Sheryl Brady - The Year of Great Growth

Luke chapter 13, and we’re going to begin reading at the sixth verse today. This is a very familiar passage of Scripture, but I think it is right on time for us. The Bible says in verse 6 of Luke chapter 13, «He also spoke this parable: A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and he found none.» Then he said to the keeper or the gardener of the vineyard, «Look, I have come seeking fruit for three years, and I have found none.» So I want you to get the picture: you have the owner of the vineyard who has come to seek something from the tree that he allowed to be planted in the vineyard. He has come year after year, consecutively, looking for fruit. He is saying, «Look, I’ve come for three years. I’m looking for fruit on this fig tree, and I’m finding none.» So he makes an executive decision and says, «Cut it down. Cut it down! Why does it use up the ground?» The King James might say, «Why does it encumber the ground? Why does it use up the ground?» But the gardener of the vineyard answered and said to him, «Sir, let it alone this year also. I know you came last year and the year before that, but I’m asking you to just let it alone.» See, what you’re hearing are two different perspectives: you’re hearing from an owner and a gardener. It is important that we hear both perspectives. The owner says, «I’m looking for a return on my investment, and I’m not seeing a return. Since I’m not seeing a return, I need to get it out of here because we could possibly put something else there that will give us a return.» But then you have this gardener who is merciful. So you have justice and mercy talking at the same time. Somebody ought to be happy today that mercy prevails! Hallelujah! You don’t have to tell us what you did, but every one of us ought to be thankful that mercy prevails. «Let it alone, sir, until I dig around it and fertilize it.» Okay, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but look at your neighbor and say, «There’s some stuff coming your way. There is some stuff coming your way!» But when it is all said and done, we’re trusting that it’s going to cause you to bear fruit. «And if it bears fruit, well; but if not, after that you can cut it down.» So I want to just say, before last Sunday, I talked about devoting yourself to grow yourself. I’m kind of going to pick up along those same lines, and I want you to look at somebody on your right and say, «Neighbor, 2019 is your year of great growth.» Turn to your other neighbor and say, «Neighbor, God has given you one year.» Come on, say that again: «God’s given you one year!» You’re already into January by a couple of weeks, so you haven’t quite got one year left. But tell them God’s giving you one year for great growth! Spirit of God, I thank You for what You’ve put in my heart, and I thank You for the anointing to deliver what You’ve laid on the altar of my heart. I thank You that people have ears to hear and minds to receive. We don’t take this for granted, God; we’re hearing from You. We live for You; we love for You; we pressed our way for You. Now, cause also, God, if there’s any wax in our ears that would cause us not to hear—any wax of preconceived ideas, any wax of generational curses—if there’s any wax in our ear of religious tradition that would stop us from hearing a precise word on this Sunday morning in 2019 that You have blessed us to see, break it open, God! Dig around it because we want to hear You more than anything! In Jesus’ name, somebody shout, «Amen! Amen! Amen!» You may be seated. On your way down, touch somebody and tell them, «You’ve got to dig it. You’ve got to dig it. You’ve got to dig it.» You’ve got to get it! The psalmist David, and many of you have heard me say this on many occasions, said one of my favorite scriptures is Psalms 119:130, where the psalmist David said, «The entrance of Thy word brings light.» The entrance of the word brings light! That’s why you’ve got to open your heart, and you’ve got to open your spirit. The Message Bible says it like this: «Break open Your word and let the light shine out.» So the word goes in, and once it is in, our prayer is, «God, break open that word that’s within me and let the light of Your word shine out!» That simply means whenever God speaks, He penetrates the darkness. If you find yourself in darkness, you don’t have to stay there. If such situations start clouding your life, always remember that the entrance of the word brings light! So whenever God speaks His word, things have got to brighten up; things have got to light up! The Word of God is like a big flashlight, and the funny thing about it is you don’t know how much you need that flashlight until the power goes out. When the power goes out, you realize that you’ve kind of been taking the light for granted. When you turn on the light, it just takes a little bit of light, and you’ll find out that you can get by with a whole lot less light than you thought you had to have. When you turn on the light…