WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.340 When the pain hits, then you want to cry out. 2 00:00:04.340 --> 00:00:05.540 What happens? 3 00:00:05.540 --> 00:00:06.640 This is the hypothetical. 4 00:00:06.640 --> 00:00:09.680 What happens if we live in a place where we constantly 5 00:00:09.680 --> 00:00:11.940 depended on the Lord? 6 00:00:11.940 --> 00:00:14.200 Instead of waiting for that one moment of pain, 7 00:00:14.200 --> 00:00:18.720 we would constantly live in the present moment, 8 00:00:18.720 --> 00:00:20.720 whether they were valleys, whether they were mountains, 9 00:00:20.720 --> 00:00:23.960 and we would just say, I'm with you all the way, Lord. 10 00:00:23.960 --> 00:00:26.280 I'm not going anywhere without you. 11 00:00:26.280 --> 00:00:28.640 Welcome to the City Light Church podcast. 12 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:32.000 Thanks for joining us today, as we look into God's Word 13 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:35.640 and discover the hope and truth that He has for us. 14 00:00:35.640 --> 00:00:37.960 If you want to connect with City Light Church, 15 00:00:37.960 --> 00:00:41.440 feel free to visit us at citylightnyc.com, 16 00:00:41.440 --> 00:00:44.800 that's citylightnyc.com. 17 00:00:44.800 --> 00:00:47.320 Pastor Boyan Jansik and his team believe 18 00:00:47.320 --> 00:00:50.560 that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working 19 00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:52.560 in our hearts and minds. 20 00:00:52.560 --> 00:00:54.480 As you listen to today's teaching, 21 00:00:54.480 --> 00:00:57.480 remember that you are deeply loved by God, 22 00:00:57.520 --> 00:00:59.880 that you are surrounded by His grace, 23 00:00:59.880 --> 00:01:02.800 and that He has a real hope and a future for you. 24 00:01:06.600 --> 00:01:08.200 My name is, again, my name is Pastor Muhammad. 25 00:01:08.200 --> 00:01:10.080 I'm one of the pastors here at City Light Church. 26 00:01:10.080 --> 00:01:11.080 I welcome you. 27 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:13.960 Now, I got to spill the tea. 28 00:01:15.400 --> 00:01:17.920 The 10 a.m. they was talking smack about y'all. 29 00:01:19.640 --> 00:01:22.760 The 10 a.m. was like, we the real Christians up in here. 30 00:01:22.760 --> 00:01:23.600 You know what I'm saying? 31 00:01:23.600 --> 00:01:24.680 Everybody just, you know what I'm saying? 32 00:01:24.680 --> 00:01:27.440 They lounging around with that thing is giving feast. 33 00:01:27.440 --> 00:01:30.440 I'm not going to let them drag y'all too long. 34 00:01:33.440 --> 00:01:35.440 I'm not going to let them drag y'all. 35 00:01:35.440 --> 00:01:39.440 There's something beautiful about having one heart in the room, 36 00:01:39.440 --> 00:01:41.440 and I felt that. 37 00:01:41.440 --> 00:01:44.440 So give yourselves a round of applause. 38 00:01:48.440 --> 00:01:50.440 All right, so today, 39 00:01:50.440 --> 00:01:53.440 I'm going to let you know that you're going to be a great 40 00:01:54.440 --> 00:01:55.440 person. 41 00:01:55.440 --> 00:01:57.440 All right, so today, 42 00:01:57.440 --> 00:02:00.440 we're going to talk about something very specific. 43 00:02:00.440 --> 00:02:02.440 We've got some things to preach on. 44 00:02:02.440 --> 00:02:05.440 The title of today's message is called, 45 00:02:05.440 --> 00:02:07.440 Fruity Christians. 46 00:02:07.440 --> 00:02:09.440 Can I get three snaps? 47 00:02:16.440 --> 00:02:17.440 Very questionable. 48 00:02:19.440 --> 00:02:20.440 I'm not going to lie to you. 49 00:02:20.440 --> 00:02:21.440 We made the thumbnail, 50 00:02:21.440 --> 00:02:22.440 put the thing up there. 51 00:02:22.440 --> 00:02:25.440 Matter of fact, show the graphic that we got online. 52 00:02:30.440 --> 00:02:32.440 Don't be scared now. 53 00:02:32.440 --> 00:02:33.440 It's online already. 54 00:02:33.440 --> 00:02:35.440 Don't be scared, media team. 55 00:02:44.440 --> 00:02:46.440 Fruity Christians. 56 00:02:47.440 --> 00:02:51.440 Now, I just want to just put this out there. 57 00:02:51.440 --> 00:02:53.440 You've been rickrolled. 58 00:02:53.440 --> 00:02:55.440 Some of you know what that is. 59 00:02:55.440 --> 00:02:56.440 Some of you don't. 60 00:02:56.440 --> 00:02:58.440 Now, I will say this. 61 00:02:58.440 --> 00:03:01.440 We are not afraid to preach on any given topic, 62 00:03:01.440 --> 00:03:04.440 as long as the word of God has something to say about it. 63 00:03:04.440 --> 00:03:07.440 So no, today's topic is not about homosexuals. 64 00:03:07.440 --> 00:03:08.440 Amen. 65 00:03:08.440 --> 00:03:10.440 But we don't shy away from that. 66 00:03:10.440 --> 00:03:13.440 Listen, homosexuality is a sin. 67 00:03:14.440 --> 00:03:17.440 I don't look at it as any different from any other sin, 68 00:03:17.440 --> 00:03:19.440 but sin is sin. 69 00:03:19.440 --> 00:03:22.440 Now, all are welcome here at City Light Church. 70 00:03:22.440 --> 00:03:25.440 I can't tell you over the years how many thousands of people 71 00:03:25.440 --> 00:03:28.440 have come through here and many of them being homosexual. 72 00:03:28.440 --> 00:03:31.440 We welcome all to come as they are. 73 00:03:31.440 --> 00:03:34.440 The beautiful part about God and this wonderful gospel 74 00:03:34.440 --> 00:03:36.440 is that you don't stay as you are. 75 00:03:38.440 --> 00:03:39.440 So just know that. 76 00:03:39.440 --> 00:03:41.440 I don't want you to think that we're skating. 77 00:03:41.440 --> 00:03:44.440 That was clickbait because I know many people need to see that 78 00:03:44.440 --> 00:03:46.440 and be a part of something because there are people searching 79 00:03:46.440 --> 00:03:48.440 for affirmation. 80 00:03:48.440 --> 00:03:50.440 You're just in the wrong place if you think 81 00:03:50.440 --> 00:03:52.440 that we're going to say that it's okay. 82 00:03:52.440 --> 00:03:55.440 The scripture is very clear about God's heart for that. 83 00:03:55.440 --> 00:03:56.440 It is not his best for you. 84 00:03:56.440 --> 00:03:59.440 He made the male and female the scripture says. 85 00:04:05.440 --> 00:04:08.440 But we are here today to talk about fruity Christians. 86 00:04:09.440 --> 00:04:12.440 Raise your hand if you have fruity Christian. 87 00:04:12.440 --> 00:04:14.440 Only to people in the first service. 88 00:04:19.440 --> 00:04:21.440 Well, I'll ask again before we get to the end 89 00:04:21.440 --> 00:04:23.440 and we'll see the impact that we could have. 90 00:04:23.440 --> 00:04:24.440 Fruity Christians. 91 00:04:24.440 --> 00:04:26.440 There's a fruit check. 92 00:04:26.440 --> 00:04:28.440 It's a fruit check today. 93 00:04:28.440 --> 00:04:30.440 Let's go directly into the scriptures. 94 00:04:30.440 --> 00:04:34.440 Let's go to Matthew 21 verses 18 to 19. 95 00:04:35.440 --> 00:04:37.440 Now in the morning, as he returned to the city, 96 00:04:37.440 --> 00:04:40.440 he was hungry and seeing a fig tree by the road, 97 00:04:40.440 --> 00:04:44.440 he came to it and found nothing on it but leaves and said to it, 98 00:04:44.440 --> 00:04:47.440 let no fruit grow on you ever again. 99 00:04:47.440 --> 00:04:51.440 Immediately the fig tree withered away. 100 00:04:55.440 --> 00:04:58.440 So again, today is a fruit check. 101 00:04:58.440 --> 00:05:01.440 We need to see how leafy you are. 102 00:05:02.440 --> 00:05:06.440 Or how prodigious you are in your Christian fruit, amen? 103 00:05:06.440 --> 00:05:12.440 Because look at how dangerous this scripture really is. 104 00:05:12.440 --> 00:05:14.440 You have to now ask yourself, 105 00:05:14.440 --> 00:05:19.440 are you producing the right matter of fruit? 106 00:05:19.440 --> 00:05:24.440 Or is Jesus coming to you and still finding himself hungry? 107 00:05:25.440 --> 00:05:26.440 Sweet. 108 00:05:30.440 --> 00:05:33.440 Because everybody knows that moment when you go to the fridge 109 00:05:33.440 --> 00:05:35.440 and you're like, come on man, what are we dealing with today? 110 00:05:35.440 --> 00:05:37.440 You've got to bend down, you've really got to look past 111 00:05:37.440 --> 00:05:38.440 all the leftovers. 112 00:05:38.440 --> 00:05:40.440 What is it for me today? 113 00:05:40.440 --> 00:05:42.440 You know, sometimes you've got to give it a... 114 00:05:46.440 --> 00:05:48.440 You back up and look at this thing. 115 00:05:48.440 --> 00:05:53.440 And sometimes I feel like the Lord does that with us. 116 00:05:53.440 --> 00:05:57.440 Because the Lord is looking for a measure of fruitfulness. 117 00:05:57.440 --> 00:06:01.440 He's looking for a level of maturity and sometimes 118 00:06:01.440 --> 00:06:04.440 it's looking real leafy. 119 00:06:04.440 --> 00:06:06.440 Because the Lord will be like, huh? 120 00:06:06.440 --> 00:06:07.440 Let me see. 121 00:06:07.440 --> 00:06:09.440 All right. 122 00:06:09.440 --> 00:06:11.440 Okay, okay. 123 00:06:11.440 --> 00:06:13.440 The footwear is on point. 124 00:06:13.440 --> 00:06:14.440 All right. 125 00:06:14.440 --> 00:06:17.440 We don't... 126 00:06:17.440 --> 00:06:20.440 We don't have fruit at all. 127 00:06:20.440 --> 00:06:24.440 How many of us are leaving Jesus hungry? 128 00:06:24.440 --> 00:06:26.440 Because again, just understand this. 129 00:06:26.440 --> 00:06:29.440 Fruit is just something that is produced. 130 00:06:29.440 --> 00:06:32.440 It's a production issue. 131 00:06:32.440 --> 00:06:36.440 How many of you are truly producing as Christians? 132 00:06:36.440 --> 00:06:38.440 We're producing every one of us here. 133 00:06:38.440 --> 00:06:40.440 We're producing all manner of things. 134 00:06:40.440 --> 00:06:46.440 But the question is, what type of fruit are you producing? 135 00:06:46.440 --> 00:06:50.440 If you're an apple tree, I should not see oranges. 136 00:06:50.440 --> 00:06:56.440 Now, here's where the community and accountability come into play. 137 00:06:56.440 --> 00:06:59.440 Because when you're supposed to be an apple tree, 138 00:06:59.440 --> 00:07:02.440 and you smell like vitamin C, 139 00:07:02.440 --> 00:07:04.440 and your fruit looks mighty orange, 140 00:07:04.440 --> 00:07:08.440 I got to question you on some things. 141 00:07:08.440 --> 00:07:10.440 Oh, yeah, not saying nothing yet. 142 00:07:10.440 --> 00:07:12.440 We're gonna get there. Don't worry, church. 143 00:07:12.440 --> 00:07:14.440 We're gonna get there. 144 00:07:14.440 --> 00:07:16.440 All right. So, I'll bring it down. 145 00:07:16.440 --> 00:07:18.440 Because sometimes it's a lofty thing. 146 00:07:18.440 --> 00:07:20.440 You talk about fruit and everybody's like, 147 00:07:20.440 --> 00:07:22.440 oh, you know, praise God, I want to be fruitful. 148 00:07:22.440 --> 00:07:24.440 All right. I'm gonna bring it down. 149 00:07:24.440 --> 00:07:26.440 Very practical. 150 00:07:26.440 --> 00:07:28.440 How many of us want to be successful and prosperous? 151 00:07:28.440 --> 00:07:30.440 Everybody puts their hands up. Amen? 152 00:07:30.440 --> 00:07:32.440 Okay. 153 00:07:32.440 --> 00:07:34.440 So now, the question is, 154 00:07:34.440 --> 00:07:38.440 do you actually have the fruit and the character to carry the success 155 00:07:38.440 --> 00:07:40.440 that you're praying for? 156 00:07:40.440 --> 00:07:42.440 Yes, we do. 157 00:07:42.440 --> 00:07:44.440 Yes. 158 00:07:44.440 --> 00:07:46.440 Yes. 159 00:07:46.440 --> 00:07:48.440 Guess Lil Dicey after that? 160 00:07:48.440 --> 00:07:50.440 Well, how about this? 161 00:07:50.440 --> 00:07:52.440 I grew up in a Spanish painting of console church, 162 00:07:52.440 --> 00:07:54.440 and when I first got saved, 163 00:07:54.440 --> 00:07:56.440 I want a lot of you. 164 00:07:56.440 --> 00:07:58.440 I had an extreme desire to prophesy. 165 00:07:58.440 --> 00:08:02.440 Because I watched a man of God one day 166 00:08:02.440 --> 00:08:04.440 expose all the secrets of the heart's in the room, 167 00:08:04.440 --> 00:08:06.440 and I was like, oh, I want that. 168 00:08:06.440 --> 00:08:08.440 But here's the thing. 169 00:08:08.440 --> 00:08:10.280 It wasn't for holy purposes. 170 00:08:10.280 --> 00:08:13.440 I didn't want it that I might be a grand benefit 171 00:08:13.440 --> 00:08:14.280 to the church. 172 00:08:14.280 --> 00:08:18.240 I liked it because I saw that how I felt about him. 173 00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:21.320 And I said, man, I want the people to feel that about me. 174 00:08:22.320 --> 00:08:25.400 And I wanted the gifts I was praying incessantly. 175 00:08:25.400 --> 00:08:29.200 God let me prophesy that I might bless your church 176 00:08:29.200 --> 00:08:32.840 and edify and read the mail of the people of God. 177 00:08:33.760 --> 00:08:38.760 And I can't tell you how many years I did not prophesy. 178 00:08:41.920 --> 00:08:46.920 Until the Lord showed me, it makes no point to ask me 179 00:08:48.120 --> 00:08:51.160 for a gift that you can't carry. 180 00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:56.480 In the same way, I wouldn't give my daughter, she's eight. 181 00:08:56.480 --> 00:08:58.720 I wouldn't give her the keys to my car 182 00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:01.120 and let her go to the store for me 183 00:09:01.160 --> 00:09:03.760 because she's not ready to carry certain things. 184 00:09:03.760 --> 00:09:06.120 She would hurt herself and, oh. 185 00:09:10.200 --> 00:09:12.480 So the Lord didn't allow me to start prophesying 186 00:09:12.480 --> 00:09:15.160 and speaking into lives and bring edification 187 00:09:15.160 --> 00:09:17.400 until I understood what was at stake 188 00:09:17.400 --> 00:09:19.440 until I finally came to the point 189 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:23.280 when he grew the fruit that would carry the gift. 190 00:09:25.080 --> 00:09:26.480 Oh, y'all ain't saying nothing. 191 00:09:32.120 --> 00:09:33.360 It's a fruit check. 192 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:38.200 It's weird because I feel like 193 00:09:38.200 --> 00:09:40.000 the spirit of the age in New York City 194 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:42.160 and the principalities that rule New York City, 195 00:09:42.160 --> 00:09:45.440 they have us being a very ambitious people. 196 00:09:46.640 --> 00:09:49.040 It's very much a rat race in New York City 197 00:09:49.040 --> 00:09:51.320 more than any other place in the world, amen? 198 00:09:52.520 --> 00:09:54.760 There's a reason why when you go to other places 199 00:09:54.760 --> 00:09:56.280 as in New Yorker, you kind of feel like 200 00:09:56.280 --> 00:09:57.920 everything is moving in slow-mo. 201 00:09:58.880 --> 00:10:01.560 Because like, you just, what are we doing today? 202 00:10:01.560 --> 00:10:02.880 What, where are we going to outlets? 203 00:10:02.880 --> 00:10:04.400 We doing this, what are we doing? 204 00:10:04.400 --> 00:10:06.480 And everybody else is just like, you gonna relax? 205 00:10:08.280 --> 00:10:09.480 We chill. 206 00:10:09.480 --> 00:10:11.520 Go get you some orange juice, you'll be all right. 207 00:10:16.520 --> 00:10:18.640 And mind you, I'm not against ambition. 208 00:10:19.800 --> 00:10:22.560 I married the most type A person that I know. 209 00:10:23.560 --> 00:10:27.560 Wife, mother of three, full-time nurse, 210 00:10:29.520 --> 00:10:32.600 business owner, project manager. 211 00:10:32.600 --> 00:10:34.400 Like everything you can think of this, this woman, 212 00:10:34.400 --> 00:10:36.360 God, she got, she set goals, boom, 213 00:10:36.360 --> 00:10:37.960 she go after and knock it off, let's go to the, 214 00:10:37.960 --> 00:10:39.360 and mind you, she ain't the only one. 215 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:41.320 I don't want you to just think I'm just slouch 216 00:10:41.320 --> 00:10:42.920 with this type A lady, you know, 217 00:10:42.920 --> 00:10:44.640 we have helped each other, amen? 218 00:10:44.640 --> 00:10:46.680 Like, we compliment each other. 219 00:10:46.680 --> 00:10:48.000 I taught her to chill, she's taught me 220 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:49.480 how to be hardworking, praise God. 221 00:10:49.960 --> 00:10:53.280 There's a reciprocity here. 222 00:10:54.480 --> 00:10:57.400 But I'm not against it is what I'm saying. 223 00:10:57.400 --> 00:10:58.560 Like, I don't want you to hear that 224 00:10:58.560 --> 00:11:00.400 and think that, oh, he's against ambition. 225 00:11:00.400 --> 00:11:03.480 No, ambition is good, ambition is holy 226 00:11:03.480 --> 00:11:05.240 when you're running for the right things, 227 00:11:05.240 --> 00:11:08.920 but we live in a generation that is only looking for the bag. 228 00:11:10.960 --> 00:11:13.360 They're only looking for the mountain top moment. 229 00:11:15.440 --> 00:11:17.160 And they're not respecting that, 230 00:11:17.160 --> 00:11:19.880 they're so much more to this life 231 00:11:19.880 --> 00:11:21.400 than just the curated pictures 232 00:11:21.400 --> 00:11:23.840 that you keep seeing from other people's lives. 233 00:11:27.440 --> 00:11:30.400 Oh, the algorithm people ain't, they ain't happy today. 234 00:11:30.400 --> 00:11:31.240 Yeah. 235 00:11:36.640 --> 00:11:38.960 We live in a life that longs, 236 00:11:38.960 --> 00:11:41.680 they desperately seek only the mountain top. 237 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:45.640 And that makes me a little sad 238 00:11:45.640 --> 00:11:48.320 because I know that that's the spirit of the age. 239 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:50.320 I know that that's most of society. 240 00:11:50.320 --> 00:11:52.880 But the sad part about that is 241 00:11:52.880 --> 00:11:55.760 a lot of Christians have been snatched up 242 00:11:55.760 --> 00:11:57.240 into this way of thinking. 243 00:11:58.880 --> 00:12:02.600 They think to themselves, well, look at that person. 244 00:12:02.600 --> 00:12:05.440 Look at that church, look at their husband, 245 00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:07.400 look at their wife, look at their life. 246 00:12:07.400 --> 00:12:08.560 It's not mine. 247 00:12:09.080 --> 00:12:12.080 And I'm here to tell you today that you don't have to 248 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:16.600 get yourself sad and dejected 249 00:12:16.600 --> 00:12:19.600 because you don't have somebody else's life. 250 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:26.600 Did you know that comparison is the thief of joy? 251 00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:32.600 The Lord has not called you to run your race 252 00:12:32.600 --> 00:12:36.600 while simultaneously looking at other people's lives. 253 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:40.600 Any track star in the world will tell you that 254 00:12:40.600 --> 00:12:43.600 when you run, you can only look ahead. 255 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:48.600 You can't even properly hunt and get ahead of other people 256 00:12:48.600 --> 00:12:51.600 if you're focused too much on what's happening here. 257 00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:52.600 You gotta look ahead. 258 00:12:55.600 --> 00:12:56.600 Gone. 259 00:12:56.600 --> 00:12:57.600 Gone. 260 00:12:57.600 --> 00:12:58.600 Gone. 261 00:12:58.600 --> 00:13:00.600 Like, you can't stop and go. 262 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:04.600 Because you do, you end up on your face. 263 00:13:04.600 --> 00:13:07.600 The Lord is calling us to this place where 264 00:13:07.600 --> 00:13:10.600 we're going forward without comparison. 265 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:14.600 We're going forward without using other people 266 00:13:14.600 --> 00:13:16.600 as our metric. 267 00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:22.600 Man, this is not the message from the first service. 268 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:26.600 Because I feel this in the room so strongly, 269 00:13:26.600 --> 00:13:29.600 you have paralyzed yourself for fear. 270 00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:34.600 That you won't live up to somebody else's curated snapshot. 271 00:13:34.600 --> 00:13:39.600 What you see on social media is not reality. 272 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:44.600 They have curated their lives and put it into a snapshot, 273 00:13:44.600 --> 00:13:49.600 added filters, and then put the most sublime poetry 274 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:54.600 to describe the scene that you might think, 275 00:13:54.600 --> 00:13:57.600 oh, if only my life could just be like that. 276 00:14:00.600 --> 00:14:03.600 Let me let you win or something. 277 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:07.600 God is not just into the mountaintop moment. 278 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:12.600 There's this thing called the valley. 279 00:14:12.600 --> 00:14:18.600 God is in as much as he is in the valley 280 00:14:18.600 --> 00:14:21.600 as much as he is in the mountaintop. 281 00:14:22.600 --> 00:14:26.600 But the thing is, we don't really like to hear that 282 00:14:26.600 --> 00:14:30.600 because it doesn't fit with what we're learning about on social media. 283 00:14:30.600 --> 00:14:33.600 Social media says, I need to get the bag. 284 00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:35.600 I need to get the money. 285 00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:37.600 I need to get the mountaintop. 286 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:41.600 And I got to make sure that when I get it, I'll pose cute enough. 287 00:14:41.600 --> 00:14:44.600 I've climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. 288 00:14:44.600 --> 00:14:46.600 Take my picture. 289 00:14:48.600 --> 00:14:50.600 That's not actually it. 290 00:14:50.600 --> 00:14:53.600 There's this thing called fruitfulness. 291 00:14:55.600 --> 00:14:58.600 And I've learned in some of the old-time Christians 292 00:14:58.600 --> 00:15:00.600 you'll understand and you'll get with me on this. 293 00:15:00.600 --> 00:15:03.600 There's a certain level of fruit 294 00:15:03.600 --> 00:15:07.600 that can only be produced in certain circumstances 295 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:08.600 in a certain climate. 296 00:15:08.600 --> 00:15:10.600 It's like truffles. 297 00:15:10.600 --> 00:15:11.600 Truffles are mad expensive, right? 298 00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:13.600 You want to know why truffles are expensive? 299 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:14.600 Only the foodies are like truffles. 300 00:15:14.600 --> 00:15:16.600 But now the foodies are like truffles. 301 00:15:16.600 --> 00:15:18.600 You ever had a truffle fry? 302 00:15:18.600 --> 00:15:21.600 They're the little thing that, all right. 303 00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:23.600 Bring it back, Holy Spirit. 304 00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:26.600 The reason why truffles are expensive 305 00:15:26.600 --> 00:15:29.600 because they only grow on certain parts of the earth 306 00:15:29.600 --> 00:15:35.600 under very, very specific climate change. 307 00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:38.600 So it takes a lot to unearth them and cultivate them. 308 00:15:38.600 --> 00:15:40.600 So when you do, and you bring them to buy, 309 00:15:40.600 --> 00:15:42.600 you can sell it for a big deal 310 00:15:42.600 --> 00:15:45.600 because it was a big deal to have them grown and to get them. 311 00:15:46.600 --> 00:15:48.600 This is why they're so expensive. 312 00:15:48.600 --> 00:15:51.600 There's a type of fruit that God is trying to grow 313 00:15:51.600 --> 00:15:53.600 in you, Christian. 314 00:15:53.600 --> 00:15:56.600 But the thing is you have been circumventing 315 00:15:56.600 --> 00:15:58.600 and running away from the process 316 00:15:58.600 --> 00:16:02.600 that would give you the type of fruit that you need. 317 00:16:02.600 --> 00:16:04.600 Sometimes the Lord is looking to get... 318 00:16:04.600 --> 00:16:06.600 You're asking for stuff. 319 00:16:06.600 --> 00:16:07.600 I want to prophesy. 320 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:08.600 I want to preach. 321 00:16:08.600 --> 00:16:09.600 I want to teach. 322 00:16:09.600 --> 00:16:13.600 I want to move mountains with Jesus. 323 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:15.600 And he gives you a drop. 324 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:17.600 He doesn't give you a gallon. 325 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:19.600 He doesn't give you a smoke. 326 00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:22.600 He gives you a drop of suffering. 327 00:16:22.600 --> 00:16:24.600 Oh, Jesus. 328 00:16:26.600 --> 00:16:28.600 He's the way you... 329 00:16:28.600 --> 00:16:31.600 You asked me for patience. 330 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:34.600 I gave you people that it's hard to be patient with. 331 00:16:34.600 --> 00:16:36.600 What are we doing? 332 00:16:36.600 --> 00:16:39.600 I thought you said you wanted to be more like me. 333 00:16:40.600 --> 00:16:43.600 Oh, you don't even say that. 334 00:16:47.600 --> 00:16:49.600 You keep asking God for stuff, 335 00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:51.600 but then you're running from the thing 336 00:16:51.600 --> 00:16:53.600 and the process that brings the fruit. 337 00:16:55.600 --> 00:16:57.600 Where's your sweat equity? 338 00:16:58.600 --> 00:17:00.600 I want to be thin. 339 00:17:00.600 --> 00:17:02.600 I want to look like a snack, Jesus. 340 00:17:02.600 --> 00:17:04.600 But you keep eating snacks. 341 00:17:04.600 --> 00:17:07.600 That's not how you become a snack. 342 00:17:07.600 --> 00:17:09.600 You need to go to the gym. 343 00:17:09.600 --> 00:17:11.600 You need to work it out. 344 00:17:11.600 --> 00:17:13.600 You need to sweat. 345 00:17:15.600 --> 00:17:17.600 Don't you look at the message 346 00:17:17.600 --> 00:17:19.600 and don't think that the message ain't no point. 347 00:17:19.600 --> 00:17:21.600 Don't say anything about me. 348 00:17:23.600 --> 00:17:25.600 Judging? 349 00:17:38.600 --> 00:17:41.600 You need to understand what is the true price. 350 00:17:41.600 --> 00:17:43.600 Because we want this fruit, 351 00:17:43.600 --> 00:17:47.600 but we keep running away from the process that produces it. 352 00:17:47.600 --> 00:17:49.600 We want the mountain top. 353 00:17:49.600 --> 00:17:50.600 We want the bag. 354 00:17:50.600 --> 00:17:51.600 We want these moments, 355 00:17:51.600 --> 00:17:53.600 but you don't want what is necessary, 356 00:17:53.600 --> 00:17:55.600 which is to be able to depend on God 357 00:17:55.600 --> 00:17:58.600 in every and all circumstance. 358 00:17:58.600 --> 00:18:00.600 And again, this is how society thinks, 359 00:18:00.600 --> 00:18:02.600 but that thinking has crept its way 360 00:18:02.600 --> 00:18:04.600 into the church, unfortunately, 361 00:18:04.600 --> 00:18:07.600 so that we're now also looking for these mountain top moments 362 00:18:07.600 --> 00:18:10.600 and not realizing the true price. 363 00:18:11.600 --> 00:18:14.600 So the only question is, what is the true price? 364 00:18:16.600 --> 00:18:18.600 I'm going to tell you a story that I told my life group 365 00:18:18.600 --> 00:18:20.600 and I'm just curious to see 366 00:18:20.600 --> 00:18:22.600 if your reaction will be like theirs, 367 00:18:22.600 --> 00:18:25.600 because I lost a lot of people that night. 368 00:18:28.600 --> 00:18:31.600 I was in life group and I said, you know, 369 00:18:32.600 --> 00:18:34.600 if I get to heaven 370 00:18:35.600 --> 00:18:38.600 and Jesus is not there, 371 00:18:38.600 --> 00:18:41.600 I'm burning the place down. 372 00:18:44.600 --> 00:18:46.600 Half the life group is like, 373 00:18:49.600 --> 00:18:52.600 you know, life group seven is probably not for me. 374 00:18:55.600 --> 00:18:57.600 And you might think to yourself, 375 00:18:57.600 --> 00:18:59.600 like, past the mode as you're doing a bit much, 376 00:18:59.600 --> 00:19:00.600 what do you mean by that? 377 00:19:00.600 --> 00:19:01.600 Well, here's the thing, 378 00:19:01.600 --> 00:19:03.600 heaven is not my goal. 379 00:19:05.600 --> 00:19:07.600 A driveway made out of gold, 380 00:19:07.600 --> 00:19:09.600 that sounds nice, I'm not going to lie. 381 00:19:09.600 --> 00:19:12.600 Doors that are made out of pearl, sweet. 382 00:19:13.600 --> 00:19:15.600 But that is not my goal. 383 00:19:16.600 --> 00:19:19.600 Jesus is my goal. 384 00:19:21.600 --> 00:19:23.600 So again, if I get to heaven 385 00:19:23.600 --> 00:19:24.600 and the angels are trying to like, 386 00:19:24.600 --> 00:19:26.600 well, here's the waiting area. 387 00:19:26.600 --> 00:19:27.600 You can put your feet up here. 388 00:19:27.600 --> 00:19:30.600 I'm like, you're my man, my man, my man, my man, my man. 389 00:19:30.600 --> 00:19:32.600 You're my man real quick. 390 00:19:32.600 --> 00:19:34.600 I got a question, where is Jesus at? 391 00:19:34.600 --> 00:19:36.600 Because you know how people try to talk fast? 392 00:19:36.600 --> 00:19:37.600 They don't, because you know, 393 00:19:37.600 --> 00:19:39.600 just do the timing and circumstance. 394 00:19:39.600 --> 00:19:40.600 You know, you could stay real. 395 00:19:40.600 --> 00:19:43.600 The Bible teaches me that all things are subject to the name of Jesus. 396 00:19:43.600 --> 00:19:45.600 And me, I understand the authority that I have. 397 00:19:45.600 --> 00:19:47.600 So I'm going to be in heaven causing a muck early. 398 00:19:49.600 --> 00:19:51.600 Angel, and the name of Jesus, be still. 399 00:19:53.600 --> 00:19:54.600 Because the Bible says all things under heaven and earth, 400 00:19:54.600 --> 00:19:56.600 that they're subject unto Christ Jesus, right? 401 00:19:56.600 --> 00:19:58.600 So in the name of Jesus, be still. 402 00:19:58.600 --> 00:19:59.600 Where's Jesus at? 403 00:19:59.600 --> 00:20:02.600 And the many try to start talking. 404 00:20:02.600 --> 00:20:08.600 And you might say, that is why, what are you talking about? 405 00:20:08.600 --> 00:20:10.600 Well, here's the thing. 406 00:20:12.600 --> 00:20:15.600 Heaven is not why I'm fighting 407 00:20:15.600 --> 00:20:20.600 and exercising my faith daily and dying daily. 408 00:20:20.600 --> 00:20:23.600 No, that's not eternal life. 409 00:20:24.600 --> 00:20:26.600 Let me show you from the scripture. 410 00:20:26.600 --> 00:20:28.600 John 17.3 says this. 411 00:20:28.600 --> 00:20:31.600 And this is eternal life, 412 00:20:31.600 --> 00:20:34.600 that they may know you, 413 00:20:34.600 --> 00:20:36.600 the only true God, 414 00:20:36.600 --> 00:20:39.600 and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 415 00:20:39.600 --> 00:20:42.600 It doesn't say anything about dying and getting to heaven. 416 00:20:42.600 --> 00:20:46.600 I'm not living my life as a Christian as an escape artist. 417 00:20:46.600 --> 00:20:49.600 I can't wait to just get out of here. 418 00:20:49.600 --> 00:20:52.600 I want to go so bad. 419 00:20:53.600 --> 00:20:55.600 Life is so hard. 420 00:20:55.600 --> 00:20:57.600 Nah. 421 00:20:57.600 --> 00:21:01.600 Eternal life started the day that I knew him 422 00:21:01.600 --> 00:21:05.600 and received the one whom he sent Christ Jesus. 423 00:21:05.600 --> 00:21:08.600 He lives in my heart and I live in him. 424 00:21:08.600 --> 00:21:13.600 See, it's a subtle, subtle perspective shift. 425 00:21:13.600 --> 00:21:16.600 But when I know that Jesus is my prize 426 00:21:16.600 --> 00:21:19.600 and I know that I already have the prize, 427 00:21:19.600 --> 00:21:22.600 I have to run on the rat wheel 428 00:21:22.600 --> 00:21:25.600 or the hamster wheel of religion. 429 00:21:25.600 --> 00:21:27.600 I don't have to do things like come to church 430 00:21:27.600 --> 00:21:28.600 to try to get my attendance. 431 00:21:28.600 --> 00:21:31.600 I come to church because I get to come to church. 432 00:21:31.600 --> 00:21:33.600 I come to church because I get to fellowship 433 00:21:33.600 --> 00:21:36.600 with the believers in unity. 434 00:21:36.600 --> 00:21:38.600 There's something about the congregation coming together 435 00:21:38.600 --> 00:21:41.600 with one heart and one mind that says Jesus is Lord 436 00:21:41.600 --> 00:21:44.600 that I can't get at home. 437 00:21:44.600 --> 00:21:46.600 Because I pray at home and I sing at home 438 00:21:46.600 --> 00:21:49.600 much of the dismay of my children. 439 00:21:49.600 --> 00:21:51.600 But I do those things at home but there's something different 440 00:21:51.600 --> 00:21:53.600 when I come and my faith locks with your faith 441 00:21:53.600 --> 00:21:55.600 and your faith locks with their faith 442 00:21:55.600 --> 00:22:01.600 and then in one spirit we declare Jesus is Lord. 443 00:22:01.600 --> 00:22:04.600 So I have a different prize that has nothing to do with heaven. 444 00:22:04.600 --> 00:22:06.600 It has nothing to do with the curated mountaintop moments 445 00:22:06.600 --> 00:22:10.600 that the world says I need to be going after. 446 00:22:10.600 --> 00:22:13.600 So now that I know that there's a different prize, 447 00:22:13.600 --> 00:22:19.600 I know that there's a different fruit that I should be looking for. 448 00:22:19.600 --> 00:22:22.600 And the only sad part for some of you is that 449 00:22:22.600 --> 00:22:25.600 that fruit doesn't always look glamorous. 450 00:22:25.600 --> 00:22:32.600 Sometimes it looks real gritty to get that type of fruit. 451 00:22:32.600 --> 00:22:39.600 Only the baby said it the right way. 452 00:22:39.600 --> 00:22:42.600 And also just notice that the Greek word for no 453 00:22:42.600 --> 00:22:45.600 in the verse that I just read you, 454 00:22:45.600 --> 00:22:48.600 it implies a deep level of intimacy. 455 00:22:48.600 --> 00:22:50.600 Just know that in the Old Testament, 456 00:22:50.600 --> 00:22:53.600 when it said that he knew the woman, 457 00:22:53.600 --> 00:22:56.600 he didn't just meet her at the Duane Read. 458 00:23:02.600 --> 00:23:04.600 When it says that he knew her, 459 00:23:04.600 --> 00:23:09.600 he was intimately acquainted with the most intimate part of her. 460 00:23:09.600 --> 00:23:15.600 So God is saying, I want you to know me. 461 00:23:15.600 --> 00:23:18.600 Know the one that I sent. 462 00:23:18.600 --> 00:23:28.600 And then you can start bearing this fruit. 463 00:23:28.600 --> 00:23:33.600 God is very much concerned with the totality of your existence, 464 00:23:33.600 --> 00:23:38.600 not just the mountaintop moment. 465 00:23:38.600 --> 00:23:44.600 He cares about the journey and how you're maturing in him. 466 00:23:44.600 --> 00:23:47.600 And I know we can't fathom that in a generation that we live in, 467 00:23:47.600 --> 00:23:51.600 because we live in an unprecedented age where so many curated peaks 468 00:23:51.600 --> 00:23:55.600 into other people's lives have been given. 469 00:23:55.600 --> 00:23:56.600 A few hundred years ago, 470 00:23:56.600 --> 00:23:59.600 you didn't know anything about somebody living on the other side of the world. 471 00:23:59.600 --> 00:24:02.600 But today, not only do you have to deal with looking at your neighbor, 472 00:24:02.600 --> 00:24:06.600 you have to deal with looking at your neighbor who lives on the other side of the world 473 00:24:06.600 --> 00:24:08.600 in Dubai and you feel like that's it. 474 00:24:08.600 --> 00:24:12.600 I just need to move the Dubai in my life will be better. 475 00:24:12.600 --> 00:24:13.600 That's the problem. 476 00:24:13.600 --> 00:24:15.600 I'm not in Dubai, Jesus. 477 00:24:15.600 --> 00:24:19.600 Take me to Dubai and it will be better. 478 00:24:19.600 --> 00:24:24.600 How many churches are in Dubai? 479 00:24:24.600 --> 00:24:35.600 Can I free some of you today? 480 00:24:35.600 --> 00:24:40.600 Just like the truffle, 481 00:24:40.600 --> 00:24:45.600 there is a fruit that can be cultivated from your life 482 00:24:45.600 --> 00:24:51.600 if you are willing to not run. 483 00:24:52.600 --> 00:24:56.600 Because sometimes we get this weird thing where we ask for a certain thing 484 00:24:56.600 --> 00:25:01.600 and then when the opposition and the resistance that is useful to bring about that thing comes, 485 00:25:01.600 --> 00:25:04.600 we run. 486 00:25:04.600 --> 00:25:06.600 Because you find like, oh man, I found this church, 487 00:25:06.600 --> 00:25:08.600 this crazy city like church. 488 00:25:08.600 --> 00:25:09.600 It's amazing. 489 00:25:09.600 --> 00:25:11.600 The worship is, I don't even know what it got to the word. 490 00:25:11.600 --> 00:25:12.600 They must have gotten from India somewhere. 491 00:25:12.600 --> 00:25:13.600 It's crazy. 492 00:25:13.600 --> 00:25:15.600 He'd be singing and stuffing the team. 493 00:25:15.600 --> 00:25:17.600 I feel the presence of God and it's amazing. 494 00:25:17.600 --> 00:25:20.600 Pass the bouquets up there and he's unpacking the word of God. 495 00:25:20.600 --> 00:25:21.600 Oh my God. 496 00:25:21.600 --> 00:25:23.600 And then this is other past and he's just cute. 497 00:25:23.600 --> 00:25:24.600 I don't even know what to do. 498 00:25:24.600 --> 00:25:26.600 I don't know what to do but he's cute. 499 00:25:26.600 --> 00:25:30.600 That's me by the way. 500 00:25:30.600 --> 00:25:32.600 So you're like, man, this church is perfect. 501 00:25:32.600 --> 00:25:35.600 And then you get to a life group and somebody doesn't agree what you said. 502 00:25:35.600 --> 00:25:38.600 I'm leaving. 503 00:25:38.600 --> 00:25:43.600 You find an interaction that's not per, oh, I'm done. 504 00:25:43.600 --> 00:25:48.600 And we do this pain avoidance dance where anytime there's resistance, 505 00:25:48.600 --> 00:25:52.600 anytime there's a little bit of conflict, anytime there's a little bit of friction, 506 00:25:52.600 --> 00:25:55.600 we run. 507 00:25:55.600 --> 00:25:58.600 We got to let go. 508 00:25:58.600 --> 00:26:03.600 I understand as humans, it's a very real thing to be triggered by pain avoidance. 509 00:26:03.600 --> 00:26:13.600 But you have to let go of that because we talked about equity earlier, right? 510 00:26:13.600 --> 00:26:17.600 So how many people are going to join me in not running? 511 00:26:17.600 --> 00:26:19.600 No, no, not the way you think it. 512 00:26:19.600 --> 00:26:20.600 Stop it. 513 00:26:20.600 --> 00:26:22.600 You just don't want to exercise. 514 00:26:22.600 --> 00:26:25.600 You want to be, you want to be trimmed but you don't, that's not what I'm talking about. 515 00:26:25.600 --> 00:26:29.600 When I say don't run, how many people are not going to run from the scary stuff? 516 00:26:29.600 --> 00:26:36.600 How many people are not going to run from the hard things that you wouldn't pick? 517 00:26:36.600 --> 00:26:39.600 Oh man, I'm sick of my body. 518 00:26:39.600 --> 00:26:42.600 Symptoms of dis-ease. 519 00:26:42.600 --> 00:26:44.600 How many people run after that? 520 00:26:44.600 --> 00:26:47.600 Jesus was good up until that happened. 521 00:26:47.600 --> 00:26:49.600 Oh, I lost my job. 522 00:26:49.600 --> 00:26:51.600 How could he do this to me? 523 00:26:51.600 --> 00:26:55.600 You mean how could he do it for you? 524 00:26:55.600 --> 00:27:01.600 You know that God is not the author of every evil in your life? 525 00:27:01.600 --> 00:27:06.600 I have to say it that way because there are many people who have been duked into believing 526 00:27:06.600 --> 00:27:11.600 that everything that happens in this world is all God, good and bad. 527 00:27:11.600 --> 00:27:15.600 God is not the author of confusion. 528 00:27:15.600 --> 00:27:20.600 You live in a fallen world and guess what? 529 00:27:20.600 --> 00:27:23.600 You know how we talk about like there are no perfect churches? 530 00:27:23.600 --> 00:27:26.600 Because the minute you show up, it's no longer perfect. 531 00:27:26.600 --> 00:27:28.600 Like it's no different here. 532 00:27:28.600 --> 00:27:30.600 City light was amazing that I showed up. 533 00:27:30.600 --> 00:27:33.600 There, body, done. 534 00:27:33.600 --> 00:27:39.600 But in the same way like there is no perfect life, no perfect circumstance, no perfect situation. 535 00:27:39.600 --> 00:27:45.600 You need to deal with the resistance that is going to make you grow. 536 00:27:45.600 --> 00:27:48.600 Stop running from that. 537 00:27:48.600 --> 00:27:57.600 You are running from the thing that is going to help cultivate the fruit that will give you the very gift that you desire in God. 538 00:27:57.600 --> 00:28:03.600 We have to stop running and avoiding the hard things. 539 00:28:03.600 --> 00:28:08.600 That's why I said who's going to not run with me? 540 00:28:08.600 --> 00:28:11.600 Three people praise God. 541 00:28:11.600 --> 00:28:14.600 I thank God for my three. 542 00:28:14.600 --> 00:28:17.600 We'll see y'all, us three, we'll see y'all on the other side. 543 00:28:17.600 --> 00:28:20.600 And we will look so much better than you thought you looked. 544 00:28:20.600 --> 00:28:28.600 Because in the spirit we'll have grown, we'll have matured, we'll have gotten to the place where we can suffer certain things and know that God is with us. 545 00:28:28.600 --> 00:28:32.600 Because here's the, oh man, I get excited on this part. 546 00:28:32.600 --> 00:28:39.600 You can only know God a certain way under specific conditions. 547 00:28:39.600 --> 00:28:43.600 Everything on the mountaintop is, it's nice. 548 00:28:43.600 --> 00:28:48.600 I've been on the mountaintop of answered prayer. 549 00:28:48.600 --> 00:28:58.600 God, I need you to come through, I need you to open these doors and he's, it's a very theological term by the way. 550 00:28:58.600 --> 00:29:05.600 I've been in that place but it's so funny because that mountaintop place brings with it its own temptation and trial. 551 00:29:05.600 --> 00:29:10.600 And the temptation is to let go of the rope through complacency. 552 00:29:10.600 --> 00:29:20.600 Because things are so good that you get to, this is a little bit of weird pride that creeps up that you feel like you're the one who got you there and you're the one who can sustain it and maintain it. 553 00:29:20.600 --> 00:29:22.600 And it's anything but the truth. 554 00:29:22.600 --> 00:29:25.600 So now you hit the mountaintop when you're feeling real good about yourself. 555 00:29:25.600 --> 00:29:26.600 Like, man, look at me. 556 00:29:26.600 --> 00:29:29.600 Deep Christian that I am, I'll be praying. 557 00:29:29.600 --> 00:29:36.600 I'm out here fasting, casting out devils, doing my job, bearing fruit, prospering. 558 00:29:36.600 --> 00:29:39.600 You don't check in with Jesus though. 559 00:29:39.600 --> 00:29:42.600 You just going about your life. 560 00:29:42.600 --> 00:29:48.600 It's a different vibe than the person who needs their repaid. 561 00:29:49.600 --> 00:29:52.600 It's a different vibe for the person with sickness in their body. 562 00:29:52.600 --> 00:29:56.600 They're getting diagnosed from the doctors that they got months to live. 563 00:29:56.600 --> 00:29:59.600 Those are two different types of prayer. 564 00:30:02.600 --> 00:30:09.600 And I'm not saying I want you in that place of hurt all the time but I'm saying that you can't avoid it if you're going to truly do life. 565 00:30:09.600 --> 00:30:13.600 You've got to let the hurt come because he will be in the hurt with you. 566 00:30:13.600 --> 00:30:15.600 And he'll raise you up. 567 00:30:15.600 --> 00:30:22.600 He'll comfort you in a way that nobody else can so that you later can be a comfort to those hurting. 568 00:30:22.600 --> 00:30:30.600 But if you don't let him in into those moments, if you avoid those moments, where is the growth? Where is the fruit? 569 00:30:33.600 --> 00:30:36.600 You're going to end up being a regular French fry. 570 00:30:37.600 --> 00:30:41.600 I want to be a truffle French fry. 571 00:30:43.600 --> 00:30:46.600 Put some gold leaf on mine. 572 00:30:46.600 --> 00:30:49.600 You know what I'm talking about. 573 00:30:51.600 --> 00:30:54.600 I want high-class fruit. 574 00:30:54.600 --> 00:30:57.600 But high-class fruit. 575 00:30:57.600 --> 00:31:00.600 It grows in the dirt, man. 576 00:31:00.600 --> 00:31:02.600 Sometimes you got to get it out the mud. 577 00:31:02.600 --> 00:31:06.600 It's not just slang we're talking. This is Bible we're talking. 578 00:31:08.600 --> 00:31:20.600 The author in the finish of our faith, if you even look at it just as life in his ministry, he didn't get to where he got being our Savior without first suffering defeat. 579 00:31:21.600 --> 00:31:27.600 So how could you try to live a life of pain and avoidance when God is promising you? 580 00:31:27.600 --> 00:31:34.600 Because I'm telling you, I've been in the valley and it sucked and I did not like it. 581 00:31:35.600 --> 00:31:41.600 The one consolation I had is that I experienced God like never before. 582 00:31:42.600 --> 00:31:54.600 So much so that when I came out of that moment into a prosperous place, I low-key found myself looking back longingly at those hard times. 583 00:31:58.600 --> 00:32:01.600 I miss those moments of prayer, Lord. 584 00:32:02.600 --> 00:32:08.600 I miss going to sleep at 12 a.m. with tears in my eyes because I didn't know how it was going to work. 585 00:32:08.600 --> 00:32:18.600 But I went to sleep praising you, thanking you, believing that you would come through only to wake up at 3 a.m. with more doubt, more fear, more unbelief and needing his presence to come again. 586 00:32:19.600 --> 00:32:21.600 But then he would. 587 00:32:22.600 --> 00:32:24.600 Let me ask you a question. 588 00:32:25.600 --> 00:32:27.600 How many people in here take one aspirin every day? 589 00:32:29.600 --> 00:32:31.600 One person out of over a hundred. 590 00:32:32.600 --> 00:32:39.600 Did you know that doctors say that if you take one aspirin per day, you can lower your chance of cardiac arrest significantly. 591 00:32:41.600 --> 00:32:42.600 One a day. 592 00:32:44.600 --> 00:32:45.600 Nobody does that though. 593 00:32:46.600 --> 00:32:47.600 Until... 594 00:32:48.600 --> 00:32:49.600 What is... 595 00:32:49.600 --> 00:32:50.600 Give me some aspirin, man. 596 00:32:52.600 --> 00:32:54.600 Throwing up things back like tic-tacs. 597 00:32:56.600 --> 00:33:01.600 But it's funny how when the pain hits, then you want to cry out. 598 00:33:02.600 --> 00:33:03.600 What happens? 599 00:33:03.600 --> 00:33:04.600 This is a hypothetical. 600 00:33:04.600 --> 00:33:09.600 What happens if we live in a place where we constantly depend on the Lord? 601 00:33:10.600 --> 00:33:16.600 Instead of waiting for that one moment of pain, we would constantly live in the present moment, 602 00:33:16.600 --> 00:33:21.600 whether they were valleys, whether they were mountains, and we would just say, I'm with you all the way, Lord. 603 00:33:22.600 --> 00:33:24.600 I'm not going anywhere without you. 604 00:33:24.600 --> 00:33:29.600 The problem comes as we try to do life, and then when something happens, we run to Him. 605 00:33:29.600 --> 00:33:30.600 Jesus. 606 00:33:30.600 --> 00:33:31.600 Hear me. 607 00:33:31.600 --> 00:33:32.600 Oh. 608 00:33:32.600 --> 00:33:35.600 Shikabar al-waboshabat al-waboshabat al-waboshabat. 609 00:33:36.600 --> 00:33:39.600 And really what the Lord is asking for is this. 610 00:33:41.600 --> 00:33:45.600 If I'm going, you're going with me. 611 00:33:47.600 --> 00:33:49.600 I'm going to the store, Jesus. 612 00:33:49.600 --> 00:33:51.600 Bring yourself, let's... 613 00:33:51.600 --> 00:33:52.600 We go into the store. 614 00:33:55.600 --> 00:33:56.600 Yeah, I'm gonna go pray. 615 00:33:57.600 --> 00:33:58.600 To me, we go... 616 00:33:58.600 --> 00:34:00.600 We go into pray, Jesus. 617 00:34:01.600 --> 00:34:04.600 Y'all, there's a baddie in church, we... 618 00:34:04.600 --> 00:34:05.600 Hey, Jesus. 619 00:34:06.600 --> 00:34:07.600 You know what? 620 00:34:07.600 --> 00:34:08.600 I'm going to hell out of here. 621 00:34:08.600 --> 00:34:09.600 We... 622 00:34:09.600 --> 00:34:10.600 It's we. 623 00:34:10.600 --> 00:34:11.600 It's no longer me. 624 00:34:12.600 --> 00:34:14.600 Because wherever I go, Jesus got to come to. 625 00:34:15.600 --> 00:34:16.600 Oh, man. 626 00:34:16.600 --> 00:34:18.600 Ain't nothing but trials and stuff over there. 627 00:34:18.600 --> 00:34:22.600 Now, before we would run the other way, but now, because of who I got with me, 628 00:34:22.600 --> 00:34:23.600 all right, Jesus, go. 629 00:34:23.600 --> 00:34:24.600 Jesus, go. 630 00:34:29.600 --> 00:34:32.600 I'm okay because I've entered the fray with Jesus. 631 00:34:33.600 --> 00:34:35.600 I've entered the fray with my... 632 00:34:35.600 --> 00:34:37.600 He's my everything. 633 00:34:37.600 --> 00:34:38.600 He's my rock. 634 00:34:38.600 --> 00:34:40.600 He's my savior. 635 00:34:40.600 --> 00:34:42.600 He's my point of refuge. 636 00:34:42.600 --> 00:34:43.600 He's my safe house. 637 00:34:43.600 --> 00:34:45.600 He is the lily of the valleys. 638 00:34:45.600 --> 00:34:47.600 He is the bright and morning star. 639 00:34:47.600 --> 00:34:50.600 He is the one that has everything that I need. 640 00:34:51.600 --> 00:34:54.600 When I offend Chris by dragging him all over the church, 641 00:34:54.600 --> 00:34:57.600 he's the one that gives my brother the grace to forgive. 642 00:34:57.600 --> 00:34:58.600 Can you understand? 643 00:34:59.600 --> 00:35:03.600 Everything that you do let it be that you bring Jesus into it. 644 00:35:03.600 --> 00:35:06.600 He is not a supplement that you just add to your life. 645 00:35:06.600 --> 00:35:08.600 He's not a part of your life. 646 00:35:08.600 --> 00:35:13.600 Because if he's a part of your life, there are other parts that don't touch that one part. 647 00:35:14.600 --> 00:35:17.600 He has to be the center of your life, 648 00:35:17.600 --> 00:35:19.600 so that he connects to everything. 649 00:35:21.600 --> 00:35:22.600 Thank you, brother. 650 00:35:28.600 --> 00:35:30.600 Chris is like, never again. 651 00:35:30.600 --> 00:35:32.600 His front row life ain't for me. 652 00:35:37.600 --> 00:35:38.600 So one last note about this, 653 00:35:39.600 --> 00:35:43.600 because we have to take advantage of the fact that on earth, 654 00:35:43.600 --> 00:35:48.600 we have an opportunity to offer something that we will never be able to do on the other side of heaven. 655 00:35:48.600 --> 00:35:57.600 You get to offer God praise that has been seasoned with temporal human hurt. 656 00:35:58.600 --> 00:36:01.600 See, on the other side of eternity, 657 00:36:02.600 --> 00:36:05.600 I don't even believe that there are tear ducts. 658 00:36:05.600 --> 00:36:07.600 The Bible says that he will wipe every tear from your eye. 659 00:36:08.600 --> 00:36:10.600 There will be nothing but joy and speakable. 660 00:36:11.600 --> 00:36:16.600 So how can you give him a sacrifice of worship and praise when everything will be jolly? 661 00:36:19.600 --> 00:36:26.600 You know, I told you I have a certain disdain for celebrating and decorating for Christmas and things like that, right? 662 00:36:26.600 --> 00:36:29.600 I know some of you are like, oh, I can't believe it. No, it is real. 663 00:36:30.600 --> 00:36:35.600 This past Saturday, not this Saturday, just past the Saturday before that, 664 00:36:35.600 --> 00:36:41.600 my wife tells me, hey, babe, I think we should decorate. 665 00:36:41.600 --> 00:36:43.600 And I say, hey, babe, the devil's a liar. 666 00:36:45.600 --> 00:36:49.600 Now, here's the thing though, I've been fighting my wife off since July. 667 00:36:50.600 --> 00:36:55.600 You know, I don't know how she was raised because her family's not even like this. 668 00:36:55.600 --> 00:36:57.600 She's the only one. 669 00:36:58.600 --> 00:36:59.600 It's like my own personal torture. 670 00:36:59.600 --> 00:37:02.600 The Lord gives me the heirs of an elf and a wife who just, 671 00:37:03.600 --> 00:37:05.600 I don't know what I did church. 672 00:37:06.600 --> 00:37:13.600 But since July, she's like throwing subtle hints like, you know, how you feel today? 673 00:37:13.600 --> 00:37:14.600 I feel great. 674 00:37:14.600 --> 00:37:17.600 This is my first Saturday with nothing to do in like a real long time. 675 00:37:17.600 --> 00:37:19.600 Yo, thank God. 676 00:37:19.600 --> 00:37:21.600 She's like, I know, right? 677 00:37:26.600 --> 00:37:29.600 She's like, what do you think about putting a tree over? 678 00:37:31.600 --> 00:37:33.600 What do you think about putting a tree where? 679 00:37:33.600 --> 00:37:37.600 We could put one right over here while we're going to put a tree there, Tiffany. 680 00:37:38.600 --> 00:37:40.600 Just to spruce it up. 681 00:37:42.600 --> 00:37:44.600 You see what you did there is a pun. 682 00:37:44.600 --> 00:37:45.600 Yeah. 683 00:37:51.600 --> 00:37:54.600 So the one Saturday that I have with no activity, 684 00:37:55.600 --> 00:37:58.600 I end up meeting my mortal enemy Christmas decorating. 685 00:37:59.600 --> 00:38:00.600 It gets worse. 686 00:38:00.600 --> 00:38:03.600 I woke up that Saturday feeling ill. 687 00:38:04.600 --> 00:38:07.600 You know how you get that one cough that tells you where your week is about to go? 688 00:38:08.600 --> 00:38:09.600 No! 689 00:38:12.600 --> 00:38:14.600 And I'll share with you because it's gross. 690 00:38:19.600 --> 00:38:28.600 I woke up Saturday and I immediately coughed up this quarter sized shape of pure mucus. 691 00:38:29.600 --> 00:38:30.600 No flim. 692 00:38:31.600 --> 00:38:33.600 No viscosity to it. 693 00:38:33.600 --> 00:38:34.600 It was pure. 694 00:38:34.600 --> 00:38:36.600 And I was like, oh God. 695 00:38:37.600 --> 00:38:40.600 And from that moment I just got sicker and sicker and I knew what was coming. 696 00:38:42.600 --> 00:38:45.600 I had to feel like that plus I had to decorate. 697 00:38:45.600 --> 00:38:47.600 Can you feel my pain? 698 00:38:48.600 --> 00:38:53.600 So now here I am in this space of just not really enjoying things, 699 00:38:54.600 --> 00:38:56.600 but giving God glory. 700 00:38:57.600 --> 00:39:00.600 In this space where I'm getting calls and still having to live life, 701 00:39:00.600 --> 00:39:02.600 I still got a minister to people. 702 00:39:02.600 --> 00:39:03.600 I still got a show up. 703 00:39:03.600 --> 00:39:04.600 I still got to be present. 704 00:39:04.600 --> 00:39:06.600 And even now I'm not feeling super well. 705 00:39:06.600 --> 00:39:09.600 My whole family is not here today because they are sick. 706 00:39:10.600 --> 00:39:12.600 We will pray for them, amen? 707 00:39:13.600 --> 00:39:15.600 But it was such a rough week. 708 00:39:16.600 --> 00:39:22.600 Now, in the midst of that when I can lift up my hands and go farther, 709 00:39:23.600 --> 00:39:25.600 you are all that in a bag of chips. 710 00:39:26.600 --> 00:39:28.600 You are Jehovah Rafa, my healer. 711 00:39:28.600 --> 00:39:30.600 You are my deliverance. 712 00:39:30.600 --> 00:39:32.600 You are my peace. 713 00:39:32.600 --> 00:39:33.600 You are my joy. 714 00:39:33.600 --> 00:39:38.600 That has a certain, see my praise, that hallelujah we were talking about earlier. 715 00:39:39.600 --> 00:39:43.600 That highest praise, it's been seasoned by my suffering. 716 00:39:44.600 --> 00:39:48.600 And it produces a fruit for Jesus that he can't get anywhere else. 717 00:39:50.600 --> 00:39:51.600 There's no fruit like that in heaven. 718 00:39:52.600 --> 00:39:54.600 The angels praise him 24-7. 719 00:39:55.600 --> 00:40:00.600 They circle his throne saying holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. 720 00:40:01.600 --> 00:40:04.600 The 24 elders take their crowns and they throw it before his feet. 721 00:40:05.600 --> 00:40:07.600 And none of them got nothing on us. 722 00:40:08.600 --> 00:40:13.600 Because we offer him a worship that can only be received and cultivated here on earth in the present. 723 00:40:14.600 --> 00:40:16.600 In this temporal thing that we call humanity. 724 00:40:17.600 --> 00:40:23.600 But a lot of us are not even taking advantage of that because we are running from the moments that we create this type of fruit and create this type of praise. 725 00:40:25.600 --> 00:40:29.600 We're cursing the fact that we have to live life and go through circumstances. 726 00:40:31.600 --> 00:40:34.600 Listen, I understand you would have never chosen for the cancer to come. 727 00:40:36.600 --> 00:40:40.600 I know that you would have never have chosen for the baby to be lost. 728 00:40:43.600 --> 00:40:52.600 But I've seen God in those moments show himself off as the true deliverer, as the true healer. 729 00:40:53.600 --> 00:40:57.600 And yes, there's a great many things that I never would have planned on. 730 00:40:58.600 --> 00:41:05.600 But because he allowed them and showed himself off in those moments, I'm better for it. 731 00:41:07.600 --> 00:41:10.600 You know, I remember there was a time before our second son was born. 732 00:41:14.600 --> 00:41:17.600 My wife has a very terrible time with pregnancies. 733 00:41:18.600 --> 00:41:20.600 She has a condition called hyperemesis. 734 00:41:20.600 --> 00:41:24.600 This is low compared to what actually happens. 735 00:41:24.600 --> 00:41:28.600 It's like the zenith of morning sickness where you can't eat anything. 736 00:41:28.600 --> 00:41:29.600 You can't even drink anything. 737 00:41:29.600 --> 00:41:30.600 You drink water. 738 00:41:30.600 --> 00:41:31.600 Water will make you throw up. 739 00:41:32.600 --> 00:41:34.600 So she's living like that for months. 740 00:41:34.600 --> 00:41:36.600 Hospitalized and all that. 741 00:41:37.600 --> 00:41:41.600 But she's sacrificing knowing what's on the other side of that, which is our child. 742 00:41:42.600 --> 00:41:45.600 So she's undertaking this sacrifice for our family. 743 00:41:46.600 --> 00:41:54.600 And then the doctors tell us there's a miscarriage and she loses the baby after all the suffering. 744 00:41:56.600 --> 00:41:57.600 And it was hard. 745 00:41:58.600 --> 00:41:59.600 And it hurt. 746 00:42:02.600 --> 00:42:09.600 But she offered up such a sweet, beautiful worship to God. 747 00:42:10.600 --> 00:42:17.600 That it was crazy because in the same year, God visited us again and she got pregnant again. 748 00:42:18.600 --> 00:42:21.600 And my son was born later that year. 749 00:42:25.600 --> 00:42:27.600 And Dallas is an amazing kid. 750 00:42:28.600 --> 00:42:30.600 All my kids are amazing. 751 00:42:30.600 --> 00:42:33.600 And I don't say that just because I'm their dad, like they legit are amazing people. 752 00:42:34.600 --> 00:42:40.600 We were only able to get to that point because we didn't run. 753 00:42:42.600 --> 00:42:48.600 It was weird because when Dallas finally came, we looked back on the situation and we were like, hold on. 754 00:42:49.600 --> 00:42:54.600 I remember what happened, but the way that the Lord set it up, it felt like it was 20 years ago. 755 00:42:56.600 --> 00:42:58.600 There was so much joy. 756 00:42:58.600 --> 00:43:04.600 There was so much faith, so much belief that God was going to do what He said and what He promised that. 757 00:43:04.600 --> 00:43:09.600 The pain of what we had experienced, we felt so separated from it. 758 00:43:09.600 --> 00:43:11.600 It was only some months ago. 759 00:43:13.600 --> 00:43:20.600 But the Lord found a way to refine our faith and grow it to the point that we could receive through the pain. 760 00:43:21.600 --> 00:43:29.600 So now I have to expound and explain to people, don't run because you prolong pain by running. 761 00:43:30.600 --> 00:43:35.600 You know, people who go to the gym, they will tell you you need resistance in order to produce growth. 762 00:43:39.600 --> 00:43:41.600 He will do it. 763 00:43:42.600 --> 00:43:44.600 He will do it, George! 764 00:43:45.600 --> 00:43:51.600 You cannot let the pain of what you've experienced stop you from believing for his best. 765 00:43:52.600 --> 00:43:59.600 There is a fruitfulness that he will give you if you would be willing to trust him despite what you've seen. 766 00:44:00.600 --> 00:44:05.600 He will cultivate it and he will bless you. 767 00:44:06.600 --> 00:44:11.600 Because he is not a respecter of persons and he blessed me in mine so I know that he can bless you in yours. 768 00:44:14.600 --> 00:44:17.600 Praise God. 769 00:44:19.600 --> 00:44:25.600 Let us learn to enjoy the process as he matures us and produces the good fruit from our life. 770 00:44:25.600 --> 00:44:29.600 So let me ask you again, where my fruity Christians at? 771 00:44:29.600 --> 00:44:32.600 Hallelujah. 772 00:44:35.600 --> 00:44:43.600 We got to step away from the immediate gratification and we got to realize that there's a cost to certain fruit, a spiritual sweat equity. 773 00:44:43.600 --> 00:44:46.600 Amen. 774 00:44:46.600 --> 00:44:52.600 You'll have to give up on some things to get that precious thing called fruit. 775 00:44:52.600 --> 00:44:57.600 You know, the Bible says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 776 00:44:58.600 --> 00:45:03.600 And this is where you got to put in the disclaimer so people that they don't get disillusioned. 777 00:45:03.600 --> 00:45:07.600 This is not a work's mentality when it comes to fruit. 778 00:45:07.600 --> 00:45:11.600 You cannot produce the type of fruit that you need in your life. 779 00:45:11.600 --> 00:45:14.600 You have to lean on Jesus to produce the fruit. 780 00:45:14.600 --> 00:45:16.600 He will cultivate it. 781 00:45:16.600 --> 00:45:20.600 Your job as a living sacrifice is to not run off the altar. 782 00:45:20.600 --> 00:45:22.600 That's your job. 783 00:45:22.600 --> 00:45:25.600 Your job is not to grow yourself, your job is not to become a better Christian. 784 00:45:25.600 --> 00:45:29.600 All those things happen because of and through him. 785 00:45:29.600 --> 00:45:35.600 So don't think that I'm now telling you you need to be a better Christian by doing this. 786 00:45:35.600 --> 00:45:38.600 The this that you need to do is trust him. 787 00:45:38.600 --> 00:45:41.600 Not crawl off the altar. 788 00:45:41.600 --> 00:45:44.600 That's the problem with a living sacrifice when it gets too hot. 789 00:45:44.600 --> 00:45:47.600 Not today. 790 00:45:49.600 --> 00:45:54.600 But if you really trust him, you'll listen to that sweet will that says, come on back. 791 00:46:00.600 --> 00:46:03.600 Worship team, you can come on up. 792 00:46:04.600 --> 00:46:08.600 You can actually prepare communion too as well, Usher. 793 00:46:08.600 --> 00:46:10.600 I'll close with this. 794 00:46:10.600 --> 00:46:15.600 You want to know what's an underrated goodness of God? 795 00:46:15.600 --> 00:46:19.600 Those moments when he tells you to wait. 796 00:46:19.600 --> 00:46:22.600 We don't like that. 797 00:46:22.600 --> 00:46:25.600 We and I'm saying we don't like that. 798 00:46:25.600 --> 00:46:27.600 Sometimes I'm going to lie to you. 799 00:46:27.600 --> 00:46:31.600 It's foolish to say, but sometimes I'd rather you just tell me no, bro. 800 00:46:31.600 --> 00:46:35.600 Don't have me out here just suffering and struggling unnecessarily. 801 00:46:35.600 --> 00:46:39.600 And every single time the Lord keeps reminding me, it's not unnecessary. 802 00:46:39.600 --> 00:46:43.600 Because if I gave you what you wanted now, you would kill yourself. 803 00:46:43.600 --> 00:46:49.600 Because you weren't able, nor ready to carry the things that you desire in God. 804 00:46:49.600 --> 00:46:51.600 So he needed to grow me. 805 00:46:51.600 --> 00:46:53.600 He needed to refine me. 806 00:46:53.600 --> 00:46:54.600 He needed to press me. 807 00:46:54.600 --> 00:46:59.600 He needed to allow certain circumstances, certain losses to happen so that he could work together for good. 808 00:46:59.600 --> 00:47:02.600 Those things that are for me. 809 00:47:02.600 --> 00:47:06.600 He says he works everything together for good for those that love the Lord, 810 00:47:06.600 --> 00:47:08.600 and are called according to his purposes and will. 811 00:47:08.600 --> 00:47:09.600 Ain't that you? 812 00:47:09.600 --> 00:47:11.600 Ain't that me? 813 00:47:11.600 --> 00:47:15.600 You can handle that. 814 00:47:15.600 --> 00:47:21.600 So we got to stop being scared of the process, scared of the valley moments. 815 00:47:21.600 --> 00:47:26.600 I'm telling you, you're going to know God so well in the valley that you won't even mind the valley. 816 00:47:26.600 --> 00:47:32.600 You ever had a circumstance where you miss a train or something like that, 817 00:47:32.600 --> 00:47:38.600 but because of the company that you're with, you didn't even mind it? 818 00:47:38.600 --> 00:47:41.600 I missed some trains before. 819 00:47:41.600 --> 00:47:46.600 And who you miss with makes the story. 820 00:47:46.600 --> 00:47:51.600 Because I've had situations where I was leaving church, and this is when I used to go to church in Queens, 821 00:47:51.600 --> 00:47:56.600 but I lived in Staten Island, and I don't run a lot, but I would run for the boat that time. 822 00:47:56.600 --> 00:48:00.600 Because if you missed that ferry back in the day, you had to wait a whole other hour. 823 00:48:00.600 --> 00:48:02.600 It was already two in the morning. 824 00:48:02.600 --> 00:48:05.600 I'm like, I'm not trying to wait for three in the morning just to take a 30-minute boat ride 825 00:48:05.600 --> 00:48:08.600 to then catch a bus to then walk home. 826 00:48:08.600 --> 00:48:12.600 So I'm... 827 00:48:12.600 --> 00:48:14.600 And I don't know why. 828 00:48:14.600 --> 00:48:17.600 It scarred me a little bit, but I remember this dude at the ferry. 829 00:48:18.600 --> 00:48:24.600 He watched me run from the stairs, and he stood there closing the door like this. 830 00:48:24.600 --> 00:48:27.600 He's watching me run. 831 00:48:27.600 --> 00:48:31.600 And he's closing, and I'm like, I don't worry, I know he's going to hold it at the end. 832 00:48:31.600 --> 00:48:35.600 So I'm like, I'm not giving up. I want him to see, I'm putting in the effort. 833 00:48:35.600 --> 00:48:37.600 Did you just think of it? 834 00:48:37.600 --> 00:48:40.600 You give me the keys, like, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. 835 00:48:40.600 --> 00:48:43.600 Just going for it. 836 00:48:44.600 --> 00:48:48.600 And I didn't let up, not even until the end. 837 00:48:48.600 --> 00:48:53.600 And he just let that joint close right in my face. 838 00:48:53.600 --> 00:48:55.600 And I'm not going to lie. 839 00:48:55.600 --> 00:48:58.600 I didn't feel very Christian at the moment. 840 00:48:58.600 --> 00:49:04.600 I thought about what would express the love of God with the appendages that I had. 841 00:49:04.600 --> 00:49:09.600 And I didn't adequately come up with one, so I settled on one. 842 00:49:13.600 --> 00:49:21.600 Those moments of waiting by myself were terrible until I got saved. 843 00:49:21.600 --> 00:49:25.600 And then I found out how to wait in those moments with Jesus. 844 00:49:25.600 --> 00:49:31.600 I found out how to go through life with Jesus, and it makes the difference. 845 00:49:31.600 --> 00:49:33.600 It made me better. 846 00:49:33.600 --> 00:49:39.600 So I no longer look for ways to validate somebody. 847 00:49:39.600 --> 00:49:46.600 Now the Lord gives me a true reason to rejoice in every and all circumstances. 848 00:49:46.600 --> 00:49:50.600 He's grown a level of maturity and fruitfulness in me. 849 00:49:50.600 --> 00:49:56.600 Because if you didn't know, the ultimate goal is that God is trying to cultivate Jesus in you. 850 00:49:56.600 --> 00:50:00.600 Now, that's an impossible task in and of yourself. 851 00:50:00.600 --> 00:50:05.600 You cannot grow up to be like Jesus. 852 00:50:05.600 --> 00:50:07.600 Amen. 853 00:50:07.600 --> 00:50:12.600 But look what the Scripture says. 854 00:50:12.600 --> 00:50:15.600 Because here's the thing, fruit is something that's produced, right? 855 00:50:15.600 --> 00:50:17.600 We all agree on that. 856 00:50:17.600 --> 00:50:20.600 The Bible says that the fruit of the Spirit is love. 857 00:50:20.600 --> 00:50:23.600 But the Bible also says that God is love. 858 00:50:23.600 --> 00:50:28.600 So when the Spirit makes His abode in you, you accept Jesus to be your Lord and your Savior. 859 00:50:28.600 --> 00:50:33.600 The thing that's supposed to be produced in you is love, but love is God. 860 00:50:33.600 --> 00:50:40.600 When the Spirit lives on the inside of you, you're supposed to be developing into Jesus. 861 00:50:40.600 --> 00:50:43.600 Ephesians 4.11 says this. 862 00:50:43.600 --> 00:50:50.600 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, 863 00:50:50.600 --> 00:50:56.600 and some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, 864 00:50:56.600 --> 00:51:02.600 for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith 865 00:51:02.600 --> 00:51:06.600 and the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man. 866 00:51:06.600 --> 00:51:09.600 Who was the perfect man? 867 00:51:09.600 --> 00:51:15.600 To the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. 868 00:51:15.600 --> 00:51:20.600 That we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine 869 00:51:20.600 --> 00:51:25.600 by the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. 870 00:51:25.600 --> 00:51:36.600 But speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things into Him who is the head Christ, 871 00:51:36.600 --> 00:51:41.600 from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, 872 00:51:41.600 --> 00:51:44.600 according to the effective working by which every part does it share, 873 00:51:44.600 --> 00:51:47.600 causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. 874 00:51:47.600 --> 00:51:52.600 AKA, He's trying to grow Jesus in you. 875 00:51:52.600 --> 00:51:58.600 He's trying to make you produce a fruitfulness that makes you more like Him. 876 00:51:58.600 --> 00:52:03.600 Please stop running from that process. 877 00:52:03.600 --> 00:52:12.600 Be willing to receive the hard times because He's not going to leave you in them by yourself. 878 00:52:13.600 --> 00:52:18.600 We're going to take communion now and it's fitting that we do because what's happening with communion? 879 00:52:18.600 --> 00:52:22.600 The Bible says that we are proclaiming the Lord's death until He comes. 880 00:52:22.600 --> 00:52:25.600 What do you mean proclaiming the Lord's death? Well, here's the thing. 881 00:52:25.600 --> 00:52:29.600 When Jesus died on the cross and then resurrected for us, 882 00:52:29.600 --> 00:52:33.600 there was a great many benefits that He afforded to everyone who would believe. 883 00:52:33.600 --> 00:52:37.600 So what I'm asking you to do is take stock of your life. 884 00:52:37.600 --> 00:52:43.600 If there is anything that is not lining up to what He promised in the Scriptures belongs to you, 885 00:52:43.600 --> 00:52:45.600 I need you to proclaim His death. 886 00:52:45.600 --> 00:52:48.600 I need you to shout it from the rooftop, even with your actions. 887 00:52:48.600 --> 00:52:52.600 This is what is owed to me because of what Jesus did. 888 00:52:52.600 --> 00:52:57.600 This is what I believe I can live in and walk in. 889 00:52:57.600 --> 00:53:01.600 If you are sick in your body, you have symptoms of this ease. 890 00:53:01.600 --> 00:53:06.600 Know that it is by His stripes that you were healed. 891 00:53:06.600 --> 00:53:11.600 If you are emotionally bankrupt and hurting and depleting, 892 00:53:11.600 --> 00:53:16.600 know that the joy of the Lord is your strength. 893 00:53:16.600 --> 00:53:24.600 He was abandoned in every way possible at the cross emotionally, physically, spiritually, even financially. 894 00:53:24.600 --> 00:53:26.600 It's not like the movies. 895 00:53:26.600 --> 00:53:29.600 He didn't have little two drops of blood and a little loin cloth. 896 00:53:29.600 --> 00:53:31.600 He was naked. 897 00:53:31.600 --> 00:53:37.600 The Bible says that He became poor that through His poverty you would gain riches. 898 00:53:37.600 --> 00:53:43.600 So examine your life and think about what is not lining up to what Jesus did for you at the cross. 899 00:53:43.600 --> 00:53:49.600 If you are burdened by guilt, shame and condemnation, know that the Bible says that you have been made perfect. 900 00:53:49.600 --> 00:53:52.600 You are the righteousness of God and Christ Jesus. 901 00:53:52.600 --> 00:53:56.600 You have joy that no man can take from you. 902 00:53:56.600 --> 00:54:01.600 You abide in perfect health even as your soul prospers according to the Word. 903 00:54:01.600 --> 00:54:04.600 So proclaim His death today. 904 00:54:04.600 --> 00:54:07.600 Proclaim the maturity that you are growing up into Christ. 905 00:54:07.600 --> 00:54:09.600 If you look at your life and you think, 906 00:54:09.600 --> 00:54:11.600 Ugh, that makes bag of nuts, man. 907 00:54:11.600 --> 00:54:15.600 I don't feel the maturity of the Lord like I want to. 908 00:54:15.600 --> 00:54:18.600 Proclaim the Lord's death. 909 00:54:18.600 --> 00:54:25.600 You can speak yourself into good fruit. 910 00:54:26.600 --> 00:54:28.600 I'm going to share this with you guys. 911 00:54:28.600 --> 00:54:30.600 First service didn't get this. 912 00:54:30.600 --> 00:54:39.600 Part of the maturity that He's calling you to is a life of fruitfulness and answered prayer. 913 00:54:39.600 --> 00:54:43.600 A mark of your life when you enter this zone of fruitfulness, 914 00:54:43.600 --> 00:54:47.600 your life is going to be marked by answered prayer. 915 00:54:47.600 --> 00:54:52.600 That's powerful because you're going to learn how to pray better. 916 00:54:52.600 --> 00:54:55.600 Matter of fact, when you pray, 917 00:54:55.600 --> 00:54:57.600 because right now we have this false assumption that when we pray, 918 00:54:57.600 --> 00:54:59.600 it has to be with a lot of words and different things like that. 919 00:54:59.600 --> 00:55:00.600 God do this. 920 00:55:00.600 --> 00:55:01.600 God do this. 921 00:55:01.600 --> 00:55:04.600 This is laundry list and really that's not how Jesus prayed. 922 00:55:04.600 --> 00:55:08.600 Jesus believed and He said exercise your faith but He said a lot. 923 00:55:08.600 --> 00:55:09.600 He didn't ask a lot. 924 00:55:09.600 --> 00:55:12.600 He said a lot. 925 00:55:12.600 --> 00:55:14.600 Let me just very quickly show you this. 926 00:55:14.600 --> 00:55:19.600 Hold your communion and think about these things so that you can get it all in one. 927 00:55:23.600 --> 00:55:25.600 Matthew 28 says, 928 00:55:25.600 --> 00:55:27.600 Now in the morning as He returned to this city, 929 00:55:27.600 --> 00:55:29.600 He was hungry and seeing a fig tree by the road, 930 00:55:29.600 --> 00:55:32.600 He came to it and found nothing on it believes and said to it, 931 00:55:32.600 --> 00:55:34.600 let no fruit grow on you ever again. 932 00:55:34.600 --> 00:55:36.600 Immediately the fig tree withered away. 933 00:55:36.600 --> 00:55:38.600 And when the disciples saw it, they marveled saying, 934 00:55:38.600 --> 00:55:41.600 how did the fig tree withered away so soon? 935 00:55:41.600 --> 00:55:44.600 So Jesus answered and said to them, assuredly I say to you, 936 00:55:44.600 --> 00:55:47.600 if you have faith and do not doubt, 937 00:55:47.600 --> 00:55:51.600 you will not only do it was done to the fig tree but also if you 938 00:55:52.600 --> 00:55:57.600 say to this mountain, be removed and cast into the sea, 939 00:55:57.600 --> 00:56:00.600 it will be done and whatever things you ask in prayer, 940 00:56:00.600 --> 00:56:03.600 believing you will. 941 00:56:03.600 --> 00:56:05.600 Why am I bringing this up again? 942 00:56:05.600 --> 00:56:08.600 I'm actually going to close with this. 943 00:56:08.600 --> 00:56:10.600 Part of the fruitfulness of you becoming more and more like Jesus, 944 00:56:10.600 --> 00:56:14.600 one of the hallmarks on his life on earth was answered prayer. 945 00:56:14.600 --> 00:56:15.600 If you're going to be a fruity Christian, 946 00:56:15.600 --> 00:56:20.600 you have to have a prayer life that breathes results. 947 00:56:20.600 --> 00:56:25.600 John 15, 16 says this, you did not choose me but I chose you 948 00:56:25.600 --> 00:56:30.600 and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit 949 00:56:30.600 --> 00:56:33.600 and that your fruit should remain. 950 00:56:33.600 --> 00:56:36.600 That whatever you ask the father in my name, 951 00:56:36.600 --> 00:56:38.600 he may give you. 952 00:56:38.600 --> 00:56:42.600 When you get the fruitingists, 953 00:56:42.600 --> 00:56:46.600 you get whatever you ask for in his name. 954 00:56:46.600 --> 00:56:48.600 Because we have Jesus as an example, 955 00:56:48.600 --> 00:56:50.600 he then just acts for whatever he wanted, 956 00:56:50.600 --> 00:56:53.600 he acts only for what he saw the father doing. 957 00:56:53.600 --> 00:56:55.600 So when you matured to this point 958 00:56:55.600 --> 00:56:57.600 and you stop running, 959 00:56:57.600 --> 00:57:00.600 you're only going to ask God for the things 960 00:57:00.600 --> 00:57:05.600 that you know are a part of God's will. 961 00:57:05.600 --> 00:57:09.600 Eat and drink to your fruitiness. 962 00:57:09.600 --> 00:57:14.600 Father, touch the heart of your people. 963 00:57:14.600 --> 00:57:17.600 That we would not be a people of pain avoidance, 964 00:57:17.600 --> 00:57:20.600 we would be willing and able to enter any 965 00:57:20.600 --> 00:57:24.600 and every circumstance because we know that you are with us. 966 00:57:24.600 --> 00:57:27.600 Make us to grow, make us to be fruitful. 967 00:57:27.600 --> 00:57:31.600 Father, mark our lives with answered prayer. 968 00:57:31.600 --> 00:57:34.600 Father, we ask you in Jesus' name. 969 00:57:34.600 --> 00:57:36.600 This is the City Light Church podcast. 970 00:57:36.600 --> 00:57:39.600 If you've missed any part of today's message 971 00:57:39.600 --> 00:57:42.600 or if you would like to find out more about Pastor Boyan Jansik 972 00:57:42.600 --> 00:57:43.600 in City Light Church, 973 00:57:43.600 --> 00:57:46.600 visit us at citylightnyc.com 974 00:57:46.600 --> 00:57:49.600 that's citylightnyc.com. 975 00:57:49.600 --> 00:57:53.600 Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime. 976 00:57:53.600 --> 00:57:55.600 We would love to connect with you. 977 00:57:55.600 --> 00:57:58.600 We pray that you have been encouraged today, 978 00:57:58.600 --> 00:58:01.600 that you have been reminded how much God loves you, 979 00:58:01.600 --> 00:58:04.600 and that you are surrounded by grace. 980 00:58:04.600 --> 00:58:05.600 Thank you for listening. 981 00:58:05.600 --> 00:58:08.600 Make sure that you subscribe to City Light Church Podcast 982 00:58:08.600 --> 00:58:12.600 wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide. 983 00:58:16.600 --> 00:58:17.600 Thank you.