The Crux

Gen.1:^27-28 “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over …every living thing…”

Today we are looking at three areas of fruitfulness and the first area of fruitfulness for a believer is, the Character of the believer, the fruit of The Spirit. Gal.5:^22-23 “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” A Christian that does not have the fruit of the Spirit is not fruitful. A Christian that cannot show love, is not full of joy, cannot be fruitful. The second area of fruitfulness is Soul Winning that is, leading people to Christ, helping them grow in God. Sometimes, it is helping somebody’s marriage become stronger. Sometimes it is in helping somebody’s child become more stable, you are winning that soul.

The third area of fruitfulness is in Good Works. The Bible describes it as prioritizing your love for the people in the household of faith. That is loving the people in church, loving the people in your Life Group, loving the people you do life with, because charity begins at home. Then extending that love to the people outside your community of faith, loving the poor, loving the people in prison, visiting people in the hospital – doing good works. Character, Soul Winning, and Good Works are three key areas you have to be fruitful in.

So, when you talk about fruitfulness, you should think in terms of these key areas. However, the crux of fruitfulness, that is if you are to distill it to one thing, is Soul Winning. To be fruitful is to reproduce after one’s kind. Any creature becomes mature when they are able to reproduce plants, animals, human beings. And to reproduce is to bring forth after your own kind. The crux of fruitfulness is Soul Winning; winning people to God, helping people stand with God, helping marriages grow strong, helping people succeed in their businesses [in God’s will], helping people get baptized in the Holy Spirit, helping people understand scriptures, that is the crux. Why?

If you look at character, the fruit of The Spirit, the end of the fruit of The Spirit is to win people to God. Why are you full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? The truth is, if you are really full of the fruit of The Holy Spirit, your life will attract people to God. With Good Works, it is the same thing; when you take care of the poor, when you spread hope in the community, it will attract people to God regardless of their belief. When you do good works, it all still points and leads to soul winning. The crux of fruitfulness is soul winning. The fish does not give birth to snails, the monkey does not give birth to a tortoise, and the lion does not give birth to dogs. To be fruitful is to reproduce after one’s kind. So, having character and good works without producing souls is bareness. Having character and good works that is not changing anybody’s life is spiritual bareness.

Prayer: Father, let there be a performance of Your blessing of fruitfulness over my life. I am fruitful in character, soul-winning, and in good works, in Jesus Name. Amen!