The fruit of the spirit does not come from you— it comes from the Holy Spirit.
Juicy Fruit: Taste the Goodness of a Spirit Filled Life
Galatians 5:22–23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
LOVE.
Love is the first fruit of the Spirit— and it’s not by accident.
Because everything else grows from it.
In Scripture, agape is the highest form of love—set apart from every other kind.
- Help studies define agape as benevolence—doing good for the benefit of others—It’s the love God has for us… and the love we’re called to have for others.
Agape is used more than any other word for love in the New Testament, because it describes God’s kind of love. Which means this love isn’t ordinary… it’s divine. it’s supernatural.
COUNTERFEIT FRUIT: IMITATION WITHOUT TRANSFORMATION
Let me take you all the way back to the beginning—because the first sin in the Bible… involved fruit.
Genesis 2:9 says God placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden.
And then in Genesis 2:16–17, God gave a clear instruction—
“You are free to eat from any tree… but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
Genesis 3:6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eye, and desirable for gaining wisdom… she took some and ate it.
Genesis 3:1 “Did God really say…?”
- The enemy didn’t begin with temptation—
- He began with challenging the words of God…
And that’s exactly how temptation works in our world today.
- It starts with a thought… A conversation… A voice…
- “Everyone else is doing it… It’s not hurting anyone…”
- “This is just who I am… God understands…”
- And little by little… We start relabeling what God already defined.
Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
Galatians 5:19-21
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
God has already defined what is good in His Word.
- Culture doesn’t decide… feelings don’t decide… your heart doesn’t decide…
- God decides—and He doesn’t change.
Hebrews 13:8 — Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
1 John 4:20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.
Romans 8:1 “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
There is grace… There is healing… There is forgiveness in Jesus THROUGH repentance…
So what do we do?
- We don’t justify it… we repent. We say, “God, I was wrong.”
- We turn from it… change our ways to His ways…
- We stop trying to make truth fit our lives, and we start aligning our lives to His truth—
LOVE IS ALIGNMENT, NOT EMOTION
1 Corinthians 13:4–7 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”
Notice—it doesn’t say love is easy.
Love is alignment with God.
Matthew 7:3-5 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
So it looks like this in your life—
- Real love doesn’t start with correcting others… it starts with examining yourself.
- Anchoring to obedience— even when your feelings are pulling you the other way.
- Speaking truth— even when it’s uncomfortable or could cost you something.
- Staying committed— when it would be easier to pull back, shut down, or walk away.
- That’s love… that’s alignment.
YOU CAN’T GIVE WHAT YOU HAVEN’T RECEIVED
1 John 4:16,19 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
19 We love because he first loved us.
We don’t start with loving people. We start with being loved by God.
If you don’t receive His love… you’ll try to manufacture your own.
And manufactured love looks like performance… control… insecurity… fear of rejection…
But real love? You don’t produce it— you receive it… then release it.
Romans 5:5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
You’re not trying to earn love. You’re learning to LIVE from it.
LOVE IS THE ROOT OF EVERYTHING
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is the ROOT for all the other fruit.
LOVE is foundational from where everything else grows.
No love = No real joy… No real peace… No real patience
Fruit doesn’t come from effort… Fruit comes from connection.
John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
The goal of your life… It IS to STAY CONNECTED to Jesus.
- Because when you stay connected—
- You don’t have to force love… LOVE FLOWS.
- You don’t have to chase peace… PEACE SETTLES.
- You don’t have to manufacture joy… JOY RISES.
So the question is not— Do I have enough love?…
The question is— Am I connected to the source of love?
1. Take an inventory of the fruit in your life: What’s coming out of your life?
2. Stop eating fake fruit: If it looks good but pulls you from God—it’s poison.
3. Receive God’s love daily: Not occasionally—daily.
4. Choose obedience over feelings: Even when it costs you.