Lenten Devotional

I will be on my way to Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya for a while. 
In the meantime, Here is a Lenten Devotional- day by day 2/13- 4/1. 

The theme of the Lenten Devotional is "Bearing Fruit and Finding Peace." 
It has a focus on the Fruits of the Spirit. 

Please say a prayer for Dr. Sloan and the Trinity Presbytery South Sudan team as they minister to the South Sudanese in the refugee camp in Kenya.  Pray for them to bear fruit and that there will be more peace in the camp and in South Sudan too. 

Note: Ash Wednesday (2/14) there will be a worship service (sanctuary) at 7 PM
Each Wednesday there will be a meal and a worship service in the Fellowship Hall.
Blessing will be at 5:45, worship 6:20, Programs 6:30 nursery and children's program provided. 

Holy Week we will have our meal and worship on Maundy Thursday 3/29 worship at 7. 

Bearing Fruit

18Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. 19Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.

20When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.

21Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. 22If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”  (Matthew 21:18-22)

Thoughts: The theme of this chapter is the rejection of the people of God and then God's rejection of them.  To expect God to continue to bless us when we are not grateful to Him or live for Him is naive. 
     The fig tree was a symbol of Israel.  In Jeremiah 8:13 God says He will take away the fig harvest as a sign of their rejection of God.   The people of Israel were chosen to bear fruit- to glorify God and to be a kingdom of priests to the nations.  But the fruit was non-existent.
       We do not exist for our own comfort- or simply to grow without bearing fruit.  We are called to bear the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control).  We are called to bear fruit by reproducing our faith in others.  Fruit is part of the reproduction cycle of a tree that nourishes us and makes the tree useful.  We are not simply made to grow and prosper- we are called to have a purpose and bear fruit.  In John 15:2 Jesus says that a branch that does not bear fruit will be pruned. 

But there is another part to this passage.  "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. "  Prayer is not just wishful thinking, talking to the ceiling or talking to thin air. Jesus is trying to get His followers to believe in the power of God and to trust in Him.  There is power in prayer- so we should pray more.  Prayer is another way we may bear fruit for God.  

Prayer: Lord, help me to believe in your power.  Help me to bear fruit for you.  

3-28-14 Bearing Fruit

8This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

9“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17This is my command: Love each other.  (John 15:8-17)

Thoughts: We are created to bear fruit for Him.  If we do not bear fruit, we will be pruned away as dead weight to the body of Christ (the church).  There are at least three different kinds of fruit talked about in the New Testament.  1) The fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5)- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. 2) The fruit of a well lived- life.  Romans and James talk about persevering and hope producing maturity- a fruitful Christian life.  3) The fruit of reproducing faith in others.  Fruit is how a tree reproduces itself, and there is a sense when we share our faith and people respond to the Good News we are reproducing ourselves and Christ in us- in others.  Our faith is not simply in order to help us be more fulfilled and happy.  Such a faith is not fruit-bearing, but becomes self-centered.  If we abide in Christ, we are being nourished so that we might bear fruit- not that we might be bloated with nourishment.  Our passage says (vs. 16) we were "chosen" to bear fruit.  We were not created to simply be fulfilled.  We were created to bear fruit.
     The best of the fruit is love.  It is the first of the fruit of the Spirit.  It is the greatest of the Spiritual gifts.  It is the greatest commandment and the command that Jesus is focusing on right before His death.  Jesus says the greatest love is shown in sacrifice.  His "new command" is not to love neighbor as self, but to love others as He loved us- in unconditional sacrifice.  The greatest fruit is love, and the greatest love is like Christ's sacrifice.

Prayer: Lord, May my life bear fruit for you.