The Fruit of the Spirit Is Goodness

Memory Text: Ephesians 2:10 NKJV 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

“Scripture taken from the NEW KING JAMES VERSION”. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson Publishers. Used by Permission.

Sabbath Afternoon

Galatians 5:22 NKJV 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Jeremiah 17:9 NKJV 9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?

Sunday

God Is Good

Matthew 5:45 NKJV 45 "that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

Ephesians 2:10 NKJV 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Genesis 1:31 NKJV 31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Mark 10:18 NKJV 18 So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.

Exodus 33:19 NKJV 19 Then He said, "I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."

Psalms 25:8 NKJV 8 Good and upright is the LORD; Therefore He teaches sinners in the way.

Psalms 86:5 NKJV 5 For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.

Psalms 107:21 NKJV 21 Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men!

Nahum 1:7 NKJV 7 The LORD is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him.

Romans 8:28 NKJV 28 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.

John 14:9 NKJV 9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?

Hebrews 1:2-3 NKJV 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Monday

All Have Sinned

Romans 3:12-20 NKJV 12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one." 13 "Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit"; "The poison of asps is under their lips"; 14 "Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness." 15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 Destruction and misery are in their ways; 17 And the way of peace they have not known." 18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes." 19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Tuesday

God’s Law and Goodness

Romans 7:7-12 NKJV 7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet." 8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. 9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. 12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

Psalms 40:8 NKJV 8 I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart."

Wednesday

Walking in goodness

Jeremiah 13:23 NKJV 23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.

Psalms 51:10 NKJV 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Psalms 119:9 NKJV 9 BETH. How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.

Romans 7:18 NKJV 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.

Romans 7:18-19 NKJV 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.

Romans 8:1-4 NKJV 1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,

Romans 8:4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Thursday

Goodness Expressed

Matthew 25:41-46 NKJV 41 "Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 'for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43 'I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.' 44 "Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?' 45 "Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' 46 "And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Ephesians 2:10 NKJV 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Titus 2:14 NKJV 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

Romans 6:4 NKJV 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Romans 6:11 NKJV 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Friday

Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, p. 21

A Holy Life It is not only by preaching the truth, not only by distributing literature, that we are to witness for God. Let us remember that a Christlike life is the most powerful argument that can be advanced in favor of Christianity, and that a cheap Christian character works more harm in the world than the character of a worldling. Not all the books written can serve the purpose of a holy life. Men will believe, not what the minister preaches, but what the church lives.

Too often the influence of the sermon preached from the pulpit is counteracted by the sermon preached in the lives of those who claim to be advocates of truth. {9T 21.1}

     It is the purpose of God to glorify Himself in His people before the world. He expects those who bear the name of Christ to represent Him in thought, word, and deed. Their thoughts are to be pure and their words noble and uplifting, drawing those around them nearer the Saviour. The religion of Christ is to be interwoven with all that they do and say. Their every business transaction is to be fragrant with the presence of God. {9T 21.2}

     Sin is a hateful thing. It marred the moral beauty of a large number of the angels. It entered our world and well-nigh obliterated the moral image of God in man. But in His great love, God provided a way whereby man might regain the position from which he fell in yielding to the tempter. Christ came to stand at the head of humanity, to work out in our behalf a perfect character. Those who receive Him are born again. {9T 21.3}

     Christ saw humanity, through the working of the mighty growth of sin, possessed by the prince of the (p. 22) power of the air and putting forth gigantic strength in exploits of evil. He saw also that a mightier power was to meet and conquer Satan. "Now is the judgment of this world," He said, "now shall the prince of this world be cast out." John 12:31. He saw that if human beings believed on Him, they would be given power against the host of fallen angels, whose name is legion. Christ strengthened His soul with the thought that, by the wonderful sacrifice which He was about to make, the prince of this world was to be cast out and men and women placed where, through the grace of God, they could regain what they had lost. {9T 21.4}

Ellen G. White, The Ministry of Healing, p. 470

The badge of Christianity is not an outward sign, not the wearing of a cross or a crown, but it is that which reveals the union of man with God. By the power of His grace manifested in the transformation of character the world is to be convinced that God has sent His Son as its Redeemer. No other influence that can surround the human soul has such power as the influence of an unselfish life. The strongest argument in favor of the gospel is a loving and lovable Christian. {MH 470.1}

     The Discipline of Trial To live such a life, to exert such an influence, costs at every step effort, self-sacrifice, discipline. It is because they do not understand this that many are so easily discouraged in the Christian life. Many who sincerely consecrate their lives to God's service are surprised and disappointed to find themselves, as never before, confronted by obstacles and beset by trials and perplexities. They pray for Christlikeness of character, for a fitness for the Lord's work, and they are placed in circumstances that seem to call forth all the evil of their nature. Faults are revealed of which they did not even suspect the existence. Like Israel of old they question, "If God is leading us, why do all these things come upon us?" (p. 471) {MH 470.2}

Luke 18:18-19 NKJV 18 Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" 19 So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.