River Church NOLA
Sunday Nov 3, 2024 Fruit of Faithfulness
  • Beautiful One
  • This Is The Day
  • I Lift My Hands
  • Made Me Glad
  • ​
    Intro -
    We just had the harvest Fest. Your faithfulness helped us reach 838 people with a safe and fun time, a time when our people were able to love on 838 people, give them candy, feed them, give them Christian books, and our prayer team folks prayed with a lot of people.
    We have given money to help the victims of the hurricanes in FL, GA, SC, NC, TN through Samaritans Purse, BG Chaplains, and Convoy of Hope.
    That’s because you are faithful. We are part of the Church showing God’s love to the world.
    We are in the series on the Fruit of the Spirit. These are character traits or values that we live by because as we follow Christ, these become who we are.
    These are not something we do, they are who we are.
    These are all so important in the world or culture we are living in right now. We have talked about love, joy, peace and patience, kindness, and goodness… All of this happens when we fall in love with Jesus.
    Today we are looking at the Fruit of Faithfulness.
    A Gallup survey a while back showed 40% of Americans said they call in sick when they are not sick. Gallup wet on to say that
    “In my estimation, as a scientific researcher, America is in a crisis of the first magnitude. The crisis is not political; it is not military. It is spiritual and moral. There is a spiritual and moral integrity crisis in the United States of America.”
    Look at this…
    Proverbs 25:19 NCV
    19 Trusting unfaithful people when you are in trouble is like eating with a broken tooth or walking with a crippled foot.
    We want to be faithful.
    Let’s Pray…
    Turn to the person next to you and say, I’m glad you made it to church today. Turn to the other person and tell them, you look like you could use a little fruit my friend.
    This series has come out of Gal. But it really begins before our them verse so I want to go over this.
    Galatians 5:16–18 NLT
    16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. 18 But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.
    History tells us that people of Galatia were a conflicted people. They were conflicted between the Law and Grace… between the list and faith… they were a constant changing people always trying to figure out how they could please God.
    Julias Caesar - They are such a fickle group of people and they are so unpredictable.
    So Paul is speaking into their fickleness and unpredictability. So he tells them why it’s happening. He says it’s because you are focused on the acts.
    Here are the acts of the flesh.
    Galatians 5:19–21 NLT
    19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
    That list is exhausting. The outcomes of these things are devastating in our lives. When these are in your life, your relationships, your families… the outcomes are terrible.
    Lost jobs… lost families… jail… death… meaningless life… homeless… division and strife in your life… painful.
    I don’t know about you, but I am glad we serve a God who loves us enough to say, “don’t do that.” He sees things that are bad for us and says “Hey, don’t do that…” Don’t do that but embrace this… I am thankful for that voice that says, now Robert…
    I am grateful that God does this to me and through the blood of Jesus he cleanses me and gives me a fresh start. I can have a new beginning.
    My life is no longer defined by the acts of the flesh, but because of what Jesus did, I can now live my life by the fruit of the Spirit. There is a difference between acts and fruit. They are the opposite.
    Check this out… our theme verse. Here is the Fruit
    Galatians 5:22–23 NIV84
    22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
    You read that and go, “man I need that.” I don’t think there is anyone that when we read the Fruit of the Spirit, we go… “I have enough of that.” No friend that would come say to you, “you don’t need any of that.” When you see these traits, we all know we need more.

    How do we get these in our lives?

    Colossians 1:10 NIV84
    10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,

    We bear fruit by growing.

    Fruit is not something we do, it’s a by product of our relationship with the Lord. When we fall in love with Jesus, the more I surrender to Jesus, the more I will grow in knowledge of God. Listen.
    Knowing God is growing in God.
    We are always growing… never stop growing. No one is ever mature enough in Christ. we all need to keep growing. Paul also said,
    Colossians 2:6–7 NLT
    6 And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. 7 Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.
    When we keep loving Jesus, we will overflow with thankfulness and all the other fruit. It will impact those around us.
    Listen,
    The fruit is not for us, it’s for those around us because it impacts the lives of others.
    I am not sure that there is another fruit that is a stronger witness to the world than the fruit of faithfulness.
    Why would you say that? Aren’t thy all important. They are. But when we are walking in faithfulness it is a huge witness for the Lord because it’s a direct reflection on the character of God because he is a faithful God.
    Lamentations 3:22–23 NLT
    22 The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. 23 Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.
    God is faithfulness. Even when we are not faithful, He is. When we are walking in faithfulness, we are reflecting the true nature of God.
    When I am surrendered to the Lord, and let the HS grown in me and through me, reflecting the true character and nature of God in my relationships and to those around me.
    What is faithfulness?
    Here are some words that maybe will help.
    Trustworthy
    Trustworthy in public and in private… in my relationships and with my money…
    Reliable in our commitments.
    You can count on me.
    Dependable
    You don’t surprise people. You are dependable. People know they can count on us.
    Loyal
    I am loyal in my relationships with my words, my walk and my work. We really need this one in our culture.
    Constant
    Continuous. We just keep being faithful no matter what.
    ​
    Why am I growing in Fruit? Why am I wanting to grow all my life? Here is why. I want to hear this.
    Matthew 25:21 NLT
    21 “The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’
    I want God to call me a faithful servant. When we are faithful now, we will enter into blessings later. God is a faithful God.

    Faithfulness begins and ends with God.

    It’s all about Him.
    Did anyone want to be something when you were young?
    I wanted to be an MLB outfielder… the next Mickey Mantle. I didn’t make it. It was MLB’s loss. I was good in the band. I remember a guy named Jackie. He practiced his horn… a tenor Sax. He was good. He went to Juliard where he continued to grow, and then he spent years playing all over Europe and is famous there. Now he is faith in teaching young people music. He was faithful. That impacts people.
    Jon Elder was faithful. He showed faithfulness in his relationships with us. It was attractive and it drew us into a relationship with Jesus. I gave my heart to Jesus because people were faithful to God and to their relationships. He was faithful.
    When you live faithful, it changes people. My fruit is not just for me. It’s for those around me.
    Jon’s faithfulness, my parent’s faithfulness and the men and women in our church impacted me. Do you know why?

    When you display the fruit of faithfulness, it changes lives in a culture that is so unfaithful.

    Our culture is so unfaithful… so un-loyal…so un-trustworthy… so not dependable… so not loyal… Help us all to be found int the fruit of faithfulness. Let me be found faithful.
    How does this work in my life? As a mom, a grand parent, at work?

    3 Simple Truths about Faithfulness

    1. Faithfulness grows in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

    Not with rule keeping, but in a relationship.
    John 15:16 NLT
    16 You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.
    Do you know what I have found in my life? Changed people start doing changed things. When you are changed, you will do changed things. You will begin to make an impact on others around you.
    We will do 21 Days prayer in January, but it’s really 21 Days of abiding in Jesus.
    When I am faithful in my finances, I am abiding in Christ.
    When I am faithful in my time, I am abiding in Christ.
    When I am faithful with my friends, I am abiding in Christ.
    When I am all alone, I am abiding.
    When I spend time in the Word, I am abiding.
    When I am serving, I am abiding.
    When I am faithful in my relationship with Jesus and these fruit grow out of that, I am reflecting the characteristics of God.
    Then we live a life, not perfect, but because of the gift of grace, we can walk in faithfulness and it impacts other people around us.

    2. Faithfulness grows in a healthy garden.

    This means that you have to surround your self with friends who are faithful. It’s hard to be faithful when you are surrounded by people who are unfaithful. That’s why it’s important to be plugged into a church.
    Married couples need to hang out with other faithful couples. Listen, you don’t need to “go out” after work with a group of guys or ladies who are single, or married and complaining about their spouses.
    We need to be found among the faithful folks. People who are faithful to God… in their jobs, in their families. I want to be around people who are walking in the fruit of the Spirit. I don’t need any acts of the flesh in my life. I’m going to run from that.
    I love people and to be around people who have said yes to God. We are in this together.
    Psalm 1:3 NIV84
    3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
    I want to be planted, and rooted and in season bear fruit.
    We need to be surrounded by faithful people… small group… team… I don’t want to be with a group of unfaithful people. I want to be around people I can depend on and they can depend on me.
    We don’t just get the fruit instantly. Don’t you wish we could just get zapped with all the fruit? Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. It grows.

    3. Faithfulness grows in small moments.

    You know that’s how it works.
    Luke 16:10 NLT
    10 “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.
    We say, I’ll be faithful when that big stuff hits me… when I get the big opportunity. No, it’s in the small moments.
    Faithfulness grows and is living proof of Gods work in my life in the small things. Let me give you a few.
    Being on time.
    Doing the extra work no one wants to do. You clean that coffee pot… make sure the fans are off … the lights are out… it’s the extras.
    It’s being dedicated to the insignificant things that no one else is excited about, But you are excelling in the small things.
    It’s staying calm in chaos. Other people are frantic and gossiping, but you are calm. I am not getting involved in that.
    I am staying away from that. I am staying faithful. I will press on when it’s hard. I will walk in integrity when no one is looking.
    I am going to walk in it and let it grow in the small moments. God looks at these and he uses them.
    Story of Dino in the ATL Airport…
    Why do we worry about people we don’t even know think about us? We think that we will do that kind of stuff later, but why can’t we be faithful now.
    Let’s the a produce stand of God and the produce stand is open. Why? Because God has been faithful to me, and even when I was unfaithful, God was faithful.
    Prayer
    Grow in my life. I need the character and nature of God to grow in me… in my family… my friends… at my work… I need more of you. I need to be more like you… less of me and more of you.
    Let faithfulness grow in my life. Let me be more concerned about what you think about me and not what others think about me. Let me be a person you can count on because so often, I have not been that person. Let faithfulness grow in my life.
    Maybe you are here today and you feel far from God. You need a new beginning and a fresh start. If that’s you, raise your hand so God can see you. If you lifted your hand
    Jesus be my Lord and forgive me for my sins which are many, but your Grace is bigger. I believe that you died and rose again and so today I confess you as my Lord and Savior. Be my new beginning and my fresh start.

      • Proverbs 25:19NLT

      • Galatians 5:16–18NLT

      • Galatians 5:19–21NLT

      • Galatians 5:22–23NLT

      • Colossians 1:10NLT

      • Colossians 2:6–7NLT

      • Lamentations 3:22–23NLT

      • Matthew 25:21NLT

      • John 15:16NLT

      • Psalm 1:3NLT

      • Luke 16:10NLT

River Church NOLA
robert@riverchurchnola.com
504-578-8317
https://riverchurchnola.com
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