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THE WORD: A divine inheritance
The Fruit of the Spirit The eighth element of the Fruit of the Spirit is meekness, also known as gentleness. From Psalms to the Beatitudes, we are told the meek are blessed and shall inherit […]
The Word
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THE WORD: Faithfulness means never having to bow down
The seventh element of the Fruit of the Spirit is faithfulness. The Book of Daniel contains several examples of faithfulness. An enduring example of faithfulness in the Bible is the plight of three men cast […]
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THE WORD: Love thy neighbor
Last week, we looked at kindness as “goodness in action.” This week, the sixth element of the Fruit of the Spirit is actual goodness. During the summer, we examined the parables taught by Jesus in […]
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THE WORD: Goodness in action
The fifth element of the Fruit of the Spirit is gentleness, which is often translated as kindness. One of the enduring images in the Bible of kindness is Ruth, great grandmother of King David. Ruth […]
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THE WORD: Patience in all things
Patience, the fourth Fruit of the Spirit, is often translated as “longsuffering” — as it is in the King James version. Patience, in the context of Galatians, means more than waiting. Longsuffering, as used in […]
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THE WORD: Peace enables other virtues
Peace, the third Fruit of the Spirit, can have many meanings. For some, peace means the absence of quarrels, wars or commotion. Peace can also exist in times of unrest — an inward peace that […]
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THE WORD: Joy is deeper than happiness
Following love, the second Fruit of the Spirit is joy — chara in Greek. The King James version translates chara differently throughout the New Testament. The overarching term, expressed also as gladness or joyfulness, speaks […]
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THE WORD: The first is love
Following the eight-week series on the parables of Matthew 13, we begin a nine-week series on the Fruit of the Spirit — ending the week prior to election day. As our world seems to be […]
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THE WORD: The parable of the scribe
The final parable in Matthew 13 is the Parable of the scribe. Some scholars don’t consider these final verses to be a separate parable. When read as a whole, the words serve as their own […]
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THE WORD: Drawing the net
The seventh parable in Matthew 13 is the Parable of Drawing the Net. Like the Parable of the Tares, the parable refers to the final judgment. The net described in the parable is likely a […]