Bearing Fruit

Bearing fruit for the Lord

2 Peter 3:8 - GOD IS BEING PATIENT

"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: To the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day [C our perception of time is not the same as God’s; Psalm 90:4]. The Lord is not slow [or late] in doing what He promised — the way some people understand ·slowness [lateness; Hab. 2:3]. But God is being patient with you [Ex. 34:6]. He does not want anyone to be lost [perish], but He wants all people to change their hearts and lives [come to repentance]."

Luke 13:1-5 - CHANGE YOUR HEARTS

At that time some people were there who told Jesus that Pilate [Pontius Pilate, governor of Judea from AD 26 to 36] had killed some people from Galilee while they were worshiping. He mixed their blood with the blood of the animals they were sacrificing to God. Jesus answered, “Do you think this happened to them because they were more sinful than all others from Galilee? No, I tell you. But unless you change your hearts and lives [repent], you will be destroyed as they were! What about those eighteen people who died when the tower of Siloam fell on them? Do you think they were more sinful [more guilty; greater offenders] than all the others who live in Jerusalem? No, I tell you. But unless you change your hearts and lives [repent], you will all be destroyed too!”

Luke 13:6-9 - JESUS OUR INTERCESSOR

Jesus told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. He came looking for some fruit on the tree, but he found none. So the man said to his gardener, I have been looking for fruit on this tree for three years, but I never find any. Cut it down. Why should it waste the ground [take up space]?’ But the servant answered, ‘Master, let the tree have one more year to produce fruit. Let me dig up the dirt around it and put on some fertilizer [manure]. If the tree produces fruit next year, good. But if not, you can cut it down.’”

1 John 2:1-6 - JESUS OUR ADVOCATE

My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.

And we can be sure that we know Him if we obey His commandments. If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love Him. That is how we know we are living in Him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.

Matt.3:10 - "Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire."

John 15:4-5 - "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing."

Matt.21:18-19 - THE FRUITLESS TREE WITHERED

"In the morning, as Jesus was returning to Jerusalem, He was hungry, and He noticed a fig tree beside the road. He went over to see if there were any figs, but there were only leaves. Then He said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” And immediately the fig tree withered up."

REWARD ACCORDING TO THE WORKS

Matt.16:27 - "For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works."

1Cor.3:8b - "each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor."

2Cor.5:10 - "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad."

Eph.6:8 - "knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord"

Rev.22:12 -  “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work."

John 15:8 - "When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father."

Don't miss to read 'Bearing Good Fruit'.