This past Sunday we concluded our series on the Fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22 with a 
summary of all the fruits and communion. I should have a picture or two to upload soon, but I left the camera cable at the office.
During the 10 week long series I emphasized that the fruits of the Spirit were gifts from God. I encouraged people to receive the gifts and then open them.
- Love. We discussed how God is love so in order to love we need to know God. I also mentioned several times that if people expected to love someone like me they needed to know God first, because it was only with his help that they could love me.
- Joy. Again I emphasized the need to know God. When you know God you experience joy.
- Peace. I was away in Kisumu during this week. A member of the church named Ben Oduor spoke that week.
- Long-suffering. I used a coconut for this fruit, and demonstrated that sometimes God hides gifts in our troubles.
- Kindness. I made this one real simple. Kindness equals being nice.
- Goodness. I was away in Siaya during this one. Kate, my wife, talked about how what God created was good. She said we needed to see the good in people as God sees it.
- Faithfulness. We emphasized faithfulness to God, spouse, children, employer, employees, and friends.
- Meekness. This was one of the hardest because of language. I struggled and I am not sure many people came away understanding meekness.
- Self-Control. The controversial one. I talked about sex, food, and alcohol. Hard topics to talk about in a Kenyan church, but we made it through with God's help.
The tenth week we summarized them all and cut up fruit to use as communion. The next series will be 8 weeks on the book of Genesis.
