“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   John 3:16

After a few of the usual Sunday evening hymns, the church’s pastor once again slowly stood up, walked over to the pulpit, and gave a brief introduction of his childhood friend. 

With that, an elderly man stepped up to the pulpit and began to speak, “A father, his son, and a friend of his son were sailing off the Pacific Coast, when a fast approaching storm blocked any attempt to get back to shore.  The waves were so high that even though the father was an experienced sailor, he could not keep the boat upright; and the three were swept into the ocean.”

The elderly man hesitated for a moment, making eye contact with two teenagers who were for the first time since the service began, looking somewhat interested in his story. 

He continued, “Grabbing a rescue line, the father had to make the most excruciating decision of his life… to which boy he would throw the other end of the line.  He only had seconds to make the decision.  The father knew that his son was a Christian, and he also knew that his son’s friend was not.  The agony of his decision could not be matched by the torrent of waves.  

The father yelled out, “I love you, son!”, as he threw the line to his son’s friend.  By the time he pulled the friend back to the capsized boat, his son had disappeared beyond the raging swells into the black of night.  His body was never recovered.”

By this time the two teenagers were sitting straighter in the pew, waiting for the next words to come out of the old man’s mouth.

“The father,” the old man continued, “knew his son would step into eternity with Jesus, but he could not bear the thought of his son’s friend stepping into an eternity without Jesus.  Therefore, he sacrificed his son.  How great is the love of God that He should do the same for us.”  

With that, the old man turned and sat back down in his chair as silence filled the church.  Within minutes after the service ended, the two teenagers were at the old man’s side.  

“That was a nice story,” politely stated one of the boys, “but I don’t think it was very realistic for a father to give up his son’s life in hopes that the other boy would become a Christian.”

“Well, you’ve got a point there,” the old man replied, glancing down at his worn Bible.  A big smile broadened his narrow face, and he once again looked at the boys and said, “It sure isn’t very realistic, is it?  But I’m standing here today to tell you that THAT story gives me a glimpse of what it must have been like for God to give up His Son for me.  You see…I was the son’s friend.”  Wow!

            LIFE LESSON:  “This is how we know what love is:  Jesus Christ laid down His life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”  I John 3:16

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, let’s not forget to say, “Thank you God, the Father.”   

            Happy Thanksgiving, we serve an awesome God!  

As you start to think and pray about your year-end giving please keep Growing in Grace Ministries in mind.   Thank you for your prayers and faithfulness and may God continue to bless you and this ministry.

Check out our landing page www.thegalatianroad.com.  Note that all our materials are now available worldwide and can be downloaded and printed for use.

Scripture tells us, “Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”  (Romans 12:1)

Here’s a simple test.   Please answer the following questions from your heart. Imagine meeting a famous celebrity and a new Christian on the same day.  Neither had been previously known to you.  Upon arriving home, who is the first person you would tell your family you had met?  You have an opportunity to witness to a small group in the inner city, and a famous person calls you for a private meeting at the same time.  Would you cancel the group meeting?

When reciting your family history, do you immediately tell of all the famous people to whom you are related?  In social gatherings, do you drop the names of celebrities, sports figures, and politicians you have met?  Do you brag about the intellect, talent, and abilities of someone close to you?  Do you believe that people are rich because of their great talent, ability, and effort?  Do you really believe that the end of the world will be determined by politicians?  By polls?  By the opinion of an entertainer who only a few months ago was a waiter?  

See how easy it is to be influenced by and conformed to the world?  The world has done a good job convincing us all that the world is of the ultimate importance.  

As a believer, you are of greater importance than anyone in the world, your opinions count more, you are more unique, you have more value, and you are God’s child.  Don’t you forget that.

Do not allow this world to tell you who is important and who is not.  As Christians we are ambassadors of the Kingdom of God.  When we get to heaven, so many of the great people of this world will be absent.  Hard to believe…they were so important here.  We look around and see people walking, driving, working, and never giving a thought about the Kingdom above.  All blinded by the enemy.  Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.  Therefore, as His ambassadors we are to go and make disciples of all nations (in this world), baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…”

LIFE LESSON: “For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  “God wants all men to come to salvation.”  This worldly Kingdom is passing and will give way to the Lord God Almighty. In this we rejoice, do not be conformed to this world.What a privilege to share with such special people like you saints and holy ones.  That’s what the Apostle Paul calls us.  Well, Amen!! 

We appreciate and thank you for your continued support, prayers and partnership to keep this gospel of grace ministry going. 

Check out our landing page www.thegalatianroad.com.  Note that all our materials are now available worldwide and can be downloaded and printed for use.

A church goer wrote a letter to the editor of the newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday.  “I’ve gone over 30 years now,” he wrote, “and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons.  But for the life of me, I can’t remember a single one of them.  So I think I’m wasting my time, and the pastors are wasting their time by giving sermons at all.”

This started a real controversy in the “letters to the editor” column, much to the delight of the editor.  It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher: “I’ve been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals.  But for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu of a single one of those meals. But I do know this: they all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work.  If my wife had not given me those meals, I would be physically dead today.  Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!”

What are you feeding yourself?  The Word of God is our daily bread, the bread of life.  Jeremiah 15:16 says: “I ate your words, and they brought me great joy.” Psalms 119:103 says: “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth.”

Napoleon Hill in his best-selling book Think and Grow Richwrote that the mind is like a garden.  If you plant positive seeds, it grows flowers. If you plan negative seeds, it grows weeds. It doesn’t know the difference between positive or negative, it just takes whatever you give it and grows and grows.  Again, what are you feeding yourself?

Every day at work a man complained about his peanut butter and jelly lunch to his co-workers.  Finally, one day, tired of hearing his complaining, someone said, “Why don’t you tell your wife that you don’t like peanut butter and jelly?”  He replied, “Leave my wife out of this; I make my own lunch.”  Pogo was right when he said we have met the enemy, and the enemy is us.

LIFE LESSON:  The Word of God is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.  Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard from the Word of Christ. Let’s feed on that, and always remember that seven days without food makes one weak.  Amen!

Thank you for partnering with this ministry as we serve up the bread of life at our 3 weekly Bible studies.  Your prayers and support makes this all possible. 

Paul writes in Philippians 2:5-11 the following: “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:  Who, being in very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross!  Therefore, God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  WOW! Jesus is our good example.

Mark Twain wrote: “Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.”  Perhaps the thing most annoying about a good example is its inability to accomplish the same achievements in our lives.  Admiration for a good example (person) can inspire us, but it cannot enable us.  Now unless the person we admire (our good example) can enter into our lives and share his skills, we cannot attain to his heights of accomplishment.  It takes more than an example on the outside.  It takes power on the inside.

Well, there it is.  It takes power on the inside which ties in with the next two verses of our text, Philippians 2:12,13, with special emphasis on Verse 13.  “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed-not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it isGod who works in you to will and to act according to His good purposes.”  WOW again!  Our good example, Jesus lives and works in and through us.

Do you have any of these appliances or power tools in your home:  Hair dryer? Electric toothbrush?  Coffee maker?   Electric saw or drill?  When plugged into an electrical outlet, they each have a unique purpose even though they all have the same power source.  However, when unplugged, they all become the same: useless!  It is the power source that gives them life, an identity, and a function.  

Jesus is our power source; He lives His life through the body of His believers.  In Romans 6:13 Paul tells us, “We are instruments of His righteousness.”  Example:  We are the light bulb and He is the electricity.  We are the glove and He is the hand.  We are the boat and He is the motor.  We are the body and He is the life.

Best illustration comes from Malcolm Smith. It gives us a picture of Christ in us; the hope of glory.  At a coffee counter Malcolm asked for a cup of the tea. They bring him a little pot of water and a tea bag.  As he’s dipping the tea bag in and out of the water, he has an Ah Ha moment and he thinks, the water and the tea are forever separated (because of the bag).  However, the fusion of the two is so great that we call the water tea.  However, the water is not the tea, it’s the tea in the water.  Get the picture?  Well, we’re not holy or righteous or Christlike, but the fusion of Christ in us makes us that way.  It’s not us; it’s Christ in us, the only hope of glory.  

LIFE LESSON:  Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branch, apart from me you can do nothing.”  He does it all in us, through us, as us.  Jesus is our good exampleand our power source. Rest in that.  Thank you Jesus.

We appreciate and thank you for your continued support, prayers and partnership to keep this gospel of grace ministry going. 

Check out our landing page www.thegalatianroad.com.  Note that all our materials are now available worldwide and can be downloaded and printed for use.

Preaching pure grace alone by faith alone makes everything of Jesus and nothing of man.  Grace alone takes control away from us and forces us to live in the place of constant faith.  Some men don’t like that.  Truth is God never intended for us to be in control.  Controlling things is His role, not ours.

The book of Galatians exposes the most popular substitute for spiritual living that we have in our churches today, it’s called legalism.  Millions of believers think they are spiritual because of what they do and what they don’t do, trying to be justified with the Lord by keeping the law.  Paul tells us in Galatians 5:4 “You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.” 

The Lord shows us in Galatians how wrong we are…and how right we can be if only we would give up control and let the Christ in us be in control.  When we give control to the Jesus, there will be freedom not bondage, cooperation not competition, glory to God not praise to man. The world will see true Christianity, and the lost will come to know the Savior living His life in and through His body of believers, and they will be drawn to Him in us.  That is the mystery of our faith, Christ in us the hope of glory. (Col 1:27)

Legalism leads to some very odd but logical conclusions.  Legalism as a means of control, teaches that Jesus gave you a standing with God, but it’s your job to keep it.  It further teaches that the gift was free, but it is up to you to hold on to it through performance.  Actually, under legalism you would be performing much harder than you would be in any religion because the standard which is Jesus Christ is much higher. And Jesus is the only one who can keep that standard.

If you are a born again believer, you have been given the very nature of Jesus Christ  

(II Peter 1:4).  You have been “created in righteousness” (Eph 4:24).  It isn’t up to you to improve yourself, but instead to recognize and appropriate the truth concerning your new identity.  For years I believed that we should strive toward becoming more righteous by doing the things I believed were expected of us by God.  But the fact is there is nothing we can do to become more righteous.  It has all been taken care of by Jesus Christ. Our place is simply to receive His gift and then rest in the reality of His indwelling life.

There is only one who has ever lived the Christian life and there is only one who ever will.  His name is Jesus and He will live His life in and through His body of believers through grace alone by faith alone.

LIFE LESSON:  The Christian life isn’t a test, it is a rest! Rest = Spirit directed activity. Jesus died for us to give His life to us to live His life through us.  That’s why we’re called the body of Christ.  Get it?  “It is for freedom that Christ set us free!”  Rest in the Way, the Truth and the Life.  It doesn’t get any better than that.  Glory to God alone!

Check out our landing page www.thegalatianroad.com.  Note that all our materials are now available worldwide and can be downloaded and printed for use.

Have you ever heard the expression you need to get a life?  

It is usually said to someone who is struggling or fixated on something blocking them from going forward.  

A Christian friend of mine came to see me; he was so desperate that he wanted to kill himself.  He told me how he tried to do good works and keep all the rules and regulations but was failing miserably.  He went on to say he hated his job and felt that the only solution was to commit suicide.  

As he spoke I was thinking “Lord, give me something to say to this desperate man.”  When he had finished he looked at me and said, “What do you have to say?”  And the Lord told me to say to him, “Praise God!”  He looked at me with shock on his face, and said, “What did you say?”  

And I said, “Praise God! That’s what God wants all of us to do, to kill ourselves, but not in the way you’re thinking with a gun or pills.  God wants us all to die to self and allow Him to live His life through us.”

My friend also told me he didn’t want to go to work because he hated his job and the people he worked with.  I said, “You don’t have to go to work anymore, let Jesus take your body to work.  He can love the people you work with.” 

Praise God, my friend got it!  He was transformed!  Why?  Because he was ready to die and experience the new life he got at salvation.  

Suicidal people are on the right track, only it is not the outer life that needs to go, but the inner life. God does not want to improve the inner life; He wants to remove it.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer 80 years ago said, “When Christ calls a man, He bids Him to come and die.”

As Christians we are to put no confidence in ourselves.  We are to die to self.  The popular religious philosophy of today is “The Lord helps those who help themselves” which by way, is not even in the Bible.  It was also popular in the Apostle Paul’s day and is just as wrong today as it was back then.  The Bible has nothing good to say about our good works, apart from Him, and yet many Christians today are depending entirely on their good works to please God and failing miserably.  Scripture tells us “…no one does good, no not one.”  (Rom 3:12)

There is only one good work that pleased God, the finished work of His Son Jesus Christ on the cross.  He died for us, to give His life to us, to live His life through us.  

LIFE LESSON:  The Apostle Paul wrote 2,000 years ago, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me, and the life I live in this body I live by faith.”  Christianity is not a self-improvement, it’s a self-replacement.  So, Get a Life.  Fix your eyes upon Jesus; He’s the way, the truth and the life!

Check out our landing page www.thegalatianroad.com.  Note that all our materials are now available worldwide and can be downloaded and printed for use.

Now listen carefully.  The people of this world are trying to live a life they do not have substituting religion for God.  But then there are others who are in this world but not of this world anymore who have a new life they never live.  That’s most Christians.  Oh, they know Jesus died on the cross for them and that they get to go to heaven when they die, but they don’t know Jesus is also the new life within them.

What does the world call most Christians? A bunch of hypocrites (a hypocrite says one thing but does another), trying to live the Christian life in their own strength when it can’t be done.  So it comes across as hypocritical.  Sad to say we have many Christians living this way.  

Example:  I recently read a testimony of a man named Ed Miller in the Gaither Homecoming Magazine.  It read something like this.  “I was following earnestly the spiritual disciplines I had been taught growing up in the church:  daily quiet times, Bible memory, assembling with the saints, actively ministering – yet in my life I was a defeated Christian.  Finally, I crashed.  I gave up the dream that I would ever improve as a Christian.  In the merciful providence of God one glorious morning I found myself sitting at the feet of a Godly mentor.”  

“I was told that day, as if I had heard it for the first time, the most precious news a helpless Christian could ever hope to hear.  I was dead! God had not promised to improve me; He desired to replace me.  I thought He would change me, instead He was offering an exchange – His life for mine. I had received Him as the One who died as my Substitute years before; I was now given the opportunity to receive Him as the One who wanted to live as my Substitute for the rest of my life.”

What life are you trying to live?  

Scripture tells us “If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation.  The old is gone (dead); the new has come.”  II Cor 5:17

Scripture also tells us “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is now your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”  Col 3:3,4

There was a knock at the door.  They shouted, “Who lives here?”  

Reply:  “Jesus lives here!”  

They said, “I thought Martin Luther lived here.”  

Reply:  “He used to, but he is dead.”

The Scripture supports this:  “Reckon yourself dead to sin, but alive to God in ChristJesus.”  Rom 6:11

Christianity is not a self-improvement; it’s a self-replacement! (A Substitute): In other words, Jesus living His life in and through us.

LIFE LESSON:  The Word of God is meant to be applied and lived out by the new life He puts in you at salvation; His Son’s life, Jesus Christ revealed in your mortal body, a life you live by faith.

Again,  What Life Are You Trying To Live? Thank you for your support and prayers and helping us spread the gospel of the New Life within!

Check out our landing page www.thegalatianroad.com.  Note that all our materials are now available worldwide and can be downloaded and printed for use.

Do you know any Christians who are really trying to live the abundant life, but are falling short?  We all do, could this be you?

To help those struggling, conduct a simple test. Ask them this most important and illuminating question: 

“What is your understanding of your salvation?”

THEN LISTEN CAREFULLY

They will say things like “Jesus died for my sins on the cross, I asked Jesus into my heart, I get to go to heaven when I die”, and so forth.  All good answers and true.  How would you answer?  

Most will never say they received a new lifeat salvation.  They did, but just don’t know it.  It’s the reason they struggle, only knowing half of the gospel.

If you don’t know you received a new lifeat salvation, you will try to live the Christian life focused on behavior in your own strength instead of trusting in the new lifeof Christ’s strength within you. 

SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR

“Those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone.  A new life has begun!”  II Cor 5:17

The Apostle Paul writes:  “…I no longer live, but Christ lives in me and the life I live in this body, I live by faith…”  Gal 2:20

The Bible tells you:  “Examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith; testyourselves.  Do you not realize that Christ Jesus lives in you – unless, of course, you failed the test?”  II Cor 13:5

TRUTH SETS YOU FREE

Teaching that lands at your feet and tells what you must dois not the truth, but teaching that lands at the feet of Jesus and tells what Jesus does foryou,inyou, and throughyou is the truth; because “Jesus is the way, the truth, and the (new) life.” 

God’sWord is meant to be applied and lived out by the new lifeHe puts in you at salvation, His Son’s liferevealed in your mortal body.  It is living the new life abundantly, a life you live by faith.

LIFE LESSON:  Jesus confirms this truth by saying, “I am the resurrection and the life.”  And, we are the body of Christ.  We are God’s workmanship…apart from Him we can do nothing…Christ lives in us, the hope of glory.

Happy Easter from all of us at Growing in Grace Ministries. He is risen indeed!  Thank you for your support and prayers.

Check out our landing page www.thegalatianroad.com.  Note that all our materials are now available worldwide and can be downloaded and printed for use.

Many years ago, I was a motivational speaker.  But the truth of the matter is I don’t know what motivates anyone, and I don’t believe anyone else does either, because people are motivated differently.  So the only thing any speaker, teacher, or preacher can do is to sow seeds of thought that stimulate and hopefully arouse an inclination within another that causes them to take some action.  So it’s by the words we choose.  I call it WORD POWER.

Speaking about Word Power, did you know that in the Lord’s Prayer, there are just 56 words, powerful, it says a lot.  In Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, there are only 217 words, powerful, it says a lot.  Then there’s the Government Regulation on the sale of cabbage…26,911 words.  Now that says a lot!  Well, I want you to know that our Life Lesson today is going to be somewhere between the Lord’s Prayer and that Government Regulation.

Speaking of the Lord’s Prayer, a friend of mine was to give a presentation at the local YMCA a few years back.  He arrived twenty minutes before his time to speak, but he could not find a place to park.  So he drove around the block four or five times, looking for a spot without success. Finally, out of frustration he decided to park at the only place available next to the fire hydrant.  

He left a note to explain his situation, it read:  To Whom It May Concern:  I have been driving around this block 4 or 5 times for the past twenty minutes looking for a place to park.  If I don’t get into the YMCA and give my talk, I will lose my job.  Then he took a line from the Lord’s Prayer,  P. S. “Forgive us our trespasses.”  And he went inside.

When he came out an hour later, there was a ticket on his window, along with a note which read:  To Whom It May Concern:  I have been driving around this block 40 or 50 times a day for the past 20 years and if I don’t give you this ticket, I will lose my job. P.S.  “Lead us not into temptation.”

The Bible is full of Word Power and truth that can motivate and set people free.  The power of the following words from God’s book in this month’s Life Lesson hopefully will motivate and inspire you.

LIFE LESSON:  “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Wordwas God.” and “The Word became flesh and lived among us. ”  (John 1:1, 14)  Later the Word (Jesus) died on a cross for us,  to give His life to us, to live His life through us.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)  “…God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ lives in you, the hope of glory.”  (Col. 1:27)  Now that’s Word Power personified, it says a lot!  Thank you, Jesus!

We appreciate your continued prayer and financial support.

Check out our landing page www.thegalatianroad.com.  Note that all our materials are now available worldwide and can be downloaded and printed for use.

In the New International Version of the Bible, II Corinthians 5:17 reads: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”  What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons.  They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone.  A new life has begun!

Here is a helpful illustration.  Imagine that you had an egg, and I told you this egg was taken from an incubator.  Let’s say this egg represents a human being for illustration purposes.  The shell represents the body, the white represents the soul, and the yolk represents the spirit.

While it is not biologically accurate, let us imagine that the life or the essence of the chicken is the yolk.  Now what if I said to you that this incubating egg is going to produce a defective and deformed chick because there is something wrong with the yolk? 

Then imagine if I took that egg and inserted a needle through the shell, through the white and into the yolk and extracted the bad yolk.  In its place I inject a new healthy yolk where the old yolk had been, and I placed it back into the incubator until it hatches a perfectly healthy chick.

Now with this being said, how would you answer this question:  Is that chicken a changed chicken?  The answer is no, it is not.  It is an exchanged chicken, the old has gone, the new has come.

 I’ve got good news from God’s Word for all born again believers.  You are not the same bird you were before salvation.  God did not change your life.  It is better than that.  He exchanged your life.  He has taken out the old you, the Adamic nature and in exchange, Jesus has come to take His place in you.   You now have a new life.  That’s the mystery of our faith.  “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”  (Col. 1:27)  You are now one with Christ. 

LIFE LESSON:  Richard Halverson, the United States Senate Chaplain from 1981 to 1995, said and I quote:  “Jesus does not want you to become a Christian; He wants you to become a new creation.”  And then he said, “There is great deal of difference between the two.”  

We appreciate your continued prayer and financial support.  We pray that 2019 will be the best year ever; helping people everywhere experience the New Life within.

Check out our landing page www.thegalatianroad.com.  Note that all our materials are now available worldwide and can be downloaded and printed for use.