Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #14820 - The Glorious Fruit of the Spirit - Galatians 5:22-26

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#14820 - The Glorious Fruit of the Spirit - Galatians 5:22-26 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Hey man, open your Bibles. Galatians chapter 5 is where we
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are as we finish the chapter today.
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Galatians chapter 5. We're going to pick up in verse
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22 when you get there. And I've entitled our Bible
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study the glorious fruit of the Spirit, the glorious fruit of
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the Spirit. We learned the obvious and
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evident works of the flesh in our study last time.
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I mean the works of the flesh are obvious.
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Nobody needs to explain them, although the Bible does do that.
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We we know the flesh when it arises in our lives.
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The problem that often comes with the flesh is that we know
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it's the flesh, but we just make excuses for it.
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We've always got a reason why. There's always seems to be a
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good reason why someone responds in the flesh or lives in the
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flesh, but there really is no good reason.
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The works of the flesh are to be forsaken, repented of, and
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prayed through. You see, anytime we choose to
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depend upon ourselves, we will produce rotten fruit.
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It's just the facts. What rotten fruit can be
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described as in the Bible is the works of the flesh and of our
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threefold enemies that we learned the world, the flesh and
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the devil, and they're all very formidable for sure.
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Our biggest problem and our biggest enemy is our self life,
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our flesh life. A lot of attention goes to the
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devil and he's formidable for sure, but no match for Jesus.
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And a lot of attention goes to our culture and certainly our
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culture is forsaken God around the world and a lot of attention
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is given to the culture. But I'm telling you, the area
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that needs most attention in your life is you and your life
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walking in the spirit or in the flesh.
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You and I, we seem to be our greatest challenge because the
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self life dissipates and destroys the Christ life being
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expressed through us. And when we walk in the Spirit,
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the Bible promises we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
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That's sanctification. That's the fancy word for God's
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work of change in your life from the inside out.
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Sanctification. Think about it here.
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Here you are. You have reoriented your whole
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day today to start an obedient worship of God with the family
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of God. This is a step of walking in the
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Spirit in your life right now in these moments.
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And they could be brief because you go back and forth because
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it's a battle. But in these brief moments,
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you're not living in the flesh. You're seeking the Lord.
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You're desiring to move forward. You're desiring.
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I know we go to church every week and we have church, Sir, I
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know that. But it's so much bigger than
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going to church. You're walking in the Spirit
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right now, right now in these moments, even if you're going
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back and forth, you know, you're walking in the spirit and teach
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me it, feed me the word. And then the very next thought
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is what's my Chipotle order going to be and be like?
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And you got this, you know, in in your mind right now, you've
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got this silver big BLOB swirling around of what?
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And you're going, you know, you're going physical food,
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spiritual food. But in the times that you are
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spiritually seeking the Lord, you're walking in the spirit.
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So important not to undermine even those steps you're taking.
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Some of you have made a decision and you pretty much kept it.
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This year. We're just going to go to church
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regularly, just going to worship regularly.
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Look at how far we're almost at the end of the year and look
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what God has done already. It's such a great decision to
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make these you've made all these.
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It's been a few months since I did that a Bible study on, you
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know, resolutions and things. But look how far you've come.
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You go. Oh, no, no, Ed, I, I didn't keep
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it and I didn't know. And look how long you kept it.
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And look what changes came and see that the Lord is good
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because day by day, step by step, we are walking forward.
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We are making progress. How do we do that as believers
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in the Spirit? By the means of the presence,
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work and activity of the Holy Spirit of God in our lives,
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Christ in us, the power of the Holy Spirit upon us.
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And here's the thing, when we choose to walk in any other way,
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we will be in the flesh life. When we choose to walk any other
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way than the Spirit, we will be in the flesh life.
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The cravings of natural humanity will overtake us.
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Can I say that again? You might want to write it down.
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You might want to take notes. You might want to remember these
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things because you'll see them in your life.
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The cravings of natural humanity will overtake us when we choose
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not to walk in the spirit. I'll give you an example.
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I've been away for a while and I remember an an episode recently
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on my vacation where there was a situation where I was mildly
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inconvenienced. I was mildly inconvenienced and
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it was a minor inconvenience. It was probably, if I look at
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it, I think about it, it was probably going to add an hour
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and a half, two hours to my day or I had something planned and,
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and this person inconvenienced me and I responded and I
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responded in the flesh. And we all respond to difficult
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things from time to time in the flesh.
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Can I get a man for that, please?
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I want you to admit it out loud. We respond in the flesh.
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It's usually internal. We get a little frustrated and
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then we just get over it and we seek the Lord.
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And that, that's normal humanity.
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And and so I got upset about this and I began to mumble and
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complain, but I mumbled and complain a little bit too loud
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and the lady heard me. that Lady is not my wife.
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She gets out all the time but that Lady she heard me and now
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she didn't know I was past her head and we didn't have a a real
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connection but I walked out of the room mumbling complained she
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heard me and and I blew my witness.
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Now, I wasn't witnessing to her anything, but in my own heart I
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knew the Holy Spirit convicted me in that moment.
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Then guess what happened the next day?
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What happened the next day? I got violently ill and I lost
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the whole day. Actually, I lost 48 hours of my
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time because I got sick. I ate something and I got food
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poisoning. I was sick for two days and when
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I got sick, one of the first thoughts that came to mind is
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God's judging me because I, because I grumbled out of my
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mouth in front of this lady about what happened.
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And I got upset and, and walked out And God said, of course God
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wasn't judging me, but he was reminding me that time is very
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precious. And Eddie, you're going to get
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upset in the flesh over 2 hours. Let me show you that.
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I could take 48 hours from you. I can rearrange your whole life
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if I want to. I can take, you're going to be
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upset about that. And I, I looked for that person
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to apologize. I, I couldn't.
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So I just had to give it up to the Lord because I haven't, I
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haven't seen her again. The cravings of humanity will
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overtake you. Just hear it from me and you may
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not. And I look at that.
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And it wasn't that big a deal. No, no, actually, it's the
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biggest deal of the moment, isn't it?
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It's the biggest deal of the moment when the Lord's going,
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showing you, Ed, you're in the flesh.
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It's interesting with the flesh, isn't it?
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Because we, we are very, very good at seeing the flesh and
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other people. Because you're listening to my
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story. Go, man, You're all messed up.
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You're messed up. You're such a flesh that guy
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had. Yeah.
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Yeah, maybe I am. But what about you?
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Oh, no. We're not talking about me.
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No. What about you?
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Do you see it in your own self? Do you see it in your kids?
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You know, you're always discipline your kids.
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But you know your kids are you. You know that, right?
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They're walking little images of you.
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They live in your house. They follow your example, but
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it's easy to see it in them. But the Lord's going.
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You know that little thing you're dealing with your kid.
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That's you. It's not me.
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No, it is you and I want God says I want to show you that the
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craving up create your personal cravings of humanity and
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selfishness and self life are very real, very alive.
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And the Bible says that not only have they been crucified but you
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also have to daily crucify them and acknowledge them and repent
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from them. When we choose not to walk in
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the spirit on in a situation in a moment we immediately begin to
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start producing the works of the flesh.
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There isn't 1/3 option we're in the spirit or we're in the
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flesh. There are no and remember the
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flesh. We've defined this in previous
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Bible studies, but let me redefine it again.
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When the Bible uses the word flesh, it's usually used in two
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ways. One is the obvious humanity.
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It's referring to the skin on your bones.
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That's not how the spiritual side or what Paul's been dealing
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with in Galatians. That's not how he how he's been
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using it when the word flesh is used in the spiritual realm.
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I want you to think of a couple things.
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Number one, I want you to think of your old sinful habit
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patterns, your old sinful habit when there was no restraint in
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your life and you did whatever you wanted to do.
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That's your flesh. So you were angry and you were,
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you stole, or you manipulated or you gaslighted.
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That's the flesh. That's all the flesh.
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That's not from God. And there's a whole long list of
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those as we studied some of them, hatred, contentions,
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outbursts of wrath. That's not, that's all the
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flesh. So #1 your old sinful habit
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patterns. But #2 I want you to also think
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of your, of the flesh as yourself life where your
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decisions are made based on yourself.
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Things like selfishness, self centeredness, inconvenience.
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Think about how much your flesh is provoked by inconvenience.
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That's a big deal. You just got your old day
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made-up. You know what?
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And your inconvenience there something happened you you get a
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a curveball thrown at you and and now you got to change your
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own and then your response to is it for do you see it from the
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Lord or do you see it as I was going to mess up my day.
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You messed up my day. No, no, not not the Lord doesn't
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mess up days. You know he's leading and
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guiding you by the power of his spirit.
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So old sinful habit pattern self life.
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Now when we come to Galatians 5, the fruit of the Spirit, I want
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you to know this before we get to them.
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Kind of laying a long foundation.
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The fruit of the Spirit is not a list of things that we are to
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aspire to and achieve. A lot of times you approach the
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Bible that way. You look at it and go, OK, I got
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a list. These are the things we we
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naturally come to the Bible here and you, you look at it in verse
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22. The fruit of the Spirit is
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Lovejoy, peace, suffering, long-suffering or patience, a
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kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
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self-control. Against such there is no law.
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That's how we come. He's like, oh, I want, I want to
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be more loving. I want to be filled with joy.
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I want more gentleness. I'm going to be more faithful.
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And we just approach it with that sense of, and I think
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there's a good part of this where we desire these changes,
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but a lot of times it's just kind of a list to follow.
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But this isn't a list to follow. This is something that God does
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in your life. This isn't something you wake up
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and go, I want, I will. And listen, do you hear me?
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I want, I will, I, I, I desire. And what, what do you hear
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repeated? I, I, I you, you can listen to
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yourself talk and when you hear a lot of eyes, that's yourself
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life. Again, I don't want to dismiss
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the desire of good motives and the desire of not all the time
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we use the word I as it's selfish.
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That's not what I'm saying. But when you approach a list
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like this as an I'm going to be more loving and I'm going to
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feel more joy and I'm going to be more faithful.
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That's not going to happen. It's not the fruit of the
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spirit. That's your your behavior
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changes. You can make behavior changes.
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You can choose to be more happy. You can choose.
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There's a lot of choices, but you can't take fleshly resources
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and produce Christ like character you are on AI am
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unable to improve the depth of my character.
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God does that. He's the one that works inside
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here. Here's here's how we approach
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it. You can modify you can modify
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your behaviors. We all do that, and we should
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modify our behaviors at the very least.
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You can modify human behaviors a little, but you can't change
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someone's character. Only God works on the inside.
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The fruit of the Spirit is not manufactured.
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It's not created. It's not produced, it's not
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developed by man. You know, sometimes we approach
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Christianity like, you know, we, we look at our lives as
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believers, like we're in a factory and we work at a
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factory. And so we just got to keep
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working and producing, working and producing.
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I'm a Christian now. So, so I, I need to be a good
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Christian and, and I, now I need to do these things.
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And I, now I'm living with a, a desire to produce things in my
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life. I'm human, I'm responsible.
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I'm here to do something, I'm here to make something.
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I'm here to produce the finest product for God.
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So now I have join the Christian factory and of course, what
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happens if you see life is just producing all the time because
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the world has put that into your life.
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You know that that's what the world's all about.
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Produce, produce, produce, sell, sell, sell, make money, get
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ahead, make it bigger, broader, you know, just sell that.
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That is the world system and we have to learn how to navigate
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through the world system, but we bring that into our lives.
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Like you, you think of all the pressure that gets put on you at
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work, all all the ways that that efficiencies are, are being
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pressed upon you. You got to do more with less and
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you got to come up with more. And then there's big layoffs.
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And now you're doing the job of everybody that got laid off.
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You know, with layoffs, you go, don't lay me off.
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And then after you go through a few of them, you go, please lay
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me off. I do not want to do the work of
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30 people. I can't do the work of 30
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people. And it just the, the world, the
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system is boom, boom, boom. And, and that's why rest is so
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good, because when you step out of the system, you start to see
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it for what it is and you begin to walk in the spirit in the
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world and in the system. We're, we don't have, we aren't
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in a factory. Because if you see yourself like
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in a factory having to produce, then you know, then if you're in
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a factory, then you have a, you see God as a factory manager
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just telling you what to do all the time.
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Do this, do this, do this, do this, don't do this, don't do
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this, don't. And now you don't even have any
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kind of, you don't have a relationship with a guy that's
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just bossing you around all the time.
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You want to avoid him. It's like because you know, if
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you see him more work, more work, more work.
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So you just, you know, like, hey, you're looking around the
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corner, making sure isn't, you know, moving the going the other
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side and making sure you know where he parks.
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You park on the other side of the parking lot.
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You like you stay away from the factory manager.
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You don't have a relationship with someone like that.
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I mean, if you're, if you're going to think of your life, I
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want you to think of your life this way.
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Not God is a factory manager, but God is a gardener.
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Some of you are really good at gardening.
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You love gardening. Don't know why, but you do.
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And we appreciate you. The folks that take care of the
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flowers here on the property, it's just so beautiful.
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There's wonderful. We appreciate you, but it's
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work, isn't it? You do the work, gardener.
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The plants don't do the work. The plant.
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You don't give direction to the plants.
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OK, plants. Now I know some of you do talk
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to your plants, but you're very kind to them.
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It's like, oh please blossom for me and oh, please stay, but you
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don't leave going, OK, This is how it works here.
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I'm the gardener, you're the plant.
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I want you to do this, this and this and I'll be back tomorrow.
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Nobody does that. You're just tending and you're
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taking care of the soil taking. You're pruning, you're wedding,
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you're watering, You're a gardener.
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It's peaceful, it's restful, it is work there.
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There is something to do, but it's the gardener does the work,
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not the plants. Jesus put it this way.
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Turn over to John chapter 15, would you?
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I want you to see this and we will get to the fruit of the
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Spirit. But these foundational
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principles are so important for you to respond in the Spirit,
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not in the flesh. I don't want you to see your
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life following Jesus as a factory, but rather as a garden
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where you don't work. You know, when you place an
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emphasis on works, then it takes us to the all the pressures and
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the deadlines and the constant need to produce and to produce
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more. And there's competition and
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there's a new person in town and we got like all of that.
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But the emphasis in a garden is on fruit.
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You know, you take a trip to the botanical gardens.
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You're not going to be walking through and stopping.
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Go. What was that, honey?
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Well, I don't know. And you're walking by one of the
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beautiful trees or flowers and you hear go, hey, what was that?
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I was just this tree. Trees working, working hard to
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produce fruit. No, no tree.
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You don't, You don't hear a tree do that.
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You don't hear a tree do anything.
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You just watch it grow. And then there's beautiful
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fruit. Somebody's going through that
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place, taking care of it, making sure everything is in order.
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The gardener, those folks that take care of things, they're
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doing all the work. God does the work.
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Look what Jesus said, John chapter 15, verse four.
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He says abide in me and I in you.
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Now, depending on your personality, you read that one
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of two ways. One way you read it, it's like,
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OK, I got to abide, got to abide.
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Or it's like, oh, you, some of you read that.
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So what a wonderful invitation that Jesus gives to me to come
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to him and stay to him. You, since you turned your Bible
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circle, the word abide if you haven't already.
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And right next to it, the Greek word, it's meno, MENO.
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And the word just means to stay put.
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Think about again our trip to downtown as we go through the
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botanical gardens. And you go on a Monday and
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there's the tree and it's producing fruit.
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And then you show up them following Monday and the tree is
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gone. And you go, where'd the tree go?
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And then you talk to his friends and all the trees.
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Well, he got up and left. He didn't like it here and he
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moved. And no, no, if you go back the
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following Monday, there's a good chance you know what that tree's
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been doing, abiding it hasn't moved at all.
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And if it did choose to move, it wouldn't move on its own.
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Somebody would have to move it. And you, we have a little bit
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more freedom than a tree does. But it's a great picture because
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you can choose to stay put. If I see you on Monday in the
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spirit, and I come back and see you on another Monday, I hope to
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see you in the spirit on that following Monday.
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Why? Because you minnowed, you
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stayed. That's what he's saying here.
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So do you just have to be careful how you read it?
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Because notice what he says. As the branch cannot bear fruit
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of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless
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you abide in me. You see that Jesus?
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He says it so simply. It's so simple.
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Branches can't bear fruit by themselves.
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It's impossible. A branch, a tree cannot produce
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fruit on its own. It has to have the network that
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God has created for it to produce the fruit.
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The illustration simple, you ready?
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You cannot produce the fruit of the Spirit on your own.
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You can't be more kind and more gentle.
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You, you can't produce these things spiritually.
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Now you can be more kind and gentle in the human realm, but
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you're going to be using a bib. You're going to be using a
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worldly definition for kindness. If you really want to see
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kindness, you have to stay put and abide because again, you'll
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come here and go. Well, there it is.
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I now I know what I'm supposed to do.
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I, I need to do the work of abiding.
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Abiding is not a work. Staying put means you just don't
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do anything. You stay there, you stay put
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when times get tough, you stay put when difficulties arise.
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You don't move, you abide. Sometimes I think we forget that
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God's at work, that He's working in you both to will and to do
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for his good pleasure. We forget that it's God working
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and that He's always been working, and His plans for you
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are much larger than where you are right now.
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They're much larger that the kindness, the gentleness, the
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long-suffering, the patience, all these things.
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He has more of a vision for that in your life than you could ever
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have that you could ever learn. And He not only does He put the
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desire in your heart, but also empowers you to do that.
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So let me show you now the fruit of the Spirit.
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We're going to put them into 3 categories.
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I don't know if you've ever done this before, but I want to put
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them into 3 categories ahead of time so that you can see, but
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they all apply. So they're not stuck in these
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categories, but they're helpful. So the three categories ahead of
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time, number one is our life upward toward God.
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You'll see. Secondly, it'll be our life
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outward toward others, and then thirdly, our life inward in our
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character formation. So notice again verse 22.
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Pick up in verse 21 at the end, though those who practice such
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things will not inherit the Kingdom of God, but the fruit of
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the Spirit is love. Pause there for a second.
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The contrast is clear. We have all this fruit of the
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Spirit, self, life, human response, old simple habit
21:36
patterns. But what you have in Christ is
21:40
far greater, the fruit of the Spirit.
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Notice right away in your English versions, the new King
21:45
James is what I'm using, that the word fruit is singular.
21:48
Do you notice that? Look again at your Bible.
21:50
The word fruit is singular. It's not fruits.
21:53
It's fruit. So that when you read it that
21:56
way, the way it's supposed to be read, the fruit of the Spirit is
21:59
singular. What is that?
22:00
The fruit of the Spirit is love. It's right there in the text.
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The fruit of the Spirit is love. That is what marks the believer
22:09
of Jesus Christ in a love of this world.
22:12
Don't be deceived. Don't be taken off with emotion
22:16
and and hyped up, you know emotional responses to
22:20
difficulty. The fruit of the Spirit is love.
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The fruit of the Spirit is love, agape love, Christ's love.
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You can look in First Corinthians chapter 13, some of
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the characteristics of love. Don't be deceived.
22:36
The fruit of the Spirit is love. You can do all kinds of things,
22:41
even good things, without love. So you can do good things, but
22:46
not do them motivated by Jesus. The whole world is filled with
22:52
good ideas and good actions, A lot of charitable, benevolent
22:55
people, but not for the Lord. And you have to be careful that
22:59
love is the supreme motivation. You know what?
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Love is a great motivator. It's the greatest motivator in
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life. You know, it outlasts everything
23:07
else. You know, a lot of people are
23:08
motivated by by money and prestige and and you know, a lot
23:12
of things motivate, but nothing motivates like love.
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I mean, you can see people do incredible things simply because
23:22
of their love for God and their love for each other.
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The works. When you think of the fruit,
23:28
remember the contrast works is something I do.
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Fruit is something that's done works.
23:37
I do, but fruit is done for me. Trees and bushes, they don't
23:41
strain or toil. They just are.
23:44
And this is where we choose to resist the legalistic response
23:48
of setting up a bunch of things. I now got to do, I got to do, I
23:51
got to do. And you know, people give up.
23:52
You know when you meet somebody that says I tried Christianity,
23:54
this is what they did. They open up the Bible.
23:57
They saw a few moral things to do and realize they can't do
24:00
them. Frustrated them, didn't like it,
24:02
so I tried Christianity. You don't try Christianity.
24:06
You die to follow Christ, you die to yourself.
24:10
Isn't that what Jesus said? It's so simple.
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The teachings of Jesus can be crystallized to something very
24:16
simple. If you want to follow me, you
24:18
got to deny yourself. That's it.
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Just start there. You can spend the rest of your
24:23
life on that one, that one part. Just deny yourself.
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Take up this, take up your cross.
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You know, know that you're going to embrace pain and difficulty
24:30
and follow him. The fruit of the Spirit comes
24:33
through a relationship. You think of that tree again.
24:36
You've got the, the, all the pieces of the tree.
24:38
You got the trunk and the roots going deep down into the soil
24:41
and the nutrients and the water. It's all a system.
24:44
It's something that God has created, just like he's put you
24:46
into something he's created, put you with the your roots down in
24:50
his word, empowered internally by his Spirit you.
24:54
You are in a relationship with the God who produces this in
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your life. It's singularly the fruit of the
25:01
spirit. And love isn't something we will
25:04
to do. Love is something we surrender
25:07
to do we surrender. And the rest of that list is a
25:13
simple, definite, another expression of love.
25:17
The rest of the list is love and what the law, what the these,
25:22
the fruit of the spirit is not produced in your life by your
25:30
own human effort. There's something that like you,
25:34
you're listening me around. Some of you are wrestling with
25:36
this or you might even checked out yet don't check out because
25:39
the Lord's doing a deep work in you, especially you guys that
25:41
are checking out. I just caught you because God's
25:45
doing a deep work in your life and you don't want it to be
25:47
done. You don't.
25:49
You don't want God to go deeper than he already has.
25:51
So I'm already a good person, really.
25:54
I've already mastered gentleness.
25:55
I'm sure you're the most gentle person.
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Even the way you've been talking to me in your head, so gentle.
26:03
But you've limited yourself by what you can produce.
26:06
You've limited yourself. So maybe you are a good person.
26:08
I have great. Or you are gentle, fantastic.
26:12
But what? How are you measuring that?
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Is it just by the world standards?
26:15
Yeah, you. Because I have a neighbor and
26:16
I'm much nicer than him. Oh, that's how we measure.
26:20
We all should know your neighbor.
26:22
And if we met your neighbor, we're going to be nicer than
26:24
him. Or less nice.
26:25
No, it's not about your neighbor.
26:27
It's about the perfection of Christ.
26:30
Are you as nice as Jesus? Well, you know, Pastor, none of
26:33
us are Jesus. Yeah, but he lives in you, and
26:35
he wants to produce his gentleness in you.
26:38
He wants you to be even more he. He desires to work in you, not
26:42
your own efforts, not your own commitment.
26:45
Listen, the flesh only gives birth to more flesh.
26:51
Have you noticed that you could be in a good mood?
26:53
Think about this. Let me give you an example of
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your life, your life. I've been watching you.
26:57
I've been following you and I've been checking in on you.
26:59
And here's your life, your life. You wake up in the morning.
27:02
Oh, I love the listen to the birds and it's not snowing.
27:05
Life is great. Then you open up your social
27:09
media and some some person says something nasty and all of a
27:13
sudden what did it produce in you?
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Nastiness. Why?
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Because somebody is saying something nasty.
27:19
Can't do anything else but produce nastiness in you.
27:22
Now you can quickly dismiss it and get back in the spirit, but
27:25
flesh only produces flesh. Your flesh only produces flesh.
27:31
Someone else's flesh can only produce flesh in you until you
27:34
yield yourself to the spirit. Are you guys with me so far?
27:38
You got to stay put in Jesus no matter what comes your way so
27:41
that you can walk in the spirit and the fruit that you'll see in
27:45
your life is love. The response will be love and
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notice what love looks like number one.
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The first thing in our, in our under our category of upward
27:56
toward God is joy, a deep abiding joy given by God that's
28:02
to sustain in our lives no matter the circumstances.
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Someone once called it a holy optimism.
28:09
I like that, a holy optimism. So I know when optimism is
28:13
around me or I'm feeling optimistic, that's a work of the
28:16
Holy Spirit because I'm not naturally that way.
28:19
Some of you are not naturally that way.
28:20
I know you're not naturally that way because you probably do what
28:23
I do and say, oh, there's pessimists and optimists, but
28:25
there's realists is for all you realists out there, when you
28:29
hear and sense optimism in your heart because you're looking at
28:32
what's happening in the world. Oh, look at the world.
28:33
Oh, look at the world. No, you're not supposed to look
28:35
at the world. Look at Christ.
28:37
That's where hope comes from. Look at the world.
28:40
Look at the world. Perilous times.
28:41
Yeah, the Bible said that would happen.
28:43
But are you looking to the Lord for his direction and for his
28:46
help? Are you looking to someone's
28:47
opinions and voices? Flesh only produces flesh.
28:50
And Jesus produces joy, number one.
28:53
Number two, he produces. What do you, what's your Bible
28:56
say? Say with me, peace, Lovejoy,
28:59
peace. This is deeper than just a, a
29:04
sense of, you know, getting along with someone.
29:07
This word is deeper when it comes to God because it has 22
29:10
parts to it. This word speaks of not no
29:13
longer being at war against God. You're no longer at war.
29:18
You're at peace with Him. You have signed the peace treaty
29:20
through the blood of Jesus Christ.
29:22
He signed the peace treaty with the blood of Jesus Christ, and
29:25
now you're no longer at war with Him.
29:27
Which then what? What does that produce?
29:29
You not only have peace with God.
29:31
Secondly, what do you have now? The peace of God?
29:36
Only God can produce that. Nobody can produce that but the
29:40
power of the Spirit inside of you, that no matter what
29:43
happens, no matter what comes, peace floods in.
29:46
That's a work of this. That's a fruit of the spirit.
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Next is our next category, outward toward others.
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And I like this word. We don't use it very much.
29:56
We use the word patience instead.
29:58
But this word, long-suffering, if you just read it the way it
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is long-suffering, God gives that to you.
30:14
With others, you're able to take a lot.
30:18
The idea of long-suffering is not just patience, but it's like
30:22
having a long flute fuse before you blow up, and before you know
30:26
it, that long fuse, things get resolved and you don't blow up
30:29
because the Holy Spirit is developed in you a desire to
30:32
stay put. You don't know what's happening,
30:34
you don't like it, you don't want it, but your response in
30:37
the Spirit is to be long-suffering with someone
30:41
long-suffering with yourself or with a situation.
30:45
God does that in us. Some of you are you're, you're
30:48
desiring this right now. And the truth is you already
30:51
have it. You just left the place where
30:55
you enjoy it. And when you leave the place
30:58
where you enjoy it and you take it with you because Jesus lives
31:01
in you, Spirit of God is in you just don't get to enjoy it.
31:04
You don't have a peaceful life, you don't have a joyful life,
31:07
you're impatient with everyone inconveniences.
31:10
It's all works with the flesh, but with the fruit of the spirit
31:13
is God gives you long-suffering. Not only that, notice what else
31:16
God does. He gives you kindness, which is
31:18
a tender spiritual concern for others, loving others as God
31:28
loves them. Not only that, he produces in
31:31
you goodness, a willingness to extend that kindness.
31:35
Now it's almost like goodness is the outgrowth of kindness.
31:40
You, you feel kindness, but you give goodness, and that's the
31:44
expression of these things toward others, a willingness to
31:48
extend this kindness. Then notice in our third
31:51
category, our life inward, our character.
31:53
These are character forming. Again, all the categories.
31:56
They don't separate them. I just wanted you to kind of
31:58
remember them a little bit, but they don't separate them because
32:01
they all can fit each category. But you see this, the next one
32:04
is gentleness. You have goodness.
32:08
Excuse me, Faithfulness. Faithfulness is loyalty and
32:12
trustworthiness. That that's something that who
32:15
you are. You're faithful, huh?
32:17
You're trustworthy. And I love that word faithful.
32:20
That means you're also full of faith.
32:22
And I love that word. Trustworthy means your life is
32:24
worthy of trust. When someone sees you and looks,
32:28
then they need help. And then your name comes up.
32:30
Are you worthy of trust? As you abide in Christ?
32:33
You are. And you can see some of the
32:36
little sins that get exposed and get explained away, like gossip.
32:40
Think about gossip. Gossips are not trustworthy.
32:45
Why? Because they're not worthy of
32:46
trust. You know, you're going to tell
32:48
somebody, and they're going to tell 10 other people I don't
32:51
trust them. Why?
32:52
I can't believe you don't trust me.
32:53
Yeah, but you're a gossip. Yeah, but, you know, I just.
32:56
I was my prayer life. I was just praying.
32:58
You know, we really need to pray for Ed.
32:59
He has a big problem with his flesh.
33:01
Tell me more. Tell me more.
33:04
You want to be worthy of trust, full of faith.
33:07
How does that come? Comes by the power of the Spirit
33:09
inside of you. Like today, you leave here and
33:12
go. I'm just going to be more full
33:13
of faith. OK, Tell me how it goes.
33:16
But if you leave here today as Lord, I surrender my life to
33:18
you. Whatever comes, I trust you.
33:20
Oh, how much faith will be built up.
33:22
Faith comes by hearing and what hearing by the word of God.
33:25
God does that work in US, makes us more faithful.
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Now, I love this one. A lot of us need this.
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You, you need gentleness, meekness, strength under
33:36
restraint. A lot of you, especially you
33:38
men, you strong men. Just like I don't want to be
33:40
general. It's going to be a sign of
33:41
weakness. It's the exact opposite of the
33:43
sign of weakness. Gentleness is a sign of great
33:46
strength that maybe the situation it requires some
33:50
response. I mean we betray.
33:51
Oh yeah, be stronger a bit. No, gentleness is what Jesus was
33:56
described as lowly and gentle and yet he is God in human
34:03
flesh. How much more power do you need
34:04
than God in human flesh? But he was under the restraint.
34:09
Not only that, notice the restraint of gentleness and
34:13
self-control. So needful the ability to
34:17
restrain our passions and our appetites.
34:21
And you can see how these replace the works of the flesh.
34:24
They can almost go side by side. You have a choice by the
34:29
decisions you make of rather to enjoy the fruit of the Spirit or
34:32
to do your own thing yourself life.
34:35
You some of you have been doing yourself life so long that
34:37
you're not even sensitive to the Holy Spirit to let him change
34:39
you to to put his finger on that area and don't think that if he
34:44
put his finger on one area that you're done the rest of your
34:47
life with that area. There's another one another one
34:50
that's part of what the sanctification, the change that
34:52
takes place. Notice what he says in verse 23,
34:57
Excuse me, verse 24. Those who are Christ's have
34:59
crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
35:03
This is a new representation of your life as a believer.
35:07
You have killed the flesh. Each time you see it, you've
35:10
killed the flesh you, you have you, you have crucified it.
35:17
You don't celebrate it, you don't excuse it.
35:20
You don't feed the flesh, you kill it.
35:23
You admit it, you repent from it.
35:25
You, you wash it away. You, you take God's soap, as my
35:29
pastor would always say, first John 19 and you apply it to your
35:33
life. If we confess our sins, he is
35:36
faithful and just to forgive us of our sins.
35:39
And what cleanse us of all, cleanse us of all
35:45
unrighteousness. You want to keep clean in the
35:48
Lord with the work of his Spirit.
35:51
And then you, you think of these, you think of these
35:53
wonderful attributes of the work of God in your life.
35:58
And you have to be careful that you don't come to them like, I'm
36:02
going to make this a list. I'm going to make this a list.
36:04
You can take something so sweet of what God's already doing in
36:07
your life and make it a list, but the flesh doesn't produce
36:10
the work of the Spirit, only God does.
36:13
So instead of making this a list, here's what I suggest you
36:16
do. You ready?
36:17
This is the spiritual response to you list makers.
36:20
Memorize it. Hide God's word in your heart so
36:24
the Holy Spirit can use it, so you can learn.
36:26
OK, Lovejoy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
36:29
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, and it's just
36:32
already in you. The Holy Spirit can bring it out
36:34
so that when you're laying in bed with some massive food
36:37
poisoning and you think God's judged you, it's not God.
36:41
It's like God, you were in the flesh and you need to deal with
36:45
that right now while you're laying out in pain.
36:48
You need to deal with it right away.
36:49
I mean, it's kind of an embarrassment to some degree
36:52
that it took me a day to see it, but I didn't see it walking out
36:56
and I could have just turned right around.
36:58
It took me a day to see it. And the Lord just showing you,
37:01
you know what you could be walking with, you know, he's
37:02
showing you so many things. I'm not going to write you a
37:05
book, but he's showing so many things and when you're walking
37:08
in the spirit, He wants to show you the same things about your
37:11
own life. Why?
37:12
Because He loves you. He loves you, cares for you.
37:16
He wants to see He has your best in mind.
37:18
He has. He has what's best for you in
37:21
mind. He has what's best for your life
37:24
that would reflect His love. If you're walking in the spirit,
37:28
you don't need a rule or regulation for it.
37:30
Do you notice that against such there is no law.
37:34
There's no law against these things.
37:36
Thou shalt not love. No rather the the the law speaks
37:41
to the things of the flesh. You don't need a law to keep you
37:45
in His love. The Spirit of God lives on us.
37:48
You've crucified the works of the flesh.
37:49
You are crucifying them. Then he says in verse 25, if we
37:53
live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
37:57
Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying
38:02
one another. That's an interesting way to end
38:03
the chapter, isn't it? With words like conceited,
38:06
provoked, and envying one another.
38:09
Those are all self-centered things.
38:11
Everything, every those three things are all self-centered and
38:15
they were happening in a legalistic environment with the
38:18
believers in Galatia. And they happen anytime we start
38:21
to live in the self life the self comes out.
38:26
I know that I have this legalistic, selfish mindset when
38:30
I'm not completing one another, thinking of others more highly
38:33
than myself, then instead I'm competing with them, trying to
38:36
get ahead, trying to move on instead of stopping to help.
38:41
I know that I have a legalistic mindset when I'm not providing
38:44
for people and serving them, but rather I see people to serve me
38:49
and I'm provoked by them instead of provoked to love them and be
38:53
happy for them. You know, you see someone made.
38:55
This happens in families all the time.
38:57
Some of your family gets something, but you couldn't get
38:59
it because you're in a different stage in your life.
39:00
Maybe your sister got something, you didn't get it, you know, I
39:03
can't believe it. She got another thing, she got
39:04
it. Well, why can't you just be
39:05
happy for her? I'll tell you why you're in the
39:08
flesh. I'll tell you the flesh is
39:13
takes. Why can't you just be happy for
39:14
people? Because you're in the flesh and
39:19
you're provoking and conceited and it's all about you.
39:23
You see, it's not what I have done and it's not what I will
39:26
do. My life is now.
39:29
It's centered on Christ and what He has done for you and for me.
39:35
It's not who I am, it's who He is.
39:38
It's no longer how hard I try, but that He's already finished.
39:44
Do you realize today that you're God's precious daughter,
39:49
precious Son? That He loves you all day and
39:53
night? He never stops loving you.
39:55
He never stops loving your kids, your grandkids.
39:59
He never stops loving those that are in relationship with Him.
40:02
He's never going to stop it. The greatest love that He showed
40:05
for us is the sacrifice of Jesus.
40:08
Everyone wants to get our eyes off of the sacrifice of Jesus.
40:11
Keep your eyes firmly fixed, Hebrews chapter 12, firmly fixed
40:17
after the Hall of faith in Hebrews.
40:20
All the sacrifices, all the loss, all the martyrdom,
40:24
everything going on in Hebrews. He says we have this great cloud
40:27
of witnesses in chapter 12, but here's my mandate to you.
40:30
You keep your eyes on the Lord. We're going to talk about people
40:34
and see people and we'll learn about people at people in and
40:36
out of our lives. You keep your eyes on the Lord
40:40
looking on to Him. Remember we learned when we
40:42
studied that that word means to stare.
40:45
Sounds very similar to abide, huh?
40:47
It's like keep your, keep your bottom right there.
40:49
Stay close to Jesus, but you keep your eyes on Him.
40:52
Keep your ears in tune to Him. Keep your hands and feet
40:56
available for Him. The fruit of the Spirit is the
41:00
work that God does in us. The greatest love He showed for
41:05
us was the death of His Son. The greatest love that you can
41:08
show to this community is to die to yourself and to live to
41:13
Christ. And these areas of life will
41:16
come out. Lovejoy, peace, patience.
41:18
You can see why frustration comes when you try and it
41:22
doesn't happen. That's because you and I are
41:24
limited in our ability to produce these things in our
41:28
lives. We don't try to do them.
41:31
We allow God to manifest them through our lives.
41:35
Amen. So Lord, we do need more of your
41:37
spirit in our lives. It's a very heavy thing to think
41:40
about that we would be in the flesh far more than we admit.
41:44
That we would have all these little episodes that we're not
41:47
even seeing or sensing them anymore.
41:50
But I pray God over our church that we would walk in the
41:53
spirit, not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
41:56
That would stay on task. We would stay focused to be the
42:00
greatest, to be the the faithful men and women you called us to
42:03
be, to follow the the the examples, to see the fruit in
42:08
our lives. And thank you God for the love
42:10
you produced in us. Thank you for the joy and the
42:13
peace. Thank you God for the gentleness
42:17
and the meekness, the self-control.
42:19
Thank you. Thank you God for making us
42:21
different men and women. Thank you God for growing us and
42:25
helping us and strengthening us. Thank you for your faithfulness
42:29
in our lives, that even when we are faithless, you remain
42:33
faithful because you can't deny yourself.
42:36
We come to you today, Lord, and we thank you, Jesus name, Amen.
42:41
We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study,
42:44
delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church.
42:47
For prayer, call us at 87730 Grace that's 877-304-7223.
42:57
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43:00
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43:06
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43:09
Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.