The Fruit of the Spirit Week 8 • Hebrews 11

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Thanks for listening.

It is a very high honor to be able to ask to preach in the absence of Bo.

Don't be alarmed.

This is my knapsack.

I'm not running away from home or the home.

So it's just some props that I have this morning.

This morning, though, before we do anything further, what I would like to ask is any of

you who have a family member or a friend that is in Utah right now, the Salt Lake Mission

Trip, would you just stand right now?

I want you to look around because this represents—if you have a friend, you can go ahead and

stand up, too.

Stand for your friend.

This represents where another congregation of ours is meeting today at a church in Salt

Lake City, where a group from this church is going out to spread the gospel message.

And I want us to pray right now.

Those of you who are standing, please look around.

Pray for the people that are in Salt Lake City right now.

Let's just pray.

Heavenly Father, we come before your presence now thanking you for all the blessings that

you have given us and the opportunities you have given us.

Right now, Lord, at this very time, we raise our voices to you asking prayer for the ministry

team that's there in Salt Lake.

Lord, would you empower them with boldness as they share your word?

Would you give them safety everywhere they go?

Will you give them strength and faithfulness in preaching and teaching others about you?

Lord, we pray that this will be a wonderful experience for each person there.

And Lord, our prayer is that you would provide great fruit from what's taking place now.

Lord, we trust you.

We know, Father, that you provided this opportunity.

And Lord, we give it up to you for your glory, praising you, knowing that you will be doing good

things through this faithful team who has gone.

Thank you, Lord, we pray.

In Jesus' name, amen.

You may be seated.

As we get started this morning, excuse me, let me just get my things here.

I was told that I could preach 75 minutes today.

Well, I heard that Bo had done that before, so that's the reason why I just thought I had

that opportunity too.

So please don't get alarmed.

I just brought some snacks along the way.

If you have snacks, eat them on yourselves too.

Anyway, we are continuing our series.

If you want to go ahead and turn to your Bibles or your electronic devices to Galatians chapter

five, we are continuing our series in the fruit of the spirit.

And today we'll be looking at the fruit of faithfulness.

And as we open up God's word, go ahead and turn to Galatians five, but we're also going

to back up to verse 16.

As we get started this morning, I want to tell you a story.

There was a very nervous bride on her wedding day.

She was there in the chapel waiting for the ceremony to begin.

And the minister noticed how nervous she was.

So he went over to offer her comfort, asking her if there's anything he could do and what

was wrong.

She said, yes, I'm concerned that I'm not going to remember what to do.

So the minister put his arm around her and said very gently, there's only three things that

you need to remember.

As you enter the church, you will see in front of you the aisle that you will go down.

So remember aisle.

And then you will make your way down to the very end of that aisle where your groom and

I will be standing there at the altar.

So remember aisle, altar.

And also remember that once you get there, there will be a hymn that will be sung and then

we will go to the vows.

This seemed to calm her down.

But I will say later at the reception, many of the groom's friends, including family, were

concerned because as they heard her going down the aisle, they heard her saying, I'll alter

him, I'll alter him.

Now, I only share that with you as we begin today, because as we look at the fruit of the

spirit, we are looking at how God wants to alter us, wants to transform us by the power of the

Holy Spirit, so that we can become all that he's envisioned for us to become as his child of faith.

Now, as we look, turn with me and we're going to look at Galatians chapter 5.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

And what I want you to do is I want you to begin looking at verse 16.

Verse 16 says, but I say, walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the

flesh.

Now, what it's talking about is that if we go back to John chapter 14, just as a bit of

John 14 · chapter mention

review, John chapter 14 is when Jesus was saying to the disciples, peace, I leave you.

John 14 · chapter mention

I am going away, but I will ask the father to send to you a helper.

And that helper is the Holy Spirit.

And that helper will teach you all things and lead you in all ways.

And the reason why the helper was sent to us is because that is literally Christ within us

as a Christian.

When we come to faith in Christ Jesus, and in our belief, God gives to us at the moment

that we come to faith, the promised Holy Spirit, the helper.

And that's what we're looking at in Galatians chapter 5, talking about the Holy Spirit,

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

which empowers us to live a life reflective of Christ within.

Now, we have this struggle that takes place.

We have this struggle of the flesh and the struggle of the spiritual.

The flesh we've already seen up above of all the things in the flesh, envy, strife, anger,

all that stuff, we need to put to death, crucify that life, and live faithfully in the new life

found in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Now, very quickly, I want you to look at verse 16, which we just did.

And I want you to notice the verbs.

First of all, he says, walk by the Spirit.

Now, if we go to verse 18, he says, but I will say, walk by the Spirit.

Go to verse 18, but if you are being led by the Spirit, and then if you click on down to

verse 25, it says, if we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

Now, did you notice those verbs?

Now, go back up with me to verse 22 to 23, and this is where our major passage comes from.

And we're continuing the sermon series.

Today, we're on the seventh attribute or characteristic of God.

Verse 22 to 23 says, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness.

And then we come to what we're going to look at today, faithfulness.

And then the other two are gentleness and self-control.

Against such things, there is no law.

Now, first of all, we have to ask ourselves pretty much, what does it mean, fruit?

Today, sermons is very easy.

You will notice I don't have a ton of screens, but I'm not going to ramble either.

I can tell you the three points you want to go ahead and write them down, because I believe

every time we open up God's Word, take pen and paper, because God's always got a fresh

message for us.

Very simple, the three points.

What is fruit?

What is faithfulness?

What impact does it make on my life?

First of all, what is fruit?

Now, did any of you bring a snack?

Okay.

I brought an apple, okay?

An apple is a fruit.

Did you know that in the world, there are 7,500 different varieties of apples?

In the United States, we find 2,500 of them.

But now, if you go to your grocery store, don't be asking them to put all 2,500 out for

you, okay?

And there's a variety of different apples.

For example, I don't know what your favorite apple is.

Some people like the red delicious, some like the golden delicious.

Some like the pink lady, some like the empire.

Some like, especially this is named for my age group, I guess, the Granny Smith apple.

But there are a variety of apples.

Now, when we talk about the definition of fruit, I want to share with you the definition

that is out of dictionary.com.

Dictionary.com basically says, fruit, I don't know if I can find it here.

Fruit is something that can be refreshing.

It comes from a plant, and it is used for eating purposes.

And the qualities of the fruit, no matter what the different varieties are, is that it refreshes

and it nourishes.

For example, right now, and I won't do it since nobody else brought any fruit with you.

If I were to take a big bite out of this apple, I would taste it.

I'd be refreshed.

And it would nourish me, unless it's rotten.

Then it'd be a great big surprise, and we'd throw it away.

But I want you to get the picture in your eye of what it means that we are to be fruit.

And fruit is nourished by God.

And fruit comes from the life that's in us, which comes from God, the Holy Spirit.

So as a result, fruit is what we need to be, because we represent God in the world.

And as a result, as fruit, we need to be refreshed and nourished, and also refresh others and nourish them.

That's fruit.

Now, the second thing that I want us to look at is, what is faithfulness?

When we looked there at verse 22 to 23, it says,

But the fruit of the Spirit is, and today we're looking at faithfulness.

Now, the Greek word in the text for faithfulness is pistos.

It actually is translated and can be translated both faith and faithfulness.

So what we're looking at is the fruit representative of faithfulness.

Now, faithfulness.

What exactly is faithfulness?

Faithfulness, defined by dictionary.com, is a lasting loyalty and trustworthiness in relationships,

especially what would be found in a marriage or friendship relationship.

It even goes on to say,

A wedding ring is a symbol of unending love and faithfulness to each other.

Second definition of faithfulness is,

The fact or quality of being true to one's word or commitments as to what one has pledged to do,

professes to believe.

Third, the fact or quality of being dedicated and steadfast in performing one's duties, working for a cause, etc.

Faithfulness.

If I were to ask you right now, to close your eyes,

please understand I'm not asking you to go to sleep,

to close your eyes and picture in your mind

faithfulness in a relationship.

What are some words that come to you in description?

Loyal, steadfast, trustworthy.

You can fill in the rest of the blanks.

But right now, focus on what that looks like to you of faithfulness.

Faithfulness is a word that's found in a relationship.

The faithfulness of my friend, the faithfulness of my spouse,

the faithfulness of my volunteers committed to the assignment they took

or the task that they have.

Faithfulness.

The fruit of faithfulness is very important to us in living the Christian life.

Now, we've very simply gone through what is fruit, what is faithfulness.

Now we're getting to the meat of it.

Look, if you will, with me at Hebrews chapter 11,

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

and we're going to begin at verse 1.

We're going to look at Hebrews 11, verses 1 to 3, and also verse 6.

Hebrews 11:1–3

Hebrews 11, 1 through 3, this is what is written.

You see it there on the screen.

Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for.

The commitment of things, the conviction of things not seen.

Now, what exactly does that verbiage mean?

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for.

The conviction of things not seen.

That's verse 1.

Now, assurances of things not seen.

For example, in the physical material world,

our eyesight is used to see evidence that something exists.

In the spiritual world, the invisible world,

we have faith to know that something exists.

Now, we can look all through the Scriptures and know about faith,

especially based upon experiences of other people.

David talked in the Psalms about the faithfulness of God.

At the same time, when we talk about the assurance of things hoped for,

there's a certainty involved in that.

Now, as an example, very quickly, let me just ask you this.

Have you ever played the game, Where's Waldo?

Have you ever done that, gone crazy?

Somebody gives you this 3D picture.

It's got all these different images in it.

And then they say, okay, find Waldo in the 3D picture.

Or it may be, do you see the lady and also the ballerina?

Or do you see, okay, and you look in this 3D picture,

knowing it's there, but trying real hard to see it.

Now, some of you are wizards immediately.

Oh, I found it, I found it, I found it.

Of course, some of you say you found it and you didn't find it,

but hey, you just want to go with the group.

And some of you go, I can't find it.

Is it really there?

And sometimes a friend or family member will help you

to see where Waldo is in the 3D picture.

That's kind of an illustration of faith.

Because you see, God is there whether we see him or not.

And faith is where we are trying to see him

in the picture of our world.

We have faith in knowing he's there.

But we strain and look to find him.

Now, I dare say that any of us in this room

have probably gone through difficult times in our life.

And sometimes we feel like God has left us.

You know, it reminds me of a time when I went on a date.

Well, I mean, it wasn't the only date I've ever been in in my life.

But anyway, I went on this date with a girl

that I really, really wanted to ask out.

So I was pretty jazzed when I asked her out and she said yes.

Spiffed up the car, spiffed up me, went and picked her up.

First of all, we went out to eat.

Her choice, of course, I'm a gentleman.

Dinner was going good, conversation was going great.

Then we decided we'll go see a movie.

I'm like, yeah, her choice again.

It's a rom-com, but that's okay.

I'm with the girl in my dreams.

We go in.

We sit down.

The lights get dark.

About five minutes into the movie, the urge came.

I didn't do what I tell my grandkids to always do

before we leave the house.

Go to the bathroom.

That was the urge that came.

So I politely excused myself, left the darkness of the theater,

went out into the lobby, found the restroom, did my business,

was coming back in.

And you know how it's been if you've ever been in a movie theater.

You've gone from the light, now you're coming into the dark,

and you're like, where did everybody go?

It's just way too dark.

But I was a smart kid.

I was thinking to myself, you know, when we came into the movie theater,

I can remember we were probably about 20 rows back from the back

because we didn't want to get too close nor too far away.

So I thought, that's easy.

What I'll do is I'll start counting.

One, two, three, four.

Came to the 20th row from the back.

Looked to my right.

Sure enough, girl was sitting there all by herself.

I was so proud of myself.

I scooted on in.

I sat down, kind of got close and everything.

Not very long later, I get this on my shoulder.

I turned around.

There's where the girl was.

She was on the 19th row, not the 20th row.

Needless to say, she never became my wife.

But that's another story for another time.

But, you know, sometimes that's the picture that we have of our relationship with God.

We have faith that he's there.

And then when the darkness comes and we feel like we lose our way,

he didn't move.

We did.

God is always faithful in relationship.

So when we're looking at this definition of what is faithfulness,

we have to be very sure that we understand what we know

and what we understand through our experiences of God always being faithful.

And God is always faithful in his promises.

We can find verses throughout the Bible.

God is faithful in always being present with us.

In Deuteronomy, it talks about he will never leave us nor forsake us.

God is faithful in giving us new life found in Jesus Christ.

It says he is also faithful that if we confess our sins, he is faithful to forgive us.

One of my favorite verses, in fact, all of the chapter of Philippians,

Philippians 4, 6 and 7, talks about do not be anxious about anything,

but in everything with prayer and supplication,

present your requests to God.

And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding

will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

That's faithfulness.

That's faithfulness.

Philippians 4, 19, talks about,

and my God will supply all my needs according to his riches.

Now, I encourage you to pause and take a few moments and you think in your mind the faithfulness of God in your own life.

Where have you seen him?

Where have you experienced him?

As you look back and review,

remember how God has been faithful and know his promises that if he was faithful then,

he will be faithful with you as you continue moving forward.

Now,

faithfulness, though, is hard sometimes.

For example,

don't worry,

I'm not going to eat it,

not going to make you hungry,

not going to spoil your appetite before lunch.

I love Hershey's candy bars.

But now,

it's got to be the one that has the almonds in it.

Okay?

Love the ones with the almonds.

Now,

how many of you have been at an airport,

hospital,

whatever?

You get the munchies.

Get a little hungry.

Go looking for your credit card or change or money or whatever to go to what we call the vending machine.

Oh,

the best is whenever you're on a long trip and,

you know,

you stop at those travel centers where you pick up your maps or you see where you're going to stay for the night.

Okay?

And you go to those vending machines and,

I mean,

it's like Fort Knox.

They've got all these bars all over it and everything.

And by faith,

we take that money,

we put it in the machine,

and we expect to get the candy bar.

Now,

what happens when the candy bar doesn't drop down?

Do we shake the machine?

Do we yell to the heavens?

Oh,

no,

I can't believe it.

And then it gets even worse when we go,

you know,

that was the last bit of change that I had.

What are we going to do now?

Now,

sometimes though,

we get doubly blessed.

And if we punch it just right,

we might get two of these suckers popping down.

And then we're like,

Oh,

I am blessed.

I am blessed.

Do we share that other candy bar with somebody else?

Oh,

no.

Out of faith,

the Lord said,

you don't need one tie.

You need two.

So I go chomping off.

Then I start praying,

Lord,

don't let the billy get any further.

It's already a pillow.

Okay.

But all I'm just saying is,

that's kind of how we treat faith.

We go to God,

we put the money in the vending machine,

and we expect him to give

what we're asking for.

And then we don't get what we're asking for.

How do we respond?

How do we react?

God,

you've deserted me.

God,

you've forsaken me.

God,

I don't know why you're not answering my prayer.

I'm doing it in faith.

And God says,

trust my wisdom,

Ty.

Trust me.

I've seen your latest reading on the weight scale.

I'm doing you a favor,

bubba boy.

But we don't see it at that.

See,

that's where faithfulness also comes from

in trusting the wisdom of God

and that God knows best.

Let's go ahead and look at all of Hebrews chapter 11.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for,

the conviction of things not seen.

For by it,

the people of old receive their commendation.

By faith,

by faith,

we understand that the universe was created by the word of God.

So that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

Then verse six.

And without faith,

it is impossible to please him.

For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Now,

just a few more points here.

We talk about faith being the assurance of things hoped for,

the conviction of things not seen.

It's the physical realm versus the spiritual realm.

And in the spirit,

God doesn't need faith because he's the creator of everything.

We are the ones that need faith.

You know,

you go to Genesis chapter one,

verse three,

by his word,

he spoke into existence.

Genesis one,

three,

he created the world.

He created light.

Whenever we go through,

we have that faith.

You go to Romans chapter one,

I think it's about verse 20 or whatever.

When it's talking about the fact that people who say there is no God are fools.

And the reason being is because God has revealed himself in all of creation.

And we may not actually see God,

but we see the fingerprints of God in everything.

And we know that an intelligent,

orderly designer made it all happen.

That's the faith to believe.

That's the relationship of faith.

And that's where we are to have faithfulness in that relationship.

With God,

because we are being led by his spirit,

the Holy spirit.

Now,

very quickly in the next 45 minutes that I have,

no,

just kidding you.

Let's turn over to James.

James chapter two is an interesting passage.

And I know some of you are going to say,

Ty,

why are you going there?

Because James chapter two is talking about works.

And not faith,

but works.

And y'all are going to have to pop some screens because I'm going to read kind of fast.

James chapter two,

picking up at verse 14.

What good is it,

my brothers,

if someone says he has faith,

but does not have works?

Can that faith save him?

So he's talking about saving faith.

Now go on down what he says.

If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,

and one of you says to them,

go in peace,

be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for the body.

What good is that?

So also faith by itself,

if it does not have works,

is dead.

But someone will say,

you have faith and I have works.

Show me your faith apart from your works.

And I will show you my faith by my works.

You believe that God is one,

you do well.

Even the demons believe,

and they shudder.

Do you want to be shown,

you foolish person,

what faith apart from works is useless?

Was not Abraham our father justified by works

when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

You see that faith was active along with his works,

and faith was completed by his works,

and the scripture has fulfilled that saying,

Abraham believed God,

and it was credited to him as righteousness.

And he was called a friend of God.

You see that a person is justified by works

and not by faith alone.

And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute,

justified by works when she received the messengers

and sent them out by another way.

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead,

so also faith apart from works is dead.

We've looked at what is fruit.

Second of all, what is faith?

And now third of all,

what impact does faith have upon you?

Now, he begins with this and saying,

what good is it if someone says he has faith

but does not have works?

I'm going to condense all this down.

He's not saying you are saved by your works.

That's the law.

You are saved, as we say,

you are saved by your faith

unto doing good works.

See, you need to understand,

if you have faith, that's an action.

For example,

if you say to your friend,

I have faith in you,

the friend's going to look at you and say,

show me.

Just show me.

When I look at my grandchildren,

I want them to know

that they can have faith in me.

And if I just tell them every night

when I put them to bed or whatever,

hey, honey,

who loves you, baby?

I do.

Those are just words.

But if I take those grandchildren

and I feed them,

I clothe them,

I take care of them when they're sick,

I'm there for them through thick and thin

and good and bad and whatever,

then I'm showing by my works

my faithfulness.

See, God has called us

to be faithful

and that should produce in us

doing good to others

in His name.

We don't do good

in order for us to get the credit.

It's to do good

so that they will glorify the Father

by the good works that we do.

Now,

what is the relationship

of faith

and the impact on us?

It requires us

to act,

to have action.

That action

is kind of like

gorilla glue.

Now, have you ever used

gorilla glue?

It's like epoxy glue

but much stronger.

I could even say duct tape

but it's even better than duct tape.

Gorilla glue is that

once it sticks,

there ain't no way

it's coming off.

So whenever we have

something broken

that needs to be repaired,

something that needs

to be put together

and it needs to have

an adhesive

so it stays forever,

we turn to

gorilla glue.

Now,

before we go any further,

I am not getting

any commissions

for advertising

gorilla glue.

I'm just using it

to make a point.

Gorilla glue,

when it is applied,

sticks forever.

it's better than

the energizer bunny

who keeps on going.

Gorilla glue,

once it is applied,

there is no

pulling it apart.

That's the faithfulness

of God in our life.

Once we come to Him

in faith,

there is no

breaking that relationship.

God says,

even if we are faithless,

He is forever faithful.

Whenever we talk here

in Hebrews

and we go through

what we call

the hall of faith,

Hebrews 11,

all those different names

and all those stories

that we find

of those individuals

are about how

they put faith

into action.

I can say all day long,

I believe,

I believe,

I believe,

and somebody says,

show me.

And when we believe

and when we have faith,

it ought to have an impact

on the people around us.

That's the reason

why it says,

if a brother or sister

needs clothing,

daily food,

and we just say to him,

hey, go in peace,

God will provide.

It's not impacted us.

It's not caused

a response from us.

When he goes on

and says,

show me your faith

apart from your works

and I will show you

my faith

by my works.

That's called

the fruit of faithfulness

translates into action

of faith,

action of being there

for others.

When he says,

you believe that God

is one,

you do well.

Even the demons believe

and they shudder.

Now,

here's where I'm going

to wrap up right here

because this is real

important to notice.

Even the demons,

those who are opposed

to God,

have faith

and believe in God.

But that faith

does not change

their lifestyle.

It's not put

into practice.

So,

you can believe

all day long,

but if it makes

no impact

on your life,

it is not

the fruit of faithfulness

that God

calls us to exhibit.

When you have faith,

there's an impact.

There's a lifestyle change.

It impacts

relationships

with others

and it impacts

your relationship

with God.

Now,

how can you have

more faith?

The way you can

have more faith

is simply asking

for more faith.

You know,

in the Bible,

we read where

Jesus talks about

those who had

little faith,

those who had

great faith.

There is

the opportunity

for us

to grow our faith.

Now,

you and I both know

the Bible tells us

you can get

fire insurance

in the afterlife

by confessing

and believing

in Jesus Christ

as your Lord

and Savior.

John 3.16 says

if you believe

in the only begotten

Son of God,

Jesus,

you'll be saved.

You won't perish.

But the faith

that God

calls us to

is a growing faith,

a large faith,

an impactful

faith

that impacts

the world

around us

for His purposes.

And that's

the Gorilla Glue

kind of faith

where once

you're with God,

your desire

is to grow

in your relationship,

to understand

His ways,

to read His Word,

to pray,

God,

give me more faith

so I can be

more impactful

for you.

Now,

I already heard

the grumbling

of several stomachs.

We probably

need to stop.

I could go further

into Hebrews

and James,

but just like

Bo when he went

through all of

Psalm 107,

okay,

I'm not,

I'm just hitting

the highlights.

We'll go through

it later.

In fact,

my encouragement

to you is

when you leave

today,

examine more fully

these scriptures

with the question,

God,

what are you

saying to me?

Where am I

in this passage

of scripture?

What are you

trying to show me?

Show me and reveal

to me the barriers

to my faith

in growing

and oh Lord,

may I be

a faithful servant

to where at the

end of my life

you will look at me

and say,

well done,

good

and faithful

servant.

Now right now,

I'm going to ask

us to pray.

Pray about

about what God

is saying to you

in these scriptures

today.

What is God

saying to you

about revealing

and living

as a fruit

of faithfulness?

Where is that

in your life?

as we pray.

Just to let you know,

we're going to stand

right now.

There's going to be

prayer guides

at either corner

here if you need

to talk with someone

about prayer.

If you don't have

a relationship

of faith

in Jesus Christ,

take care

of that today.

All you have

to do

is say,

Lord Jesus,

I come

to you

in faith.

Maybe

you've been

joining the church

in services

and you need

to join the church

in membership

because only

in a faithful

community

can you grow.

Whatever decision

it is,

just know

every time

we examine

God's word,

he has a message

for you.

Let's pray

right now

for that message.

Oh God,

we are always

in need

of you.

And oh Lord,

right now

with no distractions,

not looking at

people around us

but focused on you,

Father,

we lay down

all of our burdens,

all of our obstacles

and we come to you

praying

for your faith

in our life.

Lord,

strengthen our faith

relationship

with you.

Lord God,

use us

in being

fruit of your

faithfulness

to the world

around us.

Lord,

right now,

hear us

as we reach out

to you.

In the name

of Jesus

we pray.

Amen.

thanks again for listening to the willow ridge church weekly podcast we hope that you enjoyed

listening to this week's message if you'd like to learn more about who we are or explore additional

resources visit us online at www.willowridgechurch.com or by searching for willow ridge church on facebook and instagram