Want to be productive in life? Practical teaching from God's Word to help you.
Next, on leading the way. Every fruitful branch said Jesus in John 15. will be pruned. He prunes. Why?
The answer is in the scripture.
So that it Maybe Much fruit. You see, God is not contented with just some fruit in your life and in my life, He wants much fruit. Welcome to Leading the Way. with pastor and author Dr. Michael Usap.
Growing up in Egypt gave Dr. Youssef a unique perspective on the Bible. because he lived in and experienced the culture of where real life Bible events occurred. Add in seminary training and years as a local pastor to his life experience, and God's Word comes to life in fresh ways for you on leading the way. If you'd like to learn more about Dr.
Youssef and the Global Ministry of Leading the Way, Look at ltw.org. Today, biblical perspective on ways that the Holy Spirit works to grow fruit in your life. especially those times when joys and struggles collide. Let's listen as Dr. Michael Youssef begins today's teaching time.
Did you know? that some stress in your life is good. And I'm talking about some stress now, okay? I'm not talking about prolonged stress. Because prolonged stress is not good, but some stress is good.
You say, how come? I mean, every person I talk to tells me that I need to avoid stress in my life at any cost. How can he tell me that some stress is okay?
Well, because we're so beautifully and wonderfully made, Our Creator made us to respond. Distress. I am told by the experts the body releases three different hormones into your bloodstream. These hormones are all designed to help us adapt and thrive in the midst of Stress. One hormone.
uses stored up fat and carbohydrates. to make more oxygen and release that oxygen into your muscles. Another hormone will cause all the routine functions of the body to basically slow down so that all the energy focuses. On the stress point. A third hormone that is released In our body, when we come under stress, actually reduces pain.
Somebody said, but I get a headache when I'm under stress. No, you get a headache after the stress has passed. Not while in the middle of the stress, because that hormone's supposed to take that pain away. Again, let me repeat that prolonged stress is not good for anybody. In fact, it can cause all kinds of complications.
But from a spiritual point of view, in your spiritual walk with Christ. When you're facing stress in life, It basically presses you against the heart of God. And today, I want to talk to you about the spiritual hormones that the Holy Spirit releases in your life when you come under stress.
Now, don't forget, the creator of the body is the creator of the spirit and the soul. And therefore he made us to respond to stress both physiologically and spiritually. And Just as he gave us remedies, To deal With stress in our body, He gave us a remedy to deal with stress in our Spirit. I am of course talking about, and most of you figured it out. The fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Love Joy Peace. Patience, kindness. Goodness. Faithfulness, judgment. gentleness and self-control.
Like the three Hormones that physiologically released into our body to help us cope with stress. When the Holy Spirit fills us, on a moment by moment basis, this ninefold Spiritual hormone are released into our body to be exhibited and manifested in the tough times, in the hard times, in the difficult times. That's God's design for us. In the stressful times, But listen, because I know some of you are saying, well, how come You telling us that this fruit of the Spirit can only be exhibited In the tough times, in the difficult times, in the hard times. Why this fruit of the Spirit is not exhibited all the time?
I'm going to tell you why. Because we can theorize About the fruit of the Spirit, all we want. But the fact is We can only manifest these fruits When the heat is on. In times of trouble. That's the only time you really can see them manifest.
You try to manifest love, joy, peace, patience, and all that when everything is going fine and you can't see them.
So I want you to turn with me, please, if to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5 particularly Verses twenty-two And twenty-three. Because there the Apostle Paul tells us about the fruit in the singular. Not fruits. A lot of Christians confuse that and talk about the fruits of the Spirit.
It is one. Singular fruit of the Spirit. It's a cluster of one fruit. that is produced In your life and in my life, particularly in the stressful times, particularly in the difficult times, particularly in the trying times, the fruit of the Spirit. In fact, listen carefully.
This is the Letmus test of the Spirit-filled life. This is the Letmos test for those who are living. In and through the power of the Holy Spirit that we talked about in the last message. Because this is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, not your fruit, not my fruit, not somebody else's fruit. They belong to the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, you cannot manufacture them. You cannot fake it, it cannot be imitated, it cannot be duplicated, it cannot be induced. They hang on the tree of life. They are just manifested. as you are continuously being filled with the Holy Spirit of God.
In fact, trying to manufacture the fruit of the Spirit like that little country boy who was raising chicken. And he was frustrated at the smallness of the eggs that the chicken are producing.
So he went into town. Came back with a parcel that was revealing an ostrich egg. And he took that ostrich egg and held it up in front of these unsuspecting fowls and said, Look at this, you guy, try harder. There is as much chance for a Christian to manufacture the fruit of the Spirit as these chicken producing ostrich eggs. It is an impossibility to manufacture it.
The fruit of the Spirit can only be exhibited when the fullness of the Holy Spirit is taking place in your life and in mine day by day, moment by moment, as we live our life.
Now, there's something here that I don't want you to miss. It's very important. I want you to notice the incredible. powerful contrast that Paul the Apostle draws between the works of the flesh. The works in the plural, and the fruit of the Spirit in the singular.
He gives us this dramatic change between the works and the fruit. Why? Because works belong to the workshop. But fruit. Belongs to the garden.
Because work comes out of the noise of the factory. But the fruit grows in the silence and in the quiet of the spirit-filled life. Works takes place with dead things, like dead wood that's been cut, a tree that has died and been cut. but the fruit. comes out of a cultivated living force.
And all of the works fail and fade away and disappear and burn and pass away, but the fruit will continue bearing season after season after season. Listen. The flesh can only manufacture Pain and heartache. Read the works Of the flesh again. Every one of them.
is designed to bring you pain and heartache. But the Spirit produces beautiful fruit. The works in the plural. of the flesh. can be practiced, maybe two or three of them at a time.
But the fruit of the Spirit, the ninefold of it, all can be exhibited all at the same time. Why? Because the Holy Spirit, listen to me, the Holy Spirit never, never, never, never fails to produce fruit in the life that is abiding in Christ, in a life that is surrendered to Christ, in a life that is totally committed to Christ. The works of the flesh in the plural divide and cause division. The works of the flesh divide our minds and divide our hearts and divide our allegiance.
The works of the flesh Divides many friends, and I have seen it over and over again: how the works of the flesh divide spouses from one another who have committed to each other for life. But when the works of the flesh get sin, they become separated and divided. The works of the flesh divide communities. I have seen it, the works of the flesh divide even churches. Ah, but the fruit of the Spirit in the singular Unites.
The fruit of the Spirit unify my mind and my heart and my will so that together I love God, I am loyal to God, I serve God, I love Him with all my heart. The fruit of the Spirit unifies my mind and my heart in obedience to the Word of God. The fruit of the Spirit unifies my heart and my mind and my will for loyalty to Christ. And my beloved friends, that is why. The fruit of the Spirit cannot be manufactured.
It cannot be faked. Those who try fail miserably. and they wonder what's wrong with them. I tried harder. I try harder.
No, no, no, no, that's not how it works.
So how can you produce this fruit?
Well, the psalmist tells us the first thing. That why and how you can bear fruit in your life. Psalm 1. Psalm once said, Blessed is the one. who is like a tree.
Planted where? At the river's water. It yields its fruit in due season. See, the location where the tree is is the first secret for the production of the fruit. for the manifestation of the fruit.
Take that magnificent tree that's producing fruit. and transplanted into a desert. and leave it there for a little bit. It will be a very short period of time and it's gonna die, certain death. the place where the tree is planted.
is of vital importance. And when you are abiding in Christ, as Jesus said in John chapter 15, when you are planted by the waters of the Holy Spirit of God flowing through you moment by moment, you will produce fruit. Jesus said, only the branch that abides in me. It will produce fruit. How do you abide in Christ?
By obedience. to the word of god Jesus said, If you keep my commandments, You will abide in my love.
Now beloved, listen to me. Obedience brings about maturity and develops the fruit of the Spirit in your life and mind. The opposite is true. Stubbornness and self-will. And Forceful of one's own opinion.
And arrogance. They will keep that person immature. Even if he or she has been walking with the Lord for 30 or 40 years. I'm telling you, I have seen people who have been Christians for years and they are childish when it comes to the fruit of the Spirit. Why?
Because they're not abiding. They are not maturing. And maturity comes from surrender to the Holy Spirit, to give up my opinion and give up my ideas and surrender to His. And that is why whenever the Holy Spirit is grieved Because of not being obedient to the Word of God, whenever the Holy Spirit is quenched, when you turn a deaf ear to His voice that speaks to you again and again and again. There will be no fruit.
You can go to twenty thousand conferences and you can attend twenty Bible studies a week and you can try all the things that all the Christians try to do, and they're not going to produce the fruit of the Spirit. Amen, amen. to grieve and quench. The Holy Spirit of God. Every Fruitful branch Said Jesus in John 15.
will be pruned. He prunes. Why? And the answer is in the scripture.
so that it may bear Much fruit. You see, God is not contented with just some fruit in your life and in my life, He wants much fruit. So if you think you want fruit, just imagine how much God wants fruit in your life. Listen, some of you are going through some pruning time right now.
Now, I'm not talking about the works of the flesh that causes pain in your life. If you're a person who has not known the Lord Jesus Christ and you're still in the works of the flesh, you need to go to first base. You need to come to Jesus, surrender your life to Him, receive Him as the Savior of your soul, and just start there. But I'm talking about believers who love the Lord. who are going through pruning time.
A difficult time. Here's the good news. Don't fret over that. This is only temporary. This proves that God Has something Far more magnificent in store for you.
This removing of the dead woods in your life and in mind. It's not because God is mad at you. It's not because God is angry at you. No, no, no. That is From the devil.
It is not because God gave up on you. No. The opposite is true. That pruning is a sign that God is pleased with you. It's a sign that God is delighted in you.
It is a sign that God is rejoicing over you, singing. And He just wants to improve the quality and the quantity of the fruit in your life. And now I'm going to tell you Pruning is not fun. Amen, that's right. It is not fun.
Pruning is not pleasant. Pruning i i is is not sought after by me, I can assure you. I don't get up in the morning and I said, Oh Lord, what about pruning me some more today? Not in your life. In fact, those times of pruning can be out and out painful.
But more than that. Those times can be dangerous. Listen carefully, please. I know what I'm talking about. The reason they are dangerous times They're serious time because It's just been clipped.
And you're bleeding. And you're in pain? But also during the pruning time. The enemy of your soul is going to come to you. And he's going to say to you, with a sanctimonious Preacher's voice.
Does God really love you? If he really loves you. How come he hasn't answered your prayers? If he really loves you, if he really cares about you. How come he is silent?
If God really loves you, and the list goes on and on and on. What you need to do at that time is to remind the devil. That is because He loves me. It's because He cares for me. It's because He is near to me.
It's because He longs for me to bear much fruit that He's pruning me. He's getting rid of all the dead woods in my life that doesn't belong there anyway. And remember this. God's purpose for those whom He prunes and those whom He loves, His ultimate purpose is because He wants you to bear much fruit. He really does.
If he leaves you For Foolish To grow And multiply Huge big bushes. Green, and maybe even you look beautiful. And the greenies like it. But then when you look in there There's no fruit. There's no fruit.
That's why you must understand. That the Holy Spirit does not want to discourage you. The Holy Spirit does not want to condemn you, He wants to convict you. And the way he convicts you is by removing all of the dead words that doesn't belong to your life. The Holy Spirit always, always, always has solutions to all of our problems.
Only if we are by and listen. Whenever the works of the Plural, the works of the flesh. Tried to take over. in our lives. And try, they will.
God loves you enough He loves me enough to not let that go on. For too long. He might patiently wait. But if it goes on For too long he intervenes and starts pruning. Why?
Because the works of the flesh If they left Alone. If they're left to their own devices, they're going to build a hedge, they're going to build a big bush, they're going to build a wall that is going to try to separate you from God. God never moves. He's there all the time. It's you who move.
The cry of our time. Is that we must eliminate stress, all stress, out of our lives. No. What you need to do is this. Pray to the Lord.
Lord. Help me to turn my stress. To be my servant and not my master. Lord, Use my stress to to polish brighter my testimony. Lord.
Let my stress Cause me to cling to Christ, not pull away from Him, Lord. Turn my stress into an opportunity so that I may thrive and bear much fruit, not just survive. Let the fruit of the Spirit. Fill my life. and truly manifested.
in these stressful times. A reminder from Dr. Michael Youssep. That the Holy Spirit offers solutions to all problems as you abide in Him. and listen to his holy guidance.
And if today's message on leading the way from Dr. Youssef sparked spiritual questions, won't you consider talking with one of the ministry pastors or counselors? You can start that conversation by filling out a short contact form at ltw.org/slash cheeseus. Ltw.org slash Jesus. Many point to politics as the root of crisis in culture today.
But what if it went even deeper than that? What if the root of cultural crisis is spiritual? every moment of every day. There are unseen battles being fought over your head. Satan wants to keep us in ignorance about him and about the word of God.
And yet the angels of light Often work to fight off his attack on the children of the living God in that unseen spiritual battle. In Dr. Michael Youssef's new book, Winning the Invisible War, he offers timely hope for the battle worn. Dr. Youssef reminds you that although the war isn't over, victory is guaranteed in Christ.
As a Bible scholar and compassionate pastor, Dr. Youssev gives you tools to stand strong in the strength of the Lord and be victorious in winning the invisible war. Pre-order your copy today and learn more about the content when you go to ltw.org. It'll be shipped to you the moment it's released when you give a gift of any amount to the ongoing Ministry of Leading the Way. ltw.org.
Request your copy of Winning the Invisible War Today. You can get all of the pre-ordering details from your Leading the Way Ministry representatives at 866-2666. six two six four three five six. And of course, you can order online. And learn more about the life-shifting content when you go to ltw.org.
ltw. When Dr. Youssef began the ministry of leading the way, he committed to using the latest cutting-edge technologies to proclaim the truth of the gospel. Dr. Youssef leveraged the power of media, radio, television, and satellite.
Now, as digital technologies rapidly transforms the face of our world, Dr. Youssef is, once again, leveraging the newest technologies to passionately proclaim uncompromising truth. My Faith Assistant is a free tool available at ltw.org and on LeadingThe Way's mobile app. My Faith Assistant is a platform ready to provide you with answers to your faith questions, rooted in God's Word and the trusted teaching of Dr. Michael A.
Youssef. Get answers to ways to share your faith with a friend or family member. Tips for deepening your faith through Bible study. Get details on Bible history and how the Bible came to be as it is today. Visit ltw.org or LeadingThe Way's mobile app today and explore your questions with my faith assistant.
This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth.
