March 18, 2012 … Where’s the Fruit?

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Deuteronomy, Chapters 24-27 … To study these chapters, go to this link -

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Highlight Reference Passage #1 : Deuteronomy 26: 16-19 … 16 The LORD your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17 You have declared this day that the LORD is your God and that you will walk in obedience to him, that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws—that you will listen to him. 18 And the LORD has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands. 19 He has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the LORD your God, as he promised.

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Highlight Reference Passage #2 : Deuteronomy 27: 9-10 … 9 Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, “Be silent, Israel, and listen! You have now become the people of the LORD your God. 10 Obey the LORD your God and follow his commands and decrees that I give you today.”
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My Journal for Today: In the chapters I was led to read/study for my chronological read in Deuteronomy today (i.e., Chapters 24-27), Moses was reviewing the law for the people and laying out God’s protective guidelines (i.e., His rules and regulations for their living when they crossed into the promised-land). And the bottom-line charge to this sin-purged generation of Israelites was “obey and live as God’s mercy will provide; … disobey and die in ignominy.” And this is born out by the review declarations by Moses in the two highlighted study passages above.

Do you realize that if you, as have I, accepted Jesus Christ as your Messiah and Lord, you have crossed over the Jordan, leaving behind the old life of sin; and being cleansed by the sacrificial blood of the Lamb of God, you can walk into the promised-land, pure and clean, to become a light of God’s love as you take the land of eternal promise which our Lord has for us in Heaven. It’s the Apostle Paul’s promise in 2nd Cor. 5: 17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Okay, let’s say you’ve crossed over your own, personal Jordan River, declaring in your own mind of faith that Christ is the Lord of your life, … that He died on the cross to save you, and allow you to move into His promised-land of eternal life. So, therefore, as a promised-land disciple of Christ you believe and aspire to what Christ said of His followers (in Luke 9: 23: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” And, … you also know the truth of Christ’s proclaimed way to tell the real-deal Christian from the pseudo-christian, when he used the fruit-tree word picture, declaring, in Matt. 7: 20: ”20 Therefore by their fruits [i.e., of false witnesses] you will know them.”

So, knowing what Moses declared to God’s family of believers about disobedience and obedience to His word; and also knowing what Jesus has said about His family of disciples, what fruit do we have in our lives to show that we are obedient disciples of the One Who, by His blood shed on the cross, has allowed us to cross over the Jordan river, leaving behind the wilderness of sin behind and claiming the life He has for us in His promised-land?

I will leave that question for you to ponder as you walk, prayerfully WITH Christ in this life, shining your fruit-bearing light to lead the way so that others can walk out of the darkness, cross over the Jordan river of faith, and walk themselves into the Promised-Land, showing clearly, by our fruit, that we are part of the family of God.

My Prayer Today: … Oh, my dear Lord, I pray that others see Your light shining in me and there is obvious fruit on my tree of life for others to see and sample, leading them to You by the way I live. Amen