Many people have the idea that “liberty” means freedom to do whatever I want with no restrictions. What Paul meant by liberty is freedom to belong to the Messiah and God’s people without keeping the Old Covenant.

Paul talks about the “hope of righteousness.” The word “hope” indicates that something is not yet fulfilled. By liberty Paul meant neither sinless perfection nor freedom to live in sin. The promise is that faith leads to good works, but this is not a promise of perfection.

Paul also talks about “faith working through love.” By this phrase Paul is saying the same thing James says, that faith that does not bear fruit is not saving faith. Liberty is an opportunity to love. Paul says you have the freedom to love as much and do as much good as you want to.

Paul gives us a list of sins of the flesh that we are not free to do. Most of these sins are against other people and are the result of lack of love for others. Paul’s list of sins of the flesh seem to fall into four categories: personal pleasure, idolatry and witchcraft, relational conflicts, and lack of self control.

Surrender to Christ and love for Christ and others would go a long way in defeating the sins Paul names. In addition, spiritual and emotional growth requires investing in Scripture, focusing on love for God, and developing an understanding of one’s attitudes and motivations. We cannot love and obey out of human energy.

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What attitudes and activities produce healthy body life and believers who do what Jesus wants, according to Acts 2 and 4? In these verses we see numerous spiritual activities. That could be grouped under the headings of worship, commitment to the apostles’ doctrine, and fellowship with fellow believers.

Worship: Worship from the heart is the foundation of all worthwhile spiritual activity and obedience. Without worship and heart fellowship with Christ, religious activity is dead and legalistic. In these two accounts there are numerous spiritual activities that are either worship activities or activities produced by worship.

A central message in these two sermons is that the Jesus you killed is the Messiah, and the only appropriate response to this truth is to repent and be baptized for the remission of your sins. These are the people who are qualified to worship.

Commitment to the apostles’ doctrine: The content of the two sermons in Acts 3 and 4 was their interpretation and application of OT Scripture to their present events. The early believers were awestruck by the reality that the Jesus they so dearly loved had been killed but now was alive. It was as if they were being carried along, energized, consumed by the conviction that the dead Jesus was risen from the dead. They were profoundly impacted by the resurrection event.

Throughout the history of the Christian church, the foundation of all worship, revival, and spiritual transformation has been Scripture. The apostles were the first NT church’s teachers. The NT spiritual leaders had three primary tasks: provide humble service and leadership, preach the Word, and shepherd the sheep.

Fellowship with fellow believers: They broke bread from house to house, shared their resources with those in need, and were of one heart and one soul.

Who a person believes he or she is (a person’s identity, whether valuable or scum of the earth), the kind of character a person develops (whether upright or evil), and even what a person believes is true (whether truth according to Scripture or lies of the devil) are determined more by who a person is attached to and belongs to, or is reacting to, than by facts and truth a person is told to believe.

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The importance of encouraging and comforting one another

When a pebble is skipped across the water, the ripples go on and on. The ripples go even further than the pebble. This is the power of a skipped pebble and an encouraging word.

The Bible has many examples of the value of encouragement. God encouraged Moses with the words, “My presence will go with you.” Moses encouraged Joshua. Barnabas was the Son of Encouragement.

Why don’t we get encouragement done? Think we don’t know how; too busy; forget that everyone needs it; focus on the problems of people; don’t see any results; think people already know that I love them.

Encourage others. The ripples go on and on.

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Saul started off well but ended up in a terrible place because he lost his vision of his smallness and God’s greatness.

Signs of vision loss can include compromised obedience, not waiting on God, harshness toward others, and behaving as though the mission is our own.

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The Kingdom of Heaven has several notable characteristics: 1) It has a king, and that king is Christ. 2) Like the mustard seed, it starts small but grows into something visible and strong (Matt. 13:31, 32). 3) Like leaven, it starts within and changes all of a person’s life (Matt. 13:33). Like a treasure, it is worth more than anything else (Matt. 13:44-46).

The Kingdom of Heaven has an enemy, Satan (Isaiah 14:12-15). He is a “dictator” who has come to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). However, his kingdom will be destroyed in the end.

Entering the Kingdom of Heaven requires 1) the humility of a child (Matt. 18:3), 2) repentance (Mark 1:14, 15 and Matt. 7:21), and 3) new birth (John 3:3-5). All this is part of the “package” of the salvation experience.

Many equate obedience with legalism, but Noah building the ark and Abraham going to Mt. Moriah are examples of strong faith demonstrated by obedience.

Standing firm in the Kingdom requires 1) a soldier mentality (2 Tim. 2:3, 4), a love of the truth (2 Thess. 2:9, 10), and truly knowing Jesus – as we know a spouse, not simply knowing about Him.

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A major underlying issue Paul is addressing in Galatians is his fear that the church might get sidetracked by heresies, especially related to what it means to be a member of the Messiah’s people. Paul was concerned about idol worship; the observance of holy days, months, seasons, and years; and there was always the concern about requiring Gentiles needing to be circumcised and to keep the Law of Moses.

In this chapter Paul also mentions his need to rely on the grace of God because of the difficulty with his eyesight and the accusation that he is a “man pleaser.”

Maintaining the faith is always a challenge. One challenge is to help the next generation understand why we do what we do. Maybe part of the difficulty is that children follow in the footsteps of their parents instead of following what the parents say.

Another challenge is pride. In all of this we need to be committed to loving Jesus, living for Jesus, and doing the things Jesus wants us to do. We need the New Covenant, and the New Covenant is Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

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Emmanuel and an update on Ozark Wilderness Boy’s Camp in Missouri

The most important spiritual reality for us to remember is that God is with us. Most of us have questions about what God’s will is about many things.

When we consider God’s relating to the children of Israel, we see that God did reveal himself to them. But in the midst of his revelations and provisions, they did not want to hear God and refused to do what God said even when they promised to obey.

At camp where they work they have the motto that they do everything with the boys and not to or for them. This is how God in Christ relates to us. Christ is Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus was with His disciples. This concept is even contained in the name Emmanuel itself.

Rather than God doing things to us from a distance he sent his Son to do things with us and in us.

How do we do life with God? We either want to do it ourselves or we want God to do it for us. To do life with God we do what God wants with God’s assistance, with God working in us.

This is God’s plan, to live life with us and work in us. This doesn’t mean we will perfect our life, but it does mean God is working with, in, and through us to accomplish his good goal.

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In Matthew 28:18-20 Christ says the mission of the church is to go to all people groups and 1) baptize or submerge the people in relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and 2) teach the people to do the things Jesus wants them to do.

The focus of this sermon is on the responsibility of immersing fellow believers in the presence of fellow believers, especially of believers admonishing one another. The story in Acts 18:24-28 of Aquila and Priscilla taking Apollos aside and explaining “to him the way of God more accurately” is an example of discipling a fellow believer.

According to Romans 15:14, ordinary believers are qualified to admonish. To admonish means to warn based on instruction.

According to Galatians 6:1-5, admonition requires meekness and willingness to bear another’s burden and address “a man overtaken in any trespass.” A trespass is a fault or misstep. A person who is spiritual can restore someone who has committed a trespass.

According to I Thess. 5:14-15, different needs require different kinds of admonition. The unruly (insubordinate, undisciplined) should be warned, the fainthearted (timid) should be encouraged, and the weak should be supported.

Matthew 18:15-22 says that those who do not receive admonition or discipline after being approached three times should be excommunicated. I Cor. 5 and II Cor. 2 also speak about excommunication and restoration.

How can we best approach our responsibility to admonish and receive admonishment?

I have observed that in general people do not like to be admonished, and neither do people like to admonish others, which results in the ordained doing most of the admonishing.

Amidst these challenges it is important to remember that the level of love, humility, and secure belonging and attachment present in our relationships determines to a large extent how we share and receive admonishment.

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Today is Father’s Day and Galatians 3 isn’t the typical passage to use for Father’s Day. John said his relationship with his earthly father was fairly negative, so it probably wasn’t surprising that when he thought about God, he always had a hard time believing he cared about him.

Galatians 3 says both Jews and Gentiles can become children of the Abba Father by faith in Jesus apart from works of the Law. This means that becoming a son of the heavenly Father does not depend on practicing the Law of Moses.

Paul says the purpose of the Law of Moses was to be a school master until Christ came, to keep people out of trouble. It accomplished this task to some extent, but it did not make people holy.

No one is born into the family of God. No one has a priviledge by birth. Rather, believers are adopted.

The Father adopts us because he wants us. The Father qualifies us to belong in the family. Adoption is not something we do for ourselves. It is what the Father does in us.

We belong to Abba Father because the Father wants us and equips us. Our heavenly Father sees our giftings and potential, praises us openly, has time for us, does not enable bad behavior, loves us unto the end, and is focused on Kingdom building.

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In II Timothy 4, Paul charges Timothy to remain faithful to his mission by preaching the Word, regardless of how people react. Each of us has a mission that is our unique obligation.

Finishing well involves viewing one’s life as a “drink offering” – a complete, faithful sacrifice, and looking forward to the appearing of Jesus.

The reality of the mission is that we will face human struggles such as abandonment, sickness, failures, and lack of resources, but these realities do not doom the mission because God remains present to strengthen and preserve us.

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