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Click on this button to receive the podcasts of the Sunday morning sermons at First Brethren church.
Set free: Studies in GalatiansWhat's wrong with being good? That's what some people think when they read Paul's letter to the Galatians. The answer is that nothing is wrong with it. What's wrong is when you think that you can save yourself or even partially save yourself, adding your good works to the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross. You can't humbly ask God for his grace and mercy at the same time that you claim to be good enough to live with God for eternity.
1. Grace continued – June 6, 2010Galatians 1:1-10 We come to God just on the basis of his grace and mercy, not because of our own goodness and righteousness. Some people think that once we come to God we must continue our relationship with him by our works of righteousness. But the Bible makes it clear that we continue with God through grace as much as we begin with grace.
2. Freedom's authority - June 13, 2010Galatians 1:11-2:10 Can we trust this gospel (good news) of grace or is it like most good stories--too good to be true? Paul points out that he did not get this great message of grace from people but from Jesus himself.
3. If you're saved by grace, live by grace - June 20, 2010Galatians 2:15-3:5 "Dance with the one what brung you." Even today, many preach salvation by grace but act as if grace just gets you born again and then you must live by the law for the rest of your earthly life. Paul contradicts that thinking. He tells us that grace gets us right with God and keeps us right with him.
4. The law's supervision - June 27, 2010Galatians 3:6-25 If we are not saved by the law, why do we even have it? Did Paul reject the ten commandments and all the other laws that were given by God in the Old Testament? Why did God give them in the first place? Paul says that they were given to lead us to the life of faith. Now that the life of faith has come, we are no longer under the law's supervision.
5. Slaves adopted into freedom - July 4, 2010Galatians 3:26-4:7 When the heir of the family is a minor, he has to be under supervision. If he has a nanny, she is his authority. However, when he becomes an adult, he gains his rightful authority in the family. This is the illustration Paul uses to describe mankind's relationship to the law. We once needed the law to teach us what is right and wrong. Now that Jesus has come, he has poured out his Spirit on us so that we can have the law written on our hearts. That does not mean the law was or is bad. It's just that we have a different relationship to it. The law is not the guiding principle of the Christian's life. Grace is.
6. Not by works - July 11, 2010Galatians 4:8-31 This passage presents the core of the book of Galatians: we are not saved nor do we live by works. Those who try to live by works only enslave themselves to worthless, false principles.
TBA - Gary Weller will speak - July 18, 2010
7. We are made for freedom - July 25, 2010Galatians 5:1-15 When describing the life of most Christians would you use the word freedom? Somehow we in the church portray a life of restrictions, rules and regulations more than freedom. Paul writes in this passage that we are not doing it right. We are made for freedom.
8. Life by the Spirit - August 1, 2010Galatians 5:16-26 Notes (COMING SOON) Listen to the sermon (COMING SOON) Answer Sheet (COMING SOON) Choosing to live by grace instead of the law does not mean that we will break all the laws of God. In fact, we are more likely to live lives of humble obedience to God out of gratitude than out of fear. If you live by the Spirit, you will show the fruit of the Spirit. We'll talk about what that is.
9. Living it out - August 8, 2010Galatians 6:1-10 Notes (COMING SOON) Listen to the sermon (COMING SOON) Answer Sheet (COMING SOON) How does the life of grace look? Galatians 6:1-10 gives some specific, practical examples of how the fruit of the Spirit looks in practice.
10. The cross of Christ--the symbol of our faith - August 15, 2010Galatians 6:11-18 Notes (COMING SOON) Listen to the sermon (COMING SOON) Answer Sheet (COMING SOON) The false teachers wanted the Galatian believers to be circumcised as a sign of their devotion to God. Paul writes that circumcision is not the symbol of our faith, the cross is.
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