Now, this is a very repetitive chapter, if you didn't notice that. I mean, he repeats
things over and over, but what's interesting about that is that things that God, and this
isn't what I'm preaching about, the things that God repeats over and over in this chapter
are the things that people do not believe about this chapter. Isn't that interesting?
Because again and again, he says, the evening and the morning were the first day. The evening
and the morning were the second day. The evening and the morning were the third day. And yet
people will say, what, these aren't literal days. And then another thing that's just repeated
over and over again, he talks about the fruit trees and the plants bringing forth after
their kind, after his kind, after his own kind, the animals bring forth after their
kind, the fishermen. And of course that flies in the face of evolution, which basically
teaches that you can cross from one kind to another. I mean, of course we know in science
there's the species, there's the genus, and then there's the kind, you know? And you cannot
give birth to another kind. You know, you may have two different dog breeds, but there's
still a dog. A dog's not going to bring forth a cat. A horse is not going to bring forth
a cow. And so the things that people will attack and try to say that you can believe
in the Bible and believe in evolution, it's a lie. I mean, if you believe in evolution,
fine, but don't say that you believe in the Bible. Because the Bible says it's literal
days, the Bible says that it's after his kind, and science teaches us that things bring forth
after their own kind that's never been proven otherwise in the history of man. Not only
that, but in Exodus chapter 20, he said, for six days God created the heaven and the earth
and all that in the midst. That right there gets rid of this gap theory, you know, that
God created the earth, then he waited a few billion years, and then he created...no, it
was all in six days, heaven, earth, and everything in them. And so either just decide whether
you're going to believe the Bible or whether you believe the lies of this world and lies
of the university, but that's not what I want to talk about. What I want to talk about
is bringing forth fruit. And it's significant that in this chapter he talks about things
bringing forth fruit, bringing forth fruit, and it's always what? After his own kind.
This is the first chapter in the Bible. This is rudimentary knowledge to understand the
rest of the Bible. Turn if you would to Proverbs 11. Right in the middle of your Bible, you
go to Psalms, you let it fall right in the middle, and then right after Psalms is Proverbs.
First chapter 11 verse 30. Because we all understand that if we plant an apple seed,
then the tree that's going to grow is going to produce apples. We all understand that
if an orange falls into the ground and decays and brings forth a tree, we know that oranges
will bring forth on that tree because everything brings forth after its own kind. And yet for
some reason, when it comes to Christians bringing forth fruit, Christians bearing fruit, all
of a sudden people forget that basic knowledge that's throughout the Bible, because some
kind of theologian or some kind of a preacher has told them something else. Let me tell
you something. When the Christian brings forth fruit, he brings forth another Christian.
I mean that's what the Bible teaches. Just as the orange brings forth oranges, just as
the apple brings forth apples, just as the dog brings forth dogs, Christians bring forth
other Christians. Let me show you this throughout the Bible. Look at Proverbs 11.30. The fruit
of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise. The fruit of the
righteous is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise. Look at Acts chapter 2. New
Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. In the beginning, I'm just going to show you some
scriptures to build the foundation for the message here, so we're going to turn to a
lot of scriptures in the beginning here. But he said, the fruit of the righteous is a tree
of life, and he that winneth souls is wise. Look at Acts chapter 2, because we're trying
to understand, what does it mean to bring forth fruit? We saw in Genesis 1 that plants
reproduce. That's what bringing forth fruit is. It's a reproduction that takes place.
We saw God tell the animals, be fruitful and multiply. Then we saw God tell man, be fruitful
and multiply. Okay? Look at Acts chapter 2, verse 30. This is Peter preaching. It says,
Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God has sworn with an oath to him, that of
the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit upon the throne.
So what do we see here? The fruit of his loins. This is talking about a man's children, a
man's offspring being his fruit, right? Fruit bearing is a reproduction that takes place,
according to the Bible. Look at John chapter number 4, if you would. John chapter 4. Just
go back one book in the Bible to John. Look at John chapter 4. John chapter 4, verse number
35. John 4, 35. The Bible reads, Say not ye, there are four months, and then come the harvest.
He's talking about the literal harvest time, it's four months out. But he's using this
as a metaphor. He says, Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields,
for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth
fruit unto life eternal, that both he that soweth, and he that reapeth may rejoice together.
And herein is that saying true. One soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that
whereon ye bestowed no labor. Other men labored, and ye are entered into their labors. And
many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman which testified,
he told me all that ever I did. So when the Samaritans would come unto him, they besought
him, that he would tarry with them, and he abode there two days, and many more believed
because of his own worth, and said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy
saying, for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior
of the world. Now look, when it comes to bringing forth fruit, when it comes to reproducing,
when it comes to bringing forth spiritual children, as it were, and we see that all
throughout the Bible, we see Titus being called by Paul, my son in the faith, Timothy, my
own son in the common faith, Philemon, was told by Paul, he said, I've begotten Onesimus
in my bonds, he was referring to the fact that he had given him the Gospel while he
was in jail, and he had begotten him, and as much, reproducing is what we're talking
about, bringing forth fruit. Now Christians are to be bringing forth fruit. God doesn't
want us to be unfruitful, and yet many people are mixed up about what that fruit is. The
Bible says the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. The Bible says we bring forth
fruit after our own kind. Look if you would at John, we're in John 4, look at John 15.
Look at John chapter number 15, and again this is just the foundation for the message,
just trying to establish what fruit is. Look at John 15, and verse number, let's start
with verse number 1, it says, I am the true vine, and my father is the husbandman. 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. Look at verse 4. Abide in me and I
in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, excepted abide in the vine, no more
can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches, he that abideth in me
and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing. Look
at verse 8. Herein is my father glorified, that ye bring, that ye bear much fruit, so
shall ye be my disciples. Look at verse 16. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,
and he's talking about the fact that he chose his disciples, the twelve, and ordained you
that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain that whatsoever
ye shall ask of the father in my name giveth you. One more place, look at Romans. Matthew,
Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans. Look at Romans chapter number 1. Romans 1 verse 13. Romans
1 13 reads, Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come
unto you, but was led hitherto, watch this phrase, that I might have some fruit among
you also, even as among other Gentiles. I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians,
both to the wise and to the unwise, so as much as in me is. What's he going to do to
bring forth the fruit? What does it mean when he says I want to bring forth fruit among
you? He says, so as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel unto you that are
at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone who lives a good life, no. The power of God unto salvation
to everyone who joins the church, no. The power of God unto salvation to everyone who
is baptized, no. The power of God unto salvation to everyone who returns from their sins, no.
The power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew first and also the
Greek. That's salvation. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Verily
girl, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me half everlasting
life and shall not come into condemnation but cast from death unto life. Bringing forth
fruit is getting someone saved. That's what it is. Now people will say, oh, what about
the fruit of the Spirit? Love, joy, peace, you know, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
meekness, faith, temperance. Wait a minute, that's the fruit of the Spirit. Listen, God
is love. The Bible says God is love. So he brings forth fruit, it's love. The fruit of
the Spirit is love because he is love. The fruit of the Spirit is peace because he's
the Prince of Peace. Okay, the fruit of the Spirit is not our fruit, that's his fruit.
When the Holy Spirit indwells us, he brings forth fruit. He brings forth after his own
kind and we bring forth after our own kind. And so here's the thing, if you've never won
someone to Christ, if you've never given someone the Gospel and they've gotten saved, you have
never brought forth fruit. Stop and think about that now. As a Christian, unless you
have duplicated yourself, unless you have reproduced yourself in someone else, by giving
someone the Gospel, like Paul said he was going to do, preaching the Gospel, they believe
on Christ, you have brought forth fruit and if you haven't, you have not brought forth
fruit. You are unfruitful, Christian. You say, wait a minute Pastor Anderson, I go to
church every week. You're unfruitful. Oh, I put money in the plate. You're unfruitful.
Oh, but Pastor Anderson, you don't know how I used to live this life of sin and I've got
a lot of the sin out of my life. Getting the sin out of your life isn't bringing forth
fruit. Stop, you know, oh, I quit drinking. That's not fruit. Oh, I quit watching all
these dirty movies. That's not fruit. Fruit is reproducing. Fruit is preaching the Gospel.
Fruit is getting somebody to save. Now you say, wait a minute Pastor Anderson, are we
in Romans chapter 1? Now think about this. I believe it's in Romans. You know what, no
it's not. It's in Romans 11. Flip over to Romans 11. What I wanted to show you is in
Romans 11. See, people say, wait a minute Pastor Anderson. We don't get people sick.
We don't win souls. You can't win someone in Christ. It's God who does it. Now that
sounds very spiritual of you to say that. Yet the Bible says this in Romans 11 because
we got to make the Bible our authority, you know, not what we think or what we hear. Look
at what the Bible says in Romans 11.14. What did Paul say? If by any means I may provoke
to emulation them which are my flesh and might save some of them. Now Paul talks about getting
people saved. He said I might save some of them. He said, it says in Jude, others save
with fear. Pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garments filed by the flesh. How
about this famous verse from Paul? Paul said I have become all things to all men that I
might by all means save some. And yet people will criticize us when we go out and say,
hey I got somebody saved. Hey I won somebody in Christ. They'll say, no you didn't do anything.
You didn't save me. How can you say that? You're so prideful. You're so arrogant. No,
that's the way the Bible says. Because look, we know Jesus is the Savior. Jesus is the
one doing the saving, but wait a minute. For example, let's say I were on a boat and somebody
was drowning. And I point out to them, hey look, there's the life raft. Yes, the life
raft is what saved them, but so did I, because I told them. And Paul is saying, look, when
I preach the Gospel to somebody, Jesus is saving them, but you know what, I saved them
too because I preached the Gospel to them. And so you say, oh that's blasphemous. Well,
it's in the Bible, repeatedly. Paul said it over and over again. He said, I saved some.
And Paul's not trying to take away God's glory. We know that all of salvation is through
what Jesus did on the cross. It's His death, His burial, His resurrection, His blood. Hey,
but when you point someone to the Savior, hey, you just wanted the Christ. You led that
person to the Lord. You brought forth fruit. That's what the Bible teaches. And so, stop
and ask yourself this question. Am I a fruitful Christian or am I unfruitful? God said, herein
is my Father glorified that you bring forth much fruit. That's what brings glory to God.
That's where God gets His glory when you're fruitful, when you multiply. Now, let's look
at some of the reasons why some people do not bring forth fruit. Look, if you would,
at, let's look at Luke. Go to the book of Luke, Matthew, Mark, Luke. Look at Luke chapter
8. We're going to see some of the reasons why people do not bring forth fruit. Why is
it that some Christians are unfruitful and others are fruitful? I mean, let's face it.
The average Christian does not bring forth any fruit in their entire life. Stop and think
about this. And you say, well, they're not really faithful. Well, we're going to get
to that. I'm going to prove that false a little bit later from the Bible. But stop and think
about this now. Let's say we have an apple tree. I want you to picture, picture a whole
orchard of apple trees, right? And can you picture it in your mind, the rows of all the
apple trees, and it's harvest time and the trees are covered with apples. And many of
the apples are laying upon the ground. Now, out of all those apples, and let's say it's
kind of a wild orchard, nobody's really doing anything with it right now. There's all these
apples all over the ground, there's all these apples all over the trees. Now, ask yourself
this question. How many of those apples are going to produce a tree? Because if you think
about it, all of those apples contain seeds within them. How many of those apples will
actually produce a tree? Very few. I mean, if that apple tree produces hundreds of apples,
most of them are going to be eaten either by a human being or by an animal. Does that
mean that they were not an apple? No, there was still an apple. Just because they didn't
reproduce, that doesn't mean they're not. There are people in this world who go through
their whole life without having any children. Does that mean that they're not human? No.
Now if they do reproduce, it's going to be a human being. If that apple tree does reproduce,
it's going to produce apples. It's going to produce an apple tree. But the very vast majority
of apples out in the wild, or oranges out in the wild, or lemons out in the wild, will
not produce fruit. Only the very few who fall to the ground, die, go under the soil, the
water, the nutrients, everything has to be there. And the very small percentage will
grow up into a tree and they will produce much fruit. But most will not. And that's
the way it is with Christians. Most Christians will never produce fruit. The average person
who say that, and you say, well I've never won anybody's price, I've never gotten anybody's
price, I've never won anybody's price. I'm going to prove it to you. Very few Christians
ever get anyone's faith, and I can prove that to you. By simple math. Let's say there were
only one Christian in this entire world. Let's say nobody saved except me, I'm the only one.
And honestly that's silly, but let's say I were the only one. And let's say I just got
one person saved this whole year. And that was Brother Dave, the person I got saved.
So the whole year I worked and toiled and I got Brother Dave saved. And in fact, not
only did I get saved, I taught him to be like me. I trained him to be like me. I kind of
reproduced myself in him. Well now I say at the end of this year, I say Brother Dave,
you're going to win souls like I do. You're like me, I taught you to be like me, we're
going to go get people saved. And this year we're each going to get one person saved the
whole year. Now is that a pretty reasonable goal? One person saved the whole year? So
when we go out and the whole year we get one person saved, and then we teach that person
to be like us, how many people do we have at the end of that second year? Four, right?
Went from one to two to four. Well at the end of the third year we have how many? Eight.
How many would we have at the end of the fourth year? Sixteen. How many would we have at the
end of the fifth year? Thirty-three. Now you say, well five years work and you only have
thirty-two people saved. That's not really a very growing church. It's not exactly up
there with Rick Warren yet. But wait a minute, let's say we go for ten years, we'd be up
to a thousand and twenty-four. That's pretty good, right? One guy got a thousand people
saved in ten years time, pretty amazing, right? Through multiplication. Well did you know
that after twenty years there'd be over a million? Think about it, because it's exponential,
it goes from a thousand to two thousand to four thousand, after thirty years there'd
be a billion people saved. And after thirty-four and a half years every single person in the
whole world would be saved. Which obviously will never happen. And why will it never happen?
Because Christians don't get anybody saved. That's starting with one person. I mean, how
many people are saved in this world? Nobody knows. But let's say there's a hundred million,
right? You're already there to where every Christian who's saved right now would win
one person's award per year, everyone would be saved in just what? Eight years or something?
It's unbelievable when you sit down and do the math and realize, hey, God's methods work,
it's just that we're not using God's method of opening our mouth and giving someone the
Gospel. We've got all these better ideas, you know? Oh, we've got to get it on TV, we've
got to get it on the radio, we've got to hand out flyers. No, if you open your mouth and
get one person saved and then teach them to be like you, hey, you will multiply and numerous
hundreds and thousands of people will be saved. Don't feel bad this morning if you're
unfruitful because you are in the vast, vast majority. But I hope you don't want to stay
unfruitful for the rest of your life. I hope you're going to say, not me, I want to bring
glory to God, I want to love people, I want to get somebody saved, I want to be one of
the few, the proud, the bona fide soul winner who goes out and gets somebody saved. I hope
that's burning inside of you today saying, hey, I want to do this. I don't want to be
one of the barren 99%. I want to be the less than 1% of Christians who goes out and brings
forth fruit, some 30, some 60, some 100. Let's look at some of the reasons why people don't
bring forth fruit, though. Because obviously most are not. Why is it? Look at Luke chapter
8 verse 4. The Bible reads, and when much people were gathered together and were come
to him out of every city, he spake by a parable. A sower went out to sow his seed, and as he
sowed, some fell by the wayside, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured
it. And some fell upon a rock, and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away because
it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked
it. Another fell on good ground and sprang up, and bare fruit, and hundredfold. And when
he had said these things, he cried, even at ears to hear, let him hear. And his disciples
asked him, saying, what might this parable be? And he said, unto you it is given to know
the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to others in parables, that seeing they might
not see, and hearing they might not understand. Now the parable is this, the seed is the word
of God. Now salvation always starts with the word of God. There's a trend out there, and
there's a false teaching out there, and independent fundamental Baptists are preaching that you
can get saved without the Bible, and it is a lie. It's a lie. They say, oh you don't
need the Bible. It's just the truth that saves you. It's just, hey, my word is truth.
You know, they'll say, oh, you can just tell people about the Gospel, or just give them
a story for them. And I've heard people give the Gospel, and they don't even mention a
verse. They just explain it in their own words. Hey, wait a minute, the sower sowed the word.
The seed is the word of God. The Bible says, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God. The Bible says, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me
hath everlasting life. The Bible says, he sent forth his word, and healed them. The
Bible says, receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls, being
born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. And so on and on, of his own will begat thee us with the word of
truth, that we should be a kind of perspex of his creatures. So we see it starts with
God's word. Watch what happens. He said, the parable is this, the seed is the word
of God, verse 12. Those by the wayside are they that hear, then cometh the devil, and
taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. So
do these, are these people saved? No. What happens is, the word is shown in their heart,
keep your finger in Luke and flip back to Matthew 13. Keep your finger there, but go
back a few pages to Matthew 13. You see, these are people who hear God's word, but they
don't believe it yet. And before they believe it, then what happens? The devil comes and
snatches it out of their heart, lest they should believe and be saved. Because if you
believe, you're saved. So it's taken away so that they cannot believe and be saved.
Okay? Look at Matthew 13, he explains it this way. In verse number 19 it says, when anyone
heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh that wicked one, and
catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the wayside.
Okay, so you got that? The one that fell by the wayside, the sower is sowing the seed.
God's word is being sown, right? We are giving people the gospel. What happens? Some of it
falls by the wayside. Someone hears the word of God, they don't understand it, or maybe
they say, you know, I'll think about it, maybe later on, you know, they put it off,
they push it back, and no, you know, not today, or whatever. What happens is, in the meantime,
the devil wants to come and take that away, so that they don't get saved. He wants to
come and snatch that away, because he's trying to stop people, get this, the devil is trying
to stop people from getting saved. So he wants to come and snatch that out of their heart,
he'll bring every distraction, you know what I mean? He'll try to get everything else to
get their attention, so that they don't go back and think about that word that they heard,
lest they should believe and be saved. You say, well, how do you know believing means
getting saved? Because it says, lest they should believe and be saved. Because it says,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Because it
says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they
call on him in whom they have not believed? Because it says, for by grace are ye saved
through faith, and then not of yourselves the gift of God, not of works, lest the image
move. Because the gospel is the power of God, the salvation to everyone that believeth.
There is no person in this world who believes on Jesus Christ who is not saved. Or else
the Bible's not true, because the Bible says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou
shall be saved. That's all that's required, but did this wayside fellow, did he get saved
though? No. Because he didn't understand it, he didn't quite grasp it, he didn't believe
it, and you know, the devil wants to snatch that away from him. Okay, so that guy's not
even saved. But let's keep reading. That was verse number 12, we're in Luke 8, look at
verse 13, we're going to see a different crowd. They on the rock are they which, when they
hear, receive the word with joy. So this guy hears the word, believes on Christ, receives
Christ, who believes the gospel, and he's even happy about it. It reminds me of, you
know, in Acts chapter 2 when it says, the they that gladly received his word were baptized.
You know, it talks about somebody, boy they got saved, they're happy about it, it's time
to get baptized right away, the same day, okay? But it says this, it says they received
the word with joy, it says and these have no root, which for a while the lead and a
time of temptation fall away. You say are they still saved? Yes, of course, you have
eternal life, you can't lose your salvation. You're saved forever. But watch, I've seen
this my whole life, you get somebody saved, they get baptized even many times, they start
coming to church, but what happens is they're not rooted. They're not firmly grounded in
what they believe. Nobody's really taught them and expounded them doctrine, maybe they're
going to some church that's just giving them a feel good message, not really teaching them
the truth of the Bible, and so they're not rooted, they don't have any root. So as soon
as any kind of, you know, persecution or tribulation or hard times come to them, they fall away,
oh man, where's so and so? Oh, you know, they're out of church, they, you know, they went back
and then people say, oh, they never were really saved. No, they believed, according
to the Bible. It's just that they fell away. You know, people, look, Demas was somebody
who traveled with Paul, he fell away. Other people throughout the Bible had lived for
God, but then they fell away. They're still saved, they're still God's children, they're
still born again. It's eternal life, it's everlasting life, but are they going to bring
forth fruit? No, because before they had a chance to mature as a plant enough, they fell
away before they could bring forth any fruit. Why? Because they weren't rooted, because
they didn't read the Bible, because they came to church and expected the pastor just to
spoon feed them, but they didn't get into the Bible himself and get rooted and grounded
in what they believed. Now, so we see here, the first guy wasn't even saved. Here's the
first example of somebody who was saved and doesn't bring forth any fruit. Why? Because
they're not grounded, they're not rooted, they don't stick around long enough to bring
forth any fruit. Pastor Anderson cannot give you your entire spiritual diet. You've got
to read the Bible on your own, daily. Search the Scriptures daily, the Bible says. Read
in this book all the days of your life, it says in Deuteronomy, you've got to read the
Bible. You'll never grow up, you'll never be mature, you'll never bring forth any fruit
unless you are grounded in what you believe, and the only way you're going to be grounded
is to read this book again and again and again and again, and know what you believe,
know why you believe it, know where it is in the Bible and say, I believe thus and so
because it says it right here. Not, well, that's what Pastor Anderson said. Well then
what happens when Pastor Anderson's gone? Or when you're gone, and you can't lean on
me anymore, or lean on whoever you're leaning on, you're not grounded, you're going to fall
away. You'll never bring forth any fruit like that. You've got to get in this book and dig
into it. Look, how often do you eat physical food? Three times a week? Three times a day?
But yet you think you can come here three times a week and that's going to be a spiritual
nourishment, or once a week, or three times a month? You're going to starve to death.
You're not going to grow like that. You've got to get rooted and grounded in what you
believe. You've got to study and read the Bible yourself. I can't preach golf to you,
you can't just read it three times a week. And so the first reason why people fall away
and don't end up bringing forth any fruit is because they didn't read the Bible themselves.
They didn't get grounded in what they believed. They were mixed up about things because they
hadn't been taught. I mean, they knew salvation, but they didn't get taught other Bible doctrine
that would have kept them in it for the long haul. What else? What's the other reason?
You know, tribulation, persecution, they're weak, right? Somebody confronts them, somebody
challenges what they believe, they back down, they fall apart. Why? Because they're not
grounded. Because they don't have any root in themselves. Look at Luke chapter 8, let's
see the next group. That's the group that's on the rock. Look at verse 14. And that which
fell among horns are they which, when they have heard, go forth and are choked with cares
and riches and pleasures of this life, and watch the next phrase, and bring no fruit
to perfection. Now, I have a tree in my backyard that's an apple tree. Now, I don't know if
it's possible to successfully grow apples in Phoenix, but it's not possible in my yard
for some reason. This tree, this is what happens. The tree begins to produce the apples, and
they're about this big, and they start baking on the tree, because it's so hot. And so these
things, I mean, you can pull them off the tree, they don't get ripe. They don't become
perfect. They don't get to perfection, because before they do, they get scorched by the sun,
and you can bite into them. They taste sour, they don't taste right, because they're not,
but not only that, but they're baked. I mean, they're hot. They're really hot, and it's
like a cooked apple that's glowing up. They're soft like that. Now, it doesn't say that they
didn't grow up at all. Like that other guy, he kind of just sprang up, no roots. As soon
as anything bad happens to him, he quits the church. Well, these people, they keep growing.
They keep growing as a Christian, but they never bring forth any fruit to perfection,
because they're being choked out by the cares of this world. Now, think about this. The
plant still exists. The other plant kind of just got brushed away. This plant is still
in church. I mean, it's still growing. They're still learning. It's getting taller. You can
see growth, but you never see any fruit come to perfection. Why? Because they're being
choked out by the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches. It says in Matthew
13 in the same parable, the deceitfulness of riches. This is a Christian who comes to
church, but they're too busy to go out and win anybody to Christ. They're too busy to
learn how to do it. They're too busy to do it, because they're so busy making money,
or they're so busy having fun, partying, and playing. Look, you've got to understand, God
has us here in this world for a reason, and that reason is to bring forth fruit. Why else
would we even be here? Think about it. I mean, if you guys say, turn to chapter 13. Actually,
before you turn there, I'm sorry, let's finish the parable real quick. It says, verse 15,
But they on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard
the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. And he talked about earlier in verse
number eight, he said, you know, 100 fold, 30 fold, 60 fold. This is a quantity. It's
not 30 love, 60 joy, 100 peace, 60 stop drinking, 30 join the church. No, it's 30 people that
just won the prize. That's what it's talking about. But look at Luke 13. See, fruit can
be measured in numbers, right? You can count how many apples came off the tree. We're looking
at some reasons why people don't produce fruit. Number one, they're not grounded in what they
believe. They quit the church because they have no roots. They're not rooted down anywhere.
Think about this. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight
is in the law of the Lord, that's the Bible, and in his law that he meditate day and night,
and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit
in his season, his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. What's
that saying? Rooted. The guy who's not rooted, it's because he doesn't meditate in the word
of God day and night. He's not rooted. And so he doesn't, he withers away, he doesn't
produce any fruit. Look at Luke chapter 13. Luke chapter 13 verse 6. He spake also this
parable. A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came and sought fruit
thereon. That means he was looking for fruit. He sought fruit thereon and found none. This
is talking about God. The vineyard is the world. He explains it thoroughly. Luke 13
7. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit
on this fig tree, and find none. Cut it down. Why come with it the ground? And he answered
and said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it and dung
it. And if it bear fruit, well, and if not, then thou shalt cut it down. What is the purpose
of a fruit tree? To look good? No, I mean, look at this guy. He's a vine dresser. He's
a husband. He comes out and he says, look, I'm sick of this tree that doesn't produce
any fruit. He said, let's just cut it down. What do we even need it for? He says, well,
wait a minute, you know, let's dig around it. Let's dung it. Let's give it another year.
Let's try to eat this thing to produce. God is interested in production, my friend. He's
kind of interested in how good you look when you come to church. You know, you come to
church and boy, you look so good. You know, you got the tie on, you got the dimple in
the tie just right. Yeah, I still haven't figured that part out. I'm still on the half
Windsor. You know, there's like the full Windsor and the half Windsor. This is the half Windsor
right here. My friend Roger Jimenez tried to teach me how to do the full Windsor. It
wasn't happening for him. I was like, man, your tie looks good. How do you do that? He
showed me. He showed me. I don't know how to do it. I think he'll take it and show me
how to do it and watch it over and over. He didn't do it. He didn't figure it out.
And so here I am with the half Windsor, you know, trying to get the dimple right at the
time. You know, you're just all perfect and dolled up and look perfect. But wait a minute,
what did you produce? Oh, I live such a clean life. But what did you produce? I know you're
a very clean tree. I know you're a very good looking tree. I know that you're very cleansed
the eyes, but do you produce? God says, I want trees to produce. And you know, God may
have to bring a little dung into your life to get you to produce. And nobody wants a
bunch of dung dumped in their life. Does everybody know what dung is? All right, dung. He says,
look, you know, I'm trying to modernize this. Hey, he says, look, let's dump some dung on.
He says, I don't want a bunch of dung. Dung got me. Look at John 15. He said, I meant
to prune it. Nobody wants pieces of them cut out in their life. You know what I mean? But
you know, God's got to trim some vacuums. You know, the cares of this world and the
sleeveless, your worldliness, all the stuff that you're so into, the Hollywood and all
the stuff that's not lining up with what God wants could be holding you back from producing
fruit. God says, I want to trim that out of your life. I want to prune you. I want
to cut off these dead branches of your life that aren't producing anything. And in fact,
I'm going to dig around you and pour a bunch of dung on you, you know, and some of the
dung you go through in your life is just God trying to get your, to produce some fruit.
I mean, he's just trying to make you more productive because sometimes bad things happening
to you can strengthen you and can make you understand the importance of church and winning
people to Christ and getting people saved. And so that's why some people don't produce
any fruit because they're too choked out with everything else. They're too busy with sports.
They're too busy with their job. They're too busy with making money. Hey, look, all of
your money is going to perish with you one day. I mean, one day when you breathe your
last breath, you're not going to take any of your money, your toys, your house, none
of it's going to matter to you. But you know what? The one thing that you can take with
you when you go to heaven? Somebody else. Somebody else. I mean, when I get to heaven,
I'm going to have all kinds of people up in heaven that are there because I want them
to Christ. Hey, I'm not, you know, you're going to be like, oh man, you should have
seen my house, shouldn't have had a boat. Nobody's going to care. People are going to
be telling you, shut up. We don't care about that. You know, you're going to be in heaven
trying to brag about, oh man, let me tell you what I had not done. You know, nobody's
going to care. What's going to make you happy when you get up there is when you got somebody
there with you and say, hey, this is somebody that I want to the Lord. I mean, look, I can't
wait to get to heaven and be greeted by people that I want to the Lord. That's going to be
exciting. That's going to be the joy right there. People, I mean, can you imagine how
thankful, I mean, you think about the person that you saved that gave you the gospel. When
you get to heaven one day and you stand face to face with Jesus Christ and you really understand
the reality of everything to its fullest. And then one day when you see other people
cast into hell, you're going to be pretty thankful of that person that gave you the
gospel. You're going to be thankful, first of all, to Jesus Christ because he did the
hard part. He shed his blood, he daddies, beatings, spat upon, you know, all that. But
you know what? I think you're also going to have a special place in your heart for the
person that gave you the gospel because they took the time out of their busy schedule.
They put work a little bit on the back burner one day a week or whatever. They put some
other things a little bit aside. They pushed it back and said, you know what? I'm going
to make time for the one thing that matters and that's getting somebody saved, giving
the gospel to people. I mean, good night. There are so many people in the city, if somebody
would tell them how to be saved, they'd just say yes. But nobody's even told them. They've
been lied to. They've been told, oh yeah, go to church and you'll be saved. Just keep
coming to our church. Just follow our rules and be saved. You know, say this 50 times
and chant this Hail Mary and chant this Our Father and you know, do this 50 times and
you might make it if you're good enough. Hey, it's a lie. But some of those same people,
if you take the Bible and just show them that Jesus paid it all and that through faith in
Christ, they would get saved because somebody would just tell them about it. And so I want
to go tell them. I'm going to go tell them today. Hey, go tell them this week. And you
say, well, I don't know how. I don't know how to do it. This is what we do in our church.
We go two by two just like the Bible says. We'll carry you up with some loud mouth.
I'm serious. You know, brother Dave is an example because he's somebody who's been in
our church for a long time. He's been in our church for what, over three years or something?
Almost three years? He first started coming to our church. You know, he came for a little
while. And then, you know, he said he wanted to come out solely. So I took him out with
me. And he and I went out and we knocked holes. And we knocked holes. We knocked holes
for about the space of maybe three and a half months. He was just the silent partner. He
just came along. He was praying in his mind. You know, he was just kind of praying that
the people would listen. And he was watching and learning, you know, how to preach the
gospel, learning the verses. He was memorizing like he had a list at home. He was memorizing
verses to use. And yet, even at his Bible mark, like the little tabs where he could
turn to the right verses to show people how to be saved. And for three and a half months,
and that's a long time. He came out with me maybe sometimes twice a week, once or twice
a week. We'd go for two, three hours. And he'd come along with me. And you know, brother
Dave, you wouldn't know, but he's a shy person by nature. Is that true? He doesn't even want
to talk right now and say it's true. He's so shy. You know, he is a shy person by nature.
And I remember at the turn of the year, we'd been doing this for about three, three and
a half months. And it was kind of like a New Year's thing. He said, you know, I'm going
to work, doing some of the talking. And I remember the first door that he did the talking,
you know, he was nervous. He dropped his Bible. You know, he was, he was, he was, uh, you
know what? But the first person that he talked to got saved. I mean, he struggled through
it. He stammered through it. He was nervous. He was embarrassed. But you know what? He
got through it and got somebody saved. And then after that, kept going every week, every
week. And now, I mean, brother Dave spends several hours a week out soloing and gets
somebody saved almost every single week. You know, and then we don't just go out for 45
minutes or an hour or something and expect to just, oh, we got all these people saved.
You know, you got to put it in some time. It's work. The first, the first four and a
half hours he and I went out when he was the silent partner, we had nobody saved. And thank
God he didn't quit after four and a half hours and say, oh, this doesn't work. I kept telling
him, brother Dave, it works. You know, keep coming. And after, you know, five, six hours
of this, we finally got somebody saved. And brother Dave is getting people saved every
week. Why? Because he's talented? No. Because he just came to him naturally? No. Because
he's just that kind of guy? No. Because he just has all this charisma? Hey, how you doing?
No. No. It's because God is using him to do it because God will use anybody to do it who's
willing to go and be used. It doesn't matter what he looks like. Don't let it get past
that. It doesn't matter what he looks like. God's not looking for some smooth, eloquent,
eloquent, silver-tongued orator. Hey, God can use anybody. I literally see people just
stammer, stutter, go through the thing in like reverse backward order, drop in the Bible,
make stuff up, and people get saved. And then I've seen Mr. Smooth give the Gospel to people
that nobody got saved. You know, it's not you, it's God. It's you saying, God, I'll
open my mouth and let you use me to get somebody saved. I will let my mouth be used by you,
to preach your word, to speak your word. And God, you know, sometimes there are people
out there who don't want Mr. Smooth at their door. They want somebody who's real. You know,
they want somebody who seems sincere because they're saying, wait a minute, you know, this
guy doesn't want, you know, he's embarrassed, but he's taking the time to do this. I'm
going to listen to him. You know, I'm going to hear what he has to say. And by the way,
it's the Bible that has the power, not to do anything. I mean, it's God's word that's
the powerful thing there anyway, no matter who's being used to speak it. And so, why
don't Christians bring forth fruit? Because they don't, they don't read, study, you know,
the Bible, they're not planted anywhere. They're just kind of floating around. They're in church,
they're out of church, they're here, they're there, they're everywhere. Number two, the
cares of this world, too busy, too busy with sports, too busy with a job, too busy with,
you know, these aren't bad things. But you know what? They can choke you out sometimes
when you get too involved in something else. It pulls you away from what really matters,
which is bringing forth fruit. But what else? Well, look if you would at 1 Peter chapter
number, 1 Peter chapter number, I'm sorry, 2 Peter chapter number one, toward the very
end of your Bible, 2 Peter chapter one. While you're turning there, I'll read you another
verse, that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in
every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. God says it pleases God. He said it
pleases me when you increase in knowledge and bring forth fruit. He said those are the
two, that's what it is right there. Increase your knowledge, that's where you're getting
your root down. That's where you're getting the nutrients right here, okay, that you need.
That's where you're getting the strength to do it. Increase your knowledge, number one.
Number two, bring forth fruit. Number three, God is pleased. That's what it said, that
was Colossians 1.10. Look at 2 Peter 1 verse 5. And beside this, giving all diligence,
add to your paid virtue, and to virtue knowledge. Knowledge is important by the way, that's
reading. Knowledge, temperance, and to temperance, patience, and to patience, godliness, and
to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, 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. But even lack of these things is blunt. You cannot
see it far off and have forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. So the question
is, do you have these things in your life, in this list? You don't have them if you're
not fruitful. If these things are in you and abound, God will make you bring forth fruit.
He said he'll make you not to be unfruitful. Let me prove it to you again. Jesus said this,
follow me and I will make you fishers of men. He didn't say follow me and I might make
you fishers of men. Follow me and you just might become a soldier, you just might be
a fisher of men. He said follow me and I will make you fishers of men. And that's what he
did, and that offer is still open today. If you're following Christ, hey, he'll make you
a fisher of men. He'll make you bring forth fruit. He'll make you so that you're not unfruitful.
You've got to follow Christ, you've got to read the Bible, you've got to be in church,
you've got to love people, you've got to get in the Word of God daily, and then you've
got to get out there and do it. He said, go ye therefore into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious tea, shall
doubtless come again with rejoicing and bringest you. You can't just wait for them to come
to you. I'm sure your neighbor is just going to come to you and just fall on his knees.
I want what you have. I've seen you smiling while you mow the lawn.
You know, this is the garbage that's being taught at church today. This is your Rick
Warren. This is your New Evangelicalism. This is your liberal church. This is your Joel
Osteen. You smile real big. First you've got to go get a bunch of dental work done, because
nobody has teeth like Joel Osteen. I don't have teeth like Joel Osteen. You know? It's
not the same when I do it. You can all get saved when I smile like that, but they don't
get saved when he smiles like that either. This garbage of, oh man, they're going to
see how happy you are, and then they're just going to come to you and beg you to be saved.
Look, it's great to get your neighbor saved. It's great to get your friends saved. It's
great to get your co-workers saved. But let me break some of you. Not everyone works at
your job. Not everyone is related to you. Not everyone lives on your street, and he
said to preach the gospel to every creature. The only way you're going to get to everybody
is to go out and find them. Go out and get people together. It's always, whenever, look
it up in the bible, it's always a go. Step one is go. And that's probably the hardest
step. You say, what's the hardest part of soul when you go? The hardest part is to get
somebody to go. Once you get somebody to go, I mean, it's all downhill from there, my friend.
And so turn, if you would, to Matthew chapter seven. Matthew chapter seven. I want to say
this. A lot of people have this false idea, and I want to just show you what this means
right here in Matthew chapter seven. A lot of people will twist this passage, and you've
probably heard this before. If you've grown up in church, if you've been in church at
all, I know I grew up hearing this. If somebody doesn't bring forth any fruit, they're not
saved. You just heard that kind of statement, like, there's no fruit, they're not saved.
I heard that growing up all the time. And if you think about it, first of all, they
have a different definition of fruit. They're saying like, oh, we need to see a change in
their life, or else they're not really saved. If he's still drinking, he's not saved. Or
if he's still living with his girlfriend, he's not saved. Or if he doesn't join the
church, he's not saved. Now wait a minute, did the bible say believe and join the church
and not shall be saved? No. And then they'll take verses and twist them, like they'll take
this verse. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed
away, behold, here's the key word, all things are become new. And this is what they'll do,
they'll take that verse and they'll say, see, there's got to be some change. Does that say
some change? It said that all things are become new. God doesn't change you when you get saved.
God creates a new creature. It's called the new man, the spiritual man, the inward man.
God creates a new creature, the spirit, and then you've still got the flesh. Paul said,
I am carnal. He said, who shall deliver me from the body of this flesh? You see, the
spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. When you get saved, you have the new creature,
the new man, the inward man, but then you still have the flesh. And that's why God said,
walk in the spirit and you'll not fulfill the lust of the flesh. But let me tell you
something, if you walk in the flesh, you will be exactly the same as you were before you
got saved. Because the flesh doesn't change. God does not change the flesh. The flesh cannot,
the Bible says the carnal mind is enmity against God, cannot be subject to the laws of God.
You cannot reform the carnal mind. You must put on the new man. You know, and this is,
I don't have time, that's a whole other sermon. I preached all sermons on that. Just look
it up in the Bible, the spirit and the flesh. Walk in the spirit, walk in the flesh. You
walk in the flesh, you'll fulfill all the same lusts and everything that you did before
you were saved. You walk in the spirit, you'll be totally different. And so a lot of people
are saved. We look at them and say, and they say, hey, I believe on Jesus Christ. He's
the only way to heaven. You can't lose your salvation. It's the gift of God. It's eternal
life. And then they're still doing a lot of the same sins and we say, wait a minute, they're
not really saved. Wrong. They're walking in the flesh. And stop and think about it.
If we give the gospel to somebody and they get saved and then they never come to church,
how do you expect them to grow? If they never come to church, never read the Bible, and
all they're doing is watching TV, listening to the radio, hanging around the same worldly
friends, of course they're not going to change because they're in the flesh. And look, I
could name for you person after person. I mean, I could go on for an hour naming people
that I know who got saved and kept walking in the flesh, walking in the flesh, and then
they got in church. Somebody started to disciple them and train them a little bit. They got
baptized. All of a sudden, boom, they changed dramatically. But they got saved 20 years
earlier. I knew a guy who got saved literally when he was 11 years old and was out of church
for 30 some years. And then he got in church as a middle-aged man and started really growing.
But he still knew he was saved the whole time. He knew he was going to happen. But
you wouldn't have known it from his life. But once he started feeding to the Spirit,
once he started walking to the Spirit, walking to the new man, reading the Bible, that's
where you see the growth. And so people will get this false doctrine that says, well, if
there's no fruit, then you're not really saved. Or if there's no change, then I always say,
and then it gets on dangerous ground like you're adding works to salvation. Like you
got to be saved and get baptized and go to church to be going to heaven. You know, that's
dangerous ground to tread on when the Bible says it's by faith alone, not of works. And
people will say, well, faith always has works accompanying it. No, it doesn't. The Bible
says, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness. There's a guy who doesn't do any works for God, and yet
he's saved by believing. And hey, if faith, and they'll say faith is always accompanied
by works. You cannot have the one without the other. Then why does the Bible say faith
without works is dead? I thought faith can never be separate from works. Yes, it can.
Faith without works is dead. I mean, if I quit doing the works, I got saved when I was
six years old. Today I'm 27. If I quit doing the works today, my faith is dead according
to James chapter two. But am I still saved? Yes, because you cannot lose your salvation.
Jesus said, I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall
any man point them out of my hand. And so you don't lose your salvation just because
your faith is dead. But faith without works is dead. And God's telling us, put your faith
into practice. Put it to work. Bring forth fruit. Produce fruit. Look at Matthew 7. It
says in verse number 15, beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly they are ravening wolves. And boy are there a lot of those. False prophets,
you know, wolves in sheep's clothing. On the outside they look gentle and nice, but
on the inside they're evil. He said, ye shall know them by their fruits. Now does the
Bible say there, ye shall know who's saved by their fruit? He said, you'll know the false
prophet by his fruit. Watch. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? He's
emphasizing near that things bring forth after their own kind. Do men gather grapes of thorns
or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringing forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree,
bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree, watch this now. A good tree cannot bring forth evil
fruit. Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth
good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know
them. It doesn't say everyone who doesn't bring forth any fruit is going to the fire.
He said, trees who bring forth something other than good fruit. He said, every tree that
bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast apart. Now not everyone is a tree.
Like the illustration about the apple orchard. Most of those apples will never become a tree.
So the tree is talking about somebody who produces, who reproduces. Like a preacher.
Like a prophet. And that's what we're talking about. Beware of Paul's prophet. A prophet,
a preacher. And we're not just talking about the guy behind the pulpit. Because the Bible
says, would God that all of God's people were prophets and that he would put his spirit
upon them. That's Numbers 11.26. God wants everybody to be a preacher. Not necessarily
a pastor of a church, but going out and preaching the gospel. Even, you know, ladies should
go out and preach the gospel. You know, you see that in the Bible. Ladies giving the gospel
and getting people saved. This isn't just for the man. It's for young and old. It's
for male and female. But you see there are some people out there who are preaching, but
they're not preaching the gospel. They're preaching another gospel. And they're not
able. They're not able to bring forth any good fruit. You see the evil preacher and
let me tell you, there's a lot of evil preachers out there. Look at these Catholic priests
who turn out to be pedophiles. Think about it now. There are a lot of evil preachers
and I've known Baptists who turned out to be, you know, weirdos and pedophiles and you
go back to the list of them preaching and they were preaching false doctrine. And then
you notice they have this perversion in their life. Because they're evil people. They're
bad trees. They're bad rocks. They cannot get anybody saved. They will not win anybody
to Christ. They will make people two-fold more the child of hell as themselves. The
Pharisees weren't saved. They didn't believe on Christ. He said you'll cross, Jesus said
in you capacity and land to make one cross alight and when he's made, you've made him
two-fold more the child of hell as yourselves. So the good tree brings forth good fruit.
If you're saved, you grow to the point where now you're preaching the word, you're going
to bring forth good fruit. You're going to get people saved. But the evil tree is the
one. Now this isn't saying if you don't bring forth fruit, you're not saved. I mean, if
the apple doesn't produce apples, it wasn't really an apple. No, I ate the apple. And
I'll tell you right now, it was an apple. One last verse to close it all. John 12. And
I'm going to tie this in with Matthew 7 and close the service. John 12. This is one of
my favorite verses in the Bible. John 12.4. Great verse. He says this, verily, verily,
I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone.
But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. Now look, again, there's good fruit, there's
evil fruit, but then there's no fruit. And the vast majority are in that category. You
know, the no fruit. There are the evil, bad, false preachers, false prophets, false teachers
that are bringing forth corrupt fruit. That was the Pharisees, the Sadducees. Then there's
a whole bunch of people who just don't really bring forth any fruit. You know, they just
live their life. Then there's the few over here that preach the true Gospel of Christ,
that bring forth fruits, some 30, some 60, some 100. What's the difference? He says
except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die,
it bringeth forth much fruit. Back to the apple of truth. In order for that apple to
bring forth fruit, it has to fall to the ground, it has to rot, it has to die. Because the
seeds are inside that piece of fruit, right? It has to fall to the ground, it rots, maybe
an animal eats at it or something, and somehow those seeds are released from that piece of
fruit, they fall into the ground, some fall into so many places, but if they fall into
good ground, it rains upon them, they sink down into the earth, they could grow up to
be a giant apple tree that produces much fruit. What does this mean? If you're going to
bring forth fruit, you've got to die. You've got to die. I mean, this is what Paul said,
I die daily. I'm not talking about physically literally dying. I'm talking about the flesh
has to die. If you walk in the flesh and you say, what does it mean to die? Well, Jesus
said if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and
follow him. Daily, you have to mortify the flesh, the Bible says. You've got to die to
yourself, die to what you want. And I'm going to tell you something, people who used to
know me when I was a teenager, they knew me as a different person. And I was saved, I
got saved when I was six years old, but I didn't really start feeding to the spirit
and really living for God until I was about 16, 17 years old. The first time I read the
Bible cover to cover was when I was 17 years old. For the first time I read cover to cover.
The first time I went out soul winning and knocked doors and preached the gospel. See,
why do you guys do that? Because the Bible says daily in the temple and in every house,
they cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. The Bible teaches going house to house. And
the first time I ever got anybody saved, I was 17. That's when I really started growing.
And the people that knew me, they told me, you know, a lot of my friends, they didn't
want to be my friend anymore. And they said, you're a different person. You're just not
the same. We like the old Steve better is what they say. And the truth of the matter
was, you know, the old Steve had to die. There were a lot of things about, I mean,
the old Steve, you know, the old Steve, his whole life was just about rock music. You
know, I mean, it was all about music. I was into all the, and it was the wrong kind of
music. It wasn't music that glorified God. You know, all my heroes were these, were these
musicians that did not love God, did not believe the Bible. The message was wrong with their
music. But these were my heroes. These are my, this is who I was. That's who I dress
like, that's who I acted like, that's who I talk about. That's who I was. But that person
is dead today, literally. But let me tell you something, that person didn't bring forth
any fruit. That person didn't do anything for anybody. Now, is he, is he, you say he's
dead today, but wait a minute, because I killed him this morning. Because I'm going to tell
you something, you got to die 80. You know what I mean? At any time, I just shed the
new man, okay, and go back to being the way I was when I was worldly, when I didn't care
about the Bible, when I didn't care if I was right. Every day I got to wake up and get
out the Bible. Every day I got to wake up and quote my verses. Every day I got to wake
up and put on the new man and walk in the new man. Because at any time, you say, oh,
not me. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. Look at David, look
at great men in the Bible who fell back in his head. Tomorrow I could wake up tomorrow,
not read my Bible, not pray, not care. And next thing I know, I'd probably be listening
to all that music again. Next thing I know, I'd be, you know, doing everything wrong.
I'd be missing church. I wouldn't care about soul winning. Look, you got to die, David.
Now, there's nothing fun about dying. It was hard for me to give up a lot of the things
in my past. You know, let's say you're really, let's say you're really into drinking, you
know. You're really into partying. You're really into drugs. You're really into, you
know, whatever movies that aren't right. It's not going to be easy to throw that stuff
in the trash. It's going to be almost like a part of you has died. But you know what?
If you're ever going to bring forth fruit.