Living a Fruitful Life in Christ

The instructions that Jesus gave his followers. If you've been in the Sunday School small groups, you know that we've had for the last several weeks a different discussion each week on what it means to be saved, or what salvation really is. The very simple instructions this doctrine has with regard to how we find life in all of its fullness and how we come to know Christ. The plan that God has is that we would live in perfect relationship with him. That we would be able to live every day in his presence. We'd be able to talk to him and listen to him. We'd be able to have the kind of relationships that we have with our closest friends. That's what happened when the Bible opens its first pages. Adam and Eve are in that garden with God, walking and talking with him. And then their rebellion against him stopped that. And that veil has been broken from us forever since that time. What God started from that moment was saying, how can I restore this relationship in the way that I want it to be? And his purpose and plan is that we would have that same relationship that Adam and Eve in their original state had. A fellowship close with God. A relationship close to him. It starts out by God beginning to say, I want you to understand that you have violated my instructions and my plans. Oftentimes that happens to us in different ways. Sometimes a ton of different problems come up and we look at our lives and say, this is a mess. What am I going to do about it? God please help me. In the middle of that broken life and the uncertainty of that life, we stop and say, something is wrong. I need help. And when that moment comes, we're looking to God for the answer that he has to give us. Sometimes it's just the emptiness of life. I go through the motions every day, every day, every day. And nothing seems to happen. Your dad, when he came forward to make a commitment to Christ, when he shook my hand, I'm tired of my life the way it's living. We prayed for your dad for many, many years. His mother was very faithful and shook my hand and he said, every time I reach out and I think I have something that's going to be worthwhile, it turns to dust in my hands. The frustration of life not working out like it ought to caused him to stop and say, I need something in my life that I don't have. That's God's way of saying, I'm ready to begin to work in your life. He promises us that if we trust our lives to him, he would give us some help with that. He says, I'll first of all give you my power. And then I'm going to give you the key to all your relationships so that you'll have good relationships with the people around you. And then I will give you self-control that you've never had yourself that allows us to live in a way that we have not lived before. That's God's promise to us. He asks us in these moments whenever we start this journey with him to begin to recognize in our pain and anguish not only remorse, but a great desire inside of our own hearts to say, I don't want to live the way I've lived in the past. So many times people have remorse, but they only want the relief from the burden that they have right then. But he says, I want you to say, God, please change me so that I will no longer be the kind of person that I was. Trust me, God says, and I will take care of you. So whenever we ask God to change our lives and we turn to him and say, I'm prepared to trust you and to give you my life and to take care of the responsibilities that you've given to me, then our life begins to change. What I want to focus on this morning is how does God change our lives? What way does God make a difference in who we are? And what kind of difference does God make? Chapter 15 of the book of John, first verse says, I am the true vine and my father is a gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit. While every branch that does bear fruit, he trims clean so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I've spoken to you. Remain in me and I will 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 had an uncle, an Uncle Claude, who lived on a farm in eastern Oklahoma. And as a kid growing up, we lived in town and I weren't around the farm anywhere. And we would go down to his farm and he raised tomatoes. He'd have, oh, maybe 10 acres of tomatoes that he would raise. And he shipped them all over the United States. So he wanted nice, big, firm tomatoes to be able to ship. And that was our job. When he'd go down there, we'd get to work in this field of tomatoes. It was just a wonderful change for me. For his kids, they hated it, but it was interesting. And the way he made his tomatoes, he'd drive a stake by each plant and he'd tie it up with string so that it went right up the pole. And I learned from him that every time there's a branch that strings out from the trunk of the tomato vine, it branches out. But right in the place where it connects to the main stalk, a little flower will come out. And the flowers that come out are going to produce tomatoes. If he leaves all those little sprouts out of there, he'll have lots of tomatoes, but they'll be little ones. So what they do is their job is to prune the tomato vines. And so you get out there, hands and knees, whatever it takes, and every branch that comes up where it sprouts out and you see a little nub there that's going to be able to make tomatoes, you'd snip it off and throw it on the ground. So you leave one cluster at the bottom, another cluster a little higher, another cluster a little higher, and a fourth one at the top. He wanted four pickings of tomatoes. And it was your job, all of us, get on our hands and knees and break those little suckers out, they called them, that came up out of the side. Jesus is using that kind of an example to talk about our relationship with him. He's talking about the fact that God is in the business of producing fruit. He uses not a tomato vine, but he uses a grape vine to describe what it is. God is the gardener going through the field, looking at his vines, seeing which ones are going to be productive. If he finds one that's not productive, he breaks it off and throws it in the fire, burns it up. There is no place in the kingdom of God for people who are not productive for God. That's harsh, and it's cruel, but it's true. God demands for those who have given themselves to him that their lives be productive, fruitful. So he says, those who are vines that are productive and fruitful, there is a secret to them. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. Remain in me, and I will 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. Your fruitfulness, then, is connected to your relationship with Christ. He is the vine that we are attached to, and our relationship with him is the key to what happens to us once we yield our lives to him. Now, he talks in language that sounds a little strange to us. Remain in me, as I remain in you. It sounds like two people somehow or other pressed together, but he's really talking about the relationship with us and him instead of physical connections. When you remain in Christ, it means, as I talked earlier, that you come to the place where you're ready to say, I want a change in my life. And what I want you to do is to change me, change the way I think, change the choices I make, change the values that I have. So where do we get those? We get those from God himself. So whenever you say to God, I give my life to you, you need to begin reading the Bible, and you begin listening to the Bible. And every time you read a passage of scripture that you say, I don't do that, I never have done that, you stop and say, but I've got to start doing it. I've never thought that way, and I don't know anybody that's thought that way. Well, it doesn't matter. You learn to think how the Bible tells you to think. So reading the scripture, and when you come across ideas or truths from God, you grasp hold of those. They are the words of God. And you remain in Christ when you have his words flowing into your life as the instructions by which you live. You say, when you start, I trust my life to you. Tell me how I should think, how I should live, how I should be married, how I should raise my children, how I should manage my money, how should I manage my time, how should I relate to the people around me who like me and those that hate me, how should I relate to them? I'm ready now to reorient my life based on the instructions that you give me. So that's how we remain in Christ, in terms of our faith, our trust in him. Whatever you tell me, I believe it's true, and I will act on it as if it were true. That's how we remain in him. Now, he remains in us. By this remaining in us, Jesus gives us instructions about how we're to be able to focus attention on him, how we're to be able to find the presence that he gives us. Two things that God promises us. One, that he's going to give us fruitfulness. He says, if you remain in me, you will be able to bear fruit. So our presence with remaining in him, that is listening to his instructions and listening to what he has to say to us, and then he, as he remains in us, empowers us to do those things. You see, when you turn your life over to Christ, you discover that you're never really able to live the way God wants you to live. You'll run over all the time circumstances where you say, I cannot think that way. I don't know how to do this. I can't live that way. But it's the presence and power of God inside of you that enables you to take that step of submission and obedience. So you remain in me by listening to what I tell you and putting that in practice, and I will remain in you by enabling you to be fruitful for me. And then he has this other word, to love. He promises in his living in us two things, that our lives will begin to be fruitful for the kingdom of God and that he will change the way we relate to the people around us. This word love that's used over and over again in this chapter is really a word that is powerful for us. It's a word that describes relationships that we have with people around us. The words in the Bible for love are different than ours. We use the word love for our friends, for our marriage relationships, for family, and for God. We use it for all of those. But the Bible has different words for different kinds of love. The word that's used here is a word that requires self-denial. That is, whenever you say I'm going to love someone in this way, you say I'm going to do something that I do not want to do. It's not natural to me. That's not normal to me. I am going to say no to myself and yes to whatever it is God wants me to do. So it's a word that requires self-denial. It requires sacrifice because it's a word of service. Jesus implemented this and illustrated it by washing the feet of his disciples. I will kneel and wash your feet, an act of humility and servanthood. So self-denial and service are key elements in love. The word love is described here is not for your benefit at all. It's entirely for the benefit of other people. And when you're asked to do this kind of love, it always is painful for you. It always is costly for you. So this is the quality that he places in our lives, self-denying, sacrificial service to other people. Jesus tells us what this is really like because in his own life, he's experienced this give and take with the Father. In chapter 5 of the book of John, Jesus is explaining to his disciples long before he came to this chapter 15 exactly what he was going to be asking them to do and what he's asking us to do. It is this relationship with his own Father that he's exemplifying in us. So in chapter 5, verse 19, Jesus is responding to people who are complaining about the way he deals with the Sabbath day and how this relationship with the Father is guiding his principles. In verse 19, Jesus gave them this answer. I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He can do only what he sees the Father doing. Because whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he does. Here Jesus explains for us what his faith is. Whatever the Father asks of me, I do it because I trust him. Whatever he tells me I should do, I do because I trust him. It is this relationship with God that provides us an example for what he expects for us. This complete total submission to him. In verse 30 of the same chapter 5, he said, by myself I can do nothing. Now this is Jesus speaking. The Son of God, born of a virgin, you would think that he would be able to live his life perfectly. But he says, without, by myself I can do nothing. All that you see in Jesus' life is the result of this same abiding relationship that he asked us to have with him. Where in faith he saw what the Father wanted him to do and he did it. And the Father living in him gave him the ability to be fruitful and to be loving. By myself I can do nothing. I judge only as I hear and my judgment is just. For I seek not to please myself but him who sent me. What Jesus asks us to do is to do exactly the same things that he was doing during his own time here on earth. Listening to the Father and living in obedience to him. Jesus in chapter 12 of the book of John addresses the very same issue. He's talking about his relationship with the Father and how critical it was for the life that he had. Chapter 12 beginning with verse 49, he said, for I did not speak in my own accord but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say. Because I trusted him. On the other side what he did was he gave me the words that he wanted me to speak. Have you ever heard people say I don't witness because I don't know what I'm going to say? Jesus said the same thing. I don't know how to do this. But the Father tells me what I need to say. I don't speak of my own accord. So if you're out trying to tell people about God on your own you're in trouble and you won't be able to do it. But the Father who sent me, if you know he sent you to do this, the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. See God provides for us. What he does is as we give ourselves to him in faith then he abides in us and gives us the wisdom to be able to do the things he tells us to do, the power to be able to do the things he tells us to do and provides those needs that allow us to do them. I know that his commands lead to eternal life. You have to believe that. You have to believe that what God has told you to do is the door to life in all of its fullness. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say. That's all God asks. You say well if I get ready to say something to someone if he gave me a card with it printed on there I'd say okay now I have it. Trust him. You know you're supposed to say something. You're supposed to share what God has done for you. You start out to do it. You get there. You may not have a script but God has a script. You just open your mouth and you start saying what God wants you to say. You have abided in God by doing what he tells you and he abides in you by giving you everything you need to be able to do it. This is the secret Jesus says to all that he has learned from the Father and all he's asking his disciples to do is continue in that relationship. In chapter 15 verse 5 he said I am the vine and you're the branches. Remember this. I am the connection you have to this life. So you need to be fastened to me as I have been fastened to the Father. If a man remains in me and I am him he will bear much fruit apart from me. You can do nothing. The abiding that we have is to say I trust you God with all my life and I'm reading the scriptures. I'm listening to the preaching and teaching so that I will be able to know what you want me to do. I am listening. I'm ready to obey so I abide in you. That's our abiding. That's what we do. If a man remains in me and I in him he will bear much fruit. He will give you fruitfulness not because of your work but because he is in you and empowering everything that you do giving you wisdom in everything that you attempt. He warns us as he said for himself if I were apart from the Father I could do nothing. Apart from me you can do nothing. If you've tried to do work for God and it was nothing then you may not have the abiding in him and him abiding in you. That's a secret although you want to remember that everything you do in obedience to God the answer and result doesn't come instantly but God uses it for the purpose by which he's intended. If anyone does not remain in me he's like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are picked up and thrown into the fire and burned. This is a harsh statement Jesus makes. So if you're not connected you're not abiding in him and he's not abiding in you you'll never make it to heaven. If you don't have trust in God that he alone has the guide for life and you're reading the scripture and listening to his teaching and preaching. If you're not listening to that then he doesn't abide in you and if he doesn't abide in you then there is no place in the kingdom of God for you because you're not his child. See this is a critical issue that God has for us. Verse 7 of chapter 15 the other side. If you remain in me and my words remain in you ask whatever you wish and it will be given you. In other words if you're trusting God and you're doing what he tells you to do you're thinking the way he tells you to think you're managing your life and your money and your time the way God tells you to do and you get into a tight spot all you have to say is God I've tried to follow you as best I know how and here I am in this terrible situation and he because he abides in you will provide whatever that need is. If you need wisdom he'll give you that. If you need courage he'll give you that. If you need whatever it is his provision is there for you. Ask whatever you need to do what I've told you to do and it will be given to you. Why is this happened to us? Because it shows the greatness of God. This is to my father's glory that you bear much fruit showing yourselves to be my disciples. Fruit demonstrates to everyone in the world that we are followers of Christ. Now the word fruit is not defined here very well. He certainly doesn't mean that your life are going to produce grapes. He's far more symbolic than that. We have some clue when we turn to Paul's writings in the Bible in Galatians where he's talking about what happens when the spirit takes control of your life. In chapter 5 of the book of Galatians Paul identifies the difference between the fruit of human nature which he indicates all the sins that result from it and the fruit of the spirit working in our life. In verse 22 he says but the fruit of the spirit is this word love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. He starts off with this word love that he uses in the book of John chapter 15 so much. This self-denying sacrificial service. Now Jesus said that he was connected to the father and the father was working in him. So we ought to be able to see all of these situations in Jesus life and put our finger on what they were. Jesus had in his crew of 12 guys. One guy who didn't like him who wasn't going to go all the way. He was stealing the money from the crowd. And Jesus learned that he was interested in seeing Jesus' ministry ruined that would result in Jesus' own death. So Judas was chosen by Jesus. He was elected to the only office that we know that the 12 had, the treasurer. But never in all the story of the scriptures do we find to the last moment of the last supper that Judas is any different than all the rest of them. Jesus treated him the same because whenever they got to the supper and Jesus announced that there was someone going to betray him, they didn't all turn around and say we know who it is. You've been pointing to him all this time. He's the bum. They didn't know. Every one of them said, is it me? Jesus treated Judas with love. Did he like Judas? I don't think he did. Was he Judas' best friend? I don't think he was. Did he approve of what Judas was doing? No, he didn't. But what he did was he loved Judas. He acted in Judas' best interest at every situation and every circumstance. Was it hard for Jesus to do that? Of course it was. It's really hard to work with people that you know are trying to ruin your work. Doing everything they can to undercut you. It's hard to keep being nice to them. It's hard to keep being kind to them. But Jesus never once showed any difference in his treatment of Judas than those who were completely on his side. You know he had to deny his feelings. You know he had to treat him in a way that would be not evident to anyone that he was different than the others. So that he had to deny his own feelings and his own actions to treat Judas that way. But it was the fruit of God abiding in Jesus. When Jesus was on the cross, he looked around at the people who were in the process of crucifying him and he didn't shout and curse. He didn't exclaim how terrible they were. You remember his words, they're so powerful to us. Father forgive them. They don't understand who I am. They don't understand what you're doing here. Forgive them. Do you think Jesus liked the soldiers who were spearing him in the side? Who had mocked him? Who had cursed him? Who drove the nails through his hands and his feet? No, he didn't like them. Do you think that he thought they were wonderful people? No, he didn't think that. He thought they were cruel and vicious people. But what happened to him on the cross was he was thinking about all these things. If it's the way we do, he was saying, God, these people are terrible people. Look at what they've done to me. Look at what they are doing to me. They deserve to be punished. What should I say and do to them? He was trusting the father to give him direction. And the father said to him, they're ignorant people. They're caught up in their own foolishness. And what they're doing is terrible and tragic. They don't even know the dimensions of this. What I want you to do is to see how pitiful they are. And I want you to understand the consequences of their behavior and what it's going to do to their life. He was talking with the father on the cross, I'm sure. And as a result of that conversation, the father helped him to see it in a different way. And the father said, you know, what I want you to do is to do what those people need most from you to do. So Jesus, with his hands nailed to the cross, his feet nailed to the cross, he could only pray. So he said, Father, they don't understand what they're doing. Don't hold this against them. That's love. Did he like them? No, he didn't like them. Did he approve of them? No, he didn't approve of them. So what he asked of the father was, what can I do that will help them? Did they appreciate it? They probably didn't appreciate it at all. They probably looked up at him and said, you're stupid. We know exactly what we're doing. We're crucifying you. Because you've been sentenced to death. They didn't appreciate it. They didn't value it. But boy, that scene has moved followers of Jesus to tears all of history. In that moment, what the father did was he gave Jesus the words to be able to show us what love means. The love that the Bible talks about is not the love that's reciprocal here. I love you and you love me back. It's easy. Nice. We enjoy that. But that's not what this kind of love is. There's another word for that in the Bible. It's the word of loving your neighbor, friend, like the word Philadelphia comes from. The city of brotherly love. This is a different word. And it has a different demand on us. What Jesus did was the fruit of the Spirit came clear in him. The love of God came because he looked for it. In the middle of his crucifixion, Jesus had joy. That's different than happiness. He was confident, you see in the Garden of Gethsemane, that all of this was going to work out right. He was anxious for a while, but after his prayer time of talking to the father, then he had a calm joy that everything was going to be exactly as it ought to be. Then he had peace. Peace is not simply the absence of conflict, but a clear confidence that God is going to provide the needs that he had. He had in his own life patience. He waited for Judas three years to change, and he never did. He found himself with kindness looking at these other people and treating them in a better way than they should be treated. He did what was good to his crucifiers instead of what was just or what he felt like. He was faithful to what God asked him to do, and he was gentle. He was in control of himself. So much of the things that happen to us in our lives are when we lose control of ourselves. I'm just describing all those qualities that were true in Jesus' life, and they're the very same things that Jesus says will come true for us. For when the Spirit is in our lives and controls us, we know that the power of his presence transforms who we are. So that if you remain in me and my words remain in you, that is, they control you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory that you bear much fruit showing yourself to be my disciples. And the fruit that you'll show most powerfully will be the fruit that comes when you're in a situation that is devastating to you. Because what people will say when they see you in that situation is, boy, if I were in your shoes, and usually what they say after that is something you shouldn't do and God wouldn't want you to do. All of us are going to find ourselves in situations sometime like that. But what God wants is for us to abide in him, to say, God, you tell me how I should react in this situation. And even though it hurts me, and even though I have to sacrifice, I will do what you tell me is the right thing. And when it's over, our lives will show the glory or the greatness of God. Because people will look at that like we look at the cross and say, how can a person do that? And this is your time to say, only by the power of God. So you give glory or greatness to God. Jesus said, as the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. The example that I have that you see in my life is the way the Father has treated me. And because I have that example, that's what I've done for you. Now, since you've seen this example in my life, remain in my love. You are to live exactly what I've done. If you obey my commands, you will remain in your love. That's why it's so important for you to know what the Bible teaches. Learn what he says, trust God with it, and then you will be able to remain in your relationships with people exactly as God ought to. One of the great tragedies that comes in churches is there's so many places in churches where people are mad at each other, they're upset with each other, they say nasty things to each other, they divide and they split congregations. It should never happen. In Ephesians, a book that we're studying on Sunday night, Paul gives us a picture of what God is trying to do. He said, God is at work bringing everything in the world into one unit under Christ so that there is one boss. If there is one boss and everybody is committed to do what the boss tells them, there is never any conflict. You can have a thousand people who are working together, but if the one boss says, here's what I want all one thousand of you to do, you wouldn't run into each other, you wouldn't be in conflict with each other, you wouldn't be upset with each other. Instead, everybody would begin to work together like a machine that is made to work together. What God is trying to do is through your life and the life of all the people in the church to help us to come together in such a way so that people who are very different, who have different expectations, different ideas, different goals, but then he says to us, here's what I want you to do. And if every one of us listens to what God tells us that he wants us to do, and then we say, what part of this is mine, and we do it, we will be as efficient as the human body. With one brain center sending messages to all parts of the body, we work in coordination so that we can do almost anything that needs to be done. If you find someone who has a brain that doesn't function correctly, and they pick up an ice cream cone and get ready to eat it, and when they pick it up, it goes right to their forehead, you know they have something terribly wrong with them. The brain is not connected to the arm and hand. And if you have the body of Christ, which is the church, and people are each other like this, you know that there is something tragically wrong with those people. It cannot be if there is one head and everyone in obedience to God. That's why we ask you to pray about things like building programs, and what we are going to give, and mission projects that we undertake. Because if we are abiding in Christ, everything we need will be provided for us. Because there is one head and one Lord and one God. All the cause of conflict in the world are because human beings are listening to their own ideas. What do I like? What do I enjoy? What do I think you ought to do? Do I like it? Does it fit me? Is it something that is comfortable? Those are all the wrong questions. When you are in the body of Christ, there is only one question. God, what do you want me to do? That's the only person I am responsible for. Jesus is describing for us the secret as to how this is. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. So remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in His love. What you see in my life is the result of the Father controlling me and directing me. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. If you are doing exactly what God wants you to do, you don't have to worry about anything, no matter how big the problems are that come up or how disastrous they are. You have joy because God has made you a promise. I will work this out. It's sort of like you saw the game was over, the football game was over. You turn on the replay and in the first quarter your team is down by 50 points. But you know the end of it. All you say is, this is going to be really exciting to see how they come back and win this. No matter how disastrous your circumstances in life, if you believe this, you shouldn't get overwhelmed and in despair. You should say, oh boy, I can't wait to see what God is going to do about this. It's going to work out right because I have trusted Him all the way. And your joy then becomes complete. Greater love has no one than this that He would lay down His life for His friends. You are my friends. Don't worry. You are my friends. I am going to take care of you. I am going to provide for you. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends. For everything that I learned from my Father, I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you to go and bear fruit. Fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command. Love each other. I think if you talk to people about churches, you'll find that many of them will point to a time and place in their life when the church they went to was at odds with each other, fighting and quarreling, sometimes even dividing, going to and splitting into two or three different churches. What God really intended was that a church, no matter how different it is, how many different opinions it might have, has trusted God so completely and totally that they are able to find a common direction and they are characterized by sacrificial, self-denying service to each other. When God is really in control of our lives, it doesn't mean that there are times when you won't want to kill other people. You will want that sometimes. It doesn't mean that you won't get irritated sometimes. You will get that way sometimes. It doesn't mean that you won't get upset sometimes. You will get that way sometimes. What he wants you to do is to stop and say, OK, God, what do you want me to do about it? Now, your human nature will tell you what you should do. And so you'll think, boy, I'm not going to take this anymore. And you'll lash out at whoever said something to you you don't want to hear or you don't think is right. And a wall is built between you and them. That's our human nature. What God wants us to do is what Jesus did on the cross. Talk to the Father. What should I do about this situation? What is the loving response I must get? Forget now loving as a feeling of kindness toward another person. What can I do that would benefit the person who's doing this bad thing to me? And you wait until God tells you what to do. And then you wait for the opportunity to be able to do it. Patience. And I will promise you this. God will bring the opportunity around to where you will be able to do something kind and wonderful for someone who's hurt you deeply. God will make that happen. I know a situation in church where a man in the church was at odds with a pastor. And there was hard feelings. The pastor, even the people in the church, this man was one of them, wanted to get him out of the way. But it didn't happen. The pastor prayed, God, show me what to do that I can prove to this person that I care about them. And the man finally left the church. He came to the pastor and said, You're the best friend I've ever had in my life. God has the power to change people. But he cannot do it unless we're willing to swallow our pride, swallow our own ideas and our arrogance, and think first, what does God want me to do that would be loving and good and kind and helpful to all the people around me. We have a choice in this world to live in conflict with people. Our choice is not whether or not we're going to. We are going to. Our choice is what we do about it. And what you do about the conflict around you is the difference between someone who abides in Christ and Christ abides in them and someone who is in control of their own lifestyle. What God wants is for us to be fruitful. He wants people around you, when you see you go through these terrible things, to say, I don't know how you do it. I'll tell you what I do. And then they tell you something that's just as fleshly as can be. And when they see you do something different and how it turns out so different, God is showing to them his greatness. And they will say, I don't know how you did that. And you can say, I trusted my life to God. I did what he told me. And he made things work. That's how God gets the glory. God is your witness. And when it happens, you lash out just like they do. Don't think they're going to come and say, teach me how to do that. They already know how to do that one. But it's the difference that God makes in you that is the witness that you have. Would you bow your heads, please, for a moment?