The Requisite Requirement Of Soul-Winning And Fruit-Bearing
The Requisite Requirement Of Soul-Winning And Fruit-Bearing
John 15:1,2. Soul-winning is the basic preoccupation of a believer who intends or desires to continue enjoying divine connection. From the text, it is almost like Jesus was saying that as the essence of a tree plant is in bearing physical fruits, so also is the essence of a believer bearing spiritual fruit in evangelism. The two-pronged reason He called His first disciples was: personal continuous fellowship with Him; and sending them forth to preach- Mark 3:14. Thus, as His disciples today, this expectation also weighs on us to perform. Heretofore mentioned in the text are two resultant actions by God dependent on our inclination on the matter of fruit-bearing in His kingdom. These are: cutting off or pruning. God severs His grace from any believer who misuses or disuses it and redirects it to another for optimum outcome- Acts 13:22. However, for responsive hearts who do His bidding of conscious fruit-bearing, He prunes them continuously. This process of spiritual pruning is to remove unnecessary fleshly encumbrance and self-dependence for a more productive yield. We must earnestly desire and seek to bear fruit while remaining under the pruning fork of the Almighty for an ultimate and end-of-life victory. In His benevolence, Christ has not left us helpless. He has ordained for us the gift of the Holy Spirit to aid us in the disposition of our evangelical duties- Luke 24: 47-49; Acts 1:8. The best way of winning souls is doing it with the enablement of the Holy Ghost. He has the ultimate duty of conviction of the sinner and He will find expression through our evangelism and witnessing if we have Him in His fullness and power- 1 Thessalonians 1:5, 6.
