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<center>**WHERE IS THE FRUIT OF THE LAND?**</center>



>_“And they told him, and said, we came unto the land whither thou sent us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey, and this is the fruit of it”. (Numbers 13:27)._


Apostle Paul forewarned young pastor Timothy about the dangers of the last days, and charged him to be instant in preaching the pure doctrine of the word of God at all season. He said time will come when people will not be willing to endure sound doctrine of the word of God, but will run after pastors having itching ears, who will turn them away from the truth, and divert their minds into fables


There is no time in the life of the church when such warning could be taken more seriously other than this present time. Things are upside down. Denominations are multiplying every day. People are religious and the church worldly. The line of demarcation between the world and the church has been broken down. Just like king Nebuchadnezzar brought idol to the people of God to bow down to, the devil has brought in a lot of worldly idols into the church for people to bow down to. 


These days you find few members of the church, who will like Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego, refuse to bow to the ungodly practices of the world. Like Daniel insisted that he will not be defiled by the portion of the king’s meat. There are only few who will stand on his ground to say “I will not join the multitude to compromise”. 


Joshua told the children of Israel to choose whom they will serve but as for me and my household, we will serve the living God. Where are the Joshuas of our time who will tell his congregation that no matter the pressure to compromise, I and my family will stand on the totality of the word of God.


The journey of the children of Israel to Canaan land is an example of the redeemed children of God from the earth to heaven. We learnt from the Bible that Moses sent out spies to go and search the Promised Land (Canaan city) and what he strictly commanded them to bring was the FRUIT of the land and not the WEALTH of the land. He knew that the land was flowing with milk and honey, but what is more important is the fruit and not the wealth. But what happens this time in our congregations? 


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The people are more concerned with the wealth of the land than the fruit of the promised Canaan land. Achan was carried away by the wealth of that land and eventually perished with his household. 


Hear what he told Joshua:

>“When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylon’s garment and two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I converted them, and took them (Josh 7:21).


These are what the people are now running after. Many pastors are now Achan. Whenever they see people in their congregation wearing Babylon’s garments with silver and gold on their neck, they bow. To them, these are the blessed of the Lord. They are not after the fruit, what matters to them is the wealth. Whenever a man comes to church in exotic car, for only a period of six months, every member of the church must have known him. 



For only about a year in the church, he must have been given an executive position in the church. That is a big catch. He may not have known what the bible calls restitution, he may not have known what the bible means by “without holiness, no man shall see the Lord”, but that does not matter to them. All they are after is the wealth. It may be possible that there is a poor widow in that place, with no body to comfort and encourage, though she may possess all the necessary grace and fruit of the spirit, yet for two years, no minister has visited her. 


The pastor may not even know her by her name. But these are the people God commanded the church to care for, No she is not among the blessed of the Lord, she is accursed. To defend themselves, they quickly quote Ecclesiastes 7:12, 10:19,


> “Money is a defense” and “Money answereth all things”. But God has warned that there shall by no means enter into that promise land (Kingdom of heaven) anything that defiles and maketh abominations. Be careful about what you see and hear about this world. Hear what John the beloved apostle warned the church in 1 John 2:15-17. 



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**_“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the LUST… Understand it clearly, (not the love but the lust of the flesh,) and lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God, abideth forever.”_**


In many pulpits today, you will scarcely hear the ministers emphasizing about the fruit of the spirit. What you will continuously hear about is the gifts of the spirit. But gifts are temporal benefits that cannot endure through eternity. You don’t need the gift of healing in heaven because there is no sickness there. You don’t need the gift of miracle in heaven because there is no lame man, no blind man and no evil spirit possessed people in heaven. You don’t need the gift of the word of knowledge because in heaven, we shall know all things in perfect. But the fruit you bear qualifies you to enter heaven and remains in you all through eternity (life without ending). 



This is what Apostle Paul made known to the Corinthian Church that whether there be prophecies, they shall fail, whether there be tongue, they shall cease, whether there be knowledge, it shall varnish away. We may need all these gifts here on earth but certainly not in heaven.
Jesus stated this clearly to His disciples that He is the true vine, the father is the husbandman and we are the branch, and every branch that beareth not fruit, He taketh away, but every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it that it may bring forth fruit and that your fruit may remain” (permanent).


In our text, we saw that the spies came back to Moses and to the whole congregation and told them the land which the Lord has promised them is truly a great land indeed, and to convince the people of their testimony, they said “This is the fruit of the land” to confirm. I know you must have heard a lot of testimonies from the people I refer to as _bless me, bless me Christians._ 



**_Testimonies are good but the question still remains, where is the fruit of the land to support your testimony? Testimonies about how God has blessed Jones with a new car, a good job, financial breakthrough, prosperity etc – without the fruit of the spirit in the person’s life to confirm that he is a candidate of heaven is meaningless and useless unto God.**_


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