The Fruit Of The Spirit Is Faithfulness

Good morning, and welcome to New Grace Baptist Church and like to welcome you today and hope everyone had a great week. Well today we going to continue and I are series Victory in Jesus and we have been studying the fruit of the spirit. And today, the title of today's message is the fruit of the spirit is faithfulness in a course that comes from Galatians, 5 verses 22 and 23. So, I'm going to put those up on the screen right now and you can follow along, or if you have your Bibles you can turn your Bibles to Galatians 5 and 22. So this is what the Bible says, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control against such there is no law. So now if you remember, we have studied already Read the first three. Which remember? We said when you look at the first three, you looking upward to God. So if you want, love love in your life, unconditional love a joy that passes all understanding a peace in your heart. Peace with God. And the peace of God, then we need to look up word for him. And then the last three that we looked at, we look outward to others. And we talked about long suffering, and kindness and goodness. And then today, we are going to talk about faithfulness in these. Last three attributes. We look inward to ourselves. So today we want to talk about faithfulness. Now, if you have a King James Version, Bible that you're using, Galatians 5:22 says that the fruit of the spirit is Faith. Now I'm using the new King James and it says faithfulness. Well, there's a big difference between faith. And faithfulness. So in the book of Galatians, Paul, he uses the word faith in about three different ways. And the first way is he talks about faith that we have when we place our trust in Christ, and the Lord comes into our heart and life. And he saves us, that is saving Faith within another fate. He talks about is, is having faith in someone or having faith in the Lord, that he would do the right thing. Sometimes you may have someone and you say, what is a faithful person. In other words, you can count on them. They're going to do what they say, what he uses it that way, also in Galatians, but here, and you have to understand when Paul a mini X in and several other books. Romans 1st Corinthians, Paul likes to use list, like he does here and here he's talking about attributes of people. In other words. This word faithfulness is not so much a theological term as it is. An ethical term, so he's using this word ethic Lee. So what he saying is not that we ought to have faith to save us, although we should and not that we ought to have faith in God that we trust him to do the right thing. Although we should what he's talking about here is that we should be faithful. So what I want to do here is I want to show you my definition of the word faithfulness. And first of all, will look at it in the Greek and there's you'll see on the screen there. The Greek word for faithfulness or for Faith actually is pissed and that is the word for Faith. Well, I think this should be used in this adjective or form, so it would be pissed off. In other words. This means someone who's trustworthy and dependable or faithful and under this. I have my definition based on this Greek word pistus, and this is not the definition that you'll find in web. There's this is mine. Just based on the Greek word. And this is what I say. It means hear the quality of being true, trustworthy, and reliable in, all one's dealings with God and others. So, what we're talking about today, the fruit of the spirit is being faithful faithful to what God has called us to do, and faithful to our family and faithful in our work and all the other things that we do as we live our life. So what I want to do today is only give you four points. I'm on, first of all, talk about the motivation of faithfulness, and we see that in God himself. Then I want us to look at the marks of faithfulness, and we see that in the life of Jesus, then thirdly I want to look at the message of faithfulness. In other words. We can look at the life of Paul and see in just one verse what faithfulness really is. And then, lastly, I want to look at the method. The faithfulness in best for us. How can we be faithful in our everyday lives? So what we want to do will go to point number one now. And that is simply this, what I want to talk about is the motivation of faithfulness, the motivation of faithfulness in here. We're going to look at God if there's anything we need in our churches and even in our world is this quality of faithfulness, in other words, people that you can count on this going to complete and keep their commitment. Well God, I think here is the motivation of our faithfulness. And let me give you three reasons. Why, the first one is he is the Eternal I am. Now, all you have to do is you open up the pages of the Old Testament and you immediately me a faithful God. Now, one day Moses came to God, that this is after God and Called Moses stuff. Go to Faroe and see if he could Not deliver his people and Moses came to God and he asked him a specific question. And this is what Moses said, and Exodus 3, 13 and 14. Then Moses said God, indeed. When I come to the children of Israel and say to them the god of your fathers has sent me to you and they say to me. What's his name? What shall I say to them? So Moses saying, love when I tell him that the guys are fathers that sent me and I say, what, what's this God's name? Moses said, what? How do I answer? And what do I say to them? Verse 14. And God said to Moses. I am who I am and he says dust, you shall say to the children of Israel. I am has sent me to you. So God say tell him that The Great I Am has sent you to them. Now this seems like a strange way for us or strange way to respond to Moses. Question, but this is what God was saying. God was saying, I'm The God Who has no past and no future. I am the god of the Eternal press. I am the faithful God. And what I say is true, you see, God does not look to be faithful in the future and you don't look back to see how faithful he was in the past, because God doesn't have a past and he doesn't have a future. He's always in the present. God has always been and will always be. So he is the Eternal I am. That's why the it out to motivate us to be faithless cuz we serve a God, who has no past and no future. He is eternally in the present all the time and that's why I think it's absolutely correct to say that God is real Old Testament name is I am that. I am, because he is always faithful because God always lives in the eternal. Now, so we, we look at that and then there's another reason why they were the motivation of our faithfulness, and that is because God is the Everlasting Rock. Now, let's look at that in Deuteronomy. 32 and verse for, and this is what the Bible says. He is the rock. His work is perfect for all his ways or just a god of Truth, and without Injustice righteous. And upright, is he now? I don't know. Some of you may remember the commercial. That was built on the visual of a gigantic Rock. That was supposed to demonstrate stability. And other words. They would ask you to buy a piece of the rock. It was, I think it was an insurance commercial, but it gives the picture that though, the waves have beat against this big rock for centuries. The rock is still there. So in other words, what they're saying, if you'll buy this kind of insurance, you can be sure when you need it. It will be there or friends. Let me say this this morning, if, you know, God and if, you know his son, Jesus Christ, as your personal savior, you have already have a piece of the rock. You've got the Eternal Rock and his word is faithful and true. So all you have to do just look, just look through the pages of the Old Testament. And and God said, I am the god of Abraham and he says, I'm the god of Isaac and Jacob that he didn't use those terms. In case the people, he spoke to didn't know who He was use those terms of say that he was the same God, who helped Abraham the same God, who was faithful to Isaac, the same God, who ministered to Jacob, just as he was faithful to Abraham. He would be faithful to them. God's faithfulness goes back to the beginning of humanity and it extends Beyond where we are out into the eons of the future. Friend. God is the Everlasting Rock. Why? Because his faithfulness indoors Forever Without Automotive 8 us to be faithful. Well, there is a Third reason, I believe that big God, that is our motivation to be faithful and that is that God is an encouraging influence. You see, when you read about the faithfulness of God, it kind of all to make us burst out into song. If you will, you know, you read a lot of the Old Testament psalms and they're filled with the truth and the faithfulness of God. Look what Lamentations 3 22 through. 23 says, and it says, through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed because his compassion's, his grace, his Mercy fail, not, they are new every morning and then he says great is your Faithfulness, the faithfulness of God ought to be the course. If you will of our singing, his faithfulness should be the confidence that we have when we pray because he is faithful, we can go to him in prayer and know that he hears us. We know that he sees our tears, we know that he won't answer so we don't have to try to figure out when God is in a good mood to get what we want. God is the same yesterday today and forever. And he wants his children to come to him. We can go to God whenever we want and ask whatever is on our hearts. And he has promised based on his faithful nature to hear and answer our prayers to think about this, the faithfulness of God is the cause. It's really the cause of our Bible study. I mean if you ever thought about when you pick up the Bible and sometimes you may read a verse and then three or four years later, you may read the same verse, the same chapter and all, and God just speak to you entirely different ways. Why is the truth of the Bible? So fresh. Why is it so exciting and challenging even though we read it over and over again, is because of the faithfulness of God to make his word live in our world and live in our hearts. We can come to scripture and find confidence and studying his book. It doesn't need to be updated. It is the faithful word of God. And it's also his faithfulness that pulls us through in times of trouble, when we have difficulties. We have someone to whom, we can go even in times of Affliction. We know that God knows how Affliction fits into our life. And he is a faithful God and he's even faithful in our Affliction. So the motivation Of our faithfulness is God himself. Because he's the Eternal. I am the Everlasting Rock and the encouraging influence. Well, let's go to point to now. And what I want us to talk about here is the the marks of faithfulness. Now, we see this in the life of Jesus. Now, I'm just going to give you three things here that talk about he escaped from this week, unless many many more. But we just don't have time to think of this is because of Christ faithfulness that we have Redemption, Jesus secured our Redemption. I look what the Bible says in Hebrews. 217. It says therefore in all things. He had to be made like his brother talked about Jesus, that he might be a merciful and faithful. There's that word, fateful pisses. Faithful, high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sea. Cans of the people, he became our sacrifice for the sins of the people. You see? Because Jesus who carried out the duties of the high priest in the realm of the world, he became a sacrifice for our sins because of that we are redeemed. We have a wonderful future in heaven with the father because Christ was faithful to go to the cross and to die for the sins of the world. So we can say that We we love God and he has been faithful to us, simply because, well of Christ faithfulness, because he was faithful to go. He secured our Redemption. Well, something else that he does. And not only did he secure our Redemption, but we could also say he relieves our Temptation. Now, look how Powell said this in 1st Corinthians. 10:13. He said no temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man. But God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. But with the Temptation will also make the way of Escape, that you may be able to Bear it. So even in suffering, even in difficulty and testing and trials and temptations, it is the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus. That is our hope. He's always Making provision for. And this verse means that no matter how you're tempted and we're all tempted and sometimes that temptation is very difficult to overcome. But no matter what, Temptation Satan or the world of your flash brings you away. God will always provide a way of Escape so that you might be able to bear. That is the faithfulness of the Lord. That's what the Lord does. He is faithful. That's one of his marks. He secured, I Redemption, but also he relieves are temptation, but then thirdly not only that His faithfulness. He protects Us from Evil that. Look at how second Thessalonians 3:3 says this. It says but the Lord is our word. Lord is faithful. Who will establish you and guard you from the evil one. This is what the Lord will do. It is only by his grace by the grace of God. In the faithfulness of Christ that we are not more evil than what we are in. The Bible, says here that the Lord will guard you from the evil one. He will guard us from Satan. He will guard us from the world and, and even our own flesh and he is faithful to do that and he will establish you and he will build you up. And what that means is Christ, he protects Us from Evil and none of us are as evil as we could be. And it's all because All of the grace and mercy of God, whether something else you did. I didn't even I just thought of it, a few minutes ago. I didn't write this down. But because of his faithfulness, we have the Forgiveness of sins. What does 1st John 1:9? If we confess our sins,, he is faithful and just to forgive forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So just think about that. The motivation of faithfulness is God himself. He's the Eternal. I am his Everlasting Rock. He is the encouraging influence. And now we see the marks of faithfulness and we see that in the life of Jesus. He secured. I Redemption relieves are Temptation. Always provides a way of escape. And he protects us from the evil one. Well, let's go to point number three. And what we want to say here is what we're looking at here. Is the message of faithfulness in here. What we see is the Apostle Paul and I want you to turn in your bibles. If you would, when I'm on I'll put it up on the screen as well. But this one verse in 2nd Timothy chapter 4, verse 7 that I want us to look at that really gives us the message of faithfulness that we see in the life of Paul, and this is what Paul said. Paul said, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have camped. The Fate, so let me give you. Three ideas here about the, the message of faithfulness that we see in the life of Paul. Number one. Paul, he he was faithful. To the fates. You say what, what, what do you mean by? He was faithful to the Fate? Well, what I mean is he was faithful to the word of God. Now, there are times today when people are taking the Bible, this book that we are studying this morning and they Shred the pieces they mimic yet. They dissect it and they even call themselves theologians friends. You know, what a theologian is. You know what that word is? Is a compound word. It comes from the word phaos, which means god, it comes from the word Lagos, which means word. In other words, a theologian is somebody who's supposed to know the word of God, but yet you here, man, standing up and pull pants all the time. Dissecting the word of God saying way, you really can't believe the Miracles. You really can't take this literally you need to take this metaphorically or subjectively the Bible, you know, you really can't trust. All of it. It has errors and all I've had friends there not theologians. They're Heretics any Who would say that and I don't know why you want to call and theologians because they don't believe in the log off, the word of God, if they don't believe in the Lagos, they probably don't know. To say, I switch is God himself. William Booth was the founder of the Salvation Army and he wrote this back in the twentieth century. And this is what he said. And it's so true up today. He said, the chief danger of the 20 20th century and 21st, will be religion without the Holy Spirit Christianity without Christ. Forgiveness, without repentance salvation, without regeneration politics without God. And Heaven without help. That's exactly what we have today in our world. And in many of our churches people want to talk about heaven, but they don't want to talk about hell, they want to talk about social reform, but they don't want to talk about Jesus. They want to talk about salvation in Utopia, but they don't want to be regenerated. They don't want to talk about repentance, but they will talk about forgiveness. In other words, we live. AJ is a christless Christianity is what it is and sad to say that. We see that in some of our churches today. Did you know that? We're just one generation away from paganism and free and all you have to do is look at our world today and you see the idea of Marxism and socialism in our country today and we thought that that would never be possible. We're just one generation away from Pagan. If we don't pass it on to the next Generation, they won't have it. And we need to pass it off. We need to be faithful to the Fate exactly. Like Paul was Paul. He wasn't afraid. He didn't care where he was going to preach the gospel. It don't matter if he was stoned, and we kept in ship wrecked or whatever. Paul was faithful to the faith and we are stewards of the faith of God. So, Paul was faithful to the faith. But he had another message in his life. Paul was faithful in the fight. You say, well, what are you talkin about? Welt, Paul was beaten. He was Shipwrecked. He was Stone many times. Paul knew about fighting and other. Paul knew that the Christian Life. Was Warfare. Paul knew that the Christian Life is spiritual warfare. Remember what he wrote in Ephesians and he talked about put on the whole armor of God and he went through all the armor and then he said we don't fight against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers in high places, Paul understood that the Christian Life is a fight and that's why he said it here. In the, in this verse. He said, I have finished the race. I have fought a good fight, he knew about fighting and remember what he said in Galatians as well. He says the spirit Wars Against The Flash and the Flash against the spirit. Remember what he said in Romans? He knew all about that wore, that tug of war going on in our hearts between our own desires and God's desires. And he says the things I want to do. That's not what I do. The things that I ought not to do. That's what I do. Paul knew that the Christian life was a fight and Paul was a fighter. He was faithful. in the fight, but not only that he said, I have finished. My course. Thirdly tall was faithful to the finish. In other words, Paul. Never gave up Paul finished. What God gave him to do. I just think about your own life. Now, are you serving and doing exactly what God has called you to do? Or if you put it on the back burner. That doesn't mean it will slip up once everybody's going to slip up, everybody's going to have down times and when they may be their backs of slitting a little bit. But Paul, he said he was able to say, I have finished the course. He was a faithful Steward. Yeah, he had to go and get a pit-stop once awhile. He had to get four new tires. You had to get gas, but he got back out on the track and he finished his course. And that's what we want to do. We want to finish well, so we see the message of faithfulness and Paul be faithful to the fates, which he was The Fateful in the fight. He said I fought a good fight and be faithful to the finish. I have finished. My course. Well, that's three down. What's the motivation of faithfulness of God himself Eternal? I am Everlasting, Rock, encouraging influenced. What's the marks of faithfulness? The life of Jesus security Redemption. Relieves us from Temptation, protect us from evil. And what's the message of faithfulness? We see it in the life of Paul faithful to the faith faithful in the fight. Faithful to the Finish. Well, we have one more point, and that is simply this. I want you to look at the method of faithfulness. So we look at this, when we say we might get that all. This is great. Yes. God is faithful. Yes. Jesus was faithful. And yes, Paul was fake, but I'm not them. I just have your regular everyday job. I'm just trying to make a living and live God's. Not going to call me to be some missionary. I'm not going to go on three grandiose missionary Journeys. I'm not going to write a third of the Bible. God's not calling me to do those big things. So, how can I be faithful? And just my little humdrum life that I live will? Let me give you three areas in your life. That you can be faithful to these three areas. We all need to look at. This is just for your regular everyday, folks. Like we are now look at 1st Corinthians 4. And to what the Bible says, this is Paul speaking again. He says moreover. It is required in Stewart's. Now what is a steward? Well, a steward is a manager. Someone gives you something and they say, take care of this for me. You are a house manager. If you will the word Stewart, it comes from two words or a cost, which means house and not Moss, which means law, the law of the house. In other words, you are house manager. God has given us certain abilities and Gifts. He's given us this planet to take care of. And Paul says, moreover. It is required and a house manager that one be found faithful. So we Want to be found faithful. So what we do is we look at the method of faithfulness. And first of all, let me say this that we need to be faithful in the small things that you say. Well what it, what do you mean by that? How can I be faithful in the small things? Well, just think about everything that's big. Is made up of something small? I mean, you take the Ocean, Atlantic Ocean. What's it made up of just tiny drops of water? There's a lot of drops there, but it's just as big as the ocean is, it's all made up of tiny drops of water. Think of time. Just think of this time is made up of ages. Ages are made up of Millennium. Millennium is made up of century. Centuries, made up of decades and decades made up of years years are made up of months months are made up of weeks. Weeks, is made up of days Days, made up of ours. Ours made up of minutes minutes. Made up of seconds in seconds to milliseconds and you can keep going. Everything big is made up of something small and friends. That's the way your life is your entire life is just not one or two big decisions, your life is just not. Who am I going to marry? And what career am I? Go in. That's not what life is made up. That's a big part of it, but it's not everything. It is day by day, the faithfulness that we show day by day. Every single day when you get up and when you wake up, you make a decision that you're not even aware of that. You make you make it everyday, you get up and you're not even conscious of it that you make it. And that decision is this today? Am I going to live? From my kingdom, my plans. My purpose is my desires. Or am I going to live for God's kingdom? His plans his purposes and his desires for me every single day. Every single one of us. We make up our mind whose team. Then we're going to live for but we don't it went we're not even conscious of doing it. But we do it. It's those day-to-day decisions. Is that Honesty when no one's looking is that smile, that you may give someone, it's the kind act. It's the goodness that you showed its the warmth of a hug is that Integrity? Is that email that you send that text or that letter you write? It's the words that you say or the hugs that you give your friend all these things Armada and they're just smaller things, but they mean so much. You see, it's the small things that really count. I was talking to a friend of mine, one time. He said, after he and his wife were married. They were still do the way as they've been married about two months. You said, there was in the kitchen one day and he looked at her and he said, honey. He said, did you marry me for my looks? And she looked at it? And she said, no, she said, I married you for your brains and he said, really you did. He said, she said, certainly I did she said you see honey. It's the small things that matter to me. He said, it took him a year to figure out what she was saying, but at the first he took it as a compliment. But friends, it's the small things. It's just a smile. It's the handshake. It's the meal. It's the tech is the hug. It's the kind act be faithful in the Small Things. Number two. We need to be faithful. In the secret things. You say, what? What do you mean by secret things or friends? Listen, what you are in the dark? When no one sees you and no one knows that's what you really are. Let me give you a question to really test your character. I want you to ask yourself this question. What would I do if I knew? Nobody would ever find out just ask yourself that question, whether it's good or bad. It could be a good thing or bad thing. How far would you go? What would you do if you knew a hundred percent that no one would ever find out. How far? Would you go? What Would You Do? You See? You are what you are in secret. Nothing more. Nothing less. We come to church every Sunday and people see us and they say well my keys this, he's that. Well, you really don't know me. Unless, you know, me on Thursday night at 10:30. Or Tuesday morning at 11, a.m. You know what we are in secret. That's what we are. So be faithful in the secret things. Think about your fault life. Are you Faithful in that? No one knows what you're thinking. Said, you and God. Are you Faithful in your fault, life, in the places, you go, the things you look at, we have a screen here with today's outline on it. If I could pull up on the screen this morning, every thought that you had in the last week. Would you want the people in here to see it? Would you want the people here to know everything that you have thought in the last 7 days, I would say every one of us in here has a note, don't put that up. Don't put that up, friends. We need to be faithful in the secret things. I was reading the story about Michelangelo, and he was painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. And he was way up there high kind of in this little catty corner where you, you really couldn't see it anyway, and he was just spending so much time up there and he was just being very meticulous and someone yelled up a Michelangelo. Why are you spending so much time up there? He said that you and I will never see it anyway, and he said well, I see it and God will see it friends last faithfulness, whether anyone else knows or not, whether anyone else sees it or not. We need to be faithful in the secret things. And then, lastly, let me say this that we need to be faithful. In the sacred things, you say, well, what kind of things is that? Well, we have to be faithful in our church. Attendance. We ought to be faithful and using our gifts. We ought to be faithful in our vocation. Well, to work, is if we're working to the Lord and not just work hard when someone's looking over our shoulder. And then when the boss leaves, we just goof around and don't do anything. No, we need to be faithful in the sacred thing. Vocation Church the sacred to God. We need to be faithful in our families. Need to be faithful to your husband into your wife. You need to be faithful to your children. You need to be faithful. We need to be faithful in our finances. Make sure that we are spending the money, right and correctly and not going too far in debt and not wasting money. We ought to be faithful in our fellowship with one another friends. When you, when you missed church and when you don't come to church, you're not just hurting yourself. You hurting everyone else. We all need each other. We need to be faithful. In the sacred. Thanks. And you see when we are faithful in the small things in the secret things. And in the sacred things we come to the point in our life. Where when we go to heaven, and when we see the Lord face-to-face, he'll be able to look at us and he'll say Mike. You were faithful in a few things. And now I'm going to make you ruler for eternity over many things. Well done. Good. And faithful servant all friend. We need to be faithful today. We need to have that fruit of the spirit evident in our life. What's the motivation? The Faceless God himself. Turn off. I am Everlasting, Rock encouraging influence. What's the marks of faithful to see it in the life of Jesus security Redemption? Relieves us from Temptation, protects Us from Evil. What's the message? Your faithfulness of the Apostle. Paul faithful to the faithful faithful in the fight. Faithful to the finish. I have fought a good rate. I have fought a good fight. I have finished the course, is what he said and then the method where we're not like Paul, we're not God. We're not Jesus, but we can be faithful in the small things in the secret things and in the sacred things, and Is one day we will hear God say Well done. Thou good and faithful servant. Well, let's pray. Father. We do. Thank you and praise. You and love you today for your word. Lord I just prayed today. Lord that this after Butte of faithfulness that you would sink it deep deep down into our hearts. Lord help us to be faithful. Men and women boys and girls for help us to be Dependable reliable. True and trustworthy. Lord. We thank you for Jesus, in for the marks of faithfulness that we see in his life. Thank you for salvation. We thank you that you helped us in our Temptation. Thank you. Lord. That you protect us from our sales from Satan from the world from the flesh. Lord today. Help us to look at the life of Paul and help us to be like Paul. Help us to be faithful to the Fate. Lore. We living in a time where Christianity is under attack. Help us to be faithful to our Fates. Faithful to the word of God at the stand up for what we know to be true. Lord help us to be faithful in the fight Lord. The Christian Life is a fight. Lord help us to be faithful and put on the whole armor of God and Lord. Help us finish will help us to be faithful to the Finish. Help us to be faithful in those small things in those secret things in and how old is sacred things in life and wear be careful to give you the honor and the praise for Quest in Christ's name. I do pray. Amen.