Abundant Life: The Path to Fruitfulness

[0:00] God calls his people to bear fruit, to be fruitful. Let's look at some of the scriptures that tell us of this and show us how to be fruitful. How is it that we are to bear fruit?

[0:11] And we're going to go to John 15 from verse 1. From verse 1. It tells us our Lord speaking. He says, I am the true vine and my father is the husbandman.

[0:26] Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away. And every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit.

[0:37] Now ye 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.

[0:53] I am the vine, ye 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 man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered.

[1:09] And men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you.

[1:21] Herein is my father glorified that ye bear much fruit. So shall ye be my disciples. Our Lord says that I am the true vine and we are the branches.

[1:35] And God's will is that we bear much fruit, much fruit. God wants you, everyone, to have a fruitful, spiritual life. And our ability to bear fruit is directly relational to our connection, our relationship with him.

[1:53] As we abide in him, we will bear fruit. And the key is that abiding. You see it often repeated through this chapter, through these verses.

[2:05] He tells us, abide, abide in me. Again, verse 4 through 5. 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.

[2:22] I am the vine, ye 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.

[2:33] How can we learn to trust him more? To depend upon our Lord, to do his work inside of us? The key to fruitfulness is abiding. What is abiding?

[2:45] Our Lord calls us to this close personal relationship with him. And it's a relationship you can grow. It's a relationship that deepens, that strengthens as time goes by, or it ought to.

[2:57] We can strengthen our abiding in Christ by prayer, by reading of his word, by obedience to him, walking in fellowship, in daily fellowship with him and with one another.

[3:09] As we deepen our faith, our walk with him, we can grow stronger. And we can grow more fruitful too. As we learn to yield to him. So we see the essential is that he is the true vine.

[3:26] He is the real vine, the true vine. The real source of life and nourishment for believers, it's Christ. It's abiding in Christ is the essential need here.

[3:40] And our spiritual life, our fruitfulness is dependent entirely on that connection with our Lord. Without me, you can do nothing.

[3:51] Nothing at all. When you think we could try in our own striving, our own effort, our own best intent. Yet, we can do nothing without Christ, without him.

[4:06] And just as a branch cannot bear fruit without being connected to the vine, the plant, likewise, we cannot bear spiritual fruit unless we have that abiding in him.

[4:18] And we could think, how is my abiding going? How's my life? That Christ is my life. Is he flowing through my life? Have I got that closeness to him that he wants me to have?

[4:30] That daily walk with him? When we think of abiding, it's got the sense of depending, doesn't it? If you have a branch that's aside from the vine, it's just going to shrivel up and die.

[4:42] It's just going to be weak and fail. It's not going to grow. It's not going to yield fruit. But the branch that is in the vine, that is abiding in the vine, that's depending upon the vine, is going to be fruitful.

[4:57] And so this abiding has got a sense of dependence. And when you think of it for ourselves, do we depend upon the Lord? Really, it's faith, isn't it? Trusting. It's depending. It's trusting in him, depending upon him as our life source.

[5:10] So fruitfulness is about abiding. Secondly, we could consider another truth about fruitfulness is that fruitfulness is about the pruning as well.

[5:22] The pruning helps to bring a greater fruitfulness. So we see verse 2. It tells us, Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away.

[5:35] And every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. So this sense of purging, it's got the sense of pruning. So he does that correcting work.

[5:49] He gets the shears out, as it were, and he pulls off those bits that are unfruitful. He takes those branches so that the branch can be fruitful.

[6:02] And as we think of our Lord as he is the husbandman, our Lord says, I am the vine and my father is the husbandman. Or you could say the vine dresser.

[6:13] He's the gardener. In effect, God is the father. The father is the gardener. And he prunes us so we can bear more fruit. Now we could think through our lives as we know the reality of life is it's not always pleasant.

[6:27] There's a lot of discomfort. There's a lot of heartache and trouble. We know the older you get, you think the more trouble you've had. It seems at times, sadly, can be the case that we have the hard times of life.

[6:42] They can be those testing times, those seasons of pain, of difficulty, those uncomfortable times. And we can all have those pruning seasons of our life. Yeah, it is in such times that we can draw near to him.

[6:56] It's in those times that we can draw strength from him. When those pruning seasons of life come, we can find our sustaining power. It's Christ. We can draw strength from him.

[7:08] And God can use those trials and disciplines to grow our faith. So he says that he purges it, he prunes it. Why?

[7:18] That it may bring forth more fruit. So friends, believer here tonight, if you're going through some pruning season, there's been some challenges, some tests, some trials, and likely there's more to come.

[7:32] God's doing a work still. There's a refining work. There's a purging work. There's a work that's going to see you more fruitful for it. You're going to be stronger for it.

[7:43] Those disciplines. As we see, for example, Hebrews 12, 11 tells, Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous. Doesn't seem to be much joy in it.

[7:55] This chastening, this discipline, this discipline that God gives to us, it doesn't seem to be a joyful thing, but grievous, it says.

[8:05] Nevertheless, afterward, it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. It's telling us that no chastening, no discipline from God.

[8:17] And God is, in the context, tells of a loving father chastening the one that he loves, the child that he loves. He disciplines them. He chastens them so they can be a mature son, a son that they're going to be proud of.

[8:32] The loving father will chasten their child so that they can be a mature child that will grow wisely. It doesn't seem joyful at the time, but grievous, but afterward, there's a fruit there.

[8:47] There's a fruit that will come as your exercise thereby. No one likes chastening, but it is essential, isn't it? There is that place for loving rebuke.

[8:57] And of course, some take it too far where it breaks people's spirits. That's not what we're talking about. Some harsh, heavy and hurtful kind of discipline, but rather a loving discipline, a loving rebuke, necessary discipline.

[9:11] And that's the discipline God gives to us. When you think of it, a fruitless branch is a useless branch. He takes that away. And we think of our own lives that sometimes God removes from our lives the things that hinder our growth.

[9:25] He takes from us. Could it be sin? Could it be some distraction? Perhaps it's even good things that are not the best things. The good things of our life, if they're not God's best for us, sometimes he takes them away too.

[9:38] And we can wonder, why has God taken that away? Because he's got something better in his master plan. God is that gardener, prunes the branches to remove the unproductive growth, to encourage a greater fruitfulness.

[9:54] Pruning, it can be a painful process, but it's necessary for spiritual growth. I know years back we had a big apricot tree and one day I got the shears out and the saw out and gave it a really heavy pruning and Julie was quite mad at me at the time.

[10:12] Not that she's ever ungracious or anything, but you have those moments when you think, oh, that's a bit too heavy. The pruning is too much. But no, it was actually a benefit for the tree and that tree was more fruitful.

[10:25] We can think of that, can't we? When the pruning of a fruit tree, it's actually going to benefit the tree in the end result. Afterward, afterward.

[10:35] It's, all right, Julie, we've got to tell you the correct version. I know sometimes I have been too heavy handed with the pruning and the trees died, but I won't tell you about those ones.

[10:47] But we know that God's pruning is just right, okay? Because afterward, afterward, it's going to yield the fruit. There's going to be a fruit to be yielded. Amen? And it's necessary for our spiritual growth, isn't it?

[10:58] Sometimes we don't realize that in the moment, but afterward. Afterward, we'll see. We'll look back and think, yes, that was God. I know on Wednesday nights we're looking at Joseph, the man Joseph or the character of Joseph.

[11:13] And of course, at the end of the story, God meant it for good. All of that mess, all of that mess that I went through, all of the trouble that you did talking to his brothers. He says, God meant it for the best.

[11:25] God meant it for good. And afterward, afterward, we're going to see the benefit. So for the meantime, he's removing things from our lives. That's a good thing because there'll be greater fruitfulness.

[11:38] And we see, for example, the psalmist says, it is good for me that I've been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. He says, okay, nobody likes affliction, but we can look back and say, it was good for me that I was afflicted.

[11:52] Because I'm learning God, learning about God's word. I'm learning his word, learning to put it into action. And affliction and the tests of life, they can mean his pruning in areas of our life.

[12:05] In the moment, we can't always understand. But afterward, we'll see. Yes, that was God. Afterward, we'll see his wisdom and his love. We'll see, yes, that was for my betterment.

[12:16] That was to make me a stronger believer. That was to make me grow. And he wants you to be more fruitful. And so there's a fruitfulness that comes from that purging, that pruning. Another aspect for fruitfulness is obeying his word, yielding unto his word.

[12:33] We see in verse 7, John 15, verse 7. If ye abide in me, our Lord says, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.

[12:45] So not only abiding in him, but his word abiding. His word's abiding. So it's a good thing, as we like to encourage, to hide God's word. Let his word abide.

[12:57] Let his word abide in you. Fruitfulness comes as we align our lives with the word of God. And God helps us to develop, to learn to faithfully serve. There's a good fruit that will come.

[13:08] He says, as my words abide in you, there's going to be good fruit. We're going to bring forth good fruit. Learn to have those scriptures that speak to you. Highlight them in your Bible.

[13:19] Write them on a piece of paper. Keep them in your pocket. Refer to them when you're in those moments that are spare. You can refresh them to your mind. Train them to your mind that you'll learn them.

[13:32] That they'll become part of your heart. And hide his word in your heart. It's going to help you to grow as his words abide inside of you. There's a good fruit that will come.

[13:43] And we're going to bring forth good fruit. Think of it. How can we let the word of God dwell in us? Dwell in us richly. That it so transform us, our desires, our actions, our thinking. It's as we yield to him and his word.

[13:57] His commands. We'll have answered prayer. We'll have a fruitful life. There'll be a blessing that comes as his word abide in you. Think of it.

[14:08] Ask yourself, am I allowing God's word to guide my decisions of life, my actions, my attitudes? Is it the word abiding in me that's changing me from the inside out?

[14:21] As we study it, meditate on it, memorize it, trust in it, there'll be fruitfulness to come. Another truth about bearing fruit is that it is the outworking of God in your life.

[14:33] Sometimes we could think, how can I be more fruitful? And we try to strive to be fruitful when really it's about yielding to him to be fruitful. You see that, for example, of the fruit of the spirit.

[14:47] The fruit bearing is the work of the Holy Spirit. Fruitfulness happens as we depend upon him. We depend upon his Holy Spirit. We can make much of all the workings of the spirit, but essentially the fruit of the spirit is very precious and we can miss that.

[15:06] It tells us Galatians 5.22 of what a fruitful Christian, what their life looks like. And it happens as we depend upon our Lord. Because the fruit is not the fruit of you.

[15:18] It's the fruit of the spirit. Amen. It's the fruit of the Holy Spirit. It tells us there, Galatians 5.22, But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.

[15:36] Against such there is no law. It's the character of Christ, isn't it? It's Jesus right through there. It's his spirit. The fruit of the spirit. It's the good fruit. The good testimony that we can bear.

[15:48] The consistency of a life lived, of faithfulness, of quiet, humble service, of depending upon his spirit. It's the love. And that's the core.

[15:58] Really the fruit. The fruit is love and everything flows out of that. It's his grace. It's his wonderful mercy that we should be so blessed with the fruit of the spirit.

[16:10] And so it's the spirit of God that empowers us to bear fruit. As he says, without me you can do nothing. It's not your striving to be fruitful. It's not your being like some apple tree striving really hard to let that apple plop off of the branch.

[16:27] Or that vine branch that you try really hard that you're going to bear some grapes. No. The fruit of the spirit. It's the fruit of the vine. It's Jesus in you.

[16:39] Naturally coming out of you. That it's Jesus exuding from your skin as it were. That it's Jesus in you coming out of you. It's the natural result of you being filled with the spirit.

[16:52] That you'll have the fruit of the spirit come out of your life. It's going to be a natural working of the spirit. That his spirit will empower you. As you surrender to his leading.

[17:03] That his spirit will produce his fruit in you. We see it like scripture Ephesians 5 verse 9. It tells us of the fruit of the spirit in the letter to the Ephesians 2.

[17:14] Ephesians 5 verse 9. For the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Again the fruit. It's not by our own efforts or our own power. Without me you can do nothing he says.

[17:27] Let his Holy Spirit produce the fruit. The spirit of God. He's the source of that fruit. That fruitfulness. And as we let him have his way.

[17:38] As we yield to his spirit. That we will grow in love and joy and peace. And all the other fruits. Allow the Holy Spirit to work in your life. Brother, sister. Ask the Holy Spirit to cultivate these qualities in you.

[17:52] All goodness. All righteousness. All truth. It's his character flowing out. It's not you striving to produce fruit. It's letting him have his way with you.

[18:04] Let him bear his fruit. Let him minister through you. The fruitfulness that we have also blesses others. Here's another thought about fruitfulness.

[18:15] Is that the fruitfulness is not for you. Think of it. If you're a branch of the vine. You're bearing fruit. Others are getting the benefit. There's a sense where we're benefiting others.

[18:27] As God's people. We are meant to be witnesses. And there's a fruit that we bear. Of souls being one. As it reads of Matthew 28. Of the lived out Christian life. It's a sharing of the gospel.

[18:39] It's making disciples. It's that our lives can be a powerful witness to others. We see of course the familiar one. Matthew 28 verse 19. As some call it. The great commission.

[18:50] Go ye there. Baptising them in the name of the Father. And of the Son. And of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever. I have commanded you. And lo I am with you always.

[19:01] Even unto the end of the world. He's saying there go and tell. Go and teach. Go and reach. Go and disciple. Tell them. Of the gospel.

[19:12] And our Lord commands us to go. To bear fruit. There's a fruit we can bear. Which is the lives of others. That will impact for Christ. Bringing others into the kingdom of God. And our lives should be a testimony of his love.

[19:24] And grace. Leading others to know him. It tells us of this fruit. Of the righteous. Proverbs 11 verse 30. It says the fruit of the righteous. Is a tree of life.

[19:36] And he that winneth souls. Is wise. It's a wise thing. It's a godly thing. It's a blessed thing. It's a fruitful thing. To win souls. To win others to the saviour. Are you actively sharing your faith?

[19:48] There's fruit there. Such that you can see others. Share your faith. You can see others reached. As you take those opportunities. And I was talking with some folk lately.

[19:58] They're actively dropping tracks. All over the place. Good on you fellas. Those that are doing that. Even those little leaflets dropped into a letter box. Who knows. The eternal benefit that could come.

[20:10] And sharing of course personally. Even more so. That you're sharing the word. And he says that his word. It will not be unfruitful. It will accomplish what he sends it to do. So take those opportunities.

[20:22] To reach others. That's part of being fruitful too. And just lastly. Another thought about fruitfulness. Is that ultimately. The end result. Is in verse 8. Herein.

[20:34] In your bearing fruit. He says. Herein. Is my father glorified. That you bear much fruit. So shall you be. My disciples. Will you bear fruit. For the glory of God.

[20:45] It's not about you. It's not about you having. necessarily a blessing. Of yourself. The fruitfulness. Is. To the glory of God. That's our motive.

[20:56] Isn't it? For everything. For anything. That he would be glorified. Will you bear fruit. To the glory of God. That your life can be. To his glory.

[21:07] That your life can be. To his praise. That you would be a living sacrifice. Notice it says. Much fruit. May this be our aim. That we will be. A God glorifying people.

[21:18] To bring God glory. Bear much fruit. May this be our object. To glorify God. That is our priority. That's what moves us. That's what motivates us.

[21:28] That's the driving force. For why we are here. For why we live. He calls us to fruitfulness. He calls you. To be such a one. To be fruitful.

[21:39] And you're going to glorify God. When you are. So seek to glorify God. Make it your ambition. Make it your aim. And keep on growing. To bear much fruit. Keep on bearing fruit.

[21:51] Allow him. To prune you. As you abide in him. Allow him to do his work in you. Such that he's got to chop some things off here and there. He's got to. He's got to make some changes in you.

[22:04] He's got to make some. Tough things happen. So that we can grow. And we can be a stronger branch. Abide in him. Such that he'll shape you.

[22:15] To be. Bearing much fruit. And bearing fruit. Is that picture of the God blessed life. For example. In Psalm 1 it tells us. Psalm 1 verse 3. Of the God blessed life.

[22:28] It happens. As we're planted right. Psalm 1 3. It says. Notice he's going to bring forth his fruit.

[22:47] There's going to be a fruit. That's going to come out of the blessed man's life. Why? Because he's planted. He's planted by the river. Of water. And. It tells us that his leaf shall not wither.

[22:59] There's going to be a freshness. There's a life there. God wants you to bear fruit. To reap fruit. We've got to sow right too. To reap. We've got to plant right.

[23:11] So activate your faith. Be planted yourself. By that. The picture there. Of the rivers of water. Of the word of God. We can think of it. Of being in that spiritual place.

[23:24] To be. Planted where God would have you. To be planted. To spiritually grow. Activate your faith. Put it into life. Practice spiritual disciplines.

[23:36] Of course Psalm 1 we could unpack. Much there about. That cultivating. Of spiritual disciplines. Of praying. Of studying. Of worship. Of fellowship. Of nurturing.

[23:47] Of growing. Of spiritual growth. And fruitfulness. It's all part and parcel. Isn't it? As we like that blessed man. He's walking not.

[23:58] He's sitting not. He's standing not. With the sin. And the sinful. But he's walking. In the way of God. He's walking in truth. And the key is abiding. Friends.

[24:08] As we think of it. That recurring theme. How can I be fruitful. How can I be fruitful. It's abiding. Have that closer time with him. Have that closeness.

[24:19] To your saviour. Abide in him. That you'll stay. Close to him. And. It's not. Your striving. It's your yielding.

[24:30] That's going to see. The producing of fruit. You can't force it. Through your own efforts. It's the. Fruit of the spirit. It happens. As we depend on him. Our Lord. So as we recognise.

[24:41] Our complete dependence. On our Lord. Our saviour. Cultivate that intimacy. With him. That deep abiding. That relationship. And that is essential.

[24:52] For the bearing of fruit. As you abide in me. You shall bear. Much fruit. May we learn. To submit. To the vine. Dresser's hand. To submit.

[25:02] To the farmer. To submit. To the gardener. The husbandman. To submit. To the father's hand. Sometimes he's going to say. That's got to go. Chop. That's got to go.

[25:13] Chop. There's things that are going to say. That's unproductive. That's unfruitful. That branch. It's not bearing fruit. We're going to chop that. And cut that. And change that. And prune that.

[25:24] So that you will be more fruitful. Afterwards. It's going to yield. The fruit. Afterwards. And friends. Don't shy away.

[25:34] From the hand of the gardener. From his pruning work. How can we relate that? Look. It could be. Some hard things are going to happen to us.

[25:46] We can think. Wow. I'd rather. That was not happening to me. Yet. The master plan. Is above. Our understanding. At times.

[25:57] We can't fathom. Why tragedy happens. Why hurt. And heartache. And affliction. We don't get healed. Or whatever it be. There's things that happen. That.

[26:08] Are hard to bear. But we can trust the. Master. We can trust the master. That he knows best. And sometimes.

[26:19] We're glad that we're afflicted. Because we go to the word. We're glad that. Afterwards. We see. Yeah. That was why. As Joseph. Could reflect. God was in that.

[26:30] Even though. It was really hard. Right. When I was in it. That God was in it. We can see. Afterward. And so. For the meantime. Let's learn. To yield.

[26:42] Yield to the master. Yield to his hand. Say. God. I don't understand. Why these hard things. Are happening to me. But I'll still trust you. I will trust you still. And that pruning.

[26:53] Is. Implies a willingness. To submit to God's will. Even when it's difficult. Even when we don't understand it. The ultimate goal. Of bearing fruit. Is. To love God.

[27:04] To grow. Our faith. And there's good fruits. Friends. We see. Just further thoughts. James 3. Talks about. Fruitfulness again.

[27:14] It says. But the wisdom. That is from above. Is first pure. Then peaceable. Gentle. And easy to be entreated. Full of mercy. And good fruits. Without partiality. And without hypocrisy.

[27:25] Hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness. Is sown in peace. Of them. That make peace. So it's talking about. This higher wisdom. This wisdom. That is from above. That actually. When you look at it.

[27:35] From the helicopter view. If you like. Or from God's perspective. Then actually. It makes sense. From a heavenly dimension. But here. Down below. We don't always understand.

[27:46] We don't always understand. But. It will be. Fruitful. There will be good fruit. And there will be a fruit. That will. We can. See.

[27:57] Ultimately. We will see the fruit. Think of it. Friends. As we. Think about this truth. Of fruitfulness. Again. It's not a result. Of our own. Efforts.

[28:08] It's our relationship. With him. The sad fact. Though. Is that fruitlessness. Is a sad fact. For many. Fruitlessness. They. The son.

[28:19] They're Christian. They're believers. But there's a lack. Of fruit. Or for some. Even bad fruit. What kind of fruit. Are we bearing. We can bear good fruit. Or we can bear bad fruit.

[28:31] Is the fruit. That's coming out. Of our life. Is it. Spiritual works. Is it. Godliness. Think of it. As. Peter puts it. Of adding.

[28:42] To your faith. There's a sense. Where. Of course. We saved. At salvation. But there's more. There's yet more. He says. Don't leave it there.

[28:53] Add to. Your faith. We see. 2 Peter 1. Verse 5. It tells. Giving all diligence. Add to your faith. Add to it. Virtue. And to virtue.

[29:05] Knowledge. And to knowledge. Temperance. And to temperance. Patience. And to patience. Godliness. And to godliness. Brotherly kindness. And to brotherly kindness.

[29:16] Charity. For if these things. Be in you. And abound. They make you. That you shall neither be. Barren. Nor unfruitful. In the knowledge. Of our Lord Jesus Christ. Think of all those things.

[29:27] We talked about. Virtue. Knowledge. Temperance. Patience. Godliness. Brotherly kindness. Charity. He says. These can make you. To be fruitful.

[29:38] So add to your faith. Let your faith. Be a dynamic. Growing faith. God doesn't want you. To be barren. He doesn't want you. To be unfruitful. Of course. Of some.

[29:48] It says. That they will have. Really nothing to show. Their life will be. They'll be saved. So as by fire. We're saved by faith. But wouldn't it be good. That there'll be some.

[29:59] Fruit. To show. Some fruit. He wants that. He wants that for you. And so. We can produce fruit. Friends. God wants our life. Filled with fruits. Of righteousness.

[30:10] We see. As. Our Lord. Uses Paul. To speak to the Philippians. He says. That we should be filled. With the fruits. Of righteousness. Which are by Jesus Christ. Unto the glory.

[30:21] And praise of God. And he goes on to say. I desire fruit. That may abound. To your account. Wouldn't it be good. To see fruit abounding. When we look at our life.

[30:31] And we look back. And think. I messed up badly. But there was some fruit. There was a little bit. Of fruit there. Thank God for it. God gave. Fruit. To my life.

[30:41] Even despite me. That God. Brought some fruit. And so. Have a heart. To commit your life. Unto him. Our Lord says this. John 15.

[30:52] 16. You have not chosen me. But I have chosen you. And ordained you. That. You should go and bring forth fruit. And that your fruit should remain. And that whatsoever you shall ask of your father.

[31:04] In my name. He may give it to you. Friends. It says. I've ordained you. I've chosen you. That you should bring forth fruit. He wants that. That's God's will for your life.

[31:15] And so. To recap. Some of the key lessons. We could find. Of being a fruitful believer. Just to recap. Real quick. To sum up. Some of the key points.

[31:28] Know. That God's will is. That you bear much fruit. He wants you to be fruitful. He wants your life to be fruitful. The key. Abide in me. He says.

[31:39] Develop that. Nurture that. Cultivate that. That abiding. That depending upon him. Abide in me. That's the key. And then a pruning. Is a greater.

[31:50] Fruitfulness. Too. Don't shy away from the pruning. Receive the pruning. Yield to the pruning. Of the gardener. Learn to yield. He says. Abide in me.

[32:01] And he says. Let my words abide in you. Make that your intent. Hey. I'm going to try to hide the word of God. In my heart. Because he wants the word to abide in me. So I can be more fruitful. So make a point.

[32:12] Of memorizing scripture. Make a point. Of finding some key verses. And God helping you. Get it such that they'll stick. In your mind. And in your heart. That you'll have the truth.

[32:24] Let my words abide in you. It's a key to fruitfulness. And then know that. Also. The work of fruitfulness. Is a work of his Holy Spirit. Don't feel like. Oh. I'm not trying hard enough.

[32:35] I'm not striving hard enough. It's actually. You're not yielding enough. That's generally the problem. Isn't it? I can say for myself. I can strive and strive. But actually. I ought to just.

[32:47] The problem is. I'm not yielding enough. I'm not yielding to him. Because it's a work of his spirit. It's the fruit of the spirit. It's his fruit. It's his work. And without me. You can do nothing.

[32:58] So maybe stop striving. And trying so hard. Of your own flesh. I'm talking to myself. And actually start. Yielding some more. Yielding some more to him. Learn to have that dependence.

[33:09] Upon the fruit maker. And the fruit bearing work. Includes winning precious souls. Such that. We should have a heart. That the real fruit. Is not only good works.

[33:21] Or good fruit. Of a good. Of virtues of your life. But to see others come. Into the family. To be a soul winner. And when you bear much fruit.

[33:32] At the end of the day. You don't stand back and think. Oh what a good boy am I. What are all these good things that I've done. No. It's all to the glory of God. It's all to his glory. It's all to his praise.

[33:43] On nothing. Of myself. And he is everything. And it's all to his glory. Herein is my father glorified. That you bear much fruit. So our deep heart motivation.

[33:54] Is that our God will get the glory. That he would get all the glory. When you are a fruitful believer. It's no praise to you. It's all praise to him. That you've yielded to his work.

[34:05] That he has had his work. His way with you. And then. Add to your faith. There is. There is an address to you. That you can do something. Add to your faith.

[34:15] Don't let your faith be stagnant. Sitting there. As some unused gift. But let it be that you're adding to your faith. Increase your faith. Add to it.

[34:25] Add to it. Add to it. All of those good things of 1 Peter. Was it 1 Peter or 2 Peter? Add to your faith. 2 Peter. And so. Think of it friends. You can be a fruit bearing Christian.

[34:38] You can be a fruitful one. All to the glory of God. All to the glory of God. Focus on abiding. Not striving. Add to your faith. Keep growing. Paul says this.

[34:49] And that's my prayer. For each one. For our church family. Paul says to the Colossians. As he prays. He says. I pray for you. That you might walk worthy of the Lord.

[35:01] Unto all pleasing. Being fruitful in every good work. And increasing in the knowledge of God. What a prayer to pray. That we would be fruitful in every good work.

[35:12] Likewise. That's my prayer for you. That we would so walk. That we would walk so worthy of our Lord. That we would please him so. That we would be fruitful so. In every good work.

[35:24] Increasing in the knowledge of God. That your labors would bear good fruit. All for his glory. You can. Bear fruit. You can be fruitful.

[35:35] It tells you how. John 15. Dwell on it. Think of it. And put it into practice. And of course friends. Tonight. I've been addressing. Really believers. If you've yet to trust him.

[35:46] Then that's the first step. To be in the vine. Is to trust Christ. Is to know him. Him to know. His life eternal. To know his saving grace. To know that by faith.

[35:57] I can trust. His precious work. At the cross. To pay for my sin. And then. It's adding to your faith. It's adding to it. Growing. Growing in that faith dimension.

[36:08] Let us pray. Lord we thank you. That you tell us. That it is your will. That we would be a fruitful people. That we would bear much fruit. And yet Lord. It's not. Of our own striving.

[36:19] To bear fruit. It's really. Our yielding. To your working. That as we yield to you. You would. Produce fruit. In our lives. Lord. Help us to be. A yielded vessel.

[36:30] To be yielded. To be yielded. Even when we have to yield to. Some discipline of your hand. Some pruning. Some. Hard things.

[36:42] That will yet trust you. That afterwards. It's going to yield. A fruit. We thank you Lord. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen.