There were a lot of meanings for the words “bring forth,” but the ones that stood out to me were these: to be the authors of, the cause, to produce, to acquire, to provide a thing for one’s self, to make a thing out of something, to act rightly, do well, to carry out, to execute, to perform.

In other words, let your “fruit be something that will reap an eternal harvest which is used or produced of those who by their labors have fitted souls to obtain eternal life. Make sure that this fruit has weight or value and is worthwhile or of benefit to someone.

There is one more part to this.

Repentance is a change of mind, as it appears to one who repents, of a purpose he has formed or of something he has done. It contains or is demonstrated by deep sorrow, compunction, or contrition for a past sin, wrongdoing, or the like, and regret for any past action.

There are three Greek words used in the New Testament to denote repentance. (1.) The verb _metamelomai_ is used of a change of mind, such as to produce regret or even remorse on account of sin, but not necessarily a change of heart. This word is used with reference to the repentance of Judas (Matt. 27:3). (2.) Metanoeo, meaning to change one’s mind and purpose, as the result of after knowledge. This verb, with (3) the cognate noun _metanoia_, is used of true repentance, a change of mind and purpose and life, to which remission of sin is promised. Evangelical repentance consists of (1) a true sense of one’s own guilt and sinfulness; (2) an apprehension of God’s mercy in Christ; (3) an actual hatred of sin (Ps. 119:128; Job 42:5, 6; 2 Cor. 7:10) and turning from it to God; and (4) a persistent endeavour after a holy life in a walking with God in the way of his commandments. The true penitent is conscious of guilt (Ps. 51:4, 9), of pollution (51:5, 7, 10), and of helplessness (51:11; 109:21, 22). Thus he apprehends himself to be just what God has always seen him to be and declares him to be. But repentance comprehends not only such a sense of sin, but also an apprehension of mercy, without which there can be no true repentance (Ps. 51:1; 130:4).

Now, as an example of this, I am bringing forth two ideas about service that many churches involve themselves in; and I am bringing forth these service examples with questions.

First, there are many churches that do some sort of feeding program for the homeless. In such programs, they conduct a church service first, making those who have gathered to be fed, wait so they can be fed spiritually prior to being fed physically.

On the surface, I understand the ideology behind this, and I agree that it is good to be fed spiritually prior to physically. I also realize that the thought behind this is that the people will not stay to hear the church service if they are fed first. However, I do question this practice for this reason.

Is the spiritual feeding a forced feeding? Isn’t this practice somewhat manipulative? In other words, are the homeless being forced, by having to wait through a church service prior to getting their physical food, which is what they came there for in the first place?

Are they being forced into being spiritually fed against their will simply because they are homeless and therefore forced by circumstance into this necessity of coming to the feeding center? I mean, if we are truly reaching out, why aren’t we doing so without strings attached?

I’m not saying don’t offer the spiritual food, but the manner in which it is offered indicates manipulation or an agenda, doesn’t it? Shouldn’t the people be lured to the spiritual by the spirit in which the food is given or their needs are being met, as opposed to being manipulated into a spiritual feeding that they weren’t initially seeking? Shouldn’t they have the option and respect to make that choice for themselves as opposed to  being “led” into it because they have come to have a physical need met?

The reason I ask this question is that a friend of mine, who was once homeless, told me that he was forced to sit through a church service “just to get some food.” This is one of the reasons why his opinion of the church is that it is hypocritical.

In the course of waiting for this food, a well-meaning Christian brother approached him and inadvertently passed judgment on him by assuming that he was in need of salvation because of his external condition of being homeless.

When he did not respond to this conversation the way this Christian brother desired, ie: responding favorably to his invitation to salvation; the brother told him he would pray for him. My friend said he was insulted because the guy assumed by his condition of being homeless at that point, that he was without salvation, and in need of prayer. He said he told this guy not to bother; that he didn’t need his prayers.

Now I know that some people who read this will automatically jump to the conclusion that this friend of mine definitely is in need of salvation if he said that, but again, that is still an idea from a position of judgment.

I’m trying to get you to see this from a perspective outside your own Christian one…the perspective of someone in a position of need, whether saved at some point in their life, or unsaved, and how they might receive and perceive this as assistance with an agenda.

Some might feel that it doesn’t matter; that what’s important is that they get the message out. However, I have to wonder how effective that message can be if people are having this sort of perception about how the message is being presented and whether or not they had a choice in hearing it.

I think if the brother had asked him, “Can I pray for you?” instead of just assuming that he needed prayer, it would have gone over better. However, the question about the methodology of the service still remains.

Secondly, a previous church I used to belong to years ago went out into the community to do an outreach. We went to a large indoor flea market and the goal was to extend invitations to the people to come to the church. We were given flyers and told to walk around handing them out and inviting people to come.

I had, at that point, never been on an outreach before, so I basically was doing more observing than anything else. After the group had gone through the entire building and gathered again outside, they spotted a homeless man pushing a cart full of cans.

It was clear that he had been out in the streets for quite some time, and they immediately targeted him as the ultimate candidate in need of what they were offering.

They rushed this man, surrounding him and telling him about how he needed God, the church and salvation. I can only imagine that from his point of view, these people were just bombarding him with a lot of noise, which was apparently not getting through, because he seemed to be in a complete daze.

After 10-15 minutes of this useless onslaught, they finally gave up and moved away from the man. None of them had managed to get him to take the flyer from the church.

After observing this, I walked over to him and spoke real low next to his ear and said, “You can get the best wine you’ve ever tasted.” Immediately, he said, “Where?!?” I handed him the flyer, and told him to go to the church, and God would give it to him.

Did he go? I have no idea, but at the very least, I didn’t come at him with judgment, but just attempted to identify with him where he was. That identification of what he physically desired allowed me to give him a spiritual option to get what he needed, as I was referring to getting the wine of the Spirit, which would satisfy any thirst.

Whether or not he took the option is up to him. He is still a human being with his own ability to reason on whatever level. I didn’t dismiss that or disrespect it. I just offered an option he was unaware of. For me, this is the way to really reach out and bear fruit that can lead to repentance. Judgment, no matter how subtle, is not the way. What do you think?

In theory, I know who the Pharisees and Sadducees are. I’m aware that they were the religious leaders of the time. However, I decided that I needed more info, because I wanted to know the reason why they were called a brood of vipers.

The word Pharisee comes from a Hebrew word meaning separate. A sect that seems to have started after the Jewish exile. In addition to OT books the Pharisees recognized in oral tradition a standard of belief and life. They sought for distinction and praise by outward observance of external rites and by outward forms of piety, and such as ceremonial washings, fasting, prayers, and alms giving; and, comparatively negligent of genuine piety, they prided themselves on their fancied good works.

They held strenuously to a belief in the existence of good and evil angels, and to the expectation of a Messiah; and they cherished the hope that the dead, after a preliminary experience either of reward or of penalty in Hades, would be recalled to life by him, and be requited each according to his individual deeds.

In opposition to the usurped dominion of the Herods and the rule of the Romans, they stoutly upheld the theocracy and their country’s cause, and possessed great influence with the common people. According to Josephus they numbered more than 6000. They were bitter enemies of Jesus and his cause; and were in turn severely rebuked by him for their avarice, ambition, hollow reliance on outward works, and affection of piety in order to gain popularity.

Mat 15:2 Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.
Mat 15:3 But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

Mar 7:8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, [as] the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
Mar 7:9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
Mar 7:10 For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death:
Mar 7:11 But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, [It is] Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; [he shall be free].
Mar 7:12 And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother;
Mar 7:13 Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.

And here, Paul was talking about himself as a former Pharisee:

Gal 1:13 For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:
Gal 1:14 And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.

The Pharisees were strictly a sect. A member was chaber (united) and was obligated to remain true to the principles of Pharisaism.

Jdg 20:11 So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.

They were moral, zealous, and self-denying, but self-righteous and destitute of the sense of sin and need.

Luk 7:39 Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw [it], he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman [this is] that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.

Luk 18:9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
Luk 18:10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
Luk 18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men [are], extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
Luk 18:12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
Luk 18:13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as [his] eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
Luk 18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified [rather] than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Sadducees = “the righteous”
1) a religious party at the time of Christ among the Jews, who denied that the oral law was a revelation of God to the Israelites, and who deemed the written law alone to be obligatory on the nation, as the divine authority. They denied the following doctrines:
a) resurrection of the body
b) immortality of the soul
c) existence of spirits and angels
d) divine predestination, affirmed free will

They were the religious rationalizers of the time.

Mar 12:18 Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying,
Mar 12:19 Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man’s brother die, and leave [his] wife [behind him], and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.
Mar 12:20 Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed.
Mar 12:21 And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise.
Mar 12:22 And the seven had her, and left no seed: last of all the woman died also.
Mar 12:23 In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife.

Act 23:8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both.

They were strongly entrenched in the Sanhedrin priesthood.

Act 4:1 And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them,
Act 4:2 Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

Act 5:17 Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation,

The Sadducees are identified with no affirmative doctrine, but were mere deniers of the supernatural.

John the baptizer, who’s name means  “Jehovah is a gracious giver,” was preaching in the wilderness of Judea. I wondered why he started preaching in a wilderness, and specifically, the wilderness of Judea. Knowing that God is specific for a reason, I looked this up.

So Jehovah is a gracious giver, came making a public proclamation to the solitary, lonely and desolate; to the bereft: that he shall be praised.

Mat 3:2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Repent/Repentance in the Greek is metanoeo; which means lit., “to perceive afterwards” (meta, “after,” implying “change,” noeo, “to perceive;” nous, “the mind, the seat of moral reflection”), in contrast to pronoeo, “to perceive beforehand,” hence signifies “to change one’s mind or purpose,” always, in the NT, involving a change for the better, an amendment, and always, except in Luk 17:3, 4, of “repentance” from sin.

Mat 3:3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

The King James version lists the name as Esaias, but when I looked it up, I found that Isaiah means “Jehovah’s help.”

Mat 3:4 And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.

Again, knowing that God gives specifics for a reason, I wondered about this verse, and the reason God wanted us to know this information. This is what I found:

Camel:
from a Hebrew word signifying “a bearer, carrier,” is used in proverbs to indicate

(a) “something almost or altogether impossible,” Mat 19:24, and parallel passages,

(b) “the acts of a person who is careful not to sin in trivial details, but pays no heed to more important matters,” Mat 23:24.

Hair:
denotes the “hair,” whether of beast, as of the camel’s “hair” which formed the raiment of John the Baptist, Mat 3:4; Mar 1:6; or of man. Regarding the latter

(a) it is used to signify the minutest detail, as that which illustrates the exceeding care and protection bestowed by God upon His children, Mat 10:30; Luk 12:7; 21:18; Act 27:34;
There was a lot of information about locusts; what they do, their devastating effect; how they move without direction. However, out of all the meanings for the word locust, the one that applies here is ‘arbeh from the root rabhah, “to increase.”

“Wild honey” (Mat 3:4) may have been the vegetable honey distilled from trees, but rather was honey stored by bees in rocks or in trees (Deu 32:13; Psa 81:16; 1Sa 14:25-29).
Canaan was a “land flowing with milk and honey” (Exd 3:8). Milk and honey were among the chief dainties in the earlier ages, as they are now among the Bedawin; and butter and honey are also mentioned among articles of food (Isa 7:15). The ancients used honey instead of sugar (Psa 119:103; Pro 24:13); but when taken in great quantities it caused nausea, a fact referred to in Pro 25:16, 17 to inculcate moderation in pleasures. Honey and milk also are put for sweet discourse (Sgs 4:11).

Mat 3:5 Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan,
Mat 3:6 And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.

Then went out to him “set ye double peace,” and all “he shall be praised,” and all the region round about “the descender,” and were baptized of him in “the descender,” confessing their sins.