Welcome to the Believers Bible Assembly We've journeyed through 4 key points in our series Transform Life We talked

about surrender as being the first thing that we have to do the first thing that we need

to do Giving God full control of our life Number 2 we talked about dwelling in his presence

remaining where transformation happens Then we talked about walking in the spirit living in the spirit That's

our daily relationship walking in obedience as the Spirit leads us and guides us into

all truth And the last time we were together we talked about how the Spirit

has power over the flesh if you yield to the Spirit And when you yield to the spirit the spirit

now can renew our desires and our desires will no longer be for the flesh but our desires will

be for the spirit A truly surrendered transformed life is not just changed on the inside it

becomes visible It can be seen and impactful to others on the outside because when the spirit is truly in

control something in you changes and the things around you will change as well We talk about a transformed

life the proof the evidence That your life is surrendered that your life is transformed Today I

want to talk about the Spirit's fruit and his power operating in your life because that's what the Spirit

is designed to do The proof the evidence that the spirit is operating in your

life is the fruit that it bears and the power that you walk in Let's go

to two familiar scriptures this morning John 15:4-5 and it reads Abide in me and I in

you as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine neither

can you unless you abide in me I am the vine You are the branches Whoever abides in me and

I in him he it is that bears much fruit Turn to Acts chapter 1

verse 8 and it reads as follows But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you

I'm going to look at these two scriptures and I want to talk about the Spirit's fruit and

the power operating in your life Because that's what the spirit is designed to do He wants to work

in you He wants to accomplish something in the earth realm through you First I

want to talk about fruit comes from our connection with God When you look at John 15

verses 4 and 5 Jesus did not say that fruit comes from working hard doing your best putting your best

foot forward self-fort We've been talking about that throughout this whole teaching series Your life cannot be transformed by

self-fort Jesus is not talking about anything that you can accomplish in the flesh in yourself He

says abide in me remain in me stay connected to me stay yielded to me stay surrendered to

me Then your life will produce fruit much fruit So it's God's desire for our lives to

bear much fruit but you cannot manufacture true spiritual genuine fruit You just can't do

it because manufactured fruit is fake fruit it's temporary and it doesn't last But you and I are

to bear fruit much fruit as we remain connected to Jesus Christ by the Spirit We

are called to be holy Holiness is one of the attributes of God Holiness is what we are called

to be and produce but holiness is not a result of self-fort So if you're trying to produce holiness through

self-fort that's fake fruit it's temporary and it doesn't last but as a believer what we're

called to produce is the overflow of our relationship with Jesus Christ because of the spirit

that dwells on the inside of us So if you want to produce more fruit in your

life don't try harder Just abide deeper in Christ and deeper in His word and His

spirit Our spiritual fruit comes from our connection with Christ Remain in me abide in me

The scripture does not say disconnect from me and then reconnect when things get hard

Things are getting hard because you have disconnected from Christ Things get hard when you separate yourself

from Christ But in order for the Spirit to transform your life and for us to live

a life that God designed us to live we have to remain connected to the

source We have to remain connected to Jesus Christ Second thing I want to share with you this morning

is that the fruit of the Spirit is the character of Christ in you Galatians 5:22

and 23 list the fruit of the Spirit love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness

and self-control These fruit are not produced by your self effort These fruit are not produced by your personality These

fruit are not produced by being morally good These fruits cannot be produced through self-improvement self effort The fruit of

the Spirit is genuine fruit that's produced in your life through your connection with Christ by the

Spirit which is a reflection of the character of Christ in you You cannot produce these on your own The

fruit of the spirit is the nature of Christ that's growing in you Pastor Mike I don't

have all these fruit in my life If you stay connected with Christ they will manifest themselves in your

life We talked about this in a previous teaching how you know you have love

because your love fruit is going to be tested How you know you have joy

because your joy fruit is going to be tested Peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control is going to be

tested And what comes out will determine if these fruit exist in your life or not When your

love fruit is tested what's going to come out love or hate When your peace fruit is tested what's

going to come out Peace or anxiety worry fear doubt The fruit of the spirit is the character of Christ

that is in you and you're growing in Christ We're growing Anything that's not growing is dying And

if the spirit is truly leading you the proof the evidence will be seen in how you treat people

It will be seen in how you respond under pressure It will be seen in how you speak to other

people and it will be seen in how you forgive others You can't be carrying a grudge talking about you're

walking in the spirit no You can't be harboring resentment towards somebody and you say that you're walking in

the spirit No that's not a fruit of the spirit Resentment is not a fruit of the spirit Anger

is not a fruit of the spirit Holding on to grudges is not a fruit of the spirit

That's something you've got to let go But if you're truly walking in the spirit these

fruit these evidence will be seen in your conduct because the fruit of the spirit is visible and

when somebody sees it it's undeniable that you are walking in the spirit and the spirit of

the Lord is leading and guiding your life and you're now reflecting the character of Christ in your

life So you don't have to announce your fruit People will see it They will recognize it Number 3

a surrendered life produces spiritual power in your life Acts chapter 1 verse 8 you will receive

power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you Now oftentimes when we read this we're thinking about

the miraculous the supernatural and that is one of the manifestations of the power of the Holy Spirit operating in

your life That's the Holy Spirit's giving of a gift to whom he designate to be given to That's

the Holy Spirit's doing when it comes to the miraculous and the supernatural But if you have a surrendered

life you have the power to pray with authority You have the power to witness with boldness

You have the power to resist temptation See people don't think about the power of the Spirit when it

comes to these things They're thinking about the tongues and giving a prophecy Again that's the Holy Spirit's doing

whenever he wants it to be done but you and I We have the power to pray we have the

power to witness we have the power to resist temptation We have the power to

break generational patterns and curses in our lives Yes you have the power to do

that We have the power to walk in your God designed purpose Everybody was created with

a purpose and you'll never ever ever understand your God designed purpose if you're walking in the flesh but if

you're walking in the spirit operating in the power of the spirit you understand your God designed purpose We have

the power to heal emotional wounds those things that you've been carrying around all your life and

haven't dealt with it We've got the power to control that We're looking for somebody to come and lay

hands on you No no I have the spirit that dwells on the inside of me and

the Bible says greater he is in you than he does in the world The Holy Spirit

is greater than my emotional wounds that I've been carrying around all my life That's been limiting my

walk with God because I haven't dealt with it Now I have the power to deal with

it I have the power to overcome it now because I'm walking in the spirit and the spirit is

producing power in my life And we have the power to stand firm in the midst of trials So

when you read Acts chapter 1 verse 8 think about it in a different way now Yes

as you read the book of Acts you're going to see miraculous things You're going to see people healed delivered

all that but the Holy Spirit is not designed just for the supernatural and miraculous He

wants to work in you and part of working in you is breaking those things that

are holding you back Breaking those mindsets those emotional wounds that's him working in you But

the spirit it also wants to make you effective Yes he wants to clean you He

wants to purify you He wants to conform you into the image of Christ but he also wants

your life to be effective He wants your life to be meaningful He promised us in John

And that same spirit that changes you Empowers you to be used by God God has a purpose for

the spirit changing you He has a purpose for the spirit empowering you so that you can be used

by God in whatever capacity God wants to use you in But you have to surrender to

where the Holy Spirit is directing you He's going to take you places that you never thought you could go

But he's there to empower you and equip you in the area that you need

to go So when you do go you'll be useful not only to God but to other people

but you have to surrender because God just don't want to work in you He wants to

work through you Philippians 2:13 says for it is God who works in you both to

will and to work for his good pleasure God wants to do something to you that's good God wants

to do something in you that is going to be a benefit to others but you have to be

equipped you have to be empowered You may have a beautiful lamp that's in your house but

if it's not plugged in it has no power In order for our lives to have

power we have to be plugged in And many believers are religious and they're plugged

in to their titles They're plugged in to their ministries They're plugged in through their various activities

but they lack power because they're not plugged in connected to the source which is

the Holy Spirit 2 Timothy 3:5 says they will act religious but they will reject the power

that can make them godly Stay away from people like that That's the new living translation So they can talk

the talk They got all the Christian cliches activities rituals down They got the titles and

all that They act religious but they reject the power that can make them godly Stay away from people

like that You will never be able to manifest the power of God in your

life by acting religious Again that's fake fruit fake religious fruit and have no power in their lives

because they are not connected to the source the spirit The power is not in the talent

it's not in the singing it's not in the dancing The power is not in

a personality how charismatic the person is how articulate the preacher preaches The power is not

in performance your ability to do things True spiritual power is in our connection to the Holy Spirit

each and every day Go back to John 15:45 Abide in me Remain in me Stay connected to

me That's where its true spiritual power is in our connection with the Holy Spirit each and every day

The Holy Spirit gives us the power to walk right talk right do right think right but you got

to be connected to the spirit each and every day You already have the spirit dwelling on the inside of

you All you have to do is connect with it and you connect with it through the spiritual disciplines

that we talked about through the prayer reading of the word study of the word meditating

on the word just getting the word and the word is designed to empower you Because it's

not just words on a piece of paper it's spiritual The Holy Spirit is designed to bring understanding to

spiritual things but you have to stay connected We're talking about the fruit and the

power of the Spirit and number 4 a surrendered life becomes a testimony John chapter 15 verse 8 says by

this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit Bearing fruit is a testimony of the power of God

of the Spirit of God operating in your life People will not come to know

Jesus because we talk about him Yes we ought to be witnesses of Jesus Christ Yes we're supposed to

share the gospel with other people but people will not get to know Jesus because we talk about him They

will meet him and they'll get to know him because they see him in your

life Your life will manifest the characteristics of Jesus They will see the Christ in

you The greatest message the greatest sermon that you will ever share or preach is your transformed life

people living epistles When you are surrendered to the transforming power of the Spirit people will

see your peace People will see your self-control People will see your love in action not just words They

will see your joy and rejoicing when everyone else is falling apart They will see the power of

the spirit operating in your life The greatest testimony the greatest message that you will ever preach or share

is you and your transformed life because people know you they see how you used to be Used to be

anxious worried full of doubt fear Now they see your peace They see you calm They can't

understand it They can't put it together They see that you were full of anxiety

and anger and just emotional all the time Any and everything would trigger you set

you off Now they see you cool calm nothing fazes you They see your self-control They don't

know what's going on They will see your love in action Love is a verb Verb denotes action not just

you're talking about it Oh I love you Now they're going to see it in action They'll see your

joy Everything is falling apart around you but you got a joy and rejoicing in your

heart When you are totally surrendered to the transforming power of the spirit people will see the spirit operating

in you and that is your greatest testimony They don't have to hear a sermon They'll

see it in you They will see your transformed life and they will say What

happened to you You've changed And now you have an opportunity to be a witness for Christ

and you can tell them it is the power of the spirit through Jesus Christ that changed me

This gospel that we know has to be lived out not just preached or talked about We are living

epistles living letters living scripture known and read by all people Our life our conduct will serve as a public

letter or testament of our relationship to Christ and the power of the Spirit within

us The Holy Spirit is calling us to become believers who are not filled with emotional responses to

Him or filled with religious worship and activities toward Him But he's calling us today to respond

to Him with our lives that produces much fruit that produces godly character and with our lives that produces spiritual

power And the Holy Spirit is ready to empower you and to transform your life when you surrender

totally to Him and follow his leading and his guidance So every day we need to pray

and let him know that we need Him Holy Spirit I surrender my life to you fully I surrender my

life to you totally Produce in me your fruit Let your character in me reflect the

character of Christ Fill me with your power to live right walk right talk right do

right and to effectively minister your grace and your love to other people Let my

life be a testimony that Jesus is alive and that he lives in me That should be our

daily prayer to the Holy Spirit inviting Him into our lives to do his transformative work in and through us

And when we surrender fully to Him we can see the Spirit's fruit and power being manifested in

your life Be blessed