From Ephesus: Love

I've never felt so viby in the middle of a

Revival Sunday worship video thing.

I don't even know.

That was the best vibes I've ever felt from a video.

I just want you to know that if you join

us on Revival Sunday, you will experience a powerful night.

Pastor Christina is an incredible communicator. She's been here before,

We've had her here for a couple occasions, and it's

going to be an awesome night. So make sure you

mark that on your calendar and come join us. If

I haven't met you, my name is Morgan Butcher and

blessed be one of the pastors here at our Mill

Creek campus.

How's everybody doing? You doing good? Ready to go today?

The rain may have come this weekend, but summer's on

the way. Friends, It's almost here. Okay. This is the

tricky time of the season where we get confused where

we actually live right, Like we get sun from multiple

days in a row and we're like, it's summer.

I know what you did.

You pulled out your lawn stuff, you got your cushions out,

and then at downpoured and now you're like, dang it,

I live in Washington. I just want you to know

it's gonna get better. It's gonna get better. It's great.

Have you here if you're just joining us for the

first time, or you haven't been here in a little bit.

We are in the middle of a series titled from Ephesis,

and we're focusing on Paul's writing to the church in

Galatia in Galatians. Chapter five, Versus twenty two is specifically

where we are, and we're looking at the fruit of

the Spirit that Paul describes while writing from Ephesus. He's

in Ephesus writing this letter, which we know as the

Book of Galatians. He's writing this letter to the church

and Christians in Galicia. And as we dive in today,

we're talking about the first fruit that Paul mentions in

verse twenty two of chapter five of the Book of Galatians.

It says this, It says, but the fruit of the

Spirit is joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and

self control. As Paul is writing this letter, he's actually

building a contrast for us. The verses prior to this

are describing what life is like when we live in

the acts of the flesh, when we live based on

our own desires, when we live off of the things

that we want and we desire for our life. He's

describing what that kind of life looks like, and it's

it's grim the things that he says we live.

With the acts of the flesh.

He says, man, you want to live by your own flesh,

you want to live by your own desires. I'll show

you the kind of life that that is filled with.

He lists them off. He says, your life living by

the flesh will be filled with sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, hatred, selfish, ambition, envy,

all sorts of things, among others that he lists. And

he's building a contrast between living a life in the

flesh and living a life in the spirit of God

and the Apostle. Paul lives love as the first thing

when he lists the fruit of the spirit.

Now, there's multiple.

Theologians, authors of different writings that believe that Paul did

this intentionally, that love was the first fruit that he lists,

and he does it intentionally, and he lists love first

because everything else love everything else, joy, peace, patience, kindness.

What they think, what they believe is that all of

these things flow first from the funnel of love. Without love,

the rest of the fruit dry up. It's almost that

love is the engine for the rest of the fruit

to continue to grow.

Now, let's be honest.

In spirit filled churches, can I just tell you are

at a spirit filled church. We believe in the power

and the presence of the Holy Spirit. We talk often

about the power and anointing and the gifts of the

Holy Spirit. When you come to a revival night, we

will believe for healing and miracles in your life. We

will pray for healings and miracles in your life, and

rightly so. But I think it's important to remember, friends,

that you cannot be truly spirit filled if you are

not love filled. You cannot be truly spirit filled if

you are not love filled. One Crianthians thirteen two. Paul

puts it bluntly in his message to the Church and Corinth.

He says, if I have the gift of prophecy, if

I am speaking the future over your life, if God

is filling me with knowledge and speaking prophecy into your life,

but I do not have love, what does he say?

I am nothing without the foundation of.

Love, being everything that my life is built upon everything

that my life flows from.

I am nothing and friends.

I don't know about you, but I would love if

at the end of my life, Man, I love that.

Song that we sang just a second ago.

Man, If my life could be marked for God's glory

and God's love, I don't care about anything else. I

want to be known as a person who loves greatly,

like was modeled for us by Jesus. Anybody else in

this room want to live that kind of a life.

My prayer for us today is that we would dive

into what Paul describes as living with the spirit of love.

And before we do that, I just want to pray

for us as we dive in. Would you pray with me?

Father God, We thank you for you and your word

and your spirit. God. We invite you, Holy Spirit, to

speak clearly to our hearts. God, shape us, transform us,

make us look more like your son, Jesus. Let us

not just be. Let love not just be something that

we talk about. God, Let it be something that we

live out every single day in every relationship. God transform

our lives today in Jesus Mighty name. And everyone said, Amen,

I was a youth many years ago. That seems like

a lifetime ago. I was a youth pastor for ten

years here at this church. And just to give you

some context, I was a youth pastor like seven years ago.

That's so that officially, I think that means that I'm

getting old. I think that's officially what that means. But

when I was a youth pastor, I literally remember going

through a series with our youth students. Some of our

youth students are in the crowd. Probably I remember, hey,

come on, little shout out.

I love it.

I remember going through the series on the fruit of

the Spirit, and we got to the fruit of the spirit,

that is love. And I remember writing this message and

trying to help students wrap their mind around the fact

that in our culture we use the word love for

all sorts of things. We throw this word around everywhere,

like I love this person, I love this thing. Friends,

can I tell you I love the Seattle Mariners. I

love them. I'm so thankful for them. I'm so thankful

that they're actually winning baseball games. My love is not

reserved for them just winning baseball games, but it sure

does help. Okay, I love ice cream, and all God's

people say, amen, I love pizza. You can tell a

lot of my love is for food. We use this

word love a lot, and we throw it around a lot.

But you know what has happened in our culture is

that we have used this word love that has been

reserved in scripture to define something more spectacular than we

could ever imagine. And we use this word love to

describe just about anything that we like. And what has

happened is that this word love has been diluted into

a form that it was never meant to be and

certainly never meant to be used in the same breath

as the way that we describe who God is for

our life. And so, in the midst of me trying

to figure out how to explain this to students, I

felt like God implanted this word on my heart that

I has resonated in my life ever since. And it's

this reality that, man, when you know Jesus, when you

give your life to Jesus, when you walk with him,

when you know him, when you experience him in your life,

when you experience Him doing miracles in your life, do

you know what you realize that you understand what love

is because you know who love is. I know what

love is because I know who love is. And to

fully understand what love looks like, to fully walk with

that same spirit, we must understand the nature of the.

God that you and I are walking with.

Friends, And maybe the most important aspect of God's character

that we can acknowledge is that love is the nature

of God.

It is who he is.

You cannot mention the name of God without mentioning love.

In First John four eight, it says whoever does not

love does not know God. Because plainly God is love. Friends,

this is foundational. God doesn't just show love. He doesn't

just give love. He doesn't just speak love. He doesn't

just extend love. Friends, Listen, he is love. It is

his nature, it is his essence. It's who he is.

It embodies the person of Christ. And if we are

being conformed into the image of Christ, well, then friends,

love must be the essence of our life too. It

must be foundational in our life. It must be what

we are known most by. And I'm not gonna ask

you to do this, but I'm just curious. And I

was thinking of myself. If I was to pull twenty

random people, would love even be on the list of

how people would describe me? And Yet, if we are

to be transformed into the image of Christ. Then love

should be the first thing that our lives are marked by.

And this means that the more that you walk in

the spirit, the more that you walk in step with God,

the more love should become the default of your life.

It won't be something that's forced. It will be fruit

that you are naturally bearing in your life. Pastor died

is such an incredible job last week, didn't she speaking

on the gift and the fruit.

Of joy in our life?

And I love how she described the way that fruit

just naturally produces is produced from the vine. There's no striving,

there's no gritting of the branches or the vines to

produce fruit. I have fruit trees in my backyard, a

ton of them. We call it Bouchard gardens in my backyard,

and to be really honest, I hate them. I wish

they would go away. They're the most obnoxious things in

the world. You have to trim them every year. Then

you got a pile of sticks. You gotta figure out

to do this, and then there's fruit all over the grass,

and then my dog eats it, and then you throw

it's a whole thing. Okay, it's just the whole thing,

and I wish they would just go away. But you

know what, as I sit in the hammock underneath these

fruit trees, you know what I've realized. I realized not

once have I laid there in the hammock and stared

up at these fruit trees and never seen them sweat

from trying to produce fruit. I have not once heard

the branches groaning under the weight and the stress of

trying to produce fruit. Simply by existing, simply by by

by being connected to the source, these trees produce fruit

every single year. But even as I say that, let

me just repeat the same truth, because friends, let's just

be honest. Producing the fruit of love does not come

naturally to us, does it.

It doesn't come naturally.

This kind of love doesn't come from trying harder or

gritting your fists or really just like saying I'm gonna

do this. It doesn't come from reading self help books.

It only comes through abiding in the Holy Spirit. And

I know that word abiding sounds really churchy, And to

be really honest, it's the only time in place I've

ever heard it used is in the church, so it

is kind of churchy. But but do you know what

it means to abide in the whole Holy Spirit mean.

It describes this enduring connection that we have with the

Holy Spirit, this constant connection through every season, through every obstacle,

through every terrain, the mountains and the valleys, the peaks

and the lows, the good times and the bads, the tension,

the sickness, the difficulties, the destruction, a constant connection through

every season, abiding and staying connected to the Holy Spirit

in our life. And Paul is contrasting the works of

the flesh with what it looks like to live by

the fruit of the Spirit, and he shows us something

incredibly profound that we should probably take note of this morning.

And it's the simple contrast that the flesh produces sin,

but the fruit of the Spirit produces love in our life.

So my question is, how do I move from flesh

to fruit. I don't want to be known by my

flesh friends. I don't know if there's anybody else in

here that looks in their life and says man, when

left to my own accord, when left to my own desires,

I do not like that person. But Paul says, but

the people who live by the fruit of the Spirit

will be marked different. So how do we move from

the flesh to the fruit. I think we have to

look at what love really is. The first thing that

I think we need to recognize that love is is

that love is not a feeling. Pastor Dye said this

last week. It's not a feeling. Do you know what

love really is? It's a command for our life. I

feel like I should queue up Boston and more than

a feeling right now? Go ahead and guys play it.

I'm just kidding. We're not gonna play it. But man,

I like, can I just tell you love is more

than a feeling? They got it right on that one.

It is more than a feeling. Let's transition from who

God is to what love looks like in our daily lives.

Can we just talk practically, what does it look like

when we are filled with the spirit of love in

our life? Friends? Can I just tell you we live

in a world where love is often reduced to feeling

or a mood or an emotional connection.

But can I tell you what biblical love is.

Biblical love is a command made by Jesus and a

decision to live like Jesus. It is a command that

Jesus has given you and I, and it is a

decision by us to live like him. John thirteen thirty

four says, this a new commandment I give to you

that you love one another just as I have loved you,

You also are to love one another. Can I just

tell you this kind of love is not based on convenience?

Oh?

Can I tell you I met some people, and it

is not convenient to love every person. You may know

who I'm talking about. You may have your own. It's

not convenient. Love is also definitely not based on chemistry. Okay,

there's some people that I just do not jive with.

I feel like I get along with just about anybody,

but there's some people in my life. I'm like, bro,

let's keep our let's keep our space. Love is not

based on convenience. It's not based on chemistry. Do you

know what love is based on. It's based on christ.

You may not feel like loving your neighbor friend. That

dog may poop in your yard every single week and

your neighbor doesn't pick it up. But can I tell

you what you are commanded to do to love your neighbor.

You may not feel like forgiving your spouse, But can

I tell you that you are commanded to love them.

This is the call, the daily call of every believer. Now,

if love is a command and it's not a feeling,

the question becomes, how does this show up in our life?

What does it look like when the spirit is producing

love in our life? I think the lens that we

have to view if we can be assured that that

love is actually producing in our life, is probably the

lens that says that love is seen in action. Love

is seen in our actions. It's seen in the way

that we live. It's seen in the way that we

handle situations. It's seen in our responses. It's seen in

the way that we treat people. One Corinthians thirteen, fourth

through six gives us a real world picture of what

spirit produced love looks like. Do you know what it

looks like when you have a spirit produced love in

your life? It looks like patience. Paul says, love is patient.

It's kind. Love does not envy, It does not boast.

It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist

on your own ways. It's not irritable. Oh my gosh,

that's convicting. It's not resentful, it doesn't rejoice in wrongdoing.

It rejoices with truth. Friends, this isn't abstract. This isn't

meant to be confusing or like underlying. This is daily,

This is gritty work. This is real life discipleship being

played out in our life. So let's break this down

for a moment. When someone cuts you off in traffic.

Oh, love is patient.

When a coworker takes credit for your work. Love does

not envy and it does not boast.

Parents. Oh, when your child spills milk on the couch.

Second, third, fourth, fifth time after you said please be careful.

Can I tell you what love is? It's kind?

But when your spouse fails you, when they disappoint you,

when they let you down, Can.

I tell you what love is?

Love is persevering through every season, through every obstacle, through

every disappointment. Friends, hear me say, love is not the warm,

fuzzy feelings. Can I tell you more than anything, it

is this warrior mindset.

It keeps showing up.

Day after day after day, even when it's hard. It

keeps extending even by our our in our own nature.

It does not come naturally.

And why because your love flowing out of your life

does not come natural to you? Because it is not

dependent on what you have to offer. Can I tell

you what a spirit filled love is dependent on. It's

depended and fueled on a love that you cannot provide

for yourself, but that the Spirit is sufficient to provide

through you in every season, in every interaction, in every obstacle,

to every person. Let me share a story with you

that I heard a while back. I met this missionary

who was serving near a leper colony overseas. I imagine

it was just an incredible, incredible opportunity. If you're not

familiar with leprosy, it talks about it in scripture, but

there are still colonies like this.

That exist today.

And these people are secluded from society because they have

skin deformations. Their skin literally is filled with wounds and scars,

and it is one of the most painful things to

live with. And these people are kind of outcasts in society.

And these missionaries went and they served near one of

these leper colonies overseas, and there was a young woman

who was serving there. While they were stationed there, and

they noticed that this woman a part of this leper colony.

Her face was disfigured, her skin was disfigured on her

face and her body had been weakened by disease, and

she was in pain all the time, and most people

within this colony avoided her, which is saying a lot,

because even in a place where everyone was sick, she

was rejected.

Talk about being the outcast of the outcast.

And while these missionaries were there serving alongside these people,

they noticed this nurse that every single day would seek

out this young woman, this outcast of the outcasts, and

this nurse every day they watched her go specifically straight

to this lady and she would gently clean her wounds,

no gloves, no flinching, no gagging, no weird faces, just tenderness, compassion.

And one day the missionary was was so conflicted and

honestly convicted of the reality that he was facing, realizing

that he would never probably be able to do what

this woman had been doing for this lady for so

many days in a row, and he literally went to

her and he said, I just don't know if I

would be able to do what you are doing for

this woman. And you know, he said, he will never

forget what this nurse said to him. The nurse smiled

and looked at him and said, neither would I, but

I do it for Jesus.

Friends, that's love. That is love.

It's not a feeling. It's not convenient, that's not romantic.

You know what that is? That is a love that

His spirit produced Christ reflecting cross shaped kind of love.

That is a love that can only be fueled by

the Spirit of God flowing through a person. It is patient,

it is kind. It doesn't need applause. It doesn't ask

what is my reward? What do I get in return

from this? It simply says, Jesus loved me when I

was an outcast, and so I will gladly extend that

kind of love to anybody and everybody that I meet.

And guess what, Friends, this kind of love, it doesn't

start in the world.

Do you know where it should start? Here?

Love begins it should begin in the church. But can

I also say that it doesn't just begin in the church.

It's gotta go out. It can't just stay in the church.

It's got to start in the church. But it can't

stay in the church. Jesus said this in John thirteen

thirty five. He said, by this, everyone will know that

you are my disciples. What He's to say, if if

you love one another.

Man.

I am so thankful that what Jesus didn't say in

this moment was everyone will know that you are my

disciples if you get on the corner of a street

and you yell as loud as you can that you

love Jesus. He doesn't say, man, everyone will know that

you are my disciple. If you take your Bible and

just start thumping it over people's head. Everybody will know

that you are my disciple. If you are a perfect

image of who I am and like, if you do

all the right things and you get it right every

single day in a row, and if you never mess

up and you're perfect.

He doesn't say that.

He says, everyone will know that you are my disciple

if you love one another, friends, Can I just tell

you that means that love for one another is our

greatest witness to a watching world.

Love.

I am so thankful for my mom and dad.

My mom and dad don't they don't know Jesus, Jesus.

I have now spent more of my life as a

Christian in the Church than I have spent not in

the church as a Christian, And every time I'm with

my mom and dad, the thing that I love the

most about them is that there is so much love

in their hearts.

They have more love.

And more compassion and more kindness for people than I

have seen most people in the church have. And I

pray for the day that they have the same relationship

with Jesus that I have, so that the gift that

God has given them of love could be released for purpose.

In their life.

But I have seen these people love out of the

overflow of their heart. It's just like comes naturally to them.

But my parents don't go to church, they don't have

a relationship with Jesus. And years ago, my dad was

telling me the story about an interaction that he had

with people within the church, and it gave me this

lens into the truth of the statement that love must

start in the church, but it can't just stay in

the church. He was working in his parents' family restaurant,

the Aurora Family Restaurant in Seattle. It was my grandparents restaurant,

and he was a young man working alongside of them

helping to make the restaurant go forward. And every single

Sunday he said that there was a group of young

adults who would come from the church down the street

after Sunday and they would get a booth and they

would order some food, and he told me that there

was no group of people that he looked forward to

least coming into the restaurant every week. They always left

the biggest mess, They were always the most rude, They

were allowed for everyone else around them.

They never tipped.

And even now my dad, some forty years later, still

has this image in his head and this question of

the Church and Christians to this day, of what is

so different about them compared to what I see of

the rest of the world. Now, I know as well

as anyone that the Church isn't just for perfect people.

There's grace and we're all on a journey of becoming

more like Him. But friends, let me tell you this morning,

the world is watching to see what this love that

is so called transformed your life makes you different from

the rest of the world around you. And if the

world can't see the love of Christ through us, through

the Church, where will they? The early Church didn't grow

because of amazing graphics or amazing music or amazing services.

You know why the church in the in scripture grew.

It grew because of a supernatural love. And the supernatural

love was not fueled It was not man made, it

was spirit produced. Acts two forty four says that all

the believers were together and they had everything in common.

They were operating out of the overflow of love that

the Spirit had flowed on their lives. It was this

kind of unity and generosity that grew that began to

separate them from the rest of the world. The rest

of the world began to look at them and notice

that there was something different about them. And hear me say,

this is only possible by the spirit that fills our lives.

Love can't just stay in the church. It's got to

go beyond our walls. But can I also say it

better be happening in the church. Oh, I'm gonna ruffle

some feathers here. I know I'm talking to church people,

but I hear it all the time. Well, this person

in the church said this, and they said this, and

well they didn't say the right thing in that prayer,

and they didn't listen to what was going on in

my life, and they they didn't treat me the way

that I wanted to be treated. Can I just tell

you that this love better be happening in the church.

If we can't love each other inside the walls of

this church. How can we love the world outside of

this church. This means when somebody in this room offends you, you

know what your response is.

Love.

It means that when someone in your small group lets

you down, you know what your response is love. Do

you know that when the pastor says something that offends

you up here, sorry, you know what I really pray.

I pray that you.

Will extend love.

And as the overflow of love begins, it becomes fuel

for the next great thing that God wants to do

in and through this church and our lives. When we

live a life that extends and gives love out of

the overflow of the connection that we have with God's Spirit,

do you know what happens? Love begins to empower us

to do even more than we could imagine. Love begins

to unlock the power of the spirit that lives within us.

You may not be aware of this, but friends, you

are sitting in a charismatic Pentecostal church. I know that

might shock some of you, because this is a very

quiet crowd this afternoon. But we believe in the power

of the Holy Spirit. We believe in his healing power,

we believe in his miracles.

Amen.

We believe that He empowers us and gives us what

we need to move and edify the body and to

move lives forward, and to reveal the person of Jesus

to believers and non believers. Can I tell you love

empowers you and I to partner with the spirit and

for as often as we in this church, we'll talk

about revival, as often as we will talk and believe

for healing and prophecy and deliverance, and we should ask

and believe for those things. Can I tell you what

love is what fuels the fire of the spirit. It's love.

Love is what fuels the fire of the spirit. Matthew

fourteen fourteen. Jesus is approaching this crowd of people who

he's about to feed and give them tons of food

and perform this miracle. And he's approaching the shore and

all these sick people, all these debilitated people, are surrounding him,

and it says that as he's moving forward, it says

that Jesus seized them and was moved with compassion and

began to heal the sick.

Do you know what the scripture is implying.

It's saying that miracles flowed from compassion, not performance. There

was something that happened in Jesus's heart when he saw

the people, His heart broke for them, He felt for them,

He extended love to them, and out of the overflow

of compassion and love, miracles began to happen around him.

It was compassion, not performance. That means you know what

you want, prophecy, how about we start with love.

You want to lay hands on the sick and belief

for healing. How about this? How about we start with love.

You want to speak in tongues, you want to preach

with power, You want a spirit.

Of discernment and wisdom.

How about we let love lead the way and see

what the Spirit does through us? A man, can I

just rant a little bit here? I have the microphone

and you don't, so I'm just gonna do it anyways, Okay.

I can't tell you how much it irritates me to

see Christians idolizing religious leaders in the church who flaunt

the gifts of the spirit on Sundays and at church conferences,

but don't lift with the fruit of God's Spirit Monday

through Saturday. It drives me insane, man, because you preached

a fire message, but you are a jerk.

Yeah, you got all.

The things for the services, and man, you lead a

killer alter call. But man, your staff despises you. Friends,

without love, gifts are hollow, but listen to me. With love,

gifts are unstoppable. In God's people. Jesus showed us over

and over and over that miracles flowed from compassion, not performance.

That's why all the time we say to you that

the goal of our faith is not behavior modification. It's

not just acting and pretending to be more like Jesus.

It's relying on the reality that Jesus's desire for your

and my life is to absolutely wreck us and change

us so that we live a life that we have

never lived before. We can't just settle for acting more

like Jesus. We must become like Jesus himself, which means

that love can't just be this light switch that we'd

get to optionally turn on and off.

Whenever we want.

Well, I'm just not feeling it today, so I'm just

gonna put my head down and go through the crowd.

Oh but it's Sunday, so I'm gonna flip it on

and I'm gonna make sure that everybody knows that I

love them. Well, I'm just not feeling it today, so

I'm gonna flip it off.

No, no, no, no.

We must overflow with the love of Christ in our life.

So how do we become people who overflow with this

kind of love? Let me remind you. It's not by striving.

It's not by marking off a checklist of good deeds.

It's not by acting more like it. It's by one

thing and one thing only. And I know I'm gonna

frustrate you when I say it. Can I just tell

you there is one thing and one thing only that

will help you to overflow with the love of Christ,

and that is daily surrender. It's not a magical prayer.

It's not some secret prayer that we pray over you

right now. Love is a daily surrender Galatians five twenty five.

Jesus Paul follows this statement up on the fruit of

the Spirit by saying this.

He says, if we live by the.

Spirit, let us also keep in step with the spirit.

Let us keep in step with the spirit. Keep in

step with Do you know that that phrase to keep

in step with is actually derived from a military term

meaning to be drawn up in a line or to

stand in a row. Which is interesting because every time

I've read this scripture before this, I've always thought of, like, Okay,

it means that, like every day I'm just like taking

a step with God. And it's like you know that

little cheesy picture that you see on the Hallmark channels

of the footprints in the sand, Right, It's like, I'm

just doing this thing with God, and I'm in the rhythm.

And every day I wake up and I and I say, God,

I want to serve you, and I want to and

I want to and I want to walk with you,

and I want to do your thing and I want

to I want to do all the things that you

want to do, and I surrender my life. And friends,

that is totally what it is. But can I tell

you this, this reality of this scripture, this idea that

it means to be drawn up in a line or

to stand in a row, it began to speak more,

something more to me than just walking with him and

keeping in step with him day after day. It's not

just being in the rhythm of being with him and

being connected to him. It's surrendering your will and being

in alignment not with your.

Desires, but with God's desires to.

Be drawn up in a line, to stand in a

row that day after day, I am making the conscious

decision to be connected to the spirit of God. I'm

waking up every single day and I'm saying, God, I

surrender my life to you. And not only do I

surrender my life to you, I surrender my will to you.

I want to be in step with you, but I

also want to be in alignment for what you want.

To do through me. God, you know what it looks like.

It looks like.

Each day waking up and saying some prayers that look

like this, Holy Spirit. Help me to love my spouse

today in the way that you desire to love her.

You know what it looks like.

It looks like, God, Help me to forgive today quickly

the way that you would forgive quickly today. Help me

to prefer others over myself today, the way that you

demonstrated how to put people first.

Help me to.

Serve my family selflessly today, the way that you so

faithfully served your disciples while you walk the earth. Father,

grow your fruit in me even when I'm tired, even

when I'm frustrated, even when I feel like I don't

have it, because I want to live in step with

you and in alignment with who you are for my life, Friends,

you won't always feel like it, But by the spirit,

can I just tell you, it will grow within you,

not by the straining of your hands, not by the

wrestling of your spirit, but by daily surrender, by abiding

in his spirit. Friend's fruit doesn't grow overnight. It grows

over time in the soil of surrender, allowing the roots

of your life to grow day after day after day

after day. And I know that I'm standing in a

room full of people who are fully aware of the

reality that maybe you are wrestling with the same way

that I have wrestled it with the week. And it's

the reality that I am not perfect at this, that

there are some aspects of my life that just do

not line up with what Paul says a life that

is filled with the spirit of love looks like Can

I tell you this is.

The pastor speaking?

And I've had this message running around in my head

all week, And can I tell you so, even with

this message on the top of my brain all week,

I still did things that looked more like acting in

the flesh than they did living in the spirit.

I lost my temper with my kids.

I got frustrated a fellow employee, I got irritated with

a friend. And maybe you were here today too, and

you are doing some self evaluating and recognizing that love

is not necessary and necessarily an overflow in your life

right now. Maybe you're here and you're like, man, I'm

scraping the barrel. I'm getting irritated more than I can count.

Maybe love is not coming naturally in your marriage. Maybe

it's not being extended in your parenting. Maybe it's not

being given in your friendships and your relationships right now.

Maybe there's coworkers that you are struggling to love, Maybe

there's neighbors.

That you are far from loving.

Can I remind you that living with the spirit of

love is not something that you just try harder and

hope to attain next time. It is cultivated over time,

and it takes surrendering to him, abiding in him, being

connected to him day after day after day, and asking

him to continue to grow.

In us what we cannot produce ourselves.

And if that's you here today, I just want to

say a prayer over you, not this magical prayer that

immediately gives you this fruit of love. Pouring out over

your life and overflowing, but a prayer that says, God,

I will be faithful to keep in step with you.

I will be faithful to surrender with you every single

day of my life and trust that what you will

produce in me is what I do not have right now.

And if that's you here today, with every head bout,

every I close, if you're here and you just say

Morgan Man, that's me. I know that what I need

to do is I need to be faithful every single

day to say God, I surrender my life to you.

I need to connect myself to his spirit and allow

him to begin to produce in me the thing that

I feel like I've been trying to give to others

but just have not had to extend you here today

and want to you want this prayer for you today?

Would you just slip your hand up wherever you are

of this room. I just want to know who I'm

praying for today. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you,

thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you,

thank you. Hands up all over this room, thank you.

You can put your hands down. And the last thing

that I want to give an opportunity. I want to

always give an opportunity for this. If there's maybe you

just feel like God's speaking to you. You've never had

a relationship with God, but you're hearing about this love

that is extended. And can I just tell you, friends,

this love is for you. It's for you right now today.

There is a love that you could never imagine that

God wants to extend into your life. And would he

wants to begin to fill you with the same thing

that we're talking about today. And if that's you here today,

and you just want to make the decision to say, Jesus,

I surrender my life to you.

I want to know you. I want to know what

your love is in my life.

And if that's you here today, and you want to

make that decision to say yes to Jesus and to

surrender your life to him and fill your life with

a love that you can never imagine, would you just

slip your hand up wherever you are.

Yeah, thank you. I see that hand. I see that hand.

I see that hand. Thank you, Thank you, see that hand,

Thank you, Thank you. You put your hands in.

Let's actually, would you stand to your feet with me

this morning, Let's say this prayer together as a church

I want to pray over us, Father, God. I thank

you so much Father that your love is sufficient for

our life.

God.

We receive your love, We receive who you are in

our life. God, and we ask Father that in return,

as we stay connected with your spirit day after day

after day after day, God, as we plant our roots

and the soil of surrender. God, I pray that you

would begin to produce something in us that has not

come naturally to us. God, I pray that you would

forgive us for the way that we've lost our temper, God,

the way that we've lived more in the flesh than

in the spirit before this. God, I pray that you

would help us to repair relationships. But God, more than that, Father,

I pray that we would be marked by your love

and your love alone. God, let us be the witness

to the world that the world knows is set apart

because of the way that we love those around us. Father,

let it overflow from our life in the realist, most

genuine way that we've ever seen. God, we love you,

and we thank you, and we praise you in jesus

Mining name, and everyone said Amen.