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The Amish Voice 11
Pennsylvania Deitsh
Testament
If you
would
like to obtain
a New Testament with
Psalms and Proverbs in Pennsylvania
Deitsh, they are available for $13.95
postpaid from the
TGS International,
PO Box 355,
Berlin OH 44610
Phone 330-893-4828
You do not need to send money ahead
of time; they will bill you with your
order. Your local Christian bookstore
may also have them available.
If the Amish Voice
has been a blessing
to you — drawn you
closer to the heart of
God — challenged
you to live and serve
the Lord with a
greater passion…
Would you join oth-
ers by sending a donation
to help us with the printing and
postage expenses?
Secondly, would you pray for us as we
thrive to encourage and challenge the Amish
culture with five more truth packed issues in
2013.
You may send your donation to:
The Amish Voice
PO Box 128, Savannah OH 44874
You must also spend time with God through personal prayer
and reading His eternal and life- changing Word.
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch (you and I) cannot
bear
fruit
of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can
ye, except ye abide in me.
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and
I in him, the same bringeth forth
much fruit
: for without me
ye can do nothing (John 15:4-5).
Just like a tree branch cannot bear fruit on its own, without be-
ing attached to the vine, so a man and woman cannot bear fruit
without being grafted into Jesus who is the vine in this passage.
Man-made religion cannot make you produce fruit!
Church ordinances cannot make you produce fruit!
Preachers cannot make you produce fruit!
Baptism can’t!
Church membership can’t!
Only Jesus can produce fruit, but you must be
grafted into Him. When you are in Him, then the
fruit of the Spirit
will automatically appear.
So often we are more concerned about
fruit
production
then we are on abiding in Christ. It
should be the other way around. We should
focus more on abiding in Jesus and then the fruit
crop will automatically appear.
The next time someone in your family losses their temper
or struggles with peace and longsuffering, you should
not
say:
“Hey, why don’t you get your act together and start being more
loving instead of yelling and getting angry all the time?” Rather,
you should say: “Hey, you need to start abiding in Jesus and then
everything else in your life will fall into place.”
Someone has an alcohol problem? Rebellious problem? Mar-
riage problem? Sexual problem? Whatever the problem may be,
stop putting all your energy into fixing the problem.
You can’t fix it!
The counselor can’t fix it!
The preacher can’t fix it!
The answer is: abide in Jesus and start walking in Him. When
you do, all your fleshly desires and habits will disappear, and in their
place you will see
fruit of the Spirit
:
Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance
.
In conclusion, you have probably heard people say, “You are not
allowed to judge other people.” That is true, because the Bible says
so.
This is why it’s wrong to judge someone. First, it puts the one
doing the judging in God’s seat (Romans 14). Second, those who
judge will condemn themselves (Romans 2:1-2). Having said that,
the Bible does say we are allowed to be
fruit inspectors
.
Consider the words spoken by Jesus Christ:
Ye shall
know them
by their fruits. Do men gather
grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so
every
good tree
bringeth forth good fruit; but a
corrupt tree
bringeth forth evil fruit. A
good
tree
cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can
a
corrupt tree
bring forth good fruit (Matthew
7:16-18).
Fruit of the Spirit
is an outward sign that a person has been
born again. You shall know [men and women] by the type of
fruit that grows on their branches. However, be careful what
you call fruit. For example, using electric lights verses kerosene
lanterns does not have anything to do with whether one has bad fruit
or good fruit. That is a man-made church rule, not
fruit of the Spirit
.
—
Continued From Back Page: The Fruit of the Spirit—
“The longer I live, the
more I realize the impact of
attitude on life.
Attitude, to me, is more
important than facts. It is
more important than the
past, than education, than
money, than circumstances,
than failures, than success-
es, than what other people
think or say or do.
It is more important than
appearance, giftedness or
skill. It will make or break
a company, a church….a
home.
The remarkable thing is we
have a choice every day
regarding the attitude we
will embrace for that day.
We cannot change our
past….we cannot change
the fact that people will act
in a certain way. We can-
not change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do is
play on the one string we
have, and that is our atti-
tude….I am convinced that
life is 10% what happens to
me and 90% how I react to
it.”
Attitude
By Charles Swindoll