WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.419 Real joy is not dependent on circumstances. It 00:00:03.419 --> 00:00:05.599 can be a steady source of strength, no matter 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:08.240 what you're facing. Discover how joy is more 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:10.900 than a feeling, it's a way of life. Order your 00:00:10.900 --> 00:00:13.539 copy of The Strength of Joy by Dean and Jeffrey 00:00:13.539 --> 00:00:16.620 Forrest, now available on Amazon and Kindle. 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:22.320 Week number six in our series on spiritual growth. 00:00:23.690 --> 00:00:26.710 Now, how many of you, this is your first time 00:00:26.710 --> 00:00:30.489 being with us in the last five weeks or six weeks? 00:00:32.369 --> 00:00:35.750 Have no fear. We do enough recap that you will 00:00:35.750 --> 00:00:38.710 understand what's going on and how this works. 00:00:39.570 --> 00:00:42.670 But this is week number six in spiritual growth. 00:00:43.130 --> 00:00:45.429 I'm going to start out by looking at 1 Corinthians 00:00:45.429 --> 00:00:49.909 2, verse 14. It says this, the natural man does 00:00:49.909 --> 00:00:53.170 not receive the things of the Spirit of God. 00:00:53.689 --> 00:00:57.229 for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know 00:00:57.229 --> 00:01:01.549 them, because they are spiritually discerned. 00:01:01.909 --> 00:01:06.629 Everybody say natural man. 1 Corinthians 3 verses 00:01:06.629 --> 00:01:09.430 1 through 3 says this, And I, brethren, could 00:01:09.430 --> 00:01:13.349 not speak to you as spiritual people, but as 00:01:13.349 --> 00:01:18.379 to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with 00:01:18.379 --> 00:01:21.219 milk and not with solid food, for until now you 00:01:21.219 --> 00:01:24.599 were not able to receive it, and even now you 00:01:24.599 --> 00:01:28.879 are still not able. For you are still carnal. 00:01:29.719 --> 00:01:31.959 For where there are envy, strife, and divisions 00:01:31.959 --> 00:01:35.280 among you, are you not carnal and behaving like 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:39.719 mere men? Or we could replace it with the word 00:01:39.719 --> 00:01:43.239 from the other verse, behaving like natural men. 00:01:45.609 --> 00:01:48.189 So in these four verses, we find out that there 00:01:48.189 --> 00:01:52.530 are three types of people. Three types of people. 00:01:52.829 --> 00:01:56.189 The first type of person is a natural person. 00:01:56.569 --> 00:01:59.590 Everybody say natural. This is someone who is 00:01:59.590 --> 00:02:03.150 not a Christian. They're not born again. And 00:02:03.150 --> 00:02:05.950 they're just led by their flesh or their sensual 00:02:05.950 --> 00:02:08.610 nature. I mean, they're without Christ. All they 00:02:08.610 --> 00:02:11.930 have to live by is what feels good or what seems 00:02:11.930 --> 00:02:15.039 right in their own eyes. That's the only... course, 00:02:15.080 --> 00:02:19.419 the only direction that they have. And the verse 00:02:19.419 --> 00:02:22.039 that we read said that, you know, the things 00:02:22.039 --> 00:02:24.800 of God are only spiritually discerned. They cannot 00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:28.460 know the things of God because they're not born 00:02:28.460 --> 00:02:30.560 again. They do not have the Spirit of God living 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:34.979 inside them. Then we see a carnal person. Everybody 00:02:34.979 --> 00:02:38.659 say carnal. Now, a carnal person is a Christian, 00:02:38.740 --> 00:02:42.960 but they're still living according to their flesh. 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:48.060 They're still living like a natural person. They're 00:02:48.060 --> 00:02:52.419 immature. They, you know, it doesn't matter how 00:02:52.419 --> 00:02:53.919 many years they've been a Christian. If they're 00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:57.219 carnal, they're just like babies still. And Paul 00:02:57.219 --> 00:02:59.259 said, look, I want to give you some meat, but 00:02:59.259 --> 00:03:03.240 all you can handle is milk. Because they refuse 00:03:03.240 --> 00:03:07.860 to feed on the Word of God and to grow. That's 00:03:07.860 --> 00:03:10.219 a carnal person. Then we see a spiritual person. 00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:13.669 Everybody say spiritual. A spiritual person is 00:03:13.669 --> 00:03:17.469 a Christian who is led by the Holy Spirit and 00:03:17.469 --> 00:03:22.009 led by the Word of God. Now this is a growing 00:03:22.009 --> 00:03:27.629 Christian. Everybody say growing. A growing Christian 00:03:27.629 --> 00:03:32.150 who regularly receives the Word of God and walks 00:03:32.150 --> 00:03:37.030 in the Spirit according to the Word of God. So 00:03:37.030 --> 00:03:41.810 where does this spiritual growth occur? Do we 00:03:41.810 --> 00:03:45.409 go to the gym and lift weights to get spiritually 00:03:45.409 --> 00:03:48.909 mature and spiritually strong, spiritually strengthened? 00:03:49.150 --> 00:03:52.069 No, that's physically. So where does spiritual 00:03:52.069 --> 00:03:57.629 growth occur? The Bible tells us that we are 00:03:57.629 --> 00:04:01.810 three -part beings. There are multiple verses. 00:04:01.909 --> 00:04:04.270 I'm just going to read one today. 1 Thessalonians 00:04:04.270 --> 00:04:08.990 5 .23 says this, Now may the God of peace make 00:04:08.990 --> 00:04:13.219 you holy. Everybody say set apart. May the God 00:04:13.219 --> 00:04:16.339 of peace make you holy or set apart in every 00:04:16.339 --> 00:04:22.560 way. And may your whole spirit and soul and body 00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:26.319 be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ 00:04:26.319 --> 00:04:31.040 comes again. So here we see that we are three 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:35.639 part beings. A lot of people think that we're 00:04:35.639 --> 00:04:39.500 just a soul and flesh, but no, we are a spirit. 00:04:40.430 --> 00:04:44.189 Everybody say, I am a spirit. You're created 00:04:44.189 --> 00:04:50.529 in the image of God. So to say that again, you 00:04:50.529 --> 00:04:55.290 are created in the image of God. You are a spirit 00:04:55.290 --> 00:05:03.269 being. And you have a soul. And you live in a 00:05:03.269 --> 00:05:06.930 body. I don't have to describe what your body 00:05:06.930 --> 00:05:09.129 is. All you have to do is pinch your arm, you 00:05:09.129 --> 00:05:11.300 know, and that's... That's your body. That's 00:05:11.300 --> 00:05:17.100 your flesh. But you have a soul. You have a soul. 00:05:17.720 --> 00:05:23.980 You are a spirit. Now, your spirit, when you 00:05:23.980 --> 00:05:27.939 are born as a human because of the fall in the 00:05:27.939 --> 00:05:32.439 garden, your spirit is born. When you're born, 00:05:32.519 --> 00:05:34.779 you are a spirit, but your spirit is not connected 00:05:34.779 --> 00:05:37.899 with God, and your spirit is separated from God. 00:05:40.649 --> 00:05:44.709 When you become a Christian, your spirit comes 00:05:44.709 --> 00:05:50.850 alive unto God. Your spirit is united with Christ. 00:05:51.850 --> 00:05:56.790 Your spirit moves from being immersed in sin 00:05:56.790 --> 00:06:02.829 to being immersed in Christ. And the Bible is 00:06:02.829 --> 00:06:05.589 clear. It says when we're in Christ, we have 00:06:05.589 --> 00:06:09.279 put on the righteousness of God. in Christ Jesus, 00:06:09.540 --> 00:06:12.579 your spirit is completely righteous and right 00:06:12.579 --> 00:06:18.240 with God. You are complete in Him. Every promise 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:21.980 that's attached to who you are in Christ and 00:06:21.980 --> 00:06:24.660 what you have in Christ is yours. It's available 00:06:24.660 --> 00:06:31.860 to you the moment you are born again. How many 00:06:31.860 --> 00:06:36.040 of you know that your soul didn't change when 00:06:36.040 --> 00:06:40.399 your spirit got saved? Let me tell you what your 00:06:40.399 --> 00:06:42.579 soul is, and you'll agree with me. Your soul 00:06:42.579 --> 00:06:46.120 is made up of your mind, your will, and your 00:06:46.120 --> 00:06:51.899 emotions. So how many of you, when you came to 00:06:51.899 --> 00:06:54.819 Christ, all of a sudden your thought life just 00:06:54.819 --> 00:06:58.879 immediately changed, and now your mind and focus 00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:01.220 is on God, and it's never on anything else. You 00:07:01.220 --> 00:07:04.279 just completely, your thought life is just completely 00:07:04.279 --> 00:07:07.439 transformed immediately. No, that takes a little 00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:08.740 work. Look at the person beside you and say, 00:07:08.819 --> 00:07:11.259 that's going to take a little work. It's still 00:07:11.259 --> 00:07:15.199 taking a little work. What about your will or 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:17.540 your desires? Did your desires just immediately 00:07:17.540 --> 00:07:19.600 change? All of a sudden you didn't desire anything 00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:23.300 that wasn't godly anymore. No, it's going to 00:07:23.300 --> 00:07:26.540 take some work. What about your emotions and 00:07:26.540 --> 00:07:30.800 your feelings? Did those automatically change 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:35.699 when you were born again? No. How many of you... 00:07:36.939 --> 00:07:41.959 Say that God needs to continue to work. The Spirit 00:07:41.959 --> 00:07:43.779 of God needs to continue to work. The Word of 00:07:43.779 --> 00:07:47.680 God needs to continue to work to transform my 00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:52.560 thought life, my desires, and my feelings. About 00:07:52.560 --> 00:07:55.459 three of us. The rest of you got it all down 00:07:55.459 --> 00:07:59.399 pat. The difference between a carnal and a spiritual 00:07:59.399 --> 00:08:04.720 person is the spiritual growth of the soul or 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:11.920 the lack thereof. As spirit beings, when our 00:08:11.920 --> 00:08:18.360 spirits become alive unto God, we're supposed 00:08:18.360 --> 00:08:23.699 to begin to allow our spirit to control our lives. 00:08:24.819 --> 00:08:27.800 Our spirit who is connected with the Holy Spirit, 00:08:27.879 --> 00:08:33.080 the Spirit of God, the transformation should 00:08:33.080 --> 00:08:35.500 begin to take place, but it's going to take our 00:08:35.500 --> 00:08:39.750 cooperation for it to take place. It's not just 00:08:39.750 --> 00:08:42.909 going to automatically happen. You're going to 00:08:42.909 --> 00:08:47.690 have to cooperate. Spiritual maturity is not 00:08:47.690 --> 00:08:49.929 measured by how long you've been a Christian. 00:08:52.629 --> 00:08:57.750 I think it was last week, I celebrated 51 years 00:08:57.750 --> 00:09:01.769 of being a Christian last week. But that doesn't 00:09:01.769 --> 00:09:03.769 mean that I'm spiritually mature just because 00:09:03.769 --> 00:09:10.149 years have passed. Spiritual maturity is not 00:09:10.149 --> 00:09:13.490 measured by how often you attend worship services. 00:09:15.649 --> 00:09:20.370 I mean, I want you to be here every week. I think 00:09:20.370 --> 00:09:23.990 God wants you to be here every week. But you 00:09:23.990 --> 00:09:26.710 can go to church every week and still be spiritually 00:09:26.710 --> 00:09:32.809 immature. You don't measure spiritual maturity 00:09:32.809 --> 00:09:38.679 by how much scripture you can quote. Did anyone 00:09:38.679 --> 00:09:42.480 grow up doing Bible drills at church where you 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:44.460 tried to memorize Scripture and then you had 00:09:44.460 --> 00:09:48.080 competitions with other people and, you know, 00:09:48.159 --> 00:09:53.360 memorizing a bunch of Bible verses? That doesn't 00:09:53.360 --> 00:09:55.600 mean you're spiritually mature. If you can quote 00:09:55.600 --> 00:09:57.580 the Bible, it doesn't mean that you're spiritually 00:09:57.580 --> 00:10:02.659 mature. I mean, there's nothing wrong with either 00:10:02.659 --> 00:10:06.389 one of these things. Nothing wrong with it. But 00:10:06.389 --> 00:10:11.409 that doesn't mean spiritual maturity. Luke 6, 00:10:11.629 --> 00:10:15.809 verses 43 and 44, Jesus says this, A good tree 00:10:15.809 --> 00:10:21.070 does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree 00:10:21.070 --> 00:10:27.870 bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its 00:10:27.870 --> 00:10:32.990 own fruit. Jesus has given us some insight. Spiritual 00:10:32.990 --> 00:10:39.379 maturity is not about... It's about how much 00:10:39.379 --> 00:10:48.240 of the fruit of the Spirit is alive in our lives 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:51.620 and increasing in our lives and evidenced in 00:10:51.620 --> 00:10:57.220 our lives. That's what we've been looking at 00:10:57.220 --> 00:11:05.639 in this series. It doesn't matter how long you've 00:11:05.639 --> 00:11:08.980 been a Christian, how much you go to church, 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:13.379 how many Bible verses you can quote, if you're 00:11:13.379 --> 00:11:16.860 not walking in love, if you're not experiencing 00:11:16.860 --> 00:11:21.820 the joy of the Lord in the Holy Spirit, if you're 00:11:21.820 --> 00:11:24.679 not experiencing the peace of God that surpasses 00:11:24.679 --> 00:11:31.700 understanding, if you're not patient, if you're 00:11:31.700 --> 00:11:37.450 not kind, None of that other stuff matters if 00:11:37.450 --> 00:11:40.309 we're not being transformed into the image of 00:11:40.309 --> 00:11:45.389 Christ. If practically, not just at church on 00:11:45.389 --> 00:11:47.909 Sunday morning, but when we go to school or when 00:11:47.909 --> 00:11:51.350 we go to work or when we're at home, if none 00:11:51.350 --> 00:11:53.710 of these things are evident in our lives, we're 00:11:53.710 --> 00:11:56.269 not spiritually mature. We're just fooling ourselves 00:11:56.269 --> 00:12:00.610 if those things are not evident in our lives. 00:12:02.440 --> 00:12:04.879 Now listen, I've said it from up front. This 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:08.500 series is a series in self -examination. Because 00:12:08.500 --> 00:12:11.860 it's so easy to sit here. Listen, it's so easy 00:12:11.860 --> 00:12:15.200 to sit here and you talk about the fruit of the 00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:17.460 Spirit and then you begin saying, well, you know 00:12:17.460 --> 00:12:21.860 what? My sorry brother -in -law, he sure does. 00:12:23.720 --> 00:12:26.419 I've got a wonderful brother -in -law. I'm just 00:12:26.419 --> 00:12:31.320 giving an example. Okay? It's not for us to think 00:12:31.320 --> 00:12:33.759 about someone who's not here or even someone 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:37.159 who is sitting beside us. It's not for us to 00:12:37.159 --> 00:12:39.980 look at them and begin to judge how spiritually 00:12:39.980 --> 00:12:43.100 mature they are. No, this is a self -examination. 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:46.600 Because everyone in this room, I promise you, 00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:49.539 everyone in this room is a work in progress. 00:12:50.659 --> 00:12:54.539 None of us have arrived. And if all of a sudden 00:12:54.539 --> 00:12:57.299 your mind clash with me and you say, no, I have 00:12:57.299 --> 00:13:00.200 arrived. I am spiritually mature. You just told 00:13:00.200 --> 00:13:05.600 me that you are a spiritual teenager. I'll never 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:08.460 forget hitting the teenage years and I begin 00:13:08.460 --> 00:13:10.200 to think that my parents didn't know anything 00:13:10.200 --> 00:13:14.399 and I knew everything. So to think that you've 00:13:14.399 --> 00:13:16.759 arrived means that you're just a spiritual teenager. 00:13:17.899 --> 00:13:23.210 I don't care who you are. I don't care if you're 00:13:23.210 --> 00:13:26.169 the Pope. If you think you've arrived, you're 00:13:26.169 --> 00:13:29.190 just spiritual teenage. Probably shouldn't have 00:13:29.190 --> 00:13:34.129 said that. But anyway. Galatians 5, 22 and 23. 00:13:34.370 --> 00:13:37.070 This is how far we've come. The fruit of the 00:13:37.070 --> 00:13:41.710 Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness. 00:13:42.649 --> 00:13:46.110 And today, we're going to be focusing on goodness. 00:13:46.309 --> 00:13:49.830 Everybody say goodness. Goodness is our focus. 00:13:50.980 --> 00:13:57.480 Here's a Greek word. Agathosune. Got to put the 00:13:57.480 --> 00:14:00.240 right accent on the right syllable. All right. 00:14:00.980 --> 00:14:05.980 Somebody smile or laugh or something. And, you 00:14:05.980 --> 00:14:10.600 know, usually when we look up a word in the Koine 00:14:10.600 --> 00:14:13.480 Greek and we look at the definition, usually 00:14:13.480 --> 00:14:18.610 there's some other things attached to it. I was 00:14:18.610 --> 00:14:21.029 talking with Irv at Life Group. He said, what 00:14:21.029 --> 00:14:22.330 are you going to preach on this week, Preacher? 00:14:22.610 --> 00:14:25.549 And I said, we might be on goodness. I might 00:14:25.549 --> 00:14:27.909 go somewhere else. I said, I just have to look 00:14:27.909 --> 00:14:32.230 up the Greek word. And he said, I ain't concerned 00:14:32.230 --> 00:14:34.409 about the Greek. I just need to know the English. 00:14:37.490 --> 00:14:40.629 But the New Testament is written in Koine Greek, 00:14:40.809 --> 00:14:44.779 right? So we need to understand. The words that 00:14:44.779 --> 00:14:47.240 have been translated into English, because the 00:14:47.240 --> 00:14:53.200 Bible wasn't written in English. Our language 00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:59.799 is fluid. And we need to know what God said as 00:14:59.799 --> 00:15:06.340 best as we can. And guess what? Goodness means 00:15:06.340 --> 00:15:10.220 goodness. Isn't that good? Goodness just means 00:15:10.220 --> 00:15:13.620 goodness. Goodness means goodness. That is the 00:15:13.620 --> 00:15:16.899 definition. There are no other words. But it 00:15:16.899 --> 00:15:22.559 gives us some examples. An example, it said in 00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:27.200 the Strong's Concordance, it says virtue or beneficence. 00:15:28.500 --> 00:15:30.840 Who wants to get the mic and give me definitions 00:15:30.840 --> 00:15:35.279 of virtue or beneficence? It's pretty bad when 00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:37.200 you've got to look up the definition to find 00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:41.409 out what the definition means. Right? Don't worry, 00:15:41.490 --> 00:15:44.929 I did that for you in Merriam -Webster Dictionary. 00:15:45.289 --> 00:15:51.850 Virtue is morally good behavior or character. 00:15:55.309 --> 00:16:00.190 Everybody say morally good. And where is morally 00:16:00.190 --> 00:16:05.889 based on? Morally is based on Scripture. Morality 00:16:05.889 --> 00:16:11.179 is based on Scripture. To find real morality. 00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:16.240 It's not, you don't look at culture to find what 00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:18.740 morality is. You look at scripture to find out 00:16:18.740 --> 00:16:22.360 what it is. And virtue is morally good behavior 00:16:22.360 --> 00:16:30.279 or character. So, everybody say, it's what I 00:16:30.279 --> 00:16:36.480 am and what I do. Because it's character and 00:16:36.480 --> 00:16:42.509 behavior. It's not just a mindset. It's bigger 00:16:42.509 --> 00:16:47.090 than that. It's beyond that. Beneficence is the 00:16:47.090 --> 00:16:52.429 quality or state of doing or producing good. 00:16:56.730 --> 00:17:02.309 So, the fruit of the Spirit is goodness. What 00:17:02.309 --> 00:17:05.970 does that look like? It looks like if we are 00:17:05.970 --> 00:17:11.990 in Christ and we are growing, The more we grow 00:17:11.990 --> 00:17:15.930 spiritually, the more morally good we become. 00:17:16.250 --> 00:17:18.130 I don't want you to get me wrong here because 00:17:18.130 --> 00:17:24.910 we don't gain the favor of God and we don't become 00:17:24.910 --> 00:17:29.529 right with God by our actions. I don't want you 00:17:29.529 --> 00:17:35.190 to get this mixed up. We're right with God based 00:17:35.190 --> 00:17:39.750 on what Jesus did on the cross. But when we are 00:17:39.750 --> 00:17:46.150 born again, it should change who we are and how 00:17:46.150 --> 00:17:49.730 we act and what we do. Now that doesn't make 00:17:49.730 --> 00:17:51.750 us any more right with God because you can't 00:17:51.750 --> 00:17:56.029 grow in righteousness. You can't grow in righteousness. 00:17:57.789 --> 00:18:00.230 If you could grow in righteousness, then you're 00:18:00.230 --> 00:18:02.490 telling me that you can be more righteous than 00:18:02.490 --> 00:18:05.529 Jesus was because we're clothed in His righteousness. 00:18:07.500 --> 00:18:09.940 So what would it take for you to say, oh, I can 00:18:09.940 --> 00:18:13.720 be more righteous than Jesus was. No, we're perfectly 00:18:13.720 --> 00:18:18.660 righteous because of what He did. We put on the 00:18:18.660 --> 00:18:21.619 righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, is what 00:18:21.619 --> 00:18:25.779 the Bible says, at salvation. But that does not 00:18:25.779 --> 00:18:32.240 mean that we can continue to purposefully live 00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:41.059 in sin. If we choose to live in sin, then we 00:18:41.059 --> 00:18:51.640 are carnal believers. Are you with me? And beneficence 00:18:51.640 --> 00:18:54.880 is the quality or state of doing good and producing 00:18:54.880 --> 00:19:05.960 good. We ought to be good people. We ought to 00:19:05.960 --> 00:19:10.839 be good people. When people look at us, they 00:19:10.839 --> 00:19:12.819 don't need to say that we're goody -two -shoes, 00:19:12.839 --> 00:19:17.599 but they need to recognize us as good people 00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:21.720 when we're in Christ. They shouldn't look at 00:19:21.720 --> 00:19:25.799 us and say that we're mean people. They shouldn't 00:19:25.799 --> 00:19:28.220 ever look at us and say, well, I didn't think 00:19:28.220 --> 00:19:30.740 Christians acted like that. I didn't think Christians 00:19:30.740 --> 00:19:33.400 talked like that. I didn't think Christians did 00:19:33.400 --> 00:19:47.170 that. Hello? Goodness begins with God. I want 00:19:47.170 --> 00:19:50.329 to say that again. Goodness begins with God. 00:19:50.730 --> 00:19:56.670 God is not occasionally good. God is good by 00:19:56.670 --> 00:20:03.509 nature. Everything He does flows from His character. 00:20:04.809 --> 00:20:08.589 The Bible tells us that God is love. The Bible 00:20:08.589 --> 00:20:11.609 also tells us that God is good. Everybody say, 00:20:11.690 --> 00:20:17.390 God is good. If you ever interpret anything in 00:20:17.390 --> 00:20:23.289 life to come to the point that says, well, God 00:20:23.289 --> 00:20:27.470 must not be good because this happened or that 00:20:27.470 --> 00:20:31.750 happened, and we interpret it as God brought 00:20:31.750 --> 00:20:36.720 some kind of... terrible thing, and we accuse 00:20:36.720 --> 00:20:40.920 God of not being good, we are not connecting 00:20:40.920 --> 00:20:46.319 the dots correctly. Whether it's in Scripture 00:20:46.319 --> 00:20:49.480 or in life, we're not connecting the dots correctly. 00:20:50.460 --> 00:20:53.640 If we ever come to the result that God is not 00:20:53.640 --> 00:20:57.440 love or God is not good, then it's not God, it's 00:20:57.440 --> 00:21:01.140 us who have it mixed up in our understanding. 00:21:04.629 --> 00:21:10.710 God's a good God. Jesus even said, John 10, 10, 00:21:10.730 --> 00:21:13.289 the thief comes to steal, to kill, and destroy. 00:21:13.509 --> 00:21:18.869 Don't ever accuse God of any of that. Jesus said 00:21:18.869 --> 00:21:20.450 He came to give us life and that we would have 00:21:20.450 --> 00:21:26.789 it more abundantly to the fullest. God gives 00:21:26.789 --> 00:21:30.950 us life so that we can experience the life of 00:21:30.950 --> 00:21:38.480 God. Life of God. Everybody say, God is good. 00:21:39.480 --> 00:21:41.980 And try to pause from saying all the time, because 00:21:41.980 --> 00:21:44.359 that's normally what everybody wants to say. 00:21:44.420 --> 00:21:49.559 God is good. Goodness reflects God's character. 00:21:52.119 --> 00:21:58.180 Goodness is who God is and what God does. I'll 00:21:58.180 --> 00:22:02.619 say that again. Goodness is who God is and what 00:22:02.619 --> 00:22:06.329 God does. I've got some verses for you. I can't 00:22:06.329 --> 00:22:08.569 read them all because there are more than 70 00:22:08.569 --> 00:22:11.730 Bible verses that directly state the Lord is 00:22:11.730 --> 00:22:16.230 good. It would take me a while to read 70. And 00:22:16.230 --> 00:22:19.529 then there are more than 190 verses that declare 00:22:19.529 --> 00:22:23.509 His goodness. Y 'all don't want me to preach 00:22:23.509 --> 00:22:29.130 that long. That's a lot of verses that directly 00:22:29.130 --> 00:22:34.039 say that the Lord is good. And then it talks 00:22:34.039 --> 00:22:37.119 about His goodness in Scripture, but I do have 00:22:37.119 --> 00:22:39.640 some for you in just a second. Does anybody know 00:22:39.640 --> 00:22:43.220 who Dr. David Jeremiah is? I found this quote 00:22:43.220 --> 00:22:49.019 this week. God's goodness conveys His generosity. 00:22:50.400 --> 00:22:54.279 His goodness means far more than His generosity, 00:22:54.279 --> 00:22:59.960 but it certainly includes His infinitely generous 00:22:59.960 --> 00:23:07.700 attitude. Towards us. By nature. God longs to 00:23:07.700 --> 00:23:11.980 bring joy. And blessing. To all his creatures. 00:23:14.720 --> 00:23:18.819 It's good. I mean I know it's not a Bible verse. 00:23:19.759 --> 00:23:21.839 It's good. I think it lines up with a lot of 00:23:21.839 --> 00:23:25.559 Bible verses. I'll read it again. God's goodness 00:23:25.559 --> 00:23:29.569 conveys his generosity. His goodness means far 00:23:29.569 --> 00:23:32.569 more than His generosity, but it certainly includes 00:23:32.569 --> 00:23:35.910 His infinitely generous attitude towards you 00:23:35.910 --> 00:23:40.269 and towards me. By God's very nature, He longs 00:23:40.269 --> 00:23:44.130 to bring joy and blessing to all His creatures. 00:23:45.470 --> 00:23:50.650 And that's who God is. That's who God is. 1 Chronicles 00:23:50.650 --> 00:23:55.250 16, 34. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. 00:23:56.029 --> 00:24:00.509 Somebody say, He is good. His faithful love endures 00:24:00.509 --> 00:24:09.869 forever. Psalm 119, 68. Speaking to God, you 00:24:09.869 --> 00:24:18.869 are good. And do only good. Everybody say, God 00:24:18.869 --> 00:24:26.220 is good. Everything He does is good. Nahum 1 00:24:26.220 --> 00:24:28.019 .7. If you have to give your Bible, you might 00:24:28.019 --> 00:24:31.660 need to kind of squeeze the pages apart because 00:24:31.660 --> 00:24:34.960 you might not have been in Nahum often. Nahum 00:24:34.960 --> 00:24:37.460 1 .7. The Lord is good. Everybody say, the Lord 00:24:37.460 --> 00:24:42.200 is good. He's a strong refuge when trouble comes. 00:24:44.440 --> 00:24:49.859 He is close to those who trust Him. He's close 00:24:49.859 --> 00:24:53.039 to those who have their faith in Him, their confidence 00:24:53.039 --> 00:24:57.220 in Him. He's close to you when you trust Him. 00:24:58.059 --> 00:25:02.920 And He's a strong refuge when you face trouble. 00:25:03.660 --> 00:25:11.960 The Lord is good. James 1 .17 Whatever is good 00:25:11.960 --> 00:25:16.920 and perfect is a gift coming down to us from 00:25:16.920 --> 00:25:21.000 God our Father who created all the lights in 00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:26.170 the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting 00:25:26.170 --> 00:25:31.049 shadow. I memorized it like this during my Bible 00:25:31.049 --> 00:25:32.829 drill days that I talked about a minute ago. 00:25:34.289 --> 00:25:38.869 Every good and perfect gift comes down from the 00:25:38.869 --> 00:25:44.809 Father of lights. Every good thing that has ever 00:25:44.809 --> 00:25:48.130 come into your life, whether you're in Christ 00:25:48.130 --> 00:25:50.950 or not, every good thing that's ever come into... 00:25:51.289 --> 00:25:54.369 Anyone's life on this earth, every good thing 00:25:54.369 --> 00:26:00.190 has come from God. You know why? Because He's 00:26:00.190 --> 00:26:05.049 good. And that's what He does. So every good 00:26:05.049 --> 00:26:11.289 thing has come from Him. Psalm 23, 6. This ought 00:26:11.289 --> 00:26:14.829 to make you happy. Surely your goodness, God, 00:26:14.930 --> 00:26:17.490 your goodness and unfailing love will pursue 00:26:17.490 --> 00:26:25.349 me all the days of my life. God is good. And 00:26:25.349 --> 00:26:30.029 His goodness is always running after us. His 00:26:30.029 --> 00:26:40.029 goodness is pursuing us. Hallelujah. Sometimes 00:26:40.029 --> 00:26:42.470 we need to quit running so hard and turn around 00:26:42.470 --> 00:26:45.089 and say, goodness, and give goodness a big hug. 00:26:47.400 --> 00:26:51.900 Because God's goodness is coming after you. It's 00:26:51.900 --> 00:26:58.980 coming after you. Psalm 27, 13. This is a confidence 00:26:58.980 --> 00:27:01.940 that we need to have too. I am confident that 00:27:01.940 --> 00:27:12.900 I will see the Lord's goodness. I am confident 00:27:12.900 --> 00:27:19.940 I will see the Lord's goodness. I'm confident 00:27:19.940 --> 00:27:25.220 that I'm going to see the goodness of God because 00:27:25.220 --> 00:27:27.819 God's good, and I'm going to see his goodness. 00:27:32.240 --> 00:27:37.700 Confident. Sometimes when we're in the middle 00:27:37.700 --> 00:27:40.759 of a hard place, you know, it's like, oh, God, 00:27:40.839 --> 00:27:53.130 where are you? His goodness is coming. His goodness 00:27:53.130 --> 00:27:57.890 is pursuing you. Even when you can't see it. 00:27:57.950 --> 00:28:00.470 See, it's easy to be confident in the Lord's 00:28:00.470 --> 00:28:02.490 goodness when you're experiencing His goodness. 00:28:03.289 --> 00:28:08.490 But listen, some days we don't feel, our feelings 00:28:08.490 --> 00:28:12.329 are not that we're seeing His goodness. Our sight 00:28:12.329 --> 00:28:15.809 is not that we're seeing His goodness because 00:28:15.809 --> 00:28:21.589 what we see, Doesn't look good. Has anybody been 00:28:21.589 --> 00:28:25.369 alive more than 30 minutes? This is life in a 00:28:25.369 --> 00:28:30.130 fallen world. But right in the middle of it, 00:28:30.210 --> 00:28:35.809 right in the middle of whatever you face, this 00:28:35.809 --> 00:28:38.430 is a good one to memorize and a good one to say. 00:28:39.029 --> 00:28:41.950 Right in the middle of it, I am confident that 00:28:41.950 --> 00:28:45.049 I'm going to see the Lord's goodness. It's coming. 00:28:45.400 --> 00:28:47.740 I don't see it right now, but I'm confident that 00:28:47.740 --> 00:28:51.579 I'm going to see it. And the reason why I'm so 00:28:51.579 --> 00:28:53.740 confident is because I know that God is good. 00:28:55.039 --> 00:28:59.059 I know He's good. And I'm going to see His goodness. 00:29:00.480 --> 00:29:06.440 Hallelujah. Since God is good, have I convinced 00:29:06.440 --> 00:29:08.480 you that God is good yet without reading 260 00:29:08.480 --> 00:29:14.509 verses? Since God is good, It makes perfect sense 00:29:14.509 --> 00:29:20.210 that He would desire to cultivate goodness in 00:29:20.210 --> 00:29:23.829 us, that He would desire to manifest this same 00:29:23.829 --> 00:29:30.950 characteristic, His goodness in His people. It 00:29:30.950 --> 00:29:37.609 makes perfect sense. Now, goodness, this word, 00:29:37.710 --> 00:29:40.069 this Greek word that I read a few moments ago, 00:29:40.210 --> 00:29:46.200 or tried to read. It's strictly a biblical term. 00:29:48.119 --> 00:29:51.420 It appears four times. Everybody say four times. 00:29:51.599 --> 00:29:55.559 That word appears four times in the New Testament. 00:29:56.799 --> 00:30:02.440 And no scholar has been able to find that form 00:30:02.440 --> 00:30:08.259 of that word in any other Greek writings. Four 00:30:08.259 --> 00:30:13.319 times. It's talking about God's goodness in us 00:30:13.319 --> 00:30:20.200 and through us. Ephesians 5, 8 and 9. Now let's 00:30:20.200 --> 00:30:24.500 talk about us. Talk about God's being good and 00:30:24.500 --> 00:30:28.180 His goodness. Ephesians 5, verses 8 through 9. 00:30:28.359 --> 00:30:34.079 For once, everybody say, I used to. For once, 00:30:34.079 --> 00:30:36.960 you were full of darkness. I used to be full 00:30:36.960 --> 00:30:43.079 of darkness. But now, You have light from the 00:30:43.079 --> 00:30:54.140 Lord. So live as people of light. For this light 00:30:54.140 --> 00:31:00.500 within you produces only what is good and right 00:31:00.500 --> 00:31:06.440 and true. That's another occurrence. Because 00:31:06.440 --> 00:31:08.720 I read it, the fruit of the Spirit is goodness. 00:31:08.799 --> 00:31:12.140 That's one of the occurrences. This is another 00:31:12.140 --> 00:31:19.619 one. And it's saying the light of God. We used 00:31:19.619 --> 00:31:22.940 to be full of darkness. But now that we're in 00:31:22.940 --> 00:31:26.440 Christ, we are filled with light. We're no longer 00:31:26.440 --> 00:31:28.680 filled with darkness. We're filled with light 00:31:28.680 --> 00:31:32.579 in the Lord. And because we are filled with light, 00:31:32.700 --> 00:31:35.500 we need to live as people of light. And here's 00:31:35.500 --> 00:31:38.180 what the light's going to do. It's going to produce 00:31:38.180 --> 00:31:46.819 only what is good and right and true. Goodness 00:31:46.819 --> 00:31:51.960 shines in darkness. Goodness shines in darkness. 00:31:54.859 --> 00:31:57.500 I hear people say all the time, this world sure 00:31:57.500 --> 00:32:01.859 is getting dark. Has anybody heard anybody say 00:32:01.859 --> 00:32:07.190 that? Boy, the world's sure getting dark. The 00:32:07.190 --> 00:32:11.490 darker it is, the easier it is to see light. 00:32:17.089 --> 00:32:19.529 If I struck a match right now or lit a flashlight 00:32:19.529 --> 00:32:23.089 right here right now, it wouldn't really make 00:32:23.089 --> 00:32:24.809 a difference because there's a lot of light in 00:32:24.809 --> 00:32:27.970 this room. But if we cut off all the lights and 00:32:27.970 --> 00:32:30.789 covered the windows, if I lit just a real tiny 00:32:30.789 --> 00:32:32.990 little flashlight, it would put a whole lot of 00:32:32.990 --> 00:32:35.690 light in this room. So I want to encourage you, 00:32:35.710 --> 00:32:38.869 the darker the world gets, the more that our 00:32:38.869 --> 00:32:47.970 light can shine. The more it can shine. And if 00:32:47.970 --> 00:32:52.609 it's ever too dark, it means that more Christians 00:32:52.609 --> 00:32:55.329 need to be allowing the light and the life of 00:32:55.329 --> 00:32:58.490 God to shine through them. And part of the way 00:32:58.490 --> 00:33:00.769 that light shines through us from the verse that 00:33:00.769 --> 00:33:03.579 we just looked at, That light works goodness. 00:33:03.720 --> 00:33:06.299 And people see the goodness of God. They should 00:33:06.299 --> 00:33:09.380 be able to look at us and say, hey, you're a 00:33:09.380 --> 00:33:12.099 good person. And the things you do are good for 00:33:12.099 --> 00:33:16.660 other people. And you know what? That's not what 00:33:16.660 --> 00:33:21.259 the world looks like. But it's what the church 00:33:21.259 --> 00:33:25.339 should look like. Goodness shines in darkness. 00:33:25.859 --> 00:33:28.779 2 Thessalonians 1 .11. Here's the other occurrence 00:33:28.779 --> 00:33:32.279 of the word. So we keep on praying for you, asking 00:33:32.279 --> 00:33:36.319 our God to enable you to live a life worthy of 00:33:36.319 --> 00:33:41.660 His call. May He give to you the power to accomplish 00:33:41.660 --> 00:33:45.000 all the good things. Everybody say good things. 00:33:45.220 --> 00:33:48.500 All the good things your faith prompts you to 00:33:48.500 --> 00:34:02.740 do. This is the same word as goodness. And praying 00:34:02.740 --> 00:34:06.200 for the believers in Thessalonica that God would 00:34:06.200 --> 00:34:08.739 give them the power. Where does the power come 00:34:08.739 --> 00:34:17.800 from? Where does the power come from? Specifically. 00:34:20.719 --> 00:34:22.780 Everybody say the Holy Spirit. He's the one who 00:34:22.780 --> 00:34:30.639 empowers us. He's the one who empowers us. That's 00:34:30.639 --> 00:34:36.280 where the power comes from. So may the Holy Spirit 00:34:36.280 --> 00:34:44.079 empower you to accomplish good things that your 00:34:44.079 --> 00:34:52.739 faith prompts you to do. By the Word of God, 00:34:52.840 --> 00:34:55.159 faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word 00:34:55.159 --> 00:35:00.050 of God. And as we walk in the Spirit, He's connecting 00:35:00.050 --> 00:35:03.090 us to the Word of God, and He's prompting us 00:35:03.090 --> 00:35:05.989 to do things in alignment with the Word of God. 00:35:06.110 --> 00:35:08.289 And guess what? He's not only going to prompt 00:35:08.289 --> 00:35:11.610 us, He's going to empower us to accomplish those 00:35:11.610 --> 00:35:20.090 good things. Goodness is more than appearance. 00:35:25.550 --> 00:35:30.630 Goodness is more than appearance. Romans 15, 00:35:30.909 --> 00:35:37.329 13 and 14. I pray that God, the source of hope, 00:35:37.409 --> 00:35:40.829 will fill you completely with joy and peace because 00:35:40.829 --> 00:35:45.269 you trust him. Then you will overflow with confident 00:35:45.269 --> 00:35:49.530 hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. I 00:35:49.530 --> 00:35:52.030 am fully convinced, my dear brothers and sisters, 00:35:52.289 --> 00:35:59.000 that you are full. Of goodness. Full of goodness. 00:36:02.780 --> 00:36:05.420 We live in a world where dishonesty is normalized. 00:36:08.199 --> 00:36:12.800 Cheat to get your way ahead, right? Immorality 00:36:12.800 --> 00:36:20.039 is celebrated. Compromise is excused. Selfishness 00:36:20.039 --> 00:36:23.530 is promoted. That's the kind of world That we 00:36:23.530 --> 00:36:32.250 live in today. But the goodness of God is the 00:36:32.250 --> 00:36:34.909 goodness that comes from God and shows itself 00:36:34.909 --> 00:36:42.449 in spiritual and moral excellence. Look at the 00:36:42.449 --> 00:36:44.230 person beside you and tell them we're called 00:36:44.230 --> 00:36:55.610 to be different. Set apart. Peculiar. A holy 00:36:55.610 --> 00:37:02.550 nation. A peculiar people. We should show forth 00:37:02.550 --> 00:37:06.630 the praises of God who's brought us out of darkness 00:37:06.630 --> 00:37:14.989 and placed us into his marvelous light. Goodness 00:37:14.989 --> 00:37:18.250 should be who we are and what we do as followers 00:37:18.250 --> 00:37:23.170 of Christ. And I need to remind you of something. 00:37:23.269 --> 00:37:29.170 Appearances don't always reveal truth. Goodness 00:37:29.170 --> 00:37:35.409 is not image management. It's not just wanting 00:37:35.409 --> 00:37:39.409 to appear good and putting on a front at certain 00:37:39.409 --> 00:37:44.590 times so that people would think that we're good. 00:37:47.429 --> 00:37:52.380 Goodness is consistency. It's consistency between 00:37:52.380 --> 00:37:56.679 your public life and your private life. It's 00:37:56.679 --> 00:38:04.860 consistency between your church life and your 00:38:04.860 --> 00:38:15.619 home life. It's easy to slick up real good for 00:38:15.619 --> 00:38:22.619 an hour or two on Sunday morning. But that's 00:38:22.619 --> 00:38:29.320 not necessarily who we really are. Goodness is 00:38:29.320 --> 00:38:32.800 consistency between your visible behavior, what 00:38:32.800 --> 00:38:36.199 everybody else can see, and your hidden behavior 00:38:36.199 --> 00:38:42.420 that only you or a few people know about. And 00:38:42.420 --> 00:38:50.400 fruit reveals authenticity over time. Goodness 00:38:50.400 --> 00:38:52.760 flows from transformation. Everybody say transformation. 00:38:56.500 --> 00:39:00.059 This goodness that we're talking about, it flows 00:39:00.059 --> 00:39:03.699 from transformation. I use this story a lot, 00:39:03.739 --> 00:39:05.079 but we're going to look at it in a different 00:39:05.079 --> 00:39:07.460 way. And you're probably familiar with it, but 00:39:07.460 --> 00:39:09.599 I'm going to read it as quickly as I can because 00:39:09.599 --> 00:39:12.239 you should be familiar with the story. In Luke 00:39:12.239 --> 00:39:16.119 10, verses 30 through 35, Jesus told a parable. 00:39:17.099 --> 00:39:20.329 And he was using it to describe who the neighbor 00:39:20.329 --> 00:39:24.949 was. But I want us to take a look at it in a 00:39:24.949 --> 00:39:27.130 different way. A Jewish man was traveling on 00:39:27.130 --> 00:39:29.530 a trip from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he was 00:39:29.530 --> 00:39:32.130 attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his 00:39:32.130 --> 00:39:34.449 clothes, beat him up, left him half dead beside 00:39:34.449 --> 00:39:37.869 the road. By chance, a priest came along, but 00:39:37.869 --> 00:39:40.389 when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to 00:39:40.389 --> 00:39:42.869 the other side of the road and passed him by. 00:39:43.329 --> 00:39:45.989 A temple assistant walked over and looked at 00:39:45.989 --> 00:39:49.150 him lying there. but he also passed by on the 00:39:49.150 --> 00:39:53.889 other side. Then a despised Samaritan came along, 00:39:54.150 --> 00:39:56.889 and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for 00:39:56.889 --> 00:40:00.250 him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed 00:40:00.250 --> 00:40:02.829 his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged 00:40:02.829 --> 00:40:06.070 them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and 00:40:06.070 --> 00:40:08.849 took him to an inn where he took care of him. 00:40:09.210 --> 00:40:12.050 The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver 00:40:12.050 --> 00:40:15.079 coins, telling him, take care of this man. If 00:40:15.079 --> 00:40:17.300 his bill runs higher than this, I'll pay you 00:40:17.300 --> 00:40:22.380 next time I'm there. I want us to look at the 00:40:22.380 --> 00:40:26.059 people who interacted with the man who got beat 00:40:26.059 --> 00:40:28.179 up and who was half dead laying on the side of 00:40:28.179 --> 00:40:32.380 the road. I want to go from that angle. Now, 00:40:32.400 --> 00:40:36.260 Jesus was talking to a Pharisee, so obviously 00:40:36.260 --> 00:40:40.440 he's going to use religious people and show that 00:40:40.440 --> 00:40:43.159 they were not the neighbor. The person like he 00:40:43.159 --> 00:40:46.260 was talking to, was not being a neighbor because 00:40:46.260 --> 00:40:51.579 he hated Samaritans. And then he used the Samaritan 00:40:51.579 --> 00:40:56.260 as being the neighbor. But I just want to look 00:40:56.260 --> 00:41:00.119 at the people. The robbers represent a type of 00:41:00.119 --> 00:41:03.440 people, people who are just selfish and hostile. 00:41:04.000 --> 00:41:05.960 They want what they want. They're going to do 00:41:05.960 --> 00:41:08.219 whatever they do. They don't care who they hurt. 00:41:09.739 --> 00:41:13.659 You know, they just want what they want. Okay? 00:41:14.570 --> 00:41:18.809 They're not good. Everybody say not good. Not 00:41:18.809 --> 00:41:25.690 good. Not working towards helping people or working 00:41:25.690 --> 00:41:28.449 towards goodness towards others. They're selfish 00:41:28.449 --> 00:41:34.809 and hostile. Next people type is the priest who 00:41:34.809 --> 00:41:37.730 is basically just indifferent. Everybody say 00:41:37.730 --> 00:41:40.889 indifferent. I mean, he didn't beat the guy up 00:41:40.889 --> 00:41:43.809 and rob the guy, right? He's not the one who 00:41:43.809 --> 00:41:47.789 knocked him down. But he wasn't willing to help 00:41:47.789 --> 00:41:52.510 him up either. There's a lot of people like that. 00:41:55.090 --> 00:42:00.230 They're not like the bandits. They're just indifferent. 00:42:01.670 --> 00:42:03.809 We can still say that they're pretty selfish 00:42:03.809 --> 00:42:07.130 and self -oriented. They won't knock you down, 00:42:07.210 --> 00:42:10.030 but they're not going to help you up. And what 00:42:10.030 --> 00:42:13.289 about the temple assistant who... is also a Levite. 00:42:15.190 --> 00:42:18.289 Levites were students of the law, so we can say 00:42:18.289 --> 00:42:21.969 that he's legalistic. He has all the answers. 00:42:24.710 --> 00:42:29.409 But it doesn't impact the way he lives. It doesn't 00:42:29.409 --> 00:42:34.230 impact what he does. Right? Like the person who's 00:42:34.230 --> 00:42:40.769 got all these Bible verses. But goodness is not 00:42:40.769 --> 00:42:42.510 flowing through them. You wouldn't say they were 00:42:42.510 --> 00:42:44.369 a good person. You wouldn't say they were spiritually 00:42:44.369 --> 00:42:51.309 mature. Because probably all of us have encountered 00:42:51.309 --> 00:42:56.230 some very mean people who go to church all the 00:42:56.230 --> 00:42:58.230 time and could quote you a bunch of Bible verses. 00:43:01.070 --> 00:43:03.389 Has anyone experienced some folks like that before? 00:43:04.630 --> 00:43:09.030 There's some mean people who go to church. I've 00:43:09.030 --> 00:43:12.989 been in church a long time. I played the organ 00:43:12.989 --> 00:43:14.469 nine months before I was born. I was helping 00:43:14.469 --> 00:43:18.769 mom with the bass pedals on the organ. I mean, 00:43:18.889 --> 00:43:25.389 they're some mean people. They think they have 00:43:25.389 --> 00:43:27.269 all the answers, but it's not impacting their 00:43:27.269 --> 00:43:30.230 life. It's not impacting the way they live or 00:43:30.230 --> 00:43:31.889 associate with other people. And then we see 00:43:31.889 --> 00:43:35.949 the Samaritan. In context of what we're talking 00:43:35.949 --> 00:43:38.300 about today, we would say that he... In this 00:43:38.300 --> 00:43:41.260 story, out of everybody who has had interaction 00:43:41.260 --> 00:43:44.780 with this man who's beat up, he's a good person. 00:43:46.199 --> 00:43:50.480 And he's displaying goodness toward this stranger. 00:43:51.880 --> 00:43:56.599 So that gives us a little more insight. Spiritual 00:43:56.599 --> 00:43:59.860 growth is a result of God's nature, who God is. 00:44:02.300 --> 00:44:09.210 Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness. Those are 00:44:09.210 --> 00:44:15.550 all descriptions, ultimately, of God. So spiritual 00:44:15.550 --> 00:44:18.349 growth is a result of God's nature shaping our 00:44:18.349 --> 00:44:24.829 nature. God didn't send us the Holy Spirit to 00:44:24.829 --> 00:44:30.369 just instruct us on how to act better externally 00:44:30.369 --> 00:44:33.550 or act better according to our flesh. Just need 00:44:33.550 --> 00:44:36.550 to try harder. The Holy Spirit's not there going... 00:44:36.699 --> 00:44:38.119 Well, you know what? You just need to try harder. 00:44:38.219 --> 00:44:44.860 Keep trying harder. You can do this. That's not 00:44:44.860 --> 00:44:51.320 what he does. He works in us to transform us 00:44:51.320 --> 00:44:54.599 and transform our desires from the inside out. 00:44:56.820 --> 00:45:00.579 It's not just trying harder in the flesh. It's 00:45:00.579 --> 00:45:04.340 being transformed. Christianity is not behavior 00:45:04.340 --> 00:45:10.579 modification. It's heart transformation. That's 00:45:10.579 --> 00:45:14.039 what it is. And one of the dangers of church 00:45:14.039 --> 00:45:17.599 culture is learning how to look spiritual without 00:45:17.599 --> 00:45:22.079 growing spiritually. We got all the words. We 00:45:22.079 --> 00:45:25.980 got all the songs. We got all the things on our 00:45:25.980 --> 00:45:32.199 calendar. We need to be careful that we're not 00:45:32.199 --> 00:45:36.349 just looking spiritual. But we're growing spiritually. 00:45:38.269 --> 00:45:41.510 And goodness, everybody say goodness. Goodness 00:45:41.510 --> 00:45:46.829 is evidence of spiritual growth. God is more 00:45:46.829 --> 00:45:53.010 interested in who you are becoming than what 00:45:53.010 --> 00:45:58.530 you are accomplishing. I just have to sit here 00:45:58.530 --> 00:46:03.170 a minute because this needs to impact you. It 00:46:03.170 --> 00:46:07.550 needs to impact me. God is more interested in 00:46:07.550 --> 00:46:11.869 who you are becoming than what you are accomplishing. 00:46:15.170 --> 00:46:17.329 Because it's easy to get to the point where, 00:46:17.429 --> 00:46:19.469 well, God, I'm doing this for you and I'm doing 00:46:19.469 --> 00:46:23.010 this for you and I'm doing this for you. God, 00:46:23.130 --> 00:46:25.550 I'm volunteering, I'm doing this. God, look at 00:46:25.550 --> 00:46:31.010 all this stuff I'm accomplishing for you. But 00:46:31.010 --> 00:46:34.030 God's more interested in who you are becoming. 00:46:39.119 --> 00:46:48.519 Are you becoming more like Christ? I've already 00:46:48.519 --> 00:46:51.039 said this one time, but since God is good, it 00:46:51.039 --> 00:46:53.280 makes perfect sense that He's wanting to work 00:46:53.280 --> 00:46:59.039 in us, for us to be good, as goodness being a 00:46:59.039 --> 00:47:03.239 characteristic in our lives. And the ultimate 00:47:03.239 --> 00:47:05.800 goal of spiritual growth is to become more like 00:47:05.800 --> 00:47:11.400 Jesus. Goodness is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. 00:47:15.260 --> 00:47:17.679 What does the Holy Spirit do in our lives and 00:47:17.679 --> 00:47:22.239 for us? Jesus told us in John 16, verses 13 through 00:47:22.239 --> 00:47:25.260 15, He said, But when He, the Spirit of truth, 00:47:25.380 --> 00:47:31.559 comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will 00:47:31.559 --> 00:47:34.860 not speak on His own. He will speak only what 00:47:34.860 --> 00:47:40.170 He hears, and He will tell you what is yet. He 00:47:40.170 --> 00:47:44.329 will glorify me, Jesus said, because it is from 00:47:44.329 --> 00:47:47.849 me that the Holy Spirit will receive what he 00:47:47.849 --> 00:47:53.170 will make known to you. All that belongs to the 00:47:53.170 --> 00:47:56.929 Father is mine. That's why I said the Spirit 00:47:56.929 --> 00:47:59.429 will receive from me what he will make known 00:47:59.429 --> 00:48:07.340 to you. God the Holy Spirit takes hold. Of the 00:48:07.340 --> 00:48:10.059 things of God. The things that God has for us. 00:48:11.179 --> 00:48:16.300 And He is the one who declares them to us. He's 00:48:16.300 --> 00:48:19.679 the one who intensifies them in us. He makes 00:48:19.679 --> 00:48:28.840 them known to us. He is the connector. And without 00:48:28.840 --> 00:48:35.840 Him, there is no connection. Jesus said, it's 00:48:35.840 --> 00:48:39.280 better that I go back to heaven. Because I'm 00:48:39.280 --> 00:48:40.900 going to send you the comforter. I'm going to 00:48:40.900 --> 00:48:44.460 send you the helper. He's the one who's going 00:48:44.460 --> 00:48:53.139 to connect you. Jesus said this in John 15, 5. 00:48:53.320 --> 00:48:56.679 He said, I'm the vine. You are the branches. 00:48:58.300 --> 00:49:01.400 Those who remain in me, everybody say abide. 00:49:02.260 --> 00:49:10.469 Everybody say live. As opposed to visiting. A 00:49:10.469 --> 00:49:15.429 lot of people just visit God. He said, those 00:49:15.429 --> 00:49:18.170 who abide in me, those who live in me, those 00:49:18.170 --> 00:49:22.750 who remain in me, and I in them will produce 00:49:22.750 --> 00:49:33.039 much fruit. So how many of us in the room look 00:49:33.039 --> 00:49:36.639 at our lives and say, you know, I'm thankful 00:49:36.639 --> 00:49:41.099 that I'm not who I used to be. I'm thankful that 00:49:41.099 --> 00:49:47.179 I can see that I am growing. But I can see that 00:49:47.179 --> 00:49:56.039 I've still got a ways to go. So how? How is the 00:49:56.039 --> 00:50:00.539 spiritual growth? That we desire, hopefully we 00:50:00.539 --> 00:50:03.840 desire to grow spiritually and be more spiritually 00:50:03.840 --> 00:50:07.079 mature this week than we were last week. So how 00:50:07.079 --> 00:50:09.119 is that going to happen? It's going to happen 00:50:09.119 --> 00:50:13.059 in the ways that we just look. Because fruit 00:50:13.059 --> 00:50:16.480 grows naturally where a healthy connection exists. 00:50:19.280 --> 00:50:21.880 Jesus is divine. We are the branches. We've got 00:50:21.880 --> 00:50:25.019 to be connected. We've got to abide. Not just 00:50:25.019 --> 00:50:28.760 visit him every once in a while. but live in 00:50:28.760 --> 00:50:35.699 Him and allow His life to flow through us. Spiritual 00:50:35.699 --> 00:50:40.559 growth is not about more self -dedication. It's 00:50:40.559 --> 00:50:42.840 not about more self -determination. It's not 00:50:42.840 --> 00:50:47.099 about more self -effort. But it's about abiding 00:50:47.099 --> 00:50:50.739 in Christ. It's also about acknowledging the 00:50:50.739 --> 00:51:00.010 indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. If He 00:51:00.010 --> 00:51:03.250 is alive in us and we are the temple of the Holy 00:51:03.250 --> 00:51:05.010 Spirit, then we need to be acknowledging Him. 00:51:07.769 --> 00:51:12.590 Not just on Sunday morning. On Sunday afternoon. 00:51:13.809 --> 00:51:16.710 On Monday morning. On Friday night. On Saturday. 00:51:16.730 --> 00:51:19.269 We need to be acknowledging the Holy Spirit of 00:51:19.269 --> 00:51:25.909 God. His indwelling presence. The Bible says 00:51:25.909 --> 00:51:28.630 that we're supposed to walk in the Spirit. That 00:51:28.630 --> 00:51:31.969 we're supposed to yield to the Spirit. Because 00:51:31.969 --> 00:51:34.989 the Holy Spirit, if we will acknowledge Him, 00:51:35.570 --> 00:51:38.610 He's going to direct us. He's going to guide 00:51:38.610 --> 00:51:41.710 us. He's going to empower us. But we have to 00:51:41.710 --> 00:51:43.650 acknowledge Him. He's not just going to smack 00:51:43.650 --> 00:51:50.510 us over the head. It's not the way this works. 00:51:52.570 --> 00:51:55.570 He's a gentleman. He's not going to force you 00:51:55.570 --> 00:52:01.320 to grow. We've got to cooperate. We've got to 00:52:01.320 --> 00:52:03.679 acknowledge. We've got to yield. As He is speaking 00:52:03.679 --> 00:52:07.840 to us, we've got to say, yes, I will follow you. 00:52:07.920 --> 00:52:10.860 I will yield to you. I will no longer yield to 00:52:10.860 --> 00:52:16.840 my own desires. I will no longer yield to the 00:52:16.840 --> 00:52:19.860 thoughts that come into my mind that do not agree 00:52:19.860 --> 00:52:23.860 with your word or your promises for me. I'll 00:52:23.860 --> 00:52:30.500 no longer set my mind on those things. Because 00:52:30.500 --> 00:52:38.559 I want to follow you. I will no longer follow 00:52:38.559 --> 00:52:42.619 the negative emotions that rise up on me as a 00:52:42.619 --> 00:52:45.019 response to what I see. I'm not going to follow 00:52:45.019 --> 00:52:52.239 those anymore. I'm going to yield to you. Because 00:52:52.239 --> 00:52:57.940 my soul, my thought life, my desires, my feelings, 00:53:00.059 --> 00:53:04.039 I put them under subjection to my spirit who 00:53:04.039 --> 00:53:09.599 is alive unto God and connected with God. I'm 00:53:09.599 --> 00:53:13.340 going to be transformed. I'm going to walk with 00:53:13.340 --> 00:53:27.719 you. God, help us get it. Help us get it. Give 00:53:27.719 --> 00:53:32.639 us revelation of your truth today in such a way 00:53:32.639 --> 00:53:40.659 that it transforms us, makes a difference. Not 00:53:40.659 --> 00:53:42.820 just a little religious experience this morning, 00:53:42.880 --> 00:53:44.780 but something that makes a difference in our 00:53:44.780 --> 00:53:53.659 lives. Hallelujah. It's the measure of your goodness. 00:53:55.420 --> 00:53:58.519 Again, think about the doorpost where children 00:53:58.519 --> 00:54:01.340 are growing and you put a ruler on their head 00:54:01.340 --> 00:54:03.239 and mark the doorpost, write their name and the 00:54:03.239 --> 00:54:10.400 year beside it. I want you to think of a spiritual 00:54:10.400 --> 00:54:18.559 doorpost as you consider the self -examination 00:54:18.559 --> 00:54:22.760 through the fruit of the Spirit. How mature are 00:54:22.760 --> 00:54:29.119 you? In your love walk. How mature are you? How 00:54:29.119 --> 00:54:33.619 much joy are you experiencing? How much peace 00:54:33.619 --> 00:54:37.159 are you experiencing? You say, boy, I don't have 00:54:37.159 --> 00:54:39.420 much joy or much peace. Well, then your marker's 00:54:39.420 --> 00:54:49.119 way down here. I'm not trying to bring any condemnation 00:54:49.119 --> 00:54:52.059 on anybody, but if you're not experiencing the 00:54:52.059 --> 00:54:56.230 peace of God, The Holy Spirit is calling you 00:54:56.230 --> 00:55:00.489 to come up higher. Because the kingdom of God 00:55:00.489 --> 00:55:03.250 is not about rules, it says in Romans. It's about 00:55:03.250 --> 00:55:06.510 righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 00:55:06.670 --> 00:55:12.769 So if you're not experiencing it, it's available. 00:55:14.809 --> 00:55:19.269 Don't be condemned. God's calling you up higher. 00:55:20.909 --> 00:55:26.250 He's saying, look what I have for you. Look at 00:55:26.250 --> 00:55:30.150 this fruit that I want to be evident in your 00:55:30.150 --> 00:55:32.750 life. Look at this fruit that as you're connected 00:55:32.750 --> 00:55:37.050 to me, my life is going to flow through you and 00:55:37.050 --> 00:55:38.889 this fruit is going to grow and it's going to 00:55:38.889 --> 00:55:41.190 mature and it's going to increase. This is what 00:55:41.190 --> 00:55:46.429 I have for you. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, 00:55:46.670 --> 00:55:51.630 goodness. This is the life of God flowing in 00:55:51.630 --> 00:56:04.929 us. God always has more. He always has more. 00:56:08.530 --> 00:56:15.050 How's it going to increase? Abiding. Acknowledging. 00:56:16.030 --> 00:56:21.110 Walking. Yielding. That's how it's going to increase. 00:56:23.730 --> 00:56:30.230 Takes your cooperation. I can't get you all to 00:56:30.230 --> 00:56:32.590 come up here and stand in line and tap you on 00:56:32.590 --> 00:56:34.710 the head and pray for you and just all this becomes 00:56:34.710 --> 00:56:37.090 a mature fruit in your life. That's not the way 00:56:37.090 --> 00:56:42.570 it works. If it did, let's line up. But that's 00:56:42.570 --> 00:56:50.590 not the way it works. Take some work. Take some 00:56:50.590 --> 00:56:59.829 cooperation. Hallelujah. Let's pray. God, thank 00:56:59.829 --> 00:57:02.849 you. Thank you for today. Thank you for your 00:57:02.849 --> 00:57:07.690 word. Thank you for your truth. God, I pray that 00:57:07.690 --> 00:57:12.550 it will be planted like seed and good soil in 00:57:12.550 --> 00:57:17.730 each one of our hearts. That the cares of this 00:57:17.730 --> 00:57:25.090 life won't choke it out. But it will be planted 00:57:25.090 --> 00:57:29.070 in our hearts. In such a way that the roots grow 00:57:29.070 --> 00:57:34.050 deep in good soil and it produces a good harvest 00:57:34.050 --> 00:57:43.110 in our lives. In Jesus' name, amen. This online 00:57:43.110 --> 00:57:45.710 worship experience was brought to you by the 00:57:45.710 --> 00:57:47.710 friends and partners of Eulation Church.