Alright, if you guys can go back to 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, please.
2 Thessalonians chapter 1.
2 Thessalonians chapter 1. And while you're turning there,
I'm going to read to you from Galatians chapter 5 verse 22.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering,
gentleness, and now what we're up to, goodness.
Then faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is
no law. And as we're going through this fruit of the Spirit, I think it's part 6.
We're up to now. Yeah, part 6. I want you to just remind yourselves
why we're going through these fruits, okay? What is this about?
And the whole point as we go through these fruits of the Spirit
is so you can examine your life. You know, is my life
made up of love, joy, peace? Do I have long suffering?
Do I have gentleness, goodness, and all these other qualities in my life?
And if I don't, or if I'm lacking in these areas, you know, I don't have
much gentleness, I don't have much long suffering, then
this is for you to realize that you're not walking the Spirit
as much as you should be, okay? This is one great way to know
how well am I walking the Spirit? How much am I walking the flesh?
You know, am I starting to subside that old man?
Is that old man starting to decrease? You know, am I walking that new man?
And you'll start to notice as you mature in the Lord, as you mature in your
understanding of the Scriptures, you'll start to notice these qualities begin to
develop in your life. Say, why is that? It's because the Holy Spirit
has the ability, has the time to develop these things into your life.
It's called the fruit of the Spirit for a reason. You must be in the
Spirit, filled with the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, walking with the Spirit
in order to start developing these qualities in your life, okay?
So it's a great way for you to honestly ask yourself, am I walking
in the Spirit? Am I walking in the Spirit more today than I was
a year ago, alright? But let's look at 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 11.
Verse 11 says, Wherefore also we
pray always for you, that our God will count you worthy
of this calling, and fulfill all the good
pleasure of His goodness, and the work of faith
with power. The title for the sermon tonight is, The Good
Pleasure of His Goodness. The good pleasure
of His goodness. So what we see here
is Paul is saying he's praying for the Thessalonian church, isn't he?
He says, we pray always for you. For what purpose?
He says that our God will count you worthy of this
calling. You see, you are saved, praise God. You've called
upon the name of the Lord. You've believed on His death-bearing resurrection.
You've trusted His salvation. Praise God. But you see,
that's just the beginning of the Christian life. That's step number one.
Fantastic. You know, that's your foundation. Now you need to build
on that foundation. Now you need to walk in the way that God is calling
you to walk. Notice there it says, God wants
to count you worthy. You know, do you count yourself worthy
of what? Of this calling. What's the calling? To fulfill
all the good pleasure. You see, God wants our lives
to be a life of goodness. That we would accomplish
good things. And it's interesting that it says, all the good
pleasure. You see, if you want to find pleasure in your life,
if you want to find satisfaction and joy, then you need to develop
this fruit of goodness in your life. Okay? The living
after goodness. Doing good works will give you pleasure.
In fact, it gives God pleasure to see you doing
the good works. But how do we accomplish this task? It says there,
and to fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness.
Okay? So, in order for us to do good works, in order for us to
walk in good ways, we must see the example of the teachings
that come from God Himself. Because if you're searching for good in yourself,
you're not going to find it. If you start searching your heart,
you start searching your mind, you're going to find all matters of weakness,
all matters of sin in you. No, you must
search the Lord. You must search God and His goodness, and then it says
the work of faith with power. Look at verse number 12. Why is this so
important? Verse number 12. That the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ may be glorified in you.
Wow. I mean, wouldn't you love people to glorify Jesus Christ
in the name of Christ? Because they've crossed your path. Because they've seen the
work you've done, and say, wow, this is a Christian, I'm going to glorify
Jesus Christ because of brother so-and-so, because of sister so-and-so.
What a great calling that we can represent Christ
on this earth, and by our life that God will be glorified.
And then it says, and ye in Him, according to the grace
of our God, and of the Lord, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, we must search the goodness of God in order
for us to accomplish good works. In order for us to
be good people, alright? Now, obviously,
where can I get you to turn? Turn to Mark chapter 10, please.
Mark chapter 10, verse 17. Turn to Mark chapter 10, verse 17.
Because
there's only one good, right?
There's only one good, and that is God. That's God. And, you know,
remind yourselves as you go and knock doors, you know,
are you 100% sure you're going to heaven? Yeah, you know, I hope so.
I think so. You know, what are you basing that on?
I'm a good person, alright? That's what they say. I'm a good person.
You guys are in Mark chapter 10, verse 17. It says,
And when He was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to Him,
and asked Him, Good Master, what shall I do
that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him,
Why callest thou me good? There is none good,
but one that is God. And, of course, this is teaching
the deity of Christ. If Christ can be called that good master,
He is God. Okay, but that's not so much what I want to focus on.
We know that God is good, but what I want you to notice there is that Jesus says
there is none good but one. So unless you're God,
and you're not God, okay, the Bible tells us you are not good.
Okay? So you're not going to find goodness in your heart.
Just search your heart. You know, just follow your heart.
Don't do it. There's no goodness. If you follow after your heart,
you're going to end up in wicked places. You're going to end up committing sin,
breaking the commandments of God. Okay? Don't follow your heart.
Follow the heart of God. Follow the will of God. It's God who is good.
And, of course, that reminds us of Romans chapter 3 verse 12,
where it says, There is none that doeth good, no, not one.
I'm sorry to tell you. I'm not sorry to tell you. The Bible says you're not good.
Okay? You're not a good person. All right? You're not a good person.
And, you know, that old flesh, that old man, there's no good in that person whatsoever.
Okay? And even your righteous acts, the Bible calls it, filthy rags.
You know? Now, you might be a good person in comparison to other people,
but, of course, we want to know what God thinks of us. We want to know God's standard.
When we measure ourselves next to God's standard, we all come short. Of course, there is none good, no, not one.
All right? So now this is important because as we go out and we knock doors
and we preach the gospel, we reinforce this over and over, right?
You know, you're not good enough. In fact, your performance, your goodness is not the measure of going to heaven.
Okay? We make that point and we stress that point, and that's important.
We need to make sure, you know, we clear the cobwebs of people thinking their goodness is going to get them saved.
But at the same time, we also need to be careful in our zeal, you know, to talk about, you know,
to say that salvation has nothing to do with good works. We don't want to convey the message, though,
that we don't believe in being a good person. Okay? Because, of course, what do people say?
When you say it's not based on your goodness, what do people say?
What are you saying? That you don't have to be good? Are you saying, you know, you can just live a life of sin?
Are you saying that, you know, you can just be a sinful creature not trying to be a good person? No.
Of course, we're not saying that. But when it comes to salvation, in fact, that is what we're saying.
When it comes to salvation, it's based 100% on Jesus Christ, but after Christ,
we're looking at the fruits of the Spirit. We're looking at the walk that God has led us to walk.
And God wants us to be good people. God wants us to do good works.
So let's not over, well, no, emphasize it. It's important. Okay?
But don't allow people to misrepresent us because we do believe in good works for a Christian.
They're very important for a Christian. If you guys can go to Ephesians chapter two, please.
Ephesians chapter two, verse eight. I mean, some of you guys have this memorized anyway.
But Ephesians chapter two, verse eight. You know, this is a passage we turn to when we want to show people
that good works is not the measure or the requirement to be saved.
And of course, you know it. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves
it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
So salvation is not based on any good work. Otherwise, man would boast, the Bible says, right?
I'm going to heaven because I'm a great person. I'm a good person. That's not what God wants.
God wants us to boast of Christ, boast of Him crucified.
And then verse number 10. But look at verse number 10.
And this is, you know, God brings the point straight after this, straight after this.
Just in case there's someone out there that thinks, well, who cares about being good then?
All right? No, no. Once you're saved, it says here in verse 10, for we are His workmanship.
Now think about that for a moment. If you say I'm saved, I know I'm saved, then you know what?
You are God's workmanship. God wants to work in you, okay?
God wants to change you. God wants to develop you. God wants to complete you, okay?
He wants you to change, not be the same person you are the moment you got saved,
but to change and develop and for God to be able to work in you, all right?
But do you think He's going to work in that old man?
You know, is God seeking that old flesh to be reformed and changed? No. He's not seeking that.
There's no point. That old man is filthy, okay? That old man's not going to inherit the kingdom of God.
What is God working in you? He's working in you through the new man, through the Spirit.
And this is why it's so important we start, you know, minimizing that old man in our life
and start walking after the newness of that new spirit that God has given us, that revised spirit.
But it says here, for we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, okay?
Which God had before ordained that we should walk in them.
God says I've got good works that you should walk in, okay?
Why? To be saved? No, after salvation, okay?
In that new man, God wants us to walk in His ways, walk in His spirit.
God wants to work in us so we can accomplish good works for Him, alright?
Now, the Bible, you know, John the Baptist puts it this way.
He must increase, but I must decrease, okay?
You know, you need to learn to put on that new man, okay?
When you got saved, you have that old flesh. That old flesh loves to live for itself, okay?
When you commit sin, you commit sin in that old flesh, that old man, okay?
But as you see, you know, your life change as a believer, as you allow God to work in you,
that starts to show you, hey, I'm starting to put that old man away.
I'm starting to walk in the newness of life that God has given me more often, okay?
And of course, we must decrease that old man and increase that new man in the way we walk, okay?
Now, with the rest of this sermon, as I was thinking of this sermon,
I was thinking of taking it two ways.
You know, one way would have been, well, let's look at some good works that we can do, okay?
And basically go through that. I think that would be profitable doing that.
But I thought, no, instead of doing that, I wanted to, instead of giving you good works to do,
well, how can we, you know, what is it that we need to do or have in our lives
in order to accomplish those good works, okay?
So instead of, you know, how do I do good, rather I want to focus on, no, sorry,
I want to focus on how do we do good rather than the good things that we should do, okay?
So that's the purpose of this sermon today.
And if you're wondering, you know, well, what are good works?
What are some good works that I should do?
It's really not that complicated.
You know, basically, in order for you to be good, you must be godly, okay?
Because there's only one good. Who was that? That was God, okay?
So think about it like this. I want to do good works. I want to make sure I'm walking a good path.
What do I, how do I know what they are? Is it godly? Is it godly or not?
You know, is this a good work? Well, the answer is, is it a work that God would do?
You say, well, is this good for me? The answer is, is it good for God, okay?
And if you can work that out, you'll easily be able to work out what good works are, okay?
So instead of going through good works, what I want to do is take it a step back and say,
what is it that we need to do about ourselves in order to have that goodness in us, in order to accomplish the good works?
Turn to Colossians chapter one, please. Colossians chapter one, verse nine. Colossians chapter one, verse nine.
I've got three main points of how to be good, okay? Three main points.
So the first one, in Colossians chapter one, verse nine, is pray for spiritual understanding.
Pray for spiritual understanding. Colossians chapter one, verse nine.
For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you,
and to desire that ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, okay?
So we saw when we looked at Thessalonians that Paul was praying for the Thessalonian church, right?
That they would do good, okay?
But here we see something specific. What is it that he's praying for?
He's praying that we would be filled with knowledge in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.
And I remember that sermon that Brother Callum preached. Was it called spiritual wisdom versus fleshly wisdom?
Same. That's right, yeah. Godly wisdom versus fleshly wisdom, alright?
And of course, you know what, there is wisdom of this world, and there's wisdom that you come up with in your flesh,
what's logical, what's rational to you, but that doesn't always line up, in fact many times,
it doesn't line up with the wisdom that we find in the word of God, okay?
We need to make sure that we pray for spiritual wisdom, spiritual understanding. Why?
Look at verse number 10. That ye might walk worthy of the Lord.
Now remember, in Thessalonians it says that you be worthy of the calling.
It's the same thing. If you're worthy of the calling, it says that you're worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.
Why? Being fruitful in every good work. Do you want to be fruitful in every good work?
Every work that you do that's good with your hands, you know, everything that you do that you're fruitful every time,
I think we all want that. But what do we need to accomplish? We need to have spiritual understanding.
We need to be praying that the Lord will enlighten our knowledge that we see in his word.
And it says, and increasing, verse number 10, and increasing in the knowledge of God,
strengthen with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness.
Now it's interesting, verse 11, it ends with some other fruits of the Spirit that we've covered, right?
Longsuffering, joyfulness. And so my point here, guys, is that God wants us to be fruitful in every good work.
Not just some good works. Say, well, you know, I'm fruitful in my soul-winning. That's awesome.
But, you know, God wants you to be fruitful in your workplace.
You know, God wants you to be fruitful in your marriage. God wants you to be fruitful in your child-rearing.
You know, God wants you to be fruitful in the friends, in the fellowship, in your church.
God wants to be fruitful in every, for you to be fruitful in every good work. Okay? Every good work.
And what an awesome thing to know that every work that's good, that God is calling me to do,
I can be fruitful, I can be successful in this. Say how? Step number one was pray for spiritual understanding.
Okay? Because it's once you have the understanding of the spiritual that God gives you,
you'll know how to perform a task the way God wants you to perform the task.
Okay? Doing things, walking, walking in the ways that God wants you to walk. Okay?
Because sometimes people try to do the will of God, but they don't do it in accordance to God's will.
You know, they decide to do it their own way. And many times when they do it their own way, they fail.
I mean, just top of my head, you know, when we're doing the men's leadership class,
speaking of the qualifications for a bishop, many bishops, many pastors reject the qualifications.
Many pastors self-ordain, you know. Obviously, they want to do the work of God,
but they're not doing it with spiritual understanding. They're doing it with their fleshly understanding,
and it's guaranteed failure. Well, at least it's not going to please the Lord.
I mean, you could put a lot of work into it, a lot of effort, only to come up on judgment day,
and God says to that person, well, I never called you to be a pastor.
Why are we doing all that? Why are we wasting your time with all that work that you do?
You know? So, we need to make sure we pray for spiritual understanding.
Let's go to 2 Timothy, chapter 3, please. 2 Timothy, chapter 3, verse 16.
2 Timothy, chapter 3, verse 16. My next point, and this kind of goes hand in hand, right, with the first point,
is be diligent with your Bible reading. Okay? Be diligent with your Bible reading.
Now, you don't need to tell me, but how's your daily Bible reading going?
Now, you know. Have you dropped the ball a little bit lately?
Let's have a look at this. In 2 Timothy, chapter 3, verse 16, the Bible says,
All scripture is given by inspiration of God.
Look, it says all scripture. Even the scriptures that are hard to read.
Even the scriptures that put you to sleep a little bit, right?
It says all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof,
for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
Why does God want this for us? Verse 17.
In order for you to be able to accomplish all good works, God says you must be freely furnished.
How? That's basically preparation. God wants you to prepare for every good work.
How do I do that? By being diligent in your Bible reading.
All scripture. All scripture is required from you.
You know, if you look at verse number 16 again, let's break, let's change it a little bit there.
All scripture, you know, is, now let's skip that first little bit there, and let's get to the profitable.
Alright? We can just say it this way. All scripture is profitable. All scripture is profitable.
Okay? Now think about this. If someone said to you, you know, I've got this investment opportunity for you.
Guaranteed profit. Guaranteed. There's no way you'll lose.
There's no way your investment will stay stagnant. Guaranteed profit.
You know, if you just invest every day in this, guaranteed you're going to increase in your finances.
I mean, if that was promised to you, how many of you would be stupid enough not to invest into it?
Not to invest, brother Jason.
I mean, guaranteed profit, of course I'm going to invest in that, okay?
Because it's going to yield returns. Well, what's God promising you?
Guaranteed profit in all scripture.
That means when you miss your daily Bible reading, you didn't profit that day, okay?
You could have. You could have. And what do you think is more important to God?
What do you think is more important for you to be a good person?
Your riches, your finances? Or having the profit of the knowledge of God in your life?
You know, knowing what the word of God says.
That's how God prepares you through knowing your scripture.
By being in church and hearing the preaching of God's word.
Maybe listening to online preaching or online Bible reading.
You know, becoming familiar with scripture is going to prepare you, make you perfect, so you can accomplish all good works, okay?
Now, if you've not read your Bible cover to cover, then if I'm taking this literally, then you cannot accomplish all good works, okay?
You must have all the scripture available to you.
You know, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable, okay?
For doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness.
You need to be diligent with your Bible reading.
Please, if you've put your Bible down and you haven't picked it up for a few days, a few weeks, a few months, pick it up tomorrow morning.
Alright, tomorrow morning when you wake up in the morning, Pastor Kevin said, I've got to pick up that book, get my chapter in.
Whatever it is that you need, okay, get it in there.
God promises that it's going to be profitable for you to accomplish every good work, all good work, okay?
And of course, we want to develop this fruit in our lives, right?
The fruit of the spirit of goodness in our lives.
Now, another one that I thought was interesting and I didn't want to miss this one because I think it's such a great promise.
But let's go to 2 Corinthians chapter 9.
2 Corinthians chapter 9.
And I guess when I was looking at it, I was thinking about the Charismatics and the Pentecostals and how they botched the word of God.
And sometimes, you know, there are certain passages in the Bible that they truly botched and you're sort of hesitant to preach on it, alright?
Because you don't want people to think you're a Pentecostal, okay?
But let's have a look at it.
2 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 6.
So the third way for you to develop the fruit of goodness in your life is to give of your finances bountifully, okay?
Bountifully. Give of your finances bountifully, okay?
Let's look at this.
2 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 6.
But this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
Now, just before we keep reading, if you guys remember, you know, when we're going through the series on the Corinthians,
the context of this is when the saints in Jerusalem, you know, they were struggling with a drought and they needed to make a collection to help other brethren.
And the Corinthian church were dragging their feet with their giving, alright?
So Paul here is encouraging them, encourage them, look, you know, give bountifully.
You know, give to this need that there is for your fellow brethren here.
And he says, look, if you only reap a little bit sparingly, you're only, sorry, if you only sow sparingly, if you only give a little bit, you're only going to reap a little bit sparingly, okay?
But if you reap bountifully, if you sow bountifully, sorry, you will also reap bountifully.
In what way?
Verse number seven.
Every man according to, every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a chief forgiver.
Say, what does this have to do with being good?
Verse number eight.
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye always have in all sufficiency, in all things, may abound to every good work.
Is there a correlation between how you give to the church and giving it cheerfully?
We've been able to accomplish every good work?
Yes, there is, okay?
But this is how the Pentecostals botch it, right?
If you sow $10, you know, God will cause you to reap, you know, a million dollars, right, in your life, you know, something like that.
And if you don't reap your million dollars, what's this you lack in your faith?
The problem is with you.
And look, this isn't about putting money into the church or for a need for brethren so you can become rich financially, no.
But, you know, you giving to the church or you giving to brethren as a need comes up, God promises you that He's going to cause you to reap bountifully.
In what way?
That you may be able to accomplish every good work.
And I've heard people, you know, sort of mock the idea of giving their tithe or their offerings to the church because they think, well, where's my riches?
You know, if I'm giving my tithe, why is it that I'm still struggling to pay the bills?
Because that's not the only way you can be bountiful.
That's not the only way that God shows His grace towards you.
You know, you might be missing out on joy in your life.
You may be missing out on other areas of success in your life because you're holding back from giving bountifully to the church.
Or maybe you are giving to the church but you're doing it out of a grudging heart that has grudge, okay?
Now, obviously, I still haven't taught on the tithe, you know.
But I believe that's an important part of Christian giving, you know.
It shows your faith in God.
It is a significant portion of your pay that you're giving to God.
And I'm telling you this not because I need to be paid.
It's not for me.
I want you to experience the fullness of the grace of God in your life so you can accomplish every good work.
So you can be successful in all aspects of your life, okay?
I mean, you giving to church may very well change your outlook to life.
It may very well cause you to have better health in your life.
It may very well cause you to have better relationships.
It may cause you to love your children even more.
Different areas God's grace can work in your life in other aspects of your life.
You know, the reason a lot of people, you know, don't want to give to church is because they're just thinking about the finances.
If I give this, well, how am I going to pay for that?
You know what? God can be exceedingly rich towards you in many other ways in your life.
You know, I would rather, you know, I would rather sort of be, like, would you rather be rich with all the wealth in the world but then miserable in life?
Not having the grace of God in your life?
Not accomplishing good works in your life?
But you have all the riches.
You can pay all your bills.
You don't have to worry about your finances.
Or would you rather just have what you need?
You know, be satisfied with what you have, content with what you have, but then be rich in the grace of God in other aspects of your life.
It's obviously going to develop joy in your life.
It's going to give you fulfillment in your life.
Okay? So please be aware of this.
You know, it's not here in the Bible for no reason.
This is one great way in order for you to be able to accomplish or abound.
It talks about abound, not just accomplish every good work, but abound to every good work.
Okay? That you can do greater things, you know, as you give toward the needs for the church, etc.
So those three things, these are just the three areas that I wanted to cover today is pray for spiritual understanding.
Ask for the Lord to give you spiritual rather than your fleshly understanding.
Okay? And number two, be diligent in your Bible reading.
Number three, give to your finances bountifully.
Give all your finances bountifully.
Now, I'm not done yet.
So go to Proverbs, chapter 20, please.
Proverbs, chapter 20, verse 6.
Because the question I'd like to ask you is, how well has the fruit of goodness developed in you?
Okay? Could you say, I'm a good person?
Alright? Now, again, you know, man, generally speaking, has no problem saying, I'm a good person.
It's very easy for man to say.
Go to Proverbs, chapter 20, verse 6.
The Bible says, most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness, but a faithful man who can find.
So the Bible says, look, every man has no problem.
He can easily speak of his own goodness.
Now, everyone thinks they're a good person.
Now, of course, we're talking about solving.
Yeah, I'm a good person.
But you know, even as Christians, okay, how well are you doing?
How good of a person are you?
I'm a pretty good person.
We can say the same thing to ourselves.
So if every man can proclaim his own goodness, you think you're the best judge of how good you're doing?
Nah, I don't think so.
Go to Proverbs, chapter 27, verse 2.
The Bible says, let another man praise thee, and not by an own mouth, a stranger, and not by an own lips.
What's the best way for you to know whether you have the fruit of goodness in your life, that you're a good person?
What's the best way?
For other men, for strangers to praise you.
And if you guys, for those that were in the men's leadership class, once again, just remembering the qualifications of the bishop.
We're talking about the family, right, being a bishop, having to be a family man.
And we're talking about how children ought to be faithful.
And what was the best way to know whether your children are faithful?
It's not going to come from you, because you think your children are faithful.
It's not going to come from the grandparents, because they think their grandkids are faithful.
Knowing how faithful, how good, how obedient they are, the best way to know is what the strangers say about your children.
What other people are saying.
Are other people praising your children?
The same concept here, guys.
How good are you?
Well, based on what other people say about you.
So let's go to Hebrews, chapter 13, please.
Hebrews, chapter 13.
Hebrews, chapter 13, verse 15.
So we're going to be looking at two different communities here, as far as, you know, what do they say about the goodness that you have in you?
Hebrews, chapter 13, verse 15.
The Bible says, by him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually.
That is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.
That we ought to be thankful to God, right?
Verse 16.
But to do good and to communicate, forget not.
For with such sacrifices, God is well pleased.
Now we're going to look at verse 17 shortly, and you'll see that this is the context of a church.
But look at verse 16 very quickly.
It says, but to do good and to communicate.
Okay?
Do good and communicate.
This is the context of the church.
God wants us to do good to one another.
And when it says to communicate, you know, when we think of communication, we think about how we, you know, talk to one another, whether that's face to face, you know, maybe on the internet or things like that, how we communicate information.
But when you look at the word communicate, what it means is, it comes from the same word as commune.
When you commune with other people, what are you doing?
You're fellowshipping with other people.
You know, the Bible says fellowship is important in a church.
It's important.
It's important to have love for your brothers and sisters.
It's important for you to communicate, speak with, fellowship, you know, with your brothers and sisters in the Lord.
It says in verse 16, but to do good and to communicate, forget not.
Listen, when you're in the church, don't forget to fellowship, communicate, and do good to your brothers and sisters.
Okay?
And you want to know, is this about church?
Look at verse 17.
I wasn't going to cover verse 17, but this actually goes really well with my next point.
Okay, verse 17, it says, obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves,
for they watch for your souls as they must give accounts, that they may do it with joy and not with grief,
for that is unprofitable for you.
Okay?
So we do see, this is the context of the church, and here it says to obey them that have the rule over you.
You know, and I don't really like saying this, but hey, at the end of the day, I'm preaching the Bible, right?
I have the rule over you.
You know, when it comes to the church, when it comes to being gathered together for church,
I have the rule over you, and the Bible says to obey me.
All right?
So if I issue commands or ask you to do certain things for the church, you know, you should be, absolutely, I'll do that, okay?
That's being good.
That's communicating.
That's fellowshiping.
That's serving one another.
You know, I don't want to be served.
I want to be a servant to you, and for us to serve one another, to love one another, to fellowship with one another, communicate with one another, that's important.
Now, I want you to turn to 1 Peter chapter 2, please, 1 Peter chapter 2, because I found a pattern here, which I thought was interesting.
So first of all, the reason I brought up the church, guys, what do your brethren say about you?
All right?
As you turn to 1 Peter chapter 2, what do your brothers and sisters say about you?
They haven't got the right to say whether I'm good or bad.
Well, actually, they do.
Let the stranger praise you.
And here we see that if we're communicating, if we're fellowshiping, if we're serving one another in the church, if you're doing good to your brethren, your brother and sister are going to say,
man, you know, you're a good person.
You're a blessing to me.
I appreciate that you're praying for me.
They will acknowledge your goodness.
That's one great way to know whether you've got this fruit of a spirit in your local church.
What do your brethren say about you?
And if the brethren say, I don't know, that person, they're really critical about me.
They really discourage me.
They don't really lift me up.
They don't really edify me.
Then you're lacking the fruit of the spirit of goodness within your local church.
But let's go to 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 12, please.
So we saw the church, but now we're looking at your local community, okay, your community.
1 Peter chapter 2, verse 12.
The Bible says, having your conversation honest among the Gentiles.
So, of course, when the Bible refers to Gentiles here, he's talking about the unbelieving world, okay.
We're all Gentiles, as it were, okay, but here it's comparing the saved with the unsaved, the Gentiles.
That whereas they speak against you as evildoers, that they, sorry, they may by your good works,
which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.
Can you believe unbelievers are able to glorify God by your good works?
You know, when your community, when your coworkers, the people you cross paths with,
whether it's your, you know, homeschooling friends, homeschooling families that you get together with,
or whatever it is, whatever people you get together with that might be non-believers,
they actually glorify God when they acknowledge the good works that you have.
When they say, well, you're a good person, you're a great parent.
You know, when they recognize that, they're glorifying God. Why?
Because the goodness you have comes from God in the first place.
We already saw that, okay.
Now, I thought this was interesting here in verse number 13,
because remember when we're looking at the church, it's said to obey the pastor, right?
Obey those that have the rule over you, and that shows your goodness.
But look at verse 13, and then it says,
submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake,
whether it be to the king as supreme or unto governors as unto them that are sent by him
for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well.
So once again, just like the Bible spoke about the church,
you being subjected unto the one that has the rule over you,
the Bible here says in your community that you also need to be subjected or submitted to those in authority,
you know, the governing powers, those that God has put over you.
And once again, that's tying in you, you know, we're having goodness about you.
And if you have difficulty submitting yourself to authority,
you know, subjecting yourself unto those that have a rule over you,
then you're lacking the fruit of goodness in you, okay?
In order for you to do that well, you must develop the fruit of goodness in your life.
Now please go to 3 John, please. 3 John, verse number 9.
I just want to take us back to the church now, back to the church.
3 John, verse 9. I'm wrapping up now. 3 John, verse 9.
And I just want to show you, the Bible gives us two contrasting characters in the church, okay?
One is an example of being evil, not being good, and one is an example of being good, okay?
Look at verse number 9, the Bible says,
I wrote unto the church, but the altarpiece, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.
So this altarpiece is a man of evil that's within the church,
someone that is not showing the goodness of the spirit in here, okay?
And this might very well be a false prophet as well.
But one thing you'll notice about this individual here, it says this person loves to have the preeminence.
This is the person that wants to be known amongst all.
You know, he wants to lift up his name above others and not receive, you know, men of God.
He says he would not receive us not. He would not receive John here.
Verse number 10,
Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prattin' against us with malicious words.
So how do you speak about your fellow brethren in the church?
Do you use malicious words, okay?
Hey, that's not an example of a good person.
And it says, and not content therewith.
You know, are you a person that's content or are you a person that is not content?
That's not happy, you know?
And, you know, so this person was not content.
It says here,
Neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbideth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.
Okay?
What do you like with the brethren?
What do you like with visitors?
Do you welcome the visitors?
Or are you someone that ignores them?
Are you someone that thumbs your nose at them, whatever, you know, causing,
because, you know, what is it that brings people to a church ultimately?
Obviously, hopefully, they're looking for a good preaching,
King James only, a sowing church, all those things.
But ultimately, what's going to get someone really involved in the church?
Am I accepted?
You know, do people love me?
You know, am I being received by the brethren?
You know, am I making friends here?
You know, that ultimately is what's going to get them connected into the church.
And when they don't have that happening,
they're going to feel like they're being cast out of the church, okay?
You need the fruit of goodness in order for you to encourage visitors
and people to join our church.
Look at verse number 11.
Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good.
Okay, so it says, look, what's good?
He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.
And of course, we started with looking at our flesh, looking at the old man,
and saying there is none good in us.
You see, the old man has not seen God.
This old man will perish one day.
It's corrupted.
It will not inherit in corruption.
That's why we must walk in the Spirit in order to do good.
The new man has seen God, okay, spiritually speaking.
You know, in faith, that new man has seen God.
That new man has been born in God.
And look at verse number 12.
We get a good example of this new man, or good man, I should say.
Demetrius hath good report of all men and of the truth itself.
Yea, and we also bear record, and ye know that our record is true.
So I just want to show you how he differentiates the ultra piece with Demetrius.
And Demetrius is known to have a good report of all men.
You know, Demetrius is not, you know, singing his own praises.
You know, Demetrius is not loving the preeminence.
Others are given a good report of Demetrius.
Demetrius was a man who had the fruit of goodness in him.
Okay, and it was recognized by all men, the Bible says here, right?
Good report of all men, in the church, out of the church.
Wherever he went, everybody looked at Demetrius and said,
wow, this is a good man of God, alright?
Now, in conclusion, turn to Titus chapter 3, verse 8, please.
Titus chapter 3, verse 8.
Let's just wrap it up with this verse here.
Titus chapter 3, verse 8.
The Bible says, this is a faithful saying,
and these things I will that thou affirm constantly,
that they which have believed in God, is that you?
Have you believed in God?
Might be careful to maintain good works.
Careful, okay?
Full of care, as it were.
You know, doing good works requires you to put effort in it,
to put care.
I want to maintain and do good works.
Then it says, these things are good and profitable unto men.
Why is it ultimately that you want to do good works?
It glorifies the Father, absolutely, okay?
But it also is profitable to other people.
These fruits of the Spirit, as we go through them,
is all about your relationship with others,
how you edify others, okay?
It's not about just, what can I get for myself?
No, no.
If the Holy Spirit has its work in your life,
if that new man develops and grows,
and you put that old man aside,
you're going to be a blessing to your brethren.
You know, I want to be a blessing to you.
You know, when I come to church, I want you to feel,
hey, and I talk to you, and we finish,
and I want you to go,
man, I was blessed by that conversation, okay?
You know, Kevin's got that fruits of the Spirit.
Our pastor's working hard in that area or whatever.
I'd love that.
But I'd love for all of you to have that same heart,
to say, you know, every time I come to church,
everybody that I come across,
that they would see the fruits of the Spirit in my life,
that they would see the work of God in my life,
that they would glorify God, ultimately,
and be blessed by who you are.
You know, wouldn't you rather be someone
that people look at and say, hey, that's a good person?
Wouldn't you rather be that person than the one saying,
ah, that person again?
You know, I want to get away from the presence of that person.
No, you want to develop the characteristic here of being good.
Let's pray.