bearing fruit

What Happened to Being a Light? – Frank Work

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I watched an interview with the rapper Snoop Dogg concerning the remake of the movie “Roots”,  that really spoke to me about a mindset of how we view a past that we were never part of. And how that past can affect a culture that is hundreds of years removed. Snoop Dogg goes on to say;

“I’m sick of this. … How the heck they gonna put Roots on Memorial Day?” a subdued Snoop Dogg asks in the selfie video. “They just going to keep beating that stuff into our heads as to how they did us, huh?”

He goes on to say…

“I don’t understand America. They just want to keep showing the abuse that we took hundreds and hundreds of years ago. But guess what? We’re taking the same abuse,” he says. “Think about that part. When you all going to make a series about the success that black folks is having. The only success we have is Roots and 12 Years A Slave?”

Now don’t get me wrong, I in no way thinking that we should be oblivious to our past, in fact I know we can learn many things, both good and bad, from our past. I remember in Orlando Fla., we saw a very great tragedy. Anytime human life is lost, its a travesty against us as a nation. It wasn’t LGBT’s who were lost, it was people, lives, living, breathing, human beings who are now lost because of one man’s inability to see past his own hate, or should I say, his own self taught hate. Look I am not advocating a lifestyle here, I am advocating my belief as a Christian that Jesus views all life as sacred. Again I say, let’s remember what Jesus said in John 3:16-17

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Somehow those words, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world” are lost. Jesus reprimanded the disciples for judging wrongly when they wanted to call down fire, Jesus said in Luke 9;

54 And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?”
55 But He turned and rebuked them,and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.

Which to me means, we don’t really have the mind of God and what His purposes are in many area’s of our lives, I know I don’t. Chick-fil-a helped the victims of the Orlando shooting during a time when the light of Christ needed to pierce the darkness. If your conviction is to not associate with people differing from your belief system, and anything associated with them, then I guess your time at Chick-fil-a is done. Again, this isn’t agreeing with a lifestyle, if anything this is being in agreement with the word of God.

Let’s just remember who we are really fighting here. It’s not a people group, it’s not a person, it’s Satan. It’s the accuser of the brethren, it’s the hater of our souls and the who despises our love for God and the love God has for his children. Time to grow up people, we aren’t fighting a natural war here, we are fighting a carnal war, we are fighting a spiritual war, a war that is claiming lives everyday. Doesn’t God have a desire that ALL should be saved? How are you going to do that when condemnation is the first thing we speak when we wake, and the last thing we speak when we sleep?

I for one am not going to put up with it, you want to vomit your hate monger words across your Facebook page, feel free, it’s your page, I will kindly remove you from my feed. Seriously, let go of your hate, we aren’t called to hate, but to love. Stop using the Old Testament mindset to justify your abuse of God’s people. Stop prostituting God’s grace and embrace the cross for what it really means. It’s a sacrifice we can’t repay, an embracing of death that we don’t have to walk through. A gateway to God that we could not find, except through the blood of Christ.

What’s going to happen when the pagans, the witches, the satanist, the LGBT community, the lost in Christ, come banging on the doors of your church, wanting to be saved, wanting to know Jesus. When they are drawn to the power of His blood and are seeking redemption and healing? Will you turn them away? Will you tip your cap of pride and tell them to go away for they are “unclean?” Remember we are being watched as Christians. When you tell someone you are a Christian, or profess that you are a follower of Jesus, you are being watched and observed on how consistent you are to His word.

That big building you go to every Sunday is not a fortress to keep you safe from the world, it’s a place that is suppose to be a city of refuge to the lost and broken who want to find Jesus, and HIS BRIDE WITHIN. Stop holding on to the gift of salvation like it is yours to hold. It’s not. Remember what Peter said in Acts 3:6

6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”

Be a light that those in the dark who want to come and see. Thank goodness that Jesus didn’t respond to the lepers, the harlots and the tax collectors like we do to people in today’s world. Who can be saved indeed.

Spiritual Seasons: Which One Are You In? (Part 2) – Frank Work

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We continue our teaching on spiritual seasons with Autumn and Winter. Also I would like to point out that these examples are more general in nature than exact. Your walk with the Lord is different than mine, and you will view the world you live in differently. My only hope is that these examples will you give a path to start on, in which you can continue your journey with the Holy Spirit and He can give you wisdom on what your spiritual seasons look like.

During spiritual autumn, our spiritual growth will be shrinking back but the demands from us increase.

It is interesting that the greatest harvest of fruit comes when the tree is heading for a season of rest.

-It is incorrect to say that a person in spiritual autumn does not have God’s anointing; God anoints all the spiritual seasons.

-On a personal level, during spiritual autumn you may be feeling a need to return to the basics of the faith, or a new commitment to the spiritual disciplines of fasting, praying, solitude, individual worship and devotion; things which in themselves, seem to produce little fruit but are essential for our Christian walk.

– In ministry, you might have to cut back your commitment. There might be external factors like time commitments due to family, work, etc.

-Winter. Spiritual winter is the most uncomfortable time for many Christians, especially in the western church.

– In our western society, we tend to value people based on how much they produce. If you don’t believe me, look at who gets recognized in the western church. Usually it is the people that seem to live at church and are committed to many different activities. This work=value culture is not Godly and it is wrong to applaud people who are over committed as much as it is wrong to applaud people who are under committed. God values people, not works and we should to… but that is another discussion.

-Spiritual winter is like the Sabbath. Let’s talk about Sabbath rest. It is not doing nothing. It’s not taking a break from God. During the Sabbath, God instructed people to keep the rest holy to God and reflect on the things that God had done for them. God says in Lev 23:27 we must “deny” (NIV, NASB) or “afflict” (KJ, NKJ) ourselves when observing the Sabbath. What would be denied?

-Whatever keeps our minds from reflecting on God’s good deeds and keeping holy attitude before God are the exact things that we must deny.

-They might include watching TV or reading that novel. They could include sports or shopping. They might even include catching another bible study or getting involved with another ministry. We need to discipline ourselves to stay connected with God during our rest because our natural inclination is to wander spiritually when we are in a season of rest.

-During spiritual winter, it is normal to feel like God is not hearing our prayers or speaking to us. We may feel like we are having a “wilderness” experience.

-We may feel like our ministry is unfruitful and assume it is dying. But during winter, there is no fruit bearing and it is a time or spiritual rest.

-In winter, reflect on God and God’s faithfulness to you and maintain an attitude of reverence before God. It is God’s perfect order that all creation rests periodically.

-God thinks so highly of rest that on the seventh day of creation, He rested too.

-When we don’t rest, we’ve made our service an idol above God. When we squirm away from spiritual winter, we squirm away from Godliness.

Spiritual seasons are not spiritual conditions of the saint nor a way of measuring Godliness.

God ordains spiritual seasons to provide the greatest spiritual fruit bearing and the greatest spiritual growth.

-God’s seasonal plan includes periods of growth and periods of rest. Recognizing the season you’re in and responding appropriately to that season, is the best way to insure continued spiritual growth and a life that bears Godly fruit.

Also spiritual seasons apply to a congregation as well as the individual. Knowing what season our congregation is can really help in understanding how we should direct our worship and praise in song and prayer.

Spiritual Seasons: Which One Are You In? (Part 1) – Frank Work

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Spiritual seasons can be much like natural seasons. Through our life in Jesus we can ebb and flow dependent on many aspects of our lives. We seem to be more ruled by our emotions and surroundings than led by the Spirit of God. I believe that if we can understand what season we are walking we can better understand why we do what we do and why certain aspects of our spiritual walk will rise and fall. In the kingdom of God there is always a specific reason why walk through different seasons of our lives. Hopefully there is no confusion in what I am trying to convey.

Understanding the seasons we walk in.

Seasons of God are not defined by human time frames. God’s seasons move in and out spiritual time according to the plans and strategies and the timeline for which He has established.

The importance of knowing the correct season we are walking in allows us the freedom to be released in the correct direction of prayer and action for which God wants to us to go.

When we don’t walk and correctly discern the season we are in, we will stifle the place where God wants to take us. We will over extend a season for which we are no longer supposed to be in. We will hamper that which the Holy Spirit is trying to show us through the season for which we are walking in and the season we are going into.

Here are some scriptures to start off with;

Isaiah 50:4 “The Lord GOD has given Me The tongue of the learned, That I should know how to speak A word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear To hear as the learned.“

2 Timothy 4 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.

Eccl 3:1 1 To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: There is a time to…born, die, plant, pluck, kill, heal, break down, build up.

What is God saying? Basically he is saying that He has an appointed season for everything to happen, in its due time. If we do not have a spiritual understanding of what season we are in, then how will be able to correctly discern the exact season God has established?

When we begin to walk out of the season for which God has us in, then the anointing of that season is evident in our relationship with Him. Whether we are walking in a spring, summer, fall or winter season. I am using the created seasons as a reference only.

Seasons of our Faith

Daniel 2:20-22 20 Daniel answered and said: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,
For wisdom and might are His.
21 And He changes the times and the seasons;
He removes kings and raises up kings;
He gives wisdom to the wise
And knowledge to those who have understanding.

Deuteronomy 11:14“ then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil“

Deuteronomy 28:12
The LORD will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.

I will use the natural seasons established by God to set our minds to an understanding of “The season we are in”

Example of the farmer and knowing when to plant, when to tend and when to harvest. The land hibernates during the winter months.

Jesus used the parable of the fig tree (Mat 24:29-31) to illustrate that we need to be aware of our spiritual surroundings and seasons.

One of the greatest tragedies for Christians is they do not recognize the season they are in. For example, if a Christian is in a winter season and becomes nervous that there does not seem to be any fruit appearing in their life, they may commit to new ministries in order to force themselves to produce fruit. No matter how hard they try, they won’t produce fruit until God produces it in them.

But what is worse is that sometimes we blame God for the lack of fruit. God does not fail. However we fail to recognize our seasons and we can actually work against God.

What should Christians do in the different seasons? In every season, being in touch with God is essential. Let’s start with Spiritual springtime and end with spiritual winter.

During springtime, look for the leading of God in new activities and ventures into new opportunities.

-On the personal level, these can be activities like new ways of doing your daily devotions or new relationships with encouraging saints. New understanding of prayer between you and the Holy Spirit. Visions being released in your spirit of what God wants to do in the coming seasons of your life.

-Regarding ministry, springtime can bring new ministry, more attendees or new ways of serving God. Be careful not to invest too much of yourself in all these new things because, just like a fruit tree, not every blossom will lead to fruit. These temporary blossoms serve to pollinate other blossoms. They are also signs to show us that it is springtime.

-Which means God will show you and allow you to be part of many things in the spring season, but these things will only serve to strengthen you in the exact thing God is planting in this season of your life.

Summer is a time of spiritual development and fruit bearing.

-Applied to your personal spiritual development, you might find yourself learning to study scripture better, having deeply significant devotions where you feel God’s presence more regularly.

-Applied to your ministry, you might find God giving you strategic insights, you seem to be more effective in your ministry or you have a new sense of anointing.

On the other hand, Satan will attempt to divert you; to cause you to put your energies into non-fruit bearing activities. Some of these activities could be attempts to maintain some of the things God showed you in the spring season for which we in our own strength are trying to keep alive and blooming. Some flowers only bloom in one season.

Part Two will cover the Spiritual Seasons of Autumn and Winter. Stay Tuned!