The Fruit Of Which Spirit? | Associate Pastor Chad Erickson

turn with me in your bibles to galatians chapter 5 and verse 22. i do want to say we had a text message sent to our family this afternoon from the stevens family so thankful so thankful that erica today has been brought home she's been discharged from the hospital she's been there for months y'all and i'm so thankful mom and dad said we're bringing her home this evening and say we're bringing her to church on sunday and y'all i cannot wait for the day should have been dead and gone but jesus came along listen we saw her in the worst shape and the worst case that you'd imagine i see you but god god brought us through it and we're so thankful for that report today amen god we're so thankful galatians chapter 5 and verse 22 i hope you have a handout you kind of see where we're going tonight bible says but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace longsuffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against such there is no law tonight i'm going to kind of be bringing three uh ideas together because the spirit of god has fruit that wants to be born within us he wants to bear it within us but there's also a spirit of darkness that has fruit and it wants to bear its fruit in our life the spirit of the deceiver has fruit and he's offering a fruit that he wants to bear within our lives and i know that it might seem that the spirit of darkness and the spirit of the deceiver are the same but but i i want to say that there is a there's a difference because darkness doesn't care and we're going to follow you're going to follow along what i'm saying in a moment but darkness doesn't care because people who openly bear the fruit of evil they don't care their theme song is the highway to hell they they don't care they just don't care who sees it who notices it however the spirit and this is what i really want to focus on tonight the spirit of the deceiver now his fruit are those that do care what others think it's the fruit that looks real but it's artificial it's fake it's counterfeit and so those three fruit is what i really want to i really want to kind of just draw our attention to the fruit of the spirit of god the fruit of the spirit of darkness in the fruit of the spirit of the deceiver those three things that we've got to make a choice and this is what my title is tonight which spirit which fruit will we choose to bear in our life the fruit of which spirit you may be seeing and i want you to turn with me in your bibles to romans chapter 8. we're going to read 14 verses because it's very important that we understand where the fruit of the spirit is drawn from i'm just going to teach tonight i don't intend to preach i just want to teach on the fruit but romans 8 and 1 goes like this it says there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in christ jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit for the law of the spirit of the life in christ jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh god sending his own son in the weakness or in the likeness of the sinful flesh and for sin condemn sin in the flesh that righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us everybody say in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit for they that are after the flesh do mine the things of the flesh but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit for to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace because the carnal mind is enmity against god for it is not subject to the law of god neither indeed can be so then they that are in the flesh cannot please god but ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit if so be that the spirit of god dwell in you now if any man have not the spirit of christ he is none of his and if christ be in you everyone say in you the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousness but if the spirit of him that raised up jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you therefore brethren we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh for if he lived after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body you shall live for as many as are led by the spirit of god they are the sons of god so what this is simply saying is if we have the spirit of god or the gift of the holy ghost within us then the same powerful spirit that raised jesus from the dead is now alive within us and the very spirit becomes the seed that begins to grow and over a season of time begins to blossom into fruit and it is this seed or this fruit that is bore that is the second evidence of the holy ghost and we know it as the fruit of the spirit so the first evidence we understand and if you don't maybe you're new to pentecost i'm just going to hit this very quickly but we understand that the first initial evidence to receiving the gift of the holy ghost is to speak in another tongue or to speak in other tongues it took place on the day of pentecost if you're here today and you've been pentecostal you've been apostolic for any length of time you've heard acts chapter 2 preached matter of fact brother nolan uh he even quoted it this evening when we were in our prayer service but i want to just in case you're here for the first time i want you to understand there are two evidences of receiving the gift of the holy ghost the first one is what they received on the day of pentecost when pentecostals fully come verse 1 they were all with one accord in one place and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled or the house where they were sitting and there appeared unto them clothing tongues like as of fire and it said upon each of them and here is our key verse and they were all filled with the holy ghost or the spirit of god and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them the uh the utterance and i'm not gonna go into this pastor just preached a beautiful message about tongues on sunday if you want to know more about tongues watch sunday morning's message that pastor preached but tongues is just the first evidence but it is what we apostolics we pentecostals we tend to gravitate towards that first evidence and we are very proud to have the revelation of the necessity of the holy ghost in our lives and so therefore in our services we're very quick and this is a good thing i'm not putting it down but we're very quick to make sure people are repenting as we should and we're we're very quick to put them in the water and getting them re baptized from mission their sins as we should and we're very we're excited about we tweet about it we put it on facebook how many receive the gift of the holy ghost by speaking another tongue and as an evidence of speaking of the tongue and we should that those are all necessities and they are all necessary to make it into heaven however that's not where it ends that's just do we understand that's just the beginning we focus on that and and an evangelist if if you're an evangelist in the house that's what you focus on as an evangelist because that's what your job is to get them through that first evidence get them filled with the holy ghost get their journey started but then we as the church then it's our job to disciple them and in discipline them that's when the fruit of the spirit begin to grow and that is the second evidence it's it's obvious not only to the person but it's also obvious to everybody around them i thank god that i see people in our altars receiving the gift of the holy ghost you say how do you know well it's obvious i just preached it it's evident because they begin to speak in another tongue that that i know is not english and it's not another tongue it's not another language of the world it's it's a heavenly language that's been given to them as proof as an evidence that they've received the spirit of god but it even makes me it gives me even more joy when i start to see the fruit of the spirit begin to grow in their lives when i see them begin to cultivate something within themselves that everybody around them people at work know something's different now they don't know where they've been they might not even know them well but they just understand something is different something has happened i i don't know what kind of experience they had but something has happened and it's not just because they smile more it's not because just because they change the way they dress there are fruit within them that are beginning to grow the fruit of the spirit so let's read in galatians 5 and 22. i read a couple of the verses but i want to kind of go a little bit further i want to go down through verse number 26 but the bible says but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against such there is no law moving on and they that are christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts if we live in the spirit this is paul speaking once again let us also walk in the spirit let us not be desirous of vain glory provoking one another and envying one another the fruit of the spirit there are nine fruit of the spirit and when we have the spirit of god active within us and notice i said active within us because there's more than just that one time 30 years ago when you spoke in another tongue and you received the gift of the holy ghost if you have the spirit of god active within you then all of a sudden things begin to grow on the outside but here's a problem i've come to address tonight the spirit of god is not the only spirit that produces fruit matter of fact rewind in galatians 5 back to verse number 16 let's go back because paul first gave another type of spirit another type of fruit he says in galatians 5 and 16 this i say then walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh for the lust for the flesh love this lust is against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary one to the other so that ye cannot do the things that ye would but if ye be led of the spirit you are under the law now the works of the flesh here they are are manifest or produced which are these adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred variants emulations wrath strife seditions heresies envies murders drunkenness revelings and such like of the which i tell you before as i have also told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of god amen if i could have that box so there are three spirits with three different types of fruit you have the fruit of the spirit which i believe that all of us all of us could identify with and understand you have the fruit of the spirit this is the live fruit this is what god is trying to grow in each one of our lives this is what makes us who we are again it's not what we wear it's not what we look like you know i realize there are standards of separation from the world that we go that we live by i get that there there has to be modesty all of those things are great but on top of all of that the inside must change first and for the inside of change there has to be fruit that has developed that is grown on the outside and so we have the fruit of the spirit but then there is the fruit of darkness and the with the fruit of darkness it's like a rotten fruit and it's the very complete opposite of what god would grow in our life it's the very thing that that attracts the fruit flies how many have ever come home from vacation and forgot to throw the fruit away before you before you left for a vacation you come home and i mean there are flies everywhere i began i beginners i began to study fruit flies because i was wanting to know i was i was wanting to know when i was prepared for this business i want to know what what what draws the fruit fly they must love rotten fruit but that's not the case matter of fact i learned that fruit flies don't even eat fruit they lay their eggs in rotten fruit is what they do they're looking and they have they have such uh sensory they can smell out and sniff out rotten they they'll come through the cracks in the windows that you don't know you have they'll come under doorways that you think you have weather stripping stopping those flies they will come from every area of your yard because they can sense rotten fruit and they say they lay some 50 eggs a day they can lay up to 5 000 eggs so if you take a long vacation you come home and man they're they're everything the reason is simply they're looking for a place let me tell you something there's a spear looking for a place that it can lay some it can lay some eggs on some rotten fruit that is being grown in the life of a believer but then there's a third type the the third type of fruit we're gonna be studying is the the spirit of the deceiver which is the artificial the counterfeit the imitation it's not real but it looks real and this is where i'm really preaching to the church today because i i don't i don't really believe i'm preaching uh i'm not really i'm not preaching to the world i'm not they're already like i said already they don't care what their lifestyle is they don't care that they're living in sin but i'm preaching today to a church that must take inventory of their life and realize what kind of fruit do i bear but if you're honest with me this fruit by far looks the best it looks even better than a real banana as great as this one looks this one has been put through a mold and they they've painted it exactly how they feel a banana should look and they've they've put every little detail they've even put some marks to make them look real and and everything would seem like it's a real banana but it's not and and and speaking of artificial i'm sure there's artificial intelligence out there that's far smarter than i am and far smarter than you or i i believe there's countless things that are counterfeit out there that uh watches and purses and currency that would take a professional to detect if they're real or not and speaking of imitation well i personally enjoy the taste of of imitation crab better than i like real crab meat anybody else anybody else feel like okay i have a few people like yeah and some people like oh yeah and i think i think this is why i think because growing up mama made me imitation crab fettuccine and when i had the real stuff i was like oh this doesn't have that sweet flavor of the crab my mom used to make me but imitation sometimes it smells looks tastes better but it's still just imitation it's still a counterfeit of the real thing both spirits lead to destruction both spirits kick you out of the kingdom of heaven galatians 5 21 says they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of god i don't want the spirit of the deceiver or the spirit of darkness to rule my life so i want you to look at the handout i want to begin on the handout and i want to begin to study each one of the fruit of the spirit and i want us to see how they compare between the real how to be compared between evil and how they compare between the deceiver the for the spirit of god love simply defined as joyfully serving another for their good not to receive something in return the ability to love all that god loves that's that's that's the greatest commandment we gotta love our neighbor that's how people know we're christians that's how people know we're disciples of jesus is our love one for another first corinthians 13 the love chapter verse 4 says love is patient love is kind it does not envy it does not boast it is not proud it is not rude it is not self-seeking it is not easily angered it keeps no record of wrongs love does not delight in evil but rejoiceth with the truth it always protects always trust always hopes always preserves love never fails the fruit of the spirit of darkness it's hate it's anger it's king saul with a javelin there david is he's trying to sing the spirit off of king saul but saul has so much hate and so much jealousy he's so wicked he has a wicked heart he's throwing his javelin at david why is he doing it because he has the very opposite of what paul is preaching about when he says love is the thing that is grown within the spiritual the fruit of the deceiver the deceiver the artificial lust is what takes the place of love because it looks like love and sometimes it feels like love the fruit of darkness and the fruit of the deceiver will lead to these works of the flesh adultery and fornication there they are as we read back in galatians adultery the first two adultery and fornication if we don't understand love if we don't know what love feels like if we don't know what the real thing feels like and tastes like and looks like it's very easy for the deceiver to slip something into our life that we feel is right god help us i don't know about you i want love to emulate through my life i want love oh god i don't want sin to overtake me because i confuse the difference between love and love so how how to nurture the fruit of the spirit and conquer the flesh we've got to give anything and everything that we can for the glory of god serve others we've got to add value to those around us god help us to love one another i say you've heard me say this before but i can't stand going through an amusement park or walking through gatlinburg and seeing apostolic pentecostal people or people that look apostolic pentecostal and they won't even look at you and they they've got a scowl on their face and and when you walk past them they look down and they look away i'm thinking to myself oh my goodness are we not supposed to be brothers and sisters i mean you can't even you can't even be cordial and say hello there's no love there something is wrong oh my love thy neighbor what is a neighbor well they asked about it in the new testament what what jesus what do you mean by neighbor and jesus went on to explain it could be anything it could be a person living next door it could be a person living in the next country over the next cotton and over he just said you've got to love all people love the people around you care about the people around you god help me to see others in a way that i want to add something to their lives the second one the fruit of the spirit is joy which is an attitude of the mind do you hear that it's an attitude of the mind that overrides circumstances and feelings we can't be people that are on a roller coaster emotional ride when things are good we're high we're laughing and we're hey how are you doing good to see you praise the lord and then on our lowest of lows you can't even scrape you off the floor god help us joy give spiritual strength psalm 5 and 11 says but let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice let them ever shout for joy because thou defendest them let them also their love thy name be joyful in thee do you love the name of jesus come on i know this is old testament but aren't you thankful we know the name we sang about the name tonight i'm thankful for the name i know the name that gives me joy just knowing who i serve psalm 16 11 says thou wilt show me the path of life if thy presence in thy presence is fullness of joy at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore psalm 21 and 1 says the king shall joy in thy strength o lord and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice one more in psalm 27 and 6 and and now shall my head be lifted up above my enemy around about me therefore will i offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy i will sing yea i will sing praises unto the lord joy is obvious it's hard to hide joy and it's also hard to hide when you don't have joy and i didn't say happiness because there's a difference because possessions and things can make us happy you can get you a new car and man for a good week or two you are you are on cloud nine you get your new house or or get a new job or get a pay raise and things and situations may make you happy but that is not the same thing as joy joy is a lifestyle joy is who we are oh my goodness it's more than just a smile but there ought to be a smile i'll say it again it's more than just a smile but there ought to be a smile something there ought to be something that tells our face that we have joy god help us be the happiest and i know i'm saying happy birth but the happy is is what comes in the middle immediately out of joy god help us be the happiest and most joyful people in our community so the fruit of the spirit of darkness well it's going to be despair it's going to be a lack of hope sorrow constantly negative misery oh saint of god if you find yourself in this hope get out get out of it climb your way out of it i've seen people who get stuck in a spirit of negativity that's not god everything they see it's always half empty they're pessimistic about every single thing they complain they're they're sarcastic about it god help you get out of that i've been there before but that's why god gave me a wife god gave us god god gave us people in our lives to say this is my wife's favorite line all right chad say five things that are positive right now and she started that on my daughters because i've got i've got at least one daughter that man i'm telling you she will come up with every negative thing she'd come up with and so and then my wife found started saying it to me okay you say five positive things i'm like oh but it helps me to understand i rewind and i'm like that's true the last 10 things i've said have been negative complain about this complain about that and i wish this was this way i wish that was that way and oh my word let the spirit of joy reign inside of us god give us a spirit inside of us that lord we look at things the way you look at things god i want to look at things the way the father looks at things what about the deceiver what about the fruit of the spirit of the deceiver circumstantial happiness excitement and happiness that exists only when things are good it's happiness not in god but only what he offers it's not about god god this is not about you my worship is not about you it's about what you give me and i'll be happy as long as everything is going the way i feel it should as long as my family's not quarantined as long as my kids are able to go to school but that's what the deceiver wants to put in our life and make us feel we have joy when really it's not it's just circumstantial that's all it is it's momentary excitement the fruit of darkness the fruit of the deceiver will lead to these works of the flesh uncleanness and lasciviousness so how how do we get the fruit of the spirit and how do we conquer the flesh when it comes to joy we gotta decide that what god says is true and more real than what our heart is telling us and constantly meditate on god's promises and his consistent care that's why i love the song that sister hawkins sings count your blessings because we can get out of the moldy grubs when we start thinking about how good god has been to us god we start thinking about health in our bodies and and we got people all around us that are sick yet you look in the mirror and you look at yourself and you say i'm healthy and god's been good to me and here i am i'm this old and i'm still alive and i'm still doing well some of you had parents who died years before where you are today but here you are you're alive your wife's doing good your husbands are good your kids are doing good everything you've got food on the table you've got a roof over your head you've got to start counting your blessings and the more you count your blessings all the sudden joy enters back into your life all of a sudden you realize i am blessed of god i am a king's kid i'm living my best life now it blows my mind to go to third world countries and to see the joy those people have because it doesn't make sense to our american culture it doesn't make sense that a person that lives in a hut that has no windows that has no running water that has to walk half a mile to find a bathroom or go outside how they can come to church and be the happiest man they have the biggest smile they got the joy of the lord they're singing songs and chatting and dancing and shouting brother king you've seen it you've been overseas i'm talking people they walk through mud it's raining season they walk through mud they they somehow get to church they pile on the back of trucks they got 30 people hanging onto a truck get to church i'm looking at y'all i'm looking at their kids they don't got one grass stained they don't got one lick of mud on their shirt they're wearing a white shirt don't have any mud on it clean as clean could be don't have a washer don't have a dryer how in the world brother barnett in papua new guinea i remember nudging him saying brother these kids how how can they be so clean my kids in america they can't make it from point a to point b without getting something on him but there's something about you know why that kid is just excited that he has a white shirt brother thompson the last time i was in papua new guinea i had a boy about 17 come up to me he had a tie on he said do you recognize this tie i said yeah he said when i was 7 years old 10 years ago you gave me this tie i thought my god i throw more ties away in a year give ties away in a year this kid has kept one tie for ten years and he probably wears it every single service but there's joy because it's not circumstantial it's not based on what they have the joy of the lord is their strength what about the fruit of peace the fruit of the spirit peace confident assurance that god is for us oh we need this tonight peace we're going through this coveted season we need peace like we've never needed it before we got to realize that god is wise he's in control we can't trust in ourselves we need peace with god when we are sinners doing the works of the flesh we're rebels against god when our rebellion ends and we are forgiven then we find peace with god the kind of peace that doesn't come through through laying around on a vacation or or entertainment or drugs or alcohol or sex or wealth this kind of peace comes from god himself the spiritual fruit of peace is a result of justification by faith romans 5 and 1 says therefore since we have been justified or made right declared innocent or guiltless through faith we have peace with god through our lord jesus christ oh my word listen we have peace that the world cannot even imagine they cannot obtain it we have peace that they can't understand it's peace the bible says that surpasses all understanding i know we say that a lot when it comes to people who lose loved ones and who lose a father mother or a child or a spouse or maybe a really close friend we say god is going to give you peace it surpasses all understanding as if the only time we need peace is when we lose someone to death oh no god give us peace right now god give us peace in our circumstances right now if america has ever needed peace we need it now we got it from every side the enemy is trying to come in and from every side he's warned against our soul and against the very peace of our country but the fruit of the spirit of darkness is worry it's anxiety and that's what anxiety is exactly what the devil would want us to feel i can't even get up for work i can't sleep at night anxiety my whole body is shaking in my heart my heart is fluttering so fast and i'm so worried about tomorrow i'm so worried oh what if i catch the coronavirus what what if my family would have something my family gets it what if somebody dies well what if my family member doesn't make it out of the hospital and worry and anxiety are the very things that the fruit of the spirit are grown through the spirit of darkness but then we move into the deceiver because here is a very interesting fact when we're speaking of peace because the fruit of the spirit of the deceiver the the artificial is rebellion because rebellion gives you the feeling of peace about your decisions rebels can justify that their cause is greater than obedience you think about this in and the deceiver can make us feel like we're okay because somehow in our minds we can justify the decisions we make all right it may not go along there's no submission involved we're out of the will of god but somehow he can make us feel like we are at peace because we justify what's going on in our minds but god help us church family god help us because there's something that's greater than anxiety there's something that's greater than worry and that's the feel like everything is okay when it's not okay come on has anybody ever been there i've been there thoughts going through my mind i oh god i rebuked those thoughts of those thoughts of depression those thoughts god i rebuke those thoughts going through my mind that are telling me that i'm not good enough or i can't do it or or god that you didn't you didn't call me into this god i rebuke those thoughts that are going through my mind and people can get so into a rebellious spirit that they start feeling better about themselves because they justify their thinking in their paradigm romans 5 and 1 says therefore since we have been justified made right declared innocence i've read this we have peace with god through our lord jesus christ the only place we're going to find peace is that we can force ourselves to be at rest and to trust in god's care to reject worry as wicked sin and allow god to work all things out for the good just wait upon the lord he'll renew your strength just the way we sing the songs about it oh if we can just wait upon you lord god i don't understand it i can't explain it but god if we can just stop and wait upon you you'll make it all right what about long-suffering the fruit of the spirit long-suffering patience suffering joyfully and not becoming angry at god when his timing doesn't match our own the ability to endure and still stay in love full of joy and at rest in god's care when we're in the middle of a storm a long-suffering patience people around us can make us angry people around us can begin to pick on us and i i went to public school i remember the feeling i don't know what it feels like to to have people jab at you and continually say stuff to you and you've got to somehow in your mind you got to say god i'm going to be patient with them i'm going to be long-suffering because the long-suffering is love on trial that's what long-suffering is it's love on trial it enables you to be emotionally strong and to forgive others around you colossians 3 13 says forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any man have a quarrel against any even as christ forgave you you also must forgive him so also do ye god give us patience with people now listen this this is one of the hardest things i i i'm i'm my real color is gold and i've talked about this and you know this if you've been through real colors you understand it that goals we we do things in a regimented way and we do things in an orderly way and people that don't do it the way that we see it sometimes it can be so frustrating any goals in the house the one come on goals represent you know what i'm talking about but god give us the spirit of long-suffering god give us the spirit of patience that we can look around and realize oh god i've got to have that fruit growing in my life where i can look and say just because it's not done the way i feel it should be done i can still be long-suffering i can still wait i can still have patience because the opposite is intolerance it's vengefulness it's bitterness and resentment toward god that manifests itself in agitation or outright expressions of anger with others the fruit of the spirit of the deceiver is instant gratification we know the story in second samuel chapter 13 amnon had a half sister named tamar he couldn't be long suffering he couldn't he couldn't be patient when it came to waiting until he would one day have a wife he couldn't be patient he he allowed lust and he allowed he allowed the immediate he he had to have instant gratification and so the horrible story of him raping his half sister tamar it's one of the saddest stories in the old testament when we look at a man who had everything who chose instant gratification god give us long-suffering god give us patience lord god help us to have that fruit born in our life where we can say god i'm willing to wait until the perfect moment in the perfect time i don't have to have anything instantaneously that's what the deceiver would say have instantaneous the fruit of darkness the fruit of the deceiver will lead to these works to hatred in variance instability so how do you nurture the fruit of the spirit and conquer the flesh you allow yourself to wait and to do it without and to do without and to be wronged by others so the fruit of the spirit gentleness kindness the sincere vulnerability that involves empathy compassion and help the fruit of the spirit of darkness is the very opposite it's the inability to rejoice in the good happening of others it's harshness thinking you are superior leading to self-absorption and self-promotion that crushes others god help us god help us to be kind to one another do we realize that that's the next step past love it starts off with love but we can we can love all people but listen the next step to that the next fruit that you gotta see is kindness god help me to be kind to people because if you're not kind listen if we're not kind to each other if we don't show affection to one another if we don't show each other that we love each other it's one thing to love it's another thing to show your love for one another god help us god help us through the spear the deceiver it's going to be wrong motives helping others in an attempt to control other people mark by promotion of self and pride the deceiver the devil can make us feel like we have kindness feel like we're gentle by by being nice to people in order to somehow promote ourselves to somehow see ourselves in a light in a brighter way so the further darkness and the fruit of the deceiver will lead to these works of the flesh immune immunizations which is hypocrisy it'll make us do things as a hypocrite would do them so how do we nurture the fruit of the spirit and conquer the flesh well we take reproach and persecution we accept it as part of the christian life and have compassion on all people god help us to have empathy empathy it's different than sympathy empathy is us actually putting ourselves in the footsteps of others how they're feeling not just feeling sorry for them but empathy is us what i feel like if my kid was a backslider what would i feel like if my kid wouldn't come home at night what would i feel like if my kid cussed me out if i found drugs in my kids bedroom how would i feel as a parent instead of just feeling sorry listen we can we can we can have compassion and not have empathy but god give us empathy for all people and when you have empathy then compassion follows behind god help us what about the fruit of the spirit goodness goodness is honesty openness and consistency in all contexts of life doing right and living godly and separated from sinful activities goodness goodness is holiness put into practice and the result of knowing god goodness enables you to do good things to those who hate you it is the goodness of the grace of god that leads people to repentance that's why we need to be good to people because it's so important that they see jesus through us because people are not going to come people are not going to repent unless we show goodness to all people our witness won't have any power unless we're kind we are called to be the light in a dark world and we must make our minds up that we're gonna shine god let us be a city sit on a hill that cannot be hid so the fruit of the spirit of darkness the very opposite is is evil intentions immorality hypocrisy phoniness and insincerity god i don't want to be that person i want to be sincere the deceiver he says being honest in an insensitive way without love insincerity that pretends to be sincere i don't want to be fake because that's what this brings that's what the deceiver wants to do is as long as we're shaking hands and smiling at people he the deceiver says that's what sincerity really looks like that's what the fruit of goodness really looks like and that's not what it looks like it'll lead to wrath to strife to seditions so how do we nurture the fruit of the spirit and conquer the flesh we just do right we live righteously there's never any fear in doing right the fruit of the spirit faith i'm moving quickly the ability to trust god's word his ways and his will loyalty reliability and courage based on convictions oh god i want faith in my life faith and not only believe in you but to also be firm in my foundation the ability to trust in god i've got faith in you lord that your word is true and i've also got faith in your god that no matter what i go through you're gonna somehow make a way for me your will is perfect i can't understand it your ways are perfect i know god that your ways are not my ways i know that i can't understand but i'm gonna have enough faith in you to believe that everything is gonna turn out okay because the fruit of the spirit of darkness is distrust in god and it's doubt in god so the fruit of the defeat the deceiver the artificial is being loyal out of self-righteous pride leading to an unwillingness to address wrongs we read that again being loyal out of self-righteous pride leading to an unwillingness to address wrongs oh god i don't want to be phony god i want to be real i want the faith inside of me lord god i want the very faith inside of me to be real the fruit of darkness and the fruit of the deceiver will lead to these very things heresies oh god they'll lead us into all kinds of false religion they'll they'll lead us to read things in the bible that aren't really there to see things that aren't really there to listen to listen to preachers that aren't preaching truth and and start to have thoughts come into our minds oh god give us faith in you faith that knows and understands that your word is true so how do we nurture this fruit we live by faith in everything we do and we trust and obey i know sometimes it's not easy but we've got to trust no matter what we've got to obey no matter what because without faith it's impossible to please god we've got to have the very faith that leads us to righteousness for the spirit called gentleness or meekness simply means not thinking of yourself highly so that you're insensitive or or you need to be sensitive to the needs of others that's why we bring ourselves down we become servants god when jesus came to the earth he came to serve he'd be he didn't come to become some kind of ruler that that looked down the nose that people put their thumb on people he came to serve mankind and that's what he was teaching his disciples was to be servants to be meek to be gentle meekness is not about being mousy or weak but rather a servant like submission to god we can care for others your spirit has to be free of rebellion and pride meekness or humility is defined as the freedom from pride and arrogance it's modest estimation of our own worth god help me lord god to see myself as you see me it's so listen it's so important this is something we preach to to young preachers and we try to teach to to people who are just getting started in ministry you you can't always read and believe your press release because people are going to shake your hand and and tell you that's the best sermon i've ever heard boy you sing that solo better than the person that usually sings it oh i want you to know you're the best drummer or you're the best this and you've got to be really careful because if you're not careful all of a sudden you lose that meekness and you start thinking about yourself as something you're not and that's where the devil that's where the enemy starts to deceive you it starts to make you think that you're something that you're not in pride that's what pride sets in in the fruit of the spirit of the deceivers is insecurity that is that is self-absorbed that the words of self-deprecation are sent so that others affirm us and we and we we get on social media and say things where people will oh brother you were so great and you did this so awesome and you sang this so well or you played this so well or or you gave your report and it was so much better than anybody else's and we look for people to somehow gratify us to make us feel like we're something that we're not i say god help us because that is the fruit of the darkness and the fruit of the deceiver it leads to envine always thinking others have it better and you've got to somehow prop yourself up so how do we nurture this fruit you never let self get all the attention look always upon the needs of others allow yourself to wait and to do without and even sometimes you gotta allow yourself to be wronged yes we gotta allow and we don't get on social media and complain about it god help us it drives me insane when i see on facebook somebody trying to say i'm not being treated good or my family member's not being treated right and this and that god help you who do we think we are that we're somehow going to lift ourselves up or or lift our children up or or lift one of our parents over god listen god give us the spirit of meekness the spirit of gentleness god give us that spirit o god that no matter how other people treat us or we perceive they're treating us and that's what it really is a lot of times it's just our stinking perception is what it is insecurities god help us the ninth one the fruit of the spirit temperance self-control staying focused on the important things rather than what is urgent self-control living in the in moderation instead of excess it is control over your entire body body soul and spirit control temperance self-control a person who has self-control is mild and calm and avoids extreme behavior and exercises self-restraint in both actions and speech and i know we usually think of of road rage when we think of self-control right that's something we just we think about you know that person that's always banging their hands on the steering wheel and hitting the horn and swerving and stepping on the brake people are tailgating them i used to do that listen you can learn a bad lesson quickly doing stuff like that but it's so much more than that god help us temperance self-control because then you look at the fruit of the spirit of darkness it's impulsive living in the moment it's it's uncontrollable passions can't control themselves the fruit of the spirit of the deceiver is is using willpower to stay disciplined resulting in pride over your accomplishments it's kind of like that that self-made man it's who i am it's what i've done it's what i've accomplished the fruit of the darkness of the fruit of the deceiver will lead to the works of flesh anything from murder to drunkenness to revelings so how do we nurture this fruit of the spirit and conquer the flesh well we submit to authority of our life and we decide self-control is the greatest show of strength i want each of us to take inventory i i wanted to give this i wanted to give a handout because i want you to take this i i knew if i went through this without a handout it would just it would just kind of run run into each other but but i wanted you to take this home because there has to be some kind of inventory that every child of god every holy ghost filled child of god must take now i don't believe anybody here tonight is like the guy who commented on one of our apostolic collective youtube videos just the other day some of you might have saw this kind of left it there because it was so ridiculous but but he made this comment he said he said he wrote it in a letter for me said dear god i am not a sinner and so i surely do not need your forgiveness he said i do not believe jesus is your son i know he did not die for me and if he tried he did so in vain i believe he is dead as every human animal will be one day i reject him as my savior and lord from this day forward i am the god of my old life and only my will shall be done he wrote i am free i am free i am free from father son and holy ghost eternally free amen that that's just the spirit of darkness that's somebody who doesn't care that that's somebody who who who openly confesses that he does not care about godly things and i i don't believe i don't believe there's anybody here being that kind of fruit however i would imagine in a crowd this size that the spirit of the deceiver has convinced some people to look the part and not leave the part because anybody can wear a smile anybody can wear a long dress can wear long pants any anybody can dress modest any anybody can appear holy but the fruit that we bear is far greater than looks and appearances fruit that we bear is what will determine if we inherit the kingdom of god i want you to stand with me and this thought as as brother hammond was preaching on on sunday night this was the thought that hit my mind that brought me to the fruit of the spirit he preached such a magnificent message and he began to kind of reflect on on colvin 19. and colvin 19 has really revealed a lot of people's fruit and i'm not just referring to church attendance and i realized that there are people who have never returned from the very first quarantine i get it but i'm not talking about that because i feel it goes much deeper than that it's not just the sickness of the body and i've talked to some of you and and there's a lot of you that that have that have felt fatigue you felt the brain fog i remember going through those i it's more than just losing your taste and you're in in your smell and your senses it's more than just that i i was talking to a friend just last week and he began to say to me he he said i just i just got through covenant and when i was when i was dealing with covet he said i began to think thoughts that i'd never thought before he said thoughts of rebellion thoughts of i felt even towards my own pastor he said i started feeling and thinking these thoughts and i felt the spirit and things that i've known all my life to be true i began to question and he said it scared me he said i began to realize he said my friend i began to call my friends i began to tell them what i was experiencing and i he said i began to ask them does this have anything to do with with having coven because i've never experienced this before and his friends were like yes that is exactly what it is and it began to set him straight and the very fruit of the spirit within him began to rise up and begin to overtake those thoughts that he was thinking but i want you to know that there's people that are facing the spirit that's coming upon them there's a spirit of oppression there's a there's a spirit of depression that comes with this covet 19. it's not just physical it's spiritual if you've been there you know what i'm talking about i i remember feeling that i i when i had covered last year i remember feeling those feelings i didn't even tell anybody i had it i just quarantined i it was i didn't put it on facebook i whatever you can if you whatever you want to do i didn't even tell anybody i just i had it i dealt with it i was sick i was in bed i was fatigued and worst of all was those thoughts that were going through my mind those spirits that were trying to attack me and if we're not careful family if we're not careful i believe that during the season if we don't allow the true fruit of the spirit to rise up inside of us there's going to be some fruit that is revealed within us it's not fruit that takes over it's it's usually this fruit that is revealed within us and that fruit that is revealed within us is going to start to define who we are god give us love like we've never had before in fact close your eyes i want you to bow your heads i'm i'm through i'm done with this lesson but i just want us to reflect but i want us to pray this prayer god give me love like i have never had before god put a spirit within me oh god where i love all people god you show me love and god i'm not deserving of love god i've lived a life lord that i'm not always happy lord i've been ashamed of decisions i've made but somehow you still found love for me come on somebody let that prayer of love begin to grow within you let that fruit begin to just grow within you god give us love lord for one another give us love for your word give us love for your house lord god i want to be faithful lord god i want love lord to emulate through me lord god let it be seen by everybody i come in contact with come on let's pray this prayer god give me joy if you've lost joy come on somebody i wish you would pray this prayer say god i need the fruit of joy to begin to be poor in my life i need to be produced within me to where lord god it reflects on the outside what i feel on the inside lord god i don't want things to make me happy lord i want your word to make me happy lord god i want you to be my joy lord the joy of the lord is my strength god give your people joy god give your people joy let it radiate god give your people peace lord during this time of covet oh my god give us peace of mind god i know lord there's sick lord that are watching by way of internet tonight god i know there's those that are depressed lord god that are watching but lord god give them peace in their life lord god honorable i feel the holy ghost i feel somebody in this place needs to find peace oh somebody in this place needs to find the very peace that surpasses all understanding come on you got to stop worrying you got to stop threatening you got to allow god to give you peace inside come on pray for the fruit of long suffering right now come on god give me long suffering god help me lord god to see lord god your people in your kingdom and lord god i'm gonna wait as long as i have to wait i'm gonna wait as long as i need to wait oh god i will suffer for a long period of time if it means your will being fulfilled in my life come on pray for gentleness come on pray for goodness right now come on pray for gentleness pray for goodness come on let there be faith oh god give us faith god give us meekness god give us temperance lord god i want real fruit to be grown in my life god i want your spirit within me lord god lord god i want all men to know that i am your disciple but i want all men to know that i am your disciple oh come on somebody give god praise right now give god praise lift up your hands and just love him in this place oh holy spirit well up within us oh god holy spirit let us love one another holy spirit give us unity lord god i need my brother i need my sister this is not the time to come against him i don't care vaccinated or not vaccinated i don't care with a mask without a mask guy i just don't care god i've got to love them like i've never loved them before i want to be unified with them as i've never been unified with them before oh god i want to be long-suffering oh god i want meekness oh god give me temperance lord i'm your child we are your children we've got to have one another to make it god we've got to have one another i wish so bad that we weren't in this season i'd have everybody join hands but if you're around somebody that you can maybe a family member that you can join hands with them just join hands right now and come on let's just pray for one another let's just for about two minutes pray for one another come on pray for them call their name out to god and just say god i pray you'd help us to bear fruit of your spirit i don't want to bear fruit of darkness i i don't want to bear fruit oh god of the deceiver god i want to bear fruit of righteousness i want to bear fruit of the spirit god i pray for my brothers my sisters i pray for my brothers and my sisters in this time god we're gonna fight our way through it god reveal lord god your fruit in our lives oh god reveal your fruit in our lives in jesus name in jesus name in jesus name in jesus name oh in jesus name we pray hallelujah clap your hands unto the lord hallelujah give him praise give him honor give him glory oh god your fruit is what i desire for oh god your fruit amen is what we desire amen be back here on sunday morning we're going to start prayer at 9 9 30 9 30 to 9 50 on sunday morning we're in prayer together god bless you dismissed in jesus name amen stay healthy and love one another god bless you