Are You Prepared for Pentecost?

Good afternoon, everyone. Good to be here. Good to see everyone. I thought I was prepared, and then you totally distracted me describing Ocho Rios and all those other things.

I was a pretty good... whoever wrote that should be in advertising. That was...

They were doing a fine job. Well, I have proof. I do have a family. See? So...

Last couple times they weren't here, but last couple times you didn't have free food. So...

Now you know. Give them the food. They'll come. But...

Great to join you and see all the smiling faces. We've had amazing weather the last few days. This is one of those days where we need to be outside, I think.

Of course, you wouldn't be staring at me. You'd be relaxing and falling asleep.

I'd like to start today by asking you what might seem like an odd question.

What are you doing to make yourself ready for the Feast of Pentecost?

What are you doing to make yourself ready for the Feast of Pentecost?

Now wait, Dan. You say that's not what we usually prepare for. You go into the Passover, the Feast of Eleven Bread, and you do this deep soul-searching.

And you remove the eleven from your house.

You... before atonement, you evaluate wherever the selfishness is, how much of a oneness you have with God. You cut down on your caffeine.

And of course, we're already making plans for the Feast of Tabernacles. We're talking about when you can make your bookings, which I was laughing thinking about. Okay, what if you were going to Australia? You'd have to do some real mental math. Okay, you could do at ten o'clock at a place you're going, but they're a day off. And I guess you just... they'll book for you at that point. But, you know, we're always thinking about the Kingdom of God and what that will be like. But we really don't talk much about preparing for the Feast of Pentecost, do we?

It's kind of interesting. As we start today's message, I'd like to share an analogy I heard Gary Petty use recently. And I thought it was quite profound. He talked about how it's not uncommon to hear our spiritual journey referred to as God remodeling us. Remodeling. It's probably something that either you have done or you know somebody who's done it. When we moved into Charlottesville, we remodeled a bonus room to Adabasca. And it's nicer now. So that's probably the case when you do remodeling afterwards, it looks better. So, sounds like a good analogy. Is there anything wrong with using that analogy for our spiritual journey?

Well, if you'll turn to Acts 1 and verses 4-5, Acts 1, 4-5, The flaw in that analogy comes when we consider how much God needs us to change. So let's look at how Jesus started preparing his disciples at the first Pentecost after he died. And that's where we're turning to the beginning of Acts. Jesus provided instructions for what his disciples needed to become a church family. Starting in verse 4, it says, And being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, You have heard from me, for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not many days from now.

Don't depart, but wait for the promise of the Father. Now, if you go forward to the beginning of chapter 2, you see the amazing gift of the Holy Spirit and the powerful dynamics and how it was delivered. So let's start in Acts 2, verse 1.

When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing, mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

Then there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and one sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Amazing situation! Now, the disciples, they had no clue what God had planned for them. What they were told was, wait, that's good certainty. That's a little bit of confusion. But that's exactly what God had in mind.

One of the first keys for us preparing for Pentecost is that we have to have unconditional obedience to God. And so that means you're not always going to get all the details. That's one of the things that happened. And this concept of unconditional obedience is, if you think about it, it's in complete opposition to the concept of remodeling.

Because when you remodel, you pick what you want remodeled. We had a bonus room that needed a bathroom. We chose to fix that. Well, that's wonderful with houses, and that doesn't work with God. Because if you play that analogy forward, what it means is that we have a say on where we let God touch our lives. We choose what He interacts with. And if He happens to want to change something that we want to retain, then we can simply use excuses. We can make compromises. We can kind of push back and we can say, yeah, not this one, God.

But God wants us to be obedient in all things. He expects more than a remodel. So, what's the better analogy? If you'll turn next to Matthew 5 and verse 21. Matthew 5 and verse 21. For us to become what God has called us to become, we need to be totally torn down and rebuilt. There's a lot of difference between a remodel and a rebuild. Rebuild involves a total change with no exceptions, with no compromises, with no excuses. And so, the key difference between a remodel and a rebuild is the realization that in God's eyes, there is nothing workable with what's in us of our own nature.

Ouch! But it's a very different mindset and it's the only way we'll get to what we want to be. Because God sees everything within our base nature as having to be redone, as having to be changed. Now, you might say, wait, I do good things anyway, or I see people doing good. That kind of goes back to the knowledge of the tree of good and evil. Because, absolutely, we can do a decent job trying to rebuild on the foundation we have and we will achieve some success.

But at the end of the day, we are hardwired by Satan, aren't we? And so, the results will be flawed. A rebuild on an old foundation isn't going to work. So, God has to rebuild us and the foundation up. He has to work on our motivations as well as our actions. And I would argue that's what Jesus is showing. Well, we're about to read with the Sermon on the Mount. Let's start with Matthew 5, verse 21.

So, evil thoughts merit the same penalty and the same guilt as murdering someone. It continues in verse 27. You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. So, we don't have to act on a desire or covetous thought to be guilty of adultery. Let's go on. Verse 33.

Again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oath to the Lord. But I say to you, do not swear at all. Neither by heaven, for it is God's throne, nor by the earth, for it is his footstool, nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black.

But let your yes be yes, and your no know, for whatever is more than these is from the evil one. Any time a yes isn't yes, we're guilty of bearing false witness. Two more. Verse 38.

You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you not to resist an evil person, but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. And finally, verse 43. You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemy, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. That you may be sons of your Father in heaven, for he makes his Son rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. So, context. Why did Jesus point out the deficiencies in the law he gave? You ever think about that? He was pointing out flaws in the law he gave. Why? When God first starts to work with us. God shows us the actions that we need to change. Right? That's what each of these you have heard are about. They show us the areas you could say we need to remodel. So, God starts with a bit of remodeling. But with time, God helps us realize that for us to become members of his family, he needs us to be completely rebuilt.

And that's the contrast that he's showing. He's showing the spirit of the law. So, our conversation, or our conversion might start with do's and don'ts. I wasn't keeping the Sabbath, I'm supposed to keep the Sabbath. You know, fill in the do and don'ts that you weren't doing before. But that's a starting point. If you stop there, then you're missing the point of what Jesus said.

For us to get to where God wants us to be, for us to have a rebuild, it goes to our thoughts, our desires, our emotions.

It relies on getting out all the evil, because the Bible says all of our thoughts of humans are evil.

We can get comfortable with our house the way it is and say, I only want to add that bathroom up there to the bonus room. That's okay. I'll let God change that part. But that's not what God has in mind. He's wanting to rebuild us entirely. You'll turn next to Galatians 5, verse 22-23. Now, many of you probably know what I'm going to read already, because it's a very famous set of Scriptures.

One of the best known, I would argue, it's one of those memory sets of Scriptures in the Bible. Galatians 5, verse 22 and verse 23. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, against such there is no loss. So again, remember what I started this sermon by, by asking you, what are you doing to make yourself ready for the Feast of Pentecost?

If the Pentecost is about God providing His Holy Spirit to mankind, then preparing for Pentecost is about how well we're using this gift. Make sense? How well are we using God's Spirit? How well do we prioritize that gift in our lives? Well, these verses are going to be the central theme of what I'm going to talk about today.

But I'm not going to probably tackle them in the traditional way that you've had these addressed. I'm sure you've heard dozens of sermons that speak to the fruits of the Spirit. But my focus is going to be more on how do we make room for? How do we keep these fruits? Less on the fruits themselves. And in short, I'd say that's how you prepare for the Feast of Pentecost.

Let me give you an analogy that will help you hopefully see how this might work. I didn't know when I came here was bring your own column to church today, but I thought, you know, I need something for a prop, and I didn't know what was here. Pretend we are all one-court Atlas Mason jars. Joe Wright, this looks like you. So, if this is what God has in mind, and he wants to work with, then his intention is to fill this entirely with one-court of his Holy Spirit. If we are truly letting God do a rebuild, that's what we would allow him to do.

The problem is we tend to have all these things inside us that we have... Well, and Satan has helped us fill ourselves with, and we say, Go ahead, God, you can fill them with your Spirit. I'm ready. Work with me. You know, work around the corners a little bit, because I've packed a couple little things in my closet. It is not too full. Go ahead. There's a difference. And I'll try this and make a big mess.

But that's all the water that I spilled a little bit that would hold inside that. You can compare the two. Is that what we do with God? Do we use that same area where we're saying, God, I'm ready for the Beast of Pentecost. I'm ready for you to work with us. Just, you know, don't touch that. That's special to me. Well, that's going to be the approach that I'd like us to think about today, because cleansing or cleaning ourselves so God can fill us with His Spirit is a critical thing for us to think of at this time of year.

It's the reason He puts this on the calendar. Just like Jesus was showing, sure, we may not have committed ulcers. We may not have murdered. But we violated that command that's hundreds and hundreds of times. If we want to become like God, if we want to be rebuilt, we have to remove all the things that are stopping His Spirit from being inside us. If you'll turn next to Luke 16 and verse 13, one more thought before we start going into the fruit of the Spirit.

We're told that we have to empty our minds and empty our hearts of everything that's in contrast to the fruit of God's Spirit. Our journey is about bringing every thought into captivity, the Bible says. Well, a key thing to keep in mind, especially as you think of this analogy, is that we're either all in or not. You can't have two masters. In Luke 16 and verse 13, it says, No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and mammon. And that's why conversion is about a rebuild and not a remodel. That's why conversion is hard. That's why life's journey gets tough. So, let's start looking with the perspective of what do we need to remove to make room for these fruits. And we'll start with the first fruit. Let's start with love. Now, we were just talking to somebody before services about Gary Petty's Agape Series. I'm sure you've heard dozens of sermons on love. It's a wonderful topic.

Usually, the sermons will speak about the characteristic itself. But again, we're taking a slightly different science. So, what I would like you to think about is, what is the opposite of love, because that's what you need to remove. And an interesting Google search is to search what is the opposite of love. You've got a whole bunch of websites on different people who've written about that. It's always fascinating what people write on the Internet. But it's intriguing. There were three things that tended to come up the most. So, let's go to the most obvious one. If I was to ask you the opposite of love on a quiz, you would say, hate. Okay, so let's go to hate. It's the... A, good job, students. No. It's the natural one where we're taught opposites. So, hate is certainly an opposite of love. The first thing we have to do is to get rid of any type of animosity that we can feel toward a neighbor. Is there any person's name that I can state that would make you feel defensive or that would bring negative emotions to you? Let me flip that. Is there anyone who you have this impact on? Are people at agitated by you? If you'll turn to Matthew 5, verse 23-25. God says that we need to strive to build bridges with others and to let go of hate and hate that builds up in our hearts. Otherwise, the fruit of love will never find its way in. Otherwise, we're holding all these locks and saying, No, God, you don't have room to work in me the way you want us to. Matthew 5, verse 23.

We have to remove any aspects of hate that are inside us and that separate us. I don't want to spend too much time on hate because I think that's kind of an obvious. But, ironically, more websites than not immediately argued and said, Hate is not the opposite of love. And the argument is this. Hate and love are two sides of the same coin. It's the coin of attachment. Humans are attached to the people they hate, as much as they're attached to the people they love.

So they say, therefore, there are things that are more opposite to love than hate. Let's go to one of them. I don't know if any of you ever read the Screwtape letters? If you read your C.S. Lewis, you probably know them from the Chronicles of Narnia. But he wrote usually Bible-based books, but were long animated-type stories. He was subtly teaching the lessons of the Bible along the way. And in this one, he had a devil who was briefing his demon nephew, named Wormwood, and there was a series of letters that he was writing back and forth.

And he was teaching him the subtleties and the techniques of tempting people. Now, what he wrote, he said, The objective is not to make people wicked. The objective is to make them indifferent. Indifference. He went on to say, he cautioned Wormwood that he must keep the patient, in other words, you or I, comfortable at all costs. If he should start thinking about anything of importance, encourage him to think about his luncheon plans and not to worry so much because it could cause indigestion.

And then the devil gives this instruction to his nephew. He says, I, the devil, will always see to it that there are bad people. Your job, my dear Wormwood, is to provide me with people who do not care. According to a lot of websites, the opposite of love is in hate. It's apathy. It's indifference. Now, that's an interesting perspective, isn't it? When you think about it that way, how much indifference is there in my life?

Is indifference one of those rocks that I have inside me that's not allowing God to do everything that he would want to do? Are there ways you would like to show love and serve others but you just can't find the time? Ooh! That's about priority, and that gets into apathy and indifference, doesn't it? This whole message is another one of those ouch messages. Actually, my next message is a nicer message because I've been writing too many ouch messages and they hurt to put them together.

But it makes you think, it's the journey we're going on if we're truly wanting to be shaped. How often do we make the time to care? Because apathy is about people who don't care enough to care. Which one describes us? How much are we apathetic towards showing love to others? Are we actively living it? Living love, or are we not? Now, apathy is interesting because it often shows itself in relationships and unfortunately it shows itself a lot in marriage relationships. What oftentimes will happen is people will decide to coast. You ever seen that happen? And so you get into coast mode, but then you want that first love to be there that you had but you're not going to really work on it, but you figure that in time it will just reinvent itself and be stronger than it ever was before.

And in time that coasting turns so either the relationship blows up or you coast some more. It's a faulty logic that's based on apathy. And unfortunately what oftentimes happens if you play that logic through is when the relationship then breaks up, the person says, Phew! I'm free from that relationship. Next time I'm going to recognize the apathy sooner so I can pull out. And it causes a cycle. Instead of changing the bad behaviors, apathy reinforces protecting ourselves and reinforces people not emotionally investing because pain can come that way.

Is that something that stops us from showing love and from helping others? Are we worried about the potential downsides that could hurt us? If you'll turn to 1 John 4 and verse 12. Did I have you turn there already? 1 John 4 and verse 12 and 13. I'd like us to look to a situation here that builds on that thought. The Apostle John is oftentimes the one who is associated with love, who clearly had a keen insight into it.

And we see in 1 John 4 and verse 12, he says, No one has seen God at any time. That's kind of the setup to what he's going to say next. If we love one another, then God abides in us. And his love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us because he has given us his spirit. It's kind of a circle that goes back to this analogy.

If we want to have his spirit, we need to show love to one another. If we're not showing love to one another, we've got a problem. Apathy stops us from making the time. Apathy stops us from taking the time to love one another. How much do you let apathy stop you from making room for love? Let's go ahead and go on to the next one, and that is fear. Another opposite of love is fear.

And I would say, while love holds the power to connect us, fear holds the power to cut off us from other people. So it's a completely opposite reaction. And there really are so many reasons that we have fear. You can see fear comes up as an opposite to a lot of the fruits of the spirit. It was an intriguing thing as I started studying on this path. I thought, ooh, fear applies here again. And so we'll bring it back. But in all situations, what fear does is it fosters abandonment.

It's a separator between us and others. And I really like one definition I read about fear. It says, fear is love of self-protection or self-existence. And if you think about it, that makes perfect sense. What fear comes down to at the end of the day, and the reason it stops us from showing love toward others, is because it's creating a barrier to protect us and stop us from reaching out and caring for others. Right? That's what fear does. If you'll turn next to Romans 13 and verse 10. Romans 13 and verse 10. In what way are we not showing godly love toward others because we're afraid to? In what way do we not show godly love toward others because we're afraid to? Interestingly, what hate, what apathy, what fear all have in common is they all focus on ourselves. Right? That's the central theme that separates them from showing love toward others. That's what makes us limited in doing it. And that leads us to sin, and that stops us from thinking outwards. Romans 13 and verse 10, it says, Love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. How much time do you, how much time do I, prevent love from being part of our life? How much do we let that stop us? Let's go ahead and go on to the next one. Interesting about love, of course, is that God is love, and all the fruit of his spirit ultimately reflect themselves in love. So it's going to permeate in all the different topics. So let's go on to joy. We live in a world that's filled with sadness, that's filled with trials. I'm sure that you know some people who, well, let's first go to the opposite. If you look up the word, the opposite is joy, you're going to get words like depression, doubt, sorrow. How many of you know somebody suffering from one of those? Do you know people going through depression? Do you know people who are just really sad, who just have a lot of doubt? Are you going through something like that in your life right now? If so, then you need to make room for joy. If you'll turn to Matthew 5 in verses 11-12, Matthew 5, 11-12, Now, I'll just say up front, all the verses in the Bible about joy make absolutely no sense if you view them from the perspective of remodeling versus rebuilding. They are like saying 2 plus 2 equals a thousand. Humanly, we cannot wrap our head around these verses on joy. And that's intentional, because we have to let go of this world's concept of logic and equity to make room for understanding joy, as God explains it. And we start seeing one of these ouch verses in Matthew 5 and verse 11.

Now, again, if you rely on human logic on this one, it's not going to work. It doesn't make sense. Because the human perspective is to live joy by removing all sorrow from the world's past. And that's why we're going to see the same thing. We're going to see the same thing. We're going to see the same thing. We're going to see the same thing. We're going to see the same thing. We're going to see the same thing. The reason why we're doing this is because we're trying to make sure that the human perspective is to live joy by removing all sorrow and all pain. Right? I can't be happy I have this burden I have to put up with. That's our human way of approaching that emotion. But that's not what this verse is saying. The problem, the Bible says, is that trials and tribulations will come on everyone who has God's Spirit. If we're trying to open that up, then we're promised trials and tribulations are going to come our way. So, what we're told is we're expected to allow God's Holy Spirit to emanate joy through us despite that. That's not the way we normally think. If you will turn next to James 1 in verses 2-4, God's joy will only come through us trusting God and looking beyond our difficulties. Otherwise, we will never understand or get past excuses not to feel joy. Here's another one of those out verses. Mine will get the two biggest out verses that come to mind. Both of these I read and I'm like, yeah, I'm with you guys. That's a tough one. So, let's get the other one out of the way. James 1 in verse 2. My brethren, count it all joy, not partial joy, all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, but let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect to complete, lacking nothing. If you search the Scriptures, joy is often linked with sorrow. It doesn't occur apart from it. It occurs despite it. It's just something we have to realize. So, whether we feel joy or not ultimately comes down to an issue of perspective, not environment. What is our perspective? Do we have a perspective that allows God to fill us with joy, or do we not? Humidly, we also fear experiencing sorrow and sadness. Fear plays very naturally for why we struggle with joy. We're scared about the hard times when life goes long, when we feel pain. And so, just like fear prevents love, it also prevents joy. And so, the reason fear stops us, again, ultimately comes down to this issue of control. So much of this in life, because of the selfishness, is a control thing. It's a pull type thing. What do we want to have control in our lives? The struggle to feel joy comes down to our perspective about what directs us, what controls us, and what we let decide our path. Because it's either going to be that our primary concern is this life, or it's the next. That's where the tension comes. That's where the contrast comes. And if you look around this world, there is so much fear. You could argue, look at nations. There probably has never been a war that didn't start, or an assassination that didn't occur because fear wasn't involved. If you look at relationships, there's probably behind every fight and every divorce an area of fear. It just plays through in everything we do. And we can't call fear a feeling. That minimizes it. Fear is a lot more than a feeling. Fear is a force with the power to control us. And it's a mean taskmaster. If you try to get rid of fear, it is not an easy thing to do. It is something that's very pervasive. And it's going to struggle and give you a big fight to have it removed from your life. So just be prepared for that. How much do you and I let fear control our emotions or our thoughts?

Do we look at life more from a perspective of joy or of worry? You guys worrying about a lot of stuff right now? It's human. We do that. But how much do we let that being our guiding emotion? How much do we let that drive and override our perspective? Do things have to go your way for you to be happy? If that's the case, then I would argue that you're looking at the human equation to joy. And so we get context. Joy isn't just a feeling either. A lot of times we want to say, oh, it's just a feeling. I'm just feeling happy right now. Joy is actually much more, too. It has similar features to what I described for fear. Because feelings help us in the moment. But this is something Godly joy can control and guide us through the toughest times in life. And that's the reason when Christ was being crucified, He could say, you know, sharing my joy. Because it wasn't something that was based on His environment. So, if you look at it from that perspective, everything in our life is therefore a test to see if we make room for the fruits of the Spirit to come through. That neighbor who's irritating you for all its worth, who has their radio real loud, who has every reason for you to yell at them, is a good test to see if you are making room for joy in your life. Because you could say, to have joy is to love without condition. How much do we use conditions for how we react, or how we treat others, or for how we feel? So, clearly, there's a lot of links between joy and love, and the emotions are the same. We talked about fear. Hate also plays in here. Hate is a natural area because it's like oil and water. You can't hate and feel joy at the same time. It is just conflicting. To have joy is to get rid of anger. Because, again, they're the opposite. Anger, you could say, is like a dam. It blocks the ability and the pathway of joy. To have joy is to get rid of jealousy. Envy wants what someone else has.

So, when we want something else, we aren't filled with joy about what we have. We're thinking about the next thing. The graph is greener. Do you desire what's not intended for you? Do I do that? Yes. Unfortunately, yes. And so it's something I have to look in the mirror and say, What is my motivation for being angry that I didn't get this opportunity? Oh, it's selfish. Do you find yourself doing that? And if I go through this and was writing this, there are so many areas that I was thinking, Ouch!

But that's what makes us grow. That's the journey we're on. So, to have joy is to stop racing to get more than the next person. Because that robs us from both joy and another fruit we're going to discuss in a little bit called peace. But what we have to do is wish everyone the best, cooperate, and find joy in their joy. How much joy do you find in other people's happiness?

Because it has to be something that happens to you to feel joy. Or is it something that another person's success is their success? That's not where I'm going to feed from. That's not where I'm going to feel excitement from. Something to think about.

A lot of times it's also something we can't create in ourselves. I think there's a natural tension as I started thinking about this, where I try to create joy in my life sometimes. And if you think about that, if that works, that's actually pride. It's a little bit of a contrast. So, you know God resists the proud. That's not what he's looking for. We have to realize where true joy comes from.

If you'll turn to 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 13, I'm going to read two verses. These are the only way I know to really keep perspective. These are promises of God. I think in a month or so I'll come down and my next sermon is on the promises of God.

That's what I'll share. These will be two of them I'll talk about. Let's touch on them briefly, because I think they give perspective that can take us beyond fear and uncertainty. 1 Corinthians 10 and 13. No temptation has overcome you except such as is common to man, but God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able.

But with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it. So when we feel like we can't make it, we're probably relying on ourselves too much. We're probably letting the environment, despair, and everything else stop us from feeling joy. And that's not what the whole point of that emotion is. I'll give you there. That's something that you've been struggling with over this last week or month.

Because it is so common. And the sad thing is, if that happens and it works, Satan is going to keep pushing things your way to test that. Because that's one of those weaknesses that he can keep working with. Let's go to one more. Romans 8 and verse 28. Romans 8 and verse 28. Remember, joy is about control. It's about whether our priority is on controlling our physical well-being or our spiritual well-being. If that helps, that's another way to try to separate the two. So if you're not feeling joy, think about it. Is it because I'm worried about my physical well-being?

Trials and tests and sickness and you name it will always impact that part. If that's where your joy is based on, your joy level, your joy meter, is going to go up and down and up and down. Romans 8 and verse 28. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose.

So what prevents you and me from feeling joy in our life? Here's a different way of looking at it. Is it something that if God was to walk in the room and we explained it to him, God would say, Yep, that's a good reason for you not to feel joy. Probably not. I would challenge that his perspective would be, he only gives us what we can handle. He is training us to become part of his spiritual family for eternity.

And all things work together for good. That perspective, no matter what our trial is, it puts it in perspective. That would be how Jesus was able to be about to be beaten, to be on the cross, know all that was happening, be hated by people, and say, Share in my joy. Where do we have room, as we approach Pentecost next week, to make, where do we make room for joy in our lives?

Let's go ahead and go on to the next one, which is peace. Peace. Now, we live in a technology age, and it's a crazy age. I should have brought a blackberry up here. Every five seconds, there is a plus and a minus. Every nanosecond, there's new data flowing our way. There's an email waiting that you need to respond to. It's really important. There's an opportunity out there. There's billions of websites that you have not looked at, but they are really important to you. They're calling to you. There are messages on Facebook.

Your friends are telling you things on Twitter. There is something out there you need to know about. A radio commercial is telling you what you need to be thinking about. A TV commercial is telling you what you need to buy. It's just a crazy world of data coming in constantly. Our culture of the country in the United States is wonderful in many ways. There are some wonderful values to our culture. It promotes freedom. It promotes individuality. It promotes competition and capitalism. But I would argue one thing it doesn't promote, and that is peace.

We are not in a culture that supports peace. Almost every day we're going to face these situations that give us stress, that give us trouble. At work you're going to have to come on, come on, you've got to get this going. You know there's no other emergency, we've got to get this yesterday. That is unacceptable. We have got to get this. You know, that's my work. That's where I worked. Everything had to be done yesterday. I'm sure yours is the same. It doesn't matter what you do. That is what surrounds us. So as a result we carry this emotional and physical baggage, like clothing, wherever we go. Peace. An interesting area. Of course, then our media doesn't help any, does it? Our media comes in and turns on the TV, oh, we've got a murderer, yep, we've got killings, oh, we've got earthquakes that are killing people. You realize there's Ebola that's floating around and we have all these other things that are taking place. You know, play it forward. There is so much out there that can distract us. Do you recognize a theme that I mentioned from the first two that's going forward? Fear. Fear is absolutely an opposite to peace. It surrounds us. In so many ways, I don't think fear is something we think about a lot, but Satan loves it. It's one of his favorite love languages for us. If you want to use the concept of love languages, it's what he wants us focusing on. Fear keeps us from feeling peace. And it can be fear of a lot of things. It can be fear of lacking something. It's not fear. I have less than someone else. It can be a fear of disapproval. He's going to think badly about me. It can be a fear of disappointment. I'll be happy if I can only experience... There are so many different areas that fear can play through. But at the end of the day, all of these keep us from feeling peace. They separate us from feeling peace. How much do we focus on what we lack? I felt myself in there. But it's an area where we aren't allowing ourselves to make room for God's Spirit. It's an area that if we want to prepare for Pentecost, we have to think and police ourselves and watch. It's the area where Jesus came in and said, But I say unto you, it's the growth, it's the maturity of our life as we get rebuilt from the ground up. And again, this goes back to how we look at things. Because we cannot change or control our external environment. It is what it is. Our external conditions are something that are going to happen. But we do have the power to control our inner world. Do we? How much do we control what we let process through our mind and what we let ourselves focus on and the driving emotions that we allow to purvey in our minds? Because that inner world is what's going to affect our actions. It's going to be what affects our reactions. It's going to be what ultimately impacts our exterior world. So peace starts looking inside. And peace is not just a spiritual thing. It's a treasure that I argue everyone aspires for. You want to make a zillion dollars, be a self-help person who can give people peace. You're going to be making a whole lot of money. There's a whole lot of gurus out there who promise they can do that for you. But it's something that is critically important. Another irony is that the world seeks peace by waging war. That's another irony that I was thinking of, but I went to this one. But obviously that's not how it works. A spirit of peace can only be received when we have no vengeance, when we have no jealousy. How much peace do you and I exhibit? If you'll turn to Philippians 4 and verse 6. Philippians 4 and verse 6.

For us to have peace of mind, we have to be content. There's another hard word in our day and age. How content are we? Play the cue of a zillion commercials telling you what you really, really need. And your iPod is not good because there's an eye-touch, and your eye-touch isn't good because the next generation is better.

And you realize in two days another one will come out. It all goes on and on. How content are we? And contentment oftentimes deals with greed. And I want to understand that greed is not just about money. Greed is actually very closely linked with fear. Our country would go forward amazingly. We have this great spirit of change. If we could eliminate the basic fear of lacking and disapproval, those are fears based on greed.

I'm lacking in something. I won't be approved of. Well, they're all about greed. They're just greed in different areas. Something to keep in mind. Philippians 4 and verse 6. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. God's peace is different because it's not affected by the world around us. Like joy, God's joy is different, very similar.

It's not affected by the world around us. We only experience this if we truly trust in God and his redemption for mankind. Then it gives you peace because everything else becomes a lesser issue. That's the perspective-giver. We can have it if we're obedient to his word, if we're striving to produce his character, if we're trying to get rid of all these locks that are clogging our ability for God to work through us. One thing that struck me as I was looking this over is the word peace is used differently in the Old Testament than it is in the New Testament.

And I think it speaks to that revelation, that insight that Jesus was giving in the Sermon on the Mount. In the New Testament, out of about 90 instances where the word is used, over 80 of them refer to heartfelt peace. You look back at Philippians. It's talking about the peace which surpasses all understanding. Well, guard your heart and your mind. God gives his peace to those of a pure and righteous heart. That's something that's really linked throughout the New Testament. And it's so insightful, and it also speaks to why, when I was struggling, not feeling peace, where the challenge is coming from. If you'll turn to Luke 17 and verse 1.

Luke 17 and verse 1. If you struggle with peace, you might ask yourself if you put enough focus on righteous living. Righteousness is another thing which is not an opposite, but it's a compliment. And as I was thinking about this, I saw a natural link between righteousness and peace. It almost forms a circle. You could think that righteousness produces peace with its quality of quietness and assurance. So that's half the circle. And at the same time, peace provides the proper environment for righteousness to grow. So it's this loop. And if you want to see it's broken, a good example is, can you really grow righteousness if you live in a household where there's no peace?

It's pretty hard. And so, you know, think about that. And the link, are you keeping those right balances? And that's another area to look. Luke 17 and verse 1. It says, And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you saying, I repent, you shall forgive him.

Making peace takes effort. And it's not something that we always want to do. There's times when we can be hurt, and we want to just hold a grudge and say, Give me time.

Give me two months and four days to be angry, and then we can talk. Then I'll be okay. I just want to grudge right now. But that's not what the lesson is teaching us. For us to have peace, peace is produced when we make a conscious effort to overcome any conflicting emotion that is holding effect.

Let's go ahead now and go on to the next fruit, and that's long suffering. Long suffering. Now, let's start again with this analogy. If you think about the heroes of today's world, if you think about the press or the movie characters that are out there, who are the heroes? The heroes are the ones who are focused, who are driven, who are aggressive. They plan every step, and they don't take no for an answer.

That's kind of your superhero that's out there. We live in a self-centered world, and it's something that I think we struggle with a great deal. You will not see them very often showing long suffering. That's not one of these. Let's go to a Hollywood movie and see a good example of long suffering. Ooh, this will be a best-seller! Not usually what happens. The original word used by Paul for long suffering, it actually means this combination of the words that means long and the words that means temper.

Long temper. It's the opposite of being short-tempered. Which is an interesting way to think of a concept. We oftentimes associate it with patience, and there is links there. But long-tempered versus short-tempered. How often or how easily are we provoked? That's another way of asking about being short-tempered. Are we short-tempered? Are we able to show self-restraint even when we're provoked? Because if not, then we're not long-suffering. A person who is long-suffering isn't quick to retaliate or to punish someone who insults or who offends them. And you notice I still said that we were insulted or offended. But the question is are we long-suffering when that happens?

So oftentimes you'll see this associated with mercy, and they're connected together. Well, I'm going to first, going back to my love and hate one, let's show you why I went to college. Impatience is the opposite of patience. So let's start with impatience. It's the natural opposite. Impatience is one of the things that I struggle with. I hope my wife will nod her head and say, Oh, yeah, it's something that I constantly try to watch myself and think, Am I biting my tongue?

Okay, am I... perspective, give myself perspective? Some of us are wired different. It's a temperament thing, in many of us, because we're very driven to get, we're goal-oriented. And so these stupid things, getting out of the way, what's the point of them? They shouldn't be that we're supposed to get there by midnight. You know, it plays through to our impatience. But if you consider it, though, impatience is really a useless emotion. It's one of those things that causes way more harm than good. It's usually a thing afterwards, you look back and you say, I'm sorry, I was being impatient.

The oops factor comes in pretty high here. How often do we need to apologize for things that we do, because if we were not living long-suffering, how often does that happen in our lives? For me, more than I would like to. Another one is anger. Anger is another one that's an opposite of long-suffering, because it isn't acceptable to God that we justify a bad action by saying it's the circumstances I was struck with.

That's like saying the devil made me do it. I mean, you know, that's... God's not going to buy that one.

The devil doesn't make him do things. But it happens a lot of times, doesn't it? When you look at worthy opposites, it's a different way to look at these characteristics in the fruit of the Spirit that we've read about for years and years and years.

What are the opposites of them? Because that's the stuff that we're allowing ourselves to be clogged up with. If we allow any trial or any circumstance to be a worthy excuse for us to surrender to sin, we aren't being long-suffering. And sadly, Satan is going to put down his little checklist and say, hit him with a dozen more of those with lies. It's going to be, what are you going to top their way? Let's go ahead and turn to Hebrews 10 and verse 36. Hebrews 10 and verse 36.

Do the pressures of life control your mood or your temperament? Is that the guiding post for whether you have patience or not? And I would argue all of us suffer a little bit with long-suffering. In this next verse, what I'd like you to focus on is the word, so that. The key in on the word, so that. Hebrews 10 and verse 36. For you have need of endurance or long-suffering, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. Now, catch what it's showing you there.

This verse is implying that we can lose the promise of God through impatience. We have need of long-suffering service to the will of God until the very end for us to get to His promise. If not, if we're not living long-suffering, this verse is saying, that's going to be a tripping point that will stop people from all the wonderful promises that God has in store for us.

So it's that important. The lack of long-suffering often displays itself with us misinterpreting actions or motives that somebody says. Did you ever get there? If I get in one of those negative funks, I'm like, he's doing this because he was meeting him, he was meeting Jesus, and he said that because he hates Jesus. He started reading a lot of stuff into action. You have no clue why anyone did anything. If you had times where you had the best intentions at heart, but it came across wrong, that's a good caution for judging others' motives, too.

A lack of long-suffering is shown when we have a short fuse that causes us to say and do things in retaliation. Are those areas that we live long-suffering? Is that areas that we struggle with? Because if God's Spirit is in us, then we will show patience. That's one of the areas that he's trying to fill us with, he's trying to fill me with. I keep wanting to get to the next thing, and I'm not always standing still to help me with that. So, something I'm working on. Another irony about long-suffering is it's not only essential for us living a godly life, it's frankly essential for us to live a happy life.

Because there's always going to be another thing that you need to get to and do, and there's always going to be another hill to climb, and at a certain point it's chill, you know? Perspective helps us realize that we can't always be impatient about everything in life. We have to have a happier perspective on everything. If you'll turn to Romans 2, verses 3-6, God is an amazing example of long-suffering. His example will blow away anything that we try to come up with to justify why we have good reason to be impatient. Because, I mean, think about all he's done. He was loving and giving to us despite the fact that we didn't want to do that.

He sacrificed his son before the earth was founded. He did all this knowing that we would fight him. But he's still being patient with us despite the fact that we sin over and over and over. He's working with us. So he's a wonderful source of strength. How much are we letting his example help us? Romans 2 and verse 3.

And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of God's goodness, his forbearance, and his long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance, but in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the judgment of God, who will render to each one according to his deeds? Is God going to render to me based on my impatience? Or will he be able to render to me because I take hold and treasure and exemplify what he has shown to me? Am I giving back what he has given in my life? Now, this verse uses two different phrases that are interesting. He talks about forbearance and he talks about long-suffering. They are interesting, they are complementary, but they are different. Forbearance is refraining from the enforcement of something that is due, like a debt, a right, an obligation. Long-suffering refers and emphasizes our temperament. So, are we long-tempered or are we easily provoked? That's what we are showing here. So, there are times where God shows forbearance to others because he has the right to zap us, and he is absent. There are times he shows long-suffering toward us because he has the right to zap us and he has been patient with us. God exemplifies both depending on the situation and what is needed in our lives. So, again, do we change our behavior and light of the forbearance and the long-suffering that God shows in our lives? How does that example say, yep, that's what I have to pull out? That's something to think about as we prepare for the Pentecost. If you'll turn next to 1 Timothy 1 in verses 12-17, let's look at another great example. To me, Paul is a wonderful example of long-suffering because Paul lived with the concept that if I put to death, Christians, I'm doing a good thing. So, not in good stead with God, that would be the opposite of what he was trying to do. He tried to do everything wrong, and yet Christ forgave him and used him. And what's interesting is that Paul never forgot that. He never forgot how kind and how patient God was with him. And you'll see in the next verse, we look at how much he tried to mirror that onto others. Let's first look at Paul's perspective and how he didn't stop thanking God for that. 1 Timothy 1, verse 12, Paul got it! He was deeply humbled by the fact that God would show mercy and long-suffering to him. Turn forward, I was about to say backwards, but it would be hard to turn backwards to 2 Timothy. Turn forward to 2 Timothy 3, verse 10. The same verse he's writing to. And now you see him exemplifying and displaying what God showed in his own life. Because he realized the importance of passing it on. If God did something to us, what he expects for us is to resemble him, because we're supposed to become like God. 2 Timothy 3, verse 10. But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, love, perseverance, persecution, affliction, which happened to me at Antioch, at Atonium, at Lystra, with persecution I endured, and out of them all the Lord delivered me.

So he was saying, I've learned. Use me as an example, like I was taught the example, and then pass it on. Maybe one day I'll be an example of long-suffering, but God could use something to aspire to. Are we using the example of God and all the things he does in our lives so that we can shine that on others? That's what Christianity is about. What excuses do we use? What excuses do I use to avoid showing long-suffering to others? So, let's put one more lesson from long-suffering, and then we'll go on to the next area. But turn to Matthew 24 and verse 45, so you can start going there.

You can be, I can be, we can be impatient about things we are expected to be excited about.

So, we're all waiting for the kingdom of God to come, right?

How are we waiting for the kingdom of God to come? Have you ever thought about that? What is our approach, and are we showing impatience in that way? Because we need to be trusting God. The Bible says that in all things we need to trust God. That's what gives us joy. That's what gives us peace. That's what allows us to love. But we can say, I can't, God has taken too long. He's making the impossible happen. There's no way I can go for this trial too big. There's no way God intended that. God, bless me, doesn't care anymore. You know, do we do those things and rationalize in our life, but look into the kingdom? Or challenges that happen in the church, or whatever else? Do we set the standards of where patience reaches its threshold? Or do we trust God? Interesting. We're supposed to expect the kingdom to come soon, but live our lives like it won't come in our lifetime. We don't always do that there, do we? Matthew 24 and verse 45. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?

Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. He was long suffering until that point in time. Assuredly I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant says in his heart, My master is delaying his coming and begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Interesting. I'll give you a different perspective where we also have to show long suffering toward God's kingdom coming. The impatient person says, Lord, give me patience right now. But God teaches us how to do it through time. Let's go on to the next one, and that's kindness. Get some water. Now, the next three qualities I'm going to link together, and for you legalists out there, I'm pulling one out of order. Follow them exactly. The next three I'm going to talk about are kindness, goodness, and gentleness. There's a distinct link, and what I'm going to do is, at the end, I will talk about what they all have in common. But first, let's talk one by one. We will start with kindness. The Greek word for kindness is defined as the sympathetic kindnessness or sweetness of temper, which puts others at ease and shrinks from giving pain. So kindness describes a quality that makes others feel at ease when they're with us. Is that you? Is that me? If I was to quiz your spouse, your family, your coworkers, would they say you create pain or you create comfort? How do people describe us? What do we create in an environment? Do we have the, do you want to the others when we have to concept? Do we treat others well when it's expedient? Or can people be certain that they will always be kind, they will always be gentle, they will always treat them fairly? Very different. If you'll turn to Isaiah 54 in verse 10. Again, it's the separation between our human way of looking at a word in a spiritual way. Human kindness is based on how others treat us. That's the whole thing that surrounds human kindness. Because of that, it's going to be very, very conditional. Spiritual kindness means treating others in the way God has treated us. God's kindness isn't conditional. Which perspective are we looking to? Where do we get our priority from?

Isaiah 54 in verse 10. For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall my covenants of peace be removed, says the Lord, who has mercy on you. Could people attribute this much reliance to you or to I to always remain kind no matter what the circumstances? I wish.

My buttons can be pushed. I'm pretty level-headed, but there's times where that's not true. And so, another area to say, oop, there's another rock inside that I need to make room for God to put His Spirit in me. There's another opportunity to grow. We walk through life with an internal focus.

I mean, let's just... What hard word that way, if you think about it. Every thought that we think is going to go through a filter that says, how's that going to impact me? So, our natural nature is to be very internally focused. We're the center of our own universe, you could say. The challenge, though, when we play that and don't... and let that drive all of our actions, is that we're going to expect people to do things for us. And we're going to have a really hard time to do things for others, because that means the center of the universe isn't getting what He wants, and there's something wrong over here.

You know, I'm playing it a little far, but those are the type of things that happen within our lives. Do we feel it easier to meet our needs or to meet others' needs? If we struggle to...and feel pain meeting others' needs, we're not having kindness, because we're working on that human version of kindness, and not a spiritual version of it. What is our driving emotion? Turn next to Luke 6, in verses 35-36.

How self-focused are we? How many conditions exist for how I treat others? That's a tough question. You look at it and you think, oh, I probably don't have that many conditions. Why did I just do that action? Well, it would work out better for me. Uh-oh.

You know, if every action is thinking about, somebody's going to need that door, let me run and get the door. Oh, can I help somebody here? Oh, you might need something. They're going to have a hard time. Their needs hurt. Can I bring something to them? Because they're getting thirsty. How can I help somebody around?

Do we think outward? Or is our primary focus internal? Are there conditions that we have? Because at the end of the day, self-sacrifice is really the essence of true Christianity. It's what we're on the journey to learn. It's why we look at Jesus and say, wow! Because he was the ultimate example of self-sacrifice. He was able to approach things that we just shake our head at and say, wow! That is not letting the me factor drive everything that we do. Luke 6 and verse 35, it says, But love your enemies, do good and lend, hoping for nothing in return. And your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, just like Jesus who did that was.

For he is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your father also is merciful. As I reflected on this quality of kindness, the best single word that came to mind is the word grace. If you think about that definition that it is showing, putting others at ease, even when it's not always something that they're entitled to, that's great. That's what God showed. And I read an interesting quote that I'll finish this one point with. It says, We have very few opportunities to do great acts of kindness for others.

But rarely will a single hour pass that doesn't present a chance to perform some minor and unnoticed word or act of kindness. We have very few opportunities to do a great act of kindness for others. But rarely will we have a single hour pass that doesn't present a chance to perform some minor and unnoticed word or act of kindness.

Do we seize those opportunities? That's one of those I looked at, and I thought, ouch! That's a good quote to keep in mind and to think on. Let's now transition to the next quality, which is goodness. And I think to appreciate goodness, what we need to do is talk about justice. Because there's a natural difference, and one is almost the human version of where goodness comes from, and then you get the spiritual. Justice is what our system is based off. It's a system of fairness. So, justice is the quality which gives each person what to do to them.

I have the right for you not to discriminate against me, and if you do, I can sue you. It's justice, right? That's our justice system. That's the law. Goodness is the quality which is out to do far more because it desires to give others everything that would benefit or help them unconditionally.

That is very different. But I would argue the times that I struggle with not wanting to show goodness is because I'm using the filter of justice. And so that's what's stopping me. Bartley described it this way. It says, the man who has just fixed the letter of his bond, the man who is good goes far beyond.

So it almost connects with the word generosity. You can think of that as the nature of what that word means. So that helps us start to evaluate areas that we might be able to remove from within us to have goodness in our lives, doesn't it? Do we focus on treating others in a way that's only just? Would people describe us as only giving what we're required to?

And if so, that's the behavior of justice, isn't it? The person who is simply just gives only to another what they've earned. In contrast, the person who exhibits goodness often gives far more than the person even expects.

Do we tense up? Do we feel obliged when we're asked to help others? Do we feel like we're kind of, ah, okay, I'll help you? If so, we're not coming from a place of goodness. Remember, I said the common word is generosity. We're not being generous if that's the case. If we feel tension to do good for somebody, then that's if nothing else is not a generous spirit.

It's a compulsory, I've got to do it, spirit. I guess that's probably not in the dictionary. If you'll turn to 1 John 3 and verse 18, there is a really close link between kindness and goodness. Kindness, you could say, is goodness in action. If we really have goodness of the heart, then it will express itself in our deeds. And that's when we start seeing here in 1 John. So there's that natural, complementary relationship between them.

1 John 3 and verse 18, My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. That's what happens when kindness and goodness come together. That's what we're asked to do. And the Bible refers to a couple of examples of people that are called good. Dorca, you may remember, she was mentioned as a good woman who was full of good works and charitable deeds.

And the other person that the Bible mentions as good was Barnabas. He was a good man who was generous with his possessions and he was an encourager. Now, that was interesting. I started thinking about it, I thought, encourager. But there actually is a very natural link between being an encourager and goodness.

Are our words a gift to others, or are they a burden? Do our words reflect goodness, or do they reflect rudeness? And that way, that's what set Barnabas aside, and that's where he got his name, because his name means encourager. So that was one of the gifts that he shared. And similar to kindness, if you want to get goodness, you can't help but go to God.

Because God is the ultimate example. We can try to be good as humans, we can do our best. But at the end of the day, we're not going to get there totally. So our mirror, our measuring point for goodness is always going to be holding ourselves up against God, and saying, are we there yet? How much closer? That's a better way of asking the question. I guess you feel better with that one. How much closer are we to being good like God is good?

Do we do kind things beyond what's expected or required of us? That'll be the question I'll leave you with on this one. Let's go ahead and go on to the next one, which is gentleness. Or meekness, depending on your translation, I should say.

So, gentleness. Would people describe you as gentle? Now, all the guys would like, urgh, urgh, urgh, urgh, urgh. I'm tough! I don't want to be seen as being weak! So let me ask you a question. Do you strive to be strong or do you describe to be meek? And before you think too much on it, it's a trick question. Because so often, there's a false definition of meekness, which associates with weakness. And they're very, very different. But think about it. If you were asked to define the word meek, how would you do it?

It's a tough one. It's not one of those words that we just naturally come up with. It's just elusive virtue. And so, I think meekness describes a person whose character is a perfect combination of strength and gentleness. And as I was looking at you, I saw two examples of animals that actually I thought were the best way of helping me understand the word. So let me see if that helps you. A horse is obedient to the rain. Right? But it is amazingly powerful.

There's a reason cars refer to themselves as how many horsepower do they have? A watchdog can be amazingly friendly to his family that owns it. But he's still a watchdog. You see the contrast? You can have those two mixed together. There's great strength present in meekness, but it's tempered by a gentle spirit. How are we with that? How do we have that and do we represent that in our lives?

And I think another good example is Moses. Because Moses describes as the meekest man in the world at the time when he lived. He was the meekest man of his time. But again, contrast. Weakness. Moses led a nation of millions of people. He confronted the leader of the world, challenged him in one. He led millions of people to war, but he was the meekest man in the world. And the reason would be because he thought of himself as a servant in relation to God.

And so he quietly and gently submitted to God's will. And he was humble in everything he did. That's that combination of strength and gentleness that makes up meekness. Well, what about us? How do we treat others? Do you want to go to the Moses example? How do we treat others when we're in charge? You may say, well, I'm not a boss. I would argue you're going to have dozens of times when you're in control today while we're here. It could be something simple about somebody walks in front of you.

Do you stop? Do you not? Do you challenge them? Do you compliment somebody? There's always a give and take to every little part of life. Watch kids. They do it constantly. My toy! Your toy! There's a control factor that happens to everything we do. How do we act when we're in control? Do we try to elevate ourselves? Even think of your conversations. Are your conversations and me focused? Are you trying to elevate yourself in a conversation?

Are you trying to praise the next person you're talking to and say, you are so good, you're an inspiration to me. It's interesting when you put that type of perspective into this word. Moses refused to elevate himself. He always stayed humble.

He had every right to ask God to kill Aaron and Miriam when they falsely accused him. So, was that weakness that he didn't do it? No. It was the fact that he had a humble opinion of himself and you combined that with his inner strength, he was able to control his behavior. How are you and I with that? Are we steady? Are we able to do that? How much do we show meekness toward God? That's another area that you think of. If we're humble, how much do we do that toward God? Or how much do we question what he's doing in our lives?

Oh, that's different. I don't normally question. Well, something didn't go our way and we started saying, hold on, God, that was totally unacceptable. I didn't think that was... You know, I was supposed to get this new job over here and that dress was supposed to be there in my size or whatever. She gives me the look.

No. She found one she liked in her size wasn't it? But, I mean, in whatever else we can look over and she didn't blame God. But, you know, in life it's easy to do that, to come through and we say, it's not fair. And any time we say it's not fair, we have to blame somebody. I guess you blame people. It's not always blaming God, but in a sense it's the assumption that God created a world where everything had to be fair. Yeah, it doesn't work that way.

So, that comes down to whether we accept God's will toward us as good. If we accept that his will toward us is good, then we're not going to dispute and we're not going to resist whatever life throws in front of us. And we can have that meet me. Because Moses, you look at him, he was... No, you're going to roam around the circle for 40 years. No, you're going to come over here. He was hungry too. He waited. No, you're going to hit this rock and water will appear. I mean, he was humble enough to know that God knew what his needs were and he would take care of him. Do we do that? Or do we think God doesn't really know what we're needing and struggling with? Let's go ahead now and look at the connection between these. If you'll turn to Galatians 6 and verse 2. To me, when I look at gentleness, kindness, and meekness. And so, you know, meekness is the one that I slightly took out of order. If you look at those three, the key thing that they have in common is that for us to express any of them, we have to get rid of selfishness. That's the link between all of them, because when we're selfish, we can't truly be kind, good, gentle. It's just not in our nature. But when we're practicing that golden rule, we're focused outward. And that's what we see here. Galatians 6, 2. Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Such a simple verse, but it's a powerful one. It's a tough one. Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. There is no way that we can make room for the fruit of the Spirit if we can't get rid of our selfishness. A couple more. Let's go to the next and last one, which is faithfulness. Faithfulness.

The definition I thought most common is this describes the virtue of reliability. How reliable are you and I? It's represented by the people who can be utterly dependable both to others and to God. Is that us? Are we true to our word in everything that we say? To totally burst in the bubble you have. Turn to Proverbs 20 and verse 6. Solomon tells us that this virtue is very, very uncommon.

And while a lot of people try to claim it, the wisest man, I guess you can't say he was the wisest man ever, but one of the wisest men to ever live made a contrast here which really takes away our feeling of ever being really proud of how much faithfulness we have. It says, Most men will proclaim each other his own goodness, but who can find a faithful man?

It's rhetorical. You're never going to find somebody who's truly, truly faithful. And if you think about our world, that first part is what we see a lot of people doing, isn't it? We see a lot of people who talk about their strength and how dependable they are proclaiming their own goodness.

But when push comes to shove, unquestionable reliability, that's kind of hard to find. How much are we that way? Is that an area that we have room to grow? Is that part of our nature? Can those who interact with me know that everything Dan says will be true and sure and I'll always be true to my word? I try to. But I'm not going to argue with Solomon. I know myself well enough. I'm human. And there are times where I'm not going to make it. Something to think about. How much would that describe us?

And if God was to challenge everyone of my daily decisions, the way I know that that's not totally true is there's going to be some that I would want to say, Wait, God, let me explain why I did that.

And that yabbat concept means that I wasn't being faithful in every one of my decisions. How about you? How are you at being faithful? And it's important for us to evaluate that personal side of our faithfulness. I looked at it in two different ways. One was a big picture and one was a small picture. So let's look at the big picture. It's the one you're going to go to most naturally. And that is, are we always loyal and conscientious and dedicated to God?

You know, that's the big picture. How faithful are we to God in His way? And that's important. That's a vital thing for us to think about. Do we ever doubt God's promises? I'll twist Hebrews just a little bit. Faith is the confidence that we have in prioritizing the things we hope for because we have complete assurance in the promises of God. It's like variation of putting that. But do we have that much trust?

Are we so sure that we can trust God that we don't let things bother us so we have that complete faith? Can we enlist that confidence in God? And if not, then that's an area for us to grow as we approach the Pentecost, as we go through life. Because God wants His followers to enlist that same confidence in Him, but also in each other. And that's even tougher. Can we do that for each other so you can have that confidence in me?

Can people have that in you? It's not just about what we show to God. Yeah, I don't even have confidence in you, but God takes something. I'm there for it. Now let's go to the small picture. Because I'd argue this is where we struggle some.

Is faithfulness only necessary in major situations? If you'll turn to Matthew 25 and verse 23, I would argue that sometimes we want to find exceptions. Exceptions for when a tiny little white lie will save us a few dollars. Exceptions for when an hour of work at the start of the Sabbath can take away a lot of pressure and maybe give us a promotion.

When we can renege on what we promised someone because otherwise we wouldn't get our way. So these little nuances where we say, that's just a little thing. That's dangerous. Matthew 25 and verse 23. His Lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your kingdom. Christ was showing us that if we're not faithful in trivial matters, we can't be expected to be faithful when we're confronted with wavier matters.

And we fight that. I think our natural human nature is to say, Well, hold on a second. That was a silly thing. I wasn't paying attention there. I was rude, but I didn't mean to. It was one of those little things I just wasn't thinking. If a big situation comes, though, I'm going to be strong and reliable, God. And that's not what the Bible shows us.

That's not what is being here. The truth is that we're being tested on our faithfulness day to day in little things to make us ready for the big things that God knows are out there. Not always the way we approach life. Another contrast is not being reliable also can come from being indifferent. That's another opposite that I found being referenced. Do we only do the parts of God's requirement that we feel are really important?

Do we prioritize God's law? Because if you remember back to Laodicean attitude, when the Bible talked about that, it talked about a city and a people that were indifferent to the things that God considered important. That means they were making judgments, and they were saying, yeah, that's just a little thing. But if we're committed to being faithful, totally reliable and dedicated to every one of our convictions that God wants us to have, if that's us, then it's going to come through in all areas.

We're not going to judge what God's ways are more important, more spiritual than other ones. We can't play that game. At the end of the day, if God is wanting to see us as faithful, it's going to be an offense to Him, to others, and in all of our actions and thoughts. That's the area where we have a bunch of blocks that we keep having to work with to make room for His Holy Spirit.

And again, all this plays through with the fact, Paul said that Christ dwells in us through His Spirit, and it's only His Spirit that makes us possible. That's why Pentecost is critical. That's why this analogy is most important now, it plays through all of our lives, obviously. But that's what God is wanting us to think about. Where are we with the little things? The only thing that can enable us to be faithful is God and the Spirit. That's the only thing that we can grow in.

And as Christians, there's not a point in time where we're not charged to be faithful. Whether you're a child, whether you're a parent, whether you're at work, whether you're not, whether you can save $100 by futsing a little bit on the due date of a cable bill, so you can get the next package, whatever, we're supposed to be faithful, in all things that we do.

But there's times when excuses come, and there's times when we struggle some. Let's finish by turning to Luke 16, verse 10-12. Faithfulness is the character trait of people others can confide in and trust completely. Does that describe you? Does that describe me? Or is that an area for us to grow? And if you think about the fact that we're called to become part of God's family, then that trustability is absolutely critical.

That's at the core of what God is going to be evaluating us based on. And if you consider that, then in a sense what's coming down here is the issue of are we trustworthy or are we a hypocrite? We don't like that word, hypocrite. But if you're not trustworthy, in a sense, the opposite is being a hypocrite. Do we say one thing and do another, either to God or to others? Because that's the contrast. Luke 16, verse 10, He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much, and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.

Therefore, if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own? So faithfulness comes down to whether we doubt God or whether we trust Him. Let's go ahead and look at the last one, which is self-control. Last word of the Spirit, self-control. Now, I'll start with high-level analogy to show you the value of it. If you look at history, people have debated over what the optimal form of government is.

Haven't they? You have people who say it's socialism, it's communism, it's democracy, it's a monarchy. You can still learn whatever version you want. But the truth is, it doesn't matter what type of government you have in place. If the leaders cannot provide self-government or self-control in their own life, it really doesn't matter what form of government you have. It's going to fall apart with any of them. Now, that's nice in theory, but remember what we're being called to be.

We're being called to be spiritual leaders. This concept of self-control is the last one, but it's also the most critical. Because without self-control, we can't have any of the fruits of the Spirit. It's like the capstone, like love pervades all of them. Self-control helps us maintain all of them. They're bookends. They work together naturally. God holds us individually responsible for our own actions. So, how are we doing with that? How is our self-control? And if you're like me, there are some influences that are more powerful than others. Some, Satan has a weekly reminder, like your emails that pop up on Thursday and say, you know, payday tomorrow or whatever.

It's one of those things that Satan says, oops, get down on this one again, test him again. Test him again. Oh! Time to test Dan again. You're the same. There's things where self-control is tougher than others. And I think last time I was here, I was talking about judging. You can't judge another person because we all have our own vulnerabilities of where we're working, but we're all in this journey together.

We're all grown. How much influence do we let temptations have in our lives? Something to think about, because that's the opposite of self-control. That's the area we're trying to pull out. I read a quote that I thought was kind of silly. It says, people resist everything except temptation. Self-control, the way I saw it defined in its widest sense, is the mastery over our passions. If you look back in Greek, the definition I saw was it describes the virtue of one who masters their desires and passions, especially their sensual appetite, is what the word in Greek referred to.

But they all tie in together. Wherever that temptation is that hits you most, that's what it's referring to. If you'll turn to Proverbs 25 and verse 28, Solomon again—I like Solomon because he puts everything in the very simple words and gives you perspective. Now, to read this verse, it's a great area to think of the time. At the time when Solomon was a king, they would build cities with big walls around him, and then the attacking nation would come, and they would surround him and fill everything in the world they can in them to knock the walls down if it took months or starve them out.

So, now you see how Solomon is going to use this example and say it's easier to capture a city despite the fact that it might take years to do a siege than to control our own spirit. Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down without walls. So we can't overestimate the importance of developing self-control. Without it, we can't defeat the temptations that come our way because we're going to beat some of them.

But at the end of the day, Satan is going to throw something our way. We can't beat. Without it, we can't overcome the works of the flesh because some temptations are going to have too much draw. Without it, we can't grow as we should, and without it, we can't bear the fruits of the spirit.

So, what I'd like you to do now, because it is kind of a bookend, turn back to Galatians, and let's look at Galatians 5 and verse 23. The Scriptures that follow the fruit of the spirit are interesting when you think about the concept of self-control, because they build on it, and especially the analogy that I've talked about here, where the whole point that we should be thinking about when we look at the fruit of the spirit is, what do we need to remove to make room for it?

That's a self-control cycle that comes in. What do we need to remove and have God work through us to allow him to rebuild us? First, remodel. Galatians 5 and verse 23. And I'm going to step into the end of this one. It says, Gentleness, self-control, against such there is no law, and those who are Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and its desires. Those who are Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and its desires.

That's speaking of self-control. That's speaking of removing all those little pebbles and rocks and sand and whatever else we have inside us. We're crucifying those to allow him to fill us with the fruit of the spirit. You can contrast it with all the things in verses 19-21, where it lists that long litany of your lust, greed, gluttony, alcoholism, sexual immorality, blah, blah, blah, all those different works of the flesh.

Those are things that you pull out to make room for the fruit of the spirit. Only God's spirit can help us with that. It's submitting to him, letting him do that rebuild, and then we get to verse 25. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. It's this journey we're on. It's this ongoing challenge. A different way to look at a set of verses you've always seen over and over, hopefully. The basic thing that we have to do to keep in mind is that if we cooperate with God, if we cooperate with his will, then self-control is going to be a natural byproduct.

If we try to do our own things, then God's going to give us a lot of tests that we're going to realize we can't control our environment and our surroundings, and suddenly we feel more distant from God. So self-control is a little bit internal, but the true strength comes from God, and for us, to be into his way.

How well are we doing with that? Turn to Hebrews 6, verses 9-12. If you get to one of those points where self-control seems impossible, I encourage you to change the environment that you're in. And that doesn't mean you move out of your house or whatever else. That's the absolute driver. But think about, we all have an environment for sin. We all have certain areas that we're more prone to do bad actions. What are those influences around you that are impacting you the most?

If there are certain tipping points, to use the Gladwell book, if there are certain tipping points that when you're around them they cause you to sin, they far, far away. Hebrews 6, verse 9. But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yet things that accompany salvation, that we speak in this manner. For God is not unjust to forget your work than labor of love, which you have shown toward His name, and that you have ministered to the saints and do minister.

He recognizes our self-sacrifice. And we desire that each one of you should show the same diligence, or similar words, or the same self-control to the full assurance of hope until the end. That's what we're being asked to do. That you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who, through faith and patience, inherit the promise. It's really natural for us to want God to fill us with His Spirit despite what we do. But the irony is that God will show us the evil we need to remove.

He'll show us those pebbles. He'll tell us what we need to become. And then He'll give us tests to see if we prioritize His Spirit enough. You ever thought about it that way? That's kind of what we get surrounded with. God will show us the evil that we have to remove. He will tell us what we need to become. And then He'll give us tests to see if we prioritize the Spirit enough.

And hopefully you see that throughout the day. When I was finishing this sermon, I ran across one of those old emails that you get. You put it aside and you take one day and I'll look at this. And it kind of fit this theme. It was called A Beautiful Prayer. And I'd like to share it as we close.

It says, I asked God to take away my habit. God said, no. It is not for me to take away, but for you to give up. I asked God to make my handicapped child whole. God said, no. His Spirit is whole. His body is only temporary. I asked God to grant me patience. God said, no. Patience is a byproduct of tribulations. It isn't granted. It's learned. I asked God to give me happiness.

God said, no. I give you blessings. Happiness is up to you. I asked God to spare me pain. God said, no. Suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings you closer to me. I asked God to make my Spirit grow. God said, no. You must grow on your own, but I will prune you to make you fruitful. I asked God for all things that I might enjoy life. God said, no. I will give you life so that you may enjoy all things.

I asked God to help me love others as much as he loves me. God said, oh, finally you have the idea. Interesting, isn't it? Hopefully it gives you a different way to look at the Pentecost that we're approaching, but more importantly, life as a whole. Because if you can look at Scriptures that we read from one perspective and they can get old, put a contrast on them.

Look at them from an opposite angle and it brings new life to them. How can we make room for God's Spirit? And I'd argue if we do this, they will help us prepare us not just for a week and a day from now, but for the rest of our lives.