Calvary Church Podcast

Title: The Gospel Starts A War Within
Speaker: Nate Holdridge
Text: Galatians 5:16-18

Galatians Theme: Galatians describes a life that is free. It is a life in flight. If we cling to the true gospel, if we accept it for what it is, we can fly. But Paul wrote Galatians because the Galatian believers—and all future believers—were in danger. If we adulterate the gospel, if we add to it in any way, we will not fly. Like a bird chained in a birdcage, we will (at best) hinder ourselves from flying into God's ideal for our lives or (at worst) hinder ourselves and others from true salvation.

Overview: In the Old Testament, Samson was uniquely empowered by God's Spirit. Set apart by God from his birth, he became a heroic deliverer of God's people. But for as strong the Spirit was in Samson's life, he always battled with the desires of the flesh. It all culminated for him in a relationship with a forbidden woman named Delilah. She enticed him day after day in an attempt to find the secret of his strength, all with the intention of reporting it directly to Israel's enemies. For a while, Samson danced around the truth. But one day, he caved, told her the secret to his strength, gave himself completely to her, and was captured.

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Title: Run In Gospel Grace
Speaker: Nate Holdridge
Text: Galatians 5:7-15

Galatians Theme: Galatians describes a life that is free. It is a life in flight. If we cling to the true gospel, if we accept it for what it is, we can fly. But Paul wrote Galatians because the Galatian believers—and all future believers—were in danger. If we adulterate the gospel, if we add to it in any way, we will not fly. Like a bird chained in a birdcage, we will (at best) hinder ourselves from flying into God's ideal for our lives or (at worst) hinder ourselves and others from true salvation.

Overview: Paul was confident that God would help these Galatians run again in grace. He said, "I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view" (10). He believed God would work on their behalf and get them back on course, running the race of grace. He had the same attitude towards them that he had about the Philippians:

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Title: Enjoy Gospel Freedom
Speaker: Nate Holdridge
Text: Galatians 5:1-6

Galatians Theme: Galatians describes a life that is free. It is a life in flight. If we cling to the true gospel, if we accept it for what it is, we can fly. But Paul wrote Galatians because the Galatian believers—and all future believers—were in danger. If we adulterate the gospel, if we add to it in any way, we will not fly. Like a bird chained in a birdcage, we will (at best) hinder ourselves from flying into God's ideal for our lives or (at worst) hinder ourselves and others from true salvation.

Overview: It is important to note what Paul is doing in this paragraph and the coming section in Galatians because many misunderstand. When they read Galatians 5-6, they think Paul is providing needed balance to the radical gospel of grace, as if he finally noticed that he went a little too far and now needs to reign in God's people. But that is not at all what Paul will do here. He is not providing a balance to grace but perspective and clarity on what grace produces in a person's life.

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Title: The Great Commission
Speaker: Phil Metzger
Text: Matthew 28

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Title: Agape Night 02 — True Satisfaction
Speaker: Nate Holdridge
Text: John 14:1-14

Title: Reject Anti-Gospels
Speaker: Nate Holdridge
Text: Galatians 4:21-31

Galatians Theme: Galatians describes a life that is free. It is a life in flight. If we cling to the true gospel, if we accept it for what it is, we can fly. But Paul wrote Galatians because the Galatian believers—and all future believers—were in danger. If we adulterate the gospel, if we add to it in any way, we will not fly. Like a bird chained in a birdcage, we will (at best) hinder ourselves from flying into God's ideal for our lives or (at worst) hinder ourselves and others from true salvation.

Overview: By God's grace, we have been brought from barrenness to fruitfulness, slavery to freedom, and law to grace. We now have an eternal and heavenly citizenship. One day, our city will arrive.

And it has all happened through the work of Christ. Just as Abraham's plotting and planning could not fulfill God's purposes, our efforts and attempts cannot gain our good standing before God. We needed his plan and power. And just as Sarah received a miracle child in Isaac, so we are born to God through the miracle of Christ's resurrection and the new birth of the Spirit. So when the anti-gospels roll in, let us stand firm against them!

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Title: Jesus' Description Is His Prescription
Speaker: Nate Holdridge
Text: Revelation 2-3

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Title: Stay Firm In The Gospel
Speaker: Nate Holdridge
Text: Galatians 4:8-20

Galatians Theme: Galatians describes a life that is free. It is a life in flight. If we cling to the true gospel, if we accept it for what it is, we can fly. But Paul wrote Galatians because the Galatian believers—and all future believers—were in danger. If we adulterate the gospel, if we add to it in any way, we will not fly. Like a bird chained in a birdcage, we will (at best) hinder ourselves from flying into God's ideal for our lives or (at worst) hinder ourselves and others from true salvation.

Overview: We are still in the middle of Paul's theological case to the Galatian church. After he had gone to them with the full, true, and simple gospel, they had begun to drift from it. False teachers had arrived in their midst, telling them they needed to attach the practices of Judaism to their new faith in Christ. Soon, these brand-new Gentile Christians were acting out Old Testament practices in an attempt to become fully accepted in God's sight.

All this was abhorrent to Paul—he referred to it as a gospel contrary to the one they had received, a distorted gospel, a different gospel, one worthy of a curse on all who proclaim it (Galatians 1:6-9). Since the argument of the false teachers was that Paul did not know the true gospel, the first portion of the letter had to do with how widely Paul and his gospel were accepted in the early church—Paul's personal case for the gospel (Galatians 1-2). And since the argument of the false teachers was that Paul's gospel would produce a wild and sinful people who thought grace allowed them to follow their sinful impulses, the last portion of Paul's letter will cover the radical changes the gospel is meant to produce in us (Galatians 5-6). But the middle section of the letter is Paul's theological argument. The false teachers thought they had Scripture on their side, but they had wrongly divided the word, so Paul broke down the Old Testament in a demonstration that the simple gospel of grace and faith in Christ, not works and law, has always been God's plan.

But Paul is not a dry theologian. Today, amid his scriptural teaching, Paul made a loving appeal. This section is one of the most intimate in Galatians. He referred to the false teachers, but only twice. But he used personal words like I, me, and you forty-five times. With a bleeding heart, Paul begged the Galatians to stay firm in the gospel of grace. And, as he expressed his heart to them, it was the Spirit expressing his heart for all of us. This passage, in other words, shows us God's desire for us to stay firm in the gospel of grace. And, as I hope to show, he longs for us to stay simple in our relationship with him, free in Christ, and focused on Christ being formed in us.

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A message from Christina Holdridge at our Women's Gathering as we begin character studies of different women in the Bible. Today we talk about Hannah.

Title: God As Father
Speaker: Nate Holdridge
Text: Galatians 4:1-7

Galatians Theme: Galatians describes a life that is free. It is a life in flight. If we cling to the true gospel, if we accept it for what it is, we can fly. But Paul wrote Galatians because the Galatian believers—and all future believers—were in danger. If we adulterate the gospel, if we add to it in any way, we will not fly. Like a bird chained in a birdcage, we will (at best) hinder ourselves from flying into God's ideal for our lives or (at worst) hinder ourselves and others from true salvation.

Overview: So our passage tells us the great lengths God went to make us his adopted sons. He sent his Son at the perfect moment in human history to live as a man under the law, fulfilling it for us before dying on our behalf. It would have made no sense for the Galatian Christians to submit to the elementary principles of the very law God redeemed them from!

But God was not content to only do the excruciating work of positioning us as his children. He also wants us to experience and feel his presence as our Father right now, so he gave us his Spirit to drive us to him. The Spirit puts an urge within us for the Father, so we must yield to the Spirit's nudges.

If the concept of God as Father is so important to God that he specifically commissions the third person of the Trinity to make it real to us, how can we better yield to his mission? How can we allow our inner person to become rewired to view God as our loving, good, and benevolent Father? Here are some suggestions:

First, search out the work of Christ as revealed in Scripture. In a sense, this passage makes the world's greatest case for Bible study and prayer. Studying the Bible helps you meditate on the work of the Son, while prayer yields you to the work of the Spirit, both of whom want to get you to the Father.

Second, preach the gospel to yourself every day. Paul said we must reckon ourselves to be as Christ is, with his righteousness and position, dead to sin and alive to God (Rom. 6:11). At the beginning of your day, and then all throughout it, tell yourself who you are in him.

Third, pray the Lord's prayer, and do not allow yourself to get past the first words until you feel them to be true. "Our Father, in heaven..." (Mat. 6:9). In a sense, if you can get that first truth of God as your Father instilled within, you are well on your way. Pass "Go" and collect your two-hundred dollars.

Fourth, pause to consider how you currently feel about God. If you have to journal or write to get your thoughts out, do it. I'm not asking for a report on what you know the Bible says about God, but how you perceive him at the moment. Know that anything out of line with the way he is presented in Scripture is a lie. Any perception of him not aligned with the truth of him as your Father in heaven is designed to keep you from him.

Finally, go to him. The Spirit is trying to drive you in his direction, but we all have a sinful flesh that wars against the Spirit. Don't allow the flesh to win, but cut it off by feeding the Spirit. Run to him. He loves you.

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