Spiritual Gifts part 178: Seeds, trees, and fruit.

Pastor-Teacher
John Farley
Wednesday,
October 12, 2011

Spiritual Gifts Part 178: Seeds, trees, and fruit.

The Doctrine of Spiritual Gifts

Point 3: What is a “Spiritual Gift”?

What is discernment?

Discernment is being able to determine what is coming from the thinking of Christ and what is coming from doctrines of demons, 1Ti 4:1.

The Bible says that, ultimately, only God can discern a person’s heart. Pro 21:2;
1Co 4:1-5

When it comes to spiritual discernment, the Lord tells us that the way to know the real source of things is by examining the fruit.

Thoughts become motivations. Motivations lead to decisions. Decisions lead to actions.

In Luk 6:43-45, our Lord makes it clear that the production in your life results from the thoughts in your soul.

In Rom 7:4-5, Paul tells us that there are two opposite kinds of fruit from two opposite sources.

A person is either bearing fruit for God or bearing fruit for death.

The first thing the Bible tells us about fruit is that fruit has seed inside.

The seeds inside the fruit are after the same kind as the seed that originally went into the ground.

Fruit is defined as the seed-bearing part of a plant or tree.
 
The ripened reproductive body of a seed plant.

The ripened ovary of a seed-bearing plant , containing the seeds and occurring in a wide variety of forms.

The Bible uses seed as a metaphor for the word of God.

In 1Pe 1:22, notice the progression from truth (seed) to love (fruit) here, from believing the word of God to loving members of the Royal Family.
 

In 1Pe 1:23, the seed is the living and enduring word of God. Here that word is clearly the Gospel message.
 

Luk 8:11
“Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God.”

The kingdom of darkness sows bad seed, as the Lord Jesus tells us in the parable of Mat 13:24-30.

The Bible has a lot to say about trees as well.

 

 


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