BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES OF FRUITFULNESS – PART TWO

BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES OF FRUITFULNESS – PART TWO

 

Hello friends, once again, I am pleased to be with you on air, and I am bringing you the Word of GOD today. We thank GOD that The Word of GOD has continued to make impacts in our lives.

Last time we commenced the topic, The Biblical Principle of Fruitfulness.

BIBLICAL PRINCIPLE OF FRUITFULNESS

Our text remains Genesis 28:3

Genesis 28:3

May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples.

 May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples.

It is a prayer, and also a command. This was the command of Moses to the People of GOD.

Let us pray.

PRAYER

Heavenly FATHER, thank YOU that it is YOUR will that we be fruitful. As a matter of fact, that’s one of YOUR purposes for our lives. And as I bring this message to YOUR people I pray that the entrance of The Word, LORD, will expose them to knowledge, and knowledge which when they put into practice will lead to fruitfulness, fulfilling YOUR purpose for their lives…in JESUS Name I pray. AMEN!

 

Fruitfulness is, producing fruit: producing something in abundance, producing results or being profitable. Contrary to that is fruitlessness. Fruitlessness. Fruit-less! Less fruit! So one’s life can be fruitful or fruitless. When it is fruitless, it means less fruit; when it is fruitful, it’s more fruit. We saw that fruitfulness is a sign of life, a source of deep satisfaction: the fulfillment of purpose – GOD’s purpose for man.

Fruitfulness is what the gardener or farmer expects when he plants a seed, when he grows a vineyard. His expectation is that the garden will be fruitful, that he will harvest fruits.

And we did say that, Fruitfulness is the natural byproduct of the healthy believer; it is the result of several important elements at work in the believer. A fully devoted disciple is a fruitful disciple growing and maturing. Fruitfulness is implanted in a believer. A believer that abides in CHRIST will always grow, increase, abound, flourish and reproduce much fruits.

Genesis 41:52

52 The second son he named Ephraim and said, “It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.”

Recall that we said that, Fruitfulness is a sign of spiritual health and life.

Psalm 1:3

He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever he does prospers.

Verse 1 says,

Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers,
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on HIS Law he meditates day and night.

That person, the bible says in verse 3:

Is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever he does prospers.

Fruitfulness is a source of deep satisfaction. It’s an indication that you have gotten things right with GOD.

 

Psalm 92:12-15

12 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
13 planted in the house of the Lord,
they will flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They will still bear fruit in old age,
they will stay fresh and green,
15 proclaiming, “The Lord is upright;
he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”

Fruitfulness brings fulfillment and purpose. And we did say that, it leads to actualization of purpose: the reason why you exist.

John 15:8

This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Fruitfulness brings glory to GOD. And we did say that, Fruitfulness shows that we are in partnership with GOD. It brings GOD glory – it shows we are disciples.

 

The lifestyle that makes one fruitful.

Recall that we said that The first  life style is,

i. Psalm 1:1

One who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly – the wicked. He does not walk in their counsel; he does not take them as examples,

ii. That person does not stand in the ways of sinners. He doesn’t walk in the sinful pattern that is prevalent in the world.

iii. Thirdly, he does not sit in the seat of the scornful – those who mock, those who mock Christianity, those whose lives are full of mockery. They mock Christians; they mock people who want to live righteously – they make caricature of them.

iv. The bible says that, this lifestyle is a life of a person who delights in the Law of the LORD. It says, he delights in the Law of the LORD. v2: but his delight is in the Law of the LORD. He has delight in the Law of the LORD: in the commandments, in the protocols of the Kingdom of GOD. HE has delight in righteousness.

 

JESUS says, seek first the Kingdom of GOD and HIS righteousness: The  behavior, the law, the pattern of the Kingdom of GOD.

The one that is to be fruitful has a delight in the Law of the LORD.

V. We saw that, He meditates in the Law of the LORD day and night. That’s what is in the bible; it’s written there. His delight is in the Law of the LORD, and on HIS law he meditates day and night.

 

Many people who claim to be Christians do not even read the bible or meditate on it. They don’t have any reading note, any aid. On Sundays they pick up their bibles and go to church. And whenever they are asked to fill a form, they say they are Christians.

 

 

 

What will be the result of this lifestyle? It’s also in the portion of the bible. The result of this lifestyle. So this is the second part of this message.

  1. This person will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. That’s what we read there – in verse 3. He is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season. We’re talking about fruitfulness. This kind of lifestyle we have described earlier makes the person like a tree planted by the river of water that brings its fruit in its season. When it is season of fruitfulness, you will see fruits in that individual. He will never lack fruits. He will never lack fruits.
  2. And another thing there bible says there is, its fruit will never wither. Its leaves will not wither, because it is getting nourishment day-in-day-out.
  3. Whatsoever he does shall prosper. I call this the short way of prosperity. Our people are running today from one place to the other, from one conference to the other, from one prayer house to the other, from one man of GOD to the other. And there they are taught how to have breakthroughs, how to prosper: our GOD is not poor – it means there is something wrong; and people are getting frustrated.

 

Men and brethren this is the shortcut to prosperity. This lifestyle will ensure that you will prosper.

 

I want to also point to you what the fruits are – the fruits we should bear. Fruits are also called virtues. They represent the life and nature of GOD. They are the attributes and character of GOD. We become like CHRIST when we have them: when we have fruits. Fruits will make us behave and think and talk and act like CHRIST. Did you hear me? Fruit in your life will make you behave, will make you think, will make you talk, will make you act like CHRIST. They make us live above the realms of the natural and the realm of the kingdom of darkness, because we have the light of CHRIST.

In Galatians 5:22-23 the bible describes this fruit, one aspect of it. It says, this fruit consists of love, joy, kindness, humility and so on and so forth. This is the fruit we will bear and resemble CHRIST. The more of them we have the more we are like CHRIST. If we lack them we resemble the devil. That is what the image of GOD is all about. To have the image of GOD and HIS SON JESUS is to have this fruit develop and grow in us.

Friends, fruits are not gifts. Fruits are cultivated and grown. It is easier to have gifts than to have character and fruits of CHRIST. Gifts will not lead you to heaven but fruits will.

Let me make a partial list of these fruits.

Peace of GOD, love joy, hope in GOD, trust OR confidence in GOD, fear of GOD, faith in GOD, GOD-Sufficient – that’s making GOD sufficient in your hearts, thankfulness, humility, meekness, self-control, patience, discipline, purity, goodness, mercy, obedience, truthfulness, submission, holiness, contentment, honesty etc. this is just a partial list. It’s not a complete one. But these are the things we call fruit. They are not gifts; they are fruits – they are grown.

There is something the bible says in 1 Corinthians. It says that gifts will cease one day but fruits are the things that will take you to heaven, because they are the character of heaven: they are the righteousness of the Kingdom of GOD.

I wish you will humble yourself and seek help from the HOLY SPIRIT to grow fruit in your life; For that’s the principle that governs the life of GOD.

Let us Pray.

PRAYER

I humbly ask the HOLY SPIRIT, even now, to show my listeners each of these fruits they lack in their lives and enable them to repent and ask for help; because fruitfulness is the desire and design of GOD for us. And if we lack them, that means we do not belong to GOD. I pray that the Almighty GOD will use these words to motivate our people to seek fruit in their lives to the glory of GOD…in JESUS Mighty Name I pray. AMEN!

 

Comment(1)

  1. Reply
    Hadassah iloye says:

    Good sermon

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