Transcription
We share this morning from the book of Luke chapter 13. So please open your bibles to Luke chapter 13, verse 6 to 9. And we're looking at this morning on two keys that enhance better results. Two keys that enhance better results. And this applies to every realm of life: the spiritual, ministry, marital relationship, career, business, finances, every realm of life. Two keys that would certainly enhance better results. Luke chapter 13, verse 6 to 9.
I'll be reading from the Living Bible. He says, "Then he used this illustration: A man planted a fig tree in his garden and came again and again to see if he could find any fruit on it, but he was always disappointed. Finally, he told his gardener to cut it down. 'I have waited three years and there hasn't been a single fig,' he said. 'Why bother with it any longer? It's taking up space we can use for something else.'"
"'Give it one more chance,' the gardener answered. 'Leave it another year, and I will give it special attention and plenty of fertilizer. If we get figs next year, fine. If not, I will cut it down.'"
At the beginning of the year, we all have goals. We have expectations. Specific goals that we want to achieve in the new year. I will see that the owner of this vineyard had expectations for that very year. Now, when the year comes to an end, there are certain expected results and outcomes that we will now want to get from that particular realm of our life, and in this instance, the vineyard.
So, two keys that enhance better results. And we find these two keys from verse 8, from verse 8 of Luke chapter 13. Contemporary English Version, verse 8: "The gardener answered, 'Master, leave it for another year. I would dig around it and put some manure on it to make it grow, to make it grow, to make it grow.'"
So, the two keys are there. And the first one is that you need to use something very effective. Something very effective that can enhance better results and productivity when you want to change bad results to better results, when you want to improve on your current results and hit a higher target. One of those keys you can apply from the inside, from the scripture, is to use something very effective that has been proven to enhance better results and productivity. And that is where fertilizer came in in this story.
Fertilizer symbolizes anything that has been proven to be very effective in achieving specific goals. So, whatever is that goal in that area of your life, there could be something that you have not yet used. There could be something you have not yet applied, but it has been proven to work and give results every time it is used. What is fertilizer, which the other version were called manure? It is a natural or synthetic substance that is applied, that is applied to the soil or the plants to improve growth and productivity.
So, in that area of your life where you want to see more productivity, there could be something that other people have been using to enhance growth, which you have not been using. There could be something people are using to enhance productivity, which you are not using. There is something people are using to have a better experience in their marriage, which you have not been using. That thing is what the fertilizer symbolizes from the inside of the story.
So, how do we sum that up? For better results this time around, you may need to add something that is, you know, that is very effective. That every time it is applied in a particular context or situation or for a particular purpose, it is guaranteed to always lead to an expected result. And that is why you see in every nation of the earth, farmers use fertilizers, farmers use manure, because everyone has tried it out and they found it to be effective.
So, you may need to find a very effective solution that every time it is applied in that particular realm of your life, whatever your goal is, whatever your challenge or need is, you need to find a very effective solution that you have not used so far. Has a proven record that every time people use it, it is guaranteed to give a particular kind of result. It could be a very effective product. It could be a performance booster. It could be a very effective step or action. It could also be a very effective method or approach. This could become a game-changer for you this time around.
And one thing you need to have in mind, you need to have in mind, if someone else, if someone else was to be brought into the picture, if the gardener was to be replaced and another gardener was to be brought in, one of the things that usually happens that leads to a different and better result is that the new person coming in is very likely to use something that the former person wasn't using. The new person coming in is likely to use something that he knows is very effective, which the other person wasn't using or wasn't using to an optimum capacity or magnitude. So, we need to have this in mind.
And then that leads us to the second major key from the same scripture. What did he say in Luke chapter 13, verse 8, Living Bible? He said, "Give it one more challenge." The gardener answered, "Leave it another year, and I will give it special attention." Special attention.
So, the second point here is that the second key is that you will need to give it optimum focus and close attention. Optimum focus and close attention. There is power in focus. And one of the most successful strategies that Satan has used against the church, against the progress of the church, the progress of God's plan and purpose, the progress of ministries, is broken focus. The seed and the arrows of destruction. And that destruction, sometimes, like in the context of ministry, can be something that God also wants to be done. However, the enemy knows that you are not personally called to do that particular thing. And so, it becomes a move out of the perfect will of God for that particular vessel of the Lord or disciple of Christ.
I don't want you to fall into the temptation of assuming that distractions have to do with things that are not important. Distractions involve things that are equally important. But when you look at the factors that really matter for a particular person, that thing is not supposed to be his own major priority at that time. At that time, experts define focus as the act of concentrating your interest or activity on something. The act of concentrating your interest on something, concentrating your activity on something, your energy on something.
Focus is the key to productivity. It is the key to productivity. One of the things we have observed is that whatever you are really, really focused on, you would, you will begin to attract ideas. If your brain, your mind, is absolutely focused on something, something will happen. In this, in the spiritual realm, ideas will begin to flow to the person whose mind and brain is constantly thinking about that particular thing.
So, when, for instance, you are working, you are in charge of something, and you are not, um, there is no new idea on how, maybe it's a department, and you are not generating any new idea, you are not even buying into new things that are innovations that are coming up among others that are heading such departments, it could be that you are not sincerely and genuinely focused on that thing. You know, sometimes we can appear to be committed, and we can actually give people an impression we are committed when we are not. But when your heart is deep inside something, there are things that will naturally follow.
Focus is a key to productivity. And one of those things you must do every year is that you must have a major priority that you are focused on at every point in time. Every day, you should have a focus for that day. Every week, there must be a major focus for that week. Every month, there must be a focus for that month. And every year, there must be a major priority for the year. This is one of the ways you can get the best results and achieve the most, most things in life in your journey here on earth.
Focus creates momentum. Focus generates momentum because you're always there, you're always on it, you're always talking about it, you're always thinking about it. You are putting in money, you are putting in time. It generates momentum. And it doesn't take too much time for other people around you to be indirectly or directly affected by what you are focused on. It creates momentum.
It has been repeatedly observed that whatever you give excellent preparation, whatever you give so much time and close attention to, excellent preparation, so much time, and then close attention, it has been observed that these are the same things that you will stand a better chance of achieving a high degree of success, a high degree of performance, and a high degree of impact.