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    Ripe Life: Sermons on the Fruit of the Spirit
    Ripe Life: Sermons on the Fruit of the Spirit
    Ripe Life: Sermons on the Fruit of the Spirit
    Ebook81 pages1 hour

    Ripe Life: Sermons on the Fruit of the Spirit

    By C. Thomas Hilton

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    About this ebook

    These sermons on "the fruit of the Spirit" are developed out of Galatians 5: 22-23. This theme is often selected by pastors who preach because it is an excellent vehicle into understanding the characteristics of personal integrity at home and on the job.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAbingdon Press
    Release dateDec 1, 2011
    ISBN9781426727153
    Ripe Life: Sermons on the Fruit of the Spirit

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      Book preview

      Ripe Life - C. Thomas Hilton

      Ripe Life

      BOOKS IN THE PROTESTANT PULPIT EXCHANGE

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      James H. Harnish

      Fatal Attractions: Sermons on the Seven Deadly Sins

      William R. White

      What Are You Waiting For?

      Sermons on the Parables of Jesus

      Mark Trotter

      Ripe Life: Sermons on the Fruit of the Spirit

      C. Thomas Hilton

      Pack Up Your Troubles: Sermons on How to Trust in

      God

      Maxie Dunnam

      Hard Times: Sermons on Hope

      Donna Schaper

      Ripe Life

       Sermons on the  

      Fruit of the Spirit

      C. Thomas Hilton

      Image1

      Abingdon Press

      Nashville

      RIPE LIFE: SERMONS ON THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

      Copyright © 1993 Abingdon Press

      All rights reserved.

      No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed in writing to Abingdon Press, 201 Eighth Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37203.

      This book is printed on recycled, acid-free paper.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Hilton, C. Thomas (Clifford Thomas)

      Ripe life : sermons on the fruit of the Spirit / C. Thomas Hilton

      p. cm. — (Protestant pulpit exchange)

      ISBN 0-687-38004-9 (alk. paper)

      1. Fruit of the Spirit—Sermons. 2. Sermons, American.

      I. Title. II. Series.

      BV4501.2.H485 1993

      234.13—dc20 92-41993

      CIP

      Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.

      Scripture quotations noted GNB are from the Good News Bible—Old Testament: Copyright © American Bible Society 1976; New Testament: Copyright © American Bible Society 1966, 1971, 1976. Used by permission.

      MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

      For our four children

      who taught me the significance

      of the fruit of the Spirit:

      Lynn,

      Jean,

      Karin,

      Tom, Jr.

      Contents

      Guided by the Spirit

      Love

      Joy

      Peace

      Patience

      Kindness

      Goodness

      Faithfulness

      Humility

      Self-control

      Surrounded by an Orchard

      Ripening and Reproducing

      Guided by the Spirit

      How do I know when I am making spiritual progress in my life? Is there any objective criterion that can be applied? Am I a better person for being a Christian, or does it make any difference? Am I growing in grace? Am I improving? Just where do I measure on the spiritual scale?

      These and similar questions are the ones I hear from the people in the congregation and from my own heart. Does the Bible offer any criteria for evaluating my life in the Spirit? Or is the answer the one my parents gave me when I inquired how I would know when I was really in love. You'll know, they agreed, You'll know.

      For over fifty years I have been in love with God through Jesus Christ and I still entertain these kinds of questions. Preaching this series of sermons in a local congregation helped me to realize that there are in fact certain observable fruit of the Spirit. The challenge then became, how to ripen the fruit.

      This series of sermons is based on the struggle with the nine fruit of the Spirit that the Apostle Paul shared with the church in Galatians 5:22. It is a struggle that every church and every Christian goes through. It is a struggle that Paul went through himself.

      Paul, writing to the church in Rome said, You are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you (Romans 8:9). The Church of Jesus Christ was in the Spirit, and hence these nine fruit should be found in abundance. This is the harvest that comes from living the abundant life.

      The nine fruit of the Spirit are called by different names in different translations. While my basic translation for quotation is the New Revised Standard Version, I have based this listing on the Good News Bible (GNB) translation of Galatians 5:22:

      If we live by the Spirit, wrote Paul, let us also be guided by the Spirit (Galatians 5:25). Here is my attempt to be guided by the Holy Spirit. You will have to decide if I live by it.

      C. Thomas Hilton

      Interim Senior Pastor

      Wayne Presbyterian Church

      Wayne, Pennsylvania

      Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast

      to what is good; love one another with mutual

      affection; outdo one another in showing honor.

      Romans 12:9

      Love

      It comes as no surprise that love is the first fruit of the Spirit mentioned by the Apostle Paul in his listing of the nine spiritual crops to be harvested by the Holy Spirit in the life of a Christian. As a way to sum up, I John 4:8 tells us that God is love. In reality, this is the only spiritual fruit, for all the others are derivatives. All the others are but added colors in the rainbow of love. Each of the other eight spell out more clearly the variety of this one manifestation of the presence of the Spirit in the life of the believer.

      When the God of love dwells in your life, you will have joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control (GNB). Paul details to the church in Galatians 5 the many works of the flesh, and when he finishes he hasn't really finished, for he concludes, and things like that. In other words, there were many more works of the flesh that he could have mentioned, but did not. But when it came to detailing the presence of the Spirit in the life of the believer, it is one fruit—singular. The fruit involves one harvest of the Holy Spirit, giving a unified and cohesive character to what the Spirit produces in the Christian life.

      Paul

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