Calvary.MN

Each of us has unique talents and abilities to help accomplish our God-given purposes.

Our hearts help show where and how we should apply our God-given gifts. When we follow our hearts, we discover where we can best make a difference in the world!

Jesus said that His followers would do things even greater things than He did! How is this even possible? Every believer has the gift of the Holy Spirit empowering us to live out the purposes God intends for us.

On Purpose: You Are a Masterpiece You were created by God on purpose for a specific purpose. And God uses your entire “SHAPE” to help you live out your purpose!

Paul's message to the Galatians can be summed up broadly as "Jesus plus nothing equals everything!" and "When you receive the gospel, you are truly free!" Now Paul says there are two critical questions that can help us take an inventory of where we are at: "What are you sowing?" and "What are you boasting in?" Paul is first calling us to think like farmers. Every day we plant seeds. So, what seeds will you choose to plant today in your everyday life? Paul is also saying we each have seeds of the gospel to sow. The church needs more workers and givers, not just consumers. God has given us countless resources to be sown like seed to further his love and grace in the world. If you only sow your seed for yourself, you're going to reap destruction. Then Paul says, "what are you boasting in?" Everyone boasts in something. So what should you boast about? Paul says, "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." In Christ, your successes (which can near earn you God's love) and your sins (which separate you from God on their own) don't even enter into the equation! The best way to show our appreciation is to keep planting seeds!

After 4 chapters, Paul wants to remind us what is at stake, our freedom! Don't get tempted to turn around and backwards and miss out on the freedom you can have! Paul says, "So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law." If you are in Christ you are truly free. You are no longer on the performance plan. You are accepted. If your version of Christianity doesn't make you feel free, you're doing it wrong! So, how are you doing to USE the freedom you have in Christ? We often get pulled to two extremes: license and legalism. The Galatians kept getting pulled backwards, hanging on to old rules and traditions, instead of embracing the freedom they had in Christ. Paul says, "For you have been called to live in freedom...but don't use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead use your freedom to serve one another in love." Imagine if that was our focus as Christians, and as a church! When we live in love, led by the Spirit, we develop the family likeness (the fruit of the Spirit).

If we have faith in Christ, we can claim our identity as children of God! This privilege is not because of anything we have done, but only through what Jesus has done.

Losing My Religion: Covenant Living

In order to understand the law and how God uses it, we need to understand the different kinds of covenants. They work together to lead us to Christ!

We live in a world full of divisions, but Jesus unites all Christians of the world in freedom, mission and generosity. Let's focus on how we are one in Christ!

According to the book of Galatians, the Gospel is the good news that God sent his Son Jesus to live and die and rise again so we could have life—a free and complete gift of grace, not dependent on anything we do or say or earn.