Participants: Jill Morikone
Series Code: ASHF
Program Code: ASHF000161A
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00:19 Hello, we just want to welcome you
00:20 to A Sharper Focus. 00:22 My name is Jill Morikone, and we are so glad 00:24 that you have tuned in tonight and that you are joining us. 00:27 We want to welcome our Thompsonville 00:29 Seventh-day Adventist Church, our family who is here, 00:32 and you are part of the 3ABN family, 00:34 so we just welcome you as well. 00:36 Our pastor, Pastor John Lomacang 00:38 is not here, so I am just stepping in tonight 00:41 to fill in for him, 00:42 and we want to encourage you to check out the website www... 00:47 I got that wrong, ASF.3ABN.org. 00:53 Thank you, the crew in there just put it up for me, 00:55 so that helps me a good deal. 00:57 ASF.3ABN.org. 01:00 You can download the videos, you can watch them 01:03 from previous A Sharper Focus's. 01:05 You can also download study guides to follow along. 01:08 So we want to encourage you to check that out. 01:10 Let's open up the Word of God, and we will go to a scripture, 01:15 and then we'll go to the Lord in prayer. 01:17 The scripture that we are going to be reading is John 15. 01:22 This is one of my favorite chapters 01:25 in the Bible. 01:26 John 15, we are gonna read the first few verses. 01:31 The true vine. 01:32 "I am the true vine, 01:34 and My Father is the vinedresser. 01:36 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit 01:39 He takes away, 01:40 and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, 01:44 that it may bear more fruit. 01:46 You are already clean because of the word 01:49 which I have spoken to you. 01:51 Abide in Me, and I in you. 01:53 As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, 01:56 unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, 01:59 unless you abide in Me. 02:01 I am the vine, you are the branches." 02:03 We are in verse 5, 02:05 "He who abides in Me, and I in him, 02:08 bears much fruit, 02:10 for without Me you can do nothing. 02:13 If anyone does not abide in Me, 02:15 he is cast out as a branch and is withered, 02:18 and they gather them and throw them 02:20 into the fire, and they are burned. 02:23 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, 02:26 you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you." 02:30 Verse 8, "By this My Father is glorified, 02:34 that you bear much fruit, so you will be My disciples." 02:40 Let's pray. 02:41 Father, we come before You in the name of Jesus, 02:43 and I pray right now that You would hide me 02:48 that Jesus could be lifted up. 02:50 You said, "If I am lifted up, I would draw all men unto me." 02:54 And I just pray right now that You would speak, 02:56 that You would give us open ears 02:58 and hearts to receive 03:00 what You have for us in Your Word. 03:03 And I thank You in the precious and holy name of Jesus, amen. 03:08 My sister has four boys. 03:10 Now you know Greg and I don't have any kids 03:12 but she has four boys 03:14 and right now they are 10, 8, 6, and 4, 03:18 and their house is extremely busy. 03:20 Every time Greg and I go there, I come and I say, 03:23 "Oh, I am a little tired. 03:24 I need to take a nap." 03:26 One of the people here tonight said 03:28 they got a nap today, that's a good thing. 03:29 So I need to take a nap, I am tired. 03:32 It's exhausting with four boys. 03:34 So one time, and I don't remember exactly 03:36 which boy it was and it's probably a good thing, 03:39 but one time I remember 03:41 one of them was having a hard day, 03:42 you've ever have a hard day, and they were having a hard day 03:46 and they threw a little temper tantrum. 03:50 So you know what boys do 03:51 when they throw a temper tantrum? 03:52 They might kick their feet. 03:54 I remember the little legs going 03:55 on the floor, kicking. 03:56 I remember squalling, 03:58 just the tears coming down the face 04:00 'cause they are so mad. 04:01 You know the face red? 04:03 But what I will never forget 04:06 is the words, just a little guy, 04:09 two, three years old, kicking on the floor, 04:12 tears pouring down his face saying, 04:15 "Help me Jesus. 04:16 I want to be good. Help me Jesus. 04:21 I want to be good." 04:22 It reminds me of the tug of war experience 04:25 that we all experience in the Christian walk. 04:29 I have here a rubber band. 04:31 So you imagine I wake up in the morning 04:35 and then I am going to work 04:37 and all of a sudden someone gets mad at me, 04:40 phew, and then I am pulled this way, 04:42 the flesh side, right, phew, 04:44 and I am saying, "Help me Jesus," 04:47 and I am starting to pull back the spirit side, right? 04:50 The rubber band is starting to get stretched, 04:52 you are feeling that tension. 04:55 The Word of God talks about that. 04:57 Turn with me to Galatians 5. We are going to Galatians 5. 05:02 Our opening scripture was John 15 talking 05:04 about fruit and abiding in the vine. 05:08 The last time I did A Sharper Focus, 05:10 we talked about the first four fruits of the Spirit, 05:15 in Galatians 5 so this one, hopefully, if we have time, 05:18 we'll get all the way 05:20 through the rest of the fruit of the Spirit. 05:21 But before we discuss that, 05:23 I just want to lay a brief foundation. 05:25 We are in Galatians 5:16, 05:30 Galatians 5:16. 05:32 "I say then, walk in the spirit, 05:35 and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 05:38 For the flesh," remember on this side, 05:40 "lusts against the spirit, 05:43 and the spirit against the flesh, 05:46 and they are contrary to one another, 05:51 so that you do not do the things that you wish. 05:54 But if you are led by the spirit, 05:55 you are not under the law." 05:56 And then Paul lists the works of the flesh. 06:00 It's not a comprehensive list, just an illustrative list. 06:03 But there's a lot of works of the flesh here. 06:06 "Adultery, fornication, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, 06:09 hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, 06:14 selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, 06:17 drunkenness," the like. 06:19 A whole list of works of the flesh. 06:22 And then he contrasts that in verse 22. 06:25 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, 06:30 longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 06:36 gentleness, self-control. 06:38 Against such there is no law." 06:42 We see the contrast between the work of the flesh 06:46 and the work of the spirit. 06:48 We could say self-centered living is on this side 06:51 or we could have 06:52 Christ-centered living on this side. 06:56 On the self-centered side, we are controlled by passion. 07:01 Christ-centered side, 07:03 I am controlled by the Holy Spirit. 07:07 On the self-centered side, I am a slave to sin. 07:12 On the Christ-centered side, 07:14 I die to self and to sin. 07:19 On the self-centered side, it shows, 07:21 reveals the fruit of sin, we just read that list. 07:26 On the Christ-centered side, 07:28 it shows the fruit of the Spirit. 07:32 The self-centered side walks in lust. 07:36 The Christ-centered side walks in love. 07:40 Jesus from the manger to the cross gave the picture 07:44 of self-sacrificing love. 07:48 On the self-centered side, I live for self, 07:51 you could say I am an adulator because I live for myself. 07:55 On the Christ-centered side, I live for other people. 08:00 What a contrast between the work of the flesh 08:03 and the work of the spirit. 08:04 Now, if I were to stop there, 08:07 I think we would be discouraged 'cause I'd say, 08:10 "I know I have some of those works 08:12 of the flesh in my life. 08:15 But God, I don't want it. How can I change? 08:19 How can I get rid of the work of the flesh 08:21 and live or walk in the fruit of the Spirit?" 08:27 We know Jeremiah 13:23 says, 08:30 "Can an Ethiopian change the color of his skin? 08:33 Or the leopard change the spots on his back?" 08:35 Of course, we can't. Then what does it say? 08:38 "Then may we also do good, 08:41 who are accustomed to doing evil." 08:43 So God knows we can't do that ourselves. 08:46 We can't change from the flesh side 08:48 and jump over here to the spirit side. 08:51 That can't happen. Turn with me to Ezekiel. 08:54 We'll have just a couple of scriptures 08:55 for foundation here, for walking in the spirit, 08:59 and then we'll talk about the fruit of the Spirit. 09:01 Turn with me to Ezekiel. 09:04 Ezekiel 36. 09:10 Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Ezekiel 36, 09:14 we'll start with verse 25. 09:17 "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, 09:21 and you shall be clean," I love that verse, 09:25 "I will cleanse you from all your filthiness 09:27 and from all your idols." 09:29 Verse 26, "I will give you a new heart 09:33 and put a new spirit within you, 09:36 I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh 09:39 and I'll give you a heart of flesh. 09:42 I will put My Spirit within you 09:44 and cause you to walk in My statutes, 09:47 and you will keep My judgments and do them. 09:51 Then you would dwell in the land 09:53 I gave to your fathers, 09:54 you shall be My people, and I will be your God." 09:58 What is God saying here? He will give us a new heart. 10:01 He will exchange my stony heart, 10:04 my heart that desires the work of the flesh, 10:07 He's gonna take it out. 10:09 And He is going to give me a heart of flesh. 10:12 A soft heart, a heart that's open to the work 10:17 of the Holy Spirit. 10:18 "In my heart and in my life." 10:21 Caleb is one of my nephews, and when he was five years old, 10:27 he gave me a call on the phone. 10:28 Now this is not unusual 10:29 because every Friday I get to talk to the nephews. 10:33 And so I talk to them 10:35 and it's one's turn and then the next one 10:37 and then the next and they all get their turn. 10:40 Now Caleb usually goes last. 10:42 And not 'cause he is the youngest, 10:43 he just usually goes last, and he said, 10:45 "Aunty Jill, I have something to tell you." 10:48 And I said, "Oh, Caleb, that's great." 10:49 And I am kind of, you know, I got my Bluetooth in, 10:52 I am working around the house, cleaning, it's Friday, 10:54 and just doing my thing, 10:55 and just, "Oh, that's great, Caleb." 10:57 He said, "I asked Jesus into my heart." 11:03 A five years old. 11:05 And for a minute I couldn't even talk, 11:07 you know, just and then he says, 11:10 "Aunty Jill, are you there?" 11:11 And I said, "Yes, sweetie. I am so proud of you. 11:15 That's the best decision you could ever make." 11:19 And he said, "I can't read yet 11:22 'cause I'm little, and I can't read yet. 11:25 But when I want to be mean to my brothers, 11:30 I ask Jesus to help me and He does." 11:34 That is, we could say in a child's viewpoint, 11:38 but it's kind of what we just read in Ezekiel 36, 11:41 that is God taking by the power 11:43 of His Spirit out of that stony heart, 11:46 the hard heart that wants to be mean to your brothers, 11:49 the heart that wants to do the work of the flesh, 11:52 and giving us a heart of flesh, 11:56 working within us the fruit of the Spirit. 12:00 There's another verse I want to look at before 12:03 we jump into the fruit of the Spirit. 12:04 This is found in Galatians 2:20. 12:08 Back to Galatians, Galatians 2:20, 12:11 and you can quote it at home, I am sure. 12:14 "I have been crucified with Christ, 12:17 it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, 12:22 and the life which I now live in the flesh 12:24 I live by faith in the Son of God, 12:28 who loved me and gave Himself for me." 12:33 I think as we want to walk in the spirit, 12:37 as opposed to walking in the works of the flesh, 12:42 not only do we need to ask God for a new heart 12:44 and to give us the heart of flesh, 12:46 He also wants us to die to our self, 12:51 to crucify our own self. 12:57 Have you ever been to a funeral? 13:01 I guess everybody in this room has been to a funeral. 13:04 Now this is no disrespect to someone who has passed. 13:08 But if you go to the funeral, and say, 13:11 the person is there in the coffin, 13:15 can you tempt them with anything? 13:19 So if you were to go up and say, 13:20 "Hey, you want to smoke?" 13:22 Will they all of a sudden jump up and say, yes, 13:24 I want to smoke? 13:26 No, right. Why? 13:28 They are dead, that's right, Linda. 13:30 So you could not tempt them 13:31 with cigarettes or alcohol or pornography. 13:34 You could not tempt them to get mad or bitter or angry. 13:39 You could not tempt them with lust 13:41 or any of those works of the flesh and why is that? 13:45 Because they are dead. 13:48 I think that's the same principle, 13:51 the same place that God wants to bring you and I to. 13:56 I am crucified with Christ. 13:58 It's not me who is living, but Christ lives in me. 14:03 Remember Jesus in John 14. 14:06 Turn with me to John 14:30. 14:13 This is right before 14:14 our opening scripture in John 15. 14:15 John 14:30. 14:18 Jesus is speaking, 14:19 "I will no longer talk much with you, 14:22 for the ruler of this world is coming," meaning Satan, 14:25 "the ruler of this world is coming 14:27 and he has nothing," 14:30 that's right, Cynthia, "he has nothing in Me." 14:33 What is that saying? 14:35 He is entirely, 100% dead 14:40 or crucified, two, there's no nature, 14:43 there's no sinful nature rising up, 14:47 none of that is in him, none of that response. 14:51 When we are connected to the vine, 14:53 as John 15 talks about abiding in Him, 14:57 connected to the life giving sap of Jesus, 15:00 the Holy Spirit flows into us 15:02 and empowers us to live for Christian walk. 15:07 Let's look at, we talked last time 15:11 on the first four fruits of the Spirit. 15:13 Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, 15:18 or patience. 15:19 Now we won't discuss those, 15:20 you can watch it on ASF.3ABN.org. 15:25 But let's go back to Galatians 6 15:27 and let's see what the next fruit 15:28 of the Spirit is. 15:30 So we are starting tonight with fruit number five. 15:34 Galatians 5:22, 15:37 we have love, joy, peace, longsuffering, 15:39 fruit number five is kindness. 15:42 They did a study in 2003 15:46 from people from 37 different countries, 15:49 now that's a fairly comprehensive study, 15:50 you might say a study is comprehensive 15:52 if you just did some people in America 15:54 or just a couple of countries, 15:56 but they did 37 different countries. 15:59 They had 16,000 people involved in the study. 16:02 And they asked them 16:04 what was their most desired trait in a mate. 16:08 So can you imagine what the most desired trait 16:10 would be in a mate? 16:12 Now you might say, 16:13 "Oh, I want him to be handsome." 16:15 Okay, especially if you are young, 16:17 you might think that, right? 16:18 Or, "I want him to provide for me. 16:22 I want a good communicator. 16:24 I want someone who will love me." 16:26 Okay, now this is from the woman's perspective. 16:29 But the number one trait of the 16, 000 people 16:32 in 37 different countries, you know what it was? 16:36 Kindness. Kindness. 16:39 The Greek word 16:40 in Galatians 5:22 is chrestotes, 16:46 and it means sympathetic kindliness 16:49 or sweetness of temper 16:51 which puts others at ease and shrinks from giving pain. 16:58 A synonym would be tenderness or compassion. 17:01 Sweetness. 17:03 Now you notice in the fruit of the Spirit, 17:04 many of them are similar, like they are related. 17:08 So this fruit of kindness is closely related 17:11 to the fruit of goodness. 17:13 Kindness is an attitude of the heart, and really, 17:16 kindness and goodness overlap, 17:18 but kindness is an attitude of the heart. 17:21 And if we think what are steps to kindness? 17:24 How do I incorporate kindness in my life? 17:27 How do I become a more kind person? 17:30 Now we could start with, put on kindness, 17:33 and the Bible says that, and we'll get to that, 17:35 but I think that's step number two. 17:36 I think step number one is to put off the old 17:40 before the new is put on. 17:43 Turn with me to Ephesians, Ephesians 4. 17:49 So number one for kindness is simply to take off hurt. 17:55 Some people want to be kind, 17:58 but there's too much pain in their heart. 18:01 Have you noticed that pain makes us 18:04 self-centered? 18:05 I remember when I was freshmen in college, 18:11 and we ate in the dorm often 18:13 because we didn't like the cafeteria food. 18:18 I think that would be common of anyone who lives in a dorm. 18:21 You think I don't like the café food. 18:22 So we ate in the dorm a lot. 18:24 And I remember once I had an apple 18:26 and I had my knife there, and I was gonna cut my apple 18:29 and I was holding the apple in this hand, 18:32 I am left-handed, 18:33 and I had the knife in my left hand, 18:35 and I was just gonna slice it through the middle, 18:39 so I went and I started and I got about to the middle 18:42 of the apple and it was a little hard, 18:44 and I am holding the apple like this 18:47 and I gave it an extra oomph, and you know what happened? 18:51 This tendon right here, 18:53 the tendon here cut right through it. 18:56 So when you are in pain, 19:00 I wasn't thinking about any upcoming assignment. 19:02 I wasn't thinking about anybody 19:05 that I liked or that I didn't like. 19:07 I was not thinking about any trouble 19:09 I was having with my roommate. 19:11 I wasn't thinking anything but my own pain. 19:14 So in order for us to reach out and be kind, 19:19 we have to put off the hurt that's in our heart. 19:22 Now we are talking physical pain there. 19:25 I remember that same year my grandmother died 19:28 and I was in a class and they called me out 19:34 and I was 500 miles from home. 19:36 And they said, "Your grandma died." 19:40 And I remember going outside and you know, 19:42 it's nice and pretty and all your friends going by 19:47 and I didn't care about any of that, 19:49 like my whole world was sucked into, 19:53 I just lost my grandma, 19:55 like your whole world is around that 19:57 and you can't get outside that to see anything else. 20:00 So the first step to being kind is to put off hurt. 20:05 Turn with me, we are in Ephesians 4, 20:08 Ephesians 4, and I am in 1 Corinthians, 20:10 so it will help if I got to Ephesians. 20:13 Ephesians 4:31, 32. 20:17 "Let all bitterness," 20:18 this is the hurt we are talking about 20:20 that we are to put off. 20:21 "Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, 20:26 and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice." 20:32 The next verse, 20:34 "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, 20:39 forgiving one another, 20:41 even as God in Christ forgave you." 20:44 Did you see that? 20:45 What has to come off before we can put on kindness 20:48 and those other fruit of the Spirit? 20:50 We have to take off bitterness, 20:53 wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking. 20:56 Now we already talked about, 20:58 we can't be the ones to pull it out of our heart. 21:00 I can't say, "Okay, I know, right now 21:03 I am holding bitterness against Iris," 21:05 which I'm not, she is my good sister, 21:07 "and I am holding bitterness here 21:09 and I've got to pull it out." 21:10 No, we can't, we just go to God. 21:12 God, you've seen my heart. 21:14 Will you take out the heart of stone 21:16 and will You give me a heart of flesh? 21:19 So we take off the hurt, then we put on kindness. 21:22 Let's look at Colossians. 21:24 Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 21:26 a couple of books over. 21:27 Colossians 3, the same principle, 21:32 we won't read this verse, but in verse 9, 21:38 it talks about putting off the old man, 21:39 it's this same principle of putting off. 21:42 Then verse 12, 21:43 "Therefore, as the elect of God, 21:45 holy and beloved, 21:47 put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, 21:52 meekness, longsuffering," 21:54 you could almost think 21:55 we are reading the list of the fruit of the Spirit, 21:57 you notice a lot of them are similar, 22:00 "bearing with one another, forgiving one another, 22:03 if anyone has a complaint against another, 22:04 even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do." 22:08 We are to put on kindness. 22:11 To be good and kind is a choice, 22:13 I think, not necessarily a reaction, it's a choice. 22:18 Nothing discredits our Christian testimony 22:21 and ministry more frequently than unkindness. 22:26 Have you ever noticed that? 22:27 Someone that you look up to, that you respect, 22:30 that seems very godly and all of a sudden, 22:32 they react in an unkind manner, a sharp manner, 22:37 a difficult manner, and all of a sudden, 22:40 it discredits the Christian testimony, 22:44 who we are in Jesus. 22:46 Now that doesn't mean we don't fall, we all fall. 22:48 But when that happens, 22:50 1 John 1:9, if we confess our sins, 22:52 He is faithful and just to forgive us 22:54 and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 22:57 And in addition, "Now unto Him," Jude 24, 23:01 "who is able to keep you from falling. 23:04 He can enable us to stand up 23:06 and to walk in kindness toward our brothers and sisters. 23:09 So we take off the hurt, we put on the kindness, 23:12 then we actively look to reach out 23:14 in kindness to other people. 23:15 If you are in the grocery store, 23:18 let someone ahead of you in line and I have too. 23:21 They say confession is what? 23:22 Good for the soul, but hard on the reputation. 23:26 This happened to me just in Walmart. 23:28 I was in line and I had a huge cart full of stuff, 23:32 and the person came just behind me 23:35 with three items. 23:37 And you know what the Holy Spirit said? 23:39 Jill, let them go first. And you know what I did? 23:44 Anyone want to hazard a guess? I did not let them go first. 23:49 You were in a hurry? I was, Linda, I was in a hurry. 23:52 But does that make it right? 23:53 I was standing there thinking, "Oh, I got to get going, 23:55 and I got this appointment and I don't have time." 23:58 Kindness, try letting someone else go first in line, 24:03 pray for someone, that's kindness, reaching out, 24:07 offer to babysit at your friend's house, 24:09 say I am sorry more often, 24:12 look for ways to reach out in kindness. 24:16 Similar to kindness, remember, 24:18 kindness is an attribute of the heart 24:21 that's reached out, is goodness, 24:22 the next fruit of the Spirit is goodness. 24:25 Similar to it is goodness, 24:27 and goodness is actually the actions 24:29 or the reaching out 24:31 of what is actually in the heart. 24:32 Now I have, I don't know if we can get a shot of this, 24:34 I have an orange here. 24:36 So I don't know if you can see this orange, 24:39 would you want to eat this orange? 24:41 It looks kind of nasty, doesn't it? 24:43 Can you see that? 24:44 It's got some green spots, and it's kind of dimpled, 24:48 it's not a good looking orange. 24:50 Now if I were to show you this orange, you'd say, 24:52 "Okay, Jill, I don't want to eat this orange, 24:53 it does not look very good." 24:55 Now what if I were to show you this orange. 24:57 Does this orange look okay to you? 24:59 Now the thing is, you compare the two, 25:01 this one looks pretty bad, this one looks better. 25:04 The thing is, what if, I wish I had had an apple, 25:08 I would have used that illustration, 25:10 but I did not have an apple, 25:11 that's why we brought the oranges. 25:12 Now we can look at the outward fruit, outside, 25:15 and see this does not look very good. 25:17 Now there is a possibility though 25:20 that this orange might be dry, is that accurate? 25:24 This orange might not be very sweet, 25:27 or we are kind of late in the season, 25:29 it might also be sour, 25:31 you know how they start to go off 25:33 you get toward the end of the season, 25:35 kind of like biting into an apple. 25:37 You don't know if there's a worm in it, 25:39 especially if you grow it yourself, 25:40 until you bite in, "Ooh, I just bit into a worm." 25:44 You don't know, you don't see the worm from the outside 25:49 until you get inside. 25:51 So I look at goodness that way. 25:53 We might look okay on the outside 25:54 but what if someone takes a bite out of us, Tracey? 25:57 And they bite in, what are they gonna get? 26:01 What's gonna come out from inside? 26:04 The word in Greek for goodness, 26:06 this is back to our fruit of the Spirit, agatha... 26:11 If I can pronounce it properly, agathosune, 26:16 I did not do a good job with that 26:17 but it means active goodness, benevolence, 26:23 the practice or expression of kindness. 26:26 Goodness is love in action. 26:30 It's being good to other people, 26:32 it's reaching out in love, 26:34 or reaching out the attributes of kindness 26:37 that is exemplified in our heart, 26:38 it's reaching that out to other people. 26:42 I've heard, it said, 26:43 "If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. 26:46 If you want happiness for a day, go fishing." 26:50 Now that might be my husband but to be honest with you, 26:53 if I wanted happiness for a day, 26:55 I wouldn't go fishing. 26:57 It depends on what you enjoy, right? 26:59 I would spend half hour fishing, 27:01 or if I brought a book, 27:03 now I'd enjoy going fishing with my husband. 27:06 "If you want happiness for a month, buy a new car. 27:09 If you want happiness for a year, win the lottery." 27:12 Now we do not advocate that here. 27:14 But people could say, "If you want it for a year," 27:17 the point is it is not lasting, it's fleeting. 27:21 If you want happiness for a lifetime, 27:25 be good to people. 27:27 Why? 27:29 Because there's this saying, 27:30 "What goes around, comes around." 27:34 What you give is gonna in turn come back to you. 27:40 It's gonna come back to you. 27:42 Turn with me to Matthew 5, 27:46 Matthew 5 because what happens when... 27:50 It's easy to be good to those people who are loving. 27:55 It's painless to reach out if you don't have prickles. 28:00 But the real cost, 28:02 the real test for the fruit 28:05 of the Spirit of goodness in our live comes 28:07 when the loving costs me something. 28:10 When it's painful, when it hurts. 28:13 We are in Matthew... 28:17 I think it's chapter 5, 28:18 let me look what I am looking for, 28:20 Matthew 5, yes, Matthew 5, 28:22 part of the Sermon on the Mount. 28:23 Verse 43, "You have heard that it was said, 28:26 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 28:30 But I say to you, love your enemies, 28:34 bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, 28:40 and pray for those who spitefully use you 28:44 and persecute you, 28:46 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven." 28:49 So you notice closely connected, 28:51 he mentioned good, 28:53 it was loving them, these are enemies, 28:55 these are people who hurt us, loving them, blessing them, 28:59 instead of cursing, 29:01 praying for them, doing good to them. 29:05 I remember I got a letter once 29:07 and sometimes you might get a letter 29:11 that's a little critical that says, 29:14 "Jill, why did you wear the pink top tonight?" 29:18 Well, I wore pink 'cause I like pink. 29:19 Okay, whatever. 29:21 But sometimes you get something 29:23 that's a little deeper than that. 29:26 And I got a letter once that was eight pages long. 29:32 And every page had something 29:35 that I was doing wrong, 29:39 or that the person who wrote it felt 29:42 that I needed to grow in, I needed to improve in. 29:49 And I remember, I read the letter 29:51 and then I cried 29:52 and then I read the letter again. 29:54 Why do we do that to ourselves? And then I cried again. 29:58 And Greg said, "Jill, stop reading that letter." 30:02 And so... 30:03 I still have the letter. 30:05 I put the letter away 30:07 and I felt some sort of simmering discontent, 30:13 hurt, pain, against the woman who had sent me the letter. 30:19 And one day, this is how God works, I was just... 30:22 I was not trying to purposely go to this verse. 30:25 I was just there in my morning's devotions. 30:28 I was in Romans, 30:29 if you want to turn there with me. 30:31 Romans 15... 30:38 Romans 15:5. 30:43 "Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you 30:46 to be like-minded toward one another, 30:49 according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind 30:54 and one mouth glorify the God 30:57 and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." 31:00 And as I read that, the Holy Spirit spoke to me, 31:03 I don't mean like in audible voice, 31:05 but he said, "Jill, I want you to glorify me 31:10 with one mind and one mouth. 31:12 Are you in one accord with your sister?" 31:14 And I thought, 31:16 "I don't want to hear that right now. 31:17 I just don't want to think about it. 31:18 God, just don't go there with me. 31:20 So I am gonna keep reading. 31:22 I am not gonna listen to what the Holy Spirit 31:24 is trying to give me. 31:25 I am gonna keep going." 31:27 So I went to the next verse, verse 7, 31:30 "Therefore receive one another, 31:33 just as Christ also received us, 31:37 to the glory of God." 31:39 And as soon as I read that verse, 31:41 the Holy Spirit said, 31:42 "I have received the woman who wrote you the letter, 31:45 I've received her as my daughter. 31:47 Do you not think you can receive her 31:51 as your sister? 31:53 You are my daughter. She is my daughter. 31:56 That makes you sisters. 31:57 Don't you think 31:59 you can receive her as your sister?" 32:01 And I said, "Father, will You do that work? 32:04 'Cause I can't change my heart. It hurts. 32:08 I can't take that out but You can." 32:10 Remember, we started with Ezekiel 36, 32:13 God taking up the heart of stone, 32:15 giving us a heart of flesh, and so I went to God and said, 32:19 "Will You take this out?" 32:20 And you know what the beautiful thing is? 32:22 He did. 32:25 And I wrote her a letter back. 32:28 God said, "Look at that letter of eight pages 32:30 and see what's true in it." 32:32 And you know what? There was a lot of truth. 32:35 "This is what I want you to learn. 32:36 This is how I can help you grow." 32:39 And so I read that 32:41 and I prayed over it and I said, 32:42 "God, grow me in these areas where she pointed out." 32:46 And then I wrote my sister back and I said, 32:49 "Thank you for sharing with me 'cause I needed that." 32:53 And you know what? 32:54 She wrote me back the most beautiful letter, 32:57 and we talk now. 33:00 And you could say friends, I mean, she is not here, 33:03 so it's not like we are, 33:05 you know, we don't see each other all the time 33:06 but what a blessing, God wants to do that, 33:10 God wants to work in us the fruit of goodness 33:13 even when people hurt us, 33:16 when they are, what we would call enemies. 33:19 The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, 33:22 longsuffering, we did kindness, goodness. 33:24 Now let's look at faithfulness. 33:27 Faithfulness, 33:29 the Greek word is pistos, and in the Greek, 33:33 this word is translated either faith or faithfulness. 33:38 And if you read different verses of the Bible, 33:40 some versions of the Bible in Galatians 5 33:42 were translated faith, 33:44 some were translated faithfulness. 33:47 So you could really take either one. 33:49 Faith is always a gift from God and it's never produced by us. 33:54 It only comes from the Lord Jesus Christ. 33:56 But I want to look at it from the faithfulness aspect. 34:00 The character of someone who can be relied on. 34:04 J.D. Quinn often says, and I've taken this, 34:08 he's told me this some time ago 34:10 and I just remember it and take it to heart. 34:13 He said, "It's the right thing to do." 34:17 I don't know if any of you here have heard him say that, 34:19 it was just the right thing to do. 34:22 I was tired and I didn't want to go 34:24 but someone needed prayer, 34:25 it was the right thing to do to call him in prayer. 34:28 I didn't want to go see so and so, 34:29 but it was the right thing to do to go and visit them. 34:32 I didn't want to make my bed, if you were a kid, 34:35 or wash the dishes or do my chores, 34:38 but it's the right thing to do. 34:41 When I get to my desk in the morning, 34:43 "Oh, I don't want to do that email, 34:45 I'd rather do this over here." 34:46 And that email is the right thing to do. 34:51 Faithfulness in those little things. 34:53 J. Hudson Taylor, 34:55 founder of the China Inland Mission, 34:58 one stormy night in Birmingham, England, 35:02 he was supposed to go out and speak at a church, 35:05 and the person said, "No, don't go. 35:08 It's so stormy. Nobody is gonna show up. 35:12 It doesn't matter. Don't go." 35:15 And he said, "I must go. 35:17 Even if no one is there, but the doorkeeper, I must go." 35:23 Well, he showed up and it was a stormy night 35:25 and not a lot of people had come out, 35:28 less than a dozen people. 35:31 So I don't know the exact number, 35:32 they just said less than a dozen, 35:34 so let's suppose there's ten people there. 35:36 You could think, why did they even come out, ten people? 35:42 Of those ten, half of them, 35:47 either went as missionaries themselves, 35:50 or their children 35:52 when they grew up went as missionaries. 35:55 And the other half liberally, 35:58 each one, supported the work, 36:02 the mission work, the work of the China Inland Mission. 36:06 It's an example of faithfulness. 36:08 Faithfulness is serving God regardless of the names, 36:11 or in his case, who showed up. 36:13 Faithfulness is serving God regardless of the numbers, 36:17 or in his case, how many people showed up. 36:20 Faithfulness is serving God regardless of the situation. 36:25 It's just serving God. Deuteronomy 7. 36:31 Deuteronomy 7 talks about the faithfulness 36:34 of our covenant keeping God. 36:37 Deuteronomy 7, 36:40 we are going to look at verse 9. 36:44 "Therefore know that the Lord your God, 36:47 He is God, the faithful God 36:51 who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations 36:56 with those who love Him and keep His commandments." 37:00 You notice, it talks about God being a faithful God, 37:05 and how does he show his faith for this? 37:06 Keeping covenant, showing mercy with each one of us. 37:12 His faithfulness toward us is linked with him 37:15 being a covenant keeping God. 37:17 We see that in the Book of Lamentations. 37:20 Lamentations 3, now Jeremiah wrote 37:24 the Book of Lamentations. 37:25 And the children of Israel were at their, 37:29 you could say one of their bleakest moments 37:31 in their history. 37:32 They were getting ready to be taken captive, they had, 37:36 you could call it the book of regrets, 37:38 they had a lot of difficulties going on, 37:42 and Lamentations, 3, 37:45 and in the whole Book of Lamentations, 37:48 we see God's faithfulness toward us 37:50 because the hardships that the people experienced 37:52 during that time was a result of their unfaithfulness to God. 37:57 So because of their unfaithfulness, 38:00 they were experiencing hardships. 38:02 But even in spite of their unfaithfulness, 38:04 God was still faithful. 38:07 And he showed his faithfulness by judgment. 38:12 That was one of the conditions of the covenant. 38:14 The faithfulness was showed by judgment on the disobedient, 38:18 but it was also shown by restoration 38:22 of the repentant. 38:24 Lamentations 3:22, 38:30 "Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, 38:33 because His compassions fail not. 38:36 They are new every morning, great is Your faithfulness." 38:42 Our covenant keeping God is faithful. 38:45 "The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 38:47 'Therefore I hope in Him!'" 38:52 You know, when I got married to Greg, 38:55 we've been married 15 years this fall, 38:57 it's hard to believe it's been 15 years this fall. 39:01 When I got married to Greg, 39:02 I thought I understood commitment. 39:07 We could say covenant, 39:08 we are talking about God's covenant keeping 39:10 toward us as His people. 39:12 I thought I understood covenant and I loved him 39:15 as much as I knew how to love him 39:17 at that time and it's amazing, 39:19 in marriage, the love deepens and grows. 39:21 But when we got married, I thought, "Surely, 39:23 I can't love him any more than I do now." 39:26 And I am committed and I really thought 39:30 and believed I was. 39:32 But as we entered our marriage, you know what I discovered? 39:36 The depth, the length, the breadth 39:42 of my husband's commitment to me, 39:46 it's deeper than anything I could ever imagine. 39:52 I thought I was committed to him, 39:56 but his commitment to me is deeper than anything 40:00 I could ever think. 40:03 I remember him telling me, 40:04 and this is fairly early in our marriage, 40:07 "No matter what you do Jilly, 40:09 no matter where life plays out, 40:14 no matter if you walk away from God, 40:18 if you walk away from me, no matter what you do, 40:23 I will always be here. 40:25 I will always love you. 40:28 I will always be committed to our marriage." 40:33 The depth of that gives us a glimpse 40:39 of the depth of the love 40:42 of our Father in heaven. 40:43 The depth of his covenant keeping ability, the depth... 40:49 He says, "No matter what you do, 40:51 no matter where you go, 40:53 no matter what you've done in the past, 40:55 no matter what you could do in the future, 40:57 I will always love you. 41:00 I will always be here and committed to you." 41:04 That's what God wants to do. 41:06 It's amazing to me the faithfulness of our God. 41:10 And God calls us to be faithful to Him, 41:15 faithful to each other, 41:17 and faithful in the little things 41:20 or the big things of life in the same fashion. 41:24 Because He is a faithful God 41:26 and He calls us as His people to be a faithful people. 41:32 "Where there is faithfulness to discharge one's duties 41:36 regardless of the results 41:38 there is success in God's sight. 41:41 We are to be faithful to the gifts, the abilities, 41:44 the opportunities that God gives us 41:47 and just leave the results with Him." 41:51 You know Elisabeth Elliot? 41:52 I don't know how many of you are familiar with her. 41:54 She and her husband Jim Elliott, remember, 41:56 they went as missionaries, 41:57 and she was young, and committed, 41:59 and wanted to serve, and follow God, 42:01 and remember what happened? 42:03 Her husband was murdered, 42:05 killed by the very people 42:08 they had gone to save, the very people 42:10 that they had gone to minister to and to lead to Jesus. 42:14 And if you are familiar with her writings, 42:16 she says this a lot, "Do the next thing." 42:21 So she said, after her husband died, 42:23 "What would you want to do?" 42:26 "I don't know. I haven't experienced that." 42:28 Tracy says, go home, right? You would want to go home. 42:30 You'd want to give up, 42:33 you'd want to walk in self-pity, and she said, 42:37 "I told myself, do the next thing." 42:41 What's the next thing? The floor needs to be scrubbed. 42:45 I'll get down and scrub the floor. 42:47 And she said, "I found, as I began to scrub, 42:51 God began to bring healing and comfort to my heart." 42:57 Do the next thing. Sometimes we are afraid. 43:03 God might call us to a task and we'd say, 43:07 "I can't fulfill it. 43:09 God, I can't do it. 43:11 I am not able. It's too big. It's too high. It's too hard." 43:17 And he says, "Do the next thing." 43:21 Sometimes it's the little thing we are called to and I say, 43:24 "This is too little. 43:25 God, I should be over here. 43:27 Why am I scrubbing floors or doing the..." 43:30 Do the next thing. 43:33 Sometimes we are overwhelmed. 43:35 I have too many things on my plate 43:36 and I just can't handle this, what am I going to do? 43:39 Do the next thing. 43:42 That is, walking in faithfulness. 43:46 We have two fruit of the Spirit left. 43:48 I hope we'll get through them all. 43:49 The next one, gentleness. 43:53 In the Greek, it means gentleness 43:57 by implication, humility, meekness. 44:02 Gentleness then is that virtuous quality 44:05 by which we treat all men with perfect courtesy. 44:10 We can rebuke without rancor. 44:13 We can argue without intolerance. 44:15 We can face the truth without resentment. 44:19 We can be gentle and not weak. 44:24 Gentleness is not without power. 44:26 It just chooses to defer to others. 44:29 It chooses to forgive others, to correct with kindness, 44:34 and live in humility, and tranquility toward others. 44:39 You know, in today's culture, we don't honor gentleness. 44:45 Would you say that's accurate? We don't honor humility. 44:48 We are in a culture 44:49 where world class athletes smash 44:52 into each other and we say, "Yes. 44:56 They did a good thing." 44:57 We are in a culture where entertainment 45:01 can even become insults. 45:04 People trade insults with each other, 45:06 like on some reality show, 45:08 and we consider that entertainment, 45:11 and we want to listen to that, we want to watch that. 45:13 We are in a world where pride, 45:17 and me first becomes common, 45:20 not only common, it's accepted and it's applauded. 45:24 We are not in a world where, remember, Matthew 11:28-29, 45:28 Jesus says, "Come to Me, all you who labor 45:31 and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. 45:33 Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, 45:36 for I am meek and lowly in heart," 45:40 the same Greek word, 45:42 "and you shall find rest to your souls. 45:46 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." 45:48 And often, we think meekness is equated with weakness. 45:53 But meekness takes great strength. 45:57 Meekness takes great strength. 46:01 I remember, this was some time ago, 46:04 I met a gentleman. 46:06 And the first words out of his mouth, he looked nice, 46:10 he looked, he was in his suit, he had a nice clean cut, 46:14 a pleasant looking person. 46:15 And the first words out of his mouth 46:18 shattered any presuppositions 46:20 I had in my heart about his likeableness. 46:23 He held his hand out and he said, 46:25 "My name is John Smith." 46:26 That is not his name. "My name is John Smith. 46:29 I am a fabulous pianist." 46:33 And I looked at him, and then he said, 46:36 "You have no idea how well I can play." 46:39 And he proceeded to regale me with stories of how good 46:43 he was and how he did such a good job. 46:46 And I found, I wasn't even listening 46:47 as he talked, I thought in my mind 46:50 of the gifted musicians I do know, 46:53 men and women who make the piano laugh 46:55 and cry and sing and their fingers love 46:58 all over the piano and yet, 46:59 they never talk about their gifts and ability. 47:01 They never build themselves up like, 47:03 "I'm so good." 47:05 They walk in humility, or our word, gentleness. 47:09 So how do we walk in humility? 47:11 It's a hard thing to see yourselves, isn't it? 47:14 The Bible says, "The heart is deceitful above all things 47:17 and desperately wicked." 47:18 Who can know it? 47:20 So I can think, "I am walking in humility," and I am not. 47:24 I could be walking in pride, or arrogance, 47:28 or full of myself and not even be aware of that. 47:32 I think the first step is just to ask God 47:34 to show us our heart. 47:35 Psalm 139:23, 24, 47:37 "Search me, O God, and know my heart, try me, 47:40 and know my thoughts, 47:42 and see if there is any wickedness in me, 47:44 and lead me in the way everlasting." 47:47 I remember I was praying that one morning 47:49 and God showed me a picture of my heart, 47:51 not like a vision, I don't mean that. 47:54 But I saw there, in my lap, 47:56 and it was all clean in the middle, 47:58 and all the way around the edges 48:01 were pockets of diseased tissue. 48:04 And I began to cry 'cause I knew 48:07 that that represented junk in my life, 48:09 I knew that represented something 48:11 that was not pleasing to God. 48:14 But I didn't even know what it was. 48:16 And so I said, "Oh, Father, please show me 48:20 those areas in my life that are not pleasing to you." 48:23 Well, we went throughout the day, 48:25 and that very day 48:26 something happened and instantly, 48:29 my heart responded 48:30 with a critical judgmental spirit. 48:33 And I felt God speak to me and say, 48:36 "That's one of those pockets that I showed you this morning. 48:41 That's one of those pockets I want you to give to me." 48:44 And so what do we do? 48:45 We started with Ezekiel 36, God, 48:47 take out the heart of stone, give me a heart of flesh. 48:51 God, take out that pocket 48:53 of a critical spirit of being prideful, 48:56 give me the spirit of gentleness, 48:58 the spirit of humility. 49:00 We ask God to show us our heart, we behold Jesus. 49:03 Remember Isaiah? 49:05 We won't turn there 'cause of the time 49:06 but remember Isaiah, when he was called to ministry, 49:10 he had already been called as a prophet, 49:12 but remember Isaiah 6, 49:14 when he saw the Lord high and lifted up 49:16 and his train filled the temple, 49:17 remember that vision, and he saw the glory of God, 49:21 and what did he say? 49:23 "Woe is me, for I am undone! 49:26 I am unclean, I dwell in the midst 49:28 of an unclean people, 49:30 for mine eyes have seen the King, 49:32 the Lord of hosts, the Lord of glory." 49:35 And so when we look to Jesus automatically, 49:40 boy, that works in us the spirit of humility, 49:42 that works in us that spirit of gentleness 49:45 because comparing myself with someone else, 49:48 maybe in something I'd be better than them, 49:50 and then a lot of things I'd be worse than them. 49:52 But if I look at Jesus, always, 49:55 it shows it in the proper perspective 49:57 and I see who he is as opposed to me. 50:01 Ask God to show us our heart, behold him, 50:03 spend time in others, focus on others, 50:06 sorry, spend time in His Word, focus on others. 50:11 Pray for humility. 50:13 And then the last fruit of the Spirit, self-control. 50:18 I wonder why this one is listed last. 50:21 Ooph. Self-control. 50:25 It comes from the word crotos, originally, 50:29 which means holding one's self in. 50:34 This particular Greek word occurs only four times 50:38 in the New Testament. 50:40 Self-control. 50:42 It proceeds out from within one self, 50:45 not by one self. 50:47 So in other words, 50:48 it doesn't come because of my own power, 50:51 it comes from the Lord Jesus Christ. 50:53 It can be accomplished only by the power of the Lord. 50:56 You know, they did a study 50:59 and I'm sure you've all heard it, 51:02 the marshmallow test. 51:03 They did, yes, years ago. 51:05 Walter Mischel, 51:07 he was a professor at Stanford University, 51:09 and he developed this test. 51:12 They took three to five year olds. 51:15 And they gave them this test. 51:16 Now I have a Twix bar here, chocolate covered, 51:21 smells pretty good. 51:23 So they put, sometimes it was an Oreo cookie, 51:26 or a marshmallow, or a pretzel stick, 51:28 it depended on what the kids really liked. 51:32 And they told them, I'm gonna put this right here 51:34 in front of you, right there. 51:37 Now I'll leave the room for 15 minutes. 51:42 If you don't eat that, Lorrie, for 15 minutes, 51:47 you'll get another one, when you come back, 51:48 you can have two. 51:50 So they tracked this and studied these kids. 51:55 Some of them would cover their eyes 51:56 with their hands like this 51:57 so they didn't have to look at the Oreo cookie 52:00 or the marshmallow sitting there in front of them. 52:02 Some of them would turn around. 52:04 That way, I am not looking at the temptation behind me. 52:07 Some of them would 52:09 actually kick the desk, or I guess, 52:12 this had to be a girl, they said, 52:14 they pulled down their pigtails, 52:15 so you know that's got to be a girl, 52:18 or some of them would pick up the marshmallow and stroke it, 52:22 maybe thinking, "Ah, I am gonna eat you soon, 52:25 I am gonna eat you soon," 52:27 I don't know what they thought. 52:28 So they tracked them. 52:30 And then years later, 52:31 now this study was done years ago, 52:33 they tracked those kids, and they found 52:37 that as they grew into adulthood, 52:39 and now the kids that they did are, 52:41 what did they say, 40s 50s, I think, they are middle-aged. 52:45 They found that 52:46 they had higher SAT scores in high school. 52:49 They did better in college. 52:52 Later in life, they had earned more advanced degrees, 52:56 they did less drugs, they coped better with stress. 53:02 Self-control, now when I look at that, 53:07 I think of all the fruit of the Spirit, 53:08 this one is the hardest one for me, 53:10 I am just being very frank with you. 53:11 Self-control could be, boy, 53:14 I really want a piece of chocolate today, 53:16 or it could be, I really want to go over 53:18 and give so and so a piece of my mind 53:21 because I am mad at them, self-control, 53:24 to hold yourself from saying that, right? 53:27 Or it could be, "I am married... 53:33 but I like the way he treats me over here, 53:36 and I think he is kind of cute," 53:38 allowing my mind to step outside of the bounds 53:41 of marriage, or being single, 53:44 and walking, instead of in purity, 53:47 starting to walk in lust towards someone else. 53:49 So self-control takes many different facets. 53:53 How do we develop self-control? 53:56 True self-control is not about brining my self 54:00 under my own control. 54:02 Any time we do that, guess what happens? 54:04 We fail miserably. 54:07 It is about brining my self 54:10 under the power of the Holy Spirit. 54:14 It's about surrender. 54:17 It's not saying no in my own strength, 54:21 it's saying it through the power 54:22 of the Lord Jesus Christ. 54:23 Remember when we, toward the beginning, 54:26 one of the foundational scriptures was Galatians 2:20, 54:29 I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless, 54:31 not I live but Christ lives in me. 54:35 Let's turn to Luke 9:23, 54:37 we use this as our last scripture. 54:39 Luke 9:23.. 54:45 Matthew, Mark, Luke, Luke 9:23. 54:57 Now remember, the Jews thought 55:00 that Jesus was coming to set up an earthly kingdom. 55:03 They thought that He would break 55:04 the Roman yoke. 55:06 They thought that He would do all this stuff, and instead, 55:10 He came gently, with humility, meekly, 55:15 and His kingdom was not of this world, 55:19 but they didn't understand it at that time, 55:21 so the principles that Jesus taught, 55:23 you think about the Sermon on the Mount 55:25 were vastly opposed to what they believed, 55:30 to what they had been taught in the synagogue. 55:32 We are in Luke 9:23, and I could say, 55:36 not only for the Jews, but for you and I today, 55:39 this goes counter against to our own heart 55:41 and our own life, 55:42 what we want, our cardinal nature, 55:44 "Then He said to them all, 55:46 'If anyone desires to come after Me, 55:49 let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, 55:54 and follow Me. 55:56 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, 55:59 but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 56:05 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, 56:07 and is himself destroyed or lost?'" 56:11 "If anyone desires to come after Me," verse 23, 56:13 "let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, 56:18 and follow Me." 56:20 Self-control is entirely Jesus', 56:24 bringing myself under His control 56:26 but it takes a death to myself, 56:29 it takes choosing His way as opposed to my way. 56:33 So I don't know how you feel tonight. 56:36 You might feel like the rubber band, 56:38 being stretched, ah, the flesh, the fruit of the flesh, 56:42 the work of that is pulling me this way. 56:46 But I know that 56:47 the Holy Spirit's pulling in on this side. 56:49 I know the Holy Spirit's wooing my heart. 56:54 God wants to give us a victory. 56:57 God wants to enable you 56:58 and I to walk in the fruit of the Spirit 57:02 as opposed to the work of the flesh. 57:05 It's not anything that we could do. 57:08 It comes from saying yes to Jesus, 57:11 being connected to the vine, 57:13 dying to self and letting Him live inside. 57:16 So I just want to encourage you 57:18 that God is a covenant keeping God, 57:21 and what He has promised, 57:23 He is able to fulfill in your life 57:26 and in mine, so give Him a chance. 57:29 Ask Him to come into your life and say, 57:32 "My heart is a heart of stone but, oh, Father, 57:36 by the power of Your Spirit, 57:38 will You take out the heart of stone? 57:40 Will You work in me the heart of flesh? 57:43 Will You change me into the image of Jesus?" 57:46 And He wants to work in your heart and in mine, 57:49 the fruit of love, joy, peace, 57:52 patience, kindness, goodness, 57:56 gentleness, and self-control. 57:58 Let Him do the work and give Him glory 58:02 for what He has done in your life. 58:03 Let's pray. 58:04 Father, we come before You in the name of Jesus, 58:06 and we thank You for what You want to do 58:09 in our lives. 58:10 We thank You that it's never us who does the work. 58:14 You are the one who works in us and through us both to will 58:17 and to do of your good pleasure. 58:19 So we give You permission right now 58:21 to change us into Your image, 58:24 and we thank You in the precious 58:26 and holy name of Jesus. 58:28 Amen. |
Revised 2018-09-24