Bearing Good Fruit

Greetings in Jesus' name. It's a blessing to be gathered together. Worship our Lord. I had to think, do we realize the blessing that we have of gathering together in this way and the strength that we can that we get from each other or that we get from gathering together? I had to think of when there's persecution and areas where Christians are persecuted, one of the things that they don't want the Christians to do is get together.

And so often they'll gather in secret because I think Satan knows that when we get together, there's strength there and we get encouragement and we don't fall away as soon. And so we need that. And another thing I had to think about was, if you're just a Christian, a lot of these places where there's persecution, if there's no evidence or if you're a Christian or maybe you say you're a Christian but there's no people can't really see that you are one, you're not on the offensive, you're not talking to people about your faith or about the Lord, you usually don't have too much problems kind of living anywhere.

But I've read a little reading already that if I would be on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict me? And I think about that sometimes. What are my evidences that I am a Christian?

And for a message, I've been thinking about bearing fruit.

Jesus said in John 15:8, he says, "Hearing as my Father glorify it that ye bear much fruit." He wants us to be bearing fruit. And so shall ye be my disciples.

And also when John the Baptist was baptizing and the people were coming to him to be baptized there and he was preaching repentance, and then the religious leaders of that day would be what would have been supposed to be what we would call today maybe the church, came to him and he told may I just turn to that?

There's several counts of that, but I want to turn to the one in Matthew 3. Matthew 3, starting at verse 7. If we back up in verse 6, people were coming to him and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, "O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits, meat for repentance.

And think not to say within yourselves, 'We have Abraham to our father,' for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire."

So he told these religious people of their day to bring forth fruit, meat for repentance, or that's evidence of repentance. What was he looking for? What was this fruit? It's also interesting that he calls them vipers or a snake or something that's sly and kind of deceitful and just kind of hidden half the time and trying to get around things and trying to get by with things and very crafty and maybe even have being poisonous.

They were to bring forth fruit, meat for repentance.

Another place Jesus talks about, a tree is known by its fruit, that a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit and a good tree doesn't bring forth evil fruit.

So it's just thinking about fruit a little bit, the way we know fruit in our day, just the fruit. I think most of us enjoy eating fruit. There's just some information I found on fruit.

It said that fruit is one of the most abundant, delicious, and healthful foods known to man. Different varieties grow in almost every climate. Fruit is grown, eaten, and enjoyed by man in every country of the world. The varied colors of different fruits range from red and yellow to blue and purple. There are many flavors range from the sweetness of the banana and strawberry to the tartness of the lemon and the cranberry. Fruits are prized throughout the world for their health-giving properties and for the variety in spice they add to our food.

To those of us who eat the fruits or eat them, fruits are juicy, fleshy, pulpy tissue produced by various plants. To the plant itself, the fruit is a matter of life and death because of the seed it has within it.

So this fruit, most of the fruit we know of, also has a seed in it that keeps the life going.

It grows on trees, shrubs, vines, and fleshy stemmed plants. These trees and plants live and produce fruit for a number of years. And the food that they're high in food value, fruits are a highly important part of the human diet. The acids, salts, and vitamins they furnish are very helpful in keeping a balanced, healthful diet. The water and roughage found in all fruits make them good laxatives. Furthermore, fruits are delicious in flavor, handsome in appearance, easily digested, and stimulating to the appetite and our digestion.

Scientists have found that all fruits contain one or more of the vitamins necessary to good health, especially vitamin C. Sugar is the chief nutritious substance in fruits. Pectin comes from fruits. Fruits also contain several valuable minerals, salts, as those of iron, phosphorus, and calcium. It is believed that the diet of a people improves as the eating of fruit increases.

So there's a lot of references to fruit in the Jesus talked a lot about fruit. "By your fruits, ye shall know them." So just what was he looking for?

He wants us to bear much fruit, something nourishing, something that will nourish others.

And often when we think of fruit, we think of the fruit of the Spirit. It found in Galatians there, love, joy, peace, long suffering, goodness, faith, and meekness, and all those. I want to look at those a little bit later, but that as the fruit that we are to be giving forth, the world around us, their diets are very poor. And I'm not really talking about in the physical sense. It almost seems a lot of the world is they're becoming more aware of what they eat is how it makes them feel. And so they're concerned about where their food comes from or what's in it. But

what we take in, what we take into our minds, what we allow to, what we think about, is it good, is it healthful food for our well-being, for our mind, for our heart? Or is it just something that doesn't really give us any nutritional value?

And if we think about all the brokenness in our world, broken families and the perversion that goes on, people want something. There's just a deep within everyone, there's a longing for something real, something that satisfies, something that takes away that emptiness. And I think they're looking for people that are bearing these fruits that

others can partake of and find a nutritional benefit from spiritually. Another thing about fruit, another interesting, well, another fact about fruit, most of us don't really think about this, but fruit doesn't just grow automatically. It takes cultivation. It takes planning ahead. Another thing I read in that article, it says to grow any fruit successfully requires careful attention, to detail, sound judgment, and the ability to manage. The successful fruit grower has to be well-informed, alert, willing to work, and able to manage his property. The problems he has to solve during the year are many and varied.

And if you buy an apple tree or a peach tree, they're often already about two or three years old when you get them from the nursery. And it will take another two to four years until they're actually producing fruit.

And I think for most of us, if we decide we want apples or even if we want strawberries, we just go to the store and we get them, whether they're in season or not, or whether it's that's so we don't really think about the effort that it takes to grow fruit.

But it's a process. It takes a while. It takes cultivation.

And if we don't have it, if we

decide to plant an orchard and we're going to sell apples, it takes planning ahead. It takes years until we start reaping the benefits from that. But a lot of people do it, and that's why we have fruit available to us today.

So maybe we'll just look at a scripture in Luke 3 where Jesus is talking about fruit, bringing forth fruit. Luke 3:7.

No, that's still talking about John telling the religious leaders of the day to bring forth fruit. I had a reference where Jesus talked about it's in Matthew 7.

Verse 15, Matthew 7, the end of the sermon on the mount, it says, "Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?

Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore, by their fruits, ye shall know them."

By their fruits, what their life is yielding. What am I yielding? What comes forth out of my life?

And if we think that when we face a situation that we'll be able to, whether it's talking to someone about our Lord, about our faith, or it's just relating to the situations that come up in our lives, we can't just get that fruit.

We can't just have it on a whim. We need to have it in order to be able to give it out. We need to have it today in order to have it for tomorrow.

We need to be filled with that spirit so that we can

yield that peaceable fruit of righteousness. There's just a lot of verses in the scriptures talking about fruit, about yielding fruit, bearing fruit. It's not only hurting people, not only lonely people or people that their lives are broken, that need nourishment. Healthy people eat as well.

And they also need nourishment from this fruit.

Healthy, strong people need nourishment. So in order for this fruit to grow, we need to have fertile soil.

We need to prepare the soil. The soil needs to be prepared. I had to think of the parable of the sower there. We'll just turn to that in Luke 8. It talks about the different soils, the hard. There's a hard soil, and it talks about bearing fruit there. Luke 8, starting in verse 4, it says a lot of people, and when much people were gathered together and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable. A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock, and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away because it lacked moisture.

And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. And other fell on good ground and sprang up and bare fruit and hunted full. And when he had said these things, he cried, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

And his disciples asked him, saying, "What might this parable be?" And he said, "Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to others in parables that seeing they might not see and hearing they might not understand. Now the parable is this. The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are they that hear, then come with the devil and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. They on the rock are they which, when they hear, receive the word with joy, and these have no root, which for a while believe and in time of temptation fall away.

And that which fell among the thorns are they which, when they have heard, go forth and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to perfection. There might be a little bit of fruit there, but it can't produce a fruit because it's being choked out with other things.

But that on the good ground are they which, in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience."

So this good ground would be an honest and a good heart preparing the soil.

And I'm always amazed at how productive a seed can be. If a seed grows, I often think of a tomato seed. It's just a little seed you can I'm not quite sure what to compare it to, but when we plant a tomato seed, we just put it on our finger and just stick it in the dirt.

But that one little seed, if it grows, has the potential to it can make a wheelbarrow load of tomatoes. It could make a couple depending on how productive it is, all from that one little seed.

And so this all fruit, all plants have seeds in them. And so if we not only does this fruit have nourishment, but it also has a seed in it that has the potential for another plant to start out. So if our lives are yielding fruit to those around us and they partake of that fruit, not only does it give them nourishment, but there's also a seed in that fruit that has the potential of creating another plant that will then produce fruit as well with a seed in it, and it just keeps going. But seeds are just amazing things. It's one little seed of corn, wheat, whatever we plant, and if it grows, produces hundreds of other kernels of other which can be used for nourishment then and also for seed to replant for another crop.

So this fruit that we're bearing is not only nourishment, but it also has a seed in it that has the potential to bring forth for another plant to bring forth fruit.

But this good ground that this plant needs to be planted in says an honest and a good heart. Open. We're open to God. We're open to his correction. In John 12:24, it says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."

So that's part of the to have an honest and a good heart, to be a seed that grows in fertile soil, it needs to lose its identity. It needs to die. As long as that seed is in a bag or isn't in the ground, as long as it doesn't get wet, the life that's in it is just kind of locked up within it. It can't really it doesn't germinate. It doesn't bring forth fruit. It doesn't bring about any nourishment. It doesn't multiply. But when that corn of wheat falls into the ground and dies, then it can bring forth much fruit.

Thinking of someone that an honest and good heart. If we're just concerned about preserving ourselves and my ideas, we're just kind of like a little seed that doesn't bring forth fruit.

The soil needs to be prepared, and the seed needs to be planted. And in this reading here in Luke, not all the seeds brought forth fruit. Some were choked out. Others didn't have any deepness of earth. But the one where that fell among the thorns are they which have heard, go forth and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of this life. The cares, riches, and pleasures of this life choke it out, and then it doesn't bear any fruit. There might be some little shriveled fruit, but it doesn't do very well.

I had to think of a time when we tend to maybe visualize what good fruit might be in other people, but we fail to cultivate it in our own lives. I had to think of these seed catalogs that come around in the winter, usually January and February, they come, and if you want to order a fruit tree, they don't show the little whip that you'll be getting. It shows apples or peaches, usually with a little water drops or something on it. So I mean, it's just really I'd like to do something like this.

And when I was at home, I had tried to start a couple of fruit trees, and I didn't take very good care of them. And so then my brother was doing some bush hogging around there, and he mowed them off. But the reason he mowed them off is because he could hardly see them. And so it's kind of they weren't being cultivated. And so they never brought forth any fruit. They were choked out. And then they were cut down because it just looked like a weed.

But

I think we often tend to picture what this fruit should look like. And maybe it's kind of like looking at a seed catalog. We think how Christians should maybe how a church should function, how Christians should relate to each other.

And we kind of forget to be bearing that fruit in our own lives, to be pulling the weeds from our own vine, our own plants so that we can bear fruit.

Another aspect of growing fruit is pruning. And if the pruning hasn't been done in the winter, it should be done here soon.

A plant or anyone that if you've ever seen an apple tree or we have some thornless blackberries, and I mean, they can just really get overgrown, especially these blackberries.

I mean, they can get tall and wide, and they just keep spreading out, but they're not very productive. If you want to pick them, you can hardly pick them because they just go so wild. But if they're pruned, if you cut them back, then you get a lot of good fruit.

Apple trees the same way. I've tried pruning some apple trees that had been left go for a while, and it's just full of shoots. And just it doesn't bear apples. It might bear a couple of little ones, but not fruit to perfection.

So there needs to be a pruning. It needs to be a cutting away of extra things, cutting out extra things in our lives that are choking out the fruit bearing that should be taking place.

Another aspect of growing good fruit is insect control. They need to be controlled because a grower needs to be alert to that. Watch, keeping an eye on his fruit to see if there's any insect pressure and doing what needs to be done, whether it's spraying or some other methods that are used at times to control these insects. Otherwise, it will ruin the fruit.

And watering. Watering is another that it needs water to bear good fruit. We need to be watered with God's word.

I like to look at John 15 there where Jesus talks about him being the vine and that we are the branches.

In order for we are not the plant itself. We are a branch. Jesus said, "He is the vine, and we are the branches."

And he wants us to bear fruit. John 15

says, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman." His Father is the one that takes care of it. Every branch in me, we need to be in him that bears not fruit. If we're not if we say we're in Christ, then we're not bearing fruit. He takes those away because they're not being productive. He says, "He taketh away, and every branch that bears fruit, he doesn't cut it off, but he purges or prunes it so that it can bring forth more fruit." Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

Abide in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine. No more can ye except ye abide in me. Abiding in Christ, abiding in the vine, the true vine.

That's the only way we can bear fruit. I am the vine. You are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me, ye can do nothing.

If a branch is cut off of a tree or a vine, it's done for. It will not grow. It has no connection to life anymore.

And it's kind of interesting to me. Like right now, if you cut a tree down or a branch off or a vine, where it's coming from, it often starts dripping. Like a sap starts dripping out. A couple of years ago, we had cut down a big walnut tree. It was in the spring. We cut it down. Was it February or March? And later, a month or so later, we came back to cut the tree up and get the log out. And here, that whole stump was just kind of covered with a foam. And it was just running down. The whole stump was wet. And it was trying to give that life to the tree, but we had cut it off.

And so the tree wasn't getting any of that sap. And so it wasn't going to yield any leaves or nuts or anything because it had been cut off.

I'd never really seen that before, but it was just really it was actually a little bit of foam on top where it was just trying to grow.

And Jesus said, "If we don't bear fruit, if we're in him, if we're connected to the vine and we're not bearing fruit, that's what's going to happen. He's going to cut us off.

And then we will not bear fruit. And if we bear fruit, even if it's just a little bit of fruit, maybe just maybe we're doing the best we can and we're not doing so well, it says he'll purge that. He'll prune it, and he'll make that we can bear more fruit when we abide in him.

Because he says here, "For without me, ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered. And men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

If ye abide in me, my words abide in you. Ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Hearing this my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples."

He wants us to bear much fruit.

As the Father hath loved me, so I have loved you. Continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abided in his love.

These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full.

And it goes on to talk about his commandment to love one another.

I just keep reading here. This is my commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth, I call you not servants, for the servant knows not what his Lord doeth, but I have called you friends. For all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you.

Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit, that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. These things I command you that ye love one another.

Fruit, bearing fruit. He wants us to bear fruit, to be fruitful. We need to abide in the vine.

We need that pruning.

You know, this fruit is act or it's things we do. The things we do is what this fruit is. I like to just look at each of the there in Galatians chapter 5 where it talks about the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians chapter 5 and verses 22 and 23. This is things we it's how we relate to other people. And I had to think of the works of the flesh is the same way.

Most of them are things that are done with other people or to other people or against other people. In the same way with the fruit of the Spirit, it's things that we do, my actions, how it affects other people. It says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is the first one is love, true love for humanity, not just the love for myself or to save my agenda or so I don't get in hot water or anything, but a love for one another."

And that love will put on work gloves, doing things for other people and speaking the truth in love.

The next one is joy.

You're just a joy about us, a cheerfulness, a calm delight, a gladness. The joy of the Lord can be our strength no matter what we're facing. There are times when we seems our joy might be gone, but just have that deep inner joy, that cheerfulness, a calm delight, a gladness to be one of God's children. And our Lord will not change even if the world around us changes. We can have that confidence.

If you observe people's expressions when you're out and about, there's just a lot of unhappiness out there, especially with all the brokenness.

Being a selfish person doesn't bring joy, doesn't bring a cheerfulness. We need the joy of the Lord for our strength. Another one is peace. And one of those definitions would be prosperity or just have a quietness and rest where things are set at one, a peace that only God can give.

In Isaiah 23, verse 3, it says, "Thou would keep him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on thee." If we find ourselves losing that peace as we look around, we need to adjust our focus back on the one, the true God, the one that will always be there, the one we can have our confidence in. And all these are kind of intertwined. We have faith in faith is here, but we trust this true and living God. Long suffering is the next one, one of the fruit of the Spirit, forbearance, fortitude, or patience with those around us. We're not just on the edge all the time. And almost if the slightest little thing happens, we just lose our cool because we don't have that peace.

And if we don't have joy and peace, we won't be long suffering. If we don't have love, joy, and peace, we won't be long suffering. And then we won't be gentle as either. But the fruit of the Spirit is gentleness. And one of the definitions of that gentleness is a usefulness, being useful, kindness, excellence in character or demeanor.

Kindness would be one of those characteristics of gentleness, thinking of the fruit of the Spirit. Goodness would be the virtues, state or quality of being good. It's thinking of a fruit. It's just a quality of doing what is right, goodness.

Faith, a conviction or belief in the true God, reliance on Jesus for salvation takes faith. And constancy in this profession, a continuance, faithfulness would fit there as well. It's not just a one-time thing, but it's a continuance. We are faithful, faithful in the things that are in front of us, the things that life brings our way.

Another definition would be assurance or belief or believe, fidelity. We're faithful. Meekness is another one of these fruits. It's a humility and patience with others. And the way we relate to people, temperance or self-control. We don't allow our appetites to get the best of us or just the lust that we have. And that can range from food to just a lot of other things. We're temperate. When we practice that, when we practice these things, we're yielding that fruit of the Spirit that Jesus talks about, about this good tree bearing fruit.

And we need pruning. We need fruit doesn't grow without cultivation, without being cultivated, without planning ahead, without being we cannot bear fruit without being connected to the vine. He wants us to bear much fruit.

And just a couple of scriptures I'd like to look at talks about bearing fruit. Some of the verses I wrote down here, you don't need to turn to them all, but Romans chapter 6 talks about where we had been. Romans chapter 6, verses 20, 21, and 22.

In the beginning of that verse it says, or that chapter it says, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid! How shall we that are dead unto sin live any longer therein?"

Then jumping down to verse 21, it says, "What fruit had ye then? What fruit? What were we bearing? In those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life."

We have fruit unto holiness, fruit that's holy. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

In Colossians chapter 1, verse 6, well, it's starting 5, "For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye have heard before in the word of truth of the gospel, which has come unto you as it is in all the world, this gospel has come to us, and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it and knew of the grace of God and truth." And then going over to verse 10 there, "that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, bearing fruit, nourishment, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, fruitful in every good work."

In Hebrews chapter 10, verse 11, there's a verse that talks about chastening. It says, "Now no chastening, for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward, it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them which are exercised thereby."

We need to be exercised. It takes cultivation. Sometimes we need chastening in order to bear this peaceable fruit of righteousness. Those of us that are parents can see that in our children. If there's no chastening, the fruit of righteousness just isn't there. But when there's chastening, what we're looking for is that peaceable fruit of righteousness. And that's what God wants out of our lives.

Paul is telling Titus in chapter 3, verse 14, "And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses that they be not unfruitful." Maintain good works so that we're not unfruitful. It's the things we do, how we relate to people.

In Philippians chapter 4, verse 17, Paul was telling them, he was thanking them for a gift that he had sent him. And he was saying how he knows how to have needs and how to be full and how to be hungry.

But then he says, "Not that I desire a gift, but I desire fruit." It's not that he's asking for a gift, but I'd like to see results. I'd like to see something coming forth from your life and not for his benefit, but it says that may abound to your account. "Not that I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound to your account."

It would be to their benefit.

And then a couple of verses in Psalms and Proverbs, in Proverbs chapter 11, verse 30, there's one that the fruit of righteousness, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. It's like a tree of life. It gives life, this fruit of the righteous.

And then Psalm 92, I want to turn to this one, Psalm 92, verse 13.

Psalm 92.

I think if I remember right, Bennett read these. The other Wednesday evening, this stood out to me. Psalm 92, verse 13, it says, "Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God."

If we're planted in the presence of the Lord, in the house surrounded with God's people, it says, "They shall still bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourishing. They'll be healthy." It'll be even as if our bodies deteriorate, we can still bring forth fruit. It's not so dependent on as to whether we're physically able or not. But it says, "They'll still bring forth fruit in old age." And verse 15 then, "To show that the Lord is upright, he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him."

If we believe that, if we get a hold of that, that the Lord is upright and he is our rock, then we'll bring forth fruit, whether we're old or young.

Then there's also in Psalm 1, talks about it was blessed about a tree being planted by the rivers of water and bringing forth its fruit in its season. It says, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night."

What's this person doing? He's ignoring the counsel of the ungodly. He's not standing in the way of sinners or taking part with the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And that's what he meditates on. He's not meditating on all the wrongs that are happening in the world. He's meditating on God's word. And then it says, "He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.

His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he does shall prosper, bringing forth fruit, like a tree planted by the rivers of water, bringing forth nourishment for others."

We meditate in God's word when we get nourishment for that, when we abide in the true vine, Jesus Christ. And then I'd like to end with James chapter 3, verse 17 and 18. Talks about

thinking about fruit of the Spirit.

James chapter 3, verse 17, "But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace, fruit of righteousness, fruit that provides nourishment to others, fruit that has a seed in it with the potential for another plant to grow and then bring forth fruit."

God's plan, if we see how plant life works, it's for it to continue, not to just it's not just one plant and when that one gets old and dies, that's it's over. But it's designed to continue. And I believe our faith, we're not just it's we're to continue.

The fruit that we bear should not be destructive, but it should be nourishment and have a seed in it for another plant to grow out of.

So may we be fruitful in God's work, fruit, be sowing the fruit of righteousness, be full of good fruits. Let's not be a tree that needs to be cut down or a vine that needs to be cut off, but be one that be a vine that

welcomes pruning, welcomes the cutting away of the extra things so that we can be fruitful to every good work.