SPORADIC: 1 Corinthians 3:5-8

1 Corinthians 3:5 NKJV

Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one?

The question is who are Paul and Apollos?

how awesome are they?

How important are they?

The word “minister” has come to be known to mean the same as pastor.

Most think of a pastor as this person who is has like super powers.

They are good at everything, and there are high expectations on pastors.

Most see being a pastor as someone who should be favored.

The idea, had fallen from where it should be.

The word minister really means a servant.

Paul and Apollos aren’t these super awesome beings with powers.

They are just servants setting out to please their master.

Complete difference in understanding.

I am not saying that you don’t respect a pastor or elder, or leader, because God has given them spiritual authority.

The pastor is just a person sent out by Jesus to fulfill a purpose.

To serve.

Paul is addressing the problem in the Corinthian Church of divisions.

God hates division.

We are not supposed to have divisions.

Have different little cliques.

Favor one pastor or leader or another.

God hates division.

They lost focus on who they should believe in.

Instead of focusing on Jesus, who sent them with the same mission, the Corinthians were

Do you guys believe in me, Matt Vitt? Do I have the power to take away sins, and give you eternal life?

I have no power other than that which comes from God.

My whole aim is to not pretend to be anyone or anything awesome.

My whole goal is to point you to the only Awesome one, Jesus Christ.

In Him you will find all that you need.

In Him you will find your purpose.

You will who you are suppose to be.

Often people are divided, because they lose focus on anyone but Jesus to have power in their life.

People often put high expectations on the pastor/leader, when they should be focusing on Jesus.

1 cor

1 Corinthians 3:6–8 NKJV

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

Let’s go over the process of farming.

What do you need?

seed, land, soil, sunlight, water.

You need to make sure the soil is fertile.

Is there anything that the farmer can do to make the seed grow?

There is nothing the farmer can do to tell it, when to grow.

There is nothing a farmer can do to make the seed grow how fast, how big, or anything.

All he can do, is provide the right environment, and conditions that will help the seed become, what it was meant to be.

Water, fertilize, make sure it gets sun.

If it gets too little of these things, it will hinder growth.

If if gets too much of these things, it will hinder the growth.

In the end, it is only doing what God programmed it to do in the right situation.

As a Pastor, I have no power in making you grow.

The picture is being painted in your spiritual life.

The seed of the word of God is being planted.

Will it grow?

Only if it has the right conditions.

That is all me and the church can do for you.

I cannot make you believe, nor can I make you follow Jesus.

I cannot make you love Jesus.

All I can do is create an environment that the word of God is preached.

The word is the seed.

There are other things that are like watering, and helping your get sunlight.

Only Jesus has this power, because He is the source of true life.

What is the increase that God provides?

You guys have a responsibility to be farmers of your own heart.

He is the source.

He is the power.

He is the author of life.

Parable of the sower(Paraphrased)

What is the increase that we are talking about here?

Your spiritual life.

Your spiritual growth.

Your relationship with Jesus Christ.

Your maturity so you can shine a light in the evil around you.

Parable of the sower(Paraphrased)

2 years ago, almost exactly, I taught you the parable of the sower in and .

Some of you are still around from then.

I pointed out that it was one of the most important things you could hear or learn, because it will tell you one of 4 possible outcomes for your future.

Jesus speaks of 4 kinds of soil that seed can fall into.

The seed is the word of God, and the soil are different kinds of hearts.

The Wayside= People who hear the word of God and the devil snatches the word so the person will never believe.

The Rocky Ground= People who hear the word of God and are start to grow, but then are stunted when they are persecuted for believing Jesus.

The Thorny/Weedy Ground= Those who hear the word of God and receive it with joy, but they fall away because of the pleasures of life.

The Good Ground= Those who hear the word of God and grow into a gigantic tree and produce fruit.

You can have all of the right conditions, but your hearts are too hard and rocky to allow for any increase.

One of the first things that we need to understand is that seeds can have growth, but not produce fruit.

Luke 13:6–9 NKJV

He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’ ”

Isaiah 5:1–7 NKJV

Now let me sing to my Well-beloved A song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: My Well-beloved has a vineyard On a very fruitful hill. He dug it up and cleared out its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst, And also made a winepress in it; So He expected it to bring forth good grapes, But it brought forth wild grapes. “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge, please, between Me and My vineyard. What more could have been done to My vineyard That I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, Did it bring forth wild grapes? And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned; And break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will lay it waste; It shall not be pruned or dug, But there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds That they rain no rain on it.” For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help.

God wants fruit from your life.

The parable above shows how a tree can be a tree, but not produce what it is meant to produce.

1. God has all the power in existence, but is powerless if you do not let Him work in you.

I deal with a lot of parents, or adults that are demanding an answer at why you aren’t super Christians.

Sometimes I have to check myself, because I want you guys to be further along that some of you are.

I do my best to realize my place in all of this.

I came up here 2 years ago, to be a servant and help give you guys the right conditions to grow spiritually.

I have taught you the word, lead you to pray, to worship, to share your faith.

It all comes down to if you love God.

If you do, then you will want to spend time with Him.

If you do, you will show it.

I am sorry, but I am going to just be honest with you guys.

Can you let me?

I am just going to share my heart with you.

I am going to share love and

Anything I say, I say with love, and no condemnation.

I always ask you guys if you are reading your bibles, praying, sharing your faith, coming to church consistently.

I have been ding this for 2 years with a lot of you.

I pretty much get the same responses back like:

I always get pretty

I haven’t read my bible.

It is boring.

I fall asleep in church.

I slept in.

I have no time.

I this.. I that.

Never actually taking it as seriously as we could.

I am not saying I haven’t seen any of you grow.

I have seen and been proud of a lot of you.

But maybe you haven’t; grown as much as you could have.

I am not judging, but I see young people who are bored and most of the time pursuing anything but God.

How can you be bored with the things of God>

How can they not be exciting to you?

How can they be boring?

I pray for each and everyone of you.

I labor on my knees in prayer for you to know Jesus and His love and purpose for you.

To have the Holy Spirit of God stir you up.

To have you guys have a passion for Jesus.

But you have to want to grow.

You have to be willing to put in the time, and energy.

To put in the work.

It is not my heart to want you guys to grow in God, it is God’s heart.

The more I grow and spend time with Jesus, the more I stop thinking about me, and the more I want what He wants.

Others to come and know His love and His desire for a relationship with Him.

This is what drives me.

This is what I beg God for you, because I know it is what He wants more than anything.

It all comes down to this: Do you love Jesus?

If you do, then you will spend time with Him.

You will put in the time and be fascinated by Him.

Then there will be a natural growth and increase.

The Title is “Sporadic”

What does that mean?

It is from the Greek meaning to scatter seed.

spore is the root for seed.

That is what this is all about, the scattered seed of the word of God in your life.

That is what we are doing every week.

That is what you should be doing every week.

But the word now means random.

Not consistent.

Is that how a seed is going to grow?

No it needs consistency.

It needs stability.

Are you being spiritually sporadic and scattering the word of God in your life?

Or are you being sporadic in your habits to grow in God.?

Is a seed always meant to stay a seed?

No, it is meant to come out of its shell.

It is meant to push through the mountain of soil on top of it, and grow branches, and leaves and bark and turn into something wonderful and amazing.

It can grow hundreds of thousands of times its size.

It is not meant to only go half way.

It is meant to go all of the way.

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ii. Some people are frustrated because they want to water when God has called them to plant, or they want to plant when God has called them to water. Others are frustrated because they want to make the increase happen, when only God can do that. Real fruitfulness in ministry happens when we are peacefully content with what God has called us to do.