For the fruit of the Spirit

For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth...Eph 5:9

The Fruit Of The Spirit

triving to be a Christian in today's world demands that we follow the Word of God! With the challenges and pressures of modern life, the erosion of moral standards, and knowing that only the narrow way leads to life (John 14:6; Matthew 7:13-14), happiness and contentment are only found when we realize our dependent condition and turn to the Lord for help (Matthew 5:3). We must add to our lives faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love (2Peter 1: 5-11) in order to produce the fruit of the Spirit; "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance" in order to go to Heaven (Galatians 5:22-23). This is not our fruit, or something we can force from our lives, but only comes as a result of obeying the Spirit's message, the Word of God. Where Spiritual Life Is Found From the very beginning of time, God placed life in the seed (Genesis 1). The Christian is commanded to be "filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18), which Paul explains to mean, "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom..."(Colossians 3:16). Jesus said, "the seed is the Word of God..."(Luke 18:11). When the life of a Christian is governed by the seed of the Gospel and lives in harmony with its teaching, the Spirit's fruit will naturally result. Again, Jesus said, "If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it		will be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples" (John 15:7-8). The source of spiritual life is found in the Word delivered by the Holy Spirit. "It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63). Of the apostles, Paul said, "Who hath also made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life" (2Corinthians 3:6). Hence the Word of God is the answer to life’s problems, as the Spirit through the Word sanctifies and directs our lives (John 17:17). God Sees Our Fruits The fruit of our lives is seen by God and man (Matthew 5:16). We have no desire to unjustly judge another, but we cannot remain silent when one's fruit shows itself not to be the Truth, but error. Brother Marshall Keeble once said something like, "I do not intend to judge or condemn my brother unjustly, but I am a fruit inspector!" Jesus said, "Beware of false prophets , which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?" (Matthew 7:15-16). The psalmist wrote, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked, nor standeth in the way of the sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of scoffers: But his (continued on page 5)