Message Recap
We kicked off our newest series today: Overflow: The 9 Traits of a Spirit-filled Life, with Teaching Pastor Shawn Wiliams.
Pastor Shawn began by setting the stage for the entire series. He shared how Galatians 5:16 says, "So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." The command here is to walk by the Spirit. When we walk by the Spirit, the natural by-product is an overflow of the fruit of the Spirit.
As followers of Jesus, it is possible to have moments where we walk by the flesh and moments where we walk by the Spirit. Our hope is that we grow in being led by the Spirit so that we have more moments in which we respond with the fruit of the Spirit than moments in which we do not. The Fruit of the Spirit, like ordinary fruit, cannot grow without being connected to a life-giving source—in our case, we must be connected to the Holy Spirit.
Pastor Shawn continued by teaching about the fruit of love. Those who follow Jesus and those who do not both value love and often love others. What separates the follower of Jesus is that they love those who do not love them.
Matthew 5:46-47 says, "If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?" In the ancient world, religious people made it very difficult for some people to access God. But Jesus tears down barriers and builds a more inclusive table. That is a good definition of love—love tears down fences to build bigger tables.
Pastor Shawn continued this means "Hang out with the 'wrong' crowd for the right reason." There are times, if we're honest, when we have hung out with the wrong crowd for the wrong reasons; perhaps we wanted an accomplice to get in trouble with. Jesus, however, hung out with the "wrong" people for the right reason. The people Jesus hung out with had been told their whole lives that God didn't care about them and would never bless them. But Jesus went to them to share the love of the Father.
Pastor Shawn shared a very important principle to remember: Proximity doesn't mean permission, but love demands presence. Proximity does not mean we agree with everything someone else believes. But we cannot love without presence. Love requires presence. No matter where people were in their journey, they were loved in Jesus' presence.
