Pastor Dan kicked off our workout this week with a singing of "He Will Hold Me Fast" (hymnal #388), after which he led us in a devotional through Galatians 2.

Propositions from Galatians 2:

Believers are justified by faith. This was something Paul was willing to stand up for - even to Peter, the leader of the apostles. We should imitate Paul's resolve as believers today. We must contend for the truth of the gospel, especially the doctrine of justification by faith alone, not by works. Simply put, believers are justified by faith in Christ alone, and that is something worth fighting for.
- Paul was courageous to defend the gospel. He recognized the truth of the gospel was more important than Peter's primacy, his experience, and reputation; after all, Peter had been with Jesus from the beginning of His ministry. In the face of these things, Paul was not intimidated, and he still stood for the truth of the gospel. Paul's opposition of Peter was not done with an attitude of anti-authoritarianism, but Paul ultimately submitted to God's authority and defended the truth of the gospel accordingly.
Christians must live in a consistent manner with what they profess to believe. Verse 14 stood out to Peter Chen. If we live like the world, then how can we genuinely lead our friends and loved ones to faith in the gospel?
- Christians must be straightforward, not hypocritical.
- What are some practical things we can do to live consistently?
  - Fellowship with others
    - When people are not in fellowship, they drift. However, if we link arms together, strengthen one another, and talk to one another, we will walk more consistently.
    - We identify ourselves through our connections to one another. We are made to live in a vibrant community that displays God's glory.
  - Confess our sins
    - Be honest about our own sins. Identify and confess them to God and to each other in loving and honest fellowship.
      - In Romans 14, Paul teaches that we commonly concentrate on somebody else's sanctification and yet neglect our own. Instead, we should be humble to identify our own sins first.
    - We should confess our sins to one another and forgive one another. It takes humility and work to build a level of comfort with one another in order to do this. It's not easy and can even be a bit scary! However, we can trust in God's design for the church to build itself up in love.
  - Witness to others
    - Communicate with others that there are certain things that we do not accept or tolerate as Christians, such as gossip, casual foul language, etc.
    - Our lives on earth are to be lived for God (Galatians 2:20)
Christians are not required to follow the OT law to the letter in order to have a right relationship with God.
- How should we understand how to worship God today, who is the unchanging God of both the Old Testament (OT) and the New Testament (NT)? Are we to live in obedience to the laws prescribed in the OT?
  - The Law was given to the Jews in their time in history. Keeping the real, literal Law as given to the Jews in the OT is not required for the Christian today.
  - There are clear parts of the OT Law that still timelessly apply to all believers, such asparts of the Ten Commandments. In these instances, there are intents and commands that overlap with what is revealed in the NT. The NT reveals which parts of the OT Law deal with spiritual convictions, and which parts deal with literally abstaining from physical things, like worldly and fleshly indulgences.
  - In Romans 14, Paul deals with the idea of the strong in the faith vs. the weak in the faith. The "strong" understood the implications of justification by faith, recognizing that observance of the OT Law is no longer the only means by which the NT believer can please God. The "weak" still held to aspects of their Jewish upbringing in living in accordance to the OT Law.
    - In the end, we are to live with a clear conscience before the Lord in all that we observe. We should judge or show contempt toward others for their convictions; rather, we should accept one another and love one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Righteousness comes through faith in Christ, not in obedience to the Law.
- If righteousness does come through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.
- Our righteousness is not a result of our obedience to the Law, but through our faith in Christ. Righteousness is imputed to our account by faith, not earned by works.
- As Christians, we love Christ. If our love for Him is true, then we will obey Him. As such, we are saved unto good works as we obey Christ out of love.

CHILDREN'S VERSES

We learned about a new acronym ("STAG") to help us lead our children through an understanding of Noah and the Flood.

See
- What did God see on the earth?
- God saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth… He was grieved in His heart.
Tell
- What did God tell Noah?
- Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood…
Annihilation
- It rained forty days and forty nights.
- [What happened to all the people who weren't in the ark?]
- They were killed…
Go Out
- After a year God called Noah to go out from the ark, him and his family and the animals.

Question: how do we explain that Noah walked with God?
- Noah wasn't perfect, just like Abram, Isaac, and Jacob weren't perfect either. These men were not holy in and of themselves, but they believed God, and that was credited to them as righteousness.
- Noah did not live a perfectly righteous life, but he trusted God and kept His word in the best way he knew how.

MEMORY VERSES

We ended our time with a quick review of next week’s passage (Matthew 6:22-29).

God is the one who takes care of both the lilies and the birds. When we realize this, how much more can we trust that He take care of us? We don't need to worry; God always takes care of His own. We can seek His kingdom and righteousness first, knowing that He takes care of all things.

Pastor Dan started us off with a devotion through Galatians 1.

The gospel must be guarded and protected. This chapter (letter) helps puts into perspective how important the gospel is. Anything that takes away from the truth of the gospel is a false gospel. If we buckle on the foundation of the gospel, then we’ve lost it!
The gospel is powerful to save. It even saved a man like Paul, who greatly persecuted the church and killed many in the faith.
- Sometimes we may think that some people are impossible to save, but we should not think this way! If we do, we discredit the saving power of the gospel.

MEMORY VERSES

This week we recited Matthew 5:27-32 together and entered into a time of discussion through this passage.

In verse 32, why does Jesus say that only the woman being divorced commits adultery?
- Jesus already explained in verse 5:28 that the man has already committed adultery in his heart.
- What the Pharisees were teaching and practicing was that a man could divorce anyone he wanted for any reason (even for burning his breakfast!); he just had to follow the formalities of the law given by Moses (Deuteronomy 24).
- In those days, adulterers were guilty of capital punishment (i.e. stoning), but under Roman law, they were not freely able to execute people as they would if they were exclusively under Jewish law.
  - As a result, the culture became desensitized to the seriousness of the sin of adultery. This encouraged the Pharisees to freely divorce their wives for the purpose of marrying other women they desired instead.
  - But Jesus explains that the one who makes his wife commit adultery is then to be considered the worse of the two parties, as he not only already committed adultery, but also is the cause of sin committed among all of the people involved.
- Futhermore, Jesus teaches that there is absolutely no cause for divorce except for the the reason of unchastity (immorality). So except for this one reason, divorce is never an option for a Christian.
  - This should give us a resolve to always seek to work out issues that arise within our marriages!
It is essential to create hedges to help guard our hearts, our purity, and our marriages.
- The right eye and hand were considered the dominant of their pairs of body parts, and thus considered the most valuable.
- The issue of and struggle against purity doesn’t begin when something lewd flashes before our eyes – it begins in our minds!
- Setting hedges is critical and practical to preclude and protect ourselves from the potential for adultery.
  - However, setting hedges (physical, situational, etc.) is not adequate to protect ourselves from sin. What God wants for us is to have pure hearts.
  - Fill your mind with God’s truth and His holiness. This sanctifies our minds and leaves no room for straying, sinful thoughts.
It is interesting that Jesus brings up the matter of hell in this passage. Why does He bring it up?
- Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount by speaking to His disciples, but ends up preaching to large crowds.
- Ultimately, the point Jesus is driving across in all of the points in His sermon is that everyone needs repentance and faith in order to escape hell and punishment for sins.

Next week’s passage for memorization is Matthew 5:33-42.

MINISTRY FORUM

Rotation for watching children during Homegroups
- Organizing a structured, separate activity for the children during the last homegroup was a success and an encouragement for the body. Therefore, we will continue breaking up into separate groups for children and adults during homegroups. A volunteer rotation was set up for leading and monitoring the children during the large group discussions.

Men's Workout #12 - July 22nd

Men's Workout #6 - June 10th