Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / November 27 - Galatians 5

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November 27 - Galatians 5 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here. It's Thursday, it's the 27th of
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  November, and it's great to have your company on this very
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  important day. Because as you look down at your
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  feet, you will see your socks. And they may or may not be a
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  matching pair. Because you know as well as I do
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  one of the great mysteries of life is that our socks just
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  disappear. And as it turns out, today is
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  actually the day, more than any other day as was discovered in
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  the UK by a chain of laundromats, that people
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  complain about their socks missing.
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  Don't know why, but today is consistently the day each year
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  that people complain most about missing socks.
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  And if you wanted a hilarious rabbit hole to disappear down,
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  boy, the theories about what happens to socks are fantastic.
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  My favourite being the sock wormhole theory.
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  But that is another story for another day.
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  We are back. We are with Paul as he urges his
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  friends in Galatia not to be trapped in the old ways, but to
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  relax and live into the freedom that they have in Christ.
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  So let us do that with matching socks.
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  Or not. Let's read together Galatians
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  chapter 5. So Christ has truly set us free.
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  Now make sure that you stay free and don't get tied up again in
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  slavery to the law. Listen, I, Paul, tell you this,
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  if you are counting on circumcision to make you right
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  with God, then Christ will be of no benefit to you.
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  I'll say it again, If you were trying to find favour with God
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  by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the
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  whole law of Moses. For if you were trying to make
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  yourself right with God by keeping the law, you have been
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  cut off from Christ. You have fallen away from God's
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  grace. But we who live by the Spirit
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  eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has
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  promised to us. For when we place our faith in
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  Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised of
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  being uncircumcised. What is important is faith
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  expressing itself in love. You were running the race so
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  well. Who has held you back from
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  following the truth? It certainly isn't God, for He
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  is the one who called you to freedom.
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  This false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads
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  through the whole batch of dough.
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  I'm trusting the Lord to keep you from believing false
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  teachings. God will judge that person,
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  whoever he is who has been confusing you.
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  Dear brothers and sisters, if I was still preaching that you
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  must be circumcised, as some say I do, why am I still being
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  persecuted? If I were no longer preaching
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  salvation through the cross of Christ, no one would be
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  offended. I just wish that those
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  troublemakers who want to mutilate you by circumcision
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  would mutilate themselves. For you have been called to live
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  in freedom, my brothers and sisters.
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  But don't use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature.
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  Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.
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  For the whole law can be summed up in this one command.
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  Love your neighbour as yourself, but if you were always biting
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  and devouring one another, watch out.
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  Beware of destroying one another.
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  So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives.
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  Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves.
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  The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite
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  of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires
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  that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires.
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  These two forces are constantly fighting each other.
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  So you are not free to carry out your good intentions.
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  But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under
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  obligation to the law of Moses. When you follow the desires of
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  your sinful nature, the results are very clear.
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  Sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry,
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  sorcery, hostility, quarrelling, jealousy, outbursts of anger,
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  selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness,
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  wild parties, and other sins like these.
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  Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that
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  sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God, but the Holy
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  Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives.
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  Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
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  faithfulness, gentleness and self control.
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  There is no law against these things.
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  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and
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  desires of their sinful nature to the cross and crucified them
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  there. Since we are living by the
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  Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's leading in every part
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  of our lives. Let us not become conceited or
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  provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.
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  Oh Jesus, thank you for this
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  freedom that we have in you. Freedom from the trappings and
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  the slavery to the law. But not that we can be free to
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  follow whatever our depraved human nature tells us to, to
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  seek and pursue, but that we can be free to love.
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  Free from all of that complicated self consciousness
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  that comes with the confusion of our sinful nature and free to
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  just bask in your love and let that transform us, The Holy
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  Spirit. Come grow your fruits in us so
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  that we can be your people of love, building your Kingdom of
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  love, sharing your heart of love because you are love.
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  Our wonderful God, our beautiful Saviour, our mighty King of
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  love. Let that be our anthem.
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  Let that be our way, that way of love that you showed us so
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  perfectly, Jesus. And so we claim your active love
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  on the cross and all that it changes for us, and pray that
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  you continue that work of transformation every day to make
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  us your people of love. And we pray all of this in your
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  loving name, Jesus, Amen.