Bear Much Fruit

In one paragraph

This was not a traditional sermon but a ministry report and appeal from Norris Williams, a long-term missionary supported by First B Jackson, who spoke about the disciple-making movement work he leads through Church Resource Ministries. Norris described what God is doing among Muslims, refugees, disabled people, and others across the Middle East, Africa, and Eurasia through ordinary people making...

Read together

1. John 15:8 Norris quoted it to ground his fruit-bearing criteria for selecting leaders: 'By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.'
2. Romans 13 Norris cited it to explain the biblical basis for a national response to refugees, distinct from a personal one.

Talk about it

1. Norris described two separate biblical responses to refugees, a national one and a personal one, and said his job is to love and serve those God brings his way. How do you think about that distinction in your own life, and where do you see your responsibility falling?
2. The Discovery Bible Study format asks three questions: what does the passage say, what does it mean, and what will I do in response, followed by who can I tell so another group can start. What would change about how you read the Bible if obedience and sharing were built into the process every time?
3. Norris used the cherry orchard to talk about pruning, saying suckers grow fast, drain energy, and produce nothing, and that trees do not prune themselves but need relationship to do it. What in your own life might be a sucker, and who is helping you see it?
4. Several people Norris described, the Syrian women, the Egyptian man who stopped beating his wife, the disabled girl's family, responded to God not with demands but with the testimony that Jesus never left them through suffering. How does that sit with the way you normally think about what God promises His people?
5. Norris said that when people found out he was not bringing money, they disappeared, and he was fine with that because it left him with the people who really wanted to grow the kingdom. What does that principle reveal about motivation, and how would you apply it closer to home?