Living as Citizens of God's Kingdom

1) "Our vision, our why, we say it this way. We exist to get people to a place where they will acknowledge, trust, and lean on God daily. Acknowledge, trust, and lean on God daily. We need God every single day. Every single day. Throughout the day. In all that we go. In all that we go to do. And simply acknowledge him. Sometimes we get caught up and I don't know what to say or how to pray. I remind you as a parent, for those of you that are parents or if you've dealt with little kids, you know, as a parent, there's heartwarming feeling when your baby, even if they can't say much, they just make a little sound. You get all over it. That's how God feels when we call on him. You don't have to know what to say. You just say, God, I need you. I need you. And he's there. So call on him. Acknowledge him. Trust him. Lean on him. Every. Single. Day." [50:20] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2) "And the sermon on the Mount, Jesus is describing to us, more than just a teaching, he's describing the characteristics that we should have as citizens of the kingdom of heaven. There's behaviors and actions that are different or should be different in us because we've made Jesus the Lord of our lives. And those blueprints, we find them in his word. It's one of the reasons that we encourage you read the Word of God every single day. Because the instructions on how to live your life and how to lead your life, we find those blueprints right here in this Word. But can I tell you something? It's not enough to have it, and it's not enough to read it. We've got to follow what He says to do." [51:21] (45 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3) "We've got to apply the Word of God in our lives. And as you read it, the Word of God, it's like a mirror that reflects to you things that need to change. And as you read it, you hear God's voice talk to you. Not an audible voice, but his Word speaks to us. And sometimes we'll say things like, well, I haven't heard God lately, and I would ask this question, have you gotten into the Word lately? Have you opened Scripture, or are we simply relying on what somebody behind a pulpit is telling us, or what the Instagram pastor says in those 58-second clips? We've got to read what the Word of God says, and we have to apply what the Word of God says." [53:01] (42 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4) "We got to check the fruit. We got to check their integrity. We got to check their lifestyle. We've got to check the way that they use their influence. We've got to check the character. Notice I'm saying we've got to examine. We've got to check. It's not about judgment. Because we talked a few weeks ago, Jesus, right before this, he talks about not judging. Judge not that you not be judged. We're not talking about judging. We're talking about examining the fruit to know if the person that is speaking has the right to be speaking and if it's speaking what God says to speak. It's another one of the reasons that we as believers need to read the word of God because if someone is preaching something and is not rooted in the word of God, it's not something we're supposed to listen to." [57:19] (47 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5) "But we need to turn it and also remember this, that as Christians, our fruit is being examined by others. It's not just that the fruit of the person behind the pulpit needs to be looked at and examined. But we need to remember that our fruit is examined as well. In our workplace, when we tell people about Jesus, but we don't live what we say, what we don't practice what we preach. Because every single one of us is called to produce fruit, and that fruit needs to be examined. When I go to the grocery store, and I go to the produce section, and I get the little baggie, and I go to the tomatoes, I don't just open the bag and toss tomatoes in there willy-nilly. I grab the tomato, and I look at it. And if it's got mold, I put it to the side. And I grab another one." [01:00:59] (62 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6) "The expectation should be. That when I examine the life of a believer, I find fruit that's aligned to the life of a believer. Are we perfect? Heck no. Look, look, I'm the first one to tell you I am not perfect. Your eyes should not be on me nor on any person that stands behind a pulpit. Your eyes should always be on Jesus. But what is the reality? Our fruit is to be examined. Our lives are to be examined. And we fall into temptation. Or are faced with temptation sometimes to say the things that people want to hear." [01:02:42] (39 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7) "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Do you notice that it says the fruit of the Spirit and not the fruits of the Spirit? If you go back to Matthew chapter number 7, I think it's verse 16. Go back to Matthew there. In verse 16. You will know them by their fruits. What happens? The fruits of the flesh are many. The fruit of the Spirit is one. This is a very big distinction. When you read there in Galatians chapter 5, the previous verses from 22, it says walk in the Spirit. In verse 16, walk in the Spirit and you will not satisfy the lusts or the desires of the flesh." [01:07:37] (50 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8) "The fruit will be produced in us as it says in the book of John, when we are grafted into that vine and I abide in the vine, then I'm able to have the fruit produced in me. We've got to abide. Abide in Christ. Grow in Christ. So yes, we are to examine the fruit of anybody that's preaching the word of God. But we also got to look and say, what type of fruit is being produced in my life? All of us. Constant check. I'm reminded of the passage of scripture that Jesus says there was a guy that owned a vineyard and the guy came over and said to the worker, and said, I'm going to cut down this tree. He hasn't produced anything in years. And the laborer, he said, no, no, don't cut it down yet. I'm going to dig around it. I'm going to fertilize it. I'm going to add into it. Come back next year." [01:10:31] (64 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9) "And let us examine ourselves and remember others are examining us and that we are known by our fruit. So what's the challenge? Spend time with God because as you spend more time with God and get to know Him, you'll really easily be able to identify if whoever is speaking to you is connected to God or not. Watch, watch. Do any of you any of you gotten to know your boss? Maybe you're a teacher so you know your principal well and you know what answer they would give if they weren't in the building. You know the answer that would be given if your boss is out of town on vacation. You know that they would say yes or they would say no. If we learn the humanity side in the very same way as we get to know our Father in heaven, we'll be able to identify and say, oh no, that was just something that even wanted my ears to be tickled." [01:23:12] (88 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)