You may not know this but you are about to learn something new about me, I'm super crazy about the book of James in the New Testament. It's very true I am. What I like about James is he is no nonsense, straight to the point, dead on topic, and the half brother of Jesus who definitely earns his nickname James the Just. But it's not James I want to talk about, even though at some point I would like to write about the book of James, but where I want to focus right now is on Paul and his letter to the Galatians. The letter Paul wrote to the the Galatian Church around A.D. 49 focuses on the believers who accepted the salvation that Christ brought, but got confused on how to go about their new found faith and how the law of Moses related to them now. This was such a big issue that believe it or not it divided the church (see a lot of that still), so Paul being the one who helped start the church there writes the letter of Galatians to settle the dispute.
Now why do I concentrate on this letter so much to blog about it? The answer is related to two aspects of my life. The first dealing with my calling for personal evangelism and the second relating to my own family. Maybe this blog won't relate to you any, but I hope you enjoy it even the same. The scripture I'll be quoting will come from the New Living Translation.
Paul starts off with a short introduction and then cut right to the heart of the matter. Paul speaks in chapter 1 that the message he received did not come from man, but rather from Jesus himself (Gal 1:12). "So the message Paul preached to them that they gladly received came straight from the Lord himself, not from men and that even the apostles accepted the message Paul and his companions Barnabas and Titus preached (Gal. 2:1-3).
A little over 2 years ago I had some family who joined up with a Messianic Jewish church that preached the same message of repentance, Jesus or Yeshua name baptism, and infilling of the Holy Ghost with evidence of speaking in tongues, but they taught a lot from the Old Testament and sang in Hebrew, something that even I found very neat the 6 times I attended. The rabbi was a very sweet man and an excellent speaker who preached the same doctrine I believe. In the service they would blow the rams horn to start the service and end the same as the early Hebrews did in the Old Testament. I was so impressed and pleased with the service and worship that I found nothing wrong with their meeting. But a few months ago I saw my family and spoke with them, I was hurt to see that they had abandened the apostolic doctrine and turned full "extreme" messanic jewesh. Their appearance had changed and they no longer referred to the Messiah as Jesus, but rather only Yeshua and claimed that anyone who referred to Jesus as Messiah (or Christ) would be worshipping a false god who you would know as Zues the Greek god. Now since that time I've done a lot of studying up on the issue and my conclusion is that Yeshua is Hebrew and Jesus is English. They were so wrapped up into this doctrine that they no longer ate meat that came from unclean animals such as pork (which my family raises), they started keeping every Hebrew holiday and only worshipped on Saturnday claiming that if you worship on Sunday you are a pagan.
Now my passion and calling has been for personal evangelism ever since I was 16 years old. I would teach believers how to effectively witness to their friends, co-workers, or even just the Joe on the side of the street in a way that would pass through the intellect of the mind and go straight to their heart. And the way I would do this is by using the 10 commandments mixed with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Believe it or not it was very successful and we seen countless souls won in our church. Paul said himself about the 10 commandments, "Wherefore the law was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith (Gal 3:24 KJV)" (NLT says) "Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith." My family was so concerned with keeping the law of Moses that they had became just like the Galatians. Paul claimed that anyone who told you you must keep the law and follow Christ was a false brother. Chapter 3 of Galatians explains the the law as I quoted was used to lead us to Jesus, showing us that if we broke the commandments we were no longer in relationship with God and that we needed a way back to the Father, that way pointed us to Jesus.
(Gal. 3:2-5 NLT) "Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ's death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross. Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? Have you experienced so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it?"
This letter really opened my eyes and praise God for what he had did for us, making us free in Christ, free from the law. Jesus Christ is the answer, putting your faith in him! Taking on the name of Jesus in baptism, and receiving his Holy Spirit! So as you continue your walk in faith in Christ use the law as a guardian or schoolmaster so that you can continually see your need for Christ in your life and you can in return praise God for his gift... That is definitely what I call the Good News!
(Galatians 5:1) "So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law."
Now why do I concentrate on this letter so much to blog about it? The answer is related to two aspects of my life. The first dealing with my calling for personal evangelism and the second relating to my own family. Maybe this blog won't relate to you any, but I hope you enjoy it even the same. The scripture I'll be quoting will come from the New Living Translation.
Paul starts off with a short introduction and then cut right to the heart of the matter. Paul speaks in chapter 1 that the message he received did not come from man, but rather from Jesus himself (Gal 1:12). "So the message Paul preached to them that they gladly received came straight from the Lord himself, not from men and that even the apostles accepted the message Paul and his companions Barnabas and Titus preached (Gal. 2:1-3).
A little over 2 years ago I had some family who joined up with a Messianic Jewish church that preached the same message of repentance, Jesus or Yeshua name baptism, and infilling of the Holy Ghost with evidence of speaking in tongues, but they taught a lot from the Old Testament and sang in Hebrew, something that even I found very neat the 6 times I attended. The rabbi was a very sweet man and an excellent speaker who preached the same doctrine I believe. In the service they would blow the rams horn to start the service and end the same as the early Hebrews did in the Old Testament. I was so impressed and pleased with the service and worship that I found nothing wrong with their meeting. But a few months ago I saw my family and spoke with them, I was hurt to see that they had abandened the apostolic doctrine and turned full "extreme" messanic jewesh. Their appearance had changed and they no longer referred to the Messiah as Jesus, but rather only Yeshua and claimed that anyone who referred to Jesus as Messiah (or Christ) would be worshipping a false god who you would know as Zues the Greek god. Now since that time I've done a lot of studying up on the issue and my conclusion is that Yeshua is Hebrew and Jesus is English. They were so wrapped up into this doctrine that they no longer ate meat that came from unclean animals such as pork (which my family raises), they started keeping every Hebrew holiday and only worshipped on Saturnday claiming that if you worship on Sunday you are a pagan.
Now my passion and calling has been for personal evangelism ever since I was 16 years old. I would teach believers how to effectively witness to their friends, co-workers, or even just the Joe on the side of the street in a way that would pass through the intellect of the mind and go straight to their heart. And the way I would do this is by using the 10 commandments mixed with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Believe it or not it was very successful and we seen countless souls won in our church. Paul said himself about the 10 commandments, "Wherefore the law was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith (Gal 3:24 KJV)" (NLT says) "Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith." My family was so concerned with keeping the law of Moses that they had became just like the Galatians. Paul claimed that anyone who told you you must keep the law and follow Christ was a false brother. Chapter 3 of Galatians explains the the law as I quoted was used to lead us to Jesus, showing us that if we broke the commandments we were no longer in relationship with God and that we needed a way back to the Father, that way pointed us to Jesus.
(Gal. 3:2-5 NLT) "Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ's death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross. Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? Have you experienced so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it?"
This letter really opened my eyes and praise God for what he had did for us, making us free in Christ, free from the law. Jesus Christ is the answer, putting your faith in him! Taking on the name of Jesus in baptism, and receiving his Holy Spirit! So as you continue your walk in faith in Christ use the law as a guardian or schoolmaster so that you can continually see your need for Christ in your life and you can in return praise God for his gift... That is definitely what I call the Good News!
(Galatians 5:1) "So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law."
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