The Fruit of the Spirit - 1

The Fruit of the Spirit - 1

Subject: Learning to Walk in the Fruit of the Spirit

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 that I feel will be a parallel series with Sunday Mornings – Make Disciples. It is all about walking out our faith every day.

--Notice the verses about the fruit of the Spirit are in opposition to the verses that speak about the works of the flesh…Notice 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…notice carefully the sexual sins mentioned in these verses:

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NLT2)
⁹  Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality,
¹⁰  or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.
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.

--Sometimes 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.

--This is not any of the pastors at Life Church or even the Assemblies of God…it is the Word of God which is our final authority when it comes to truth.

--But when we are filled with the Holy Spirit there should be the evidence of fruit in our lives...may I say it gently but pointedly, if we do not have the fruit of the Spirit, we more than likely are not filled with the 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. They are filled with something for sure.

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. 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. And 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. 

--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 something supernatural was going on in his life and spirit man?

Acts 7:55-60 (NKJV)
⁵⁵  But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,
⁵⁶  and said, "Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!"
⁵⁷  Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord;
⁵⁸  and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
⁵⁹  And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."
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 being full of the 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.

--Again, 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. 

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.

--Rick, do you want me to bless you? I knew it was a set-up. I answered, Of course I do. 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.
¹⁴  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.
¹⁵  Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
¹⁶  And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
¹⁷  Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.
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.