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[ Silence ] [ Music ] [Music] ♪ I'm going to go away ♪

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♪ 'Til I find my way ♪ ♪ 'Til I find my way ♪ ♪ In the land of the Lord ♪ ♪ Look where the Lord has brought us ♪

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♪ Look where the Lord has brought us ♪ ♪ He has brought us ♪ ♪ From the rugged east ♪ ♪ A very long way ♪

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♪ And we'll go our wild, wild ways ♪ ♪ Down to the high, high, high ♪ ♪ Oh, bless Him ♪ ♪ In the name of the Lord ♪

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♪ Bless Him ♪ ♪ In the name ♪ ♪ Bless Him ♪ ♪ In the name ♪

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♪ Bless Him ♪ ♪ He's the name for the Lord ♪ ♪ This is ♪ ♪ He's the name ♪

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♪ This is ♪ ♪ He's the name of the King ♪ ♪ He's the name ♪ ♪ For the Lord ♪

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♪ Look where the Lord has brought us ♪ ♪ Look where the Lord has brought us ♪ ♪ He has brought us ♪ ♪ From the murky and icy low place ♪

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♪ If I am filled up, I'm not that big ♪ ♪ And I'm filled up like I'm young ♪ [Music] [Music]

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[Music] ♪ To the pride and pleasure ♪ ♪ If we ever are so free ♪ ♪ If we all, if we all get to heaven ♪

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♪ Our lives, our lives as we have to be ♪ ♪ If we all are free people ♪ ♪ Then we can shout the victory ♪ [music]

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♪ I'm off to see the grass that's gray ♪ ♪ Bouncing over straight sunshine ♪ ♪ But we'll travel in a car over ♪ ♪ On the channel down the road ♪

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♪ If we all get together ♪ ♪ What a day of rejoicing that would be ♪ ♪ If we all, if we all keep peace ♪ ♪ We'll see that child will be saved ♪

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♪ If we all, if we all keep together ♪ ♪ By the day of the judgment day ♪ ♪ If we all, if we all keep peace ♪ [Music]

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[Background talking] We have considered in an earlier message a sermon on the spirit, it was entitled "Life in the Spirit." Today we will continue our consideration of this particular topic,

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The subject of the message is Fruits of the Spirit Fruits The Spirit

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And I invite your attention to Passage of Scripture Scripture Which is found in Galatians the fifth chapter in the 22nd verse

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The fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long-suffering

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gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against

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Such there is no law would you repeat that after me the fruit of the spirit? Is love joy peace long suffering

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gentleness goodness faith meekness

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temperance against such There is no law There is no God.

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Fruits of the Spirit. Beside twelve trees a traveler stood to use their shade and fruit. O foolish man, beside you stand twelve trees without a root.

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The traveler grabbed the trunk of one and pulled it from the ground. Amazed and praised to see no root, he pulled the twelve trees down. To think of trees without a root, think of shade and fruit without roots from a tree, is absurd. It does not make sense. And yet so often we have in human existence those persons who seek to exist, seek to live

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their lives without being genuine persons, who seek to live the Christian life without being rooted and grounded in the Spirit of God. The root conditions and determines the fruit. The source of power in our lives determines the results that are seen in our actions from

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day to day. Power, as the world thinks of it, is based on material possessions, the number of people under one's control. Economic and political power are popular manifestations of worldly power. The familiar dictum puts it this way, that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts

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Absolutely But the power of the church is not in materials it's not in minerals It's not in silver or gold or any other mineral a recent news report Indicates that South Africa plans to use her minerals

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in a power play to preserve the apartheid system which exists there that rigid and ruthless form of Segregation and human slavery racism South Africa plans to use that

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in order to keep the other nations from the world who threatened to farm economic boycotts and to Cause her to change her policies her actions Since they need minerals and South Africa has the minerals that they need she plans to use this as a means of

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protecting her way of life But this is not the kind of power that the church depends upon Paul points it up here in his letter to the Galatians, when he talks about the fruit of the Spirit. Sometimes we can understand what something is by stating in an explicit way what it is not.

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Paul begins by saying that the Spirit makes us free. To have the power of the Spirit is not to be in bondage. It is to be free. Freedom of the Spirit is not freedom to indulge in the lower side of human nature.

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Freedom does not mean license to do whatever we want to do. To put it in the language of a song which is somewhat popularized by Diana Ross, ain't nobody's business if I do.

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Paul's catalog here of the things that have to do with appealing to the lower base of human nature, what he calls the flesh, have to do with fornication

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and a list of other vices that are rather, yes, that he gives. Fornication, that Paul talks about in yielding to the way of the flesh.

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To look on the other side of it has to do with what Christianity points up as chastity. In addition to fornication, he lists impurity. And impurity, he sort of compares to a sore

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that has pus in it and needs to be cleaned out. And wantonness is the readiness for any pleasure. Anything that gives you pleasure, anything that you get a thrill out of,

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well, you're ready to do it. This is what some would call a good time. All of these things have to do with the lower base of human nature, idolatry, the worship of gods

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that are made with human hands, to worship our own creation, so to speak. And then enmity, that's the kind of hostility which we have toward one another,

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strife, where we find ourselves engaged in rivalry, one against the other for the same prize. Then to have an uncontrollable temper, some who are always priding themselves

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in the fact that they can so easily lose their temper, but in one way, there's no point in really losing your temper because no one else wants it. And dissension is to be standing apart

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in drunkenness, failure to somehow recognize moderation in all things, going to the extreme. Paul talks about all of these,

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and we're just going to mention them in passing because the main thing that Paul is doing here is showing what happens in the life of the flesh and then making a comparison here of what it really means to have life in the Spirit. And he goes on then and lists the fruits of the Spirit.

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And he says that the fruit of the Spirit are these, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, love. And this is the one thing that somehow is to manifest the fact that we have the fruit of the Spirit, that is, that we love one another. That's the first thing that Paul says. This is the way that we know that you are my disciples in Jesus Christ,

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that you love one another. So as we come together as God's people here this morning, the way we know that we are God's people, that we are God's family here at Ebenezer,

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is not by the fact that our name is on the church roll. That's not the way. Not by the fact that somehow we may have been identified with this congregation for a certain number of years. No, not that. Not by the fact that we are regular in our attendance, not by the fact that we contribute regularly.

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That is not the thing that determines whether or not we are members of the Kingdom of God. But whether or not we have the fruit of the Spirit, whether or not we love one another, and we have that love that reaches out to each other, that is a sign that we are His children. And then there is another fruit that comes from the when the Spirit of God dwells in us,

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And that is, we have joy. You know, the Christian, the people of God, though we find ourselves in the midst of unfavorable circumstances, that somehow there is a radiance, there is a joy that the people of God possess. Joy. Joy.

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Then there is peace, peace, shalom, peace. It's a kind of peace that surpasses all human understanding, peace. It is not peace as the world gives it. It is peace only as God gives it.

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It is the peace of mind. It is that peace that enables us to be in fellowship with one another. It is that peace that enables us even to accept our enemies. Peace. And then there is patience, that persistence, a kind of conquering patience.

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Many times we are concerned about doing well for a time, for a season. And then somehow it seems that our Our doing well is not rewarded according to our expectations. And so we give up.

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But patience means a persistence, a kind of conquering patience, of just staying out there, of staying on the job, of keeping on, keeping on, no matter what happens, and in the end, to conquer. It's a kind of conquering patience.

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And that's what God does for us. He bears with us. He puts up with our sins. He just keeps on putting up with our sins and many times after a long period of time, the person who has been running from God, who has been rebelling against God, finally gives in. As Francis Thompson puts it, that God is the hound of heaven, tracking down the souls of men and converting them to his saving truths.

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Yes, patience is a fruit of the Spirit, and kindness and goodness, kindness and goodness, these are fruits of the Spirit, to be kind, to be good, to be true. These are fruits of the Spirit. To be trustworthy, to be faithful,

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that's a manifestation of the presence of the Spirit in us. To be gentle, submissive to the will of God, teachable, not too proud to learn, that's a fruit of the Spirit.

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Sometimes one fails to learn because we're just too proud, too proud to say that we don't know. But a fruit of the Spirit is to be gentle, to be submissive to the will of God, and to exercise self-control, that spirit of mastery, and to somehow press on in the midst of all

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of the confusions of our time to be pressing on and to have that kind of mastery that enables us to rightly regulate our lives. This is what an athlete has. He disciplines his body. He has a kind of self-control and it's what every good leader has. It's what every person has who learns to

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rightly regulate his or her life. The Emperor becomes a good ruler who doesn't let his private interests prevent him from doing what he ought to do in rendering proper service to others. And so the Christian, the Christian is one One who dies with Christ and one who rises again with him.

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The spirit bears fruit. The spirit of God, spirit of righteousness, bears fruit the year round. I remember earlier in my ministry that there were a number of elderly people in the church And that was the idea that because they had been

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Serving for a long time. There were younger people who said well so-and-so has been serving a long time So they should be superannuated as if they should be retired because they have been serving God for a long time Well, there is no retirement for the spirit The spirit is active. The spirit is alive. The spirit is

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Always up and it is growing continually growing Continually growing when someone was asking well, how is it that you were able to do this or to do that? Well, you see that there are always

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New leaves that are coming out on the tree and the spirit is that growth which takes place so from time to time the fruit crop May be damaged. We know what that is in Texas when we have a freeze and the spirit May

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Find itself in unfavorable weather but in the Spirit of God to bear fruit to be faithful in him is to

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Give fruit in season and out of season Jesus condemns that fig tree that Fails to bathroom as he walks about and he sees this big tree that has no fruit it was a time when

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Season of figs had not yet come and yet somehow Jesus condemned this fig tree for not producing fruit it had leaves which was announcement that Fruit was to be expected because it is said that the fig trees

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Palestine Produced fruit before Leaves were to be expected and here were leaves and no fruit and Jesus condemns this fig tree because of its hypocrisy of

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Announcing that it it has something which it does not have but the fruit of the spirit is produced in all

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of weather. If we have the Spirit of God, no matter what the weather, what the season may be, somehow fruit comes forth. Summertime fruit, yes. Springtime fruit, autumn fruit, and even in the winter season, that tree brings forth its fruit in its season. No matter where And where it's planted, on the mountain, in the level places, in the desert, wherever

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it may be, there is fruit. What about the fruit of the Spirit? Jesus tells another story about the fig tree. The Lord of the vineyard comes and he sees there the fig tree that has produced no fruit.

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He says to the gardener, "In over three years I've been expecting to find fruit from this tree, and I have found none." He says, "Cut it down. Cut it down."

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And the gardener says, "No, no, no, master." He said, "Spare it for another year. Let me dig around it. Let me put some fertilizer around it and let me work with it for another year and see if

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it produces fruit. The tree is spared for another year. What about the fruit of the Spirit in our lives? What about the Lord of the vineyard as he comes and moves among the garden plants and looks upon us? What does he see there?

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Does he say as he looks for fruit and finds none, does he say cut it down? Does he say cut it down? Does the Lord of the vineyard say cut it down? Well, if we received our just deserts, that's what it would be but there is the God Work with him See if I put a little fertilizer around let me dig around

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is the her life that as I dig around that life and as I fight life with my goodness and with my grace

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see the fruit of the spirit will not come forth fruit of love fruit of patience

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the fruit of fidelity the fruit of temperance the fruit of joy, the fruit of peace the fruit of goodness

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and the fruit of kindness as we come now to hymn of invitation we invite you to accept Jesus Christ and show forth the fruit of the Spirit as we sing have thine own way Lord, have thine own way.

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[MUSIC PLAYING] (soft music) [MUSIC] [music]

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♪ O'er the land of the free ♪ ♪ And the home of the brave ♪ ♪ God of all the earth ♪ ♪ God of all the air ♪

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♪ Oh, we have made it ♪ ♪ Ever true ♪ ♪ While you weep ♪ ♪ You will not see ♪

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♪ Ever your way, Lord ♪ ♪ Ever your way ♪ ♪ Search me and find me ♪ ♪ Ever to me ♪

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♪ Higher than stone ♪ ♪ For she loves none ♪ ♪ And in my presence ♪ ♪ I'll be unknown ♪

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We come now to the service of Holy Communion and those who are alive to Christ, whose spirit dwells in our hearts, who have expressed their commitment to him in word and in deed, are privileged to come to this table. And so as we come now, let us come in a spirit of humility and the spirit of penitence and the spirit of forgiveness. May we bow our heads. Lord,

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bless us now we come to do this because we love you and you said do it in remembrance of you and because we remember what you've done in our lives and what you are doing we come to commune at this table. Forgive us of our sins. [ Silence ]