Hope Church LV Sermons
Two Roads :: What Fruit am I Producing
Well, in January of 2010, we dove into a study as a church through the greatest sermon in history. And for over a year now, we've been navigating verse by verse through Matthew 5, 6, and 7 in what is known as the Sermon on the Mount. And we've been discovering together the radical way of life that Jesus Christ calls his disciples to. We've been understanding what it looks like to experience life in the kingdom of God. And currently, we are bringing that study to a close. We are in the final few weeks of our study through the Sermon on the Mount. And here is how Jesus has chosen to close the sermon. He is giving his invitation by listing four different illustrations of what kingdom living is all about, what it looks like for a disciple of Christ to live in the kingdom of God. And last weekend, as we begin to walk through this invitation from Jesus at the close of this sermon, Pastor Vance gave us two summary statements about kingdom living. And as we jump in tonight, I want to throw those up on the screen so that we can just have those fresh in our heart and in our mind as we dive into the text this weekend. Here's the first summary statement that we looked at last week. Kingdom living begins with following Christ. If in the kingdom of God begins with following Jesus, and we were very, very clear about this last weekend, and I want to be very, very clear about it this weekend, because I think there is a wrong way of thinking that is circulating our country that says, if a person is born into a Christian family, or if they were born with Christian friends, or if they were born and they're a pretty good person and have pretty good behaviors, that that automatically merits for them a relationship with God. But that is absolutely not what the Bible teaches. The Bible says that for every person, there must be a moment when they choose to confess their sin before God, put their faith in the person of Christ and choose to follow Him in a relationship. For me, I was born into a Christian home. I had Christian parents, Christian grandparents, Christian aunts, Christian uncles, Christian friends, Christians were all around me when I came on the planet. But that in no way merited me a relationship with God because their relationship with Christ did not give me a relationship with Christ. And that's extremely important to realize is we wrestle with what is kingdom living all about. The first thing we must understand is that it begins with following Christ. You see, eternal life is not inherited. It must be received. And for every person who has come into the kingdom of God, they have had a moment in their life where they chose to follow after Jesus. For me, I was just a young child. And I begin to wrestle with what is this whole thing called the gospel? Who is this person named Jesus about his life, about his death, about his resurrection? How does sin impact me for eternity? I begin to wrestle with some questions. And I begin to talk to some different people about that. And I came to a place as a young child where I knelt at 130, tipped and drive in Cleveland, Tennessee. And I confessed my need for a Savior. And I said, "Jesus, I'm lost. And I need you to forgive me. I believe in your work and in your life. I want to follow you." And there was a moment for me when I chose to follow Jesus. And we believe to be born into the kingdom, everyone must have that moment because kingdom living begins with following Christ. Here's the second summary statement that we talked about last weekend. Not only does kingdom living begin with following Christ, but kingdom living constantly pursues Christ in me. Kingdom living constantly pursues Christ in me. A lot of you know the context, but in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is with his disciples and this rabbi, their teacher, is sitting on the side of a hill and they're just sitting around him. And this stuff is just flowing out of him. And if you can imagine those disciples for a moment, Jesus wasn't reading from a curriculum. He wasn't reading off a teleprompter. The Sermon on the Mount, the greatest teaching in history is flowing out of him. And he's looking at these disciples, eyeball to eyeball. And I just got to believe for a moment, some of those disciples said, "How in the world are we going to live up to this?" I mean, he's dropping stuff about righteousness and holiness and putting the kingdom of God as the first priority. "How are we as ordinary men going to live up to what Jesus is talking about?" And as he continues to navigate through the Sermon on the Mount, he begins to share with him that, listen, this life I'm calling you to, it's not up to your best effort. It's not up to you trying or trying to figure this thing out. This relationship with God is totally dependent on me as your Savior. And he begins to talk to them about how they can never live up to righteousness, they could never live up to holiness and he tells them, "Listen, here's your role in the relationship. Pursue God. Develop intimacy with God, pursue him and out of knowing him. He will transform your heart. And what flows out of you won't be you or your best effort. What flows out of you will be Christ in you." It's supernatural, but that is kingdom living. Look at this quote from Major Ian Thomas about kingdom living. He said, "It is not a matter of doing our best for him, but of Christ being his best in us, all that he is in all that we are. The Christian life," listen to this, "is nothing less than the life which Jesus lived then, lived now by him in you." That's kingdom living. And here's what that does. That takes all the pressure off. That doesn't leave it up to me to wake up in the morning and say, "God, how can I please you God? What can I do? What can I have to do to merit your favor? No, when I wake up in the morning, here's my agenda. Pursue the relationship. Pursue my intimate love relationship with God and out of intimacy with him. What will spill out of me is the very life of Jesus." That's what we're talking about in this sermon. So we're going to continue tonight in Matthew chapter 7. So if you would turn there, we're going to start reading in last week's text verse 13. If you don't have a Bible, we're going to put this up on the screen for you. I want to read the text. We looked at last week in verses 13 and 14, and then we're going to continue to read through verse 20. Here's what the Bible says in Matthew 7, "Enter through the narrow gate. The gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it." That was his first illustration. Here's his second illustration about kingdom living, "Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor frigs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then you will know them by their fruits." That's the text that we're going to wrestle with this weekend. This week Jesus opened up this piece with an illustration about which way are we going and he painted the picture of a wide and broad road that leads to destruction and a narrow and small road that leads to life. And we talked about which way are we traveling this weekend. He's going to challenge us in the area and make us wrestle with what kind of fruit are we producing? As his followers, as disciples of Christ, what type of fruit are we producing? And the way I want to unpack this text is by giving a defining statement. But I want to give it to you tonight in two different parts. Here's the first part of the defining statement. "I am to constantly beware of those who influence me." You and I are to constantly beware of those people who are influencing us. Jesus starts this passage with an extremely strong word. He uses the word beware. In essence, he's talking to his disciples and saying, "Listen, there is something that you need to be looking out for. There's something that you need to pay very, very close attention to at all times. Meaning there is danger around you and you need to have a heads up." Now what was he talking about? What is the thing that his disciples are to be on the alert to beware of? Well, we see in the next part of the verse it says false prophets. People who are posing as prophets, they're posing as shepherds, but they are fake. And we see this throughout the New Testament. This warning about false teachers or false prophets. We see it from Jesus, we see it from Luke, we see it from Peter, we see it from Paul. But what exactly is a false prophet? I mean, all of us can throw around that phrasing, but what clearly is a false prophet? I want to give you a definition this weekend that we can really wrap around so we can understand this text. It's a definition of a false prophet. A false prophet is someone who teaches that kingdom living, and we've already defined that, is anything other than Christ in me. A false prophet is someone who would stand up in front of a group of people or in a conversation and take the gospel and either add to it or take away from it. That's a false prophet. And those are all over the place if you just open your eyes to see them. But tonight for our understanding of who Jesus was referring to, we're defining a false prophet as someone who teaches that kingdom living is anything other than Christ in me. Now I know specifically in verse 15, there are several different illustrations. He talks about false prophecy. He talks about sheep's clothing, he talks about ravenous wolves, and I think to really get our head around verse 15, we need to understand what a prophet meant to the audience Jesus was speaking to. And in his commentary, Dwight Pentecost, really kind of paints a picture for us. And I think we'll give us a clearer understanding of verse 15. Here's what he says it's going to be on the screens. Scripture frequently refers to God's children as sheep. Those who belong to God are called his flock. Sheep need shepherds. One reason is that sheep are among the most unintelligent creatures God has created. Amen? A cow will come home, but never a sheep. Sheep seem bent on wondering and would starve to death if a shepherd did not lead them to pasture. They would die of thirst if a shepherd did not bring them to springs to drink. Perhaps that is why God has likened us to sheep. We are not independent. We are not self-sufficient. We cannot get along without a shepherd. God from the earliest record in the Old Testament sent prophets to men. Prophets were shepherds. The function of their office was to receive truth from God and communicate it to men so that they might feed on that word. The prophets were in truth shepherds who led men into the green pastures and beside steel waters. So you see here, when Jesus says prophets, here is what is going through the mind of his disciples, people who speak to God's people on behalf of God. That is what they thought about when they thought about a prophet. So Jesus paints this picture here that as we navigate down this narrow road that leads to life, there are going to be people who cross our path and they appear to be men who speak on behalf of God, but in our reality they are not. They are not teaching that kingdom living is anything that we would believe. It is that is what they thought about when they thought about a prophet. Now obviously there are some false prophets that are extremely easy to identify, extremely easy to know that is not a person preaching the truth. But there is another group of false prophets who are very, very deceptive. They are very, very cunning and I believe that is the group of false prophets that Jesus is referring to in this text. And in verse 15 he lists several of the tactics that these false prophets will use to trick people into following a false path. And I believe from those examples Jesus gives we can identify a couple of ways that we just mess up. I want to give you a couple of common mistakes that you and I make all the time that are very easy to make all the time. But this text points it out so that we don't fall into that trap in the future. Here's one major mistake that you and I make a lot when it comes to the teachings Jesus is talking about here. We assume that we can trust people based on their outward appearance. You and I commonly make the mistake of thinking that because a person looks like they have their act together. They look like they're a nice person that for some reason we can trust them. Jesus says here in verse 15 look these false prophets are going to come to you and they're going to come to you dressed in sheep's clothing. Now to really understand that once again you have to know the culture. This and shepherds were identified by what they wore and specifically shepherds they would be draped in wool garments they would wear sheep skin. And so when a false shepherd wanted to plug himself into the flock in hopes of harming a sheep here's what he would do. He would drape himself in a wool garment and he would sneak into the flock and as soon as the good shepherd turned his head that false shepherd would attack the sheep and harm them. And Jesus here in verse 15 says look just like that's happening out in the field. It's happening all around you too. And you must beware. You must be on the lookout for false shepherds pseudo prophets who appear one way but are really something much, much different. And for you and I we often make the mistake of thinking that a person is nice to me. A person is using spiritual language I guess I can trust them. And we develop a false sense of security and in this culture the primary people that this would kind of category would be the scribes and it would be the Pharisees and we've talked about them over and over and over in the sermon. All of the disciples thought that the Pharisees and scribes were the epitome of what God desired and Jesus shows up and he says you want to talk about righteousness. Well then we don't need to talk about the Pharisees because they're not anything close to what I would classify as righteous. And I think most of you know that in 2011 we have our own scribes and Pharisees. People who appear in a certain way and they appear smooth and they say the right language and they articulate the right things but all the while they are fake and from a distance they appear one way but once we get close up to them we realize that yes they have taken the gospel but they've added to it in their teaching legalism or they have the gospel and they've taken away from it and their teaching liberalism or for others they are using the same terminology as us but their definition of Jesus and our definition of Jesus is much much different. I believe Jesus points this out here in verse 15 so that you can I can be aware that we cannot just look at the outward appearance of a person and assume that we can trust them. Here's what that means that every person you see in a gathering on television on the internet who has the label pastor should not automatically be trusted, that's a big deal. Just because a person may have a title, just because a person may have a following does not mean that we as Jesus followers should automatically trust them. That means as you watch a talk show or you listen to a radio broadcast and you hear someone who maybe is a good orator or they're saying some phrasings that you recognize that does not automatically mean that you should trust them. Just because you see a book that is well packaged and has a slick title does not mean you should take it as being the truth. We have made the mistake in generation after generation of assuming that because a person appears godly on the outside that they're pure on the inside and Jesus says not at all. Because as you navigate on the narrow path there will be people who walk in front of you and they appear that they're godly but guess what inside they're evil and you should not trust them. That's the first mistake I think that a lot of us make and it harms us as we navigate through life. But here's something that as I wrestled with this week it breaks my heart. As I do a lot of counseling and I talk to a lot of people it amazes me how many Jesus followers are looking for advice and are looking for counsel in some type of secular entity. And I want you to think about that from the perspective of God. Our Heavenly Father has given us His Word, He's preserved it, He's protected it so that we could have it today. He's given us His Spirit to be our counselor, to be our guide, to lead us as we navigate through life and yet for some of us we are still reading the books, going to the people who are watching the talk shows that are secular, that are of this world and have no basis in the truth. Here's what Henry Blackaby said about that. He said when unbelievers make important decisions they must rely on their own knowledge and understanding. You as Christians have access to God's wisdom. God's Spirit is within you to guide you. The Holy Spirit will open your eyes to the truth of the Scripture so that you can see things from God's perspective. Only God sees the future. So only He can accurately lead you to make correct decisions today. We got to be aware who we allow to influence our life. Our first move in a moment of crisis should be to our Heavenly Father and His Word. Not to the latest and greatest show, not to the latest and greatest program or piece of literature. We must guard who we allow to influence our life but there's another mistake that a lot of us make and it's this and Jesus hits it in verse 15. Number two is we forget that the goal of the enemy is to steer us away from kingdom living. We forget that sometimes. We navigate through life. We get busy. We're going down the path and we lose sight of the fact that the enemy is out there and his number one goal is to steer us away from kingdom living. Jesus could have chosen any phrasing to describe these false prophets. He was God. He could have chosen any language he wanted to. But look at the language he chose to use when describing the prophets. He says, "But inwardly are ravenous wolves, meaning creatures who are greedy, creatures who are cruel, creatures who are always on the tack." The enemy has a threefold strategy, a threefold goal and everything he does in your life and my life. He does with those goals in mind. That is to steal, kill and destroy. But I'm afraid sometimes we get so comfortable. We get so just in the mix of life. We forget that there is a roaring lion seeking to kill, steal and destroy. But Jesus points out here, listen, these false prophets, they're dangerous. They're not just somebody you look and say, "Go away." No, they are out for the hunt and they are out to harm us. We forget that sometimes. We assume that because we see somebody and they look nice, we can trust them. But secondly, we forget that we have an enemy and he wants to destroy us. His desire is to get us to focus on anything but our Heavenly Father. Guess what? It's not going to be like drastic his approach. It's not going to be something that's just immaculate. He is going to approach and as subtly as he can, he's going to try to push us away from kingdom living. You may hear phrases like this from these prophets that are ever so subtle yet, ever so deceptive. They'll say the Bible is a great book, but it's not 100% true, subtle, but it's deceptive and it's wrong. You may hear sin is really not as bad as people make it out to be. Therefore, you don't really need to take it that serious. It's subtle, it's evil and it's wrong. You may hear God would never send a person to an eternal hell. You hear those things as you navigate through your life. You hear subtle tendencies from teachers who just drop things like that. It's not drastic, it's subtle, but it's wrong. We must never forget that we have an enemy in his goal is to destroy us and because of that, we must beware of those who influence our lives. William Hendrickson said this, "The church of Jesus Christ in every age should be on its guard against those who distort the word of God for their own selfish purpose. Through their speech, they may be ever so smooth and oily. They constitute a real peril against which believers must arm themselves." Jesus, when speaking about false prophets, tells his disciples, he tells his church, you need to beware. You need to constantly be looking out for prophets who appear on the narrow path that seem to be true, but all the while, our pseudo-shepherds, our fake prophets. Well, that begs a major question. How do we as disciples identify who these prophets are? Well, that brings us to the second piece of the defining statement this weekend. Here's the statement, "I am too constantly beware of those who influence me." Here's how, "By examining their message and their life," Jesus in this passage repeats a phrase two times. In verse 16 and verse 20, he says, "You're going to know who these prophets are by looking at their fruit." And I believe Jesus gave us a very, very simple illustration for a reason. All of us know we walk in a field and we see a tree with apples on it. What do we say? That's an apple tree. We see a tree with oranges on it. We can clearly identify that that is an orange tree, and Jesus makes it very, very simple for us in this passage. He says, "You want to know if someone is in the kingdom or out of the kingdom? You need to look at their fruit." And this examination really has two aspects, and I want us to look at those two tonight as we unpack the last part of this passage. The first aspect of this examination for you and I to look close to determine if these prophets, if these shepherds are in the kingdom or out of the kingdom, here's the first one. We must examine a person by their message. And this is the piece where we wrestle with, "What are they teaching? What is the doctrine that they are laying out for me, that they are couching as the truth?" Look at verse 16. He says this. He says, "You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they?" In this context, there were two different plants. One of them was a bush. And from a distance, when you looked at that bush, there were some small things growing on that bush that appeared to be grapes. But when you got closer to the plant, you realized that what was growing on there, what was growing on that bush wasn't a grape at all. There was another plant that was a thistle, and there were some flowers that grew on that. And from a distance, it looked like figs. But once you approached it and you began to look closer, guess what you realized? Those aren't figs. That's what Jesus is telling us to do with the messages that are coming in our life every day. Don't take them at face value. Don't believe them from a distance. We are to take serious the examinations of the influences and the messages that are coming into our heart and into our mind on a regular basis. And we live in a day and time that is filled with technology. And on a daily basis, we receive hundreds and even thousands of messages through television, through gatherings, through internet, through DVDs, through radio or through the phone. I want to give you a couple of solid questions that you need to begin to ask when you hear a message. If that's at this church, if that's at another church, if that's something you're reading on television, whatever it might be, here are some solid foundational questions that will help you examine the messages that you're hearing. Here's the first question. Does this teaching support or oppose the teachings of Jesus? As you and I hear messages every day about the next, latest and greatest, or what's going to help you and change your life, one of the questions you need to wrestle with as you hear that message is, does this teaching? Support or oppose the teachings of Jesus. We believe it, hope that this word, this Bible is the perfect and living word of God. And that if something is not based in this truth, that it is in fact, it's wrong. And as you hear messages every day, you need to hold them up to the light and ask the question. It's what I'm hearing, supporting this book. Is it supporting the words of God that are found in the Bible or is it in direct opposition to what I'm taught through the scriptures? That's a great filter to start with. That's going to help you navigate away from a lot of the messages that you hear because you know it does not support the scriptures. Here's the second major question that will help us is, we examine the messages that we're hearing. Does this teaching emphasize a deeper relationship with Jesus or a greater involvement in religion? It's what I'm hearing driving me to a deeper relationship with the person of Christ, an intimate love relationship with Christ when this is happening. You're going to hear things like grace. You're going to hear things like abundant joy, the Christ life. You're going to hear that language when it's emphasizing intimacy with God. Your pursuit of your relationship with God or are the things you're listening to, emphasizing you being more involved in religion. Is it emphasizing man's attempt to get to God, which is what religion is built around? You have to wrestle with those. If that's the case, you're going to hear words like works or condemnation or self-help. That's another question to examine the messages that you're receiving. Here's one more question that's just healthy to wrestle with. Does this teaching confirm what other mature Jesus followers have personally spoken into my life? Does this teaching, does this message confirm what other mature Jesus followers have spoken into my life? I love television, but there is a great danger in putting all your faith and all your trust in someone you see on television who you do not know personally. You have no idea what their life looks like. You have no idea what's going on with them, but you do have relationships in this church with other Jesus followers who love you and who desire to speak into your life on a regular basis. And as you hear these messages, I believe that the people around you, the people of God around you who love you, who you know and they know you should confirm what you're hearing. And if you can't, I would really doubt that it's true. So those are three questions we wrestle with examining the message that you and I can think about. Here's another element, another aspect of ways that you and I can examine a prophet and his teaching. And that is we must examine a person by their life. And this is where we wrestle with what kind of fruit are they producing? What is being produced out of their life? He says it twice in this text. You were going to know them by looking at their fruit in this text. He gives two different types of fruit. He says bad fruit and he says good fruit. And he says no matter who the person is, they will have one or the other. And the greatest description I think of what these two really look like is found in Galatians chapter five, if you would turn over there very quickly, I want to read for us a clear description of bad fruit and a clear description of good fruit. Here's what the Bible says in Galatians five, starting in verse 19, it says now the deeds or the fruit of the flesh are evident, which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, corrousing and things like these of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. That's bad fruit. That is what is produced by our flesh. That is what is produced when you and I depend on ourselves on our resources. But verse 22, he goes on to clearly lay out good fruit. Verse 22 says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, it's joy, it's peace, it's patience, it's kindness, it's goodness, it's faithfulness, gentleness, self-control against such things. There is no law." Those are the two fruits that Jesus lays out and he says, "Every person on the planet is either producing bad fruit or they are producing good fruit." The white Pentecost went on in his commentary to say this, speaking to the principle Jesus is talking about. The life of the root will always manifest itself by the fruit that is born. You do not have to dig up a fig tree and look at its root to see if it is a fig. You look at the fruit. You do not have to dig up a grapevine to examine the root to see if it is a grape. It is evident what the root is by what the fruit is, and here's the simplest way I know to articulate what Jesus is saying in the last part of this passage. And it's what you and I have to understand if we're going to apply these principles. Here it is, our flesh, our self can never produce good fruit. You and I are born on the globe with a selfish, rebellious nature that is disconnected from the things of God. We can't change it, we can't improve it, we can do nothing about that. Our flesh, all it knows to do is respond and sin. That's all we know. And because of that, no matter how hard we try or how great it may look, our flesh can never offer up glory to God or produce good fruit. Since the fall, which is recorded in Genesis chapter 1, every person that has been born on the planet has been born with a sinful nature and opposed to the things of God. And regardless of the situation, regardless of what people say, our flesh can never produce good fruit. Jesus says here, but He says something else that is even more important. He says Christ in us will always produce good fruit. The life of Jesus in us, as we choose to deny our flesh, which only produces bad fruit, and press into our relationship with God. He says, as I transform your heart, what will spill out of you will not be the fruit of the flesh. It will be the fruit of the Spirit, which is His very life. And in every instance, regardless of what form, at every moment, the life of Jesus in us will produce good fruit and bring glory to God. That is the beautiful invitation of the kingdom. Jesus says, I'm not just going to give you a new start. I'm not just going to forgive your sin. I'm going to give you my very life and accomplish ministry, accomplish love, and accomplish the mission through you. Us depending on our own resources will never result in good fruit. The life of Jesus inside of us, being pressed out as we develop an intimate love relationship with Him will always produce good fruit. I'm going to give you two takeaways. My time is done. First takeaway is this, you and I need to apply to our lives tonight. The source of my life is revealed by the fruit of my life. We can't hide it. We can't stand over it before we begin to look outside of these walls at potential false prophets or fake shepherds. You and I need to first look at ourselves and we need to evaluate our message. What are we sharing? What are we speaking into the lives around us and does that line up with the way that we are living? It's easy to walk in this room and hear a message like this and want to throw a stone at somebody. But I believe step one in really understanding how to apply this passage is that we look inside our own hearts and ask the question, am I a man or a woman who is producing good fruit? I believe Jesus says here by looking at your life, by evaluating what is being produced. It is very evident if you are a person who is living in the kingdom of God or if you're living outside of the kingdom of God. And the first question we need to wrestle with is are we producing good fruit? If there's a second takeaway I want to share with you tonight that is just as challenging and here it is, I am to choose carefully whom I allow to speak into my life. We need to guard it. We have messages coming at us every day at church through entertainment, through things on the radio, through technology. We have messages coming every single day and you and I need to take very, very serious who we allow to be positioned around us to speak into our life. We got to guard that Jesus says in this passage beware because there are going to be people as a disciple as you navigate down the narrow path who appear to be unbelievably good but in their heart are ravenous wolves and their hope is to lead you astray. I am to constantly beware of those who influence me and here's how I do that. By taking serious and examining the message and the person's life I want us to move into a time of response so if you would right where you are just bow your head right now. Our praise team is going to come and we're going to take a few moments just to respond to the words of Jesus tonight. I think this can hit all of us on many different levels but one level specifically if you're here tonight and you know you don't have a relationship with God you have fought your whole life that it was up to you to please God. You've fought for your whole life that you had to somehow earn the right to approach God as your father and you realize tonight it's impossible but in the same turn Jesus is pursuing you and Jesus is inviting you into a relationship with himself a life of intimacy a life of grace a life of him pressing his life out through you if you're here tonight and you don't have a relationship with God I want to invite you to Jesus. He loves you, he desires to know you, you see we have a problem called sin that separates us from him but he took care of the problem by dying on the cross and he now invites us to be his followers and to surrender to him. Has there ever been a moment in your life where you surrendered to the person of Jesus? For others of us there are some things that we're allowing to come into our heart and mind that are no good. They're fake, they're deceptive and they are leading us away from a love relationship with Jesus in living in his kingdom. Maybe for you for the next few moments you just need to think through those components of your life. For others of us you realize tonight that good fruit is not coming out of your life. You're not walking with Jesus, he's not pressing his life out through you because you are living out of your own resource and maybe for you these moments may just be a time to repent, a time to look to him as your life, as your hope, as your source and pursue the relationship. So God as we stand in a moment we just sing this song to respond but we have these prayer volunteers and these pastors all around us and Lord if there's someone who maybe needs to pray or wants to make a decision, God would you allow us to be free in these moments. We love you and we pray these things.