The Fruit Of The Spirit
Part 1 - Love
In order to set up this series, we all need to answer a very simple question: How Will I Live? Will I let the Holy Spirit guide my life, or will I be led by my sinful nature? Galatians 5:16-25 (NLT):
“16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. 18 But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.
19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.”
So, how am I going to live? Will I let the Holy Spirit guide my life, or will I be led by my sinful nature?
When I Let The Holy Spirit Guide My Life, My Life Looks Like (Gal.5:22-23)… Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control
When I Let The Sinful Nature Guide My Life, My Life Looks Like (Gal.5:19-21)…
Sexual Immorality, Impurity, Lustful Pleasures, Idolatry, Sorcery, Hostility, Quarreling, Jealousy, Outbursts Of Anger, Selfish Ambition, Dissension, Division, Envy, Drunkenness, Wild Parties, and Other Sins Like These.
The Guiding Force of My Life Produces The
Fruit is not about our intensity, but our intimacy.
Fruit is not about our effort, but our engagement.
Fruit is not about our power, but His Presence.
Fruit is not about compulsion, but about connection.
Fruit does not come from our grind, but our growth.
Fruit is not about our work, but our worship.
When my connection breaks down, my fruit dries out. When my intimacy wanes, my fruit fades.
Why Talk About The Fruit of the Spirit?
- Our Calling Is
- Mental and
- We Are Called To Be Counter-
- We Are Called To
- Actions Speak Louder Than
You can’t
John 15:4-5 “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
Fruit #1: Love
Ephesians 3:14-19 (NIV):
“…I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
Paul Prayed That Believers Would Be…
Rooted & Grounded In Love:
Matthew 22:36-39 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law? Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
John 13:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 15:12 “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”
John 15:17 “This is my command: Love each other.”
Romans 13:8-9 “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Galatians 5:14 “The entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
James 2:8 “If you really keep the royal law in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing right.”
1 Corinthians 16:14 “Do everything in love.”
1 John 3:11 “For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.”
1 John 4:11-12 “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”
1 Peter 1:22 “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.”
1 John 3:23 “And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.”
Galatians 5:6 “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”
So HOW do we develop this Fruit of the Spirit – LOVE – in our lives? Some Examples:
THE LOVE OF JESUS TOTALLY TRANSFORMED JOHN I John 4:18-19 “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. We love Him because He first loved us.”
Luke 7:36-47 “…her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
How Do We Develop Love?
1. Understand The
2.
1 John 4:19 “We love because he first loved us.”
Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
3.
Colossians 3:14 “And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”
Matthew 6:21 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Whatever I love becomes an obsession. Whatever I become obsessed with, I imitate. Whatever I imitate, I become. What I love changes me into the image of what I love.
Jeremiah 31:3: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”