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said, " I am come that they might
have
lije,
and that they might have
it more
abundantiy!"
And He carne
that we might enjoy full, ABUNDANT
life ETERNALLY. God Almighty in–
tended the
real
Christian life to be
HAPPY. Jesus said, "My
joy
1 leave
with you!"
There is a wAYof life that
causes
peace, happiness, and joy. God the
great Creator set THAT WAY as an
inexorable LAw - an invisible spiri–
tual law - to PRODUCE peace, hap–
piness, joy, abundance! There is a
cause
for every effect.
In
this
unhappy
confused
world we have discontent–
ment, unhappiness, wretchedness,
suffering. The world is full of tha
t.
lt
SHOULD be full of peace, happiness,
and joy. There's a CAUSE. People
don't like that Law. That Law is the
CAUSE of peace and everything de–
sirable and good. People
want
everything that is good and desir–
able. They just don't want to OBEY
that which would cause it! They
want to BE right, but they don't want
to oo right.
Christ carne to call people to RE–
PENT. Repent of WHAT? Repent of
causing unhappiness, strife, war,
pain, and suffering.
But what really is a Christian?
What 's the Bible definition of a
Christian? You' ll find it in your
Bible in Romans 8:9. Paul said, "lf
any man have not the Spirit of
Christ, he is none ofhis."
And how does one receive the
Holy Spirit? Right after Christ's
crucifixion, death, resurrection, and
ascens ion to God's throne in
heaven, people asked the inspired
apostle Peter that question: "Men
and brethren, what shall we do?
Then Peter said unto them, Repent ,
and be baptized every one of you in
PlAIN TRUTH
FebNary
1973
the name of Jesus Christ for the re–
mission of sins, and ye shall rece ive
the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts
2:37-38).
No one can live a real Christian
life unless the Holy Spirit of God is
actually
IN
him - unless he is being
LEO BY that Spirit ofGod. And if he
is, then "as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of
God. For ye have not received the
spirit of bondage again to fear; but
ye have received the Spirit of adop–
tion [sonship], whereby we cry,
Abba , Father. The Spirit itself bear–
eth witness with our spi rit, that we
are the children of God" (Romans
8:14-16).
And then what about LIFE after
DEATH? Verse 11 of this same chap–
ter gives the answer: "If the Spirit of
him that raised up Jesus from the
dead dwell in you, he that raised up
Christ from the dead shall also
quicken your morta l bodies by his
Spirit that dwelleth in you."
And that's a guarantee of HAPPY,
JOYFUL, ABUNDANT life - FOREVER!
But what about this life, here and
now? IF you have the Spirit of God
dwelling in you, IF you are being
LED by God's Spirit, it's going to
bring about something new and DIF–
FERENT in your life. lt's going to
CHANGE you. It's going to produce
results
-
the Bible calls it producing
FRUITS. What kind of results will the
Spirit of God produce in you?
1'11 tell you, first, what it woN'T
produce. It won't produce the mor–
bid, uohappy, painful , gloomy life
that many think is the Christian life.
Let the Bible tell you what "fruit" it
will produce in you. "But the fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffer–
ing, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance: agains t such
there is no law" (Galatians 5:22-23).
Look at that more closely: " the
fruit of the spirit" - this is the Spirit
of Goo. This is the Holy Spirit that
God imparts
oniy
to those who have
repented -
that is, turned FROM that
which has
caused
unhappiness, mor–
bid gloom, discouragement, frustra-
tion, empt iness. On the contrary,
that fruit of the Spi rit is first of all ,
/ove.
And the second fruit
isjoy!
Joy
is happiness brimful and running
over. That doesn't sound like an un–
happy, empty, gloomy life, does it?
And God's Spirit is not static - it
FLOws.
lt
ftows, spontaneously from
God into and through vou, and out
from you making still OTHERS happy
and joyful.
The very first result produced in
your li fe by God's Spirit is
/ove.
Love is a righteous love of and for
OTHERS. Il will mean your face is
beaming. lt's an outgoing concern
for the good and welfare of OTHERS.
It will mean that you are really GIV–
ING OUT - that you a re radiant and
HAPPY. And !ove
results in joy
-
that's the second of these fruits. The
third is
peace.
Instead of an attitude
of hostility, instead of going around
quarreling, being resentful and bit–
ter, angry, and arguing, you'll be in
an attitude of PBACE - peace in your
mind and with your neighbor and
witb your Goo.
Next comes
"longsuffering"
-
that means
patience.
How much has
impat ience made you unhappy?
Probably impatience makes more
people unhappy than almost any–
thing else! If you can really come to
have patience, you' ll be acquiring
one of the things that will allow you
to be happy and make life worth liv–
ing.
Then next is
gentleness
-
that
makes others happy and automati–
cally adds to your happiness. And
then
goodness
and
faith!
Fa ith is
confidence
-
not SELF-confidence,
but RELIANCE On the SUPREME
POWER. lt roeans tbat the SUPREME
power of God is working for vou. It
means reassurance. It means as–
sured HOPE instead of doubt, fear,
discouragement.
If you could evaluate in dollars
what all tbese tremendous benefits
mean in your life, you'd have to put
on them a value of millions and
millions of dollars. But these are
benefits you CAN'T suv. God simply
'
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