We did it! We have made it through to the end and have finished strong! I am so proud of you!
If you have learned to identify and remove idols from your life through the course of this study, you have won a tremendous victory! Freedom is sweet indeed!
However, it is not enough to merely remove idols. We have also made more room for Christ in our hearts and lives and have learned how to find our total fulfillment in Him. When we have partaken of His Living Water, we will never have to thirst again!
However, it is not enough to just empty and fill up! We also need to recognize potential sources of our idols so we will recognize their influence and potential imprisonment in our lives, and therefore, to guard our hearts and remain free.
You can squeeze a few things out of an idol: temporary pleasures, comfort, money, status, or a fleeting identity. But you’ll never get supernatural, life-producing fruit. Only God, His Son, and the Holy Spirit an produce that kind of eternal meaning in our lives.
However, it is not enough to just be free, full, and remain free. We were made for an intimate relationship with Jesus. May we go deeper and be closer than we have ever known Him before!
However, it is not enough to stop there! God has ordained from the beginning that we should bear fruit. He has ordained good works for us to further His Kingdom and bring Him glory. When we remain in Him, in an intimate relationship and with an obedient heart, we are positioned to produce the good fruit He has planned for us.
You did not choose me, but I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain… John 15:16a CSB
Dear sister, your life is meant to matter. You’ve been chosen and appointed for impact. Your idols can’t do this for you. Only in following Jesus will you discover the joy of a life that counts for something far beyond itself.
May the eternal lessons from this study penetrate our hearts and transform our lives!
Six Points of Fruit Bearing
- It was God’s intent from the beginning that we bear fruit.
- Fruit bearing will always find a way in the soil of obedience.
- God’s fruit can only be borne God’s way.
- Fruit bearing is a process, and processes take time.
- God’s fruit in our lives does not depend on a past of perfect choices.
- Our fruitfulness is based on God’s faithfulness.
Session 8 Discussion Questions
ICE BREAKER: If you could be a “fly on the wall” and witness any event in history up close, what would it be?
“As for me, here is my covenant with you: You will become the father of many nations. Your name will no longer be Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations. I will make you extremely fruitful and will make nations and kings come from you.
Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a hundred-year-old man? Can Sarah, a ninety-year-old woman, give birth?” Genesis 17:4-6, 17 CSB
QUESTION 1: What are some areas you are currently experiencing the tension between the fruit you know God has called you to bear and your current obstacles or impasses? Or, what seems to be in the way of your bearing fruit, and what kind of fruit has God called you to bear? (p. 172)
QUESTION 2: Rebekah remained childless for 20 years before she became pregnant with Jacob and Esau. Often, God takes us through a season of waiting before His promises for us are fulfilled. Our fourth point of fruit bearing this week was: “Fruit bearing is a process and processes take time.”
Has there been a time in your life when God made a promise or directed your heart toward a particular calling, yet the fulfillment is yet to come? Have you given up hope? Have you wondered if you heard Him right? How do the examples of waiting in the lives of Abraham and Sarah, and of Isaac and Rebekah encourage you? (p. 176)
I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me. John 15:5 CSB
The one who keeps his commands remains in him, and he in him. And the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit he has given us. 1 John 3:24 CSB
QUESTION 3: How do we “remain” in Christ? (Day 4)
I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. John 15:11 CSB
QUESTION 4: Some of the benefits we learned about abiding in Christ in John 15 is that we will bear lasting fruit, that our joy will be complete, that we are Christ’s friends rather than slaves, and that He hears us when we pray. What words of Jesus have brought you joy during this study?
This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends. John 15:12-13 CSB
Dear friends let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God… Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and his love is made complete in us. 1 John 4:7, 11-12 CSB
QUESTION 5: In our study of bearing fruit, both Jesus and John emphasized how we are to relate to one another. How are we to love others? How can you show the love of Christ to someone you have written off?
QUESTION 6: What truth from this week had the greatest impact on you? Why?
This concludes our study of No Other Gods by Kelly Minter. Congratulations! You did it! I pray this study has been instrumental in removing idols from your life and drawing you into a more intimate relationship with Christ. Now, let’s go bear some fruit!
Come join us for our summer Bible study, Jesus the One and Only, by Beth Moore, beginning July 16th. This is going to be such a wonderful time of getting to know Jesus more intimately, and to experience his presence more powerfully in our lives! I can’t wait! See here for information and to register. http://www.sharilewis.org/jesus-the-one-and-only-heart-to-heart-summer-bible-study-registration/
