Part I-We Can Perfect An Image..

This is Pastor Anderson from Overflow Outreach Ministries, delivering a message on the fruits of the Spirit. He emphasizes that while many focus on their image, it's what's on the inside that matters to God. We cannot fake our fruit. The only way to develop the fruits of the Spirit is by walking in the Spirit. Pastor Anderson prays for grace and mercy and encourages listeners to stay connected through the ministry's podcast. He also discusses the importance of obedience and surrendering to God's will. Fruit bearing can only occur with the power of the Holy Spirit. He invites listeners to join the ministry's community activities and emphasizes the need to love, have joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Lastly, he encourages listeners to seek a church home for spiritual growth. Praise the Lord, it's through him all blessings flow. Once again, we've tapped into the encouragement corner. This is Pastor Anderson, Overflow Outreach Ministries, and we're reaching out to you. I have a wonderful message, a three-part series on the fruits of the Spirit. The topic is, we can perfect an image, but we can never fake our fruit. Did you hear that? We can perfect an image, but we can never fake our fruit. We live in an hour where so many of us put so much emphasis into our image. But listen, it's what's down on the inside that God is looking at. The only way to develop us through the Spirit is to walk in the Spirit. Amen. We just thank God for as many full blessings. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in him. Once again, we can perfect an image, but we can never fake our fruit. The older saints would say back in the day that you can fool me, you can fool most people some of the time. You can fool me most of the time, but you can never fool God none of the time. And so God is doing an inspection right now in this hour. So we just thank God once again. This is Pastor Anderson, Overflow Outreach Ministries. We are reaching out to you via this podcast. We can perfect an image, but we can never fake our fruit. Father, in the name of Jesus, Lord, we just come to you as humbly as we know how, realizing we're just children of the dust. Lord Jesus, we just ask you, Lord, to give us grace and mercy, and hopefully compassion, our faults to you, Lord. And we live, we kneel humbly at your feet. Lord, we just thank you for your many full blessings. We thank you for how you sit up high and look down low. And you know everything from the beginning to the end, and so the word declares that you are Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, Lord. And so we recognize that you are Jireh, and you are more than enough, O God. So we just ask you today, Lord, anoint my lips, circumcise the ears of believers, so that they can receive this word. This three-part series that they can catch and get and understand that you are looking for productivity. In the name of Jesus, Lord, we'll fill the praise, magnify and glorify your name. It is in Jesus' name we submit this prayer. Let the church say amen. And so we can perfect an image, but we can never fake our fruit. Amen. And those who desire prayer, you can contact me at 813-770-9610. I need you to text me your email address, and I can send you out correspondence throughout the week. Encourage me in scripture, and we can communicate and have a dialogue. In the name of Jesus, praise the Lord. So this is the church for you, if you're looking to be loved, if you're looking to have joy, if you're looking for peace, if you're looking for people to have patience with you, if you need some kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, Overflow is the ministry for you. Come partner with us as we go out into the community. We have a lot of community things going on. Little League, amen. Map tour, mentorship, teaching our kids computer literacy. These are the things that we do at Overflow. Amen. Today, we're going to be coming from Galatians chapter 5, verses 22 through 23. This is the first part of the series. We can perfect an image, but we can never fake our fruit. Amen. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I'm going to read that again. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Again, there is no law. Amen. People can perfect an image. That's why they have filters. They have apps that you can change how you look. You can change your skin complexion. You can make your teeth whiter. You can put makeup on your face. You can get beige in and put it on your beard. You can make yourself look young. I promise you, we don't perfect the fruit in our life. It all begins with me. Just be. Amen. We're going to roll out this apparel, this Overflow apparel. And it's going to say, just be. Just be what? Just be the fruit of the Spirit. Why? Because it all begins with me. But watch this. You can just be all you want, but it's not with your own strength. Amen. If God, through the power of the Holy Ghost, through the name of Jesus, does not strengthen us, it cannot be done. Often times we set out to do a lot of things in life. Especially at the beginning of the year, we have our New Year's resolution. Praise the Lord. And there's so many things that we set out to do. Checklist, if you will. And we start off well. I've never seen a person make a New Year's resolution in all the years I've been living. And I've never heard a person publicly declare at the beginning of the year, if the Lord's will. They always set out to do it on their own. So, we cannot do it with our own strength. Many believers, upon being converted and reading about the fruit of the Spirit, try and polish up their own lives. But that doesn't get them very far. We don't get very far when we try to do it on our own. Especially when we first get converted. We give our life to the Lord. A lot of us who are raised in the Apostolic Church, praise the Lord, we receive the pen of our sins. We receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We get baptized in Jesus' name. And then we are on fire for the Lord. But then somewhere in the Gospel message, we get to thinking that we can do it on our own. I'm going to keep myself. All the Scriptures are. Stay unspotted, be unspotted. But watch this. If we do not go to the Lord and allow the Lord to develop these fruits in us by the reading of God's Word, by the praying in the Spirit, by not touching the unclean things. I mean really putting a constant effort in walking this thing out. We will not bear fruit. And so we can perfect an image, but we can never fake our fruit because it's not within our own strength. So you can't polish your life up. We only can be sanctified through the Word of God and His Word is the truth. So we're not going to get us very far if we don't keep God first. You might hear me say this down through the years. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. That's the key. You have to give God your all and you have to give this world up. It's very unpopular to talk like this, but the truth of the matter is you have to give up the world. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. All that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. And so we need these spiritual attributes of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, we like to quote those scriptures in the book of Philippians. My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory. And we think that's some type of material blessing. No, it's the fruit of the Spirit. Now watch this. God knows how to bless us. Sometimes we want an overabundance of natural things and they pull us away from the Lord Jesus Christ. But it's not about the house you live in. You know, it's not about the car you drive. It's not about the jobs you have. It is about your tree having all the attributes of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Watch this now. The fruit of the Spirit is the fruit of God's work in our lives when we are obedient to the Holy Spirit. Now if you're watching, if you're listening to this right now with someone, tell your neighbor, delayed obedience is still disobedience. Have you ever had a child, you ask them to do something and they decided to do it later on in the day. Now they got it done, but they didn't do it when you wanted them to do it. Because there was a reason why you asked them to do it. But so it is when it comes to our spiritual walk with the Lord. The fruit of the Spirit is the fruit of God's work in our lives when we are obedient to the Holy Spirit. When you say obedient, man of God, what do you mean? I'm glad you asked me that question. Obedient to love, obedient to joy. We can stop right there. We know, you know and I know that we need more love. We get frustrated easily, we lose patience, we lose our joy, we let the enemy steal our joy. So many different times we had in the workplace because of personality conflicts. You know we see that person that's coming against us, but the Bible explicitly lets us know we wrestle not against flesh and blood. So it's something that's in the backdrop that's going on spiritually in the atmosphere, through people and in people and by people to cause you to stumble. And so we have to be obedient to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Just be, in other words just be saved. Just be of God. What would Jesus do? Jesus yielded His whole life to the Father even when He got in the garden of Gethsemane. He said not thy will, not my will, but your will be done God. And so we have to lay our life at the feet of Jesus and give this world up. And not the fruit of our own strength. You're not pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps. If God doesn't put it in your mind and draw you to Him, it's not going to happen. You have to want God more than anything in this world. Jesus says the law was from the prophets up until John but since then the kingdom of heaven suffered violence and the violence took it by force. In other words you have to want the kingdom within you worse than anything in the world. Because if you love anything other than how you desire for God to be in you as it relates to the fruits of the Spirit, you're not going to be saved the right way. Amen. So not the fruit of our own strength. Fruit bearing can only occur when we are strengthened with all the power, by all the power of the Holy Ghost. In other words we have to give God our all. All our might, all of our attention has to go to our purpose in God. And you will never realize your purpose unless you get back to church and put yourself under the hearing of God's word. Somebody's church. And I know God doesn't dwell in temples made with hands. I get that. Amen. But some of y'all need to have a covering. So if you're looking for a church home, I'll cover you today. Follow this ministry. Be a part of this ministry. I get it. Some people cannot take the personality conflicts, the cliques that are in church. I understand. But watch this. You still have to put yourself under a covering of the word of God so that you can grow thereby. So if you desire fruit bearing, it can only occur when we are strengthened by the power of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Now that's the first part of this. It's not with our own strength. The fruit of the Spirit is God's work in our lives. Amen. And we must be productive. So watch this. We can perfect an image, but we can never fake our fruit. This is the only way to develop the fruit of the Spirit. The answer lies in the word of the Spirit. In other words, it cannot be perfected unless you are filled with the Holy Ghost. Amen. Jesus told John chapter 3, Jesus told Nicodemus in the third chapter of John, read it for yourself. He said, unless a man is born of the water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. And then we go to the book of Acts. He said, what must we do? Me and a brother, what must we do? Our people still have us. He said, repent, be baptized, everyone in the name of Jesus Christ, let us share this food together. Of the Holy Ghost. Wow. That's God's salvation package there. Amen. I hope I've said something that has sparked, stirred you up, Paul told Timothy, stir up the gifts. Amen. You've fallen off the horse that you shall fall on. Confess your faults to the Lord and get back busy for the Lord. Once again, this is Pastor Anderson, Old Sword Outreach Ministry. We're reaching out to you once again. We will be at Alabama Heights Little League today at 3 o'clock. Bring your kids, ages 8 through 12, to get some tutoring. So that they can be sufficient and equipped as it relates to math. We have fall practice today at 4 o'clock. Amen. We are reaching out to the children right now, Old Sword Outreach Ministry. Listen, hook up, look up, hook up and live. Because the just shall live by faith. Until next time. Keep praying, keep asking, keep believing. Because God surely answers your prayer. Amen.