Bobby Bosler: I’m Bobby Bosler, and I’m speaking to you today from Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. This is the Thanksgiving weekend, and I sure have a whole lot to be thankful for, as I’m sure you do as well. I’m thankful to have on the podcast here today John Pound.
In fact, a couple of weeks ago—maybe a month or two ago—John began a series on the fruit-bearing life, and this is the second installment in that series. I know it fits in the context of what God has been doing in all of our hearts here, and I trust it will be a blessing to you. So, John, why don’t you take it away?
John Pound: Today we’re going to talk once again about the fruit-bearing life. This time I want to focus on the topic of faith for fruit. Continuing down in John chapter fifteen, when we look at verse number sixteen, Jesus said, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.” Christian, very simply put, God desires that every single Christian would be a fruit-bearing Christian.
God desires in your life that you would bear the fruits of the Spirit. God desires in my life that I would continue to grow and bear more fruit. But not only that, God desires not just that we would grow and bear forth fruit, but God desires that we would go and bring forth fruit, particularly the fruit of soul-winning.
You see, if you’re here today, the Bible makes it very clear that all of us have been given a Great Commission from God.
Jesus said His last words to His disciples before He ascended were simply this: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” You see, no matter where you are in the world—whether you’re here in America, in the deepest jungles of Africa, or in the tall, big cities of Eastern Europe—regardless of where you are, God desires that in your area, in your specific sphere of influence, you would be bringing forth fruit, and that that fruit would remain.
Specifically, that you would be winning souls to Christ, that you would be making disciples, and that those disciples would go forth to follow Jesus and to make more disciples. That’s God’s desire. But so often I feel like when I talk to folks, even people that have been in the ministry for years and years and years, one thing that they relate to me is that it’s difficult.
It’s hard. They feel like no matter what they’re doing, it’s just not working. They try to go soul-winning, they try to go door-knocking, they try to share the gospel, and they try to give out tracts.
After a little while, they quit. Why? Well, it’s not because they don’t love Jesus, and it’s not because they don’t want to serve the Lord, but it’s because continually running into a wall and not seeing fruit causes them to doubt whether or not what they’re doing even really works.
My friends, I’m here to tell you something today. God’s Word says that Jesus Christ has called us, He’s chosen us, and He’s ordained us that we would go and bring forth fruit. God has never once given you a command that He doesn’t expect that you could fulfill in His power.
Can I share this with you? If you’re here today and you feel like you’re struggling in this area of going and bringing forth fruit, you’re not alone, and Jesus understands exactly where you’re at. But I want to encourage you with something today.
Today, you don’t have to rely on yourself. You don’t have to rely on modern methods. You don’t have to rely on technology or the best new way to put out a Twitter feed, or the next social media post or social media networking program.
None of that is really what we have to depend on. You see, like we talked about earlier, the source of our fruit comes from the life of Jesus. Today, God’s given us a promise in His Word, and we can simply depend on His promises.
Adoniram Judson was a missionary. He went to the country of India, and he spent many years there before he ever even saw one convert. Now, if you ever read the writings of Adoniram Judson, you’ll understand he was a man who sincerely loved God and was committed to the work of God.
He went through great struggle, great pain, and great turmoil in India to try to serve the Lord, and all without seeing even one soul come to Christ. At the end of seven long years, Adoniram Judson received a letter from the people that had sent him into the mission field. The letter was saying that because of his failure, it was time to come home.
At this point, Judson had lost some people that were very close to him. He had gone through disease and illnesses, depression, battle after battle after battle. You can imagine getting a letter like this and how discouraged he would be.
Adoniram Judson at that moment pulled out a piece of parchment, and he penned these words and sent it back to those people that had written him that letter, back to the people that had told him to just give up and just come home. He said, and I quote, “Beg the churches to have patience. If a ship were here to carry me to any part of the world, I would not leave my field.
Tell the brethren that success is as certain as the promise of a faithful God can make it.” My friends, today we have a promise from God. He’s called us to go and bring forth fruit. In Matthew twenty-eight He says, “And lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” The Bible describes that we’re co-laborers with God, that we work alongside of the Lord.
We’re entering into His harvest field. But what’s the secret to seeing fruit? It’s faith in the promise.
You see, Judson believed that success, even though he hadn’t seen it yet, was as certain as the promises of a faithful God. He believed that God was faithful and that what He had promised He was able to make good. My friend, do you believe God for your soul-winning fruit?
Do you believe that it’s a sovereign, Almighty God who has sent you to the place where you’re at, who’s called you with a holy calling to be separate from the world, and to go out to those that are in your sphere of influence—your neighbors, your friends, your coworkers, those at your school, and those that you even just meet at the grocery store? God has called us to go and bring forth fruit.
I wonder, do you have faith in God’s promise? Do you believe in the faithfulness of God? Today you can have fruit.
By the way, Adoniram Judson went on to lead many, many souls to Christ and raise up an incredible work for God there in India. It all started with a resolute decision that he was going to trust God. Will you surrender to God’s calling for your life?
Will you depend on His power to enable you to do it? That’s our call here at Thee Generation: total surrender, total dependence.
Bobby Bosler: Thanks for joining us for this episode of the Thee Generation Podcast. For more faith-inspiring resources and information about joining the generation, please visit theegeneration.org. That’s T-H-E-E Generation dot org.
