tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15061959831180031772024-02-07T05:36:33.596-08:00Dancing In The WordStudying the Bible reminds me of a dance: it is beautiful, it requires interaction, it gives a joy in the movement…Annette Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342402240437710822noreply@blogger.comBlogger110125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506195983118003177.post-81066465430240222482015-12-12T09:25:00.001-08:002015-12-12T09:25:55.312-08:00Blogs getting SPAMMED...Sigh...<br />
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At least one person, if not a few, have decided to SPAM some of my blogs... this is frustrating & I hope my comments back to these telling them I suspect they are SPAM will stop this from happening...<br />
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I DO LOVE READING YOUR COMMENTS... don't be shy about commenting, I do love hearing from people...<br />
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IF I have commented back to you & wrongly implied you are SPAMing - I'm sorry... let me know...<br />
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Thanks!<br />
AnnetteAnnette Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342402240437710822noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506195983118003177.post-12102663811727536252015-03-25T08:58:00.000-07:002015-03-25T09:06:19.463-07:00Fruit of the Spirit - Group Exercise 11<b style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 12px;">For developing personal study skills</b><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 12px;"> - go back & review what you've already learned, by repetition we are able to set things more firmly in our hearts & minds.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Read Proverbs 27:17 - put the principle in that passage to work in your discussion of the following.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1. Role of the Holy Spirit in Spiritual Fruit</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">2. Love - what is it, how is it expressed?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">3. Joy - what is it, how is it expressed?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">4. Peace - what is it, how is it expressed?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">5. Patience - what is it, how is it expressed?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">6. Kindness - what is it, how is it expressed?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">7. Goodness - what is it, how is it expressed?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">8. Faithfulness - what is it, how is it expressed?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">9. Gentleness - what is it, how is it expressed?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">10. Self-Control - what is it, how is it expressed?</span><br />
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Annette Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342402240437710822noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506195983118003177.post-11246736775896106232015-03-25T08:54:00.002-07:002015-03-25T08:54:35.109-07:00Fruit of the Spirit - Study Worksheet 11<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 12px; text-align: center;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Read </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">Chapter 11 Winning the Battle Within</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> in the book The Fruit Of The Spirit along with scriptures given in the questions below:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1. From your reading in the book:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a. What is especially challenging for you? Why?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. What did you find encouraging? How will it help you moving forward?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">2. Reflecting on our study of the Fruits of the Spirit as a whole:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a. What would you most like to change in your life?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. What new insights did you gain on the Fruit of the Spirit?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">3. For each of the following: Read & meditate on the passage, pray, then record what the Holy Spirit is teaching you:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a. Galatians 5:23b-26</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. Romans 8:1-4</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">c. 2 Corinthians 1:3-5</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">d. John 14:23-27</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">4. Moving Forward now that this study session is complete:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a. How are you planning to use what you have learned about Spiritual Fruit?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. What have you discovered about yourself or about God that you plan to pursue further?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">c. Is there a subject or a Book of the Bible that you'd particularly like to study next?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">d. To what do you believe God is calling you at this season of your life?</span></div>
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Annette Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342402240437710822noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506195983118003177.post-9082418395122526182015-03-25T08:52:00.002-07:002015-03-25T08:56:08.578-07:00Fruit of the Spirit - Group Exercise 10<b style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 12px;">For developing personal study skills</b><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 12px;"> - learning a passage by preparing to teach, also using scripture to understand scripture.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">First, by yourself</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">: Read the following pairs of scriptures, for each pair write a short paragraph - as if it were something you'd share with a friend in a letter. </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">Second</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">: After you've spent some time on this, share with the others in your group what you have written.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I. Acts 24:24-26 & Jude 1:10-13 (this set is a warning):</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">II. 2 Peter 1:5-11 & Hebrews 12:1-3 (this set is an encouragement):</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">FYI: Acts 24:25 & 2 Peter 1:6 & Galatians 5:23 are the only scriptures containing "En Kratos" - the Greek word translated as Self-Control.</span></div>
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Annette Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342402240437710822noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506195983118003177.post-56551173681031162352015-03-25T08:50:00.000-07:002015-03-25T08:50:15.489-07:00Fruit of the Spirit - Lecture Notes for Lesson 10<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Opening Prayer: Oh Lord Help Us!! It is so easy for us to get distracted from what is Your best for us. It is so easy to get drawn away by our own passions & dreams. Open our eyes, help us to see Your will, and help us to have the courage to do what You ask. Amen!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">INTRODUCTION: I have a confession to make. As I sat down to work on this lesson on Thursday I found myself, several times, being distracted - by the time these first few sentences were being formed I'd already been pulled away by multiple other things... so what was going on? Honestly, I was struggling with self-control. I could blame it on the fact that I had a cold and my thinking was muddled, but that's just an excuse. I could explain that I'd been asked by a friend to create a custom charm for her to use along with her own handmade items, but that's just trying to justify myself... The real truth of the matter is that SELF was in the way!!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: The Spiritual Fruit of Self-Control comes by letting God have Control</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">What did I do that finally got me back on track? I confessed my own inability, and asked God for His enabling. After all I was sick & struggling, I felt a little overwhelmed, and desperately needed God's help.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I. Self-Centered or God-Centered</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The Greek for what we translate as "Self-Control" is </span><span style="color: #c56b13; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">En Kratos</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> (a single compound word in the Greek), which carries the meaning of Inner-Strength, being in control of one's life, or taking responsibility. What I found interesting is that the word "Self", with all its current connotations, isn't in the original Greek. I wonder if by calling this "Self-Control" we don't get the wrong concept, as if it is dependent upon our own strength.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I don't know about you, but without thinking hard I could list 3-4 areas of my life where I struggle with Self-Control - one that is obvious to those who have known me over the years has to do with food. I love to eat, I have a hard time loosing weight, and I hate to diet. I hate that I have this struggle, and I have given this struggle to the Lord time & again. I get angry at myself, sometimes I get angry with God for giving me a body that loves to pack on the pounds & hates to loose them, and many times because of this struggle I feel ashamed & guilty. Does God care about my physical body? Yes! But I believe He cares more about my heart, my mind, my soul... Why do I feel ashamed & guilty? Because I know it represents a personal failure on my part.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Why did I share about this? Because when it comes to my physical weight I am the one in control of many aspects - in control of what I eat, in control of exercise. But when it comes to this Spiritual Fruit of Self-Control that's a different thing, that's less about what I am able to control & more about what I hand over to God to be placed under His control. It is about Submission to God & Obedience to His ways, as we lay our lives down the Holy Spirit is able to do a work in and through us.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I don't like the translation "Self-Controlled" because it feels like it's all about me, about focusing on myself, as if by my own ability I can somehow obtain it - and I know that I cannot, that if & when I try to "pull myself up by my bootstraps" I fail miserably. In truth, focusing on myself just makes me Self-Centered, resulting in my attempts to be "Self-Controlled" being more about looking good to others (to man) rather than being of any use to God. I desire to be more God-Centered, I think that as I become more God-Centered that this Fruit of </span><span style="color: #c56b13; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">En Kratos</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> will grow to maturity in me.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Romans 8:13</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">: "For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">by the Spirit</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live."</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: The Fruit of Self-Control grows out of Self-Sacrifice</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">God is glorified when we willingly lay down our own wants, desires, and agendas; instead becoming focused on His. What is God prompting you to let go of in order to bring Glory to Him? It may be that He is asking you to let go of what you're clinging to in order to replace it with something much better, something that advances His Kingdom. Are you missing out on God's blessings because you are clinging to something that is hindering His work in your life?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">II. Where the Wind Blows</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Do you ever have one of those days when it seems like everything is competing for your attention, though you know you need to remain focused? As I continued to work on this lesson it felt like there were forces at work trying to knock me off track, and this is a danger we face - especially when seeking to serve the Lord.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Ephesians 4:14</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> says regarding the mature in faith: "Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming."</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">That maturing in the faith, that growing in Inner Strength, that is the Holy Spirit at work in us. This is the maturity that boasts in God rather than in self, that understands that without God we are nothing. This mature faith is the faith that moves from being tossed by the waves, to one that is moving in step with the Spirit.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">John 3:8</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">: "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We must intentionally choose the way of the Holy Spirit, day by day, moment by moment. I want my life to be one as described by John, others may not understand where God is moving me - but it is God doing the moving. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: A Self-Controlled life is one that lives Intentionally for God</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We either choose to be like the wind in that we're moved by the Spirit, or we'll end up being blown here & there by the winds of the world.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">III. Finding Freedom by Choosing Bondage</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It seems absurd to say we can be free by choosing to be bound, but when the bondage we choose is bondage to Christ (as Paul describes in </span><span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Romans 1:1</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">) then freedom is ours.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">John 8: 34-36</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> tells us that by virtue of being sinners we are enslaved to sin; however, that if we are set free by the Son (Jesus) we are completely free. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Again I am speaking about choices, choices both large and small. Our first and most important choice is the choice of taking Christ as our Lord & Savior. From that point on our lives involve daily choices, choosing daily to live for Him - and we can only do this with the help of the Holy Spirit.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Romans 7:6</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">: "But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code."</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">You see, we are going to be in bondage to something - either to Sin or to the Spirit. When we choose sin we are in bondage to it & it is a destructive force, but we have been given the Spirit of God to help us to remain free from that bondage & instead be bound to Christ, to bear His yoke - this is constructive.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I wonder if Bob Dylan had any idea how on target he was when he sang "well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but your gonna have to serve somebody". We can choose to be enslaved to sin, living in the destruction that it brings, or we can ask God to control our lives - living in the freedom He brings.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Galatians 5:1</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">: "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Jesus died for us to have freedom from the slavery of sin, for us to experience an abundant life now, to know that joy of living for God. This wasn't meant to be just another way for us to attempt (and fail) to follow the rules - mankind had already failed miserably at keeping the Law. This was meant to be a life lived with the help of the Holy Spirit, submitting to God & leaning on His help to live a life that is beautiful and meaningful, a life that is profitable for His Kingdom.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In </span><span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Luke 9:23-24</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> Jesus tells us "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it."</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: When God is in Control we are Truly Free</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I have noticed that when I am certain I am right where God wants me, doing precisely what He wants from me, that I am light-hearted - even when the situation is dire. There is something so freeing about knowing that you're right where you should be. I have heard an expression something like this: "you can be in or out of prison and be a prisoner - or you can be in or out of prison and be free", its a matter of the heart.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">CONCLUSION: I don't know about you, but my life is much better when God is in control than when I am in control!! What do I want? I want </span><span style="color: #c56b13; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">En Kratos</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">, the Inner Strength that comes when my life is laid down so that God is in control.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Closing Prayer: Oh Lord Help Us!! As we learn more about Self-Control we are made all the more aware of how little we have, and that what we have is dependent on You. Strengthen us in our weakness, so that our lives might bring glory to You! Amen!</span></div>
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Annette Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342402240437710822noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506195983118003177.post-12396773832496475322015-03-18T10:59:00.001-07:002015-03-18T10:59:52.031-07:00Fruit of the Spirit - Study Worksheet 10<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 12px; text-align: center;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Read </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">Chapter 10 Self-Control</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> in the book The Fruit Of The Spirit along with scriptures given in the questions below:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1. What are some potential pitfalls of taking the "easy" path in the following areas:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a. Emotions</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. Personal Conduct</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">c. Finances</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">2. Share a News Story from the past week of someone demonstrating Self-Control.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">3. Have you experienced God directly helping you break the bondage of enslavement? If yes, and you're willing, please share.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">4. What circumstances leave you feeling discouraged or out-of-control? [When sharing, spend a few minutes praying for each other.]</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">5. Class Survey - please fill out the following as concerns people you </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">personally</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> know well.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>How many?<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Number of those that attend Church regularly?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Abuse Alcohol</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Abuse Drugs</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Suicides</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Broken Families</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">6.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>How might God use our victory over sin/temptation for the sake of others?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">7. What actions do you find helpful when you are:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a. Tempted</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. Emotional</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">8. What role does the Holy Spirit play in our Self-Control?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">9. Read 1 Peter 5:8-10.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a. What is the enemy doing?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. What are we instructed to do & how?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">c. What are we promised God will do?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">10. What warnings do you find in the following passages?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a. Galatians 4:8-9</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. James 1:14-15 </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">c. Romans 16:17-18</span></div>
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Annette Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342402240437710822noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506195983118003177.post-10152815964073957742015-03-18T10:54:00.001-07:002015-03-18T10:54:39.669-07:00Fruit of the Spirit - Group Exercise 9<b style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 12px;">For developing personal study skills</b><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 12px;"> - this is for developing personal learning skills.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Use a whatever resources you'd like, see what you can discover about our Tongues:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1. Tearing Down / Causing Pain:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">2. Building Up / Comforting:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">4. Glorifying God:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">5. Foolish:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">6: Wise:</span></div>
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Annette Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342402240437710822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506195983118003177.post-17417239061222225932015-03-18T10:50:00.000-07:002015-03-18T10:50:22.512-07:00Fruit of the Spirit - Lecture Notes for Lesson 9<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Opening Prayer: Lord we know you desire us to be Gentle, as such help us to fully grasp what this means so that we might receive the blessings of producing this Spiritual Fruit. Amen!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">INTRODUCTION: As I was going through scriptures for today's lesson I ran across the ultimate beauty tip, it promises to make anybody beautiful at any age & without fail. Sounds too good to be true doesn't it? You want to know what it is? Here it is:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1 Peter 3:3-4</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">: "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: A Gentle Spirit is of Great Value to God</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Why is a Gentle Spirit (or the Spirit of Gentleness) so valuable? I'm going to be spending most of the rest of this lesson trying answer this, and clearing up some misconceptions about Gentleness. At this point I'm simply going to state that a Gentle Spirit is a spirit of willingness & obedience, a spirit that does not resist God's will or ways.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I. Clearing up what it means to be Gentle</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I don't know about you, but when I started reading up on Gentleness, both in our book and in the scriptures, I was surprised how much more there was to Gentleness than I realized. The word in the Greek for Gentleness, as used in the list of Spiritual Fruit, is </span><span style="color: #46771c; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Praos</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">; there is another word that also gets occasionally translated as Gentle or Gentleness but it has a slightly different meaning - I'm going to focus on </span><span style="color: #46771c; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Praos</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> in its various forms. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The word </span><span style="color: #46771c; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Praos</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> gets translated to the following words in English New Testament translations: </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">Meekness, Humility, Gentleness</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> (being meek, being humble, being gentle). What more can we learn about this word </span><span style="color: #46771c; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Praos</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">, more specifically what is this Spiritual Fruit that we call Gentleness?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Some other aspects of </span><span style="color: #46771c; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Praos</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> / Gentleness that may help our understanding: Being even tempered, tranquil, unpretentious, and having passions under control. Strength under control. Understanding the strength of being tender. Balanced & disciplined. Approachable & kind. Temperance in personal responsibility, conversations, and decisions. Polite, tactful, and courteous. Touchable. Treating others with dignity. Calm & peaceful in a heated situation. Soothing and diffusing anger. Respectful. Focuses on God & Others more than self (Selfless).</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Some things </span><span style="color: #46771c; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Praos</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> / Gentleness is </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">not</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">: Argumentative. Needing to prove themselves. Trying to win over others or get ahead of others - Competitive.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #46771c; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Praos</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> includes Biblical Humility, which is described as follows: Not belittling oneself, since we are precious treasures for which God paid dearly; but rather, exalting or praising others - especially God. Understanding that by ourselves we are inadequate, without dignity, worthless; however, by virtue of belonging to Christ we are enabled to be more than adequate (this by the Holy Spirit), and of infinite worth & dignity. True Biblical Humility produces Gratitude rather than Pride. Biblical Humility is the </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">opposite</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> of angry harshness that grows out of personal pride and a dominating selfishness.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #46771c; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Praos</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> also includes Meekness, a frequently misunderstood concept. Meekness is Strength and Courage under control & coupled with Kindness. It is rooted in the recognition that God is in control.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I found it interesting that </span><span style="color: #46771c; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Praos</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> as used by the Greek speaking world of Jesus day would also be used of a wild horse who had been tamed (broken & trained) - how true this is of those who come to faith and grow in Gentleness, we must be broken and trained in order to have a Gentle Spirit usable by God. How like wild horses we all once were, all needing to be broken to some extent, and all needing to be trained up by God. How much God has to do to break us varies based on our resistance to Him, and how trained/disciplined depends on how quickly we choose His ways over our own.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: Gentleness develops as we submit ourselves to God</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">King David, the one called by God "a man after my own heart" (</span><span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Acts 13:22</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">), understood the need to be broken & submitted to God. </span><span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Psalm 51:16-17</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">: "You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise."</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">II. The Ultimate Example of Gentleness</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Jesus is the clearest example of Gentleness acted out. Jesus was gentle with people, even those who arrested / flogged / beat Him. He was God, but did not use His power as God either to gain human power or to stop His crucifixion. Wow!!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Matthew 11:28-30</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Jesus encourages us to take on His yoke, to learn from Him because He epitomizes all the facets of Gentleness / Meekness / Biblical Humility, and has a tender heart toward us. He tells us that when we take on His yoke we will find rest for our souls - that the yoke He offers is easy, and the burden He asks us to carry is light. He could be demanding & harsh, it is His right, but He chooses to be patient & tender with us instead - wanting us to experience life in Him to the fullest (</span><span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Ephesians 4:13</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">).</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Let's take a look at a few examples of Jesus choosing to be Gentle (there are many):</span></div>
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<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">When the people of Jesus hometown were angry & ready to throw Him off a cliff Jesus used His power, but not to harm the people, instead to walk through the crowd and leave. - </span><span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Luke</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> </span><span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">4:28-30</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> </span></li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">When a detachment of soldiers bearing torches & weapons approached Jesus to arrest Him Jesus used His power in a very controlled (and I think humorous) manner. He simply said "I am he" when they asked for Jesus, and at his words they drew back & fell to the ground. How simply amazing that a trained group of fighting men, who's very lives depended on their courage, were knocked down by the words of our Lord. - </span><span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">John 18:3-5</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Most beautiful to me, however, is His gentleness with those who were broken. He reached out to the Samaritan woman at the well (</span><span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">John 4</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">) who's life was so full of shame that she chose to draw water at midday. He called to Zaccheus (</span><span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Luke 19</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">), a Jew who had turned against his fellow Jews for personal profit as a tax collector. His protection of the unnamed woman caught in adultery (</span><span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">John 8</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">), even the fact that she is unnamed guards her dignity. And there are so many more!!</span></li>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: Gentleness is a nature that imitates that of Christ</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1 Peter 2:21-23</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">: "To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 'He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.' When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly."</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">III. Gentleness with People</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We are called to be Gentle with others as Christ was, this will be demonstrated in both words & deeds. I was tempted to do a whole section on our tongue, and the damage it can do, but for brevity's sake I resisted - we're going to do this as a Group Exercise instead. Suffice it to say our words can either build up or destroy - </span><span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Proverbs 10:20; 12:18; 15:2; 15:4; 18:21</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> (among many others).</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I have an old friend who is an Atheist, there are times when he tries to lure me into arguments (on Facebook no less) - I have learned not to take the bait. </span><span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">2 Timothy 2:25-26</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> tells us we must be gentle with these sorts of opponents, so that they might escape the trap of the devil who has taken them captive to do his will. We must be especially careful with our written Words. This electronic age makes it tremendously easy to express ourselves widely with our written words; however, many misunderstandings have come from misinterpretations of what we have written. If it's something sensitive try to be face-to-face, even Skype (which allows us to see people we're speaking to at a distance) doesn't carry the nuances that communication in person does.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">All believers are called to be Gentle, </span><span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Titus 3:2</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> tells us we are always to be gentle toward everyone. Gentleness is also a quality necessary for leadership within the church. </span><span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1 Timothy 3:3</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> tells us that Overseers must be Gentle.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: Our Gentleness attracts people to the Lord</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Just as Magnets are powerful to attract & repel, our Words & Deeds are as well. When we are living lives that are in synch with God we will grow the fruit of Gentleness that will attract people to the Lord.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">James 3:13</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> Ties our Gentleness to Wisdom: "Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom."</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">CONCLUSION: Were you aware that by growing the Spiritual Fruit of Gentleness we receive a very interesting promise from the Beatitudes? This time </span><span style="color: #46771c; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Praos</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> shows up as the English word: Meek.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Matthew 5:5</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">: "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth."</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This runs counter to what the "powers" of this world would have us think. This world is currently controlled by those who are quite the opposite of Gentle. I'm not exactly sure what this blessing entails, but I for one will gladly pursue & accept blessings of the Lord!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Closing Prayer: Lord teach us to be Gentle, to demonstrate it in all our ways so that we might perhaps participate in your process of drawing unbelievers to you. What an amazing gift it is to be included in the work you are doing in this world. Thank You! Amen!</span></div>
Annette Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342402240437710822noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506195983118003177.post-21917147187298833972015-03-12T11:14:00.000-07:002015-03-12T11:14:21.595-07:00Fruit of the Spirit - Study Worksheet 9<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 12px; text-align: center;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Study Worksheet</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Read </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">Chapter 9 Gentleness</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> in the book The Fruit Of The Spirit along with scriptures given in the questions below:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1. After reading the first section of our chapter:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a. How do you define Gentleness?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. What new aspect(s) of Gentleness did you learn from your reading?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">2. What sorts of circumstances require:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a. A Firm Response</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. Discernment regarding a Response</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">c. A Soft Touch</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">3. Grade your church in the following areas, give a reason for your grades:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a. Welcoming to Strangers </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. Reverence (Worshipful Atmosphere)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">c. Sincerity & Love for God</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">4. Read 1 Peter 3:15. Why do you think it's important, when giving an answer for your faith, to do so with "gentleness & respect"?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">5. What is the danger of an attitude of "peace at any price"?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">6. a. Under what circumstances are you prone to be defensive or find it difficult to accept correction?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. Pray about this over the next couple days, asking God to reveal the root of your defensiveness, note what God reveals to you here:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">c. When we need to correct others, how should we go about this? Find scripture to support your answer.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">7. What is the role of Forgiveness when demonstrating Gentleness?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">8. Read the account of pastor Stu Weber (page 146).</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a. What do you think was the root of Stu's problem?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. What did you learn from the actions of his friend Steve?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">9. a. How does it feel to be on the receiving end of someone's rage or rude behavior?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. How might you temper your response toward them?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">10. Who do you like to learn from? Why?</span></div>
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Annette Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342402240437710822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506195983118003177.post-14614576182176904332015-03-12T11:10:00.000-07:002015-03-12T11:10:06.149-07:00Fruit of the Spirit - Group Exercise 8<b style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 12px;">For developing personal study skills</b><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 12px;"> - this exercise is an example utilizing a Concordance. In this case it was used to find scripture in order to discover the various aspects of the Spiritual Fruit of Faithfulness.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Use a Concordance, find verses for the following traits which are related to Faithfulness, then note what you learn about each:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1. Trustworthy</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">2. Steadfast</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">3. Loyal</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">4. Honest</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">5. Responsible</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">6. Brave</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">7. Devoted </span></div>
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Annette Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342402240437710822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506195983118003177.post-44924630913011766312015-03-12T11:06:00.002-07:002015-03-12T11:06:37.005-07:00Fruit of the Spirit - Lecture Notes for Lesson 8<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Opening Prayer: God you are Faithful, we praise you for this. As we study your word today we ask that your Holy Spirit would enrich our learning so that we might be people that You call Friends. Amen!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">INTRODUCTION: I don't know about you, but as I studied Faithfulness I was astonished at how many other traits are related to Faithfulness - or perhaps better stated are facets of Faithfulness. I wrote several of them down (and there are probably others): Trustworthy, Steadfast, Loyal, Honest, Responsible, Brave, Devoted - we will be looking at these in our Group Exercise. As I read through these traits they reminded me of a program Jeff had been a part of that was called "Heart of a Warrior" - with it's focus being on helping men to become well rounded Mature men of Faith.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: The Spiritual Fruit of Faithfulness is evidence of Spiritual Maturity</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Only as we choose to seek God, to draw close to Him, to live lives that bring Him Glory, are we truly growing in maturity and faithfulness. This is that day-to-day living out of our faith, the walk that goes along with the talk.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I. God the Perfect Papa</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I love my Dad, he's with the Lord now, and when my son was little my Dad got the nickname "Papa" - he was my sons only real father figure throughout his life, so the name seemed appropriate. Soon just about everyone who was close to my Dad (even my Mom) called him Papa. One characteristic that marked my Dad's life was Tenderness, but he wasn't perfect - and I have a story about how he failed to show tenderness.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">When I was very young, a preschooler, my parents wanted my brother & I to learn to swim. Living in Southern California near the Ocean, and where there are an abundance of pools, this is an important thing for children to learn. My brother took to the water quite naturally, but I didn't. Apparently no amount of coaxing could get me into the pool - not even jumping to a waiting parent while wearing a life vest. My Dad got frustrated, so he picked me up and threw me into the pool with the life vest on, and decided to let me cry myself out... major failure, after a while they gave up & fished me out of the pool. I required private lessons, smaller steps, and a much more deliberate approach - and I eventually learned to swim like a fish (I love to swim).</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">My Dad was a great example of Tenderness, and Patience, but his tenderness & patience had limitations - he wasn't perfect (though he was awesome). God's Tenderness & Patience are perfect, God knows exactly who we are & what we need to grow & develop into the people He wants us to be. God will never leave us, He is always by our side, rooting for us & cheering us on - encouraging us in our walk. God might have to chastise us in order to correct wrong thinking & behavior, but he never stops loving us. God makes promises to us & always keeps them. Doesn't that sound like the Perfect Papa? </span><span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Romans 8:15</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">: "The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father.'"</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">He is the Perfect Papa / Abba, and we are His children. We will always be His children, but we should seek to be His friends. As a child of God we are safe in His arms, a protected member of His family. If we remain as children, requiring constant spoon-feeding (</span><span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1 Corinthians 3:1-2; Hebrews 5:11-14</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">), we aren't of much use for His purposes. If instead we grow in Faithfulness we will receive rewards from Him both for today & in eternity (</span><span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Hebrews 11:6; Revelation 11:18</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">). Additionally, when we grow in Faithfulness we live lives that please God (</span><span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Colossians 1:9-10</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">).</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: Faithfulness develops our Intimacy with God</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Our book spoke about the difference between being a Child of God and a Friend of God. We become a Child of God when we come to faith - by virtue of Salvation we are His children. Becoming a Friend of God is much more, it involves growth & intimacy with God & being trustworthy servants of God. As we continue to walk in our faith God continues to work in our hearts & minds, to draw us closer & closer. God does the work to build up our Faith, we respond by exhibiting Faithfulness. This doesn't happen overnight, it is one deliberate step at a time - choosing to trust in God.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">II. The Importance of our Faithfulness with "Talents"</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I put "Talents" in quotes because in the original parable a "Talent" was actually a form of currency. I think that the parable teaches us not just about how to handle currency, but how to handle any gift that God entrusts us with. So a "Talent" as used in the parable could stand for </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">spiritual gifts</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">, </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">material blessings</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">, </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">natural talent</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> (intellect / ability), or </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">developed talent</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> (skill).</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In the parable of the talents we are told how displeasing the lazy servant was, this is the servant that hid away the talent given to him - he buried it in the ground. At first we could think, at least he was protecting what he'd been given - and don't we do the same thing? We need to take a higher view, the "Talents" God has given us are for His purposes, if we don't use them for His purposes they are a waste of His good gifts. Even when our "Talents" are a learned skill they represent an investment of time, and time is also precious and not to be wasted, so these should also be used for God's purposes. </span><span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Ephesians 5:15-16</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">: "Be very careful, then, how you live -- not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil."</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: Gifts from God are precious treasures not to be wasted.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">What do you enjoy doing? Can you find a way to apply this ability to Kingdom work? What do you have? Can it be used to bless God's people? What is God calling you to do with the "Talents" He has given you? What "Talent" is God asking you to use to bless others this day?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It is easy to hold tightly to the things that we have, but this is not God's way. God would have us hold loosely the treasures He has given, God would have us be generous instead; we must remember that God is more than capable of taking care of us should we willingly give away that which we are tempted to hold on to. Scriptures which speak to this: </span><span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1 Timothy 6:17-19; 2 Corinthians 9:6-11</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">III. The Importance of our Faithfulness with People</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">When I sat down to work on this section I stopped to pray, and I asked God to reveal to me what He would have you know. After praying & thinking the following thoughts came to mind: We look on our "Talents" as treasures, things we are tempted to hold onto but that God wants us to hold loosely. What would God have us treasure instead? People! People are precious to God, they are treasures to Him, and He wants as many of them as possible to come to Him. We should willingly invest our "Talents" for the greater treasure God desires!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: People are precious treasures to God</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">God made people, He made people and desires to be in relationship with people. As we were made in some aspects "like Him" we are made to be in relationship - relationship with Him and relationship with others. Perhaps that's why fellowship among believers is encouraged (</span><span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Hebrews 10:24-25</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">) as it helps us all to grow more in God & His ways. But it's not just fellowship among believers, we need to be in relationships with non-believers, this in order to draw them to God (</span><span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Romans 11:13-14; 1 Corinthians 9:19-23</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">). We must be able to relate to people where they are, within our culture, yet not be soiled by our culture.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">What is Faithfulness toward people? It is being people of our word, keeping our promises. It is being loyal & trustworthy toward them, so that they know we can be depended upon. It is being honest, so that they know we will tell the truth when it matters most. It is being responsible, if we've said we'll do something we do it. Why do these things? So that people know who to turn to, who to trust, when trouble arises.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Why specifically does our Faithfulness toward people matter? It is one way that we preach about our loving God without having to utter a word of scripture. If we're living in a Faithful manner people are going to notice, it's not going to look like the way the rest of the world lives. Even more, our Faithfulness is a reflection on the character of God - when we fail in Faithfulness toward people we in essence tarnish the reputation of God (ouch!).</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">CONCLUSION: A few words of wisdom to end with, and I pray that this is not just my own thinking but reflects God's ways. I have a tendency to overcommit, this is not a good thing, in fact I end up not doing things as well when I fall into this trap. So though I encourage you to look at your "Talents" and find their purpose in God's Kingdom I also want to temper that with wisdom from God's Word. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #ff261a; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Ecclesiastes 3:1-13</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> speaks about the need to keep things in balance & how there is a time & season for everything: "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil---this is the gift of God."</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Closing Prayer: Oh Lord, how wonderful is your Faithfulness, help us Lord to be Faithful - to grow in intimate relationship with you. Help us to know how you would have us use our "Talents" for your Kingdom, and help us by our Faithfulness to draw others to (closer to) You. Amen!</span></div>
Annette Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342402240437710822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506195983118003177.post-65398369101321060582015-03-05T09:05:00.002-08:002015-03-05T09:05:36.944-08:00Fruit of the Spirit - Study Worksheet 8<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 12px; min-height: 15px;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Study Worksheet</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Read </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">Chapter 8 Faithfulness</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> in the book The Fruit Of The Spirit along with scriptures given in the questions below:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1. Explain the difference between being a </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">child</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> of God and being a </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">friend</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> of God.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">2. Why do you think people struggle to obey God?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">3. What "little things" (Matthew 25:21) might God expect you to do to show your faithfulness to Him?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">4. <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>a. What specific talents has God given to you?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. Which of these talents are being used in some way for God's purposes?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">c. How else might God put those talents to work for His purposes?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">5. In the section titled "More Responsibility is Good" read the story of John Egglen. Take a few minutes to reflect on this story and pray. Where might God be asking you to be brave for His purposes?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">6. Why do you think God equates Laziness (as concerns talents He has given) with Wickedness?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">7. In your own words, explain the relationship between Wisdom & Faithfulness.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">8. What might be some means of building loyal friendships?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">9. What circumstances cause you to struggle to keep your commitments?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">10. What do the following verses teach you about God's Faithfulness:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a. Genesis 32:10</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. Exodus 34:6</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">c. Psalm 40:11</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">d. Psalm 89:32-33</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">e. Isaiah 11:5 (speaking of Messiah)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">f. Isaiah 42:3 (speaking of Messiah)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">11. What do the following verses tell you about faithfulness among God's chosen?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a. Joshua 24:14</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. 1 Samuel 26:23</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">c. 3 John 1:3-4</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">d. Revelation 13:10</span></div>
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Annette Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342402240437710822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506195983118003177.post-76512395911300574502015-03-05T09:03:00.001-08:002015-03-05T09:03:55.771-08:00Fruit of the Spirit - Group Exercise 7<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>For developing personal study skills</b> - this exercise is an example utilizing Footnotes & Cross-References (especially with a Study Bible) to dig more deeply into the meaning of a passage.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Use a Bible with Footnotes & Cross-References, read Ephesians 6:10-18.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1. Read all the footnotes associated with the passage, what new things did you learn as a result?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">2. Follow the cross-references & read the associated passages, which passages helped clarify the meaning of the original passage & what did you learn as a result?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">3. Re-read the original passage, what is something new or interesting that you'd like to share with someone else?</span></div>
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Annette Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342402240437710822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506195983118003177.post-78367066798172359092015-03-05T08:59:00.000-08:002015-03-12T11:05:45.353-07:00Fruit of the Spirit - Lecture Notes for Lesson 7<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Opening Prayer: God You are Good! Help us Lord to fully grasp what that means, help us to look beyond mere human notions of Goodness to discover the Fruit you have prepared for us to produce in our lives. Amen!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">INTRODUCTION: Are you having a Good Day? Truth be told I intended that to be a trick question. When posed that question we might quickly respond yes - either because we have a positive outlook or because we just don't want to share our "mess" with others. Can we ever, in our current mortal state, have a completely Good Day? No... but we're still meant to have this spiritual fruit called Goodness.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: Goodness is a defining character of God</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">God is not only the giver of all Good things, He is the measure of all that is Good. As I was searching the scriptures regarding the Goodness of God I ran into something interesting. I saw that several times in the Old Testament the words (or a minor variation of the words) "give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever". Being a curious person, I decided to see how many times these words occurred, wondering if they by chance might occur 7 times - 7s in scripture are relevant & 7 is the number representing fullness or completion (I won't get into numerology here - it can be divisive and is not necessary to this study). And yes, this statement occurs 7 times: </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1 Chronicles 16:34; Psalms 106:1, 107:1, 118:1, 118:29, 136:1; Jeremiah 33:11</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Jesus tells us that God alone is perfectly Good (</span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Mark 10:18</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">). In His goodness God is: Benevolent, Holy, Praiseworthy, and so much more. We can't be perfectly Good as God is, but we can exhibit Goodness by the power of God's Holy Spirit.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I. Good is much more than the opposite of Evil</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Or more to our theme, Goodness is not simply the lack of Evil. Our book mentioned the Greek word used for Goodness as a Spiritual Fruit as </span><span style="color: #9d45b9; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Agathosune</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">, the root in Greek is </span><span style="color: #9d45b9; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Agathos</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">. </span><span style="color: #9d45b9; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Agathos</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> is one of 2 words used for Good in Greek, and this particular word is used for Good when speaking of what is Useful or Profitable, or Moral Goodness. The other Greek word </span><span style="color: #d17f14; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Kalos</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> is similar, but more used for what is aesthetically good or beautiful. From this we can gather that our Goodness is related to our Usefulness or Value - specifically in God's hands. We can also determine that it's speaking of Goodness as a matter of Moral Character - this would embody not just Purity of Heart but possessing multiple Godly traits. This idea even carries over to the English language where Goodly & Godly are similarly formed and have similar meanings, likely with one deriving from the other (though I confess I don't know enough to say this definitively).</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Further, the Greek </span><span style="color: #9d45b9; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Agathosune</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> is a combination of both being good & doing good, it is a matter of heart as well as action. It is doing good out of the overflow of a good heart, with a motivation to please God & without expecting accolades.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">From </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Romans 3:23</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> we learn we are sinful by nature and not good (not Godly), only by taking on God's nature in the form of the Holy Spirit are we able to produce the Spiritual Fruit of Goodness (</span><span style="color: #9d45b9; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Agathosune</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">).</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: Goodness in man comes from the Power of God at work through the Holy Spirit.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We can display good behavior, live outwardly moral lives - after all the Pharisees excelled at doing this. But what did Jesus call the Pharisees? He called them Whitewashed Tombs (</span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Matthew 23:27</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">) which looked beautiful (</span><span style="color: #d17f14; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Kalos</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> good) on the outside (to mankind, to the world) but on the inside were full of everything unclean. We must be more concerned about the inside, being </span><span style="color: #9d45b9; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Agathos</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> rather than </span><span style="color: #d17f14; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Kalos</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">, when the inside is clean what comes out is Good (</span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Luke 6:45</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">).</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">II. Goodness has its roots in our Salvation</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We get Salvation when we choose to trust in Jesus as our Lord & Savior. It happens in a moment in time, and once accomplished is immediate & complete. At Salvation we are sealed by the Holy Spirit with a guarantee of our redemption, and in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit - God living in us.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The Holy Spirit has multiple inter-related roles in the life of the believer. He is our teacher, counselor, etc. His work in us helps to grow in Godliness (Grow in Goodness) - another word for this is Sanctification. Sanctification begins at Salvation, is progressive & continuous throughout our mortal existence, and will only be completed when we who are perishable are clothed with the imperishable - then our victory over sin will be complete, and that by the work of Jesus alone (see </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1 Corinthians 15:53-57</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">).</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">2 Peter 1:3-4</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> says: "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. 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".</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: Our Goodness results from our compliance to the work of God's Holy Spirit.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We are not simply given the Fruit of Goodness when the Holy Spirit comes, it is something that must grow and mature in us as we grow and mature in Christ, as we cooperate with God working in our hearts & minds. Our responsibility in this is two-fold, we must grow in our knowledge & love of God, and we must resist the pressures of the world. We are in this world, we are called to relate to this world & to impact this world, but we are not called to participate in the world - sometimes this is a fine line, we must guard ourselves.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">III. Goodness requires Wisdom & Courage</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Goodness requires knowing & choosing what is right, what is Godly - this requires Wisdom. Goodness is standing up for what is right even when we're in stark contrast to the world around us - this requires Courage. Both Wisdom & Courage working together allow us to know & keep Godly convictions - to know what is good and act upon it. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Goodness in the believer requires training, regular spiritual "exercise", in order to maintain a strong Godly character, in order to have both Wisdom & Courage. That training entails knowledge of scripture - how can you keep God's Word if you don't know God's Word? That training involves a deep & personal & honest communication with God - how can you know His Will in a situation if you've not spent time with Him? That training requires fellowship & accountability: </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Titus 2:3-5</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> speaks about older women (more mature in the Faith) should teach us who are younger (less mature) how to be Godly women; </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Proverbs 27:17</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> speaks of us sharpening each other.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">As believers we need to guard our hearts & minds, as well as help our brothers & sisters in Christ to guard theirs. We cannot assume that just because someone has been exposed to God, or even given their life to God, that they won't fall into error.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Some examples (in order from best to worst) of people's choices:</span></div>
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<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Choosing right at the risk of your life: </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Daniel 6:1-10</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - Daniel was doing so well that others plotted against him. These others had the king seal a law (can't be broken) that people weren't to pray to anyone but the king, on risk of death by lions. Daniel responded by not changing his behavior, but continuing to pray in front of his open windows 3 times a day - Daniel got thrown in the lions den, was miraculously preserved by God, and the results? Those who plotted against him were fed to those hungry lions, and the king sent out a proclamation that all people in his kingdom should revere the God of Daniel - the Living God.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Choosing right in a pagan culture: </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Acts 17:16-34</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - Paul, when exposed to the polytheistic culture in Athens, and asked to speak at the Areopagus (a place where the local philosophers went to argue about ideas). Paul used this as an opportunity to speak to this group of pagans about their "unknown god", and told them of the One True God - resulting in some coming to faith.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Choosing poorly, but responding to rebuke: </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Galatians 2:11-13</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - Peter was influenced by the circumcision party & separated himself from the Gentiles, and in doing so led Barnabas astray. Thankfully Paul rebuked & corrected their behavior or much damage could have been done to the Gentiles in the church.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Choosing poorly, and not correcting: In </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Genesis 13</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> Lot chose to park his tent near Sodom, and later move into Sodom & be one of it's leaders (</span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Genesis 19</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> records he was sitting at the gate when the angels arrived to attempt to rescue him). Lot chose to leave but with reluctance, his wife choose to turn back & was turned to salt, and his daughters turned to despicable means in order to have descendants. </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">2 Peter 2:7-8</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> tells us Lot was a righteous man who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless, tormented in his soul by the deeds he saw & heard. But Lot chose to live in Sodom, it was only by God's direct intervention that Lot was rescued from the condemnation that came on that place.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Specifically choosing against God: </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Numbers 22-24</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> contains a very entertaining account of a character by the name of Balaam & his uniquely gifted Donkey. What's most interesting is that Balaam is a prophet (actually a pagan prophet for hire), that God decides to speak to - God tells him what not to do, and lo & behold Balaam choses to do it (for profit of course). </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">2 Peter 2:15</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> tells us that Balaam loved the wages of wickedness. Balaam was forced by God to prophecy for Israel rather than against, which frustrated the people who hired him. Balaam didn't learn his lesson, he continued to choose against God, </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Numbers 31:16</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> tells us that he advised the enemies of Israel in how to entice God's people to be unfaithful.</span></li>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: The Fruit of Goodness shows in the choices we make.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">At this time I know people who could fit into each of the categories I mentioned. People choosing right at personal risk, people choosing right in the midst of a pagan culture, people choosing poorly but remaining teachable, people choosing poorly who are resisting correction, and people choosing against God. I am praying for all of them. Choosing to be Good & do Good takes Wisdom & Courage.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">CONCLUSION: I'd like to think I'm making right choices, but I know my nature. I must constantly be on guard regarding what I watch, what I listen to... be careful about any & all influences in my life. I want you to watch out for me, and I'm willing to watch out for you.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Closing Prayer: Lord please guard & protect our hearts & minds, make us aware of ungodly influences around us, give us the courage to stand firm for what is right & the wisdom to know when to flee from those influences. Amen!</span></div>
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Annette Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342402240437710822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506195983118003177.post-35498600100816579002015-02-26T12:14:00.003-08:002015-02-26T12:14:44.716-08:00Fruit of the Spirit - Study Worksheet 7<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 12px; text-align: center;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Study Worksheet</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Read </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">Chapter 7 Goodness</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> in the book The Fruit Of The Spirit along with scriptures given in the questions below:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1. Using various resources (our book, dictionary, Bible dictionary, etc) come up with a 1 sentence definition for the Spiritual Fruit of Goodness.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">2. Read the section of the chapter titled "Are people born good?":</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a. How does the world view this?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. With young children in mind, what is the difference between being good & being innocent? (see Isaiah 7:15-16)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">3. Look up information in resources if needed, then describe the differences between Salvation & Sanctification.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">4. Read the following passages, and for each record the ways God encourages us in regards to the Scriptures.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a. Deuteronomy 11:18-20</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. Job 22:22</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">c. Psalm 119:11</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">d. Proverbs 4:4-6</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">e. Jeremiah 15:16</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">f. Hebrews 4:12</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">5. a. What potential sources of "negative, impure, or wrong information" are you aware of in your life?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. What can you do to minimize or counter the influence of these sources?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">c. Which of these sources do you need to remove or avoid?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">6. Find 2-3 verses of scripture regarding choosing what is right.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">7. Read Ephesians 6:10-18 (the Armor of God):</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a. From verses 11-12, against what forces is this Armor useful?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. From verse 13, what does the Armor do for the believer?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">c. From verses 14-18, share one recent example of how you've used a piece of Spiritual Armor.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">8. What warnings do you get from the following passages:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a. 1 Corinthians 10:12</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">d. 1 Peter 5:8-9</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">9. Share about a time when you were rejected by someone close because you chose to live for God.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">10. a. Find 2-3 verses on being courageous for God.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. From the verses you found, what did you learn about God?</span></div>
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Annette Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342402240437710822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506195983118003177.post-19281689294006702252015-02-26T12:12:00.003-08:002015-03-05T09:01:24.321-08:00Fruit of the Spirit - Group Exercise 6<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 12px; text-align: center;">
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<b>For developing personal study skills</b> - this exercise is an example of studying an Attribute of God.</div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">For each of the following scriptures, what do you learn about God's Attribute of Kindness?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1. Isaiah 54:8</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">2. Isaiah 63:7</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">3. Jeremiah 9:23-24</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">4. Hosea 11:4</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">5. Acts 14:17</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">6. Ephesians 2:7</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">7. Titus 3:4-5</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">How does knowing about God's Kindness change your thinking?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">What one thing about God's Kindness would you like to share with someone in need?</span></div>
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Annette Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342402240437710822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506195983118003177.post-19378735613023597982015-02-26T12:10:00.000-08:002015-02-26T12:10:13.314-08:00Fruit of the Spirit - Lecture Notes for Lesson 6<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Opening Prayer: Lord, we have much to learn about Kindness - Your Kindness - help us to look beyond the surface to see the depth of the Fruit of Kindness. Amen!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">INTRODUCTION: I don't know about you, but I was raised to be kind & considerate toward others. So when I got to Kindness I thought I had this one handled, after all it's a lot easier than Patience any day isn't it? But hold on a second, there's more to this Kindness than I realized - it's more than simply smiling and being nice to strangers (like the clerk at the grocery store). True Kindness requires sacrifice, meditating on this has challenged my thinking & caused me to pause & examine my heart.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: The Fruit of Kindness is a form of Sacrifice.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Our book mentions two mindsets regarding compassion:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The second mindset is the mindset of Kindness, it looks compassionately at another & responds, it demonstrates Mercy. </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Hosea 6:6</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> tells us God desires Mercy over the sacrifices of burnt offerings - implying Mercy is the higher form of Sacrifice.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I. Kindness: God Reaching Out</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">As with all these Spiritual Fruits, we see Kindness expressed by God; also, like God's Patience seemed to be related to God's Grace, God's Kindness seems to be related to God's Mercy.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In Kindness God put in place a plan of redemption, the first we see of it in Scripture is in the Garden just after the Fall. In </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Genesis 3:14-15</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> we find the first prophecy regarding Messiah, that he would be wounded but would deal the fatal blow to the enemy of God. But God's plan of redemption was in place even before that, before the fall, in fact before He created man He had a plan to redeem man & bring all things in Heaven & Earth to unity under Christ (</span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Ephesians 1:3-10</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">).</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">How did God accomplish His plan of redemption? Sacrifice, no small sacrifice, the Perfect Lamb - Jesus Himself - quite frankly this is a sacrifice that goes far beyond our human understanding, a sacrifice made at great cost to God Himself. Only God was able to pay the redemption price for mankind, and God willingly paid that price - that is Mercy & that is Kindness in it's purest form.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: God's Kindness draws people to Repentance</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">God's demonstrated His Kindness toward us in paying the price to redeem us, if we accept this gift of His Kindness we receive His Mercy & and are pardoned for our sin, escaping the penalty for sin we so dearly deserve. </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Romans 5:8</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> tells us that while we were still sinners Christ died for us - this is the Kindness of God expressed to man.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">II. Kindness: Grow In Compassion</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Since in God's Kindness He demonstrated His Mercy to me, I ought to respond in appreciation by expressing God's Mercy to others.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Our book spoke about the characteristics of Kindness, and it boiled down to Kindness being expressed by Compassion in Action, and how it is Powerful because goes against the normal "dog-eat-dog" competitiveness of the world. It went on to say that many in this world consider Kindness to be a form of weakness, as opposed to callousness & insensitivity which are seen as strengths. I had a hard time with this thinking about the world as a whole, because I know kind people who are not believers - so I think perhaps this needs more thought. I think that perhaps the Spiritual Fruit of Kindness isn't just compassion in action, but rather compassion even when we don't want to be compassionate (or don't feel compassionate). Perhaps the Fruit of Kindness is more specifically Kindness at a cost to the one being Kind, and motivated by gratitude toward God.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Who should we demonstrate compassion to? To family, friends, neighbors, our community, and even the world. Should we demonstrate compassion to those who don't deserve it? Yes!! We didn't deserve God's Kindness & He chose to be kind to us. We should respond in gratitude toward God, and by the power of His Holy Spirit live lives of Kindness toward others.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: The Fruit of Kindness flows from a heart filled with Gratitude toward God.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This goes beyond smiling at the clerk at the grocery store. This is smiling at the clerk & taking the time to ask how she's doing, looking her in the eye & showing you really care. And this is doing so after she's delayed you by making mistakes, made you late for an appointment, overcharged you, etc. In fact it may be taking it so far as specifically choosing that clerk the next time, knowing you may get delayed again (or deal with more mistakes), because you want to go out of your way to reach out to her as God went out of His way to reach out to you.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">III. Kindness: Get Over Yourself</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Kindness that is sacrificial puts others first, it's loving our Neighbor as ourself (</span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Mark 12:31</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">), it's laying our life down for the sake of another (</span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">John 15:13</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">). What does it mean to be kind by putting others first?</span></div>
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<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Be Kind when it's inconvenient</i> - Jesus demonstrated this when He & His disciples needed rest. Jesus had compassion on the crowd that followed as they were exhausted & attempted to get away to rest, He saw them as sheep without a shepherd, and He took the time to minister to their needs. (</span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Mark 6:30-34</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Be Kind at personal cost</i> - Even if it means being misunderstood (like Peter & John in </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Acts 4</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">). Be like King David, make sure your Sacrifice is yours - be ready to pay the full price (</span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1 Chronicles 21:24</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Be Kind despite the behavior or attitude of the one receiving Kindness</i> - remember that even the disciples were petty in their attitudes (</span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Luke 9:46</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> & </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">John 13:3-5</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">), God wants you to be kind even to those who harm you (</span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Romans 12:20</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">).</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Be Kind irregardless of a person's status or position</i> - whatever we do for the "least of these" is like doing for the Lord (</span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Matthew 25: 34-40</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">) and will be rewarded by God.</span></li>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But it's more than just being sacrificial, we must get our "self" out of the way, we must guard our hearts & beware of our motivation. </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Philippians 2:3</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> tells us "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves." </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Matthew 6:1-4</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> warns us not to make public our acts of Kindness so that our reward will be from God rather than man. Finally, Jesus words are even harder for us, He tells us that we must deny ourselves & take up our cross & follow Him (</span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Matthew 16:24</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">) - to be Kind and Selfless as He is.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: Kindness toward others is a Love Gift to God.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Matthew 25:35-40</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> (mentioned earlier) we also learn that showing kindness (meeting needs) to others is equivalent to showing kindness to the Lord Himself.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">CONCLUSION: I've shared with you in the past how I've learned some of these lessons as I'm preparing to teach them, and Kindness was no exception. So though I risk loosing the reward of Kindness that God worked through me because I'm going to share it with you, I thought that it was a price I'm willing to pay in order to share an example with you - in case it might spur you on toward Kindness.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Last week, on the one day of the week I specifically set aside to work on the lecture portion of this lesson, I thought I would have most of the day to work undisturbed. My husband had been home sick for a few days, and had spent those days in bed sleeping, so I expected the same on Thursday (a.k.a. Lesson Day). God has a sense of humor, as I was trying to work on this lesson Jeff announced that he thought he should see a doctor. Right away I sensed that God was giving me the chance to demonstrate Kindness. I wanted to be selfish & say "this is my day I dedicate to the Lord's work", but Kindness is the Lord's work... hmmm... So, I asked if he wanted me to drive him to the Doctor - he wanted that, and he wanted me to go in with him. Jeff set up the appointment but I knew he hadn't eaten yet that morning & I wanted him to eat before we left, so knowing he had a sore throat & hadn't been wanting to eat much I decided to show Kindness & offered to make him some of my pancakes (a favorite of his) - and of course he said yes... which of course took additional time & made more work for me. So he ate, we went to the doctor, got diagnosed with a Sinus Infection & the doctor called in a prescription for an Antibiotic to our local pharmacy. As we were leaving the doctor's office I knew the Kind thing to do & did it - I drove Jeff home & then went to the pharmacy to wait for his prescription to be filled (it took an hour)... At this point I had lost a few hours worth of study time and these lessons take several hours to put together, but I knew I had learned more about Kindness - I didn't do it perfectly, but I did it - I was Kind despite my desire to be at home working on my studies. Afterward I did ask God to help order my mind to pull together this lesson on Kindness - and in His Kindness God did just that. I had been willing to be Kind at a cost, but I appreciate that God minimized the cost for me.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We never know what impact our Kindness may have on another, we should be looking for opportunities to be Kind in little ways as well as big, to people near & far, to those we feel love for & those we don't, and in this way build a legacy of God's Love.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Closing Prayer: Lord you have been Kind to us, you have been Merciful, and you've Redeemed us - and we didn't deserve it. Help us to be Kind in response to your Kindness - even for people we don't feel deserve it - help us to do this out of love & thankfulness to You. Amen!</span></div>
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Annette Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342402240437710822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506195983118003177.post-40274973264037179422015-02-18T07:39:00.000-08:002015-02-18T07:39:23.860-08:00Fruit of the Spirit - Study Worksheet 6<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 12px; min-height: 15px;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Read </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">Chapter 6 Kindness</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> in the book The Fruit Of The Spirit along with scriptures given in the questions below:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1. Do you ever hesitate to meet a need due to concern about being manipulated? </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a. Share a specific example.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. Read Luke 6:35-36, why should fear of manipulation </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">not</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> be a concern?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">2. What is the purpose of God's Kindness?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a. To Sinners:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. To Believers:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">3. Share about a time when you demonstrated Kindness to someone who was testing your patience (please don't share names, instead guard their dignity).</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">4. According to our book, what are the 3 characteristics of Kindness? Briefly define these in your own words.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1) ___________________ - </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">2) ___________________ -</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">3) ___________________ -</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">5. What impresses you about Eusebius' words regarding Jesus (page 94 in our book)?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">6. Share about a time when you put yourself in harm's way in order to show Kindness.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">7. What deliberate personal decision are you making in order to show God's Kindness in our Community or in the World (Dream Big!!)?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">8. Describe how Sensitivity is a strength - </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">9. <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>a. Why is it kind to be Truthful?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. In what manner should hard Truths be told?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">10.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>a. Who do you know personally that has a need & could use some act of Kindness today?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. What actions are you going to take?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">11. Think about someone who has hurt / rejected / manipulated you. What action will you take this week to show kindness to that person?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">12. What do the following verses teach you about Kindness?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a. Job 6:14</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. Psalm 141:5</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">c. Acts 4:8-10</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">d. Romans 2:4</span></div>
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Annette Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342402240437710822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506195983118003177.post-84243573212303748972015-02-18T07:37:00.002-08:002015-02-18T08:03:36.654-08:00Fruit of the Spirit - Group Exercise 5<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 12px; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><b>For developing personal study skills</b> - this exercise is for determining more about a particular subject. For general purposes just about any word found in the Bible can be used, simply us that word instead of "Patience".<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Look at a variety of Bible Dictionaries & other Resources (concordance, interlinear Bible, etc) to learn more about Patience.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1. What new information did you discover?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">2. What was particularly interesting or compelling?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">3. What other words have related meanings that you might use for additional study?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">4. What action might you take or attitude might you change as a result of what you've learned?</span></div>
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Annette Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342402240437710822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506195983118003177.post-58207113537350765452015-02-18T07:35:00.000-08:002015-02-18T07:35:26.706-08:00Fruit of the Spirit - Lecture Notes for Lesson 5<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Opening Prayer: Lord we thank you for your patience with us, do your work in us through your Word & by the power of your Holy Spirit as we seek to understand Patience as a Fruit of the Spirit. Amen!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">INTRODUCTION: Patience - Yikes! Feels like I'm stepping into a mine field! I know I'm not very patient, and that's patience how the world sees it - so how does God see it? What is this supernatural Fruit of Patience? Our book describes patience as self restraint in the face of provocation, and thinking before we act. Ok, even the world can understand this kind of patience. Patience as a fruit of the Spirit is much more, it involves a changed heart and a transformed mind, so that we aren't just patient on the outside (self-restraint) but also patient on the inside (gracious).</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: The Fruit of Patience demonstrates God's Grace</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">As with all of these Fruits they are a response to all that God has done for us, if God has been gracious to us how ought we to respond to others? We ought to respond with God's Grace:</span></div>
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<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Being patient with our brothers & sisters in Christ as they grow in Maturity/Sanctification.</span></li>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I. God's Patience with People</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">As I was answering the questions for myself this week the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart about something that has been troubling me lately. I am always troubled when the unsaved die, especially people I love or people who seem to have been trying to live in a loving manner, and a part of me would love there to be yet another chance for people after death. Lately I heard someone expounding an idea from a work of fiction that implied that there is a time after death to get your life right with God - and as much as I would like that to be the case I don't see evidence for that in scripture. I even caught myself thinking perhaps there is something not yet revealed, perhaps part of eternity for the believer is to draw the lost to God - but again, there is no evidence of this in scripture. So I've been praying about my heart for people, and questioning myself & my own desires... then I read </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">2 Peter 3:9</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> which tells us that God has incredible patience with people, so much patience that it seems He is being slow keeping His promises - but His reason for His timing is this: He does not want anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. This was a comfort to me, and I realized that my heart for people isn't in the wrong - instead it seems to be lining up with God's heart for people.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">God's patience also extends to His people, those who have given their lives to Him - but still fall & fail Him. </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Philippians 1:6</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> tells us that God is working to sanctify us, that he has started a good work in us and will carry it on to completion. </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1 Peter 2:4-6</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> tells us that we are living stones being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood that offers spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. It goes on to tell use that those who trust in Christ will never be put to shame. These verses are promises for our assurance in Christ, but also speak of our growth & maturity in faith as being something that God is patiently working on.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I have a personal faith-walk story that is marked by deeply rooted & devastating sin, as well as terrible betrayal at the hands of others - it is the faith-walk I had to take to break the bondage of sin, and to learn about the amazing Grace of God. I have written it down, but will not share it today - I call it "Graceful Walk", which is the meaning of my name (Annette) & is an apt description of my journey both to God (Salvation) and with God (Sanctification). I praise God for His Patience and Grace poured out for me!!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: God is Patient because of His Great Love for People</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">God Loves people, He is always fair & gracious, He never drives anyone away that hasn't already clearly pushed Him away many times. An example of this is given in </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Exodus</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - God prophecies that He will harden Pharaoh's heart in </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Exodus 4:21 & 7:3</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">, and this sounds cruel to us to hear God speak this way; however, when we read the full account (</span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">chapters 7-11</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">) of how Pharaoh responded to the display of God's power, how he time & again hardened his own heart in response to God's clear call, we understand why God chose to drive him away. God is a gentleman, and does not force Himself on those who don't want Him; nevertheless, He is patient & desiring for all to come to Him & return His love.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">II. Our Patience with People</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Our patience with people ought to come as a response to the patience God has with us, it is a love-gift that we can give to God. Our lives ought to be poured out as an offering, as a sacrifice to God, in order that others will be drawn to God.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I have been blessed by having several family members, all of them men, who's lives are amazing examples of patience. My Dad, my Grandpa (my Dad's Dad), my Great-Grandpa (my Dad's Dad's Dad), and my Son - yep, it skipped my generation. Each of these men are (were) marked with similar characteristics: they rarely got angry, took life in stride daily with a cheerful outlook, had a sense of humor about themselves, and were content. Each had personal tragedies & struggles, but managed to remain patient in the process. Some of this was simply their natural temperament, but it also was a reflection of hearts that loved God.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">That's not my temperament, so Patience is something I have to work at & that I've seen God work on in me as I'm maturing in Christ. I've discovered that usually when I'm impatient it's because I'm too focused on me (yuck). Here are a couple examples of how I'm improving:</span></div>
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<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I grew up & lived in the San Diego area until I was about 34 years old, I've dealt with traffic, bad traffic, and as is the habit of people who deal with bad traffic on a daily basis (my 12 mile commute typically took 30-45 minutes mostly driven in stop & go traffic). As a result I learned to talk to the cars around me, things like "hey, let me in already" or "are you nuts" or "it's the pedal on the right idiot" or "do you have a death wish". After moving to Minnesota my talking to cars didn't stop, and I had a couple locals point it out, that got me thinking. Now instead of talking to the cars I stop and think about the people in the cars (well, I try at least), and frequently I find myself praying for them - especially if I got angry with them.</span></li>
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<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I have a wonderful loving & patient husband, but like all people (myself included) he has his quirks. Something he used to say a lot, but doesn't say so much anymore is "that's not right". He might say that about how shirts should be hung (his all face to the left), about odd food combinations (he's gotten used to my experimental cooking), or how books ought to be lined up on a bookshelf - library style. I used to take it personally, as a judgement against me, when he said "that's not right". After a while I learned that was Jeff's way of indicating it wasn't how he'd learned to do things, and I learned to laugh when I hear him say this; in the process I've gained more of a sense of humor about myself & learned to be more gracious when it comes to things that aren't eternal in nature.</span></li>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: Our Patience with others ought to be a response to the Love & Patience of God</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Who tries your patience? Why might God have placed that person in your life? Is God using that person to grow you in some way? Is God giving you an opportunity to Love that person into His kingdom?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We all have people in our lives I call Grace Builders, people who seem to enjoy causing turmoil, people who like to stir up controversy, or people who purposely pick on us for some reason. These people I call Grace Builders because that's how God can use them in our lives, to grow us in His Grace.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">III. Learning from Biblical Examples of Patience</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We can learn patience from the examples of others, and scriptural examples are always good to rely on. From Moses we can learn patience in waiting for God's redemptive process to work over time. From Job we can learn patience at a time of loss & affliction. From Joseph we can learn patience despite difficult circumstances & false accusations. From Hosea we can learn patience toward those who betray us. From David we can learn patience in waiting on God's timing to fulfill what He has promised.... and the list goes on.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">My favorite is Jesus, especially his constant patience with his disciples, but we know from the example of him driving out the money-changers (</span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">John 2:13-17</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">) in the temple that his patience wasn't a result of him being a weak, but rather meek - to be meek means to have strength under control, and this a beautiful example of strength kept under control. Jesus was angry but in His anger didn't sin.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">My Dad was a big strong man, capable of causing great harm if he'd chosen to. Only one time in my life did my Dad express anger toward me, I told you he was patient!! The one time it was more than well deserved, I was a teenager & had been particularly nasty toward my Mom (sorry Mom) & finally went too far. It took a lot to get Dad angry, but once he was angry I knew I was in deep trouble. Thankfully I was smart enough to realize I'd seriously messed up, and quickly realized I didn't want my Dad mad at me. Luckily I had a Dad who modeled God's Forgiveness as well as Patience, and the situation was resolved relatively quickly - yep, I learned my lesson. My Dad exercised meekness, strength kept under control, and even when angry was capable of expressing anger in a controlled manner.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: When we have God's Fruit of Patience we can be angry & yet not sin.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We will all get angry at times, and there are times when it is appropriate to be angry. God's Spirit working in and through us can teach us when to be Patient as we wait for God to work through a situation, and that Patience can also teach us how to respond in anger but under control.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">CONCLUSION: We live in an impatient world, a world that can try our patience, we must lean on God and trust in His Spirit's power as we walk in this world & seek to be not of the world.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Closing Prayer: Lord as we interact with people help us to love them and be patient with them in response to how you have loved & been patient with us. Amen!</span></div>
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Annette Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342402240437710822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506195983118003177.post-86507469720865104462015-02-12T06:58:00.002-08:002015-02-12T06:58:31.467-08:00Fruit of the Spirit - Study Worksheet 5<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 12px; text-align: center;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Read </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">Chapter 5 Patience</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> in the book The Fruit Of The Spirit along with scriptures given in the questions below:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1. Who do you know that models Patience? Share how patience was modeled.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">2. Think of someone in your life that is short-tempered. What is it like to interact with them?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">3. Read 2 Peter 3:9</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a. What do you learn about God?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. How does God's patience benefit man?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">4. Think about your normal weekly activities.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a. What might be eliminated or changed in order to reduce "hurry"?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. How might you order your life to more consistently provide scheduled periods of rest and reflection?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">5. Read Lamentations 3:22-24. How have you experienced God's patience in your life?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">6. Read the section of the chapter titled "Impatience Often Comes Because of Faulty or Inappropriate Goals". In what ways are you setting faulty goals, resulting in impatience?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">7. From the following verses, what benefits might we reap from being patient?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a. Psalm 37:7-9</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. Psalm 40:1-3</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">c. Proverbs 14:29</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">d. Proverbs 15:18</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">e. Proverbs 25:15</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">f. Revelation 3:10</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">8. Think about someone who tries your patience, spend a few moments praying for them & then attempt to answer the following:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a. What might be going on in their life?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. Exactly what is it that irks you? </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">c. How does God view this relationship? How might God want you to respond?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">9. Think about your own life, especially as pertains to your Sanctification (growing in Christ-likeness).</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a. Where are you impatient with yourself?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">b. Find 2-3 verses to encourage you to be patient as you wait for God to work in & through you.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">10. Think about these people from the Bible, for each come up with ways they modeled patience:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a. Moses</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">c. David</span></div>
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Annette Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342402240437710822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506195983118003177.post-15028479398932925702015-02-12T06:57:00.000-08:002015-02-18T08:00:43.055-08:00Fruit of the Spirit - Group Exercise 4<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 12px; text-align: center;">
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<b>For developing personal study skills</b> - this exercise is uses lists to attempt to extract meaning from a passage. This method can be applied to just about any cohesive passage in scripture.</div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Read Psalm 37:1-8</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1. List repeated words or phrases</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">2. List repeated ideas</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">3. List actions to take</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">4. List attitudes to cultivate</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">6. What other sorts of lists might you be able to generate from this passage?</span></div>
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Annette Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342402240437710822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506195983118003177.post-67795086982604606992015-02-12T06:54:00.001-08:002015-02-12T06:54:44.022-08:00Fruit of the Spirit - Lecture Notes for Lesson 4<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Opening Prayer: Lord help our understanding, to get beyond what the world tries to call peace, and to understand Peace as a fruit of your Holy Spirit. We commit this time to you. Amen!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">INTRODUCTION: Peace, the word is used so loosely at times I think we are at risk of loosing sight of it's real meaning. Greenpeace - would have you think that peace is based on caring more about the Earth than the people who are housed there, lest you think I'm off-base their stated goal is "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its diversity". The Peace Corps - would have you think that peace can be attained through a volunteer process that promotes better understanding between the U.S. & other cultures, and helps meet the needs of people in various less-advantaged places in the world. Peace Coffee - would like you to think Peace is about being Organic & Fair Trade, and they use the 1960's Peace sign in their logo. We even speak of various Peace Processes at work between Governments - Peace in that case would be a cessation of hostilities. I don't have anything against any of these organizations - I'm just trying to establish what the world sees as Peace.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: God's Peace is not the peace the World gives.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">John 14:27</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> Jesus says "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Though our book mentioned the Greek word for peace, I'm going to go a step further (I believe) and use the Hebrew word for Peace - Shalom. So as I use the word Shalom, I want you to understand I mean God's Peace - Peace at that higher level, including the Spiritual Fruit of Peace.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I. Shalom - What is it? Where does it come from?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I read two daily devotionals, it's how I start my day most days, and I get them both on my phone - one of those cases where technology is being used for good - yep, there's an app for that! I read Our Daily Bread & Today Daily Devotion. On the Today Daily Devotion for February 1st it spoke about Shalom this way:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">"The longing of every human heart is for shalom. Shalom ... consists of far more than the absence of conflict. Shalom entails human flourishing in right relationship with the Creator God, with our fellow creatures, and with all of God's creation."</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">God's Peace has at it's source God Himself. One of the titles for Jesus is Prince of Peace (</span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Isaiah 9:6</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">), and He will reign over all His people in Peace - but perhaps not until after he returns to earth as the King of Kings (</span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Revelation 19:16</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">). For now, in this world, we do not have peace - Jesus told us that He didn't bring peace for the Earth (</span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Matthew10:34-35</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">) but instead a sword (God's Word?) that would cause division, even among close family members. It is through the power & indwelling the Holy Spirit that we today can obtain & express God's Peace - Shalom.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: Shalom is the result of being in right relationship with God.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Shalom is peace </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">from</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> God, that we get from being in right relationship </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">with</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> God, and is used </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">by</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> God in and through the lives of believers.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">II. Shalom </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">in</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> the life of a Christ Follower</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">From our book I gleaned that the Spiritual Fruit of Peace for the believer is:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Our Daily Bread (ODB) for February 5th was speaking of a psychology professor's findings that developing optimism is good for human health & well-being. This professor was encouraging people to "try activities that build joy, gratitude, love, and other positive feelings." ODB went on to say "We know, however, that more is required than a general wish for good feelings. We need a strong conviction that there is a source of joy, peace, and love upon which we can depend." ODB also suggested a study of </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Psalm 37:1-8</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> as an antidote to pessimism & discouragement - that's what our Group Exercise is for today. Psalm 37 clearly points to the Lord as our source for encouragement.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">How do we get Shalom? </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Isaiah 26:3</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> tells us that those whose minds are steadfast & trusting in God will be kept in perfect peace. This reminds me of Peter's attempt to walk on water - he was just fine until he took his eyes off of Jesus and started looking at the circumstances around him... when he lost focus on God he began to sink. We are like that too, if we keep our minds steadfast - e.g. focused on God - then we're going to be able to handle the storms that come up in our lives; in fact, we'll be able to do so with a calmness of heart, knowing that we can trust our lives in God's hands no matter the circumstances we find ourselves in.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Last week you'll remember I was a bit rattled. I was sleep deprived & thinking about Jeff's procedure later in the day. I was tempted to worry, but kept putting things right back in God's hands... and instead of being nervous & anxious I was relatively calm. I'm surprised how calm I was, I was fully expecting to learn my lesson on Peace the hard way (as I had with Love & Joy), but instead I learned it the right way - and I hope that in the future I will continue, because I can be a world-class worrier. God knows that we have worries, but He tells us (</span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1 Peter 5:7</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">) to cast our cares on Him, and to trust in His care for us.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: God's gift of Shalom allows the believer to graciously weather the storms of life.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Shalom removes worry, Shalom resolves stress, Shalom brings contentment, and Shalom can even allow us to be angry & express anger without sinning.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">What undermines your peace? What buttons get pressed that kick up your anxiety or ruffle your feathers?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">My biggest stumbling block is finances - I quit working almost 6 years ago & cut our income in half, and we've not made the adjustments that I feel we should in order to "safely" accommodate our new level of income. Add to that the fact that I'm trying to get a business going, and it's deeply in debt due to investments in equipment... well, you can use your imagination. God has been working on me about this, and I have come a long way. I am learning to trust God more, in doing so I'm learning to trust Jeff more - for a long time the only one I could depend on to take care of me was me (ok, Mom & Dad helped at times), so this has been a learning process.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">III. Shalom </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">through</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> the life of a Christ Follower</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">If Shalom were only for our own benefit it would be a terrific benefit, but as a Fruit of the Spirit it's not just for the benefit of the believer.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Shalom allows the believer to be in the midst of a crisis situation, and bring peace & calm to that situation - to be a Peacemaker. </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">James 3:18</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> says Peacemakers can sow peace, planting peace where there may be none to find otherwise, and in doing so will reap a harvest of righteousness. It seems to imply that when a believer exhibits calm in a crisis, they draw others to faith in God - or at least cause the faith of others to be strengthened.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Shalom allows the believer not to seek vengeance when wronged, but instead to be good to those who mean us harm. </span><span style="color: #ff2d22; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Romans 12:17-20</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> tells us to live at peace with everyone if at all possible & to trust God to avenge, that our job as believers to to overcome evil with good. Again this is being a Peacemaker, or living out Shalom in a broken world. Roman's tells us that this will "heap burning coals" on the head of our enemy - it will get his attention.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I was reading on Today - a digital news version of the Today show - they shared a snippet of an interview with Dr Phil. The gist of the interview was that it is more effective to whisper to get your kid's attention than to shout. The problem with shouting is that it cuts off communication, shouting results in more shouting, soon everybody is shouting and nobody is listening. Dr Phil shared that if a child is having a tantrum the best thing you can do is whisper because it is so different that it get's their attention, peaks their curiosity, and causes them to quiet down in order to listen. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PRINCIPLE: God's gift of Shalom allows the believer to whisper & be heard over the shouts of the world.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I am not going to share any personal political opinions here, that's not why I'm here, but I have noticed that in the last few decades things have gotten worse. Everybody seems to be shouting & nobody seems to be listening - well, almost nobody. There is one local politician that appears to rise above the fray, and though I don't necessarily agree with this politician's politics, I have respect for the person. This politician gets real work done, work that appears to be benefiting constituents, and is widely respected as a result. When a politician stops behaving like the rest, stops simply shouting out their own opinions, and does the right thing for the right reasons, it gets your attention.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">When God's people remain calm in a crisis, or are kind to those who are cruel to them, it get's attention as well... like whispering at a child throwing a tantrum.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">CONCLUSION: Let's trust in the Peace that Jesus gives to His followers, a Peace that keeps our hearts from being troubled, a Peace that can work through us to get the attention of the World.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Closing Prayer: Lord we thank you that you provide peace when we place our trust in you. Help us Lord to not just experience peace for ourselves, but also to have your peace working though us for the sake of others that we might reap a harvest of righteousness for your name's sake. Amen!</span></div>
Annette Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342402240437710822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506195983118003177.post-75677599741613067802015-02-04T08:04:00.001-08:002015-02-04T08:04:57.603-08:00Fruit of the Spirit - Study Worksheet 4<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 12px; min-height: 15px;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Study Worksheet</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Read </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">Chapter 4 Peace</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> in the book The Fruit Of The Spirit along with scriptures given in the questions below:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1. How would you describe the Spiritual Fruit of Peace?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">2. Read Philippians 4:7. What does the Spiritual Fruit of Peace do for the believer?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">3. a. How can we keep from becoming anxious?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> b. What is the opposite of anxiety?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">4. Were you moved by John Newton's story? Why or why not?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">5. What in your life tempts you to worry?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">6. Read Luke 8:22-25. Why was Jesus able to sleep when seasoned seafaring men (Peter, James, John, Andrew) were not?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">7. What is the key to being at peace when life gets complicated?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">8. What can result from anger that is not controlled by the Peace of God?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">9. From the 10 suggestions to control anger, what are some new things you will try when you find yourself angry?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">10. a. Why do you think advances in technology have resulted in added stress?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> b. What might be dangers to future generations?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">11. According to the book, what benefits might result from crisis situations?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">12. What do the following verses tell you about peacemakers?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> a. Matthew 5:9</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> b. James 3:18</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">13. a. Read Isaiah 26:3. What condition does the prophet say leads to Peace?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> b. Read Proverbs 12:20. What is a benefit of the fruit of Peace?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> c. Read Isaiah 32:17. What is the effect of Peace?</span></div>
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Annette Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342402240437710822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506195983118003177.post-11936053460330123572015-02-04T08:01:00.001-08:002015-02-18T07:57:16.790-08:00Fruit of the Spirit - Group Exercise 3<b>For developing personal study skills</b> - this exercise is for determining the meaning of a passage. You could use the same set of questions and apply them to just about any cohesive passage of scripture.<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Group Exercise</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Read Psalm 121, work together to answer the following questions:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1. Why do you think God included this passage in the Bible?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">2. Is there a new thought here - something you may not have realized previously?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">3. Is there something here that is difficult for you to understand?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">4. Look for and list any of the following: </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A sin to avoid</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A promise to claim</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>An example to follow</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A command to obey</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>An attitude to change</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">5. What did you learn about who God is & what He does?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">6. From this passage, what is important to God?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">7. Is there something in this passage that makes you love God more?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">8. Come up with 1-2 lessons from this passage that are meaningful to you.</span></div>
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Annette Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342402240437710822noreply@blogger.com0