Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Does Your Life Produce Fruit? | Christmas | Isaiah 11:1-2

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. I'm Tanya Wilman. And I'm Patrick Miller. Right now, we are in our Christmas series. We're exploring the stories around Jesus's birth and the prophecies pointing forward to it. Are you a fan of personality tests? Okay, I kind of am.

Starting point is 00:00:27 I'm an I-N-T-J on the Myers-Briggs. I am a three-wing four on the Enneagram. I'm a D on the disc assessor. and don't even get me going on strengths finders. But as important as personality may be, it's not the most important thing to God. And his first command to Adam and Eve, he didn't tell them what anagram number they were. He didn't tell them which Myers-Briggs typology they fit into. Instead, he told them one thing.

Starting point is 00:00:54 He told them to be fruitful and multiply. Now, obviously, that's a command about having children and filling the world. And it's a command that's hard for us to hear today because maybe you're single and you're not sure if kids are in your future. Or maybe you'd love to have children, but you and your spouse are going through heartbreaking years of battling infertility. And you aren't sure if kids are in your future. But thankfully, this fundamental command, be fruitful and multiply. It's not only about having children. It's more deep than that.

Starting point is 00:01:28 It's about living a fruitful life. This is why Jesus and Paul, two men who never had any children, took this command and explained it and applied it, not just to having kids, but to our character. Paul says this in Galatians, that God wants you to have these fruit in your life, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. So I wish Christians would spend as much time, or maybe even more time, talking about fruitfulness rather than person. personality because fruitfulness having life full of all of those character traits I just described that's what God really cares about so let me just ask you a question what are the fruit of your life put your name in front of that list I just read a second ago and ask whether it describes you I'll do myself first Patrick has love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness

Starting point is 00:02:29 gentleness, self-control. I mean, I'm going to be honest with you. I feel icky even reading that sentence out loud, because my life could use a little more of all of those things. I could definitely use more patience, more gentleness, more goodness. And maybe you feel the same way. If you put your name in front of that list, maybe if you describe you okay, but there's a lot that you know, hey, I don't measure up all the way. So how do we grow these fruit in our life? How do we obey God's command, not to have a certain personality type, but to be fruitful and to multiply those fruit in our lives. How do we do that? Well, the answer is that we go to the ultimate fruit bear, Jesus. When Isaiah prophesied Jesus' incarnation, his birth, this is what he said about Jesus. Isaiah 111,

Starting point is 00:03:20 a shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse. From his roots, a branch will bear fruit. A quick aside here, Jesse, he He was the father of David. And so Isaiah is saying that there's going to be a future king who's coming from David's lion. And he's going to bear fruit in his life because he's not a dead stump. He's a fresh sprout. He's full of fruit. He's full of greenness and life.

Starting point is 00:03:44 So let's look at the specific fruit that this chute of Jesse is going to bear. Isaiah continues in verse two, the spirit of Yahweh will rest on him. The spirit of wisdom and of understanding. The spirit of counsel and of might. spirit of knowledge and fear of Yahweh. Did you catch all that? Jesus is filled with the spirit of Yahweh, which means that he has all wisdom and understanding. He's an amazing guide because he has Yahweh's counsel and he has Yahweh's might. And he exemplifies the practice of putting Yahweh first in life because he has a spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahweh. In other words, Jesus is the one who

Starting point is 00:04:28 knows how you can grow spiritual fruits in your life. But we shouldn't miss the most important part. Jesus's spiritual wisdom and guidance. They grow from a stump. Did you catch that? What's he growing out of? A stump. Now, you've got to stop and think about that because a stump is a dead tree. I mean, it's at least it's what's left of a dead tree. And dead trees, they don't produce new fruit, do they? I've never seen fruit come out of a stump before. And yet, this is exactly what Jesus did. He brought new life out of death. When I look at my own life, I am so often tempted to throw in the towel because I see how much deadness and dullness exist inside of my heart.

Starting point is 00:05:11 I see all the ways that I'm cold towards God, all the ways that my growth is stunted, all the ways that I'm desperately in need of life. When I look at my life, it's easy to look at it and just see a stump, something that is dead, something that doesn't have life. And so that's why Jesus is the answer, because he's the one who brings life out of death. Because he gives us, you and me, the spirit of Yahweh, and that spirit, it has resurrecting power, and he can bring life out of death. With that spiritual power in your life, death always loses.

Starting point is 00:05:46 Life always wins out. And so I want to challenge you today to slow down and to ask the spirit of Yahweh to bring life. please, Yahweh, bring life. Bring you life to all of those places where the fruit is most dead, where the tree is most rotted. Where do you need life right now? Which of those fruit of the spirit are you most lacking in? Where do you look and you say, yep, that's a stump?

Starting point is 00:06:12 I need someone who has resurrecting power to bring that life. Is it in love? Is it joy? Is it peace? Patience? Kindness, goodness. faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, you know where you need

Starting point is 00:06:29 fresh life. Ask the spirit to grow a shoot from that dead stump and then turn your eyes towards Jesus because he is the one who has the wisdom, the understanding, the counsel, the might, the knowledge, the fear of Yahweh, and ask him to guide you in that area of your life. That's how he's going to bring life out of that area. According to his wisdom,

Starting point is 00:06:51 where do you actually need to start applying patience in your life? right now. Maybe it's with your kids. I mean, I know I could use more patience with my children. Or maybe it's with a roommate who's always leaving the dishes dirty. Or maybe it's a friend at school who's being annoying and frustrating. Where does his wisdom need to guide you into patience? According to his wisdom, according to his understanding, how do you need to show self-control right now? Maybe you're giving free reign to greed in your life or materialism. You're just buying whatever you want in this crazy bid to try and make yourself feel happier. Do you need to be? to show restraint, ask him to bring life where you are most dead. According to his counsel,

Starting point is 00:07:31 according to his wisdom, where do you need to seek peace right now? Maybe you're allowing work or school to overwhelm you with anxiety. Or maybe it's a relationship that you've allowed to steal your thoughts away and to steal your peace. Let him create life where there is death. But above all, remember, you can only do this according to his might. You can't bring life. You can't bring life. out of death. You can try as hard as you want to, but you cannot make a stump have life. You have to do this according to his might, his grace, because he is the only one who can do it. And so lean on that grace, take strength from his spiritual power. Where is God calling you to multiply fruit today? Ask Jesus to strengthen you and to guide you so that you can walk in obedience.

Starting point is 00:08:20 Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe. and give us a rating. That helps other people find this podcast more easily. Also, ask yourself, who could you share this podcast with? Texting an episode to a friend or a family member is a great way to help them grow spiritually. If you want to go deeper, check out our show notes for book recommendations.

Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Does Your Life Produce Fruit? | Christmas | Isaiah 11:1-2

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