Before you read this study understand that we do not teach, we share and then ask all who read the following take it to God and verify it with Him. We believe a lot of the world is misled by the church of the world and religion vs the one true church. And to know the truth can only come from knowing, not just knowing of God, John 14:26, I John 2:27, Rev 3:19-22.
Many are called but few are chosen because many are misled by false teachers Matthew 7:13-15 so we help all who wants to know the truth how to find and know the truth of and by God and not of and by man.



Fruit


Pastor J. R. Wilhite, author   Close Window


I have noticed lately, just by neighbors I have, that some people who profess to be church going Christians do not seem as Christian as some of the non-church going, or even some of the non-professing people out there.

Don't get me wrong; I am not judging, but I am allowing the Lord's Word to do that.

Matthew 7: 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither [can] a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

We need to be careful here, some believe fruits is the fruit of ones labor in the kingdom. Like how many new believers are converted or how much money is raised for the ministry.

That is not what Jesus was talking about when he referred to fruits in vs. 20. He was referring to the fruit of the Spirit being exhibited in ones life, and the way one lives.

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Galatians 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Unfortunately too many Christian leaders, church organizations and so forth have used this verse to get the needs of their ministry met.


Example: A sermon or even a Bible study may be taught like this Matthew 5:3 Blessed [are] the poor for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And where is the proof of your fruit, have you brought it to the alter and given to show your fruits.

First of all Matthew 5:3 is missing 2 words "in spirit" and believe it or not I have heard church groups, both denomination and non denomination teach it like this, just to get more out of the congregation.
Here is how it should read;

Matthew 5:3 Blessed [are] the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

This has been misused to produce a harvest for an organization entirely to often.
Jesus came preaching:

Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luke 4:19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

The anointing is supposed to release us from bondage not add to our load.

Isaiah 10:27 And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.

So why are we allowing this? It is all due to a lack of knowledge.

Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

Do you question that you are a priest or of a priestly nature?

Revelation 1:6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him [be] glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

So what does all this have to do with the way my neighbors appear?

First my neighbors are best described by Jesus:

Luke 10:29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor?
Luke 10:30 And Jesus answering said, A certain [man] went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded [him], and departed, leaving [him] half dead.
Luke 10:31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
Luke 10:32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked [on him], and passed by on the other side.
Luke 10:33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion [on him],
Luke 10:34 And went to [him], and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
Luke 10:35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave [them] to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
Luke 10:36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?
Luke 10:37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.

So everyone is our neighbor, and when those who are professing Christians do not show the fruit of the spirit, what should we do?

Jesus again answered this:

John 21:15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, [son] of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
John 21:16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, [son] of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
John 21:17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, [son] of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

We are all responsible for each other, we are responsible to pray for each other, and uplift each other. The whole reason I showed the other is to show how so many are being misled and in turn giving the kingdom a black eye.

It is not their fault no one has shown them the error of their ways. A lot of churches won't as long as they get what they want out of them.

The one thing I teach first and foremost is don't listen to me, but listen to the Lord.

John 14:26 But the Comforter, [which is] the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, [even] the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

Romans 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

1 John 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

If after reading the above verses you don't get it, then re-read them and pray about it. What I get is that God wants to teach us through His spirit. Not through man. God had that for 2,500 years with the law and men of God. Today we are the men of God. There are no better men (or women) of God than you. There are just those who spend more time with God and have a closer walk with God.

Acts 10:34 Then Peter opened [his] mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:

To God we are all His Children, He did not and does not want even one to perish
Matthew 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

It is not professing to be a Christian that saves us.

Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Romans 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Did you know there are people professing to be Christian who do not even know what that means, or what Christ means. They say it in such a way that it is simply a matter of fact.

Important points of this study;

1. Professing to be Christian does not mean one is saved. Professing Jesus as Lord -- that leads to salvation, if you believe it in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, then you are saved. When was the last time you professed to anyone that Jesus is Lord of your Life?
2. Everyone is our neighbor, so when we go to the store, the movie, or just in our front yard we should always be living the life with the fruit of the Spirit as proof in our life style.
3. Organized Religion and Salvation are not the same thing.
4. We are to learn from God via the Holy Spirit.
5. Always pray for each other.

The reason I did this study was due to the fact I was noticing as I stated earlier that some professing church going Christians did not always exhibit the life style of a believer. But that often non church going people whether they were Christian or not showed more of the characteristics of a Christian than did the Christians attending church.

I will give you an example a few weeks back, my wife and I celebrated our anniversary by taking a short trip. Before we left on Sunday we went and had breakfast. We were dressed for our trip, shorts and so on. Well, as those coming out of church saw us, you could tell based on the looks they gave that they had judged us to be heathen. I have seen this before and have ignored it, but you know what? They can make you feel uncomfortable. Another example is this neighbor down the street, on Halloween, puts out all the ghosts, and witches and so forth in their yard. Meanwhile another neighbor (who does not even go to church) told me that they felt uncomfortable with all that satanic stuff in the neighborhood. Almost all of our neighbors with kids have basketball hoops. One who goes to church and is setting the example will not let any kids play on his except his kids. While another neighbor who does not go to church allows all the kids to play on his. The one who does not go to church does believe, he just does not attend, while the one who attends does not even give the same APPEARANCE OF BELIEVING.

Luke 18:10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
Luke 18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men [are], extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
Luke 18:12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
Luke 18:13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as [his] eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
Luke 18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified [rather] than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

The main point of this study is not to be as the one who feels justified because he gave and attended church, but to be at peace, and one with the Lord, and allow the Spirit of God show through you.

I, myself can do that. I have sometimes allowed my work to come between me and the Spirit, so some may think I am not as I should be with God. You know, that is right, as of this week actually as of 10 hours ago I started changing that.

I don't really care if anyone ever knows who I am, but I hope they know the Lord by my life style and the way the Spirit shines through me.

We can do our work and be a beacon of the spirit of God, we just have to keep our priorities right and the main one is who is God in your life and how does it show.

y prayer for you is that you will spend time to get right with God and if you are that you will pray for all who are of the body of Christ .

Pastor........

Not important, but He Who is in me is important.

I would just like to add that we should be showing Love for one another. That was one of the greatest comandments Jesus spoke about. First, Love God. Second, Love One Another. If we all keep these two comandments, everything falls into place. Everything happens according to God's will. Do you want God's will in your life? Try loving someone that you used to consider unlovable.

It is easy to show love to someone who is showing it to you; but there are those out there who need it, and do not know how to show it themselves. You can start small; try smiling and greeting someone who has no smile (smiles are contagious). You can work up to building a relationship with the person who used to be so out of reach. If we show them how to love, they will become lovable, and will learn to show love to others. Imagine the domino effect that will occur when we all start expressing the love of God to one another! Praise the Lord!

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