Embracing the Fruit of the Spirit in 2025

So let me tell you how this works. For those, it's new to you. We give the first. Everybody say the first. We give the first to God. The first of our year, 21 days we're going to spend in prayer. 21 days, that's three weeks. That's three Sundays. So at the end of the sermon for those three Sundays, we'll have an altar call. You can come and stand at the altar at our campuses. [00:40:28] (22 seconds)


Real freedom is not giving in to do anything you want to do. Real freedom is when you give your life to doing what God wants you to do. That may mean that you're called to be a missionary like those that we just prayed for. It may be that you're called to the marketplace. Public, private sector. And you are a missionary. And your mission field where you are. [00:46:19] (24 seconds)


He wants to grow us. He wants us to bear fruit. He wants us to be a blessing to others and point others to him. Now I told you three places it talks about the spirit. There are three phrases that I want you to get. The first one is this. Write it down. Number one. Live by the spirit. You can't live the Christian life living in the. flesh or living according to the old nature. You have to live by the Spirit. [00:48:57] (25 seconds)


They're in conflict with each other so that you are not to do whatever you want. Now we're talking about fruit of the Spirit, and it's produced by the Spirit. It's produced by the Spirit. by live by the spirit all right life everybody say life fruit is the outcome of life it's not external it's internal it's not like a christmas tree that's artificial and you just hang some beautiful pretty ornaments on it love and joy and no no no no it's like an apple tree and an apple tree produces apples why because of that source of life within it and an orange tree will produce oranges why because of the sap and the source of life that's in it [00:50:03] (45 seconds)


Fasting is a way to put your flesh to death. Write this down. What you starve dies and what you feed thrives. So we're talking about put your flesh to death. You can do a complete fast, that's liquid only. You can do a selective fast, and that would be a certain food, like vegetables only. You can do a partial fast, like you eat one meal a day. Or you can do a soul fast, you just give up social media or TV or secular music or video games or whatever. [00:56:50] (27 seconds)


And you do what the Holy Spirit leads you to do. We're talking about the crucified life here, living by the Spirit. Prayer is going to connect you to God. Fasting is going to disconnect you from the world. And people, listen, Christians try to live the Christian life apart from Christ, and you can't do it. John 15, 5 says, I am the vine, you're the branches. If you abide in me, remain in me, and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do how much? How much? You can do nothing. [00:57:31] (36 seconds)


And the Bible says that in the believer, we've got a river of life that is rising up within us. And so, I ask you, are you a lake Christian or a river Christian? And let me tell you, there are lake churches and there are river churches, all right? We want to be a river Christian and a river church. Live by the Spirit means it's not just church. It's life. [00:58:21] (25 seconds)


You can't love God, love your neighbor, and love your enemies in your own flesh. It's only by the Spirit of God. So he starts out here, but the fruit of the Spirit is love. All right? The fruit of the Spirit. It's love. Fruit. It comes as a total package. It's singular, not plural. So it's not nine different fruits, but rather it's like a bouquet of mixed flowers. All right? And they come in bunches of three. [01:02:29] (33 seconds)


Love's at the top of the list, because God is, you say it, love. Love. Love. Cannot love without someone to love. So the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, the triune God, has been in love and loving one another for all of eternity, and God didn't create us because he needed us. He created us because he wanted to share that love with us. [01:04:07] (23 seconds)


And what I'm preaching is what I want you. And what I want you to long for and pray and ask God to do inside of you in these 21 days of prayer. Are you getting anything out of this sermon? Listen, God is love. It's who he is. It's who he makes us to be. And we love him only because he first loved us. Love. Everybody say love. It's a noun and it's a verb. It's something you say and it's something you do. Don't love just in word, but love in deed. Word and deed. It's vertical. And it's horizontal. [01:09:46] (34 seconds)


God demonstrated his love for us in this, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And you know the verse. God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son, one and only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have life. Everlasting life. Bow with me for prayer. [01:14:47] (19 seconds)


Heavenly Father, I thank you for this journey you're going to take us on for 21 days. I thank you for the journey of studying the fruit of the Spirit and what you want to produce in us, making us more like Jesus. And God, I pray, knowing that we are aware of our need, we can't do this without you. I pray, knowing apart from you, we can do nothing. So we abandon ourself. We abandon our sin. [01:17:05] (28 seconds)