Good morning. Back to
Galatians. Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then
an heir through God. It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep
standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Christ set us
free; so we do not need to come back under a set of rules and regulations made
by man. It's good to have guidelines; but all too soon guidelines become Commandments
(usually more than 10). Paul says that they were seeking to be justified by
law, and that they had fallen from grace. That does not necessarily mean they
were no longer saved. It means that they were no longer walking by the
loftiness of grace but by their own power. If you have rules and regulations,
then perhaps you can do it all on your own without the grace of God. For we
through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. You
were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion did
not come from Him who calls you. Here is where he says a little leaven leavens
the whole lump of dough. It only takes one who persuades another - who
persuades another… so that a whole congregation becomes filled with error. In
their case it was about circumcision. People were trying to get the Gentiles
who became Christians to also become circumcised. But today it can be about
some other topic such as the manner in which you were water baptized. If they
did not use the "right" word formula when you were water baptized,
then you need to be water baptized all over again. How are we to live the
Christian life? But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire
of the flesh. We don't need a big set of rules and regulations to follow – we
simply need to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. Of course it takes time
for that to happen; and we want it right now! That makes it easy and hard at
the same time to live the Christian life. We need to let go and let God. Father
thank You that the reader walks by the Spirit. He/she walks daily in the grace
of God. He/she is a great example to those around him/her.
Unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God
Good morning. While Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. Jesus was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men. Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. It doesn’t say, but I assume it is still during this time of the Passover. This man came to Jesus by night. Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do the signs that You do unless God is with him. It just said that the people believed in His name because of the signs He was doing; yet it does not say what those signs were. Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. That is why unbelievers cannot tell what is of the kingdom of God and what is not – they’re not born again. Nicodemus doesn’t have a clue. How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he? Unless one is born of water and the Spirit ...
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