Mercy Hill

Join us as we continue our series in Advent with the topic of Joy

Join us as we continue our series through Advent with the topic of Love

Join us as we continue our series in Advent about Peace

Join us as we begin the advent season with the first topic of Hope

Everywhere we look people are promising us transformation. "Transform you body with our brand new diet plan." "Transform your business with the groundbreaking software." "Transform your family by reading our latest book."

Paul starts Romans 12 with an encouragement to be transformed in our worship, what we value above all else. This is not a self-help transformation of our bodies or our business, but a complete overhaul of our identity. Then, he spends the rest of the chapter outlining how this transformation happens in the context of a community of faith.

Where does our confidence come from and why? Let's wrap up our series through Galatians in this last, powerful section.

What does it mean to have a gospel community? This week, we dive into Paul's discussion of culture.

After chapters and chapters of helping the Galatians (and us) understand the difference between the law and the gospel, Paul now turns his attention to asking the next obvious question. How do we change? Before Christ, we tried to do what was right so that God would be happy with us and we wouldn't face his punishment. With this fear why would we change? Why would we obey. 

The answer is the Spirit. The Holy Spirit works in us to transform us into people of character. Paul says like an apple tree bears apples or a peach tree bears peaches, so, also,  the Spirit in the life of a believe begins to bear certain fruit. 

Have you ever experienced inner conflict? One of those times when you knew what was right, but felt yourself being pulled to do the exact opposite. So far in Galatians we've been presented with amazing truth after amazing truth: we're forgiven, justified, adopted in God's family, free from self-justification, and much more. Yet, if you're like me, you still feel the pull to sin. It's like we're caught in-between two realities: we truly do belong to Christ but we are also still experience the pull of temptation. What hope to we have to resist temptation and sin? Paul says in Galatians 5 that the way we have victory over our inward conflict is by "walking in the Spirit."

We've all been there. Taken in by a slick salesman who has convinced us that the life changing product we've been waiting for our entire lives can be ours. In Galatians 4:8-31, Paul says that the false teachers in Galatia are like this slick salesman. They have convinced the church that they have the new and improved version of the message of Jesus and so, it's time to move on from that second rate message they've been believing.Paul points out, behind all of the salesmanship, these false teachers are not only, just in it for themselves, but the product they are selling is actually a cheap, reproduction of an old broken way to try to know God.