Fruit Inspection: Fresh Fruit

Fruit Inspection: Fresh Fruit

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: The refreshment of the Holy Spirit comes to our souls when we turn from a self-indulgent life to a Jesus-centered existence. 

• Self-indulgence

• Steadfastness

• Saving Prayer

Self-indulgence

Self-indulgence feeds you the empty calories of life that leaves your soul dry and wanting in the end.  

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James‬ ‭5‬:‭1‬-‭6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.”

Before all of the NIL (Name and Image Licensing) that has hit the NCAA, there was a stand-out at Texas A&M University named Johnny Manziel.  

He was the first ever freshman Heisman trophy winner in 2012.  

The recent testimony of Johnny “Football” Manziel was that it was as he was at the height of getting everything that he thought that he desired - the money, the fame and women to no end, that he lost all of his passion for life because he found it empty and wanted to end it all.  

This sounds a lot like King Solomon in Ecclesiastes when he said over and over again, “Meaningless, meaningless…all is a chasing after the wind.”

Solomon too had all of the money, power, sex and fame that a man or woman could ask for, but found it wanting in the end without God.  

James realized this and spoke that it is better to turn from the self-indulgent life to one centered on Jesus and his Kingdom purposes.  

The refreshment of the Holy Spirit breathes new life into our souls - our minds, our wills and our emotions.  

This refreshment comes through repentance, when we choose to change our minds about the value of a self-indulgent life and turn instead to prioritize a Jesus-centered life. 

“People may excite in themselves a glow of compassion, not by toasting their feet at the fire, and saying: "Lord, teach me compassion," but by going and seeking an object that requires compassion.”

- Henry Ward Beecher

Steadfastness

Steadfastness is the mark of a person living in relationship with and in ongoing proximity to Jesus, his word and his people.  

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James‬ ‭5‬:‭7‬-‭12‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your "yes" be yes and your "no" be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.”

To live free of self-indulgence we need to daily remind ourselves of the judgment to come and set our hearts on the reward that is found in Jesus Christ.  

Steadfastness is a result of my eyes, heart and mind being opened to the hope of unbroken fellowship with God - the better option of eternal life, where there is no more sickness, mourning, death or pain as God makes all things new in his Kingdom.  

This is the pearl of great price and the treasure about which Jesus spoke. 

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Matthew‬ ‭13‬:‭44‬-‭46‬ ‭ESV‬‬

 “"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

Has Jesus become your treasure?

Season Changing Prayer 

The ongoing refreshment of the Holy Spirit flows when we express our dependence on God in life-giving prayer.  

‭‭James‬ ‭5‬:‭13‬-‭20‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”

Learning to pray and to pray with others can literally be the thing that saves your life.  

Why do I say this?:

First we have what the apostle Paul said regarding salvation - our reconciliation with Almighty God himself:

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Romans‬ ‭10‬:‭8‬-‭13‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."”

Second, as James intimated in the Scripture above:

*Prayer both sustains us in the waiting and changes seasons in our lives.  

Life can seem hard and dry as in the time when Israel was without rain for three and a half years because of God’s national judgment on the people’s sin. 

During that time, however, Elijah was part of a remnant that belonged to the Lord that was supernaturally fed by the ravens when he lived near the brook where God instructed him to go.

‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭17‬:‭1‬-‭7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word." And the word of the Lord came to him: "Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there." So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.”

The place that God instructs you to go and the people with whom God places you are important to sustaining you and ultimately fulfilling Christ’s Kingdom purposes for your life vs. merely satisfying self-indulgence. 

When the brook dried up, it led Elijah to his next miracle working venture with the widow of Zarephath and her son.  

The place and people to which you go should always have God’s Kingdom purposes at the center.  

“Prayer involves transformed passions. In prayer, real prayer, we begin to think God's thoughts after Him: to desire the things He desires, to love the things He loves, to will the things He wills.”

- Richard J. Foster

The importance of community is further reiterated by James when he speaks about the manner we are to walk out life in that community. 

“It is grace at the beginning, and grace at the end. So that when you and I come to lie upon our death beds, the one thing that should comfort and help and strengthen us there is the thing that helped us in the beginning. Not what we have been, not what we have done, but the Grace of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. The Christian life starts with grace, it must continue with grace, it ends with grace. Grace wondrous grace. By the grace of God I am what I am. Yet not I, but the Grace of God which was with me.”

-Martyn Lloyd-Jones

The grace of God is manifest and realized as we learn to confess our sins to one another and pray for one another, that we might be healed, even as we wait. 

Have you prayerfully found your church home?

Have you committed to share life with others there, encouraging them and choosing to be exhorted in that place? 

Because Jesus lived sinlessly, died on the cross of sacrificially for us and was raised from the dead three days later, we can experience the grace and forgiveness of God daily as we wait for our eternal redemption in him.  

 Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

Fruit Inspection: Diseased Fruit

Fruit Inspection: Diseased Fruit

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: The fruit of our lives often reveals whether our decisions are Christ-centered or not.  If we want the blessings of a Jesus-centered life, change is continually due.  

• Sweet Tooth 

• Only One Judge

• If the Lord Allows

Sweet Tooth

Our lack of perceived happiness often comes down to chasing the wrong things.   

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James‬ ‭4‬:‭1‬-‭10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us"? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”

Has anyone ever had fitness goals before but not wanted to do what it takes to achieve them?  

Whether we yet know God or not, we all want the blessings of a Christ-centered life, but don’t want its discipline.  

We all want to live in the love, joy, peace, patience, experience the goodness, faithfulness and gentleness that comes from self-control.  

Sugar highs feel good in the moment, but are bad for you and bring you crashing down.  

When James speaks about friendship with the world, he is not speaking about love for people, but a thirst for things that people put above and before God. 

When indulge a taste for the world's values and goals above a pursuit of Jesus and his kingdom, our souls are left unhealthy and full of persistent discontent.   

The national fruit and symbol of Jamaica, the ackee contains hypoglycin, the same toxin found in lychee.5 The threats from this native West African fruit are well-known amongst those who eat it and it’s rarely eaten uncooked or before it’s ripe. Unfortunately, not all children are aware of the danger and risk poisoning when they consume unripe ackee.

-https://www.treehugger.com/poisonous-fruits-and-vegetables-avoid-4858734

We don’t involve God in our daily decisions when we simply want to do what we want to do.  

We don’t ask God for his involvement because there is a sneaky suspicion that our compass is off, our pursuits have become idols and he would not approve. 

This ultimately leads to compromise, sin and a life of which God requires repentance.  

Have you ever prayed about something and not gotten what you asked for?

God is a good father.  

Do not expect God to give you what he knows will be inevitably harmful to you.  

“Whenever you put happiness before righteousness, you will be doomed to misery. That is the great message of the Bible from beginning to end. They alone are truly happy who are seeking to be righteous.”

-Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Where has there been compromise in your life?

• In your relationships?

• In your entertainment?

• In your use of time?

• In your use of resources?

Your passions need to be ripened and cooked with the milk of God’s word. 

There is no way around it, friendship with the ways of the world, devoid of Christ’s Lordship, is enmity with God, because you will choose the world every time.  

Friendship with the world:

It is easier, though in the end it becomes a heavier burden than you want to carry.  

It is quicker, though in the end you end up paying for things longer than you would like.  

It seems fancier, though it ends up costing more than you were desiring to pay. 

It may give you a measure of shallow praise, but not from the one who will be the ultimate, life affirming judge.  

God "yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us" because as a good father, he wants to spare us self-inflicted pain so that with clear eyes we can have what leads to actual life and health.  

Jesus continually calls us back to his ways by grace that we might reorient ourselves around the rightful, benevolent judge.  

“No matter how low down you are; no matter what your disposition has been; you may be low in your thoughts, words, and actions; you may be selfish; your heart may be overflowing with corruption and wickedness; yet Jesus will have compassion upon you. He will speak comforting words to you; not treat you coldly or spurn you, as perhaps those of earth would, but will speak tender words, and words of love and affection and kindness. Just come at once. He is a faithful friend - a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”

- Dwight L. Moody

Only One Judge

When Jesus becomes our standard, we are liberated to enjoy the life that is truly life. 

‭‭James‬ ‭4‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?”

When Jesus lived perfectly, he fulfilled in his life the requirements of the law that we could not fulfill ourselves. 

As a loving, good shepherd, he leads us to the cross where he died sacrificially for our sins, that we might also be led to the freedom of his forgiveness and resurrection life. 

Our Biblical worship and community is a constant reminder of this truth, so that God’s law might now be a meal plan to our freedom.   

“Biblical orthodoxy without compassion is surely the ugliest thing in the world.”

- Francis Schaeffer

We are not called to judge, but to fight for one another on that great road to life and freedom.  

If the Lord Allows

When Jesus is our Lord, the present becomes a fulfilling Kingdom adventure and the future becomes something to which we look with eternal hope.  

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James‬ ‭4‬:‭13‬-‭17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

Our focus must be Jesus, to live in him and to love him passionately each day.  

We do this by obeying his commands.  

As James rightly said, the key to a content, joy-filled life is to draw near to God, humble yourself under his mighty hand and allow him to exalt you in due time as Jesus himself draws near to you.    

“Is he trying to secure a happy little life for everyone on the planet?  Or is he trying to prepare every human heart and soul for his sudden, surprising return?  Only the return of Jesus will bring about the healing of this broken planet.”

-John Eldredge, Resilient: Restoring Your Weary Soul in These Turbulent Times  

Building Fund Opportunity for Marseille Church:

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

The Church

The Church

Pastor Cole Parlier

New Relationships

16Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

MATTHEW 16:16–18

Through a revelation of the Holy Spirit, Peter confessed the true identity of Jesus, the Son of the living God. Jesus said this truth would be the foundation stone that His church would be built on. He also described the type of church He would build, a victorious church that would overcome the kingdom of darkness. Jesus and Paul used the word church in reference to the people of God. Church never referred to a religious building. Following are four benefits of being part of a local church.

The Greek word for church is “ekklesia”. 

This means “assembly”. Also, to be “called out”. 

Assembly of the called out ones. 

Assembly:

• School assembly

• Assembly line

• The body of Christ 

•  “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”

• ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭12‬:‭12‬-‭13‬, ‭26‬-‭27‬ ‭ESV‬‬

• https://bible.com/bible/59/1co.12.12-27.ESV

• God’s temple 

• “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬-‭17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.3.16-17.NIV

Jesús will build His Church. 

This is a reminder of Exodus 19-20 assembly of Israel at Mt. Sinai. God visited his people and then continued to visit them as they gathered at the temple. As a foreshadowing of thr gathered church this links God’s presence with his gathered people. 

Jesus will be in the midst of his church. 

“Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.””

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭18‬:‭18‬-‭20‬ ‭ESV‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/59/mat.18.18-20.ESV

God’s grace comes through the Spirit filled Church. 

FRIENDSHIP

Real friends. Everyone needs them. Few find them.

The best place to look for a real friend is in the church, the people of God. True friends are those who have our best interest in mind. They stick with us through thick and thin. Real friends never lead us away from God. Instead, they provoke us to godliness

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

PROVERBS 17:17

A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

PROVERBS 18:24

FELLOWSHIP

If a piece of burning coal is removed from the fire, it will cool off. If it is put back in the middle of a pile of red-hot coals, it will burn again. The same is true of Christians.

If a Christian is removed from fellowship with other red-hot Christians, he will cool off spiritually. If a Christian stays in fellowship, he will stay on fire for God.

42And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. . . . 44And all who believed were together and had all things

in common. 45And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts . . .

ACTS 2:42, 44–46

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

2 CORINTHIANS 6:14

WORSHIP

God is looking for sincere worshipers. Worship is simply the expression of our love, devotion, and commitment to God.

23“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

JOHN 4:23, 24

DISCIPLESHIP

The last command Jesus gave His followers before He ascended to heaven was to go and make disciples, to baptize these disciples, and to teach them how to obey God’s Word. Therefore, we should first be disciples or followers of Jesus, then we should teach others to follow Him.

19“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

MATTHEW 28:19, 20

. . . and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

2 TIMOTHY 2

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

Fruit Inspection: Mixed Fruit

Fruit Inspection: Mixed Fruit

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: Jesus must be Lord of your tongue as well as Lord of your heart for you to be truly set free. 

• Tainted Taste Buds

• Mixed Fruit

• Heavenly Fruit

Tainted Taste Buds

Taming the tongue is the key to setting so much of the direction of our lives.  

‭‭James‬ ‭3‬:‭1‬-6a ‭ESV‬‬

“Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. 

God clearly says that what comes out of our mouths helps steer the direction of our lives - whether it be what fills our hearts, captures our thinking or defines our relationships.

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭12‬:‭14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“From the fruit of his mouth a man is satisfied with good, and the work of a man's hand comes back to him.”

This is why it was an imperative to the apostle Paul that we learn to take captive every thought to run it through the grid of and make it obedient to Christ.  

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭10‬:‭3‬-‭5‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,”

During the middle stages of the Covid pandemic, it was reported that in 8 of 10 individuals, the temporary loss of smell and taste was an indicator that you had been infected, even if you didn’t realize it.  

Our loose tongues reveal symptoms showing us what is actually in our hearts.  

I love it when scientific discoveries confirm what God has already been saying for generations in his Word.  

Annie Wright, a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT) made reference to an old Cherokee parable: 

“An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life.

“A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.

“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.”

He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”  – First People’s Two Wolves Legend”

This sounds much like what Paul had already spoken about in the battle between the flesh and Spirit in Galatians 5.  

Annie when on to report:

“…What neuroscience and magnetic resonance imaging have been able to show us in the last several decades is astonishing: the brain is “plastic.”

What this means is that far from our brains being “fixed” and “rigid” – a thought popularized by famed Harvard psychologist William James in his landmark 1890 text The Principles of Psychology – we have the capacity to change and grow our brains by creating new neural pathways throughout our life.

One of the most popular studies on this was done on, of all populations, London taxi cab drivers which showed that, in the course of learning the voluminous amount of complex information and geography continuously required for their jobs, the grey matter in their brains literally grew.

…A neural pathway is a connection between a number of neurons (nerve cells) in different parts of the brain which are connected by and communicate with synapses. The more those certain neurons fire and communicate, the stronger the neural pathway becomes.”

“As a thought travels through your brain, neurons fire together in distinctive ways based on the specific information being handled, and those patterns of neural activity actually change your neural structure.” 

– How Your Thoughts Change Your Brain, Cells, and Genes

-Annie Wright LMFT

The connection between our hearts, our thoughts and our lips can not be underestimated in the Kingdom of God.

“The terrible, tragic fallacy of the last hundred years has been to think that all man's troubles are due to his environment, and that to change the man you have nothing to do but change his environment. That is a tragic fallacy. It overlooks the fact that it was in Paradise that man fell.”

-Martyn Lloyd-Jones

This is why God continually had his servants say that we had to not just develop new habits, but be made new creations by the power of the Holy Spirit (II Corinthians 5:17) and have ongoing, transformed minds by the washing of God’s word (Romans 12:1,2). 

As Jesus said many centuries before, 

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Matthew‬ ‭12‬:‭33‬-‭37‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“"Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."”

Let’s go a little further. 

Mixed Fruit

The mixed fruit off of our lips reveal the two worlds in which we are trying to live.  

James 3:6b-12

“The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.”

Annie Wright made mention of thoughts and then speech to which people regularly bow:

“I married the wrong guy – her husband/boyfriend is a way better catch. I just settled.”

“There’s no way I can get a promotion, he only favors the men on the team. I can’t get ahead because I’m a woman in tech.”

“The kind of people I’m interested in dating don’t go for someone with my body type. What’s the point of trying to date anyway?”

“Good things happen to other people. Not to me.”

“Every thought you have causes neurochemical changes, some temporary and some lasting. For instance, when people consciously practice gratitude, they get a surge of rewarding neurotransmitters, like dopamine, and experience a general alerting and brightening of the mind, probably correlated with more of the neurochemical norepinephrine.” – How Your Thoughts Change Your Brain, Cells, and Genes

“So, if you have been bombarding your cells with peptides from negative thoughts, you are literally programming your cells to receive more of the same negative peptides in the future. What’s even worse is that you’re lessening the number of receptors of positive peptides on the cells, making yourself more inclined towards negativity.” 

– How Your Thoughts Change Your Brain, Cells, and Genes”

What are the negative words that are habitually coming off of your mouth creating godless (without Jesus at the center) patterns and relationships for you?

Heavenly Fruit

The wisdom that comes from God allows the realities of heaven to invade our earthly state. 

‭‭James‬ ‭3‬:‭13‬-‭18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

If by the evaluation of our speech, we see there are ungodly things in our hearts, we should not boast about it, ignore it or take it lightly.  

We do not want to affirm or empower demonic lies or influences in our lives.  

Instead, we need to choose to sow new seed with our lips so that a new harvest will be produced. 

It is a harvest of righteousness by those striving to make peace - peace with God and one another. 

Through repentance from our sin and faith in Jesus’ supernatural work, God’s Spirit moves on and literally transforms our natural state.  

The cross and the altar provide a new pathway:

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Isaiah‬ ‭6‬:‭5‬-‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for." And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here I am! Send me."”

When we are transformed by Jesus’ grace, we have the power, the discipline and the Word to go out and bring good news (the gospel) to the world stuck in sin and death.  

We are commissioned to be reconciling agents - bringing people back into healed relationships with God and one another through the cross - the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

Fruit Inspection: Make Believe Fruit

Fruit Inspection: Make Believe Fruit

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: You can tell how real your relationship is with Jesus by how you live on a daily basis, not once a week at church.  

• Playing Favorites 

• Fantasy Faith

• Real Faith 

Fantasy Football - The two most popular fantasy draft weeks are the week before and after Labor Day (Beginning August 27-Sept 2, 2023) 

Playing Favorites 

Playing favorites based on people’s station in life reveals our aggrandizement of the world’s values, the distortion of our faith and smallness of our love.

‭‭James‬ ‭2‬:‭1‬-‭7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?”

The Scripture makes it clear that because of the cross of Jesus Christ, there is no room for us to play favorites amongst men and women.  

“The ground is level at the foot of the cross.”

-Billy Graham

The value that is placed on human life is restored through the heart and eyes of God, who made all of mankind in his image.  

People who live without God in the world not only lose a compass for the dignity of human life, but all of morality itself. 

“In a world without God, who’s to say whose values are right and whose are wrong? There can be no objective right and wrong, only our culturally and personally relative, subjective judgments. Think of what that means! It means it’s impossible to condemn war, oppression, or crime as evil. Nor can you praise generosity, self-sacrifice, and love as good. To kill someone or to love someone is morally equivalent. For in a universe without God, good and evil do not exist—there is only the bare, valueless fact of existence, and there is no one to say you are right and I am wrong.”

-William Lane Craig, On Guard: Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision

Fantasy Faith

A faith that diminishes sin is not one that understands either the judgment of God or the cross of Christ.  

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James‬ ‭2‬:‭8‬-‭13‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

“The nearer a man gets to God, the greater he sees his sin.”

-Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Jesus Christ came to save sinners by perfectly fulfilling the law of God and then dying sacrificially for those sins, in our place.  

To come to a genuine faith in Jesus means to turn to God in repentance from all sin, not those that we simply can not tolerate.  

As with fantasy football, the truth is we are not really playing football, no matter how into the game, trading and coaching that we get if we’re not on the field playing by the rules. 

The time, effort and dedication that the athletes put into actually being on that field for crowns that will not last should inspire our true lives for rewards that will in Christ (I Corinthians 9).    

“The cross shows the seriousness of our sin—but it also shows us the immeasurable love of God.”

-Billy Graham

How have you diminished the seriousness of sin in your life?

How have you diminished the mercy of God? 

Real Faith 

Real faith is that which produces actionable love for Jesus and others.  

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James‬ ‭2‬:‭14‬-‭26‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.”

When people do not have a Biblical faith in Jesus, it is reflected in the way that they live.  

It can begin in the extreme:

“if God does not exist and there is no immortality, then all the evil acts of men go unpunished and all the sacrifices of good men go unrewarded. But who can live with such a view? Richard Wurmbrand, who has been tortured for his faith in communist prisons, says,

The cruelty of atheism is hard to believe when man has no faith in the reward of good or the punishment of evil. There is no reason to be human. There is no restraint from the depths of evil which is in man. The communist torturers often said, 'There is no God, no Hereafter, no punishment for evil. We can do what we wish.' I have heard one torturer even say, 'I thank God, in whom I don't believe, that I have lived to this hour when I can express all the evil in my heart.' He expressed it in unbelievable brutality and torture inflicted on prisoners.”

-William Lane Craig

The faith that we claim to have in Jesus should have a direct impact on the way that we spend our time, energy, resources and talents for Jesus.  

Yet faith without works is the carbon monoxide in the closed room of our hearts - it is the silent killer of our daily lives.

What does real faith look like?

“I am not asking whether you know things about Him but do you know God, are you enjoying God, is God the centre of your life, the soul of your being, the source of your greatest joy? He is meant to be.”

-Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

Fruit Inspection: Bruised Fruit

Fruit Inspection: Bruised Fruit 

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: The trials of life reveal what is in us that we might be led to the cross and joy found only in Jesus Christ. 

• What’s on the Inside?

• Revealed

• But Jesus Changes Everything 

What’s on the inside?

Our trials not only test our faith, but are meant to produce the completing work of God in our lives.  

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James‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬-‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.  

The trials of life will change you - you must ask for the grace of God to ensure that they are sanctifying and not corrupting changes.  

Trials are meant to draw you closer to Jesus rather than pushing you away from him. 

Our job is to ask God for wisdom in the midst of the trial to know how to glorify him as we depend on his strength. 

“You will never really understand your heart when things are going well. It is only when things go badly that you can see it truly. And that’s because it is only when suffering comes that you realize who is the true God and what are the false gods of your lives.”

-Timothy Keller

Revealed

Trials show us what is inside of us with which we need to be deal. 

‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭12‬-‭18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”

“Trials teach us what we are; they dig up the soil, and let us see what we are made of.”

-Charles Spurgeon

Just as we are who we really are when nobody's watching or when we’re away from the public eye, so trials are used by God to show where we truly are in relationship to him. 

Trials are meant to strengthen us even as they break us of the things that are not of God.  

The hope of the gospel is that Jesus has the power to make us new creations, set us free from our sins and truly change everything!

But Jesus Changes Everything 

When God allows things to come to the surface he is showing us what he intends to heal through the gospel - either now or at the resurrection. 

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James‬ ‭1‬:‭19‬-‭27‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

God’s word shows us God’s goals.  

We must be doers of the word and not simply hearers.  

We must put God’s word into practice by being about his life and Kingdom mission in our city and the nations. 

The cross of Jesus Christ makes this all possible no matter what we’ve previously seen come out of us through trial because God’s grace changes everything. 

At the cross, Jesus not only paved the way for our forgiveness, but broke the power of sin and death for those who come to him by faith.  

Jesus gives us steps through which we are discipled and transformed into his image.  

What are the steps that you are taking with God to become more like Christ and be more about his mission?

You walk this new life out being connected to the body of Christ - the head, who is Jesus, and interdependent with our other brothers and sisters in him.  

“The Christian husband is not a free-standing moral agent, doing whatever he pleases in this marriage. He is a member — an arm, a leg, a finger, an ear, a tongue — of Christ and responsible to Christ as the head and to other members, especially the leaders of the body of Christ that he’s a part of. That’s true of the wife as well, which means that this marriage is not an isolated couple with no accountable relationships. They are part of the body of Christ. She and he have recourse to the church for help. They are members of Christ’s body.”

-John Piper

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher