Coach's Corner
Warm-Up
“My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples.” – John 15:8
Hello Team! Today I want us to go around and list how many fruits we can think of. Ready, set, go!
You all came up with a lot of fruits! Today in our scripture, Jesus talks about producing fruits. Now I don’t mean planting an apple tree. I mean fruits being our actions.
Workout
When you first started playing your sport, you probably weren’t very good at it. You had to learn the rules, practice, mess up a few times, and then start to succeed. Eventually, you began to learn new skills and got better. Other people probably started to notice you were improving too. They saw “the fruits of your labor,” which is a fancy way of saying your hard work was paying off, and people noticed.
People notice a lot of things. You may have heard someone say, “Wow, you have grown so much. You used to be this big.” Your parents notice when you aren’t doing great in school. Even I, as your coach, notice when you are growing or not trying as hard. People can’t see inside your heart or brain to know if you understand a particular skill. They are only able to tell by what you produce – your fruit. Jesus tells us that people can see our relationship with God by the “fruit” we produce, and it glorifies Him when others can see His love in us.
You don’t have to cut open an apple tree to see if it is healthy and produces good fruit. You look at the tree and see if there are any good apples on it. We can tell if the tree is healthy by seeing what it produces. What are we producing? Good fruits or bad fruits? Are you producing jealousy of friends who are starting when you’re not? Or are you producing joy in seeing your friends succeed? Our fruits will show if we are glorifying God with our life.
Wrap-Up
What are some examples of good fruits that people should see in you? What are examples of bad fruits?
“Father, we desire to love You with our life and everything we have. Please show us today if we are producing good fruits or bad fruits. Amen.”