Get Together

~ Gather Around Christ! ~

 

Gathering To Christ By The Gospel  ~  “Jesus answered and said, ‘This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake.  Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.  And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.’  This He said, signifying by what death He would die” (John 12:30-33). 

 

Gathering To Christ In The Church  ~  Jesus said, “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.  For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:19-20).

 

Gathering To Christ In The Faith  ~  “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.’  And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, ‘Be saved from this perverse generation.’  Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.  And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:38-42). 

Gathering To Christ At His Coming  ~  “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-2). 

 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW blog.

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NOTES:

(1)     The current TOP 10 ALN posts are listed at the very bottom of this home page.

(2)     There is an INDEX of all ALN posts accessed by scrolling down the left column.

(3)     You may LINK to any ALN posts on your own blog or website. 

(4)     You may COPY any ALN post, but please credit ALN as the source by prominently displaying the following statement:  Reprinted from “Abundant Life Now,” a free blog which offers inspiring moments, thought-provoking comments, and solid Biblical insight at http://RobertLloydRussell.blogspot.com/ .

 

Fruit of the Spirit, 8of9

~ “A Bull In A China Shop” or Christ-Like? ~

 

Overview Scripture  ~  “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.  And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them” (Ephesians 5:8-11).    

 

Series Scripture  ~  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.  Against such there is no law.  And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-25).  It is important to note that while this passage lists nine fruits of the Spirit it is not a complete list—which includes “all goodness, righteousness, and truth” as seen above in Ephesians 5.

 

Comment  ~  The beatitudes in Chapter 5 of Matthew’s Gospel are a great place to examine the God-honoring Christian life.  Gentleness is sometimes associated with the term meekness.  The Biblical concept of meekness is not weakness but rather strength under control. 

 

Natural Man  ~  Are you only exhibiting a gentle nature to those whom you like? 

“Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?  Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?  Do not even the tax collectors do so?  Therefore you shall be perfect [complete], just as your Father in heaven is perfect [complete]’” (Matthew 5:43-48).

 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW blog.

Be an insider!  Sign up for his author NEWSLETTER and receive occasional news and special offers.  His books have won national and international literary awards.  Subscribe today and receive a welcome gift.  Your email will never be sold, given, or used in any other way.  You can easily unsubscribe at any time. 

 

NOTES:

(1)     The current TOP 10 ALN posts are listed at the very bottom of this home page.

(2)     There is an INDEX of all ALN posts accessed by scrolling down the left column.

(3)     You may LINK to any ALN posts on your own blog or website. 

(4)     You may COPY any ALN post, but please credit ALN as the source by prominently displaying the following statement:  Reprinted from “Abundant Life Now,” a free blog which offers inspiring moments, thought-provoking comments, and solid Biblical insight at http://RobertLloydRussell.blogspot.com/ .

 

God’s Gifts, 5of15

~ The Gift of Repentance ~

 

God’s Gifts Series  ~  God has given mankind many gifts.  In this series we will look at just a few of them.  There are so many aspects of God’s gifts which we regularly receive and give little or no thought to—such as the air we breathe and the light which enables us to see (and the capability to do both). 

 

Scripture  ~  “And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:24-26).

 

“Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’  If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?’  When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, ‘Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life’” (Acts 11:16-18).

 

“For in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’  Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.  Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained.  He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:28-31).

 

“I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself: ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, like an untrained bull; restore me, and I will return, for You are the Lord my God.  Surely, after my turning, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh; I was ashamed, yes, even humiliated, because I bore the reproach of my youth’” (Jeremiah 31:18-19).

 

Closing Comment  ~  “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15).  In one sense God’s “gift” is singular but His gifts are many with many facets (read 9:8-15). 

 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW blog.

Be an insider!  Sign up for his author NEWSLETTER and receive occasional news and special offers.  His books have won national and international literary awards.  Subscribe today and receive a welcome gift.  Your email will never be sold, given, or used in any other way.  You can easily unsubscribe at any time. 

 

NOTES:

(1)     The current TOP 10 ALN posts are listed at the very bottom of this home page.

(2)     There is an INDEX of all ALN posts accessed by scrolling down the left column.

(3)     You may LINK to any ALN posts on your own blog or website. 

(4)     You may COPY any ALN post, but please credit ALN as the source by prominently displaying the following statement:  Reprinted from “Abundant Life Now,” a free blog which offers inspiring moments, thought-provoking comments, and solid Biblical insight at http://RobertLloydRussell.blogspot.com/ .