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True Fruit Bearing – Part Two

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged Church in Sardis, Fruit Bearing, Fruit of the Spirit, Repentance on September 26, 2022| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Galatians 5:22-25

Galatians 5:22 speaks about fruit. “But the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS LOVE…” I Corinthians 13 tells us what love is. The word “love” is used so loosely in our society that children hardly know what love means. In some parts of Europe you could not tell someone you love them because they would get some wrong feelings, some wrong ideas. Their language does not carry the right connotation.

“1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity (agape love), I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.” That means I could preach like Paul, I could prophesy like any of the great prophets and yet if I do not have love, I am just making noise. “2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. 4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity (agape love) envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity (love cannot rejoice when one is hurt or one is fallen), but rejoiceth in the truth; 7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”

The King James Version uses the word “charity.” I do not have the slightest idea why the Greek word agape was translated as charity. Agape is the love of God, the genuine thing from God. Human love says “I love to eat, or I love to play.” When people have love it is the greatest. “The fruit of the Spirit is LOVE.” It would seem to me that love is a multi-fruited fruit.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law,” Galatians 5:22. If you have love, true agape love, it brings JOY. PEACE: you must have peace – peace with God – peace with yourself – then you WILL have peace with the people around you. If you do not have peace with yourself and with God, then you have no peace. LONGSUFFERING: it does not take much for some of us to fly off the handle. A person that has long-suffering has the fruit of the Spirit. GENTLENESS: those who are gentle are kind, not rough, and not out of order. It is a quality of God. Sometimes Jesus Christ is spoken of as gentle Jesus. GOODNESS: the word good comes from the word God. Goodness means like God. FAITH, MEEKNESS, TEMPERANCE: the person who is temperate will not overdo or over express anything. He will have a temperate quality in him.

“Against such there is no law.” No matter how bad the regime, they will not be able to form a law against love, against peace, against joy. No one can stop you from manifesting in the fruit of the Spirit. When you have the Spirit of God in you, His fruits bear out through you like a branch on a tree. The tree bears oranges on the branch. The orange and the power to bear come from the tree. A grapefruit tree closely resembles an orange tree and you could be fooled, but when you see the fruit you know. “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them,” Matthew 7:20.

The church of Sardis was dead but it had a name that it was alive. At one time it was a prosperous, living church bearing the fruits of the Spirit.

Revelation 3:2 and 3a, “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. 3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent.”

THE ONLY WAY BACK for one who has lost touch with God is through REPENTANCE. God is saying to this church, to this people that they should stop doing wrong, stop disobeying Him, turn away from what they are doing and turn to Him. These are the three basic steps in repentance – stop, turn away, and turn to God. Many people take two steps and then generally fall back into the very sin from which they have repented, because they stop and turn away but instead of turning to God they turn to something else and then fall again into sin.

God is speaking to this church, to a people, now, TODAY. God is saying, “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die.” There is something that is still alive. There is still hope. The fire can be rekindled.

“For I have not found thy works perfect before God.” I believe this church was going after the world. Sardis was a very luxurious place where people were full of pride and had much of the world’s goods. This church was in the midst of this city and somewhat attracted to it. God is bringing back the memory of what the church used to be.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 55-57)

Thought for today: If you have turned away from God and cannot find your way, begin to remember from whence you were fallen. Remember the first works, remember what you used to do, how God used to work in you. Remember it, long for it, cry to God to bring it back to you, and He will.

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True Fruit Bearing – Part One

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged Church in Sardis, Fruit Bearing, Fruit of the Spirit, Righteousness, Tabernacle of Moses on September 23, 2022| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: John 15:1-6

Revelation 3:1, “And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.”

This church was situated in the city of Sardis, the capital city of Lydia. Sardis was a very luxurious place. The church had a name that it was alive, yet it was dead. The church was very well populated. It had many members full of the world and the things of the world, but the fruit of the Spirit was not evident.

Let us look again at the Tabernacle that God instructed Moses to build. The entrance into the Tabernacle was through the gate. The Brazen Altar of sacrifice was the first piece of furniture inside the gate. In type, this is where church begins. Outside of the gate of the Tabernacle there is no church. The SEVEN CHURCHES referred to in Revelation are typed by the SEVEN PIECES OF FURNITURE in the Tabernacle. If this is true, then the church that was outside of the gate of the Tabernacle was a dead church. Sardis was NAMED by God as one of the seven churches. Therefore, this church was supposed to have been alive, but because it had ceased to produce fruit, it was dead. John 15:1-6 tells us that the fruit bearing of a church or an individual must come through the connection to the vine, which is Christ.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” A DEAD CHURCH is a church that is no longer attached to the vine.

In the Tabernacle, the symbol of the church is the Candlestick, or the Lampstand. The oil is poured into the Lampstand and comes up and feeds all the seven lamps. If something should happen and one of the arms is cut off, then no oil would go into that arm and no oil would go to that lamp. Consequently, that lamp would be dead and would have to be removed, according to the Word of God. “Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.” I want to remind you again that these churches are typical of the WHOLE CHURCH AGE from the time of Christ until now. Some of us are involved in these churches, every one of these seven churches. Today there is a church which seems to have life but yet it is dead.

The fruit of the Spirit and fruit bearing do NOT mean winning souls, having miracles, or doing works. God will do His work in spite of us. The church that is saving souls says that they are doing well because souls are being saved. Souls are being saved because God wants to save people. Wherever the Word of God is preached He will save people. Even in places where they do not believe in salvation (churches that play around with the Word) the Word produces deliverance in the people. The fact that souls are being saved, people are being delivered, and lives are being changed DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN the church is fulfilling its function before God. God said there are “seven Spirits” working with the seven different churches regardless of what their spiritual condition is. God is still working with them because God must bring forth salvation to His people.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 54-55)

Thought for today: Jesus is the vine. Are you and your church connected to the vine so that you may bear the fruit of righteousness?

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