Preacher: Josh White

Well Father’s Day. It’s a big day in this country not nearly as big as Mother’s Day Would you all agree with that mothers are like Yeah of course I had a conversation with someone who we are today that Mother’s Day is a little promoted a little more and I think rightfully so mothers do a little bit more work than fathers typically But Father’s Day is one of those those holidays where some of you.

It might not be a good day for you whether it’s because you did not have a good relationship with your father or you don’t know your father or he’s no longer here so Father’s Day can be good for some and not so good for others but I hope for those of you that are here today that it is hopefully that it would be and that’s also a day when all of us can maybe stop and reflect on how we are like our parents and because this is Father’s Day specifically like our fathers I saw a picture of myself recently and the first thing I thought was hey what’s my dad know that’s me just kind of happens from time to time but now that I’m a father and I look at my kids and I know that they’re growing up to be kind of like their parents in some way there are ways in which I hope they are like me and some ways that I hope that they’re not like me they’re the everyone can probably relate to that using one example and I know this isn’t a very serious example but I’m a typical guy and I have a few sports teams that I like and so I want my kids to like the sports teams that I like right thing most dads are probably like that as well and then I also think there’s ways in which I hope that they’re not like me or at least I hope that they’re better than me and parents and you kind of wish that for your kids you want them to be better than you at certain things like for instance a couple subjects that I wasn’t the best at math when you go beyond just simple addition subtraction multiplication division when you get into an algebra trigonometry I never was really interested in that but I’ve always hoped that my kids would be better than me at math and I think the least two of them are. Going to be better than me and then even was spelling I’m not the best speller Teresa fog you will attest to that.

And I really rely heavily on auto checker spell check and then I have one kid who won the spelling bee in the fourth grade of the entire school so we have at least one good speller but. You know Dad’s today maybe as you’re thinking about your kids you’re thinking how are your kids like you and in what ways do you want them to be like you and maybe what ways do you not want them to be like you while this last week last Sunday we finished up on the fruit of the spirit and this is kind of ironic because the fruit of the Spirit is literally about our heavenly Father molding us and shaping us to be like him that’s what the fruit of the Spirit is the Holy Spirit helping us become more like our Heavenly Father and this is what Paul’s desire is for everyone that he wrote any letter to and he says this explicitly in the book of Galatians I want you to open your your Bibles to the book of Galatians right now go to Chapter five but first in chapter four Paul says this new kind of see is heart for the people of glacier He says My little children for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth and tell the Christ is formed in you and so this is what Paul wants to see happen in the lives of these people in Glacier he wants to see them be like Christ and become like their hope their Lord and Savior Well as we’ve gone through the fruit of the spirit you know I hope over these last several years several weeks that we’ve done these last nine weeks that all of us are really seriously considering this this very special work of God in our lives we’re where we seriously consider each of these qualities of the fruit of the spirit and we ask yourself Are we allowing the Holy Spirit to have control of my life my allowing. The Holy Spirit to help me become more loving peaceful patient kind and all of those things well today we’re going to finish Chapter five and yesterday I was just I was just thinking we’ve been in Chapter five a really long time I had to go look it out we’ve been in Chapter five since March fourth we’ve been here for sixteen weeks that also includes Palm Sunday Easter immemorial day and if you do go through a chapter you go through a word by word it kind of slows things down but today we are going to finish Chapter five we’ll get into Chapter six eventually you probably saw in the bulletins of the bulletin that my family and I were going to be on vacation for the next three Sundays and so next Sunday Steve McDonald will be preaching and in the first two Sundays in July Pastor Michael be preaching so pray for those guys as they are preparing to go out to bring the word the next couple Sundays but let’s go ahead and read Galatians chapter five and we’ll start in verse twenty two and we’ll just read through the rest of this chapter. Five twenty two.

Says but the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control against such things there is no law and those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit let us also keep in step with the Spirit let us not become conceded provoking one another envying one another you know I didn’t plan this but I’m glad that I’m ending this on a Father’s Day because these last couple verses can be viewed as another way that Paul is teaching us how to be more like our heavenly Father specifically with the fruit of the Spirit and so what I want us to do today is to use these last couple of verses in chapter five and look at them from that perspective there are there are sort of helpful aids that Paul uses to help us become more like our father and the First Aid that Paul gives us. At the end of verse twenty three after he lists off the fruit of the Spirit So look at again in verse twenty three Paul says last couple of the fruit the Spirit says is gentleness self-control and then he says this very interesting phrase after listening the furthest spirit he says against such things there is no law and we’ll look at that in a second but what Paul is teaching us here is to be like our father we need to focus on who we are not what we do we need to focus on who we are as God’s children not the specifics of the law now this is kind of an interesting phrase where Paul says against such things there is no law and if you read that through the first time we might want to say well of course there is no law why would there be a law against being a loving person why would there be a law against being patient or kind or gentle What is Paul just stating something that is just just blatantly obvious Well there’s a couple things that we need to understand when looking at this verse first thing is we need to remember that the galatians were obsessed with the law I know it’s been a long time since we’ve looked at Chapters one through four but remember the glacial were under the impression because of the Judaizing years that if you followed the law you could earn your own salvation and so here he saying again such things there is no law or concerning or regarding such things there is no law and the second thing and I don’t think anyone here would have any idea that this is true I didn’t until I looked at the commentary but Paul says this because he’s probably quoting Aristotle. He’s probably quoting Aristotle Aristotle Paul is done this before he’s quoted other modern day philosophers and he’s kind of brought that into Scripture we’re probably not familiar with the writings of Aristotle Aristotle wrote a lot about ethics and virtues but what Paul is trying to say here is that in relation or connection to these qualities of the fruit of the spirit. There is no law or are these qualities are character virtues and you can’t legislate them into to legislate people to have these behaviors people will either be these things because of who they are or not because some law is been given. To make them be that way I wish that we could legislate our children to behave a certain way just by telling them right parents don’t you wish to be true but that’s not how it works you can’t say the law says Be Loving be kind be all these things and it works that way and so a Polish trying to teach them is this is who you are because you are a child of God And so there is no law that it can possibly legislate you into acting this way and so what Paul is trying to get us to do is to get our eyes on the Holy Spirit and on Christ and let the Holy Spirit transform us into His image we will all become what we are focused on I think we all know that’s true and if we all focus on rules then at best what we might become is really good rule followers but instead what Paul is trying to get us to do is to focus on Jesus Christ and if we focus on Christ then the fruit of the Spirit will be evident in our lives and so that’s Paul’s goal and again that’s why he wrote in glaciers for nineteen my little children for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you so this is the first helpful aid that Paul gives us to help us be more like our heavenly Father response to focus on who we are not what we’re supposed to do well the next helpful aid is verse twenty four and in order for us to be like her heavenly father we need to learn how to say no to the flesh we need to learn to tell ourselves no when it comes to dealing with matters of the flesh like a verse twenty four. Burst. Twenty four says.

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires I think all of us know what crucify means but the actual murder word means to stake or to drive something down or to put something to death and obviously this is a reference to the death of Christ and so when Paul says that our flesh has been crucified he is saying that its power has been destroyed the power of the sinful nature has been destroyed by Christ death and maybe the most important part of this word that we see here in this passage is that by saying it was crucified it’s in the Eris tense or meaning it’s the past tense this is something that has already taken place in the past which means that sin is no longer your master or mine it’s not our master anymore Christ has crucified it’s power over us and in thinking about this we need to recognize as polity Jesus elsewhere the fact that you and I have no a bondage to the to the flesh is just a simple act of God’s grace God is being gracious to us and that the the crucifixion of Jesus Christ pays for our sins and it also destroys the power of sin in our life but there’s also something wonderful about grace more wonderful about grace and that is this not only does Grace save us but it also teaches us how to live godly lives what I want you to do I want you to churn in your Bibles to Titus chapter two.

Titus chapter two and we’ll look beginning in verse eleven.

This is a great passage that teaches us a little bit about the grace of God. The goes beyond just salvation so Titus Chapter Two beginning in verse eleven

Titus Chapter Two beginning in verse eleven it says. For the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation for all people and if that was enough of that and it ended right there that would be great but Grace does more than just saving us from our sins look at verse twelve training us to Reno and godliness and worldly passions and to live self controlled upright and godly lives in the present age waiting for our blessing the hope the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ and so here in verse eleven Paul says the Grace appeared Jesus came he died on the cross and saved us from our sins but then Grace also continues on a daily basis to train us to remain godliness and godliness and worldly passions to renounce is something to do is to deny or to refuse it teaches us to say No God’s grace teaches you and me to say no and sometimes we need to be told no right you know Mike is doing a parenting class in gone over this a few times what happens to a child if they grow up the first several years of their life when they’re never told no that’s kind of a scary thought isn’t it they learn they train themselves that if there’s any desire anything that they want no one will ever tell them no so they run after it wholeheartedly and so sometimes Every took a lot of times children are needed to be told no do not fulfill that passion and so God’s grace teaches us how to say No specifically from the things that God a saved us from and so practically speaking we can look at it this way. God’s grace teaches us that there are certain places that you and I should not go into. Right. I have an example of that when when we first moved here back in two thousand and six. It’s probably just the first two or three weeks that we were here and I remember I was in the car and I just had lunch with a board member and we went to the Deer Valley Airport which is right over there and I got my bearings in this church a little better than I knew you hills and we’re going down Deer Valley Road Back at thirty fifth Avenue and we’re going to go back to the church and I saw that big white castle building and I seventeen and your value and I thought hey cool because the last time I saw a building like that it was in Florida where they have those medieval times where it’s a dinner and like a play and so I saw that the big castle building and I had I said to this board member said Hey look they have one of those here I can maybe take my family for a nice night and when you look at me he goes No it’s not that kind of place it’s an adult place I go oh I’m so glad I know that now I’m sure I would have figured it out before but now that I know about places that’s where God’s Grace says that’s a place that you you don’t go to you say No God’s grace also teaches us that there are things that you and I should not look at whether we’re seeking them out or not we turn our eyes away we do not look at them God’s grace teaches us that there are certain relationships that you and I should not pursue there are certain people that you should not pursue a friendship with because they are going to lead you astray or maybe there are certain business partnerships that you should not pursue or maybe there are certain romantic relationships that you should not pursue.

God’s grace teaches us that there are also words that we should not allowed to pass through our lips.

Before this word that you have conjured up in your mind gets through your mouth you need to ask yourself the question is this something that’s going to build someone up or is this going to be something that’s going to tear someone else down God’s grace teaches us that there are certain words that should not pass our lips God’s grace teaches us of. There are certain conversations that we should not join in. If you hear someone gossiping about another person in your flesh might be saying oh I want to get in on this because I have something to add to the conversation God’s grace teaches you that that’s not right that’s not appropriate to say no to those things God’s grace teaches us that there are certain feelings that I should rebuke or suppress just because you feel something or have a certain desire it does not mean that you are automatically supposed to fulfill it because some of those desires and feelings as real as they are can be sinful and of the flesh and there are God’s grace teaches us that there are certain attitudes towards others that I should not hold on to.

How many of you have ever been bitter or resentful or angry with another person for years and years and years and it just made you sick and the other person’s probably just doing fine.

God’s grace teaches us to say no to the flesh again look at Titus if you’re still in Titus Titus chapter two verse eleven and twelve it says for the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation for all people training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self controlled upright and godly lives in the present age and so this is when we recognize that crisis called us to a joyful and deliberate exercise of self discipline and self control in our lives will finally there is one more healthful aid that Paul gives us to help us be more like our Heavenly Father and that is this we need to be tuned in to his voice we have to be attentive to the voice of God specifically through the Holy Spirit you know one of the things that I always find amazing and I’ve seen it happen in church dozens and dozens of times there might be twenty kids back in the nursery and. And twenty parents out in the Sunday school class or whatever it is and if one child screams like bloody murder.

Twenty moms don’t stand up you know how many stand up and run one Mum The long as you know the their child’s cry and they will hear it they could recognise it amongst a whole bunch of other children dads kind of fifty fifty you know they might be able to I guess just try to tune it all out you know that’s what they try to do but moms are able to tune in and they can hear and recognize the voice of their children well God has placed within us the Holy Spirit to teach us and to guide us and so we must be tuned in to the Holy Spirit’s voice and be able to tune out all the other voices that are trying to get our attention read verse twenty five with me in Chapter five

verse twenty five says.

If we live by the Spirit let us also keep in step with the spirit. And so the way that Paul presents this sentence is very straightforward he gives us a truth and then a practice the truth is we live by the Spirit God has placed His Spirit within us we are alive by the Holy Spirit so if that’s true then latest Let us keep in step with the spirit and the word the Paul uses for keep in step story Echo is associated with military drills this is kind of a military word and it means to proceed in a row as the march of a soldier and so he’s saying keep in step because you are in the ranks and the commander is giving you the orders now I was never in the military but I’ve seen this many of you some of you have probably been in the military and if a military unit is marching who should each of the soldiers be listening to.

Their Nic their neighbor you know should they be texting on their phone and I’ve got actually really funny to see a soldier texting their phone while their commander is barking out orders I don’t think that would ever happen but they should be tuned in to their commander because their commander is trying to get the entire unit from one place to another and he’s trying to get them there to gather and what God is trying to do to us as members of the Body of Christ is to get all of us from immaturity to maturity and get us there together and so that means we need to be in tune with the voice of the Holy Spirit I want you to turn over so you fusions chapter four.

If Chapter four

if he’s in chapter four. Beginning in verse eleven.

And in this passage we even read this this morning in the science or class for those of view that were there will just read just a portion of this and in this passage Paul is talking about the unity and the maturity of the Body of Christ and how he gave specific gifts to the Body of Christ for specific reasons but then he says something very specific and very important right there in the middle school ahead Rediffusion chapter four beginning in verse eleven.

Efficiency for love and says. And he gave the apostles the prophets the Evangelists the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of the Ministry for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the face and of the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ and this verse is the most important one for this point and the reason for all of that is this verse fourteen so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine by human cunning by craftiness in deceitful schemes rather speaking the truth in love we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into Christ but Verse fourteen is so important if we don’t get in tune with what God is teaching us and what the Holy Spirit is teaching us and what it is then we will be like it says we will be tops too and

wind of doctrine by human cunning by craftiness and deceitful schemes if we don’t zone into God’s truth and his voice we’re going to be carried away and some of you probably can attest to that and think Yeah you know I stopped listening to what God’s word said in the Bible I stopped attending church for a while and I really got caught up in these different philosophies and worldview that now it’s what happens if we don’t tune in to God’s voice and so we must be intentional about giving our attention to God and we do that in a variety of ways we have to make sure that we are in God’s word.

If we are only in this on Sunday mornings it’s not enough to being here on Sunday mornings is a great start but we need to be in God’s word so that we’re in tune with that the things that we are allowing to influence us what kind of music do you listen to Christian music is a great way to be putting God’s thoughts into our in our hearts and into our minds having Christian fellowship and having Prince consistent Christian fellowship and.

Every day and so to be like God we must be tuned into his voice you know this week I’m like you already saw in one of the videos the first video we had a great week of D.B.S. and it was really great on Sunday I was standing out there in the courtyard and was really great seeing families from the community in the neighborhood walking their kids down Wall Hall and dropping them off registering them for vacation bible school that was really neat and it was great to see them so hopefully we’re going to be able to have a consistent influence in our neighborhood here and hopefully some of these families can be part of our church but Vacation Bible School I think it made an impact on these kids they’re here Sunday night through Thursday night in for about three hours are getting a lot of bible and they’re getting all these music they’re getting music kind of crammed into their heart in your mind and I want to I want to show you something that’s really Cuba first so I want to say they Kesha Bible school can make an impact on these little kids but if there’s no consistency after that it’s going to fade but it’s really cool what one week can do in fact the kids every night and I don’t know if you really saw this in the video but they saying songs and maybe you should have Adam come up here and lead us in songs and Adam does a great job leading us in songs and on these songs just get just ingrained into the minds in the hearts of these kids and unfortunately the leaders true leaders how many of you have been seeing these songs over and over again well I’m going to show you a really quick video it’s really quick about an absolutely adorable girl who can’t get the B.B.’s songs out of her mind so this is Brooklyn deadlier So watch Brooklyn.

Where is it that adorable.

I mentioned one of the songs that we saying several times throughout the week and it’s in her mind. And it’s in her heart along with several others right Esther Yeah yeah Brooklyn has seen those things and it’s so cute but we always need to be putting ourselves in situations where we will hear God’s voice and that needs to be more than just Sunday mornings Well I hope everyone here today I hope that you will enjoy Father’s Day no matter what you do some of the fathers are like yeah I’m going home and I’m taking a nap or go watch World Cup or P.J. or whatever you’re going to do but if your child of God It’s so wonderful to know that no matter what kind of father you relationship you had here in this life now we have to spend for ever with our perfect heavenly father someday and that is such a wonderful thing that we can look forward to but in tell then well God is wanting us to do is allow the Holy Spirit to help us be more like him right now and we do that when we focus on who we are not what we do by saying no to the flesh and by making sure that we are tuned into his voice so let’s close in prayer on this asked God to make his voice loud and clear in our lives let’s pray.

Dear Lord I thank you for today I thank you that we’re able to remember and celebrate all the good things that happened at our church this past week of vacation bible school I’m also glad that we’re able to look forward to the truly life changing impact that camp is going to have on these these elementary age kids all the way through high school and junior high and even the camp counselors and all the adults that are going to go just putting ourselves in those environments are wonderful and for those of us that are able to be here today gather together and remind ourselves what it means to be a child of God and to remember that you are our Heavenly Father and you’ve placed your Holy Spirit within us to help us to be more like you father just I continue to pray that we as individuals and as a church will yield ourselves to your voice and your leading in our lives so that we can display the fruit of the. Holy Spirit father just be with us as we go our separate ways and as we go out and we interact with the world around us may they see you in us that is are per today in Christ and we pray the men will have a have have a happy Father’s Day and see you all again by.