Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome to the World Changers Church Gold coast podcast. Join us as we listen to today's message.
[00:00:08] Good morning.
[00:00:12] All right, no, you keep going.
[00:00:16] It is fellowship Sunday, by the way. We're going to have some pastries afterwards.
[00:00:22] Amen.
[00:00:24] Well, team, it looks like we need to be more aggressive in looking for a building. Amen.
[00:00:32] Come on. Give the Lord a hand clap of praise.
[00:00:38] You never know. We might just go sit up underneath the tree somewhere. You never know.
[00:00:43] Church is wherever we are.
[00:00:46] Amen.
[00:00:48] Something I want to share with you this morning and from my heart, I think, for the past.
[00:00:59] I don't know, since December 20th, it has been a run.
[00:01:04] It has been a run in life. And I think Friday night I did this, or Friday I did a wedding. Naomi and Bishoy. Praise the Lord.
[00:01:15] I never seen faith like Naomi had. It was raining. I mean, y' all know it was raining Friday, right? It was raining Thursday night. Team went up. They prayed the night before, and got there. And I was just sure we were going to have to do the alternative wedding.
[00:01:32] And so we called Naomi. Well, we actually called Naomi's sister, and we got Naomi, which was more scarier.
[00:01:40] The bride. Amen.
[00:01:42] And I said, well, the sound guy doesn't want to do this, and they don't want to do that. She said her words were, God's got it. Figure it out real quick.
[00:01:54] I knew at that moment I was no longer a pastor in her eyes.
[00:01:57] I was the person God had ordained to make sure this has happened.
[00:02:03] But she held on to no matter what anyone was saying.
[00:02:07] And it seemed as if the clouds parted. And for that period of time, we. We had that outside wedding. And the moment everybody got inside for the reception, it was like the sky unzipped and it rained. Amen.
[00:02:20] There is a key part of holding on in faith, and that has nothing to do with the message. But it has everything to do with the message. Cause that's the fruit of faith. Amen.
[00:02:30] And so we've been tossed around this word for the past few weeks about spiritual fruit, right?
[00:02:36] And I can remember when my wife came into church and her first time in a Pentecostal church, and someone said, I can see the fruit of the spirit over you. And she just started doing this.
[00:02:49] Is it oranges? Is it apples?
[00:02:52] And if maybe for the first time you're hearing the word spiritual fruit, you actually don't know what that means. But fruit produces of its kind.
[00:03:02] You understand what I mean?
[00:03:04] And when we talk today, I'm going to talk about fruitful. And for the next Couple weeks, I'm going to talk about being fruitful.
[00:03:12] And what that means is, I don't want you to be fruity first dad joke of the day.
[00:03:20] I want you to produce from a grounded position in God. So grounded lives produce spiritual fruit. Amen.
[00:03:30] And I'll give you another example of what that means is you ever seen a tree, like a big tree, whether it be a, I don't know, eucalyptus tree, a palm tree? And you're just looking at that tree and you're saying, man, that tree will never fall over.
[00:03:47] It's strong.
[00:03:49] But when that tree falls over because of a storm, you wonder how something that looked that strong collapsed so quickly. We're gonna talk about that today. It was tall, it was established, it was wide, and it looked immovable until the wind came.
[00:04:06] We would have thought it could stand forever, but when it fell, we had to realize one true thing. Storms don't create weakness, they reveal them.
[00:04:20] And the greatest thing that can happen when a storm comes in your life is, is to see where you need to grow.
[00:04:28] Not to be upset, not to say, lord, why are you doing this to me? To start rebuking devils and demons, which you should anyway, but to actually say, lord, this fell over in my life.
[00:04:40] I didn't produce spiritual fruit because you can look steady for a season. It's like a flex muscle. You can only hold that for about 6 hours, 6 minutes or 6 seconds until you give up.
[00:04:54] But you can't hold or fake fruitfulness. Spiritual fruitfulness.
[00:05:00] You can look spiritual, but pressure reveals performance, and performance cannot hide in real storms.
[00:05:10] And in the world we live in today, with social media pressure and all these things they keep saying, and media pressure and life and public pressure and family pressure and financial pressure, we can really begin to hear what someone believes when the pressure's on.
[00:05:27] And if we listen to ourselves, when pressure is happening in our lives, we'll actually see who we're relying on. We'll be relying on our job, we'll be relying on our partners, we'll be relying on our friends. We'll be relying on finances. We'll be relying on all the extra central, extra things in our lives. But the one thing we need to rely on is Jesus and what he's already done in our lives.
[00:05:52] I tell people all the time, money is not my source. God is.
[00:05:57] Doctors are not my source. It has helped me to identify what I'm praying against.
[00:06:01] Do you understand what I'm saying?
[00:06:04] And even though I'm not against doctors, I didn't say praying against Doctors, they help me know what to pray. But when stress rises, what holds you?
[00:06:13] What really holds you?
[00:06:16] Especially if you're someone that you're looking at everything in life and saying, what's next? God, when plans change, what steadies you, when you're misunderstood, what anchors you? You know, I'm the most misunderstood person in the Gold Coast. I was in a round table meeting. I'm gonna tell on them. I hope they listen to the podcast. Amen. I was in a roundtable meeting with all the pastors in the Gold coast, and they were talking about Easter United. And this lady was trying to pick accent in the room that she knew wasn't in the room. And she says, we need a video that talks about the gospel message before the person gets up to preach in the Easter United. And she goes, it can't be American. I'm looking at her like, hmm, you thought that we weren't in here.
[00:07:04] We had South Africans, we had every nationality in that room, and she thought they wasn't American. There I was.
[00:07:14] When you're misunderstood because of who you are or where you come from, your accent, your color, your race, your position, your gender, what anchors you?
[00:07:25] It doesn't matter what people say about you. What does God say about you? That is the fruit of my life.
[00:07:32] Women, you are God's precious jewel. Amen. You are Proverbs 31. Women, men, you are more. All of us are more than conquerors. You have a high priesthood. It doesn't matter if people dismiss you, overlook you. That is the fruit of their mouth. But what is the fruit of God's word over your life?
[00:07:51] Amen.
[00:07:52] I'm about to get excited, and we ain't even started yet.
[00:07:56] But everybody wants fruit, right? Everyone wants to produce peace that lasts, joy that isn't fragile, and character that holds under pressure. Well, if I was in front of that gunman, I would have tackled him in a heartbeat. You don't know what you would do until you're in that situation. You can say all you want to say until it happens, right?
[00:08:22] Huh?
[00:08:24] A life that looks like Jesus is simply stated, like this character that holds under pressure. A life that looks like Jesus, but a fruit that is not the starting point. Fruit is the result.
[00:08:40] We look at fruit as if it's supposed to be the starting point.
[00:08:44] But fruit is the result of you trusting in Jesus.
[00:08:49] Fruit is the result of you abiding in Him.
[00:08:52] Fruit is the result of growth, replication, connection, and relationship. Do you understand what I'm saying?
[00:09:00] We think that we just gonna get saved and we're just gonna bear fruit?
[00:09:05] No. You got a seed that is planted in you and Jesus. That seed is now growing as spiritual fruit. And it's got to first produce in your mouth, it's got to produce in your thinking, and then it produces in your life.
[00:09:18] Amen.
[00:09:20] Because what you believe in your heart comes out of your mouth.
[00:09:23] So you can play pretty church all day long.
[00:09:26] Amen. You can Kumbaya hallelujah all you want. Now, I'm not talking about anybody. By the way y' all thinking, I'm getting mean.
[00:09:35] You can do all that, but if you don't believe it, the fruit will not produce in your life.
[00:09:41] Does that make sense?
[00:09:43] What you believe will produce.
[00:09:47] Let's look at this in the gospel of John 15, 4, 5.
[00:09:52] Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide in me. Jesus says, I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing, not less nothing.
[00:10:17] He said, you can do nothing without. Well, I can get up and brush my teeth. Well, yes, you can.
[00:10:23] I can go to my job. Yes, you can. But you will not put the super on your natural without Jesus.
[00:10:29] Amen.
[00:10:30] You cannot have spiritual fruit from the flesh.
[00:10:34] Amen.
[00:10:35] Am I making sense here?
[00:10:37] I know I might be getting in someone's cookie jar, but that's okay.
[00:10:41] He does not say, go produce fruit. He says, abide, remain, stay connected. Absolutely. A lot of times in Christianity, we get this.
[00:10:52] We get around these messages that are very condemning. We get around these messages that are very much do do and do do.
[00:10:58] If y' all call it the joke, dad. Joke number two, thank you for laughing.
[00:11:07] For all those of you who are offended, let the spirit of joy come upon you. Amen.
[00:11:14] But it's not about what you do. It's about who he is and who you are in Him.
[00:11:20] He did not say, go do this. He said, first, sit and learn of me. Become like me. Abide in me so that you can go represent me.
[00:11:33] He's not asking you to be holy. He's asking his holiness to rest upon you. He's not asking you to be pure because you cannot do it yourself. He's asking you to be purified by being in his presence.
[00:11:46] Amen.
[00:11:47] And his righteousness is placed upon you because the Bible says that your righteousness is like filthy rags.
[00:11:56] Amen.
[00:12:00] So let's not get it confused here.
[00:12:05] A branch does not produce fruit by trying harder.
[00:12:09] It produces fruit because it is attached to the vine.
[00:12:13] Make sense if it disconnects, it doesn't need motivation. It needs life.
[00:12:19] If you cut a branch off from a trunk and lay it on the ground, it is not gonna just spring roots and grow in the ground. It will have to be grafted into another branch or another trunk to produce life. A branch on its own cannot produce life.
[00:12:37] You separated thinking, you getting in your flesh and getting in the mentality of self effort cannot produce the fruit of Jesus. Amen.
[00:12:49] Does that make sense?
[00:12:51] So that's the difference between effort and connection.
[00:12:55] Amen.
[00:12:56] Effort and connection.
[00:13:00] Your effort will produce nothing without being connected God.
[00:13:06] Amen.
[00:13:08] I know y' all all looking at me here, so that's awesome. That means that translates in Australian to we listening.
[00:13:16] So we live in a culture. Now, here's the hard part. We live in a culture that celebrates activity, output, momentum, visibility.
[00:13:25] But activity is not the same as abiding.
[00:13:30] Be still and know that I am God.
[00:13:33] You can be busy. Watch this. You can be busy, but spiritually dry.
[00:13:40] Make sense? You can be busy but spiritually dry. You can be serving and be disconnected. You can be visible, but not grounded.
[00:13:53] Let me tell you what I mean by this. I call them Bulldog Christians.
[00:13:58] You know, those ones that just have a long face all the time.
[00:14:02] They look like joy never cometh in the morning.
[00:14:06] You know what I mean? They look like they're gonna bite you and growl at you instead of talk to you.
[00:14:10] And when they pray, you don't know if they praying or preaching or condemning or teaching. You don't know.
[00:14:16] Their happy face looks the same as their mad face.
[00:14:23] If you're in Jesus, it should look like you are, right? Even when life is tough.
[00:14:32] I've had plenty of days in the past few weeks where life was tough.
[00:14:39] But I kept relying on my source, Jesus. Amen.
[00:14:46] Hmm. All right.
[00:14:48] Jesus makes it clear that fruit flows from relationship.
[00:14:53] Amen.
[00:14:55] Paul enforces this with the Epistle to the galatians in chapter 5, verse 22 through 23.
[00:15:02] But the fruit of the Spirit is what do you know? It's very important that the first fruit is love.
[00:15:09] That didn't happen by accident.
[00:15:12] Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against such there is no law.
[00:15:26] Amen.
[00:15:28] So where he describes fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control, notice it is fruit of the spirit, not fruit of human effort.
[00:15:41] Not human effort, not human effort.
[00:15:49] It grows where the spirit is present and active.
[00:15:54] Listen, what you want to do is a whole lot different than what God wants to do.
[00:15:59] There is the Holy Spirit that you should listen to when the spirit of Slap is trying to come on you.
[00:16:04] Y' all ain't never had the spirit of Slap.
[00:16:07] When someone's talking and they're saying some pretty ignorant things and your left hand or right hand starts twitching, that is not a spirit.
[00:16:20] And it ain't holy. That is you.
[00:16:24] The Holy Spirit says, be long suffering, be kind.
[00:16:29] Grounded lives produce because they are connected to the source of life.
[00:16:35] Sorcerers, witches, witchcraft, soothsayers have tried to figure out how to do this. And even one came before one of the disciples wanting to offer money for this gift. In the Bible, you cannot buy this gift. It is unearned, unmerited favor. It was produced by the grace of God when Jesus died on the cross. It comes upon you and you get a divine nature. And all you have to do is believe and surrender to it. Amen.
[00:17:09] Is this good?
[00:17:11] So grounded lives produce because they are connected to the source of life. Look at Psalms 1. It paints a powerful picture.
[00:17:20] Psalms chapter 1, 1 through 3.
[00:17:23] Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly.
[00:17:28] Hello.
[00:17:30] Hello.
[00:17:32] Well, I went and, you know, I'm not saying Tony Robbins is bad. I'm just going to use him right now. Okay.
[00:17:40] I don't know, another self help book out there right now. I don't read them that much.
[00:17:44] So I went to Tony Robbins and it didn't work out. Oh, hello.
[00:17:50] Your counsel determines your direction.
[00:17:54] Everyone says, link yourself up to someone successful if you want to be successful. Well, hello.
[00:18:01] He formed the mountains with his fingertips. He flung the stars from his hands. He spoke, let there be light and the sun produced.
[00:18:12] Don't stand with sinners, nor sit in the seats of the scornful. But his delight in the law of the Lord and his. The law. He meditates day and night. Meditate and sit with the Lord if you want to produce the fruit of the spirit. Call your mama and them. Talk to everybody. Send a few texts if you want to, but always go to God and his Word.
[00:18:35] Amen.
[00:18:37] Without God and his Word, you've only relied on intuition and instinct.
[00:18:42] An epiphany.
[00:18:47] We are planted.
[00:18:50] We're not drifting.
[00:18:52] If we go to Psalms chapter one. I'm going to read this. Go on to verse three. Did we got verse three, Timmy? Yeah. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit. In its season, whose leaf also shall not wither. And whatsoever he does shall prosper.
[00:19:10] Let's look at this.
[00:19:13] You can be planted by the water, and you will produce fruit in its season.
[00:19:19] The world will put expectations on you spiritually as well.
[00:19:26] They will be asking you to constantly produce.
[00:19:29] Produce the Holy Spirit, man, in this church. As the church starts to grow. Well, you know, worship wasn't the same as it was last Sunday.
[00:19:38] Well, we had a move of the Spirit last Sunday, but the preacher, he just got up there. He was too comical.
[00:19:44] He was too much in himself.
[00:19:47] Can I tell you something? We're not here to worship you.
[00:19:51] We're not here to perform.
[00:19:54] What God wants for this day is what we're going to produce. And that's why this church is growing. Amen. Because we're producing fruit of the Spirit.
[00:20:03] We're producing fruit of His Word.
[00:20:07] And that leaf also shall not wither. This song that was being sung was saying that even when there's a drought, even when every dry place and every sun dry place in the world is withering and dying, your roots will go deep and find water underground to sustain you. Amen.
[00:20:26] Because you are children of God.
[00:20:31] Without roots that go deep, you're just a drifting log.
[00:20:34] But we're not occasionally. We're not occasionally visiting the stream. We're planted in it.
[00:20:41] Amen.
[00:20:43] A planted tree does not panic during drought. Oh, God.
[00:20:48] Where's the money?
[00:20:50] Where's the food? Baby needs a new pair of shoes, light bills due creditors calling. No.
[00:20:59] Someone that is grounded in God doesn't panic.
[00:21:03] Panic is a fruit of fear.
[00:21:06] It's not a fruit of the Spirit.
[00:21:09] Use wisdom. Do what you got to do. Pay the bills you need to pay. Get a new job. Do the transitions be responsible.
[00:21:19] But past that, don't panic.
[00:21:22] God's got you.
[00:21:25] A tree that is planted doesn't collapse in heat.
[00:21:29] Its roots are already where the water is that great.
[00:21:33] My roots are already where the water is.
[00:21:38] Jeremiah echoes this in Jeremiah 17, 7, 8.
[00:21:43] This is good. I'm preaching to myself up here. Whether y' all like it or not. This is good.
[00:21:47] Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is in the Lord.
[00:21:52] For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters which spreads out its roots by the river and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green, and it will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will it cease from yielding fruit. Man, I see this echoed in my house.
[00:22:11] I will say this. We are plant killers in our house. Amen we commit murder to the green leaves all the time.
[00:22:19] For anyone that's a green lover, we don't intentionally do it. All right?
[00:22:25] But I will watch this one plant. I know that we need to water it because it starts leaning towards the light, you know?
[00:22:35] You know, it starts. It's. You know. Cause we always have the shades down and it's just doing.
[00:22:41] It just starts to grow towards the light, right? And I go feel its dirt and I'm like that. Dry. It needs some water and it needs some light. That plant without a brain knows what it needs.
[00:22:54] And it starts to instinctually go towards its source of life. Why in Jesus name do when life hits us hard, do we stop going to church? Why do we stop praying? Why do we stop worshiping? Why do we stop talking to God? When life hits us the hardest, that's when we need to lean in.
[00:23:15] Amen.
[00:23:16] When my water. When I need water for my soil, I lean into the light and say, lord Jesus, I need some water for my soil.
[00:23:25] I don't run from church. I don't run from community. I run into it.
[00:23:31] Amen.
[00:23:33] You don't know what I've been through. I do.
[00:23:37] I do.
[00:23:38] Because I know what I've been through.
[00:23:41] Lean in.
[00:23:43] Grounded faith does not mean heat never comes.
[00:23:47] It means heat does not determine your condition.
[00:23:51] I am not a thermometer in life.
[00:23:55] My temperature does not rise and go down. I by a design, in Jesus name, and so are you. Am a thermostat. I set the conditions for my atmosphere by the power of God in me and the word of God from my mouth.
[00:24:11] Amen.
[00:24:13] Well, it's cold outside. Well, so what?
[00:24:17] Well, there's this, there's that. Believe God, Storms do.
[00:24:22] Storms are not selective.
[00:24:27] Let's really realize something.
[00:24:31] The enemy is against mankind. He's against mankind.
[00:24:36] The devil did not cause you a flat tire. You just needed to change them.
[00:24:42] Amen.
[00:24:43] Your engine didn't blow up because the devil wanted to make you late for work. You forgot to go get your car serviced. Amen. There's things that happen in life that are just conditional. There's things that happen in life that are demonically influenced. And we need to learn what we need to do. Let's look at Matthew 7, 24, 25.
[00:25:03] Therefore, whosoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them I will likened him to a wise man who built his house on a rock. And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on the house.
[00:25:18] And it did not fall, for it was founded on the Rock.
[00:25:23] Now we know the story of the house built on sinking sand and the house built on rock. Any builder that's in here would know that without the right foundation, you're gonna fall when storms come.
[00:25:37] You cannot be chasing every whim of doctrine and every opinion and every podcast out there. You need to get grounded in the word of God.
[00:25:48] You need to sit down up underneath some solid teaching that ain't spooky pooky.
[00:25:55] Amen. And get grounded in the word of God. Get grounded in the faith that matters first before you go on to angels and demons and this and that.
[00:26:05] Man, some people trying to run to Revelations and they ain't started in John.
[00:26:09] Amen.
[00:26:10] You need to know the love of God first before you learn anything else.
[00:26:16] Am I making sense?
[00:26:18] Because storms aren't selective. Jesus spoke about the two houses. Both face rain, floods and wind. One stands, one falls. The difference is not the storm, it's the foundation.
[00:26:31] Well, why is Tina not falling apart and Kyle looks mad as a bulldog? Foundation is different.
[00:26:38] Amen.
[00:26:41] But you ain't never gonna see me hungry.
[00:26:45] Yep. Joke number three.
[00:26:47] Amen. Pressure reveals foundations.
[00:26:53] If faith only works when it's easy, it's not grounded, but grounded. Lives are stable under pressure because their roots go deep.
[00:27:06] This is so good.
[00:27:08] Roots grow in secret, not applause, not recognition.
[00:27:14] Yet everything visible depends on what's hidden.
[00:27:19] You build your life off of ego, an opinion, and popularity. You will get knocked over in the next storm because everyone that applauds you will tear you down.
[00:27:31] They did it to Jesus. They will do it to you.
[00:27:33] You can be the fan favorite in the Gold Coast Bulletin one day and be its greatest enemy the next day.
[00:27:40] Amen. That's just humans. Paul writes in the epistle to Colossians 2, 6, 7, continue to live your lives in him.
[00:27:50] As you therefore have received Christ, Jesus, the Lord, so walk in him rooted, grounded, and built upon him and established in the faith in the faith. Not a faith, the faith in the faith. That one little the is so important.
[00:28:09] You running around, everybody talking to you about, well, they're wrong because of this, and they're wrong. I don't care if you sprinkled dunk or whatever you want to do. Just get baptized, Jesus.
[00:28:19] I don't care if you believe. We pre, post or millennial, just know that you're going, amen.
[00:28:26] I don't care if you believe there's gonna be golden gates or pearly gates. You gonna get there.
[00:28:32] The little things don't matter.
[00:28:34] Know the faith.
[00:28:37] Amen. I'm sorry. Got A little passionate there.
[00:28:41] Amen.
[00:28:43] As you have been taught. Abounding in it with faith, Thanksgiving. Listen, if the conversation about the Bible doesn't produce Thanksgiving praise and worship, I don't want to be having it.
[00:28:55] If it causes confusion, doubt, and worry, I don't want to talk about it.
[00:29:00] I want to know something that builds my faith, that causes my roots to go deep, so that when I need water in sun, dry times, I got water for my life.
[00:29:10] Amen.
[00:29:16] Roots.
[00:29:18] When a seed is planted in the ground, you know the first thing that grows before it ever produces a trunk or a leaf? Roots.
[00:29:27] Christians, we come out the gate, we just think we gonna be perfect right out the gate.
[00:29:32] There is a heated. You know what there is in germination of a seed. Heat produces something chaotic is happening underneath, and it's hot and it's molding and shaping and it's a miracle, but you can walk past it and nobody sees it. And roots are spreading, and all of a sudden that little sprout pops up and we're like, oh, look at that. That just popped up today.
[00:29:57] That was working underground before it ever was seen.
[00:30:01] If you want to go do ministry, work underground in the unseen places, work in the marketplace, Work in your heart, work on your heart with Jesus. Amen. Is this good today?
[00:30:16] Amen.
[00:30:17] So even Jesus modeled hidden grounding before public ministry.
[00:30:23] Amen.
[00:30:25] Before miracles, before teaching crowds, there was a wilderness. There was prayer. There was communion with the Father.
[00:30:32] Have I already got to the end?
[00:30:34] No.
[00:30:36] Timmy. Did I do Matthew 7:20? I did. Wow. I've already gotten to the end.
[00:30:41] Hallelujah.
[00:30:43] Anyway, sorry. I had my own little miracle just then.
[00:30:48] There was communion with the Father. In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 5, verse 16, we are told Jesus often he withdrew. Often he himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.
[00:31:05] Huh? The visible power of his ministry flowed from hidden connection.
[00:31:10] We come to church to celebrate, to connect, and to build community.
[00:31:16] But it's in the six days of the week that you practice what we're talking about here today that you connect. That in your living room, in your bedroom, wherever you pray, that you connect with God and that you let that holy place be built up in you.
[00:31:33] Because here, if this is the only place you speak good, if this is the only place you don't gossip, if this is the only place where you just come and clap your hands and don't listen to worship the rest of the week, you have founded your faith on something that is demonstrated in a crowd and not privately cultivated.
[00:31:55] Amen.
[00:31:57] It's got to be privately cultivated.
[00:32:01] This ain't enough.
[00:32:03] I may be funny, I may be offensive, I may be a lot of things, but this right here is an entree to what God wants to deliver to you as your manes for the rest of the week.
[00:32:21] God wants to commune with you. He wants to sit with you. He wants to teach you, because you are his child and he wants to see you grow.
[00:32:32] My wife, she started something new with the plants in the house. She started talking to them, praying over them, talking to them like they were kids.
[00:32:42] At first I thought, oh, Jesus, Alex, you need to pray. Your mama's done lost it. You left the house and she started talking to plants.
[00:32:54] But something funny happened. Those plants started growing because she was intentionally talking to them. She was also watering, and she was caring for them. There was connection.
[00:33:06] Science has proven that talking positively to plants actually causes them to grow. Your words have power.
[00:33:15] They did a study that with ice. That one was playing like worship music, and it formed this beautiful tree, and the way it froze, it was amazing. Then they did a study where they played, like, death metal, and it was like briars and thorns.
[00:33:33] What Jesus is talking about, when it abides in him, it's more than just talking to him. It's listening to him.
[00:33:39] It's sitting with him.
[00:33:41] It's taking time in your private prayer life where there is real peace to learn daily surrender so that there is stability.
[00:33:53] See, we don't see your roots.
[00:33:56] We see your fruit or your performance.
[00:34:03] Fruit is not forced because fruit that is forced doesn't last.
[00:34:10] Fruit that flows from abiding in him remains.
[00:34:14] See, that's why these people say I got hurt in church, is because there was Christians in there that didn't know how to abide.
[00:34:21] Guys, as we grow, we need to learn to abide.
[00:34:27] Yeah.
[00:34:28] We need to learn to sit in the presence of God so that we can hear his words over people.
[00:34:34] Because his words aren't critical. They aren't judgmental.
[00:34:37] They start with love.
[00:34:39] And it is the goodness of God that brings men unto repentance.
[00:34:48] Fruit is something that comes from being attached to the vine.
[00:34:55] Jesus says in John 15:16 that he desires fruit that will last.
[00:34:59] Not seasonal enthusiasm, not emotional spikes, but lasting transformation.
[00:35:07] You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain. That whatsoever you ask of the Father, in My name he may give you.
[00:35:19] Amen.
[00:35:22] God commanded fruit to bear from you, not as something that you do, but that comes from your surrender to him and abiding in him. It's got nothing to do with what you do. It has everything with you yielding to him.
[00:35:39] Does that make sense?
[00:35:41] Two words. Only believe.
[00:35:46] Only believe.
[00:35:49] So the invitation today is simple.
[00:35:54] Remain.
[00:35:56] Remain.
[00:35:58] Tomorrow morning, let the Bible be the first thing you pick up like it was today.
[00:36:07] Maybe get a youversion app, not promoting it, but at least have something on your phone. Get some daily devotionals, get some word in you.
[00:36:15] Make it a personal choice.
[00:36:18] The invitation today is to remain. Not perform, not impress.
[00:36:23] To remain.
[00:36:25] Draw life from Christ daily.
[00:36:28] Choose depth over display.
[00:36:31] Listen, I've seen a lot of storefront things and you get behind them and there's nothing there.
[00:36:37] The storefront just look good.
[00:36:39] Choose depth over display.
[00:36:43] Choose connection over comparison.
[00:36:47] Amen. Choose connection over comparison.
[00:36:51] Listen, I will never be as joyful as Caitlin.
[00:36:56] We just don't have the same ability to smile. I can't smile like she smiles. Amen. Joy is her middle name.
[00:37:03] Amen.
[00:37:04] Mine is David. I'm just a little Warren individual.
[00:37:08] I like to throw rocks at giants.
[00:37:11] Amen. Praise God. But I don't look at my joy and say it's less than hers. Mine just produces differently.
[00:37:20] So choose connection over comparison. Choose faithfulness over flash, everybody. I think I should go to church today.
[00:37:30] You think God's happy because you decided to go to church after six months?
[00:37:36] No, he wants you to come to church every day. Not a building, not an institute, not an organization, but to sit down with him and commune in his presence.
[00:37:48] Choose faithfulness over flesh.
[00:37:51] Because grounded lives produce. And the difference between doing Christianity and being a Christian is this. One relies on effort. The other relies on connection.
[00:38:00] Apart from him, we can do nothing.
[00:38:02] But in him, fruit is inedible.
[00:38:05] It will produce.
[00:38:08] Amen.
[00:38:10] Lord, I want to do more for you. Used to be my prayer.
[00:38:14] I remember standing in my driveway, 28 years old, screaming out, God, I just want to work for you. I just want to be in your presence. I want to do full time ministry. I got really radical and I'm thanking God. He didn't answer this prayer because he knew I was youthful. I said, lord, take my legs. I'll even roll around in a wheelchair to work for you. I'm so glad he didn't answer that prayer, but that's how bad I wanted to work for him. Amen.
[00:38:40] You know what he did?
[00:38:43] He gave me three kids, a beautiful wife, an opportunity to come to Australia to a place that doesn't choose Americans first to humble me.
[00:38:57] To have everybody in the sun say, well, we, you know, guys, I faced It. And this is not a pity party. I'm gonna just tell you some truth so you can understand that this message was developed.
[00:39:07] I first came here and said I was man on fire for the Word. I am now as well.
[00:39:15] And the first thing they said to me is that, oh, we don't do that here. That happens in the American church.
[00:39:21] I said, huh?
[00:39:23] What does that even got to do with anything? I just want the Word.
[00:39:27] Well, we don't get loud in Australia. I'm so glad y' all have changed.
[00:39:31] Amen. Because we're not Australian, we're not American, we're not Kiwi, we're not black or brown.
[00:39:41] We're King's kids, cut from the same cloth, flowing with the same blood.
[00:39:46] We may have different languages, we may come from different places, but we're pilgrims in a strange land. We need to stop letting countries, nationalities, skin color divide us. If you have received Jesus, you are my brother. If you have received Jesus, you are my sister.
[00:40:03] And we are cut from one place, and we are Kingdom's kids. You can preach like me, you can pray like me, you can do all that because God's given us the same authority. Amen. He's given us the believer's authority in his word.
[00:40:18] This was developed under a lot of scrutiny for being American, for being dismissed.
[00:40:25] But one day, Jesus told me. He said, kyle, you think nine years in Australia has been hard?
[00:40:30] He said, he was my son, and they put him in a manger to be boring.
[00:40:37] He was my son and he became lower than angels.
[00:40:42] He was my son, and they hung him on a cross.
[00:40:49] We're not despised.
[00:40:51] We're chosen.
[00:40:54] We are a chosen generation.
[00:40:59] Father, we thank you for this message today that we're not trying to push fruit out of our lives, but we receive the fruit of the spirit that will produce of its kind, that from you you give life and we are attached. And therefore, the branch does not concern itself with the bud, the bud does not concern itself with the seed, and the seed does not concern itself with the fruit. They are all linked to one thing, the vine that produces life.
[00:41:33] Thank you, Jesus, that we are connected to you, that we can produce the fruit of the spirit.
[00:41:39] We thank you, Jesus, that today we are blessed and we all say amen.
[00:41:45] Amen.
[00:41:47] Hallelujah. Has this been good today?
[00:41:50] Amen.
[00:41:57] I know that was a get in your face message.
[00:42:01] I know that was a take the cookie out of the cookie jar. I know that for some of you, that might have been, thank God someone said it. And for others of you it might have been. Whoo.
[00:42:09] I don't know how I feel about that.
[00:42:14] All God's asking you to do today is spend some time with him this week.
[00:42:19] That's all he's doing, really. God, through me, through today, through this service, through Abba, Father, that song they sung earlier through, through the intercessory prayer. All God is really asking is, hey, can you cut out some time for me?
[00:42:34] Can you imagine that? The orchestrator of the universe, the host of heaven, paused and said, hey, I'd like to make an appointment with you this week.
[00:42:44] That's pretty awesome, man.
[00:42:47] Like, he could be talking to anybody and he chose us.
[00:42:52] Isn't that awesome?
[00:42:54] God said, can you put me in your calendar at least one hour a day.
[00:42:58] Isn't that awesome?
[00:43:01] If you're still unhappy and you're still confused, maybe you just need to turn that little thing off upstairs. That's thinking too much.
[00:43:09] You're trying to figure out God.
[00:43:11] I've been trying to do that for 25 years, and some of you have been doing it longer than me. Stop trying to figure him out and just let him be God.
[00:43:20] Amen.
[00:43:21] Amen.
[00:43:26] And the more you try and not figure him out, the more he will show himself to you because you're not putting him in a box.
[00:43:33] Amen.
[00:43:35] Every head bowed, every eye closed.
[00:43:38] If you're here today and you don't know Jesus, you have never prayed that prayer.
[00:43:50] Jesus, come into my life and you want to receive him. Now, can you just lift your hand right where you are and say, I want to receive Jesus as my Lord and Savior.
[00:43:59] Amen.
[00:44:01] Amen.
[00:44:02] Amen.
[00:44:05] Amen.
[00:44:07] With every head bowed and every eye closed so we can confirm salvation for these three people today. Will you pray this prayer with me, Lord Jesus?
[00:44:18] Change my heart, change my mind.
[00:44:22] I receive you as my Lord and Savior.
[00:44:26] Be in my heart.
[00:44:29] May it be a resting place.
[00:44:35] And all of heaven is celebrating with you, just like those kids.
[00:44:38] Lord Jesus, I receive you as my friend, my Lord, my Master.
[00:44:47] I will follow you all the days of my life.
[00:44:51] When I'm confused, when I don't know what I'm doing, I will still turn to you.
[00:44:57] When I don't know what the world is doing, I will still turn to you. I receive you, Jesus, by the confession of my mouth, Lord and Savior.
[00:45:09] Amen and Amen. Give the Lord a hand clap of praise.
[00:45:16] So if you prayed that prayer this morning, your next step is to see one of the pastors in the back. That would be Tina, Jeremy, Patty, Claire, and schedule your baptism we would like to see you baptized. Now.
[00:45:31] We don't believe that by baptism you are saved. We believe that is something that has already taken place, and this is just an outward expression.
[00:45:39] And it just helps you start walking in that life of unashamed expression, of being a child of God. Amen.
[00:45:47] Can we thank God for the three people that raised their hands today?
[00:45:54] Thank you for tuning in to today's message. To connect or find out more, you can reach us online at worldchangers Life. Remember to subscribe for more uplifting messages from our pastoral team. And may you continue to walk in faith and transformation until we meet again.
