Be (Fresh) Fruit of the Spirit Chapter: 12
FAITHFULNESS
Wow! Wasn’t that a wonderful journey on the goodness of God? Hope you’re looking forward to next week or the next chapter here our next chapter is on faithfulness. Yes, another Study 01 thanks. As always, complete the next section before going on into the study. Allow God to minister directly to you. Then, allow God to minister to you through my words.
Hello, is your scriptural study. Be sure to look up the Scriptures in two different versions of the Bible, meditate on in the Scriptures, and ask God to open your eyes and your heart.
Scriptural Studies:
- Exodus 2:22-24
- Lamentations 3:22
- John 17:4
- First Corinthians 11:22-28
- Romans chapter 5:3-5
What is faithfulness? How would you define thankfulness? Where do you find faithfulness in the Old Testament? What are the circumstances of faithfulness in the new testament?
Compare and contrast Characteristics and definition goodness and faithfulness?
Would you describe God is faithful? And if so provide some examples his faithfulness bin the space for bed.
In what areas of your life do you demonstrate faithfulness?
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Oh right! I hope you have already dived into the study of faithfulness. Through your homework I know that the Holy Spirit has taught you well. So far, we have examined several fruits of the spirit. We have discussed: love, peace, joy, kindness, goodness, and now faithfulness. Above all, we must have love. If you do not have love you should question your salvation. Love is the route to each and every spiritual gift. We have peace and joy, because we have the love of our Creator God. We exhibit these characteristics, because the Holy Spirit is living inside of us. We show kindness because it is love in action and we are good call me because that’s who we are in Christ Jesus. However these gifts only manifest themselves in mature, sanctified Christians. When you get the Holy Spirit all of them are present, but something happens as you grow closer to God. You become more like Jesus. And your love and obedience people see your good works and glorify God.
The part of faithfulness, that the Holy Spirit wants us to discuss, it’s tough. Yes, time because faithfulness is proven over time. When we show kindness and goodness it comes and goes, but our faith is ongoing and grows all the time. Overtime, we are faithful to exhibit the fruits of the spirit. For example, let’s consider marriage. The scripture describes marriage as being a monogamous male and female relationship. It is a sin to be and faithful. They are for, a husband and a wife must be faithful all the time. Looking at my own relationship, I have been faithful to my husband for 24 years, but it only takes one time do they be unfaithful or to commit adultery. Moreover, we are faithful to each other and more than just intimacy. How are you faithful in your relationships?
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How do you hold integrity and your relationships?
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How does the fruit of the spirit play a part in your relationship?
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We must also consider dependability and reliability as part of being faithful. Someone that is faithful have both of these attributes. They Demonstrate these attributes day after day. For example, you should know that you can count on your spouse. You should be dependable and reliable do your spouse. A spouse should be consistently good and consistently reliable.
Do examine a faithful person in more detail; let’s look at the character of God. Does God exhibit and portray dependability and reliability?
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Isn’t he someone that we can always count on being there and telling us the truth?
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Well, let’s example in God’s faithfulness in the Old Testament. One of the first incidents that comes to mind is God’s removal of his people from Egypt. Another one is where God promised Abraham a large nation of people. In the second book of the Bible, exorcist, chapter 2, we see that Israel lights were enslaved Egyptian’s. When you’re reading there, you will find that God heard their cries. God has always been faithful to hear the cries of his people. (Exodus 2:23-24) Not only was God faithful and hearing the cries of his people, but he was faithful in also answering his promises. God promised to make Abraham’s Seed a great nation and here in scripture he is about to feel this promise. A couple more things to tote take note of here is that God is faithful through the 10 plagues, God provided them wealth, and God is going to I feel the promise of protecting them and God is going to feel the promise of making them a great nation. This is why Israel is the native Land of God’s people. So, we can see through the Old Testament, all the way through the New Testament and even today that God is faithful. If God makes you a promise, he will keep it. God delivers on his promises. Which makes God dependable, evil, loyal, and overall faithful.
Next, I would like to examine a scripture found in Lamentations. Do you recall the song: Great is Thy faithfulness?” If so, in the space be low right part of its lyrics and tell how it affects you.
This hymn is a direct result from Lamentations 3:23. The Israelites and even us today, as a nation, do not always follow God‘s law; they are for common we are not always faithful. We are not always the temp dependable. God cannot always count us as reliable. God the father cannot say that we are always there for him. Yes, shame on us! However, God is always faithful. Chapter 3 chapter 3 of lamentations is a book, written in a time, in which the people of Israel were in rebellion against God. They as a people we’re not faith, reliable, or dependable. That’s why I just called lamenting. Another word for lamenting is also anguish.
Jeremiah was lamenting and was full of anguish, because the Israelites once again were in sin. We know that sin has a snowball effect, and it will take you further than you want to go or thank you are willing to go. But Jeremiah was in despair about his people, and he wanted them to return to God. Jeremiah believed and you can tell by his writings that he knew the characteristic of faithfulness, because great is the faithfulness of God. Jeremiah had faith in God, because he believed in the promises of God. He had the scriptures that were evidence of God ‘s answers and filament of those promises.
Next, let’s look at the New Testament. The apostle Paul is a great example of faithfulness in a human being, because He was kind and good over his entire life. However, Paul was faithful, because he was able to persevere. In the life of Paul, he was able to persevere through many trials, tribulations, and sufferings and he was still able to stay true to God. Faithfulness is the ability to persevere and still follow God. Faithfulness is not running from a trail, tribulation, or problem. People who exhibit faithfulness says: “I will remain faithful to God in spite of my trials, problems, and earthly situations.”
Paul remained faithful to God overtime and through trails and persecutions from others; both from his own and from non-believers. in 2nd Corinthians 11: 24 -28 what Paul faced in his life they are as follows:
five times I received at the hands
beat with 40 lashes more than once
on some occasions he was beaten with rods
stoned three times
He was shipwrecked
Frequently his journeys were in danger
from rivers, robbers, and other people
He had toils and hardships
Many sleepless nights
He suffered from hunger and thirst
He was exposed all sorts of weather
Patterns.
He may of suffered from anxiety from being
a the church’s boss.
Paul knew what it was to suffer and he suffered all of his life after conversion. So, we see that once we have been converted life is not, “a bed of roses.” Life still happens to Christians. We are called to demonstrate faithfulness! As followers of Jesus Christ we must accept the fact that we still live in a fallen and sinful. Satan has lost he battle for our soul, but Satan is going to do everything he can to steal our joy! He will try to hinder your spiritual growth and relationship with God and others. His main goal is to devour you! But, praise God, he can’t steal your peace, joy, or love, because these are the gifts of the Spirit. This mean we must remain faithful to God while we struggle in difficulties and hardships of life.
Of course, God came as his incarnate as Jesus Christ; which, is the ultimate fulfilling of prophecy and promise. Great is the faithfulness of God to his children. We can trust God, because he has integrity and our best interest at heart. There is no other like him.
Have you ever wondered win humankind knew about Jesus? Was it when he entered the New Testament? Why or why not?
What does Genesis 3:25 tell us?
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Well, this is when God let humanity know about his redemptive plan for us. If you continue reading the Old Testament from Genesis chapter 3 verse 15; you’ll see, prophecy after prophecy foretelling us that Jesus will come. All the prophecies predict that Jesus will be our answer to salvation. I find this very intriguing and this is where we find God‘s faithfulness. He is faithful and just. What he tells us is true! Are you waiting for Jesus to return? God will fulfill his promise of Jesus Christ returning to get us. We see this-in John 17:4. “John 17:4 ( King James Version) 4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” They are for Jesus is the answer to the promise. He is the only way to obtain eternal life in heaven.
Now, since God the father God the son those our faithful; then, we are also expected to be faithful. Take a minute to jot down what do you think Christians should be faithful at doing or at being.
It is a fact, that Christians are called to be faithful to God; for this reason, I like the following scripture: 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, we have all seen our need for a savior. We must be sanctified. Sanctification is a second work of grace. Now, God gives us all at our conversion but as we mature, we become more sanctified. This means that we submit all our ways to the Lord’s wheel. We die out to sin daily. We choose to do right over wrong. We allow the holy spirit, as part of the Trinity, to dictate and direct our steps.
Perhaps, we can understand more about being a faithful servant by reading a parable that Jesus wrote. I would like for you to read Matthew 24:45-51. In the space provided write down what you think the verse is wanting each Christian to do.
This parable is about a master who has servants. Jesus is saying that the servant who is good and is faithful his master will bless. However, if the master beats his servants or is unkind to his servants; then the master will come back in punish him. God will judge S for how we took care of what God has given us. God is the owner, Jesus is the master, and we are the servants. Therefore, Jesus gives each of us certain responsibilities. This is why Jesus sent the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps us by giving us the fruits of the spirit. Christians are to obey the Holy Ghost. This is why the combination of God, Jesus Christ, and Holy Ghost are important. When we are obeying the Holy Ghost, we are obeying Jesus; while at the same time we are obeying God. Finally, God is our judge. If we do good works and obey God, he will bless us, but if we do the will of Satan; then, he will punish us. There is something called
The second death. The ones who are saved under the blood of Jesus Christ, will be judged on the Beamer seat, and will make heaven their home. However, on the flipside, call the nonbelievers or the ones that reject Jesus Christ, will be placed on the judgment seat. Add that great white throne judgment those who do not except him will be cast in the lake of fire.
Finally, the fruit of the spirit characteristic of faithfulness it’s just not something for our spiritual life. It’s something that needs to be manifested through us each and every day. We discussed earlier about being faithful in our marriages, but what else should we be faithful or requires this gift of the spirit?
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We need to be faithful in our marriages. We need to staying power of the Holy Ghost. The divorce rate between the Christian and the non-Christian is the nearly the same. Divorce is an unacceptable practice. As you know, according to Scripture, divorce should be the last resort and only has a few reasons why divorce would be biblically correct.
We need to be faithful in our finances. Yes, this is a big one for a lot of people. The World watches the Christian in everything. Scripture after scripture tells us to be great stewards of our money. Tithing is still prevalent today as it was before Christ. (Leviticus 27:30) God calls us to be cheerful giver ‘s. (Second Corinthians 9:7) God wants us not to be stingy with our money. (1 Timothy 6:17-21) God wants us to pay our debts. In fact, God wants us not to be in debt. (Romans 13:8) You know as well as I do if you have a mortgage call it hold you hostage sometimes. Therefore, we need the Holy Spirit to help us be financially faithful.
Scripture asks us to be faithful to the house of God. Hebrews 10:25 tells us that we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. God put us on earth to love one another. He put us here to serve one another. When we give our heart to Christ and become reborn he also placed us in the body of Christ. Have you ever heard the saying: “bloom where you are planted.” God put you in a certain place and expect you to mature and to grow. We need to be faithful in the church that God sent us too. We only need to leave that body of Christ when the Holy Spirit directs us to. We have too many people searching for churches on the basis of how the church can serve them. For example, “you’ll hear them say well what children’s programs do you have, do you have a nursery, do you have a choir, and so on.”
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