Returning to our study on the Fruits of the Spirit, this is part 6. So far we’ve looked at living on the wrong side of the list – what happens when we live WITHOUT the direction of the Holy Spirit and under the influence of the world and our flesh. We see all those things that create destruction and chaos in our lives, but wow, they happen so naturally. We don’t have to try to be selfish, that comes easily. We don’t have to strive to be jealous. Sexual immorality is something that peaks its head up as a temptation early in our teen years and continually pesters us.

Then notice what Galatians 5:21says, “Anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”

Woah, now that’s scary. Heaven is on the line here? What exactly does this mean?

Every single one of us have struggled with at least one of these things on the wrong side of the list. Does this mean we’re all excluded from eternity with God? Does this mean we’re out?

This is a big deal, so we need to be sure. If Heaven depends on getting it right, let’s get it right! Nothing is worth missing out on Heaven.

Here’s what this DOESN’T mean. This doesn’t mean that as a follower of Jesus we could never commit any of these sins. What this does mean is that as a follower of Jesus we can’t STAY in these sins. God has given us something that calls us out of that old way of life. He has made us new with a new operating system.

Our new operating system as a follower of Jesus is the Holy Spirit. We studied the Holy Spirit in depth in episode #2146.

This is literally God living IN YOU. This is the direct guidance and influence of something greater than you now directing your life. Do you know what this means? This means with a new operating system, you are naturally changing and you’re no longer who you once were.

Girl, YOU’VE CHANGED! You don’t have to keep living the way you used to. You no longer have to struggle with the same things you’ve always struggled with. The Holy Spirit is changing you from within.

Now, you get to be DIFFERENT. Under the direction of the Holy Spirit and it’s inner influence, you live different. This isn’t a New Year’s resolution that you forget about by February. This isn’t an “I’ll try to be better”.

This is the true inner change that we seek. A change of your desires. A change of your will. A change of your operating system.

Does Jesus really change lives? ABSOLUTELY AND THIS IS EXACTLY HOW.

I’ve seen the soul who has struggled with addiction for years absolutely SET FREE when surrendered to Jesus. I’ve seen the hardened heart absolutely HEALED when surrendered to Jesus. I’ve seen the depression and anxiety lift. I’ve seen the change from within. I know it to be true because I’ve experienced it. What nothing else in the world can do, JESUS CAN!

Oh what a little box we put our God in when we think this is too big for him. Girl, absolutely nothing is too far gone for the work of his Holy Spirit. Nothing is beyond his reach. Nothing is too late or too hard.

God is good enough and God is BIG enough to change EVERYTHING inside of you, everything you’ve ever struggled with, everything that has ever bound you up and caused you to struggle. And here’s how he does it: The Fruit of His Spirit.

Fruit.

Fruit naturally grows on the right kind of tree. It’s not forced, it’s natural. If it’s an apple tree, it produces apples. If it’s a cherry tree, it produces cherries. If it’s a pear tree, it produces pears. Not because the tree has tried hard to change or willed itself into production, but because it naturally lives as it was created to live.

And this is the example God chose to use to represent what happens in our lives when his Holy Spirit dwells within us. We just naturally begin producing very specific fruit that comes from our attachment and growth in Him.

Galatians 5: 22-23, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

How does that verse begin? BUT. BUT the Holy Spirit produces something different in our lives. This is an interruption to what has been explained in the verses before. Before we have what our lives naturally become without the Holy Spirit. That was the list of yuck we went through all last week. That was the envy, the drunkenness, the selfishness, the anger, the jealousy, the quarreling, the hostility, the immorality and impurity, and seeking everything but God.

Thank God for his interruption. BUT THE HOLY SPIRIT.

You can live on the wrong side of the list and be ruled by the world and your flesh. However, that’s not the way to Heaven. The way to Heaven is to connect and grow in Jesus – and when you do, the Holy Spirit begins doing his work in you to change you from the inside.

These fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, NATURALLY grow in your life as a result of abiding in Jesus. This isn’t something you set your alarm for and work for. This isn’t something with a goal box you can check. This is something that GROWS within you because of connection. It’s a change that happens naturally that makes you different.

Your focus is connection. The fruit will happen naturally.

God didn’t have to design it all that way. He could have designed right living to be a goal we achieve. He could have designed the required change within us to be a 10 level system we work our way through. He could have given it all a grading curve in which only a few pass. BUT HE DIDN’T.

It’s not about our work at all. It’s about the work of the Holy Spirit within us. Our job is to stay connected. Our job is to surrender to the change he starts within us. Our job is to embrace the growth. Our job is to naturally produce what he promises to grow within us.

FRUIT. It’s the evidence of a different operating system.

FRUIT. It’s not achieved by working, but by abiding.

FRUIT – it’s fragile, it’s attractive, it’s nourishing, and it’s natural.

So as we begin this study on each of the Fruits of the Spirit, don’t hear this as another list of things you have to go accomplish. Don’t turn this into another burden you carry or another measuring stick you beat yourself up with. Instead, let every fruit become an invitation.

If I’m lacking peace, I don’t need to try harder—I need to draw closer.

If I’m struggling with patience, I don’t need to grit my teeth—I need to stay connected to the One who grows patience in me.

If I’m battling self-control, I don’t need more willpower—I need more surrender.

The fruit is never the source. Jesus is.

And here’s the beautiful thing: Fruit doesn’t appear overnight. It grows. Slowly. Steadily. Sometimes so gradually you don’t even notice it until one day you realize you don’t react the way you used to. You don’t chase the things you used to chase. You don’t become undone by the things that once controlled you.

Why? Because the Holy Spirit has been faithfully doing His work all along.

Don’t despise the growing season. Don’t quit because you’re not fully mature yet. Healthy things grow, and if you’re connected to Jesus, you will too.

So over these next several days, we’re not studying a checklist. We’re studying the evidence of a life surrendered to God. We’re studying what naturally happens when His Spirit is alive within us.

This is what Jesus came to do – not just forgive your past, but transform your future. Not just rescue you from sin, but restore you into the person you were always created to be.

So stay connected.

Stay surrendered.

Stay growing.

Because the Holy Spirit is still producing fruit in you. And one day, you’ll look back and realize the miracle wasn’t that you tried harder. The miracle is that Jesus changed you.

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