Grace Church

by Jeremy Gwaltney

Listen Here

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

Listen Now

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

Listen Now

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

Listen Now

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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