🎵Music🎵
Can I please have everyone find their seats and grab their songbooks and turn to page number 296.
We're going to start the service off singing Follow On.
Please find a seat and grab your songbooks and turn to page number 296.
We're going to sing Follow On. That's page 296 on the first.
Down in the valley with my savior I would go
where the flowers are blooming and the sweet waters flow everywhere he leads me I would follow
follow on walking in his footsteps to the ground be one follow follow I would follow Jesus anywhere
everywhere I would follow on follow follow I would follow Jesus everywhere he leads me I would
follow on so that was a good that was a good warm-up but we can do a little bit better on the
second page 296 let's sing it out on the second down in the valley with my savior I would go
where the storms are sweeping and the dark waters flow with his hand to lead me I will never never
fear danger cannot fright me if my lord is here follow follow I would follow Jesus anywhere
everywhere I would follow on follow follow I would follow Jesus everywhere he leads me I would follow
on and let's sing it out on the last down in the valley or upon the mountain sea
most beside my savior would my soul ever keep he will lead me safely in the path that he has trod
up to where they gather on the hills of god follow follow I would follow Jesus anywhere
everywhere I would follow on follow follow I would follow Jesus everywhere he leads me I would
follow on great singing welcome to Verity Baptist Church in the Wednesday evening bible study
uh let's uh open up in a word of prayer father god thank you so much for this church lord
thank you for these people coming out here on a Wednesday evening to serve you I pray
that I sing them to glorify you lord I pray that you bless the preaching and the service to come
in Jesus name I pray amen please turn your songbooks to page number 191
page 191 we're going to sing in my heart there rings a melody and this is a soy that this is
a song that you have to sing with a little bit of joy so we'll go ahead and sing that now
I have a song that Jesus gave me it was sent from heaven above there never was a sweeter melody
is a melody of love in my heart there rings a melody there rings a melody with heaven's harmony
in my heart there rings a melody there rings a melody of love page 191 on the second
I love the Christ who died on calvary for he washed my sins away he put within my heart a
melody and I know it's there to stay in my heart there rings a melody there rings a melody
with heaven's harmony in my heart there rings a melody there rings a melody of love let's
sing it on the last it will be my endless demon glory with the angels I will sing
it will be a song with glorious harmony when the courts of heaven ring in my heart there
rings a melody there rings a melody with heaven's harmony in my heart there rings a melody there
rings a melody of love great singing
all right good evening welcome to our midweek service here at ready baptist church let's go
ahead and take our bulletins we'll look at some announcements real quickly if you do not have a
bulletin just raise your hand and one of our ushers can get one for you if you need a bulletin
just put your hand up and we will get one for you the verse this week psalm 37 for delight thyself
also in the lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart and that's a good verse
there we like that if you open up your bulletin you'll see our service time sunday morning service
10 30 a.m and we do of course invite you to be with us on sunday morning on the lord's day for
church sunday evening service at 6 p.m and we're glad that you're here for the midweek bible study
if you look at our soul winning times our main sewing times on saturday mornings at 10 a.m and
then we have additional soul winning times on thursdays fridays and sundays at 2 p.m now this
week we will have soul winning on thursday at 2 p.m and sunday at 2 p.m but the friday 2 p.m
soul winning time is going to be postponed this week due to a wedding so please make note of that
that there will be no friday soul winning at 2 p.m and just be mindful of that we of course are
a family integrated church what that means is that children and infants are always welcome in
the service we do not separate children from their parents for any reason we do have mother
baby rooms and daddy rooms available for your convenience so if you have a child that speaks
distracting during the service or if you need some privacy we would encourage you to use those rooms
as needed if you look at the announcements and upcoming events we're having our cleaning crew
appreciation dinner and training on friday august 18th at 6 p.m and this is a dinner and training
for all of the current cleaning crew members so if you are a part of our cleaning crew then
you are invited you and your family and anyone we want to have a dinner and show appreciation
we appreciate all of the cleaners and then also anyone who's interested in volunteering
and being part of our cleaning crew you're welcome to sign up and come as well and you can do that
on your communication card choir practice or practicing for family and friend day
is on sundays at 5 p.m ladies have a weight loss accountability group if you'd like to be
a part of it they meet on wednesday nights at 6 15 p.m they meet in the mother bedroom closest
to the main foyer discipleship classes at 5 p.m there's other things there for you to look at
please don't forget to turn your cell phones off or place them on silent during the service so
they're not a distraction to anybody if you look at the back of the bulletin birthdays and
anniversaries for the month of august this week we had abigail deacon's birthday on august 7th
brother christian groenberg had a birthday yesterday on august 8th today is christiano
pedis's birthday on august 9th and later this week daniel nel tesco has a birthday on august 11th
praise report money matters all of those things are there for you to look at and i think that's
it for all of the announcements so we're going to go ahead and sing the we're going to sing page
number 246 in your hymn book as we prepare to receive the offering tonight we'll sing page
number 246 redeemed how i love to proclaim it sing it out on the first redeem how i love to proclaim
me redeem my blood of the lamb reading through his infinite mercy his child and forever i am
redeemed redeemed redeemed by the blood of the lamb
redeemed redeemed his child and forever i am 246 singing out on the second
no language my rapture can tell i know that the light of his presence with me
does continually
his child and forever i am i think of my blessed redeemers
think of my blessed redeemers
all the day long i sing for i cannot be silent his love is the theme of my song
redeemed redeemed redeemed by the blood of the lamb
his child and forever i am good page number 246 singing out on the last
i know i shall see in his beauty the king in whose law i delight
who lovingly guarded my footsteps
redeemed by the blood of the lamb
redeem
amen good singing we'll have the guys come up and help us
with the offering at this time and let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer
heavenly father lord we do thank you for allowing us together out of wednesday night lord we pray
that you bless the offering the gift and the giver lord we ask that you meet with us as we
take time to pray and of course as we study your word together in jesus name we pray amen
so
you
Amen. All right. Well, let's go ahead and take our prayer sheets tonight
We'll go through our prayer list
If you did not receive a prayer sheet on your way in please raise your hand and one of our ushers can get one
For you if need a prayer list just put your hand up and we will get one for you
And of course want to remind it the way you add a request to the prayer sheet is
Through your communication card on the back of the card
There's a place for you to write down a request make sure you mark whether it's private or public if it's private
Only I will see it if it's public will post it on the prayer sheet
If you don't mark it, we'll do our best to figure it out
But we usually don't put those on there
We do add them in the order that they are received and they are removed after a couple of weeks
So if you'd like them to be on there a little longer
You'll have to fill out another card and I would like to just quickly
update you on
The situation with baby John of course for the Sean Miss Ava
are in at Stanford Medical Facility still there in Palo Alto and
You know, the baby has leukemia and he's going through chemotherapy, but there has been a little bit of a complication they
Recently, I think it was today
They found yeast in his blood, which is not a good sign
the yeast in his blood
could be fatal and
the
Medicine to help him with that could be fatal. So it's just not not a good situation
so just please keep them in prayer and
If if if if it doesn't get any better then we might be at the end
You're close to it. So just be in prayer, of course for them for God's will and for God's strength
But I know many of you been asking and praying
So we just want to give you a little bit of an update there
But let's go ahead and take these requests the Lord. I'll pray out loud
And I ask that you would follow along in your mind in your heart
Let's pray together. Heavenly Father
Lord we come to you tonight asking for these requests
from our church family and
So many requests so many burdens and heartaches and Lord we just want to bring these to you and we begin with these health requests
Where you have requests for Miss cricket praying for Caroline who fell and also for Marie
Miss Sharon hacks mother who had a surgery on August 1st. What we're asking you to help these individuals and be with them. We
Pray for Miss Edith Castellum, and she has a surgery
On August 16th praying that that would go well and that there be no issues there are complications
But the Darryl praying for his nephew Bryce who has epilepsy
Miss Brandi Barrett praying for her brother Dylan and for his continuing recovery from his back surgery
Miss Christine Ortiz praying for her own health also for her sister Judy
For the cancer that the cancer would go into remission
But the Salvador praying for his health
for the Edgar Miss Selena, of course praying for Louis you're at sea that she would continue to be healthy and strong and
Lord we ask for all these individuals. We pray you'd help them. We pray for
Missionary Dave come and tell us why?
Angel who's also going through chemotherapy for breast cancer or just asking that you would
Help all these individuals that you strengthen them that you'd heal them if it's your will Lord that you'd give them strength and courage
Wisdom give wisdom and discernment to the doctors dealing with them, but we also pray for
The ladies in our church that are expecting Miss Rebecca Miss Selena Miss Melody Miss Victoria asking that you'd give them all
Healthy pregnancies with no issues. No complications
We pray for these that have requests regarding their family's salvation for the body and Miss Antonina praying for their family's salvation
Miss Natalie praying for the salvation of her husband and family
Miss Amy Cortez praying for her daughter
Crystal and her son Joselito and her grandson Alexander's salvation
and
Miss Christine Ortiz praying for not only her sister Judy's
Health but also for her salvation as well. Lord. We ask for all these individuals. We pray that your
Holy Spirit would work in their hearts and their minds
We ask that you would bring them to the place where they would be willing to hear the gospel
We pray that a soul winner would communicate the gospel clearly to them and we ask that whatever
Can be done would be done that these individuals might
Be saved and Lord we pray for
These that have requests regarding family miss Nicole Johnson praying for her family
For her mom for her aunt Jeannie for her husband or children
Miss Christine Ortiz praying for her family and her children as well for the Salvador praying for his family as well
Lord we ask that you would
Help them and be with them
We also pray for these that are having requests regarding faith and and their walk Lord brother Salvador praying for his faith in his walk
With you miss Brandy Barrett praying for her brother Dylan not only for his health
But also for his
That his flesh would not hinder the spirit and that he would be able to overcome the things that he's struggling with
Depression anxiety addictions or we pray that you'd give him victory and health and strength in that we pray for brother Salvador for his
finances and work that you would bless him there and
Lord we pray for these that have unspoken requests miss Natalie
Miss Nicole
Brother Salvador all having unspoken requests, you know what their petitions are you know what they're asking for and Lord
We ask that you would please answer
According to your will we pray for pastor Oscar Bogart who's gonna be going to trial this Thursday
There in South Africa and Lord we just pray you'd help him
He's being persecuted for preaching the Bible
and we just pray that you'd be with him and help things to turn out well for him and
Lord that they would not
Put him in prison or put him in jail or do anything like that Lord. We just ask that your would be done there
And then Lord of course we want to lift up baby John to you tonight
We pray for brother Sean miss Ava that you would
Give them the strength that they need the help that they need at this time Lord. We ask that
You would just help them to feel the work of the spirit in their hearts and their mind help them to know that they have
A church family that loves them and cares for them or we pray for John
We ask that you put your healing hand over him and Lord
We know that you can heal and we believe that you can heal and Lord
We're agreeing together in faith believing that you can heal him
But we know that faith is not just believing you can but also
Faith is trusting you Lord and we pray that you would heal and we pray that you would help him to get
Through this time that you strengthen them that we bring him home and help them to live a healthy life Lord
But we also pray that if it's not your will if it's your will to take him home
That you would give brother Sean miss Ava peace and strength give our church family peace and strength Lord and to be able to
Say like Joe the Lord giveth the Lord taketh away blessed be the name of the Lord and Lord
We just pray for the situation
It's so hard
We ask that you would strengthen that you would help that you would guide
That you would give wisdom and discernment to the doctors and nurses dealing with the situation
And Lord we ask that your will would be done. We pray Lord for our church
We ask that you would help us bless us as we take time to open your words study the Bible together
The matchless name of Christ we pray amen
Please open up to Galatians 5
Galatians chapter 5
If you do not have a Bible, please put your hand up and a nurse will come by bring your Bible
Galatians 5
Just keep your hand up a short come by
Galatians 5 we'll read the entire chapter as our custom
Galatians 5 in verse number 1
Stand fast therefore in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage
Behold I Paul say unto you that if you be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing
For I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole law
Christ is become of no effect unto you whosoever of you are justified by the law. You are fallen from grace
For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith
For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision
But faith which worketh by love
He did run. Well, who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth
This persuasion cometh not of him to call with you a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump
I have confidence in you through the Lord that you will be none
Otherwise minded but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment
Whosoever he be and I brethren if I yet preach circumcision
Why do I yet suffer persecution?
Then is the offense of the cross ceased I
Would they were even cut off which trouble you
For brethren you have been called into Liberty only use not Liberty for an occasion to the flesh
But by love serve one another for all the laws fulfilled in one word even in this thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself
But if he bite and devour one another take heed that he be not consumed one of another
This I say then walk in the spirit and he shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh
For the flesh lust it against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other
So that you cannot do the things that you would
But if you be led of the spirit, you are not under the law
Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness
idolatry witchcraft hatred
variants and relations wrath stripes additions heresies
Envyings murders drunkenness revelings and such like of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in time past
That they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God
But the fruit of the Spirit is love joy. Peace long suffering gentleness goodness faith
Meekness temperance against such there is no law and it our Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts
If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit
Let us not be desirous of vainglory provoking one another envying one another. Let's pray Heavenly Father. Thank you for this evening
God, I thank you for your word and for our church from this here
I say please give us all tender hearts at the message
I say please be the pastor to strengthen them and fill them with their spirit. We love you and in Jesus name pray. Amen
Amen
Amen all right, we're there in Galatians chapter number five and
We are in a series on Wednesday nights going verse by verse chapter by chapter
through the book of Galatians and we've actually
Already finished chapter five. We've covered all of the
material in Galatians chapter number five
However last week when I preached on the last part of this chapter walking in the spirit
I covered verses 22 and 23, but verses 22 and 23 are such special verses that I feel like they
Deserve some special attention and of course
He's a very well known verses from the book of Galatians
If you look at verse 22 the Bible says but the fruit of the Spirit is love joy
Peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance
against such there is no law and we of course covered these verses within the context of
the
scripture and of the second part of this
Chapter dealing last week with this idea of walking in the spirit
But I want to specifically deal with this idea of the fruit of the Spirit because this is a very well known passage
But it is often a misunderstood passage and a lot of people get some wrong teaching and doctrinal things from
This idea of the fruit of the Spirit
So I'd like to cover it tonight and we'll cover it as quickly as we can
I want to give you some thoughts regarding the fruit of the Spirit
In fact, I want to give you three specific points and thoughts regarding the fruit of the Spirit
And I would encourage you to jot these down on the back of your course the week
There's a place for you to write down some things and I'll go ahead and give you the first one
And the first thing I'd like you to notice is the producer of the fruit of the Spirit the producer of
The fruit of the Spirit and I word it that way for a reason
And I and one of the main I would say
misunderstandings or or just bad teaching or false teaching from the fruit of the Spirit is an understanding of
who it is that produces or
Who is the one that is the producer of the fruit of the Spirit and it should be
Pretty simple, but it's interesting to me how the simplest things in the Bible tend to get
skewed and and and used
Incorrectly, but I want you to notice there again in Galatians 5 22
Just notice the first little phrase, but the fruit I just want you to notice these two words
in fact, you might want to just underline these two words of
the Spirit
but the fruit of
The Spirit when we begin to talk about the fruit of the Spirit
We have to begin
With this understanding that it is the fruit of the Spirit
It is the Spirit the Holy Spirit of God that
Produces this fruit the producer of the fruit of the Spirit is the Spirit
It is the fruit of the Spirit is what the Bible says now keep your place there in Galatians 5
and we're gonna obviously out our text for tonight, but go with me if you would to the
book of Matthew the the first book in the New Testament Matthew chapter number 13 and
You know you might you might be scratching your head a little bit and saying why are you making a big deal about this the?
Fruit of the Spirit we know it is the fruit of the Spirit
And though it is something that we often say and whenever people talk about this subject
We talk about the fruit of the Spirit
What you need to understand is that a lot of people have this teaching false teaching wrong teaching this false idea
That it is not the fruit of the Spirit in fact what a lot of people believe and what I want to show you tonight
Is that the fruit of the Spirit is the fruit of the Spirit?
It is not the fruit of the Christian and because today there are many people
Who will say well?
This is this is what every Christian life should be you know if you're a Christian
This is the fruit you should be producing and if you're not producing this the the the false teaching is then you must not be
Saved but that is not what the Bible teaches the Bible does not teach
This is the fruit of the Christian the Bible teaches
This is the fruit of the Spirit now
Let me just go ahead and give you the answer of the question
And then I'll develop it and show it to you from from the Word of God
This is the fruit that is developed in the life of a Christian who is walking in the Spirit
When you are walking in the Spirit when you're actively like we talked about last Wednesday night
Walking in the Spirit and living your life guided by the Spirit of God
Then this is the fruit that will be apparent in your life
But simply being saved and being a Christian will not produce
This fruit now what people often use to try to
Prove this and say no
This is the fruit of the fruit of the Spirit is the fruit of the Christian and these are the types of things that should
Be characterizing your life, and if they're not characterizing your life
Then you must not be saved is because there are passages of Scripture that teach that
Christians will have fruit and and that is true
I'm going to show it to you
But I want you to understand that the Bible teaches you go to Matthew chapter 13
And let me just start by by saying this all the way in the book of Genesis in Genesis chapter 1 the Bible tells us
that everything brings forth after its own kind and
When we talk about fruit we are talking about that which is produced
So when an apple apple tree produces fruit it produces apples when in
When when an orange tree produces fruit it produces oranges and when the Holy Spirit
Produces fruit it produces love you say why because God is love it produces joy
Why because God is the source of our joy it produces peace why because Jesus is the prince of peace it?
Produces these things long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance
Why because God is the source of these things so the Holy Spirit?
produces these things in their life and in in in in the life of a Christian that is walking in the Spirit however
This is not the fruit of the Spirit Bible does talk about Christians reproducing
Notice there in Matthew 13 and verse 8
Matthew 13 8 says this but other fell on into good ground and brought forth fruit
Some in hundredfold some 60-fold some 30-fold so here the Bible is telling us that a
Christian when and by the way not every Christian is producing fruit
It's only those that have a good ground those that have a good heart and the Word of God has been sown in them
And they are producing because not every Christian produces either
But the Bible is telling us here that it is possible for a Christian to produce
And hundredfold and some 60-fold and some 30-fold meaning that some people are going to produce a hundred times
The their investment or themselves some are going to produce 60 times themselves some are going to produce 30
fold themselves so people will take a verse like this and say see a Christian is supposed to be producing fruit and then they'll
Say it must be the fruit of the Spirit, but wait a minute if dogs produce dogs and
cats produce cats
Right
Yeah, you might have been educated in the public school system, and you were taught that monkeys produce humans
But that's not true if monkeys produce monkeys if goldfish produce goldfish
Then what is it that Christians produce Christians produce Christians and not every Christian produces Christian
Just like not every human being has a baby, but when a Christian does produce something they produce Christians
Why because when the Bible talks about Christians?
Multiplying themselves or producing fruit it is talking about
Reproducing themselves through soul winning to preaching the gospel to somebody getting somebody safe
And they reproduce themselves and some people reproduce themselves a hundredfold some 60-fold some 30-fold
this is not Matthew 13 8 is not talking about the fruit of the Spirit and
Just so you just just logically speaking
Try to apply
Galatians 5 22 and 23 to Matthew 13 8 when it says that
That other fell on good ground and brought forth fruit some in hundredfold some 60-fold some 30-fold
Does that make sense when we're talking about salvation's?
Some people in their lifetime are gonna win a hundred other people to Christ some are gonna win 60 other people to Christ
Some are gonna bring 30 other people to Christ some are going to
Win 30 to Christ in one year because this is a harvest a yearly harvest some might win
Five people to Christ every year some might win a hundred people to Christ every year
This is the harvest of a Christian
Let me ask you something is this telling us that some Christians are going to bring how can you bring a hundredfold love I?
Mean does that make any sense?
Here's the fruit of the Christian that guy. I mean that guy he's got let me tell you something. He's got 60-fold joy and
And and 30-fold peace that doesn't make any sense a Christian
Reproduces himself he gets somebody saved or herself they get somebody safe
And they reproduce themselves the fruit of the Spirit is the fruit that is produced by the Holy Spirit of God
the fruit of the Christian is
Seeing souls safe. Let me give you another example go to Matthew chapter 7
so Christians don't produce an hundredfold or
60-fold or 30-fold of these things outlined in the fruit of the Spirit love joy peace long-suffering gentle as good as faith making us temperance
Christians produce other Christians by the way let me just say it this way Christians produce other Christians
You know good people produce good good fruit and bad fruit produces bad fruit look at Matthew 7 15
Matthew 7 15 says this beware of false prophets. Is that a good guy or a bad guy. It's a bad guy
Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves look at verse 16
Ye shall know them by their fruits. I always think it's interesting how Christians
They want they like to quote this when they're trying to preach this you know works adding
You know if you're saved you're going to produce works in your life, and if you're really saved
You're there
We're going to be able to see something and and they always want to quote this ye shall know them by their fruits
And they say well if that person's really saved we shall know them by the first, but when you look at the passage
It's talking about false prophets
That's why you can't just pull a verse out of its context you have to actually read the entire Bible and realize that the
Context of Matthew 7 16 ye shall know them by their fruits what Jesus was talking about was false prophets
And if you just keep reading it it makes sense notice what he says he says do men gather grapes of thorns
saying you go to a thorn bush and
Expect to gather grapes the answer is no or figs of thistles
Thistles gonna produce figs are thorns going to produce grapes
he says even so in the same way that thorns don't produce grapes and
Thistles don't produce figs
He says even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit
but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit a
Good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit every tree
Bringeth not for every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire
Wherefore notice the context by their fruits ye shall know them
The teaching here is about preachers and and and specifically here about false prophets
Here's what he's saying you want to know if someone's a false prophet inspect their fruit
Well what's their fruit well, what are they producing and
Look if someone wants to know if pastor Jimenez is a good guy or a bad guy
A good prophet or bad prophet all they have to do is inspect the fruit of what we produce here at Verity Baptist Church
And obviously we always have visitors, and we always have new people or whatever
But the truth of the matter is this if you're part of Verity Baptist Church and someone want you know if somebody
Decided they wanted to do a fruit inspection at Verity Baptist Church
But don't try that because you might get tackled by our safety team
But if they stood at that door and asked people on their way out
What do you believe about salvation, and there's 170 people here
Tonight they asked 170 people. What do you think about salvation?
I mean like a hundred and fifty of those answers because you know a lot of our kids or whatever
But the people the vast majority people are gonna say by works through faith not by works through faith excuse me
That's what the bad guy says they're gonna say good night
By their fruits you shall know them they're gonna say look they're gonna say eternal security
You ask them about the Bible they're gonna say the King James Bible
Yes, you see I'm saying it
But but when we go to Joel Osteen's church
Or we go to the liberal fund center down the street those people you're gonna get all sorts of answers
We're gonna say repent of your sins. We're gonna say you got to work your way to heaven people are gonna
Say you got to speak in tongues. They're gonna say charismatic. They're gonna say you gotta get baptized so by their fruits
You shall know them is the context of this passage and and look when a church is filled
Now obviously every church is going to have people that aren't saved
They're not sure about salvation, and they're new and they're whatever but when the church is filled with unsaved people. That's a bad sign
That's a bad sign, and I've been swollening
You know throughout the years
Where maybe we knock every door in a certain area and there happens to be?
Some church down the street or whatever and we happen to just knock on a bunch of people that all go to that church
And I don't ever have to step foot in that church to know a lot about that church
Just by talking to their church people and asking about salvation. I remember we're so winning one time
I think it was West sac and there was just this little church
I think it was only 20 people in it
But all of them live like on that street because we talked to every everybody kept telling us
Oh, there's only 20 people in the church, but we I think we talked to all of them and
Honestly like all of them were saved they all gave a clear testimony of salvation except one and what that told me was that guy's
Probably a good guy at least on salvation. He's right because all we we just did an inspection of his fruit, so
the Bible teaches that people
Reproduce that everything brings forth after its own kind and Christians are going to reproduce and false prophets are going to reproduce
Bad fruit and good prophets are going to reproduce good fruit
But the Bible is not teaching here that if you're saved
You're going to have some sort of good works that come alongside and we shall know them by their fruits
That is taking that phrase out of context
so I want to begin with just this idea and understanding that the producer of the fruit of the Spirit is the Holy Spirit and
Simply being saved does not guarantee
That you're going to produce that fruit because like we've learned last week
you can walk in the spirit or you can walk in the flesh and
Those will produce two different things go back to Galatians chapter 5
So number one, we saw the producer of the fruit of the Spirit. It is the fruit of the Spirit
It is not the fruit of the Christian
But secondly, let's talk about the production of the fruit of the Spirit
And we've already been talking about this but I would just want to emphasize it again
The fruit of the Spirit is produced in a life controlled by the Holy Spirit
notice again the context
Galatians 5 verse 16
The Bible says this I say them
Notice these words walk in the spirit and he shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh
That is the context of these verses on the fruit of the Spirit
notice
For the flesh lusted against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other
So that you cannot do the things that you would we talked about that last week
But if you be led of the spirit
You're not under the law
So notice the context is about walking in the spirit being led of the spirit
Look at verse 19 now the works of the flesh
Now, why does he say this because he's about to tell us what the life that is led of the Spirit looks like
But before he tells us what the life of that is led of the Spirit looks like he tells us
Here's what the life led of the flesh looks like verse 19
Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these
adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, thrives, traditions, heresies,
envings, murders, drunkenness, revelings and such like of the which I tell you before as I have told you in time past that they
Which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God
So look what we just read in these verses verses 19 20 and 21
Now the works of the flesh are manifest we're gonna call this the fruit of the flesh and
This is talking to Christians and Paul is telling them when you walk in the flesh. Here's what your life's gonna look like
It's gonna look like adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath
That's what your life is going to produce when you're walking in the flesh, but when you're walking in the spirit verse 22
Look at the context
But the fruit of the Spirit as opposed to
Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these but the fruit of the Spirit is love joy
Peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance
Against such there is no law. So we see that the fruit of the Spirit is
Produced in a life that is controlled by the Holy Spirit of God
When you are walking in the Spirit when you are led of the Spirit
These are the things that will be evident in your life. We didn't say when you're saved
Because you can be saved and not walking in the Spirit
Let's just talk about this for a second. The fruit of the Spirit is produced in a life controlled by the Spirit and
Let me say this the fruit of the Spirit is not produced in a life simply and dwelled by the Spirit
Notice Galatians 5 25 we saw this last week, but let's just look at it
Galatians 5 25 notice what this verse says
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Now look
You you may say I don't really understand what that verse means, but it doesn't take a lot of
understanding to know this
Obviously Paul is saying living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit are two different things
Because he's saying look if we live in the Spirit, here's what he's saying
since
You are living in the Spirit
Let us
Well, also walk in the Spirit. You see what also there
He's saying look if you're living in the Spirit. Why don't you also walk in the Spirit? What does that tell us?
Here's what it tells us that simply because you're living in the Spirit does not mean that you're walking in the Spirit
Because Paul is telling
Christians hey, you're already living in the Spirit. You might as well walk in the Spirit
He says if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit
Go to Ephesians chapter 4 real quickly
If you would you're there in Galatians just one book over Ephesians Ephesians chapter 4 so you say well
What does it mean to live in the Spirit?
Well, let me let me let me give you this this verse to think about in 2nd Corinthians chapter 10
We're told for though we walk in the flesh. We do not war after the flesh
That's the same idea reversed as if we live in the Spirit
Let us also walk in the Spirit where Paul is saying just because you live in your flesh
Does not mean that the life that the battle that you're engaged in is a physical one
He says for though we live in the flesh or though we walk in the places that we do not war
After the flesh and here he tells us if you live in the Spirit, you're not necessarily walking in the Spirit
What does that mean? Ephesians 4 and verse 30 notice what it says Ephesians chapter 4 verse 30 and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God
Notice whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption
See when you got saved you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of God
The Holy Spirit of God came to live inside of you
Ye are the temple of the Holy Ghost and you are in dwelled with the Holy Spirit
So the Holy Spirit is living inside of you. You know what that means that you are living with the Holy Spirit
This is what Paul meant when he said if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit
So again, let me just make this clear because people will will come and even to our church people have came to yours and and and
Good people and and I don't think they're they're bad people, but they'll hear me preach and they'll say well
I disagree with you on you know, I think that everyone who's saved is going to be a disciple
I think everyone that's saved is gonna is gonna you know, have the fruit of the Spirit
I think everybody's saying wait a minute
Well, then you're you're disagreeing with Paul because Paul says simply because you live in the Spirit doesn't mean you walk in the Spirit
He says you are in dwelled
You are sealed with the Holy Spirit of God
The Holy Spirit is living inside of you and you are living with the Spirit and then he says if we live in the Spirit
Let us also walk in the Spirit
So simply living in the Spirit or having the Spirit living in you does not mean you're walking in the Spirit
You say well, well, I don't know what I think about that. Well look at the verse again Ephesians 4 30
If it's true, let me let me say it this way
If it's true that every Christian if you're saved from the Holy Spirit and dwells you you're gonna have the fruit of the Spirit
You're gonna walk in the Spirit. You're gonna blah blah blah
If that's true, then why does Paul say this in Ephesians 4 30 and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God?
He
Says grieve not the Holy Spirit of God you say oh he's talking to unsaved people
Hold on and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption
No, Paul is saying Paul is saying there are some Christians who are sealed with the Holy Spirit of God who have the Holy Spirit
Living in them and they are living in the Spirit, but the Holy Spirit is grieved
So
Why is he grieved because they're because though they live in the Spirit they walk in the flesh
because
He is indwelling them
while they're living in the flesh and committing adultery and fornication and uncleanness while being on drugs while being a drunker while
Doing the things that do not honor the Lord Jesus Christ
So here's the question I have for the people say well if you're saved
You're gonna be a disciple and if you're saved there's gonna be fruit and if you're half the Holy Spirit
Then then why would the Bible tell us to not grieve the Holy Spirit
That would make no there's no point of Paul telling us that if every Christian is gonna walk in the spirit you say why does Paul
Say because some Christians don't walk in the spirit in fact some Christians grieve the Holy Spirit
And I shouldn't have to explain this to you theologically because just look around at the average Christian
And it's apparent that most Christians are worldly
I
Mean just look at the average young person Christian young person today, and you just look at him
You're like wow you're worldly
Don't tell me you're walking in the spirit
We can see where you're walking you're walking in the flesh
So just because you're saved does not mean that you're walking in the spirit and the fruit of the spirit is produced by life
That is controlled by the spirit. It is not produced by life that is simply indwelled by the spirit
You say why because some people hinder the spirit
That's why Paul says grieve not the Holy Spirit
Let me tell you something every time you pick up a beer and drink it
While having the Holy Spirit indwelling you you're grieving the Holy Spirit
Every time that you begin to say foul things and things that should not come out of your mouth while
indwelled by the Holy Spirit of God
You're grieving the Holy Spirit
And consider the fact that the Holy Spirit of God
Indwells you and when you sit down to watch something you shouldn't watch to listen to something
You shouldn't listen to it's engage in something. You shouldn't be engaged in you're grieving the Holy Spirit of God
Don't tell me every Christian walks in the spirit
You got a pastor for about five minutes to figure out most Christians aren't walking in the spirit
You can grieve the Holy Spirit
Even worse than that go to 1st Thessalonians 5 you're there in Ephesians to flip over Philippians Colossians 1st Thessalonians
1st Thessalonians 5 in verse 19 not only can you grieve the Holy Spirit
But even worse than that you can quench the Holy Spirit
So Paul says in 1st Thessalonians 5 19 quench not the spirit
Remember we were talking about it last week
The life that is led of the spirit the individual that is walking in the spirit has the Holy Spirit guiding them
How does the Holy Spirit guide you he pricks you in your heart?
The Holy Spirit wants to grab you by the hand and guide you through life and as you're going through life
There should be situations where the Holy Spirit is telling you no
Don't go there
Don't do that
Don't make that phone call. Don't take that phone call. Don't go don't go to that place. Don't go to that party
Don't drink that don't inject that don't look that way
the Holy Spirit of God is
Telling you and trying to guide you trying to cause you to walk in a way
That is that is the way that he wants you to walk, but you know a Christian can can feel that and ignore it
You say what is that called? It's called quenching the spirit
You quench the spirit you don't hear them. This is how Christians become insensitive. We talked about it last week and again
I'm referencing last week sermon because this is in context of that sermon
But this is how you get Christians who are just comfortable in worldliness
They're comfortable in just nudity they're comfortable in
Worldliness they're comfortable and just being around look you shouldn't be comfortable being around a bunch of people drinking
It shouldn't become you should be comfortable being around a bunch of people
We're just cussing and cursing and talking about inappropriate thing that should your Holy Spirit should be saying hey, I don't like this
But yet so many Christians are callous today
Because you quench the spirit you quench the spirit you quench the spirit and
Look your Holy Spirit is just depressed. He's grieved
He's discouraged
That he's being held hostage. He's saying you know even so come Lord. You know I just rapture me out of here
Yeah, I'm being held hostage by this
stinking worldly person
You know I don't know about you, but I want the Holy Spirit to enjoy his time
in my temple
And I would hope that you'd want the same so we see that the production of the Spirit
The fruit of the Spirit is produced in a life controlled by the Spirit
It is not produced in a life that is simply indwelt by the Spirit
It is not produced in a life that hinders the work of the Spirit
So I'm trying to be very clear tonight go back to Galatians 5
And I want you to understand that the fruit of the Spirit is not something that you can use as a litmus test
Well if somebody's saved they're gonna have no no
Because somebody can be saved and not walk in the Spirit somebody can be saved and quench the Spirit
Somebody can be saved and grieve the Spirit somebody can be saved and walk in the flesh
So the fruit of the Spirit is not a litmus test for salvation
But it is a litmus test for this
For us to know for you to know
Whether you're walking on the Spirit
see
Well how I don't know if I'm walking on the Spirit if your life is characterized by these nine things
You're walking on the Spirit if your life is not
Then you're walking in the flesh if your life is characterized by these nine things
Then you are being led by the Holy Spirit. You are being guided by the Holy Spirit. You're not quenching the Holy Spirit
You're not grieving the Holy Spirit
You're allowing the holy spirit to guide you through life
If these nine things, so look, these nine things don't tell us if you're saved. They do tell us if you're spirit-filled.
So let's look at them.
I said number one, we saw the producer of the fruit of the Spirit is the fruit of the Spirit,
not the fruit of the Christian. I said number two, we saw the production of the Spirit.
It is produced in a life controlled by the Spirit. It is not produced in a life simply indwelt by the Spirit.
It is not produced in a life that hinders the work of the Spirit, someone who is quenching or grieving the Spirit.
So number three, and this is where we'll spend most of our time tonight. Let's look at the product of the fruit of the Spirit.
What does the life look like that is filled with the Spirit of God and walking with the Spirit of God?
Well, notice the Holy Spirit will produce these things in your life. Number one,
love.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love.
Let's look at these as quickly as we can. And you can preach a whole, I could preach a nine-week series out of this,
and maybe one day I will. But tonight, as quickly as possible, let's just look at what these things, what does that mean, love?
Ephesians 5, if you would. Ephesians 5, you're there in Galatians, just flip over to Ephesians 5.
Let's run some verses and look at what these words mean. And you should identify this in your life. Now in the Bible,
the word love is
always characterized by this word, sacrifice.
Now I'm going to give you one example of that, or a couple examples in this passage,
but we could look at a lot of passages.
This is a passage that has to do with husbands and wives, but this is not the only example.
This is just a good example. We're in Galatians, and it's easy to get to Ephesians. Ephesians 5, 25,
husbands, love your wives.
Even as Christ also loved the church, and here's how it's characterized, and gave himself for it. So notice that love,
because look, because I,
you know, here's what most Christians want.
They want me to get up and preach, oh, the fruit of the Spirit, isn't this fun? The fruit of the Spirit,
isn't this lovely? You write these verses on your wall and buy it out, you know, whatever. Hobby Lobby.
And then we say, and here's what the fruit of the Spirit loved, and everybody's like, oh, why love?
Do you?
Because the Bible doesn't only tell us to love, it tells us what love looks like.
You say, what does love look like? Here's what it looks like, and gave himself for it.
Love is always characterized by sacrifice.
You ever heard this verse? For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son.
Love is always characterized by sacrifice. Say, do I love my wife? Well, let me ask you, do you sacrifice for her?
Is it always your way or the highway?
Is it always, you know, I'm not, I'm not gonna give it, because love sacrifices.
Love says, hey, you know, I'll lay down my life.
Husbands love your wife, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.
Now, just because we tend to be hard-headed, God gives us another example of what this looks like.
Because, you know, especially here, we're talking to guys, and guys, they like to, they like to not understand things.
You ever talk to a guy?
It's like talking to a brick wall sometimes. It's like, I can tell, like, no one's awake.
I mean, the eyes are open, the lights are on, but the, the, the hamster has fallen off the,
the track there. I mean, it's not, nothing's, so God understands it. So he says, okay, you don't want to understand love?
You don't want to understand sacrifice? Let me help you understand something you will understand. How about selfishness?
Because here's what everybody understands how to be selfish.
You say, well, then what's love? Love is the opposite of selfish. It's selfless.
Look at Ephesians 5 28.
Just in case you don't get, gave himself for it, he says, so what meant to love their wives as their own bodies?
Here's what God's saying. You're good at loving yourself.
No explanation needed. He says, you know how you love yourself?
You got to love your wife like you love yourself. If you're loving yourself, it's selfish.
You loving someone else in the same way you love yourself, it's selfless. It's sacrifice.
Love is sacrificial. It is selfless. It is, it is putting others first. That's what love is.
So when we ask the question,
are you filled with the Spirit? What we really need to ask is, do you
have love
for others? Because being filled with the Spirit will cause the Holy Spirit to produce in you love. And then you would say, well,
of course I love, but before you say that, let's answer it this way. Do you sacrifice for others?
Are you selfless, or are you selfish?
Because the Holy Spirit produces selflessness.
The Bible tells us that loving your brother is being willing to lay down your life.
And if you're willing to lay down your life for someone, then you should be willing to live for that person as well.
So we see the first
characteristic or product of the fruit of the Spirit is love. And then the second is joy. Love, joy.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy. You're there in Ephesians. Go to Colossians chapter 1.
Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians.
Look, you're taking a test. All right, get out your number two pencil.
Get out your your lined paper, and we're taking a test. Question number one. Do you have love?
But before you answer that, answer it this way. Can you identify
you ever
sacrificing for anyone?
You ever being selfless towards anyone?
You ever esteeming others better than yourself?
Because love looks like this. Love says, if I have to win, and
in order for me to win, you have to lose, and I will lose so you can win.
That's what laying down your life for someone means.
That's what loving someone as their own bodies mean. So, so test question number one. Love, you got it?
Are you selfless? Are you sacrificial? All right, put a star next to it if you got the right answer, and put an X.
This isn't every child left behind. We're going to give you the test, the grade you deserve.
Here's the second question. Joy. Do you have joy in your life? Well, yeah, and Christmas.
Okay, let's look at what joy. What does joy mean? Colossians 1, 24.
Who now rejoice?
Now, just the word rejoice is used synonymously with the word joy.
You should be able to look at and tell that it's pretty much the same word. Joy, rejoice.
Who now rejoice
when I got a raise? Is that what it says?
Who now rejoice when everything is going great? Is that what it says?
Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you?
Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh
for his body's sake, which is the church. Go to Philippians chapter 4. If you're there in Colossians, just flip back to Philippians chapter 4.
I want to remind you that Philippians, the book of Philippians, was written while the Apostle Paul was sitting in prison.
He's sitting in prison writing Philippians chapter 4 and verse 4. And while sitting in prison, he says,
Rejoice in the Lord alway.
And again, I say rejoice. The question I would ask you is, what would you be saying if you were in prison?
For the cause of Christ, not for being an idiot.
He says rejoice. You say, joy. What is joy? And look, this is the test. Are you filled with the Spirit?
We can get the results of the test.
You are filled with the Spirit if you have joy. But hold on a second. Hold on a second.
Let's not just say, well, of course I have joy. No, here's what the Bible defines as joy.
Joy is happiness that is not connected to your circumstances.
Because everyone's happy when they're at an amusement park.
Everyone's happy when they are on vacation. Everyone's happy when things are going well.
But the fruit of the Spirit is someone who can have joy while in prison,
while suffering, who now rejoice in my suffering for you. So let me ask you this.
If you can suffer and still have the joy of the Lord,
it's not because you're great. It's because you're walking in the Spirit.
And if you cannot have joy,
even through your suffering, then you're probably not walking in the Spirit. You're walking in the flesh.
And please understand this. You know, the Bible says,
you know, that we should be thankful in all things.
And everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
And the Bible says that we should give thanks in everything. And I often tell people, it does not say to give thanks for everything.
Some things we're not thankful for, but it does say that I can be thankful in everything.
And I can be thankful through everything. And I can have joy.
I can have a happiness that is not connected to my circumstances. Because look, when God is the source of my joy,
then it doesn't matter what happens with my job. It doesn't matter what happens with the economy.
It doesn't matter what state I live in.
It doesn't matter who the President of the United States is. If God is the source of my joy, all these things can change.
And I'm still happy.
But if the stock market is the source of your joy, well, then that's going to go up and down.
You understand that?
If someone else or something else is the source of your joy,
but when the Holy Spirit is the source of your joy,
then we can now rejoice in my suffering. We can rejoice in the Lord always.
Let's look at the third one. So that's question number two. You got it?
Here's question number three.
We're answering the question, are you filled with the Spirit?
Here's question number three, peace.
Peace. You're there in Philippians 4, look at verse 5.
Let your moderation,
the word moderation means an avoidance of excess or extremes.
The Christian life is a balanced life. It is not a life of extremes.
You're never right with God when you're living on an extreme.
Let your moderation be known unto all men.
The Lord is at hand.
Be careful for nothing. The word careful,
if you notice the word care in the word careful, it means full of care.
It means full of worry, anxious,
worried, concerned. Be careful for nothing.
But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.
Notice verse 7, and the peace of God which passeth all understanding
shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
The word peace is defined as freedom from disturbance, as a mental calm.
And see, biblical peace is a calm that is connected
not to the circumstances, but through God. Same as rejoicing.
So you can ask yourself, am I calm? And if you're calm or not calm,
based off the circumstances, you're not walking to the Spirit.
Because when you walk in the Spirit, God is the source of your joy and God is the source of your peace.
And no matter what's happening out there,
we can say everything's all right in my Father's house.
We can say God is still on his throne.
So peace is a calm that is not connected to circumstances. And by the way,
let me say this, a Christian could be walking in the Spirit one day and not walking in the Spirit another day.
So this is not like, well, once you're walking in the Spirit, you're always walking in the Spirit. You got to maintain that thing.
So there could be times in the Christian life where you're faced with difficulties
and you had that peace that passeth all understanding. And people are asking you, how can you be dealing with it?
How are you not just breaking down? And it's like, I don't know, it's the Holy Ghost that's sustaining me.
And then there'll be other times when you're in the flesh.
So we just have to realize that walking in the Spirit is a choice we must make every day.
Every day we must choose to walk in the Spirit. Here's question number four, long-suffering. Are you?
You're there in Philippians. Go to Colossians chapter 1.
Long-suffering is the same as patience, but it has a different emphasis.
And the emphasis is in the Word. It's suffering long.
Colossians 1, 10, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all blessings, being fruitful in every good work and
increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to his glorious power, notice these words, unto all
patience and long-suffering with joyfulness.
See, these words are being mixed together. Long-suffering, having or showing patience in spite of trouble,
especially those caused by other people.
Long-suffering is this idea that you are suffering at the hands of someone else.
That because of somebody else's choices, you are now paying the consequences.
Someone else decided to, and now you're suffering.
But a Christian that is walking in the Spirit can be long-suffering.
They can be patient. See, how can that be? Well, these are all connected to each other.
Because if you can have joy that is connected to God, and you can have peace that is coming from God,
then you can suffer long in your circumstances.
Because the suffering doesn't come from God. It is the circumstances that we are experiencing on this earth.
So a Christian whose joy is connected to God, whose peace is connected to God, who's loving others, being selfless and sacrificing,
he can also suffer long. She can also suffer long.
Long-suffering. Here's the fifth word.
Gentleness.
Does this characterize your life?
Look, we're just taking a test.
Are you walking in the Spirit or not?
Can your life be characterized by the word gentleness?
You're there in Colossians. Go back. Go to Ephesians.
Colossians, if you go backwards, you have Philippians and Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 4.
You say, what does it mean to be gentle?
Well, here's another word that's used synonymously in the Bible.
Ephesians 4.32, be kind. That's not the word, but that's a good word.
Be kind. Are you kind?
You'd be surprised how many Christians are not kind.
You'd be surprised how many people are not kind.
We have to go to the DMV today, and you'd be surprised how many DMV workers are not kind.
I can tell those people are not walking in the Spirit.
You know, I think to myself, this is what happens when you don't have any competition, you know what I mean?
And there's no capitalism here, and there's no other DMV I can go to. I have to go to this one,
so these people are all
walking in the flesh.
And be kind one to another. Here's the word I want you to see.
Tender-hearted.
That's what it means to be gentle.
So many people, their heart is, their heart is hard.
Their heart is hard towards their spouse. Their heart is hard
towards their church family. Their hearts hard towards the things of God. Their hearts hard towards the unsaved.
That's not walking in the Spirit. When you walk in the Spirit, you will experience a tenderness in your heart, a gentleness.
You will begin to be kind. Why? Because the Holy Spirit is kind. And look, today
we live in the society where people promote rudeness.
And people think that being rude and being a jerk is a virtue, and they pride themselves,
I just tell them how it is. Well, maybe you should stop that.
Because the Bible says to let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth.
The Bible says that we should edify people and love people.
So we see gentleness, to be kind. Then we see, the next word is goodness.
Goodness. Go to Matthew chapter 5. First book in the New Testament should be fairly easy to find. Matthew chapter 5. Goodness.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness.
You say, what does that mean?
Well, you know, it's funny because Pastor Anderson just preached about it at the Red Hot Preaching Conference on Sunday morning about
good and
being good. So I won't spend a lot of time on it.
But here's one great verse on it. Matthew 5 16. Let your light so shine before men
that they may see your good works and
glorify your Father, which is in heaven. The word goodness and good is connected to the word godly or God.
Because of the fact that God is the only one that is good.
And when we are good, we are being godly.
So if you want to ask yourself, am I good? Ask yourself this, am I being like God?
When you look in the mirror, when you look at your clothes, hey young people, when you look at your clothes,
ask yourself, am I looking, is this what God, is this what Jesus would have dressed?
When you're listening to the radio, is this what Jesus would have listened to?
When you're talking with your friend, is this what Jesus would have talked about when he was 12 and 13 and 14?
Because goodness and being good has to do with being godly or being like God. Obviously, we're not going to be
sinless like God, but you should have a life. Look, people should be able to look at you and say, there's a godly person.
There's someone that walks with God.
Look, you should not look like everyone else.
You should not look like everyone else. You should not talk like everyone else.
You should not have a lifestyle like everyone else. Because if you look like everyone, talk like everyone, act like everyone else.
Let me tell you something. You're not being godly. You're not being good. You're being worldly.
If you look like the world, you're being worldly. If you act like the world, you're being worldly.
If you listen to the same things the world listens to, watch the same things the world watches,
and talk about the same thing, you're not being godly and good. You're being worldly and bad.
So we can tell by whether you're walking in the Spirit by just looking at you.
By just identifying your lifestyle.
Because the Bible says, let your light
so shine before men, that they may see your good works.
So when people see you, what do they see?
Do they see godly and good, or do they see worldly and bad?
Number seven. Well, I mean great. You're gonna grade your own test. You're not gonna have to turn this one in, okay? Self graded.
But put a star or an X. Be honest. Number seven, faith.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, law, and suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.
We don't spend a lot of time on this, but faith means to trust or to have confidence.
The Bible says now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Faith is the opposite of fear.
Faith is having your trust and confidence in God.
Fear is having your faith in the world or the devil.
Fear is not trusting God.
So when you're afraid, you're not full of faith. You're full of fear.
So when you're filled with the Spirit, you have faith, great faith.
Confidence. Obviously you need faith for salvation.
The Bible says we walk by faith and we need more faith.
And when you walk in the Spirit, you will experience this trust and this confidence that says, my hope is in God.
Number eight, meekness. Meekness. Go back to Ephesians, if you would.
Meekness is identified as this humility that puts others first. Notice how these are all connected.
Meekness is putting others first. Ephesians 4 verse 1.
I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherein wherewith ye are called.
Look at verse 2. With all lowliness, that's humility, and meekness, notice with longsuffering, notice these words are coming up.
And forbearing one another in, don't miss a word, love, sacrifice, selflessness.
What is meekness? Meekness is humility. Meekness is not putting yourself above where you should.
Meekness is having the right context of yourself, realizing who you are and who you are in Christ.
It doesn't mean you look down on yourself. It doesn't mean you look up on yourself.
It just means that you understand who you are and in that humility, you esteem others better than yourself.
You have longsuffering, forbearing. And then the last word, number nine, temperance.
Temperance. That's an older word that simply means self-control.
First Corinthians 9, 27. If you go backwards, you have Ephesians, Galatians, Second Corinthians, First Corinthians, 9, 27.
But I keep under my body, here's the phrase, and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means when I preach to others, I myself should be cast away.
It is the same idea of like an athlete who is temperate. They are self-controlled.
They are disciplined with what they eat, with how they exercise, the things they do, because they want to win the prize.
They want to win the gold. And the Bible says that when we walk in the Spirit, we're going to have a life of temperance.
Because remember, if we walk in the Spirit, we shall not fulfill the loss of the flesh.
That's temperance. That is controlling yourself and having a life of self-control.
Go back to Galatians chapter 5. We're going to be done here in two minutes. Galatians chapter 5.
We talked about the producer of the fruit of the Spirit. Who produces the fruit of the Spirit?
The Spirit. It is the fruit of the Spirit. Not the fruit of the Christian.
It is the fruit of the Christian that is walking in the Spirit.
But the Christian that is grieving the Holy Spirit, quenching the Holy Spirit, and walking in the flesh is going to have different fruit.
Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, those things are going to characterize your life if you walk in the flesh.
Then we saw the production of the fruit of the Spirit. It is produced by a life that is controlled by the Spirit.
It is not produced by a life that is simply indwelt by the Spirit. It is not produced in a life that hinders the work of the Spirit.
And then we saw the product of the fruit of the Spirit.
Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
Against such there is no law.
I don't know about you, but this guy sounds awesome.
I mean, this is the guy I want to marry my daughters.
I want the guy who has sacrificial selfless love.
This is the guy that I want to marry my sons, right?
Someone who has joy that is not connected to their circumstances but is sourced from God.
Someone who has peace and a calm that others would say passes all understanding and people can't even understand.
How can you be so calm? Because my calm, my peace comes from God.
Someone who is long-suffering, someone who is gentle, someone who is good, someone who is faithful, someone who has meekness, someone who has temperance.
This individual sounds like an amazing individual.
And it could be you. And it could be me if we walk in the Spirit.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
See, this guy doesn't need to be told because against such there is no law.
So can you identify yourself in this? How do you do on your test?
Everybody, turn your pages over. Okay, time's up. How do you do?
Can you identify the fruit of the Spirit in your life?
And if not, you should ask the question, why not?
That's why I had to now go to prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for your Word. Thank you for the Bible.
And Lord, I realize that no one here, nobody, is going to get an A on all nine of those.
We are a work in progress, but I pray you'd help us to do better today than we did yesterday.
Help us to choose today to walk in the Spirit.
Lord, help us to deny the flesh, to not walk in the flesh, to walk in the Spirit,
and that this might characterize our lives, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
This might be the life that is characterized, that is seen in us.
Lord, help us to deny the flesh, walk in the Spirit, to not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
We love you. In the matchless name of Christ, we pray. Amen.
We're going to have Brother Moses come up and lead us in a final song.
Just want to remind you that this Friday, so there's soul winning tomorrow, 2 p.m.,
if you'd like to go Thursday, 2 p.m., but Friday there is no soul winning.
It is postponed for this week because of the wedding, so make sure that you are aware of that.
And then Sunday, Saturday soul winning at 10 a.m., of course.
Sunday soul winning at 2 p.m.
I think we're going to have a lot of people in Fresno for the wedding and the weekend out there.
So if you're not going to be in Fresno, make sure you're in your place.
Make sure you're in your place and you're here and help wherever you can.
Be early and all those things.
My wife and I will be back on Sunday night. I'll be preaching here on Sunday night.
So Lord willing, we'll see you then.
And if there's anything we can do for you, please let us know.
We'll have Brother Moses come up and lead us in a final song.
Please turn to your song books, page number 220.
Page 220, we're going to sing Jesus is all the world to me.
And let's go ahead and sing it out on the first.
Jesus is all the world to me.
My life, my joy, my all.
He is my strength from day to day.
Without Him I would fall.
When I am sad to Him I go.
No other one can cheer me so.
When I am sad He makes me glad.
He's my friend.
Good singing, let's sing it out on the second.
Jesus is all the world to me.
My friend in trial sore.
I go to Him for blessings and He gives them o'er and o'er.
He sends the sunshine and the rain.
He sends the harp, His golden grain.
Sunshine and rain, harvest of grain.
He's my friend.
Jesus is all the world to me.
And true to Him I'll be.
Oh how could I, this friend, deny when He's so true to me.
Following Him I know I'm right.
He watches for me day and night.
Following Him by day and night.
He's my friend.
On the last, Jesus is all the world to me.
I want no better friend.
I trust Him now, I'll trust Him then.
My fleeting days shall end.
Beautiful life with such a friend.
Beautiful life that has no end.
Eternal life, eternal joy.
He's my friend.
Great singing. Can I please have Brother Keith close us in a word of prayer?
Our gracious God and Father, I pray that this servant that was just preached will give us
confidence in your word and that we are people who
absolve fullness and righteousness as we walk in spirit
and deny that we can make him flesh.
Please be with us for the rest of the week and bring us back to calling him safely.
Can you pray? Amen.
Amen.