Our name | Mission | Vision | Leaders Ministries | Schedule | Directions | Contact Home   Gateway Church gathers for worship Sundays at 10:30 a.m. Location: 6425 Jefferson Rd. (Hwy. 129) in Athens, Georgia. For directions, click here. Ministry of the Word: Recent sermons Our quarterly e-magazine Gateway Today For the Gateway family Pastor Jerry's Weekly E-Mail A GATEWAY SERMON SUMMARY AUDIO The fruit of the Spirit is... faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Last in a series) Jerry Varnado, pastor Gateway Church, Athens GA August 3, 2003 Main Scripture text: Galatians 5:22-25. Sermons in this series: The Fruit of the Spirit is Love... Love is the root and foundation for all other fruit of the Spirit. It is God's love that enables us to live the Christian life. The Fruit of the Spirit is...Joy Joy flows from being in God's presence. By the Holy Spirit, the Lord's presence isn't just with us, it is within us. The Fruit of the Spirit is...Peace The peace of God is found in a particular place: the path of God's will and purpose for your life. The Fruit of the Spirit is...Patience We must learn to wait. Not doing so can lead to disastrous consequences. The Fruit of the Spirit is...Kindness and Goodness God's truth is "wrapped" in our lives for delivery to the world. Kindness and goodness are essential elements of the wrapper. Fruit defined: "That which is produced by the inherent energy of a living organism. It is the visible expression of the power working inwardly and invisibly: the character of the fruit being evidence of the character of the power producing it." Even though spiritual fruit is produced by the power of the Holy Spirit in us, we must do those things that cultivate the growth and development of that fruit -- such as Bible study, prayer, and worship. Faithfulness defined: Unwavering loyalty, reliability, and sincerity in one's relationship with God and other people. Faithfulness to God is the highest level of faithfulness required of us. We must adhere firmly and devotedly to God through the person of Jesus Christ and be faithful to obey Him. For any organization to have high morale, efficiency, and success, faithfulness must function in both directions: upward to our superiors and downward to those subordinate to us. Upward faithfulness says: "We would never get anywhere without the wisdom of our leader." Downward faithfulness says: "I couldn't do anything without the great job these people are doing." Faithfulness is a powerful virtue that can literally prosper or destroy individuals and organizations. Gentleness is the Greek word praotes. It is same primary that word Jesus used when He said: "Blessed are the meek..." In our culture "meek" is used to described one who is ineffective or lacks backbone. That is not what this Greek word means! Biblically, meekness is "the proper control of power." The meek properly direct and control their anger. When Jesus was arrested and Peter drew His sword to defend Him, do you remember what Jesus said? "Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?" Jesus resisted using His power inappropriately, because He had a higher purpose, a greater goal. Self-Control: "The virtue of one who masters their desires and passions, especially their sensual appetites." The fact that this this is a fruit of the Holy Spirit tells us that without the Spirit self-control of our sensual appetites is a problem. It's not easy to "just say no." Most of us have great difficulty saying no to what our bodies crave, even when we know it is not moral, holy or healthy. The good news is: we don't have to live in bondage to our sensual appetites. We can say no, by power of the Holy Spirit of God -- no to drugs, alcohol, tobacco, sexual addictions, promiscuity, overeating. We can say no to anything that violates biblical standards, anything that cheapens life or steals our health. In our own strength we can do nothing, but by the power of God we can do all things, we can just say no. "The fruit of the Spirit is...faithfulness, gentleness and self-control....Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." Supporting texts: Matthew 5:5 | John 2:15-16 | Matthew 26:52-54 | Philippians 2:6-8 A mp3 audio file of this sermon is here. (Download to a PC by right clicking on the link and choosing "Save Target As." Mac users: click, hold, and choose "Download Link to Disk." Depending on your connection speed, the file may take several minutes to download.) An audio tape of this sermon is available free of charge (U.S. requests only). Request a tape by calling or writing the Gateway Church office. Please specify tape number 030803a: Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control. © 2003 Gerald R. Varnado To the Gateway Church home page How to contact us