Dear Friend,
It so happened that this past weekend I was in the UK during the celebration of the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. I was speaking at a conference in the town of Kilmarnock, which is in Ayrshire. It was there, in 1956, that I stood with my mum and waved my Union Jack as the Queen passed through town. For the past sixty-six years I have enjoyed the privilege of being one of her subjects.

Without a right understanding of Galatians 5:22–23, it can be easy to look at the fruit of the Spirit as a to-do list to achieve. But the book The Character of Christ: The Fruit of the Spirit in the Life of Our Saviour will show you that the opposite is true.

Imagine that you’re in London. The year is 1675; it’s been fewer than ten years since the Great Fire ravished the city. One Sunday afternoon, after lunch, you walk down Bishopsgate Street to discover a constant flow of people entering the great hall of the Crosby House. The large home’s owner is Sir John Langham, a Nonconformist who has left the Church of England.