To watch the sermon The Fruit of the Holy Spirit: Kindness and Goodness

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I hope you're blessed.

What a worship time.

What a season of pressing in before the Lord.

Amen.

Just, you know, it's just amazing.

I don't know that you know this, but on a regular basis, we have people cycling in and out of our worship team that aren't from our church.

They are from other churches.

Sometimes they're from here at Westmore, sometimes from Norman Bible, from all over the place, and they come and partner with us, and we're just so blessed.

Blessed to be in this facility and blessed to have others who share the like precious faith, as they used to say in Yeshua, in Jesus.

Well, we're going to dive right in this morning.

We're continuing in Galatians chapter 5 as we are looking at the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

And as has already been mentioned, we're going to be looking at the fruit of kindness and goodness.

And you might think, "Well, that's a fun sermon.

That's pretty easy."

But I got to be honest with you, not so much.

Because this message on kindness and goodness requires that the preacher do what he's preaching about, to be kind and good in the addressing of a topic.

But sometimes there are things that we need to say about kindness and goodness that on the surface might not actually sound so kind.

So it's kind of a challenge to do kindness and do goodness while preaching about it and not violate the very topic you're talking about.

You say, "Well, Brent, what in the world do you need to say about kindness and goodness that could possibly sound unkind?"

Well, let me illustrate it for you.

Tanya and I own a Holy Land Tour Company, newcovenanttours.com.

Anyway, did he just do that?

Wow.

Was that a...

Wow, how brazen.

Anyway, we haven't been over there too much recently, but we've led many, many tours over there.

And the very first morning of every tour, the very first day, we go to Caesarea Maritime, which is Caesarea on the Mediterranean Sea, and it's at that very first site that I get the revelation of what type of group I have.

We start in the amphitheater, and we enjoy the beautiful acoustics.

We go out through the archaeological garden.

Then we make our way down to the remnants of Herod's Palace, where we think Paul was held captive.

This is the very city that Paul set sail to Rome from.

We talk about all these biblical sites, and then we descend down closer to the water, where we traverse the length of a hippodrome.

Now, a hippodrome is a massive stadium, oblong stadium, where they did horse chariot races.

Hippos is the Greek word for horse.

A hippopotamus is a river horse, all right?

A little pause for vocabulary.

Anyway, so this hippodrome is huge, and it's right down where the waters of the Mediterranean come, and they break right up against the outer wall of it.

And so there's nothing--we don't really stop and do any kind of teaching on that section of the walk.

And I know this is my moment where I figure out what type of group I have.

We casually stroll.

We enjoy the seashells.

We enjoy the water.

And when I get to the other side, then I know.

I look back.

And if the group is at least halfway through the hippodrome with me, I know, okay, this is gonna work.

Many times, I look back, and there's still-- some of them are dawdling and taking pictures and looking around, and they haven't even begun to traverse the length of the hippodrome.

And then I have this oi-vei moment, because it's at that moment that I understand exactly what kind of group it's going to be, and then I am presented with this challenge.

Sometimes there are senior adults in this group.

These are all believers.

And somehow, I have to find a way to be good and kind, and at the same time, tell them, "For the love of all that's holy, pick up the pace."

I mean--sorry.

What I mean is, we have lots of blessed things to see today, so let's make sure that we keep pace.

Now, that's what's coming out my mouth.

In my mind, I'm going, "Chick-chock, chick-chock," which is Hebrew for "Pick it up, please."

Sometimes when you look back, you realize that people are falling behind.

They're not keeping pace.

And what people in a tour group like that don't realize is that when they don't keep pace, it doesn't just affect them, it affects everybody else in the group and what they're going to get to see.

Kind of like the body of Christ.

Paul said in Galatians 5:25, "If we live by the Spirit, let us also dawdle in the Spirit."

No.

"Let us also get distracted."

No.

"Let us also wander aimlessly."

I literally had a lady that went without her husband one time, and when we came back, I told him, "She's never going to Israel without you again because I'm going to have to put a leash on her."

If we live by the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit.

Let us keep pace in the Spirit.

And I need y'all to hear me, because this may not sound so kind, but some of y'all... some of y'all need to pick up the pace.

In Jesus' name.

Let's pray.

Abba, Father, I come to you. (speaking in Hebrew) In the name of Jesus the Christ, the anointed one, the King, our Master, who ascended to heaven and poured forth the Holy Spirit within us so that we would never walk alone again.

Father, my prayer today is that you would reveal in our hearts the significance of keeping pace with your Spirit in kindness and goodness.

For your glory, in Yeshua's name, amen.

Now again, of all the fruits of the Spirit, quite honestly, these two, kindness and goodness, seems to be the ones that shouldn't be the most difficult for us.

But I kind of want to lay out a premise for you this morning, just for you to think about.

Kindness and goodness are what I'd like for you to think about in the context of being pace setters.

If you want to check yourself, if you want to know that you are keeping pace with what the Holy Spirit is trying to do in your life, these two topics are very, very significant.

And as we get on into this, you're going to find out why.

And as important as they are, the sad tragedy is that many times, these are the two fruits of the Spirit that we struggle to find sometimes in the body of Christ.

Sometimes we struggle to find kindness and goodness in people who have been walking with the Lord for years and years and years, and yet they are still known for being mean and embittered and brutal in how they treat people.

You need to check your pace.

Because if we're walking in the Holy Spirit and partaking of the fruit of the Spirit, we should be seeing kindness and goodness.

And the cool thing about this is, or one of the things that's frustrating about this is that so many times, as long as life is good and easy, we find it easy to be kind and good.

But since we are in Christ, and Christ is now in us by the presence of the Holy Spirit, our kindness and goodness is no longer dictated by our circumstance, meaning what we experience out here in the world, it is dictated by who is in us, the Holy Spirit.

And if we suddenly lose kindness and goodness in our walk, well, it's time to check your pace.

It's time to find out if you're really walking in the Holy Spirit, or you're just kind of back here doing your own thing.

The fruit of the Spirit manifests and drives us because of where we find ourselves in Christ and Christ in us, and that literally changes everything.

So this morning, I want to show you just how transformational the presence of the Holy Spirit is in regard to these two fruits.

And this may surprise you, and this may irritate you.

Turn with me to Psalms 14.

David, who I'm realizing is probably one of the biggest New Testament prophets, meaning the New Testament probably quotes him more than any other Old Testament prophet.

Psalms 14, David writes, "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.

They are corrupt.

They have committed abominable deeds.

There is no one who does good.

The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.

They have all turned aside.

Together they have become corrupt.

There is no one who does good, not even one.'"

Well, that doesn't sound very good.

I wish that we could dismiss this as a description that has been penned by an embittered man, a jilted soul.

I wish we could say that David penned these words, and it falls into the category of hyperbole.

But David is writing from God's perspective.

And as he looks down on this earth, he looks for somebody who is truly, genuinely, always engaged in seeking God.

He's looking for that heart that wants to do the things that God does and be the character of God.

And David says that God looks down and says, "He can't find one."

Well, that's kind of discouraging.

To show you just how important this particular psalm is, it's written in Psalm 14, which is in the first book of Psalms.

Some of you may not know there are actually five book of Psalms.

In the second section, the second book of Psalms, this psalm is repeated.

Now, that tells you right off the bat, this is a pretty significant piece of Scripture.

I know that also because the apostle Paul picks it up and uses it to explain some very intense things in Romans chapter 3.

In Romans 1 through 3, Paul is explaining to the Jewish believers in Rome God's plan for the inclusion of the nations.

He's trying to explain and trying to help them understand that his ministry is to the Yecataim, the obedience of the nations by faith.

This is what was prophesied in Genesis 49, 10.

His ministry is literally fulfilling what God said he was going to do.

And he's trying to help them understand that, but they're struggling with how can the Gentiles have a place in this kingdom when they didn't even have the Torah, when they didn't even have the instructions in righteousness.

And it ultimately leads to a question that he is posing to them in Romans 3, 9.

He says, "What then?

Are we," and by we he means the Jewish believers, "Are we better than they, the Gentiles?"

And he answers his question, "Not at all, for we have already charged that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin, as it is written."

And then Paul begins to quote where it is written.

"There is none righteous, not even one.

There is none who understands.

There is none who seeks after God, for all have turned aside together and they have become useless.

There is none who does good.

There is not even one."

When Paul wants to make his case to the Romans, the Jewish people in Rome, who I believe is the primary audience for the book, he's helping them understand that Jews and Gentiles are alike under sin.

And when he goes to prove that, he goes to the Psalm 14, he goes to the Psalm that gets repeated, and in Romans he continues quoting that Psalm.

Paul is using the pen of King David to make a critical point for both Jews and Gentiles.

First, he is reaffirming what David has said regarding humanity's corruption to a state of uselessness.

And that's a very important word, that word useless.

That humanity has become so depraved, so corrupt in its behavior that they have literally become useless when it comes to the pursuit of righteousness.

Paul then makes a critical point based on what David has written.

Now listen to what he says.

Romans 3, verses 19 and 20.

"Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God, because by the works of the law no flesh will be justified," also called declared righteous, "in his sight, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin."

First of all, let me just point out that Paul knows full well he is just quoted from the Psalms, not the first five books of the Old Testament.

And he calls it the law.

Why?

Because that's absolutely standard in Judaism.

Okay, there's nothing unusual about that.

That's how they perceive it.

They use the word Torah, they use the word law to be encompassing not only of the law, but also the prophets.

So Paul is building a case for the Jewish believers to understand that if they, as those who were under the law, fall into the same description as those who were not under the law, how in the world can they boast and see themselves as being better than the Gentiles?

Because David didn't write about the Gentiles.

He was writing about all people.

And Paul is using David to make this point, "We are all under sin."

Now I want to ask you some questions, a question that's going to be kind of hard to deal with.

If the law was going to change that terrible description of humanity's depravity, then why hasn't it happened?

If the law was the means by which humanity was going to go from "There's no one good, not even one," to a better description, why hadn't it happened?

Because that wasn't the role of the Torah.

Paul says the law speaks to those who are under the law.

And so why does he say that?

He's kind of taking away an argument.

"Oh, well, he was taught-- "David was writing about the Gentiles."

Paul says, "No, he wasn't.

"He was writing about us."

And the description is that God looks down at the people who were given the commandments of righteousness, the instructions in righteousness, and with all the great men and women of faith, he still can't find one whose heart is totally set on seeking God and doing good in righteousness.

That's kind of discouraging.

Paul goes on.

Paul is going to explain that a righteousness-- he's going to explain a righteousness that would change that description.

Listen to how it happens.

Verse 21, "But now," what does that mean?

That's the way it was, but now there's a new reality.

Something has changed, but now apart from the law, not antagonistic to the law, but distinct from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested.

Can we just stop for a second and think about what that means?

The righteousness of God has been manifested in Christ Jesus.

Do you realize what he's saying there?

That everything you want to know about the loving, kind, and good, and holy, and generous God has been revealed.

The righteousness of God has been revealed in Jesus.

And by the way, the Torah told you that was going to happen.

Hey, Brent.

I know why that happened.

I know why that happened, because I just blurted out when Jesus was coming back, and he said, "I'm not allowed to say that."

Now, for those of you who are humorously challenged, send your complaints to Chris@HebraicFamily.com.

That door swings both ways, my brother.

Being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for all those who believe.

For there is no distinction for all who sin and fall short of the glory of God being justified, declared righteous as a gift by his grace, which is his loving kindness, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.

Paul uses David's prophetic description of the absence of those who are doing good, which means that no one is doing real righteousness, not even those who are under the law.

I mean, this is an amazing thing for him to say.

Now, if that is true of the Jewish people, how much more true is it of the nations who didn't have the righteous instructions of God?

I mean, if that description is apropos and fitting for those who had it, and God couldn't find that heart, that soul, that mind that was totally sold out to God, how much more is that true of what he finds in the nations?

But Paul says, but now, there is a manifestation of God's righteousness that changes all of that.

In fact, the change is so dramatic, this blows my mind, the change is so dramatic that God even planned for a people who would accept his son and be found in him, he planned for them to do righteousness by doing good and doing kindness.

God was so sure of the transformational power of what was gonna happen with those who received Jesus, and Jesus was received in them, that it was gonna be so transformational that it was gonna change that description from those who weren't doing good.

He was so sure that Jesus being in us would cause us to do good that he planned some of those works in advance.

That blows my mind.

Paul wrote in Ephesians 2.10, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."

If you are led by the spirit, then let us walk in the spirit.

Now, how are you gonna fulfill, how are you going to do the righteousness, how are you going to do the good deeds that have been prepared for us to be done if we are not walking in the spirit or keeping pace with the spirit?

Do you understand?

I mean, to use the illustration, I sometimes feel, and I'm talking about you, and you, that I sometimes wonder if Jesus kind of stops and he looks back and goes, "For the love."

We look like people just wandering around, "Oh, look, ooh, that's pretty.

Honey, honey, get me over here."

We're distracted, and we're not keeping pace.

You know, of all the fruits of the spirit, if you've been walking in Jesus and you're still a mean-spirited person, you need to start picking up the pace.

In Jesus' name.

Do you understand the magnitude of the difference the gospel makes?

God goes from lamenting that no one even seeks God, no one even does genuine good, not even those who are under the law, to preparing works of righteousness for a people whose lives would be utterly transformed by his presence in us.

Wow.

When I read those texts, I have to check my pace.

I have to look at my life and ask, those circumstances that I allow to move me out of kindness and out of goodness, that's not keeping pace with the Holy Spirit.

Now, if you've ever had any of those moments, and I'm sure no one in here has, this isn't to shame you.

Truth doesn't come to shame you, it comes to equip you.

And hard questions are for our benefit, not our shame.

It's not enough for the preacher to look back and go, "Man, you are really lagging behind."

Because to be honest, I need to be looking at me, not you.

Only you can really be honest enough with yourself to know where that is.

Is the gospel making that profound difference in your life?

If it's not, may I humbly and kindly just tell you, you're not keeping pace with the Holy Spirit.

You sing about him, you're happy that he's there, but there is a moment of submission to his presence that's not happening.

Christ in us and us in Christ, that's what makes the difference.

So very quickly, let's just look at these two fruits.

The fruit of kindness.

David wrote that because of the corruption, people became useless.

This is the meaning of the words used by David and quoted by Paul.

That's perfect.

Because it fits the definition of the Greek word that Paul is using for kindness.

The word that Paul uses for kindness means useful and profitable.

What did God say?

What did David pin in Psalm 14?

That people had become so corrupt, they had become worthlessly corrupt.

Uselessly corrupt.

And now Paul uses a word for kindness that literally means that he is telling us the fruit of the Spirit is useful kindness.

Useful means it is applied appropriately in the moment, in every circumstance.

See, I know most of us are not mean people.

But our kindness isn't useful if it's only there when the circumstances are easy.

Useful kindness is kindness that manifests not just when it's easy to be kind, but when it's tough.

When somebody else has the audacity to think they're right and I'm wrong.

Please.

Useful kindness controls what your little fingers put out on the internet.

I have written some of the most potent, powerful, political analysis, and then hit delete.

Because kindness is more important than me making my political point.

See, that's the transformation that's supposed to be taking place within us.

From useless corruption to useful kindness.

But when we think of God's kindness, we're thinking about his grace.

Because grace, the word hesed, is literally his loving kindness.

So how does God's loving kindness, how is it useful and not useless?

God's loving kindness didn't wait for us to figure out our circumstance was bad.

When we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Before the foundation of the world, the Lamb was-- God was ready to move to be kind even when he-- I mean, can you imagine this?

Jesus looks down and he says, you know, the Father says, "There's not one.

There's not even one.

Even the people that I rescued from Egypt, made my treasured possession, gave my instruction, not even among them."

And Jesus says, "Yeah, let's smite them."

No, he didn't.

He came to rescue them.

That's kindness.

There are a lot of Christians who are basically kind, but they're not useful kind.

They're not intentional kind.

Let me ask just a question for the sake of application.

If God took all this time planning in advance to do useful kindness, do we?

I seldom--and this is--I'm not bragging about this.

It's just a way that I've tried to apply it in my own life is that I don't carry cash.

I mean, you know, I just don't.

And that's fine until I pull up to the stoplight.

And I can't--do you take American Express?

No.

If I want to be ready to do useful kindness, if I want to be ready to do goodness, I have to spend some time preparing to do that.

So I try to make sure I have some cash in my vehicle.

So when I'm led to do that, I'm ready to do that.

That's just a small example.

Those people in your life, those EGR people, extra grace required, I shouldn't have told you that.

That's a pastor's code and we keep it to ourselves.

Oh, EGR, gotcha.

Now you're all going home going, "Do you think we're in EGR?"

Don't ask me.

Chris will tell you.

He'll just, "Oh, yeah, that's you."

I'll just say, "Go talk to Chris."

What do you do to plan for that person?

Knowing that person is going to get under your nerves.

It's not if.

It's just how and when.

What are you doing in advance?

The fruit of the Spirit is useful kindness.

It's also the fruit of goodness.

Goodness is doing righteousness.

Now I've shared this with you before, but I like to share it over and over again because I want it to stick in.

The thing that makes something good, and God said there was evening and morning and it was good.

What do you mean by that?

Good is the definition of something that fulfills the purpose of God.

It fulfills its destiny.

It fulfills its purpose for creation.

If it doesn't do that, it's not good.

All right?

The Bible says that God created evil.

He didn't create sin.

He created evil.

He created the opposite opportunity to do something different.

And evil is not always sinful.

Evil can be anything that distracts or impedes us from moving towards the good.

There's a lot of good in your life that is as evil as the day is long.

Hobbies, television shows, sports, things that are not inherently wicked, evil, sinful, but they have become a distraction from the purpose of God being fulfilled in your life.

So you understand the definition of good and evil.

Our words either move people towards the good or they move people towards evil.

And you never move someone towards the good if you're not being kind.

It's just that simple.

Unkind words impede somebody else from moving towards the purpose of God.

It devalues them.

It demeans them.

It stops them in their tracks.

That's why we're called to be kind.

Now, the interesting thing about this word for goodness is that it's only found in the New Testament.

And it's found four times, once, in four different letters of Paul.

It so far has not been found in any other Greek documents.

It hasn't been found in the great novels, the great writings.

It's not there.

That is a dead giveaway that Paul is trying to communicate a Hebraic words truth that doesn't have a good Greek equivalent.

And so, he just makes one up.

Now, at least that's what we can assume until they find one.

And this is the word goodness.

But you say, "Well, Brent, but we can turn to the Old Testament."

Yeah, we can turn to the 23rd Psalm because it says, "Surely goodness and loving kindness, mercy, shall follow me all the days of my life."

Actually, it says that goodness, tov, and hesed, loving kindness, shall pursue me all the days of my life.

Do you remember what Jesus said?

That the wicked, the evil, will pursue us to persecute us.

In fact, the word for persecution literally means to pursue us.

And we talked about this when we studied the gifts of the Spirit.

That Paul uses this same word and says that we are to pursue the gifts of the Spirit.

David wrote that goodness and loving kindness would pursue those who follow the good shepherd.

Now, I don't know about you, but none of those descriptions of pursued envision a slow, distracted doddle.

I mean, when evil wants to come after me, it is laser focused.

When Paul tells us to pursue the gifts of the Spirit, he says we are to pursue it, to overtake it.

What would you think he would say about the gifts of the Spirit?

Same thing, the fruits of the Spirit.

There's nothing about how that is described that describes a slow pace.

And that's why I'm saying to you today that kindness and goodness are a good way to check our pace.

Because if kindness and goodness of all the fruits of the Spirit, if the presence of God's goodness in our heart hasn't changed us from being mean-spirited, foul-mouthed people, well, you need to check your pace.

A couple areas to address before we close.

As a new covenant believer in Messiah Yeshua, some of us are using the Torah in an evil manner.

Uh-oh.

What do I mean?

Remember that evil isn't always sinful.

It can be anything, even the Torah, if it keeps me from arriving where the Torah always wanted me to go.

If my infatuation with the instructions in righteousness keep me from arriving to the manifestation of righteousness, stop patting yourself on the back about what you know about the Torah.

Because the Torah was saying, "That guy, go after him."

Check your pace.

Listen to what our Messiah King said in John 5, 39-40.

He said, "You search the Scriptures."

Let's stop right there.

What Scriptures was Jesus talking about?

There was no Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

They were all standing beside him.

They didn't even know what to write yet.

He's talking about the Torah.

He's talking about the Nevi'im.

He's talking about the Ketuvim.

He's talking about the law, the writings, and the prophets.

He says, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life.

It is in these that they testify about me, but you are unwilling to come to me so that you may have life."

Man, Jesus is bashing the Torah.

No, he's not.

You are.

When you use the Torah to not arrive at where the Torah told you to go, you're the one messing up.

The formula is repeated over and over again.

I am in Christ.

He is in me by the presence of the Holy Spirit.

And that is the pathway for the righteousness of God to manifest in me.

That righteousness that changes the before and the after.

From no one is seeking God to people that God knew would seek him in such a way.

He planned in advance righteous, goodness, kind acts to do.

And some of us haven't even gotten there yet.

When do we catch up?

Now, I'm not asking this question just of you.

In every area of our lives, there are distractions.

There are moments of disconnections.

And the Lord doesn't come.

God is, say it with me, slow to anger.

He's even slow to anger about you when you get angry.

That's good news.

He's even patient with you when you're impatient.

That's even better news.

And he still shows loving kindness and goodness to you when you get distracted and forget to keep pace.

But we have to be honest and ask ourselves, when do we get there?

That generation that searched the scriptures more than any generation before it was probably one of the most mean-spirited, unkind generations to ever live.

Listen to what Jesus says.

But the Pharisees, the religious leaders of that day, and the scribes, the experts in the law, rejected God's purpose for themselves, having not been baptized by John the Baptist.

What is the definition of good?

That which fulfills the purpose for which it was created.

Jesus says of the Pharisees and the scribes, they rejected the good.

And they became extremely unkind.

They rejected the good they could have been.

They were the experts in the law, the scriptures, and the prophets.

They could have done good by recognizing John's baptism as a preparation for the arrival of the Messiah.

But they didn't, and so they rejected the good, and the good they could have done.

Guys, if you want to know how to be good, how to do good, submit yourself to the purpose of God.

What did the law point you to?

What did the prophets tell you was coming?

The manifestation of God's righteousness, and you can be in Him, and He will be in you.

So, every sermon needs to be somewhat practical.

Hey, husbands, let's talk for a minute.

Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church.

Oh, you remember how Christ loved the church.

He came down and said, "I'm the boss.

Everybody shut up and listen to me.

I don't care what you want for dinner.

We're having fish and bread.

We're going to do it my way.

And by the way, I'm being biblical.

No, you're being a bully.

When everything in your household has to please you, you're not being biblical.

You're being a bully.

May I quote, quote my father, "Knock it off."

I mean, let's consider why that's not a good thing to do.

Guys, we watched a generation rediscover the value of the revelation of the law, and we watched them become literally Bible bullies.

And we did a ton of damage.

And if what you think you discovered in the Torah has turned you into a bully, you haven't discovered anything in the Torah, and you sure haven't discovered Jesus.

Because Jesus didn't come--what did He say?

He told His disciples, "Don't you lord it over people the way the Gentiles lord over things."

Husbands, don't you lord your position as the head of the household over your family?

If everybody has to eat what you only like to eat, you know what?

I don't want to spend $5, $6, $7 on a Foo Foo coffee when I can go to McDonald's and get my 75-cent senior discount coffee for 75 cents.

A boom.

There are benefits.

But if it makes my bride happy, if I get to be kind and good to her, even though it blows my need to be, you know, frugal and, you know-- get over yourself, dads, husbands.

If kindness and goodness isn't in your home, you need to catch up, and I'm not backing down on that one.

That's the goodest thing I can say to you.

Well, the siren's going off so the worship team can come back.

That's actually calling the police.

Brent just made people mad.

Get down there now.

Run to your shelters.

Guys, all I'm trying to say, and it applies to all of us wives as well, kindness and goodness, if we're not manifesting that, if we're somehow using--misusing something we found in the righteous Scriptures of God to justify being a bully, being verbally abusive, I don't mean to be judgmental, but you haven't even started the walk yet because the transformational presence of the Holy Spirit is going to change that in the person who is pursuing the Holy Spirit.

And that can happen right now.

That doesn't mean, "Oh, yeah, one of these days I'm going to catch up with kindness and goodness."

No, it means right now you can repent in your heart and say, "Lord, I know I'm a born-again believer.

I know I'm safe, but I haven't been listening to the Holy Spirit.

I've been listening to my own opinion, and I need you to help me get control of my heart, my mind, and my mouth."

Wives, some of you need to repent to your husbands.

Husbands, some of you need to repent to your wives, and some of you all need to repent to your children.

I know they can push you to the limits.

You be firm, you be fair, you be kind, and do goodness to your kids.

And that doesn't mean that you can't show frustration, but don't lapse into anger and sin.

We're a people, we're a church, that we love the Torah.

We love the revelation of the law and the prophets and the writings.

Oh, my goodness, the writings.

David, wow.

We're a people who have encountered the manifest righteousness of God in Jesus, in Yeshua.

As individuals, we have to keep pace with the Spirit.

And kindness and goodness, they're just some really quick ways to test our pace.

But as a congregation, we want to be a congregation that is a manifestation of goodness and kindness.

We want people to know that they'll be loved here.

You know what that means?

Stop waiting for someone to come greet you and go greet somebody else.

Be aware of who's here.

Be aware of how you can help.

Be aware of when you get up from this place, that you have the power of life and death to speak encouragement.

There are people in this room right now who come in from a week of being brutalized by other people who aren't so kind and aren't so good.

We go out to a restaurant on a regular basis.

It's not my choice.

There's a young man that stands at the greeter counter.

And you take one look at him and you know he's all kinds of identity confused.

I make it my goal every time we go to say something to him, to engage him, to be kind.

I know that there's just a whole heap of mess going on in that young man's life.

But he needs somebody to be good and kind.

Not to say, "I have a verse about that in Leviticus."

Yeah, you do.

And it's true.

But so is this.

Be ye kind one to another.

If we live by the Spirit, let's keep up with the Spirit.

Be kind and be good.