Chapter 11. I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene. You ought to be amazed. And wonder how he could love me. A sinner undid a queen. How marvelous! How wonderful! And my song shall ever ring! Oh, how marvelous! Mark chapter 11. Well, I hope you paid attention to those words. It ought to continually amaze us that God would come and have anything to do with us. Sometimes we've been so blessed and so spoiled to it. And we just think that's the way it's supposed to be, almost like, you know, He has to. Oh, but He does not have to. One of the problems with preaching in a place for the first time is you want to preach every message you got. All of them are running right through your head. Jesus came into Nazareth where He had been brought up, and He went to synagogue, as He did every place. Just about He went, He began to read the scriptures. It said he read from the scriptures about himself when he sat down, all the eyes were upon him at the gracious words that he spoke. I'd say, I'd say if the living word reads the written word, it feels a little different than when the rest of us read it. It says they looked at him and he said, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your eyes. And my goodness, they were all amazed until somebody said, hey, wait a minute, isn't this the carpenter's son that grew up here? And when they said that, that changed it all. Changed it all. As a matter of fact, they determined they wanted to kill him after that. They thought, wait a minute, we know you. Here's the deal. They had grown up around him. And surely you understand Jesus had been talking different than everybody else since he was a boy. At 12, he was confounding the scholars. So I would assume at 13 and 15 and 16, he talked like the other young people didn't really talk. And these people had grown up hearing him talk like that. Now before they recognized who he was, there was an intrigue there that was about to get a hold of their heart. But when somebody said, oh, that's Jesus, he grew up here. He's the carpenter's son. I can see them roll their eyes, can't you? Oh, oh, we should have known. Jesus has always, he's always talked like that. Oh, now he's claiming to be God and they tried to kill him. See, what is your point? The point is sometimes some of us have been around so much Jesus, we're just not impressed with him anymore. And because there's no intrigue, we don't get impressed, there's very little impact. And we like to blame it on everything else, but sometimes it's just simply that we've gotten so used to Him that nothing impresses us about Him anymore. And we don't ever want to get to the place that when He comes to where we are, we're not amazed. Unclean, unclean, unclean. And the only clean thing in the universe would just come in here and fellowship with us. That ought to amaze us that He would love us. And so shall my song ever be. We're the only crowd in the world that's going to do forever what we're doing right now. And nobody else in the world is going to keep doing for all eternity what they're doing today. But what we're doing today, we'll just keep on and keep on and keep on. Better than we've been doing it, I'll tell you that. Mark chapter 11, I'm going to watch the time. I know you've been here all weekend. I told Michael, I apologize, first of all, that I wasn't able to be here. I was in Arkansas, or excuse me, I was in Oklahoma until Thursday and then got home. My life has been changed a little bit lately, not in the way a youth meeting changes your life, but in the way God sometimes does. And that when I turned 50 in January, my sister-in-law passed away several months before that. And so God decided that me and my wife would raise her children. So we got new babies in the house, a three and a four year old. When I turned 50, my wife said, I got you a three and a four year old for your birthday. I looked at her and said, that wasn't on the list. I guarantee you. So I didn't feel like I should get home Thursday and then immediately leave and come here for Friday. So I stayed home last night and did that. Got to hurry back and get to a birthday party. A three and four year old brother. And it's not grandparent stuff. See, you're grinning because you got that grandparent thing going on. No, God said, no grandparenting for you. Just more kids, more kids, more kids. He just keeps adding them. I said, he's going to make a children's home out of my house whether I like it or not. Praise the Lord. So I apologize for not having been here. I told Brother Michael, it's with me. I said, it looks like you can tell the ones that have been here all weekend. They're like, they're walking around like they're just in a coma. As a little boy in the bathroom a while ago, and his shirt was about half untucked, I said, you been here all weekend? He goes, yeah. I said, you tired? Yes, sir. That's it. So I apologize for not being here, but I do believe I'm supposed to be here right now. Boy, it's hard when you're the visiting preacher and the Lord's stirring the way he's stirring to know whether you're even supposed to do anything or not. But I really believe that I'm supposed to give you this thought right before we leave. And I don't think it'll take me very long. And we're not going to probably run the aisles on it, but I want you to zero in on the fact that probably All of the rejoicing that we were doing before and that you've been doing before I even got here is in preparation for it Alright, so keep that in your mind verse 12 mark chapter 11 Thank God for the Word of God that we have here in our hands The Bible said it on the morrow when they were come from Bethany. He was hungry. The Lord was hungry summer You about said a man right there Some of you about shouted amen on he was hungry. That's the first time all day and seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves He came if happily he might find anything their own when he came to it He found nothing but leaves for the time of figs was not yet verse 19 when even was coming went out of the city in the morning as they passed by they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots and Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, I ask you to help me now to say just what you had me to say. I thank you so much for letting me be here in this service this morning. Lord, I am unworthy. To be here unworthy unclean Lord unclean that what a what a strong song to finish on right before this message But Lord, I understand that it is not my worthiness Lord But it is your worthiness to Jesus being applied to my soul the blood of Jesus Lord I thank you that the Word of God is worthy and I pray that you'd use that today to challenge us here as we finish this meeting in Jesus name and all God's people said I know you've had a ton of preaching this week and So much so that you probably think can't hardly hold anymore And so because that i'm gonna give you a very simple thought very very simple thought today now Sometimes we as preachers come to you in these youth meetings and we will preach very spiritual challenges Which we need to do we ought to do and we'll challenge you with these spiritual messages, but we don't always explain I don't believe how to do the very thing. We're challenging you to do for example You may hear a guy preach, and he preaches the whole message on knowing the Lord. You ought to know the Lord, that I may know him. And we'll preach about, hey, the desire of your heart ought to be to know God and know God better. But we don't always, we don't always say, now, how to do that. Sometimes, we as young people, we'd go to the altar and say, Lord, I want to do that. I want to know you better, just like that preacher said. I want to know you better. I want to know you in the power, you know, in the fellowship, your suffering, and all those things in the verse. But we don't always tell them how to know him better. You know, sometimes we'd preach on, you know, just drawing nigh, drawing nigh. Lord, I want to get close. I want to get close. And that's a good desire. But we don't always tell you how to do it. Many times you come to the altar. You say, Lord, I remember when I gave my whole heart to the Lord, and I'm not against what I'm saying. It's good for us. Came to the altar and I heard preaching for the very first time I've been in church about my whole life But I never really heard him preach ought to give you a whole life to God I grew up a little country church in Kentucky. Most every preacher was bivocational. I'd never heard full-time Christian service I'd never really heard the preaching like he preached it that week on giving your whole life to God where he decides where you live and what you do and who you marry and all I'd never heard that I went through the altar at the end of that meeting. You know what I said? I said, Lord, I don't know exactly what he's talking about, but I want to try and do what he's saying. I want to give my whole life. Now that's a good desire, and God can take that and begin to work with it. But I want to say to you, when I finish here in just a few minutes, you will not be able to say that. You will not be able to say, I want to do what he's saying, but I just don't know what he really meant or how to do it. No, it's not going to be like that today. It's going to be very practical today. Almost everything I preach is very practical, but I want you to really focus in. By way of introduction, notice here that there was a missed opportunity in this text that I read to you. Look at verse 12. And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he, the Lord Jesus, was hungry. And he seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came. Happily, he might find anything thereon. Now, what happened right here was this little tree had an opportunity. Now, think about this. This little tree had an opportunity to meet the need of its creator. Did you catch that? God's the one that created that fig tree. To start with, God's walking around in the flesh, in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord was hungry in that flesh and that he had a need. And this little tree has a chance to meet the need of its creator. And he misses it. And let me say something to you. We are given chances by God from time to time to meet needs that he has. You say, God don't need anything. You know what? He desires some things. He sure likes worship. We've been trying to give him some of that. There's some things he would like to get out of our life. I don't want to miss a chance To meet a need that my creator might have I want to challenge you on this thought the word increase everybody say that word the word All right. Now everybody say the word the word increase increase notice first of all verse 13 notice the expectation the expectation in verse 13 and seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves he came if happily he might find anything there on now we know because he is God the Lord knew all that was going on here there's lesson he's doing this for a lesson for a learning for them and for us But I want you to see that the Bible says it's important that you notice here in your King James Bible that it says the fig tree having leaves. Having leaves. Because when you start looking at some commentaries and some studying on this thing here, you'll find out that the fig tree is very interesting and that its fruit typically comes before its leaves. Its fruit comes before its leaves. So when the Bible says that he sees afar off this fig tree that already has leaves on it, the natural assumption by anyone would be that it already has some fruit on it. It's already got some fruit. And the Lord Jesus being God, as I already said, and God in the flesh, here's what he also knows about that particular tree. I'm talking about that specific tree. Here's what Jesus knows. He knows that he and the Father have already given that tree everything it needs to bring forth fruit. He knows that he and the father have already given that particular tree enough rain that it should bring enough. Listen, enough sunshine and enough nutrients from the ground. He can see the leaves that are on it. And so he says, Hey, we've already given that thing, everything it would need to bring forth fruit. There ought to be some increase on this tree. You know what that means? He expected. He saw it from afar and he thought, man, look at that one over there. I've given that one sun. I've given that one rain. It's got nutrients. It's already got the leaves on it. I'm a little hungry. I'm expecting to get over there and find some, what's our word? Increase. Some fruit on it. See, God expects increase from us as well. He expects growth. 2 Peter 3 18 but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ brother John preaching to the men this morning challenged us about studying not just reading but studying you know why we ought to study because we're commanded to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and So that's an expectation. That's a command that we would grow. You know what growth is its increase and And it's expected of us. In the parable of the talents, the Lord says to that one servant that took the one talent, and he hid it. He said, I took the one you gave me, and by the way, we are supposed to be faithful. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. We got the challenge by that this morning as well. But I want you to see now, there's also an expectation of increase. Because that one was faithful with what he'd been given in the sense of he didn't lose it. He was given the talent, he hid it, he kept it, and he said, here, I'm giving you back the one you gave me. You know what the Bible says right there that the master said, that the Lord said? He said, thou oughtest. You know what that means? Expectation. You should have. Thou oughtest, therefore, to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. You know what the Lord said in that parable, the Lord of the parable? He said, no, I didn't want you just to take what I gave you and keep it to yourself. I wanted you to take what I gave you and cause it to increase. There's an expectation. Notice the expectation. Number two, notice the inspection in verse 13. It says at first, he sees the fig tree afar off, and then he says, happily, if he might find it, it said he came. Notice that, he came. In Matthew's gospel, when it tells this same text, it says this, he came to it. Now notice this. Look at me, young people. I'm only going to be a couple more minutes. He sees it afar off. The expectation is afar off. The inspection is up close. So he sees it afar off, and it's got leaves. And in his mind, he says, I've been blessing that little tree. Look at that thing. It's got leaves all over it. I've really been pouring on the blessings for that little tree. Well, I'm sure it has increased. Let me go check it out. And the Lord gets up close and begins to inspect it to see if there is what he expected, which is increase in growth. Now listen to me now. He comes close for an inspection. The Lord will do the same in our lives. You say, here's what you ought to be thinking. When does He do that? Wouldn't it be nice if you knew? Wouldn't it be nice if you always knew when the teacher was going to give every test and every quiz? Wouldn't that be nice? Yeah, it doesn't work like that with the teacher. It doesn't work like that with the Lord. You say, when would He come and inspect me to see if perhaps there's been increase in my life? Well, we don't really know, but I would say after a weekend of meetings like He's given you, that might be a good time. You know, when He would look down and He would say something like this, I've given that group everything they would need to have experienced increase. I mean setting up in heaven afar off and looking down at what he's been pouring out on us this weekend Even just today that'd be a good time for him to look down from a distance and say you know what man? I've been really good over there at that church, and I've been really good at his church And I've been really good to their church it man. I've been pouring it on them. I've really been giving them what they need I bet you they have grown. I bet you there's some incorrect. Why don't I just go down there and see what this weekend has done? Listen now He might look down and say, I bet there's been some increase. They've got a good church. They have the Holy Ghost living inside of them. They have the King James Bible in their lap. I've spoken to their hearts multiple times, even in the last couple of days. Inspection. It'd be a good time for one, probably. You know, in the New Testament, when God sent a mighty move of the Holy Spirit, almost every time right after that was a time of witnessing and working. Almost every time. In other words, we get the idea that He never sends what we've been in on just so we can have it. It is expected to produce something on the afterward. Now I'm not saying there's not value in just being in a service. Certainly there's value in just being in a worship service like we've been having. But I believe there's also expectation for more than just me and you feeling good. As a matter of fact, you know, when we look in the Bible, Peter, James and John went with Jesus on a matter of transfiguration and Peter started acting like we did. I think Peter was a camp meeting guy. I mean, he looks up and sees Moses and Elijah and the Lord and his transfigured and all this other stuff. He just starts shouting, Oh Lord, it is good for us to be here. As a matter of fact, why don't we just build three tabernacles, one for you, one for him. And he, you know what he's wanting to do? He's wanting to stay in it. Lord, it's good. We'll just build some tabernacles. We'll just keep worshiping up here. And God speaks out of heaven and says, hey, hey, this time I want you to be quiet and just hear him. He's speaking. Sometimes, listen, sometimes the glory is loud. We know the text where he said, if the rocks don't shout, he said, if you don't shout, the rocks will cry out. He wanted the glory loud. Sometimes the glory is quiet. I'm afraid many of us would have left the Mount of Transfiguration. And if somebody stopped us on the way down and said, how'd it go up there? You'd say, it's all right. All right, there's Jesus. There's Moses. There's Elijah. That was the glory of God He wanted to stay but you know what they couldn't stay on the mountain because soon as they got to the bottom There was a man down there that had already been having the other disciples try and help him Hey, he had a son that was demon-possessed that that devil was killing that boy physically and he is seeking help and the disciples couldn't help him and they needed the Lord and And as soon as they get to the mountain, there's that great need in that man. You know why? That's why we have these moments in Acts chapter 2. The Holy Spirit falls in Acts chapter 2. And listen, and they're shouting and all that evidence that I know we're not going to talk about rightly dividing. You know what it means. But I'm saying the Spirit of God fell, no doubt about that. You know what happens at the end of that chapter? When they stop shouting, Peter goes to preaching and people start getting saved. And immediately they start going house to house. Because that's what's supposed to happen. And guess what was going on? Increase was going on. They were added to the church, and they were added to the church daily. They were added to the church. The Holy Spirit falls. Increase should come from it. God expects it. Then He sometimes inspects it. How about in Acts 16 in that Philippian jail? You know what they were doing? They were just singing and shouting. They were singing and praying praises. I don't believe they were praying, get us out of prison. I mean, who would be praying, get us out of prison, get us out of prison, get us out of prison, and the prison shaking, the doors fly open and not run out? I mean, you don't got to be a Bible scholar to understand that. I mean, if I'm praying, Oh God, Oh God, get me out of this mess and that door flies open. While I'm running through the door, I'm thanking God. They just stayed. We're all here. You say, why did they stay? Because there was something that needed to happen. There was a jailer that needed to get saved. Listen, all of the shouting, they were in there worshiping God. And listen, I heard a preacher say years ago, God wasn't breaking them out, God was breaking in. He was inhabiting their praise. But listen, but that was not just so they could say, wasn't that good? There was an old boy that needed to get saved after that. And if they would have just went out saying, oh, wasn't that wonderful? Wasn't that wonderful? Wasn't that wonderful? He'd have died and went to hell. He was about to kill himself. If they'd have all been gone, he would have taken his life. He would have went to hell. But listen, there was something that needed to be done as a result of the falling of the spirit of God. Increase. Increase the question is if Jesus were to come today after this meeting I mean he has blessed the fire out of your soul and if he himself were to approach each one of us and begin to inspect What increase will he find? Now, you say, well, I mean, and look, I'm not trying to be a jerk. And I don't know why I always get these messages. And Lord, don't let me just preach the one where we shout and run the aisle, which I like those. I might have two. I don't know. I've got a couple of those, maybe. That's all right. Listen, and I'm not just talking about this, where if somebody says, man, how'd it go, where we, and the Lord were to say, well, show me your increase. You're not going to get, I'm not talking about just saying, well, he touched me. Now thank God He touched me. I believe He touches us. I believe He's touched you today. He's touched me today. But that's not the answer we're looking for. It's not the answer He's looking for. He knows He had touched it. He knows He had sent the rain. He knows He had sent the sun. He knows He had given it the nutrients. He knew that. He was wanting to see what did that do. So I'm not looking for just the answer, he spoke to my heart. I'm not looking just for the answer, he blessed me. Hey, when you get back home to your different churches and maybe the preacher asked for testimonies or your parents say, how did it go? Hey, we need to be able to give a little something more than just he touched me, he blessed me, he spoke to me. There needs to be some, I'm talking about, listen now, I'm talking about what did he do in your life though? Where is the measurable increase in your life? What are you going to be doing more next week? Because you were here this week. Now this, I'll say less here on this, and there's some things we need to be removing from our life. And by removing a negative in mathematics, I taught math for years, when you subtract a negative, y'all know what happens to it? When you subtract a negative number, it becomes addition, doesn't it? And when you let God remove something for your life, that is increase. So where would that be? I'm talking about the measurable thing. Well, I'll tell you this, one preacher preached and God used his preaching to touch my heart about the Word of God. Maybe it was Brother John's this morning, do you mean, about the Word of God. I just, I committed to the Lord that I'm going to, I'm going to read more faithfully and I'm also going to try and start studying. Look, I you don't you don't got to say how much do you read brother Cody? I want to read you like no listen Don't even worry about somebody else talk about that in a minute Here's what I'd like for you to pay attention to what were you doing before you came and will you have any increase when you leave? Oh He touched me. Oh, he spoke to me. Oh, he worked in my heart. Well, well, what what did to mean God you talk about God? Oh the God well, what did that do? Oh I mean, if you didn't really know what we know about God, and you could convince somebody the very God of heaven touched your soul, I think a person that didn't know nothing would expect that would make a difference. Not just in the instance, but increase as you leave. Will you have an increase? Hey, listen, us adults, let's talk about us just for a minute. When's the last time you had a measurable increase? Hey, when this brother was giving his testimony, I bet when you first got saved, brother, almost every service was one. Whatever they preached about the Holy Spirit, oh, I need to get rid of that. Oh, I need to start doing that. I never heard that. That's what the preacher said. That's what the Bible said. And you're adding things and taking away things. But after we've been saved 20 and 30 years sometimes, we just don't have any of that anymore. Why is that? Have we arrived at such a place that there is no more addition that can be done in our life? Am I reading? Listen, you say, well, years ago I heard a preacher say you ought to read this many chapters. I've been trying to do that. Now listen, thank God for faithfulness. I'm not trying to minimize faithfulness, but I believe we are seeing a principle in the Word of God that if I've been doing the same amount for 25 and 30 years, maybe he should come by and say, wasn't you doing that when you first got saved? He might come and prick my heart after a great time of fellowship with him and say, wouldn't you want to read a little more than you have been? Wouldn't you want to pray a little more than you have, Ben? Wouldn't you want to witness? Have you ever given out a tract, single, a tract? If you haven't, this would be a good time to do it, right after this meeting. Somebody says, hey, what did that meeting do? Well, I'll tell you one thing. God blessed me. He touched me. He spoke to me. And one particular thing is I've decided I'm going to try to give out tracts in my life. I saw a track rack back there. I'm going to try to give them out. It's not just for the staff guys, not just for preachers. No. You know what you can do? You can do that. You said, I ain't never give out any. You can give one a month then and you've had increase. Isn't that the word we're looking for? Just one a month. You can give out one. You can just give one and you've had increase and that's what listen I'm gonna go ahead and say it It doesn't matter if you how much he's doing or how much he's doing or how much she's doing Don't worry about comparing to anybody else comparing themselves among themselves. We're not wise It's not about having done more or doing more or being more than anybody else. It's about doing more being more than you were Increase in your life. Measurable. Something you can point to. Say, oh, God blessed my soul this weekend. I'm going to tell you something he did. He touched me. I'm going to start witnessing better. I'm going to start talking about Jesus outside of these walls. Boy, I remember a preacher preaching at our mission conference, Brother Burton Gates in Philadelphia, church planner. He witnesses everything that moves. He gets up at the end of every plane flight he's on when it dings. You know it dings and everybody jumps up? When it dings and everybody jumps up to get their suitcase, he jumps up and begins to testify about how many years ago God changed his life. I hadn't started doing that, thank God, not yet. But I remember him talking about Jesus and the name of Jesus. And I was pretty good at giving out tracts. I give them out pretty faithfully. But a lot of times it's just, hey, let me give you something to read. Hey, let me give you something. Maybe I'll give you the gospel. Like that. And he challenged me particularly about the name of Jesus. And I started thinking, but Lord, I got saved when I was seven. He always says, you know, 15 years ago I was a drug addict and a drunkard and God changed my life. Jesus changed my life. And I thought, wait a minute. I remember when I gave my whole life to the Lord. I was 21, I gave my whole life to the Lord. I told you about that preaching I heard, and it changed my whole life. Now, I was already in church, but it changed my whole... I'm in North Carolina because I gave my life to the Lord. I'm a preacher because I gave my life to the Lord. He changed my life, so I thought, I can say that. And so from that, you know what? Listen, you know what caused that? A church service and a message preached, and the Spirit touching my heart, and then there was increase in my life. I started saying, I try to always say now, let me give you something to read, and then I want to say to them, hey, Jesus changed my life, and I'd like to share it. I think they need to hear the name Jesus. That's increased. You say, well, that ain't very much. It's more than I was doing. So the Lord, if he comes and says, hey, what did that mission conference do in your heart? Boy, I'd say, Lord, that service is so good. Them kids started singing that night, and the glory fell, and we were worshiping. That's so good. Yeah, yeah, but where's the increase? I get to say, well, I'm starting to say your name in public a lot more than I used to. Measurable, measurable, measurable. Something you can point to. Hey, maybe you don't come to Sunday school all the time, but you're going to after this meeting. Maybe you don't come on Sunday nights, but you're going to after this meet. Maybe you don't come on Wednesday nights, but you're going to. You know what that would be? It'd be increase. Everybody say the word. Increase. I know we're not having too much fun, but I believe we need this challenge right before we leave. Maybe you need to remove something. What have you moved? You might say, hey, look, I stopped doing this. I heard Brother Daniel's message, and he got on some country music and some different things in there. And it seemed like it tightened up on him a little bit when he got on that. Hey, maybe that was you. Hey, maybe that was some of you boys. Maybe it's some of you preacher boys. You got a few of them. You don't think's too awful bad. But that when he said that the Holy Spirit was just going like that You know what? It'd be good if somebody said hey, what about that youth me? Was that good? Oh my goodness God showed up on that night and God showed up there and I'll tell you what it did the Lord pricked my heart and I'm not listening to that kind of music anymore. That'd be good I promise you that's addition in your life. You get rid of any kind of secular music. It's helping your life It'd be increase in your life Sure it would be. Well, I mean, I've always been shy about singing out, but since that meeting, I've been convicted, I'm gonna start singing out. And if they ask for choir members, I'm gonna sing in the choir. If they have congregational singing, I'm gonna sing. Maybe it was about your phone. The brother challenged a lot about our phone. And I've decided I'm not picking that phone up till I pick my Bible up first. I decided if I play this much on Facebook, I'm gonna read that. Whatever it is, but is there something measurable beyond just, woo, wasn't that good? Hey, listen, Jesus already knows it was good. He sent the rain. You know what's a picture of the rain in the Bible? The Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost. Often a picture of the rain. He'd been raining all over this meeting, hadn't he? You know what happens often after a good rain? Growth. I sowed some grass seed a few years ago, man, I was sprinkling the fire out of it. I had the spring, I about run the well dry, trying to sprinkle that grass. I was really wanting to grow. And it just wouldn't hardly come up. I wasn't getting any sprigs. I started thinking it all died. And then it rained real good, like a real good rain. And after that real good, I don't know why that rain was different than my well water, but I'm going to tell you, after that real good rain, I started getting some growth. And we rejoice on the rain in this service. The rain that was falling, the Holy Spirit falling in here earlier, touching hearts, people are moving. Well then, where's the growth? If he's going to send the rain, and he has a right to expect growth, and he just might come close and inspect to see if there's been any. Let me close by looking at verse 14. Notice the repercussion. I don't know who wants to become the piano or guitars or whatever you want to do, brother. If you're going to have imitation, that's up to you. Verse 14. Jesus answered and said unto it. You know who he's talking to here? The tree. Everybody look at me before we read the rest. Look at me. He's talking to the tree that he knows he has blessed. The tree he knows he poured the rain on it. He poured the sunshine on it. He made sure it was in a place where the soil was good. He could get the nutrients. He says to that tree that he knew he had blessed enough that it should have had fruit on it. But it didn't. That's who he's talking to. No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it. And I read to you down there where it shocked Peter, verse 21. Verse 20, he saw the fig tree dried up. Now notice these last three words. From the what? Roots. Everybody say roots. Dried up from the roots. Wait a minute. The roots is where it gets what it needs from God. When God pours that rain, it's the roots that reaches out and gets that moisture. and that in that moisture it gets the nutrients that it needs to live. Oh, it's a scary thought right here, but it looks as if the Lord said, if I'm just going to keep pouring these blessings on you, and there's never going to be any increase, then I'm just going to turn it off. He, in that one parable, He took the talent, He took the one talent and gave it to the one that had teeth. If you ain't gonna do anything with it, I'm gonna give it to this guy that'll increase it. What a shame. What a fearful thing to be in these kind of churches where the Holy Spirit regularly is poured out. Listen, that don't happen everywhere we go. Brother Raines travels a good bit. It ain't always like this. But you're in those. Well, I don't want him to look at those of us that are where the rain regularly falls and us just enjoy it and enjoy it and enjoy it and lap it up and lap it up and lap it up and Never change and never grow never never can point to one physical literal change in my life What if he finally comes and inspects us and says I You know, there was that parable of the tree that they had dunged it and done all this other stuff, and it brought forth no fruit, and the master said, cut it down. Now, thankfully, there was an intercessor on that one. He said, hey, will you give me another year? Hey, let me dig around it again. Let me put some stuff around it again. Thank God he's a merciful God. Thank God every time he checks and I don't have increase, he don't just cut me down. But in this parable, we see that he just might, if I'm going to waste, All the good that He's poured in my life, and it never bring increase. What if He just cut it off at the roots? My, my, let's don't do that. No, listen. Let's leave this meeting having made some measurable changes in our life. Now, it may come from any one of the messages you've heard or none of the messages you've heard. But I wonder right now if we were to come to you with a piece of paper and say, show me your increase from this meeting. What have you changed? If you don't have one, you need to think right now, what does it need to be? Because God has poured out the blessings. Let's all stand. Father, bless this time of invitation. Help us to grow. Help us to increase in some measure. Listen, don't go crazy. You don't got to read as many as your preacher reads, but just increase. Father, help them. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.