Ripening Spiritual Fruit

Wonderful message of the day put to music, and as he said, it's amazing how quiet the children get. At least mine. He will sit still and listen when I talk, but when someone starts singing, and that's a good thing. Well, I think most of us would agree one of the best-known stories associated with the Feast of Pentecost is that that first Pentecost after Christ's crucifixion, when the Holy Spirit was poured out. Now, it might be a close call between that and that Pentecost, we believe Pentecost.

It was Jewish tradition says it was on Pentecost when the word came down on Mount Sinai and thundered out the Ten Commandments right in the people's hearing. We don't know, as I said, I honestly believe that it was on Pentecost, but it doesn't make a big difference. But let's focus in on that New Testament Pentecost in Acts 2 by way of introduction. I don't know, you may have read this this morning, but if not, we're going to get to it right away this time.

Acts 2 and verse 1, and I want to emphasize a certain part of this. When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all in accord with one place. Suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing, mighty wind. It filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire. It doesn't say it actually was fire, but it sure looked like fire upon each one of them.

And they were filled with the Holy Spirit. And they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. I want to emphasize that word gave. The Spirit gave them something they didn't have before. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem. Jews devout men from every nation under heaven. And when the sound occurred, the multitude came together. And they were confused because everyone heard them speak in his own language.

And that was confusing, and they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And remember, back then Galilee was sort of the backwoods where, you could say, the country Hicks lived. They were saying, Well, these are one of these country boys who don't have any learning. They're all speaking these different languages. How is it that we hear them in our own language in which we were born?

Parthians and Medes and Elamites and those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia? Until you read this out loud, you don't realize how many places there are. Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, parts of Libya, joining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, creeds and Arabs? We hear them speaking in our own tongues, the wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed and perplexed, saying, Whatever could this mean? And of course, then they got the answer. Peter stood up and preached a very powerful sermon, explaining that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, the Christ who had been prophesied for many years to come.

But I'm not going to focus on the message that he gave today. I want to look back again and emphasize that this was an amazing gift by the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul addressed that idea also, that there are gifts given by the Spirit. We're going to come back to Acts in a little while, so if you want to put a marker here, you can. Or if it's easy to find, don't worry about it. If you'll turn with me to 1 Corinthians 12. 1 Corinthians 12 will address this issue. I'm not going to read it, but in the first chapter, there's a verse where Paul reminds the congregation at Corinth, that they didn't come behind anyone in spiritual gifts.

There's a great abundance of spiritual gifts in this congregation. And starting in verse 4, he says, There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And of course, it's that one Spirit that gave those diversities of gifts. Different ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it's all the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.

There, as I said, I'm emphasizing the gifts. It's given for to one is given the Spirit. Oh, yeah, I want to stop there, actually. I want to come back later and talk about what those gifts are. But I want to drop down to the end of this chapter to emphasize something else. These spiritual gifts are an important thing, but actually Paul had to correct the people of Corinth because they were getting a little jealous of each other's gifts, and some of them apparently were showing off and misusing a little.

Paul says the gifts are good, and matter of fact, if we look in verse 31, he'll say, It's good to desire those gifts. Verse 31, he says, But earnestly desire the best gifts. But yet I show you in more excellent way. What is a more excellent way?

He continues in what we designate as chapter 13. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, if I have not love, I've become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. Though I have the gift, and we're talking about gifts, if I have the gift of prophecy, if I understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so I could remove mountains, boy, what a great gift that would be.

But if I have love, that's nothing. Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but if I don't have love, it profits nothing. And he goes on to discuss love. Now, you might ask, we were talking about spiritual gifts. Is love a gift of the Spirit? Or is it something different? Well, in Galatians 5, it uses a different term. I'll refer to this a number of times, but we might as well turn and read it.

Galatians 5, 22. This is one of the earliest things my grandmother had me memorize when she started teaching me the truth out of the Bible. And I was never good at memorizing. I'd always get the first three or four in a row, and then I'd start dropping off. But Galatians 5, 22, the fruit of the Spirit is love.

We were just talking about love. I said, is that a gift of the Spirit? Paul says here, the fruit of the Spirit is love. Joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such, there is no law. So a question. Are fruits of the Spirit different from spiritual gifts? Should we want or ask for one of them more than the other? Or should we seek both? Is that being greedy?

Well, how do we go about it in any case? I want to try to address all of those questions, at least to some degree. So let's look into the Bible today. On this Holy Day when we celebrate the Holy Spirit being given, let's look at what the Bible tells us about spiritual gifts and about the fruit of the Spirit. First, spiritual gifts. It's important to realize, for one thing, that the Holy Spirit itself is a gift.

I'm not going to turn there, but when Jesus Christ was giving His last instruction to the disciples on that fateful day and night before He was crucified in John 14 and 15, He told them, after my resurrection, you're going to have the Spirit. I'm going to send it to you. He mentioned, it's been with you, but it will be in you.

And it will comfort them and empower them. Or it will comfort and empower you, depending on if I want to speak in first or second person. But let's go back to Acts and see that happen. Acts 2. Now, of course, as I mentioned, Peter gave that very powerful sermon after this manifestation of the miracles, and then people were touched, and so they wanted to know what they should do.

In verse 37, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart. They said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Then, and brethren, what must we do, or what shall we do? Peter said, Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

So it was clear from what had just happened that the Holy Spirit does enter a person at a specific time. Now, combining this with what Jesus Christ told the apostles, it can be working with a person and leading them up to that point. But when they're baptized and a minister lays hands on them and prays for God to put the Spirit in them, it happens. They didn't have the Spirit in them before, and then they do. It's a gift that's given to them.

Let's turn a few chapters over to Acts 10 to notice another example of that and a slight variation in how it happens. Acts 10, beginning in verse 44.

This is the case where Peter is sent to Cornelius, a centurion in the Roman army who's not an Israelite.

And to prepare him for this, God first gave Peter a vision, where he saw this sheep come down with all sorts of different animals, many of which were unclean. Of course, a vision, kill and eat. He said, I don't eat unclean things. Well, what I've cleansed, don't call unclean. Peter was wondering, what in the world does that mean? And then, when he goes to Cornelius, it becomes clear that God was showing that he shouldn't call any person unclean. Not that we should start eating pigs and shrimp and things like that. But as a culmination, after Peter starts explaining to these Gentiles that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, we see this happen in verse 44.

How did they know the Spirit fell on them? Well, we see those of the circumcision, who believed, were astonished. As many as came with Peter because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. So, they suddenly were given this gift. They were given the gift of the Spirit. And then the Spirit gave them the gift of being able to speak in these different languages. And Peter said, can anyone forbid water that we shouldn't baptize them? They've received the Spirit just as we have. And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. And, of course, they asked him to stay a few days and teach him more. Now, this is one of the rare cases where God deliberately gave the Holy Spirit before they were baptized, because he wanted to make that point that a person does not have to be an Israelite, either natural born or naturalized, in order to become a Christian with having the Holy Spirit. But, as I said, that's not my main point. The main point that I wanted to make is that the Holy Spirit itself is a gift. It's given to us. We don't earn it. We can't pay back for it. But we get it all at once. And it also then also, also, also, see how many times I can say that. It imparts spiritual gifts. Here's where I want to go back to 1 Corinthians 12. And look at some of the gifts that Paul commented on. Once people had the gift of the Spirit, at that point in the Church, God gave many special gifts. We'll begin in verse 7, right where I left off. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the prophet of all. An important point.

A gift of the Spirit isn't given so you can show off or feel good about it. It's for the prophet of everyone. Four to one is given the word of wisdom. Notice it's not just wisdom, but the word of wisdom. Being able to explain, to teach things. To another, the word of knowledge. Once again, the word of knowledge, just not knowledge. Not just knowledge. Through the same Spirit. To another, faith by the same Spirit.

I'm always intrigued that faith is both counted as a gift of the Spirit and a fruit of the Spirit. But my thinking is that's because we have to start by being given faith and then develop it more through the Spirit on our own. But that's a side point. To another, gifts of healing. Now we're getting into outright miracles. The gifts of healing by the same Spirit. To another, the working of miracles. To another prophecy. To another discerning of spirits. To another, different kinds of tongues. And to another, the interpretation of tongues. One and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. As I said, Paul in this chapter goes on to discuss the unfortunate fact that Christians and Corinth were having some problems with their gifts. Getting jealous of each other. They didn't get to determine which gifts God gave to any particular person or where that person fit within the body of Christ.

And those are important lessons, but my purpose today is not to focus on the diversity, but the fact that God sometimes gives gifts that are outright miracles. And that's an important thing.

We've already read about the example of speaking in tongues. That was a miraculous ability that the people who used it, they didn't have to work for. They didn't have to cultivate it or develop it. Now, I was going to say, I speak French? No, I don't. I speak a few French words, and I can understand it in writing a little bit, but even to be able to do the little bit I can, I had to spend years of study and still not be very good at it. But through the power of the Holy Spirit, God gave people just the ability to speak or understand different languages. And there are other miracles that happen. And you think, wouldn't that be great? Who wouldn't want a gift like that?

Sometimes you might wonder, well, why don't we see that happen today in the Church? We don't see as many flashy, miraculous powers today. My suspicion, and I didn't make this up, I've heard other ministers say it, is that perhaps God didn't want or does not want to draw attention to the Church in the same way that He did back then. When Peter gave that powerful sermon, remember, tongues of fire came down, people spoke with other tongues. He wanted all those people to come rushing in to hear that message. God called 3,000 of them in one day. Now, I would love for God to do that today. Now, we'd have to find a bigger hall if it happened in Portsmouth. But I think we could deal with that kind of a problem. One thing we should note, though, we don't see it happen so much today, but that doesn't mean that it won't. Matter of fact, we have some assurance that it will. Let's turn over to Luke 21.

Luke 21 and verse 12 just remind ourselves, it happened before and it will happen again.

This is part of the message where the disciples asked Christ, What are the signs of your coming and of the end of the world? And He gave what we call the Olivet prophecy, telling the many things to look for. And in verse 12, He says, But before all these things, they'll lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues in prisons.

And you'll be brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake. I want to insert here that I believe, and I think most of us do, that this was a dual prophecy. The men who actually heard from Christ's lips these words, most of them were called before kings and magistrates and had this happen.

But I think it's also a prophecy for the end time when many of us, and perhaps many in this room will be called before kings and magistrates. And what will happen? In verse 13, He says, It'll turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. Therefore, settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand what you'll answer. You don't have to plan it out now, for I'll give you a mouth. Once again, notice that word, give. We read in 1 Corinthians 12 about the gift of the words of knowledge, or the words of wisdom.

That's a gift that's going to be given. And wisdom, which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist. That intrigues me and encourages me. How many of you have been in a discussion with someone that didn't want to believe the truth and no matter what you say, they'll come up with an argument, and he's like, I wish I had the right thing to say that it just shut them up, they couldn't contradict.

And you know what? I don't mean I'm going to make them shut up, but wouldn't you love to have that gift of the right words that they just can't contradict it? They're left dumbfounded and say it has to be true. God's going to give some people that gift. And I believe in our era. Unless we're wrong and Christ won't return for a lot further down the road than we think. It could happen, it could be some of us. What an exciting thing. And there's going to be even more than that. We don't need to turn to the book of Revelation, but you all know that it describes two, probably men, two witnesses, whom God would call and give a special commission to go out and do a work, and He's going to give them powers, gifts of the Spirit, so that they can even call fire down from heaven.

That's a powerful gift. Now again, that sounds terrific. What could we want more than these things? Well, there is something. Remember, we just read in the end of 1 Corinthians 12 and going into 13, there's something more, more excellent, love. That agape that God wants us to have. And I turn to Galatians 5, 22, because it describes that not as a gift of the Spirit, but as a fruit of the Spirit. And I asked the question, is that different? I'm going to turn back there just to review that.

Galatians 5. Actually, we turn there. Let's go to Ephesians 9. Ephesians 5 and verse 9. That's what we find in Ephesians 9. At least, not in the King James Bible. I'll remind you, Galatians 5, 22 and 23 says, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. I don't mind reading it over and over again. There's a summary of that here in Ephesians 5.9. The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness and truth.

Is that a contradiction? There's two different lists. Well, I think one summarizes the other. If you wanted to break it out into more detail, you could say love, joy, peace, long-suffering. But if you want to say, all goodness, righteousness and truth, that's the fruit of the Spirit. Do you see a difference between that and what Paul described in 1 Corinthians 12? Spiritual gifts are often abilities. Now, miraculous powers. You could almost say superpowers. Now, growing up reading comic books, I always wanted to have some of those.

I want to be able to climb walls like Spider-Man or fly. But I'll take the miraculous gifts that God describes. But those are abilities. But the fruit of the Spirit is not abilities. The fruit of the Spirit seemed to be traits of our character. A person might receive and demonstrate a spiritual gift immediately. That reminds me, I'm going to turn this on before I forget. I forgot one of my props. When I was talking about gifts this morning in Pressensburg, I had a nice gift bag.

Sorry, Sue, I left it down there. We've got a few of them in the house. And I said, here, if someone gives you a gift, it's boom! Here it is, you have it, and you can take it out and use it right away. But fruit isn't like that. Fruit develops as a process. Here we go. The fruit of the Spirit doesn't show what you can do.

Fruit of the Spirit shows what you are. That's an important distinction. Let's turn to Matthew 7. I'm going to get to this in a bit, but I want to make sure it warmed up. And I will mention, I don't have a lot of slides, but I do think Jim Call set this up for me. It's easy to say, why don't we do this and assume it will happen?

The wonderful thing in this congregation is a lot of times that's exactly how it works, and someone goes to a lot of trouble to make it happen. In Matthew 7 and verse 15, If you're not sure what a tree is, wait and see what it produces. I'm in that category. I've never been good at being able to look at the leaves or bark of a tree and know what it is. But if I wait until sometime in the summer, if apples start appearing, aha! It's an apple tree. Of course, not all fruit is good.

It could be crab apples show up. I couldn't help but think, before Sue and I married, I lived in a neighborhood outside of Columbus with a couple fellas. The developer of that neighborhood decided it would be great to plant crab apples all along the roads. They're nice for shade and pretty, but at a certain time every year, they would produce tons of these things that drop down on the sidewalks, the roads. You couldn't walk in and out of your house without tracking them on your shoes and into the house. It was so bad, one of my roommates called them poo berries.

Because it was like having a lot of dog poop all around. Only it was worse because birds don't eat the things that dogs leave, but they'd eat the crab apples and then make a bigger mess. Anyways, Jesus, although his point was true, but he wasn't making a point about horticulture, he was using that as an example to explain about people.

Let's carry on in verse 21. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name? Done many wonders in your name. Spiritual gifts. It's casting out demons, working wonders. And he'll say, I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me you who practice lawlessness.

So, even having and practicing miraculous gifts isn't the same thing as the fruit of the Spirit. That's one of the points I want to make. Developing that fruit is not instantaneous. It's not like a gift that you can be handed and open up. It grows as a part of you. Now, we don't always recognize it happening, or even realize how it happens. If you want to turn over a few pages to Mark 4. As I was preparing this, I discovered Jesus gave an awful lot of agricultural analogies. And that's perfect for a sermon where you want to talk about fruit in ripening. Matthew 4, verse 26. The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. That's an ongoing theme this afternoon. And he should sleep by night and day, or sleep by night, rise by day, and the seed sprouts and grows, and he himself doesn't know how. God just made it to work that way. But he couldn't, he didn't throw the seed down, and boom, he had a crop. He's got to go to bed, he's got to wait and watch it developing. For the earth yields a crop by itself, and there's a process. First the blade, then the head, after the full grain in the head. And when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, and the harvest is come.

Okay, that's describing grain, how it goes through this process. All types of plants have that developing and ripening process. You know, for the fruit on the trees, you see the tree there, and then spring comes, you start getting a little green, you see buds and the flowers come, and the bees go around and pollinate all of them, and eventually fruit comes out. Or it could be something like flowers. Flowers are kind of like the grain. First there's a little stem, and then it grows, it grows, and eventually you're going to have something.

That's where the slides come in. I thought of the idea for the sermon weeks ago. Now, I didn't write it weeks ago, but I had this idea, so I got out my camera, because I've mentioned Connor and I like to go and take walks, and one morning we saw this. It was still snow on the ground, but these little green sprouts. I'm not sure. I think Liz Smith might be responsible for these, because they're right next to the steps that go up to our front deck.

I found some old... Yeah, those are on the deck. This was... I'm not sure when this was, but long enough ago for there to be snow. It wasn't 80 degrees that day. So I pointed that out to Connor and said, there's going to be flowers here. And of course he looked. Are there flowers? No, there are going to be flowers. It's going to happen over time. We found another batch of them near a tree down the hill at one of the other houses.

And it's there, and what happened is, as weeks went by, we would stop to look, and he'd say, Daddy, are the flowers there yet? Well, no. I say how many of these I saved. But notice, the stems would get longer. Day by day, they're developing, getting a little further. And of course, Connor had to go up and spec them quite closely on a regular basis.

Yeah, I did have him pose. I'll admit. And he wanted those flowers. And I wanted the flowers, you know. But we couldn't hurry up the process. Little by little, it's developing, it's growing, the grass around them starts turning a little greener. Well, it's interesting, of course, in there's ups and downs. We had some spring-like days where everything's nice, and we're wearing the lighter jacket. We're still looking for the flowers. Looking here, too.

What can I say? Get a show off. Of course, then it gets colder, we have to put on the heavier coat. And even when the weather turns, you think, oh, winter's coming back, there's still progress. We're getting closer to those flowers. We're going to keep an eye on them.

And keep in mind, I'm going to move to the point of God's watching us in the same way. Spiritual fruit takes time to ripen, but eventually you get progress. Look how much taller these are. Of course, Connor saw me digging in the garden once and decided he needed a shovel, and he wanted to dig up the flowers.

But notice, now there's more buds, some early blooms coming, and eventually we get these beautiful flowers. The end result comes, it takes time, but we get there. As I said, this whole process took weeks to accomplish. God is watching and cultivating a crop in us. One of the several names of today's festival is Feast of First Fruits. Let's turn back to Exodus 34. Exodus 34, and we'll begin in verse 22. I just want to point these names out and see how they do have meaning and purpose. Exodus 34.

You shall observe the feast of weeks of the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at year's end. Feast of weeks, three times in a year, all your men shall appear before the Lord your God, the God of Israel.

And of course, we heard about that in the sermonette. Let's also turn over to Leviticus 23 to emphasize this point. Leviticus 23, verse 15. You shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering seven Sabbaths.

Now, it's not my purpose to explain fully how we calculate this, but during the days of Unleavened Bread, there falls a Sabbath. It must be. It's a seven-day festival. There's going to be a Sabbath sometime in there. And the Israelites were instructed, on the day after that, you can go out and harvest the first of the first fruits. You're not allowed to harvest anything before then, but the first sheaf you cut, you bring into the temple when it's a wave as an offering to God, showing God gets the first pick.

Now, Jesus Christ represents the Passover. He also is represented by that first wave sheaf. He is the very first of the harvest. And, of course, then, after that happens, it says, then you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, on verse 16, 50 days to the end of the seventh Sabbath, then offer a new grain offering to the Lord. And it goes on to describe baking the wave offering. But that gets to representing us. So, what I want to make the point is, Christ is the true Passover. He's the wave sheaf, and there was some time between that wave sheaf and then the time of the first harvest, just as there is some time built into God's plan between Christ being resurrected and the time when we will be manifested as sons of God.

I guess that's not a big surprise to anyone here, is it? Otherwise, we've been waiting way too long. But we are the first fruits pictured by Pentecost. We are the fruit. Matter of fact, you can see that in James 1, verse 18. That's a very short verse, so if you want to just let me read it to you. It says, Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

We are the kind of first fruits. I think it's interesting that God uses this analogy for this day in two different ways, then. We are first fruits, but we are also to bear spiritual fruits. So we are the fruit, but we're also to bear the fruits of the Spirit, which we've been describing. Love, joy, peace, or maybe I should do the shorter list.

Goodness, righteousness, and truth. There are some important things for us to consider and to learn about when it comes to bearing spiritual fruit, because we have to bear spiritual fruit if we're then going to be first fruits. It occurs to me. Yep, that is the end.

I'm going to turn this off so that I know the flowers are much prettier to look at than I am, but it could be a little bit of a distraction. Okay, if we're to bear fruit, there's one absolute prerequisite for doing it. And that is we have to have the Holy Spirit to bear spiritual fruit. You have to have the Holy Spirit in the first place. We read earlier when they asked Peter, what do we do? He said, repent and be baptized. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

But it's important to note that receiving the Holy Spirit is not necessarily a one-time event. We need an ongoing connection to God spiritually. We need to be nourished spiritually and have that...we use the analogy of it flowing into us. Let's turn to John 15. John 15 will begin in verse 4. Once again, this time when Christ was explaining many important spiritual things to the disciples, many of which they wouldn't really understand until they did have the gift of the Spirit.

He says, Abide in me and I in you. Now he makes the analogy, as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. So we're like those branches that have to be connected to Jesus Christ. He says, I am the vine and you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit.

For without me you can do nothing. And if anyone doesn't abide in me, he's cast out as a branch and withered. And they gather him up and throw them in the fire and they're burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you'll ask what you desire and it will be done for you. By this my father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, so you will be my disciples. So we need to bear fruit to glorify God. And to do that, we need that connection with God. And note, of course, that's a different thing than exercising a spiritual gift. Not that spiritual gifts are bad, we love those.

We want to have more of them. Paul said, seek the best gifts. But we want to bear fruit. And we want to remember that that supply comes through Jesus Christ. As a side note, if you look at verse 26 of this chapter, John 15, 26, he's continuing in this and he says, When the Helper comes, whom I'll send to you, from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father. I just wanted to mention this because it's sort of a side issue, but there have been great theological debates over how the Spirit comes to us.

Does it come from the Father? Does it come from Christ? Here he says it proceeds from the Father. And in Titus chapter 3, I'll read verses 5 and 6. Moses indeed... that's Hebrews. Titus 3, Yet by works of righteousness, which we have done, not according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration, renewing of the Holy Spirit. Now I want to stress that, renewing the Spirit. As I said, we need to be connected to Jesus Christ and God the Father so that the Spirit is continually renewed. We don't just get it one time and we're done.

But he says, Renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Savior. Now, as I said, that's an aside point, but I found it interesting. I was studying comparative religion somewhat earlier in the year, so I could substitute in for Mr. Antion. And I'd forgotten that great wars have been fought over this. Disputes in the Church. You ever wonder why there's a Roman Catholic Church, but also an Eastern Orthodox that look almost the exact same from our perspective? They disagree on whether the Holy Spirit comes from the Father or from the Father and Jesus Christ.

And so they separated and they argue about that. I'm not going to talk about it anymore, but it's worth seeing. The Scripture says it proceeds from the Father through Jesus Christ. The important thing is it has to come in to us. There's where I want to put my focus.

We need to have that renewing of the Spirit. It has to be continually in us. Because if we get separated from the vine, we become withered and dried up. Is that all there is to it? I've got that in my notes. Because at times, we might not feel like we have that connection. Because sometimes we look for that spiritual fruit. Okay, I know what it is, these character traits I need to have.

And we might look at ourselves and say, boy, it's kind of lacking. I'm not seeing a lot of fruit. Here I want to emphasize one of the most important points that was meant to be emphasized by these slides. And that is, for fruit to ripen does require time.

It takes time for fruit to ripen. Now, it doesn't take long for a gift to have the wrapping paper ripped open and you start using that gift. That's why I wanted to use that prop. But it takes time for fruit to ripen. Yesterday I spoke of the need for patience. That macro-thumia, being patient with people. Sometimes the person that we have to be most patient with is the one we see in the mirror. We have to be patient when we look at ourselves and say, where is my fruit?

If all we needed were spiritual gifts, we wouldn't have to wait and be patient. God gives those instantly. But that's not all that we need. Fruit is not like that.

So let's look at Luke chapter 13. Luke 13 and verse 6. This is a very important parable. I started to say, this parable seems to have been made perfect for this sermon. But it's the other way around. The parable was there a long time and the sermon was made to fit around it. Luke 13 and verse 6. He, that's Jesus Christ, spoke this parable. A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it. God comes seeking fruit on us, and he found none. He said to the keeper of the vineyard, Look, for three years I've come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none.

Cut it down. Why is it using up the ground? But he answered and said, Sir, let it alone this year also, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. Now the analogy here should be obvious, because we've already read that we're to bear fruit, and we've read that we're like branches on the vine, that if we get separated, we'll be dried up and withered, and we'll be thrown in the fire. So each of us is this fig tree, and God is expecting us to bear fruit, spiritual fruit, that goodness, righteousness, and truth.

But in the parable, the tree was given time. It was given years. He kept not seeing fruit, but he gave it years to progress. So that's an important thing to remember. Now I don't know if there's some significance to three years, or if it's just Christ arbitrarily chose a number. But the important thing I do want to say is, even after the time was up, he had more time when he would give help. God offers to give us help. God doesn't give up on us easily. God is willing to do what the gardener said, to dig into dung. Oh, the old King James here, my new King James says to dig around it and fertilize it. But back then, they used manure for fertilizer.

And I say, this is sort of like Connor and I watching those buds, those stems. When are the flowers going to come? God is watching us sometimes saying, when are the flowers coming? We couldn't make them hurry up. God doesn't make the fruit hurry up on us. He understands that it takes time. He's often more patient with us than we are with ourselves. But we see from this parable that if enough time passes, and the fruit doesn't seem to be coming out, God is going to take action. But you know what? He's not going to come after us with the axe. He's going to get out the spade. He's going to dig and dung. That's a knife. Maybe I shouldn't dwell on that too much. But he's not going to put real dung. You know, some reason I say that reminded me of that old movie, Back to the Future. Remember Michael J. Fox? If you've seen, there's three of them put together, and in each one, one fella gets a truckload of manure dumped on him. And it's kind of comical in the movie, but you think, boy, I'd hate to have that happen to me. That's an aside-has-nothing-all. What I'm saying is, it's not very likely God is ever going to dump actual manure on us, but the spiritual equivalent is something we'd better watch for. Let's turn to Hebrews 12. Because it's going to make the point that if we do get the spiritual equivalent of manure dumped on us, it's for good reason, and it'll be worth it in the long run. Hebrews 12, verse 11. Now, no chastening, or we can insert no digging and dunging, seems to be joyful at the present. That's not fun to have that happen, but painful! Nevertheless, it afterwards yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. So I said, we're out to develop fruit, righteousness, truth, and goodness.

And God is willing to do that. Now, there's another interesting aspect of that parable I think is worth us looking at, that we might think, well, I don't need any fertilizing. I'm strong and healthy, and I'm not talking physically. And the tree in the parable is healthy, too. It's strong and healthy. It's not sickly, and the parable doesn't say, boy, look at the wilted leaves and the bark falling off. No, the tree looks like it should have fruit, but it doesn't. So that could be how it is in our lives.

They could seem well-ordered, and we're doing well. We could even have and be practicing with spiritual gifts. But if we're coming up short on love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and temperance, God might feel the need to fertilize us. And when He does, patience. And when He does, patience. Now, there's another important thing to remember in all this, because I'm saying, if we're coming up short, get ready for the manure.

You know that wasn't the way I wrote this, but it seems to be coming out. But we want to look at something else, and if you want to turn back to John 15, we'll see this point, because this principle can apply not only if we'll apply to us, not only because we're not bearing fruit, but sometimes because we are bearing fruit.

God might look at us and say, yeah, I see the fruit developing, but there could be more. And that's the important point that Christ made along with the analogy. In John 15 and verse 2, every branch that does not bear fruit, He takes away. So if you're not bearing fruit, you're going to be taken away. Every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes it so that it might bear more.

So you know what pruning is? That's cutting back, and it's painful. It's taking off the parts you don't want to encourage more growth. That sounds kind of rough. Either way, we could be in for some difficult times. Not difficult, I mean unpleasant, as it said there in Hebrews. No chastening seems pleasant for the moment, but afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. What do we do during that time? We bear it patiently. We bear it patiently, knowing what's coming up.

Let's read 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2 and verse 20. Always a good section of Scripture to read, but as I read it this time, keep in mind everything we've been saying in this sermon about bearing fruit and developing it patiently. 1 Peter 2, 20. What credit is it if when you're beaten for your faults you take it patiently? So we want to be patient, but we want to be patient in a situation where we're doing the right thing. But when you do good and suffer for it if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.

I think if you do good, if you're bearing fruit but you still seem to suffer, well, God might. He's probably pruning you. Take it patiently. That's commendable. For to this you were called, because Jesus Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow in His steps. Ah, I know I need to get this loosened up. As I said earlier, during His ministry, Christ used many agricultural analogies to make spiritual points.

And I want to turn to one of the more well-known to make another important point that fits in this theme. If we'll go to Matthew 13, I want to look at the parable of the sower and the seed.

Matthew 13, verse 3. Now, I want to use this for a slightly different purpose than Jesus intended. And I'm not meaning to twist the Scriptures or bring in any false doctrine, but as we'll see, He used this, I think, largely to explain why we preach the gospel far and wide, but only a relatively small number respond to that calling.

But I want to get to something else as well. Matthew 13, verse 3. Then He spoke many things to them in parable, saying, Behold, a sower went out to sow. As He sowed, some seed fell by the wayside, the birds came and devoured them.

Some seed fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth. They immediately sprang up, because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away. Some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. Others, apparently a relatively small number, fell on good ground and yielded a crop. Some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He says, Let he who hears, he has ears to hear hear.

As I said, we've heard this as an explanation for why, although we preach the gospel far and wide, a relatively small number respond. That's because many don't have God's Spirit opening their mind, so Satan can easily snatch away that seed. Others might have an invitation and an ability to understand, but the cares of the world choke it out. Or they wither under persecution. But a small number do respond and bear fruit. But it's interesting. They don't all bear the same way.

I'm just going to summarize the explanation, because Christ goes on to show that the seed is the word, and the birds represent Satan snatching away. As I said, that understanding so they don't bear fruit. Some respond very quickly, but then when trials come, they give up. Others have the cares of the world choke out their understanding of the truth. So we're not worried about those. We're those who fell on good ground. We're responding. We're bearing fruit. But interestingly, some are bearing a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. Not everyone who responds will bear fruit in the exact same manner. And Jesus Christ is not critical about that.

It's important to realize that even though it's all classified as good ground that can bear a crop, some ground is more fertile than other ground. Some ground has different nutrients, or some ground might support turnips really well, but not tomatoes. And actually, I don't know enough about gardening to know if that's true, but I know the elements that are within some soils are better suited for some crops than others.

And so we should accept that we're going to bear fruit differently. Let's look at 2 Corinthians chapter 10 to see that I'm obviously far from the first person to ever point that out. And Paul says it's not a good idea for us to look at each other to see, well, how am I doing compared to him or her?

In 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 12, we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves, but they, measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. Comparing ourselves among ourselves, that's not a smart thing. There's one standard for us to look to. That's Jesus Christ. We want to measure up to him. And until we've done that, anybody here? No, I didn't think so. None of us have reached that, so we all have a ways to go. So thinking that you might be ahead of the next person over doesn't matter any.

It doesn't amount to a hill of beans, I was going to say. I guess we are still in agricultural analogies. And we ought to remember, for those who seem to be bearing much fruit, well, you might be due for a pruning because God might be saying, yeah, okay, you're doing well, but you should be doing that much more. There's another parable that gives us more reason to think that we...

where we start isn't necessarily as important as where we finish. It's in Matthew 25. I'm not going to read it because I'm reading in depth a lot of these. Let me summarize. This is what we call the parable of the talents. If you want it for your notes, it's Matthew 25, starting in verse 14 through 23. But in this parable, it says, the kingdom of God is like a man traveling to a far country.

He's going to go and receive a kingdom and come back. So while he's gone, he says, I've got to distribute my goods to my servants so that they can do something productive while I'm gone. To one of them, he gives five talents. To this other fellow, he gives two talents. Now, they're not talents as in abilities. He doesn't give the ability to play piano.

But talent is a sum of money. And at one point, I had it in my memory how much it was. A single talent is like the equivalent of half a year's wage or something. It's a fair bit of money. And he gives, according to their ability, the person that says he's got a lot of ability to use this money, so I'm going to give him more. Give him five talents. This fellow, give him two talents. This fellow, he's still worthwhile.

I'm going to give him one talent, no small amount, but not as much as the other guy. And he goes to receive the kingdom, and they do business. And over time, eventually, he comes back and he calls his servants in to settle accounts. And the one who received five talents comes and says, Lord, you gave me five talents. I went and traded.

I did business. And here, I produced five more talents. And the Master says, well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a little. Enter in the joy of your Lord. I'll make you master over much. And I'm paraphrasing here. Sounds pretty good. The next fellow comes and says, you gave me two talents.

I went and did business, and I produced two more talents. And there's four talents back. And what does he tell him? Does he say, huh, you've only got four talents. That guy's got ten. He's way better. No, the answer he gives him is the same exact one. Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a little.

Enter the joy of your Lord. I'll make you ruler over much. He didn't measure by how much he produced in the end, or by how much he started with, but the fact that he took what he had and did the best he could with it, and did produce. But of course, there's one more fellow. He gave one talent, too, and the fellow says, Lord, you know, and you almost picture him cowering.

I knew you're an austere man, and you reaper, you didn't sow, and you gather things you didn't spread. So I was afraid, and I went and dug a hole and hit it. And then I went and got it, and here it is. I didn't lose it. And he says, you lousy, worthless... Now he says, you lazy... Now I'm trying to remember what he actually says. Something you... Did I write it down? Basically he says, you're lazy, and you didn't do the work. And he says, if you knew I was so austere and did all this, why didn't you at least put the money in the bank so I could draw, get my own back with interest?

I didn't even get interest. Take the talent from him, give it to the guy who has ten. And people are saying, hey, he's already got ten. Well, yeah, because he's putting it to good use. And I don't want to stress that, except the fact that he is going to be cast into outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. And wherever there's weeping and gnashing of teeth, that doesn't sound good. I don't want to be there.

But I want to focus on those two that had vastly different amounts to start with, and they ended up with an end product that was different, but they got the same reward because they both produced fruit. Whether you produce a hundred-fold, sixty-fold, or thirty-fold, that's not the issue. It's are you producing fruit? Our ultimate goal is the same, to be born into God's family. I wrote myself a note here. Frank, you're covering some pretty negative stuff here.

So we do want to remember God gives us His Spirit. He's going to work with us, and He's going to be very patient. My thought is we have to be kind of obstinate and very uncooperative to not bear any fruit. Because remember, God has the spade. He will dig and dung us. He's going to help us bear fruit. So we almost have to be working hard to resist that. So I don't think we have to fear the weeping and gnashing of teeth so much, but we do need to cooperate.

Let God work in our lives to help us develop that fruit. And we need to be understanding if the people around us seem to be developing fruit at different rates. We might see one guy, man, he's developing a hundredfold. What's with him? He's only developing thirty. They're all God's children. They're all developing fruit. And so should all of us be.

And we need to be patient, not only with the others, but most of all with ourselves. Don't give up. Remember what I said yesterday. Don't quit. Don't lose patience at how slow the fruit seems to be growing.

With that, I want to turn to an example from the Bible. It's an interesting story. It's one of my favorites, even though we don't know a whole lot about it. It's the story of a fellow that we call Mark, or often John Mark. Now, we know Mark's story from some references in the New Testament, and then we fill in the gaps by quite a bit that's known by tradition and early church history. Now, what's in the Bible we absolutely know is true. Some of the church history we might be able to question, but in this case there's nothing that we have reason to doubt. Now, we'll first see John Mark in the Garden of Gethsemane with Jesus Christ and his apostles. If you'll turn to Mark 14, and we believe this is the Mark who's responsible for this book, but I'm going to comment on that a little bit more later. Mark 14, we'll start in verse 51, because there's an odd reference here that you don't find in the other Gospel accounts. Remember, of course, Jesus was there after he'd done that teaching. They had that last Passover, and he goes to pray, sweats blood, tells his God, can't you guys stay awake? And then Judas comes in with the soldiers. And just as Jesus said, you're all going to forsake me, the sheep will be scattered. It happened. And one of them has an interesting story. Verse 51, a certain young man followed him, having a linen cloth thrown around his naked body. And a young man grabbed hold of him, and he left the linen cloth and fled away from them naked. Haven't you ever read that and go, huh? I wonder what's up with that guy? What kind of, you know, what kind of, you know, sometimes when we talk to young people who don't have their lives together, you say, what kind of screw-up was he? You know, I'm not sure. Now, it doesn't give the young man, but tradition says that was John Mark. And him including it in this Gospel account was his way of admitting to what was a notorious story. I'm sure word got around in the church, and maybe people were wondering, did that really happen? Was it really Mark? I guess this is his way years later of fessing up. Now that he, you know, well, we'll get to the story, but I'll say he developed into something. And I can relate. How many of us have stories from our past? Well, we'll come to that later. Or we won't.

But as I said, this doesn't provide a very auspicious introduction to Mark, but we're not done with this story yet. It's still early on. You might wonder, what was he doing there in the first place? There's some suspicion he might have only been there because, not because he was a close follower of Jesus, he was a young man who was lacking in clothes. By young man, he might have only been a teenager. Maybe he was only 14 or 15. Remember, they considered by Jewish tradition after 13 supposedly manhood, and he was a young man. So, you know, he wasn't following Jesus around for the three and a half years before getting all this teaching. Perhaps he was young, but he had family who were connected, so to speak. If you'll turn to Acts 12. Acts 12 and verse 12.

I'm going to break in just to mention this and then explain where that fits in the story.

So when he had considered this, the he here is Peter. When he considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. So this Mary was John Mark's mother. Now, who is the he going there? The story is this is the time when Peter had been thrown into prison. Back at the beginning of the chapter, it says, Herod stretched out his hand and slew James, and he saw that was good.

So he grabbed Peter, put him in prison, intending after Passover to bring him out and kill him. And of course, there's a famous story where God sends an angel to free Peter. And I'm always amused because the angel, wake up, get your cloak and follow me. And Peter thinks he's seeing a vision. So he's going along, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum. The door opens, he comes out, he's on the street, and the angel disappears, and Peter goes, huh? I guess God sent an angel to deliver me.

I thought I was seeing a vision. Now what do I do? He goes to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark. Why did he go there? Well, we surmise, and tradition says, that their families were close. They were good friends. And so he said, I'm going to go to a house of people that I'm close to who I can trust. And it turns out there are a whole lot of disciples there praying, and perhaps John Mark was there too. And of course, he's got to get Rodo to open the door and let him in.

That's a whole different story. And he tells them what happened, and then he says, let James know when he goes off somewhere else. But we see John Mark, as I said, has family connections, and it'll turn out he has some other connections. He's, we'll come to this later, but Colossians tells us he's got a cousin who becomes known as Barnabas. Barnabas soon to be the apostle. And that's important as we look to the end of this chapter. Acts 12 and verse 25. Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry. This was probably one of those occasions where they were bringing food donated to help the poor church members in Jerusalem.

So they finished that, and they're going back to Antioch. They took with them John, whose surname was Mark. Say, hey, we need a young go-getter who can help us do this job. You know, probably to do service in errands, not because he's a great apostle and teacher, yet he's still a pretty young guy. They bring him with him, and they're going to put him to work. As we see, we move into the next chapter. Paul and Barnabas are about to go on the first evangelical tour. And I found this morning, that's hard to say in a hurry, evangelical tour. But in verse 2, As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Now separate to me Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I've called them.

And having fasted and prayed, they laid hands on them and sent them away. So they're sending them out to preach the gospel. So skip down to verse 5. When they arrived in Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. They also had John as their assistant.

So John is their assistant. Probably, as I said, going and fetching water, doing this and that. But maybe he's in the position of a trainee also. He's learning the ropes. He's involved in the work of God. You know, maybe an internship. Not bad work, if you can get it. But then something happens. Once again, as I said, John had good opportunities. But in verse 13, we see when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia, and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem.

John cut out of there, went back home to Jerusalem. Now, there's no explanation here. Why did he go? You know, I could guess, you know, maybe he got sick. Maybe he got homesick. Maybe he said, this going around with Paul and Barnabas and having people threaten to stone us and beat us with sticks and all this, it's not for me. I'm getting out of here. Now, I don't know if that was the case, but we know that Paul wasn't happy that he left.

So maybe it was something like this. Homesickness or thinking, I don't want to put up with the suffering. But if we go ahead, move ahead in the book to chapter 15, Acts 15 and verse 36, we're going to see what happened during the next evangelical tour when Barnabas and Paul would again need an assistant.

We see in verse 36, After some days, Paul said to Barnabas, Let's go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they're doing. Let's tour around again. We preached the gospel. People were converted. Churches raised up. We need to go visit them again. Now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark.

Barnabas said, We're going to take him with us. And Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who departed from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. Paul said, No, we're not taking him. He abandoned us once before. This kid's a screw-up. Didn't you hear about him running away naked in the garden? I don't know if Paul even knew about that, but he said, You know, this guy's not bearing fruit. We're not going to give him another chance. That said, he's not bearing fruit. We can't deal with that.

Barnabas said, No, no. Let's give him a chance. And the contention became so sharp that they departed one from another. Barnabas took Mark. That might have been a turning point in Mark's life. He's had many important things, but Barnabas... Now, as I said, Barnabas was his cousin. But maybe Barnabas saw something different in Mark that hadn't become apparent yet. Maybe he said, Yeah, he's slow to develop, but he's going to develop.

Let's have some patience. Let's let God do some digging and dunging with this fellow. Now, as I said, I'm maybe reading words in, you know, reading into the intention that Barnabas had, but I'd like to think that. Now, you could say, this is bad for the work. Barnabas and Paul split up, but Paul chose Silas and they sailed, so both of them ended up touring and visiting the brethren.

So, in some ways, twice as much work got done. And, as I said, we'll see later that Paul's attitude towards John Mark would change. It would be perhaps years, but he didn't always look at him as the screw-up who just didn't have any fruit. Later on... I hope that's not an offensive term. I don't mean it to be. Let's go to Colossians 4. I mentioned that Colossians 4 and verse 10 is where it shows, distinctively, that John Mark was Barnabas' cousin.

And here we see that he's working with Paul now. And towards the end of Paul's letters, he'd make references to various things in the work and send greetings and such. And he says, Eris Starkus, my fellow prisoner, greets you with Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, about whom you received instructions. If he comes to you, welcome him. And so Paul's sending greetings on behalf of him, so that means John Mark was with him, part of his ministry. But he also said, if he comes to you, receive him. So Paul was sending John Mark out on missions.

Somehow he'd gone from being the guy that he didn't want to bring with him to someone that he trusted to send out to do jobs for him. He might come to you and treat him properly. He's coming here on an errand for me, so to speak.

Let's turn to 2 Timothy 4, to see one of the last words on this. 2 Timothy 4, verse 11. We believe this was written near the end of Paul's ministry, which means near the end of his life.

And he wrote to Timothy, now Timothy was, you could say maybe Paul's favorite, a protege who he trusted like no one else. But when he was having Timothy come to him, he didn't want Timothy alone. 2 Timothy 4, 11, he says, only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you. So Timothy's coming, but bring Mark with you. He's useful to me in the ministry. Mark had gone from being that messed up kid to being useful in the ministry.

And somehow he had born enough fruit to win back Paul's trust. But church history, as I said, this is the last reference we have in Scripture, but church history and tradition says that he went on to do even more. Mark is known much more than being a companion of Paul as...

I didn't structure that sentence very well. Mark is better known as being a close companion and disciple of Peter. As I said, his family was close with Peter's, and tradition says that Mark worked closely under Peter, and that's actually how he did much of his learning. Apparently, Mark was too young to learn very much directly from Christ, but he spent a lot of time with Peter.

Matter of fact, tradition says that when John Mark wrote his gospel, he was writing down all the things that Peter told him. And there are some scholars that say that the gospel of Mark could have been titled the gospel of Peter, because that's where Mark got all of his information. As I said, this is tradition. I'm not suggesting you scribble out in your Bible and change the name. There's a chance it might not be true, but we have reason to think it could be. And it goes on, say that even later Peter sent John Mark out on missions.

Tradition says that he sent him to Egypt, and he raised up a large church in Alexandria where he pastored many people. Just think of how far he came, if that's true, from being the youngster who was first known as the guy who ran away naked. And as I said, I think how many of us might have stories like that? There's nobody here from Camp Heritage Days. There used to be a story about a guy who was known as the air dry story, but that's for another time.

But he goes from that to being an executive assistant for two of the leading apostles, and perhaps the writer of the first gospel account of Christ's ministry. His progress might have been slow. He was slow to bear fruit, but that progress was great. He did bear fruit. And I say, look at us. Look at all of us here. Many of us have stories in our past, perhaps, of when we weren't bearing much fruit. But our stories are not finished yet. Our stories weren't finished in our youth. They're not finished now. Just as at the first half of Acts, Mark's story wasn't finished.

There was a lot more to be written. And for many of us, there's much more to be written, especially if we feel like we haven't borne much fruit yet. There's time for that fruit to grow. On a day that we celebrate God putting His Holy Spirit, His very essence, into us, we can rejoice that it comes with so many wonderful benefits. And I spent more time talking about how fruit develops and ripens.

It's not wrong to talk about the spiritual gifts. We can enjoy those immediately, and they're wonderful, powerful things. And there's a great variety of them. I think we will, and I pray that we'll see more of them. But God also gives us His Spirit so that we can develop fruit, the very part of us. And that's what makes it so amazing, as I said, a gift is something you might have and use, but the fruit becomes what you are, your very traits.

And the process of developing and maturing fruit isn't easy. It doesn't happen quickly, but it's part of the character that God wants to have in us, and that we want to have in ourselves. So knowing that, God will work with us. He will be patient. Just as I said, we need to have patience. God already is patient. And He'll help us if necessary. He'll bring out the spade and dig around our roots. With that happening, let's keep in mind, I'd like to close with once again harkening back to what Paul wrote.

Earnestly desire the best gifts. Desire those best gifts, but there's something more excellent. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and temperance. Brethren, let's grow and let's ripen the fruits of the Spirit.