GALATIANS 5:1-15
PASTOR’S NOTES
“You ran well. Who hindered you?”
This week’s text goes hand and hand with last week’s message and devotion. “What happened to you,” Paul asked the people of Galatia? At one point the people of Galatia were running so well, “what happened?” Now Paul goes even deeper into his message, a call to repent and run towards Christ!
Paul challenges the people to run the race, to fight the fight of faith. No matter who attempts to distract, run as strong as you can. Believers are challenged to “lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely” in order to “run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
In Galatians 4, Paul is a loud cheerleader in this effort to push the people to sprint towards the finish line. “Dont slow down,” Paul screams!!!! When you look at life as a whole, the entire Christian life is one big race; There is a start and there is an end. The start is salvation and the end is Glory; Everything in-between are the miles we run. Paul tells the people that all the hurdles and distractions become weights, making it harder to run the race of faith. This is not only true to the people of the Bible, but also you and I today. Today, we are people much like the people Paul speaks to in that we also lose speed on our way towards Glory. Most of us start strong, but don’t always end the way we began.
All believers around of the world need Galatians 5. All of us need a coach telling us to continue. We are blessed to have the Spirit sustaining our run and God’s voice guiding us towards Him.
SCRIPTURE TO GO ALONG WITH THE MESSAGE
Read 2 Timothy 4:7-8 on the subject on “running the race” of faith.
HIGHLIGHT IN YOUR BIBLE
Highlight verses 7-10 in chapter 5 of Galatians as these verses will be used in the teaching on Sunday.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
- Looking back on your Christian race, when were you the strongest and why?
- What weights have you added that have hindered your run?
- What did it take to remove those weights?
