“Fruit of the Spirit: Goodness and Faith” By Arman Jorge July 29th,
2018
You may be seated. What an awesome, awesome worship. I mean,
I could go
home right now and just, you know, just share that to everybody. Good
morning,
I just want to say good morning to everyone, this morning, and I hope
everyone's doing good this morning. You know, I asked that one time,
and we
were in the church, and it says, “What do you mean, how am I doing?
Don't you
know, don't you see I'm in the church today? I'm something I'm looking
for
something of God to bless me today.” You know? So, I mean, I'm here
too, I
mean, I'm looking for God to bless me this morning. But, if you don't
know me, my
name is Arman; I teach Sunday school class here, in Christian
Fellowship Church.
This morning, I was asked to bring the message. Eric, good to see you.
William,
good to see you, too, your family. Before I go on, I just wanted to
thank God
for this opportunity to—you know, this right here, it's really awesome.
Especially blessed by God. But, you know, sometimes, though, I feel
like Moses,
you know, because when I pray to God, and I tell God, and I say, “Why
me, God? I
mean, You know I can't talk. Don't You know English is my second
language?”
and, God says—and God just slaps me upside down a couple times, and I'm
back to
myself again. You know? But, it's been a blessing for the last couple
of
Sundays, because we've been talking about the fruit of the spirit. And,
I
really wanted to, you know, I want to kind of revisit the blessing a
little
bit. Pastor Lee, a couple of Sundays ago, he talked about the
foundation of
trees, and fruit of Joy, and fruit of Gentleness. Pastor Lee, I wanted
to share
this to you, because you talked about the trees, and when I was, I woke
up this
morning I ironed our clothes, you know, for church. And, my wife saw
me, she
saw me ironing this (gesturing to his shirt) and my pants. She says,
“What are
you doing?” And, I said, “I'm ironing my clothes.” “You think that
match
together? I mean, come on.” And, I told her, “Well, if it was good for
God,
it's good enough for me. Because, Pastor Lee preached about on trees.
And, I
said, “Look at the tree. What the color of the body? it's brown. And,
what are
the leaves? green. And, we're talking about the fruit of the spirit.”
So, she
started laughing so hard about that, but, I wanted to share that to
you. But,
you know, the blessing that I got out of your message was, you know,
it’s when
you talked about the power of choice. You know, you have the power to
be good,
and you have the power to be bad, whichever you choose from. And,
that's just
like God. If you're not a Christian, you just kind of okay, but, if
you're a
Christian, that puts a really note on yourself, there, because, you
know, God Almighty
gave Himself to you, and just died on the cross, and loved you. And,
you can't
just live whatever you want to do. You know? So, and brother Chris
Ulrich
preached on bring the meekness, last Sunday, God brings Peace, and
thankfulness, God brings it all together. And, I like that last part,
Chris,
because, once again, whether you’re Christian or not, God blesses you.
Because,
the Bible says it rains on the just in the unjust (Matthew 5:45) and it
brings
cursings and blessings to every one of us. But, once again, if you're a
Christian, it made a big difference on living for God, because God,
because, if
you're praying for something and God answers your prayer in a way that
you
don't kind of agree on, but, when God brings it together at the end, it
all
comes down to it, and bring the blessings to you, and I was like, “Wow.
That's
what it meant.” You know? But you can't see that. But, this morning I want to talk about goodness and faith.
Goodness and
faith. I'm going to read to you Galatians, five, twenty-two to
twenty-three,
which is the theme for the month, and, it says: Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit
of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness,
temperance:
against such there is no law. Against such there is no law. All throughout the day,
“Good,”
“Goodness,” is in our vocabulary, you know, you say, “Good morning,”
“Good afternoon,”
“Good day,” “Oh, my goodness,” you know? I work at a warehouse with
some
Spanish people, and, when they did something wrong, or they said
something bad,
or something startled them, and they go, “Oh, my goodness!” All day
long I hear
that. And, you know, it just makes me laugh. You know? But, the thing
is, when
I go home, and I see my daughter, maybe she spilled the water on the
floor, and
I say, “Oh, my goodness!” and she looked at me, and she’s like, “You
okay, Dad?”
You know? And, it just gets in you. And, is that what God was trying to
tell us
from the fruit of the spirit? of course not. That's not what God's
trying to
tell us. What is God trying to tell us with the fruit of the of
goodness? Well,
the word goodness in the Greek word, it's called agathōsynē.
Agathōsynē, it
comes from the word agathos, which means good. But when agathos becomes
the
word agathōsynē, it means goodness in the sense of being good to
someone. It's
like a person—there's an urge in a person to reach beyond himself to
meet the—so
that he can meet the needs of the people around him. That's what it
says. And, this
word portrays a person who is generous, big hearted, and charitable
with his
finances. And, you know, with everything, time, and everything. Not
just money,
I'm not just talking about just money. And, we would call this person a
giver. This
person is a giver. So, and part one of my message, it's good equals
giver. Part 1:
Good
Equals Giver. In Matthew chapter nineteen, verse sixteen through
twenty-one, and it
says: Matthew 19:16-21
And, behold,
one came and said
unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have
eternal
life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou
me good?
there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into
life,
keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit
adultery, Thou
shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father
and thy
mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The young man
saith unto
him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
Jesus said
unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give
to the
poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. The first man did, he said, he praised Jesus, “Good master,”
Jesus
said, “Thank you very much. What can I do for you this morning, buddy?”
he
didn't do that. Obviously, he didn't do that. He said, Jesus turned
around and
gave the praise back to God. He said, “Why callest Me thou good? There
is none
good but one, that is God.” And, then, Jesus is telling us, it's in
nature of
God to be good. And, then He gave him a direction on what to do, and
how to do
it, to be good. So, he said, Jesus said to him, “Thou shalt do no
murder.” I
had not murdered anybody. I hope not. I have not murdered anybody. But,
you
know what? But, you know what? Okay, I have murdered some people with
my mouth
and with my tongue. I hope I'm not the only one. Did I say a bad word?
Can I
say, “Oh, my goodness!” But, I'm going to leave that alone. So, the
next one He
says “Thou shalt not commit adultery” I have never cheated on my wife.
Okay? No
cheating. Right? I have never cheated on my wife. But, throughout
my—throughout
my walk and my ministry, I know I have cheated on God. I know I have
cheated on
God. I'm just going to say it just like that. And, it says here, “Thou
shalt
not steal.” I worked in a warehouse, and I had a manager, and when he
calls us
for a meeting and when he comes to us, and says, all the time, he says,
“You know,
if you're on the clock, and you're out there, and you're not working,
you know,
you're stealing from the company.” And, if you're not a Christian, that
would
just go over your head. But, I'm a Christian, and I heard the word
steal, and
that got my attention. You know? That got my attention. So, the next
one says,
“Thou shalt not bear false witness;” don't lie. But, you know this man
right
here, he said, “I have kept these things from my youth up.” He's
already broke
the commandment, because he already lied, right there. Nobody can keep
the
commandments all through your life. You know? That's why Jesus said,
“If that
will be perfect, go and sell that thou hast.” Now, the next one, it
says,
“Honor thy father in my mother.” In Ephesians, it says, “If you honor
your mother
and your father, you will have a long life.” (Ephesians 6:1-3) I think
I blew
that one away; I'll never get a long life. “Thou shalt love thy
neighbor as
thyself.” So, what is this about good equals giver? Well, Jesus is
telling us, He’s
telling the man, to enter the kingdom, you have to be good. And, when
you
exercise that good, when you exercise that good, then you become a
giver.
Because, you have kept yourself from hurting other people. So, continue
on with
goodness, in Jesus’s ministry, when He was walking on the earth, Jesus
didn't
just perform miracles. He used the money that was made to his ministry
to help feed
the poor and the needy. And, he showed that as an example to us,
because, so
that we can go through our inner ministry, we can do the same thing in
our
ministry and here's an example in the Scriptures. And, he says in Luke,
chapter
eight, one through three: Luke 8:1-3
And it came to
pass afterward,
that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing
the glad
tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him, And
certain women,
which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called
Magdalene,
out of whom went seven devils, And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod's
steward,
and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their
substance. As you can see, these people right here, these women right
here,
supported Jesus’s ministry with their substance. Whether that's money,
or gold,
or whatever. Then, in John, it shows us what they do with that money.
And, John,
chapter twelve, verse three through five: John 12:3-5 Then took Mary a pound of
ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and
wiped
his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the
ointment. Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son,
which
should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred
pence, and
given to the poor? So, we can see that Judas is Jesus’s accountant. And, he is
the one to
redistribute all this for the needy. But, we can tell, from the
Scriptures,
some of this is going into his pocket. So, what I'm saying is, God is
interested in helping the people just as much as he's providing
miracles to every
one of us. And, today, Jesus still wants to do goodness through each
one of us,
because he wants us to be selfless, so that, people will live better
lives. Part 2: Bad Is Not
the Opposite of Good, Greed Is. Just reading the last verse of Matthew chapter 19, verse 21
through 22: Matthew 19:21-22
Jesus said unto
him, If thou
wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and
thou
shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the
young man
heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. He didn't want to share his wealth to anybody. He didn't
want to share.
You know why? Because of greed. He wants to take it all to himself.
Have you
ever met someone that would consume every spare dollar on himself, and
not
think of God's—not to give anything, anything to God for his ministry.
I will
be honest with you, at one time, I am that person. You know? Because, I
didn't
give anything to God. But, when I became a Christian, you know, I
started
giving, I gave it all. You know? I give what God is blessing me. You
know? And,
I know all of you, a lot of you have been doing that. And, that's
great, and,
amen, because this is God's ministry, and this is our ministry. You
know? So,
here's an example of greed. In Luke, chapter fifteen, verse eleven
through fourteen: Luke 15:11-14 And he said, A certain man had
two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me
the portion
of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And
not many
days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey
into a
far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And
when he
had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began
to be in
want. What is riotous living? It says it's characterized by wild
and
uncontrolled behavior. Out of control, out of control. You ever see
those
athletes that were, at one time, at the highest peak of their game, and
they
were filthy stinking rich, too, you know, at one time. They buy
everything, you
know, but now they're homeless. Riotous living. You know, because they
keep
wanting everything that they want, even though they don't have no
money, they get
it anyway. So, they go bankrupt. Have you ever felt wanting or need
something,
because the Bible says, right here, it says he began to be in want?
Have you
ever felt wanting to be something? I have, you know, I don't know if
this is a
good example, but, when we were young, when I was young, we were poor.
We don't
have nothing, you know, we didn't have no money. We, when I was young,
we
wanted to, as kids, they want to play, so we used to play basketball on
the
tennis court. And, we made ourselves like little hoops and we hung it
up on the
light post. And, we play basketball, right there. And, to make the
game, you
know, really good, so, whoever lose the game would buy the ice so that
we can all
have ice cold water at the end. And, we do that, and it's good. And, we
don't
play basketball with our tennis shoes and Jordans. We play with our
flip flops,
and sometimes just barefooted. You know? We wanted to do something like
that.
It was something that we want, so whatever we got, we do it. But,
greed, greed
is something else. You know? Most babies, when they learn to say words,
they
say, you know, they say, “Mommy, Daddy,” and the next word they learn
is, “Mine.
Mine! That is mine! You can't have—mine!” I wonder why that is, you
know, it's
just in our nature to be like, “Mine!” like that. “Mine!” So, Part 3: The Just
Shall Live by Faith The just shall live by faith. The word faith is a Greek
word, it's
called, “Pistis.” Faith conveys the idea of a person who is faithful,
reliable,
loyal, and steadfast. It pictures a person who is devoted, trustworthy,
dependable, dedicated, constant, and unwavering. This of course, works
against
the flesh, which seeks to be lazy, uncommitted, undependable, and
completely
unreliable. In Luke, chapter ten, verse thirty through thirty-five: Luke 10:30-35 And Jesus answering said, A
certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among
thieves, which
stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him
half
dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when
he saw
him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was
at the
place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a
certain Samaritan,
as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had
compassion on
him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine,
and set
him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
And on
the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to
the host,
and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more,
when I
come again, I will repay thee. Church, that is faith in action. That is faith in action.
This man took
his time, to bring this man on his feet, and become selfless, just
selfless.
You know? If this unchanging, constant, stable, unwavering, behavior is
the
nature of God himself, it shouldn't surprise you and me, if we allow
His spirit
freely to work in our lives, He makes us faithful instead fast, just
like God.
You know? So, we should expect faithfulness to grow into our lives so
that we
can have this fruit of the spirit. In Hebrew, chapter ten, verse
thirty-eight and
thirty-nine, it says: Hebrews 10:38-39
Now the just
shall live by
faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
But we
are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe
to the
saving of the soul. Can you imagine someone that you love—your parents, your
grandma, your
dad, your brother, your sister, your wife, your husband—can you imagine
they said
to you, “I have no pleasure in you. I don't want to be with you. I
don't want
to be with you.” That hurts, that hurts. Whatever the reason was, it
still
hurts whether you’re right or wrong, it hurts. But, being unfaithful to
God,
God says, “I will have no pleasure in them.” (Malachi 1:10) Okay? I
want to ask
a question, today. Okay, does the Holy Spirit have enough freedom to
produce
goodness and faithfulness in our lives today? Are we selfish and
self-seeking,
consuming every spare dollar on our own selves, and never showing
concern for
the needs of those around us? Do others know you as someone who is
unstable,
undependable, and unreliable? If the answer is yes, to any of those
questions,
then that just tells us that we aren't letting the Holy Spirit live
through our
lives and work freely through our lives today. You know? If He had the
freedom,
if He had the freedom to operate in our lives, that fruit of goodness
and
faithfulness would be evident in me and you. Is that right? Amen. So,
it's
really, really up to you. It was preached two Sundays ago; God is a
gentleman.
You have the power to choose whatever you choose from, but when you're
a
Christian, it matters which one you choose. Let's pray. Father, in the name of Jesus, thank You, Lord God, for the
Word that You've
brought before us this morning. Lord, You know there is a goodness and
faithfulness in each one of us, today. And, God, I ask You, this
morning, that You
blossom them in every one of us. Help us to show the way, Lord God.
Help us to
help the needy, and the feed the poor, spiritually and physically, God.
Make
this, make this, our ministry, strong, and I pray that we, as a body of
believers,
to put our ministry into our lives, Lord God. And, God, bless this
ministry
like never before. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.
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