WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.439 Well, good morning, Eastridge. 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:03.120 My name is Justin. 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:04.559 I'm the senior pastor here. 00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:11.759 And you know, I I I want to before I get into my message and everything, I just want to say that I am completely encouraged by all of you. 00:00:11.919 --> 00:00:20.640 Um just in conversation, I uh one of my favorite things about being here on a Sunday morning is that I get to have a conversation with some of you. 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:28.160 Uh and if I don't get to have a conversation with some of you, I want to invite you to contact me, email me, text me, whatever you need to do. 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:29.760 I would love to have a conversation with you. 00:00:29.839 --> 00:00:35.359 I, you know, Sunday mornings can be come and go, it can be kind of busy, it can be kind of loud and everything else. 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:39.200 But honestly, I just want to invite that for all of you. 00:00:39.359 --> 00:00:43.520 Uh it's what it's one of my favorite things to do, and I get encouraged when I have conversations with you. 00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:52.479 I get encouraged when I get invited to do that and be a part of your lives and and walk through anything that you're going through on a spiritual basis, on a personal basis, anything. 00:00:52.560 --> 00:00:54.399 Just honestly, I'm open. 00:00:54.719 --> 00:00:55.840 Text me, call me. 00:00:55.920 --> 00:00:57.439 I'd love to have a conversation with you. 00:00:57.520 --> 00:01:03.280 Um and so with that said, um, uh, you know, I I want to encourage you to do that with with me, but also with each other. 00:01:03.439 --> 00:01:05.280 Uh, and and so keep keep doing that. 00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:06.239 Uh I I love that. 00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:08.000 And yeah, just just let me know. 00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:09.840 I would love to get together with you. 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:16.000 Anyway, um this uh we are in week four of our summer series, the Spirit of God. 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:20.959 And uh let me just catch you up a little bit if you haven't uh been here. 00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:28.640 Week one, we said that the Holy Spirit is not a force, it's not a feeling, um, that the Holy Spirit is God. 00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:38.239 Uh a couple weeks ago we talked about how the the Holy Spirit breathes life into dead things, into the valley of dry bones, that dead things come alive. 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:46.879 And that uh that last week we learned that the Holy Spirit doesn't just comfort us, that the Holy Spirit in fact leads us. 00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:58.079 When the Holy Spirit is leading us, uh we we know that that God is going to lead us into things that might be challenging or that might be something that we can't do on our own. 00:01:58.319 --> 00:02:07.359 So, you know, the whole idea has this one steady idea behind it as well, that the Spirit of God forms us. 00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:09.199 The Spirit of God forms us. 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:19.039 He's not just a guest who we get to visit on Sundays, uh, he is the living God inside of us, forming us into the likeness of Jesus. 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:22.800 And today we get to ask a very practical question. 00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:29.439 If we know and if we believe that he is leading us, what does that actually look like? 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:32.960 What does that look like on a day-to-day basis? 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:38.000 And when the Spirit of God goes to work in a human life, what does he produce? 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:40.639 What is going on in our lives? 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:46.639 And Paul gives us the answer in one of the most famous passages in the whole entire Bible. 00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:49.280 The fruit of the Spirit. 00:02:49.520 --> 00:02:53.360 But before we read it today, I want to give you the big idea for today. 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:55.599 I want you to really, really understand this. 00:02:55.680 --> 00:02:58.000 So write it down and hold on to this idea. 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:05.039 That the Spirit changes our character before he changes our circumstances. 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:07.199 Now, let me say that again. 00:03:07.439 --> 00:03:13.919 The Spirit changes our character before he changes our circumstances. 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:20.080 And most of us spend our prayer life asking God to change our circumstances. 00:03:20.240 --> 00:03:26.080 And the spirit very often is far more interested in changing us. 00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:29.039 So let me tell you where this one hits me. 00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:32.800 I'm really good at asking God to change my situation. 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:36.159 To say, you know, God, change this person, okay? 00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:37.840 God, change this season. 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:40.080 I don't like the season of life that I'm in right now. 00:03:40.400 --> 00:03:45.680 God, fix this thing that is making my life challenging. 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:46.800 Please fix it. 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:48.719 We're invited to bring it all to God. 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:50.240 I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. 00:03:50.319 --> 00:03:53.439 The Bible says that clearly we should bring these to God. 00:03:53.599 --> 00:03:55.759 But here's what I keep bumping into. 00:03:56.319 --> 00:04:00.000 I'll pray and pray for God to change my circumstance. 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:07.280 And what he keeps doing instead is putting his finger on me and saying uh uh he puts his finger on my impatience. 00:04:07.520 --> 00:04:13.840 So I'm not, if you guys know this about me, I'm I'm uh I'm not a big fan of red lights. 00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:14.400 Okay. 00:04:14.719 --> 00:04:25.680 And last week when we were going to the um, when we were on our way to the Jay's cabin for our men's event, um if you've ever driven on tower, there's lots of lights on that road. 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:30.480 And I hit every single red light. 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:31.600 Every single one. 00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:33.519 So I was late to to the event. 00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:35.839 Uh luckily I wasn't I wasn't counted as late. 00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:37.839 I just was I just was a little bit late. 00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:39.439 I also got trained. 00:04:39.680 --> 00:04:43.439 So on top of all the lights that I hit, I was also trained. 00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:47.279 So God was working on my patience on that day. 00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:57.920 Uh He also works on my lack of peace, on the way I treat people when I get stressed, and on what comes out of me when I get squeezed in that stress, when things are happening around me. 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:06.000 Because here's the truth about all of us that what is inside you comes out when you get squeezed. 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:06.480 Okay? 00:05:06.879 --> 00:05:10.959 You don't find out what's really in a person when life is easy, okay? 00:05:11.199 --> 00:05:16.160 You find out when they get pressed, when things are happening in their lives. 00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:24.959 And if I'm honest, when I get stressed, what comes out is not always love, it's not always joy, it's not always peace. 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:32.560 Sometimes what comes out of it is irritation or anxiety, uh, a sharp tongue. 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:36.560 I had some words with God on Tower Avenue last week, okay? 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:40.639 And I used to think that the answer was just try harder. 00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:50.000 If you just try a little bit harder, then you'll be able to really understand what it's like to get through some difficult circumstances. 00:05:50.160 --> 00:05:51.759 Be more patient. 00:05:52.240 --> 00:06:00.319 Grit your teeth, white knuckle it, but you cannot squeeze spiritual fruit out of yourself by sheer effort. 00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:02.560 That's not how fruit works. 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:10.480 You've never once seen an apple tree literally just trying by its own grunting and straining to produce a fruit, right? 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:12.079 It just doesn't work like that. 00:06:12.319 --> 00:06:15.040 Fruit does not come from effort. 00:06:15.199 --> 00:06:18.240 Fruit comes from life. 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:21.839 And that is exactly what Paul wants us to see today. 00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:31.439 So, you know, let me ask you, where are you trying to manufacture willpower on what only the Spirit can actually grow inside of you? 00:06:31.759 --> 00:06:37.439 Maybe you've been trying to be more patient with your kids and you keep losing it and you feel like a failure. 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:44.879 Maybe you've been trying to love someone who is very difficult to love and you just can't seem to get there. 00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:51.920 Maybe you've been waiting for your circumstances to change so that you can finally have some peace. 00:06:52.800 --> 00:06:55.920 When this season is over, then I'll finally have peace. 00:06:56.319 --> 00:06:59.360 When this problem is solved, then I'll have some joy in my life. 00:06:59.920 --> 00:07:03.439 When this person finally changes, then I will be able to love them. 00:07:03.519 --> 00:07:05.519 When they change, I can love them. 00:07:05.759 --> 00:07:07.519 And here's the problem with that. 00:07:07.920 --> 00:07:14.720 If your peace depends on your circumstances, you don't actually have the peace of the spirit. 00:07:14.959 --> 00:07:17.759 You have the peace of good circumstances. 00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:20.639 And good circumstances never last. 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:22.720 That's a promise in the Bible. 00:07:22.959 --> 00:07:24.879 You will have trials. 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:33.279 The fruit of the Spirit is the kind of character that grows in you regardless of what is happening around you. 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:41.680 Joy in the storm, peace in the waiting, patience in the pressure, love for the difficult person. 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:43.279 That's not natural. 00:07:44.079 --> 00:07:46.000 That's supernatural. 00:07:46.720 --> 00:07:48.000 That's fruit. 00:07:48.240 --> 00:07:54.319 If your peace depends on your circumstances, it isn't the peace of the Spirit yet. 00:07:55.279 --> 00:08:07.360 So let's open in Galatians 5, where we're going to be today, because it should shows right away in Galatians 5, starting in verse 16, that we live by two ways. 00:08:07.519 --> 00:08:08.959 There are two ways by which we live. 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:10.879 We've talked about this before. 00:08:29.439 --> 00:08:36.080 Paul says that there is a war going on inside of every single believer. 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:40.799 The flesh wants one thing, the spirit wants another. 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:44.399 And they're pulling against each other. 00:08:44.639 --> 00:08:56.240 Now, if you've ever felt that tug of war inside of you, if you've ever felt that tension inside of you, the part of you that wants to do the right and the part of you that wants to do the wrong, that is not a sign that something is wrong with you. 00:08:56.399 --> 00:08:56.720 Okay? 00:08:56.960 --> 00:09:01.120 I want you to reassure you that that doesn't mean something's wrong with you if you feel that. 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:06.320 That's actually a sign that the spirit is alive in you. 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:10.639 A dead branch doesn't fight anything. 00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:13.360 The struggle is evidence of life. 00:09:13.679 --> 00:09:15.440 The struggle is evidence of life. 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:16.799 Notice Paul's instruction. 00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:22.480 He doesn't say, try harder to beat your flesh spirit, the spirit of the flesh inside of you. 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:26.399 He says, walk by the spirit. 00:09:27.279 --> 00:09:28.799 Walk by the spirit. 00:09:29.039 --> 00:09:36.320 The way you win the war is not by pouring all your energy into fighting your fleshly nature. 00:09:36.639 --> 00:09:40.080 It's by walking in the spirit. 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:43.919 You don't overcome darkness by staring at darkness. 00:09:44.240 --> 00:09:48.000 You overcome it by walking toward the light. 00:09:48.559 --> 00:09:51.039 You don't defeat the flesh by fighting harder. 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:54.320 You defeat it by walking with the spirit. 00:09:55.039 --> 00:10:01.519 Now Paul gives us two lists, and the contrast between these two lists is everything. 00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:03.679 So let's read that as we continue on. 00:10:03.840 --> 00:10:04.480 In 18. 00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:07.600 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 00:10:07.840 --> 00:10:10.000 Now the works of the flesh are evident. 00:10:10.240 --> 00:10:13.039 Sexual immorality, impurity. 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:14.240 I'm going to read these slowly. 00:10:14.320 --> 00:10:16.000 So if you get a little bit uncomfortable, that's okay. 00:10:16.080 --> 00:10:17.519 That means something's working inside of you. 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:18.000 Okay? 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:21.600 Sensuality. 00:10:22.639 --> 00:10:23.919 Idolatry. 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:26.000 Sorcery. 00:10:27.200 --> 00:10:28.159 Enmity. 00:10:29.120 --> 00:10:29.919 Strife. 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:32.480 Jealousy. 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:47.679 Fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:55.120 I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 00:10:55.919 --> 00:10:57.200 Look at that list. 00:10:58.399 --> 00:10:59.679 It's chaos. 00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:02.399 It's fragmented. 00:11:02.639 --> 00:11:05.279 It's relationships that are breaking. 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:08.320 Desires in your own life that are running wild. 00:11:08.559 --> 00:11:11.840 People at war with each other and with themselves. 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:14.000 And notice the word Paul uses. 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:17.759 He calls them works of the flesh. 00:11:19.039 --> 00:11:20.000 Works. 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:21.600 Plural. 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:29.200 Things that you produce, things that you manufacture, that you are putting an effort in doing. 00:11:29.440 --> 00:11:31.840 It is you trying to do these things. 00:11:32.320 --> 00:11:36.879 But when he gets to the spirit, the word changes. 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:58.720 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. 00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:03.519 Against such things there is no law. 00:12:06.879 --> 00:12:11.039 But it says it doesn't not works of the spirit. 00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:16.000 Fruit of the Spirit. 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:19.759 Paul does not say the fruits of the Spirit are. 00:12:19.919 --> 00:12:20.240 Okay? 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:21.440 This is something in English. 00:12:21.519 --> 00:12:25.840 So if you are an English person out there, this is going to be something that you will pick up on. 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:28.559 It says, Paul does not say the fruits of the Spirit are. 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:31.039 He says the fruit of the Spirit is. 00:12:32.960 --> 00:12:34.240 One fruit. 00:12:35.200 --> 00:12:36.720 One cluster. 00:12:37.840 --> 00:12:42.720 Nine characteristics that grow together as a single life. 00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:45.120 Which means this. 00:12:45.759 --> 00:12:52.000 You don't get to walk down the produce aisle and kind of pick out everything that you want to live by. 00:12:53.440 --> 00:12:55.200 It can seem really simple to do that. 00:12:55.360 --> 00:12:59.279 You know, like I'll take love and joy, but I'll pass on patience and self-control. 00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:02.159 Today I don't need that as much as I need other things right now. 00:13:02.320 --> 00:13:03.360 I'm going to pass on that. 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:04.480 It doesn't work like that. 00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:11.279 You can't be genuinely loving and chronically unkind. 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:18.000 You can't have real peace inside your soul and refuse all self-control. 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:20.799 It's one fruit. 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:24.000 And it's the portrait of one person. 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:26.320 We'll come back to that. 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:33.440 Just remember that the flesh manufactures works, the spirit grows fruit. 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:36.320 And this is the heart of what I want you to take home today. 00:13:36.480 --> 00:13:39.679 That fruit is not something you produce by effort. 00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:46.480 Like I said, you don't see an apple straining and grunting and trying to get its fruit out of its branch. 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:48.480 Fruit is not something you produce by effort. 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:51.519 Fruit is something that grows out of life. 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:59.039 When you have that single seed that grows into something that's really a gigantic fruit tree, like an apple tree. 00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:04.639 There's life in there. 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:09.840 A branch does not grit its teeth and squeeze out grapes. 00:14:10.159 --> 00:14:11.120 Just like an apple. 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:17.039 Fruit is simply what comes out of a healthy branch connected to the vine. 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:20.960 The branch's job is not to manufacture fruit. 00:14:21.039 --> 00:14:24.559 The branch's job is to stay connected. 00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:27.279 Staying connected and the fruit comes. 00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:30.799 Think about how a gardener or a farmer actually works. 00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:36.879 A good gardener doesn't stand over a young tree pulling on branches and trying to force the fruit out fast. 00:14:37.279 --> 00:14:38.159 You can't do that. 00:14:38.399 --> 00:14:39.759 And it looks pretty silly. 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:48.399 If you see someone who's tending an orchard and they're just trying to shake the branches, trying to get fruit out of those branches, it doesn't work. 00:14:48.480 --> 00:14:49.600 And it looks weird. 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:54.879 So what happens is a good gardener will tend the soil. 00:14:56.240 --> 00:14:58.399 He will water the roots. 00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:00.879 He prunes what needs pruning. 00:15:00.960 --> 00:15:04.000 And then he does the hardest thing of all. 00:15:05.039 --> 00:15:06.000 He waits. 00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:10.639 He gives it time and seasons. 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:13.759 And here's something that every gardener knows. 00:15:13.919 --> 00:15:18.960 Some of the sweetest fruit comes from the trees that have weathered the hardest seasons. 00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:24.960 For apples, you will get the very best apples out of the trees that are the oldest. 00:15:25.759 --> 00:15:32.399 The trees that have deep roots, whose trunks are wide, whose branches are strong. 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:38.399 The deep roots, the rich fruit, they come from the tree that's had to dig down and hold on. 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:45.200 That should preach to some of us today because the hard season you're in is not God forgetting about you. 00:15:53.039 --> 00:15:54.480 They're going to figure this out on their own. 00:15:54.559 --> 00:15:56.879 It does not, that's not what that means. 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:01.919 This is why the big idea matters so much to us. 00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:08.240 The deepest fruit, the deepest fruit is growing inside of you because of the season you're in. 00:16:08.559 --> 00:16:15.679 The Spirit changes our character before he changes our circumstances, because fruit grows from the inside out. 00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:23.600 And God keeps saying, Let me grow first something in you. 00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:31.600 Even though we keep asking, change my circumstances, change this person, change what I'm going through in my life. 00:16:32.879 --> 00:16:45.759 Because here's the thing: if God changed all your circumstances that you're asking to change, but left your character unchanged, you would just carry the same unfruitful heart into a brand new situation. 00:16:47.120 --> 00:16:51.440 A change of scenery never healed an unchanged heart. 00:16:51.840 --> 00:17:01.840 So God, in his wisdom and in his love, very often leaves us in the very circumstance that we are begging him to be removed from us. 00:17:02.159 --> 00:17:06.559 Because the circumstance is the soil where the fruit is growing. 00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:09.839 The patience you're praying for. 00:17:10.319 --> 00:17:14.720 It grows in the situation that requires patience. 00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:21.599 The peace that you are asking for, it grows in the middle of the storm, not after it. 00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:23.839 We want God to change the weather. 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:30.640 God wants to grow a tree that can stand in any weather, in any flood, in any drought, in any storm. 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:36.400 A change of scenery has never healed an unchanged heart. 00:17:36.640 --> 00:17:38.559 Now let's go back to that list one more time. 00:17:38.640 --> 00:17:40.799 I'm gonna read it, I'm gonna read it here again. 00:17:41.119 --> 00:17:55.920 Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. 00:17:56.960 --> 00:18:01.039 Now ask yourself a question who is that? 00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:17.039 Who is perfectly loving, perfectly joyful, perfectly at peace, endlessly patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and in complete control of himself. 00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:21.200 That's not just a list of virtues. 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:27.119 That's not just a hobby lobby sign that we buy and say, that's a good thing to keep us in remembrance of that. 00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:31.039 That's a portrait of Jesus. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:34.319 That's who Jesus is. 00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:38.559 The fruit of the Spirit is the character of Christ. 00:18:39.839 --> 00:18:42.799 And that is the whole point of this whole entire series. 00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:55.359 And it says in 2 Corinthians 3.18, and we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image. 00:18:56.240 --> 00:19:00.960 The Spirit's goal is not just to make you a nicer person, although that would be good. 00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:05.519 The Spirit's goal is to make you like Jesus. 00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:10.480 The fruit of the Spirit is the life of Jesus reproduced in you. 00:19:11.759 --> 00:19:15.839 And Paul says something stunning about how that happens. 00:19:16.160 --> 00:19:26.880 Verse 24, it says, And those who belong to Christ, Jesus, have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 00:19:28.640 --> 00:19:30.880 Here's the order, and it matters. 00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:35.680 It is not produce the fruit so that you can belong to Christ. 00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:41.279 It's not, you know, be kind, be gentle, be loving, be good, be faithful. 00:19:41.359 --> 00:19:46.000 It's not saying have those things first, and then you can become to Christ. 00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:50.559 It is you belong to Christ. 00:19:51.200 --> 00:19:57.440 And therefore, the flesh has been dealt with at the cross, and now his life grows in you. 00:19:58.720 --> 00:20:02.799 Belonging comes first, fruit comes second. 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:08.400 The fruit of the Spirit is simply living the life of Jesus growing in you. 00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:13.119 And that brings us to the gospel, the good news. 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:18.400 Because if you read that fruit list honestly, it should humble every one of us. 00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:21.680 Perfect love, perfect patience, complete self-control. 00:20:21.839 --> 00:20:23.839 None of us have ever done that before. 00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:26.319 Not one. 00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:35.519 The fruit list is a mirror, and the mirror tells a very simple truth that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 00:20:35.920 --> 00:20:37.599 We've all lived by the flesh. 00:20:38.079 --> 00:20:46.319 We have all produced the wrong kind of fruit, but here is the good news for all of us that there was one who bore the fruit perfectly. 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:49.519 Jesus loved perfectly. 00:20:49.839 --> 00:20:51.599 He was patient with sinners. 00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:54.960 Jesus was gentle with the broken and bold with the proud. 00:20:55.039 --> 00:20:58.400 Jesus stayed faithful all the way to the cross. 00:20:58.640 --> 00:21:04.000 And on that cross, the fruitful one was cut down for the fruitless. 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:04.960 Us. 00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:10.799 He took the judgment of our flesh deserved. 00:21:11.039 --> 00:21:14.799 He died the death we should have died, and he rose again. 00:21:16.319 --> 00:21:23.519 And now to everyone who turns from sin and trusts in Jesus, he gives the Holy Spirit. 00:21:23.759 --> 00:21:28.000 Not as a reward, but for good behavior, but as a gift of his grace. 00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:37.200 So if you're here today and you have been trying to clean up your own life, exhausted, striving, white knuckling your way toward being a better person, hear this. 00:21:37.519 --> 00:21:40.880 You don't bear fruit in order to come to Jesus. 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:44.559 You come to Jesus and He grows the fruit in you. 00:21:45.200 --> 00:21:46.720 So come to Jesus today. 00:21:46.960 --> 00:21:54.480 Receive his spirit and let him begin a work in you that you could never do in yourself. 00:21:55.039 --> 00:21:57.279 You don't grow fruit to earn God's love. 00:21:57.359 --> 00:22:01.200 You receive God's love and the Fruit grows. 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:03.599 So, how do we respond? 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:09.119 Like we do, like we do every single week, there's something to know, something to feel, and something to do. 00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:09.599 Okay? 00:22:10.240 --> 00:22:16.319 Something that you need to know that you are the branch, not the vine. 00:22:17.359 --> 00:22:20.559 You are the branch, not the vine. 00:22:20.799 --> 00:22:22.240 You are not the source of the fruit. 00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:23.599 You are not the power plant. 00:22:23.759 --> 00:22:25.200 You are the branch. 00:22:25.759 --> 00:22:27.839 So stop trying to be the vine. 00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:29.920 You'll only exhaust yourself. 00:22:30.319 --> 00:22:31.839 You're not the source of the fruit. 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:33.680 You are the branch that bears it. 00:22:33.839 --> 00:22:35.440 You need to know that in your mind. 00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:42.079 Second thing, you need to let two things settle in that you need to feel in your life this week. 00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:43.920 First is relief. 00:22:44.240 --> 00:22:44.559 Okay? 00:22:45.279 --> 00:22:49.839 If the fruit is the Spirit's work, then you can stop the desperate striving. 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:52.720 You can exhale. 00:22:53.599 --> 00:22:56.960 The fruit grows by the Spirit's will, not yours. 00:22:58.400 --> 00:23:00.960 Second, patience. 00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:05.039 Fruit grows slowly. 00:23:05.279 --> 00:23:09.039 You will not become a perfectly patient person by Tuesday, and that's okay. 00:23:09.279 --> 00:23:09.599 Okay? 00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:12.319 God is not in a hurry. 00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:15.680 And He is not finished with you. 00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:19.920 Don't despise small growth. 00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:25.359 A little more patience this month than last month is still the Spirit at work. 00:23:27.680 --> 00:23:35.440 And the third thing that we need to do this week, stop outsourcing your peace and keep in step with the Spirit. 00:23:35.599 --> 00:23:41.200 First thing, stop waiting for your circumstances to change before you'll let God grow something in you. 00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:42.960 Ask instead a new question. 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:44.880 Not just, God, please change this. 00:23:45.039 --> 00:23:46.079 God, will you change this? 00:23:46.160 --> 00:23:49.359 But God, what are you trying to grow in me through this? 00:23:49.759 --> 00:23:56.000 Through the trauma in my life right now, through my jobs, job situation, through my health situation, through my family situation. 00:23:56.160 --> 00:23:57.920 What are you trying to grow through me? 00:23:58.160 --> 00:23:59.279 What are you trying to teach me? 00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:02.160 What fruit is trying to be produced here? 00:24:04.559 --> 00:24:06.960 So stop outsourcing your peace. 00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:11.119 Ask God where you're trying to grow, where he's trying to grow you. 00:24:11.279 --> 00:24:13.519 And second, do what Paul says at the end of the chapter. 00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:21.200 He says in 525, if we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 00:24:22.720 --> 00:24:24.240 Keep in step. 00:24:25.440 --> 00:24:29.839 That's a daily walk, not just a one-time decision. 00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:32.960 So return to the prayer that we started the series with. 00:24:33.200 --> 00:24:37.039 Each morning, Spirit of God, lead me today. 00:24:37.839 --> 00:24:42.480 And then walk with him through the day one step at a time. 00:24:43.519 --> 00:24:45.759 That is how fruit grows. 00:24:46.160 --> 00:24:53.599 Fruit doesn't grow in big, dramatic moments, it grows in daily steps with the Spirit. 00:24:54.000 --> 00:24:58.640 Imagine what would have happened if we lived like this together, if we had these ideas together. 00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:03.680 Imagine a church where the air that we breathe is the fruit of the Spirit. 00:25:04.240 --> 00:25:06.720 Look back at the works of the flesh for a second. 00:25:07.039 --> 00:25:13.920 Strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, divisions, and dissensions. 00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:19.039 If I'm honest, that's the list that describes a lot of churches. 00:25:20.079 --> 00:25:23.440 It's the list that describes a lot of families. 00:25:25.039 --> 00:25:27.119 It's the list that describes the internet. 00:25:27.759 --> 00:25:35.359 And if you have a device on you right now that is connected to the internet, God bless you, but that's is you're going to see the works of the flesh in that device. 00:25:35.519 --> 00:25:36.960 I promise you you will. 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:41.759 But imagine the church that had a different kind of community. 00:25:42.160 --> 00:25:44.960 One that was marked by love and not strife. 00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:57.920 Joy instead of cynicism, by peace instead of anxiety, by patience instead of short tempers, by kindness and goodness instead of rivalry and envy. 00:25:58.400 --> 00:26:04.880 Imagine homes where parents are growing in gentleness and self-control, and the kids can feel it. 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:16.319 Imagine workplaces where you are the most patient, most peaceful, most humbling, most loving person in the building. 00:26:16.559 --> 00:26:19.599 And people are gonna say, something's different about you. 00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:21.519 Something is different about you. 00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:24.799 There's something different about you, and I want to know why. 00:26:25.119 --> 00:26:29.440 Because here's how Jesus said the world would know who belongs to him. 00:26:30.400 --> 00:26:35.119 Not by our arguments, not by our buildings, but by our love. 00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:42.160 The fruit of the Spirit is a watching world seeing Jesus in us. 00:26:43.519 --> 00:26:47.200 The fruit that you produce in your life is not for you. 00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:49.920 The love that you have in your life is not for you. 00:26:50.400 --> 00:26:52.640 The joy that you have in your life is not for you. 00:26:52.799 --> 00:26:57.920 The patience, the self-control, the goodness, the faithfulness, the gentleness is not for you. 00:26:58.160 --> 00:26:59.279 It is for others. 00:26:59.440 --> 00:27:06.640 The fruit that we produce in our lives that the Spirit produces through us is for others to see Jesus in you. 00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:13.359 The world doesn't need to read our doctrine, even though they're really fun books, okay? 00:27:14.160 --> 00:27:17.200 The world needs to taste our fruit. 00:27:19.119 --> 00:27:21.440 So let me bring us back to where we started. 00:27:21.759 --> 00:27:27.200 The Spirit changes our character before he changes our circumstances. 00:27:27.440 --> 00:27:36.880 So if you come in today carrying a circumstance with you that you've been begging for God to change, keep praying. 00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:38.400 He wants you to pray. 00:27:38.640 --> 00:27:42.319 He wants you to be connected to the vine. 00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:47.839 But while you wait, don't miss what he is doing. 00:27:48.160 --> 00:27:56.160 He is growing something in you in the pressure, in the waiting, in the very situation you wish that you could escape right now. 00:27:58.640 --> 00:28:02.240 He is producing the life of Jesus in you. 00:28:02.960 --> 00:28:04.960 One piece of fruit at a time. 00:28:05.279 --> 00:28:09.920 So today let's not strive, let's surrender. 00:28:10.640 --> 00:28:15.839 Let's stop trying to manufacture what only Jesus can grow in us. 00:28:16.319 --> 00:28:19.200 Let's stay connected to the vine. 00:28:19.440 --> 00:28:23.759 And let's trust the gardener who knows exactly what he is doing. 00:28:25.680 --> 00:28:27.039 Let's pray. 00:28:28.799 --> 00:28:32.400 Father, you are the gardener. 00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:42.000 Thank you that you are patiently, faithfully growing something good in us even when we cannot see it. 00:28:43.759 --> 00:28:49.440 Jesus, thank you that you lived the fruitful life that we have failed to live. 00:28:50.079 --> 00:28:54.880 Thank you that you were cut down for the fruitless so that we could be made alive. 00:28:56.160 --> 00:29:00.880 You are perfect love, you are perfect joy, you are perfect peace. 00:29:01.039 --> 00:29:05.920 And by your spirit, you are reproducing your own life in us. 00:29:07.440 --> 00:29:15.920 Holy Spirit, we confess now that we so often try to manufacture by effort what only you can grow. 00:29:16.960 --> 00:29:22.720 We confess that we ask you to change our circumstances when you want to change us. 00:29:23.440 --> 00:29:25.279 Forgive us for striving. 00:29:25.920 --> 00:29:27.759 Teach us to abide. 00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:34.319 Help us live in the amazing grace that Jesus the Son gave us. 00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:37.519 Where we are impatient, grow patience. 00:29:37.599 --> 00:29:39.039 Where we are anxious, grow peace. 00:29:39.200 --> 00:29:40.960 Where we are harsh, grow gentleness. 00:29:41.119 --> 00:29:43.359 Where we are loveless, grow love. 00:29:44.480 --> 00:29:49.279 And help us to keep in step with you one day at a time. 00:29:50.160 --> 00:29:51.920 We are not the vine. 00:29:52.799 --> 00:29:54.319 We are the branches. 00:29:55.359 --> 00:29:57.920 So we stop striving and we surrender. 00:29:58.720 --> 00:30:02.400 Grow your fruit in us for the glory of Jesus. 00:30:03.359 --> 00:30:06.400 Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 00:30:07.519 --> 00:30:11.359 So, Spirit of God, we surrender to you. 00:30:12.880 --> 00:30:14.079 In Jesus' name. 00:30:14.559 --> 00:30:15.039 Amen.