Galatians 5:14-17

Galatians 5:14-17 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. Our verses talk about two opposites: the flesh and the spirit. The flesh speaks to our sinful desires – the desire to make ourselves happy. But the Spirit speaks to our spiritual side – the side that was saved by faith in Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God wants us to do the right thing, but the flesh wants to do the selfish thing. The flesh wants to be lazy and greedy and cranky, but God wants us to think of others and have a good attitude. Anytime we want to lose our temper, that is the flesh at work. Anytime we want to take the best for ourselves, guess what? The flesh once again. Let’s have a quiz: I say something and you say the word flesh or the word spirit. OK? Anger. Love. Helping someone. Going first in line. Going last in line. Taking the largest piece of birthday cake. Handing out cold drinks. Sleeping in when we are supposed to be doing school work. Great! Have you noticed that the answer is always one or the other? It is never both. It is only one. And this is the lesson for today: We are always pleasing either the flesh or the spirit. But we can't please both. Today, think before you act. Will you following the flesh or the spirit?

Galatians 1:13,15,16,23,24

Galatians 1:13,15,16,23,24 For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it: But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; ... But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed. And they glorified God in me. Before Paul was saved, he was persecuting the Christians. But God confronted Paul while he was on his way to Damascus, Syria. He was going to Syria to throw Christians in jail and persecute them. But Paul was wonderfully saved. And immediately, he began to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ - the very Person that he had just been working against! The Christians in Jerusalem were amazed! Paul left Jerusalem to persecute Christians and returned to Jerusalem preaching all about Jesus Christ! What a wonderful change! The Bible calls salvation a new birth. We are born into God’s forever family. It is just like you are born again. And that’s where we get that phrase, “born again.”

Galatians 1:11,12

Galatians 1:11,12 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. It is good to have a good pastor who teaches the Bible. It is good to have a Sunday school teacher to teach the Bible too. But the most important teacher is the Holy Spirit. If you are born into God’s family, when you read the Bible, the Holy Spirit of God can teach you what He meant when He wrote the Bible! And that is the best teacher of all. And the Apostle Paul realized this and wrote about it in our verses for today. It’s good to hear what others think about the verses, but we need to read the verses for ourselves and understand what God is teaching us. Of course, we should listen to what others say about the verses, but we should always read the verses for ourselves. I hear it said, “God has only children, not grandchildren.” That means that we learn directly from God; we are His children. We do not necessarily learn from someone else, who gets it from God – our grandfather. We are all God’s children and learn directly from Him, our heavenly Father. Get it?

Galatians 1:10

Galatians 1:10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. Paul made it clear to his audience that he was not preaching for them; he was preaching for Jesus Christ. Oh, he was preaching to them, but he was preaching for Jesus Christ. And that makes a big difference. Paul was not the one who had to get them saved; Paul just had to make the message of salvation very clear. Jesus Christ was the one who did the saving. Your leader in Master Club may be teaching you, but they are teaching for Jesus Christ. And the gospel of Jesus Christ is interesting. We don’t have to talk someone into being a Christian, we just have to introduce them to Jesus Christ, as a person. The Holy Spirit of God does the work of salvation. So the pressure is off of us. We tell others about Jesus, but the Holy Spirit does everything else. Our job is like Paul’s job: just make the message clear.

Galatiasns 1:6-8

Galatians 1:6-8 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. Paul’s talking about another gospel, which really isn’t another gospel, is sort of confusing. But it really isn’t. Let me explain it like this: how many ways can you get to heaven? That’s right. There is only one way to get to heaven: by faith in Jesus Christ. So some other so-called way to heaven isn’t really another way to heaven, is it? There is still only one way to get to heaven. So, when Paul talks about another gospel, he is really talking about a so-called gospel, because there is still only one way to get to heaven. So there you have it. Another gospel, which isn’t really another gospel, because another way to heaven isn’t really another way. Because there is only one way to heaven. So to make it all clear: how do we get to heaven? That’s right, by faith in Jesus Christ. And that’s the only way and that’s the only gospel. Get it? Got it. Good!

Galatians 1:1-3

Galatians 1:1-3 Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;) And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia: Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Paul wrote the book of Galatians to the church in Galatia in Asia, which is modern day Turkey in the Middle East.. He begins the book by reminding them that he was not in the ministry for himself. Paul was not in the ministry because good men in the church wanted him to be in the ministry. Paul was in the ministry because Jesus Christ had called him to be in the ministry. And that is a serious calling. Paul goes on to send greetings to the churches of Galatia from all of the men who were part of Paul’s evangelistic team. And there were several of them. Acts 20:4 lists them: Sopater, son of Pyrrhus, Aristarchus and Secundus, of Thessalonica; Gaius, of Derbe; Tychicus and Trophimus, of Asia. Paul’s young preacher boys Timothy and Titus were probably in the group as well. Wow! That’s a lot of people! Sometimes Paul was by himself, but usually, he had many helpers with him. And that is the way it is at your church. It takes many workers to keep the church going. Some of those men may have kept the kids quiet while Paul was preaching to their parents. Maybe it was Timothy. And Titus may have cleaned up after the service. He could have been the janitor. All of these helpers did what they could to help Paul teach others about Jesus. And I am sure that they all were excited when someone trusted in Christ as their Savior after the Sunday morning service. Or it might have been after the Saturday synagogue lesson. Paul and many of his helpers were Jews. They worshiped God on Saturday and then had church and worshiped Jesus on Sunday! But they used the Saturday meetings of the Jews to talk to their Jewish kinsmen about Jesus Christ. But most of us are not Jews. We worship Jesus Christ on what we call the Lord’s Day. And what day of the week is the Lord’s Day? That’s right, it’s Sunday. And are you a helper at church like Timothy and Titus was? You can be. What could you do at church to be a helper?