Matthew 6:33-34; John 15:4-5

You cannot bear fruit apart from the vine. Matthew 6:33-34 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. John 15:4-5 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. My question to you is are you applying this verse into your daily life? Are you applying this to your life? Are you capable of living a life without worry? Is it possible? Are you without worry? It says not to worry about tomorrow but we worry about the following year. Those of us who raise children, we worry about the welfare of our children decades from now. Is this not so? What does the Bible say? It says to live your life only concerned about your work today. Concern yourself with today. Though we have been given the Word what does it mean when we are unable to apply it in our lives? What does it ultimately mean? To not live according to the Word means you do not believe the Word. It means you do not believe God. The Holy Spirit has come and given us everything we need to know about Jesus. But not living according to this Word means I do not believe it. Am I wrong? I have used this example many times before. If there is food before you, unless you eat of it you will not know if it is good or not. But once you taste it you will know. Next time you are presented with the same food, you will know because of experience what to expect with confidence. But in our lives there are times where things do not turn out how we expect. Things happen. Though you may buy expensive fruit, do they all taste the same? For those who have a sophisticated palate are even aware that within the same fruit the side that had more exposure to sun taste slightly different than the side which had less sun. But as we are unable to judge these things perfectly with our eyes so it is with our very lives. Likewise, if we only have knowledge of the word of God and only accept it as such, will we ever be able to apply it in our lives? You will not. Just like you have never tasted the fruit, you have never tried to apply it into your life. Therefore, you will not be able to live a life of obedience. Not living a life of obedience means you do not believe in the word. Having eaten of it and to say that it is good, bad or that you are full are all possible outcomes. If someone told you that something was poison, and the person next to you ate it and died, would you eat of it as well? Would you say that you would like to taste it as well? Would you say that just like all fruit taste different that the poison may have affect you differently and that you may not die? Is there such a person? No one would eat it. In such matters we are sure. Do we apply the teachings of the Bible into our lives? There are many teachings in the Bible that teach us that if we eat of it we will die. There are also many teachings that tell us we will be full, be blessed, and many good things as well. But there are also many teachings that warn us of death. There are many of us who are willing to taste death. How do we do this? The answer is simple. We do what we are told not to do and we do not do that which we are told to do. That is it. It says do not worry, then we are not to worry. But we do. We are ones unable to reap all the benefits that is given to us in the Word. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. Are we in Jesus? We do not bear fruit because I do not remain in Him and He is not in me. But who do we blame? We blame God for not giving to us. Rather than confess to God that it is my fault for not living a life in him, we blame God for not giving us our blessing which we use as an excuse for us not being in Him. The cause is that we have fallen away from Jesus, we must realize this. But rather then find the cause of our problems, we focus on the blessings that we have not received. Like Paula had prayed for us before worship, we only ask God to give us, but we refuse to give our lives to be one with Him. Can we bear much fruit like Jesus commands us to? If we look to the cause as to why we do not bear much fruit, and we see that it is because we have fallen away from Jesus, then we must ask the question do we have anything to do with Jesus? If we have fallen away from Jesus, nothing to do with Jesus, then we are dead. To be dead signifies that we have thrown away our privilege to enter into Heaven. But we tell God that we believed in him at one time in the past. You may have believed him at one time in the past, but you fail to live the life bearing fruit in Him today. A life that does not bear fruit signifies that you are no longer attached to the root. These flowers that you see here no matter how pretty they are, they are dead. We say that they are fresh flowers. Flowers that are living our fresh, but these have already been cut from the root. They are dead. It does not matter what nutrients you provide it, they are already dead. Though you may do many things in the name of Jesus, if you are detached from him, you will not bear fruit. You are like these flowers, you are already dead. On our last day what will be the judgment that we receive? We must examine ourselves. 2012 is coming to an end and it is now time for us to get everything into order. From my birth until now, what kind of life have I been living in relation to our Lord? The Scriptures tell us that Jesus stands at the door and knocks, but if I open the door that he may come in but if I do not open the door and he cannot enter. Have I opened the door to my heart? And if he has entered, then my life should be that of the life of Jesus. We say with our mouths that we have opened the door to our hearts. We tell them to be our king to guide us and to lead us. But the moment he commands us to do something through his Word, we say "no". We tell him to leave. Then when an emergency hits us, we call on the name of our Lord again. Is this the life that we should be living? Do we examine ourselves to see if this is the condition of our lives? If this is so then we must make a new decision and live a new life of faith and repent, without it what will we say to Him when we are called to stand before Him? We are told not to worry, but the moment we open our eyes we begin to worry. There are more things that are dissatisfying to our eyes then pleasing to our eyes. Do you agree? When something satisfies us we can't help from having the biggest smile. But the moment we start to frown and we get bothered signifies that we are not satisfied that something is not meeting our standard. We easily recognize the expression on people's faces. It does not matter how they present themselves. We know when one is full of worry. That means that we are filled with pride. We are proud because there is nothing that can satisfy our needs. That is pride. We need money but there is no money. We desire recognition but we receive none. All our employees do not work to our standards. Everywhere we go and everyone we meet gives us stress. This builds up to the point that it shows on our faces. It is because our hearts have changed and there is no peace and it shows on our faces. This means that we are living a life without Jesus and filling ourselves with all the worries and anxieties of this world. Your face shows that you are not in Jesus and Jesus is not in you. Yet, we come before God with our problems and ask him to resolve them for us. We complain about our lack of money, our lack of work, our poor health. But our Lord tells us to not worry about anything. He tells us to only do what we are commanded to do today. He tells us that if we seek his righteousness and his kingdom first, everything else will be taking care of for us. But rather than seek his righteousness and his kingdom we seek to satisfy our own desires. That is why we are filled with worries and anxieties and it shows on our faces and people choose not to be around us. Without Jesus in our hearts, people have a hard time loving us. You can have the finest clothes and the nicest hair but if you have Jesus in your heart then you will be truly beautiful. Your face will shine bright. But we miss the foundation of it all, and try to make only our outward appearance beautiful. If I have truly been saved, then my life will be transformed. We fail to recognize that pride is the reason for our worries and our anxieties. In our lives we are filled with worries, anxieties, and complaints. We hate others. We are unable to forgive. We are unable to love. A child desires something from their parents, but the parent is unable to provide, will that child honor their parents? When anyone desires something and puts out a hand and does not receive that which was desired and is not content, and the discontent continues to grow within their heart, and they are unable to forgive, it will eventually become a disease. Why does our Lord teach us through his Word to forgive and love? Is it because our wives are the most beautiful? Is it because our husbands are the most reassuring? Is it because our children or our parents are the best? Nobody is perfect. Even the best lack something and make mistakes. We are not to hold these things against those before us. Rather we are to look at ourselves and forgive them because God will then be able to forgive me and I can receive His love. Our Lord tells us to forgive and to love. It is not to bless the other person. Examine yourselves. You may not want to forgive your spouse, you may not even have the heart to do so but when you forgive them you are the one who will be at peace. You're not pleased with your children. Is there anyone who is pleased with their children? Your greed is too great. You desire your child to be the greatest but they are not. Are you satisfied? You are not because they have not achieved what you desired. If you are unable to find peace and contentment and refuse to let go of it in your heart, who will be the one to end up getting sick? You will be the one to get sick. Who holds the key to life? God does. If God gave you that child so that he will use him for his purpose, then all you are to do is report to God what you do and surrender your worries and anxieties to him. But we raise our children in the manner which pleases us. We reward them for our pleasure. If I purchase a gift for my child whether it is clothes for all car, and I see that my child is pleased, then who becomes satisfied? I am satisfied seeing that my child is satisfied. In truth, the child may have desired something else. But because I am unaware, I give according to my standard. It is for my satisfaction. This is not how we are to do things. The problem with this is because we reward according to our standards we do not reward according to the child's age and this leads to other problems. Do you know your child? You do not, but when you try to give them things because you do not know them you give according to your standard. To give according to you or your standards means it is not right for that child. God is raising up that child to do his work. But when I do things to the child according to my standards, am I allowing God to do his work or am I hindering him? There are times when you are hindering God's work. Through your worries and your desires you lead that child into your own direction. Surrender this to God. Today we sang these hymns. We sang to the Lord asking him to be our Shepherd and to be our guide. We also sing that he saved us through his blood. If you truly believe that he is leading you to green pastures then are you to follow him in obedience or should you not? You are to follow in obedience but what does that mean? It is to let go of the way you think and follow the commands given to us in his word. You may see the path before you as narrow and difficult, but where will this path lead to if God is guiding you through it? Though we suffer cuts and bruises because of the difficult path and refuse to go, you must make it through this path in order to get to green pastures and streams of living water. It is the fastest way. You must go in obedience, but rather than go in obedience we say "no". We face many problems in our lives. Is there anyone who does not want to move up in their position in life? Wherever there are positions people naturally want to go one step higher, make a little more money. Everyone enjoys the good things in life. Whom are we to serve in our hearts? We are to serve God and our Lord Jesus and have a relationship with them. I have three sons, and there is one thing that they will never be able to get rid of. That is their family name. If a child did not like their family name and decided to change it what will those who previously knew the child think of that child? Will they think that the child did something good? By changing their own family name others will look down on them. So why do I bring this up? Recently when I went to Korea as we were checking in there were a few of us in line. It was not too busy. The supervisor of the airline received a phone call and came rushing to one of the employees and told them to do nothing except wait for the special guest to arrive. Who was this VIP? They were not coming immediately, they would be here in five minutes, but still the airline was making arrangements to receive this person. I was very curious. Eventually two people had arrived, but what I saw was that one person seemed not as prominent as the other individual. After we boarded one of the persons close to me while the VIP sat in business class. As I heard the conversation of that person with an individual next to him I realized that the person who he came with was someone very special. Another passenger kept telling the individual to make most of this opportunity and to do well. Is the person who is sitting close to me someone important that he is receiving such attention from someone he does not know? He is only being lifted up because of the VIP that he has accompanied. Is this not how our world works? Do you want to be lifted up? Then if you are with the highest individual, then you too will be lifted up with them. You will receive VIP treatment. If I accompany the highest person, the most important person then I too will be lifted up. The God whom you believe, the God whom you should be serving, He is the greatest. He is the Creator of all things. If you will accompany him, then wherever you go, you can be lifted up, but do you think this way as you live your life? Do you? For those of you who do business and run your own businesses, you put up Bible verses on your walls, even those nonbelievers will put anything that speaks a blessing on their walls. Pastors, elders, and deacons label their titles on their business cards. It is all for show. But in their lives, in their speech it is no different from that of the world. All the things of this world are within them. Where is Jesus? This is why you never move up higher. This is why where ever you go you are knocked down. You fail to realize that you are not living a life serving our Lord. We do not realize that we have pushed our Lord aside. To live a life with Jesus does not mean to just walk side-by-side, if I am even detached from him by a millimeter then I am dead. To be cut off from the root means that even a millimeter of space signifies death. The presence of space means death. If I am even the smallest bit outside of Jesus and the Holy Spirit then I must realize that I am dead. We think that we can always call upon him when we need him, and do what we want with him by our side. Rather than live a life with Jesus inside of us we put him next to us. Is this not the reason why we have problems in our lives? In our trip to Korea we counseled others. There was a pastor and his wife who had come to receive prayer. After receiving prayer they said yes to obey God, but after leaving they refused to do what they had said they would do. Rather than submit to God they questioned why. This is not the type of obedience that God desires. There was another lady who had gone to seminary school but had a hard time converting her husband to Christ. She complained of all that she had been doing for her husband to change. She begged her husband to believe in Christ and did all that she could within her power to try to make him change. We told her to love her husband unconditionally as Jesus loves us without conditions. We told her to love her husband even if he does not believe in Jesus, to love him as her husband. She could not do it. Are you truly loving with the love of Jesus? Is this the path to pastorship? No. 36:20? She could not forgive her husband because he did not satisfy her. Then if people come to her and they do not grow in faith that meets her satisfaction, then can she forgive them and love them? She cannot. Then we met someone completely different. This person thought that he could hold on to his wife and follow her into heaven. When we told him he could not then he asked how would he be able to enter into heaven? We told him that it was dependent upon his faith whether he would go to heaven or not. When he was told this, he said he would do it. "I will do it" was his response. He decided to do God's work. These are three completely different individuals. We see these people in our lives. There are those call themselves servants of God. They are pastors, elders, deacons, members of churches, born into families and generations of believers. When a pastor prays for them or tells them something they are quick to say yes in front of them. But the moment they turn around and leave they start shaking their heads and making excuses. This is how some people live their lives of faith. Others require their needs to be met. They base their faith on their demands. These individuals live their lives of faith dependent on their demands being met. Then there are those who thought that they were doing enough. And when they are told that that is not the way, the immediately stand up, and make the decision to go and do as they are commanded. We have seen these people. How will you live your life? The Bible is clear today that if we remain in Christ and he remains in us and we do not worry about the things of tomorrow but only do as we are commanded to do today then because God will use me for His purpose, because I am going where He is going, then in that place I am a VIP. But from a worldview it may not be a place of recognition. When we think of being lifted up we think of high places, merit and increase in pay. When we look at the world there is only one top position. God may not put us there. When we build a rocket there is only one point at the top, but to build the entire rocket it takes a foundation for it to be built upon. When we humble ourselves and go to the places where God desires to use us, it is in this place that we will be recognized for our work. This is what it means to be blessed. What does it mean to remain in him and he in us? It is a life where I am not seen. It is a life where our Lord is seen. It is not my thoughts that I follow but it is the thoughts of Jesus that guide me and I go in obedience. As we bring 2012 to a close, as we remember the times where we refused to follow God and ended up where we have. Let us re-examine ourselves. Let us decide to put aside the ways of the old. Let us surrender all our thoughts, pride, and selfishness. Let us confess like Paul and say that we are already dead in Christ. Let us start the new year in the direction where God leads us. Let us follow on obedience in the path he leads us. Let us remain in him and allow him to remain in us. Let us no longer worry about tomorrow but do that which we are commanded to do today. Let us decide to live this life and confess to God that we will do so. As you live this life in the place where he guides you, may your life give God glory. Sermon by Pastor Howard Park Translation by Miguel Park