Uh, it's such a privilege to be with you this morning, to open up the word of God together. Uh, as John said, we've known each other for a long time, uh, going back to, uh, 2008, serving a church together in in the Orlando, Florida area. And, you know, we've been praying for, uh, you as a, as a church for many years, even got the opportunity to partner with you in some things, uh, over the years as well. The last time I was here with a group was back in 2019. Uh, and, uh, we were, uh, able to be there for a Sunday morning. Um, in the school that Mission Grove was meeting in back before, uh, before COVID back then, but it's been a, a joy to watch from a distance, to, uh, to pray with and support John to the best of, of my ability from a distance over the years, and to be here with you all this morning, you know, we've, we, he said we, we started off as youth pastors. I sent him a few photos, only one that he agreed to let me show you, um, uh, uh, this morning from our, from our boy band days. Uh, you may recognize, uh, uh, John there. That is a different, different year. Um, never in a boy band, we're just being youth pastors and doing the things youth pastors do. Um, but we go back, uh, way back. In fact, uh, you know, Sam was, was pregnant with their first when we first, uh, met them. And so it makes me feel old even saying these things to you right now. Um, talking about how long I've been an adult for. Uh, but it's, it's great to, to be with you. It's great to to have, uh, observed online the series that y'all been going through, going through the fruit of the Spirit, and I appreciate John leaving a fun one for me to cover this morning. I've always thought of John as a gentle giant. Uh, and so we can talk about gentleness this morning, spirit filled gentleness specifically, um, but you know, the, the fruit of the spirit are important to us. They are the, the fundamental qualities that we're supposed to have as Christians, and we are tested in our usage. Of them and are living of them out in the world, and we're on a family trip right now, and, uh, you know, those will test you as well in terms of your patience and your, your gentleness, maybe from time to time with kids on a trip or even as we were parked on I-40 for an hour two nights ago, uh, trying to drive back from the Grand Canyon. Um, you know, we are, uh, we are in a world that's going to try us. Uh, it's going to have suffering and sin all around us, and yet we are being transformed into Christ and being spirit filled and spirit transformed is that. Path for us as believers. And so we move on to the next of the uh the fruit of the spirit today, the 8th 1, gentleness. And our big idea for today is that gentleness is a fundamental quality of every Christ follower. And it shapes how we relate to one another, respond to everyone, and even receive the word of God itself. It is that core to who we are to be as Christians, as God is working in and through us in our lives. But we need to understand gentleness a little bit better, right? Gentleness is a fundamental quality for every Christian. You know how do we define gentleness? It's kinda can feel kind of hard to define, even though we, we know what it is when we see it, right? It's not passivity, but it is someone who is maybe slow to anger, someone who is pleasant to be around. Definitely overlaps somewhat with kindness and self-control. Um, and you, maybe it's even clearer for you if you think of the opposite of some of someone that's gentle. Someone who is rough, bad tempered, brusque, easily angered, hard, violent, right? We know what the opposite of that looks like as well. And yet we as Christians are, are, are told that part of the fruit of the spirit in our lives is to be gentle. And really, this word gentleness in Galatians 5 is the word prautis in the Greek. And a version of that word, either prautis or praus or or something like that is seen in the New Testament 16 times. We we're gonna, we're not gonna look at all 16 passages this morning, but we're gonna look at many of them. You see, because when we talk about a, a topic like gentleness, we're doing um a systematic theology of sorts. We're doing a, a, trying to get a comprehensive look at what this is, this specifically being gentleness this morning. And so gentleness is described in many different ways, but it's listed in more than one in more than one place in scripture as being a core thing for us as believers. You know, Paul, in his writing to Timothy, says, for you, oh man of God, flee those things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness. He writes to the church in Colossa, and he says, as chosen ones, as Christians, put on compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. See that word prowess is is sometimes translated as gentleness, sometimes translated as meekness. Um, even a couple times translated as either humble or courtesy, depending on which translation you're using. And we see it pop up as meekness also in the Beatitudes. Jesus' famous sermon on the Mount, the sermon of Jesus of all the sermons that he shared as we have it recorded in scripture. We see it in Matthew chapter 5, where he says, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. It's the same root word there. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Gentleness is meant to be part of the core of who we are as Christians, and yet for many of us, especially guys, we tend to scoff at this idea of gentleness. Right? When you're when you're growing up as a young man, you're not exactly told to be gentle by your peers, right? We're told, don't be a sissy, don't be a wuss. Don't be like those weak girls. Don't ever let them beat you at anything, of course. But be tough, be strong, right? We grow up with this idea in our heads of the fact that toughness or strength is the opposite of gentleness, which is the equivalency of weakness for us. Then we come to faith in Christ. And we're told to be kind and gentle. And there's many men who struggle with that concept, because it sounds so foreign. It sounds like that thing you're not supposed to be, but now in Christ, I'm supposed to be this. And yet it's core to who we are as Christians. You see, gentleness is not weakness. It's not the equivalent of weakness. It's not the opposite of strength. Um, my, my wife and I have been blessed with two little girls, one who's now 11 years old, named Eva, and one who's 8 years old, named Elena, and they're gonna be with us in a part of this BBS this week. My oldest has gotten into a pattern of watching animal rescue shows. And that's all she wants to watch. It, some of them are based in Australia and it's about like uh finding snakes in homes and helping them get back out into the uh into the wilderness. Other ones are, are in America, either in Alaska or in the or in out in the in the west about rescuing endangered or or uh injured animals. And one of the things they talk about over and over again is how you have to handle those animals. You don't just handle them in any possible way. You're, first of all, you're, you're careful with it, right? But you also have to use a strong, gentle hand. As you're trying to rescue an animal, you, you, in using a gentle hand, you have to use the right amount of strength. If you grab too tightly, you might injure the animal. You might accomplish your goal of capturing that animal, but you might injure that animal. If you use too light a touch with that animal, that animal has too much freedom of movement and can injure you and or itself. And so you have to have the right amount of gentleness. Because you see, gentleness is not weakness, gentleness is controlled strength. It is, it is strength, but it's strength that's marshaled and controlled in the right way and used in the right way. We ultimately follow our gentle savior in this. We follow Jesus's example in gentleness. Is there anything weak about our savior? No. Is there anything weak about the creator of this universe? No. And yet we see gentleness as a part of his description in scripture. Matthew in his gospel, he uses a variation of that Greek word praus in three different ways. We already talked about one of them in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus talking about the meek who are to inherit the earth. He's also described in his triumphal entry in that word. It's a quote from Zechariah 9:9, but the Greek word used there, Behold, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey. His very entry on the triumphal day on what we call Palm Sunday was marked by Gentleness Him riding in humble and mounted on a donkey. And even in the words of Jesus himself in Matthew chapter 11, he says, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Praise God for his gentleness. That you and I do not deserve. He is a gentle God. He is a gentle savior, and yet he is also a God who is strong. And mighty and carries out his justice. Because you might be thinking, well, hold on, but you're talking about Jesus is being gentle. Yeah, I understand there's some moments of gentleness, and I understand there's a lot of those pictures that we see where gentle where Jesus looks really gentle. But my God, my Jesus, he's a roaring lion. He, he's a God who can be angry. He's flipping over tables, he's braiding a whip, and he's casting, and he's he's he's shooing out these money changers in the temple. He's a strong, maybe sometimes angry God. He's the God who says to the Pharisees and the Sadducees, woe to you, you brood of vipers. How is that gentle? Now you can be of the mindset that that's where he stops being gentle, as he's acting in a righteous anger towards the religious elites. But I think even in his righteous anger, and his carrying out and interacting with people in that way, he's still, uh, in a way, being gentle. It's still controlled strength. Imagine what Jesus could have done. To those who opposed him. When they're crying out to him, bring yourself down from this cross. Oh, he could have brought himself down from his cross. He could have snapped his fingers and broke every bone in their bodies. He was gentle, even in those days, because that gentleness was that controlled strength that he had. You see Gentle doesn't mean that you're never angry. What gentleness means in a in the life of a Christ follower that will at times be angry, it means that we, that anger is at the right time. For the right reason. And expressed in the right way. We can get angry. But living for Christ, even in those times that we get angry and we're tempted to not be gentle. We're tempted to be violent, or to lash out. That anger must be at the right time for the right reason and expressed in the right way. You see, we're given some direction from James. Who in James one says, know this, my beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. There's nothing wrong with getting angry. The problem is when we sin in our anger. And we allow that anger to overcome us, and it produces something other than the righteousness of God. That gentleness that we see in Christ is the same gentleness that is also supposed to shape who we are. And so the three things that we saw in that big idea, I wanna break through, uh, break them down, we're gonna walk through them one by one, right? Gentleness shapes how we relate to one another. First, it shapes how we relate to one another. Now when I say one another, I mean the one another's of scripture, right? The one another within the body of Christ, within the family, right? We'll talk about everyone in just a minute, but it shapes how we relate to one another. We see that in Ephesians chapter 4. It says, I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. With all humility, and there's that word, gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. Over and over and over again in the New Testament, we are told about having a high value for unity, that we must seek unity. We must avoid division and dissension. We must seek to be united as a church. I think part of the reason that God spent so much time in his word, writing about that is because we're so bad at it. It's not something that we do well naturally, at least not for most of us. We have to learn to value being united. We have to learn to value the person over the problem or the preference. To hold one another up and one another's interests up over and above our own. How do we do that? With love and patience and gentleness. We're not, we're told, not even then or just how we relate to one another generally with gentleness, but also in how to restore one another when we're struggling. Look at Galatians chapter 6 verse 1. Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Is there, is there a brother or sister of Christ in this body of Christ that's struggling with the sin and being pulled into it and caught up in that transgression? You and I are directed in exactly how we are to act in that way. We're to go to that person and try to restore them. With gentleness Not be overly critical of that person, not celebrate because they failed or they're struggling. But to hold up unity and love and help restore them in gentleness while being watchful and worried that we might also get pulled into that sin. But not only in the church family, in our homes, amongst our families, gentleness is crucial. That we are to relate to one another in gentleness, not to shape how we interact. Now we don't have a passage in which that word praise is is laid out in scripture towards our family members. But what we're given is descriptions, like what it says in Colossians chapter 3 of of wives submitting to their husbands as to the Lord, and husbands loving their wives and not being harsh with them. That yes, children are to respect and obey their parents as is right with the Lord, and yet also fathers specifically, but father and mother, not to be too overbearing. And provoke your children to discouragement. We can only live that out in our homes and gentleness. We can only truly see the fullness of what a Christian family can be when we are living in the fullness of who we can be in Christ. Gentleness shapes how we relate to one another. But not only that, it shapes in how we respond to everyone. We don't get to just say, no, I'm gentle with you because you're a brother or sister in Christ. But now those people out there, they get to feel my wrath. That person who cut me off in traffic, oh, they're not getting gentleness. We are also to be shaped by gentleness and how we respond to everyone. Look at what Scripture says. Titus chapter 3. Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient. To be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people, all people. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. You see, in that passage, we're not only told to be gentle to everyone. But we're even given a little bit of how. How can we really be gentle towards those people? How can we be gentle towards someone who's not being even nice to me? Because we remember who we are. We remember where we've come from. You and I once were just like them. And we're not in this room today, because we deserve to be here. We're in this room today, because the grace of God has saved us from the sin that we have committed against him. We are gathered today, not because we deserve and are better than those apart from Christ. We gather today because we once were lost in our sins, but today we live in Jesus. And everyone that turns from their sins and trusts in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins based on his work on the cross, can also experience life in Christ. But we don't enter into that life. We don't enter into this family, and then now look down upon everybody else who's not like us. As good as us, as moral as us. How can we be gentle to everyone? We remember who we are. How sinful we are. And that we don't deserve his grace any more than anyone else. Not only that, we're we're directed to be gentle even when we respond to those who ask us about our faith. First Peter chapter 3 says, but even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect. Having a good conscience so that when you are slandered, those who avow your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. That regardless of our current circumstances, whether or not we are flourishing or whether we, we are struggling, we are living for Christ. Maybe we're even being persecuted by people for the faith that we hold in Christ. But when anyone asks us for a defense for why we are different, for why we have hope in Jesus, we should be ready to give them that answer, but do it with gentleness and respect. Do I have any Black Friday fans in the room? Maybe a few. It's not what it used to be, is it? I don't even like to refer to it as Black Friday anymore, because Black Friday is not shopping from your couch online anytime between Thursday and Sunday. Right, that's Amazon Prime Day. And we had that throughout the day, throughout the year. Black Friday used to be, for those who remember it, a Joyful struggle. We would get up early in the morning or stay up all night, and we would stand out in the cold or the rain. Sometimes camped out all night, other times just maybe getting there at 2 a.m. to stand in line to go into a store, we could go into any other day of the year. At normal hours Because we wanted the discount. We wanted to save the money. My wife and I used to love going out on Black Friday and and doing our our shopping in those wee early hours and then coming home and going back to sleep. Because it used to matter how much of a discount you got on a TV. Right? Cause TVs used to be expensive. It, it, it baffles my mind how cheap TVs are now. Now we're just hoping they put the, the groceries on sale on Black Friday. Give us a real deal this year. But I'll never forget one Black Friday back in 2009. I heard the gospel at Target. No, you may, you may laugh, you may, you may wonder how in the world did I hear the gospel at Target, right? Cause, cause you go into that, in that space, and honestly, you're, you're running into the store just wondering if any employees were injured in the opening of a door process back then. But I was, we had, we had done our shopping, we were standing in line getting ready to, to check out, and I heard commotion. There's always noise, right? And I heard, I heard voices start to get elevated and all of a sudden, above all of the other noise and Target, I heard you need Jesus. And then I heard back from a different voice, say no, you need Jesus. And I looked at my wife and I said, sweetheart, the gospel in Target on a Black Friday. Now there may have been some other choice words that I chose to leave out in that story. Because The truth of Jesus, and that person's need for him may have been shared that morning. But it was not done with gentleness and respect. It was wielded as a weapon. The truth that we carry in the gospel must be paramount for us as our mission on this earth. And when we are asked or given the opportunity to share that truth, it must be done in gentleness and respect, as we are told to. Why? Well, because of another passage where we see that same word pop up. 2 Timothy chapter 2, we see in the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome. But kind to everyone, able to teach patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with there's that word, gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil after being captured by him to do his will. Why? Must we be gentle? Why is that important to us? Not just with one another, but out in the world with everyone else. God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth. We're tempted to act in our flesh. We're tempted to lash out because after all, we are selfish, prideful, greedy people in our flesh. And we battle against that as Christians seeking to live for Him. But why does it matter if you choose to say you need Jesus in a nice way or a mean way? Because of our motivation. To just see one more person take that step that we have taken. To come to faith in Christ. And to receive the forgiveness of sins through the grace of God. Not by her own doing Why does it matter whether or not you tell someone you love them after they cut you off in traffic? Why does it matter? How you interact with someone you may never talk to again? Because we have a mission. Not only is it right, not only is there an ought to. We should seek to interact with every person we come into contact with in a way that if we bumped into them the next day, or even an hour later, we are able to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them, that they might repent and turn to him. Gentleness must shape how we respond to everyone. But not only that, last but not least, gentleness shapes how we even receive the word of God itself. You see, I know these words this morning are tough. Might be simple, but they're tough to live out. And it's just as challenging to me as I've been preparing to talk to you about gentleness, to then actually do that myself. And I have not done that perfectly. But gentleness in our response, and our meekness and humility to God's word must be there as well for us to walk this journey as believers. James chapter one. Therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness, the implanted word which is able to save your souls. Our very reception of the word of God must include prayers, gentleness, meekness, humility for us to then live it out. After all, James does say. But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. You know where that verse pops up? It's the very next one. The very next one, receive this with gentleness, now go and do it. And it can be tempting. To hear this, to read this and go, OK, I'm gonna be gentle today. I'm going to make this happen. Now that's not a bad thing. I think you should seek to remember the list of the fruit of the Spirit and try to live them out. Try to pursue those things. But let me warn you, if you choose to pursue gentleness tomorrow in your own strength and ability, good luck. You're probably not gonna make it to work. Let alone 8 a.m. Before you go, uh oh, missed that one. You see, we can pursue these things and we ought to pursue these things, but there's a, there's a nature nurture dynamic at play here that we must remember. There's a pursuing of it with a production of it, pursued and produced in our lives. Yes, we can nurture gentleness as we pursue God. We can focus on it and try to do better with that specific thing, but you'd be missing it if you think that's all it's about. The fruit of the Spirit is produced in you, because your nature is changed. And you, as you pursue God, as you live for him day after day after day in your life, you are transformed into a different person. And yes, you can focus on being gentle and loving and patient, but even more so than that, as you pursue God holistically in every way of your life, that is just naturally going to happen. Which is why it should make those who don't have the fruit in their lives so terrified. Because it may indeed mean that you're not saved. That you're not in Christ, if the Holy Spirit is not at work within you. Yes, pursue gentleness, but pursue God. And become gentle. That's how the fruit of the spirit work. Pursued and produced. And we can't just end on an individual note though. It's not just about you and I being more gentle, gentle ourselves. It's about becoming a church of gentleness. You and I pursue God individually, but we do so within the community of the body of Christ, doing it with one another. But as we live it out ourselves, God uses that to build up the church as a whole. And we as a whole are built up into the fullness of Christ, the mature believers. Who doesn't wanna be a part of a church? In which the fruit of the spirit are readily apparent. Who doesn't wanna walk out of a church and say that's a loving church. That's a gentle church. That's a patient church. It's a fundamental quality for you and I individually. But it's also supposed to be a fundamental quality of you and I communally. May this church. May Mission Grove be a church characterized by love. Joy. Peace. Patience. Kindness, goodness, faithfulness. Gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. And through such things, we bring glory to our Father. And we accomplish the mission that he has left us. Let's pray. Dear Lord, Lord, we thank you for this morning. We thank you for your word that you have preserved, so that we might learn what you want us to be. That we might learn who you are making us to be. God, I do pray that we will pursue gentleness and the other fruits of the spirit this week as we seek to live for you. But God, I pray even more so that we pursue you, yourself. Lord, that we might experience your love. We might experience your gentleness. Lord, that we might live in the fullness of who we can be in you. So we can live out the fullness of who you want us to be. May we bring you glory. This week And may we do so for your name and your name alone. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.