a. Review

Weekly Bible Verse Readings Review: LESSON #4

Whilst at home this week you would have read the Bible verses given below and copied the verse which you considered to be the most important in each reading.

Who wants to come up and share some of these verses with the class?

1. John 14:1-14

Who filled in the blanks and can come up and recite the Bible Verse.

----- said to him, "I am --- ---, the -----, and the ----. No one comes to the ------ except through --".

---- 14: -

(Jesus, the way, truth, life, Father, me, John, 6)

The Father Revealed

(If you known Jesus, who will you also know?)

................ (The Father)

2. John 14:15-31

Jesus Promises Another Helper

(If you love Jesus what will you do?)

...............(Keep My commandments )

Indwelling of the Father and the Son

(Jesus said because He lives, you will live also, lets discuss what that means to you)

...............

The Helper

(Who is the Helper?)

............... (The Holy Spirit)

(Who sends the Helper?)

............... (The Father)

(What will He do?)

............... (He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you )

The Gift of His Peace

(What gift did Jesus leave with us?)

...............(His Peace)

(Is it the same as world peace?)

............... (No)

3. John 15:1-17

The True Vine

Love and Joy Perfected

(What did Jesus command you to do?)

................. (This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.)

4. John 15:18-27

The World's Hatred

(Do some of your friends hate you because you love Jesus? Lets talk about this)

................

5. John 16:1-15

Jesus Warns and Comforts His Disciples

(What might Jesus be warning us about in this age?)

...................

The Work of the Holy Spirit

(What are the works of the Holy Spirit?)

................... ( He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. )

6. John 16:16-24

Sorrow Will Turn to Joy

(Why would the disciples be sorrowful?

.................... (Jesus said a little while, and you will not see Me therefore you now have sorrow)

What would turn their sorrow into joy?)

..................(But I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.)

•  John 16:25-33

Jesus Christ Has Overcome the World

(What does this statement mean to you?)

....................

c. Teach the Lesson

Purpose of the Lesson
• To realize that a successful Christian life is possible only when the Holy Spirit is living in us and controlling our lives
• To allow the fruit of the Holy Spirit to be seen in our lives
• To allow the Holy Spirit to develop and use the spiritual gifts we were given at our conversion

Prayer

Dear Father in Heaven, You are so gracious to us. We cannot live as You have planned for us without Your help. Thank You for giving us the Holy Spirit to live in us. Help us surrender to His control because we know that is the only way we can live a real Christian life! We ask this in Jesus’ name, amen.

Guide’s Comments

God has provided for us so that we will have a full and satisfying life. Our life is to be lived moment by moment under the direction of God’s Holy Spirit. It is characterized by inner peace and joy.

1 Peter 5:14b says, “. . . May peace be with all of you who belong to Christ.”

The moment we are saved, God gives us the gift of the continual presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit. He also provides for immediate forgiveness when we fail.

Read 1 John 1:9 . . . .

9  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

We do not have to wait to be in a special place at a special time to be forgiven. We can confess our sin to God, be immediately forgiven, and be clean again.

Many Christians are not living up to the full potential that God has made available to them. From God’s point of view, the Christian life is lived under the control of the Holy Spirit. The result is a life that produces the fruit of the Spirit, which is our topic for this lesson.

In Lesson 4, we learned that the Holy Spirit plays an active role in our Christian growth. He helps us to pray, understand the Bible, and obey what we read. In this lesson, we will learn the positive results of obeying the Holy Spirit’s guidance.

1. The Spirit of God produces wonderful results in our lives as we obey Him.

List the nine qualities that are the natural product of the Holy Spirit in a Christian’s life.

These are inner qualities which we all want to possess, but they are not the natural products of human life. They are produced only by God’s indwelling Spirit. They are the fruit, or the outward expression, of the inner life of believers who are walking in God’s Spirit and not their own sinful desires.

We may think we have several of these qualities in our lives and may desire the rest. However, they are not separate qualities that can be divided. A study of these verses indicates that these qualities are a unit. They are like a bunch of grapes rather than separate pieces of fruit. Also, all of these qualities are to be found in all Christians.

2. The fruit of the Spirit is listed so it naturally falls into three categories.List the fruit in the order given in Galatians 5:22-23.

The Fruit of the Spirit
Attitude .................Action ................Application
(love) .................(patience)................ (faithfulness)
(joy)................(kindness)................. (humility)
(peace).............. (goodness) ...............(self-control)

A tree is recognized by its fruit. You cannot live life without God and produce good fruit. You cannot be the “good” person that God desires on your own. You need the power of the Holy Spirit to work in you and through you. Only then, will you produce the kind of fruit that we call the Fruit of the Spirit! It is His work in you – nothing that you can do.

6. APPLICATION / ENCOUNTERING GOD:

CLOSING PRAYER:

Dear Heavenly Father,

I approach You today with profound gratitude and a heart brimming with love.

I thank You for the words You have shared with us in Galatians 5, reminding us of the fruits of the Spirit that guide our lives.

Your wisdom, Lord, is a precious gift, and I seek to live in accordance with Your teachings.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."

Lord, I pray that You would help me bear these fruits in my life, for I know that they are a reflection of Your character.

Father, fill my heart with love, so that I may love others as You have loved me.

Help me to spread joy and be a source of peace in a world filled with turmoil.

Grant me patience and kindness to show to those who cross my path, and may I always strive to do good as a testament to Your grace.

I ask for faithfulness, Lord, to remain steadfast in my devotion to You, trusting in Your promises even in the face of adversity.

Please grant me the gentle spirit that seeks to build others up rather than tear them down, and may I exercise self-control in all aspects of my life, surrendering my desires to Your will.

You encourage us to "keep in step with the Spirit."

I pray for the guidance of Your Holy Spirit to lead me on this journey of faith. Help me to walk in Your ways, to live by Your Word, and to rely on Your strength.

Lord, I confess my shortcomings and ask for Your forgiveness and transformation.

I long to bear the fruits of Your Spirit not just for my own benefit but to be a shining light in this world, reflecting Your love and grace.

In Jesus' name, I offer up this prayer, knowing that You hear and answer the cries of Your children. Amen.

Fruit of the Spirit Prayer

YOUTH TAKE HOME PAGE/ACTIVITY:

Weekly Bible Verse Readings - LESSON #5

Print 'Weekly Bible Verse Readings', one for each youth to take home.

Read the Bible verses given below and copy the verse which you consider to be the most important in each reading, try and memorize it so you can recall it in the next session.

1. 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

The Greatest Gift

1  Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body [ a ]to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

...............

2. Romans 8:1-8

Free from Indwelling Sin

8  There is  therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.  2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.  3  For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God  did  by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,  4  that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.  5  For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those  who live  according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.  6  For to be carnally minded  is  death, but to be spiritually minded  is  life and peace.  7  Because the  [ carnal mind  is  enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.  8  So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

...................

3. Romans 8:9-17

9  But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.  10  And if Christ  is  in you, the body  is  dead because of sin, but the Spirit  is  life because of righteousness.  11  But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Sonship Through the Spirit

12  Therefore, brethren, we are debtors-not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.  13  For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.  14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.  15  For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, " Abba, Father."   16  The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,  17  and if children, then heirs-heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with  Him,  that we may also be glorified together.

...................

4. 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Now concerning spiritual  gifts,  brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant:  2  You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led.  3  Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

4  There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.  5  There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord.  6  And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.  7  But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit  of all:   8  for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit,  9  to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by he same Spirit,  10  to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another  different  kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.  11  But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

...............

5. Galatians 5:16-26

16  I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.  17  For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.  18  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

19  Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,  20  idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,  21  envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told  you  in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 

23  gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.  24  And those  who are  Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 

25  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.  26  Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

.................

6. Romans 15:13-21

13 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.

14 Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. 15 Nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly to you on some points, as reminding you, because of the grace given to me by God, 16 that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering [ g ]of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. 17 Therefore I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus in the things which pertain to God. 18 For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deed, to make the Gentiles obedient- 19 in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. 20 And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man's foundation, 21 but as it is written:

"To whom He was not announced, they shall see;
And those who have not heard shall understand."

...............

7. 2 Peter 1:5-9

5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

................

NEXT WEEK: FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT - LOVE
This is the first and greatest commandment but to keep it we must first appreciate the immeasurable love God has for us.