Category: General Post

Date: August 03, 2025

Series: Fruit bearing

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I want to quickly further share with us on fruit bearing. We have been looking at the need for us to bear fruit. And that is because it is the will of God for us to do so. It pleases God when his children bear much fruit. Then we looked at the nature of fruit God wants us to bear.

And from what we see in scriptures, He wants us to bear the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, faithfulness, self-control, meekness, gentleness, humility, brotherly kindness. God wants us to bring forth these things as fruits. And we can bring forth these things as fruit because of our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember that He tells us that He is the vine and we are the branches. Because of that, we can bring forth fruits that are consistent with His character, fruits that are consistent with His nature.

But then, as I pointed out to us, bringing forth fruit in this sense is not something that we should struggle to do. When we struggle to bring forth the kind of fruit God wants us to bring forth, we show that we do not understand how to do so. We should not struggle to love. We should not struggle to be patient. We should not struggle to be humble, kind, gentle, self-controlled. We shouldn’t struggle to be any of these things. That’s because we were created to be these things. But as I said, we’re going to struggle, if we do not know how. So, we must know how.

Now, of course, it’s not enough to know how. We must apply the knowledge that we possess. Knowledge that is not utilized is useless. People often say knowledge is power. But that is only true to the extent that knowledge is appropriately and adequately applied. Of course, it also depends on the kind of knowledge you are dealing with. But knowledge in itself will not produce power. Knowledge in itself will not change anybody’s life. It has to be appropriately and adequately utilized.

So, as we hear the word of God, we must make up our minds to appropriately and adequately utilize what we are hearing. It is something that our hearts must be after doing. Otherwise, the knowledge of the word of God that we are receiving will prove to be useless to us, even though it is not meant to be.Well, on bringing forth fruit, our Lord Jesus Christ makes it abundantly clear to us that apart from Him it is impossible for us to do so.

Let’s go back to St. John’s Gospel, chapter 15. I’ll read the passage to you again very quickly, that is, from verse 1:“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:1-5NIV)

You can see that how to bear fruit is plainly stated here. We must abide in Him. We must remain in Him, that is, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? The reason is that He is our source. He is the source of everything God wants us to be. He is the source of the fruit that our lives are expected to bear.

Everything is coming to us from him.Remember I read to you from 2 Corinthians 5, verse 18, the other time. There Paul says all things are of God, the God who reconciled us to Himself in Christ Jesus. Everything, everything that we need is from Him. And we must receive it from Him. If we will not receive from Him, we will not be able to live the kind of life He wants us to live; we will not be able to do the things He wants us to do.

So, Jesus here says you have to abide in me. We are going to later look at how to abide in Him or what it means to abide in Him. But first, we must keep it in mind that we must abide in Him, if we are going to bring forth the kind of fruit He wants our lives to bring forth.Then He goes on to say how important it is for us to abide in him. He says apart from me you can do nothing. You can’t.

It is impossible. You may try to be the person God wants you to be apart from Him. But you can only fail. And this is one of the reasons we must take Him very seriously; we must take our relationship with Him very seriously.Now, of course, we must understand that this is how Jesus Christ Himself functioned when He was here on earth. Jesus knew that God was His source and that apart from Him there was nothing He could do. So, He totally relied on God to be the person He was meant to be.

We read scriptures, and we admire the life that Jesus lived. We read scriptures and we get to admire the way He talked, the way He answered questions, the way He preached, the way He ministered to people. But how was Jesus able to live like that? How was he able to live a life that won God’s approval? God, at least, as we have recorded in Scriptures, twice testified about Him, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” God was utterly pleased with Jesus. He was pleased with the life that Jesus lived. That means everything He did pleased God. So, Jesus Christ stands before us as a perfect example of man as God would want man to be. Jesus did not walk the face of this earth living as God.

Of course, He is fully God, just as He is fully man. But He did not walk the face of the earth to live as God. Rather He walked the face of the earth to live as man. Truly He came to show us who God is. But in living, He lived as man. He showed us man as God would want man to be. How was he able to do that? He was able to do that by drawing from God.

Look at St. John’s Gospel, chapter 5, Verse 19: “Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.”” (John 5:19-20NIV)

The first thing Jesus says here, responding to what the Jews were saying about him, is that the Son can do nothing by Himself, except what He sees His Father doing. This is Jesus’ own testimony: I can do nothing by myself; I do only what I see my Father doing. So, Jesus Christ was drawing from the Father. The life that He lived, He lived it on the basis of His relationship with the Father. He said, “The Father loves the Son and shows Him what He does.

So, He’s saying, “God is teaching me how to live; God is teaching me how to walk. The things I’m doing, I’m not doing them because I just want to do them. They are the things that I learnt from my Father.” Think about that. That’s powerful.The point is that Jesus learnt how to love from the Father. He learnt patience from the Father. He learnt perseverance from the Father. He learnt humility from the Father.

Self-control, He learnt it from Him. All the things He did, He learnt them from the Father. The healing of the sick, the raising of the dead, He learnt these things from the Father. He says, “The Father is working. He’s showing me how to do these things. So, I’m doing what I see Him do.” In fact, He goes on to say, “Just as the Father gives life to the dead, the Son also gives life to the dead.” That was how he functioned.

So, we admire His life. Now if we also will be able to function the same way, we must adopt the same approach. And He’s already told us, “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” So, if you’re going to be the person God wants you to be, you must take your connection, your relationship with Him very seriously; you must see Him as your source. And you don’t just see Him as your source, you must be willing to draw from Him; you must be willing to learn from Him.Are you even interested in that? Because it begins with interest.

Are you interested in being the person He wants you to be? Are you interested in living the life that He wants you to live? Are you? You have to be interested. Then you have to be determined. But then, you must understand, it goes beyond being interested and being determined. He has to furnish you with all that you need to live the life that He wants you to live.

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Date: June 29, 2025

Series: Fruit bearing

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Last week, we began to look at ‘Fruit bearing in Christianity’. And I began to show us from scriptures that God wants those of us who are his children to bear fruit. We have reasons, of course, that He wants us to bear fruit, which are:

1. He chose and appointed us to bear fruit. We were recreated, chosen and recreated by Him to bear fruit.

2. We have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ that puts us in a position where we can bear fruit.

3. It brings God’s glory when we bear fruit.I want you to take those three things and put them in your heart. I don’t want you to forget them.

Maybe you should say these things after me: God wants us to bear fruit because He has chosen us and appointed us to bear fruit. That’s one. Two, He wants us to bear fruit because we have a relationship with Him that puts us in that position where we can bear fruit. Three, it brings Him glory when we bear fruit. Put those three things in mind.Now we rounded off by speaking about the nature of fruit that we are meant to bear. God indeed wants us to bear fruit. But what sort of fruit does He want us to bear?

Jesus, speaking to us in St. John’s Gospel Chapter 15, tells us that God wants us to bear fruit. But we need to know what sort of fruit He wants us to bear.I gave us a suggestion. I said there are preachers who believe that when Jesus says that He has chosen and appointed us to bring forth fruit, it means that we should go out and begin to preach the good news. For them, it is as we bring souls into the kingdom of God that we are bearing fruit.

While that sounds good, it is not an explanation for what Jesus says. It is not even consistent with the body of truth that we are given in Scriptures about bearing fruit.See, it is not only in St. John’s Gospel Chapter 15 that we are told something about bringing forth fruit. There are other passages of Scriptures in which we are shown that God is expecting us to bear fruit. And we are also given instructions on the nature of fruit He wants us to bear. So, before we proceed on how to bear fruit, we need to know the nature of fruit God expects us to bear. We need to know God’s expectations.

What is God expecting of us? We need to know what sort of demands God is placing on us. Yes, we have come into a relationship with Him. But we do need to know what He expects of us.Because this is often the problem with those of us who are Christians. We are, for the most part ignorant, of what God expects of us. How does God expect us to behave? How does He expect us to function? What are the things He wants us to be doing? It’s not just about talking about living to please God. It’s so easy to talk about living to please God. It’s so easy to tell somebody, “Don’t you know you ought to be living to please God?”

But how do I live to please God? What will I be doing that will make him able to say that I am pleasing God? Jesus says, “The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” (John 8:29NIV)

This is coming from Jesus: The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him. My emphasis is on ‘always’. He’s not just telling us that He does what pleases God. He also tells us the frequency. He says, “I always do what pleases Him.”Now I’ve asked myself if I too can say that. I love to say that. I want to say that.

I’m not sure I can say that at the moment, but I’m aiming for it. I want to get to a point in my walk with God that I will be able to say, “I always do what pleases you.” I want to be able to tell Him that you know that I always do what pleases you. He [Jesus} wasn’t guessing. There was no doubt about it. He knew that He always pleased God. Interestingly, God said the same thing about Him. God said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” That means God agreed with him that He always did what pleased him.

Now how many Christians know whether they are pleasing God or not? Can you tell if the life you are living now is pleasing God? Can you tell if the things you are doing right now are pleasing God? Is it even on your heart to please Him? It is said in Scriptures about Enoch that he had this testimony that he pleased God. Enoch had this testimony that he pleased God. The man knew that he pleased God. That must have been because he knew God’s demands. He knew what God expected of him. And we too, as believers, need to know what God expects of us. We need to know how He expects us to live. We need to know how he expects us to function. So, (Cf. Hebrews 11:5)

Well, we are talking about fruit bearing and are saying that we need to know what sort of fruit God expects us to bear. And I’m saying that it has nothing to do with soul-winning or evangelizing our world. Nothing is wrong with soul-winning. Nothing is wrong with evangelizing our world. There are scriptures that point to the fact that God wants us to be reaching out with His word to those in our world. But ultimately, the results are determined by Him.

We do our bit in preaching the word of God, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. But the one who determines the results is God, not human beings. And so, when Jesus is talking about fruit bearing, He’s not dealing with preaching the good news. It’s possible for you to be preaching the good news and not be bearing the kind of fruit God wants to be here. It is possible.

Yes, as I pointed out already, since we have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, we are put in that position where we can bear fruit. He describes that relationship as that between a vine and its branches. It follows, then, that the sort of fruit He wants us to bear is that which is consistent with His own character.

He is the vine. We are the branches, as He puts it in St. John’s Gospel chapter 15. That being the case, the kind of fruit He expects us to bear is that which is associated with who He is, that which is associated with His character. I need to give us some scriptures. Let me start with Isaiah chapter 5. From verse 1, it says:“I will sing. I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard. My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile east side. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well.

Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? Now I will tell you what I’m going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its edge, and it will be destroyed. I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated. And briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.

The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed, for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.” (Isaiah 5:1-7NIV)

Now this is a passage talking about fruit bearing. It speaks of the vineyard of Isaiah’s beloved and all the things that his beloved did to take care of the vineyard.

Unfortunately, though he was looking for good fruits from the trees there, what was he getting? Bad fruits!Now, in explaining or in talking about what the vineyard and the fruits that it was bearing mean, what does he say? He refers to the vineyard as people, right? Then, in talking about the fruit, he refers to the fruit as character. He says, “I am looking for justice. But what do I see? Bloodshed! I am looking for righteousness. But what do I see? Cries of distress””So, here, when the Lord is talking about fruit bearing, it has to do with people’s conduct; it has to do with people’s character.

And as I give us some other passages of scriptures where fruit bearing is mentioned, you will see that they are consistent. Or let me say that Scriptures consistently point out that when God is speaking about fruit bearing, He’s talking about godly character; He’s talking about people’s character.

Let’s also look at St. Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 3. As a background, John the Baptist, the forerunner of our Lord Jesus Christ, came and began to preach, calling people back to God. Here are some of the things said by Luke about his ministry: “John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Luke 3:7-9NIV)

Now, in preaching to the people, what did John the Baptist say? He said produce fruit in keeping with repentance. In other words, if you are coming to God, you must bring up fruit that shows that you have actually turned to God. If you call yourself a child of God, you must bring forth fruit that will show those of the world that you are indeed a child of God.If you stand before an orange tree, you don’t need to ask that tree, “Are you an orange tree or something else?” What do you need to look out for? The fruit! Jesus says a tree is recognized by its fruit.

So, if I am a child of God, I will be recognized by my fruit.And remember, in St. Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 7, speaking about false prophets, Jesus says, “By their fruit, you will recognize them.” He does not say by their preaching. He does not say by their sermons. Now we don’t recognize people as children of God through their sermons.

Yes, their sermons may give us the impression that they are children of God. But that’s not the true test. If you want to know whether someone is of God or not, you are not going to be looking at the person’s sermons.

Also, you are not going to be looking at the person’s gifts. Someone may prophesy, and the prophecy will come to pass. Now you may, on account of that, mistake that person for a child of God. But the person may not be a child of God. Someone may be working miracles. And you may mistake that person for a child of God. But the person may not be a child of God. That is because even Satan can work miracles. Satan can prophesy. (Cf. 2Thessalonians 2:9)

By the way, sometimes God can borrow people to prophesy. God can use a non-believer to prophesy to you. And the unbeliever may not even know that he is prophesying. John, speaking about one of the high priests of the time of our Lord Jesus Christ, said the man prophesied. The man said, “Is it not better for one person to die for the entire country than for the whole country to perish?” And John said that he was unconsciously prophesying when he said that.

And those listening did not even know he was prophesying. But he was prophesying about the death of Jesus Christ, how He would die to save the Jews and all mankind. Interestingly, the man himself did not even know they were prophesying. So, what happened was that God borrowed his mouth for a while and used it to prophesy. (Cf. John 11:49-52)

The point is that God can borrow people and use them to do something spiritual for a while. It does not mean that they belong to him. At least Jesus speaks about those who will come to Him on the day of judgment and say, “Did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not heal the sick in your name?” Yet He will say to them, “I do not know you.” (Cf. Matthew 7:21-23)

But how can somebody prophesy in the name of Jesus and He will still tell them, “I do not know you?” And how will someone heal the sick in the name of Jesus and yet Jesus will tell the person, “I do not know you?” Do you think Jesus will not say to Judas Iscariot, “I do not know you?” Hello? Hello? Is somebody with me?Judas Iscariot lived with Jesus. He traveled with Jesus. He slept with Jesus. He ate with Jesus. He managed Jesus’ money.

Not only that, Jesus entrusted Judas with authority to preach the good news, to heal the sick, to drive out demons. And Judas wasn’t just entrusted with that authority, he used it. He went out with others and preached the good news. He went out with others and healed the sick. He went out with others and drove out demons.

Yet the Lord referred to him as the son of perdition, right?So, guess what? With my own sanctified imagination, I am considering the fact that on the day of judgment Judas will face Jesus and say, “Lord, we did all these things together.

Do you really mean that you’re sending me to hell?” Have you ever thought about that? Do you think Judas will not try to appeal to Jesus on the basis of their relationship? Would he not say, “You called me. You chose me. Remember, I managed your money. Yes, I messed up, but are you saying that all those things that we did together did not mean anything to you?”

So, bearing fruit is not about being a good preacher. It’s not about having certain spiritual gifts or healing gifts or gifts of prophecy or gifts of speaking in diverse tongues and all of that. No. It has to do with bringing forth godly character. Now what we are dealing with is a relationship. If indeed He is the vine and we are His branches, and indeed He is the vine and we are His branches, then if we are going to bring forth fruit, the fruit we will bring forth should reflect His character, not something else.

And so, here in Luke 3, John the Baptist is saying, “Don’t just say that you are turning to God. You also need to bring forth fruit that is in keeping with repentance.” Why? As he points out, the axe is already at the root of the trees. And every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

Personally, I love the way the people responded to John the Baptist. They did not assume that they understood what he was saying. Yes, he was speaking to them about bringing forth fruit. He said, “You need to bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance.” But they would not assume that they understood what he was talking about. So, they asked him, “What should we do then?” (Cf. Luke 3:10)

Now look at his response. He did not tell them to go and start preaching the good news. He did not tell them to go out and start winning the unbelievers and the pagans around them. What did he tell them? Look at it: “John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.” (Luke 3:11NIV)

What is that? Goodness! If you belong to God, you bring forth the fruit of goodness; you bring forth the fruit of love. The one who has two shirts should give one to the one who does not have any, that is, if you have two. You can’t give what you don’t have. Since you have two, you can give one. John doesn’t say the one who has one should give to the one who doesn’t have any.

Instead, he says the one who has two should give one to the one who has none. That is goodness. That is a manifestation of love.Luke goes on in the next verse, saying, “Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?” “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.” (Luke 3:12NIV)

What is he talking about? Character! Don’t extort the people. That’s what he’s saying.So, you know, when we’re talking about fruit bearing, it has to do with character, godly character. It’s not about speaking in tongues, for instance. People would not know you as belonging to God just because you speak in tongues or just because you prophesy or because you know how to pray heavens down or because you keep your bible on your desk in your office.

If you walk to any office today and see somebody with a bible on his desk, how would you feel? I mean, naturally you should feel comfortable that I’m dealing with a Christian here. So, things should be easy. But from experience, some of us have not made things easy for those who come to us for help.

To say the fact, sometimes, when you meet those who appear to be Christians, you probably will just begin to think that you’re in for trouble. But should it be like that? No! John says, “Don’t take any more than you are required to.” This has to do with character. Don’t cheat people. Don’t oppress people. That is what he is saying.

Luke goes on in verse 14, saying, “Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”” Look at the classes of people coming to him. None of them assumed that they knew what he was talking about. Each one of them wanted to know God’s demands on their lives. You understand? What should we do? What was his answer? Look at it: “He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely – be content with your pay.”” (Luke 3:14NIV)

Did you see that? Be content with your pay. What does this have to do with? It has to do with character. So, when we’re talking about bringing forth fruit, we’re talking about exhibiting godly character where we live, where we work. It’s not about talking. Yes, there’s a place of talking about Jesus. But before we’re going to be getting opportunities to talk about Jesus, there must be something that will invite people to want to know about Him, something that will want people to want to know about him.

Writing to Titus, Paul says we can make Christianity attractive. And just as we can make Christianity attractive, we can also make Christianity unappealing. Then nobody wants to hear our sermons. Whether they are going to make sense or not, they don’t even want to hear them. Because the life we are living is not appealing. What will make the life we are living appealing is our exhibition of the character of God. (Cf. Titus 2:9-10)

So, for us as believers, we must always place great emphasis on an exhibition of godly character. It’s not enough to be born again. Being born again is just, how would I put it, a means to an end. That’s the starting point. Now the idea of saying, “Oh, I’m a Christian in the heart. God sees my heart,” doesn’t work with Christianity. If what is in your heart is good, then, it will reflect in your character. If you indeed have a relationship with the Lord, then, it will reflect in the fruit that you bear.

I ask myself, “If I have a relationship with Him indeed, it should show in the fruit that I bear. It should show in the quality of life that I live. It should show in the way I talk, in the way I behave, in the way I act. It should show.” People didn’t come to Jesus just because His sermons were great. People came to Him because His character was good too. People were glad to be around Him. Look at those people that followed Him up and down, those old men and women – they were not young like that.

Why did they follow Him like that? There’s something about His character.What is it about your character? Is it appealing? Is your character appealing? Is your way of life appealing? Is your way of life attractive to those that are around you? The way you talk, is there anybody that would like to talk the way you talk? The way you react to things, is there anybody around you that would like to react to things the way you react to things? The way you conduct yourself among people, is there anybody around you that would love to do the same? Is there anybody admiring your life? That’s the point.

If no one is admiring your life, then something is wrong. What are we dealing with? We are dealing with fruit bearing. And we are talking about the nature of fruit that God wants us to bear.

Why? We have that relationship with Him. And if indeed we have that relationship with Him, then, it should show in the quality of fruit, the nature of fruits that we bear.It’s another week. What sort of fruit are you going to bear this week where you live, where you work, where you do business, where you..

Date: June 22, 2025

Series: Fruit bearing

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God, as we see in Scriptures, wants those of us who are His children to bear fruit; He wants us to bring forth fruit. Let’s turn to St. John’s Gospel, chapter 15, and look at what Jesus has to say about that. From verse 8, it says: “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (NIV)

So, bringing forth fruit or our bearing fruit is to God’s glory or it brings God glory. And Jesus here says that as we bring forth fruit, we are showing ourselves to be His disciples.

Now I’m just trying to lay a foundation here. So I may not be able to take much of this, this morning. But I want you to take note of the fact that God wants us to bring forth fruit because doing so brings Him glory.Then, skip to verse 16 of the same chapter: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last – and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.” (John 15:16NIV)

Here again, Jesus says, you did not choose me; instead, I chose you. We did not choose Him; He chose us. So, the reason we are saved is that He chose us. The reason you are born again is that He chose you.

In the Garden of Eden, Adam did not choose God; he chose the devil. So, it’s not in the natural man to choose God. The natural man will always choose the devil, ever since he fell. But we have been saved because God chose us, because He chose us and called us to Himself.

Yes, He called us back to himself. That’s why we are now saved. And Jesus is placing His fingers on that here, saying that we did not choose Him; He chose us.Not only did He choose us, He also appointed us. Appointed us to do what? Appointed us to bear fruit! Of course, in dealing with this, we are going to be looking at:

– Why God wants us to bear fruit.- What sort of fruit He wants us to bear.

– How do we bear fruit as much as he wants us to?

– The consequences of not bringing forth fruit.

Those are the things we are going to be looking at as we are dealing with this together. And I want you to keep them in mind. Well, here, Jesus is already showing us one of the reasons He expects us to bear fruit. He expects us to bear fruit because He has appointed us to do so. So, it is consistent with God’s purpose for our lives that we bring forth fruit. He wants us to bring forth fruit. He chose us to bring forth fruit.

He appointed us to bring forth fruit. We can summarize all that by saying that we have been recreated by Him to bring forth fruit. So, we are not expected to do anything contrary because that’s what He has appointed us to do.I’ll take you back to the first few verses of the chapter. And what is said in them has to do with our relationship with Him. What I am saying is that apart from the fact that He has appointed us to bring forth fruits, we also have a relationship with Him that puts us in a position to bring forth fruit.

You know, you may be appointed to do something, but it does not mean that you have the ability to do that thing. That somebody has chosen you to do something or appointed you to do something does not mean that you have what it takes to do that thing. You may not have what it takes to do that thing. And if you do not have what it takes to do that thing, even though you have been appointed to do it, you are still going to be a failure at it.

So, though the Lord has appointed us to bring forth fruit, if we do not have what it takes to bring forth fruit, we are still going to fail. It doesn’t matter how hard we try. A lot of times people try hard to do things, yet they fail. And the question they are not asking themselves is if they have the ability to do what they are trying to do.

For instance, you hear of students who have written maybe WAEC examinations like three or four times and they are yet to make all their papers. And they are telling themselves to try harder. But see, this is not a question of how hard you try. It’s a question of ability. If you have the ability to do something, then it will be worth it to try and try to get that thing done. That is because you already have the ability to do it. Yes, maybe there are certain things that are limiting you. And you might want to deal with those things. So, in the process of trying, you are dealing with those things that are limiting you.

But if you don’t have the ability to do something, it doesn’t matter how hard you try, you can only fail. Because the ability is not there. So, if we do not have the ability to bring forth fruit, it doesn’t matter how hard we try, we won’t be able to do so.Now we may be trying to live to please God. But pleasing God is not really something that we try to do. Of course, we may tell ourselves to make effort. And there are scriptures that point to the fact that we should make effort, that we should try to do what pleases God.

But essentially, we must have what it takes to please Him. Because if we do not have what it takes to please Him, then it doesn’t matter how hard we try to please Him. We won’t be able to please Him.If I find myself struggling to do something, I don’t want to struggle harder. I want to ask myself, “Do I have the strength to do this? Do I have what it takes to do this?” Struggling harder is not the solution. Gaining sufficient strength to do it is the solution.

If you are engaged in a fight with somebody, maybe a physical fight or a physical struggle, how do you win? Now, growing up, some of us would probably have been exposed to situations in which you have to physically fight somebody. But you may fight somebody 10 times and the person will beat you 10 times. Or let’s go to the field of boxing. You can meet an opponent in a boxing ring 5 times and he will beat you 5 times. He will beat you all the time.

Why? Now if somebody is telling you, “Let’s try harder,” the person is going to get you killed. Because trying harder is not the solution. The solution is, “Do you have the ability to contend with this person?” So, if you want to contend with the person and win, you will need to gain ability; you need to gain strength; you need to gain skills.

And until you are sure that you have gained sufficient strength, sufficient skills and sufficient stamina to deal with the person in the ring, don’t bother. Because one of these days, you may die in the ring. Some months ago, there was a Nigerian boxer that died. He died in the ring. And as I was reading the review, it was said that he had been told that he was not medically fit for that fight.

So, he was not supposed to be in the ring in the first place. If fact, he had already cancelled the fight. But they increased the money he would get, if he should fight. They told him, “Okay, what if we pay you additional money, will you still fight.”

Now I can’t remember the money that was added to what he was supposed to be paid. But he agreed to the fight. And I watched the clip, how he died. It wasn’t that he took any serious hits. He just staggered and fell down at some point. And the rest is now history.

So, I’m saying that living to please God is not a function of trying to please him. It’s a function of having the ability to do so. And I’m saying that in the light of what we are looking at. Jesus says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bring forth fruit.”

And I’m saying that must mean that we have what it takes to bring forth fruit. If we do not have what it takes to bring forth fruit, even though He’s appointed us to bring forth fruit, we won’t be able to bring forth fruit. But thankfully, we have what it takes to bring forth fruit because we have a relationship, a relationship with Him that puts us in the position to bring forth the kind of fruit that He’s asking us to bring forth.

We’re still going to look at the kind of fruit He wants us to bring forth, maybe not this morning, but we’re going to look at it. But let’s first of all look at what He says about our relationship with Him, that relationship that places us in the position to bring forth fruit, the kind of fruit that He wants us to bring forth.

So, let us go back to verse 5, the same gospel and the same chapter. And it says:“I am the vine and you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing.” (John 15:5NIV)

Now the Lord is describing our relationship with him here. And how does he describe it? He refers to himself as the vine and to us as the branches.

That’s our relationship. The branches are a part of the vine, right? And what part of the vine brings forth fruit? What part of any tree brings forth fruit? The branch! So, the branch is a part of the tree, an inseparable part of the tree, to put it that way. And it is the part of the tree that brings forth fruit. If it is not in the tree, it doesn’t have a relationship with it. So, it cannot bring forth fruit. But as long as it’s in the tree, the tree supplies it with everything that it needs to bring forth fruit.

So, the reason branches bring forth fruit is that they are part of the tree. They don’t struggle to bring forth fruit. They are not supposed to try to bring forth fruit. They only need to be a part of the tree to bring forth fruit. Can you relate to what I’m talking about? And the Lord is saying that He is the vine and we are the branches.

So, we are a part of Him.We talk all the time about being in Christ. What does that even mean to you? When you tell yourself that you’re in Christ or when you say to others, “I am in Christ,” what does it mean to you? This is what it should mean to you: that you have a relationship with Him; that you are connected to Him; that He is your source and you are drawing from him.

Now because He is your source, there are things that you should naturally do. There are things that the doing of them should be natural for you. Bearing fruit should be natural for us. It should not be something that we’ll struggle to do. It should not be something that we’ll fight to do. It is something that should be natural for us. That is because we have a relationship. We have a relationship with the Lord that places us in that position where we can naturally bring forth fruit. But there are reasons He wants us to bring forth fruit. And He gives us two of them here [in John 15:5&16]:

– He has appointed us to do so.

– We have a relationship with Him that enables us to do so.

But then, before we begin to look at how to take advantage of that relationship to bring forth fruit, we need to know what sort of fruit He expects us to bear.

Because here He tells us that it brings God glory when we bring forth much fruit. But what sort of fruit? You know, I’ve heard this from several preachers: When Jesus says that He has chosen us and appointed us to bring forth fruit, He means that we are to be evangelizing. In other words, they are saying that the fruit He’s referring to has to do with soul winning, bringing people into the kingdom.

But before I really considered Scriptures carefully to see what they said about this matter, I always had issues with that reasoning. It just sounded somehow to me. It didn’t sound good in my ears. Well, the first thing we need to consider is that the only person that can save any soul is God Himself. None of us can save any soul God has not saved. So, it is not your preaching that will save people; it is God that will save them.

Yes, He may use your preaching to save them. But ultimately, He is the one that saves people. He is the one that makes people have faith to be saved. And if He does not make them have faith to be saved, it doesn’t matter how grand your sermon is, it won’t result in their salvation. So, we can’t save anybody. You cannot save anybody. I cannot save anybody. I do not have the power to save anybody. The word of God is very clear about that.

Now that’s one of the reasons Christians are warned not to marry unbelievers. Don’t have it in mind that you are going to change the person. Don’t have it in mind that, by the time the person is exposed to your faith, he’s going to have a changed mind. You do not have the power to change anybody’s mind. The only one with the power to change people’s minds is God. And He has not succeeded yet in changing people’s minds.

I mean, there are millions of people, billions of people in the world today. How many of them has God succeeded in changing their mind? God possesses all power, yet He’s not been able to employ that power to save everybody, to get everybody to be born again. So, what makes you think you can get anybody born again through your preaching? You can’t. That is God’s job.Well, I’m saying that when Jesus is talking about bringing forth fruit, He’s not referring to soul winning; He’s not referring to evangelizing.

Now that’s not to say that He doesn’t want us to evangelize. That’s not to say that He doesn’t want us to preach the gospel. He wants us to preach the gospel, based on the ability [and opportunities] that He has given to each of us. But the main thing, the main thing He’s asking us to do is to bear fruit. And the truth is that when we understand the nature of fruit He wants us to bear, and we are bearing it abundantly, we have no problems at all in saving souls. I’m telling you:

we’ll be making it easy for Him, very easy for Him to save souls, to bless lives, if we are bearing in abundance the fruit He wants us to bear.So, first, we need to know what sort of fruit He wants us to bear. Because if we do not know what sort of fruit He wants us to bear, then, we can’t tell whether we are bearing it or not.

Are you following my point? But let me just say this before I close, because my time is already up: He refers to Himself as the vine and we as the branches. So, if we are to bring forth fruit, think about it yourself, what sort of fruit do you think we should naturally bring forth? It makes sense to say we should naturally bring forth the fruit of His character, right?

So, when He’s asking us to bring forth fruit, He’s simply talking about bringing forth the fruit of His own character, the fruit of who He is. In other words, we are to manifest his character.Remember that it’s also Jesus that says a tree is known by its fruit (Matthew 12:33).

A tree is known by its fruit, not just by the leaves. A tree is not a mango tree just because it looks like a mango tree. If it is not bringing forth mangoes, at some point, you’re going to change your mind about it. Think about it. If you look at a tree that’s naturally supposed to bring forth mangoes and you start seeing oranges on the tree, are you not going to think that something is wrong somewhere?

So, when He’s saying that we are to bring forth fruit, having already shown us our relationship with Him, we should know that the kind of fruit He’s talking about has to do with His own character. He’s asking us to bring forth fruit that is consistent with His character.

Now I don’t want to press this further than that this morning. But I believe that, up to this point, you understand what I’m trying to share with you, right? Let’s bow our heads and thank God for His word.