3 Keys To A Fruitful Life | Gateway Church

Well, hey, Gateway Church and welcome to church online or better yet, church at home. Whether you're joining us from a gateway gathering or one of our prison campuses or at your living room, we are so excited that ((music playing)) you chose to worship with us this weekend. And we believe that God is big enough to meet you right where ((music playing)) you are.

So, we come today with great expectation. You know, the Bible says in Psalm 105:1, give praise to the Lord and proclaim his name. And so we're going to begin today by lifting up our voices and lifting up ((music playing)) the name of Jesus in worship and in praise. And so I want to encourage you.

Don't simply spectate, ((music playing)) but engage, participate. And we believe that God will meet you in a special way. So let's worship together. ((music playing)) ((music playing)) >> ((music playing)) >> The Lord is my shepher, ((music playing)) my refuge, and my [singing] shelter. Though enemy ((music playing)) [singing] surround, he's my defender. He's faithful [music and singing] and patient. He's loving and he's gracious ((music playing)) from age [singing] to age.

His goodness never changes. So I will sing ((music playing)) praise. I will sing praise. ((music playing)) For the [singing] Lord is good always. All of my days held by his [singing] grace. For the Lord is ((music playing)) good. The Lord is good always. ((music playing)) Always. Always. [singing] My prize and my treasure. [music and singing] He's good beyond all ((music playing)) measure. Oh, I've tasted and I've seen there's [singing and music] nothing better.

So forever I will sing praise. I will sing praise ((music playing)) for the Lord [singing] is good always. ((music playing)) All of my days held by his grace. ((music playing)) For the Lord [singing] is good always. ((music playing)) I will sing praise. I will sing praise. For the Lord [music and singing] is good always. All of my days. Help by his grace.

For the Lord is good. ((music playing)) The Lord is good always. Always. Always the Lord ((music playing)) is good always. Always. The Lord [singing] is good ((music playing)) always. Oh, I'm standing on [singing] the rock, the rock of ages, holding to the hope that's never failing. I've got all I need, cuz I've got ((music playing)) you. [singing] Wo.

I'm standing on the rock, the rock of ((music playing)) ages, [singing] holding to the hope that's never fading. I've got all I need, cuz I've got you. Yeah. Oh, I'm standing on the rock, the rock of ages. ((music playing)) Oh, to the love that's never fading. I've got all I need. Cuz I've got ((music playing)) you.

Oh, I'll sing praise. I'll sing praise. For the Lord is good ((music playing)) always. All [singing] of my days held by his grace. For [music and singing] the Lord is good always. I ((music playing)) will sing praise. I will sing praise. For the Lord is good ((music playing)) always. In all [singing] of my days, held by his grace.

For the Lord is good. The Lord is good [music and singing] always. Always. The Lord is good ((music playing)) always. [singing] Always. Always. The Lord is good always. ((music playing)) >> ((music playing)) >> You are the one creation [singing] obeys. When you speak, dark ((music playing)) turns to light. Death comes to life. Jesus, when you breathe, ((music playing)) you are the one calming the wind [singing and music] in the waves.

You'll make a way. Your promise [music and singing] remains. God, you never [singing] change. You ((music playing)) were, [singing] you are, you always will be. God alone, ((music playing)) seated on the throne, king of all majesty. [singing and music] You reign in victory. [music and singing] You were, you are, you always will be. God alone [music and singing] seated on the throne. Jesus ((music playing)) be glorified forever lifted high. >> ((music playing)) >> You were the one, the lion who roared from ((music playing)) the grave.

The stone [singing] rolled away. And you are the king. You're worthy ((music playing)) of all praise. You ((music playing)) were, you are, you always will ((music playing)) be. God alone seated on the throne, king of ((music playing)) all majesty. You reign in victory. ((music playing)) You were, you are, you always will be. ((music playing)) God alone seated on the throne.

Jesus be glorified [music and singing] forever lifted high. Oh be ((music playing)) lifted up. Oh be magnified [singing] Lord. ((music playing)) We enthrone you. ((music playing)) All [singing] the glory is yours. ((music playing)) All the glory [singing] is yours now and [singing] forever ((music playing)) more. All the glory is yours. All ((music playing)) the glory is yours. [singing] All the glory ((music playing)) is yours [singing] now and forever more.

All the glory ((music playing)) is [singing] yours. It belongs to you, Jesus. All the glory is ((music playing)) yours. All the glory is [singing] yours now and forever [music and singing] more. All the glory is yours. [singing and music] You were, you are, you always will be God alone. [music and singing] Seated on the throne. King of all ((music playing)) majesty. You reign. You reign in victory.

((music playing)) You were. You are. You [music and singing] always will be God alone seated on ((music playing)) the throne. Jesus be glorified ((music playing)) forever lifted high. All the glory is [music and singing] yours. All the glory is yours ((music playing)) now and forever more. All the glory is yours [singing] and all the ((music playing)) glory is yours. All the ((music playing)) glory is yours [singing] now and forever more.

All the glory is yours. Yes, it belongs to you, Jesus. ((music playing)) All the glory, [singing] all the honor, it belongs to you. Enthroned ((music playing)) in glory, my savior king. Your loving kindness has welcomed me. Though I'm ((music playing)) unworthy of majesty, you have the feel in royalty. So I will lay my ((music playing)) crowns down at [singing] your feet.

You are holy, holy. And I will give [music and singing] my life as an offery cuz you are worthy. ((music playing)) So worthy. >> ((music playing)) >> here at your altar to seek your face. Broken and poured [music and singing] out without my strength in full abandoned before [music and singing] my king. Here I surrender my everything. So [music and singing] I will lay my crowns down at ((music playing)) your feet.

Cuz you are holy, [music and singing] so holy. And I will give ((music playing)) my life as an offer. Cuz you are worthy. So worthy. And I will lay my [singing] crowns ((music playing)) down at your feet. Cuz you ((music playing)) are holy, so holy. And I'll [singing] give ((music playing)) my life as an offering. [singing] Cuz you are worthy. [music and singing] So worthy.

Yes, Lord. ((music playing)) >> ((music playing)) >> And holy, holy, holy is the lamb upon the [singing] throne. We join with all of heaven in ((music playing)) the [singing] everlasting song. Holy, holy, holy is ((music playing)) the [singing] lamb upon the throne. We join with all of heaven ((music playing)) in the everlasting [singing] song. Oh, holy, holy, ((music playing)) holy is the lamb upon the throne.

We join with all of heaven in the ((music playing)) everlasting song. Oh, holy, holy, holy is ((music playing)) the lamb upon the throne. We joined with all of heaven ((music playing)) in the everlasting soul. Oh yes, ((music playing)) you're holy. Oh God, you're worthy. ((music playing)) Oh, holy, holy, holy, ((music playing)) holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy is the Lord.

Holy, holy, holy, ((music playing)) holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy ((music playing)) is the Lord. And I will lay my crowns [music and singing] down at your feet. Cuz you are holy, [singing] so holy. And I ((music playing)) will give my life as an [singing] offer. Cuz you are worthy. So worthy [music and singing] Lord. So we just finished uh a worship song really about surrender.

In fact, there's a line in the song that ((music playing)) says, "Here I am surrendering everything." And I remember many years ago, I heard a pastor talk about surrender. And he says, you know, we get in these worshipful moments and we declare God, we're surrendering all. But what happens is in our minds, we think we ((music playing)) have this pile of stuff and that God's going to show up with a bulldozer and just ((music playing)) scoop all that stuff up and take it away.

But in fact, what happens in reality is that God does show up, but he doesn't show up with a bulldozer. He shows up with a pair of tweezers. ((music playing)) And he looks at all this stuff that we have and he takes his tweezers and ((music playing)) he starts to pick through it and he goes, "I don't want that.

And I don't want that. and I don't want that. And then he gets to the very thing that we want most and he ((music playing)) says, I want that. Now, when we find out that God wants that, we're like, God, why do you want that? It's the thing that we want most.

And the reason why God wants that is not because he's mean, but because he wants to be first. He He wants to be the center. He wants to be the ((music playing)) most important thing in our lives. Because God understands that the best thing for you and ((music playing)) the best thing for me is that he is first.

And this is why Matthew ((music playing)) 6:33, Jesus says, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you." In other words, ((music playing)) if we will put God first, he'll take care of everything. And I don't I don't know where you are today, but maybe as we're declaring about our surrender, maybe there is a that ((music playing)) in your life.

Maybe that is a relationship. Maybe that is money. Maybe that ((music playing)) is a position. Or maybe that is a fear or an anxiety or a worry that you've been carrying around. I believe God is inviting us today to surrender that to him. And so I just want to lead us in a moment of prayer of ((music playing)) surrender.

And so would you pray with me? Father, we just thank you because our heart's declaration ((music playing)) is that you would be God. You would be number one. You would be the center of our lives. ((music playing)) And our prayer today is that you would give us grace to let go of that to give you ((music playing)) everything in full surrender to you in Jesus' name.

Amen. Listen, it was so ((music playing)) great worshiping with you and I'm so excited because Pastor Daniel has an incredible message coming up and he's concluding the series ((music playing)) Built Different. And so we're so excited about the message. Would you go ahead and grab a notepad, a Bible, get ready to receive a great word ((music playing)) from the Lord as we hear from Pastor Daniel.

Hey everyone, welcome to church at home church wherever you are today. We're so glad that you're joining us and I hope you're staying safe. I hope you're staying warm. This is my first experience with a Texas winter storm and uh it's interesting everyone. Um but so glad that you're with us today.

Hey, I want to let you know that next Sunday, uh, we're beginning a brand new series on a topic that everybody needs. There is no one in your life, I promise you, that doesn't need what we're going to be talking about over the next four weeks, and that's all about relationships.

Brand new series called It's Complicated. Because how many of you know that relationships can be complicated and challenging and interesting to navigate, and they can be a source of life and joy and community and so many wonderful things. And we're going to be talking about it all. And so I want you to be inviting someone.

This is a wonderful series to invite someone in your life that maybe is close to you and is far from God or maybe maybe they know the Lord, but they've just kind of stepped out of church for a little while. This is a great time to invite someone to be back in the house.

The whole month of February, it's going to be an incredible time. I'm really looking forward to this series. Excited to wrap up built different. We've been in this series. We've been talking about the power of prayer, the habit of prayer, the power of the word of God. Last week we talked about capturing our thoughts and bringing them in obedience to Christ.

Today I want to talk to you about three keys to a fruitful life and how God wants you to bear fruit, but it may not come in the way that you think. Want to revisit the verse that we've been working from this theme verse the entire series. 1 Timothy 4:7 says this, "Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas or old wives tales.

Instead, here's the word, train yourself to be godly." In other words, there's going to take some work, some discipline. Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better because why? Because it promises benefits in this life and it promises benefits in the life to come. So, let's pray together.

Father, we open our hearts and minds to you. Holy Spirit, speak to us no matter where we are today. We believe your word has the power to change us and we'll never be the same because of it. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. So, most of you know I have a seven-year-old now.

Our youngest is seven, Jonas. And um this kid has energy. From the time he was born, he slept in two-hour increments. The first year we we didn't sleep at all. And it hasn't changed. He's the first one up in the morning. And when he gets up, he rubs his eyes and then he's ready to go.

I mean, it's full throttle. And he wants to wrestle all the time. And so, every day when I come home, there's a chance almost certainly that there's going to be a moment where he goes, "Dad, let's wrestle." usually after dinner. And so we wrestle for a few moments and then whenever I think we're done, I stop and then he'll come back and go, "Do it again."

And over and over with never ending energy, he wants to wrestle. And I do this not because I have all this energy at the end of a workday, but because here's what always happens is we'll get done wrestling, he'll run to his room, he's playing with Beyblades or Legos or something, and then he'll run back into the room and he'll jump and give me a hug and go, "I love you, Dad."

And then he takes off as fast as he came in. Here's what I want you to know is that what I want is the hug. The way it comes is wrestling with him and fighting with him and meeting that that need that he has for some reason to want to get beat up every day after work.

And I want to propose to you this is that a lot of the things you want in life may not come in the way that you think they'll come, but they'll come in the way that you least expect. This is what Jesus is saying in Matthew chapter 6:33.

You may know this verse says, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things will be added unto you as well." In other words, in the context, he's talking about all the physical needs that you and I often worry about and stress about and strain about, like where will food come from?

And you know, and he says, "If if a frog has a lily pad, won't I take care of it?" And then he says, "So seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all this other stuff that you're worried about and running after will take care of itself."

We live life upside down a lot of times. We're striving for all the things. And God goes, "No, the kingdom of God is is different than the kingdom of this world. If you'll seek me first, then all these other things will come unto you as well." In other words, what you're wanting may not come in the way that you thought it would come.

And in this vein of thought, I want to talk to you about fruitfulness in your life. that maybe the fruitfulness you're wanting in your life won't come in the way that you thought it would come. And Jesus speaks to this in John chapter 15. We're going to find three principles that I want to share with you briefly today.

And uh if you're a notetaker, you know, write it down. If not, go ahead and write it down anyways. All right. John chapter 15, Jesus says this. He's he's using the analogy of a vine and a branch. And he says, "I am the true vine and my father is the gardener.

And he cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit. While every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes. Why? So that it will bear even more fruit. And he says, "You're already clean because of the words I've spoken to you. Remain in me and I will remain in you.

No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." He says this, "I am the vine." So he's telling us who the players are. You are the branches. And if a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit.

Here's the key. Apart from me, you can do nothing. Now, first I want to say to you that fruit bearing in your life is not a salvation issue. So, this is not what Jesus is talking about here because salvation is grace. Uh, it's by faith. It's the free gift.

It's not of works. So, he isn't talking about if you'll remain in me then you can earn your way into heaven. That's that's not at all what God is talking about in this text. What Jesus is saying to us is that because you are a follower of Christ, there should be some fruit in your life.

There should be some evidence in it. I've already cleaned you. That's what the text said. I've already cleaned you, but there should be some fruit that comes out of your life if you're connected to me. In other words, this way. I always tell my kids, if you're a Floyd, it means something.

Like when people get us, I want them to get generosity. I want them to get a heart of honor. I want them to get a heart of humility. You're a Floyd. Period. But when they get us, there should be some evidence of what our family is about. This is what Jesus is saying is that there should be some evidence, some fruit in your life.

And he says the only way you get the fruit is to remain. Now the word remain just simply means this. It means same. It means continue. It means doing it over again. do it again and again and again and again. And here's the challenge with that is sometimes that can feel boring and sometimes that can feel monotonous.

And sometimes we think that it's the flashy thing, it's the new thing, it's um you know a beginning of a year. If I get a new planner, then I'm going to be organized. If I get the new budgeting app, then I'll get my finances together. If I can just get the gym membership, then I'm going to be healthy again.

And I just want to propose to you that maybe it's not the new, maybe it's the same. Maybe it's the same thing. It's remaining. It's routine. It's consistency. It's moving the same direction over a long period of time will produce the fruit. This is what Jesus is saying.

Remain in me. Stay connected to the branch, to the vine, and then you'll bear fruit in your life. Now, there are some sayings that you don't want. Um, I'm going to give you a few of them. You don't want stupid same. Stupid same is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results because you don't like the ones you're getting.

Let's don't do stupid same. Let's don't do stagnant same. That is no progress and you're not moving forward. Let's don't do scared same. That's allowing fear to control your life. Let's don't do stubborn same. And some of you you're elbowing your spouse on the couch right now. Like stubborn same.

That's the refusal to change even though the current path isn't leading towards a godly end. So I'm not talking about these kind of sames where you're in a rut and you're stuck. But I'm talking about the same the consistency the what we've been talking about this series the habits that change your life that Jesus says if you'll remain if you just keep doing the same if you continue in it there is a power to same.

There's a power to same. Think about it. There is a power to the athlete that works out every day. It's the same. It's it's the 10,00 free throws every day that that produce the thing everybody cheers on national TV. It's the same. It's the it's the minor that that chips away little by little and then they strike gold.

It's the power of consistency. It's the power of remaining. You want the fruit in your life, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, the blessing of God, the favor of God on your life. You want to deal with some issues in your life, some areas where maybe the sin that so easily beset you, as Paul says, you want to deal with that.

You want freedom in those areas. You want victory over those areas. It's not going to be because you white knuckle it this year and you just try your best. It's going to be because you stay connected to the vine. You remain in Christ. You stay connected to him.

And so, three quick principles on this whole idea of remaining. Number one is this. And you got to know this because I don't want you to give up or stop short is that momentum may not be immediate. That whenever you're remaining in the vine, momentum may not happen immediately.

Some of us, we want immediate momentum, right? We we want to we want to go get on the treadmill and then go home and look in the mirror and see the change. [laughter] Can I just tell you our our walk with Jesus, it's kind of like that. that you know, one Sunday of faithfulness and one week of being in the word and and then you want to stand in the spiritual mirror and be like, am I stronger now?

Did it work? And I just want to encourage you that don't give up because momentum may not be. You may not be able to see it immediately what God is doing, but I promise you this. God is working because faithfulness, obedience, staying committed to Jesus, staying connected to the vine, the source of his power will begin to work in and through our lives.

And the fruit we really want in our lives, the things that really matter will begin to be produced in our life because consistency compounds. I think about Joshua, right? He was told to go march around the walls and day one, nothing. And just think about it for a moment.

Quietly, this nation is marching around the walls. I mean, if I was Joshua, by day three, I'd be like, Lord, can can like a pebble fall? Like, can can just a little piece of mortar from the wall like crack or something so I can see some kind of progress?

But no progress. Nothing. Day seven. Then there's seven times around the wall, right? And even on number six, on number seven, not till they shouted did the wall fall down. But it was the consistency. It was the obedience. They didn't see any momentum until the moment they shouted, then the walls fell.

And I just want to encourage you that in this year, some of you, you've already made the commitment to be allin. And you've decided, I'm I'm going to go all in. I'm going to serve. I'm going to give. I'm going to get into a small group. I'm going to get into the word.

I'm going to pray. And you're setting that aside. And man, we're we're about a month into the year and you're going, I I you you're in front of the spiritual mirror going, do I have six-pack yet? You know, and I just want to encourage you momentum may not be seen immediately, but God is working.

It's it's man, is is the is the serving doing anything? Yeah, it is. It may take time to see it. Fruit takes time to bear. Is is the getting up every morning and spending a few time minutes in the word, is it doing anything? Yeah, it is. The seed of the word of God is getting into your heart.

But fruit takes time to bear. Is is praying is giving is my generosity is opening my heart up to forgiveness. Is that doing? Yes, it is. Listen to me. It's doing something because God is at work. God's always at work. But fruit takes time to bear. So momentum may not be immediate, but don't give up in the middle of it.

Number two thought is it's faithfulness that produces fruitfulness. Faithfulness produces fruitfulness. Listen to Proverbs chapter 3 verse 3 and 4. It says, "Let love and faithfulness, there it is, never leave you." Let love and faithfulness never leave you. And it goes on to say this, "Bind them around your neck.

Write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and of men. There's a power to your faithfulness. There's a power to dad, do it again. Dad, wrestle again. Dad, wrestle again. Dad, wrestle again. Because here's the deal.

Your potential in life is really found in your patterns. It's not found in your goals and it's not found in in your desires. It's not found in the thing that you aspire to. Your potential, your your spiritual potential, your life potential is found in the patterns of your life.

It's what you do every day that creates what you will do someday. I like to say it this way. Praying isn't awesome. Reading your word isn't awesome. Being in the church isn't awesome. Giving isn't awesome. Doing it every day is awesome. It's the consistency of it. It's over.

It's the same. It's remaining in the vine over and over and over. Here, here's some patterns that Jesus gave us. Psalm Matthew chapter 6, we said, "Seek first the kingdom of God." How about this pattern? Give and it will be given back to you. How about this one?

Sew and you shall reap. Here's a great one. Confess and he will forgive. Stay connected to Jesus and you will bear fruit. But here's the deal. Listen to me. I want you to get this. You can't plant yourself uproot. Plant yourself uproot. Plant yourself uproot and ever expect to be fruitful.

Just like you would never expect a plant to do that, to to plant it and then uproot it and then go plant it somewhere else and uproot it. And you're the same way. You've got to remain, stay planted, stay connected, keep serving, keep praying, keep believing. Then you will bear fruit.

Remain in me and I will remain in you. And then you will bear fruit. Because transformation doesn't come from you trying harder. It comes from you remaining deeper in Jesus. And that's why all these things that we've been talking about matter so much. But here's the deal. For remaining to become part of your life, I've learned this is that your routine has to become the reward, not the reward becoming the reward.

Here's what I mean by this is that faithfulness has to be what you fall in love with, not fruitfulness. If if if fruitfulness is the goal, if it's like God, I just want you to give me these things, then whatever you get those, then you're done. But if faithfulness is the goal, if you fall in love with God, I just love being in your word, and whatever it produces in my life, that's wonderful.

I just love being in your word, God. I just love talking to you in prayer, and whatever it produces is wonderful in my life, but I'm just loving the faithfulness. I just love showing up at the house of God. I just love obeying you. I just love I fall in love with the faithfulness piece and the fruitfulness will come.

But man, if all you're focused on is God give me, God do, God make happen, God produce this, God change this in my life, then the moment that God does that, then you stop doing the thing that got you there. I want to encourage you this year, fall in love with faithfulness.

You want to have a fruitful life. You want to have the life that that God wants you to have, then fall in love with just being faithful, with pattern, ((music playing)) with routine. If you fall in love with fruitfulness, then the pattern is monotonous. But if you'll fall in love with faithfulness, then the fruit will ((music playing)) just be like icing on the cake.

It's faithfulness in your life that produces ((music playing)) fruitfulness. It's the same. It's over and over and over again. It's Joshua, as we said, marching around the city. It's David. You're a king now. Go ((music playing)) watch sheep. It's Hannah. I'm going to keep showing up every year and praying and asking God ((music playing)) for this child.

I'm going to keep seeking the Lord over and over and over ((music playing)) again. I'm going to remain. And the promise of God is true. If you remain in him, he will remain in you and ((music playing)) you'll bear much fruit. But you got to remain. and his faithfulness that produces fruitfulness.

All right, final thought number three is that there is a cycle to seasons. Listen to Genesis 8:22. It says, "As long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease." There's there's seasons. We're a god. We serve a god of seasons that produces things in seasons.

I mean, we're in a season right now, right? This is I think it's been it's winter is what everybody's telling me. This is winter here. And so we're in a season. Then spring is going to come and then summer's going to come and then, ((music playing)) you know, the two days of fall will come.

You know, I did live through that this year. And so we live in seasons. And God is a God of seasons. And he he's a God of cycles. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says this, there's a time for everything and a season for ((music playing)) every activity under heaven. So just like there's seasons in natures, there's seasons in how God works in our life.

And if you don't recognize the season, then you can be frustrated ((music playing)) and you can abort too early something God wants to do in your life because you're missing the season that you're in. And and you can get frustrated. I was thinking about this so I started I looked up some uh horiculture websites and uh actually have a friend that does that and I was like explain to me explain to me vines and branches and viticulturalists who really study these things.

And here's what I learned. There are nine stages of a vine, a branch, and fruit bearing. Nine stages. And I won't give you all of them, but but they're things like renewal, budding, leaf growth, ripening, harvest. Listen to this, even dormcy. So there is a season of dormcy.

There is a season where you see no fruit on the vine, but something is happening ((music playing)) in the soil and happening internally so that it can bear the fruit that God wants it to bear in the natural. Man, I think ((music playing)) that's such an application to us in the spiritual.

And here's here's what I want to encourage you in is that if you want to be in a continual fruit bearing season, that may not be reality. He didn't say, "Remain in me and I'll remain in you and you'll bear fruit in every season." He said, "Remain in me and I'll remain in you and then you'll bear fruit."

And there's different seasons and different things God is doing in our life. And sometimes he is pruning ((music playing)) back. He's cutting back branches and he's pruning back things that are no longer bearing healthy fruit in our life. And you feel like, "Oh, God, what are you doing to me?

Why is all this pruning happening in my life?" And God says, "No, I'm wanting you to bear even more fruit. So, in order to do that, I've got to prune." And there is a dormant season. And there is a winter season where nothing is budding and and no leaves are showing.

You're like, "God, where are you? And why is this a grind? And why is this so hard right now?" But man, there is something happening in the soil of your life. There is a character building. There's a strength God is building in you ((music playing)) that happens, but it only happens in a dormant season.

And here's what I found most interesting in all that I read about this is the gardener decides the length of the season. Isn't that interesting? The gardener designs the length of the season. And I just want to encourage you that as Jesus said in John 15, the father is the gardener.

And he is determining the length of the season and he's doing it for your good and ((music playing)) he's doing it for your benefit. And he's doing it so that you might bear much fruit. And so your job isn't to bear fruit. Your job is to remain in the vine and trust the gardener.

Your job is not to be like, I'm going to be more loving. [laughter] I'm I'm going to I'm going to do it. I'm I'm going to be more joyful. Here I am. I'm more joyful. Right? No. Your job is to remain in the vine. And in the right season, at the right time, the gardener is going to do the work inside of you.

And the life of the vine is going to come flowing through you, the branch. And the life and the fruit of the vine, ((music playing)) the fruit of Jesus, the fruit of the Holy Spirit is going to come flowing through your life into the lives of the people around you.

So if you want a fruitful life, you want a life that's full of joy and peace ((music playing)) and patience and kindness, you want a life that has the hand of God on it, the favor of God, the blessing of God, ((music playing)) it isn't up to you to go out and try to make that happen.

It's up to you to remain in the vine. Same over and over and over and over. And when no one's patting you on the back, do it again. And when no one's plotting you, do it again. And no one sees you getting up early and staying in the word, do it again.

((music playing)) And when you don't see that the leaves are budding, do it again. And when you don't see that the fruit is producing, then do it again. Because in the right season, at the due time, because there's a time for everything under heaven, as Ecclesiastes says, the fruit will be produced in your life if you don't give up.

So remain in the vine because what you want in life may not come in the way that you thought it would come. It doesn't come by you striving. The Christian life is not about you striving. It's about remaining in ((music playing)) Jesus, staying connected to Jesus, and then his life will come flow through you.

You want a fruitful life this year, then just keep remaining. Just do it again and again and again and you ((music playing)) will bear fruit. It's the promise of God to you and to me. Let's pray together. Father, we're so grateful today for your word that it's alive, it's real, it's powerful.

And we thank you today, God, that you are the one who is producing the fruit in us. So may this year be marked by us having these habits of staying, remaining, continuing to be connected to the vine, knowing that it will produce the fruit in our lives that you want it to produce. as we continue to pray.

Maybe you're right there in your living room or watching on an iPad or laptop or wherever you may be joining us from and you've never got connected to the vine and there's no way you can have a fruitful life this year without the life of Jesus flowing through you.

((music playing)) You've never surrendered your life to Jesus. You've you've never let go of the reigns of your life and giving him the control of your life. I want to invite you to do that today. You know, the Bible says the way we do that is by faith. that we're trusting that what Jesus did for us on the cross is enough to save us, change us, to cleanse us, and to give us a life of fruitfulness.

And so, in just a moment, I want to lead you in a prayer. And I want to invite you to join me in that prayer. There's nothing special about the way I pray. It's just me helping you communicate to God that you want to surrender. You want to give your life to him.

The Bible says that if we'll confess him as Lord, that means we're surrendering control and that we believe in our heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, then we will be saved. That we'll be saved from the penalty of sin and we'll be saved to a new life in Christ.

And so if you're here, if you're listening, you're joining us and you need a fresh start today, then I want to invite you to join me in this prayer. Just simply say, "Jesus, I need you. I ask you to forgive me of all my sin. I believe you died for me.

I believe God raised you from the dead. Today I make you my Lord and Savior. Thank you for a brand new beginning in Jesus' name. Amen. ((music playing)) If you made that decision, we want to know about it. And uh so you can text the keyword Jesus to 710 and we would love to connect with you and help you in the journey.

Whether you live in the Texas or Wyoming or wherever you may live, we want to help you in your journey of faith. We love you dearly. God bless you and have a wonderful day.