COLOSSIANS 1:6
All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood the grace of God.
All over the world. Paul knew the gospel was bearing fruit all over the world, because he had been one of the people who sent the disciples of Christ scattering when he arrested, imprisoned and killed many of them [Acts 7:58-Acts 8:1-3].
And he knew that this gospel could bear fruit because he was the result of seeing and hearing the gospel message of salvation through Christ when He appeared and spoke to Paul on the road to Damascus [Acts 9:1-9].
This gospel is still growing. It continues to bear fruit all over the world. Though there will come a day when this gospel will have been preached to everyone, I pray none of you have rejected it [Matthew 24:14].
This gospel reveals the grace of God to those who want to understand it. But for the people who choose to mock the gospel and deny Jesus Christ, the grace of God cannot be revealed to them. For their hearts are hard against God and His Word.
They are unfruitful, for they chose not to allow this gospel into their hearts and minds. Their ears are stopped. Their eyes are blind. Their mouths are filled with lies and their hearts are deceitful. Because they rejected this gospel message of Salvation through Jesus Christ.
What kind of fruit does this gospel grow? New believers. New Christians. Changed hearts. Changed minds. This gospel is everbearing: where it is received it causes growth. This gospel is the love of God in action through His faithful ministers who not only preach this gospel from the pulpit, but from the plumbing to the heating, to the roofing and to the parking lot. From the sidewalks to the alleys, from the shorefront to the desert, this gospel is shown by the faithful giving of our time and energy.
This fruit is the fruit of The Spirit changing us from within that we may reveal and share Christ with everyone we meet. This fruit is Love, Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, Temperance [Galatians 5:22,23]. This fruit is only gained through The Holy Spirit of God when we believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and are baptized into His Name [Acts 19:4-6].
We are acquiring all the characteristics of Christ which truly distinguishes us from the world, for it is Christ in us that causes this fruit to grow and mature within us. For He is all of these things.
God is Love - 1 John 4:16
Unspeakable Joy - 1 Peter 1:8
Peace of Christ - John 14:27
Longsuffering - 2 Peter 3:9
Gentleness - Isaiah 53:7; 1 Peter 2:23
Goodness - Psalm 100:5
Faithful - 2 Thessalonians 3:3
Meekness - Matthew 11:29
Temperance - Matthew 26:53
Anyone can have any of these characteristics, but unless these things are Spirit-born and Spirit grown, they will not thrive within a person. Many are called good: he was a good man, she's a good woman. Yet goodness by the world's standards does not yield a Spirit-filled Christian. Goodness will not gain a person entrance into heaven.
A Holy Spirit-filled Christian seeks to honor God with their whole life, not just their words and not just their actions. This gospel message of salvation through Jesus Christ is faithful to its core: It is the Love of God in Action on The Cross and in The Garden.
John 3:16,17
For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
I have come to you carrying The Seed of the gospel within me and I long to be more fruitful in the kingdom of God. Will you receive this Seed?
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