One More Year

Sunday Sermon
Rhema Community Church
December 28, 2008

Sermonic Skeleton:

Sermonic Scipture: ESV Luke 13:6-9 And he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 And he said to the vinedresser, 'Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?' 8 And he answered him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. 9 Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"

Sermonic Sentence: Don't take God's grace for granted.

Sermonic Tension: How much time do we have?

Sermonic Theme: The Mercy and Grace of God NLT Isaiah 5:1-7 Now I will sing a song for the one I love about his vineyard: My beloved has a vineyard on a rich and fertile hill. 2 He plowed the land, cleared its stones, and planted it with choice vines. In the middle he built a watchtower and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks. Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes, but the grapes that grew were wild and sour. 3 "Now, you people of Jerusalem and Judah, you have heard the case; you be the judges. 4 What more could I have done to cultivate a rich harvest? Why did my vineyard give me wild grapes when I expected sweet ones? 5 Now this is what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will tear down its fences and let it be destroyed. I will break down its walls and let the animals trample it. 6 I will make it a wild place. I will not prune the vines or hoe the ground. I will let it be overgrown with briers and thorns. I will command the clouds to drop no more rain on it." 7 This is the story of the LORD's people. They are the vineyard of the LORD Almighty. Israel and Judah are his pleasant garden. He expected them to yield a crop of justice, but instead he found bloodshed. He expected to find righteousness, but instead he heard cries of oppression.

Sermonic Background: GRACE, COMMON The grace extended to all humanity through God’s general providence. Its benefits are experienced by the entire human race: the beauty of creation, the sun and the rain, the harvest.

NLT Matthew 5:45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and on the unjust, too.

NLT Hebrews 1:2-3 But now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he made the universe and everything in it. 3 The Son reflects God's own glory, and everything about him represents God exactly. He sustains the universe by the mighty power of his command. After he died to cleanse us from the stain of sin, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God of heaven.

NLT John 1:1-4 In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn't make. 4 Life itself was in him, and this life gives light to everyone.

Sermonic Structure:

I. The Parable of the Fig Tree (And he told this parable)

II. The Planting of the Fig Tree (A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard)

III. The Problem with the Fig Tree (and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?)

IV. The Pleading for the Fig Tree (And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also)

V. The Plan the Vinedresser has for the Fig Tree (until I dig around it and put on manure)

VI. The Possibility of the Fig Tree (Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good, but if not, you can cut it down)