June 29, 2014 | Fruit of the Holy Spirit | Kindness

Dear all, welcome to THE NATHAN REPORT!

What a beautiful day that God has made.

We started off with "Praise and Worship", here is the playlist:

1) Forever - Chris Tomlin

2) For all you've done - Hillsong United

3) Here I am to worship - Tim Hughes

4) Alabaster Jar - Gateway Worship 

It was a wonderful session!

We started with the quote, "LET EVERY THING THAT HAS BREATH, PRAISE GOD!" We have power in Praying. At times it is very easy to give out, but really difficult to pray at times. We do not need a paying church, but a praying church.  

We generally have three services on Sunday. During today's morning service, we had a pleasure to listen to sister Mabel's testimony.  Her leg was broken which caused swelling and to operate, her knee cap was removed and she was hardly able to sit, walking was next to impossible. She encouraged us to be very active in praying. Whenever pastor asks to raise hands to pray, do that, it is good, no harm in it. She wanted to shout and dance with joy, but body was not in a position. So we as church, need to be encouraged and worship God with all our heart and mind.

Followings are the list of announcements:

- If anyone has prayer request, can send on our church website.

- Young Adult's meeting will be held at our Church office this Saturday at 6:30 PM.

As we move further, we have a "Child Dedication" ceremony. Brother Amar and sister Tanuja have been blessed by a baby, who they named "Caleb". Entire Church was involved in blessing Caleb and his parents. We have a photo below:

Alright, as you know, this month's theme was "Fruit of the Holy Spirit", and today we will be discussing about "Kindness".

According to various dictionaries, we have following meanings for "Kindness":

- The quality of being warmhearted and considerate and humane and sympathetic."

- Tendency to be kind and forgiving.

- The quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.

Is it what the word of God teaches? Well, we will learn more about this in today's word. 

Galatians 5:22-23 says, "22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

According to Koine Greek, the word used for kindness in the verses above is pronounced as "Chrēstotēs", which literally means "Grace in Action".

God is kind!

How do you know God’s kindness?

Kindness is an act of doing something which demonstrates love to other person. Loving a person seems to be very difficult. But, God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 – he went to the cross without guarantee of a positive response from the people he loved – this is ultimate kindness.

If we notice the events in the Garden of Eden, while Adam & Eve committed first sin, God could have finished them off the face of this earth and recreated a new man and woman. He didn't, because God is kind and he gave both another chance. We have few references:

Genesis 3:21, "And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them."

Genesis 4:15, "Then the LORD said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him."

Isaiah 54:8, "In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD, your Redeemer."

Romans 5:8, "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

HOW CAN WE SHOW KINDNESS?

1) By loving people genuinely.

If we ever notice, sometimes we tell our friends, "I love you". At times friends laughs and we celebrate with them a good time laughing and sharing happiness. Whereas, while we tell someone, "I hate you", see the expression. We genuinely hate that person. The idea is, it is easy to hate someone, but very tough to love genuinely. 

There was a story of a missionary who goes to Canada, where his father is murdered by a tribe, for preaching gospel.  After some weeks, missionary manages to meet the tribesman who killed his father and tells him, "Since you killed my father, now you have to be my father. Take my house and take all my ice clothes." The tribesman responded by saying, "I killed your father and felt nothing while I murdered him, but now after meeting you I feel you killed me in reality."

Well, this is easily a perfect example of Kindness and genuine love. Jesus died for our sins, that is a genuine example of love. God wants us to be kind with each other. We can always change situations, for that we need to be kind.

We have few references:

Ephesians 4:32, "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."

Luke 6:35-36, "35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful."

Proverbs 5:22-25, "22 The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin. 23 He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray."

Matthew 5:46-47, "46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?" 

2) By learning to value other's view points.

Are you a good listener? At times, the speaker at the Church says, "God be with you", most of us respond by replying, "God be with you also". Imagine at times while someone poses a different question and we respond by a different answer, which can create a major change in the expected output. 

Here are further exhortations to Christian duties; to like-mindedness and lowly-mindedness, according to the example of the Lord Jesus. Kindness is the law of Christ's kingdom, the lesson of his school, the livery of his family. Several motives to brotherly love are mentioned. If you expect or experience the benefit of God's compassions to yourselves, be compassionate one to another. It is the joy of ministers to see people like-minded. Christ came to humble us, let there not be among us a spirit of pride. We must be severe upon our own faults, and quick in observing our own defects, but ready to make favorable allowances for others. We must kindly care for others, but not be busy-bodies in other men's matters. Neither inward nor outward peace can be enjoyed, without lowliness of mind. By learning to value other's view points, we can achieve a mutual respect and love for each others. 

Philippians 2:2-4 says, "2 Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." 

3) We can really be kind by seeing something positive in other person.

God has made everyone with a purpose. Sometimes we concentrate on negative things and that causes strife.

Illustration: Two members of worship team. Lets us name them Adam and John. John plays Piano and Adam Plays Guitars. Now while practicing, John noticed that Adam is playing out of Rhythm, which angers John. He does not says anything to Adam, but keeps up to himself. On the other hand, Adam respects John. So one day, Adam meets John and say, "John, I know I play bad and most of the time out from rhythm, so accept my humble apology. I hope one day I can play better, as I know I have this opportunity to play with a wonderful musician such as you." Well, when John hears this, his anger goes off and he feels bad about his opinion for Adam, whereas Adam shows perfect example of how we should talk it out and maintain love for each others. 

Based on this illustration, John was not aware what was in Adam's heart. If it would have been something bad, John would have not wasted more time and could have added more fuel to this fire. 

We have few references:

Philippians 4:8, "I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God."

Philippians 4:18, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

We have another illustration from the story of Zacchaeus. The original story occurs in the gospel of Luke 19:1-10. 

"1 He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” 

Here is we notice in verse 5, Jesus didn't mocked Zacchaeus, in fact He asks him to come down and that if Zacchaeus can arrange a stay in his house. Those who sincerely desire a sight of Christ, like Zaccheus, will break through opposition, and take pains to see him. Christ invited himself to Zaccheus' house. Wherever Christ comes he opens the heart, and inclines it to receive him. He that has a mind to know Christ, shall be known of him. Those whom Christ calls, must humble themselves, and come down. We may well receive him joyfully, who brings all good with him. Zaccheus gave proofs publicly that he was become a true convert. He does not look to be justified by his works, as the Pharisee; but by his good works he will, through the grace of God, show the sincerity of his faith and repentance. Zaccheus is declared to be a happy man, now he is turned from sin to God. Now that he is saved from his sins, from the guilt of them, from the power of them, all the benefits of salvation are his. Christ is come to his house, and where Christ comes he brings salvation with him. He came into this lost world to seek and to save it. His design was to save, when there was no salvation in any other. He seeks those that sought him not, and asked not for him. So, it is very important for us to really be kind like Jesus was, who managed to changed Zacchaeus' heart with love. Jesus showed act of kindness to the one who was rejected by all. He saw something positive in that person.

In conclusion, there are three more things we have to keep in our mind:

- Show kindness, you will see great outcome.

- Kindness is often taken for granted. 

- Kindness can be exploited.  

We need to help cultivate Kindness. To do this, we need meditate on God’s Kindness – choose to respond in kindness. And do acts of kindness – even when it will not be re-payed. 

Ask the Holy Spirit to show you one person with whom you can make a difference by sharing the kindness of Jesus. He will guide you in sharing His kindness, compassion, and love in practical ways that can turn people around for eternity. He will open your eyes to see a need, to care for that need, and to set that person on a new path in life.

We come to the closing with a powerful prayer. We encourage you all to pray with us...

Dear Lord, 

Thank You for the great kindness you have shown me. Throughout the generations, Your loving kindness remains. Thank You that as I abide in You, I have Your footsteps of grace to follow. May Your kindness guide my heart and mind. Please help me to be kind and considerate. My hope is to be a living expression of Your kindness. Please fill me with the Fruit of the Spirit; my actions be full of peace, love, and mercy. Help me to look beyond my own needs and stand beside those who are without. Please use me as Your vessel to minister to those who are hurting. Help me to always reflect You throughout all situations. May the light You placed within me, burn brightly for You. May I walk beside You with a humble heart. My heart’s desire is to be like You; for my conversation to be full of light, flourishing with love, kindness, and wisdom. Please draw my attention to those in need of kindness in their lives. 

In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen!  

We hope you all enjoyed this service. Please share with your friends and families. And yes, please share and subscribe for upcoming reports, God bless!