Untitled Sermon (2)

Poll the audience about grocery shopping…

Used to teach my students about classifying…

Are You a Producer or Consumer?

If you’re not a producer, then you’re a consumer.

As humans by nature we are consumers.

We are physically dependent on something else in order to manufacture energy which is a vital component of life.

We require glucose in the presence of oxygen in order to form ATP and the bi-product of CO2 and water. In other words, we must take in or consume what is provided by the producer in order to survive. We cannot survive without it, it is physically impossible.

On the other hand…

A producer (ie… something that makes FRUIT) has the natural ability to take CO2 and water in the presence of sunlight, and create glucose with a bi-product of oxygen. In other words, it produces its own nutrients and then is able to convert those nutrients into energy… and in some instances… bear fruit.

So yes, we are consumers by nature,

But that’s okay, because I’m going to use my spiritual imagination to imitate God’s creation in order to be the best version of God’s creation.

Are you a consumer? Or a producer? Is your process like cellular respiration or photosynthesis? Are you using ALL that God has put in you to produce what you need as well as bless others? Or are you completely dependent on an external source… not to produce what you need for others, but to get only what you need to survive?

If you’re a consumer that’s what you do…

Last time I checked, you couldn’t pull up ATP and hand it off to the next person in need…

Adipose tissue (got plenty of it cause you’re not using it)

Consumers can’t manufacture energy (diabetic)

Consumers eat other consumers…

So yes, I’m a consumer by nature, but since Jesus is cursing trees for not bearing fruit… I like to use my spiritual imagination..

SO as a consumer no one can benefit from me, However there is a certain scholar that advises us as producers…. There are some things we can produce and hand off… and that is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance…

All things that others can benefit from: give it directly, contagious (like osmosis), or its modeled..

Galatians 5: 22-23

So I think we can all agree that we have the desire to be producers… but what does that look like? What does that entail or involve? How is that manifested into my life where I am today?

I want to talk about the state of being for those that are producers. You must be 3 things:

Properly planted:

Apples don’t appear out of thin air

There is a process… fertilization, reproduce, growth, abiotic factors have to be in place…

Being planted is not easy.

The same way a seed is planted is the same way something dead is buried. Dig a whole, drop it in, cover it with dirt. The difference is what’s covering the seed… dirt or soil?

It’s the contents of what’s being covered that determines whether growth will occur or whether decomposition will occur (things come to eat away at your being). Are you a seed or a corpse? Either way you’re going to be tried during the planting process.

The bible tells us in 1st Peter 5:8

8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

But in your planting process… 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. Other producers are going through the same thing… suffering is what you signed up for..

10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

Sometimes when you’re being planted to produce it can feel like you’re being buried. (I came that you might have life)… We speak life today. You’re not being buried, you’re being planted!

It doesn’t always feel good! Growth hurts! Correction hurts! Accountability is uncomfortable!

I’m a member of this church… and I know Pastor Lowe is supposed to cover me..

I know he warned me about…

Lady Jazz told me…

I’m supposed to be able to lean on…

BECAUSE YOU’VE BEEN HURT BEFORE, YOU DON’T TRUST THE SOIL

Properly positioned:

Once you’re planted, you have to grow down before you grow up. The seed has to take root before the plant can have stability. The roots is what keeps the plant grounded as well as keep the plant nourished.

It may take a while to see it on the surface, but I got a whole lot going on underneath. It may take a while to see: business, career, marriage, wealth, thriving ministry…

I’ve been doing some root work!... Millenials

Mrs. Rick

Have humility… God gave you a vision, work the vision before you broadcast the vision.

Here’s why:

There is a coordinated process of differential growth by a plant in response to gravity.

Positive Geotropism: the roots follow the path of gravity.

Negative geotropism: the produce does not follow the path of gravity, it grows against it.

When I start to produce, I’m going to defy the laws of man… it’s not going to look like what they think it should…

Animal Science…. Graduate School…. Teaching…

Because I am going to experience negativity…

There is also a coordinated or directional response to light

Phototropism:

Plants have the ability to position themselves to receive the optimal amount of light. If you look at it in the morning, it’s facing this way.. If you look at it in the evening, it might be facing the other way… The intent is to absorb as much light as possible because the light is what gives the plant the ability to produce what consumers need. It is what’s absorbed from the light that sustains the plant when it’s dark! (Plants don’t have to be resuscitated every morning)!

They have what they need even in the dark

There are times when you can’t see him or feel him…

It’s dark because The earth moves, not God

Properly planted: I’m covered, and it’s dark, and it’s lonely, but what’s covering me is also nourishing me.

I’m properly positioned… and it’s still dark, and I’m growing down, and I’m being established, and developing a foundation, and grasping on to what’s solid and stable… but I’m also reaching for the light, because God has called me out of darkness and into his marvelous light, so once I break the surface, and I’m growing beyond the surface, I’m following the light! Because the Lord is my light AND my salvation, whom shall I fear…

I’m following the light… wherever he says…

Not only must I be properly planted and properly positioned, I also must be properly protected.

Additionally, plants also need protection from heat… because if you are following the sun, you are inevitably going to have to deal with heat. If you are following

the SON, you are inevitably going to have to deal with heat…

What is the heat that I might feel??

Competition, jealousy, ulterior motives, selfish agendas, backbiting, betrayal

So leaves have a protective layer of wax called the cuticle. Wax is hydrophobic or water-repelling, so it prevents water from leaving the leaf, which is essential to continue the production of fruit.

Producers (specifically plants) have mechanisms of protection to keep from being consumed. As a fruit bearing plant, there are only certain parts of the plant that should be available to consumers. If the wrong part of the plant gets consumed, it can no longer bear fruit…

As a producer, you can’t give EVERYTHING away. There are some parts of you that need to be kept in order to keep producing. Some of us get so caught up in the warm and fuzzy feeling we get when we help people… that we overdo it and don’t leave room for God to do what he does.

Paul said I plant the seed, Apollos waters, and God gives the increase.

Sort of our like our skin… water proof…

We must be properly protected because if certain elements leave our lives, we will lose the ability to bear and offer fruit.

I need protection

I can’t lose my love/ joy/ patience/ kindness

I need a Pastor Lowe to remind me… to be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.

I need a Lady Jazz to bring to my remembrance that love is patient and kind, it does not envy or boast, it is not arrogant or rude.

I need a brother Leonard to help me when I forget that the prayers of the righteous availeth much.

I need a Sister Toni to model for me…that the peace of God which passeth all understanding will guard my heart and my mind through Christ Jesus.

I need a Sister Stacie to encourage me that Great is the Lord, because he’s too good to just be good.

But most of all, I need God to hide me in his bosom… because being planted is not easy…

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

So if I’m going to be an effective producer, I have to be

Properly planted,

Properly positioned,

And properly protected.

27 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

3 Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

4 One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.

5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

Lady Jazz, how do I know if I’m a consumer?

You’re not producing fruit:

Instead of being properly planted, you are:

Careless and compulsive

Captive to confusion

Controlled by chaos

Crumble in confrontation

Instead of being properly positioned, you are:

Comfortable and complacent

Cautious to change

Create contention

Crave conflict

Instead of being properly protected, you are:

Childishly clueless

Complain and criticize

Clash with correction

Combative to chastisement

And ultimately.. you’ll be cheated out of your promise,

Castrated out of your purpose, and become a closed off corpse who is buried instead of covered.

How do I know I’m a producer?

Properly Planted:

Paramount potential

Patient through the process

Precious and pure

Personable and practical

Properly positioned:

Proper Perspective

Phenomenal purpose

Passionate pathfinder

Persistent pathmaker

Prevailing pathlighter

Properly Protected:

Preferred Partner

Peaceful Presence

Polite and poised

Pioneering and progressive

Pleasantly positive

Took power from your pain

Pursued God through Praise

Persevered until you produced.

Are you a producer or a consumer? 3 calls:

Consumer with the desire to be a producer

I’m living a double life…

I’m not producing according to my capacity

“The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; 26 The Lord [a]lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”