Fruit (8/25/08)

Jn.15:16 - “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.” He chose us and appointed us to bear fruit, fruit that will last. As a child of God, bearing fruit is not an option it is a function of God’s Spirit in me. Just like an apple tree produces apples as a function of its very DNA, so also a true believer, filled with His Holy Spirit, is incapable of not bearing fruit. If we in ministry don’t actively encourage those entrusted to us to produce fruit, in line with His Spirit in them, we end up stunting the tree. Think of everything outside the Great Commission that churches devote time to and then contrast that with the priority Christ gave it. The Great Commission isn’t another piece to the Sunday Morning Puzzle, it is the box the whole puzzle goes in. It’s time to decide whether we want testimonies or attendance. If it’s the latter we’re after, we’d do better working at a movie theater. God is interested in testimonies, changed lives, true fruit, multiplying out of our lives and ministries.