Fruits of the Spirit Interactive Sermon

I wanted to do a different sermon when I preached earlier this summer, so I decided to have the congregation take an active role in a sermon focusing on the Fruits of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23.

First, I gathered some actual fruit and a Sharpie. I used bananas, lemons, and oranges. On each fruit, write one of the fruits-love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, or self-control.

And my friend designed these awesome question sheets on Canva.

And then I wrote an introduction and a wrap up for the sermon.

Just before these verses in Paul’s letter to the churches in Galatia are a list of do not dos. We will not be reading those verses today because we are focusing on the to do! The fruits of the Spirit are actions that pour out of us as a response to God’s love.

The fruits of the Spirit-love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control-are not things we do to be saved. Jesus already took care of that . The fruits of the Spirit are our response to God’s love living inside of us. Because we are filled with God’s love, we can be fruit trees bearing lots of fruit. And this text isn’t just talking about us as individuals-it is talking about the church. So because Buckingham Presbyterian Church is filled with God’s love, our grateful response is being a church that shares all of these fruits.

It is easy to say these fruits so fast that we don’t even think about them. Instead today we are going to dive deep into this fruit salad. We are going to divide into groups and answer the questions on our sheet about our fruit. Then we will come back together and share what we said.

After each group has shared, it is time for the wrap up!

I want you to be on the lookout for these fruits in the coming days. I am giving everyone a Fruit of the Spirit Bingo Card. When you see a fruit or you put one of these fruits in action, cross it off your card. When your card is full, bring it back to church and give it to me. I will have a special prize for you (spoiler alert-it is fruit snacks). We are going to work together as a community of faith to be people who respond to God’s love by sharing love, joy, peace, kindness, faithfulness, self-control, generosity, gentleness, and patience. Amen.