| OCR Text |
Show P Ic_li {#J.I'f_J.A..,rfI- snss I l6;rr(rfl p-t!t.J.lriff-' C,,.. 'I:J( eeJf/r!2 y I: 1/ c; «Cf?-I,' 5el-f-c. A-c 0e""r'(fd THE THIRD CLUSTER OF SPIRITUAL FRUIT of the Spirit is faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians ,: 22c) The fruit The .. " Apostle Paul was concerned that "all the brothers" of "the churches in Galatia" knew what the Lord required of them. He wanted them to know without relationship with God would demand that they be filled with love, joy, and peace. He wanted them to know unmistakably that a right relationship with th brethren would have to rest on the three legs of patience, kindness, and goodness. This sermon is designed to remind-us that a relationship a doubt that a with God and our fellow-man has to be 1 r f good sense of self with faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Notice, the first thing that the built on a individual must have is FAITHFULNESS. That is of duty and a strong conscientiousness, a full allegiance, maintaining the faith, firmness in belief, constancy in walk, sense trustworthiness along the way. and steadfastness of character. You cannot be like the of the ocean, up sometime and down sometime. Your waves commitment has to hold on until the end. Jesus said "Be thou faithful until death." The mark of a true steward is that he never gives in or quits. Be true to whatever you are. Have integrity and fidelity. Leviticus 6: 13 says, "the fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it 2 go out." Luke 24: 46 puts it, "Blessed is that servant, whom his lord shall never when he cometh shall find so doing," Second, the spirit filled believer is marked by GENTLENESS. That means one does not always have to be first and out front. One can yield and give way to others. One condescends to the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and the Divine Judge. One can consider what he is entitled to and still not have to exact the full demands. When you are gentle, you can live on the top or on the bottom. be content wherever you find yourself. Be careful when you oppose You can the (evil in others. Third, those who would be full of the Holy Spirit must learn how to have SELF-CONTROL. Be temperate ad 3 moderate in all things, walk the Spiritual walk, talk the same walk, and live according to the will of God. Keep the yourself. Self-Control equalizes the living and gives you evil within balance. David was not able to control himself so he stumbled by sinning against the woman and the man. Solomon wrote, "He that hath rule over his own spirit is like the city wise no The man that is broken (Proverbs 25: down, and without walls." 28) A whole lot of us are out of control. We can't control out tempers, our words, or our fists. That's why we get so angry and curse and want to fight. That's why we engage in airplane, road, grocery store, and little league rage. We say and do things that we would never think of doing. Joseph 4 had self-control impulses even so that his affections and him to want to get with his brothers or to desire did not cause Potiphars wife.(Genesis 43: 31) John-the Baptist had so much self-control that when he was offered the chance to claim something he was say, 'I am not all he could do not the one.' The was spirit-filled disciples had enough self-control that they pulled people off their knees and identified themselves by saying, 'Don't worship us for we are men just like you are. Jesus controlled Himself in life and death. He lived in this world of temptation without yielding to any temptation. He died without giving in to imaginations of the world and even the designs of His own disciples. (I Corinthians 9: 25) the 5 Notice, that those who are filled with Spirit on the inside are not weighted down with prohibitions and 'thou shalt the nots' but have attained on the outside glory of God. They are not limited by the ways of this world but walk in the liberty of God. unto the 6 |
