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.
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.
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.
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:
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