RLCC Daily Devotions

Recalling the Gospel and trusting in the Holy Spirit are essential steps toward bearing the fruit of love. However, we also need to place our hope in the kingdom of God. According to Jesus, the kingdom of God is already here but not yet fully realized. Through Jesus and His Holy Spirit, we can enter and witness the kingdom of God operating among us and within us. Yet, we are aware that sin, the flesh, and the world are still present. We continue to struggle and occasionally fail. Nevertheless, we must not lose hope. The gift of the Holy Spirit within us is a down payment on the certainty of the future—the full reality of the kingdom of God, where heaven and earth will finally be joined together. In the meantime, we must bear witness to the presence of God’s kingdom right now. We are called to reject the works of the flesh, which, according to Paul, are quite obvious. You don’t need special revelation to see them; in fact, we observe them all around us and even within ourselves from time to time. Thankfully, in Christ, we are now free to say “No!” to them and to be victorious to the glory of God.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast aims to strengthen your faith in the Lord Jesus by giving you additional insights from God's word based on each week's Sunday sermon. Join us and let's experience real life in Christ together with others.

Unless we recall the purpose of the Gospel and our salvation, we cannot bear the fruit of love. However, mere understanding or knowledge about something will not lead to changed lives. We need power, and that power is none other than the Holy Spirit. We must renew our trust in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit to enable us to walk in love—first toward God and then toward one another and others as well. Only the power of the Holy Spirit can defeat and overturn the desires of our old selves. On our own, we cannot fulfill the will of God; we will always end up frustrated. But through the power of the Holy Spirit and by faith in Jesus, we can fulfill the righteousness of God.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast aims to strengthen your faith in the Lord Jesus by giving you additional insights from God's word based on each week's Sunday sermon. Join us and let's experience real life in Christ together with others.

Because of the false teachings or false gospel that the believers in Galatia listened to, they slowly drifted away from the truth. They may not fully understood the implications of their actions, but for Paul, it was crystal clear: they alienated themselves from Christ. This alienation resulted in disunity and chaos within their communities. The flesh and all its obvious works manifested in factions and divisions of many kinds. Their testimony about Christ also suffered because of these conflicts. The key is for them to return to their original calling, which is to become a people of love. Otherwise, they will end up destroying each other.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast aims to strengthen your faith in the Lord Jesus by giving you additional insights from God's word based on each week's Sunday sermon. Join us and let's experience real life in Christ together with others.

Here, Paul expresses his grave concern that the Galatian believers are being misled by false teachings. He reminds them that they were making good progress in their faith, but now they are being hindered by these falsehoods. Something or someone has "cut in" on them! Paul uses the metaphor of "yeast" to illustrate how a small amount of false teaching can infiltrate and corrupt the entire life of the believer and the Christian community to which he or she belongs. However, he confidently asserts (and hopes) that the believers in Galatia will come to their senses and reject these false teachings. Using himself as an illustration, he reiterates his commitment to the Gospel, even if he is being persecuted because of it. As for the (unidentified) individuals causing all this confusion, Paul can only speak very strongly against them.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast aims to strengthen your faith in the Lord Jesus by giving you additional insights from God's word based on each week's Sunday sermon. Join us and let's experience real life in Christ together with others.

Before we explore verses 13 to 26 of chapter 5, it's important to contextualize them by looking at verses 1 to 6 first (as well as verses 7 to 12). Although it may seem that Paul is arguing against legalism here, he is actually advocating for the unity of the body of Christ in Galatia by reemphasizing the true Gospel. The believers there were being scattered by a false gospel that undermines the true Gospel by persuading them to get circumcised (i.e., to convert to Judaism). For Paul, this implies that there is something lacking in the work of Christ. This cannot be! In Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Galatian believers are already part of the people of God. They are now children of Abraham! To get circumcised is to be alienated from Christ or to fall away from grace. Instead of falling away, Paul says they must remain trusting in Jesus and expressing their faith through love for one another (vv. 13-26).
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast aims to strengthen your faith in the Lord Jesus by giving you additional insights from God's word based on each week's Sunday sermon. Join us and let's experience real life in Christ together with others.

In John 15:12-17, Jesus emphasizes the importance of love among His followers, urging them to love one another as He has loved them. He highlights the ultimate expression of love as the willingness to sacrifice oneself for friends. Jesus redefines the relationship between Him and His followers, stating that they are no longer merely servants but friends, as He shares with them the knowledge received from the Father. He reminds them that their appointment to bear lasting fruit comes from His choice of them, not the other way around, and concludes with a reiteration of His command to love one another, underscoring the central role of love in their relationship and mission.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast aims to strengthen your faith in the Lord Jesus by giving you additional insights from God's word based on each week's Sunday sermon. Join us and let's experience real life in Christ together with others.

Loving obedience to Jesus must be our priority if we want to experience a life that is truly fulfilling. This obedience is not initiated by us; instead, it is initiated by Jesus Himself. He says, "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love." In other words, we are not trying to earn favor from God through our loving obedience; we are simply responding to His love for us, just as Jesus does toward His Father who has loved Him. This loving obedience is not a grueling task; it results in joy—not just any ordinary joy, but the joy of Jesus Himself. Through loving obedience in response to Jesus' prior love, He said our joy will be complete.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast aims to strengthen your faith in the Lord Jesus by giving you additional insights from God's word based on each week's Sunday sermon. Join us and let's experience real life in Christ together with others.

In this passage, Jesus emphasizes that if His disciples will abide in Him and His words will remain in them, they will experience a powerful prayer life, aligning their desires with His will (i.e., His words). It further explains that bearing much fruit will glorify the Father and demonstrates their true identity as His disciples. This refers not only to external works but also to a transformed life characterized by love, obedience, and spiritual maturity. This principle holds true also for us who follow Jesus today.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast aims to strengthen your faith in the Lord Jesus by giving you additional insights from God's word based on each week's Sunday sermon. Join us and let's experience real life in Christ together with others.

Since Jesus is the true vine, He is the source of true life. In this passage, He reiterates the kind of relationship His disciples—and consequently all followers of Jesus—must have with Him. He emphasizes that He is the vine and they are the branches, highlighting their absolute need for Him. Additionally, He makes both a promise and a warning: "If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing." Positively, if a believer remains in a vital relationship with Him, he or she can expect to bear much fruit, not just some or little fruit. However, He also warns those who do not remain in Him; their lives will become purposeless and useless, like a branch that is thrown away and withers, picked up, and thrown into the fire to be burned.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast aims to strengthen your faith in the Lord Jesus by giving you additional insights from God's word based on each week's Sunday sermon. Join us and let's experience real life in Christ together with others.

Because Jesus is the true vine, i.e. the true Israel, all those who claim to belong to God's people but have no faith in Him, or rejects Him as the Messiah, will be cut off or removed, regardless of whether they are Jews by birth or by conversion (i.e., through circumcision). In other words, no one can claim to be part of God's people if they reject Jesus as Lord and Messiah. In contrast, all those who believe in Him (e.g., the disciples), regardless of their ethnicity, will be pruned (or cleansed) so that they will bear more fruit. The word "prune" and "clean" are the same in meaning here. Thus, addressing His disciples, they are already cleaned (or pruned) because they believe in Jesus. All they have to do now is to continue trusting in Him (remain in Him), because that's the only way they can bear fruit (both in terms of their character transformation and their good works).
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast aims to strengthen your faith in the Lord Jesus by giving you additional insights from God's word based on each week's Sunday sermon. Join us and let's experience real life in Christ together with others.