November 19, 2015
This week's class will not meet next week because of Thanksgiving ! We rapped up our discussion of Joy. This week we looked at 7 versus in God's word. A couple were reminders of where Joy comes from and others gave us new info to learn about this part of the Fruit of the Spirit. By taking versus from both Old and New Testament we can see that this fruit, as all the others, is the same yesterday, today, and forever. For that we should all say AMEN !!!
" The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, But the prayer of the upright is His delight. " Proverbs 15 : 8 This shows that what gives God Joy is not for His creation to follow laws and rules, but the humble supplication showed by coming to Him in prayer. Sounds simple, but the Jews have NEVER figured this out ! All through history they have tried to follow laws rather than admit to God that without Him we can do nothing... including worship Him as He wants us to worship Him !!!
" So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. Acts 5 : 41 This is a concept that most Christians and all non believers still do not understand. When a Christian suffers, their first response is " what have I done wrong that God is punishing me ?" This is normal and a proper response. However, as we mature in Christ, we count ourselves lucky that the Father counts us worthy to suffer for Him and to be a witness to those around us. Easy ???? No, but God receives the glory when His people use suffering to witness for His Son, Jesus !
" And the disciples were filled with Joy and with the Holy Spirit. " Acts 13 : 52 This verse just reminds us that the Fruit of Joy, as all the fruits do, come from the Holy Spirit.
" ... as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. " 2 Corinthians 6 : 10 As Paul is talking he tells the Corinthians that by the power of the Holy Spirit we do these things. The paradoxes used here show the difference between the things of this world and of the spiritual world. As an example when he says " as poor , yet making many rich.." He is saying that the world may see us as poor but in the spiritual world we are rich !! Why ? Because by the power of the Holy Spirit people can gain eternal life. Therefore, we truly possess the ability to make many rich !!!
" Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man's sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, for in like manner their fathers did to the prophets. " Luke 6 : 22 - 23 Here Jesus is saying that the believer should jump for joy when things are done or said about them FALSELY for the faith in Jesus. God gets no glory if the things they say about you are true, in fact that makes you a bad witness. But, if not true, your reward is great in heaven !!!
" ... whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory ... " 1 Peter 1 : 8 We are filled with joy because we love God and we have not seen Him !!! Why ? .... because joy comes from the Holy Spirit that fills us when we are born again !! By His power we are able to love that which we can not see !! God is good !
" The humble also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. " Isaiah 29 : 19 Here Isaiah is telling of a future when Jesus comes that people will have much joy in the Lord. When believers are saved they will receive the Holy Spirit and all that is included with that, including the fruit of the spirit. Notice also that he addresses the humble and poor.... all conditions of the heart. This is no accident,,, without the proper condition of the heart the fruit can not grow well !!! Like planting grass seed in sand... it will not grow !
We will take next week off and when we come back we will look at another Fruit of the Spirit. Hope to see you here and may God bless you richly as you study His word.
Friday, November 20, 2015
Sunday, November 15, 2015
Fruit Of The Spirit ... Joy
November 12, 2015
Have you ever heard someone say something like , " That person is stealing my joy ! " ? A lot of people say and believe that is possible. However, we will see that they mean happiness not joy. Happiness is from outside the body, joy is from the Holy Spirit on the inside of the body. No one can steal your joy..... you may choose to give it away..... but no one can steal it from you . As we start this weeks study on joy we will take a look at 5 versus from the Bible that will show that this great gift from the Spirit is for you from God and no one can steal it !!!
" ... for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit " Romans 14 : 17 We start with this verse because it tells us so much ! Eating and drinking mean that the Kingdom of God is not of earthly pleasures...put another way it is not made up of things outside the body which gives pleasure to the flesh. Also, it tells us that righteousness, peace, and joy all come from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives inside the body of all born again believers, and what God gives no man can take away! It does NOT say happiness !
" Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. " Romans 15 : 13 God is the eternal hope that all believers have in salvation ! That hope is in God's word and is used by the power of the Holy Spirit that we may have all joy knowing that our salvation is assured because of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us ! It is because of this hope and joy that ALL believers in Jesus are sure they are going to heaven !!
" Your words were found, and I ate them, and your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart ;For I am called by your name, O Lord God of hosts." Jeremiah 15 : 16 This verse again shows that the Word of God brings joy and rejoicing to the believer. Notice it says for believers ! Therefore, if joy comes from God to believers, who does NOT have joy ? It is not possible for non - believers to have joy !!! That is why the world makes no difference between joy and happiness... because they will never know the joy that is in Jesus !!! Praise God !!
" You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy ; At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. " Psalm 16 : 11 What is the path of life ? Jesus . Who is the fullness of joy to God ? Jesus. Who is at the right hand of God ? Jesus. In this psalm we can easily see that the reason we have the fruit of joy is because of the sacrifice Jesus made for us ! Without Jesus would be no life and no joy. When we talk about life in this context we are talking about eternal life with Jesus, not life in the body here on earth.
" Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, But counselors of peace have joy. " Proverbs 12 : 20 By showing contrasting views on a subject the writer is hoping to emphasize the point he is making. Here the writer is saying that non - believers (those who devise evil) can not have joy. In contrast with believers (counselors of peace) do have joy. Also it is interesting to note that in the New Testament the Holy Spirit is called the counselor by Jesus !!!
Next week we will continue with our study of joy.
Have you ever heard someone say something like , " That person is stealing my joy ! " ? A lot of people say and believe that is possible. However, we will see that they mean happiness not joy. Happiness is from outside the body, joy is from the Holy Spirit on the inside of the body. No one can steal your joy..... you may choose to give it away..... but no one can steal it from you . As we start this weeks study on joy we will take a look at 5 versus from the Bible that will show that this great gift from the Spirit is for you from God and no one can steal it !!!
" ... for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit " Romans 14 : 17 We start with this verse because it tells us so much ! Eating and drinking mean that the Kingdom of God is not of earthly pleasures...put another way it is not made up of things outside the body which gives pleasure to the flesh. Also, it tells us that righteousness, peace, and joy all come from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives inside the body of all born again believers, and what God gives no man can take away! It does NOT say happiness !
" Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. " Romans 15 : 13 God is the eternal hope that all believers have in salvation ! That hope is in God's word and is used by the power of the Holy Spirit that we may have all joy knowing that our salvation is assured because of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us ! It is because of this hope and joy that ALL believers in Jesus are sure they are going to heaven !!
" Your words were found, and I ate them, and your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart ;For I am called by your name, O Lord God of hosts." Jeremiah 15 : 16 This verse again shows that the Word of God brings joy and rejoicing to the believer. Notice it says for believers ! Therefore, if joy comes from God to believers, who does NOT have joy ? It is not possible for non - believers to have joy !!! That is why the world makes no difference between joy and happiness... because they will never know the joy that is in Jesus !!! Praise God !!
" You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy ; At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. " Psalm 16 : 11 What is the path of life ? Jesus . Who is the fullness of joy to God ? Jesus. Who is at the right hand of God ? Jesus. In this psalm we can easily see that the reason we have the fruit of joy is because of the sacrifice Jesus made for us ! Without Jesus would be no life and no joy. When we talk about life in this context we are talking about eternal life with Jesus, not life in the body here on earth.
" Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, But counselors of peace have joy. " Proverbs 12 : 20 By showing contrasting views on a subject the writer is hoping to emphasize the point he is making. Here the writer is saying that non - believers (those who devise evil) can not have joy. In contrast with believers (counselors of peace) do have joy. Also it is interesting to note that in the New Testament the Holy Spirit is called the counselor by Jesus !!!
Next week we will continue with our study of joy.
Sunday, November 8, 2015
Fruit Of The Spirit ... Faith ( Part 3 )
November 5, 2015
Note : I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of you who are studying God's word with u ! To all of our Russian brothers and sisters.... bless you !! Get your friends to join us .
In this our third week on faith we looked at some more aspects of faith. We took 5 verses and discussed each one. One of the five verses was Hebrews 11 : 1. We have started each class on faith with this verse. We covered it last week in the notes but we will look at it again here just to remind you .
" Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. " Hebrews 11 : 1
The reason this verse is so important is it tells us exactly what faith is and how we are to show faith.... ACTION ! As you read the rest of the chapter you will see that each person showed their faith in God by doing something. Building an arc, leading an army, leading a son up to be murdered, action is how we show our faith in God and to God. However, the biggest mistake Christians make is to do something they think God wants and then ask Him to bless it. This is backward, wait on God to lead you and show you what to do THEN take action.
" ... looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God " Hebrews 12 : 2. Two major points her 1) This tells us where we get our faith !! By keeping our eyes on Jesus, He was the author of faith when He died on the cross and the finisher of our faith that He now sits at the right hand of God. By faith, we with Jesus as long as we keep our eyes on Jesus. 2) Tells us why we should have faith. Jesus was happy to do the will of His father, even unto death and humiliation. This tells us that if we truly love Jesus, we will do his will even unto death !!!
" ... that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. " 1 Corinthians 2 : 5. When we prepare to take the action God has set aside for us, we need to make sure that we do God's way not mans. A good example might be if you are to teach a new bible study class and the church says to do certain things to le people know about it.... before you do any thing pray. God may want your class to reach different people than those in the church ! He may want you to put up notices in homeless shelters to reach those people. Always pray before taking action to make sure God's will is done His way !!!
" ... but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. " John 20 : 31. Here John is saying that all of Jesus' miracles were written down as proof that He was the Son of God. Not just a prophet or a good man. It is interesting to note that no where in the New Testament was any of the miracles that Jesus ever did were questioned... even by His enemies !! Even His enemies knew He was sent by God ! Knowing that Jesus died willingly to do the Fathers will should give us comfort in doing the will of Jesus even unto death !!!
" So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. " Romans 10 : 17. In those days, they did not have bibles as we do today. They would only get God's word when a priest would read from the scrolls in temple. Thus they would hear the word of God. For believers today we have bibles and faith comes by reading and/or hearing God's word.
This raps up our study on faith. Next week we will take a look at joy !
Note : I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of you who are studying God's word with u ! To all of our Russian brothers and sisters.... bless you !! Get your friends to join us .
In this our third week on faith we looked at some more aspects of faith. We took 5 verses and discussed each one. One of the five verses was Hebrews 11 : 1. We have started each class on faith with this verse. We covered it last week in the notes but we will look at it again here just to remind you .
" Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. " Hebrews 11 : 1
The reason this verse is so important is it tells us exactly what faith is and how we are to show faith.... ACTION ! As you read the rest of the chapter you will see that each person showed their faith in God by doing something. Building an arc, leading an army, leading a son up to be murdered, action is how we show our faith in God and to God. However, the biggest mistake Christians make is to do something they think God wants and then ask Him to bless it. This is backward, wait on God to lead you and show you what to do THEN take action.
" ... looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God " Hebrews 12 : 2. Two major points her 1) This tells us where we get our faith !! By keeping our eyes on Jesus, He was the author of faith when He died on the cross and the finisher of our faith that He now sits at the right hand of God. By faith, we with Jesus as long as we keep our eyes on Jesus. 2) Tells us why we should have faith. Jesus was happy to do the will of His father, even unto death and humiliation. This tells us that if we truly love Jesus, we will do his will even unto death !!!
" ... that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. " 1 Corinthians 2 : 5. When we prepare to take the action God has set aside for us, we need to make sure that we do God's way not mans. A good example might be if you are to teach a new bible study class and the church says to do certain things to le people know about it.... before you do any thing pray. God may want your class to reach different people than those in the church ! He may want you to put up notices in homeless shelters to reach those people. Always pray before taking action to make sure God's will is done His way !!!
" ... but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. " John 20 : 31. Here John is saying that all of Jesus' miracles were written down as proof that He was the Son of God. Not just a prophet or a good man. It is interesting to note that no where in the New Testament was any of the miracles that Jesus ever did were questioned... even by His enemies !! Even His enemies knew He was sent by God ! Knowing that Jesus died willingly to do the Fathers will should give us comfort in doing the will of Jesus even unto death !!!
" So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. " Romans 10 : 17. In those days, they did not have bibles as we do today. They would only get God's word when a priest would read from the scrolls in temple. Thus they would hear the word of God. For believers today we have bibles and faith comes by reading and/or hearing God's word.
This raps up our study on faith. Next week we will take a look at joy !
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Fruit Of The Spirit ... Faith (Part 2)
In this class we continued our look at faith. We looked at 5 verses from the bible and discussed how faith was being shown to us. Last class we had looked at all of Hebrews chapter 11 also known as God's Hall Of Fame. So to tie it all together we went back and looked at Hebrews 11 : 1.
" Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." The reason this verse ties this whole chapter together is because it tells you how faith is shown by us to God...action !
The biggest mistake many Christians make is to go do what THEY think God wants and then ask God to bless it. Now this is action, but this is not faith in God but in mans actions and abilities. Pray and wait on God and he will show you his will ... THEN take action by faith and by God's will !!
" ...but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those that heard it." ( Hebrews 4 : 2) This is a very interesting part of faith that most do not think of ! People can not just pick up the bible and read and understand it. I know this also by personal experience ! It takes a saving faith and the Holy Spirit to remove the vale and open your eyes and heart to listen and understand God's word !!
" For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves ; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." ( Ephesians 2 : 8 ) Again , this is a tough idea ! If you get faith from God and can only be saved by faith, then do we really have free will ? The answer is yes. It is a gift from God BUT this gift is available to all who accept his son Jesus !!! Again... all other religions equate good deeds with going to heaven, except Christianity. If you accept His Son Jesus you will be saved !!!
" For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, " ( Philippians 1 : 29 ) Non Christians who hear we are saved by faith think we have it so easy. The truth is rarely explained further. Yes we are saved by grace through faith.. but we will also suffer in this body for that grace and faith, just as Jesus suffered in His body to give us the chance to go to heaven !!!
" ...not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; "( Philippians 3 : 9 ) Also by faith we receive righteousness. Not of ourselves since we are sinners and not able to give, grant, or be righteous... but Jesus' righteousness that is given to us and acknowledged by God since it is from God.
In studying faith we have found it to be so rich and valuable that we have decided to spend one more week on it. I could spend a year looking at the richness and complexity of faith. The great thing about it is that it is entirely from God. !!!
" Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." The reason this verse ties this whole chapter together is because it tells you how faith is shown by us to God...action !
The biggest mistake many Christians make is to go do what THEY think God wants and then ask God to bless it. Now this is action, but this is not faith in God but in mans actions and abilities. Pray and wait on God and he will show you his will ... THEN take action by faith and by God's will !!
" ...but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those that heard it." ( Hebrews 4 : 2) This is a very interesting part of faith that most do not think of ! People can not just pick up the bible and read and understand it. I know this also by personal experience ! It takes a saving faith and the Holy Spirit to remove the vale and open your eyes and heart to listen and understand God's word !!
" For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves ; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." ( Ephesians 2 : 8 ) Again , this is a tough idea ! If you get faith from God and can only be saved by faith, then do we really have free will ? The answer is yes. It is a gift from God BUT this gift is available to all who accept his son Jesus !!! Again... all other religions equate good deeds with going to heaven, except Christianity. If you accept His Son Jesus you will be saved !!!
" For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, " ( Philippians 1 : 29 ) Non Christians who hear we are saved by faith think we have it so easy. The truth is rarely explained further. Yes we are saved by grace through faith.. but we will also suffer in this body for that grace and faith, just as Jesus suffered in His body to give us the chance to go to heaven !!!
" ...not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; "( Philippians 3 : 9 ) Also by faith we receive righteousness. Not of ourselves since we are sinners and not able to give, grant, or be righteous... but Jesus' righteousness that is given to us and acknowledged by God since it is from God.
In studying faith we have found it to be so rich and valuable that we have decided to spend one more week on it. I could spend a year looking at the richness and complexity of faith. The great thing about it is that it is entirely from God. !!!
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