LHIM Weekly Bible Teaching

Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

Kindness – “the quality of being generous, helpful, and considerate toward other people”

Kindness is not a typical attribute that our world values. Our world looks at the external, not the internal.

Proverbs 31:30, “Charm is deceptive and beauty is but a vapor, but a woman who fears Yahweh-she will be praised.”

Isaiah 40:30, “Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted.”

It is not what you have on the outside that matters; what matters is what is on the inside-in your heart. That is what makes you who you are.

Proverbs 4:23, “More than anything else you protect, guard your heart, because from it flow the issues of life.”

Romans 2:4, “Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God is intended to lead you to repentance?”

Illustration: 2 Samuel 9:1-13

Showing kindness means showing grace, being generous, thinking of the good of the other, helping, and being considerate.

The lie from the Enemy: kindness is viewed as weakness.

Nice guys finish last??? Not in the kingdom! Kindness will always win the day.

2 Peter 3:9 Our God is a God of patience. He is patiently waiting for more to reach repentance before he brings about the end.

Luke 8:15; Romans 2:6-7 It’s important for us to be patient with ourselves as we seek to produce godly fruit in our lives. We can’t allow ourselves to get frustrated by slow progress. We need to endure steadfastly.

Romans 8:24-25; Hebrews 6:11-15; Psalm 37:7-9 We can get worn down by the world while waiting for the hope. Even so, we must patiently endure in faith, knowing that what God has promised will

2 Timothy 4:2 It’s also important for us to be patient with each other. How much patience has God showed you to get where you are today? Sometimes people have breakthroughs and make huge progress, and other times they become stagnant or backslide. God calls us to be steady-to have complete patience as we seek to help others.

James 5:10 The great Hebrew prophets have much to teach us about patience. Think of the patience of Abraham and Sarah who waited twenty-five years to have their child. What about Elijah whom the government hunted for over three years while drought dried out the land of Israel.

Galatians 5:22-23 We have such an advantage today over those who came before us. We have the full canon of Scripture, the powerful redemptive work of Christ, the aiding help of the holy spirit, and a clear vision of the hope.

“The root of the fruit is walking by the spirit”

Be led by the holy spirit. Follow the spirit. Follow Christ. Follow the words of Christ. A big part of walking by the spirit is being obedient to the Word of God. The fruit of the spirit is the result of how you live. If you live according to the flesh, the fruit in your life will be the works of the flesh. If you live according to the spirit, the fruit in your life will be the attributes listed here. Don’t simply tell people that you walk by the spirit. Rather, walk by the spirit, and the fruit in your life will be evident for all to see. Jesus Christ exemplified this fruit in his life. When you saw Christ, you saw love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

John 15:4-8

John 15:10 – You can abide in Christ’s love!

Peace

Peace – What it is not

By understanding what the fruit looks like, you can discern in your own life whether or not you are walking by the spirit. “Peace” is a great measurement. Do you allow circumstances to rob you of peace? With the spirit of Christ within you, you can maintain peace in the midst of tribulation.

The “gospel of peace” (Isaiah 52:7, Romans 10:15; Ephesians 6:15)

John 16:33 – In Christ, you will have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation

How do you receive this fruit of peace? The same way you receive love and joy.

Joy is a feeling of great pleasure and happiness. Synonyms are great pleasure, jubilation, triumph, exultation.

Galatians 5:13-18, 22 Walking by the spirit is the way to joy. Fruit is the result of a healthy tree. The tree or source for joy is walking by the spirit.

Philippians 1:3-11 Paul’s understanding and confidence in prayer produced joy as he prayed for those he was restricted from seeing. Joy is connected to prayer because prayer is part of walking by the spirit.

1:12-18 Paul decided to focus upon the good and not the bad. Controlling our thinking is a big part of walking by the spirit. Romans 12:1-2

19-24 Paul was at the stage in his life where death was a consideration because of his age and circumstance. His decision was selfless. Serving others is part of walking by the spirit.

2:3-13 Walking by the spirit produces the fruit of joy which includes dying to self and serving others. Self-focus is walking by the flesh and the pathway to depression, fear, a troubled state of mind, resentment, rage.

14-18 Walking by the spirit is allowing God to work in you to do His will and not yours; hence, it is not grumbling and disputing. Living this way includes delight in working together with God and not being engrossed in human nature.

28-30 Fellowshipping with like-minded believers is also included in walking by the spirit.

4:1-9 Prayer, focused thinking on the things of God and not the things of the world, is walking by the spirit and produces the fruit of joy. Compulsion to dwell upon the negative at times seems the moral or virtuous thing to do, but is it? Paul was in prison when he wrote this.

10-17 I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me.

Galatians 5:22-23 These are the nine fruit of the spirit. We’ll be spending the next weeks focusing on each one to gain a greater understanding so that we can live these out. In fact, these nine fruit are to be our normal behavior because God’s spirit is living in us.

Galatians 5:16-17 We have a war going on within us. On the one hand, our flesh inspires selfish desires opposed to God; on the other, God’s spirit motivates godly behavior.

Galatians 5:18 The law can cause our flesh to rebel, but God’s spirit sets us free from that trap.

Galatians 5:19-23 If you want to slay the dragon of strife, you need kindness; if you want to defeat anger, you need gentleness; if you want to conquer divisiveness, you need faithfulness; if you want to overcome sexual sin, you need genuine godly love; if you fall prey to drunkenness, you need self-control. The fruits of the spirit squeeze out the works of the flesh.

Galatians 5:13-16 Today, our focus is on love. This is such an important mindset and behavior for us to cultivate in our lives. In fact, Jesus taught that loving God and others is the most important commandment in the whole Bible (Mark 12:29-31; Deuteronomy 6:4-5).

1 Corinthians 13 contains a love poem that tells us “love never ends” (v8). Even though prophecy will pass away, tongues will cease, and miraculous insight will stop, love is forever. It’s better than faith and hope. “The greatest of these is love” (v13). Love is a big deal!

Galatians 2:20 The chief way Paul grounds his understanding of love is God’s extravagant expression of love in giving His only Son to set us free. This is home base.

Galatians 5:13-16 The emphasis here is on loving one another rather than treating each other harshly. How are you doing on this? Do you love your neighbor as yourself?