Mari & Bud inspect the fruit of Self Control from Blaze & Julie Turner.

Of all the fruit of the spirit, this final one can feel like the biggest let down.  In a world where everyone finds a way to get whatever they want right now, self-control can feel like such a buzz kill!  But this is blurred vision.  If we want no boundaries, we need guardrails, rules, and laws to keep us from total destruction, but living a controlled life under the guidance of the spirit of God, requires none of that, and has so much more freedom.

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Mari & Bud inspect the fruit of Gentleness from father/son Pud & Rod Edmondson.

For leaders, athletes, men - and many other categories of people - gentleness is not necessarily an attribute they want to be described as, or even one they long to possess.  It seems to be at the opposite end of the spectrum from something we all want… power!  But ask yourself what is better, to have power that you are always using, maximizing, flaunting even...  Or to have that exact same power, yet choose to constrain it at times for an even greater purpose?  In this message we're going to discuss how strength is not the most powerful thing in the hands of God!

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Bud & Sandie inspect the fruit of Faithfulness from brothers Mark & Terry Ellis.

Have you always been faithful?  Statistically 25% of men admit to having cheated on their wife.  That is one in four!  Let’s think about this differently… Have you ever lacked faithfulness to your God?  Turned your back on Him?  Walked away from Him?  Decided on going your way and not His?  Keeping the marriage vows for a lifetime is something many people do, but living in perfect fidelity to God tends to be a lot more difficult.  As we sit under a tree and inspect the fruit of faithfulness, may we discover that with the Holy Spirit, the impossible is something to be grasped!

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Mari & Bud inspect the fruit of Goodness from Sandie Stanton.

Many people think they are good!  This is an attribute they feel they can attain.  Not necessarily great, but good.  And then there are things Biblically that let us know that, compared to God, none of us measure up.  No one is good.  To make matters even more dire, goodness is about what we do and who we are.  For some of us we might do good things, but we aren’t aware of our selfish hearts.  For others of us we are better on the inside, but that hardly ever makes it out to our hands and feet.  Let's discover a sure fire pathway to living as someone who is good!

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Mari & Bud inspect the fruit of Kindness from Bethany Paterson.

If you have been tracking through this series each week, you may be starting to feel like God is handcuffing his team with less effective tools than everyone else is using.  With the stronger opinions and greater divides that have been growing in our country and world, kindness is another thing that many, even those who claim faith, have relegated to the trash heap of weak people who lack the backbone to do and say what is right.  The spirit of God has something drastically different to say as we sit under a tree this week and discover a fruit worth closer inspection.

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Mari & Linda inspect the fruit of Patience from Jon & Laura Markel.

There are so many movies in which the ‘hero’ has a breaking point, throws patience out the window, and their new found force seems to make life so much better.  While we still tell our children that patience is a virtue, personally and in the broader culture we can tend to see it more through the lens of weakness.  If only I was stronger... If I just had more courage… If I was a better leader…  The Bible consistently paints a much different picture of this neglected attribute.  Today we'll inspect the fruit of patience and discover power where you never expected it to be!

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Mari & Linda inspect the fruit of Peace from Marianne Dawson.

There is a lie that we all tend to believe in some way, shape, or form…  "If the circumstances surrounding my life were less chaotic, then I would experience more peace!”  The truth is that there are always less than ideal situations swirling around us, and if peace is contingent on perfect calm, we would never experience any of it.  Beyond that we have all had times where things were good externally, but internally our reality was anything but peaceful.  Let's invite God to do something within us that blows our minds and gives us peace.

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Mari & Linda inspect the fruit of Joy from Bob & Redajean Stinemetz.

Have you ever known someone who always seemed to have a sense of pervasive and abiding joy?  For many this is compelling, and for some this is annoying, largely for the exact same reason.  In a world full of people who chase happiness and always seem to come up short, to have something greater and more permanent can feel impossible.  Is happiness synonymous with joy, or is there a difference?  Let’s sit under a tree and inspect some fruit together!

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