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Trinity Community Church
Trinity Community Church
Encounter - The Fruit of the Holy Spirit
Join Pastor John Graner in our “Encounter” series as he explores “Hearing the Voice of God for Yourself.” Drawing from Galatians 5, John delves into the transformative power of the fruit of the Spirit, offering profound insights into living a Spirit-filled life that truly reflects the character of Christ.
John begins by examining Paul’s letter to the Galatians, highlighting the freedom found in Christ that liberates us from the constraints of the law. He emphasizes that salvation comes through Jesus alone, not through adherence to the law, urging us to love and serve one another with genuine intent as outlined in Galatians 5:13-21.
He explores the nine attributes of the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—as essential elements that mirror Christ’s character. Focusing on love as the foundational fruit, John references Romans 5:8 and 1 John 4:7-8, reminding us that without love, our actions become meaningless, echoing 1 Corinthians 13:1-3.
John distinguishes joy from mere happiness, noting that joy comes from truly knowing God and remains steadfast regardless of circumstances. Citing Nehemiah 8:10 and Psalm 30:5, he encourages us to find strength in the joy of the Lord.
Addressing virtues like patience, kindness, and goodness, he acknowledges the challenges of embodying these qualities in today’s fast-paced world. Through personal stories and reflections on Ephesians 4:1-2 and Galatians 6:10, John illustrates how living out these virtues can transform our relationships and positively impact those around us.
He emphasizes that the fruit of the Spirit is essential, not optional, for our sanctification and relationship with Jesus. By submitting to the Holy Spirit, we can exhibit qualities like faithfulness and self-control, truly reflecting Christ in every aspect of our lives.
Don’t miss this inspiring message that encourages us to embrace the Holy Spirit’s guidance, live authentically, and cultivate the fruit of the Spirit daily. Be empowered to hear God’s voice for yourself and walk with Him in true freedom and love.
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In case you haven't caught on, today we're talking about the Spirit and my name is John. I am one of the pastors here and I get the privilege of serving with so many great men in our congregation. It's been awesome and I have the absolute privilege of working with kids, along with Rob and Chris and so many of you and our team. We're all about team here at Trinity, and if you feel called into that ministry, you come and talk to us, because we're always anxious to add on. So this morning our text will be Galatians, chapter 5. And I thought it would be do things a little bit different. I have a special guest, which will be on video, that's going to read a scripture for us. Is that okay? All right.
Speaker 2:For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control Against these things there is no love.
John Graner:All right, talk about hard to follow and family members, you're welcome. Okay, okay, such a blessing, isn't it amazing? Two years old children can remember scripture, right? We know that they can. The things that they can retain are just amazing. So I encourage you, parents, you know, sit with your children and teach them the word of God. It'll stick with them forever. We know that, right, and what a great time in their lives that they can just absorb the word like that. So thank you all for those that helped put this together. We're appreciative of it and I don't know, I think the adorable meter just broke, but we're thankful for that. And I know that the Holy Spirit I've been talking about the Holy Spirit for a couple weeks and I know the fruit of the Spirit may seem kind of familiar to us, right, and something that maybe, hopefully, we have memorized.
John Graner:But just because something is familiar doesn't mean we should overlook it, right, and we know Scott challenged us in the beginning of the series to just absorb the Word of God and to be open to the Word of God, because the Holy Spirit talks to us all the time and the Word of God is alive, and it's just amazing how you can read a verse a hundred times and you go back and read it again and it can just minister to you in a whole different way. So let's not just think because we know all the words and we've said things a hundred times or we are so familiar with scripture that we can overlook it. But we're going to look into scripture today and it's just exciting to know that we do have the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. So, yeah, we're talking about the fruit of the Spirit and it's found in Galatians, chapter five, and Galatians. It's an interesting book and it's written by Paul to the church in Galatia, and Galatia would be modern day Turkey today. I don't really suggest visiting it right now, but it is modern-day Turkey and Paul was writing this letter to the Galatians because they were having trouble with doctrine, they were preaching false doctrine. And when you read through Paul's letters to all the different churches and you read Galatians, you can see that there's kind of a different tone. He's talking very strongly to them because of the false doctrine and the false doctrine that they were teaching was a lot of.
John Graner:The Jewish believers were teaching that salvation comes through Jesus, through Christ, but also obedience to the law right, namely circumcision. And we know that Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, but by me and Paul, very upset about this false doctrine that has crept in, and was just very strong with them to say no, it's Jesus, right, jesus alone, there's freedom from the law. Moses gave the law, but now we have freedom from the law, and salvation is not through obedience to the law. There's nothing you can do to add or subtract from God's word, but it's through Jesus and Jesus alone.
John Graner:So let's look at some verses. We'll start in the beginning of the chapter, chapter 5. Again. We'll start at verse 1 and I think we'll just go to verse 6. Okay, it's chapter 5.
John Graner:I think we're chapter 5, guys, here we go, all right, for freedom. Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Right so God Christ has given us freedom. And if we can move down to verse six, we'll just skip down a little bit.
John Graner:For in Christ Jesus, either circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. And this is what Paul is preaching to the church in Galatia to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. You don't have to add to it. You can't take away from it. And as Paul was so strong in his faith, today, in today's world, we need to be strong. Also. We need to remember that it's Jesus period. Right, it's not Jesus plus plus this or that or something else, but it's Jesus period. And along with this freedom, paul warns them that we have freedom from sin, not freedom to sin. Correct, big difference, right, big difference. Sin enslaves us, sin causes bondage in our lives, but the salvation of the Lord gives us freedom from it.
John Graner:So let's check out some verses in this chapter. We'll go through verse 13 through 21. Pulling it up, for you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love, serve one another, for the whole law is fulfilled in one word you shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh, for the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law and we're thankful for that.
John Graner:Right Now, the works of the flesh are evident sexual immorality, sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do these things will not inherit the kingdom of God. I don't know about you, but when I compare reading the fruit of the Spirit and then we read the desires of the flesh, I feel darkness, I feel a heaviness, right when I read the description of all the fruit, all the desires of the flesh. And it's so important Paul's bringing out these things here that there is a difference between what the Spirit gives us and what our flesh desires or what the enemy wants to entrap us in. And I know that sometimes we can just concentrate on the positive. But the reason the positive is there is because we fight an enemy and there's negativity out there and there's sin and there's destruction. And Satan is a liar right, he's a liar and he's a deceiver and he has such a great way of making all of our fleshly desires seem so wonderful and so attractive, but we know that when we follow that path it ends in death and destruction. And to compare it to love and joy, peace, you know, it's just a wonderful thing.
John Graner:Sometimes I think we get the wrong idea of God right, that God's just trying to strike us down. But he's a God of love, he's a God of compassion. We have the Holy Spirit that helps us in these areas. We no longer have to be enslaved by sin, but we can have freedom. Because of what Jesus did on the cross and we've heard it so much today already, because of His death and His resurrection, we now have freedom. We don't have to live his death and his resurrection. We now have freedom. We don't have to live in the bondage of sin and all that.
John Graner:And I love as the verses continue and we've heard it a few times today and maybe we'll hear it a few more times but in verse 22,. And there's that little word and we talk about it all the time here. But Paul goes through the list of our desires of the flesh and the dangers of them and how they can destroy us and entangle us, and there's that little word right. But and here comes redemption, right. So thankful for Jesus so thankful that even though there's death and destruction and sin, there's always redemption right. There's always God calling us. It's not the condemnation right. We know the difference between that condemnation guilty, without any hope of redemption. But this is redemption.
John Graner:And then we hear that, but the fruit of the Spirit. And I don't know about you, but when I read the two, I know which one I want, I know which one I did. There's no comparison. Do I want to be angry and anxious or do I want to have love and peace? And I'm so thankful for that. And I want to look a little bit at the beginning here, because the goodness of God is so great and I know when we saw our kids today and all the things they were doing. It's just. I'm so privileged to be able to work with these kids and I remember as my kids were growing up that I always prayed over them that they would see the evil of sin and the goodness of God, right. So I encourage us as parents and grandparents and family members and all the kids in our church pray over them that their eyes are open to the evil of sin, right. I know some of these words in here and some of this scripture may feel heavy and all but our kids or the younger generation need to see that sin is dark. There is darkness in sin, but there's goodness in God and to follow after goodness of God.
John Graner:And in the next verse we see but the fruit of the spirit. And this word fruit in the scripture here is referring to the natural product of a living thing, the natural product of a living thing, the natural product of a living thing. So you have an orange tree and the natural product of an orange tree is, wow, you guys are fast, right, and that's what it's going to produce. So it refers to the natural product of a living thing and it's also singular. All right, it's not fruits plural of the Spirit, but it's singular fruit of the Spirit. So we see nine attributes here, but they all go together in unity, right, they're unified together. It's different than the gifts of the Spirit and we'll be going through them throughout this series and we know that some may have gifts of prophecy, some may have the gifts of tongues, some may have and all these different gifts and each one of us, god bless us with gifts and some are different than others.
John Graner:You can't pick and choose the fruit of the Spirit. Right, you can't say, well, you know, I really like this love, that's really good, and you know, peace, yeah, let's take that, this goodness, I don't really feel like that today. Self-control what are you kidding me? You know we can't pick and choose them. They go together, they're unified, all right, the Lord has put them there as an example of his character. It's the character of Jesus that we're looking at here. Because of the fruit of the Spirit, they all represent the character of Christ, okay, and also, it's not the fruit of the believer.
John Graner:Right, as we read the scripture, they do not say the fruit of the spirit. Okay, it's the spirit that produces the fruit. Right, we can't produce it on our own, you know. It does not say the fruit of John on his best day, being the best version of himself, whatever that means. I don't even know what that means, but that's what they say.
John Graner:All right, it doesn't say that because on my best day, I do not have the power to produce any of this. Right, on my best day, I cannot love the way Jesus loved On my best day. I am not good the way Jesus was On my best day. I don't have patience, and that's a lot of days. Okay, let's be honest, because we know that the Spirit is working in all of us, right, we know that together, that we're going through this journey of sanctification, but I feel like a lot of times, we feel like we have to do it on our own right. We know the fruit of the Spirit love, joy, peace and I have to have these things in my life and I need to do what I need to do to have them in my life.
John Graner:And what happens? We fail, right, we come up short, day by day, and the Lord is still there. The Lord still has mercy, he still has forgiveness, he's patient with us. What do we call this? Holy Spirit is called the comforter, right, so he's there with us, trying to train us and lead us and guide us, but we're trying to do it on our own. When it's not the fruit of the believer but it's the fruit of of the Spirit dwelling inside of us. When we come to the point in our lives where we realize that we need the Lord and we need a Savior, and he comes into our heart and our lives and changes our minds and changes our direction, and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit comes into our life. That's where the power is Not on our own. There's no self-help here.
John Graner:Okay, it's Jesus period and the Holy Spirit producing these attributes, these nine attributes that reflect the character of Christ, as we can see here. And last week Tyler mentioned to us that the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus. I don't remember which point it was, but I know it was in there. The Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus by producing fruit. I was a little worried. I thought he might steal more of this week, but he did great. He just ended it there. But that's the Holy Spirit's job. It produces the fruit that glorifies Jesus, the character of Jesus inside of us. That needs to be in there and it needs to be evident, right, Like I said, we can't just pick and choose on our good days, but we have to realize that we represent Christ, we're followers, we're believers in Jesus.
John Graner:But we have to realize that we represent Christ, we're followers, we're believers in Jesus and God has put that Holy Spirit inside of us to give us that strength. Because it's not easy, is it Right? It's easy to memorize, it's easy to quote, it's fun to get up and we sing the song, and you know, we know it back and forth. But what about living it. You know, is that not the hard part? And this is not condemnation in any way. Guys, we know we're preaching to all of us today. Right, we're all in the same struggle, trying to honor the Lord and trying to do what God has commanded us to do.
John Graner:But I just realized throughout my Christian life that when I really understood the fact that I don't have to do this, I don't have to do this in my own power, that I have the Holy Spirit and he's the one who placed these things in our lives, and he has the power inside of us to help us show it right, is that not a big relief? I know to me it was a big relief to realize I don't have to produce all this, right, I don't have to produce all this, and I know we've all heard before. You know, a Christian, if an orange tree produces oranges, then a Christian should produce these things, these qualities, the fruit of the Holy Spirit. But that's not true. We're not the ones who are producing it, it's the Holy Spirit inside of us, and I'm so thankful for that that we do have that Holy Spirit comforts us, guides us, directs us, because without Him it's impossible.
John Graner:So I feel like some people may be discouraged. You know you may be battling with some of these things. It's like, ah, over and, over and over again. I just can never have victory. You know, let's examine ourselves and see what are we doing? Are we trying to produce these attributes, the character of Christ, or are we allowing the Holy Spirit to do the work? Because we can't do it. It's only the Holy Spirit.
John Graner:Let's go ahead and look at the individual ones, and we're not going to spend a lot of time today. We've had a lot of things going on and you know, family Sunday is a special Sunday around here. We do it every fifth week every month where there's a fifth week If you're wondering if you've not been here before, or maybe you've been here a few times on the fifth Sundays, when they pop up, it's Family Day and we bring the kids in and we do these kind of things and we get to share a little bit different service than we normally would have. But love is the first one, right. But the fruit of the Spirit is love. It's agape love, this love that's selfless, it's not concerned about ourself, and this blessing of love is foundational. Is it an accident that Paul mentioned at first? No, right, if we don't have love, forget it, right, we could. We can stop right there. Whatever we're doing, if we're not doing it in love, it's not going to matter.
John Graner:Let's check out Romans, chapter five, verse eight, verse 8,. But God shows his love for us and that while we were still sinners, christ died for us, not once we cleaned up our lives, not when we became better people, not when we were beneficial to society, but while we were dead in our sins. Jesus died for us. That's the sins. Jesus died for us. That's the love that God had for us. And in 1 John, 4, 7 through 8, beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. And we can go on to 1 Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 1 through. We'll go to 3.
John Graner:If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have and if I deliver up my body to be burned but have not love. I gain nothing Foundational here and we'll be going through the gifts of the Spirit in the next few weeks, but if we do not exercise those gifts with love, what did we just hear? It's just a loud noise. I grew up with a drummer in my house. I understand loud noise. I understand clanging cymbal.
John Graner:So this verse is I can relate to this verse right? So let's concentrate on that. What are we? What we are doing? Are we doing it out of love? Are we doing it for self-motivation, for a good feeling? When Jesus died for us, it wasn't for a good feeling, it was out of love. So the first characteristic of Christ and the fruit of the Spirit is love. Second one joy. Are you thankful for joy this morning? We have a lot of tragedy we've spoke about today and Scott did such a great job this morning praying for those in need, and there's a lot of believers, a lot of people that have been affected.
John Graner:Whether you're a believer or non-believer, but I know there's joy. It may sound kind of harsh, but there's people are living in the joy of the Lord today because it's not happy, right? We know that joy is not dependent on our circumstance. Happiness depends on circumstance right, we're happy if UT beats Florida, right, it makes us happy. If they lose, we're sad, right, and whatever situations we're in, happiness comes and goes it, but joy is there, right?
John Graner:So let's check out nehemiah 8, 10. Then he said to them go on your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready for for this day is holy to our Lord and do not be grieved. And here's the key, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. It's not as long as you're happy, then we're good, as long as whatever you're doing makes you happy. No, it's. The joy of the Lord is our strength. And I know, looking at it, at many of you, that you've had hardships in your life and you've had devastating things happen in your life, and you can testify to the fact that, even though you may be sad and distraught, that knowing God and understanding the true meaning of knowing God is real in your life, that's what's getting you through it. Right, that's the joy that's there In Psalms 35, chapter 30, verse 5,. For his anger is but for a moment and his favor is for a lifetime. For a moment and his favor is for a lifetime.
John Graner:Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning, right, and I know these are again easy verses to read. But when you're in the middle of that night and you're desperate and you're not sure which direction to go, why is this happening? It's not quite as easy, is it? But the joy of the Lord is our strength and he's there in those darkest, darkest times. And that's so encouraging to me because you know, we can't just fake it, right? We can't just, oh, praise the Lord, everything's falling apart in my life. Yippee, all right, what does that do? That doesn't do anything. But when we're weeping, it doesn't say you should never weep, you should never cry, you should always be smiling and a Christian should never have a bad day, right? It doesn't say that. It's indicating that there are troubles, that there are desperate times. You're weeping, all right, and you may weep all night long, and it may be a season in your life it could be months, it could be years that there's weeping, but joy will come. Joy is in the morning. Peace, love, joy, peace.
John Graner:Philippians 4, verses 6 and 7. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Isn't that just a wonderful promise of the Lord? We still have to hold fast to the first part of the verse. Remember, we have to be steadfast, we have to be thankful, we have to be in communication of the verse. Remember, we have to be steadfast, we have to be thankful, we have to be in communication with the Lord. Right, that's part of it. We can't just again be going off on our own and wondering why we don't have peace when we've not laid all of our cares and all of our anxiousness at the feet of Jesus. You know why is prayer always our last option? It should be our first response, but so many times in my own life I've done everything else. You know I need to pray about it.
John Graner:It's like what I've got it all backwards. But just as a believer, knowing that we have the peace of the Lord, right, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, brings us peace in our growing, in our struggles, in our failures. The Holy Spirit's still there to comfort us and give us peace. It's a wonderful thing. Patience. I think we can just skip this one. I don't think anyone has a problem with patience. I know I. You know I don't have a problem with patience. Patience, ephesians 4, 1 and 2. I therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. Urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing one another in love. And we have a few of the fruits in here, don't we Patience?
John Graner:We live in a society that is impatient, right? Our whole culture is kind of engulfed and we're programmed to be impatient. I know, when I went to Africa a couple years ago it's Tanzania Pastor Mark was with us and I don't know why, but he specifically told Derek and I you're on what? Tanzania time? Okay, you are not on your time, you're not on American time. You're here in Tanzania, you're on African time, all right, tanzania time, tanzanian time. You know we are so conditioned to just, oh my. Anything that interrupts our daily lives or causes us to have to veer in a different direction or whatever just gets us so upset. You know, I know I struggle with this. I can be coming to church at eight in the morning. There's not a person on the road, and then one person pulls in front of me. I'm 20 minutes early, but I'm still upset Because I know I can make it to church in 10 minutes and maybe today I can do it in 9, right, struggle with that being impatient, and we all do. But aren't you thankful that we serve a Lord that's patient? The Holy Spirit is so patient with us. I just can't imagine what it would be like if the Lord didn't have patience with me. But His love is patient, it's enduring, it lasts. The many times I've failed, the many times I just couldn't do what the Lord was calling me to do. But he was patient with me. Think of the life of Jesus. Three years with the disciples, yeah right, three years, jesus, god in the flesh, walking with them, teaching them, training them and over, you know. And we are no different right. We are no different than the disciples. It's easy to mock them and to what's wrong with them. They had Jesus in the flesh. Right, we have Jesus also and we have the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. Yet we still struggle, right. But we serve a patient God and I was just praying that the Lord would help me in this area to be more patient in so many different areas of our lives.
John Graner:Kindness, all right. Ephesians 4, verse 32 says be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God and Christ forgave you. And I love the way the scripture points out who God is, who Jesus is. And it's not just you need to be kind, it's need to be kind because Jesus is kind, because the Lord is kind and he's put kindness in our lives. And I just think it's amazing that we live in a world where kindness is like breaking news. You ever notice it's like, oh, waitress in Chicago gets a $100 tip, oh, so great. You know somebody was kind to this waitress. Is that where we've gone? You know, kindness is so rare in our world, in our society, that the least little bit and that's a great thing. And if you want to give a tip like that. God bless you and it's awesome. We need to do more things like that. But it's so odd, anymore People don't wow, they're being kind. You know it's unexpected kindness. But as believers, it is so important that we show kindness, right, that we're not just so quick to judge, quick to tear down oh, they should have known better, they should know but to show kindness one to another, goodness which kind of goes together with kindness.
John Graner:Galatians, chapter 6, verse 10. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. All right, and this goodness implies action. Now we had a serve day yesterday and Derek thanked you all so much and it was such a blessing to see our congregation being out there serving others out of goodness. Right, it's an action it's doing and the people that we were serving. We're not trying to get them to come to Trinity, right, that wasn't our motive, that wasn't what we were trying to do. We're just trying to show the love of Christ. We're just trying.
John Graner:We see people in need. Just like the verse said, as we have opportunity, when we see somebody in need, we should be kind, we should show goodness to those. We don't need to pray and ask the Lord. Right, lord, should I show goodness to these people? He's like well, yeah, you know you shouldn't just walk on paths and follow the example of Christ being good to people. And we know that goodness does not get us into heaven. We know that, right. But we also understand that God has given us that command to be good to others, to show the love of Christ by being good, by doing good things to them and also to those who are in the household of faith.
John Graner:It's not just showing goodness to those that are lost, right, sometimes, because we're in the family of Christ. Sometimes, maybe, we don't show goodness to each other that much, right, just like in our family, you have your family setting. A lot of times you say things when you're at home or with your family because it's comfortable and they love you, no matter what you do. And you know we get a little lazy in how we treat one another. That's not the word says we should be good during these times too, whenever the opportunity there. Faithfulness, faithfulness such a wonderful word. Faithful, loyal. Everyone should have a friend that they can rely on, right, we know we have Jesus. He's always there for us the power of the Holy Spirit inside of us. But what a great character Christ had of faithfulness.
John Graner:And when you know you're getting in late, at 4 am in the airport and your ride didn't show up, who are you going to call? Right, it's not a 90s movie, so don't think that way. Who would you call? You have that and I know you're all thinking of a person right now that you know that you could call, that would come to you in that need, right, faithful. So are we being faithful to the Lord the way that you know he is so faithful to us? It's just a wonderful thing. We can be faithful in our giving. We can be faithful in honoring the Lord, faithful in our witness. There's so many areas that faithfulness goes into and I know, you know for myself I need to improve in so many areas and it's through the power of the Holy Spirit that's made possible. But I'm so thankful for the Lord that he is faithful, above all when we don't even deserve it.
John Graner:Proverbs, chapter 3, verse 3 and 4, let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you. Bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. That should always be our prayer that the Lord could find us faithful when we stand before Him. Well done, good and faithful servant. This is something that's very important to the Lord our faithfulness and again mirroring the character of Christ, how faithful he is to us. It's just such a wonderful thing.
John Graner:Gentleness, proverbs 15, verse 1. Gentleness Proverbs, chapter 15, verse 1. A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. Is that evident in our world right now? It is so easy to defend ourselves. It's so easy to come at somebody and well, I won that argument.
John Graner:I told they said this and then I said that and I just, you know that's not what the Lord has commanded us to do. And you know, being gentle does not mean we are weak. It takes a lot more strength to keep our mouth shut. Right, it's easy to share what you think or what you feel or how the other person is wrong and so on, but it takes spiritual strength, it takes the power of the Holy Spirit to keep. I know, keep my mouth shut. It definitely needs the power of the Holy Spirit because I want to defend what I believe and that's what the Lord is saying Be gentle.
John Graner:And we think of the example of Christ. Wow, you know, people accusing him, beating him, spitting on him, cursing at him. The Son of God, I'm here to save these people. No, it wasn't his no, it never entered his mind. He was gentle, he did not speak harshly. It's also in Matthew, chapter 5, right, we see the Beatitudes the meek shall inherit the earth. Again, it's not weakness, and it takes a whole lot of strength to be quiet and to be meek and to be understanding than to just mouth off.
John Graner:And I know, like I said, in our society today, especially during all these, the political time that we're in right now, it's just everywhere, right, everyone is just anxious to say what they think or what they feel. But the Lord has given us strength and the Holy Spirit is there to help us to, when it's time to speak, speak with gentleness, speak with love, go all the way back to the beginning. Are the things that we're saying? Are we doing it in love or are we doing it just to prove a point or win an argument? Last, self-control. I love these verses Titus, chapter 2, verses 11 and 12.
John Graner:For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age. I think the NIV says, training us to say no, we don't have to give in to the desires of the flesh. We don't have to do that to the desires of the flesh, we don't have to do that. We are a new creation and too often I think that the enemy likes to just bombard us with that lie. Well, that's just the way you are. People need to accept you for the way you are, whatever issues you have. And the Holy Spirit is like no, the character of Christ is inside of you. The Holy Spirit is producing that inside of us, that being able to keep in control. The Holy Spirit can produce that in our lives.
John Graner:It is not easy, is it? It is not. It is much easier to just do what we want when we want, and you know, that's it, that's the way it is. I can do what we want when we want, and that's it. That's the way it is. I can do what I want and that's kind of the attitude and the atmosphere in society. But the Lord is there to help us. If we're not asking him, then we're not going to be able to stay in control.
John Graner:And just again, the example of Christ self-control. He did not let anybody rattle him or get him upset, but he was true to the mission that he was there to complete the death on the cross and to do it for us because of his love for us. So we do not have to fall into that line. That's it, it's not going to matter. I remember when, some years ago, I had an issue on my back or something I forget what it was and I went to the chiropractor and he worked on me for a number of weeks and I said, well, that's just going to be the way it is. He didn't like hearing that. No, no, no, really, I just didn't want to keep spending money.
John Graner:But we don't have to fall into that trap where, well, you know, that's just the way I am. No, the Lord wants to give us victory. Right, there's victory in Jesus, right, jack, victory in Jesus, victory in the Holy Spirit, and we do not have to fall into that lie. And through the power of the Holy Spirit and these nine attributes, the nine characters of Christ, we can live victorious, right, we can have that victory that is ours. And here's the thing you know we need to exercise the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. Okay, the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. The fruit of the Spirit is not optional. It's not optional. The Lord has given us the fruit of the Spirit to use it. We cannot just say well, you know no.
John Graner:The Lord has given us the fruit of the Spirit and he wants us to tap into the power of the Holy Spirit, that same power that raised Jesus from the Spirit, and he wants us to tap into the power of the Holy Spirit, that same power that raised Jesus from the dead, that lives inside of us, and the Holy Spirit producing this fruit, not trying to produce it on our own, but trying to understand the fact that it's the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit alone, that produces that fruit in our lives. That's what gives us the victory right. That's what gives us the victory right. That's what gives us the strength to go on, realizing that the Lord is faithful, right, the Lord is gentle, the Lord is good. So thankful that the Lord is good.
John Graner:Today we also need the fruit of the Spirit to share the gospel with others. You know, and it's sometimes can be difficult sharing with others, because you you feel, are they gonna mock me? Are they gonna be angry with me? All those things go through our minds. But we need the fruit of the spirit in our lives, active, uh, actively, um, doing what we need to be doing, showing people that we love the lord. You know, know, it's one thing to talk about it. It's one thing to say we're Christians, it's one thing to let people know we're going to church and all that. But they see the difference, right, they see the difference in our lives. And imagine if we were able to show people these nine characteristics, these qualities that Jesus, the characteristics of Jesus that he showed us, if we were showing them in the world. Wow, you know what a difference it would make. And I just know in my own life. I need the fruit of the Spirit in my marriage, I need it in my relationship with my children and my family and people that I work with, places I go, in our church, family, here and in other interactions with other believers. I need the fruit of the Spirit. So let's not just overlook it as something we've heard, that we know about. Let's really dig into it and understand that this is the fruit of the Spirit and that it is essential in our Christian walk Again, not optional, but it's essential for us to go forward in our sanctification, in our life with Jesus and just so thankful again that we have a Holy Spirit that is the great comforter, that is patient and he is kind and he's all of these characteristics, and I just know that, when I submit to the Holy Spirit and to Jesus, that these things are possible in my life, and I know that we can have victory in these areas. So let's be thankful for the Holy Spirit this morning, be thankful for the fruit of the Holy Spirit and let's just actively show it to others. Right, let's actively demonstrate the character of Christ. All right, we're going to pray.
John Graner:Lord, we thank you so much for your love. Lord, we thank you so much for giving us the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is such a great comforter in times of trouble. You're patient with us, you're understanding and, lord, just help us to understand the power that is inside of us, that can control our lives, so we can have self-control, we can be patient. We don't have to just believe the lies of the enemy. So, lord, give us strength and Lord, help us to be conscious of others. Lord, help us to walk in a way that we can help one another, lord, that, as a brother or sister is struggling in different areas of their lives. That we would not be judgmental, but that we would show the gifts of the Holy Spirit and that we would hold true to the fruit of the Spirit, that we would encourage one another in our faith. Lord, help us to be stronger. Help us to love you more, jesus, and we thank you for it in your name Amen.
