FGA – Youth Bible Study – 05-October-2008

Living Beyond Yourself

Exploring the fruit of the spirit
Beth Moore

Pic of Experiencing God

Over in the adults Bible Class, we are going through a series call “Experiencing God”…
Heavy stuff, maybe boring stuff for some of us…

Pic of Living Beyond Yourself

… Do you know what are we doing here in the “Youth Bible Class”
It is written by Beth Moore… a study called
Living Beyond Yourself… Exploring the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
(for your info… actually this is not a youth study… it is also an adult bible study)
WOW… Looks like Shereen thinks highly of all of you, huh…
EXPLORING THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT… last couple weeks you did
Spiritual Maturity… Franklin
Before that Shereen taught about … Flesh vs Spirit, Led by the Spirit, etc…

Pic of Fruits
Today we have arrived at the heart of this study: the fruit of the spirit.
Before we began we will attempt to answer some rather general question about the fruit of the spirit.

Pic of Fruits with Gal 5:22-23

Look carefully at Galatians 5:22-23.
Let’s read the verse together.

Pic – two fold definitions

But, WHAT is this fruit of the spirit, in the first place,…?
Beth Moore gave a two fold definition.
The fruit of the Spirit is-
• the supernatural outcome of being filled with the Spirit of God
• the living proof that the spirit of god dwells in us.

So what is ir in plain English…

Let’s put it this way…

Pic – infected
If you say you are infected by a flu(cold) virus, then your outward symptoms would be
- running nose, maybe fever, you may sneeze… etc…
so these are sysmptoms , these are the outward appearance / or proof that you are having a flu…

Likewise if you are being filled/(infected) by the Spirit of God,

your supernatural outcome would be…
The fruit of the spirit… it is the proof to the world that the spirit of god lives in you…

It may take a while for some or most of us, but it is happening…

This process is called sanctification…
And the fruit is an outward display of it…
Pic – many fruits
Often you will hear people refer to “FRUITS”
or even nine fruits of the spirit…
or should it be Fruit
The word is actually singular…
Galatian 5:22-23 speaks of one kind of fruit with nine different qualities…

Pic of Durian
For example the durian is a fruit with many different quality…
Sweet, creamy, yummy… good likeable quality
Smelly/aromatic depends on you… some people say good , some don’t like… debatable
Prickly, hard to open, dangerous… not so good quality.. right

Pic apple
Imagine an incredible fruit that combines all the best characteristics of your favourite fruits...
Seedless like banana, juicy like and full of Vitamin C like the orange,
bursting with flavours like strawberry, sweet… etc…

You get the idea… now…

Pic – youth/fruitman
God is developing that fruit in each of us… his children..
The fruit has this characteristics…
LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULLNESS, GENTLENESS, and
SELF-CONTROL…

well to become like this… Click – fruitman – bearing the fruit of the spirit..

Pic – LOVE
GOD is LOVE… and in Galatians 5:22-23,
God has divinely inspired Paul to write the first quality of the FOS to LOVE…

Pic – LOVE English Language(limited)

I LOVE ice-cream / Doughnuts (especially Baskin Robbins / Big Apple)

She LOVE chatting on line

Romeo LOVE Juliet…

We LOVE Aunty Susan…

Jesus LOVE you

You see.. Love is ambiguous in the English language.

It is not very specific…

You can’t really see what it means…

Pic-Bible
That is why we need to go back to the original language where the bible was written…
Either in Hebrew(OT) or Greek(NT)

Both these languages tend to be more specific and focused than English language.

We need precision in a study of the word “LOVE”

Pic – Bible - Agape
Here in Galatians 5: 22, written in Greek – Love is Agape
What is AGAPE…
Agape is pronounced "ah-GAH'-pay". It is a Greek word.
Found first in the biblical New Testament, agape expresses the spiritual, not physical, love of God for his people.
It is an unconditional love and concern for others.
Agape is a love that accepts everyone for who they are.
This is the same love that God expressed for us through the death of Jesus Christ, His Son (1 John 4:9,10).
It is a selfless love. Everyone has capacity for agape love.

Pic – Philos : Friend Love

In the scripture, there is also another word for LOVE –

in greek it is “PHILOS”
Philos is a general term usually defined as “ love one has toward a friend or companion”
In fact the word can simply mean friend.

Pic – Greek – LOVE

So we have in the Bible Spiritual/Sacrificial LOVE , AGAPE
Then Love for friends/companions, PHILOS

But the lesson that Shereen wanted me to touch on today,

According to the book is …another greek word for love – that is EROS…

Next week – Philos…

Then the next – Agape…

Pic – Greek Mythology – Eros/Cupid

This word for love EROS-

was never used in the Bible,
But it is a common word for love used by ancient Greek…

In Greek mythology, eros love was taken from the Greek belief in a “god” of love of the same name.
( The Roman also have a similar “god” called cupid…)
The word “EROS” actually means “longing and desire”
That is why eros came to be associated with “sexual love”

Pic – 18sx
Eros means sexual love…
Love between man and woman

Seriously you don’t think I am going to teach that in a youth Bible Class
… right so here goes…click 18sx…
That should be confined to a married man and his wife…
Guidelines to Purity-1
• God created sex and said it is good!
Gen 1 : 27-28 (fruitful & multiply)
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
28
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and
subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that
moves on the ground.”
& Gen 2:24&25(naked & no shame))
24
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will
become one flesh.
25
The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
• The boundaries of sex are the boundaries of marriage.
• Your sexual purity is essential for your walk with God.
• You are targeted for sexual immorality -- there is a battle for your allegiance.

Guidelines to Purity-2
• Our bodies belong to God
( 1 Corithian 6:19-20- temple of the Holy Spirit)
18
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins
sexually sins against his own body. 19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit,
who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a
price. Therefore honor God with your body.
• Sexual purity begins in the mind, then the body follows -- what you feed, is what will lead. The Bible
says, "Fill your minds with. . . everything that is good and pure" (Phil 4:8).
• Since God doesn’t want you to have premarital sex, neither does he want you to do that which
prepares your body for premarital sex. I JOHN 2:16-17: “For all that is in the world -- the lust of
the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life -- is not of the Father but of the world. And the
world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

Pic Boundaries – the kiss

Boundaries of our actions…

So, what constitute an act of eros or sexual love?

Is it just sexual intercourse, or are there other sexual acts?

Let me answer this way. As a married man, I can hug and kiss my wife without any problem, right?

But, can I do that with another woman, let's say the wife of another person?

No! Why? Because these are acts of sexual love.

Yes, I know that some churches hug, and people kiss on the cheek all the time, but that's not what I'm talking
about. I'm talking about a full frontal hug between a man and a woman, not a little hug on the side.

I'm not talking about a kiss on the cheek either, but a kiss on the lips.

I can't do this with another woman because it is an act of eros or sexual love.
So, as a married man, I can't do that with another woman, do you think it is right for unmarried people.

If it's wrong as married adults, it's wrong as unmarried youth.

These are acts of sexual love!

Pic- oxytocin

Why???

There is a chemical hormone in the body called oxytocin.

The level of this hormone in our body is augmented/intensified by touch between two people.

The more intimate the touch, the more it is increased. A hug will release more than a handshake; a kiss more
than a hug; an intimate caress more than a kiss; sexual intimacy will release even more; and so on...

The more a couple is in contact, the more oxytocin they will have in their bodies.

Not only does oxytocin get increased in the system, but it "feeds" upon itself. What does this mean?

It means, an increase in oxytocin triggers a desire for more oxytocin. Just like drugs…
This triggers a desire for more touch and more intimate touch.
A couple that has no plans to have sexual relations may find themselves unable to avoid having sex because
of the craving to "feed" the oxytocin in their bodies.

Pic TRUE LOVE WAITS-

That is why you have to maintain sexual purity…
Because it purity matters…

PURITY MATTERS…. video

EROS – sexual love - save for your marriage…

So hope you can at least remember something from today’s lesson.

Any questions… ask your mom/dad?? Ha ha..