When Paul wrote of his concern to the churches in Galatia he described them as “foolish” – (Gal 3:1, 3), for seeking to be perfected by the flesh – e.g., via circumcision. Paul wondered if they had been “bewitched” – (Gal 3:1). Paul used a word (baskaino) which means “fascinate, bewitch, charmed, overpower” (Strong’s). Led astray by charming misrepresentations. Paul sought to reason with them – (Gal 3:1-5). Was not Christ clearly portrayed to them as crucified, had they not received the Spirit by the hearing of faith rather than by the works of the Law, had not the One who supplied the Spirit done so through the hearing of faith?
Is it possible today, could we face similar dangers today? Might someone “bewitch” us through false teaching? Should we not be led by spiritual reasoning (Rom. 10:17; Rom. 3:4, 4:3), rather than charming, and bewitching claims of men?
We may indeed find ourselves “Bewitched” for the Scriptures reveal there is A CLEAR AND EVER PRESENT DANGER…
The apostle now impresses upon all saints describing more of how we are to imitate God…walk in love…offering ourselves as Living Lights and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
He begins by saying, “Therefore do not be partakers with them.” (Eph. 5:7). Partakers with who? People of this world who walked in the futility of their mind, in darkness and live without God in their lives, alienated from the life of God.
Your Duty to God and Christ is to be light, (Eph. 5:8), you have been given a new identity in Christ—you are light—learn it and live it. Paul does not say that you were “in darkness”, he says you were darkness (v.8). The blood of Jesus removed your darkness and replaced it with light—the blood of Jesus washed you—made you clean—and now you are light in the Lord. Now you have a mission—you are light in the Lord and Paul commands “Walk as children of light”…
The Discipline of the Lord. Discipline as defined by the Oxford Language Dictionary is, “training people to obey rules and orders and punishing them if they do not”. From our text in Hebrews twelve and other passages we will be looking at discipline from a biblical perspective, and Lord willing we will be looking at the different ways to properly respond to God’s discipline and produce the results the please Him.
It is always my hope when I share a message that you receive encouragement and that you go from here and do good works. For over two thousand years Jesus has been standing at the right hand of the Father looking down at His church saying, “They’re looking for Me”, and one day Jesus will be sent back to take His own up to glory. We don’t know when it will be, but, ready or not Jesus is coming back.
This lesson will be about what we do know for sure through the scriptures, and how we should respond to that knowledge. . .
Truly, our God is an Awesome God, and as we consider life and all the amazing’s aspects of it. We thinking of the verse we studied in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, “13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. 14 For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.” Our God has an awesome plan for each and every one of us. We think of Him as He has set in motion the wonderous works and spiritual things.
We will be emphasizing the greatness of God in this lesson beginning in Isaiah chapter two where Isaiah has many things to say about the Messiah and His kingdom. “1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it. 3 Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem”” (2:1-3). From this study we’ll hear and be learning more about the different aspects of God’s kingdom…
In this lesson we will begin in Luke chapter 2. My hope is that the things that I teach are true, and that I hold fast to the scriptures that God has provided us and that this less will provide you encouragement to go on about doing good works of Christ.
In Luke 2 41 through 52 we notice that Joseph and Mary took Jesus with them to Jerusalem to observe the Passover Feast and they lost track of Jesus on their way home. They traveled a full days journey before they discovered His absence, spent the second day going back to Jerusalem and on the third day they found Him, in the temple.
This lesson will glean from this event in the life of Joseph, Mary and Jesus…
Our focus is a simple one, yet one that I consider to be of great importance. It is necessary for every Christian’s spiritual health and well-being to possess the ability to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ as Paul wrote. Necessary because this will protect us from the evil one, the devil. Necessary because God’s word clearly teaches that what we think, makes us what we are.
“As a man thinks, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7) What we think about is crucial to who we are. Each and everyday thousands of thoughts come into our minds. Some Good, some bad. Who we are and more importantly who we become is shaped moment by moment by the thoughts we choose to let into our minds. But how can we manage to control the thoughts that enter our mind each day? What do we do with the thoughts that are not pleasing to God, and would tear us down?
As Christians every thought must be made subject, whether it be our own understanding (human reasoning) or impure thoughts. They all must be subject to God’s will for us, via His thought which is better and higher than ours as Isaiah wrote of God saying, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). Jeremiah wrote, “O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jeremiah 10:23). So, left to our own thoughts and ways, we will surely fall victim to and become captive to the devil…
“Therefore be imitators of God as dear children” (Ephesians 5:1). Jesus is the reflection of the Father. Remember the saying [The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree]? In context here Paul is saying the same thing. As children of your Heavenly Father—you need to imitate him. We need to imitate Jesus as well—knowing that He is the reflection of His Father. Remember what Jesus said to Philip, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (John 14:9). Paul writing to the saints at Colossi said, “The Son is the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15), and let’s not forget John 1:1, “In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God”
Why imitate God and Christ? The question should not be why—but why not. When we consider the love of God—the provision of God—the extraordinary power of God to save that which is lost.
Why would any member of His family not strive to imitate Him as much as possible?
The Apostle Paul wrote, “9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.” (Gal. 6:9-10). Have you ever thought about what it means to “grow weary while doing good”? Why does it matter if we give up when we are weary? Is Paul saying that we must never grow weary—that we should never tire while doing good? Of course not. But there will be times as we labor in the kingdom that we’ll be pounded by the storms of life. There will be times when we may feel like giving up and giving in. Times when we question ourselves asking, will it really matter if I give up, or keep trying?” Possibly, the storm comes in the form of some specific temptation: Lying, cursing, profanity, stealing, gambling, dancing, immodest dress, pornography, fornication, adultery, drugs, or drinking. We all face the storms, none are exempt…
In Ephesians 4:17 Paul wrote, “This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as [a]the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind” . We know who we are as God’s people, now Paul says, to all God’s children you must put off “your former conduct, the old man” (v.22) and (v.24) “put on the new man created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness”. In this lesson we learn from the Apostle just what it means to put off the old and put on the new. In verses 25 through 32 Paul makes five points for us in theses 8 verses that teach us what we must stop doing and what we must start doing. Putting these into practice will in effect—put off the old—and put on the new causing each of us to think anew. Transformation is what this is all about, renewing our minds by overwriting the worldliness, the old behaviors, the old way of thinking replacing that with “true righteousness and holiness” created according to God (v.24). To accomplish this we need to learn to stop practicing certain worldly behaviors and start participating in righteous and holy behaviors.