Well, hey, come on church, let's pray together, but we come before you. Now. God, we thank you for your goodness. Even if it feels like we just, we, we have to say it and don't know if we feel it. When we look at the circumstances and the situations we face, God, we know sometimes it is, it is hard.

It is hard to feel the goodness. But Lord, we know, we believe that you're good. And so we rest in that truth. God, we thank you for your goodness. God, we thank you for stories of life change that we get to see and celebrate and be a part of.

God. We thank you for your movement and your presence in this place. We pray that as we open your word, God, that you'll open our hearts, God, that you'll continue to move and stir in this place that we'll experience your goodness maybe for the first time, maybe just in a new and a fresh way. But God, we just pray that our hearts will be awakened to you in this moment. We love you, Lord.

We give you all the praise and all the glory, all things we ask in your name. Amen. Amen. Well, hey, welcome to Venture Man. I'm glad that you're here today.

Uh, I'm glad I get to be a part of, of the next few minutes with you. Uh, if you are with us live, um, then it is, it is no secret that we are just days away from the presidential election, which we're going to in a few moments. Before we get outta here, we're gonna pause and we're gonna pray together as a church across all of our campuses. We're gonna pray together for this coming week for what, uh, you know, this week is gonna be and hold, and all of the emotions and all of the feelings tied into it for our country, for our nation, for all the things that it will lead to over the next several years. And so we're gonna pause and we're gonna pray together in just a few moments before we get there, before we dive into the text today, I do want to remind you of, uh, something we said several weeks ago when we kicked this series off, walking through the Fruit of the Spirit.

No matter how significant this moment in time feels, this election, no matter how significant this moment feels, and, and it is significant, like I'm not diminishing that whatsoever, but no matter how significant it feels, or it is, it does not change the reality of who sits on the throne. We know that at the end of the day, regardless of votes that are cast regardless of ballots or any names on the title, we know that God still rules and reigns. We know the truth of his word, that he has placed, that God has placed all things under the feet of King Jesus. And that king Jesus is the one who rules and reigns for all of eternity. He has.

He is he will. We know that all throughout history, God has used politicians and kings and queens, good and bad for his good purpose. We know that we can rest in the confidence and the certainty of God, that he is in control no matter what. We can rest in that. Now, I do want to acknowledge that rest doesn't necessarily mean retreat.

There is a distinction there that I wanna make. Right. Here's what I mean by that. Ephesians, Ephesians chapter, uh, six verses 11 and 12. Paul says this, but put on, he tells us, put on the whole armor of God.

Armor, by the way, is not a thing you put on in times of peace. Fair put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, emphasize that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. We do wrestle, however, against rulers and authorities and against the cosmic powers over this present darkness over, we wrestle against the spiritual forces that are in the heavenly places. Now, I read those verses and I point that out to you so that we can acknowledge like this isn't neutral language.

And this isn't the only place we see this kind of language in Scripture. It's all throughout it's pages, right? That there is a, um, a, a wrestling, there is a war, there is a battle to take part in, to take, uh, place in. There is a battle for us to engage in, to put on the armor and step into the fight. Not let me emphasize again, not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and the authorities against the cosmic powers over this present darkness.

The spiritual forces, some would say like the, the, the systems of power and control that steer our culture away from the things of God that celebrate the things of the flesh and mock the things of God. There's a battle, a fight, a wrestling to engage in, and we cannot retreat from that fight. And so we exist in this tension, right? You and I as the people of God, we exist in this tension where we, we rest, we should rest in the sovereignty and the certainty of God, trusting and believing in his goodness and his presence, that he is in control. No matter what circumstances may look like in front of us, God is in control.

So we rest in that. And yet we cannot deny and we cannot run from, or we can't retreat from the call that he's placed in front of us in this time that God has placed you and I in this culture, in this nation, in this moment in time for a reason, right? To press in, to stand in, to stand up and against not fleshing blood, the work of the enemy. So how do we do that? What does that look like to, to navigate that tension?

Well, I think that it looks in part, I mean, there's a lot we could unpack here, but I think it looks at least in part that as the people of God, the church man, we should be culturally separate. Like we should be culturally unique and distinct and set apart. We should be different than the culture around us. We should be culturally separate, but we should not be culturally silent. Our voice should be present.

I I I would say that we should be the people of God. The church should be culturally significant, right? That, that our, that our communities, and again, the, the systems of influence and power that are over and within our communities that Lead our culture away from the things of God. That those things should be different because of the presence of God's people. That's why over the past four, I think we're on the fifth week now, we've been walking through the series, what, what Scripture calls the fruit of the spirit.

Those things that are real, that are present, that are evident in and through us as we walk by the spirit, or as Jesus said in, in the Gospel of John, is we abide in him as God's present presence is made manifest in and through us, those things that are evident to the world around us, so that they may taste and see that the Lord is good, right? The fruit of the Spirit. Craig said, I think last week, that there's no more important time than this for God's people to show God's character. So let me, uh, take you back to that, that Scripture that's kind of been our anchor for the past several weeks. Galatians chapter five, verses 22 and 23 is what we've been kind of unpacking, really one word at a time.

Here's what Paul says in that letter. He says that the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience. We've looked at those four already. If you've missed any of this series, man, go back. You can find all this online love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Now, we're gonna do something a little bit different today. We're, we're gonna zoom in on two of those ideas. We, we've kind of taken one at a time so far, we're gonna zoom in on two of them, kindness and goodness. Let me just kind of acknowledge, uh, from the jump here that if you are, uh, reading the King James version, hey, look, no shame, you're gonna get real confused in this moment, okay? Because, uh, the word I just read as kindness, the King James version translates as gentleness.

And the word I trans, or the word I read as gentleness, it translates into meekness. Nothing wrong necessarily with those translations, okay? Um, it's just, we, we have learned a lot. Scholars have learned a lot, and most scholars, most translators would agree that a better understanding of the heart of those words that Paul is writing, there is kindness, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and gentleness and self-control. Okay?

So we're gonna zoom in on these ideas, kindness and goodness, and we're gonna put them together intentionally. We're gonna look at them as one, because I mean, I, I promise I'm not gonna spend a whole lot of time here, but it's real easy to lose nuance when we translate language, right? And so if you don't know this, the New Testament wasn't written in the English language. Like what we read is a translation of the original. It was originally written in Greek for the vast majority of it, it was written in Greek.

Um, and so what we read is a translation from the Greek into English. And so, and it's just really easy to lose a little bit of nuance, like the, the kind of heart behind some of the words within a culture when you move 'em from one language to another. And I think this is a really good example that, that you and I kind of interpret. We have a picture of, of kindness and goodness that if we look at distinctly or uniquely, I think it kind of misses a little bit of what Paul is saying here. So I wanna put them together, okay?

Here, here's the best way I can, I can summarize this kindness without goodness is simply niceness. And here's the distinction. Niceness is usually aimed at perception. Niceness is aimed at likability, right? Niceness is how you perceive me.

I want you to perceive me as a nice person. I want you to think about me as a nice person. And so I, I'm gonna kind of have this characteristic and I'm gonna smile and, and because I want you to look and think of me as nice. It's, it's about perception, kindness. On the other hand, kindness is usually people centered, like kindness is a thing somebody does towards another person, right?

Kindness without goodness is simply niceness. There's something, there's something else there. When we add the idea of goodness to it, goodness. Then on the flip side, goodness, without acts of kindness, without kindness is really stagnant. Like it goes nowhere because at, at its heart, right at the root of this idea of kindness is action.

There there's some built in movement in the word, uh, kindness at, at its at its root, at its heart. Carries this idea of morally useful, which I like. I just love that language and that kind of word picture by the way, uh, morally useful. There's some usefulness to the idea of kindness. Think about a kind person, okay?

If I was to ask you, Hey, who in your life have you experienced ask kind, think about, you got that name now, why, why do you describe, define that person as kind? Well, chances are, for the vast majority of people in this room, we cannot define a person as kind without pointing to a moment where they did a thing where they, they served or they helped, or they gave. There was some sort of action that led us to pick that and say, that's kind, that's what kind looks like. You cannot separate the idea of kindness from the action, right? You've heard the call, you've had the sticker be kind.

There's some action involved in that. Goodness. On the other hand, goodness, uh, it, it literally means morally upright. Goodness is what defines what is behind the kind. I can't say that without smiling, 'cause I really didn't mean to rhyme.

But then like, it's just funny to me, goodness is what defines what is behind the kind. Why is my boss kind to me? Why is my spouse being kind to me? All of a sudden? What's happening here?

They asking for something, they getting ready to set me up, right? Is there, did they do something wrong that I'm fixing have to cover for like, why, why are they kind all of a sudden? Is it because they have something to ask? They want something in return, or are they being kind because it's the good and right thing to do, right? Good is what pushes what drives the act of kindness that we see.

And so when we put them together, we get a much clearer picture of, of what I think Paul is writing here in this fruit. And now, let me just kind of, there, there needs to be a distinction here. Like this is one of the places where as the people of God and as the church, we are culturally separate, right? Unique, distinct, set apart. We, we need to draw a line here and differentiate that, that Jesus, the person of Jesus has to be our standard of what is good, of what morally means in those phrases, morally, upright, and morally useful.

That Jesus has to be our definition, our standard bearer of what is morally or what is good, what is right, what is true. This is what blows my mind. And, and a lot of the conversations that we'll hear in culture now about good, good and right and true, because you pay attention. You hear a lot of people talking about like, essentially I'm gonna define my good. I, I know what's good for me.

I know what's right for me. I'm gonna define and decide my truth, what's true for me. And yet we would all acknowledge that, that we are all incomplete and imperfect, right? Anybody claiming to be perfect or complete, oh, we, we, like, that's not a crazy thing to admit. Like we understand.

It's really simple to see like, I'm not the same person I was 10 years ago, 10 years from now, I'm gonna be different than I am this moment. We, we have different experiences, different perceptions, different understanding of things, right? And so we are incomplete, we are imperfect people. And so of course then it makes sense that if I were to define something based off of my understanding and perception, it would in the same way be incomplete and imperfect. It makes sense.

Like if, if I'm depending on myself to define, to picture what is good, what is right and true, it's gonna be incomplete and imperfect because I am incomplete and imperfect. This is why so many of us spend so long like frustrated and disappointed in the lives we live because we're chasing after and incomplete and imperfect picture of truth of right, of good. And so when we align our lives with Jesus, then we're given then that complete imperfect picture, that complete imperfect understanding of what good and right and true really is. And so we have an idea then to, to kind set the mark against Jesus is our standard there of what is, of what is good, what is right, what is true. So if I was to take all of that, okay, all of that, and put it into, into one sentence, one idea for us, here's what I say for you and I to live out this fruit for you and I to, to have the fruit of kindness and goodness present in our lives.

Here's what I think that means for us. I think it means that the people of God, that you and I living out this route, that we will be present, and I wanna use that word intentionally, okay? We'll be present, we'd be engaged, we'd being involved, we would be present in an upright and useful way. We present in, in our communities. We'll be present, uh, in our places of work, will be present in the lives of people around us, but not just passively present.

We will be present in an upright and useful way. We are taking the, the goodness of God and we are aiming it at the world around us through kindness. Now, lemme take a little detour here for just a second, okay? It's not the main point, okay? I, I didn't want, it's too good.

I can't avoid it, okay? It's not the, lemme take a detour real quick. It's two verses in proverbs I want you to see. I think this is really, really important. Proverbs 1117 says this, those who are kind benefit themselves, but the cruel bring ru to themselves.

And then Proverbs 21, 21 says, whoever pursues righteousness and love or some translations, the English standard says, whoever pursues righteousness and kindness finds life, prosperity and honor. And so the question is, how can kindness give us life, prosperity, honor, righteousness, personal benefit? Like how do we benefit from kindness? Because kindness costs something. Pretend that's not the case.

Kindness will cost you time or energy or effort. Money sometimes, right? Like kindness cost you. So how do I get in return? It's really fascinating to me.

Uh, scientists now can tell us clearly that acts of kindness produces endorphins in us. That our brains release, our brains, uh, produce and release endorphins. Those hormones that create joy in you. Our brains release endorphins simply by doing, or simply, when we do kind things and acts of kindness, our our bodies, our minds create joy in us. This is why, uh, like the, especially in the holidays like Christmas, there, there's this picture of joy for most people.

Like it's a season, it's a holiday of joy. And the reason is, we know this, we can draw this map now that in the holiday season, especially on Christmas, like you're far more likely to be charitable, you're far more likely to give, be kind to people around you. And that act of of being charitable or giving or being kind, that act releases endorphins. It produces joy in you. And so you connect the idea of joy with this season, but it's not the season at all.

It's just that you're being charitable, you're being kind in this season. Like you don't have to have hallmark and hot chocolate to have the joy of the holidays. You just gotta be kind. This is why, uh, Paul, Paul quotes, um, Jesus in the book of Acts, he says, it's, it's more or it's um, it's more blessed. There it is.

It's more blessed to give than to receive. You've heard some variation of that, right? 'Cause you, you get joy, you get life, honor, righteousness, benefit. You, you receive joy through acts of kindness when we're kind to others. And yet we know, like we all know those people that like, I mean you, you can just look at 'em and you know, like that, that's not a kind person.

You know, like those people that just wear it on their face, like you really don't even wanna go out to eat with 'em. 'Cause their face is just like cussing out the weight staff. Like you don't have to say a thing and you know, somebody gonna spit my food. 'Cause the way you look, and then there's some people that like, it moves from their face to their heart and like they just, I mean this, they, they really are just numb, bitter, sad, cold discontent. And usually like in conversations with them, it's, it's usually like, well, this, this is just the way I am.

Well, maybe, but here's the deal. God didn't make you that way. You let something else make you that way. Pain may have made you that way, but the potter did not. Shame may have made you that way, but the Savior did not.

God made you, he literally wired, created you to enjoy showing his character through kindness to enjoy it. And, and I'm convinced by the way, I I'm convinced the reason that is, is because it's a little taste of Eden. Like Scripture says that, that all of creation longs for its return to the garden of Eden to creation before sin in the fall when all things were good and perfect. And in acts of kindness we get, we experience just a little picture of what it's like to live without pride and selfishness. A little picture of, of creation before sin.

And our hearts and our minds just resonate with that. And joy, joy springs up 'cause it's, it's good and it's true. So we're wired to be kind. Alright, now let me, let me get back on the highway here. Um, lemme get back to the main idea.

If, if we, if you and I are gonna live out this fruit, right? If we're gonna be people who are kind and who are good, and we're gonna be people who are present in an upright and useful way, okay? Two things happen. I'm gonna show you two verses in the book of Romans, two things happen. One evil is overcome.

Romans chapter 12, uh, verse 21 simply says, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Now don't miss the promise in that little sentence there. Do not be overcome by evil, but instead overcome evil with good. Here's the promise. Evil will be, can be overcome.

Evil can be evil will be conquered. I mean, it's so easy in, in, in the culture we live in and just the, you know, the waters that we swim in to get overwhelmed with evil. I mean, you watch the news report, you listen to a podcast, you open up Yahoo, whatever, and like it's it's story after story report after report of injustice or hate evil. And, and, and you see the title, you feel the title wave coming. It's like, man, how, how does this ever stop?

Well, here's the promise of Scripture. Evil is overcome not on the back of any politician, not through any political system, not through any political party, not through any government entity, not through any legislation. Evil is overcome when the people of God live out His character of goodness. When we aim his goodness through kindness, evil's conquered. Like I think about the phrase, um, oh, I went back and tried to find it and couldn't find who originally said.

It's definitely some variation of this verse. The only thing necessary, here's a phrase, the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. Heard that before. Paul says, right, evil is overcome by goodness. And I know it's like, come on Kyle, like this.

You, you live in an idealistic world. That's not reality. Well, I don't know, like, I mean let's, like, let's think about this practically for a second. Like how much evil is overcome when the people of God commit to making a difference in the foster care system? I mean, Scripture does say that religion that's pure and undefiled is when we care for widows and orphans.

Like how much evil is overcome when we do that? How much evil is overcome when we, we commit as a people of God when we commit to making a difference in the lives of the homeless community or the lives of those that are battling addiction? I mean, Jesus did say when he was talking about the people who will spend eternity with him, he said, you fed me when I was hungry. You visited me when I was in prison. You s served me when I was suffering.

Like how much evil is overcome when we do that? How much evil is overcome? This is Romans, it is verse 17 of Romans 12, how much evil is overcome when we, when we we commit, we choose not to repay evil with evil, but choose to pause and consider what is good and righteous. How much evil is overcome evils overcome when the people of God live out His goodness through kindness? That's what his word tells us.

And one of the ways that happens is through repentance. When we live out, when you and I, the people of God, when we live out, uh, this fruit, when we are people who are present in upright and useful way, repentance is found is Romans chapter two, verse four. Paul says, or do you presume on the riches of his this talking about God of the riches, of God's kindness and forbearance and patience. If you've been following in the series, this word should be really familiar to you. Kindness and forbearance and patience not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.

And there's a couple of things in that verse that I think is worth noting, highlighting. One is that it is God's nature. It has always been God's nature to be kind towards you. His step towards you is kindness. Listen, if you have been painted a picture of an angry God, a God who is raffle, vengeful a God who is, who is quick with judgment, quick to swing the belt, that's not the God of the Bible.

As a matter of fact, the most quoted verse in the Bible by the Bible, okay? The line that the Bible has on repeat the most is first found in Exodus. So almost the very beginning, it's the first place that God describes his character. And it's described God as compassionate and gracious. He's slow to anger and he's abounding and steadfast love.

And that character is on repeat throughout Scripture. God is gracious, he's compassionate, he's slow to anger, and he's abounding and steadfast love. Now it is fair, like, let me acknowledge here that the fact that God is slow to anger does mean that God's anger can be kindled, right? There is a, a righteous, there's a good, there's a holy way to fear a righteous God who is very serious about the name in which his church displays. Okay, there, there is a good and right way to fear him.

But yet even in that he's slow to anger, he's compassionate and he, and he's gracious the thing that overflows, the thing that's abounding in him, that's just pouring out of him. It's not anger or wrath or vengeance, it's love. He's abounding in that. And, and the more we understand that, Paul says that, that God's kindness is meant to, the whole purpose of it is meant to lead us to repentance because God's kindness shows us just how undeserving we are. Like I don't deserve God's kindness.

You kidding me? Like as foolish as I have been, as much as the thing that has been abounding in me has been selfishness and pride and arrogance, anger, like I don't deserve God's kindness. That's crazy. And yet he's abundantly kind to me. It is sent his son, his kindness was made manifest through the fact that he sent his son to die on my behalf before I could ever loved him.

He loved me before I could ever do anything to earn it, to deserve it, to repay it. God gave me grace and mercy and hope and forgiveness through his son. God's kindness shows us just how undeserving we are and it leads us. The more we let that root in us, the more we understand the depth of that truth, of just how undeserving we are. And yet how great and big his kindness is, the more our hearts turn away from the things of the flesh into the things of God.

That's what repentance is. And now here's the rub in all of that, because we hear that and it's like, yes, in amen. Thank you God for your kindness. The problem with that is this whole conversation we've had about the fruit of the spirit, that we experience God's character so that we may show God's character. And so we have to turn the mirror on that.

Like the world should be able to taste and see the world should know God is undeservingly kind. 'Cause I am undeservingly kind to them. My neighbors, the people I work with, they should know how undeservingly kind God is. 'Cause I am undeservingly kind to them. And man, that's not easy thing to do.

Um, years ago, 10, 15 years ago or so, um, there, there was a book, uh, by the Barnard Group. The Barnard Group put out this book called un-Christian. If you're unfamiliar with the Barnard Group, they, there's a big research group. They do incredible work. It's usually kind of aimed at the state of the church.

Um, but they, they put out this book, they a whole bunch of research. The book was called un-Christian. And what they aimed their research at in this particular study was, um, the, the unchurched in America, kind of what they defined as young adults. I think the age range was like 16 to 29. It's not all that important.

These were people outside of the church and they asked, Hey, how, what is your view? What is your perception? What is your understanding of the Church of American Christianity, the Christians you come in contact with at work, at the ball field, at home? How do you see that? How do you experience that?

Love, joy, peace, patience, right? That's the characteristics. That's, that's what the world should be able to taste and see through us. Here's what they said. It's the top three answers.

91% said anti-homosexual, anti there by the way doesn't mean against, it means hostile towards aggressive, hateful towards those who look and live different. 87% said judgmental. 85% said hypocritical. I have a hard time imagining a list that is further from the fruit of the spirit. I mean, like, I read that and my heart breaks because like, man, doesn't it feel like we missed the mark on that?

Like if we, if if our call as the people of God is for the world to taste and see God's love and God's joy and God's peace and patience and kindness and goodness, how did we get there? And now listen, I I point that out and I say that not, not to say like get it together. You're terrible. Like, don't hear that at all, okay? Because the reality is, man, I like personal experience here for the past six or seven months, Brooke, and I'm in my family, we have experienced some of the kindness, some of the most good people in a very, very difficult season of our life, okay?

Men, I'm incredibly thankful for the testimony of people in our church. I, I bring that up, I say that and I acknowledge those things so that we can acknowledge, hey, we're playing from behind here. We got some negative yardage, we got some catching up to do in the perception of our culture and the people around us. But the way forward, lemme say it again. The way forward is not on the back of any politician.

It's not because of any political party, it's not through any legislation. The way forward is the people of God living, present in an upright and useful way. The goodness of God on display through our kindness, evil is conquered and repentance is found. So here's what we're gonna do. If you've Been here, this is not a unique moment, okay?

This is normally how we kinda wrap things up. I'm gonna pray and across all of our campuses, our teams are gonna lead us in a time of worship. And it's your chance just to man to worship, to hopefully respond, to move. You can, you know, go to the crosses, you can get on your face at the altar. We'll have some people ready to pray with you.

Put a hand on your shoulder. You can take communion to thank God for his kindness and his goodness, his undeserved kindness and goodness towards you. Maybe there is some repentance to be found for you, like, like maybe you hear this and you know, man, my first foot forward at work hasn't been a kind one, my first foot forward at home, hadn't been kind. And there's some repentance there. Maybe you need to pray for those moments, those opportunities to show that fruit to be good and kind to the world around us, especially as we walk into this week.

So lemme pray for us and then man, I'm gonna invite you to stand, to worship, to respond, to move however God leads. Okay? Let's pray. Lord, we thank you again for your goodness, how undeserved it is. How we don't, we could never earn it.

We could never deserve it. We certainly could never repay it. And yet God, you are good. You, you are kind towards us. It is hard to see it sometimes.

It is hard to understand it in the midst of the valley and the difficult seasons. Oh, I know that so well. But you're good. And we, we rest in that truth. We rest in your sovereignty.

And God we pray. We pray that others will taste and see, will know your goodness and kindness because of our presence, because of your spirit in and through us. Pray that you'll move God, that you'll be glorified. All things we ask in your name. Amen.