Wed.7.1.15...Be Fruitful...Prov.27:14-27

"He who tends a fig tree will eat its fruit" Prov.27:18

When we moved from apartment renting to our first and only home almost 20 years ago, I planted a couple raspberry stalks in my backyard. They multiplied and spread like weeds. They even look more like weeds. To this day, I still am enjoying fruit from those reproducing plants. The first crop begins in early July and we will typically get two more harvests before mid fall. Amazing fruitfulness! I sure enjoy eating their fruit. What's that got to do with you and me today? Everything! 

From the beginning, God has given man a mission- "Be fruitful and multiply" Gen.1:28. Jesus applied that spiritually, telling his disciples and us, "This is to my Father's glory that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples" John 15:8. Such fruit can be the fruit of our Christlike character, conduct, conversation, contributions or converts. Consider the following verses:
Fruitful in Character- The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control" Gal.5:22-23.
Fruitful in Conduct- "bearing fruit in every good work" is what Paul prays for in Col.1:10.
Fruitful in Conversation- "the fruit of lips that confess his name" Heb.13:15 see also Hos.14:2.
Fruit in Contributions- The offering that Paul was taking to needy saints was "fruit" Rom.15:28.
Fruit in Converts- "all over the world this gospel is bearing fruit" Col.1:6

All are vital and what we are about. We are to be fruitful and multiply manly men. I see such fruitfulness as you are digging into God's word and sharing the fruit of your study with others. I see that fruitfulness in the fruit of your lips, giving encouragement to others and in your prayers to advance God's kingdom. And I see that fruitfulness as you are sowing gospel seeds in others lives through our outreach cards or other ways of telling others of transformation. 

But there is another way that your fruitfulness is beginning to grow. Look at Prov.27:18 again- "He who tends a fig tree will eat its fruit." You are tending others or you will be tending others whom you recruit. You will be helping these new "fig trees" grow to be strong and healthy, fruitful trees. Interestingly, fruit is only borne when a tree is healthy. Without water for example, they will not bear fruit. Water and fruitfulness go together. Note what Psalm 1:3 says about a man who reads and meditates on God's word, "He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season..." Just by enlisting a man in M3, you are helping him get rooted in God's word, reading it, and meditating on and passing it on via MP3s. Fruit will come!

The wonderful thing about tending the new men you recruit is that you are not left on your own to do so. The daily blog does the heavy lifting of mentoring him in the word for you. The daily readings, structure and scoreboard naturally promotes a healthy diet on God's word and other Christian basics. But you have more help than that. The added help for tending a new friend toward fruitfulness is your fire team. Remember, via a TEAM, Together Everyone Accomplishes More. So work together in your fire team to especially encourage a new man one of you has recruited. Even if another fire team member recruited him, tend to him as if you yourself enlisted him. Look for him on the blog and often give him a word of encouragement. Text him and call him weekly. Think of what a healthy environment for growth you will create for each new man your fire team enlists. This is TEAM mentoring and coaching at its best. As each of you in your fire team recruits a new man, those men, as they become strong and healthy, will eventually be launched out in their own new fire team. With this structure, you can see how we can be fruitful and multiply without limits. 

How great to know that the Lord is totally committed to helping us bear fruit. The very reason He chose you was for you to be fruitful and multiply. Jesus declared, "I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit- fruit that will last" John 15:16. We just need to help men get on a team focused on the mission of being fruitful and multiplying. It's obvious that you are doing this since we continue to grow almost every week. Way to go and bear fruit. We also know who enables us to be fruitful and multiply- The Lord Himself declared, "Your fruitfulness comes from Me" Hosea 14:8. Thank you Lord!

1.- Who are you hoping to recruit onto your fire team in M3?

Need help in recruiting? Then start by listing Christian men you know and ask them to watch our YouTube video- bit.ly/m3-stories. Then make sure to keep following up on them. Again, think of recruiting like dating or courting. If you really wanted the gal, you wouldn't quickly give up. The best things don't usually come easy. The wisely persistent man is the fruitful man. 

2.- Read Prov.27:14-27 and write out the verse you picked and some of your thoughts regarding it. Then be fruitful and share your MP3 thoughts with others.

Announcements
Speaking of being fruitful, I liked the fruitful conversation Louis Ortiz had recently with a lost co-worker. He wrote, Earlier this week I gave a [greatestmini-movies] card to a co worker of mine who is not a believer. I have shared the gospel with him from time to time and I've been inviting him to church with me. Since I'm on my way out of that job, last night we got to talking about some things and at the end of our shift I shared with him more of the gospel and asked him if he'd let me pray for him. He agreed and when I was done praying he got up and said "Thanks, I really needed that". That's outstanding Luis! Way to go!

Jose Billegas had a bold but gentle approach with a couple of guys recently. Here's what happened. "I just walked up and asked them if they were interested in making a change in their lives. They said, Yes, so I gave them both a [greateest mini-movies] card and said, 'I encourage you to take a few minutes and watch a video from this website, It'll be the best change you could ever make in your lifetime.' They smiled and said they would watch one when they got home. I hope they did take time to watch one." That's so excellent Jose! 

Hey, happy birthday to Israel Fuentes and Ed Lake! May it be a great day for you both and a fruitful year ahead of you.