Take your Bibles, and please turn to 2 Timothy chapter 2, please.
2 Timothy chapter 2, and I asked brother Matt to read from 2 Samuel 22,
just to get a bit of variety. I will be touching on that chapter,
but I won't be focused completely on that chapter.
I'll just be touching on that toward the end of the sermon.
But go to 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 24, 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 24.
While you're turning there, I'm going to read to you from Galatians 5 22,
a passage that you've become all very familiar with now.
It says, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering.
We've covered all those things so far.
The next one is gentleness, okay?
Goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law.
And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Hey, if we want to be, and look, we are, we are Christ.
Positionally, we are Christ, we've been purchased by his blood, all right?
But we also ought to remind ourselves
that just because we've been purchased by Christ, we still have this flesh.
That's why it's said there in verse 24,
and they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
The way you do that is obviously walking in the Spirit.
It's so important that we look at these fruits
and see how well are we developing these characteristics,
these fruits in our life.
Because if we're not, you're probably walking in the flesh.
And if you're walking in the flesh,
you're going to fulfill those affections and lusts, okay?
So the one we're going to be looking at today, the fruit of the Spirit,
it's part number five, fruit of the Spirit, part five is gentleness.
Look at 2 Timothy there, chapter 2 verse 24.
2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 24.
It says, and the servant of the Lord must not strive,
but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach patience.
The title of the sermon tonight is gentle unto all men.
Does it annoy you that the Bible says to you, okay,
as a servant of the Lord, to be gentle unto all men?
So surely not all men.
There are certain people that just, I cannot be gentle toward.
You know, they rub me the wrong way.
And but no, there it is.
There's the command, right?
And obviously, this is written as a pastoral epistle.
This was written by Paul the Apostle to Timothy, who is a bishop, right?
But it doesn't matter.
If you count yourself a servant of the Lord,
you want to be seen as a servant of the Lord,
you're aiming to be a servant of the Lord,
then you've got to be, you've got to develop this characteristic.
You've got to develop this fruit in your life to be gentle unto all men, all right?
Now, it's quite interesting.
When I looked up the word gentle in the Bible,
I found only nine references,
nine references to the word gentle or gentleness, okay?
Normally, when I look at these fruits,
I like to look at every mention in the Bible.
And quite often, you get a good picture of what it means.
But the thing about the Bible,
it doesn't actually tell us a lot about what it means to be gentle.
Now, of course, we can take a dictionary definition.
Most people know what it means to be gentle.
That means to be kind, you know, to be tender-hearted,
you know, to be affectionate toward other people,
not to be abrasive, not to be harsh,
not to be overly hard on certain people.
Now, that would be the opposite of being gentle, okay?
And one thing that I noticed in the Bible,
just looking there again, once again at verse 24,
one of the best ways to know what it means to be gentle
is to know what it doesn't mean to be gentle,
what the opposite of being gentle is, right?
Look at verse 24 again, 2 Timothy 2.24.
And the servant of the Lord must not strive, okay?
Must not strive.
But, so what's the opposite?
What else?
If you're not striving, what should you be?
But be gentle.
So a great way to know what it means to be gentle
is to know what it means to strive.
To be someone that's always striving,
well, that's the opposite of gentleness, okay?
If you're someone that's always striving with other people,
then you're lacking the quality of gentleness, okay?
That's a great way to see it.
Now, take your Bibles,
and I'll get you to turn to the book of Proverbs, please,
because we're going to look at a few passages there.
The book of Proverbs, the book of Proverbs.
Now, as you're turning there, you might be thinking,
man, this is just one of those fruits
I don't really care about all that much.
You're not being gentle, really.
Is that really a great quality to have?
You know, does that mean we ought,
you know, we can't take a strong stand?
Does that mean we can't have boldness in the way that we are?
You know, stand strong in the word of God
if we're meant to be gentle.
No, no, both of these things can be side by side,
but you can be bold.
You can stand strong and yet still be gentle, okay?
And I'll give you an example of this
just in 2 Corinthians chapter 10,
just very quickly as you turn to the book of Proverbs.
But 2 Corinthians chapter 10,
if you remember the Corinthian church,
how messed up they were, right?
And Paul's kind of been nice, kind of been hard to him,
all of the above.
In verse number one, it says,
Now I, Paul, myself beseech you
by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.
You see, when Paul came to the Corinthian church,
he says, look, I'm coming in meekness and in gentleness.
I'm coming in the gentleness of Christ, okay?
Who in the presence and base among you,
but being absent and bold toward you.
So you see, you can actually have
these two qualities side by side.
Paul says, I'm coming to you with meekness and gentleness, okay?
But at the same time, I'm coming to you with boldness.
I'm not going to sugar coat the message.
You guys are in problem.
You guys need to fix these things,
but I'm here to help you.
I'm here to be meek and gentle
to help you make these changes
that you need to in your church.
So please don't think being gentle
means you can't be strong.
You can't be bold.
Now these things can go together.
Paul's a great example of having both these things
in the way that he dealt with the Corinthian church.
But look at Proverbs chapter three, verse 30, please.
Let's get some good advice from the Bible.
Proverbs chapter three, verse 30.
It says, strive not with a man without cause.
Do people get in strife without a cause?
Apparently, because the Bible tells us don't do it, okay?
Apparently, a part of the flesh is to get into problems,
to get to strife, to be harsh to people
that there's no reason behind it.
And then it says there,
and if you have done thee no harm.
Let's get some instruction from the Bible.
If someone has caused you no harm,
you have no reason to cause strife,
to argue, debate, get into arguments,
arguments with that person, leave them alone, okay?
Leave them alone.
But here's the thing.
The reason the Bible tells us such common sense things
is because people don't have common sense.
You need to be told,
don't get involved in other people's problems,
something that has nothing to do with you.
If someone has not personally come to hurt you,
hurt your family or hurt your church,
things that belong to you, then leave it alone.
Don't get involved in other people's problems.
That's not being gentle.
That's being someone that strives.
Now it just seems like I've come across a lot of people
that like to get involved in other people's problems, okay?
Now go to Proverbs chapter 26 verse 17.
Proverbs chapter 26 verse 17.
Because I've even seen pastors do this, okay?
Get into problems, get into fights,
get into strife that does not belong to them.
Proverbs chapter 26 verse 17.
I love this proverb and a lot of you guys know it.
It says, he that passeth by and meddleth with strife,
belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears.
You know, I'm reminded many times when,
I don't know if you come across this often,
but you're driving down the road,
you're driving down the highway,
and all of a sudden for no reason,
it's not peak traffic, peak hour traffic,
it's just bumper to bumper traffic.
You know, what's going on here?
You know, why is everyone so slow?
And then you finally realize why everyone's so slow once you get there.
There's like being in an accident, okay?
But you know, it's been taken care of.
The cars have been pulled aside,
but the reason why everyone's slowing down
is because everyone wants to stop and take a look.
You know, what happened?
Who's involved?
You know, how bad's the accident?
Or whatever.
Because everyone slows down to have a look,
sometimes they have accidents, okay?
But what happens is they end up slowing the flow of the traffic, okay?
We've got to be mindful.
Look, there's enough trials,
there's enough difficulties that you have in your life,
you know, you don't need to get involved in other people's business.
And here it says in verse 17, Proverbs 26 verse 17,
He that passed by and met off with strife belonging not to him
is like one that taketh a dog by the ears.
Have you ever taken a dog by the ears?
I mean, I haven't, but I'm assuming that the dog's not going to like it.
I'm assuming that God knows how a dog is.
If you grab a dog by the ears, guess what?
It's going to bite at you, okay?
It's going to always bark at you or something like that, okay?
And I'm reminded when I was just as a child in Chile,
I was at my auntie's and my uncle's house,
and they had a little pet cat there,
and it was sitting where I wanted to sit, okay?
I think I got up and the cat sat down where I was,
and I got annoyed at the cat, okay?
So I went to the cat and I started to annoy the cat, all right?
And I put my hand toward it, trying to scare it away,
and before I knew it, the claws came out, scratch,
and I had a massive, I had a scar that lasts forever
on the back of my hand because of that cat, you know?
I, you know, I assume it's kind of like taking the dog by the ears, all right?
Look, don't get involved in other people's problems.
Of course, look, if it affects you directly,
if it's causing you issues, causing your family problems,
causing your church problems, that's a time to stand up, okay?
You know, we're called to be bold,
we're called to be strong,
we're called to be soldiers of the Lord,
but don't get involved in problems that have nothing to do with you.
Why? You know, why?
It's so crazy.
Go to Proverbs chapter 25, verse 8.
Proverbs chapter 25, verse 8.
If you find yourself always fighting, always in strife,
with things that don't even belong to you,
then you're lacking gentleness.
This is definitely a fruit you need to develop.
Proverbs chapter 25, verse 8.
The Bible says,
Go not forth hastily to strive,
lest thou know not what to do in the end thereof,
when thy neighbor have put thee to shame.
You see, sometimes when you go, you know, headlong into strife,
without having all the facts,
without making a reasonable decision to get involved,
then your neighbor, the person you're getting to strive with,
could cause you to be put to shame, okay?
Let's keep reading, verse number 9.
Debate thy cause with thy neighbor himself,
and discover not a secret to another.
Lest he that heareth it, put thee to shame,
and thine infamy turn not away.
So this is good instruction.
It's the same thing,
the same instruction that Jesus Christ gave to the church,
that if there's conflict within a church,
and if there's a brother that has offended you,
to go to that brother alone.
Remember that instruction that Jesus Christ gave us?
It's the same instruction that we see here in the book of Proverbs.
Look, if there's a problem with your neighbor,
it says here in verse number 9,
debate thy cause with thy neighbor himself.
Go directly to your neighbor.
Go face to face with that person,
and deal with the issue, all right?
And it says, and discover not a secret to another.
Now don't go and tell another person
about your strife with your neighbor.
You know, that's not the instruction that God gives us, you know?
And then verse number 10,
why shouldn't you do that?
Because if you haven't, you know,
done your proper research,
if you haven't made the best decision
before you got involved in that,
it says in verse 10,
let's hear that here, put thee to shame.
Because others might hear about your involvement
in something that didn't belong to you.
You know, you drove in,
you didn't have all the facts,
you've come in accusing someone
or falsely accusing someone,
it'll put you to shame.
It'll make you look bad to others.
And it says here,
and thine infamy turn not away.
Okay, so infamy is basically
just like saying famous,
but famous for bad reasons,
famous for evil reasons.
Okay, you're going to have a bad reputation
when you make those false accusations.
You're going to develop a bad reputation
when you haven't taken a problem to your neighbor,
you know, that one-on-one issue,
and you've taken it to other people
and spread rumors and spread issues
around the place.
Be mindful if you're,
you know, if this is a problem,
an area that you're lacking in,
you need to develop the fruit of gentleness, okay?
It's so important,
it'll keep you out of strife.
I mean, we don't want to live lives full of strife,
especially strife that we don't need to be involved in.
Other people strive, why?
You know, develop the fruit of gentleness.
Please take your Bibles
and turn to Matthew chapter 12.
Matthew chapter 12.
I've said this before,
but we need to be careful
about what battles we fight.
There's a hundred battles to fight.
I mean, I reckon if we just sat down right now,
we went through every doctrinal issue
that we're hearing from the false churches,
every false prophet out here,
you know, our historical churches that we've been to,
the problems that we've seen there.
I mean, we can make,
we can just go on the internet,
go on YouTube and find some conflicts.
I mean, we can easily,
I reckon we could list a hundred conflicts,
a hundred fights to get involved in, okay?
Was Jesus like that though?
No.
We need to be people that are not full of strife.
We need to,
but look, I'm not saying it's never a time to fight.
There is a time to fight.
We need to choose which battles you're going to fight
and make sure if you're going to choose to fight that battle,
you've got the resources behind you.
You're walking with the Lord.
You're using the sword of the spirit.
You've got God behind you.
He's directing you to that battle.
Fine.
If God's directing you to that battle, go for it.
Make sure you can win that fight, okay?
But don't be so stupid to get involved in problems
and then you're put to shame, okay?
Look at Matthew chapter 12 verse 14.
Matthew chapter 12 verse 14.
Then the Pharisees went out and held a council against him.
That's against Jesus.
How they might destroy him.
So here we go.
Here's Jesus, right?
He's about to take on this council of the Pharisees.
Take him head on, head on, right?
How dare they try to destroy me?
We see Jesus getting up here, getting his disciples.
Let's take these guys on.
Is that what Jesus does?
Let's read verse number 15.
But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence.
Oh man, Jesus.
Why didn't you get involved in the battle?
Look, Jesus knew what battles were worth fighting, okay?
He withdrew himself.
Why did he go hiding?
Was he afraid?
Is that why he withdrew?
No.
Look, and great multitudes followed him and he healed them all
and charged them that they should not make him known.
You see, Jesus had a ministry to take care of.
He knew there were multitudes there seeking him.
You know, seeking to trust him, seeking to be healed by him.
He can do that or he can go fight against the Pharisees.
He can take on the strife over there.
But hey, he chose the battle.
You know, he said at this point in time,
there are multitudes wanting to hear about me.
I'm going to go and serve them.
I'm not going to sacrifice the ministry that God has given me
just to fight some battle against some false prophets and Pharisees.
See how Jesus is very careful about which battles he fought?
Now, did he fight the Pharisees?
Did he argue the Pharisees?
Yeah, absolutely.
We have great chapters about his words against the Pharisees.
But you see, it's not every time that he came up
that he went and fought against them, okay?
His ministry came first.
That's important for me as a pastor.
You know, if I'm going to get into a fight,
if I'm going to drag myself and, you know,
it's going to drag the whole church into it,
I'm going to be mindful.
Is the potential of this fight,
could it potentially destroy my ministry?
Could it potentially destroy people in my church?
And if it can, is it worth fighting?
Is it worth fighting?
When we have a ministry that we need to take care of, okay?
Let's keep reading there in verse number 17.
Why did Jesus do that?
Why did he withdraw himself?
Why did he only pick certain battles to fight?
Well, first of all, because he was gentle, okay?
But look at verse 17.
That it might be fulfilled,
which was spoken by Isaiah as the prophet saying,
Behold my servant whom I have chosen.
This is a prophecy of Jesus Christ,
my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased.
I will put my spirit upon him
and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles.
Look at this.
He shall not strive nor cry.
Neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets.
So you see how the Lord God looks down at his servant here, okay?
Jesus Christ, his son.
And he says, look, in him, my soul is well pleased.
He loves his son.
He loves the work that his son is doing.
And one great quality that he sees about his son,
he says, he shall not strive.
If he's not striving, then what is Jesus Christ?
He's gentle, okay?
He's showing his gentleness.
But once again, did that make him weak?
No, he stood strong, right?
I mean, he had thousands following him.
He had a great successful ministry
because he was careful about what he strove about, okay?
The battles that he got involved with.
We also need to take this lesson from Christ
and apply this to ourselves.
Is there some fight on YouTube or some fight on Facebook?
Does it involve you?
Does it involve your family, your church?
You think it's worth getting involved in?
It could cause you to have a bad reputation, you know?
It could destroy your future ministry.
I mean, things on the internet now, they're forever, right?
Once it's on there, you can't take it back.
And I'll be mindful about the fights that you fight.
Now, if you guys can go back to 2 Timothy, please.
2 Timothy chapter 2.
We started a little bit with 2 Timothy there.
We started with 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 24.
But I just wanted to read another verse in that chapter there.
2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 14.
The Bible says,
Of these things put them in remembrance,
charging them before the Lord that they strive not
about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.
So the instruction Timothy has been told here for his church
is to bring them into remembrance.
I want to bring you into remembrance.
Charging them, charging you before the Lord that you ought not to strive
about words to no profit.
It's almost, it's so interesting because it's like God knew.
Of course God knew.
He knows all things.
Like God knew that Christians, that churches, that pastors
are going to be arguing about words, right?
Now, words are important, you know?
God has given us every word here that we ought to eat from, okay?
You know, every word of God is pure.
Every word of God is perfect.
Words are important, okay?
If it's in this book, if it's in the Bible, every word here is important.
But we just have to be careful as well.
You know, how can we express gentleness to other people?
Is when people use language, use words, use phraseology
that we won't necessarily use, okay?
But the temptation is when they use words or phrases that we wouldn't use
that we would come down on them like a ton of bricks
or that we would assume the worst of them
before we really, you know, know what they believe or know what they believe.
Let me give you some examples of this.
You know, and we face this quite often.
You know, when we go to the doors and you ask people
what must you do to be saved or we come across a Christian
and or a so-called Christian, doesn't mean they're saved
but they'll say something like, you know, I've received Christ.
You know, well, that's great.
I hope they have received Christ.
That is what you need to do to be saved, right?
To receive him and that's important.
But the question is, well, how did you receive him?
Yeah, we know we need to receive Christ, but how did you do it?
Because if you think you're receiving Christ by your works,
then you actually believe in a false gospel, aren't you?
So they might say things like, well, I asked Jesus into my heart.
That's not completely unbiblical.
It's not completely unbiblical.
When you do believe on the Lord,
the Bible does speak of Jesus Christ being in your heart.
You know, that's not completely unbiblical.
But it's not a phrase that I would use
because it's not clear enough, okay?
It's not clear enough.
Or they might say, you know, I gave my life to Jesus.
You know, the first thing you might think about there is,
well, if you're giving your life, you must be saying, hey, I'll serve you.
I'll do all the works and the commandments that you've called me to do to be saved.
That could be true.
They could be believing that.
But I've come across saved people that have said those very words
and what they meant by I gave my life to Jesus
is that, you know, he's got my life in his hands, okay?
Like I've entrusted my life to him.
Okay, it's not that I've tried to live for him,
but rather that he's got my life.
He's got my eternal life.
It's all in his hand.
He's going to be the one that keeps it for eternity.
And that's fine as well.
But again, it's not a phrase that I would use, okay?
It's not a phrase that you're going to find in your King James Bible, all right?
So, you know, or someone says, I made Jesus my Lord and Savior.
And immediately, those that are aware of lordship, salvation,
and like Lord and Savior, lordship,
are you saying that, you know, you've made him your Lord,
so you're trying to keep all the commands now,
you're adding works to the gospel.
I mean, you could think that.
But be careful about striving over words.
What you want to make sure you do when people use these phrases is ask them,
well, what do you mean by that?
How do you make him your Lord?
If you need to make him your Lord to be saved, what does that mean?
Well, yeah, if they're saying, well, you got to keep the commands,
of course, as a false gospel.
But if they say, well, the Lord, because he's God, he's my God,
well, that's not wrong.
That's right.
He's believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved.
That's right, right?
The Lord and Savior.
So be careful about how you respond to people.
Make sure you give them the chance to explain.
Or they might even say, I'm following after Jesus.
Now, immediately we think discipleship
and discipleship does not save anybody.
We know that, okay?
But again, I've heard people say these phrases
and all they mean is I'm believing on Jesus.
I've put my faith on Jesus Christ.
Be careful about, you know, striving over words,
you know, and understand that we live in a generation
where there are hundreds of false bibles,
you know, bad translations, bad preaching behind the pulpit.
They hear the same thing over and over again in their churches
and they're just parroting things that they've heard,
but they haven't really thought through what that means.
Okay?
You know, be careful not to strive with people
just because they use the wrong phrase
is what I'm trying to say, okay?
What does it mean to be gentle?
It means give them the chance to explain.
You know, don't jump down their throat straight away.
What do you mean by that?
And even if they say, well, I've just believed on Jesus.
I just believed his death, burial, and resurrection.
Sounds good.
But do they really mean that?
Sometimes they don't even mean that, right?
Even when they say exactly what you would say,
they're still thinking of works.
Because the next question you should ask them is,
but is there anything you can do to lose your salvation?
Oh, of course you can lose your salvation.
You know, if you don't keep the works,
you know, if you don't keep following up these ways,
then you're not gonna be saved.
Well, that's the works gospel, all right?
So, you know, make sure whatever words,
whatever phrase are being used by people,
you narrow it down, you be gentle,
you give them the opportunity
to express what they really mean, all right?
And you might have to direct them a little bit,
you know, to get the right answer.
I wouldn't say give them the answer,
but direct them a little bit
so they can narrow it down,
funnel down what they're really trying to say, okay?
Or how people define repentance, you know?
And I hear, you know, other people say about us
or churches like us,
oh, they don't believe in repentance.
I love repentance.
Everyone must repent in order to be saved, okay?
And once you're saved, you should continue to repent
because you're going to continue messing up,
making mistakes, you know, sinning.
You need to continue that life.
I'm all for repentance.
But again, repentance correctly defined.
But here's the thing.
People say you have to repent of your sins
even when they don't mean
we have to repent of our sins.
I mean, again, if someone says
in order for you to be saved,
you have to repent of your sins
and believe the gospel,
and you're hearing that behind the pulpit,
after the service,
at least give that preacher the opportunity.
Be gentle.
Give them the opportunity.
What did you mean
when you said you've got to repent of your sins?
Because again, I've heard people say this,
and I've just asked them, what do you mean?
Well, you've got to acknowledge you're a sinner.
You've got to admit you're a sinner.
You know, how can you be saved
unless you've realized that you've sinned against God?
That's what I mean.
Well, that's great if that's what you mean,
but that's not what he means, okay?
That's good that's what you mean,
but that's not actually what he means
to repent of your sins.
You know, others say, well, you've got to,
you know, feel a certain emotion.
You've got to feel sorry.
Well, I mean, you don't have to feel
certain emotions to be saved,
but if you feel sorry, I mean,
I guess that's a good thing.
You know, however you feel emotionally
does not affect whether you're saved or not, okay?
But I mean, that's pretty messed up
because then you add a lot of doubts.
And then obviously, those that say,
well, you've got to be willing to turn
or you have to turn,
well, at this point now,
they're just adding plain works to the gospel, okay?
But always try to narrow it down.
Don't jump down someone's throat
just because they said you've got to repent of your sins.
Ask them, what do you mean by that?
Okay, is it just believing on Christ?
You know, is there more?
What does it mean to repent of your sins?
Ask them, please be gentle.
I know we get frustrated at it.
I get it, you know, I get frustrated at it.
You know, it's like, why can't you just use
the words that's in the Bible?
Now you should use the words that's in the Bible, okay?
You've got a good church.
You've got the King James Bible.
You've got a lot of good preaching under your belt.
I want you, I expect you to use Bible words
to explain your salvation
or important doctrine of the Bible.
But give other people that have not had those chances
to explain, be gentle, okay?
Don't strive over words to no profit.
To no profit.
Because I think I've told you guys this before,
I've seen believers argue
and because I'm standing outside,
they're saying exactly the same thing,
but they're using different phrases, different words,
and they think they're arguing
when they're both in agreement.
And I feel like just taking these guys
and shaking them up as they stop striving over words
to no profit, okay?
You know, try to hear one another.
What you're saying,
if you just stopped and heard one another,
you realize you're saying the same thing, okay?
So yeah, be gentle.
Now I'm gonna wrap it up now, guys,
but you know, gentleness, you must say,
is it really a great quality to have?
You know, is it really a great thing to have?
And I'm gonna get you to turn to,
turn to 1 Thessalonians, please.
1 Thessalonians chapter two.
Is it a great quality to have?
Well look, if it's called the fruit of the Spirit,
if it's one of God's qualities,
one of God's attributes,
and he wants that to be developed in your life,
then you should automatically think it's a great quality.
But a lot of people don't think being gentle is great, right?
But look at this.
Let me give you two great reasons,
or two reasons why gentleness
is a great quality for you to develop.
Reason number one, it's a quality needed
if you want to help your fellow brethren,
your fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord
to grow and mature in the Lord.
You must be a gentle person with your fellow brethren
if you care for their growth,
if you care for their maturity.
And if you want them to turn around and say,
look, I really appreciate you've been a great example
to me, you've given me great advice,
you know, and you've helped me grow in the Lord.
If you want your fellow brothers and sisters
to say this about you,
you need to develop gentleness.
Look at our first Thessalonians, chapter two, verse seven.
It says, but we were gentle among you.
Why?
Even as a nurse, cherrifeth her children.
Hey, look, we were so gentle with you,
we're like a nurse, we've been like a nursing mother.
Now, of course, the newborn baby
that's nursing from their mother,
of course, the mother's going to treat them
with gentleness.
Hey, mother's not gonna throw the baby around.
Now, mother should love that little baby,
nursing that baby, wanting that baby
to get the nourishing milk it needs
to grow, to mature, to develop.
But look at verse number eight.
So being affectionately desirous of you,
we were willing to have imparted unto you,
not the gospel of God only,
but also our own souls,
because ye were dear unto us.
You see, Paul looks at the Thessalonian believers,
you know, the church there,
and he says, look, you're dear to me.
I love you like that nursing mother
loves her newborn baby.
And he says, that's why I've treated you
with gentleness.
You know, we've imparted to you.
Even says, look, our own souls,
our own lives, we've given ourselves to you
so you can grow and mature.
It says, not the gospel of God only.
Hey, that's a great reason to be gentle.
So you can impart the gospel of God to others
so they can be saved,
but not the gospel of God only.
Okay, but also our own souls,
because you were dear unto us.
You want people to grow
and not remain a newborn baby.
You know, I want this church to grow.
You know, I hope you can say,
I've matured, I know more of the Bible.
You know, I've grown in the Lord.
You know, I have a greater faith than I had
before New Life Baptist Church started.
I hope you can say that.
I don't know, that's between you and the Lord,
but it'd be a great thing, you know?
But the only way that's possible
is if we're gentle toward one another.
You know, sometimes we put up with each other's,
you know, bad habits
and just be there to support one another,
pray for one another,
and guide one another when you see fit.
But another reason why this fruit of the Spirit
is really great to have,
and this is what I'm gonna get you
to turn back to 2 Samuel, please.
So what we started reading there,
but back to 2 Samuel, chapter 22.
2 Samuel, chapter 22.
Look at verse number one.
And as brother Matt was reading that,
I hope you could see just how beautiful
this chapter was.
It's so beautiful that it's even,
it's repeated for us in the Psalms.
I can't remember which Psalm it is,
but there's an entire Psalm,
exactly, pretty much identical to this chapter.
And it says here in verse number one,
and David spake unto the Lord
the words of this song,
so that's a Psalm there, song,
in the day that the Lord had delivered him
out of the hand of his enemies
and out of the hand of Saul, okay?
So this is a great story in the Bible,
you know, where God had appointed David
to be the king over Israel.
But then Saul wanted to destroy David, right?
He didn't want the kingship
to be taken away from his house.
And so he set David as his enemy.
And many times David was on the run.
You know, he was without food
and he had men, you know,
he was outnumbered many times.
But then there were other times
when God would allow
that Saul would literally be in the hands of David,
where David could actually take the life of Saul,
but he did not do it.
You know, he did not want to touch
the Lord's anointed.
You know, just that in of itself
should show you that David,
who's a strong man, you know,
but here we can see that he was gentle.
He was gentle towards Saul,
even under persecution.
Look at verse number two,
he says, and he said,
the Lord is my rock and my fortress
and my deliverer.
You see, to be gentle isn't to be unstable, okay?
It isn't to be weak.
It's to make sure that you've set the Lord as your rock,
your fortress, your deliverer.
Verse three, the God of my rock,
in him will I trust.
He is my shield and the horn of my salvation,
my high tower and my refuge, my savior.
Thou savest me from violence.
You see, if you want to be a gentle person,
you must set the strong rock of the Lord under you.
You know, you must stand strong on the Lord.
He needs to be your high tower.
He needs to be your refuge, your savior,
and knowing full well that the Lord is able
to deliver you from the violence or from violence, okay?
So now that we see what this is about
and what makes David so strong,
we see his gentleness.
Look at verse number 36.
Drop down to verse number 36.
David says, thou hast also given me
the shield of thy salvation,
and thy gentleness hath made me great.
You say, man, if I want to be a great person,
surely gentleness isn't part of that.
No, what does it say?
And thy gentleness, the gentleness of God, okay?
And of course, it's called the fruits of the Spirit
for a reason, because the Holy Spirit is God, all right?
So if this is an attribute of God,
God wants you to develop this in your life,
David's pointed to that gentleness that God has,
and he says that gentleness made me great.
That gentleness gave me victory.
You know, I was able to defeat my enemies
even as a gentle person.
Even being gentle toward them,
I was able to win my victories, okay?
And I've become great.
You want to be a great Christian,
you want God to look down upon you and say,
this is a great man of God, this is a great woman,
these are great children,
then you need to have gentleness.
You need to have gentleness.
You can't overlook it, okay?
So is it a great quality to have?
Well, David said, thy gentleness have made me great.
We'll leave it there, let's pray.