You Shall Know Them By Their Fruits
Good Works
Christianity Oasis provides this You Shall Know Them By Their Fruits study on Good Works. What are the fruit of her hands in the Proverbs 31 scripture? We'll look into improving your virtuous deeds and how to become and remain virtuous in this step.
Christianity Oasis Ministry
presents
The Virtuous Woman
Step 23
You Shall Know Them By Their Fruits - Good Works
The Fruit of Her Hands are Virtuous Deeds
Welcome to our Christianity Oasis Virtuous Woman study program. This is our absolutely amazing and very important ... You Shall Know Them By Their Fruits Bible study taking an in depth look into good works which are known as being one's virtuous deeds. It is written in the Bible that we will know another person by their fruits (things they do and say) which means that we too are being measured (evaluated) by our virtuous deeds. The absolutely be-YOU-tiful and thought provoking message shared within this You Shall Know Them By Their Fruits Bible study is sure to bring a smile to the lips and heart while enLIGHTening your YOU-nique Christian walk path.
Start this adventure from the beginning:
Welcome back!
You Shall Know Them By Their Fruits - Good Works
The Fruit of Her Hands Meaning - Virtuous Deeds
I'm so proud of you for your enthusiasm to become more virtuous for your beloved Jesus, and as we uncover more and more mysteries of Truth together, I have to ask, can you feel your values changing? Have you started to replace old habits with new ones? Are your good works and virtuous deeds increasing? And how do you feel inside ... Do you feel like a better person for it?
All those positive results are 'the fruit of her hands!' You decided to improve yourself. You decided to commit to the challenge of this program. You decided to stick with it, even though you may have experienced obstacles of many kinds along the way, from time constraints to illness to difference of opinion about something in the program to peer pressure, etc., etc., etc. No doubt, dozens of things have nudged you and said, "Ohhhhh, just give it up already." But here you are, devoted to your cause, and you have already been rewarded with better values, new habits and an overall better feeling of well being about yourself. Those are 'the fruits of her hands' and those rewards will continue to grow, as long as you choose to continue on a virtuous path.
Go back over the last paragraph and count how many times the word you and variations of the word 'you' there are. The message is crystal clear. It is truly up to you.
Where's the Love?
Lots of people are proud of the good works they do, but their heart isn't in them. They do them but not willingly. If you do things (good works) for the Lord out of obligation, or for recognition, it's much different than if you do them out of Love for the Lord.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall
enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he that doeth the Will of my
Father which is in Heaven.
I'm sure you've heard the phrase, Talk is cheap. And it's true ... Worthless in fact, without action in one form or another. A man's (or woman's) word means nothing until it has been fulfilled. A woman can talk about her virtuous deeds 'til she's blue in the face, but unless she practices what she preaches, her words are empty. There's no fooling God.
You Shall Know Them By Their Fruits and Good Works
The Fruit of Her Hands are Her Virtuous Deeds
But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.
Galatians 6:7
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Being virtuous is a choice that's up to you. God gives you the choice to make your own decisions. It's never too late to begin. Every day is a new day ... A fresh start. Every moment is a new moment. No matter what, you aren't a hopeless cause. Read the New Testament. Get to know the character of Jesus' Apostles at the beginning of their walk with Christ. They weren't a group of virtue filled fellas right from the get go. It took time. It took faith. One Christian songwriter describes them as "a band of unschooled ruffians and a few old fishermen." Some of the un-virtues they possessed were doubt, fear, pride, jealousy ... Paul even described himself this way:
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
How You Shall Know Them By Their Fruits
Pray to Increase Your Good Works
Peter, the rock upon whom Jesus said He would build His church, had so much cowardice at one point that he denied emphatically to some gals at a campfire that he had ever even known Jesus ... Yet, these were His Apostles! Jesus knew that they would need and depend on the Holy Spirit after He left. Don't believe that He can't change your life. Remember, if you're not asking for something that seems impossible ... You're not asking for enough. You may think that you've done some unforgivable things in your life and there's no way you could ever make up for them, but that's exactly the reason why our Lord died for us. That is the Grace of God. There is one string attached ... You have to be genuinely sorry for what you did wrong.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God ...
2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
There is only one unforgivable sin.
28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto
the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall
blaspheme:
29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath
never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.
2 Peter 2:20-22
20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the
world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is
worse with them than the beginning.
21 For it had been better for them not to have known the
way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from
the Holy commandment delivered unto them.
22 But it is happened unto them according to the true
proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that
was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
Hebrews 6:4-6
4 For it is impossible for those who were once
enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made
partakers of the Holy Ghost,
5 And have tasted the good Word of God, and the powers of
the world to come,
6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto
repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh,
and put Him to an open shame.
You Shall Know Them By Their Fruits of the Spirit
Good Works Never Go Unnoticed
Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is a very sensitive issue. There are so many people who believe that they've ruined the hope of their salvation because sin in their life continues, even after they've been saved or reborn. Nothing could be further from the Truth. Remember, sin is sin because you know that you are doing something wrong.
Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
If you did something that you didn't know was wrong, it wouldn't be sin. When you sin, subconsciously (or maybe even consciously sometimes) you're saying, I know this is wrong, and I'm gonna do it anyway. Yes, it's ugly and shameful and you downright hate to admit it, but it's the Truth.
Somehow, we don't want our sins to be "bad" sins ... We feel like we can live within our own skin more comfortably if we think that we only tell "white" lies. Friend, there's no such thing. Sin is sin. It's all bad. If you look at sin in general, you could probably say that the majority of sins are repeat offenses. Unfortunately, when you're saved, or reborn, sin doesn't magically disappear from life.
You don't become perfect. But your attitude, and your determination to avoid and resist and reject temptation is what changes. You still have the sin "gene" from our earthly ancestors Adam and Eve, but when you're reborn in the spirit, you decide to manage your "inherent gene" differently and replace sin with good works and virtuous deeds. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is when you forsake Him and never return.
That is the only unforgivable sin.
Everyone sins, and I'll tell you one of my favorite things again, Our sin can't possibly outdo God's Grace. Don't ever forget that. If you're worried that you've fallen away and blasphemed the Holy Spirit, chances are you haven't, because if you did, you wouldn't care. You certainly wouldn't be concerned about whether or not you're virtuous if you did. If you're still worried, why not try charity, as Peter suggests.
You Shall Know Them By Their Fruits - Good Works
The Fruit of Her Hands Meaning - Virtuous Deeds
And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.
Be careful that once you change your life, and are reborn, that you do not judge others who haven't found Truth yet ... Or even still, those who know truth, but haven't decided yet to dedicate their lives to it.
Wow ...
... Is a word you may say to yourself after reading that last sentence ... Because once we see the light, we feel so compelled to help others, and sometimes even over-help those who have yet to see the light that we've seen, or have only seen a glimmer. But let me ask you a question. Let's just say, for the sake of example, that when you found Jesus and opened your heart to the truth, you were 37 years old. When you were 28, chances are you knew who Jesus was ... In fact, you probably knew quite a bit about Him, and if you didn't, you had the opportunity and the resources to find out.
But you just weren't ready yet. You chose not to find out. And perhaps you can look back and find reasons why you didn't accept and choose Christianity as your walk until you did. There may have been experiences you had to go through that would allow you to know something first hand in order to help another struggling soul that will go through the same thing in the future. There may have been so much worldly influence with a stronghold on you, that you couldn't have devoted your life without doubting that you did the right thing, or that you were missing something greener back on the other side of the fence.
My question to you is this ... Isn't it the epitome of hypocrisy to judge another for not choosing to be reborn when we are ready for them to be? Do not they get to choose their own time, as we did? Was smoking cigarettes A-okay only until you quit, and then once you quit, then it became unhealthy for all mankind? How did that happen?
Yes, it is our duty and desire to spread the Word of God. Yes, it is our duty and desire to help lost souls to find their way into or back into the flock. Yes it is our duty and desire to warn those we see are astray. Yes, it is our duty and desire to offer good works and virtuous deeds as a sacrifice of ourselves to God for His glory.
No, it is not our duty or desire to judge anyone who doesn't do what we want, when we want it. Everyone is different. Everyone's time is different. Everyone's emotions and circumstance and heart is different. Don't ever forget that you were once where they are now, and if anyone judged you for not accepting the Lord as your Savior immediately upon invitation, it may have (and probably did in many cases) scared you into closing your mind and heart to it until another shepherd with more understanding and patience and mercy came along to guide you with more tender loving care, or maybe not even another shepherd, but just another time in your life when you had more understanding and patience and a clearer understanding of mercy.
Those who are lost can't understand as you understand until they are reborn and their spirit is renewed.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.
But to judge them, is not what the Lord taught us.
1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and
with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's
eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the
mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own
eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy
brother's eye.
You Shall Know Them By Their Fruits - Virtuous Deeds
The Fruit of Her Hands - Good Works
Judgment, and warning are two different things. Once you know Truth, it is your obligation to bring the light to others and blow the trumpet ... Without judgment.
I must accentuate this once more because it is so important, it is our duty to warn, but not to judge, and it is often a very difficult operation to present warning to lost sheep without sounding judgmental. Pray about it and don't be afraid to tell a sheep that you are warning and not judging, and remind them that you were once lost too. They will trust you more for it.
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
God loves all of His children. He wants everyone to have the chance to renew their lives and not be lost sheep anymore.
Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways ...
Help bring the lost back to His flock. He is depending on you. You are His watchman.
6 But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the
trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take
any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his
blood will I require at the watchman's hand.
8 When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt
surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way,
that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I
require at thine hand.
9 Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn
from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his
iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
You Shall Know Them By Their Fruits - Good Works
The Fruit of Her Hands Meaning - Virtuous Deeds
Just remember, to extend the same kind of Grace to the people you take under your wing, that the Lord extends to you, and praise Him for it, every single day.
Even though this Step was based on the last verse of the Proverbs 31 Scripture, it's not the end of our program. Don't forget to come back for Steps 24 through 28! See you then.
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Christianity Oasis
There is a force out there that is attempting to overtake us all; it is Satan. There is another force that is protecting us from him; it is the Holy Spirit. It is a battle for souls. This battle is called Spiritual Warfare, and like it or not, you are right in the middle of it.
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