When we struggle to believe God, we strain to make things work on our own. Paul reminds us of the danger of leaning on our flesh. 

We are doing an overview of all of chapter 2 of Galatians and the final verse talks about Grace versus the law. How do these things relate and do we have to make the right connections or be a certain type of person to receive this grace. I think what we will see is the answer is no. 

We are called to make disciples, but before we make disciples, we first need to consider our heart before the Lord. When we fail to give God all of our hearts we find that we give ourselves to things that distract us from our mission. But when we give our hearts to the Lord He transforms us, empowers us, and calls us to model the gospel in all of life. We know those around us are watching, but do they see us distracted from the mission or devoted to the Lord?

One of Jesus’s most central teaching He hands-down to us has become known as the golden rule. It calls us to live with a moral imagination about the future and treat others in the way we wish to be treated. In doing so, He also calls us to walk in His way which at many times is misaligned with this present world. The crowd is often following a big highway that leads to destruction. We are to enter the kingdom by following King Jesus in His way.

Paul begins to recite the details of his call to the faith, his special ministry to those outside of the Jewish community with the Gospel of grace. 

A frustrated Paul pushes back on the dangerous teaching finding it’s way into the churches in the Galatian region. 

The Galatian church has a problem. False teachers have crept in and Paul is writing to correct a serious issue. As we intro into the book we will begin to see that while there may be some differences between what they were facing and the problems we have today, there is a lot for us to learn. 

It seems easy enough to trust God on Sunday mornings or when life is going well. But what about when God seems distant? What about when it seems that His promises may never come true? What about in the long days of waiting? This Sunday we will look to Abram in Genesis 15 for encouragement to trust in God and His promises in the gray days of waiting. 

As we are nearing the end of Ephesians, Paul gives us some final things to keep in mind. He warns us of the true nature of the battle we are fighting, and encourages us to be prepared so that we can stand firm when we face the struggles of this life.