Real joy is not dependent on circumstances. It
can be a steady source of strength, no matter
what you're facing. Discover how joy is more
than a feeling, it's a way of life. Order your
copy of The Strength of Joy by Dean and Jeffrey
Forrest, now available on Amazon and Kindle.
Week number six in our series on spiritual growth.
Now, how many of you, this is your first time
being with us in the last five weeks or six weeks?
Have no fear. We do enough recap that you will
understand what's going on and how this works.
But this is week number six in spiritual growth.
I'm going to start out by looking at 1 Corinthians
2, verse 14. It says 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.
Everybody say natural man. 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? Or we could replace it with the word
from the other verse, behaving like natural men.
So in these four verses, we find out that there
are three types of people. Three types of people.
The first type of person is a natural person.
Everybody say natural. This is someone who is
not a Christian. They're not born again. And
they're just led by their flesh or their sensual
nature. I mean, they're without Christ. All they
have to live by is what feels good or what seems
right in their own eyes. That's the only... course,
the only direction that they have. And the verse
that we read said that, you know, the things
of God are only spiritually discerned. They cannot
know the things of God because they're not born
again. They do not have the Spirit of God living
inside them. Then we see a carnal person. Everybody
say carnal. Now, a carnal person is a Christian,
but they're still living according to their flesh.
They're still living like a natural person. They're
immature. They, you know, it doesn't matter how
many years they've been a Christian. If they're
carnal, they're just like babies still. And Paul
said, look, I want to give you some meat, but
all you can handle is milk. Because they refuse
to feed on the Word of God and to grow. That's
a carnal person. Then we see a spiritual person.
Everybody say spiritual. A spiritual person is
a Christian who is led by the Holy Spirit and
led by the Word of God. Now this is a growing
Christian. Everybody say growing. A growing Christian
who regularly receives the Word of God and walks
in the Spirit according to the Word of God. So
where does this spiritual growth occur? Do we
go to the gym and lift weights to get spiritually
mature and spiritually strong, spiritually strengthened?
No, that's physically. So where does spiritual
growth occur? The Bible tells us that we are
three -part beings. There are multiple verses.
I'm just going to read one today. 1 Thessalonians
5 .23 says this, Now may the God of peace make
you holy. Everybody say set apart. May the God
of peace make you holy or 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 here we see that we are three
part beings. A lot of people think that we're
just a soul and flesh, but no, we are a spirit.
Everybody say, I am a spirit. You're created
in the image of God. So to say that again, you
are created in the image of God. You are a spirit
being. And you have a soul. And you live in a
body. I don't have to describe what your body
is. All you have to do is pinch your arm, you
know, and that's... That's your body. That's
your flesh. But you have a soul. You have a soul.
You are a spirit. Now, your spirit, when you
are born as a human because of the fall in the
garden, your spirit is born. When you're born,
you are a spirit, but your spirit is not connected
with God, and your spirit is separated from God.
When you become a Christian, your spirit comes
alive unto God. Your spirit is united with Christ.
Your spirit moves from being immersed in sin
to being immersed in Christ. And the Bible is
clear. It says when we're in Christ, we have
put on the righteousness of God. in Christ Jesus,
your spirit is completely righteous and right
with God. You are complete in Him. Every promise
that's attached to who you are in Christ and
what you have in Christ is yours. It's available
to you the moment you are born again. How many
of you know that your soul didn't change when
your spirit got saved? Let me tell you what your
soul is, and you'll agree with me. Your soul
is made up of your mind, your will, and your
emotions. So how many of you, when you came to
Christ, all of a sudden your thought life just
immediately changed, and now your mind and focus
is on God, and it's never on anything else. You
just completely, your thought life is just completely
transformed immediately. No, that takes a little
work. Look at the person beside you and say,
that's going to take a little work. It's still
taking a little work. What about your will or
your desires? Did your desires just immediately
change? All of a sudden you didn't desire anything
that wasn't godly anymore. No, it's going to
take some work. What about your emotions and
your feelings? Did those automatically change
when you were born again? No. How many of you...
Say that God needs to continue to work. The Spirit
of God needs to continue to work. The Word of
God needs to continue to work to transform my
thought life, my desires, and my feelings. About
three of us. The rest of you got it all down
pat. The difference between a carnal and a spiritual
person is the spiritual growth of the soul or
the lack thereof. As spirit beings, when our
spirits become alive unto God, we're supposed
to begin to allow our spirit to control our lives.
Our spirit who is connected with the Holy Spirit,
the Spirit of God, the transformation should
begin to take place, but it's going to take our
cooperation for it to take place. It's not just
going to automatically happen. You're going to
have to cooperate. Spiritual maturity is not
measured by how long you've been a Christian.
I think it was last week, I celebrated 51 years
of being a Christian last week. But that doesn't
mean that I'm spiritually mature just because
years have passed. Spiritual maturity is not
measured by how often you attend worship services.
I mean, I want you to be here every week. I think
God wants you to be here every week. But you
can go to church every week and still be spiritually
immature. You don't measure spiritual maturity
by how much scripture you can quote. Did anyone
grow up doing Bible drills at church where you
tried to memorize Scripture and then you had
competitions with other people and, you know,
memorizing a bunch of Bible verses? That doesn't
mean you're spiritually mature. If you can quote
the Bible, it doesn't mean that you're spiritually
mature. I mean, there's nothing wrong with either
one of these things. Nothing wrong with it. But
that doesn't mean spiritual maturity. Luke 6,
verses 43 and 44, Jesus says this, 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. Jesus has given us some insight. Spiritual
maturity is not about... It's about how much
of the fruit of the Spirit is alive in our lives
and increasing in our lives and evidenced in
our lives. That's what we've been looking at
in this series. It doesn't matter how long you've
been a Christian, how much you go to church,
how many Bible verses you can quote, if you're
not walking in love, if you're not experiencing
the joy of the Lord in the Holy Spirit, if you're
not experiencing the peace of God that surpasses
understanding, if you're not patient, if you're
not kind, None of that other stuff matters if
we're not being transformed into the image of
Christ. If practically, not just at church on
Sunday morning, but when we go to school or when
we go to work or when we're at home, if none
of these things are evident in our lives, we're
not spiritually mature. We're just fooling ourselves
if those things are not evident in our lives.
Now listen, I've said it from up front. This
series is a series in self -examination. Because
it's so easy to sit here. Listen, it's so easy
to sit here and you talk about the fruit of the
Spirit and then you begin saying, well, you know
what? My sorry brother -in -law, he sure does.
I've got a wonderful brother -in -law. I'm just
giving an example. Okay? It's not for us to think
about someone who's not here or even someone
who is sitting beside us. It's not for us to
look at them and begin to judge how spiritually
mature they are. No, this is a self -examination.
Because everyone in this room, I promise you,
everyone in this room is a work in progress.
None of us have arrived. And if all of a sudden
your mind clash with me and you say, no, I have
arrived. I am spiritually mature. You just told
me that you are a spiritual teenager. I'll never
forget hitting the teenage years and I begin
to think that my parents didn't know anything
and I knew everything. So to think that you've
arrived means that you're just a spiritual teenager.
I don't care who you are. I don't care if you're
the Pope. If you think you've arrived, you're
just spiritual teenage. Probably shouldn't have
said that. But anyway. Galatians 5, 22 and 23.
This is how far we've come. The fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness.
And today, we're going to be focusing on goodness.
Everybody say goodness. Goodness is our focus.
Here's a Greek word. Agathosune. Got to put the
right accent on the right syllable. All right.
Somebody smile or laugh or something. And, you
know, usually when we look up a word in the Koine
Greek and we look at the definition, usually
there's some other things attached to it. I was
talking with Irv at Life Group. He said, what
are you going to preach on this week, Preacher?
And I said, we might be on goodness. I might
go somewhere else. I said, I just have to look
up the Greek word. And he said, I ain't concerned
about the Greek. I just need to know the English.
But the New Testament is written in Koine Greek,
right? So we need to understand. The words that
have been translated into English, because the
Bible wasn't written in English. Our language
is fluid. And we need to know what God said as
best as we can. And guess what? Goodness means
goodness. Isn't that good? Goodness just means
goodness. Goodness means goodness. That is the
definition. There are no other words. But it
gives us some examples. An example, it said in
the Strong's Concordance, it says virtue or beneficence.
Who wants to get the mic and give me definitions
of virtue or beneficence? It's pretty bad when
you've got to look up the definition to find
out what the definition means. Right? Don't worry,
I did that for you in Merriam -Webster Dictionary.
Virtue is morally good behavior or character.
Everybody say morally good. And where is morally
based on? Morally is based on Scripture. Morality
is based on Scripture. To find real morality.
It's not, you don't look at culture to find what
morality is. You look at scripture to find out
what it is. And virtue is morally good behavior
or character. So, everybody say, it's what I
am and what I do. Because it's character and
behavior. It's not just a mindset. It's bigger
than that. It's beyond that. Beneficence is the
quality or state of doing or producing good.
So, the fruit of the Spirit is goodness. What
does that look like? It looks like if we are
in Christ and we are growing, The more we grow
spiritually, the more morally good we become.
I don't want you to get me wrong here because
we don't gain the favor of God and we don't become
right with God by our actions. I don't want you
to get this mixed up. We're right with God based
on what Jesus did on the cross. But when we are
born again, it should change who we are and how
we act and what we do. Now that doesn't make
us any more right with God because you can't
grow in righteousness. You can't grow in righteousness.
If you could grow in righteousness, then you're
telling me that you can be more righteous than
Jesus was because we're clothed in His righteousness.
So what would it take for you to say, oh, I can
be more righteous than Jesus was. No, we're perfectly
righteous because of what He did. We put on the
righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, is what
the Bible says, at salvation. But that does not
mean that we can continue to purposefully live
in sin. If we choose to live in sin, then we
are carnal believers. Are you with me? And beneficence
is the quality or state of doing good and producing
good. We ought to be good people. We ought to
be good people. When people look at us, they
don't need to say that we're goody -two -shoes,
but they need to recognize us as good people
when we're in Christ. They shouldn't look at
us and say that we're mean people. They shouldn't
ever look at us and say, well, I didn't think
Christians acted like that. I didn't think Christians
talked like that. I didn't think Christians did
that. Hello? Goodness begins with God. I want
to say that again. Goodness begins with God.
God is not occasionally good. God is good by
nature. Everything He does flows from His character.
The Bible tells us that God is love. The Bible
also tells us that God is good. Everybody say,
God is good. If you ever interpret anything in
life to come to the point that says, well, God
must not be good because this happened or that
happened, and we interpret it as God brought
some kind of... terrible thing, and we accuse
God of not being good, we are not connecting
the dots correctly. Whether it's in Scripture
or in life, we're not connecting the dots correctly.
If we ever come to the result that God is not
love or God is not good, then it's not God, it's
us who have it mixed up in our understanding.
God's a good God. Jesus even said, John 10, 10,
the thief comes to steal, to kill, and destroy.
Don't ever accuse God of any of that. Jesus said
He came to give us life and that we would have
it more abundantly to the fullest. God gives
us life so that we can experience the life of
God. Life of God. Everybody say, God is good.
And try to pause from saying all the time, because
that's normally what everybody wants to say.
God is good. Goodness reflects God's character.
Goodness is who God is and what God does. I'll
say that again. Goodness is who God is and what
God does. I've got some verses for you. I can't
read them all because there are more than 70
Bible verses that directly state the Lord is
good. It would take me a while to read 70. And
then there are more than 190 verses that declare
His goodness. Y 'all don't want me to preach
that long. That's a lot of verses that directly
say that the Lord is good. And then it talks
about His goodness in Scripture, but I do have
some for you in just a second. Does anybody know
who Dr. David Jeremiah is? I found this quote
this week. God's goodness conveys His generosity.
His goodness means far more than His generosity,
but it certainly includes His infinitely generous
attitude. Towards us. By nature. God longs to
bring joy. And blessing. To all his creatures.
It's good. I mean I know it's not a Bible verse.
It's good. I think it lines up with a lot of
Bible verses. I'll read it again. God's goodness
conveys his generosity. His goodness means far
more than His generosity, but it certainly includes
His infinitely generous attitude towards you
and towards me. By God's very nature, He longs
to bring joy and blessing to all His creatures.
And that's who God is. That's who God is. 1 Chronicles
16, 34. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.
Somebody say, He is good. His faithful love endures
forever. Psalm 119, 68. Speaking to God, you
are good. And do only good. Everybody say, God
is good. Everything He does is good. Nahum 1
.7. If you have to give your Bible, you might
need to kind of squeeze the pages apart because
you might not have been in Nahum often. Nahum
1 .7. The Lord is good. Everybody say, the Lord
is good. He's a strong refuge when trouble comes.
He is close to those who trust Him. He's close
to those who have their faith in Him, their confidence
in Him. He's close to you when you trust Him.
And He's a strong refuge when you face trouble.
The Lord is good. James 1 .17 Whatever is good
and perfect is a gift coming down to us from
God our Father who created all the lights in
the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting
shadow. I memorized it like this during my Bible
drill days that I talked about a minute ago.
Every good and perfect gift comes down from the
Father of lights. Every good thing that has ever
come into your life, whether you're in Christ
or not, every good thing that's ever come into...
Anyone's life on this earth, every good thing
has come from God. You know why? Because He's
good. And that's what He does. So every good
thing has come from Him. Psalm 23, 6. This ought
to make you happy. Surely your goodness, God,
your goodness and unfailing love will pursue
me all the days of my life. God is good. And
His goodness is always running after us. His
goodness is pursuing us. Hallelujah. Sometimes
we need to quit running so hard and turn around
and say, goodness, and give goodness a big hug.
Because God's goodness is coming after you. It's
coming after you. Psalm 27, 13. This is a confidence
that we need to have too. I am confident that
I will see the Lord's goodness. I am confident
I will see the Lord's goodness. I'm confident
that I'm going to see the goodness of God because
God's good, and I'm going to see his goodness.
Confident. Sometimes when we're in the middle
of a hard place, you know, it's like, oh, God,
where are you? His goodness is coming. His goodness
is pursuing you. Even when you can't see it.
See, it's easy to be confident in the Lord's
goodness when you're experiencing His goodness.
But listen, some days we don't feel, our feelings
are not that we're seeing His goodness. Our sight
is not that we're seeing His goodness because
what we see, Doesn't look good. Has anybody been
alive more than 30 minutes? This is life in a
fallen world. But right in the middle of it,
right in the middle of whatever you face, this
is a good one to memorize and a good one to say.
Right in the middle of it, I am confident that
I'm going to see the Lord's goodness. It's coming.
I don't see it right now, but I'm confident that
I'm going to see it. And the reason why I'm so
confident is because I know that God is good.
I know He's good. And I'm going to see His goodness.
Hallelujah. Since God is good, have I convinced
you that God is good yet without reading 260
verses? Since God is good, It makes perfect sense
that He would desire to cultivate goodness in
us, that He would desire to manifest this same
characteristic, His goodness in His people. It
makes perfect sense. Now, goodness, this word,
this Greek word that I read a few moments ago,
or tried to read. It's strictly a biblical term.
It appears four times. Everybody say four times.
That word appears four times in the New Testament.
And no scholar has been able to find that form
of that word in any other Greek writings. Four
times. It's talking about God's goodness in us
and through us. Ephesians 5, 8 and 9. Now let's
talk about us. Talk about God's being good and
His goodness. Ephesians 5, verses 8 through 9.
For once, everybody say, I used to. For once,
you were full of darkness. I used to be full
of darkness. But now, You have light from the
Lord. So live as people of light. For this light
within you produces only what is good and right
and true. That's another occurrence. Because
I read it, the fruit of the Spirit is goodness.
That's one of the occurrences. This is another
one. And it's saying the light of God. We used
to be full of darkness. But now that we're in
Christ, we are filled with light. We're no longer
filled with darkness. We're filled with light
in the Lord. And because we are filled with light,
we need to live as people of light. And here's
what the light's going to do. It's going to produce
only what is good and right and true. Goodness
shines in darkness. Goodness shines in darkness.
I hear people say all the time, this world sure
is getting dark. Has anybody heard anybody say
that? Boy, the world's sure getting dark. The
darker it is, the easier it is to see light.
If I struck a match right now or lit a flashlight
right here right now, it wouldn't really make
a difference because there's a lot of light in
this room. But if we cut off all the lights and
covered the windows, if I lit just a real tiny
little flashlight, it would put a whole lot of
light in this room. So I want to encourage you,
the darker the world gets, the more that our
light can shine. The more it can shine. And if
it's ever too dark, it means that more Christians
need to be allowing the light and the life of
God to shine through them. And part of the way
that light shines through us from the verse that
we just looked at, That light works goodness.
And people see the goodness of God. They should
be able to look at us and say, hey, you're a
good person. And the things you do are good for
other people. And you know what? That's not what
the world looks like. But it's what the church
should look like. Goodness shines in darkness.
2 Thessalonians 1 .11. Here's the other occurrence
of the word. So we keep on praying for you, asking
our God to enable you to live a life worthy of
His call. May He give to you the power to accomplish
all the good things. Everybody say good things.
All the good things your faith prompts you to
do. This is the same word as goodness. And praying
for the believers in Thessalonica that God would
give them the power. Where does the power come
from? Where does the power come from? Specifically.
Everybody say the Holy Spirit. He's the one who
empowers us. He's the one who empowers us. That's
where the power comes from. So may the Holy Spirit
empower you to accomplish good things that your
faith prompts you to do. By the Word of God,
faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word
of God. And as we walk in the Spirit, He's connecting
us to the Word of God, and He's prompting us
to do things in alignment with the Word of God.
And guess what? He's not only going to prompt
us, He's going to empower us to accomplish those
good things. Goodness is more than appearance.
Goodness is more than appearance. Romans 15,
13 and 14. I pray that God, the source of hope,
will fill you completely with joy and peace because
you trust him. Then you will overflow with confident
hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. I
am fully convinced, my dear brothers and sisters,
that you are full. Of goodness. Full of goodness.
We live in a world where dishonesty is normalized.
Cheat to get your way ahead, right? Immorality
is celebrated. Compromise is excused. Selfishness
is promoted. That's the kind of world That we
live in today. But the goodness of God is the
goodness that comes from God and shows itself
in spiritual and moral excellence. Look at the
person beside you and tell them we're called
to be different. Set apart. Peculiar. A holy
nation. A peculiar people. We should show forth
the praises of God who's brought us out of darkness
and placed us into his marvelous light. Goodness
should be who we are and what we do as followers
of Christ. And I need to remind you of something.
Appearances don't always reveal truth. Goodness
is not image management. It's not just wanting
to appear good and putting on a front at certain
times so that people would think that we're good.
Goodness is consistency. It's consistency between
your public life and your private life. It's
consistency between your church life and your
home life. It's easy to slick up real good for
an hour or two on Sunday morning. But that's
not necessarily who we really are. Goodness is
consistency between your visible behavior, what
everybody else can see, and your hidden behavior
that only you or a few people know about. And
fruit reveals authenticity over time. Goodness
flows from transformation. Everybody say transformation.
This goodness that we're talking about, it flows
from transformation. I use this story a lot,
but we're going to look at it in a different
way. And you're probably familiar with it, but
I'm going to read it as quickly as I can because
you should be familiar with the story. In Luke
10, verses 30 through 35, Jesus told a parable.
And he was using it to describe who the neighbor
was. But I want us to take a look at it in a
different way. A Jewish man was traveling on
a trip from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he was
attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his
clothes, beat him up, left him half dead beside
the road. By chance, a priest came along, but
when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to
the other side of the road and passed him by.
A temple assistant walked over and looked at
him lying there. but he also passed by on the
other side. Then a despised Samaritan came along,
and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for
him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed
his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged
them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and
took him to an inn where he took care of him.
The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver
coins, telling him, take care of this man. If
his bill runs higher than this, I'll pay you
next time I'm there. I want us to look at the
people who interacted with the man who got beat
up and who was half dead laying on the side of
the road. I want to go from that angle. Now,
Jesus was talking to a Pharisee, so obviously
he's going to use religious people and show that
they were not the neighbor. The person like he
was talking to, was not being a neighbor because
he hated Samaritans. And then he used the Samaritan
as being the neighbor. But I just want to look
at the people. The robbers represent a type of
people, people who are just selfish and hostile.
They want what they want. They're going to do
whatever they do. They don't care who they hurt.
You know, they just want what they want. Okay?
They're not good. Everybody say not good. Not
good. Not working towards helping people or working
towards goodness towards others. They're selfish
and hostile. Next people type is the priest who
is basically just indifferent. Everybody say
indifferent. I mean, he didn't beat the guy up
and rob the guy, right? He's not the one who
knocked him down. But he wasn't willing to help
him up either. There's a lot of people like that.
They're not like the bandits. They're just indifferent.
We can still say that they're pretty selfish
and self -oriented. They won't knock you down,
but they're not going to help you up. And what
about the temple assistant who... is also a Levite.
Levites were students of the law, so we can say
that he's legalistic. He has all the answers.
But it doesn't impact the way he lives. It doesn't
impact what he does. Right? Like the person who's
got all these Bible verses. But goodness is not
flowing through them. You wouldn't say they were
a good person. You wouldn't say they were spiritually
mature. Because probably all of us have encountered
some very mean people who go to church all the
time and could quote you a bunch of Bible verses.
Has anyone experienced some folks like that before?
There's some mean people who go to church. I've
been in church a long time. I played the organ
nine months before I was born. I was helping
mom with the bass pedals on the organ. I mean,
they're some mean people. They think they have
all the answers, but it's not impacting their
life. It's not impacting the way they live or
associate with other people. And then we see
the Samaritan. In context of what we're talking
about today, we would say that he... In this
story, out of everybody who has had interaction
with this man who's beat up, he's a good person.
And he's displaying goodness toward this stranger.
So that gives us a little more insight. Spiritual
growth is a result of God's nature, who God is.
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness. Those are
all descriptions, ultimately, of God. So spiritual
growth is a result of God's nature shaping our
nature. God didn't send us the Holy Spirit to
just instruct us on how to act better externally
or act better according to our flesh. Just need
to try harder. The Holy Spirit's not there going...
Well, you know what? You just need to try harder.
Keep trying harder. You can do this. That's not
what he does. He works in us to transform us
and transform our desires from the inside out.
It's not just trying harder in the flesh. It's
being transformed. Christianity is not behavior
modification. It's heart transformation. That's
what it is. And one of the dangers of church
culture is learning how to look spiritual without
growing spiritually. We got all the words. We
got all the songs. We got all the things on our
calendar. We need to be careful that we're not
just looking spiritual. But we're growing spiritually.
And goodness, everybody say goodness. Goodness
is evidence of spiritual growth. God is more
interested in who you are becoming than what
you are accomplishing. I just have to sit here
a minute because this needs to impact you. It
needs to impact me. God is more interested in
who you are becoming than what you are accomplishing.
Because it's easy to get to the point where,
well, God, I'm doing this for you and I'm doing
this for you and I'm doing this for you. God,
I'm volunteering, I'm doing this. God, look at
all this stuff I'm accomplishing for you. But
God's more interested in who you are becoming.
Are you becoming more like Christ? I've already
said this one time, but since God is good, it
makes perfect sense that He's wanting to work
in us, for us to be good, as goodness being a
characteristic in our lives. And the ultimate
goal of spiritual growth is to become more like
Jesus. Goodness is the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
What does the Holy Spirit do in our lives and
for us? Jesus told us in John 16, verses 13 through
15, He said, 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. He
will glorify me, Jesus said, because it is from
me that the Holy Spirit will receive what he
will make known to you. All that belongs to the
Father is mine. That's why I said the Spirit
will receive from me what he will make known
to you. God the Holy Spirit takes hold. Of the
things of God. The things that God has for us.
And He is the one who declares them to us. He's
the one who intensifies them in us. He makes
them known to us. He is the connector. And without
Him, there is no connection. Jesus said, it's
better that I go back to heaven. Because I'm
going to send you the comforter. I'm going to
send you the helper. He's the one who's going
to connect you. Jesus said this in John 15, 5.
He said, I'm the vine. You are the branches.
Those who remain in me, everybody say abide.
Everybody say live. As opposed to visiting. A
lot of people just visit God. He said, those
who abide in me, those who live in me, those
who remain in me, and I in them will produce
much fruit. So how many of us in the room look
at our lives and say, you know, I'm thankful
that I'm not who I used to be. I'm thankful that
I can see that I am growing. But I can see that
I've still got a ways to go. So how? How is the
spiritual growth? That we desire, hopefully we
desire to grow spiritually and be more spiritually
mature this week than we were last week. So how
is that going to happen? It's going to happen
in the ways that we just look. Because fruit
grows naturally where a healthy connection exists.
Jesus is divine. We are the branches. We've got
to be connected. We've got to abide. Not just
visit him every once in a while. but live in
Him and allow His life to flow through us. Spiritual
growth is not about more self -dedication. It's
not about more self -determination. It's not
about more self -effort. But it's about abiding
in Christ. It's also about acknowledging the
indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. If He
is alive in us and we are the temple of the Holy
Spirit, then we need to be acknowledging Him.
Not just on Sunday morning. On Sunday afternoon.
On Monday morning. On Friday night. On Saturday.
We need to be acknowledging the Holy Spirit of
God. His indwelling presence. The Bible says
that we're supposed to walk in the Spirit. That
we're supposed to yield to the Spirit. Because
the Holy Spirit, if we will acknowledge Him,
He's going to direct us. He's going to guide
us. He's going to empower us. But we have to
acknowledge Him. He's not just going to smack
us over the head. It's not the way this works.
He's a gentleman. He's not going to force you
to grow. We've got to cooperate. We've got to
acknowledge. We've got to yield. As He is speaking
to us, we've got to say, yes, I will follow you.
I will yield to you. I will no longer yield to
my own desires. I will no longer yield to the
thoughts that come into my mind that do not agree
with your word or your promises for me. I'll
no longer set my mind on those things. Because
I want to follow you. I will no longer follow
the negative emotions that rise up on me as a
response to what I see. I'm not going to follow
those anymore. I'm going to yield to you. Because
my soul, my thought life, my desires, my feelings,
I put them under subjection to my spirit who
is alive unto God and connected with God. I'm
going to be transformed. I'm going to walk with
you. God, help us get it. Help us get it. Give
us revelation of your truth today in such a way
that it transforms us, makes a difference. Not
just a little religious experience this morning,
but something that makes a difference in our
lives. Hallelujah. It's the measure of your goodness.
Again, think about the doorpost where children
are growing and you put a ruler on their head
and mark the doorpost, write their name and the
year beside it. I want you to think of a spiritual
doorpost as you consider the self -examination
through the fruit of the Spirit. How mature are
you? In your love walk. How mature are you? How
much joy are you experiencing? How much peace
are you experiencing? You say, boy, I don't have
much joy or much peace. Well, then your marker's
way down here. I'm not trying to bring any condemnation
on anybody, but if you're not experiencing the
peace of God, The Holy Spirit is calling you
to come up higher. Because the kingdom of God
is not about rules, it says in Romans. It's about
righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
So if you're not experiencing it, it's available.
Don't be condemned. God's calling you up higher.
He's saying, look what I have for you. Look at
this fruit that I want to be evident in your
life. Look at this fruit that as you're connected
to me, my life is going to flow through you and
this fruit is going to grow and it's going to
mature and it's going to increase. This is what
I have for you. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness. This is the life of God flowing in
us. God always has more. He always has more.
How's it going to increase? Abiding. Acknowledging.
Walking. Yielding. That's how it's going to increase.
Takes your cooperation. I can't get you all to
come up here and stand in line and tap you on
the head and pray for you and just all this becomes
a mature fruit in your life. That's not the way
it works. If it did, let's line up. But that's
not the way it works. Take some work. Take some
cooperation. Hallelujah. Let's pray. God, thank
you. Thank you for today. Thank you for your
word. Thank you for your truth. God, I pray that
it will be planted like seed and good soil in
each one of our hearts. That the cares of this
life won't choke it out. But it will be planted
in our hearts. In such a way that the roots grow
deep in good soil and it produces a good harvest
in our lives. In Jesus' name, amen. This online
worship experience was brought to you by the
friends and partners of Eulation Church.