Remain standing as we read the Bible together. So let's open up our Bibles to Matthew chapter 21. Matthew chapter 21 verses 18 to 22. Children who attend Children's Church, if you go in the back corner, you can head out there and you will be brought back before the end of the service. So we are at Matthew chapter 21 verses 18 to 22. If you don't have a Bible, I would encourage you to pick one up on the resource table so you can follow along with us as we read God's word together. So we are at Matthew chapter 21, verses 18 to 20. This is God's holy word. In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, may no fruit ever come from you again. And the fig tree withered at once. When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, how did the fig tree wither at once? And Jesus answered them, truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea, it will happen. and whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive if you have faith. Let's pray and ask for God's blessing upon our time. Father, we come before you right now and we thank you for your holy scriptures and we thank you for Jesus. We ask right now that you would give us wisdom, that you would give us discernment, that even through this display of judgment on the part of your son, may we see the hope and the security that we have in the gospel. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. Have you ever saw someone take out their frustration on another person, another animal, an object? Maybe you were that someone. The victim was at the wrong place at the wrong time with a cranky person. Can anybody relate? Everybody nod your head, right? I mean, we even have sayings such as waking up on the wrong side of the bed. And that implies that somebody is irritable and grumpy and has a foul mood from the beginning of the day. I mean, look at all the near road rage instances that happen where simply by somebody cutting you off, leads to this barrage of yelling and screaming and anger and rage over a simple infraction on the part of somebody driving. I think we've been at restaurants or at stores where you've seen a customer be so rude and so critical towards an employee over something that seems so trivial, so insignificant, and what we see in those situations, we often see in our own life. I mean, probably everybody here at some capacity has been rude to a spouse, a child, a family member, and you were just cranky, and what they did did not deserve what you gave them. And in those moments, I think it's quite obvious that something deeper is at root in those situations. That the innocent all around are unfortunately the scapegoat to their frustration. Well, when we get to today's passage, on the surface, it might appear that Jesus is like that in our study. When we read this passage, I think initially it almost feels like Jesus isn't being very Jesus. in this passage, that he woke up on that wrong side of the bed. He takes out his angst on this innocent little fig tree. Like what did the fig tree do besides not have fruit that you would curse it and cause it to wither? But please hear this, that couldn't be further from the truth. Jesus' treatment of the fig tree is not a display of his frustration and anger. It is a real life parable calling out the fruitless religion of the Jews. And in this miraculous act, it's giving the faithful hope of what is possible and expected through those who follow Christ. And that's what we're gonna see today, that there is no such thing as a fruitless Christian. What is possible with God is on display in this passage as we put faith in him. So if you're a note taker, if you're following the outline and wanna kinda see where we're going, we're gonna begin by seeing that Jesus rebuking against hypocrisy. And as I said, there is way more going on than the cursing of this fig tree here. It's much bigger, much more important, much more significant issues are at hand in today's text. And then secondly, we're going to see Jesus reminding of hope. The passage is not void of encouragement, even though when we read it, it doesn't feel very encouraging. Though he's warning of judgment, there is a glimpse of God's power that ultimately is not only on display, but at our disposal in our lives. So let's get moving. Jesus rebuking against hypocrisy. Now last week we saw Jesus clear the temples as we learned that there is no obstacle, as Pastor Andy preached, that God won't overcome. to bring us back to him. Well, this week, Jesus continues on in his calling out against the Jews and against their unfaithfulness. Well, let's look at the current context. Read verse 18 with me. The current context. It says, in the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. Some background details we need to work through. One, Matthew and Mark tell this story differently. Matthew teaches it very topically. It's one cohesive unit. Mark teaches it chronologically. So there's a difference between the two. Matthew 21 verses 18 to 19 happened on a Monday. Jesus sees the tree. It doesn't have figs. He curses it, okay? Then, in Mark, he goes to the temple, what we saw last week, and cleanses the temple. The next morning, they come back the same area. There's a traveling between Bethany Bethany, the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. He likely was staying there with the disciples, back and forth between there and Jerusalem. The next morning, Tuesday morning, he comes, the fig tree is withered. So there's a difference there, and we're going to work through some of those differences a little bit later, but we need to understand that it's compacted and sandwiched with the story of the cleansing of the temple. Also, we see a glimpse of the humanity of Jesus in this passage, that he was hungry. And we see this throughout the gospels. He's the God man, he's not just God. So there's a point where we see Jesus, he weeps, so he cries. We see Jesus sleeping, he got tired. And Jesus got hungry. We don't know why he's hungry. Did he skip breakfast? You know Jesus, you should always have your breakfast. No, like what happened? Was he up the night before in prayer and they just didn't eat? For whatever reason, Jesus was hungry. There was a Snickers commercial campaign where it went with, you are not you when you are hungry. And if you ever saw any of the commercials, the person, the character who was hungry ended up being some celebrity character, because in the moment, he looked like that person. So the one, they were playing football, and he was just really cranky, and he was Betty White. the famous actress who lived to be like 100 years old, who's like talking trash and garbage with everybody, and they're like, you're not you when you're hungry, and they give him a Snickers, he bites into it, and he becomes normal again, because he was hangry. We need to understand, though, Jesus is not hangry in this passage. It's important to understand that. Why do we know he's not hangry? Because Jesus was sinless. 2 Corinthians 5, 21, for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin. And that includes angry and anger and frustration and angst. Jesus never was that because he was perfect. So then him might become the righteousness of God. So there's no sin on the part of Jesus in this passage. And we have to believe that, friends. If Jesus is sinful, we don't have a savior. If Jesus is flawed in any capacity, you and I are still in our sin and we're condemned for all eternity. So there's more that meets the eye here. Not only this background detail, I want us to look at the background design. Notice in verse 19, he says, and seeing a fig tree by the wayside. We need to understand what God's plan, God's purpose, God's intent for Israel and the Jews was from the beginning, and it was for them to flourish. When we go up to the cabin every summer, on vacation up at the UP, for those of you that know me, and that's something that we do. There's a particular family that my in-laws have known for 30 plus years that they'll sometimes visit. My mother-in-law will go visit away from the cabin, like a mile, two miles down the road. Her name's Mrs. Brimmer, and she's a widow. She has one of the most lush, lavish gardens. that I've ever seen. I even know she uses some of the fish guts after we fillet the fishes in order to keep the soil great. So if you go there, I guarantee she's gonna show the garden off to you every time we went, and you're gonna end up leaving with some fruit, like some raspberries and some different vegetables. That's just what she does. It's kind of her pride and joy. What we see God's intent with the Jews was they were going to be his pride and joy in the promised land. Psalm 80 verse eight, you brought a vine out of Egypt. You drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it. It took deep root and filled the land. So it's a vine. It was a plan for it to thrive. Isaiah five, let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones and planted it with choice vines. He built a watchtower in the midst of it and hewed out a wine vat in it and he looked for it to yield grapes. The reason I'm stressing this point is you will never appreciate what Jesus does to the fig tree if you don't understand God's intent with Israel. The symbolism going on with the fig tree that was supposed to be flourishing and thriving and it was figless. God wanted them to be fruitful. Well does God have purposes with his people? was the Jewish church ultimately, and I understand this is before what we would technically call the church until Jesus returns and is raised from the dead, but what I'm communicating is the current Jewish religion system and the leaders and everything in the temple, did he find a vibrant and on fire people and place for the Lord? Did he? Everybody nod your head no. All right, so we see the current context. Let's look at the Christ curse. He goes on and says, he went to it, he found nothing on it but only leaves. That was the condition of the Jewish church when Jesus shows up, as we saw last week when Pastor Andy preached from the cleansing of the temple. You see, if there would have been leaves, there should have been an edible bud. Mark 11 does point out, Mark 11, 12 says, when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. So what normally would happen in figs is there would be a pre-bud. It would be a bud that was edible. It's not the same as the fig, but it would have been edible. And then down the road, the actual big figs would have came. And if there were leaves, it should have had that edible bud, but there was none. Jesus was looking for fruit and what did he find? He found nothing. And why is this significant? Because this is a real life parable of the Jewish church at that point. I was watching online this one point, there was a department store who had mannequins that were lifelike, not real, but like the mannequins had human hair. It was creepy. It was weird, I don't know why. I'm fine with the plastic looking thing. I'm looking at the shirt, not the mannequin. So I found it, the fact that they invested so much time and energy and money to creep out their customers, I don't understand. But it was wild because it looked so real and so alive from afar. It was a worker there, not the mannequin. But when you got up close, you realize there's no life in it. Friends, that was the Jewish church. It looked good from afar. There were leaves all over the place. They had the temple, man. They have the building, God's place of his presence. They had the priesthood that God had ordained and designed. They had daily services. They had feasts. They had the Old Testament scriptures. They had sacrifices. Man, it looked so alive. But when you pulled back the leaves, what Jesus saw was what? No life. It was fruitless, and we saw that last week. It was a den of robbers. They were hijacking the religious system. They were stealing money, ultimately, from people. It was a horrible, and that was the people that were supposed to be fruitful and thriving. Matthew 23, 27, he says, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. What Jesus found in the fig tree, the lack of fruit, is what he had already found amongst his church, amongst the Jews. But way worse, they looked like you would expect fruit, but there was nothing. They were a lifeless, busy, religious people. But the question I have to ask in 2025 is how much are we in danger of that? How many churches out there, let's just say in our community, we won't even expand around the world, how many churches look like they have great leaves, I mean, they got a really nice building. They got programs. They've got people. They got music. It just, I mean, it looks like it's alive, but if we were to really step in, if we were to pull the leaves back, where are the figs? Let's not talk about other churches. What about covenant? We've grown in numbers over the last couple years. We do have programs and different things. Is there figs amongst us? How about you as an individual? Is there fruit in your life? What are some of the fruits, Joe, I'm thinking about? One, we turn to Galatians 5, look at it later. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control against things that are low. That should be happening in our lives. We should see fruit of the Spirit. Not perfect people. Not expecting that from any of us. But there should also be fruit in the sense that we should be a people who are committed and passionate about the lost. Are you seeing people come to faith in Jesus? I was so excited to baptize a couple weeks ago, Caitlin. Those are the things that I want to be the norm. Not that I don't mind when people come from different churches and transfer here and we grow numerically. I mean, it is what it is. I wanna see us grow because we have dead people who became alive in Christ through our efforts. Not for what we did, but through God using and working through us. And that we're growing the kingdom that way. That is what we should see fruit in our life. That should be our passion. That should be our desire. And I think there's just too many Christians, there's too many churches where they're content with the leaves without the fruit. And heaven forbid that be covenant. Not only do we see the condition of the church, notice the condemnation that he pours out. He said to it, may no fruit ever come from you again. And the fig tree withered at once. This is a visual of the wrath and judgment of God on the Jews. They were unfaithful, they were unfruitful, and now they would be judged. Amos 5, 21. I hate, I despise your feast, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings, your grain offerings, I won't accept them. And the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs, to the melody of your harps, I will not listen. God's design was for them to be fruitful. God's designed for them to love mercy, to walk humbly, to be people of justice, and they have been the opposite of that. And there is a point in God's grace and patience and mercy where it ran out, and he was going to judge them. The temple worship was to be a forerunner of Jesus, and it became the opposite of what you would expect. I mean, imagine in your front yard, you've got this gorgeous apple tree that never produces apples. At some point, what might you do with that apple tree? You might cut it down because it is just a decoration and you would rather have a fruit tree that actually produced fruit. Jesus, same idea, gospel of Luke, a parable basically about this subject. Luke 13, six, he told this parable. A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard and he came seeking fruit on it and he found none. And he said to the vine dresser, look, for three years now, I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and I find none. Cut it down, why should I use up the ground? And he answered him, sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good, but if not, you can cut it down. This plays itself out. in the life of the Jews, why? Because in a matter of so many years, not that many years, Jerusalem will be destroyed and the temple will be burnt to the ground. Matthew 21, 43, I tell you the kingdom of God will then be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruit. And we know that in the global nature of the gospel, how it goes beyond the Jews. to the Gentiles, and you and I are the recipients and the blessed ones as a result of that global gospel. But it's the result of God judging them. Was God arbitrary in his judgments? Why does he pour out his wrath upon them? Is it deserved? Is he being fair? And the answer's yes. They were unfaithful and there's a point, I think sometimes we have such a distorted view of God in his grace and mercy that he will never ever judge. He is slow to anger and abounding in love and praise the Lord for his patience with us, but there is a point where judgment does come. So we see Jesus rebuking against the hypocrisy, current context, the Christ curse. But we also see Jesus reminding of hope. And I think sometimes when we read this passage, we're too focused on just that first part, and it's very depressing. It's heavy. It's sobering. But I think there's a silver lining in the midst of this wrath and condemnation. We get a glimpse of God. We get a glimpse of what is possible when we have faith in him. We see Jesus in his glory and what he can do in and through us. First of all, they see power in Christ. He said to him, may no fruit ever come from you again. When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, how did the fig tree wither at once? First of all, notice the means of his word. I don't know about you, but sometimes I find it difficult for my words to result in compliance. Can you relate? I mean, have you ever had a pet? Do pets always obey their owners? No. Like, it's fun watching people. I don't have any pets. We had one, gave it away. We are a petless family, here on out. One of the things that my wife and I probably agree on more in life than anything is that reality. But like that or parents, do your kids always comply to you? If you do, please let us know, you'll be leading our next parenting conference. Because it's frustrating, like you tell something or someone to do it, maybe in work you're a boss and you tell your employee and they just don't listen, they don't comply, you're like oh my goodness. Well Jesus doesn't have that problem. He speaks to creation and it immediately submits. His sovereignty is on, I mean, we saw it. Storm is going on, he says, stop, what happens? The storm stops. Jesus says to the fig tree, wither, it withers. It obeys him, Revelation 411. Worthy are you, Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things and by your will they existed. and were created. That is our Jesus. He's big. He's powerful. He's mighty, that His power, His authority is on display. We saw it earlier, one of the stories I love the most that we went through so far in Matthew was the centurion's son. His son was demon possessed, he was in terrible shape, would throw himself in the fire, and it was from birth, and the dad had to deal with this, and Jesus was gonna go heal him, and he looks at Jesus and says, you don't need to go. I don't deserve you, but I know I'm a man of authority. When I say something, it happens, and I know if you just say, heal my son, my son will be healed. In Matthew 8, 13, Jesus said, go let it be done for you as you have believed, and the servant was healed. at the very moment Jesus speaks and stuff happens. Would you have that kind of view of Jesus? I think so many of us, because of the circumstances of our life, because of the difficulties that we face, Jesus has shrunk in our perspective. Jesus hasn't shrunk. Please hear me when I say that. But from our perspective, we have this view of Jesus where our hearts have kind of gotten calloused and cynical and jaded and we don't have this grand, glorious view of Jesus. Do you believe that he has authority over your life and your circumstances and your relationships and your children and on your career? Because he does. And can he step in if he wills and change your current circumstances by his very word? He can. Do you need him to speak now? Because we're going to kind of, this passage as a whole, what we're doing right now, it's going to have a word on your prayer life. Do we have that kind of view of Jesus? But also look at the miraculous work. The fig tree withered at once. If you've ever seen a magic trick or an illusion that baffled you to the point you're like, maybe this person really has some supernatural powers. Like the David Blaine illusion is he disturbs me. I know there's something going on, I believe that. I think, I hope. But some of his things, I was like, I can't figure out at all how he does what he does. It's just creepy. Is he demonic? What in the world is going on? But a lot of times with those magic tricks, there's a slight at hand, and you're like, oh, so that's how it happened. There is no slight at hand here with Jesus. Jesus is not a magician. Jesus isn't an illusionist. This is Jesus, the sovereign supernatural one who does it. Now, Matthew, if you're reading, you're paying attention. Matthew says it happened at once. Mark says it happened over a 24-hour time period. I do not think that that puts a confusion upon the Bible, that the Bible is no longer inherent and perfect. No, I would argue 24 hours It feels pretty right away, you know what I mean? Like it is not supernatural, it is not natural for a tree to wither over 24 hours. And we don't even know about 24 hours. It could have been just 12 hours. Like we don't know what time in the morning. The point is this really happened and it happened really fast and it made no sense to the disciples. It's a repeated pattern of the miraculous work of Jesus in the gospels. Jesus is not like anyone else. Demon-possessed people are delivered, blind see, lame walk, deaf hear, lepers cleanse, mute speak, the list goes on and on. John 21, 25, there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that could be written. Jesus is in the business of producing change. One way or another, whether it's cursing or blessing, Jesus changes people. Was Jesus able to change people in your life? Is Jesus able to change you? Does Jesus have a small reach and limited abilities? Does Jesus have T-Rex arms? You know what I'm talking about? You ever seen a T-Rex? Think of Jurassic Park or whatever. I don't know what, good thing it has a huge head with a bunch of teeth, because I don't know how it would have survived. Jesus doesn't have this small reach. Does the same power that curses also have the power to heal and to bless? Because my hope and my prayer is in our time here, that if you came in here this morning with a low view of Jesus, that that view would be expanded. Because I know there are different people in our group right now who are going through some stuff. And life is hard and life is difficult. And I think the answer to that is a bigger view of Jesus. that Jesus in his sovereignty is allowing whatever to happen in your life for a reason and purpose. And if he wants to change it, he will, but if he's going to be the sufficient grace to just get you through it, he will do that as well. So we see not only the power in Christ, we see the potential in coming. Verse 21, he says, and Jesus answered them, truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree. What is Jesus saying? He's saying, show me your faith, put your faith in action. Imagine this summer, we get to August, it's 95 to 100 degrees every day. Your house, a little bit older, doesn't have central air. Your bedroom specifically, you have a portable air conditioning unit. What if on that 100 degree day where the humidity is awful, your room is killing you, you take that air conditioner and you use it as a doorstop to keep your door open, unplugged. Is that helping anything? Is that the function and purpose of your air conditioning unit to use it as a doorstop? What Jesus is calling out is when we use our faith as a doorstop. It's not active, it's not demonstrated, it's not put on Jesus. It's just there, and that was the Jewish church. Their faith was nothing. It was a show, it was lifeless. James 4, 2 calls this out. You do not have, because you don't ask. They're marveling that Jesus withered a tree, and he's like, this is not a big deal. You could be doing more than this if you just would have faith, if you would just display it, if you would just act. The church would be doing this if they would just truly believe in me and act. And I think this is specifically a word on our prayer life. James 1.5 says, if any one of you lacks wisdom, Let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in, guess what, faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind, for that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. If you believe in Jesus, he can and will and does amazing things. in and through you. Hebrews 11, six, without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and he rewards those who seek him. So when we pray, we pray with belief. Now sometimes our prayer is, I believe, help me in my unbelief, but we're still believing. Well, is your faith active today? What does your prayer life look like? What is the last thing that you prayed to God about? How big was it? What are you currently asking for? Because he says, not only does show me your faith, he says, see the fruit. He says, even if you say to this mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea, it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive if you have faith. Now, is Jesus giving them a blank check? What is a blank check? Some of the younger people, what's a check? Well, back in the day, you used to write on a piece of paper, and you would hand it to these people, and then they would have your bank info, and then it would go, and somehow they would get paid from your bank. Yeah, like now with everything, I can Venmo you. So Jesus is giving him an unlimited Venmo account. Is that what he's doing? No. As we know, it's always according to His will. But the point is God's intent for them is to bear fruit. God's intent for His people is to flourish and thrive. Jesus said, I came that they might have life and might have it abundantly. He's saying that you could move the Mount of Olives to the Dead Sea, which is like a 4,000 feet difference in elevation. Supernaturally. And did we see things like that happen in the life of the disciples? What did Peter do? In a moment, he walked on what? He walked on water. The disciples cast out demons. Jesus is saying you can and will do remarkable things through me. Ephesians 2.10, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. That is God's intent for the church. It's God's intent for covenant. It's God's intent for each and every one of you here to be fruitful. The knock on the temple and the Jews was they weren't moving mountains. They were going through the motions. There was no faith, no fruit, a whole bunch of leaves, but no life. They were figless because they were faithless. And I think Jesus is calling that out, but he's also encouraging, it does not have to be the case for us. that we can be full of figs because of the Holy Spirit working in and through our lives, that as we have a vibrant and active faith, we will see fruit, that gospel transformation will lead to tangible results. Just look at the book of Acts. They turn the world literally upside down because of the gospel. But then there's also the story of the church of Ephesus. Do you know what's going on with the Church of Ephesus right now? Now there might be churches in that area right now, but guess what? It's dead. Same church in Acts that's thriving. The same church, but in Revelation 2, 4 it warned, I have this against you that you have abandoned the love you had at first, and apparently they never repented. Because within a short period of time, the Church of Ephesus became a relic. And I hope and pray that that never happens with Covenant, whether I'm the pastor or not, that we're a church that is able to continue to sustain and continue to go on, not because of who our leaders are or who's at the church, but because we're a church that is faithful to Christ, that we're a church that is abiding in him, and as we abide in him, he continues to bear fruit in and through our lives. What was your life filled with fruit? Is this church? And I do, I do see fruit in our church. I see it in the lives of you people. I see it in the faith of some of you who went through some horrible situations over the last year, and not only did you stay true to the faith, you flourished in it. I see fruit in the people who are faithfully sharing the gospel near and far. I mean, I see fruit, but I don't want us to be content with what we see. I feel like God has a desire to do much more in our midst as we continue to cling to him. Optical illusions often display two different images. A technical term, it's an ambiguous image or a reversible figure. exploits visual similarities, interpretations to create a multiple stable perception. What I mean by this is you've seen it online, you've seen the picture where it looks like it's a goblet, but then as you look at it also you see the outline of two faces. There's another one where you look at it, it looks like it's a rabbit with its ears back, and then all of a sudden you look at it a little differently, and it ends up being a duck with its bill. Probably the one that's maybe the most popular one that you've seen is the old lady, the young lady, where first you see the old lady, not that the old lady's not a looker, Don't want anybody to be offended. I think I shared this illustration before, and that was kind of offensive. You're saying old people. I was like, that's what I'm saying, 100%. I'm not saying that. But you have the old lady, and then as you kind of look at it, the same image, all of a sudden you catch it like, oh, it's the young lady. I think this passage, it feels a little bit like an optical illusion. We see the one image of Jesus, he's cursing the fig tree. We see wrath, we see judgment, we see rebuke against the hypocrisy of the Jews. And that is all true in this passage today. So I hopefully we saw that, hopefully it awoken us from our slumber. I hope it scares us a little bit that we don't end up being that figless tree. But I think if we keep looking at the image, if we keep staring, I think we start seeing another image. We see the figure of the powerful and mighty Jesus who by his very word can not only curse but also bless. We see the one who has power and majesty and glory in Spendler and that his promise is if we have faith, You and I can do greater things than cursing a fig tree that will bear fruit and bring glory to his name. Friends, there is no such thing as a fruitless follower of Jesus. God's intent is for you and is not the hypocrisy of the Jews. Regardless of us growing in numbers, having programs in notoriety, having a lot of leaves, at the end of the day, God's design is for us to bear fruit. that Galatians 5 is our life, that we have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, against self-control. We are a people who are loving God with all of our heart. We're loving our neighbor as ourself, that we're a people that are seeing people come to faith through our efforts. That is God's plan and purpose, that we would have spiritual figs all over the place. And the only way that is gonna happen as Jesus, as we have faith and trust in Jesus, in and through us. And that's on a corporate level, as a congregation, but also as individuals. Let's pray. Father, we come before you right now. We thank you that, Lord, as the Proverbs teach, better is open rebuke than hidden love. And we know that sometimes what that means for us on a practical level is that, God, you'll have that hard conversation with us. that you love us so much you're not gonna be content with us having a bunch of leaves and not having any fruit. So we pray, God, that you would help us to repent, to confess where there is fruitlessness in our life. And we pray ultimately, Lord Jesus, that we would be a church, that we would be a congregation, that we would be individuals that are flourishing for Christ. that we would see fruit of the Spirit in our midst, that we would see people coming to faith in our midst, that we would see us fighting for holiness, that we would be putting sin to death, that we would be a people much like Mrs. Brimmer who was so proud of her garden, that you would be so proud and so excited for your people and how you are using us in this life. We pray all this in Jesus' name, amen. Would you please stand? Will somebody get the light for the overhead?