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If those receiving ministry from us are not receiving infusions of God's kind of life, then we are offering second-hand fruit that originated in us instead of being passed through us from the Spirit.
Fruit that is produced in us by the Spirit is valid for us and meant to attract others to God, the source. But when they taste our fruit we must be careful to give them seed directly from the Source and not from our own fruit. For fruit grown in our flesh, even if it was planted by the Spirit and is Spirit fruit, that fruit bears seeds of the flesh if used to plant in someone else's soul. The fruit can be received by others as tasty nourishment and enjoyment but we must not have them use our seed to grow their crop. We must hook them up with the original Supplier for truly life-imparting seeds.
Our fruit must be available to be consumed by others for nourishment, however. We are made broken bread and crushed grapes to produce sweet juice to attract others to enter into the fellowship of the believers.
When we offer solutions to people's problems, we offer them our “good” fruit. It may be fruit that was grown from valid Spirit seed, but it is now common, flesh seed. These solutions and advice sound right, logical and even spiritual, but they are still flesh righteousness. We can let people examine and taste our fruit and draw encouragement and temporary strength from it. But we must share with them how we came about to having this fruit, how Jesus is the seed in us that produces fruit. Then we must help them learn how to receive the Seed of God into their own ground and encourage its growth while protecting their hearts.
Let us plant the seeds from God with our mouths and share fertilizer with our hearts.
