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Gleanings From The Word

Tag: Gleanings

  • When is He coming back?

    When is He coming back?

    And what do we do as we wait?

    Artits rendering of Jesus second coming

    I don’t think you would find anyone, believer or not, who would disagree with the statement, “We live in dark times.”

    Believers wonder when the Lord will return.

    I have met many Christians who view things from a slightly skewed perspective. They are waiting for the world to get evil and depraved enough for Jesus to return.

    The world doesn’t need to get any more broken. It’s plenty broken enough. All sinners are reasons for Jesus to return and judge the wicked.

    Jesus is waiting for the world to become more righteous. Not self-righteous, because self-righteousness can’t save anyone.

    Righteous as in trusting Christ by faith and coming under the cover of His righteousness. When all who will come to Him have come, then He will return.

    Don’t wait passively for His return. Share the truth in love. Evangelize your neighbor.

    There are many ways to preach the truth, and it is something we are all commanded to do.

    And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20 ESV

    By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:35 ESV

    “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8 ESV

    All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 ESV

    While we wait the world will grow increasing dark. Take heart because that doesn’t mean evil has won the day. Jesus has the victory and will return once He has gathered all His sheep.

    Hold strong and share the love, no matter what you face. 

    Kevin

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  • There Is No Fruit of the Spirit without Holy Spirit

    There Is No Fruit of the Spirit without Holy Spirit

    puffball mushrooms

    Ah, the humble mushroom. There are approximately  20,000 classified varieties, with more being catalogued all the time. They come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. These colorful and often strange-looking organisms have been used in cooking and traditional medicine for millennia.

    This morning’s pic is a puffball mushroom, one of several varieties. Actually, that isn’t quite accurate. This is the fruit of a puffball mushroom.

    The puffy bodies of mushrooms that we are familiar with are only a small part of the mushroom. The larger portion of the fungus is its extensive mycelium, hidden beneath the earth or other substrates.

    The mycelium can be massive. According to one source, “The largest known living organism on earth is a fungus – an underground mycelial mat of the honey fungus in the Blue Mountains of Oregon, covering an incredible 2,385 acres.”

    If there is no mycelium, there is no mushroom fruit.

    The same holds true in the spiritual realm. If there is no Holy Spirit at work in us, there can never be fruit of the Spirit.

    For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:11-14

    The Holy Spirit allows us to discern things of the Spirit. It gives us the seed to grow spiritually. We nurture those seeds through spiritual disciplines such as reading Scripture, prayer, worship, serving, fasting, confession of sin, and more.

    All the spiritual disciplines in the world cannot grow the fruit of the Spirit if we don’t have Him. People of many faiths practice spiritual disciplines, in truth, often putting Christians to shame with their devotion and faithfulness. Yet, in the end, their efforts will prove fruitless because they don’t have Him. 

    Are you seeing the fruit of the Spirit in your life? Certainly, fruit is seasonal, and some fruit takes longer to mature than others, but if there is none, there is a problem.

    You may need to stop and ensure you are right with the Lord. Then you need to nurture what He has provided. 

    My prayer is that you become increasingly conformed into the image of Jesus and bear a vast harvest of the fruit of the Spirit. May your life reflect Him well.

    Be blessed

    Hallelu Yah / Praise God 

    Kevin

    Gleanings From The Word – Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life. 

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    Fruit of the Spirit
    Every Member Is Necessary — 1 Corinthians 12