Ripe Life. C. Thomas Hilton

      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

       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

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