 A powerful verse, Psalm 139-23, Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. There's something to be said of vulnerability toward God. And that's what this message is about. I am going to walk you through the Scripture. And as I do, I want you to examine yourself. And I want you to allow God to examine you. Don't hold back, be completely honest as we move through these truths, allow them to speak to you and not just to speak to you, but to correct you. I've found that sometimes in order to grow spiritually, I have to admit that I'm not where I need to be. In order to learn something new, sometimes I have to admit that what I thought I knew was wrong. This is an examination, a spiritual exam. And as we move through these points, measure your life against what the Scripture says and then ask the Holy Spirit to help you correct it. This is not a message of condemnation. This is a message of examination and correction. And we need to get honest now. We need to get real. Let's go to Galatians chapter 5, verse number 16. So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. 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. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under the obligation of the law of Moses. Now watch this. When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear. Sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 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. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. So there is this war between who you used to be and who you truly are now. The Spirit desires to do that which is godly. The sin nature desires to do that which is sinful. And if you're walking according to the Spirit, certain things will begin to surface in your life. You know, pressure doesn't create you. It reveals you. When something goes under pressure, the contents are revealed for what they actually are. You've heard the illustration that when God wants to produce oil in you or the anointing in you, that it's like unto the crushing of an olive because they would crush the olive in order to get the oil. But here's the reality. Were there no oil in the olive when the crushing would come, there would be no oil. In the same way, when pressures come against us in our lives, it reveals what's on the inside. It reveals what's really in there. So it's important that we examine ourselves so that when times of testing come, so that when pressures come, so that when the enemy attacks, we can produce that which is in us, the Spirit. Let's read these two verses again from Galatians chapter 5. I'm going to read verses 22 and 23 one more time. Listen to this. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives. Love, joy, peace, patience. Lord, please help me with that one. Kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things. The greatest demonstration that you are walking according to the Holy Spirit is not power, is not miracles, is not speaking in tongues, though those are wonderful demonstrations of the Holy Spirit's power. The primary way that you know that you're walking in the Holy Spirit, it's the character of Christ in you. What good does it do if you're speaking in tongues and then cussing people out? What good does it do if you're walking in power but have no patience for those who are weaker? What good does it do if you have authority and are able to perform miracles and drive out demons and operate in the gifts, but the people who are closest to you know you as a mean, spirited, moody, cranky, cynical, selfish individual. What good does it do to have power but not presence, to have gifts without glory, to have a form of godliness without the character of Christ? So the character of Christ is foremost love. Love at its core is selflessness. Love is not a feeling. Love is putting others before yourself. Love is prioritizing those around you. Love is a decision made in selflessness. Love is selflessness. Joy, do you project that joy in your everyday life or are you so spiritual that you have to always be so serious and moody? Now I'm not talking about personality types. I know some people that are very stoic, that's just their personality and that's not what I'm talking about here but you can be a serious person. You can have a stoic personality yet still carry the joy of the Lord. I'm talking about those who are mean spirited, those who are unapproachable, those who are constantly complaining and whining and gossiping because there's no joy in their life. There's no praise coming out of them. There's no praise coming out of them because there's no room because they're always complaining. How are you supposed to complain and praise at the same time? So is there joy being produced in your life? Do people see the joy of the Lord or do you make Christianity look miserable? Do you make it look like something that's unattractive? Do you make it look like something that's just one big chore after another? You need the joy of the Spirit in your life. You need to be overflowing with that joy and affecting others around you. Do you have peace? Or are you always freaking out and panicking at the first sign of trouble? Does your mind always go to the worst case scenario of what could possibly go wrong? When you face issues in your life, do you become emotional and reckless? Do you begin to say things that you shouldn't say? Does your mind begin to spiral out of control or do you stay grounded on the foundation of the person of Christ? Do you find your firm footing in the promises of God? Are you able to approach the storm with confidence or do you freak out? Patience. This is one of the ones I pray the Lord helps me with. If any of these I'm struggling with, it's patience because I like to move fast. I like to get things done. I like to get on to the next thing. If I'm explaining something, I want to be able to explain it once and that's it and not have to explain it again. Patience is something I'm asking the Lord to help me in. Now I have some patience, but I could use more. Tell me in the comment section right now as I've read the Fruit of the Spirit to you, which one of these do you need the most work in? For me, it's patience. Next, we see kindness. Kindness, my goodness. Whatever happened to kindness in this world? People so mean with each other. Everyone's a Christian until they start driving. Everyone's kind until they're late. Everyone's in a good mood until they don't get what they want and then suddenly kindness goes out the door. God help us. Goodness. This is speaking of goodness itself, the intrinsic nature of God. Everything that is of God is good. Those good things that we enjoy. The positive things of life. Do you have that goodness in you? Faithfulness. This is talking about not just consistency, but reliability. Are you faithful and consistent and reliable? Or are you the person who texts, I'll be there, and then you decide to not go and you don't tell anyone and they're having to get a hold of you and no one can get in touch with you. You just, what do they call it? Ghost everyone. Oh yes, I'll help. And then they got to call you to follow up. I'll be there and then you don't show up. Faithfulness is not just consistency, it's reliability. It's the character of Christ. Do you keep your word? The thing I was told by my father growing up is your word is your bond. It has to do with your character, your nature, who you are. When God gives you his word, he's giving you himself. He's putting the full backing of everything that he has and is behind what he promised in the same way. When you give your word, your character backs that word. Your word is only as good as your character. Your word is only as good as your consistency and we need that faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Some of us are so rough around the edges. Some of us are so difficult to deal with. People don't want to even approach you about anything because they're afraid that you might not be in the right mood to be approached. Gentleness, self-control. Oh my goodness. Gentleness and self-control really go hand in hand because sometimes in order to be gentle, you have to have self-control. How do you disagree? How do you argue? Do you use gentleness or are you in the flesh? Can you come to a place of peace with others or do you lack gentleness? Self-control, my goodness. This can have to do with anything and everything. This can have to do with the words you say, the thoughts you think, the way you treat people, how you treat the temple of the Holy Spirit, your physical body. What are you putting in your body as far as your diet goes? What are you putting in your body as far as substances go? Are you self-controlled? Or do you demonstrate a lack of self-control? Now again, these are questions I'm asking and I am not asking these to condemn anyone. Look, I'm not someone who tries to offend people just because it makes for a better message. I'm telling you this because I love you. I'm asking you these questions because these are questions I have to ask myself too. I'm right there with you. I'm looking at these things going, Lord, I could really do better in all of these areas. All of us can be more like Jesus in some way. All of us need to be more like Jesus in more ways than one. So I'm not saying this to condemn you. I'm not asking these questions so that you walk away feeling condemned. I want you to ask these questions so these things can be corrected in our lives because this is an indicator to us. The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives and then it lists the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit. That's the character of Christ. If you are not walking in the Spirit, you won't be seeing these things. Therefore, if you don't see these things, that's a sign to you, that's an indication that shows you, that reveals that maybe you're not walking with the Spirit like you should be. We all need to measure ourselves against the Scripture. We all need to measure ourselves against what the Bible says. That's the diagnosis. That's the verdict. These are the symptoms of walking in the flesh. What are the symptoms of walking in the flesh? Well, what's the opposite of love? It's selfishness. What's the opposite of joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and so forth? Those are the symptoms of a lack of the Spirit in your life or a lack of surrender to the Spirit. It's the primary sign that you're walking with the Holy Spirit is the character of Christ in you and we all put myself in there with you. Spirit family, I'm right there with you. We're all growing. We're all learning. I need more surrender in my life in these areas. So do you. And so we have to do these tune-ups, these check-ups because only one is perfect.