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Fruit of the Spirit-Goodness · The Father's Business Podcast

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: The Father's Business was founded by Sylvia Gunter to encourage people to a deeper relationship with God.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: I'm Elizabeth Gunter Powell.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: And I am Kimberly Roddy.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the Father's Business Podcast.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: We are so glad that you've joined us.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Hey everybody, we are so excited because we are going to have our first in-person conference in several years, coming up in October.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: That's going to be October 16 to 18.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: And we are going to be at the Sandy Cove Retreat Center in Maryland.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: It is a beautiful location.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: It's on the Chesapeake Bay.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Both the nature around it and the accommodations are five star and we think you're really going to love it.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: It's going to be a great time to gather together with other people who have already been through the Ruach Journey study before.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: So this is a Ruach Journey level two conference.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: It's for anyone who either has attended one of our conferences in the past or you have gone through the Ruach Journey video study that is available for sale on our website.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: You've been listening to our podcast last fall and we did like a 13-week series on Ruach Journey.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: So anyone who has been through the basic material that is in the Ruach Journey study.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: This is for people who are looking for more.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: So there's still plenty of time.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: If you want to come and join us for this conference and you have not yet done the rut journey study, you can go on our website, wwwthefathersbusinesscom and purchase the study.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: There are videos you watch each week.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: You could do it on your own, you could gather some friends together and do it as a group, and you'll have plenty of time to get prepared for the fall when we're going to be together October 16 and 18.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: And one of the things I love most about this conference is it's not just about the teaching time from the front.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: It's about meeting and gathering with and talking to other people who've also been through this study and learning from one another.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: So, elizabeth, I am excited about this conference as well.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: I think it's going to be great, I think the location is going to be beautiful.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: So can anyone attend this conference?
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: Yes, this is open to both men and women.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: Anyone who has been through the Rock Journey study, has attended a conference in the past or has been listening to the Rock Journey podcast.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: As long as you've done the work to get your heart prepared and understand the basic principles of living with our spirit, soul and body in alignment with Father, son and Holy Spirit, you are welcome to join us for this conference.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: So we hope that you enjoy today's podcast.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Thanks for being with us.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: Well, welcome everyone.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: We're glad that you are joining us for this episode of our podcast.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: We just got back from Memphis.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: For those of you who were able to join us, it was a wonderful time together.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: It was great to see you meet, you get to know you a little bit, spend the day with you.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: We got to talk a lot about spirit, soul and body.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: We got to talk about listening, prayer.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: All of it is in preparation for what's coming in October.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: You just heard an announcement about that prior to us starting this podcast episode.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: So we hope you will join us then and there.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: We will be doing more in the future and we really look forward to telling you more about that as it comes out.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: For today we're jumping back into our series on the fruit of the spirit.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: We are on the fruit of goodness today, and good is a word that we often use.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: I would say most of us probably use it at some point every day.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: We say good morning, good night, good day.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: How are you?
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: I'm good.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: How's your food?
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: It's good.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: How would you rank that?
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: Good, bad, best, how do I look on this?
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: Hopefully, people say good, but we want to feel good.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: We talk about feeling good, we like good things around us, but you know, elizabeth, I think we have watered down what good really means, what goodness really means.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: What do you think?
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with you.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: I'm going to add one more to your list of good things that you forgot.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: Add one more to your list of good things that you forgot who's a good boy?
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: Whatever fur baby we have in our life a thousand times a day, who's a good boy?
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: Who's a good girl?
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I do think we have watered down the word good, because even think about it when you take a survey, sometimes good is the top of the scale, but sometimes good is kind of more that average and then it goes to better, best.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: Right?
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: You know, if someone says, did you like that movie?
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was good, it's not like, oh my gosh, it was the best movie ever.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: You need to see it.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: And what I think is a good movie may not be what you think is a good movie.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: So it is a very kind of ambiguous word in our culture.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: And yet the Bible talks about God is good.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: And so many times this word good is used.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: I mean it starts in Genesis, when he looks at what he created and he said it was good.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: And then he gets to where he created man.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: He says it's very good.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: And so there's a very, I think, different term that the Bible is talking about when it talks about goodness, versus what our culture has kind of watered it down to mean in our everyday life.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: I think when we think about the word good, I typically think of being right, being good, being right, which I also think biblically, it's righteous, right?
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: Yes, so there's this idea of righteousness, which is a lot different than what I think of the word goodness.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: It's just everyday language, right?
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Right, you and I have talked some about okay.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: So what's the difference between goodness and kindness?
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: They sound very similar and I think we use them interchangeably.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: But again, I think it's looking at that deeper understanding of when the New Testament is talking about us.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: They're talking about there's no goodness in us.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: It's referring more to a righteousness.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: There's no man who is good.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: No, not one.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: It's that's talked about in companionship with this idea of righteousness and I think if we kind of line goodness more up with holiness, in some ways it would almost be closer to what the Bible is talking about as good and because, yes, goodness and kindness, you can both be well.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: They're such a kind person, they're such a good person.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: You know, you say that about, oh, do you know Susie?
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: She is such a good person, and what I usually mean by that is she's kind, she's friendly, she's caring, she's all of these words.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: But also, sometimes, to be good towards a person like think about being a good parent.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: To be good towards a person like think about being a good parent.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: A good parent also has to discipline their child because they're calling forth that child to a higher level of righteousness, and so it's not always going to feel kind when we're experiencing goodness.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm also thinking that sometimes we a lot of times, when we talk about goodness, we're looking at a morality factor.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: Or we're looking at a morality factor, yes, or we're looking at a behavioral attitude, and that's a lot of people can look good, yes, but not have a state of righteousness Right For the Lord, absolutely, and so I think that's a good distinguishing mark too.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: Right To be right with God means something different than I'm good.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: The reality is is that God is good and out of his goodness and him making us out of that goodness and us being in Christ is what makes us good, because that's what makes us righteous, yes.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: So it has to start with God being good first.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: Right and that's what we see that in 1 Chronicles, 16, 34, I'll give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: His mercy endures forever.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: Psalm 34, verse 8, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good Right.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: Psalm 119, you are good and do good.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: Teach me your statutes.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: Mark 10 in the New Testament no one is good but one that is God.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, and Kimberly, tying that back into God is good, so that we know he is holy and perfect and set apart and we know all these other characteristics of him.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: So that tries to help us to find goodness.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: And going back to the Genesis creation story, when God created the days, and at the end of the day he would say and he looked on what he had done and it was good.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: It's this feeling of completeness, of excellence, of perfection in what he had done that day, not this will do so.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: It is a different standard.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: The other thing I always find fascinating and when you say you're going to get up to heaven and sit down and have conversations with God, this one always fascinates me is the story in Exodus 33, where Moses is talking to God and wanting to see him face to face and if you don't go with us, I don't want to leave up from here.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: And Moses's request was show me your glory.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: And God goes oh, okay, I agree.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: And then what God says in response in verse 19 is I will allow all of my goodness to pass before you.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: And I've always found that very interesting, that of all the attributes of who God is and there are many that's the one he chose was his goodness, in response to Moses' request to see his glory.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: I don't have a full explanation of why, but I think that puts a weight to goodness.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: That is a lot more than what our culture and our mind thinks of when we say something is good.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and, and just you saying that, elizabeth, kind of it, resonates in this deeper part of me where there was a significant season in my life where I struggled with the goodness of God.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: When you're given that X, quoting that Exodus verse, I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and the weight of that helps me think of why that was so significant.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: So it was during the season when my dad passed away and I had prayed, and prayed, and prayed, and really thought that God was going to answer my prayers in a particular way, prayers in a particular way.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: And when the prayers weren't answered in the particular way that I was anticipating and instead they were answered in a way that meant that my dad would go to be with Jesus and be in his presence and not be here on this earth with me anymore, with my family, I didn't feel like God was good, absolutely not.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you didn't show up, and that's what Moses was asking for.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: I don't know that I've ever broken it down into those terms, and so that's really.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: It's significant to think about when, those times when we don't feel like God is good, it's because we're looking for his presence in a different way.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: And that goodness is attributed to his very presence.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that goodness is attributed to his very presence.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, kimberly, I so remember that season with you and just that feeling that I had as your friend, of just helplessness, of yeah, I totally understand why you're struggling with the goodness of God.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: And then my own season came not long after that, when it felt like all these promises that I felt God had given me just came crashing down as my first marriage fell apart in front of me and I was like, but I thought I knew that.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: I knew that, I knew that you told me this is the person I'm supposed to marry.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: And here we are in this dumpster fire that we find ourselves in now.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: And I remember, through all of that, the phrase I had to keep saying is this doesn't feel good and this doesn't feel kind.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: But I know God is good and kind, so therefore I'm going to trust God.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: But that didn't mean I felt like God was being very good to me.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think both of us kind of looked at God in our own seasons and were like this really is your best plan, like this is it, with all the power that you have and all the options that you have of how you could have intervened in our lives.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: You didn't intervene in the way that we thought you were going to intervene, and, and so it doesn't feel like goodness to us.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: And yet, somehow in the otherness of God that that is, and somehow in the others of God that that was his goodness, that revealed more of his glory.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: And you and I can both look back years later and still see we can see some good that has come out of it.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: But that doesn't mean that I still.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: I look back on what happened to your dad and go, oh yeah, that was good.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Or I look back on what I went through and went, yes, that's good.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: That's where we're going to just have to trust that there may never be an answer to all those questions, but we're going to trust in the goodness of God to pull us through it and know that ultimately it's about his glory.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: And so, therefore, I'm going to stick with him because, honestly, what other option?
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: Like the disciple said where else do I have to go, the disciples said, where else do I have to go?
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: Right, but even if it does, this is not my definition of goodness I'm going to choose to stay with the one who is good, because he's promised that, even if I can't feel him.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: He will never leave me, he will never forsake me and he's going to pull me through this somehow.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: We sing as kids.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: You know God is so good, god is so good, god is so good to me, and even me.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: I find myself like if something good happens in my day, I'm like, hey, I want to celebrate the goodness of God today.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: You know, I got favor when I did blah, blah, blah in my day to day and I have to kind of catch myself and say, yes, that is goodness and that is kindness and that's great of God to do that.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: But God is good even if my day doesn't go well.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: And that's the hard tug of war with this one for me.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: And even as you say those things, I'm thinking back to what we said a second ago about Genesis.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: So God creates all of these things, he says it's good at the end of each day, and then he if we look at the Genesis narrative of creation, we get to when the day that he makes man and he says it's very good, right.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: And so there's this, this extra stamp of power in the, in the word Right, and I'm thinking well to take to connect that a little bit to Exodus, where Moses was asking to see his glory.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: We're made in the image of God.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: And so there is a beauty and an otherness to us as humans.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: We talked about that a little bit in kindness, like be human, be kind, were image bearers when God created man and woman and he was able to abide with them.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: They were in Eden and it was bliss and it was a perfect, righteous, holy, wonderful, intimate union, and it exemplified what had existed in Father, son and spirit, with the trinity element of being made in their likeness and so separated from that on the other side of the fall is moses saying I want to see your glory, like longing for that eden again which we're all longing for to some degree.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: So we're longing to experience God in that very good state again.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: That's the other thought I'm having.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: Is I will cause my goodness to pass.
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: In front of you is a picture of my glory and my goodness signify relationship to you.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm glory and my goodness signify relationship to you.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: I think that's why it's really significant when we experience difficult things.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: There's many people I have a friend right now who's walking through a really dark time and she said the biggest struggle in all of this physical illness situation is that she can't feel the presence of God as she is accustomed to feeling it, and what that is is this disconnect with what is supposed to be perfect.
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: We always say there's perfect and there's good, and then there's perfect, right, perfect is better than good.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: But we all know we can't really attain perfection.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: But when God created us it was a perfect union, because he is that ultimate goodness and perfection and that is who he is.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: And so I think that's again it's where we've watered down the word good.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: A better word is this like we've been talking about this righteousness of God, and I think maybe in the 60s and 70s they had that figured out because they would say, yeah, that's righteous.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: We don't use that phrase anymore.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: We're like that's good, but righteous really does get it more than the way we understand the word good today.
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: But I don't know how to make sense of what I'm sensing deep in my spirit right now, but there's a deep connection, I think, to Genesis and the narrative of being made in his image, of that being very good, and then Moses asking to see his glory and the goodness, and then how we experience the break in that.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think I can kind of help you trace a bit of the thread.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: I mean, we'll all kind of grapple around this together and then ask for God to show up and speak to everybody.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: But when he creates man, that is the being that he created spirit, soul and body to commune with Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: And so, while all of creation is good, now, as you're saying, he's got the opportunity to have a relationship, a community between Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and our spirit, soul and body has been formed when he creates man, which is why I would say he calls it very good, Because, as you were saying, now he can walk with Adam and Eve in the garden, he can commune with them in a way that he can I mean, he can enjoy all that he has created.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: But now relationship has entered the picture, now that man and woman have been created, and then, if you go forward to Exodus 33, well, actually, before we get there, here comes the enemy, One of the things that he tries to get at with Adam and Eve, when he's like did God really say, Do you really think?
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: I think one of the things that he was attacking was the goodness of God in their minds, Kind of like you know God's holding out on you and if he really was good he would let you eat of anything kind of thing.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: And I know I'm paraphrasing, that's not what it says in the Bible, but that's kind of the feel of that conversation he has between them.
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: Well, and that's the thing that we struggle with.
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: When you're talking about your first husband or my dad and losing that, we're like you didn't do what was right, what was good, what I thought you were going to do.
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: You're holding out on me.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: It's that same attitude.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: The enemy throws that into question yeah, and the enemy?
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: I mean, what was?
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: His primary goal was to separate man from God.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: So he, I think, in some ways came at it.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: You know, if God really loved you, if God was good.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: All these questions that we struggle with, I think they started right there in the garden with the accusations of the enemy.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Okay, and so now we're living in this broken world.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: Moses doesn't have the same kind of connection that Adam and Eve had with God, doesn't have the same kind of connection that Adam and Eve had with God.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: And if you read through that entire chapter 33, there's more than once that Moses says I just can't, why can't I just see your face?
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: Why can't I just see your face?
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: And I've always loved that phrase from Moses because there's so many times in our lives, even in the hard situations we're talking about, and just even today it would be so nice, Can you just show me your face, Like I want to have that face to face.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: I want to have that kind of relationship that Adam and Eve had with God in the garden.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: And so our whole walk with him is trying to figure out.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: How can we capture back what we were originally designed to be when we're not living in the perfection and the goodness of how it was originally created.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, I totally get where you're going with everything that you're saying there, Kim.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: And there is kind of this thread throughout scripture of we're all desperate to get back to what God originally wanted, and what he originally wanted was very good, Right.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: And then if we're looking at Galatians, then part of walking by the spirit means that we're also supposed to walk out.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: Goodness, right, yeah, cultivate it.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and this is where I think it's hard for some people.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: I will put myself in that category People that believe that the world is black and white and there's a right and a wrong.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: I want to dispense goodness upon people who deserve it.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: If I'm being real, I mean just flat out honest.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: Confession is good for the soul but horrible for the reputation.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: But my internal motivation is oh yeah, I'll show God's goodness, but to people who have earned it or deserved it, or if you have done something that I do not deem to be right or appropriate, then therefore you shouldn't expect my goodness, and that's not how God does it.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: Thank God, that's not how he does it Because, as we've already said, it says none of us are righteous and none of us are good, and so, while we are in no way deserving His goodness, His grace, His love and all of these types of things, he gives it to us.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: And so that is where I struggle with this particular fruit of the Spirit is it's not a rewards program.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: You don't offer it to those that are doing things the way you think they should be done, and therefore they get goodness from you, and oftentimes I've been called to give overwhelming and abundant goodness to someone that I don't think deserves it at all, but God's like.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: This is who I'm asking you to serve.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: It's more about my obedience rather than the results of what's going to happen after that.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: How about you, Kimberly?
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: How do you experience the goodness or sharing?
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: showing the goodness of God to others.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: I think that probably doing youth ministry in the latter days helped me a little bit with this, but honestly, having my mediation business has kind of helped me more with this, because people that come in here all have problems and they're aware that they have problems and it's a reminder to me that I have problems and none of us deserve goodness.
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and there's typically people in the room where, like I end up in situations where I can empathize on both sides to a certain degree, and so I'm looking at both sides, going well, I want to give you mercy or goodness right now, and I want to give you mercy or goodness right now, and then a few minutes later I'm like well, you don't deserve any goodness because you just did this, and it kind of keeps you on your toes because it helped.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: Like in relationships, you start to see how, like relationships that can mediate because these are not completely out of whack, relationships where people can try to come in the room together and talk.
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: But in those types of situations you've got two sides of a coin, two sides of a story, where it's like man at the end it's like, how do I offer goodness?
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: And not to all these people and mercy to all these people.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: But you're right, that tendency is there to go.
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: Well, you deserve this and you don't deserve this.
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: I would say I have mostly been wired like that myself most of my life, which probably made you and our friends early in the days, right, right, we were the old guys on the Muppets.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: And I think just in the last few years kind of has softened I hope a little bit internally at least with the way I think about that.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: But I have to intentionally seek to cultivate an attitude of goodness towards others, because I don't always want to treat others with goodness or kindness, because I don't think everyone deserves goodness.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: I'm like there's a right and a wrong.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: You didn't do right, so you're gonna not get something good, you're going to be withheld from you, right.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: But I read that it takes three years before an orange tree can grow oranges.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: And I'm like, well, if I'm withholding goodness from you right now because you're not behaving properly, then I'm doing no differently than what?
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: And by saying, by offering the world's definition of goodness rather than God's definition of goodness, because I'm doing behavior modification.
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: Right, you do good, I'll give you good, you do bad, I'll give you bad.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: And I don't think that that's what Micah says in Micah 6.8.
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: He has told you what is good it's to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: He has told you, oh man, what is good it's to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly.
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: He has told you, oh man, what is good.
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: What is good is to act justly, to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God and with others, and so living that out.
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: It's like every podcast we have to talk about on the fruit of the Spirit and we're just not even done yet.
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: It's like Elizabeth, are we going to finish talking about how we got to walk by the Spirit?
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: Because this is really hard to flesh out, but it is loving people as Jesus did, and that's hard because it isn't to our nature.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: Our sinful nature is just real and it's in the flesh and it's not in our nature.
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: Our sinful nature is just real and it's in the flesh and it's not in our nature to just love people as Jesus did.
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: So we have to practice goodness, we have to live in the Spirit and experience the righteousness of God.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: That's been gifted to us.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: It was gifted to us.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: We didn't do anything either.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: In fact, we did the opposite.
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: We did nothing good to deserve the gift.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: And so if I don't live with that attitude and continually remind myself that this is what I have been given, I have been given God's goodness, god's presence, god's righteousness, then I can't flesh out goodness relationally with my brothers and sisters, with the world.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: And so we've got to intersect here that attitude of Micah 6.8.
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: He's told us what's good, and what's good is to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly, and that doesn't mean again here's a whole other podcast on what does good is to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly, and that doesn't mean.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: Again, here's a whole nother podcast on what does it mean to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly.
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: It's not my definition.
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: It's not my definition, it's God's definition.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: And that's tricky, and we can admit that's tricky in this polarizing world we live in.
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: But the reality is is the great commandment tells us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and love our neighbors ourselves.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: And so we have to be in the spirit in order to walk out what the spirit calls us to walk out.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: Kimberly, I agree 100% with what you're saying there, and it is hard, and I think even one other example of good that sticks out in the Bible is talking about the good Samaritan and that he chose to cross the street and to help the person that was not like him.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: I think there's so much about goodness and examples about goodness in the Bible because it is hard, because it is not our natural, meant to do this, and so, absolutely, we may sound like a bit of a broken record, but having to lean into getting ourselves aligned with Father, son and Holy Spirit and allow the Spirit to produce this fruit in us is the only way.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: On our own, we will not produce goodness, not true goodness.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: We may do some acts that look good to other people, but there will be a selfish motivation behind that good act out of our own flesh and out of our own will and our own choices, but it's about getting ourselves tuned in, much like Moses, just being like okay, god, this morning I need to see your face, I need to behold you, I need to really drink in who you are, and I love that.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: Every time Moses would leave the tent after he had spent time with God, his face would be glowing for a while.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: He was changed by being in the presence of God and his goodness, and so maybe that is what we need to be praying for ourselves is that we would be able to behold his goodness, and then we would be changed to a point that people around us would be impacted by it.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: So I think then we would be changed to a point that people around us would be impacted by it.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: So I think a great way that we can end this podcast is by blessing our spirits with the fruit of goodness.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: So, spirit, listen to God's word for you.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: In Galatians 5.22, the fruit of the Spirit is goodness.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: And in Exodus 33.19,.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: And in Exodus 33, 19,.
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: Spirit.
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: God is perfectly good because he is God.
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: He forever linked His goodness in His name and His presence.
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: He invites you to taste and see that he is good and that His name is good.
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: What he does is good and what he gives is good because it flows out of who he is, out of His goodness.
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: He created you, spirit, and because he is good he redeemed you.
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: His enduring goodness, showered upon you His covenant mercy and forgiveness and compassion.
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: Be blessed as you enjoy the unmerited goodness of God in caring for you.
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: Because he is good, he is merciful and forgiving.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: He is your good father who welcomes a prodigal with a hug, a feast and a party with music and dancing, because he is good, he wants good things for you and he is giving and generous and enjoys blessing you.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: He cannot change.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: His goodness is constant, never wavering or failing.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: When you receive his goodness, you receive something of himself receive his goodness, you receive something of himself.
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: He is good when he allows tests to refine you into purest gold, and he is good to display his quick sympathy and his tender heart to you when you fall or fail.
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: He is good as he picks you up and holds you in the palm of his hands and will not let you go.
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: His faithful goodness continues through all generations.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: Spirit.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: Celebrate His goodness with thanksgiving.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: Thank Him for being good and for loving you with His abounding love that endures forever.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: Be specific in thanking Him for His goodness in everyday things a sunset, a beautiful fountain, a child's hug, an answered prayer, the kindness of a stranger, a tear of empathy.
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: His goodness is always in evidence.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: If you are looking for, he is good.
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: See the acts of goodness in the parable of the Good Samaritan.
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: His pity on the man who had fallen among thieves was the fruit of goodness and nobility of character.
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: He was touched by the helplessness and the distress of another.
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: He reached out to alleviate the consequences of sin that were causing the man to suffer.
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: Be blessed as you too bind up the wounds of others, minister to their hurts and bring them to the house of your Father for His care.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: Spirit.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: The angels at the birth of Jesus connected the highest glory of God with His goodwill to men.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: They announced God's goodness at the entrance of Jesus to earth.
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: Jesus went about doing good and he imparts many expressions of his goodness into your being.
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: Be blessed with the virtue of goodness of Jesus worked into your life.
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: Be blessed to feel the zeal of Jesus for goodness and be energized with his kindness and goodness for others.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: Be blessed with active goodness that does not think to repay evil with evil but considers how to leave a blessing from the goodness of Jesus in you.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: Be blessed with goodness to act for the welfare of those who are taxing your patience out of the dominion of their souls.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: Be blessed with the fruit of goodness of God that the Holy Spirit produces in you, your empowered response from His goodness.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: I want to thank you for listening to the Father's Business Podcast.
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: This podcast is made possible through donations by people like you.
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: To donate, go to wwwTheFathersBusinesscom.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: Be sure to follow us at the Fathers Biz on Instagram and Facebook.