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 --> 00:00:16.640 Forrest, now available on Amazon and Kindle. 00:00:18.219 --> 00:00:21.199 Week number eight in our series that I've entitled 00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:27.100 Spiritual Growth. Spiritual Growth. Now, if today's 00:00:27.100 --> 00:00:29.079 your first time with us in this series, it's 00:00:29.079 --> 00:00:31.879 okay, because there's going to be plenty of background 00:00:31.879 --> 00:00:34.740 information to get you up to speed. That's just 00:00:34.740 --> 00:00:36.780 the way we do it. We don't leave you in the dark, 00:00:36.859 --> 00:00:40.159 all right? But if you would like more information 00:00:40.159 --> 00:00:44.799 after today, all the other messages, the first 00:00:44.799 --> 00:00:47.060 seven messages are available on our podcast. 00:00:47.759 --> 00:00:50.060 All you have to do is search Elation Church anywhere 00:00:50.060 --> 00:00:53.340 you listen to podcasts, and you can get this 00:00:53.340 --> 00:00:56.399 whole series or any other series The last two 00:00:56.399 --> 00:00:59.179 and a half years, I guess, we've had every service 00:00:59.179 --> 00:01:04.579 on our podcast. So let's dive right in. 1 Corinthians 00:01:04.579 --> 00:01:11.379 2, verse 14 says this. The natural man does not 00:01:11.379 --> 00:01:15.700 receive the things of the Spirit of God, for 00:01:15.700 --> 00:01:19.739 they are foolishness to him. Nor can he know 00:01:19.739 --> 00:01:24.159 them, because they are spiritually discerned. 00:01:25.260 --> 00:01:28.879 Everybody say natural man. Let's go to chapter 00:01:28.879 --> 00:01:33.840 3, verses 1 through 3. And I, brethren, could 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:38.640 not speak to you as spiritual people, but as 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:44.219 to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with 00:01:44.219 --> 00:01:48.400 milk and not with solid food. For until now you 00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:52.420 were not able to receive it. And even now you 00:01:52.420 --> 00:01:57.019 are still not able. For you are still carnal. 00:01:57.900 --> 00:02:02.000 For where there are envy, strife, and divisions 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:07.099 among you, are you not carnal and behaving like 00:02:07.099 --> 00:02:13.039 mere men? We could even replace that mere with 00:02:13.039 --> 00:02:17.659 natural, like in the first verse that we read. 00:02:18.319 --> 00:02:21.000 So these verses tell us that there's ultimately 00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:24.580 three types of people. Three types of people. 00:02:26.099 --> 00:02:28.840 The first one is a natural person. Everybody 00:02:28.840 --> 00:02:37.800 say natural. This is a person who is not born 00:02:37.800 --> 00:02:39.360 again. They're not a believer. They're not a 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:43.199 follower of Christ. We were all like that at 00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:48.139 one point. Without Christ. And if that's where 00:02:48.139 --> 00:02:51.259 you are, all you have to go by or live by is 00:02:51.259 --> 00:02:54.800 what seems right to you. What seems right in 00:02:54.800 --> 00:02:58.319 your own eyes. Whatever feels good. Surely you've 00:02:58.319 --> 00:03:01.319 heard the phrase, if it feels good, do it. Just 00:03:01.319 --> 00:03:03.620 living by what feels good or by what seems right. 00:03:04.860 --> 00:03:07.560 Because they don't know, the Bible says in the 00:03:07.560 --> 00:03:10.219 verse that we read, they don't understand spiritual 00:03:10.219 --> 00:03:13.180 things because they're spiritually discerned. 00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:17.680 Then we see the next type of person. A carnal 00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:21.120 person. Everybody say carnal. Now a carnal person 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:26.180 is a Christian. Because Paul is speaking to the 00:03:26.180 --> 00:03:28.580 Corinthian believers, and he's calling some of 00:03:28.580 --> 00:03:30.860 them carnal, or the majority of them carnal. 00:03:32.500 --> 00:03:35.020 They're just living according to their flesh, 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:38.599 just like the natural people. You can't tell 00:03:38.599 --> 00:03:44.919 any difference between a natural man and a carnal 00:03:44.919 --> 00:03:49.080 Christian. Can't tell any difference. That's 00:03:49.080 --> 00:03:52.789 sad, right? This person is born again, but they're 00:03:52.789 --> 00:03:57.729 immature. They live their lives on a childhood 00:03:57.729 --> 00:04:02.490 level spiritually because they don't feed on 00:04:02.490 --> 00:04:07.069 the Word of God or grow. So that's a carnal person. 00:04:07.250 --> 00:04:11.270 Everybody say carnal. And then the third type 00:04:11.270 --> 00:04:16.589 of person is a spiritual person. Everybody say 00:04:16.589 --> 00:04:20.279 spiritual. A spiritual person is a Christian 00:04:20.279 --> 00:04:24.240 who is led by the Spirit of God through the Word 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:31.240 of God. This is a growing Christian. I'm not 00:04:31.240 --> 00:04:35.480 saying it's a Christian who has arrived, because 00:04:35.480 --> 00:04:40.800 none of us have arrived. We all have room for 00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:43.339 improvement. Look at the person beside you and 00:04:43.339 --> 00:04:45.810 say, I have room for improvement. Don't tell 00:04:45.810 --> 00:04:48.569 them they have room for improvement. Tell them 00:04:48.569 --> 00:04:54.709 I have room for improvement. But it's a person 00:04:54.709 --> 00:04:59.750 who desires to know God, desires to follow God. 00:05:00.250 --> 00:05:03.629 It's a person who loves the Word of God. It's 00:05:03.629 --> 00:05:05.550 a person who walks in the Spirit and they're 00:05:05.550 --> 00:05:09.850 led by the Holy Spirit. This is a spiritual person. 00:05:09.949 --> 00:05:12.250 So we see those three types of people. One is 00:05:12.250 --> 00:05:15.500 natural. A person who does not know God. One 00:05:15.500 --> 00:05:18.600 is carnal. A person who is a Christian, but you 00:05:18.600 --> 00:05:24.579 can't tell it. And then we have spiritual. Who 00:05:24.579 --> 00:05:29.459 do you want to be? Or who are you? Where does 00:05:29.459 --> 00:05:33.839 this spiritual growth occur? Where does it occur? 00:05:35.019 --> 00:05:42.629 How does it occur? 1 Thessalonians 5 .23. Tells 00:05:42.629 --> 00:05:46.490 us something about ourselves. Now may the God 00:05:46.490 --> 00:05:51.410 of peace make you holy. Everybody say set apart. 00:05:52.009 --> 00:05:55.370 Everybody say different. May the God of peace 00:05:55.370 --> 00:06:00.629 make you holy in every way. Now listen carefully. 00:06:00.769 --> 00:06:07.889 And may your whole spirit and soul and body be 00:06:07.889 --> 00:06:12.550 kept blameless. until our Lord Jesus Christ comes 00:06:12.550 --> 00:06:20.370 again. So in this verse, we see that we are a 00:06:20.370 --> 00:06:25.209 three -part being. Three parts. It's right here. 00:06:25.329 --> 00:06:30.269 It's easy. You can just see it. Now, you are 00:06:30.269 --> 00:06:37.970 a spirit. A lot of people never realize this. 00:06:40.269 --> 00:06:48.310 But we are spirit beings. We are. We're created 00:06:48.310 --> 00:06:52.689 in the image of God. And God is spirit. We are 00:06:52.689 --> 00:06:55.290 spirit beings. That's what separates you and 00:06:55.290 --> 00:06:58.910 me from every other living thing on this earth. 00:06:59.269 --> 00:07:02.810 Every other breathing thing on this earth. You 00:07:02.810 --> 00:07:05.670 know, I love my grandpuppy, but my grandpuppy 00:07:05.670 --> 00:07:17.019 is not a spirit being. She's not a spirit. People 00:07:17.019 --> 00:07:19.819 are spirits created in the image of God. That's 00:07:19.819 --> 00:07:24.500 who you are. But we're not born knowing that. 00:07:27.800 --> 00:07:31.779 Because our spirit is not alive unto God, because 00:07:31.779 --> 00:07:36.480 in the Garden of Eden, God said, if you disobey, 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:41.279 If you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good 00:07:41.279 --> 00:07:46.120 and evil, you will surely die. And that's what 00:07:46.120 --> 00:07:51.240 happened. It was a spiritual death. A spiritual 00:07:51.240 --> 00:07:57.699 death that separated humanity from being connected 00:07:57.699 --> 00:08:02.759 to God. Alive unto God is probably a better word. 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:08.160 At that point, Adam and Eve were no longer alive 00:08:08.160 --> 00:08:14.360 unto God, and they ran and hid themselves. So 00:08:14.360 --> 00:08:16.920 you are a spirit. Everybody say, I am a spirit. 00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:23.639 Everybody say, I have a soul. And I live in a 00:08:23.639 --> 00:08:30.360 body. So our spirit has salvation. Our spirit 00:08:30.360 --> 00:08:35.789 comes alive unto God. That's what we mean when 00:08:35.789 --> 00:08:40.950 we say we're born again. Because our spirit was 00:08:40.950 --> 00:08:43.850 not alive unto God and then at salvation our 00:08:43.850 --> 00:08:46.809 spirit becomes alive unto God and we are born 00:08:46.809 --> 00:08:59.029 again. We are united with Christ. And the Holy 00:08:59.029 --> 00:09:03.080 Spirit moves us at salvation. He moves us. from 00:09:03.080 --> 00:09:08.679 being immersed in sin to being immersed in Christ. 00:09:10.960 --> 00:09:13.240 And at that point, at the point of salvation, 00:09:13.539 --> 00:09:16.679 some people have a hard time receiving this, 00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:19.500 but it's very scriptural. I can show you a lot 00:09:19.500 --> 00:09:21.379 of verses, but that's not what I'm preaching 00:09:21.379 --> 00:09:24.460 today. If you come to Alation Church a lot, you 00:09:24.460 --> 00:09:26.379 know that I preach about this a lot. Raise your 00:09:26.379 --> 00:09:28.500 hand, raise your hand. We preach about this a 00:09:28.500 --> 00:09:32.000 lot. So I can't preach this whole message, but... 00:09:33.320 --> 00:09:38.200 You, at the point of salvation, you put on the 00:09:38.200 --> 00:09:43.159 righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. You become 00:09:43.159 --> 00:09:48.860 completely righteous. You cannot be any more 00:09:48.860 --> 00:09:52.919 righteous than at the point when you are born 00:09:52.919 --> 00:10:00.090 again. You do not grow in righteousness. If you 00:10:00.090 --> 00:10:01.870 say, but Dean, I need to grow in righteousness, 00:10:01.970 --> 00:10:04.649 that means that you're going to attempt in the 00:10:04.649 --> 00:10:08.190 flesh to be more right with God than Jesus is. 00:10:11.409 --> 00:10:14.490 Does anybody want to attempt that? To be more 00:10:14.490 --> 00:10:17.789 right with God than Jesus? Because we're clothed 00:10:17.789 --> 00:10:22.549 in His righteousness. His righteousness. We've 00:10:22.549 --> 00:10:25.409 taken off our righteousness like a dirty garment. 00:10:27.309 --> 00:10:31.250 And we put on Christ's righteousness. And every 00:10:31.250 --> 00:10:33.809 time God looks at us, He sees Jesus. He sees 00:10:33.809 --> 00:10:36.450 the sacrifice that Jesus made for you and for 00:10:36.450 --> 00:10:40.750 me on the cross. We are righteous. We are complete. 00:10:41.070 --> 00:10:44.909 Everything that the Bible says that we have in 00:10:44.909 --> 00:10:48.710 Christ or we are in Christ, all those things 00:10:48.710 --> 00:10:54.330 are ours at the point of salvation. So your spirit 00:10:54.330 --> 00:10:58.379 is complete and you are a spirit. But you have 00:10:58.379 --> 00:11:04.059 a soul. Now our soul is comprised of three things 00:11:04.059 --> 00:11:06.820 as well. Our soul is our mind, our will, and 00:11:06.820 --> 00:11:10.539 our emotions. Let's break it down. Our soul is 00:11:10.539 --> 00:11:15.059 our thought life, our desires, and our feelings. 00:11:16.100 --> 00:11:18.519 Now how many of you know that when you got saved, 00:11:18.539 --> 00:11:30.200 none of that got saved? Hello? The day I got 00:11:30.200 --> 00:11:32.659 saved, my thought life was not perfectly holy. 00:11:33.620 --> 00:11:38.960 You know, it didn't just whoo. My desires didn't 00:11:38.960 --> 00:11:41.259 just completely change to where I don't have 00:11:41.259 --> 00:11:43.460 any desires that aren't holy desires anymore. 00:11:45.559 --> 00:11:51.720 My feelings. I didn't automatically not let negative 00:11:51.720 --> 00:11:56.440 feelings control me anymore. All those things 00:11:56.440 --> 00:12:01.470 need some work. And that's where spiritual growth 00:12:01.470 --> 00:12:06.529 concern is. That's where it happens. That's where 00:12:06.529 --> 00:12:11.330 it takes place, is in your soul. Spiritual growth 00:12:11.330 --> 00:12:16.330 takes place in your thought life, in your desire 00:12:16.330 --> 00:12:20.710 life, in your feeling life. That's where spiritual 00:12:20.710 --> 00:12:25.809 growth takes place. That's where it takes place. 00:12:26.690 --> 00:12:30.799 The difference between a carnal and a spiritual 00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:34.580 believer is the spiritual growth or lack thereof 00:12:34.580 --> 00:12:39.740 in the soul. That's the difference. That's the 00:12:39.740 --> 00:12:44.000 difference. And I'm going to share some other 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:46.200 things with you. Spiritual maturity is not measured 00:12:46.200 --> 00:12:51.179 by how long you've been a Christian. I've been 00:12:51.179 --> 00:12:58.379 a Christian 51 years and 3 weeks. That doesn't 00:12:58.379 --> 00:13:02.220 mean I'm spiritual. It's not about how long you've 00:13:02.220 --> 00:13:04.440 been a Christian. It's not about how often you 00:13:04.440 --> 00:13:09.740 attend worship services. I mean, if there was 00:13:09.740 --> 00:13:12.419 a plaque in heaven for attending worship services, 00:13:12.539 --> 00:13:18.940 I'm going to get a big plaque. Because for 20 00:13:18.940 --> 00:13:23.720 years, I averaged over 200... Well, maybe not 00:13:23.720 --> 00:13:26.970 all 20 years, but... One year, I went to over 00:13:26.970 --> 00:13:31.610 280 church services in one year. That's more 00:13:31.610 --> 00:13:37.929 than some people do in 10 years. Thousands and 00:13:37.929 --> 00:13:41.629 thousands and thousands. That doesn't mean that 00:13:41.629 --> 00:13:48.070 I'm spiritual. Being spiritual is not measured 00:13:48.070 --> 00:13:52.470 by how much scripture you can quote. Has anybody 00:13:52.470 --> 00:13:54.950 ever met some really mean people who could quote 00:13:54.950 --> 00:14:00.909 some Scripture? Well, Paul called the Corinthians 00:14:00.909 --> 00:14:05.750 carnal because they were envy and strife and 00:14:05.750 --> 00:14:13.690 division. That's the fruit of being carnal. So 00:14:13.690 --> 00:14:15.330 it don't matter how much Scripture you can quote. 00:14:15.409 --> 00:14:18.750 Now listen to me. I believe it's very important 00:14:18.750 --> 00:14:24.220 to know Scripture. I believe it's very important 00:14:24.220 --> 00:14:27.179 to come together with other believers to worship 00:14:27.179 --> 00:14:32.399 God. I believe it's very important to be a Christ 00:14:32.399 --> 00:14:34.879 follower, to come to know Him. That's the ultimate 00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:38.080 important thing that can happen in anyone's life. 00:14:39.139 --> 00:14:43.919 But none of those things mean that you are spiritually 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:48.759 mature. None of them. Jesus gave us some insight. 00:14:48.899 --> 00:14:53.500 Luke 6, verses 43 and 44. He says this, A good 00:14:53.500 --> 00:14:57.100 tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad 00:14:57.100 --> 00:15:02.559 tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known 00:15:02.559 --> 00:15:09.720 by its own fruit. So this whole series is about 00:15:09.720 --> 00:15:18.539 spiritual fruit being the marker of spiritual 00:15:18.539 --> 00:15:28.500 maturity. That's what it really is. How much 00:15:28.500 --> 00:15:31.019 spiritual fruit is evident in your life? How 00:15:31.019 --> 00:15:34.379 much spiritual fruit is growing, constantly growing 00:15:34.379 --> 00:15:39.679 in your life? That'll tell each one of us how 00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:42.940 spiritual we are. Because spiritual growth is 00:15:42.940 --> 00:15:45.240 measured by spiritual fruit, constantly increasing 00:15:45.240 --> 00:15:48.659 and always evidenced in our life. Now this is 00:15:48.659 --> 00:15:54.360 a series in self -examination. No one needs to 00:15:54.360 --> 00:15:59.039 think, boy, I wish this relative was here. I 00:15:59.039 --> 00:16:00.759 wish this neighbor was here because they really 00:16:00.759 --> 00:16:05.059 need to hear it. Have you ever sat in church 00:16:05.059 --> 00:16:07.340 and said, boy, I wish this person was here because 00:16:07.340 --> 00:16:11.120 they really needed the message today? Well, here's 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:13.299 the deal. God knew that they weren't going to 00:16:13.299 --> 00:16:15.279 be here and God knew you were going to be here. 00:16:17.080 --> 00:16:22.240 So we are obviously the people who need to hear 00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:27.159 it. Because we are the people who are here. It's 00:16:27.159 --> 00:16:29.480 self -examination. Don't look at the person beside 00:16:29.480 --> 00:16:34.860 you. We're all a work in progress. We're all 00:16:34.860 --> 00:16:41.860 at different positions in this race. But we're 00:16:41.860 --> 00:16:45.820 all a work in progress. None of us have arrived. 00:16:45.940 --> 00:16:49.899 Galatians 5, 22 and 23. We finally made it to 00:16:49.899 --> 00:16:56.740 verse 23. Seven weeks. Eight weeks. This is week 00:16:56.740 --> 00:17:00.600 eight. Because we have one more. But the fruit 00:17:00.600 --> 00:17:09.039 of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, 00:17:09.240 --> 00:17:17.940 kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness. 00:17:18.420 --> 00:17:20.500 We're going to stop at gentleness this week. 00:17:24.279 --> 00:17:27.680 A doorway in your house, like when you were growing 00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:29.799 up or when you were raising your children, did 00:17:29.799 --> 00:17:32.940 you have a doorway that you would mark how tall 00:17:32.940 --> 00:17:38.400 the child was? Maybe right down their age. And 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:44.480 you gauged their growth. I'm here today to tell 00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:47.480 you that if you want to gauge your level of spiritual 00:17:47.480 --> 00:17:50.960 maturity or gauge your level of spiritual growth, 00:17:51.240 --> 00:17:55.089 what's your love life look like? I'm not talking 00:17:55.089 --> 00:17:56.990 about your boyfriend or girlfriend or husband 00:17:56.990 --> 00:18:00.430 or wife. I'm talking about your love walk with 00:18:00.430 --> 00:18:06.670 everyone. Not just the people in your house. 00:18:08.390 --> 00:18:11.789 The people who are not easy to love that you 00:18:11.789 --> 00:18:17.869 come in contact with. How's your love walk? How 00:18:17.869 --> 00:18:23.829 is your joy? What's your level of joy? If you're 00:18:23.829 --> 00:18:25.509 here today and you say, well, you know what? 00:18:26.210 --> 00:18:28.250 Life's just beating me up and beating me down. 00:18:28.309 --> 00:18:34.009 I don't have any joy. That's because you're trying 00:18:34.009 --> 00:18:39.650 to find joy in the wrong place. Because the joy 00:18:39.650 --> 00:18:45.369 of the Lord is your strength. It's your strength. 00:18:46.750 --> 00:18:48.849 No matter what's going on around you, you can 00:18:48.849 --> 00:18:53.019 have the joy of the Lord. You can walk in the 00:18:53.019 --> 00:18:56.619 joy of the Lord. As a matter of fact, the kingdom 00:18:56.619 --> 00:19:01.920 of God is about righteousness, peace, and joy 00:19:01.920 --> 00:19:06.740 in the Holy Spirit. And if our encounter with 00:19:06.740 --> 00:19:10.180 God, relationship with God, if our church life, 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:12.640 if we're going to call it that, doesn't include 00:19:12.640 --> 00:19:17.660 peace and joy, we're searching after the wrong 00:19:17.660 --> 00:19:22.920 things. We're emphasizing the wrong things. Because 00:19:22.920 --> 00:19:24.759 we have to understand that we are the righteousness 00:19:24.759 --> 00:19:28.140 of God in Christ Jesus. My righteousness doesn't 00:19:28.140 --> 00:19:34.460 depend on my ability to perform. And we walk 00:19:34.460 --> 00:19:40.740 in the peace of God, and we walk in the joy of 00:19:40.740 --> 00:19:44.160 the Holy Spirit. If those things aren't there, 00:19:44.339 --> 00:19:46.579 let's back up and get those things before we 00:19:46.579 --> 00:19:49.180 move forward. Because it's the fruit of the Spirit, 00:19:49.299 --> 00:19:51.900 too. The fruit of the Spirit is love and joy 00:19:51.900 --> 00:19:59.859 and peace. Peace. It's a fruit of the Holy Spirit. 00:20:02.059 --> 00:20:04.480 And then we get to the ones that make us a little 00:20:04.480 --> 00:20:09.279 uncomfortable. Patience. Patience. Patience. 00:20:12.599 --> 00:20:20.109 It's a fruit of the Spirit. Kindness. Goodness. 00:20:20.109 --> 00:20:22.509 And then we saw when we looked up the word, it's 00:20:22.509 --> 00:20:27.789 faith and faithfulness last week. Faith and faithfulness. 00:20:29.230 --> 00:20:31.549 Because the majority of the times that word shows 00:20:31.549 --> 00:20:33.349 up in the Greek, it's just translated faith. 00:20:36.009 --> 00:20:39.150 And then today, we're going to talk about gentleness. 00:20:40.970 --> 00:20:45.400 Gentleness. Everybody say gentleness. Here's 00:20:45.400 --> 00:20:49.299 the Greek word, praoutes. And here's what it 00:20:49.299 --> 00:20:51.839 means. It means gentleness. It means meekness. 00:20:51.900 --> 00:20:57.019 It means mildness. It means humility. I'm going 00:20:57.019 --> 00:21:02.700 to say that again. Gentleness, meekness, mildness, 00:21:02.700 --> 00:21:08.160 and humility. Let's talk about it. Because when 00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:10.200 most people hear the word gentle, they immediately 00:21:10.200 --> 00:21:12.900 think, ah, it's weak. If a person is gentle, 00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:16.339 then they're weak. They're passive. They're timid. 00:21:16.519 --> 00:21:21.619 Maybe they're fearful. But this word in the Bible 00:21:21.619 --> 00:21:28.259 is not weakness. Gentleness is strength under 00:21:28.259 --> 00:21:32.500 control. It takes more strength to be gentle 00:21:32.500 --> 00:21:39.980 than it does to fly off. It takes more strength. 00:21:41.640 --> 00:21:47.170 Jesus was gentle. And powerful. At the same time. 00:21:49.230 --> 00:21:54.029 Hello? He was never weak. We can't say that Jesus 00:21:54.029 --> 00:21:59.650 was weak. But he said of himself that he was 00:21:59.650 --> 00:22:03.890 gentle. Gentleness is gentle strength. This comes 00:22:03.890 --> 00:22:06.950 from Helps Word Study. Gentle strength which 00:22:06.950 --> 00:22:12.289 expresses power with reserve and gentleness. 00:22:12.410 --> 00:22:16.130 I like that. Just copied and pasted it right 00:22:16.130 --> 00:22:22.869 out of a concordance. Gentle strength, which 00:22:22.869 --> 00:22:26.849 expresses power with reserve and gentleness. 00:22:27.849 --> 00:22:32.829 Gentleness reflects the character of Jesus. Matthew 00:22:32.829 --> 00:22:37.789 11, 28 and 29. You've probably memorized this 00:22:37.789 --> 00:22:41.109 verse. You've probably quoted this verse. But 00:22:41.109 --> 00:22:43.210 sometimes when we read through a Bible verse, 00:22:43.289 --> 00:22:46.769 we'll miss some important parts until the Holy 00:22:46.769 --> 00:22:51.029 Spirit illuminates them for us. Then Jesus said, 00:22:51.190 --> 00:22:56.369 come to me, all of you who are weary and carry 00:22:56.369 --> 00:23:02.289 heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take 00:23:02.289 --> 00:23:08.900 my yoke upon you. Let me teach you. Listen to 00:23:08.900 --> 00:23:12.460 what he says. Because I am humble and gentle 00:23:12.460 --> 00:23:18.779 at heart. And you will find rest for your soul. 00:23:20.019 --> 00:23:25.220 You will find rest in your thought life. You'll 00:23:25.220 --> 00:23:29.740 find rest in your desires. They won't control 00:23:29.740 --> 00:23:32.539 you. Desires that are not of God won't control 00:23:32.539 --> 00:23:38.630 you. You'll find rest in your emotions. And your 00:23:38.630 --> 00:23:44.809 feelings. You can find rest. Now Jesus could 00:23:44.809 --> 00:23:49.210 be real harsh. And he could tell you what you're 00:23:49.210 --> 00:23:52.130 doing wrong. And tell you, you better straighten 00:23:52.130 --> 00:24:03.130 up. But that's not gentleness. That's not gentleness. 00:24:04.769 --> 00:24:09.400 We looked at it in kindness. verse. It just popped 00:24:09.400 --> 00:24:12.819 in my head. It's the kindness of God that leads 00:24:12.819 --> 00:24:19.480 people to repentance. He's gentle. He is humble 00:24:19.480 --> 00:24:23.759 and gentle at heart. And make sure you get a 00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:25.960 hold of this. The creator of the universe who 00:24:25.960 --> 00:24:29.059 spoke everything into existence, the king of 00:24:29.059 --> 00:24:32.099 all kings and the Lord of all lords, the one 00:24:32.099 --> 00:24:35.759 with all authority on heaven and earth, described 00:24:36.319 --> 00:24:43.279 His own heart as being gentle. My heart is humble. 00:24:43.380 --> 00:24:45.980 I am humble and gentle at heart, Jesus said. 00:24:52.180 --> 00:24:59.460 Gentleness is being humbly patient. Gentleness 00:24:59.460 --> 00:25:05.079 is not being quick to react when you are provoked. 00:25:10.990 --> 00:25:13.369 How quick are you to act when you are provoked? 00:25:17.349 --> 00:25:21.089 Gentleness is not being quick to react when you're 00:25:21.089 --> 00:25:24.049 provoked. One of the clearest evidences of spiritual 00:25:24.049 --> 00:25:27.789 growth is learning how to deal with people in 00:25:27.789 --> 00:25:33.130 the right spirit. If we don't deal with people 00:25:33.130 --> 00:25:36.869 correctly, we're not very spiritually mature. 00:25:40.329 --> 00:25:43.170 Because see, spiritual maturity doesn't have 00:25:43.170 --> 00:25:45.450 a whole lot to do with a church service going 00:25:45.450 --> 00:25:51.109 on. It has to do with life. And how the Word 00:25:51.109 --> 00:25:58.970 of God is applied in your everyday life. Because 00:25:58.970 --> 00:26:02.390 we can all sit here. Here's something that I've 00:26:02.390 --> 00:26:06.829 realized during this series. I am a whole lot, 00:26:06.890 --> 00:26:09.960 I think, let me get this right. I think that 00:26:09.960 --> 00:26:12.940 I'm a whole lot more spiritual than I actually 00:26:12.940 --> 00:26:21.799 am. And I dare say I'm not the only one in the 00:26:21.799 --> 00:26:28.339 room. Because when we think of how spiritual 00:26:28.339 --> 00:26:30.960 we are, we start forming a list, right? I got 00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:35.500 this, I do this, I do that. Ask yourself how 00:26:35.500 --> 00:26:37.539 spiritual you are when you're driving down 27 00:26:37.539 --> 00:26:43.440 or I -4. Because that's where you're going to 00:26:43.440 --> 00:26:49.640 find out how spiritual you are. When somebody 00:26:49.640 --> 00:26:53.519 does something to offend you, you're going to 00:26:53.519 --> 00:26:57.240 quickly see how spiritual you are when you have 00:26:57.240 --> 00:27:03.259 the opportunity to be offended. See, immature 00:27:03.259 --> 00:27:09.079 people, immature people, they're the ones who 00:27:09.079 --> 00:27:12.500 respond harshly. They're the ones who react quickly. 00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:15.839 They're the ones who speak recklessly. They're 00:27:15.839 --> 00:27:18.759 the ones who handle everybody very carelessly. 00:27:20.940 --> 00:27:27.599 That's spiritual immaturity. I mean, if this 00:27:27.599 --> 00:27:30.799 isn't going to show up in our lives, we're just 00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:39.799 wasting our time. It's got to show up in our 00:27:39.799 --> 00:27:45.099 lives. I mean, I can't tell you how long I thought 00:27:45.099 --> 00:27:47.519 if I just went to church every Sunday, I'm doing 00:27:47.519 --> 00:27:52.440 good. And it had no impact on the way I lived 00:27:52.440 --> 00:27:56.140 or what I said or how I acted. I mean, I was 00:27:56.140 --> 00:28:02.579 a preacher's kid. But it wasn't making a difference 00:28:02.579 --> 00:28:08.380 in my life. You can go to church all your life 00:28:08.380 --> 00:28:12.359 and think that you're very spiritual, but if... 00:28:12.839 --> 00:28:15.359 If it doesn't come out in the way you deal with 00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:18.119 people, you're just immaterial. You're just carnal. 00:28:20.859 --> 00:28:23.400 And you might say, how dare you talk to me that 00:28:23.400 --> 00:28:27.420 directly? Well, I'm just trying to shake you 00:28:27.420 --> 00:28:33.160 a little bit so that you can wake up. Because 00:28:33.160 --> 00:28:39.740 we all need to wake up at some point. I would 00:28:39.740 --> 00:28:43.599 say I was a Christian... 10, 15 years going to 00:28:43.599 --> 00:28:47.700 church three times a week before it started really 00:28:47.700 --> 00:28:52.140 connecting with my life. And I began to move. 00:28:52.640 --> 00:29:06.779 I mean, 15 years, that's a long time. Gentleness. 00:29:08.200 --> 00:29:13.200 We don't like this word. Being gentle is being 00:29:13.200 --> 00:29:20.380 submissive and compliant. Another word for being 00:29:20.380 --> 00:29:27.859 submissive and compliant is being tamed. So a 00:29:27.859 --> 00:29:37.740 gentle person is a tamed person. And some of 00:29:37.740 --> 00:29:42.700 you are going, what in the world? Well, let me 00:29:42.700 --> 00:29:44.900 introduce you to Calvin. That's Calvin on his 00:29:44.900 --> 00:29:50.539 knees. And that's Honey beside him. When I was 00:29:50.539 --> 00:29:52.759 in Myrtle Beach for nine years, Calvin and Honey 00:29:52.759 --> 00:29:58.420 would preach one Sunday a year. And Honey did 00:29:58.420 --> 00:30:03.460 most of the preaching. Because we had an American 00:30:03.460 --> 00:30:08.640 Heart Association horse event where I was a chaplain. 00:30:09.609 --> 00:30:14.690 And he's a cowboy preacher. Calvin is. But Honey 00:30:14.690 --> 00:30:20.390 would pretty much present the whole message every 00:30:20.390 --> 00:30:25.309 year. And Calvin would just interpret Honey's 00:30:25.309 --> 00:30:29.990 message. Because if he didn't interpret it, people 00:30:29.990 --> 00:30:31.690 could come up with their own interpretation. 00:30:34.069 --> 00:30:36.509 That was the most trained horse I've ever seen. 00:30:38.859 --> 00:30:43.819 I mean, there would be 300, 350 people in the 00:30:43.819 --> 00:30:51.160 room. And the honey would just... Honey was completely 00:30:51.160 --> 00:30:59.259 obedient and completely tamed. Calvin would tie 00:30:59.259 --> 00:31:03.500 her up in a rope and just walk. I mean, you know, 00:31:03.519 --> 00:31:07.500 what horse likes to be tied up in a rope? I mean, 00:31:07.500 --> 00:31:11.079 it's feet. Just tied up, his neck tied down to 00:31:11.079 --> 00:31:18.279 her feet. What horse likes that? He would just 00:31:18.279 --> 00:31:21.420 look a certain way and the horse would do what 00:31:21.420 --> 00:31:23.000 he wanted the horse to do just by the way he 00:31:23.000 --> 00:31:25.380 looked at the horse or maybe some little sound 00:31:25.380 --> 00:31:28.119 he made with his mouth. I mean, she was completely 00:31:28.119 --> 00:31:33.119 obedient and completely tamed. How many of you 00:31:33.119 --> 00:31:36.710 know a horse? is big enough and strong enough 00:31:36.710 --> 00:31:42.349 to do what it wants to do. I'll never forget 00:31:42.349 --> 00:31:46.210 in a full gallop on a horse and it decided it 00:31:46.210 --> 00:31:49.390 didn't want me on its back anymore. And it just 00:31:49.390 --> 00:31:51.269 put on the brakes and lowered its head and I 00:31:51.269 --> 00:31:54.829 went tumbling. I'll never forget the trail horse 00:31:54.829 --> 00:31:57.630 who's supposed to be tamed and obedient, just 00:31:57.630 --> 00:31:59.869 follow the tail of the horse in front of it, 00:31:59.930 --> 00:32:03.619 but not mine. It had been raining and my horse 00:32:03.619 --> 00:32:07.259 refused to walk through a mud puddle. And it 00:32:07.259 --> 00:32:13.579 took me up a mountain into a cedar tree. Even 00:32:13.579 --> 00:32:15.839 though I had its nose on its left shoulder, it 00:32:15.839 --> 00:32:20.339 kept climbing up the mountain to the right. Horses 00:32:20.339 --> 00:32:26.240 can be dangerous. Have you ever seen a wild horse? 00:32:26.640 --> 00:32:29.299 Have you seen movies about a wild horse and somebody 00:32:29.299 --> 00:32:33.119 has to break that horse? It can be very dangerous. 00:32:33.640 --> 00:32:37.920 A trained horse can possess incredible power, 00:32:38.119 --> 00:32:42.420 but strength becomes useful only when it comes 00:32:42.420 --> 00:32:49.880 under control. I'm going to say that again. Strength 00:32:49.880 --> 00:32:54.519 only becomes useful when it comes under control. 00:32:56.140 --> 00:33:06.490 An untrained horse can become destructive. A 00:33:06.490 --> 00:33:11.849 person who's not gentle is a person who can be 00:33:11.849 --> 00:33:19.930 very destructive. A person who is gentle is a 00:33:19.930 --> 00:33:24.150 strong person, but they're under the control 00:33:24.150 --> 00:33:31.150 of the Holy Spirit, under control of God. Gentleness 00:33:31.150 --> 00:33:34.109 is not weakness, it's power under control. Gentleness 00:33:34.109 --> 00:33:37.650 is evidence that the Holy Spirit is governing 00:33:37.650 --> 00:33:41.829 your emotions, governing your speech, and governing 00:33:41.829 --> 00:33:46.670 your interactions. That's what gentleness is. 00:33:48.009 --> 00:33:50.829 And each one of us will know that spiritual growth 00:33:50.829 --> 00:33:55.170 is happening when our reactions soften up a little 00:33:55.170 --> 00:34:03.599 bit. When our words become wiser. When our anger 00:34:03.599 --> 00:34:10.019 slows down. When our response becomes calmer. 00:34:11.880 --> 00:34:14.800 When our treatment of other people reflects how 00:34:14.800 --> 00:34:21.219 Jesus would treat them more consistently. That's 00:34:21.219 --> 00:34:23.420 when spiritual growth is happening. We're not 00:34:23.420 --> 00:34:25.360 going to immediately jump to the ultimate of 00:34:25.360 --> 00:34:27.699 this in one service. I wish I could just get 00:34:27.699 --> 00:34:30.679 everybody up here and pray for you and everybody 00:34:30.679 --> 00:34:37.260 would leave. with the gentleness of God. But 00:34:37.260 --> 00:34:43.099 that's not the way it works. It's not the way 00:34:43.099 --> 00:34:47.400 it works. It's going to take some effort on your 00:34:47.400 --> 00:34:49.519 part. It's going to take some surrender on your 00:34:49.519 --> 00:34:52.599 part. It's going to take some work on your part. 00:34:53.480 --> 00:34:56.500 Without gentleness, listen, without gentleness, 00:34:56.500 --> 00:35:01.369 every inconvenience becomes a conflict. Every 00:35:01.369 --> 00:35:05.809 disagreement creates division. Every frustration 00:35:05.809 --> 00:35:12.150 becomes explosive. When we don't have this spiritual 00:35:12.150 --> 00:35:17.789 fruit evident in our lives, our lives are about 00:35:17.789 --> 00:35:28.349 conflict, division, and explosive emotions. Gentleness. 00:35:30.070 --> 00:35:33.769 absorbs the pressure of life. How many of you 00:35:33.769 --> 00:35:36.210 have pressure sometimes? How many of you face 00:35:36.210 --> 00:35:38.789 a little bit of pressure in this life? Well, 00:35:38.809 --> 00:35:42.630 gentleness is the fruit of the Spirit in us that 00:35:42.630 --> 00:35:45.389 absorbs this pressure that comes against us. 00:35:45.510 --> 00:35:49.070 It slows our reactions, it softens our responses, 00:35:49.230 --> 00:35:53.449 and it protects our relationships. Gentleness 00:35:53.449 --> 00:36:00.119 does. Sign of spiritual growth is when you stop 00:36:00.119 --> 00:36:05.900 reacting to every situation impulsively. Look 00:36:05.900 --> 00:36:07.159 to the person beside you and tell them, slow 00:36:07.159 --> 00:36:11.900 down. Slow down. Slow, where does it go? Slow 00:36:11.900 --> 00:36:20.079 your roll. Slow down. Gentleness is something 00:36:20.079 --> 00:36:23.000 we need to chase after. Everybody say chase after. 00:36:23.460 --> 00:36:27.550 1 Timothy 6, 11. It says this, pursue righteousness 00:36:27.550 --> 00:36:32.210 and a godly life along with faith, love, perseverance, 00:36:32.610 --> 00:36:38.909 and gentleness. So gentleness should be something 00:36:38.909 --> 00:36:43.650 on our radar that we want in our lives, that 00:36:43.650 --> 00:36:46.610 we're going to chase after. When we find out 00:36:46.610 --> 00:36:48.590 about it, we're going to chase after gentleness. 00:36:50.449 --> 00:36:52.230 It's also something that we're going to have 00:36:52.230 --> 00:36:55.679 to put on. Everybody say put on. Colossians 3 00:36:55.679 --> 00:36:59.340 .12 says this, Since God chose you to be the 00:36:59.340 --> 00:37:04.739 holy set -apart people He loves, you must. Don't 00:37:04.739 --> 00:37:06.679 say this would be a good idea if you feel like 00:37:06.679 --> 00:37:13.199 it. Does it? No, it says we have to. We must. 00:37:14.039 --> 00:37:17.539 You must clothe yourselves with tender heart 00:37:17.539 --> 00:37:23.480 and mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness. And 00:37:23.480 --> 00:37:32.719 patience. Don't leave your bedroom without putting 00:37:32.719 --> 00:37:41.059 it on. Don't leave your bedroom without putting 00:37:41.059 --> 00:37:44.559 on these things. Every day. We have to put them 00:37:44.559 --> 00:37:48.239 on. And then gentleness is something we have 00:37:48.239 --> 00:37:52.760 to act in. James 3 verse 13 says this, if you're 00:37:52.760 --> 00:37:59.420 wise and understand God's ways, prove it. By 00:37:59.420 --> 00:38:02.380 living an honorable life, doing good works with 00:38:02.380 --> 00:38:08.059 the humility, same word, even though it's translated 00:38:08.059 --> 00:38:11.460 humility right here. Depending on what version 00:38:11.460 --> 00:38:13.599 you're reading, it could be humility, it could 00:38:13.599 --> 00:38:16.380 be meekness, it could be gentleness, but it's 00:38:16.380 --> 00:38:20.340 the same word. Doing good works with the gentleness 00:38:20.340 --> 00:38:24.360 that comes from wisdom. Does anyone want to be 00:38:24.360 --> 00:38:33.820 wise? A wise person acts doing good works with 00:38:33.820 --> 00:38:41.559 gentleness. Boy, it got quiet in here. What did 00:38:41.559 --> 00:38:43.639 Jesus have to say about meekness, gentleness, 00:38:43.739 --> 00:38:47.300 and humility? Here's that same word again. Everybody 00:38:47.300 --> 00:38:50.239 say same word. Same word is found in the Beatitudes. 00:38:50.320 --> 00:38:54.760 Matthew 5, 5 says this. God blesses those who 00:38:54.760 --> 00:39:04.840 are gentle, humble, meek. God blesses those who 00:39:04.840 --> 00:39:09.800 are gentle. Same word. For they will inherit 00:39:09.800 --> 00:39:16.059 the whole earth. What a promise. It's not only 00:39:16.059 --> 00:39:18.880 a sign of spiritual maturity, it comes with an 00:39:18.880 --> 00:39:23.780 added blessing. That's the blessing, right? God 00:39:23.780 --> 00:39:30.099 blesses who? Those who are gentle. Extra blessing. 00:39:31.860 --> 00:39:34.039 What is the blessing? They will inherit the whole 00:39:34.039 --> 00:39:37.179 earth. When you study those words, here's what 00:39:37.179 --> 00:39:40.019 you come up with. You're going to be blessed 00:39:40.019 --> 00:39:42.920 with having a comfortable, undisturbed enjoyment. 00:39:44.030 --> 00:39:49.630 in yourself, your friends, and your God. Does 00:39:49.630 --> 00:39:52.829 that sound like something that's worth having? 00:39:55.170 --> 00:40:05.250 To have comfortable, undisturbed enjoyment? What 00:40:05.250 --> 00:40:07.969 does meekness, gentleness, and humility look 00:40:07.969 --> 00:40:11.750 like? What does that look like? In everyday life. 00:40:11.809 --> 00:40:16.349 What does that look like on Monday at work? What 00:40:16.349 --> 00:40:18.849 does that look like on Tuesday driving down I 00:40:18.849 --> 00:40:22.510 -4? It means that you're not easily offended 00:40:22.510 --> 00:40:30.190 or angered. Is that a description of your life? 00:40:30.269 --> 00:40:34.769 You're not easily offended or angered? If gentleness 00:40:34.769 --> 00:40:37.570 is there and growing, yeah, that's going to be 00:40:37.570 --> 00:40:43.340 what your life looks like. Staying calm when 00:40:43.340 --> 00:40:49.780 others are outraged. I'm just letting this sit 00:40:49.780 --> 00:40:51.440 in. I've got something else to say. I'm just 00:40:51.440 --> 00:40:55.699 letting you think about it a little bit. It's 00:40:55.699 --> 00:40:58.440 a whole lot easier to get outraged when somebody 00:40:58.440 --> 00:41:01.460 else is getting outraged. When somebody else 00:41:01.460 --> 00:41:03.880 is ramping up, it's easy for you to just jump 00:41:03.880 --> 00:41:07.500 on the bandwagon to ramp up with them. Hello? 00:41:10.409 --> 00:41:12.730 If somebody's screaming at you, it's a whole 00:41:12.730 --> 00:41:21.869 lot easier to scream back. Hello? But gentleness, 00:41:21.949 --> 00:41:27.809 if that spiritual fruit is evident in your life, 00:41:27.969 --> 00:41:35.829 you're the one who stays calm and tries to diffuse 00:41:35.829 --> 00:41:44.380 the situation calmly. Gentleness addresses issues 00:41:44.380 --> 00:41:48.940 when it's necessary, but gentleness does it calmly. 00:41:49.039 --> 00:41:55.639 Everybody say calmly. Not emotionally. Not emotionally. 00:41:56.780 --> 00:42:01.480 Gentleness quietly submits to God and His Word. 00:42:02.039 --> 00:42:08.300 That's what gentleness looks like. And the goal 00:42:08.300 --> 00:42:12.559 of this whole series... The goal of spiritual 00:42:12.559 --> 00:42:17.179 fruit and spiritual growth is for you and me 00:42:17.179 --> 00:42:25.880 to become more like Jesus. The reason why a lot 00:42:25.880 --> 00:42:27.840 of people don't want to go to church today is 00:42:27.840 --> 00:42:34.900 because they've been before. They met a lot of 00:42:34.900 --> 00:42:42.610 people who weren't like Jesus. And they say they 00:42:42.610 --> 00:42:46.030 don't want anything to do with it anymore. That's 00:42:46.030 --> 00:42:52.289 sad. That's sad. I'm glad that you're here today 00:42:52.289 --> 00:42:54.789 because everybody in this room has been hurt 00:42:54.789 --> 00:42:57.469 or offended at some point. I don't believe anybody 00:42:57.469 --> 00:43:00.190 can be alive in this room and go to church that 00:43:00.190 --> 00:43:02.650 you didn't have an opportunity to be offended. 00:43:04.929 --> 00:43:09.780 But you overcame that. Because your relationship 00:43:09.780 --> 00:43:12.320 with God was more important than being offended. 00:43:14.500 --> 00:43:16.840 I'm talking now more to the people who are watching 00:43:16.840 --> 00:43:21.519 on Facebook and YouTube. Your relationship with 00:43:21.519 --> 00:43:25.420 God should be of greater importance than any 00:43:25.420 --> 00:43:32.860 offense from your past. And I said it. The goal 00:43:32.860 --> 00:43:35.179 of spiritual growth is to become more like Jesus. 00:43:36.400 --> 00:43:38.360 And here's what we've learned during the series. 00:43:38.460 --> 00:43:43.159 Fruit grows naturally where a healthy connection 00:43:43.159 --> 00:43:51.400 exists. Jesus said, I'm the vine. You're the 00:43:51.400 --> 00:43:55.260 branches. And he said, if you will abide in me. 00:43:55.519 --> 00:43:58.000 He didn't say if you'll come visit me every Sunday 00:43:58.000 --> 00:44:00.519 morning for an hour and a half. He said, if you 00:44:00.519 --> 00:44:06.260 abide in me, my word will abide in you. Your 00:44:06.260 --> 00:44:11.440 life's going to produce a lot of fruit. A lot 00:44:11.440 --> 00:44:14.880 of fruit. You'll be fruitful if you abide in 00:44:14.880 --> 00:44:19.880 Him. Gentleness is also a fruit of the Holy Spirit. 00:44:19.980 --> 00:44:23.659 The Holy Spirit takes hold of the things of God, 00:44:23.780 --> 00:44:26.679 the things that God has for us. He's the one 00:44:26.679 --> 00:44:29.239 who takes hold of those things. In previous weeks, 00:44:29.300 --> 00:44:33.260 I've read verses and, you know, I just... I'd 00:44:33.260 --> 00:44:35.320 stand here and preach two or three hours, but 00:44:35.320 --> 00:44:38.000 you wouldn't sit there that long. Listen, the 00:44:38.000 --> 00:44:40.480 Holy Spirit, the Bible tells us this. He's the 00:44:40.480 --> 00:44:43.739 one. He's the God. He is God who takes hold of 00:44:43.739 --> 00:44:47.119 all the things of God, all the promises of God, 00:44:47.239 --> 00:44:49.440 all the provisions of God, all the character 00:44:49.440 --> 00:44:52.860 of God. He takes hold of those things, and then 00:44:52.860 --> 00:44:56.059 He's the one who declares them to us. He's the 00:44:56.059 --> 00:44:59.510 one who makes. These promises come alive on the 00:44:59.510 --> 00:45:01.389 inside of us. Have you ever read a Bible verse, 00:45:01.469 --> 00:45:02.929 and you might have read it for the hundredth 00:45:02.929 --> 00:45:04.590 time, and then all of a sudden, something just 00:45:04.590 --> 00:45:06.869 comes alive out of that verse. And it's like, 00:45:06.909 --> 00:45:09.769 that's the Holy Spirit illuminating that in our 00:45:09.769 --> 00:45:12.530 hearts. That's what He does. He takes the Word 00:45:12.530 --> 00:45:14.969 of God, the promises of God, the blessings of 00:45:14.969 --> 00:45:18.750 God. He declares them to us. He intensifies them. 00:45:18.809 --> 00:45:26.610 He makes them known to us. He is God. And the 00:45:26.610 --> 00:45:30.449 person of the Godhead who connects us, because 00:45:30.449 --> 00:45:36.889 He's in us, He connects us to the things of God. 00:45:40.530 --> 00:45:42.849 So this is what it comes down to. Spiritual growth 00:45:42.849 --> 00:45:45.909 is not about more self -dedication. Nobody in 00:45:45.909 --> 00:45:50.690 this room can say, I'm going to be more gentle 00:45:50.690 --> 00:45:57.530 this week. I'm going to take hold of my life 00:45:57.530 --> 00:46:00.309 and I'm just going to be gentle because the preacher 00:46:00.309 --> 00:46:02.449 told me that Jesus is gentle and I need to be 00:46:02.449 --> 00:46:05.550 more like Jesus. So I'm just going to do all 00:46:05.550 --> 00:46:15.150 I can to be gentle. That's going to lead to frustration. 00:46:19.349 --> 00:46:22.409 Because you can't live the Christian life in 00:46:22.409 --> 00:46:29.039 the flesh. You can't do it. Just go ahead and 00:46:29.039 --> 00:46:35.099 surrender it up and say, I can't do it. But if 00:46:35.099 --> 00:46:38.559 I'm connected with Jesus and I'm acknowledging 00:46:38.559 --> 00:46:41.320 Him, and if I'm acknowledging the indwelling 00:46:41.320 --> 00:46:44.519 presence of the Holy Spirit, God is with me. 00:46:44.559 --> 00:46:47.900 If I'm acknowledging Him and then something happens 00:46:47.900 --> 00:46:52.460 where I have the opportunity to be angry or offended 00:46:52.460 --> 00:46:57.500 or hurt, When that opportunity comes, if I just 00:46:57.500 --> 00:47:01.599 say, Holy Spirit, I don't have it in me to deal 00:47:01.599 --> 00:47:04.619 with this myself. But thank you for being in 00:47:04.619 --> 00:47:10.079 me. Thank you for working in me. Work through 00:47:10.079 --> 00:47:17.500 me. Because I'm about to bust. But instead of 00:47:17.500 --> 00:47:22.559 busting, I'm going to look to you. Because you 00:47:22.559 --> 00:47:27.280 are my helper. You are my comforter. You are 00:47:27.280 --> 00:47:30.699 my guide. I don't want to say anything that you 00:47:30.699 --> 00:47:39.039 don't want me to say right now. Spiritual growth 00:47:39.039 --> 00:47:41.800 is not about more self -dedication, self -determination, 00:47:41.860 --> 00:47:47.940 more self -effort. It's about abiding more in 00:47:47.940 --> 00:47:54.019 Christ. Abiding more is kind of an odd... It's 00:47:54.019 --> 00:48:03.079 like just abiding in Christ. That's like your 00:48:03.079 --> 00:48:09.639 address. That's where you live. You live. Not 00:48:09.639 --> 00:48:14.119 visiting. Not visiting on Sunday morning or visiting 00:48:14.119 --> 00:48:18.699 when you read the Bible for 10 minutes. Okay, 00:48:18.840 --> 00:48:20.400 God, that's all the time I've got for you. Now 00:48:20.400 --> 00:48:22.219 I'm going to go ahead about my own life, God. 00:48:22.840 --> 00:48:30.519 No, abiding in Christ. Acknowledging that God 00:48:30.519 --> 00:48:33.400 is with you and God is in you. Acknowledging 00:48:33.400 --> 00:48:39.800 His indwelling presence. Walking with Him. That 00:48:39.800 --> 00:48:46.059 means we're doing life with God. That's where 00:48:46.059 --> 00:48:53.579 the disconnect is. We've got to do life with 00:48:53.579 --> 00:48:58.900 God. There's not a moment in our day that we're 00:48:58.900 --> 00:49:06.780 not acknowledging God. I mean, if Jesus was in 00:49:06.780 --> 00:49:08.800 the car with you, would you drive any different? 00:49:12.900 --> 00:49:16.480 If Jesus was eating with you at the restaurant 00:49:16.480 --> 00:49:20.699 and you wasn't getting the best service, Would 00:49:20.699 --> 00:49:29.019 you act different? If Jesus was in a room and 00:49:29.019 --> 00:49:33.559 you had the opportunity to be offended, would 00:49:33.559 --> 00:49:45.000 you take it? Get this. He's closer than that. 00:49:46.739 --> 00:49:52.860 God is in you. If you're a Christian, God is 00:49:52.860 --> 00:49:58.440 in you. He's always there. Always. But we have 00:49:58.440 --> 00:50:02.679 to acknowledge the indwelling presence of God. 00:50:04.619 --> 00:50:10.699 Just acknowledging Him will steer us towards 00:50:10.699 --> 00:50:16.159 all of these fruit that we've been looking at. 00:50:18.860 --> 00:50:24.179 They'll be more natural. Because we're flowing 00:50:24.179 --> 00:50:29.960 with Him and He's flowing through us. We're walking 00:50:29.960 --> 00:50:32.360 in the Spirit. We're yielding to His leading. 00:50:33.679 --> 00:50:38.840 He's always leading. We're not always following. 00:50:43.519 --> 00:50:52.369 Listen. If you feel beat up right now because 00:50:52.369 --> 00:51:01.590 I'm saying these things, I don't believe you 00:51:01.590 --> 00:51:04.030 being beat up is coming from me or my words. 00:51:06.289 --> 00:51:11.289 You being beat up is coming from the accuser 00:51:11.289 --> 00:51:14.050 of the brethren who's saying, yeah, you are a 00:51:14.050 --> 00:51:18.579 sorry Christian. You can't... Do it. You're just 00:51:18.579 --> 00:51:24.079 a piece of work. You're not gentle. If that's 00:51:24.079 --> 00:51:30.139 what you're hearing in your mind right now, you 00:51:30.139 --> 00:51:36.159 shouldn't be. Because the Holy Spirit is trying 00:51:36.159 --> 00:51:43.820 to talk to you and He's saying, you know, let's 00:51:43.820 --> 00:51:50.480 face it where we are, but Let's move on up. Let's 00:51:50.480 --> 00:51:56.159 move on up. This is what I have for you. This 00:51:56.159 --> 00:51:58.579 is the life that I've provided for you that I 00:51:58.579 --> 00:52:04.820 want for you. Come on. He's like, come on, let's 00:52:04.820 --> 00:52:15.159 go. Let's go together. Let's come on up. That's 00:52:15.159 --> 00:52:18.960 the correct mindset. When the Word of God begins 00:52:18.960 --> 00:52:25.019 to confront you, He's confronting you because 00:52:25.019 --> 00:52:31.699 He wants you to come on up. The measure of your 00:52:31.699 --> 00:52:33.940 gentleness, the measure of your meekness, your 00:52:33.940 --> 00:52:40.579 mildness, your humility is a good measure of 00:52:40.579 --> 00:52:44.150 your spiritual maturity. This online worship 00:52:44.150 --> 00:52:46.650 experience was brought to you by the friends 00:52:46.650 --> 00:52:48.309 and partners of Eulation Church.