What does First B Jackson teach about bearing fruit?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At First B Jackson, the teaching on bearing fruit starts with a simple and direct claim: the fruit comes from the connection, not from the branch straining on its own. The vine-and-branches image in John 15 has come up in multiple messages here, and every time the teachers have pressed the same point first. Jesus is the vine, not us. Brad Yates, preaching from John 15:5, traced the human tendency to hold back some part of life from God all the way back to Adam, and said it shows up today in familiar ways: attending church while hiding sin, going quiet about faith to avoid judgment, managing money by the world's rules, or trying to follow Jesus without the local church. None of that produces the fruit the passage is talking about. A branch has to stay connected.
Matt Litzelman, one of First B's elders, put a picture to that in a message he brought while Pastor Ray was away. His wife had clipped a flower the night before, and the next morning it still looked fine. But it was already dying. Matt said that is exactly how it works when we drift from God. The withering is real before it is visible, and it can take years before what is happening on the inside shows on the outside. On the other side of that, abiding is not passive waiting. Brad described the Greek word for abiding as continuing to dwell, to remain, to stand, an active posture. When that connection is genuinely there, the fruit described in Galatians 5 follows naturally. As Carl put it in his message opening 2022, one person in the conversation afterward said it well: you have never seen a grapevine grunt. The fruit happens because the connection is there.
Pastor Kyle, working through Colossians 1, described bearing fruit in every good work as something that follows from an obedient walk, and said that fruit in turn opens up a deeper knowledge of God. It is not a ladder but a loop: knowing God's will leads to doing it, doing it reveals more of who God is, and that greater knowledge feeds back into knowing His will more fully. And pruning is part of that process. Matt named pride, false identity, unbelief, and selfishness as the kinds of things God removes as we walk more closely with Him, clearing away what is outside His character so that what remains can actually produce something.
Taught from John 15:1-8 · John 15:5 · Galatians 5 · Colossians 1:9-20 · John 15:8
The passage taught · 1 Corinthians 11
1 Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.
2 Now I praise you, brothers, that you remember me in all things, and hold firm the traditions, even as I delivered them to you.
3 But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head.
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- January 8, 2023 Apart From Me, You Can Do Nothing Brad Yates opens John 15:5 to show why Jesus alone is the vine, what it truly means to abide in Him, and how that rooted life produces lasting fruit.
- January 8, 2023 I Am the Vine, You Are the Branches Brad Yates teaches John 15:5 at First Baptist Jackson, exploring what it means to abide in Christ as the true vine and how that produces lasting fruit in our lives.
- October 30, 2022 Apart From Me You Can Do Nothing Matt Litzelman teaches from John 15 on what it means to abide in Christ, bear fruit, and live as a disciple who loves God and loves people.
- October 30, 2022 Apart From Me You Can Do Nothing Matt Litzelman opens John 15 on abiding in Christ, bearing spiritual fruit, and what it actually looks like to follow Jesus as his disciple.
- January 4, 2022 Remain in Jesus Carl walks through John 15, where Jesus calls himself the true vine, and shows why remaining connected to Him is the only way we bear lasting fruit.
- September 25, 2016 Bear Much Fruit Norris Williams shares how ordinary believers across the Middle East and Africa are multiplying disciples and planting thousands of churches through simple, obedient faith.
Mentioned along the way
- June 6, 2023 The King of Peace, Not a War Horse Mark 11 shows Jesus entering Jerusalem as a king of peace, not a conqueror, and clearing a temple that had become a barrier to God rather than a door.
- February 13, 2022 Where Else Would We Go The pastor walks through Matthew 7, the close of the Sermon on the Mount: judging others, the narrow gate, false prophets, and building your life on solid ground.
- February 13, 2022 Enter Through the Narrow Gate Jesus closes the Sermon on the Mount with hard words about judgment, false prophets, and building on solid ground. Pastor Carl walks through Matthew 7.
- March 31, 2019 Kingdom Work - Contemporary Missionary Norris Williams shares how ordinary people praying and obeying God are sparking gospel movements across the Middle East, Nigeria, and beyond.
- February 5, 2017 All Things Were Created Through Him and For Him Paul's prayer for the Colossians mirrors his own prayer for First Baptist Jackson: know God's will, do it, and find in Christ the fullness of all truth and reality.
- June 12, 2016 Union with Christ Is What It's All About A blind man's healing in John 9 opens up the question of what it means to obey simply, testify honestly, and worship faithfully when you are united with Christ.