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God made a promise to Abraham, then to his son Isaac. Then, when Isaac’s son Jacob was running for his life after cheating his brother out of his birthright, God made the same promise to him. What can we learn from Jacob about God’s promise to us, and about what should be our response?

“Giving as Good as You Get”, by Pastor Ryan Emmons

Genesis 28:10-22 (NLT) ; 創 世 記 28:10-22 (CUVS)
Proverbs 3:9-10 (NLT) ; 箴 言 3:9-10 (CUVS)

You can set up a real-time transcript when you listen on your device. You can also download Pastor Ryan’s sermon notes (not a transcript).

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picture of a peeled tangerine with orange segments in front

The Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, and it grow in us through the presence and working of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and lives. It is not a collection of fruits, but rather part of one larger fruit, like the segments of an orange rather than a bunch of grapes. Pastor Ryan gives a deep dive into these segments in this series from the winter of 2025.

January 12 – Being Fruitful – Introduction
January 29 – Love
January 26 – Joy
February 2 – Peace
February 9 – Patience
February 16 –Kindness
February 23 – Goodness
March 2 – Faithfulness
March 9 – Gentleness
March 16 – Self-Control

Pastor Ryan led us in this prayer by John Stott:

“Heavenly Father, I pray that this day I may live in your presence and please you more and more.

Lord Jesus, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow you.

Holy Spirit, I pray that this day you will fill me with yourself and cause your fruit to ripen in my life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

One book Pastor Ryan is using as a basis for this sermon series is Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit: Growing in Christlikeness, by Christopher Wright.

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God is good. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament tell us this. Goodness is often associated with kindness (last week’s fruit), the ultimate example being Jesus becoming human and enduring humanity’s evil in order to re-unite us with God. But goodness is larger than kindness. God is completely holy and righteous, with no trace of evil, in all he does and says. The cross symbolizes how God can take something intended for evil and turn it into a source of blessing, something that we also see in the story of Joseph. This is very good! God gives us his Holy Spirit so that we can also be good and do good, as the Spirit leads and works in us.

Sorry, but there is no recording of this sermon. You can read the sermon in Pastor Ryan’s sermon notes (not a transcript).

Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT) ; 加 拉 太 書 5:22-23 (CUVS)
Titus 3:4-8 (NLT) ; 提 多 書 3:4-8 (CUVS)

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