Part II-We Can Perfect An Image...

The speaker emphasizes the importance of being born again and walking in the Spirit to develop the fruit of the Spirit. They explain that we can perfect an image, but we cannot fake the fruit. It is necessary to have a genuine transformation and rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The speaker encourages listeners to let go and let God work in their lives, and to not be influenced by worldly desires. They stress the need for a personal relationship with Jesus and to openly confess Him as Lord. The speaker reminds everyone that Jesus is coming back and urges them to live a life pleasing to God. Praise the Lord everybody you've tapped into the encouragement corner once again. This is Pastor Anderson, Overflow Outreach Ministries. We are reaching out to you this morning. God is great and he's greatly to be praised. And we just thank God for his many fold blessings. This is part two of the three part series of what I'm teaching. The topic was we can perfect an image but we can never fake our fruit. Praise the Lord. We live in a hour where you know the enemy desire to make us imposters and tempt us to be not true and to fake. Pump faking. Amen. You can't pump fake out here. Look we have to be perfected in the things of God so you can perfect an image. People like to put a lot of emphasis on how they look, how they dress, how much money they have, just into status and things of this world. And that can be perfected. You can orchestrate an image that looks like you're living for God. Amen. Scripture even teaches us Satan has transformed himself into light. So it looks like you're doing the Lord's will. But watch this. You cannot fake the fruit. Now this is the second part. Last week we touched on how we can't do it in our own strength. My God, God came through and blessed us with this word. So we're going to do part two today. And start off with how to develop the fruit of the spirit. How do we develop the fruit of the spirit? Amen. Real quick we want to go into prayer. Father in the name of Jesus, Lord, we just come to you as humbly as we know how, Lord. We realize we're just children of the dust, Lord. Lord, we just ask you right now, Lord, we openly confess our faults to you in our private prayers, oh God. You know what's in our heart, Lord. We just ask you, Lord, to forgive us and continue to forgive us, Lord. You've already forgiven us actually, Lord. So we just confess our faults to you, Lord. We ask you, Lord, to purge us, oh God. To put us in a place, Lord, where we're standing how we need to stand before you, Lord. Lord, we just ask you, Lord, for grace and mercy. Lord, we need more grace and mercy because we lack insight at all times, Lord. So we just ask you, Lord, to continue to give us a supernatural anointing so that we can produce fruit that is required for us to have at the brightness of your coming. Oh God, Lord, we just ask you to continue to help us become vessels, honorable vessels, Lord, so that we can preach this word and live this word out so that we can call others out of darkness into your marvelous light, oh God. Lord, you require for us to produce fruit, to make disciples of men, and to push this gospel out, Lord, and to be more mindful of the standard that is set in your word, Lord. Lord, we just ask you, Lord, to continue to help us, oh God. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Listen, we can perfect an image, but we can never fake our fruit. Listen, how to develop the fruit of the spirit. You may ask yourself, you know, apostle, how do we develop the fruit of the spirit? But I'm glad you asked me that question. Listen, we must be born again. Amen. We live in an hour where, you know, a lot of preachers are touching on prosperity. You know how it goes. Always talking about what God is going to do as it relates to monetarily or financially rather, material wise. But God wants to give us more power, amen, so that he can see the image of his son when he looks at us. Watch this, though. But we have to be born again. Now, this may be shocking to you, but everybody, everyone is not born again. Everyone is not born again. They're saying they are, but you have to ask yourself, am I truly born again? Because if we're truly born again and walking in the light, we will be able to produce fruit on a consistent basis, amen. So when you look at John chapter 3, verse 1, it says, There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night. Look here, you have to watch those people who worship the Lord in secret, you know, secret discipleship. Secret discipleship will get us in trouble. We don't openly confess the Lord, but we don't openly deny him either, right? We're quiet. We don't make no noise. Amen. The Bible says, Let the redeeming of the Lord say so and so. He was a secret disciple because he feared what man and what his peers may think of him. But how many people know that there's no secret discipleship in the kingdom? They, you have to openly confess Jesus Christ as the Lord of your life. I'm just talking about how you develop the fruit of the Spirit. This is where it starts. You got to be born again and you have to walk in this thing. You have to embrace this thing. You have to confess this thing among men. And the Bible says, And he said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God. For no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Now they admit it. They're going to admit that God is using you in the world. People are going, you're going to have family members who's going to say, we know he's always been this way. We know he's a Christian. You know, he's not going to side with the world. Amen. But they're not going to join you in confessing Christ. Why? Because they're not born again. If you're truly born again, you're going to talk about the Lord everywhere you go. People are going to know you for your actions in the kingdom. It's never in our words, but it's always in our actions. Amen. Third verse. This is the spiritual verse. It's very spiritual. It's talking about the spiritual birth. It's talking about the requirement to be born again. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. In other words, if you're not born again, you can pick up the Bible all you want. God is not going to reveal secret things to you. He's not going to reveal great mysteries to you. He's not going to reveal truth to you. Matter of fact, truth will be misunderstood all the time. And you will have a lack of insight. Paul put it like this in the book of Corinthians. He said, The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. It's foolishness unto him. Neither can he know him for it is spiritually discerned. It takes spiritual discernment to hear what God is saying through the scripture. So, impossible to bear fruit if you're not born again. And Nicodemus said unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Look, just carnal minded. How many times you've been around people in the run of a day or a week or a month in a year and they're carnal minded. The preacher man is preaching in church and they take a scripture all out of context. You want to know why that happens? Because that person is not born again. I'm here to let you know it is not about what your mama preached up unto you. Amen. What your father preached up unto you. What your grandma preached up unto you. Not even the bench you're sitting on in church and your great grandparent dedicated money to the church house. It doesn't matter. God does not have any grandchildren. You're either God's child or you're not. You have to make sure you are born again if you're going to see the kingdom of God. Notice what Jesus said. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water, of water, and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. So neither can you get to heaven if you're not born again. You can't even see the kingdom if you're not born again. Spiritual thing. Amen. So you have to be baptized and you have to have a spiritual baptism. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I say unto thee, ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it lifts and thou hear'st the sound of, but can't not tell for whence it come. Watch this. And whether it goeth, so is everyone that is born of the spirit. Sometimes we want things to just be a certain way all the time. That is not how God operates. Amen. God is always moving in the life of the believer. Don't get comfortable. God will do you like he did Philip in the book of Acts when he was ministering to the eunuch of Ethiopia. Amen. And the spirit caught him and took him away right after he baptized him. Often times God will have you one way and then the next minute he'll just take your mind and put you on a different sign and have you on something else. And you're like I want something to be normal. I want something to be consistent. That is not how God works. When you are filled with the Holy Ghost, God will take you to places that you've never been. He will reveal things in the Bible that you've never saw. But you have to be born again. And so we can perfect the image but we cannot perfect our fruit. You can't fake the fruit. You can, God, maybe Jesus can perfect the fruit. But you can't, you cannot. Amen. Fake the fruit. You either got it, have it or you don't. So the kingdom of God consists of power, righteousness, peace and joy and the Holy Ghost. But watch this, you cannot do it on your own. And I know you have super saints out here saying that I have to, the Bible says I gotta save myself. No, that means you have to make the choice to choose Jesus and then salvation and that. But unless the Holy Spirit is leading and guiding you and changing you from the outside, from the inside out, you will not be perfected. In other words, how can you be born again? You're always mean to people, always snapping, always frustrated, have no peace, have no patience. Only have joy when things go in your way. Only love who loves you back. Only kind to who you want to be kind to. Only good, your goodness, the goodness that you spread is contingent upon if a person do what you say. Not faithful in the things of God. No faithfulness, no loyalty, no respect and no self-control. Just overindulge in everything from one extreme to the next. And so we have to be born again. So again, you can put perfected in it, but you cannot fake the fruit. So in our own strength and determination, we will fall short. Amen. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But when are we going to let go and let God? You cannot do this on your own. You cannot be saved on your own. You have to get around people who are walking this thing out. You know who they are. You've been out here long enough. You know who's really living right and who isn't. You cannot put yourself in a position to fall backwards at this time. Why? Because Jesus is soon to come. On Godly Conversations we have on the phone with family and friends. You know, some people, they operate in kinfolk religion. You know what kinfolk religion is. If your parents didn't believe it or if your cousins don't operate a certain type of way, everybody group thinks, everybody got to think a certain way because your folk go to a certain church, I have to go to that church. That's kinfolk religion. You have to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. And Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said, Art thou a master of Israel and knoweth not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that what we do know. I'm telling you the Holy Ghost is real today. I'm telling you you have to be baptized in Jesus' name. I'm telling you people pray in the Holy Ghost with initial evidence of speaking in tongues. That's where your power is going to come from. You have to be born again and then you have to walk in the Spirit so that you don't fulfill the lust of the flesh. We speak that what we do and testify that we have seen and you receive not our witness. In other words, they reject what Jesus is saying. You want to come in the nighttime, Nicodemus. Jesus came, I get it. But he wants to come at night because he don't want to be identified with the sanctified folk. Amen. He wants to be around the mega, not that something is wrong with mega. But if mega ain't preaching the truth, you can't be around mega ministry. Amen. And so he wants to come at night. And there's a lot of people that are that way. They only want to worship God when no one is looking. And during the daytime, you know, they don't want to be identified with the person that's walking around pushing in the things of God all the time. If I have told you earthly things and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things? If you've been around me enough, I will say first natural then spiritual. If you can't catch a natural concept, it is impossible to understand what's going on spiritually. And no man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven and even the Son of Man which is in heaven. In other words, he's telling him he's from above. Amen. Jesus is the author and the finisher of our faith. I like this. And then Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so much the Son of Man be lifted up. Now whosoever believing in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. But this is the thing. If you believe in something, you're going to put forth action. In the most popular scripture in the Bible, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believing in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. And most people think that's just it because you believe in Jesus. Jesus told you from the beginning chapter of John chapter 3, unless a man is born of the water and of the Spirit, he can't enter into the kingdom of God. That's it. You can believe in the Lord but if you don't take action, faith without works is dead. So we can perfect a Christian image but we can't fake the fruit. You've got to be born again to produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And then you have to walk in that every day by God's strength. So someone who is born of the Spirit has the power of the Spirit at work in them to change how they are. If you're not changing, ask yourself this. This is serious. If you find yourself not changing, you have to ask yourself, are you really born again? Amen. That's a serious question because there isn't a prayer in the world that can get us out of hell if we end up in that awful place. So if you say you're a Christian today and you are biased with your love and you only have joy when it comes to worldly things and you don't have peace and none of these fruits are on display, you have to ask yourself, am I truly born again? And then if you've had that Pentecostal experience and you don't have that joy, you have to ask yourself, am I in a bachelorette state? Am I walking in a spirit of error? In other words, you're going to have to release those strongholds in your life. You're going to have to let it go. Once and for all you're going to have to let it go and truly walk with the Lord even if it means everything that you hold dear to you, turn their back on you. Amen. So you have the power of the Spirit at work to change how you are. You no longer have to live according to your sinful nature. That impatience, that pride, that lack of goodness and gentleness. But we have power from heaven available to help us live a life pleasing to God. Amen. That's part two of the three part series. So listen, I pray that the Lord stir up something in you so that we can run this race with patience. In other words, we must decrease so that the Lord can increase. Once again, this is Pastor Anderson, Overflow Outreach Ministries. You've tapped in once again to really encourage your corner. Amen. I admonish you to continue to walk with the Lord. No man knows the day or the hour when he's coming back. But the Lord is coming back. Amen. He's coming back for a church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. So listen to me. Do not get caught up in this world. The scripture says, 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 flesh, the lust of the eye, that money. Love and money. For the love of money is the root of all evil. Just chasing it. Money is the barometer by which people judge everything. Status. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and then the pride of life. Right? Seeking the praises of men. It's all about me. But listen, it doesn't have to be about you. It can be, it begins with me. Just be. Just be what? Galatians chapter 5, 22-23. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Listen, Overflow Outreach Ministry, it's a non-profit ministry. We have some t-shirts that we are getting ready to roll out for the holidays. And we'll say in the front, just be. Just be what? The fruit of the Spirit. Listen, it's not in our own strength and determination, but it's in the Lord. Only God can help us. It is not by might, nor by power, but by God's Spirit, says the Lord. Listen, I love you all in Jesus' name. Continue to walk with the Lord. And continue to be an example of God's love. I love you all in Jesus' name. Have a Jesus-filled week. Until next time, I love you.