Fruit of Faithfulness
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Fruit of Faithfulness
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Introduction:
After listening restlessly to a long and tedious sermon, a 6-year-old boy asked his father what the preacher did the rest of the week.
"Oh, he's a very busy man," the father replied. "He takes care of church business, visits the sick, ministers to the poor...And then he has to prepare his sermons for Sunday church; he barely has time to rest up. Talking in public isn't an easy job, you know."
The boy thought about that, then said, "Well, listening ain't easy, either!"
"I don't mind if any of you take a nap during my sermon. I'd rather have a dozing attendant, than a wide-awake absentee."
This Sunday, as we continue in the series of the Fruits of the Spirit, we will be looking at the Fruit of Faithfulness.
I. What is It? (Hebrews 11)
I. What is It? (Hebrews 11)
A. By faith…
1. Abel offered
2. Noah prepared an ark
3. Abraham obeyed
4. Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau
5. Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing
rather to suffer affliction with the people of God
32 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: 33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: 36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; 38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
B. Faithfulness is acting on what we believe continually (Previous Fruits: Is love, joy, peace, ect displayed during Monday morning commutes and Slow Drivers.)
(Things I learned in SA, my horn, tailgating, glaring looks)
II. Where does it come from?
II. Where does it come from?
A. The Example of Love I John 4
7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
19 We love him, because he first loved us. 20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.
1. Love exists in the world because God is Love
2. To be filled with love is to be filled with God
B. Faithfulness
1. Deuteronomy 7:9 The faithful God
9 Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;
2. 2 Thes 3:3 The Lord is faithful
3 But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.
3. 1 Cor. 10:13 God is faithful
13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
4. I Cor 1:9 God is faithful
9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
C. Love and Faithfulness Intertwined: They both exist because of who God
is
1. I John 4:16 God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in
16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
God, and God in Him.
2. 2 Tim. 2:13 If we are faithless, he remains faithful – for he cannot deny himself
13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.
3. Faithless in Low times and high times in life…hard to take the next step. ISAIAH READING
28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, That the everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. 29 He giveth power to the faint; And to them that have no might he increaseth strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall: 31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings as eagles; They shall run, and not be weary; And they shall walk, and not faint.
4. Jesus in the Garden praying, “Lord let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not my will but thine be done…”
III. Why does it matter?
III. Why does it matter?
A. Jesus in the Garden with disciples to pray: I don’t want to let my Jesus
down.
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
B. Man on the beach with Starfish
1. It mattered to that one
2. Our faithfulness and the love that fuels it can make a difference in
that one. Think of your life, where would you be today…
C. “What we do is for the next generation”
D. Our church has needs (Ministry)
Guest Experience
AV Production
Events
Worship Team
Conclusion: When we look at the example of Jesus, and we understand the nature of God and his love and faithfulness, we should be compelled to DO all we can in faithfulness. Not out of selfishness or pride, but because we understand the difference that has been made in our life, and like fruit from a tree, we should be consumed and used for the benefit of others to help sustain them! I pray that when our time on this earth has come to an end, that our Creator will smile upon us and say, “Well done thou good and faithful servant, enter into the Joy of the Lord”.