Fruit of the Spirit
July 14, 2024
Fruit of the Spirit: Self-control
Our 9:00 am Traditional Service: https://www.facebook.com/BRBUMC/videos/476515458301525
Our 10:30 am Contemporary Service: https://www.facebook.com/BRBUMC/videos/1248555273193304
The greatest battle is the one against ourselves.
I have really enjoyed this sermon series! It has challenged me in a way that would take a couple of cups of coffee, and a few hours to explain, but let’s just say that God has been busily attending my garden of fruit! It has brought about a bunch of self reflection…and that is a good thing!
Our featured fabulous fruit, this week, was self-control, and I have come to realize that without self-control…the other fruits would not flourish. All the fruits rely on self-control.
Love is not a feeling, it is an action, and when we encounter a person that perhaps we deem as “unloveable”, we must decide to be loving towards them. We must remember that they are created by God, and that He loves them, and He values them. We must remember how Jesus treated the unwanted and unloved, and live that example, but that can be hard…and that is where self-control enters, where we decide to walk in love, and love the unloveable…or the annoying.
When we are in a trying time of life; when our future looks uncertain, or when calamity has struck, or when our hearts have been broken, the instinctive reaction is not joy. But as we process our feelings, we are able to look to God’s Word for comfort. What does He say, what do we know about Him and His character? Because we know Him and trust Him, even though our situation may seem dire, we can know that we serve a God who is for us, and not against us (Romans 8:31). He always has a plan that is for our good, and in that we can have joy and peace for that matter, but it takes self control not to be swept away by panic and hopelessness. Self-control “pumps the breaks” of our emotions, and says, “now hold on little lady, what does your God say about this,” and decides to trust in a sovereign God…who is very smart!
Patience…waiting….and waiting, requires self-control. Deciding that God’s plan is always better than our own, and submitting ourselves to that plan, rather than manipulating the circumstances in order to “get our own way”, or to make things happen more in accord with our time frame…takes self-control. All of these fragrant fruits need the support of self control…it is an underrated fruit!
In our Christian subculture, we have coffee mugs, journals, wall decals, all displaying Love, or Joy, or Peace, but I do not believe I have ever seen a coffee mug or t-shirt with the words self-control on it, and I think there should be, because all of the other fruits come in more abundance with the help and support of the unsung hero…self-control! Self-control needs it’s own t-shirt…and maybe if we all walked around with our self-control t-shirts, or coffee mugs, we would be reminded how important that fruit is, and the rest of the Fruit of the Spirit would overflow on to everyone we met, and it would be a lovely mess…a really lovely mess! I think I need a self- control shirt…anyone else, or is it just me? – Ginny Axelrod
July 7, 2024
Fruit of the Spirit: Gentleness
Our 9:00 am Traditional Service: https://www.facebook.com/BRBUMC/videos/1201034067912437
Our 10:30 am Contemporary Service: https://www.facebook.com/BRBUMC/videos/508694584817325
Gentleness
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, are all the fruit of the Spirit. This means that it is a work that the Spirit accomplishes in our lives. The goal of this work, that the Spirit carries out, is to make us more like Jesus (Ephesians 4:14-16), and that works out quite nicely, because that is the goal that every Christian strives for!
In Matthew chapter 11, Jesus tells His listeners to, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:29). Gentle, can also be translated as meek, and neither of them should be understood as weakness. Jesus is God, He is the Son of the Trinity. He holds the power of life and death in His hand. He created the universe, He created the earth, and all the dwells on it. Demons flee at His name! Jesus is not weak, but rather He is strength under control. Jesus did not lord over His followers, instead He served them. Jesus was “confident”, to speak in human terms, of who He was, and He didn’t need to “prove” Himself. Jesus was strength under restraint.
I saw a definition for gentleness that I loved. The author defined gentleness as “Strength that accommodates other people’s weakness” …I love that! That is how we are to live our lives.
When we are dressed in gentleness we will not react to the inconveniences of life with a bad attitude. We will be restraint, because we know that when all is said and done, God is God over that inconvenience. When we encounter a “bump in the road” of life, or when tragedy strikes, we will not let our emotions “overflow” onto others, we will keep reminding ourselves that we belong to the one true God, who reigns on heaven and earth, and He loves us! Whatever is our situation, God is aware, and He is not removed from your suffering, He is right there with you, and although you may not see, He is working out a plan for your good, and because of that you can have a “gentle and quiet spirit” …”Which in God’s sight is very precious” (1Peter 3:4). When we understand who God is, we are able to trust Him in all circumstances, and in trusting Him we will have a gentle inner-climate, though, we may have to “school” ourselves as we parcel through each circumstance that comes our way. But in the end, after we turn to the Word, and lay our burden down at God’s feet, we will experience peace. And you may be noticing by now how all of the fruit of the Spirit is connected; they all work together…it is a supportive system!
This means that in the inconvenient situations, like when the waiter gets our order wrong, we will not make a scene, because we as gentle spirited people, have grace, because we realize how much grace God has for us. It also means we will not return a hateful attitude with the same, we will love those who are rude to us, because God has poured out His love freely on us, even when we have been “rude” to Him. We will forgive those who hurt us, because whatever they have done, the offense is against God really, and God has forgiven us all of our sins, and if you think God does not care that you have been misused, you are mistaken, He truly cares when you are hurt, and He has promised to “right” every wrong, and we can trust Him in that. We may not see how He is handling it, because really, it’s none of our business…but He is handling it, because He says He is.
The Fruit of the Spirit, is to make us more like Christ, and in that we become a living bill board or advertisement for Him, or better put, we become an ambassador for Christ, and the hope is that all who see our gentleness (and the other fruit) will be drawn to us, and want to know why we are different, and that opens the door to share all about what Jesus did for us, because in the end, our lives are all about rescuing the captive from their prison, and to be able to do that we need to be approachable, so being rough in speech, proud in attitude, or dismissive and unkind is not going to get your foot in the door of someone’s life, and if you are not welcome in someone’s life you will not have a receptive audience when you say….Let me tell you about my Jesus. They may think, “oh just another Christian who talks the talk, but is all talk”
I have been looking at the garden that the Holy Spirit is growing in my life, and I have found some weeds…If you know anything about gardening weeds will suck the life out of your “crop”, and the same is true in our little “spiritual” garden, and the weeds are not welcome! I have been praying and asking God to help me identify them, and I am rooting them out! Do you have any weeds? If you do, talk to God…after all He knows all about gardening, God was the original master gardener, and He knows exactly how to manage the garden of your heart, and if you ask Him He will guide you, but be forewarned; when you pray a prayer like that He is quick to deliver, and you may not like what He shows you, but remember He loves you too much to allow your beautiful garden to be ruined by pests or weeds, that garden is precious to Him, and He has promised to finish the work that He has begun in your life! And He is a loving, gentle, gardener, so we know He will treat us with all gentleness and care! But in the end, you will have a beautiful garden overflowing with all the good fruits, and people will see it, and they will wonder where does all that fruit come from, and then you can share! – Ginny Axelrod
June 30, 2024
Fruit of the Spirit: Faithfulness
Our 9:00 am Traditional Service: https://www.facebook.com/BRBUMC/videos/370041099063299
Our 10:30 am Contemporary Service: https://www.facebook.com/BRBUMC/videos/1180603316471190
Faithfulness
As you pray to walk in the fruit of faithfulness, remember, that as you strive to be faithful to God, remember that He remains faithful to you…even when you fail!
As I assess my life, and count up my failures and tally my sin, and as I bring them before the Lord in prayer, He has never once held them against me. Even better, as I pray for Him to show me the areas of sin in my life, He is faithful to reveal them to me, but never disparages me, instead He leads me to victory over them. God is good.
God wants us to be free from sin, not because He wants to keep us from “fun”, but because He knows that sin’s pleasures are temporary, and they always lead to death…spiritual and physical, and God has better for us.
God understands the predicament we Christians find ourselves in, and He has grace, but be careful that you do not take that grace for granted, and thus cheapen it…it costs so much.
We Christians find ourselves, after we receive that grace, to be residents of Heaven, living in a foreign land, very different than our true home. We are bombarded with differing views of what is “right”, and what is “wrong”. We are faced with moral dilemmas, such as, is abortion a woman’s right, or is it the murder of an innocent life? Is intimacy outside of marriage, ok? And what about the LBGQT questions that we are faced with? And there are so many more! All of these issues facing the Christian are important, and they are important to God…and His opinion is really the only one that matters. Our morals should align with God’s, and the only way we can determine what HIs moral code is, is to study them out in the Word…But as we study, and our opinions take shape, we should also have grace. Whichever side of the various debates you fall on, walking in the love that God has extended to you is essential. You can hold whatever opinion you hold, but leave the door open for the Holy Spirit to change your opinion, as you study out each particular issue, and have grace for those who do not see things the way you do.
Each person on earth was created in God’s image. They are all important to Him. They need to know that He is real, and that He sent His Son to pay the debt of their sin, and one of the ways they will see that is through your life, and in your love. One day there will be no question of whether God is real or not. One day every knee will bow to Him. One day He will return, and when He does, I want to be found faithful. I rely on God’s faithfulness, in that, to keep my feet steady and sure…to keep my foundation firm and true.
As I assess my life, and count my failures, and tally my sin, I know that I am not perfect, but I do know that I have a promise, “He who began a good work in you, will be faithful to complete it” (Philippians 1:6), God has promised that He will keep working on me until He is done with that “good work”, and part of that good work is nurturing the fruits of the Spirit in my life. I can trust that I will remain faithful, because He is faithful to me. I can trust that He will correct my opinions if they are wrong. I can trust that I can love those that have differing views than me, because the love that I have comes from Him, and that kind of love has no condition on it. And the same is true for you! – Ginny Axelrod
June 23, 2024
Fruit of the Spirit: Goodness
Our 9:00 am Traditional Service: https://www.facebook.com/BRBUMC/videos/2209307279402305
Our 10:30 am Contemporary Service: https://www.facebook.com/BRBUMC/videos/2571264763077499
When we revel in the understanding that God has shown us His unmerited favor, when we meditate on God’s goodness, and His kindness towards us, it changes us…and that can change the world!
God has been so kind to me! Even in the trials of life, God has been good. Even in the mundane inconveniences, God has been good, and because of that goodness that I have been shown, it makes me want to be a better person…it makes me want to be good, and kindness is an expression of goodness. It doesn’t come naturally; we have to cultivate it.
Kindness is a sweet fruit! Just think about it. When a stranger shows you a random act of kindness, doesn’t it just warm your heart? If you are having a bad day, doesn’t it change your “head space”? And doesn’t it make you want to “pass it on”? I think most people would say yes. Kindness is like a cold….very catchy!
Kindness is not, in and of itself, going to further the Gospel, but what it does is change the environment, so that the heart is softened, so that the goodness of God can be proclaimed, and seen. And that is part of our jobs as Christians…to display the Gospel.
One day, I was standing in line at….of course Aldi’s…I had a lot of groceries, because I had not been shopping in two weeks, when I noticed a woman standing behind me, with a big bag of dirt (you really can get anything at Aldi!). This woman did not look very happy, and honestly, I felt a bit intimidated, but I said, “Excuse me, why don’t you jump up ahead of me.”. She did just that. And then as we continued to wait, I told her that if she liked she could lay her bag of dirt on my basket while we waited in the line, “because obviously she had a day of gardening planned, and she should conserve her strength.”. The lady laid her bag of dirt on my cart. She looked at me, as though she wanted to say something, and looked away, and looked back, and said, “You know, just as I was thinking that everyone sucks, someone does something nice, and now I guess I have to rethink that. Thank you”. I told her that she wasn’t wrong (about people sucking), but that is why kindness has such an impact on people. That exchange took very little effort. I did a very small thing, but it changed her inner climate. It made her consider for a moment that perhaps there is still a little kindness in the world. I did not share the Gospel, there was not an opportunity for that, but…maybe a kind act tilled the soil of her heart, for the next person to plant the seed of faith. I don’t know, but God does. But I do know that my Aldi’s lady was having a bad day, and God made it a little better by a random act of kindness. So, let’s normalize those random acts of kindness.
Kindness is a beautiful fruit! And remember the fruits of the Spirit are the evidence of our salvation, so we should want to display kindness in our lives.
Kindness to those we meet in our daily journey is important, but kindness towards are brothers and sisters in Christ is also important! Yes, even the ones that you find to be annoying. We all have people that grate on us, but consider this; you could be that “heavenly sandpaper” in someone else’s life…how do you want to be treated, and more importantly…how does God want you to be treated? So how does God want you to treat others? I’ll answer that…with kindness! A kind word goes a long way! Do you appreciate the Pastor, and all his hard work? Tell him! Do you love Bethany’s voice, does her worship inspire you? Tell her! The job of the Pastor and Worship leader is no piece of cake! There are many pieces to a worship service, and the Pastor and Worship leader keep those pieces together, and it is not as easy as both Anchul and Bethany make it look, and I speak from experience! Take the time to tell them! Because your encouragement means a lot! Take the time to encourage the worship team! The singers and musicians sacrifice their time and put in a lot of work in practice! Let them know what a blessing it is! Then there are the people behind the scenes. The people who make sure we are supplied with the words so that we can praise, and the people who make sure we can hear the music, and the Word! Take a moment, and encourage Marge, Joyce, Jim, Mike, and Richard, because the men and the women at the “back of the room” rarely get any notice….unless something goes wrong! Don’t forget about the greeters, and the security team! All these folks sacrifice to serve you, and I know we all appreciate them, but how often do we tell them? This is how we change the world…by being kind. Kindness is contagious! And it should begin in the House of the Lord! I pray that we will all grow in kindness, mostly because it pleases God, but also because it makes the world a better place! – Ginny Axelrod
June 16, 2024
Fruit of the Spirit: Kindness
Our 9:00 am Traditional Service: https://www.facebook.com/BRBUMC/videos/969528078246205
Our 10:30 am Contemporary Service: https://www.facebook.com/BRBUMC/videos/367504205951526
“As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not everyone.” Romans 3:10-12
You know, I was feeling pretty good about myself. I thought to myself, “I’m a good person”, and I am, compared to Adolf Hitler, or Ted Bundy, or Jeffrey Dahmer…I am, I mean, I am not responsible for the death of 7 million Jews, and I am not a serial killer, and I am certainly not a cannibal…so yeah, I’m a pretty good person, that is, until I compare myself to Jesus, and then…well I find myself just a little bit lacking.
Paul makes the astounding claim, in Romans chapter three, that there is none righteous, and that there is no one who does good…no not even one, that seems to be a bit of broad sweeping statement (Paul is quoting Psalm 14, and Psalm 53, so you can refer back to those, just for fun!). So, what does Paul mean by that, does he really mean that there is no one who is righteous, and no one who does good? Yes, he does. While I may seem like a good person compared to Hitler or Dahmer, or maybe even to my neighbors; compared to Jesus I am not, and I am faced with the reality that any goodness apart from redemption is not goodness at all. You see any of my good deeds, are worthless because they are tainted by sin, the sin of pride; “Look everyone, at the good thing I’ve done”, or the sin of self-satisfaction; “See, I’m not such a bad person, look at the good things that I do, certainly that makes up for the bad.”
There are many people who, by the world’s standards, are considered “good people”, and they do many “good things”…they build hospitals, and orphanages, and donate to charities, but how often, in the daily News, do we find out that many of those “good people” were not so good after all, and that their “good deeds”, were done possibly to deflect attention from all the very bad things that they were doing in secret?
We all begin life with the debt of sin, and in that condition, every good deed, and all our self-perceived righteousness…Is considered rubbish before a perfect, holy God. But….then we get saved! And in the blink of an eye, our status changes, we are no longer enemies of God, we are now his family! And our condition is viewed through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. I think of it a bit like one of those filters you see used on Instagram, you know the ones I’m talking about, where any plain Jane can look like a super model, or a mouse. You see it is still me standing before God, with all my sin, and flaws, but God sees me with the Jesus filter on, and so God sees me…and you, as righteous and good, because of the righteousness that was imparted to us…yay for the Jesus filter, and the Jesus filter lasts even when the camera is off!
Now I know what lays beneath that filter. I still struggle with sin, which means that on my own I am not good, but here’s the thing…the closer I grow towards God, the more I hate my sin, and the more I resist temptation, and the more I desire to do good…not for my own glory, but rather for God’s! I am a work in process, far from perfect, but seen through the Jesus filter, I am forgiven, and I share in Jesus righteousness, and that makes me WANT to be good, because I am so grateful, for what God has done on my behalf, I want to honor Him, and bring Him glory through my actions…and in every area of my life. I want to be good, because of the goodness He has shown to me, and goodness is demonstrated through kindness….and that is a segue to Sunday’s sermon, and we can talk about that next week! – Ginny Axelrod
June 9, 2024
Fruit of the Spirit: Patience
Our 9:00 am Traditional Service: https://www.facebook.com/BRBUMC/videos/3314873135323281
Our 10:30 am Contemporary Service: https://www.facebook.com/BRBUMC/videos/2306319313044816
Patience
The fruits of the Spirit are the evidence in our lives, that we have a thriving spiritual life; they are a measuring bar of sorts, and we are to stand up tall against that measuring bar, and see how we measure up. It’s a good thing to take inventory of our lives. Right?
The only way we grow in patience is to be given something to wait for…something to trust in God for. But in order to trust in God, we need to know who He is. And that comes from being in the Bible, because He tells us who He is, but it also comes through our shared experiences with God. Each time we see God move, our faith, or trust in God grows. Our faith grows while we wait.
Right now, I am waiting on the Lord. Right now, my family is in a difficult time, and we are waiting for the Lord to move. Honestly, it feels a bit like things are falling apart, but in this time, and in our many discussions, as we discuss our greatest fears, we always come back to the fact that God is good, and we can trust Him.
My family has been through many trials over the years, and I use to think it was not fair, I use to wonder why God allowed some of the things to happen to us, but now…I see every one of them as a kindness. You see, because of all the “waiting” to see how God was going to work this or that situation out, we have seen, we have experienced for ourselves, that God is faithful, and we have witnessed Him do great things on our behalf. We have seen Him work out the very worst situations in life, for our good. But the most important and valuable “good” that He has done in those situations, is to grow our faith through them. So, as we sat around discussing our current trial, I found myself feeling a touch of excitement, because in my experience, when things, or circumstances, look impossible, and there seems to be no path forward, and there seems to be no hope, I have found that God is getting ready to do something big. That has been my experience in the past, so I have no reason to doubt the God who has moved mountains on my behalf in the past, and I will trust Him in this current trial. I will refresh my mind with His word, I will take a walk down memory lane, and reflect on all the times He has brought me out of the fiery furnace, and I will trust in Him. For me there is no other choice.
I have found that each season of suffering and waiting has been a gift, given to me by my heavenly Father, not because He is angry with me, not because He doesn’t love me, but rather because He loves me enough to want me to grow. God sees the big picture and knows what is best for me. We may feel like God doesn’t care, but He does. I think of it like this; if you were an alien, say from another planet, and you walked into a surgery, and witnessed a patient being operated on, watching the staff insert the I.V., or watching the surgeon cut open the patient, you might think this is barbaric, and cruel practice, but once you understood that although the surgeon is cutting the person opened, there is actually a good reason; the surgeon is removing something that is harming the patient, and then it does not seem so barbaric, and in fact it becomes an act of kindness and caring. Well, when we are in a time of trial, God is using that to change us…to remove things that harm our relationship with Him, and it is an act of kindness. God hurts for us during those times and does not let us walk through them alone; He is right there. And when we see that God brought us through safe and sound, and worked things out in miraculous ways, we can enter our next crisis with patience, and peace, because we have experienced God, and we know of His faithfulness! In my sermon on Sunday, I said that God always has me “walk” through any message that I preach, and here I am, sitting and waiting for God’s hand to move, and I know that He was preparing me. Maybe He was preparing you too. Be strong, and hold on, because if you are in that time of waiting, God is about to do something amazing, and I hope that you will tell me all about it…and I will rejoice and praise God with You! – Ginny Axelrod
June 2, 2024
Fruit of the Spirit: Peace
Our 9:00 am Traditional Service: https://www.facebook.com/BRBUMC/videos/968856241635968
Our 10:30 am Contemporary Service: https://www.facebook.com/BRBUMC/videos/1880407239095148
Peace
Imagine for a moment: A cabin nestled in the woods. There is no Wi-Fi, no internet connection, no cell phone, no email. It is an early, summer day, bright and sunny, warm…but not too warm. The woods are filled with life. Squirrels scamper searching for treasures. Birds sing their sweet songs. You can hear the insects chirping, and the rustling leaves in the breeze. You can hear the frogs croaking, and the “plop” of an acorn that has fallen into the lake that is at the back of the cabin. And there you sit on the porch…no internet, no cell phone, with your cup of coffee…or tea, whatever is your pleasure, breathing in the fresh air, and enjoying…what? Well, you can’t say the scene that I have described is “quiet”; there are plenty of sounds, and actually it’s quite a cacophony of sounds, but what you are enjoying in our fictitious get-away is peace. Being away from the burdens of technology, the responsibility of emails, and schedules, being connected with nature, that could be described as peaceful. It reminds me of the time that Jesus was in a boat with His disciples, and a storm arose.
The Sea of Galilee is 696 feet below sea level, resulting in violent down-drafts, and sudden storms, and this storm was so fierce, that the waves were crashing into the boat that Jesus and His friends were in. This storm came suddenly and unexpectedly, and they were taking on a lot of water, so understandably, the disciples were afraid for their very lives. But where was Jesus in the midst of the panic? Well, according to the Gospel of Mark, He was in the “stern of the boat, asleep on the cushion.” (Mark 4:38) I’d say that even in the midst of chaos, Jesus was the definition of peace. His disciples woke him up with, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”, and Jesus calmed the storm with a little “Peace! Be still!”, and that punctuation tells us His attitude, He spoke with commanding authority, He owned the wind and the waves, and the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Then Jesus asks the men who follow Him, “why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” It was a fair question, because they were not demonstrating peace in that moment. They were panicking, while the Son of God was in the boat with them…you and I see the irony in that. Jesus was peaceful chillin’ in the back of the boat, because He knew who He was, and He knew the waves would not overtake the boat, because He was in the boat, but the disciples did not quite get it, they still did not understand who it was they were spending their days with.
We are all sailing through life in our own little boat, and we, at times have smooth sailing, but there are those stormy seasons of life, that toss our little boats to and fro, and my question is, are you prepared, because the storms will come, and when they do, will you be like the men in the boat, or will you be at peace?
Everyone who reads this is either coming out of a time of trial, walking through a trial, or about to enter in a time of trial, your trials will be different from mine, but they will be personal, and God will use that time to do great things on your behalf! God will do great things for your benefit, but He also loves you so much that He would never let you walk through those times along…He is right there with you.
In Hebrews 1, Jesus is called our High Priest, just as the Old Testament priests used to be the mediator between God and man, and would offer the sacrifices, and intercede on behalf of the people, Jesus made the “once and for all” sacrifice on the Cross, and He intercedes for all of us, so, Jesus is praying for you in your time of trial. The Holy Spirit is there also! The Holy Spirit helps you to pray. Those times you are to broken to pray, when your brain is not able to formulate how you even should pray, when all you feel is pain and hurt, the Holy Spirit is there leading our spirit in prayer, and interceding for us. We are taken care of during the trial or storm.
There are times that we come through a trial, and we are able to see the incredible thing or things, that God did during that period. There are also times that we are befuddled, asking God why???? But either way, we know that God brought us through…that we survived, and we should make note of that, because there will be another trial…it is the nature of life, right? So, the next trial that tries to “rock our little boat”, we won’t be running around the boat panicking, because we will remember that Jesus is in the boat. We can remind ourselves of that last little storm, and we can write our own little “psalm of remembering” and list the things that God did on our behalf, and as we enter that storm…we will have peace.
Peace is a fruit of the Spirit, and It is a gift. Peace is a gift from God. Satan does not want you to have peace in the chaos, he doesn’t want you to have peace at all. He wants you to be scared, hopeless, and feel like God has abandoned you, but He hasn’t. My wise daughter Samantha, said to me not too long ago, “Peace is a gift from God, so Satan can’t steal your peace, but you can hand it over to him, when you don’t trust in God’s plan.” Amen!
We can protect our peace by reading the things God has done in the history of His people, we can take moments to worship Him for what He has done in our “history”, and we can remind ourselves who we are…We are the purchased, we are the redeemed, we are children of the King, He will never leave us, nor forsake us! That’s His promise to you…to me. Your life is of particular interest to God, and He is aware of everything that is going on, and He is working on your behalf. You are not alone in the boat, let Jesus calm the storm that is in you. – Ginny Axelrod
May 26, 2024
Fruit of the Spirit: Joy
Our 9:00 am Traditional Service: https://www.facebook.com/BRBUMC/videos/447608401188850
Our 10:30 am Contemporary Service: https://www.facebook.com/BRBUMC/videos/822952076379908
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:2-4
There is a difference between happiness and joy.
What makes you happy? I’ll tell you what makes me happy; an early sunny, summer morning, when the birds are singing, and everything is fresh. An evening on the back steps watching the fireflies. The autumn; the smell of leaves, the brisk breeze, the smell of bonfires. A hike in the woods. A cozy winter night by the fire. When my laundry is all caught up, and my house is clean. Knowing that my bills get paid. Being surrounded by my family. Spending time with my grand baby. These are all blessings in my life; they make me happy…and I know that they can all be swept away in an instant, and with them the happiness, but the joy I have will remain.
Happiness is circumstantial, based on external conditions, and in one fateful moment those external conditions can change in a drastic way; remember Job?
The biblical definition of joy is; A fruit of the Spirit. Comforting, content and full of peace. An enduring attitude of the heart and spirit, and a natural part of the Christian faith. Do you have that joy, and if you don’t, do you want to know how you can get it?
In John 11, Jesus tells us that He is the true vine, and that His Father is the vine dresser. Jesus compares Himself to a plant, a plant that gives life, and there are times, as any gardener knows, that a plant must be pruned to maintain the health of the plant; brown dead leaves must be removed, leggy off shoots must be clipped, or as Jesus says, “every branch that does not bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit”. Jesus goes on to say “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” If you cut off the branch of a tree, it will remain green for quite some time, but it will never bear fruit, and eventually it will wither up and the evidence of its true state will manifest. We also cannot bear fruit unless we abide in Jesus, and since joy is a fruit of the Spirit, we must abide in Him. When we produce fruit in our life, that is evidence that we abide or belong to Him (John 15:8). “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in My love.” (John 15:9)
So as followers of Christ, we all want to bear fruit, like a good, healthy little plant, and we know that the way to do that is to abide in Christ, but how do we do that? Well, what did Jesus say? Let’s look at verse 10, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”. Is it that simple? Yes, it is, and what is the commandment Jesus is speaking about? Take a look at verse 12, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” Jesus is addressing His disciples in this passage, so this is meant for us, the Body of Christ. So how did Jesus love? He taught what was right in God’s eyes, He loved the unloved, He fed those in need, and He died for the sins of the world. In Mark 12:30-31, Jesus tells us to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. These two commandments encompass the whole of the Ten Commandments. Jesus said that if you keep HIs commandments, you will abide in His love (verse 10), and in verse 11, Jesus says that “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
Take some time to read chapter 15, because reading in context is important, and there are so many helpful nuggets! I want a life that is rich in produce! I want those sweet fruits displayed in all my life, in all my actions, and to every person I come across. I want that joy that endures even in the midst of hardship, or tragedy, and so I must abide in Christ, and that means I must be in His Word, so I will know what He has to say, and what His commandments are. I need to speak with Him daily so my relationship will be strong, and it means that I need to do as He says. If I do these things my trust in Him will grow, and when bad things happen, I will know that He has a plan, and it is a plan that has my best interest in mind. My happiness may falter, but my joy will remain, because it is a joy that is found in His love and care for me. I think we all want that! – Ginny Axelrod
May 19, 2024
Fruit of the Spirit: Love
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