Gifts of the Spirit -- Fruits of the
Spirit Your home research is to discover the Gifts of the Spirit on line.
June 30 2019 Readings Psalm 92 page 810,
Galatians 5: 1, 13-25
In the scripture this
morning from Galatians Paul referred to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-
control as fruits
of the spirit. I find it very
interesting that Paul would choose the word fruits to describe the above. These fruits, as they begin to mature within
us produce good vigorous healthy characteristics. These are the characteristics people seek to
obtain and to share with others in life.
Paul in his letter to the Galatians is referring to their attributes as
FRUIT, and of course we know that all fruit must grow before it can reach
its maturity. Ever tried eating fruit
before it has ripened, not so good?
There is good reason for Paul choosing this particular word Folks!!
Fruit is not made,
fruit is something that is grown and matures from a seedling meaning it is inherent
it just needs one of the gifts of the Spirit to begin. part of you home
research right! Let us take note here
that the fruit of the gift can only be seen, grow and mature as you feed on
spiritual things. You don’t make its fruit. It
arises out of something inherit in the gift, something that is alive, you
cannot manufacture it nor can you buy it.
When Paul talks about the fruit of the Spirit in today's scripture
reading he contrasts it to what he calls the human nature, sinful nature or
works of the flesh. In other words Paul
describes a nature that has its roots planted in what he calls our human
nature. This nature produces fruit when our ego gets stroked or our self-centeredness
is feed. He describes its fruit as
dissension, immoralities, drunkenness, discord, selfish ambition, envy, hatred,
unjust anger and so on. Jesus often
shows us righteous anger. Paul reminds
us that both good and bad fruit are rooted and arise from some seed or kernel that
is found either in our Spiritual Nature or curious self-centered human nature. They are
nurtured and strengthened by what we feed them.
Our Spiritual nature, grows
in us and comes from the nature of God.
It produces fruit, the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self- control. Our human nature comes to us from Adam and
Eve and their desire to take God's place.
These fruits are
nurtured in us through the awareness that we are a child of God precious,
loved, forgiven and saved by grace. A healthy Spiritual nature brings forth nothing
but good fruit.
But Folks, we also
have within us a mischievous curious sinful nature, it has been with us from
the beginning. It is the nature that
seeks to satisfy little old me, no
matter what the cost and believe me for some the cost is great. It
is the nature that thinks more about privileges than about responsibilities, more
about rights than about duties, more about self than about others. This is
the nature can get us into a lot of trouble, and it fruit is always tainted.
Let me tell you a
story. Listen for the similarities to
the teachings of Jesus and Paul. A young aboriginal boy seeks the advice of his
Grandfather because of an incident. His
face is full of anger and so the Grandfather asks “what has happened to you
boy”. The boy explains that he has just come back
from the trading post where he and his father were trading some of the pelts
they had stretched and cured over the winter.
The father tells the boy to pick out something he would like to have for
his share of the work. The boys eyes are
attracted to a shiny pocket knife and his father agrees, “it yours my son” The boy slips outside to try out the knife on
a whittling stick where three older boy have also eyed his gift. The boy’s anger then, turns to tears as he
explains to his Grandfather how they began taunting and bulling him, finally
pushing him to the ground. “I dropped my
gift and one of them snatched it up and they all ran away laughing." The boy's anger returned, "I hate them.
I hate them all!" The Grandfather said,
“I too, along with many of our people at
times, have felt a great hate for those that have taken so much from us with no
sorrow for what they do. But hate wears
you down boy, and does not hurt your enemy. It is
as though you have taken the poison yourself, while only wishing that the enemy
would die. Grandfather continues “I
have struggled with these feelings many times over the years. It is as if there are two spirits inside of
me. One is good and does me no
harm. The good spirit lives in harmony with
all and does not take offense, even when offense is intended. It
will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way. It
gets it strength and health from the Creator.
The other spirit is the mischievous one, it feeds on and gets it
strength from anger, hatred, jealousy and things of that nature. The littlest thing can set it off into a fit
of rage. The sprit of anger has been known to take a life. It
cannot reason, and is made blind by its hatred. You see
Anger is helplessness in disguise, anger changes nothing. Sometimes it is hard to live with these two
spirits inside me, because both of them try to dominate my life. Who wins out, asks the boy. Grandfather smiled and said, "The one I
feed the most."
If you want to see
the fruit of your Spiritual Nature grow in your life and if you want to show its fruit to others - then you
need to feed on that which will bring it about.
Folks, we got to get ourselves
potted in the right pot. We got to get
ourselves sat down at the right table. We
got to get ourselves fed with the right food.
And praise be to God that this
can be anywhere you are, because God is always with you - his Spirit dwells in
you and his laws and his love are inscribed in your heart. Now Isn’t that GREAT!!!
Oh, let the Son of God enfold you
with his Spirit and his love;
Let him fill your heart and satisfy your soul.
Oh, let him have the things that hold you,
and his Spirit, like a dove,
Will descend upon your life and make you whole.
Jesus, O Jesus, come and fill your lambs.
Jesus, O Jesus, come and fill your lambs.
Oh, come and sing the song with gladness
as your hearts are filled with joy.
Lift your hands in sweet surrender to his name.
Oh, give him all your tears and sadness,
give him all your years of pain,
And you'll enter into life in Jesus' name.
Jesus, O Jesus, come and fill your lambs.
Jesus, O Jesus, come and fill your lambs.
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