Galatians 5:22-23
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
I'm still talking about the Fruit of the Spirit today. We'll do three Fruit of the Spirit. Patience (which can be really hard at times), Kindness and Goodness. I'll start with Patience. In Colossians 3:12 "Since God chose you to be the holy people He loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience."(NLT). We all get impatient at times. Sometimes people do things that really makes us mad. I think we all have had someone who will do the same terrible thing to us over and over again. When that happens, we usually don't feel very good about that person. It is easy to get mad at other people when we feel impatient. God wants us to be nice to people even when they do things that make us mad. God is very patient with us. When you are driving, how many times are you impatient with other drivers? That happens all the time. We can remind ourselves to be patient. We need to calm down and realize that it is sin when we are impatient. We forget how much God has forgiven us.
Next is Kindness. 1 Thessalonians 5:15 says "See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people." Have you had any bad thoughts about someone already today? Be truthful. Many times we meet people who are unkind to us and are not very thoughtful at all. There are plenty of times when people are kind to others because they want something in return. They are nice because they want to get you to do what they want or give them what they want. That's not kindness - it's manipulation. Definition of manipulation - to manage or utilize skillfully b: to control or play upon by artful, unfair, or insidious means especially to one's own advantage3: to change by artful or unfair means so as to serve one's purpose. Gee imagine that someone who wants to control or try to take advantage of someone. People make that mistake all the time. They think they're being kind when actually they are being manipulated to do something for another person - they think they are being polite. They are being kind in hope that someone will like them, be their friend or whatever. Wrong. That is NOT God's kind of kindness. Kindness is the fruit that helps others in a thoughtful, caring way with no thought of getting something in return. When we have Jesus in our lives, we want to be nice and show kindness to others.
Next one is Goodness. Matthew 7:17-20. "A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can't produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can't produce good fruit. So, every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions." People mistake this fruit all the time too as just doing good things for people. It goes way beyond doing good things. We should do things God's way. When we chose to obey God, we show goodness. Always listening to Him and obeying Him (even when it is hard to do sometimes or we want to do it our way), we are showing goodness. Don't give in to the temptations of this world and all the pressures that we face every day. Make a promise to God, you will always do what is right. God blesses us when we obey Him. God wants us to live holy lives.
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
I'm still talking about the Fruit of the Spirit today. We'll do three Fruit of the Spirit. Patience (which can be really hard at times), Kindness and Goodness. I'll start with Patience. In Colossians 3:12 "Since God chose you to be the holy people He loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience."(NLT). We all get impatient at times. Sometimes people do things that really makes us mad. I think we all have had someone who will do the same terrible thing to us over and over again. When that happens, we usually don't feel very good about that person. It is easy to get mad at other people when we feel impatient. God wants us to be nice to people even when they do things that make us mad. God is very patient with us. When you are driving, how many times are you impatient with other drivers? That happens all the time. We can remind ourselves to be patient. We need to calm down and realize that it is sin when we are impatient. We forget how much God has forgiven us.
Next is Kindness. 1 Thessalonians 5:15 says "See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people." Have you had any bad thoughts about someone already today? Be truthful. Many times we meet people who are unkind to us and are not very thoughtful at all. There are plenty of times when people are kind to others because they want something in return. They are nice because they want to get you to do what they want or give them what they want. That's not kindness - it's manipulation. Definition of manipulation - to manage or utilize skillfully b: to control or play upon by artful, unfair, or insidious means especially to one's own advantage3: to change by artful or unfair means so as to serve one's purpose. Gee imagine that someone who wants to control or try to take advantage of someone. People make that mistake all the time. They think they're being kind when actually they are being manipulated to do something for another person - they think they are being polite. They are being kind in hope that someone will like them, be their friend or whatever. Wrong. That is NOT God's kind of kindness. Kindness is the fruit that helps others in a thoughtful, caring way with no thought of getting something in return. When we have Jesus in our lives, we want to be nice and show kindness to others.
Next one is Goodness. Matthew 7:17-20. "A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can't produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can't produce good fruit. So, every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions." People mistake this fruit all the time too as just doing good things for people. It goes way beyond doing good things. We should do things God's way. When we chose to obey God, we show goodness. Always listening to Him and obeying Him (even when it is hard to do sometimes or we want to do it our way), we are showing goodness. Don't give in to the temptations of this world and all the pressures that we face every day. Make a promise to God, you will always do what is right. God blesses us when we obey Him. God wants us to live holy lives.
