Well thank everyone. It’s so good to be in the house of the Lord with you. I’m so delighted to be in your presence. It’s always fun to come to me with village and be in the mountains of California.

01:27:39:02 – 01:27:56:15
Unknown
I’ve gotten really good about tucking my tucking over my microphone like this, because I don’t like the ones that attach to you. I feel like I’m bound. I don’t like that feeling. I like to feel like I’m free. It’s a problem for me. Dad said, if you back a miller against a wall, they’re definitely going to come out fighting.

01:27:56:15 – 01:28:20:14
Unknown
And that’s so true. Every one of us. So anybody wants to put me next to a wall, you can just see I take boxing classes Monday and Wednesday. No, it’s good to be I do do that. But I’m not going to hit you. It’s good to be here. I’m so delighted to be back with my incredible friends and colleagues and ministry Cope collaborators in the Kingdom.

01:28:20:16 – 01:28:50:04
Unknown
I love pastor Pat and Pastor Celine McDonald. They’ve been they’ve been so good to my family and particularly good to me. Pastor Pat and I now have much history together. And I realized last night, for those of you that are maybe newer to the congregation or you’ve never heard me tell this story, the first time I ever ministered here, which was many, many years ago now, Pastor Shelley was the worship leader that night, and none of us really knew each other very well.

01:28:50:04 – 01:29:09:07
Unknown
And God started to do cool stuff in the room, and there was a lot of things happening. And I saw pastor Pat at the back of the auditorium kind of towards what I would say is like that moment as a guest speaker where you’re trying to figure out, like, do they want you to finish up now? If you’ve never spoken anywhere, you may not understand what that look looks like.

01:29:09:07 – 01:29:28:19
Unknown
But because I have I’m very aware. And so so I see pastor Pat out of the corner of my eye, and he’s in the back of the room and he’s doing this. And I’m a little bit perplexed by that because God is obviously moving in the room. But but he was literally that was his signal. It was just like this.

01:29:28:21 – 01:29:45:16
Unknown
And I thought, okay, well, that means wrap it up like you’ve gone over like you need to get this done, piece out, move on. And so I did just that. I wrapped it up and I come down off the platform and pastor Pat walks up to me and he’s like, why did you stop? I’m like, you did this, bro.

01:29:45:17 – 01:29:55:15
Unknown
Like, that’s why. And and then what I come to find out is, is that him and Shelly, who was behind me, were having a conversation.

01:29:55:17 – 01:30:16:19
Unknown
I wasn’t even included. I was the byproduct of this moment. And here I was thinking, wow, you shut me down like I’ll never get an invite back here. But it was funny times. So, I mean, at least I listened, right, pastor Pat? Right, I listened, and I am I’m so grateful in the Kingdom for their stability, their steadfastness.

01:30:16:19 – 01:30:36:09
Unknown
I have such a regard for this couple and the fruit that God has given them when they when it’s their time to steward, they steward with such not just tenacity, but integrity. And I love that about you. I’m so thankful for the gift of God that you are to my life, to the body of Christ, and obviously to this house.

01:30:36:09 – 01:31:08:14
Unknown
And so I just want to say a huge thank you for being my friend and for being my partner. And also to Pastor Jonathan and Pastor Shelly, thank you for inviting me to continue to invite me, even through all of these journeys. It’s a joy to walk alongside of you, to be your friend, to celebrate what God is doing in me, what village, and throughout this entire county just to see the gift of God coming alive like never before on your lives.

01:31:08:14 – 01:31:28:04
Unknown
It’s. It truly is an honor to know you in that time and in that space. And I want to say a huge thank you for yielding your platform to me today, and giving me the opportunity to share space with you and with everyone in this room. How many of you know that your pastors are a gift from God?

01:31:28:06 – 01:31:50:04
Unknown
Yeah, I’m going home. I’m going home. So they’re going to be here. So you, you you have incredible gifts that God has given you. And I want to say a huge thank you to the sound team that’s about to help me. Thank you. Sound department and media department. You are. You are the second most important people in this room.

01:31:50:05 – 01:32:16:04
Unknown
For sure. For sure. Well, I’m delighted to just bring the word of the Lord to you today. I, I want to just bear witness before I start with kind of what’s already gone on, because it’s not necessarily direction of travel for my sermon, but I just want to bear witness that absolutely, hands down, God is restoring manhood back into the body of Christ, and then by that into community.

01:32:16:04 – 01:32:43:06
Unknown
And, you know, for way too long we have created a feminist at gospel, and we’ve done this in various ways. But one of the ways we’ve done it is that we’ve kept a suffering Christ as a feminist view instead of seeing a victorious king. And I can’t imagine how the one who was completely nude on a cross, beaten to almost death, can be feminist.

01:32:43:08 – 01:32:49:08
Unknown
Because feminist is a satanic word.

01:32:49:10 – 01:33:09:23
Unknown
To be feminine is not satanic. But to be a feminist is because feminism is built on a philosophy that we have to fight for a seat at the table as females, and we have to do that by disregarding the gift and the calling and the attributes of men.

01:33:10:01 – 01:33:30:21
Unknown
And that is not God’s way. God is a God that cooperates in the kingdom, and he’s created partnerships in the kingdom. And he expects men and women to walk in cooperation with each other and recognizes that the purposes and the plans and the calling of how to advance the earth come from those partnerships. And that’s not just in marriage, that’s even in business.

01:33:30:21 – 01:33:57:11
Unknown
That’s in other ways that you’re partnering with those that are of not likeness to you. But women are being fed a massive philosophy and they’re grabbing a hold of it. And what has happened is in the not just in the body of Christ in culture, but it unfortunately is leaked into the body of Christ, is that we’ve gotten a stronghold in the body of Christ that makes us now feel that women have to fight for something nasty.

01:33:57:11 – 01:34:18:06
Unknown
I am a woman, so I could talk all about this and so so that somehow women are being withheld from now. This is not to say personal experience doesn’t have tentacles where you have to you have to learn how to overcome. But in the kingdom you don’t have to fight for your position, right? It’s in cooperation. It works alongside of.

01:34:18:07 – 01:34:32:03
Unknown
And so one of the things that I’ve noticed is that one of the ways that God is going to raise men back to their place is when women forgive them.

01:34:32:05 – 01:34:39:10
Unknown
Because women are holding on to grudges about men.

01:34:39:12 – 01:35:09:07
Unknown
Yeah. I mean, I’m sorry, this is just the way it goes. And as a result of that, men are unable to take their place fully because the release of women to do that actually complements the gift of God and the courage of God in their life. Ladies, if you’re married in the room, one of the ways your husband grows in courage is because of your compliment, and you are a voice into the courage that is displayed in his life.

01:35:09:09 – 01:35:18:02
Unknown
Isn’t that an amazing thought? That you can just simply encourage your husband into a place of boldness?

01:35:18:04 – 01:35:41:07
Unknown
What an amazing thought. And so I’m just encouraging you. Like before I move on into the subject that I’m actually going to preach, I’m just encouraging you that the restoration is not one or the other. The restoration is partnership, and that partnership needs a renewed mind and it has to come from both. So in order for men to take their place, women have to take their place.

01:35:41:09 – 01:36:01:02
Unknown
Right? And for women to take their place, men have to then take theirs because it’s in the cooperation of the two. Last year we hosted a men’s meeting in our in our church, and the men’s group came to me and they said, Pastor Amanda, we’d like to have like a big men’s night for all of our men to come together, and we’d like to do it over a weekend.

01:36:01:02 – 01:36:12:23
Unknown
And Pastor Shed, who’s from this house, was was the one helping organize that. And I said, that’s great. And he said, do you have any idea about speakers? And I said, yes, me?

01:36:13:01 – 01:36:34:20
Unknown
I do. I have a speaker in mind. And I did, and I came and addressed the men. And the reason is, is because I need to make sure that we are not falling into traps, that we don’t understand, that men can only speak to men and women can only speak to women. That’s not true. I know I’m challenging it, but it’s not true.

01:36:34:21 – 01:36:56:05
Unknown
There’s nothing in the Bible actually that works in the principle of that. There are patterns that were based upon circumstances, but that is not the principle. The principle is different than that. You got to read the Bible for both, right? There’s all kinds of things in the Bible that are that are factual, but they’re not truth, right? They’re not truth.

01:36:56:05 – 01:37:26:23
Unknown
So I just want to encourage the ladies in the room that perhaps part of the commission of what happened today is to walk away and say, Lord, if there’s anything I’m harboring and I’m fighting for something, or I have a slant view on men around me, perhaps you should restore my view of them so that I do not attack them in word and deed or in emotion, so that they can take their proper place, because it will also release me into mine.

01:37:27:01 – 01:37:48:17
Unknown
Okay. All right. Well, you’re welcome for that. If I had a t shirt, I’d wear it, but I don’t, so I just have to tell you. You’re welcome. All right. Amen. I want to get started out of Luke 13. If you have your Bibles with you, I’m going to do my best to roll through this material. Luke chapter 13.

01:37:48:19 – 01:38:12:01
Unknown
When you get there, it is my tradition. Would you stand for the reading of the word Luke chapter 13? We’re going to start in verse six. This is a parable in which Jesus is saying, and here’s what it says. I’m reading out of the new King James. 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.

01:38:12:01 – 01:38:34:00
Unknown
And then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, look, for three years I’ve come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I have found 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.

01:38:34:06 – 01:38:54:01
Unknown
But if not for that, you can cut it down. I’ve come on an assignment today that I believe I want to take on and break down this parable in a way that I believe God is speaking to us in the body of Christ and here at Word of Life. And so if I was going to give a title to this time together.

01:38:54:04 – 01:39:15:11
Unknown
I’m calling it He Comes Seeking Fruit. Lord, thank you for the ability to preach and teach today. I thank you that your word is life. I thank you that you are the only transformer in the room that you have come to change us, to make us, to transform us, open our ears to hear, unlock our mouths to receive.

01:39:15:11 – 01:39:37:19
Unknown
And Lord, help us to see with new eyes so that we can become the hands and feet of your mobilized people in the earth. You get all the glory and all the honor. In Jesus name, Amen. You may be seated. I love this passage of Scripture because immediately it gives us an indication about the character and the nature of God.

01:39:38:01 – 01:40:01:12
Unknown
The Bible gives lots of parables to help us understand how God thinks. And because God is formless and in a form, it’s necessary for the human mind to have things like parables, to help us better understand how to grasp the infinite character and nature of the God we serve. And I love that about God, because he knew that about humanity.

01:40:01:12 – 01:40:20:13
Unknown
And so he said, I’m going to make it pretty simple for you. I’m going to tell you stories, and then I’m going to let you find me each time in that story. And then like a good story every time you watch it and every time you read it, it gets deeper and deeper and deeper. You ever seen your favorite film and and then you go back and watch it again and you notice something different that you didn’t notice the first time.

01:40:20:13 – 01:40:47:00
Unknown
And that’s exactly the way Scripture works. It’s the storytelling of God, and it constantly is unfolding part of his character. And what we see right away in this passage of Scripture is that God’s character is to seek that God is a seeker. He is looking. He is paying attention. He is not distant. He is aware of what he is looking for.

01:40:47:02 – 01:41:16:02
Unknown
And I think sometimes we get so mobilized by the wrong things that we forget that part of God’s nature and character is to seek out something specific that is supposed to be resident in us. And a lot of times, church cultures and religious cultures have taught us that what God is seeking for is 100% Sunday attendance. And what God is seeking for is really good serving.

01:41:16:02 – 01:41:38:09
Unknown
And what God is seeking for is to make sure I upped my tithe from 10% to 12%. This is not to say these things are insufficient or unimportant, but what they are to say is, is that that’s not how God views your life. He doesn’t view your life by seeking out the outcomes of what you are doing. It is not an achievement.

01:41:38:09 – 01:42:06:05
Unknown
Gospel. The number one question that has asked to Google after just basic questions about where restaurants are, the number one question asked to Google is what is the meaning of life? And you know, I because we live in a world that has more ways for you to try to have a meaning without actually giving you any meaning. We have learned how to be an achievement society.

01:42:06:06 – 01:42:29:19
Unknown
We have learned how to make our connections over the wrong things. We have learned that the better we get at something, the more opportunities that actually come our way. And so when we come into the gospel and when we come Christ followers, we assume that same ladder climbing mentality, like I went from the last row to the second row to the first row to the front.

01:42:29:23 – 01:43:01:16
Unknown
I’m good. I went from just raising one hand to raising two hands to now dancing, so I must be further along. It’s an achievement mentality, and the reason we do that is because we love to achieve, because achievement automatically mean some sense of connection to affirmation. Have you ever grown up and or known someone that the only way their parents ever connected with them is whether or not they were really good at sports?

01:43:01:21 – 01:43:25:13
Unknown
Or maybe they got a great grade on a test? Or maybe they had the the right answer to a problem. And this was the way that the people that were guardians of their life, only connected with them, is when they were in something that the parent enjoyed and found a child through. And as a result of it, the keep doing that in our adult lives.

01:43:25:13 – 01:43:46:13
Unknown
So even though we leave our family units, the meaning is still being distorted because we really don’t know sufficiently what God is looking for. When we become Christ followers, we don’t understand our identities yet, and so meaning gets distorted and that distortion causes us to want to work harder. And our working harder means that we just gotta figure out where to make connection.

01:43:46:13 – 01:43:52:15
Unknown
And we do it based on whoever gives us affirmation back.

01:43:52:17 – 01:44:36:07
Unknown
It’s okay. I know I’m talking to the general world, not you. None of y’all. And this achievement mentality grows deeper. It only just becomes more knowledgeable about the Word of God, and it becomes more knowledgeable about the way to act, but not necessarily how to be transformed. And so we learn right away that the first thing that Jesus does in this parable is he comes to address what we think matters, what we think matters because it says he planted a fig tree in a vineyard.

01:44:36:11 – 01:44:59:05
Unknown
Now I’m going to get to that. Maybe none of y’all thought that was weird. I did, but then he goes on to say, and he was looking and seeking fruit. So there’s an automatic connection for us that the growth of the tree wasn’t really the issue. Nobody, nobody went and measured how tall it was. Nobody measured how wide it was.

01:44:59:05 – 01:45:27:01
Unknown
Nobody measured how pretty it was. Nobody paid attention to where it was located. Nobody said, man, that’s a good looking trunk. Y’all appreciated that, Daniel. Y’all know all that Jesus wanted to know. Or the one who is giving the parable that is giving us the idea that this is Christ, what he is looking for is the outworking of what it was supposed to be as a victory.

01:45:27:06 – 01:45:55:16
Unknown
It was supposed to produce figs. And he shows up on this tree and he says, where’s the fix? I’ve been doing this three years. Where’s the fix? And all of a sudden, the thing that’s been growing where it was planted is confronted with what it actually hasn’t been producing. It’s got leaves, it’s got a trunk, it’s got branches.

01:45:55:16 – 01:46:32:13
Unknown
It’s at its right place. It’s exactly where he left it, but it’s unfruitful. And I have found that it is very easy to be a member of a church and be very unfruitful. It’s easy to be a member of big C, Christ following church and be very unfruitful. And the reason for that is, is because we have made the seeking of what God wants equal with man’s affirmations.

01:46:32:15 – 01:47:04:22
Unknown
If man affirms us, then this must be what God was seeking. But see, I grew up in church, so I’ve got a lot of backstory. I mean, I was there like nine months before I was born. So my story began at conception, not just in heaven. And I know what it’s like to grow up in a culture. And that is not to say something was wrong, but to grow up in a culture where there were some people in the crowd who loved to affirm you for all the wrong things, all the wrong things.

01:47:04:22 – 01:47:17:16
Unknown
I mean, and I appreciated that. But you know how you have the people come up and they’re like you, you always just look so good. And I would make sure I look good. And then, you know, they would say, you got such a pretty voice, you should join the worship team. And you would think, yeah, that’s exactly what I should do.

01:47:17:16 – 01:47:36:00
Unknown
I should join the worship team. Only problem was, I was called to preach the gospel, but it was my natural inclination to be affirmed and to let those affirmations lead the direction of my life rather than to say, God, hold on, you planted me here. You put me in this vineyard. You are creating something out of me. What do you want to produce through me?

01:47:36:00 – 01:47:51:11
Unknown
And you know what? God’s going and saying figs. I want you to be like the my kindness I created you to be. So I want to take you on a journey, if you’ll let me, for the next few minutes of three things I want to show you from this story. Is that okay? Can I do that? Can I take you on a little bit of a journey?

01:47:51:12 – 01:48:04:12
Unknown
Here’s the first thing I want to show you in this story. We learned this. We were made to be the contrast in the environment, not the competition.

01:48:04:14 – 01:48:28:12
Unknown
Now, see, I love preaching the gospel and I love having good news. I love that I absolutely some of you who follow me on social media, you will know, like I’m spending my life at the moment, like in this crazy old school gym. Not my life, but a few hours of my week. And I’m in this old school gym, and I’m specifically in this old school gym, because a few people in our church in the last year have become Christ followers.

01:48:28:12 – 01:48:46:05
Unknown
And I asked the Lord for a fitness ministry, and the Lord was like, yeah, great, you get to lead it. Wonderful. So, so yeah. So I’ve been I’ve kind of been in this gym situation and everybody that comes to the gym, there’s like four people that are Christ followers that have been they’ve become saved in our church and it’s amazing.

01:48:46:05 – 01:49:09:05
Unknown
Their story is so cool and they own this gym. But then 80% of the people that are coming are absolutely, like downright dead, like they have. They have no relationship with God. Right? Because sin doesn’t make you bad. It makes you dead. So they’re dead. So, so so when you go into them, they have their numb. Right? Like that’s some of what we would say is the outworking of dead.

01:49:09:05 – 01:49:32:01
Unknown
So so they’re numb. So when I first started going to this gym and I walked in, I realized I am the contrast because 90% of them have tattoos from head to tail. Truly. Look at me. I look like a very white girl who does not have cartoons. That is not a problem. That’s not an issue. It’s just that I don’t.

01:49:32:01 – 01:50:08:10
Unknown
So as soon as I walked in the room, I definitely knew I was the other one. I mean, I come in with like, you know, my little Lululemon stuff, and they were in there with all kinds of other things, and I immediately recognized that I am the contrast in this room. But most of the time, what we do as Christians, instead of being the contrast and being comfortable and being the contrast, we immediately become competitive over the gospel message and we start to feel like darkness needs a competition.

01:50:08:12 – 01:50:45:20
Unknown
But that’s not true. Darkness needs proclamation, not competition. And in this passage of Scripture, we learn that it says the fig tree was in a vineyard. Now some of you are going to be asking yourself, why is there a fig tree in a vineyard? I’m glad you’ve asked. The reason a fig tree is in a vineyard is because, according to studies, fig trees produce fruit around the same time as the grapes of a vineyard and because they are considered a multi fruit, in other words, they’re not just one dimensional.

01:50:45:20 – 01:50:58:05
Unknown
There is multiple seeds in a fig that the birds, the insects and all of the creatures prefer to eat the figs.

01:50:58:07 – 01:51:30:16
Unknown
Than to mess with the grapes. But because we have made the gospel competitive, and because we have sometimes let our dissimilarities from those that are around us, because we’ve been placed in a world of vineyards, and we are supposed to be the fig trees in that world. And because we haven’t understand that this dissimilarity is not for competition, and it is not for vulnerability, and it is not for superiority.

01:51:30:18 – 01:51:58:06
Unknown
Instead, it is for contrast, so that when someone is looking, they know where to find. I love this particular quote by Ralph Winter. He says this the great sin of the world is not that the human race has failed to work for God so as to increase his glory, but that we have failed to delight in God so as to reflect his glory.

01:51:58:08 – 01:52:24:14
Unknown
We so often are so posed to talk about the goodness of God and the gospel of God, that we forget that the initiative is just to be it. Yeah, the contrast is automatic. You don’t have to work to be the contrast. It’s amazing when you just walk into a room where there are people who are living the vineyard life, and you are the fig tree.

01:52:24:14 – 01:53:04:19
Unknown
It is an automatic awareness, and in the midst of that awareness, you get 1 or 2 choices. In that moment, you get to decide how you view yourself in that room. And here’s what the Bible says in first Peter two nine. You will all know it. But we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation of people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into marvelous light, which means our security of who we are in a room is not in our difference, but in our possession.

01:53:04:21 – 01:53:24:16
Unknown
So I have no longer to fight the room I’m in for space. I don’t have to try to achieve space. I don’t have to try to make the gospel known. I don’t have to try to fight for my rights, for people to know the difference in me, because that is to release a competitive spirit that God is not interested in.

01:53:24:16 – 01:53:47:23
Unknown
Instead, he wants you to become so fruitful that you can walk in a room and the contrast is automatic. Back to my Jim story. There’s a man named Dave. Dave is not a Christ follower. First time I met Dave. Dave has a like. He has like a face. He has like a head tattoo and he has tattoos across his knuckles and things.

01:53:47:23 – 01:54:04:10
Unknown
And so one of the things I enjoy doing when I meet someone, particularly who has tattoos, is to kind of ask them about them, like, what’s your favorite one? Is there anything meaningful? And so Dave and I were working out together in this gym, and Dave was on a piece of equipment. And so he he came up to me.

01:54:04:10 – 01:54:19:03
Unknown
He and I do not know each other. He only knew I was the pastor. You know how that goes, right? Like he only knew this. So. So he came over and he said, I want you to know I’m not interested in Jesus. And he said it to me, just like I had not said a word to this man.

01:54:19:03 – 01:54:43:02
Unknown
I’m like, literally just on a leg machine. I’m like, what’s your deal, dude? He’s like, I’m not. He looked right at me and said, I’m not interested in Jesus. And I said, oh, okay, all right, that’s cool. And he said, I don’t have faith. And I said, well, actually, Dave, I’m sorry. I’m I’m totally cool with you not wanting to have Jesus, but that’s a lie.

01:54:43:04 – 01:54:53:13
Unknown
And he’s like, no, I don’t have faith. I was like, yeah, you do. The sun is going to come up tomorrow. You got faith about that. You got faith. You’re going to make it home tonight. You got faith that the moon’s going to rise. You got faith that you can have your job tomorrow. You got faith that somebody’s going to love you tomorrow.

01:54:53:14 – 01:55:10:02
Unknown
You got faith that you can use your feet today. Yeah, you got lots of faith. You got lots of faith. It might be directed in a way in which you think your ego is in charge, but you still got faith. So, you know, what does he do? It goes back to his equipment. True stories. True story. Exactly how it went down.

01:55:10:04 – 01:55:33:05
Unknown
So at the end of this workout, nothing happens because I’m just a contrast. I’m not in competition and I do not have to prove the gospel. The gospel doesn’t need my defense. It needs my proclamation. So the gospel is me, right? I’m the living proof of this message. So now I don’t have to just say it. I just have to live in the fruitfulness of how God’s made me.

01:55:33:05 – 01:56:03:13
Unknown
So. So Dave and I saw each other on several occasions over the next 2 or 3 weeks, and I was gracious to him, and he was gracious to me. But we didn’t have, like, profound God conversations. It was like, hey, Dave. Hey, Amanda, have a good day. Sure did. Cool. This was the level of conversation. And then one day Dave walked up to me and he said, because he was normally in charge of the music in the gym, which was another level of something.

01:56:03:15 – 01:56:15:17
Unknown
And I have such a good ability to tune things like that out that it doesn’t bother me. But he walked up to me and he said, I don’t change music for anyone.

01:56:15:19 – 01:56:28:14
Unknown
I said, okay, thanks for letting me know. He said, but I just I just can’t keep playing this music when you’re here.

01:56:28:16 – 01:56:52:09
Unknown
And I said, really? You can’t keep playing this music when I’m here. And he said, no, something bothers me about that. I said, well, I’m not bothered by your music, but if you’re bothered. So he walked over and he said, do you have a preference? And I said, well, I mean, if you ask him, I got like, you know, how about you?

01:56:52:09 – 01:56:57:06
Unknown
Some. Have you ever heard these people called Maverick City?

01:56:57:08 – 01:57:36:10
Unknown
He’s like, no, but I’m willing to play him. So all of a sudden, you know, like, we’re in there, so be God. So be it. Working out. Step one I’m the contrast. You’re the contrast. I’m not the competition. And here’s the thing is that if we don’t get this right, we are not proclaiming the gospel well, because our evangelistic tendency is to stop the gospel over people’s lives, not actually steward people’s lives, and let our life become what Jesus was looking for, which was figs.

01:57:36:12 – 01:58:02:03
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And as a result of it, we have to understand that to be the contrast in the room is a choice. Hebrews chapter 11 says this by faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

01:58:02:05 – 01:58:40:20
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He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. Here is what I have learned that because we have been given the right to be these fig trees and the middle of our vineyards, we are the support to the growth of the environment we are placed in. If something around you, in your environment, your business, your home, your, your workplace, if it is not producing at any level, its fruitfulness is completely gone.

01:58:40:20 – 01:59:20:15
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It is time to ask yourself, are you actually a fig tree producing fruit? Because you and I, as fig trees in the world we’ve been called to, are supposed to be supporting the outworking of their achievement, their ability to be fruitful. And as a result of it, we don’t understand that we’ve been called to be fig trees of contrast in the midst of vineyard culture, your fruitfulness protects the quality of the growth around you.

01:59:20:17 – 01:59:50:12
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Isn’t that an amazing thought? Your fruitfulness protects the quality of the growth around you. The birds, the insects and the animals prefer to eat on the fig tree than they do the grapes. So Dave, back to Dave. Dave one day walked in and he said, I heard you own a coffee shop. I said, yes, my husband and I do.

01:59:50:16 – 02:00:16:21
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He said, I like coffee. Cool, Dave. He said, I’m a good tester of coffee. Awesome, Dave. He said, I’m going to come to your shop. I mean, as if like, this was the stamp of approval, I don’t know. It was definitely like a high level roll out the red carpet. Kind of a statement. Anyway, the next day I just happened to come by the coffee shop because I wasn’t.

02:00:16:21 – 02:00:39:18
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I’m not there all the time. And I walked in the door and I see Dave and he’s sitting, having a pour over coffee, and immediately the Holy Spirit speaks to me and says, sit down and have a conversation with him. So I sat down with Dave and I asked him about his knuckles that said self-made.

02:00:39:20 – 02:01:02:11
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And he began to tell me his story on why he can only depend on himself. And then he looked at me and he said, but you seem like someone who isn’t self-made. And I said, oh, really? Why do you think like, a whole bunch of people have helped me? And he said, no. He said, there’s just something different about you.

02:01:02:13 – 02:01:41:00
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Contrast, not competition. And I was able to share the gospel with Dave that day, because they learned that it wasn’t good enough to be self-made. Now, listen to me. Our ability to understand what God is seeking from us is determining the fruitfulness in our communities. We keep trying to identify with the vineyard instead of becoming fig trees. But the way we take care of the vineyard is by being willing to be the fig tree.

02:01:41:02 – 02:02:10:18
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When we are willing to be the contrast in an environment that protects an environment because we can handle through the fruit of our life, what is coming to try to bring disease and attack. We have the complete ability to stand in the quality of what God is doing and say, not on our watch. Not because we are fighting for a position, and not because the gospel is looking for a place in order to just be magnified and talked about and pushed on.

02:02:10:18 – 02:02:50:07
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But because by default we become the carriers, the likeness of the fruit of God. And in that we protect the fruit of the harvest in our communities. What God is transforming in our communities. God gives us the privilege of protecting that by being fruitful. Fig trees. Number two. Are you getting something? Number two, if you and I want to learn something from this story, something that was pointed out to me is we can only become fruitful in environments we have accurately assessed.

02:02:50:09 – 02:03:27:01
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We can only become fruitful, and environments we have accurately assessed. Here’s the amazing bit of this story. The Bible says that the one who comes and says this tree is not producing. There is a vineyard keeper who comes and says, hold on, let us dig around the tree again. In other words, let me take an assessment of the root systems that are around this tree and let me work on it a little bit, and then let us make a decision about whether or not things can change.

02:03:27:02 – 02:03:36:19
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Here is what I have learned. And the body of Christ. We often want the change, but we have no idea what needs to change.

02:03:36:21 – 02:03:43:10
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I need my marriage to be better. Great. What’s wrong?

02:03:43:12 – 02:04:08:20
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I need my children to want to know this. Okay, great. What are they going through? Accurate assessment of what is going on around our environments gives us the privilege of walking in, fruitfulness in them. Let me give you an example and you will all know it. Second Kings chapter four. There’s a widow woman, a widow woman who is now in charge of someone else’s debts.

02:04:08:21 – 02:04:34:00
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Just so you know, she has come to the prophet looking for an answer, not about her debt. Her husband’s. She was carrying a debt that did not even belong to her. And she comes to him and she says, I have a problem. Here is my problem. My problem is, is that I’ve got no money to pay these debts.

02:04:34:01 – 02:05:04:17
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I’ve got absolutely nothing to pay off. What I oh, I love this about the widow woman. Because she did not ask for anything for herself. She asked to take care of what was causing a problem and what was owed through her husband. And here’s what she said. My husband was a godly man, you know that. So you know, she was wanting to protect the image of her husband at that moment because he was a godly man that had gotten himself into some trouble.

02:05:04:19 – 02:05:25:21
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And she comes to the man of God. She says, can you help me? And here is his question, and here is what we preach. And I just simply want to turn it on you just a little bit to help you grow a little bit. He says, what is in your house? And here is the good news. She knew.

02:05:25:23 – 02:05:32:09
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She did not say, hold on, let me go see.

02:05:32:11 – 02:06:11:11
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She knew she had taken an accurate assessment of what she had available to her. And so therefore, when the prophet asked her, she knew what to say, and in her knowing, he was able to say, great, let’s start there. Do you know what I’ve learned about maturity in the in the God you and I serve is that God is looking for mature people who can accurately assess why their fig tree is not producing.

02:06:11:13 – 02:06:28:15
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Doesn’t mean you’re doing that alone. It just means you are willing to do it. You aren’t looking for a handout miracle that get you in the same position year after year. Because see, listen. Some people who get out of debt get right back in it.

02:06:28:17 – 02:06:53:17
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Some people who go through a poor outcome of a marriage get right back into marriage trouble, because what they did not assess is what has cost them the next. They needed the miracle, but they were unwilling to do what it took to change and assess what they had. So they knew this is what I got. This is what God can use.

02:06:53:18 – 02:07:15:18
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This is what I could bring to the table. This is my awareness, my God awareness. God has consciously made me aware that I’ve got a problem here. Do you know, the more older I get, the more I grow and the Lord, the more aware I am of all the deficiencies that are in me. I’m like, man, I don’t deserve none of that.

02:07:15:22 – 02:07:45:11
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I’m so crazy. Like, man, you know why? Because your awareness becomes accurately assessing. And here is what the Bible says in this story. It says that he dug around again in the actual outcome of fig trees. Let me tell you this. Fig trees do something called root pruning. Aren’t you all love that? I know all of this. I’m like in this crazy garden stage right now, so you just have to roll with it.

02:07:45:13 – 02:08:07:22
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They do something called root pruning. And this is when a fig tree of 2 or 3 years has not produced. They will go into a fig garden or to a place where a fig tree is. And they will exactly do what this parable proclaims. They will dig around the tree, but they do not dig around the tree for the trench of water.

02:08:07:22 – 02:08:23:11
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They do not dig around it, so that it just gets some some more lifeblood and it has more opportunity. Root pruning means they dig around it to sever unhealthy connections.

02:08:23:13 – 02:08:37:18
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And the pruning process comes and takes away by severing roots that have now become attracted to the vineyard.

02:08:37:20 – 02:09:04:11
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And they’re costing the vineyard and the fig tree because they are intermingling with one another. I don’t even. Don’t you just love God? How amazing it is just to study the world and then see him? I mean, if you got any mindset at all, it’s just absolutely fascinating. Root pruning is God’s accurately assessing what needs to be severed in you.

02:09:04:11 – 02:09:21:01
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And I. Do. You know that we live in what I’d like to call because I don’t care how Christ like you are, it’s called the real world. It is not the MTV show from the 90s. It is actually the real world.

02:09:21:03 – 02:10:06:03
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And let me help you. The real world loves to get you and I even as strong Christ followers in the muddy waters of illegitimate connection. It loves to connect us to success measures. It loves to connect us to relationships that are unhealthy. It loves to connect us to business partners that are just on the edge. It loves to let us be in the midst of them, but becoming little by little by little more entangled with their growth and less producing of what God is seeking from us.

02:10:06:05 – 02:10:23:12
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And the Bible says that when this vineyard man comes by in the third year, and he assesses why this tree is not producing, he automatically knows that it’s illegitimate connections.

02:10:23:14 – 02:10:49:08
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You’re not producing because you’re in the right place. You’re you’re becoming the right thing. So the reason you’re not producing is because there’s some roots that have taken connection that need to be severed. I have to cut off some things that are killing your ability to be who you really are. Do you know what I have learned about Jesus is that he is like the onion of your life.

02:10:49:08 – 02:11:09:01
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He is ever unfolding, which means that there could be relationships that you’ve had for your whole life that God has never addressed. And now he’s going to. There could be people in your life that you have always paddled around with a certain way, that all of a sudden God goes, oh no, no, no, no, no, no. So you’ve missed it.

02:11:09:01 – 02:11:34:00
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For three years I’ve been okay with this. But now in this fourth year, I’m about to just disconnect you from these things because they are costing the fruitfulness of your life. And they’re not just costing you, they’re costing the vineyard. I put you in because you are part of the protection plan of how this vineyard produces. So I got to fix you so I can make sure they are protected to become the harvest that I have declared for them.

02:11:34:00 – 02:12:02:02
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Are you catching what I’m saying? And I’m trying to help us see that you and I have to take an accurate assessment in the spirit about things that we have connected to, even mindsets, even paradigms, even ideas about our future that are unhealthy, unwise, and need to be severed. They are unhelpful.

02:12:02:04 – 02:12:24:14
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Can I tell you a personal story about that? When I was young, in ministry, because I was charismatic and capable and many, many people that are in like worship leading, they would have these same kind of scenarios. If you’re if you’re in any kind of public speaking. And I remember getting these invitations to go preach, and I mean, they were big invitations.

02:12:24:16 – 02:12:48:16
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And my father, who was the bishop of my life and just my natural dad, too, you know, he understood this because he was also a charismatic leader, an incredible communicator. Many of you know that I stand on incredible shoulders. And and I would talk to him about it, and he was so gentle and sincere with me because I think he understood that the number one connection that people like him and I had was pride.

02:12:48:18 – 02:13:13:00
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He had it too. He would often say, Amanda, it’s the ego that you got to kill because your capabilities convince you of things that are not true. And he would talk about it from his own perspective of himself, not just mine. He would say, I know that because I’m so gifted, I can I can believe myself. And I realize that giftedness as it increases, it has a dark side at times.

02:13:13:00 – 02:13:30:18
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Or if if it’s underdeveloped and the character and it starts to convince you that you can’t be wrong about things. And that starts to produce this little seed of pride in you, and that little seed of pride in you starts to grow. And that little seed of pride ends up in an ego, and that ego becomes quite steadfast.

02:13:30:18 – 02:13:54:23
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And when it becomes steadfast, you can’t get off that mountain because no one can speak to you about it. So in my world, I started to have all these invitations. And then one day a man walked into my dad’s office and he offered me the most significant job I could have ever had. I mean, truly, like at that time of my life, I could have I could have never had anything greater.

02:13:54:23 – 02:14:11:20
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At that time. I was in my late 20s. God was doing cool stuff. I was just beginning to kind of like, you know, find my feet in this thing called ministry. And and this man walked in the room and he offered me. Now, now, I know for some people in the room making six figures in the early 2000 wasn’t a big deal for me.

02:14:11:20 – 02:14:31:01
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That was a big deal. So for me, I was like, man, this is God’s given peace out like Tony Miller. Let’s hang it up, because you are definitely not paying six figures. And this man walked in and he said, look, I see the gift of God in your life. I’m in the middle of this thing in Houston, Texas.

02:14:31:01 – 02:14:45:09
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I want you to come and lead the entire thing. Do whatever you want. You do it your way. I trust you go do whatever you want. This is what I’m willing to pay you. I’m looking for you to relocate. I help your children get in a private school. My dad was there. This was not private. This was all in front of him.

02:14:45:09 – 02:14:54:01
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And he said, I want you to know, I just your father and I both just believe in the gift of God in your life.

02:14:54:03 – 02:15:02:06
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And I said, praise the Lord. God is good. He has finally brought me to my ladder.

02:15:02:08 – 02:15:12:14
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I have worked my way in. I have gotten I’ve paid the price.

02:15:12:16 – 02:15:55:18
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I’ve earned it. I’ve done what I’m supposed to do. I’ve accurately assessed it. I’m ready to go. And I went home that night. And the Holy Spirit just absolutely ate my lunch. And said, I didn’t tell you to connect to that man. And I said, no, that can’t be right. And so I can. I mean, I wrestled all night, and this is where I kind of wanted to give you my personal perspective of it is at the end of the night, I knew I wasn’t going to take the offer, but I needed to know why I wanted to.

02:15:55:20 – 02:16:05:11
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Because I needed to grow past that. I needed to no longer be able to be enticed.

02:16:05:13 – 02:16:12:18
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And so I had to confront an unhealthy ego.

02:16:12:20 – 02:16:18:02
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I thought I deserved it.

02:16:18:04 – 02:16:25:16
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And because I thought I deserved it, I would entertain it.

02:16:25:18 – 02:16:50:08
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Is this okay? It’s this landing anywhere without you. I know all y’all like me. That egotistical, unhealthy connection had to be severed because I realized that there would be more opportunities in my future, and I needed to be able to say no faster.

02:16:50:10 – 02:17:07:12
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And just so you know, that was true. I never stopped having six figure opportunities, but I did stop entertaining them because I started to realize I don’t deserve anything.

02:17:07:14 – 02:17:35:09
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I don’t deserve to preach the gospel. I don’t deserve to be in front of you. I don’t deserve to be chosen by him. I don’t deserve to pass. I don’t deserve to pastor 1400 people in England. I don’t deserve to have people constantly coming to our church acting like it’s the best thing since sliced bread. I don’t deserve none of that because my charisma became a default for character.

02:17:35:11 – 02:18:05:16
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And God had discovered that in me, so that I would live whole and be a producer so that I could be steadfast in the environment he placed me in, so that everything that was dead around me could become lifelike because I existed, because I severed unhealthy, wrong places. See, sometimes it’s not people. It is you.

02:18:05:18 – 02:18:47:09
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Just so you know, 90% of the time it is you. You want to know what your problem is? Go to the mirror because it lies within who you are. So when you’re accurately assessing with the Holy Spirit’s intervention of digging around your life again and severing things that are unhealthy that you’ve connected to in your culture, you are allowing yourself the time and the space to become so fruitful in the Kingdom that no matter what comes at you, you are prepared to feed it correctly off of the fruit of your life.

02:18:47:11 – 02:19:06:13
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Okay, number three, I’m moving on. Yeah, I agree it is good taking an accurate assessment. Number three, the greatest threat to our future fruit is to hurry in our present place.

02:19:06:15 – 02:19:34:17
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You cannot speed up the process of God. You can only respond to it. The Bible says in this story that he said, let it alone this year again. In other words, the process of the severing and the process of change that I am producing is not an overnight work does not mean God does not do amazing things overnight.

02:19:34:21 – 02:19:45:19
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It means that the process of the change in your life from the inside out is never, almost ever instantaneous.

02:19:45:21 – 02:20:07:19
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What is instantaneous is the decision to follow Christ and to know in that moment you have received the fullness of the love of God. That’s instantaneous, but you’re not in charge of any of that. But what you do have to be in charge of is how you receive that love, because becoming aware of it doesn’t make you a receiver.

02:20:07:21 – 02:20:32:14
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Everyone in your community right now, everyone into Wallaby County has the same measure of love being extended to them. Right now, you and I have no more or no less. The difference is, is that we have developed the ability to receive it. That is why I am constantly speaking to the churches that I’m leading, that we are not first the givers, we are first the receivers.

02:20:32:14 – 02:20:59:13
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And as a result of that, we become better givers. Because until you learn to be a receiver, you cannot be a giver. And part of what God is doing with men is they are teaching them how to be receivers because they are constantly been taught to give out, and they have never been taught how to receive. You ever talk to someone before and you try to give them a compliment, and their immediate reaction is not to take it.

02:20:59:15 – 02:21:08:15
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Now, some people would call that false humility, but I’d like to say sometimes it’s just based on the fact they have not learned how to receive.

02:21:08:17 – 02:21:51:23
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They haven’t opened their life to be a receiver. And here is what this scripture is telling us. It’s saying give it the space it needs for the heart to be healed. And I’m not in a hustle culture like you. Here’s the thing that I’m constantly aware of is that we have been given a desperate internal drive for usefulness, but when we don’t feel useful, we will become hustlers and strivers and hurries because we want to prove our worth.

02:21:52:01 – 02:22:27:06
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But we have to stop normalizing the fast and start learning how to operate in the slow work of God, because our hurry is costing us. James chapter one 2 to 4 I’m going around my corner. I just want to give you a couple couple extra things. Consider it a shared gift. Friends, when tests and challenges come to you from all sides, for you know that under pressure your faith life is forced into the open and it shows its true colors.

02:22:27:08 – 02:23:05:13
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So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so that you become mature, well developed, not deficient in anything. Thomas Merton said this and I love this quote. The Russian pressure of modern life are a form of contemporary violence, to allow oneself to be carried away by the multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself above their means.

02:23:05:15 – 02:23:26:06
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The frenzy of our activity has neutralized the work of peace in us. It destroys our inner capacity and our fruitfulness and our work, because it kills the root that is being established in wisdom.

02:23:26:08 – 02:23:39:20
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I want to just challenge you. Come on to the keys. I want to challenge you that some of you are trying to hurry a process that God is trying to slow down.

02:23:39:22 – 02:24:10:06
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And that is not because you in some way are not supposed to be doing things. You’re just not supposed to be doing them out of hurry. The sense of that violent contention that makes you feel like time is not on your side. That internal drive that tries to keep you and I from missing out.

02:24:10:08 – 02:24:34:08
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When we no longer can sit in the seat of our own life and say, I am walking in the pace and the grace and the assurance of the timing of God. Because he is at slow work in me. He is not fast paced. He is not bypassing me. He is not going around the corners. He is honing each and every place.

02:24:34:08 – 02:24:41:15
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And as a result of that, he is interested in slowing us down.

02:24:41:17 – 02:25:02:19
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I’ve told this story before here, but it bears witness in this moment. When Jason and I went for a walk four years ago across England, the first date, I mean, I outpaced everybody, every kind of pace. I was like, on a mission. And the reason that I’m like that is because I’m goal oriented by nature. I love to just get to my goal and the Lord has had to dig.

02:25:02:21 – 02:25:27:02
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He’s had to literally like me in this because because I’m so oriented, the process, I don’t always give it the time it needs. And I have learned about myself in accurate assessment that sometimes God wants me to slow down. And and this was a great opportunity for me because I had outpaced everyone and I was more exhausted than anyone.

02:25:27:02 – 02:25:37:16
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And when I got back to the room, I was mad at God because we had said, Lord, we were going on a walk to talk to you and you said nothing today.

02:25:37:18 – 02:25:43:17
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I mean, we only got seven days, like, come on.

02:25:43:19 – 02:26:00:10
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And the Lord said one statement back to me, and it changed everything about the way I’ve seen at least my journey in the last four years. He said, Amanda, I don’t talk at that pace.

02:26:00:12 – 02:26:16:00
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I said, you’re trying to get to the end of the day, and I’m trying to enjoy the journey with you. And then he reminded me I’m more committed to the process than the outcome.

02:26:16:02 – 02:26:47:10
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I’m encouraging you. Listen to me, word of life. God is bringing incredible opportunities to you. It’s amazing. I celebrate them. They’re incredible. They are. They are God’s gift to your next. But you better find the rhythm and the pace in here or you will feel discontent about things God’s not discontent about. And you will be looking for fruit in ways that are not God’s fruit.

02:26:47:10 – 02:26:56:06
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That’s not what the fruit he’s seeking. It’s man made fruit based on numbers, achievements.

02:26:56:08 – 02:27:09:01
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I’m not your apostle, but I am like one to you. In this moment, I am coming to challenge out of you the hustle culture that’s taken root in you.

02:27:09:03 – 02:27:28:17
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That has made you feel like you’re behind somehow, that you got to play catch up, you got to get there. You got to take care of business. It’s got to be like this that God you and I serve. He is speeding up his plan, but he is slowing down his people.

02:27:28:19 – 02:28:09:20
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That is a prophetic word across the entire world, not just with you. And the reason is, is because God’s not interested in a body of Christ. He’s interested in sons and daughters, and that’s built in relationship. And sometimes we have forfeited the relationship simply to be relational. But God’s asking us to restore the pace, the pace of his grace back into our life so that the pressure in here, you know what I’m talking about, the pressure to make sure that you get this amount in the bank by the end of the year.

02:28:09:20 – 02:28:16:07
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You got this by retirement or your business looks like this by this point or.

02:28:16:09 – 02:28:22:16
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Or that my ministry doesn’t fall to the ground and it gets started, and now is the time.

02:28:22:18 – 02:28:43:14
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And that pressure comes to produce in us a hasty and a hustle and a hurry, and we forfeit our present because we forgot what we were doing it for.

02:28:43:16 – 02:29:22:14
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It’s the relationship he’s most interested in. When God told me that day that he was that he was not going to talk to me at that pace. Come on Rose, I knew immediately it meant he wasn’t going to waste his energy. Do you know what I’ve learned about this scripture? Is that part of what God wants to do in the earth today is he wants to redeem our energies because we are putting our energy sometimes at very ineffective things.

02:29:22:16 – 02:29:51:17
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And we feel good about them because in the natural they are successful. But in the spiritual we are still deficit at figs and what God wants us to be as the fig tree is, he’s paying attention to what’s happening in the communities around us. He’s saying things to us like, well, they’re unable to produce grapes. Why?

02:29:51:18 – 02:30:24:05
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And we look and go, well, you know, they just can’t produce going to hell in a handbasket. Culture is culture. Things are going to get worse and worse, actually. Untrue. Wrong theology, terrible eschatology. The Bible says that Jesus himself describes himself as the morning star and as the Son of righteousness, which means that we are in no way going to get darker and darker because he is going to get brighter and brighter.

02:30:24:07 – 02:30:45:02
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Jesus said in the book of John, and I’ll finish with this, and I want to draw you to a place of response. He said, I’m praying for these boys you’ve given me. They’re not like this world, but I pray you don’t let them escape it.

02:30:45:04 – 02:31:09:06
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Don’t let them take. Don’t take them out. See the natural reaction when things start going in the wrong direction as a culture is to start praying. Escapism theology. But Jesus in front of his disciples said, the world man, it’s it’s contentious. It’s hard, it’s horrible. It’s terrible. They know it, I know it. They’re not of it. They feel uncomfortable in it.

02:31:09:06 – 02:31:20:00
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They know they’ve been made for more. They know there’s eternity in their heart. And what they’re naturally going to want to do is get out.

02:31:20:02 – 02:31:52:17
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So don’t let them leave. Keep them, hold them, make them the fig tree that produces so that we can see the earth’s manifestation of the glory of God like never before. Keep them in place until I have finished my work. I’ve come to talk to some of you today. Your prayer life is a little escapist. God, just get me out of this God.

02:31:52:17 – 02:32:14:01
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If you can just get me beyond this God, if you can just do this. And I’ve come to remind you, Jesus is prayer. Knowing all the circumstances of the earth was not that anyone left it, but that we became fruitful in it. And the more fruit we have, the more fruitful the culture around us is going to be.

02:32:14:03 – 02:32:46:05
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Listen to me to wallow. Me County. Wyoming County has got some specific fruit it’s supposed to produce. It is not attached to whether or not you do it. What it’s attached to is whether or not you can be a fig tree in the middle of it. Some of the things that Tuolumne County has been innately given by God as a vineyard will not be successful or succeed unless you stop trying to be the vineyard with them and become the fig tree that produces around them.

02:32:46:07 – 02:32:58:03
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Because your fruitfulness protects the quality of your community.

02:32:58:05 – 02:33:13:05
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Your business, its blessing as a vineyard has a complete attachment to whether or not your figs are working.

02:33:13:07 – 02:33:43:18
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See, I’ve learned that if I’m not getting the harvest I want, it might be because what is getting at the harvest I was supposed to be producing, but now as a fig tree, I’m like, come on baby, bring the birds, bring the insects, bring the rodents. I got enough to go around, suckers. I’m going to protect the quality of the vineyard of influence and the environment you have given me.

02:33:43:19 – 02:33:58:00
Unknown
I will not back up from it because I want the cities that I’m in not only to come to Jesus, but to be fruitful in the midst of that. So if I have to be one in my family, I will be in my family. If I have to be that in my business, I’ll be that in my business.

02:33:58:00 – 02:34:27:19
Unknown
If I need to be that in my community, I will be that in my community, because I refuse the hustle and I’m looking for the slow work of God. Did you know that the monarch butterflies, they go through this thing called a super generation? A super generation is when they leave Canada to go to Mexico. They have this innate ability to be one generation, to make a two month trip.

02:34:27:20 – 02:34:40:18
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They’re supposed to only live three weeks. Somehow they live two months. It’s unbelievable. But when they return to Canada, it takes them for generations.

02:34:40:20 – 02:34:58:12
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Sometimes we overestimate what God wants to do in one generation, and we underestimate what God wants to do in 3 or 4 because we arrived in one doesn’t mean we’re not in the slow pace of God.

02:34:58:14 – 02:35:24:06
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This is how God works, and he is slowing his people to where we can truly discover and experience what it means to be transformed. He’s taken out your hustle nature, and he’s producing you the kind of fruit that takes time. But once it starts.

02:35:24:08 – 02:35:41:09
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It is protecting everything around it. Stand with me all over the room.

02:35:41:11 – 02:35:51:16
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I love what John Mark comer says. He says love has a speed and it is slower than you think.

02:35:51:17 – 02:36:11:23
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Today I want to pray for you. Some of you in this room, you’ve been in this hustle space, maybe in a hurrying inside. Maybe you felt pressure. Others of you, you just not even realized. You are the contrast in the room and you’ve been feeling vulnerabilities about being different. But now you need to embrace that. You’re just the contrast.

02:36:12:00 – 02:36:31:14
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You’re not in competition. You’re not there for the struggle. You’re there to simply to be the difference. I don’t know who you are today, but I know there’s people in this room, particularly around this hustle culture, particularly around this hurry culture. Hurry up to get to the next thing. Hurry up to be the first in line there. Hurry up to finish the business plan.

02:36:31:15 – 02:36:54:13
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Hurry up to start this. Hurry up to expand this. And God wants to. Just not because he’s stopping what is in your heart, but because he’s slowing you down for development in it. So if you’re in the room today and you bear witness with any of this message, you know God’s coming at the speed of grace in me, and he wants to realign me as the fig tree that produces.

02:36:54:13 – 02:37:10:06
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I’m tired of just having little fruit. I’m ready to have like, big fruit that protects the culture that I have been called to. That puts me in that environment. If that is you, I just want you to join me. If that is you. One, two, three, just come join me. If that’s you anywhere all over the room, we’re going to sing.

02:37:10:06 – 02:37:19:16
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Come on, come on down. You’re all good. I just want you to. That’s you.

02:37:19:18 – 02:37:28:08
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Come on. When you get here, why don’t you just lift your hands and worship and praise? I’m going to pray for you.

02:37:28:10 – 02:37:36:11
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Come on.

02:37:36:13 – 02:37:43:19
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As we all.

02:37:43:21 – 02:38:15:08
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As we all come. Casting of clouds. Who do they of Christ. We want to see the trials.

02:38:15:10 – 02:38:22:13
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Oh, my.

02:38:22:15 – 02:38:29:19
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Lord, does your.

02:38:29:20 – 02:38:37:12
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Laws on your head?

02:38:37:14 – 02:38:56:04
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We want to see you all in time.

02:38:56:06 – 02:39:03:06
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And switch all.

02:39:03:08 – 02:39:07:17
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As we.

02:39:07:19 – 02:39:14:10
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Let you kingdom come to the truth.

02:39:14:12 – 02:39:17:03
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Now.

02:39:17:05 – 02:39:27:13
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We want to see blood inside. And all. In.

02:39:27:15 – 02:39:33:00
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Your.

02:39:33:02 – 02:39:38:09
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From your.

02:39:38:11 – 02:39:46:01
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Glory of your name.

02:39:46:03 – 02:40:06:23
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We want to see you. Those enjoy your time. You may glory God your.

02:40:07:01 – 02:40:10:12
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Glory.

02:40:10:14 – 02:40:14:15
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You.

02:40:14:17 – 02:40:48:21
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You are the sea to glory is that. Now let me pray for you, all of you, all over this room. Lord, I thank you that you are coming to remove the anxiousness and the weightiness of a culture that imposes its systems and structures upon our minds and hearts. I thank you, Holy Spirit, that you are removing out of us the hustler, the hurricane, the one who’s always looking for the next.

02:40:48:21 – 02:41:17:10
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And you are producing us a pace for your grace. Lord, I thank you that we will not miss the small places you are speaking, what looks insignificant in the natural, but they are the ways in which you are speaking to us. Holy spirit, come and rip out of us the cultural tendency to speed up. And Lord, teach us the pace of your grace and slowing down.

02:41:17:12 – 02:41:43:01
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Lord, help us to see the slow work of God for others of us in this room. Lord, I ask you that it’s time for the fig trees to produce. I ask you, Lord, for the to produce fruit. Lord, I thank you that for some people right now you’re digging around the tree. You’re cutting off connections that are in sufficient for where they’re going.

02:41:43:03 – 02:42:21:10
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Unhealthy, burdened connections, words, people, ideas, thoughts. Thank you, Lord, that you’re cutting them down. You’re cutting them off. Your causing us to walk in the assurance of your connection. Lord, connect us back to the throne of God. Connect us back to the heart of God. Connect us back to the river of God. Lord, help us to find meaning, not in what we do, not in our achievements, not in our outcomes, not in our behaviors.

02:42:21:14 – 02:42:50:11
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God help us to find our meaning at the cross of Christ in the finished work of Jesus. Lord, let me ever remember I am disqualified and only qualified in you. Lord, I pray for an encouragement upon this people to go into the vineyards and take their contrasting space. I pray for families in this room, a people who need to be the contrast in their family.

02:42:50:13 – 02:43:19:08
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The fruitfulness of their family is becoming dependent upon their contrasting fig tree fruit. I bless them today with a steadfast nature to not become connected to the wrong things in that family, but to be connected to the vine of Christ, the lordship of the one who leads them, those that are business owners. I pray for them in this room today, that you will take the hustler out of business owners.

02:43:19:10 – 02:43:42:02
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When we feel like we have to keep going, like we’re feeling the pressure of opportunity. Lord, teach us that opportunity is not our guide, but the spirit of the Lord is our guide. Lord, teach us that every opportunity has not been designed for us, even if it’s coming to us. Teach us to hear the stillness of your voice.

02:43:42:02 – 02:44:07:23
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Slow ourselves down to recognize God. Opportunities, not just opportunity. That’s a word from God. For some people in this room. I don’t know who you are, but this is a word from God for you. You have opportunities and they look right. But you must go back and consult with God again, because good opportunities are not what you’re looking for.

02:44:08:01 – 02:44:27:21
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God opportunities are. It is not about the next. It is about what deepens. I don’t know who this is for, but I hear the voice of the Lord saying, it is not about what what advances you. It’s about what’s going to take you deeper. And you must look differently at the opportunities. It is not about advancement, the Lord says.

02:44:27:21 – 02:44:32:13
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He says it is about deepening.

02:44:32:15 – 02:45:03:09
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I just say over you today. You must not look for the advancement. You must look for what is deepening you, causing your root system. Go. Go deeper. So I pray for businesses today for vineyards to produce because of the fig tree business owners that are in this room that your people around you are going to produce because of the fig tree you are, and that you will bear fruit in season and you are not one type of fruit.

02:45:03:09 – 02:45:33:13
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You’re a multi fruit and so many, many attacks that come, you will bear fruit and your fruit will be the supply that keeps the attack off of the vineyard from producing more than enough over you. I declare that over to me county that muc here word of life. You are fig trees in this community and it is time that you are not just different.

02:45:33:15 – 02:45:39:19
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You are not just different, but you are fruitful.

02:45:39:21 – 02:45:49:15
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You are fruitful because the quality of your fruit is determining the quality of your community.

02:45:49:17 – 02:46:11:10
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It’s determining the streets you’re walking on. So if we want to see drug addiction change, we want to see depression change. We want to see men change. We want to see things change across our city and small businesses. We want to see the way the mindset is shifting and changing. Then we have to be fig trees, not just different.

02:46:11:12 – 02:46:47:05
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Fruitful. He’s not coming, seeking our difference. He’s seeking our fruit because his fruitfulness in us is youthfulness, usefulness to our community. May your fruit be so big and so large and so full, that everything in this community flourishes because you didn’t get out of place, you didn’t get out of place. You were the contrast, not the competition.

02:46:47:07 – 02:47:02:14
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Lord, we thank you for your word. That is true. Powerful. Thank you for that. You are our defender. Amen. You are our defender.

02:47:02:16 – 02:47:13:20
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Word of life. You are fig trees about to produce like never before. And I celebrate this with you.

02:47:13:22 – 02:47:24:07
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Because this vineyard has been waiting on you to produce. This county has been waiting on you.

02:47:24:09 – 02:47:46:23
Unknown
I said this last time I was here and I’m just prophesying it again. There is artist arising out of this house. I don’t know what it is. I don’t know what you do, but it’s artistic expression and it is going to make an impact on this community. But you must be a fig tree. Don’t be going out there and experience being experiential.

02:47:47:01 – 02:48:11:13
Unknown
Produce fruit and let the fruit of your life be what people eat upon. But I sense that there is just an artistic and evangelistic expression coming. And I said to Pastor Jonathan and the leaders the other night and just want to reiterate it, if you’ll let me. This is coming into the greatest days of evangelism out of this house since the early days I wasn’t here.

02:48:11:13 – 02:48:39:02
Unknown
I only have testimony of that. But I sense that same level of movement is coming into the hearts of you as people to be these fig trees on assignment and take responsibility for this land, and to stop leaving it to government, businesses and other people that you think are the good old boys and that you take authority for the land in which you live in and you begin to say, no, no, no, no, no.

02:48:39:02 – 02:48:52:09
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We will be the producers. We will protect this land. We will see the quality of it grow, and we will see the harvest that is rich in it. In Jesus name, Amen. I bless you, Pastor Jonathan.