Memory Text: Galatians 5:22-23 KJV “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
Galatians 5:22 COMMENTARY BY MATTHEW HENRY The fruits named are not our fruits, but of the Spirit in us. If we bear these fruits we show that we have the Spirit. There are four groups: (1) Love, the Christian grace which works out the whole law. (2) Joy and peace, which are the normal state of the Christian. (3) The graces which relate to others… (4) The last fruit looks to oneself, temperance, or self-control.

Sunday, May 14 Love
Love - any object of warm affection or devotion (www.onelook.com)
In these texts, what is the crucial ingredient of Scriptural love?
John 3:16 Holman ““For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”
John 15:13 Holman “No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends.”
1 John 3:16 Holman “This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers.”

Monday, May 15 Joy and Peace
Joy - the emotion of great happiness (www.onelook.com)
Why should we always have joy and peace in our lives?
Matthew 6:31-32 KJ21 “31 Therefore take no thought, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘Wherewith shall we be clothed?’ 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek.) For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.”
Romans 8:28 KJ21 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
Philippines 4:11-13 KJ21 “11 Not that I speak in respect to want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. 12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both how to be full and how to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me.”
1 John 4:8 KJ21 “He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love.”
Revelation 21:4 KJ21 “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away."”

Tuesday, May 16 Long-suffering
Long-suffering - patient endurance of pain or unhappiness (www.onelook.com)
What do the following texts reveal about long-suffering and God?
Exodus 34:6 MKJV “And the LORD passed by before him and proclaimed, Jehovah! Jehovah God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,”
Romans 2:4 MKJV “Or do you despise the riches of His kindness, and the forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?”
Genesis 15:16 NKJV “"But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites [is] not yet complete."”
Isaiah 5:1-5 NKJV “1 ¶ Now let me sing to my Well-beloved A song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: My Well-beloved has a vineyard On a very fruitful hill. 2 He dug it up and cleared out its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst, And also made a winepress in it; So He expected [it] to bring forth [good] grapes, But it brought forth wild grapes. 3 "And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge, please, between Me and My vineyard. 4 What more could have been done to My vineyard That I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected [it] to bring forth [good] grapes, Did it bring forth wild grapes? 5 And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned; [And] break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.”
Hosea 11:8 NKJV “"How can I give you up, Ephraim? [How] can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? [How] can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred.”
Revelation 2:21 NKJV “"And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent.”

Wednesday, May 17 Gentleness and Goodness
Gentleness - mildness of manner or disposition (www.onelook.com)
Example in Jesus’ life – woman taken in adultery (John 8)
Goodness - moral excellence or admirableness (www.onelook.com)
Example in Jesus’ life – fast in wilderness (Matthew 4)

Thursday, May 18 Faith
Faith - complete confidence in a person or plan (www.onelook.com)
Where does faith come from?
Ephesians 2:8 NKJV “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; [it is] the gift of God,”
What is the difference between belief and Biblical faith?
James 2:19 NKJV “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe——and tremble!”