So here's the plan. I'm going to preach very briefly on the eight verses that Brittany just read.

And then this sermon is going to have 12 points. So we're going to be here for a little bit.

But the 12 points are not going to be sentences on a screen. They are going to be stories and testimonies

spoken out and celebrated in the sacrament of baptism. I love this passage of scripture

because it's in one of the most urgent moments of Jesus' life that he passes down this

teaching to his disciples.

But when we're talking about fruit bearing, we have to remember that fruit that grows in our

lives is not about a material thing or up into the right number and how the world measures

success. Fruit is about impact and development over time where real people are impacted.

And so at this gathering, there's going to be 12 people who share stories of what Jesus has done.

At the last one this morning, there was eight.

And it's just powerful to read this passage and then to see it happen in real time, in real stories. So before they come up there,

let me give you the title for really this collection of talks that's coming up over the next

month and a half, but this is kind of the preparation that's setting us in motion. The title of

this sermon is called eternal fruit. Eternal fruit. I lately have been so surprised at how heavy the theme of fruit

is cover to cover in the scriptures. This is not an illustration Jesus came up with the

night before he died that he thought could give the disciples some good imagery to remember what it means to be united to him. This is not an illustration Jesus came up with the night before he died that he thought could give the disciples some good imagery to remember what it means to be united to him.

This is like from the very beginning of the story to the end of the story.

You remember with Adam and Eve, it's interesting that how humanity falls is by eating fruit

from a tree that was forbidden.

Of all the ways, humanity could have rebelled against God.

Don't you think that's interesting that had to do with eating the wrong fruit?

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