Welcome to Connect with Skip Heitzig Weekend Edition. We're glad you joined us for today's program. Connect with Skip Heitzig exists to connect you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times through verse-by-verse teaching of His Word. That's why we make messages like this one today available to you and others on air and online. Before we begin the program, we want to let you know that you can keep in touch and in the know about what's happening with Connect with Skip Heitzig when you sign up for email updates. When you do, you'll also receive Skip's weekly devotional email to instruct and inspire you in God's Word each week. So sign up today at connectwithskip.com.
That's connectwithskip.com. Now let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. And here's how I can prove that. Paul wrote a letter to a group called the Corinthians, remember them? And he writes in chapter one, you Corinthians come behind in no charisma, no spiritual gift.
They were speaking in tongues, they were doing everything. The next chapter Paul says, I couldn't write to you as spiritual people, but as carnal people, babies in Christ. So here's a group exhibiting spiritual gifts coming behind and no spiritual gifts, but they lacked fruit. And Paul calls them babies, carnal, unspiritual. And the whole litany of that letter is you got this problem and that problem and that problem and no love and no joy and no peace, et cetera. So it is by fruit and not by gifts.
John Stott put it beautifully. He said the Christian life should resemble a fruit tree, not a Christmas tree. For the gaudy decorations of a Christmas tree are only tied on whereas fruit grows on a fruit tree. So fruit is noticeable. Second, fruit is natural. A fruit tree doesn't have to work hard to produce fruit. It's just the natural unfolding of life. All you need is a root system in the ground, a trunk tied to the root system, branches connected to that main stem, and fruit will happen. It is the normal, natural unfolding of life.
It's the product of a connection. Have you ever seen a fruit tree sweat? Have you ever seen an apple tree like out there going... Ooh, apple. That was hard. Man.
No. What does a branch need to do to produce fruit? Just hang in there. Just hang in there.
What do you need to do to produce fruit? Just hang in there. Abide in Christ. Abide in Christ.
It's not like you say, okay, I've got to take Galatians 5, 22, the fruit of the Spirit, and I'm going to work on each one. Okay, first of all, love. I'm going to be all about loving people.
Love, love, love. Okay, got that one done. Now, peace. I'll work on peace and joy. I'll be joyful. I'll smile. I'm going to work my way down the list. By the time you're done with that list, you're not going to have any peace and you're not going to love anybody. It's nothing you have to work or strive for. You just need to hang in there, and the natural result of being connected to Christ will be fruit. As you keep in close contact with Him, as you hang out with Him, as you seek Him, that will happen. I found something I wanted to share with you this morning.
I think you'll enjoy it. It's Associated Press. They released a study done by an agricultural school in Iowa.
Listen to these results. One hundred bushels of corn from one acre requires four million pounds of water. Six thousand eight hundred pounds of oxygen. Five thousand two hundred pounds of carbon. One hundred and sixty pounds of nitrogen. One hundred and twenty five pounds of potassium.
Seventy five pounds of yellow sulfur and other elements. In addition to these things, which no man can produce. Rain and sunshine at the right time are critical.
It is estimated that only five percent of the produce of a farm can be attributed to the efforts of man. Now, I would take that template and put it over spiritual growth, and I would say that's exactly the same truth in spiritual growth. It's not like that branch has to really, really work. Yeah, we cooperate with Christ. Yeah, we abide. But as we abide, we're not really doing much but hanging close to Him, and the natural result is growth and fruit.
It is noticeable. It is natural. And something else about fruit that is pretty obvious, it's nourishing.
Right? Fruit trees don't produce fruit for themselves. You ever see an apple tree eating an apple? Or grape vine eating grapes?
No. The whole point is it is produced to nourish and bless other people. There's a very profound truth there. If the life of God is flowing in you, then the life of God will flow from you, through you. Now, this is where life will get exciting. In fact, dare I say, some of you have gotten bored in your Christian experience.
And I would venture to say that's because it's all been inward up to this point. The real excitement is when you start looking outward and seeing that what you produce through your life or what Christ produces through your life can actually nourish other people. True story, a man was driving his car from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Tampa, Florida. And the thing that he noticed more than anything else were orange trees everywhere, as far as the eye could see. Thousands upon thousands upon thousands and millions of oranges everywhere. So he stops into a restaurant, orders bacon and eggs and a glass of orange juice with his meal. And the waitress says, I'm sorry, we don't have any orange juice. And then she explains, our machine is broken.
And he just stopped right there and he thought about that statement. He's thinking, here we are surrounded by millions of oranges. Thousands of gallons of orange juice are in these fields. And I know you have oranges in that kitchen because there are slices of oranges on my plate. And you're telling me you have no orange juice because the machine is broken?
What's the problem? They've become dependent on the machine. All you've got to do is get an orange, cut it up and go and get orange juice.
I'm sorry, we don't have any orange juice. The machine is broken. They became so dependent on the machine.
And here's my point. We can become so dependent on the machine. We're surrounded by Bibles. I bet you have more than one in your house. They're everywhere. We're surrounded by Bible teachers on the radio. But we're so accustomed to the machine kicking out spiritual nourishment for us to consume.
And that's the machine. We want to go somewhere and hear something or tune something on it. We get fed and we get nourished and we consume rather than, okay, that's good. But with that, I'm going to make my own orange juice. I am going to turn my focus on others around me and with the truth that I have learned, I'm going to give it out. See, because if we don't do that, we're just going to turn into sermon connoisseurs. We're going to go, yeah, I like that sermon today. From one to ten, I'll give it a seven. It's a nice tune, you know, easy beat. I like that.
That's about all. But when we become this, we don't depend upon the machine, but with the life that is in us and the production of Christ that is through us, we're nourishing other people. Life becomes exciting. I've always loved the description that Jacob had for his son Joseph. When Jacob was on his deathbed, he said of his son, Joseph is a fruitful vine, a vine by a spring whose branches climb over the wall. Now, what he was getting at is my son is so fruitful that he just doesn't stay confined. He blesses people outside of where he's at.
He has blessed the whole world with his wisdom. His branches go over the wall. Years ago when I lived in Huntington Beach, California, my neighbor had a lemon tree on the edge of his property and half of the tree reached on my side.
California law is anything on my side of the fence is mine. And I was exceedingly blessed with lemons constantly because his branches went over the wall. When your branches go over the wall, and it's not the machine that I am dependent on, but you are yourself nourishing and nurturing and discipling other people, that's when life gets exciting. Think back just a few chapters when Jesus stood on the Feast of Tabernacles and said to the people of Jerusalem these words, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. And a lot of you might say, well, that's true of me. I've come to Jesus and I'm satisfied.
Okay, that's only step one. Then he said, He who believes in me, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. In other words, not only will he or she be satisfied, he will be a conduit, a channel to satisfy others. That's fruit. It's noticeable. It's natural.
It's nourishing. And the demonstration of true life inside of us is that we're fruitful in life. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we get back to Skip's teaching, we want to help you understand what real peace looks like so you can experience it in your own life. That's why we want to send you a copy of Unleashing Peace, Experiencing God's Shalom in Your Pursuit of Happiness by Jeremiah J. Johnston. This resource is our thanks for your gift of at least $50 today to help share solid biblical teaching with more people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy when you give at least $50 today to reach people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Let's continue with today's teaching with Pastor Skip.
There's a second. Not only will we be fruitful in life, look at verse 7. We'll be powerful in prayer. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, now watch this promise. This is so exciting. You will ask what you desire and it will be done for you.
Wow! And he goes on, By this is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit so you will be my disciples. Boy, you know with a promise like that, it's a wonder that more Christians don't pray.
Listen to it in another version called The Message. If you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. Boy, have you noticed that prayer is just one of those areas we have a hard time with? Yeah, I know. We hear it, oh, I hate it when you talk about prayer. That's just that one little area in my life.
Why is that? Why is it we don't pray more? Why is it that the prayer room, which should be packed all the time, is so sparsely populated? And why is it that we're just weak in prayer? Because truth be told, people all over the world pray.
Right, you know that. It's one of the most common daily activities all over the world. Jews do it, Christians do it, Muslims do it, Buddhists do it, even Atheists do it when they're in trouble. People pray all over the world. According to George Barna, recently he stated, slightly over four out of five Americans pray during a typical week. Now, I don't know exactly who they're praying to or how sincere their prayer is or why they're praying.
I can't make that judgment. I mean, for all I know, it could be like the little kid who said bedtime prayers. He said, Lord, bless Mommy and Daddy and my brothers and sisters and my little puppy. And God, please give me a bicycle.
Amen. And his mommy heard him and said, sweetheart, you don't have to yell. God is a death.
He goes, I know, Mommy, but Grandma's in the next room and she is hard to hear him. So really, was it a prayer to God? Or was it a prayer that Grandma could overhear and he could get his bicycle? I know that we all pray at church before each message we pray and at the end of each message we pray. And I know that you probably pray before every meal. But why is it that when it comes to really getting down and praying, we don't do much of it? Here's a possible thought.
Let me throw this out at you. Could it be that we don't pray and many Christians don't pray because it doesn't work? They just don't see results. They've tried that, but there's no real power when they pray.
So they just go, yeah, okay, whatever. I'm bringing that up because this promise is incredible. You will ask whatever you desire, but I want you to notice there's conditions to this.
There's conditions. You meet these conditions, that promise will happen. Number one, Jesus said, verse seven, if you abide in me, stop right there, those who have a permanent connection and union with Christ, that's abiding in Christ. So God never obligates himself to answer a single prayer of an unbeliever.
He might. He could do it for his own purpose and his own glory, his own sovereign plan, but he's not obligated. So prerequisite number one, do you abide in Christ? Prerequisite number two, and I'm taking you now in the whole context of the passage to verse four, abide in me and I in you. Second prerequisite is Jesus is abiding in you. Do you let him into your daily activities, your daily life?
Do you let him control your life? My day, Lord, my life is about your plan, your kingdom, your purpose. That goes back to what Jesus said a couple chapters ago.
If you ask anything, in my name. In other words, according to the person of Jesus, something that aligns with his purposes and his person. So if you abide in him, he abides in you, and here's the third. Verse seven, if you abide in me and my words abide in you. What are his words? Well, all the sayings that he said, and I think we can broaden that out to say the word of God, the scripture.
Certainly the scripture gives us direction to pray right things. You know, before I was saved, this is to my shame, but I'll admit it. I distinctly remember praying, asking God to help me do something that was wrong, that was evil.
I knew it was. It was criminal. And I asked him to help me do it and help me not get caught when I did it. Now, talk about a lame prayer. You think God's gonna answer that? Actually, he said no. He did answer it. Because what I was asking for was certainly not in line.
It was totally out of line with his word. You know how Jesus taught us to pray. Father in heaven, holy is your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Well, that helps me understand the purpose of prayer then isn't to get my will done in heaven, but his will done on earth. So, I abide in Christ. He abides in me. His word abides in me. And look at what Jesus said. You will ask what you desire.
You know why that is? Because what you desire will be what he desires. Your desire will line up with his wishes and his will.
He won't be desiring things like, Lord, help me do this evil thing and not get caught. Jesus said, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. So, demonstration number one, fruitful in life. Demonstration number two, powerful in prayer.
And here's the third and we close with this. Joyful in spirit. Look at verse 11.
Well, let's read all the way down. Verse 9, as the Father loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love. You keep my commandments. You will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you.
Now, what things? Well, he said a lot of things to them in chapters 13, 14 and now in 15. These things I have spoken to you, my disciples, my followers, that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full to the max, turned up to 10, you might say. Okay, now, think back to last chapter. If you recall in the last chapter, part of these things, Jesus promised them was peace.
Remember that? He said, peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. My own personal peace I'm passing on to you. So, he promises them peace. Now, he promises them joy.
And just think about that. Those are the two very things this world craves. Every single person I have ever met would say, I want to find inner peace and I want to find true joy. So, put it all together.
Put it all together what we said last week and this week so far. You're connected to Christ, cared for by God, consistent over time. It produces a person who's fruitful in life, powerful in prayer, joyful in spirit. In other words, the very things that people, every person craves, Jesus says, I want you to have peace, joy. The very things everyone wants, I'm going to give to you. Question is, are you willing to go God's way to get them? Or are you going to say, I don't know about this Christian stuff.
I think there's a lot of other ways to be peaceful and joyful. Okay, go try it. Empty well. Try something else. Empty well.
Try something else. Empty well. Jesus says, I'll give it to you. You'll have joy and it will be my joy.
Have you ever thought about that? Jesus is going to the cross. He knows he's going to die in a few hours and he speaks about having joy.
What kind of joy could you have knowing your life's going to end soon? Well, it says in Hebrews, for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross. I think the joy was seeing you and me and millions of others like us throughout history who would believe in him and be heaven bound because of his act of sacrifice. And he brought him such joy. He said, I can do this.
It's worth it. And he promises you that joy. Boy, as I read Christian history, I would say that there have been periods at least of Christian history where Christianity has not been associated with much joy. I mean, there was a time when Christians were taught to sort of look very serious and clergy all wore black and everybody was sort of dour and sanctuary tone and don't you dare smile and especially don't laugh. Oliver Wendell Holmes said, I would have entered the ministry if the clergyman I know didn't look and act so much like undertakers. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote in a journal, as if surprised, I went to church today and I'm not depressed. Now, who wrote those rules?
Whoever wrote those rules, throw that rule book out. Jesus says, you can have my joy and your joy can be to the max to the fall. Real, authentic, Christian joy. It's time we overturned that kind of nonsense that we just mentioned and demonstrate what it is to be joyful, touched by God, full of life, believers.
A name probably most of you have never heard is Helmut Theilike. He's a German theologian, now dead, wrote this. Should we not see that lines of laughter about the eyes are just as much marks of faith as lines of care and seriousness? Is it only earnestness that is to be baptized? Is laughter pagan?
A church is in a bad way when it banishes laughter from the sanctuary and leaves it to the cabaret, the nightclub, and the toastmasters. How's your joyfulness? So put all of that together that we've said last week and this week and I was thinking about that because I had now two weeks to go through these verses and I wish I had two more, but I want to keep the pace up. I was thinking, you know what, if we could really get a handle of application on these truths from last week and this week, it would revolutionize our church.
I honestly believe that. Connected to Christ, cared for by the Father, consistent over time so that we're fruitful in life, powerful in prayer, joyful in spirit, it would revolutionize every individual who applies themselves to this, in turn revolutionizing our church and our witness in this community. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We hope you've been strengthened in your walk with Jesus by today's program. Before we let you go, we want to remind you about this month's resource that will help you experience God's shalom in life's busiest seasons. Unleashing Peace by Jeremiah Johnston is our thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig today. Request your copy when you give $50 or more. Call 800-922-1888.
That's 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. And did you know that you can find full message series and libraries of content from Skip Heitzig on YouTube? Simply visit the Connect with Skip Heitzig channel on YouTube and be sure to subscribe to the channel so you never miss any new content. We'll see you next time for more verse by verse teaching of God's word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig weekend edition. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast your burdens on His word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.
