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Topic: producing Fruit
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Caretaker
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Member # 36
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1 John 4:
12: No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
13: Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
14: And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
15: Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
16: And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
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A Servant of Christ,
Drew
1 Tim. 3:
16: And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh..
Posts: 3978 | From: Council Grove, KS USA | Registered: Jun 2002
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Eden
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Eden had written quote:
... from the Resurrected Jesus from heaven to our Holy Spirit.
Carol Swenson replied quote:
No. The Holy Spirit IS the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of God. They are not three separate Persons in different places. They are omnipresent and omniscient.
They are both omnipresent and omniscient AND in different places. Because, note, after we are saved, the Holy Spirit comes into the believers, but the Holy Spirit does not come into unbelievers. That shows that the Holy Spirit is not always acting in an omnipresent way and sometimes They act in separate ways.
Jesus ascended to heaven and sat down at the right hand of the Father in heaven, and the Holy Spirit was sent to earth to enter only into the believers, but not into unbelievers.
So Carol Swenson wrote quote:
No. The Holy Spirit IS the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of God. They are not three separate Persons in different places. They are omnipresent and omniscient.
I will send the Comforter to you, Jesus said. God can act in an omnipresent way and in a non-omnipresent way.
love, Eden
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Eden
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Carol Swenson had posted quote:
John 14
17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. ... But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.
The Holy Spirit is already in me, communicating with Jesus in heaven and communicating with my spirit of man on earth.
The Holy Spirit in me hears from Jesus and the Holy Spirit in me then tells my spirit what Jesus said I should do. Jesus's Counsel does not come as audible words, but as Thoughts and Ideas and Feelings about what to do next, in even the smallest situations.
Psalm 73:24
You shall guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
love, Eden
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Carol Swenson
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John 14
15 “If you love me, obey my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you . 18 No, I will not abandon you as orphans— I will come to you . 19 Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. 20 When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
Posts: 6787 | From: Colorado | Registered: Dec 2007
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Carol Swenson
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WE WORSHIP ONE GOD
John 10:30 (NLT)
The Father and I are one.
John 17
20 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you . May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24 "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25 "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."
Posts: 6787 | From: Colorado | Registered: Dec 2007
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Eden
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Eden had written quote:
the Resurrected Jesus from heaven to our Holy Spirit.
Carol Swenson ansered quote:
No. The Holy Spirit IS the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of God. They are not three separate Persons in different places. They are omnipresent and omniscient.
Okay, regarding the bolded part, why would Jesus then say:
John 16:7
Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
The Resurrected Jesus is now in heaven "seated" at the right hand of God the Father, and Jesus guides my life by the Holy Spirit which Jesus said would be in me:
John 16
8 And when He {the Comforter} is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.
9 Of sin, because they believe not on Me;
10 Of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and you see Me no more;
11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
13 Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come.
To repeat what Carol Swenson said quote:
No. The Holy Spirit IS the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of God. They are not three separate Persons in different places. They are omnipresent and omniscient.
The Holy Spirit is the Comforter sent by Jesus to us:
John 16:7
... I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
They all possess the ability to be omnipresent and omniscient, but that does not mean that They can also occupy some specific locations, as God the Father is in heaven and is at the same time omniscient and omnipresent.
And Jesus clearly ascended up to heaven and was seated at the right hand of the Father. And Jesus clearly sent the Holy Spirit to the believers.
And so Eden had written quote:
... the Resurrected Jesus from heaven to our Holy Spirit.
Carol Swenson then answered quote:
No. The Holy Spirit IS the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of God. They are not three separate Persons in different places. They are omnipresent and omniscient.
The Holy Spirit was also sent and Jesus also ascended to heaven:
Luke 24
49 And, behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you: but tarry in the city of Jerusalem, until you are endowed with power from on high.
50 And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them.
51 And it came to pass while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and He was carried up into heaven.
Mark 16
19 So then after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God.
Omnipresent and omniscient they may be, but that are also in specific locations, like inside a bornagain Christian for instance:
John 3
5 Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, Except a man is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
The Spirit of God is in us, the Resurrected Jesus is in heaven, and God the Father is in heaven, but They CAN go do whatever They want to do in heaven or in the universe. Heaven is, at it were, God's Primary Home.
love, Eden
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Carol Swenson
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I'm not "preaching" anything. I'm simply sharing what I learn.
quote:
rich and abundant in grace, mercy and kindness adn wisdom,
Yes.
quote:
the Resurrected Jesus from heaven to our Holy Spirit.
No. The Holy Spirit IS the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of God. They are not three separate Persons in different places. They are omnipresent and omniscient.
Posts: 6787 | From: Colorado | Registered: Dec 2007
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Eden
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Dear Carol Swenson, this afternoon I was thinking about what was going on between you and me, and I think the Holy Spirit is saying that we are simply preaching different aspects of the kingdom of God.
I was preaching about the wonderfully abundant lief that a Christian begins to experience once they are inside the loving family camp of God.
Unlike Satan's family from which God snatched us, God's family camp is rich and abundant in grace, mercy and kindness adn wisdom, and if we trust in the LORD, He wil guide all our steps, as it says in the Word.
And you were preaching other aspects of the kingdom of God, namely that it is also the heart of God to witness, to reconcile, to make disciples, to watch what we let our eyes watch and our ears listen to, and so on, and that aspect is what you were preaching.
And so I was rightly dividing the Word when it comes to living the abundant life thru listening to the Counsel of the Resurrected Jesus from heaven to our Holy Spirit.
And you were rightly dividing the Word when it comes to preaching and witnessing and making disciples and so on.
What do you think of that, Carol Swenson? Doesn't that reconcile our posts as both being from God, only that the Holy Spirit is using me for different preaching purposes than the Holy Spirit is using you.
love, Eden
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Carol Swenson
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 Life in Christ: the Disciple’s Cross
Discipleship may be defined as abiding in Christ. To understand more fully your opportunity and responsibility as a disciple of Jesus, you can work through the simple exercise that follows.
A disciple of Christ is one who makes Christ the Lord of his or her life. Write Deny Self: Luke 9:23. Notice in this verse Jesus said we are to do three things: deny ourselves, take up our crosses daily, and follow Christ.
The first commitment of a disciple is to deny oneself. That does not mean to reject your identity but to renounce the self-centered life. Represent your life by drawing a circle. The empty circle represents clearing out all of self for Christ. You cannot be a disciple of Christ if you are not willing to deny self. Now read Luke 14:26. This verse simply means nothing can be more important to you than Christ. To commit yourself to self-denial, you will need to accept the lordship of Jesus.
The Circle: Abiding in Christ
If this circle represents your life, Christ should fill the entire circle. Write the word Christ in the circle. That means He is to have the priority in everything. The Christian life is simply Christ living in you. Write John 15.5 under the word Christ in the circle. What can you do without abiding in Christ? Nothing! Christ said He is the vine, and we are the branches. The branches are part of the vine. You are a part of Christ. He wants to live His life through you. Is this the kind of life you would like to have?
God has provided a way for Christ to be at the center of your life. This requires a second commitment. Jesus said everyone must “take up his cross daily” (Lk 9:23). To “deny” yourself is the negative side of becoming a disciple; to take up your cross is the positive side. Taking up your cross puts Christ in the center of your life. Write cross under deny. Write Luke 14:27 beside cross. Illustrate this point by drawing a large cross around the circle. Draw the outline of the cross so that the circle is in the center of the cross.
Jesus said you are to bear your cross daily (Lk 9:23). What is involved in bearing the cross? You move beyond denying yourself to taking up a redemptive ministry. The cross for Jesus meant giving Himself to redeem the world. You enter into His ministry by taking up your cross. Bearing your cross and serving others requires discipline. The cross is our analogy to illustrate the disciplines Jesus said a disciple should have to abide in Him and serve Him.
The Lower Part of the Vertical Bar: Word
The way to have Christ living in you is to have His Word in you. (Write word on the lower part of the vertical bar of the cross.) Write John 8:31-32 on the lower part of the vertical bar of the cross. The Word is food for you. You cannot grow unless you have a regular intake of the Word. You receive the Word in many ways: by listening to someone preach it, by reading it, by studying it, by memorizing it, by meditating on it, and by applying it. Making Christ Lord means that you want to study and meditate on the Word regularly. “To continue in the Word” also means to obey it. Write John 15:10 in the circle. To abide in Christ means to obey Him.
The Upper Part of the Vertical Bar: Prayer
A part of living in Christ is living in prayer. Write prayer on the upper part of the vertical bar of the cross. Write John 15:7 on the upper part of the vertical bar of the cross. If you abide in Christ and His Word abides in you, you can ask what you will and God will do it.
Notice the vertical bar of the cross points to the relationship between God and humans and the basic ways one communicates with God and He communicates with you.
The Right Part of the Crossbar: Fellowship
Living in Christ means that you will try to live in fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ. Write fellowship on the right crossbar. Write John 13:34-35 at the right on the crossbar. Jesus said that the way to show you are His disciple is to love one another. God has provided the ideal place for you to grow—His church. The church is not a building or an organization, although it uses both of these. A church is a body of believers who have covenanted together to carry out Christ’s ministry in the world. A committed Christian will stay in fellowship with a local body of believers. The church is the body of Christ. If you are living in Christ, you realize it is important to live in His body, the church.
The Left Crossbar: Witness
Living in Christ includes witnessing to others. Write witness on the left crossbar. Witnessing is sharing Christ with others. Write John 15:8 at the left on the crossbar. Jesus said that the way to show that you are His disciple is to bear much fruit. This always includes witnessing. Witnessing is the natural outgrowth of living in Christ. If you are living daily in the Word, praying in faith, and fellowshipping with God’s people, it becomes natural and normal to share with others the Christ who is living in your heart. Write Matthew 4:19 beside follow under deny and cross.
From Abiding in Christ to Fruit Bearing
If you live in Christ, you eventually will bear fruit. Fruit does not necessarily grow quickly; but it grows continually and bears in season. Fruit bearing is the normal, natural result of a life that has Christ at the center. Our lives in Christ should continue to grow and expand. Fruit bearing includes the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith fulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22-23). As the fruit of the Spirit grows in your life, you reach out to others through ministry and service of all kinds.
Add pointed arrows to the ends of the crossbars. They symbolize that our fruit bearing should express itself in ministries.
Living in the Word leads to a ministry of teaching or preaching. Write Ministry of Teaching or Preaching at the bottom of the cross.
Praying in faith will lead to a ministry of worship or intercession. Write Ministry of Worship or Intercession above the cross.
Fellowshipping with believers leads to a ministry of nurture to members of the church. Write Ministry of Nurture to the right of the cross.
Witnessing to the world leads to a ministry of evangelism. Write Ministry of Evangelism to the left of the cross.
Our witness and our fellowship involves Christian service to other people. Write Ministry of Service, John 15:13, above the horizontal bar.
These ministry areas comprise the ministry of a disciple and of Christ’s church.
The goal in discipleship is expressed in 2 Timothy 2:21. You need to grow in all spiritual disciplines and ministries to master life and to be prepared for the Master’s use. If you develop all of these disciplines, your life will be balanced and fruitful.
One way to remember this illustration is:
• One Lord as the first priority of your life.
• Two relationships: The vertical relationship with God and the horizontal relationship with mankind.
• Three commitments: Deny self, take up your cross, and follow Christ daily.
• Four disciplines: Living in the Word, praying in faith, fellowshipping with believers, and witnessing to the world.
• Five ministry areas: A ministry of teaching/preaching, a ministry of nurture, a ministry of worship/intercession, a ministry of evangelism, and a ministry of service.
(Disciple’s Study Bible)
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Eden
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We must do both: we must read the Word of God and we must stop leaning on our own understanding and start listening to Jesus who counsels us from heaven by the Holy Spirit. Both things are required for spiritual growth.
Psalm 32:8
I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shal go: I will guide you with My eye.
Psalm 73:24
You shall guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
Psalm 48:14
For this God is our God forever and ever: He will be our guide even unto death.
love, Eden
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Carol Swenson
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In order to grow in maturity and wholeness and fruitfulness and Christlikeness, we must be feeding on the truth from God's word about the Lord Jesus Christ, who lives in us as our hope of glory. Another way to express our purpose is that we are involved in pointing God's people to the Lord and His word.
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Eden
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Carol Swenson wrote about Eden quote:
Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).
You do not rightly divide the Word.
And of course that's the age-old tactic of accusing and slandering someone without providing any evidence whatsoever.
Also, by saying that I do not rightly divide the Word, then you are implying that you are rightly dividing the Word.
So, if that is the case, why don't you lead me out of my error into the truth since you are implying that you know how to rightly divide the Word, Carol Swenson?
Or at least, provide even one simply stated evidence of where you think I'm in error, and let's discuss it.
Because if you have no evidence to present, then you ought not to accuse me of not rightly dividing the Word, while presumably you DO know how to rightly divide the Word.
I'm innocent until proven guilty. Set forth your case, Carol Swenson.
love, Eden
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Found in Him
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One is in error if they attempt to re-write scripture... There is:
1. The Spirit of Truth and...
2. There is the spirit of error
1 John 4
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~To Him That is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy...to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.~ Jude 24
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Carol Swenson
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Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).
You do not rightly divide the Word.
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Eden
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Found in Him wrote to Eden quote:
Jesus said not a word about "moment to moment living" ...
Oh really? There are many scriptures that the LORD will guide our steps until death.
Psalm 48:14
For this God is our God forever and ever: He will be our guide even unto death.
The last time I checked, steps are very small, and are the same as our moment-to-moment or step-by-step experiences, and the LORD guides every one of them after we are saved, IF we believe that He can and will do that for us.
Found in Him continued quote:
But Jesus had much to say about a new born again creation and how that new born again creation would produce fruit and love...
Of course, without the Holy Spirit inside of us the Lord cannot direct our every step. The Holy Spirit is like a Divine Converter Box which is needed in order to be able to hear from heaven.
The resurrected Jesus in heaven communicates His step-by-step counsel to the Holy Spirit inside of us, and then the Holy Spirit relays that information to our spirit. It's called to be "born again of the Spirit"; without the Holy Spirit we cannot hear from God.
And Found in Him said quote:
this new born again creation has it's own will ...
Of course, the soul still has its own will and can implement what Jesus counseled to do and say, or the soul can still "do its own thing".
Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding.
And,
Matthew 4:4
But He said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God?
love, Eden
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Carol Swenson
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Praise God , His Holy Bible gives us instruction on the ways we should go. ![[Cross]](graemlins/cross.gif) ![[Bible]](graemlins/bible.gif) ![[Prayer]](graemlins/prayer.gif)
John15
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself , unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
The interrelationship between the Living Word (Christ) and the Written Word (Scripture) is so intimate the Scripture itself is denominated “the word of Christ” (Colossians 3:16), which is to dwell richly in us.
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Found in Him
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The fruit of the Spirit are not a recommendation or a suggestion...IF the tree abides in Jesus...it WILL produce...IF it does not...it does NOT belong to HIM.
Romans 8
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~To Him That is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy...to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.~ Jude 24
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Found in Him
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John 15
8This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17This is my command: Love each other.
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~To Him That is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy...to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.~ Jude 24
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Found in Him
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The commandment is LOVE...
Mark 12
30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
Jesus said not a word about "moment to moment living" But had much to say about a new born again creation and how that new born again creation would produce fruit and love...this new born again creation has it's own will BUT is being transformed into the image of God's Son...IF the Spirit of The Son abides within...they WILL produce fruit and love one another...hence Jesus said "you shall KNOW them by their fruit AND their love for one another"
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~To Him That is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy...to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.~ Jude 24
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Eden
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Carol Swenson, nice lists of fruit.
You mentioned these:
love (agape);
joy (chara);
peace (eirene);
patience (makrothumia);
kindness (chrestotes);
goodness (agathosune);
faithfulness (pistis);
gentleness (prautes);
self-control (egkrateia).
I think it is not so much that WE acquire these traits as it is that when WE DIMINISH making our plans and ideas about ANYTHING, then Jesus promised us to GUIDE OUR STEPS.
And the ONLY kinds of things that Jesus RECOMMENDS to do and say are:
love (agape);
joy (chara);
peace (eirene);
patience (makrothumia);
kindness (chrestotes);
goodness (agathosune);
faithfulness (pistis);
gentleness (prautes);
self-control (egkrateia).
That is, WE ourselves cannot be these things, but when we IMPLEMENT what Jesus counseled from heaven to our Holy Spirit, then it LOOKS LIKE WE have those things ourselves, when in fact they only come from Jesus in heaven, and they are NOT our own ideas.
We ourselves CANNOT BE THOSE THINGS but Jesus INSIDE of us by His Own Counsel from heaven, HE can be those things in us by counseling what we should do NEXT.
However, over time our own spirit learns from the Holy Spirit how to behave better in the family camp of God, and we ourselves acquire through practice and patience some portions of that same fruit that Jesus is.
But ultimately this sinful Adam and Eve body will fall short of the glory of God, as for now we only see thru a "glass darkly", and only when we are glorified shall we know Him as we ourselves are known:
1 John 3:2
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, but it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see him as He is.
So for now, as we diminish making our own plans and implementing our own ideas, as instead implement the counsel of Jesus from heaven to the Holy Spirit inside of us, the very counsel of Jesus IS all those things, and some of them will rub off on us even in our Adamic-Eve condition.
For remember, Jesus did not have a body like we have but Jesus had a body like the first Adam and Eve had, when the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary:
Luke 1
35 And the angel said to her (Mary), The Holy Spirit shall come upon you and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God.
John 3:31
He that comes from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth; he who comes from heaven is above all.
John 8:23
And He said to them, [b]You are from beneath; I am from above; you are of this world; I am not of this world.
Jesus was created from brandnew, clean, pure Holy Spirit that had never been part of the Adamic-Eve line, and as a result Jesus was able to obey and be all the fruit of God.
We can obey the 10 commandments and we can start to listen to the counsel of Jesus from heaven to the Holy Spirit inside of us and implement what Jesus said to do or say, and we should show forth some of the fruit of the Holy Spirit ourselves. Mostly we should become a little sweeter and more honest over time than we used to be.
I'm certainly more reined-in now by the Holy Spirit than I used to be:
love (agape);
joy (chara);
peace (eirene);
patience (makrothumia);
kindness (chrestotes);
goodness (agathosune);
faithfulness (pistis);
gentleness (prautes);
self-control (egkrateia).
But only Jesus knows how to be those traits 100% of the time; the more we implement His counsel, the more we will "look like Him".
love, Eden
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Carol Swenson
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GOD HAS GIVEN WRITTEN INSTRUCTIONS THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT HELPS US OBEY
PAUL DESCRIBES IT
The most famous Bible passage about the 'fruit of the Spirit' is in Galatians 5:22, where the apostle Paul gives us a list of fruit. (Paul was into making lists.) The list is meant as a contrast to the list of the 'deeds of the flesh' found in 5:19-20. The fruit list is clearly not intended as an exhaustive description of the fruit, but was given to highlight the fruit that Paul wants the Galatian church to keep in mind. He lists the following fruit:
love (agape);
joy (chara);
peace (eirene);
patience (makrothumia);
kindness (chrestotes);
goodness (agathosune);
faithfulness (pistis);
gentleness (prautes);
self-control (egkrateia).
OTHER PASSAGES WHICH BEAR FRUIT
Paul's Galatians list is both something you are and something you do. It is the Spirit giving you the character of Christ. There are other such lists in the Epistles, and they are also relevant to any talk about the 'fruit of the Spirit'.
In 1 Corinthians 13, in the midst of Paul's description of the gifts of the Spirit, there is a section on love. While not directly about 'fruit', it is about what springs from love, and it is in much the same vein.
According to verses 4-8, love:
• suffers long;
• is kind;
• does not envy (ou zeloo);
• does not parade itself (ou perereupmai);
• does not get 'puffed up' (ou phusioutai);
• does not behave rudely (ouk askemonei);
• is not provoked;
• does not think evilly, nor rejoice in sin;
• rejoices in the truth;
• bears all things;
• believes all things;
• hopes all things;
• endures all things.
In Phillipians 4:8, Paul advises us to think on things that are:
• true;
• noble, or worthy of high esteem (semnos);
• just;
• pure;
• lovely (prosphiles);
• of good report (euphemos);
• of any virtue, or excellence (arete);
• worthy of praise (epainos).
In Colossians 3:12-16, the church members are told to put on (wear) these things:
• tender mercies;
• kindness;
• humility or self-smallness (tapeinophrasune);
• a heart of compassion (oiktirmos);
• gentleness;
• patience.
Then, they are further instructed to:
• bear with one another;
• forgive one another;
• love;
• let the peace of God rule their hearts;
• be thankful (eucharistoi);
• have God's Word live in them abundantly;
• teach and admonish one another;
• sing with grace in their hearts.
All this is to be done in the name of Jesus, to further the purposes He came for.
WHAT MAKES THE FRUIT SO IMPORTANT?
These fruit lists describe what a Christian's character grows into, over time. There was no word in there about being given the Midas touch for resolving all financial woes. There's not even the slightest signal in there about tongues being the evidence of the Spirit's presence. There's nothing about crusading for a just society, though there is something about being just. These lists are completely silent about miraculous deeds or the gifts of wisdom or knowledge or discernment as signs of the Spirit's rule within a person. The lists give no special credit to official power or office or responsibility. It sounds instead like a repeated refrain from Jesus ( Matthew 7:16, 20) that one knows God's followers 'by their fruits'. Or, like the apostle Paul's urgings that the Roman church bear fruit for God, or James about being full of mercy and good fruit. Or John the Baptist, or even the proverb which says that "the fruit of righteousness is a tree of life" (an early example of 'fruit' to describe results). These matters of character give life-ness to life. It is holiness taking root in you. It is something you are, not just something you do or think.
Posts: 6787 | From: Colorado | Registered: Dec 2007
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Eden
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TB125 had written in another thread: quote:
Obeying the will of God will produce the fruit.
Abandoning our own plans and thoughts and instead listening to what the resurrected Jesus is advising us to do and say at any given moment produces fruit. What fruit?
The very things that Jesus advises us to say or do is ALL FRUIT because the very Nature of Jesus IS Fruit. Jesus can ONLY speak Fruit to the Holy Spirit because His Nature IS Fruit.
When we cease from generating our own thoughts and instead start to listen to what Jesus is advising us to do and say by way of the Holy Spirit which relays His advice to my spirit, it is IS ALL fruit because Jesus IS Fruit.
TB125 continued quote:
Doing what God calls you to do produces the fruit that He seeks.
When we stop doing or own thinking and let God Jesus advise us on what to do next from moment-to-moment by way of the Holy Spirit, then God Himself IS the Fruit because what He says to do or say IS Fruit.
TB125 continued: quote:
It is such obedience and fruitfulness that glorifies God.
God is glorified when we stop making our own plans and let God advise us what to say and do next in any given situation.
Hebrews 4:10
For he who is entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from His.
Psalm 32:8
I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shal go: I will guide you with My eye.
Psalm 73:24
You shall guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
Psalm 48:14
For this God is our God forever and ever: He will be our guide even unto death.
The Christian who has ceased from creating his own plans and thoughts about that to do next, but lets God guide me, that Christian cannot help but produce Fruit because God IS Fruit.
God promised that after we believed for salvatin, God would also guide all our steps.
However, just as we had to BELIEVE that God meant what He said about salvation in the Bible, in the same way we also have to BELIEVE that God meant what He said about "guiding our steps until death".
But just as we had to BELIEVE God about salvation, so we also have to BELIEVE that God meant it that He would guide all our steps.
Getting God to guide our steps takes a second and separate act of faith in addition to the act of faith that we used to believe for salvation.
God is not going to guide all our steps if we are still very busy guiding our own steps. When we finally "cease from our own works", then God can advise us what to do next at any given moment.
But if after salvation we are still doing our own thinking and planning in every moment of our life, then we still have not believed in faith that God meant it when He said that He would guide our steps.
The Christian who ceases from his own works begins to listen to the resurrected Jesus who advises the Christian from heaven by way of the Holy Spirit to our spirit and on to the soul and hopefully to the body.
If a Christian implements that advice from Jesus, that Christian automatically is obedient and bearing fruit because Jesus IS fruit. All the advice from Jesus IS Fruit. He doesn't KNOW anything else.
So OBEYING THE WILL OF GOD is not so much GOD TELLING US TO DO SOMETHING FOR HIM ONE DAY, as it is ceasing from our own thoughts and instead listening to what Jesus is telling us to do next, that IS Fruit because Jesus IS Fruit.
John 15:4
Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abides in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in Me.
John 15:7
If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.
love, Eden
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