When Carlette and I lived in North Dakota, our main entertainment was our garden.  It was located at the farm of a friend, and we had a half acre garden that we worked together. One year, just before we planted, the farm hand of the friend who owned the farm had, unknown to the rest of us, come by and seeded the whole area with wheat.  We had worked like dogs planting everything and pretty soon things began to sprout in the garden.  Little did we expect to see, about 2 weeks later, all over the place wheat was coming up too.  You talk about a mess!  I thought we never would get that garden weeded and I wondered if we ever would see fruit from it.  That’s why we plant gardens...to get fruit.

And, spiritually speaking, I believe the same holds true.  If you are a Christian, if Jesus has become your Lord, God not only desires, but expects you to bear fruit.
 
What is fruit?  It is the part of the plant which holds the seeds.  When fruit has done its job, the end result will be another tree or plant the same species as the original.  And so, spiritually speaking, if you’ve never been responsible for someone else having heard the gospel, you’re not bearing fruit and you’re not in God’s will.  Our lives should draw others to Christ.  I read recently about a church in our denomination which has a candle on the communion table.  And every Sunday that someone new comes to profess faith in Jesus Christ the candle is lit, right there in front of everyone.  Now the candle stays lit all the time!

Each year about this time we get the reports of how many members we have lost, and it seems to get worse.  That’s rather depressing compared to other parts of the world.  Did you know that in the Philippines in the past twenty years the Protestant church has grown from 4 percent of the population to include 11 percent of the population!  And from the ranks of the Filipino church there are presently 670 missionaries in service.  Of these missionaries, 180 minister outside of the Philippines.
 
If we are bearing fruit as God would have us to, I believe that our lives will show it by lining up with what God wants us to be.  Our passage today, I believe, gives us some very specific areas in our lives to look at, some tell-tale signs as to whether or not we are bearing fruit.  And I believe God wants us to have all of these...fruit!

1. LOVE
agape

2.JOY
look in the mirror, not just happiness

3. PEACE
not just 60's type
peace in the heart

4. PATIENCE
Hurry up and wait

5. KINDNESS
How do you treat others?
Spiritual group that ripped each other up

6. GOODNESS
 
There is a basic good nature to you

7. FAITHFULNESS
What you say you will do is accomplished
You are loyal to your friends and above all, to Christ

8. GENTLENESS
This is a person of great strength but used softly

9. SELF-CONTROL
The spirit has possession of your life
You do what you know you should be doing.

These are just things there is no law to govern.  In all they mean a changed heart.
[Like the layers of an apple]
 
There’s so much more in the Bible about the fruit we should bear.  John the Baptist taught us, “Bring forth fruit worthy of repentance.”  The only way we will ever see fruit in our spiritual lives is by letting go and giving it to the Holy Spirit and asking Him to produce fruit in us.  He will produce it.  And that way we can’t brag and say that thanks to our great effort we’re so sanctified.  Not with Jesus!

This morning I believe God is speaking to hearts.  Maybe your whole life has gotten off course and you have come to a time when you’re ready to be something more solid.   Maybe you know that it is time to stop looking like the rest of the world.

Some say, well I wouldn’t want to overdo it.
“God wants spiritual fruit, not religious nuts.”

A boy, just about to enter his teens, sat contentedly in the coach of a train traveling through the dry belt in the West. It was a miserably hot day but always he showed a smiling countenance.
 
Others complained of the heat and the dust. Some found fault with the equipment of the railroad. Most of the passengers seemed out of sorts. It surely was not very comfortable, and traveling was most tiresome and uninteresting.

The boy, however, with a contentment which, it could be seen, had its source far beneath the surface, seemed to be enjoying the dried out country, which to others had become most monotonous.

An inquisitive motherly soul in the seat back of the boy was wondering what made the little fellow so cheerful. When she could curb her curiosity no longer, she leaned forward and asked, “Sonny, aren’t you tired of this heat?”

“Yes, ma’am. I am a little tired. But I don’t mind it much.” The little lady was about to ask why, when he finished his sentence, “Because, my daddy is going to meet me when we get to Winnipeg.”