The Kingdom of the Heavens > Fruit of the Spirit

Tag Archive: Fruit of the Spirit

You Are Not the One to Build, Part 6B: Spiritual Gifts: God Works through us for His Purpose

September 4, 2023 1 Comment

The modern emphasis on first identifying my “gift” so that I may then “help” God develop it gets the matter exactly backwards. The important thing isn’t identifying my gift, it is offering my body as a living sacrifice so that the Spirit may exercise any gift He chooses through me. Then any gift I am observed to be actually exercising can be identified as my gift, and its exercise will be genuine and have God’s power.

A God who Speaks, Desire to have our own way, Disrespecting poor believers, Divisions in the Church, God Speaks to Us, God's purpose for us, Historical Background, In the Church, Meaning of Unity, Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Personal Background, Personality cults, Prophecy, Through others, Through teachers, Through the church, To be his ambassadors, To bear fruit, To live in unity

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You Are Not the One to Build, Part 6A: Persons given to the Church and formal “offices.”

August 27, 2023 3 Comments

Addresses the subject of the roles of the people said in Ephesians 4 to be “given” to the Church by Christ and the qualifications and roles of church officers mentioned in the New Testament–overseers, officially recognized elders, and church servants (deacons). Also discusses the role of elders–older people in the church–even when not formally recognized as leaders, with application to me, the author of this presentation.

A God who Speaks, Confession of Sin, God's purpose for us, In the Church, Meaning of Unity, Prophecy, Through others, Through teachers, Through the church, To be his ambassadors, To live in unity

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The Kingdom of “the Heavens” in Matthew

January 15, 2023 2 Comments

Throughout his Gospel, Matthew repeatedly quotes first John the Baptizer, then Jesus, taking about the “Kingdom of the heavens”–with “the heavens” in this formula always stated in the plural and preceded by the definite article. In using this language, the intention was clearly to teach that God’s Kingdom is not limited to the far future but is present with us…
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Desire to have our own way, God's purpose for us, His Friends, Must Trust God to Enter, Pride in accomplishments as our own, The Kingdom is all around us, The Kingdom of the Heavens, To bear fruit, What is sin?

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The Fruit of Righteousness and the Fruit of the Spirit

December 8, 2022 3 Comments

When Jesus says that he has chosen us to bear fruit that will last, the fruit he has in mind is the fruit of the Spirit–that is, the work the Holy Spirit does within us as we yield to him to make us like Christ. It is not our work, our “fruits,” at all–it is all his work.

Changed treatment of each other, Complex unity, Compulsory Christianity, Emotions, forgiveness and mercy, God is Love, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, Human Rationality, patience, Repentance, Restoration of God's Image, Restoration of our Relationships, Salvation, To be in his image, To bear fruit, To live in unity

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“Heresies” as a “work” of the flesh in Galatians 5

August 4, 2020 3 Comments

In Galatians 5:17-23, “heresies” are one of the works of the flesh–something we do, not something we believe. These works are opposed by the fruit of the Spirit.

Church purpose versus church growth, Desire to have our own way, Desire to have our own way, Divisions in the Church, Heresy, Our Oneness in Christ book revision, Religious violence and persecution, Sin, What is sin?

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