Brian's Sermons

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. We’ve been studying the Fruit of the Spirit for seven weeks, and we’ve journeyed through love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and goodness. Every week I remind you that the Fruit of the Spirit is not nine separate “fruits” but indeed nine aspects of the same Fruit, and that it only comes from the Holy Spirit. We are privileged to have the God of the Universe live within us, and when we talk about the Fruit of the Spirit, it’s really all about His character showing through our lives. This morning we’re going to start with a contest. Would all of the married people in the congregation please stand. [marriage longevity contest: ask for one thing that has kept them together this long] The Greek word we are looking at this morning is pistis . This can cause some confusion, because this word carries...

It was Friday night in Atlanta, Georgia. For two solid days, we had worshiped with 12,000 pastors and church leaders, listening to fantastic speakers and being challenged. And eating stadium food at stadium prices. We decided we wanted to eat somewhere else, somewhere authentically Atlanta. Though I was hoping for some places I saw on Man Vs. Food, they would have required an hour+ drive back into the city, and we didn’t want that. But there was another place that came recommended by the Travel Channel, authentically Atlanta, something you couldn’t get anywhere else. In fact, their website brags that they have been serving customers since 1928 – and people come from all over the world to experience… The Varsity. Now, despite being a cavernous place with a line of bored cashiers (one of whom was shouting “Whatllyahave” repeatedly, everything looked pretty good. The menu looked really good. We were all really hungry (especially since we had been waiting around all evening...

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Note: this sermon was prepared and delivered by Rusty Simpson. I am simply posting the notes I took while he preached in order to keep the series intact. Kindness comes from the Greek word chrestotes , which means goodness, gentleness, excellence , uprightness or the goodness of one's heart toward another . This can include the goodness of God's heart toward us. The Bible is all about God's kindness to us. We fall away, but He shows kindness to us and brings us back to Himself. Anything good that happens to us in our lives is an example of kindness from God. Unfortunately, we often fail at kindness. Two kindness failures are shallow kindness and lack of kindness altogether . Shallow kindness is when you "pretend" to be kind but really don't care. Like a salesman might do to tr...

2 Peter 3:8-9 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends. With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. Over the past four weeks, we’ve been looking at the fruit of the Spirit, aspects of the Holy Spirit that are necessarily evident in the lives of Christians. We started out talking about love, how God is love – His love overflows into us, and when we are full of the Holy Spirit, His love overflows from us as well. We talked about joy, how the Holy Spirit enables us to be joyful even in tough circumstances. Last weekend we talked about peace, and for many of us, that peace was tested this week in a time of tragedy. Remember that when we talk about the Fruit of the Spirit, we’re not talking about nine different “fruits” that we can pick and choose from; we are talking...