160921 Galatians Lesson 5-2 Wak by The Spirit 2016-3rd Qt The Study of Galations ipad

"Crucified with Christ""Lesson Six : Walk by t he Spirit"".------=--------------,""The Fruit of the Spirit As the harvest approaches, even the ob­ server who has never farmed a day in his life can tell how the crop is doing. Is the corn thick and tall, or is it lifeless and stunted after the summer's drought? Do the orchard boughs hang heavy with fruit, or are they baren as a result of the hailstorm last May? The truth is plain to see.In the same way, the worldly observer who has never served Christ for a day of his life can tell what kind of Christians we are sim­ ply by looking at us. ""OJtsider"" and ""stupid"" are not synonyms; if we are hypocrites or sanctimonious Pharisees, the people around us have little difficulty in discerning the truth. They know who we are from the fruit we bear.Paul describes some of our most important fruit in Galatians 5:22-23. To the Christian who is looking for an excuse to be useless, these fruit are vague and undefined. ""What am I supposed to do?' he asks_ disingenu­ously, hoping to receive no answer. How­ ever; to the committed child of God, these two verses describe the bounty of a spiritual harvest more completely than any list of specific commands ever could. The com­mand to love, for instance, is not a minimum we must fulfill It is a divine ideal to which we aspire. We have only loved enough when we have loved as much as Jesus.If we are truly committed to bearing this sort of fruit for God, it will be obvious. People may not know precisely what we believe or where we go to church, but they will know that we are children of God. As the Scrip­ture bears this fruit in our lives, it will not prove infertile. Instead, it will take root in the hearts and minds of others, so that it will bear a harvest of souls on the last day. May all of us produce fruit like this!""Galatians 5:1-12""1. What does Paul state about the Galatians in Galatians 5:1? What should they not do as a consequence? How does""this relate to the previous discussion?""2. According to Galatians 5:2,what consequence do the Ga­latians face if they receive circumcision? What further consequence does Paul address in Galatians 5:3? Accord­ing to Galatians 5:4, what's the basic problem here?""Should this teach us anything? If so, what?""3. By contrast, how does Paul describe true Christianity in Galatians 5:5? How does he support this statement in Galatians 5:6? How is this different from what the Gala­tians are doing? If Paul is so worked up about circumci­sion, why does he say here that it means nothing?""4. What does Paul ask in Galatians 5:7? How does his state­ment in Galatians 5:8 show what prompted the question? How has Paul proven Galatians 5:8 to be true? "5. What does Paul reveal in Galatians 5:9? What is he refer­ring to? What should this principle teach us? "Galatians 5:13-24""1. What does Paul say about the Galatians in Galatians 5:13? What should they not do as a result? What""should they do instead? How does he justify this statement in Galatians 5:14? What does this mean?""2. What other possible course of action does Paul highlight in Galatians 5:15? What can easily happen if they""pursue this course of action? How large a danger is this in today's church? How can we ensure that it doesn't happen?""3. What command does Paul give in Galatians 5:16? What will not happen if they do this? How can we put this into practice?""4. How is this consequence explained by Galatians 5:17? What negative- result of walking by the Spirit does he describe? What positive result is set forth in Galatians 5:18?""5. In Galatians 5:19-21, what does Paul discuss? What things does he list in this category? Is this an exhaus­tive list? How do we know? What will happen to those who practice these things? By contrast, what is the topic in