-Transcript-
00:27 Amen, Glory to God, Welcome to the program. Welcome to the cafe.
00:29 My name is Pastor Clark Covington, the host of KJV Cafe. Here we are for another episode. Hopefully you’re doing good, having a great day, a great week, kind of dealing with some allergies today, and so no coffee right now.
00:44 I had some earlier, but now it’s just lemon and water, which is tasty, but not as tasty as coffee if you ask me. But anyways, we’ll do good at the cafe here today. We’re being responsible.
00:55 And I thank you again so much for joining me. And the reason why we call it KJV Cafe is just like in a cafe, you go in there, maybe you bring a Bible and a notepad and you sit down there and you just study.
01:08 You know, you’re looking, hey, what does this mean? What does that mean? You know, you’re not in a rush.
01:14 You’re not, you know, distracted because, you know, in a cafe they have that what’s called white noise, right? It’s just kind of like stuff happening, but nothing really distracts you and you’re just studying God’s Word.
01:25 At least that’s the idea we have behind KJV Cafe. And so here we are looking in a two part series.
01:33 This is the first part. We’re going to cover this in two parts. We’re going to look at Luke six, being a fruitful Christian, fruitful Christians.
01:41 What is the foundation of being a fruitful Christian? Luke 6:46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
01:55 So let’s look at Luke six. And we’re going to look at 43-49 of Luke 6. And we’re going to see what the word of God has to say about this.
02:07 Why Jesus is saying, why are you calling me, Lord, and not doing what I’m asking you to do? So let’s look at here, Luke 6:43-49. For a good tree bringeth forth, bringeth not forth corrupt fruit, neither doth a corrupt tree bring it forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit.
02:26 For of thorns, men do not gather figs, nor of bramble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good. An evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil.
02:47 For of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaketh. And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Whosoever cometh to me and hearth my sayings and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like. He is like a man which built a house and dig deep and laid the foundation on a rock.
03:04 And when the flood arose and the stream beat vehemently upon that house and could not shake it for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth and doeth not is like a man that without a foundation built a house upon the earth against which the stream did beat vehemently and immediately it fell and the ruin of that house was great.
03:25 And so here we have Jesus speaking in the book of Luke, red letter text, telling us about the foundation and about fruitfulness of Christians and those that love the Lord.
03:39 They’re going to know what this means, I believe, fully. And those that don’t love the Lord, that don’t know the Lord, this will be puzzling to them, I believe.
03:45 But the fruitful Christian, number one, they come to Christ, Luke 6:47 seven whosoever cometh to me and heareth my sayings and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like.
03:57 Here, Jesus is practically preaching this for us here, whosoever, number one, comes to him. Are we coming to or running from Christ?
04:10 How can we have Christ as the foundation if we aren’t willingly coming to him? Goodness, think about this. If you love the Lord, right, then you’re going to seek him.
04:19 You’re going to be in his word. You’re going to have the Holy Spirit living within you. You’re going to be praying.
04:24 And you know what? You’re going to be doing what he wants you to do. I know a brother in Christ who for a season he was brought up in church. He, you know, he grew up in church, but for a season he was running from the Lord, from what the Lord wanted him to do.
04:36 The Lord wanted him to pastor a church. He said, no, thank you. And he lived out, you know, away from God in that sense.
04:41 So he was not surrendering to God’s will. And he had three heart attacks or strokes. I don’t remember which.
04:51 He had a stroke and a heart attack, a stroke and a heart attack. All I know is it was enough that eventually he surrendered to God. And now he’s doing a great job winning souls and has his own church.
04:57 But I remember that brother telling me that story and thinking, you know, he was running from God. He said himself he was running from God. And so the fruitful Christian is not running from God.
05:06 They’re running to God. And to use his example, I was at a tent meeting some years ago. He preached a message and we had been in that tent meeting a couple of weeks.
05:13 He preached a message and someone got saved. The other preachers, I didn’t see that fruit come from them, but I saw it come from him. Oh, man, it was awesome to see that.
05:21 Amen. He’s winning souls. He’s growing this church.
05:25 He’s being fruitful because he’s coming to Christ. Was he fruitful when he was running from him? No, he wasn’t even able to preach the word. So when we go to Christ, we have that foundation.
05:38 Whosoever cometh to me, amen. Ask yourself, are you running from Christ? Are you willingly going to him? And then hear his sayings to live by his commandments. We first must know his commandments.
05:51 You know, it won’t happen through osmosis or out of the blue. You know, I gave an example, someone that wanted to rise up the corporate ladder. I gave this example at church the other day.
06:01 They want to rise up the corporate ladder. One of the smartest things you can do is get a mentor that’s above you, like a manager or something, and then eventually you become like them and then eventually you move up the corporate ladder. And I think I believe that’s completely true.
06:19 Well, guess what? If we just hang around Christians, we won’t eventually become a Christian. Now, yes, we may hang around them and get saved, but it won’t be through osmosis. It’ll be through the power of God.
06:26 Amen. And so if we hear God’s sayings, we must be willing to listen to what the word has to say. We can’t just listen to someone else.
06:34 Even preaching, you have to verify it. You got to get in the word. You have to study the word.
06:40 The Bible says that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. You have to dive into God’s word.
06:44 So it says here to be fruitful for Christ, we must come to Christ and we must hear his sayings.
06:50 And in the world, a lot of times you can get away with a lot by simply just being around people, doing things and saying things. But God isn’t playing and God isn’t like the world. His ways are higher than our ways.
07:01 And he says, you got to hear me, hear me clearly. How do we hear God? We get in his word and then do with them, takes action. You know, if you exercise each day and eat healthy, you’ll get fit.
07:14 And I think everyone agrees with that. Things like, OK, you know what? If you’re running three or four miles a day and you are watching what you eat, maybe even counting the calories or whatever.
07:22 OK, I think nobody’s going to dispute that you will get fit right now to understand that in our heads and our minds is one thing to do that.
07:37 So it was a cold and rainy morning on Sunday, real cold and rainy. And I asked the church who wants to get up at 6 a.m. and go out there and run. And who wants to say during church dinner, because we have a meal all the time, who will say during church dinner, oh, I can’t have the enchiladas.
07:54 I can’t have this. I can’t have that. I’m watching what I eat.
07:58 That takes discipline. Oh, that’s much harder, isn’t it? And so when Jesus says those that have to come to him, those that have to hear him, those that have to do what he is saying to do, they have to live the commandments. It takes discipline.
08:10 It’s so hard. Much of our natural self and our lifestyles in America here today go against this. It’s our natural posture to take it easy.
08:23 Look at this. Everything, you got the recliner. I love my recliner, but the recliner is all about taking it easy, right? You have the drive-thru.
08:32 Again, I love the drive-thru. What an innovation. I love the drive-thru.
08:35 But guess what? You don’t even have to get out of your car. And then where are you driving through the health food store? Are you driving through the salad place?
08:44 Maybe, but around here, out here in Cleveland County, most of the drive-thrus that I see are for fast food, okay? So your food is cooked quick. You get it quick.
08:53 You’re in your car eating it. And then you’re tired and you don’t want to work out. You’re in your recliner.
08:56 Guess what? You know, it is good to read the word. You know, it is good to study the word. You know, it is good to live out the word, but it’s not easy.
09:03 Just like, you know, it’s good to eat, right? You know, it’s good this and that, but it’s not easy. The point I’m getting at is it takes discipline. Christ is teaching these hard truths that go against our natural way, which is carnal living.
09:09 To live as Christ would have us to live is not natural or easy. That’s why Christ says we must take up our cross. And hearing and doing what he asks us to do is very rare.
09:25 The idea is that to, to, to be a believer that hears the Lord and gets saved. This is, yes, I’m going to make you Lord of my life. And then it’s not willfully ignorant.
09:35 It’s not playing games. It’s not one foot in church, one out of church, but it’s living and sold out for God. And they say, you know what, God, I love you so much.
09:44 I’m going to follow your commandments. I’ve got a pesky neighbor. I’m going to love that neighbor.
09:49 You know, I’ve got a problem at work and I’m going to love that person at work. Uh, I’ve got a problem, uh, that I’m dealing with and I’m going to give it to you. Uh, I’ve got on and on and on giving it to God, seeking God.
10:02 He’s calling you into the ministry. He’s calling you into a way of life that is foreign to you. He’s calling you to live in a certain way that people will no longer hang around you.
10:12 He’s calling you to be unpopular. He’s calling you, uh, to be unworldly. He’s calling you to be set apart.
10:22 He’s calling you to be unashamed of him. He’s calling you to be peculiar. Think of all these things.
10:25 They’re not easy. It is like taking up the cross. Amen.
10:28 You want to go out there and do X, Y, and Z, which is very worldly. And God is calling you to a much different life. Now he may not be saying to take a vow of poverty, but he may be saying to do some things differently to do some things differently.
10:45 You know, on Saturday, maybe you love going to the lake and maybe God’s convicting in your heart to go soul winning to help win a soul to him. You know, those are two different things, isn’t it?
10:52 And the world will say, just go out and live your life and have fun. Be the best you, you can be.
10:57 And Christ is saying, take up your cross and serve me and you’ll have treasure in heaven. And those things can be hard to reconcile. And it’s hard for us as Christians sometimes to figure out what we are to do and when we are to do them.
11:08 But I will tell you this to be a fruitful Christian, to have that foundation, uh, that is like that rock that nobody can knock over. Amen.
11:17 That home that not even a wild river can knock over is to be like Christ in these areas of coming to him, not running from him, hearing him being in his word, studying his word and not being hearers only, but doers of his word, living the life that he would have you to live.
11:35 And that will bear fruit. When you do that, he will be a rare breed and God will show others that you are living for him. The Bible says by their fruits, you’ll know them.
11:48 You’ll have many people that profess that they are Christians and you’ll look at their life and they’re living carnally and no surprise they’re living in the world and they aren’t doing anything for God that they may have put on a show, you know, horse and pony show.
12:00 And again, that may work in the corporate world that may work at school that may work wherever, but that’s not going to work with God. He looks on the inside.
12:09 You know, the Pharisees were really good at putting on the show on the outside. They were so proper and they had all of the sayings down and the teachings down. They were very authoritative.
12:20 Uh, Christ would use the example of like the dishes and the vessels were all clean on the outside, but they were filthy on the inside. And these Pharisees were hypocritical.
12:28 They were chasing other people and adding burdens onto other people for breaking the law while they themselves were living in great sin and unbelief.
12:36 And what the Lord is showing us is that when we take up our cross, when we live for him, when we go to him, hear his sayings and do them, we become more like him and we’re fruitful and we bear true fruit.
12:50 And what does it mean to bear fruit? Well, think about that. Think of a tree bearing fruit.
12:55 What is it doing? It is producing like an offspring, right? And so you could be saying, okay, you’re going to have kids and so on. But the offspring, I believe it’s referring to it. Christ is referring to here is spiritual offspring.
13:06 It’s discipleship. It’s winning souls. It’s edifying the saints.
13:12 It’s building up the church body and these things all work together. And each one has their own unique skills and talents. As I preach this to our congregation, we have a congregation of people that may be introverted, that have different skills.
13:23 We have immigrants in our congregation and so forth that may not have the, the, uh, fluidity in the language or whatever it is that someone else would have.
13:31 And I’m saying, look, God’s not expecting you to do something that you have never done and can’t do, and he didn’t make you to do, but what, what, what do you love to do?
13:38 What, what interest did he give you? What talents did he give you? What passions did he give you? And how are you using those to further his kingdom? How are you using those to win souls?
13:45 How are you using those to disciple others? Right. And that is how we’re fruitful for God.
13:52 And in heaven, we will see a reward for the fruit that we, we, we bear. And for those that are a far off from God, for those that have rejected God’s free gift of salvation, for those that are backslid, they won’t have that reward. And again, for those that are not saved, their home will be hell.
14:14 Amen. The Bible, John the Baptist talks about a tree getting cut off at the root. That’s not good.
14:19 We want to be a tree of everlasting life that comes from Jesus Christ alone.
14:24 Tune in next time as we’ll get to the second part in this series. Thank you so much for listening here today.
14:27 Take care. God bless and amen.