Fruit of the Spirit
Week 7: Goodness
For Study and Homework This Week:
Use these scriptures to further explore the topic of Goodness. If one in particular speaks to you more than the others, or if you want to spend more time on one than the others, do it. These are merely a starting point; a place for you to start thinking through God’s plan for goodness and the Spirit’s role in inspiring that Goodness. If you can think of other scripture, please use it in your study and bring it to our Monday night meeting. Also, take time to tangibly explore goodness. What exemplifies goodness for you? How can you share in it with the group?
Genesis 1:27, 31/Genesis 2:18/Romans 3:23-24
Psalm 23:6
Romans 15:14/1 John 4:4
Ephesians 5:8-10
2 Peter 1:3-8
Genesis 22:1-18
1. What is goodness? What is a one sentence definition of goodness?
2. Why is goodness important?
3. How did Christ exemplify goodness?
4. What is God’s vision for our goodness?
5. What prevents us from exhibiting goodness?
6. How does the world’s view of goodness differ from our view of goodness?
7. How can we mature in our goodness towards others? What would that next level of goodness look like?
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
From Patience to Kindness
Happy President's Day to you all!
Today we talked about Patience. We explored some of the scriptures we studied last week about why patience is important and how only with patience can we see God's miracles revealed.
Activity
Psalm 40:1-9
Lamentations 3:17-25
Ecclesiastes 3:1-9
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Isaiah 40:38-31
Then to do some extra exploring (to taste & see that the Lord is good), we did some writing practice. We took one of the scriptures listed and copied them. The act of writing scripture is a way of taking ownership of it, to slow down and appreciate what it is saying and how it speaks to our lives. Before the printing press, when monks would scribe the Bible by hand, they would look back at their original document after each letter to ensure they would not make any errors. Think of writing the Bible like that each time. Copying scripture can be a cool spiritual discipline.
After we wrote, we took the scripture we copied and wrote a poem about it. If you're thinking, oh man, I could never write poetry, start with just writing metaphors.
"Patience is..." and see where you go.
Now for homework:
For this coming week, we'll be studying Kindness.
Use these scriptures to further explore the topic of Kindness. If one in particular speaks to you more than the others, or if you want to spend more time on one than the others, do it. These are merely a starting point; a place for you to start thinking through God’s plan for kindness and the Spirit’s role in inspiring that Kindness. If you can think of other scripture, please use it in your study and bring it to our Monday night meeting. Also, take time to tangibly explore kindness. What exemplifies kindness for you? How can you share in it with the group?
Mark 5:25-34/1 Corinthians 13:4
John 4:1-26/Romans 2:4
Luke 7:36-50/2 Corinthians 6:3-10
Matthew 19:13-15/Acts 4:8-10
Luke 10:25-37/Jeremiah 9:24
Proverbs 11:16/Proverbs 14:31
Romans 11:22/Ephesians 4:31-32/Colossians 3:12-13
1. What is kindness? What is a one sentence definition of kindness?
2. Why is kindness important?
3. How did Christ exemplify kindness?
4. What is God’s vision for our kindness?
5. What prevents us from exhibiting kindness?
6. How does the world’s view of kindness differ from our view of kindness?
7. How can we mature in our kindness towards others? What would that next level of kindness look like?
Today we talked about Patience. We explored some of the scriptures we studied last week about why patience is important and how only with patience can we see God's miracles revealed.
Activity
Psalm 40:1-9
Lamentations 3:17-25
Ecclesiastes 3:1-9
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Isaiah 40:38-31
Then to do some extra exploring (to taste & see that the Lord is good), we did some writing practice. We took one of the scriptures listed and copied them. The act of writing scripture is a way of taking ownership of it, to slow down and appreciate what it is saying and how it speaks to our lives. Before the printing press, when monks would scribe the Bible by hand, they would look back at their original document after each letter to ensure they would not make any errors. Think of writing the Bible like that each time. Copying scripture can be a cool spiritual discipline.
After we wrote, we took the scripture we copied and wrote a poem about it. If you're thinking, oh man, I could never write poetry, start with just writing metaphors.
"Patience is..." and see where you go.
Now for homework:
For this coming week, we'll be studying Kindness.
Use these scriptures to further explore the topic of Kindness. If one in particular speaks to you more than the others, or if you want to spend more time on one than the others, do it. These are merely a starting point; a place for you to start thinking through God’s plan for kindness and the Spirit’s role in inspiring that Kindness. If you can think of other scripture, please use it in your study and bring it to our Monday night meeting. Also, take time to tangibly explore kindness. What exemplifies kindness for you? How can you share in it with the group?
Mark 5:25-34/1 Corinthians 13:4
John 4:1-26/Romans 2:4
Luke 7:36-50/2 Corinthians 6:3-10
Matthew 19:13-15/Acts 4:8-10
Luke 10:25-37/Jeremiah 9:24
Proverbs 11:16/Proverbs 14:31
Romans 11:22/Ephesians 4:31-32/Colossians 3:12-13
1. What is kindness? What is a one sentence definition of kindness?
2. Why is kindness important?
3. How did Christ exemplify kindness?
4. What is God’s vision for our kindness?
5. What prevents us from exhibiting kindness?
6. How does the world’s view of kindness differ from our view of kindness?
7. How can we mature in our kindness towards others? What would that next level of kindness look like?
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Destruction = Patience?
Ok, So admit it, when you first read the passage in Joshua (6:1-20), how many of you said, "what in the world does this have to do with having patience? A city got destroyed and that makes people patient?"
This is one of those interesting stories in scripture that gets told from toddler Sunday school, and we think we know it so well, we miss much of what it can teach us. I want to watch the movie of these 7 days. We know Joshua marched around Jericho and the walls fell down and yeah that's amazing, but look at what was required to make that happen.
Vs. 9 - who marched around the ark? The "armed guard" and the priests. These were the warriors of Israel. Their job and their lives were defined on battling. I bet the first day most of them said, "Ok fine, we'll do this ritual, then we'll fight." Day Two, "Ok, this seems a bit ridiculous, but oh well." But by Day 3, 4, 5 & 6, can you imagine the grumbling that would be occurring amongst the ranks as they were marching and in the evenings as they were sitting around their tents? People grumble today when Starbucks takes too long. Do you think there were people in Jericho who sat on top of the walls and mocked the Israelites? I bet it felt so humiliating for these fighting men to be forced to walk around a city instead of crashing the walls.
Sometimes God asks us to wait until there is no option but for it to be by his power.
This is one of those interesting stories in scripture that gets told from toddler Sunday school, and we think we know it so well, we miss much of what it can teach us. I want to watch the movie of these 7 days. We know Joshua marched around Jericho and the walls fell down and yeah that's amazing, but look at what was required to make that happen.
Vs. 9 - who marched around the ark? The "armed guard" and the priests. These were the warriors of Israel. Their job and their lives were defined on battling. I bet the first day most of them said, "Ok fine, we'll do this ritual, then we'll fight." Day Two, "Ok, this seems a bit ridiculous, but oh well." But by Day 3, 4, 5 & 6, can you imagine the grumbling that would be occurring amongst the ranks as they were marching and in the evenings as they were sitting around their tents? People grumble today when Starbucks takes too long. Do you think there were people in Jericho who sat on top of the walls and mocked the Israelites? I bet it felt so humiliating for these fighting men to be forced to walk around a city instead of crashing the walls.
Sometimes God asks us to wait until there is no option but for it to be by his power.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Week 5: Peace to Patience
Welcome back!
Hard to believe it's already been 5 weeks.
This week instead of the usual Valentine's discussion of chocolate, flowers, & love, we talked about Peace.
We studied different aspects of peace in the scripture we had last week, so we talked about how it reflects in our lives. We can receive peace from God, we must share peace through the Holy Spirit, and ultimately we will experience true peace when Christ returns.
We also talked through how difficult it is it imagine a world where there was true Peace. How, in the midst of pain and sickness and death and war, could we truly experience peace.
So to open our creativity we made collages.
+
+
=
We took a world that is painful and wrote truths in scripture over what was hard and broken. That in the midst of violence and hatred, the Lord offers peace.
I used Lamentations 3:22-23 "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."
Hopefully that opens your a little as to the possibilities of exploring scripture. What can we do to see scripture in new ways? Bring your example of patience with you next week!
For Study and Homework This Week:
Use these scriptures to further explore the topic of Patience. If one in particular speaks to you more than the others, or if you want to spend more time on one than the others, do it. These are merely a starting point; a place for you to start thinking through what is patience and how does the Spirit inspire patience in us. If you can think of other scripture, please use it in your study and bring it to our Monday night meeting. Also, take time to tangibly explore patience. When have you needed patience? Were you able to respond in patience or did you act before God desired? What lesson about patience could you share with our group?
1 Timothy 1:15-17 / 2 Tim 3:10-15
Joshua 6:1-20 / Psalm 27:14
John 21:1-19 / 1 Timothy 1:15-17
2 Tim 4:2 / Ephesians 4:2
Lamentations 3:19-26 /Micah 7:7
1. What is patience? Some translations say “Longsuffering” does that change how you view patience?
2. Why is patience important?
3. How did Christ demonstrate patience?
4. Why does God value patience?
5. What prevents us from demonstrating patience?
6. How does the world’s view of patience differ from our view of patience?
7. How can we mature in our patience? What would that next level of patience look like?
Hard to believe it's already been 5 weeks.
This week instead of the usual Valentine's discussion of chocolate, flowers, & love, we talked about Peace.
We studied different aspects of peace in the scripture we had last week, so we talked about how it reflects in our lives. We can receive peace from God, we must share peace through the Holy Spirit, and ultimately we will experience true peace when Christ returns.
We also talked through how difficult it is it imagine a world where there was true Peace. How, in the midst of pain and sickness and death and war, could we truly experience peace.
So to open our creativity we made collages.
+ 
+ 
= 
We took a world that is painful and wrote truths in scripture over what was hard and broken. That in the midst of violence and hatred, the Lord offers peace.
I used Lamentations 3:22-23 "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."
Hopefully that opens your a little as to the possibilities of exploring scripture. What can we do to see scripture in new ways? Bring your example of patience with you next week!
For Study and Homework This Week:
Use these scriptures to further explore the topic of Patience. If one in particular speaks to you more than the others, or if you want to spend more time on one than the others, do it. These are merely a starting point; a place for you to start thinking through what is patience and how does the Spirit inspire patience in us. If you can think of other scripture, please use it in your study and bring it to our Monday night meeting. Also, take time to tangibly explore patience. When have you needed patience? Were you able to respond in patience or did you act before God desired? What lesson about patience could you share with our group?
1 Timothy 1:15-17 / 2 Tim 3:10-15
Joshua 6:1-20 / Psalm 27:14
John 21:1-19 / 1 Timothy 1:15-17
2 Tim 4:2 / Ephesians 4:2
Lamentations 3:19-26 /Micah 7:7
1. What is patience? Some translations say “Longsuffering” does that change how you view patience?
2. Why is patience important?
3. How did Christ demonstrate patience?
4. Why does God value patience?
5. What prevents us from demonstrating patience?
6. How does the world’s view of patience differ from our view of patience?
7. How can we mature in our patience? What would that next level of patience look like?
Monday, February 7, 2011
Sharing on Joy & Preparing for Peace!
Hey Ladies!
Tonight we shared about Joy and what God reveals about it in scripture. Everybody shared what Joy looks like to them through something tangible. Meredith shared a poem by Bradley Hathaway:
A truth about Joy that we can find in scripture, is that we have find joy based on having an eternal perspective on temporary circumstances. Even as Jesus is on the cross he tells the man hanging next to him, "today you will be with me in paradise." Jesus, in the midst of unbearable suffering, is thinking of being with is Father in Heaven. My stressful day is nothing in light of what is to come.
To focus on that we spent 15 minutes writing out thanks to the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 "Be joyful always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." It's cool to watch how our perspectives on life can change by just forcing ourselves to think about how many things we have to be thankful for.
For this week...
We are focusing on Peace.
The scriptures are...
Genesis 8:6-22
Luke 2:14 / Romans 5:1-2 / Matthew 11:28-30
1 Peter 5:7 / Romans 12:17-21 / Psalm 46:10
Philippians 4:4-9
Isaiah 2:2-5 / Isaiah 11:1-13
1. What is peace? What is a definition of peace?
2. Why is peace important?
3. How did Christ experience peace?
4. What is God's vision for peace?
5. What prevents us from experiencing peace?
6. How does the world's view of peace differ from our view of peace?
7. How can we mature in our peace? What would that next level of peace look like?
Challenge: Take time to tangibly explore peace. What brings you peace? How can you share it with the group?
Tonight we shared about Joy and what God reveals about it in scripture. Everybody shared what Joy looks like to them through something tangible. Meredith shared a poem by Bradley Hathaway:
A truth about Joy that we can find in scripture, is that we have find joy based on having an eternal perspective on temporary circumstances. Even as Jesus is on the cross he tells the man hanging next to him, "today you will be with me in paradise." Jesus, in the midst of unbearable suffering, is thinking of being with is Father in Heaven. My stressful day is nothing in light of what is to come.
To focus on that we spent 15 minutes writing out thanks to the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 "Be joyful always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." It's cool to watch how our perspectives on life can change by just forcing ourselves to think about how many things we have to be thankful for.
For this week...
We are focusing on Peace. The scriptures are...
Genesis 8:6-22
Luke 2:14 / Romans 5:1-2 / Matthew 11:28-30
1 Peter 5:7 / Romans 12:17-21 / Psalm 46:10
Philippians 4:4-9
Isaiah 2:2-5 / Isaiah 11:1-13
1. What is peace? What is a definition of peace?
2. Why is peace important?
3. How did Christ experience peace?
4. What is God's vision for peace?
5. What prevents us from experiencing peace?
6. How does the world's view of peace differ from our view of peace?
7. How can we mature in our peace? What would that next level of peace look like?
Challenge: Take time to tangibly explore peace. What brings you peace? How can you share it with the group?
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Thoughts on Joy...
As we're working on this study, I'm also finishing up a Beth Moore study I've been doing for a few months, and she brought up an interesting verse about joy.
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
James 1:2-4
Most people (even most Christians) would consider it strange that anyone would find joy in trials, but that's based on the definition that joy = happiness. Clearly, when people in the Bible went through trials, they made no pretense about false-happiness. David spends chapter after chapter in psalms lamenting his circumstances. Many of the minor prophets show great sadness in the midst of their circumstances.
However, in the midst of their sadness, they always recognize why this great trial is occurring (usually God is trying to teach the Israelites something). In order to find joy, the prophets place the importance of the Israelites learning the lesson over the temporary discomfort. It's like a parent disciplining a child. I'm sure it grieves God to watch us suffer, but sometimes to become who God desires us to be, some refining by fire must occur.
Joy, is deciding that we will endure through a trial and believe that God has a greater plan on the other side. In fact, one of the verses most quoted about God knowing what's best is Jeremiah 29:11 "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.'" But this verse is rarely told in context. Verse 10 says, "This is what the Lord says,'When seventy years are completed in Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.'"
God does not promise Israel a future and a hope until AFTER 70 years in exile in Babylon.
We like to think, "Oh, my future will be sunshine and rainbows if I trust God." But that's not what He promises. God knows what's best for us, but what's best may not be a lifetime of happiness and security. We must choose to have joy, in the midst of a trial, because we know that God really does know what's best.
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
James 1:2-4
Most people (even most Christians) would consider it strange that anyone would find joy in trials, but that's based on the definition that joy = happiness. Clearly, when people in the Bible went through trials, they made no pretense about false-happiness. David spends chapter after chapter in psalms lamenting his circumstances. Many of the minor prophets show great sadness in the midst of their circumstances.
However, in the midst of their sadness, they always recognize why this great trial is occurring (usually God is trying to teach the Israelites something). In order to find joy, the prophets place the importance of the Israelites learning the lesson over the temporary discomfort. It's like a parent disciplining a child. I'm sure it grieves God to watch us suffer, but sometimes to become who God desires us to be, some refining by fire must occur.
Joy, is deciding that we will endure through a trial and believe that God has a greater plan on the other side. In fact, one of the verses most quoted about God knowing what's best is Jeremiah 29:11 "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.'" But this verse is rarely told in context. Verse 10 says, "This is what the Lord says,'When seventy years are completed in Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.'"
God does not promise Israel a future and a hope until AFTER 70 years in exile in Babylon.
We like to think, "Oh, my future will be sunshine and rainbows if I trust God." But that's not what He promises. God knows what's best for us, but what's best may not be a lifetime of happiness and security. We must choose to have joy, in the midst of a trial, because we know that God really does know what's best.
Joy Scripture
Hello Ladies,
Sorry for the late posting, but here is the scripture for this week. We're studying Joy. There are many aspects to joy, and as you're reading these, reflect on what Joy means to us and how we grow in our Joy.
1 Peter 1:9 / Psalm 30
1 Kings 8:65-65 / Leviticus 9:23-24
1 Thessalonians 5:16 / Psalm 100:2
Nehemiah 8:9-18 / Psalm 94:18-19
Philipians 4:4-9 / Psalm 51:11-12
Isaiah 49:13 / Deuteronomy 16:13-15
CHALLENGE!
This past Monday we looked at the pictures in Solarium to describe what we knew about Love. This week, let's expand into mediums other than scripture to describe Joy. Maybe it's a picture or a painting or a song or a story, whether it's one you find or one you write - and bring it with you next week so we can share our reflections on joy =)
Sorry for the late posting, but here is the scripture for this week. We're studying Joy. There are many aspects to joy, and as you're reading these, reflect on what Joy means to us and how we grow in our Joy.
1 Peter 1:9 / Psalm 30
1 Kings 8:65-65 / Leviticus 9:23-24
1 Thessalonians 5:16 / Psalm 100:2
Nehemiah 8:9-18 / Psalm 94:18-19
Philipians 4:4-9 / Psalm 51:11-12
Isaiah 49:13 / Deuteronomy 16:13-15
CHALLENGE!
This past Monday we looked at the pictures in Solarium to describe what we knew about Love. This week, let's expand into mediums other than scripture to describe Joy. Maybe it's a picture or a painting or a song or a story, whether it's one you find or one you write - and bring it with you next week so we can share our reflections on joy =)
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