The Bible is filled with illustrations and references to bearing fruit and what happens when we do and what happens when we don’t, so it’s a very important principle for everyone standing for marriage restoration to understand. And the best place to begin discussion about the fruit we bear as Christians is with Galatians 5:22-24 (NLT), which says But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Here there is no conflict with the law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. But even more important to remember is John 15:5, which says “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. And we can ALL testify to the truth of those words! But the best news is in Philippians 4:13 (NKJV), which says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Joyce Meyer continued her message about righteousness today, and something she said that really stuck with me is that a big problem today is what is being preached from the pulpits. And that is SO true, which everyone standing alone for marriage restoration knows all to well! And one of the messages many preachers won’t spend much time teaching is The Parable Of The Sower, as found in Mark 4:1-20, because it is such a vivid portrait of how important obedience to the word is to us as Christians, and makes it pretty clear that there are a lot of people walking around calling themselves Christians when they’re not, because they’re not producing a crop or bearing fruit. And that’s confirmed in Matthew 7:20, which says Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. And here’s the link to Joyce’s message today, True Righteousness – Part II. And, as usual, it’s a good one!

Posted Tuesday, July 11th, 2006 at 8:09 pm in Seeds Of Faith.