Starting the series “what am I learning from scripture”, I wanted to say what I have been learning about American culture and the shifts in recent years as I have been outside the country. The core of discipleship is timeless but the techniques used in the past generation must change to capture the bright minds of the future.
Measuring the right things is an essential part of life. In this closing section of Paul’s letter to the Galatian churches we discover what God measures among His people within a local church. While we tend to count a variety of things, what matters to God is His vision for “new creation.”
When we believe the True Gospel that the Apostle Paul preached, The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us. As we live life in submission to the Holy Spirit and keep saying “Jesus is Lord,” the fruit of God’s Character will come out of us. Spiritual maturity is just continuing to string “yes, Lord” after “yes, Lord” together in our lives!
(Due to technical issues, the first several minutes of this message are missing.) How can we become all that God created us to be when temptation is so strong? In this part of his letter to the Christians in Galatia, Paul explains that followers of Jesus have two opposing natures within. He also reveals how we can cooperate with God’s Spirit’s desires rather than our flesh’s destructive desires that we might become all that God has created us to be.
Is there anyone with whom you have an unresolved conflict that seems impossible to repair? If so, you are not alone. In this 4th message from Paul’s letter to the Galatians we discover that God’s plan to increase our relational intelligence is just as unexpected and needed today as it was in the 1st century.
Sometimes God moves His people to achieve something greater than what anyone could do on their own. Hope is in a phase in which we sense God is calling us to expand. Other examples of this type of season include the building the tabernacle, forming of the early church and constructing the campus we enjoy and steward today. As we enter this final week of our Expand Hope campaign, may God give us all stirred and generous hearts for His glory, our joy and our community’s good!
In Galatians, Paul passionately contrasts a life of Faith that leads to being filled with The Spirit versus a life in the flesh that keeps you a slave under the law. For us today, God’s plan is for us to live in freedom, in The Spirit, and no longer be slaves to our controlling religious striving. We must trust all that God has said and walk in Freedom as Sons and Daughters of God.
Things are not right in the world and in us. The Bible reveals the cause of this reality to be sin and the remedy to be faith in Jesus as Lord. This remedy is good news and is difficult for us to accept. In this second message from Paul’s letter to the Galatians we discover that, though hard to believe, the gospel in a word is Jesus.
How can we begin and cultivate a life with God? Today we begin a series through Paul’s letter to the Galatians because this letter was penned by a man who grappled with this question, sent by a community that wrestled with this question, received by churches that were uncertain how to answer this question and now, it is given to us who must be clear and resolute in answering this ultimate question, “How can we begin and cultivate a life with God?”
We will be exploring the end of the gospel of John where we find the culmination of the entire book as Thomas proclaims that Jesus is God. We will try to understand the implications of that statement for someone like Thomas and ourselves.