Social Media: Vineyard of Fruit or Pile of Rot?

On today's episode of the Iron Saints Podcast, we continue our journey through the Gospel of Luke. Continuing through His sermon on the hill we examine the fruit of our hearts and the overflow of the mouth and how that applies to the modern world of social media and digital communications.


A Tree and Its Fruit
43 “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.


The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Lk 6:43–45.

Prayer list:

Eric Hoke @Erichoke - His year of drawing near to the Lord after stepping down from his Lead Pastor role

Anthony @Amaranise Pray for the anxiety Anthony carries that the Lord would build him up

Hillary @mamamelon34 Prayers for a speedy recovery from her first surgery on Tuesday

Ada and Amara @CrystalHope1979 these little ones were born 4 months early. Pray that the Lord stands by these precious little lives.

Transcript

 As Iron sharpens Iron, so one man sharpens another. Welcome back to the Iron Saints podcast with your host, Dan Willis. 2s Good morning, Saints, and welcome back. We are back at it with another episode. We're going to keep walking through Luke today. Really looking forward to it. For those of you that have been missing this or you're just falling onto this podcast for the first time, wherever you may be listening, you can go go back. All the episodes are there for you from the start of Luke all the way to where we are now. I know it doesn't feel like we're flying through Luke too quickly, but I'd rather take the time and do it justice than fly through it so quickly and get very little out of it. So in the process of ten months, we have made it through six chapters of Luke. We're going to keep going. Today, we did the beatitudes. We did the love of your enemy. We did judging others yesterday. And today tree and its fruit is what we're going to be looking at. So let's not take much more time and get right down to it. As always, guys, any of you that have been sharing the podcast out, liking it, leaving comments, leaving prayer requests, just a huge thank you, it's a massive way to help the podcast reach more people and for us to be able to just have a wider community and a little bit more diversity in the conversations that are happening around these scriptures. So huge thank you to you guys that have been listening. For those of you that have been leaving comments or prayer requests, I do appreciate that. Let's get down to it here. 2s As always, guys, I will be reading from the ESV. You are welcome to read along, of course, in any translation that you prefer. I do read it out loud. For those of you that are perhaps unable to have a Bible open, maybe you're driving, maybe you're at work and you got things to do. Maybe you're at the gym and you got some weights in your hand, whatever the case may be. I like to read this for you guys. So it's there for you if you do have your scriptures, though, I do encourage to crack open the Bible and get down to it. But Luke, chapter six, verse 43 is where we're going to start. We're going to go to 45 today. Wow, really? Only two verses? We're only going to knock out two verses today, but we're going to get this one out. We're going to get it done. We're going to reason and wrestle with it a little bit. So here we go. 1s Boar no good tree bear is bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person, out of good treasure of his heart produced. Is good and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces eve for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. 252s Lord we live in. 1s In a challenging time where things are said so quickly that little thought is given and it goes so wide so fast that it can lead to something truly destructive. Lord, pastors have fallen, believers have fallen, marriages have been destroyed. Relationships have been destroyed over tiny little things that are said online. I just pray, Lord, that for all of us, the things that we do online would be edifying to you. The things in our life would be edifying to you, that our our speech would be honoring and glorifying. I pray that our actions would be honoring and glorifying, that good fruit would be evident in the things that we're doing and why we're doing them. Lord up, Eric. Hope to you. He continues drawing near to the Lord after stepping down from his lead pastor role. There are several conventions this week with the PCA and with the Southern Baptists. I just pray that as so much comes out from pastors at these events and there's much being wrestled with, Lord, that everybody would be taking time to draw closer to you in these times. As discussions and debates rage on, especially among those who have had a pulpit or are currently serving at a pulpit, lord just continue to work in their hearts. I lift up Anthony to you, Lord. Anthony carrying anxiety and unease that's even affecting 1s just his general well being, his ability to focus. He's feeling ill to his stomach. He's carrying so much anxiety. Lord, you cast out fear. 1s Pray that you would build him up, Lord. Help him to rise above the fear and anxiety that he's experiencing and be able to continue to move forward with You, Lord. Lift up Hillary to you today, Lord. She has her surgery today. We've been praying for Hillary heading into her surgery, but I do pray that her surgery goes well today, Lord, that she does see that quick recovery she was hoping for. This is her first surgery, and that can be scary, intimidating thing. I just pray that she has no hiccups, everything goes well. Those physicians be with them that are working on her, Lord, and I pray that it goes well. Lift up Ada and Amara to you. These little ones were born four months early, Lord, and that can be very scary for moms and Dads when that happens, but we have so many blessings in modern medicine that we're able to keep these young lives going, keep them alive, and obviously Your hand is a huge part of that, Lord. So I just pray for those little lives, little masterpieces that You've crafted, Lord, that you continue to bless them, be with them as they grow, help them to grow, to know you be with the parents and vile that this may be. Just pray that you're with them and give them comfort, give them certainty in You, Lord. You're the great healer, you're the great father, and You've got as much care for those kiddos as they do. In your name we pray. Amen. Have an amazing day, guys. I will catch you tomorrow with another episode. We will continue on in Luke. And again, huge thank you to all of you guys that have taken the time to share out these podcasts. Share them at your church, in your Bible studies as well as online. Thank you so much for that, and I will catch you guys tomorrow. Thank you for listening to the Iron Saints podcast. If you are looking to share your prayer requests, check the description for social media or email to contact the show. Blessings on you all. Until next time.