The Fruit of the Spirit

1
The Fruit of the Spirit

• The Works of the Flesh
• The things the flesh desires. Become aware of
  your thoughts. The product of the heart.
• The Source of the Fruit
• The seed is the source. The vine and the fruit.
  Planted by the river.
• The Fruit in its Season

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The Fruit of the Spirit

• Introduction
• Galatians 522-25 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT is
  love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness,
  goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
  Against such there is no law ... and those who
  are Christ's HAVE CRUCIFIED THE FLESH WITH ITS
  PASSIONS AND DESIRES. If we live in the Spirit
  let us also walk in the Spirit.

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The Fruit of the Spirit

• The gifts must operate by the fruit or else they
  are a clanging gong. Without the fruit the gifts
  of the Spirit are ugly, filled with pride and
  personal vainglory and they will come out harsh
  and unloving. God designed the gifts to be
  interspersed with fruit.
• Gifts are Placed
• The difference between a fruit tree and a
  Christmas tree is that the gifts are placed on
  the Christmas tree while the fruit grows from a
  fruit tree. Gifts have nothing to do with age,
  growth or -maturity. They are freely given and
  placed on the believer, fully developed and
  complete. The only thing is that the gifted must
  become skilled with constant use of the gifts.

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The Fruit of the Spirit

• Fruit Must Grow
• The fruit of the Spirit is dependent on the
  growth of the believer! Where gifts require no
  maturity fruit does require maturity. Christians
  are immature when they have little or no fruit.
• The Character of the Lord Jesus
• The fruit of the Spirit is a picture of the
  character and nature of the Lord Jesus Christ on
  the earth. When it is seen in the church then the
  world will see the character and nature of Jesus
  Christ,
• The power of Jesus Christ is seen in the gifts
• The authority of Jesus Christ is seen in the
  fivefold ministry
• The character of Jesus Christ is seen in the
  fruit

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The Fruit of the Spirit

• Personality and character originate in the head -
  the body merely expresses what the brain and mind
  instruct it to do. Without the mind, brain and
  nervous system the body is powerless and
  paralyzed.
• The body naturally and automatically has the
  nature, attributes, character and personality of
  the head. If the head is filled with hate the
  body will do hateful things and likewise if the
  head is filled with love the body will do loving
  things.

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The Fruit of the Spirit

• Immersed Into Cod's Character
• This is the law of Genesis. If we are born of
  God then we are born with the nature of God, the
  fruit of the Spirit and the ability to produce
  the fruit of the Spirit.
• The Works of the Flesh
• Romans 85 For those who live according to THE
  FLESH SET THEIR MINDS ON THE THINGS OF THE FLESH,
  but those who live according to THE SPIRIT, THE
  THINGS OF THE SPIRIT

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The Fruit of the Spirit

• The Mindset
• But the mind set on the Spirit walks in the
  Spirit and those who are led by the Spirit are
  not under the law.
• Lusts Against
• We see that there are ...
• Lusts of the flesh and
• Lusts of the spirit
• LUST mostly has an evil connotation but not
  always. The dictionary defines lust as a
  vehement or longing affection or desire.

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The Fruit of the Spirit

• The Things the Flesh Desires
• As we have seen - the reason we walk in these
  things is because our minds are set on them.
• Consciously or Sub-consciously
• You might say "but i spend time in the word
  every day, why
• do I still fall into outbursts of anger? Why do
  I always end up in arguments? Why am I so
  envious?" etc. etc. This is because we become so
  used to thinking about the wrong things that we
  are unaware of it. We have habitual mindsets.

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The Fruit of the Spirit

• Become Aware of Your Thoughts
• Outward action always starts with inward
  meditation. Take note of what your mind dwells on
  every day anddeliberately and purposefully do
  some things to change.
• Think on These Things
• Philippians 48
• Finally, brethren, whatever things are. true,
  whatever things are noble? whatever things are
  just, whatever things are pure, whatever things
  are lovely, whatever things are of good report,
  if there is any virtue and if there is anything
  praiseworthy - MEDITATE ON THESE THINGS.

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The Fruit of the Spirit

• The Product of the Heart
• We are told to guard our hearts for out of them
  proceed the forces of life - whether good or evil
  (Prov 423).
• Speaking to Christians
• These letters are written to the church and Paul
  was informing the believers why some of them were
  acting as they were.

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The Fruit of the Spirit

• Transformation
• The answer to change is TRANSFORMATION by the
  RENEWING OF THE MIND. Renewing the mind (i.e.
  spirit, roots or the subconscious) is the -way in
  which we make the tree good. Thus its fruit will
  be good. In other words in this way the new man
  is manifest.
• Renovation
• The dark, gloomy and dingy old ways of thinking
  must be demolished - the old fashioned things
  that were new yesterday but are now useless must
  be broken ? down, destroyed and removed from site.

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The Fruit of the Spirit

• The shell must be good
• Healing and wholeness must come to the empty
  room, the walls must be replastered, the floors
  leveled, the ceilings installed and lighting put
  in.
• Refurnish the empty shell
• Put new, strong, colourful and bright,
  illuminated thoughts in - and so make the
  transformation complete

13
The Fruit of the Spirit

• The Source of the Fruit
• Fruit is always the end result of months of
  preparation, labour and careful nurturing. It is
  the reason for activity - otherwise our activity
  is in vain.
• It is both
• the reason for activity and
• the result of activity

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The Fruit of the Spirit

• The Seed is the Source
• This scripture comes eleven verses after the
  fruit of the spirit and the works of the flesh.
  So we see the source of the fruit of the Spirit
  or the works of the flesh is the sowing of the
  seed.
• Watch What You Hear
• In other words, control and regulate the things
  that pass through your senses.

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The Fruit of the Spirit

• What Hearing Means
• We are to watch out for what we perceivewithin
  us. Realize and perceive the thingsthat we set
  our minds on, whether, fleshor spirit, the Word
  of God or the word of the God of this world.
• The Vine and the Fruit
• Fruit is always found on the branch and never on
  the stem of the tree. The stem is the reason that
  the branch exists. On the other hand, fruit is
  also the reason that the branch exists. It is a
  channel and it bears fruit to eat and leaves for
  shade.
• Dry, fruitless, leafless branches are CUT OFF
  and BURNT

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The Fruit of the Spirit

• The Resources far Fruit
• The quality of the fruit is dependent on the
  quality of the branch dwelling in the vine The
  greater our intimacy of fellowship with the Lord
  Jesus the better the quality of the fruit.
• The Quality of the Seed
• The Word of God is the seed of great quality.
  The quality of the fruit is determined by the
  quality of our Word intake. Reading, meditating,
  pondering on, thinking about, listening, etc

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The Fruit of the Spirit

• The Quality of Abiding
• 'Fruit comes through fellowship. Restrict
  fellowship with the Vine and you will restrict
  the quality of the fruit. Open, consistent and
  continual intercourse with the Lord Jesus causes
  the minerals and vitamins to flow in order to
  produce.

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The Fruit of the Spirit

• Planted By the River
• This is another source which causes fruit to
  develop and grow.
• Be Planted
• Delighting yourself in and meditating on the
  Word day and night is like being planted by the
  river.

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The Fruit of the Spirit

• Fruit In Its Season
• The purpose of an evergreen fruit-bearing tree
  is to provide food and protection to the world.
  This is the purpose of the fruit of the Spirit
  to draw men to the source of life. It is to be
  appealing and desirous to the world - a fruitless
  tree has no attraction for the world.
• Fruitful or Fruitless
• God wants us to get to the stage where the fruit
  is in public view for all to see. The world
  around us must be able to look at us and see
  evidence - a visible and tangible love, joy,
  peace, longsuffering kindness, goodness,
  gentleness, self-control and faith. Fruitless
  trees are passed by, ignored and even abused by
  the world.

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The Fruit of the Spirit

• Attractive, Appealing and Desirous
• Each part of this NINEFOLD FRUIT is what the
  world longs to see longs to be soothed and fed
  with. None of these are offensive or repellent.