Luke
6:43-45 For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a
corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 44 For every tree is known
by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush
gather they grapes. 45 A good man out of the good treasure of
his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil
treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance
of the heart his mouth speaketh.
Mar
16:15-20 KJV And he said unto them, Go
ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall
be damned. 17 And these signs
shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they
shall speak with new tongues; 18 They
shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt
them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. 19 So
then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and
sat on the right hand of God. 20 And they went
forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and
confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
Produce or perish!!!
Reproduction is the ability of an organism to produce after
its own kind. Note the word is organism! Failing
to reproduce after its kind will result in the decrease and ultimate demise and
extinction of that particular species. Only living things can produce living
things. It is the way of life.
Male and female were specifically
and exclusively designed by God for the vital purpose to produce after their
kind. It remains the time-tested, tried and true method of
ensuring propagation and survival of the species.
Producing requires effort.
Producing for Christ means Spirit
assisted and Spirit controlled efforts. Many churches can boast of the numbers
of their members. Most of these members are kept because of the attraction
offered by the numerous man made programs. The question is how many of those
members are also members of the body of Christ.
The Church of Jesus Christ has been
mandated to produce, to multiply, and to increase in numbers, not by
its own efforts alone, but through the Power of the Holy Ghost.
PHYSICALREPRODUCTION
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SPIRITUAL CHARACTERISTIC
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SCRIPTURE/COMMENTS
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Reproduction requires cooperation
between legitimate candidates!
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Man needs to cooperate with, and
submit to the Holy Spirit for fruitfulness! The fruit is not brought out from
man’s hidden inner being. It’s the result of the Holy Spirit work.
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But the fruit
of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Gal 5:22-23 KJV
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Fruit are never invisible or
secret!
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Fruit cannot be hidden. Either you
have them or you don’t!
By their fruits you shall know
them...it may be unnoticed at first but it soon becomes obvious!
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Ye have
not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and
bring forth fruit, and that your fruit
should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may
give it you. John 15:16 KJV
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Reproduction requires nurturing!
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It's more than planting of a
seed...it's a diligent attention and care!
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That he would
grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with
might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by
faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend
with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and
height;
Eph 3:16-18
KJV
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There are birth pains in
reproduction!
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As soon as Zion travailed she
brought forth.
Every branch
in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that
beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Joh 15:2 KJV
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They that sow in
tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious
seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with
him. Psalm 126:5-6 KJV
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There is joy at the appearance of
a new born baby!
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There
is joy in heaven over repentant sinners!
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Likewise, I
say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one
sinner that repenteth. Luke 15:10 KJV
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Of what, and how, are we to be producers?
There are two basic kinds of fruit
that should be produced by the Believer in Christ:
1. THERE IS A FRUIT THAT IS PRODUCED
INTERNALLY BY THE SPIRIT!
Ye have
not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and
bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should
remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it
you. John 15:16 KJV
Gal
5:19-26 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,
variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21
Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell
you before, as I have also told you in
time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of
God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance:
against such there is no law. 24 And they that are
Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and
lusts. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in
the Spirit. 26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking
one another, envying one another.
As we
yield to the Spirit of God He is able to take our lives and transform them into
masterpieces for God. We become the canvas on which the Spirit produces a work
that reflects the beauty, grace and image of God.
2. THERE IS A FRUIT THAT IS PRODUCED
EXTERNALLY BY THE SPIRIT!
Mat
28:18-20 KJV And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in
earth. 19 Go ye therefore,
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with
you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Luke
24:46-49 KJV And said unto them, Thus
it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead
the third day: 47 And that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations,
beginning at Jerusalem. 48 And ye
are witnesses of these things. 49 And,
behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city
of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
Act
1:4-8 KJV And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that
they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the
promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye
have heard of me. 5 For John truly
baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days
hence. 6 When they therefore were come together,
they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the
kingdom to Israel? 7 And he said unto them, It
is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in
his own power. 8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy
Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem,
and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
The church's major commission has
always been Preach the gospel to every creature! It takes a unique combination
of the submission of man and the sovereignty of the Holy Ghost to make the
gospel effective. God has chosen by foolishness of preaching that men should be
saved.
1Co 2:1-5
KJV And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of
speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. 2 for
I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him
crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness, and in
fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my
preaching was not
with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of
power: 5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of
men, but in the power of God.
1Co
1:17-31 KJV For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel:
not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none
effect. 18 For the preaching of the cross is to them
that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of
God. 19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the
wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the
prudent. 20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish
the wisdom of this world? 21 For after that in the wisdom of
God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of
preaching to save them that believe. 22 For the Jews require
a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: 23 But we preach
Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks
foolishness; 24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and
Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. 25 Because
the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger
than men. 26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that
not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 27 But
God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God
hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are
mighty; 28 And base things of the world, and things which are
despised, hath God chosen, yea, and
things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29
That no flesh should glory in his presence. 30 But of him are
ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and
sanctification, and redemption: 31 That, according as it is written,
He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
We are responsible for the souls of
the lost because God has chosen to save this world by the foolishness of
preaching. God knew the world we would be living in now. God knows
the temptation to substitute other things for the gospel. God knew of our
desire to be accepted by society. God knew of the reaction we would receive
when we preached as he mandated.
Knowing all this He still ordained
that men should be saved by the preaching of the gospel...not by might, nor by power, but
by my Spirit saith the Lord.
We are mandated to preach Christ...
To the philosophers, "wise of this world", the "cultured"
the "knowledge seekers", the Greeks...it is foolishness...To the
religious, indoctrinated, the Jews…a scandal, a stumbling block. But to those of
us who believe...it is the wisdom and power of God!
Mark 11:12-14 And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry: 13 And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. 14 And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.
When
Jesus comes looking for fruit it is essential that we are found fruitful in
every good work!
Dr. Campbell observes, that the
declaration, 'for the time of [ripe, Ed.] figs was not yet,' is not the reason
why our Lord did not find any fruit on the tree, because the fig is of that
class of vegetables in which the fruit is formed in its immature state before
the leaves are seen. But as the fruit is of a pulpy nature, the broad, thick
leaves come out in profusion to protect it from the rays of the sun during the
time it is ripening. If the words, 'for the time,' etc. however, are read as a
parenthesis, they then become a reason why Jesus Christ should look for fruit,
because the season for gathering not having fully come, it would remove all
suspicion that the fruit had been gathered: while the presence of the leaves
incontestably proved the advance of the tree to the state in which fruit is
found.
Alfred Edersheim has called
attention to the fact that “in Palestine the fruit appears before the
leaves . . .” (The Life & Times of Jesus the Messiah)
We are commanded to produce fruit
within ourselves that reflect the nature of the Spirit of Christ within us.
We are mandated to preach this
gospel that reflects the Power and Wisdom of God!
We Produce or Perish!
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