Growing in the Word

It's one thing to say that we trust God, but it's quite another to live that way. Pastor Jim will challenge us today to really sell out completely to trust God completely. As Jim mentioned a moment ago, God proved His complete love for us by sending His son to die for our sins. Why wouldn't we trust someone who did that? Our scripture today is Galatians chapter three, verses six through fourteen.

The law of God has no power to prevent sin - or redeem the sinner. Only grace can do that. That's our theme on today's Growing in the Word with pastor Jim Jarrett. The churches in Galatia had been deceived by false teachers, who had convinced them that they could be saved by works rather than grace. Let's head over to Galatians chapter three and find out what the Apostle Paul had to say on this important issue.

Trying to earn or merit God's blessing is what the church in Galatia had fallen into. They compromised the gospel of grace by legalism. It's a common mistake that's still made today. And it's important we understand this so we don't fall into the same error.

Currently on the broadcast we're traveling verse by verse through the book of Galatians. We continue in chapter three today, and find here a good old fashion scolding, if you will. Paul pulled no punches when it came to proclaiming the gospel message and the need for repentance and faith, in order to be saved. A lot of the folks in Galatia were not prepared to be confronted so boldly!

People who want to go to heaven have a big problem. The only way to get into heaven is to be perfect. Do you know anyone who fits that description? Our problem with perfection was solved by Jesus. He paid the price to perfect us before a holy and perfect God. Isn't that awesome? However, there are some people who still try to get to heaven by being "perfect". It simply won't work. The members of the church in Galatia had a similar issue.

We all need someone in our lives who is not afraid to "tell it like it is". The Galatians had a friend like that, and his name was Paul. We'll see just what he had to say to the Galatians today on Growing in the Word. Pastor Jim Jarrett is taking us through this challenging epistle, and we can see that the Galatians were much like many Christians today – they thought they needed to add something to their faith in order to please God and get to heaven.

We are studying Galatians chapter two right now, and today pastor Jim will again remind us that as Christians, we should die to ourselves and let Christ live within us. Given the choice of trusting God with your life, or going it on your own, which would you choose?

Today, pastor Jim will talk about the ultimate insult - believing that there is some way you can earn your way into heaven by following rules, or doing good deeds. Who is insulted by that? Jesus Himself. He died a painful death on a cross so that we can go to heaven by simply having faith in Him.

Once again today, pastor Jim will be discussing the ages-old debate about faith and works. I guess when you think about it, it's easy to understand why so many people think they have to work their way to heaven. That's pretty much the way human beings think - we have to do something to get something. There are many religions out there that tell their followers that, indeed, they have to knock on doors, or pass out tracts, or do some other thing to get to heaven. That's a false doctrine, and pastor Jim will tell us why today, as we again look at Galatians chapter two.

Pastor Jim Jarrett is currently taking us through the book of Galatians - a letter written by Paul to a group of believers who had been seriously misled by false teachers. They had been taught by Paul that salvation came through simple faith in Jesus - and nothing else. That's the gospel message. But they had then been misled that there were tasks they had to do to be saved.