Patience: over-coming anger

John 1-3

By Hayley Boud

 

I recently watched the movie, “Gospel of John” and was reminded of my salvation.  When the right time came, the Holy Spirit touched me and I followed Jesus.  I believe this is the same for all who are saved.

 

The movie of John started with John the Baptist who said in John 1:35, “Behold the Lamb of God”.  Two of John’s disciples heard John and followed Jesus.  These two men spent the whole day with Jesus.  One of the two men (Andrew) was obviously touched by the Holy Spirit because after spending the day with Jesus, he then went to find his brother and told him, “we have found the Messiah”.  Andrew then brought his brother to Jesus. 

 

This reminds me of my own salvation because I had been going to a Bible study for a number of years and had heard the message but it was only by the Holy Spirit did I understand that Jesus is the Messiah (the Anointed One = the way, the truth and the life).  I can’t take any credit for being saved, it is God’s gift revealed through His Holy Spirit. 

 

I think it’s also important to remember that John the Baptist spoke words that revealed to Andrew that Jesus is the Lamb of God.  Andrew then passed on the message to his brother.  Therefore, our salvation was the result of God’s servants passing on the message to us and if we want others to be saved, we have to be active in sharing the truth.  We don’t have to freak out and fear what we will say because we can keep it simple and just say one sentence at a time.  All John said was five words and it was enough for Andrew to follow Jesus.  Andrew only spoke five words too.

 

If we want those around us to follow Jesus, the important thing is to pray and ask for the Holy Spirit to speak through us.  We need to ask the Holy Spirit to help those around us to understand God’s Word and for the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth.  We can say a whole lot of words but without the Holy Spirit, those words will be useless.  We can say only five words and with the Holy Spirit, our friends, our family, our work colleagues, they can begin to follow Jesus.

 

When Jesus saw Simon, He called him Cephas which means Peter.  The next day Jesus found Philip and said, “Follow me”.  So he did.  When Jesus calls you, you somehow know it’s God and you follow.  It’s a miracle.  How could Philip know it was God?  Imagine you are doing your own thing and someone says, “follow me”.  For example, today my dog peed in my car.  If I didn’t clean up the mess, the pee would really smell after some time in that hot Hamilton sun.  After a few days, my car would stink so bad. 

 

Imagine if Bertila said, “Take me to the supermarket, now”.  First I would think how rude is this girl.  She speaks in the imperative, demanding me to do something without even asking me nicely or using the word please.  So rude!  Then I would think, I have better things to do such as cleaning my car.  I would even think that Bertila is selfish for expecting me to just drop what I’m doing to take her to the supermarket.  The only way I would do that, is if the Holy Spirit revealed to me.

 

I think the fact that Philip followed Jesus is a miracle.  I think the fact that we are all gathered here tonight as followers of Jesus is a miracle.  How did we know to follow Jesus?  How did we know it was God calling us?  Let’s remember tonight the miracle of salvation and let’s thank God for all He has done for us.  When Jesus was on earth, He didn’t tell every person He met to follow Him.  There were only 12 disciples.  We are privileged to be one of Christ’s disciples.  Let’s be grateful and let’s also find ways of sharing this with others.  It’s easy to tell someone a simple story of how God has help us. 

 

We can read in John 1:45 that Philip went and found Nathanael and said, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, Son of Joseph”.  Only the Holy Spirit could have revealed that truth to Philip but ALSO he would have had to have read the scriptures to know that he had found the one the scriptures talk about. 

 

Therefore, it is important to read ALL of the Bible.  We should not think that the Holy Spirit is all we need to teach us and lead us.  We need to make an effort to read the Word of God so that the Holy Spirit can teach us and lead us.  If we don’t read the Word of God, we will become confused and can easily be led astray.  We might follow after another god because we don’t know what is written in the scriptures. 

 

Mathew 24:4-5, “And Jesus answered and said to them, ‘See to it that no one misleads you.  For many will come in My name, saying ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many”.  We have to be careful because many will be misled.  Not just a few but many.  I have seen it already where Christians are too lazy to read the Word of God and prefer to listen to preachings without checking if it matches the Bible.  Let’s not be among those that are misled but be like Philip who knew the Law and knew what the Prophets had said. 

 

When Philip tells Nathanael the good news, Nathanael isn’t convinced and answers, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  Philip tells him to come and see.  When Nathanael meets Jesus, Jesus says in John 1:47, “Behold an Israelite of whom is no guile”. Nathanael answers, “How do you know me?”  Jesus replies, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you”.  Nathanael suddenly believes but only the Holy Spirit can convince.  Nathanael could have thought it was some kind of trick or simply hardened his heart but the Holy Spirit convinced him.

 

When I became a true Christian, God used scripture to convince me and I tried to wrestle out of it but it was impossible.  I fought all night with God knowing that to be a true Christian meant giving up everything.  Eventually I gave in.  Just like Nicodemus in John 3, he came to Jesus at night time and I’m sure he had to wrestle with God’s words too.

 

Night time (spiritual night) is the best time to meet with Jesus because we are in darkness and that is the right time for needing light in order to see clearly.  It’s when we are in sin that we need a saviour, John 3:19-21.

 

John 3:5, “Unless you are born again”, we need the Holy Spirit for a spiritual birth.  John 3:8, “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”  That is the way with the Holy Spirit, He goes to whom God wishes.  The Holy Spirit blew on us and gave us life spiritually in the same way God blew on Adam and Eve and gave them physical life.  Adam didn’t ask to be created or given life, that was God’s choice to blow on him.

 

Before the Holy Spirit touched my life, I was walking around in darkness but I didn’t know it.  Then the Holy Spirit blew on me and suddenly I can see what I didn’t before.  I saw that I was a sinner and that I needed Jesus.  I began to understand the Bible which didn’t make much sense before.  The Holy Spirit blew on me and gave me life.

 

As this verse says, you can’t see the wind but you can see the effect of it.  When a person is saved, we should see the effect of this salvation, we should see fruit of the Holy Spirit.  We should see joy, patience, love, forgiveness, kindness, gentleness, self-control, faithfulness and peace.  Not only should we see these fruits but they should be growing and getting bigger and bigger.

 

More than once in my life I have been at a meeting in a Pentecostal church and the believers have asked to pray for me so I can be baptised in the Holy Spirit.  When I explain that I have been baptised, they don’t believe me because they think the sign is speaking in tongues.  This is one thing that really annoys me.  The sign to know if you are baptised in the Holy Spirit is NOT speaking in tongues.  The sign is whether the fruit of the Holy Spirit is growing in you. 

 

For example, if my lemon tree grew tall and provided shade for my dog and branches for the birds, this would be nice but it wouldn’t prove the tree was a lemon tree.  The lemons prove which tree it belongs.  If I have the fruit of joy, patience, love etc, then I prove I belong to God.  If I have the fruit of selfishness and bitterness, I prove I belong to satan. 

 

Speaking in tongues isn’t proof you belong to Jesus because even satan can provide you with that gift but what satan can’t do is transform you into the likeness of Christ.  As Jesus said to Nathanael, “you will see greater things than these” and what is greater than seeing people’s lives transformed?  There is nothing greater than seeing a person changed from an impatient, judgemental, rude, proud person to one who is kind, merciful and compassionate. 

 

 

 

Kindness

By Trish and Hayley Boud

Proverbs 31:26, “She opens her mouth with Wisdom, and her Tongue is the law of Kindness”

JAMES 3:13, show your wisdom through deeds done in humility.  So the woman in proverbs 31 not only shows wisdom in her actions but also through her words.  When she opens her mouth it speaks of wisdom and on her tongue is the law of kindness.  Many women are kind in their actions but their mouths ruin it.  Mothers are kind to their children by making their lunches, picking them up from school, helping them with their homework but then they ruin it by speaking harshly, or by yelling at their children.  For example, a friend of mine genuinely wanted to show kindness by helping foster children and she opened her home to them.  She spent the day cleaning her house in order to provide a nice clean home for her foster children but when the first one arrived home, the young girl walked inside with her shoes on and made two footprints on the wooden floor.  My friend became angry and growled at her.  The kindness of cleaning the house and taking care of the girl was replaced with anger. The lady should have first said, “hello, how are you, how was your day? Can you please remove your shoes, thank you” and the girl would have seen wisdom from heaven and she might have given her life to Christ.  We have to open our mouths with wisdom which means it will be full of kindness.

I’ve seen wives do the same for their husbands.  They spend the day cleaning the house and cooking to show their good deeds done in humility proving they are wise but the moment the husband walks in the door their mouths ruin it.  They complain, they argue, they annoy and nag.  They destroy all the kindness they did, the whole day’s worth of good deeds is destroyed by their mouths and they don’t even understand it.  They will even say, “he doesn’t appreciate all that I do” and it’s simply because the woman has made it impossible for the man to appreciate it.

For example, once when I was extremely sick and I desperately needed a doctor urgently, I rang a friend and asked if she could help take me to the dr.  She came immediately and she waited in the waiting room with me and then drove me home.  Her actions were incredibly kind and wise because if I hadn’t gone to the dr, it might have ended seriously so she had wisdom and kindness in her actions.  But then as I was about to get out of her car she complained, “now I don’t have time to do my housework”.  Her few words destroyed everything. 

So, let’s be careful that our words match our actions.  If we are working for the Lord, don’t ruin it with our mouths. 

The Dictionary meaning of kindness means: being gentle, and caring, as with a child or with family. Warm hearted, and considerate. 

HEBREW MEANING OF KINDNESS: love and forgiveness -  if we have love and forgive we will talk with kindness and wisdom.  Ephesians 4:32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

E.g. husband comes home late, instead of saying, “where have you been, I’ve been waiting over an hour, why couldn’t you call, I’ve been slaving over a hot stove for you all day and now the dinner is ruined, you couldn’t spend two seconds to let me know you’d be late”, the wife could say, “hello darling, how are you?  how was your day?  What happened, how come you are so late, is everything all right” and show the husband you love him and forgive his lateness and forgive him for not calling or texting he will be late.  This will gently instruct him in the right way.  He will feel pleasure in coming home and not want to be late and he will miss his wife while he is not there and remember to call her to say he will be late.

What does law of kindness mean?

LAW/TEACHING = instruction, doctrine, regulation, direction, statute, law, teaching(torah), gently instructing or teaching someone, God patiently teaching us, e.g. if we react to a situation with kindness we will teach others how to be kind.  Our kind words will show others how to be kind. 

Even with children, we don’t have to talk angrily with a rough tone to children.  We can still talk with kindness, gently instructing them in the right way.  If we talk rudely to our children, they will learn how to be rude also.  If we talk to them with respect, they will learn how to be respectful. 

Even Jesus draws us with kindness not by pointing the finger

Give examples of women in the bible who are wise, who are kind: Abigail, Esther, Mary mother of Jesus...

Esther is a very good example of a woman who was wise and showed humility and kindness with her words and actions.  It’s a very easy book to read and I totally recommend everybody read it because it’s so easy to follow and it’s entertaining and a good enjoyable read.  We can learn a lot from Esther...

She had to go before the king in order to save her people and knew if she wasn’t careful, she could be killed.  She asked her people pray and fast for three days.  This is a good starting point.  Many women under stress/pressure will react immediately and end up saying something they shouldn’t.  Esther showed her wisdom by praying first and taking time to find a good strategy to talk to the king.  Most women are too quick to talk when they are feel fear/anxiety or anger.  E.g. the wife is rung by telecom to tell her that the account is $500 overdue.  She freaks out and goes into panic and immediately attacks the husband, “When did you make all these phone calls, why didn’t you tell me, how are we going to pay the bill, our phone will be cut off, we will have to use the grocery money and now we are going to be hungry....”  Esther could have rushed into the king with the fear of her people being destroyed but she took time to pray and find a good strategy first.  That is what we as Christians should always do.  Find the time to pray first and take time to find a good strategy once we have calmed down.

Esther found a good strategy by organising a banquet for her husband.  Her kind actions and humble nature with her nice words encouraged her husband to say, “tell me Esther what you need.” He was prepared to do anything for her because she was so gentle and humble.  When we find the right strategy, people will come to us and not run away from us.

Once asked, Esther spoke so graciously and so kindly and humbly; full of wisdom.  This is how Esther spoke in chapter 7: “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me as my petition, and my people as my request; for we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed and to be annihilated. Now if we had only been sold as slaves, men and women, I would have remained silent, for the trouble would not be commensurate with the annoyance to the king.”

Let’s learn from Esther and find the right way of talking to people with kindness, humility, gentleness. Let’s remember to pray, take time to find a good strategy, calm ourselves down first and only speak when we feel the person will be ready to hear it.

Fruit of the Holy Spirit

By Shari Bhandal

We can all have more than one fruit of the Spirit, but we are stronger in some fruits than others. Here is a simple quiz to let you know which fruit is your strongest and which could use a little work.
Rank the Following 1 through 9, with 1 being your most important or most likely response to the situation.

1. You're watching TV when the power goes out. You...
____ A) Do your best to keep from calling the electric company to chew them out.
____ B) Smile and put on some candles. The electricity will come on soon enough.
____ C) Use the time wisely to get some things done around the house.
____ D) Enjoy the family conversation while waiting for the lights to come back on.
____ E) Start up a game of some sort.
____ F) Go around and make sure everyone is okay.
____ G) Take a nap or read a book.
____ H) Comfort those who are afraid of the dark.
____ I) Spend some time in prayer and reflection.

2. You're at a party with friends. You...
____ A) Stay with the group rather than sneaking off with your boyfriend.
____ B) Hang out, even though a group of people are being a little annoying.
____ C) Offer the girl who spilled punch a t-shirt out of your car.
____ D) Enjoy the small conversation going on outside on the patio.
____ E) Start the party games.
____ F) Offer to get more drinks when the soda gets low.
____ G) Break up the fight going on between two guys in the corner.
____ H) Leave the fun to console your friend who just got dumped.
____ I) Walk away from the party when it becomes too tempting. You know God would not want you to compromise yourself.

3. You're studying and your friend calls on the phone to tell you about an argument with her mom. You...
____ A) You tell your friend you are studying and you will call him back when you're done.
____ B) You listen as your friend relays the argument she got into with her mom, knowing you will have to get back to studying eventually.
____ C) You set aside your studying, because you're already ahead. It's important to help your friend out.
____ D) You soothe your friend's anger by offering some consolation.
____ E) Start cracking jokes to make your friend laugh. Then she might not be so angry and sad.
____ F) Offer to let her come over to your house for a movie night so she can let things simmer down a bit.
____ G) You offer your friend advice on how to make things right with her mom.
____ H) Go over to your friends house and give her a hug. She needs to feel loved right now.
____ I) Take some time to pray with your friend about her relationship with her mother.

Now, add up your A answers, B answers, etc. Write down your scores for:
A: _____ Self-Control
B: _____ Patience
C: _____ Goodness
D: _____ Gentleness
E: _____ Joy
F: _____ Kindness
G: _____ Peace
H: _____ Love
I: _____ Faithfulness

So what is your strongest fruit of the spirit and what fruits do you need to work on? Your lowest scores are your strengths, and your highest scores are the areas where you might want to do a little work. So, if you had the highest score for A, you may need to develop more self-control, but if your lowest score was C your strength is in being good.
What is the Fruit of the Spirit? :

It is a term commonly used by Christian teens, but it is not always understood. Fruit of the Spirit is often used to describe the best aspects of a Godly character.
The Nine Fruits of the Spirit: There are nine fruits of the Spirit that are bestowed upon believers to define a person's character. Those fruits include the following:
• Faithfulness
• Self-Control
• Patience
• Goodness
• Gentleness
• Joy
• Kindness
• Peace
• Love

Scriptural References: Fruit of the Spirit is mentioned in several areas of the Bible. However, the most applicable passage is Galatians 5:22-23 where Paul actually lists out the fruit. Paul used this list to show the contrast between a Godly character and one that is focused on fleshly concerns.

Galatians 5:22-23 - "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." (NIV)

What Does that Mean for Me?: The fruit of the Spirit is meant to be a list of qualities we strive to have. If you look at your character and find that you are lacking in any of these areas, take heart. We are human beings and not one of us are perfect. However, God calls us all to strive for perfection. That was the purpose in Paul listing out the fruit for the Galatian church. These are qualities any Christian teen should strive to have in their character, and they take work.
Receiving Fruit of the Spirit: Prayer, Bible reading, and effort go into being able to bear the fruit of the Spirit. As it is suggested in Ephesians 4:22-24 you should try to let go of any bad attitudes or habits. Through prayer you can ask for the fruit of the spirit and ways you can improve yourself so you can become much more God-like in your character.

Ephesians 4:22-24 - "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." (NIV)

What Fruits of the Spirit Do I Have?