GBC Community Update: What is the fruitful Christian life?

Good morning. I hope you’re making this a great week.  I’m looking forward to the opportunity to marry David and Caroline this weekend. They’re a great couple and are really committed to letting their lights shine and bearing fruit with their lives together. Please join me in praying God’s blessings upon them.
Speaking of fruit, I’m beginning my next series of thoughts today. I’m looking at the idea of living a fruitful life. This continues the thought from before of living a life of character but makes it a bit more tangible. I hope you’ll fully engage with what’s going to be shared in the updates to come.
 
 
Virtual Concert of Prayer on June 24th!
Join the GBC family in a time of prayer for the youth over the summer and Oasis at 7:30 pm on June 24th!  There will be a testimony, Scripture reading, and prayer for the needs of youth during the summer months and for Oasis.  
 
The Zoom link is the following:
Topic: Concert of Prayer -June 24
Time: Jun 24, 2021 07:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting:     https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85141480296
Meeting ID: 851 4148 0296

Dial by your location
   +1 204 272 7920 Canada or   +1 438 809 7799 Canada   Meeting ID: 851 4148 0296
 
 
More summer staff!
On Tuesday I introduced you to two of our summer staff, Hunter Hamilton and Matthew Cline. Today I’m happy to share with you the third member of our team.  Natalie Fangrad will be joining us working in media ministry and children’s ministry. Natalie is an active member of our youth group being part of our leadership team, and also part of the production team and Oasis.  Please add her to your prayers for our summer staff.
 
 
Join us on Sunday in-person or on our livestream for Faith that Works!
This Sunday at 11am Patrick will be continuing our series: “Faith that Works”, a look at the book of James.
Patrick will be looking at the first part of ch.4 and the idea of submission. What does it look like to submit to God and how can I do it?  Find out Sunday as we build together a ‘faith that works’.
Remember, you can join us as we gather in-person or you can connect through our website www.guelphbiblechapel.ca  our YouTube channel as well as Facebook LIVE
 
 
Thought for the Day: What is the fruitful Christian life?
Who doesn’t like to bite into a good piece of fruit?  Regardless of your preference, fruit is tasty, nutritious and is good for you. Have you ever considered this thought in terms of your spiritual life?  Pardon?  My walk with God ‘tasty’?  Say what?
As I’ve been talking about living a ‘faith that works’ in our study on the book of James a few times I’ve talked about fruit or being fruitful. So, for the next few weeks I’m going to examine some different ways to look at the idea of being fruitful and what fruit our lives produce. I hope that it is a challenge and encouragement!
We find the idea in the earliest book of the Bible.  In the creation story, in Genesis 1, the very first command given to man by God was “to be fruitful and increase in number.” God uses the idea of growing and reproducing.
Interestingly, Jesus gave a similar command to His followers in John 15:16: “to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last.”  He talked a lot about fruit in this particular chapter. The key thread is we are to bear fruit which means we are to do something with our faith, with the gift of salvation and with the call on our lives. We’re to live a ‘faith that works’ and be a ‘doer of the word and not listener only.’
But what fruit (or fruits) is Jesus referring to in this passage? What does it mean for a believer to be fruitful? And how are Christians supposed to bear fruit?
There are three kinds of fruits that Jesus can be referring to in this passage: the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of our labor and our good works.  We’re going to look at each over the next couple of weeks and see how we can apply this to our lives.
 
In His grip,
Pastor Chris