we now have connection with the Father. We can be connected with God. That's good news today. And this is countercultural to our world today because our world says everybody's connected. Everybody's a child of God. Can I just say something a little harsh? Not everybody's a child of God. Now everybody is made in the image of God, but not everybody is a child of God. This is very, very important that you understand this because the Bible's very clear. Look at John chapter one. But as many as received him, talking about Jesus, he gave them a right to become what? Children of God.

You don't have a right to become a child of God just because you want to think you are. No, no, no, no. He says it's for those who believe in his name. You hear that? Let me tell you, this is vitally important. You become a child of God when you put your faith in Jesus Christ. It is not because of our good works, not because we gave enough money, not even because you came to a church. It is because of the finished work of Jesus on the cross and our faith in that. By grace, we are saved. Not that we can boast, but that we can put our hope in him. Can we give him some praise? Are we thankful for the fact that we have salvation in Christ? So it starts with you being connected with him. Can I just ask you a nice question? Are you connected with God? Do you have a genuine relationship with God? Can I say it really nicely? You can't grow roots in God's soil while still playing in the world's dirt. You cannot live this life thinking, I'm gonna get the benefits and the fruit of a godly life, but living invested in the world out there. And you've gotta make a decision,

where am I going to put my roots down? Where am I gonna connect? Am I gonna stay connected with culture, connected in that broken relationship, connected in all that the world has to offer, or am I gonna get serious with God and bring my connection to him and put my faith in him? Because that's where true life is found. That's where true life is found. Joshua chapter 24 says, if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for this day whom you're gonna serve. I love how he says this. He goes, listen, if you're gonna serve the gods of this world, you're gonna serve the gods of the Ammonites or those that serve beyond the Euphrates. Like, serve those gods. But then he says this phrase. But as for me and my house, we're gonna serve the Lord. He made up his mind where he's putting his roots down. Can I just challenge you in our world today that everybody's pulling at you, everybody's drawing at you, put your roots down in the garden of God. Get connected to Jesus. And let me tell you, you will bear fruit with whatever garden you are connected with. And if you're not happy with the fruit of your life, it's probably because you're connected to the wrong thing.

But Jesus is inviting you. And there's hope today. His mercies are new every morning. And aren't we grateful for a God that asks us, that draws us in and says, you can connect with me. We have salvation through Jesus Christ. Here's your second one. A fruitful life is that we are pruned. This is sanctification. All right, so I'm gonna take a second and let you write this down, because some of y'all at the Brandon location are trying to figure out how to write sanctification. I'm just joking. That's mean right there, I'm just kidding. Sanctification, all right, it's a big word, but it means something significant. Sanctification means it's the process of God working stuff out of our life to make us more like Jesus. I don't know if you ever had that moment, I hope you did, where you raised your hand and you said, I wanna be connected with Christ. But then you left here, and the same bad language you had before, you still deal with. The same addiction that you had before, you still deal with. What is the problem? This doesn't mean you're not saved,

it means now you have to go the process of sanctification. letting God work some stuff out of your life. I had a massive revelation of John chapter 15 that changed my entire life and I wanna give it to you. In John 15 it says, anyone who bears fruit, he says he's gonna cut them back. And if you do not bear fruit, he's gonna cut you off. Think of that opening verse. You don't bear any fruit, you get cut off. You bear fruit, he cuts you back. Here's what it means. Here's the revelation that was given to me. It's that in the kingdom of God, everyone gets the knife. Think about that. Everybody gets cut in the kingdom of God. You either allow the Holy Spirit through the pruning process to cut you back or eventually you stop bearing fruit and you get cut off. This is a significant idea of embracing the pruning process, realizing that he cuts stuff in our lives out so that we now have room to grow and be who he's called us to be. This is part of the process. And let me just show it to you, okay? So this is significant because this is, by the way, the plant, for those that are watching online or listening, there's a beautiful plant here on the stage, but this is the best you can get in Florida in February, all right? So this plant has the vine that goes up

and it's a lot of thorns on it, but it's a vine that goes up and then it has these branches that come off of it. So in our passage today, it's really beautiful because it's got the branch, which is us. You got the vine, which is Jesus. And then you have the product for this plant. It's obviously flowers. So it's called a produce something, but it doesn't stay on forever, by the way. Do you see all those flowers kind of just fall off there? Because the fruit doesn't last forever. The byproduct of this is that it blossoms, it grows, and then eventually it dies out. And what you have to do, if you're a gardener, which I didn't know this, and this is why this orange tree has not grown in five years, is because in different seasons, even though it might look fruitful, it's not gonna stay fruitful. So you have to cut it back. And it hurts and it's painful. And it's really frustrating if you look at the branch and it gets cut back, you look like you're losing a lot. And if you actually see the little part of it that's connected to the vine, you actually think, oh, it's dead, it's dormant. It's not dead, it's not dormant. It now has room to actually grow even more.

I've learned this in my life, that if I'll let God cut stuff out of my life, then he was actually making room in my life for me to grow more than I could ever imagine. So there's people that started the church with us, and I love them to death, but there was some who, you know, they would say things like, we're ride or die, we're with you for life, which I have learned, by the way, anybody that says ride or die is crazy. All right, so, ain't got anything else going for them, so they're like, they're with you. So I had all these people that were like, we're with you for life. And then as the church started to grow and things started to change and we started going multi-site, and then they left. And I remember there was a few different times over a few different years. I mean, these were really close people, and they left, and it hurt so much. And Katie and I would cry, and I would just feel grieved, and I felt like the Lord was cutting them out, and I was so angry, because I thought I was missing out until I realized in this passage, he cuts us back so that we can grow

further than ever before. So I thought I was missing out on something. God was actually preparing me for the next season. Are y'all with me today, church? I hope this is a word for somebody, because somebody, let's just be real. Somebody, you've had a massive part of your life that you feel like, it's been cut off. Maybe you lost that job recently. Maybe it's even areas of your health, and you had all this vibrancy. You feel like it's been cut back, and really, it comes down to it. This is such an unbelievable picture of this idea that it's cut back, and really, we can't even see the branch anymore. We only see the vine. That's a good season for you to be at, where people look at your life, and they're not distracted by all of the stuff in your life. They look at you, and they go, man, you really seem cut back. You really seem like all this stuff, all the glitz, all the glamor, all the success, the business isn't growing, the health isn't perfect, but I see Jesus in you. I don't see a lot of the great, I see Jesus. Let me tell you, that's a good place to be, where the only thing people see in your life is a lot of Jesus,

because that means you are now positioned to actually bear fruit with your life. And there's moments where God. cuts that stuff out of your life. Maybe it's a relationship. Maybe it's an attitude. Man, the Holy Spirit will reveal stuff to me and he'll cut out an attitude. Motives of my heart. And why didn't I get recognized? And why didn't I get celebrated? And why didn't they like my post online? And what is God doing? God just, he's working it out of your life. And he's cutting. Some of y'all feel like you're in a season where God just keeps cutting it, and cutting it, and cutting it. And you feel like God's angry with you. He ain't angry with you. He's positioning you for more fruit. It's not punishment, it's preparation for the fruit that he has for your future. Embrace it today, church. The Bible says, who may dwell in your sacred tent? There's the phrase right there. There's the abide phrase. Who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? What is that?

That's being with God. The one whose walk is blameless, and does what is righteous. Who speaks the truth from their heart. Let's be real. We've all got some stuff that we need worked out of our lives. So what do we do? We embrace, we embrace the seasons where we let God prune stuff out of us, and work some stuff out of us, so that we can be who God's called us to be. Hebrews chapter 12, he says it this way. God disciplines us for our good, in order that we might share in his, what? Holiness. Holiness. Okay, let me just, put the verse down, and then let me just show this screen, this thing real quick, okay? So, all right. There's moments where you're cut back like this. Can we get a tighter shot? Like, I need your help. Okay, let's get a tight shot. There we go, great, great. So the branch is cut back, and all you see is this vine. And every time it's cut back, here's what happens. It grows thicker, and grows bigger,

and is able to handle more. So if you feel like God keeps cutting you back, it's because he wants you to handle more in the future. He's making you stronger. And eventually, if you let it happen, eventually, a branch that has been pruned right will grow so strong that you can't tell the difference between the branch and the vine. I don't know about you. I wanna walk in every area of my life where people go, just like Jesus. I'm not Jesus, but I wanna have the attitudes of Jesus. I wanna have the actions of Jesus. I wanna raise my kids the right way. I wanna be the husband I'm supposed to be. And how do you get that? You embrace the pruning process, why? Because as Hebrews tells us, it brings us into his holiness. He works some stuff out of our life. And then look what this verse goes on to say. He says, no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but it's painful. Let's be real. Some of you are in very painful pruning seasons right now. And he's working out all these issues of your life. He goes, but later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and of peace. Aren't you grateful that you're walking into a season of peace?

You might have gotten some stuff cut out of your life, but I got the peace of God. I might not have all the friends I used to have. I've got the peace of God. I might not have all the glitz and glamor. I've got the peace of God in my life. He says a peace of God for those who will be trained by it. What are the methods of pruning? I wrote it on a bunch of them. They're there in your notes. Scripture prunes us. Have you ever read the scriptures? You had that moment where you're abiding with God in the morning, and then you hear a verse just jumps off the page, and you just go, ouch. What is that? That's the scriptures pruning us. You don't let the Bible, you don't conform the Bible to what you want it to say. You conform your life to the standard of scripture to say, God, what do you want me to live like? This is a pruning process. The community of believers, the Holy Spirit, aren't we grateful for a Holy Spirit that'll highlight, hey, don't talk to your spouse that way. Hey, ask that employee for forgiveness. You shouldn't have responded that way. Where does that, that's the Holy Spirit pruning stuff out of your life, make you more like Christ.

I'm grateful for a church family that prunes. We help each other. We sharpen each other. That's what we do in our radiant groups. That's why it's vitally important you're in a group this next week, because we're talking even in our groups this week. What are those things that God's working out of your life? It frustrates me when people go, well, I was in a group, but then everybody got way too involved in my life, so I got out of it. What do you think we're here for? I just don't want anybody telling me how I should talk. Well, someone needs to tell you, because it ain't like Jesus. Let's work some stuff out of our life. Spiritual authority. You need a pastor. You need a leader. You need a mentor in your life that can speak in your life. Who's that person in your life that can tell you no? Well, I don't have anybody that tells me no. That's a problem right there. I'm grateful. I have four pastors in my life that I talk to on a regular basis, and they tell me no all the time, and you know what I do?

Yes, sir. I'm submitted to a spiritual authority. Why? Because that prunes my life. We have difficult seasons. Some of y'all are in a very difficult season. You're like, why am I here? You know why? cutting some stuff out of your life that you didn't know was even there. Embrace it. And then I love having pruning process that's just from personal evaluation. You know what this is? It's I'm embracing, I'm inviting it myself into my life. That's what David did. David says, search me, oh God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there's any offensive way in me and lead me into the way of everlasting. What is he doing? He's telling God, God, I'm inviting you in. I love the prayer, and we've asked our staff to be praying this, and leaders. The prayer that you should pray every day in your abiding process is you're sitting there with God, you're connecting with him, and then you pray this prayer. God, what do you want to bring to the surface today? Imagine, imagine that kind of lifestyle where every day God brings an issue to the surface.

Why? Not to shame us or to condemn us, but to conform us into the image of Christ. This is the fruit of abiding. I think there's so many people that think if I abide, then I'm gonna get some business idea, and I'm gonna be wealthy, and I'm gonna have a lot of notoriety. Let me tell you, those things are not bad, but that's not the purpose of abiding. God cares way more about your inward transformation and your character development than he does of your outward success and what the world sees. God is building something inside of you. Can I hear a good amen today, church? Amen. And abiding invites the spirit to change us from the inside out. This is what we want. We want to get in our times alone with God and say, God, change me from the inside out, and watch how he will start that work in your life. Even as I'm speaking, I think many of you are feeling that tug of the Holy Spirit on different attitudes and things in your life. What is that? That's God cutting some stuff out of your life for his glory so that you can do, which is our third point, which is number three,

we produce fruit. This is where significance is found. So look at a fruitful life. It starts with you're connected. You have salvation. It's not your good works. It's not your good attempts. I am rooted and established in Christ. I'm pruned. I let God work things out of me. I'm praying prayers like, God, what do you want to bring to the surface today? And then I'm producing fruit in my life, which is now I have significance in my life. Seven times in eight verses, he tells us the goal of the Christian life is fruit. So how do we see fruit in our life? Matthew chapter seven, verse 17. Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire, thus, by their fruit. Not by your words, not by your church attendance, by your fruit, we will recognize them. Like, we'll recognize them by their fruit. Let's live in such a way that we understand that there should be an overflow of our life

of what God does to us individually and personally. If you're not happy with the fruit of your life, check the root. Amen. Some of y'all are like, I'm connected to God. But the fruit of your life is bitterness. You ain't connected to God. I'm connected with God. But everything in your life is selfish. Ooh, that's not the God I'm connected with. I'm connected with God, but you're always angry. Ooh, no, no, no, no. Listen, spiritual success isn't measured by activity, it's measured by fruit. So you look at the fruit and you can understand, am I connected to the right source? Am I connected to the thing that's actually bringing life to me? That's why I would just challenge you. Some of y'all, you're finding so many other things and so many other YouTubers and things on TikTok and all these other things. You're more of a disciple of your algorithm than you are as a disciple of Jesus, and you've gotta learn. I gotta get connected to the one that'll ultimately bring fruit in my life. So what does fruit look like? Let me just say it this way. Internal fruit is what we're all going for,

which is Christ-like character and attitude. Christ-like character and attitude mean the things in our life that nobody sees. There are things of the fruit of the Spirit, which, by the way, after Easter, we're gonna do a nine-week series going through the fruit of the Spirit, one week for each of the fruits of the Spirit, because I am determined to raise up a church that actually has some fruit. What our world doesn't need is any more people that can just talk the talk. They need the people that'll walk the walk, that have the fruit of the Spirit in their life, and they look like Jesus in a broken world. And then let's have external fruit, which is Christ-like action. So it's internal attitude and character. and external action. Why? Why, we're actually changing the world. We're actually very generous. We're actually helping the poor and we're reaching out to our neighbors. Why? Because we don't just talk like Jesus. We act like Jesus. Why? Because we're connected to Jesus. We're connected to him.

So let's just play a little game. We're almost done. All right? So if I asked you what this is, what would you say this is? Apple, apple, very good. This isn't a trick question. This isn't. You go, Jesus. The only time Jesus is not the answer. Okay? All right. So if I were to ask you what kind of tree this came from, you would say? Apple tree. Very good. Easy, easy. Cause you know where it came from because of the fruit it is. Does that make sense? All right. So let's keep going. What is this? An orange. I'm an orange. Very good. We're from central Florida. We got it right there. And an orange, you know, comes from a? Orange tree.

I know what it came from because of what it is. Does that make sense? You know, I know what the source of this was. I know what that tree was because I know what I'm holding in my hand right now. Banana. It's from a banana tree. It's so amazing. I know where it came from. Let's just, one more, one more. Lemon, very good. Very good. You see the fruit that you've identified is always connected with the tree that it came from. And it is so important with your life that people look at your life and they go, oh, I know them. Oh, I know John. I know Sarah. I know, I know Frank. Oh, they're connected to Jesus. Their fruit of their life comes from, from their source, which is Jesus. I wonder if people are evaluating your life, they're looking at your life and going, oh, they're connected to the news. They're connected with pop culture. They're connected with those guys and those girls. Oh, they're connected with those things. I see that kind of fruit of their life.

I wonder if they can see Jesus in you. And our goal in this series is recognizing, listen, it only happens when you intentionally lean in and say, I'm staying connected with the source, with the vine of my life. I was thinking about some of those places you go that are farms that host weddings, festivals. You ever been to one of these places? You know what I'm talking about? Like you get on the farm and it's like the whole festival's there and you're doing hay rides around and you're running through the corn maze and all this kind of stuff. And I was on one where it's just like, it's all wedding venue. It's all farm look, but it's a wedding venue. You know what I'm talking about? And I was sitting there thinking about it going, you know why they're hosting weddings here? Because they're making probably a lot of money off this. And you know what they're not doing with this farm? Producing fruit. Because they stopped producing fruit, they had to find something else to supplement their life and their income. The farm was created not for weddings. It was created to produce fruit. Does it make sense? Some of you, you found other things to make your life about. Can I just bring you back?

You were created to produce fruit with your life. You were created to have character, to have the fruit of the spirit, to be Jesus to a lost and dying world. Don't make your life about all these other things. Make it about what it's originally called to be, producing fruit. So how do we do it when we mess up? When we feel like, God, have you cut us off? Have you messed, like, have I messed up too far? I have good news for you today. Here's your last verse and then we're gonna close. Matthew chapter three says, we produce fruit. How do we produce fruit? In keeping with, shout it out loud. Repentance. Say it one more time. In keeping with, repentance. Repentance is one of those words that people don't really understand a lot of times and needs to be preached on more. Repentance means to turn. It doesn't mean to say, I'm sorry. It means to change course. So we produce fruit when we recognize, whoa, I haven't been connected to the right thing. I'm turning and I'm getting my connection back with Jesus. I haven't been really letting the Holy Spirit work that stuff out of my life. I'm turning and I'm connecting with God

and saying, Holy Spirit, work some stuff out of me. I haven't been producing the fruit. Good news, you can turn and you can reconnect. We repent and as we live a lifestyle of daily repentance, we will produce fruit in our life. God is inviting you to open up your life today to say today's a day of fresh repentance because he's got more for your life. He is your source of life. He wants to cut some stuff out of you and he wants you to live a life that actually produces fruit for his glory and his honor. Do you receive the word for the Lord today? Amen. So let's have a moment. I left a couple minutes on the clock. today to just have a moment where you pause and I want you to practice an abiding lifestyle where we slow down and we just breathe for a little bit and we say God help me be connected with you today not through my own works not through my striving but help me abide with you through the finished work of Jesus on the cross Jesus is inviting you in some of you it's been a long time since you've connected back with him have your moment right now and as you're connecting to him just pause and you just take your hands and hold them out like this open like this right on your lap and just say God I live open-handed what do you want to cut out of my life maybe it's a toxic relationship maybe it's a bad attitude wrong motives maybe it's a job or career or something you're pursuing just say God cut out whatever you want to cut out of

my life I invite your pruning I invite you to come in and change me just have a moment right now where you let the Holy Spirit bring stuff to the surface not to shame us not to condemn us but to conform us into his image even as you're sitting there in your seat just ask the Lord right now commit to him say God help me live a life that truly bears fruit internal fruit Christ-like character and attitudes and external fruit Christ-like action to a lost and dying world we submit it to you right now Jesus name