Acts of the Flesh & The Fruit of the Spirit - Bishop T.D. Jakes [May 20, 2020]

[Music] now let's go to the Word of God we're gonna be Galatians chapter 5 verse 17 through 25 when you have its Amen I can't hear you but say it anyway God can hear you this is gonna be good it reads for the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit ain't that the truth and the spirit what is contrary to the flesh so true I want to get into it and start teaching this on for that alone because look at the fight that's going on inside of us the flesh does not want to cooperate with the spirit and the spirit is at odds with the flesh and you are both you are living with both realities we have this treasure in earthen vessels so that lets you know there's a certain tension Paul said when I would do good evil is present with me in Romans chapter 7 there's a conflict that Paul is not addressing to the church at Galatia and we're at the book of Galatians 5:17 they are in conflict with each other so that you are not to do whatever you want but if you are led by the spirit you are not under the law the acts of the flesh are obvious and then he lists them I'm reading out of the NIV because you don't have to wrestle through the King James English as much their sexual immorality impurity and debauchery idolatry and witchcraft hatred discord jealousy fits of Rage selfish ambition dissensions factions and envy drunkenness orgies and the like I warn you there's idea before that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God okay so we know these are on the list of the things that God is telling us that we have been warned about that if we allow our flesh to entrap us in these we endanger our eternal home in glory but the fruit of the Spirit but the fruit of the Spirit the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace forbearance kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control against such things there is no law those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires since we live by the spirit to let us keep in step with the spirit that's good now let's go back a little bit I want to break that down a little bit I'm going to be teaching on the acts of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit and I hope to get all of this and I don't know how far we'll go but we'll try let's go back and look at this I call it the Dirty Dozen list just to see the things that that Paul is referring to as the acts of the flesh notice he didn't say the fruit of the flesh it is the acts of the flesh is just how flesh acts your flesh my flesh her flesh their flesh everybody's flesh falls into this category that's why it's amazing to me when people look at other people's failures flaw their mistakes and and kind of look it down their nose as if they would never do such things when in reality the Bible is clear all of these are go go along with being in this flesh that mean you have to yield to them but it does mean that you feel that pull toward them and when you feel that pull toward them you have to resist the enemy so he can flee from you and resist your own desires as well and to the level of your strength and your ability to rely on the Holy Spirit to help you resist you walk in victory and if you don't you fail and you falter when people falter you have to be merciful speaking the truth speaking the truth challenging them but also be merciful don't be somebody who's castigating other people when you know you feel the pull of your own flesh let's look at this missus is important the acts of the flesh are obvious he says sexual immorality you know exactly what that is impurity and debauchery now I want to define debauchery debauchery is excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures just just letting your senses control you sex addictions eating and addictions anything where your flesh is it controlling you excessively indulgence and sensual pleasures idolatry where you worship something else witchcraft where you manipulate in the spirit world to get control to execute what you want to happen in a situation hatred discord jealousy fits of range it gets a whole lot of stuff selfish ambition fits of Rage selfish ambition that's a wide range of things dissensions decisions are disagreements that lead to discord so if you're when it mentions the sentence when when you keep arguing and creating discord in an organization in a company in a ministry in an inner and a church and you keep sowing seeds of discord the Bible calls that dissensions factions and factions are a small organized dissenting group within a larger one especially in politics so when you organize a little gang and you got a little hate group and you're still in the thing and you're fighting the thing you're in best ascensions you can leave you could quit you could change you can form your own party you could form your own ministry don't form a posse and create the factions because God says that that will endanger your eternal home and glory just as much as the other things the sexual impurity and all of that that hatred and then those that jealousy those fits of rage that selfish ambition it's not like in a big category it's all the same it's all the same Oh God in vehement his drunkenness orgies and the like which is kind of a catch-all phrase which means etc etc etc he says I warn you as I did before that those who live like this not those who fall but those who just live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God because when somebody Falls they make a mistake they want to get back up when somebody lives like that they will not inherit the kingdom of God but the Spirit but but the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace forbearance kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control against such things there is no law that self-control canceled out those fits of rage that selfish ambition that discord in jealousy the fruit of the Spirit is designed to neutralize the acts of the flesh so the more we give into temperance and things like that the less we are apt to indulge in excessive sexual pleasure that the one thing cancels out the other if you look at the list of the acts of the flesh and you look at the list of the fruits of the spirit if you walk in the spirit the fruits of the spirit cancel out the acts of the flesh because the more you yield to what's positive the less you have to fight what's negative some people build their entire ministry preaching every Sunday about what's wrong with you I try to build my ministry preaching about what's right with you and what's attainable to you because if you pursue the fruits of the Spirit you will not walk in the flesh it will deliver you from the flesh it will raise you up it will cancel out the call and the pull of the flesh all this good already that's good already it's good already some of us are saved today because God puts so much in front of us we didn't have time to look back and when we did try to look back the pull in front of us yanked us back into our rightful place and there is a war going on I want you to see that in this case there's a constant war going on at all of us things you want to say to people how you want to respond to people oh you should see the things that I would like to text back to people when they say something smart to me I have to modify it and bring it down to the Spirit of God because my flesh rises up and my flesh wants to go all the way out there and I could go out I could go out there I really can I can go all the way out there and get right with you and be just as nasty to you as you are to me but the Holy Spirit is speak to me and say give them an answer you can still speak the truth but you can do it in a godly way and hold on to your integrity and and finally I say you know yes sir or I type it wrong and then erase it and finally the Holy Spirit wins and and I do that and that's important that you do that to those who belong to Jesus Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires now you know I want to add something here those who belong to Christ Jesus are crucifying the flesh with his passions and desires because you never get finished you never get finished and I can prove that by the Scriptures you never get finished there is a depth that continues to work in your life are dying away a wilting away of desires and passions a transformation that continues to go on in your life and you never get finished you're not finished in 40 you're not finished at 60 you're not finished at 70 you're not finished till you get to the end and say I have fought a good fight I've kept the faith I've finished my course it is an ongoing battle just because people get older that mean that they don't have struggles they have struggles they might not be the same struggles or is intense in some areas but they are still struggles struggles with selfishness selfish ambition dissensions hatred discord jealousy I don't care what title you hold in the world in corporate America in the turn you have to fight these things on a daily pace because the world lives itself to an environment that seems to empower us to be treacherous it doesn't empower us to be loving we're living in a society today that you're not often applauded for being loving and kind we almost applaud people because they're outspoken in rude and tenacious that we call that strength I'm a strong black man I'm a strong businessman I'm a strong woman and a lot of times that may be true but sometimes it's really a code word for I'm a rude person I'm an evil person I'm hard to get along with and people clap for that oh that's good that's good that's good and when you're loving or you're forgiving or you let things go they criticize you yeah I can't believe you let them do that to you you know they criticize the fruits of the spirit but here in the book of Galatians the Bible is quite clear that God does not criticize the fruits and spirit he encourages the fruits of the spirit now listen let's digress a little bit and understand what's going on in Galatia and why Paul is writing to them they have taken the grace of God the the new gospel the Christian message and and mixed it with the traditional juda istic laws and and they're creating this kind of hybrid that distorts and diminishes the power of the cross and Paul is writing back to them and says who had to which you that you'd have failed to believe the truth in other words who has come in here and tampered with what I taught you that now you have diluted the gospel with what the gospel came to liberate you from so when he's writing the laces he's making a strong case for grace a strong case for grace I want you to understand that in the midst of him making a strong case for grace he's saying grace is not an open license to live your life any way you want to race is just saying that you are not a Christian through your own goodness grace is just saying that I'm giving you the power to follow another lead in your life than to follow the lead of your pants I hope you're getting what I'm saying so we're understanding a little bit about the acts of the flesh I want you to go to 2nd Corinthians for just a moment chapter 7 verse 1 I read the earlier texts in NIV but I'm gonna read this one in the King James Version just because I learned it that way 2nd Corinthians 7 and 1 having therefore these promises do you know you have promises even in the middle of Kobe at 19 you still have promises even if you lost your job and you still have promises even if your husband left you used to your hair promises even if you're HIV positive if you still have promises even if you got bad news that your the hour as money you still have promises because the promise didn't come from the RS it didn't come from the doctor it didn't come from your boss the promises of God are yes a man God has given you promises having therefore these promises you need to know that you have promises that have been promised to you that will come to pass in your life how dare you commit suicide over your pass you're killing your future when you commit suicide over your past these promises are in your future having therefore these promises dearly beloved let us cleanse ourselves watch this this is what I want you to say look let's let's cleanse ourselves this is what you gotta do and I gotta do and we gotta do and we have to keep on going it's like taking a bath you can't take a bath one time and say well I cleanse myself I'm through no you're gonna need to do that again and again and again and bathing yourself in the Word of God bathing yourself in a Christian atmosphere bathing yourself listening at music that reinforces your faith it's very important I'm gonna say that's the only thing you can listen to but I am saying that you need to listen to things that build up your spirit and encourage you at least most of the time some of the time okay having for therefore these promises dearly beloved let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh what is filthiness of the flesh I just told you whatever I just gave you the list and spirit perfecting our maturing holiness in the fear of God the filthiness of the flesh we often talk about we hear a lot about the filthiness of the flesh but we don't hear much about the filthiness of the spirit then I think sometimes the filthiness of the spirit is I know it's just as dangerous as the filthiness of the flesh and sometimes I think it's worse than the filthiness of the flesh because it can hide you can't see deceitfulness you can't see Envy you cannot see those sorts of things but the Bible says to cleanse yourself of the filthiness of the flesh and the filthiness of a spirit some people and I know this is this I said not the Lord but but after forty some years a ministry I have learned that people who do real good with the filthiness of the flesh have to watch out for the filthiness of the Spirit they're more apt to be arrogant be proud being vengeful be unforgiving they don't wrestle with the filthiness of the flesh as much but the enemy wards against the filthiness of their spirit and vice versa some of the people who wrestle with the filthiness of the flesh are kind and forgiving and merciful and don't understand why your friend can't forgive you your spouse can't forgive you it's because you got struggles in different areas one of you is fighting with the filthiness of the flesh and the other one is fighting with the filthiness of the spirit and and both of you think that the other ones fight is worse than your said it's more terrible how could you not forgive me how could you not be forgiven how could you do what you did to me because what both of that there's an arrogance was wrong there's an arrogance that goes along with not having a christ-like attitude because when you take Christ off the throne then you put you on the throne okay see Christ is supposed to be on the throne imagine Christ on the throne and you are supposed to be on the cross but if if you change that around you put Christ on the cross sacrifice him again so that you can sit on the throne and you say you're a Christian and maybe you are but you're a Christian who is underdeveloped malnourished needs to be developed needs to go grow in the things of God because you got the wrong guy on the cross Christ shouldn't be on the cross anymore he rose up from all of that you're supposed to now build the cross and that's why the Bible over and over again tells us to crucify our flesh crucify what you want to say crucify what you would crucify where you would go crucify your attitude cleansing yourself now they make soap to cleanse the body but when it starts talking about cleansing your flesh it's not talking about something it's talking about cleansing your lusts cleansing your anger cleansing those things the orgy said the excessive sexual immorality sensual immorality and the things that are listed above they don't make something for that they make word for that word is to soap the how do you know that the Bible say ye are clean by the washing of the water of the word so the word is how you cleanse your yourself of these impurities and and how do you cleanse yourself from envy see you can't even see Envy see and this is where this is where it's almost like confit at 19 you can't see it and you have to have special soap to be able to get it you can't see Envy you can't see spirit subdivisions you can't see let me go down through my list a little bit here you can't see factions you don't even know that the person who's hugging you it's part of a group that's trying to bring you down you can't see jealousy you can't see a fit of rage until it breaks out selfish ambitious but those things have to be clear inside of you identify the parts of your life that are jealous or envious or a selfish ambition if you have to monitor the head and say wait a minute I'm going too far I'm getting too far out there and you have to bring that in that's a job friends that's a job that's a 24/7 367 days out the year yeah I know I added a couple days I'm it - it's a full-time job watching after you controlling you get yourself together I don't have time to be reading about nobody else to struggle I am busy trying to keep mine in order trying to keep mine up under control trying to do that and if you are really serious about walking the Christian walk you have to get serious about it - now Paul is writing to Galatia the book of Galatians he's writing to them because their theology is up under siege it has come upon the siege because they they're trying to mix the grace of God just seemed too easy it seemed too nice and seemed to right and so they're going back and adding the traditions of the law and the traditions of men make the Word of God of no effect and Paul was trying to fight to get them back on the right path in the right course incidentally Galatia in the Old Testament is Turkey in modern times so he's in Turkey he's in ancient Turkey and he's ministering the gospel over there and he's trying to get through to them and he's trying to make them understand that and then in Corinthians he lets us know that we don't just have to fight filthiness of the flesh we also have to fight filthiness of the spirit pride envy jealousy hatred dissension rebellion discord sometimes people just say stuff on Twitter and Instagram and everywhere else in the office in the board room just to be the center for what is going on just well if you say white they say black if you say we're they say yellow there they just have that spirit of discord and they're never gonna be happy and they're never gonna be satisfied I want to get somebody delivered right now there are some people in your life that are never gonna be satisfied I don't care what you do you could change your hair you can change your address you can stand on your head market the moon and they're still gonna have an issue with you you can bring them cookies in coffee every morning they're still gonna have an issue with you stop trying to please people people there are some people that refuse to be appeased they refuse to be pleased and you cannot define success by changing their mind because her mind might not ever change and you still got to breathe air go to bed at night get up in the morning take your shower hold your head up and get yourself ready for work you can't make there the changing their mind and idle in your life some of you have created an idol you can't even see the idol it's public opinion the idol it's what somebody said about you and you spent all of your life worshiping at the shrine of getting them to see that you're not like that I released you today hallelujah I released you today you've been released and delivered from a lot of things maybe smoking or drinking or cheating or whoremongering or drugs or whatever it was you've been delivered from but today I deliver you from people and your need to have their validation in order to love yourself you don't need that in your life can I go deeper with this so when the Bible starts teaching us about the fruit of the Spirit we've talked about the acts of the flesh I want to talk about the fruit of the Spirit and I meant to bring go in the kitchen and get a bowl of fruit and I had some apples and some oranges and some bananas in there it's a bowl of fruit up in the kitchen I want you to understand that wherever you see fruit this is important wherever you see fruit there's been relationship you cannot put a banana tree out in the middle of the world in this expected to yield bananas because they cannot yield bananas by itself it needs the nectar from other blossoms and plants to cross-pollinate in order to produce fruit apple trees do not produce apples without the aid of bees bees are important they carry nectar from one flower to the next causing the the apple blossoms to come out and out of the blossom comes the bud and out of the bud comes to fruit you understand what I'm saying the bud the blossom and the fruit I said it wrong the bud the blossom and the fruit so you got a bud you got a blossom then the blossom falls off and the fruit remains and all of that is a result of relationship you cannot have a baby by yourself no no no no no no whether its artificial insemination is still with somebody else involved you cannot have Immaculate Conception it was God involved you cannot be fruitful alone anytime you see fruit you know there's a partner around I remember years ago I was young man and my mother taught me something about snakes and and there was a baby snake out there in the yard and and and I saw her mama that's just some baby snakes you see yeah but wherever there's a baby there's a mama and daddy okay wherever there's a baby there's a mama and a daddy wherever there's a fruit there's a mama and a daddy so if we have the fruit of the Spirit who are the parents of that fruit I'm glad you asked because that's really what I want to get down into I'm gonna show you the parents of that spirit then let's go to Roman's a 1011 for men and we're gonna go back to Galatians but let's go to Romans 8 because I want to familiarize you with your spiritual parentage that produces the fruit of the Spirit in your life okay you don't give the fruit of the Spirit just by reading the scripture the this fruit of the Spirit is brought over about through the union of the Spirit of God in the spirit of man Romans 8:11 and 17 did that we're gonna have a good old Bible study today and we're gonna grow I refuse to leave ignorant Christians who are just superficial Christians who have Christian colloquialisms and know death and no understanding and don't know what they believe we can't defend what they believe in don't know where they are and trying to use the scripture on the devil and can't find the scripture that you use no no no no we that's what Bible class is made for it's not just for me to preach to you it's for you to learn and have an encounter with your Bible so go to Roman's eighty 11 and 17 and we're gonna have an encounter with our Bible we're gonna have a relationship with our Bible we're gonna have such a relationship with our Bible that the word is going to get in our heart not just Church in our heart not just submission in my heart the Word of God in my heart David said that word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee go to Romans 8:11 2:17 but if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken that work wicked means made alive shall also make alive your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you so the Spirit of God is dwelling in me the same spirit not another spirit the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in me whoa in there with my spirit is this the spirit of the man is the candle of the Lord according to the scriptures the spirit of the man is count on the Lord so every man has a spirit when God breathed into him the breath of life and he became a living soul he has a spirit inside of him but in addition to my spirit I am a spirit I have a soul I live in a body I'm a tripod Bing I am a spirit I have a soul I live in a body this body is not me it's the house that I'm living in their house is caving in but the Spirit is fresh and new because the Spirit is not subject to age it'll never be if I live to be 120 my spirit will still be young and fresh because the only thing that gets old are the things that came from Earth and this body came from dirt and to the dirt it shall return and the dirt is calling it back right now your momma might be in the dirt your body might be in the dirt but she's not in the dirt you didn't love her body you loved her spirit you loved her personality you loved who she is she that party is not dead and it cannot die a gun cannot kill it a sword cannot destroy it poison can't take it out because that which is spirit is spirit and that which is flesh is flesh get this in your head so you can understand life because life does things to you and if you don't understand you think your loved one is gone and your loved one is in the ground and your loved one is in a casket and your loved one is in a bottle over the mantelpiece no they're not their body is but their spirit is not now the Bible is teaching us here that the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead shall also quicken our mortal body they nailed his body but they couldn't stop his spirit they rolled a stone in front of his body but they couldn't stop his spirit that same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead shall also quicken your mortal body verse 12 therefore brother we are debtors not to the flesh took me about to the flesh I told my flesh anything I don't my flesh anything and if I did I could never pay it because the flesh is never satisfied everything my flesh wants it wants some more love I wanted that to sink in everything my flesh wants it was some more of if I feed it it's gonna get hungry again if I have sex I'm gonna want some more sex again everything my flesh if I get thirsty I'm gonna want some more water everything my flesh wants it's going to be insatiable it is gonna want some more yet it's not like if I satisfied it's gonna shut up it will never shut up therefore brethren we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh cuz never gonna be satisfied for named after the flesh when he should die but if he through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body he shall live for as many as are led by the spirit they are the sons of God that's not saying that you don't have a body you're just not led by your body it's not saying that you don't have temptations that you don't have lusts but you're not led by it's like the lame man that jesus healed and told him to pick up his bed and walk the only difference between the man after he got healed and the man before he got healed is that at one point the bed was carrying him and once he got healed he was carrying it the things that used to carrying you and control you you still have them it's just that now you're controlling them rather than them controlling you they're no longer making every decision you're no longer driving around in the middle of the night looking for who you can pick up you're no longer weaker than somebody at the watercooler that you know is married flirting with them because you you you you have it you could do it but you're no longer controlled by it oh this is good stuff if you don't have this if this is not good stuff you're not a Christian if this is not good to you you're just a churchgoer if it's the only thing that's good to you it's the tone of my voice and when I started who putting in all of that if that's all you got y'all have anything at all because that ain't nothing but style that's nothing but style and culture and personality and the way we do what we do what what gives a life it's the Word of God what sets you free it's the Word of God what caused you to have a transformation it's the Word of God what causes you to grow it's the Word of God I'm talking to you right now can you hear me for as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God it's one thing to have the Spirit of God it's another thing to be led back so you can see that the Spirit of God isn't just here to be on the curieux in your cabinet to show off to your friends with the gifts of the spirited speaking of doesn't try to be in prison so the Spirit of God wants to have an active relationship with your spirit wow that's amazing but you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear verse 15 you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear you're not even slaved you're not entrapped this gospel didn't come to shackle you down it's not about what you can't do it's about what you can do you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but you have received the spirit of adoption we're about we cry Abba Father you haven't been adopted into something amazing and new and fresh it's not just that you join First Baptist or first faithful fire baptized or a Potter's House or whatever you joy it's not just that you have come into something bigger than a building you've come into something bigger than a building you have received the spirit of adoption and I know something about adoption the born children you don't get to pick them they just hire what they are adopting kids you get you had a choice God chose you you have the spirit of adoption stop saying didn't nobody want you God chose you adopted you into the royal family whereby we cry Abba which is the closest English word is daddy daddy father that's how close we are you're walking up to him saying daddy daddy I'm having a bad day daddy my emotions are shot daddy I need to talk to you and some of you it's your first time having a daddy that really responded to you but God cares about you Livan cares about how you feel he cares about what you're going through and he cares about how your heart is broken and he cares about your disappointments and he cares about the things that are not going the way you thought they should go not that the way you thought they should go is the way that he planned for them to go but he cares about the pain of the disappointment of having the wing you from your ideas to God ideas now watch it's just getting to the good part the spirit itself bears witness with our spirit the Spirit of God is talking to my spirit that's bearing witness with my spirit that we are the children of God and if children then heirs and heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ if so be that we suffer with him we may be also glorified together with him and there's so much more we could go to Ephesians and talk about how God has raised us up together and made us sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus and infinite two and one and you have been quickened who were dead and the trespasses are saying when in times past she did walk according to the course of this world even as did your father you know all of that is a part of the storm but we're just touching on a little bit what I want you to see here is that the Spirit of God when it actually penetrates affects connects and becomes at one with your spirit not my will but thine be done Jesus prays in the garden in Gethsemane when the Spirit of God gets the wheel of your next decision the offspring of that union is the fruit of the Spirit the fruit of the Spirit could not be produced by God alone because God cannot be fruit because fruit is not fully developed and God is he just is he just he is so when you start talking about fruit you're talking about the recycling of the tree the purpose of the fruit is it might right down to the seed and that the seed might be planted and other trees might grow in the world might refurbish itself so so so God is not developing he's not becoming he just simply is when you start talking about the fruit of the Spirit you're talking about the effects of the Holy Spirit of my spirit change of my nature and my attitude I'm gonna go through this again in Galatians 20 verse 22 chapter number five but the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace forbearance kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control against such things there is no law if this were if the fruit of the Spirit were just the Spirit of God how could the Spirit of God have self-control when it has no self to control this is what happens when God starts ruling and reigning in the life of a human being they develop self-control they develop forbearance endurance long-suffering kindness goodness faithfulness a lot of joy peace all of that is a result of the Spirit of God having a much deeper relationship with the spirit of man and I'm wondering today not do you go to church not do you wash about the each child might be you know songs how deep is your relationship between your spirit and the Spirit of God in case you're just joining in we're having a wonderful Bible class tonight about the acts of the flesh versus the Spirit of God and what I'm hoping is happening is that as we learn about the fruit of the Spirit we're gonna use the fruit of the Spirit to manage the acts of the flesh rather than always praying about the acts of the flesh trying to defeat them without the fruit of the Spirit if you get the fruit of the Spirit you will defeat the acts of the flesh so you pursue those things that are pure and lovely and whole if there be any virtue that's what the Bible says there be any virtuous if there be any praise think on these things so instead of thinking about what's wrong with you I want you to start focusing on developing what's right with you and the more you get into what's right with you the more what's wrong with you will begin to fall off you need to get busy you need to get busy in the things of God you need to get busy allowing the Holy Spirit to have a deeper place in your life and as he begins they have a deeper place in your life I'm not saying that that will make you perfect you're still not perfect but it will make you better it will make you grow it will make you have more control it and make you able to say no better it'll make you not make the same dumb mistakes since you kept making over and over and over again the fruit of the Spirit your relationship being in hands with God leaves less room for the acts of the flesh to control and drive your life I hope you're getting something out of this because this is so important then the reason and I know it might be falling in a mine might have to plow through this and I might have to dig down into this because the church is not used to it much teaching about the acts of the flesh or the fruit of the Spirit there are some churches and all they do is preach about what you can't do where you can't go what you can't wear if you're a Christian you'll stay in this chair telangana and they train their people to be negative and they they're all detectives running to investigate each other and all of that and then there are some other churches that they're all some grace and grace that as long as you go to the church and worship and hold your hands up nobody challenges your behavior nobody challenges the fact that you beat you nobody challenges the fact that you're sleeping with your daughter nobody challenges your perverted behavior nobody challenges the addictive compulsive disorders that you have nobody challenges your depression your fits of rage tearing up stuff you got to pay for nobody challenges all of that because as long as you come to church and you look nice and you skip and you sing everything's alright I'm trying to bring balance between those two extremes where you're not either all the way out here or all the way out there the balance because balance my friend is maturity balance is what maturity means maturity is about developing the ability not to be extreme to grow in the Grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ and I'm trying to teach you about the fruits of the spirit okay I'm going to introduce one more character into all of this and then I'm going to close we spent a lot of time especially Karris Mattox and Pentecostals talking about the gifts of the Spirit oh my god the gifts of the Spirit oh and they spake hiss hiss fear God gay mother and said they prophesied and I'm a prophet everybody's a prophet now everybody's a prophet everybody the Prophet is there not a prophet there an apostle and I won't even get into tearing all of that down turn all that up and and not saying that there aren't any prophet so then there aren't any a possible everybody is not an apostle and everybody is not a prophet but once we hear something we just reach out and grab it we don't even have to know what it means and we take it in and now I'm a prophetess and I'm a prophet and all of that and they're all running around seeking to get to the spirit they're holding up the service for hour and a half walking around speaking in tongues and waiting on somebody to interpret or they're interpreting themselves and all of that is biblical all of that about the big gifts of the Spirit operate if you in Corinthians you'll begin to understand that they give some spirit doings a certain line spiritual gifts and we do understand that they do operate as a discernment of spirits y'all not people I got to get to discernment I knew he wasn't nothing no no no no no no no no no no no you're not discerning people you're discerning spirits the gift of discernment it's a gift of that the discernment of spirits so anyway you go through all of these gifts of the Spirit and they're important but Paul says in Corinthians that if we have all of that and we have all knowledge and we have my love we are nothing so he said between the gifts and the love the fruit is gonna outweigh the gifts every time oh this is good and yet you don't any hear anybody what I'm talking about I have all the fruit of the Spirit all the fruit of the Spirit is operating in my life you don't see it on anybody's Instagram site you don't see it on their business card the use of apostles and prophets and chief apostle and chief chief impossible and called chief apostle all everybody's running out the gifts of a prophet you know I'm a prophet I work miracles I have the gift of miracles I have the gift of faith oh I have a gift of we see all of that kind of stuff we don't see anybody bragging about the fruits of the spirit but Paul says that if we have all of the gifts and we have all of the knowledge and we do not have love we have nothing now about of faith hope and charity and the greatest of these three is love oh that's so good that's so good that's a good the great so if you'd never discerned the spirit if you never prophesied if you didn't do anything but love people you would have the greatest thing you can have is love the greatest thing you can have is love and that's the very thing nobody's interested in it's not marketing to us it's not talking we don't get it even talk about it nobody preaches about it nobody teaches us about it nobody teaches us patience and temperance and long-suffering and just how to be kind some of the meanest people had the biggest titles the greatest thing you can have is love now abideth faith hope and charity and the greatest of the three is love everybody snatch into faith everybody's talking about hold on to the whole everybody's after faith in the hope and that's good I need them to but the greatest of the three is love and Paul says if I don't have love I am nothing nothing not an apostle not a prophet not a pastor not a teacher not a CEO not an executive not a billionaire not a me you know if I don't have love I don't have anything not stocks not bonds not annuities not a summer home he says if you don't get you some love you are broke today we're talking about the fruits of the spirit and the importance of the fruits of the spirit and how important it is that you have it in your life you you'd be amazed what it would do to your ministry if you would speak the truth in love you'll be surprised with what a dashing love would do to your servant you got all kind of head knowledge but no kind of heart knowledge you'd be surprised how much more effective you would be if you would let your heart into it and let your recreated christ-like hard infiltrate how you lead that church that business set ministry I'm talking to you real talk you'd be surprised how it will affect your prayer life if you had the fruits of the spirit operator in your life and you start praying out of your own selfish agenda trying to bend the will of God over to your ambition you're not interested in doing the will of God you're interested in getting God to make what you want to happen to happen you are a God manipulator stop saying you're an accessory you're not an intercessor you're a God manipulator because when you really start praying you get like Jesus and you say father if it be that way pass this bitter cup for me and then you correct yourself if they know not my wheel but that be done God is not here to serve you you are here to serve him so it's not about your plans are all messed up and covet like team messed up all my place mister up mine too so what I don't care you don't matter because if God wanted it to happen it would happen and the Lord given to the Lord taketh away blessed be the name of the Lord you'll never hear me sitting up here arguing about something that I planned not going for I only want to last in the areas that God ordains to happen and if God wills for it to happen it'll happen and if God never wills it you know it never happened and I don't even care cuz I don't want anything that God didn't want for me I don't want a friend that God didn't want from me I don't want a house that God doesn't want for me I don't want to remember that God doesn't only want what God has for me how about you this is a result of spending hours with the Spirit of God changing the spirit of Thomas oh yeah my flesh leaves a lot of work always has still does but I'm telling you it starts in my spirit then if I can get my spirit right if I could love right if I can have peace right if I can have joy right I won't have so many thirst and cravings of frustration for everything else it starts with the fruit of the Spirit and I can't find anybody that's preaching about it nobody that's talking about it but we need it like we never needed it before oh and that close today I just want to remind you in Exodus 39:24 through 36 that when they made the garments of the priests when they may the garments of the high priest give me a minute and let me explain to you that that the first high priest was Aaron and when God made his garments Aaron was down at the bottom of the mountain leaden and orgy a naked dance at least around an idol who's doing everything wrong but God made a robe for him which is Grace and covered his wrong with God's grace pitcher now God's on the mountaintop design in a garment for guy who's down in the valley acting a fool and he has made the church that Moses led out of the wilderness into absolute chaos and everybody has taken off their earrings and melted it down and built an idol and they're all dancing naked around the calf and I might be wrong but when people get naked and and the heat is old you know anyway it's a mess and God is designing clothes to say out of all the people in Israel that I will allow to come into my Holies of Holies and be face-to-face to me with the Shekinah glory I choose this joker right here that one oh my god you want that naked failing faltering stumbling God to be the high priest guests give me him and he made robes for him and he made a linen ephod for him and he made his censer for him to carry and I might try to put on his hair and twelve stones to cover his chest in an amazing how God can love and forgive and cover people that other people would never touch why did God make Aaron the high priest it was the smartest thing I would have picked a good man I would have picked a man that never failed never made no mistakes never broken any laws kept all the commandments I would have picked him I sure would have God picked the worst possible individual to be the high priests so that no matter what the children of Israel came to him and confessed that they did he could never turn up his mouth because he remembered himself he could always be touched by the feeling of their infirmities because of his open sin he can always come and move the heart of God because he was always reminded of his own wretchedness and so in this particular text today God the designer it's doing the finishing touches on tailoring his garment and they made upon the hem of the robe pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet and twined linen and they made bells of pure gold and put the bells between the fruit they put the bells between the pomegranates upon the bell and a pomegranate a barrel and a pomegranate round about the hem of the robe to ministry in all the way around a bell and a pomegranate a bell and a pomegranate a bell and a pomegranate as the LORD commanded what does that mean a bell and a pomegranate the bell the Bell tinkles it makes noise it's like the gifts of the Spirit they're noisy but what stopped it from being tinkling brass and sounding cymbals it sat in between every gift was a fruit a gift and a fruit and gift enough fruit a gift enough fruit a bell and a pomegranate a bell and a pomegranate a bell an aparment give it but I'm trying to tell you my friend it's the more gifted you are the more loving you have to be the higher God takes you the more humble you have to be the more pressure he puts up under you the more peace you have to have the more your attack the more joy you have that the more your words have power the more kindness you out there and I've seen God designing something for you and it's going to be so amazing it's gonna cover up all the flaws and the failures of your past but he sent me to teach this class to you today a bell and a pomegranate a bell and a pomegranate I'll give you no more gifts then you'll let me give you fruit and if you have my fruit it'll balance your gift so today I've came to you to spend just a little time explaining the acts of the flesh and the fruits of Spirit and as I close today I want you to know that God is desiring a garment you a bill and a pomegranate I'm bill and a pomegranate a bill not a pomegranate and if you just stripped out and let him dress you your latter day will be greater than your former day and no devil and no witch and no hex and no spell and no covet 19 can do anything about it because even though you're down at the bottom of the mountain dancing naked around the calf God is up on the mountaintop designing a bell and a pomegranate for you I know you want a lot of prayer about what's going on right now but that's not what I feel led to pray for I feel led to pray for what's about to happen where he's taking you what he's getting you ready for I don't feel there to spend time praying about the calf and the nakedness of what you're into right now I just wanted to let you know that there's something beyond what you're going through right now and it's gonna be the fruits of the spirit that take you there a bell and a pomegranate a bell and a pomegranate and I came to pray for you because some of you are nice and loving and kind but you hate that about yourself and you've been taught to be ashamed of your forgiving loving compassionate heart but in this sea God is taking you back to who he created you to be even though nobody claps forward even though nobody appreciates it God still said I'm bell and a pomegranate I'm bell and a pomegranate and he told me to tell you to stop despising your fruit stop wishing you were tough like your sister or me like you are Jesse I smiled mounted smart mounted like your grandma he designed in your heart to be blessed a bell and a pomegranate a bell and a pomegranate stop hating the fact that you're nice because God is going to bless you just like I want to pray with you and I want to pray that the peace of God which passes all understanding would keep your heart in mind I want to pray that you would grow in the Grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ I want to pray that the fruits of the spirit would be yours and that the acts of the flesh would fall off you like dry leaves falling off the tree let the wind blow because you are coming into your season and this is a word of knowledge to you you are coming into your season now in Jesus name Amen would you welcome Bakari sellers who in this book are selling frozen tonight I join you just a kid from Denmark South Carolina he's famous but he's still Fred he's done some amazing things with his life the youngest African American to be ever be elected in office when you start talking about somebody's got a law degree somebody who has served in Iraq in powers in the political regime somebody who's been on television you don't imagine them to be somebody who was picking cantaloupes and watermelons as a little boy right now we live in a culture of low expectation in the work part is that often times you get what to expect I think we all want are trying to have a conversation and a conversation that is much needed to be had hope love truth justice each words that are not so tangible but I try to get full meaning to you can't heal what you don't understand and you can't fully love what you don't understand and this is an opportunity to get an understanding you have to begin to get people their humanity if we have to display more levels of compassion and we have to show some level of empathy [Music]

Channel: T.D. Jakes

Views: 486,479

Keywords: td jakes, faith, potters house, bishop jakes, The Potter's House of Dallas, TPH Dallas, td jakes sermons, bishop td jakes, inspiration, td jakes motivation, motivation, sermons, td jakes ministries, motivational speaker, motivational speech, gospel, motivational, td jakes sunday, td jakes 2020, td jakes sermons 2020, Acts of the Flesh & The Fruit of the Spirit, acts of the flesh, fruit of the spirit, gifts of the spirit

Id: AMj0OM60Ls4

Length: 62min 36sec (3756 seconds)

Published: Thu May 21 2020