Grace and Truth
Bible Ministries

Gal 5:22 Phil 1:11 Self-Control the 9th facet of the Fruit of the Spirit


We are continuing in the study of the mandate for believer's prayer in the PPOG. . Phil 4:6; 1Thes 5:17;

We are looking at Paul's prayers that are recorded in his letters we can better understand what we should pray for.

At the moment we are considering Paul's prayer for the spiritual growth of believers that was recorded in Phil 1:9-11;

In verse 11 Paul prays for believers to be filled with the "fruit of righteousness."

This righteousness is produced in the believer by God when the believer is functioning in the spiritual life through the application of Bible Doctrine to experience under the mentorship of God the Holy Spirit.

We have seen that in the Phil 1:11; passage this production is viewed with regard to the quality of it’s character as the “fruit of righteousness,” and in Gal 5:22, the same production is viewed with regard to it's source as the “fruit of the Spirit.”where details of it's characteristics are also described.

We are continuing a study of the 9th category of the production of God the Holy Spirit in the believer which is described as self- control.

Self-Control is translated from The Greek noun "egkrateia" and means self-discipline or self-control, it is the virtue of one who masters their desires and passions, especially their sensual desires.

Last time we saw that Paul used the Athlete and the Soldier as examples of those having discipline through self control and we are comparing the equality of the training of the athlete in the ancient games and the soldier in basic training to the believer in the PPOG.

1Cor 9:25; Each winner in the national games received many rewards, including a crown of ivy leaves, representing the rewards they would receive when they returned home. This is analogous to the believer receiving their eternal escrow blessings at the evaluation in heaven after the resurrection of the church.

The winners had a special entrance cut into the wall of his hometown city, through which they would pass when they returned home. A plaque was hung on the wall after the opening was re-sealed. This is analogous the believer's names being recorded in the permanent historical record section of heaven because of their invisible impact on history during the Church-age, REV 3:12.

Self-control is the authority of volition over the soul that enables concentration on the doctrine when it is taught in the local assembly.

It provides for good manners, poise, and thoughtfulness of others, so that all believers have equal opportunity to fulfill the mandate of God for the perception and metabolization of Bible Doctrine.

Believers with self-control are dedicated, committed, teachable, and disciplined.

The word "discipline" means to train or develop by instruction and exercise " or to perform or practice in order to develop skill. Anyone can exercise once in a while, but to persist with it consistently takes character, training, and self-control.

The Exercise of self-control for the Royal Family in the congregation of the local assembly includes assembling together, concentrating on the teaching, having good manners, being silent, not commenting, not disturbing others, not moving around, and having objectivity, and persistence in spite of distraction.

God gives believers supernatural power and ability to glorify Him and receive fantastic blessings in both time and eternity, but if believers don't have the discipline from humility and self control to function in his grace provision their life will be a waste of time resulting in regrets at the Judgment seat of Christ.

We have seen that in his prayers, Paul focuses on the eternal priorities that God has for believers.

It is important to pray for friends who are sick, out of work, or facing difficult times in the natural realm.

But in the most important prayers we can offer for others are based on God’s eternal priorities for them in the spiritual realm. For the believer's enlightment, their empowerment and their advance in their spiritual life

When fellow believers receive capacity from God through residence and function inside the PPOG they can deal with any difficulty or disaster in life. Phil 4:11-13;

There is no better thing than to pray that fellow believer's take advantage of God's provision for them from eternity past. parlay that provision into their cognitive reality and become all they can be in Christ now and forever. 1Cor 2:9;
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We have been discussing Paul's prayer for the righteous production of God the Holy Spirt in the believer. Phil 1:11; Gal 5:22-23. We have seen the word translated fruit is " êáñðüò karpos "which means that which is produced.

Given our recent focus on Paul's prayer for this production it is useful to examine just what this production or "fruit " in the believer's life is and what it is not before we go on to examine his other prayers as examples for believers.

Regardless of what our occupation or situation in life, the proper understanding of what "fruit" or " production" is is very important.

The idea of fruit is used throughout the Bible. In the Old Testament the word that is used for fruit is the Hebrew word "peri” which occurs 106 times and there are eleven other Hebrew words, which are used to describe various aspects related to fruit.

The Greek word "karpos" occurs 66 times in the New Testament and there are other words such as "genema" and "orora" which are also used to denote the idea of fruit.

From the beginning, and throughout the history of mankind, God uses the concept of "fruit" to describe the results of the activities of mankind Gen 1:27-28;

The original volitional test involved fruit. Gen 3:2-3;

One of the last things spoken of in the last chapter in the Bible is fruit Rev 22:2;

Given this concept, every believer and every unbeliever is always bearing some kind of fruit so the issue becomes not that fruit is being produced, but what kind of fruit is being produced.

John the Baptist warned the unbelieving Jewish leaders of his day regarding their production Matt 3:7-12;

Believers have the option of bearing much good fruit John 15:5; when it is sourced from TLJC who is described as the vine in this passage and the source of righteousness as we have seen in Paul's prayer in Phil 1:11;

God is described as the source of all production on the earth. Isa 45:8,17,24; Joel 2:22-24; Heb 6:7-9;

TLJC described himself as being in complete accord with his Father and described the Father as the source of his production. John 5:19,30; John 8:28; John 14:10;

In the same way the believer is to be in accord with TLJC with TLJC being the source of the believer's production. John 6:48;57;

God the Father>>>TLJC>> the Believer

Just as TLJC is the corporeal fullness of God, believers are the corporate fullness of TLJC.

This transfer is accomplished by Bible Doctrine, the Word of God. John 17:6-8;


 

 

 

© Copyright 2007, Michael Lemmon Bible Ministries. World Rights Reserved.  This document was created on  10/14/2007