The Fruit of the Spirit Is Faithfulness

Memory Text: Galatians 6:9 NKJV 9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

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

Sabbath Afternoon

Hebrews 11:1 NKJV 1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Sunday

God Is Faithful

Psalms 89:8 NKJV 8 O LORD God of hosts, Who is mighty like You, O LORD? Your faithfulness also surrounds You.

Psalms 36:5 NKJV 5 Your mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

Psalms 89:33 NKJV 33 Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, Nor allow My faithfulness to fail.

Lamentations 3:23 NKJV 23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

Psalms 89:2 NKJV 2 For I have said, "Mercy shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens."

1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJV 13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 NKJV 23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

2 Thessalonians 3:3 NKJV 3 But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.

Hebrews 10:23 NKJV 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

Monday

Faithlessness: A Sign of the End

Luke 18:8 NKJV 8 "I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?"

2 Timothy 3:13 NKJV 13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 NKJV 1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

Proverbs 30:11-12 NKJV 11 There is a generation that curses its father, And does not bless its mother. 12 There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, Yet is not washed from its filthiness.

Tuesday

Models of Faithfulness

Read Hebrews chapter 11

Hebrews 11:25 NKJV 25 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,

Wednesday

Faithfulness in Daily Living

Luke 16:10 NKJV 10 "He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.

Ellen G. White, Education, p. 57

What a lifework was that of these noble Hebrews! As they bade farewell to their childhood home, how little did they dream of their high destiny! Faithful and steadfast, they yielded themselves to the divine guiding, so that through them God could fulfill His purpose. {Ed 57.1}

     The same mighty truths that were revealed through these men, God desires to reveal through the youth and the children of today. The history of Joseph and Daniel is an illustration of what He will do for those who yield themselves to Him and with the whole heart seek to accomplish His purpose. {Ed 57.2}

     The greatest want of the world is the want of men--men who will not be bought or sold, men who in their inmost souls are true and honest, men who do not fear to call sin by its right name, men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole, men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall. {Ed 57.3}

     But such a character is not the result of accident; it is not due to special favors or endowments of Providence. A noble character is the result of self-discipline, of the subjection of the lower to the higher nature--the surrender of self for the service of love to God and man. {Ed 57.4}

     The youth need to be impressed with the truth that their endowments are not their own. Strength, time, intellect, are but lent treasures. They belong to God, and it should be the resolve of every youth to put them to the highest use. He is a branch, from which God expects (p. 58)

fruit; a steward, whose capital must yield increase; a light, to illuminate the world's darkness. {Ed 57.5}

Thursday

Faithful Until the End

Matthew 25:1-13 NKJV 1 "Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 "Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 "Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 "but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 "But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. 6 "And at midnight a cry was heard: 'Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!' 7 "Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 "And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.'

Matthew 25:9-13 9 "But the wise answered, saying, 'No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.' 10 "And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. 11 "Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' 12 "But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.' 13 "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

Matthew 24:44-50 NKJV 44 "Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. 45 "Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? 46 "Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. 47 "Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. 48 "But if that evil servant says in his heart, 'My master is delaying his coming,' 49 "and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, 50 "the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of,

Galatians 6:9 NKJV 9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

Friday

Genesis 15:14 NKJV 14 "And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.

Exodus 12:41 NKJV 41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years-on that very same day-it came to pass that all the armies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.

Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 32

 But like the stars in the vast circuit of their appointed path, God's purposes know no haste and no delay. Through the symbols of the great darkness and the smoking furnace, God had revealed to Abraham the bondage of Israel in Egypt, and had declared that the time of their sojourning should be four hundred years. "Afterward," He said, "shall they come out with great substance." Genesis 15:14. Against that word, all the power of Pharaoh's proud empire battled in vain. On "the self-same day" appointed in the divine promise, "it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt." Exodus 12:41. So in heaven's council the hour for the coming of Christ had been determined. When the great clock of time pointed to that hour, Jesus was born in Bethlehem. {DA 32.1}

     "When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son." Providence had directed the movements of nations, and the tide of human impulse and influence, until the world was ripe for the coming of the Deliverer. The nations were united under one government.

One language was widely spoken, and was everywhere recognized as the language of literature. From all lands the Jews of the dispersion gathered to Jerusalem to the annual feasts. As these returned to the places of their sojourn, they could spread throughout the world the tidings of the Messiah's coming. {DA 32.2}

     At this time the systems of heathenism were losing their hold upon the people. Men were weary of pageant and fable. They longed for a religion that could satisfy the heart. While the light of truth seemed to have departed from among men, there were souls who were looking for light, and who were filled with perplexity and sorrow. They were thirsting for a knowledge of the living God, for some assurance of a life beyond the grave. {DA 32.3}

     As the Jews had departed from God, faith had grown dim, and hope had well-nigh ceased to illuminate the future. The words of the prophets were uncomprehended. To the masses of the people, death was a dread mystery; beyond was uncertainty and gloom. It was not alone the wailing of the mothers of Bethlehem, but the cry from the great heart of humanity, that was borne to the prophet across the centuries,--the voice heard in Ramah, "lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not." Matthew 2:18. In "the region and shadow of death," men sat unsolaced. With longing eyes they looked for the (p. 33) coming of the Deliverer, when the darkness should be dispelled, and the mystery of the future should be made plain. {DA 32.4}