Fruit of the Spirit Living the Supernatural Life

Fruit of the Spirit Copyright © 1998 by Willow Creek Association Requests for information should be addressed to: Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530 ISBN-10: 0-310-26596-7 ISBN-13: 978-0-310-26596-2 All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other-except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Interior design by Rick Devon and Michelle Espinoza Printed in the United States of America 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 /?DCI/ 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 We want to hear from you. Please send your comments about this book to us in care of zreview@zondervan.com. Thank you. LOVE T H E B I G P I C T U R E It takes an enormous amount of courage to enter the character battles that Scripture challenges us to fight. I would like to propose that treating others as more important than yourself is one of the best definitions of love I have ever heard. I get so tired of superficial definitions of love. They seem to change with the seasons. - Love is a gentle smile. - Love is finding someone's space that is similar to your own. - Love is standing up in a church service and shaking hands with people. - Love is feeling warm and sentimental toward other believers. - Love is the feeling you get when you are near someone attractive. This is all lightweight, hollow stuff. The Bible cuts through all of the haze and says that if you want one clear definition of what love is, treat every person as though they were more important than you. This means you should treat family members, friends, employees, minorities, Republicans, and Democrats as though they are more important than you are. It means you should learn to honor others. To hold them in high esteem. To respect them. To believe they have something to contribute to your life. I D E A N G L E V I E W 1. How would you have defined love at one of the following times in your life: - When you were a child - When you were a teenager - When you were a young adult How has your understanding of love changed over the years? A B I B L I C A L P O R T R A I T Read Philippians 2:1-11 2. What does this passage teach about what love looks like? 3. What has Jesus done to model perfect love for us? How can we follow Jesus' example of love? S H A R P E N I N G T H E F O C U S Read Snapshot "Putting Others First, Even at One O'clock in the Morning" 4. Tell your small group about a time you had a chance to treat someone else as better than yourself but failed to do so. Tell about a time you received God's supernatural power and were able to love another person by treating him or her as better than yourself. PUTTING OTHERS FIRST, EVEN AT ONE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING I remember an experience some years ago when I was awakened at about 1:00 A.M. by our son, Todd, then five years old, who said, "Mom. Dad. I just had a nightmare." As soon as I awakened, my instinct was to lay very still and pretend I was asleep so Lynne would get up and deal with him. After he kept trying to get our attention, I poked her and said, "Lynne, Todd had a nightmare." I was hoping she would be so startled that her motherly instincts would take over. It worked like a charm. She jumped up and took care of him. But as I lay there, trying to doze off to sleep, I found myself thinking, "Oh no! This was a great opportunity to treat my wife asHybels, Bill is the author of 'Fruit of the Spirit Living the Supernatural Life', published 2005 under ISBN 9780310265962 and ISBN 0310265967.