Practical Ways to Live Out the Fruits of the Spirit

I want to talk about this morning a paradox that literally is scrambling my brain. All summer,

I feel like my brain has just been scrambled eggs, and I've been trying to understand how

this paradox works in real life. The paradox involves how do we rationalize or understand

the difference between economics and spirituality. And so I just want to dive into those really

briefly. Economically, I was part of a team that went to Ethiopia this summer. And as

we got to Ethiopia, the economic difference between America and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

is dramatic. And you're sitting there saying, yeah, I know it's dramatic. I'm not surprised.

Whatever you think dramatic is, double it, triple it, times 10. The dramatic difference

economically between what we experience and what they experience in day-to-day is hard

to fathom. But on the other side of that equation, we spent a week with around 100

different Ethiopians. And what we saw in that time there was that the fruits of the Spirit

came out of these people constantly. And I think a lot of times when we think about that,

we might say, oh, you mean like, you know, occasionally they were patient, or they were

nice, or they were gentle, or kind, or whatever. That's not what I mean. What I mean is like

all the time, like a rushing river, these...

Attributes of their lives are just pouring out, and you're experiencing that, and you're like,

but I don't understand that. Because we have economic prosperity. We have comfort and wealth,

and you don't. And yet, on the fruits of the Spirit scale, it almost reverses that in their

world, in their lives, the fruits of the Spirit are coming out like those living streams. And

in our world, it's not that the fruits of the Spirit don't exist. It's just that they,

they aren't the same. They, they are more like this, just like the economics are like that. And

so that paradox, that difference, that has just had me in a quandary all summer long, trying to

understand what that was about. So to begin our conversation this morning, let's just define what

are the fruits of the Spirit? What do those look like? And to do that, we're going to go to a couple

passages, but the most obvious is Galatians. Galatians is the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians is the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians chapter 5 verses 22 and 23. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,

kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Those are the fruits of the Spirit

as generally defined. Paul talks about them in Colossians as well. In Colossians 3, starting in

verse 12, he says,

Clothe yourselves. Think of clothes, right? The thing that people see first. It's the

most outward expression of who you are. Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility,

gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance

against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues, put on, again, the idea

of clothing.

Put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. And let the peace of Christ

rule in your hearts. Since as members of one body, you were called to peace, oh, and be thankful.

I love Paul's list. And in a lot of traditional sermons, what I would do is spend the rest of our

time, and I would unpack each of those words, and what do they mean, and what's the Greek, and

what does peace mean? But I think you know. I think it's intuitive.

But you know what peace is. You know what patience is. You know when your life is not

those things. You know when you lack one of those attributes. It's not something that is

a mystery that needs to be solved. So instead, what I would like to do is say,

how do we create environments in our lives that allow these attributes to not just

perkle up every now and then, to not just be something that's occasional,

but to be something that's important? And I think that's what I would do. I would say,

something like it was in Attis, where it's a river that flows out of us and is overwhelming

to those around us. Think of it this way. If an alien came to earth and he followed me around for

a week, at the end of that week, he's been with me driving. He's been with me in family situations.

He's been with me at work. He's been with me in all these different environments. At the end of

that week, would that alien, when asked, hey, describe Brian, would he use those lists? Would

he say, oh man, that is someone who is so compassionate. That is someone who is so kind

and so gentle and so loving, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Would that be my reality? Would that be

your reality? Not that it would be, oh, he did a kind thing on Wednesday. Oh, and then on Thursday,

there was a moment he showed patience. But would it be,

something that just is flowing out of us naturally all of the time? Because as I perceive

our culture, and you may agree or disagree with me, but as I see our culture, what I see is more

doses and pops of those things in and around what we represent as Christ, as Christians out in the

world. I see doses of it. I see good things happening, but I also see a lot of things that

that alien might not be able to do. I see good things happening, but I also see a lot of things

that alien might be following someone around saying, oh, they're pretty bitter. They're

pretty anxious. Man, I think they're pretty angry of a person. I don't see the fruits of the spirit

that we saw. So let me give you some context, partly why my brain is so scrambled by this.

So we were in Ethiopia one evening. We'd been working with Elevate Orphans slash Bring Love In.

They're the same organization, different names based on where you are. And we had been working

with these kids, these orphans. And we had been working with these kids, these orphans,

and these widows. And we'd spent all this time with them. And frankly, we were fairly worn out.

It had been a very energetic week. It had been exhausting in a lot of different ways. In fact,

I think it would be safe to say that we were pretty tired at that moment.

We were tired as we were driving to dinner that night. You might even say we were really tired.

As we drove to dinner that night. In fact, I think it would be safe to say we might have been

exhausted. Would you like to just see one more example of that fatigue?

Now, the ironic thing is none of those pictures have anything to do with that night.

They were just too good from our shared album to not share with you. Like,

I really felt like you needed to see them. But the reality was we were tired.

But in contrast to the being tired,

we had spent all this time with these hundred people that were just emanating the fruits of

the Spirit. And you began to see as a group that was rubbing off. And then that was part of it.

So this particular night, as we drove to dinner, effectively, it was like driving

from the airport in Belgrade to MSU's campus. Like eight, nine, ten miles. Not that far.

It took us over two hours to travel that distance. The roads are gridlocked. I have

recruited in LA, San Francisco, Dallas, New York, Boston, Philly. It didn't even close. It was

crazy what traffic was like. One picture to give you an idea of what traffic was like.

We're in a roundabout right here in this picture. Sarah is reaching out. Notice,

she just casually has her arm out the passenger window. She is touching the car next to her in

the roundabout. It's a three-lane roundabout with five lanes of cars side by side by side just packed.

It's absolutely insane what this traffic is like. And you and I know what that's like. We've all

been in that situation. What happens when you're in that situation? You get frustrated and angry.

It is so annoying. Can you imagine two hours to get from the airport to MSU? That would drive you

insane. Yet we had been around these kids that had rubbed off. A group of people that were like

these pictures. They were patient and kind. They were loving. They were loving. They were loving.

We were laughing. We were joking. We were having a good time. Even though we're in two hours of

traffic, there was playfulness in what we were doing. And it was moments like that that had me

just like, how's that even possible? How is it possible that we could be in that situation?

Because I know if we had done that two weeks earlier and it had taken us two hours to go 10

miles, we would have been pulling our hair. We would have been pulling our hair. We would have

been pulling our hair out. Those of us that have it would have been pulling our hair out constantly.

But it got me thinking, what are the secrets to nurturing those fruits of the spirit? How do we

create environments in our lives, intentionally create environments where those things can come

out of us as they ought to? And so as I've been home, I've been praying about it, reading about

it, studying things, looking at all kinds of things. And I've been praying about it. And I've

different scriptures and other writers and readers. I've met with people. We've talked

about it. In fact, we have a thing called the Preaching Collective. A couple of weeks before

you present, we get together with a bunch of people on our staff and we have a conversation.

We kind of sharpen up what we're going to say and how it makes sense and make sure it's clear.

And I asked that group, I said, if you were going to come up with environments that would create

a nurturing situation for the fruits of the spirit, what would that look like?

And I had two things in mind based on my own research, my own experience, the things that I

had thought about. And the eight people in that room began to offer thoughts. And I was just

writing those down. And they basically filed into two lists that absolutely matched the things that

I had been reading and studying and wanting to share with you since I got back from Ethiopia.

And so what I want to talk about is two really practical ways. Now, not easy,

but two really practical ways that we can create environments that will allow the fruits of the

spirit to be nurtured in our life. Now, obviously, God is the one who builds that up, but we can do

things. We have a part to play in that. It's not just his job to make us patient. We have a role

to play. But as I submit these two ideas to you, I have to warn you that I believe if we are going

to actually play them out, if we are actually going to actually play them out, we are going to

be people that aliens would follow around and say, oh my goodness, that person is so kind,

so gentle, so compassionate that it overwhelms them that as we do these two things, we are likely

going to have to be a bit unreasonable about how we do them. Like, it's not going to be something

that we can just kind of half-heartedly think about. I think we're going to have to get really,

really uncomfortable.

And really unreasonable as we act this out. So the first thing that I'm going to suggest we need to

do is we need to simplify life. We need to simplify life. Now, Paul in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4,

what he does is he calls this living the quiet.

The quiet life. That's how he outlines it in 1 Thessalonians 4. But one of the things that I think

you need to recognize or realize is the complexity of the lives that we live that is just natural for

us. It's not something that we would think, oh, this is actually very complicated because it's

so normative in our world. But it is so complex that I believe it inhibits our ability to live

out the fruits of the spirit. It inhibits our ability to live out the fruits of the spirit.

It inhibits our ability to live out the fruits of the spirit. One example of that would just be

around stuff, okay? Those Ethiopians that we were around, they could fit everything they own in a

backpack. Their clothes, their shoes, their books, everything they've got in a backpack. That's a

simple life. And I'm not saying that we need to live a life of a backpack and that's everything

we've got. But just for context, in the United States, we spend $38 billion annually not on stuff,

on stuff, on stuff.

Storage units.

$38 billion. That's one third of the GDP of Ethiopia. $38 billion. That's how much stuff we

have. We might be able to cut back slightly. I think that might be an option. We could

simplify our lives around our stuff if we chose to. Jesus kind of talks about simplicity of life

when he says, I'm going to cut back slightly. I'm going to cut back slightly. I'm going to cut back

When he's engaging with his disciples in Matthew chapter 18, it says that he called the little

child to him and placed the child among them, the disciples. And he said, truly I tell you,

unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Little children live a simple life, right? They don't have a lot of stuff. They don't even have

to make a lot of decisions. Do you realize that? Do you realize that? Do you realize that? Do you

realize that? Do you realize that? Do you realize that? Do you realize that? Do you realize that? Do you

realize how many decisions we have to make? Like decisions fill your brain and complicate your life

tremendously. Give you an example. In Ethiopia, if you would like to order a cup of coffee, you have

two choices, cream or sugar. That's it. Like that's probably what it was in the United States

several years ago. Cream or sugar, two decisions. That's it. Do you realize, if you walk into

Starbucks, like you've got to decide what kind of drink you want, whether you want a hot or cold,

what kind of milk?

Wait a minute. What kind of milk? Like how is there more than one kind of milk? How do you milk

an almond? These are things that are probably for another sermon. But think about Starbucks' own

website says that they make over 170,000 different combinations of drinks in their restaurants.

That means when you walk in to order a coffee, you have to make decision after decision after

decision.

That's not the case in most of the world. And that complexity fills our mind. It takes up

brain space. It takes up hard drive space, if you will, in our lives.

Another difference between a simple and a complex life is the idea of wants. There's a Harvard

business professor, and he talks about happiness, joy, and satisfaction. And he labels it as haves

and wants.

Arthur C. Brooks is his name. And he draws this math equation that says, if your haves exceed your

wants, the more that is the case, the higher your satisfaction, joy, and happiness will be in life.

As an example, in Ethiopia, let's say somebody might have 100 items, 100 things,

but their wants are really low. That's the thing you realize when you get there.

Even though, you know, you're not going to be able to do that, you're not going to be able to do that.

You're not going to be able to do that. You're not going to be able to do that. You're not going to be able to do that.

We would say they live in abject poverty, and they do by worldwide standards.

We don't realize that their wants are very low. They just don't want that new boat. That's not

a thought. They don't want the new 65-inch television at Costco. Like, they're not thinking

about that. So their joy and their satisfaction, their happiness is really high because their haves

are so much higher than their wants. How about our culture? We have a lot.

We also want even more. We want a lot. That's why we have an economy based on consumer spending.

Like, we have so many wants. Think about it. We might have a thousand haves. We might have two

or three thousand wants. And that disparity creates a little bit of explanation of the paradox

of the economics versus the spirituality because they are so happy because they focus on what they

have, not what they want. And when you're in a situation where you're in a situation where you're

in a situation where you have a lot of wants, that drives a lot of decisions in your life.

You need that new boat? You got to work a little bit more. Work a little harder. Pick up a side

hustle. Pick up a second side hustle. Do this. Do that. And it drives the way we live out our lives,

this idea of our wants. If we can live a simple life that moves us where haves exceed wants,

we can be happier, joyful,

more satisfied as people. When you live that simple life, when you begin to express that and

live that out, you create margin. A simple life is a life that has margin. Now, margin is really

significant now, I understand, as it relates to the fruits of the Spirit. Because it's very difficult

for the fruits of the Spirit to be the fruits of the Spirit. It's very difficult for the fruits of the Spirit to be the fruits of the Spirit.

It's very difficult for the fruits of the Spirit to be the fruits of the Spirit. It's very difficult for the fruits of the Spirit to come out in your life

when it's just non-stop go, go, go, go, go, go. And all you do is go, go, go, go, go, go, go, sleep. Go, go, go, go, go, sleep.

There's never an opportunity for growth. Now, I know the vast majority of you in this room lack margin.

How do I know that? Because I stand out there every Sunday before and after 9 and 11. And we talk. And

some of those conversations last five seconds. Some of them last five minutes. But as we talk,

I'll tell you the two things.

I hear most often. Now, this is from a bunch of Christian believers. The things I hear most often,

I am so busy and I am so tired. Those two things scream that you lack margin. True? Is that fair?

I'm so busy. I'm so tired. In fact, in our culture, in American culture, to not be so busy,

to not be tired, actually speaks negatively about you as a person.

Like, there is a badge of honor to walk into a room, a social environment of people, and be like,

man, I am, whoo, I'm tired. Because, man, I am working so hard. I am so busy. Is it not? Is that

not true? Like, there's actually a badge of honor that comes with that. And that lack of margin

doesn't produce an opportunity for us to grow and cultivate the fruits of the Spirit in our lives.

If you go back to Ethiopia, that's not their spirit. That's not their spirit. That's not their

situation. Like, that's one of the most beautiful things we were able to witness in country. They

have margin. They have lots of margin. Now, maybe some of that is why the economic disparity exists.

And that's maybe a fair thing. But if the economic disparity is that, but the spiritual disparity on

this side is this, who wins? We might have more stuff. We might have more comfort. But if they

are experiencing a lot of pressure, we might have more comfort. But if they are experiencing a lot of

exceedingly generous in the fruits of the Spirit, if they represent what Jesus represented,

I'm not sure that we're winning that battle. But it's not just enough to create margin.

See, that's the thing that you realized, that we realized coming back. It's not just enough to

create margin. Because all margin does in American culture generally is create leisure,

right? Like, we create margin for leisure, which is, leisure is not a bad thing. Vacations

aren't a bad thing. That's not what I'm saying. But there is a point in time where we need to look

at the margin we create and say, how am I going to use that margin? If I commit to a simplified life

and I do create margin, what am I going to do with that margin? And this is what you see

in their world. They take that margin and they invest it in relationship.

They take that margin and they invest it in relationships. Let me ask you this.

If it was Saturday morning, a fall Saturday, beautiful fall Saturday, kind of like today.

I'm not sure if it's fall or summer yet. Some of you are wearing Hawaiian shirts. I like that.

You're trying to hold on to summer. Good play. But it's a fall Saturday. You don't have to work.

You've got no obligations, no family obligations, no nothing. The day is yours.

You can do absolutely anything you want. In your mind's eye, what would you do with that time?

We were in Ethiopia and we'd finished our time with Elevate Orphan. We had spent the week with

that group of people and we were going across town to the poorest district in Addis Ababa called

Korah. And we were going to spend time with some people and some kids and some different things in

the Korah district of Addis.

And as we were doing that, we realized that in that district, it's probably likely that

the English is going to be much harder to come by, that there's going to be less people speaking

English. And so we asked the director of Bring Love In if we could take two of the older kids

with us that would be useful for translating because they could take the Amharic that the

nationals speak and they could translate it to English and back and forth. And he was like,

great.

No problem.

And so we took Ipseda and Ruth. Now, Ruth is who I want to talk about. Here's a picture of Ruth.

She is, what side is that? That side of Sarah holding the camera. Ruth just finished her second

year at university. She's a business major, super smart, unbelievably good at English,

just an absolute joy to be around. But after we spend this whole day in the Korah district and

we're going back and forth, we're going back and forth. And we're going back and forth. And we're

going back to drop Ruth at her house back all the way across town. I happen to be sitting near her

and I just asked her a question because I was just curious. I really had no expectations or ideas,

but I just asked her like, Ruth, you just gave up effectively a whole Saturday. You could have done

anything. You're on break from school. You know, you didn't have to work today. Like you could have

done anything with your time. Ruth, what would you do if you hadn't come with us and translate it?

And I thought, oh man,

you know, I had in my mind what I would have been doing if I was in her shoes.

And her answer was immediate, like no pause, boom. She's like, well, there's a six to nine year old

house that has a lot of new orphans that have come from the government orphanages and are now

spending their days in this house at Bring Love In. And she said, what I would have done if I had

not come with you is I would have gone to that house because you know why? Those kids don't know

me. And I've gone through the whole program and I'm now at university, but they don't know me.

And I don't know them. And I would have spent my whole day just playing with them, getting to know

them, spending time with them so that they would know me and I would know them. And I felt terrible

because I would have gone golfing and I would like, she's like 20 years old, but the fruits of

the spirit are just rolling out of her. Why? Because she lives a really simple life where she

has plenty of margin. And when she has,

margin, her very first thought is how do I invest that in other people? How do I invest that in

relationships? That's her very first thought. And I think we can learn a lesson from a 20 year old

Ethiopian university student. That's not my first thought. I'm just going to be really honest with

you, but I think it probably ought to be. My first thought ought not to be, how do I pleasure

myself? How do I get leisure time? How do I do the things I want to do?

Maybe my first thought ought to be, how can I serve someone? How can I love someone well in that

moment? Back to Galatians 5. So Paul lists the fruits of the spirit down in 22, 23. Right before

that, he lists the don't list, the don't do this, this, and this. But right before that, three

different times, he has examples of things as he sets up the difference between the don't doers

and the do doers as he sets that up. I'm going to give you one example. I'm going to give you one

of those examples. Galatians 5.13. You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free,

but do not use your freedom to indulge in the flesh. Do not use your freedom to indulge in

your wants. Do not use your freedom to indulge in yourself. Rather, serve one another humbly in love.

For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command,

love your neighbor as yourself. And as I was reading that, I just couldn't help but think of

Ruth. Like, how amazing is her thought process? And if we're really honest, I think, and we're

self-respective, we go, that is not our culture. And I'm not here to badmouth America in any way.

We live in an unbelievable nation. We have so many privileges and blessings. But our cultural

identity is actually more around,

individualism, than it is around, how do I serve others? How do I bless others? How do I love others

well? And I'm wondering, in hindsight, thinking back on these experiences, is that individualism

in conflict? Does that individualism drive economic growth? Yeah. Yeah, it does amazing

things in our economic system. But does it drive spiritual growth? Does it drive fruits of the

spirit in our lives? And I'm,

here to say, I don't know that it does. I think that we need to take an inventory and think about

how that plays out in each of our own lives. How do I cultivate that environment where I live a

simplified life that creates margin that allows me to invest in others the way that Jesus did that?

It makes me think sometimes we have to be okay with,

looking at ourselves and looking at our own culture and saying, does this mesh with what

we are taught in scripture? This moment makes me think of Isaiah chapter 55. For my thoughts

are not your thoughts, neither are your ways. My ways declares the Lord as the heavens are higher

than the earth. So my ways are higher than your ways. And my thoughts,

higher than your thoughts. Sometimes we have to recognize and submit ourselves and say, you know

what? The way that our culture says I ought to live, the way I ought to go about my day and my

business and my priorities might just be in conflict. And maybe what I'm called to as a

believer is a simplified life that creates margin that moves me to a place where I can invest in

people and the fruits of the spirit.

Can emanate in my life. Think about it. You want to be more patient. That ain't happening when you're

sitting at home alone, watching a football game. You're not more patient in that environment,

but get in lives of people and people will do one of two things for you. If you want to be a more

patient person, one, you will run into people that are patient and you'd be like, how do I mirror

that? How do I follow what they do? How do I learn from that person? The other side of it,

this happens a lot.

You're going to run into people that test your patience, but you can't get more patient unless

you're being tested in your patience. And that comes around people. That's why this investment

in relationships. So key because these Ethiopian children and staff members of bring love in,

they are investing in people. They are investing in relationships. And because of that,

they are gentle and they are kind and they are compassionate. And it just oozes out every poor

in their life.

And as Christians,

we want to live a life like Jesus lived. We want to imitate our savior. I would challenge you to go

back and read the gospels. Read them just fresh and new one time. Start in Matthew, Mark, Luke,

John, read the four gospels. And as you read them, have this image in your mind. Did Jesus

live and promote a simple life? Did Jesus have margin?

And when Jesus had margin, what did he do with that margin? And you will see over and over again,

he invested it in relationship. He invested it in people. If we want to be like Jesus,

I think this might be something that would be helpful in the context of our culture.

So as I finish up, I want to be really, really practical. I want to be really practical because

I don't want to throw out,

like these ideas, but not have a step, a tangible thing that you could do if you're at any one of

these stages of your own personal walk, as Kristen was talking about, like your next step.

So first let's talk about a simplified life. If you recognize it, my life's not simple. My life

is complicated. My life is every which way and 27 times, you know, busier than it should be.

I would ask you or offer up,

to you to read a book, like a book you can get on your Kindle. It's called Ruthless Elimination of

Hurry by John Mark Comer. We've talked about it before. I read it a couple of years ago.

Okay. Here's what happened when I read the book, good or bad. I read the book and I did an inventory

on my time. I started thinking about where does my time go? I am so busy. I am so tired.

Where does my time go? And as I did that inventory,

one of the things that really stood out to me was how much time I spent on fantasy football.

This is not a statement that is prescriptive. I am not telling you what to do. I am describing

what happened when I did this inventory. So anyone who loves fantasy football, don't send me an email.

As I started looking at my fantasy football consumption, I realized, you know, you set your

lineup on Wednesday or Thursday for those that partake. And then there's a game on Thursday night

and almost always you have somebody playing or you're playing on Thursday night. And then you're

opponent has somebody playing. So you have to watch the game. And then there's games later in

the season on Saturdays, Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon, Sunday evening, Monday night. But

that's not all because then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, you got to read all the articles,

watch all the videos, understand what's happening, who got hurt, who's playing well, who's not

playing well. Like you've got to get it set up so you can set your lineup again. And that happens

for 17 straight weeks. That's a lot of time. So I realized I needed to set that aside. So I stopped

playing fantasy football about three years ago.

And it was because of this stupid book. So read the book.

But now let's move to the next step, right? I created some margin in my week because I dropped

fantasy football. Quite frankly, I probably created quite a few hours. But what do you do with that,

right? Because that's the key. It's not, it's not, I'm going to create margin for margin's sake.

What did I do with that time? It was about the same time that I came on staff here at Journey.

And so what I did with those hours, I was like, I'm going to create margin for margin's sake.

And so what I did with those hours that would have gone to fantasy football that year and every

year since is I invested in our 20s ministry. Kristen and I started that 20s ministry. We've

got a bunch of small groups that meet. If you are 20, you walked in today, someone was trying to

give you a flyer. That's because you look like you need community as a 20 year old. And we want

to help provide that. So we have small groups. We have large group. We have all kinds of things

going on. In fact, this Tuesday, 7.15 in base camp, shameless plug, 20s large group. Love to

have you there. If you're in your 20s, if you're 30 or 40, don't come. But what I did in that time

that was created from dropping fantasy football is I invested that into relationships with 20

somethings. And it has been so great. I don't know if I have made a scoach of difference with any of

their lives, but they've made an amazing impact on mine. And that happens because I create a margin.

See, if I didn't drop fantasy football in my case, again, not your case, my case, if I had not

dropped the fantasy football, I wouldn't have had the time to invest in those 20 somethings.

So that's the way I invested in relationships. But let's talk about how you might invest in

relationships. And you've heard it already this morning, but we have a ton of journey communities.

If you are not in a smaller group, I just cannot tell you how much you need to prayerfully

consider that. That is the area where you're going to learn the fruits of the spirit. You're

going to get around people that will test your patience. You are going to get around people

that will force you to be kind when you don't want to be kind off a bad day. And that's a good

thing. That is going to grow the fruits of the spirit in your life. We've got over 30 new groups

starting. We've got existing groups that have space that you can get involved in. And if you're

sitting there saying, well, I don't know if there's a group for me. Well,

there are college age groups starting this fall for the first time. That's awesome. 20s,

men's groups, women's groups, adult groups with kids, adult groups, no kids. You can even get

geographic groups. You want to group in Ennis or Three Forks or wherever, we got a group for you.

We would love to help you get in a group. Next Sunday, September 8th, we are having a groups

fair. Outside is going to be table after table of leaders standing there going, join my group,

otherwise I feel awkward.

You can do it on the spot and you can be off and running and you can begin to invest in

relationships. If you're in a group, get on a serve team, invest in relationship, invest in

people. If we want to live a life like Jesus, if we want to pour out, I think we're going to need

to simplify some things and create margin. And then from that, we're going to have to invest in

relationships. And if we do that, we're going to have to invest in relationships. And if we do that,

I think we can take this massive economic thing. And instead of it being a paradox where another

country has the fruits of the spirit and we're low on that, we could rise to that level and we

could live that out in this community and around our area. Will you pray with me?

Father God, I am excited at what you are doing here and in this valley,

what you're doing in Ethiopia, what you're doing in Bangladesh. And I ask Lord,

that you would convict us, that your spirit would be upon us and it would challenge us to do the

thing next that you are calling us to do, regardless of how uncomfortable or unreasonable

that thing is. I pray, Lord, that you would convict us to take that next step, that we would

honor you, that we would honor the people we are in and around because you loved us first.

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.