How are you? How is your week going?
This past Sunday, we had the pleasure of hearing the Word of God preached through Pastor Matt Morginsky on one of the reasons why Jesus had to live: to reverse the curse of the Fall. If you’re interested, listen to his sermon on our website (http://newlifecolorado.net/).
I want to take this time to talk about our future sermon series: “The Fruit of the Spirit.” As a pastor, I hear so many people talk about wanting to grow in their faith. Their conception of growth may be a growth in new knowledge. It may be serving the church more.
Although these things are true, we see that growing in faith is not just mere knowledge or works. The Bible also describes the Holy Spirit bearing fruit within us.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. -Galatians 5:22-24
Christian growth is a growth in character. It’s not something that we work on, but it’s something that the Holy Spirit works in us. We are sanctified by grace alone as we are saved by grace alone. What’s beautiful is that the Holy Spirit can bear the fruit within us, because this is Christ’s heart toward us through His person and work.
Another aspect of the Fruit of the Spirit is that it is shown in community. All the fruits have “one another” in mind. We love one other. We have joy with one other. We have peace with one another. We are patient with one another. We show goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control toward one another.
God draws us together as He draws us toward Him in Christ. This brings before us our focus area of INreach for this and next Fiscal Years as we are focusing on Community Life and Relationships.
We will launch this series at our retreat with the fruit of “Love.” Please prepare your hearts for this sermon series by asking the Lord to show you where you need to be challenged in your relationships with one another. Also, take some time to pray for the church. Pray that we may be transformed to be reconciled and united in Christ.
Hope to see you all at the retreat! For those going to the retreat, please try to be there by worship at least. See the opening events:
Friday
5PM – Check-in at the front desk of Clarion Hotel (314 W Bijou St, Colorado Springs, CO 80905)
6PM – Dinner (Jimmy John’s)
7 PM – Worship
Please bring the following items: Bible, Pen, Toiletries, Warm clothes/Jacket, and Water bottle.
For those who will not attend the retreat, we will miss you. We will still have Sunday worship at the normal place and time, so we hope to see you there!
In Christ,
Pastor Tim
Photo credit: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/170151692145415686/