Blessed Hope Bible-Presbyterian Church
500 Upper Bukit Timah Rd, Singapore 678106
1 Then spake Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn: for the LORD hath called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years. 2 And the woman arose, and did after the saying of the man of God: and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.
Acts 1:12-15
12 Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day’s journey.
13 And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both — Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.
14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.
15 And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about a hundred and twenty,)
The Fruit of the Spirit is Gentleness
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Do you often second-guess others’ intentions in a negative way? Do you count the wrongs others have done to you? Are you willing to forgive and make peace? To be forgiving and forbearing is a fruit of the spirit called ‘gentleness.’ Where there is no forgiveness, each one is irreconcilably offended.
2 Kings 6:24-33 And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria. 25 And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass’s head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver.
Acts 1:1-8 (KJV) 1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: 3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: 4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. 5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. 6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
The Fruit of the Spirit is Longsuffering
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Longsuffering (makrothuméo) describes the believer as exhibiting patience, forbearance, longsuffering, slowness in avenging wrongs inflicted by others. It is the quality of a person who can avenge himself yet refrains from doing so. It is patience in respect to persons whereas another word often translated patience (hupomonḗ) describes one’s enduring attitude towards things or circumstances (Luke 8:15, 21:19; Romans 2:4, 5:3, 4).
2 Kings 6:8-23 Then the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp. 9 And the man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place; for thither the Syrians are come down. 10 And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of, and saved himself there, not once nor twice.
Acts 1:1-8 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: 3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
The Fruit of the Spirit is Peace
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
When God created the earth, it was a peaceful paradise. That peace was broken when Adam sinned. As a result of Adam’s fall, his posterity inherited a sin nature, the propensity for evil.
Since then, the generations that came failed to secure that most elusive “peace” which is the normal, non-warring condition of a nation, group of nations or the world, a state of mutual harmony between people or groups, especially in personal relations and the normal freedom from civil commotion and violence of a community. This world has yet seen true peace. War characterizes all the history of mankind. There can be no true peace for mankind plagued by this inalienable disease of sin which the Apostle Paul calls “the works of the flesh” (Gal. 5:19-21). Peace in the first family was broken, when Cain the elder son of Adam and Eve murdered his younger brother Abel (Gen. 4) because of uncontrolled anger.
2 Kings 6:1-7 (KJV)
1 And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us.
2 Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye.