I didn’t e xpect to be so impacted by the Charlie Kirk memorial, but I was. The gospel given so clearly over and over and over. Glenn Scrivener did a tribute to Charlie Kirk in which he compared his life to Christ’s — someone sent by God to come in the flesh and speak truth to the world, was hated for it, and struck down in his early thirties. While Charlie certainly fell short of God’s holiness, and wasn’t always kind, especially in his younger years, he matured and spoke the truth in love and boldness on college campuses to young people so in need of truth. Perhaps he was hated most for his stands on abortion and homosexuality. A friend at pickleball said he was a hater of gays and wanted to murder them. That’s not what I see. I think Charlie was so focused and rooted in Christ that he showed the fruit of the Spirit. See this clip and comment.
https://gospelinlife.com/sermon/peace/ (Start at minute 22:36)
Sunday:
-
How have you experienced the love, joy, or peace of Christ this week?
-
If you watched any of the Charlie Kirk memorial, what were your thoughts? What did you like or didn’t? Did you learn anything?
Monday: Fruit not Fruits
3. Meditate on Galatians 5:22-26
A. List the “fruit” of the Spirit. How have you matured in the fruit?
B. What are two key factors in growing in the fruit of the Spirit according to verses 24-25? How do you see this in the testimony of the young man speaking to Kirk?
C. What warning is given in verse 26?
Listen to Keller up to where this transcript ends.
FRUIT NOT FRUITS
It doesn’t say, in Galatians 5, “The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness.” It says, “… the fruit of the Spirit …” It’s singular. Love, joy, peace, patience. All these things are aspects of the whole. There is a way without the Spirit of God to artificially manufacture one or two of these fruit so it looks like you have peace, but only at the expense of joy and love. As I put down here, you can develop a counterfeit of peace, which is actually cynicism. A saying like, “Well, there’s nobody around who knows better than me, and I don’t even know, and nobody really knows.” I mean, there’s a kind of cynicism and apathy, a way of hardening your own heart so that you don’t care, and it can look like you have peace. It can turn you into kind of a Marlboro Man. The way you can tell it’s not really the spiritual fruit is because it exists by itself. A person like that is not tenderhearted and loving and approachable and humble. Oh, no. You see, you can have what looks like joy and humility (some people have that), but there’s no peace in their life. They’re just sensitive people, but they’re up and down, all over the place, so they’re all very emotional. If you catch them at the right times, they look like they’re happy and sweet and approachable, but they really don’t have any peace, and they certainly don’t have stability, and they certainly don’t have self-control. Then you have other kinds of people who look like they have control, you know, Yup. They have perfect control. They always have peace, and they’re real steady, and they’re very faithful and dependable, but when it comes to that joy, and when it comes to that sensitivity and that sweetness and that kindness and that love and that generosity, they don’t have it, because only the Spirit of God can create all these things at once. Jonathan Edwards, in his great book The Religious Affections, says the only way you can really be sure a person’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness and all that is not counterfeit is that it happens all together. That’s the only way you can tell that any one of these things is really of the Spirit and not being manufactured from some fleshly sources. Because there’s a symmetry, he says, about them. They grow together, and only the Spirit of God can really create them together. Only the Spirit of God can create an emotional, sweet, loving, tenderhearted, generous person who’s also self-controlled, absolutely dependable, absolutely rock solid, absolutely peaceful. By the way, that doesn’t mean we get there right away, but they all are growing together. That’s why we say, “Peace is confidence and trust in God’s wise and good control of your life.” Its opposite is worry or anxiety.
4. Summarize Keller’s point about why the word fruit is singular.
Tuesday: Merimna
I had never heard that the Greek word for anxiety, or worried, or upset in Luke 10:41 is “merimna” or to be in pieces. Distracted. Trying to focus on too many things. Therefore, unable to focus on one thing and shattered.

5. Read Luke 10:38-41 with the understanding of the Greek word translated worried or upset or cumbered in verse 40. What wisdom does this give you?
6. One practical application is how you start your day with the Lord. What can help you here from being distracted?
7. Meditate on Philippians 4:8. What are we told to do when we begin to get anxious? Do you do this? If so, describe what you do.
MERIMNA: TO BE IN PIECES
By the way, the word anxiety is a little Greek word merimna, which means to be in pieces, and there’s a play on this word anxiety in Luke 10, that tells us the story of Martha and Mary. This is a sideline, but just to let you know this. There’s a great place where Martha and Mary, two sisters, have Jesus in to eat, and Martha is running all around, running all around. It says she was anxious, merimnous, with much serving. The word literally means to have her mind divided and distracted and trying to get to too many goals. Mary is just sitting there listening to Jesus. Martha starts to get a little bit … “Mary, we have work to do, and you’re having your quiet time.” Mary got up and said, “It doesn’t matter if the house is a wreck and there are a million things to do. It doesn’t really matter. I’m getting my time in with Jesus.” Are you a Mary or a Martha? Jesus actually makes a play on the word merimnous, and he says, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,” which is merimnous. “Mary has found the one thing needful. Mary is single-minded. Mary has one thing she is looking at. You have 300 things. I’m one of them. That’s nice, Martha. I’m glad I’m one of the 300 things you’re thinking about, but I’m not offended. You are in trouble until I’m the one thing.” It’s because the opposite of anxiety is single-mindedness, and the opposite of peace is worry, and the counterfeit of peace is a kind of apathy and cynicism, and that counterfeit peace cannot coexist with the tenderness of love and joy and so on. How do you cultivate it? Fairly simple. It says, verse 8, “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, think on these things,” and then Paul says, in verse 9, “And do what I’ve said.” Frankly, peace comes from the same thing that joy comes from. It comes from an assurance of your salvation. What do you think Paul is saying? Focus. Think. Jesus does that all the time. Jesus says, “Have no anxiety about anything, but consider. If you are worried, if you are anxious, you’re not thinking.” Worry is the absence of thought. Or put it like this: You can either talk to your heart, or you can listen to your heart. Tomorrow your heart is going to start to say, “Oh, my word. What are you going to do about this? What are you going to do about that? Oh, my gosh. What are we going to do about this?” Some of you, it goes like that all day, doesn’t it? Now there are two things you can do with your heart.
8. Listen to the above and share what stands out.
Wednesday: Speaking to Your Heart to Overcome the World
DON’T LISTEN TO YOUR HEART, SPEAK TO IT: THE WORLD
You can sit and listen to your heart, and you can just get more and more anxious, or you can talk to your heart. In Psalm 42, you can see exactly what happens. David, in Psalm 42, is depressed, and he says, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” Who is he talking to? Himself. He’s talking to his soul. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God …” What he is doing is, instead of listening to his heart, he’s talking to it. He’s saying, “Think about this. Think about this. Think about this. Don’t forget this. Don’t forget that. Don’t forget who it is who made you. Don’t forget who it is who saved you. Think.” Worry is listening to your heart. Peace comes from talking to your heart, but it comes from telling your heart what? Not just talking in general, and not just saying, “Hey, I heard a funny story.” Peace comes from talking to your heart about who you are in Christ. That’s where we get, finally, to the whole issue of the enemies. Essentially, the enemies are threefold: the world, the flesh, and the Devil. Instead of trying to follow an outline, let me just tell you what’s in my heart until I have to stop. The world, the flesh, and the Devil, what are they? Well, first of all, the world is a mindset. It’s no individual. The world is a mindset, a secularism. You know what the word secular means? It means “nowism.” Secular means now, the present. Worldliness … I don’t know what you think it is. You’ve probably heard this all sorts of ways. I mean you have MasterCard, “So worldly, so welcome.” Remember that? That shows how old I am. That’s about 12 years old. You ad people say, “Oh, my word. You’re living in the past.” The word worldly can mean a lot of things, but what it means in the Bible is a mindset that says, “The here, the now, the concrete, what you see right now is all that matters.” Therefore, worldliness can have a lot of different forms. Number one, worldliness can have the form of this: You go into a beautiful restaurant, and instead of letting your mind run up the sunbeam to the sun, you look around. Somebody takes you out to a great restaurant, a place you could never afford to go. Whenever this happens, by the way, when you go to a restaurant you could not afford to go, but somebody else takes you there, you start to look around, and you say, “Boy, wouldn’t it be great to live like this?” You don’t say it consciously, because you can’t let yourself. You’re not allowed to say things like that to yourself consciously because, well, when you say it, you sound like a fool, and you know you sound like a fool. So it goes on a little deeper. You say, “Wouldn’t it be great if I made enough money?” Or, “Wouldn’t it be great if I were just in this kind of society? You look around, and you say, I know what kind of people these are who are here. Boy, wouldn’t it be great? I just feel good about myself being here. I love to be back here. How am I going to be here?” That’s worldliness, the now. Or when you’re in a classroom and everybody is just laughing at anybody who even brings up anything metaphysical, anything about values, anything about morality, anything about religion. They don’t ever argue against it. They never give you reasons against it, because they can’t. There aren’t any, but what they have to do is they just have this sort of mocking, scorning attitude toward it that says, “The here and the now is all that matters.” Or even when you really hope this person of the opposite sex who is really good looking would ask you out or would be willing to go out with you, and you realize they’re not interested at all in you, and you start to say, “What good am I anyway?” You start to look in the mirror, and you say, “Well, heck. No wonder.” That’s worldliness too. It’s just saying, “The here and the now, the physical, the appearances, the image; that’s all that matters,” and that’s a mindset, the world.
9. Listen to the above.
A. What stands out and why?
B. Why must we speak instead of listen to our soul?
C. How does Keller describe the worldview of a worldly person? How is it different than the worldview of a believer?
D. With the above in mind, how might you talk to your soul about a hard marriage, or your body falling apart, or the death of a loved one who was a believer? (Choose two)
Thursday: Overcoming the Flesh and the Devil
DON’T LISTEN TO YOUR HEART, SPEAK TO IT: THE FLESH
Then you have the flesh. The flesh is the selfish part of you that wants to be God. The flesh is
not the body. When the Bible talks about the flesh, the flesh is the desire to be God, to call your
own shots, to live for your own glory. Don’t forget … the flesh can have what you might call
gross manifestations, or it can have subtle manifestations. My favorite illustration is the one I
used about four months ago. A person who needs to be in charge is one form of the flesh, one
form of being selfish. A lot of you don’t need to have power. You just want everybody to like
you, and that’s another form of it, but here’s a person who needs to be in charge. So this person,
maybe, before he becomes a Christian, here is a guy who just feels the need to seduce anybody
he can get his hands on. Once he seduces the girl, then he loses interest in her. He knows that’s
sort of a way of making himself feel powerful (vaguely), but he’s also having a lot of fun, so he
just goes on until he becomes a Christian. Then somebody says, “You can’t do that. Thou shalt
not commit adultery, fornication, and so on.” Oh, he repents. He has dealt with his flesh, right?
He comes into the church, and every time he gets into a Bible study, he completely dominates
the conversation. He wants to be elected an officer, and when he gets in charge, he shows that
it’s his opinion that everybody has to go by. Bum Phillips used to say, “The road to the Super
Bowl goes through Pittsburgh” (he doesn’t anymore), and there are a lot of officers who say,
“The road to approval goes by me. You have to get by me if we’re going to be approved.” He’s a
power-hungry person inside the church. What has happened to his flesh? It has become religious.
The world, the flesh … and then you have the Devil.
10. How does Keller define the flesh? What else stood out to you?
11. How is the young man in the opening video overcoming his flesh’s desire to have sex with men?
12. Give an example from your life where the flesh wants you to be your own god. How might you overcome the lies?
13. If you watched the Memorial, did you see the contrast between Erica Kirk and Trump? (I know I’m wading into deep water here.)
DON’T LISTEN TO YOUR HEART, SPEAK TO IT: THE DEVIL
The Devil is a supernatural intelligence, an evil supernatural intelligence, who is the leader of millions of other supernatural intelligences called demons. Do you think, “Gosh, he sounds awfully intelligent; why in the world does he believe that sort of thing?” If you don’t believe it, I just want you to realize you’re part of a fairly small minority of human beings in the history of the world and in the places of the world who don’t believe in that. I just want you to realize that. There are not that many of you. Oh, yeah, of course, they all live in New York City. Well, that’s not true, but I mean, they all live in America in this time, but most people have understood this. Not only that, you can’t make sense of the Bible without it. The Devil’s job is to do the same thing the world and the flesh want to do, and that is to destroy your peace and joy. One thing you have to keep in mind (it’s very important) is that most every kind of church I know of, and almost every kind of pastoral approach and almost every kind of Christian, tends to try to reduce people’s problems to one of these three things. Either they think it’s the world or the flesh or the Devil, and they don’t see that they all three always operate together, and therefore, the reasons for your depression are always complex. See how it works? For example, the world shows you something called commercials. What are the statistics? After you’ve seen umpteen million commercials by the time you’re 25 years old, you start to believe that if you are at all physically attractive, you have to look like the people in commercials. That’s the world doing that. But then what happens when your flesh gets a hold of what the world told it? Your flesh gets a hold of it, and it can do a lot of things. All kinds of nasty things to you. It can drive you to spend too much money on your appearance. It can drive you to eating disorders. “I’m not thin enough. I’m not thin enough.” It can drive you to the need to be sexually active and sexually attractive. Then, after whatever the flesh gets a hold of, what the world told you, then the Devil comes alongside of you. The Devil’s job is to lie and accuse you. Well, the word Satan is a word that means prosecutor. The main job of the Devil is not to tempt you but to prosecute you, to accuse you. He comes alongside after the world and the flesh are doing their number on you, and he aggravates things. He comes alongside and says, “And you call yourself a Christian.” That’s how he always starts. You always know. “You call yourself a Christian.” There are some kinds of churches and Christians who try to deal with your problems intellectually. They teach you the right doctrine, because your problem is you’re thinking worldly and not biblically. There are other kinds of Christians who take not an intellectualistic but a legalistic approach to your problems and say, “You have to obey. Obey. Obey. We have to deal with the flesh only.” The intellectual types deal with the world, and the legalistic types deal with the flesh, and then there’s what I would call the superstitious-type Christians who are always thinking everything is the Devil. Everything. You know, “We’re going to cast this out of this. We’re going to cast this out of this, and it’s just the Devil. It’s just the Devil.” Listen, friends.
14. What stands out to you from the above and why?
15. What does Keller say the devil’s job is and why?
16. How has the devil lied to you recently?
Friday: The World, The Flesh, and the Devil Work Together
Listen to the below:
THE WORLD, THE FLESH, AND THE DEVIL
The fact is, all three of them are right, but whenever you just identify one, you miss the whole group. It’s sort of like there’s a whole pile of enemies coming at you. They’re all intertwined, and you’re just aiming for one Therefore (just keep this in mind), the world, the flesh, and the Devil basically come after you to try to get your conscience to go crazy. Basically, it all comes down to accusation, and the main way in which your joy and your peace are destroyed is by the world, the flesh, and the Devil getting after your assurance of your salvation. They come alongside of you, and they talk about your past. They say, “Think of the things you have done.” Haven’t you ever noticed that? You’ll be walking down the street, and, all of a sudden, something you did a long time ago is incredibly vivid, in living color and quadraphonic sound? It comes up right as you’re going along. Or they can come after you about your feelings. They’ll say, “Why don’t you feel more for this? Remember when you used to feel love and joy and peace? Well, what’s going on now? Why isn’t it there?” They don’t mention the fact, of course, that your feelings are the result of salvation; they’re not the basis of salvation. Your feelings come from being one with God, but they’re not the basis for being one with God. God doesn’t love you or save you on the basis of how you feel. Or they may come along and talk to you about your recurrent sins. They’ll say, “Hey, you should be better by now.” Maybe you should, by the way. They may be right. That’s the point. Most of a lie has a lot of truth in it. Essentially, what they’re trying to do is they’re trying to get you to look more at your sins than at your Savior. This is the end. The reason you will lose your assurance is if they come alongside of you and they poison your conscience. There’s a great place in The Pilgrim’s Progress where there’s a man named Mr. Conscience who is a watchman around the city. If anybody tries to break into the city, Mr. Conscience runs around saying, “Awake! Awake! Awake! There are enemies!” What Satan does is he comes up, and he poisons Mr. Conscience, not to kill him but to drive him insane. So he yells, “Awake! Awake! Awake!” when there’s nobody really coming in, and he goes to sleep when there’s somebody coming in. That’s the way all of our consciences are, and that’s the way the world, the flesh, and the Devil try to get at us, try to poison our conscience, and get us to look more at our sins than our Savior. What do you have to do about that? Well, when it comes right down to it, you have to continually think of a couple of things. One, the reason you’re so sad about your loss of joy and peace, and why some of you actually doubt your salvation is because you say, “I should be better by now. My feelings should be better. There should be more things going on in my life. I should be growing more. How do I even know I’m a Christian?”
17. What stands out to you from the above and why?
SPEAK THIS TRUTH TO YOUR SOUL
The first thing I always say is you give yourself too much credit. The reason you’re so sad must be because the Spirit of God is working at you. You don’t have the ability to want to be holy unless God is helping you want to be holy. You’re giving yourself too much credit. You should be realizing your very sadness is a sign of the work of God in your life. Secondly, you need to constantly come back and say, “It’s not really my feelings, and it’s not my sins, and it’s not my record, but what makes me a Christian, what makes me accepted by God is what Jesus Christ has done for me.” There’s a sense in which the world, the flesh, and the Devil will always try to keep you away from the gospel. The only way to deal with the world, the flesh, and the Devil is keep telling yourself the gospel and keep preaching the gospel to yourself. The way you do that is you say, “The reason I’m feeling so bad today is I’m still locked in works-righteousness. I still want to feel that I have to be good enough to be saved, and you know what? I’m not, and I never was! Of course, I shouldn’t have done this thing this week, but if I hadn’t done this thing this week, I still wouldn’t be acceptable to God. It’s only through the mercy of Jesus Christ. That’s the reason why I can look at him and know I belong to him. I put my faith in him. I look at Christ, and I say to myself, Lay your deadly “doing” down, Down at Jesus’ feet. Stand in him, and him alone, Gloriously complete. The world, the flesh, and the Devil are after you, but everything is fine if you have the right expectations. Don’t be upset that you’re upset. Don’t be down that you’re down. Jesus was constantly a Man of Sorrows and weeping, and all the great Christians were constantly wrestling with these sorts of things. Frankly, you’re going to get back into your joy, and you’re going to get back into your peace faster if you’re not so bummed out about the fact you don’t have it right now. For every one look at your sin, take five looks at your Savior. The noble, the pure. Think of these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
18. What does Keller say the only way to deal with the world, the flesh and the devil?
18. What else stands out to you and why?
Saturday:
20. Put what you’ve learned into practice by speaking the truth to your soul here about whatever is making you anxious.
128 comments
Sunday;:
In this week I experienced God’s love for me when I went for a Singles’ retreat. I was reminded that God loves me so much that He cares about my marriage, being a wife and using my marriage for His glory. Even though I’m in no way close to getting married yet He made sure to remind me of His love in this way.
I experienced God’s love too with the women in the Come Away blog. I really did.
I forgot to add number two.
No, I didn’t watch the memorial, but I heard people say Erika forgave the killer even before he was found. I think that’s one thing I’ve not been able to forget from it.
Love and forgiveness.
So glad for your retreat and your vision for marriage, Eunice.
That was amazing that Erica forgave the killer. Then Trump said he couldn’t forgive his enemies. Pretty stark contrast!
Eunice, thank you for starting on an excellent note. God loves us so much; yes, He does! He cares about our desires and works in all things for our good and His glory.
Sunday:
Dee, I have not heard of Charlie Kirk before he was assassinated. But like you, I did not expect to be so impacted by what he stood for in his faith. And when you mentioned that he wasn’t kind when he was younger, it made me think that we are like Charlie to some degree. We have to be tempered by God, but He can use anybody, warts and all, if we willingly submit to His will. He uses our “warts” to show the world that He is a God of grace and transformation.
How have you experienced the love, joy, or peace of Christ this week?
The passage in Philippians 4 has been on replay in my mind this past week, and so were other verses. I was in an emotional fog, though the Spirit kept me going back to my “true north”. Even up to this morning, my days have been peppered with tears. Mark Vroegop’s book on Deep Clouds and Waiting is not a Waste, and the Bible has been my constant companion.
This quote from Mark has been helping me, and God has used it to help me experience His love, joy, and peace:
“Waiting requires living by what I know to be true about God when I don’t know what’s true about my life.”
If you watched any of the Charlie Kirk memorial, what were your thoughts? What did you like or didn’t? Did you learn anything?
I appreciated that the gospel was preached repeatedly. I learned a little bit more about TPUSA. I was reminded again that God can use the death of somebody to bring about a revival among the people. Death does not have the final say.
Dee, these are such timely lessons for me. Thank you, as always, for seeking God’s leading in this blog.
Thanks, Bing. You are always so encouraging.
Clip comment: I love how Charlie threw the question back to the man and let him tell his story. I also like how the man said over and over that his relationship with Christ is way better than anything he experienced before with the gay lifestyle.
1. How have you experienced the love, joy, or peace of Christ this week?
The short version of this story will have to suffice here, so hopefully I don’t lose anybody. Our team of four teachers was called into a meeting with our director and our assistant superintendent. That would’ve been fine, except we figured out she called us in individually, so there were four individual meetings. We were confused about that. We thought there was going to be some sort of very bad news. My colleagues, who don’t really know Jesus, were anxious and stressed all during the week. I decided I was not going to take that stance, and instead I prayed and asked Jesus to be with me through the situation, whatever happened one way or the other. I did not worry. In the past, I would have worried, but I am free from that. Thank you Jesus! As it turns out they are changing our program, and it means some changes for us as teachers and that we may have to prove that we have certain types of coursework under our belt so that we can teach the new curriculum. But again, I’m not worried about it. My plan is to retire next year anyway so hopefully I don’t have to jump through too many hoops before that happens. I experienced the peace of Jesus.
2. If you watched any of the Charlie Kirk memorial, what were your thoughts?
I was taken back by the famous singers who participated (like Chris Tomlin). I thought it pretty amazing that each person who spoke was truly touched by his kindness to them. They said he sent them a note of encouragement, or called them on the phone out of the blue, or, sat with them in their pain of losing a husband. I thought the person who killed him should realize how he made a martyr of him.
What did you like or didn’t?
I didn’t see anything I didn’t like, but I didn’t watch it all.
Did you learn anything?
I listened to a donor of TP USA explain how Charlie was a 20 yr old kid who came to her and her husband asking for monetary support for his idea. She asked how much and he said $50K. She ended up agreeing to give him half if he raised half first. He called her 2 DAYS later with the money! She was amazed. He was a go-getter even as a young man. Pretty impressive!
Laura, I totally get your point of view about the call from your administrators. I am excited for you as you think of retirement. I am enjoying mine despite the challenges we are facing now at our church. God’s timing is always perfect.
I was challenged by what you shared about Charlie Kirk sending words of encouragement to the musicians when he was still alive. I know of people serving in our community that I could reach out to encourage without fanfare. I have felt that I need to be investing more in prayer and being an encouragement to others these days.
So wonderful how the Lord gave you His peace through the whole time!
Dear Laura, Amen to Dee and Bing. That kind of peace can only come from the Lord. 🙏
3. Meditate on Galatians 5:22-26
A. List the “fruit” of the Spirit. How have you matured in the fruit?
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
I think as I get older, and wiser, I have become better at all of the fruit tenets. I definitely am more at peace with myself. I have greater patience as well.
When we were charged with taking care of the grands, for some reason this is the scripture I chose to focus on over and over again. We have a song we sing. It is a good one to know y heart!
B. What are two key factors in growing in the fruit of the Spirit according to verses 24-25?
We are to nail our sin to the cross.
We are to follow the lead of the Spirit in all our lives.
How do you see this in the testimony of the young man speaking to Kirk?
He is totally leaning into Jesus!
C. What warning is given in verse 26?
We are to not be conceited, provoke others, or be jealous.
1. How have you experienced the love, joy, or peace of Christ this week? This week was filled with many long hoped for, small answers to prayer. Several came all in one day. I also experienced am answer through a deepening of friendship with a couple of new friends here. When my heart is at peace, I feel that I connect better with others. I know in my heart that God is working and it helps me to release my prayers to Him, in faith, knowing that He already has a plan and a way.
2. If you watched any of the Charlie Kirk memorial, what were your thoughts? What did you like or didn’t? Did you learn anything?
I loved the 2 hours a worship music by Christian artists. I so enjoyed the many testimonies of the speakers. It is so refreshing to hear well known people, who rarely share testimonies, speak of the power of Jesus. I learned that God, at some point, changed Charlie Kirk’s heart, from being a bit harsh with people, to having a more humble heart in the way he shared Christ’s power and love. I think this is the turning point for him that changed his career from a “business” to a ministry. I believe that changed hearts more than his earlier approach. I think that his wife, Erika, with her strong Christian convictions, had a lot to do with Charlies’s spiritual growth.
I love this, Patti! “When my heart is at peace, I feel that I connect better with others.”
Monday: Fruit not Fruits
3. Meditate on Galatians 5:22-26
A. List the “fruit” of the Spirit. How have you matured in the fruit?
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I find that when love is uppermost in my mind, the rest of the fruit follows. Perhaps, I should always remind myself of the first two commandments of Jesus: Love the lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself.
B. What are two key factors in growing in the fruit of the Spirit according to verses 24-25? How do you see this in the testimony of the young man speaking to Kirk?
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
Crucify the flesh with its passions and desires and keep in step with the Spirit.
The young man acknowledged that even if he still has a desire at times for same sex relationships, he reminds himself that they never satisfy and that he can only find true satisfaction in Christ.
C. What warning is given in verse 26?
Not be conceited, provoking, and envying each other.
Listen to Keller up to where this transcript ends.
1. Summarize Keller’s point about why the word fruit is singular.
All these things are aspects of the whole. All of these things happen together. They grow together, and only God can create them together.
Sunday:
How have you experienced the love, joy, or peace of Christ this week? – I can’t pinpoint just one thing, but this week, just having a sense of peace about things around me makes me know that God is always near to me.
If you watched any of the Charlie Kirk memorial, what were your thoughts? What did you like or didn’t? Did you learn anything? – I didn’t really watch it; I only saw Erica’s tribute to her husband. The overall calmness she had as she delivered the tribute was amazing. I’ve read some comments in places that she was acting, or that it was phony, and I can’t say one way or another about it and can only hope that it was the peace of God that washed over her as she spoke. She seemed to be a strong Christian and most likely felt the Lord’s presence with her at that time.
If you are interested I think you’d be blessed by the beginning for sure. You can find it on You-Tube.
Sunday:
How have you experienced the love, joy, or peace of Christ this week? Once again right here on the blog. My circumstances, especially two very difficult ones, threatened to undo me, but the TRUTH of the Bible and my faith was given out here and reminded me to turn away from discouragement and depression. Praise Jesus.
If you watched any of the Charlie Kirk memorial, what were your thoughts? What did you like or didn’t? Did you learn anything? I saw part of his wife’s speech and have to say the Lord is working. I did not know Kirk before this and can see why there has been such a fuss. We are planning to do a small group using the small group study, Truth Rising, from Focus on the Family and I expect some good discussion.
Monday: Fruit not Fruits
3. Meditate on Galatians 5:22-26
A. List the “fruit” of the Spirit. How have you matured in the fruit? Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, faithfulness, self-control. I’m gaining for sure, but it seems like I find myself still struggling for sure.
B. What are two key factors in growing in the fruit of the Spirit according to verses 24-25? How do you see this in the testimony of the young man speaking to Kirk? Crucify the flesh, walk by the Spirit. I find when I actually pray and use scripture, it really does work! Haha.
C. What warning is given in verse 26? Do not be conceited
2. If you watched any of the Charlie Kirk memorial, what were your thoughts? What did you like or didn’t? Did you learn anything?
Yes, I watched much of it. I was overcome by the worship that morning. I believe that that set the tone for the whole service and was such a beautiful invitation for the Holy Spirit to bring beauty for ashes.
I was on the worship team at our church last Sunday and our worship leader was very moved by the worship at Charlie’s memorial service so three of the four songs we did were from that memorial service. We did this song. Here is a link to “I Just Want to Speak the Name of Jesus” from the memorial service:
Phil Wickham and Tiffany Hudson Perform I Speak Jesus at Charlie Kirk Memorial Service
One thing that struck me was when they were singing Holy Forever and the camera began to scan dignitaries entering the stadium. As the camera caught these moments the people were singing:
“Your name is the highest, Your name is the greatest, Your name stands above them all. All thrones and dominions, All powers and positions, Your name stands above them all.”
Holy Forever / How Great Is Our God – Chris Tomlin | Charlie Kirk Memorial (LIVE)
Love your worship leader did this. I know Charlie is controversial and had to be careful in ur church but I think everyone would agree the Memorial was powerful in presenting the gospel.
Thank you for sharing these links, Nila. I love that your music leader included these songs! I thought the music was powerful, and especially loved the ones you mentioned! Loved seeing the audience praising God when the cameras panned across the crowd!
Truth: “Your name is the highest, Your name is the greatest, Your name stands above them all. All thrones and dominions, All powers and positions, Your name stands above them all.”
Peace – Overcoming Anxiety Part II.
Sunday:
How have you experienced the love, joy, or peace of Christ this week?
—Last weekend we were able to spend time together with 3 of our 4 children which rarely happens. On Saturday evening we all gathered at a restaurant to celebrate my husband’s birthday and God provided a large round table (an unusual setting for such a large group) where all 12 of us sat in a circle. The fellowship was sweet and lots of laughter was heard. It was a time of sweet blessing orchestrated by our gracious Father.
If you watched any of the Charlie Kirk memorial, what were your thoughts? What did you like or didn’t? Did you learn anything?
—Like you Dee, I was not a follower of Charlie Kirk or very familiar with his ministry and mission. In the past I had seen occasional clips of his interactions on college campuses and saw how he interacted so well in taking a biblical stand on cultural issues. I have watched clips and quotes from the memorial service and it was an amazing event with the gospel being presented so strongly and clearly by so many. I did take time to watch his wife Erica’s talk and it was a particularly moving time of sharing her heart and her tribute to her husband. It was most poignant when she forgave Charlie’s murderer. She lived out the gospel in a powerful way to all who heard her.
Monday: Fruit not Fruits
3. Meditate on Galatians 5:22-26
A. List the “fruit” of the Spirit. How have you matured in the fruit?
—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control
The Lord has exercised me in all of these things to some degree in my life. At this age I definitely experience a greater measure of them than in my youth and some are more developed than others. I desire each of these to have a much greater measure in my own spirit. I know the more I spend time in the Word and prayer the more I experience the fruit of the Spirit.
B. What are two key factors in growing in the fruit of the Spirit according to verses 24-25? How do you see this in the testimony of the young man speaking to Kirk?
—to crucify the flesh and to live by the Spirit.
The young man in his testimony agreed that he was now 100% more happy and joyful in what he now experienced in having a relationship with Jesus.
C. What warning is given in verse 26?
—“Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.”
These are manifestations of the flesh and they kill the power of the Holy Spirit and the fruit that results in living by the Spirit.
4. Summarize Keller’s point about why the word fruit is singular.
—Keller quoted Jonathan Edward’s where he says “the only way you can really be sure a person’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness and all that is not counterfeit is that it happens all together. That’s the only way you can tell that any one of these things is really of the Spirit and not being manufactured from some fleshly sources. Because there’s a symmetry, he says, about them. They grow together, and only the Spirit of God can really create them together. Only the Spirit of God can create an emotional, sweet, loving, tenderhearted, generous person who’s also self-controlled, absolutely dependable, absolutely rock solid, absolutely peaceful.
I personally find this to be a hard concept because it can feel like it is all or nothing. When I fail to practice any one of the aspects of the fruit are the rest negated? Getting it all together seems to be such a challenge.
Keller does add the caveat “By the way, that doesn’t mean we get there right away, but they all are growing together.”
As I meditated on the passage this morning verse 24 stood out to me.
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.” This flesh I live in has been crucified yet it still seems to wield more power in my life than it should. I was trying to grasp the application of that to be able to not give into my old passions and desires.
I think I see how verse 25 then comes into play here.
“Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.”
In one talk, Bev, Keller talked about needing to have “the buds” of allthe fruit. That’s a bit easier! 🙂
A. List the “fruit” of the Spirit. How have you matured in the fruit?
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I feel that I have grown in these, yet I will never be complete in this lifetime. I feel that I am stronger in some areas than other areas. I pray that I will continue to grow in the fruit of the Spirit, as long as I live.
B. What are two key factors in growing in the fruit of the Spirit according to verses 24-25? How do you see this in the testimony of the young man speaking to Kirk?
In Belonging to Christ Jesus, we have crucified the flesh, with its passions and desires and we live by the Spirit and walk in the Spirit. We will still experience temptations and feelings of our old self, but we have the strength of depending on Jesus to help us on our walk. The young man spoke to this in his testimony, in that the more he becomes like Christ, the easier to it is to be protected from caving to temptations.
C. What warning is given in verse 26? Do not be boastful, challenging one another or envying one another.
I loved that in the young man’s testimony too and find it to be so true.
4. Summarize Keller’s point about why the word fruit is singular.
The results of living by the Spirit and walking in the Spirit are these evidences or fruit that work together to make our character more Christ-like.
It is a daily walk with life and character changing results. It makes me think we need to daily evaluate the way we think, thank God and pray, so that we stay on the right path. Walking with Him, one step at a time. Love the parallel of Mary wanting the one thing that was most important, while Martha wanted to accomplish lots of good things, but did not do the most important thing first. Mary listened to Jesus.
Patti, so good: it makes me think we need to daily evaluate the way we think, thank God and pray, so that we stay on the right path.
I participated in a Zoom call earlier today, and one of the things our leader said was “evaluate and pivot,” referring to what we can do after a ministry event. Yes, to daily evaluate the way we think and self-correct or pivot to the right path if we get distracted and off-course. Thank you!
5. Read Luke 10:38-41 with the understanding of the Greek word translated worried or upset or cumbered in verse 40. What wisdom does this give you?
Settle myself to ingest the Word. It is most important. I have found myself in a disarray before, doing exactly what this word suggests! Trying to get too many things done and not getting anything accomplished at all. Better to complete one thing well and be calm.
6. One practical application is how you start your day with the Lord. What can help you here from being distracted?
Lay in bed!
7. Meditate on Philippians 4:8. What are we told to do when we begin to get anxious?
Fix our minds on good things.
Do you do this? If so, describe what you do.
I try to. I don’t really have time to think about being anxious or “get down.” If I do, I pray. I ask God to help me. I focus on others more than myself.
Okay — you better elaborate on how “lay in bed” helps you start your day with the Lord. 🙂
Tuesday: Merimna
I had never heard that the Greek word for anxiety, or worried, or upset in Luke 10:41 is “merimna” or to be in pieces. Distracted. Trying to focus on too many things. Therefore, unable to focus on one thing and shattered.
5. Read Luke 10:38-41 with the understanding of the Greek word translated worried or upset or cumbered in verse 40. What wisdom does this give you?
6. One practical application is how you start your day with the Lord. What can help you here from being distracted?
Spend time with God first. Seek His direction.
7. Meditate on Philippians 4:8. What are we told to do when we begin to get anxious? Do you do this? If so, describe what you do.
Think on things that are true, noble, right, pure, admirable, praiseworthy. I wish I could say I do this every day. But when I do, the first word “true” most often than not takes care of my worries for the day. When I focus on the truth, especially on the character of God, I can spring out of bed and say that it is not going to be a “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day”. Rather, it would be a “terrific, happy, good, and God-ordained day”. A shift in my mindset drives my anxieties away
8. Listen to the above and share what stands out.
Peace and joy come from an assurance of my salvation. It is so comforting to be reminded of this. I don’t have to perform; God has things under control, and I am glad I am not. I just received news of the earthquake in the Philippines. The epicenter was not very far from where my brother lives. Initial news I received indicated they are okay, but I have not spoken directly to my brother. My reaction was, “Oh, no!” But then, going back to Philippians 4:8 has given me peace. God is watching over my family.
I’m sorry to hear about the earthquake. It’s so hard waiting for news and to hear from your loved one. Praying you hear soon and can have courage as you wait. So glad for the peace we can get from the word.
Praying all is well with them, Bing!
I heard about those earthquakes and thought of your family, Bing. So thankful your brother is okay. So thankful we have God and His Word.
Praying for your family in the Philippine’s and for God’s help and protection.
Thank you, all, for your prayers! My brother and family were all shook up(pardon the pun), as many others were. Their city is rallying to help the city that has the most devastation. The aftermath with the death toll rising and damages to infrastructure, homes, and businesses will take prayers, resilience, and practical help from the government and the churches. God knows and He sees.
5. Read Luke 10:38-41 with the understanding of the Greek word translated worried or upset or cumbered in verse 40. What wisdom does this give you? When we focus on Christ, our anxiety will melt away.
6. One practical application is how you start your day with the Lord. What can help you here from being distracted? Lay all my cares at His feet, knowing I cannot possibly handle it but that He can do all things.
7. Meditate on Philippians 4:8. What are we told to do when we begin to get anxious? Do you do this? If so, describe what you do. I liked how Keller defined Peace-confidence and trust in God’s wise control of your life. The opposite of peace is worry, the conterfeit of peace is apathy and the opposite of anxiety is single mindedness. He also said we are to talk to our heart, as we learned in Psalm 42. I do try to do these things. When my daughter was in a car crash early this week, as I waited for more news, I prayed “Lord, you love her more than I can, and you have her in your ever loving care. Help me to trust you whatever the outcome.” As Keller, says, just because we trust God with hard things, it doesn’t mean we aren’t sad or upset, but we trust God for the outcome, and there we find peace-ultimately in our salvation. Again, it’s having the eternal perspective.
Real life example from Chris:
When my daughter was in a car crash early this week, as I waited for more news, I prayed “Lord, you love her more than I can, and you have her in your ever loving care. Help me to trust you whatever the outcome.” As Keller, says, just because we trust God with hard things, it doesn’t mean we aren’t sad or upset, but we trust God for the outcome, and there we find peace-ultimately in our salvation. Again, it’s having the eternal perspective.
Such great wisdom, Chris! It is our eternal perspective!
9. Listen to the above.
A. What stands out and why? We live in the world and must battle that mindset. Again it’s all about having an eternal perspective.
B. Why must we speak instead of listen to our soul? We are in the world and our souls tend to reflect that kind of mindset. We need to speak the truth of scripture to our soul.
C. How does Keller describe the worldview of a worldly person? How is it different than the worldview of a believer? A worldly person believes the mindset of the world, a believer has an eternal perspective.
D. With the above in mind, how might you talk to your soul about a hard marriage, or your body falling apart, or the death of a loved one who was a believer? (Choose two)
8. Listen to the above and share what stands out.
I think the idea of not focusing on just one thing, but rather many, stands out. I mentioned that above. When I try to get several things accomplished at the same time, I am a wreck. I get nothing done, well. By focusing on the singular I am a better me. Mary knew the importance of listening to Jesus, in her heart. She focused on Him alone.
Keller says the opposite of anxiety is single-mindedness. That’s interesting too. We have so many students with this “anxiety” label this year. So weird. Why? All of the sudden? I will remember to try to remind them to focus on one thing at a time. Maybe that will help.
9. Listen to the above.
A. What stands out and why?
I like the speaking to my heart part, to remind myself who I am to God. It is a comfort.
I also like the worldliness bit. How we focus on silly things of this world and think they are so important. This goes back to the Francis Chan clip I shared above 👆.
B. Why must we speak instead of listen to our soul?
It makes us more anxious when we listen to it.
C. How does Keller describe the worldview of a worldly person? How is it different than the worldview of a believer?
The world view means you focus on the here and now. The believer remembers that there is more in their lives to look forward to and to focus on. It calms us. There is hope.
D. With the above in mind, how might you talk to your soul about a hard marriage, or your body falling apart, or the death of a loved one who was a believer? (Choose two)
I can say remember that my real body will come to me in heaven. My perfect marriage will be apparent when I meet Jesus face to face. But, doesn’t that sort of “give up” or give in to my situation here on Earth somewhat? Is it a cop-out for my earthly body and marriage? Shouldn’t i keep striving for better here?
Of course you should keep walking in the light, but also knowing the best is yet to come. No marriage — but as Keller says, something better.
I get where you are going with the cop out-it can be apathy. Instead, it should be a way of saying , okay, Lord, this life is not easy and you have a better plan for me in heaven. I will keep the eternal perspective as I live out this imperfect life and keep reflecting your light. It’s our motivation to keep focusing on the eternal. When relationships are hard, don’t focus on the earthly struggle but the eternal perspective. Pray for your brother or sister. For your students, present the way you handle anxiety so they can see the Light in you. I know you already do this 🤍
Love all of your responses. Thank you for pointing us to the eternal perspective, Chris. Life will never be perfect on this earth. I love that you pointed out the importance of being the light. Laura, you may be the only Bible your students see and you are a light to them!
5. Read Luke 10:38-41 with the understanding of the Greek word translated worried or upset or cumbered in verse 40. What wisdom does this give you?
It is so easy to put off time in God’s Word and prayer, when our schedules are busy. Mary chose what was most important over being distracted with duties. The time with Jesus w0uld not always be there, but the distractions will.
6. One practical application is how you start your day with the Lord. What can help you here from being distracted?
Reading God’s Word and prayer are the necessities in starting my day in the most important way. Getting up a bit earlier and taking time with the Lord is such a good way to do the most important first.
7. Meditate on Philippians 4:8. What are we told to do when we begin to get anxious? Do you do this? If so, describe what you do.
Set your heart and prayers on thanking and praising God. Set your mind on good and honorable things, especially on others and not myself. This helps me to set the tone for my whole day.
Tuesday: “Merimna”
I had never heard that the Greek word for anxiety, or worried, or upset in Luke 10:41 is “merimna” or to be in pieces. Distracted. Trying to focus on too many things. Therefore, unable to focus on one thing and shattered.
5. Read Luke 10:38-41 with the understanding of the Greek word translated worried or upset or cumbered in verse 40. What wisdom does this give you?
—It is a reminder of my need to pull myself together. It takes a conscious effort to focus back on one thing. On what is in the present. To consider what is the present need.
6. One practical application is how you start your day with the Lord. What can help you here from being distracted?
—To go straight to the Word and prayer. Even this morning I checked my messages first and was immediately troubled by something hard and I was “merimna” distracted.
7. Meditate on Philippians 4:8. What are we told to do when we begin to get anxious? Do you do this? If so, describe what you do.
—I did this morning because my heart was truly troubled and I was being drawn to be angry and think badly of my closest friend’s husband. It has taken calling on God in prayer and now as I am here doing Tuesdays lesson on Wednesday morning God is leading me and speaking to me in my need through his Word.
Merima — I think it is worse because of our devices. I also find if I can be with the Lord early in the mornng and write early, e-mails, texts, and calls don’t come in and that helps! Putting away devices is hard — a red flag of my addiction.
Bev, I hear you in your struggle with merimna. I struggle with that, too. And I have been a recipient of the “brokenness” that comes with it. I appreciate your sharing about talking forcefully to your soul so you don’t get angry with your friend’s husband. I have to surrender my thoughts and pause before I speak continually. I often have to talk to myself about how faithful god is in everything, and that includes giving me the power to control my thoughts, speech, and actions.
Bing, I love this about God is faithful in everything, even helping me control my thoughts, speech and actions. I’ve been trying to pray more before I speak as well. I’m working everyday with my 7 year old who has ADD and I find myself stretched to breaking as we try to get through his schoolwork. The ADD is a challenge! When I find myself frustrated I try to bow my head before saying anything. This changes his focus to see me struggling and then we can talk about what’s happening and how to re-focus. God is faithful!
Wednesday: Speaking to Your Heart to Overcome to Overcome the World
9. Listen to the above.
A. What stands out and why?
—The need to speak to my soul.
This comment he made:
“Think. Worry is listening to your heart. Peace comes from talking to your heart…..Peace comes from talking to your heart about who you are in Christ.”
B. Why must we speak instead of listen to our soul?
—If I listen to my soul I will fall into the mindset of the world and respond in a worldly way which is being consumed with a secular “nowism” way of thinking. I have to consciously back out of that and, pray and put my thinking back in line with what the Lord wants for me which is outlined in Philippians 4:8
“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”
C. How does Keller describe the worldview of a worldly person? How is it different than the worldview of a believer?
—As Keller said a worldly person is consumed with “The here, the now, the concrete, what you see right now is all that matters.”
The worldview of a believer is what I answered here before from Philippians 4:8
D. With the above in mind, how might you talk to your soul about a hard marriage, or your body falling apart, or the death of a loved one who was a believer? (Choose two)
—I have a number of old age physical issues but I still am able to function comparatively quite well. But the body of my dearest friend Lynda is racked with horrible gout pain and a number of very debilitating physical problems. Today I will take her to her doctor’s appointment because her husband doesn’t acknowledge just badly she is doing. He has always had a buck up mentality. She is physically and emotionally spent and is so ready to be with Jesus. My emotions are many and my battle this morning has been to not give into anger against him but to think as Philippians 4:8 tells us to think. She never speaks against him but I could and I could do so loudly but God and only God keeps reminding me to honor Him in all of this. I’ve hesitated this morning to acknowledge this here so as not to make my case against him but this is my being honest here with my sisters about my own spiritual struggle. I am having to speak forcefully to my soul today and not let my emotions run amuck.
Dear Bev,
I can relate to your situation and appreciate the position you have to take in order to hold emotions and tongue in check. Thanking the Father now for the good friend you are to help your friend and be the hands and feet of Christ to her. How sad for her husband, and praying for him to feel the love of Christ for his wife. Perhaps he may also be in denial of her actual physical state? We can’t know his mindset but can pray. Thanks for sharing your struggle. I have also been in prayer for relationships this week which have stirred emotions in me which I know I need to turn over to the Father. It is so hard at times. Stand strong sister. Keep that eternal perspective.
That is so hard — but you have the right attitude in speaking forcefully to your soul. I often think of how Jesus committed His case to the One who judges justly. I’m proud of you!
Oh, Bev! What a difficult and heart wrenching situation. I love that you shared this with us. I can relate to this, in a family situation and I constantly have to speak God’s Word to my soul and trust the Lord. It is so hard. What a great, godly support you are to your friend. You are a treasure. I pray that her husband’s heart softens.
D. With the above in mind, how might you talk to your soul about a hard marriage, or your body falling apart, or the death of a loved one who was a believer? (Choose two)
When talking to my soul about my hard marriage, I say, we are just two sinners trying to survive in this world. His sin is not greater than mine. He loves me and I love him-we have the same goal. What common ground can bring us back together? I try to look at how we started and what God’s purpose is for our marriage. What witness are we giving our family and friends? How is the Lord trying to grow us in this challenge?
My body falling apart: this earthly pot is cracked for sure, but the eternal body in heaven will be perfect. Lord use me in this imperfect life to shine for you. I’m frustrated with my limitations here. May you use these limitations to glorify you and grow your kingdom.
14. What stands out to you from the above and why? I love this perspective of our 3 problems being the world, the flesh and the devil. And I love how he finds the three ways Christians primarily deal with these. Some teach doctrine to correct worldly thinking, some teach legalism to deal with the flesh and others still are casting out the devil from everything, as if that is the only culprit. We need all three solutions to this complex problem.
15. What does Keller say the devil’s job is and why? To lie and accuse us-the bible says he is the Father of lies.
16. How has the devil lied to you recently? Oh, he is working hard on me. We have a situation with a child where the devil is trying to beat me up saying its all my fault and causing me to run back through the events and see what my errors were, but truthfully, the events are what they are and I did the best I could with the knowledge I had at the time. The tragic events that occurred are the work of the enemy and not me. The Lord allowed these hard things in our lives for his purposes. I am still sad over it and hurting, but trusting the Lord and his greater plan. Come, Lord Jesus.
Father, please help Chris lay this down and give her Your peace. In Jesus Name I pray.
Dear Chris, I join Dee in praying for you. None of us had “practice children”. We give our hearts to our children, but we will never be perfect. I pray that the Lord will comfort your heart. We cannot do re-runs in life, but God can heal relationships. I pray this for you a your husband and your child. It is my constant prayer in my own life.
I agree with Dee’s prayer. 🙏🏻
Thank you! It does help to have prayer. 🤍
Monday: Fruit not Fruits
3. Meditate on Galatians 5:22-26
A. List the “fruit” of the Spirit. How have you matured in the fruit?
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
I do see progress. Especially when I look back on my younger days as a Christian…God is definitely doing a work in my life.
B. What are two key factors in growing in the fruit of the Spirit according to verses 24-25?
Nailing the passions and desires of our sinful nature to His cross and crucify them there.
Follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.
How do you see this in the testimony of the young man speaking to Kirk?
He stopped believing the lie of the world that his sexual preference is what identified him when he came to know Jesus…he did nail the passions and desires of his sinful nature to His cross and crucified them there. He found his identity in Jesus!
(I was unable to find the full video but found a short version.)
C. What warning is given in verse 26?
Don’t become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.
4. Summarize Keller’s point about why the word fruit is singular.
They are all produced by the Holy Spirit and grow together, there is a symmetry about them.
A zucchini grows with its skin, pulp and seeds all together to form a yummy zucchini. If there was just the skin…yuck! And the skin protects the pulp and the seeds are used to produce more zucchini.
Just how my mind works…weird, I know🙃
Love your post, Sharon! Love the zucchini analogy! We must be kindred spirits!😉
You are weirdly sweet 💕😊
Sharon, I would not look at a zucchini the same way again after I read your analogy!
Patti, Bev and Bing…y’all put a smile on my face 😊❤️
This is a very good short version of that young man:
He stopped believing the lie of the world that his sexual preference is what identified him when he came to know Jesus…he did nail the passions and desires of his sinful nature to His cross and crucified them there. He found his identity in Jesus!
Erica said that Charlie’s mission was to rescue young men like the one who killed him.
Thursday: Overcoming the Flesh and the Devil
10. How does Keller define the flesh? What else stood out to you?
—Keller said our flesh is not our body but it is the selfish part of our nature that wants to be God and have complete control of our own lives. He also explained our flesh can be very base and sinful or it can become religious.
I agree that the nature of the flesh is manifested in heart attitudes that are prone towards sin and wanting to be god of our lives. But I also feel our sinful nature is bound to this body I live in and when death comes to my body I will be set free in my spirit to spiritually thrive being with Jesus.
Living now in this body and the fallen nature that is part of it I recognize that daily I wake up to a spiritual battle where I have to submit this flesh to God and trust Jesus to change and have control over my heart and thinking and the habits of my life.
11. How is the young man in the opening video overcoming his flesh’s desire to have sex with men?
—It is through his relationship with Jesus. Jesus has changed him and is continuing to provide the strength and reason he needs to overcome his sin.
12. Give an example from your life where the flesh wants you to be your own god. How might you overcome the lies?
—Daily I would want to go my own way and do my own thing if it weren’t for Jesus. Yesterday my struggle was with anger towards my best friend’s husband. God in his grace challenged me to practice the love He requires of me and later that day when I encountered him Jesus gave me the ability to have set my anger aside and I treated him with love and respect. My hard feelings were gone and I will tell you only Jesus could do that. It would never happened in the power of my own flesh.
The lies that come to my heart and mind are overcome by the Word of God. The Bible has a direct influence on what I think and feel.
being in God’s Word yesterday morning was key to my change of heart.
13. If you watched the Memorial, did you see the contrast between Erica Kirk and Trump? (I know I’m wading into deep water here.)
I only watched Erica Kirk’s tribute online after the memorial service.
I saw a young woman broken hearted by her grief but yet sustained by God and given an amazing strength to speak the gospel clearly for her Lord because of her relationship to Jesus. And then in the power of the Holy Spirit she forgave the murderer. It was full of truly beautiful expressions of faith.
Having observed and listened to Trump in other settings I have a fairly clear perspective of his posture when he presents. Not knowing his words in that setting other than the comments here that he expressed an inability to forgive his enemies I don’t find that surprising. He is a man of the world and has lived a completely worldly life and so his thinking has been influenced by that.
Some Christian leaders I respect believe he is now a Christian. Others don’t. I am of the opinion that we can’t make that judgement because only God knows the heart of anyone but if he is a true believer now then he is very naive and a baby Christian at best. If not then I only hope he observed something in the many testimonies that day and the powerful Presence of God in that setting so that the gospel became clear to him. Perhaps there he accepted Christ and became a true believer. He certainly had a clear opposition. Only time will tell and fruit will appear if he is.
I appreciate your perspective. I also did not hear Trump. My husband expressed concern about his followers/supporters latching onto the hate of enemies and the road that can lead to.
I think that is insightful of your husband and I would agree with him.
Chris — I was actually glad to hear Trump say he could not forgive forI thought it should clarify to those who claim he is a Christian that he is not.
True forgiveness of others is surely a sign of a Christ centered heart. It is not my place to judge our president, but if he deeply and truly comes to know Jesus, he will have the scales drop from his eyes. I see many who say they love Jesus, but have trouble forgiving. 🙏🙏
From Bev:
Yesterday my struggle was with anger towards my best friend’s husband. God in his grace challenged me to practice the love He requires of me and later that day when I encountered him Jesus gave me the ability to have set my anger aside and I treated him with love and respect. My hard feelings were gone and I will tell you only Jesus could do that. It would never happened in the power of my own flesh.
9. Listen to the above.
A. What stands out and why?
Worry is listening to your heart. Peace comes from talking to your heart. Peace is confidence and trust in God’s wise control of your life.
B. Why must we speak instead of listen to our soul?
Our worldly mind constantly draws us to our worldly problems. When we speak to our soul, it turns us back to God and assurance of our Salvation. It also reminds us that God has what is the ultimate best in mind, the whole picture.
C. How does Keller describe the worldview of a worldly person? How is it different than the worldview of a believer?
The worldly person is always looking for happiness and pleasures that this world offers. It is a short lived and false sense of joy. The worldview of the believer is that this world is but a dim reflection of what God has to offer in heaven, which will be beyond our imagining. The believer thinks on the things that bring him inner peace in spite of the conditions.
D. With the above in mind, how might you talk to your soul about a hard marriage, or your body falling apart, or the death of a loved one who was a believer? (Choose two)
The beauty of youth is fleeting, no how much we try to care for ourselves, yet the beauty of the soul is always increasing if we are seeking to be closer to Jesus.
I watched my husband melt away, physically and mentally, from all that he enjoyed in this world. He longed to be in heaven with Jesus. After he died, his wrinkles all disappeared and he looked years younger. It was a strange moment that I believe God gave me to help me through this time. I was devastated, but amazed to watch his transformation to peace. His soul was not destroyed, it was renewed to a perfection that we cannot attain on this earth or this dimension. (Sorry for the rabbit hole)
I love your whole post, Patti. Such a bitter sweet memory with your husband. The Lord knows what we need.
Oh, Patti! Such sweet memories of your Ronny’s passing. Renewed to a perfection that we cannot attain here on earth.
An amazing rabbit hole.
Patti your opening comment “Worry is listening to your heart. Peace comes from talking to your heart. Peace is confidence and trust in God’s wise control of your life.” This is a powerful truth related to what Keller has been teaching us here. I will share it with a close friend whom I feel has given herself permission to worry. It also speaks to when Keller tells us to keep telling ourselves the Gospel.
Monday:
3. Meditate on Galatians 5:22-26
A. List the “fruit” of the Spirit. How have you matured in the fruit?
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
I feel that it is in me because I’m a child of God but I’ve not matured enough to the point where it is actually soooo palpable. For instance, there are times when I’m unkind.
B. What are two key factors in growing in the fruit of the Spirit according to verses 24-25? How do you see this in the testimony of the young man speaking to Kirk?
My sinful nature together with its passion and appetite has been crucified. And if I claim to live by the Spirit I must walk by the spirit.
His love for gay life has gone. Yes, he still feels its presence sometimes, but it’s only because he’s still in flesh. It really was crucified the day he gave his life to Christ.
C. What warning is given in verse 26?
That we should not become conceited, challenging or provoking one another, envying one another.
4. Summarize Keller’s point about why the word fruit is singular.
In short he’s telling us that this fruit is all in one. And it is by the One Spirit of God. One cannot have one and lack one.
I love this, Eunice: One cannot have one and lack one.
You are so wise for your age, Eunice. Excited to see what God will do with you if you can stay humble! 🙂
5. Read Luke 10:38-41 with the understanding of the Greek word translated worried or upset or cumbered in verse 40. What wisdom does this give you?
That I should focus on Jesus and not be distracted, especially in this world where it is so easy to get distracted and idolize other things.
6. One practical application is how you start your day with the Lord. What can help you here from being distracted? What helps me from being distracted is that I imagine God Himself sitting in front of me and talking to me, being so pumped up, so excited to show me things I’ve not seen or heard before, and I’m like I really must get this thing God’s wanting to tell me.
7. Meditate on Philippians 4:8. What are we told to do when we begin to get anxious? Do you do this? If so, describe what you do.
We are told to think continually of them and implant them in our hearts.
Yes, first of all I tell myself that worrying or being anxious means I’m telling God that I don’t trust Him and I don’t want that. So, I think of all the awesome stuff He has done for me and I talk to Him to unburden me.
8. Listen to the above and share what stands out.
Talking to my heart, reminding it of God’s promises for me instead of listening to it.
Love your post, dear Eunice! Especially your answer to 6. 🙏
Wednesday: Speaking to Your Heart to Overcome the World
DON’T LISTEN TO YOUR HEART, SPEAK TO IT: THE WORLD
9. Listen to the above.
A. What stands out and why?
Peace comes from talking to your heart about who you are in Christ.
B. Why must we speak instead of listen to our soul?
When we listen to our souls/heart, we give in to worry. Worry is what we do when we listen to our heart. We need to speak the TRUTH to our souls. Let us not forget what Jesus has done for us. Romans 8:32
C. How does Keller describe the worldview of a worldly person? How is it different than the worldview of a believer?
The worldly person thinks of the “secular, the “now”. What’s in it for me? The “now” is all that matters. For a believer, this world is temporary. We are living for eternity, so what we do matters in light of that instead of just the “now”.
D. With the above in mind, how might you talk to your soul about a hard marriage, or your body falling apart, or the death of a loved one who was a believer? (Choose two)
Bodies falling apart: God is my sustainer. God is renewing my mind each day as I offer my life as a living sacrifice
Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. Isaiah 46:4
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2
Death of a believer: I will see them again; They are at Jesus’s side
But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.2 Corinthians 3:18
Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful servants. Psalm 116:15
Bing, I so look forward to your posts because of all the wonderful scripture your refer to…that’s our only offensive weapon, the sword of the Spirit. You said it, “we need to speak the truth to our hearts!” Thank you🙏😊
Tuesday: Merimna
I had never heard that the Greek word for anxiety, or worried, or upset in Luke 10:41 is “merimna” or to be in pieces. Distracted. Trying to focus on too many things. Therefore, unable to focus on one thing and shattered.
5. Read Luke 10:38-41 with the understanding of the Greek word translated worried or upset or cumbered in verse 40. What wisdom does this give you?
Martha was focused on too many things…running around like a chicken with its head cut off. She needed to settle down and focus on one thing as Mary did at the feet of Jesus.
6. One practical application is how you start your day with the Lord. What can help you here from being distracted?
I have a routine where I start my day in Gods word in my room all alone. I’m an acronym person and I pray the word FEAST before I start (an article from Desiring God)…
F…focus, asking God to remove all distractions.
E…Enlighten my eyes, asking the Holy Spirit to give me a teachable spirit and understanding.
A…Address any sin in my life.
S…Satisfy my soul
T…Train my hands, be a doer of His word.
7. Meditate on Philippians 4:8. What are we told to do when we begin to get anxious?
Fix our thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
Do you do this? If so, describe what you do.
This is a verse that I have memorized and I know I don’t do it as often as I should. But when I do, I pray it in situations where I’m tempted to do otherwise. Such as where I’m tempted to get caught up in gossip, criticism and thinking thoughts that I’ve made up in my mind…etc.
8. Listen to the above and share what stands out.
This really does work…”You can either talk to your heart or you can listen to your heart.” I spoke to a friend this morning who has been panicking all week because of the hurricanes out in the Atlantic (which ended up making U-turns…Praise God) because she and her husband lost their home during hurricane Florence in 2018! As you all know we had trees fall on our house during that hurricane and we were displaced for 6 months but I really have felt the peace of God with these storms festering out in the ocean, because I know God is in control and I chose to talk to my heart rather than listen/ panic.
Sharon, I love the FEAST acronym!
Love your entire post, Sharon! And I am with Bing! Love FEAST!
Hmm. This is making me think of a way to train my son. He gets anxious whenever he hears the weather. We had a lot of tornadoes in Michigan this year and one went through our town (thankfully, we only lost a large tree.) He heard of the hurricanes and was immediately worried they would come here. I need to help him memorize this verse and train him to pray in order to avoid anxiety and have peace. I find I always learn more for myself when teaching others. 🙂
thanks, Sharon.
Chris, i understand your son’s fear. I had that same fear as a child, growing up in Minnesota.
What a great anacronym – -I esp need the F!
This really does work…”You can either talk to your heart or you can listen to your heart.” This is so good. 😊
10. How does Keller define the flesh? What else stood out to you?
The flesh is the selfish part of you that wants to be its own god. To call the shots; to be in charge; selfish. Often to desire power and more subtlety, to have people like them and pay attention to them. Quite often, someone entertaining, fun.
11. How is the young man in the opening video overcoming his flesh’s desire to have sex with men?
The young man turned his attention to God and made God the most important one in his life. With God in charge, the young man was able to redirect his desires to a better, God centered, moral life. The result was more peace in his heart and soul.
12. Give an example from your life where the flesh wants you to be your own god. How might you overcome the lies?
I can get distracted away from the most important thing, God, and get overly involved in good things like people pleasing, being fearful or worrying about things that are out of my control. Sometimes being pressured by people telling me what I need to do.
Wednesday: Speaking to Your Heart to Overcome the World
DON’T LISTEN TO YOUR HEART, SPEAK TO IT: THE WORLD
9. Listen to the above.
A. What stands out and why?
Peace comes from talking to your heart about who you are in Christ.
I like this because this is an area the enemy can have a hay day in my mind…whispering lies and I can yell back, “No, I’m a new creature in Christ, old things have passed away behold all things have become new!! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
B. Why must we speak instead of listen to our soul?
Listening causes anxiety.
Speaking brings peace by telling yourself who you are in Christ.
C. How does Keller describe the worldview of a worldly person?
“Nowism…the here the now, the concrete, what you see right now is all that matters. “
How is it different than the worldview of a believer?
Believers have a hope, an eternal outlook on life.
D. With the above in mind, how might you talk to your soul about a hard marriage, or your body falling apart, or the death of a loved one who was a believer? (Choose two)
Body falling apart…”For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God Himself and not by human hands.” 2 Corinthians 5:1
Death of a loved one…When we’re away from these earthly bodies, we will be at home with the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 5:8
(It’s a Corinthians 5 kind of day😜)
Thursday: Overcoming the Flesh and the Devil
10. How does Keller define the flesh?
It’s the selfish part of you that wants to be God.
What else stood out to you?
The flesh can have gross manifestations and subtle manifestations. Gross manifestation…A person can be overly dominant, wanting things to go his way. Subtle manifestation…they may just want to have peoples approval
11. How is the young man in the opening video overcoming his flesh’s desire to have sex with men?
Not sure
12. Give an example from your life where the flesh wants you to be your own god.
Control…I want to do things when I want to. I find I get easily aggravated when there are interruptions.
How might you overcome the lies?
Proverbs 16:9, “We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.”
Philippians 2:3-4, “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others too.”
13. If you watched the Memorial, did you see the contrast between Erica Kirk and Trump? (I know I’m wading into deep water here.)
Like night and day.
14. What stands out to you from the above and why?
I liked how he pointed out how different churches/Christians approach problems…intellectually, legalistically or with a superstitious mind set. I have just never thought of that before but it’s so true. I feel like they’re telling you that you can solve them in your own strength.
15. What does Keller say the devil’s job is and why?
The same thing as the world and the flesh…destroy your peace and joy. Also lie, prosecute and accuse you, not tempt you.
16. How has the devil lied to you recently?
That I’m unable to make friends. I have spoken to my soul that this is not true and have prayed that God would help me be more friendly and to help me find a friend.
So there satan 😝
I think of all of us on this blog being friends! I consider you my friend dear Sharon! I always look forward to your posts
and your wisdom! So tell satan he is wrong! You have lots of friends right here! And you are loved!
I love this Patti! I think of us all being friends as well. It seems strange to say when we haven’t met, but then it is also really amazing, for we have shared some of our deepest trials and walks through faith here with each other. This is possibly more than we may have shared in person due to the nature of the blog. I’m glad for this group of friends.
Amen, Chris! I think of each of you daily and pray for our requests from each other. This is a wonderful friendship group of trusted Christian friends. We are walking this journey of life together, with Jesus. Thank you, Dee, for all you do for the Lord and for each of us!
Thank you Patti…you’re so sweet. I too consider y’all good friends and I am so thankful for the encouragement and wisdom I find here…iron definitely sharpens iron! ❤️😊
Friday
17. What stands out to you from the above and why? I just love Pilgrim’s Progress, so naturally that jumped out at me. Keller says The World, The Flesh, and The Devil are trying to get a us by driving our conscience crazy through accusation and destroying our assurance of salvation-by looking at our sins, more than our Savior. This is a battle I have been having recently, only I didn’t realize it. I’ve been troubled for some time about not having more joy in my Christian walk. That’s the enemy accusing me of not being a Christian based on my feelings. Of course, my salvation is not based on my feelings and of course I am going to be down at times, knowing the condition of this world and the will of God for it. We should be sad for the state of the world. And that’s the thing, there is a lot of truth in a lie. So while I should be sad for the world and the trials we face here, I can be filled with joy at the eternal perspective given in Christ.
18. What does Keller say the only way to deal with the world, the flesh and the devil? Keep preaching the gospel to yourself. For every one look at your sin, take five looks at your Savior.
18. What else stands out to you and why? “All the great Christians were constantly wrestling with these things.” We are not alone, and should not be upset if we don’t have joy right now-don’t be surprised that we are struggling. We will get our joy back faster that way. Speak the gospel to ourselves AND to each other.
I love that you keep bringing us back to the Eternal Perspective, Chris! 💕🙏Yes, we live in a challenging time in this world, but we have eternity with Jesus!
Chris, I too love Pilgrims Progress (need to read it again) and yes, the Devil, flesh and the world can poison our conscience to believe the lies. You can have joy at the eternal perspective given in Christ…such a good thing to speak (sometimes I need to shout it 😜) into our hearts. Thank you for this😊
13. If you watched the Memorial, did you see the contrast between Erica Kirk and Trump? (I know I’m wading into deep water here.)
I felt that Erika’s talk was filled to love, peace and forgiveness. It was truly a beautiful tribute to our Father in Heaven, as well as Charlie, her husband. I felt that Trump came from a worldly position, of how he cannot forgive this horrible crime. He speaks as though he believes that God has spared his life, but I am not sure where his heart is. Erika’s tribute was memorable and touched souls. I truly don’t remember much that the President said.
14. What stands out to you from the above and why?
The devil desires to accuse, discourage and persecute us.
15. What does Keller say the devil’s job is and why?
The devil wants to destroy our peace and joy. He tries to get to our conscience and make us feel bad about ourselves.
16. How has the devil lied to you recently?
He tries to tell me I am alone and tries to cause fear in my heart. Like Sharon, I tell him to get out of my face. 😜He cannot touch me because I belong to Jesus. And I listen to Jesus. I read GOD’ s Word. And JESUS reigns over the fallen devil.
The president used that opportunity to platform himself! That’s probably why you don’t remember it.
Amen! I know it was not about giving your life to Jesus.😢
I feel that God protected him, in order to put him in the place he is. I don’t think he is a bad leader, I just was disappointed. We need to pray for all of our leadership. 🙏🙏
Thursday cont.
14. What stands out to you from the above and why?
—Keller’s assessment that “The Devil’s job is to do the same thing the world and the flesh want to do, and that is to destroy your peace and joy.” And he said “The Devil’s job is to lie and accuse you….the word Satan is a word that means prosecutor. The main job of the Devil is not to tempt you but to prosecute you, to accuse you.”
This was a good reminder that the enemy of our souls is not just going around tempting me to sin but he wants to destroy my relationship with God so as to steal my joy and peace and use his lies to get me to question my standing with God.
15. What does Keller say the devil’s job is and why?
—See 14 😊
16. How has the devil lied to you recently?
—That is a good question. Hmmm? Not sure I have a specific answer of when but this teaching causes me to realize that any time my peace and joy are waning then I am allowing some lie about my Lord to cloud my relationship with Him. I think there is always a dangerous lie lurking that causes me to question that God is truly sufficient for all my needs.
Friday: The World, The Flesh, and the Devil Work Together
17. What stands out to you from the above and why?
—I see Keller saying here that feelings are not fact. But the enemy (the world, the flesh & the Devil) come after us about our feelings. Feelings can make us vulnerable to lies. Feelings result from the influences on our lives but they are not and should not the basis for them.
18. What does Keller say the only way to deal with the world, the flesh and the devil?
—He said “Most of a lie has a lot of truth in it. Essentially, what they’re trying to do is they’re trying to get you to look more at your sins than at your Savior.”
I think the recognition of the lies is all important to taking hold of God’s truths for my life. So then as I look to Jesus and recognize the truth of what makes me accepted by God is what Jesus Christ has done for me. He says you need to keep telling yourself the gospel and keep preaching the gospel to yourself.
What else stands out to you and why?
—Keller’s last comment “For every one look at your sin, take five looks at your Savior. The noble, the pure. Think of these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
It goes back to the heart of the passage of scripture we have studied here:
“…..Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”
We have to fix our thoughts and think on the things that the Gospel represents.
Friday: The World, The Flesh, and the Devil Work Together
THE WORLD, THE FLESH, AND THE DEVIL
17. What stands out to you from the above and why?
“The world, the flesh, and the Devil basically come after you to try to get your conscience to go crazy. Basically, it all comes down to accusation…They come alongside of you, and they talk about your past. They say, “Think of the things you have done.”
This has been happening to me lately about my past. Whoa! Where did that come from and why did it even come up in my thoughts? They do accuse and can make my conscience go crazy. I memorized a verse many years ago that I use to counteract these thoughts from the past. 2 Corinthians 10:5, “We are destroying arguments and all arrogance raised against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”
18. What does Keller say the only way to deal with the world, the flesh and the devil?
To keep preaching the gospel to yourself.
19. What else stands out to you and why?
“For every one look at your sin, take five looks at your Savior. “
I love this and also, to stop beating ourselves up/wallowing in the mud. We will wrestle with all sorts of things but we don’t have to stay there…Turn your eyes upon Jesus!
Turn your eyes upon Jesus! Yes, Sharon! I thought of this every day I did this lesson! Truth!
Yes, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. Favorite hymn.
Such a good verse to memorize and to realize Satan is alive and well and needs to be talked down:
2 Corinthians 10:5, “We are destroying arguments and all arrogance raised against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”
Agree!
Amen!
Wednesday:
A. What stands out and why? The meaning of worldliness actually hit very close to home.
I’ve been having struggles recently about what I own, how I look, how is feel if I was in a particular financial buoyancy, those sort of things I know is wrong to think about.
B. Why must we speak instead of listen to our soul?
If we speak to our soul we remind it of God’s goodness and of His faithfulness. I think there’s somewhere Paul talked about declaring with our mouth. And when we say certain things continuously we begin to believe them over time.
C. How does Keller describe the worldview of a worldly person? How is it different than the worldview of a believer?
The worldly person thinks of now, the present, but the believer doesn’t do that. He thinks of things above. Things that are to come, not things here, not things that would fulfill his present pleasure.
D. With the above in mind, how might you talk to your soul about a hard marriage, or your body falling apart, or the death of a loved one who was a believer? (Choose two)
I’m talking to my soul about the death of a loved one who was a believer, I can remind it that they’re not really dead, they’re asleep, and one day I’ll see them again. Whole and healthy.
And for my body falling apart, I can remind myself that by His stripes I am healed, and some other Bible passages like Psalms for example
Psalms 41:3 NIV
[3] The Lord sustains them on their sickbed and restores them from their bed of illness.
https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.41.3.NIVPsalms 103:3 NIV
[3] who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.103.3.NIV.
Great references, Eunice.
10. How does Keller define the flesh? What else stood out to you?
The flesh is the desire to be God, to call your own shots, to live for your own glory.
11. How is the young man in the opening video overcoming his flesh’s desire to have sex with men?
He’s replacing it with the love Her has for Jesus. That those things are not worth it compared to Christ.
12. Give an example from your life where the flesh wants you to be your own god. How might you overcome the lies?
Okayyy, so there’s the desire to be noticed, even if it’s subtly. Just so people can say there’s Eunice there, she did this and that. “Don’t you notice there’s this pretty girl that doesn’t talk in class?” Those type of things.
13. If you watched the Memorial, did you see the contrast between Erica Kirk and Trump? (I know I’m wading into deep water here.)
14. What stands out to you from the above and why?
The fact that they all work together, and not separately.
15. What does Keller say the devil’s job is and why?
His job is to prosecute you, to accuse you. He comes alongside after the world and the flesh are doing their number on you, and he aggravates things.
16. How has the devil lied to you recently?
I don’t see plenty of commercials except on billboards when I go out, but it happens to me like this. I go on Pinterest, and I see different beautiful ladies with pretty clothes and shoes and jewelry and long hair and glowing skin and beautiful faces and houses and family and then flesh begins to say if only I have this long hair and not the damaged one I have I’d feel more confident, if my parents had grown abroad perhaps they’ll show their love for me more physically, perhaps if everything is just the way I have it in my head as a bi racial girl with lots of stuff and everything I think I need along with a good Christian life, life would be so good.
That I’m not slim enough, and I’ll begin to need constant reassurance from people around me that I’m beautiful. And then I begin to feel bad for thinking this way. Like I’m not grateful to God for what I have and what He has given to me.
Always know you God designed you and you are beautiful, Eunice! from one of your Mama friends.☺️🥰
Amen to Patti, Eunice.
I like your definition of the flesh. To be my own God, to live for my own glory. I hear these thoughts in my head sometimes and I think, why am I thinking these things-this thing I’m doing is for God, not my own glory. It is a challenge. Thanks for being transparent.
17. What stands out to you from the above and why?
The world the flesh and the devil are trying to get you to look more at your sins than your Savior. They are poison, Jesus is a fullness, joy and eternal life. I need to keep my eyes on Him.
18. What does Keller say the only way to deal with the world, the flesh and the devil?
Keep speaking the Gospel to your soul!
19. What else stands out to you and why?
None of us are good enough to be saved, It is only what Jesus has done for me that saves me. (It is not my feelings, my sins, my record. ) It is His mercy. I do not have the ability to save my self with good deeds. I don’t have the ability to be holy.
I just need to lay my sins down at the feet of Jesus. And keep speaking the Gospel to my soul.
Amen, Patti. This is what is so freeing, right? To be able to say, it’s okay. Yup. I still need the gospel. We won’t find ourselves perfected here on earth, not that we don’t try to do right. The interesting thing I have found is that the sins in my life might look different than the sins in my husband’s life (or anyone), but it’s really the same sin. For instance, he loves to spend money and I love to save. Both are about not trusting God for something, they just look different on the outside. Also, I have followed the ministry of Hope Out Loud, and they shared that all around the world they have found that the devil tells the same lies to everyone. We are all deceived and no one should feel more deceived than another or more saved. We just like to compare to make ourselves feel better, but to God we are all his precious children and we all need the same Savior.
Thursday: Overcoming the Flesh and the Devil
DON’T LISTEN TO YOUR HEART, SPEAK TO IT: THE FLESH
10. How does Keller define the flesh? What else stood out to you?
The flesh is the selfish part in me that desires to be God. I laughed when he said this of the flesh in connection with his example: It has become religious.
I asked myself: what of my flesh has it become religious?
11. How is the young man in the opening video overcoming his flesh’s desire to have sex with men?
He reminds himself of God’s truth, and the relationship with Jesus is so much better than his relationships with men. He said he has a God who loves him and his relationship with Jesus.
12. Give an example from your life where the flesh wants you to be your own god. How might you overcome the lies?
I will take an example similar to the man Keller spoke of. Control. As a teacher, control over my students’ behavior, which, duh, I do not have one iota of control. I had believed that if I only did this and that, my students would do and be better. So, I huffed and puffed and, in the end, almost had a physical burnout. God was so gracious in catching my downward spiral before it was too late. He used my husband, friends, and “forced” (I did not like it, but lament was critical during this time) time in the Word and prayer to pick up my shattered pieces. God is working wholeness in my life, and I thank him for that. He never let go of me.
13. If you watched the Memorial, did you see the contrast between Erica Kirk and Trump? (I know I’m wading into deep water here.)
Erika expressed forgiveness to her husband’s killer, but Trump said he couldn’t and wouldn’t. What a disappointment for me. I don’t mean to judge him, but he did not come across to me that he understood the mercy, grace, and love of God.
DON’T LISTEN TO YOUR HEART, SPEAK TO IT: THE DEVIL
14. What stands out to you from the above and why?
The world, the flesh, and the devil work together.
15. What does Keller say the devil’s job is and why?
He came to steal our peace and joy by accusing or prosecuting you. The devil aggravates what the world and the flesh do to me ( a triple whammy), so I would lose sight of who I am in Christ Jesus.
16. How has the devil lied to you recently?
I need to perform to be accepted. That seems to be a common refrain he uses with me. A children’s song titled “Fearfully and wonderfully made,” based on Psalm 139, is my counterattack to him lately. Remembering how God created me and what I am today is by His design and therefore accepted by Him, and I can be at peace and experience joy in that knowledge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0eSpteymN4&list=RDH0eSpteymN4&start_radio=1
That’s a great song — for Eunice too.
I wondered if Trump thinks it is weak to forgive. I think that is the view of many secular people. When actually it takes great faith and strength.
Good point about being weak to forgive….it may feel like giving up control to forgive. It requires trusting God. When we have some unforgivable offense in our lives that offense can be very difficult to let go of. We have to desire compassion for the offender and give up our right to revenge, waiting on God for justice to be served. When we hurt, we want the offender to hurt as well. I cannot forget Corrie TenBoom’s story of forgiveness for the soldier and how God gave her the courage to forgive. I have someone in my life I need to forgive. I tell myself I forgive them and I ask God to help me, but when I think of the person or see them, my heart is hurting over the offense. It is very hard. Pray for me as I am obligated to attend a wedding where I may see this person later this month.
I will, Chris. I just posted Part I of a Lesson on self-forgetfulness — I love when Keller goes into the difference between a supernaturally changed heart and a mechanically changed heart. How we need the first to truly forgive.
Friday: The World, The Flesh, and the Devil Work Together
Listen to the below:
THE WORLD, THE FLESH, AND THE DEVIL
17. What stands out to you from the above and why?
…the main way in which your joy and your peace are destroyed is by the world, the flesh, and the Devil getting after your assurance of your salvation.
… that your feelings are the result of salvation; they’re not the basis of salvation. Your feelings come from being one with God, but they’re not the basis for being one with God.
…the devil wants us to look more at our sins and not at our Savior.
I remember the time I shared here about being down in the pits with the situation in our church. I was like, “What is wrong with me, Lord? Why am I feeling this way?” I couldn’t get out of the funk!
SPEAK THIS TRUTH TO YOUR SOUL
18. What does Keller say the only way to deal with the world, the flesh and the devil?
The only way to deal with the world, the flesh, and the Devil is to keep telling yourself the gospel and keep preaching the gospel to yourself.
No matter what I do or don’t do, God’s love for me never changes because of Jesus.
18. What else stands out to you and why?
For every one look at your sin, take five looks at your Savior.
Saturday:
20. Put what you’ve learned into practice by speaking the truth to your soul here about whatever is making you anxious.
Soul, you are loved yesterday, today, and always. Look to Jesus who died on the cross for all your sins, past, present, and future. He is preparing the road on which you will walk this side of heaven. Jesus walks before you. God loves you so much that He will give everything you need to live a life of godliness and fruit-bearing. He is your Shepherd. He will ride the storm with you and will keep you safe. He is your refuge, a strong tower you can run to. He knows you by name, and His eye is on you.
I love this speech to your soul. I will use this in my journal. 🤍
10. How does Keller define the flesh? What else stood out to you?
It’s the selfish part of us that wants to be God.
The person has to be the center of attention, in control, whether he or she is seducing someone else or dominating the conversation in a church meeting. It’s all about themselves.
11. How is the young man in the opening video overcoming his flesh’s desire to have sex with men?
He reminds himself how Jesus is in control and how his relationship is now with Him. He wants to spend more time with Him instead of being in a wrongful, sexual relationship.
12. Give an example from your life where the flesh wants you to be your own god. How might you overcome the lies?
When I try to control my circumstances. I can’t do anything, but God can. I can tell myself to not worry, but to give it to God to take care of for me. This just happened for me this week! God is so good. Now I can remember this in the future with another situation, and know that He will be in charge for me. I actually love to wait now to see how she handles my troubles!
13. If you watched the Memorial, did you see the contrast between Erica Kirk and Trump? (I know I’m wading into deep water here.)
I didn’t watch all of it. I saw Erika’s statement after the fact. I believe she was being genuine. I also saw people who worked for Charlie talk about how they/he wanted their events to be “…as big as a Trump rally.” One friend said, “Here you go Charlie, we did it!” So, I think the Turning Point people saw the memorial as a way to spread Charlie’s message to the world as well as it being his memorial.
That being the case, and the mind set, I suppose the President was in line with the event. I didn’t watch his whole speech but I heard people complain that he treated it “like a really.” I did hear him say he couldn’t forgive his enemies. Forgiving your enemies, to me, is a high level Christian characteristic. It is not an easy or flippant thing to do, even though Jesus says we should. My own husband can’t forgive his SIL for all the things he has done to us for the past 8 years. He is still so upset. So, yes, there was a contrast between Erika and President Tump. It was an honest contrast that exists in our world today. I think Charlie would have loved that the President came, and spoke, regardless of what he said! Charlie, I think, stood for the fruits of the spirit, even though some people didn’t like his style.
When we train on suicide at school, we learn that not talking about it is worse than talking about it with kids, the key point is TALKING. That’s what Charlie did. The hardest of conversations must be had, to be effective. It is awkward for some of us, who don’t like that sort of thing. Erika spoke from her heart as a mature Christian in pain. What I heard made me think that President Trump came in like a father (like my husband), not as mature in faith, but assuring us that this behavior would never be tolerated again if he could help it. I only saw a brief bit of his statement. But, what I did hear made me think these things. Reassurance and protection.
Love your point about talking! And listening too.
Rally not really!
Laura, You make some good and interesting observations.
14. What stands out to you from the above and why?
I never thought about the three things working together, the world, the flesh, and the devil. I just always referred to all of them as the devil. Evil. He makes me think about it differently. How we are being barraged with evil from all sides.
15. What does Keller say the devil’s job is and why?
He is our accuser. He prosecutes us. He aggravates us by asking us how we can call ourselves a Christian.
He wants to destroy our joy and peace.
16. How has the devil lied to you recently?
When I don’t hear from God, and I am desperate for an answer, this is a prime opportunity for the devil to take hold. I need to remember that God is good and to focus on Him.
17. What stands out to you from the above and why?
“Or they can come after you about your feelings. They’ll say, ‘Why don’t you feel more for this? Remember when you used to feel love and joy and peace? Well, what’s going on now? Why isn’t it there?’”
This part is really timely. And I realize I’m even listening to more of what the devil has to say about my faults and weaknesses that’s what God’s word is telling me.
18. What does Keller say the only way to deal with the world, the flesh and the devil?
He said “For every one look at your sin, take five looks at your Savior. Keep telling yourself the gospel and keep preaching the gospel to yourself.”
18. What else stands out to you and why?
The fact that I should keep going back to that same gospel I started with. And personally, these thoughts come on days when I don’t intentionally sit at the Father’s feet and talk to Him.