The Working of Miracles

Thank you, Mrs. Bumgardner. I remember days when we had bigger congregations where it seemed like it took 20 minutes to take up an offering. Of course, I wouldn't mind if we had that big of a congregation, but things are different advantages. Back then, it was impossible to go and speak to everyone in the congregation when you were there, and now it's not so hard. Well, as I said, we are here on the Feast of Pentecost, one of the seven annual Holy Days. It's important the significance of understanding God's plan and purpose, what He's working out here below, as we used to say. I think when most of us would agree that perhaps the best-known story related to the Day of Pentecost was when the Holy Spirit was first poured out on that first Pentecost after Christ's crucifixion. Now, I wondered if that might be a close call from what we believe was the Pentecost after the children of Israel came out of Egypt. Jewish tradition says that the day that the Word descended on Mount Sinai and actually spoke the Ten Commandments and cloud and smoke and the earthquake, that that was actually on Pentecost. As I said, we don't know. Scripture doesn't tell us that was on Pentecost, but it does seem to fit. But let's read the incident that we do know for certain happened on Pentecost. Let's turn to Acts 2. If it weren't obligatory to read this section of Scripture on Pentecost, I might, anyways, and it's a good way to start off the message. Acts 2, when we'll begin at the beginning of the chapter, here we see this some weeks after Christ's crucifixion.

When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. Suddenly, there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing, mighty wind. It filled the whole house where they were sitting. And then there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire. It doesn't say it actually was fire, but it looked like fire at least. And sat on each one of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And I want to emphasize that it gave them utterance. It was something given to them there. And they were dwelling in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when the sound occurred, a multitude came together. They were confused because everyone heard them speak in their own language. And they were amazed. They marveled, saying to one another, Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? I remember Galileans were the poor folk, uneducated.

They weren't expected to have advanced training or be able to speak several languages. Aren't these Galileans? Country, Hicks, they might say. How is it we hear them each in our own language of which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygian, Pamphylia, Egypt, parts of Libya joining Cypriot, Cyrene, visitors from Rome, Jews and Proselytes, Cretans and Arabs. It's not until you read it out loud, do you realize how many different places they were from gathered there in Jerusalem. And they were all hearing these messages in their own language. And they were all amazed. We hear them speaking the wonderful works of God. They were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, Whatever could this mean? And we know after that, the Apostle Peter stood up and gave a very powerful sermon, explaining that Jesus Christ was the Messiah that had been predicted to come or prophesied to come. But rather than focus on that message, I want to focus a little bit on the miracle that got their attention. And we see that. I think that's one of the reasons there were so many miracles recorded in the history of the early church, that God wanted to get people's attention. Dramatic miracles, healing, speaking in tongues, so that people would pay attention and then listen to the message. And of course, that working of miracles was not a one-time event. God continued to give gifts through the Holy Spirit. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians 12. 1 Corinthians 12.

I'll begin in verse 4.

Here Paul's writing to the church of Corinth, and he says, There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit, meaning these different gifts were given by God's Holy Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. Diversities of activities, but it's the same God who works in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the prophet of all. But that's a manifestation of the Spirit. And in other words, you could see that people had the Spirit because they were given certain gifts. Now, we'll look at what some of those were in a moment, but it's worth noting that, before we move on, that having these spiritual gifts was not necessarily the highest attainment that they were to seek for. Rather, let's look at the end of this chapter. 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 31, Paul says, Earnestly desire the best gifts. So it's okay to want to have these gifts, desire the best gifts, but yet I show you a more excellent way. There's something better than even the best gifts. And he continues on then in 1 Corinthians 13 to explain what that is.

So you have that special gift by the Holy Spirit. You can understand all mysteries and you can prophesy.

I think that's an important thing. It's interesting. So love is greater than these miracles, these gifts of the Spirit.

That made me ask the question, is love a gift of the Spirit then? Or is it something else? Now, I don't want to make any mistake. Boy, I just realized, I don't want to adopt the speech patterns of our current president when I say make no mistake. But I don't want us to be confused. The having love, the love of God is associated with having His Spirit. But the Bible uses a different term. We can turn over really what's just a few pages to Galatians 5, 22.

This is another scripture that almost we have to read this day. You might wonder, I'm not planning on doing a half-hour sermon or ten minutes, but I'm going to have a lot of the big scriptures read early on. Galatians 5, 22, the fruit of the Spirit is love. Love comes first, and of course also joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Against such, there is no law. He calls these the fruit of the Spirit. We sometimes say fruits. The word fruit can be plural or singular, but let's say they're character traits of the Spirit. Are these different from spiritual gifts? Should we want one more than the other? Or should we seek both?

In any event, how do we go about it? Paul said, seek earnestly desire the best spiritual gifts. How do you do that? We want to have spiritual fruit. What do we do to have it?

I want to take the time today to talk about what the Bible tells us about spiritual gifts and about the fruit of the Spirit.

Let's continue on talking about spiritual gifts first, because this is the day when we commemorate the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. I think it's worth us remembering that the Holy Spirit itself is a gift. It's a great gift that's given to us. In John 14 and 15, I'm not going to turn there, but that's when Jesus Christ was explaining to the disciples that they would be given this gift.

He said, after I'm crucified and resurrected, I'll send another comforter that will open your understanding. He said, it's been with you, but it's going to be in you, and it's going to empower you. Actually, we're going to come back to 1 Corinthians. I say, we're going to come back to 1 Corinthians 12, but let's go back to Acts 2 first.

I should have just told you to put markers there, but we won't jump back and forth quite that much.

But remember, I said there was this great outpouring of the Spirit and working of miracles, and Peter gave this powerful sermon that cut people to the heart. I'd say they were cut to the heart because the Spirit was working in them.

And they asked the question we see in verse 37.

Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Peter said, repent.

Let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

It's a gift of the Holy Spirit. It's given not because you deserve it or earn it. It's a gift. And it comes in at a specific time. That's one of the things I wanted to point out, that it's not something you gradually develop, and eventually you have the Holy Spirit.

Peter said, repent and be baptized, have hands laid on you, and you receive the Holy Spirit.

We'll see another example, a few chapters over in Acts chapter 10, of the Holy Spirit being given to people at a particular time. And it's not that that time, I'm not emphasizing the time, but the fact that it's a gift that is given to us. Acts 10 and verse 44. Acts 10 and verse 44. Now, this is when Peter was called by Cornelius the Centurion, who was not an Israelite. And Peter had already had this vision of the sheet let down with many animals, which was God's way of not saying that you could eat any kind of animals you want, but that he shouldn't call certain people unclean. And so we see Peter goes and he meets them, and he's explaining some things about Christ's ministry. And it says, while Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. So these Gentiles, the Holy Spirit is on them. And those of the circumcision, who believed, were astonished. As many as came with Peter because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles. And they knew it, it says, for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. So they're working miracles. This could only be because of the Holy Spirit. And Peter said, can anyone forbid water that these should not be baptized? Who will have received the Spirit just as we have? And he commanded, they were baptized in the name of the Lord. And of course, they asked him to stay a few days and continue teaching them. In this case, this is one of the rare cases the Holy Spirit was given before baptism, because God was trying to make a point that they just weren't getting. And the point was that you did not have to be an Israelite, either born or naturalized, to become a Christian.

What you had to do was repent, and of course then be baptized and have hands laid on you, but the Holy Spirit was available. So as I said, the Holy Spirit itself is a gift. It's given to us. But it also imparts spiritual gifts. The Holy Spirit can give gifts that people don't have. And now is where I want to go back to 1 Corinthians 12.

1 Corinthians 12. We already read the introduction to this about these gifts. And Paul was, in some ways, dealing with the unfortunate fact that some of the Corinthians, that they were not behind in any gift. In the first chapter, he says that you don't fall behind in any gift. Lots of spiritual gifts present in that congregation. They had a problem with being a little bit jealous of each other and showing off a little bit. But he described some of the many gifts they had in 1 Corinthians 12, beginning in verse 7.

The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. So it's not for yourself, it's for the profit of all. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit. I could emphasize it's not just wisdom, but the word of wisdom. That special ability to share it, to speak it. To another, the word of knowledge through the same Spirit. To another, faith by the same Spirit. Now, I think it's interesting. Faith is the one thing that appears as both a gift of the Spirit and as a fruit of the Spirit. And I think that's because we have to start off by being given faith, and then we develop faith over time. But we'll come back to that developing over time later. But to another, gifts of healing. The ability to lay hands on someone and heal them. Of course, not of their own power, but through the Holy Spirit. To another, the working of miracles. To another, prophecy. To another, discerning of spirits. To another, different kinds of tongues. And to another, the interpretation of tongues. But the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually, as you will. Now, these are important lessons for us. But for our purposes today, I don't want to focus on the various types of miracles that could be done. But the fact that sometimes, although not always, God does give miraculous abilities as gifts of the Spirit.

And, as I said, when people were speaking in tongues, or other people were hearing and understanding something spoken in a language that they didn't understand, of course, it was for the purpose of serving God's work. But, pardon me, that's great! Who wouldn't want to be given a gift? Having grown up reading comic books, I always wanted to have superpowers. Be like Spider-Man and climb up a wall, or be able to fly.

So, the opportunity to be given this special ability is wonderful. We don't tend to see it that often in the Church in this modern day. Now, I have a theory on that. I don't know for sure. But I suspect that perhaps it's because God is not trying to draw attention to us in the same way He was the first century Church. They worked these great miracles, and people came running in to hear the message, and many of them were converted. It must not be God's purpose to be converting as many people at this time right now, or else if He wanted to do it, it would be happening. But there's a good reason to think that it will happen again. Christ prophesied that to some degree. If we see in Luke 21, we know this is an end-time prophecy that could well apply to many or all of us in this room. Luke 21, beginning in verse 12.

After He describes all these things that will happen when the apostles are asking what will be the sign of the end and of your coming, before all these things, they'll lay hands on you. They'll persecute you. And deliver you up to the synagogues and in prisons. You'll be brought before kings and rulers for my namesake. That applied to the apostles to whom He was speaking then, but we know, I believe, it was a dual prophecy for us at this end time. But He says it will turn out to you an occasion for testimony. Therefore, don't settle in your hearts not to meditate beforehand. Don't think up a great answer now, because I'll give you a mouth and wisdom. We read just a little bit ago how one of the gifts of the Spirit is the Word of Wisdom. God can give us, by the power of His Spirit, the ability to say the words that He wants done, in which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist. How many times have I wished I had that? Have you been in a discussion with someone? You think, I wish I could say the right thing that would shut Him up. Now, maybe we were a little selfish in saying that, but it's a gift to be able to say the one thing they can't contradict, they can't answer. And that's going to happen. I'm not going to turn there, but we also know if we read in Revelation, at that time of the end, God is going to raise up two men, we believe there will be men, every reason to think so, who are called the two witnesses.

And they're going to have a spiritual gift to call fire down from heaven. They'll work miracles. So, the age of miracles isn't necessarily past, but we don't have to focus on, as I said, having those special gifts right now.

Because, as we read earlier, Paul said that there's something even more excellent than that. And then in 1 Corinthians 13, he talks about love. Agape, as we say.

I've heard it pronounced agape. God's love in us, he says, is greater than any spiritual gift. And that's something we should be seeking and desiring.

And as we read in Galatians 5, love was the first among the fruits of the spirit.

Let's consider that a little bit more. Actually, I'm going to turn back there. I'll read Galatians 5, 22 again, but if you don't want to turn there, I'm also then going to go to Ephesians. But Galatians 5, 22 gives a list of what the fruit of the spirit is. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Ephesians 5 gives a slightly different, what I'll call a summary. Because I think it's not a contradiction. The Bible doesn't contradict itself, but different scriptures can complement each other. Ephesians 5 and verse 9, he also mentions fruit of the spirit.

And he says, the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.

That could summarize love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness. All goodness, righteousness, truth.

Now, do you already see that vital difference between a gift of the spirit and the description of the fruits of the spirit?

Spiritual gifts seem to be abilities, miraculous powers.

But the fruits of the spirit, or the fruit of the spirit, seems to be traits of your character. Traits of our character. I don't mean to say you, it's all of us are in this.

Just as a person might receive and demonstrate spiritual gifts immediately. I thought, I'm not a big one for props, but we have several of these gift bags. And I thought, oh, if you give someone a gift here, say, God is going to give me the gift of making light.

Well, I pull it out and wham-o, I can make light. Just like that, I didn't have to do anything.

So I was given that gift. That's wonderful.

But the fruits of the spirit seems to be different. Growing fruit is a process. It always takes time.

Now, let's turn to Matthew 7.

Matthew 7 will read beginning in verse 15.

One of the things I wanted to, I think, a crucial difference.

The fruit of the spirit does not show what you can do. The fruit of the spirit shows what you are.

And that's not to say that gifts of the spirit are a bad thing. Gifts of the spirit are great.

There are wonderful things to do. But if you have the fruit of the spirit, that's what you are, what you've become.

Matthew 7, verse 15, Christ said, Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

You'll know them by their fruits. You'll know who they are by their fruit, not by their gifts.

Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?

Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree can't bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.

And every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Therefore is a crucial phrase, by their fruits you'll know them.

Now, if you were only talking about trees, we would know that's a very true statement.

And I say that because I'm one that's never been good at identifying trees.

What kind of tree is that? I'll look at the leaves and say, Well, it's a wooden tree. That's about the best I can do.

But if I wait till summer, if apples appear on it, hey, I'll bet that's an apple tree.

You can tell by the fruit, or cherries, or pears, or whatever.

Now, it doesn't always have to be good fruit. You might have crab apples appear.

Well, I know what kind of tree it is.

And I thought of that because before Sue and I were married, when I shared a house with a couple other single fellas, we lived in this housing development where the developers thought it would be a great idea to plant all along the roads these crab apple trees.

And they looked nice part of the time, but every spring they would produce these wicked, terrible little fruit that would fall all over the place.

And you couldn't help. You couldn't go anywhere without tracking them.

And it'd be like stepping on dog poop and you bring it into your house.

It was so similar. One of my roommates called them poo berries instead of crab apples.

And that was sort of apt because what would happen is then the birds would start feasting on them.

You can imagine the mess it made on cars, houses.

Well, as I said, this describes trees, but Jesus wasn't making a point about horticulture.

He was using an example when he continues in verse 21.

You know, knowing people by their character traits.

Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven.

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and done many wonders?

Lord, we exercise gifts of the Spirit.

When we'll say, I'll declare to them, I never knew you.

Depart from me you who practice lawlessness.

So, having and using a gift of the Spirit might be a great thing, but by itself, it's not enough.

Developing fruit is not instantaneous.

As I said, it's not a gift that you can be handed. It has to grow and develop.

And we don't always even recognize it happening.

Let's turn over to Mark 4.

These slow processes are something that God built into the world.

He built it into everything around us, and I think it's important we see that.

And that's why Jesus used so many agricultural analogies, partly because it was an agricultural society.

They could go through crops so they could see and understand what he meant.

But I think God built those things in, partly to teach us lessons.

Mark 4, verse 26, The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground.

And he sleeps night by night, he rises by day, the seed should sprout and grow.

And he doesn't know how. You scatter seed.

And I did that little garden plot we put in the backyard.

We had Connor come out and help me spread seeds. And a little while later we see these green shoots coming up. I couldn't explain to exactly how that happened, except I go, you know, God made it to happen.

For the earth yields crops by itself. First the blade, then the head. After that, the full grain in the head. And when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle to harvest the crop.

I thought of this analogy, you know, for the days of Pentecost, because I think it describes some of how we're developing.

And this applies to... Here he's describing grain crops.

It could apply to trees who are producing what we call actual fruit. Often in the Bible when it says fruit, it means the final product, whether it's, you know, a kernel of grain or an apple.

You know, trees we see in the spring, they start putting out the green leaves. The buds appear with flowers. And then finally fruit. Flowers themselves, these little green stems will appear. Especially, I'm thinking of perennials. You don't even know it's there.

And suddenly you see them sprouting up. And then the stems grow, and eventually you'll have flowers.

Matter of fact, if you don't mind... I wanted... Well, there goes my gift. I wasn't sure if I should try to put this on the computer, but using the laptop got a little confusing. But this is the idea that sparked this idea for the sermon. And so I started snapping pictures long before I did the research to write the note. But here is some stems of flowers outside my house while there's still snow on the ground. I was taking Connor out, and we see these green things. Here's another version. I get to show off Connor's winter coat and hat. So I showed him, Connor, those are going to be flowers.

They don't look like flowers. They're just little green things sticking up out of the snow. We just have to wait and watch. We had those by our house. Here's one by some of our neighbors. And every day it became a tradition. We'd go and look at the flowers.

And so many times, are there flowers yet, Daddy? No, they're not yet. The snow melts off, and they're there, and they're getting taller. And he's looking. Here he's studying, you know, looking. Actually, it gets a little warmer. You remember the spring. It got warmer and got cooler. So there he is in his lighter jacket. Here he's back in the heavier one. And they are growing. They're making progress, but it's slow. These pictures are spread out over weeks. It took time. And then it started getting really close. Especially when we started planting seeds in the garden. He discovered this little garden spade.

But he is looking, and he wanted to dig them up. No goner, we want to wait until the flowers are grown. Here's a... up close, we have some buds. Then we have flowers. And then finally, here it is. The flowers are in bloom. Now, it's easy to... Well, that's not fruit. Those are flowers. But it's the end product. It's what God designed this plant for. And it took a lot of time.

And it developed gradually. It wasn't a gift. You know, if I... Like these flowers, if I... You know, I can go to the florist shop and say, I want to give Sue some flowers for her birthday or whatever. Here, you know, she's given a gift. But if you wanted to grow flowers, you wait for those stems to grow up and it takes time. And that's where... That's part of the names of this festival. Let's go back to the Old Testament in Exodus 34. And I said, God planned that all along. And I think there's one of those lessons for us that I'm going to come to, and in the process of making them all way to.

I guess sermons can be like those flowers. It takes time. You've got to progress as we finally get towards that point. Exodus 34 and verse 22, You shall observe the feast of weeks of the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and then the feast of ingathering at the year's end. But one of the names we say Pentecost, because that's Greek for count 50, one of the different names it has was the feast of the weeks of the wheat harvest.

So it took weeks of counting. That's how you knew when it was. Over to Leviticus 23, of course, all the Holy Days are listed in Leviticus 23. We'll begin in verse 15. You shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. Now, the Sabbath that it's talking about is the Sabbath that falls during the days of unleavened bread. There would be a Sabbath that falls during the days of unleavened bread, since it's seven days.

It has to include a Sabbath. And the day after, they had a special thing. They weren't allowed to harvest any grain until that time. And then they harvested one sheaf and brought it in as a wave offering. And of course, that was typifying Jesus Christ as the very first of the firstfruits. And after that, then they could start harvesting. And they had to count seven Sabbaths from them, and then the day after would be a Sunday, as we're here today.

And you count seven Sabbaths, and you offered that new grain offering. You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two tenths of an ephah. They'll be a fine flower. Bake them with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the Lord. This is also called the Feast of Firstfruits. And you shall offer it with bread, seven lambs of the first year without blemish in a young bull. Yeah, I don't want to get into all the offering details, because we don't have to offer animal sacrifice.

As I was saying, we know Jesus Christ was the true Passover. He also was the first of the firstfruits. He was the wave sheaf. But then the harvest of firstfruits and the commemoration of it took some time later. And that makes sense. In God's plan, Jesus Christ was sacrificed and resurrected, and then there would be some passage of time while the other firstfruits are developing and growing, and our harvest will come later when Christ returns, and those all are resurrected, whoever lived, who had got, all are resurrected who had God's Spirit.

All whoever lived, of course, comes considerably later. But what I'm getting at, and if you'll turn to James 1, we'll make that point, we are the firstfruits that are pictured by Pentecost. So I said Jesus Christ is represented in Passover and in the wave sheaf, and then this firstfruits, this is a holy day about God's church, about His called-out ones. Here are the firstfruits, which we see in James 1 and verse 18.

Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. We're a kind of firstfruits. We're not actually fruit, but we're the first produce. And I don't think that's an idea that's new to you. You've seen that, and we've known it all along, but I think it's interesting that the allegory fits in two different ways. One, we as God's begotten children are pictured as firstfruits, but in a closely related analogy, we are to produce fruit.

We're to produce spiritual fruits. So we are firstfruits, but we're also to develop spiritual fruit. And I guess there's part of me, since I like to play with words, I think that's kind of neat. And it does help us to learn some lessons. There are important lessons for us to consider here. When it comes to bearing spiritual fruit, because we have to bear the spiritual fruit if we are to then be firstfruits.

So how do we do it? Well, we'll back up, and this is a point I think we sort of made earlier, but I'll emphasize it again. There's one absolute prerequisite to bearing any spiritual fruit, and that is you have to have the Holy Spirit.

God's Spirit must be dwelling in you to produce those character traits. And there's only one way for that to happen. As Peter said at the enclose of that sermon, repent and be baptized. And he said, then you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Repent and be baptized receive the gift of the Spirit. But if you'll turn to John, Chapter 15, I want to make the point that it's not necessarily a one-time thing.

Now, receiving the Holy Spirit happened at a certain time, and I made that point. Suddenly, the Spirit's there on that first Pentecost. There were tongues of fire on their heads, and they started speaking in different languages. And with Cornelius, the Spirit was poured out, and they spoke with languages. But we want to see that we want to continue to receive the Spirit from God. John 15 will begin in verse 4.

Jesus is teaching the apostles, and he says, Abide in me, or dwell in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, you know, you don't have a branch by itself, it has to be attached to a tree, or in this case, a vine. It can't bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide in me. Jesus says, I am the vine, you're the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit.

Without me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he's cast out as a branch, and is withered. They gather them, and throw them into the fire, and they're burned. But if you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you'll ask of me what you desire, and it'll be done for you. And he says, by this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit, and so you will be my disciples. So we want to glorify the Father, we want to bear much fruit.

And I said, the fruit of the Spirit is different from spiritual gifts in important ways. One of these is that bearing the fruit requires more effort on our part, but it also absolutely requires the Spirit of God, and that ongoing connection with God. The Spirit, we use the analogy of it flowing into us, because the Scripture talks about it, the possibility of quenching the Spirit. We don't want to quench the Spirit.

We want it to continue to be in us. We'll see down in John 15 and verse 26, the same chapter. So, when the Helper comes, that I'll send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, which proceeds from the Father, it will testify of me. I wanted to point this out. It's one of those interesting things that there have been theological arguments over. It says here, the Spirit proceeds from the Father. So that's just a nice idea of being correct. I'll turn over to Titus 3 verses 5 and 6.

I'll read this to you, or if you'd like to turn with me. Titus 3. By the works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. I wanted to catch the last part of that verse, renewing of the Holy Spirit. That shows that it's continually coming in us. Whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. So the Spirit proceeds from the Father and comes through Jesus Christ. That's not a distinction we normally make. It's actually not a central part of my sermon. Recently, in one of our classes, it came up that there have been major theological arguments. If you wonder why is there a Roman Catholic Church and then also Eastern Orthodox and Greek Orthodox. It's because they disagree on this point of how the Holy Spirit gets to you. Does it come from the Father or from the Father in Christ? They actually separated and fought wars over this matter. We want to be correct from the Scripture. It says the Spirit proceeds from the Father and comes through Jesus Christ. In any event, we want to make sure we have that Spirit. I'm more concerned with the end result as to where it comes from. We want that Spirit in us because Christ said, without it, we're not attached to the vine. We don't have the renewing of the Spirit. We can do nothing. But we'll glorify the Father if we bear much fruit. Now, is that all there is to it? Sometimes we might look at our lives and say, Oh, I'm not sure I'm doing so well. I'm not sure if that connection is strong. I'm looking in my life and I hope I want to see an abundance of love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, of all the fruits of the Spirit. But don't all of us have times where we look at ourselves and it just seems to be lacking. We say, Man, I'm not doing so well. Well, here's where I want to emphasize the point, part of the point I was making by showing that progression that Connor and I watching those stems. And that is, for fruit to ripen requires time. It takes time to develop for it to mature. Whereas a gift is given and you have the gift, right then, fruit always takes time.

And if you've ever bitten into a piece of fruit that wasn't ripe, you know you want that time. Yesterday I spoke on our need for patience. You know, macro-thumia, the Greek word for being patient with people. Well, sometimes the person that we need to be most patient with is ourselves. You know, we don't want to...my end point yesterday was, don't quit. Don't give up. Don't think, well, I can't do it. I'm not making it, so I might as well give up.

We have to be patient with ourselves and realize that fruit takes time to mature and we can't give up.

Let's turn to Luke chapter 13.

Luke 13 will begin in verse 6.

And this parable...well, I'm going to say this parable was made for this sermon. No, actually, the sermon was made for the parable. The parable has been around a lot longer. And Jesus Christ said that He spoke this parable. A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard and he came seeking fruit on it. And he found none. No fruit. And He said to the keeper of the vineyard, Look, for three years I've come seeking fruit on this tree and I find none. Cut it down. Why does it use up the ground?

But the keeper said, Sir, let it alone this year also and I'll dig around it and fertilize it.

Now, in this analogy, it should be obvious because we've already read that we are to bear fruit. And if we don't, and when Jesus Christ said, We have to abide in Him, He's the vine and we're the branches. He said, Any branch that doesn't bear fruit, it's cut off, it's thrown in the fire. So each of us is represented by this fig tree. God expects us to bear fruit, the spiritual fruit of righteousness. But I like the fact that in the parable, the fig tree was given years to grow that fruit. And then when it still hadn't developed fruit, it wasn't cut down immediately. The vineyard keeper said, Well, let me dig around it. The original King James says, Dig and dung it. Meaning, pour manure on it. That was the type of fertilizer they had back then.

And then there'll be more time. I'm not sure if there's a particular significance. He said, For three years I come looking. I don't know. Like I said, if there's a significance to three years and then an additional year, there may or may not be. But we know we have time and that God doesn't just give up on us quickly. Just as Connor and I watched those buds develop. And of course, he was a little anxious. Daddy, are the flowers yet? No, no. And I can't make it happen any faster. He wanted me to make it happen faster. Although he lost interest. The first time the flower was there, it was great. He wanted to touch him. And then pretty soon he didn't care about him. But God is patient with us. And he's not going to forget when we do develop fruit. But we can see, even when enough time passes, if it doesn't seem like we're developing fruit. If our growth is stunted, God doesn't get out the axe first thing. He gets out the spade. He gets out the spade to dig and dung. Now, I see that as the Father and Jesus Christ are willing to work with us. I like to think of metaphor. Because it's not likely that he's ever going to dump actual manure on us. Although it's an interesting thought. I don't know if you... Was that movie many years ago, Back to the Future? There's this one character that keeps running into a manure truck and it gets dumped on him. I think it happens in each of two sequels. Hopefully, that's not going to happen to us. But God will give us whatever it takes to fertilize it. As I said, he's not eager to use the axe. We have that statement in the parable so that we can have the counter statement. No, no. Let's hold off on cutting the tree down. Instead, let's fertilize it. Let's help it to build fruit. Now, let's turn to Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12, and we'll read verse 11.

Because, as I said, getting manure dumped on you, whether figurative or real, doesn't sound very pleasant.

But the end result that could come from it is, that's something we can be happy with. Hebrews 12, verse 11, says, Now, no chastening seems to be joyful. We could say, no digging and donging seems joyful. It's not pleasant to have your roots tilled up and have manure dumped on them. It's not joyful, but painful. But nevertheless, afterwards, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness by those who have been trained in it. So, the chastening we have, the different trials, which I discussed yesterday, again, they're to develop that peaceable fruit, the fruit of righteousness.

And that's what we want to remember. As I said, be patient with ourselves and with God.

Now, we might look at ourselves and say, I don't need any fertilizing. We might feel strong and sound. And I think of that, in the parable of the fig tree, the owner didn't come and say, boy, that tree looks sickly. The leaves are wilted, it's not good. No, he came and looked at it. Well, it's like a healthy tree. I'm looking for fruit. It should have fruit. So, that could be us. We could be, seem like we're doing well and our lives are well ordered. But if there's not enough fruit, you know, we might even have and be using spiritual gifts.

But if we're coming up short on love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, temperance, every now and then, I tend to cut it off short. So, every now and then, I like to read the entire list. If we're short on those, God might say, looks healthy otherwise, but we need some fertilizer. We need those fruits of the spirit.

And then there's the other aspect of it. We have these twists, but this applies, or it might well apply, not only if we're not bearing fruit, but if we are bearing fruit, but it seems like we could bear more. Let's go back to John 15. I didn't read this part earlier, but it's a very important part of the message.

John 15 and verse 2.

Remember, this is after he said, you know, you're the, I'm the vine, my father's the vine dresser. Verse 2, every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. So, you don't bear any fruit, you can be taken away, but guess what? Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it, so it might bear more.

So, you can get some chastisement either way, and need to be patient with it. Either way, we're going to go through some difficult times, because that pruning is not because you're not bearing fruit, but you could bear more. And once again, I let the word you slip in, I should say, we will go through that, because we could bear more. And what do we do in all this? We bear it patiently. When we're going through troubles, and trials, and challenges, it's good for us to see it as part of our bearing spiritual fruit, even though that's not easy. Let's read 1 Peter 2, verse 20. I watch myself, I'm getting in that fast-talking mode, but I wanted to read a lot of Scriptures today. 1 Peter 2, verse 20.

Let's read this, and keep in mind that whole pruning, so that you'll bear fruit, or digging and dunging. It says, What credit is it when you're beaten for your faults if you take it patiently? But when you do good and you take it patiently, when you're bearing fruit already, and you suffer, when you do good and you suffer and take it patiently, this is commendable before God.

For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving an example that we should follow in His steps. During His ministry, Christ used a lot of agricultural analogies to help us to see this point. Let's look at another one, Matthew 13. I'm going to use this in a way slightly different than it was originally intended. I don't think God would be upset. I'm not twisting the Scripture to a different meaning, but I want to focus on the end result. Matthew 13 will read the parable of the sower and the seed.

Now, we understand the primary meaning of this was explaining why it is that we preach the Gospel for the first time. Now, we understand the primary meaning of this was explaining why it is that we preach the Gospel far and wide and many hear it, but not so many respond. Because some of that seed falls by the wayside and the birds. Satan snatches it away, as Christ says in His explanation. Some begin to grow and persecution comes along and takes that away. I want to look at the primary explanation of this is the fact that why so many hear the Gospel truth but don't respond. God's not calling them or they're not ready to respond yet. But in the end result, for those who do respond, it's interesting to see that there's not the same result for everyone. It says, some fell on good ground and yielded a crop, some 100-fold, some 60, and some 30. That should tell us something right away. We're not all going to bear fruit in the same exact way. We don't all have the same fertility in our soil, so to speak. Some of it, we have varying backgrounds. Some can respond and excel in love, joy, and peace. Others might not do so well in that, but might do well in gentleness and goodness. I'm sort of making this up as I go, but do we see how our crop might be different? Because our soils are different. Let's read 2 Corinthians 10, verse 12 in that regard.

Then Corinthians 10, verse 12 is an admonition that is important for us to remember. Paul was using it to compare himself to others who were making themselves out to be great ministers of Christ and comparing themselves to Him. But we can use it to look at ourselves and how we're bearing fruit. It says, we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. They, measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. Comparing ourselves among each other is not necessarily wise. We may think this for some who seem to be slow in bearing fruit, but also some who are bearing fruit. You don't want to compare and say, look at me, I'm bearing 60-fold. He's only bearing 30-fold. Well, are you bearing 100-fold? If we compare among ourselves, we might attempt to say, well, I'm doing pretty good. But we're missing the fact that we all, we started in different places, but we're all shooting for the same goal. We don't want to compare ourselves against each other, but compare ourselves to Jesus Christ. That is the standard. We need to strive for that goal to have that much fruit. Now, we're never going to get there on our own. The point is, we submit to God and let His Spirit work in us.

And that's where, let me turn to one more parable, Matthew 25. Matthew 25, when we begin in verse 14. This is, well, matter of fact, I might just, well, we can turn there. You can follow if you want. It begins in verse 14, but we know this one fairly well. In the parable, a wealthy man is going to a far country to receive a kingdom and come again. And he calls his servants, and he delivers to one of them five talents. Now, a talent is not abilities, but it means a measure of money. You know, I looked this up once, and it's something like the equivalent for one of us, like a half a year's wages. Here's a pile of money. Go do business till I come to another one. He gives two talents. And to another one, he gives one talent. It's still a fair bit of money. He says, do business while I'm gone. And so they do. The one who has five talents goes and buys and sells and trades, sets up enterprises, and he doubles his money. He gives five more talents. The one who had two talents, he engages in business, he does this and that, and he earns back two talents. He doubles his money. The one who only had one said, ah, man, if I lose this, I'm in big trouble. I don't want to risk it. So he digs a hole and buries it. And of course, then the reckoning comes. The master comes back, and the one who had five talents says, master, you gave me five talents, and look, I've earned five more. And he says, well done, good and faithful servant. You are faithful and little. I'll make you ruler over many things. Enter the joy of your Lord. Now, the one who earned two talents came and said, Lord, you gave me two talents. Now I've earned two more. Now, he ends up with four talents, which is less than half of what the other one ended up with. But what is the reply that the master gives him? The same exact reply. Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a little. I'll make you ruler over much. Enter the joy of your Lord. So the end result, it wasn't based on how much they'd earned because they started from different points. The ultimate goal for all of us isn't whether we have a hundredfold crop or 60 or 30, but it's are we bearing as much as we possibly can? Because our goal isn't necessarily... I better watch out. I don't want to contradict myself. Our goal is to have fruit in this world, but the ultimate goal is to be in God's family. We want to be God's spiritual children, and that is something we'll all share equally.

But if we don't even bear the fruit that we're capable of, we miss out on that. The servant who was given one talent who buried it, he came and said, Well, Lord, I knew you were austere, and you re-breed it and sow, and you gather where you eat it and spread, and so I was afraid, and I went and hid it in the earth, and now I brought it back. Here it is. And he said, You wicked, lazy servant! You should have at least put it in the bank so I could draw interest.

He said, Take the talent away from him and give it to the one who has ten, because I know he's going to put it to use. And that's pretty serious stuff. But as I said, the goal isn't whether we accumulate ten talents, or two, or five, but with all of us starting at differing levels, we should at least be bearing fruit.

We want to remember, God gives us His Spirit. He'll work with us. And that hearkens back to my earlier point. God is very patient. He is willing to dig and dung as much as it takes to help us bear fruit, as long as we're willing to do our part. My thought is this. A person probably has to be pretty obstinate and uncooperative.

That's hard to say. A lot of syllables. Obstinate and uncooperative to not bear any spiritual fruit. If we don't quench Spirit, we're going to bear fruit. God will see to it.

And we need to be patient with ourselves as well as with other people.

So I wanted to turn to wrap all this up to an example from the Bible of someone who I think is a good typophisis of having a slow start. Seeming like someone who didn't do that much, but ended up much greater than anyone might have expected. The person I want to consider is the one we now commonly call Mark, as in the book of Mark. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

He was also sometimes called John in the Bible, or sometimes you see John Mark. John whose surname was Mark.

Now we know his story partly from a few places in the Bible where he's mentioned, and also from tradition and early church history. Which, tradition and church history we don't take as absolute the way we do the Bible. We know if the Bible says it's true. Church history sometimes is true, sometimes not, but on these matters I think we can put some credence.

We first see Mark, if you want to turn to Mark chapter 14. First place we see his name, or we see him described in Scripture as sort of an ignominious start.

We're going to see him in the Garden of Gethsemane, where all the apostles, well not just the twelve apostles obviously, because he wasn't one of the twelve, but there are disciples there with Jesus. And of course, Judas Iscariot leads in a band of soldiers to capture Jesus.

And we know that all the disciples are going to flee running for their lives. And in verse 51, an interesting story that only appears in this Gospel account.

Now it doesn't tell us who this young man is, but as I said, tradition says that that was actually Mark, the one who wrote this book.

And that including it in his Gospel account, whereas the others don't, was sort of his way of admitting to what was probably a notorious story. Hey, one of those guys ran off naked, and he's probably, yeah, that was me. Now, he wrote about it years later when maybe he could say, I'm not as embarrassed as I was before.

But it's not a very auspicious introduction to Mark.

I wonder, why was Mark there in the Garden in the first place?

It might have been because of family connections. We don't know how young he was. He was a young man. Does that mean he was 14, 15 years old?

I think maybe an older teen. I'm not certain.

We know that he did have a couple of connections. One is going to become prominent later. He's cousins to Barnabas, the Apostle.

But at this particular time, maybe the connection that was more important was his mother, whose name was Mary. Not Mary, the Mother of Christ. But if we turn to Acts 12 in verse 12, we'll see John Marks mentioned again.

So, when he had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together. Now, I'm not reading the whole story. I wanted to pull that out.

A lot of people were gathered at this Mary's house, and she was a mother of John, whose surname was Mark. This is in the story of when Peter had been in prison. I think we covered this in a sermon recently.

James had been killed, Herod threw Peter in prison, and then God sent an angel miraculously to bring Peter out. He slaps Peter on the side, gets her cloak and follows me. The door is open, and Peter thinks he's seeing a vision, until suddenly he's out on the street, and the angel disappears, and Peter goes, Huh, I guess I'm being released. Where does he go? He goes to Mary's house. And it turns out there are a lot of the disciples there praying for him. Why did he go there? Well, we would surmise perhaps there was a close family connection. Maybe his family and their family were close friends. That's going to tie in later, because if there's a close family connection, that would show why he would have a particular interest in the young man, John Mark. It certainly couldn't be because John Mark had the habit of walking around poorly dressed and leaving his running away naked. Maybe they had some connection other than that. Anyways, we know this happened, and then the other connection comes in. If we go to the end of this chapter, Acts 12, 25, it says, Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry. This is the case, we believe they were bringing food because of the famine to help the saints who were living in Jerusalem. So they left to go back to Antioch, and they took with them John, whose surname was Mark. By the way, it's in Colossians. I think we'll read it later. It shows that John Mark was Barnabas' cousin. So they bring this young man with them to help him doing the work. That will continue if we go to the next chapter, Acts 13, beginning in verse 2. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, and this is the congregation in Antioch, Now separate to meet Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. And having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them, they sent them away. So they go out, but let's read in verse 5. When they arrived in Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. They also had John as their assistant. So they bring along this young man not to preach with them, but as their assistant. He's getting him glasses of water and things like this, helping with accommodations. But he has a part of the work.

But for some reason, John Mark doesn't stick with them. In verse 13, when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos, they came to Pergamos and Pamphylia. And John, same John Mark, departing from them returned to Jerusalem. John left the mission. They were traveling preaching the gospel, and John left. Now there's not an explanation. I don't know, was he sick? Injured? Was he homesick? Yeah, man, this isn't for me. I'm sick of this traveling and having people threaten us and stone Paul. And I'm going to go back home with my mom. He went back to Jerusalem. As I said, we don't know for sure. I'm guessing of what the reason was that he left. But we know that Paul wasn't happy about it from what happens later. In Acts 15, we'll see verse 36.

As Paul and Barnabas continue on their evangelical tour, and they preach the gospel and found congregations, and they come back. And later they decide, hey, let's travel around again. And I'll describe it in Paul's own words, verse 36. So, wait a minute, I'm in the wrong chapter. 13, verse 36. Paul and Barnabas also remained in Antioch preaching the word of the God with the Lord. The word of the Lord with many others also. And after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, Let's go back and visit our brethren in every city where we've preached the word of the Lord. And see how they're doing. Let's travel around and see how they're doing. Now, Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark. He wanted to bring his cousin along, I presume as an assistant again. But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia had not gone with them to the work. So, Paul was happy. He left us before. We're not taking him again. So, the contention became so sharp that they parted one from another. Barnabas took Mark. So, Barnabas said, Yes, I am taking him. And he sailed to Cyprus. So, Paul chose Silas and departed and he commended the brethren to the grace of God. Now, this sounds pretty bad. We've had enough splits in the church in the modern era. But this wasn't a split in that sense. We could say maybe there's good because they traveled around and maybe twice as much work got done. But Paul, or not Paul Barnabas... No, I didn't want to say Paul. Maybe Paul was looking at John Mark and nowadays we sometimes use the phrase, screw up. And he was this young guy who was just a screw up. He wasn't doing the job. He's getting by on family favors. Barnabas said, Well, wait a minute. I'm part of that family that was showing him favors. Maybe he saw something in Mark. Maybe he said, Well, he's slower in producing fruit. But I want to be patient. I want to give him a chance to develop that fruit. Let God dig and dung around John Mark and help him to grow. And I'm surmising, I'm guessing. Was that Barnabas' motivation? It's not described, but I like to think of that as a good possibility. Whatever his motivations, we do know that later Paul came to have a different attitude towards John Mark. Now we can go to Colossians 4 and verse 2. We'll see. This is later in Paul's ministry. And he makes a reference to John Mark. Now, this is near the end of the book. Of course, he always makes greetings and talks about things going on. He says, Eris Darkus, my fellow prisoner, reached you with Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, about whom you received instructions, and he comes to you, welcome him. So now, suddenly John Mark was with Paul, but he's sending him out on missions. Tony, if he comes to you, so he must be sending him out on jobs, receive him properly. So he's there, partly, as Paul's emissary. And there's a reference also in Philemon to John Mark being with Paul while he was in prison. And there's another reference I wanted to look at in 2 Timothy.

2 Timothy 4 and verse 11.

2 Timothy 4.11. Here, we believe Paul was not only in prison, but perhaps near the end of his life. And he's saying some parting words to Timothy. But one part of instruction, he says, only Luke is with me, get Mark, bring him with you. He's useful to me in the ministry. Now, that doesn't say a lot, but considering earlier, he's saying, we're not taking that guy. He left before I don't want him to be part of this mission. Later, he's saying, he's useful to me in the ministry. Bring him here. What an about-face and how Paul viewed John Mark.

So it seems Mark was able to bear enough fruit to win back Paul's trust. Here's where I'll verge over into, like I said, ancient tradition and history. Because it says that he did even more than serve as an assistant to Paul. Mark is known in history, more so as being a disciple and a companion of the Apostle Peter. And we did see indication that Peter's family was close to John Mark's family. It's actually believed that he wrote the Gospel account of Mark, not because of his personal experience. You know, if he was the young guy that ran away naked, he was kind of young to be following and knowing all this. But tradition says that he wrote down the accounts from Peter's mouth. Peter shared this with him, and Mark wrote it down. So some scholars even say that instead of calling it the Gospel according to Mark, it could be the Gospel according to Peter. Now, that's not its name. I'm not going to suggest changing it. But Mark deserves note for a remarkable career. Tradition says later that Peter sent him out as an emissary to Egypt, and that he raised up a pretty substantial church in Alexandria and was the pastor there. And that's true. Think of how far he came from the youngster who was first known as the guy who ran away naked and then abandoned an evangelical tour. That was a lot easier to type than it was to say. He went from that to being an executive assistant to two of the leading apostles, to the author of one of the earliest Gospel accounts. His progress might have been slow, but it was great when it was finished. That's a commendable thing. It took time, just like those flowers coming up out of the snow. It needed time to develop. I think for each of us can look at the mirror at ourselves and look at others in the congregation. Perhaps all of us have stories from our youth when we're not yet matured that we don't necessarily want to share. I think I'm running away naked. There's a story in the summer camp circles about air drying. I won't share in a setting like this, but I've had a lot of people laugh at me over the years. Certainly when things end up different many years later, for all of us, our stories aren't finished yet. We're in the process of developing spiritual fruit. We're not necessarily expected to already have it. Mark's story wasn't finished in that first half of Acts, and neither is ours. So on the day that we celebrate God putting His Holy Spirit in us, God putting His essence in us, we can rejoice that it comes with so many benefits. God gives us spiritual gifts, and we can enjoy these immediately. As I said, there are some things that He hands us, and it's like, wow, we have it. That's fabulous.

But He also gives us His Spirit so that we can develop fruit. The fruit that's going to be a part of us. Not just things we can do, but show what we are. And that process of developing and maturing spiritual fruit is not easy. And it doesn't happen quickly. But it's part of the character God wants to have in us, because He wants to have it in us and have us with Him for eternity. So developing a fruit slowly is okay if it's going to be around forever.

God will work with us. He will be patient, and He'll help us as is necessary. He's got that spade ready. And in the meantime, I want to harken back and repeat what the Apostle Paul wrote. Earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet, he said, I show you a more excellent way. That more excellent way was love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and temperance. Let's grow the fruits of the Spirit.