Fruit – Disciple Up

Disciple Up #71

The Fruit of the Spirit – Faithfulness

By Louie Marsh, 8-29-2018

1) I cannot love if I fail to be faithful.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, Galatians 5:22 (ESV)

7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:7 (ESV)

This is the word regularly translated faith.

persuasion, i.e. credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstract constancy in such profession; by extensive the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself :- assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.
Strong’s Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary.

· As a disciple of Jesus I am called to be faithful in ALL MY RELATIONSHIPS

5 Better is open rebuke than hidden love. 6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy. Proverbs 27:5-6 (ESV)

21 How the faithful city has become a whore, she who was full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers. Isaiah 1:21 (ESV)

2) I can count on Jesus REMAINING faithful to me.

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20 (ESV)

10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. 11 The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; 13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself. 2 Timothy 2:10-13 (ESV)

FAITHFULNESS QUOTES: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/faithfulness

Nothing is more noble, nothing more venerable than fidelity. Faithfulness and truth are the most sacred excellences and endowments of the human mind. Marcus Tullius Cicero

What is faithfulness, anyway? Can you be unfaithful to your own feelings and faithful to someone else? Is it faithful to lie in bed night after night with someone you love but no longer desire while ardently dreaming of someone else? Mary Gaitskill

Faith is the virtue by which, clinging-to the faithfulness of God, we lean upon him, so that we may obtain what he gives to us. William Ames

Marriage has a unique place because it speaks of an absolute faithfulness, a covenant between radically different persons, male and female; and so it echoes the absolute covenant of God with his chosen, a covenant between radically different partners. Rowan Williams

Your faithfulness makes you trustworthy to God. Edwin Louis Cole

3) But can Jesus COUNT ON ME to be faithful to Him?

31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, John 8:31 (ESV)

31 Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. John 8:31 (NLT)

66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” John 6:66-69 (ESV)

4) To be faithful I must LEARN TO SET Biblical Priorities.

PRIORITIES:

· I make God & Jesus FIRST in my life.

4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. Deuteronomy 6:4-6 (ESV)

24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Matthew 6:24 (ESV)

· I SHIFT PRIORITIES as my circumstances require.

Spouse

Kids

Ministry

Friends

Parents/family

Please Get In Touch!Email – louie@discipleup.org