1. UNDERSTANDING BIBLICAL GOODNESS 

I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another. Romans 15:14 Goodness Is More Than Being Nice

• Greek word agathos: Active benevolence that seeks others' welfare

• Goodness confronts what's wrong and promotes what's right

• Kingdom Principle: God's goodness always acts for His glory and others' benefit

• Only God is inherently good 

Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.(Mark 10:18 )

• When you're born again, God's nature becomes your nature

• Spiritual Reality: You don't try to be good - you express the goodness already in you

• "Stop trying to manufacture what God has already deposited."

• "You can't live the Christian life on human horsepower - you need Holy Spirit power."

• "The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you - start acting like it."

• Niceness avoids conflict; goodness addresses problems

• Jesus was good when He cleansed the temple

• The Standard: Divine goodness, not cultural politeness

• "Niceness is about avoiding conflict; goodness is about lovingly confronting what's wrong. (start with yourself though)

• You can't manufacture spiritual fruit through willpower

• The Problem: Trying to live the Christian life in human strength

• The Solution: Don't try harder - yield deeper."

• "His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life"

• You're a partaker of the divine nature

• Kingdom Truth: God doesn't ask you to do what He hasn't equipped you to do

• "Apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5)

• Goodness flows from intimacy with Christ

• Spiritual Discipline: Stay connected to the Vine (Emphasize practicing God’s presence even in communion today…. 

• Goodness comes from God when you draw near to him

19 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Exodus 33:19

• Goodness in your thought life - thinking on things that are pure

• Goodness in your speech - words that build up

• Personal Application: Let God's goodness govern your private moments

• "Stop trying to manufacture what God has already deposited."

• "You can't live the Christian life on human horsepower - you need Holy Spirit power."

• "The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you - start acting like it."

• Goodness that forgives when others hurt you

• Goodness that serves even when it's not convenient

• Joseph's goodness turned his brothers' evil into God's glory

• Biblical Example: How goodness redeemed a broken family

• Kingdom Strategy: God uses your goodness to accomplish His purposes

• Relational Truth: God's goodness in you blesses others

• Application on prayer for Gods goodness

• Being salt and light in a corrupt world

• Standing for righteousness even when it costs you

• Cultural Impact: One person walking in God's goodness can change an environment

Goodness Is a Divine AttributeGoodness Versus Niceness

2. THE SOURCE OF SPIRITUAL GOODNESS

3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 2 Peter 1:3-4It's Not Human EffortIt's Divine NatureIt's Through Abiding

3. THE EXPRESSION OF GODLY GOODNESS

 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:8-10In Your Personal LifeIn Your RelationshipsIt Transforms SituationsIn Your Community