Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] What are we in? We are in a year of.
[00:00:05] A year of miracles. So let's get into the Word this morning.
[00:00:09] Last week, we were reminded that we are walking miracles. If you look into the complexity of a human cell, it's very hard to believe that we are just an accident.
[00:00:21] Come on. Turn to the person next to you and say, you are a walking, living miracle.
[00:00:28] Come on.
[00:00:35] But the miracle I want to look at this morning is a miracle of transformation.
[00:00:41] What happens when a human life encounters a living God? If you've been born again by the Spirit of God, you are not the same.
[00:00:50] The Bible says if anyone is in Christ, they are. What? A new creation. The old is gone and the new has come.
[00:01:00] Not a better upgraded mic, but a completely brand new creation in Christ.
[00:01:08] You might be thinking, I've never experienced that transformation.
[00:01:13] We are seeing more and more people on a Sunday morning arriving at church saying, I'm not totally sure why I'm here, but I know I need to understand who God is and I need to do some business with him. If that's you this morning, we are so glad that you have chosen to be with us. And at the close of the service, we're going to give an opportunity for you to respond to the God that created you, the God that gave you purpose, the God that loves you, the God that will forgive you and welcome you into his very own family.
[00:01:49] Last week, Mark spoke about miracles, and he talked about the miracles that are within and the miracles that are around us. Next week, he's going to be speaking about the gifts, the miracles that take place when we operate in our gift of faith, of healing, of giving, of hospitality, when we work with God and the miraculous, with the gifts that he's placed on our lives. But this morning, I want to look at the miracle that takes place within when we are transformed by the power of God.
[00:02:22] And we're going to be looking at, I think, one of the clearest transformations you could ever see in the Bible. Two thirds of the New Testament was written by the apostle Paul.
[00:02:33] But Paul wasn't always Paul. Before he was Paul, he was Saul.
[00:02:38] Saul was a man who persecuted the church of Christ, thinking he was doing God's will. He was all after the Christians to kill them, to put them in prison, doing everything he could to do God a favor by killing the Christians.
[00:02:53] Yet they saw a transformation. Those that were persecuted by Saul saw a transformation. As God took a hold of Saul's life, he became Paul, a man completely transformed. So we're going to read from the passage that Mark read from last week. Galatians, chapter five. We're going to start a bit earlier this morning. We're going to start from verse 16.
[00:03:15] So I say this is Paul, who once was Saul.
[00:03:20] Walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
[00:03:25] For the flesh craves what is contrary to the spirit and the spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law.
[00:03:39] The acts of the flesh are obvious. And as I read this list, I want you to think about our society. I want you to think about your own life.
[00:03:48] Are there any works of the flesh that you see in this list that potentially you're prone to or even that you would see in society? In and around your life?
[00:03:59] The acts of the flesh are obvious. Sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, discord, jealousy, jealousy, oops, rage, rivalry, divisions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But I love in scripture there are so many moments where there is a but of God. You alright, team?
[00:04:37] We good?
[00:04:38] She's got it. She's got it. Yes. Come on.
[00:04:43] Well done.
[00:04:44] She's crying. That's good with the crying. They're breathing, so it's wonderful.
[00:04:50] But the fruit of the spirit is love.
[00:04:55] It's joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness. And the one we love the most, self control.
[00:05:07] Against such things there is no law.
[00:05:11] Father, we thank you for your word.
[00:05:14] God, I pray for transformation today, that our hearts, our spirit would not be the same.
[00:05:23] God, let this not be just another message, a sermon that we listen to. But Lord, let there be a transformation of our hearts to be more and more like your son, Jesus, by and through the work of your holy Spirit in our lives. In Jesus name, amen.
[00:05:41] Here's a simple truth. Fruit always tells the truth about the tree. I've got a picture up here.
[00:05:51] All right, we're going to start with this one here. And I want you to call out and tell me what this tree is. This tree is a apple tree. Wonderful. What about this one?
[00:06:06] And obviously, obviously this one is the.
[00:06:14] Does anyone actually know what there is any botanist in the house.
[00:06:20] How do you not know what that tree is?
[00:06:23] Why? What can't you see?
[00:06:26] I'm sorry, what can't you see?
[00:06:29] All of these were obvious. This one not so much. That is a peach tree. How many were getting. Yeah, everyone's got. I knew that was a peach tree. Why didn't you say it then?
[00:06:40] Nobody jumped up and said, oh, that's a peach tree.
[00:06:43] Fruit always tells the truth about a tree.
[00:06:47] You don't need to interview a tree to know what it is. You just look at the fruit that is on the tree.
[00:06:54] You look at the fruit in the same way. Our reactions, our tone, our attitude, our response under pressure reveals what's growing inside of us.
[00:07:04] So let me start with an honest and revealing question. Are you okay to get a little bit real with yourself? You don't have to share this with anyone else. But if the person who loves you and knows you the most, human, obviously God loves you and knows you the most, but the human in your life that knows you the most and you might be sitting beside them if they were to describe your life, what fruit would they describe in your life? Would they describe love, joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self control?
[00:07:42] Would that be how you would describe? You can take the conversation home if it's getting a little bit awkward now.
[00:07:52] And beneath that question is another one.
[00:07:55] And it's really important. We understand and we really dive into this question.
[00:08:00] Is it possible that we can change?
[00:08:05] Give me a nod if you think it's possible that we can change. How many people think we need to try harder?
[00:08:13] Do we need to try harder or do we need a work of God in our lives that would produce good fruit? Because a life controlled by the Spirit, another version says, produces this kind of fruit in us.
[00:08:29] Love, joy, peace. Yes, we could try harder. It was kind of a little bit of a trick question.
[00:08:34] Yes, we have to be. We have to desire to be kind.
[00:08:38] We want to live a life of goodness. However, trying harder won't necessarily produce more. It is a work of the Spirit of God who longs to produce good fruit in anybody who will be surrendered to him.
[00:08:56] So I've got two truths today. I thought we could play the game two truths and a lie. But we'll just stick with two truths. Two truths. The first one, the fruit of the Spirit, is evidence of a transformed life.
[00:09:08] A life that's being transformed will have a significant amount of fruit that is obvious to everybody around.
[00:09:17] We can manage appearance for a while.
[00:09:20] We can fake it till we make it. I've heard people say that in ministry. I hate that. Fake it till you make it. No, be real. Be honest. Be vulnerable. Be who you are.
[00:09:28] Live it in front of people and allow God to change us.
[00:09:33] When Amy cleans the house, we have a 24 hour window. It's like this timer that is set where you cannot place anything anywhere other than where it's meant to be. Anyone else have kind of that, yeah, okay. Most men aren't going to raise their hand, are they, and admit that one once that 24 hour period is kind of over, the grace kind of lifts a little bit. But it's just like, I just want a tidy home for just one day.
[00:10:04] Then we got a puppy who promptly destroyed the time and just chewed it to bits. It's gone, it's over.
[00:10:11] But sometimes we think in our Christian walk we want to put on a good appearance. We want to keep things neat and tidy. How many people want to keep their life neat and tidy in order? And you want people to just go, wow, they've got it together.
[00:10:26] But Christianity is not behavior management.
[00:10:30] It's not behavior management. It's not learning how to hide the mess better. In fact, I would say, and I have been in ministry long enough to know those that try to hide what's going on inside of them, they will implode and explode trying to hide what's going on inside of us.
[00:10:50] You're not hiding anything because what comes, what's growing inside of you is coming out of you in the way you respond, in the way we speak to one another.
[00:11:01] We don't want works that are dead. We want a work of the spirit that is alive and transforming our life and the life of those around us. It's about heart transformation through the work of God's Holy Spirit. God's spirit makes us holy. God says, be holy as I am holy. I can't do that.
[00:11:20] But in Christ Jesus, I can experience righteousness and holiness. And it's the work of God that does that. In my life, I love that Jesus always went for the root before the fruit.
[00:11:34] He was always looking at what's inside a person, what's growing inside of them.
[00:11:39] A good tree, he says in Matthew 7:18, cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.
[00:11:47] So the question is not am I acting right?
[00:11:50] The question I'm asking today is what's growing in me?
[00:11:55] What's growing in me?
[00:11:58] Because whatever's growing in me will eventually come out of me.
[00:12:03] How many people wrestle with the flesh? The flesh the Bible talks about is. Is the bit of myself, the self nature that wants what I want. I can be selfish, I can be proud, I can be envious of what somebody Else has. I can be mean, I can gossip, I can have all sorts of arguments and strife. I can have all of that. I am very capable of that. And I'm supposed to be kind of helping you all grow in your relationship with God. And that's just me.
[00:12:32] I wonder if anyone else is battling with the flesh.
[00:12:35] The Bible says there's three battles going on. There's the battle with the flesh, battle with the world and battle with the devil. I think sometimes the devil goes, I didn't do that.
[00:12:48] That was all on you because you wanted to do that. I didn't force you to do anything. You wanted to do that. And that's the flesh. That's what we're battling.
[00:12:58] The fruit of the spirit is contrary to the work of the flesh that is continually going on.
[00:13:07] So let's look at Saul, who became poor before encountering Christ. We read this about Saul. This is quite revealing. Acts, chapter 9, verse 1. Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord.
[00:13:23] That's quite revealing. Murderous threats.
[00:13:28] This phrase tells us exactly what was going on inside of him. Outwardly he looked impressive. He was a strict law keeper. He held the law better than anyone else. He talked about that in his writings. He was a Pharisee of Pharisees. He was well respected, he was highly disciplined.
[00:13:46] But inwardly there was pride, there was rage, there was violence, there was murder in his heart.
[00:13:53] Then the kingdom of heaven invades his life.
[00:13:56] The kingdom of God, as Mark talked about, overpowered the kingdom of the world.
[00:14:02] There isn't a battle, I mean, there's a battle, but when that battle takes place, God wins.
[00:14:09] You need to understand God wins in that battle.
[00:14:13] We therefore must surrender to God and allow him to do that work in our lives.
[00:14:23] The kingdom of God overpowered Saul. God met him on the road to Damascus, knocked him right off his horse and he asked this question, who are you, Lord?
[00:14:35] He was saying, I have never encountered this. I've never encountered you, God.
[00:14:41] I thought I knew you. But this is different.
[00:14:47] Just talking with someone this morning saying they had an understanding, a concept of God, but God has broken in on their world.
[00:14:57] This is a God who comes in power and strength and in the miraculous. This is not a God of the intellect. This is a God of holy spirit transformation that does a work inside of us.
[00:15:11] After meeting Jesus, Saul becomes poor and his life produces completely different fruit. It wasn't self help, it wasn't self improvement. He tried that all of his life. Paul experienced spirit powered transformation. God's spirit produced the following Fruit, which we're going to go through quickly, which is why he can teach us.
[00:15:34] I'm going to go through them quickly. Don't worry. This isn't a long, long message, but let's look at what happened when God took hold of his life.
[00:15:42] Because it's one thing to say, okay, everybody, here's the nine fruit of the Spirit. I want you to live this way.
[00:15:48] One thing to preach it, but he also lived it.
[00:15:52] There was transformation that clearly took place in Paul's life.
[00:15:56] So let's look as we. We're going to dive into a lot of the different writings of Paul and the epistles and the letters that he wrote to the Church as he instructs. And he carefully, pastorally cares for these people.
[00:16:09] So we see love.
[00:16:11] The man who approved of Stephen's murder, the first martyr, he held the coats of the men who threw the stones to kill Stephen, and he approved of that murder.
[00:16:24] And yet when he encountered God, the transformation produced love.
[00:16:31] 1 Thessalonians 2, 7, 8. Just one of dozens of scriptures that would speak about love. He says, we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children, because you had become very dear to us. This doesn't sound like a man who's murderous.
[00:16:48] This is a man who has been transformed by the power of God. Then we see joy, joy spoken of from prison, where Paul says, rejoice in the Lord always.
[00:16:58] And again, if you didn't hear me the first time I say rejoice, count it. Pure joy. When you face trials of many kinds, what a ridiculous statement that makes no earthly human sense, but every bit of spiritual sense.
[00:17:19] Because persecution and trial and challenge, that produces joy. It's like, what could you take from me, Devil?
[00:17:30] You think you can take my life?
[00:17:33] I'm not losing my joy, because this is a joy that is given to me through the Holy Spirit. Wow. He says, 2 Corinthians 7, 4. I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction.
[00:17:48] Not just. I've got a little bit at the bottom of the barrel.
[00:17:51] Overflowing. It's spilling out of him and into his relationships.
[00:17:56] How many people know somebody so filled with joy?
[00:18:00] Yeah. Do you know a few people like that?
[00:18:03] You just can't help but be around them.
[00:18:07] Barry Smith, he's one of those guys just filled with joy. Every time I see that man, there is joy that's just coming out of him.
[00:18:16] I mean, maybe not after the Liverpool result the night before, but there is a joy, despite circumstances and football results, that flows out of him and others.
[00:18:28] Joy and suffering is not natural. It is supernatural. It's more than just a feeling. Paul's joy was rooted in Christ, not in the circumstances.
[00:18:39] Then we see peace.
[00:18:41] We see peace.
[00:18:43] Philippians 4, 6, 7. Do not be anxious about anything, anything but in prayer and supplication. Present these requests to God. Then the peace of God that passes all human understanding will rest in your heart and in your mind.
[00:18:59] How many people need the peace of God?
[00:19:02] For the trials and the challenges and the circumstances that we face, we need it.
[00:19:08] Paul teaches peace from prison.
[00:19:11] This tells us that peace is not with the absence of problems, but it's a peace that is the presence of God.
[00:19:19] In the most difficult moments of my life, somewhere inside of me, the spirit of God has produced peace to allow me to walk through that trial.
[00:19:32] Would anyone give a testimony of that in their life?
[00:19:35] Yeah, it's hard to describe. It's hard to explain. But when God is at work in our life, he produces this good fruit. Love, joy, peace, patience. How many people are really patient?
[00:19:48] A couple. How many people could get a little bit more of God's patience in our life?
[00:19:54] I love things. I would love to be in Signal House yesterday.
[00:19:58] Truly, the dreams that we carry in our heart for what that place can be are so exciting. We're not there yet. God, give me patience. Patience. Bring patience to me, to us.
[00:20:10] Let us walk. That change that you want to see in somebody's life, and it's not happening. God, we need your patience. We need your patience.
[00:20:18] Staying steady under pressure. Good description of patience. Staying steady under pressure. Paul endured immature churches and people, personal attacks, prolonged hardship. There was a thorn that. I'm so glad you. He never named what the thorn was. It just keeps it kind of open, almost as though. What's your thorn? What's your thorn?
[00:20:39] Something that he prayed multiple times. God, would you take this away? And God didn't.
[00:20:44] God allowed that thorn to be in his life.
[00:20:47] Was it a sickness? Was it a relationship? We don't know.
[00:20:51] But what we do know is that in the perseverance, God continued to work in his life, even though the thorn might not have been taken away.
[00:21:00] Friends, if you are in the middle of a struggle and a trial and a challenge, be patient through the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness.
[00:21:14] Ephesians 4:2. Be completely humble and gentle. Be patient bearing with one another in love. Patience is evidence that it's the spirit, not pressure, that is in control.
[00:21:25] See, we can be under pressure and we can be under pressure's control.
[00:21:34] I don't want to be under pressure.
[00:21:37] I want to be in the spirit, in his peace, in his patience, kindness reflecting the heart of God. He says in Ephesians 4. 32, Be kind and compassionate to one another.
[00:21:50] I think the world is longing for kindness.
[00:21:54] We've just found our favorite takeaway place.
[00:21:56] I won't tell you where it is. Not yet.
[00:21:59] Nah, I probably could. Lovely kebab place just by Pozlo Bridge. Go in and say, Mike said hi if you want to go get a nice kebab. Went in the first time. Loved it. Kids loved it. They just. Fantastic. Can we do that again? So we went back, we said hello. We were kind. I asked about the new year. I asked about the family. I just started having a conversation.
[00:22:24] We've been back three or four times, maybe just like a kebab.
[00:22:32] But I walk through the door, easy. Quieter than the cheap seats.
[00:22:39] Is it showing? Is it?
[00:22:42] You know, I walk through the door now. You know, sometimes in customer service, you walk into a place and the person doesn't even look up from the desk. They just kind of go, I walk in through the door now with my kids, and the kids love to come as well. So we come and we walk in, and immediately they've got their working face on. Anyone got a working face?
[00:23:08] It's not necessarily a smiling face. I've got a driving face that people go, what was the matter with you? I'm like, nothing. I was just driving a little bit too serious, right?
[00:23:17] But I have my working face on. So he's got his working face on. I walk through the door and a smile comes on his face.
[00:23:24] Why?
[00:23:25] Just because I'm kind.
[00:23:29] I'm kind to him.
[00:23:31] So we've ordered a couple of these, and then a couple of days ago, he goes, can I throw in a bottle of drink for you?
[00:23:38] What would your kids like for a drink?
[00:23:40] Just gives us a free bottle of drink.
[00:23:42] Now, I'm not saying you're kind to get that, but kindness will keep coming back. Not for the bottle of drink, but because I'm building a relationship there. Kindness really, really makes a difference.
[00:23:54] People walk down the street and their eyes are down.
[00:23:58] You come close to someone and I get this close, and people don't know what to do with it. So we drop our eyes, and then we go past, and then we lift our eyes again and we drop our.
[00:24:09] We've lost the art of communicating kindness without body language.
[00:24:15] I think God is wanting us just to be kind.
[00:24:19] The kindness of God leads people to Repentance. So the kindness of the work of the Holy Spirit in my life is going to bring somebody to Christ. Guess what happens when we move into Signal House? Guess who I'm inviting to our opening service?
[00:24:34] So go get yourself a kebab from Polso Bridge and say Mike sent me.
[00:24:41] There you go.
[00:24:46] Goodness, living with integrity.
[00:24:50] 2 Corinthians 7:2. We have wronged no one, Paul says. We have corrupted no one. We have exploited no one.
[00:24:58] Goodness flows from a clean conscience, a surrendered heart. It's integrity when no one else is watching.
[00:25:05] Who am I when I'm at home?
[00:25:07] Who am I when no one else is checking in on me?
[00:25:11] That's the goodness of God in my life.
[00:25:15] Faithfulness, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.
[00:25:20] Being steadfast over time.
[00:25:23] Faithfulness is so underrated, but so highly valued in the Kingdom.
[00:25:31] When you hear the conversations. There aren't many conversations post death that we read in the Bible.
[00:25:37] But one thing we do hear is well done, good and faithful. Not good and intelligent and good and successful. Good. And you fill in the blanks. Good and faithful.
[00:25:48] What were you given?
[00:25:49] Were you just faithful with it?
[00:25:52] Were you given a marriage? Were you faithful in that marriage? Were you given children? Did you raise them and did you love them and did you serve them?
[00:26:00] Were you given a job that pays less than what you like to be earning?
[00:26:06] Be faithful in that.
[00:26:08] Be faithful and you watch what God does in your life. He doesn't always reward in monetary ways, but love, joy, peace, patience, kindness. That's a good lot of stuff to have in my heart, I reckon.
[00:26:21] Faithfulness, steadfast. Over time, as Paul has come to the end of his life, he writes this letter to his young leader, Timothy. He says, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.
[00:26:37] We had a group of dads and lads that gathered yesterday and had a bacon bap, had a bit of a chat and we had a faithful man of God, Don Edmonds. We love you, Don. We're so thankful that you are in our church. We are so thankful for the prayers that you have prayed.
[00:26:56] Thank you for the message that you brought to my boy and to me and to us.
[00:27:02] Thank you that every morning of your life you've got up and you've opened the word of God. You've prepared your heart for the day.
[00:27:09] And I know you wouldn't want to hear this, you wouldn't want to be commended for this, but let's not speak this to someone at the funeral. Let's declare it Right now. Let's declare right now. You are a man of God who has walked with God and we are so thankful for your faithfulness. Thank you, sir.
[00:27:26] You are a giant in the kingdom. A giant in the kingdom.
[00:27:33] Faithful.
[00:27:34] A work of the Spirit in our lives.
[00:27:37] Gentleness, Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness. Gentleness.
[00:27:41] Faithfulness. Gentleness. Strength under control. 1 Corinthians 4:21. Shall I come to you with a rod or in love? And with a gentle spirit? Ephesians 4:2. We also read earlier, become completely humble and gentle.
[00:27:57] Gentleness, don't get me wrong, it does not avoid truth.
[00:28:02] It brings truth with love, brings truth with grace.
[00:28:06] Truth is needed. We need to speak truth into this world.
[00:28:10] We need to.
[00:28:12] But can I just speak. This might be a word for some people.
[00:28:17] I think there's some of us that we've almost taken a little bit of pride in the way we respond to people. It's just who I am. I'm just kind of gruff by nature, just, you know, strong.
[00:28:31] Yeah, but you're not gentle.
[00:28:33] Just really felt to put that challenge to some people, you kind of wear it almost as a little badge of pride.
[00:28:41] I'll say it as it needs to be said. It's like, yes, but you can say it with gentleness.
[00:28:45] You can say it kindly.
[00:28:49] Gentleness. What a difference that makes.
[00:28:52] I can bring a correction to somebody with a gentleman approach.
[00:28:58] I can tell when I am firm and harsh with my children, they don't respond as well as when I am gentle in my response.
[00:29:10] That's just me working it out as a father.
[00:29:13] But gentleness makes such a difference.
[00:29:17] And lastly, we come to our favourite one of all, self control.
[00:29:21] Living led, not driven.
[00:29:23] Now, as you read the self control, we could be led to believe that this is something that I can control myself.
[00:29:30] But actually, 1 Corinthians 9:27, Paul says, I discipline my body and I keep it under control.
[00:29:38] But self control is not repression, it's freedom under the leadership of the spirit. And it's not me saying, I will become a better person.
[00:29:48] It's saying, under the Spirit of God. In submission to the Spirit of God, the desire of the flesh loses its power because there is a greater power that is at work within me.
[00:30:02] That's the evidence of a transformed life. Paul didn't just believe differently, he acted differently.
[00:30:10] As Carol comes, we're going to take a moment to surrender our life to God because there's a second truth that I want to close and just a short point to close us this morning. Truth number two, transformation. Comes through surrender, not striving.
[00:30:29] Transformation comes through surrender, not striving. Paul calls it the fruit of the Spirit, not the fruit of effort.
[00:30:37] The production of fruit is not that. Can't shout at a tree to make it grow faster or be more productive.
[00:30:46] Fruit grows naturally when the tree is healthy and connected to the right source.
[00:30:52] That's why Scripture says fruit singular, not fruits, not individual. I know we've kind of gone through the individuals, but it's not like a buffet.
[00:31:03] Please hear me on this. The fruit of the Spirit is not like a buffet where you pick up a plate and go, I'll have a little bit of love.
[00:31:08] Yeah, take a bit of joy, a little bit of peace, patience. Give that a pass. But allergic to patience.
[00:31:16] But isn't it true that sometimes we think, I'll just take a bit of that and a bit of that.
[00:31:22] When the Spirit controls our life, this good work is produced in us.
[00:31:29] Some may be quicker than others, true, but it is continually being worked.
[00:31:37] This morning is not about condemnation because there is no condemnation for anyone who is in Christ.
[00:31:44] There's freedom, there's liberty, there's life outside of the law. And when we are transformed by God and by his Spirit, the fruit that's produced is produced in accordance with the law.
[00:32:00] It fulfills the law.
[00:32:02] We're no longer afraid of the law because it just takes care of itself.
[00:32:08] That's what he says.
[00:32:10] There's no law that is opposed to this.
[00:32:15] The law holds no power over us. If we are walking in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness and self control.
[00:32:26] The law can restrain behavior, but it can't produce fruit.
[00:32:30] Sometimes we believe we can change. We want to do something, we want to do more through striving, more willpower, more promises, more pressure that we put on ourselves.
[00:32:43] But transformation comes through surrender, not through striving.
[00:32:48] Before Christ saw he was striving under the law when he met Christ, Paul surrendered to the Spirit.
[00:32:59] Kingdom of God is not a matter of performance, it's not a self help program, but of righteousness, peace and joy. And the Holy Ghost.
[00:33:11] I love the progression of that verse in Romans.
[00:33:17] Righteousness, peace, joy. So many people struggling with joy.
[00:33:24] Here's why, I think because they don't have peace.
[00:33:29] Why don't we have peace?
[00:33:31] Because we're probably opposed to the law.
[00:33:35] Anyone ever driven over the speed limit and they're a little bit nervous, a little bit worried, no peace, no joy. Why?
[00:33:45] Because we are opposed to the law.
[00:33:50] So when our righteousness is in Christ and Christ alone, we are in him and he is in us.
[00:34:01] Listen to this verse. Good fruit doesn't come from trying harder, it comes from abiding deeper. John 15:4 remain in me. Jesus says, as I also remain in you.
[00:34:14] If I could have a picture of that, it's Christ is inside of me and I am inside of him.
[00:34:22] It's like I'm fully surrounded by Christ.
[00:34:26] Christ in me and me in Christ. It's like I'm fully covered inside and out by the blood of Jesus and the work of the cross that is the work of God that is transforming my life.
[00:34:43] And when we surrender to the Holy Spirit, when we yoke ourselves to Jesus, our hearts are changed, our habits get transformed.
[00:34:51] Fruit becomes visible. People say, what is it about the way you live your life?
[00:34:59] Who are you?
[00:35:01] What's happened to you?
[00:35:03] You don't think that Saul, who became Paul, didn't meet some of the families that he imprisoned and persecuted? You don't think some of those people wouldn't have had an angry thought towards Paul saying, you killed my family and you want to preach this.
[00:35:23] But why is it that Paul's teaching transformed the churches in that area? Because he was a different person.
[00:35:30] You could not deny that Paul was the same person that was persecuting Christians. He changed.
[00:35:38] And it wasn't through his self effort. It was through the power of the work of the Holy Spirit in his life.
[00:35:45] Do you agree with that? Do you believe that I asked the question, can we change?
[00:35:51] Yes, we can.
[00:35:52] But the change comes when we surrender ourselves to God fully and completely.
