Mensa Otabil - The Earth is Fruitful
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Welcome to a brand new week. This week, we are starting to teach on fruitfulness. If you have followed carefully, you would know that fruitfulness is our theme for the year. Since it’s the theme, I’m going to use two weeks to talk about fruitfulness. I’ll start this week and continue next week, giving us time to explore the concept as much as I can within the next two weeks.
Let’s embark on this journey of fruitfulness, and I trust that God will make your life fruitful, and you’ll bear fruit in different areas of your life. We start with the book of Genesis, where everything begins. We will look at Genesis chapter 1, verse 11, which reads, «Then God said, 'Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself on the earth.' And it was so.»
God made our planet a place of fruitfulness, giving the earth the ability to produce life and sustain it. This is a fruitful planet. However, when you read the Bible’s account of life on earth, it wasn’t always a fruitful place. In fact, from Genesis chapter 1, verse 2, the earth is described as a place that is void, with darkness on the deep. It’s just a watery planet, not producing the diversity of life as we know it—not even intelligent life as we know it.
Then the Spirit of God moved upon the earth and prepared it to be a fruitful place because ultimately, God was going to create His image— you and I. He prepared the earth to be fruitful before man came.
In our passage today, Genesis chapter 1, verse 11, the text states, «God said, 'Let the earth bring forth.'» We use that term to mean something is producing, specifically in this context, sprouting vegetation. The statement presupposes that God had already equipped the earth for that purpose; He had prepared it for production.
We live on a fruitful planet. To live fruitful lives, we need to recognize that God did not place us in a sterile environment. He did not put us in a place that cannot support productivity and fruitfulness. Instead, God placed us in an environment teeming with life. When you look all around, you see vegetation, majestic trees to look up to, humble grass to walk upon, and flowers in various colors and designs. All this magnificent display of productivity comes from the hand of God to remind us that we live in a fruitful environment.
This understanding is crucial because it shows that no matter where God places us on this planet, we are surrounded by fruitfulness. You cannot be in a part of the world and think you can’t be fruitful or productive. Whether you live in the so-called developed world or the so-called underdeveloped world, based on whatever index is used, we know that in God’s economy, wherever He places us is a place of fruitfulness.
That is what I want you to grasp from the start: where you are now, in whatever town, city, family, environment, or continent, is a fruitful place. This is where we start understanding how to be fruitful. If you don’t get this right, you might allow your location to disqualify you, but your location cannot disqualify you from fruitfulness because God made the earth to be fruitful.
That’s why we start our teaching on fruitfulness here. Let us pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, you have made the earth to be fruitful. I boldly declare that I will flourish wherever you plant me. In Jesus' name, Amen.» Yes, you will flourish because wherever God plants you is a fruitful place. I’ll catch you again tomorrow. I’m Pastor Mensa Otabil. Peace and life to you.