ONE VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS - S:01 E:20

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THEME SONG "STAY IN MY LANE" - WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY BURKS

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PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY JAMES EDWARD BURKS FOR ONE VOICE MINISTRIES

 © 2026 James Edward Burks. All rights reserved.

https://www.onevoiceministriesinc.org/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

We've been going through a series on the fruit of the spirit and in Galatians. And so today we're going to talk about faith and talk about the fruit of faith that grows in us as a result of the Spirit of God. Let's do that today on One Voice in the Wilderness. Hi friends, how you doing? This is James Burks. I am the host of One Voice in the Wilderness, a outreach podcast of One Voice Ministries, and we are delighted as always to come and to share with you from the Word of God just a word of encouragement. Often that word of encouragement is a word of challenge. But our plan and our hope and our desire and our mission, our quest is to share truth from God's Word to draw you closer and closer to the Lord. Our prayer is that if you don't know Him, if you don't have a personal relationship with Him, something that'll be said today will allow you to hear God drawing you, the Father drawing you to the Son, to the work of the cross that was done by Jesus, and that that will penetrate your heart, make a difference, and bring you to that place of faith where you put your trust in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of your life. And so that's what we hope for each week. And we're glad that you come along and join us. Any of our new visitors, we're always welcoming you and glad to have you with us. And we invite all of you, if you get something from this, if it encourages you in some way, just share it with others to pass that link along so that others can hear some of the same things that might have encouraged your heart as well. All right. So we want to dive in today, and we are talking about the fruit of the Spirit. We've been doing a lesson on that, and so we want to look at faith today. All right. So let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for this opportunity. We thank you for this platform. And Lord, we pray that it is used to magnify you, that is used for your glory alone. Lord, I want nothing out of this other than for your name to be praised, for your name to be lifted, for your name to be exalted. And so, Father, just inspire what I say. Um, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Lord, I pray that the seed would fall on good ground and that you, Father, would give the increase in the heart of every listener. So we again thank you and we praise you. Be with us in this time. And we ask this in the precious, wonderful, and matchless name of your son Jesus. Amen. All right, folks. Again, glad to have you here with us. Uh, as always, we appreciate uh the work done by uh our son Jesse. Uh his uh video company is You Direct Video Works, and we invite you to uh check him out if that's something that you might need. You might have something going on in your life where you could use some video production. Uh as the name says, you direct it, and he does the technical piece of putting it together, and he always does such a marvelous job on our podcast, and so we're grateful for him. Um, if you caught the intro, uh that's our other son, uh Caleb. He goes by the music name Burks. And uh check out his music, it's available on all the music platforms as well as he has a few videos on YouTube. Uh, just a very talented artist. Um, our children are just uh a blessing to us, and the the greatest blessing is that they are walking with the Lord, and so uh we're grateful for each of them and for every part that they play to help us on this journey. All right, let's dive in. We've been going through the fruit of the spirit, and if you look at the list of the fruit of spirit, the last one uh on the list is um is temperance or self-control. Well, interestingly enough, we started with that one because I was just prompted by the spirit to do uh talk on that a little bit, and so that kind of got that one out of order. So if you go back, you can find that one. It was one of the first ones we did on the fruit of the spirit. Um, but then we decided, uh, as the Lord was leading to just walk through all of them, and so now we are wrapping it up with faith. Okay, and so let's take a look at faith as one of the fruits of the spirit. Uh again, just a uh quick reminder: uh fruit is something that uh comes from a seed, it grows, it matures, it ripens, and then it is harvested, it is available, it is edible. And uh, so that's the same way with the fruit of the spirit. It comes from the seed of the word of God being planted in us, a surrendered life to Him, uh genuine grace, costly grace, not cheap grace, like uh a lot of what's going on in our society right now, where um sin isn't talked about and repentance and uh dying to self, you know, we're trying to make this gospel easier for people, and it's not meant to be, it's meant to be uh something that changes and transforms them. And so um when we come into that that real genuine faith of walking with God and we are surrendered to the cross and the work that Jesus Christ did for us and dying for us, that seed gets in us, that seed um matures in us, and then what's produced as a result of the spirit is what we call the fruit of the spirit. And uh let's let's just read that passage in Galatians so you can hear what those are. Galatians 22, I'm reading from my King James here. It says, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. Let me keep going. And they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. All right. So if we have gained life as a result of the Spirit of God, we've trusted in Jesus Christ, then that that life that we have, uh being with the Spirit is something that is then maintained as we walk with the Lord. And by maintained, I don't mean that you can lose your salvation, I mean it's the ongoing growth and sanctification and transformation that occurs as a result of the fruit of the Spirit and having the presence of the Spirit in your life. Okay? So one of the challenges that comes with thinking about faith as a fruit, um, because here it's talking about it is a fruit of the spirit, it's something that's birthed in us as a result of the spirit. Well, then how do we get saved if the spirit is not in us, but we're to have faith when it comes to getting saved? Okay. Uh that's a good one to wrestle with. Uh, turn over to Ephesians real quick. This is one of our main theme verses for our podcast, one of my main uh life verses that I draw a lot from. Um still in the King James. Ephesians 2, verses 8 through 10 reads, For by grace are you saved through faith. Did you hear that? For by grace, God's grace towards us, his unmerited favor uh towards us, we are saved through faith. Us putting our faith in him, in his son Jesus, in the work of the cross, in the forgiveness of our sins, in the freedom and the release of captivity from the hold of sin in the enemy, into the freedom of a life with Jesus Christ. Okay? So for by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, least any man should boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Okay? So that first initial burst of faith as we hear the truth of God and it penetrates our heart, that's a gift from God. He gives us that gift of faith. He gives us that opportunity to trust and believe. Okay? He doesn't violate our free will, but he makes available to us that if we are willing to surrender our lives, that gift is available for us to fully trust, believe, repent. Repenting means not just turning away from behavior, it's not behavior modification. It's a whole change of heart and a change of mind about what sin is and who Jesus is. Okay? And so when we repent and believe, that gift that He's given us of faith that then is accompanied by His grace brings us into the place where we are saved, we are redeemed, we are forgiven. Alright? So He gives faith initially as that gift to us, but then after that, the Bible tells that that the Spirit comes and it lives in us, and as the Spirit comes and lives in us, then we have the opportunity for that faith to grow and mature in an amazing way. While we're still in our King James, flip over to Colossians chapter 1, uh verse 27. Listen to what it says here. It says, To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Okay? Uh when Jesus came, he came for the chosen people of Israel. Part of his ministry and mission then expanded and opened, as it was God's intention, um, for the Gentiles, for us that are not of the family of Israel, to then be grafted into the family. And so one of the mysteries that was being revealed, uh, Paul is talking about here to the church in uh Colossus. Uh, what's being revealed at this time is that there's this mystery of something really amazing, and that mystery is that Christ will live in us, and it is the hope of glory for us. Okay? So Christ living in us is that hope of glory. Christ lives in us. That's what happens upon salvation. He dwells in us. All right. Um, since we we were near Ephesians, let's go back there. Let me just stay in this uh this version for a few minutes here. Uh Ephesians 1, uh verses 13 and 14. Let's take a look at that. In whom ye have trusted after that ye heard the word of truth. Did you hear that? You trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the holy with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purpose possession unto the praise of his glory. That passes in Ephesians, it says something really amazing there, kind of sums it all up in a beautiful way. We're talking about, let me back up to verse 12, just so you catch that part right before it. Uh Ephesians 1, chapter 12, King James, it says, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. Okay? So we trusted in Christ, and the verse then goes on to say, we trusted in him after we heard the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation, and it's in that gospel that we believed, and as a result, we are sealed or indwelled by the Spirit of God. So upon salvation, God comes to live in us, his spirit. Well, that spirit is then what matures the fruit. All right. So again, we had that gift of faith that got us to this place of believing and trusting, and then it is the indwelling of the spirit that grows and matures that faith so that we are able to continue to show the evidence of our salvation. Okay? That's what it is. The saving fruit, or excuse me, the saving faith comes first, and then the fruit. The seed has to be there first before the fruit, okay? That saving faith is the means by which God justifies us, okay? That saving uh faith is the work of Jesus Christ, the work that He did on the cross. That's what we are putting our faith in. That is the hope of glory, okay? That is what we are resting in when we trust and believe, okay? But then the fruit is part of that sanctification, part of that transformation, part of the work of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the comforter that Christ left when he returned to the Father, that spirit that now lives in us upon the moment of salvation, that is the fruit that is maturing and growing in us. Okay? So what does that fruit look like? Well, that fruit is a steadfastness, okay? It is learning to keep what we have been entrusted with. He's given us the truth of this word. And our charge as a follower and a believer of Christ is to keep this word, keep it near our hearts, keep it on our lips. We then go out and share the gospel with others. Uh, the Great Commission in Matthew tells us that we are to go and make disciples, okay? That is us walking in faith and maturing in that faith, okay? We don't doubt who God is even when our circumstances aren't turning out the way we would like them to. Okay? That's the challenge. That's where real faith, that's where, uh, as the saying goes, the the rubber meets the road. That's the real challenge of faith is can I still believe and walk in and trust that Jesus is who he said he is, that God the Father, that the Holy Spirit, that they that to collaboratively, all of them as one are true? Can I still believe that even when times are hard? Even when my health is failing, even when my family is is is damaged and fractured, even when friends walk away from me, even when my my uh finances are are desperate, can I still maintain my mind on the fact that God is still good and that He is still worthy of praise? Oh my goodness. That's that maturing faith, that's that faithfulness we could even call it, okay? It's the it's the it's the trusting of God through those moments, okay? Um faith is that believing, and trusting is that that that acting on what we believe, okay? It is believing who Jesus is, that's our faith, but then we trust or or the the uh fruit of the uh of the spirit of faith is that walking in trusting all of those things about him. It's kind of like like when I came in here to the studio to record this episode, I have this uh office chair that's in here, okay. I I put this chair together, all right, and I I I read the instructions, I read the manual, I saw the capacity, I saw how many pounds it should be able to hold, okay? So I constructed it, and I I came in here, I looked at that chair. Somewhere deep within the recesses of my mind, I believed that chair would hold me when I sat down. I had faith that that chair would hold me, okay? The trust is when I sat down. Okay. I say that because we need to be mindful that we need to walk in that faith. Okay? It's not just saying I have it, it's not just claiming it, but it is walking in it. Uh, turn real quick with me to uh 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 7. Still in my King James, it says, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Okay? Faith is something we walk in even when we don't see the thing that we want to see. That's what's maturing and growing in you as a fruit of the Spirit. As your love grows, as your peace grows, as your joy, your gentleness, your kindness, your goodness, your self-control, uh, your humbleness, your patience, as all of those things grow, what also grows is your faith. As you walk through this existence with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of your life, it should be growing deeper and deeper and deeper. And I'm trusting and trusting and trusting more and more and more. Maybe things that when I was a younger, immature Christian, I wasn't sure and I was still trying to navigate and figure out. As I'm maturing, there should be a depth now to my faith, a fruit that is ripening within me that makes it so I don't even question some of those things anymore. Okay? I know that I know that I know. I know who God is, I know what he's capable of, I know what he's already done for me, in me, through me in Christ Jesus. Okay? That uh Romans 12 talks about uh not conforming to this world, but being transformed by the renewing of your mind. As my mind is being renewed, as I'm reading the Word of God, as I'm pressing in, as His Spirit has filled me, as I'm growing in Christ Jesus, then I should have a different way of picturing and thinking and understanding the grace and the goodness of God. I should I should be doubting less and less and less as I'm walking more and more and more in faith with Jesus Christ. That's the fruit of faith. That's what's growing in you. Okay? Now, there was a time when um the indwelling, the presence of God was simply, in the Old Testament, was simply a visit. Okay, it was just a visitation, it was just a um temporary encounter that would allow uh whatever the work that needed to be accomplished by the one who was following after Christ. Okay, that was Old Testament, all right. New Testament is we are now sealed, we are now indwelled, it is permanent presence of the Holy Spirit if we are truly one that has put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. If we have truly believed, if we have truly surrendered, then what happens is that permanent residence that the Holy Spirit has taken up in us now abides with us, and we abide with Him every day, and in every situation, and in every encounter. To abide is that permanent connection. That's what I mean by the permanent presence of the Holy Spirit. Okay? In the days of old in the Old Testament, then what would happen is that the Spirit would visit people, it would have these momentary encounters with the saints, with the believers, and things like that. As you read through uh Hebrews chapter 11, and you're reading about the patriarchs of faith, you're seeing episodes where uh faith was very present and the spirit was present, and as the spirit was present, it was a temporary encounter there. What we get on the other side of the cross is we get a permanent presence of the Holy Spirit. Okay? Turn with me to John chapter 15, beginning at verse 1. I'm reading from the ESV. I'm gonna read down to verse 7. It says, I am the true vine, and my father the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Watch this, verse four. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abide in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. Let me pause right there. Remember, we're talking, this whole lesson is about the fruit of the Spirit. You can't bear fruit, you can't manufacture or create this fruit, okay? You can't even fake this fruit uh and have it be anything that's sustainable or anything that lasts apart from. Abiding in Christ, apart from the presence of the Spirit. You have to be connected to Him in order for genuine fruit to be produced. Let me keep going here. This is good stuff. Verse 5, I am the vine and you are the branches. Okay, we're talking at the very beginning. He says, he says, every branch in me, he's talking about you. Okay? I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers, and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it will be done for you. Okay? I absolutely have to have the word of God abiding in me. I need so desperately for that word to be anchored in me, and that happens as a result of my connection through salvation and then the indwelling of the Spirit, the fruit produces, and part of that fruit is faith. My faith increases, my faith grows, my faith becomes this amazing, ongoing, sustaining testimony that I'm able to share with others so that when they ask what's going on within me, I can speak of the hope that's in me, the hope of glory, Jesus Christ, because I have put my faith and trust in him. I have believed and surrendered. I've died to self, I've taken up my cross daily of suffering, and I'm following after Jesus Christ. Okay? That is the fruit of faith. And it is an amazing, powerful fruit that comes up in us as a result of the presence of the Spirit living in us. Alright? So walk in that faith, friends. Okay? Walk in it as the evidence of the existence of Jesus in you, the proof of the salvation of God. Okay? Hebrews chapter 11. Um I I love that particular passage. It says now, in the King James, it says now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. You can't see my salvation inside of me. You can look at me, you can stare at me, you can't pierce through my eyes and see my salvation, but my faith that I demonstrate in Christ Jesus is the evidence of what you can't see. It's the evidence of what others can't. It's the evidence of what I even I can't see because I'm trusting him. It is the the um that that faith is the substance, it is it is the tangible thing that I'm hoping for, that I put my hope in, the hope of glory, Jesus Christ. And it is the evidence of what I've not seen. And what you haven't seen, and what no one can see. But my faith is the evidence, it is the proof that Jesus Christ is my Lord and my King. Alright? Let me quickly add one more verse out of uh Hebrews 11, one of my favorite passages, verse 6 in that same chapter, chapter 11, King James. But without faith, it is impossible to please him. Talking about God. Without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Okay? My faith is believing that God is who he said he is, and that by trusting and putting my faith in him, he rewards those who seek after him. What are the rewards of God? That fruit of the Spirit, the peace of his presence, the love, the joy of Christ. Those are the things that are a blessing and a reward to us. Okay? That is the fruit of faith. I love it. I absolutely love it. Alright, let's close with a Malawi moment. All right, for our Malawi moment, we want to just tell you about a recent thing that happened uh over in Malawi. Um, at the heart of our ministry of One Voice Ministries in Malawi, it it's it's twofold. Okay, the primary focus, the reason we're there, what we desire more than anything else, is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost so that people will be saved, transformed, renewed, experience the fruit of the Spirit growing in them. That is our primary mission above everything else. If nothing else gets accomplished over there, if nothing else happens, if we focus on nothing else, that is the key thing that we desire is to share the gospel. Okay? Because we want to invite people through the Word of God, through the work of the cross, to have eternal life with Christ Jesus by trusting in the Son of God. Okay? That takes precedence over everything we do. The the second thing that we do is we want to minister to the widows and to the orphans of Malawi. And part of our ministry to them, again, is inviting them into the presence of Christ to let him make that difference and transform them. Okay? So look at Exodus 22, verse 22, okay? Um, it says, and then this was talking about social justice back in the days of the children of Israel coming out of bondage, all that sort of stuff. So they were laying down laws and that sort of thing. Well, one of the laws that was a part of their social justice, verse 22 of Exodus 22, uh, reading from the ESV, you shall not mistreat any widows or fatherless children. Okay? You are not to mistreat widows and orphans. Okay, that was put into the law. You are not to mistreat them. Well, then go to James chapter 1, verse 27. Okay, now we're on the other side of the cross. We're in that new covenant with better promises, and it says, religion, uh James 1 27, uh ESV, religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. The visiting of orphans and widows is to come and minister to them, to pour out, to show that love, to pour out the grace of God, to show them that they matter and that they're important. Okay? And Jesus said, the poor you will have with you always. And there is a great need in Malawi for ministry in that in that way. And so that is one of the things that God stirred and pricked our heart about doing. Well, recently, uh Pastor Gladstone put together what he called a widow's conference. All right. Now, this widow's conference took place in Lunzu in the uh Kumanda village, Kumanda village, and uh there were 50 widows that came from nine different villages, okay? And uh the purpose of it was to share with them hope in the gospel. Um, it was to encourage spiritual growth, uh, it was to offer support, uh, empowerment, encouragement. Uh, one of the things that happened too is that uh they were even looking at the conditions that since their husbands passed, they've got critical issues there like uh property grabbing, where people will just come and take their property, their home from them. And then they're now not only without uh the support of their spouse, but now they're destitute and they're alone. Okay. Um the situation of poverty that is so prevalent in many parts of Malawi, okay? Um, isolation that many of them feel. Even in this country, uh those who have lost a spouse uh battle with that uh isolation. Uh, it's even more challenging when you're out in a village and you're far away from other people, you have limited transportation, that isolation can be even greater. So Gladstone and a group of other ministers and and uh uh leaders from the villages came together for this conference and shared uh the love of God, shared and ministered to them, talked on these subjects, let them know that they mattered, and uh and as a result of the gospel being shared again, which is our primary mission, and is love when the is it's wonderful, and we love when the two combine together, nine of the widows surrendered their life to Jesus Christ. Nine of them heard that truth that we were just talking about, and uh, as a result of hearing that truth, they put their faith and trust and believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of their life. And that was the great, although you know, we came with the words of encouragement, there was a beautiful meal shared with them. All of those things are wonderful, but the best gift that they could receive was that relationship with Christ, and we're so glad that there were nine of them that made that decision. So we just ask you to pray for them, just continue to lift them up in your prayers. Our ministers, uh Gladstone and Moses over there, the widows and the people that we minister to, um, the need is great, and your prayers are greatly appreciated, and we're so thankful for all the things that you do uh to help us to continue to do that kingdom work. All right, and we do it by faith. That's that's what we're doing. We're just walking in faith, all right. So we encourage you as well. Um, as we said in Ephesians 2, we are his workmanship created for good works, works that we execute in faith, okay, by the grace of God. And so this podcast, our One Voice Ministries, uh, our uh church in uh Palm Bay, uh Body Christ Fellowship, all those are, as our theme song says, are the lane I'm supposed to be in. I'm walking in and searching and pressing into the good work that God has for me. As always, I pray that you find yours and that by faith you walk in it. God bless you, friends. We'll see you next time.