Growing Fruit: Fruit of the Spirit Part 2

Welcome/Intro/Prayer/Scripture Reading

Greeting:

Good Morning Church! How is everyone doing this morning?

Series Ending:

We are bringing this series to a close today! We have been looking at the process of Growing Fruit as Followers of Christ. As I said in my email this week, I would love your feedback on this series. How did the series impact your walk with Christ? Where did you see growth? Feel free to share it with me in person, in an email/text, or if you want to share it for everyone now that would be great!

Prayer: Would you pray with me as we prepare our hearts for what God will speak to us through his word today.

Intro:

what problems are there in the world, if something didnt exist what would make the world better? (answers to the email).

What frustrates you the most about the world around you (i.e. Everyone is self-centered) (Pause)

 What is one of the world's biggest problems today? (War, Poverty, the world would be better if ... wasn't a problem)

What frustrates you about your own spiritual/personal life? (i.e. I am a very impatient and angry)

What’s God’s answer to the problem? Short answer is Jesus. Long answer, Jesus and the Spirit producing fruit in us!

What is God’s answer lets read again the fruits of the Spirit together, in verses 22-23

Scripture: Reading: Galatians 5:22-23 (CEB)

Main Point: What the Fruit of the Spirit Teaches us that this change starts with us, that if there are things that we want to change in the world, It starts with us!

Transition: But, Remember from Last Week. It is not our fruit, but the Spirits fruit in us! Lets take a deeper look at the produce of the Spirit!

Unpacking the Fruit: One By One. What does it mean and what does it look like?

Love: Love is not the only fruit of the Spirit, but for Paul and I would argue the most important for Christains.

Definition:

The Letters to the Galatians and Ephesians The Lovely Things (Galatians 5:22–26)

Agape, the Christian word, means unconquerable benevolence. It means that, no matter what people may do to us by way of insult or injury or humiliation, we will never seek anything else but their highest good. It is therefore a feeling of the mind as much as of the heart; it concerns the will as much as the emotions. It describes the deliberate effort—which we can make only with the help of God—never to seek anything but the best even for those who seek the worst for us.

What it looks like in our day to day life?

There is so much I could share here. But, how much more inspiring would it be if we shared with each other! Can you share with the rest of Church one experience where you felt “loved” the kind of love that comes from God that I just described.

Joy: As a Kid I was taught this: Joy is Jesus, others, you.

Definition: Biblical Joy is an attitude God’s people adopt because of their hope in God’s love and promise!

What does it Look like? Focusing on What God is doing in our lives instead of the circumstances!

hen the people of Israel got out of the land of Egypt, even though they were in the desert and very far from the promised land.

But the Like us the Israelites quickly lost their Joy, Why? Because they stopped focusing on God and what He has done and is doing!

Joy doesnt ignore sorrow and pain, its acknowledging your pain but chosing to have faith and hope!

Peace: Usually when we think of peace is a lack of war,, but peace in the biblical sense doesnt just mean a state of serenity, but wholeness. Completeness. its not just the absence of war, but the presence of something better.

When Paul writes that Jesus, himself is our peace it’s reflective of our relationship with God. Jesus brought wholeness to the broken part of our lives.

What peace does peace look like?

is there brokeness in your relationships? Peace is a verb that brings wholeness in the broken places.

Peace means taking whats broken and restoring it to wholeness!

Whats the next word? - i can wait? Patience: the Greek word used is makrothumia. (ill wait) This is a great word. The writer of 1 Maccabees (8:4) says that it was by makrothumia that the Romans gained control of the world, and by that he means the Roman persistence which would never make peace with an enemy even in defeat, a kind of conquering patience

Paitence is not active, its a bearing with. Its not sitting and waiting. it takes work. When your car a toddler and they ask are we there yet? do we just wait for them to stop?

What does patience look like? Let me tell you a story.

Pastor Dennis was getting ready to drink his second cup of coffee when the doorbell rang. His wife had already left for work, & he was going to drink this last cup of coffee & go to work, too.

When Dennis opened the door, there stood a man who said, "I hate to bother you, but my car just broke down & I’m stranded. I wonder if I could use your telephone?" So Dennis invited the man in. Dennis showed him where the phone was. The man tried to call a co-worker, but as often happens today, he got a machine. So he asked Dennis, "What’s your phone number?" Then he left a message on the machine, asking his friend to call him back there. He made 2 more calls, each time leaving a message & Dennis’ phone number. Then he asked, "Would it be all right if I sit here & wait until someone returns my call?" Dennis said, "Sure, we can wait."

While waiting, Dennis asked if he would like a cup of coffee, hoping the man would say "No, I don’t drink coffee," but he didn’t. He wanted coffee, so Dennis gave him that last cup of coffee. Then they began talking about a variety of things.

Well, finally the phone rang. It was one of his friends saying that he would soon be there to pick him up. The man thanked Dennis & said, "Man, this is great. You have been so nice to me, & that was really good coffee. And I’ve enjoyed talking with you."

Then he said "goodbye" & headed out to meet his co-worker. The next day he called Dennis & asked, "Is my car still out there?" Dennis said, "Yes, it’s still there." The man asked, "Will you kind of watch it for me until I can come & get it?" Dennis answered, "Yeah, I’ll be glad to."

Now what did Dennis do? He really didn’t do much at all. He opened his door. He gave him his last cup of coffee. He let him use his telephone, & he talked with him. That’s all he did. When we talk about what it means to have Paitence from God, its something entirely different then waiting for the end of the sermon.

Its relational, When you are tempted to be impatitent with a person, ask yourself? How Paitent has God been with me?

Kindness and Goodness: These two words are closely related. Goodness refers to generosity . Kindness is a combination of the greek words for good and beuatiful come together. They both refer to actions and an attitude toward others. Can you think of a time in your life when you visited someone and you were blown away by their hospitality. I think hospitality embodies both generosity and kindness.

What this looks like?

Think about your upcoming Thanksgiving meals. How are you going to treat your friends and family coming to you house?

Faithfulness: Fidelity: this word (pistis) iIt is the characteristic of people who are reliable.

But, Faithfulness that comes from the Spirit isnt just being relaible, Its connected to who God is.

Last fall we learned the characteristics of God and one of them was what?

FAITHFULNESS. commitment to People. Stickwithitness.

What this look like is not being faithful to people that are easy to be with, easy to love, but how commited are we to those we disagree with, that make us easily angered, that are unfaithful to us?

Gentleness: Gentleness: praotes is the most untranslatable of words. In the New Testament, it has three main meanings. (1) It means being submissive to the will of God (Matthew 5:5, 11:29, 21:5). (2) It means being teachable, being not too proud to learn (James 1:21). (3) Most often of all, it means being considerate.

This work can also be translated as meekness. Can you share about a person in your life who you would describe as gentle? What made them gentle?

My Example: Dorothy Mohler.

Self-Control: Self-control: the word is egkrateia, which Plato uses of self-mastery. It is the spirit which has overcome and controlled its desires and its love of pleasure. It is used of the athlete’s discipline of the body

I find it interesting that the last fruit of the Spirit has “self” in it. Seems like that’s an oxymoron. We are trying to let the spirit have control, but paul says have self control. But lets think about what The Spirit is actually doing in us. God is making us more like who?

Jesus the perfect example. The perfect human.

In Jesus we see self control in this way. (Phil 2:6-8

Philippians 2:6–8 NIV

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!

Paul writes we become more self-controled as we become more like Christ, in fact Paul writes in 2:20-21.

Transition: Now that we have a deeper understanding of the fruit of the Spirit, what does that Change? How does this Fruit change the world? What does it do for the problems and frutrastions we voiced earlier?

Application

Know: We have all that we need to change the World with the Spirit’s help!

We carry this fruit with us! We can show people what love, joy, peace, paitence, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control looks like. We can show what Jesus looks like!

Do: This analogy is so important because seeds that produce fruit, start on the inside of the fruit that grows to full maturity.

As God is Growing Fruit in Us we can be planting seeds Wherever we Go! So this week I want us to be thinking about how as God grows this fruit in us, we can plant it elsewhere!

How do we do this?

Ask: the spirit to produce more of these things in my lifie?

Action Step: Think about areas of my life do you want me to bring more of your fruit into God? (School, Work, The grocery stone, The field, My family.

Thanksgiving Challenge: What fruit can we bring to the Thanksgiving Table. This thankgiving, focus on how we can bring these fruits to the table?