STEP 1 PREPARATION - CHAPTER 7
FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
SHARING THE GOSPEL?
In a research study done, the issue was asked: "What was responsible for you coming to Christ and getting established in a local Church?" 79% of the people said a good friend or relative presented the Gospel.
"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation..." (Isaiah 52:7).
THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
"Fruit of the Spirit" - Is a noticeable growth and progression in Jesus Christ. It is a scriptural term that sums up the nine visible attributes of a faithful Christian's life. The apostle Paul listed nine characteristics that must be growing and maturing in our lives to call ourselves Christians and to introduce others to Christ.
Galatians 5:22-23: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things, there is no law."
The Bible says we receive assistance from the Spirit when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. As a result of that help, we can end up being much more like Jesus, revealing the nine crucial characteristics and attributes of the Fruit of the Spirit in our daily lives.
IMPORTANT: This experience and journey of the Fruit of the Spirit working and operating in our lives happen when individuals invite Jesus Christ into their hearts.
Regarding soul-winning (evangelism) and the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23,) here is a summary of a fruitful witness for Christ.
1. LOVING WITNESS
Loving is not enabling an individual's offenses or disrespect to sidetrack you from ministering to their needs. You love them also when they are unloving. (Luke 6:32-42).
It's no coincidence that love is the very first fruit detailed in Galatians chapter 5. Jesus claimed the best two rules are to love God and love each other (Mark 12:30 -31). When we love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, just as we love our neighbors as ourselves, we reveal and demonstrate to the lost we belong to Jesus.
Important: Up until you understand God loves you, it will undoubtedly be challenging to love God as well as love others. Whether you've never known that God loves you or you require a reminder about God's exceptional love for you, but when we encounter God, we experience "love" and "truth" that is uncontainable. God changes us from the inside out. We need to let His miraculous love work in and through us.
In today's culture, we use the word "love" very loosely ("I love the way you are dressed" or "I love hamburgers.") It can be tough to determine the kind of love Jesus talked about in the Bible. What does it look like to love God with everything we have? Like any love connection, love means setting aside time for God in prayer and reading the Bible.
When we love God, we can love others. Love isn't merely something to talk about. Jesus instructed us to reveal our love by sharing God's love with others through acts of service. Do you know somebody hard and challenging to love? Will it be easy? No! We, as God's children, need to abide in Christ's Spirit by talking (prayer), listening and reading God's Word daily to love others. (Pause and Reflect!)
2. JOYFUL WITNESS (Acts 5:41)
We need the joy of the Lord even with resistance and rejection of others when sharing our faith.
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4). It is easy to rejoice when things are going our way. It's an entirely different story when life is hard. Jesus's followers are called to have joy all the time, not merely when life is good.
One of the essential keys to being joyful is understanding why we express joy. Does your joy and happiness come from the issues of our world, money, jobs, relationships, or vacations? Or the infinite joy that is to come to you by our Lord? We must rejoice in the Lord, even in the tough times.
The progressive Christian remains joyful and confident, recognizing that Christ will ultimately win. Is your concentration on the troubles of this world or the everlasting joy that we have? If you find yourself focusing and fixating on negatives, redirect and refocus your negative thoughts to Jesus as well as the promises of heaven. In Acts 13:49-52, Paul and Barnabas were persecuted and expelled from that area because of sharing the Gospel. We see in verse 52 their reaction, "And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit."
3. PEACEFUL WITNESS
Peace is tranquil will power to do God's will while certainly informing others regarding Jesus despite any outward circumstances. (Acts 20:21-24).
Like the words "love"and "peace" have come to be often often used and hard to define. Real peace comes from God, as well there's absolutely nothing like it. "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33). Jesus said those words two thousand years earlier, yet they're still implied for us today. Does your tranquility come from relying on Jesus, or does it come from your situations?
Even more individuals than ever before struggle with stress and anxiety. You can have a peaceful witness when you focus on God instead of yourself or the world around you.
4. PATIENT (FORBEARANCE) WITNESS
Being patient means developing a connection and sharing your faith, even if there is no immediate outcome that appears while waiting on God to soften their heart. (Ephesians 4:2; Romans 2:6-7).
Residing in this hectic world can offer you anxiety and uneasiness. Still, impatience isn't something you wish to sweep aside as a small problem. If you discover you are getting annoyed at, intolerant, or worried with individuals. Envision how much more those conflicting feelings can be put to rest while you're waiting on the Lord.
Do you not believe you have what it requires to be a patient person? See what the Bible states concerning persistence and why you can not establish this characteristic yourself. Patience (forbearance) is essential in all areas of our lives when dealing with family, neighbors, friends, at work, soul-winning, and simple tasks like driving a vehicle. Even more, of a reason to ask God in this challenging area for help.
God works out extra patience than we ever could have before. God will not run out of patience with you despite the number of times you mess up.
5. KINDNESS WITNESS
Kindness is talking tenderly to convince individuals to believe in Christ by avoiding and staying clear of arguing over God or His Word. (Romans 2:4).
Philippians 2:3-4 "...value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others." Kindness is about more than being friendly. It requires effort and a genuine concern for others and can assist you to come to be a kinder individual and witness. Talk to folks you meet each day and make an extra effort to look for opportunities to show kindness and then follow through each time. Take note of just how it affects you as well as others. It takes an extraordinary level of humbleness to live in the spirit of kindness consistently.
When you yield your life to Christ, your old ways no longer matter. With the assistance of the Holy Spirit, you can personify the attributes of a kind individual in everyday life and in sharing the Gospel.
6. GOODNESS WITNESS
Goodness is enabling one's life, house, and possessions to be used in assisting others to come to Christ. (Romans 12:21).
To practice goodness, you should initially understand what God considers "good." In Romans 12:9, "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good." The spiritual fruit of goodness allows and helps us accomplish good and be good in the highest and most incredible sense of the word. Goodness, after all, is the heart and soul of God's nature.
God calls us to love every person, including our enemies, in sharing the "Good News." The Bible states, we that follow Jesus Christ should be just as much in love with each other as God was in love with us when He sent His Son to die on the cross.
Faithful is being determined and consistent in the objective of getting others for Christ. A faithful witness does not give up. They hang in there with persistence. (2 Timothy 1:13).
For this reason, faithfulness, a fruit of the Spirit, can undoubtedly be a daunting and challenging trait and attribute to possess. Faithfulness happens from a source of trust and loyalty. Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is a confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." As a Christian, it is vital to be faithful to God in sharing the Gospel with those we meet.
Therefore, exactly how do we develop and flourish in our faithfulness? By being faithful to Him, obeying His commands, and having a personal relationship with Christ, but the challenge is how to show your faithfulness to God. What are the areas of your life getting in the way of your faithfulness? Spend time in prayer, ask God to make these things clear to you so that He can grow you in your faith and devotion in spreading the Gospel.
8. GENTLENESS WITNESS (1Peter 3:15)
Gentleness is finding opportunities to honor those you are attempting to reach for Christ. By being generous, understanding, charitable, compassionate, caring, and thoughtful towards those without Christ. Philippians 4:5 says, "Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near."
Gentleness is a firm, steady control with a gentle touch. It is a caring, compassionate, and tenderhearted approach towards other people's weaknesses and issues. A gentle and kind person still speaks truthfulness, but in doing so, safeguards his tone and manner so the truth can be well received. Even after thoroughly pointing out the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus Christ defined a spirit of gentleness. He showed how He honestly felt about even those opposed to Him..
9. SELF-CONTROLLING (SELF-DISCIPLINE) WITNESS
Self-controlling is finding out by the Holy Spirit's help to manage your ideas, feelings, words, emotions, and actions to be an effective and efficient witness.
Exactly why is the last fruit of the Spirit, self-control, so crucial in governing our decisions, especially in relation to demonstrating the other fruits? Of all the things we have to guide in this life, self is often our most significant challenge with numerous everyday temptations and disappointments. Keeping self-control at the home, workplace, or traveling can be challenging.
Often we require to distance ourselves from whatever is tempting us. (1 Corinthians 10:13). Perhaps it's tough to maintain your cool when things go wrong. Ask God for His power to preserve self-control. 2 Timothy 1:7 states, "For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline."
Self-control is the discipline, practice, and control of putting off the impulse or satisfaction for a more unique and significant purpose or goal. Whenever we practice and apply self-control, we say "no" for the benefit and purpose of a more meaningful "yes" in sharing the Gospel. We are exchanging something in the here and now for something more effective in the future.
What categorizes your way of life, the fruit of the Spirit, or something altogether different? Let's look at the opposites of the Fruit of the Spirit listed in Paul's letter to the Galatians in chapter 5:22-23.
Fruit of the Spirit |
Fruit of the Flesh |
Love |
Dislike / Not Caring |
Joy |
Discouragement |
Peace |
Stress / Worry |
Patience |
Impatience |
Kindness |
Rudeness |
Goodness |
Wickedness |
Faithfulness |
Unfaithfulness |
Gentleness |
Hardness |
Self-Control |
No Self-Restraint |
Are you applying the truths of the Fruit of the Spirit?
Which one is your best?
Which one is your weakest?
Which aspect of the above would God certainly have you concentrate on today?
We are sent forth to bear much fruit; that is only possible when we stay firmly attached to Jesus, the vine. (Please read John 15:1-17). These words of Jesus apply to us right up to this day. As we love and fear God and delight and hunger in having the Word (the Bible) prune us and allow Christ's fullness revealed to us. More of His life will connect and touch those around us and bear fruit. (Pause and Reflect.)
The Fruit of the Spirit is a lifetime working process in our lives.
CONCLUSION
Nevertheless, when a person comes to Jesus Christ, they receive Christ into their heart. The Spirit of God comes and connects with the Spirit of the believer. This "indwelling Spirit" reproduces and recreates the life of Jesus in the follower's life. This experience of the Fruit of the Spirit operating in our lives happens the instant a person asks Jesus Christ into their heart.
Believers are called to abide in Christ and develop the same fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.) (Galatians 5:22-23). We should each be known by the same Fruit of the Spirit.
HOWEVER, A DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE is also for those that believe that Jesus Christ is the Lord of their lives. John the Baptist foretold, "I baptize you with water, but He (Jesus) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." (Mark 1:8).
HOWEVER, A DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE is also for those that believe that Jesus Christ is the Lord of their lives. John the Baptist foretold, "I baptize you with water, but He (Jesus) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." (Mark 1:8). See you tomorrow when we look at The Baptism and Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
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