Sermon Central
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Studies In Galatians
Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 23, 2021 (message contributor)
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1. Letter Of Liberty
Contributed on Mar 23, 2021
A study of this letter will not only help us grasp better what we have in Christ, but it will help us also to see just what we should get angry about as believers.
The author of a tract entitled Come To Jesus got engaged in a theological dispute, and he wrote another publication in which he cut his opponent to pieces with razor sharp sarcasm. He let a friend read it and then asked if he had any suggestions for a title. His friend said, "How about Go To ...read more
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2. An Apostle Of Authority
Contributed on Mar 23, 2021
All through history the primary battle has been the one over authority. Paul won out and the New Testament became the primary authority for the church.
Charles Dickens tells of how men react to bad news. Martin Chuzzlewit learns that the 50 acre tract in America in which he had invested all his savings turns out to be a hideous swamp. He sinks into a fever because of his sorrow, but Mark Topley who savings were also sunk in that same swamp ...read more
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3. . A Living Authority
Contributed on Mar 23, 2021
It is Paul's goal to see that Christians put Jesus where He belongs, and that is in the place of supreme authority.
A Christian school teacher offered a dollar to the one who could give her the name of the most famous man in history. She wanted them to say Jesus, of course. They all began to shout out names like Washington, Lincoln, Edison, and Columbus, and finally a little Jewish boy said Jesus. When he came ...read more
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4. The Pessimist And The Optimist
Contributed on Mar 23, 2021
It is foolish to talk about the good old days of the church. The church never did live in good days, and never has, for the present evil age covers all days from Paul's time to ours
Sam Levenson told of how his father took the 6 children, chained hand to hand, through a museum. Suddenly, in irritation at the slowness of their progress, he said, "Look kids, if you're gonna stop and look at everything, you ain't gonna see nothin." Anyone who has been in a ...read more
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5. The Attributes Of Optimism
Contributed on Mar 23, 2021
This letter to the Galatians gives us a beautiful opportunity to see how a great optimist like Paul reacts to negatives.
Bob Harrington tells of how he was standing on the street preaching when an angry bartender took a mug of beer and poured it on his head. He said to the bartender, "Come here." When he came over he said to him, "I want to thank you for that." The bartender said, "You want ...read more
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6. Striving For Stability
Contributed on Mar 23, 2021
Paul just cannot comprehend the profound folly that would lead men to exchange liberty for bondage.
Back in the early part of the 20th century some architects in Washington began to visualize how the Jefferson Memorial ought to look from across the lake when reflected in the water. They decided it would be best to cut down the fringe of cherry trees that threatened to obscure the view. A group ...read more
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7. Can A Christian Be Cursed
Contributed on Mar 23, 2021
Paul uses the strongest language he ever used in this passage, and we need to ask some questions about it.
The war between the states ended as it did in large measure because of Stonewall Jackson's defeat by his own men. Jackson was fighting brilliantly, and he had the entire Eleventh Union Corps on the run. He then planned his strategy for the final blow. He was within half a mile of the one road ...read more
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8. Enemies Of Ourselves
Contributed on Mar 23, 2021
Paul is absolutely astonished that men can voluntarily decide to be enemies of that which is most precious and beneficial to them.
Saint-Exupery was a French aviator who wrote a number of books that have been an inspiration to many. He was recalled to military service in World War II. On July 31, 1944 he was flying an observation mission in a plane with no guns. He was shot down that day by a young man from Germany who was ...read more
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9. Pleasing To God
Contributed on Mar 23, 2021
It is impossible to please everyone, of course, and so Paul chose it as his master motive to please God.
Probably the most magnificent estate in the Western World is the California ranch of William Randolf Hearst. It is not a mere matter of film like the Ponderosa, but it is a matter of fact. It covers a quarter of a million acres of land, and stretches for 50 miles along the coast of the ocean. ...read more
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10. Revelation From Heaven
Contributed on Mar 23, 2021
Paul must establish that God has selected him just as He did the prophets of the Old Testament. He was to bring a new message to God's people. It was not a message he learned in school, but a message he received direct from God.
The third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, is most famous for being the author of the Declaration of Independence. Many have pronounced it a document inspired from heaven, and there is much reason to believe that it has the providence of God behind it. Jefferson, however, took ...read more
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11. From The Worst To The Best
Contributed on Mar 23, 2021
Paul tells us in verses 13 and 14 that he was always a very religious man, and he was zealous in his commitment to Judaism. Paul becomes a great example of both the danger and value of being religious.
Mary Marrow had just arrived in China as a missionary when the Boxer Rebellion broke out in 1900. The leaders of China blamed the missionaries for the problems of the land, and mobs began to violently persecute the Christians. They were dragged from their homes and forced to stomp on a cross or ...read more
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12. The Timing Of Christmas
Contributed on Mar 23, 2021
What we want to see is that though timing may not be everything to Christmas it is plenty, and a focus on the timing of Christmas events can be quite revealing.
Timing may not be everything, but it is plenty. At the dedication service of the Statue of Liberty a boy was to wave a flag indicating that Senator William Evarts had finished his speech. This way the signal for men high in the head of the statue to let go of a giant French flag, which in turn ...read more
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13. Christmas And The Cross
Contributed on Mar 23, 2021
One of the greatest gifts that comes to us from Christmas is the cross, and all of its benefits for time and eternity. Christmas marks His coming, and the cross marks His conquering.
One of the great turning point days in the history of the Western world was June 18, 1815. Napoleon and Wellington faced each other on the battlefield for the first and last time. The history of Europe, and possibility the whole world, hung in the balance. The weight began to shift in ...read more
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14. The Mother Of Us All
Contributed on Mar 23, 2021
We need both a mother and father for our physical life, but we never consider that we need both also for our spiritual life. If God is our Father, as believers, who then is our mother?
Mark Twain said as he read a mistaken account of his death in the newspaper that the report was highly exaggerated. This statement will hold true for much of what is going to be said from pulpits across the land about motherhood. It will be highly exaggerated because it will be unrealistic about ...read more
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15. Thank God For America
Contributed on Mar 23, 2021
Christians have played a major role in the patriotism of America, and we need to see it and be grateful for it, and then carry on that balance of love for God and love of country.
Governments often fear Christians because they have a loyalty to God which they put above their loyalty to government, and this limits their power to control. Jesus started this by His famous response, "Render onto Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are ...read more
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16. Church And State
Contributed on Mar 23, 2021
What separation does mean is that all true religious faith is a matter of free choice, and so no state power can ever be rightly used to enforce faith or any religious conviction.
Until every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord, the abuse of power will be a major cause of human suffering. When the country of Chad in Africa became independent in 1960 the Christian missionaries were delighted that the first President was a Baptist. Tambolboye was ...read more
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17. Sensitive To The Spirit
Contributed on Mar 23, 2021
If we can be sensitive to the Spirit, and see how our job is a mission and a service for Christ, we could do it with greater joy and love.
George Burns said, "There will always be a battle between the sexes because men and women want different things. Men want women and women want men." This is, of course, what God intended, but like all good things that are carried to excess this too becomes an area of life where the ...read more
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18. Burden Bearing
Contributed on Mar 23, 2021
Paul is primarily concerned with believers, and the bearing of one another's burdens within the community of faith. The total context, however, is much broader.
In South Dakota a man by the name of August had a clothing store he was going to close up. His was not one of those perpetual year around closing sales. He was actually intending to go out of business by July. So he hung a sign in his window which read, The First Of July Is The Last Of August. ...read more
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19. Doing Good
Contributed on Mar 23, 2021
Paul says there are two kinds of seeds we sow in life. There are the seeds of self-indulgence which please the sinful nature, and there are the seeds of doing good to others which please the Spirit.
In the spring of 1897, Thomas Hanna, a 25 year old Baptist pastor fell out of his carriage and landed on his head. When he woke up he was in a state of total amnesia. Dr. Boris Sidis and his assistant Dr. Goodhert had to teach him to talk, to eat, and to go to the bathroom as if he were a child. ...read more
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20. A Blessing To Avoid
Contributed on Mar 23, 2021
Forgiveness is one of the most precious of all blessings. Yet, as blessed as it is to be lifted, it is more blessed never to have fallen.
Doing your best could be the worst thing you could do. That sounds like a contradiction, but it can be explained so that it makes sense as a paradox. A paradox is a statement, which at first sight seems absurd, and contrary to common sense, but which can be explained so as to be well grounded and ...read more
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21. When Something Is Nothing
Contributed on Mar 23, 2021
Man's self-love is both an evil and a good. It is both an essential for a happy life in God's will, and the main cause for most evil that is out of God's will.
Some people, probably most people, and maybe all people have to learn how to be humble the hard way, and that is the humpty dumpty way of having a great fall. This was the case with Max Eastman. A film was being made on the life of Christ, and he happened to meet the well known woman photographer ...read more
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22. Praiseworthy Pride
Contributed on Mar 23, 2021
A legitimate pride is a completely personal matter, and does not depend upon anyone else. It is a matter of personal satisfaction in accomplishing something that is praiseworthy.
One of the most common paradoxes of history is the paradox of succeeding through failure. Jesus failed to turn Israel from her sins, and they crucified Him, but He thereby succeeded in paying the penalty for their sin, and also for the sins of the world. By descending into the valley of failure, ...read more