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Welcome to week number four in our series that
we've entitled Spiritual Growth. Everybody say
spiritual growth. Let's jump right in. 1 Corinthians
2 .14 tells us this. The natural man does not
receive the things of the Spirit of God, for
they are foolishness to him, nor can he know
them because they are spiritually discerned.
So the things of God are foolishness to the natural
man because the things of God, are only spiritually
discerned. 1 Corinthians 3 verses 1 through 3
says this, And I, brethren, could not speak to
you as spiritual people, but as to carnal, as
to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not
with solid food, for until now you were not able
to receive it. And even now you are still not
able, for you are still carnal. For where there
are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are
you not carnal and behaving like mere men? So
in these texts out of 1 Corinthians, we find
that there are three types of people. Three types
of people. And that pretty much covers every
person in the world. There are only three types
or categories of people. One is natural. Everybody
say natural. A natural person is someone who
is not in a relationship with Christ. Someone
who is not born again. Someone who is not renewed.
And all they have to live by is, we could say,
their soul. That'll make more sense in a minute.
Just their flesh and their soul. That's the only
thing they have to direct them. This is a person
without Christ they live by just what feels good.
They live by what seems right in their own eyes.
That's the natural person. The next person is
a carnal person. Everybody say carnal. Now, Paul
is talking to believers in Corinth when he says,
I want to talk to you like you're spiritual people,
but you're just carnal. So I still just have
to give you a little bit of milk, and you might
even throw that up every once in a while. So
a carnal person is a Christian, but they're still
living like a natural person. There's been no
transformation, no change in their life. They're
immature. They live on a childhood level because
they will not feed on the Word of God and grow.
They're more concerned about the natural than
they are the eternal. Or their only concern is
the natural. And then we see spiritual people.
Everybody say spiritual. A spiritual person is
a Christian who is led by the Spirit of God.
The Bible tells us that we're supposed to walk
in the Spirit, be led by the Spirit, follow the
Spirit's leading, follow God. So it's Christians
who are led by the Spirit through the Word of
God. A spiritual person is growing. Now, we never
arrive. None of us have made it to a spiritual
level where we don't need to grow anymore. This
is a process. Everybody say a process. So a spiritual
person is one who is growing, one who is regularly
receiving the Word of God, one who is walking
and being led by the Spirit, walking in the Spirit
and being led by the Spirit. So three types of
people. I want to ask you, where does spiritual
growth occur? Where does it come from? Where
does it happen? 1 Thessalonians 5 .23 tells us
something about people. We looked at their three
categories of people. Now we see that people
are made up of three different components. 1
Thessalonians 5, 23. Now may the God of peace
make you holy. That means set apart. May the
God of peace make you set apart in every way.
And may your whole spirit and soul and body be
kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes
again. So we see that we are three -part. Unlike
every other living thing in the world, we are
three -part beings. Three -part beings. We are
a spirit. Everybody say, I am a spirit. That's
who you are. You have a soul. And you live in
a body. We are spirits. You might say, what do
you mean? What is a spirit? Well, God is a spirit,
and the Bible says that God created us in His
image. So there are different classes of beings,
living things in this world. And there are different
kingdoms for the different living things, right?
Anybody remember this in your biology class?
There's the plant kingdom and there's the animal
kingdom. But where the biology teacher falls
off the truck is he leaves out the other kingdom
because there's a spiritual kingdom. The thing
that makes us different from any other animal
Alive in the earth today. The thing that makes
us different is that we are spirit beings. We're
spirit beings. So, we're three parts. Our spirit
comes alive at salvation. Comes alive. Has anybody
ever heard of the phrase born again? That's when
your spirit comes alive. That's when... during
the process of salvation taking place in your
life, that's when the Holy Spirit moves you from
being immersed in sin to being immersed in Christ.
That's when we come alive. Our spirit is now,
at that point, your spirit is alive to God. Alive
unto God. Because you are separated from God
because of your sin. Spiritual death. Remember
in the garden when God says, hey, Adam, don't
eat from that tree. Because the day that you
eat of it, you will surely die. Now, did his
heart quit beating? Did he fall to the ground?
Did he die when he ate that fruit? No, but he
died spiritually. And then the process of physical
death began at that point. And he ultimately
died physically too, but he died spiritually
because his spirit was no longer connected to
God like it was when he would just walk with
God in the cool of the day. So our spirit becomes
alive. Our spirit man becomes alive at salvation.
Our spirit is united with Christ. And guess what?
At that point, we are clothed in the righteousness
of God in Christ Jesus because of Jesus' work
on the cross. Your spirit is complete. Your spirit
is completely righteous and right standing with
God. You can't grow in righteousness. You can't.
You are righteous if you are in Christ. Not based
on your performance, but based on what Jesus
did on the cross. You're righteous and complete.
But your soul... It's going to have to have some
work. Right? This is your soul. Your soul is
comprised of your mind, your will, and your emotions.
Your mind is your thought life. How many of you
know when you came to Christ, all of a sudden,
all your thoughts didn't completely change and
become holy and righteous, right? Chances are
you've had some thoughts today that aren't very
holy and righteous, especially... if you were
in your car coming here in the traffic. So your
soul is your mind, your thought life, your will,
which is your desires. We all have desires, right?
It's our emotions. It's our feelings. That's
our soul. It's comprised of that, your mind,
your will, and emotions. Now, the difference
between a carnal Christian and a spiritual Christian
Christian is the spiritual growth of the soul
or the lack thereof. Should I say that again?
Because some of you are looking at me like blank
-faced. If you listen better, I will preach faster.
That's just the way it is. I didn't do all this
work just to tell the wall about it. I want your
life to be transformed with the Word of God.
The difference between a carnal person and a
spiritual person is the spiritual growth of the
soul or the lack of spiritual growth of the soul.
Your thought life, your desires, your feelings.
Spiritual maturity is not measured by how long
you've been a Christian. Now, physical growth
just happens with time, right? Maxton's growing
up. Lawson's growing up. Physical growth just
happens over time. But spiritual growth, you
could be a Christian for 50 years and still be
carnal and an infant. It doesn't just happen.
You have to participate with the process. Spiritual
maturity is not measured by how loud you worship.
It's not measured by how much scripture you know.
I mean, I could pass a mic around and ask you
how many Bible verses you know, and just because
you're the one in here that knows more Bible
verses than everybody else, it doesn't mean that
you're the most spiritual person in the room.
It means you've got some spiritual intellect.
Some of the meanest people in the world have
a lot of spiritual intellect. Has anybody ever
met some real mean people that had a lot of spiritual
intellect? So how do we know? How do we measure
spiritual growth, spiritual maturity? How is
it measured? Jesus said in Luke 6, 43 and 44,
He says, A good tree does not bear bad fruit,
nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. For every
tree is known by its own fruit. So, spiritual
maturity is measured by spiritual fruit. Spiritual
growth is measured by spiritual fruit. And here's
the deal. It needs to be constantly increasing.
The fruit of the Spirit needs to be constantly
increasing in each one of our lives if we are
going to be spiritual people. Constantly increasing.
The fruit of the Spirit needs to be evidenced
in our life every day. If we're spiritual people,
there should be some spiritual fruit. Can I get
an oh me or an amen or something? If there's
no spiritual fruit, then all you have is carnal.
And just to clarify, this is a series in self
-examination. What we're talking about in this
series isn't so that you can go around and judge
everybody else in your household or at your workplace
or at school. I mean, that's not why we're doing
this. We're taking an honest look at ourselves
and seeing that we need to come up higher. I
hate to burst your bubble, but everybody in this
room needs to come up higher than you are today.
You need to come up higher. We always need to
be coming up higher. Always. We have not arrived.
We are all a work in progress. Now, we're all
on a different place in the progress line, but
hopefully we're all in that line and we're all
moving in the right direction. Galatians 5, 22
and 23. It says this, the fruit of the Spirit
is love. That was week number one. Joy was week
number two. Peace was week number three. And
guess what we're talking about today? Patience.
I'm glad some of you are smiling. Some of you
are frowning. We're talking about patience today.
Patience is a fruit of the Spirit. And it should
always, in a spiritual person, it should... Patience
should always be increasing. Patience should
always be evidenced in our lives. Here's the
word. Here's the Greek word. It's translated
patience or long -suffering. Everybody say long
-suffering. Depending on which version of Scripture
that you're using. Here's the Greek word. Akrothumia.
Anyway, that's my attempt. You can attempt it
yourself. But that's the Koine Greek word, and
it's a compound word. It's two words put together,
and it's the word long and passion. Long and
passion. It's translated patience, long -suffering,
fortitude. That's a fruit of the Spirit that
should be evident. In our lives. Also found out
through studying that it's a quality of God.
I mean, I knew that, but it's better when you
hear from somebody else, not just me. But it's
a quality of God. It's part of God's character.
It's part of who God is. God is patient. And
then to expand those definitions, I found that
it means waiting sufficient time before expressing.
Anger. It means steadfastness and staying power.
Then these are my input words down at the bottom.
Not short -fused. Not short -fused. Listen, not
quick to an emotional response. Not quick to
give up. I remember when I was young and we were
playing and somebody would get their feelings
hurt because they weren't good playing. And all
of a sudden they'd get mad and they'd say, I'm
going to take my ball and go home. Because you
didn't let me win. Or you tackled me or whatever.
I'm going to take my ball and go home. It's quick
to give up. We need to be convicted. Right? We
need to be challenged. It's part of who God is.
Let's listen to God introducing himself. Exodus
34, 5 and 6. Introducing himself. It says, the
Lord came down in a cloud and stood there with
him. And he, God, called out his own name. Yahweh.
The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out,
Yahweh, the Lord, the God of compassion and mercy.
I am slow to anger. This is God introducing himself.
He could have said a whole lot of things to introduce
himself, right? But he introduces himself by
saying, I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing
love and faithfulness. This is God introducing
himself to Moses. Then in Romans 2, 4, we see
this. Don't you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant,
and patient God is with you? And you didn't even
smile. Look at your life. Look at what you've
deserved. Look at the mess that you've made so
many times. How many of you are thankful that
God is wonderfully kind, He's tolerant, and He's
patient? I'm so thankful that God is a patient
God and that He is patient with me and He's not
quick to give me what I deserve all the time.
Hallelujah. Listen. Has anybody ever told you,
now don't be praying for patience? Has anybody
heard that? Has anybody prayed it? Now don't
be praying for patience. Don't be praying for
patience. Because if you pray for patience, you're
going to have some opportunities to be patient.
So patience is probably not the fruit that most
people pray for. I mean, we pray for love. We
pray for joy. We pray for peace. Those first
three that we're talking about, we're always
praying for that, right? But are we always praying
for patience? Probably not the one that most
people are praying for. Patience is developed
in process. Everybody say process. And especially
today, we live in a culture that hates process.
We want instant answers. We want instant results.
We want instant success. We want instant change.
We don't like process very much. Patience being
developed in you. The fruit of patience. That's
a process. It's a process. Patience does several
things. The first thing patience does is it keeps
us from reacting fleshly. Carnally. Keeps us
from being ugly. Patience keeps you from reacting
fleshly. Has anyone ever reacted fleshly before?
Hold up your hand. If your hand's not up, you're
lying right now. James 1, verses 2 -4 My brethren,
count it all joy when you fall into various trials.
So the Holy Spirit is telling us through James,
when we're having a bad moment or a bad day,
we're supposed to count it all joy. Count it
all joy. Because you know something. My brethren,
count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
knowing something, knowing that the testing of
your faith produces patience. But let patience
have its perfect work, that you may be perfect
and complete, lacking nothing. Do we need to
call the ambulance or is this spiritual chest
pains? Spiritual chest pains, okay. Listen, one
of the clearest ways to see the level of your
spiritual maturity is by looking at your reactions.
How do you react? How do you react? A spiritual
person reacts differently than a carnal person.
Spiritually immature people react impulsively.
They are quickly angered. They are quickly offended.
They are quickly discouraged. And they are quick
to make emotional decisions. And if that describes
us, we know that we need to come up higher. Patience,
listen, patience slows you down in a situation,
right? Patience is what slows you down and gives
the Holy Spirit room to govern your responses.
Look at the person beside you and say, sometimes
it's good to take a breath. Just take a breath.
Don't respond. Take a breath. Has anyone ever
responded in such a way that you look back at
it and say, boy, I wish I wouldn't have responded
that way? Take a breath. This fruit of patience
is what's going to slow you down and give the
Holy Spirit room to govern your response. James
1, 19 -20 says this, Understand, my dear brothers
and sisters, you must all... Everybody say all.
Everybody say, that means me. Understand this,
my brothers and sisters, you must all be quick
to listen, slow to speak, And slow to get angry.
Human anger does not produce the righteousness
God desires. Proverbs 14, 29. If you're not encouraged
yet, listen to this one. People with understanding
control their anger. A hot temper shows great
foolishness. Great foolishness and spiritual
maturity are on opposite ends of the spectrum,
don't you think so? Patience is something you
often admire in the driver behind you who lets
you merge into traffic in front of them. So you
get, you're like, wow, that person has patience.
They're going to do the zipper and they're going
to let me merge in front of them. They're even
doing it before I cut on my blinker and start
throwing the nose of my car in front of them
like they're going to hit me or let me in, one
or the other. This is a very patient person.
I admire their patience. So we admire it in the
driver behind us who lets us in, but we don't
admire patience for the one who's in front of
us. Who wants to get in front of us. Then patience
doesn't work anymore. Because I saw you drive
past everybody. You knew you were supposed to
get in line. Now you drive all the way to the
very end. And then you're going to cut in front
of me. There's been a sign for a quarter of a
mile telling you to get in this lane. I'm not
letting you in. Hello? That road coming out of
Disney, man, when it's loaded up. You're trying
to get on I -4. Right there is Celebration. And
you've been sitting in line, and all these people
just in that left lane, they just run by, and
then they do a U -turn and come back and turn
right in front of you, and you're just sitting
way back there, and you're saying... I experience
it all the time. But how do I react? How do I
react? There's this lady in Walmart, and she
had her little girl with her, and her little
girl was just out of control. Have you been in
a store with a child that's just out of control?
sometimes forgetting to buy groceries, she would
have to take Jeffrey home two or three times,
go all the way home from the grocery store and
have a lecture and a lesson before they would
go back to the grocery store and eventually get
their groceries. But there's a lady in Walmart
where her little girl is just out of control.
So the lady keeps saying very quietly and gently.
She keeps saying, keep calm, Susie. Keep calm,
Susie. Susie, keep calm. Well, the lady behind
her heard her saying that, and as they exited
Walmart, the lady just wanted to encourage her.
She wanted to encourage this lady. She's saying,
you know, your daughter was acting up, but you
just did an amazing job by speaking calmly and
gently to her and just saying, okay, okay, Susie,
keep calm. It's going to be all right, Susie,
keep calm. And the lady looked at her and said,
my daughter's name's not Susie, my name's Susie.
I've been talking to myself. Reminding myself
to keep calm. Long -suffering is self -restraint
in the face of being provoked. Long -suffering
or patience does not hastily retaliate or want
to promptly punish this fruit of the Spirit that
we're talking about today. Colossians 3, verses
12 through 13. Since God chose you to be the
holy people He loves, everybody say this, I am
the holy people that God loves. Since God chose
you to be the holy people He loves, you must
clothe yourselves with tender heart and mercy,
kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
That should be a description of who we are. When
we are in Christ. It says this in verse 13. Make
allowance for each other's faults. Forgive anyone
who offends you. How many of you know we all
have opportunity to be offended every day? When
we're in Christ, we're supposed to quickly forgive
anyone who offends us. Remember, the Lord forgave
you. So you must forgive others. The Bible even
goes on to say we're supposed to forgive others
like Christ forgave us. Here's something else
about patience. Patience is not quick to lose
hope or give up. I'll say it again. Patience
is not quick to lose hope or to give up. Hebrews
10, 35 and 36. It says this, so do not throw
away this confident trust in the Lord. Don't
throw it away. Don't throw away this confident
trust in the Lord. Remember, the great reward
it brings you. Confident trust brings you something.
Confident trust is another way of saying faith.
It's another way of saying hope. That brings
us something. And then he goes on to say, don't
give that away. Don't give away your confident
trust. Don't give away your faith. Don't give
away your hope. Remember that God keeps His promises.
I believe what he's saying. Remember. And patient
endurance is what you need now. When you feel
like giving up hope, you need some patient endurance.
That's what you need now. So that you will continue
to do God's will. Then you will receive all that
He has promised. Because if you give away your
hope and your faith and your confident trust,
you won't receive it. So you need some patient
endurance. Listen, nobody walks into a gym one
time and leaves completely transformed. You can't
just go to the gym one day and say, wow, now
I am physically fit because I spent two hours
in the gym. I'm done. I never have to go back
to the gym. I never have to work out again the
rest of my life because I went to the gym. Strength
develops through repeated resistance. spiritually,
patience grows when faith continues through resistance.
The Bible is filled with great and precious promises
from God. The Bible tells us who we are in Christ
and what we have in Christ. All those things
are available to us. But all of those things,
you're going to face some opposition and resistance
to obtain those things. You need patience. Patience
needs to grow so that you can hold on to hope,
hold on to faith during those difficult times.
Galatians 6, 9. So let's not get tired of doing
what's good. At just the right time, we will
reap a harvest of blessing if we do not give
up. Patience is not giving up. Not giving up.
And patience, like we talked about, is evidence
of spiritual growth. Romans 5, verses 3 and 4.
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems
and trials. Kind of sounds like the other verse.
Count it all joy. Right? Somebody smile. We can
rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials.
Has anyone ever ran into problems and trials?
Some of you are living an amazing flowerbed life
because you didn't acknowledge that you've ever
had any hardship or any problems ever come. Don't
make me start pointing at you and telling you
the problems that I personally know that you
have encountered, that you have shared with me.
Don't make me start calling you out. We can rejoice
too when we run into problems and trials, for
we know something. Again, just like that other
verse. We know that they help us develop endurance,
and endurance develops strength of character.
Everybody say patience. Patience produces character.
And this is something very important. Character
sustains what gifts alone cannot. Gifts are just
gifts. And God gives gifts and talents. God gives
those things. But how many of you know that people
who have been just amazingly gifted, but then
their character didn't hold up their gift? Can
you think of just one person? Patience produces
character, and character sustains what gifts
alone cannot sustain. One of the clearest signs
of spiritual growth is not that your problems
are going to disappear. It's that your stability
is going to increase. Are y 'all done? I'm not
sure if you're done or not by looking at your
face. See, I don't just preach to the back wall.
I'm looking at your expressions. I think some
of you just went on a coffee break. You're all
righty? Sometimes I know it's because you're
just thinking really hard. You're like... One
of the clearest signs of spiritual growth, who
wants to grow spiritually? Who wants to be a
spiritual person instead of a carnal person?
One of the clearest signs of spiritual growth
is not that problems disappear, it's that your
stability is going to increase in the middle
of the problem. Did you know that a spiritual
mature person doesn't have to live... In the
highs and the lows and the highs and the lows
and the highs and the lows every day of your
life? Woo! Woo! Has anybody in the room ever
spent a day doing woo? Except me. You're just
like, wow, this is wonderful. Oh, this is terrible.
You go from the height of joy to the depths of
depression all in 30 minutes. Spiritual growth
is evidenced in stability. That your emotions
are not on a roller coaster ride all day, every
day. Hallelujah. You know that you're growing,
not arrived, but you know that you're growing
spiritually when you don't panic as quickly as
you used to. When you don't become offended as
easily as you used to. You don't just give up
and quit when you get frustrated. You don't emotionally
collapse under pressure. You remain faithful,
more faithful through the processes of life.
All those are evidence that you're growing. See,
we should be able to look at our lives and say,
you know what, I'm not where I want to be and
I'm not where I need to be, but I sure am a long
way from where I used to be. Somebody? I am thankful.
I'm not where I want to be, but I thank God that
I'm not where I used to be. I can see that I'm
coming up. I need to come up a whole lot more,
but I can see in my life where I have come up
a little bit. Patience is rooted in the very
nature of God. Throughout Scripture, we see that
God is merciful. God is long -suffering. God
is patient with people. Now, you might can look
at some things in the Old Testament where God
has been patient for 400, 500 years. For 10 generations.
And then all of a sudden, that's, you know, there's
judgment that comes. God is patient. You can't
say that God isn't patient. 2 Peter 3, 9. It
says this, the Lord isn't really being slow about
His promise, as some people think. I want to
put this in a framework of your thinking. Somebody's
done something to you. Somebody's hurt you or
disappointed you. And all of a sudden, you're
at the point where it's like, vengeance is mine,
says the Lord. God, defend me. You can read some
of this in Psalms if you want to. God's going
to get them. God, get them. They hurt me. You
saw them hurt me. I didn't respond. But God,
I want you to respond quickly in my defense.
Everybody in here is too spiritual to ever be
there, right? Listen, the Lord isn't really being
slow about His promise, as some people think.
No, He's being patient. He's being patient. For
my sake. He's being patient for your sake. He's
being patient for their sake. You know why? He
doesn't want anyone to be destroyed. He wants
everyone to repent. He's patient. Is anybody
in the room glad that He was patient with you
to give you time to repent and come to Christ?
Because He had every right to take me out. He
had every right not to show me mercy. He would
have been just in not showing me mercy. It goes
on to say in verse 15, it's the Lord's patience
that gives people time to be saved. It's His
patience. And patience is the fruit of the Holy
Spirit. Stay with me, I'm about done. Since God
is long -suffering and since God is patient,
it should make perfect sense to us as His children,
shouldn't it? That He would desire to cultivate
and manifest this same characteristic that's
His in His people, just like love, just like
joy, just like peace. Just like His patience.
He wants to cultivate that in us. John 16, 13
through 15. But when He, the Spirit of truth
comes. Everybody say spiritual fruit. But when
He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide
you into all truth. He will not speak on His
own. He will speak only what He hears. And He
will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify
me, Jesus said, because it is from me that he,
the Spirit, will receive what he will make known
to you. All that belongs to the Father. Somebody
say all. All that belongs to the Father is mine,
Jesus said. That is why I said the Spirit, the
Holy Spirit, will receive from me what he will
make known to you. The Holy Spirit. God the Holy
Spirit takes hold of the things that God has
for us. And He declares them to us. He intensifies
them to us. He makes them known to us. That's
why patience is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Because
it's the Holy Spirit who connects us. To the
patience that God has for us and wants to cultivate
in us and develop in us. See, you can sit through
this message and you can say, you know what?
I need to be more dedicated. I need to be more
determined. I need to put in a lot more effort.
If I'm going to have patience, boy, I've just
got to stoke it up and I've got to produce it
in myself. I've got to work on it. I've got some
things I need to work on. Listen, spiritual growth
is not about more self -dedication. It's not
about more self -determination. It's not about
more self -effort. It's about more acknowledging.
It's about more abiding. It's about more walking.
It's about more yielding. That's how this fruit
is going to be developed. Not through your personal
effort and your personal striving. It's the fruit
of the Spirit. If this fruit is not evidenced
and growing daily in our lives, it means that
we're spending our day just not even acknowledging
that the Holy Spirit is in us. Don't you know
that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit
who is in you? We're not acknowledging that God
is here. In our everyday lives, God is here.
If you're in Christ, God's in you. We have to
acknowledge Him. We have to consult Him. He knows
everything about everything. And we're trying
to check with chat to see what we need to do.
We need to be checking with the Holy Ghost. He
knows everything. He knows the next step. He
knows the next response. It's about more acknowledging.
It's about more abiding. It's about not just
visiting God during a devotion time or visiting
God on Sunday morning. It's about living with
God, abiding in Christ. He's the... He's the
vine. We're the branches. When we stay connected,
what did Jesus say? We'll bear fruit through
the connection. So there needs to be more abiding.
There needs to be more walking. You might say,
well, Dean, I can't just stay in my house and
pray all day. I got a job. I've got to do stuff.
I've got to clean my house. I've got to walk
the dog. I've got to... You fill in the blank.
Whatever you got to do. Well, while you're doing
those things, you can still walk with God. Hello?
You can walk with God. Acknowledging and walking
and yielding. This online worship experience
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