All right, let's take our Bibles and turn to Galatians chapter number five. Galatians chapter number five, again, thank you so much for being here this morning in your place. Visitors, we're especially thankful that you're here as well. We pray that God will bless you and you find this place to be the loving place that we know it to be. As Philadelphians, we love this place and love what God's doing and love the spirit that God has put in His house. Grateful to be here, and I hope you are as well. We've been looking at this for a couple of weeks now, making our way through this list of the fruit of the Spirit, and so let's pick up our reading in verse number 22, just to refresh ourselves with it. The Bible says, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. I want us to look at that word of gentleness and how that we can walk in gentleness. As believers, we are to bear all this fruit. This isn't optional. As a Christian, and again, I like that it's not the fruit of me. It's not the fruit of you, it's the fruit of the Spirit. And so if you have the fruit of the Spirit, then you will have these items in your life. And God's left us these things so that we can know that the Spirit of God abides within us. and we have these things present with us. Let's pray again this morning. Father, we thank you, Lord, for this day. Lord, I thank you for your, this is your day, the Lord's day, and I thank you for this church and the opportunity that we have together. Together, do not take it for granted. I thank you for opportunities such as we had yesterday, to see two come together as one and be a part of that. I thank you, Lord, for souls that we've seen saved. God, how you've worked in hearts here and people we've been able to baptize. Every soul matters. And I thank you, God, for what you've allowed me to witness in my little bit of time here at this place. And Father, I desire that you would work just to the greatest degree possible that we can handle. Lord, that your presence would be full in this place. Lord, that everyone that is here would, Lord, be able to say that they've walked away and known that they've been in your presence, known that the Word has done something in them that is only explained by the power of the Holy Spirit. And Lord, this fruit that we're to have is a reality. I'm so grateful that the love, joy, and the peace, and the long-suffering that we've covered thus far Lord, we can feel that. We can experience that. That is real. I thank you for folks that have come to me and talked about that long-suffering word and how that has helped them. And I'm praying today, Lord, that gentleness would be a help to somebody here in the congregation. That they'd have a greater understanding of what that fruit is. God, that they would desire to bear that fruit. They would examine their lives to see why they don't have that. And Lord, they would just do what is necessary to obtain it and allow the spirit to rule and reign as he deserves to do in our lives. We owe everything to you, God. You are the creator, the sustainer, the ruler. You own it all. And we cannot, this morning, grab a hold of anything and say mine. It's all yours. And with open hands this morning, whatever our issues are, I pray that you would help us to surrender that to you, and know that you are all, are all in all, and we need to bow before you and worship. So help us today, and we'll be helped. God, give us strength today, and we'll be strong. If there's one here that's lost, Lord, please save them. Thank you for how you saved last week. What a transformation of God you did there. And I'm praying, Lord, that again, you know who's lost in this room. You know who needs you. You know who is a breath away from an eternity in hell. And it's our prayer, those that know you, it is our prayer together in unity, Lord, that you would call to repentance and faith the one that will step out into eternity and spend that in hell. Lord, please deal with hearts, and we'll certainly give you the glory and the praise for everything that you do in our midst today. In Christ's name, amen. As you think about that word, gentleness, Webster would call it a word that has to do with kindness, a word that has to do with not someone that has a temper, not someone that is really the idea of a noble. You think about a knight in shining armor, if I can go there for a moment. Not the Hallmark kind, okay? We're talking about the real knights. The one that is a gentle knight. generous and kind, that word gentleness. I like what Benjamin Franklin said, he said, I will speak ill of no man, not even in the matter of truth, but rather excuse the faults I hear and upon proper occasions speak all the good I know of everybody. That's an attitude of gentleness. that we all understand the ground is level at the cross, we all understand that we're all in agreement we've missed the mark and what we deserve is an eternity in hell, separated from God forever in the torments of those flames. And we all understand that Christ has made a way whereby we don't have to go there. And having that mindset and understanding that perspective, that worldview, that Bible view as a Christian, helps us to see people as they are. Helps us to see the heathens as they are, the heathens will heave. That fornicators will fornicate, and adulterers will adulterize, and liars will lie, and coveters will covet, and greedy people will be greedy, and all that stuff. We get that. And I love that quote because there are faults that people have. And gentleness involves that we point people to the truth and we can just love people anyway. and try to keep pointing them to the cross and allow God to break through and allow God to deal with their hearts. Gentleness will help you do that. Gentleness will help you not slap the fire out of somebody, right? Not take the two by four out of your back pocket and hit them with it. Gentleness will help that. Gentleness will help you wives not to rip your husband's face off when we deserve it, amen. Thank you for being gentle with us. We know we deserve it. But gentleness is important. Gentleness, or we could say kindness is a fruit that will make or break a Christian testimony, right? We know people that are not gentle and kind, but they profess to be Christians, and we don't want to even break bread with them kind of people because they're so vile, they're so angry, they're so bitter, they talk about the church in a bad way, they talk about the things of God in a bad way, and that gentleness and kindness, that makes or breaks whether or not you have what you think you have. Christ saving you changes you. And so even if you were just an obstinate, just grumpy smurf, God can change that and allow you to be kind and gentle. And in a society as a whole, gentleness is hard to come by. In the church, however, I think gentleness should be something that is frequently named among us. If anything, people in this church, I would hope we would have a testimony of gentleness, that we are a gentle, kind group of people. So a couple of things to dig through here as we think about that word. I wanna give you an illustration of gentleness. You gotta understand this morning that it is the Lord himself that is the ultimate illustration of what it means to be gentle the gentle Shepherd Jesus Christ there's no man like that that has ever been gentle like the lowly Jesus and I'm thankful we have that illustration in the Bible we can look at Psalm 117 verse 1 says oh praise the Lord all you nations praise him all you people for his mercy merciful kindness is great toward us and the truth of the Lord endure forever. Praise you the Lord. His merciful kindness is great towards you this morning. His merciful kindness, sinner in the room, lost person in the room, is great towards you this morning in spite of all that you've done and however you've sinned against him this week or this Whatever this day, He is amazingly merciful and kind to you to allow you to still breathe His air and allow the blood in your body to still flow the way it flows. Allow your brain to still have the coherent thoughts that they have. That is the kindness of God to keep that going in you. and we should look to that. I think about the character of Jesus. Jesus did not have to die, but the Bible says He voluntarily went to the cross. He voluntarily accomplished something that we could not accomplish. I'm reminded of 1 Peter 2, verse 21, for even here unto where ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow His steps, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously, who his own self bare our sins, and his own body owned that tree, that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed. Man, the gentle Savior in his kindness did that for you, and he did that for me. By his stripes we have been healed. And that is an amazing thing we find about our Lord that even in the midst of the beer being plucked out, even in the midst of the beatings, even in the midst of the mocking, even in the midst of the crown of thorns, even in the midst of hanging on the cross for all to see and the blood that's running down, and the pierced side and all that happened on that tree, He still would look at you and I and say that He loves us, in spite that we would drive those nails, in spite that we would put together that crown of thorns and put it on Him and mock Him and do the very same thing that the people in the Bible did to Him, we would be in that crowd, our faces would be in that crowd, and we would be taking part in that crucifixion. He would still say, Father, forgive them, they know not what they do. and I love them and I'm going all the way with this thing. What a Jesus, what a gentle savior that he would do that for us. How do you tell a God like that no? That's rebellion in that heart. That's stubbornness in that heart. You gotta take inventory of the times that you say no and God is lovingly dealing with you again and again and again. By his stripes you can be healed. You can be set free, this wonderful character of Jesus. I think about the compassion of Jesus. Take your Bibles and turn to Titus, Titus chapter number three. We see the compassion of Jesus and in that kindness, in that blessed kindness of our Lord, that gentleness, He offers salvation. Notice verse number four, but after that, the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration. and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Woo, boy, that's some stuff right there. that not any righteousness that is possible, that can even be thought of, that can even be allocated into our account, nothing in my hand can I bring but His mercy. He saved us. The washing of regeneration in His kindness. He doesn't just save us and then put us out somewhere. No, He saves. He washes clean. He regenerates, meaning He gives that new heart so that you can now live the way He would have you to live by the power of grace and the renewing of the Holy Ghost that comes to abide within you. You get all that at salvation. That is the kindness of God. He offers salvation. And that Christian kindness that He talks about that we're dealing with in gentleness, it flows from knowing It flows from knowing the saving kindness of God. Only Christians that are truly saved, and if you are a Christian you're truly saved, only Christians can exhibit that. Because we get the saving kindness of God that we didn't get what we deserve, and we can give back that kindness. So you've got to watch them, bitter Baptists, don't you? You've got to watch them negative people. You've got to be careful around those that sow discord. You've got to be careful around those that want to trample on the things of God, the church of God, those that run down the things in the Bible and the holy things of God. You've got to be careful around those. That's not the attitude and the talk and the mindset and the thinking of a Christian, not a true one anyway. Those that have been saved and we've experienced and tasted the kindness and the love of God, we are different in our thinking. We are different in our talking. We are different in our loving. We are different in our listening. We are different in our seeing. Every thing changes in those moments. of salvation, the renewing of the Holy Spirit keeps that fresh. Now, we go to Ephesians two, let's look at another thing. We're talking about kindness, we're talking about God offering salvation. We find in Ephesians chapter number two and in verse number seven that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. We again have a picture of the kindness of God, that you are saved only by grace, never by anything that you can do, not by your upbringing, not by your church, not by the pope, not by any kind of means other than grace. through faith, the gift of God. And we boast of Him, we cannot boast of us, we simply boast of Him and all that He's done. That's that gentleness, that's that kindness, that illustration that we're able to look to. And that His kindness, what should it do for you here today if you know not the name of Jesus in a saving way? His kindness leads us to repentance. You see what he's done, you read it, you see the testimony of others who have experienced it and they've been changed, it should lead those that are lost down the very same narrow way that we have walked. Come, come and see, come and look at this Jesus, come and behold what he's done for you. And so his kindness leads us to repentance, Romans 2.4. or despises thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance." All that God's done in your life, you that are here that are lost and know not Him savingly, you still gotta admit, that God has been good to you. You got the common grace of God, and you got food in your pantry and clothes on your back, and you're in the land of the free where God has allowed you to be born and live here. God's common grace should cause you to look up, not down, and pursue Him and see where your life is at. Man, that grace, that goodness of God should lead you to repentance. It shouldn't lead you to rejection. It shouldn't lead you to further damnation in your life. It shouldn't lead you into further sin and rebellion. It should lead you to an altar. It should lead you right now in your pew. It should lead you to repentance and to trust in this Jesus that can change everything about you. That's a great illustration we find in the Bible of this gentleness. But I want to talk about again, let's look at an infusion of the gentleness here. Go to Philippians chapter number two, Philippians chapter number two. We are grateful, of course, for the gentleness of God. What we see in the gospel, the kindness of God, we're grateful for that, but the Holy Spirit doesn't want you to just be grateful for it. You got the illustration in the Bible of this gentleness. The Holy Spirit would like to put some of that in you. The Holy Spirit would like to give you the ability to have that fruit. Wants to fuse that gentleness into your lives. How would that happen? Well, it would happen through sensitivity. Alright? No matter how many scriptures you've memorized, no matter how many convictions you have, if you don't have kindness, if you don't have gentleness, none of that matters. You can be a Bible-brainiac and still be wicked as those in hell itself. The devil knows the Bible, and the demons know the Bible, and they tremble. The devil can't handle the Word of God. Christ recited that, you remember, in the wilderness in the temptation. He gave him the Word of God. Man should not live by bread alone, but the Word of God. He gave him that and the devil had to flee. He couldn't keep on doing what he was doing. It would do Christians well to know their Bible, to be able to say the things that need to be said out loud for the devil to hear that you know what you're talking about. and that you have reverence and respect in the Holy Spirit, that gentleness gives us sensitivity. If you don't have the kindness of God on your heart shining through to others, then it doesn't matter your convictions. You better have some gentleness, some love. As Christians, we gotta be sensitive, if you will, not sissy sensitive, but Holy Spirit sensitive. to the Word of God, to the needs of others. Philippians 2 verse 4 says, look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus. It matters what mind is in you. It matters that we have. Now again, the illustration was Rewind is Jesus. We have Jesus, it says in Philippians, which is also in Christ Jesus, let that mind be in you. Alright, that's what the Holy Ghost does when he changes a person. Your mind starts to be renewed. Your mind starts to grow into things that matter, the eternal things. Your heart starts to change, you start to love and have joy and peace. You start to have now gentleness in these things, this infusion that comes into your life that makes you more sensitive to the needs of others. It's not about you anymore. It's about who can I share the gospel with? Who can I love to Jesus? Who can I get to Jesus? Who can I help assist to get to the cross so that they can see what I have? See, maybe so many people haven't tasted and seen that God is truly good, and so they cannot lead somebody where they have not gone. But we that have been saved, we sure enough ought to know the path that leads right up to the cross where everybody can come and be saved. People that can't lead nobody to Christ, they've probably not been to Christ themselves. We have to know how to get to our Savior, get to Jesus, so that we can take others to Jesus. That's that sensitivity that the Holy Spirit brings into our lives, but not only sensitivity, also sympathy. If we were to go to Romans 12, 15, we'd read this, rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that do weep. That's sympathy. joy when other Christians have joy. Man, on Thursdays, it gets all up in this place. People start praising God, and it's just a time of tears and celebration and prayer, and it's just something you just gotta be here to experience. You thirsty people, you know what I'm talking about. You rejoice with those that rejoice, and we weep with those that weep. That's that Holy Spirit infusion of gentleness that He gives us to have sympathy for our brothers and sisters in Christ. How do you grow in that? You spend time with your family, the people of God, and you come in here, and you develop that, and you grow in that, and you have that compassion, that gentleness, but say to Timothy, chapter two, verse 24 says, and the servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach patience and meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves. If God perventually will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive at his will." People are in the snare of the devil, and we have sympathy on people and gentleness on people to bring them to Christ. As you look at sinners today, you've got to know that they are in the snare of the devil. Yeah, they got caught up in something they ought not ever been a part of, but all of us have been caught up in some things we ain't ever should have been a part of, and we can testify to that, but we gotta look at people with some sympathy and some compassion to say, hey, we're not judging you, we want you to come to Christ and feel that love and be changed and poured into the kingdom of God and the family of God, and that's that sympathy that we have as that gentleness comes into our heart. But also, I think about another word, some spontaneity. Through spontaneous stuff that happens. That gentleness puts some things in, as Galatians 6 says, as we have therefore opportunity. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men. As we therefore have opportunity, right? Opportunity, we all got some opportunity, right? We have opportunity. I just wanna make sure you understand. Let us do good unto all men, especially them that are of the household of faith. Yes, the household of faith, especially in the church house. It's the most loving house there is. It ought to be. It's the most forgiving house that there is. It's the most understanding house that there is. There's people in this church, you know you've dealt with things and you've dealt with sin and we've We've talked about it, we've counseled through it, and God's brought you through it. We didn't cash you out to the dogs. We have a process of restoration. We have a process of repentance, a Bible way to restore you in that relationship and that walk with God and to get you where God would have you to be. That's that gentleness that God allows us to walk in and gives us the ability to have. It's spontaneous at times, but when you have the opportunity, what choice do you make? Do you make the choice to be angry? Do you make the choice to be hateful with people? Do you make the choice to be short with people? Do you make the choice to say, I ain't got time for you today? What choices do you make? Or do you let yourself be good unto all men, especially those in the household of faith? It's sad, but you come across some Baptists, they treat people in the church house worse than they treat anybody else. And we cast that kind of people out. You gotta go somewhere else. We don't need that up in here. We want the gentleness, alright? We want the joy, the love. We need that crowd. That's the truly Christ-exalting crowd of which we like to hang. Those other people gotta get saved, then they can come hangin' with that. But that stuff's gotta be cast out. And this gentleness, this goodness, as we're good in the household of faith, man, God works something amazing in your heart as you get mixed up in a mess of people in church. It's a beautiful thing, how God knits us together. Lastly, we find, we got an infusion going, but what about an encouragement to gentleness? What's the encouragement to gentleness? We are empowered by the Spirit. So it's not an impossibility. Ephesians 5.18, be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. It matters what you're full of. I've said that a lot around here, right? It matters what you're full of, be careful what you step in. Y'all have heard me say that before. That's like my tagline, right? It matters what you're empowered by. And you gotta test the spirits, you gotta see. Is someone speaking contrary to this? Because then we know of what spirit they are. If they're going against this, then they're of their father, the devil. But if they're saying this, this word, and it's properly interpreted, and it's properly meshing well, the Holy Spirit's blessing that, then that's a brother or sister in Christ that we can jive with, right? We're to be full of the Spirit because we're empowered. Full of them where? We've got to be full of them in our homes. Certainly in our homes. What you're full of in the house will show a lot about what you bring into this house, right? You've got to be full of God and the Spirit of God in your house, brothers and sisters, if you're going to have them up in here. You can't just go by our holy water fountain. There's holy water that comes out of there. You can't just go by that, take a sip, say, yes, I got my filling. No, you got to have it all day, every day at the house. It can't just be in here. And a lot of people's problem, I got to think that a lot of people's issues and problems in the church houses, you ain't full of God at your house. Let me say, if you be full of God at your house, you'll certainly bring some revival and full of God up in this house, and that's what we need. We need full of God people up in this house. If I cut you, what would pour out of you? I'm not talking about a real cut, I know blood, you bleed, or whatever. I'm talking about would the Spirit of God come out of you, or would it be some vile demon that your beloved uncle's screw tapes writing a letter to him. Hey man, what would it be that bleeds out of you? What would come out? I'm thinking about that play I went to. I was about to hit the guy's voice. But in our homes, in our community, an unkind spirit in our church toward our community, towards those that are maybe community leaders, those that come in the doors, an unkind word, an unkind, an ungentle spirit would turn people away from the message of the gospel. We are to deal in gentle matters with people so that they understand that there's a gentle Savior of which they can come to. And if we deal hastily and angrily with people, they don't want that Jesus, they don't want to be a part of that Jesus. But if we are gentle, man, that's different from what the world is, right? The world was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Rip your face off! That's the world, that's not Jesus. Jesus says, come unto me, right, and I'll give you rest. That's the Jesus you can find in our church, in our Bible, Colossians 3 and verse number 12, put on therefore as the elect of God, holy blood, vows of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye." Forgiveness. That's huge in your life, to rip out that internal cancer that can eat away at your spirit and these fruits. It's like unforgiveness, Bitterness, all that stuff eats away at the fruit of the Spirit, and it becomes that fruit that's been sitting out at the grocery store for two months too long, and they've turned it. You know how they turn it? They put the bruise on the bottom, and they kind of spit-sign the top so if you don't see it, you'll just buy it. Oh, I must have bumped it at the house or something, and it rotted. No, they probably did something to it at the store. and they turn those fruits around, but this has the idea of bitterness and unforgiveness that can make you don't matter which way you turn that fruit. It is nasty, it is disgusting, it's got worms, it's got flies, it's got gnats. Who wants a black stank banana that's got gnats flying out of it? I ain't making no sandwich with that. You can't have enough mayonnaise to hide that on that sandwich, right? Give me the fresh, you know, just yellowed, okay? Not the green, but just maybe a little browner, but check the fruit, right? We should have these things in our lives, knowing, knowing that God lovingly, that verse that we read, the elect of God, knowing that God chose, that God loved, that God saved, that God set apart these, as Paul's writing in Colossians, set them apart for Himself. Same thing for us, God saved us, set us apart for Himself. It transforms the way you live towards people. It encourages you to read, it encourages you to pray, it encourages unity among the body of Christ so that we are truly what the Bible says that we are, new creatures in Christ. that gentleness that comes to us. Man, we're empowered by the Spirit in our homes, our community, to those in need. Jesus would help the man at Bethesda, the woman at the well. Both these were in great need. We have many accounts of what our Lord did. You are empowered to be gentle, to help those in need, to also help those that oppose you. God gives you the supernatural Holy Spirit ability that though people may give you the finger and though people may cuss you and though people may flick a booger at you or whatever, though people may do things that are just unsavory because you are a Christian and you stood for the gospel, though they may do that, you still, the Holy Spirit gives you the ability to love them. The Holy Spirit empowers you to have a spirit in you of gentleness where you understand that they are lost and they need a savior, and you can be gentle with people that oppose you, but also not just our community, not just our homes, but in our church, we can be empowered to be gentle. So there's encouragement there, but I'm also encouraged by the testimony of Jesus. When you think of how Jesus forgives you, you are encouraged, I hope, and you are empowered to show kindness to others. Ephesians 4, verse number 30, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you're sealed into the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you. With all malice, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Listen, you got unforgiveness in your heart, this verse says you got a problem. You got bitterness in your heart, you got backbiting in your heart, you got gossip in your heart, you run to the drama squad more than you run to the church house, you got some problems. You run to those things, those conversations, those times of slander, those times of wicked talk, those times of the accusations that hold no water, you run and you flock to those things, but you don't come and rejoice with those that rejoice and weep with those that weep. You've got a spirit problem. You have no gentleness in you. You've got to be encouraged by the testimony of Jesus to have gentleness, and in this society where gentleness and kindness are lacking, as Christians, we have the awesome privilege and responsibility, the gentleness of Christ, that we get to showcase that to others, and we get to showcase that to our families, and we get to showcase that at the church house and in our community, but this gentleness, this gentleness is not going to come through perseverance. It's not gonna come through determination. You cannot just pull yourself up by your spiritual bootstraps and decide that you are going to be gentle. It comes by walking with the Spirit. It comes by producing the fruit by walking with the Spirit. That is how you have gentleness. So if you have no gentleness, let's, one minus one equals zero, let's just math this thing out. If you have no gentleness, That means you have not the fruit of the Spirit, which means you are not walking with the Spirit. So you gotta ask yourself, do I have these things? Do I have these fruits? Am I a Christian walking with gentleness as a fruit of the Spirit as we find in Galatians? That involves demonstrating some things. That involves a humble and kind spirit. That involves that I have that with all interactions, not just with those that I like. It's easy to be gentle with people that I like, but the people that my flesh is like, eh, that I have to deal with because I'm in ministry, it takes the fruit of the Spirit, gentleness, because they want to rip my face off, I want to rip their face off too. It takes a gentleness that the fruit of the Spirit works in us to not do that. Let's think about just a few ways that we have gentleness in our walk. Number one, humility. Humility and patience. Gentleness is closely linked with humility. If you're a humble, you're a humble person, a teachable person that the Holy Spirit can use then your gentleness will start to work in your life if you're humble. A gentle person recognizes that they have imperfections. A gentle person recognizes that they have shortcomings, and that allows them, through humility and patience, to be patient with others. We're quick to anger, and we have not humility, we have not patience. A gentle Christian would want to understand others. Let me see where you're coming from. Why? Because we have a Bible answer for why you're so messed up. We have a Bible answer for how you get victory over your mess up. We have a Bible answer for how you feel the world is the way it is. We have a Bible, God has written everything here that we may know, that we can have some things that we need to know in this life. And he's made it available, accessible. All you gotta do is ask the question, praise God, we can go find you the answer. It's all up in here. That you can be gentle and have humility and patience You think about a situation where you're offended or you're wrong, man, a Christian has that gentle answer, right? That Proverbs 15.1, that gentle answer that would turn away wrath. Only we have that ability as Christians, empowerment that we have. We also think about number two, this gentleness gives us strength under control. Gentleness, somebody would say, is weak. Gentleness would say maybe that it's passive, but gentleness is strength under control. It takes strength, don't it? I mean, it's easy, Jimmy, for you to punch me in the nose. That would be easy. You better knock me out, though. That would be an easy thing. But gentleness, gentleness is the stronger position. It's a controlled position where you can sit back and receive and listen and be able to actually help someone's strength under control. A gentle person doesn't use force. They use discipline. They choose their words. They choose their actions that, man, is this gonna reflect the love of Christ? Because that's how I want to be acting. That's what I want to show. When you're facing a circumstance, a gentle person doesn't lash out. A gentle person doesn't react harshly, right? They respond in kindness and wisdom. Number three, I think about compassionate guidance. This gentleness is essential. when we offer correction to people, because people are wrong. If you're outside of the Bible, you're wrong. If you're believing any other way, you're wrong. If you're choosing any other thing other than the way that God has said in His Word and you're going to get Scripture, You are wrong, and we share that in love because we know what is right, and we want you to see what is right, and we want you to have the peace that we have, and the comfort that we have, and the joy that we have, and the love that we have. We want you to taste of the same manna that we're eating on because There's plenty to go around. He said he's got a whale that never runs dry, alright? He's got bread that you can eat up, you'll never be hungry again. He has that available for you and the table is always set. It's not like the Lord is sleeping and you can't come for a meal at 1 a.m. in the morning. The diner is always open in heaven and you can come and feast and get exactly what you need. And so, as Christians, we have that ability, that compassionate guidance, that gentleness. We don't belittle, we don't condemn, but we speak the truth in love. We want to guide you to the truth with kindness. Number four, I think about reflecting God's character. Gentleness is a reflection of God's character. We ought to have that. We've been saved. We have a new nature. We have a new character. We should reflect the one that has saved us. Our Father in heaven is who we're representing. That's who we are to reflect. And God is described as gentle in Matthew 11, 29. We're talking about embodying that gentleness as Christians. We mirror the humility that Christ has, the grace of Christ, so we'll walk not in our own needs, not in our own desires, but how can I bless? my brothers and sisters. How can I help my brothers and sisters achieve what they need to achieve in their walk with God, in the eternal things that matter? That's what we're about. The lack of a better word, cheerleading things that we do here. We want to encourage and exhort and get you in your walk with God where you need to be. You know if you're lacking. We're to reflect God's character. Then lastly, I think about peaceful relationships. That gentleness helps to foster some peace. in relationships. I like to have peace. Peace is wonderful. Peace when you pillow the head that if you die, you'll wake up in heaven. That's the most epic peace you can ever possess here today. The eternal peace of knowing that my father looks upon me and he is pleased with me as his child because I have repented and I put my trust in him and I'm seeking to live and walk with my God day by day. He sees that and he is pleased with that according to the word of God. You have a hunger and you have a thirst, righteousness, you want to pursue God with all you got, you want to have a clean testimony and life, that's great peace that comes with that, but a gentle spirit is not quick to argue. A gentle spirit is not quick to provoke conflict. And we know people like that. If you get in the room, you're going to leave bad. Y'all got any people you know like that? You get around them, oh man, you ain't even got to get around them. You get on the Facebook or the Twitter or the Instagram, you see something, boom, it's there. You're like, dear Lord, I got to cast that out. Thank God I love my neighbors. If I lived next to them, it'd be a struggle. Amen. Peace. All right, that's what I was talking about. You'd rather live to bring understanding. You'd rather live to bring reconciliation. You'd rather live to promote God's way, no matter how the situation may shake out, even with misunderstandings, even with disagreements, gentleness. You want to strive for a resolution because people ought not live with such conflict. When God is God of peace, we ought not have such war and turmoil going on in our spirits and in our hearts. This God of peace will give you peace, gentleness. So this gentleness is a fruit of the Spirit. You've got to have constant dependence on God if you're going to grow this fruit. It's a sign that we have, that Paul has written in Galatians, it's a sign that we have of spiritual maturity, that you're growing in the right things and in the right way if you have love, joy, peace, long-suffering, and gentleness here. It's a testimony that the Holy Spirit really does have transforming power, whereas before in your life you did not have love, joy, peace, long-suffering, and gentleness, but after salvation you now have the fruit that you have in your life right here, and the Holy Spirit gives that to the believer. So this morning, do you possess the fruit of gentleness? Do you have that? If you don't, why? Ask yourself why. Do you have the Spirit? Are you walking with the Spirit? We are to walk with gentleness. Let's pray. Father, we come to you now with grateful hearts that you are the ultimate example of gentleness.