Fruit of the Spirit - Goodness

On Sunday, we looked at our 3rd fruit of the spirit - Goodness.  

During that time we looked at Matthew 5:16 in which Christ challenges us that "In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."  We also looked at Titus 2:14 in which Paul said that “[Jesus] who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” 

Christ calls us to let our light shine before others so that they may praise God because of it.  He modeled this challenge by himself by doing good and sacrificing our life so that we could come into a relationship with God.

Read Galatians 6:6-10

1. Using goodness as an example, what does it mean that you reap what you sow? 
2. How have you either positively or negatively reaped what you sowed? 
3. How will we and other benefit if we reap goodness?
4. What is the challenge here? 

Application:

I love the phrase, "God cannot be mocked" (v.7).  How we act and what we say will have a direct impact on what we sow.  It is like we plant apple seeds and hope that we grow oranges.  If our actions and words do not line up with godliness, how can we expect ourselves to become more Christlike and how can we expect others, who are watching us, be draw to him?

This week, let's 

• focus on doing good to others so that they may see our good works and praise and be drawn to God.
  
• encourage other believers.  Galatians 6:10 says, "let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers."  Believers need to experience the good works of others as well.

Pray that God would help you be a light to others this week.

Fruit of the Spirit - Patience

On Sunday we looked at our 2nd Fruit of the Spirit – patience. We discussed 3 ways we can lengthen our fuse so that we do not lose our patience:

1. For starters, identify what lights your fuse. What is it that makes you lose your patience? Is it slow drivers, long lines for lunch, people constantly late or something else? If you want to increase your patience, you have to first identify what makes you impatient and shorten your fuse.
   
2. You may need to modify your expectations or correct mistaken beliefs. Part of what may make us impatient is that we have false beliefs about how things should work or happen. Therefore, when they do not go as we think they should go, we lose patience and get frustrated.
   
3. Build time into our lives for relaxation, renewal, and rest. This is so important because we live in such a busy area. If all we do is run around with our heads cut off going from place to place, participating in this and that, we will never be able to rest and relax. When we are not able to rest and relax, our fuse becomes less.
   

Two verses we highlighted were Philippians 4:6-7 and 1 Peter 5:7.

• How do these verse help us with patience?
  

So, at the mid-week point, how are you doing this week in being patient?

One great example of patience is God’s patience with us. Ever since Adam and Eve first turned their backs on God, He has been striving towards reconciling our relationship with Him. But, no matter what he tried, we kept on turning our backs on him. For instance, take a minute and read Psalm 81:12, Romans 1:21-32.

1. What would you have done if your people responded to you this way?
2. How did God respond?
3. How does God show us his patience here?

God could have easily come down and destroyed us all for all the times we have blown it with him. But, he didn’t. He remained patient and ultimately sent his son to die for us.

This week, let us continue to work on lengthening our fuse. In addition, let’s be striving towards Christ this week in all that we do. He has been so patient with us over the years.

Pray for patience this week, practice it and seek Him!

Fruit of the Spirit - Peace

I love Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Rarely is there an episode that I watch that the floodgates of tears don't flow out. I'm not afraid to admit it as I'm sure I'm not alone.

But, why is it that so many people cry while watching this show? I believe it is because we are moved as we witness the Extreme Makeover crew go from house to house trying to improve lives by rebuilding homes of people in need. It is a great show of compassion and community support. It is amazing to see what people working together can do for a family in a week. Just as amazing is seeing the look on the family's faces as they walk through their new house! Their lives are now forever changed because of the generousity and compassion of others.

In 1 Corinthians 3:16 it says, "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?"

1. When you think of being "God's temple", what do you think of?
2. What does it mean that God's spirit lives in you?
3. How should we live our lives if we are God's temple with God's spirit living in us?

When we come into a relationship with God, He is with and in us. How great is that! But, just as great as that is, it can be very challenging as well. Think about it, as God's temple/house, we are representing Him in all that we do and say. Think about your day. Have you represented God positively in all that you have done or said today?

So, how does this apply to PEACE at all???? Here's how - when we are in Christ, we are a new creation. Our old self is gone (2 Corinthians 5:17)! To bring in our new self so that we can represent Christ best (as his temple/house), we need to put on characteristics found in the fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Peace is one of those characteristics that we can clothe ourselves with as we attempt to represent Christ.

John Stott said, "Now peacemaking is a divine work.  For peace means reconciliation, and God is the author of peace and of reconciliation".  If we want to have peace in our lives, it starts with reconciling relationships.  First, with God and then with others.  God demonstrated his desire for peace by reconciling our relationship with him by sending his son, Jesus, to die for us.

Application:

As we talked on Sunday, the application for the week is two-fold:

1. Ask God to search your heart for relationships in your life that are not at peace – relationships that are not reconciled right now.
2. Then, seek to reconcile any relationship that God puts on our heart. BUT, do not do it by yourself! Ask God to make known to you how you should do this.

Remember, as John Stott said, “God is the author of peace and of reconciliation.” Who better to lead you in reconciliation with another person than the author and perfecter of it?!?

As 1 Corinthians 3:16 says, we are God's temple. Let's be striving to represent Christ in all that we do and say this week. Whether you are able to reconcile relationships with others or not this week, represent Christ in such a way that people can see your deeds and praise God.

Pray that God would search your heart for any relationships that needs mending in your life and that he would give you the wisdom to know how to reconcile.

Fruit of the Spirit? What is that?

On Sunday, Rick Beckwith introduced us to the concept of Fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-25.  

1. Of the Fruit of the Spirit, which is the easiest one for you to do?
2. Which one is the hardest for you to do?

What great characteristics for us to instill in our lives!  Now, as perfect as I claim to be (haha), I am also a realist and know that I can not always live up to these characteristics.  I lack patience a lot and my self-control is not controlled all the time.  But, the great news is that when we choose to follow Christ and pursue him, he will be with us, helping us instill these characteristics into our lives.

Read Philippians 2:12, 13

As Rick pointed out on Sunday, we are like an apple.  What???  By that, just like an apple, we start off perfect and in great shape.  But over time, as we invest in "sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like" (Galatians 5:19-21) our perfect apple becomes worn, beaten up and dirty.  We are embarrassed by things we have done and try to hide them.  But, it is God's intent to help us and to shield us from the junk found in those things.

By instilling characteristics like "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" (Galatians 5:22,23) we can attempt to instill the goodness and hope of Christ in our lives.  Imagine if you lived your life each day with the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control of Christ.  How might that effect your friendships, your relationship with your parents, siblings, classmates?

I believe it could have a huge impact, not just in you but in everyone you come into contact with.

Application:

As part of his challenge, Rick focused on the Fruit of the Spirit - Peace.  He passed out cards and challenged us to:

1. Describe what peace is.
2. Tell what peace might look like to you.
3. Identify what causes a lack of peace for you.  Is it uncertainty about the future?  Uncertainty about who you are or who you will become?  Tension in some relationships or something else entirely?
4. Specifically and measurably, what can you do this week to experience peace?
5. Who can you ask to help encourage and pray for you this week as you seek to experience peace?

Numbers 4 and 5 are crucial as you continue to grow in a relationship with Christ.  My encouragement is to really step out and try something.  I have found that it's easy for us to say each week you are going to take action, but then fail to do it for whatever reason.  

To help fight that, let's take a moment right now and actually write it down a measurable goal regarding peace and then ask someone to pray for and encourage you to do that this week.

It is when we step out in faith like this and push ourselves and others that we can experience the life God intended for us to live.

End by Praying for the week and that God would give you the ability to obtain your goal.