In today’s passage, the Apostle Paul goes to great lengths to show that the gospel comes only from God; it’s not a human invention. And to prove his point, Paul shares his testimony. This week, we’ll see how the gospel saved Paul – and saves us – from both irreligion and religion, so that we can be free to please God because He is pleased with us in Christ.
The Apostle Paul writes against false teachers who tried to add to God’s grace through religious performance, a trap that modern day Christians easily fall into. Paul reminds us that God’s pleasure in us is not based on our performance for Him. Instead, God’s pleasure in us is based on His perfect, gracious, loving performance for us.
Neel Roberts, one of our supported global missionaries to Thailand, joined us for worship and preached for us. God gives different gifts to all His children, and we are commanded to use each of them for His glory, but if we fail to harmonize the use those various gifts the result is that we give to the world only a fraction of the gospel.
We admire and honor first responders who save lives for good reason, but James 5:19-20 shows us that we are all called to be lifesavers. Today is all about how the church - Christian community! - is vital to each of our personal salvation and relationship with the Lord.
