Bearing the Fruit of Holy Spirit - 2

Bearing the Fruit of Holy Spirit - 2

Subject: Walking in the Fruit of the Spirit - Joy

By Rick Welborne

Galatians 5:22-26 (NKJV)
²²  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
²³  gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
²⁴  And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
²⁵  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
²⁶  Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

--Last week we looked the fruit of the Spirit – love – and how, when we are filled with Holy Spirit power, God can impart supernatural love to us in a moment when we need it most. 

Romans 5:5 (NKJV) ⁵  Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 

--When we are truly filled with the Spirit of Christ and we are walking in the Spirit, we can expect God to help us love the unlovable and to actually get past our anger and bitterness.

1. The Fruit of the Spirit – Joy.

--Tonight we are going to look at the fruit of Holy Spirit – joy. If there is anything lacking in the body of Christ or in the world in general, it is joy. Miriam Webster definitions:

Joy – Noun - the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires – delight. Verb - to experience great pleasure or delight – rejoice.

--Biblical joy isn’t like happiness which is based upon happenings or whether things are going well or not. No, joy remains even amidst the suffering. 

--Joy is not happiness. Joy is an emotion that’s acquired by the anticipation, acquisition or even the expectation of something great or wonderful. God is great and wonderful!

--Joy sometimes is very much misunderstood in the church...joy is not necessarily uncontrollable hilarity though it can have great expression. Biblical joy is not dependent on good outward circumstances.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Christian joy is not mere happiness that knows no gloom, but is the result of the triumph of faith over adverse and trying circumstances, which, instead of hindering, actually enhance it.

Hebrews 12:1-3 (NIV)
¹  Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
²  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
³  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 

--These three verses offer to us a description of how to have Christian joy:

--Remember we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. This is like an arena with the on-lookers cheering us on. Those who have gone before us and those who support us now are cheering us on. Joy!

--We have joy when we are willing to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and we run the race marked out for us. We are free!

John 8:36 (NKJV) ³⁶ Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

--We have joy when we fix our eyes on Jesus. If we keep our eyes on the One Who is the Author and perfecter of our faith…we will have joy. 

--We have joy when we endure tests knowing there is something greater that is coming. 

--For the joy set before Him…wait a minute, He had the torture, the cross, the shame, and death. Where is the joy in Him enduring all that He did?

--His joy came from His obedience to the Father, His joy came from purchasing our salvation, and His joy came from sitting down again at the right hand of God. 

2. Supernatural Joy!

--What about us? What joy is there in suffering? What joy is there in our laying our lives down for Him? Maybe we are looking at this life in a warped kind of way.

 Hebrews 11:16 (NLT2) ¹⁶  But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

--There is a supernatural joy in knowing that this life is not all there is. That is why those in the Bible like Stephen could look up and see Jesus at his time of death. 

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NKJV)
¹⁶  Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.
¹⁷  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,
¹⁸  while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

--One of the meanings of joy in the Old Testament is Semeah which means to shine. I believe this gives us insight into where our joy actually comes from. God speaking to Moses. Moses to Aaron.

Numbers 6:25-27 (NKJV) ²⁴  "The LORD bless you and keep you;
²⁵  The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you;
²⁶  The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace." '
²⁷  "So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them." 

--When we find ourselves in God’s presence and His face is shining upon us, we definitely find supernatural joy. When He lifts up His countenance upon us we find joy the world knows nothing about. 

--There are times that we must admit that we could not have joy outside a divine act of God thru His Holy Spirit...it is God supernaturally shining on us...imparting the fruit of joy by His Spirit.

3. Joy in Holy Spirit

--Paul tells us that one of the essential marks of the Kingdom of God is this:

Romans 14:16-17 (NKJV) ¹⁶  Therefore do not let your good be spoken of as evil;
¹⁷  for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 

--When I still lived in Texas (this was pre-Tricia) I was in a relationship that I thought was God’s will and that I thought would be forever. 

--Things suddenly went south and I found myself brokenhearted and hurting like I had never hurt before. People I thought would support me and help me really abandoned me. 

--Soon after that, when the pressure was getting to be more than I thought I could handle, God reminded me that He would not put on me more than I could handle. 

--It is so hard for us to believe that but I am here to testify to you that verse is true…When I was at my breaking point God showed up. He made a way for me to endure. Supernatural joy!

--I came home from work about midnight and as soon as I walked through my door of my apartment I fell on my floor and began to cry out to God…I even reminded Him of that verse.

--I told Him I was not going to get up from there until He healed my broken heart and until He restored the joy of my salvation. I felt like King David.

Psalm 51:10-13 (NKJV) ¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹  Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
¹²  Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
¹³  Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You. 

--This is after David had messed up royally and his sin had been called out. He was wrong, he was broken, and He needed God to come through for him. I made plenty of mistakes myself. 

--I love what David says… Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. God’s presence and Holy Spirit were going to be the answers he was looking for. 

--I asked God to do what David was asking Him to do…restore to me the joy of my salvation and hold me up with your generous Spirit. Do you see how involved Holy Spirit is in our lives?

--As I cried out to God, His Spirit came upon me and re-baptized me and for about four hours I prayed in the Spirit and spoke in tongues…God began to heal me from the inside out.

--Supernatural fruit (Joy) of Holy Spirit flooded my being and I cannot tell you the transformation that took place in me. I went from being a broken mess to being filled with Holy Spirit joy!

Nehemiah 8:10 (NLT2) ¹⁰  And Nehemiah continued, “Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the LORD is your strength!” 

--Why are there weak among us? They lack supernatural joy. The joy of the Lord is your strength and it is provided to us by Holy Spirit operating in our lives!

--As I wrote that last statement…Holy Spirit operating in our lives…I truly believe that is exactly what He does in us. He operates on us. He cuts out the junk and He does a Holy Spirit infusion that changes us forever.

--I said I asked God to replace the love I had for this person and give me a love for souls…that year I personally led about one hundred people to Christ. I was so joyful and God was to blame. A prayer: 

Romans 15:13 (NLT2) ¹³  I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Partnership – 7

Partnership – 7

Subject – The Main Thing – To Love God and Love People.

By Rick Welborne

Matthew 22:34-40 (NLT2)
³⁴  But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again.
³⁵  One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question:
³⁶  “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”
³⁷  Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’
³⁸  This is the first and greatest commandment.
³⁹  A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
⁴⁰  The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” 

--We have talked about many things in this series about Partnership. We made clear God must always get the glory. We talked about how this partnership requires faith, action, obedience, and generosity. 

--We have talked about how unity with each other makes this partnership powerful and effective. We talked about how God must be the main focus, how a leader is needed, and sensitivity to Holy Spirit.

--We have talked about how God’s House must be a House of Prayer and that we must have a passion to care for God’s House. Last time we spoke about how this passion leads to miracles and more than enough.

--I must say I have enjoyed this series as much or more than any series I have ever done. I can’t take credit for the subject though. Let me recommend a book. The Bible – The Word of God.

--As I studied and prayed I asked God how would He like me to wrap up this series and He immediately took my mind to our text about the main thing.

--We have heard people say I have no problem with loving God but people are another thing. We have laughed about pastors saying pastoring would be easy if it wasn’t for people.

--Today let’s take a deeper look into these verses where Jesus says that the two main things are to love God with all you heart, soul, and mind. And to love people as you love yourself.

1. In This Partnership, We Must Love God with Everything in Us.

Matthew 22:36-38 (NLT2)
³⁶  “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”
³⁷  Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’
³⁸  This is the first and greatest commandment.

--Again, Pastor, it is easy to love God. You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. Really?

--It’s not my intension to offend anyone today but there is a very good chance that will happen.

1 Peter 2:6-10 (NKJV)
⁶  Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, "Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame."
⁷  Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, "The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,"
⁸  and "A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense." They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.
⁹  But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
¹⁰  who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. 

--Jesus and His Word can be very offensive to people. Not just those outside the church but those in the church who declare I love Him with everything in me.

--Maybe it is just me but I find it very difficult to love God with ALL my heart, soul, and mind. There are so many things that are competing for my attention.

--Christians find it very easy to declare such things as our absolute love for God and to sing songs that say things like I surrender all and He’s everything I need.

--We sing, He’s All I Need and then, we tell everyone in the church and out what we don’t have and what we have to have. What we need. Tempted sometimes to ask us…really?

--I am attempting to simply be Biblical. When we say we love God with all our hearts, our souls, and our minds we are declaring our death to self.

--The new gospel is, all I have to do is believe it, say it, and I can have everything I want and need. News Flash! That is not what the Bible teaches. What does loving God with everything in me look like?

John 3:28-30 (NLT2)
²⁸  You yourselves know how plainly I told you, ‘I am not the Messiah. I am only here to prepare the way for him.’
²⁹  It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the best man is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at his success.
³⁰  He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.

--This is what the man said who Jesus said about him there is no one greater. Mat.11:11 What happened to him. He was beheaded for truth. What did Jesus say to His disciples after talking about His own death?

Mark 8:32-35 (NKJV)
³²  He spoke this word openly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.
³³  But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, "Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."
³⁴  When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
³⁵  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. 

--Loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind is death. Loving God is denial of self, loving God is taking up your cross, and following Jesus to the cross. I don’t like this. Sorry!

--The Apostle Paul probably suffered more than all the disciple and he summed up his life of loving God and serving Him with this verse:

1 Corinthians 15:31 (NKJV) ³¹ …I die daily.

--We don’t like a gospel that tells us this partnership with God will cost us everything. Our flesh loves hearing we can have more; we can have bigger. Here’s the clincher…we deserve it. Do you love Him?

--Do you love Him enough to die for Him. All but one of the disciples did. John boiled in hot oil.

--The rest were crucified, beheaded, stoned, beaten to death, pierced with swords. Would we say we love Jesus with everything if these choices were given to us? 

Matthew 22:37 (NKJV) ³⁷ Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'

--Do we love Jesus more than all this stuff, all this prosperity, all of these luxuries, all this comfort, all our entitlements? Do we just love Him based on our American version of Christianity?

2. In This Partnership, We Must Love People Like We Love God.

--Ouch! How is that even possible? Is it a command or just a suggestion by Jesus?

Matthew 22:36-39 (NLT2) ³⁶  “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”
³⁷  Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’
³⁸  This is the first and greatest commandment.
³⁹  A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 

--Why didn’t Jesus say it is fairly important or pretty important to love your neighbor as yourself? But to say it is equally important as loving God with everything in you.

--Could it be fair to say that one of the greatest indicators of how we love Jesus is how we love people? Our spouses, our kids, our brothers, our sisters, everyone. Jesus said love your enemies.

--Can we come to church and openly worship God while singing “I Surrender All” and then declare openly to whoever will listen our disdain for a brother or sister.

--Hear your pastor, social media is not there to give you a platform to express your hatred, dislike, disdain, or problems with anyone. To do so is to disobey God’s command to love each other. 

1 John 4:10-11&19-21 (NLT2)
¹⁰  This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
¹¹  Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.
¹⁹  We love each other because he loved us first.
²⁰  If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?
²¹  And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters. 

--Maybe it is because I love witnessing for Jesus and trying to lead people into a personal relationship with Him, but I always wonder what will people who don’t know Jesus think?

--I agree that I do not like the actions of people and how they treat others, but I can still love them and I don’t have to air my junk for everyone to read. Maybe try Mat. 18.

John 13:34-35 (NLT2)
³⁴  So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.
³⁵  Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

--Partnership with God is never complete until I am in partnership with you. Love God and love people. The world is watching and the world needs Jesus. 

1 Peter 4:8 (NLT2)
⁸  Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.

Bearing the Fruit of Holy Spirit - 1

Bearing the Fruit of Holy Spirit - 1

Subject: Walking in the Fruit of the Spirit - Love

By Rick Welborne

Galatians 5:22-26 (NKJV)
²²  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
²³  gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
²⁴  And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
²⁵  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
²⁶  Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

--Tonight we are starting a new series “Bearing the Fruit of the Spirit”. It is all about walking out our faith every day. In opposition to the verses that speak about the works of the flesh…the difference:

Galatians 5:19-21 (NKJV)
¹⁹  Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
²⁰  idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
²¹  envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

--Because we are making a determination to walk in the fruit of the Spirit and because to do that we have to avoid the works of the flesh. 

1 Corinthians 6:11 (NLT2) ¹¹ Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

--We can be accused of being narrow minded even judgmental when it comes to sin but let us be very clear; the Word of God says people who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

--When we are filled with the Holy Spirit there should be the evidence of fruit in our lives. If we do not have the fruit of the Spirit, we more than likely are not filled with Holy Spirit.

--Please do not try to tell me that someone who is hateful, has no joy, restless, impatient, rude, mean, unfaithful, coarse, and has no self-control is filled with the Holy Spirit. 

Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV) ²²  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³  gentleness, self-control. 

--Let us look at how the Holy Spirit can help us to produce and manifest the fruit of the Spirit in our lives: The initial physical evidence is speaking in tongues. Ongoing evidence – fruit of Spirit.

1. Bearing the Fruit of the Spirit - Love

--Love, as the fruit of the Spirit, is a supernatural thing...there are times we need God, to love others. There are times that people can be difficult and we need more than what we have in the tank. 

Romans 5:5 (NIV) ⁵  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. 

--Even though love in the Spirit is a supernatural thing we cannot take away the human element and our responsibility. Let me give an example:

Romans 5:1-5 (NKJV)
¹  Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
²  through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
³  And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;
⁴  and perseverance, character; and character, hope.
⁵  Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 

--The fruit of love is supernatural but we continue to grow in our walk with Christ. What these verses are saying is that everything we go through is either helping us grow spiritually or frustrating us. 

--God provides the power we need but we have to be disciplined to use or implement it into our lives. Tribulations can put us under or they can teach us perseverance. We grow!

--As we walk in Holy Spirit and we face tribulations, He gives us supernatural power to be able to persevere which in turn helps us to increase in character. As we grow in character, we have hope in God.

--As we tie this to the fruit of love in our lives, you and I can grow more and more in our faith, in our walk, and in our love because Holy Spirit is right there pouring into our lives. 

2. We Are Motivated by God’s Love.

--The God Who saved us has provided the greatest motivation for us to live in and operate in the fruit of the Spirit - Love. So why should we be motivated to have the fruit of love?

Romans 5:8-10 (NKJV)
⁸  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
⁹  Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
¹⁰  For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

--How could Stephen pray for those who were stoning him unless it was something supernatural?

Acts 7:60 (NKJV) ⁶⁰ Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

--Stephen was full of Holy Spirit…how important is it for us to be filled with God’s power when we have to deal with people who want to bring us harm?

--Hopefully we do not have anyone or any group who is wanting to stone us (take us for granite) but be assured your love will be tested by family, friends, co-workers, brothers, and sisters. It will happen!

--When you are in the middle of your battle or your test, what do you see? Because Stephen was truly full of the Spirit’s power…he saw Jesus at the right hand of God and he saw God’s glory.

--What do we see when faced with difficult people? Do you see anger, revenge, hatred, bitterness and trying to figure someway to pay them back? You are not Spirit-filled!

--Try to grasp this…He was praying for the very people who were trying to destroy him, who were actually killing him. That’s love…supernatural love…that is the fruit of love birthed out of Holy Spirit. 

3. God’s Love Overcomes Evil.

Romans 12:17-21 (NKJV) ¹⁷ Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men.
¹⁸  If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.
¹⁹  Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord.
²⁰  Therefore "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head."
²¹  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 

--Please do not try to tell me that you love God if you do not love your brothers and sisters in Christ. 

1 John 4:19-21 (NLT2) ¹⁹ We love each other because he loved us first.
²⁰  If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?
²¹  And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters. 

--Let me give you a personal example of struggling to love a brother, a fellow pastor, a friend! I took this young pastor under my wing…loved him, fellowshipped with him, and blessed him financially.

--I helped him get started in the ministry, to launch his church…Life Church even gave to him to help him get started. I let him preach in my pulpit. I considered him a very close friend.

--One day I met him on the tennis court to play tennis and I saw several men from our church getting out of their cars. Being innocent and naïve I asked what they were doing there.

--I got one of the biggest punches in the gut when this pastor said boldly and proudly…Pastor Rick, I am coming after your people, especially the ones with money. I was hurt and I was in shock.

--I got my composure enough to say to him…If you will steal another man’s sheep, you will steal another man’s wife…it is spiritual adultery. He called me a very disrespectful name.

--He said, I will build the fastest growing church in Central Florida and it will be the place to be…and I do not care how I do it. I told him it would never stand and I walked away.

--My flesh wanted to lay hands on him but I didn’t. One day while driving past his church that was growing fast (he stole about 7 families from our church – friends), God spoke to me.

--Do you want me to bless you? I knew it was a set-up. I answered, Of course. Pray for this pastor and his church every day! After some intense arguing (I lost), I said yes, Lord, I will pray for them.

--I learned a valuable lesson during that time, you can’t hate or stay angry with someone you pray for every day. I started having compassion for him and found myself weeping over him. This is weird!

--I saw him in a restaurant one day and he was broken…The Lord said for me to go pray for him. All of a sudden supernatural power came over me and the fruit of the Spirit (love) filled my heart.

--He shared how life was going horrible at his church and I wept and prayed for him. I was obedient. He kept going the same direction…his church fell apart, and yes he committed adultery…lost his family.

--God blessed me, those people came back to our church and the same fruit that helped me love this pastor also helped to love these families as they returned…it works. 

1 John 4:13&18 (NKJV)
¹³  By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
¹⁸  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.