How Do We Truly Change? | Fruit of the Spirit Week 1

the Spirit. You should have got your books on your way in today. I want you to take them out. This book will be your resource for the next 10 weeks. I want to challenge you because I have worked for six months on this series putting this together for it not to just be a Sunday experience, but something for you to do every single day. I put homework in there. I know some of you have been out of school for a long time. You hear homework and you think it's a dirty word. I want to help you get growing and get closer to Jesus. There's also, and I want you to lean into this, there is a memory verse for every single week. I want you to learn the memory verse. There's something about hiding God's Word in your heart. How many will just commit? Can I just get a hand? I'm going to memorize the verse every week. I want to see it across every campus. This is your commitment to say, "Okay, I'm going to learn this stuff so that it's not just a random series. It's going to help you grow." There's devotionals that I wrote for every single day. There are stuff for your small group for you to go through. It will help you bring your book back every single week. It's going to be awesome. Turn with me on page 11. We're going to today answer one of life's biggest questions, and it's a sermon title today. How do we really change? How do we truly change? How do we actually see change in our life, in our family, in our mind? We've all had those moments where we really wanted to change.

I am going to be more patient. Then you get on the interstate and you get on the veterans or the suncoats and what do you do? Some car gets in front of you and slows down and you start yelling at the car and they can't even hear you, but you're going to change. I had a moment where I'm determined to change. I'm not going to raise my voice at my children anymore. Even though I got five of them and it's very easy to raise my voice and I'm going, "No, I'm going to change." I came home, just random example and I put my laptop back down and I lay on my couch. It was a long work day and I just take a little nap and I woke up and my youngest is jumping on my laptop case like this and I go and I respond in a way that let's just say is less than godly determined to change. I'm going to eat healthy and I find myself yet again. The red light is flashing at Krispy Kreme and I'm back in the line and I said I was the last time, last time. I'm going to change. I'm going to change. I'm going to be more generous and then the opportunity comes and you pull back again. I'm going to stop looking at those images. I'm not going to scroll and look for those things that I know are destroying me. Then you find yourself scrolling again. I'm going to love the difficult people even in my life and then you get around them at that family reunion and you try to hide again. We all have that moment. Here's what I've realized. I've studied this for so many years. We all have the same cycle. The cycle starts with sin and we're all born into it. We all struggle with it.

It's all part of our life. Then when you sin, here's what you do. You end up feeling bad where there's remorse and remorse is where you feel bad. I shouldn't have talked that way. I shouldn't have been angry. I shouldn't have responded that way. Then when you get remorse, here's what you do. Then you get determination. I'm going to stop. I'm not going to keep doing this any longer. You make it a point. You make it a New Year's resolution. You decide, this is my time. I'm going to change. Some of y'all did that in January. You're like, this is a year. I'm going to lose 20 pounds. Now you're in September. You've got 30 due to go. How many know? That's how it works sometimes. What do we do after determination? The response eventually is relapse. This cycle is the cycle of life. Haven't you found yourself there? You're sitting in the evening church today because you again have relapsed back. You're back in that lifestyle of sin. You're back in that lifestyle that you don't want to be in. You're going, okay, I feel bad. I'm back in church.

Then it's just this cycle. It's this hamster wheel. It's like running on a treadmill. It's like you're running, but you ain't getting anywhere. How many know what I'm talking about? God has a better way. What I want to present to you over this series is that God has a better way. You see, the cycle is about what you can do. But the reality is, is there's a way that change that only God can do in your life. You see, the problem with the cycle is it's so much I got it. I can fix it. I'm determined. I'm going to make it. I ain't going to drink anymore. I'm not going to look at that image anymore. I. And that is the pattern of failure in our world today. But the cycle and what is gonna be broken over this series because you can't provide the change, but Jesus can. And Jesus is what breaks the cycle. And when we're connected with Him, now we can find life and find it to the full and actually get real change. That's what the central part of our series is about. It's from the book of Galatians. So if you have your Bibles, I want you to turn there, we're gonna go deep into it today. And then over the next nine weeks, we'll break down every single one of these fruit, of the fruit, of the spirit.

But as we look at it, I want you to kind of see the outcome of a life that's actually changed. 'Cause this is what your life is gonna look like in 10 weeks. It's gonna be mind-blowing as you lean into it. Here it is. Galatians chapter five, verse 22. But the fruit of the spirit, a life that is connected with God, here's what the result is, is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Now, many of you grew up in church, you heard these in Sunday school. So how about we all say them out loud together? But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. One more time, 'cause you're gonna have it memorized. By the way, this is your memory verse for this week. So I'm already helping practice with you, all right? Ready? Because the fruit of the spirit is in every campus, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Now, let me just tell you where we get this wrong. 'Cause when people talk about the fruit of the spirit, I hear this phrase a lot, the fruits of the spirit. You know this phrase? The fruits of the spirit. Hey, I want a little bit of joy today.

Need a little bit of that fruit. Hey, I need a little bit of kindness today. Hey, I'm lacking in this one. Let me get a little bit of love today. And you miss it because Paul does not call it the fruits of the spirit. He calls it the fruit of the spirit, meaning it's one outcome of a life that is connected with God. So it's not like, hey, I'm gonna get this one in. And then here's what I want you to be careful of, 'cause some of y'all are gonna look over it, 'cause it's kind of like I gave away the next 10 weeks. 'Cause you go, okay, in week three, it's this subject. I don't really wanna hear about that. But the reality is, is it's one life that's connected with God that God's gonna deal with multiple areas of who you are. So don't back out of a week because you don't think you need it, 'cause it's probably the week you need the most. Because all of this is all encompassing, 'cause let me give you the ultimate definition, and you're gonna hear this definition every single week. So you'll have it memorized by the time this series is done, because the fruit of the spirit is simply the character of Christ. We're gonna break down what that means. And it's made visible in us as we walk by the spirit.

Now I'm gonna leave this up there for just a second. We got a brand new campus with us there at Spring Hill. Many of you, this is your first Sunday ever, doing the handwritten notes like this. We write notes every single Sunday because you're four times more likely to remember it if you write it down. So that's why we resource you. And this book is a gift for you just to write this stuff down so that you remember it. 'Cause I'm not just up here to entertain you, okay? I'm not your clown, I'm your pastor. But I am kind of funny once in a while, all right? So let's break this down to make sure we understand what it means. What does it mean to have the fruit of the spirit? It's the character of Christ. Let's look at this. This means that these aren't random values and virtues, they are who Jesus actually is. So this series is really a series of studying Jesus. 'Cause as we look to Jesus, we become like him. How many, can we just be honest, I know you're writing some notes down, but how many say you've got some areas of your life that are quite not like Jesus yet? Can I see a hand all over? Okay, we're a very honest church here today, all right? If you're dating someone, they didn't raise their hand, they got problems, okay?

'Cause they're deceived. We all got issues. So it's the character of Christ. When we look at the fruit of the spirit, we see Jesus in the fruit of the spirit. And then we see it being made visible in us, that Christians should look different than the world. So I just think that radiant church, we should be the most patient people in the greater Tampa Bay area. We should be the most loving, the most kind and generous and good people. Why? Because it's made visible in us. And then as, here's the big deal as we walk by the spirit, which means it comes from his spirit, not from our striving. I told you this series is gonna help you because imagine this, imagine that you now study who Jesus is, so every week we're gonna look at an aspect of Jesus' life. It's a deep study on actually who Jesus is. Then we're gonna show how it's gonna be made visible in us and then we're gonna realize it's not you striving harder again, it's actually inviting the Holy Spirit to do the deep work in us and you're gonna be changed because of it. So because of that, let me give you a little bit of background on why Paul is writing this. Paul's writing this book about 48 A.D. This is 10 years after Jesus has died,

resurrected and ascended into heaven. So this is very short after the ascension of Jesus. The church has just started to gather and he's writing to a church in Galatia, say Galatia. Now this is why it's important because these Galatians, these people, do not have any connection with Jewish culture. They are what's called Gentiles. Why does that matter? Because they didn't know about the Torah. They didn't know about the laws. They didn't know about the 10 commandments. Imagine being someone that just falls in love with Jesus and counters Jesus, but you don't know anything about the Old Testament rules. That's this church. And then all of a sudden the people from the main church in Jerusalem start showing up into Galatia and going, "Hey, now that you're a Christian "and they start rolling out all these laws." You got to do this, you got to do this, you got to do this, you got to do this. It's very frustrating. And these people are sitting there going, "What's important? "We thought we were falling in love with Jesus." And now we realize it's Jesus plus a bunch of laws. And what they realize is then their whole faith became a bunch of works.

That is why Paul writes this letter to confront it and to establish with the new believers, how do we live this thing? Do we try to follow a bunch of rules or do we follow Jesus? Still a big question for all of our lives, isn't it? Because some of you are going, okay, I'm gonna get right with God. Now I gotta do this and this and this and this and this. And it's don't cause, don't drink, don't watch certain movies and don't have fun. That's what you think Christianity is. But here's the reality and I want you to understand this. You do not change by getting a list of things you shouldn't do. That does not work. And if you think, like I'm gonna change, if Aaron just tells me the eight things I need to do and the 10 things I need to stop doing, then I'll be good. And you know what you're gonna be on? The cycle. Again, because you're gonna try to follow the rules and fall right back into it. That's why Paul gives a better way. Look at Galatians chapter five. He's hitting this head on and he's telling us the better way. I tell you, walk by the spirit. What a different way. Hey, I know you got all these things you're trying to do, trying to be a good dad, trying to raise children,

kind of build a business. Here's how you settle all of it. Ready? You walk by the spirit. And if you do that, guess what you won't do? You won't gratify the desires of the flesh. So all those rules and all those things that you need to do, you just want by the spirit and let God work it all out. For the desires of the flesh or against, the spirit, they're in contrast with each other. The desires of the spirit are against the flesh. They oppose each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. So we have these two opposing things. I want you to write it down. The first one is the flesh. The flesh is that worldly way that leads to frustration. Now you think of the flesh many times as the bad things that we do, it's acting out, it's responding, it's anger, it's lust, it's those frustrating things. And that is part of it, but it's also what Paul is addressing is the fleshly ways that we try to follow God. And some of you think Christianity is so frustrating because you think the only way to be a good Christian is to obey a really long list of things that's impossible for you to do it all. It reminds me of like when somebody's trying to teach you a new game, do you know what I'm talking about? Have you ever met someone that they're like, they're like, hey, I got this new board game.

We all have that friend or that relative, don't they? And they go, just sit down with us, it's really easy. Like have you ever had someone like Majang, you know what I'm talking about? And they're like, oh, it's very easy. Here's what you do, okay? So everybody starts with tiles and you've got bams and cranks and cracks and dots. And then you have wings and dragons and you try to make a hand that matches something on this card, but that card changes every year. And you don't just make whatever hand you want. It has to match the one with the exact combination. And if everybody throws a tile you need, you can call it, but only depending on if you would, your hand could be dead. Do you know what I'm talking about? And you're sitting there and you're like, "What did I sign up for?" And that is how some of you think it is to follow God. Oh, welcome to the family of God. Can you imagine the Galatian church? Welcome, Galatians. Now, here's what you got to do. Here's what you got to do. Here's what you got to do. And they're going, "I signed up for this to follow Jesus. I'm not sure about all these rules." And what he's telling them is, "Hey, hey, there's a way of the flesh that even is a Christian we can be in our flesh trying to be like Christ. I'm going to get better." I, striving, white knuckle. He tells us if you're led by the Spirit, not under the law. That doesn't mean the Old Testament is obsolete, not at all. It just means there's a different thing that's guiding our life. He tells us the works of the flesh are evidence. Like, this is what happens when you walk by the flesh, immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of rage, rivalry, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, bet you didn't think you'd hear that word on the opening of Spring Hill. Right there, all right? The things I, like these, I warn you, as I warn you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. What is

he saying? You're not going to walk into the purposes of God. And by the way, if some of those things you don't understand, ask your parents on the way home. It's a great lunch conversation. I should have brought my kids to radiant kids today. I get it. What is he saying? There's a worldly way of doing it, but there's a better way. He says there's the flesh, and then there's the spirit, the spirit. And I want you to write it down. The spirit is God's way through God's power that results in God's results for your life. Don't you want that? Don't you want a better way to where you put your striving to the side and you say, "Okay, I can't do it on my own, but I'm going to let the spirit of God do it." And I'm telling you, there is a way for you to change, but it's not because you try harder. Write it down your notes because we don't change by trying harder. We change by submitting to the spirit. If you don't get anything else out of week one, a fruit of the spirit, this is your phrase. You do not change by trying harder. You change by submitting to the spirit of God. And this is what we are called to do in this series. Look what he says. When you submit to the spirit of God, what is the result? Oh, you get the fruit of the spirit in your life. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, generalist self-control, against such things, there is no law. What is he saying? Like you now are walking into all the fulfillment of the Old Testament because now you're being guided by the spirit of God that's leading you into all the things that God wants to lead you into in your life. There is a better way. That's why in the next verse, look what he says. And this is mind-blowing. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have done what? You have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. This is now the result of the ultimate result of the fruit of the spirit in your life is that you have the character of Christ. And as Christ was crucified, so your life is crucified. You are no longer living according to your desires because you're following the spirit of God. And now, guess what you are? Now you are changed, not because of what you've done, but because of the power of God at work in your life. Can we give them some praise? Aren't we grateful for the spirit of God that changes us? So if it's his spirit that does the deep work in us, what are we inviting his spirit to do in the last few minutes I have with you today? And we're going to practice this. If you're new with us at Spring Hill, we don't just teach the word. We actually give a moment at the end of the service to pause and apply it to our life

to let the spirit do the deep work. So we're going to do that. Here's the three things. We're going to ask the spirit. We're going to invite the spirit to do three things in our lives today. Number one, the spirit is inviting you to accept Christ. This is the starting point. This is the most important thing because, again, everything is about this connection with Jesus Christ. It's not about the fact that I have more good or more bad or my life is outbalanced with good works versus bad works. That's not going to get you in heaven. Have you submitted your life to the lordship of Jesus Christ? And I just want to just let you know at every one of our campuses, I don't think it's an accident that you're in the room. I don't think it's an accident that that friend invited you or that mailer hit your house or you saw that Instagram mat. I don't think it's an accident because I think God has been trying to get a hold of your heart for a very long time because he knows, he knows that the ways of the world are destructive and are destroying your life and your purpose. But God says he's come to bring you life and life to the full and he's drawing you into relationship with him and I want you to know you've not gone too far, you've not messed up too much. God's grace is extended to give you a fresh start and if anybody is in Christ, he's a new creation. That's right. The Bible says no one can come to the Father unless him who sent me, talk about Jesus saying, him who sent me the Spirit draws him. It's the same. The Spirit is drawing you. He's quickening your heart. The book of Revelation, Jesus himself says, I stand at the door and knock. Anyone hears my voice and opens it, I will come in. What's your response to this? Just open up the door of your heart and invite the Spirit of God in and watch how he will

change you. And if you've never made that decision, God's giving you that opportunity today because hear me out, you can't walk by the Spirit if you've never invited him in. You go, well, I've gone to church before, I get baptized as a baby before, no, no, no, have you invited God in? Have you invited Christ in accepting Christ as our first thing? The second one is that the Spirit is inviting you over the series to release control. Now nobody likes this because we're all control freaks. All control freaks, we want it, we think we can make our life better. Here's the problem with that. You've got to release control to Jesus. Katie and I were coming back from the panhandle of Florida earlier this week and I was driving because that's what I do. I'm the man of God and I drive the car. But to be honest, I was getting really, really, really tired, like extremely tired and like dangerously tired. So I said, Katie, you've got to drive. And you know it's dangerous when I actually ask Katie to drive in. So I get in the passenger seat, doesn't happen often. But as I got in the passenger seat, I got out of the driver's seat, but I didn't get out of control. How many know what I'm talking about? Like I'm sitting there, hey, there's a car ahead of you right there. Just watch out. They're stopping up there. There's one time, true story, you know my wife, I love her so much. There's one time I looked over, she was going 63. And the interstate, it's 70 mile an hour limit. I said, Katie, like, what is this world, how well is just making sure everybody else is safe?

I'm like, get driving. So we have a little disagreement, all right? We're 16 years in a marriage, once in a while we still fight a little bit. And she has a moment where she looks over to me and she says, Aaron, you can rest or you can drive. But you cannot have control from the passenger seat. And I said, well, that's rude. And she was right. You can rest or you can take the wheel back, that you can't have control from the passenger seat. If you're giving Jesus control of your life, then release control. Release control of the outcome, release control of what you want to do in your life, or release control of your future, release control of the timeline, release control. Proverbs 3 says, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, in every area, in your business, in your life, in your schedule, in your addiction, every area of your life, you submit to him and he will make your pass straight. Hear me out, radiant. I wrote this down. And as I wrote it down, I felt the spirit of God inside of it. Hear me out. Listen, the level to which you release control determines the level of change you will see in your life. So the more you just give it over to God and you say, "God, you do the deep work," then that's where change actually comes in my life. And I know some of you, some of your life, I'll give control over every area, but not that area. You know that area of your life, not my money, not my time, not my free time, not my relationship that I know is ungodly, not that thing. And that's the very thing God's trying to get a hold of in your life, because hear me

out, because the area of your life that feels most broken is often the one you're trying the hardest to control. So God's saying, release it to you, him, and watch as you release it to him. That's where change happens in your life. Number three, and our worship teams can come at every campus. The spirit is inviting you. To develop character. I wanna keep this up there for just a second. At all of our campuses and you're writing it down. But imagine what's gonna happen over the next 10 weeks. Imagine as you live a life, not trying harder. I will love, I will be patient, I will have peace. No, imagine as you accept Christ into your life. Release control and then let God do a deep work of character building in your life. You're gonna look different. You're gonna look different. Why don't you just do this? I don't know, we don't do this often. But if you're sitting next to your spouse, next to your friend, just tell them, say, hey, you're gonna look different in 10 weeks. You're gonna look different in 10 weeks. Come on, tell somebody. You're gonna look different in 10 weeks. You need to know this. You know why? It's prophetic 'cause you need to hear it. 'Cause some of you, you've been trying so hard. You lean into this, watch.

You're gonna look different in 10 weeks. Because we're not gonna get our attention on ourselves. We're gonna get our attention on Jesus. Look what Paul writes, beautiful verse, and we're almost done. He says, and we all, talking about us as the family of believers, with unveiled faces, contemplate the Lord's glory. What does that mean? As we look to Jesus, we are being transformed into his image. Don't we want that in our lives? Don't we wanna look more like him with ever increasing glory? Which comes from the Lord who is spirit. This verse right here, I almost made this our memory verse this week, but I just wanted you to learn the fruit of the spirit. Because I thought this was so stinking powerful with unveiled faces. Now we can boldly go to the throne of grace, learn about Jesus, learn who he is. And as we get our eyes on him, we get transformed to look more and more like him. You see, because hear me out, because the fruit of the spirit is not about a performance we're trying to achieve. We gotta move past that. But it's about the person we're called to become. And God is calling you to become somebody

who looks like Jesus, who talks like Jesus, who walks like Jesus, and this isn't something we strive to do. We lean into the spirit of God and let him highlight this stuff in our lives. Now let me just go back to my board game illustration, because you might not know this about me, but I am like a master cotan player. Now some of y'all don't even know what cotan is, it's the best board game of all time. And it's one of my favorite games. And I was so excited because about three or four months ago, my kids have finally gotten to an age where I can teach them this so that I can dominate them. Like I've dominated all my friends for years. I'm excited about it. So I teach my three youngest. And what I did with mahjong is just saying, isn't it with your life where you're teaching a kid a game and they're looking at you? And it's just like, and then you have to do this, and you have to buy this stuff, and you can negotiate with this, and then you have to collect this and many of this. And I'm watching as their faces are just glazed over, and they're going, they don't get it. And then I finally, much of my daughter says it, she's like, God, just do it, and we'll follow along. So the first game, it was a little rough. I beat him really bad.

We've played multiple times since. The last three months, I'm proud to say, my oldest two have both beaten me, like head on, like beat me in the game. Why? 'Cause they watched me, they did what I did, and they learned how to play. You have a good heavenly father who is viding you into life change. And he's not sitting there saying, this is the rule, this is the rule, this is the rule. Here's what he's inviting you in. He's saying, watch me, and as you watch me, guess what? You will walk in to being a better mom, a better father, a better husband, a better leader, a better Christian, because we're following Jesus, and as we follow him, we'll be made to like him. That's how we actually change. That's how we change. So I've been working on this for six months, and my prayer over the six months has been this prayer. And I'll tell you, I'm not there yet. I got a long, long way to go, just ask my family. But it's deeply transformed me as I've prayed this prayer, and this is how we'll end today. God, what is it about my character that you wanna change? Think about it. Think about what it is in your character,

and the inner working inside of you that the Lord wants to change. And then here's your prayer, ready? and through you. And hear me out radiant. You pray this prayer. You lean into this series. I speak it over your life in 10 weeks from now. You will muck more like Jesus than ever before, not because you tried harder, but because you submitted to the Spirit of God and he let the work of God, they made evident in your life and the world will be transformed because the church of Jesus Christ looks and acts like Jesus and that's what will transform the world for his glory and his honor and Jesus name. Amen church. Let's do this all over the room. Just close your eyes. That's that's the Lord. Nobody moving around at every campus, just let the Holy Spirit do a deep work. We have a moment of worship and we're going to let the Lord do a deep work before we dismiss God. What is it about our character that you want to change?