Semana 7 - Dez elementos da feminilidade - Design Interior

[Music] well i think the average person would agree that showing kindness is a nice decent benevolent thing to do but for a believer it's the godly thing to do and if that believer is a woman kindness is especially important it's a trait that's highlighted in titus's curriculum for womanhood and it's a reflection of how god has treated us welcome back to true woman 201 interior design we hope that you're enjoying this study and that you're keeping up with doing the lessons and we pray that the lord is using these lessons to challenge and change you

from the inside out i know that i've been challenged as i've considered how to become a woman who is genuinely benevolent charitable and kind [Music] mary just a few minutes ago as you and i were getting some makeup done in preparation for this video shoot we had the sweetest experience of the very element we're going to be talking about today we did there we have a makeup lady that we just met this morning and her name was maria and she came in and she was so kind and she was helping us with makeup and we

were chatting with her and finding out about her family and as we were getting ready to finish up we said we want to bless you we'd like to pray for you and you said to her is there any specific way we can pray for you and she mentioned that she had not been feeling well and she had been in the hospital and was had so many health struggles and so you proceeded to pray for her just prayed a beautiful prayer asking god to minister health and grace to her and when you finished praying she just

i i couldn't believe her reaction she just burst into tears and she started hugging us and just saying this is the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me she said yes this is such a gift this is such a gift and actually after you left the room i was still there and she said please tell mary that i had a headache until she prayed for me and my headache is gone wow she was so encouraged by what just seemed like a very simple everyday act of kindness and i thought what a beautiful picture that

is of the power of kindness extended in the name of christ you could tell that it was just so touching nobody does this for me and i just to me it was flabbergasting because it was like everybody prays for me all the time right and and just to to be praying for someone who who doesn't receive that and is who so touched by it and just a reminder of the the impact that we can have as women of god as we're in this cold and unkind world to reach out and extend kindness in the name

of christ to people and that's what we come to today as the next element of biblical womanhood and it's right in this text older women and he says they are to be reverent in behavior they are not to be slanderers or slaves to much wine they are to teach what is good they are to train the young women to love their husbands and children to be self-controlled to be pure to be working at home and then just this four letter word little word kind to be kind to be kind and yet such a powerful impact

it can have when we are kind and as we've been studying this i think one of the things that has really stood out to me is that christian kindness is a reflection of the kindness of god the kindness of god god is kind god is kind in everything that he does that's an overwhelming thought the kindness of god i i we think of god as being so all-knowing um all-powerful you know yes but just the whole thought that he is the kindest being when in the universe he really could just squash us exactly but this

is but there's kindness in his heart yes and i just think our our world just so yearns we saw it in maria this morning uh yearns for a touch of kindness or an act of kindness and there's the practice a random act of kindness even movement because kindness is so rare and so unusual that when someone is kind instead of being curt or snappy it really does make a difference and people do notice i found myself as i've been again working on this book in this chapter in particular i think the two that have been

most convicting for me the two elements have been self-control and kindness because as i'm in the process of working with our team with people that i'm close to i find myself saying lord would you make me more kind like you are kind in my thoughts kind in my words to notice the people around me not just i tend to be very task oriented moving quickly from one thing to the next and i can just leave a wake of busyness and stress around me but to stop and notice and say how can i minister to you

in the name of jesus and it's transformational while we're in the book of titus when you come to chapter 3 you see this stated again paul says we were once foolish disobedient led astray slaves to various passions and pleasures passing our days in malice and envy hated by others and hating one another think wow that's a pretty awful kind of person and so how did god treat us but when the kindness of god appeared the goodness and kindness of our god and savior appeared he saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness

but according to his own mercy so you think it's easy to be kind to people who bless you who encourage you who strengthen you but to think of strangers people who rub you the wrong way people who irritate you we were all that and worse to god and yet he showed us kindness and the other thing that i love about this this verse and the way it's structured is when the goodness and kindness of god appeared he saved us well who's the he the he is jesus christ and jesus christ is the kindness and goodness

of god appearing in the flesh it's like god sent his kindness that's that that was his his uh his means his gift of kindness and jesus christ coming for us and dying for our sins was god's demonstration of his kind heart and that really is the gospel and that's what draws people to christ in fact romans 2 tells us that the goodness and kindness of god brings us to repentance we say we don't deserve this it leaves us awestruck when we think about it that god should have been kind to us when roman says we

were his enemies we were separated from god we were aliens from god we hated god so it's not his rules it's not his condemnation it's not his tisk you should do better it's his kindness that draws us to repentance that's really powerful and i think so kindness is a drawing agent it draws people in it draws people to the source of it there are lots of opportunities we have to show kindness or lack of kindness and there's a whole lot more of the other side of that in large supply in this world but it has

to do with the way we talk to others the way we treat them we've been discussing recently about how much unkindness there is on the internet on social media and i don't know what it is that we feel even christians like we get a pass if it's something on facebook because we're not twitter to face we're not having to deal with the person eye to eye and i think that's an important thing to say when we're posting something or we're you know putting out a tweet there or something to say if this person were you

know if we were sitting across the table from each other this nameless faceless this person i don't know i'm just in the in cyber space would i say ugly things would i say the same thing yeah or those customer service agents by the time you get up they you can tell that people have been harsh to them all i got to tell you and this is being really personal but i had one time an issue with an airline and they had botched my ticket my flight royally i was so frustrated and of course to get

a live person is a big challenge so i was high frustration level by the time i got a real person and the impatience and the like i've had enough of this was coming out in my spirit and my tone it wasn't actually the words i was saying but it's just how i was communicating and i'm talking to this nameless faceless person and who knows what part of the world who's you know their customer service agent and all of a sudden she says to me now what did you say your name is nancy ledamas and she

said oh i love your radio program i listen to it here in this city and i'm going all of a sudden i was you turned into a very kind woman to a kind woman well the fact is in that moment i really wasn't a kind woman and in my heart for sure i don't know exactly what she picked up but when i stopped to think about what was at stake then it turned to kindness i see it when i actually go somewhere with my husband and brent is so cognizant of acknowledging the people in front

of him and if we go through it tell her through a checkout he'll ask the the the young girl he'll go so how is your day going today or either the the parking lot attendant so how is your day going today how are you doing today and it's it's it's fascinating to me how often that is just a door the kindness just that small kindness is a door for ministry because often the person will say well i really haven't been having a very good day and then it opens the opportunity to say well you know

may i just pray for you for a moment about that or to give them a word of encouragement it just takes a little you know sometimes just a moment not a lot of time but just a thoughtfulness and when we do we're expressing the kindness that god has shown us in christ he fills our hearts to the brim with his goodness and his kindness and that's why paul says in ephesians 4 for example be kind to one another tenderhearted forgiving one another even as god for christ's sake has forgiven you so it's really just the

outflow and the overflow of an awareness that god has been incredibly kind to me through christ in true woman 201 in the lessons we talk about the fact that kindness is part of this cluster of attributes that go together they go with one another and i think we see that here in this ephesians verse that be kind to one another tenderhearted so in order to be kind you need a tender heart and you need a forgiving heart and you need a patient heart so all of those things that that cluster goes with uh the attributes

go with one another and all of them reflect what we've received from the lord and it ties into the titus 2 passage we've been looking at because you remember what we talked about in the last session working at home we talked about the priority of family the priority of home and then the next very next element is kind yes kindness and that says to me that you know it's in our homes and that's the hardest place the hardest place in the place you know i'm kinder many times to strangers total strangers than i am to

the people that i'm closest to and when we're squeezed by those who are closest to us what's really in our squeezed in a negative way squeeze in a negative way right what's really in our hearts is what comes out comes out yes and and during times of stress when we're tired uh and and just feel that we are beyond our limits it just it does come out and the sad thing is that many of us live like that all the time i know sometimes i catch myself and i thought i i have not been kind

and i am a i am not the type of person that i would like to live with at this moment in time you know it reminds me a little bit of that passage the two sisters in luke 10 yes where you know martha was working at home which is commendable but in the process she lost a kind heart yeah she became irritable and impatient and demanding and you know what so what if we have this amazing dinner ready but in the process or so what if we keep this amazingly clean house or it's beautifully decorated

but the people who are closest to us are receiving the barbs of our impatience our irritability our lack of kindness so what i believe actually that mama often sets the tone in a home there's that saying that if mama ain't happy ain't no one happy i think there is some truth to that if there's there's just the the kindness is the first thing that's received and and kindness is received when when when there are mistakes made when there's milk spilled uh when the husband is perhaps a little bit snappy and irritable if he receives kindness

it defuses so many negatives so many negative things and the speech our words you know if we have a kind heart what's going to come out our kind words and i think about that verse in proverbs 31 again another convicting verse verse 25 it says she opens her mouth with wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue kindness how much more effective would our teaching and our exhortation and our ministry to others be if it was you know just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down if it were accompanied by kindness

i think it just creates an atmosphere where people want to receive and respond to our words it also creates an atmosphere where you're able to speak truth because if you speak truth if you have a kind spirit you can speak truth and i've seen this in my marriage where i have been able to address issues that are sometimes very difficult issues or sensitive issues i've been able to address them with kindness and that makes all the difference in the way that you're able to address conflict address issues in the home address uh thorny questions that

perhaps there are two different opinions but if there's kindness it makes such a difference and as a result we heard earlier in this series we heard your husband say when he was put on the spot on the day of your anniversary we said what's it like being married to mary cassian and he said i feel like i'm so blessed to be married to this amazing woman after 32 years now that's because christ is amazing i mean you would be quick to say that none of us we would left to ourselves we'd all be really unkind

i think it's important also to mention that kindness is a journey i know it has been for me and in the passage here it's just teach the younger women to be kind and so kindness is a curve it's a learning curve and i i believe that the lord has worked in my heart and that i'm kinder now than i was when i was in my 20s and 30s and and the lord has just done that a process of redemption in my heart as i've gotten older well i'm watching the same thing happen in my heart

but i'll tell you what it's a daily journey it's a daily needing to be filled with the spirit confessing and repenting of a lack of kindness and it's interesting that this theme of kindness is something that runs through the book of titus here's another convicting verse titus chapter 3 says remind them to speak evil of no one to avoid quarreling to be gentle or kind and to show perfect courtesy toward all people perfect courtesy toward all people can you imagine if we did that as believers if as christian women if every woman listening to this

program watching this video showed perfect courtesy to all people and scripture gives us several categories of people that we need to really make sure we're extending kindness to first is to our family and we see that in the proverbs 31 woman that's always the hardest place but then also to the family of god scripture talks about showing kindness to those who are in the family of god and we need to be mindful of each other courteous to each other conscious of the needs of those around us whether they're like us or different i think sometimes

uh when there is unkindness and it comes from a fellow believer it's stinging it hurts because we expect that that this is the family of god that there will be more kindness yet that there's an awareness that that to treat others with that respect and perfect courtesy yes and then there's another category we see in proverbs 31 for example where i think women in particular can extend kindness and that is to the poor and needy says this woman opens her hand to the poor she reaches out her hands to the needy we're so blessed and

to be conscious of the needs of those around us and saying how can i minister to that need how can i reach out and help lift that person up as god has lifted me up and extended his kindness to me and then i think there's one more category which is maybe the hardest family is hard but here's another one jesus talked about being kind to our enemies our enemies those who are those not kind to us who do not deserve it and that takes us back again to how god has been kind to us yes

we don't deserve it while we were yet sinners christ died for us it's the father has this kind benevolent spirit charitable spirit to to watch out for the poor and for the needy and we're told that god has an incredibly tender heart for the the orphans and for the widows and for people in need for for the poor and for sinners and for sinners so our kindness to others is not based on how they treat us or whether they deserve it we extend kindness to others because christ has poured kindness into us and in the

process it's amazing to me to watch the transforming power of even just a little bit of kindness we saw it this morning yesterday with maria yeah and how it can make such a difference she just kept saying to us this will this is the most amazing i guess i've ever been given i will remember this day and i will remember you for the rest of my life she said i what did we do oh mary this is such a powerful principle it's one i feel i need so much more of in my own life so

i'm going to ask you to close our program i want you to pray for me i want you to pray for our listeners and ask the lord that as women of god we would be true women who demonstrate the goodness and the kindness of christ heavenly father thank you so much for being kind you're a kind above all you define what kindness is you're kind to the unkind and when we're even though we were sinners and even though we did everything possible to alienate ourselves from you you still reached out in kindness thank you and

you sent your son jesus christ the kindness of god appeared and he saved us so father i pray that we may become women who have kind hearts i pray for my sister nancy here i pray for myself i pray for every woman who is listening or watching i pray heavenly father that you will just stir up in us to treat people with the kindness with which we've been treated the kindness that we have received from you undeserved and often not even undeserved but we actively were your enemies and yet you were kind to us i

pray that we may demonstrate that sort of kindness to the people we come across every day in traffic at the bank in the grocery store the shopping mall at the office at home at home at home yes father may we be women who are kind in the name of jesus amen [Music] you