Some Gems from Pentecost Sunday

Some gems from Rev Daniel Tan's sermon on Pentecost Sunday:
* "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. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another." (Galatians 5:22-26, ESV) Here the Bible says "fruit" (singular), not "fruits" . So it is the fruit of the Spirit, one fruit with nine flavours. The presence of the Holy Spirit in us should produce all of the 9 virtues, not just one or some of them, as the nine are actually one.
* This passage is related to John 15 about remaining in Christ as the branch remains in the Vine, otherwise the branch cannot bear fruit [and will die!].
* "those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh.." we are to crucify our flesh [in Gospels, Lord Jesus uses the term "carry your cross"] i.e. to deny ourself and give up our sinful desires. We need to let go of them, unlike a bowler doing funny movements as if he can control the bowling ball that is no more in his hand.

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Some gems from Theng Eng's sharing during Dawnbreakers' choir practice:
* Holy Spirit guides us into the whole truth, e.g. as non-Christians when we read the Bible, we found it hard to understand, but after we believe, we are given growing understanding when we read the Bible and see the relevance of its content.
* Galatians 5 speaks of "the works of the flesh" vs "the fruit of the Spirit". Fruit is something natural, as long as we are in Christ (spiritually healthy and growing), naturally we bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Works are something added on, not as natural as fruit... when we are in grace, although occasionally we still fall, we don't work [purposely plan and desire] to produce sins.
* Holy Spirit is very gentle to us. He doesn't just come and at once force us to remove all sins, since we would not be able to bear that. He works progressively to help us to leave our sinful desires and to set right the things in our life.
* As Rev Lilian Ang preached last week, instead of trying to have more of Holy Spirit, we should let Him have more of us.