Grace Church

by Kendrick Vinar

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by Kendrick Vinar

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by Bill Fuller

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by Steve Sjogren

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by Kendrick Vinar

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by Kendrick Vinar

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by Kendrick Vinar

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by Will McFarlane

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by Kendrick Vinar

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by Kendrick Vinar

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by Jeremy Gwaltney

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Often we don’t realize how far we’ve come unless we take a pause to look back at the journey we’ve been on. My year has certainly been this way… I’ve been constantly looking at my “to do” list and often forget to look back at the “done.” When I do… “wow” is all I can say… I am amazed at all God has done for me.
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As a recent high school graduate, with plans to attend college at UNC Chapel Hill, I had some understanding that in a few months I would begin a new chapter of my life. But as I sat in the auditorium of the New Attitude 2006 conference, listening to C.J. Mahaney preach on Isaiah 53, I did not realize that God was radically changing my life’s course. His sermon impacted me like no other message I had heard up to that point. In tears, I turned to my dad beside me and said, “I never knew.” Of course, growing up in a Christian home, attending a Christian school, being active in a Biblical church, I did know—I had heard the gospel from a young age and had put my faith in Jesus Christ as a child. However, for the first time, the Holy Spirit was opening my eyes to behold Christ crucified: “wounded for [my] transgressions…crushed for [my] iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought [me] peace, and with his stripes [I am] healed” (Isaiah 53:5). God had used the Word to lead me to the foot of the cross and was showing me “the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards [me] in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:7) like never before.
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In Galatians 6:12, Paul reveals the motives of the Judaizers. He says that they “desire to make a good showing in the flesh…that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.” I imagine a spectrum here. At one end stand the Judaizers, desiring to “make a good showing in the flesh”, that people will think highly of them. At the other end of the spectrum stands Paul, willing to “suffer persecution for the cross of Christ”, if only the pure Gospel will be known.
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I have always thought of verse 6 as being separate from verses 7-10, but now I see that it is all tied together.
It seems to me that if we are regularly being taught by anyone–whether in church, through the media, or even by mail–we should at least contribute to their support.
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Two words really stand out to me in this passage of Galatians: “all” (”all good things”, v6) and “especially” (”especially to those”, v10). It’s funny, but in one way of looking at things, Paul’s guidance here wouldn’t have lost much without these two extras. If he had just said, “Share good things with the one who teaches” and “let us do good to all people.” we wouldn’t be shocked at any glaring omissions. We would agree heartily that teachers should have encouragement and that we should treat everyone with respect and grace.
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by Kendrick Vinar

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I don’t mind saying Galatians 6:1-5 seems a bit confusing. Are we supposed to take of each other or take care of ourselves? Is it both? Which do we do first? Which is more important?

As I meditated on this, God reminded me of my experience in Basic Training. In training, the Drill Instructor’s goal is to remove from each recruit his/her inbred self-centeredness. They know until the self-centeredness is removed the recruits are not useful in the fight.
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When a brother or sister in the Lord falls into sin we are to gently and humbly restore them. One of the commentaries I read refers to the restoring as “like setting a joint” that has been dislocated. We should be tender and compassionate, nursing them back to health, becoming Jesus’s hands that nurture and love them. I am to be an expression of His heart to a brother or sister that is being restored. Often I expect change to have happened in myself and others instantly. I get impatient at the slowness of the progress. I have a timetable in my mind and it is usually is set on “fast forward”.
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Sunday morning something Jim said made me suddenly realize that the phrase in verse 1 “caught in a sin” could be interpreted in 2 different ways. First, it could mean being caught by someone else doing something you shouldn’t. It could also mean ‘caught’ as in a trap – doing something you know is wrong, but feeling like you just can’t stop in your own power. In that second case, the sin is most likely hidden from others and only becomes known when the believer goes to another and asks for help. This is when spiritual humility (the opposite of spiritual pride) becomes so important. Only when I acknowledge my own weakness and dependency on God am I able to help someone else who is struggling, trying to be strong in their own strength instead of relying on the power of the Holy Spirit.
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In Galatians 1 Paul talks about how we are to bear one another’s burdens. Men and women of Christ need to support each other in times of need and hardship. What would life as a Christian be like without this? I can’t even imagine how much more difficult that would be. I know God has called us to bring our burdens to him, but he has also provided us for each other so that we can encourage and support each other in fellowship. We are called to support one another, not with harsh condemnation, but with gentleness and compassion. In return for sharing their burdens they might share ours as well. Read the rest of this entry »

It is interesting to note that Paul is challenging the Galatians to walk and act out what the Holy Spirit is doing in them. Of real importance, Paul stresses, is for them not to become proud and boastful of what the Spirit has enabled them to be.
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by Jim Reklis

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You go to the doctor every now and they run you though several tests: heart, blood, muscles, hearing, sight, etc. The fruit of the spirit is like a check-up at the doctor. You have a list of spiritual things to check on.
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We all struggle with sin and find ourselves unhappy, uncomfortable, thoughtless, inconsistent, upset, disturbed, exasperated, incorrect, “shoddy”, etc…. It is all about the choices we make. Submit to self and our evil desires, or submit to the Lord and be covered by His love and power.
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Upon my return from War Cry I found myself meditating on several things that relate very specifically to this passage in regards to real life application, but I wasn’t even aware of it until I heard Pastor Jim speak Sunday morning and I had one of those “AHA!” sort of moments. It had occurred to me as I considered the experiences our youth had encountering God this year, as well as my own experiences from War Crys of the past, that there is often no lasting change seen in our lives when we are removed from the environment in which they occurred. We come home and fall back into whatever bad habits we were previously engaged in, the struggles with temptation resume right where we left off, and in a few weeks or months we find our selves right back where we started or sometimes in even worse places in our lives. For a long time I placed responsibility for this apparent failure to effect real change in our lives on whatever event had catalyzed the spiritual experience we were trying to hold on to. But hat God began to show me was in fact two things directly found in this scripture: Understanding the war within ourselves, and being obedient to God.
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It had been a long day. The exhaustion was virtually overwhelming. As I crawled into bed I began to reflect upon how I had acted/thought throughout the day. Thinking about it only left me shaking my head in disappointment. In terms of days walked in the spirit verses days walked in the flesh, days walked in the flesh just added another point to its tally.
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If you want God to judge the thoughts and intentions of your heart. Read the words he has given to us in Galatians 5:6-12
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by Jim Reklis

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After Paul was saved, he spent a productive 14 years preaching and building the church. After I was saved, I spent 14 years transferring my pitiful childhood system of earning approval into a “religious” one. Thankfully, Jesus was at work during all those 14 years and was then ready to take me on an unexpected journey. How grateful I am for His tender insistence that I follow Him, although I fought Him tooth and nail during the next seven years of deep healing and restoration. Jesus told me at the outset of that journey that He would win and that I would be glad he did! It’s true!
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Notice how Paul defines who you are - twice even! (vss. 28 & 31). You are a child of promise. Since your identity is dependent on God, on His promise, then you have no need to depend on anything else. He provided salvation (Galatians 3:1). He is the only source of comfort. There is no other.
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It seems to me that people who want to place rules on others often want to either:
- secure or increase their personal power and prestige by being the law giver
or
- bring others into the same bondage that they feel since they themselves are unable to get out.

These themes are not unknown to mankind. But anyone who is a law giver is trying to place themselves in the place of God, the only one who has authority to give laws.
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You know, “they” say that the most important things in life are relationships - relationships with friends, relationships with family, and, of course, our relationship with Christ Himself. I think it’s because relationships really motivate us. Many of us find ourselves doing the most selfless acts when let ourselves be vulnerable and develop the deep bonds of love of friends, family and God.
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This study of Galatians has challenged me to ask myself some hard questions: How much of my being a “good” person and doing good things for others is really out of love and is a reflection of Jesus in me; or how much of it is self-motivating to get something for myself like love and approval from others, including from God? OUCH!
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by Will McFarlane

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“Neither Jew nor Greek…” I remember becoming a Christian in 1972 during the height of the Jesus movement. Those who had become believers in Jesus not only looked to share their new found life but also searched to meet anyone who also was a believer. Whether you were like my wife, who was born again in her room and did not meet another like believer for 6 months, or those touched at a crusade or meeting, it was also special to meet another brother or sister in Jesus. The words in this verse, which almost seem like an after thought in this passage, were how people felt and acted. People flocked to join meetings, form groups and even create communities and communes.
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You are who God says you are. Period. Rejoice! Paul lets us know the gift of “baptism into Christ” trumps circumcision and other external “works” by our efforts. That is a good thing on several fronts, not the least of which is bringing in the womenfolk. Ethnicity, station in life, nor gender matter now for we are all one in Christ. How great is it that me, Bob Link, a wretch of a person (“new I” in progress) can be a legitimate child of God AND heir through faith in Jesus Christ!! My personal prayer is that the Holy Spirit will help me in faith and obedience such that somehow it will glorify God and let me be who God says I am.

Can I just say, “Praise God!!”?? I mean, have you read the first few books in the Old Testament? Don’t get me wrong, there’s good stuff in there, but those books where God is outlining what the Israelites can and can’t do as His people are SCARY. Think about it. Before Christ came and fulfilled the law (not abolished it, see Mt. 5:17), God’s people were expected and required to live their lives by these rigorous standards. That’s how they showed their faith in God because Christ had yet to step into the picture. This faith in God was evident in works and by the things that they did or didn’t do. Enter legalism. Living a legalistic life is doing exactly what Paul refers to when he says “held prisoner by law.” Legalism is saying to myself, “If I do this, this and this, and add this to what Christ tells me to do, then I am saved.” Wrong. This is where we can breathe a sigh of relief—“ahhhhh”. God doesn’t expect us to live up to those laws. In fact, He knows that we never, ever will do it.
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I remember that as a young Christian one of the first fears that surfaced was fear of God’s judgment. I was forgiven of my sins and knew that I had eternal life, but I still felt a tremendous burden that my actions and inaction had a tremendous impact on other people’s lives and their understanding of God. The Holy Spirit spoke to me about not worrying about judgment, but it was and still is difficult to avoid the feelings of guilt and inadequacy.
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I love how Paul focuses on the fact that, long ago, God’s promise to Abraham was not to Abraham’s seeds (plural), but to his seed (singular). We can hope for all the things that God promised to Abraham because we share in that long-ago promise that pointed to Christ. How amazing that we can share in something, that we can reap the benefits from something that we had nothing to do with, that we didn’t have to do any work for!
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by Kendrick Vinar

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HaHA! Listen to this: Yesterday my friend Freya and I went hiking. We stumbled upon an unscathed, meticulously patterned single butterfly wing. It was solely the wing; clean cut and straightforward. It was as if the butterfly left its wing as a legacy of grace. Before you judge the previous sentence as a shade too flowery, I would like to expound on the true grace that is allowed to the butterfly. As young caterpillars, many butterflies feed on milkweed, which produces the bitter tasting chemical called cardiac glycosides, this causes the butterflies themselves to taste atrocious to unsuspecting predators [In fact, not only does it taste like garbage, but it can cause violent vomiting and even cardiac arrest]. The bad taste along with the brilliant colors and complex patterns found on butterfly wings work together for a fabulous defense system (how stylish is that?).
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A kindergarten teacher at my school posted quotes from her students telling what they learned this year. My favorite one read, “I learned what’s important and what’s not important.” Maybe the Galatians (and we too) didn’t quite get how awesome and sufficient the gospel is. We are accepted by God through His Son- just like that! This is the most important thing for our earthly and eternal lives.
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It is so amazing and encouraging to think of myself as blessed alongside Abraham! There are such amazing promises from God to Abraham; to know that I am blessed in the same manner is astonishing. To emphasis and extend this blessing, Paul writes in Ephesians 1 that we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. Yet sometimes it is so hard to grasp that, so hard to understand that I have that blessing, so hard to live or abide in that blessing. When I look at myself, I can see all my failures and disappointments, hurts and mistakes. Sometimes I ask myself, am I worthy of such a blessing?
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Brad concluded his devotional today with the statement “we will never be able to achieve a right relationship with God by observing every regulation that the law lays down”. This is so true and key to entering into a right, happy, content relationship with our Father, a relationship similar to that which Abraham enjoyed.
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Yet again, these verses are a reminder of how prone we are to wander from the cross and rely on our selves. It is encouraging to me that Paul has to remind the Galatians over and over again that it is only in the finished work of Jesus on the cross that they receive abundant life and life in the Spirit. I know that I lose sight of this reality on a daily basis and have to be reminded that Jesus is enough. Self-dependence runs so deeply in me; it is in fact, the essence of sin. When I act self-dependently I am saying to the Lord that I don’t need him.
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by Kendrick Vinar

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Comparison is a tough one for me. I have spent a good portion of my life trying to the best everything. As you may have guessed, I am a champ at comparison. How else do you know you are the best? Terrible.
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As I was reading the devotional for today, Galatians 2:20 the Holy Spirit quickly reminded me of what God has been doing in my life over the past 4 years in my life. From my dad who was a pastor for 25 years who then suddenly abandoned my mother, divorced her and then stole all the money they spent saving for over 29 years of their life; To then wrestling with theological concepts such as the elect and then to the deductive conclusion of the non elect in systematic theology while also wrestling with similar concepts mentioned in Romans 9. Wondering if my dad may possibly be in what Romans 9:22 mentions as an idea of people purposely being created to be objects of Gods wrath and then to solely be destroyed for Gods glory. At the same time being faced with a liberal pastor who seems to love God and who in my opinion is honestly searching for the truth in scripture yet isn’t concerned with historical or literal elements but sees the Bible as poetry yet still divinely inspired truth. I then, struggled to have faith in the veracity of scripture through only a conservative approach, but then in faith wanting and believing that scripture is all truth but facing the reality that the way I have been interpreting it may not be. While I was going through my honest struggles to find faith, and contentment in the way that I read and interpreted scripture the Holy Spirit asked one day “Are you broken before me?” And at that point I broke down and the Holy Spirit revealed to me that while my pursuit for truth was honest and right, it slowly became an intellectual approach and in that it became a divergent to Christ and his death on the Cross for my sins. After that realization the Holy Spirit moved to then break and humble me, and as he did he showed me what it meant to honestly pick up my cross and to follow him.
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by Sam Storms

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The Law always leads to death. For the believer this death is at baptism when the human spirit is drowned and replaced by the Holy Spirit. For the non-believer this death is Hell. For God this death is on the Cross.
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by Sam Storms

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Galations 2:16 - We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

. . . to be justified by faith in Christ . . . This brings to the forefront of my mind an aspect that I find struggle with from time to time. Am I the only one — or is it a “human trait”?! I can choose a focus and rest in full confidence that God is in charge and all is well, or I can cling to my own works and worry and be anxious.
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As Christians, it is so hard to for us to come to the basic understanding that Christ was who He said He was and did for us what He said He did. Born in a manger, but died on a tree to save a wretch like you and me. To comprehend this message has to take the greatest faith and understanding of this kind of sacrifice to grasp the full scope of this kind of Love.
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by Sam Storms

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With delight, I plucked the melon-sized bloom from the adolescent Magnolia tree in our front yard. It would be beautiful on my kitchen table! When the bloom opened to reveal its pure white splendor, the fragrance would surely anoint the entire room with its heady fragrance of summer, spicy lemon, and heaven. The very next morning, the huge bloom was brown, wilted, and not at all fragrant. Hmmm….
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The text today talks about going out and being Christ’s ambassador. Paul went to the Gentiles. Peter went to the Jews.

Oswald Chambers said in his book entitled “My Utmost for His Highest” that the greatest accomplishment anyone can make on this earth is to help bring someone to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Do you believe that? God has placed all of us exactly where we are to go to whoever is near to be His ambassador. God orchestrates our contacts with non-Christians so that His name is made known to others. Our neighbors, our co-workers, friends, family members, the list goes on. As Will McFarland says, “I am the ‘Jesus’ that they get.”
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It is truly a great blessing to know and be aware that our salvation and our standing on God’s Grace is not determined by how much we do, how far we have or will walk in our faith, or physical acts such as those promoted by the Judaizers to the Galatians. It is also fascinating reading how God used Paul, not Paul through his own will and strength, to remain true to the one and only Gospel for the sake of the Church—but above all God’s Glory.
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“I went in response to a revelation,” Paul formerly Saul writes in this devotional focus, an ongoing directional tool from the early days of his new life in Christ. The story told in Acts 9 about Saul’s vision of a man named Ananias laying hands on him and the Lord’s words to Ananias to be that man marked a beginning of Paul’s dependency on the Spirit. In my own life, my early responses to God’s direction were more like Ananias’s initial hesitation out of fear than the blinded Saul’s receptivity. When God said to me in the mid-eighties, “I want you to tell your husband you speak in tongues,” I was appalled.
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I noticed in this passage that Paul was bold and confident in the gospel he was preaching because he had personal experience with the Lord. It wasn’t something he read in a self-help book, a how-to book, or some great advice he got from a friend. Paul made room for God and God met with him. God gave Paul the truth of his gospel. Whenever I’ve had a personal and emotional encounter with God, it’s been more powerful than any nugget of wisdom I’ve read in a book or heard from a friend. Why? God goes right to the heart of my need with his graces.
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by Kendrick Vinar
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For most of us, it’s not hard to find something in common with Biblical characters. We are, after all, all human and share the same hopes, fears and choices in life. What I was surprised to discover is how much my own experiences have mirrored those of the Apostle Paul’s.
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Aiming to please….but (W)whom?

Any of you guys who played sports as a kid might remember how important these things seemed: 1) to play well; 2) to be noticed to be playing well by your parents, your friends and (particularly) your girlfriend and; 3) to look good while playing well. How many times during Little League did I slide into home plate, hear the ump yell “safe”, and then quickly look around to make sure my Dad saw it all! This quest for approval and recognition should subside over the years as we mature, but does it? I believe Paul models a plan which will align our priorities with the Lord’s: a plan which disdains the notion of “trying to please men”. If we take Paul’s advice, we will indeed eventually please “Dad” and the other stakeholders in our lives by first pleasing our Heavenly Father.
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“I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!” I read in a commentary recently that Paul’s thorn in the flesh could have been the heresies that kept coming back and distorting the word he has just spoken to the church and that he would have to write or return to affirm and defend it many times.
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I am challenged by the fact that like he has always done in his letters, Paul spoke God’s blessing of grace and peace over the Galatians, even though he was about to rebuke and correct them for leaving their new found freedom in Christ to embrace a gospel mixed with legalism.
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In today’s devotional reading, Kendrick brought to our attention the fact that the apostle Paul knew, with confidence, who God had made him to be, the callings that God had put on his life, and that he was operating in an authority that was given to him by God. He wasn’t trying to brag or make people think that he was somehow better than they were; he was just stating the facts about who he was.
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by Kendrick Vinar

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Living it Up

I can remember it like it was yesterday. I got my you have _ _ _ _ to live sentence, although it sounded more like 20 years in an Illinois State Prison System. It felt like it was the end of my life. There was the fear of the unknown, and if that didn’t cripple me enough with fear, I would be going to one of the most violent prisons in America. The idea of not knowing anyone or anything about where I was going was enough to still my joy. With only two weeks before being shipped out I was suddenly face with tons of fears, what do I do now? How am I going to be able to handle this? Will I be able to survive it? I heard all the horror stories and seen first hand what can happen if you don’t mind your own business. Scary, isn’t it?
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