"GO AND BRING FORTH FRUIT"
"GO AND BRING FORTH FRUIT"
Sunday, August 23, 2026, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
John 15:16: You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and appointed you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, that your fruit should remain; that whatever you shall ask of the Father in My name, I will give it to you.
Recently on Facebook, there have been more than a few posts of people complaining and criticizing their local churches for failure to minister to their pain in their time of need whether illness, brokenness, or other crisis. My response even though I don’t know these people personally, is “please forgive us for our failures.”
Eastgate Church is a ministry of Prayer, Word, Worship, and all the Gifts of the Holy Spirit operating in Divine Love, whose name is Jesus Christ. It is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to reach into the heart of God, and take the things of Christ, and make them known to us. “for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God (1 Co. 2:10).
One of the failures of the local church is unity of the Spirit in that we as members of the Body of Christ must support one another and support Christ’s Body (the whole church) --- to love another.
While encouraging the Body of Christ to minister in their gifts and callings, a culture of ambition has developed for titles, pre-eminence, and “my ministry.” Much of it swirls around money.
Our ministry as a Church Body is to reveal Jesus Christ to a hurting and lost world. This is to be done corporately whether we are ministering in the local church or we are sent.
Gal. 6:14: God forbid that I should boast except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
In Zech 5:4-11, is the vision of the two women of Shinar, this is a type of the Church of the Body of Christ, and its counterfeit. Many are going to be deceived by the counterfeit church. Jesus did not say that any of His elect would be deceived. What He said was the deception would be great, even the very elect would be deceived if that were possible (Mt. 24:24).
We can conclude, God will have special grace for His own lest we too fall into horrible deception. If we are going to know what is light and what is darkness, what is truth and what is error, what is good and what is evil, what is Christ, and what is Antichrist, we have to walk very close to the Lord Jesus in this hour,
We have been appalled at the sudden rise of Communism, Socialism, Marxism, and Islam in the United States. Everyone says it will not amount to anything in the general election. Do not be too sure. There is an amazing amount of energy in this movement. The energy is enveloping the youth. Our older government leaders look washed up and wrung out.
This new Babylon that is coming forth will be an awesome counterfeit of the Body of Christ in the earth. They will claim their own religion counterfeiting Christianity. It could happen quickly, because we are told that the “two women” (Zech. 5:4-11) have strong wings like the wings of a stork. And that “the wind was in their wings.” The wind was favorable! God is seen holding back the four winds of heaven for a season, until His servants are sealed in the foreheads with the seal of the living God, even the mind of Christ (Rev. 7:3).
But when the winds are released, we are going to witness some very dramatic unfolding of the “mystery of iniquity.” The new house in the Land of Shinar (where Babel began) will be established, and “set upon her own base.” (Zech. 5:11).
All whose names are not written in the Lamb’s book of life will be caught in the snare. They will honor this new “church” which may well have a new name, that will be acceptable to most areas of apostate Christendom and other religions (woke). But it will all be according to the working of “the man of sin” and those who are caught in the net will perish with Babylon, in the day when she falls under the mighty impact of God’s warriors from Heaven… whose only weapons will be the Armor of light, and the Sword of the Spirit. These will make war with the Lamb, and the lamb shall overcome them; for He is LORD of lords, and King of kings; and they that are with him are called, chosen, and faithful.
Many years ago the LORD spoke to me to seal His servants on the forehead with His seal. Because of that, I believe the angel of the seal has been released.
Rev. 7_2-3: I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. He cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.
Certainly, there are many who carry the authority of the “seal.” One other I know about is Dr. C. R. Oliver, retired. He wrote a book, “Sealed Unto His Coming.”
Yes, as hungry meat eaters, and spiritual warriors, we can be accused of neglecting the needs of the communities about us and even neglecting the simple message of the gospel. I have taken my stripes over the years but never mind, there is a Holy Ghost fire within me that drives me into the deep things.
1 Co. 2:10: But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
Dan. 2:22: He reveals deep and secret things. He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with Him.
The gospel is that ministration by the Spirit which searches out the depths of God. that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery… The gospel is not just a message declared … it is a secret revealed. The word “mystery” means ‘secret” a secret that is made known to those who are initiated into it. Scales have to be removed from blinded eyes before men are able to “SEE” what is the fellowship of the “mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ. (Eph. 3:9).
So, how shall we discern the Body of Christ from the Babylonian Church.
Mt. 7: 16-17: You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree brings forth good fruit…
It does not say, “you shall know them by numbers, dollars, fame, or name.
James 5:7: Be patient brethren unto the coming of the Lord. Behold the husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it, until He receives the early and latter rain.
He, who does not abide in Christ, will wither, and is stripped of whatever spiritual grace he/she had. That one is cast into the fire and burned.
Mt. 13:30: Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest, I will say to the reapers, “first gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them but gather the wheat into my barn.”
Mt. 13:40: As the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age.
15:7-8: If you abide in me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so, shall you be My disciples.
Everyone who leads a God-pleasing life has been chosen to abide in Christ Jesus. We are joined to Him by love and through His Blood. We cleave to His Word by the power of the Holy Spirit. All our acts, words and action should glorify the Father.
Jesus came to reveal the Father, to make known and unveil the Jehovah God of the Old testament. He did this as He walked in total union with Him saying only what the Father gave Him to speak, doing only what the Father gave Him to do. No one knows the Father unless the Son reveals Him. This is what the gospel is all about that men might come and see and know God.
John 15: 9-10: As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you; abide you in my love. If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
The Lord wants heart obedience based on love. We must have a joyous submission to His word. Love obedience is not conformity to a set of rules. It is absurd to think the lawgiver of the universe is Himself subject to any law. This love obedience is because a man wants to, not because he has to. Our obedience to Him is to be like He is to His Father, loving, voluntary and hearty (Col. 3: 17; 23).
John 15: 11-13: These things I have spoken to you that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Earlier in this message to his disciples, he told them he was giving them His peace. (14:27). Now he is giving them the fullness of joy, His joy. He has cleansed them by His Word (righteousness). This is the Kingdom of God, Joy, Peace, and Righteousness in the Holy Ghost.
The Lord spoke to me (2017) that laughter is a realm of the Spirit. Laughing in the Spirit is an overflow of joy, deliverance, and warfare.
Love one another as I have loved you. The root hindrance and/or stumbling block to agape love whether in marriages, families, churches, communities, or nations are selfishness and pride. With either of these active in our life, we are not humble and meek. Without true humility, we will not experience true Love. We must lay down our pride for one another. Christ physically laid down His life. He asks us to lay down our self-righteousness, righteous indignation, and rights preferring one another. All strife, competition, self-exaltation, and self-promotion are all works of self-righteousness and will burn with the tares.
People ask me how it was I received the visitations of the LORD and the call to Pastor. It was through the brokenness of the work of the Cross. Yes, we are crying out to the LORD to restore the POWER to the Church. 1 Co. 1:18: The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are saved it is the power of God.
2 Co. 13:4: He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. We also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you.
When the LORD called me into full time ministry, He spoke this scripture to me. The promise is conditional on the fruit.
John 15:16: You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and appointed you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, that your fruit should remain; that whatever you shall ask of the Father in My name, I will give it to you.
COMMUNION
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church, 10115 West Hidden Lakes Lane, Richmond, Tx.
Scripture from K.J.V. ; N.K.J.V. – I entered into the labors of George H. Warnock, Who Are You?; Blessed Theophylact, The Gospel of John; Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible; Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of those who I entered into their labors.