fruit – Page 13

561. Why Jesus Taught Two Covenants (Part 18): In Him – Fruit, Friends, Unburdensome

August 14, 2016 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

As Jesus looked ahead to the New Covenant, He shared with His disciples that they would have the ability to bear the fruit that only God is able to produce. He said He would no longer call them servants, but friends. He also shared about the power to love through His new commands that would not be burdensome, unlike the law and commandments that came through the law found in the first covenant given to Israel. This is about abiding in Him. How do we do that? We talk about it on this week's program.

We Are Fed the Glorious Riches of God as Our Hearts Become Rooted in His Love

May 9, 2016 by Clint Byars

Do you understand the doctrine of Grace but have difficulty living under the power of grace at times? You’re not alone.

There is no secret and no mystery you need to learn to be nourished and sustained by God, you just have to have faith in your heart toward Christ in every situation. Faith just means trust or confidence. We can have confidence in Jesus, therefore we can experience the power of grace.

I want to give you an illustration regarding how we can experience the influence of his power in our hearts. As with all word pictures, this is not a perfect example but I believe it will help you understand the direct connection you have with God as a believer.

The Mother’s Womb

The first 9 or 10 months of our lives we’re in our mothers womb. In the womb we are fed and nourished because we are organically, directly connected to our mother. The environment is a perfect balance of nutrients and safety in the amniotic fluid. When we become born again we are hidden in God with Christ. It’s like Christ is our twin in God. As he is, so are we in this world ~ 1 John 4:17. God has chosen us in Christ to receive the same quality of life that Jesus inherited.

When we become born of God we have a direct spiritual connection that sustains us just like we used to have a direct organic connection with out mother. In God, the environment we’re in is the promise of the New Covenant in the blood of Jesus but the active nutrients of that place are his promises. In the womb we receive oxygen, vitamins, minerals through the umbilical cord. In God, we receive righteousness, peace, joy, wisdom, provision and strength through our hearts by his spirit.

Just like a baby in the womb doesn’t have to convince the mother to feed it, we don’t have to try to motivate God to bless and provide for us. It’s a natural aspect of being born of and being made one with his spirit. The way we experience all of those benefits is by grace through faith.

Allowing Christ to Dwell In Your Heart by Faith

Everything God has for us is ours already in Jesus, we just have to let Christ dwell in our hearts to engage the process of being nourished and sustained by God.

God wants us to have and experience his steady stream of life and health but we must keep our hearts aware of him. He doesn’t withhold from us when we’re not in faith or trust toward him, we’re just turning our hearts to a different source of sustenance, which is the world.

But the world doesn’t give life, it actually sucks the life out of us. When we’re not in faith toward God in our hearts, we’re like a tree that pulls up its own roots from fertile ground and plants them in a desert. The world is like a desert to our hearts, it only has death. But if we all the roots of our hearts (our beliefs and expectations) to grow deep into God’s love for us, we can become whole emotionally, mentally and physically. Our physical and soulish being will begin to enjoy the same state of life as our spirit that is safe in God.

Believers are not on a journey to complete our holiness by staying out of sin or enduring suffering, we on a journey of transformation through renewing our minds so we live yielded to God and allow his life to bear fruit within us.

I believe this passage beautifully states these concepts. This passage is an excellent description of the function of grace. Take some time to meditate on the powerful truth that we are strengthened, nourished and provided for by God because he loves us. As we allow him to strengthen us, we become emotionally, physically and mentally whole; whole to the point that this world can no longer affect us with fear, worry and doubt. I pray you find a new way to live in God as you discover the powerful truth of his indwelling spirit that is seeking to bless, nourish and sustain you.

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. ~ Ephesians 3:16-19

The post We Are Fed the Glorious Riches of God as Our Hearts Become Rooted in His Love appeared first on Forward Ministries.

What happens if you don’t bear fruit?

March 14, 2016 by Clint Byars

Jesus is a gardener or vinedresser. And like any good vinedresser, when he sees a branch not growing properly he stakes it up and supports it. He does the same with you. Jesus is not looking for a reason to throw you away. In John when Jesus teaches about being engrafted into himself, he promises to lift us up and carry us when we are not producing the kind of fruit that a believer should. Watch the above video for more on this subject.

The post What happens if you don’t bear fruit? appeared first on Forward Ministries.

What Does The Lord’s Prayer Look Like Under Grace? And Should You Pray It?

December 24, 2015 by Bas Rijksen

Hey there.

Let’s hit another nail in the coffin of tradition…

The Lord’s prayer is not a New Covenant prayer!

Jesus gave a model for prayer, not something to repeat.

Remember that the Lord’s Prayer was before the cross.

The New Covenant only started after the cross so we have to look at the Lord’s Prayer from a New Covenant Grace perspective.

By doing that you’ll realize that the Lord’s prayer is fulfilled by Jesus and cannot be directly applied to your life!

In this video I’ll show you that the Lord’s Prayer is not a New Covenant Prayer because of what Jesus has accomplished on the cross for you.

Plus we’ll break the Lord’s Prayer down phrase by phrase so that you’ll see what Jesus was actually saying was mostly not meant for you in the way we often think so that you won’t be praying in vain pray as the heathen do.

Click on the image below to watch the Video:

Click HERE to watch on YouTube

You might ask yourself, should we still pray the Lord’s prayer? Many people misunderstand the Lord’s Prayer to be a prayer we are supposed to recite word for word.

Some people treat the Lord’s Prayer as a magic formula, as if the words themselves have some specific power or influence with God.

The Bible teaches the opposite.

God is far more interested in our hearts when we pray than He is in the words we use.

Jesus says in Matthew 6:6-7,

But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words

The Lord’s Prayer should be understood as a model, a pattern, of how you could pray. It gives us some “ingredients” that you can use.

But the Lord’s Prayer is not a formula that if you follow that particular pattern or if you strictly follow what it says that that gives your words special power or that you’ll persuade God in doing something for you faster.

So, the Lord’s Prayer is not a prayer we are to memorize and recite back to God.

Jesus gave a model for prayer, not something to repeat!

You’ve gone to far when you think you – and your children – should memorize the Lord’s Prayer.

Remember, it’s not about words you say, God looks at your heart.

He’s is far more interested in us communicating with Him and that we fellowship from heart to heart than He is in the specific words we use.

But we do want the words we use in our communication with God and others to be full of grace.

As Colossians 4:6 says,

Let your conversation be always full of grace…

And, the Lord’s prayer is, by large, NOT full of grace!

Thus, we can’t just take that prayer and recite that at the dinner table.

Just don’t do it.

You’ll be happier off and those around you too

I’d better get off the toilet now,

Bas

522. You Will Know Them By Their Fruits – Know Who?

November 8, 2015 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

In the seventh chapter of Matthew, Jesus made the statement, "You will know them by their fruits." We often think this is how we'll know those who are considered to be sincere believers, but the context is being aware of false prophets. They are the ones focusing on establishing themselves with good works, performance and attempting to produce their own fruit. You will know them by their fruits. This is in contrast to the fruit of the Spirit, which is not produced by our good works but rather by God who bears His fruit through us.

521. The Fruit of the Spirit, Not the Works of the Law

November 1, 2015 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Although many Christians will work and strive to produce good fruit, sometimes they end up back under a system of works or a modernized version of the Mosaic law. There was fruit involved for those Jewish people who were under the law of works, but it brought fruit for death. In the new covenant of Jesus Christ, we have been freed into the new way of life in the Spirit. Instead of working to produce fruit through our efforts, we simply rest and abide in Christ and the Spirit bears His fruit through us.

520. Teaching the Law Results in Fruitless Discussion

October 25, 2015 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

The Apostle Paul stated some have strayed from the good things of love, a pure heart and a good conscience, and have turned to fruitless discussion. How? By wanting to be teachers of law. The law from the Old Covenant had a purpose, but it was not meant for the righteous in Christ. It was a tutor to point people to faith and the promise of life found in Jesus Christ. Now that faith has come, the tutor is no longer needed. Instead of abiding in the letter that kills with a creed of "thou shall not," as believers we have the living God within to bear His fruit, against which there is no law.

Discover How To Prevent Condemnation And Live In Joyful Freedom

October 23, 2015 by Bas Rijksen

Are you ready for a 30.000 feet overview that will help you live in joyful freedom?

First this…

Even though as believers we are not under law but under grace, we still have the effects of our old life under the law imprinted in our minds – that is a law mindset.

A law mindset is an old way of thinking that causes you to rely on your performance to make things happen.

Instead of relying on the indwelling life of Christ:

You strive to become what you already are
You seek to find what you already possess
You try to measure up you when you already do
You try to cross a divide that isn’t there
You ask God to do what He’s already done

In short, you try to re-accomplish what Christ already has accomplished on your behalf.

A law mindset causes you to sin, make you feel condemned and gives you a sense you’re never doing enough.

Talking about frustration!

The moment you choose to believe the Gospel of Grace, however, you’ll experience REST, JOY, and FREEDOM.

To experience joyful freedom we need to be able to discern law from grace.

I’m going to give you a 30.000 feet overview so that you can sharply discern what is Old Covenant thinking and what is New Covenant thinking.

Here are 101 simple comparisons between the Old and New.

Click on the image to watch the Video:

Click HERE to watch on YouTube

This is 1 of 62 videos that are part of an online training course, called:

“Discover Your Radical Freedom In Christ To Live A Grace-Filled Life”

Dozens of people have signed up and are going through the course right now.

The feedback shows that the truth presented has a powerful impact on each person’s life.

If you haven’t check out the course yet, then now is the time!

Click **HERE** to see what’s in it for you.

I wish you nothing less than joy, happiness, and freedom in your Christian walk!

Alongside,

Bas

How To Have An Enjoyable Relationship With God

September 10, 2015 by Bas Rijksen

Here’s a story that reveals the core-issue as to why many believers are not experiencing the full manifestation of all that Christ has done and given to them. At the same time it reveals the key how to experience an enjoyable relationship with God.

Anabel Gillham, who past away in 2010, has left quit a legacy including some great stories. Here is one of them.

Amy is seven years old. She has a loving mother and dad who have communicated that love to her through the early years of childhood – from her first breath of earth-air.

Her dad, especially, is her close companion – he holds her, teaches her, expresses his love for her in many and various ways – a thoughtful, protective, loving relationship.

But something strange begins to happen one morning as Amy seeks out her dad and asks, “Daddy, do you love me?”

“Why, of course, I love you, sweetie-dearly. You know that. Come let me give you a big hug to start the day.”

“Well, I just wanted to be sure this morning. And Daddy, will you please take care of me today?”

“Take care of you? What do you mean, Amy? I watch over you like a dog watches over a bone. Is something wrong, Honey? Are you scared? Is something going on at school? Have I disappointed you in some way?”

“Oh, no. I just want to ask you to love me and take care of me today. Will you please do that for me, Daddy? Promise?”

“I don’t understand, Amy. You know how much I love you and how very important it is to me to take good care of you. What’s going on in that mind of yours?”

“I just need you to convince me, Daddy, that you really do love me and that you really will take good care of me today…”

Every morning Amy comes to her dad with those same plaintive questions.

What do you suppose that does to her daddy? How does it make him feel?

Now consider this. Don’t we do the very same thing with our eternal Father?

Eph. 1:4 says that we are His children, living within His constant care.

Before the foundation of the world He chose us to become, in Christ, His holy and blameless children living within His constant care (Eph. 1:4, Phillips)

That means that I am living within His constant care. Doesn’t it?

The big question is: Do I believe this?

Do I accept this as truth or do I evaluate it from experience?

Watch the Vlog by clicking on the image:

Click HERE to watch on YouTube

If this is true for me, is it also true for my circle of loved ones who have through faith become His children?

If God has said He constantly cares and protects – this as being a part of my position…the position of any person in Christ Jesus – why do we go to Him constantly in prayer about it?

Pleading with Him, “Oh Lord, watch over my loved ones today?”

Did He stop caring?

Or we implore Him saying, “God, protect us from danger…Surround us with Your angels…Give us travel mercies, blah, blah.”

Or, “God, I’m broke, I need finances, give me money.”

At the same time reminding Him that I am trusting Him, “God, I trust You” – as though He might have forgotten since last night or yesterday.

Doesn’t that sound like a contradiction to you?

God says one thing, “I constantly care.”

We say the opposite, “God, please take care.”

Indeed. this mindset simply reveals a lack of knowledge of the truth, which results in faithless prayers and if that’s the way you are “praying,” than that’s why your prayers aren’t working.

Asking Him to do what He has promised to do?

Extracting more promises, more words of encouragement, insisting that God would tell me – just one more time – about His faithfulness to me, forgetting the days and months and years that I have experienced His constant care?

Wouldn’t this be an affront to God?

An act of unbelief perhaps?

Wouldn’t this communicate a basic insecurity to Him? That I just can’t quite believe His promises?

To have an enjoyable relationship with God is to chose to believe what He says is true.

And to not base your doctrines on what people have told you (even tough we do learn from others) or what you’ve made up out of your own thought processes, but to study the Word for yourself and trust in the Holy Spirit who will lead you into all truth.

Otherwise you might end up using God as someone to come to for cleansing prayers or ask for things that are already a “yes” and “amen” through Jesus.

Or your relationship with God becomes one where you’re always expecting Him to give, to come through, or to somehow prove Himself in your life instead of just enjoying each others company, doing life together while you’re feasting at the table of the finished-work-goodies.

Friend, let’s continue to choose to believe what God says is true.

Life becomes a lot more fun and less boring when you live and pray in line with the finished work of Christ.

Solid,