Bearing Fruit (Part 1)

Jim Leffel

Galatians 5:19-25

Walking according to the Holy Spirit's guidance produces real change in the lives of Christians. Some of the fruit of the Holy Spirit includes walking in love, living with deep joy and having a deep sense of peace, all of which comes from God. Self-sacrificial love, delighting when God uses you or those around you, being grateful for His blessings, and cultivating a deep trust in God accomplishing His purposes are all totally possible in the lives of those who are led by the Holy Spirit instead of the selfish desires of the flesh.

Walk by the Spirit

Jim Leffel

Galatians 5:16-18

Paul describes the battle within each Christian between the flesh and the spirit. These are two contrasting styles of agendas, one driven out from self and the other driven to glorify God. The flesh is driven to focus on our own ability and power, while living by the Spirit yields its power, ability, and mind to the purposes of God in order to live a life characterized by meeting others' needs. This is a totally normal phenomenon for healthy, growing Christians.

Freedom in the Spirit

Jim Leffel

Galatians 5:1-15

God's design for spiritual growth begins with understanding the freedom Christians have in Christ. As we are led by the Holy Spirit, God allows us to see how to meet others needs through sacrificial love. This kind of living produces real joy and relational closeness with others, rooted out of God's grace. Through the Holy Spirit, we are able to experience real moral change and go against our natural selfish tendencies that are shallow and empty.

Encourage One Another

Jim Leffel

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Encouragement is a powerful way to love others and to strengthen their spiritual resolve. Life is challenging and we have a spiritual adversary who wants us to fail but the Holy Spirit is our comforter, strengthener, and encourager who gives us the resources we need to love. As we rely on Him, He can work through us to encourage others through observing, reminding, warning, and consoling.\r\n

Accept One Another

Jim Leffel

John 13:34-35

The heart of Christian community is about loving each other as God has loved us. One aspect of tangibly loving people is to accept one another as God has accepted us. A practical description of what it looks like to have an accepting home group is presented. Though we may not agree with everyone, through the power of the Holy Spirit we can learn to accept each other and have a dynamic group.\r\n

Timidity or Bold Love

Dennis McCallum

2 Timothy 1:6-10

Using your spiritual gifts or building a ministry is God's will for us but fear can get in the way of this goal. Fear holds us back from doing what God wants. It makes it very hard to take risks and ultimately leads to self-protection. God's will is that Christians overcome fear. Through faith and reliance on the Holy Spirit, a life of timidity can be transformed into a life of bold love. A life of power, love, and sound judgment can meet the needs of a dying world.

Live With the End in Mind

Jim Leffel

2 Corinthians 5:1-10

The way we view and live our lives as Christians is based on the biblical hope we have from eternal life. Having eternal life as an assurance despite the troubles of this life provides Christians with courage to stand up for what God cares about. We can experience a deep satisfaction in our relationship with God as we learn to please Him in this life, knowing that we will give an account to Him in the next. Setting our minds on eternity gives us wisdom on how to live our present lives as foreigners in Christ.

Adequacy

Jim Leffel

2 Corinthians 2:14-3:6

Paul shows that the basis of Christian's adequacy comes solely from God. Christians are competent and adequate through God to serve in the new ministry of grace by the leading and direction of the Holy Spirit. This sense of God-given adequacy allows others to sense God's presence in our lives and provides us with assurance to serve Him and others based on God's stamp of approval through His Son. As we live this way, the sincerity of what God has done in our lives is made more evident.

Spiritual Attitudes that Transform

Jim Leffel

1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Paul explains key attitudes that reflect and foster God's sanctifying work in a Christians life. The five attitudes he mentions are: 1) rejoicing; 2) prayerfulness; 3) gratitude; 4) sensitivity to the Spirit; 5) forth telling-giving God's perspective. God is involved in this lie long process of transformation.\r\n