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THE FRUIT OF GOODNESS
Fruit-Full – Part 6
Springcreek Church | Senior Pastor Keith Stewart
November 3, 2024

#god #realspringcreekchurch #fruitfull #thefruitofgoodness #goodness
https://www.springcreekchurch.org/

Goodness been called the most underrated of all the fruit of the Spirit. If you ask the average believer in which area do they most need to grow, many will say patience, self-control or even love. But goodness is hardly ever even mentioned. It seems unimportant. But what if I told you that the goodness of God is no minor league truth about God. Instead it’s literally the lens through which we see all the other attributes of God. Goodness is what you need in God to set you free and goodness is what He wants to pour through your life to transform the world.

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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Take some time to discuss what you learned about the word “good” and “goodness” today. What were your dominant associations with those words before hearing this message? What are they now? What qualities stood out most as it relates to the Old Testament Hebrew word (Tov) or the New Testament Greek word (Agathosune)?

2. Why is the goodness of God not a minor truth about God? How does God demonstrate His goodness to us? In what ways have you been a recipient of the goodness of God?

3. One practical suggestion to come out of today’s message was to make the phrase “God is as good as Jesus made Him out to be” a daily meditation. Since Jesus told us He was the clearest representation of God we have ever seen or known, how does that shift any misconceptions you may presently have of God? When you read the Bible, do you read through a Christo-centric filter (using Christ as the lens through which you read the rest of the Bible)? In Bible study, it is often taught that clear passages should govern our understanding of unclear passages. If Christ is the clearest representation of God we have ever had, then it is only fitting to see and understand the rest of Scripture through the lens of Christ. Have you ever tried to do this?

4. Pastor Keith clearly laid out God’s plan to support His workers through the generosity of God’s people in Scripture. In fact, goodness literally means to give generously for the good of others. One of the primary ways we do this is by supporting those who minister the Word to our souls. Do you think most people understand this aspect of giving? Why do you think people give to the church? Why has God throughout history placed His workers in a position of forced dependency on the people of God?

5. As with every fruit of the Spirit, all of them are evidence of the fullness of God’s presence in us. When God’s goodness fills our heart and overflows into our lives, people are blown away by the things they see in our life that can’t be credited to anything other than the presence of God. What do you think of the phrase, “Your life may be the only Bible some people read?” Have you ever witnessed that in someone? What were they like? What effect did it have on you? Is your life an example of something that attracts people to the family of God?