Galatians 5:22-26 - Fruit from the Spirit - Rick Graumlich

I said church, we're in Galatians chapter five.

Last week we went through verses sixteen through twenty-one.

Lord willing, this morning we'll go through the rest of the book from 22 to 26 through 26.

But I'm going to begin reading in verse 16.

So in this full thought as we walk through this passage this morning.

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh.

For these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Now the works of the flesh are evident sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.

I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness, self-control.

And against such things there is no law.

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

It's interesting this time of year.

It's graduation season or it's the end of graduation season.

It's usually typically young people graduating high school or college, finishing kind of an academic requirement for them to move on with their education or complete their education.

And it's a very exciting time if you're a student.

If you're not a student and you have to go to a lot of graduation parties, it's a very expensive time of year, right?

But graduation is a bit deceptive.

It's deceptive in that you begin to realize as you get older that the learning that you did in life really begins after graduation.

You do all this intense studying and focusing, and if you're a new graduate, I'm here to tell you, you're just getting started.

You're done with the easy stuff, and you're heading on into the hard stuff.

The learning really is just beginning to start up.

The second way that graduation is kind of deceptive is that for an extended amount of time you've been focusing on this very specific kind of discipline or focus of study.

You've been putting a lot of effort and time and energy and resource into that thing, and then you finish that thing, and you're kind of lopsided.

You're really knowledgeable about this one thing, but the other areas in your life may be deficient.

They're weak.

It's one-sided.

And so culturally, this is kind of a big push to graduate, and that's good, and you should finish what you start, and that's a good thing.

But if you're not careful, you're gonna buy into promises that just kind of show up, that are not there, that you've learned what you need to learn to do what you are expecting to do, or that you're now prepared to enter into adulthood or into a career, you're you're established.

There's so much more growing to do, and there's so much more development that needs done.

But I think as Christians, if we're not careful, the same thing happens as us when we're following Christ.

We gain knowledge, we gain information, we can begin to understand our Bible, and we don't have the Bible's books of the Bible memorized, but who does, right?

We know where the general things are, we know the Old Testament from the New Testament.

We kind of get our head around the gospels and what's going on somewhat there.

We we get this knowledge begins to come and begins to grow.

And with that, we begin to grow in our confidence of the things of God and his word, which is again a good thing.

But if we're not careful, where we become one-sided is we grow in our knowledge, but we do not grow in our character, our godly character.

So we be growing in information, good, wonderful, but to the neglect sometimes of our godly character.

And godly character does not get the same kind of praise or attention that knowledge does.

Scripture says that knowledge puffs up, it builds up, it makes us arrogant, it makes us prideful.

This is what can happen when we're pursuing knowledge but not pursuing godly character.

You know about the things of God, but the question is: do you know God?

Do you desire to be like him, to follow after him?

Your head is on stray, you've got things figured out there, but what about your heart?

Is it engaged?

What's the Lord doing with your heart?

Maybe in the last 12 months you can say, well, these are the things I've learned about the Bible, I've learned about the Christian faith, and that's wonderful.

In no way am I demeaning that or putting that down.

Praise the Lord.

But in the last 12 months, can you also say, and this is how God is growing me in my character, my godliness.

This is how he's making me humble, or this is how he's growing me to be more patient.

Are those things happening in your life?

The passage that we're looking at, we looked at last week and again this week, kind of gets to the heart of the matter.

That those who follow Jesus, they live like Jesus.

They have the Holy Spirit and they walk with him.

They don't live and walk as unbelievers do because they're not unbelievers.

There's something different about them.

They have the Holy Spirit in them, they have new desires, new affections.

And so it's if we're honest with ourselves, and I said this last week and said again this week, the most loving thing I can do as a as your pastor and as a as a preacher is tell you what God's word says.

Not tell you, hey, you know what, I think it's gonna be okay.

Just keep going, and and when you get a chance, honor God when you get a chance and just go at it.

The most loving and gracious thing I can do is say, this is what God's word says.

And this is who God is, and this is what he calls you to.

And so, as the passage we just read laid out, those who are in Christ are to be walking with the Spirit, the Holy Spirit in us, obedient to him, following after him, not living as the world lives, and indulging in the flesh, and kind of giving ourselves over to the things of the flesh.

And this week we begin to get a better picture.

Okay, so last week, that's how the world lives, that's the flesh.

This week, okay, well, what's it mean that we're walking with the Spirit?

What are some things that are going on in our lives?

How do we tell what's going on?

How do we seek to continue to be molded like Christ?

Because you you don't just become a Christian and then stop.

You don't just graduate the salvation program and now you're in, and now you just kind of get on with the Christian life and kind of just work and then die.

There is something that God has called you to, he's making you into.

And if you're wondering what that is, or maybe you've grown up in the church and you're like, I just don't know what this is all about, or you're just confused, maybe you're a new Christian, like there's all this information.

What are we to be doing?

Just give me some things.

I want you to turn with me to the book of Titus.

So go to the right in your Bible.

You'll come across 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, to the book of Titus.

Titus chapter 2.

Titus 2 · chapter mention

This is a passage that we should all be memorizing or have memorized, and I'm working to re-memorize it.

To verse 11.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness, and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

I'm not here to preach the sermon on this passage in Titus, but I do want to make something very clear that God's grace has come and it brings salvation.

And when you are saved, you're not just plucked out of the water and put on dry land.

You're plucked out of the water, you're given a new heart with new desires, new affections.

And then you're put on the dry land to then worship him and to obey his word and to serve him and to love others.

And in that, in that obedience is life.

And in that you find joy.

And in that you overcome sin and you're no longer living for yourself.

You're enjoying the life that Christ has called you to live.

Before Christ, you're just wandering aimlessly.

You might not feel aimless.

You might think, well, I have a goal, I have a vision, and I'm getting a lot done.

But it's aimless.

Who's to say it's right?

Who's to say it's good?

How many people have gone before you with that same path?

And it ended in destruction or disappointment, buried or burned hopes.

But rather, God takes us.

He gives us a new orientation.

He says, listen, we're going north, and we're going north together.

And if you're a Christian, that's just the direction you're going to go.

Because that's the direction that Christ is taking us.

So this morning, as we think about this idea that we don't graduate.

You don't get past the gospel.

You don't kind of get past the elementary things of Christianity so that you can start to kind of get on with your life.

But rather, we are to be people who are continuing to grow in godliness.

And the way that happens is we keep reminding one another you deserve hell.

You don't deserve Jesus Christ.

You don't deserve grace, but it's come for you.

He saved you.

He's paid the price for your sin.

Now enjoy his mercy.

Enjoy the grace that he has for you.

Live like those who are saved and called by Christ.

You don't outgrow that.

You don't get past the crucifixion.

That Christ came, lived a perfect life, died for our sin, was buried, and rose again, conquering death.

You don't just get past that in our faith.

So if you are a Christian, fruit will proceed, will be produced in you.

This is a promise from the Holy Spirit.

Fruit will be produced in you.

A process will be established for you to overcome sin.

And there are pitfalls for us to avoid in this.

So fruit will be produced.

Look at me at verse 22.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

And against against such things, there is no law.

So this is fruit that the Spirit is producing in us.

And it's real fruit.

It's not fake fruit.

You can try to fake the fruit, but this fruit is genuine and it's real.

You think about when you when you go into like a hotel or something and there's like a bowl of fake fruit.

Now I don't know how it was years ago, but I feel like since I've been noticing this, the fruit is getting more realistic.

Right?

Before it was like, okay, that's clearly fake fruit on the desk there or on the buffet thing, whatever.

But now you come in and you're like, oh, that looks appetizing, that looks appealing.

I think I want some of that.

And then you quickly realize if you go to enjoy it, that it's it's fake.

It doesn't do anything for you.

But somebody put great time in kind of laying that out.

They want it to look real.

They decorate in a certain way so it just looks right.

And this is how, like, the ornaments of our life, and if we're not careful, we just kind of decorate things so that it looks nice.

It looks appealing.

When people come around, they say, Oh, that that's very nice.

That looks really good.

You've obviously put some effort into that.

We admire that.

But it's ornaments, or it's it's fake.

There's nothing of substance there.

It's not real.

And it empties you out.

If you are not a Christian and you're trying to have these fruits in your life, well, I just gotta be a better person.

I gotta be more kind, and I'm just gonna be more kind.

How exhausting.

How tiring for you spinning your wheels, trying to bear fruit in your life that only the Holy Spirit can bear.

You're trusting in Him for that.

It is fruit, and it is of the Holy Spirit.

We discussed this last week when we were looking at verse 16.

Walking by the Spirit, having the fruit of the Spirit requires you to have the Holy Spirit.

It requires you to be a Christian, be a follower of Christ, for the Lord to have saved you and regenerated you, giving you a new heart, being born again and putting the Holy Spirit in you.

And that all happens at once.

You don't, you're not saved in this other time.

You get the Holy Spirit.

When you are saved, when Christ redeems you and puts a new heart in you, He's given you the Holy Spirit in that moment.

You have it in you.

And that is how you're able then to live as He's called you to live.

The Holy Spirit takes up residence in you.

He begins to direct your affections and your desires.

There's fake fruit out there.

But real fruit is from the Holy Spirit.

From the Holy Spirit.

We have a massive role to play in obedience to God's word.

But it is because we have been saved by God.

And as Paul has made his argument all through the book of Galatians, that is the work of the Lord.

He is the one who justifies and makes us right with God, who redeems us and then saves us and gives us the Holy Spirit.

We trust him for that.

So there is a product there.

Fruit will be produced.

And it's of the Lord.

It's good.

It's wonderful.

But it is fruit.

It's not singular.

It's singular, it's not plural.

It's not fruits of the spirit.

You can't say, well, I have the fruit of joy, but I just don't have the fruit of love yet.

They are all the fruit of the spirit.

And what does the fruit look like?

Well, it's beautiful, it's appealing.

It's appetizing.

When you interact with people who have this fruit, there's something about that that you enjoy.

This is a patient person.

This is a kind person.

This is a gentle person.

This is a person with self-control, with joy and love.

Now there's an element I want to be clear on.

There are plenty of people who do not know Jesus, who have patience, who are kind, who have self-control.

But all those things, all those good attributes that they have are being used for selfish, sinful desires.

And they're selfish and sinful because they do not worship God.

The desires, the things that they're using these people are not to glorify God, to see how marvelous God is.

Look how awesome our Creator is.

But they're to appease others.

I want people to think I'm kind.

I want people to think that I'm gentle, that I'm trustworthy, or that I'm a person of peace, or that I have self-control, or I want to be dependent.

Well, I want to be a faithful person.

I want people to think that about me.

I think it's a good and right thing.

And it is a good and right thing.

But if it's not directed to God, then it's still a selfish and wicked thing.

You understand that?

So you can live this way, but without the Holy Spirit in you, you cannot live this way while glorifying God in living for Him.

You're doing it for yourself.

Doing it for yourself.

So these fruits, they're genuine.

This fruit.

Someone shared this kind of analogy with the fruit of the Spirit, how it's one thing, like a like an orange.

It's just one orange.

You peel it back, there's several pieces to it, but it's one orange.

So this is one fruit that the Spirit produces in us.

There's love, joy, and peace.

Do you feel these things in your life?

1 John chapter 2 says, listen, there's if you're a believer, you're gonna have love for other Christians.

1 John 2 · chapter mention

If there is not love in you for your fellow Christians, then you're not a Christian.

1 John just lays that out.

Don't deceive yourself.

If you claim to be a follower of Christ, but you don't care about the people of Christ, then you're not a follower of Christ.

Christians have love, joy, peace.

These aren't just here when it's convenient for us.

These things come more quickly when we stop looking at ourselves.

You feel like, man, I don't feel very joyful.

I'm not feeling very joyful, and I don't have a whole lot of peace in my life.

I'm not telling you this is your only problem, but I am telling you that one of your problems is probably most likely you're just spending too much time looking at yourself, thinking about yourself.

And this makes complete sense.

If you're absorbed with yourself, of course you're miserable.

Of course, you're not that good of a person.

Right?

I'm the most miserable.

You can ask Candace when I'm thinking too much of myself.

It's like I know I'm sinful.

Nobody but myself and God knows how sinful I am.

So when I'm thinking about myself.

Myself, and I'm reflecting on what I do right and what I don't do right and how I wish I was this and how I wish I was that.

And what do people think about me?

And what about this?

And this it's all me.

You're miserable.

You're not created for that.

You're not created to be self-absorbed.

Just kind of looking at everyone in relation to you.

And what's it mean for you?

What do they think about you?

Of course you're miserable.

We're to love others, to rejoice what God has done, to have peace from Him, to fix our eyes on Him.

More of this fruit is patience and kindness and goodness.

Patience.

If you're a Christian, think about your own spiritual journey for a moment.

Especially if you've been a Christian for a while now.

How patient has God been with you?

How patient has he been?

Slowly loving you, patient with your sin, patient with your pride.

And I don't mean he's just kind of standing back, just saying, Well, when you're ready, I'm ready.

He's engaged the whole time, revealing your sin nature, revealing your need for him.

He's patient with us.

How can we not be patient with others when God has been so patient to us?

Kindness.

You know, there's really no excuse for not being kind.

I mean, there's there are so few instances in your life, in the day and age that we live, in the places where we live, where we have to kind of be aggressive.

Right?

Maybe 0.01% of the interactions in your life, do you need to step in and do something that maybe doesn't seem kind and seems aggressive and authoritarian?

And that if that is required to do that, that is the kind thing to do, then.

But almost all of our life, all of our existence, kindness should be exuding.

There's no reason for us to be short or argumentative, to be insulting or impatient.

There's no excuse because of what God has done for us.

Goodness, very similar to kindness.

As Christians, there should be, as Christians, there should be a moral just beauty about our lives.

Not that we're seeking to be saved by morality, but but man, we're just seeking to be moral, to follow the commands of the Lord.

There's a goodness to us.

You know, it's not like we just kind of brush it all up on the weekends and so that when it comes Sunday morning we can kind of be clean and look clean.

But there's a goodness to us.

There's not a facade.

There's a desire for us to live as Christ has called us to live.

And there's that's light, and that's a great light in contrast to the darkness around us.

There's goodness in us.

There's faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

That faithfulness, this isn't what Paul's saying, he isn't talking about the faith that saves us at this point, right here.

But rather being loyal and dependable, consistent in our life to live unto the Lord in a way that's consistent.

The way that we live actually matches what we say, we believe.

So there's a faithfulness.

This person, I mean, over the span of their life, there's a there's faithfulness there.

And I say this a lot, and I'll say it again, you know, sometimes we want to take a snapshot in time.

You know, well, if you look at my life from on Thursday late morning to Thursday afternoon, and you just look at that, you're not gonna say, well, Rick has the fruit of the spirit.

But we so we can't just take a snapshot and then examine our lives, but rather stepping back and seeing what has the Lord done in us.

Do we see faithfulness?

Are we growing in that?

Are we growing in the fruit of the spirit?

Overall, are we maturing?

Are we overcoming sin?

Are we doing better?

Because Christ is enabling us to do so.

There's gentleness or meekness.

This doesn't mean that we're weak or we're easily taken advantage of.

It means that you're gentle.

You're gentle with your kids, with your spouse, with unbelievers, and with one another.

You're gentle in the way that you speak about others.

You're gentle in the way that you correct others.

So is there a gentleness about us?

This is very convicting as just as a person, but as a father with little kids, how easily it is that I become ungentle with them.

I get annoyed with them.

As if those who have been on the earth for just months and they don't have self-control.

But here I've been here for years, decades.

I should have the self-control.

I should have the gentleness thing figured out.

And because they're not being self-controlled and they're not being gentle, now I'm not being self-controlled, and I'm not being gentle.

And so you see how this begins to just kind of bear out.

But this is the call of Christ to be gentle.

That takes us being aware of our heart.

Nobody just wakes up and says, you know what, I've just decided for the rest of the day, I'm just gonna be a gentle person.

Doesn't happen that way.

I'm pretty sure it doesn't happen that way for you.

It requires us walking with the Spirit throughout the day, submitting to the Spirit.

We're gonna get to that in a moment.

There's self-control.

This is again fruit produced by the Holy Spirit, but self-control.

Do you restrain yourself?

I touched on this last week.

Are you able to deny yourself something that you want?

Even a good thing.

Doesn't have to be a sin, but are you able to say, you know what?

I just need to deny myself.

I'm the master, not the flesh, not my my desires are sinful.

Do you have self-control?

Again, this is it can be and should be an area of a lot of conviction for us.

And hopefully you're not sitting there thinking, well, I do have self-control, but so and so, hopefully they're hearing this because they could use self-control.

And likewise, hopefully you're not just sitting thinking, this is an area where I just feel like I'm floundering.

I don't have self-control in my life.

I eat whatever I want to eat, I watch whatever I want to watch, I give in to whatever, whatever desire comes up, boom, that's where I'm at.

I'm gonna be doing that thing.

It's not what God has done for us.

If you're in Christ, the Holy Spirit is in you, then there should be a desire to control your flesh and to subdue it.

Again, this is a fruit produced by the Holy Spirit in us.

And we trust in that.

So there's things produced, the fruit.

But then there's also a process by which God gives us to continue to walk in what He has begun in us.

Look at verse 24.

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

And if we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Now, when Paul uses this language of flesh, he doesn't mean your skin, rather, he referring to your sin nature, your desire for sinful things.

And as Christians, we're to crucify, put to death the desires of sin within us.

When was the last time you had a desire or passion of the flesh that you killed, that you put to death?

When was the last time you did that?

Hopefully there's some quick recall there.

Like, yeah, I remember yesterday or this morning or a distinct time recently where I just had this desire that came up to indulge in the flesh.

I wanted to be judgmental, or I wanted to gossip, I just wanted to say some things that were not upbuilding and loving, or I wanted to indulge in sexual desire, or I wanted to linger and look longer, and I wanted to do these things, or I wanted to eat these things.

And you said, No, that's not of the Lord.

That desire is not of the Lord.

I'm gonna kill that desire.

I'm gonna go to Scripture, I'm gonna ask God to help me, and I'm gonna put that desire to death because those who are of Christ crucify these desires and passions.

This is what they do, this is what we do.

You crucify the flesh and the passions.

You do this 60 seconds a minute, 60 minutes every hour, and 24 hours a day.

You do this all the time.

And it sounds exhausting, but in there is life.

In that is life.

And we see a picture of this in Genesis 39 with a story of Joseph.

If you're familiar, Joseph is in a situation where he's a slave in a house, um, and he's a great-looking guy, young, strapping, and the master of the house's wife wants him.

She wants to have a good time with him, and she keeps inviting him into this, and he keeps denying.

He says, No, I'm not gonna do that.

And then it ends when she, when no one else is around, and he and she just approaches him and she makes her offer, and he says no, and he leaves and he runs out.

Ends up imprisoned for years.

But don't think for a moment that Joseph was just perfect and he looked at everything before him and didn't have a single desire or a single longing for what he was looking at or what he could have been given.

And from a worldly standpoint, from a worldly position, he could have had a pretty good thing going for him.

He could have been satisfying his desires, he could have been kind of sneaking around on the boss man and getting things done.

There had to be something in him, part of him, that knew all those things and that was pulling him to that.

This is a great opportunity.

Who's gonna know?

Why not?

I'm just a slave.

I'm not even married, I'm not breaking any wedding vows.

Those desires were real and genuine.

But in that moment, he crucified those desires.

He said, I'm not going to give in to the sin, I'm not gonna go that way, I'm not gonna desecrate God, disobey him.

And he fled.

He was obedient.

So, likewise, we put to death the desires and the passions that are in us.

We fight sin.

We do this by keeping step with the spirit.

Right?

This language, keep step with the spirit.

The spirit is in you.

And I talked a little bit about this last week again with verse 16.

Right?

It's through primarily we do this.

Primarily, we we keep in step with the spirit through the ordinary means of grace.

God's word, prayer, and God's people.

We're people of the word.

We study it, we memorize it, we meditate on it, we encourage one another with it, we pray, we pray the word, we pray for one another, we take our petitions to the Lord, we bear our burdens to the Lord, we pray.

We're people of prayer.

We're people who gather together to encourage one another as Christians to worship the Lord.

And these means they're they are ordinary.

There's not this really exciting kind of service that you come and attend, and then after the service, somehow all your sinful desires are gone.

Or somehow you just reach a spot where they don't exist anymore.

But it's through God's word, time with God in prayer, and God's people that we keep in step with the Spirit.

But there's also these pitfalls to be avoided.

Verse 26.

Let us not become conceited, provoking one another or envying one another.

And this last verse, it feels almost out of place.

It doesn't make sense at first.

But if you're aware of the human heart, this verse makes sense.

Paul's writing to the church, and he's calling them to live a certain way.

He's calling them to pursue Christ and to stop pursuing the things of the world.

And he lays out how the things of the world are deceptive and they're they bring death.

And he calls the Christians to holiness and to honor the Lord and to live a certain way that brings life.

And you hear all those things.

And if you're a Christian, hopefully in you there's like good desires.

We love that kind of talk, holiness, godliness.

We love that kind of preaching.

Like let's hit them with the word.

Let's let's get him out of the things of God.

Let's go there, let's say the hard things, let's, like, let's do that.

And we get to that spot, but then if we're not careful, our own hearts, which are chavening holiness and not living for the world, becomes conceited and judgmental.

The very sins that we used to indulge in.

The very things that we used to do.

Now we're just looking down at others and pointing at them instead of getting down there with them and reminding them that God's grace is sufficient for them and that his love is enough for them.

We just kind of let them linger in there and in our hearts become conceited.

Selfish.

We envy.

We're provoking one another.

Why?

Because we're bored with the old stuff.

We've graduated from that stuff.

I got the gospel, I've heard it a million times, I get it.

Jesus died for our sins and he rose again the third day.

I get it.

Tell me something new.

We've graduated from that, and that's not what happens.

We stay there because our sin is still in us.

We stay there because we're still dying to the flesh.

We stay there because this is what God has called us to: to love Him.

And He has displayed His love for us.

You do not graduate these things.

And as long as we are pursuing God, we must be diligent to guard our hearts from pride.

You know, when you're a new believer, it's all so precious and new and exciting.

And then you get into it for a while.

And you slowly make it about you again.

Well, how am I doing compared to this person?

Am I more faithful than them?

Am I doing more?

Am I serving more?

Am I being more kind?

Okay.

Do they see me being more kind?

It all comes back to us.

Church, hear me.

You don't get past the gospel.

You don't get past the reality that you need God in order to obey God.

And it's only possible because Jesus Christ came for you, shed his blood for you, defeated the grave for you.

Not so you could just return back and live a mediocre Christian life.

But so that in the ordinariness of your life, the getting up, the working, the day after day of just going through life and serving your kids and your family and putting the hours at the job, so that in all those things you can give praise and glory to God.

And you can find life in that, and that you can enjoy what he's given you, and you can make much of God.

You can glorify him and worship him.

And without the good news of the gospel, without Paul's message of get your eyes off yourself and look to God and walk with the Spirit, you just become selfish.

You just become about yourself.

And that is not why Jesus Christ has saved you.

He saved you so you can glorify him, love him with all of your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your with all of your strength.

And so that you can love your neighbor as yourself.

Let's pray.

God, you know our hearts.

You know the things in us right now that are feeling convicted.

Or should feel, we should feel conviction about.

Give us strength.

My brothers and sisters, may they be built up in their faith.

May they acknowledge the sin that so easily entangles and repent of that.

May they seek to walk and keep in step with the Spirit.

May they look in their own lives, examine themselves, and see fruit of the Spirit, and may they yield to the Holy Spirit.

Pray for those who are unbelievers, who do not know you, Jesus, as their Lord and their Savior.

That you would reveal to them how precious and how good you are.

And how empty truly life is without you.

Lord, that you would that they would see the hope that we have in you, Jesus.

But repent and follow you.

I pray, God, again, that we would not be hearers of the word.

Only.

We would be doers of the word.

Pray this in your holy and precious name, Lord Jesus.

Amen.