Tag: Paul

We're all familiar with the idiom, "the ball is in your court". It says that you have done and said all you can, now it's up to the other person to make a decision. As we close this letter to the Galations, that's where Paul is. He has laid out…

So my wife and I have been watching 'The Chosen', which just finished season 3. One of the characters is Shmuel, a Pharisee stationed in Capernaum. He is antagonistic toward Jesus from the very beginning. He is obviously one of the bad guys. He's a guy you want to dislike.…

How did you relate to your parents during your childhood? I grew up in a very strict home governed by lot of rules. Those rules were enforced with a rod. As such, my relationship with my parents was governed by my willingness and ability to obey the rules. Things changed…

Freedom is a curious thing. We value it here in the U.S. In so many other countries, freedom is not valued as strongly. There have been many cases in which oppressed people have been given their freedom but then didn't know what to do with it. They wanted to go…

The idea of masters and servants is universally understood. Such relationships still exist in modern society. The employee is servant to the employer (master). Kids are subservient to their parents (their masters). The relationship even exists in the spiritual realm. Everyone – and I mean EVERYONE – is a servant…

Contracts are a normal part of life. We all enter into them. Your mortgage or lease agreement is a contract. You may have signed a contract when you bought your cell phone or signed up for high speed internet. Some of us were even offered employment contracts when we were…

A couple of years ago I made the decision to stop using Facebook. I decided I would stop exposing my mind to the influences of a platform that was purposely and openly attacking nearly every principle I believe in. As such, I locked down my account and made it private. I…

Our last study in Gal. 2 focused on Paul's visit to Jerusalem after 14 years of working solo in Syria and along the SE Mediterranean cost. We didn't get into the details of that visit; we will today. We did talk about Paul having to present himself to the Jerusalem…

We Christians are a strange lot. We are supposed to be very different than the world. In many respects we are, but in others, we aren't. For example, consider how we think of people with whom we disagree. It's natural for us to consider them the opposition; almost the enemy…

Last week's study served as an introduction to the book of Galatians. As a reminder, the book is actually a letter written by Paul to the churches in Galatia. It was written to counter the false doctrines that had crept into Galatia by way of Jews who were teaching Gentile…