Participants:
Series Code: TDYL
Program Code: TDYL220001B
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00:11 Welcome back to the second hour
00:13 of the prayer and praise program 00:16 where we are emphasizing the fruit of the Spirit 00:19 found in Galatians 5, 00:20 and what powerful lessons we've learned 00:24 and great testimonies you've all shared. 00:26 Thank you for your insight and your input. 00:29 And that's definitely a sign of the overflow 00:33 of the fruit of Christ in your lives. 00:36 And, John, I think it was you that mentioned, 00:41 if we don't look like Christ then how can we proclaim Him? 00:45 How can people see Him in us? 00:47 How can we represent Him to the world 00:50 if we don't look like Him? 00:51 So as we study, we know that the... 00:55 As we can talk about these, 00:56 we know that the fruit of the Spirit, 00:58 they don't flow from rules that we follow. 01:00 They flow from who we follow, 01:03 as Christ lives out His life in us. 01:05 So I just think that this is a good time 01:10 to maybe just focus our minds and say. 01:15 This is my desire 01:19 To honor You 01:23 Lord with all my heart 01:26 I worship You 01:32 All I have within me 01:36 I give You praise 01:42 All that I adore 01:45 Is in You 01:50 Sing Lord, I give You my heart. 01:53 Lord, I give You my heart 01:57 I give You my soul 02:02 I live for You alone 02:07 Every breath that I take 02:11 Every moment I'm awake 02:17 Lord, have Your way in me 02:27 Now we continue with the fruit of the Spirit 02:30 as Jill Morikone 02:34 gives us kindness. 02:39 You know when I read Galatians Chapter 5. 02:41 I'm always struck by the contrast 02:43 between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. 02:47 You know, just before the fruit of the Spirit comes that 02:51 tremendous list of the works of the flesh 02:54 and it reminds me of a self-centered heart 02:58 versus a Christ-centered heart. 03:01 You know, you can be a self-centered Christian. 03:03 I have walked 03:05 as a self-centered Christian in my past, 03:09 sometimes in my present. 03:12 A self-centered Christian 03:14 is someone who is controlled by passion. 03:17 The Christ-centered Christian 03:20 is controlled by the Holy Spirit. 03:22 A self-centered Christian is a slave to sin. 03:26 A Christ-centered Christian dies to self and to sin. 03:32 A self-centered Christian shows the fruit of sin. 03:37 A Christ-centered Christian 03:38 exhibits the fruit of the Spirit. 03:42 A self-centered Christian walks in lust. 03:47 A Christ-centered Christian walks in love. 03:51 A self-centered Christian is an idolater, 03:56 and a Christ-centered Christian lives for others. 04:01 You and I can never have the fruit of the Spirit 04:04 without the Spirit dwelling in us. 04:08 Only when we have Christ in us, the hope of glory, 04:12 only when we walk and allow Him to walk in us, 04:17 to live out His life in us, can we hope 04:21 to exhibit any of those fruit of the Spirit. 04:24 My fruit, kindness. 04:26 The essence of kindness is thoughtfulness 04:28 for other people above yourself. 04:30 It's the desire to encourage and help other people 04:33 to reach out and minister. 04:37 In the Greek for Galatians for kindness. 04:43 It actually is useful kindness. 04:46 I like that word. 04:47 Useful kindness, 04:48 not just kindness that's put on. 04:53 Kindness that's a show, but kindness that's practical. 04:58 Kindness that is a smile for someone. 05:00 Kindness that is a word for someone. 05:03 Kindness that is getting out of your own busy schedule 05:08 and ministering to the needs of someone else. 05:12 You know, recently I've been revisiting 05:15 the Last Supper and the disciples there, 05:19 and three words 05:21 have been impressed on my mind. 05:23 And I keep thinking them for some reason over and over. 05:26 And those three words are, is it I? 05:29 Remember when Jesus said, 05:31 "One of you are going to betray Me." 05:34 And the disciples looked at each other 05:36 and then they looked at their master 05:38 and they said, "Is it I?" 05:40 And I thought, what was wrong with them? 05:43 Did they think they're going to betray Jesus? 05:45 Why did they even question that? 05:48 Did they even know their own heart? 05:52 And then just, I wish 05:54 I could tell you this is a last, long time ago, 05:58 just a week ago, I had an is it I moment. 06:03 And I was in a discussion with someone. 06:06 And my unkindness came out. 06:10 My pride came out. 06:14 And I was reminded again, 06:19 that I need Jesus. 06:22 I need His kindness in my heart 06:26 and in my life and I looked at the person and I said, 06:30 "I'm so sorry, can we pray?" 06:32 And we did. 06:33 And then the person left my office 06:36 and I walked out the back door, here at work, 06:39 and I just walked down the road, 06:42 crying, "Father, is it I?" 06:45 Yes, it is. 06:47 I'm the one who put you on the cross. 06:50 I'm the one who indulged in a self-centered heart 06:55 instead of allowing You to live in me 06:58 with your Christ-centered heart. 07:00 I want Jesus to live in my heart. 07:04 This new year, 07:06 I want to walk in the fruit of the Spirit. 07:10 I want to have Him dwelling inside 07:13 and I want to exhibit this fruit of kindness. 07:16 I love Romans 2:4, 07:19 "Do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness, 07:21 and tolerance, and patience 07:23 not knowing it is the goodness, 07:24 it is the kindness of God that draws us to repentance." 07:30 Jesus responded with kindness to so many people, 07:33 so many interruptions, 07:35 the children who came to Him 07:36 and the disciples said, "Go away." 07:38 And He said, "Come, come, 07:39 of such they are of the kingdom of heaven." 07:42 And the woman with the issue of blood pressing forward 07:45 to touch the hem of His garment. 07:48 And Jesus stopped everything that went on. 07:51 And He reached out and He healed that woman 07:55 exhibiting kindness. 07:59 I love this. 08:01 And this is why this fruit is for me. 08:03 It says we often fail to show kindness, 08:06 because we think we're too busy, 08:08 or we don't want to be interrupted. 08:11 We can become self-absorbed. 08:15 We must always consider what would Jesus do? 08:17 So I want to challenge you in the new year. 08:19 Reach out with kindness. 08:21 Reach out with love. 08:24 Take a moment from your schedule 08:27 to see the needs of people, 08:30 your neighbor, your coworker, 08:33 your friend, your spouse, 08:36 a church member and reach out with kindness toward them. 08:41 And I want to pray for you just now. 08:44 Holy Father, we come before You right now. 08:47 And we ask for opportunities for kindness. 08:48 God, would You show us? 08:50 We are naturally selfish. 08:52 The heart is deceitful above all things 08:54 and desperately wicked, who can know it? 08:56 So we ask as we start this new year, 08:58 would You give us clean hands and a pure heart? 09:01 Would You come into our hearts? 09:04 Would You wash us clean? 09:06 Would You fill us with Your Spirit? 09:09 And, God, would You open up our eyes 09:11 to see opportunities for kindness, 09:14 opportunities where we can reach out 09:16 with a smile and with a word with encouragement. 09:21 Maybe it's taking time for someone else. 09:25 God, when You give us opportunities for kindness. 09:28 We want to pray against the opposite 09:30 of that kindness, pride in our heart, 09:34 a bitter tongue, hatefulness. 09:37 Father, we ask that 09:39 if that is resident in our hearts, 09:42 would You root it out 09:43 by the power of Your Holy Spirit? 09:45 We pray that You would reveal to us 09:49 those areas of our lives that we don't even know. 09:52 We come before you and say, "Is it I? 09:57 Would You show us our heart? 09:59 Would You convict us 10:01 by the power of Your Holy Spirit? 10:03 Would You wash us with a washing 10:05 of the water of Your Word? 10:07 Would You convert us? 10:09 And would You enable us to reach out 10:12 with kindness 10:14 toward each person that we meet? 10:16 And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. 10:21 I like kindness and the couple these that are following. 10:25 They get to the nitty-gritty 10:27 of not only what's going on in us 10:30 but how it affects others. 10:33 Of course, I guess all of them can be that way 10:36 but kindness especially, 10:39 and we find that even non-believers, 10:43 they can have a counterfeit kindness. 10:46 They can put on, as you said, and even Christians can put on, 10:51 but only through Christ, can we produce such fruit, 10:57 which is really what we're called to do. 10:59 And that's what the Holy Spirit does in us. 11:00 He's not a counterfeit. 11:02 He's actually producing these fruit in us. 11:05 And so that's the power of all of this fruit in our lives. 11:09 So thank you, Jill, for that. 11:12 And next we come to the fruit of the Spirit, 11:16 goodness. 11:18 Greg, begins with G. 11:20 Yeah, Greg, goodness. Okay. 11:23 Thank you, Brother Tim, 11:25 though, for putting this program together. 11:26 You know, it's a great way to start the year. 11:29 Hard to believe that we're in 2022. 11:32 You know, I think about this past year and, as Tim said, 11:36 if I have the fruit of the Spirit of goodness 11:40 and I just want to say thank you 11:41 for being a part of our 3ABN family. 11:44 Thank you for reaching out to the Ministry of 3ABN. 11:47 We're here as family on the set, 11:48 great, having a great time together, 11:50 opening the Word of God, 11:51 music too, Tim, appreciate that so very much. 11:54 But to spend this time with you, 11:55 we look forward to that each and every day, 11:57 as Mr. Danny always says, 11:59 "Thank you for allowing us to come into your living room 12:01 or wherever you're watching or listening 12:04 to this program from." 12:05 But this past year, we received a lot of letters from you. 12:09 And I have to say that in those letters, 12:12 there's a lot of heartache. 12:14 You're writing in there about the loss of a job, 12:17 a loss of a loved one 12:20 or you're worried about the future. 12:22 But an underlying theme 12:23 through the majority of the letters that we receive, 12:25 and I'm so encouraged by this. 12:28 And that is that you say you say it different ways 12:31 in these different letters that we receive 12:32 but basically it comes down to this, 12:35 God is good. 12:38 We appreciate your faith, you know, that inspires us 12:40 here at 3ABN 12:41 because, yeah, there's a lot of turmoil and stuff going on 12:44 in this world, 12:45 but God is good. 12:46 And another theme that we find in your letters 12:49 that you send to us here 12:51 is that this world is not our home, 12:52 we have something much better to look forward to. 12:56 So there's hope, right? 12:57 In the midst of everything that's going on, 12:58 boy, there's so much hope. 13:01 One being that God is good, 13:02 we can trust Him in the midst of everything. 13:05 And I'm going back to the first hour, 13:07 hopefully you were tuned into the first hour. 13:09 Mr. Danny was talking about his dad. 13:11 And I have to also reflect on my father as well. 13:14 Someone that we looked up to, you're looking up to your dad. 13:17 Well, I look up to my mom and dad, 13:20 especially my dad. 13:21 And we also, it's kind of interesting, 13:22 we didn't have a lot growing up kind of like you 13:26 as well and I'm sure many of you at home, 13:28 and I just have to appreciate my father so much. 13:30 We didn't have a lot and, of course, me being, 13:33 I hate to say it, at times probably a bit spoilt maybe. 13:36 I would just say, "Dad, I want this. 13:40 I want a new motorcycle." 13:41 Well, my parents couldn't afford that. 13:43 My dad worked extremely hard. 13:45 But things always didn't just work out right. 13:48 And sometimes my dad would be driving home from work 13:50 and he would pass, 13:52 may I say this, somebody's 13:54 where they're throwing out their trash 13:55 by the side of the road or a little yard sale. 13:57 And one day I'll never forget this, 13:59 he came home 14:00 with a little 50 cc Honda motorcycle 14:04 that didn't run. 14:08 He said, "Son, we're going to work on this together." 14:11 So we got it running. 14:12 And it didn't even have a gas cap on it. 14:14 So every time you ride over a bump, 14:16 the gas would slosh out. 14:18 So this is what my dad did. 14:19 We couldn't afford a new gas cap. 14:21 So what we did, we took a little piece of tinfoil 14:22 put a rubber band around the tin foil. 14:24 Well, petroleum also eats out rubber. 14:27 So every so often we have to replace that rubber band 14:29 because the rubber band 14:30 would be disintegrated by the gasoline 14:31 that was sloshing out but that kind of kept it 14:33 from coming out. 14:34 What I'm getting to is the goodness of my dad. 14:36 He couldn't provide 14:37 the best brand new motorcycle for me 14:39 but he saw something and said, 14:41 "You know, my son would like this. 14:42 Let's do that together." 14:44 So what a great time. 14:45 Now this transition, of course, to the goodness of God, right? 14:47 Because the Bible talks about, Tim, right? 14:50 How much our own earthly parents, 14:52 I was blessed with great folks, 14:54 want to give us good gifts but how much more, what? 14:58 He wants to provide for us, right? 14:59 That's the goodness of God. 15:01 We've got a great dad. 15:02 I'm blessed with an earthly father that was wonderful, 15:04 so is Mr. Danny. 15:06 I'm sure all of us can testify to our dads. 15:07 Some of you may not have a really good home situation. 15:11 God's your father, He's the ultimate father 15:13 and He's got good gifts for you. 15:16 Psalm 107:1 says, 15:19 "Oh, Give thanks unto the Lord for," what? 15:24 "He's good." Praise the Lord. 15:26 Psalm 119:68 says, 15:28 "You are good, 15:30 and all you do is good." 15:35 Another characteristic of goodness makes people do 15:39 what they say they will do. 15:40 Goodness does what it does 15:43 because it's the right thing to do. 15:45 It's closely associated with kindness 15:48 because good people act out of good intentions 15:51 and the kindness of heart. 15:53 You know, we're talking about goodness, 15:55 you know, my dad was just good. 15:57 He was looking for something, he couldn't provide brand new 15:58 but he found something. 16:00 It's goodness, right? 16:02 Talking about God, He's perfect goodness. 16:05 So my dad would always tell me, "Son, anything you see in me." 16:09 He said, "Don't look at me." 16:10 He said, "Look to God 16:11 because He's the one you need to emulate." 16:13 So my prayer for this new year, 16:15 Brother Tim, is to have the goodness, 16:18 not of just my dad, right? 16:19 But the goodness of my Heavenly Dad, 16:22 that is Jesus Christ. 16:23 I want to be good through and through. 16:27 You know, I like apples. 16:30 I, right? I love apples. 16:31 He eats one every day. 16:33 Yeah, maybe two or three a day. 16:34 Yeah. We buy a lot of apples at home. 16:36 We do. 16:38 And there's some nice apple orchards just south 16:39 toward Carbondale area. 16:41 Yeah. 16:42 So, one time I saw this great apple 16:44 I said, "Man, this is great." 16:45 Man, I took a big bite. I mean, a big bite. 16:48 Jill says I have a big mouth at times, right? 16:50 Sorry. 16:51 So I took a big bite. 16:53 Not literally just that the jaw is large, that's all. 16:56 Well, I do tend to talk a little bit sometimes, Tim. 16:58 Is that kindness showing there literally? 17:01 So I took a bite of this really good juicy apple. 17:05 Man, it was good. 17:06 Wow, the juice and everything, you know, you just. 17:08 That was great and I pulled the apple away 17:09 and there was half a worm in the apple. 17:13 So the other half of the worm was in my mouth, Brother Tim. 17:16 Wow. 17:18 Well, I won't tell you what happened really next 17:19 so but anyway, 17:21 that apple was not good through and through. 17:23 Yeah, I did get some protein. 17:25 So what I'm getting at that apple was not good 17:28 through and through. 17:29 It looked good, right? On the outside. 17:30 I don't want to be a Christian that just looks good 17:32 on the outside and on the inside 17:34 I'm rotten and I got worms 17:35 and stuff going on in the inside. 17:37 Well, I want to be good through and through. 17:38 But like Tim just said, boy, we can become discouraged 17:41 saying there's no way I can make myself good. 17:43 That's the problem. You can't make yourself good. 17:45 The Heavenly Father is the one that makes you good. 17:48 So let's pray about getting the goodness of God in our hearts. 17:51 Father in Heaven, wow, we have so much to praise You 17:55 for and right now in this program of prayer 17:58 and praise, 17:59 we are praising You for Your goodness. 18:04 Of ourselves, all the fruit of the Spirit 18:06 that we're talking about here today, 18:08 we can't muster that up in ourselves, 18:12 that comes from You. 18:14 And the song that we sang here a little while back 18:16 about surrendering all to you 18:18 that's what we do again right now in this program 18:21 is surrender our lives to you saying, 18:23 "Father fill me, make me like You. 18:27 We pray for Your goodness to shine out of us." 18:31 Not my goodness or you at home, your goodness, it's not ours, 18:34 it's God's. 18:35 And so, Father, thank You for filling us. 18:37 We look forward with great hope 18:39 and anticipation to this new year 2022. 18:42 What great things you have in store for the ministry of 3ABN, 18:46 for our dear family at home. 18:47 Together, Father, 18:49 we be able to finish this work together 18:50 and soon and very soon, we will be home with you 18:53 and in Jesus' name we pray. 18:55 Amen. 18:56 It's great, Greg. 18:58 Love the goodness of God. 19:01 Oh, Lord 19:05 You have been good 19:09 You have been faithful 19:14 To all generation 19:19 Oh, Lord 19:24 Your steadfast love 19:28 And tender mercy 19:33 Have been our salvation 19:38 For by your hand 19:42 We have been filled 19:47 And by Your Spirit 19:52 We have been led 19:57 Oh, Lord 20:02 Almighty God 20:07 Father unchanging 20:11 So upright and holy 20:17 Oh, Lord 20:21 You have been good 20:26 You have been faithful 20:32 You have 20:33 Been good 20:39 Then there's another song that reminds me of that. 20:43 All my life 20:45 You have been faithful 20:51 And all my life 20:52 You have been so, so good 20:58 With every breath that I am able 21:04 I will sing 21:07 Of the goodness of God 21:14 'Cause your goodness is running after 21:17 It's running after me 21:22 Your goodness is running after 21:25 It's running after me 21:28 With my life laid down 21:31 I'm surrendered now 21:33 I'm giving you everything 21:37 'Cause your goodness is running after 21:41 It's running after me 21:44 That's what the Psalm 1 said, right? 21:45 Surely goodness and mercy 21:47 will run after me all the days of my life. 21:49 You've been good to me 21:53 Through all, all the years 21:58 You've been good to me 22:01 Through joys and tears 22:07 I want to thank You, Lord 22:11 For all You've done 22:15 You've been good to me 22:21 Through all the years 22:26 You've been good to me, 22:30 Lord You've been so very good to me 22:34 Very good to me 22:38 Through all, all the years 22:44 God is so good. 22:46 All the time, He is really good. 22:50 Wow. 22:52 See now, Mr. Tim, I want to just comment on that 22:53 'cause I'm thinking about that song, Mr. Danny, 22:55 just recently there was a young man 22:57 that came here as a general contractor, 22:59 never been to 3ABN before 23:01 and told him briefly the story here and I said, 23:03 "Hey, you know, let's go over to the Uplink." 23:04 He said, "The Uplink?" I said, "Yeah, let's go over there. 23:07 You got a minute." He said, "Sure." 23:08 Well, the Uplink's the original 3ABN spot 23:10 where God just worked a miracle. 23:12 And I think about the goodness of the Lord. 23:14 I'm thinking about your faithfulness 23:16 to the Lord's calling. 23:17 And I took this young man over there. 23:19 And there's nothing like actually seen in real life, 23:21 right? 23:22 So I took him there and we looked at the dish, 23:23 I said, "Do you realize that this land that was donated, 23:26 that there was a free signal to space 23:27 with that satellite dish? 23:29 That was the only spot in this area in southern Illinois. 23:31 God knew all about that." 23:32 "Wow, incredible." He's just there. 23:34 This young man's like, "Wow, that's amazing." 23:37 I said, "Look down that drive. 23:38 You see that three phase power down there?" 23:40 "Yeah, I do." 23:41 I said, "That was here before 3ABN was here 23:45 and we needed three phase power. 23:47 Why was three phase power out in the middle of a cornfield?" 23:52 I didn't really know his religious experience 23:55 and he didn't really acknowledge God in a way. 23:58 But he just looked at me and he said, 23:59 "You couldn't plan that, could you?" 24:01 I said, "No." 24:03 I said, "That's the divine appointment 24:05 that God had those things in place for 3ABN to start." 24:09 And I mentioned to him also, I said, "Mr. Danny." 24:10 I said, "The founder of 3ABN, this road that you see here, 24:14 the foundation that was done five gallons at a time 24:16 with diesel fuel, that's all we could afford." 24:18 I said, "Then the money came in, 24:20 as you stepped out in faith." 24:22 This young man blown away, talking about, of course, 24:25 the goodness of God, the faithfulness of His people, 24:27 the faithfulness of you, what an absolute inspiration. 24:30 So if you just sing that song, boy, well, 24:32 it just touches me in a special way. 24:35 Yeah, absolutely. That's wonderful. 24:36 And which leads us to, of course, the faithfulness, 24:40 the fruit of the Spirit in faithfulness 24:42 and we will find that it's the faithfulness 24:46 that the Spirit produces in us 24:48 that's what as I was preparing for this study, 24:54 that's one of the things that I noticed. 24:56 So maybe, John, you can expound on the fruit 24:58 of the Spirit or is it do you have faithfulness? 25:01 Jill, I mean, you have faithfulness? 25:02 I have faithfulness. Okay. All right. Good. 25:03 Jill is going to expound on it then so well. 25:06 I love the word faithfulness in the Greek is pistis. 25:10 And it can be translated faith or faithfulness. 25:15 And I don't know in your life 25:17 maybe people haven't been very faithful. 25:19 Maybe you say my spouse wasn't faithful 25:21 and my parents weren't faithful. 25:24 And the people in my life when I need faithfulness, 25:27 when I need someone to be steady, 25:29 somebody I can hold on to, they haven't been there. 25:32 But I want to tell you that your God is faithful. 25:37 Lamentations 3 says, "It is of the Lord's mercies 25:40 that we are not consumed because His compassions 25:42 they fail not. 25:43 They are new every morning." 25:45 Great is your faithfulness. 25:48 Great is God's faithfulness. 25:50 When you don't know where to turn, God is there. 25:53 When you don't know where the money is going 25:55 to come in for groceries, God will provide. 25:58 When you don't see your way out of a difficulty, 26:01 God is faithful. 26:03 When your marriage is crumbling or hope has disintegrated, 26:07 when your kids have turned their back on God 26:10 or people don't talk to you anymore when you go to church, 26:13 God is faithful. 26:16 God is faithful in your life. 26:21 I love this. 26:22 We think about the faithfulness we ought to exhibit 26:25 and truly we should exhibit faithfulness. 26:27 Hebrews 11 is filled with a list of those men 26:32 and women in the Word, 26:34 who had their mess ups and their mistakes 26:37 and yet they exhibited faith. 26:40 Pistis or faithfulness, the same word. 26:44 They walked in faith, 26:46 they walked in faithfulness 26:49 but it's not our faithfulness. 26:51 It is God's faithfulness that resides in us, 26:56 that even enables you and I to be faithful 27:00 towards someone else, to be faithful toward God. 27:04 The words of Moses in Deuteronomy 32:4, 27:09 "The Rock, His work is perfect, all His ways are just, 27:14 a God of faithfulness without injustice, 27:18 righteous and upright is He." 27:20 I think about Moses, you know, he was in that line 27:23 of Hebrews 11, those heroes of the faith 27:25 and you think about the children of Israel 27:27 at the golden calf experience and Moses said, 27:30 "Wait a minute, what are these people doing?" 27:32 And God said, "I'm going to blot them out 27:34 and I'm going create a whole new people from you." 27:36 And what did Moses do? 27:38 He went up and He interceded his faithfulness for the people 27:43 that God had called him to lead, 27:47 called him to minister for. 27:50 And he said, "God, You are our faithful God. 27:52 God, You are our loving God. 27:54 God, honor your word for these people. 27:57 Do not blot them out. 27:58 And if you do, take my name out of the book of life." 28:04 The faithfulness of God, 28:06 do you want to experience faithfulness, 28:09 pistis, in your walk with God? 28:13 Ask Him to give it to you. 28:16 Ask Him to in birth His faith, 28:20 His faithfulness in your life, as a believer. 28:24 2 Timothy 4, this is, of course, 28:28 Paul's last book, right? 28:30 Right before he's beheaded, 28:33 written to his son in the faith, Timothy. 28:35 He is in prison knowing that he's going to die. 28:39 And he says, "I fought the good fight. 28:42 I finished the course, I have kept the faith. 28:47 Henceforth, there is laid out for me a crown of righteousness 28:52 which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, 28:54 will give me at that day 28:55 and not to me only but to all them also 28:58 who love His appearing." 28:59 Do you want that? 29:00 Do you want to walk in such faithfulness toward God, 29:05 toward other people, that you can say, "Yes, God, 29:08 I have fought the good fight." 29:10 Let's pray. 29:11 Holy Father, of ourselves, we don't have faithfulness. 29:13 We can't walk in that. 29:15 But first of all, we are grateful that 29:17 You are faithful toward us. 29:19 Thank You for Your faithfulness. 29:21 Thank You that while I was a sinner, 29:25 You died for me. 29:27 Lord, I pray for my brothers and sisters just now. 29:30 Those who have not yet experienced Your faithfulness 29:33 or maybe they're just in a dry time, 29:35 a time where they can't see or sense or hear or know 29:40 or feel that You are with them. 29:43 God, would You reveal Your faithfulness to them? 29:48 Would they see You for who You are? 29:52 And, Father, we want to respond in faithfulness toward You. 29:56 Not because of anything we have done, 29:59 but we open up our hearts to receive Your faithfulness, 30:03 no matter the test, no matter the trial, 30:07 no matter what we face, 30:10 we say just now as for me and my house, 30:15 we will serve the Lord. 30:19 And we thank You 30:20 that You will help us seal that commitment in Jesus' name. 30:25 Amen. 30:26 That's great. 30:27 And while we're praying, 30:29 I just want to pray for the missionaries 30:31 who are faithful to give their lives 30:35 to the cause of Christ, 30:36 to the effect of Christ. 30:40 So, Father, I just ask that You would be with those 30:42 who are in harm's way, 30:47 in disease, in the way of disease 30:49 and they don't have maybe clean water 30:53 and safe conditions. 30:55 They've given their lives. 30:57 They've been faithful to the cross, 31:00 faithful to the call. 31:03 Father, I thank You for those who are sharing, 31:06 spreading the good news around the world. 31:09 God, be their protector, 31:12 be their defense, be their strength. 31:17 You are their strength, You are their faithfulness. 31:20 It's just shining through them, so I thank You for them. 31:24 God, encourage them today. 31:26 And again we thank You for being 31:28 so faithful to us in Jesus' name. 31:32 It reminds me of that great song. 31:35 What a friend 31:38 We have in Jesus 31:44 All our sins 31:46 And grieves to bear 31:51 What a privilege 31:55 To carry 31:59 Everything to God 32:03 In prayer 32:07 Oh, what peace 32:10 We often forfeit 32:15 Oh, what needless pain 32:19 We bear 32:23 All because 32:26 We do not carry 32:31 Everything to God 32:35 In prayer 32:39 Have we trials 32:42 And temptations 32:47 Is there trouble 32:50 Anywhere 32:54 We should never 32:58 Be discouraged 33:02 Just take it to the Lord 33:06 In prayer 33:10 Can we find a friend 33:13 So faithful 33:18 Who will our sorrows 33:22 Share 33:26 Jesus knows 33:29 Our every weakness 33:34 Take it to the Lord in prayer 33:40 John, you want to sing this verse. 33:43 Are we weak and heavy-laden 33:50 Yes. 33:52 Cumbered with 33:54 A load of care 33:59 Precious Savior 34:03 Still our refuge 34:07 I'm going to take it to You Lord 34:12 In prayer 34:16 Do your friends 34:20 Despise or forsake you 34:25 Take it to the Lord 34:30 In prayer 34:34 In His arms 34:37 He'll take and shield me 34:43 You will find a solace there 34:50 Yes, you will. 34:55 Thank the Lord for His faithfulness. 35:01 Man, we're coming close 35:02 to the end of this fruit that never ends. 35:07 But, John, I believe you have the next fruit of gentleness. 35:13 Gentleness. 35:15 You know, the picture of the shepherd 35:16 is one that came to my mind 35:18 when I thought of gentleness. 35:20 Because, you know, the Bible says 35:22 all we like sheep have gone astray. 35:25 And sheep don't like people 35:26 that are not gentle. 35:28 I mean, it's just bottom line. 35:29 We don't, we can't guide ourselves, 35:31 sheep. 35:33 And I don't want to really say too many bad things about us. 35:36 But when the Bible uses the word sheep, 35:38 sheep are not very smart. 35:40 Yes. 35:41 They could be on the other side of a boulder 35:43 and can't find their way around the other side of the boulder 35:45 and just starve to death. 35:47 But the Bible says, 35:48 all we like sheep have gone astray. 35:51 But the shepherd has a staff, a rod and a staff. 35:56 The rod is to keep the pursuing enemies away 36:00 from devouring the sheep, 36:01 the wolves, the bears, 36:02 whatever vicious animal will come, 36:04 but he has the staff. 36:06 And he doesn't yank the neck of the sheep 36:09 and say, "Get over here." 36:12 He gently, he's saying what? 36:15 I see my mother do that. 36:19 Yeah, we've all been there before. 36:22 We survived. 36:24 But He's gentle. 36:25 He's a gentle shepherd. 36:27 And the Apostle Paul, Philippians 4:5. 36:31 The context of this is just so apropos to today. 36:35 He says, "Let your gentleness be known to all men, 36:39 the Lord is at hand." 36:41 And he puts it in the context of the last days 36:44 even though he wrote this about 2000 years ago. 36:47 But He's saying for people 36:49 who are living in the last days, 36:51 one of the earmarks of the evidence 36:53 of the presence of Jesus in our lives, 36:56 in your marriage, in your home, 36:58 in your church, is gentleness. 37:00 And how often do we allow gentleness 37:02 to just kind of pull us out of our pew. 37:06 You know, I have a crazy thought in my mind, 37:09 I won't even let it come out. 37:11 But they call a pew because sometimes our religion stinks. 37:16 And so, we'd like aisles because it keeps us 37:19 from people that we don't like. 37:20 We choose our aisles, 37:22 because we don't choose to allow those aisles 37:24 to close up the distance between us. 37:26 But I want to be gentle. 37:28 You know, let your gentleness be made known to all men, 37:32 the Lord is at hand and say that again, honey. 37:36 I said be a gentleman. 37:40 I like that. 37:41 That was good. That was a good one. 37:43 She always has these golden nuggets 37:44 that she whispers 37:46 and I say honey, say that again. 37:47 But the Lord says, 37:49 "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, 37:52 for I am gentle and lowly, 37:55 that's humble at heart 37:57 and you will find rest for your soul." 37:59 So I want to encourage you 38:00 to those of you that are wondering, 38:02 you may be a parent dealing with a recalcitrant child. 38:06 You may be an employee that has a hard-headed employer 38:11 or you may be an employer 38:13 that has a hard-headed employee. 38:15 You may be the kind of person that just says, 38:18 "You know, for this year, I'm not taking it anymore." 38:20 And the Lord says, "Now, this year take it also." 38:24 Because gentleness 38:26 when we are in the belly of affliction, 38:29 the gentleness calls for the evidence of Christ 38:32 to be seen. 38:33 When we are in the vice grips of unjust, injustice. 38:37 The Lord says, "Be gentle, 38:38 let your gentleness be made known." 38:41 And the people that we remember the most in history, 38:43 people like Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, 38:48 Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, 38:51 these people that were gentle in the middle of the fires. 38:55 Can you... How can you be... 38:56 I think of Nelson Mandela story. 38:58 How can you be so unjustly accused 39:00 and put in prison for so long a time 39:02 and come out and say 39:04 to those who have supported you, 39:06 let us not do the same to those who have persecuted us. 39:11 Let us set a standard to be gentle. 39:13 But who set that standard? 39:15 You can't be gentle without the presence 39:17 of Jesus in your life. 39:19 And so I'm going to take your advice, 39:20 I want to be a gentleman, 39:22 not just to my wife. 39:24 But Galatians one of those is gentleness. 39:28 And here's another one brethren, Galatians 6:1, 39:31 "If a man is overtaken in any trespass, 39:34 you are spiritual, 39:37 restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness." 39:41 Sometimes we feel like saying and I could confess. 39:45 We felt like saying, good for you. 39:47 I told you shouldn't have done that, 39:49 didn't I tell you? 39:50 Yeah, that's exactly what I tried to warn you of. 39:53 But the Lord says, "A bruised reed, I won't break. 39:59 And a smoking flax, I won't quench." 40:01 I had an experience one Sabbath morning, 40:04 where a church member went off on me 40:06 in the middle of communion. 40:08 And just as we were breaking for footwashing, 40:10 they said, "How dare you?" 40:12 At the top of her voice 40:15 in our church right here in little, 40:17 gentle Thompsonville. 40:19 And it was a moment when I could have. 40:20 So much detail, go ahead. Yeah. 40:23 I'm not going to give her name. 40:24 But I want to tell you the story for a reason. 40:26 I want to live in the real world right now. 40:29 It was the moment that I could have taken 40:30 my pastor or leadership and say, 40:33 you know, you need to go home and get your life right 40:35 and then come back for communion. 40:37 But I didn't say that, 40:38 you know, you go through the cards that say, 40:40 what will my reaction be? 40:41 What was my reaction going to be? 40:43 And I just kept my voice low. 40:46 And I said, I'm so sorry. 40:49 I'm sorry, that I made you feel that way? 40:53 What can I do to make it different? 40:56 And she was still going in 40:58 and listened to what the pastor saying, 41:00 I'm so sorry, that I made you feel that way. 41:03 And I explained the situation. 41:05 And I told her how we're going to fix it. 41:08 And I said, today, honey, why don't you wash your feet 41:11 and I'll wash her husband's feet. 41:13 You know, just by being gentle in a moment 41:15 when we could have been bombastic 41:17 and assert our authority. 41:19 She was the first person at prayer meeting next week, 41:22 the next week. 41:23 She walked in with a gigantic smile. 41:25 And from across "Pastor, I'm here." 41:28 You know, we could win people or we could repel people. 41:31 Authority is something that Jesus had the ultimate of, 41:37 He could have said to His accusers, 41:39 "Be gone," and could bounce them off a plateau. 41:42 He could have just started 41:44 and all of His accusers could have disappeared. 41:46 He could have said to the Pharisees, 41:49 "I've been dealing with you guys for how long?" 41:53 They had been dropped into the ground 41:55 in just a pile of dust. 41:56 But He allowed the turbulence of the moment 41:59 to reveal that I am the good Shepherd, 42:02 I am the gentle Shepherd. 42:04 So for this year, let me encourage you leaders. 42:07 Let's start with the leaders, you authority people, 42:10 you guys who just can't take those hard-headed employees, 42:14 the employee, they're just sick 42:15 and tired of that person 42:16 who keeps coming to work late 42:18 or never get their work done 42:19 or the guy that's tired of being charged 42:20 more than he should have been charged. 42:22 As a leader, let your gentleness 42:25 be made known to all. 42:27 And then as that person who's, 42:29 and I've seen this, this always irritates me. 42:32 You know, nothing irritates me 42:33 more than a person in a parking lot. 42:36 And they start their car 42:38 and you can't find another space. 42:40 And they sit there. 42:42 They know you are waiting to get in that space 42:45 and you gonna like... 42:52 And so you kind of, 42:53 you tweak your head so hoping they can see it. 42:56 And you go like. 43:02 So I know the story of a pastor 43:04 once he was on his way to church. 43:05 But have you been there? 43:07 You know what I'm talking about? 43:08 I know it. 43:09 And then sometimes there's two of them. 43:11 And let's say which one's going move first. 43:12 Let's just go ahead and rake them. 43:14 So I know this pastor he was on his way to church 43:15 on Sabbath morning. 43:16 And he likes to drive. 43:18 Now, this is not my story. 43:20 Just want to tell you. 43:21 And he beeped at the person 43:23 and went around and gave him a look like, 43:25 "I'm on the way to worship God. 43:27 How dare you slow me down?" 43:29 And he got to church, 43:31 back to the parking lot, got in to the pulpit. 43:33 And as he was about to come up and do the prayer, 43:37 he saw that person walk through the back door. 43:41 He saw them turn into the parking lot 43:43 but then and he thought, 43:45 "Oh, I'm doing a sermon today." 43:50 And so from the pulpit, he sheepishly 43:54 confessed his fault and said, "Forgive me." 43:59 And then that was probably one of the gentlest sermons 44:02 he preached that day. 44:04 So let your gentleness be made known to all, 44:07 mothers, fathers, leaders, 44:10 employees, employers, husbands. 44:13 When you've been married 38, 39 years going on, 39, wow! 44:17 My wife has made me a gentle man. 44:19 You made me a gentle woman. 44:20 Yes, and I'm going to... 44:22 And by 20, by God's grace, 44:25 I want to be even more gentle because I love you. 44:28 And together, honey, 44:30 pray together forever, 44:32 eternity in view. 44:33 And if you think I'm gentle now, 44:34 you wait till eternity. 44:36 So let me encourage you husbands. 44:37 You have patience now. 44:42 I was asking for that. 44:44 Let your gentleness and your patience 44:46 be made known in your family 44:48 because what has made our ministry so beautiful 44:51 people have said to me, 44:52 "I've heard your sermon, 44:54 but I see your relationship with your wife. 44:56 That speaks more." 44:57 We did a family seminar, 44:58 remember down in the Bahamas somewhere, 45:00 Danny, and it was on family life. 45:02 And they said, "I heard what you said, 45:04 but I watch you and your wife, 45:05 which meant a whole lot more to me." 45:07 So let your gentleness be made known, the Lord is at hand. 45:10 Amen. 45:11 John, why don't you pray for our viewers to have gentleness? 45:14 Gentle Shepherd, we often say, "Lord, and Redeemer, 45:17 and Savior, and Defender, and Friend, 45:20 but gentle Shepherd." 45:22 Teach us what it means to be under shepherds. 45:26 People that we work with that sometimes 45:27 we want to crack the whip and say, hurry up, get it done. 45:32 Help us to understand what they've had to deal 45:34 with before they came to work 45:36 or how they may have tried their best to get out 45:38 of the door with wiping their tears away. 45:41 We don't know, the turbulent world that people live in. 45:44 We don't know the stresses they carry. 45:46 We don't know the bad news they got 45:48 just before they came out of the door. 45:50 We don't know how hard it was to find their keys and to say, 45:54 "I'll come back and I know you're not feeling well, 45:56 but I'll do my best 45:57 and I'll bring the medication back." 45:58 We don't know the circumstances of life. 46:02 Help us to be gentle, 46:03 a heart of understanding and we don't need to know. 46:06 People don't need to tell us their struggles for us 46:09 to be gentle. 46:10 But help us to be gentle. 46:12 Because whatever the struggle, we want to be a supportive arm. 46:16 So guide us, Lord, to be Christians in a world 46:18 that's not gentle, in a world where politics 46:22 and religion sometimes 46:23 could be the greatest stumbling block. 46:26 Help us to be gentle shepherds. 46:28 I pray that for me as a shepherd, 46:30 as an under shepherd to be gentle to my flock, 46:33 to the people I minister to, to those who watch 46:36 and those who know me off the pulpit. 46:38 Help me to be gentle to my family, 46:40 those close to me, to my sister, to my in-laws. 46:44 May I be gentle, so that when You return, Lord, 46:48 I'll look at You and You'll say to me, 46:51 "I'm thanking you John for being gentle, 46:53 because when I should have taken you out, 46:56 when I should have treated you harshly, I was gentle to you." 47:00 I just want to reflect You, Lord. 47:02 May we all desire for this new year 47:05 to be reflective of a gentle shepherd in Jesus' name. 47:09 Amen. 47:12 Gentle Shepherd 47:19 Come and lead us 47:25 For we need You to help us 47:32 Find our way 47:38 Gentle Shepherd 47:45 come and feed us 47:52 For we need your strength 47:58 From day to day 48:05 There's no other 48:12 we can turn to 48:18 Who can help us 48:23 face another 48:27 Day 48:32 Gentle Shepherd 48:39 Come and lead us 48:46 For we need 48:50 You to help us 48:53 find our way 49:00 We come to the last fruit of the Spirit 49:04 and it's self-control. 49:07 And I'm going to just talk a little bit about this. 49:11 Self-control points to the works of the flesh, 49:15 which are the opposite of self-control. 49:20 It depicts power under control. 49:25 Self-control is power under control. 49:30 The words of James in James 1:12-13, 49:34 "Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial, 49:38 for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown 49:41 of life which the Lord has promised 49:43 to those who love Him. 49:45 Let no one say when he is tempted, 49:47 'I am being tempted by God, ' 49:49 for God cannot be tempted by evil, 49:52 and He Himself does not tempt anyone.'" 49:57 We think of Joseph, 50:01 when he fled the temptation of Potiphar's wife. 50:09 We think of David, 50:12 when he didn't flee the temptation with Bathsheba 50:16 and then went on further to kill her husband. 50:23 All because they practiced or didn't practiced 50:27 self-control every day. 50:30 My goodness, you just think back at the end of the day, 50:32 you think back to the many opportunities 50:35 that you have to display self-control. 50:39 Things you say or don't say, 50:42 ways you act or don't act to the drivers passing by 50:47 or people walking by you at work 50:49 or even perfect strangers, 50:52 especially perfect strangers, because again, 50:53 how are you going to show Christ? 50:56 How are they going to see Christ 50:58 if you don't display that? 51:01 So through our temper, 51:06 through our appetites, 51:11 through our thoughts, controlling our thoughts 51:13 and our imaginations, 51:15 and our desires and most of all, 51:19 the self-control of our tongue. 51:23 So, thank God for the fruit of the Spirit. 51:27 As He, 51:29 as Christ grows in me 51:34 as I study His Word more and pray, 51:38 the fruit of that Spirit is developed in me. 51:42 And so I just want to pray for that 51:45 to be ever more present in my life and in yours as well. 51:48 Father, thank You so much for this beautiful fruit 51:53 that we can display only through You, 51:56 only You give us the power, 51:57 only You give us the strength to do this. 52:00 And they're all things that You are. 52:03 What a beautiful pictures 52:06 of the characteristics of Christ. 52:10 So, Father, I pray for those who are struggling 52:13 with self-control, 52:16 struggling to control your tongue, 52:20 struggling to control your appetite. 52:23 God, give them strength. 52:26 Help them, Lord. 52:30 Only by Your power, 52:32 can they make these choices. 52:34 They can take a pill for things. 52:39 But, Lord, 52:42 I just ask that You will magnify 52:45 Yourself in their lives, 52:49 that You get the glory. 52:53 Father, thank You that You are working Your perfect will 52:56 out in our lives through self-control. 52:59 And it's all because we want to be witnesses of You. 53:03 We want to show examples of what it is like 53:06 to be a Christian. 53:10 So, Father, I pray that self-control will rise 53:15 in those who are watching. 53:19 And for all of us, 53:23 remember that we don't bear fruit 53:26 for our own consumption. 53:29 So we don't do things just to look good. 53:31 We don't show off these, any of these fruit. 53:36 We bear that others may be helped 53:38 and that Christ may be glorified. 53:40 So may Christ be glorified in all our lives in Jesus' name. 53:46 Amen. Great. 53:47 Precious. Amen. 53:49 You know, Tim, I'd like to end if I can quick story, 53:52 but the embodiment of everything 53:54 that we've learned here today may not come through 53:57 your priest or your rabbi or your pastor 53:59 or whatever else. 54:01 But in each one of us, may we rightly represent Jesus 54:04 and may we do what is right, because it's right. 54:07 Not for any other reason to show, 54:09 to be showy, to whatever. 54:11 I think Mr. Gallio lived behind us 54:13 when we were kids growing up 54:15 and we had an alley between our houses and he had the, 54:20 he was coal miner, so they lived okay. 54:22 We were very poor as I mentioned earlier. 54:25 Every Tuesday or so, 54:26 the garbage collectors would come. 54:28 But Monday evening, 54:29 we would go to the Gallio's barrel, they had three sons. 54:32 And we would turn it over about dark 54:34 and pick out through toys, 54:35 maybe a truck with one wheel 54:37 or something that wasn't you know, 54:39 there and then we'd take it home and play with it 54:41 because we didn't, so we would wait 54:43 till there's almost dark every Tuesday night. 54:46 Then we noticed we got such great toys. 54:48 They were just nice toys 54:50 and we're like, "Man, these boys. 54:51 They're just not grateful. 54:53 They throw everything away and man needs you know, 54:55 they've just must have a lot of money." 54:57 Fifty years later, 54:58 I'm at Penny's in Carbondale around Christmas, 55:02 I see Mr. Gallio. 55:03 I say, "Mr. Gallio, how are you doing?" 55:06 He's close to 90. "I'm doing fine," I said. 55:08 He said, "I'm doing fine Shelton." 55:10 I said, I got a little confession when we were young. 55:13 And I said back in the late 50s, 55:14 early 60s, we used to go to your house 55:17 and I told him the story. 55:18 And I'm doing it quickly. I'm about out of time. 55:20 But as we turn over the barrel, 55:22 we'd notice all these nice toys that your boys throw away. 55:25 So I said we didn't think it was stealing. 55:27 But since you guys were throwing them away, 55:30 but we had plenty of toys. 55:32 He looked at me and said, "Son, that was no accident." 55:37 He said, "My wife and I knew your situation. 55:40 We know you didn't have anything. 55:42 So we bought those toys and we put them in there. 55:44 We saw you guys going through the garbage. 55:48 We wanted to have something nice. 55:49 You were good boys. You had a great daddy. 55:51 He just was disabled." 55:53 And I said 50 years you've never told me that. 55:56 He said, "No. 55:58 There's no reason to ever tell you that." 55:59 Had I not met him that embodied to me the care, 56:02 the passion, the love, all of this long suffering. 56:05 We'd go play in his basketball in his yard 56:08 when it was muddy and tear up his yard. 56:10 Patience and love. 56:11 I'm not sure, I think they were Catholic. 56:13 But he's wonderful man. 56:15 This is what people need to see is Jesus in us. 56:17 Fifty years he did, because it was the right thing. 56:20 Not to tell anybody, 56:22 not to do get any glory but to do it 56:25 because it's the right thing to do. 56:27 Because sharing the love of Jesus 56:29 to the lost and dying world. 56:31 So... Amen. 56:35 You guys have made me rich today. 56:36 Thank you very much. I love your stories. 56:38 I love your hearts. 56:39 I love everything that you stand for. 56:41 And I'm praying that 2022 will be your most 56:45 fruitful year ever. 56:47 And that you will be like Jesus, 56:50 no better person to be like, 56:52 He's got it all. 56:53 And He wants to freely give it to you 56:55 if you don't know Him. 56:57 Just ask Him and believe in Him. 56:59 Trust Him, follow Him 57:01 and then follow His spirit and grow in Him. 57:03 God bless you. |
Revised 2022-01-20