012: The Fruit of God's Spirit

-----   In the Bible, Jesus says in …

PP1   Matthew 7:20  
“By their fruits you will know them.”  

PP2    A tree is known by the fruit it produces.  

PP3    People are known by the kind of fruit they produce in their lives.  

-----     For forty years, Delphine and I were farmers, growing plants in the ground and in nursery pots.

It was 1974 when we sold our home and business interests in Brisbane and moved to the bush with our dreams, our two little kids, and two fruit trees.   We bought the two fruit trees to celebrate the move.

I loved peaches so I bought a peach tree.  Delphine’s favourite fruit was the custard apple, so we bought one of those.  We had a lot to learn.

The block was steep and stony with very little flat land.  The access track was steep and narrow, so we bought an …

PP   (Photos of Land Rover)

…  old tray-back Land Rover.  Some rainy nights we’d get half-way home, slipping and sliding in the truck until we got stuck.  Then we’d get out and walk the rest of the way.  

PP    (Photo of small shed)

‍
The little shed we lived in was 14 foot by 7 foot (that’s only about 5m x 2m of floor space).  All four of us lived in that.   To have a bath we’d strip off our clothes and walk down a steep slope to our muddy little dam.  A neighbour saw us one day so the news spread through the local pub about the nudists who lived on the hill.

PP    (Well)   We planted our two fruit trees, the peach and the custard apple.  We were going to be farmers and grow our own food.  We had a lot to learn.

We hadn’t prepared the soil, just dug a couple of holes with a crowbar, no compost, no fertilizer and not much water.  While we slept, some animals came and ate our trees.  We didn’t get any fruit.  We learnt a lot about farming in those first few years.  ------

PP     When a farmer ploughs his field and adds the fertiliser and sows the seed and waters the soil, he has a definite goal in mind.  He is supremely interested in the harvest.  He makes every effort and spares no expense, to secure a bumper crop.  He’s looking for quantity!  Also, he is interested in quality, as well as quantity.

PP1     In the Bible, God is repeatedly referred to as the Divine ‘Husbandman’, which means farmer.  

Over long centuries, He too, has prepared His field – the human race , and sowed His seed – the Word of God.  

PP2    And like farmers down here, God too is very interested in quality.
He longs to see the qualities of His own beautiful character mirrored in His followers, His disciples, you and me.

-----   In the beginning, before people started to sin, the Bible tells us in …

PP1    Genesis 1:26,27
V26   “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;…”

PP2   v27   “So God created man in His own image;  in the image of God He created him:  male and female He created them.”

PP     So Adam and Eve were made ‘in the image of God’ – capable of reflecting the beautiful character of God, like a clean, un-smudged mirror.  
God’s supreme desire for us is to see that ‘image’ restored and reflected in our lives.

PP1   Romans 8:29     (God wants us to be)
“conformed to (which means made like) the image of His Son.”

PP2   Galatians 1:15,16      
(God)   “wants Jesus to be seen in me”.  

PP3     This is a huge part of God’s great goal for us.

Friends, to help us to always keep this shining goal before us, God has given us a detailed picture of what human life will be like – in terms of inward character and outward conduct – when the beautiful “image of God” is restored in you and me.  This picture is drawn for us in Galatians 5:22,23, where the ‘Fruit of God’s Spirit’ in us is described.

But first we’re going to read a list of …

PP1   The fruits of the devil’s spirit.     Galatians 5:19-21   (then)

PP2   The fruits of God’s Spirit.    Galatians 5:22,23

As we read this list of …

PP1   The fruits of the devil’s spirit   (think about the ones that may be in your life.)  

Here they are, in Galatians 5:19-21 …  

PP2   v19   “Now the works of the flesh (that’s our humanness before God has come into our lives.  ‘Now the works of the flesh’) … are evident, which are:  adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, (which means lustful or indecent),…”

PP1  v20  “…idolatry, (do I have some idols in my life?  Maybe my business, my home, sex, sport – whatever.  After idolatry comes)… sorcery, hatred (that’s hating people), contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath (or anger), selfish ambitions, dissentions, heresies,…”

Now verse 21 …   Here are some more of the fruits of the devil’s spirit.  And yes friends, they’re all bad things.

Verse 21 …

PP2   v21   “… envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like;  of which I tell you beforehand, just as I told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Now friends, the very next two verses are …

PP1   The fruits of God’s Spirit

PP2    v22  “But the fruit of the Spirit …    (that’s the Spirit of God.)

You notice that the Bible translators always use a capital ‘S’ when they’re referring to God’s beautiful Spirit.  

Verse 22, “But the fruit of the Spirit …

PP3      …  is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”

PP4    v23  “Against such (against such good things) there is no law.”

Friends, there is a law against us if we follow the devil’s spirit.  But if with God’s help we follow God’s Spirit, there is no law against us, because we are following God’s wonderful law of love.

-----   Let’s look at some of these good fruits.

If we had to rank all of the above fruits of God’s Spirit in their order of possible importance, the quality of …

PP1    LOVE

… would have to be number one.  And this is maybe why it has been listed as the first fruit in the Bible verse.

PP2   What does the word ‘love’ bring to mind?

PP3    Unselfishness, concern for the well-being of others, the love of God the Father for His human children, and the love we in turn should have for Him and other people.

PP    It is only when the love of God’s Spirit starts to flow and enter into our personalities, that we can even begin to love God, love ourselves, and love one another to the degree and to the intensity that God would really like to see from each one of us.

The Bible talks about a process in our lives called ‘Sanctification’ where we begin to grow more like our beautiful Jesus.

I’ve got a whole message on Sanctification in the LIFE LESSONS section on my website.  It’s title is ‘100% FREEDOM’.

PP    To those of you who are already entering this growing process, this sanctification process, love should be listed as the number one quality that people will see growing stronger and stronger in you.

God’s Spirit will be moving in you very early and very quickly to get this quality of love built into your life due to the extreme importance of it in your walk with the Lord.  We all need more love and compassion for others, don’t we?  -----

The next one is …

PP1     JOY

What would be some of the different definitions of what real joy is all about?

PP2    Great delight, gladness of heart, the happy state that comes from knowing and serving God, the deep inner rejoicing in the Lord, to be very glad, to rejoice.

In the rough and tough world we live in with all of the crime, disorder, and bad things that can happen to any one of us at any time, many people have lost their joy as a result of some of the beatings they have taken in this life.  It could even be you.

This is why the verse from Galatians is so powerful and so needed by every single person today.  In this verse God is telling us that He can transmit some of His Godly and divine qualities right up into the middle of us, like filling up a new car with its first tank of pure, clean fuel.

And one of the things that God can fully restore in you is your joy in Him.  If you’ve lost it, you can get it back.  But more than that, He can increase it to a much greater degree and intensity than you’ve ever had before.  -----

Well friends, in the list of the fruits of God’s Spirit, next comes …

PP1      PEACE.

What’s another definition for peace?  …

PP2      Inner tranquillity.

This is another major quality that we all need operating in our lives, especially with all of the uncertainty of this life and never knowing what is going to happen next.

PP3    Realize that God wants to give His peace to you, and that He can give it to you in great abundance.  

The Bible says that it is a peace that goes beyond all human understanding -- especially when that peace is present right in the middle of a severe storm cloud that you may be going through in life.  -----

Next is …

PP1      LONGSUFFERING  

PP2    The dictionary defines longsuffering as patience, patient endurance, the ability to endure persecution and ill-treatment with no thought of retaliation.

One of the main definitions for the word longsuffering is that it is referring to patience.  Our own impatience will try to over-ride the patience and longsuffering that God wants to transmit to us.  At times, it may become a battle of wills --- your or my will against His will.

I find, that because I want to do my will, and my will is often not God’s will, what I do, and have done for some years now, is this.  Every morning when I wake up, I get out of bed and talk to God.

I talk to Him.  I pray that I will be able to help Him to have a good day.  I say hello to Jesus.  I pray that everything I do during the day will bring glory and honour to my wonderful and awesome heavenly Father and Jesus.

As my prayer guide, I often use what we call the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13. -----  When I get to the part in the Lord’s Prayer where Jesus talks about God’s will, it says, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

At that point in my prayer, I take a rubber band.  You probably wonder why I always have a rubber band on my wrist.  …

PP

Well I take a rubber band and I say to our Father,
    “Father, I want to put my will in Your hands today.  If I keep my will;  if I keep my desires, I will mess up, I will do some of the wrong things, I will sin.  And so Father, I want to give my will into Your hands, because I know that when You have my will, it is not Your will to sin, to do anything wrong, and so, as long as I leave my will in Your hands and don’t take it back, I will-not-sin.
     So Father, I just want to thank You, thank You, for the fantastic privilege that I have to give You my will, and for You to take my will, and give me Your will in its place.
    Also Father, I ask You to help me, to not take my will back from You.  Lord, I have a tendency to do that.  We all do!  And if I take my will back, it will not be Your will anymore, and I will do the wrong things.  I will sin.  And I don’t want to do that.  I don’t want to hurt You, I don’t want to hurt Jesus, in any way at all because I love You both.
     So thank You Father for taking my will and giving me Your will in its place.  So Father, I'm putting this rubber band on my wrist to remind me of that, all day today.  --------

-----  Friends, next on our list is …

PP1      KINDNESS
Here are some of the definitions of what real kindness is all about.

PP2    The quality of being kind, love for mankind, hospitality, readiness to help.  

Friends, …

PP3     KINDNESS is an action word.

As a result of more people being impatient, having short fuses, and with everyone always being in a hurry --- many people have lost the ability to treat others with kindness and respect.

PP1    A kind word, a kind action to another person can really do wonders for them, and for you, and for God.

The quality of kindness will go hand in hand with the quality of love. The Bible says in …

PP2    John 4:19    “We love Him (that’s GOD) because He first loved us.”  

It becomes easier to love and be kind after we accept God’s gifts of forgiveness and eternal life.  You’ll learn about that in my message called, ‘RECEIVING THE FREE GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE’.  You’ll find that message in the LIFE LESSONS section on my website.

You cannot help but be more kind to others if God’s love is flowing into you and out of you.  This is why …

PP    The quality of love has to be the main quality that you really concentrate on asking more of from God.  Once the love of God starts to flow and operate through you to touch others, many of the other fruits of God’s Spirit will then start to follow right after it in domino fashion. -----

Next, …

PP1     GOODNESS

PP2    The Bible says that it’s the goodness of God that will lead (or draw) sinners to Him, and then to repentance and salvation.    Romans 2:4

Goodness has a very real drawing power to it.  Not only does the goodness of God draw people to Him, but this fruit of goodness operating in you and me can also draw other people to God.  

PP3    If you and I have these fruits operating in us we are like a magnet.

Many people who have been saved, say that what drew them to Jesus was the love and goodness they saw shining through a Christian they knew.  And many non-Christians carefully watch and study some Christians because they know there is something really different about them.

PP     One of the key qualities a non-Christian will pick up on in a genuine Christian is this quality of goodness.

This is why the fruit of goodness is so important for each Christian to have, because with it, you can draw many more people to Jesus.

And the beautiful part about this fruit is that…

PP     TRUE GOODNESS    is so pure that it does not have any manipulative qualities within it.  

In other words, a truly good person could not even begin to try to use you or manipulate you for their own personal gain.  They wouldn’t even think about it.  You feel so safe just being around them.

Remember, God only ever wants the very best for us.  And He wants us to reflect these wonderful characteristics of His to those we meet.

Next comes …

PP1      FAITHFULNESS

For faithfulness, the dictionary uses the words …

PP2   Dependability, loyalty, trustworthiness, dedication to a cause.

In the times we live in, with about half of all marriages still ending up in divorce, and with many people getting back-stabbed in the workplaces by  people they thought they could trust --- this particular quality is one that is really needed in our day and age.

This quality of faithfulness is not only needed in our personal relationship with God, but it is also needed in our own personal relationships with our friends and our families.  

PP3    God wants us to be faithful and loyal to our spouses, to our children, to our parents, to our friends, our boss and our business and social acquaintances. -----

Next, …

PP1   GENTLENESS.
For gentleness, the dictionary says, …

PP2    Mildness combined with tenderness.

Many men may draw back a bit from this fruit, the quality of gentleness.  We think we’re supposed to be tough, not gentle!  Yes, we know Jesus would sometimes engage forcefully and set people straight like He did with some of the hypocritical church leaders, the scribes and Pharisees.  But there were other times when He dealt with people very gently, with kindness and love.

The quality of gentleness is another major quality needed in our world today.  So many people have been beat up and hurt in their dealings with other people.  

PP3    Just a gentle word, a gentle touch from another Christian, can really open up the door for that person to be able to receive Jesus and His healing, saving, and deliverance power into their lives.

People we meet often need a touch of gentleness rather than any kind of stern rebuke or condemnation.

If all that our partners or children ever hear from us are stern words of rebuke and criticism, and it is never properly balanced out with actions of love, kindness and gentleness – then after a period of time, our children and partners will start to pull away from us, and they will slowly lose their desire to want to establish any good, solid, loving relationship with us.  

PP    But it’s never too late to genuinely apologise and set about changing.

Not only will other people love and gravitate towards you more if you learn how to walk in this quality of gentleness --- but you will also be much more at peace with yourself since you won’t always have to be fighting and striving and competing with others.

The last fruit of the Spirit is …

PP1     SELF-CONTROL

This one is huge.  The Bible tells us that …

PP2    God’s Spirit in us, and our flesh or humanness, will war against each other in this life.  

Our flesh, our humanness, wants immediate self-gratification at all costs and will stop at nothing to try to get it.  God’s Spirit, working in us like our conscience, knows that some of our human desires are not right for us and as a result there will be tug-o-war between the two -- and sometimes friends it will be a major tug-o-war.  And the only thing that will be able to control and curb some of our desires is the quality of self-control.

PP    If we do not have God’s self-control operating through us, we will have very little victory over such things as bad tempers, judgmental and critical spirits, an unforgiving spirit, and vices such as smoking and the abuse of alcohol and other drugs, and some other addictions that you and I might have.

Once God starts this sanctification process, this clean-up process  within us --  be prepared for some major battles and tug-o-wars with Him as He starts coming after some of the negative qualities operating in our personalities.

But, …

PP    If we are willing to yield to God and allow Him to start to work all nine of these fruits into our personalities, then we will find ourselves starting to grow in ways that we never thought were possible in this life.

As I mentioned earlier, one of our LIFE LESSONS topics is on sanctification or how to walk straight in this crooked world and find it a joy to do so.

On my website, in the LIFE LESSONS section, is the message called ‘100% FREEDOM’.  It’s very practical, and it explains what the big word SANCTIFICATION means.

Self-control calls for a self-disciplined life following Christ’s example of being in the world but not of the world. ----

PP    Instead of starting with “The fruit of God’s Spirit”, some modern versions of the Bible read, “The harvest of the Spirit” – that which naturally appears in our lives when God has full control.  
The ‘fruit’ or ‘harvest’ of God’s Spirit is therefore not the product of human power at all, but of a power that originates wholly outside of man.  This ‘Fruit’ is not earned or achieved by us, but is reproduced in us – as we spend time with God, and His Word, the Bible.  

There is an old saying…  

PP1     “We grow like the company we keep.”

There’s another saying too …

PP2   “By beholding, we become changed.”

By beholding Jesus, by beholding our Father, ... we become changed into their likeness.  

PP3    What we dwell upon, we become.  
If we dwell upon Jesus, we become like Jesus.

------   As we look at that list of nine “fruits of the Spirit”, and think about these wonderful fruits and how we’d like to have them in our lives, three questions come up.

PP1
   1. WHY DOES THIS FRUIT MEAN SO MUCH TO GOD?

I believe that it’s because these fruits are the essential qualities of His own character.  They are the basic elements of God’s personal ‘value-system’.  These are His dearest treasures – shining golden threads from His own innermost being.  

PP2    This fruit in Galatians 5:22,23 is a photograph of the loving heart of God that He dearly wants to see reproduced in us so that we will be better partners, better parents, better people in the community, better Christ followers.

And when you come to think about it, these are the only qualities that will last forever – for eternity.  And they are the only qualities that deserve to last forever.

Now, question number 2.

PP1
   2. WHY DOES THIS FRUIT MEAN SO MUCH TO US?

PP2    Because, the things that God is most concerned about are our coldness of heart concerning Himself, and our proud, unbroken natures.
 
That is why there is hardly a church that has not got an unresolved problem of personal relationships eating at its heart and stopping its progress for good in the community.

Yes, even in churches, even in the church you may go to, people can quickly fall into pride, self-seeking, and ambition.  With these things hidden in our hearts, we find resentment, hardness, criticism, jealousy and frustration issuing from our hearts.    

PP3    We think we are working for God, but unless the fruits of the Spirit are daily growing in our lives, we are not working for God but for Satan.  

We will be trying to give to others an answer that we have not truly and deeply found for ourselves. ------

PP1    Galatians 5:22,23, the fruits of God’s Spirit, is the ultimate formula for success in human relationships.  

Friends, let these holy qualities be welcomed and enshrined in our human hearts, and lived out in our homes and our churches and our schools and our work places, and heaven will have come to earth, to our community.  As we say in the Lord’s Prayer, …

PP2    “Our Father in heaven, hallowed (or holy) be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth (that’s right in our own community here, and beyond), as it is in heaven.”

------  The Bible challenges us to ask God to put His Spirit in us, to work in us, to grow the nine fruits of His wonderful Spirit.  

PP   You and I friends might have some beautiful
            theories about the Christian Gospel.  
                     But here lies the test –
        Are these wonderful fruits growing in us?

------   So we come to the third question in our examination of the ‘fruit’ of God’s Spirit.  This one will be the most personal one.      

PP1
3.      HOW CAN THESE BEAUTIFUL CHARACTER-QUALITIES BE REPRODUCED IN ORDINARY HUMAN LIVES LIKE YOUR LIFE AND MY LIFE?

The answer is…

PP2     By a continual miracle of graciousness and power – on God’s part.  And, a continual welcoming of that miracle- on our part.

PP3    Friends, we can’t get the fruit if we’re not going to prepare the soil of our lives – if we’re not going to spend time on our knees, - if we’re not going to spend time learning about it in ‘God’s Love Letter’ to us – the Bible.

Remember friends, “We grow like the company we keep.” ----

Satan’s evil plan is to encourage us to read more of his kind of literature, think more negative thoughts, watch more TV, and all of these things.  Satan wants us to become lukewarm, half-hearted Christians.  Satan doesn’t love us and he wants to take us down to destruction with him.

On the other hand, God - loves us ,and He dearly wants us to spend more time on our knees, praying, and more time reading His Love letter to us, the Bible.

That’s right friends, if we spend more time with God, and more time with Jesus, they will impart their beautiful Spirit into our lives.  We will be infused with God’s Spirit – not my spirit, not Satan’s spirit that we read about in Galatians 5:19-21, and not anyone else’s spirit.

Friends, if you and I are planning to have eternal life and live forever, then we need the fruits of God’s Spirit to be growing in our lives.  They’re all listed there in Galatians 5:22 and 23.  ----

-----   So friends, getting back to our number 3 question, “How can these beautiful character qualities be reproduced in ordinary human lives like your life and my life?

The answer is found in the last part of Luke chapter 11 and verse 13 where the Bible says that …

PP   Luke 11:13
“… your heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.”

Friends, we don’t want the unholy spirit in our lives anymore.  We want God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, in our lives.

I want to recommend to you a little book that is guaranteed to help.  It’s called …

PP     ‘GOOD NEWS FOR A BETTER LIFE’

If you’d like one, there are spare free copies on the front table.  Take one!  Don’t sit it on your shelf at home and waste it.  Read it!  Do the 30 day test.

If you go to my website you can read it free online here.

Or you can order a hard copy of this 120 page book by going to the ‘Donate or Shop’ page on the website:

-----  Another very worthwhile message to bless and challenge you on your journey to the golden city is THE HOUR. You’ll find it in the LIFE LESSONS section on my website.

And of course there’s one other thing that I’m going to recommend highly.  And it’s the JIGSAW Bible Learning Programme.  

PP   The Bible says in the book of Romans 5:4 that the Bible is for our learning, and that by reading it we will receive three things that we all want – patience, comfort and hope.

-----   Here’s a question – Can you tell me why there are so many unhappy looking, horse-faced  ‘Christians’?  The answer – almost always, it’s because they’re not reading their Bible like they should and therefore they’re not receiving comfort and hope.  Have you seen this?

Maybe you’re seen it in your own life.  Maybe that’s where you are right now – you don’t have the comfort and hope that you so dearly want.  -----   Well, I believe that the last three things I’ve just mentioned will give you what you’re looking for.  And they’re all free.  But they’re useless if you don’t use them.

I also believe, that to succeed as Christians, we need to be involved in small, mid-week study groups.

Sabbath in churches is more about praising and worshipping our wonderful heavenly Father and Jesus.  The mid-week Bible learning programme is about seriously growing closer to the friends in our group and also growing in God’s Word.  This is where the JIGSAW Bible Learning programme fits in. ----

-----   One last comment there – you may also like to pray and ask God to impress you with the name of another person who you’d like to invite along with you to your mid-week Bible learning programme.  
PP    After all, you don’t want to selfishly keep the free gift of eternal life just for you only, do you?

-----   Well, back to the ‘Fruits of the Spirit’.  For them to grow and produce beautiful lives in us, we need to spend time with God.  The Bible is very clear as to how the fruit of God’s Spirit is produced.

PP1   John 15:4    (Jesus says,)
V4   “Abide in Me.... As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”

We need to spend plenty of time with Jesus.  We must abide with Him.

PP2    (Verse 5, the very next verse, says)
V5    “Without Me (without Jesus) you can do nothing.”

PP    Philippians 2:13  
“It is God who works in you both to will (that means to desire) and to do His good pleasure.”

PP    Ephesians 3:16   (We are)
“… strengthened with might through His Spirit, in the inner man.”

PP1    Galatians 2:20   (says that)       “Christ lives in me.”

PP2    Philippians 4:13   (As a result of Jesus living in my heart,)
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  

And finally …

PP    Ephesians 3:19    
“…that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”  

That includes being filled with the good fruits of God’s Spirit. -----

In Conclusion – Back to farming.  ---  How does the small helpless seed grow into the tree? And how does the growing tree bear fruit?  Not by striving and struggling --- but by relaxing.  Not by noisy demonstrations, or stern self-discipline, or perspiring labour.  But by yielding – yielding continuously to the friendship and relationship with the vine, the soil, and the sun, and rain, and air! ----

-----   In every forest, there are usually a few trees that retain some of their old leaves throughout the winter.  Storms may rage; gales may blow; torrents of rain may fall; but still the leaves remain.  You can take a stick and beat the branches with all your might, but you will not be able to dislodge those last leaves.  But let a few more weeks pass by.  

PP1     LET SPRING COME!  

Some fine morning you will discover that the tree is bare.  Maybe in a single night, every leaf has fallen to the ground!  -----

-----   Let’s get back to Delphine’s custard apple tree – the old leaves are pushed off by the swelling buds of the Spring.  Why?  Because friends…

PP2    THE SAP HAS RISEN!  

Life is flowing through the tree once more.  Rushing up like a torrent from the roots, it is surging out into the farthermost twigs with a power that makes all things new, causing a million lovely leaves to appear, and cover the naked branches with beauty.

-----    Friends, so it is with the Spirit-filled life.  

PP    Without the aid of God’s Spirit in your life, you could wrestle with sin for a lifetime without success.  But, allow God’s Spirit to flow in!  Let God’s Spirit rise up inside us like sap in a tree, and radiate through every part of our being!  

Instantly, old sins, our dead leaves, will start to drop away.  A good conscience will begin to awake.  The human will, now under Divine control, will express itself in a thousand gracious words and deeds – the nine fruits of the Spirit.  ----  Here they are one more time to remind us …

PP     LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS and SELF-CONTROL

God says, you can live this life.  You may not understand all its mysteries.  He doesn’t expect you too.  All He asks is that you believe His promise and accept His offer!  ---  and be a wonderful blessing to yourself, to God, to your family, and to the other people you meet each day.

As you start to become this blessing to yourself, to God, and to others, feel free to invite people to the midweek Bible Learning Programme and to your church or home group so they too can be blessed and experience a more wonderful life.

Please carry a few cards with you each day to give to people you meet, or to leave in places where people will see them and pick them up.
 
Here are a couple of cards that I use.

PP      (The first card says)  

“If you treat everyone as though they are hurting,
you’ll be treating almost everyone the right way.  
This website has a series of short helpful messages
on topics such as ‘Discouragement’, ‘Grieving’,
‘Insecurity’, ‘Positive Thinking’, ‘Disappointment’,
‘Friendship’, ‘The Free Gift’, …”  

PP    (…and many others as you can see on the card here.)

PP   (The second card says)

Friends, you can access these helpful messages here.

PP

Thank you for coming, for listening,
and through this coming week,
thank you for acting.

May God’s wonderful blessings be with each one of you.

(pause for 5 seconds)

PP

Friends, if you have been blessed and challenged by this message,
then please take time now to send it on to your friends.
To God be the Glory!

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