9 Ingredients, 1 Cake.....

[0:00] Well, it says sermon, but it's not really going to be a sermon as such, because it's a family service this morning. So I thought, as it's a family service, I might as well get my family involved.

[0:10] So Jude has kindly agreed, while being press-ganged, into helping me. So a round of applause, please, for Jude as he comes out. Excellent, Jude.

[0:25] Oh, right, well, no, he's not. He's definitely Jude, aren't you, Jude? Yeah. So what we're going to do this morning, actually, is bake a cake.

[0:37] So we've got all the ingredients here. We've got flour. We've got milk. We've got caster sugar. We've got mixed spice, raisins, sultanas, eggs, milk, and salt.

[0:52] So we've got all the ingredients here for a very nice cake. And I can promise you, it is a very nice cake. So we'll just get on with it now this morning. But of course, we're not really going to make a cake.

[1:08] We're going to look at something that we all need in our lives. Characteristics that we all need in our lives. And looking at a cake is the same way as looking at what the result of these characteristics are in our lives.

[1:25] And those characteristics are what we call the fruit of the Spirit. So one fruit made up of nine characteristics. One cake made up of nine ingredients.

[1:37] So we're going to put those ingredients together and just talk about each of those ingredients as we do so. We all right there, Jude? So you're going to talk about that. And I'll mix the cake.

[1:47] Is that all right? No? It's all right. Go on. Yes? Did you say? Yeah, good man. Right. So let's start off with the first one. There we go.

[2:00] Love. Love. So, Jude, if you want to put love in, if you find them, they're all nicely labeled. Let's toss that in. It's actually called a toss-in cake, this.

[2:11] It's my wife Anne's mother's recipe. It was the first cake, she says, Anne says, that her mother taught her to make. So there we are. Love goes in. And from 2 John 1 to 6, and this is love.

[2:25] That we walk in obedience to his commands. As you've heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. And that's a command for us. It's not a polite, well, please love one another.

[2:37] It's a command to love one another. So we need to take that extremely seriously as one of the ingredients of the fruit of the Spirit.

[2:48] We want to demonstrate in our lives. We should look to demonstrate in our lives the fruit of the Spirit. These should all be part of us in our everyday lives and our witness as Christians to other people.

[3:03] Oh, we've got an assistant chef here. That's good. Right. So, yes, sous chef. Thank you. So the next ingredient is... Oh, very good. Thank you, Jude.

[3:13] Yeah. The next ingredient is joy. In Nehemiah, it says, Nehemiah said, Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks. And send some to those who have nothing prepared.

[3:25] The day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. The joy of the Lord is your strength. And if you have that joy of the Lord, it's not about happiness.

[3:38] It's about that deep, deep abiding joy that means that you don't need to feel anxious or afraid or worried. Now, that's a nice thing to aim for, isn't it?

[3:50] And I don't think this side of heaven, we're ever going to get to that situation where we aren't anxious or worried or afraid about something. But that's what we should be aiming for, that deep, abiding joy in our lives.

[4:04] Right, Jude? Give it a good mix around there. That's it. Hard work, you see this? Hard work, cake making. You know, you watch Mary Berry and you think, goodness me, it's easy, isn't it? Right, the next ingredient, please.

[4:18] Peace. Philippians says, And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ. Peace. Peace. Confidence.

[4:31] Confidence that God will do what He said He will do. Confidence that you have Jesus living in your lives. Confidence that you can grow in knowledge and in service of Him.

[4:46] Are you alright, Jude? Yeah. Right? I'll just unfasten one or two of these for you while you're stirring that. Give it a good stir. So the next ingredient, patience.

[5:07] Who struggles with patience? Come on, be honest. Who struggles with patience? Yes. Yep. Sorry? Yeah.

[5:18] Yes. Yes. Patience. Patience. Right. Patience. Psalm 103 in verse 8 says, The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love.

[5:34] We should be slow to anger and abounding in love. That's another one of the characteristics that we should be looking for. Have tolerance to be able to, especially to endure hurt from others.

[5:46] And that's difficult, isn't it? To have that abounding love when other people aren't very pleasant to us. But that's what we should be aiming for as one of the characteristics visible in our lives.

[5:59] How are we doing, Jude? Good. Good. Yes. That's looking fine. That's looking fine. Have you got the, you need patience in, I think. That's, oh, sorry. Yep.

[6:09] Sorry. I'm on the wrong one there. Mixed spice, wasn't it? The patience. Sorry. That's right. Good. Kindness. That's the next one. Kindness. Titus 3 verses 4 to 7 says, But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy.

[6:29] He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Christ Jesus our Savior, so that having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

[6:47] So we need to be kind. It's a lovely characteristic, isn't it? Kindness. And that doesn't mean we have to just roll over, and it certainly doesn't mean that we have to tolerate error in Scripture.

[6:58] If people say something, or preach something, or put forward something, that is an error in Scripture, we can be kind to them and set them right.

[7:10] Not do it in a hostile manner, but with kindness. And so, for example, well, we saw Jesus being kind in the Scripture that Michelle had earlier, about being kind to the little children to get them to come forward.

[7:26] He was kind to the sinful woman who washed his feet in perfume. Demonstrated that kindness. The next one, please. You all right there, Jude?

[7:37] Yes, that's looking good now. That's looking really nice, isn't it? I bet you're looking forward to trying this, aren't you? Yeah. Not for you. Right. The next one is goodness. Psalm 27 and verse 13 says, I'm still confident of this.

[7:52] I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Having goodness. Being generous to others. Especially those who, again, are not very nice to us.

[8:08] Having that moral excellence, if you like. To be generous. To give something to people, particularly when they don't deserve it.

[8:20] It's a wonderful characteristic to demonstrate if people say, goodness, why have you done that for me? Just because I wanted to, or just because you wanted to. So, goodness.

[8:31] And it's interesting, these two, kindness and goodness, raisins and sultanas, too much of one, too much of the other, too much kindness, and maybe you're too easy to, ready to forgive.

[8:49] Too much goodness, you're too ready to condemn. Put them together, kindness and goodness, and that's what Jesus wants. The kindness and the goodness.

[9:00] The goodness, but the kindness, the firm kindness. All right? Good. Next ingredient, please. Faithfulness.

[9:12] Lamentations 3, 22 to 24. It says, because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. Oh, do you want me to help with that?

[9:22] Oh, excellent. Look at that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Excellent.

[9:33] Well done, Jude. That's wonderful. Thank you. So, faithfulness. Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.

[9:45] They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, the Lord is my portion, therefore I will wait for him.

[9:56] Be humble. Be gentle. But, be actively battling the wiles of Satan trying to influence your life. Have that faithfulness.

[10:07] Stick with God. even when those trials and those temptations come. Stay humble. Stay gentle. Stay close to Jesus. How are we doing now, Jude?

[10:18] Mixing well? Yep. Hard work now, isn't it? Yep. Developing those muscles. He's just back from a week's holiday, so he's looking, you know, unpleasantly healthy, really.

[10:30] So, but that's, yeah, looking good. And the next ingredient, gentleness. Sorry, I switched those around.

[10:41] The last ingredient, faithfulness, was about being loyal and trustworthy and reliable. I do apologize. Especially to others. To be loyal and to be trustworthy and to be reliable.

[10:53] If you say you'll do something, do it. And now, gentleness. Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.

[11:14] Forgive as the Lord forgave you. So, yes, be gentle, be humble, but be ready to actively battle Satan and forgive others when they do come against you.

[11:28] Think back to what the Lord has forgiven you and you'll know, then, how to forgive others. And the final ingredient I think we're at now.

[11:40] Jude, oh, yes, the final ingredient. Give that a good, that's looking good. It's self-control. 2 Peter 1, 3 to 9. There are two slides here. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.

[11:58] Through these, He has given us His very great and precious promises so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

[12:11] Next slide, please. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness and to goodness knowledge and to knowledge self-control and to self-control perseverance and to perseverance godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness love.

[12:32] For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them he is nearsighted that's me, nearsighted and blind and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

[12:56] We need to restrain our appetites and our passions particularly those that would trip us up. That's self-control. And the aim is to have perfect holiness perfect control.

[13:12] That's what God has that's what Jesus has. Perfect holiness perfect control. We're not going to reach it in our lives here on earth but that is the aim to take on that characteristic of self-control.

[13:28] So that's our ingredients all mixed. So now we've got nine ingredients in there and we've got one cake ready to be baked. We have nine ingredients for our lives and as I said at the start as Christians we should be demonstrating these ingredients.

[13:47] that the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control.

[13:59] Against such thing there is no law. Now that's interesting isn't that final sentence there against such things there's no law. Nobody legislates against these things.

[14:10] Government doesn't pass a law saying right we're outlawing faithfulness. We're outlawing joy. We're outlawing peace. They can't be legislated against.

[14:21] Against such things there is no law. They are inherently good things to demonstrate. They are the fruit the single fruit made up of those nine characteristics that we need to demonstrate in our lives.

[14:38] Failure to do that damages our effectiveness for God. That's why it's so important to demonstrate these characteristics in our lives.

[14:49] Demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit. Jude that's excellent. Thank you very much to Jude. And of course it wouldn't be it wouldn't be right unless I was able to say here's one we made earlier.

[15:08] yeah. We were all hoping you were going to say that. With the help of my own Mary Berry Nigella Lawson thank you.

[15:23] So here's one we made earlier and you're very welcome to try it. It's alright to have it with coffee and tea Deidre's nodding excitedly there. so do try the cake and thank you for listening.

[15:39] Thank you.