Participants:
Series Code: SSP
Program Code: SSP000007A
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00:01 The Bible tells us,
00:02 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 00:05 and the Word was God." 00:07 It says, "To receive with meekness the implanted Word, 00:11 which is able to save your souls." 00:13 "And to be diligent to present yourself approved to God... 00:17 rightly dividing the Word of truth." 00:20 Join us now for the 3ABN Sabbath School Panel. 00:24 Our study today is, 00:26 "The Holy Spirit and Spirituality." 00:32 Hello, and welcome to 3ABN Sabbath School, 00:35 we are so thankful that you've taken the time 00:37 to tune in to study God's Word with us. 00:40 We're talking about 00:41 the Holy Spirit and Spirituality, 00:44 and if you've studied the lessons leading up to this one, 00:46 you know that we are in for a deep sea-diving experience, 00:49 amen, panel. 00:51 Amen. 00:52 And speaking of panel we have a group of people 00:53 that you may have met before, 00:55 you may know as members of our 3ABN family, 00:58 each one has a different hat 00:59 but we wear many hats here at 3ABN. 01:01 But I'd like to introduce to you 01:03 those who will be walking us through the lessons day by day 01:06 and after we introduce to you, 01:08 we'll let you know 01:09 where to get a copy of the lesson 01:11 so that you can download that and also follow along with us. 01:15 To my immediate left is Mollie Steenson, 01:17 the Vice President and General Manager of 3ABN. 01:20 Mollie, good to have you here. 01:21 Well, thank you very much. 01:23 And what day are you gonna be covering? 01:24 I'm going to be covering Monday. 01:25 Okay. 01:27 You're doing Sunday and to my left is Jill Morikone 01:29 and she's gonna be doing... 01:31 Tuesday. 01:32 Tuesday, and Jill is the Administrative Assistant 01:35 to the president of 3ABN and she does a wonderful job 01:39 and in her own right, Jill, 01:40 you always bless me 01:42 when you're teaching sabbath school, 01:43 appreciate you so much. 01:44 Praise the Lord. 01:46 It's a privilege to be here with the panel, 01:47 with men and women of God. 01:49 And, Brian, it's a privilege to introduce you, 01:51 we so appreciate you and your wife Diane... 01:53 Thank you. 01:54 You are our 3ABN CFO but you're a man of God 01:57 and a man who seeks to open up the Word of God, 01:59 I love the clarity with which you share the Word of God 02:02 and thank you for being here. 02:03 Oh, praise the Lord, thank you. 02:05 And to my left is Shelley Quinn. 02:09 Shelley works with developing our new programs 02:12 and also in developing the opens and closes, 02:16 working with the people. 02:17 She wears a number of different hats here. 02:19 Yes, yes. 02:20 But I think for me, the thing that 02:23 stands out the most about Shelley is that 02:25 she's a student of the Word of God. 02:27 Yes, she is. 02:28 And she loves Jesus and, Shelley, 02:29 welcome to the team here. 02:31 Thank you. 02:32 Well, we're just so glad you're joining us from home 02:34 and this panel always brings out 02:37 different perspectives, 02:39 so it's a lot of fun to study the Word with different people. 02:42 And we're so thankful that 02:44 our pastor of Thompsonville Seventh-day Adventist Church, 02:48 John Lomacang, is with us today 02:50 and you are our anchor for today, 02:52 thank you so much for all that you do for the glory of God. 02:56 Amen. 02:57 You know, I think it'll be good 02:58 if we could have a word of prayer 03:00 before we get into the topic but before we pray, 03:01 here's where you can get a copy of the lesson, 03:03 you go to this website, absg, 03:06 that's absg.adventist.org 03:11 to download a copy of the lesson for this quarter 03:14 and it is lesson number seven, 03:16 covering February 11th to February 17th 03:19 and the topic is 03:20 "The Holy Spirit and The Fruit of The Spirit." 03:23 And we also like to encourage you, 03:25 while we're studying here, 03:27 do also look for a local church 03:30 where you can find fellowship... 03:31 Amen. 03:33 And time of study together 03:34 because while it's great to watch on television, 03:36 we surely do support that. 03:38 We also want you to have the fellowship that comes 03:40 only as you could rub shoulders 03:41 with your brothers and sisters in Christ but, 03:44 Mollie, would you begin with a word of prayer for us? 03:46 Thank you, I'd love to. 03:47 Holy Father, we come before you 03:49 in the name of Jesus, 03:50 and we praise you, and we thank you, God, 03:52 for this opportunity to break the bread of life, 03:56 to share with others what you have placed 03:59 within our hearts and to receive 04:01 from our brothers and sisters what you have given them. 04:04 So, Lord, we pray for everyone that's listening today, 04:07 that you'll open up their hearts, 04:08 that this Word will go forth, 04:10 it'll take root and it will produce bountifully 04:12 in every one of us, 04:14 that's our prayer 04:15 in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 04:17 Amen. 04:19 As the anchor person, 04:20 I'm gonna lay some introduction to the lesson and, 04:23 kind of, give you a charted course 04:25 as to how we're gonna walk through the lesson 04:27 but the Holy Spirit and The Fruit of The Spirit, 04:30 now we're gonna talk amongst ourselves 04:31 and I give you all 04:33 since this is, I'm not on Sunday yet, 04:35 give you the option to chime in 04:37 when we talk about fruit of the Spirit. 04:39 You know, the Spirit of God works in various ways. 04:43 Long before the fruit show up, 04:45 He has another function prior to that. 04:48 You'll notice as the Bible speaks about 04:50 the work of the Holy Spirit, 04:51 He comes to convict, 04:54 He also comes to convert, 04:56 He also comes to transform. 04:57 That's right. Yes. 04:59 And the first work that 05:00 the Spirit of God does on us is He works on us. 05:03 You know, before the fruit can show up, 05:05 the tree has to be planted, the seed has to germinate, 05:10 there has to be a living connection between 05:12 the vine and the branch. 05:14 And the fruit then grows gradually 05:18 and then the fruit will appear eventually 05:20 and so one of the first things that you'll discover 05:23 as we talk about the Holy Spirit, 05:25 the most important work I believe that 05:27 the Holy Spirit starts out with on all of us, 05:29 on all of humanity, 05:31 is to first of all convict the world of sin. 05:34 Yes. 05:35 Because unless we are at the place 05:37 where we had met that we are sinners... 05:39 Yes. 05:40 We would never see our need of being connected to the vine, 05:43 we'll try to do works of our own 05:45 and Matthew 7:21-23 is a constant reminder, 05:49 let's look at that very quickly. 05:51 Matthew 7:21-23 is the constant reminder 05:55 as to why we should never trust in ourselves 05:58 and think that our works are sufficient 06:01 for our salvation in Christ. 06:04 Matthew 7:21-23. 06:07 One of the thoughts that if this is possible, 06:11 made my hear stand on any one day is, 06:14 once someone said that many of the things 06:17 that happen in the Christian church can continue to go on 06:19 if the Spirit of God was withdrawn. 06:21 Yeah, that's right. See many... 06:23 Ain't that sad? 06:25 See we are sometimes program-oriented, 06:28 we are event-oriented. 06:30 We are sometimes concert-oriented. 06:33 We wanna do seminars 06:35 and we sometimes are community outreach-oriented, 06:37 all these things are important 06:39 but unless we have a connection with God, 06:42 these are just good works. 06:43 That's right. That's true. 06:45 And somebody is gonna be blessed by the good works. 06:47 But we are not yet at the place where we identify with Christ. 06:50 Shelley, do you have that text for us? 06:51 Matthew 7:21-23. 06:53 Read that for us. 06:54 Matthew 7:21-23, 06:56 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord, ' 06:58 shall enter the kingdom of heaven, 07:00 but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 07:05 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, 07:08 have we not prophesied in Your name, 07:10 cast out demons in Your name 07:12 and done many wonders in Your name?' 07:14 And then I will declare to them, 07:16 I never knew you, 07:18 depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness". 07:22 So Lord is saying, "I know what you did for Me, 07:25 but you didn't do it through Me." 07:27 Yes. 07:28 'Cause I don't even identify with it. 07:29 You've done many wonderful works, 07:31 it's sad to think, 07:32 you even cast out demons, which in essence says, 07:35 since the Lord didn't do it, 07:37 the devil made it appear as though 07:40 someone was demon-possessed 07:41 and then he removed it 07:43 for people to get the credit that 07:44 God was involved, but He said, "I didn't do that. 07:45 I don't even know who you are." 07:47 And then He said, 07:48 "You'll do many wonderful works in My name." 07:49 So I wanna lay the foundation by letting you know, 07:52 the Holy Spirit is not given to us 07:57 just to do good works, 08:00 but without the Holy Spirit, we can't do good works. 08:04 That's right. We can do works. 08:06 They've done many wonderful works 08:08 but they were not Spirit led works. 08:11 People's lives would change, 08:12 people will transform but the Lord said, 08:15 "I wasn't involved in that." 08:16 So John 15, I'll go to Sunday. 08:18 So the point is, first of all, 08:20 the Holy Spirit starts by working on us, 08:23 and then the fruits show up when He starts working in us. 08:27 So when a person comes to conviction, 08:29 we call that, 08:30 when they accept the reality, the truth about themselves, 08:33 we call that justification. 08:35 The Lord deals with us. 08:36 He justifies us by His righteousness. 08:38 He imparts to us the daily strength 08:41 and the beauty of His righteousness 08:43 because we have allowed Him to work on us. 08:45 Amen. 08:46 But when the Spirit now brings us to conversion, 08:49 He starts to work in us and, Mollie, 08:53 only then as He works in us 08:55 will the fruit begin to show up. 08:56 Have you ever seen a tree where people's, 08:58 do have a lot orange groves 09:00 and we find people putting oranges on the tree? 09:02 No. 09:04 How do we get the oranges? 09:05 The oranges are on the branches. 09:06 That's right. 09:08 And if you want to, 09:09 if the oranges don't have enough water in them, 09:12 do you water the orange? 09:14 What do you water? That's good. 09:16 You always go to the root. 09:17 That's right. Always water the root. 09:19 So Jesus is the living water. Yeah, it's true. 09:21 Even that applies, very good point made. 09:23 Even the living water flows from the roots, 09:27 through the vine, through the tree, 09:30 to the branches, then to the fruit. 09:32 So we couldn't even claim 09:34 to have the Spirit of God in our lives, 09:35 we couldn't even claim any source of our own... 09:37 Yeah. 09:38 The sap flowing from the root, through the tree, to us, 09:42 makes all the difference. 09:43 So the second thing is He works, 09:45 first on us, then in us. 09:47 Amen. 09:48 And then, I know that you're gonna deal 09:50 with this later about gifts. 09:52 The gifts doesn't show up, that's the third evidence. 09:55 He works on us, in us for the fruit, 09:57 and then through us. 09:59 But one of the questions asked on Sunday is in John 15, 10:04 we'll look at that 10:05 and verse 1-11 is the focal point. 10:07 But the question that comes to us first is, 10:11 why can fruit come forth only out of a living relationship 10:17 with Jesus divine? 10:19 Why is abiding in Jesus so important 10:23 and how do we abide in Jesus? 10:24 Look at John 15. 10:26 Now I wanna read through these in 10:27 and even though it's my day, 10:29 I'm gonna give you all the latitude 10:30 and freedom to comment also, 10:32 because I think that each of us has a different viewpoint 10:34 when we read the scripture. 10:35 Jesus said, John 15:1, "I am the vine, 10:38 My Father is the vine dresser." 10:40 Meaning He's the one watering me, 10:43 "Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, 10:46 He takes away and every branch that bears fruit, 10:49 He prunes that it may bear more fruit. 10:54 You are already clean, 10:56 you are already clean 10:57 because of the Word which I have spoken to you." 10:59 He's talking to His disciples. 11:01 "Abide in Me, and I in you, 11:03 as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, 11:05 unless it abides in the vine. 11:10 Neither can you, unless you abide in Me, 11:14 I am the vine..." 11:15 Verse five, "You are the branches. 11:17 He who abides in Me, and I in Him bears..." 11:20 What? Much fruit. 11:21 "Much fruit and for without Me, you can do..." 11:24 Nothing. 11:25 "Nothing." 11:27 Now this is powerful, this is the transition. 11:28 "If anyone does not abide in Me, 11:30 he is cast out as a branch and is withered. 11:33 And they gather them and throw them into the fire 11:36 and they are burned." 11:37 Meaning, when we are disconnected from Christ, 11:39 we are firewood, we're kindling. 11:42 There you go. 11:43 We have no value because there's no sap in our lives, 11:46 nothing living there. 11:48 But He says in verse seven, 11:49 "If you abide in Me and My word abide in you, 11:52 you will ask what you desire and..." 11:54 What's the promise, Shelley? 11:55 "And it shall be done for you." 11:57 "It shall be done for you." 11:58 And then verse eight. 12:00 Mollie, read verse 8 to 11 for us. 12:02 "By this My Father is glorified, 12:04 that you bear much fruit 12:06 and so you will be My disciples. 12:08 Love and joy perfected. 12:10 As the Father loved me, 12:12 I also have loved to abide in My love. 12:15 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, 12:19 just as I have kept My Father's commandments 12:22 and abide in His love. 12:24 These things I have spoken to you, 12:26 that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full." 12:31 And so answering the question, 12:34 why fruit can't come forth 12:37 except only in a living relationship? 12:38 First of all, we made the point already. 12:41 The vine is the source of life. 12:44 The sap flowing from the vine can only get to the fruit 12:48 if the branches are connected to the vine. 12:51 Yeah. 12:52 I mean, we've seen that before. 12:53 Severe the vine, 12:55 and the thought that came to be as I was studying the lesson 12:57 and this is the importance of abiding in Christ every day, 13:00 'cause sometimes, Brian, 13:02 we could abide in Christ, we say on Sabbath morning, 13:03 we get through the work week, 13:05 we fought our way through the difficulty of life 13:07 and through the hardships of family 13:08 and we get to the church on Sabbath morning, 13:10 we'll say, "Now we're connected." 13:12 That's a dangerous thing. 13:13 Amen. That's right. 13:15 How often should we be connected? 13:16 We need to be connected every day. 13:17 In fact, hourly. 13:19 That's right. That's true. 13:20 All through out our day, 13:22 we ought to be having some kind of communion... 13:25 Amen. 13:26 As we are passing through the day with God. 13:28 And, Shelley, I thought about it. 13:29 I said, at what point in the growth of the fruit 13:32 in any vineyard does the vine say, 13:35 "I don't need to stay connected today, 13:36 I need a few hours break." 13:38 Think about that. 13:40 There's no point in, we lived in California, 13:42 we went to Napa Valley, my wife and I many times, 13:45 rode our bikes through the great vineyards, 13:47 at no point did I see the vines laying on the ground 13:50 and back on the branch the next day, 13:52 they were always connected. 13:54 And so here's the point I wanna make very carefully, 13:56 unless we have a daily abiding in Christ... 13:59 That's right. 14:00 Connecting with Him through the study of His Word, 14:02 Him speaking to us, 14:03 and praying for the Holy Spirit as the lesson says, 14:06 so that we could speak to God, 14:09 unless we are abiding, the vine supplies the life, 14:12 the branch conveys the life. 14:15 Oh, that's good. 14:16 The vine is the source, the branch is the recipient. 14:19 So the blessing, Jill, 14:21 is what blessing do we get abiding in Christ? 14:25 What kind of lesson do we get? We get everything. 14:27 I mean, we get the life giving power of the Holy Spirit, 14:30 we get transforming power, we can't live apart from Jesus, 14:35 apart from the vine. 14:36 It reminds me and I don't know the scripture, so maybe, 14:40 I shouldn't bring this up right now 14:41 but it seems like in Romans, is it, 14:43 where it talks about some wild olive shoots are grafted in? 14:46 Right. 14:48 Is it Romans? 14:49 It's encouraging to me, because no matter where we are, 14:52 we can always be grafted into the vine 14:54 and receive that life giving nourishment in sap. 14:58 I think of it as... 15:00 It is the Holy Spirit who unites us with Christ. 15:02 That's right. 15:03 And Ephesians 3:17 says 15:06 that it's as the power of the Spirit is in us, 15:08 that Christ abides in our heart 15:10 or dwells in our heart by faith. 15:12 So I think of the vine, 15:14 the vine obviously is Jesus Christ, 15:17 the sap... 15:18 Yeah. 15:19 Is the Spirit's anointing power is 15:21 what I think of that acronym. 15:23 It is the spirit, 15:25 so we have to have the Holy Spirit in our life. 15:27 That's right. 15:28 To try to be united with Christ, 15:29 to be united with the vine 15:31 and that is where the life giving power is. 15:35 That's so important 15:36 and this is the point I wanna make. 15:37 You know, verse two talks about, 15:41 "Every branch that bears fruit, He prunes." 15:45 When I read that, I thought, 15:46 "Oh, now I know why trails come." 15:48 Yes. 15:50 Now I know why the Lord allows difficulty to come our way 15:53 because it's the quotation, 15:55 one of my favorite quotations by Ellen White, she says, 15:58 "How will the pruning process be necessary, 16:01 unless there are obstacles to surmount?" 16:06 Trials, to bear burdens, to face, 16:10 this process would not be possible, 16:12 the pruning wouldn't be possible 16:14 except difficulty came our way. 16:16 And so the other point I wanna make 16:18 before I transition to give it to Mollie, is, 16:22 go to Matthew 24:32. 16:25 The Lord gave this to me to help me see 16:27 the branch concept in a way that 16:31 I had never seen it before, 16:33 because Jesus is the vine and we are the... 16:36 Branches. We're the branch. 16:37 So look at this, this is powerful. 16:39 Matthew 24:32, I'll read it, it says, 16:42 "Now learn this parable from the fig tree 16:45 when its branch has already become tender 16:47 and puts forth leaves, 16:50 you know that the summer is near." 16:52 Now before the fruits show up, the leaves show up. 16:55 But what condition does the branch need to be in, 16:58 in order for that to happen? 16:59 Tender. 17:00 Say it again, Shelley. 17:02 Tender. Tender. 17:03 Now go to I Peter 3:8. 17:04 Thank you, Lord, for this revelation, tender. 17:08 In order for the branch to produce fruit, 17:11 they have to be tender, 17:13 which means we can't be hard Christians, 17:15 we can't be brash Christians, we can't say, 17:20 I love you only because Jesus is in my life. 17:23 If it wasn't for God I wouldn't love you, 17:24 we got to be tender. 17:25 Look at I Peter 3:8, who has that? 17:27 You have that, Brian? 17:28 No. Okay. 17:29 Do you have it, Jill? Yeah. 17:31 I Peter 3:8. 17:32 "Finally, all of you be of one mind, 17:33 having compassion for one another, 17:35 love as brothers, 17:36 be tenderhearted, be courteous." 17:38 And Ephesians 4:32, 17:40 and then I'll share it to Mollie here. 17:43 Ephesians 4:32, 17:45 matter of fact, I have it, let me go ahead and read it. 17:46 And it says, "And be kind to one another, 17:49 tenderhearted, forgiving one another, 17:53 even as God in Christ forgave you." 17:55 Amen. 17:57 So if we say that we have the fruit, 17:58 love, joy, peace, 18:00 longsuffering, gentleness, meekness, patience, 18:03 can I add another one? 18:05 Tenderness. 18:06 Tenderness, yeah. I like it. 18:08 Tenderness, you could say you have all that 18:10 but if you're not a tender Christian, 18:11 you're still not connected 18:12 because unless you're tender, 18:14 you can't put forth leaves 18:16 and the fruits are not gonna show up. 18:17 So I would say the precursor to the fruit showing up, 18:20 you got to be a tender Christian, amen. 18:23 Amen. That's right. 18:24 Mollie, take us to the next day. 18:26 Okay, the next one, 18:27 Monday, is the fruit of love 18:30 and our memory verse was Galatians 5:21-22. 18:34 Okay. 18:36 And was it 21 and 22? No. 18:38 Yeah, Galatians 5:23. 22 and 23. 18:40 Yes. Okay. 18:41 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, 18:43 joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, 18:45 goodness, faithfulness, against which there is no..." 18:48 No law. "No law." 18:49 So again, I'm looking at the fruit of love 18:53 and so I ask the question, 18:55 why is love mentioned first 18:58 in the list of the fruits of the Spirit? 19:00 And so let's address that. 19:02 Why would fruit be listed first? 19:04 Jill, why you think... Love. 19:05 Why would love be listed first? 19:07 Pardon me, why would love be listed first? 19:09 I think without love, you can't have anything else. 19:11 In I Corinthians 13, 19:12 "The greatest of these is love." 19:14 But the essence of God's character is love. 19:16 So if we don't have that divine essence in us, 19:22 none of the rest of the fruits are even gonna grow. 19:23 Or more specifically, God is love. 19:25 God is love. 19:27 And we're going to look at all of these, 19:28 in looking at these, in looking at joy, 19:32 peace, longsuffering, kindness, 19:34 goodness, faithfulness, 19:35 every one of those emanates from love. 19:39 That's from the love in your heart. 19:40 Love is the foundation. 19:41 If you don't have love is that foundation in your heart, 19:44 the rest aren't going to be there either. 19:46 So first, we have love. 19:48 Now I want us to go to I Corinthians 13:1-13. 19:53 This is going to be a lot of reading 19:54 but I think it's vital that we do read it, 19:57 so I'm gonna get some help from this 20:00 illustrious panel to help me read. 20:03 I will start and then, Jill, 20:05 I'm gonna ask you to finish if that will be okay with you. 20:07 All right. 20:08 I Corinthians 13, starting in verse one. 20:11 "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, 20:14 but have not love, 20:16 I have become a sounding brass, 20:18 or a clanging cymbal." 20:19 Again, the fruit of love. 20:21 "And though I have the gift of prophecy, 20:23 and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, 20:25 and though I have all faith, 20:27 so that I could remove mountains, 20:29 but have not love, I am nothing. 20:33 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, 20:35 and though I give my body to be burned, 20:37 but have not love, it profits me nothing. 20:40 Love suffers long, and is kind, love does not envy, 20:44 love does not parade itself, is not puffed up, 20:46 does not behave rudely, 20:48 does not seek its own, 20:51 is not provoked, thinks no evil." 20:54 Jill. 20:56 "It does not rejoice in iniquity, 20:58 but rejoices in the truth. 21:00 Bears all things, believes all things, 21:03 hopes all things, endures all things. 21:06 Love never fails." That's right. 21:08 "But whether there are prophecies, 21:10 they will fail. 21:11 Whether there are tongues, they will cease. 21:13 Whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 21:16 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 21:20 But when that which is perfect has come, 21:23 then that which is in part will be done away. 21:26 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, 21:29 I understood as a child, I thought as a child, 21:32 but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 21:36 For now we see in a mirror dimly, 21:38 but then face to face, 21:40 now I know in part, 21:41 but then I shall know just as I also am known. 21:45 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three. 21:48 But the greatest of these is love." 21:50 That's right. 21:52 The greatest of these is love. 21:55 Why is love mentioned as the greatest? 22:00 That's the more discussion. 22:02 Brian, why would the scripture tell us 22:06 that the greatest of these is love? 22:08 What is your understanding of that? 22:11 Well, if God is love, 22:14 that's His very essence of His being. 22:18 Everything emanates from that and so that's the greatest. 22:24 He is the greatest. 22:26 And to have that attribute of God 22:29 in us is the greatest thing we could seek for, in my mind. 22:34 Anybody else got something 22:36 they would like to share with about that? 22:38 I think of any time we're thinking of "How?" 22:41 The Bible says that God pours His love into our hearts 22:43 by the power of the Holy Spirit. 22:44 So this isn't, we're not talking about 22:46 a human kind of love. 22:48 We're talking about God's divine love, 22:50 that it's a self sacrificing love, 22:52 but I always think of 22:53 I Thessalonians 3: 12-13. 23:00 It says, I Thessalonians 3: 12, 23:03 "May the Lord make you increase and abound..." 23:07 Now who's doing the work? The Lord. 23:09 "May the Lord make you increase and abound in love 23:12 to one another and to all just as we do to you. 23:15 So that He may..." 23:17 Here's the purpose. 23:18 "That He may establish your hearts blameless and holiness." 23:21 So the more of the love, as Brian said, 23:25 "This is the essence of God." 23:27 The more love we have, 23:29 the more we become holy and separated from sin. 23:32 I mean, more of God's love that we allow to flow in, 23:35 more holy and separated from sin 23:37 and as you said earlier, 23:38 than all the rest of these fruits, 23:41 actually love is the beginning of this 23:44 where all the rest of the fruit come up. 23:45 I John 4:8 tells us. 23:48 "He who does not love does not know God." 23:54 And we've said this earlier, "For God is love." 23:56 But it tells us that if we don't love... 24:00 And I don't know. 24:03 I know at some point we're going to look at this. 24:05 But the love of God is shared shed abroad in your heart, 24:08 by the Holy Ghost which is given. 24:09 So this love is in our heart and it may need to grow and, 24:13 you know, love in our heart can grow 24:15 as we spend time with God and as that continues to grow. 24:19 God's love is the foundation 24:21 and source of every other goodness 24:24 that's going to outflow from us. 24:26 And John 13:35. 24:28 I love this scripture. 24:30 "By this will all know that you are my disciples." 24:34 Do you want to be known 24:35 as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ? 24:36 That's right. 24:38 How will you be known 24:39 as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ? 24:41 Again this is John 13:35, it goes on to say, 24:45 "If you have love one for another." 24:49 And... 24:50 Jesus gave His disciples, 24:54 now we're talking about the inner circle. 24:56 Those who had been with Him for a long time, 25:00 seen all of His miracles, heard all of His teachings, 25:03 right before He ascended, Pastor John, 25:06 He gave His disciples 25:08 what He called a new commandment 25:11 and that would be John 13:34. 25:16 He says, "A new commandment I give to you, 25:20 that you do..." 25:21 What? Love. 25:23 "That you love one another as I have loved you, 25:26 that you love one another". 25:27 Now you would think these men, 25:30 they had spent all this time with Him, 25:33 surely they would need to be encouraged to love. 25:36 Surely that was working within them. 25:38 But what do we find in those disciples 25:42 right before His ascension? 25:45 Remember, those that were arguing 25:47 and bickering about who was gonna be the greatest? 25:50 Who was gonna sit on His right? 25:52 Two of them, their mother came to Him and said, 25:55 "Can my sons sit on your right side 25:56 and your left side?" 25:58 Well, He knew something wasn't quite working 25:59 right in these men's hearts and in His inner circle, 26:03 there was also one that was going to betray Him. 26:07 So He talked to His disciples, these men, and He told them, 26:12 "A new commandment I give you, that you love one another." 26:16 And I Corinthians 13:13. 26:19 "And now abides faith, hope, love, these three." 26:23 We looked at it earlier 26:25 but the greatest of these is love. 26:27 Love is even greater than faith. 26:29 Yes. 26:31 Why would that be? 26:32 Because without faith, it's impossible to please God. 26:36 But the scripture says 26:37 that love is even greater than faith. 26:41 Because faith worketh by... 26:43 By love. Love. 26:44 If you don't have love in your heart, 26:46 then that faith isn't going to be there. 26:48 Faith worketh by love. 26:53 And I'm gonna ask you this, 26:55 I've only got a very short time. 26:56 Have you ever had a situation where, you know, 27:01 you are commanded? 27:02 If you're my disciples, you love. 27:05 A eleventh commandment, we'll call it, 27:07 that you love one another, a new commandment I give you. 27:10 Have you ever been in a situation 27:12 where you absolutely, 27:13 you didn't like them, much less love them? 27:16 Have you all ever been there? 27:18 Well, let me tell you a situation. 27:19 Man wasn't so much loved, 27:21 but I want to give you a Biblical principle, 27:23 you put a Biblical principle into play, 27:25 you're gonna get a Biblical result. 27:27 Put a worldly principle into play, 27:28 you're gonna reap the consequences. 27:30 I'd rather get the Biblical result. 27:32 I had unforgiveness in my heart for somebody 27:34 in what they did to me, 27:36 I'm, you know, you can say, 27:37 "God, you couldn't even forgive him, but He could. 27:39 But I couldn't forgive him." 27:41 And this is what I ask God to do. 27:43 "God, put your forgiveness in my heart for this person 27:46 because I can't forgive him on my own, 27:48 but if You put your forgiveness in my heart..." 27:51 And, you know, it didn't happen overnight, 27:53 it didn't happen instantly, but in time I realized, 27:55 I have forgiven that person. 27:57 Amen. 27:58 Not only that but I had a good feeling, 28:02 good rapport with this person. 28:04 If you can't love them, ask God. 28:06 By the power of His Holy Spirit, 28:08 to put His love for that person. 28:10 Now the love of God is already shed abroad 28:11 in your heart, 28:13 but ask God to put His love for that person in your heart. 28:15 Amen. 28:16 Let God do the work He wants to, 28:18 He loves you. 28:19 Anybody got anything else to share? 28:21 Wow. It's powerful. 28:22 It's good. Love is the battery. 28:24 You could have the most expensive car, 28:26 if you don't have a battery, you're in trouble. 28:27 Yeah. 28:29 The source, the power, emanates from God's love. 28:31 That's where it all begins. 28:33 Sister Jill, you've got to start. 28:35 I do. I love this lesson. 28:37 The Fruit of The Spirit. 28:39 And I like what you shared, Pastor, 28:40 laying that foundation 28:41 because none of the fruit of the Spirit is possible, 28:44 unless we have Jesus Christ abiding in us. 28:47 Unless we abide in the vine. 28:49 That was wonderful, Mollie. Love. 28:51 My topic on Tuesday is joy, peace, and patience. 28:56 And I need all three, so this is a good topic for me. 28:59 If you think about joy. 29:01 In Galatians 5:22, 29:02 where the fruits of the Spirit are listed, 29:04 the fruit of joy in Greek is C-H-A-R-A, 29:09 chara, chara. 29:12 And it means joy, gladness, delight. 29:17 There's a difference though between happiness and joy. 29:20 Yes. 29:21 Happiness is earthly you can say. 29:23 Well, situational. 29:25 Dependant on circumstances. 29:29 If I wake up in the morning and I feel, 29:33 "I'm feeling good today. 29:34 I'm not having any pain. 29:36 Oh, it's sunny outside. 29:38 Oh, I'm gonna go out to lunch with my husband." 29:42 I might have circumstantial happiness. 29:45 Oh, it's a good day. 29:47 But, joy, that comes from Jesus. 29:49 Divine joy is not earthly, divine joy is heavenly, 29:54 it's not dependent on any situation, 29:56 any circumstance around me. 29:58 It's right. 30:00 Joy is not the absence of trouble, 30:03 but it's the presence of Christ. 30:05 Amen. That's a Biblical principle. 30:07 I like that. It's beautiful. 30:08 Find that in Psalm 16. 30:11 Let's go there. Psalm 16. 30:13 Joy is not the absence of trouble, 30:16 but it's the presence of Jesus Christ. 30:19 Beautiful. 30:21 Psalm 16:11. 30:24 Someone want to read that whoever gets there. 30:26 "You will show me the path of life, 30:28 in your presence is fullness of joy. 30:31 Your right hand are pleasures every more." 30:35 So when we are in the presence, 30:37 brought into the presence of Jesus, 30:40 I won't have earthly happiness. 30:43 I will have divine joy, joy. 30:47 I remember a friend, 30:49 Greg and I went to go see him in the hospital. 30:51 We'll call him, Jimmy Joe, that's not his name. 30:54 He had fallen and hurt himself and he was in the hospital. 30:58 And when we went, we went to encourage him 31:01 but he was full of joy and he said, 31:04 "Praise the Lord. 31:05 I'm here, I can witness to the nurses 31:08 and the doctors and I can share Jesus." 31:11 And it was amazing and a couple days later 31:14 I talked with another friend and she said, 31:15 "Oh, did you go see Jimmy Joe in the hospital?" 31:17 And I said, "Yeah, we did." 31:19 She said, "I bet he was all happy." 31:22 And I said, "Actually, he was." 31:23 And she said, "Well, 31:24 some people are just born happy." 31:26 But I don't believe that. 31:28 Divine joy is a fruit of the Spirit 31:32 and when we abide in His presence, 31:34 He can fill us with His joy. 31:36 So I know we have to move on to patience 31:38 but before we do, 31:39 I wanna give three quick keys or points 31:42 that in my own life have helped me to cultivate joy. 31:45 How do we cultivate joy in our life? 31:47 For me, they are, surrender. 31:49 All right. 31:50 Surrender the pain, the situation, 31:52 the circumstances, the issue to God. 31:54 Whatever it is, it is, surrender. 31:57 You know, Jesus did that in the Garden of Gethsemane. 32:00 He did not want to walk forward 32:02 in that separation from His Father, 32:04 in that difficulty, and yet He said, 32:07 "Father, not My will, but yours be done." 32:11 We surrender, 32:12 we identify the source of 32:13 whatever's going on in our life, 32:15 we acknowledge our inability to control it, 32:17 and then we say, 32:18 "God, I choose to give this to you. 32:20 And no matter what happens, I will trust You." 32:22 That's right. 32:23 "No matter what happens, I will give you joy." 32:25 Second, we practice His presence. 32:27 That was Psalm 16:11, we just read that. 32:29 "In His presence is fullness of joy." 32:31 And, you know, I taught music lessons for ten years 32:35 and people say, "Practice makes perfect." 32:37 But I don't believe that either. 32:39 That's right. 32:40 Because practice makes permanent. 32:43 So if someone practices the wrong note, 32:45 instead of a B, 32:46 they hit a B-flat, all weekend their practice, 32:48 guess what happens, Pastor John? 32:50 B-flat. You got it. 32:52 When they come the next week, it's gonna be wrong, 32:54 because it became permanently ingrained in their mind. 32:57 So if I choose to practice the presence of Jesus, 33:01 what happens? 33:03 More and more, every day, 33:04 I experience more and more of His fullness. 33:07 And the third step 33:08 to cultivating joy is giving thanks. 33:10 I Thessalonians 5:16-18. 33:14 If someone wants to read that. 33:16 I Thessalonians 5:16-18. 33:26 Brian, you have... Okay.. 33:28 "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, 33:33 in everything give thanks, 33:35 for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 33:38 Amen. 33:41 It doesn't say we give thanks for everything 33:43 but we can give thanks in the midst of everything. 33:47 J. Hudson Taylor, 33:48 founder of The China Inland Mission, 33:50 he went to China and served as a missionary, 33:52 and if you read his biography, his story, 33:54 he served in China, his five-year-old son died. 34:00 His infant baby died, and then his wife Mary died. 34:07 And at the end of all that, he wrote in his journal, 34:10 "I'm so thankful, 34:12 I get to serve Jesus one more day." 34:17 That is choosing to rejoice in all circumstances. 34:22 So I think God wants us to grow in joy 34:25 by surrendering to Him 34:27 whatever our difficult circumstances, 34:29 by practicing His presence and finally, 34:33 by choosing to give thanks. 34:34 Now patience, 34:35 the fruit of the Spirit is love, 34:37 joy, peace, and patience. 34:39 I'm gonna do peace first. 34:41 So peace means peace of mind, in the Greek. 34:45 John 14:27 is one of my favorite verses on peace. 34:48 Oh, yes. It's a good... 34:50 John 14:27. 34:53 Jesus says, "Peace I leave with you. 34:55 My peace I give to you. 34:58 Not as the world gives do I give to you. 35:01 Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." 35:06 So if I were to ask you, panel, 35:07 where does peace come from? 35:10 From trusting in the Lord 35:12 and from keeping your eyes focused on the Lord. 35:15 I think of Isaiah 26:3. 35:16 Good. 35:18 Where God says, if you keep your eyes 35:20 focused on Him, trusting in Him, 35:22 He'll keep you in perfect peace." 35:23 I love that. 35:25 So it's that relationship. So focusing on Him. 35:27 Any other thoughts where peace comes from? 35:29 And the other text is, 35:31 "And the peace of God 35:32 which passes all understanding..." 35:34 A number of years ago, a good friend of ours said, 35:36 "The peace of God that doesn't need to be explained." 35:39 You know, sometimes people say, 35:41 "How could you be so peaceful?" 35:44 And we would say, "I can't explain it." 35:48 God gives us something the world doesn't give, 35:49 that's what the text says. 35:51 That's right. 35:52 He's like, "I give to you, not as the world gives..." 35:53 And so peace doesn't come 35:55 because we found the peace accord 35:56 or this peace in the Middle East 35:58 where there's no more crime in our neighborhood. 36:00 Peace is internal peace, not circumstantial, 36:03 not community peace. 36:04 So when the angel said to the shepherds, 36:07 "Peace on earth. 36:09 Goodwill to men." 36:10 He meant, peace is on earth 'cause Jesus is on earth, 36:14 He brought with Him. 36:15 The Prince of Peace. 36:17 That's what he meant when he said, peace on earth, 36:18 not there's no more conflict, but Jesus is here. 36:21 So there's peace on earth. 36:22 I love that. 36:24 I think the reason peace is divine, 36:26 we see in Romans 5. 36:27 "Peace is a result of being justified with God." 36:30 That's why if you are far from God, 36:33 that's why the world's peace, 36:34 in John 14:27 is different than Jesus' peace 36:37 because the peace from God comes from being justified. 36:40 Romans 5:1, "Having been justified by faith, 36:43 we have peace with God." 36:45 To our Lord Jesus Christ. 36:46 So that peace we have comes after that renewal, 36:50 recommitment, covenant relationship 36:52 with the Lord Jesus Christ 36:53 and then that peace can be extended to other people. 36:56 And in the remaining time, 36:57 I have the final fruit of the Spirit 37:00 I have is patience. 37:02 And I cannot pronounce that Greek word 37:04 but it literally means patience, 37:06 forbearance or you could say long tempered, 37:10 instead of short tempered, long tempered, 37:13 self-restraint in the face of provocation 37:16 and doesn't retaliate. 37:17 It doesn't punish. 37:18 I think patience is accepting God's will and timing 37:22 in difficult circumstances, in relationships. 37:25 Patience is endurance, under trial. 37:28 Patience is flexibility, contentment. 37:31 Patience is even love, Mollie, 37:33 because the fruit of the Spirit, 37:34 wants to say love as in I Corinthians 13, 37:37 "Love is patient." 37:39 That's right. 37:40 How do we develop patience? 37:41 I only have one minute left, 37:43 so we'll just go to one scripture. 37:44 James 1. 37:46 I like James 1. 37:51 He says, "My brethren, count it all joy 37:54 when you fall into trouble." 37:55 There is our word joy. 37:57 "When you go into difficulty and tribulation, 37:59 knowing this that the trying of your faith works..." 38:03 Patience. 38:04 "Patience." 38:05 So I think it's not just 38:07 the fact of going through a trial 38:09 because everybody goes through trials 38:11 and it doesn't work patience in everybody. 38:13 I think that it's experiencing the trial God's way, 38:16 which means choosing to give thanks, 38:18 choosing to accept what God wants to work in my life 38:22 in the midst of that. 38:24 And how He wants to change. 38:25 So that was James 1: 2-3? 38:28 Yeah. 38:30 Very good. 38:32 There's a power that comes in the joy, 38:35 the peace, the patience, 38:37 that you can't find 38:38 if you try to find it in worldly situations, 38:40 it's not going to be there. 38:42 Brian, take us to the next day. 38:43 Okay, we're on Wednesday. 38:46 And it's picking up with the fruit of the Spirit 38:50 and I think maybe, 38:52 we'll start with Galatians', again 5:22-23, 38:59 just to remind ourselves. 39:00 Okay. 39:01 Of the text, 39:03 the main focus for this whole week. 39:07 The fruit it says, the fruit of the Spirit is... 39:13 And so the first point I'd like to make is 39:15 it doesn't say the fruits of the Spirit are. 39:18 Ain't that interesting? 39:20 It says, the fruit of the Spirit is. 39:24 Well, we worship one God. 39:28 Amen. 39:29 Yet the one God that we worship is manifested 39:33 in three different beings. 39:36 One God, yet three. 39:38 There is one tree of life. 39:42 And that one tree of life bears 12 manner of fruit. 39:48 One each month. 39:49 Now this isn't a branch grafted, 39:51 and this branch does pears, and this one does apples, 39:54 another one does peaches. 39:56 This is one tree that each month it buds 40:01 and then the bud produces fruit 40:05 and it matures to maturity and each month, 40:09 it's a different fruit but it's one tree. 40:12 There's one Spirit. 40:14 And that one Spirit produces fruit, 40:18 one fruit, 40:20 and that fruit is manifested in a number of different ways. 40:24 This second point that I would like to emphasize about 40:29 the subject of the fruit of the Spirit is... 40:35 This is really the character of God 40:36 that we're talking about. 40:38 Absolutely. Okay? 40:39 And this is God taking 40:43 and implanting within us His character, 40:47 producing it in us. 40:50 I'm reminded of the sermon on the Mount 40:53 in Matthew 5:6 40:59 I think most of us will know this by heart 41:01 when I start reading. 41:03 "Blessed are those who hunger 41:06 and thirst for righteousness 41:10 for they shall be filled." 41:12 Filled. 41:14 So we're talking about, 41:15 when we're talking about 41:16 each of these manifestations of the fruit of the Spirit, 41:21 we're talking about righteousness. 41:24 We're talking about righteous living 41:26 and how it's manifested, 41:28 and in Wednesday, the three words. 41:32 The fruit of the Spirit is, Mollie had love. 41:36 And Jill had the joy, peace, longsuffering. 41:40 And Wednesday is kindness, goodness, and faithfulness. 41:45 Amen. 41:47 Kindness, goodness, 41:48 I like the sound of those words even. 41:50 They're nice sounding words, they're not harsh words, 41:52 they're pleasant words. 41:55 Kindness, goodness, and faithful... 41:57 Let me start backwards, there's faithfulness. 42:01 Every one of us likes to be a part of someone 42:06 who we can count on to be faithful. 42:09 If it's an employer, 42:11 an employer wants a faithful employee, 42:14 one that they can trust, they can count on. 42:17 An employee wants a faithful employer. 42:21 One that they can trust and count on 42:24 because their daily bread comes from the labors 42:26 and they hope that that employer is faithful to them. 42:30 Faithfulness is such a good attribute. 42:32 If when you think about your spouse... 42:34 Yes. 42:36 Don't you want your spouse... 42:37 Critical. 42:38 To be faithful. Oh, yeah. 42:40 I mean, who wants an unfaithful spouse? 42:43 Yeah. 42:44 Who wants an unfaithful God? 42:48 Okay, so very essence, 42:50 one of the very essence of God's character is 42:52 this faithfulness 42:55 and He wants us just to be like Him, 42:57 to be faithful. 42:59 Going backwards then, we have the word, goodness. 43:04 When I think of goodness, 43:05 it's kind of one of these words that sort of, 43:08 summarizes a whole bunch of different things. 43:11 If we say someone is honest, if someone is kind, 43:16 someone is benevolent, if someone is faithful. 43:19 Then we say they're good, 43:21 because they have all these good... 43:24 It's sort of, a some summation word. 43:27 I looked at a number of text dealing with goodness, 43:30 one of them is 43:31 and I'm just gonna really go through these really fast, 43:34 but hopefully, 43:35 you can just jot them down and then look them up later. 43:39 Psalms 34:8, 43:41 "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good." 43:45 Wonderful. 43:46 "Blessed is the man who trusts in Him." 43:49 So that tells us where goodness comes from. 43:52 "Taste and see that the Lord is good." 43:54 Psalms 107:8, 43:56 "All the men would praise the Lord for His..." 43:58 What? Goodness. 44:00 "Goodness, and His wonderful works to the children of men." 44:04 Galatians 5:22 that we read, 44:08 "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, 44:10 longsuffering, kindness, goodness." 44:13 Ephesians 5:8-9. 44:16 You wanna write that down. 44:18 "For you were once darkness, 44:21 but now you are light in the Lord. 44:24 Walk as children of light, 44:25 for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, 44:30 righteousness, and truth." 44:31 Amen. 44:32 The wording of that text is a little tough in English 44:37 and so... 44:38 The New Living Translation tried to smooth it out for us. 44:41 I'm gonna read that same text in the New Living. 44:45 "For once you were full of darkness, 44:47 but now you have light from the Lord. 44:50 Live as people of the light, children of the light, 44:52 for this light within you produces all 44:55 only what is good and right and true." 45:00 Good, goodness. 45:02 And the third, the first word, 45:05 but I'm going backwards through the... 45:07 Is kindness. 45:11 And I think of the text that Lomacang 45:13 that you had us look up in Ephesians, 45:15 Ephesians 4:32. 45:18 Okay. 45:19 Why don't you... 45:20 Do you have that one handy? 45:22 Actually do, right here. 45:23 Okay. 4:32. 45:25 "And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, 45:29 forgiving one another even as God in Christ forgave you." 45:34 And I Corinthians, the love chapter also has it, 45:37 in verse four, "Love suffers long, and is..." 45:40 Kind. "Kind." 45:42 Ain't that nice? 45:44 Here's some thoughts on kindness. 45:46 Kindness is love in action. 45:48 Good. 45:50 Contrast it with patience that Jill had, 45:52 patience is how love reacts in order 45:56 to minimize a negative circumstance. 46:01 Kindness is how love acts 46:04 to maximize a positive circumstance. 46:06 That's very good. 46:08 I like but that. Think about that. 46:09 Patience tries to minimize a troublesome situation, 46:14 but kindness maximizes, okay? 46:17 Patience avoids a problem. 46:20 Kindness creates a blessing. 46:25 Patience is pre-emptive in nature. 46:28 Kindness is pro-active in nature. 46:32 Pre-emptive versus pro-active. 46:35 If love was a coin, 46:38 patience and kindness 46:40 would be its two faces of love. 46:47 Kindness isn't just in the New Testament, 46:50 you have Proverbs 3:3. 46:52 It says, in fact, maybe, if you want to read that, Jill, 46:56 when you find it there. 46:57 Proverbs 3:3, 46:59 it's a Old Testament word or Old Testament text 47:02 that also talks about kindness. 47:06 Proverbs 3:3. 47:08 "Let not mercy and truth forsake you, 47:10 bind them around your neck, 47:11 write them on the tablet of your heart." 47:13 Now the New American Standard Bible takes the one, 47:16 "Let not..." 47:17 What does your say? 47:19 Mercy and truth is what mine says. 47:20 Mercy. 47:22 "Let not kindness and truth leave you." 47:23 Okay? 47:24 "Bind them around your neck, 47:26 write them on the tablets of your heart." 47:27 There are, in closing, 47:29 for this day, four core ingredients, 47:33 maybe, you could consider for kindness, 47:35 as you put in the recipe 47:36 of the kindness cookie together. 47:38 Okay? 47:40 Gentleness would be one of those ingredients, 47:42 when we cooperate from kindness 47:46 or operate from kindness, 47:48 we are careful how we treat others. 47:51 So one of the ingredients is gentleness, 47:54 when we operate with kindness, we treat others in gentle... 47:58 Helpfulness, is another recipe 48:02 in the ingredients of the kindness cookie, 48:04 means we are on the lookout 48:07 to meet the needs of others, helpfulness. 48:10 Willingness is another ingredient. 48:13 Kindness inspire us to be agreeable, 48:17 rather than obstinate 48:19 or unwilling to be helpful and agreeable. 48:24 And the last is initiative. 48:25 Kindness always takes an initiative. 48:27 It sees something that needs to be corrected, 48:30 needs to be done 48:32 and it takes that initiative and does it. 48:36 So that's my thoughts on the fruit of the Spirit. 48:41 Kindness, goodness, and faithfulness. 48:45 Shelley? Yes. 48:46 Well, I have the last two 48:48 which I think are very fascinating 48:50 and this is Thursday's lesson and this is on gentleness, 48:55 and self-control. 48:56 I want to read Galatians: 5:23 from the Amplified. 49:01 Well, let me just start, 49:03 I don't have it all in the Amplied 49:04 but we're talking about the fruit of the Spirit 49:06 being love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, 49:09 goodness, faithfulness, 49:10 and then 5:23 in the Amplified says, 49:14 "Gentleness..." 49:16 Then amplifying that, "Meekness and humility." 49:19 Gentleness, meekness, and humility. 49:20 You can think of those three terms to describe one idea. 49:25 Self-control is... 49:30 In the Amplified, self-restraint in continence. 49:35 Continence being holding back bodily functions, 49:39 restraint or abstinence. 49:40 So in the Strong's, 49:43 the word for gentleness is prop autists and it's, 49:48 it means, it says that it is gentleness, 49:50 it indicates or implies humility 49:55 and then meekness is another word for that. 49:57 So gentleness is very closely linked to humility. 50:02 Only the humble heart can be gentle or meek, 50:06 this is the inner working of grace, 50:09 of the Holy Spirit working in us. 50:12 So it's not just our outward behavior in gentleness 50:16 or humility or meekness. 50:18 It's not just the way I behave toward you. 50:21 Actually gentleness, meekness, humility, 50:24 is first directed to God. 50:30 This is something that I think is very important, 50:33 is that we have to look at it as this attitude of humility, 50:39 this gentleness or meekness. 50:41 This is what opens the way for sanctification. 50:45 This is what makes us as we come before God, 50:48 we're humble before Him and we accept His will. 50:52 We don't argue with Him. 50:54 We are eager to do His will and, you know, 50:58 if someone is a gentle person, they're forgiving, 51:03 they are not vengeful. 51:05 They are not proud because gentleness is humility. 51:11 That's the very opposite of pride 51:14 and it is something that 51:16 gentleness does not mean weakness. 51:19 When we talk about humility or meekness... 51:22 That's right. 51:23 We think that it is weakness but gentleness 51:26 or meekness has a humble but strong state of mind 51:32 and just ready to step in and help in the time of need, 51:35 to correct at the right time 51:37 and do this all in a mild and considerate way. 51:42 When you think of Jesus, 51:44 His... 51:47 What witnessed His love, 51:51 His essence of love and righteousness 51:54 was manifested is in His humility. 51:58 He, you know, scholars don't call, 52:02 they don't say that Jesus came and was humbled, they say, 52:06 He was humiliated. 52:08 The humiliation of the Cross to become a man, 52:11 then to die for us, 52:13 but I think of His humility in that 52:16 He was totally dependent upon the Father 52:18 while He was here. 52:20 He said, "I only say what the Father says." 52:22 For me to say, I only do what He shows me to do. 52:25 So that is humility. 52:27 In Matthew 11:29, He says, 52:29 "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, 52:31 for I am gentle, and I am lowly in heart, 52:35 and you will find rest for your souls." 52:37 So believers are also to be meek or to be gentle. 52:40 This is one of the nine aspects of the single fruit 52:45 that is the character of God 52:47 and that we assimilate and, you know, 52:50 Moses, it was said that 52:51 he was the meekest man on earth, 52:53 and he was a strong man, and great leader. 52:57 And I'm gonna run through a few quickly, 52:59 but you might turn to Ephesians 4, 53:01 we may have time for that. 53:02 But in Numbers, excuse me, 53:05 in James 1:21, it says, 53:07 "Receive with weakness, with humility, 53:10 with gentleness, the implanted Word." 53:12 Paul appeals to the meekness and gentleness of Christ 53:16 and he tells Titus that we are to show 53:18 all humility toward all men. 53:21 So now in Ephesians 4 53:23 and we'll take a quick look at verses 1-3. 53:28 Jill, why don't you read that? 53:30 "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, 53:32 beseech you to walk worthy of the calling 53:34 with which you were called, 53:36 with all lowliness and gentleness, 53:38 with longsuffering, 53:39 bearing with one another in love, 53:41 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit 53:43 in the bond of peace." 53:45 So we see that this humility, this gentleness, 53:49 this meekness is something coupled with love. 53:54 That unites us all in this Spirit. 53:56 I really think that that's a good one 53:57 and I know that, 53:58 we're very short on time, let me, 54:00 I have so many scriptures here for this, 54:03 but in our lesson, it brings out, 54:06 Matthew 5:5, that says, 54:08 "Blessed that are the meek 54:09 for they shall inherit the earth." 54:13 When we receive the grace of humility 54:16 of gentleness and meekness, 54:20 what happens is we trust God, 54:24 we surrender to His authority 54:26 even when we cannot make sense of our circumstances 54:31 and then God exalts us. 54:34 What does it say? 54:36 "God humbles those who exalt themselves 54:38 and He exalts those who humble himself." 54:41 But I want to get to self-control. 54:43 So self-control, 54:46 I think it was placed last in the list for us 54:49 to emphasize because it's talking about 54:51 holding in your passions and your appetites. 54:53 And all the works of the flesh are a lack of self-control. 54:58 So when you think of it that way, 54:59 self-control the root word is strength 55:02 and it demands the controlling power 55:05 of the Holy Spirit over our will. 55:08 This is one of the aspects of the fruit of the Spirit. 55:13 With self-control, 55:15 we die to the desires of our flesh. 55:18 In self-control, you're not ill-tempered, 55:21 retaliatory, you're not indulgent, 55:24 but, you know, some people will say, 55:25 "Oh, I just have a cleric personality. 55:28 I can't help but I just lose my temper." 55:30 No they lack self-control, is what's going on. 55:35 So self-control is to master our desires, 55:41 our appetites, and our passions. 55:45 Paul wrote in I Corinthians 9:25, 55:49 "Everyone who competes for the prize is 55:52 temperate in all things." 55:55 Wow. That's self-control. 55:57 We have to be temperate in all ways and he says, 56:01 those who are competing for the prize, 56:03 they're doing it to get a perishable crown. 56:07 We're doing it for an imperishable and of course, 56:11 in just a minute I have left, 56:13 we think of II Peter 1:5-7 where he says, 56:18 "Add to your faith virtue, virtue knowledge, 56:20 to knowledge self-control, 56:22 and to self-control perseverance" 56:24 and it goes on. 56:26 So as you said the fruit illustration calls to mind that 56:32 the branches are called to bear the fruit, 56:35 but you have to be connected to the vine. 56:36 That's right. 56:38 These are character traits 56:39 of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ 56:41 and the God who gave us the law 56:46 also gives us the Spirit 56:49 so that by following in Christ's footsteps, 56:52 walking in obedience, 56:54 we fulfill the purpose of the law, 56:57 to love God and to love our neighbors. 57:00 And the Spirit-filled Christian will exhibit 57:05 the fruit of the Spirit 57:06 because this is the distinguishing mark 57:09 of all believers everywhere 57:11 and it produces the visible unity in the church. 57:14 Amen. Wow 57:15 You know, I tell you, 57:16 the only problem with studying 57:18 this lesson is it goes too fast. 57:19 Yes. 57:21 I know Shelley was over there, 57:23 paddling as quickly as she could. 57:25 But I want this thought to come. 57:27 You know, when we talk about the Holy Spirit 57:28 and the food of the Spirit, a thought came to my mind, 57:31 none of us is capable of producing 57:33 anything of our own without Jesus... 57:36 That's right. We can do nothing. 57:38 I thought that it's an idiom to some degree, 57:40 but I want you to keep this in mind 57:42 as we wrap up the lesson. 57:44 Every good tree brings forth the good fruit. 57:47 Is Jesus the best three? 57:48 Yes. Amen. 57:50 Friends, here's the thought to keep with you today 57:51 as we wrap up the program. 57:52 Keep praying for us. 57:54 But here's a thought that you don't wanna forget. 57:56 I wanna be an apple 57:57 that does not fall far from the tree 58:01 which is Jesus Christ. 58:02 May God bless you till we see you again. 58:04 Amen. |
Revised 2017-02-09