Mensa Otabil - What Fruits Are You Producing? (10/31/2025)
We’ve asked ourselves some important questions this week, beginning from «Who are you?» to the question we are asking now: «Are you bearing good fruit, or are you bearing fruit at all?» Yesterday, we talked about whether you know what you’re sowing. What are you sowing?
So, Luke chapter 13, verse 6: 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.» As you know, Jesus used parables to teach important lessons, and here he’s using a parable-a short story-to teach an important lesson about a man who planted a fig tree. He planted it with the expectation to receive fruit, and now he comes to the tree, and there is no fruit. God designed us to produce fruit, which means to be effective in what we do. If God gives us a gift or gives us abilities, He expects us to use those abilities profitably. Even for the life that He gives to us, He expects us to use our lives profitably.
So, for every action of ours, there has to be something good coming out of it. In this parable, the owner of the fig tree finds no fruit, and if you read the subsequent verses, he then says that the fig tree must be cut off. The reason is that it is wasting the land. In other words, it is wasting resources. Is God interested in how we use resources? Of course, He is. Is God interested in seeing results in our lives? Of course, He is.
So, for whatever we do, we pray to God and say, «Oh God, help me to marry,» and we marry. God wants our marriage to produce fruit, and I’m not just talking about having children, but about becoming a good relationship, an honoring relationship, a relationship that is a blessing to both man and woman. You pray, you say, «God, give me gifts; give me talent.» He gives you a talent, and He’s going to come looking for fruit: «What have you done with my talents?» You say, «Oh God, help me to start my business.» He’s going to come looking for fruit: «What have you done with it?»
So, for whatever we ask God, whatever we pray and seek God to give to us, He will invest in us. After He’s invested in us, after He’s answered our prayer, He will come looking for fruit. He’ll come looking for what we have done with what we prayed for. So, don’t just pray about things from God; remember, He’s going to make you account for the things that you’ve asked Him to give you. You must produce fruit.
When we don’t produce fruit, looking at the parable of the talents, the parable of the miners, and this parable- all three show, and many more parables of Jesus show, that if you don’t produce fruit or results with them, use them well. Be active, be hardworking, and let your life be fruitful.
So this week, we’ve answered a lot of questions, and I hope that you’re going to enter the next week with a clear sense of direction to fulfill the purpose of God for your life, for your life to be fruitful, for your life to be result-oriented, for your life to give God the joy that what He has invested in you has worked out.
Let’s pray. Say with me: Heavenly Father, help me to make the most of all that You have invested in me, and let me be fruitful where I am planted. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.