Joy (2 of 8)
Series: Fruition
Dave Gustavsen
John 15:1-11
Good morning Chapel family! We’re taking this fall to walk through the famous Fruit of the Spirit teaching from Galatians chapter five in the New Testament. And the starting point of this series is that there is a daily struggle. Because we have the capacity to live in a self-centered, destructive way, OR in a self-giving, beautiful way. All of us have both options open to us. Alexander Solzhenitsyn once said the line dividing good and evil runs through the heart of every person. So at any given time, you have in your heart the potential to go either way. It’s a sobering thought. And Galatians presents this radical idea that the thing that determines which way you go is not how hard you try; it’s whether you learn to connect yourself with the power of Christ.
In other words, here’s what I’m saying:
The pull of sin is strong
But the living Christ is stronger
So open yourself to his Spirit
And you will bear his fruit
That’s what this series is all about—learning together how to open ourselves to the Holy Spirit, so that we bear the fruit of Jesus in our lives. We become like him!
So according to Galatians 5, the fruit of the Spirit is first and foremost love, which we talked about last week. Today we come to the second fruit, which is joy.
Do you remember, back in August 2014, when Robin Williams died? I remember it clearly. My mind immediately went back to the first time I had ever seen him—he was a guest on the show Happy Days. Anyone remember that? He was “Mork from Ork.” And he was funnier than anyone I’d ever seen. And in the years since then, I had so appreciated his comic genius. But after his death, we found out that underneath that happy exterior, there was deep sadness.
I was using Twitter at the time, and after I heard the news I Tweeted a verse from Proverbs 14—it says “Even in laughter the heart may ache.” It’s true isn’t it? Not just Robin Williams. We’ve all known ...
Series: Fruition
Dave Gustavsen
John 15:1-11
Good morning Chapel family! We’re taking this fall to walk through the famous Fruit of the Spirit teaching from Galatians chapter five in the New Testament. And the starting point of this series is that there is a daily struggle. Because we have the capacity to live in a self-centered, destructive way, OR in a self-giving, beautiful way. All of us have both options open to us. Alexander Solzhenitsyn once said the line dividing good and evil runs through the heart of every person. So at any given time, you have in your heart the potential to go either way. It’s a sobering thought. And Galatians presents this radical idea that the thing that determines which way you go is not how hard you try; it’s whether you learn to connect yourself with the power of Christ.
In other words, here’s what I’m saying:
The pull of sin is strong
But the living Christ is stronger
So open yourself to his Spirit
And you will bear his fruit
That’s what this series is all about—learning together how to open ourselves to the Holy Spirit, so that we bear the fruit of Jesus in our lives. We become like him!
So according to Galatians 5, the fruit of the Spirit is first and foremost love, which we talked about last week. Today we come to the second fruit, which is joy.
Do you remember, back in August 2014, when Robin Williams died? I remember it clearly. My mind immediately went back to the first time I had ever seen him—he was a guest on the show Happy Days. Anyone remember that? He was “Mork from Ork.” And he was funnier than anyone I’d ever seen. And in the years since then, I had so appreciated his comic genius. But after his death, we found out that underneath that happy exterior, there was deep sadness.
I was using Twitter at the time, and after I heard the news I Tweeted a verse from Proverbs 14—it says “Even in laughter the heart may ache.” It’s true isn’t it? Not just Robin Williams. We’ve all known ...
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