Withered lives!
Notes
Transcript
Why do trees wither in the winter if they receive plenty of water? They freeze.
Why do Christians dry up or live dried lives? Why churches dry up?
Read Mark 11:11-26
When do our lives get withered?
When we do not produce fruit.
When we do not produce fruit.
The fig tree was usually symbolic of Israel or God’s people. It may also symbolize the Church.
Jesus expects early fruits.
Jesus expects early fruits.
On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples were listening.
Jesus expects fruit from His people, even from those who are new believers.
Jesus is hungry for the fruits of His church. He looked for it, but He did not find even one. Therefore He decided to illustrate a lesson to His followers: they will also dry up if they did not give fruit. From the roots up!... It was cursed.
“So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “So then, you will know them by their fruits.
He expects seasoned fruits.
He expects seasoned fruits.
Physical age must not be a limiting factor in the fruit production. Old people must be fruitful for the Lord; even more than the neophytes, because they have experience, they have walk longer with the Lord.
The psalmist expresses such truth about us, the oldies (viejitos):
The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree, He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the Lord, They will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield fruit in old age; They shall be full of sap and very green,
Sterile trees wither.
As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. Being reminded, Peter said to Him, “Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered.”
We must seek to give fruit for Him at all times. That’s why we’re exhorted:
preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.
If we want to produce fruit, we must make sure we are abiding in Him (connected to the trunk) because that’s the only way to produce good fruit:
“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
“My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.
Our life withers when...
When we use the church for wrong purposes.
When we use the church for wrong purposes.
It should not be a robbers’ den.
It should not be a robbers’ den.
Mark 11:17 (NASB95)
And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a robbers’ den.”
Sellers were defrauding the people. They were taking advantage of the ignorance and need of the country people.
The priests, who were part of the business, would tell the people, who came to worship, that the animals they brought for the sacrifice were unacceptable for sacrifice. So they people had to buy another animal at the temple.
They were also making people think that the offerings had to be given in only a specific coin, the shekel. Therefore, they had to go to the money changers who would charge a commission for the exchange.
It’s not for commercialization.
It’s not for commercialization.
Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves; and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple.
According to John, Jesus not only said “robbers’ den”, but also “place of business”. Market places were dirty places. The animals would do “their thing” in the temple courts.
The temple was the most sacred place, but He found it dirty. He had observed some of it the prior evening visit.
Religious leaders got mad when their business was destroyed. They were renting the booths, like in a carnival…
Jesus rebuked them for commercializing spiritual things:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
It was time for a cleansing! Only God can clean His house.
Jesus was accused of wanting to destroy the temple, but He came to purify it, to refine it.
It’s for prayer for the nations.
It’s for prayer for the nations.
Mark 11:17 (NASB95)
And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a robbers’ den.”
That was and is the Lord’s purpose for His house! Worship and prayer!
This verse could be understood in two ways:
to pray for the nations...
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
...and for the nations to come to pray...
“Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For all the nations will come and worship before You, For Your righteous acts have been revealed.”
When our prayers are weak.
When our prayers are weak.
Did you know that fruit and prayer are related?
“You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.
Prayer must have faith: do not doubt.
Prayer must have faith: do not doubt.
And Jesus answered saying to them, “Have faith in God. “Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.
Pray for fruit, pray for souls, but pray believing; and God will give them to you.
If we pray believing, we should not have a “plan B”.
Prayer must have forgiveness.
Prayer must have forgiveness.
“Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. “But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.”
♫Como puedes tu orar enojado con tu hermano…♫
