Love, Joy, Peace: Godward Fruit

The fruit of the Spirit represents the character of Christ developed in believers through the Holy Spirit's work, not through human performance or religious activities. God is more concerned with who you are becoming than what you are doing. Many believers live performance-driven lives, focusing on service while neglecting character development, but spiritual fruit is proof of the life received from Jesus, not evidence of religious efforts.

The first three fruits - love, joy, and peace - share important characteristics. The love mentioned in Galatians 5:22 is God's agape love, produced in you by the Holy Spirit. You don't generate this love through willpower; instead, you reflect it like a mirror reflects light. Growth in love comes through abiding in God's presence, allowing His Word to speak over you, and meditating on the cross where His love was fully displayed. Joy differs from happiness because it's vertical - determined by who reigns above you, regardless of circumstances. Satan targets joy because it equals strength, and when joy is stolen, spiritual strength is compromised. Joy functions like a ship's anchor during storms, not by removing problems, but by preventing you from being swept away by them.

Peace that surpasses understanding differs from worldly peace, which depends on favorable circumstances. God's peace remains calm even when everything falls apart, like the eye of a hurricane, where perfect stillness exists despite surrounding chaos. Peace isn't something you find, but someone you find - Jesus Himself is our peace. These fruits are received through connection to Christ, cultivated under the right spiritual conditions, and grow naturally from abiding in Him rather than from striving through human effort.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

It's our time. We must rise up and no longer despair it. It's our time, church, to honor our heritage. We have a savior. He gave it all on the cross. We stand beside martyrs who counted nothing as loss. They took God's mysteries, opened them up for us. Stephen, John the Baptist, Bonhoeffer, Jan Hoff. Surrounded by a cloud of witnesses above, it's now our turn to model his unending love. Our mission is one we cannot confuse your muddy up with some trite excuse. You say you're not well-versed, ready, or able. I think Moses even tried to use that fable. The time we have, it's now more urgent. If we should hear well done, faithful servant in the church. It's our time. It's our time to confess the ways we're mangled, the sins and selfishness that have us entangled. Lust, greed, and pride, their path leads to the grave. Yet we return to our sins as if we're a slave. Can we survive in this putrid dead sea? I quote Paul. So let's cast aside our individual leprosy and begin to leave a biblical legacy. There's a glorious prize awaiting to be won. And the way to win is to start to run. Let's lace them up and fight the good fight. We come to the world most salt and light. Our life on earth is merely a vapor. Our chapter must move from pen to paper. So, church, let's get to writing because it's our time. It's our time, church. We have what it takes to help the world from its slumber awake. To Jesus, we are his beautiful bride. Whom shall we fear with him on our side? We have each other, we are not alone. It's iron to iron in the combat zone. There's a promise of life full of adventure. As long as we give both talents and treasure. The workers are few, the harvest is plenty, with so many lives running on empty. Scores of people trying to cope. They've come to the end of their proverbial rope. Young eyes are wandering, looking for direction. Make sure we point them to his resurrection. The clock's ticking, we're on our dime. Hey church, rise up. It's our time.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

We're still studying this part two of the fruit of the spirit. If you uh yeah, if you're participating guides, please follow along with me. So uh as you guys remember, last week the sermon was focused on fruit versus gift, what God values the most. And the text, main text we use was Galatians 5, 22 to 25. And in that we establish something that God is more concerned with who you are than what you do. Most of us come to church and it's our lives have become a life of performance. And with more focus on the things we are doing in the community more than who we are becoming. Amen. And so we began by laying the foundations that God it's seriously more concerned about who you are than what you do. But then the focus should not be on what you do, it should be on who you are becoming. So the fruit of the spirit is not about performance lifestyle. What it really is is a proof of a life you have received from Jesus. Today we're going to dig deep into the first cluster. And if you guys remember, we said last week that the fruit of the spirit, again, all the fruits, the fruit is divided into three clusters. And we spoke about that last week. And today our focus is on the first three, which is love, joy, and peace. And I'll call these the Goodwin fruit. And it's interesting to know that this first cluster is born from a vertical relationship with the Father. Okay? So this is not something that he can manufacture. You have to position yourself to receive. So when we talk about love, joy, peace, it is not something that you try to become. It is a positional truth. It's the way you are positioned to receive them to be able to now exhibit these things. So open the Bible to me to Galatians chapter 5, verse 22. If you're projecting, please project it. And leave the projection on the screen, please. Galatians 5, 22. And whilst we are doing that, you know, getting ourselves prepared and looking into our notes, I have a question for you. You know, when uh the ladies came to my house uh a couple of days ago and India went and there was a tree, one of the trees that they planted, and apparently the tree is dying or is dead. And um so you know, when I was preparing for today, that thought came back to my mind, uh, stamina India made. Now, if you notice that every fall something happens to trees, right? They they shed their leaves. And by the time we get to January, the tree looks dead. There's nothing happening on the tree. There's no branches, no leaves, no fruits. It looks dead, but something is happening underground. You see, the root system is alive, even though there are no leaves or trees on it. And what is the root system doing, drinking deep and preparing for what spring is going to reveal? And I want you to I want you to write this statement down because it's critical. Now, why is this important? Some of us are going through certain situations, right? We've been in church for a very long time, and everyone can attest to this. You've been praying, you've been faithful, you've been serving the Lord. But it looks as if there is no fruit, there's nothing happening, okay? You see, you are in your barren season, and the barren season does not tell the whole story. Just as a tree goes through their barren season during winter, and you look at the tree and think the tree is dead, but the roots are alive and the roots are drinking, the mere fact that you have nothing to show for now does not mean that there's nothing going on. Because what is happening in your life is not the true story. You see, the fruit is always a result of what happens at the roots level, long before it is visible. And so what is happening to some of us here is that for years, it looks as if we're in a barren season, it looks as if there's nothing going on. But I came to challenge you and I came to encourage you today that that's not the whole story. Now, watch this. Last Sunday, we established a foundational truth. Please write this down, it's important. God is not primarily after what you produce, okay? He's after what you are becoming. Does it make sense to anyone? It is not what we produce. Because the interesting thing is this that you cannot produce anything unless you first become something. So the fruit of the spirit is not a religious activity, it is the character, please listen to me carefully, of Christ that is ripened in you by the Holy Spirit. And so when we talk about the first three, the first cluster, love, joy, and peace, we're gonna dig the next three weeks, we're gonna dig deep into the character. And I want to emphasize this this is the character of Jesus. Okay? And so when Paul was writing this letter to the churches in Galatia, and he was telling them, explaining to them what the fruit of the desire of the flesh is and the fruit of the spirit, Paul was trying to encourage the church to understand that if you that's why he begins by saying that if we have received, if we were born of the spirit, let us live in the spirit. If we have received Jesus, we might as well now walk in Jesus. Amen. So today we are going to examine the first three clusters in Colossians 5 and 2, which I've mentioned already. And I want you to notice something about this first three. This is so important, they are not about how we treat people, the first three good fruits, they define what is happening between you and God. And so if we are on the edge all the time, and trust me, we we you're gonna learn something new about joy today, you're gonna learn something new about love today, something new about what peace really means. But the truth is that if you're on the edge all the time, and this is why it's so critical that every believer should really take a pause and examine the fruit of the spirit and compare it with the life you're living now, amen. Because it tells something about what is going on between you and God. You see, they flow from God to you, through you, and ultimately it goes back to God in worship and surrender. Did you understand that? So, this is not something that you put up or you try and manufacture, you try and do. It has to be, it's about who you are submitted to, and it has to be from God to you, and then you present it back to Him. Someone say Amen. If these three are absent in your life, everything else in your life, spiritual life, will be staled. But the fruit of the spirit, it's love, it's joy, it's peace, it is long suffering, it is kindness, it is goodness, it is faithfulness. I want to show you that as we present this, there's something that you need to understand. You cannot manufacture these, you can only receive them. So the first fruit as aligned in Galatians 5.20, it's love. Interesting. This love in Galatians 5.22, it's not your love. It's not you trying to love folks. It's not you, it's it's not when God says, you know, Holy Spirit tells you that my fruit is love in this particular text. It uses the same word that most of us are no, it's the agape love of God. So this is God's love, which is produced in you by the Holy Spirit. This is not love that you generate, this is not love that this is a love that you receive, then reflect. Does that make sense? And you see, the problem here is that we are trying to love on our own. Okay? You can never do that. And the reason why the very first fruit is love, is the foundation of everything. So most of us have been trying to love God and love people through the power of willpower and religious duties. We make commitments, we attend services, we volunteer, we serve, and we get bent out. Because love that is self-generated is exhausting. The more you try to produce a gap of love from your own resources, the more you deplete, the more depleted you become. You cannot give what you have not received. Does it make sense? Please put up illustration one for me, please. Let me explain something to you. Now take a look at illustration one. Cinema. Leave it out there. In this email, you see two, you know. By the way, I gotta give a shout out to uh graphic designer uh in Ghana. He does an amazing work. His name is uh uh Ebenezer, he's an he's an amazing kid. You know, I just tell him what you do and he puts it together. A mirror does not generate light, it reflects it. Imagine we walked in here now and we turn on the lights, so if you have a mirror in your hands, and you're trying to reflect a mirror, you're not gonna get anything out of it. Because a mirror is not a touchlight, it doesn't generate light, right? But uh the same mirror in the sunlight will radiate brilliance. So, watch this now. Your your love is a mirror, not a flashlight. You are not the source, God is the source. So that his love can shine through you. Do you get that? The same way that you lift up a mirror and you point it to a light and reflect that light, you are not, you don't have the capacity to manufacture love. You cannot. So, what we need to do to be able to reflect genuine love in society to people is the position. This is what we talk about, positional truth. It's where you are positioned in God, and so it's almost as if the same thing that happened to Moses. Moses goes up on the hill, he comes back, nobody could look at his face. Why? Because positionally he was in the presence of God. Doesn't make sense, and so because God is light, oh you're not hearing me. Okay, and you are in his presence, what happens? You reflect the light that's in him. God is love, didn't the Bible tell us that? He doesn't have love, he's love, and because he is love, when you are in his presence, you reflect that love, and then everybody around you benefits from the love. Doesn't make sense. And so this is what I'm saying. You cannot manufacture, it's not something that you can manufacture, it is something that you need to receive. And how do we receive it? We've been speaking since the beginning of the year about how we get to be rooted in God's word. You receive it being rooted in him and being in proximity of who he is. Doesn't make sense to anyone, okay. So love begins with God, God's initiative, not yours. Now let's look at 1 John 4, 9, 19, please. I'm sorry. It says we love him because he first loved us. Does it make sense? We are able to extend love because he first loved us, and through us, that love then reflects to everybody else. And so when you need to love more, it's not about you trying harder. You know, hearing me. This this sequence is irreversible. His love is first, yours is a respond. Okay? This means that the remedy of loveless heart is not to try harder, it is it's to return to the presence of God and allow his love to saturate you again. And so when you are struggling with certain things to do with him, many a time it's not about praying more or fasting more and doing religious duties more or saying three hay marys a day. It's about just understanding. What did he tell them in the book of Revelation? Say, return to your first love. Does it make sense? Return to me, come back to me, because in my presence, what I am I am reflects on you. Amen. And again, we remember the verse that we're studying, John 15 when it says, if you abide in me, you're not hearing me. My words abide in you, go ahead and ask anything. So it's about producing this first fruit, it's about how well you are abiding in the vine. Does it make sense? Because what belongs to God is love, that is who he is, and you can only express genuine love to those you truly love, or for this nature, this world to see that it's but it's it's all down to the proximity of where you are from him. Does it make sense? Okay, so Romans 5:5 says something. It said, now hope does not disappoint. Why? Because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Take a look at the verse again. Now, hope does not disappoint because the love of God, who is what he has, has been distributed or poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us. So here's why you need to understand the Holy Spirit is the agent of delivery, he pours out God's love into your heart and it overflows onto everyone around you. He's a carrier, he's the one that distributes that love that God has provided for you. And when that happens, now everyone around you is experiencing who the father truly is. Does it make sense? Okay, so let's take a look at the application real quick and move on. You do not grow in love by trying to love more, you grow in love by abiding more. Let's figure out the equation again. You do not grow in love by trying to love more. If you want to grow in God's love and for those around you to experience their love, then God is calling you back to him. Because when you abide in him, the love will flow through you. How do we do that? Spend time in the presence of God, let his word speak his love over you. Meditate. You remember we're talking about meditation on Calvary, where the full magnitude of his love was put on display. What caused Jesus to leave everything in heaven? Oh, you're not hearing me this morning, to come down on earth. Bible says that when we are yet sinners, Christ died for us. That was love in demonstration. Amen. And when we begin to meditate on what actually motivated Jesus to leave everything in heaven to come down and die for us so that we can be reconciled back to the Father. When we begin to play that over our minds, okay, watch what happens to you. You start loving your spouse, you start loving your children, your neighbors, and everyone, even your enemies are gonna feel that love, man. Because that love, listen, man, I tell you, folks don't understand. Anyone that met Jesus, something happened to them. What do you think it was? When they look through that eyes, the piercing eyes of love. Oh man, the more you abide in this love, the more natural love becomes the atmosphere you carry. The same thing with Gosh and One. The more you saturate your life with His presence, the more what He has flows through you. So this is not about do it myself. God has positioned it such a way that He wants you to have it, but He wants to be the source. You're not hearing me. How what did Jesus tell him? He said, Without me, you can do you're not hearing me. You want to demonstrate love? Without me, you can do nothing. And dude, be with him means constantly being in that presence. How do you pray? How do you study? What is his word to you? These are the things that get you close to his heart, and as you get close to him, all right. Let me tell you something, man. It's it's it's it's it's an interesting thing. There's certain times you're studying and you're praying and you're studying, and you you don't think there's anything going on until you stand in front of people to teach his word, and you understand something that his presence is just right there with you. Okay, let's talk about joy, the anchor of every storm. So the second fruit, the first is love, the second fruit, God with fruit is joy, and I need to make a clear distinction here. Joy and happiness are not the same things. Really near that. So Paul says the fruit of the spirit is love. We've already spoken about what love is. It's God that has given you, and the more you're close to Him, the more everybody around you, the atmosphere around you, is saturated in God's love. The second is joy, it is not. Happiness man. So let's talk about happiness. What is happiness? Happiness is very horizontal, it is determined by what happens to you. Okay. Happiness, you get happy when you find that new job. That new job came through. You get happy when you receive money that you didn't work for. You go to a doctor's office and there's a diagnosis, and the diagnosis comes positive. You get happy. When your relationships with friends and husbands and kids are strong, you're happy. Okay. That's happiness. It's subject to circumstances. Okay? Joy is vertical. It is determined not by what is happening around you, but by who reigns above you. Does it make sense? I don't need right now. If I give you a blank check, man, you'll be doing some of those here. Imagine you woke up in the morning, went to your mail, and you just received man. That day you praise the loudest in church. Because you're happy. I'm about to tell you the difference and how profound this is. You see, the bat we all, you know, many years ago we had this inscription out there from uh Nehemiah 8:10. The joy of the Lord is our strength, right? This is what Nehemiah told the children of Israel. What if I told you that the source of joy is Jesus Himself? He is the source of joy. It's not circumstitual, it's not it's not subject to circumstances. Okay. In John 15, verse 11, in the New King James Version, the Bible says this these things I have spoken to you. Listen carefully. You see, you don't miss this. These things I have spoken to you. That my joy, you know, hearing what I have, what I am, my joy remains in you. And that your joy, you see, your joy is as a result of my joy. It's a result of who I am. Okay? That I give you so that what you receive from me, you'll be full. Look at it carefully. Jesus did not say, I want you to be happy, which is that what we are all pursuing, happiness. He says that my joy may remain in you. This joy belongs to Jesus first. It is who is. That is why we say that that is his nature, his character. Joy is Jesus personified. So it is a joy that settled, triumphant, unshakable confidence that he carried even on his way to Calvary, that he wants you to deposit in you. Just imagine, imagine for a minute, man. Two weeks ago, we celebrating Jesus. How can you be so confident, knowing that what is ahead of you is brutal death? You see, the Bible says that, and it's so interesting, we read the book of Hebrews. We say, for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross. So how is it that we are always relating joy to happiness? And he goes on and says it, that your joy, the one that I deposited in you, that you may be full. So we start talking about partial or conditional love here, joy here. The same joy that motivated him to do what he did, is the same joy that he's given you. And he's giving you what did he say in John 10? He said, I've come to give you life and life more abundantly. You see, the thing about Jesus is this whatever he's handing over to his church, he's not handing them in portions, not handing them partially. He wants you to have the full experience of who he is. Now, watch this. This is the promise of joy that does not depend on circumstances, man. It's not because somebody promised you something you came through, so you're happy. This is the constant type of joy that we have because of who he is. Does it make sense? Many believers, many of us, probably some here, are waiting for conditions around us to improve before we allow ourselves to be joyful. So, in other words, you'll be praying for some money, you're praying for your kids, you're praying for promotion, you're praying for house, and you come to church and your face as if somebody gets smacked you because you're angry with God. Because that circumstance hasn't changed. You don't understand that the very I'm gonna teach you something in a minute. You will protect the joy that Jesus is giving with every part of your being. Watch this now. You are joyful when the bills are paid, ain't it, precious when marriage is restored, when children come back home. You are man, that day they're they're dancing, nobody can change, man. God, God is good, but this is not a joy that is happening, where this is like joy that is wearing spiritual clothes. Now, watch this. Satan knows this. Many of you think like this is what's so interesting, this is what's so bizarre. When something happens to your job, or your your life is attacked with sickness, or things are not working out the way you want it to. You probably think that Satan is after my finances, it's after your health. No, it's not. Can I tell you what Satan is after? He's after your joy. Because watch this now. Nehemiah 8 10 says, the joy of the Lord, you're not hearing me. The joy that Jesus, Paul says that we should all exhibit that joy is not just happiness or sequestration. That joy, Nehemiah said, is that is your strength. Does it make sense? That joy is your strength. Okay, so I'm gonna give you an equation, very simple equation, but profound. If Satan steals your joy, he steals your strength. If it comes after your money, if it comes after your health, if it's coming after your children, if it's coming after your business, if it's coming after something that God has given you by right, he's not coming after that. What is ultimately seeking for is a joy. Why? Because the equation is very simple. Joy equals strength, no joy, no strength. So what happens when you lose your joy, when you become uh what's called when you lose your joy, what happens? You will become susceptible to what? Discouragement. Then you compromise. The next step is spiritual powerless. Priorlessness, yeah. Okay, English language, spiritual powerlessness. And so when he can get you to that position, he gets you to do anything he wants to do. So Jesus said, That your joy, that joy, you'll be full of it. Never to get to the place that things around you are as a result of the circumstances around you. Most of us blame God when things are not going right. Let me show you illustration number two. Watch this now. There's an illustration here. The things you find out when you study. You see, there's a ship. On this on the ocean, and there are storms around everywhere, right? The ship is steady, being tossed up and down. And they drop an anchor. Does the anchor stop the storm? It doesn't. Does it change the direction of the winds or the waves? It doesn't. What an anchor does is that it keeps the ship steady from drifting. Does it make sense? So it's not about I'm in the midst of a storm on the sea, I'm gonna drop my anchor because immediately I drop the anchor. The waves are gonna be steady, the winds are gonna stop. No, it ensures the ship to be steady. So watch this. Joy is the anchor of your soul, it does not remove your problems, it keeps you from being swept away by those problems. You know, Jesus told his church, in this world you will have tribulations. But watch this now. I make sure that those tribulations are not going to drown you. Because I've given you something called an anchor, which is the joy, and when they come, you just drop the anchor. They'll keep you steady through the storm. Now get this. The storms might be real, the pain might be real, but when you drop the anchor of joy in the storm, the anchor holds. And when morning comes, what did the Bible say? Weeping may joy for night, but joy comes in the morning. When joy comes, the storm has passed, the storm will pass. You will still be in the same place, rooted, grounded, still held by the anchor of joy. That is what Messiah says, develop your joy.

unknown 32:25

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

Is not a feeling, happiness is a feeling. I feel happy. Joy, ladies and gentlemen, you're never gonna wake up in the morning feeling joy because no man. If it feels happy, you're feeling happiness because something came through. It's a declaration. You do not wait to feel joyful because you choose joy. In other words, you can have everything going hoursly around you, but the anchor of your soul, which is joy, is still in oppression. Because the purpose of that is to keep you steady in the root of God. Now, watch this. Joy is an act of faith, it's a declaration that says, I trust the one who is in control, even when I cannot see what he's doing. This is what faith is. I trust him. People you don't understand. As a human being, you are not always gonna get what God is doing. The same way that you might wake in in January, the trees might not have any leaves on there. It's not dead. There's something going on. You might be going through a season of barrenness. That's not the whole story, people. Because your roots are going so deep that when you begin to bring fruit, people are going to be shocked. The point is, it's not about it's where you are positioned that determines what you become. Amen. So, how do we produce joy in this kingdom? Notice if you read the whole of John 15, Jesus was saying something. There was, you know, so profound what Jesus was telling them. Be rooted, be connected, remain in the vine. Remain in the vine. Because watch this now, as a tree, man, when the roots are sucking the nutrients from the soil, the sub just flows. It comes to the branch. You don't need to figure it out. So abiding produces what joy. A branch that remains connected to the fine does not have to strain for fruit. There's the sub flows naturally. So all that Paul was saying in Romans, Galatians 5, that these fruit, it's not a result of how hard you work, it's a result of how well you're positioned. And it comes back to John 15 when Jesus said, be connected to the vine. You know what I mean? Be connected to it. See, all this Christian walk, everything that we're trying to achieve, and we want the world to see, and we want to see these miracles and everything else. It's all that the secret code is being connected to Jesus. You know, hearing me. Stay connected to Jesus. And number two, rehearse his faithfulness. The things that he has done. Show me the letter you wrote to Jesus to come and save you. Show me that letter. When salvation was being planned in eternity, you didn't have a clue. And you honestly think that you were born before God started planning eternity. You don't know Jesus. Before you landed here, salvation, the plan to deliver you, began from eternity before you appeared in time. You did not have a clue why God saved you. Do you think you have a clue how God is going to build you up? Just somebody just stay connected. You know, Jesus told us in John 15, you know, he says the reason why God wants you to bear fruit is so that the father will be glorified. So the father has something online with this, man. Thessalonians 1 5 18. And I beg of you, please hear me. In everything, did he say in some things? You apply for a job, you went for promotion, you went for the interview. They say they pass you over, you are angry with God because she prayed. You apply for business loan, you've been praying, fasting, paying your tithes, giving to church, apply for business loan, they denied you, you're angry. We pick and choose the things that we are thankful for. But the Bible says gospel according to the Bible, in everything. The good, the bad, the ugly. Give thanks. Someone say give thanks. You know why? For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. You don't determine, you don't put thanksgiving in categories. I'm going to thank God for this. I'm going to hate him for that. I'm going to be angry about this. Write a statement down to help you. You do this. Watch his joy take root in you. Refuse to let circumstances be your ceiling. You are born of God, anointed by the Holy Ghost. If you were the only person on planet earth, whatever is happening would have still happened to you. You would have still been saved by God. I plead with you today: don't let circumstances be your ceiling. Don't let Satan determine Jackie. Who God is. This was happening to us. Majority of us, we are the force of darkness are determining how we live our lives. But we love Jesus because our mood swings. Today I'm sad. Tomorrow I'm angry. I'm disappointed in God because I prayed and I fasted. And I paid my tithes and offering. And I supported this work, and God is not coming through to me. So I am angry. Don't you know that there's something behind the scenes that is manipulating that thought?

unknown 39:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 39:22

Let's go to John 14, 27, please. For a few minutes. Peace I live with you. You're not hearing me. Most of us want peace. When I turned 50, I said, the only thing that I'm fighting for now is peace. I don't want no commotion in my life. I don't know. I don't want it. I want peace. Jesus said, peace I live with you. In other words, I didn't take it with away, I left it to you on planet earth. Now watch this now. He said, My peace I give you. Not as the world does I give to you. He said, let your heart not to be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Now watch this. You know, this was so interesting. I've known this, you know, this verse for many years. But I looked at it again, this thing, my God. You know, Jesus was just drawing a contrast between two types of peace that every believer should draw their attention to. See, we think about peace as just one. Jesus just drew a contrast here. He says, number one, the world offers one kind of peace. Jesus offers another. And there are nothing alike. This was from him. He says, My peace, not as the world. In other words, there's another peace that comes from the world, and it's a peace that comes from me. But the peace I expect you guys to walk in is a peace that comes from me. Watch this. The world peace. So what is the world peace? Circumstantial. It exists only when conditions are favorable. In other words, the world promotes a type of peace that is conditional. Does it make sense? When there's no conflict, when there's good news, when there's stable finances, when there's co when you have cooperation from people, then you have peace. That's the world. Circumstantial, based on things. Okay? The world says, get your environment in order and then you'll have peace. In other words, it comes back to you the things that you can do. It depends on other people, other factors. Okay? And so they promote this type of peace. Hollywood promotes that peace through movies, man. They promote this type of peace. In other words, they take the it works out God out of the system so gradually you might not even notice it. Because everything comes back to you. The things you can do, the things you can put in order, the things you can place. You, and when you do these things, when you make sure that you're in charge of the environment, you have that peace. But what happens when the movement, when the moment and diagnosis change, the moment the relationship fractures, the moment the new cycle delivers catastrophe, the world peace evaporates instantly. Because it's circumstantial. Because some of us here think that when we put everything in order, when we have a good car, when we have a good job, when you get a promotion, when you get recognized at work, when you do all these things, then I'm achieving something, then the peace, and I'm excited. But the moment those things are taken from you, that's it. We're back to square one. But Jesus said, Not as the world gives you, I give you. You see, his peace is categorically different. It is a peace that Paul describes. You know the peace that Jesus gave you? Go to Philippians chapter 4, verse 7. I'll show you something. He says, and the peace of God. Oh, you're not hearing me. The type of peace, people, that you're coming out from work and you're driving, and you see the earth, your house is on fire, and you look at it, you laugh, you walk away. Ah, you're not hearing me. He said the peace of God, which passes all understanding. In other words, you can't comprehend it. You can't comprehend why everything around you is breaking apart, and you are still at peace. He said, The peace of God, that person of human standard will guide. Your heart and mind through Christ Jesus. Now, before he made that statement, he says, be anxious of nothing. Okay? And he says, everything with prayer and supplication. In other words, the antidote or the generator of God's peace is prayer. And when you pray and you allow God to be the center focus of your prayer, and when you are in that presence, that position of truth, and looking onto Jesus, the author and finish of our faith, and your whole thing is not about what is happening around you, but who he is. Ah, you're not hearing me. This is what it simply means that it makes no sense to the natural mind. Okay? Meaning that there's a situation in our life that the average person will fall apart. People look around you and ask, How is this person so calm? How are you not falling apart? Because they have something the world cannot manufacture, and the enemy cannot counterfeit. This is a direct from the prince of peace, the one that manufactures peace, the one that is the center of peace. And so you get this now. He is this, he is love himself. Okay, and you want more love, go to him, he's the source. The joy, he's the anchor in the storm. You're not hearing me. He is the originator of peace. Many a time when he resurrected, and his disciples were in turmoil. The moment he entered, there's one thing he said, peace be unto you. That peace that stabilizes you, that knows that it's a better tomorrow. That peace that doesn't emphasize on natural things around you. Because knowing the greater he that's in you is greater than he that's in the world. That peace that only comes from him. Now watch this. Oh Beneza, you're amazing. Now watch this. Uh the sense how many of you know something called in every hurricane, right? Every hurricane, there is something called the eye. There might be 150 mile winds around, but in the eye there's something profound. There is stillness, there is calmness. There are clear clear skies around, calm air around. But 150 miles and hour winds blowing violently everywhere, pulling out houses, pulling down trees. But in the eye itself, there's calmness. You see, you can be in the middle of the waste storm of your life, and there is a place of perfect stillness available to you. Not because a storm is not real, but because Jesus is the eye. That's how they say he's in the middle of my storm. He is the calm of the center of your greatest chaos. Now, one of the things that we need to understand this morning before we pray is that peace itself, peace is a person, it's not a state. I'm gonna explain the deepest truth about this fruit: peace is not merely a feeling you experience, peace is a person. Amen. How do I know this? And I'm sure some of you, when I say certain things, you might think, where did this guy get it from? Let me show you. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 14. Everything I teach you is scripture. Go to Ephesians 14, verse 16. Ephesians 2, 14. Bible says that for he himself is our peace. Ladies and gentlemen, peace is not something he himself, the one you have come to believe, the one you serve, the one that Paul is writing to us to develop that fruit, he himself is your peace. Okay? Who has made both one and he has broken down the middle wall of separation? See, listen, gentlemen, listen to me. When you have Jesus, you have peace. You don't, you are not going to crank the machine. When you have him, you have peace. You do not need to find peace, you need to find Jesus. Or better still, stay close to the Jesus you already found, and the peace that you need is always going to be around you. You know, I remember when I was in the bank, we used to, uh when, you know, I used to do a business um business owners, and one of the things we used to say, you know, you want to sell, you want to give people, we don't sell anything, we give people, uh, we offer them products, right? And just to make it feel like the you know, we'll say, Oh, this comes with. Amen. It comes with. In other words, you don't need to uh you it just comes with. So you take one, you take two, because it comes with, right? Tell somebody say peace comes with Jesus. Peace comes with him. Tell somebody say love comes with Jesus. Joy comes with him. You have him, you have all three. Amen. The moment you drift from abiding in him through worry, this is where the problem is. How do we drift from God through worry, through distractions, through unconfessings, the peace diminishes. God did not take his peace away from you. It is the acts around you that makes that peace diminish. Not because he's left, but because you are moved away from the source. This is why it is so critical. Oh man, let me just preach. So critical that everybody lives here today, understanding the importance of staying connected to him. And getting connected to Jesus is not about coming to church every Sunday, you know. The things you do Monday, your study, your time with him, your willingness to obey him, your submission to authority of his word, that is what we need to walk in every single day. When you do that, you are constantly connected to the vine, and then when you add meditation to it, 10x. So, how do we apply this? And we pray. Jesus follows the comment with the command. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Are you hearing me? The biggest problem we have. You see, this is not passive, it's an act of a will. Let not your heart be troubled. In other words, you choose to be troubled or you choose not to be troubled. Whichever one you choose, heaven cannot help you. If you choose to be troubled, heaven cannot help you. So let your heart not be troubled, neither let it be afraid. What are you afraid of? Some of us get so tanged. Look, man, I'm not in a medical field, but I can man take you there right now. You know what cortisol is? The hormone called cortisol. You know what it is. What does cortisol do? You know the Bible says that do not fret because the Holy Court is harm. The Bible is amazing. You know why God is saying that? You stress out, you release cortisol. Precious, come and preach, baby. Let the doctor in the house come and preach. You release cortisol, it affects your mood, is of everything around you. Majority of the sicknesses, pains that we're going through, is a result of hormonal imbalance in the human body, which is triggered by worry and trouble. What are you worried for? I couldn't pay my bills. Come and take me. I remember there was this. I was watching this news, and this guy was asking a question, tax day. He said, Have you found a tax? He said, No, I would tell the IRS I need another day. He said, Man, don't come after you. He said, Come after me. When they're going to take my shoes, come and take my shoes, and go. What are you worried for? You are a child of God, a child of the king. Oh man God, Nasata in there. Please read the Bible and find out some of the great things he's done. He was able to open the rest of you know. People literally walked on waterbad. And you worried about water bill. You choose not to worry. Why? How do you do it? By casting your cares upon him. First Peter 5, 7, casting all your cares upon him, for he cares for you. So you wake up in the morning, you look at the fridge, there's nothing in there. You say, Jesus, take that care. Why? Because he cares for you. The Bible is not something that was just written for us to, you know, read and feel good about it. No, it was something that was written for you to know who your daddy is. You see, some people is as if they went into a boxing ring and all that they've been boxing because of circumstance around them. By praying with thanksgiving rather than being anxious. I'm getting real solutions now. Praying with thanksgiving rather than what being anxious. Philippians 4, 6 to 7 again. He said, Be anxious of nothing. Are you hearing me? Be anxious. Tell somebody say nothing means nothing. Everything. I've got to the place, man. You know, this friend of mine, someone I know. I was fighting with him, man. We were fighting, two pastors fighting. And I went, he was preaching. Someone I went to where he was preaching, I sat in the front row. And I gave him one of those, I'm about to beat you in a pulpit, one of those looks. The stand look. The guy will preach, preach, preach, look at me, they turn his eyes away. Look at me. Then he came and said, I'm not moved by what I see. Oh man, I got me to laugh. You know, listen, guys. Bible says that be anxious of nothing. Anxiety, it's it begins on anxiety, and we make every wrong choice. Because we are anxious. What would this person think? What would the world think? Especially when you think that something that is hidden is about to be exposed, you become like a snake that they've just cut off his head. The foundation of every problem we have is not. Listen, man, there's a reason why God says faith. Tell me if you know that faith is trust, it's just trusting God. It says, but everything with prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, don't forget to thanksgive, thank you, Lord. Because thanksgiving is the greatest expression of faith. Do you understand that? I'm about to thank you for something that I haven't seen you do. When I do that, I put you in a position to honor your word to me. So thanksgiving is a greater expression of thanking God for things I have not seen. Oh, you're not hearing me. It's a lecture request. What is the problem, man? You don't have money to buy milk tomorrow. Tell your daddy. Tell him no money to buy milk today. And he says, listen carefully, he says, when you do all these things, there's something that you're looking for. The thing that gave you from the beginning, the peace of God. In other words, you become so stable in God that you're not going to make a wrong choice, which is what Satan is after. The enemy is after you making the wrong choice and wrong decisions. That is why he's tempting you in the first place. That is why he's bringing the chaos in the first place because he wants you to lose your joy. And then when you're frantic, when you can't think straight, when you are so manipulated, thinking that the world has come to an end, you take what the enemy has given you, the substitute that God doesn't want you to have. That's the whole plan. So God says, Don't be anxious. What do you do? Pray, bring your supplication before me. Man, when you do that, I will release that portion of peace that Satan is trying to take away from you, and that will guide your heart so that you don't make a wrong choice. Tell someone say, Christianity is very simple. Follow the principles and rules, and it shall be well with you. He said that peace that supposed understanding will guide your heart and mind through Christ Jesus. Peace does not come from solving every problem, it comes from trusting the one who holds every problem. Did you hear me? Right now, your peace is not going to come from solving every problem. Your peace comes from the one that holds every problem in his hands. So, how do we walk in peace? A person who has learned to cast their burdens at Jesus' feet and leave them there is a person who walks in supernatural, inexplicable, God giving peace, even in the storm. You get it? If you learn to relinquish everything to Jesus, you walk away from every storm with a supernatural, irrevocable God giving peace that the world can never understand. There's many times that people look at you and ask you, why is this person not falling apart? Because Jesus is in the eye of that storm, and you followed the guidelines of the Holy Spirit, and when you do that, you position yourself to receive that peace that only comes from Him that human beings can never understand. So let's bring all this together. Love, joy, peace. The three Golden Fruits. Here is what we all have in common. All these three we mention over and over again, they are received, not achieved. Amen. Does that make sense? They are received, not achieved. They are cultivated, not constructed. They grow from abiding, not from striving. You get the three points, and you're gonna do well. Number one, they are received. You can only receive something. Let's say I want to give something to my sister here. Look where I'm standing, look at where she is. If I stretch my hands, it's not gonna reach there. But if I get close to her and I stretch my hands in proximity, she can receive from me. So what you want, only one person has it, God has it. And you can only receive it by proximity. Okay, you cannot achieve it. You I keep saying this all the time. You have to cultivate it, you can't construct it. In other words, it's in you. Understand that you have him. Jesus God said, if you have him, you have everything. Now we begin to cultivate it. And you can only cultivate it by abiding in him, in his word, in obedience, in prayer, in worship, in allowing what he has asked you to do to be done. So last week we learned that the branch only's job is to remain in the vine. Today we discover what the world produces when you do. You start to love the way God loves unconditionally, unsacrificially, freely. You start to carry a joy that the world cannot explain and circumstances cannot take away from you. And you begin to walk in the peace that guides your heart and mind, even in the darkest valley. So let me ask you this morning: how is your root system? Because the branch cannot look healthy on the outside and still be disconnected from the vine on the inside. You can be showing up every Sunday, as some of you faithfully do. You can be serving faithfully in the church, you can sing aloud like Bonique does every Sunday, and still operating on a depleted spiritual tank. Everything has become manufactured because it's what people see. You are hurting. You know, when I used to travel, when I used to be like an itinerary minister, those were some of the most challenging times in my Christian work. You know why? Because you go to a conference and God will use you mightily. Those days I was crazy, all I did was chase the demons. You do all those things and you come back to your hotel, if you're not careful, that that is when you are alone with him. And it can feel so lonely. That's why so many preacher men get themselves into trouble when they travel, because it gets so lonely alone. Everything is out of you, man. And you have to be in a position that God will just replenish what was taken out of you. People, dry love, stolen joy, scattered peace, it's it's that description, if that describes you today. So, watch this that one thing very careful about is I don't want anybody to leave my presence, feel condemned, like you've done something. No, no, no. That's not the purpose of this. God wants to fix us, right? And the truth is that most of us are just going, just keep going. You know, it's about what people see around us. But the most important thing should be how does God see me? And how do the people around me are experiencing what I have become? Because what you have become is what Jesus has made you, which is what is deposited in you, which is his nature. The question is: are the people around you seeing that, experiencing that? Because they need to experience the love of God, they need to experience the joy, the peace that God has given you, you need to be able to express it to people. And so you may have a dry love, stolen joy, scattered peace. If that describes you today, I want you to know something. That this is not a willpower problem, because everything about this world we live in is a willpower. This is not a spiritual failure, this is an abiding problem. Because every believer who begins to abide in Christ today, I promise you, as you dig deep your heels in him, you will begin to experience the love of God. And everybody around you, your kids are gonna see that. Your husband is gonna see it. Your wife, you don't need to broadcast I'm a Christian. No, it's about when you abide, everybody around you is now gonna begin to feel who he is. Let them make their decision themselves. I told the Christians we wear Christianity on our sleeves. I'm a Christian, I'm born again. You are what? You are the biggest gossip born again. Everywhere there's fight, you are there, you are in the middle of it. You start a fight, and I'm born again. You are born here. The vine is still full, the sap is still flowing, the supply has never run dry. The question is: are you connected? Are you abiding in prayer, in the word, in worship, in surrender? Because the movement, the moment you return to the vine, the fruit, the fruit begins to grow again. So this is just to highlight where we all are, and to let you know where God wants you to get to. And the beginning point is abiding. And the moment you begin to decide today I'm gonna abide, something is gonna happen. The root system is gonna begin to supply the sub to the branches, and within a matter of time, your fruits are gonna be saved. And what fruit are we talking about? Love, joy, and peace. Not Because you worked hard enough, but because that is simply what happens when the branch stays connected to the soul. Somebody say amen to that. Now listen, come back to the vine. Tell someone say come back to the vine. Come back to Jesus and watch what you grow.