Tag Archives: jesus

Fruit of the Spirit – Joy(Psalm 100)

“Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4)

How can you tell someone is a Christian? Jesus says, “by their fruit you will recognise them” (Matthew 7:16) and a key characteristic of the fruit of the Spirit is joy. So shouldn’t joy be a key sign that someone might be a Christian? At last Saturday’s confirmation service, there was a palpable sense of joy, especially among the candidates as they publicly declared their faith in Jesus. Joy often is a mark of Christians.

How do we cultivate this joy? By focussing on our reason for joy. By gathering together to praise God and celebrate what he has done for us in Jesus.

Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:13-26)

“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25)

Last week, we looked at the two humanities on offer. The one rooted in Adam’s disobedience to God in the Garden of Eden and the other rooted in Christ’s obedience to God in the Garden of Gethsemane as he expressed his willingness to die on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. We now have the option of continuing to live simply in the old way as a descendant of Adam and his disobedience, or by faith in Christ as those reconciled to God and assured of his forgiveness.

Join us this Sunday as we introduce our new series on the Fruit of the Spirit.

Adam and Christ (Romans 5:12-19)

“For just as through the disobedience of the one man, the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:19)

Adam famously disobeyed God’s one rule not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We are all descendants of Adam, and like our ultimate father we all continue to disobey God. The Bible calls that sin.

Yet, God sent Jesus as a second Adam, a new humanity. In contrast to Adam, Jesus obeyed. Now, we have a choice of which humanity we want to belong to. The disobedient one founded by Adam or the obedient one launched by Christ, through whom we can be made righteous in God’s sight.

The Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-9)

“We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” (2 Peter 1:16)

Join us this Sunday as all ages join together for our focus on Jesus’ Transfiguration. Come and glimpse the glory of Jesus.

Balaam’s Donkey (Numbers 22:21-41)

God to Abraham: “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:3)

Like Israel in the wilderness we may find life tough at times, perhaps because we keep failing to live in God’s ways. Yet, we can know that God’s ultimate aim will always be to bless us and bring us into his ultimate promise of life, just as he brought Israel into the Promised Land.

This Sunday we finish our series on Israel travelling in the wilderness.