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Welcome to week number seven in our series on
spiritual growth. And I have preached many series
about the word that we're going to talk about
today. So it's going to be all I can do to keep
it within a moderate time frame. Because I've
got so much to say. But let's jump right in.
1 Corinthians 2, verse 14 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. Going to chapter 3, verses 1 through
3. 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. We could
go back and pick up that word from chapter 2
and say natural men. Natural men. So here we
see that there are three types of people in these
verses. And these three categories represent
everyone who's alive in the world today. The
first type of person is a natural person. Everybody
say natural. Everybody say natural this time.
Natural. I try to keep you focused and keep you
engaged by getting you to repeat things. The
natural person. This is a person who's not born
again. They're without Christ. They don't have
the Holy Spirit living inside of them, so they
have no direction other than their flesh or their
soul. So they live by whatever feels good or
whatever seems right in their own eyes. That's
the only thing they have. And then we have a
carnal person. Everyone say carnal. A carnal
person is a Christian, but they're still living
like a natural person. They've come into a relationship
with Christ, but you know what? They don't feed
on the Word of God. They don't acknowledge the
Holy Spirit living inside of them. They don't
walk in the Spirit, yield to the Spirit like
we're supposed to. So they wind up living like
a natural person. Can't really see a difference.
Has anyone ever met someone who goes to church
all the time, but they still act like everybody
who don't? Everybody say carnal. That's a good
description. Good description. Then there are
spiritual people. A spiritual person is a Christian
who is led by the Spirit of God through the Word
of God. They're growing. Everybody say growing.
Now they haven't arrived. Because none of us
have. We're all in the process. We're all in
the process. Some of us are at different stages
in the process. But we're all in the process.
So it's not like a super spiritual person that
always gets everything right and does everything
right. No, but at least they're working towards
that and wanting to be that. A spiritual person.
They're wanting Christ to make a difference in
their life. Not just by carving out a little
bit of time on Sunday morning. But in their everyday
life. At work, at school, at home. Christ makes
a difference. So where does this spiritual growth
take place? Where does it take place? 1 Thessalonians
5 .23 tells us something about ourselves. The
Bible says, Now may the peace of God make you
holy. Everybody say, set apart. May the God of
peace make you holy in every way. And may your
whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless
until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. Everybody
say spirit. Everybody say soul. Everybody say
body. So we are three part beings. Now, in our
minds, we would say, well, if I'm a spiritual
person, then it's my spirit that has to grow.
Well, when you come to Christ, your spirit is
made alive unto God. You see, we are a spirit.
We have a soul and we live in a body. But when
we come to Christ, the Bible teaches us that
our spirit is complete, that our spirit becomes
righteous because we put on the righteousness
of God in Christ Jesus. Everything that Jesus
has done for us and made available to us, it
is ours. It belongs to us because we are a spirit
created in the image of God. And when our spirit
comes alive to God at salvation, when we are
born again, when our spirit becomes alive unto
God, we're complete. But, we have a soul to deal
with. Our soul is our mind, our will, and our
emotion. Our soul is our thought life. Our soul
is our desires. Our soul is our feelings. How
many of you know that when you came to Christ,
all of those just didn't become holy and set
apart immediately? Now your spirit did, but your
soul is going to have to take some work. Hello?
A lot of work. Regular work. As long as we live
in the earth, right? I mean, my thought life
didn't just get holy all of a sudden when I came
to Christ. My desires didn't change immediately.
Now, the Bible says I'm a new creature. Old has
passed away. Behold, all things have become new.
But that's my spirit. Because I dare say, No
one in this room would say, my thought life is
completely holy and righteous. My desires are
all completely holy and righteous. My feelings
and emotions, they're always in check. They never
get out of check at any point. They never go
towards worry and anxiety. They're just always
joy and peace. We have some work, right? That's
where the spiritual growth takes effect. That's
where it happens. Spiritual growth happens when
our spirit, who is now alive unto God, when our
spirit is allowed to dominate, our thought life,
our desires, and our feelings. Should I say that
again? The spiritual growth takes place when
our spirit, who is perfectly united and connected
with Christ and the Holy Spirit, when our spirit
begins to have dominance over our soul. When
we yield. And we yield. And we don't let any
thought that comes into our mind control our
life anymore. We don't let any desire that our
flesh wants or our mind wants, we don't let those
desires take us away from Christ. We stay in
charge. Our spirit stays in charge of our emotions.
Based on what God has said and what God has promised,
our spirit takes charge over our emotions. Has
anybody seen this work just a little bit in your
life? Have you seen it work a little bit? Does
it work? Is there some growth taking place? If
you're spiritual, there's some growth taking
place. If there's no growth taking place and
you are a believer, you're karma. I love every
one of you. That's why I'm trying to help you.
I'm trying to help you. You are a spirit. Don't
let your soul dominate you anymore. Because you're
a spirit made in the image of God. God is spirit
and we are made in His image. The only being
in this earth, the only physical being in this
earth that's made in the image of God is us.
Rise up. Rise up. Spiritual maturity is not measured
by how long you've been a Christian. A couple
of weeks ago, I realized that I've been a Christian
for 51 years. That's a long time. 51 years. But
spiritual maturity is not measured by how long
you've been a Christian. It's not measured by
how often you attend a worship service with other
Christians. It's not determined by how much scripture
you can quote. I'm telling you now, listen. All
these things are good things. Attending worship
services, that's a good thing. We have too many
Lone Ranger Christians in the world today. That
are ineffective and useless for the kingdom of
God because they're not connected. They'll get
to heaven. But they're not accomplishing anything
for the kingdom of God. God does that work through
the church. I'm not talking about just the service.
I'm talking about the called out ones coming
together. rallying around a single purpose and
vision. That's where the kingdom work happens
in this earth. So attending worship services
is a good thing. I want you to attend every week,
and I believe God wants you to attend every week.
But that doesn't make you a spiritual person.
Just attending. I know some people who have attended
church about every week of their entire life,
and they're still some of the meanest people
I've ever met. Some of the most sour people I've
ever met. But not all of them. There's just some
exceptions that are mean and sour, right? It's
not about how much Scripture you can quote. It
doesn't make you spiritual. Again, I know some
people who can quote a lot about verses that
are just mean. I know some preachers that are
just mean. I mean, they done gone to seminary
and everything, and they're just mean. They just
want to beat everybody up and beat everybody
down all the time. And I just don't see that
in the Bible. Don't see it. That's not who God
is. That's not who God is. Jesus tells us in
Luke chapter 6, verses 43 and 44, For 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. We are known by the fruit in
our lives. The fruit that is growing. The fruit
that is maturing. The fruit that's being cultivated.
In our lives. That's how we're known. Jesus even
says, I'm the vine, you're the branches. And
if you connect with me in the right way, you're
going to bear much fruit. Jesus said. So spiritual
growth is measured by spiritual fruit. And that
spiritual fruit constantly increasing. And always
being evidenced in our lives. That's a spiritual
person. Who is spiritually growing and winds
up being spiritually mature. Being spiritually
mature, again, doesn't mean that you've arrived.
Because none of us have. Now this series, I'm
going to remind you, it's not about us looking
at our kids. It's not about us looking at our
parents. It's not about us looking at our spouses.
It's not about thinking about people who aren't
here that you wish were here. That happens a
lot in church. Boy, I wish so -and -so was here.
Because they really need this. So just go ahead
and say, I need this. I need this. It's not about
someone who's not here. God knew that they weren't
going to be here. God knew that you were going
to be here. So this is obviously for you. Hallelujah.
Self -examination. We're all a work in progress.
Galatians 5, 22. We hadn't made it to 23 yet.
In six weeks. In week number seven, we're still
in verse 22. The fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, patience, patience, patience, kindness,
goodness. Faithfulness. How many of you have
had a doorway in your house and as the kids grew,
you marked their heights on the doorway and might
write down the year and write their name? Well,
if you want to be growing spiritually, I want
you to think about how is your love walk? Not
with just the easy people to love. With everybody.
How's your love walk? How is your joy? What's
your level of joy that you experience every day?
Because that's kingdom right there. Joy is. How's
your level of peace? Not just when everything's
smooth sailing. Not when everything's going your
way. To have joy and peace and to walk in love
shows that we are spiritually mature. If we lose
our joy and lose our peace at the drop of anything
that happens, guess what? We live in a fallen
world and stuff is going to happen to all of
us. On a regular daily basis, there are things
that are going to happen that are going to give
you and me an opportunity. To lose our joy and
lose our peace every day. Every five minutes
or less when you're driving on 27 or I -4. You
have an opportunity to lose your peace and lose
your joy and not walk in love. Hello? What about
patience? How patient are you? That's going to
let you know how spiritually mature you are,
is how much patience you have, how kind you are.
Do people look at you as a kind person or a mean
person? What about goodness? Are things going
on in your life where other people say, well,
I wouldn't think a Christian should say that,
or I wouldn't think a Christian should do that.
Those things shouldn't be in our lives. And today,
we're going to talk about faithfulness. Everybody
say faithfulness. Faithfulness. Now, if you need
to catch up on those other ones, all you have
to do is go to our podcast and listen to all
of them. It'd be the easiest way to get it. Now,
faithfulness, that Koine Greek word that's translated
faithfulness is the word pistis. This is a definition.
It's not just faithfulness like last week. Right?
We looked up goodness and it just said goodness.
And then it gave us some examples. But this word
is faith, belief, trust, assurance, confidence,
and fidelity. That's what the word is. It's not
just fidelity, which we would translate as faithfulness.
It's not just that word. It includes faith. We
talk about faith a lot here at Elation Church.
Because without faith, it's impossible to please
God. Faith is persuasion. It's a moral conviction
of a religious truth. It's reliance upon Christ
and its constancy in our profession or our confession.
Faithfulness is the consistency part. Consistency
in your faith, in your persuasion, in your conviction
of religious truth. Consistency in your reliance
upon Christ. Consistency in your confession,
profession, in your words. Consistent. Consistent
in faith. That's what faithfulness is. And you
might say, well, the Bible says faithfulness.
No, the Bible says faith. Everybody knows the
Bible was not written in English, right? The
New Testament was written in Koine Greek. The
word is faith. But it includes faithfulness.
So we're going to talk about both. The Bible
says in 2 Corinthians 5, 7, we walk by faith,
just like we sang in our song, we walk by faith,
not by sight. We walk by faith, not by sight.
So we don't live our lives based on what we see.
We don't always react. Based on what we see.
Because how many of us have the opportunity to
react in a way that is not spiritual based on
what we see? We react, we're quick to react in
a way that doesn't honor God or please God. If
we just live on what we see, what we think or
we feel, we could just put those along with us.
We walk by faith. And not by sight. Galatians
3 .11 says this, No one is justified by the law
in the sight of God. That's evident. For the
just, those who are justified, just as if they
never sinned before God, the just shall live
by faith. The just shall live by faith. Hebrews
11 .6 It is impossible to please God without
faith. Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe
that God exists and that He rewards those who
sincerely seek Him. Got to believe those things.
Now, if we're supposed to live by faith and walk
by faith, and we can only please God through
faith, then we need to know what it is. We need
to know what it is. So what is faith? It's a
strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a
religion. Now that's what most people think that
faith is. That's the Merriam -Webster definition
of faith. It's kind of like, are you a person
of faith? So it's just a real general term. Do
you have a strong belief in God or in the doctrines
of a religion? People call that faith. Merriam
-Webster calls that faith. Webster also calls
faith complete trust or confidence in someone
or something. When you surrendered your weight
to the chair that you're in, you believed that
it would hold you up. You had faith that it would
hold you up. I've sat in some chairs before that
I had faith it would hold me up, but they didn't.
Not just because I'm fat, but because they were
those plastic stackable ones and over time they
get brittle. and you sit in them, and pop, there
goes the leg, and I'm on the floor. Gen and I
sat at a pastor's house in a tree swing, and
not a tree swing, a porch swing that was attached
by a chain, and we were swinging. Boom! Right
after my first back surgery, boom, there I went.
I had faith that it would hold me up, but it
wouldn't. I've had faith in people that was misplaced
because they let me down. So faith is complete
trust or confidence in someone or something.
We just have to make sure that our faith is in
the right someone who will never let us down.
Hebrews 11 .1, this is the Bible definition of
faith. We looked at Webster's definition. Here's
the Bible definition. Now, faith is the substance
of things hoped for. Everybody say confident
expectation. That's what the word hope means
in the Bible. It's not hope, so hope. That Greek
word means a confident expectation that you can
anticipate with pleasure. You're so confident
you can be happy about it. Faith is the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. Now, I did a little bit of study and I
looked at word helps online and took the phrases
from that to give us an easier understanding.
Faith is standing. In confident expectation of
a guaranteed agreement. How many of you know
if God said it, it's guaranteed? So faith is
standing in confident expectation of a guaranteed
agreement with an inner conviction before seeing
the deed fulfilled. And then the Bible goes on
and talks about... People like Abraham. He's
75 years old. God says, I'm going to make you
the father of nations. He didn't have a child.
For 25 years, he believed God. Stood in faith.
There's probably a little wavering along the
way, but he's human. There's some little things
that we can pick out in his life and say, well,
he was kind of wavering a little bit. Well, bless
your heart, you're probably going to waver a
little bit too. But he stood in confident expectation
that God was going to keep his word because he
had a guaranteed agreement from God that he was
going to be the father of nations. He didn't
know how it was going to happen and the longer
it took, he's like, my body's dead, my wife's,
Old, not going to have a baby. Wavered a little
bit. But God came back and said, no, no more
wavering because I'm going to change your name.
Now everybody's going to say that you're going
to be the father of many nations and you're going
to have to tell everybody that's who you are
because I changed your name. And that was even
a year before. The promise was fulfilled. Hello?
So faith is standing in confident expectation
of a guaranteed agreement with an inner conviction
before seeing the deed fulfilled. Faith is being
completely confident in God's faithfulness. Look
to the person beside you and tell them, God's
faithful. We've got to be completely confident
of His faithfulness. Now, it's recorded in the
Gospels that Jesus was amazed on two occasions.
Only two times it's recorded. Two times. And
both times that he was amazed, he was amazed
over people's faith. I mean, think about it.
For God to say, wow. Look to the person beside
you and tell them, listen fast. Listen fast.
The first one is because of lack of faith. In
Mark 6, verses 4 through 6, Jesus told them,
a prophet is honored everywhere except in his
own hometown and among his own relatives and
his own family. And because of their unbelief,
everybody say the people of Nazareth, because
of their unbelief, Jesus, who is all God and
all man at the same time, The Bible is filled
with so many miracles that He did while He was
here, and all of them aren't even recorded, just
the ones that we need to know to understand.
He did way more than the Bible records. It says,
because of their unbelief, Jesus couldn't do
any mighty miracles among them except to place
His hands on a few sick people and heal them.
This tells us that Jesus wanted to do a lot more
for the people of Nazareth. But it says He couldn't.
He couldn't. I believe God wants to do a lot
more for me and for you than we're experiencing
right now. But we're not seeing it because of
a lack of faith. He was amazed at their unbelief,
the Bible says. Everybody say, wow. Jesus is
like, I have so much for you because of your
unbelief. Can't do it. Can't help you. The second
time he said wow over someone's faith was because
of great faith. Everybody say great faith. Luke
7, verses 1 through 10. When Jesus had finished
saying all this to the people, he returned to
Capernaum. At that time, the highly valued slave
of a Roman officer was sick and near death. When
the officer heard about Jesus, he heard about
Jesus. Oh, Jesus is helping a lot of people.
Jesus is healing a lot of people. When he heard
about Jesus, he sent some respected Jewish leaders
to ask him to come and heal his slave. So they
earnestly begged Jesus to come help the man.
If anyone deserves your help, he does, they said.
For he loves the Jewish people. And even built
a synagogue for us. So Jesus went with them.
But just before they arrived at the house, the
officer sent some friends to say, listen, Lord,
don't trouble yourself by coming to my home.
I'm not worthy of such an honor. I'm not even
worthy to come and meet you. Listen to the message
that he sent to Jesus. Just say the word from
where you are, and my servant will be healed.
Jesus, just say the word. You don't have to come.
You don't have to lay hands on him. You don't
have to do anything but say the word. And then
he says, I know this because I'm a man under
the authority of my superior officers and I have
authority over my soldiers. I only need to say
go and they go. Or come and they come. And if
I say to my slaves, do this, they do it. When
Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Everybody say,
wow. I mean, the first time he said wow, I was
like, wow. This time he said, wow. Turning to
the crowd that was following him, he said, I
tell you. I haven't seen faith like this in all
of Israel. And when the officer's friends returned
to his house, they found the slave completely
healed. Completely. Because Jesus spoke a word.
And a Roman officer had faith that if Jesus said
it, It's as good as done. It's as good as done.
Guaranteed. Looking back to our definition. Guaranteed.
If Jesus said it, He saw it as guaranteed. So
where does this faith come from? Faith comes
from hearing. It begins with hearing. Hearing
what God has said. Romans 10, 17 says this. So
faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word
of God. So we have to hear what God said. It's
got to come from God for us to have our faith
placed in the right person. Has to come from
God. Is everybody with me? The next step is believing.
After we hear, we have an option. Are we going
to believe? Are we going to really believe? Are
we going to say, God, you said it? That means
it's guaranteed. I believe. Even in the face
of seeing something in the natural realm, in
our earthly realm. that looks like it's in contrast
to what God has said, are we going to go with
what God has said, or are we going to go with
what we see? Faith continues by wholeheartedly
believing and having confidence in what God has
said. 2 Corinthians 5, 7, we've already looked
at this. We walk by faith and not by sight. We
wholeheartedly believe what God has said. And
that's where we walk. That's where we live. In
what God has said. Not saying that what we see
doesn't exist. What we're saying is, there's
a higher truth that's bigger and higher, and
there's supernatural power that is higher than
what I'm seeing right now. The next thing is
speaking. Everybody say speaking. Because when
you wholeheartedly believe it, you begin to speak
in agreement with what God has said. Your words
change. I gave you more than one verse on this
one, just so, you know, just in case you bucked
that a little bit. Got more than one verse. 2
Corinthians 4 .13 Since we have the same spirit
of faith, according to what is written, I believed
and therefore I spoke. This is David talking.
That's where the quote is coming from. It's coming
from Psalms. I believed and therefore I spoke.
When David was facing Goliath, he believed that
God was with him. He believed that God was going
to give him victory. Even though he looked up
and saw a giant whose head would hit that basketball
rim, or at least the net. He was nine feet tall,
plus. Even though he's a young kid and he looks
at that, he says, hey. I come at you in the name
of the Lord and God's going to give you unto
my hand. He believed it and he said it. Before
he received it. Before the deed was done. He
said it. And then he put in this psalm to God
that winds up being the inspired word of God
for us. He says, I believed and therefore I spoke.
And then Paul. reiterates that in the New Testament.
He says, look, we also believe and therefore
speak. So we have to have our words in agreement
with what God has said. Romans 10, 8 through
10. Give you more than one verse here. The Word
is near you in your mouth and in your heart.
See, we have to believe in our heart. But it's
more than just believing in our heart. It's got
to move to our mouth. Some of you are thinking
way too hard. I can tell it on your face. The
word is near you. What is that word? It says
right here, that is the word of faith which we
preach. The word is near you in your mouth and
in your heart. It's got to be in your mouth too,
not just your heart. Romans 10, 8 through 10,
verse 9, listen. If you confess with your mouth
the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that
God has raised him from the dead, you will be
saved. Confess with your mouth, believe with
your heart, and to walk by faith, You know what?
We're saved by grace through faith. That's how
we come into a relationship with Christ. But
that's not where it ends. Faith does not end
at salvation. And faith works the same way. Works
the same way. It's God who has declared it. It's
God who has said it. It's His Word. His promise.
But we receive it by faith. That's how we take
hold of it. That's how we took hold of salvation.
Hello? So it works the same. Confessing with
our mouth and believing in our heart. For with
the heart one believes unto righteousness. And
with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.
So we believe and we speak. And then, speaking
is part of acting, but there has to be some kind
of action. Some kind of corresponding action.
that is directed by God and directed by the Spirit,
a corresponding action. Faith acts in agreement
with what God has said. The Bible says in James
2 .26, faith without works is dead. Faith without
a corresponding action is a faith that doesn't
produce. It's a dead faith. It's not going to
produce or accomplish anything. It's not going
to receive anything. It has to be a corresponding
action. How many of you know the man Charles
Blondin? I hadn't talked about him in a while.
I've talked about him before. That was his stage
name or his performer name was Charles Blondin.
His real name was Jean -Francois Gravelet. That's
four years of French. That's as good as I get.
He lived from 1824 to 1897. He was a French tightrope
walker and acrobat. He had an affinity for Niagara
Falls. So on multiple occasions, he put a tightrope.
Has anybody ever been to Niagara Falls? It's
pictures do not do it justice. Just going to
say. If you haven't been to Niagara Falls, but
you've been to the Grand Canyon, I say it in
the same sense of the phrase, pictures do not
do it justice. Okay? He put a tightrope. You
know. Not like right on the falls, that would
be stupid because it would be wet all the time.
Because it's just wet. If you've been there,
it's wet. But he put it where you could see the
falls, right? And back then it was just newspapers,
and so here's some actual copies of old newspapers,
some pictures. Put a big tightrope across the
Niagara River, right there at the falls, and
he would walk across the tightrope. One time
he even took a table and a chair and got out
there and set that on the tightrope and sat down.
Acted like he was eating on this tightrope. I
mean, it's a long way down. One time he even
got somebody to get on his back. That was a brave
person, right? To get on the back of Charles
Blondin. And go across the tightrope. But one
day. Everybody say one day. One day. He brought
a wheelbarrow. I don't have a picture of a wheelbarrow.
But one day he brought a wheelbarrow. And he
got on the tightrope. And he pushed the wheelbarrow
all the way across Niagara River. Turned around
and came back. And then when he got back to where
hundreds of people had gathered. Maybe thousands.
He said, how many of you think that I can put
a person in this wheelbarrow and push it across
this tightrope, go all the way across Niagara
River and come back? How many of you think I
can? Boy, the crowd just cheered. We believe.
We believe you can do it, Charles. We've seen
you do all this amazing stuff. We believe that
you can do it. They were just cheering him. He's
like, do you really believe? I mean, he worked
them up. Do you really believe I can push somebody
in this wheelbarrow across? Yes, we believe.
And then he said this. Who wants to volunteer
to get in a wheelbarrow? Crickets. Well, I believe
you can do it, but I'm not getting in a wheelbarrow.
Finally, his promoter got in the wheelbarrow.
And he pushed his promoter across and back. Everyone
believed he could. But no one was willing to
get in the wheelbarrow. No. I want you to get
this. Faith is getting in the wheelbarrow. With
Jesus pushing it, right? No matter what you see,
no matter what you think, no matter what you
feel, faith is getting in that wheelbarrow. Having
total trust and confidence in what God has said.
So you're just like, it's already guaranteed
because God said it, so I will have no fear.
I will have no hesitation. Following what God
has said. Doing what God has said. Believing
that He is faithful and He's going to keep His
word. Now, faithfulness is staying in the wheelbarrow.
Because sometimes we can get a little motivated
and we can hop in the wheelbarrow, but then we
want to jump out. When we see something, we're
like, no, mm -mm. It'd be like being in Charles
Blondin's wheelbarrow and then all of a sudden
a big thunderstorm come up. Well, that changes
everything now. When somebody on the other side
grabs a tightrope and starts shaking it. Nope,
not getting in it now. Faithfulness is staying
in the wheelbarrow. No matter what you see. Because
you have confidence in God. in what God has said.
See, the world struggles with faithfulness. People
are quick to quit. I can't tell you already now
how many people, I mean, I can count it on both
hands and both feet, how many people have came
to our church and said, boy, we've been praying
for a church and looking for a church, and this
is it. We found it. I can't tell you how many
people said, we found it. And then I've never
seen them again. They didn't even come back the
second week. It's easy to get emotional and jump
in, but people are quick to quit. Commitments
change quickly. Attention shifts quickly. Faithfulness
is a fruit of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit produces
faithfulness. And that is the ability to remain
steady over time. Remain steady. Anyone can be
passionate temporarily. Anybody can get excited
in the moment. Anybody can start something emotionally.
But spiritually mature believers remain faithful
over time. You know why faithfulness is a fruit
of the Spirit? Because God is faithful. And the
fruit of the Spirit is the perfect character
of God. It reveals perfect character of God.
Lamentations. You might have to rub the pages
together to find that one in your Bible. Lamentations
3, verses 22 and 23. The faithful love of the
Lord never ends. His mercies never cease. Great
is His faithfulness. Great is His faithfulness.
He's not fickle. He's faithful. Great is His
faithfulness. His mercies begin afresh. each
morning, every morning, His love and His mercy
never ceases, never ends. God is faithful. God
always does what He says He will do. Always.
Always. God's faithfulness does not depend on
people's responses. Whether His faithfulness
is evident in your life depends on your faith.
That's what He said, right? He said, I want to
do more than just lay hands on a few sick people,
but I couldn't because of your unbelief. But
He is faithful. He is faithful. He will always
keep His promises. But some of His promises are
attached to I'll do this for you if you will
do this. But God's going to keep His end of the
deal. Always. Jesus was faithful to the end.
He didn't run from His calling when it got tough.
He knew what was going to happen the night that
He was betrayed when He was beaten and whipped
and nailed to the cross. He knew all that was
going to happen. And just the intensity of that
moment. I mean, He's sweating blood. The capillaries
under his skin are bursting. Not just from the
physical pain, but from the spiritual heaviness
of the sins of humanity being placed on him.
This is God. Completely righteous, completely
holy. Becoming your sin and my sin. God took
on sin for us. His faithfulness wasn't based
on circumstances. His faithfulness wasn't based
on everything going well and everything going
easy. He was faithful to the end. Faithful to
the end. Since God is faithful, it makes absolute
perfect sense that He would desire to cultivate
and manifest this same characteristic of faithfulness
in His people, in us. That's why faith and faithfulness
is a fruit of the Spirit. And the goal of spiritual
growth, which is what we're talking about. I
know it might have seemed that we're talking
about something else, but no, we're still talking
about spiritual growth. The goal of spiritual
growth is for you and me to become more like
Jesus. Conformed into His image. Representing
His kingdom in the earth. That's the goal. Faithfulness
is a fruit of the Spirit. I removed these verses
because I knew I was going to be talking about
a whole lot more, but listen. The Bible teaches
us that the Holy Spirit takes the things of God,
takes hold of the things of God, the things that
God has for us, and He declares them, He intensifies
them, He makes them known to us. That's why this
is the fruit of the Spirit, because He's the
one who connects us. He is God who connects us
to the things of God. And also, fruit grows naturally
where a healthy connection exists. I've already
shared this verse, but Jesus said, He's the vine,
we're the branches. If we will abide in Him,
not just visit Him every once in a while, but
abide in Him, live in Him, we're going to bear
much fruit. His fruit is going to be evident
in our lives. Spiritual fruit. So, spiritual
growth is not about more self -dedication. It's
not about you just like... Got to be better.
Got to do better. I got to do this. I got to
just rev up all I can to be more faithful and
have more faith. You're not going to accomplish
it through self -dedication or determination
or effort. You're not going to accomplish it.
But that doesn't mean you can't accomplish it.
That doesn't mean that you can't grow in faith
and faithfulness. And that be more evident in
your life? But here's how it's going to be cultivated.
By abiding more in Christ. We have things that
pull on us all the time. Hello? We have things
just pulling at us. All directions pulling hard.
I'm not telling you that you have to check out
of life to abide in Christ. But you have to acknowledge
Him. You have to acknowledge the indwelling presence
of the Holy Spirit. I believe all of us could
acknowledge the indwelling presence of the Holy
Spirit more than we are right now. Walking in
the Spirit. Yielding to the Spirit's leading.
Sensitive to the still small voice of God in
every moment. I said this before, I'll say it
again. He knows everything about everything anyway.
So why do we need to strike out on our own to
try to do it on our own all the time? We've got
a perfect genius. God is living in us. Hello?
He knows everything about every relationship.
He knows everything about every business dealing.
He knows everything about everything. But yet...
God's not really concerned about my life and
what I'm going through. I just got to figure
it out on my own. No, we need to acknowledge
the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God.
And we need to abide in Christ. Hallelujah. So,
one more time, the measure. Of your spiritual
maturity. The measure of your spiritual growth.
You need to look at the measure of your faith.
Hearing God. Wholeheartedly believing him. As
if what he said is a guarantee. Getting your
words in agreement with what he said. And acting.
Because the Holy Spirit is going to say. Hey,
Dean, I want you to say this. Hey, Dean, I want
you to do this. Hey, Dean, I want you to give
this. And so many times in my life, I mean, I'm
trying, right? I'm not perfect. I don't have
all this down pat. Sometimes, all of a sudden,
I begin to question God. If I say that, they're
not going to receive that, so why even say it?
It's going to be weird if I give them this. It's
going to be weird if I do this. Sometimes we
talk God out of what He's telling us to do. I
know you never have. Because you're way more
spiritually mature than I am. I know you never
have. Listen. The measure of our faith and the
measure of our faithfulness, that's a good measure
of our spiritual maturity. We should be able
to look back and say, you know, I remember, that
time when God told me to say this or do this
and I didn't do it, but you know what? Just the
other day, God spoke to me again and I did what
He asked me to do and here's the result. Because
I didn't talk Him out of it this time. I didn't
try to talk Him out of it this time. God, if
that's what you're leading me to do, then I'm
going to do it. Because so many times what God
has asked me to do wound up not having a whole
lot to do with what God was going to do in my
life. It wasn't a direct result of what I did
compared to what God did for me. And I missed
out on a lot of that. But I don't want to miss
out. I want to keep growing. I want faith and
faithfulness to be evident in my life. I want
faith and faithfulness to be increasing in my
life. Because without faith, it's impossible
to please God. But He's going to help us. He's
going to help us. We're not beaten down in condemnation.
We're just hearing God say, all right, let's
go. Come up. Step up from where you are. Step
up higher. Come up higher. This online worship
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