Transcription
Amen. Me in this pulpit and thank God, uh, for, uh, that. Appreciate all of you, uh, taking time to come. Uh, we really do appreciate that. Luke chapter 13, we'll go there in the word of God, uh, this evening, and I believe that God is going to help us and, uh, move very, very powerfully.
So, uh, this sermon, I put it together just, uh, last month and we have our Bible conference in October every year and it was actually a fantastic conference, a record conference in many respects and it was great. But something happened during that conference that there was a theme that just so that you know and I know that, uh, pastor Alson's here and anybody who's operated a conference knows that a Bible conference is like a soap opera. There's all these different plot lines that develop on Monday. Uh, and I'm not even talking about all the dating that's going on. I'm talking about, you know, things and issues and problems and crisis and you're wondering, you have to watch the whole five nights and then by Friday night it all seems to work out. And but I picked up a theme in our conference this year and that theme were the words, "Next year."
I would bring in couples as I normally do. You know, we have a lot of couples out in the field and they come in and I've been praying for them. Been praying about cities and nations and opportunities and I would bring them in and say, "Hey, you know, you, we talked about you may be doing something else or you were once approached me about going over." And they were like, "Oh, yeah, yeah, but pastor, not this year. Next year, you know." And then at the same time, I also bring in some of our younger pastors. "Are you going to plant a church this year? It's probably you're, you're ready. It's time." And, "Oh yeah, I don't have anybody, but next year." And I kept hearing that from people about next year. And so it was a great conference, but I began to think about it. At the same time, I had people coming to me in my own church, good people, and they would come and say, "Pastor, uh, we're, we're available. We would like to get sent out." Um, and and that was great that they're available in October, but I need them to be available in April. And realizing that just simply showing up and telling me in October doesn't help me if you're not ready yet.
So this whole idea about next year and I thought, I'm not going to wait till a year to preach this. I preached it the Sunday a week after our conference and I want to preach this message to you and I've entitled, "What a Difference a Year Can Make." And so I want you to put up a picture of my friend Jim Tebo. And I want to, uh, use this illustration. Uh, some of you that might follow college football might know this story that, uh, Tim Tebow, as he was in their junior year there at the University of Florida. He had just won the Heisman Trophy, the year before they had won the national championship and they were the number one team in the nation there. The media was saying they might be one of the best college football teams ever. They were going to, Florida had never gone undefeated and here they've got Tim Tebow as their quarterback and they were playing a game at home. Um, they were a 22-point favorite, um, to to win. Everything went well and they just fell apart that day and they lost. They only lost by one point, but they, but they lost a game that they should have won. Somehow, they were distracted and at the end of the game, it's over and so they have the media and so Tim Tebow is asked to speak to the media and he comes and he speaks to them and you know, it's the usual thing and they give the same answers and you know, it's all pretty boilerplate and after it's over, the last question's done and Tebow's supposed to get up and walk off the platform. He doesn't do that. And what he does over the next couple of minutes is now part of Florida Gator lore. In fact, if you go to the University of Florida, this little speech has now been, uh, uh, uh, put as a plaque and it's called the speech when Tim Tebow, exhibiting real emotion, says these words. He says to the fans and everybody in Gator Nation, "I'm sorry, extremely sorry. We were hoping for an undefeated season. That was my goal. Something Florida's never done before. I promise you one thing, a lot of good will come out of this. You will never see any player in the entire country play as hard as I will play the rest of the season. And you will never see a team play harder than we will the rest of this season." And out of that, they rallied and they ended up winning the national championship.
You know, tonight, a year can make a major difference in our lives. And a lot of times when we say this to people, it's in the middle of humiliating defeat. And my prayer in this discipleship class, and I've really felt God put on my heart to preach this tonight, is that there's some men here that you look like Tebow right now. You've lost. You're defeated. In fact, some of you, God love you, have had a lot of, you're like the Raiders. You lose every season. Amen. I'm a Raider fan. I don't think so, bro. I don't, don't get me started on the Raiders here. Amen. But I want you to consider with me this imagery, this parable, Luke 13:6 that we're all familiar with. "What a difference a year can make." It says in verse six that he also spoke this parable. "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. And he said to the keeper of his vineyard, 'Look, for three years I've come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none. Cut it down. Why does it use up the ground?' But he answered and said to him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well, but if not, after that, you can cut it down.'"
Father, I ask you to help us tonight. Oh Lord God, give us understanding. Help us to locate ourselves in this story, but most of all to locate you in this story. And Father, even in where we have had years and even many years of failure and no victory, you're not done with us. Stir us at what could happen in a year in Jesus name. Amen.
Let's first of all talk about results tonight. So Jesus, as we know, uses parables to explain the kingdom. He takes kingdom concepts and he uses concepts that people understand so that they can get it. Um, and so, uh, if you were living 2,000 years ago, um, then the one way you would communicate truth was using the principles of agriculture. By and large, the people of Jesus' day were farmers and they were shepherds. And people who are farmers or shepherds simply care about one thing, and that is, would my crops grow and would my livestock reproduce? That's, that's all they care about. I'm not a, I'm not a farmer or a rancher, but I know that much. If you are a farmer, you just want things to grow. And if you're a rancher, you want, uh, your animals to reproduce and reproduce healthy livestock. And that's all. In other words, that's all they care about.
Our scripture says in verse six, "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard and he came seeking fruit on it and found none." I mean, Jesus gets down to brass tacks. Uh, he says, uh, that an owner of a farm or a farmer, all he cares about is this tree yielding fruit. That's all I care about. I don't care if it's, oh, how pretty are the leaves. I don't care about, you know, aroma. All I want to know is it bearing fruit. Are there results? Um, sometimes you and I can complicate matters and make things bigger than they are. Let me remind you, in this parable, the owner said, "I want to see results." What are the results? Because you and I can be involved in lots of activity that is not necessarily fruitful. We can keep ourselves busy as Christians doing things and running programs and being involved in things, uh, but at the end of the day, we look and where are the results? And the owner shows up and just says, "Hey, where are the results here? They got this tree here. Uh, I've taken a, a fig tree, put it inside my vineyard because the vineyard always had the best soil and I expect to see." What's the deal here? God is looking for results.
Now, in the Bible, you won't necessarily find the word "result," but the word that is often used is the word "fruit." And whenever you find the word "fruit," uh, in the New Testament, uh, he's speaking about results because in the mind of the farmer, that is what fruit is. And you will find the word "fruit" 76 times in the New Testament. Or in other words, this matters to God. He wants to show up and look at what belongs to him and say, "Where are the results?" This, oh, that's great. You had a good time. Everybody cried. Uh, uh, uh, uh, you know, uh, a good time was had by all, you know, what great, but what were the results? Amen. Great concert, man. Years ago, many years ago, decades ago, back in the '90s ago, a friend of mine went to, uh, uh, preach somewhere and he came back and he said to me, he goes, "Man, that was the best music scene I've ever seen in our fellowship." And he was describing the sound equipment, the stage, the quality of each of the bands. They sounded great, the drama. I mean, these people were into it. And he was bragging about it. And then he finished. And he wasn't even connecting the two statements. He said, "But you know what? They haven't had a visitor in a whole year. Where are the results?" Give me a couple of rappers, uh, running around with cardboard boxes and 50 sinners there to hear them. See, religious activity, we can be, well, you know, but you know, but it's good for, I get, I understand. I get all of that. But the, the, the farmer saw, "Where are the results?" Jesus said, "You can tell whether something's good or bad based on results." Matthew 7:17, "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit." Basic wisdom of life. What are the results? Well, he's a nice guy and everything else. Uh, you know, but okay, you know, and he's, he wants to date my daughter. Yeah, he's been in prison, but he's, No, no, no, no. What are the results? Matthew 12:33, "Either make the tree good or its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad. For a tree is known by its fruit." We live in the world of "don't judge." We live in the world, you know, that everybody has their truth and that, you know, you're not supposed to judge anybody. Jesus said, "You know them by their fruit." Look at the results and render a judgment. You should be able to look at results and render. You ought to do that. And you're unwise if you don't do that. Our job is to look at fruit. Amen.
You know what happens when you don't care about the results? You got born-again dope smokers. You got people coming to church and they're a Christian, but they still smoke a little bit of weed. Not that much anymore. Or they vape. >> They run around and they're vaping. Uh, or, you know what? "I love the Lord and I, and you know, all I do is I drink a little wine at night, you know, to go to bed." Uh, nobody I know that drinks wine drinks a little bit of wine. That's a total lie. And it won't be long before they're knocking down Jack Daniels. The reality is that we are living right now in present-day America where if somebody can write cool Christian songs, uh, that he can walk around dressed, uh, uh, like he's on his way to a club in San Francisco. And that's no problem because his songs are nice. Jesus said, "Fruit means results." >> And that the Christian life is, "Hey, where are the results?" You're born again. There ought to be some change in your life. >> Something ought to change. "Why are you still cussing, bro?" Shacking up. "Well, you know, they're, they're good people, you know, and they've been in, they've only been in church three years." Listen, fruit matters to the farmer. But just because they sing, lift their hands, wear a cross around their neck, I think you know what I'm talking about. John the Baptist cried out, Luke 3, Luke 3:8, "Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance." If you really repented, there should be some results of your repentance. What does your repentance look like? Is there anything that's changed about you? He says, "I want to see results of your repentance." You know, the people that say they repent, nothing ever changes. Something has to happen in their lives. There's a difference between falling and refusing. There's no imper, there's no perfect people here. There's no perfect man here. People fail. Christians sin. I want to tell you, I'm not talking about Christians failing. I'm talking about people you refuse to repent. >> There's no result. You don't want, you don't want the results that come with serving God.
Let's move along here. Matthew 7:15, "Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are there ravenous wolves." How many know tonight you can come to church and say, "Praise the Lord," and be a devil? >> Churches are filled with ravenous wolves. You know why Jesus calls them ravenous wolves? Paul the Apostle calls them savage wolves. He says because people like this have an innate appetite to eat sheep, >> to ruin people's lives, to mess them up. And Jesus said, "You better watch out because in the religious world, there are a lot of people like that." And say, "Well, what are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to tell?" Look at the results of their lives. You know, I don't know what has vexed me over the many, many years is to see people, uh, who are ripped off by a wolf in sheep's clothing. And it's like, "Why are you walking away from our church, our ministry? You know these people. You know these people are serious. They're genuine, and you're going to walk away from us to go follow some nut that's been married three times?" >> You're going to walk away from have no fruit, no testimony, nothing. Their lives are completely disordered. Uh, and somehow they burn your mind. And Jesus says, "The only way to save yourself from a false prophet is simply look at their lives." All false doctrine is impractical. While I'm at it, uh, you know, today the wolf in sheep's clothing doesn't walk in the building. He's on YouTube. >> There are men here, Amen. This evening. God love you. And I'm only saying this by simply laying the odds this evening that you are, you've listened to these YouTube preachers. Some of you are saying, "Hey, I've seen you don't." But I, what I'm saying to you is that you get, you know nothing about them. You know nothing about them. But they get there on YouTube and they give their little false doctrine spill about Israel and, you know, that's not really Israel. I mean, you know, the Bible does say we're neither Jew nor Greek, and it also says we're neither male nor female. I hope you know what you are, >> but you know, you, you know, "I saw this on YouTube. You know, the earth could be flat." You know, I mean, have you ever, and and you go on and on and it's amazing how many people walk around, they think they've got this little knowledge nobody else has, this little secret information, and you know nothing about that psycho that's on YouTube telling you this stuff. You know nothing about their lives. You don't know anything about their marriage or marriages. >> You know nothing. Jesus said, "You want to save yourself from a false prophet, just simply pay attention to their results." And before you go running off on some half-crazy false doctrine, you might do a little investigation and you find out that Pastor Jeffrey Dahmer really isn't that good a guy. He's looking for results.
Okay, let's move along here. I'm, I'm actually preaching this sermon in three football players. I want you to look with me secondly at the gardener because what I just said, I understand is very troubling. Because any honest man is going to look and say, "Whoa, what are the results of my life?" And Pastor Ruby, this makes me feel a little bit uncomfortable. And the voice of condemnation, the loudest one to say amen tonight is the devil. Amen. Amen. Did you hear that? "What are your results, bro? How come you still struggle with temptation? Or, man, how come your Bible study hasn't taken off? Or how come your church hasn't..." And and and next thing you know, we're sitting here and we're looking at ourselves like that fig tree and we're like, "Oh man." And you know, I don't have any fruit or I don't have the results that I wanted. >> There's not a man in here that doesn't want to be more fruitful. >> We understand in the Bible, in the New Testament, that the fruit that the Bible speaks of are twofold. One is the fruit of souls. "He that wins souls is wise." That God wants us to be fruitful in the kingdom of God and seeing people saved. The second one is the fruit of the spirit. That he wants you and I to be more, our character to, to be better men. >> That after all these years that we might be a little bit kinder than we used to be, a little more faithful, a little more patient, that these qualities, these virtues that represent Jesus Christ, that we might become better men. And yet all of us can sit here and think, "Man, I, I could do more for God," or "I, I could be a better man." But yet when we look at ourselves and we see that the devil's right there to pounce on us and say, "Bro, you're jacked up. You're not, you're messed up. Look at you." You know, they call this the imposter syndrome. Many, many years ago, I think it was still in the '90s, a friend of mine here in the Prescott Church smuggled me a tape of Pastor Mitchell. I used to do that. I confess contraband, you know, and, uh, and then I would get it and preach it. Confession time right now. But I remember he gave me a tape by Pastor Mitchell called "The Imposter Syndrome." And I preached. It was a great sermon and, uh, and, uh, but what was interesting is here we are in 2025 and that term reappeared and many of the young men in my church are 20, 22, 20 and they, that term is around now. And if you're not sure what the imposter syndrome is, it was just the idea that you could be experiencing success, but you somehow know that any success you have isn't attributable to you. And so you become convinced that people see you better than who you really are. And so you start feeling like a fake or phony. And next thing you know, you start believing that at some point you're going to be exposed. That you're not the man. Everybody thought you were. And that at some point, and it creates anxiety. And what really made this a big deal is there was a, a cafeteria change that began in San Antonio called Luby's. I don't know if y'all, anybody here's ever heard of Luby's, but I mean, this place became very popular. It began to, uh, be put in other cities in America. And I'll never forget, uh, uh, there, one day the CEO of Luby's on a Saturday night got in his car, his little mansion that he lived in there in San Antonio, drove to a little city airport hotel and shot himself in the head. The CEO of Luby's. And that term, the imposter syndrome, reappeared and they started talking about executives and successful people who kill themselves because in their mind, you know what, "I am not what everybody thinks I am." They couldn't process this issue of results. And I want to tell you that when we raise this issue, gentlemen, the devil likes to step in right here. I want you to listen to me. So, what do, how do we resolve this? How do we resolve if we're honest when we feel like, "I am not producing the fruit I would like to produce?" Well, one thing we shouldn't do is start saying fruit doesn't matter. That somehow what we're going to do now is we're going to say, "Well, because so many people will feel bad if we raise the issue, well, we'll just pretend like there's no winners and no losers." Can you say Little League soccer? >> We're a whole generation has been raised on participation trophies. >> And as long as we participated, as long as we did something, that's all that matters. Put up the second picture right here. That is James Harrison. You don't want to meet him in a dark alley. And he played, I don't think he plays anymore. He was with the Pittsburgh Steelers. James Harrison, uh, uh, very, very interesting story. Made the news a while back and that was that his two boys played, they're just little boys and they played in some sort of a little league. And at the end of the season, even though their team did not win many games, they were given a participation trophy and they brought it home to their dad. So their dad took their trophies away and wrote a letter to the Little League that went viral. Let me read it to you. He said, "While I'm very proud of my boys for everything they do and will encourage them till the day I die, these trophies will be given back until they earn a real trophy. I'm not sorry for believing that everything in life should be earned. And I'm not about to raise two boys to be men by making them believe that they are entitled to something just because they tried their best. Because sometimes your best is not enough. And that should drive you to want to do better. Not cry and whine until somebody gives you something to shut you up and keep you happy." Okay. All right. That's what he said. I didn't say it. I just read what he said right there. Thank you. You can put that down.
So, it's critical because at this point, we're introduced to another person in this story. We have the tree. We have the owner. And we have the voice of mercy. The Bible says that the vine dresser, we could use the word the gardener, steps into the picture. And he speaks some very, very powerful words to the owner. He said to him, "Sir, let it alone this year until I dig around it and I fertilize it." Jesus is communicating something powerful in this story. He is the gardener and he is stepping in on behalf of an unfruitful man. Some man who was frustrated because he is not seeing the results he wanted and he appears at this moment in their lives to help them. He stands on our behalf in the midst of our unfruitfulness. He shows up in the midst of our unfruitfulness. Now, we can pull the story back and look at all the prophetic implications about the nation of Israel, but we'll leave that aside tonight. All we know is that a tree that was not seeing results, Jesus didn't reject. He came alongside to help. >> He stands on our behalf in the midst of our unfruitfulness. Hebrews 7:25, "Therefore, he is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them." One of the most important Bible images that a man ought to have of Jesus Christ is that he is always at the right hand of the Father making intercession for you. >> That he is the gardener who stands with the owner and speaks on your behalf. That says, "Hey, you know what? Uh, it is not over for this guy. Listen to me, sir, this evening. It is not over for you. Here he is not running away from you. That this is part of his nature and his character is this principle of intercession. His willingness to stand alongside us, not at our best, but when we're not doing good. I have no doubt that this many men, some of you slipped in here this today. Some of you didn't want to come. In your mind, "Why should I go, man? I'm messed up. I'm not worthy of coming. Pastor Ruby, you don't understand the problems that I..." And listen, and yet here's this picture of this tree that's been totally exposed. And yet here he comes. "I'm going to stand right by this guy. I'm going to help this man." You know, the Old Testament is filled with so many powerful little prophetic snapshots of the Lord Jesus. The longer I serve God and the more I learn the Bible, the more I appreciate how many times that God allows us to see something about the ministry of Jesus in another story. The one I want to use for a moment tonight is this, the story of Moses in the palace. He's in the palace. He's comfortable, uh, and he's 40 years old. Um, and God begins to move on his heart. Um, and he begins to hear the old comments, I believe that came from his mother, uh, about his Hebrew identity and he is, becomes so real to him. The Bible says that he's so moved, uh, that he just, he just becomes angry at the, the life that he's living. Uh, and he says to, uh, uh, uh, Moses' daughter, "You're not my mother. I don't belong here. What am I doing living like a, a Hebrew, an Egyptian when I'm a Hebrew?" No, there's some, you, you might want to stop and say that to yourself. If you're so worldly, you live like an Egyptian. He says, "I don't, and I, and I reject you." And I can see him storm out of his house, jump into his, uh, chariot, and he begins to head towards the land of Goshen, the south central, the hood, the barrio, the, the place of poverty and oppression and everything else. And he goes down there and he's in this, this glorious chariot. And when he arrives there, he sees a Hebrew man being abused by an Egyptian master. You can imagine him with his, uh, whip hitting this Jew and he's on the ground, maybe kicking him and beating up on him. And here comes Moses and all of his splendor, a, a trained warrior, the prince of Egypt. And he pulls up, uh, and Moses sees this man being abused and something in him begins to identify with the plight of this man. And the Bible says that he goes down and he kills the Egyptian. I want to tell you that is a powerful prophetic picture of Jesus, but he didn't just leave, uh, the palace, uh, in Egypt. Beloved, he left the throne of glory, came down, uh, to this dark world, this world of slaves, uh, oppressed by demon powers, uh, and he showed up in his glorious chariot and he decided to step off, uh, out of eternity and step right down into a dark world and slay the enemy and deliver the man. Because he shows up, not beloved, when we're shouting the victory and victorious, but when we're on the ground getting beaten. >> You ever feel like you're on the ground getting beaten? >> Ever feel like you're laying there and the demons are whipping you? >> And he shows up right there? >> So, I'm going to stand with this guy. >> It's not over for him. This guy still has a future. Aren't you glad that God is patient with us? >> Well, you and I ought to find comfort in this parable. He's slow to anger. He's slow to anger. Remember when Moses and God have that moment and you know the moment when when they're up there and he's giving him the Ten Commandments and then he could hear, uh, in the background, uh, Tahana music playing. You know, there's a fiesta down there and, uh, and they have to run down there and the Bible says that, uh, when, when they went down there and they saw the partying and everything that was going on that, uh, God, you know, go, God, it's almost like he lost his temper. It's almost like God wanted to go and Moses has to get in front. He's holding God back and God swings and, "No, no, no, don't kill him." And God, you know, it, it's moved. And after this great story, this intercession, and Moses intercedes for the people, and the God is moved by Moses's intercession, and "I'm not going to kill him." And at that moment, there's such a bond between Moses and God that Moses says, "Can I see your glory?" I mean, it's a heavy thought, man. Little side note, it was in his act of intercession that he moved God more than any other time in his life. "Can I see your glory?" And God says, "You know what? I'm going to let you see a little bit." And the Bible says he took Moses, put him in the side of a rock, and he went by. In the beginning, the Bible says that the Lord passed before him, Exodus 34:6, and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abounding in goodness and truth." Now, I know some of you Bible scholars say, "Yeah, keep going." I'm not going to keep going. That's a second of the sermon. But I'm saying to you that when God wanted to reveal himself, long-suffering, the very attribute that he had just displayed when he could have judged a nation, he says, "This is who I am. When I reveal myself to men, they need to know that God is long-suffering." This is what he chose to reveal. Remember the story? It's an old story. You'll know because of the numbers that I use that a junior executive went to work at a particular company. And one day, uh, a matter came up and he couldn't reach anybody in higher positions and he had to make a judgment call and so he made the call. It turned out to be the wrong call and the company lost $10,000. He felt horrible. He knew he had blown it. Um, and then he got a notice that tomorrow morning you need to report to the CEO's office. He didn't sleep all night. Got up the next morning, thought about what he was going to say. When he went into the CEO's office, before the CEO could say anything, he said, "I, sir, I am prepared to offer my resignation. I take full responsibility for the decision that I made. I realize it was the wrong one. I realize I've cost the company $10,000. And I fully expect you to fire me." And the CEO looked at him and said, "Fire you? We just spent $10,000 on your education." I want to tell you something. God's not done with you this evening. You know, he did say to Peter, "After you get this right, you're going to be able to strengthen men." Jesus saw the failure and he even saw beyond the failure and said, "If you handle this right, you're actually going to be a better man. There's going to be good fruit that's going to come out of this."
Let me close and talk about a difference a year can make. "Let it alone this year." He says, he says, "Listen, don't matter where this bro is right now. Everything can change." I chose to preach the sermon one week after our Bible conference because I don't need men to come to me in the middle of conference who have not prepared themselves all year and then because it's conference. What I need are people that will say, "In October 2025, God, I need you to work in my life right now so that a year from now I'll be ready." God told Abraham, "Next year you'll have a son." This is 24 years they've been waiting. And he comes and he says to him, "Next year you're going to have a son." Sarah's in the tent laughing. "Next year you're going to have a son." After 24 years, after the scandal and everything else, he says, "You know, next year everything can change." Elisha went to stay at the house of a Shunammite woman and her husband. And as he went into his little room and, uh, sat there and they prepared this little room, had a bed, it had a desk, had a light. I used to say it had a Raiders banner, but I, I stopped saying that 40 years ago. Uh, it, but he's there, but he's grateful. I can almost see Elisha lying there, you know, and he's like, you know, and then he's talking to Gehazi and, "What can we do for this woman? Is there something we can do for this woman? Does she need anybody killed? How, how can we help her?" And he says, "She's, she's barren. She doesn't got any children." Call her over here. And he says to her, "By this time next year, you'll have a son." And she didn't take that. Well, I get that. What I'm saying to you is a year can make all the difference in the world. In our story, let's get it. Give it a year. What could happen in a year to an unfruitful man? Ask God to make you fruitful. Ask God to make you fruitful. Make that part of your regular morning prayer. "Oh God, I, God, I want to bear fruit. I want my life to bear fruit." There are guys and right now you're in high school, you're in college, and you're in school. You're around young people all the time. God, make me fruitful here. Fruitfulness is not politics. Fruitfulness is preaching the gospel. Preach. Do something for God. God, I want to bear fruit. I want my life to make an impact. God, I need to change my character. Ask God to make you fruitful. I love this quote. It says, "The battle at noon is won before the sun comes up." In other words, if we want to be changed next year, it's what we do right now. If you're going to win the battle, it's going to happen before the sun comes up.
He said, "Of course, I dig around it and fertilize it." Simple truth here. Let me just touch on it very quickly. To dig around. Now, again, I'm no green thumb, but why would you dig around? They say if you dig around the tree, a tree, you do that to expose the roots because the, if it's not being fruitful, something's wrong in the roots. And so you're supposed to expose the roots and find out, is there disease? Are there critters? Is there some sort of a, a problem that is, uh, underneath the surface that you have to take care of? And so if, if you're going to be fruitful, it's not just someone laying hands on you, bro. Let me ask you a question here. Ask yourself, "What's hindering me? Why am I not seeing the results?" Can I be honest enough and ask myself the hard questions? >> "Am I bitter? Am I a bitter person? I got a funky spirit. Am I out of sorts with my pastor? What is wrong? What am I willing to examine in my own life so that I can be the man that God wants me to be?" Be honest. What is hindering me? And then the second thing is, what do I need to become better? He said, "I'm going to bring fertilizer." He says, "I'm going to not only am I going to to dig around it, but then I'm going to bring in fertilizer." So it's not just what's hindering you, and that is, what do you need to become better? Fertilizer brings nutrients that make trees grow. What do you need to add to your life? What? Ask yourself this question. And if you're sincere about being fruitful, what can I add? What is it that I'm not doing that I can do? What is it that I'm doing that I need to stop doing? And then what did I need to do that I'm not doing? There are so many men here, God love you, that could go to prayer meeting in the morning that don't go. I don't know you. I'm only saying that because it's true that you can add to your life that you can say, "You know what? There, there are disciplines that I can begin to embrace that if I did this, it would could change outcomes." Not just what you need to stop, but what do you need to start?
Two illustrations. He's the first one here in Arizona. You all know, put up the third football player here in our picture. So there you know him. That's Kurt Warner. And so Kurt Warner's story is a great story. For the record, I was pulling for the Cardinals to win and beat the Steelers in that Super Bowl, but it's Phoenix, man. What can you say? You know, but Kurt Warner's story is great. Played in a small college. He wasn't drafted. Green Bay Packers, uh, invited him to camp and it didn't work out. He went to work making $5.50 an hour bagging groceries. Wanted to do something, wanted to play, was very determined. Got involved in the Arena Football League and made a little name for himself. St. Louis Cardinal, or St. Louis Rams at the time, heard about him. They had brought in an assistant coach that knew Kurt Warner when he played in the Arena Football League. And so he would brag that this guy had a great arm. And so, uh, Dick Vermeil, the new coach, uh, of the, the Rams, invited him to come. They brought him on to the team. And here was his plan. Said, "Uh, Kurt, your job is to be quarterback of the practice squad." I don't know if you know what the quarterback of a practice squad is. This is the, the week before they're going to play a team. They, they have to practice on what that team is playing, the plays they're going to run. So, they have a practice squad. And so, he played against the starting defense. And they're, they just beat him up all week long. They sacked him. And his job was to do that. He didn't play in the games. He had no expectation to play. He was just simply there to help the team out in practice. And they had to, they were moving into the, the new season. The second stringer got traded at the last second, so they said, "Well, we'll just put Warner there temporarily." And right before the season, their starting quarterback blew out his knee. And Curt Warner, all of a sudden, becomes the starting quarterback of a team that only won three games the year before. And he broke an NFL record in the first seven games. Score, threw more touchdown passes ever for seven, for the first seven games of a season. We know the Cardinal, the Rams went on to win the, the Super Bowl. He was the MVP of the league. He was the MVP of the Super Bowl. He's considered the greatest undrafted player in NFL history. One year before, nothing. I mean, we dream about that stuff. I used to dream about one day, you know, anyway, you know, boys dream about, you know, what I, I may be five, six, 150 pounds, but you know, you know, somehow someway, the reality is that this guy who was nowhere in one year went from complete unfruitfulness to Super Bowl MVP, NFL MVP, and the greatest undrafted player ever. You have no idea what a year can make.
I finish with this story. So, in our Bible conference, I had, we had a need in a particular, one of our, uh, international churches, uh, where the missionary was going to have to return and I needed to get someone to go. Wasn't ready for be nationalized. And, uh, there was a brother in our church. This man went, was one of our early pastors. We started planting churches in the early '90s. This guy would have been planted in the first five years of our church planting. Pioneered a church that's thriving today. Came back to San Antonio, but by the year 2000 was out of the ministry in our church for the next 25 years. Wife was just a tremendous blessing. But this guy was up and down, honestly, 25 years. Or about a year ago, something happened to him. God touched him and he would come to me and, you know, we had a good relationship and, and he would tell me about it, just little things that God spoke to him about in his own life choices that he had to make, things he had to, and, and he just would say, "Pastor, you know what? God showed me this about myself." This, so I'm, I'm curious. So, you know, I'm good. That's good, brother. Praise God. You know, and he would come and he was there. He was in every prayer meeting in the morning and he'd always, "Pastor, what can I do? How can I?" And, and, and I'm watching this transformation take place in this guy. And, and here we are on the Thursday of my Bible conference. I have to make an announcement that night about this nation and I, I still don't know what to do. And I mean, God spoke to me. It's him. This is what we would call an old-timer, 69 years old. God spoke to me. I'm up on the platform and I go down, you know what I mean? And, you know, I really like it when men say, "God spoke to me." And so I'm here and, and I, and so I saw him. There he is. He's praying. And I went up behind him. I know him well. And I grabbed his shoulders and I said, "What is God saying to you?" And he looked up at me. His eye, he has big eyes. He just rolled back and looked at me. "Oh, pastor, I need to talk to you." Bring him in my office. I said, "What's God telling you?" And he goes, "Pastor, God is telling me to go to BISE, but we already have a, a missionary. He doesn't know what I know." And I said, "No, we don't." And, uh, when we announced them that night, I want to tell you, it shocked our church. It shocked our little fellowship down there in South Texas. I mean, to tell you, it was an earthquake because we have so many good people in our church that have been there for so many years who started believing the days of fruitfulness are over. They love God. They're faithful. But the idea that my life could do, and, and God just powerfully moved. I want to tell you that, uh, and, and, and I, it got began to show me that, you know what, over a year before, the gardener was working on that brother somewhere. A little over a year before, Jesus came and stood alongside this man and said, "Let's give it a, let's see what could happen." I want to tell you that I'm saying this, may God quicken this to your spirit because some of you, you'd be shocked what God can do in one year. >> Abraham, Sarah's going to, next, by next year this time she's going to have a son after 24 years of nothing.
Let's bow our heads. Maybe you're in this building today. You're not right with God. You need forgiveness. The fruit of your life is not good right now. And one day, church, we will all stand before the great fruit inspector. And the Bible says we will be judged based on the fruit of our lives. You're going to say, "Pastor Ruby, that I'm in big trouble." I'm here to tell you that Jesus Christ died for sinners and that his blood has a power to forgive today. It has a power to cleanse deeply on the inside of your soul. If you're sick and tired of your life, your sin, you don't want to live this way anymore. You want forgiveness. You want power from God to change. And you say, "Pastor, I'm ready to repent. I want to give my heart to Christ." If that's you, I want you to put up your hand before I move on. I want to give you an opportunity. God bless you. Thank you. Who else? Pastor, I'm not right. I need God this evening to touch me and help me. Lift up your hand. He wants to help. Thank God. Every, anybody else. Amen. Lift up your hand. I want every one of you that lifted your hand. Just get out of your seat and just come find a pl, uh, pray right now at the altar. Just come find a place to pray at the altar. And there'll be someone to pray with you just right here at the altar. Just, just come and find a place to pray. I want God to help me. I want forgiveness and cleansing.
I want to speak to men here tonight. You know, the, the owner of the vineyard is going to require results. That's, we're never going to escape that. This is not a participation exercise. But the beauty of this story is our Savior who says, "I will stand next to the unfruitful man. Work on this man. Go to work on him and I can make an unfruitful man fruitful. I can make an unfruitful ministry fruitful. I can take a man with bad character and give him godly character." But our job, church, is to say, "God, that is what I want." Not to throw up my hands and quit in condemnation. Not to just tell myself that it doesn't really matter. Results don't really matter in the kingdom. No, no, no. It is to allow our intercessor to come alongside and go to work in our lives. Let's stand together. I'm going to open these altars. Maybe God's dealing with you today. You might be a frustrated pastor tonight, a frustrated Bible study leader, a frustrated music group leader. "God, I want to see some fruit. Lord, I want to see impact. I want to see results flow out of my life. God, I want to be a better man. >> I want to be a better Christian. I want more like you. I don't like the way I am sometimes. Don't like the way I treat my wife. I don't like the way I treat my children." God wants to help us. Let's sing. Let's worship God tonight. Oh, >> and renew a right spirit. for God and renew my spirit within me. thy presence, oh Lord, and take not thy holy spirit from me. to me the joy of thy sales. >> Oh God, shine my daily and my said new words within. Oh >> Amen. Let's stand and sing that tonight. "Cast me not away and cast me not away from thy presence, oh Lord. And take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto thee the joy of thy salvation. And renew a right spirit within." >> Well, let's give him praise. Father, we thank you for your great mercy, your long-suffering. Oh God, your kindness and your grace, oh Lord, oh God, be glorified. Be glorified in our midst. Pour out your spirit. Oh God. God, you are able to make us fruitful. More are the children of the desolate than the married wife. Oh God. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. Amen. I want to challenge you and stir you this evening to say, "God, I am beginning to pray about next year." Beginning to pray about that. I know many of you probably already do that. God, I, I understand this, that there's a, you can help me and I'm inviting you to come alongside me and to change me. God, I desire fruitfulness. I want to tell you something. It doesn't take a long time, brother. Doesn't take a long time. I know we sometimes think somehow, you know, where I am now and where I want to be, it seems like for, it doesn't take a long time. God visits a man and transforms him. Transforms him. And that transformation isn't just the first three years you're saved. It can happen years now. Amen. Let's give God praise. Our pastor is going to come. God bless you.