In Galatians, Paul answers the question, “Why did Christ set us free?” For freedom Christ has set us free. That is an indicative, a settled truth. We have been set free by Christ. It is followed by an imperative, a command. “Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” You are free in Christ. And in Christ, you are to remain free. That will take effort, but that effort is ...  Read More

In Luke’s gospel account, the women at the empty tomb were asked a question they could not answer. The angels said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” It’s a great question! But the truth is, they didn’t seek the living among the dead. They sought the dead. They were looking for a dead body.  The angels asked a question that strikes at the very heart of where most people find the...  Read More

Remember that great old gospel song that started, “Would you be free from the burden of sin, there’s power in the blood, power in the blood, Would you o’er evil a victory win, there’s wonderful power in the blood!” Paul starts off this section with an even older hit. “There’s Power in the Law.” Have you heard this one? It goes like this. “Would you throw off all the freedom of grace, there’s power...  Read More

“But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.” Paul wrote that in his first letter to the church in Corinth. Notice that this is NOT a command but a statement, a fact: every man is the head of his household. As some have said, you can be a bonehead, a meathead, a musclehead, an airhead or a knucklehead…but you ...  Read More

The same people whom Paul says would once have given their eyes to him now treated his message with disdain. The one who was their father in the faith was now their enemy. The Galatians had been courted by the Judaizers. The works-righteousness legalists showered them with affection, made much of them, and won them over. Some cults today use this technique and call it “love bombing.” They find the...  Read More

Paul tells us, “you are all sons of God,” in Galatians. Paul uses sons, not “sons and daughters,” simply because with sonship in ancient cultures came the right to inherit. Are all people sons of God? Find the important qualifiers in this verse: “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.” They serve as bookends for sonship: “in Christ Jesus” and “through faith.” We have all the r...  Read More

Paul tells us in Galatians the law did not come to tell us about salvation but to tell us about sin. “It was added because of transgressions.” Some have said the law is a mirror that when we look into it, we see who we really are. But you know that no one who looks in a mirror and sees dirt on his face then takes the mirror off the wall to clean the dirt away. The law can only show us our sinfulne...  Read More

Paul called Abraham to the witness stand as an expert witness in his plea with the Galatians. This must have been a shock to the Judaizers and some of the Jewish believers, because Abraham was their guy! They prided themselves on being the sons of Abraham. Jesus had told the Jews that if they were really sons of Abraham, they would be doing the works that Abraham did. What were the works Abraham d...  Read More

We had a covered dish lunch last Sunday at church. And everyone sat at tables in the fellowship hall wherever they wanted to sit. We didn’t have a section that was marked out for “people who had devotions every day this week.” They would have all been beaming with pride at each other. We also didn’t have a section marked out for “people who are gladly holding something against a fellow believer.” ...  Read More

I remember hearing in my 20’s that some churches teach you are not saved if you don’t speak in tongues. Oneness Pentecostals, for example, believe this. When I heard that I remembered what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12: “Do all speak with tongues?” No. I also remember hearing some say that you must be baptized in order to be saved. That’s called “baptismal regeneration,” and it is taught by the Ro...  Read More

We know that the conversion of Saul, from terrorist to evangelist and from murderer to martyr, is one of the evidences in the Bible for the truth of the Gospel. It is almost Exhibit A in the New Testament that salvation is only by grace through faith, and not through good works. Why? Paul was a Pharisee of Pharisees, a young man who stood head and shoulders above others in his zeal for following t...  Read More

Thomas Edison said once, “I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of the kings of the world.” That’s the way I feel about the 6 men I serve alongside as elders of our church. Many of us have walked together for more than twenty years, and the weekly meetings for prayer and discussion on Sunday morning are a highlight of my week. We meet together almost every Sund...  Read More