Since bearing fruit unto the likness of Christ is the paramount thrust of the Gospel, we’ve turned our attention to the means by which this is accomplished.
Transformation begins by renewing the Mind. So we spent time in Romans 12:1-2 and James 1.
These two passages opent he door to our understanding of how transformation takes place in the life of a child of God to take ojn the likeness of Christ.
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This segment of Psalm 119 covers verses 25-64 which corresponds to the Hebrew letters Dalet – Khet.
Key points include the power of God’s words to renew our hearts, drawing them away from lowly and earthly things to heavenly things which possess real intrinsic value.
A few of the pictographs associated with these letters do fit well with the content of their individual sections, but not all.
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“The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few”… a statement of Jesus most often quoted out of context as evangelistic.
In reality Jesus was talking about the lost sheep of the house of Israel. These people were already in covenant with God, but were wandering as sheep without a shepherd. The message of John the Baptist until the resurrection of Jesus was to prepare themselves and change their minds regarding the King and the Kingdom – because it was NEAR!
What was Jesus looking for in response to the message He and His disciples taught? Faith! Specifically faith in their Messiah! But they missed their opportunity.
Nowunder the New Covenant God has turned to the Gentiles as His living witnesses. The primary lesson being that regardless of the covenant, the harvest God is looking for is the fruit of faith and a changed life.
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Intimate
Personal
Relationally motivated
Lovingly Devoted
These words all represent the heart of this amazing psalmist.
The desire for godliness is genuine. The pursuit is non-trivial. The cry for God’s aid is urgent and sincere.
It would be very hard indeed for any real child of God to fail to see themselves in these verses. Great too are the personal lessons to be gleaned from this open heart that freely expresses his longing to become like God. This coupled together with the unfettered requirement of his heart that God HIMSELF be his aid and instructor.
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As we turned our attention away from scriptures which press the need to bear fruit and the persecution it will elicit from the world, we started examining 2 Peter 1. In this chapter we are told that fruit production is the result of collaboration between us and the Spirit of God. That fruit does not just happen. It requires genuine effort and sustaining power. Each progression in the process outlined by Peter reveals that each is dependent upon the other and that if we have all of these things AND we are increasing in them – we will NOT be fruitless!
However, if we are fruitless it is because we do NOT have these things which proves that we are nearsighted and have forgotten that we have been forgiven our sins.
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