Today we begin a journey through the book of Galatians.  Paul writes this letter to the church in Galatia because of concerns about their faith.  They have received the gospel of grace from Paul but have adopted a new “gospel +” where they have to fulfill certain rules and laws to be accepted by God.  Paul wants to quickly help them understand the truth and not veer from the correct path that Jesus has made for them.  Let’s look at a section of chapter 1 together today.  

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Paul is particularly concerned that the church understands the gospel of grace.  We are justified by God through the blood of Jesus and grace alone.  We do not have to fulfill any old or current Jewish laws.  There is nothing we can add to make us made more right in the eyes of God.  Later in the book Paul will address how the grace of God does in fact change us from the inside out but it is grace alone that saves us.  This is a significant theme and is important for us today as well.  If we think we can in any way earn favor with God it sets us down a dangerous path.  We subtly begin to depend upon our own strength instead of God’s.  We trust in ourselves instead of Him.  We strive to obey not because of our great love and gratitude to God but in order to earn His love.  Instead we should rely upon His love and grace and simply be motivated to share that with others because it is so amazing.  I pray that this truth would sink in to us in a fresh way as we journey through this book together.  

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave

Do you ever think about life being a battle? The Bible regularly reminds us that we are in a daily spiritual battle.  I think too often we neglect this thought and treat our spiritual lives casually.  When you know that you are in a battle you make sure that you are prepared.  Let’s look at what Ephesians 6 tells us about being prepared for battle.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,

Paul’s words remind us of our need to be prepared and ready for battle.  We daily can face attack and temptations from spiritual forces.  If you know you are going to be attacked you put on armor and that is what we are reminded to do.  We work to strengthen ourselves so that we are ready.  We also are better prepared when we surround ourselves with others to join the battle.  Other Christians encourage us and help us to stand strong when we are spiritually attacked.  Today and every day remember that you are in a battle and go out prepared.

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave

When I was in college I got into caving or spelunking.  I would often explore different caves in and around the lookout mountain area.  One particular cave I often explored was called Randy’s cave.  It was a very large cave with a very small entrance.  It went in all different directions and I found at least 4 “exits” to the cave at different places.  There were a few places in the cave where you had to be very careful.  None of them were overly difficult but were dangerous if you fell because you were going to fall quite a distance.  I was always very careful in those places especially when leading others.  At the very beginning was a plank that you had to maneuver across to get to the rest of the cave.  It was just a 4X4 places across a deep ravine.  It led to the beauty and fun of the rest of the cave.  We often do things that require being careful because the reward on the other side is great.  Let’s look at what Ephesians 5 says about this in regards to our spiritual lives.

15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul warns us to be careful for a reason.  There is something good beyond the danger.  If we live carefully we can make the most of every opportunity that God gives us to share His love with others.  If we are not careful and live just like everyone else our testimony about God’s love and work in our lives doesn’t ring true.  When we live the way Jesus shows us and calls us to we get more opportunities and we can make the most of them.  The reward on the other side is great.  Be careful and use every opportunity to share God’s unbelievable love with the world.

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave

Can you remember playing copycat as a child?  Sometimes you might copy a parent because you wanted to be just like them.  You might copy a sibling simply to annoy them.  Today’s message is a short one and very crucial.  We are called as beloved children to copycat Jesus.  We are called to live as He lived.  Let’s look at what Ephesians 5 has to say about this together today.

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

A short passage but rich in meaning and importance.  First we are reminded of the great love that God has for us.  This is both an example and a motivation to live for Him.  We are also reminded of the example of Jesus who loved us so much that He gave his life up for us.  We in turn are called to follow that example of love in our lives.  That means putting others before ourselves.  That means at times sacrificing our own desires so that we can love others well.  We live in a me first world but we are called to live you first lives.  Today and everyday seek to “copycat” Jesus.  Put others before yourself and live a life of sharing His love with the world.

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave

What makes a follower of Jesus different? Obviously we have the spirit of God dwelling within us.  We also still have our sin nature leading us to the desires of our flesh.  We have the teachings of Jesus and His word to guide us in how to live and we are called to live lives of love.  Let’s look at what Ephesians 4 has to say to us about living a different life. 

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. 20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

We are reminded to put off our old selves, be made new in the attitude of the mind, and put on the new self.  Let’s look at those three things today.  Putting off our old selves is simple in concept but can be difficult at times.  If you set a goal to eat healthy and then sit in a house filled with junk food most likely you will eventually slip up.  The same is true in our lives when it come to our “old self”.  What and who we surround ourselves with helps us to put off the old self.  This also is true when it comes to the attitude of our minds.  What we fill ourselves with affects our attitude and mindset.  Reading Scripture, listening to worship music, prayer, and fellowship with fellow Christians are all ways we can renew our minds and set them on Jesus.  This attitude adjustment also helps us to put on the new self as way.  We find that more and more we are living by the spirit and less by the flesh.  As humans we will always struggle, but by God’s grace and through His strength there is hope that we can live the lives Jesus calls us to live. 

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave

In professional sports there is a term busts.  It refers to those who have great talent but never seem to live up to their talent.  Sometimes it’s a lack of hard work, other times they just can’t seem to put all that talent together when it counts.  Some collapse under the pressure of expectations.  Whatever the reason they just don’t utilize their gifts the way others expected.  I wonder sometimes if we can be spiritual busts at times.  Not living up to the gifts and calling that God has on our lives.  Paul talks a little bit about this in Ephesians 4.  Let’s look at it together today.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Paul urges us to live a life worthy of our calling.  We all have been given spiritual gifts from God.  We all have a calling to use those gifts to share the love of Christ and build up His church.  When we do that well the church thrives and people are drawn to Jesus.  Other times we get caught up in the busyness of life and neglect our gifts and calling.  Paul also calls us to unity in this passage and reminds us that we are all serving under one faith, one spirit, one God, one Baptism.  A team that is unified with one goal, using their gifts and talent is tough to beat.  I pray that we might all be a team like that.  Working together to share the love of Christ with a world that needs Him. 

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave

Today we continue to march through the book of Ephesians. Paul offers a wonderful prayer to the church in Ephesus here in chapter 3 that is a great prayer for us all.  Let’s look at it together today.

For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Paul prays that we might be strengthened through God’s power. He prays that Christ would dwell in our hearts.  Prayers are offered that we would be rooted and established in love that we might have power together with God’s holy people to grasp just how wide and long and high and deep the love of Christ for us is.  That we might be filled with the full measure of God who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine.  Think about all of that for a moment.  That is an amazing prayer that we should all cling to.  God’s strength, God’s presence, and God’s love which is more than we can even grasp.  The amazing thing about this prayer is that we already have all of these things through Jesus.  Hold on to that truth today. 

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave

Have you ever felt left out or not included? In the early church the Gentile believers felt this way.  Most of the leaders of the Way had their background in Judaism.  This led to the Gentiles being “outsiders” and at times looked down upon.  This new religion which was beginning was really just Judaism where the Messiah had come.  Many Gentiles, led by the missionary work of Paul, began to comer to faith.  Through the work of Jesus on the cross these two groups became one group.  Let’s look at Paul’s words about this from Ephesians 2.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Through the work of Jesus on the cross peace has been made between us and God and also between Jew and Gentile. Our God is a God who makes broken things and broken people whole again.  One day soon we will all worship Him together in unity and in His presence.  Just as God brought us “outsiders” in we should reach out to those who often find themselves in the margins of society.  Loving the least and the lost is what Jesus did and it’s what He calls us to as well.  Today and everyday make it a point to intentionally show love to someone who might be on the outside.  Who knows you just may point them to Jesus

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave

Have you ever really poured yourself into something.  Maybe it was a project for work or a home improvement project.  Maybe you built something yourself.  Perhaps you made a work of art.  When you pour yourself into something like that you feel a sense of pride and ownership in what you have done.  You have made a masterpiece.  In Ephesians 2 we are told that we are God’s masterpiece.  Let’s look at that passage together today. 

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

The Greek language used here in verse 10 which we translate handiwork means the skilled work of a master craftsman.  That’s what you are from God.  You are His masterpiece.  Created by Him to do good works which he has prepared in advance for you to do.  These works do not earn us favor with God but are a result of the work He has already done in our lives found in the previous verses.  God has a plan and a job for you that He specifically designed and created you to do.  You were made with a purpose.  I don’t know about you but to know that I am God’s masterpiece created for a purpose makes me want to get to work fulfilling that purpose.  Go out and be the masterpiece that you are!

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave

Today is Halloween.  A day where people put on costumes and transform into something new.  It is also Reformation Day.  A day when we celebrate Martin Luther nailing 95 theses to the Wittenberg door and starting the Protestant Reformation.  It led to a return of the understanding and significance of God’s amazing grace.  Let’s look at Ephesians 2 where there is a bit of a combination of these two ideas. 

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

Paul reminds us that while we were dead in our sins and living by the flesh, we now put on the spirit and are made alive in Christ.  This is possible not because of our own doing but simply because of the amazing grace of God in our lives which we receive through faith.  We are called to live by the spirit not to earn favor with God but simply out of gratitude for what He has already done and continues to do in our lives.  So today whether you put on a costume or watch the Luther movie (it’s really good) reflect on God’s grace in your life.  Thank Him for that great gift and live your life for Him in response.

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave