The Fruit of the Spirit is . . . Love

I'm embarrassed to tell you readers about a conversation I had around 30 years ago. I was a Bible major at Harding University and, like many others in my degree path, was preaching for a small congregation near Searcy, AR. The conversation I mentioned was between myself and another "preacher boy." I asked my fellow student what he was preaching on that coming Sunday and he replied, "love." I snickered and said something like, "You're joking, right?" No, he wasn't joking and said that he felt love was an important topic to speak on. I was under the assumption that the topics we needed to be preaching on were commitment, sacrifice, self-denial, and the like. Little did I realize, in my naivety, that Love trumps every other topic that can be presented! (Check out 1 Corinthians 13 for Paul's attitude on the superiority of love.)

The problem in preaching on the topic of love is that there is simply too many scriptures and way too much biblical information. I therefore decided this morning to restrict myself to the Greatest Commandments and the Great Love Chapter. Be conscious this week of how the Holy Spirit inside you prompts you to love others with the love of Jesus.

Live in the Spirit

I can remember a time when the Holy Spirit was all but ignored by Christians. He was either confined to the first century or restricted exclusively to the New Testament. Then a time came when the Holy Spirit was released from his prison and . . . . well, we weren't exactly sure what he was doing but it had a lot to do with emotions and how we were feeling. We could feel the Spirit moving and it was all very exciting, but there was not much substance. When we read Paul's letter to the Galatians he has a lot to say about the work of the Spirit. His work is anything but confined and it is certainly much deeper than one's up and down emotional journey though life.

One critical work the Holy Spirit does in the life a Christian is to reproduce the person of Christ. When we allow the Spirit to do his work, our lives show the evidence that God is working in and through us. What is that evidence? Why, it is the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Throughout this series of sermons I hope we will all develop a sensitivity to the work of the Spirit. "The acts of the sinful nature are obvious," Paul says. The fruit of the Spirit needs to be equally obvious to us. Crucify the sinful nature and the fruit of the Spirit will grow. If you want to see the Holy Spirit at work in your life, then stop feeding your sinful nature! "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." (Galatians 5:25)

Plundering the Egyptians or Best Birthday Ever!

This week's blog will be devoted to the four events that converged this weekend. To begin, today we launched our much anticipated church building renovation plan. Normally I would not get too excited about a building program but this one makes so much sense and will do so much good. God has allowed us to "plunder the Egyptians", as we discussed in this morning's sermon, and now he is asking us to give from our wealth so that our church building can have a much needed face lift.

Secondly, I was surprised and honored by the thoughtful gifts given to us at church this morning in recognition of our ten years of ministry here at Clear Lake. I am humbled and appreciative of the many kind words spoken about our work here.

Third, last night my daughter, Elizabeth, accepted a proposal of marriage from Jaime Arizpe. Jaime and his parents had come to Houston from San Antiono last Friday to ask our blessing on his proposal. We already knew and loved Jaime and instantly fell in love with his parents as well. Jaime is a godly, responsible, and sensitive young man and we recognize in him the answer to our lifelong prayer for Elizabeth's future husband.

Finally, my 50th birthday has turned out to the be the best birthday ever! It began last weekend when all of my children came home to celebrate with me. Then each child sent me a personal letter telling me why they appreciate me as a father. Liz also joined in and wrote her own letter to me. Finally, my church family celebrated with me this morning.

I am more blessed than anyone else I know! I am so thankful for my many friends, my church family, my biological family, and especially for my Lord Jesus Christ who gave his all for me so that I might have all the spiritual treasures available through his death and resurrection.

Praying Out of Desperation

If I could re-title this morning's sermon I might change it to, "Creating Space for God." I find that I will fill every time void in my life from waking up till I fall asleep at night. I'll turn on the news while getting ready in the morning and read in bed until my eyes can't stay open. Any lull in activity gets filled with t.v., computer, reading, household maintenance, playing with my dogs, etc....

The only real break comes when I purposefully and intentionally create a space for God. The space does not necessarily need to be filled with my incessant rambling on and on about things I need God to do for me and f0r others. Rather, the space needs to be open for meditation, contemplation, or just simply resting in my relationship with my loving Father in Heaven.

The true beauty of my annual prayer retreats are the space that is created for me to rest in God's presence long enough to gain appreciation and understanding of things God has been trying to teach me. I recognize that my annual week of prayer is a blessing that others are not able (for many reasons) to have. My wife has begun having dates with God. She will mark off on her calendar a time range and block out all other activity. When I was in college I remember spending a night under the stars asking God to help me sort out whatever it was that was going on in my life at the time. Jesus, "often withdrew to lonely places and prayed" (Luke 5:16). What do you need to do to create space for God in your life?