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What do I mean by dead fruit?
I mean things that are just pointless. Works that do not lead to new life,
generally produce dead fruit. The goal of a fruit is to spread its seed,
so it needs to rot, or be eaten sot that the seeds get out of the fruit
and are dispersed.
Those who know a little something about college life, know that when you
get there you can be undecided for a little while, but eventually you
have to declare a “major”. In most Christian circles you know
there will be differences or disagreements, where we don’t see eye
to eye. This is a given when dealing with people, however, we can let
those things get the majority of our attention and time. As believers
in Jesus we should not be majoring in the minors.
Should women preach? Should
Christians listen to secular music? Who’s Godly and who’s
not? Tunnel Rats or Cross Movement? All these endless debates lead
to dead fruit. You follow me? These things are minor, in comparison to
the weighty things the Bible speaks of.
“…find out what pleases the
Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather
expose them.”- Ephesians
5:10-11
What pleases the Lord? Jesus said
that if we bear much fruit, that it will be to the Father’s glory,
and He loves that (John 15:8-9).
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What
fruit is He talking about? The fruit He’s talking about are works
that will impact eternity. This fruit is watered, nurtured, grown and
produced as a result of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians
5:22-23) - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Jesus says, check the fruit, then
my man Paul comes back and re-emphasizes it. It doesn’t mean how
many souls one has notched on their “spiritual belt”, it means
their lives. The fruit of what we are talking about will be displayed
in the way we live. Whether or not women can preach shouldn’t be
the debate. Has her life been changed, so she can preach…that is
the question. We have to be ‘with’
God (and let him begin to change us) before we talk about what we are
going to do ‘for’
God. Perhaps those cats in Luke 13, the ones who taught & prophesied,
are examples of the ones to whom He says, “…depart
from Me, I never knew you!” What a scary thought.
We must examine ourselves and make sure that isn’t us. If what you
believe hasn’t affected your life, what business do you have trying
to tell someone else anything? We must have balance.
“…As long as we can agree that
Christ Jesus is Lord, died on the cross, rose and ascended, and is at
the right hand of the Father, we can “make” everything else
fall into place.” - T.R.U. L.I.F.E. of The Cross
Movement
That’s what my man told me about two years
ago when we first began to work together. You see the foundation isn’t
if ladies wear pants in church, or if your pastor hoops & hollers
and mine don’t, the |
foundation
is that Jesus Christ died for the sin of man.
Not the sins that we do,
the sinful people that we are.
We aren’t sinners because we stole something, or had sex before
we got married. We’re sinners because we were born, it was in our
blood! That’s why keeping Jesus first is so important. If you don’t
have really strong conviction in one area and I do, is it my place to
put you down? No! It’s my place to love you first, then challenge
you if need be (we can easily “justify” ourselves in our sin).
Let’s strive towards
becoming people that have been truly changed by the gospel, not just looking
like we are. To whom, apart from God (we can’t front with Him) are
we being accountable for a godly lifestyle? Those are the types of things
that should be getting the bulk of our attention; therefore we need to
be in real relationships so we can ask the tough questions. We have to
put emphasis on the things that Jesus put emphasis on. The majority of
folks that hit up the Yuinon always say that the content is like a breath
of fresh air, people speak in love, and foolishness isn’t tolerated.
LET’S KEEP THAT UP FAM! When we represent, it encourages others
in their faith. That’s why Christians can’t continue to be
found in works that lead to dead fruit. Because good fruit will reproduce
after it’s own kind, and unfortunately so will dead fruit.
Don’t Major in the Minors!!!
Jesus Reigns,
Divenomous - Yuinon Local 202
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