Pastor Robert and TaQuaris Smith
Robert: Amen. Thank you, pastor. Thank you, Hope, for giving us a place to— the kids are being dismissed right now. We thank you for our kids. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. We just want to thank Hope, Pastor Brian, Jacque, and the Hope family for allowing us to be here to just be who we are called to be. My household's first and foremost mission is to be servant, leaders because we are so thankful for what God has done in our lives. We are thankful for God bringing our lives together so that we can do this thing called life, ministry, marriage, and parenting and serving together. I have the greatest partner in the world.
TaQuaris: So do I.
Robert: The greatest partner in the world, thank God. I'm so thankful for this point in my life to do this with this beautiful young lady. And she is a great teammate, she is a great compliment to me, and she pushes me, and challenges me, and corrects me when I need correcting. And so, it's good. It helps me to grow. We’ve got to keep growing. It's kind of a good lead in to what we want to share today about bearing fruit as we live in Christ, bearing fruit as we live in Christ. So all those things that she means to me helps me continue to bear fruit in Christ. The metaphor of fruit is used in the Bible often to describe the output of our lives. And just like real fruit that we pick and eat, the fruits that we put forth in our lives can be either good or bad. But God desires us to lead lives that produce good fruit. Well, actually, first and foremost, God wants us to produce fruit.
I don't know if you remember in the gospels, there was a fig tree that didn't produce anything, and Jesus cursed it. That's a whole other sermon for another day. But first and foremost, God wants us to be producing something, producing fruit. And so, if we are going to produce fruit, we need to produce good fruit. Amen. I want you to discern the heart of this message. This was a challenging message to try to narrow down in this space for several reasons. It has so many layers in application. We could turn this into a series if the Lord so desired for us to do that. And so as we prayed and meditated and wrestled through it, we hope that you would, to discern where we are going, where I believe the Lord wants for you specifically the Hope Community at this season in your life, but also the body of Christ.
I believe as pastors, preachers, ministers, servant of the Lord, we have specific assignments in the earth. We have specific assignments overall, the reason why we are here, and then when we are in a ministry setting, we have different assignments to do in the Lord. Those assignments change from season to season. I believe that one of the assignments or the mandates that the Lord has for us at this season is to help the body mature. The Lord has burdened our hearts to see where we are at as a church community to show us, not in a condemning way, but to help the body grow up. One of the areas that we see that the body needs to grow up in is this fruit-bearing aspect of our lives.
Fruit-bearing signifies outcomes by our actions. We don't like to be judged for what we do, but the reality is that we are known, we are identified by what we do, especially as the body of Christ. The identification, a lot of us just stick with the outward or the external appearance. Well, I want to go a little bit deeper than that today because the outward appearance can be deceiving in so many ways. If we are going truly judge something, as I believe God or the Lord does, it's going to be by the fruit that we produce. It's the fruit that we bear. As we journey through the scriptures today, we are to going see how we are to bear fruit in light of Christ.
You are going to keep hearing this from me until the Lord takes me home, this theme of being in Christ. Because I believe that the church in so many ways has not represented Christ, because in so many ways it has been disconnected from Christ and been plugged up into something or somethings else. So when the Lord took us on this journey the last couple of years about the idea of being in Christ, every time we pick up the word and go into the scriptures, this phrase jumps out, in Christ, in Christ. Hopefully, by the end of this message, we'll all see that connection and that importance of being in Christ. Amen.
TaQuaris: Amen.
Robert: As I said before, believers or followers of Christ were known or identified by the fruit. Remember Jesus said one of the fruit that Christians bear is love, and that is love for one another. And Jesus said they will know you by what? The love you have for one another. That means you are going to be identified with him by the way you love, treat. Love is an action word if you didn't know that. We can say, I love you all we want to, but your love is proven by your actions. Let me say that. I don't know if they heard that or not. Our love is proven, shown, identified by our actions. I don't want to hear you say, I love you and you treat me like the word pastor used earlier.
My wife wouldn't appreciate hearing the words “I love you”, if I didn't treat her in a way that she would receive my love. So these are actionable terms. I love you is an actionable term. It's a fruit that we produce. It's shown by the way we treat one another. Amen. I want us to read a scripture first before we get into—this is all preliminary. We are not getting into the heart of the message yet. We are going to get there so just bear with me. Because one of the things I was sharing with my wife is, as a pastor I don't ever want you to feel like I'm preaching down to you. Too many times in the body of Christ we've had this separation between the leadership and the congregation as if the word of God applies only to the people we are preaching to and not to us. I don't ever want you to have that impression when we minister.
If I'm preaching to you, I'm preaching with you. The word of God is touching our hearts as well. And so there are things that we point out that apply to leadership; we are not exempt. One of the things we are not exempt from is bearing fruit, good fruit as well. I want to read a scripture that I want to make application to that point. And we are going give you a little bit of the context, and then I want to make the general application of the principle. So, sweetheart, can you read Matthew 7: 17-20.
TaQuaris: A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit and a bad tree can't produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.
Robert: If you look at the context of this scripture in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus is teaching the people and warning the people about false prophets. Early on he says that these people that come to you, they come to you like they are sheep, like they are really one of you. But deep down inside, under their mask, under their outward appearance, out of the words that they say, out of the clever things that they say, the things that sound good, the things that has us shouting, hooray, hallelujah, thank you, Jesus, they are really ravenous wolves. And why are they ravenous wolves? It’s because they are not true disciples of Jesus Christ.
And the reason why you know they are not true disciples of Jesus Christ is because the source, the motivation for what they are teaching doesn't come from Christ. False prophets are teachers, according to this scripture, in the context of this scripture, are those who claim to know the Lord and to follow him but are actually not true disciples. They are false in every respect. Number one, they do not know the Lord. They do not know his word. So if you don't know his word, you don't know who he is, then you cannot represent him. It's impossible. Christ tells his true followers to avoid falling victim to such people, and to evaluate what they are saying, who they are, by the lives that they live, by the fruit in their lives.
That was one of the things when we were first coming aboard to be a part of the Hope Community. I was at a stage in my life that I did not really care to be in another ministry setting under a pastor. I’m just being transparent with you. I've been serving in ministry for 20-plus years, being in the second seat as they said in seminary for so long. I was not at a place that I wanted to do that. I'm giving edification to Hope and to the leadership of this church. One of the things that made me think that God was saying otherwise in my life right now is that when I talk with and met with Pastor Brian and heard the words that were coming through his mouth, and your actions as a community, I'm talking about fruit, I saw and felt and heard the love of Christ.
If it was otherwise Robert and TaQuaris wouldn't be up here today. So in that sense we saw, and we bore witness to good fruit. First and foremost, I heard the words of Christ coming out of your pastor's mouth, and that was followed up by demonstration of this community towards me and my family. So it's important, those two things, knowing the Lord is going to be evident in how we experience one another, and we experience that. And we as you see us today, see what we've done here is good fruit that was born out of that connection. Amen. So, you have a good pastor with the heart of Christ that has a big work here, and it's not easy. It's not easy. Bearing fruit is not easy. Bearing good fruit is not easy. Sometimes a tree has to be pruned.
TaQuaris: I was just going to say that, yeah.
Robert: Good. Sometimes a tree has to be pruned because it's not producing what it needs to produce in the way that it needs to produce. And so, you have to do things. You have to trim it; cut it back. One of the things I had to do yesterday. I'm seeing these weeds growing taller than my bush. I was showing Robinson. I was like, “This is not what it's supposed to be like.” I said, “Did you see the length of these weeds?” He was like, “Yeah.” I said, “You know what would happen if I let this continue? It's going to choke the life out of this bush. So I have to pull up the weeds.” Pulling up weeds is not a fun project, especially the ones that have thistles on them. I don't know why I found that out the hard way a few years ago.
But sometimes there needs to be pruning. Sometimes there needs to be correction. We'll get a little bit back to that later, because there is a way that we do that in love in Christ for us to produce good fruit. And there is a way not to do that, in a not-so-Christ way that will not produce good fruit. But the thing is, in order for us to produce good fruit, we have to be in Christ. We cannot produce good fruit apart from Christ. So now, as I've done with that little spiel, we are going to get into the heart of our message today, and we are going to start with in the gospel of John.
One of our favorite scriptures we learned as we were talking about it— this scripture and John is actually one of my first memory verses that I could remember. And TaQuaris was telling me, “Hey, that was one of mine too.” We are going to read part of it in John 15.
TaQuaris: Remain in me and I will remain in you, for a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me and I in them will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.
When I was reading this and studying this particular scripture, what stood out to me was that the first thing about remaining or abiding, the King James Version used abiding, is that you cannot do anything without Christ. So that's the first step. You have to realize that you are nothing without Christ.
To abide in Christ is to be rooted in him. We must recognize we nothing without him. Abiding in him is only half of the equation. The other half is the glorious fact that he will abide, or remain, or stay in us. He doesn’t have to, but he loves us that much. So here, this is a mutual relationship. It's intimacy. It's about our decisions. It's about submitting our will to the father. It's about our choices. So, it's just like it's impossible for a branch to bear grapes if it isn't connected to the vine. Christians, we can do no true good for God or for his kingdom if we don't consciously connect with Christ and abide in him.
Also, when I was reading this, I thought about Proverbs 3: 6 where it says, acknowledge him in all your ways and he will direct your path. That's about a relationship too, right? God loves us that much. He cares so much about us and all of our decisions. He wants us to commune with him because we are actually partnering with the Holy Spirit that is abiding in us. So, as we acknowledge him in all our ways and abide by submitting our will to God and say, okay, you want me to do it this way, Lord, if we do that then we would do what? Produce good fruit.
Robert: This is such a powerful metaphor. It says, “I am the vine.” Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches.” And so, it's setting a distinction right there. I am the vine. I am the source. You are the output of this source. In fruit, if you know when it's connected to the vine, there are nutrients. It's the source of life. Once disconnected from that, you are taking that fruit from that nutrient source. And so, the life expectancy of that fruit is dwindled down because it's no longer connected to that vine. And so, it is with our lives. As Christians, we have to continually stay connected to our life source, the source of our nutrients for our lives, so that we can continue to produce fruit in our lives.
He sets the distinction. He said, “I am the vine. I am the source of life. I am the source of good fruit. You are the branches. You are an extension of me.” But he also says those who remain in me, and I am them, will produce much fruit. So, he is speaking to something that says the opposite. If you are disconnected or do not remain in me, then what? You won't produce good fruit. So this relationship speaks of connection, first and foremost. We can't do this without Christ. So all these self-help books, throw them away. They are no good for you. The power is not in self. So number one, connection; number two, dependency. Jesus says, “In order for you to be successful, in order you to be fruitful, you have to remain in me. So you are dependent on me.” That's a good thing.
In this great independent America, you have to be dependent on something and that's Jesus Christ. He is the answer. He is the power. He is the root of life, the bread of life, the source of our joy, the source of our peace, the source of our freedom, our deliverance. We have to stay connected with him, and then we will produce fruit. This relationship speaks also of consistency or constancy. There are things that come, even in a vineyard, that come to throw things off course. And a good husbandman of that vineyard has to go and root out the things, or make sure if a vine and a branch are injured in a certain way, there is a time where you have to go and mend that branch to that vine so it can stay connected.
So it is in our lives. There are things as we go about— we have this constant battle between flesh and spirit, a fight between carnality of our minds and the things of God. And we can't get to a point in our lives when we think we are independent of Christ. We have to stay rooted and grounded in Christ. The word says in Christ. So that means that can be a time where we are not in Christ. How is that evident? It's very evident because of the fruit that you bear. It's a correlation between who and what we are connected to, with the fruit we bear. So, if we yield to our flesh, then we are going to produce fleshly things. But if we are connected to the spirit, then we are going to be producing spiritual things. There is no in between. There is no gray area in that. And so I am the vine, you are the branches. We look like what we are connected to. And again, I'm not talking about we all look different on the outside. I'm talking about the actions that are put forth by what's inside of us, what's inside of our heart. That's how we know who we are connected to.
TaQuaris: That's right.
Robert: As believers, we can't— I talked to the men's group early on, one of our first early meetings. We talked about taking an inventory of the things that we've been taught, that served a purpose in our lives before, but we have to take and measure that up against the word of God. The things that we learned, do they line up with the words of Christ? If not, then we have to realign our thinking, our way of doing things, by what the word of God says. Not what we've been traditionally taught, so to speak, because those things may or may not have been rooted in the true words and the true nature and the true heart of our Lord.
Most people get stuck in their lives because they are stuck on, “Well, my mama taught me this, my daddy taught me this, my grandpa taught me this. So, and so taught me this.” They may have had good intentions, but even good intentions don't produce good fruit. It has to be from the true spirit of Christ in order for it to produce good fruit. Otherwise, we have to tear it down. If Jesus says, in order to do this, we have to remain in him, how do we remain in him? We have to get close to him. How do we get close to him? We have to know him. How do we know him? We go through his word.
TaQuaris: Amen. You go through his word. You spend time with him, quality time. You get to a place where you shut everything out, all the noise. Knowing him is listening. As Christians sometimes we are very charismatic to the point we just say so much, and we can just do all the prayers and saying all the right words and then we think we are done. But we are not because God didn't talk. We didn't let him. So we have to take the time to commune with him and allow him to speak to us, speak to our inner man, and just saturate ourselves in his presence, with the word, with prayer, with fellowship and with like-minded people, iron sharpens iron, things like that. Being accountable, having friends around us that can hold us accountable, things like that.
Robert: I've been in what I call different streams. That means I've been in different religious circles. Whether it be Catholicism, whether it be the Baptist church, whether it be the African Methodist Episcopal church. And then my latter stream has been this charismatic kind of Pentecostal stream. And that's what I'm going to speak to right now. Because in all of those streams, as great as we are with expressing the gifts of the spirit. One of the things that we need to grow in is the study of his word. We are good about praying and interceding and prophesy and laying hands and doing all. We are great at that. That's all good. But when it comes to the word, we need help. We need to grow. And why am I saying that? Because shame on us for expressing the gifts. One of the last points we are going to talk about is the fruit of the spirit.
What a shame it is in Christ that we can produce all this gifting, and then we don't produce the fruits of the spirit. Just hold that point. That's where we are going to land today. But we have to grow in his word. Folks, I'm kind of doing an advertisement. We are going to announce pretty soon that I will be starting a small group/ bible study called Building Blocks of faith. And what we are going to do is simply develop a group who likes to get in and study the word. Because Sunday morning is not enough for us to get into his word, because you are not doing any work. The preachers have done the work to study the word and then to deliver it to you, and we've prayed that you receive it and then make application in your lives. But if you are just relying on us as the preachers to do that Sunday and Sunday to sustain you, then you are sadly mistaken. All you are going to do is remain a Sunday Saint.
TaQuaris: Become more religious.
Robert: I want you to be a saint every day. I want you to grow in Christ every day. I want you to know him every day. I want you to grow to understand him every day. The only way to do that is to dig into his word. God has chosen for us in this generation. We don't see Jesus incarnate walking the earth, but Jesus is his word. His word has been left here for us to get to do that, to know him. Again, one of the biggest draws to me is one of first conversations I had with Pastor Brian and Jacque, is that they were studying the words in red in the Bible because in a lot of the Bibles the words in red represented the words of Jesus himself.
And what a concept to understand what Jesus actually say, not all of our so-called interpretations and our ideologies, but ask what did the master say? And so that won over my heart, that there was an emphasis to let's go back to the basics to see what our Lord says. And so, we have to get to know him. And that's how we get to know him. What a joy it would be if we can pick up the phone and say, hey, Jesus, come, let's go take a walk tomorrow. Hold his hand, sit and have coffee with him. Well, we can't do that in physical form, but we can do that in word form.
TaQuaris: You can do it in physical form too. He is always present. You might not see him drinking coffee. You might be the one drinking, but he is there.
Robert: Yeah.
TaQuaris: So really you can.
Robert: Yeah. What I'm talking is incarnate. I'm making a comparison that there is a difference between what the early disciples and the apostles had the opportunity to be with him, to rub shoulders with him, to touch him. But we don't have that. But like he said so many times to them, he would leave us something. He would leave us something. And what a great thing that he left us. He left his spirit and his word, so that we actually wouldn't be without excuse, that we can still commune with him, so that we can grow. And it's kind of what the apostle Paul was talking to the church at Colossae about as we see in Colossians chapter one.
TaQuaris: So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding, then the way you live would always honor and please the Lord, and your lives would produce every kind of good fruit. All the while you will grow, as you learn to know God better and better.
Robert: Wow. This gives us the key to growing and bearing fruit, good fruit. What did Paul pray for them? He said that you will come to complete knowledge of his will. Remember Jesus with the woman at the well? He said, “The days are coming and yet is now where you will worship God in spirit and in truth.” Have you ever really pondered what does that mean? In spirit, you are going to gain spiritual wisdom as you get to know him, and you worship him in truth, as you come into complete knowledge of his will.
Because remember, if you look in the context of what he said about the Samaritan, he said, you worship a God. You really don't have an understanding of who you worship. Remember, Jesus was saying the same thing Paul is praying for the church of Colossae about. You don't understand who you are worshiping, so you really can't truly worship him because you don't understand him. You don't really know him. And so, Paul is saying to the Colossae church, my prayer for you is that you come into complete knowledge. That way you will know who you worship and how to worship him. As you get close to the Lord, by studying his word, by praying, then you will grow in spiritual wisdom.
And then Paul says there is an outcome. You will produce good fruit, while you are growing, as you get to know God better and better. This is a continual relationship. It's a continually getting before God in his presence studying about who he is. But it also is a part of us. You know what? Sometimes we don't get it right. Anybody get it right all the time? Raise your hand. Sometimes we don't get it right. But the good news in this relationship, in this covenant that we are in, is that we have an opportunity to start over.
We have an opportunity, but how do we start over? It's not as simple, sweeping things under a rug. It's an acknowledgment and a confession. Lord, I messed up. Lord, I didn't do right. Lord, I didn't speak right. Forgive me and show me the way in which I should go. That's not a one-time event. It's every day. It's a constant watering of the garden, so to speak. So that you can continue to grow, and you learn from your mistakes, because you inquired of the Lord and you submit it to the direction, to the correction that he has given you so that you can produce better fruit.
TaQuaris: It's a love relationship, really. You change your life not just because you are obligated to. You want to do what Christ wants you to because you love him. So it's just every day, it's a check. You just check yourself every day, God, what you want me to change? How can I grow? How can I be formed "in your image?" How can I produce your character? We have to continue to progress spiritually. So really Paul was encouraging them to continue to grow, because he states that you will grow as you learn to know God better and better. So, it is very constant. We can't grow stagnant, and we can't think that we have arrived.
Robert: I know they are asking a question TaQuaris and the question is saying, well, I hear you, but how do I put myself in a place to constantly produce good fruit? Well, we are going to tell you. We are going to give you the last scripture. Our last scripture comes from one of my favorite letters of Paul, and from one of my favorite chapters in this particular letter. And it's from the letter to the Galatians, chapter 5.
TaQuaris: So I say let the Holy Spirit guide your lives, then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the spirit wants. And the spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other. So you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the spirit, you are not under the obligation to the Law of Moses.
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear. Sexual morality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarrelling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness in parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the Holy Spirit produces these kinds of fruit in our lives: love joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things.
Robert: Paul had to come to the churches that he planted. He had to always come back and revisit these churches because there were people trying to come and undo what he had done. One of the things in the Galatian church— this church was a church of Gentiles that had received the good news of Jesus Christ. There were these other teachers that would try to come in and bring confusion from them accepting Jesus Christ as this new way of life, this new covenant. And they wanted to bring back and say, no, that's not good enough, you got to bring back the Law of Moses. And so it's this tension, which actually— don't turn your nose up at the Galatian church because we still have this tension today.
We say we've accepted the New Covenant that comes through Jesus Christ, but we want to tag the Law of Moses along with it. And so we have this struggle, this tension in the church between law and grace. The whole point of this is from the very first sentence in this scripture that we read. It says, “Let the Holy Spirit guide you.” And that's the essence of this New Covenant relationship. As long as we strive to please the tenants of the law, we are never going to produce fruit, good fruit in our lives. Following the Law of Moses is dead. Okay, let's say that again, before I go further. Following the Law of Moses is dead. It doesn't need to be resurrected. Well then, you are going to say, well, how do we know what to do? We got to have a guide in our lives to tell us what to do. Yeah, you do. It's called the Holy Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit.
You don't need a set of external laws. I'm talking to the church. You don't need a set of external laws to govern and guide your life, because that was for a season, and that season was to point to you to Christ to the new covenant. So you can strive to live by the law all you want to, to stay obligated to the law, and you are not going to be successful because as the apostle Paul would tell you, is that you create this war between your flesh and sin. And you are going to be a slave to sin because once you see the commandment, that sin nature in you is going to try to rebel against that law. So instead the life that we are to live now as believers, so that we can produce what Paul is talking about, the fruits of the spirit, is have the conviction of the Holy Spirit. As we commune with the Lord, that conviction that comes from the Holy Spirit will be our guides in our lives. So anytime there is tension, I don't have to pull out the Ten Commandments to see which way I should go. I check in with the spirit of God that resides in me. That's a part of my heart to convict me, and to show me the way. Because all the law and what is in itself, the law is good. And Paul talks about this. Don't worry, those in our study group, we will talk about these letters a lot. We'll break this down for you.
But the problem is, following the law does not bring about righteousness. Following the law does not free you up from sin, okay? Because all the law did to you was condemn you. But now the spirit of God, even though the spirit of God will bring correction for change, that's just it. It does it for change because number one, you've already been redeemed. So there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
So we are to stand therefore, steadfast in the Liberty, the freedom that has been bought by Jesus Christ. We walk in the freedom in Christ, not in the condemnation of the law. But we are now spurned and motivated in our hearts to do what is pleasing to God, because our relationship that we have with him. Something that God always desired for us, always spoke about, even in the old covenant. If we were paying attention, if they were paying attention who received the old, will understand that God said there would be a day where my law, the things that I would have them do, would not be written in stone, but we would be written in hearts that are circumcised with my spirit. And so you go from the circumcision of the Law of Moses that was on the outward, to a circumcised heart that starts from the inside that produces good fruit on the outside.
TaQuaris: So bearing fruit describes the outward actions that result from the inward condition of a person's heart. I'm going to say that again. Bearing fruit describes the outward action that results from the inward condition of a person's heart. And fruit represents character. That's what fruit represents. I love you. I love my brethren because Christ commanded me to love my brethren. I show that by how I treat you. I show that by what I say. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. So it's all about the condition of our hearts.
Robert: And here is the key for us, the church. And this is the last thing I'll share. We all have a responsibility for our own lives, to continue to produce good fruit. But as labor is in the vineyard, whether it be the vineyard of the household of faith or outside, we are spurned out of love towards one another. And then sometimes there is this. We had conversation about, there is a labor of love that we have with one another, which is motivated, should be motivated, because we want to see our brethren, our brothers and sisters produce good fruit. But here is the tension that we have. How do we do that when we see or perceive not so good fruit in our brothers and sisters?
Number one, it doesn't excuse us from not walking in the fruits of the spirit. We still have to, just as the Lord works with us to bring about a change of our heart. We have to motivate our brothers and sisters to have a change in heart. So that as they continue to grow in connection with the Lord through his word, through his present, through prayer, through confession, through repentance, that they will be motivated to change from within and produce what is good. We have to be a loving community. In a loving community, love is not weak. Love doesn't mean that we just float around, and we don't see things out of order sometimes. What love does is dictate how we handle one another. It's a motivation that doesn't come in a condemning or self-righteous attitude. It comes from the heart of Christ that as we are afforded grace to make changes and transformation in our lives, that we have grace with one another, and allow for the Holy Spirit to work that same grace in each and every one of us.
Because remember he said, “I am the vine; you are the branches.” So the life-giving source, the power-changing force is not us, but it's Christ that allows for that working of grace and love in your life, so that fruit, good fruit, is produced. As we remain in Christ, we will bear good fruit. And that's our prayer for you today, is that you remain in Christ so that you will always bear good fruit. And then we will have a community that's able to go out, as my wife shared with the women, not too long ago, to go out and be salt and light. But to be salt and light, we have to bear the image of Christ and we have to bear good fruits, and we especially have to do that with one another in Jesus’s name. Amen.
Brian: Thank you, Pastor Robert and TaQuaris. God bless you guys. As they were sharing, this scripture kept coming through my mind, that I can do all things through Christ. As Christ is flowing through me, as he is the vine and we are the branches and that nourishment that you talked about is flowing through us. We can actually do those things that are spoken of in Galatians five. We can be loving. We can be patient. We can be those things that are described as the fruit of the spirit. But I can't do anything apart from Christ. I had a teacher that once said it sure is hard being a Christian when you are not one.
Try to walk in Galatians five and not be in love with Jesus, not be connected to the vine. Try to do that. It's impossible. But when we are connected— So when we find ourselves maybe falling short of that description in Galatians 5. Instead of gritting your teeth and trying harder, just lay everything aside and let him flow through us again. Let him abide in us again. Let us get connected again to Jesus and let us be reminded of all that he has done for us. All that he has done for us, how he has taken us from nothingness and given us somethingness.
And so father, today, we thank you. You didn't leave us Jesus when you ascended to heaven, to just kind of figure things out on our own and grit our teeth and try harder. But Jesus, you said I'm going to send you the promise of my father, which is Holy Spirit to come and really dwell in us. That connection to Jesus, that Holy Spirit you make for us, so that we truly can have a relationship with you. You didn't leave us a code of conduct to follow. You left us the very spirit of God to live within us, so that we could have relationship with you, and that the deeper we fall in love with you, the more fruit we can bear, fruit that will remain. So we prayed right now in the name of Jesus for all of us in this auditorium, and those of you who are watching by livestream. We just encourage you to, once again, quit trying so hard and just let the spirit of Christ dwell in you richly. Open your hearts up to what Jesus has to offer you. Open your hearts up to the love of God, the love of Christ that can heal the broken-hearted, the love of Christ that can strengthen those weary legs, those weary hearts, the broken minds, the wrong thinking. And we pray in Jesus' name for your love to come flowing through us again. May your love come in like a rushing wind, Lord. May we sense just more and more, even in the sadness at times of our lives, because we live in a fallen world where there are so many sad things. There is so much that creates loss in our lives. There are so many things that create disappointments.
May your love come in and wash our hearts. Strengthen us, Lord. Come in and, even wash our minds from the horrific memories of things that have happened to us throughout the course of our lives. And may we just focus on how much you love us. And that we can be connected to the creator through the gift of Holy Spirit that comes and lives within us. And that we can have life and life more abundantly, and that we can have this fruit in our lives. When we realize that we fall short, may we just not try harder. But may we just say, Jesus, I need more of you. I reach for more of you. Come, Holy Spirit into me in a greater way. So that the fruit that I will produce will be the kind that will honor and glorify your name. We pray this Jesus in your name, for your sake. Hallelujah
After the service, Dave and Lou will be serving communion today. Thank you for helping us that way. If you want to reserve communion, just please feel free to come over here. We'll also have some people on our prayer teams if you want some additional prayer for anything, we'll have people here to pray for you. Thank you, pastor Robert again, and TaQuaris, a wonderful encouragement. You've been reading my notes. God bless you. Not really. Let's raise our hands together. Thank you, Lord.
Now may the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And may the Lord turn his face towards you and give you, his peace. This, we pray in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. God bless you. Have a wonderful day. Thank you for being here today.
Transcript taken from the Sunday morning service 6-26-22. If you would like to watch the full service, click the link below.