Services/Presentation in Rockford 10.11.2019

Let us quieten this evening in opening prayer and thanksgiving. Holy and righteous God, our beloved Heavenly Father, this evening as we gather together to discuss matters of living faith and matters of your kingdom, we first pause, dear Father, with hearts of thankfulness for the many blessings of this day.

We awakened this morning with joy and knowledge in our heart that we were protected through the night as your children. We are able to gather together around your holy word. And also today, on this Sabbath day, pause to consider again the many blessings of this day: blessings of food and clothing, loved ones and family. Most of all, dear Father, the gift of your dear Son, through whom this evening we believe and have hope of eternal life one day, there in the glory of heaven.

Dear Father, this evening we pray for your blessing. You know the needs of each of us. And we simply and humbly pray that you would guide our thoughts, our words, to the honor and glory of your name. For thee. For the strengthening of our weak faith. And for the edification of your kingdom. All of this we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. This evening I was assigned a task. And the topic for our evening is discussion: it's the fruits of faith. The fruits of faith. I have some slides prepared, some thoughts prepared. And I understand there's the opportunity for some discussion. So if I start going too long, just shut me off. Or if you have some comments during the presentation, feel free to raise your hand. We can take them however it would seem best.

But this topic, fruits of faith, timely, as it always is. And as I was preparing this presentation, I've thought of this in many different perspectives, this matter of the fruits of faith. I've taught this type of lesson at confirmation school. And as I was preparing it, I half expected it to go that way. But it didn't. And I struggled, I guess, personally, to make it go the way I wanted it to go. But it went the way it went.

So this evening we, as I mentioned already, pray that God would bless our evening. So we're talking about fruits, fruits of faith. And when I think about fruit, I think of it's the end result of something. Now it's wintertime. We've enjoyed the fruits of summer. The trees have already, many of them went dormant. The fruits have already fallen from the trees. But in the spring of the year, those trees begin to bloom and leaf. And again, another life begins.

So before we can find fruit on anything, first we need some kind of a branch, some kind of a tree, some kind of a vine. And God's word is filled with those kinds of examples. So I thought, before we can even find out what the fruits are, maybe we need to figure out and talk a little bit about a tree and where it's going.

And I thought, I thought about where this tree is planted. And my thoughts went to the first Psalm. When we think of a tree, and I've honored these things many times in recent months, because in the back of our house, we have a series of big cottonwood trees. And they are familiar trees. They grow around here, and they usually mark where there's moisture and water.

But they're especially noticeable, the cottonwoods, when you get to a real arid place, an arid area like Arizona. If you're wondering where there might be an arroyo or a river or some kind of a gathering place for water, too often you just try to get on a higher plateau somewhere or a higher hill and look and you can see if you can find some cottonwood trees.

And there was one such area in the desert near where we live, and it was a small clump, a clump of cottonwood trees. And I didn't pay much attention to it, but I would run or bike in the desert. And I always wondered what was this area of green that seemed like always green, even in the middle of the hottest summer.

And I went there one day, and sure enough, there was this kind of a wet area or an area that you could see had been wet. And it was mud-caked at this point. But the trees around this area were cottonwood trees. And this area was almost always wet.

So when I think of cottonwoods, I think of a tree. And maybe I think of similarly to what the psalmist says. When he looked and he saw these trees and he saw that the roots went deep. And it's also so that those roots of a tree go very deep.

And so when we read from the first psalm, and it sets the stage for all of the psalms: "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight, meaning your delight and my delight, is in the law of the Lord. And in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor the sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish."

So, what is this tree that is planted by the rivers of water? It's a child of God. And when I ponder a tree, how does it eat? And what does it eat? We know that the roots that go into the soil are important, and the soil is also very important.

So, what does it eat? But the roots don't have mouths that chomp, like we have. So, how does the tree, how is it sustained? It's quite interesting when you think about it, that the soil is very important, and the moisture that's in the soil, it takes the nutrients from the soil, and the roots absorb those nutrients, and then this nutrient, this moisture, goes to the top of the tree, and there, in combination with the leaves, and you know the photosynthesis and all of that, that happens.

But in this miraculous way, this tree grows, and there in that photosynthesis, the leaf creates energy, and this energy then goes back and forth through the column of this tree. And it's God's way of creation.

But I thought also, and maybe mentioning throughout this presentation, that these trees eat, and are fed in some ways at a molecular level, a very small level. But so also do God's children.

So these roots of a child of God, they grow deep into the fertile soil of God's Word, where they receive nutrients for life. You remember the parable that Jesus spoke of the four types of soil. Only one of the four bore fruit. The other three, those seeds grew, they didn't last, and then they withered and died. But only that plant that was rooted and grounded in good soil bore fruit.

And so this soil has the nutrients, it also has the moisture, and this water, nutrients, the moisture of God's Word, becomes the carrier for elements of growth. The Gospel sustains us and carries us. And that moisture in a plant travels through the trunk to the branches and finally to the leaves, and there it sustains life, and also brings forth fruit.

So this tree that bears fruit, and this tree that bears fruit, and this tree that bears fruit, we know that a tree is known by its fruit. In the wintertime, it's especially difficult to figure out if you're not a real tree knowledgeable in trees or plants, it's not always easy to tell just by the bark what kind of a tree it is. It could be an apple tree, it could be a pear tree, it could be an oak tree.

So when we actually are able to see in fullness what the tree is, it's known by its fruit. And even if you think of apple trees, it could be an apple tree, but there's also a very specific kind of apple tree. You know the many different apples that are in Minnesota. And I'm sure you would need to get to a microscopic level to figure out if this is a Jonathan, if it's a Winesap, what kind of apple it actually is.

But this is also that which is so keen and interesting when we think about a child of God. Because a child of God is also known by his or her fruits. And the fruit does not, the fruit doesn't make the tree. Because we want to have an apple tree, we can't take an apple and plant it and put it on a different tree and expect it next year to grow apples. An apple tree grows apples, a plum tree grows plums, and so on.

So the fruit doesn't make the tree, but the tree makes the fruit. And a good tree produces good fruit, but then also, conversely, a bad tree produces evil fruit.

Now, when we think about God's Word, there's many places where it speaks about fruit. And I'll use a few of these portions of God's Word in discussion. Jesus, in his Sermon on the Mount, both in Matthew and in a lesser way, Luke, writes of this. And he says that a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit, neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit.

And then he uses this kind of an example for those folks: For of thorns men do not gather figs, meaning that if you look for figs, you're not going to go to a thorn bush and try to find figs. Nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good. And an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil. For of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

Jesus also, in the 15th chapter of John, says that the mouth speaks. John records for us this parable of the vine. And Jesus likens himself to this vine or this vine tree.

Jesus says, "I am the vine and ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me you can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered. And men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples."

It's impossible for a branch to live not connected to the vine. You see branches that break off of a tree and they're the ones that you break up, bring to compost, you break them up or burn them into a fire. The only way a branch stays living and even as Jesus said that I am the vine and ye are the branches. This connection to the vine is so precise that if it breaks away even though the branch might look to be connected, it's no longer connected and that life-giving nourishment to that branch is taken away. And that branch then withers and dies.

In Matthew, when Jesus records for us, in Matthew when he records for us Jesus' teaching of the Sermon on the Mount, there's three chapters, chapter 5, 6 and 7. At the end of the seventh chapter, Jesus takes into account a very important matter.

Through that early part of that teaching, he's teaching his own. He had taken his disciples and his loved ones close and he taught them. And that Sermon on the Mount began with the Beatitudes, you remember, blessed by the Holy Spirit.

And he said, I will teach you the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit and he connected it to that nontrivial Romania the spirit of Jesus. Not alone in this very scientific and spiritual cannot. Today, in the third half of the Moii we can see anyone can read all these texts.

And not only does anyone that understands at the end of this, also this warning, not only how you should believe, but also what to be aware of and what to be cautious of. It's important in God's kingdom that we teach correct teaching and doctrine. And it's also important that we talk about that doctrine which is wrong. That which is from the evil fruit of the enemy.

So at the tail end of that Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."

And then he concludes this and says, "Ye shall know them by their fruits."

I thought in the day that we're living, brothers and sisters, this is so very important. We don't know the content of man's heart. Only God does. But our fruits and our actions reveal the content of our heart.

Let me share a little example with you. It was many years ago, and I've never forgotten this moment. And it happened with my father. I was a young man, and I was courting many years ago already. And those of you who have gone through courtship know that there's great blessings in courtship. But there's also temptations that come. Just as there is in any station in life. You young people, you have your own temptations.

When I was a little boy, I couldn't really figure out how mom and dad knew that there was something wrong. But they did.

This particular evening, I was sitting at home, and I have no idea what my outward behavior was like. But my father came home from wherever he had been. Maybe I'd missed church. I don't know. I don't remember the circumstances at all.

But he came where I was sitting in the living room, and he took one look at me, and he says, "Eric, do we need to talk?"

He didn't know what was in my heart. But yet, the fruits of my heart, my behavior, or the fruits of my faith, were very evident. And I'm very thankful that God gave me this kind of a parent and parents who were concerned about their child and loved him so much that even when they didn't know exactly what was wrong, they wanted to discuss matters, to bring them up.

And in doing so, the gospel was preached, and the freedom of faith returned.

So in this way, in a small example, we are known by our fruits. And this is also what Jesus said: "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly, they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits."

In Jesus, similar to what Luke recorded, "Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them."

So, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit.

If you've ever wondered what it is when your friends at school or in the workplace, they comment and ask you, "You must be a God-fearing man," or "You must be some kind of a religious person," or "Are you a Christian?" When these questions come up, it's only because they see the fruits, the content of your heart, that radiates from a child of God.

In another way, Jesus said, "A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid."

A believer shines brilliantly in this dark world, but then so also do the false prophets and those of ungodliness bring forth evil fruit. But a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

And so we talk about what this false prophet, and there's also in scriptures plenty that we read from there, but Peter writes that there were false prophets also among the people. Even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that brought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction, and many shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

This pernicious ways, it is a kind of a steady, slow-growing attitude or behavior that can be very damaging.

But then, opposite of this, when we talk about the bad fruits, the good fruits, we also talk about the fruit of the Spirit. And Paul has written of the fruit of the Spirit, and it's a very comforting matter when we read from Galatians: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law."

We often hear, in God's kingdom, the reference that the first fruit of faith, the first fruit of the Spirit, is love. And then when you read from this part, where Paul says, and he lists those fruits, and one of those is faith, well, if the first fruit of faith or the first fruit of the Spirit is love, how does love, or how does faith end up so far down the list?

Other translations it writes that faith is faithfulness. It's different than faith. Faithfulness, you know what faithfulness is and I don't have to explain it.

So we could read that love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law.

When Jesus explained and he explained to his disciples that this love is how they will be recognized as God's children. It remains the same. Love of the Spirit, the love of God's children, it marks them as one of God's own.

But then he also says in that same fifth chapter of Galatians, of the works of the flesh, which battle against the work or the fruits of faith, fruits of the Spirit. And he says, "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings."

And then he concludes that and he says, "Of such like, of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in the time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."

These are matters that are very close to the flesh of any man. And as God's children, we can't say that we'd never fall into one of these or into them.

This is what the enemy of souls would want us. Because in the end where it says those which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. This is the sole intent of the enemy: is to take us from God's kingdom. And he uses our own corruption, our own flesh, the world, and the enemy of souls tempts us away from God's kingdom using our own corrupt flesh.

So we have this battle, this daily battle against sin and all defilement. It's the endeavor of a child of God.

When we think then a little further, now we start to talk about those leaves, those kinds of fruits that come. We don't know inwardly what any one person is going to do, what they believe or think.

But when we start to consider the fruits like a false prophet. When Jesus says there will be false prophets among you. Paul, I have a slide later here that Paul's farewell sermon to the leaders of the church of Ephesus where he says false prophets shall come in after I leave.

So how would they know and how do we know what false prophets are? So false prophets are preachers of heresy who strive to acquire supporters for themselves.

This has been in all heresies where already back in the time of the Old Testament when Moses was leading the children of Israel in that first heresy there: Korah. What do we refer to as Korah and his followers?

The leader of a heresy strives to gather those numbers in support of themselves.

Also false prophets can come from outside of God's kingdom. But they can also rise from the midst of the Christians which makes them even more deceptive.

The child of God is that type. It's God-given. And it's instruction in God's word that we would put the best construction on all that our neighbor does. We're taught to think well of our neighbors. We're taught to be forgiving and loving. It's all according to God's word.

So when we as God's children start to feel the wind blowing of some kind of a foreign doctrine or a foreign spirit, the child of God is troubled and wanting to put the best construction on all that our brother or sister do.

But there's things that are troubling and it's hard to come to grips with this that this kind of teaching or understanding or spirit is rising from within God's kingdom.

They also appear to be in their own opinions and in their own opinions on the right mission and are clothed as sheep.

I've often thought of Adam and Eve. How did the enemy of souls, how did he dress himself or present himself that Eve would actually begin a conversation with him?

I think for all of us today if we saw a serpent or a snake we would all flee. I know it's happened in Phoenix and we lived there. None of us lived there that lived there liked snakes. We'd flee from them. We'd have many stories that we could share about that.

But we'd have to. So what was it that the enemy used? What kind of deception did he use so that there were those even particular who started a conversation with him?

False prophets do similarly. They appear in their own, in their own mind at least, to be on the right mission and they appear as sheep.

And the wrong doctrine which the false prophets preach is that it's so dangerous because according to scripture it does not have salvation.

When you think of a time of heresy the differences in the beginning are quite small.

When I was 14 years old the last heresy split away from God's kingdom. It's like plural heresy we call it.

I had many many friends that I haven't seen since 1973. The differences were very subtle.

I remember on a Saturday afternoon in the fall before the actual heresy took place some of my friends from Cocado they came and they stopped by and they brought eggs like they often did. And they said that, "Hey Eric, we have an extra ticket to the gopher football game. You want to come?"

"Oh yeah, sure. You're going, I'm coming."

So I went barging in the house and I asked mom, I said, "Hey can I go to the gopher football game with these friends?"

She looked at me and said no.

I said, "Well they're going."

She says, "So?"

Well I didn't understand and I couldn't comprehend at that point in life that what was the deal? I mean how could someone who was supposedly a believer go to a gopher football game and others would have a different understanding?

It was the next spring that the heresy took place and I remember then the conversation mom and dad both came and this family that had come and had gone to the gopher football game they left in heresy.

And mom and dad came and we visited and they said, "Now you know why they went."

The fruits of their life were already starting to show that they were on a path that was not a path of a believer.

So at the very beginning when a heresy takes place it's often that the differences are quite small. But yet they're diverging paths meaning they're going in two different directions.

If we look today at previous heresies we can mark very clearly the differences in doctrine that are between them. But at the time it wasn't so easy to see.

And then perhaps the one thing that's fruit of these false prophets is that the activity of the false prophets always breaks the love of a congregation. They can also be known by this.

The Holy Spirit resides in a child of God. Calls, gathers, enlightens, sanctifies as Luther has taught. It doesn't divide. A false spirit or a wrong spirit it divides. It doesn't unite.

So these are some of those traits that a false prophet can be recognized by.

I was reading recently from this the book Unto This Day the Lord is Born and He is helped. And I come across and this is part of that book this article in the Finnish mission paper. I'm not going to try to say it. You can see it up there on the board. Just for a little bit insight.

Yoke would laugh at me if I tried to pronounce it. So we'll just leave it at that. If we ever want to have a fun joking time I just need to speak a little Finnish. Everything lightens up in a hurry.

But the title of it was Our Time of Visitation. Yusso Marekinen and his life was from 1878 to 1967. And this appeared in the January issue of 1923.

It appears that the false teachers of Galatia did not depict the written word as vain. But they twisted it into something other than the gospel Paul had preached by which God had led them into faith.

Thus it happened also during the last visitation era. The many different movements that have departed Christianity have each considered it necessary to improve the doctrine of the gospel. One improving it this way. Others that way.

From the hearers of the improved doctrine and changed gospel each one has assembled different flocks. Forgetting that the foundation rock is one and unchanging. It cannot be divided.

The sheepfold to which God has gathered the flock since the beginning of this visitation is indivisible and unchanging.

Those in false spirits boast of their love for Jesus as well as other good works. But brush aside his commandments.

Jesus describes a reliable identifying characteristic found in those that love him: He that loves me keeps my word.

I have traveled in many different communities and I have seen in the midst of God's children and have seen that God has a flock great in numbers.

Of those who have endeavored in the original doctrine and gospel of the apostolic congregation and this visitation through many a storm and tribulation.

These sheep of Christ do not have horns neither do they push the weak.

The weak lambs of Jesus have been fed in the sheepfold and have been gathered in the bosom of that shepherd who gave his life for the sheep.

Untold thousands of pardoned souls with me bless the memory of those who already rest after the work day they have finished and also the ones whose heads have grayed in the work of the Lord are as ripened grain to be gathered into the storehouse of the heavenly parent.

The apostle says in his time brethren mark them that cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them.

Jesus says when speaking about the signs of the last time, "Beware lest they deceive you," and since the deceiver does not come in his real appearance but in sheep's clothing and as an angel of light it is therefore said by their fruits ye shall know them.

Neither the slanders nor the abusers of God's children are heirs of the kingdom of God.

So now this parable of the fig tree came to mind and again this is a teaching or a parable of Jesus.

He says a certain man had a fig tree and planted it in his vineyard. And he came and sought fruit thereon and found none.

Then said he unto the dresser of the vineyard, "Behold these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?"

And he answered and said unto him, "Lord, let it alone this year also, I'll ask why shall dig about it and dung it, and if it bear fruit well; if it not, then after that thou shalt cut it down."

Jesus was speaking in particular to the Pharisees. Those Pharisees who had come not recognizing that they were also great sinners and those Pharisees were coming to him.

And he said quick to point out the failures and failings of others. But Jesus also needed to remind them and Jesus needs to remind us that it's easy for us to be impatient looking for the fruit of the fig tree or the vine tree.

But what was the instruction that he gave us? The instruction that he gave us was that there wasn't fruit growing on this fig tree and there was thought that they should just take it out of the ground and do away with it.

But the dresser of the vineyard was told that dig around it and let it alone this year until I shall dig about it and dung it and fertilize it and if it bear fruit well but then if not after that thou shalt cut it down.

There's also this kind of admonition in this parable that God does not call man endlessly. God gives a time of grace, a time of calling, but the Bible is also filled with those kinds of examples where there are those who have stopped their ears from hearing.

And God also does this for those who have rejected him. He also, as Paul writes, he gives him over to a reprobate mind.

So this God's call does not call man endlessly. Time of visitation is a special time in the life of man when God in his goodness draws one who has fallen away to repentance and into his kingdom.

But then also in this parable that if man rejects this time of visitation he will not be able to; his portion will be irreparable loss. Cut away and burnt.

It's very sobering to think. But by faith the child of God we can still, we can by faith trust and believe that we ourselves are still one of these good trees that we can plant in God's kingdom which bears fruit.

Now in Paul's farewell to the elders in Ephesus he had served there with those brothers and sisters for many years. And as he was saying his farewell he needed to warn the elders: "Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all of the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood.

For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock; also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them.

Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I cease not to warn everyone night and day with tears.

And now brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all of them which are sanctified."

You should read from that 20th chapter of Acts and read it and study it because you can feel in that the apostle's love for his brethren.

Then in conclusion, through the ages the congregation of God has been at battle against evil. However God has preserved his kingdom and protects it according to his promises until the end of the world when it will change from a battling congregation to a rejoicing congregation.

As a participant in this, a poor child of God who feels his own sinfulness can be among the victors.

This evening, brothers and sisters, you can uplift your hearts and believe and now at the beginning of this discussion their sins and doubts forgiven in Jesus' name and precious atoning blood.

I also, preparing this, have my own many doubts and temptations and ask that can I also hear the same gospel.

I'll turn it over to Steve.