Day 5 and a half

Fruitful and Multiply

Romans 1:19–20 CSB

19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse.

Genesis 1:20–24 CSB

20 Then God said, “Let the water swarm with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” 21 So God created the large sea-creatures and every living creature that moves and swarms in the water, according to their kinds. He also created every winged creature according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them: “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the waters of the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.” 23 Evening came and then morning: the fifth day. 24 Then God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that crawl, and the wildlife of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so.

Fruit in us

Galatians 5:22–23 CSB

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.

Christlike Character

Jesus teaches that spiritual fruitfulness comes from our relationship with Him.

John 15:5 “5 I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.”

Before God multiplies something through us, He often produces something within us.

Galatians 5:22–23 describes that inner fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The key is abiding. A branch doesn't struggle to manufacture fruit. It stays connected to the vine, and life flowing from the vine produces the fruit.

Connection to Christ produces transformation into Christlikeness.

This is something we really talked about when we learned about day 3 of creation when we talked about God's plan and desire for fruitfulness in the world. We talked about God is the gardener and how he prunes and trims. How he separates us from bad things and how he designs us in shapes us to grow more fruitful. This is a very important thing. That you have to have fruitfulness in you before you can do anything outside of yourself to multiply.

The big difference between day, three and day five and halfway into day six. Is that the plants and vegetation that are seed bearing in their fruit passively multiply. It's just part of their natural life cycle to multiply. Our main focus this week is understanding the command, not just to be fruitful but to multiply that fruit.We don't carry physical seed like a plant does. For us to multiply for us to do what God has commanded us to do we have to take action. But it starts with the fruit being produced in us. There has to be something there before you can multiply it.

Fruit through us

Colossians 1:10 CSB

10 so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God,

Work of Ministry

Ministry is essentially glorifying God through good works: serving others, generosity, compassion, encouragement, hospitality, justice, mercy, prayer, evangelism. All of these things are great examples of ministry. All of these things produce fruit. They produce joy, peace, love, patience, kindness, goodness, etc. I fully believe that it won't just produce them and others. It will produce them in you.

Matthew 5:16 CSB

16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Sowing Generously

2 Corinthians 9:10 “10 Now the one who provides seed for the sower and bread for food will also provide and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness.”  

You cannot multiply what you refuse to sow.

Time can be seed. Money can be seed. Encouragement can be seed. Teaching can be seed. Prayer can be seed. The gospel is seed. Fruitfulness requires planting something that can eventually reproduce.

The key is sowing generously. The more you sow the more fruit will be produced, and the more fruit that is produced means there is even more seed to sow. If I sow one apple seed, I will get a tree full of apples. Each of those apples contains on average 4 seeds. Just one apple from that tree multiples my original seed by 4 times. That tree will continue to produce endless apples and as a result endless seed.

Don't downplay the one seed that you have to sow. You may be able to count the seeds in an apple but you can’t count the apples in that seed. you may think it is insignificant now, but I can assure you that the God of multiplication will make your one see produce more than you ever thought possible

Making Disciples

2 Timothy 2:2 CSB

2 What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

Jesus was a very clear in his command for us to go into all the world and make disciples. The reality of disciple making is that disciples make disciples. If I make four disciples and each of those make four disciples themselves. There is a total of 20 disciples that were just made. And it started with just one. It was multiplied by 20. Making disciples is One of the fruits of the Christian life. We often focus on the fruits of the spirit. But the telltale sign of somebody who is a disciple of Christ is that they are also making disciples. Disciple making is a fruit of your faith. It is a sign that you really believe what you say you believe.

Raising Godly Families

The primary mission field that you have is your own family. If you don't know how to start or where to start with making disciples start in your own house. We have a responsibility to disciple, our families and our children. Raising godly families produces fruit for generations. Because if you do it correctly, you are making disciples who will go and disciple their family someday. It will multiply for generations.

Deuteronomy 6:6–7 CSB

6 These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. 7 Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Psalm 78:5–7 CSB

5 He established a testimony in Jacob and set up a law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach to their children 6 so that a future generation— children yet to be born—might know. They were to rise and tell their children 7 so that they might put their confidence in God and not forget God’s works, but keep his commands.