November 13 - Acts 14:21-28 | Galatians 1:1-3:23

Good morning everyone,

As we begin this morning Paul and Barnabas are finishing up their first missions trip through Galatia. Believing it was important to encourage the new believers they are now revisiting cities where they had already been threatened and physically attacked. More than just following up on baby Christians, Paul and Barnabas were helping the new churches get organized with godly leaders who could help them grow. 

In Galatia Paul was seeing the Jewish Christians having trouble balancing their old religious beliefs with the gospel. They thought that the Gentiles should become Jewish in order to be fully part of the Christian faith. They even went so far as to send false teachers out to speak against Paul saying the gospel he was teaching was incomplete. Redunkulus, I say!

In Galatians we have a letter from Paul to the churches in Galatia addressing the controversy. Paul totally lays out his call from God and evidence that he is just as much an apostle as Peter or any of them. He stand firm with what he was teaching was the truth, anyone preaching something different was an impostor. Paul saying in 1:8, “If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!” Yeah, not someplace I would want to be. You?

There is quite a lot going on here but what struck me is how important it is for baby Christians to get grounded. Each year pastor Greg Laurie holds Harvest Crusades. The venues are typically a sports facility, originating at Angel Stadium in Anaheim. The crusade is basically a free Christian concert where at the end Pastor Greg will spend about a half hour presenting the Gospel to all in attendance and then give an invitation to all who would like to ask Jesus to be their Lord and Savior to come down to the floor and pray the sinners prayer. I have been to several of these witnessing several thousand people with tears in their eyes, making that walk down onto the baseball field in Anaheim, and the floor of Key Arena to give their hearts to Christ. It is quite moving. When unable to personally attend, I watch the live stream on my computer and have been equally moved by the movement of the Holy Spirit. 

Whether in person or via technology, always I am fervently praying for the people in attendance. For their hearts to be softened, for them to hear the truth and make that commitment to Christ. But it is for the minute they leave the stadium and for the rest of their lives that I pray the hardest for. The enemy preys on new believers, he does not want them, or any one to be Christians, but the new believers are so vulnerable, it is easy for them, without proper guidance, to just fall back into their old pattern of life. The enemy exploits this to its fullest as he maliciously sets out to cripple them. He will tell any and every lie to them to achieve his goal including sending false teachers. 2 Peter 2 speaks to this saying, “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.” 

Like Paul, if we know someone, or even if we don’t know them, who has just received the Lord into their heart, reach out to them. Hold their hand if that’s what’s needed to assure that false teachers don’t come and drag them away while filling their heads with words contrary to scripture. At the very least pray for these people asking for God’s strength to cover their’s and our lives. Exodus 15:2 says, “The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.” I speak as much to myself as to you when I say we can make a difference. Step in to guide when you can, but always be praying. Pray often and pray with confidence. Prayer can change lives and circumstances like nothing else can. Amen?

Have  great day and to God be the glory.

God bless you all …..