FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

9 STUDIES FOR INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS

Life Guide® BIBLE STUDIES

Hazel Offner

An imprint of InterVarsity Press

Downers Grove, Illinois

InterVarsity Press

P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426

ivpress.com

email@ivpress.com

©1987, 1999 by Hazel Offner

Originally published as The Fruit of the Spirit ©1977 by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship of the United States of America.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from InterVarsity Press.

InterVarsity Press® is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA®, a movement of students and faculty active on campus at hundreds of universities, colleges and schools of nursing in the United States of America, and a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. For information about local and regional activities, visit intervarsity.org.

LifeGuide® is a registered trademark of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Cover image: © Elisabeth Ansley / Trevillion Images

ISBN 978-0-8308-3058-9

Contents

Getting the Most Out of Fruit of the spirit

1 Love

1 John 4:7–16

2 Joy

Luke 24:33–53

3 Peace

Isaiah 43:1–7

4 Patience

Matthew 18:21–35

5 Kindness

2 Samuel 9

6 Goodness

Psalm 107

7 Faithfulness

2 Chronicles 20:1–30

8 Gentleness

1 Thessalonians 2:1–12

9 Self-Control

1 Samuel 26

Leader’s Notes

Getting the Most Out of Fruit of the Spirit

God has changed my life through small group Bible studies. In Urbana, where I live, we have about six hundred people studying in small groups all over the community each year. As I have worked with the leaders of these small groups, I have watched God use the Bible and group interaction to change their lives too. No other method that I have seen has been so effective in helping people really get to know God.

Awhile back, when our groups had just finished studying several books in both the Old and New Testaments, a friend of mine said, “Why don’t you give us a change of pace and write some topical studies on the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22–23?” I thought about the verses—“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” How could a worthwhile study be written about a single virtue that was explained by only one word? It is exciting to realize that all these virtues are inside Christians because the Holy Spirit has taken up residence within us. But is there some way to show how this fruit could be lived out in practical ways? How, for example, can we actually appropriate the fruit of peace when we are worried? Or how can we experience the fruit of joy if life is tumbling down all around us?

Then the ...