You. Me. Us. Part 3 “Life in the Orchard” THRIVE Service Livestream

You. Me. Us. Part 3 "Life in the Orchard" THRIVE Service Livestream

Galatians 5:22-23

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

First, it’s fruit (singular) of the Spirit, not fruits (plural) of the Spirit. My mother was a stickler for grammar.

There it is. That’s the entire verse for this Sunday.

Short, sweet, easy to remember, and incredibly hard to do.

A good doctor can look at your symptoms and make an educated guess on the cause of the problem.  What you can see on the outside says a lot about what’s happening on the inside.

Ever see a person who is mean spirited, angry, bitter, hateful, and resentful? They’re symptoms of a deeper disease. It means something is wrong on the inside.

Ever see a church embroiled in an ugly conflict where words become weapons and friendships destroyed? It’s a symptom of something deeper and more sinister.

You. Me. Us. Learning to live together as a community is not easy.

Paul says look for the signs that the community is doing what it should and living the way Jesus envisioned. He calls them the fruit of the Spirit. Life in the orchard is marked by the evidence of fruit being produced.

It applies to all of us. Because what we do and say matters more than we know.

It’s a good list to carry around in your pocket.

It’s an even better list to keep in your heart.

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