Thursday ReCap

Prayer: Father, show me what the fruit of my life is. What do I need to change to yield what you want from me? How and where do I need to let you in? Use this time of teaching and worship, and family group time to bring me to a place of repentance and encouragement for what I need to start doing, stop doing or stay faithful to.

I want you to envision that you are a tree in an orchard. And the orchard that you are in is dependent on the fruit that you bear. That fruit that we bear is the fruit that comes from our actions. Our actions come from our heart.

Jeremiah 32:9 NASB95

“I bought the field which was at Anathoth from Hanamel my uncle’s son, and I weighed out the silver for him, seventeen shekels of silver.

Jeremiah 32:19 NASB95

great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, giving to everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds;

God called his people to “be fruitful” in , but that fruit is not according to us but according to him. As trees planted in his orchard we are to produce the fruit that he enjoys and has for us to bear.

But what fruit do I bear, or what fruit am I producing most of the time?

Let’s look at the two types of fruit trees described in

But what fruit do I bear, or what fruit am I producing most of the time

Read Galatians 5:19-21a

Galatians 5:19–21 NASB95

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

think of deeds in this passage as fruit - the fruits produced by planting seeds according to my flesh and independent orientation. The deeds that ripen from those seeds are evident.

(use explanation if necessary)

I use seed planting instead of sowing to be more clear because that is what “sowing” is - sowing is seed planting. I sow apple seeds I get apple trees, if the seeds grow into a plant and the plant remains healthy

take two or three of the fruits and think to yourself when this fruit has been evident in my life what was the seed that I planted that yielded the fruit of impurity, strife, envying, outbursts of anger, etc.

the practice of these things show that we are not of the orchard that we might think we are in

Read

Galatians 5:22–24 NASB95

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Galatians 5:

Galatians 5:22–23 NASB95

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

galatians 5:

as we think about the fruit described here…what must be planted to yield such things in our lives

A Narrative—>

Galatians 5:22-

A Narrative—>

I want you now to picture God is walking between these two orchards and he sees all of us, with the fruit or lack of fruit we have right in this moment.

We might see that there are different fruits on the same tree, fruits of the spirit or fruits of the flesh.

What kind of tree am I that has some immorality and then some peace, or a tree that seems divided and yet is faithful?

Jesus’s teaching here is that there’s one type of tree that is fruitful with His fruit, and it will not become confused by it’s production

It’s confusing when there is different fruit on the same tree.

That’s not what the tree was made for.

It is confusing to you and to others, but not to Him

stop producing two types of fruit and just produce one

Read again and

Galatians 5:21 NASB95

envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

the fruit produced by a life that is spent planting seeds of the flesh is not a person who will inherit the Kingdom of God because they have produced fruit to prove that is not something they want.

Galatians 5:24 NASB95

Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

but those that have placed their faith in Christ act accordingly. Because those who “belong” to Christ no longer plant seeds of the flesh and are seeking out those branches that have grown bad fruit or none.

John 15:8 NASB95

“My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.

you know this to be true. You have personally thanked God for people in your life who have “proven” to be God’s disciples because those are the people that are pointing you back to God

Let’s end with the end of the parable back in to help us understand what we need to do

Read Luke 13:7-9

Luke 13:7–9 NASB95

“And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’ “And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’ ”

Luke

if you or someone you know is not bearing fruit or has bad fruit the vineyard keeper wants to dig around you or them to allow water to get to its roots and to add fertilizer so that the tree can prove to be God’s tree

Thursday Topics:

This is so necessary for our assurance. We can be sure and we have no right to be or we can be sure and we have every right to be. Jesus wants us to be sure if we should be and to repent if we are not

don’t be misinformed or confused - bear fruit in keeping with repentance

Jesus wants us to have a correct idea of repentance and that true repentance bears fruit. Feeling bad is not repentance nor is continuing to live as we once did but “forgiven.”

bearing fruit and I don’t know it not bearing fruit and not knowing how to bear fruit

It is not the tree it was supposed to be

God wants us to have a correct idea of repentance

An image:

left God’s presence in we will perish

a tree taken away from it’s root system

a fish out of the water

The fish still tries to flay around and pretend it was still a fish, still alive

saved—> moving back into that relationship with the Lord

obedience—> remaining in the root system

Natural fruits will then come up from these roots

EXAMPLE:

walk into a room and I feel nervous, self-conscious, unhappy, it’s taking effort to be friendly

and yet I have read that the fruit of the spirit….and I am reminded of this and I have a choice

EXAMPLE #2

Had a misunderstanding with your mom about your weekend plans

the principle to apply to

Bible says you are to Honor and submit

think more highly of them than you

Will I show fruit?

What is the fruit that is born…..

In this one instance, how much fruit can you see?

Have a screen with the fruits on it and can circle the ones that this entails

As God is walking through this orchard he sees all of us, with the fruit or lack of fruit we have right in this moment.

What kind of tree am I that has some immorality and then some peace, or a tree that seems divided and yet is faithful?

Jesus’s teaching here is that there’s one type of tree that is fruitful, and it will not become confused by it’s production

It’s confusing when there is different fruit on the same tree.

That’s not what the tree was made for.

Orchards trees—> trees with different types of things on them