Pastor's Corner: WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?

  Keep in Step with the Spirit! Galatians 5:16-25 Introduction :   D.L. Moody held a glass up and asked the crowd, how can I remove all the air from this glass? After several suggestions of ways to suck out the air, Moody went over, took a water pitcher, and filled the glass. “There,” he said, all the air it out of the glass!” Galatians has talked about our justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. But how does that impact the way we live? Can we live a victorious Christian life? This passage calls on believers to walk by the Spirit, in contrast to living a life that manifests the works of the flesh. The question before us today is, how do we live a Spirit led, Spirit empowered, Spirit-filled life ? How do we “decrease” so that Christ can “increase” in us? That is the “heart question” at the “heart” of this passage.        Two parallel imperatives bracket this pericope. This passage begins and ends with an exhortation...

  Live Free or Die! Galatians 5:1-15 Introduction :   From the days of the American Revolution, it may have been Patrick Henry [?] who said:  “ Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me,   give me liberty or give me death!”   That might sound a little radical at some levels but that isn’t too far from what Paul is saying in this transitional passage in the letter to the Galatians.   The paraphrase The Message puts Galatians 5:1 like this: “Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you …” (Gal 5:1, MSG).   Jesus told his followers “… if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed! ” (Jn 8:36).   How are we to understand Christian freedom? And if we are truly free, how then does obedience fit into the Christian life? This passage, and the res...

  The Road Less Traveled Galatians 4:21-5:1 Introduction:   Robert Frost in the famous poem, “The Road not Taken,” said: I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. I am not sure of Frost’s purpose in his poem, but we can agree that there are many moments in our lives when we make a choice over which path we are going to take.   Some of those decisions are of small consequence, others are life changing.   When it comes to the question concerning our hope of eternal salvation, the Bible teaches that there is only one way to God, one path to life : Grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. The Road Less Traveled . Jesus used a similar illustration when He said,   "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it...