(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Now, the title of my sermon tonight is Bringing Forth Fruit Unto God. That's what this chapter is about, and that term is brought up over and over again in this chapter, and I want to show you tonight from scripture that when the Bible talks about bringing forth fruit unto God, that is referring to winning other people to Christ and getting people saved. That's what we call soul winning, and in fact, let me just point you to Proverbs 11. Stay there in John 15, but in Proverbs 11.30, the Bible reads, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise. That's where we actually get the term soul winning that we use to talk about when we go out and knock doors and just tell people how to be saved. We just preach the gospel to them, and we call that soul winning because the Bible says the fruit of the righteous is the tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise. I'm going to prove to you from scripture that when the Bible talks about bringing forth much fruit and bringing forth fruit unto God, it is talking about winning people to the Lord. It's talking about getting people saved. It's talking about going out in the highways and hedges, preaching the gospel, and someone receiving the Lord Jesus Christ their Savior. I'm going to prove to you that from the Bible. Let's start in this passage, John chapter 15, verse number 1. It says, I am the true vine, and my father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. Look at verse 8. Herein is my father glorified that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples. Now first of all, before I get into the sermon just about bearing much fruit and show you all the scriptures, let me just start by dealing with some false doctrine that some people will derive from this chapter, and they'll try to use this to teach that you could lose your salvation, or that if you don't bring forth fruit, you're not really saved. That's what they'll try to use this as. Now first of all, the Bible says as a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools. Parables can be interpreted a variety of different ways, which is why we should never base our doctrine on a parable. We should base our doctrine on clear statements from the Bible. The Bible has so many just clear statements to anchor our soul to and to act as a foundation for our faith that we shouldn't take a parable and base everything that we believe on a parable. What we should rather do is base our doctrines on clear statements, then use those statements to interpret the parable, not vice versa, not take a parable and use it to contradict a bunch of clear statements. You always start with that which is clear and use it to interpret that which is a dark saying or parable, as Jesus Christ put it. Now in this parable, it says that every branch that beareth fruit, he purges it so that it will bring forth more fruit. Now this is basically talking about trimming the tree. So if there's a branch that brings forth fruit, he'll purge it so that it'll bring forth even more fruit. And that purging in our lives would be God removing sin from our life and helping us to be cleaned up and more efficient in bringing forth fruit. So what this is saying is that if we go out and win souls to Jesus Christ, I'm going to prove that in the sermon, that's what it's referring to, that God will then help us to clean up other areas of our life. Now a lot of people have this backwards. They think, you know what, I need to get my life totally cleaned up, then I'm going to go out soul winning. And in fact, it's the opposite. We need to get out there and at least bring forth some fruit, then God will purge us, then we'll bring forth even more fruit. Now let me say this, if you have a lot of junk in your life, you're not going to bring forth much fruit. But you still need to get out there and try to bring forth some fruit because when God sees you bringing forth fruit, he says, here's a branch that I can purge so that it can bring forth more fruit. I don't believe in this thing of waiting to go soul winning until your life's all in order and gone. First of all, if you wait that long, you'll probably just never do it because none of us have all our ducks in a row. None of us are perfect. None of us are fully a purged perfect branch. We all have sin in our life and imperfection within us and so if you're going to be waiting for that, you just wait and it never comes. But a lot of people today think that they have to get certain sins out of their life before they can do soul winning. Look at the Bible and think about, for example, the woman at the well. You know, God used her to bring a lot of people to Jesus just immediately, just right away. She didn't clean up her life. You know, a lot of other people that you see in the Bible, the same day they get saved, they're soul winning. The apostle Paul was like that. He gets saved and just immediately he goes out and starts preaching the gospel and, you know, he had more to learn but he still got out there right away. Other people that you see in the Bible, like the guy that was demon possessed, you know, he gets saved and just right away he just goes out and starts preaching the Word of God. Why not? I mean, and a lot of people say this, well, I don't want to go soul winning until I've cleaned up my life because I don't want to be a hypocrite. Have you heard that one before? It's pretty common. Well, I don't want to be a hypocrite. You know, I'm telling people one thing, but here's the thing. When you go out soul winning, what message are you preaching? The message that you're preaching is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. You're not preaching clean up your life and you shall be saved. So these people that say, oh, I don't want to go soul winning because I don't want to be a hypocrite makes you wonder, you know, do they understand the gospel? The gospel is a free gift purchased by the blood of Jesus. You're not out. Look, Paul said we preach not ourselves, but we preach Jesus Christ. We preach him crucified. So you're not a hypocrite telling people to believe on Jesus. If you believed on Jesus and you're not a hypocrite, yeah, but I'm not living a perfect life. But are you telling people to live a perfect life and you'll be saved? No. So that excuse goes out the window and that's just what it is. It's an excuse where people are timid to get out there in the highways and hedges. So they just come up with an, oh, I'm not ready yet. And then they're just never ready type of a thing. But also some churches will perpetuate this where they will hinder people from going soul winning because they have not gotten the sin out of their life. You know, I, I've, I talked to a guy one time and I approached him at our church and I said, Hey, I really want to take you out. Soul winning. You know, have you ever been soul winning? Can I take you out sometime? And he said, well, you know, the problem is I smoke cigarettes. And at every church I've been in, they had a policy that anybody who smokes can't go soul winning. And I'm like, what in the world are you serious? I mean, that's so ridiculous to sit there and hinder. Why would you want to add one sin upon another? And look, smoking cigarettes is, is, is damaging to your body. It's a stupid use of your money. It's bad for you and everything else. But to sit there and say, well, because I'm living in one sin, then I better not go soul winning. Now you've just added another sin. Right. You know, at least get out there and go so well, you know, uh, aren't you worried that people won't look right? I've had other people say, and it's going to be an embarrassment and a shame upon your church. Not at all. Not at all. Because nobody in this church has a worse reputation than I. No, I'm just kidding. No, I'm just kidding. No, because here's the thing. I'm not ashamed. I've gone out soul winning with some pretty gnarly looking people and I'm not ashamed of them at all. Why should I be ashamed that I've got a new believer next to me, that I've got a new babe in Christ that's being trained and taught the things of God. You know what, if I walked into a church and everybody looked all perfect and everybody's all dialed in, that would just tell me they haven't reached anybody lately. And when you have some rough looking people in the church, that shows that people are being reached, you know, and maybe you see people that don't look quite right. Hey, so what? I'm not ashamed of them. Why would I be? You know, I'm just, you know, if they're saved and I'm saved and there's the, I've even taken unsaved people out soul winning. And obviously they're not doing the talking, you know, that would be heresy, you know, if they're preaching the false doctrine. But I've taken somebody out soul winning with me who was unsaved, just as a silent partner, because I'm going out and preaching the word if they want to listen to the word. And sometimes that person will get saved. You know, a friend of mine was soul winning and his dad was visiting in town and he took his dad out soul winning and it turned out his dad wasn't saved. And he gave the gospel over and over again throughout the afternoon. And at the last door he gave the gospel, his dad said, I prayed that prayer too just now because I realized from listening to you all afternoon that I needed to be saved. I realized that I'm not saved. And he prayed right there, got saved, and we baptized him in the evening service. So you know, why not go out there and just preach the gospel to whoever will listen. Somebody wants to tag along, come on along. And you know, another thing that we've done sometimes is won somebody the Lord and had them actually join us for the rest of the soul winning. Just right then and there, just put your shoes on and come soul winning, right? Hey, that's a start to a good Christian life when you get straight out soul winning. Why? Because if you bring forth fruit, God will purge you and then you'll bring forth even more fruit and that's how you succeed as a Christian. But as you read this, in the parable he says, you know, that as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself in verse 4, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch. Now look, this is a parable, this is symbolic. He's saying he's cast forth as a branch. But then it says this, men gather them, it says he's withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. Now a lot of people will take this and equate this unto going to hell. That's how they'll interpret the parable. People say hey, when the guys pick up the withered branches and throw them into the fire, that's a picture of that person going to hell. But here's the thing, that cannot be what this pictures because we have a ton of clear scriptures that talk about the fact that Jesus gives unto us eternal life, that he'll never leave us nor forsake us, that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, you know, that it's impossible to lose our salvation, you know, that's a whole sermon of itself but there's just a mountain of scripture. So obviously if you're interpreting this parable that way, then you have the wrong interpretation because you'd be contradicting a lot of clear statements even in the book of John itself. What this parable is saying when it says hey, the branch that doesn't bring forth fruit is withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire, it's just saying that's what you do with dead branches. You throw them in the trash, you burn them, you get rid of them. And what God is saying is that if we don't bring forth fruit, he has no use for us and it's like the apostle Paul said, he said I don't want to preach to others and then myself be a castaway. I don't want to be cast aside. And God, for example, cast aside a whole nation of people, the Israelites. Because remember, Israel was God's chosen people but when they didn't bring forth fruit, and he goes into this in great detail in Matthew 21, or Matthew 20 through 23, all those chapters, he keeps coming back to that theme, they did not bring forth fruit. He came to that fig tree of Israel seeking fruit thereon. He found none and what did he do? He cast them away. And you say well no, the Bible says he didn't cast aside his people, yet he cast away all the ones who didn't bring forth fruit. Because he said well I didn't cast them all away because there's a remnant of Israelites who believe and they're the ones that are still my people. Okay, so what are we saying here? In this passage we see that God does not have any use for Christians that don't bring forth fruit. He has no use for them. You can't be, and I want this to sink in with you tonight, you cannot be a good Christian without bringing forth fruit, period. You can't. If you're not bringing forth fruit, don't tell me, oh I'm abiding in Christ, I have a wonderful relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. No you don't. Because if you abide in Christ, you're bringing forth fruit. And if you're not bringing forth fruit, you're worthless unto the kingdom of God. In fact, Jesus said if you don't gather with me, you scatter abroad. There's no neutrality in this. You're either one that preaches the gospel that gathers people unto the kingdom of God, you're out there reaping the harvest, or you're a liability. You're dead weight. You're not an asset unto the kingdom of God whatsoever. He has no use. That's why Jesus said if you follow me, I will make you fishers of men. That tells me if you're not a fisher of men, you're not following Jesus. Now I'm not saying that you're not saved, because to be saved you just have to believe in Jesus. But there's a difference, and this is the key thing I want to point out in this passage, there's a difference between being saved and being a disciple. Being saved versus being a disciple. Think about in Jesus' day. How many disciples did he have? Twelve, right? And then there were seventy others that later he sent out. And then in that early church, how many people after three and a half years of ministry were in that early church in Acts chapter one? Only a hundred and twenty people. That's it. A hundred and twenty. But how many people got saved through Jesus' ministry? The Bible says multitudes. Thousands got saved. Thousands got baptized. But how many assembled at that early church in Acts one? Only a hundred and twenty people. How many did he call the disciples that were really close to him and willing to follow him anywhere he would go? There were only twelve of them, okay? So there's a difference between being saved and being a disciple. Here's even more proof. One of his disciples wasn't saved, okay? So don't just equate those two things in your mind. And that's why the Bible says here, in verse number eight, Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples. So this is talking about being a disciple. When you're abiding in the vine and you're bringing forth much fruit, that's when you're considered a disciple of Jesus Christ. Because he said, if you follow me, I'll make you a fisher to man. You can't be a follower of Jesus. You can't be a disciple. You're not in that group unless you are bringing forth much fruit, period. Everybody else is on the fringe. I mean, there are saved people out there that don't go to church and they're not abiding in Christ on a daily basis. They're not reading the word. They're not filled with the Spirit. They're not bringing forth any fruit. They're not disciples of Christ. Just because they're saved, it doesn't make them a disciple or someone who's following Christ and living their life in a way that's pleasing unto him. Now if you would, just flip back a few pages to John chapter 12 because I want to just teach you the subject of bringing forth fruit. What does it mean when God says bringing forth fruit or bringing forth much fruit? Well right here in John 12 verse 24 it says, verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. That's a key word there. It abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. This is talking about reproduction amongst plant life, okay? A corn of wheat, that living plant is there, but it's alone. It's by itself. In order to bring forth fruit, it has to fall to the ground and die. And then that seed will go into the earth and a new life will be produced and it will multiply and it says it will bring forth much fruit. Jesus is using that as symbolic of himself, dying, okay? And then bringing forth much fruit. But also we can apply this to us that we have to die to self in order to bring forth much fruit. And what I want to really drive in today in John 12, 24 is that bringing forth fruit is again associated with reproduction. What's the opposite of bringing forth fruit in this verse? Abiding alone, okay? So if it's just you, you're saved, but just you're saved and you're not getting anybody else saved, that's you abiding alone. Then there's bringing forth much fruit, which is you reproducing yourself. Go to Romans chapter number seven. Romans chapter number seven. Romans chapter number seven and verse number two, the Bible reads, for the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. But if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she is free from that law so that she is no adulteress, those she be married to another man. Therefore my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Now in this scripture in verse four, we see that this parable or this simile is being used of being married unto Jesus Christ and bringing forth fruit unto God. Now the fruit of that wheat that falls into the ground is more wheat. It reproduces, it multiplies. We as human beings multiply by having children. That's why all the way back to Genesis one, God said to Adam and Eve, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. What's he telling them to do? Have children. And he even told the animal life, be fruitful and multiply. He even talked about the plant life in Genesis one, having the seed within itself to do what? To reproduce and to bring forth after its own kind. And in Genesis one, he says over and over again, after his kind, after his own kind, after its kind. Look, why do we get to the New Testament and just totally forget that? And all of a sudden we don't know what bringing forth fruit is. No, bringing forth fruit is reproducing after our own kind. And even tying it into marriage emphasizes that, because what's the fruit of my wife and I being married? Well, it's all lined up back there. There's a whole row of fruits back there lined up. These are the fruits of marriage. This is what happens when a man and a woman reproduce. You have eight children that are in our image, meaning that they look like us. They appear like us. They have traits that are similar to our traits. And not even just physically, but also spiritually, mentally, your children are going to take after you because everything brings forth after its own kind. And so what we see here in this passage with Romans chapter seven is that bringing forth fruit unto God spiritually is a team effort between us and Jesus reproducing and bringing forth fruit. Just like he said, you have to abide in the vine, you have to abide in me, and you'll bring forth much fruit. Just as I can't bring forth fruit without my wife, and my wife can't bring forth fruit without me, it's going to take both of us to bring forth fruit. It's the same way with soul winning, with winning people to Christ. I can't go out and win people to Christ without Jesus, without the Holy Spirit, right? Because I have to have the Word, Jesus is the Word. The Bible talks about the sower sows the Word, faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. This is that spiritual seed of the Word, okay? I have to have the Word of God, and I have to have the Holy Spirit inside me, or I'm not going to get anybody saved just going out without the Holy Spirit, without any Bible verses, just going out and doing it in my own words and my own strength and my own wisdom, I'm not going to get anybody saved. But just as much, if I refuse to go, if I stay home, God's not going to go out and get the people saved without me. Now, when Jesus was on this earth, he did the soul winning because he was a human being, okay? But he said, as long as I'm in the world, I'm the light of the world. He said, you're the light of the world. And Jesus Christ, the Bible says, has committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation. And if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. And they are the ones who will continue to be blinded, lest the light of the glorious gospel should shine in. And so God uses us to do the soul winning, and we have to have God do the soul winning. It has to be both involved. It's a team effort between us and God in order to win people unto Jesus Christ. And that's what this teaching, now Paul also talks about this. You flip over to Romans 1, if you would, Romans chapter 1, Paul talks about this when he refers to people who he won to Christ as his children. He's not talking about begetting a physical child. He's talking about spiritual children that he brought forth. And he said, for example, in Philemon verse 10, I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds. This is a guy that he won to Christ while in prison, and he says, I've begotten him in my bonds. He said in Galatians 4 19, my little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you. Because he had thought they were saved, but now he's doubting their salvation. And he's like, say, I'm travailing in birth again until Christ be formed in you. Because he says, I'm afraid of you lest I bestow labor upon you in vain. You know, because they were getting into so much false doctrine. He's doubting whether he'd been saved. But he says also of Timothy, Timothy, my own son in the faith. He says, Titus, my own son after the common faith. These people aren't his physical children, but they're his spiritual children because he won them to Christ. There are a lot more scriptures on that. For sake of time, I won't belabor that point. But look at Romans 1. You say, I'm skeptical, Pastor Anderson. I still don't think that when Jesus talks about bringing forth fruit as a Christian, I don't think he's talking about winning people to Christ. I think he's just talking about living a good life or just cleaning up your life. I mean, that's what most people out there think. You know it's true. Because guess what? Most churches aren't soul winning. Most churches aren't winning anybody to the Lord, and they don't want to be tagged as unfruitful. Because they know that that means they're not following Jesus. They know that that means that they're not abiding in the vine. They know that they're about as valuable as a withered branch that somebody takes and just throws away because there's no use for it. They don't want to be the one that doesn't bring forth fruit. So here's what they say, oh, bringing forth fruit. Look how much I've cleaned up my life. Now look, you can clean up the tree and make it look wonderful. That doesn't mean that that tree is bringing forth any fruit. You could have a beautiful tree covered in flowers and pretty leaves, and you could trim it and make it look so nice and prune it, but that doesn't mean it's bringing forth any fruit. People don't want to accept the truth that I'm preaching tonight. But look at the Bible. Romans 1 is another proof. Verse 13, now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, but was let hitherto, let means hindered, that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles. Why does he want to go to Rome? He said I want to have some fruit among you like I've had among other Gentiles. I'm deader both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and the unwise. Verse 15, so as much as in me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. Notice the comparison between verse 13. I want to have some fruit among you also. What does he say that as in verse 15? I want to preach the gospel among you also. Because how are you going to bring forth fruit? By preaching the gospel. That's what it's saying here. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. He that winneth souls is wise. He said we bring forth fruit unto God just the way a husband and wife bring forth fruit when they're married. And here he equates bringing forth fruit to preaching the gospel. Now with that in mind, go to 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter number 1. It's a spiritual childbirth when you go out soul winning. Paul said I'm travailing in birth. You know, you want to know, man, soul winning's hard work. Well, you know, look how hard it is for a woman who's in labor, right? So we go out and we actually are, you know, begetting children unto the Lord. And that's what the Bible is saying with all these times that Paul said that. But look at 2 Peter chapter 1 with that in mind. You know, once we understand what it means to be fruitful, to bring forth fruit, it's talking about preaching the gospel. It's talking about winning souls. It's talking about reproducing. And look, what does an orange bring forth when it reproduces? More oranges. And what does the apple tree produce? Apples. Apples, yeah. But what does the Christian produce? Other Christians. I mean, it's not that complicated. But again, people don't want to face this. So they'll say, well, when a Christian brings forth fruit, they'll say it's love, joy, and peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness. But here's the problem. That's the fruit of the Spirit. That's not the fruit of the righteous. The fruit of the righteous is the tree of life and he that winneth souls is wise. The fruit of Christians is more Christians. Why is the fruit of the Spirit love, joy, peace, longsuffering? Because here's why. The fruit of the Spirit is love because God is love. You know, he brings forth after his own kind. He is the oil of gladness. He brings forth joy. The Holy Spirit is called the oil of gladness. You know, he's the prince of peace. He brings forth peace. What I'm saying is that the fruit of the Spirit should not be confused with our fruit. The Holy Spirit lives inside of us. And when we walk in the Spirit, the fruit of that will be a loving person, will be a joyful person, will be a peaceful person, will have faith, will be a good person, will have temperance and meekness. Those are the fruits of the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of us. But what's our fruit? What's the fruit that we bring forth? It's other believers. That's what it means to be fruitful. Look at 2 Peter chapter 1 with that in mind. It says in verse 5, and beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue. Now look, faith is what saves you. That's the starting point, getting saved, having faith in the Lord. But it says add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity for if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me first of all point out to you that barren and unfruitful are you side by side. And what does the Bible call a woman who can't have kids? Barren. So notice, again, it's reproduction that we're talking about here with fruitfulness. Barren and unfruitful. Now when we talk about being unfruitful, it says here that if we have this list of things in us, we will not be barren and we will not be unfruitful. You know what that tells me? That if you're not a soul winner, if you're not winning people to Christ, if you're not reproducing spiritually, if you have not brought forth a spiritual son or a spiritual daughter unto the Lord, something's missing on this list. It has to be because God says if these things abound in you, he'll make you not be unbarren or unfruitful. So something's missing. So here's what we've learned so far about people that are not bringing forth fruit unto God. We've learned that first of all, they're not abiding in Christ. They're not dwelling in close fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Number two, they're not willing to follow him because if you follow him, he'll make you into a fisher of men. What else do we see? We see that they lack something on this list here. They either lack, maybe they lack virtue. Maybe they just lack knowledge. They just don't even know what soul winning is. And I think that's a lot of people, they just lack knowledge. That was where I was at as a young person because I remember growing up with a burning desire to get people saved. And I even approached my youth leader as a teenager and said, you know, can we go out and get people saved, preach the gospel? And I even tried, but I was ignorant. And I hadn't studied the Bible enough. I'm not making excuses for myself. I mean the information was right here all along. I could have went out and found it, but I didn't have the knowledge. And so I remember I would try to give the gospel to my friends at school. I went to public school and I'd be giving my friends the gospel, but I did it wrong. And here's how I did it wrong. I didn't use the Bible. I didn't use verses. I didn't open the Bible and show them scripture. I didn't even quote scripture. I just explained it in my own words. I would just try to explain to my friends what it meant to be saved and I didn't even do a very good job of that. But I don't care how good of a job I did, if I'm not using the word of God, there's no power there. Power's in the word. The sower sows the word. The seed is the word. You know, there's not going to be this immaculate conception taking place when your soul, when you're winning without the Bible. No, you better have the seed there. You know, you better know that with these eight children that are lined up back there, there was a seed involved that made that happen. If the seed hadn't have been there, those kids wouldn't be there. And that's why soul winning without the word of God doesn't work. And so I had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. I wanted to get people saved. I tried to get people saved. I tried to even get guidance from leaders in the church. I went to my youth leader and said, can you teach me, can you take me out? He was so clueless that he can't teach me soul winning because he doesn't know soul winning. So, therefore, I was unfruitful for a long time in my Christian walk. Then about 17 years old, I got into a church that gave me the knowledge and taught me and sent me out and got me the tools to go out door to door and win people to Christ. And then once I started winning people door to door, then I started winning people in my personal life, at work, family, friends. And it just, it went from there. I was able to bring forth much fruit to God be the glory. You know, it was all through the power of the Holy Spirit. But the Bible says here, you know, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge temperance, to temperance patience. You know, something's missing when you're not bringing forth fruit. Maybe the knowledge is missing. You just don't know about soul winning. You've never even heard of it or you don't know how to do it. Well, the great thing is if you show up at one of the soul winning times at our church, there will be somebody there who has the knowledge to take you out and show you the ropes. There are also sermons that I preach that explain it, the video demonstration, everything. Anybody who's here tonight, this isn't an excuse for you to lack knowledge. But what about patience? Some people lack the patience. They say, oh, I tried soul winning. They tried it for an hour. They tried it for two hours. They tried it for five hours and it didn't work and they gave up on it. They lack patience because we have to patiently bring forth fruit and put in the time and effort and be frustrated and fail and fail and fail and people tell us no and they tell us no and they don't get saved and they don't get saved. And we continue with patience and in due season, we will reap if we faint not. You will get people saved if you continue soul winning. And he didn't say, he that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed might, might come back rejoicing. No, it says, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. If you go out with the word of God and do the soul winning, people will be saved. Anybody who says soul winning doesn't work, I turn around and say, no, you don't work. You're not doing the work because if you do the work, people are going to get saved and either the gospel's not being preached or the gospel's lost its power. Those are the only two options when people aren't being saved. Either it's not being preached or it's lost its power. What other option could there be? God says it's going to work. God says that his word has power. God says that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation. God says that if we go forth weeping and bearing precious seed, we will doubtless, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. What else could be missing? Well, godliness could be missing. You know what? I think a lot of times kindness and charity are missing. Kindness and charity could be that which is missing. You know, if you go out and you're a jerk to people, you know, you might not win as many people to Christ. Maybe you lack kindness, but what's charity? Charity is love. If we have love in our hearts and care about, look at the word charity. Here's another word that comes from the same root, caring, charity. Do you see how they both are made of the same root word there? Caring. Okay. Charity, loving others. You know what? If you love other people, you're going to be unfruitful because you're not going to care enough to go out and give them the gospel. You don't care enough to take time out of your schedule to get out there and do the work. If you cared, you'd be out there warning people. If you love people, you'd beat so many. So can you see how having these things missing can lead to you being unfruitful in your life? What if temperance is missing? Temperance is self-control. You know what? Then you're going to get into all kinds of addictions and all kinds of other things that are going to choke the word and make you unfruitful. Go to Matthew chapter 13. What makes people unfruitful? What causes them not to win anybody unto Christ and get anybody saved? The Bible says in Matthew 13 that there are different types of soil where the word is sown and it talks about people who bring forth fruit, some 30, some 60, and some 100. And it talks about other people who don't bring forth any fruit. Now, when we talk about 30, 60, and 100, that should show you right there that we're not just talking about love, joy, and peace because those are not numeric values. 30 love, my joy is at about a 50 right now. I'm about an 80 on the peace scale right now. That doesn't make any sense. But what if we go with what we've been seeing from the Bible about what it means to bring forth fruit? Now, let's apply 30, 60, and 100. Does it make sense to say 30 people were saved? I went out soul winning over the course of years or months or whatever period of time, depending on how much effort you put in and where you went. And you could say 30 people were saved. 60 people I've won to the Lord in my life, or I've won 100 people to Christ. Doesn't that make perfect sense? Because you can reproduce. I can put a number on my fruitfulness, eight children that I have lined up back there. Fruit that has remained, okay? But you can't quantify some of these other things that people will try to pass off as the fruit of the Christian. But you can sure quantify salvation. Now it says in Matthew 13 verse 18, hear ye the parable of the sower. When anyone heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the wayside. Now this guy's not even saved because he hears the word of God, he doesn't even understand it. Now get your finger in Luke 8 because sometimes it's helpful to compare the four gospels and just kind of see things from a different angle. This same parable is found in Luke 8. Now in Luke 8, we're going to start this parable in verse number 11, it says, keep your finger in Matthew 13 because I want to go back and forth. Luke 8 says this, now the parable is this, the seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are they that hear, then cometh the devil and taketh away the word out of their heart lest they should believe and be saved. So these people aren't saved, are they? Because before they have a chance to believe and are saved, the devil catches away that was sown in their heart. And why is the devil able to do that? Because they did not understand that which they heard. A lot of people when they hear the gospel don't understand it. And what will happen is the devil will come and catch away that which was sown in their heart lest they should believe and be saved, it says, okay? Now let's look at the next group. We can do it right here in Luke chapter 8 because we're here. It says they on the rock, verse 13, are they which when they hear receive the word with joy and these have no root which for a while believe and in time of temptation fall away. Now some people will try to declare these people unsaved. But here's the thing about that. You're denying the fact that a person is saved when they receive the word of God with joy and believe? What else, pray tell, do you have to do to be saved? The Bible said but as many as received him, and remember he is that seed, the sower sows the word, Jesus is the word, as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name. You know when you receive the word of God with joy and believe it, you're saved. You're the son of God. You have an everlasting life. Even John 3 16 will tell you that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. But look, it's helpful to see it in both Matthew 13 and Luke 8 because look, flip over to Matthew 13 and let's look at that same person in verse 20. But he that received the seed into stony places, Matthew 13 20, the same as he that heareth the word and anon, anon means immediately, anon with joy receiveth it, yet hath he not rooted himself but doereth for a while, that's like endureth for a while, for when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, by and by he's offended. This is exactly what Jesus warned about in John 16 when Jesus said unto the disciples, these things have I spoken unto you that you would not be offended. He said, look, you're going to be cast in prison. You're going to be beaten. You're going to be cast out of the synagogues. He said, I'm warning you so that you won't be offended. Then at the end of John 16, he says, these things have I spoken unto you that in me you might have peace in the world. You shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. So Jesus says, I'm warning you about persecutions and tribulations you're going to go to so that you won't be offended. He's telling this to his disciples, he's telling this to saved Christians saying, I don't want you to be offended when persecution and tribulation comes. Isn't that exactly what this says in Matthew 13? He says in verse 21, yet hath he not rooted himself but doereth for a while, for when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, by and by he's offended. Plants have a major root system in many cases that will keep them and hold them secure through all the storms that they're faced with. But other plants, because the ground is very stony, they have no root in themselves. Basically they try to send their root down and they hit that stony place and so they grow sideways with the roots and it's very shallow. Arizona is a place where we can understand this. For example, sometimes in a storm you'll see trees falling everywhere, won't you? And sometimes it won't even be that intense of a storm and yet you see trees falling all over Arizona. Why? Because Arizona is a very stony place. Arizona has all kinds of places where it's just really dry and hard as a rock or even rock itself. And these trees don't often have deep roots, they go down deep. And so when the storm comes, they're knocked down or washed away because they don't have that root system that goes down deep. Well, I had a tree at my house and I thought that that was the case with this tree because a big storm came and it was a giant tree, the biggest tree in my whole yard, and this tree came crashing down. But it didn't come crashing all the way down. It basically fell like this and then it was leaned against my house. So we're looking at this saying, how can the house have stopped this giant tree? Because usually when a giant tree comes down on the house, you know, it's going to bash in the roof and it's going to dent it in, especially a tree of this size. But yet the tree had crashed down and just stopped right there. Now we thought, wow, you know, this is a tough house, you know, and we were just praising the Lord. Thank God that it didn't destroy our house, didn't destroy the roof at all, this is great. But then when I started to investigate further, I started trimming away some of the branches and I trimmed away the branch that was kind of looked like it was holding it up and I trimmed all that stuff away and the thing was still just at that same angle. And I was thinking, well, it's not the house that's holding it up, it's the root. It had a part of the root system that was shallow that fell over, but then the main root was still secure. So this thing had fallen over and I chopped it all apart and everything and that root was in very firmly. So finally I cut down the whole tree down to the stump, got rid of the tree and we had this stump there. And brother Jerry was there and basically, Corbin, I think you were there too, we were working on it. And so the first thing we did was we said, oh, well, this thing's already fallen over, maybe we can hook up a chain and try to kind of pull on it with Jerry's van and see if maybe that'll kind of dislodge it, he's trying to get rid of this thing. And it just wouldn't budge. So I got in there with a shovel and just dug and dug and dug around and I just kept finding more roots, big giant roots that went just way down deep. And so I just keep digging and digging and digging and going down real deep. And then I kept taking my chainsaw and just cutting these giant roots, but there just kept being another giant root. And then we tried to hook it up to the back of our van with chains, step on the gas, nothing's happening. Dig, dig, dig, cut, cut, cut. Finally we got to the point where we chopped out all the roots and were able to just yank it out with the van and chains and pull it out. But I mean, that thing wasn't going anywhere. And you know what, in the storm, it did falter a little bit, but that thing would have continued. I mean, it took a lot to get that thing out in the end. All that horsepower couldn't even budge it. Why? Because it had a deep root. That's how we want to be as Christians, you know, we want to have our root down deep, not be just a drifter, not be a tumbleweed Christianity that just has a weed, a root that's so shallow where we barely know the Bible, we're not really that attached to the church we go to, we're not really plugged in deep into the word of God or the house of God or anything like that, then the smallest little wind will send us just tumbling down the road. Look, that's what this is talking about. People fall away. What's that referring to? People get saved, they get in church, they're excited about being in church, then as soon as they run into any opposition or any problems, they quit the church. Look, we could ask, we're not going to, but we could ask for stories. Everybody in their mind who's been in their church for many years can think of people who were really zealous and excited and serving God and soul winning and doing great that eventually fell away and today they're not in church at all. Today they're in a liberal church or today they're just in some other church and not doing any soul winning but just kind of warm in a pew somewhere. That's what the Bible's talking about, people that fall away. It's people that are not fruitful. They don't bring forth any fruit. Why? They were not rooted deeply enough. What else is the problem with people when they don't have a root? Not only that, these people in stony places are people who begin to even doubt because it talks about they believe for a while but then they start to doubt and they'll be, well, I don't really believe that way anymore, the way that they believe. They're still saved but they start to doubt the word of God and doubt the preaching that they were taught from the people who won them to Christ. But look down at Matthew 13. Let's look at this next group. The first group was the one that didn't understand it so the fowl of the air came and took it. The second was the one in stony places, no root. It says in verse 22, he also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he becometh unfruitful. Look at Luke 8. Let's see that in Luke 8. It says in verse 14, they which fell among thorns are they which when they've heard go forth and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to perfection. Look, we've known Christians like this, haven't we? Christians who just simply get busy and distracted with other things. It's not that they weren't saved. It's just that they're not bringing forth any fruit because they're too busy with the cares of this world, the pleasures of this world, and a pursuit of riches. They just get it too into their job, too into making money. And look, some of you that aren't supporting your family might need to get into making money. Hello? Hello? Anybody out there? You need to get into making some money because God does want us to go out and work by the sweat of our brow and six days shalt thou labor and with quietness work and eat your own bread. So look, I'm not telling you, oh yeah, pastor warned me not to get too into work. No, some of you need to get more into work. Okay? But you don't want to get so into work that you're neglecting soul winning to where you don't care that the lost are dying and going to hell anymore. You don't want to just get so busy that it becomes just about getting the three car garage. And it becomes all about getting the boat and the RV and living in the lap of luxury and the retirement and the 401k and the stock portfolio and it's all about having two cars or fancier cars or a third car or it's about whatever, motorcycles or whatever. And look, I'm not saying that any of those things are bad, but you know what? If that's what your life is about, you're living a sad life. We need to live a life that's about serving the Lord and have joy unspeakable and full of glory, not chasing after this dream of just more money and more toys. So that's what we say, where the deceitfulness of riches comes in and people are just so into their career and their job that the main thing stops being the main thing. You look, work as much as you need to work to put food on the table and provide your family with a place to live and clothes and food and support them. But you know what? You need to carve out some time and get out soul winning every week. There's 168 hours in the week, you need to take some time to go out and win some souls. That's what I'm saying. Don't get unfruitful. Don't let that choke you. But not just riches or pursuing riches. And notice, we didn't say pursuing a normal living. That's something you should be doing. But we should not be pursuing riches. But not only that, he says, pleasures of this world and just other things entering in. I mean, this could just be playing and having fun, where people just get so into hobbies and so into video games or just movies or just sports or whatever it is, where it just takes away from serving the Lord and serving the Lord is no longer important to them because they're just so busy doing everything else. And it chokes out the word and that person becomes unfruitful. In Luke 8, notice it says, they bring forth no fruit to perfection. Why? Because of cares, riches, and pleasures of this life. They just get all into just whatever makes them feel good and whatever's fun for them. But look at the end, it says in verse 15, but they on the good ground are they which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it. Look, they keep it. They obey it is what he's saying. Keeping God's commandments, obeying God's word. And it says they bring forth fruit with patience. Over time, they bring forth, maybe not immediately, but over time they bring forth fruit. Back to Matthew 13, we'll see the same thing. It says in verse 23, but he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth it, which also beareth fruit and bringeth forth some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. There's your numeric value of the person who brings forth fruit. Now again, a lot of people will mix this up, and I've heard this parable interpreted as, well, the only people in this parable that are saved are the last group. Have you heard that teaching? Hey, the only one is the last group that brings forth fruit. They're the only ones who are really saved, is what they'll say. Now here's why they're mixed up on this parable. I'm going to give you a few different reasons why they're mixed up. Number one, they're mixed up because they have the wrong view that every single type of person is included in this parable. And that's simply not the case. Because for example, it talks about the person. The only person who rejects the word of God, right, is the first person. The other three receive it. One receives it into stony places, meaning they're excited, they believe it, but they don't get rooted. The other group that receives it, receives it among thorns. They grow up, the plant grows up, but they get choked out of nutrients, okay? Don't bring forth any fruit. And then the third one is the good ground. The only person that rejects it in this parable is the one in the first instance. And it doesn't even say that they reject it, it just says they didn't understand it. Do you get that? It says they hear the word of God and they don't understand it. So basically all four people in this parable are sincere in the beginning, in a sense. One of them, you know, is listening at least, but they just don't understand it. Then the devil comes and takes it away. Another person doesn't get rooted, whatever. And here's the thing, think about all the people who do understand the gospel and reject it. Are they included in this parable? Where's the parable about the guy who hears the gospel, says, yeah, I understand it, but I don't believe it. He's not here. So to sit there and say, oh, this is just everybody on the planet falls into this parable. No. How about people who don't even hear the gospel? Are they included? No, because this is all the seeds coming at them, okay? And these are people hearing the gospel. And there's nobody here who heard it and understand it and said, well, I don't believe that, but yet there are a lot of you go out there, you'll find people. I've given the gospel to people that understood every word of it. They repeated it back to me. It all made perfect sense to them. And I said, do you believe it? Nope. I mean, get real people. There are people who are like that. So number one, they make the mistake of thinking that everybody's included in this parable. So because most people are unsaved, they think most of the parables unsaved. No. Every person in this parable is not saved as the first person, because everybody else received the word and believed it. And that's all you have to do to be saved. Okay. The other mistake that they're making is that if that were the case, then the Bible would be teaching that if you don't bring forth fruit, 30, 60, or 100, then you're not saved. Okay. That's a work salvation. If you have to keep the word of God with patience, that would be salvation by works. Okay. Not only that, let me even just prove to you using math that there's no way that everybody who's saved brings forth fruit. Even math will tell you that that is false. And this math is based on exponents of the number two, which are my favorite kind of math. But anyway, if you double, it's like the old parable of the guy who said, you know, just pay me with one grain of rice on a checkerboard, put one grain of rice on the first square, and then put two grains of rice on the second square, and then keep doubling it. You know, one, two, four, eight, 16. You know, when you get to the last square of the 64th square, you have, it's 18.44 quintillion is what you end up with, is my understanding, you know, because it's two to the 64th power. Okay. So here's the deal. If you, well I guess since you started with one, okay, maybe it's half that. But the bottom line is, when you double it, it goes to an astronomical number more than you'd think. So let's deal with this in soul winning. Let's test the theory that every single person, every single person who gets saved is going to bring forth at least 30 fruit. That's what these people are saying, that are interpreting this wrong. Okay, well let's say everybody's going to bring forth minimum, because some 30, some 60, some 100, right? So the minimum here is 30. Okay, so let's just go with the number 30. Let's say every saved person's going to win 30 people to the Lord. Okay, well here's why that math doesn't work. Because let's pretend that there's only one saved person on the whole planet, which we know there are many more than that. But just for sake of this discussion, let's say there's one person that's saved on the planet. And let's say for the entire year, they go soul winning every week for the whole year, and they only have one person saved. Now that's a pretty low expectation, right? But they went out and they got one person saved, or maybe they only went soul winning once a month, or once in a blue. But let's just say they go out and they get one person saved in the whole year, okay? Well then in year two, how many people are now saved? This isn't that complicated folks. No, no, no, two people. Because the first year, let's pretend I'm the only person who was saved, and I go out and I win one person in the Lord just in year one. We're not talking about a lifetime yield here. Just year one, I win one person in the Lord, now there's two of us that are saved, right? So we've doubled. So now the two of us, we're going to go out soul winning, because I'm going to win this person in the Lord and I'm going to teach them to be like me. I'm bringing forth fruit, I'm reproducing that for my own kind. Hey, I'm a soul winner, I'm going to make you a fisher of men like me. So then the two of us go out soul winning all year and we only have one person saved each. I have one saved, he has one saved. And at the end of year two, we have four, okay? So what do we have? Two to the second power, or two squared. The third year, we double again. The four of us go out and get one person saved each. We have eight, which is two to the third power. I was right about that checkerboard number by the way, 18.44 quintillion, because it's two to the 64th power, because on the first square is two to the, well okay, I don't know. Anyway, I'm getting too complicated. I'm confusing myself. But think about it now, we're in year three, let's keep it simple. Year three, we've got eight Christians in the whole world. Now would you say that we're just a soul winning machine? We're awesome. Three years, eight people saved. Okay, are we one of the fastest growing churches in America? We're running eight after three years. Are we the fastest growing church in America? No. Is anybody impressed? No. But then we go out the fourth year and all we do is just get one person, look, is it too much to ask of you Christian to win one person to the Lord in the whole year? It's pretty realistic, I think. Very realistic. Okay, so then in the fourth year we've got 16. We're doubling. Okay, the fifth year 32, the sixth year 64. People still are thinking, you know, this is a slow growth. Okay, but then it goes to 128, 256, 512. And after 10 years of effort, after a decade, we've got 1,024 people saved. Now that's substantial. And not only that, we didn't just get 1,024 people saved, we got 1,024 people who all are soul winners. Now that's a pretty amazing church, huh? Church with 1,024 soul winners in it after 10 years of effort? Now we're an amazing church, even though our beginnings were humble. Okay, well we keep doubling from 1,024, we double to 2,048, and we keep doubling. Listen to me, when we get to the 20 year mark, we would have over a million people saved. Just by winning, just if every Christian, just starting with one saved person only, and every Christian just wins one person to the Lord the whole year. We haven't done a big TV campaign. We didn't go on the radio or the TV or have giant crusades in baseball stadiums. No, we just went out one on one and just won one person to the Lord per year. The whole year. That's all we did, and then just taught that person to do the same thing we do, to be a soul winner. After 20 years, we would have over a million, and after 30 years, we would have over a billion. Now how many people live in the world today? About 8 billion, right? Something like that? So let's say it's 8 billion. Well think about it. After 33 years, every single person in the whole world would be saved. And since we're not starting with one, if every Christian right now that's a saved Christian on the earth right now would win one person to the Lord per year, it would happen way sooner than that. It would just happen in a few years that the whole world would be saved. Now the question is, is the whole world saved? So you know what that proves? That 99% of Christians are not winning anybody to the Lord. That's what it proves. Because if every Christian was bringing forth 30, then that would mean in 30 years they've had 30 saved, won a year, and the whole world would have been saved a whole bunch of times by now. Now we know the whole world's never going to get saved because some people reject the Gospel. Of course, most people reject the Gospel. So that's not the point. The point is that when you look at the numbers, here's what you learn. Soul winning works. God was pretty smart when he told us to go out and win people to Christ, baptize them, and then teach them to observe all things that we've commanded. Because if we can reproduce and bring forth after our own kind and teach them to observe what we observe, we can easily win the whole world to Christ or at least give everybody the Gospel. It's not happening and it's not going to ever happen. And the reason why it's not ever going to happen is that 99% of Christians are doing zero soul winning. That is what's wrong with our country. That is what's wrong with the world we live in. And that is why masses are going to hell tonight because Christians are not abiding in Christ and they're not bringing forth fruit and they're not falling to the ground and dying. They're not willing to travail in birth. They're on a spiritual birth control pill and they won't go out and do the soul winning and they're not seeing anybody saved. And you say, well, we're not going to get the whole world saved, but you know what? We should experience in this church that exponential growth to where we would multiply greatly. Why is our church, look, our church is almost 10 years old. Why is our church not running 1,024 red hot soul winners? There aren't a thousand people here today and their debt sure aren't a thousand people in our church going out soul winning and winning one person, the Lord per year. Why not? You know why? Because a lot of Christians, most Christians are dropping the ball and not doing the soul winning. That's why, you know, and let me ask you this, are you, are you one of the people that's winning somebody, the Lord every year? And I mean, obviously there are a lot of people in our church who win somebody Lord almost every week because why? You say, why are certain people winning somebody Lord every week? Because they're actually out putting in the most hours of doing it. You know, the people that are having people saved on a monthly basis, it's because they're out soul winning a lot in the course of that month and the people that even bring forth in a year, it's because they're putting in time and you know, it doesn't always happen after just an hour, two hours, three hours. You have to, with patience, go out there and bring forth fruit and go out there week after week after week and keep doing it. Look, somebody is dropping the ball big time in Phoenix, Arizona. I bet there are a whole bunch of independent Baptist churches that are dropping the ball, not doing the soul winning. There are people in our church that, that look, they're a withered branch and let me tell you something tonight. I'm preaching this sermon for a couple of reasons. Number one is because we need to be fruitful as Christians in order to glorify the Lord. He said, here in is my Father glorified that you bring forth much fruit, so shall you be my disciples. You want to glorify God? Be a soul winner. Number two, people are dying and going to hell out there. We need to be a soul winner. Soul winning works. Anybody who says it doesn't work doesn't understand math and doesn't understand the Bible and is just not willing to go out there and roll up their sleeves and do the work because it's hard work. Why am I preaching this tonight? A third reason, not only because we want to glorify the Lord and obey Him, not only because of the fact that, you know, people are dying and going to hell and soul winning is the answer to get them the Gospel, but thirdly because if you do not participate in bringing forth fruit, you are in danger of falling away. And I'm not saying you can't lose your salvation, it's by faith, it's eternal life, you shall never perish, but you are in danger of getting backslidden and quitting the church and washing up and you may not even be here a few years from now. You say, well, I'm here now, I'm an active member of the church, I don't go soul winning, but I am an active member of the church. You know what, I hope you stay for as long as possible, but honestly, I'm predicting that if you never get out soul winning, I'm predicting you're going to fall away. You know, I mean, you've got to have some soul winning in your life. I mean, and you know, a lot of people say, well, you know, my soul winning is just not door to door. I mean, you hear people say, my soul winning is just not door to door, Pastor Anderson. It's not that I'm unfruitful, it's just that my soul winning is not door to door. My soul winning is in my daily life of, you know, giving the Gospel to people that I come across and people that I run into, friends, family, loved ones, co-workers. Here's the thing about that, it's usually not really happening. Like it sounds great in theory that you're just winning people to the Lord in your personal life and that you're constantly giving the people the Gospel everywhere you go. And you know what, if you're really doing that, I mean, if you're really just walking down the street and you come across people and you're stopping them and giving the Gospel and you're stopping people in all manner of areas of life, and you're actually giving the Gospel to everybody in your family, everybody at your work, and all these different things, you know what, then great. You know, you're bringing forth fruit, wonderful. But you know what, you and I both know that that's not happening and that it happens once in a blue moon. And look, that was my philosophy growing up and you know, I tried that and asked me how many people I wanted to lure, the answer's zero. I went out soul winning door to door and then you're going out consistently every week and putting in the time and that's when I started getting people saved, was door to door soul winning. Then after I got good at it and got in the habit of it and God purged me and I brought forth more fruit, then I got to where I was doing the daily life soul winning. And look, all of us should have both in our life because God tells us to preach the Gospel to every creature. Every creature doesn't work at your job. You know, pretty soon you're going to run out of relatives to give the Gospel to unless you're Hispanic and just have five million cousins and second cousins and third cousins. You know, okay, you're never going to run out of family to give the Gospel to, great. Give it to all them until Jesus comes. You know, when we as Caucasians say like, oh, my family, we're talking like brothers and sisters, mom and dad and children. That's when Hispanic people talk about family. It's a real extended family. It's third cousins. I mean, it's a great big family. You know, they have a little family gathering and it's a huge, there's cars parked down the street, you know, for miles. You know, I got to help this guy out, he's family. It's like a third cousin once removed, you know. But you've got to, and look, here's what I want to emphasize to you. Bringing forth fruit, he said bring forth fruit to perfection. That's completion, okay. You're not bringing forth fruit if you give someone the Gospel. That's not bringing forth fruit. You're bringing forth fruit when a person gets saved. Are you getting this? Just giving somebody the Gospel is not bringing forth fruit. Getting someone saved is bringing forth fruit. Okay, that would be like if I got married, right, and I have a physical relationship with my wife, I say, well, I planted the seed. But does that mean that any fruit was produced? Fruit is produced when the baby's born. And when that person's born again, that's fruit that's being produced. But just saying, I planted the seed, therefore I've been fruitful, you wouldn't look at somebody who has no kids and say, oh, that person's fruitful. Well the evidence is that the husband has planted the seed. No, that doesn't make them fruitful until reproduction runs its course and the child is brought forth. Now you say, well, you know, I'm a woman and I'm physically barren. What do I do? You know, this is where the patience comes in too. Look at all the women who were barren physically. They waited on the Lord and eventually God answered them and they had a child as they waited with patience. Same thing with soul winning. The parallel is there. And so don't tell me, well, I just plant seeds. That's what I do. That's not going to put a baby in the crib. Well, I just planted seeds. Well, you know, anybody, look, and here's the thing. If you're not winning people to the Lord, you're not doing, you're doing something wrong because the Bible says, he that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. So don't just do this cop out of, oh, well, you know, and some people won't even go through a full plan of salvation with somebody. They'll just barely drop some hint of Jesus and they'll go, oh, that was my witnessing for the day. Hey, buddy, Jesus saves. God bless you. Oh man, I'm so glad I got to witness that guy. We've set the bar so low on witnessing or how about this? I don't have it right here, but who's got the, here we go. Yeah. That's my witnessing for the, Hey, but Hey pal, read this later. That's not soul winning. That's not bringing forth fruit. That's not re well, but I planted the seed. That's not relevant. Where's your son in the faith. Where's your daughter in the faith. Where's the reproduction. Where's the fruit of it. You're barren today spiritually. And so you need to get out there and not just say, well, I'm just planting seeds. No, you need to get out there and win somebody to Christ. And you say, well, I can't control whether they get saved or not. You can take the horse to the water, but you can't make a drink. Yeah. But guess what? If you go out there and go through the whole plan of salvation with somebody with your Bible, eventually somebody's going to get saved. And if you're not getting people saved, it's probably cause you're not going through the whole plan of salvation with people and using your Bible. And I'm speaking from experience. I got saved as a six year old boy, but I wasn't fruitful until I was 17 years old. Why? Because as a child and as a teenager, I was given a partial plan of salvation without using the Bible. As soon as I started actually opening my Bible, going through the full plan of salvation, explaining the whole thing and showing all the scriptures, then I started getting people saved. Maybe not instantly, but eventually it's going to happen. And so I don't want you to be barren or unfruitful cause I'm afraid you're going to wither away. I'm afraid you're going to be cast aside. I'm afraid you're going to fall out because you're just a dead weight, you know, you need to get out soul winning. And we, you know, I thank God that the vast majority of people at our church go soul winning. Praise the Lord for that. Thank God for that. Look, there's no excuse not to go soul winning in this church because we've got all different times we meet in different parts of town. And if none of that works for you, you can find somebody, myself included, that'll take you at another time and get you out there doing the soul winning. There's no reason to be barren or unfruitful. It's time to put the root down. It's time to cast aside some of the pleasures and cares and riches that are maybe slowing you down and carve out some time to get out there. I don't know what I'm doing. Silent partner. All you do is show up at a soul winning time. We'll put you with a loud mouth that'll do all the talking. All you got to do is come along for the ride and that's where it begins. When you learn, you get the knowledge, then pretty soon you'll be saying this, let me get the next door. I got the next door. And that's a glorious day when you do that. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for giving us this ministry, Lord, because the ministry of reconciliation, the job of going out soul winning is such an honorable job that you've given us. And you've given us a major purpose in our life where we can actually do something of eternal value and we can reap a harvest of souls unto salvation and inherit all these wages and rewards, Lord, for the work that we do that no one can ever take away for us because it's riches in heaven, not a 401k on this earth. Lord, I pray that every single person in this room today would say, you know what? I'm going to get serious about winning souls. I don't want to be unfruitful. I want to win somebody the Lord. Show up at a soul winning time. Open their mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. Jesus name we pray. Amen.