Ep. 14 - Fruit Of The Spirit: Recap

We recap our Fruit of the Spirit series for men who want to live with courage, conviction, and compassion, and share where the show heads next. We walk through each fruit, the anchor verses, and how they shape fathers, sons, and leaders when life gets rough.

• love as the foundation that orders the other virtues
• joy as strength rooted in God’s faithfulness
• peace as trust in God amid chaos
• patience as strength while waiting and resisting shortcuts
• kindness that softens hearts and opens doors
• goodness as integrity when no one is watching
• faithfulness in small, unseen daily choices
• gentleness as controlled strength that carries burdens
• self-control as Spirit-led freedom, not legalism
• preview of God’s goodness in an evil world and future topics

Join our WhatsApp community for prayer, discussion, and to vote on upcoming topics: Text us on Apple or Spotify to get the link, or DM The Brotherhood Podcast on Facebook to join

Transcript

Brotherhood Welcome & Series Plan

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is the brotherhood. Men followed it in the faith. Warriors, fathers, sons, leaders. Standing strong in a world that wants us weak. Welcome to the Brotherhood Podcast.

The Amazon Prime Joke About Growth

Galatians Anchor And Format

Craig 0:24

Alright, welcome guys back to another episode of the Brotherhood Podcast. My name's Craig, and we got Colton here as well, as always. And today, um, I think we mentioned it last episode, but what we're gonna do today is look at um just a recap of our Fruit of the Spirit series, kind of give you a good concise um look at where we've been, what we've covered, uh, and then if there's anything that you guys want to dig into deeper or uh go back and listen to an episode again and get some more information, you can go ahead and do that. But this is kind of just a recap of all the fruit of the spirit and our anchor verses for each one and kind of key points for each um each fruit, and then uh after that we will talk about where we're headed next with the podcast and what the next two episodes are gonna look like. So stay tuned for that. That'll be at the end. And before we get started, I like to joke. So I'm having fun with these weekly uh jokes, so I'm gonna do another one until you guys tell me to stop. Uh and even then, I still might do it anyway. But uh so this one's kind of fun. Uh, most of us want spiritual fruit delivered like Amazon Prime, same-day delivery, instant growth, zero effort, free returns. But apparently the Holy Spirit still believes in farming. So we gotta do a little work for you. Yeah. So I like to keep, I think my idea with these is gonna be like keep them on target for what we're talking about uh in the episode. So they'll be relevant and uh but they'll be fun as well. So hopefully I made you guys laugh. Uh oh yeah, that's great. That's a good one. Uh so I will open us up with uh Galatians 5, 22 to 23, and we'll recap the the I guess this would be the anchor verse for our entire series, right? So I'll read that, and then what we'll do is Colton will um we'll go into the first one, which is love, and then uh he'll read the anchor verse for that, and we'll discuss it a little bit, and then we'll just go through each uh each and every one, just like that. So Galatians 5, 22 and 23. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. So you'd think I should have memorized that by now, but I still got to read it just so I don't get another word.

Love As Foundation Of All Fruit

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Still a work in progress, but that's okay. Yeah, that's right. That's what the that's what the Christian walk is like. Um, so like Craig said, our first fruit of the spirit, guys, was love. Um, as we went through the series, one thing that really uh stuck out to me, I think Craig kind of noticed it too, is it seems like a lot of what we had read, a lot of what we discussed um in the later fruits of the spirit is everything kind of seemed to come back to love, everything kind of tied back together with love. And so our uh verse that we had, our main verse for love was John 3 16. Uh for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. And so basically, we had discussed how um how love was so important because Christ gave his life for us because of love, and I think it's a love that the world doesn't fully understand. And so um, you know, again, like I said, with love, I think the the other fruits of the spirit kind of fall in place if you have love first, is kind of what I gathered from that um from that episode and the studies that we did on that one.

Craig 4:52

Yeah, that's that's what I have wrote here too in my notes. Um I also just a note too of a couple of things that we walked through. Uh we talked about uh love expressed through the different types of love in the Bible. So there's agape, phileo, storge, and eros, which are uh selfless love, uh brotherhood or brotherly love, uh, like family uh leadership, and then uh covenant uh romance kind of love, obviously between uh man and a woman through marriage. And I think each one of those calls us as men to action, not emotion. Um so I think something important to note for love is um something I realized when I was uh kind of pretty young, but uh just because of my upbringing. But um love isn't something that we feel our way through or feel our way into. It's not just a feeling, right? It's something we choose, and I think the closer we walk with Christ, the more naturally that that kind of love um flows from us. So that's kind of my recap notes for our love fruit.

Joy As Strength In Hard Seasons

SPEAKER_01 6:26

Yeah, so after love, we went through joy, and uh the verse we had written down for that one was Proverbs 17, verse 22. And it says, A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. And so our our basis for that was to be joyful in all circumstances as God calls us to be. Uh, whether you know, whether you're having a good day or a bad day, there's things to be thankful for, there's things to be joyful for. And uh, I think in life, it kind of like what Craig said about love, I think joy can um often be a choice. It's not necessarily something that comes easy, it's not something, you know, just a feeling. Um, but I I think joy is often a choice. And I think a lot of the joy that we find in this world, uh, as we said at the beginning of this podcast, we're gonna be talking about worldly um, I guess the way the world is going versus you know a good God and how not versus, sorry. We're gonna be talking about how God is good in the world we live in with the evil that goes on. And I think joy is a big part of that too. Um, one thing I've noticed for myself is the more you seek God, the more you read the Bible, the more you uh pray and spend time with God and build on that relationship as he calls us to, um, the more joyful we are because you know we realize that uh there's more to life than than this world. And we have a future and a hope in heaven with Christ if we build that relationship with him. And so I would say that is um kind of my description of what our uh episode of joy uh sort of brought us to. I'm not sure about you, Craig, but yeah, I think I think that's kind of what I drew from that episode for the most part.

Craig 8:30

Okay. I uh I must have looked at some old notes because I had Nehemiah re Nehemiah 8.10 wrote down the joy of the Lord is your strength. So we I don't know if I had that set, and then we kind of discussed it and uh changed it, but anyway, regardless, that is also true.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

Yeah, we may have I had that one at the top of my page, but I didn't have it written down in my in what we use. But you know what? They're both great examples.

Craig 9:00

Yeah, that's right. So anyway, um so joy can be strength for us in hard seasons. Uh, it's confidence in God when life doesn't go as planned because often it doesn't not to work, not to our plan, anyway. We get humbled pretty often, I think.

SPEAKER_02 9:22

Um uh yeah, yeah.

Craig 9:24

And as men, I think we're tempted to numb pain or push through things alone by ourselves. Uh, biblical joy doesn't deny our hardship, um, but it actually declares that God is still faithful in the hardship and in the pain. Um I think joy also grows when we stop anchoring our lives to uh comfort and start anchoring them to Christ instead. Um, you're gonna notice a theme through these fruit of the spirit, which we talked about, I think, every single episode, as far as I can recall, is that Christ is at the center of it. He's the giver of all these things. Holy Spirit is the giver of all these things. Um joy doesn't um it and if you're joyful, uh it doesn't mean, or if you're full of joy, it doesn't mean that life is easy per se. Um, it's more so knowing that God is faithful and therefore having joy in all circumstances. So that's what I had for joy.

Peace As Trust, Not Calm Seas

SPEAKER_01 10:37

Yeah, I really like that. I think that's yeah, that's important. And you know, again, as Craig said, a lot of these um fruits of the spirit we're gonna talk about. You know, obviously, Jesus is the perfect example of all of them. Uh, we can never and will never perfect them, no matter how hard we try. Um, but a common thing I think that we've landed on, like Craig said, was to get them or to be more like the fruits of the Spirit and have more of that in us is to just follow Christ and get them from Him. So the third one we spoke on was peace. And the verse we had for this one was Philippians 4, uh, verse 4 to 7. And it says, Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near, do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. And so I really like that one because it speaks about how God's peace will transcend all understanding, which I think is interesting because if you've ever fully experienced his peace, it like it's unexplainable. You can't explain where it comes from, or in the situations we find it. It's um it's a really cool thing in that way, and so that's kind of what I had written down. A big part of what I had found is that peace gives life to the body. Uh, some of my notes I had um wanting others' possessions rough the bones. So Proverbs 14 30 was another verse that we had in there, and how peace gives life to the body. And so to seek peace, again, same thing. It's not always uh not always something that comes easy. I think it's a choice to find peace in the moment and just find peace in Jesus, knowing that He loves us, you know. Um, I know lots of times at work when I uh ran equipment, I'd have a bad day, and I tried to try to change my outlook on it and think about how, you know, maybe the boss was upset, or maybe I had done something and messed up bad. But at the end of the day, I found peace knowing that Jesus still loved me and he cares about me. And it's not about um people being upset at us, I think it's about how we react to that situation, and so that's what I drew from that is that peace gives life to our bodies. Um, not only that, it gives life uh life to our souls as well.

Craig 13:27

Yeah, that's good. Um I had uh peace is not the absence of chaos, but it's the presence of trust in the Lord. Um for men, anxiety uh often shows up as control or anger or withdrawal from the situation. Um peace calls us to surrender what we were never meant to carry in the first place. We're supposed to give those things to the Lord. And uh I think biblical peace um I don't think it promises a calm life, uh, at least not always, but uh I think it prom promises a steadiness and a and a steadfastness of I guess a faithful life um to God. And um I think when we when we give those things up that like give our struggles up or whatever we're dealing with, we give them up to God. Um we trust him with the outcome of those circumstances I think that's when peace flows as well. So that's why I had for peace.

Patience, Timing, And Waiting Well

SPEAKER_01 14:54

Great. Uh fourthly, we spoke about patience. So Psalm 37, verse 7. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. Do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. So I don't know about you guys, but when it comes to patience, uh a lot of times I find myself comparing to what other people have, uh, to how, you know, they drive these big fancy trucks and they live in these big fancy houses, and I'm like, man, I've worked so hard, why can't I get there? Uh be patient because that's not always where God calls each and every one of us. He has a different path for us. And so, with patience, um, what we had come down to is that God has a plan for our life, right? It's not gonna look like everybody else's life. It might not be millions of dollars and big houses and fancy cars, but wait patiently for what God has for you because what he has for you is special and that's what he has called you to. Um, I know for myself it's the same thing. I struggle with that lots, and uh we just gotta learn to be patient, right? And I remember talking in this episode, that's one prayer where if you pray for it, I'm just gonna tell you now, be ready because God will send you situations that will help you to learn patience. And it's not always easy. I will just I will just say that, I'm putting it out there.

Craig 16:29

It's awesome. Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

Yeah, you will uh you will learn patience if you pray for it. Uh and so we had spoken about self-control, and one of the verses we had spoke about not being a warrior, but how being patient was valuable. And um yeah, it it I think if we're saved and we have the Holy Spirit in us, that's uh that's a virtue that should come easier than it does. Uh again, partially because the world teaches us that you know everything is here and now. I mean, you look at the internet and you can at the click of a button pull up whatever you want, right? But God teaches us to be patient, and it's the exact opposite of what the world teaches us, and so um, again, something that needs to be put into practice. Uh, read the Bible, pray about it, and seek God. And so um that's kind of what I had come down to is uh patience is something that should be noticeable if we have the Holy Spirit in us.

Kindness That Leads To Repentance

Craig 17:44

Agreed. Um I had uh patience is strength under control, especially while waiting. And you talked about waiting uh there a little bit. Um I think when we wait, it exposes where we've placed our trust. Um, reveals whether we believe that God what whether God's timing is good or whether we just tolerate it. Um sometimes we can get impatient with uh especially if we we probably talked about this during that episode. It's hard to remember everything now at this point that we've said in each episode, but um, I just think back to like because Colt and I in the last uh year and a little bit uh had both changed jobs and um their answers to prayer, and it's it seems like uh sometimes we can get impatient. I know with the job that I'm at now, I'm like like when I was waiting for the interview, I'm like, okay, come on. So we then we did the interview, and then I'm like waiting to hear back, and then it's like Christmas break, and they're out of the office for like a week and a half, and I'm like, what's going on? What's my answer? Right. Uh yeah. But uh God's timing is better than what we could ever imagine for ourselves. Um, so we need to trust it and not just tolerate it. Um also have impatience uh often leads us as men to take shortcuts, and that can cost our uh that can affect our character and how we're perceived by others as well. We get impatient, we get um we can get uh what's the word I'm looking for? Short with uh with our wives, with our children. Um and then how are they perceiving us as men of God when we're supposed to be leading the the the household, right, spiritually for sure? Um and then I think in patience, when you when you have patience, when you trust in God with his timing, it reminds us that God is working even when we can't see it, especially when we see things happen, like after the fact, like with this these job situations and stuff like that for us. Maybe you guys can think of something specific in your life where you prayed for it and waited and waited and waited and waited, and then maybe you didn't even get the answer that you thought you wanted, but you got what you needed. And uh you can look back and see that oh, God was working here and here and here. You can see his fingerprint on different things that happened to lead to where you are at now. So I think that's important too. And that's what I have for patience.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

Yeah. Absolutely. Uh so next we spoke about kindness. This is probably one of my favorite verses in the Bible is uh Romans 2, verse 4, but we had written down two, one to five. So I'm gonna read Romans 2, 1 to 5. You therefore have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, not realizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance. But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are stirring up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. And so we had talked about first of all, God's kindness, how it's meant to lead us to repentance. Um in certain situations, it seems like we should be. Being disciplined, and there should be, you know, judgment on us. And because of Jesus, we've been covered by the blood of Christ if we believe and have a relationship with Him. And so this verse it kind of hits close to home for me because God gave me it at a time in my life where you know I was wondering why God was so good. And um, and this verse came up, and and basically God shows us love and kindness because He truly cares about us and He wants us to be cared for, He wants to take care of us. And so for me, what we drew out of this episode is that Jesus showed kindness to us, God showed kindness to us. We are to image the personality and the characteristics of Christ. And so kindness is important because Jesus did um for us what nobody else could have done. And because of the kindness of God, he wants to draw near to us and have a relationship with us through his son Jesus Christ. Um, kindness is forgiving. That's another thing we had spoken about. Uh, forgiveness is a pretty hard thing to go through, another one of the fruits of the spirit, so I won't touch on that too much. But uh basically how kindness was important and um a couple other things we had talked about is showing kindness to the less fortunate and just um I guess sharing in what God's blessed us with uh because it was his to start with, it was never ours. Um, you know, money, houses, things that we've been blessed with are things that we can use to show kindness to other people who maybe are less fortunate as well. And so I would say that's kind of what I drew from uh that episode.

Goodness, Integrity, And Motive

Craig 24:02

Awesome. I uh I agree, and I know we talked about all this stuff already before, but it's it's nice to revisit it and do a little bit of a recap. Um I have um I think kindness is powerful because in our world today it seems like it's unexpected. People in general seem to not be kind. Um yeah, and I think uh especially when we're out witnessing to people or living out um just being a light, just living as Christ, we should be different. Um, I think it softens people's hearts and um it opens doors that the truth alone sometimes can't. So if we're talking to people about the truth, if we're uh debating something with them, if you're sharing the gospel with them, and um sometimes we can get caught up in the facts, and uh and I I don't think that speaks to people's hearts as much as being kind, and we are um we are to share the truth with people out of love, right? Through love, and of course, love is the basis of all these other things. Um I think for us as men, it's important to note that kindness is not equal to weakness, it is also a controlled strength used to build people up instead of dominate and bring people down. Um filled with the Holy Spirit should be noticeably kind to an unkind. That's what I have in his for kindness. My notes are a little bit different because I kind of um summarize some things and roughly some main ideas. So if you're listening to this after shortly after you've listened to one of these other fruits, um just know that. It's not I Colton is look he I probably should have done this, but Colton's just looking back at his book as we go through this. Uh I do, but I decided to lay everything out and have um have it all in.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

That's working good.

Craig 26:39

We do things differently here. So we get different perspectives and different uh different conversation points. Anyway, that's all I have for kindness. Oh, yeah.

Faithfulness In Small Daily Moments

SPEAKER_01 26:50

So after that, we went on to goodness. I think those two are pretty relatable. Uh, the verse that we want to share with you on that one is Romans 8 28. And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. And so, just like that says, Um, we've been called to for the good of those who love Christ. Um thing we have spoken about was how what God made in the beginning was good without sin, uh, before Adam and Eve sinned on the I forget which verse it is, but God says, looks at what he had made and says it was good. And then there's another verse in the Bible, I don't recall where it is, but it says that uh there is no one good, not even one. And so with sin in our heart, um I don't think true goodness can exist. I think there's always a little sliver of sin that comes with goodness. Uh I guess it's kind of hard to come up with an example, but if you think about even, I guess for myself, even you know, helping somebody take their groceries to their car or something, you know, it's always I try to make it so it's specifically coming from my heart to help this person because they're in need. But there's always a little bit or a little piece of my heart that thinks, oh, I did something good. I must have a better reward waiting in heaven, or you know, something like that. And I don't know that uh maybe I'm wrong. I don't know that that's the right way to look at it, but um that's something that we had discussed a little bit. Uh, we talked about Joseph and uh his brothers as well, how God used it for good, uh, what happened to him after being sold and uh sent to Egypt, I think it was to Egypt, um, and God used it for good. Uh and then what we had come down to again, like most of the fruits of the Spirit, is how do we get goodness, how do we become more good, is just by seeking the Lord, by following his word, by praying, um, and reading the Bible. And so that's uh yeah, that's what I drew from that episode as well.

Craig 29:38

Yeah, perfect. I think um one of the verses that we also talked about that I think is uh I feel like it's important, so do with that what you will. But uh Micah 6:8, he has shown the O man um what is good and what the Lord requires of you, um but to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God. Um so we have been shown what is good, and um, we need to model those things. And yeah, like Colton said, it's it's not through our own um willpower that we get these things, um, but it's through being in the word daily and studying God's word and and hearing from the Holy Spirit and being in prayer and um also just being with brothers as well, having these conversations and uh sharpening each other. But um we've been shown what is good and what we're supposed to do, and we just need to look in the right place to know what that is. And if you're not looking in the word, then you're not gonna find it. So um yeah, well, yeah, and goodness is not about reputation, like Holton was saying, it's not not to puff ourselves up or anything like that. Um, it's about being integral, living a life of integrity. Um it's obedience when no one else is watching as well. So men, we as men, I think we grow goodness um when we choose honesty and integrity over convenience and faithfulness over comfort. So even helping someone at the grocery store, like Colton said, or helping someone across the street, or I mean this year in Grand Prairie, for sure, it's very prevalent. Many I've seen many people stuck. So you're gonna stop and take time out of your day to help those people get unstuck um in the snow, or are you too busy and you gotta rush off and go grab your Tim's? So uh things like that. Um and then yeah, just following the same thing. Goodness does not seek attention, um, but it does leave a lasting impact with the ones that you help or show goodness to. So that's what I got for goodness. That's pretty good.

Gentleness As Strength Under Control

SPEAKER_01 32:30

Very well put. Uh okay, so this was the third last fruit of the spirit, I believe, that we had touched on. Uh we went through faithfulness. Uh, the verse I want to share with you guys is Proverbs 3, 3 to 4. Let love and uh let love and faithfulness never leave you. Bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. So this one I love this verse because it speaks about tying this or binding them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart to keep faithfulness close to you at all times. Um, the dictionary definition that we have come up with of faithfulness, because I couldn't find anything in the Bible that had an actual definition, is the quality of being loyal and steadfast. And so uh we spoke about how God is faithful in his word, the promises that he makes, he keeps. Um, for example, the rainbow. Um, that is something that God promised long ago that he would never again flood the whole earth, and he never has, and he never will, because it is a promise that he made um to all mankind. God is perfect, he does no wrong, and he is faithful in that. And faithfulness brings life. Uh, like most of the fruits of the spirit, they all bring life um to your body and to your soul. It's just a better way of living, and uh, it keeps us from falling into the temptation of sin if we can seek the uh fruits of the spirit and try to be more like God. One thing I had written in my notes on that one is the closer we get to God, the more faithful we will want to be. So it's like a it's like a best friend, it's growing a relationship, right? And that's what Jesus calls us to. But if you grow close to your best friend, you're gonna want to be more faithful to him, you're gonna want to be faithful to somebody you know well versus somebody that you don't know so well, and that is put on us because Jesus is there waiting for us to to grow with him, to become close with him. Um, but it's our hearts that turn away. And so faithfulness is a huge deal because I think it can it can lead to life um both here and in eternity. So I'd say that was my conclusion on that one.

Craig 35:26

Right, that's good. I think if I'm not mistaken, uh, did we talk about the parable of the talents in that episode?

SPEAKER_01 35:37

I think we did. That was Matthew 25, 14 to 30. I think.

Craig 35:42

Okay, so you guys, I guess yeah, we don't have to read that if you don't want to, but we could go there.

SPEAKER_01 35:50

No, I just want to check to make sure we're not uh off our rocker here. Okay, yeah, the parable of the bags of gold it says in my Bible. Okay, yeah, that was the one.

Self-Control And Spirit-Led Freedom

Craig 36:07

So referencing that as well. Um if you go back and read that, uh you can go back and do that on your own time. But uh the servants or whatever you call them, I think they were servants, right? I should have gone and read this. Anyway, the uh the ones that uh invested or whatever their gold uh and came brought it back twofold, they were rewarded, and and the the guy that just hid it away, um, buried it in the dirt, brought it back the same. He was scolded, and uh his what little he had was taken away. So I think it's important that we're faithful with what the Lord has given us, whether we feel like it's a lot or not. I know sometimes I feel like I've been blessed beyond all measure, which we all have. Um and then there's other times I think, man, why do I have the life that I do? Why can't I have more? But there's also times where I am not faithful with the things that I have already been given. So when I get reminded of that, I'm like, oh okay, gotcha. Um but I think it's important to note that faithfulness shows up in the small unseen moments um uh in the quiet when quitting uh could be easier, but we continue on doing the things that uh the Lord has asked us to do. And yeah, sometimes we can't see the end or we don't know why we're still doing it, it just isn't working, whatever. Um just be faithful, and especially if it's a word from God that you've gotten that um that you should be doing that, then continue it. But uh I think God isn't looking for us to start strong and and fade away in the things that we do, he's looking for men that are that stay steady as well. Steady faithfulness um is important, I think. And I think it's daily practice that builds uh faithfulness before the Lord, and that's important. So it's uh obedience, I think, as well. Faithfulness in the things that the Lord has asked us to do, faithfulness in our relationship with Him. Um and then I think other things will float on that. That's what I have for faithfulness.

Teaser: God’s Goodness In An Evil World

SPEAKER_01 39:11

And then we went on to gentleness, and the verse we have for this one was Matthew 11, 29 to 30. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And so we had talked uh about a couple different things on this one. Uh, the gentleness again of Jesus, when um in the Bible the kids are trying to come to Jesus, and his disciples are trying to um, I guess, prevent them from coming to him, and Jesus says, No, no, let the children come. Um, I think there's a gentleness in Jesus with that. There's something because in the Bible, like Jesus loves little children, and it we found it interesting to um, I mean, maybe it's a little different from the perspective of a parent or being a parent because gentleness with children, um it can sometimes be hard, you know. The end of the day, when you're tired and done, and the kids aren't maybe listening the way you want, or you know, they didn't clean up. It's hard not to get frustrated and to get um upset about things, but I think um this is a perfect example of how Jesus is gentle even when he's tired, or when he was worn out, or when you know he had just preached for a long time. Jesus showed gentleness. Same thing with the prostitute that got brought out to him. Um, everybody wanted to stone her. And Jesus basically said, uh, and you'll have to look it up because I don't know the words exactly, but um you without sin cast the first stone, and nobody could do it. And so again, you know, Jesus acted out in gentleness, the same thing when we sin. Um I watched something on YouTube the other day, or on I I forget where I saw it, but they were talking about the same thing, you know, and how Jesus is saying the same thing to us with our sins, you know, he's being gentle with us in a loving way, and so um that was a big topic we had spoken about on the episode of gentleness. Um and I guess that would be probably what I took out of that one. I guess we discussed uh when his disciple cut the ear off of the um of the one man when they were coming to grab Jesus to take him to basically basically take him to be crucified. Um again, acting out of gentleness. And so, like the rest of the fruits of the spirit, it's something that has to be put into practice. Uh, it's something that comes from, I believe, serving God and just understanding the personality and characteristics of Christ, um, and just allowing the Holy Spirit to allow that gentleness in you as well. So I would say that's yeah, that'd be my conclusion.

Craig 42:37

Yeah, that's good. Um, again, I have for this one gentleness is also not weakness. I know as men we think this one's a little more fresh in my mind, but we uh think we need to be rough and tumble, right? I think those are the words that I used uh in that episode. Um to be, you know, manly men, but um like Colton said, Jesus is the greatest example of what kind of man we're supposed to be, and he was gentle. He describes himself in those in that Matthew chapter 11 uh verses that Colton read there. Um he describes himself as gentle and humble in heart, and I think for us relating to other people, gentleness builds trust with others, uh, it creates a safe place um for our family, for people to trust, like people that trust us, uh, can feel safe uh around us. And it uh it also lightens burdens from other people too. When you're gentle with them instead of harsh with them, um you know you're not putting them down and and putting things on them. You're A gentle person take like takes things takes burdens from others, I guess, is what I'm trying to say. Um and I think it's also leading without using intimidation tactics, um, and then correcting without being cruel or harsh as well. I again thinking just because Colton and I are in that stage of life where we've got children, we've got young children at home still. That's kind of our frame of reference. And so when you're disciplining your children, are you doing it out of anger or are you doing it out of um love and gentleness? Not to say you have to do what the world says is gentle parenting, because I don't necessarily agree with that.

SPEAKER_01 44:53

But uh no, I'm not 100% on board with that either.

Craig 44:58

No, I think what the world calls gentle parenting parenting is just letting your kids run rampant, and that's not biblical either.

SPEAKER_01 45:06

Um read the verse about not sparing the rod.

Craig 45:13

Exactly. That's exactly what comes to my mind as well.

SPEAKER_01 45:19

Within reason, obviously.

Craig 45:21

What's that?

SPEAKER_01 45:24

Within reason, obviously. Don't go beat your children. That is not what that verse implies.

Craig 45:29

No. Um, and then I think if you look at men in your life as well, I think the strongest men that you see, they don't need to empower others. In fact, I think if I look around and see people that always feel like they need to empower or um be dominant over other people, I think those men are weak in my mind, but they need to demean others. Um we help carry other people rather than put them down, is also what I have for gentleness.

What’s Next: Heaven, Hell, Assurance

Closing Prayer And Community Invite

SPEAKER_01 46:05

Yeah. I think that's good. Um lastly, we spoke about self-control. Um, this again is another hard another hard one to put into practice. I think uh it ties in with all the the fruits of the spirit. I think that's I think they all kind of tie together from what we've kind of come to discover, I guess, in our studies and stuff in this in these episodes and in this uh series. And so the verse I'd like to share on this one is 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 3 to 11. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason make every effort to add to your faith goodness and to goodness knowledge, and to knowledge self control, and to self control perseverance, and to perseverance godliness, and to godliness mutual affection, and a mute mutual affection love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, but whoever does not have them is near sighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, for if you do these things you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And so self-control, we spoke about my conclusion on this episode is that um the way it's explained in the Bible, it's a very important thing when it comes to your life uh on earth and in heaven, right? Like as that last verse says, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And so he wasn't just talking about self-control. Again, there was a few fruits of the Spirit in there, love being one of them, um, godliness being another one. So self-control is like God, again, um mirroring the characteristics and personality of Jesus Christ to have self-control. Uh, you look around in the world, and um self-control is something I think that gets taught less and less. I think it's something that I don't know, it could be a touchy subject, and maybe it's something that we need to talk about in the future. But you look at um situations in the world where you know, you hear about all these shootings, you hear about um maybe even people committing suicide and um all these different things, you know. I I think self-control has at least a part to do in a lot of those circumstances, and that's why it's so important is that you need to you need to seek Jesus and uh yeah, just learn to have that self-control in yourself, even when it comes to sin, right? Um, there's a verse we had, I don't remember exactly where it was, but um it had spoken about sin waiting at the door, basically, to pounce on you if you let it in. We need to have self-control to turn and run from that sin. Um, you know, a lot of that sin causes depression, it causes hatred and anger, and it just turns you into what the world wants you to be and turns you away from what Christ wants you to be. So, my conclusion on that one, same thing. Just seek God, self-control is important, and I think we would have a different world if uh if we all knew a little more self-control, including myself.

Craig 50:41

Yeah, agreed. I think not even necessarily just with them not getting turned into what the world wants, like you said, but ultimately getting turned into what the enemy wants.

SPEAKER_01 50:56

Yes, yes, I agree.

Craig 50:59

Yeah, and uh there's something else you said there too, uh, that made me I think you said reflecting being a mirror reflecting um the likeness of Christ, yeah. And it just made me think like we know we're told, you know, we are created in God's image, and we should reflect his likeness. We're created in God's image, we should reflect his likeness. And uh I'm gonna write that down because I like that.

WhatsApp Polls, Access, And Sign-Off

SPEAKER_01 51:40

Uh if we Yeah, I think that's a good word, and you know, that's a thing. Um I know we're not quite there yet, but I'm I'm just gonna touch on it here a little bit while you're writing that down, Craig.

unknown 51:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:55

Next week, we are gonna be talking about the goodness of God in uh in a world where there's so much evil. And um again, I I don't want to go too much in depth because that'll be a next week conversation, but there's I don't know. I as a Christian, it's pretty easy to see the goodness of God. It's hard to see it if maybe you're a non-Christian and you look at the way the world is running. Um the only thing I am going to say for this week on that is uh I I think we're looking at it the wrong way. God is God tells us not to be a part of the world, we have to be in the world, but we don't need to be a part of it. And uh in the Bible, Jesus talks about his kingdom being of heaven, and so as I guess, as a worldviewer, as a lot of people in the world view it, um the world is evil. Yeah, I a hundred percent agree with you, and yeah, there is more evil than there should be, but God is still good in the fact that He is making a place for us to spend our eternity. Again, that's going to be a bigger topic. Next week we'll be talking more on that. But um, I think that's uh yeah, just something I want to leave you guys with. Maybe you can think about that over the next few days while we prep for that next episode.

Craig 53:35

Um, you talked about, I'll just uh I'll go to that verse, I'm sure, is what you're thinking of. John 17. Um, let me just 14 to 16 says um I have given them your word and the word and hold on a second. I can't read. Uh I've given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. Um they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. This is not what I was thinking.

SPEAKER_01 54:31

Um I guess along the right lines though.

Craig 54:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:36

Because it does speak on that too a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 54:40

Maybe it's a different translation or something.

Craig 54:49

It's gonna bug me now.

SPEAKER_01 54:57

Yeah. Let me see if I can find it here. What did you say you had?

Craig 55:08

Um, I had John 17, 14 to 16. I don't know. Because is there not something that says um we are to be in the world and not of it?

SPEAKER_01 55:22

There is a verse like that, I do believe. Um, okay, how about this one here? Jesus said, My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders, but now my kingdom is from another place. I think that's what I was thinking of. Because Jesus speaks about his kingdom being not of the world but being apart from the world.

SPEAKER_00 55:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:58

Um and you were thinking there's a verse that talks about what?

Craig 56:05

Be in the world, but not of the world. Like that word, those words, exactly. It keeps coming back, is John 17, 14, and 16. I've given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world. Just as I am not of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one. They're not of the world, even as I am not of it. If you belong to the world, it would love you as its own, as it is. You do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. That's John 15, 19. Romans 12, 2. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Maybe this is another verse that I'm remembering wrong.

SPEAKER_01 57:17

That could be it's hard to do when you start memorizing different verses, too. They kind of get mashed together sometimes.

Craig 57:25

Yeah. Um well, um okay, I guess back to self-control. Um I think without self-control, love becomes so the good things get perverted, I think. Like love becomes lust, and faithfulness becomes lawlessness, um, things like that. We end up um switching things. Um if you think of love versus lust, um in the in regard to self-control, we talked we went into that a little bit more deeper in that episode. But um lusting after um other women, uh, whether you're married or already or you are just lusting after somebody and you're not married yet. Um, you need to love people and not lust after them. And like we talked about in the love episode, there's different types of love as well. Um self-control also isn't about how much will power willpower you have on your own. Um, I think it comes from surrendering to um to the Holy Spirit. So it it's it's almost kind of contradictory. You want self-control, but it doesn't come from yourself at all. It comes from the Holy Spirit. It comes, it doesn't come from doing it yourself, it comes from surrendering, which is kind of interesting. Um then again, I think it's it is a discipline um guided by uh the spirit, uh, which leads to freedom and not restriction, which we talked about more in depth in that episode as well. So it uh sounds like I mentioned there's there's seems like there's a whole bunch of rules to follow. You can't do this, you can't do that, but by in a sense, it is restricting, but with that restriction comes freedom. And like we mentioned, um we when when we give our life to the Lord, accept, accept the Holy Spirit into our lives, um, accept that free gift that Christ had given us by dying on the cross and defeating death, um, we are freed from sin, not to sin, which is very important.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:13

Yeah. And so that was a bit of a wrap-up of uh of the fruits of the spirit here. Um we are going to switch gears a little bit. Uh next week, we are gonna be talking about. I'm not sure if this, I don't know, if we find there's a lot to study about, we might even turn this into a couple episodes. We'll kind of see how it goes. Maybe I know Craig, we hadn't really discussed that, but um I feel like it could be a pretty big topic depending how we go about doing it. So we'll kind of play by ear, but I think the main goal is to just um kind of explain how there how we can have a God in a world that is so evil um is gonna be sort of the uh question we're trying to answer, and uh going through a few different points on why we as Christians believe that God is still good and why we believe that uh he has saved us from the evil and the sin in the world.

Craig 1:01:22

Exactly. Yes. So as we wrap up this uh Fruit of Spirit series, which has been really great. I think this is this was a really good decision to start with this, and it kind of lays a foundation for a whole plethora of other things that we're gonna end up talking about. So, I mean, led by the Holy Spirit 1000%. I think when we started this, we didn't realize how um uh what's the word? I guess I'll just say important, how important these things that we've studied and dove into. Um and to realize it's really cool that this is two verses that we've spent this is now the tenth episode on. That's insane, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:19

Oh, it's yeah, it's unbelievable. It's crazy to think that there's a whole Bible worth of information, and we've focused on nine topics out of the how many that we're going to find.

Craig 1:02:34

Right, and out of two, I mean, we've mentioned other verses, but everything stemmed from those those two verses that we've held on to for some time for the spirit. Um, but I think as we as we wrap up this series, it's um there's an important tension that we can't ignore. Um, like Colton mentioned. Um, we've talked about a good God who produces good fruit in the lives of his people: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. But the moment we pick up our heads, I think, and look around, look at the world around us, we're confronted with some hard questions. Like, if if God is good, why is the world so broken? And if he's so powerful, why does it seem like everywhere we look, evil seems to thrive? I think uh these questions don't necessarily come from doubt or doubting God or his goodness, but I think they come from wanting to see our world reflect God's goodness. And um, I think it it's a question that both believers and skeptics alike wrestle with. So if if you're a believer, we'll dive into it, you'll love it. If if you're not a believer, we'll dive into it, and I think you'll love it too, and it'll give you some answers to some questions. Um, because I think it is this is a big question um for a lot of things. I know this is something I struggled with um when I was, you know, freshly gave my life to Christ, and it's something I didn't understand, and and being able to look uh into scripture to find those answers. I mean, I prayed about it and and I asked some questions to some spiritual leaders in my life and kind of got the answer I wanted, or the answer that I needed. Um, but it's uh it's good to go to scripture and understand it for ourselves as well. So um, so in our next episode, uh we're gonna face it head on. We're gonna talk about um the goodness of God in an evil world, um, and not with shallow surface level answers, but with scripture, humility, and real conversation. Uh, like Colton said, this may be more than one episode to cover this topic. Um, we're not sure, but we do we want to make sure that we go through this thoroughly and uh make sure we get the answers that uh that scripture provides us and that we share those things with you in uh like through humility, obviously, in the most humble way possible, and what what the Lord is guiding us to talk about. Um especially because I think uh faith that only works when life is easy uh is not strong enough, is a is a faith that's not strong enough for the world that we live in today. Like Colton was saying, and you guys listening, I'm sure you know all about the ship. Shootings and things that are happening, and uh it's all over Facebook, it's all over Instagram, it's all over TikTok, the news, everything, and things are just getting thrown at us, we're getting bombarded with all the evil in today's world, like I think like never before in society. We've never had access to this type of information so quickly and in such abundance before in history. Um so if the fruit of the spirit shows us what a life with God looks like, the next episode will ask the deeper question can we still trust God when the world looks nothing like what we think it should? Um, or what we think God would like to have it look like. Uh and then not only this, but over the next few episodes after that, we'll also be looking at what the Bible says about heaven and hell, and how we can be confident in our salvation and know which place we're gonna end up in. So uh those are some pretty deep topics, and they may be uh multiple episodes as well. I guess we'll see how that goes. Yeah, so yeah, so that's where we're headed next. So buckle up and get ready for the next chapter of the Brotherhood Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:23

Absolutely. And now I think we are going to uh end with a prayer. Yes, um, I can close a prayer if we want. I forget who did it last time, but uh I don't remember. I can I can close this time if we would like. Sure. Don't mind the hair, guys. I haven't had time to clean it up yet. Me either. All right. Thank you, Father, for today, for the time that we can spend uh digging into your word and just for the studying we could have done with the uh fruits of the spirit, Lord. I just pray that this would reach the people, Lord, that you need it to reach for your kingdom, uh, not for our glory, Lord, but for yours. And as we start into um some new topics, some new uh episodes, maybe some new seasons in the future with this podcast, we pray for your blessing on it, Lord. Holy Spirit, speak through us and in us, Lord. Help us to just see and learn what it is that you have laid out for us to learn. And I pray that we would bring that to this podcast with clarity, and that you would make it um just understandable for the people who are listening, Lord, that we could uh be used by you to reach people to glorify your kingdom, Lord, and to grow your kingdom. Pray, Father, just uh help us to enjoy the rest of this evening and uh to continue to glorify you with our own lives as well. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Craig 1:08:59

Amen. Uh, and we're gonna keep plugging this from now on. We've got our uh we've got our WhatsApp community started, and we got men starting to pour in there, which is awesome. Love to see it. Um, we like like I've said before, we've got the prayer room, we've got the general discussion, we've got the podcast discussion, um, and uh people discussing uh the podcast episodes as they as they come out, as they listen to them, sparking conversation. Uh, it's really good. And I've also got a poll in there. So if you want to have um some input as to where we go after this, I've got a poll in in our podcast discussion area. Uh, if you join our WhatsApp community, you'll have access to that. You can vote on the next few episodes. We'll go by popularity of what the guys vote for there. Um, the guys in the brotherhood in our WhatsApp community are gonna have first dibs on um on the conversations that we have moving forward, which is very exciting. I think this is the whole idea. We want a community, uh a band of brothers uh that come together to learn together, and we want to hear from you guys what you want us to talk about, what topics you want us to dive into. And um I mean, we could go on and on for days and days about things that we want to learn, but we want to grow as a community. So I'd love to see you in there. Uh reach out to one of us. Uh, if you're on uh Apple or Spotify, you can hit the text us option. That'll reach us. You can ask for access to the group. We'll send you the link. And other than that, you can uh DM us on Facebook personally if you have us on Facebook. You text us. Um, you can also DM us uh through our Facebook page, the Brotherhood Podcast Facebook page. So I'm excited for where this is going. We're starting to to build and grow a community of guys that want to grow in Christ together, and this is exactly what we want. This is our vision for the Brotherhood mission. And if you guys want to be a part of that, reach out. We'll get you in there. We'd love to have you. Absolutely. With that, um, since we're closing out on the Fruit of the Spirit series, stay fruity, brothers. See you next week.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:45

Have a great week, guys.

Craig 1:11:48

Bye.