Check Your Fruit: What Comes Out When You’re Squeezed

By Pastor Charles | 12 Church | April 19, 2026

The Question You Can’t Dodge

Most of us want to measure our spiritual life by the moments we choose—the Sunday mornings when we’re focused, the prayers when we feel sincere, the days when we’re patient because nothing has tested us yet.

But there’s a faster, more honest test:

What comes out of you when you get squeezed?

When life presses in—when you’re tired, disappointed, offended, rushed, or misunderstood—what leaks out isn’t random. It’s evidence. It’s fruit.

That’s why this series exists. Not to give us more religious information, but to show us the transformation that should be growing inside of us.

The War Isn’t “Out There”

Galatians 5:16-26 names something every person recognizes but few people want to admit:

There is a battle happening inside us.

The flesh wants what it wants. The Spirit wants something better. And those two desires don’t peacefully coexist—they collide.

We spend a lot of energy blaming other people for what we feel, what we say, and how we react. But Paul forces the mirror back onto us.

The problem isn’t primarily the coworker, the spouse, the traffic, the stress, or the season.

The biggest battle is within.

What Fruit Reveals

Fruit is always the outward proof of an inward root.

You don’t tape oranges to a dead tree and call it healthy.

In the same way, you can’t paste “Christian behavior” onto an unsubmitted heart and expect it to last.

Jesus said in John 15 that He is the vine and we are the branches. Branches don’t produce fruit by effort. They bear fruit by connection.

When we disconnect—when we isolate because of pain, offense, or disappointment—we don’t just lose community. We lose strength.

And the enemy loves isolation because isolated branches wither quietly.

The Works of the Flesh Aren’t “Accidents”

Galatians doesn’t treat the works of the flesh like small personality quirks. It lists them plainly:

sexual immorality, impurity, idolatry, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, envy, drunkenness…and more.

The sobering line isn’t that people stumble. It’s that some people live there—camp there—build a life there—and still want to claim the promises of God.

The Spirit doesn’t cover sin so we can stay comfortable. The Spirit confronts sin so we can be free.

Love: The First Fruit, and the Root of Every Other One

Then Paul turns the corner:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience…”

It starts with love because love is the root. Every other fruit grows out of it.

Real love doesn’t look for what it can take—it looks for what it can give.

It’s patient. It’s kind. It doesn’t keep score. It doesn’t rejoice in wrongdoing. It rejoices in truth.

I learned that the hard way in my own marriage.

Twenty-one years in, my wife and I hit a season where she left. Packed up and moved back to her mother’s house. Every part of my flesh had a response ready—pride, anger, self-protection, the right to be “done.” I could have let any one of them have the last word.

But love wouldn’t let me sit still.

Love made me get in the car. Love made me drive over there. Love made me sit down on that couch and say, “I love you too much to let this be how it ends.”

That wasn’t a feeling. Feelings were screaming the opposite direction.

That was fruit.

And here’s what I had to reckon with long before that couch: I was molested at six years old. For years I carried a distorted picture of what love even was. The enemy tried to write the definition of love into my story before God ever could.

But God’s agape love is unconditional. It protects. It perseveres. It heals what was broken and overcomes what was stolen. No past abuse, no mental health battle, no thing you haven’t been able to let go of is bigger than the love of a Father who bled and died for you.

When you love God, loving people stops being hard—it starts becoming who you are.

That’s why love isn’t just sentimental.

Love tells the truth.

Love doesn’t celebrate sin.

Love doesn’t rewrite God’s design to avoid discomfort.

Love doesn’t keep receipts.

Love doesn’t weaponize memories.

If you have to keep a record of wrongs to feel safe, what you’re protecting isn’t love—it’s control.

Don’t Confuse “Trying Harder” With Growing

Many people attempt spiritual growth the same way they attempt self-improvement:

More grit. More willpower. More discipline.

But you can’t produce God’s character by trying harder. It has to be grown.

The question isn’t, “How do I act more loving?”

The deeper question is, “What am I connected to?”

Because connection determines fruit.

Apart from Jesus, we can do nothing.

But when we remain—when we abide—something begins to form in us that wasn’t there before.

A Seven-Day Check

Here’s the challenge we can’t ignore: for the next seven days, pay attention to what comes out when you get squeezed.

• When you’re corrected, what shows up?

• When you’re inconvenienced, what shows up?

• When you don’t get your way, what shows up?

• When you feel unseen, what shows up?

That’s not condemnation. That’s clarity.

Because you can’t change what you won’t name.

The Invitation

This is not about perfection. It’s about evidence.

You don’t become different so you can make a difference.

You become different before you can make a difference.

So don’t settle for external religion while the internal war keeps winning.

Stay connected.

Remain in the vine.

And let the Spirit grow what the flesh could never manufacture.

“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” Galatians 5:25

Dirty Water: Why Baptism Doesn’t Require Perfect Conditions

By Pastor Charles | 12 Church | April 12, 2026

A Trip to the Jordan River

I put off getting baptized for years. Not because I didn't believe. I was already in ministry. I just wanted it to be special. I wanted the moment to match the magnitude of what baptism means. So I waited.

Eventually, I traveled all the way to Israel to be baptized in the Jordan River, the same waters where Jesus himself was baptized. In my mind, it was going to be pristine. Sacred. Beautiful.

It wasn't.

The Jordan River was muddy. Dirty. A place where people had historically bathed and washed their clothes. When I saw the water, I didn't want to get in. I actually refused at first. This was supposed to be my moment?

But God had a lesson waiting for me in that dirty water.

When I finally stepped in, doves appeared overhead. Soldiers nearby stopped and asked who I was. And God spoke something to my spirit that I've carried ever since:

If you focus on the condition of the water, you'll miss your opportunity to be blessed.

What Baptism Really Is

Baptism isn't about the water. It never was.

Romans 6:4 says, "For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives."

When you go down into that water, the old you, every burden, every mistake, every sin, every piece of brokenness, dies and stays in the water. And when you come back up, you rise into something new.

Colossians 2:12 echoes the same truth: "For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead."

Baptism is a burial and a resurrection. It's a public announcement to the world of who you now represent. It's your coming-out party as a follower of Jesus.

Let me be clear: baptism doesn't save you. Your faith in Christ does that. But baptism is the declaration. It's you standing in front of the world and saying, "I'm not who I used to be."

Don't Wait for Clean Water

Jesus made the long journey from Nazareth to be baptized in the Jordan River. When he arrived, John the Baptist didn't feel worthy to baptize him. But Jesus didn't let imperfect conditions stop him. He modeled what he wanted us to follow.

So many of us are standing on the bank, looking at the water, waiting for it to be clear. Waiting for our lives to be cleaner. Waiting for the "right" moment.

But here's the truth: the water is supposed to be dirty. That's the whole point. You're not stepping into perfection. You're stepping into transformation. You're leaving the dirt behind, not bringing it with you.

12 Baptisms at 12 Church

This Sunday, 12 people stepped into the water and declared their faith. At 12 Church. You can't make that up.

Some had registered ahead of time. Others heard the call during service and walked forward on the spot. Every single one of them left something in that water and came out different.

That's the invitation that's always open. You don't need perfect conditions. You don't need a trip to Israel. You don't need to have it all figured out.

You just need to step in.

"Look, I am making everything new!" Revelation 21:5 (NLT)

Paid For

You have heard the Easter story before. Jesus died. Jesus rose again. But I want this to be more than something you know in your head. I want it to touch your real life.

Here is the truth I want you to carry with you today.

You are a resurrection story.

Jesus is alive and you belong to Him

“I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.” (Revelation 1:18, NLT)

That means the worst thing is not the last thing.

“for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:20, NLT)

That is a strong sentence. It means you do not just belong to yourself. You belong to God.

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, NLT)

Jesus never promised an easy road. He said we would have trouble. But He also said He overcame the world. That means trouble is real, but it is not the boss.

So here is the title for today.

Paid For.

What you pay for, you protect

If you have ever paid real money for something you love, you know what I mean. When you pay for something, you take care of it. You protect it. You do not treat it like trash. If you paid a high price, you see that thing as valuable.

That is how Jesus sees you.

The purse story and the moment my heart dropped

Let me make that real with a story.

I bought my wife a purse one time. In my head, I thought it was the perfect gift. I was thinking, She is going to love this. I was thinking, This is going to show her how much I value her. I was thinking, This is the kind of gift that says, I see you.

I was already playing the movie in my mind. I thought she was going to smile big. I thought she was going to feel honored. I thought I nailed it.

Then I gave it to her.

She looked at it. She looked back at me. And she said, “Take that back.”

Now listen, I am not saying she was ungrateful. I believe she was thinking, I love you, but I do not want you to spend that kind of money on that. She was not rejecting me. She was trying to protect me.

But my feelings were hurt, because in my mind this was the perfect gift.

So I went back to the store to return it. And the first thing they asked me was simple.

“Do you have your receipt?”

That question hit me. Because a receipt means you can take something back.

And that is when the Holy Spirit hit me with the line that became the whole message.

What Jesus paid for has no receipt.

No receipt means no taking it back

When Jesus paid for you, He did not leave room for a return.

You cannot undo it.

You cannot cancel it.

You cannot say, I messed up too much.

You cannot say, I am too far gone.

His payment stands.

A lot of people live like they belong to themselves. My life. My body. My story. My pain. But scripture says something different. You were bought with a price. That means you belong to God. Not to your past. Not to your pain. Not to what happened to you.

So when you keep holding shame, you are holding something Jesus already paid for. When you keep holding guilt, you are carrying something Jesus already took. When you keep holding hurt, you are acting like the payment did not go through.

But it went through.

Jesus paid.

Jesus paid for what you carry

Now let me say this plain. Jesus did not just pay for your sin. Jesus paid for what you carry.

He paid for trauma.

He paid for abuse.

He paid for betrayal.

He paid for pain.

He paid for the things you still think about at night.

Some people carry hurt like a baby. They hold it close. They protect it. They say, This is mine. This is what they did to me.

But God says you do not have to carry it anymore.

The revelatory point

Here is the revelation that changes everything.

Jesus already paid for it.

So you do not have to keep paying for it with your peace.

You do not have to keep paying for it with your joy.

You do not have to keep paying for it with your future.

Bring it to the cross.

Leave it at the cross.

And do not pick it back up.

A simple prayer

Jesus, thank You for paying for me. Thank You that I belong to You. Help me lay down what I have been carrying. Help me leave it at the cross and not pick it back up. I believe You are making me new. In Jesus’ name, amen.

This is what Easter means.

You are not a victim.

You are a resurrection story.

And if Jesus paid for it, you do not have to carry it another day.