Omar reframed the fruit of the Spirit as “food” the Spirit produces for others, not merely a checklist to evaluate yourself; what does that reveal about God’s intention for sanctification, and how does that challenge the way you normally examine your spiritual life?

**Direct Answer** Based on the speaker’s teaching, God intends sanctification to overflow outward—so the fruit of the Spirit is meant to nourish other people, not just prove something about us. That challenges self-focused spiritual self-evaluation by asking, “Are others being fed by what the Spirit is producing in me?” **Support from Transcript:** • He says he used to think of the fruit “in sort of a… self-centered way,” asking, “are these characteristics that I have?” • What “impressed” him is that many fruits “actually benefit other people around us.” • He reframes fruit as “food,” saying Christians are “supposed to be producing” it and “feeding the others around us with that.” • He calls society “extremely hungry” and “starving for” love, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness. • His core challenge: “bear the fruit of the Spirit… and… feed the hungry, starving world around you.” **Discussion Follow-ups** When you examine yourself, do you ask only whether you have fruit, or whether someone else’s hope and endurance is stronger because they encountered you this week?

Omar connected several sudden deaths and suicides to the urgency of “how you left things with them”; what relationships in your life would become unbearable to review if the person died this week, and what does that expose about your actual priorities?

**Direct Answer** The transcript doesn’t name which relationships in your life would be unbearable to review, but it presses you to identify them and see what they reveal: unresolved tension, withheld love, or delayed encouragement shows you’ve prioritized comfort, busyness, or pride over active love. **Support from Transcript:** • After his aunt died “instantly without warning,” he says it makes you “stop and evaluate your relationships… how you left things with them.” • He describes a church visitor who looked normal and was “smiling,” yet is now “in the grave from suicide,” shaking their assumptions about people. • He observes families speak highly of the dead, warning: “don’t wait until people are dead to… feed them with the fruit of the Spirit.” • He quotes survivors/family regret: “We didn’t see this coming,” and “Last evening… he asked me… and I told him I was too busy.” • He urges that love and kindness are actions: “If you feel care… make sure you express it. Make sure they know it.” **Discussion Follow-ups** Which conflicts or distances have you been “meaning to address later,” and what does that say about what you’re protecting—your schedule, your image, or genuine pea

In the FedEx story, Omar stressed “give them the benefit of the doubt” because you never know what’s happening inside someone else’s vehicle or life; where has impatience (on the road, at work, online) trained you to dehumanize people, and what specific “fruit” would have to replace that reflex?

**Direct Answer** Based on the speaker’s teaching, impatience dehumanizes people when we treat them as obstacles (like “just another FedEx truck”) instead of human beings with hidden burdens. The reflex must be replaced with fruits like kindness, gentleness, peace, and longsuffering toward others. **Support from Transcript:** • He imagines the grieving husband driving a corporate truck for three hours after hearing his wife died; other drivers “had no idea what was going on in his truck.” • His application: “it just really made me stop and think about how I treat people on the road… We always have to give them the benefit of the doubt.” • He says we “dehumanize corporate America… there’s just another FedEx truck… they just getting our way on the road.” • He emphasizes “real human beings… with real needs and real hunger… driving past us on the road.” • Later he ties this to daily habits: blazing through the grocery store, needing to “slow down” and even “smile at them,” sharing “joy.” **Discussion Follow-ups** What would change this week if you treated your commute, comment threads, and checkout lines as places to practice gentleness and peace, not just efficiency?

Omar described Search and Rescue families praising the dead as “the nicest person on the planet” while fighting and belittling each other in real time; what patterns of honoring people after death—but starving them while alive—show up in Christian communities, and how would early Christians have heard Paul’s call to “bearing with one another in love” in that situation?

**Direct Answer** The speaker’s point is that Christian communities can drift into praising people once they’re gone while failing to practice patience and kindness in everyday conflict; “bearing with one another in love” would sound like a call to stop belittling and start treating one another with gentleness now, not at the funeral. **Support from Transcript:** • In Search and Rescue, he says families talk as if the missing person is “always the nicest person on the planet.” • Yet he witnessed them “kept fighting with each other,” and a dad “belittled him and berated him” over a vehicle issue. • He concludes: “don’t wait until people are dead to… feed them with the fruit of the Spirit.” • He stresses the fruits are for real-time relationships: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, gentleness. • He quotes Ephesians: walk with “lowliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love… keep the unity… in the bond of peace.” **Discussion Follow-ups** Where do churches unintentionally reward harshness in the moment but sentimentalize people afterward—and how would daily “bearing with” reshape conflict in families and congregations?

Omar quoted Kevin Hines: “I desperately wanted someone to say, ‘Are you okay?’ … Apathy, fear and apathy”; where do you see “fear + apathy” operating in your own public life, and what concrete practice could interrupt it before you have time to rationalize doing nothing?

**Direct Answer** Based on the transcript, “fear + apathy” shows up when we notice someone hurting but avoid them to protect ourselves from awkwardness, rejection, or criticism. A concrete interruption is to pre-decide a simple action—like asking “Are you okay?” or starting small with a smile—so you act before you can talk yourself out of it. **Support from Transcript:** • Kevin Hines’ quote: he was “crying my eyes out,” and “desperately wanted someone to say, ‘Are you okay?’… I would have told them everything.” • Hines’ diagnosis of bystanders: “Apathy, fear and apathy.” • Omar’s challenge: he hopes if listeners were “the tourist walking by… the story would have ended differently.” • Omar says fear stops us: fear of “not knowing what to say,” “misinterpreting,” “rejection,” “awkward,” “embarrass,” and “criticism.” • He urges pre-decision: “the instant I see it, I’m going to act on it… If you wait… usually the opportunity is going to be passed.” **Discussion Follow-ups** What one sentence could you pre-load (at work, in public, online) that forces you into compassionate engagement before apathy takes over?

Omar said it disturbs him that “Google is probably more likely to find out when we’re struggling than our best friend is”; what does that suggest about how we’ve replaced God’s design for community, and what would repentance look like in the way we confess weakness and pursue one another?

**Direct Answer** The transcript suggests we’ve replaced God’s intended “social and spiritual framework” with isolation and private problem-solving, even when we have real people who should know and care. Repentance would look like intentionally talking to someone, leaning on others, and actively checking in so friends aren’t left alone with their pain. **Support from Transcript:** • Omar says it “disturbs” him that “Google is probably more likely to find out when we’re struggling than our best friend is.” • He observes people “Google their problems… and try to find an answer there.” • His exhortation: “If you’re struggling with anything, talk to someone, find someone to talk to and to lean on.” • Reason: “God made us to need each other… God designed us to live in a certain social and spiritual framework.” • Warning image: outside that framework we “will struggle… like a fish out of water.” **Discussion Follow-ups** Who in your life should be hearing your real struggles first—and who might be silently struggling because you never ask or make space to listen?

Omar warned that “some people have allergic reactions to good fruit” and you may be criticized for trying; how does that collide with modern evangelical instincts to avoid awkwardness and protect comfort, and what would it look like to decide that “10% impact is worth 90% awkward”?

**Direct Answer** Based on the speaker’s teaching, the call to share the Spirit’s fruit requires accepting discomfort and possible backlash rather than protecting personal comfort. Deciding “10% impact is worth 90% awkward” means unashamedly reaching out anyway, even if most attempts feel clumsy or are not appreciated. **Support from Transcript:** • Omar admits he’d become “increasingly gun-shy about reaching out… expressing care,” after attempts “would not go as planned.” • He says people’s reactions are “very unpredictable,” and you can’t make a “textbook” guaranteeing outcomes. • Illustration: “Some people have allergic reactions to good fruit… they might actually get upset at you… But… that should [not] stop us.” • He reframes the cost: “who really cares if… you embarrass yourself… Even if 90%… awkward… it still is worth it for the 10%… you actually affect.” • Closing charge: “rise up and live love openly and unashamedly… Take risks. Don’t be afraid.” **Discussion Follow-ups** What comfort are you protecting—your reputation, emotional energy, or control—and what would it look like to spend that comfort for someone else’s hope?

Omar insisted love, kindness, and gentleness are actions, not private feelings, and cited the suicide survivor who assumed “it was my family’s problem”; in your closest relationships, what forms of “silent love” might actually be experienced as absence, and what actions would make your care unmistakable?

**Direct Answer** The transcript suggests “silent love” can feel like absence when gratitude, encouragement, and concern stay unspoken and unacted on. Unmistakable care looks like expressing love plainly—checking in, saying thank you, starting the awkward conversation, offering comfort when needed. **Support from Transcript:** • He states: “love, kindness, and gentleness are all actions… not just words or feelings.” • Command: “If you feel care and love for someone, make sure you express it. Make sure they know it.” • Suicide survivor quote: “I thought it was my family’s problem… I wish I would have asked them.” Omar responds that family should have treated him so “he knew they cared… without him asking.” • Examples of silent gratitude: feeling thankful but “never bother simply saying thank you,” expecting others to “catch the hint.” • Example of silent concern: you can tell a friend is struggling but don’t ask because “it might be awkward… but just do it anyway.” **Discussion Follow-ups** Which relationship most needs your care to become visible—and what single action this week (a call, apology, gratitude, invitation) would remove doubt?

"Rise Up, O Man of God" by Lamar Showalter

1,234 views • Jan 5, 2022

Description

January 1, 2022 

Strength to Strength welcomed Lamar Showalter to encourage us to rise up in this new year.

Hunger and starvation are not new tragedies. But did you know people are dying of starvation right in your own town? This is a challenge for 2022 to rise up and feed the “starving” people around you with the fruit of the Spirit.

"Rise up, O men of God!
Have done with lesser things;
Give heart and soul and mind and strength
To serve the King of kings."
- William Merrill

An interactive question-and-answer period follows.

https://strengthtostrength.org/rise-up-o-man-of-god/

🎧 Audio Player with Transcript

🎧 "Rise Up, O Man of God" by Lamar Showalter

The one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Okay, well, good morning everyone and welcome to Strength to Strength. It's, uh, great to see everyone this morning in a brand new year, and, uh, we're honored to have, uh, Omar Schoelwalder with us. He's from Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, and he's gonna speak on the subject, "Rise Up, O Men of God." And, uh, can't wait to hear what challenges he's got for us as we look at the year ahead of us.

So, uh, at Strength to Strength, here we, uh, host this every other Saturday morning and, uh, welcome speakers on board to talk about various subjects and to challenge us to, uh, closer walk with God and, uh, more effective ministry for His kingdom.

So, at this point, we'll begin with prayer.

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You for this new day. We thank You for this brand new year. And, uh, help us, Lord, to go into it with fear of God and to trust You and to honor You in everything. We, uh, pray that we would be challenged this morning to look into our lives and see where we could do better and serve more and help souls find, um, find You, find a relationship with Jesus and, uh, have their sins washed away and repent of their old lives. And help us, Lord, to be, um, true disciples that follow in Your footsteps and in Your path and, uh, Your example that You left for us. We thank You for coming to earth and to be here among us and to be one of us, to experience the things that we experience and to show us by Your word and by Your example how to live on earth and to be part of this beautiful and majestic kingdom of God.

Be with, uh, Brother Omar this morning as he shares with us, and we pray that You would, um, um, give him wisdom and strength for his talk, and may we all be honored, or may we all be, um, filled with more wisdom as we, uh, step into this brand new year of 2022. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

All right, Brother Omar, we'll give the time over to you. All right. Well, good morning to all of you. I want to especially say hello to my relatives in Liberia, Phil and Willie. I see that you're on here, so good to connect with you over there. I'm not sure what time of the day it is for you, but I feel like I'm speaking to a pretty unusual group of people, especially to you, um, people here in North America that are getting up early in the morning to listen to these things. I'm a little more of a night owl myself, and so I really admire the fact that people are getting up at six o'clock on Saturday morning to listen to spiritual content.

So God bless you for that. I'm really glad to see that.

So here we are in 2022, a brand new year. And the thing that I have on my mind is, or the thing that I want to challenge you with this morning is how we, how we relate to others.

Um, there's a verse that you're all very familiar with, the fruit of the Spirit. It says, uh, in Galatians 5:22, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law." So that's a list of easy-to-understand words that I'm sure you all are familiar with. But the thing that impressed me recently about that is how so many of these things are, are attributes or things that actually benefit other people around us. It's not usually when I think of the fruit of the Spirit, I actually think of it in sort of a, um, I guess, sort of a self-centered way where you think about, like, are these characteristics that I have?

Um, is this fruit that my life is bearing? And not really so much in terms of, of that this fruit are things that are affecting other people around me. So, um, the challenge that I want to bring this morning is just the fact that the society around us is an extremely hungry society for these very things that we're talking about: love, joy, peace, gentleness, uh, kindness. All those things are things that people are so hungry for, they're starving for, and it's called in scripture, the fruit of the Spirit. So I want to think of it as food this morning, that these are, these are things that our lives as Christians are supposed to be producing, and we can be feeding the others around us with that.

So, um, I want to just dwell on that thought for a while and challenge you in the year 2022 to bear the fruit of the Spirit for one, and secondly, feed the hungry, starving world around you with the fruit of the Spirit.

So I have a bit of context for my thoughts. It's been kind of a rough month for our congregation, actually. Or not really rough in a bad way. It's actually been, it's actually been a, uh, we've, we've learned a lot this month, but, um, we had a number of things happen in our congregation that kind of got my thoughts running down this line. So, um, so a couple of things that are going on. One is that I have my aunt, who is also, who was also an extra neighbor, died very unexpectedly from sudden cardiac arrest. Her daughter came home from school, found her on the floor dead, and there was no warning whatsoever. She wasn't feeling ill.

No one had any idea that that was going to happen. So that was a first for our congregation to have a funeral, and very shocking to all of us, gave us a lot to think about. So that was one, that was one thing that made me think about how we treat people, is that there was someone gone instantly without warning. And so then it just makes you kind of stop and evaluate your relationships, how you, how you treat people, how you left things with them. The second thing that I was thinking about in relation to that same incident is, um, her husband drove for FedEx. And so, like, not FedEx package delivery, but FedEx long haul.

And so he was about three hours away, and his children needed to call him and tell him that their mom had died. And the thought that I just, the thought that just stuck with me, or the thing that I just kept thinking about, is the fact that here was, um, here was this brother in my congregation that was driving for three hours. He had just found out that his wife died. He had three hours to drive home in his corporate FedEx truck. And I wasn't thinking, my thoughts didn't dwell so much on him and what he was dealing with, the grief he was dealing with in his truck, but rather all the cars on the road driving up Interstate 81 on the East Coast.

I'm not sure how many of you have been on that and know how busy it is. There's so many cars there. And I thought about these hundreds of people that he passed or that passed him, and none of them had any idea what, what was going on in his truck. None of them knew that he just heard his wife died. They didn't know that he had three hours to drive home. So the point that I want to make with that is it just really made me stop and think about how I treat people on the road, because we never know what people are going through. We always have to give them the benefit of the doubt.

So I especially like the fact that he was in a corporate FedEx truck, because I think that we tend to kind of, um, dehumanize corporate America. We, we look at it as a big corporation. There's just another FedEx truck. They have a thousand crazy employees, and I don't know, they're, they just getting our way on the road. But we always need to stop and think about it that there's real human beings and real people with real needs and real hunger in their life that need these fruit of the Spirit driving past us on the road. We don't know what they're going through. So that's the point I'm making. Secondly, um, right after we had a funeral for the one lady in our congregation, we, um, the same day, we took the other one to the hospital, also my aunt.

We took her to the hospital and with COVID, um, checked her in there. She was there for 10 days, and we sincerely weren't sure whether she was going to make it or not. So that was another case where we got a chance to just sort of stop and think about life and relationships and people.

Another, another incident that happened to our congregation, also this past month, is a little over two months ago, we had a visitor at our church. She was a smiling lady wearing normal traditional Mennonite clothing, and she sat in our service, and as of today, she's in the grave from suicide. She was related to many of the people in our church, and it actually, um, struck us very hard. There's a number of families that are related, and, um, it really, it really shook us up a bit to realize that this person was sitting there on her bench, smiling and, and looking like everyone else does. And today, they're, as of this month, they're in the grave from suicide.

So once again, I'm not really dwelling on the thought of death or suicide or any of these things, but I'm simply making the point, how are you treating the people around you? We live in a hungry world. Another thing that makes me think about this thought is my work with Search and Rescue. I work with Christian Aid Ministry's Search and Rescue program, and in that context, I've had lots of opportunities to spend several days of time with families in the middle of tragedy and just kind of hear what they have to say and see how they respond to that. People always have such nice things to say about the person that died. That just always strikes me that the person that is missing, the person that's drowned in the water, the person that's lost in the woods are always the nicest person on the planet.

And one time in particular, when I really was struck by this, it was a family that, that kept saying and saying all kinds of nice things about the person that was missing, but they kept fighting with each other. Like we were there for two days working. The family kept kind of back and forth at each other. The, the dad that we were working with, um, his son accidentally had an issue with his vehicle, and the dad just belittled him and berated him and all that. And the whole time the person under the water was, was the, was the gem of the family. And so the point that I'm making is don't wait until people are dead to, to feed them with the fruit of the Spirit, because, um, that's what we always tend to do.

And, um, we, we shouldn't wait until that's the case. I repeatedly think about my conversation with the family of a 19-year-old boy that stopped his car in the middle of a six-lane bridge and jumped over the edge. The aunt said to me, "We didn't see this coming. We all thought he was doing fine. I just recently hugged him goodbye at the last family gathering. Every seemed fine. Everything seemed fine, and now he's gone."

The sister of a man who drowned in a boating accident said to me, "Last evening, he asked me if I would go out with him, and he told me I was too busy."

So, um, the other thing I want to look at is some statistics on depression and suicide. I realize that this is kind of a, kind of a dark opening to the subject of the fruit of the Spirit, but the only reason why I'm going across these things is to impress on you that we need to be thoughtful about how we relate to people around us, because we never know what that person is dealing with or what they're going through. So that's the only point I'm trying to make. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among individuals between ages 10 to 34. So that's taking a certain age bracket where it's, where it's highest. Um, so overall, it's not that, that bad, but in the ages of 10 to 34, second leading cause of death, there were nearly two and a half times as many suicides in the United States as there were homicides.

So that means you can think about all the scary gangs out there, all the big cities, all the drug deals, or whatever you want to think about, but people are still dying at two and a half times the rate from suicide over violence and crime.

It's not only about people committing suicide, but also contemplating. So 4% of adults contemplated suicide in the past year. And to kind of put that number in context or perspective, think about shopping at Walmart. Is there a hundred people in there at a time? I don't know. I would assume most times there probably is. And so that means that while, while four people out of a hundred doesn't sound like a lot, um, on the other hand, that means on an average shopping trip, you're probably passing someone that either was contemplating suicide for last year or, um, or during last year has recently been, but you will never know. But just remember that how you treat that person could actually make the difference of what that person does or what, what happens in their life after that.

So, but that's one of these things you never really know. You can't prove what you, what you prevented from happening, but you do know when something does happen. I believe that the suicide statistics will continue to climb. From 1999 to 2019, the suicide rate in the United States increased 35%. And I think that number is going to continue to go up from there. I have some opinions about why that is. I'm not a professional on the subject. I don't really know, but I think there's a correlation with broken families and the rise of social media and, um, and how that's isolating people, making incredibly lonely people from dysfunctional families. So my hope for us as believers and the real challenge that I want to ask you to rise to in 2022 is to be a vibrant light to the world.

We, we have something that the world needs. We have A, the gospel, and B, the fruit of the Spirit to nurture and care for these hurting, discouraged people that are all around us. And my real desire or hope is that because of you believers on this call, that it will make a difference in society. I hope in one person's life out there, some random stranger that you'll probably know, never know the name of, I hope it makes a difference in that person's life because of you believers here. If not, then what are we as believers contributing to society? Reading a quote, uh, it says, "Man can live for about 40 days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air, but only for one second without hope."

And that correlates directly with during our Search and Rescue training, um, that teach us the seven priorities of survival. And the number one priority is what they call positive mental attitude. That's more important than air or water, anything. You have to have a positive mental attitude because you can only live for one second without hope.

So just remember that if you have the Spirit, if people are hopeless around you, if they're losing hope, remember that the fruit that you have to feed them may be the, may be the one thing that keeps them from losing hope.

I'm not really speaking on depression this morning, but since I talked about suicide and depression a little bit, I want to make just a few comments. I think I saw the actual talk on here recently, a whole talk about depression. I didn't see that until, um, pretty late in the game of my preparation, but I would like to go actually listen to that sometime. But the one thing I wanted to say is that it kind of disturbs me that in many cases, I think Google is probably more likely to find out when we're struggling than our best friend is. People Google their, Google their problems or their issues and try to find an answer there.

So I just simply want to make the point that we need the people around us. If you're struggling with anything, talk to someone, find someone to talk to and to lean on, because God made us to need each other. God designed us to live in a certain social and spiritual framework. And if we don't live within that framework, we will struggle. It's sort of like a fish out of water. So, um, just remember to live with God's plan.

A couple of stories I want to share to help emphasize this point of how we treat the random people around us. This is a story of a man by the name of Kevin Hines. He was in his late teenage years, and in the year 2000, he decided to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge. And I'm going to read a quote from his testimony. This is a verbal testimony he was giving, and I kind of transcribed a quote from it. So he says, "I took a bus there, and on that bus, as all I wanted to do was scream and beg for help and live. I sat on that bus, back row, middle seat. I'm crying my eyes out like a baby.

People staring at me now. I desperately wanted someone to say, 'Are you okay?' I would have told them everything." And in the interview, someone asked him, "Why do you think those people didn't reach out?" And he said, "Apathy, fear and apathy. That's his problem, but it ain't mine." There was a guy to my left said to the fellow next to him while pointing at me with his thumb, "What is wrong with that kid?" He said with a smile on his face.

The bus got to the bridge. I sat there crying. The bus driver stood up. He stood up. He turned and looked at me and said, "Kid, come on, get off the bus. I got to go." I walked across the walkway of the bridge for 40 minutes, up and down, back and forth, crying like a baby. Bikers, joggers, tourists, runners, they all went by me. I'm leaning over the railing, crying like a baby. Nobody cares. And the voice in my head said, "Jump now." And I did.

So he actually survived. He was one of the few people that survived jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge, and he has the story to tell in the end. But the challenge that I want to leave with you is I hope that if any one of you on this call would have been the tourist walking by on the bridge that day, that the story would have ended differently. Someone would have said, "Are you okay?" Someone would have reached out to him. Another story of another man, um, reading a quote once again. He says, "I remember driving to the bridge and stopping at the toll booth. I remember asking the lady for directions. In my mind, I wish she would have just asked me, 'Why are you going to the bridge?'

But she didn't. So I proceeded on my way." And then this is skipping a chunk in the story. Later, um, while he was on the edge of the bridge, he says, "This is it, I thought. The moment I decided to let go, the same voice that had stopped me before, I heard again, but this time it was a lot closer." I'm not sure what he was saying, but the fact that somebody took the time out and was, but the fact that somebody took the time out and was saying anything at this particular moment when I was at the worst possible situation in my life. They took the time to try to talk to me. I kept my head down.

I never looked up. I was just happy to know that this voice was there and that it was listening to me. For 92 minutes, I stood there in the same position on that bridge, my head down, and I told a complete stranger some of the most intimate things about my life. For 92 minutes, he just listened. It's not about what he said that saved my life. It's about what he listened to.

A few months ago, I was shopping in the local Dollar General store, and the clerk that checked me out was, um, unusual enough that I actually remembered her. Like it kind of, it was a, it was a very odd exchange, and it kind of stuck in my mind. I went through the checkout. I quickly realized that the girl behind the counter, um, was a hurting shell or an empty shell of a hurting person. And she, I don't know how to describe her so you get the picture, but she, um, was, she looked very postmodern and pagan. So I'll let you decide what that means. But it wasn't, it wasn't really the type of person I would have thought about, um, like kind of wanting to hold a serious conversation or even, yeah, wanting, being, being worth, um, trying to start a conversation with.

But then a few months later, one of the sisters from our church called me and she said, "Hey, I just stopped down here at church, and there's this girl outside that is asking if she can use the restroom." And they wondered if I could come down and talk to her. So I did, and I showed up, and right away I recognized her. I was like, "Oh, this is the girl from Dollar General." And she was sleeping. This was at night, or like nine or ten at night. And she was sleeping under the swing on our church part, on our church lot because she didn't have a place to sleep for the night. And so we sat down and talked to her for a while.

Um, another family came over. We had like an hour-long talk with her. And it actually made me feel kind of ashamed. It was just so, um, interesting to me, or so impressive to me, that this person that would have not been brave enough to reach out to, not been brave enough to say something to, was sitting here in our church building talking to us about some of the things that she was talking about. And it just really reemphasized in my mind that everyone, regardless of what they look like or who they are, everyone has the same basic human needs. And there's just a lot of people out there that need what we have to offer with the fruit of the Spirit.

They need love. They need gentleness. They need peace. They live chaotic lives and just need, just need a ray of hope in their life. So I was very challenged by that to think about it. But I don't have to wait until they show up knocking on my church door. When I was going through the line at the checkout at Dollar General, I had an opportunity. I want to think about feeding others with the fruit of the Spirit, fruit of the Spirit. So the first point that I want to make is that everyone needs it. It's not just the depressed, sad, or grieving. Even the strong people eat food to stay alive. In fact, I'm not sure if there's really a spiritual analogy here, but strong people or like athletic people, in some cases, might actually eat more than weak people.

So the reason why I'm making that point is sometimes we might think the people around us are doing okay. They're a strong enough character. They don't need our petty encouragements or, um, don't need our, our support or whatever. But just remember, everyone needs the fruit of the Spirit, believer and unbeliever, whatever it is. We all need those things to nurture us.

Secondly, if you're going to feed others with the fruit of the Spirit, first, you have to first just make sure that you have it. Obviously, if you don't have the fruit of the Spirit, you can't share it with anybody. So I want to read a verse in John, um, 12:24 that I think, um, just outlines an extremely good first step in making sure we can even bear fruit. Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, accept a corn of wheat, fall into the ground and die, to abide with alone. But if it die, bring it forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto eternal life.

If any man serve me, let him follow me and where I am, there and where I am, there shall also be my servant. If any man serve me, him will my Father honor." So Jesus said, "Unless a seed falls into the ground and dies, it can't bear fruit." That's true of us. That if we don't die to ourselves and follow Christ, there's no fruit of the Spirit that we have. There's nothing. We have nothing to offer the world that needs it. The best way to bear fruit is to stay connected to the vine, which is Jesus. Jesus said that he, if we're on the vine and not bearing fruit, he'll pluck us off. Also remember that you reap what you sow.

If you sow to the Spirit, you will reap the fruit of the Spirit. If you sow to the flesh, you will reap of the flesh. Fruit is something that is cultivated. It's not just a crop that you can like ignore and suddenly just have this crop of the fruit of the Spirit on demand. You have this hurting person in front of you that you need to care for. Suddenly you come up with the fruit of the Spirit. It's something you cultivate today so you can serve a person tomorrow. So we're here at the beginning of 2022, and I want to ask you to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit in your life so that you have it when you need it in this year that we have ahead.

We don't know, you don't know who you're going to meet, what situation you're going to bump into, or what you're going to see, but I can guarantee that there will be plenty of opportunities to use the fruit of the Spirit in whatever, whatever situation you run into.

If you want to feed others with the fruit of the Spirit, you also should not be blinded by your own self-centered universe. Notice when others need the fruit. Notice when they're hungry. That's just simply a matter of paying attention to the people around you. I frequently catch myself when I'm grocery shopping. I frequently catch myself just tearing through the grocery store, doing sort of a high-powered grocery shopping trip on the way home from work. My wife needs a few things. And so I'll go through the store at about three times the pace of anyone else in there. And once in a while, I'll catch myself and think, "Wait a minute, I'm just blazing past these people."

And once again, who knows, who knows what their day has been like. Who knows what they're going through. Maybe they need me to just slow down and just even smile at them. If you want a simple place to start with shedding light in the world and sharing the fruit of the Spirit with people around you, share joy with them. It's often impressive to me to go through the store and intentionally, um, like look at people's faces and think about how few people are smiling, especially over the holidays. There's just a lot of grim people just, just trying to survive and, and pushing their cart through the store. Just smile at them.

So, um, remember to not be so caught up in your own little world with so many things on your mind that you can't even notice the people around you. Secondly, if, or next, I'm not sure what number I'm at. It's not second, but if you want to feed people with the fruit of the Spirit, you need to be humble enough to make mistakes and embarrass yourself and take the risk of reaching out. So I think fear is one of the biggest things that keeps us from feeding others with the fruit of the Spirit when we have opportunity. There's so many things that we can be afraid of when we have an opportunity in front of, in front of us.

Maybe we're afraid of not knowing what to say. What if we're misinterpreting the situation? We see an opportunity that we think looks like an opportunity to minister, but we second-guess ourselves. We're like, "Maybe I don't understand what's going on here." Maybe we're afraid of rejection. What if our attempt at caring is not well received?

What if we're afraid of being ignored? Or what if the conversation gets awkward? What if we embarrass ourselves or make a fool of ourselves? I think we can also be afraid of criticism. It's often amazing to me or interesting to me how it's so easy to hide in the masses and do nothing. People will rarely criticize you for doing nothing. You can, there's, there's lots and lots of people taking inert position in, in a mass of people, and no one criticizes them. They're just there unnoticed. As soon as you step out and try to do something, you increase the risk of someone criticizing you or the possibility of being criticized for what you're doing. But don't let that make you afraid to step out and, and do something and meet the needs of the world.

So part of the reason why this is on my, on my mind, I've been pretty deep in thought the last few weeks about people and relationships for some of the reasons I mentioned at the beginning, some of the stuff that our community had going on, and also just other factors in my life. But with the things that have happened to our congregation in the month of December, I actually feel kind of re-emboldened or re-energized to live, to reach into people's lives. I hate to admit it, but in some ways, I've been feeling increasingly gun-shy about reaching out to people or checking in with people, expressing care for people. I had too many experiences where an attempt to reach out to someone would not go as planned and just end up with me feeling stupid for trying.

And one thing that I've learned in life is that people and their preferences or just people and their reactions are very unpredictable. We don't get to choose how people respond to things. We can't sit here and make a textbook that says, "Do this," and people will respond like that. People will respond however they, however they want.

Some people have allergic reactions to good fruit. I'm actually one of them in real life. If I eat an apple or like a lot of different types of raw fruit, my mouth will swell up and I, my eyes get all red and puffy. So I have, I have issues if I eat raw fruit. So thinking about that with the fruit of the Spirit, there's a high possibility that if you reach out to someone in love and try to minister to them, that they might actually get upset at you or, or not appreciate it or whatever. They might have an allergic reaction to a good fruit.

But I don't think that should stop us. Like I said, the recent events have quickly changed my mind and have actually kind of re-energized me. I was feeling a little burnt out because of some bad experiences I've had. But I think that we should unashamedly care for people regardless of what the risks are. At this point, when I look at the people around me, I think about the girl who showed up on our church steps that I would have never dared talk to and ended up having an hour-long conversation with. I think about the people that were here a few weeks ago and aren't. And I decide who really cares if, if you make, if you embarrass yourself a couple of times trying to reach out to people.

Even if 90% of the time you end up making yourself feel awkward for trying, it still is worth it for the 10% of people that you actually affect their lives or make a difference in their life. Another thing that I want to remind you as a challenge for 2022 is that remember that love, kindness, and gentleness are all actions. Those are all fruits of the Spirit. And those aren't just words or feelings. They're actually actions. If you feel care and love for someone, make sure you express it. Make sure they know it. One suicide survivor said, "I thought it was my family's problem. I thought they would be better off without me. I wish I would have asked them."

And when I read that, he was saying he wished he would have just asked his family and they would have told him that they did care. But I thought his family should have been treating him in such a way that he knew they cared, um, without him asking. Don't just silently go about your business and hope people catch the hint. Maybe you feel extremely thankful for something. Maybe someone did something or, or met a need in your life in some way and you feel really thankful for it, but you never bother simply saying thank you or I appreciate it.

You just keep the feeling to yourself and expect the other party to know that you're grateful. Or maybe you think they're tough enough that they don't need petty encouragements like thank you's. Maybe you can tell your friend is struggling, but, and you, and you care a lot about them. You actually feel like you care for them, but you never express it. You never ask them how they're doing or what's going on because it might be awkward to do that. And my response to that is it might actually be awkward to start the conversation with them, but just do it anyway. They probably need someone to talk to them.

Maybe you have learned a valuable lesson from someone else's example, but you don't mention it until they are dead.

Just remember that there's many people, many opportunities every single day to, to show acts of kindness, acts of love, acts of gentleness to people. If you want something profitable to Google or something inspirational to look at, if you Google testimonies of random acts of kindness, there's lots of stories out there of people giving testimonies. Someone that did a random, some stranger in public did a random act of kindness for them and decades later, they still remember. The one person said, "I can still remember that lady's face. I know exactly how she looked, but I have no idea who she is." But she, she did something on the spur of the moment that really affected them.

My next point is feed people when they're hungry. Seize the moment. A lot of these opportunities to, to shine as a light in the world, to share our fruit of the Spirit are spur of the moment opportunities. We don't have a lot of time to think about it or decide. It's a, it's a situation we see and we have that moment to reach out and do something about it. We have that moment to say something. So the point that I want to make is that we should actively be watching for opportunities and we should have pre-decided or like pre-determined. We have already made up our mind that when we see a situation, we're going to act on it.

If you, if you wait until you're in the situation to decide what to do, usually the opportunity is going to be passed until you, if it's a fleeting moment, um, the opportunity might be passed, um, by the time you decide what you're going to do. So go through life, go through 2022 at least at a very minimum, or even if that looks too big, just start with next week. Go through the next week with a frame of mind that I'm looking for opportunities to reach into people's lives. And the instant I see it, I'm going to act on it. I've pre-decided that I'm going to do it. It blessed our congregation tremendously. Just a story of someone that was doing this.

Blessed our congregation tremendously within, I think it was probably within two hours of the news being public that, um, the sister in our church died. Another congregation called up and offered to do the funeral meal. They, they donated the food and provided all the labor for the meal. And it was literally within two hours or so of the person dying. And our congregation was just like really surprised and really thankful that they offered this, especially that they offered it so quickly. And I was asking them about it, like thanking them for it and stuff. And they told me that they were actively watching for an opportunity to do it. They said a congregation had done it for them and they decided they wanted to pass it on.

So they said they were literally waiting for a chance to make that phone call. And I want to just pass it on as an example or as encouragement for how we should be going through our life, whether it's the people around you that you live with every day or the people in public. Next time you go grocery shopping, next time you go to Lowe's, since I'm speaking to them, would probably be a better thing to say, um, next time you're in public, think, "If I see anyone today that needs something, needs something said to them, needs something done for them, I'm going to do something about it. I've pre-decided that I'm going to reach into the situation."

Don't just assume someone else will do it. If you want something interesting to read about, go read about a psychological effect called the bystander effect. I don't have time to go into details on it, but it's extremely interesting. The more people there are present in a given scenario, the less chance it is that any given person is going to respond when they see a need because everyone will think that someone else is going to do it. So, um, if you want to give yourself some motivation to get out there and do something and share the fruit of the Spirit with people, read about the bystander effect, you understand how, how you have a responsibility to reach out to the people you see around you.

I want to very briefly look at each of the fruit of the Spirit. I think a lot of the words are actually pretty simple words. I think most of us pretty much recognize those things when we see them. But I just want to read a few verses about them to kind of, um, stir your mind as to, as to what your life is supposed to be bearing and what you have to share with the world.

First one is love. Before you even attempt to care for someone, make sure you actually love that person. In Matthew 22, Jesus said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind." This is the first and great commandment. And the second is likened to it, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. So if you're going to adopt this mentality of looking for opportunities to help others in life, make sure you actually love the people around you. If you think the people are in your way or just a nuisance or holding you up and you kind of have an attitude about the people around you, you aren't actually loving them.

So you might as well forget reaching out to them until you actually love the people around you. Joy. Jesus said, "These things I've spoken unto you, that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full." So I think it's very important that we as believers express Christian joyfulness. I don't mean just like crazy silliness, but just actual joy and happiness in a world of dark, hurting, sad, empty people that just need fed some joy. Remember to smile at people.

Peace. It says in, um, 2 Thessalonians, "Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all." It says in Romans, "Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men."

If there's people that you don't have peace with, people you can't get along with, people you're, you're hesitant to meet up with because you don't have things clear between you and them, fix your problems. Live peaceably with all men.

Long suffering. It says in 2 Peter that the Lord is not slack concerning his promise that some count slackness, but is long suffering towards us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. It says in Ephesians, "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." So some of those verses make the point that God has been so long suffering with us, we have to be long suffering with the people around us because how can we expect God's mercy and God's long suffering if we aren't willing to extend it ourself?

Kindness. And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

Goodness. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. "Oh, taste and see," this is from Psalms, "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in him." And I really like the verse in James. It says, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights." So we as believers, we as Christians are receiving these good gifts from above, from God. And I believe that we should, we should extend, in a sense, extend that to the world around us because there are believers in the world, because there are believers in local communities, there should be evidence of the good gifts of God.

The next word of the Spirit, faithfulness, says in Luke, "He who is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. And he who is injust in that which is least is unjust in much." So the way I would like to apply that is when you think about feeding the world, the fruit of the Spirit, be faithful with it. Be faithful in the little things. It doesn't take some big grandiose plan. When I'm, when I'm talking about feeding the hungering world around us, I'm thinking of very small everyday exchanges. I'm not thinking of big grandiose plans or organizations or anything, not that those aren't doing that as well, but I'm trying to make this personal for your everyday life.

There's lots of opportunities to, to do little things to feed the fruit of the Spirit to people around you. Gentleness, it says in James, "But the wisdom that's from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy." Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

And last of all, self-control. In 1 Corinthians 9, it says, "Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives a prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate or self-controlled in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore, I run thus, not with uncertainty, thus I fight, not as one who beats the air.

But I, but I disciple my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I've preached to others, I myself should become disqualified."

So in closing, I just want to read Galatians 5 again. It says the fruit of the Spirit, and I want you to think about what our society needs when you read this. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. So is that fruit that's being exhibited in your life? And how are you going to share that with the world in 2022? The world is crying out in hunger for these things. You can see it all around you. There's people that do not have these things. If you have the fruit, don't withhold it from your hungry brother in need. Kind of paraphrasing a bit what Jesus said, he said, "If you have this world's goods and see a need, but withhold it, how is the love of God in you?"

And usually we think about that in a material sense, but I want to think about it in a spiritual sense or challenge you with it in a spiritual sense that if we have these, these fruits that we see the world, the hurting world around us needing, and you withhold it from them, you don't seize those opportunities, how is the love of God in you?

In 2022, I want to call you to rise up and live love openly and unashamedly, support and encourage the people around you without hesitation. If you see someone who is hurting, talk to them. If you see someone that needs a hug, give it. Take risks. Don't be afraid. There's no human being that won't benefit from being fed of the fruit of the Spirit. Never mind if they are too hungry to say thank you to you or maybe even too hungry to acknowledge your contribution. Your harvest will be in the end. So I just want to remind you to do not grow weary of doing good for a new season you will reap if you do not feign.

And I just want to let you with the challenge. Look for opportunities. Have pre-decided in your mind that you're going to, I would encourage you to just do it for a week and see how it goes. Make it a habit. Hopefully it turns into something for 2022, but for a week and go through a whole week with the mindset that you're looking for opportunities to share these fruits with people and, and look, look for opportunities to do random acts of kindness to our hurting broken world. May God bless each of you.

Okay, well, thank you very much for sharing that with us, brother. Um, I really enjoyed this challenge you just shared with us, and it hits me personally. It's challenging to think of areas where I need to grow and improve. I often deal with this thing of apathy in dealing with people surrounding me and, uh, may find it easy to be friendly and kind, but not care enough about them personally and their souls to make effort to connect and make a real impact on their personal life.

Um, so this has challenged me to do more in that. Bearing the fruit of the Spirit fully in our daily life is an awesome gold standard to continue to reach for and cultivate. So I, I, uh, always enjoy hearing talks on this, this subject. There's always at least a few of those in our life that need improvement. And, uh, thanks for pushing us to higher ground. I really appreciate it. A question I would have is how can we, how can we show that, uh, we genuinely care for our neighbors around us? And some of us may live in higher density of population than others, but to, to show that we care for our surrounding community, even though we may not, uh, bump into them much or rarely see them.

I'm wondering if there's ways or maybe you haven't really thought about this, but to make an impact so that, uh, people didn't realize they were living next door to someone that had keys to, to answers and hope.

Are you asking the question to me? Yeah, I was just, I was just wondering if there was some, some practical ways we could make an impact to her. Well, I think it's a really good question. I don't feel like I necessarily have an answer to it, but one sort of testimony on it I could give is that I used to live in a little more rural setting, um, didn't have as many close neighbors, and I moved into the town of Waynesburg. I currently live in a duplex. I have a family living right across the wall from me right now. And, um, I would just say that it's, I think it's good to live close to people.

I think it's good to reach out to your neighbors, but just, just living close to people doesn't automatically solve the problem. Um, or if, if you, if you, if you aren't reaching out to people in a rural setting, just moving into town isn't going to, isn't going to change that. And I guess what I'm trying to say is that, um, like my neighbors that live right across the wall from me, um, I don't find it that much, uh, like that much more, um, that much easier, like that much more natural to just connect with them than, than my neighbors that lived across a couple of big yards in a more rural setting. Um, it still, it still takes a lot of, um, kind of, I guess I'm going to say nerve or intentionalism to reach out to the people around you.

Um, and the other thing that I would say about it is that in being, in the sense that I was thinking about this morning, I'm not even thinking about it just so much in, in direct evangelism. It's just being light in the world with the fruit of the Spirit, showing that there's hope and that there's something else out there, that there's something different in your life as to that, that they, that can be sought after, that there is a different way to live. So, um, I think sometimes we underestimate how, how big of a factor some of these little things are in people's lives, like just being friendly or just, um, even just smiling at them or waving to them or, I don't know, just, just little things like that are having a cumulative effect on someone.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, thanks for that. I think, um, those subtle little things have more of an impact than what we realize. And I think if we can just, uh, live our daily life with, with the love for others most of all, and then all the rest of that fruit too. So I'm opening it up here to anyone else that might have, um, excuse me, might have a comment or question for Lamar here this morning. So just go ahead and unmute yourself and feel free to share.

I'm going to jump in. Oh, I'm not videoed. I'm off. Sorry about that. There you go. I've talked to a few people that prepared to become missionaries, and they thought magically that when they hit that land where they're going, wherever that was, they were going to be instantly different and friendly. It begins at home, like Lamar's saying. If you're not nice to your neighbor, how do you expect to go over to wherever you're receiving places and to turn the light on? It begins with a process of doing it where you're at, having that joy in your life.

It was just more than a statement that I had.

Thank you, Patrick. Anybody else?

Thank you so much, Lamar, for, for sharing this morning and for really, um, digging in there and challenging us. Um, we live in a world that's, that's continually becoming more and more, um, isolated from each other. Um, technology supposedly is connecting us, but the reality is that loneliness is on the rise. And there's been some recent studies, you know, just in the past year or two that has really increased. Um, and so your talk this morning, your challenge this morning is really applicable. Thank you for, for sharing that and for sharing some personal testimonies.

Um, the bystander effect is scary. Uh, and the reality is, you know, as a, as you were mentioning, as we move into urban areas, that only increases. Um, the tendency is for that to increase instead of to be those who push through that bystander effect. Um, it's going to take the power of the Holy Spirit. Um, so thank you for your challenge. I thought of the verse here in 1 Corinthians 9, "He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." And, um, and also, and if you continue to the next verse, "So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver."

Um, so yeah, maybe be those who, who press forward and, and sow those seeds, um, and just do it, do it bountifully. And, and I think, um, your challenge of just looking at people and smelling at them, slowing, slowing that grocery cart down, um, uh, slowing down at that front counter for me at our cafe, especially on Saturdays when I'm running, running the front counter.

Um, it's easy just to look at each, you just, you just, the, the, the person in front of you kind of blurs and it comes another person. But to try to pray for that person when you, when that person is there or just sense who they are and try to be, you know, engage them just a little bit can make a huge difference. And, uh, as you were sharing, I thought about, you know, years ago, like just in maybe second grade, um, I was a, a little boy with, that had some pretty serious, um, discipline issues. And, um, my teacher, uh, I had worked my way and I had jumped in ahead of the line, um, for, for something.

And, um, um, or I went ahead, like after a recess for some kind of spelling words, I think, um, recitation. And, and she just said, and she just gives me a little hug and says, "I know your, this isn't your turn, but that's okay. I'm going to let you come." Um, and she just showed me this kindness when I was, uh, I was, I was being a little rebel. And, um, at that, I still think, I mean, that just melted my heart.

Um, so, you know, how can we show kindness, you know, when it, when it's right for, for us to be a little upset? Um, and, and your challenge of, you know, on the interstate, uh, to give people the benefit of the doubt no matter what. And, uh, so thank you.

Um, thank you, thank you for that, for that, um, for that challenge this morning. God bless you, brother. Thank you, Brian. Yeah, I, I totally agree that people are becoming more and more lonely and isolated. So that's why topics like this are on my mind. Um, and also you kind of highlighted the bystander effect, Brian. And if any of you aren't familiar with that as an official phrase, I would encourage you to go read about it because it's pretty interesting.

Thanks for your time, Lamar. It's, it's been good for me here. Uh, yes, the bystander effect is incredibly real. Um, as a nurse, I've studied it, but it's still one of those things when you actually see it happen in front of your face, it's still shocking. I have two questions for you.

You hinted that you have some opinions on our loneliness epidemic. I mean, at the moment, I've got a cell phone in my pocket. I'm sitting here looking at my computer. Um, I have access to literally hundreds of people. All I have to do is tap a screen. Why, why this loneliness? Second of all, um, I'm at Mountain View Nursing Home. I live on a campus of 120 people.

How do I make, how do I create a culture, an environment where it's safe to ask for help? The guy that's standing on the Golden Gate Bridge, the young woman that sat in your church, the four people out of a hundred that are contemplating suicide, those are really ugly, tough, uncomfortable discussions. But how do I make it safe to ask for help? This year in April, I had what I can only describe as the beginnings of a mental breakdown. And various people saw what was happening and reached out. And one was pretty direct and said, "You are not okay. Are we going to talk tonight or tomorrow?" It was not an option. It was a, it was a command.

He was very direct. How do I make a culture, an environment where it's safe to reach out for help?

One of the verses that I think of right away on that is, um, the verse that I read from James, where it says, "The wisdom that is from above is pure, then peaceable and gentle and willing to yield full of mercy and good fruit." So like, I just think of living a life that makes us seem approachable. And I think that's a whole combination of things, whether it's looking or conveying the fact that we genuinely care about the people around us, um, being, uh, being taking time for people, like being slow enough to even A, notice the people around us and B, be there, uh, for them to feel like we're available if they want to talk to us.

But I don't know, that is an extremely good question because it's, um, it's never an easy thing to talk about if we're the ones struggling. It's, it's really hard to reach out for help. So I think in some ways, it's in the lapse of those of us who are not having, who are not in the valley at the moment to, to notice those who are and maybe, um, initiate the contact with them. But, um, I think it just takes a lot of discernment and, um, and observation of the people around us. But I think another thing I think about sometimes that I feel a little bit bad about is like, I think about how I talk about other people and their, their challenges or their issues.

So if you're sitting beside me as a friend and I go on some row about someone that's struggling with a mental health issue or something, um, what if, what if that friend that I'm talking to about that has their own challenge a couple of months from now? Will the way I approach the conversation make them feel comfortable to come and talk to me? Or will I have communicated to them that I, I think that person is, has an issue that they should just get over or something? So I think about that sometimes.

Thank you, Brother Lamar, for a very timely and well-presented, uh, subject. Uh, you know, Julian, the apostate tried to reinstate paganism after Christianity had, uh, basically taken over the Roman Empire. And he failed. And he attributed his failure to the fact that the Christians outserved his own people. In fact, he ended up advising the pagan priests to imitate the Christians in the way they related the people around them. Uh, that's just remarkable to me. Uh, years ago, I listened to a talk, uh, by Ken McFarland, who was rated, rated the number one public speaker in America. He spoke basically about business and education issues, but one whole talk was devoted to salesmanship. And he said, "The person who outserves will outsell."

And I really think that is true. Uh, if people see us as, as people who outserve, they will come to us and, and we will have a greater influence than we would any other way.

Hi, too. God bless this morning. Uh, something happened to our family one time. We were traveling through, uh, northern Michigan, strange city, place we'd never, ever been before. And, uh, we went to pay for our lunch and they said, "Somebody paid for it."

Uh, I have no clue who it was. I've, we surmised, tried to figure out why they would do that, you know. Um, but yeah, that, that was something that happened to us. And that, that was a, just, just blessed us. One challenge I've had is, is, uh, to think of the fact that I may be the only real Christian someone ever sees.

Um, so for instance, if you're, if you're going through the toll booth in Chicago now, obviously it's all automated now, but back in the day when you used to have to stop and pay your dollar, um, you might be the only Christian they ever see. And they might only see you for five seconds. But what do you give? What, like when you travel in the airport, I, I just try to dress up, um, just be presentable. Um, you know, you're, you can, yeah, just play the part and, uh, be the Christian that's the only one that someone may ever see.

When you, when you mentioned the thing of going through the toll booth and you tacked on the end that a lot of them are automated now, um, it made me think of a previous question that Justin asked about, like if you live in an area that isn't as densely populated, how to, what are the opportunities to, um, show care for people? And one challenge I would let with you with more and more stores going to self-checkout is a lot of them are still optional. You can, I'm not sure how it is in Canada, but here in the US, you can, you can either choose to go through self-checkout or you can go through checkout with a person.

I've thought sometimes if I have the time, it's faster to go through self-checkout. But if I have the time, why not go through the actual human being checkout and just interact with the human being just because you can and just because we should? And that also kind of relates to Ryan's point that, you know, we have our phones with all our contacts. We have the computer in front of us. And it's, it's pretty well documented that those things are creating loneliness and not solving it. So just keep that in mind. You're not going to find your friends on Facebook. And, um, don't, don't whatever you do, do not ignore the real flesh and blood humans around you for the sake of your digital contacts.

My brother-in-law makes a point of not paying for his gas at the pump and he goes inside so he can have a personal interaction. Wow. That's good.

Yeah, I like that. I like that idea of, uh, going out of our way to connect with the human beings around us. And I, another thing that comes to my mind is in order to maybe get into their lives, to hear about their struggles so that we can show that we care and we're listening here for them is maybe to open up and share about what we're going through ourselves. And maybe it'll help them also do the same.

Anyone else have a comment before we wrap this up? Yeah, I wanted to ask something to Lamar. And I run a halfway, a prison.

I don't even know what they call it. It's a three-quarter house, restoration house for ex-convicts. And if you come in here and listen to some of the conversations, all the attributes that you talked about, the Holy Spirit do not seem present because of their behaviors in the way they are. If you were kind, they would overrun you. And I'm constantly, constantly in conflict. Am I doing this wrong?

And you know, I hear things like this and I feel good because I know it's there. But I'm always in conflict because when do I shut off? Do I act like a convict instructor in my church? And just it creates a lot of, uh, struggles. And, uh, anybody who works in prison restoration, real or prison programs realize that if you're gentle all the time, you'll be manipulated.

And am I making an excuse or am I explaining my behavior? I don't know, but I struggle constantly. And I may not be laying it out in a way that you understand. But when you have 12 men who are used to honing their skills and manipulation to get over on you, you have to be on guard.

Uh, we're not hearing you. Is it? Uh. Uh, yeah, I came back. Sorry. I had to mute my laptop, forgot. So I know what you're referring to there, Patrick. I think you explained yourself well. And, um, so I'll tell you what I say behind your back when you're listening. I've told a couple of other people this. So I've, I've told a number of people that I've learned a lot from you, um, by watching how you relate to the men at the Harkin House. Because I have to admit that, um, like I know exactly what you're referring to, that it, it seems a little, um, rough at times. Um, but the, my experience watching you relate to them and seeing how it pans out for you is that I think that, um, I think in some cases it's necessary.

And I think it's actually more effective than too, um, timid of an approach that some of us from other backgrounds might use. And so, um, so my, my testimony to others has been that I've actually kind of been learning from you on that front. But the thing that I would say in relation to that is that you're, you're coming from a specific situation dealing with a specific set of people. And I think that's a, I think it might be a little bit of its own scenario. Like I wouldn't necessarily recommend just treating the general public like a, like a group of convicts. Um, but on the other hand, I think the fruit of the spirit that should underline everything you do is love.

And so sometimes love is sort of a long-term thing or sort of a seeing in the future sort of thing. So maybe you have to, um, sacrifice gentleness, for example, for a moment because you really love the person, understand that is what the need is, firmness at that moment. So I don't know if that makes sense or not, but that's kind of how I rationalize it in my mind.

It makes sense to me, but like Brian Martin, I'll pull you out, has experienced some of that gentleness that I, I display over at Harkin House and, and like a number of you. And it's just that start and stop point, that mercury switch when to change.

I'm trying to learn it. And I guess I'm apologizing to you as a group for being such a difficult person at times. But this always puts me into a tizzy. Like, am I showing these spirit attributes? But if you walk away from Harkin House and I walk up the street, my neighbor, April, I treat her differently than I do to guys over here. Yeah. And I don't know. I'm just, I'm taking too much. I would say just, just make sure the actual love of the people you're working with is the main thing I would say. Like if you, if you legitimately feel like it's for their long-term well-being to relate to them in whatever way you choose to relate to them, then I guess, I don't know.

I guess hopefully that means you're relating to them in love. So give me some of that long suffering, maybe.

All right. Anyone else yet?

Okay. Well, that's fine. We'll wrap this up. Um, Brother Lamar, did you want to lead in prayer in closing? And then I'll share a few announcements after. Sure. Let's pray. Oh, Lord, we bow before you once again, especially, um, coming before you as our king here at the beginning of a new year, 2022. Pray for each believer on this call. Some faces I recognize, a lot of faces that I don't. I pray that you would bless each person on here. I especially pray that you bless them with the fruit of the Spirit. Pray that you would help them to, um, view themselves accurately so they could, um, understand if they are connected to the divine.

Pray that their lives would be productive, that they would be connected to the divine, be fruitful. Just pray that you would work in their experience. Pray that you would open their eyes, give them opportunities to, um, shine as a light in this world. Pray that you would help them to see the many opportunities around them, give them, give them inspiration and, um, courage to act on the opportunities they see. Bless them for, um, being here this morning. Bless them for getting up early to be fed, um, spiritual food. Pray you bless the people that, um, operate strength to strength for their labor of organizing this and making it happen. I pray that you would sustain them and encourage them as they, um, continue to do that.

We ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. Well, thank you, brother, for, um, being available to share this subject. We, like I said, we always can use a challenge in this. So in two weeks, we have another subject we have lined up by, uh, Brother John D. Looking forward to it. Sing the new song. And, uh, I can't wait to hear what he has to share with us on that. So anyways, this brings us to a close. Everybody have a good week. And God bless you as you reach out to the people you run into. As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.

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"Rise Up, O Man of God" by Lamar Showalter

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