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The fruit of the Spirit

Title: Meditating on His word|FruitBearing 7

Series: Fruit bearing

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This morning, I want further share with you on ‘Fruit bearing’. We have been looking at the need for us to be fruit bearing believers in Christ Jesus. God, as we see in scriptures, wants us to bear fruit. That’s because it brings Him glory when we do so. And we have looked at the nature of fruit He wants us to bear. This is referred to in scriptures as the fruit of the Spirit.

But we are not likely to bear fruit as He expects us to if it is not our desire to do so. As I’ve told us again and again, we must desire what God desires for us. We must want what He wants for us. We must not assume that we are going to become the persons God wants us to become automatically. If we do not want to become the persons He wants us to become, we will most likely not become the persons He wants us to become. If we do not want to have what He wants us to have, there is a possibility that we are going to end up not having what He wants us to have. So, we must desire to bear fruit as He wants us to bear fruit.

Now of course, as we see in scriptures also, God has not left us to ourselves in this matter. He is at work in us to will and to act according to His good purpose. God is at work in us to fill us with desires that are consistent with His good purpose and to also enable us to realize those desires. But we must not quench those desires. We are told not to quench the Spirit (1Thessalonians 5:19). You know what that means? It means to silence the Spirit of God. He is talking to you. He is telling you what to do. You can silence Him. You can tell Him to keep quiet. You can tell Him that what He is doing is too much.

As a child of God, if you are indeed a child of God, it is His job to fill you with those desires that are consistent with His good purpose. And God is never remiss in handling His jobs. He is never remiss in handling His responsibilities. So, surely, He will fill you with desires that are in line with His good purpose. But you can quench those desires. You can decide not to work with them. You can decide to eliminate them. You can decide to ignore them. And you can think yourself of the number of times you have quenched those good desires that God brought to you. You can think of the recent ones, the times in which God was leading you to do something or asking you to do something and you silenced Him. You knew that what He was asking you to do was the right thing for you to do. You knew that it was good. You knew that it was righteous. You knew that it would be profitable for you and for every other person around you. Yet you did not do it. Why? That is what is called quenching the Spirit, silencing the Spirit.

Well, do not give anybody the impression that God is not giving you the will to do what is right. If He is not giving you the will to do what is right, that means He is not living in you. That is the point. If He is living in you, He will surely and continually give you the will to do what is right, to do what is in line with His purpose for you. But you will have to work with that will. Otherwise, it will amount to nothing.

In any case, what we are dealing with is ‘Fruit bearing’. And we are dealing with it because that is what God wants us to do. Then we have equally seen that apart from Him, we can do nothing. In St. John’s Gospel, chapter 15, which we have been looking at, Jesus describes our relationship with Him. He refers to himself as the vine and to us as the branches. And He tells us that as the branches cannot bear fruit by themselves without abiding in the vine. In the same vein, cannot bear fruit by ourselves without abiding in Him.

So, we already know the main secret of bringing forth fruits, the fruit of righteousness, the fruit of the Spirit, which consists in: love, joy, peace, gentleness, humility, self-control, brotherly kindness. The secret is abiding in the vine, abiding in our Lord Jesus Christ. He is our source, the source of everything God wants to produce in us. He is the source of the joy that God wants to produce in our lives. He is the source of the love that God wants to exhibit through our lives. He is the source of the humility, the gentleness, the meekness, the self-control that God wants to exhibit through our lives and in our lives. Therefore, we have to remain connected to Him.

It is not for us to struggle to be any of these things. It is not for you to struggle to love, to be patient, to be kind, to be gentle or humble. If you are struggling, something is wrong. Because you are supposed to do these things naturally. Why are you a new creation, by the way? Why have you been recreated? You have been recreated so that you will be able to do these things naturally.

So, if you are not doing them naturally, something is wrong. And you may want to ask yourself if you have not been disconnected from your source. Or you may want to ask yourself if nothing is blocking your connection to your source. Because doing these things should come to us naturally. And doing these things will come to us naturally if we abide in the vine. Branches do not struggle to bear fruit. They just bear fruit naturally. All they need to do is to remain in the vine. So, we too should bear fruit naturally. All we need to do is to remain in the vine or abide in the vine.

How then do we abide in the vine? The word of God tells us that we abide in him by allowing his words to abide in us. Let me read that verse to you again from 1 John chapter 2, verse 24:

“As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.” (NIV)

What have you heard from the beginning? The word of God! Now John says see to it that the word of God that you have heard remains in you or abide in you. If it does, if it does abide in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father. Simple!

So, if I want to remain connected to Him, I must allow His word to abide in me. As I pointed out last week, that goes beyond merely reading Scriptures or studying Scriptures. It also involves meditating on Scriptures, meditating on the word of God. Because the only way the word of God will abide in you is if you will meditate on it, if you will continually ponder on it. If it is not abiding in you, then, you are not meditating on it enough. You have to meditate on what the word of God says about you. You have to meditate on what the word of God says about fruit-bearing. If you want to bear any kind of fruit in abundance, then, you must meditate on what the word of God says about that thing.

It is hard work, of course. Meditating on the word of God is hard work. And this is why many of us Christians struggle with living in the light of the word of God. To continually think about what the word of God says, to set His word continually before you is hard work. To fix your gaze on what the word of God says is hard work. To fix your mind on what the word of God says is hard work. The word of God has not said it will be easy. God has not said it will be easy to meditate on the word of God. All he has told us is to meditate on His word and to do so day and night.

So, during the day, you’re thinking the word; you’re pondering on what the word of God says about you, what it says about your life, what it says about your walk with Him, what it says about your various relationships. You’re pondering on these things. In the middle of the night also, you do the same. In other words, when you wake up in the middle of the night, what should naturally come to your mind is the word of God. You wake up to wee. What should come to your mind? The word of God!

See, if you have to wake up to think about anything, what you should think about is the word of God, not your family problems, not your business problems, not your academic problems. That is worrying. That is being anxious. And it is not going to solve your problem. It may make you wake up angry. It may make you wake up bitter. It may make you wake up moody. That’s why some people wake up moody. They’ve been meditating on the wrong things. They wake up in the middle of the night to meditate on the wrong things. So, they are bound to wake up moody. Some often wake up anxious. Why do they wake up anxious? They’ve been meditating on those things that will make them anxious.

Now, of course, meditating on the word of God does not mean that all the problems surrounding you will naturally vanish. They may still be there staring you in the face. But meditating on the word of God will prepare you to handle them. It will give you the confidence you need to handle them. It will give you the wisdom you need to handle them. Meditating on the word of God will make you one with what God has said. And you see, when you become one with what He has said, you cannot act contrary to what He has said.

If you are acting contrary to what God has said, if you are living a life that is contrary to the will of God for you, the main problem is that you have not become one with what God has said. You may believe in what He has said. You may love what He has said. You may agree that what He has said is good for you. Yet it’s not working in your life. And the word has to work in your life. The word of God has to work in your life for you to produce the fruit God talks about. Paul says to the Thessalonians that he is glad that the word of God they heard is working in them (1Thessalonians 2:13). But I’m saying it’s not going to work in you until you become one with it.

Now the only way to become one with it is to meditate on it. It does not matter what your profession is. It does not matter what your job is. It does not matter what your background is. If you will meditate on the word of God, it will produce in your life the results God wants to see. You are not going to struggle to get the results produced. The word in itself is powerful enough to produce in your life what God talks about.

God spoke to Joshua along this line. Joshua was a soldier. And the only gift God had to give him was His word. Look at Joshua, chapter 1, from verse 7. God, speaking here to Joshua, says:

“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.” (NIV)

The first thing God told him is to be strong and very courageous. And you know, when God speaks to you like that, you don’t try to be what you are told to be, because the word He has spoken to you will produce in you the strength to be what you are meant to be. I mean that if God says to you, “Be strong,” what happens to you? You become strong.

In one of the visions of Daniel that was what happened to him. The vision weakened him. The vision made him weak. So, he fell flat on his feet. And he had no strength in him to even talk. And God said to him, “Be strong now; be strong.” And what happened? He became strong. So, when God speaks to you, it’s not for you to try to be what you are meant to be. It’s for you to receive what He says, knowing that His word will produce the energy in you that is required for you to be what you are meant to be. (Cf. Daniel 10:15-19)

Well, God said to Joshua, “Be strong and very courageous.” And when God said those words to him, he became strong and courageous. And then God went on to tell him that he must be careful to keep the law that Moses had given to him. He must not turn either to the right or to the left in keeping. That means he must make no excuses for not acting on the word. He must not try to revise whatever God has said to him. Just act on it. Don’t try to revise it. Just act on it. That way you are going to be successful wherever you go.

Then look at verse 8. God, still talking to this man, says:

“Keep this book of the law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” (NIV)

Where is he to keep the book of the law? On his lips! In his mouth! Read the word. Talk the word. You understand the point now? You must keep on saying what the word says to yourself. By the way, Romans 10, verse 17, says, “Faith comes by hearing the words of Christ,” right? But it does not say whom you must hear it from. It only says faith comes by hearing the word of Christ. You can hear it from yourself, then. And you had better start hearing it from yourself.

How do you hear it from yourself? You say it to yourself. You say what the word is saying to yourself. I do that every day. I may not have done enough of it, but I am ready to do enough of it. For example, in 2 Timothy, chapter 1 verse 7, we are told that God has not given us the spirit of timidity, but the spirit of power, love, and sound mind or self-control, right? That’s the Spirit we have. Now I have to say that to myself. I have to say that God has not given me the spirit of timidity. And I say that to myself almost every day, in fact, more than once every day, that God has not given me the spirit of timidity but the Spirit of power.

Now I also have to break it down. It’s not just about quoting Scriptures. I have to break it down. The Spirit God has given me is the Spirit of power, not the spirit of weakness. So, I am not weak. I am not a weak Christian; I am a strong Christian because the Spirit of God fills me with power. Also, He has given me the Spirit of love. So, I have to tell myself, “What I have in me is love. The Spirit of God fills my life with love, not with lust but with love. So what my life will express is the love of God. Because there’s the Spirit of God in me and He’s filling my life with love.”

Then He fills my life with soundness of mind, with self-control, with self-discipline. So I am not undisciplined. I am disciplined. The Spirit of God works in me and fills my life with discipline. I have to say that to myself. You have to say that to yourself. You have to talk the word. What are you doing? You are making yourself one with the word of God. That’s how to meditate.

Again, this goes beyond memorizing scriptures. This is thinking the word of God and speaking the word of God to yourself. And you have to do this day and night. As often as it comes to your mind, you say it. You say it to yourself. You say it so that you hear it.

Now God says if you will do this day and night, you will be prosperous and successful. I’m, then, going to ask myself, “If I’m not doing this and I’m not prosperous and successful, what could be wrong?” It may mean that I’m not doing it enough. Because God says that if I do it, this will be the result: prosperity, success. And He says do it day and night. That is non-stop. It’s not a one-off thing. It’s not what you do for a week. It’s not what you do when you feel good. It is not what you do when there are no challenges staring you in the face.

It is easy to say, “My God supplies all my needs according to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus,” when your bank account is full, when you enter your kitchen and there is food everywhere. Yes, when things are going on well, you can easily say, “My God supplies all my needs according to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus.” It’s easy to say that. But you had better just know that you are thanking God where that is the case.

But to say that when your bank account is empty, to say that when there is no food in your house, that’s what we are talking about. To say these things, regardless of the circumstances that you are faced with, that’s what we are talking about. You are saying that to yourself, regardless of what you see or do not see. Regardless of what is happening in the country, you are saying to yourself, “God supplies my needs according to His generosity”. And since you have to do it non-stop, that means you have to keep on doing it until the result starts showing. You can’t quit as far as this is concerned.

I’m trying to show you why many of us believers are not bearing the fruit God wants us to bear. We think that we are going to do the right thing for a while and then stop. No! The right thing must be done all the time. The right thing must be done from start to finish. If you are going to become one with the Word of God, you must be prepared to do so from start to finish.

We are given some illustrations in Scriptures to show us that we must be committed to the Word of God in order to see their results. There are times, of course, that when God asks us to do something and we do it, the results manifest immediately. But that is not the case all the time. There are times, there are situations in which you have to consistently act on what God has said over a period of time, unspecified time, before you begin to see results. And if you are not prepared to do the Word of God for as long as you have to do it, you may not get results. In fact, there are results that will not be evident in your life.

God, for instance, spoke to Joshua about what to do to bring the walls of Jericho down. I’m asking you this because I’ve asked myself. God said you will have to go around the walls of Jericho once every day, right? For how many days? Seven days! Then, on the seventh day, they would have to go around the walls of Jericho seven times and afterwards shout.

The question is, “Could God not have brought down the walls of Jericho the first day, having made them go around it once?” Could God not have done that? Or could God not have brought down the walls of Jericho as they approached it, without these people having to march around it at all? Could God not have done that? If He could divide the Red Sea without any one of them touching it, if He could open the rivers of Jordan just by the priests stepping into it, could He, then, not bring down the walls of Jericho by Joshua merely stretching his hand towards it? He could.

Yet He did not. Instead, He told them, “You will have to march around it for seven days. And on the seventh day, you will do so seven times.” Why? It was to teach them commitment to His word and commitment to Him. It was to show them that there are things that you must do again and again and again and again in order for you to see results.

Why must Naaman dip himself inside the river Jordan seven times? Oh, someone may say, “Oh, that is because seven is the perfect number.” That’s true. But how many people had to dip themselves inside the river seven times in order for them to get well in the bible? How many people did Jesus ask, “Go and dip yourself inside the river in order to be cleansed of leprosy?”

A leprous man came to Him once and asked, “Master, if you are willing, you can make me whole.” And the Bible says Jesus touched him and said, “I’m willing; be whole.” And he was whole instantly. He didn’t have to go to any river. He didn’t have to do any washing. He was healed instantly. Right there. (Cf. Matthew 8:1-3)

Now for Jesus Christ, it didn’t matter whether it was one person or ten people. Ten came to him and said, “Master, have mercy upon us. We are suffering from leprosy.” He said, “Okay, go and show yourselves to the priests.” He didn’t say go and dip yourself inside any river. ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests’ was what He said. And on their way, they realized that they had been made whole. When were they made whole? The moment He spoke His word to them. (Cf. Luke 17:11-19)

So, if God wants to do something instantly, he can do it instantly. Right? The power to do it instantly is there. If He has to perform a thousand miracles to make that happen instantly, He would do so. Now if he is not doing it instantly, and He is asking you to follow a process, what is it teaching you? Discipline, the discipline of commitment!

What am I saying? It is that in order for us to see the benefits of the word of God in our lives, the full results of the word of God in our lives, we must be committed to it non-stop. If you are going to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit as mentioned in scriptures, love, joy, peace, contentment, humility, gentleness, self-control, patience, faith, faithfulness, then you must be prepared to meditate on the word of God non-stop.

So, if certain things are not evident in your life yet, do not worry. What you need to do is to meditate more on the word of God. Is somebody following me this morning? Don’t try to struggle to love. Don’t try to struggle to be patient. Don’t try to struggle to be humble. Don’t try to struggle to be anything that God wants you to be. You don’t have to. What you need is to draw from your source. And how do you draw from your source? You draw from your source by meditating on His word. And if you are not seeing the results yet, what must you do? You must be more committed, be more committed to His word. That means your commitment is not enough.

Solomon says if you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small; your strength is not enough. That’s why you faint. That’s why you get tired. That’s why you get weary. Your strength is not enough. Now what are you going to do? Are you going to die there? No. What do you do? Get more strength. Strengthen yourself in the Lord. Isn’t that what we are taught to do in scriptures? We are told to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Who is going to do that? I am going to do that. You are going to do that. You are going to strengthen yourself in him. How do you strengthen yourself in him? One of the ways is by meditating on his word. (Cf. Proverbs 24:10; Ephesians 6:10)

So, if you have been failing at something that God wants you to do, it’s not just for you to try harder. Are you following my point? What you need to do is to get more strength. Draw more from him. Otherwise, you are going to be frustrated. And there are frustrated Christians. They love God. They want to please Him. They want to do His will. But they keep finding themselves unable to do what He wants them to do. So, at some point, they get frustrated; they become finally tired. And at a point of their tiredness, Satan may drive them back to where they were coming from.

Some have been driven back like that, driven away. These are now saying, “Christianity is not working for me. I thought I would be able to live this Christian life. It’s not just working. God, you know I really want to. But it is not working.” So, they turn away from Him. But that’s not the solution. That’s only going to mess you up more.
What you need to do is to return to your source. Draw more from your source. If you will draw from Him, you are going to find all the strength you need, all the energy you need, all the comfort you need, all the inspiration you need to be the person He wants you to be, to do the things He wants you to do.

God said to us through Isaiah, “Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings as eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” Now waiting on him doesn’t mean sitting down in one place, waiting for Him to come. No! It goes beyond that. It means putting your reliance on Him, putting your trust in Him. That’s what it means. In other words, you stay put there. You are telling yourself, “I must keep drawing from Him. The challenges may be hot. Things may be intense. But I remain connected to him. I will keep on meditating on His word. I will keep on filling myself with His word. I may appear weak today. I may even fall or fail at some point. But see, I’m not getting discouraged. Because He says that those who wait on Him will have their strength renewed.” (Cf. Isaiah 40:31)

Who is going to renew their strength? God Himself! In other words, He will furnish them with the strength they need to go from start to finish. They will have the strength to be patient. Do you understand the point now? The one whose reliance is on God, maybe for one thing or the other, whatever it may be — that thing may not be showing up yet – but he’s going to have the strength to be patient to see the result. Yes, he will have the strength, all the strength he needs, all the energy he needs, to run and not grow weary, to walk and not faint.

So, if you feel tired in your walk of faith, you know that something is wrong. What should you do? Go for strength! That’s not the time to stop studying the word. That’s not the time to stop meditating on the word. That’s not the time to stop praying. Usually, that’s what people will do. When they get tired like that, they now stop doing everything. But that’s when to do it more. Because the one that has spoken will not fail you. He has said you will have your strength renewed. And you will surely have your strength renewed. You will have your wisdom renewed. You will have your determination renewed. Whatever it is that must be renewed in you will be renewed. So, you’re going to fly. You’re going to soar like an eagle. You will soar above those challenges. You will soar above those trials. You’re going to be on top of them. You want to be on top of those challenges. But that’s what it means to soar.

Eagles are not afraid of the wind blowing. Because they have to use the wind to rise. They’re going to use it to rise. And you’re going to use those challenges to rise. You are going to use those trials to rise. You are going to use those tribulations them to rise. They will not pull you down. They will not make you faint. They will not make you weary. They will not destroy you. You are walking in victory over them.

Let’s begin to bless the name of the Lord this morning.

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Will your presence bless them?

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 8, No. 17

“From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field.” (Gen 39:5NIV)

Whose household was blessed by God, as we see in our opening text? It was Potiphar’s household. Why was his household blessed? It was because he put Joseph in charge of it.

Now why would God bless an entire household because of Joseph? The reason was that he took Him seriously. And because he took Him seriously, He ensured that His favour was on his life wherever he went. So, it did not matter whether he was in a house of slavery or in a prison, he was bound to shine and prosper. And anyone that favoured him or associated with him was also bound to be a part of his prosperity.

This, then, is teaching us that association matters a lot in life. If we associate ourselves with the right people, our lives will most likely go in the right direction. Likewise, if we associate ourselves with the wrong people, our lives will also most likely go in the wrong direction.

Potiphar’s life and family began to move in the direction of prosperity because he recognised God’s favour on Joseph’s life and put him in charge of everything he had, even though he was not an Egyptian like himself or a family member. We too should learn to recognise and appreciate God’s favour in the lives of others, so that we may relate to them appropriately. Otherwise, we may miss the goodness God may have communicated to our lives through them.

Then it is equally important that we too function in life in such a way that our presence in the lives of others will cause them to go in the right direction, in the direction of prosperity and not disaster or chaos. See, as children of God, it is not good at all for us to be friends with people, work with them or live with them for a while and our presence won’t bless them. What is good is for people to be able to place their fingers on the obvious progress or prosperity that their lives have experienced because we are their friends or because we have worked with them or lived with them.

All of this is why we too, like Joseph, must take God seriously. If we take Him seriously, we will walk in His righteousness and continually express our dependence in Him through prayer. And that will cause His favour to continually rest on our lives. Anyone, then, who associates with us is bound to be a partaker of the working favour of God in our lives. That, of course, will cause them to have great testimonies to share about their experience with us.

Do you, then, want those in your life to continually share great testimonies of how your presence is blessing them or do you want them to continually express regrets over knowing you or allowing you to be a part of their lives? Everything depends on how seriously you take God. And my counsel is that you begin to take Him very seriously, if you have not been doing so. May your presence in people’s lives never again bring pain but comfort to them, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Cheers!

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FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025 Pastor's Desk

Change the way you think

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 14, No. 18

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am delighted to welcome you to the last day of this month and also to the first week of the ninth month of the year, the month of September 2025. My prayer is that God will see to it that all the good things He has in store for you in the remaining months of the year become yours indeed, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

As we begin this new week, I want to counsel you with the word of Apostle Paul that say: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Rom 12:2NIV)

Why does he tell us not to conform any longer to the pattern of this world? The reason is that we are now children of God. Before we became children of God, we all used to live according to the ways of the people of this world. We talked as they talk. We reasoned as they reason. We dressed as they dress. And we ran after the things they run after.But now that we are God’s children, we are expected to live differently. Yes, we are expected to live like children of God and not like children of the devil.

We will, however, not live differently from those of this world, if we still continue to think the way they think. We may be attending church meetings, praying in the name of Jesus and even carrying bibles around. But as long as we are thinking like those of this world, we will not live lives that are different from theirs in the way we talk, dress and treat others.

See, people live the way they live because of the way they think. So, if you want them to change the way they live, you will have to change the way they think. All this is why Paul does not just tell us not to conform any longer to the pattern of this world but also tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. What will bring about the transformation of our lives? It is the renewing of our minds. Now how do we renew our minds? How do we cleanse our minds so that they begin to think differently from the way those of the world think? It is by giving ourselves to the word of God.

As we give ourselves to His word, we will begin to think differently – we will begin to think in the light of His will for us. And the more we think in the light of His will for us, the more we are transformed to be the people He wants us to be.Paul, for instance, who brought this counsel of the Spirit to us used to be an injurious and wicked person. Yet he later became one of the greatest Christians that ever lived. In fact, he was so sure of the transformation his life had experienced that he could tell other Christians to imitate him (1Cor 11:1).

How did that happen? It happened through his devotion to the word of God. It was the word of God that changed his thinking. And as his thinking was being changed by the word of God, his life was also being transformed. Then, at some point, everyone around him could see that he had become a truly changed person – he had become like Christ.Now since Paul personally experienced these things, he is telling us too to take advantage of the word of God to change our thinking. That is how our lives will be changed to be what God wants them to be. So, give yourself to the word of God in order for it to change how you think. And before you know it, your life will be changed to be exactly what God wants it to be.

Have a lovely week.

Categories
The fruit of the Spirit

Title: Abide in Him | FRUIT BEARING 6

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Date: August 10, 2025

Series: Fruit bearing

Last week, I gave us some Scriptures to show us that for us to bear the kind of fruit God wants us to bear, God Himself must be at work in us. God must produce in our lives what He wants to see in us. Otherwise, whatever effort we make towards becoming the persons He wants us to be is going to be an effort in futility. And that’s why Jesus tells us to abide in Him. Look at verse 4 of that chapter, St. John’s Gospel, chapter 15, again: “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5NIV)

The Lord has already shown us how to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit. Yes, we have a demand on us to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit and to bring it forth abundantly. We have to bring forth love, faith, gentleness, peace, humility, self-control and brotherly affection as fruit of the Spirit or as the fruit of the life that has been recreated by God. But if we will not abide in the Lord Jesus Christ, we will not be able to bring forth this fruit. It is impossible to do so. That’s what Jesus Himself says. You have to stay connected to him. And that’s because He is our source. It is from Him that we draw life, the life of God. It is from Him that we draw strength, the strength to live as He wants us to live. Everything we need to be the people God wants us to be is in Him.

Thankfully, we have been included in Him. That’s why we talk about being in Christ: “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away; all things have become new.” So, we are now included in Him. As the branches are included in the vine, as parts of our body are included in the body, we are now in Him. And for us to bring forth fruit, we must remain in Him; we must abide in him. Because that’s the only way to be able to produce in us what He wants to see in our lives.How, then, do we abide in Him? How do we remain in Him? He has given us our instruction, what we must do in order to bring forth fruit. But how do we do it? We know that we must abide in him. But how do we abide in him?

Now, in 1 John chapter 2, we are told something along this line, which is helpful. Look at verse 24:“As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.” (NIV) Did you see that? As for you, in other words, as far as you are concerned, what should you do? See to it that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. What have you heard from the beginning? The word of God! Now John says, “See to it that the word of God remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in Him.”

So, if you are going to remain in Him, His word must abide in us. And this is what those who are struggling to live the Christian life don’t understand. You cannot live that life God wants you to live, if His word does not abide in you. It is impossible. See, the word of God is not something that you can do without. The word of God is your very life. So, you have to prioritize with it. You must allow it to remain in you. You must make room for it in your heart and not take lightly. If you’re going to remain in Him, that’s what must happen. His word must remain in you.

And think about it because these are figures of speech. So we’re going to use things that we can understand to illustrate them. If you’re in a relationship with somebody, for instance, what is going to strengthen or maintain that relationship? Communication, right? And it is not just communication that will maintain it but also how seriously you take the words of each other.Let’s say we’re just dealing with friends. We want to be friends. One of the things that will tell whether our friendship will abide or not is how seriously we take the words of each other. If I tell you something about myself and you don’t take it seriously, you’re not going to act on it and relate it to me on its basis. And that will offend me. If you tell me something about yourself and I do not take it seriously, I’m not going to act on it. And that’s going to affect our friendship.

So, if our friendship will be strengthened, if it will be maintained, we must take the words of each other very seriously. Otherwise, it won’t be long before that friendship will be ruined.The same thing is applicable to a marriage relationship. What will strengthen a marriage relationship is the attitude of those in it towards the words of each other. ‘I don’t like this’ means ‘I don’t like it’. I’m not going to give it another meaning. This person has said that he does not like whatever ‘this’ is. So, I’m not going to do it because he doesn’t like it. If I don’t take it seriously, something is going to go wrong with that marriage relationship. Well, it is the same when you are dealing with a relationship with God. If we are going to stay in fellowship with Him, if our fellowship with Him will be strengthened, then, we must take whatever He says to us seriously.

Of course, we must first be willing to hear from Him. Second, when He speaks to us, we must take whatever He says to us seriously. And that’s why we are being told here by John to see to it that what we have heard from the beginning remains in us. For if it does, we also will remain in the Father and in the Son. In any case, Jesus is telling us, “Abide in me.” And it is easy to quote. But how do I abide? I must know how to abide in Him. And from what we see in scriptures, one way to abide in Him is to allow His word to abide in us.

So, I must go for His word by reading and studying it. Not only that, I must also be meditating on it. Because if His word is going to abide in me, I must meditate on it. It’s not enough to hear what He’s saying. It’s not enough to read what He’s saying. It is not enough to study what He’s saying. I must also ruminate on what He’s saying. I must meditate on what He’s saying. It is what I meditate on that will be a part of me.

Now think about it. The things that we think about all the time, they are the things that become part of us. If you’re thinking about doing something, if you want to do something, you keep thinking about it, saying to yourself, “I must do this; I must do this.” What happens? You don’t forget to do it. Because all along, maybe a whole day, you are thinking about the same thing. So, you find yourself doing it. Because that’s what you’ve been thinking about.If you want to travel tomorrow, for instance, what happens? You start thinking about it. I’m going to travel tomorrow.

Every now and then you think about it. You think about the money you’re going to spend. You think about the people you’re going to meet there, right? You think about the time you’re supposed to go. You think about the things you’re supposed to take along. So, when you wake up, you’re driven to travel, right? And unless something happens that prevents you from doing so, you will make that journey.So, if the word of God is going to remain in us, we must think and think and think and think about it.

Otherwise, it doesn’t settle in us. And if it does not settle in us, we are not going to act on it. Acting on it is what is going to produce fruit in our lives. But if we are not meditating on it, it won’t become a part of us so that we’ll act on it.I want to show you a scripture, which is Psalm 1. Psalm 1 is a popular one. And from verse 1 it says:

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: An error of leadership

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No.16

“There is an evil I have seen under the sun, the sort of error that arises from a ruler: Fools are put in many high positions, while the rich occupy the low ones. I have seen slaves on horseback, while princes go on foot like slaves.” (Eccl 10:5-7NIV)

Who is making his observation known to us in our opening text? It is Solomon. And what has he observed? It is an error or a blunder that is often committed by those in leadership. Now what is this error of leadership that Solomon is talking about? It is that of putting unfit people in positions of authority or influence. And wherever that happens, people will not enjoy the benefits of leadership as they ought to. What they will be witnessing, on the contrary, are multiplied failure, chaos and pains.

For instance, as we are told in the bible, when Samuel became old, he made Joel and Abijah judges over the people of Israel. Why? They were his sons. So, he did not make them judges over the nation because God had chosen them or because they had shown themselves as honourable and wise men that could lead the people to please God and experienced prosperity.

Instead, he made them judges because they were his sons and he believed that they would follow his steps in leading the people. (Cf. 1Sam 8:1-2)But did those men walk in the footsteps of their father, Samuel? Not at all! Instead, they acted in greed, took bribes and also twisted justice. And when the people could no longer endure their nonsense, they approached their father to remove them and give them a king instead. That, of course, was not fully in line with the will of God for them. But it was Samuel’s error of leadership that caused it. So, even a great man of God can commit the error of leadership that Solomon speaks of in our opening bible text. (Cf. 1Sam 8:4-5)

Sadly, even Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, also committed this same error of leadership when he first became king. How? It was by choosing the young men that had grown up with him as his counsellors. Is anything wrong with choosing a young person as a counsel to the king or any leader? No! But the person should only be chosen because he is capable of giving sound counsel any time the demands to do so are made on him. (Cf. 1Kings 12)Rehoboam, however, did not choose those young men as his counsellors because they had anything in their heads. Rather, he chose them because they were his childhood friends.

Unfortunately, because they had nothing in their heads, they gave him the counsel that made him lose the larger part of his kingdom to another man.Now, of course, Rehoboam lost his kingdom in that manner because God had already said that He would divide that kingdom into two and give a part of it to Rehoboam. But it was his error of leadership, the one Solomon speaks of our opening text, that hastened it. What a shame! (Cf. 1Kings 11:26-40)

In any case, the point of all this is that if you are in a leadership position, be careful how you choose those that serve with you or represent you. Positions of leadership or authority are not meant for rewarding people or for making them happy. Rather, they are meant to be used to serve people and make life better for them.

So, in choosing people for positions of authority, choose only those who are utterly fit to serve or lead with you. Don’t choose anyone simply because they are close to you or because they have been good to you. Otherwise, they may undo all the good that you have been doing and even ruin your reputation. Therefore, be cautious.

Copyright © 2025, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

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From Pastor's Desk 2025 Pastor's Desk

Title: Give it to God

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Series: From Pastor’s DeskNumber: Vol. 14, No. 17

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. I am glad to welcome you to the last week of the month of August 2025. My prayer is that God will take care of every burden that Satan is seeking to use to destroy you or to fill your life with pains. Amen.

Why did I offer that prayer for you? It is because there is no burden you are carrying that God cannot handle for you. To say the fact, God does not want you to bear any burden of your life all by yourself. What He wants is to bear every burden for you. And look at what David says about that in one of his psalms: “Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.” (Psalm 68:19NIV)

Did you see that? How often does God bear our burdens? Is it only for a while? No! Is it just for some weeks or months? No! Instead, He bears them for us everyday. And why does He bear them for us every single day? It is because He loves and cares about us. (Cf. 1Peter 5:7)

Sadly, many of us don’t know that God is daily bearing our burdens for us. We just think that the good things that are happening to us in life are happening to us by chance and that the bad things that are not happening to us are not happening to us because of our righteousness, godliness or carefulness. But all the good things that are happening to us are happening to us because God is bearing our burdens for us.

Likewise, all the bad things that are not happening to us are not happening to us because God is working for our protection. However, God wants us to recognise the fact that the reason we have not been destroyed by the burdens that life is daily throwing at us is that He is daily bearing these burdens for us.

Therefore, there are burdens of our lives that He may not touch unless we learn to deliberately give them to Him to handle for us. And are we going to give all our burdens to Him to handle for us? Or are we going to keep on struggling to carry them ourselves until they crush us?For years, Jacob carried all by himself the burden of his sins against his brother, Esau. And this burden almost crushed him. But the very day he gave that burden to God in prayer was the day he was delivered from it. God handled the burden for him in such a way that he himself could not tell exactly why Esau, who had come out to attack him and his family, suddenly began to show him love and to speak kindly to him. (Cf. Gen 32-33)

Well, that is showing us that unless we learn to give our burdens to God in prayer, we may not know the kind of relief and peace of mind He is able to give to us. Yes, it may look like no one but you can carry that burden for you. But the truth is that even you cannot carry any burden that God does not bear for you. So, don’t allow any burden, whether it is that of sin, fear, lack or sickness, destroy you.

Instead, give it to God. That is because He loves you and is committed to carrying all your burdens for you everyday. And may you experience tremendous times of refreshing in your life, as you do so, in Jesus’ name. Amen.Have a lovely week.

Copyright © 2025, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Have genuine concern for them

fire in my bones
fire in my bones


Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 8, No.15

“Moreover, from the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, until his thirty-second year—twelve years—neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor. But the earlier governors—those preceding me—placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels of silver from them in addition to food and wine. Their assistants also lorded it over the people. But out of reverence for God I did not act like that. Instead, I devoted myself to the work on this wall. All my men were assembled there for the work; we did not acquire any land.” (Nehemiah 5:14-16NIV)

Those were the words of Nehemiah, as he gave some account of his leadership over the people of Judah. And he penned down these words for us to show us a very important quality of a true leader. And what is that quality? It is a show of genuine concern for people.

See, a true leader does not just lead because he has to or because no one else will do so or because of what he hopes to gain. Rather, he leads because he is genuinely concerned about the welfare of others and also because he believes that he has what it takes to actually care for them. Therefore, where he does not think that he has what it takes to lead others and see them adequately cared for, he will graciously and humbly refuse to lead.

For instance, after defeating the Midianites, the people of Israel requested that Gideon would become their king. But he humbly declined. And why? Was it because he was being modest? No! Rather, it was because he knew that God had not chosen him to be their king but just a deliverer. So, he would not allow them to compel or entice him to take a position in their lives that was not meant for him but for God. (Cf. Judges 8:22-23)

But becoming king over the Israelites would have enabled Gideon to accumulate lots of money, wives, concubines, servants and lands. Yet he would not become their king. And that was because he wasn’t just concerned about himself and what he could possibly gain by becoming their king; he was also concerned about their welfare. He was concerned about what would become of them, if he should take a role in their lives and affairs that God had not made him fit for.

Now that’s how a true leader reasons. He is not just concerned about himself but also concerned about the people. And where he can see that his rights, interests or privileges as a leader will harm the people instead of bless them, he will let go of those privileges or even his position. And that is also what we see in Nehemiah. Though this man was the governor of his people, he would not fully utilise his rights and privileges as governor. Instead, he devoted himself to working for their protection and prosperity.

Why? The first reason was that he could see that the burden of taking care of his office as governor was too heavy for the people to bear. And if he had insisted on utilising all his rights and privileges as governor, he would simply have increased their sufferings. But he would not do that because he had genuine concern for them.

The second reason was that he had the fear of God in him. If he had not had the fear of God, he would still have placed a heavy burden on the people, even though he could see that they could not bear it. All that would be on his mind was that it was his right to do so.

Sadly, we have many leaders all around the world, including parents and church leaders, that are like that. They are always more concerned about the rights, benefits and enjoyment of their positions than the welfare of the people they are leaders over. No wonder a lot of people are suffering in the world today, even though they have leaders over them that are meant to alleviate their sufferings. The leadership over them is not bringing them the comfort they need but is simply adding to their miseries. What a shame!

In any case, the point of all this is that you should learn to show genuine concern for those under you, if you are a leader in any capacity. Otherwise, you are occupying a wrong position and should promptly excuse yourself from there before God Himself removes or replaces you, something that may be too painful for you to bear.

Cheers!

Copyright © 2025, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

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FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025 Pastor's Desk

Title: Train yourself to be godly

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 14, No. 16

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. It is with great delight that I welcome you to another week of the month of August 2025. My prayer is that God will daily strengthen you in the week and throughout the remaining years of your life to live a life that is well-pleasing to Him. Amen.

As we begin this new week, I want to encourage you with the words of Paul that say:“Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” (1Tim 4:7-8NIV)

What is the first thing this apostle says to us here? It is that we should not waste our time with stories that do not promote godliness and that do not agree with the truth God is saying to us. And there are many such stories from one culture to another. They appear to be saying the truth about life because they have been told again and again for generations. But they are not the truth at all, for they are contrary to what God is saying to us through His holy Scriptures. And if we do not want our lives and souls to be ruined by them, we must stay away from them.The second thing Paul tells us in that text is to train ourselves to be godly.

Why? The first reason is that godliness is not automatic. Yes, we are God’s children and have in us what it takes to be godly, for God has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness (2Pet 1:3).

But if we do not give ourselves to doing things that will promote godly living, godliness will not manifest in our lives.

Unfortunately, many of God’s people don’t know this. They think once someone becomes born again, he will automatically be seen by those around him as godly. But that is not true at all. If that person will not give himself to the word of God, to prayer and to the fellowship of God’s people, godliness will not be seen in his life.

Also, if he will not begin to consciously take steps to do what is right and to stay away from what is wrong, he will not gain a reputation as a godly person. So, if you want people to see you as a godly person, you have to consciously begin to train yourself to do those things that will promote godliness in your life.

Another reason Paul tells us to train ourselves to be godly is that the benefits of doing so are enormous. And these benefits are not just earthly; they are also eternal. Think about this: there are problems that you cannot have in this world, if you are living a godly life.

For instance, if you are not a drunkard, there are some forms of disgrace you cannot experience in life. But if you are one, you are bound to be disgracing yourself from time to time.

So, if you do not want certain problems in your life, all you need is to train yourself to be godly. Also, if you want God’s praise here on earth and also when you get to heaven, daily train yourself to be godly. And may the Spirit of God strengthen you to act accordingly, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a lovely week.

Copyright © 2025, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: The test of patience

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No.14

“On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”” (Acts 1:4-5NIV)

Who gave the command in our opening text? It was our Lord Jesus Christ. And to whom did He give the command? It was to His disciples.What, then, was the command? It was for them to wait in Jerusalem until they were baptised with the Holy Spirit.But exactly when would they be baptised with the Holy Spirit? The Lord did not tell them. He only said to them, “In a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.” So, they would need to have faith in Him to obey this instruction.

Also, they would need to be patient in order to see what He had spoken of come to realisation. Now did they wait or not? They waited. And did the Holy Spirit come on them or not, as Jesus had promised? He came on them. But how long did they wait for the Holy Spirit to come on them?

Well, bible scholars would have us believe that they waited for about ten days. Jesus died during the Passover feast. And He showed Himself to these disciples in a period of forty days after His resurrection. Then the Holy Spirit came on them on the day of Pentecost, which was just fifty days away from the Passover feast. (Cf. Acts 1:3 & 2:1-4)

In any case, the point is that for those early disciples to receive the promise of the Holy Spirit, they had to be patient in waiting for Him. No one today has to wait like that to be baptised with the Holy Spirit, for He has already been made available by God to baptise all those who believe in Christ Jesus. But those early saints had to wait for Him to first be poured out on all humanity before they could receive Him.

And if they had not been patient in waiting for Him, if they had left Jerusalem a day or two days before He came, only God knows what would have become of them and of the church of Jesus Christ on earth.Thankfully they waited. And I am sure the Lord chose them because He could trust them to wait for as long as they had to until the Holy Spirit be poured out on them.

Can He also trust you and me to wait for Him in any situation? Can He trust us to patiently wait for Him to perfect what He is doing concerning our lives, in spite of the challenges or opposition we may face while waiting?King Saul could not be trusted by God to patiently wait for Hm. So, even before He failed God, He had chosen someone else to replace him (1Sam 13:13-14).

What happened? Well, once when the Israelites were at war with the Philistines, he too was commanded to wait until Samuel could come and offer some sacrifice to God before he would lead his men to war. And he did wait for seven days, the time set by Samuel.

However, when Samuel was not showing up that seventh day, he got impatient at some point and decided to offer the sacrifice himself. Why? It was mainly because his soldiers were deserting him. But should he not have called all of them to order, as their king? He should have done that. But he did not.Then even if all his men left him, was God not with him? Was God not sufficient to win the battle or war with him alone? How many men did Gideon need to defeat the Midianites of his time? Only three hundred men! Yet he defeated them because he had the consciousness that God was with him. (Cf. Judg 6-8)

But Saul did not have that consciousness. So, he allowed the misbehaviour of his men to make him lose his patience and do something God had not given him the right to do. Unfortunately for him, Samuel showed up just when he finished making the sacrifice. That means the man of God still came the very day that he had said he would come. So, he only needed to wait a little longer that day. And if he had, God would have established his kingdom.

Sadly, he failed that test of patience and lost what he was trying to keep. And we too may end up losing what we are desperately trying to keep, save or obtain, if we will not learn to be patient with God. Yes, we may be faced with all kinds of challenges that will give us the impression that God will be too late to save us or to perfect what concerns us. But as long as we function with the consciousness that He cares about us and will never leave us or disappoint us, we must keep on waiting for Him patiently.

Yes, as the apostles of old did while waiting for the Holy Spirit, it will be good for us to keep on strengthening ourselves in prayer and in the word of God, while we are waiting for God to fulfil His purpose for our lives. Yet we must be determined to patiently wait for Him, even if we have to do so till our time is up here. That is the only way we will not fail our test of patience and be fully rewarded by Him.

Cheers!

Copyright © 2025, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

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General Post The fruit of the Spirit

Title: God is at work|Fruit Bearing 5

Date: August 03, 2025

Series: Fruit bearing

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I want to quickly further share with us on fruit bearing. We have been looking at the need for us to bear fruit. And that is because it is the will of God for us to do so. It pleases God when his children bear much fruit. Then we looked at the nature of fruit God wants us to bear.

And from what we see in scriptures, He wants us to bear the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, faithfulness, self-control, meekness, gentleness, humility, brotherly kindness. God wants us to bring forth these things as fruits. And we can bring forth these things as fruit because of our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember that He tells us that He is the vine and we are the branches. Because of that, we can bring forth fruits that are consistent with His character, fruits that are consistent with His nature.

But then, as I pointed out to us, bringing forth fruit in this sense is not something that we should struggle to do. When we struggle to bring forth the kind of fruit God wants us to bring forth, we show that we do not understand how to do so. We should not struggle to love. We should not struggle to be patient. We should not struggle to be humble, kind, gentle, self-controlled. We shouldn’t struggle to be any of these things. That’s because we were created to be these things. But as I said, we’re going to struggle, if we do not know how. So, we must know how.

Now, of course, it’s not enough to know how. We must apply the knowledge that we possess. Knowledge that is not utilized is useless. People often say knowledge is power. But that is only true to the extent that knowledge is appropriately and adequately applied. Of course, it also depends on the kind of knowledge you are dealing with. But knowledge in itself will not produce power. Knowledge in itself will not change anybody’s life. It has to be appropriately and adequately utilized.

So, as we hear the word of God, we must make up our minds to appropriately and adequately utilize what we are hearing. It is something that our hearts must be after doing. Otherwise, the knowledge of the word of God that we are receiving will prove to be useless to us, even though it is not meant to be.Well, on bringing forth fruit, our Lord Jesus Christ makes it abundantly clear to us that apart from Him it is impossible for us to do so.

Let’s go back to St. John’s Gospel, chapter 15. I’ll read the passage to you again very quickly, that is, from verse 1:“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. “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.” (John 15:1-5NIV)

You can see that how to bear fruit is plainly stated here. We must abide in Him. We must remain in Him, that is, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? The reason is that He is our source. He is the source of everything God wants us to be. He is the source of the fruit that our lives are expected to bear.

Everything is coming to us from him.Remember I read to you from 2 Corinthians 5, verse 18, the other time. There Paul says all things are of God, the God who reconciled us to Himself in Christ Jesus. Everything, everything that we need is from Him. And we must receive it from Him. If we will not receive from Him, we will not be able to live the kind of life He wants us to live; we will not be able to do the things He wants us to do.

So, Jesus here says you have to abide in me. We are going to later look at how to abide in Him or what it means to abide in Him. But first, we must keep it in mind that we must abide in Him, if we are going to bring forth the kind of fruit He wants our lives to bring forth.Then He goes on to say how important it is for us to abide in him. He says apart from me you can do nothing. You can’t.

It is impossible. You may try to be the person God wants you to be apart from Him. But you can only fail. And this is one of the reasons we must take Him very seriously; we must take our relationship with Him very seriously.Now, of course, we must understand that this is how Jesus Christ Himself functioned when He was here on earth. Jesus knew that God was His source and that apart from Him there was nothing He could do. So, He totally relied on God to be the person He was meant to be.

We read scriptures, and we admire the life that Jesus lived. We read scriptures and we get to admire the way He talked, the way He answered questions, the way He preached, the way He ministered to people. But how was Jesus able to live like that? How was he able to live a life that won God’s approval? God, at least, as we have recorded in Scriptures, twice testified about Him, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” God was utterly pleased with Jesus. He was pleased with the life that Jesus lived. That means everything He did pleased God. So, Jesus Christ stands before us as a perfect example of man as God would want man to be. Jesus did not walk the face of this earth living as God.

Of course, He is fully God, just as He is fully man. But He did not walk the face of the earth to live as God. Rather He walked the face of the earth to live as man. Truly He came to show us who God is. But in living, He lived as man. He showed us man as God would want man to be. How was he able to do that? He was able to do that by drawing from God.

Look at St. John’s Gospel, chapter 5, Verse 19: “Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.”” (John 5:19-20NIV)

The first thing Jesus says here, responding to what the Jews were saying about him, is that the Son can do nothing by Himself, except what He sees His Father doing. This is Jesus’ own testimony: I can do nothing by myself; I do only what I see my Father doing. So, Jesus Christ was drawing from the Father. The life that He lived, He lived it on the basis of His relationship with the Father. He said, “The Father loves the Son and shows Him what He does.

So, He’s saying, “God is teaching me how to live; God is teaching me how to walk. The things I’m doing, I’m not doing them because I just want to do them. They are the things that I learnt from my Father.” Think about that. That’s powerful.The point is that Jesus learnt how to love from the Father. He learnt patience from the Father. He learnt perseverance from the Father. He learnt humility from the Father.

Self-control, He learnt it from Him. All the things He did, He learnt them from the Father. The healing of the sick, the raising of the dead, He learnt these things from the Father. He says, “The Father is working. He’s showing me how to do these things. So, I’m doing what I see Him do.” In fact, He goes on to say, “Just as the Father gives life to the dead, the Son also gives life to the dead.” That was how he functioned.

So, we admire His life. Now if we also will be able to function the same way, we must adopt the same approach. And He’s already told us, “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” So, if you’re going to be the person God wants you to be, you must take your connection, your relationship with Him very seriously; you must see Him as your source. And you don’t just see Him as your source, you must be willing to draw from Him; you must be willing to learn from Him.Are you even interested in that? Because it begins with interest.

Are you interested in being the person He wants you to be? Are you interested in living the life that He wants you to live? Are you? You have to be interested. Then you have to be determined. But then, you must understand, it goes beyond being interested and being determined. He has to furnish you with all that you need to live the life that He wants you to live.

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