31
August
2008
5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery. 5:2 Listen! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you at all! 5:3 And I testify again to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 5:4 You who are trying to be declared righteous by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace! 5:5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we wait expectantly for the hope of righteousness. 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision carries any weight - the only thing that matters is faith working through love.
Galatians 5:1-6 NET
Key Point: God frees us from human religious legalism to help express our faith through love
Circumcision - modern equivalent?
Grace = UNMERITED favor
Why do we try!
Legalism = additive to grace
Difficult to forgive others if we won’t accept God’s diagnosis & gift of gracious mercy
Watch out for legalists!
Only God can completely forgive sins and restore relationship
Past forgotten; new future options
Barrier for good people
Where do we need to be set free?
Forgiveness \= tolerance
Motivation for living under new management
Christian = “Christ in us, doing His thing through us, without any help or assistance from us”
= “…faith expressing itself through love”
Living graciously = living in gratitude
“Experience the freedom of total control”
LIVE FREE! Graciously!
rochcov 
Pastor Gary Downing, Combined Service, New Testament, Sermons, Galatians, Bluegrass Service 
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31
August
2008
Translation from Bible.org
To hear it read, click here.
Ephesians 3
Paul’s Relationship to the Divine Mystery
3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles - 3:2 if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3:3 that by revelation the divine secret was made known to me, as I wrote before briefly. 3:4 When reading this, you will be able to understand my insight into this secret of Christ. 3:5 Now this secret was not disclosed to people in former generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, 3:6 namely, that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. 3:7 I became a servant of this gospel according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the exercise of his power. 3:8 To me - less than the least of all the saints - this grace was given, to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ 3:9 and to enlighten everyone about God’s secret plan - a secret that has been hidden for ages in God who has created all things. 3:10 The purpose of this enlightenment is that through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms. 3:11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, 3:12 in whom we have boldness and confident access to God because of Christ’s faithfulness. 3:13 For this reason I ask you not to lose heart because of what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.
Prayer for Strengthened Love
3:14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 3:15 from whom every family in heaven and on the earth is named. 3:16 I pray that according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, 3:17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love, 3:18 you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 3:19 and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
3:20 Now to him who by the power that is working within us is able to do far beyond all that we ask or think, 3:21 to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
rochcov New Testament, Ephesians Comments (0) » |
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