By Their Fruits - Part 1: Love - Pastor Jack Leaman

why don't we stand together just quickly for the reading of the word gonna talk very excited over the next seven eight weeks we're gonna hear through many different voices we have a diverse dynamic team that are gonna discuss the responsibility that we have individuals not just to receive the gifts of the spirit but to exercise the fruit of the spirit someone say the fruit the fruit of the spirit and the bible gives us some very good insight matthew in chapter 7 jesus spoke verse 16 ye shall know them by their fruits do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit every tree that bringeth forth not good fruit is tuned down and cast into the fire wherefore he he emphasizes he reiterates and wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them and and he's laying the the the context of good fruit and evil fruit he's laying the context of lives that produce and what you produce as an indicator of what you are he he lays that that guideline out for us but in the midst of that conversation that jesus is happening he says ye shall know them by their fruits as people of god in this age where media is conveying and portraying non-stop there needs to be a people of god that portray non-stop what god has done in our lives and what god wants to do through our lives and we're just going to talk about that for a few weeks uh handouts are already out i believe usher's already passed those out but why don't we just lift our hand for a moment and ask the lord to speak to us tonight ask for god to talk to us let's let's ask him for his help jesus i thank you for this tremendous privilege that we have of standing before people that are eager to learn of your word god we don't take that lightly that responsibility and i thank you that god people are eager to learn more god that they're eager to dig deep i thank you that you've given ears god that are willing to hear what the spirit is saying to the church but god i ask that you would not just allow us to be hearers but god as we discuss and dialogue about the fruit of the spirit i pray that god that we would become doers that we would become action god an action plot a plan of what you're doing in lives and what you want to do with others we ask it in your precious and in your powerful name in jesus name we pray but someone just clap hands to the lord for a moment and he can go ahead and be seated the fruit of the spirit now we are apostolic pentecostals we love the moving of the spirit we love the outpouring of the spirit we love we love to quote acts we love the book of acts any any apostolics in the room we love to quote acts but ye shall receive power after that the holy ghost has come upon you the bible says ye shall be witnesses unto me both in jerusalem and all judea and in samaria and unto the other most parts of the earth we we know that we are going to be witnesses and and often in our mind we believe that that witness has got to be some kind of dialogue that we uh entertain with someone else a conversation that we have with someone to discuss our testimony to talk to them uh what we know about as far as doctrine but can i just remind us all that your life is a testimony to the world around you the way that we act every single day is a testimony to the people around us the how we respond in certain situations is a testimony to those around us i i love being in church and talking about the outpouring of god's spirit i love that i love that part of it i love it when we feel what we feel just moving in the room a few moments ago i know i've got witnesses in the room but but walking with god and living for god takes on a whole different context when we realize this doesn't end tonight at 8 10 p.m this carries on this continues this continues on our drive home with our spouse this this continues tomorrow morning when the shirt that we're looking for can't be found this continues tomorrow morning when road work in fredericton raises the level of frustration a little bit you know what i'm talking about talking about the fruit of the spirit you may have jeff arnhem playing through your apple radio apple what is it in the car a car play you may have some preaching going on but if you're not living it out people are watching what's happening and and part of the witness isn't just what you speak and what you know and as far as a dialogue over doctrine some of that witness or a large degree of that witnesses that witness happens because of the fruit of the spirit that's in your life well that's a that's a quiet response everyone's saying okay where are we going with this let's let's talk a little bit about about the fruit of the spirit before we talk about it in particular the the growth the overflow the output of your life is a result of what is in your life god is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth so if god is that spirit then our worship happens through our lives in spirit and in truth so god that spirit has a product the fruit of the spirit is a product of that god that we're talking about tonight that god that we sang about that god with an infinite immeasurable love that that god that spirit produces something when you let him in your life galatians chapter 5 this is in your handout you can just circle it if you want but when the holy spirit controls our lives he will produce this kind of fruit in us love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control there is no conflict with the law there is fruit that comes out in our lives when the holy spirit comes in now i'm with everybody and and wanting people to be prayed through i'm with everybody in a new birth experience we need people to repent at this altar we need people to be buried in waters of baptism in jesus name so they can rise to walk in newness of life we need that to happen we need people to seek the baptism of the holy ghost and when it's evidenced by the infilling it happens with speaking in other tongues we we need that to happen in people's lives but we can't someone say we can't stop there we can't stop there we have to continue on as a matter of fact there is a converse to to uh a conflict in our life that we will face every single day with decisions who are we going to serve what's what's going to live out in our lives we talked about the fruit of the spirit if you backed up in that chapter just a few verses to verse 19 you'd find that if you follow the desires of your sinful nature then your lives will produce these evil results sexual immorality impure thoughts eagerness for lustful pleasure idolatry participation in demonic activities hostility quarreling jealousy outwards of anger selfish ambition divisions the feelings that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group envy drunkenness wild parties and other kinds of sin let me tell you again as long as i ha have before that anyone living this sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of god and so we are saddled with the understanding and the responsibility of knowing that our lives are going to produce something you're going to if you follow this the desires of your sinful nature your lives will produce these evil results that's what the scripture says however if we allow the spirit of god in our life then the fruit of the spirit is evidenced in our walk with god the fruit of the spirit the fruit of the spirit so let's just say your first blank there the fruit of the spirit is produced spiritually not naturally spiritually and not naturally like all fruit the fruit of the spirit grows out of its root which is in the character of god god is a spirit so if god's spirit is at work in our heart if we are uh if we understand that we have received his spirit in our life then something is going to happen and and the fruit of the spirit is evidenced of the rood it's the same way that you know if you see them potato plants and pei you know that under the soil what are you gonna find you're not gonna find july strawberries you're not gonna find august raspberries you're not gonna find uh late summer what bumbleberries i don't know blackberries there we go you're not gonna find that if you dig that soil and you know you know that the top you're gonna find the the root determines the fruit especially with potatoes it is the root so you're going to find beneath the soil what you knew you were looking for it's evidenced by what's produced it's there and so it's the same way in our lives like all fruit the fruit of the spirit grows out of the root which is the character of god so why does why do these fruits evidence in our life well you can find that in that little chart that's right there in the bottom of your handout god is love so we're gonna evidence love god rejoices over us so we're gonna find joy he he's a god that rejoices so we're gonna find joy in our life he's the god of peace so guess what peace is going to be a fruit that flows out into our life god is patient second peter 3 9 so patience evidenced in our life he is kind to us his kindness to us ephesians 2 and verse 7 talks about the grace of god and his kindness towards us his kindness is there he said i will see the goodness of the lord the psalmist said if god's goodness is there then goodness is going to evidence in our life faithfulness lamentations um great is your faithfulness lord your faithfulness to us so faithfulness becomes a part of our walk with god matthew 11 verse 29 i'm humble and gentle so gentleness meek and lowly in heart the scripture says humble so gentleness is going to be there in our life self-control oh that's the hard one but god said himself if there's anyone that evidences patience it's god that we are still here how many could exercise the just the raising of the hand and say i'm here because god was patient with me i'm here because i didn't get it right all the time but god didn't give up on me i i'm here because of the patience the long suffering of god he suffered for a long time waiting for me to get it right and so god when he has done that for us when that is who he is guess what god is looking for that in our lives i remember um i actually looked it up this afternoon it was called agape land it was a a a kids back then it was a record i think or an eight track but it was called the music machine mom and dad bought the music machine for us and cheyenne and i sent her a little screenshot on my twin sister i sent her a little screenshot of it today and she just like sent back the exclamation i remember that um the music machine and and the music machine the way that it went is that it put all these things in and then they the little songs came out and love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control that was my favorite song the one about self-control not because i had it all together i just remember it was like a little country twang to it once i had a knot in my shoe and it would not come loose i tried and i tried and i tried and i tried you know little garth brooks long before garth brooks ever made it ever made it big it would not come loose i got so mad i kicked the door stuck my little toe oh if only i had learned a little bit of self-control oh sing it with me no no no don't but those the the fruit of the spirit if it's there if the root is god and we've we see all of those those elements in god then god expects to see those elements in us god expects to see that in us god expects to see love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control in us that's why scripture says love the lord love your neighbor those two commandments all the other commandments hinge on those two commandments philippians 4 and 4 rejoice in the lord joy first peter 3 11 seek peace and pursue it peace be patient with everyone oh someone just read that underline that got your yellow highlighter highlight it be patient with everyone including pastor jack close yourself clothe yourself with kindness kindness colossians 3 12 let us do good to all people galatians 6 10 be faithful even to the point of death revelation 2 verse 10 wow some heavy duty scriptures there it says timothy paul writing to timothy said the servant of the lord must be gentle and second peter add to your knowledge self-control we we are these aren't optional these aren't options these are commands that god has given us in scripture and it's so easy for us to just kind of glaze over that and say well let's you know let's get let's get the music team back up and and get the songs moving because we need to move with the spirit well sometimes it's the growth of the spirit that we need the most the growth of the spirit and that happens in our life with the fruit of the spirit blank number two the fruit of the spirit is singular it's not it's not the fruits of the spirit it is the fruit of the spirit and every every one of those attributes you find in that single fruit the fruit of the spirit is a package deal we can't take what we want and leave the rest behind we have got to we have got to allow all of those attributes to become a part of who we are now now we all know our personalities are going to gravitate to some elements of the the fruit of the spirit that we more naturally are acclimated to that we we more naturally walk out in our life some of you are are patient to the nth degree some of you are kinds you're so kind i don't know i'm trying to think of an example and i'm just going to move on i'll just let it settle deep in your spirit but we all here here's where i need to get we all have elements of the fruit of the spirit that we have trouble with amen all right i'll move on blank three gifts show my ministry fruits sorry show my ministry fruits show my maturity gifts show my ministry fruits show my maturity god gives us gifts so we can exercise our ministry everyone is a minister i think that it's good for us to remind ourselves that here on this platform is the lowest number of ministers in our church family you all are called to be ministers everyone is a minister just tap your neighbor and tell them you're a minister so gifts that come along with the gift of the holy ghost those gifts will show ministry in your life but the fruits will show the maturity in your life you know why because you know i wrote in my notes over this i said it's kind of like harvest and christmas both bring a lot but it was very different the way you got what you got with with harvest somebody went out and planted the seed somebody tilled the soil somebody allowed those those plants to grow up that's that's what happened in harvest at christmas is just like clear the way start tearing wrapping paper off we we were blessed with wonderful gifts well the gifts of the spirit come it comes with the gift of the holy ghost and and different gifts are given to different people every man according to his several ability the bible you know different gifts come to to be exercised in the body of christ that's why sometimes in a service you'll hear somebody speak in tongues and then somebody will give the interpretation of those tongues that's the gifts of the spirit in operation sometimes you'll be in a service and just all of a sudden someone will give a word of faith and faith rises in the room for healing to happen we pray for healing because we believe that god heals we pray for miracles because we believe that god can we believe all those things can happen those are gifts of the spirit that that are exercised in our church but the fruit of the spirit is like the harvest it takes some work it takes some diligence it takes some somebody being intentional and allowing allowing those things to grow in our life that's that's what we're talking about tonight and and and gifts i'll just talk about that because you know so we have a one just i'll have your attention for two seconds here you have gifts on one side and you have fruit on the other i'm not saying we don't need gifts we absolutely do need gifts but we also need the fruit of the spirit and that's that's what we're talking about we we need the fruit of the spirit in our life developing the fruit point number four developing the fruit of the spirit of my life is the ultimate spiritual experience tongues may be that initial evidence of the baptism of the holy ghost we see it in acts chapter 2 acts chapter 10 acts chapter 19 but the continuing evidence of the holy ghost in my life is the fruit of the spirit okay romans 12 and 2 be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of god don't be conformed to the world but there's going to be a transformation that happens in our minds second corinthians 5 and verse 17 therefore if any man be in christ he is a new creature old things are passed away behold all things are become new and you know i it's this isn't this is just like maintenance it's one of those uh you know i talked about justin's inspection on his truck on sunday and uh i was chuckling to kathy after i said you know i could i could speak the most profound theological truth but all i ever hear hear back about is the story in the words of harold hoffman nobody ever notices the incredible preaching machine that i am if you know me you know that i don't think that's true but we all just like justin's truck we all need a little more work in these areas we all need a little maintenance we need to talk about it a little bit because if we don't talk about it guess what it just kind of goes off to the side and we've got to remind ourselves we got we've got to grow in christ we've got to grow as a body of believers because if we don't grow we'll stagnate and it's just like the escalator we can't stand still we've got to constantly be moving forward in christ and it's that's not a drudgery that's an excitement because god is taking us to new levels god's taking us to new heights guess what god could do with people that have the fruit of the spirit exercising in their life it's going to be more evident than anything you could ever say any sermon you could ever preach the fruit of the spirit are going to be so obvious and so evident especially against a world that has the backdrop of the lusts of the flesh at work and people exercising their personal desire to the nth degree guess what happens when somebody shows up and the fruit of the spirit are there it's so obvious it's just like it's just like that fruit tree on my neighbor's lawn right now he's got a pear tree every time i look out the window now i'm i'm thinking about sneaking over and getting a couple pairs i can't ignore it i'm washing my hands at the sink it's like man look at those i just wanna but that's what it is in your life when you allow the fruit of the spirit john if you're watching you can bring a bushel over there's lot's there if if you have the fruit of the spirit in your life people are going to want what you have people are gonna you're on display you don't even realize it all you've been doing is just letting god grow something in your life all you've been doing is just experiencing the goodness of god and going forward and allowing god to grow something in your life but without you even noticing and without you even realizing people are seeing what's happening and they're saying i want what they've got i want to become that i need that i can't live without that people are observing what's happening in your life and they want to become what you've got they want that so we all need a little more work and so that's why we paused to take the next few weeks and emphasize the fruit of the spirit in our lives it's it's a you know we just need it someone say we need it you have to intentionally cultivate the fruit of the spirit cultivate means to prepare and use land for crops or gardening you have to intentionally cultivate the fruit of the spirit in your life and jesus taught that he talked to us about the sower that he went out to sow and the seed some seed fell by the wayside valves of the air came and devoured it up some fell on stony ground where it had not much earth and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of the earth when the sun was up it was scorched and because it had no root it withered away and some fell among thorns and thorns grew up and choked it and yielded no fruit and other fell on good ground and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased and brought forth some 30 some 60 and some hundred and he said unto them he that hath an ear to hear let him hear what the spirit is saying to the church well the fruit was determined by how good of the soil the root fell in the seed fell in and that root went deep and you're going to have different people we are going to be one of four people the word that that's preached on sunday the word that's delivered in lessons like this tonight the word that's preached to our youth and and to our children in our classes it it has a landing spot and we determine what kind of landing spot it is there are four kinds of people in you know in your notes pathway people are pathway people they're hardened by the influences that they allow in their lives that's why it's very important who we allow to be our friends that's why it's very important how close we get to the associates in our life the people that we connect with the literature that we read the tv programs that we watch the music that we listen to how how intent we are in pursuit of the things in life that we're desirous of the pursuit of pleasure our personal ambitions our private thought life they all determine how hard the path is that the seed falls on so we have pathway people we have rocky people some people are shallow they never develop what it takes to serve god consistently there's a thin layer of soil it's just a superficial experience it's it's temporary at best it's a field littered with stones obstacles and disobedience are littered all throughout they they're it's rocky streaks of gravel in the soils and and just you know their life is tempered with ingratitude and criticism and and they're they're fussy rocky people we are we're just going to move on before we start naming names no thorny people crowded by the distractions of overactive life or over scheduled life oh be careful be careful with the calendar the cares and anxieties of everyday life can can become what chokes out the seed of the word of the lord the deceitfulness of wealth the magnet of materialism can pull you in and before you even realize that god can't grow in your life like he wants to i'm not saying we shouldn't want stuff that's always our our disclaimer because we you know we we've got to live we've got to be but but to not let those things get a hold of us that's why giving is so critical that's why missions is such a an emphasis for our church family because it releases the hold that we have on what we you can tell we like nice stuff we like it to look good this is the house of god we we we want to do it well we want to we want to you know we don't expect y'all to come on a skateboard but make sure that you leave room for god to grow in your life the productive finally the productive people are are people that have good ground to grow the fruit of the spirit in their lives people who hear and receive the admonition of the word people who live in the spirit and allow fruit to be produced in their life they have deep roots that go down in the soil that god wants to grow them in that's why jesus said in john 15 verse 5 i am the vine year the branch is he that abideth in me and i in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me ye can do nothing i need we need our roots to go deep into that soil until he becomes the part of us that begins to grow that's what we need someone say that's what i need so if we carry on we're you know we had a little trouble with the formatting on your hand though but if you carry on right over that next chart if you wanted to just write love over that love over galatians 5 22-23 first corinthians 13 1-7 if you if you want to write love over that in my notes i don't know maybe it's not spiritually correct i have what's love got to do with it speaking of roots and fruit i'm not a fan it's just a tagline our text that we read earlier but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long suffering gentleness goodness and faith meekness temperance against such there is no law but the fruit of the spirit is love love is where this all begins love is the cornerstone that that all this is built on love is the deepest root it's the central root that goes down in the soil and and allows the others to grow off we know that in scripture because love love is is that that that hinge point it's that the thing that everything else in our life swings on and so we're just gonna that's that's my my duty for the remainder of our time together tonight is to to just talk to you for a few minutes about love love if you were to look at our text and i just read it briefly but if you'll look down through chapters 5 chapter 5 galatians 5 verse 22 to 23 you'll you'll see that love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control are are all there listed but you'll find those mirrored in first corinthians 13 and and if you've ever been here in this room when we've conducted a marriage ceremony you know that uh whether it's pastor woodward myself pastor matt when when we're somewhere in that marriage ceremony we talk about love from first corinthians 13 because it it creates a level of responsibility that we all strive to reach and if you'll read first corinthians 13 you'll find all the fruit of the spirit evidenced in that in that chapter you'll find that love it's in this language love does not seek her own it's not selfish or self-centered love does not rejoice in iniquity but rather rejoices in the truth there's joy it's not easily provoked but it is serene and stable love suffers long it perseveres it's patient love is merciful thoughtful and concerned it envy is not love is great gracious and generous it is kind and good love thinks no evil but it has faith in god and others love is humble and gentle love does not bond itself love is disciplined and controlled love does not behave unbecomingly the love is that is that cornerstone it's the hinge point i don't know what word to use tonight it's it's what all of the fruit of the spirit work with it works together with love and love if we have love then all those other gifts come so freely and and just as we're transitioning from talking about the fruit of the spirit into uh the aspects of the fruit of the spirit tonight love i wonder if we could just take a moment and lift our hands and say god would you help me to love god would you allow love to be at work in my life would you allow love to be that center point in my spirit that you can work with or we need god we need a revelation of love that god that has no restrictions that reaches beyond borders and barriers and boundaries god we need your love there are two very strong misconceptions about love in your notes the world says that love is a feeling but god says that love is a matter of choice you say that that doesn't sound right probably not if we're going by the world's definition of love love is not a feeling love is a command we talked about the commands earlier right not the ten commandments we talked about these commands that god gives us husbands love your wives when you feel like it i'm so glad he put that in there no he didn't he said husbands love your wives as christ loved the church and gave himself for it husbands love your wives it's a commandment but the world is saying love is a feeling what if i don't feel like it love anyway walk in love walk love out walk love out act it out some say that's faking it and sometimes you gotta fake it till you make it some of you i mean me i i'm good i got the mic there are there are four greek words you'll find in scripture there's four different words used that we would use the single word love for we you know um we would use the word love i love my dog i love i love this truck you know not not not not nearly the same but we all understand it because we only got one word so you know work with what you got work with what you got but in scripture there's there's there's the different uh greek words that that communicate love at different levels and responses and and you know there's eros that's the sexual or essential love and that's communicated in scripture there's storge there's the that's the family or the natural love within a family um there's filet that's friendship or companionship love i love you bro you know what i mean love you bro you know that's the same word that i tell kathy i love you with but guess what i don't love bro as much as i love kathy even though i use the same word love you bro so it's not the same and then and then finally there is agape love that's god's love and so we have all those words and and we could we could break them all down with different definitions and and we've got all that here we're just going to kind of to skip past that tonight but i i do want to talk to us about agape love because that's the love that we're striving for because if agape love is is the love that's of god then that is what god is looking for of us someone say agape and this is by far the kind of love the bible refers to the most about it it has nothing to do with romance or natural affection or sentiment it's it's not dependent on physical attractiveness personality or harmonious atmosphere it doesn't it isn't determined by what you do for me so that's when i'm going to love you it's not hinged on gifts it's not hinjani agape love is a decision that commits itself to the well-being of another regardless of the reaction of the one being loved and if you're a parent you know what i'm talking about when that baby is born you love that baby that baby couldn't do anything for you it's only going to require something of you but but you know when your children were born how you felt that immediate connection that powerful bond that was there that that determination that you had in your mind in your spirit in your will that you were going to do whatever it took to provide for to create an environment for to build for this child that kind of love that that's the kind of love it's it's not a love that's to it's a decision in that moment that commits itself to the well-being of an up well guess what god god wants us to translate that kind of love to the world that's around us god is looking for us to love for god guess what god so loved the world god loved the world with all of its sin god loved the world with all of its wrong god loved the world with all the people that did all the wrong things god said um i love them i love them with an everlasting that he gave his only be that he gave that he went to the cross of calvary and gave his life a ransom for many that kind of love is the love that god says now now that i've evidenced it now that i've lived it out now that i've put it on display i'm looking for a church that will love the world like that and and and right about now we all want to shoot our hands in the air and say yeah but what about what about those people what about what about that situation guess what god is looking for a group of people that when your love is on display it's going to be so obviously different that the world is going to wonder how you can love like that i'll tell you how when the root goes deep and you get a hold of the agape love that god is and you let that grow into your life you are going to be able to look past wrongdoing you're going to be able to look past people that do you wrong you're going to be able to look past all those elements and you're going to be able to say you know what i know it's not right i know there's some things that are out of order i know all of that shouldn't be but guess what i love them and we should be amending a lot louder than that tonight because we are the people of god so guess what people of god we have got to display god's love and we need to get that root deep in the soil until it becomes a part of who we are that's why we've gotta that's why we've got to put our our lives in the inspection shop for a few minutes today that's why we've got to say god have we got some barriers how big is the wall that i've got up between me and the person that you're trying to reach i may be the only one that will so if it's hinging on me and it's hinging on the love that i have i have god come on i've got to let love grow up in my life the fruit of love has got to be evidenced until i'm able to love until i'm able to love we we've got to have love that kind of love we have got to have it in our lives as a shield in your notes for the other kinds of love in our lives it's not a love that we're going to produce so if you feel a little frustrated right now you feel inadequate right now that's good because we can't do it on our own we need we need the love that god produces for us guess what do good to them that despite for you guess where that strength comes from love guess what happens when you're able to step over the whole pile of problems that people have thrown your way and you're still able to embrace them and love them guess why because your love realizes the love that you have realizes this whole world is temporary everything that we're walking through right now at best if we get 100 years we're doing great but when we slip over into the sunny side of eternity it's forever and ever and ever so what if we put up with a little bit of garbage down here so we could take somebody with us over there that is the kind of love we're talking about we have got to love we've got to love not a love we produce but it's the love that god produces in us we can come back to the music tonight we we live in a culture that has such a shallow definition of love four-minute songs one-hour shows two-hour movies an afternoon paperback novel and that defines everything but the biblical narrative of love you know the world number two line blank two on that page the world says that love is uncontrollable we like that because it means that it's out of our control a lot of people use words like i'm in love i feel giddy my head's spinning i'm weak in the knees that's not love that's seasick i'm love struck yes yes you are i remember brother cb deadly teaching us down in the old bible school chapel first year class he sat on a chair at the front he said if you fell in love you'll fall out [Music] falling in love that's that's that's a manhole cover removed but if you know if you fell in love then you can't help it and you definitely can't help but when you fall out of love that's why love has got to be a decision in your handout god says that love is a matter of conduct love isn't a feeling it's a command it's how we choose to conduct ourselves in our interactions with the world around us jonah lived all the other apostles and he had an incredible perspective on the church in the new testament he was around for the first 70 years of church history and after seeing the church's struggles and triumphs this is very come on this is very important because here we are 2 000 years later and we're still wanting to wanting to walk in god's will but after john watched the church for 70 years struggles triumphs he placed love at the priority the place of utmost importance if you read through the epistle of first john you'll find that over and over again he commends people not to have apostolic pentecostal revival he didn't command them all to go back to upper room in jerusalem acts 2 no no he said you know what we need we need he said dear children chapter 3 verse 18. first john 3 18. dear children let us stop just saying we love each other let us really show it by our actions love is about actions we can talk until we're blue in the face we can we can write in the margins of that handout until we are out of blue ink but our responsibility tonight that god places on us is to leave with an agenda of love love [Music] our heart will reveal what we are in our actions so somehow we've got to say god let me love like you loved [Music] if we go back to first corinthians 13 for a moment because that chapter tells us what love is supposed to be like love is patient in your hand blank a love is patient patience means that i take time to to wait for somebody else to become what god is calling them to be patience mean that means that i i'm willing to to work with someone to recover what they lost in a spiritual battle [Music] patience means that i'm willing i'm willing to get myself motivated maybe when somebody isn't motivated but guess what if i lead the way maybe they'll come along with me for the journey love says let's go [Music] that's the tough part of love love is patient love love means that you may be the only one making the move but you're willing to because you know if you can just get other people to join the party it's going to be incredible when we all become people that love be love is kind kindness means the ability to care for each other impractical details of every life isn't it just nice when you run into someone that's kind kindness doesn't cost anything [Music] excuse me be kind [Music] it's my cologne it's not covered love is kind doesn't kindness just set people apart right now you're thinking of someone you know that's kind kindness sets you apart and it costs you nothing it costs your pride sometimes and it costs you costs you're not losing your cool it costs you not not being mean not being rude not being angry not not maintaining your right kind [Music] kindness is is an evidence of love kindness is living out our our wedding vows every day not just during a re-wedding ceremony it's it's being the people that we committed to be to the spouse that god has given us but then let's take it further what about our children what about what about our neighbor what about tim hortons when when they do take 20 minutes in the drive-through [Music] i i have to remind myself they know who you are they know who you are kindness means adapting and accepting the inconvenience because maybe you don't know what's happening on the other side of the drive through screen maybe you don't know that the coffee pot just hit the floor [Music] and everybody's scrambling or like most sunday mornings there's no donuts yet [Music] maybe maybe in the grand scheme of things those little things don't really matter but guess what really does matter kindness oh this is so simple tonight i don't know why we're taking time to talk about this i i know because we all need help with this because we're all people and pride gets the best of us [Music] so how do we do it well here's a few instructions we we do not change our actions by first changing our feelings in your notes rather our feelings will change when we first change our actions make the adjustments become who god is calling us to be someone say love romans 5 and 5 as we close out this lesson tonight hope it maketh not a shame because why because the love of god is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy ghost which is given unto us hope maketh not a shame because the love of god is shed abroad in our hearts because of the holy ghost which is given unto us it really is true folks it's as simple as that by their fruits [Music] by their fruits ye shall know them the fruit of the spirit is the most important part of our testimony it's our next step it's our next step after salvation to become what god is calling us to be how many are just going to commit with me tonight that i'm going to love i'm going to love unconditionally that doesn't mean i i accept everybody's activities it doesn't mean that i say yes you're right guess what they can be wrong and i can still love them you say well that sounds arrogant it's not arrogant sometimes you you just know like like you know more than your two-year-old you still love them when they smear chocolate icing all over the floor and come with it all over their face you know that's wrong but you still love them to love people in spite of allows the holy ghost to be shed abroad you're going to run across more people this week that may or may not ever be in a youth convention in a camp meeting in a sunday service at ccc but but guess what love if it's shed abroad in our hearts by the holy ghost it's going to impact the world around us standing together let's pray i'm wondering if you would seriously commit we're we're gonna talk for the next few weeks i'm really really excited about some of the communicators that we have some people that you haven't heard before gonna be behind this podium talking to us about the fruit of the spirit in their lives it's going to be going to be exciting it's going to be great but the only the only way that this is beneficial is if we allow it to become a part of our lives so i'm wondering if you'll just pray together with me let's let's do what james said let's become a doer not just a hearer of the word father we're asking tonight show us the avenue to let this be walked out in our life jesus i pray that as we leave we will be [Music] committed to a level of love that we never had before god doesn't have to change who we are but it allows us to become who you're calling us to be we're still your people but god allow us to love the world the way that you love them for god so love the world [Music] god i pray that we'd be able to insert our names in that scripture and let us love the world the way that you loved them i thank you for the power of your word god i know that it's working in this room tonight we release it we ask for the product of it to become the fruit in our life we'll give you praise in jesus name we ask it would the church say amen amen god bless you tonight it's been our distinct privilege to teach this lesson to you we love you very much god bless

Channel: Capital Community Church

Views: 2,027

Rating: 4.9473686 out of 5

Keywords: capital, community, church, fredericton, nb, new, brunswick, canada, upc, upci, united, pentecostal, international, apostolic, sermon, preach, preaching, bible, study, teaching, bible study

Id: ZaWU4TSYp6g

Length: 50min 37sec (3037 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 02 2021