September 15, 2014
Paul was concerned that the Christians at Galatia, who had received salvation by faith in Christ, were exchanging their faith for a focus on law-keeping. Those saved by faith are to live by faith, not by works. Yet this tendency still befalls many believers today. We recognize our sin and total dependence on Jesus for salvation, but then try to live the Christian life in our own strength. A focus on law-keeping leads to self-righteousness, pride and an inordinate comparing of ourselves to others. Living by faith in Jesus, we work, but we do so only according to Christ’s power. We work out what God is working in us (Phil.2:12-13). Our righteousness is us in Christ. And our life is Christ in us.
September 14, 2014
When Paul encountered the living Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus, it began his transformation from persecutor to preacher. The life of Paul is one of the great proofs of Christ’s resurrection and power. Paul’s life demonstrates that no one is beyond God’s salvation and calling. God calls whom He will. Therefore, pray for the salvation of everyone. The one persecuting Christians today, could be preaching for Christ tomorrow.
September 21, 2013
Do not dig up in doubt what you planted in faith! As the Apostle Paul said, “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase” (1 Cor. 3:6). Or as the Lord told Haggai, “Be strong, do the work, and do not fear,” and leave the results up to God!
September 20, 2013
Our liberty in Christ is not license to sin. Receiving His righteousness we have been set free from the external law written on stone tablets and received the Spirit of the law written internally on our hearts. We are not called to legalism but to love. We are not under law, but under grace. Yet, this freedom is not to dabble in sin, but it is freedom to serve God and one another. As Victor Frankl once wrote of America, “Our statue of LIBERTY on the East Coast should be supplemented by a statue of RESPONSIBILITY on the West Coast.”
September 20, 2012
Receiving Christ we are freed from slavery to sin and from the condemnation of the law. Why would we waste this freedom to go back to living as slaves? No, we are free now to willingly follow Christ our Redeemer and to love God and others as He directs. Beware of flaunting this freedom with permissiveness or losing it to legalism. You have been set free to follow Christ.
September 18, 2012
Receiving Jesus we are prompted to call God by the name His Son uses, “Abba, Father.” Abba (Aramaic for “daddy.” Two simple syllables easily spoken by the youngest child- “Ab-ba.” Found in Ab-raham’s name – “Father of Nations). In this verse we see the Trinity revealed: God sending, the Son providing, the Spirit prompting… all so that we who are distant from God may be brought near. And so, we can pray “Our Father, which art in heaven…”
September 16, 2012
If we are saved through faith, we must live and walk by faith. Self-effort neither saves nor sanctifies. We must learn to lean, being filled with the Spirit, we lean on Him for power and progress. More prayer, less planning. More leaning, less effort.
September 14, 2012
The apostle Paul sought only the approval of Christ. He was not a people-pleaser. Whose approval do you seek? Be careful not to water-down your faith in order to gain popular acceptance. Better to be rejected by man and be received into the Kingdom with “Well done!” by Christ Himself.
February 19, 2012
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Galatians 5
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fruit of the spirit
Pastor Gary Combs continues his War of the Worldviews series with this message on the decline of morality and virtue in today’s culture and more specifically in today’s church. Taken from the book of Galatians, the message teaches how Paul told the Christians in Galatia that the only way to live as a Christian was to “walk in the Spirit” and so bear the “fruit of the Spirit” in their lives. Paul taught that following Christ was more than an outward keeping of the law. Christians are to show forth the character of God. We can allow the Lord to give us these nine marks of authentic Christian character, these nine “virtues,” so that we are like Christ, not just in what we believe, or in what we practice, but in our very nature.
September 20, 2011
Fruit is singular. One fruit with nine seeds, each a part of a triad of triads. These are not works. We can’t do them. They are evidence of being connected to the Vine. Abiding in Christ, we increasingly bear these character traits.