REVIEW
So, let’s continue looking at these nine fruit that the Holy Spirit produces in our lives—namely, “… love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control …”  (Galatians 5:22-23).
We have learned that these are the fruit of a spiritually alive and Spirit-empowered life and are also the evidence that one is truly spiritual. No, it is not our spiritual giftings that indicate that we are mature spiritually; our spiritual maturity is based on how mature our fruit is.   
So, we began studying these nine virtues a couple of weeks ago, but not necessarily in the traditional order: We began with two of the fruit sandwiched in the middle of Paul’s list— the fruits kindness and goodness. And we saw that these are sister fruits because they are so similar.
 
We explained that “kindness” is more of the attitude by which we do things for people, while “goodness” is the action accompanying the right attitude that we possess. But a point we made was that Paul is describing two virtues that we can see evidence of in one’s life, and are not just what a person is versus what they do. No, every believer is called to both be kind and do kind things, to be good and do good things.
 
And we saw that “kindness” describes someone who is useful, manageable, or employed by the Lord. We also saw that kindness’ sister fruit—the fruit of goodness—describes being “beneficial.” So, if we want to be both useful and beneficial in God’s kingdom, we need to be producing both of these fruit in our lives.
 
But we learned that as it is with all of the fruit of the Spirit, these fruit do not come by accident. No, kindness and goodness do not just fall on us like apples out of a tree. Like it is with growing specific fruit in our gardens, we have to plan to produce the fruits of kindness and goodness.
 
So, in regards to this, last week we asked the question: How many books have you read on the fruit of the Spirit? How many studies have you done on the various fruit of the Spirit? I believe we can look at our libraries and see what we are producing in our lives. So, we ought to study up on these things and by doing so, make place in our lives for them. 
 
Then last week, we moved into another couple of fruit of the Spirit—the fruits of longsuffering and faithfulness.
 
We began with longsuffering, and saw that while “patience” is another word that could be used, the New King James version’s translation of “longsuffering” might be better suited. The reason being is because the Greek word used in Galatians 5:22 is almost every time used in connection with someone being patient with someone else. However, with the word commonly translated “patience,” it is often used in connection with being patient in circumstances. Therefore, I believe that the difference between these two Biblical terms is that one is patience in regard to people (i.e. makrothumia) and the other (i.e. hupomeno) is enduring circumstances. Therefore, longsuffering is not moved by negative emotions while patience is not moved by negative circumstances.   
 
And as I made the point of, this fruit of the Spirit comes from the Greek word makrothumia which describes someone who takes a “long” time to get “mad” or “go off” on you like a stick of dynamite. Therefore, a person who possesses “longsuffering” is someone who is extremely forbearing and doesn’t easily “explode” on others.
 
Based on First Corinthians 13:4, we learned that longsuffering is at the forefront of love’s characteristics. But we also learned that we are not going to be able to be longsuffering in our own power. According to Colossians 1:11, our level of longsuffering and patience accompanied by joy is tied to His strength and power.
 
However, we learned that like there are certain types of soil that produce certain types of fruit better, there is a particular type of soil that best produces the fruit of longsuffering. So, I gave you a couple of characteristics of this type of heart: First of all, we learned in Colossians 3:12 that among other virtues, longsuffering is put on like clothes are put on.  And like it is with the putting on of clothes in this physical life, the first step to wearing them is a mentality (i.e. determining what we are going to wear). None of us stood by our closet this morning and the clothes we are wearing jumped off the hangers and onto our body. No, we had to choose to put them on. And so we learned that just as our clothes didn’t choose us, but you choose them, neither will the fruit of longsuffering choose us; we must choose it. And we went through a couple of ways of thinking that will help us to choose it.
 
Then we looked at the fruit of faithfulness and began by looking at the relationship between faith and faithfulness: We saw that this particular fruit of the Spirit is describing someone who, through their faith, is reliable and loyal—that is, he or she is trustworthy, dependable, dedicated, consistent and unwavering in their dealings with others.
 
However, I made the point that I do not believe there is a big difference between one’s faith in God and faithfulness towards man. Why do you say this, pastor? It is because God’s faithfulness is what we put our faith in. You see, we can only believe a God who is faithful to do what He says He will do and that has done what He says He has done. If He vacillates in His character, how can we depend on Him and know what He is going to do? Therefore, this is why I believe our faith in God is rooted in God’s faithfulness.
 
Likewise, I also believe the faithfulness we exhibit in our lives is a result of our faith in Him. Let me explain: If I truly believe God, I myself will be a reliable and dependable person. I’ll say it this way: if I trust God, I will be trustworthy myself.
 
So, it is for this reason that I do not believe one can separate our faithfulness in life from our faith in the Lord. Yes, God’s faithfulness is what our faith is rooted in, and our faithfulness is the fruit of the faith we have in Him.
 
So, I asked a question that I believe summarizes how we can know how faithful we’ve been: Can people believe in us? You see, just as God is constantly called “faithful,” we likewise need to reflect the same attribute of faithfulness in our lives as well. People need to know that we are dependable. Folks need to understand that we are trustworthy and reliable. The world needs to know that we absolutely will not lie to them. And the reason this is so important is because we are the only Bible some people will ever read. We are being read, saints!
 
But regarding faithfulness, we can see that it is one of the most rewarded fruit in the kingdom of God. Yes, it is arguably the most lauded fruit that we can produce in our lives. No, it is not necessarily always recognized by man, but it is always praised by God—for it is one of the fruit Jesus is going to be looking for in that Great Day when we hopefully will hear from Him, “Well done you good and faithful servant.”
 
Now let’s move on this week and cover the last two fruit that the apostle Paul mentions. These are the only two that Galatians 5:23 contain—gentleness & self-control.
 
LOWER BODY EXERCISE
 
And I want to let you know that these two fruit of the Spirit are probably at the bottom of just about every believer’s list as well—for the fruits of humility and self-control require much self-denial and sacrifice, and that is simply hard on one’s flesh. Therefore, while we might tend to focus more on the love, joy and peace side of the fruit of the Spirit, faithfulness, humility, and self-control are the other side of the fruit of the Spirit that will make us fully fruitful. In other words, we can be as fruitful in love, joy and peace as we can possibly be, but if we do not produce any faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control then we will not be filled with the fruits of righteousness.
 
In fact, the apostle Paul prayed a prayer for the Church of Philippi and concluded this prayer with— “being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Christ Jesus to the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:11).
 
You see, I believe that the fruits of righteousness that Paul was talking about are these nine fruit of the Spirit we are talking about here—for, as we’ve learned, they are indeed the fruits of that righteous nature we have inherited in Christ. The other reasons I believe is by looking at the rest of the verse—they are both “by Christ Jesus” and “to the glory and praise of God.” Sounds like John chapter 15 to me—for our fruitfulness can only come through the Lord Jesus Christ (i.e. abiding in Him and apart from him we can do nothing) and Jesus also said that this fruit glorifies God.
 
You see, when one is born again, they receive a new recreated spirit—one that is in the very image and likeness of God’s righteousness. And as the apostle John said, those who have truly been made righteous are meant to produce that righteousness in their life. In other words, through this new righteous nature we’ve freely received, there are these nine virtues that are meant to be produced in our lives.
 
But notice in this prayer that Paul desired that we be “filled” with the fruits of that righteousness: The picture he was painting was that of a tree that was full of fruit. We have all seen certain trees that have no fruit, others that have some fruit, and still others that are full of fruit. God wants our limbs to be full of the fruits of righteousness, saints!  In other words, the Lord expects a harvest to be produced in and through our lives from the seed of righteousness that He freely gave us when we were born again. And what makes us full of fruit is when we are producing all nine of the fruit of the Spirit in their fullness. Let me give you a good example of what I am referring to here:
 
One time I had the Lord ask me— “Would you like to know what the muscles of your spirit man are?” Of course, I was quick to answer— “Yes, sir! Yes, sir! Yes, sir!” He responded with— “They are the fruit of the Spirit.” Then a Scripture immediately dropped in my heart that says, “By their fruit, you will know them.” In this passage, in Matthew chapter seven, Jesus was talking about false prophets and false teachers, but knowing people by their fruit applies both to the righteous and the unrighteous.
 
Essentially, what the Lord was telling me was that just as we recognize people from a distance by their physical physique, we recognize those who are both spiritual and unspiritual by their spiritual physique. In that case, it is by their fruit (their spiritual muscles or lack thereof) that we will know them.
 
So, I say all of this to say, we don’t want to be like a lot of the gym rats out there that go to the gym to work out only their chest, shoulders, and arms and have these skinny little quads and calves. No, we need to develop the lower body just like we are (hopefully) looking to develop the upper body. And in this case, the lower body is the lower third of Paul’s list of the fruit of the Spirit (i.e. faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control).
 
So, attention needs to be given to developing the lower third of our spiritual muscles just like we desire to be developed in the upper third fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, and peace. Once we do that, we will be a perfect man and “full of fruit.” Amen?        
 
MEEKNESS IS NOT WEAKNESS
 
So, let’s begin this week with gentleness: Now most translations use this word “gentleness,” but many of us might better recognize the King James version’s translation of “meekness” here. And the word Paul used here literally describes someone who is gentle, meek or mild.
 
I think the term “mild” is interesting here because what do you think of when you think of something being “mild”? We might think of something not being sharp, spicy or bitter. And it makes me think of cheese! I think of “mild” cheddar versus “sharp” cheddar. You see, mild cheddar is much blander and more moderate. The sharper cheddars, on the other hand, stand out a little more! They are a little tarter! Likewise, a “mild” person is much less abrasive, severe and harsh. Rather, they are gentle, meek, and humble.
 
But unlike the process that makes cheddar “sharper”—which is the time cheese is given to age—it usually takes more time to make a person “milder” as opposed to sharper. Of course, it doesn’t work this way with everyone—just like not everyone becomes wiser just by simply getting older—but as a general rule, the more one ages, the more humbled they should become.   
 
But this virtue called “gentleness” is by nature, meek, mild, and humble. The exact opposite of harsh, abrasive, and arrogant. Therefore, as you’ve heard me use already, perhaps the best translation of this word we would have today would be “humility.”
 
Now the terminology that is used by our translations is one of the reasons that I believe so many Christians do not esteem this particular virtue. For some of us, we don’t see the terms “gentleness” and “meekness” as strengths. But what we need to understand is that “meekness” does not describe a weak person. No, meekness is not weakness. Rather, meekness is power under perfect control.
 
You see, if I am mild & meek, it doesn’t mean I don’t have something to offer or don’t have an opinion; it just simply means that, in my love for you, I am willing to lay down my thoughts, opinion and viewpoint. Could I let you have it? Absolutely! But what does the selfless love of God do? It doesn’t do what it can do; it does what you are open to it doing for you.
 
Now the polar opposite of a gentle, meek, and humble person is a person who needs to be in control. Yes, they try to change people and circumstances around them. We don’t want to be this way, church! And by cultivating this fruit of the Spirit, we can change ourselves to not be this way. And why? Because like all nine of the fruit of the Spirit, humility, gentleness, and meekness is a characteristic of God Himself!
 
OUR MEEK MASTER
 
To me, this is one of the most admirable virtues of God—how He does not make us do anything or assert Himself on us in any way. No, He is the epitome of humility in that He knows everything and really has all the answers (unlike us, who think we have all the answers), yet He let’s us choose what wisdom we get from Him. God truly is “meek” in every sense of the word! 
 
Didn’t the Lord Jesus refer to Himself this way—as “meek” and lowly in heart (see Matthew 11:29). Boy, I’ll tell you, Jesus could have come to this earth and set everyone straight just like that! But He didn’t. He took the humble road all throughout His ministry and did not seek His own. Everything He did was out of love for others. And this should be our motivation as well.  
 
So, if our Lord & God can be this way when He is as great & glorious as He is, then we certainly can produce this same kind of humility no matter how great & glorious we think we are. Yes, we ought to aspire to grow in this fruit of the Spirit as well.
 
Again, church, you will not find a stronger person than a truly meek person. Why? It is because it is much more difficult to submit your will in humility than it is to exert your will in pride. The world does the latter, but the Spirit will empower the believer to humble themselves and be willing to yield to others in love.
 
THE ATTITUDE OF HUMILITY
 
In Galatians 6:1, we have a great example of how one who possesses this fruit of the Spirit will behave: In it, the apostle Paul says, “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.”
 
Now this word for “gentleness” is the same word Paul used in Galatians 5:23, and we have seen how it describes someone who might possess something, but they do not use their power to criticize, ridicule, and assert their will on someone.
 
So, what this describes is the demeaner and attitude we have when we are helping someone who has missed it—we are not carrying ourselves haughtily and condemning them, but we are approaching them “gently, humbly, and with respect”—essentially, the way we would want someone to restore us if we had made the same mistake.
 
So, it all goes back to the golden rule, right? Treating one another as we would want to be treated. Which is why Paul said what he said next in this verse … “considering yourself lest you also be tempted.”
 
An interesting point here is that the word used for “considering” is the Greek word skopeo. This word is where we derive words such as “telescope, microscope and periscope” from. So, as it pertains to these words, we can see that skopeo means to focus on, or to look specifically at or for something. When I think of these examples of a telescope or microscope, I see someone who is actively trying to look for something that might not be apparent to the naked eye. They are using a specific tool that magnifies the object that they are looking at so that they can clearly see something that otherwise would not be seen.
 
But here is the problem: Most of us are looking at others with these “scopes,” not ourselves. Yes, we look at others through a “microscope” and at ourselves through “rose-colored glasses.” This is what religion does, but a truly humble and spiritual person will inspect himself first--removing the telephone pole from his own eye before he ever attempts to remove the toothpick from someone else’s eye (see Matthew 7:5). And why? Why is it important for us to consider the specks in our own eyes first when helping others?
 
Paul goes on to say, “lest you also be tempted.” Now it is important to understand that the attitude that we just described is the exact opposite attitude of that “spirit of gentleness” he mentions earlier in this verse. So many times, we deceive ourselves into thinking that we are at a place spiritually where we are incapable of being tempted with certain things. This is absolutely untrue! No one is untouchable! Now you and I might not be capable of doing certain things today, but if we sow to our flesh for an extended period of time our corruption is inevitable (see Galatians 6:8). Understanding this will greatly help you and I have a “spirit of gentleness” when restoring those that have fallen. But as it has been so poetically stated— “You never know what your fruit is made of until it gets squeezed.” In other words, you and I don’t truly know what we would do if the situation was reversed and the pressure that is on them was on us instead.
 
Therefore, the point Paul was making in this verse is that this attitude of humility will help us to deal with one another in a godly way. And it begins by us truly examining ourselves instead of trying to examine everyone else.
 
But again, this fruit of the Spirit is not going to fall on us like an apple out of a tree. We are going to have to water that seed in us in order to see it produced in our lives.
 
PURSUING AND PUTTING ON HUMILITY
 
Now in the verse we looked at last week (Colossians 3:12) we saw that these fruit of the Spirit are to be purposefully “put on.” Again, Paul says, “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering.” So, like it was with “longsuffering,” we see this word for “gentleness” in this list as well, but here it is translated “humility.”  
 
And we see in First Timothy 6:11, that we are told to “…pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.”
 
So, this teaches me that this virtue given by the Holy Spirit, along with the others as well, are to be both pursued in our lives and then put on intentionally. And I believe the reason God designed it this way is because He desires His children to grow up. Yes, our Heavenly Father is not wanting to dress us; He wants us to put our clothes on ourselves.  
 
You know, regarding this fruit of “humility,” you have a large part of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ who believe that in order for us to become humble, God has to do it. They embrace the thought that we need to let God humble us. Some will even go as far as saying, “God, please make me more humble!”
 
But did you know that the Bible never once teaches us that this is how we are to pursue this virtue? Now has somebody who was lifted up in pride been humbled by the Lord. Absolutely! One incredible example of this is King Nebuchadnezzar. This guy started believing he was the Most High himself. So, God quickly put him in his place to where he wound up eating grass off of the ground like a wild beast. We also see this in the New Testament like when King Herod started believing that he himself was a god and the angel of the Lord struck him down and he was eaten by worms. So, yes, we have examples where God humbled people, but again, this is not how the Bible teaches us to learn humility. We are told time and time again that we are to humble ourselves. Let me give you three or four witnesses:

1. James 4:10 – “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”
2. First Peter 5:6 – “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.”
3. Matthew 23:12 – “And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
4. Second Chronicles 7:14 – “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

 
So, apparently, this is something you and I are going to have to do to ourselves. No, it is not our job to try and keep other people humble either. We have a full-time job humbling ourselves. Why? Because pride & self-centeredness are just engrained in our flesh, and it is going to take some serious seeking to see it in us.
 
But that is what we have the Holy Spirit for—to help us to both desire to see the “self” eradicated from our lives and to empower us to produce more “humility.” If we will yield to Him, He will help us do what we never could have done in the arm of the flesh. Amen?
 
THIS IS NOT A DEMOCRACY
 
Now let’s move on to the last, but certainly not least, fruit of the Spirit in Paul’s list—the fruit of self-control.
 
This term “self-control” comes from the Greek word enkrateia which is a combination of two words—the word en which means “in, inner or inward” and the word kratos which describes “ruling power.” In fact, this word kratos is where we get our English term “democracy” from—the word demos being the Greek word for “people” and the word kratos meaning “ruling power.” So, the word democracy literally means “people ruling power”—essentially being a government that is ruled by the people.
 
So, when you combine these words together, you get what I consider to be the perfect definition for “self-control.” Self-control is not people ruling power; it is “inward ruling power.” In other words, a person exhibiting the fruit of self-control is a person who is “governing” themselves. So, “self-control” is the supernatural ability of the Holy Spirit to rule over our outward man by our inward man. In other words, it is controlling the flesh by the spirit man.
 
But like you’ll hear said in the world regarding people shooting down the notion that the majority rules when it comes to certain decisions— “This is not a democracy!” And it’s not with this particular fruit of the Spirit either! No, God the Father is not going to control you for you! Jesus is not going to make you produce His fruit either! And contrary to popular opinion, the Holy Spirit is also not going to make you bear this fruit of self-control! No, the only one that will control you is you!
 
Now we are going to have a little fun this morning: Church, if I were to hold up a $100 and said the first person to get up in front of the church and jump on one leg, clucking like a chicken will get it, what would happen? Someone would do it! And my point would be that they would happily “lose-control” because they were properly motivated. So, wouldn’t the opposite be the case too? Couldn’t we control ourselves with the proper motivation? Sure, we can!  
 
WHO’S IN CONTROL?
 
Now people will tell you that there are things they simply cannot control in regards to how they act. They will say, for example, that they just can’t help but blow up and go on a rage etc. but that is simply not true. If it were true, then we are dealing with something demonic because, as Paul taught in First Corinthians 14:32, the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets—and that applies to everything that we do. If we lose control and absolutely cannot control ourselves, then that is probably demonic in nature.
 
Someone might say, “Yeah, well I don’t agree with that! I can’t control this temper I got! Well, I disagree with that person. I believe once properly motivated anyone can control anything that they think, say or do. Yes, the vast majority of the people that say they can’t control themselves can control themselves if given the proper motivation.
 
Do you know, you’ll have a husband or wife who will just rail on their spouse and tell them how they feel just because they say they can’t help it. But that same person will go to their job and no matter how much their employer ticks them off or angers them they are able to keep from venting all of their feelings to their boss. And why? Because of what they know their actions might cost them! 
 
Do you remember when Jesus told us in His Sermon on the Mount that if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and if your hand causes you to sin cut it off? Why did He say this? Because it is better for one of your members to perish than your whole body to be cast into hell. (Matthew 5:29-30)
 
Now most people don’t believe that Jesus was being literal here, but I differ. I believe He was being quite literal. Now, of course, He wasn’t encouraging self-mutilation. The Lord does not want us to start a ministry of eye plucking and hand chopping. But I believe He was being literal in that He was telling us that if any of your body parts are “causing” you to sin, then you should eliminate that body part.
 
The truth is, however, that none of our body parts “cause” us to sin. Why? Because we—the real us on the inside—are in control of the carnal part of us on the outside.
 
Let me give you a couple of examples of this— an example of the how we can control our eye from sinning and an example of how we can control our hand from sinning:
 
First, the eye: I know that there are guys out there who say that they just can’t help but look at pornography and lust after women, but the truth is—if you were to tie that guy up in front of a computer and say—“Ok, I’m going to run a bunch of porn websites and if you look at any of these women to lust after them, I’m going to take this here spoon and pluck your eyes out.” Guess what you will discover? Somehow, supernaturally, that guy is going to find the ability to not lust. Why? Because He values His eye more than the lusts of his flesh. 
 
Now how about that guy who is beating up on his wife and says he just can’t help it because the rage just gets all over him when she does and says the things she does? He can control that just like the guy who says he can’t help but look at women lustfully. Do you know how I know that? It’s because all you have to do to prove that is put that guy in room with a 350 lb. football player and then get that football player to say and do all the things the other guy’s wife said and did, and somehow supernaturally, this wife-beater has the ability to control himself from beating up on the football player. No saints, most people just do what they feel they can get away with. 
 
My father in the faith, Andrew Wommack, served in Vietnam and he recounts a very interesting and disturbing experience he had: He said that during his time there that there were points where the soldiers were provided with prostitutes, drugs and alcohol and every last person in his division went and partook of these things except him. Some of these guys were professing Christians, were married, had girlfriends etc. Yet because they had a relatively low chance of ever surviving this war and because they knew that there was no way that anyone would ever find out back in the States, everyone compromised and did things that some of them normally never would have done. And do you know why? It was because they knew they would get away with it. 
 
You see, saints, we must have resolve and integrity—doing what is right simply because it is right. We should need no other reason or motivation to control ourselves other than this!
 
SPIRITUAL STRENGTH
 
You know, spirituality is having command over our feelings and emotions and learning to do things simply because it is what we are told to do or it is simply the right thing to do. But, church, this obviously takes supernatural strength and inner-fortitude to control the emotions and feelings that like to control us.
 
Proverbs 16:32 is a great verse that echoes this: It says, “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.” Like we said with “meekness,” people do not see self-restraint as a strength, but it truly is. A weak person lacks self-control—saying whatever comes up, venting all their feelings, and simply losing control. A strong person controls his or her words & actions—being even more mighty than someone who conquers an entire city. That shows us just how hard it is to “control self,” and why we need the power of the Holy Spirit to walk in this fruit. Perhaps this is the reason the apostle Paul listed “self-control” last—because it is the pinnacle of living a Spirit-controlled life.
 
And our flesh, in my opinion, is the first thing we should aspire to have authority over; not the kingdom of darkness, but our own domain. I once heard Joyce Meyer say that people want authority over demons, but they don’t even have control over themselves when they see a sink full of dirty dishes. We are fooling ourselves to think we can control the things around us when we cannot control this body that we possess.
 
You have probably heard me say before that we are walking in the fruit of the Spirit the most when we feel like smacking somebody and we don’t. That’s actually the fruit of self-control in operation. It is not an absence of “feelings” or a void of negative “emotions.” No, it is the supernatural assistance of the Holy Spirit within us to not feed those emotions and to not act on those feelings. This is self-control—the highest form of personal government one can possess. 
 
You know, church, I believe it is no coincidence that the first fruit of the Spirit listed by Paul in Galatians 5:22-23 is “love” and the last is “self-control.” Why? Because I believe that love and self-control are the bookends of being fruitful. If we love—not necessarily feeling a bunch of loving emotions, but as an act of our will express love to people through our actions—and we exercise self-control over these feelings of the flesh, we are well on our way to walking in the Spirit.   
 
So, in conclusion, if we want to be completely developed and fully fruitful, then these last two fruit of the Spirit in Paul’s list are necessary. Yes, we want to focus on humbling ourselves and let the Holy Spirit do the work of producing this meek and mild-mannered temperament in our lives. We also want to give attention to producing the fruit of self-control in our lives as well—letting the Holy Spirit infuse strength in our inner man, so that the outer man loses control. This is when, combining our production of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness, we will become a perfect “fruity” man and give the most glory to our Father. Amen!

REVIEW
So, we have been looking at those nine virtues that the Holy Spirit produces in our lives, known as the Fruit of the Spirit. And these are located in Galatians 5:22-23, where the apostle Paul says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”
Now one thing we have learned about the fruit of the Spirit is that since these nine virtues manifest God’s character in our lives, we should see that character in the Christian’s life is a major part of what the Holy Spirit is meant to manifest in us. And the truth is, these nine virtues are the fruit that someone is truly living a spiritual life. Yes, as we’ve learned, these fruit are the tell-tale sign of whether someone is spiritual of not. No, it’s not how much we speak in tongues or how many miracles we see in our lives; it’s how much we genuinely love people and how much joy & peace we are producing in our lives. Therefore, the fruit of the Spirit are the fruit of true spirituality. 
Now in part one of this series, we basically did an overview of these gifts and saw how one bears this fruit of the Spirit in their lives: We learned that the process of fruitfulness was God’s original design. And what Jesus did for us, was not place us back in the Garden, but place the Garden back in us—that is, He provided a way for us become spiritually alive again, and in doing so, the life in the Garden has become our inheritance. Therefore, we are meant to live free from that curse that the First Adam had given to him after his sin—that with labor and toil he would have to gain fruit from the ground. No, now we can freely eat the fruit from the trees in the Garden! But we still need to steer clear from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil—that is, the law and trying to “work” in order to be fruitful. No, the Tree of Life—the Cross of Christ—is what has done the work for us. Now we can simply live a life of freedom, producing this fruit by His grace working in us. Amen!     
Church, this is how the Lord has designed for us to live the Christian life. We are not machines that “work,” manufacturing this fruit. No, we are fruit bearing trees that organically produce fruit for the glory of God. It is not meant to be arduous or laborious. Rather it is meant to be free-flowing, natural producing of these virtues in our life because of Who we are abiding in and Who we have abiding in us. No longer are we to produce fruit through our labor and toil; now we produce fruit simply through abiding in the Paradise of His presence. Amen!
We saw that this is what Jesus described to us in John 15:1-8, when He taught His disciples the principle of abiding in Himself, the True Vine. In this parable, Jesus was illustrating to them (and us) what life is to be like in the kingdom—which is, simply a product of staying attached to Jesus and letting His presence produce fruit in us and through us.
You see, you never see a branch struggling to produce fruit. In fact, the way this planet operates is that a branch has sap pumped into it from the vine, which forces the branch to produce fruit. Therefore, there is no “white-knuckling” it involved in bearing fruit. The branch automatically produces fruit simply by abiding in its vine.
So, this is the foundation of what we are learning regarding the fruit of the Spirit—that this character does not “stem” from hard work, discipline and will power. No, it is produced primarily through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit and through the new birth.   
But what we learned is that there is a reason Paul called these nine virtues the fruit (singular) of the Spirit (lower case or capitalized “s”):  
We saw that Paul used the term “fruit” singular, which I believe shows us that these nine characteristics of the Spirit are like a cluster of grapes, but the same fruit. Therefore, unlike the gifts (plural) of the Spirit, we cannot say this one has this fruit and that one has that fruit. No, every follower of Christ is expected to produce all nine of these virtues in their life.
We also learned that these are called the fruit of the Spirit because they are the fruit of a spiritually alive and Spirit-empowered life. You see, you could make a case that the fruit of the Spirit are the fruit of our newborn, recreated spirit just like you can say that they are the fruit of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit within us. The reason being is because he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. So, if I am born of the Spirit and have been baptized in the Spirit, then the Holy Ghost and my reborn spirit are working together to produce this fruit. Amen!   
Therefore, if we back up and consider the context of Galatians chapter 5, we discover that this fruit Paul is describing is the fruit of both walking in the Spirit (see verse 16) and being led by the Spirit (see verse 18). In other words, as we live our lives in the realm of the Holy Spirit and are led, directed and guided by Him, these nine virtues will be the by-product. Amen?
So, church, just like it was in the beginning when God set into motion the process of fruitfulness, fruit yields “according to its kind.” I like how the New Living Translation says this in Genesis 1:11. It says, “from which they came.” In other words, a fruit tree is only going to produce the fruit, and the seed in that fruit, from the seed from which they came. So, we learned that the reason it is called the fruit of the Spirit is because it is fruit that is according to His kind, or you could say, it is the fruit that came directly from the seed of the Spirit.
Therefore, with these nine virtues being called the fruit of the Spirit, they are attributes of God. Yes, saints, by possessing the fruit of the Spirit, we have love within us—but not only that; He is also joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. This is the nature of God, and therefore, is to become our nature as well.
So, we summarized all of this in three words—that in order to be fruitful, we must be “born.” We must “abide,” and we must “behold”: Yes, we must first be born again—receiving the nature that contains all nine of these virtues. Then we must yield to the presence and power of the Lord Jesus and His Holy Spirit to where the Lord is infusing us with the supernatural ability to exhibit these qualities in our lives on a consistent basis. That is the abiding part. And finally, we need to behold the One who possesses this fruit and let His example reflect in our own lives. Amen.
So, last week, we began studying these nine virtues, but not in the traditional order. We began with two of the fruit sandwiched in the middle of Paul’s list— the fruits kindness and goodness. And we first saw that these are sister fruits because they are so similar. However, we saw that there must be a difference if the Holy Spirit inspired the apostle Paul to mention them both as two distinct fruit of the Spirit.
 
I said last week that I see “kindness” as more of the attitude by which we do things for people. “Goodness,” on the other hand, is what I believe to be the action accompanying the right attitude that we possess. But my point was that these two fruit of the Spirit work hand in hand. However, here is what we must all agree on: both kindness and goodness are to be produced in our lives seeing as they are fruit of the Spirit. In other words, Paul is describing two virtues that we can see evidence of in one’s life and are not just what a person is versus what they do. No, every believer is called to both be kind and do kind things, to be good and do good things.
 
We saw that the dictionary defines the word “kindness” as the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate. Therefore, I said that I see kindness as looking kind, being kind, and thinking kind—meaning, a person producing the fruit of kindness in their life has a kind look on their face, thinks kind thoughts in their mind, and regularly practices kind actions in their life.
 
And we saw this is exactly how God is kind Himself: Yes, God’s kindness was Him giving us His very best (see Ephesians 2:7). It is the manifestation of His kindness that helps people to change directions (Romans 2:4). So, kindness is not merely an attitude or an intention; kindness is a tangible fruit of God that we have all experienced. 
 
We learned that “kindness” describes someone who is useful, manageable, or employed by the Lord. So, if we want to be used of the Lord, then kindness is a great way to do so.
 
We also learned that to be kind is to be motivated by compassion. And we constantly see Jesus doing the kind things that He did in the Gospels because of the compassion that moved Him. We saw from the example of the feeding of the four thousand, that in order to be kind and compassionate, we must be conscientious and considerate. Yes, we cannot only be wrapped up in our own world, only aware of our own needs. No, we must think about others and then, not just think kind thoughts, but act on them. Therefore, the fruit of kindness is an action, not just an intention. It ought to be our faith on display and manifested. Amen?    
 
Then we looked at kindness’ sister fruit—the fruit of goodness—and learned that this fruit describes being “beneficial.” Therefore, it paints the picture of a benefactor, which would describe one who possesses great wealth. Therefore, I described bearing the fruit of “goodness” as us being more “generous, liberal and charitable with our finances, time, or energy” like a “benefactor” graciously gives of him or herself to bless others.
 
So, we learned from this that if we are going to be full of the fruit of goodness in our lives, then it helps to receive God’s goodness in our lives. In other words, the more we receive what God has provided, the “gooder” we can become by having the means to meet people’s need and grant their desires.   
 
And again, we saw that our Lord and Savior Jesus bore this fruit of goodness as well: We are told in Acts 10:38 that He went about “doing good” and healing all who were oppressed by the devil. So sure, Jesus performed miracles and healed thousands of people during His earthly ministry, but what people don’t talk about as much is all the good that He did aside from those spectacular things. Yes, Jesus bore an abundance of goodness in His life and ministry along with the healings and miracles He performed.
 
You see, we learned that since Jesus had a treasurer, He must have had some money. And we saw that Jesus had a reputation for doing good to those in need at all hours of the day. So, Jesus was apparently bearing the fruit of goodness all the time!
 
And so, we ended last week by learning how both of these fruit do not come by accident. No, kindness and goodness do not just fall on us like apples out of a tree. Like it is with growing specific fruit in our gardens, we have to plan to produce the fruits of kindness and goodness. The truth is—if we fail to plan, we plan to fail.
 
So, we learned how to do this: We saw that we can do this by maybe starting each day asking the Lord to help us be more kind and to be good to the people we come in contact with. Then, we can begin thinking of ways that we can exhibit this kindness to those in our lives. Yes, we can strategically stir up good and kind works in our lives. How? By doing what Hebrews 10:24 says, “consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.”   
 
So, in regard to this, let me ask you: How many books have you read on the fruit of the Spirit? How many studies have you done on the various fruit of the Spirit? I believe we can look at our libraries and see what we are producing in our lives. So, we ought to study up on these things and by doing so, make place in our lives for them. 
 
And, glory to God, we saw what the other fruit of doing things like this consistently will be: We will begin producing more joy and peace in our lives as well! Why? Because we are spending more time thinking of how we can be good and kind to others rather than how others can be more good and kind to us. Amen?  
 
So, let’s move on this week into another couple of fruit of the Spirit. This week, I would like us to look at the fruits of longsuffering and faithfulness.
 
PATIENCE VERSUS LONGSUFFERING
 
Let’s begin with longsuffering: Now some translations use the word “patience” here, but I like the New King James version’s translation of “longsuffering” better, and here is why:
 
For one, the Greek word Paul used here in Galatians 5:22 (Greek makrothumia) is translated “longsuffering” many more times than it is patience. But the main reason I like the translation “longsuffering” better as it pertains to this fruit of the Spirit is because when you do a word study of “patience” and “longsuffering,” what you find is interesting.
 
You see, almost every time this word for “longsuffering” is used, it is used in connection with someone being patient with someone else. However, with the word for “patience” (oftentimes the translation of the word hupomeno), it is often used in connection with being patient in circumstances. Therefore, I believe that the difference between these two Greek terms is that one (the one that is listed as a fruit of the Spirit, mind you) is patience in regard to people (i.e. makrothumia) and the other (i.e. hupomeno) is enduring circumstances.  In other words, I think it is safe to assume that there is a patience that is used with people and that is called “longsuffering” and there is a patience that is used with circumstances and that is called “endurance.”
 
However, while longsuffering is certainly similar in nature to patience, the primary difference between these two virtues is that longsuffering keeps one from anger, wrath, etc. and patience keeps one from moving when the pressure is put on (Greek hupomeno— “staying under power”). So, longsuffering is not moved by negative emotions while patience is not moved by negative circumstances.   
 
Now is it incorrect to say that we can be patient with people? Certainly not! But since there are different words that were used in those days to describe how one patiently endures both people and things, I believe it is important for us to have different terms in order to make a distinction. However, based on the verbiage we use in our culture today, a better translation would be “patience” because the term “longsuffering” is not a commonly used word today. 
 
But this is where it gets interesting: As I stated already, the fruit of the Spirit which we call “longsuffering” comes from the Greek word makrothumia and comes from two words. The prefix is makros, which simply means “long”, and the other word is thumos, which describes “passionate anger or wrath.” So, when you combine these two words together, you see a person described that takes a “long” time to get “mad” or you could say they are slow to anger.
 
When it comes to makrothumia, I like to use the analogy of a stick of dynamite. But not just any ordinary stick of dynamite, but one that has a tremendously long fuse (i.e. that string that one lights on fire to ignite the dynamite). So, because its fuse is so long, you can “burn” it for a long time before it will ever “explode” on you. Therefore, the believer who is producing this virtue in his or her life is extremely “patient & forbearing” with others.
 
We see this described in Ephesians 4:2 when Paul says, “with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love.” In other words, it is with longsuffering that we bear with one another in love. So, the fruit of longsuffering enables one to bear with others because of their love for them. You see, the lack of being able to “bear” it, is a lack of longsuffering. But again, it is not bearing with them with gritted teeth; it is bearing with them in love.
 
LOVE IS LONGSUFFERING
 
Now as it is with all of the fruit of the Spirit, we can see God in all of these virtues—and that is certainly the case with this fruit.
 
For example, we see in First Corinthians 13:4, the very first description we have of love is that it “suffers long…” And as we have seen, since God is love, then God suffers long. Therefore, a major characteristic of God’s loving nature is longsuffering, or we could say, longsuffering is at the forefront of Love’s characteristics.
 
We see this in Peter’s letters. (And why? Because he was a man who was in desperate need of this longsuffering nature of God. Amen?) In First Peter 3:20, he describes how it was “divine longsuffering” that had God wait in the days of Noah before bringing the flood on the earth. And even with the extreme depravity of man in those days, the Lord gave them an additional 120 years before judging the world. In Second Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” Peter goes on, in this chapter, to describe this “longsuffering” of God as the grace & mercy He gives us until His Second Coming. The fact is, if it were not for this “divine longsuffering,” many of us would not still be here.
 
You see, God in His longsuffering gives us much more time than we can fathom. When OUR patience is running out, HIS is just getting started! Isn’t the Lord described in the Scriptures as being “slow to anger”? Now this is not our version of doing something slowly. For instance, in the Book of Revelation, Jesus said, “Behold I am coming quickly!” right? Now He said that how long ago? Around 2,000 years, right? So, if 2,000-plus years is God doing something “quickly,” what is Him doing something “slowly”? Selah.
 
Romans 2:4 also describes this “divine longsuffering” when Paul said, “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?”
 
We see in this verse that things like God’s kindness, forbearance & longsuffering are the fruit of His goodness. And the point Paul was making right here was that when we bear this fruit, it leads others to change. Thus, the importance of bearing the fruit of longsuffering: it helps others change.
 
For example, Peter talked about how this is one of the ways how a wife can win her husband to the Lord (see First Peter 3:1-2)—by the fruit she’s producing in her life. So, do you suppose if I bear the fruit of longsuffering in my life, it might help convert someone? I guarantee you it can—for it’s the manifestation of God’s goodness (in us and through us) that leads man to repentance.  
 
ACCORDING TO HIS POWER
 
Now as we look at God’s fruit of longsuffering and also because longsuffering is a fruit of the Spirit, that means it is not just something we can work up on our own. No, it, like all of the fruit of the Spirit comes from the fruit of a spiritually alive and Spirit-empowered life.
 
While there are certainly some things that we can do to help us become more patient with others, such as a changed perspective and a renewed focus (we will look at some of these things momentarily), the fact is that if we are going to produce the fruit of God’s longsuffering, we are going to need help.
 
In fact, in Colossians chapter one, Paul was praying for this church and said that he desired that they be “strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy.” (Colossians 1:11). In other words, this prayer was for the supernatural strength and power of God to be poured into a believer’s life which would enable them “for all patience and longsuffering with joy.” So, if you and I are going to produce all of the patience (for every difficult circumstance) and all of the longsuffering (for every difficult person), then we are going to need God’s strength to do it—particularly, in order to be joyful while enduring.
 
So, yes, it is going to take the Holy Spirit’s help in us producing this fruit to the degree that we ought. However, like I said, there is still a part we have to play in producing this fruit. Let me explain:        
 
GOOD GROUND FOR LONGSUFFERING
 
You see, like there are certain types of soil that produce certain types of fruit better, there is a particular type of soil that best produces the fruit of longsuffering. Let me give you a couple of characteristics of this type of heart:
 
In Colossians 3:12, the apostle Paul says, “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering;” Notice here that there are virtues—one being the fruit of longsuffering—that are “put on” by us. The words “put on” literally describe clothing oneself. And like it is with the putting on of clothes in this physical life, the first step to wearing them is a mentality (i.e. determining what we are going to wear). How many of you went over to your closet this morning and the clothes you are now wearing jumped off the hangers and onto your body? No, you had to choose to put them on. So, just as your clothes didn’t choose you, but you choose them, neither will the fruit of longsuffering choose you; you must choose it.
 
Therefore, in order to wear the fruit of longsuffering in my life, it is going to take a certain attitude and mentality. So, let me give you a couple of things that help one to have the proper mindset to wearing this particular fruit:  
 
First of all, in Matthew chapter 18, we see in Jesus’ Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, how the servant goes from asking his master to be longsuffering with him to then hearing his brother pleading the same from him and showing no patience with him.
 
What we can gather from this is that one of the reasons we don’t “suffer long” with others is because we are not being mindful to how “longsuffering” God has been with us. Therefore, it helps me to cultivate the ground of my heart for this fruit by consciously remembering how patient the Lord has been with me and the great debt He has dismissed in my own personal life.
 
The apostle Paul understood this well: In First Timothy 1:16, he described his life & ministry as showing all of God’s longsuffering in order to teach all who would turn to Christ after him how longsuffering God will be with them. In other words, God’s own longsuffering in his life propelled Paul into a state of being longsuffering himself (Compare Second Timothy 3:10).     
 
So, both being the receiver of God’s patience and living in the awareness of how much He has suffered long with us is a key to cultivating the ground of our heart, but there are some other good ways of thinking that will help as well:
 
Pastor James uses this same word for “longsuffering” in James 5:7 when he says, “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.”
 
Here we see James using the analogy of a farmer as being patient with his seed in order to describe how we are to suffer long in things. You see, one thing that I believe helps in producing longsuffering is understanding the process of patience. Like it is with seedtime & harvest, we understand that there is a natural process to the time between our sowing and our reaping. And we have seen how children, who do not understand how it takes time for a seed to grow and produce, want to dig those seeds up when it seemingly doesn’t do anything after a day or two, right? But do you have a problem when you plant a seed producing patience and longsuffering while you wait for it to come to maturity. Of course, you don’t. And why? It is because you know there is a process to the harvest coming to pass. Therefore, you are prepared to wait until harvest time by wisdom and understanding.
 
Likewise, I think if we would understand that there is a similar process in sowing & reaping in both our own lives and in other’s lives, we would be more apt to produce longsuffering and patience. For example, if I am dealing with a difficult person, and I know that I am sowing good seed into them, I should know that it is just a matter of time before the harvest comes. And if I believe that longsuffering is a by-product, I know I will reap if I faint not and I am faithful to water that seed. 
 
Which leads me to the next fruit of the Spirit that I want us to cover today—the fruit of faithfulness …
 
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FAITH AND FAITHFULNESS
 
Now for some of us, we have known this particular fruit of the Spirit to be “faith” because this is the way the original King James Version translated it. And while the Greek word here, in fact, is the common word used for faith in the New Testament (The Greek word pistis), in the context here, it likely conveys more of the idea of a person who is faithful. The reason is because we mainly see moral and character qualities being described with the rest of the fruit of the Spirit Paul describes. Not to mention, the vast majority of translations we have today translate this word as “faithfulness” which indicates to me that most Greek scholars lean towards the belief that this particular fruit of the Spirit is describing someone who, through their faith, is reliable and loyal—that is, he or she is trustworthy, dependable, dedicated, consistent and unwavering in their dealings with others.
 
However, I will say that I do not believe there is a big difference between one’s faith in God and faithfulness towards man. Why do you say this, pastor? It is because God’s faithfulness is what we put our faith in. You see, we can only believe a God who is faithful to do what He says He will do and that has done what He says He has done. If He vacillates in His character, how can we depend on Him and know what He is going to do. Therefore, this is why I believe our faith in God is rooted in God’s faithfulness.
 
Likewise, I also believe the faithfulness we exhibit in our lives is a result of our faith in Him. Let me explain: If I truly believe God, I myself will be a reliable and dependable person. I’ll say it this way: if I trust God, I will be trustworthy myself.
 
Someone might ask—How is that? Let me give you an example: if I believe God put me somewhere, then my faith in His assignment will cause me to stay planted there until He says something else. If He has called me to perform a certain task, then I will be dedicated to that calling. On a seemingly smaller level, if God gives me commandments like seek first the kingdom of God with my finances, then I will consistently and unwaveringly be faithful to put the Lord first with my finances.
 
So, one cannot separate our faithfulness in life from our faith in the Lord. Here is a faithful statement and worthy of all acceptance: God’s faithfulness is what our faith is rooted in, and our faithfulness is the fruit of the faith we have in Him.
 
CAN PEOPLE BELIEVE ME?
 
On that note, do you how we could summarize what it means to be faithful? Like so: Can people believe in you? For example, if you told someone you would be there in 30 minutes, do you show up 45 minutes later? If you promised someone you would come help them with something, do you back out at the last minute simply because you didn’t find it convenient?
 
I’m sure we all have failed in areas like this at one time or another, and there is certainly no need for condemnation for our past mistakes—for we cannot change our past, but we can change our future. So, my point is, we need to start today endeavoring to produce more of the fruit of faithfulness in our life until we are perfectly reflecting the faithfulness of God.
 
Yes, church, we need to grow to become a man or woman that does exactly what they say they are going to do (i.e. dependable) and has done exactly what they say they have done (i.e. trustworthy).  
 
Again, this is why we are told time and time again in the Bible that God is faithful. In fact, great is His faithfulness! What this is essentially communicating to us is that we can believe in Him. Yes, He will do what He says He will do!
 
For example, we have promise after promise in the Scriptures that tell us that He will never leave us nor forsake us, and that God is always with us, abiding with us forever. Well, if God was unfaithful, then one day He might be there and the next day, He might not. But no, since He is the epitome of faithfulness, then we know He is there even if we don’t perceive Him with our senses. For one to believe that God is not there with them at a current stage in their life is essentially calling Him “unfaithful.” Now I know they don’t like to think that is what they are saying, but that is what we are saying when we believe God is not doing what He said He would do. It’s tight but it’s right. Glory!  
 
But we know God is faithful! We know we can put our trust in Him, amen? We know He will do what He said He will do!
 
Likewise, we need to reflect the same attribute of faithfulness in our lives as well. People need to know that we are dependable. Folks need to understand that we are trustworthy and reliable. The world needs to know that we absolutely will not lie to them. And the reason this is so important is because we are the only Bible some people will ever read. We are being read, saints!
 
Haven’t you ever noticed how the ungodly knows when a Christian is being hypocritical? Yes, they know when we are being unfaithful more than we do in a lot of cases. This is why we need to produce the fruit of God’s faithfulness in our lives—so that by people seeing they can believe in us, they can believe on Him.   
 
Now again, a faithful person can be described in several ways: For one, he or she does what they say they are going to do. In other words, a faithful person tells the truth—even swearing to their own hurt. Another characteristic of a faithful person is that he or she is always there. In other words, they are going to be there with you through thick & thin. They are not going to quit on you and be quick to forsake you. Yes, a faithful person is a committed, loyal person. On that note, another characteristic of a faithful person is that they are responsible and dependable. For example, a faithful worker is one who not only shows up for work, but does a good job when they are there.
 
THE REWARDS OF FAITHFULNESS
 
And like we see in the world today at many institutions, faithfulness is one of the most rewarded fruit in the kingdom of God. Yes, it is arguably the most lauded fruit that we can produce in our lives. No, it is not necessarily always recognized by man, but it is always praised by God.
 
Do you remember the statement Jesus said He would speak to those servants who served Him well in this life? He said, “Well done you good and faithful servant.” (see Matthew 25:21) This is what we want the Lord to say to us on that Day! This shows us that the fruit of faithfulness is one of the primary things that God is looking for in us, His servants.
 
Yes, church, this is why we want the Lord to say this to us in that Day. This shows us that the fruit of faithfulness is one of the primary things that God is looking for in us, His servants. 
 
And the Lord saying this to us on that Day is not the only reward of faithfulness. The Bible teaches us that a faithful man abounds with blessings not only in the next life but in this one as well (see Proverbs 28:20). We are also taught that it is the faithful person who is rewarded with greater responsibilities (see Second Timothy 2:2). Paul himself said that he was called and enabled by God because he was counted faithful (see First Timothy 1:12). 
 
So, the Lord obviously considers faithfulness as one of the most essential fruits to being entrusted with a greater stewardship. Thus, He recognizes the good and faithful servant at His Second Coming.  
 
And on that note, what is interesting to me about this is these are arguably the two most common virtues God has ascribed to Him throughout the Bible—goodness & faithfulness. Yes, we see hear time and time again that “God is good” and “God is faithful.” So, I believe Jesus will, in essence, be telling His servants this— “Well done you good and faithful servant—for you produced My fruit on the earth. Verily, verily I say unto you what is said of Me— You are good. You are faithful.”
 
So, in conclusion, we need to be mindful that these two fruit—the fruit of longsuffering and faithfulness—are to be exhibited in our lives. Therefore, we ought to keep them before us—first, by focusing on God’s patient and faithful nature and, secondly, by considering them in our own lives. Then, we are making place for them in us. Again, these characteristics of God given by the Holy Spirit are obviously not growing on us like trees. No, they must be pursued—no, not with fleshly energy, but by cooperating with the Holy Spirit within us.
 
Let’s determine to become more faithful, church! Let’s aim to become more longsuffering with one another! For these virtues, while not as esteemed by the church as some of the others, are two of the most rewarding fruit we can bear. Amen.    

REVIEW
Last week, we began looking at those nine virtues that the Holy Spirit produces in our lives, commonly known as the Fruit of the Spirit. Church, both the gifts of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit are what all of these teachings that we have done this year on the Holy Spirit should point us to—to produce this good fruit in our lives. Yes, what the Lord wills for each of us is that the Holy Spirit would be manifested in and through us.
So, again, we are winding up our teachings here in 2019 on the Holy Spirit by looking at the Fruit of the Spirit—that is, the nine characteristics that the Holy Spirit is meant to produce in our lives.
We saw last week that these are located in Galatians 5:22-23, where the apostle Paul says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”
Now by “virtue” of the fact that these nine virtues manifest character in our lives, we should see that character in the Christian’s life is a major part of what the Holy Spirit is meant to manifest in each of us. 
As I made the point of last week, the majority of Spirit-filled Christians would much rather see signs, wonders and miracles manifest in our lives than these fruit, but these gifts are not the end all. Sure, we need the power. We absolutely need the gifts of the Holy Spirit active and operating in our lives, but not at the exclusion of the fruit of the Spirit. The Bible is clear that it is not our gifts that lets us know that we are born again Christians; the apostle John says it is our love of the brethren (see First John 3:14).
The truth is, that these nine virtues are the fruit that someone is living a spiritual life. In other words, these fruit are the tell-tell sign of whether someone is spiritual of not. No, it’s not how much we speak in tongues or how many miracles we see in our lives; it’s how much we genuinely love people and how much joy & peace we are producing in our lives. If you recall, we looked at the example of the Church of Corinth and saw how they had a plethora of gifts, but lacked character, morals, etc. This should prove to us that the presence of gifts is not what makes one mature; the fruit of the Spirit is the fruit of true spirituality. 
So, I say all of this to say, we need these nine virtues produced in our lives alongside of the nine gifts of the Spirit in order to make the kind of impact on this world God has called us to. So, let’s continue this week looking at these verses in Galatians chapter 5.
Last week, we basically did an overview of these gifts and saw how one bears this fruit of the Spirit.
The first thing we saw is what Paul meant when he said at the end of verse 23— “Against such there is no law”? He was essentially saying, “There is obviously no law out there against the people who produce these nine virtues in their life.” So, when these fruit are being produced in our lives and we abide by them, we are not violating any commandment. Rather, we are actually fulfilling the righteous requirement of God’s law—that is, the royal law of love.
And herein lies the difference between the old and new covenants: The law preached “Thou shalt not … lie, steal, kill, etc.” but Jesus preached “Thou shalt … love you neighbor as yourself, love one another as I have loved you, do good, give, forgive, etc.” Let me say it this way: the law said, “Thou shalt not…” and grace says, “Thou shalt love, be joyful, have peace, be kind, do good, be longsuffering, faithful, gentle and self-controlled.” Again, why? Because by producing this fruit, we automatically fulfill the law of God. We don’t have to worry about not doing something because when we, through the power of the strength and leadership of the Spirit, do what is right, we are automatically avoiding the things that are wrong. Amen! 
Then we backed up to the beginning of verse 22 and noticed that little relatively obscure word at the beginning of verse 22, the word “But.” We learned that whenever you see a conjunction like that used to begin a verse, you need to consider what the author said before it. And in this case, it is clear to me that the apostle Paul was making a distinction between these fruit of the Spirit and the works of the flesh that he referred to in verses 19-21. 
And this is a BIG “But,” saints—because there is a big difference between not doing evil things (i.e. the works of the flesh) and doing good things (i.e. producing the fruit of the Spirit)! For example, a religious person might be able to abstain from stealing, but can he or she actually produce joy in their life? Yes, they might be able to boast that they have not murdered anyone, but have they truly loved their enemies? Church, simply not doing bad things is what religion likes to focus on; but true spirituality is fruitful—actually producing good works.  
“But” the fact is, there is a big difference between how both the flesh and Spirit manifest things in our lives. Paul describes the flesh as producing “works” and the Spirit as producing “fruit”—which again, there is a difference between how fruit is produced versus how something “works” to produce something.
We saw that, in contrast to the fruit of the Spirit, the works of the flesh are not produced; they are “manufactured.” A machine in a factory “works” and can manufacture a product, but it can never “produce” fruit. Fruit only comes from something that has life and there is not much effort at all in this fruit-bearing process. But when it comes to the word “work,” we think of labor, toil, strain, and effort. This does not mean that the fleshly works are not automatically generated, but rather shows us what comes with the flesh—all of these negative qualities that we associate with “work.” So, the flesh will keep you longer than you want to stay (like work) and pay you what you definitely don’t want to be paid (like most jobs).      
“But” that is not how the Lord has designed for us to live the Christian life. We are not machines that work, manufacturing this fruit. No, we are fruit bearing trees that naturally (i.e. organically) produce fruit for the glory of God. It is not meant to be arduous or laborious. Rather it is meant to be free-flowing, natural producing of these virtues in our life because of Who we are abiding in and Who we have abiding in us.
We saw how the “fruit” of the cursed ground was a product of the curse on mankind after Adam’s transgression, not the blessing God intended for mankind to live in. (See Genesis 3:17-18) So, this laboring and hard work to both produce and maintain the fruit of the ground was a product of the curse, not the blessing. The world has surely modeled this to us as well—for we are trained that with hard work, discipline, and effort, we will be fruitful in life. But not so in the kingdom of God. In it, we are fruitful simply by grace, not works.
And this curse came as a result of Adam’s transgression, didn’t it? But this was never God’s plan for man. His will was that we continue to live in a fruitful Paradise where we simply enjoy life with God in the Garden and are not living by the sweat of our brow. And from the physical standpoint, while we certainly still live on the fallen, sin-cursed earth that will one day be redeemed to become the new earth, the fact is that part of our lives has already experienced redemption—that is, our spirits. 
But we saw that what the First Adam lost through His sinful act, the Last Adam has regained through His righteous deed! In other words, while we had inherited death through Adam’s transgression, through the new-birth, we now have a new inheritance; yes, through Christ’s resurrection we have an inheritance of life. Glory! Amen. So, Jesus did not come to initially put us back in the Garden; He came to put the Garden back in us! What I mean by that is that through the new birth and the indwelling Holy Spirit, paradise has been restored in our spirit-man.
This is why the first key to producing the fruit of the Spirit is being born again. Without the new birth, it is impossible for us to produce His fruit—for His seed was never placed in us to begin with. Then how could we ever truly be fruitful?
So, the Lord has set things up in our spiritual walk like He did in the Garden. No longer are we to produce fruit through our labor and toil; now we produce fruit simply through abiding in the Paradise of His presence. Amen!
Then we saw how Jesus taught us this in John 15:1-8, when He taught His disciples the principle of abiding in Himself, the True Vine. In this parable, Jesus was illustrating to them (and us) what life is to be like in the kingdom.
So, we saw that just as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself, likewise we are not going to be able to bear this fruit of the Spirit in our lives of ourselves. In other words, our determination, hard work and will-power is not going to get it done. No, in order to bear the fruit of the Spirit, we have to abide in the True Vine—for apart from Him, we can do absolutely nothing.
Now as we’ve learned before, this word “abide” means to stay, live, remain, or dwell. So, what Jesus is referring to here is living in His presence habitually—that is, spending time in His presence on a daily basis. Church, this is the only way to bear fruit—to be consistently connected to Jesus through spending time in fellowship with Him.
Then we moved on in Galatians 5:22 and looked at how the apostle Paul specifically called these nine virtues—the fruit of the Spirit. And we noticed that the word “fruit” is singular, in contrast to the “works” (plural) of the flesh. We learned that the fact that Paul uses fruit singular here suggests to us that these virtues/qualities are in unison—perhaps like a cluster of grapes as opposed to different pieces of fruit. We saw how this also serves in contrast to the gifts of the Spirit that are distributed to each one individually to where one Christian might tend towards one gift, and another operates in two totally different gifts. The fruit of the Spirit are not like this because every believer is expected to produce all nine of these fruit in their lives. So, we can’t say what we do with the gifts something like— “I have the gift of tongues, but I don’t have the gifts of healings.” No, we can’t say, “Well, I tend to produce kindness in my life, but self-control is not my fruit.” We need to understand that we all have the same Spirit and, therefore, are expected to produce the same fruit. Amen?
So, that is why Paul, through the Holy Spirit, calls these nine virtues of character—the fruit of the Spirit. But then we saw how they are not just called fruit, but are called the fruit of something—namely, the fruit of the Spirit.
If we back up and consider the context of Galatians chapter 5, we discover that this fruit Paul is describing is the fruit of both walking in the Spirit (see verse 16) and being led by the Spirit (see verse 18). In other words, as we live our lives in the realm of the Holy Spirit and are led, directed and guided by Him, these nine virtues will be the by-product. Amen?
So, if someone is not exhibiting these nine fruit in their lives, what can we conclude? That they are not walking in the Spirit, nor are they being led by the Spirit. You see, church, if one claims to be Spirit-filled and is not producing these characteristics of the Holy Spirit, then something is wrong with that picture. Either God is a liar or they are. Which one do you think is more likely?
So, what did the apostle Paul mean when he described these virtues as the fruit of the Spirit? Well, there is a couple of different ways one could look at this:
Number one, it is important to understand that in the original language words like pnuema (the Greek word for “Spirit”) did not have capitalized letters. So, in this case, the term “Spirit” was capitalized by the translators.
So, was Paul referring to the Holy Spirit here or to our new, recreated spirit? Well, I made the point that I believe it is referring to both, and let me explain why:
While the Holy Spirit is the agent by which we have been born again and Who comes to take up residency in our spirit upon salvation, the fact is, if we have been born of Him, then why would our reborn spirit not have the same attributes? Let me ask it this way— since “he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him” (see First Corinthians 6:17) then wouldn’t this fruit of the Spirit also be the nature of our born-again spirits?
My point is that it doesn’t really matter whether one believes this is the fruit of the Holy Spirit or the fruit of our born-again spirit. The bottom line is that it is the power of the Holy Spirit that helps a believer produce this fruit in their lives and He does this by giving us the life in the first place and then working together with our regenerated spirit to produce the fruit from that seed that He placed within us. Therefore, the fruit of the Spirit is the fruit of a spiritually alive and Spirit-empowered life!  
But Paul meant that since they are called “fruit,” they are the fruit that originates from another source of life. In this case, they have come through the Seed of the Spirit. In other words, as fruit, they grow and are produced in our lives after His (the Holy Spirit’s) own kind.
I explained this by looking back in the Book of Genesis: We saw how on the third day, after the Lord created the earth, He said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:11-12). Here we see how God originally designed fruit to be produced:
First of all, we saw that in order for the tree to yield fruit, it must be created as a fruit tree. For example, if the tree is not an apple tree, then what is it not going to produce? Apples! So, the first thing that had to transpire in order for you and I to bear the fruit of the Spirit in our lives is to be recreated as a fruit-bearing tree. And we know that this occurred by the Holy Spirit when we called on the name of the Lord, were born again, and received the new nature we received through the Spirit washing, renewing and regenerating us (Titus 3:5).
So, the Lord created things so that a fruit tree will yield its fruit, but notice that it yields fruit “according to its kind.” I like how the New Living Translation says this. It says, “from which they came.” In other words, a fruit tree is only going to produce the fruit, and the seed in that fruit, from the seed from which they came. So, we learned that the reason it is called the fruit of the Spirit is because it is fruit that is according to His kind, or you could say, it is the fruit that came directly from the seed of the Spirit.
I don’t believe most Christians have ever considered this—that if these nine virtues are the fruit of the Spirit, then they are attributes of God. It would make sense though—for why would God be producing characteristics in us that He Himself didn’t possess?  No, saints, by possessing the fruit of the Spirit, we have love within us—but not only that; He is also joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Now we began looking at these last week, but let me give you a couple of other examples:

1. KINDNESS – Have you ever considered that God Himself is kind? There are many Scriptures that refer to His kindness like Ephesians 2:7 that talks about that for the ages to come He was going to show you and I the exceeding riches of His grace towards us in His kindness. Titus 3:4 says that it was the kindness of God our Savior that saved us. I mean, how many times in the Scriptures are we made aware of the “lovingkindness” of our God?
2. GOODNESS – This is one we like to say a lot—God is good! But why do so many Christians say God is good in one breath and then accuse Him of doing bad? Would we say someone was exhibiting the fruit of goodness if they were causing their children to suffer like God is accused of doing by much of His church? I think not. 

So, what does this have to do with producing the fruit of the Spirit in ourselves? Second Corinthians 3:18 says, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
Now if we consider the context, we see that Paul was describing the difference between the glory of the Old Covenant and the glory of the New Covenant (which was said to exceed much more in glory [see verse 9]). And he uses the example of Moses putting a veil over his face after He came out of the glory of God on Mount Sinai, describing how the glory we’ve received does not pass away. Now we have had the veil removed and can behold His glory, which results in us being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.
Now, if you recall, Moses desired to see this glory and the Lord responded that He would make all of His goodness pass before him. Therefore, I equate God’s glory with His goodness. So, if we behold God’s glory, we are seeing His goodness.
And here is my point: If we behold the self-control, gentleness, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, longsuffering, peace, joy, and love of our God, what does this verse say will happen? We ourselves will be transformed into the same image we are beholding—meaning, you and I will begin to reflect His nature that we are beholding. Yes, we become what we behold, church. So, behold His beauty and watch His fruit become yours, in Jesus name. Amen! 
Just consider your own fruit—your children. How do they produce your fruit? First of all, they have to be born of you—holding your nature. Then by abiding in you—they become more like you through their relationship with you. But what we have just seen is a vital part of them becoming like you—they also bring forth your fruit by beholding you—for as they get to know you, observing how you live your life, they grow to become like you.
So sure, it is by being born of those parents and having their nature put in you. Sure, it is by living in the presence of those parents and being raised in their home. But it is also by beholding how those parents do things; that is what produces the fruit of those parents in the child (i.e. fruit). 
All of this can be summarized in three words— Born, Abide, and Behold: First, we must be born again—receiving the nature that contains all nine of these virtues. Then we must yield to the presence and power of the Holy Spirit to where He is infusing us with the supernatural ability to exhibit these qualities in our lives on a consistent basis. This is the abiding part. Finally, we need to behold the One who possesses this fruit and let His example reflect in our own lives.
Now since we are not your traditional church, we are not going to study these nine virtues in the traditional order. This week, I want to begin with two of the gifts sandwiched in the middle of Paul’s list, the two we just referred to—kindness and goodness.
 
SISTER FRUITS
 
What is the difference between these two fruit of the Spirit? I mean, they sound similar, don’t they? Well, they are strikingly similar, but there must be a difference if the Holy Spirit inspired the apostle Paul to mention them both as two distinct fruit of the Spirit, right?
 
I see “kindness” as more of the attitude by which we do things for people. Like, for example, in First Corinthians 13:4, we are told that love suffers long and is kind. How many of you know that one can suffer long or be patient with others but have the wrong attitude while doing it? For example, they might put up with or tolerate another person’s tardiness, but at the same time, be fuming on the inside while they are waiting on them. Sound like anyone we know? Don’t look at your spouse😊
 
“Goodness,” on the other hand, is what I believe to be the action accompanying the right attitude that we possess. Like, for instance, if there was a man who died and, in their will, they left a good portion of their estate to build an orphanage or to do some other benevolent work, how do you suppose those benefiting from him would refer to him? They might say, “He was a good man.” Why? Because we refer to someone as good because of their good deeds (or, fruit) that we see in their life.
 
But my point is that these two fruit of the Spirit work hand in hand. We might describe them as sister fruits, seeing how closely related they are. For example, some of you might describe the fruit of kindness in the exact opposite way—as the action itself and not the attitude—and the fruit of goodness as the inherent quality of a person.
 
But here is what we must agree on: that both kindness and goodness are to be produced in our lives seeing as they are fruit of the Spirit. In other words, Paul is describing two virtues that we can see evidence of in one’s life and are not just what a person is versus what they do. No, every believer is called to both be kind and do kind things, to be good and do good things. No, not to try and earn God’s love and acceptance through their goodness and kindness, but because they have already received His love and acceptance. 
 
So, let’s get into each of these this week. Let’s look at both the fruit of goodness and the fruit of kindness. Let’s start with the first one Paul mentions “kindness.”
 
THE FRUIT OF KINDNESS
 
The dictionary defines the word “kindness” as the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate. Therefore, I see kindness as being exhibited in demeanor, action & thought. What I mean by that is the fruit of kindness is to look kind, be kind, and to think kind. In other words, it is produced in our lives by our countenance, our actions, and our mindset.
 
As for other translations of this word, the original King James Version translates this word as “gentleness,” which fits well because to be kind carries with it the idea of being tenderhearted, gentle, and easily touched by other’s needs, infirmities, etc. I especially like the Aramaic Bible in Plain English, which translates this word as “sweetness”—for to be kind is to be “sweet.” Now what does it mean for someone to be sweet? It means that they are pleasant, nice, and to one’s liking. I like that. I think that is a good description of someone who is kind.   
 
Now as we have just seen, we know from several Scriptures that God is kind (First Corinthians 13:4). We see in the Bible that His kindness is what God showed us through the giving of His Son (Ephesians 2:7). It is even His kindness (some translations say “goodness”) that leads us to repentance to receive His kindness (Romans 2:4). So, let’s let this be the barometer of what kindness is: In most of these examples of God’s kindness, we see action and not just intention. God’s kindness was Him giving us His very best (see Ephesians 2:7). It is the manifestation of His kindness that helps people to change directions. So, kindness is not merely an attitude; kindness is a tangible fruit that people experience. 
 
Let’s look at another place where the apostle Paul encourages this fruit of kindness in our lives: In Ephesians 4:32, he said, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” (Compare Colossians 3:12).
 
The word “kind” that he used here (Greek chrestos) literally describes being useful, manageable, or employed. In fact, this is the same word used by the Master in Matthew 11:30 when He described His yoke as “easy.”
 
This word shows us that the way to be “employed” by the Lord is to have skills in the arena of “kindness.” Therefore, to be kind is to serve—both the Lord and others. Do you want to be useful? Do you want God to employ you for some great task? Then purpose in your heart to be a kind person, fruitful in the area of kindness. This is what makes one fit for us by Him. Amen?
 
But like it is with most of our jobs, this is not a Sunday only vocation. When Paul said, “Be kind to one another,” he was implying being continuously kind. In other words, this is perpetual behavior, not just a one-time performance. I guarantee you your employer wants you doing your job for 40 hours a week, and not just 4 hours, right? Likewise, God wants us to be fit for use in our employment for Him, and He considers this a full-time job, not a part-time one.    
 
Now I want you to notice that Paul threads “tenderhearted” together with being kind here in Ephesians 4:32. Another way of describing being “tenderhearted” is to be compassionate and sensitive to the needs and desires of others. So, for this reason, I would describe “kindness” as being motivated by compassion and “moved with compassion.”
 
Of course, we constantly see Jesus doing the kind things that He did in the Gospels because of the compassion that moved Him. There are many examples of this, but one that certainly exhibits the fruit of kindness to me is when Jesus fed the four thousand (plus): In Matthew 15:32, He said to His disciples, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”
 
So, how did this miracle of the feeding of thousands begin? It began with the compassion that rose up in Jesus. He was observant and conscientious of their need, knowing that they had stayed with Him for three days and that they had nothing to eat—which teaches us an important lesson: In order to be kind and compassionate, we must be conscientious and considerate. We cannot only be wrapped up in our own world, only aware of our own needs. Then, Jesus said that He did not want to send them away hungry because they might not make it back home. Now you understand that this was three days without any food, not three hours. People will say, “I’m starving!” but that’s usually not true. All that is, is their flesh crying out for food. The fact is, a person’s body can go for days without food—and if they had to do something physical like this multitude needing to walk home, we need food maybe a little sooner.  
 
But this reminds me of what Pastor James said in James 2:15-16 when he used the example of someone being naked and destitute of daily food and they just send them away saying, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled!” Kindness does not just speak kinds words to people like saying, “I’ll pray for you, brother.” No, kindness is a work (i.e. action). It is not only saying you hope their needs are met, but it is playing an actual part in that need being met.
 
So, this describes kindness as not just the good intentions we have. Sure, kindness begins in the person who is kind themselves. Yes, it begins with an attitude, a mentality and way of thinking, but the fruit of kindness is produced in our lives by some kind of action on our part. 
 
Now of course, this doesn’t mean that we are always to do something for someone in need. Being led by the Spirit is the key to every situation, but my point is that the fruit of kindness will move one to be the solution and the answer to other’s needs more times than not. Then, as we are inclined to be kind, the Holy Spirit shows us how we can best serve Him at that moment. Amen?
 
So, my point is, the fruit of kindness is an action, not just an intention. It ought to be our faith on display and manifested. Amen?    
 
But not only that, we learn from the end of Ephesians 4:32 that kindness also moves one to forgive. We see this in Matthew chapter 18 when the Master was moved with compassion and forgave his servant that debt. Did you know that kindness is the motivation that we ought to forgive others with?  
 
Again, the Lord is this way: We see in First Peter 2:3 where after the apostle Peter encouraged us as newborn babes to desire pure spiritual milk that we may grow up in our salvation, that he said, “if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” The word “gracious” there is the same word as “kind” in Ephesians 4:32. Again, another time this word for “kindness” is used is in Romans 2:4 when Paul describes the riches of His “goodness” (same Greek word as in Galatians 5:22) that leads man to repentance. Church, this is why this fruit of the Spirit is so important to be produced in our lives. We could say it this way--the fruit of the fruit of kindness is that people will turn to God and receive His goodness. Amen!
 
Which leads us to kindness’ sister fruit—the fruit of goodness:
 
THE FRUIT OF GOODNESS
 
The Greek word that Paul used in Galatians 5:22 denotes being “beneficial.” Therefore, it paints the picture a benefactor, which would describe one who possesses great wealth—a philanthropist, if you would.
 
You see, there is a difference between a beneficiary and a benefactor: A beneficiary is someone who benefits from the wealth stored up by others. Like, for instance, a beneficiary on some type of saving’s account might be a next of kin who is left the dollars that their spouse, parent, or grandparents have personally saved up. Therefore, the benefactor must have something to give to the beneficiary, amen?
 
Likewise, it needs to be understood that in order for us to be as fruitful as we can be in this fruit of the Spirit called “goodness,” we need to openly receive the goodness of God in our lives. In other words, we first need to be benefited by God’s goodness ourselves—like, for example, receiving more resources so that we will have more to give. Then we can be even “gooder” than we’ve been in the past.   
 
Therefore, I would describe bearing the fruit of “goodness” as us being more “generous, liberal and charitable with our finances, time, or energy” like a “benefactor” graciously gives of him or herself to bless others.  
 
It is also worth noting that we oftentimes use the word “good” in describing food. Like, for instance, if a particular fruit is “bad,” that means it is spoiled, lost its nutritional value, or no longer able to nourish us. Likewise, our fruit needs to remain good, church. That means that it needs to look good, taste good, and satisfy (others) good. 
 
In fact, all of the fruit of the Spirit is to consist in this one virtue—goodness: In   Ephesians 5:9, Paul said, “for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.”  The context of this passage is us walking as children of light since we are light in the Lord. So, when you and I are walking as children of light, we will produce the fruit of the light, and its fruit is “in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.” That means that if I’m going about being a liar, deceptive, etc., and not doing what is right and in agreement with God’s standards, then I am not walking in the light. Likewise, if I am not exhibiting the fruit of goodness in my life, then I am not bearing all of the fruit of the light in my life. It is that simple.
 
Now our Lord and Savior Jesus walked in the light and bore this fruit of goodness as well, did He not? We are told in Acts 10:38 that He went about “doing good” and healing all who were oppressed by the devil. Sure, Jesus performed miracles and healed thousands of people during His earthly ministry, but what people don’t talk about as much is all the good that He did aside from those spectacular things. Yes, Jesus bore an abundance of goodness in His life and ministry along with the healings and miracles He performed.
 
You see, Jesus had a treasurer, and this was not just a title given to Judas; no, Jesus actually possessed finances and used that wealth to do good to others. Amen! To where even at the Last Supper, when Judas arose from the table and left, the disciples assumed Jesus had possibly sent him out to give some money to the poor (see John 13:29). Now what is interesting to me about that is this was at nighttime. So, why would Jesus’ disciples have assumed that Jesus might have sent Judas out to give something to the poor? Apparently, it was because Jesus had a reputation for doing good to those in need at all hours of the day. So, Jesus was apparently bearing the fruit of goodness all the time! And why? Because Jesus is God and God is good all the time!    
 
You see, over and over, the Scriptures speak to us about the fact that God is good and He does good (Psalm 119:68). And these verses not only tell us He’s good, but some of them show us how He is good. Let’s look at a couple of them in order to learn how we ourselves can walk in His goodness towards others:
 
Psalm 34:8-10 says, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.”
 
When the Holy Spirit begins in verse 8 by inviting us to taste and see the Lord’s goodness, I can’t help but think of this fruit of the Spirit. And this fruit of His goodness can be both tasted and beheld. 
 
Then in verses 9-10, we see what His goodness produces in others— “no want, lack, or suffering hunger.” Therefore, when we are good to others what is the fruit we produce in their lives? We eliminate their needs, wants, and poverty. So, again, we see goodness as that gracious benefactor that both meets the needs and grants the desires of those in want.  
 
Let’s now look at the 84th Psalm: Psalm 84:11 says, “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” 
 
You see, our good God is described here as a “sun,” and there are not many other physical things that we’ve been given that illustrate God’s goodness more than the sun. James 1:17 describes Him as the Father of lights that gives us every good and perfect gift. So, the sun itself is one of those good and perfect gifts. All we would need to become acutely aware of how good God has been to the human race is have that sun in the heavens burn out. Life would not be good, I can assure you.
Not only is God our sun, but he is also our “shield.” That describes Him as our protector. Oh, how much each of us have been spared from!?!
 
But notice what He is said to give—grace and glory. Church, in His goodness, He shares His glory with me. You could say, in His glory, He shares His goodness with me! That’s right! No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly! And what are these good things? Things that benefit and bless you and I. All of His grace and glory work on our behalf to meet our every need. Oh my glory!
 
So, how do we do this? We become their sun, walking as children of the light! We become their shield, offering them as much protection as we can! We grant them the grace and glory that is in our power to give them! And, last but not least, we do not withhold any good thing from them that is in our hand to give.    
 
So, all of these Scriptures that illustrate to us God’s goodness teach us that the Lord is the giver of good things—and only things that benefit and never anything that steals, kills or destroys (John 10:10). No, God only gives “good” and perfect gifts, and He does not deviate from doing that very thing. Pastor James told us to not be deceived in this truth. (see James 1:16-17).
 
May it be so with us, church, that as it is with the Lord (see Psalm 34:8), those around us will be able to both taste and see the fruit of goodness in our lives! Amen!  
 
 
 
 
CULTIVATING KINDNESS & GOODNESS
 
So, church, we need to know that the Lord expects the fruit of kindness and goodness to be manifested in our lives. But this fruit does not come by accident. Like it is with growing specific fruit in our gardens, we have to plan to produce the fruits of kindness and goodness. Yes, church, we have to plan to produce this fruit in our lives. Like we’ve learned, kindness and goodness do not just fall on us like apples out of a tree. No, they are fruit produced from our hearts. So, we must intentionally and deliberately begin to cultivate goodness and kindness in the ground of our hearts.
 
When was the last time you did this? I mean, when was the last time you sat down and made a plan how you could be more kind and good to someone. If we are waiting to feel like doing it, it probably won’t happen. If we fail to plan, we plan to fail.
 
Now we can do this by maybe starting each day asking the Lord to help us be more kind and to be good to the people we come in contact with. Then, we can begin thinking of ways that we can exhibit this kindness to those in our lives. Yes, we can strategically stir up good and kind works in our lives. How? By doing what Hebrews 10:24 says, “consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.”   
 
The word “consider” in this verse comes from the Greek word katanoeo and literally means “to think about from top to bottom.” So, when we take the time to think about someone thoroughly, the writer of Hebrews tells us here that we will stir up love and good works.
 
The words “stir up” come from the Greek word that describes a “spurring on or encouraging unto” these love and good works. Now most people interpret this last phrase— “stir up (or, provoke unto) love and good works”—as us spurring one another up or encouraging each other to be more loving and to do more good works, but that can only be assumed. The language only indicates that by considering one another this will result in a spurring on or stirring up of love and good works. So, I submit to you that when we learn to truly “consider” one another, what this will do is stir our own hearts up to loving one another and spur ourselves up unto good works! Amen!
 
Here is a good example of how we at High Point Church can do this: For those of you who are unaware, on the first Sunday of every year, we have what we call “First Fruits Sunday.” This is a day where each person at HPC blesses someone else in the church body. Well, a good, practical way to prepare for that day is to maybe begin saving a little money each month from the beginning of the year. Not only that, but begin “considering” others in the body throughout the year—perhaps by simply being observant as we gather together and seeing who the Lord might have you bless in one way or another. This way you are strategically, purposing to be good and kind.
 
You can do this with your loved ones as well: What I began doing a few years back was observing throughout the year things Shannon and Levi have either stated they liked or I’ve simply observed them showing interest in and then I use a little notes app on my phone to jot those things down. Then, when birthdays, Christmas, etc. roll around, I have a list already put together that I can pick from to bless them.
 
And herein lies another good word of wisdom: Be careful that it’s not always just what you think will “benefit” them; sometimes it needs to be what they believe will “benefit” them too. In other words, think about what will truly bless them the most, not just what would bless you the most. 
 
And do you know what the other fruit of doing things like this consistently throughout the year is? You will begin producing more joy and peace in your life as well! Why? Because you are spending more time thinking of how you can be good and kind to others rather than how others can be more good and kind to you. Amen?   
 
Finally, the apostle Paul said in First Thessalonians 5:15 (Amplified)– “See that none of you repays another with evil for evil, but always aim to show kindness and seek to do good to one another and to everybody.” Saints, let us make this our aim here at HPC! Let us be kind to one another, living to do good to each other and to everyone for that matter! We will be the better for it. Amen.

REVIEW & INTRODUCTION
As most of you know, we have been camping on the subject of the Holy Spirit throughout this calendar year here at High Point Church. And by now, I hope you can see just how important the Holy Spirit is in our lives—for we have been studying various aspects of Him here in 2019:

1. We began by looking at the Communion of the Holy Spirit learning that He is here with us now that we might have fellowship with Him, depending on Him everyday of our lives. Yes, just as the Early Church experienced a close walk with the Holy Spirit, which enabled them to walk at a high level of anointing & power.
2. We then studied the Advantage of the Holy Spirit where we saw the various advantages that the Holy Spirit provides in the life of a believer. We looked at some of Jesus’ statements regarding Him in the Gospel of John and saw that the Holy Spirit is to us today what Jesus was to His disciples 2,000 years ago.
3. Then we looked at the Commission of the Holy Spirit by studying the various things that Jesus said that He was sent to do for us in John chapters 14-16 such as teaching us, reminding us, guiding us, etc.
4. We then began looking at the various Types of the Holy Spirit that the Bible uses to describe Him. We saw that He is typified as different physical things such as wind, fire, water, wine, etc. And from these examples, we learned His nature and how He manifests in our lives.
5. Then we looked at another type of the Holy Spirit and learned from it the Leading of the Holy Spirit. In this shorter series, we learned how the Holy Spirit leads, directs and guides us like the cloud and pillar of fire led the children of Israel in the wilderness.

And most recently we concluded our look at the Gifts of the Spirit—those nine charismatic gifts of grace that the Holy Spirit graciously bestows on the Church. Which leads us to this week … This week we will begin looking at nine other virtues that the Holy Spirit produces in our lives, commonly known as the Fruit of the Spirit. And, church, both of these (the gifts & the fruit) are what all of these teachings of the Holy Spirit should point us to—to produce this good fruit in our lives. Yes, what the Lord wills for each of us is that the Holy Spirit would be manifested in and through us. May it be so, Lord!  
So, with that being said, we will be winding up our teachings here in 2019 on the Holy Spirit by looking at the Fruit of the Spirit—that is, the nine characteristics that the Holy Spirit is meant to produce in our lives.
Now, of course, these are located in Galatians 5:22-23, where the apostle Paul says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” And by “virtue” of the fact that these nine virtues manifest character in our lives, it should show us that character in the Christian’s life is another very vital part of what the Holy Spirit is meant to produce in our lives.
Now I know that if you and I were able to look at our hearts, the majority of Spirit-filled Christians would much rather see signs, wonders and miracles manifest in us than these fruit, but these gifts are not the end all. Sure, we need the power. We absolutely need the gifts of the Holy Spirit active and operating in our lives, but not at the exclusion of the fruit of the Spirit. The Bible is clear that it is not our gifts that lets us know that we are born again Christians; the apostle John says it is our love of the brethren (see First John 3:14).
The truth is, that these nine virtues are the fruit that someone is living a spiritual life. In other words, these fruit are the tell-tell sign of whether someone is spiritual of not. No, it’s not how much we speak in tongues or how many miracles we see in our lives; it’s how much we genuinely love people and how much joy & peace we are producing in our lives. This is the fruit of true spirituality.  
So, I say all of this to say, we need these nine virtues produced in our lives alongside of the nine gifts of the Spirit in order to make the kind of impact on this world God has called us to.    
So, let’s begin this week looking at these verses in Galatians chapter 5:
FRUIT THAT FULFILLS THE LAW
First of all, what did Paul mean when he said at the end of verse 23— “Against such there is no law”? He was essentially saying, “There is obviously no law out there against the people who produce these nine virtues in their life.” So, when these fruit are being produced in our lives and we abide by them, we are not violating any commandment. Rather, we are actually fulfilling the righteous requirement of God’s law—that is, the royal law of love.
You see, religion loves rules, commandments, and laws. The reason why is because it likes to have boundaries to where it can know what not to do—for then what it will do is strictly adhere to that list of do’s & don’ts. But this religious spirit never addresses the truly important things like why are we doing what we are doing or why are we not doing what we are not doing. In other words, religion remains external, never dealing with the heart. 
But herein lies the difference between the old and new covenants: The law preached “Thou shalt not … lie, steal, kill, etc.” but Jesus preached “Thou shalt … love you neighbor as yourself, love one another as I have loved you, do good, give, forgive, etc.” Let me say it this way: the law said, “Thou shalt not…” and grace says, “Thou shalt love, be joyful, have peace, be kind, do good, be longsuffering, faithful, gentle and self-controlled.” Again, why? Because by producing this fruit, we automatically fulfill the law of God. We don’t have to worry about not doing something because when we, through the power of the strength and leadership of the Spirit, do what is right, we are automatically avoiding the things that are wrong. This is the more excellent way, church—the way of the Waymaker Himself. Amen! 
WORKS (PLURAL) VERSUS FRUIT (SINGULAR)
Now let’s back up to the beginning of verse 22—for I want you to notice that little relatively obscure word at the beginning of verse 22, the word “But.” Whenever you see a conjunction like that used to begin a verse, you need to consider what the author said before it. And in this case, it is clear to me that the apostle Paul was making a distinction between these fruit of the Spirit and the works of the flesh that he referred to in verses 19-21.  
And this is a BIG “But,” saints—because there is a big difference between not doing evil things (i.e. the works of the flesh) and doing good things (i.e. producing the fruit of the Spirit)! For example, a religious person might be able to abstain from stealing, but can he or she actually produce joy in their life? Yes, they might be able to boast that they have not murdered anyone, but have they truly loved their enemies? “Negative goodness” is only religious, but producing these fruit are what makes one spiritual.
“But” the fact is, there is a big difference between how both the flesh and Spirit manifest things in our lives. Paul describes the flesh as producing “works” and the Spirit as producing “fruit”—which again, there is a difference between how fruit is produced versus how something “works” to produce something.
You see, in contrast to the fruit of the Spirit, the works of the flesh are not produced; they are “manufactured.” A machine in a factory “works” and can manufacture a product, but it can never “produce” fruit. Fruit only comes from something that has life and there is not much effort at all in this fruit-bearing process. But when it comes to the word “work,” we think of labor, toil, strain, and effort. This does not mean that the fleshly works are not automatically generated, but rather shows us what comes with the flesh—all of these negative qualities that we associate with “work.” So, the flesh will keep you longer than you want to stay (like work) and pay you what you definitely don’t want to be paid (like most jobs).      
“But” that is not how the Lord has designed for us to live the Christian life. We are not machines that work, manufacturing this fruit. No, we are fruit bearing trees that naturally (i.e. organically) produce fruit for the glory of God. It is not meant to be arduous or laborious. Rather it is meant to be free-flowing, natural producing of these virtues in our life because of Who we are abiding in and Who we have abiding in us. (We will get into much of this momentarily).    
Now let’s move on in Galatians 5:22 and look at how the apostle Paul specifically calls these nine virtues—the fruit of the Spirit. And I want you to notice that the word “fruit” is singular, in contrast to the “works” (plural) of the flesh. The fact that Paul uses fruit singular here suggests to us that these virtues/qualities are in unison—perhaps like a cluster of grapes as opposed to different pieces of fruit.
This also serves in contrast to the gifts of the Spirit that are distributed to each one individually to where one Christian might tend towards one gift, and another operates in two totally different gifts. The fruit of the Spirit are not like this because every believer is expected to produce all nine of these fruit in their lives. So, lest we say something like, “Well, I tend to produce kindness in my life, but self-control is not my fruit,” we need to understand that we all have the same Spirit and, therefore, are expected to produce the same fruit. Amen?
THE PARADISE OF HIS PRESENCE
But like I just made the point of, because these virtues are called “fruit,” they are things that are produced in our lives, not through hard-work, toil, and labor. As a matter of fact, the “fruit” of the cursed ground was a product of the curse on mankind after Adam’s transgression, not the blessing God intended for mankind to live in. The Lord told Adam— “… Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground …” (Genesis 3:17-18)   
So, this laboring and hard work to both produce and maintain the fruit of the ground was a product of the curse, not the blessing. The world has surely modeled this to us as well—for we are trained that with hard work, discipline, and effort, we will be fruitful in life. But not so in the kingdom of God. In it, we are fruitful simply by grace, not works.
And this curse came as a result of Adam’s transgression, didn’t it? But this was never God’s plan for man. His will was that we continue to live in a fruitful Paradise where we simply enjoy life with God in the Garden and are not living by the sweat of our brow. And from the physical standpoint, while we certainly still live on the fallen, sin-cursed earth that will one day be redeemed to become the new earth, the fact is that part of our lives has already experienced redemption—that is, our spirits. 
But what the First Adam lost through His sinful act, the Last Adam has regained through His righteous deed! In other words, while we had inherited death through Adam’s transgression, through the new-birth, we now have a new inheritance; yes, through Christ’s resurrection we have an inheritance of life. Glory! Amen. So, Jesus did not come to initially put us back in the Garden; He came to put the Garden back in us! What I mean by that is that through the new birth and the indwelling Holy Spirit, paradise has been restored in our spirit-man.
This is why the first key to producing the fruit of the Spirit is being born again. Without the new birth, it is impossible for us to produce His fruit—for His seed was never placed in us to begin with. Then how could we ever truly be fruitful? (I will get more into this momentarily)
So, the Lord has set things up in our spiritual walk like He did in the Garden. No longer are we to produce fruit through our labor and toil; now we produce fruit simply through abiding in the Paradise of His presence. (Which leads me to key #2 to bearing the fruit of the Spirit)
THE FRUIT OF ABIDING
Jesus taught us this in John 15:1-8, when He taught His disciples the principle of abiding in Himself, the True Vine. In this parable, Jesus was illustrating to them (and us) what life is to be like in the kingdom.
Now we have camped on this particular teaching of Jesus back at the end of 2018, so I am not going to spend a lot of time on this, but we need to understand that the New Covenant process of fruitfulness is simple, and not arduous.
Jesus began by saying, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.” (verse 1)
Now by Jesus referring to Himself as the “True” Vine, He is apparently implying that there are false vines out there too—that is, there are belief systems, mentalities and philosophies that even good Christians can tend to rely on, thinking they will make us fruitful. But the truth is that there is only one “True Vine” that can supply us with the “Way” to fruitfulness, the “Truth” that makes free, and the “Life” that we desire because Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Therefore, there is no other vine that can cause us to yield fruit that remains. Amen!
So, always be careful in both putting your trust in anything or anyone (including yourself) for the fruit you desire to see in your life. No, the fruit of the Spirit that God desires for us to produce comes only through maintaining an abiding relationship with the True Vine, Himself. 
That is why Jesus went on to say in verses 4-5— “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
So, we see here that just as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself, likewise we are not going to be able to bear this fruit of the Spirit in our lives of ourselves. In other words, our determination, hard work and will-power is not going to get it done. No, in order to bear the fruit of the Spirit, we have to abide in the True Vine—for apart from Him, we can do absolutely nothing.
Now as we’ve learned before, this word “abide” means to stay, live, remain, or dwell. So, what Jesus is referring to here is living in His presence habitually—that is, spending time in His presence on a daily basis. Church, this is the only way to bear fruit—to be consistently connected to Jesus through spending time in fellowship with Him.
So, if you are like the majority of Christians out there who do not make dwelling in His presence a daily priority in your life, you must do this if you are going to bear any abiding fruit. But the good news is, Jesus said here that the one who abides in Him and He in them will bear “much fruit.” That’s where I want to live, saints! How about you? For as Jesus goes on to say in verse 8, “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”   
Church, our aim ought to be set this high—that we bear much fruit, are considered His disciples, and glorifying the Father as a result!    
THE SEED OF THE SPIRIT
So, that is why Paul, through the Holy Spirit, calls these nine virtues of character—the fruit of the Spirit. But now I want you to notice how they are not just called fruit, but are called the fruit of something—namely, the fruit of the Spirit.
If we back up and consider the context of Galatians chapter 5, we will discover that this fruit Paul is describing is the fruit of both walking in the Spirit (see verse 16) and being led by the Spirit (see verse 18). In other words, as we live our lives in the realm of the Holy Spirit and are led, directed and guided by Him, these nine virtues will be the by-product. Amen?
So, if someone is not exhibiting these nine fruit in their lives, what can we conclude? That they are not walking in the Spirit, nor are they being led by the Spirit. You see, church, if one claims to be Spirit-filled and is not producing these characteristics of the Holy Spirit, then something is wrong with that picture. Either God is a liar or they are. Which one do you think is more likely?
So, what did the apostle Paul mean when he described these virtues as the fruit of the Spirit? Well, there is a couple of different ways one could look at this:
Number one, it is important to understand that in the original language words like pnuema (the Greek word for “Spirit”) did not have capitalized letters. So, in this case, the term “Spirit” was capitalized by the translators.
So, was Paul referring to the Holy Spirit here or to our new, recreated spirit? Well, I believe it is referring to both, and let me explain why:
While the Holy Spirit is the agent by which we have been born again and Who comes to take up residency in our spirit upon salvation, the fact is, if we have been born of Him, then why would our reborn spirit not have the same attributes? Let me ask it this way— since “he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him” (see First Corinthians 6:17) then wouldn’t this fruit of the Spirit also be the nature of our born-again spirits?
My point is that it doesn’t really matter whether one believes this is the fruit of the Holy Spirit or the fruit of our born-again spirit. The bottom line is that it is the power of the Holy Spirit that helps a believer produce this fruit in their lives and He does this by giving us the life in the first place and then working together with our regenerated spirit to produce the fruit from that seed that He placed within us. Therefore, the fruit of the Spirit is the fruit of a spiritually alive and Spirit-empowered life!  
But here is a good point that needs to be understood about the fruit of the Spirit: Our spirits always have these attributes regardless of what we feel in our emotions. Failure to understand this has caused many of us to think we would be hypocrites to express joy when we feel depressed. However, it is only our soulish part that gets depressed. Our spirits are always bearing the fruit of “love, joy, peace,” etc. The truth is, our spirits are never depressed, just our souls. On the contrary, our spirits are full of joy, since that is a fruit of the Spirit. Therefore, we who understand this have the choice of letting our souls depress us or letting the Holy Spirit, through our born-again spirits, release the joy and peace spoken of here. And it works this way with all of the fruit of the Spirit. They are a part of our new nature. So, it is our choice whether we are going to operate out of that nature or if we are going to let our carnal nature dictate what we produce. (This will be a point you will see threaded throughout this teaching as we specifically look at all nine fruit.) 
But Paul meant that since they are called “fruit,” they are the fruit that originates from another source of life. In this case, they have come through the Seed of the Spirit. In other words, as fruit, they grow and are produced in our lives after His (the Holy Spirit’s) own kind. Let me explain what I mean by us looking back at the Book of Genesis:
Do you remember on the third day, after the Lord created the earth, what the Lord said? He said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:11-12). Here we see how God originally designed fruit to be produced:
And I want you to notice that, first of all, in order for the tree to yield fruit that it must be created as a fruit tree. For example, if the tree is not an apple tree, then what is it not going to produce? Apples! So, the first thing that had to transpire in order for you and I to bear the fruit of the Spirit in our lives is to be recreated as a fruit-bearing tree. And we know that this occurred by the Holy Spirit when we called on the name of the Lord, were born again, and received the new nature we received through the Spirit washing, renewing and regenerating us (Titus 3:5).
So, the Lord created things so that a fruit tree will yield its fruit, but notice that it yields fruit “according to its kind.” I like how the New Living Translation says this. It says, “from which they came.” In other words, a fruit tree is only going to produce the fruit, and the seed in that fruit, from the seed from which they came.
So, the reason it is called the fruit of the Spirit is because it is fruit that is according to His kind, or you could say, it is the fruit that came directly from the seed of the Spirit.
BEHOLDING HIS IMAGE
Now notice how we are told in Genesis 1:11— “whose seed is in itself.” Glory to God, saints! Since the Holy Spirit resides in us, we have the seed living in us that will replicate Himself!     
How many of you know that a tree can only bear the fruit that it was created to produce? Likewise, we are only going to be able to produce the fruit of the Spirit because He is the seed that we have living within us and because of the new nature we have been given. Amen? In other words, these nine fruit of the Spirit are a product of the nature living within us.
I don’t believe most Christians have ever considered this—that if these nine virtues are the fruit of the Spirit, then they are attributes of God. It would make sense though—for why would God be producing characteristics in us that He Himself didn’t possess?  No, saints, by possessing the fruit of the Spirit, we have love within us—but not only that; He is also joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Let’s look at these:

1. LOVE – The Bible teaches us that God is love (see First John 4:8). You might have heard this by now. So, He does not just have love; He is love. This is His nature! It is who He is! Well, if God is love then perhaps, we could read some other verses in a different light. For example, take First Corinthians 13:4-8. In it, we can learn more of God’s nature. Yes, God suffers long and is kind; God does not envy; God does not parade Himself, God is not puffed up; God does not behave rudely, He does not seek His own, He is not provoked, God thinks no evil; He does not rejoice in iniquity, but He rejoices in the truth; God bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. God never fails (i.e. He is everlasting).
2. JOY – We are familiar with Nehemiah 8:10 where it says that the joy of the Lord is our strength, but did you ever consider that there really is the joy of the Lord? Sure! Many don’t see Him as joyful, but He certainly is. In First Timothy 1:11, the apostle Paul calls Him the “Blessed (or, Happy) God.” So, because He possesses joy Himself, He has joy to give to us. Amen!
3. PEACE – Jesus is called the Prince of Peace. Elsewhere, God Himself is called “the God of Peace.” This is why I consider peace to be the manifest presence of God. So, He doesn’t just have peace; He is our peace (see Ephesians 2:14). So, because He Himself is and has peace, He can say, “My peace I give to you.” (John 14:27)  
4. LONGSUFFERING – The apostle Paul said, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (Second Peter 3:9). So, God Himself is longsuffering. And why? His longsuffering nature is for the purpose of giving people time and space to repent.
5. KINDNESS – Have you ever considered that God Himself is kind? There are many Scriptures that refer to His kindness like Ephesians 2:7 that talks about that for the ages to come He was going to show you and I the exceeding riches of His grace towards us in His kindness. Titus 3:4 says that it was the kindness of God our Savior that saved us. I mean, how many times in the Scriptures are we made aware of the “lovingkindness” of our God?
6. GOODNESS – This is one we like to say a lot—God is good! But why do so many Christians say God is good in one breath and then accuse Him of doing bad? Would we say someone was exhibiting the fruit of goodness if they were causing their children to suffer like God is accused of doing by much of His church? I think not.  
7. FAITHFULNESS – Oh, this is one that we like to sing about: Great is Thy faithfulness! This is found in Lamentations 3:23 where in the midst of the children of Israel’s failures and mistakes, God is declared to be faithful—showing us that we might be found faithless at times, but He remains faithful (Second Timothy 2:13). God is always faithful, church—meaning, He is always there and He always tells the truth.
8. GENTLENESS – This word describes meekness or humility. Many have never considered this, but the Lord is humble too—power under perfect control. We see this in Philippians 2:5-11 where Jesus is described as lowering Himself from heaven and even to the point of a servant before His death on the Cross. Jesus—the express image of God’s person—certainly was, is and evermore shall be “meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29). 
9. SELF CONTROL – Finally, God is self-control. You know, we like to say thinks like “God is in control,” right? But what exactly is He in control of? Himself! He is in control of Himself. Yes, He operates within certain parameters that He Himself has set up and is not out of control! This is why we can know and believe that He will do what He said He would do and not have to worry about if He is going to kill one day or give life the next. Yes, God possesses the fruit of the self-control.  

So, what does this have to do with producing the fruit of the Spirit in ourselves? I’m glad you asked. Second Corinthians 3:18 says, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
Now if we consider the context, we see that Paul was describing the difference between the glory of the Old Covenant and the glory of the New Covenant (which was said to exceed much more in glory [see verse 9]). And he uses the example of Moses putting a veil over his face after He came out of the glory of God on Mount Sinai, describing how the glory we’ve received does not pass away. Now we have had the veil removed and can behold His glory, which results in us being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.
Now, if you recall, Moses desired to see this glory and the Lord responded that He would make all of His goodness pass before him. Therefore, I equate God’s glory with His goodness. So, if we behold God’s glory, we are seeing His goodness.
And here is my point: If we behold the self-control, gentleness, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, longsuffering, peace, joy, and love of our God, what does this verse say will happen? We ourselves will be transformed into the same image we are beholding—meaning, you and I will begin to reflect His nature that we are beholding. Yes, we become what we behold, church. So, behold His beauty and watch His fruit become yours, in Jesus name. Amen!  
Just consider your own fruit—your children. How do they produce your fruit? First of all, they have to be born of you—holding your nature. Then by abiding in you—they become more like you through their relationship with you. But what we have just seen is a vital part of them becoming like you—they also bring forth your fruit by beholding you—for as they get to know you, observing how you live your life, they grow to become like you.
So sure, it is by being born of those parents and having their nature put in you. Sure, it is by living in the presence of those parents and being raised in their home. But it is also by beholding how those parents do things; that is what produces the fruit of those parents in the child (i.e. fruit). 
CONCLUSION
So, here is what I want you to take away today from this introduction into the Fruit of the Spirit: It is that these nine virtues are not produced in our lives by human effort. They are not walked in through will-power or by any fleshly energy on our part. No, they are a product of being born of the Spirit, walking in the Spirit and being led by the Spirit.
All of this can be summarized in three words— Born, Abide, and Behold: First, we must be born again—receiving the nature that contains all nine of these virtues. Then we must yield to the presence and power of the Holy Spirit to where He is infusing us with the supernatural ability to exhibit these qualities in our lives on a consistent basis. This is the abiding part. Finally, we need to behold the One who possesses this fruit and let His example reflect in our own lives.
So, if you are a born-again believer, these fruit reside in you right now! Now all you must do to see them manifested in your life is stay connected to the source by abiding in fellowship with the Lord and letting the Holy Spirit both rest upon you and energize you. At the same, simply keep your eyes on God, beholding this fruit in His nature. In doing so, you will become what you behold.  This is what the Holy Spirit is here to do—to produce His fruit in you. Amen.