Spiritual Growth: Gentleness

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Week number eight in our series that I've entitled

Spiritual Growth. Spiritual Growth. Now, if today's

your first time with us in this series, it's

okay, because there's going to be plenty of background

information to get you up to speed. That's just

the way we do it. We don't leave you in the dark,

all right? But if you would like more information

after today, all the other messages, the first

seven messages are available on our podcast.

All you have to do is search Elation Church anywhere

you listen to podcasts, and you can get this

whole series or any other series The last two

and a half years, I guess, we've had every service

on our podcast. So let's dive right in. 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 2:14

2, verse 14 says this. The natural man does not

receive the things of the Spirit of God, for

they are foolishness to him. Nor can he know

them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Everybody say natural man. Let's go to chapter

3, verses 1 through 3. And I, brethren, could

not speak to you as spiritual people, but as

to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with

milk and not with solid food. For until now you

were not able to receive it. And even now you

are still not able. For you are still carnal.

For where there are envy, strife, and divisions

among you, are you not carnal and behaving like

mere men? We could even replace that mere with

natural, like in the first verse that we read.

So these verses tell us that there's ultimately

three types of people. Three types of people.

The first one is a natural person. Everybody

say natural. This is a person who is not born

again. They're not a believer. They're not a

follower of Christ. We were all like that at

one point. Without Christ. And if that's where

you are, all you have to go by or live by is

what seems right to you. What seems right in

your own eyes. Whatever feels good. Surely you've

heard the phrase, if it feels good, do it. Just

living by what feels good or by what seems right.

Because they don't know, the Bible says in the

verse that we read, they don't understand spiritual

things because they're spiritually discerned.

Then we see the next type of person. A carnal

person. Everybody say carnal. Now a carnal person

is a Christian. Because Paul is speaking to the

Corinthian believers, and he's calling some of

them carnal, or the majority of them carnal.

They're just living according to their flesh,

just like the natural people. You can't tell

any difference between a natural man and a carnal

Christian. Can't tell any difference. That's

sad, right? This person is born again, but they're

immature. They live their lives on a childhood

level spiritually because they don't feed on

the Word of God or grow. So that's a carnal person.

Everybody say carnal. And then the third type

of person is a spiritual person. Everybody say

spiritual. A spiritual person is a Christian

who is led by the Spirit of God through the Word

of God. This is a growing Christian. I'm not

saying it's a Christian who has arrived, because

none of us have arrived. We all have room for

improvement. Look at the person beside you and

say, I have room for improvement. Don't tell

them they have room for improvement. Tell them

I have room for improvement. But it's a person

who desires to know God, desires to follow God.

It's a person who loves the Word of God. It's

a person who walks in the Spirit and they're

led by the Holy Spirit. This is a spiritual person.

So we see those three types of people. One is

natural. A person who does not know God. One

is carnal. A person who is a Christian, but you

can't tell it. And then we have spiritual. Who

do you want to be? Or who are you? Where does

this spiritual growth occur? Where does it occur?

How does it occur? 1 Thessalonians 5 .23. Tells

us something about ourselves. Now may the God

of peace make you holy. Everybody say set apart.

Everybody say different. May the God of peace

make you holy in every way. Now listen carefully.

And may your whole spirit and soul and body be

kept blameless. until our Lord Jesus Christ comes

again. So in this verse, we see that we are a

three -part being. Three parts. It's right here.

It's easy. You can just see it. Now, you are

a spirit. A lot of people never realize this.

But we are spirit beings. We are. We're created

in the image of God. And God is spirit. We are

spirit beings. That's what separates you and

me from every other living thing on this earth.

Every other breathing thing on this earth. You

know, I love my grandpuppy, but my grandpuppy

is not a spirit being. She's not a spirit. People

are spirits created in the image of God. That's

who you are. But we're not born knowing that.

Because our spirit is not alive unto God, because

in the Garden of Eden, God said, if you disobey,

If you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good

and evil, you will surely die. And that's what

happened. It was a spiritual death. A spiritual

death that separated humanity from being connected

to God. Alive unto God is probably a better word.

At that point, Adam and Eve were no longer alive

unto God, and they ran and hid themselves. So

you are a spirit. Everybody say, I am a spirit.

Everybody say, I have a soul. And I live in a

body. So our spirit has salvation. Our spirit

comes alive unto God. That's what we mean when

we say we're born again. Because our spirit was

not alive unto God and then at salvation our

spirit becomes alive unto God and we are born

again. We are united with Christ. And the Holy

Spirit moves us at salvation. He moves us. from

being immersed in sin to being immersed in Christ.

And at that point, at the point of salvation,

some people have a hard time receiving this,

but it's very scriptural. I can show you a lot

of verses, but that's not what I'm preaching

today. If you come to Alation Church a lot, you

know that I preach about this a lot. Raise your

hand, raise your hand. We preach about this a

lot. So I can't preach this whole message, but...

You, at the point of salvation, you put on the

righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. You become

completely righteous. You cannot be any more

righteous than at the point when you are born

again. You do not grow in righteousness. If you

say, but Dean, I need to grow in righteousness,

that means that you're going to attempt in the

flesh to be more right with God than Jesus is.

Does anybody want to attempt that? To be more

right with God than Jesus? Because we're clothed

in His righteousness. His righteousness. We've

taken off our righteousness like a dirty garment.

And we put on Christ's righteousness. And every

time God looks at us, He sees Jesus. He sees

the sacrifice that Jesus made for you and for

me on the cross. We are righteous. We are complete.

Everything that the Bible says that we have in

Christ or we are in Christ, all those things

are ours at the point of salvation. So your spirit

is complete and you are a spirit. But you have

a soul. Now our soul is comprised of three things

as well. Our soul is our mind, our will, and

our emotions. Let's break it down. Our soul is

our thought life, our desires, and our feelings.

Now how many of you know that when you got saved,

none of that got saved? Hello? The day I got

saved, my thought life was not perfectly holy.

You know, it didn't just whoo. My desires didn't

just completely change to where I don't have

any desires that aren't holy desires anymore.

My feelings. I didn't automatically not let negative

feelings control me anymore. All those things

need some work. And that's where spiritual growth

concern is. That's where it happens. That's where

it takes place, is in your soul. Spiritual growth

takes place in your thought life, in your desire

life, in your feeling life. That's where spiritual

growth takes place. That's where it takes place.

The difference between a carnal and a spiritual

believer is the spiritual growth or lack thereof

in the soul. That's the difference. That's the

difference. And I'm going to share some other

things with you. Spiritual maturity is not measured

by how long you've been a Christian. I've been

a Christian 51 years and 3 weeks. That doesn't

mean I'm spiritual. It's not about how long you've

been a Christian. It's not about how often you

attend worship services. I mean, if there was

a plaque in heaven for attending worship services,

I'm going to get a big plaque. Because for 20

years, I averaged over 200... Well, maybe not

all 20 years, but... One year, I went to over

280 church services in one year. That's more

than some people do in 10 years. Thousands and

thousands and thousands. That doesn't mean that

I'm spiritual. Being spiritual is not measured

by how much scripture you can quote. Has anybody

ever met some really mean people who could quote

some Scripture? Well, Paul called the Corinthians

carnal because they were envy and strife and

division. That's the fruit of being carnal. So

it don't matter how much Scripture you can quote.

Now listen to me. I believe it's very important

to know Scripture. I believe it's very important

to come together with other believers to worship

God. I believe it's very important to be a Christ

follower, to come to know Him. That's the ultimate

important thing that can happen in anyone's life.

But none of those things mean that you are spiritually

mature. None of them. Jesus gave us some insight.

Luke 6, verses 43 and 44. He says this, A good

Luke 6:43

tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad

tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known

by its own fruit. So this whole series is about

spiritual fruit being the marker of spiritual

maturity. That's what it really is. How much

spiritual fruit is evident in your life? How

much spiritual fruit is growing, constantly growing

in your life? That'll tell each one of us how

spiritual we are. Because spiritual growth is

measured by spiritual fruit, constantly increasing

and always evidenced in our life. Now this is

a series in self -examination. No one needs to

think, boy, I wish this relative was here. I

wish this neighbor was here because they really

need to hear it. Have you ever sat in church

and said, boy, I wish this person was here because

they really needed the message today? Well, here's

the deal. God knew that they weren't going to

be here and God knew you were going to be here.

So we are obviously the people who need to hear

it. Because we are the people who are here. It's

self -examination. Don't look at the person beside

you. We're all a work in progress. We're all

at different positions in this race. But we're

all a work in progress. None of us have arrived.

Galatians 5, 22 and 23. We finally made it to

verse 23. Seven weeks. Eight weeks. This is week

eight. Because we have one more. But the fruit

of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,

kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness.

We're going to stop at gentleness this week.

A doorway in your house, like when you were growing

up or when you were raising your children, did

you have a doorway that you would mark how tall

the child was? Maybe right down their age. And

you gauged their growth. I'm here today to tell

you that if you want to gauge your level of spiritual

maturity or gauge your level of spiritual growth,

what's your love life look like? I'm not talking

about your boyfriend or girlfriend or husband

or wife. I'm talking about your love walk with

everyone. Not just the people in your house.

The people who are not easy to love that you

come in contact with. How's your love walk? How

is your joy? What's your level of joy? If you're

here today and you say, well, you know what?

Life's just beating me up and beating me down.

I don't have any joy. That's because you're trying

to find joy in the wrong place. Because the joy

of the Lord is your strength. It's your strength.

No matter what's going on around you, you can

have the joy of the Lord. You can walk in the

joy of the Lord. As a matter of fact, the kingdom

of God is about righteousness, peace, and joy

in the Holy Spirit. And if our encounter with

God, relationship with God, if our church life,

if we're going to call it that, doesn't include

peace and joy, we're searching after the wrong

things. We're emphasizing the wrong things. Because

we have to understand that we are the righteousness

of God in Christ Jesus. My righteousness doesn't

depend on my ability to perform. And we walk

in the peace of God, and we walk in the joy of

the Holy Spirit. If those things aren't there,

let's back up and get those things before we

move forward. Because it's the fruit of the Spirit,

too. The fruit of the Spirit is love and joy

and peace. Peace. It's a fruit of the Holy Spirit.

And then we get to the ones that make us a little

uncomfortable. Patience. Patience. Patience.

It's a fruit of the Spirit. Kindness. Goodness.

And then we saw when we looked up the word, it's

faith and faithfulness last week. Faith and faithfulness.

Because the majority of the times that word shows

up in the Greek, it's just translated faith.

And then today, we're going to talk about gentleness.

Gentleness. Everybody say gentleness. Here's

the Greek word, praoutes. And here's what it

means. It means gentleness. It means meekness.

It means mildness. It means humility. I'm going

to say that again. Gentleness, meekness, mildness,

and humility. Let's talk about it. Because when

most people hear the word gentle, they immediately

think, ah, it's weak. If a person is gentle,

then they're weak. They're passive. They're timid.

Maybe they're fearful. But this word in the Bible

is not weakness. Gentleness is strength under

control. It takes more strength to be gentle

than it does to fly off. It takes more strength.

Jesus was gentle. And powerful. At the same time.

Hello? He was never weak. We can't say that Jesus

was weak. But he said of himself that he was

gentle. Gentleness is gentle strength. This comes

from Helps Word Study. Gentle strength which

expresses power with reserve and gentleness.

I like that. Just copied and pasted it right

out of a concordance. Gentle strength, which

expresses power with reserve and gentleness.

Gentleness reflects the character of Jesus. Matthew

11, 28 and 29. You've probably memorized this

verse. You've probably quoted this verse. But

sometimes when we read through a Bible verse,

we'll miss some important parts until the Holy

Spirit illuminates them for us. Then Jesus said,

come to me, all of you who are weary and carry

heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take

my yoke upon you. Let me teach you. Listen to

what he says. Because I am humble and gentle

at heart. And you will find rest for your soul.

You will find rest in your thought life. You'll

find rest in your desires. They won't control

you. Desires that are not of God won't control

you. You'll find rest in your emotions. And your

feelings. You can find rest. Now Jesus could

be real harsh. And he could tell you what you're

doing wrong. And tell you, you better straighten

up. But that's not gentleness. That's not gentleness.

We looked at it in kindness. verse. It just popped

in my head. It's the kindness of God that leads

people to repentance. He's gentle. He is humble

and gentle at heart. And make sure you get a

hold of this. The creator of the universe who

spoke everything into existence, the king of

all kings and the Lord of all lords, the one

with all authority on heaven and earth, described

His own heart as being gentle. My heart is humble.

I am humble and gentle at heart, Jesus said.

Gentleness is being humbly patient. Gentleness

is not being quick to react when you are provoked.

How quick are you to act when you are provoked?

Gentleness is not being quick to react when you're

provoked. One of the clearest evidences of spiritual

growth is learning how to deal with people in

the right spirit. If we don't deal with people

correctly, we're not very spiritually mature.

Because see, spiritual maturity doesn't have

a whole lot to do with a church service going

on. It has to do with life. And how the Word

of God is applied in your everyday life. Because

we can all sit here. Here's something that I've

realized during this series. I am a whole lot,

I think, let me get this right. I think that

I'm a whole lot more spiritual than I actually

am. And I dare say I'm not the only one in the

room. Because when we think of how spiritual

we are, we start forming a list, right? I got

this, I do this, I do that. Ask yourself how

spiritual you are when you're driving down 27

or I -4. Because that's where you're going to

find out how spiritual you are. When somebody

does something to offend you, you're going to

quickly see how spiritual you are when you have

the opportunity to be offended. See, immature

people, immature people, they're the ones who

respond harshly. They're the ones who react quickly.

They're the ones who speak recklessly. They're

the ones who handle everybody very carelessly.

That's spiritual immaturity. I mean, if this

isn't going to show up in our lives, we're just

wasting our time. It's got to show up in our

lives. I mean, I can't tell you how long I thought

if I just went to church every Sunday, I'm doing

good. And it had no impact on the way I lived

or what I said or how I acted. I mean, I was

a preacher's kid. But it wasn't making a difference

in my life. You can go to church all your life

and think that you're very spiritual, but if...

If it doesn't come out in the way you deal with

people, you're just immaterial. You're just carnal.

And you might say, how dare you talk to me that

directly? Well, I'm just trying to shake you

a little bit so that you can wake up. Because

we all need to wake up at some point. I would

say I was a Christian... 10, 15 years going to

church three times a week before it started really

connecting with my life. And I began to move.

I mean, 15 years, that's a long time. Gentleness.

We don't like this word. Being gentle is being

submissive and compliant. Another word for being

submissive and compliant is being tamed. So a

gentle person is a tamed person. And some of

you are going, what in the world? Well, let me

introduce you to Calvin. That's Calvin on his

knees. And that's Honey beside him. When I was

in Myrtle Beach for nine years, Calvin and Honey

would preach one Sunday a year. And Honey did

most of the preaching. Because we had an American

Heart Association horse event where I was a chaplain.

And he's a cowboy preacher. Calvin is. But Honey

would pretty much present the whole message every

year. And Calvin would just interpret Honey's

message. Because if he didn't interpret it, people

could come up with their own interpretation.

That was the most trained horse I've ever seen.

I mean, there would be 300, 350 people in the

room. And the honey would just... Honey was completely

obedient and completely tamed. Calvin would tie

her up in a rope and just walk. I mean, you know,

what horse likes to be tied up in a rope? I mean,

it's feet. Just tied up, his neck tied down to

her feet. What horse likes that? He would just

look a certain way and the horse would do what

he wanted the horse to do just by the way he

looked at the horse or maybe some little sound

he made with his mouth. I mean, she was completely

obedient and completely tamed. How many of you

know a horse? is big enough and strong enough

to do what it wants to do. I'll never forget

in a full gallop on a horse and it decided it

didn't want me on its back anymore. And it just

put on the brakes and lowered its head and I

went tumbling. I'll never forget the trail horse

who's supposed to be tamed and obedient, just

follow the tail of the horse in front of it,

but not mine. It had been raining and my horse

refused to walk through a mud puddle. And it

took me up a mountain into a cedar tree. Even

though I had its nose on its left shoulder, it

kept climbing up the mountain to the right. Horses

can be dangerous. Have you ever seen a wild horse?

Have you seen movies about a wild horse and somebody

has to break that horse? It can be very dangerous.

A trained horse can possess incredible power,

but strength becomes useful only when it comes

under control. I'm going to say that again. Strength

only becomes useful when it comes under control.

An untrained horse can become destructive. A

person who's not gentle is a person who can be

very destructive. A person who is gentle is a

strong person, but they're under the control

of the Holy Spirit, under control of God. Gentleness

is not weakness, it's power under control. Gentleness

is evidence that the Holy Spirit is governing

your emotions, governing your speech, and governing

your interactions. That's what gentleness is.

And each one of us will know that spiritual growth

is happening when our reactions soften up a little

bit. When our words become wiser. When our anger

slows down. When our response becomes calmer.

When our treatment of other people reflects how

Jesus would treat them more consistently. That's

when spiritual growth is happening. We're not

going to immediately jump to the ultimate of

this in one service. I wish I could just get

everybody up here and pray for you and everybody

would leave. with the gentleness of God. But

that's not the way it works. It's not the way

it works. It's going to take some effort on your

part. It's going to take some surrender on your

part. It's going to take some work on your part.

Without gentleness, listen, without gentleness,

every inconvenience becomes a conflict. Every

disagreement creates division. Every frustration

becomes explosive. When we don't have this spiritual

fruit evident in our lives, our lives are about

conflict, division, and explosive emotions. Gentleness.

absorbs the pressure of life. How many of you

have pressure sometimes? How many of you face

a little bit of pressure in this life? Well,

gentleness is the fruit of the Spirit in us that

absorbs this pressure that comes against us.

It slows our reactions, it softens our responses,

and it protects our relationships. Gentleness

does. Sign of spiritual growth is when you stop

reacting to every situation impulsively. Look

to the person beside you and tell them, slow

down. Slow down. Slow, where does it go? Slow

your roll. Slow down. Gentleness is something

we need to chase after. Everybody say chase after.

1 Timothy 6, 11. It says this, pursue righteousness

and a godly life along with faith, love, perseverance,

and gentleness. So gentleness should be something

on our radar that we want in our lives, that

we're going to chase after. When we find out

about it, we're going to chase after gentleness.

It's also something that we're going to have

to put on. Everybody say put on. Colossians 3

.12 says this, Since God chose you to be the

holy set -apart people He loves, you must. Don't

say this would be a good idea if you feel like

it. Does it? No, it says we have to. We must.

You must clothe yourselves with tender heart

and mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness. And

patience. Don't leave your bedroom without putting

it on. Don't leave your bedroom without putting

on these things. Every day. We have to put them

on. And then gentleness is something we have

to act in. James 3 verse 13 says this, if you're

James 3:13

wise and understand God's ways, prove it. By

living an honorable life, doing good works with

the humility, same word, even though it's translated

humility right here. Depending on what version

you're reading, it could be humility, it could

be meekness, it could be gentleness, but it's

the same word. Doing good works with the gentleness

that comes from wisdom. Does anyone want to be

wise? A wise person acts doing good works with

gentleness. Boy, it got quiet in here. What did

Jesus have to say about meekness, gentleness,

and humility? Here's that same word again. Everybody

say same word. Same word is found in the Beatitudes.

Matthew 5, 5 says this. God blesses those who

are gentle, humble, meek. God blesses those who

are gentle. Same word. For they will inherit

the whole earth. What a promise. It's not only

a sign of spiritual maturity, it comes with an

added blessing. That's the blessing, right? God

blesses who? Those who are gentle. Extra blessing.

What is the blessing? They will inherit the whole

earth. When you study those words, here's what

you come up with. You're going to be blessed

with having a comfortable, undisturbed enjoyment.

in yourself, your friends, and your God. Does

that sound like something that's worth having?

To have comfortable, undisturbed enjoyment? What

does meekness, gentleness, and humility look

like? What does that look like? In everyday life.

What does that look like on Monday at work? What

does that look like on Tuesday driving down I

-4? It means that you're not easily offended

or angered. Is that a description of your life?

You're not easily offended or angered? If gentleness

is there and growing, yeah, that's going to be

what your life looks like. Staying calm when

others are outraged. I'm just letting this sit

in. I've got something else to say. I'm just

letting you think about it a little bit. It's

a whole lot easier to get outraged when somebody

else is getting outraged. When somebody else

is ramping up, it's easy for you to just jump

on the bandwagon to ramp up with them. Hello?

If somebody's screaming at you, it's a whole

lot easier to scream back. Hello? But gentleness,

if that spiritual fruit is evident in your life,

you're the one who stays calm and tries to diffuse

the situation calmly. Gentleness addresses issues

when it's necessary, but gentleness does it calmly.

Everybody say calmly. Not emotionally. Not emotionally.

Gentleness quietly submits to God and His Word.

That's what gentleness looks like. And the goal

of this whole series... The goal of spiritual

fruit and spiritual growth is for you and me

to become more like Jesus. The reason why a lot

of people don't want to go to church today is

because they've been before. They met a lot of

people who weren't like Jesus. And they say they

don't want anything to do with it anymore. That's

sad. That's sad. I'm glad that you're here today

because everybody in this room has been hurt

or offended at some point. I don't believe anybody

can be alive in this room and go to church that

you didn't have an opportunity to be offended.

But you overcame that. Because your relationship

with God was more important than being offended.

I'm talking now more to the people who are watching

on Facebook and YouTube. Your relationship with

God should be of greater importance than any

offense from your past. And I said it. The goal

of spiritual growth is to become more like Jesus.

And here's what we've learned during the series.

Fruit grows naturally where a healthy connection

exists. Jesus said, I'm the vine. You're the

branches. And he said, if you will abide in me.

He didn't say if you'll come visit me every Sunday

morning for an hour and a half. He said, if you

abide in me, my word will abide in you. Your

life's going to produce a lot of fruit. A lot

of fruit. You'll be fruitful if you abide in

Him. Gentleness is also a fruit of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit takes hold of the things of God,

the things that God has for us. He's the one

who takes hold of those things. In previous weeks,

I've read verses and, you know, I just... I'd

stand here and preach two or three hours, but

you wouldn't sit there that long. Listen, the

Holy Spirit, the Bible tells us this. He's the

one. He's the God. He is God who takes hold of

all the things of God, all the promises of God,

all the provisions of God, all the character

of God. He takes hold of those things, and then

He's the one who declares them to us. He's the

one who makes. These promises come alive on the

inside of us. Have you ever read a Bible verse,

and you might have read it for the hundredth

time, and then all of a sudden, something just

comes alive out of that verse. And it's like,

that's the Holy Spirit illuminating that in our

hearts. That's what He does. He takes the Word

of God, the promises of God, the blessings of

God. He declares them to us. He intensifies them.

He makes them known to us. He is God. And the

person of the Godhead who connects us, because

He's in us, He connects us to the things of God.

So this is what it comes down to. Spiritual growth

is not about more self -dedication. Nobody in

this room can say, I'm going to be more gentle

this week. I'm going to take hold of my life

and I'm just going to be gentle because the preacher

told me that Jesus is gentle and I need to be

more like Jesus. So I'm just going to do all

I can to be gentle. That's going to lead to frustration.

Because you can't live the Christian life in

the flesh. You can't do it. Just go ahead and

surrender it up and say, I can't do it. But if

I'm connected with Jesus and I'm acknowledging

Him, and if I'm acknowledging the indwelling

presence of the Holy Spirit, God is with me.

If I'm acknowledging Him and then something happens

where I have the opportunity to be angry or offended

or hurt, When that opportunity comes, if I just

say, Holy Spirit, I don't have it in me to deal

with this myself. But thank you for being in

me. Thank you for working in me. Work through

me. Because I'm about to bust. But instead of

busting, I'm going to look to you. Because you

are my helper. You are my comforter. You are

my guide. I don't want to say anything that you

don't want me to say right now. Spiritual growth

is not about more self -dedication, self -determination,

more self -effort. It's about abiding more in

Christ. Abiding more is kind of an odd... It's

like just abiding in Christ. That's like your

address. That's where you live. You live. Not

visiting. Not visiting on Sunday morning or visiting

when you read the Bible for 10 minutes. Okay,

God, that's all the time I've got for you. Now

I'm going to go ahead about my own life, God.

No, abiding in Christ. Acknowledging that God

is with you and God is in you. Acknowledging

His indwelling presence. Walking with Him. That

means we're doing life with God. That's where

the disconnect is. We've got to do life with

God. There's not a moment in our day that we're

not acknowledging God. I mean, if Jesus was in

the car with you, would you drive any different?

If Jesus was eating with you at the restaurant

and you wasn't getting the best service, Would

you act different? If Jesus was in a room and

you had the opportunity to be offended, would

you take it? Get this. He's closer than that.

God is in you. If you're a Christian, God is

in you. He's always there. Always. But we have

to acknowledge the indwelling presence of God.

Just acknowledging Him will steer us towards

all of these fruit that we've been looking at.

They'll be more natural. Because we're flowing

with Him and He's flowing through us. We're walking

in the Spirit. We're yielding to His leading.

He's always leading. We're not always following.

Listen. If you feel beat up right now because

I'm saying these things, I don't believe you

being beat up is coming from me or my words.

You being beat up is coming from the accuser

of the brethren who's saying, yeah, you are a

sorry Christian. You can't... Do it. You're just

a piece of work. You're not gentle. If that's

what you're hearing in your mind right now, you

shouldn't be. Because the Holy Spirit is trying

to talk to you and He's saying, you know, let's

face it where we are, but Let's move on up. Let's

move on up. This is what I have for you. This

is the life that I've provided for you that I

want for you. Come on. He's like, come on, let's

go. Let's go together. Let's come on up. That's

the correct mindset. When the Word of God begins

to confront you, He's confronting you because

He wants you to come on up. The measure of your

gentleness, the measure of your meekness, your

mildness, your humility is a good measure of

your spiritual maturity. This online worship

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