MEN ALIVE: Jim Cunningham & Paul Estabrooks' Podcast
Programs to help men become transformed to the image (character) of Jesus Christ.
MEN ALIVE: Jim Cunningham & Paul Estabrooks' Podcast
MEN ALIVE 215 - GOODNESS Requires Strength
Get ready for an immersive discourse on how the Holy Spirit bestows specific spiritual gifts and character attributes, reflecting the teachings of Hebrews 5:13 and 14. Be prepared to be moved by stirring anecdotes about raising children with biblical values and weathering life's trials with spiritual fortitude. A highlight of this episode is our discussion on the importance of goodness and self-control in our relationships, especially with women, as we challenge societal notions of what it constitutes to be a 'good man'. This journey is not just about understanding the fruit of the Spirit, it’s about walking in step with the Spirit and embracing Godly living.
Welcome to Men Alive, a biblical journey to help us conform to the image of Jesus Christ. I'm your host, paul Estabrooks, our teacher. As my longtime friend, dr Jim Cunningham, consultant in adult education, director of Go Teach Global and author of the book Men Alive.
Speaker 2:The nine-part fruit of the Spirit can be divided into three categories. The first three Love, joy, peace we have discussed in earlier broadcasts. When we teach SSTS, the chapter we do on the Holy Spirit notes that Love, joy, peace reflect our Godward relationship, our relationships with God. The second set of three patience, kindness and goodness express the manward aspect of the Christian life in our relationships with our fellow man. More on that in a moment. And the third set describe the self-word aspect of our relationship with ourselves In the process of Spirit-led teaching, by both word and example. The fruit of the Spirit is incredibly important. In Galatians 5, 22, 23 we read the fruit of the Spirit is Love, joy, peace. That's the first section patience, kindness, goodness, relationship with fellow man, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control our relationship with ourselves.
Speaker 2:I could wish that every Christian listener, including myself, had as much desire to produce the fruit of the Spirit as we do to endlessly debate the gifts of the Spirit. What are they? How do we get them? Did they cease? Do I have to have a certain gift? Approved to everyone that I have the Holy Spirit within me? No, when I am filled with the Holy Spirit, I will be controlled by the Holy Spirit and the proof that I am filled with the Holy Spirit will not be the manifestation of a specific spiritual gift, whatever one of the twenty-plus gifts you choose or have been graciously given, but rather by bearing a certain fruit.
Speaker 2:And the fruit that we are to bear is called character, not giftedness. The fruit or graces of the Spirit are completely distinct from the gifts of the Spirit. Building Christian character must always take precedence over displaying special gifting abilities. The apostle Paul begins with love, because all the fruit of the Spirit is connected to the outgrowth of love. One can receive a spiritual gift from the Holy Spirit as the Holy Spirit chooses, but we can then blow it by not evidencing the fruit of the Spirit. Most Christians know of at least one gifted evangelist or pastor or teacher or television personality somewhere who dazzle people with their insights, their knowledge, even their oratorical style and good looks, but blew themselves out of the ministry by a major character flaw.
Speaker 1:As a quick sidebar, jim, there is one spiritual gift that we can all receive. This gift needs an explanation. It is both given by the Holy Spirit as a specific spiritual gift, and it is also available as a character quality, as a learned response from the spending time studying the meat of God's Word. Hebrews 5.13 and 14 in the New King James Version says For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the Word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are full of age, that is, those who, by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Speaker 2:Pablo. In our text, ssts Standing Strong Through the Storm, we teach that it is impossible for the flesh to produce the fruit of the Spirit. When the Holy Spirit produces fruit in the lives of Christians, they may not be conscious of their spirituality, because God gets the glory. Fruit grows in a climate blessed with an abundance of the Spirit and the Word. To walk in the Spirit means keeping in step with the Spirit, neither running ahead nor lagging behind. This is the essence of godly living a living relationship with the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:I like that phrase. The fruit of the Spirit has to do with character, not giftedness.
Speaker 2:For some unexplainable reason, many men equate goodness with weakness, and thus we hear sentences that come on, man, try it, be a man, don't be a goodie-goody. The last words some drug users remember hearing are try it, man, it's safe, don't be a loser. It's time to tell young men that being good does not mean being a loser. Be committed to your biblical standards and proven safe lifestyle. Do not be seduced or deceived by the enemy of our souls to destroy our good relations with God by a moment of activity that may hold some excitement and pleasure but has devastating emotional, physical, social and spiritual results.
Speaker 2:When our sons were young, we noted that Proverbs had thirty-one chapters. So at breakfast time we tried to read one specific verse or proverb from the chapter that matched the same day of the month. Next month we'd come to the same chapters on that day and we would pick another verse from that chapter. As you may know, proverbs 5 has some strong language to help young men avoid immoral women. One month we came to the fifth day of the month again and as I opened the Bible to read Proverbs 5, I heard one son tell his brother here we go again. Watch out for that strange woman at school today.
Speaker 1:Humorous story, Jim, but the reality is, every parent who has ever had a son watch pornography or commit fornication or commit adultery or cause a divorce would love to have their son memorize Proverbs 5, especially verses 18-23, and obey those verses by producing the fruit of the Holy Spirit and their relations with women.
Speaker 2:All. Second-at statement Pebble. Listen as I read in the New Living Translation Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. She is a loving deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts satisfy you always. May you always be captivated by her love. Why be captivated, my son, by an immoral woman? Or fondle the breasts of a promiscuous woman? For the Lord sees clearly what a man does, examining every path he takes. An evil man is held captive by his own sins. They are ropes that catch and hold him. He will die for lack of self-control. He will be lost because of his great foolishness. Those verses also fill the word self-control. But think of it this way, men A good man filled with the Holy Spirit will evidence the spiritual fruit of goodness and self-control, especially in his relationships with his wife and all other women. The character quality of goodness in a man allows a woman to feel more comfortable in his presence.
Speaker 1:Jim, you were saying the character, quality of goodness in a man allows women to feel more comfortable in his presence.
Speaker 2:I heard a pastor speak to a faculty of a seminary where one of the seminary professors had been terminated for having multiple sexual affairs with his female counseling clients. The pastor told the story of his father committing adultery and leaving his wife to live with another woman. Then he quoted Proverbs 22,14,. The mouth of an adulterous woman is a deep pit. Those who are under the Lord's wrath will fall into it. He spoke from his heart as one who had experienced his father's failure and divorce when he was ten years old. Then he tied it to 1 Corinthians 6, 18 to 20, saying Every sin a man commits is outside his body, except the sin of adultery. Then he added One way God can humble a man with pride who will never repent is to have him sin against himself, as in sin sexually against his own body.
Speaker 1:The more we examine the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, the more we see that he evidenced all nine character qualities of the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2:The list of the fruit of the Spirit is summarized by the apostle Paul again in the letter to the church at Ephesus. In chapter 5 he writes Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness or foolish talk or crude joking which is out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving, for you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or who is covetous, that is, an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Speaker 2:Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of those things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not become partners with them, for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true, and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them, for it is shameful even to speak about the things that are done in secret, but when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible. So, pablo, if our lives bear this fruit and we allow the Holy Spirit to work through us using the gifts he provides, then our Christian character and testimony will do more than survive. It will be triumphant.
Speaker 1:That, my brother, is the challenge of this series. We said at the beginning, this program is a biblical journey to help us conform to the image of Jesus Christ. In my recent book Living Like a Lamb among 21st Century Wolves, I wrote that Jesus was identified as full of grace and truth, and then we added Jesus' exhortation to his disciples to be like him, gentle and humble. Now you introduce a new idea for some, that conforming our character to the character of Jesus is a higher goal than whatever our spiritual gift may be.
Speaker 2:During his lifetime, jesus exhibited how to be filled with love, exude joy, live in peace, evidence patience, show kindness, display goodness, manifest faithfulness, convey gentleness and practice self-control. That raises the number of revealed character qualities of Christ for us to emulate, by the power of the Holy Spirit, from four grace, truth, humble, gentle to thirteen, if we add Christ's exhibiting all of the fruit of the Spirit.
Speaker 1:Jim, I once saw a chart you created of the twenty-three biblical qualifications to be a church elder, in which you noted that some twenty-two of the qualifications related to the man's character and only one to his spiritual gift.
Speaker 2:And do you remember what the elder must be able to do?
Speaker 1:I am one, and I know that it is. He must be able to teach.
Speaker 2:Exactly what a great goal to strive towards to be transformed into the thirteen character qualities of our Lord Jesus Christ, while having the twenty-two qualifications of an elder. For today, our focus is on the section of the fruit of the Spirit called goodness. It is impossible to be like Christ, to be conformed to his image, or to be a candidate to be an elder if our life does not evidence his goodness Goodness in our intents, goodness in our thoughts, goodness in our words, our actions and our lifestyle. That is a challenge for every man, including you and me to be good, no matter how bad it gets around us.
Speaker 1:There you have it, men. The sixth character, quality of the fruit of the Spirit. And the third in our relations to other people patience, kindness and goodness. Go to our website at goteachglobalcom for more information and download a PDF copy of Dr Jim's Ten Commandments for Elders, and send us a note at our email address, menaliveintogoddatgmailcom. Until next time, may you be filled with the Holy Spirit. Goodness, as men alive, transformed to the image of Jesus Christ.
