Welcome to day 83 and happy Sabbath day to you. We are going to dive right into our reading today because there is a lot to read.
8Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
9But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
10Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
These verses, I use to think, abolished the keeping of feast days commanded by the Lord in Leviticus 23. Then when I carefully studied this, you can see that Paul is not referring to the feast of the Lord; but rather to man made "holiday" that were never commanded to keep. Before when we did not know the truth of God, with understanding, we did service to them that were not gods; like Xmas, Easter, Halloween, etc. However, now that Paul has taught the Galatians about God how can they turn again to weak beggarly elements observing these days, months, times, and years? This question was posed to the Galatians who are Gentiles.
16Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? This happens to many people when they tell the truth of God to people who don't want it and despise the truth; they become an enemy.
We Are Not to be Servants of the Flesh
22For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
23But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
30Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
Wanting the things of this world is fleshy and we become children of the bondwoman and not the free woman who the promises were ordained to.
Galatians 5
4Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
If you are still killing animals to forgive your sin or going to a confessional booth to confess your sins to a man; Christ has become none effect to you because you are still under the law of animal sacrifice for sins, and have fallen from grace. Why? Because you lack the faith in Jesus Christ who once for all sacrificed His body for your sins.
14For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. This is all the Ten Commandments were trying to do for people; show us how to love one another. The commandments are love as Paul said so they must be kept because if you have no love, God has no use for you.
Walk After the Flesh & No Kingdom For You
16This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
17For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
18But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
19Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Walking after the flesh breaks the commandments of God and shows no love.
Walk After the Spirit & the Kingdom is Yours
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
If I stop at stop signs, don't speed, obey red lights, don't steal, kill, lust after my neighbors wife, these are not laws to me anymore; they are a way of life. They become laws when they are broken and not desired to be kept.
Galatians 6
1Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
This is a conclusion chapter for Paul telling us to be meek, considering to others, baring the burdens of others as Christ did. Did not Christ bear all our burdens? We should think of our fellow brothers and how to help them help themselves into the kingdom of God. We are not to think we are so big, wise, strong, but to be humble before our God with all gentleness to each other; because the kingdom of God is at hand.
Ephesians 1
1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
2Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul greets the main two again, leaving out the Holy Ghost again. When Paul gets into the kingdom "God the Holy Ghost will not even shake Paul's hand to congratulate him on overcoming.
Paul thanks God for the gift of life through His Son Jesus the Messiah and encourages us to pray in thankfulness to the Father in Jesus name as well (v16-17).
Ephesians 2
1And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
We are to be thanking the Father who has made us alive when were dead in our sins. We were subject to all the rudiments of this world walking as children of disobedience. However as verse four points out, the Lord rich in mercy and love made us alive with the Anointed One, with this grace we have a chance to accept His redemption and live in heavenly places with Jesus Christ (v2-6). Heavenly places refers to thing done in heaven rather than what's being done on earth. We already know Christ is returning to the earth forever.
8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast.
When Adam sinned, we were all doomed to death, but Jesus Christ has given us hope and grace as a free gift, that if we have faith in Him and do His will; we will be saved. We can't say we keep all the commandments so we don't necessarily need Christ. Our works alone won't do it; faith and works is what will save us.
12That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: 13But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
The Gentiles should remember that before Christ they were aliens to the commonwealth of being called children of Israel. They had no part in the promises and that basically means they had no hope in the world. But in Isaiah when the Father said it is a light thing to recover Israel; but He had another task for Jesus to do, recover and bring to Him the Gentiles. Now they are taking part in the blood of Christ.
19Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
Gentiles are just like the children of Israel, fellowcitizens with the saints and the household of God, which was built on the foundation of the apostles AND prophets, with Jesus Christ at the Head!
Ephesians 3
1For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If Paul did not do all this work for the Gentiles to be recovered; he would have had a sore life. If he ran from it as Jonah did; something would have swallowed him up and perhaps not spewed him out as Jonah was blessed to do. Because a calling is without repentance; why do we think the children of Jacob are still the priest of God? God will still beat you up until you do your job he called you to do.
9And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: Wait a second, Jesus Christ created all things that God commanded? That's right, reread Genesis one and two and you'll see it say in chapter 1, God said let there be light, but after chapter two when the action was being carried out, it referred to the Lord God doing it.
Ephesians Chapter Four
3Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
5One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. 7But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Paul's message is that of unity. There is One God, One Lord, faith, and baptism. This also gives us an idea that we should not have all these denominational churches we have, and even more we should not have all the faiths also in Jewish, Christian, and Islam.
17This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
18Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
Vanity of their mind; "I have the biggest house and car" syndrome. It means nothing, we are to be one, walk in oneness of Christ in one body, Chris the head.
25Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
28Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
31Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
These are commandments Paul is telling us and the Ephesians to continue to keep.
Ephesians 5
1Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
5For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Let no man deceive you with vain words, because when one does these things, the wrath of God comes upon them for disobedience. Whore monger sleeps with a lot of people and commits adultery, unclean person eats unclean foods, an idolater worships objects and elements, these break the commandments of God and have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ nor the Fathers. 7Be not ye therefore partakers with them.
20Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
The way Jesus taught us to pray was to give thanks to God in the name of Jesus Christ.
Husbands & Wives
21Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
22Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
23For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
24Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
25Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Men are suppose to love their wives and nourish her just as he nourishes and loves himself.
31For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
32This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
33Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
As it is written in Genesis, the wife, which is the church, will be married to Jesus, and will be submitted to Him and have reverence to Him. Paul says it is a great mystery concerning the marriage union, our marriage should be as the Lord's to His people, His church.
Ephesians 6
1Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. 2Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; 3That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
4And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Paul covers it all, for children, for parents not to be provokers of their children but to teach, nurture, and warn them of the Lord. Employers are suppose to treat their employees fairly, and remember that you have a chief Employer (Master) in heaven. People use to think this referred to slavery, even as in the Americas. Master was someone who hired servants to work. If you work a job to day you are a servant; and if you are in jail or do menial work; it can be considered slavery.
The Armor of God to Stay Ready
Put on the full armor of God because we are not fighting against men as we see. The man we see is tangible; but what spirit is in him is what you are up against.
14Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Many of us have the breastplate of righteousness, we are decent human beings, we treat people fair. We have the shoes of preparation of the gospel of peace; we are peaceful and ready to tell the good news. We have faith as our shield; blocking off things that distort our faith, death in the family, poor, lack of fulfillment, we block it off saying we know there is a great God working on our behalf. We even have the helmet of salvation, we know the God and His name is Jesus, but the one thing we forget and don't strengthen is the sword of the Spirit. Our understanding of the word of God is not where it should be. There is no point going to war with all defensive clothing on; you have to be able to fight.
Remember Jesus, He resisted Satan with the sword of the Spirit. He cut Satan up and Satan left the battle to look for weaker people who could not handle the sword. Eventually the body armor could wear down if you do not fend off your adversaries. You need a little bit of offense to go with your defense. Who is more remembered, Bill Russel or Michael Jordan? The defensive player of the year or the league MVP and scoring leader?
Do not leave your house without your sword!
We need to stay in prayer and watch for the wiles of the devil who will come upon us at any time; be armored and prepared and he will flee away from you.
Philippians 1
2Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul is writing a letter to the Philippians and he does his customary greeting from the Father and from Christ, no acknowledgement of the Holy Ghost.
23For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:
Paul comments on the fact that he is torn between dying and resting waiting on being with Christ or staying with the people, the people needed him and his teaching guidance more. It's funny because that has crossed my on occasions; and it's not a suicidal thought it is a we know goodness is on the other side thus we can't wait to be a part of it (if we be so worthy and bless to take part).
Philippians chapter 2
Paul tells us to take on the humility that Christ has and had and that we should have this mindset moving forward: 5Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
When Jesus was in His Godly state, He did not believe He was taking anything away from the Father by saying He is His equal. I do not think I'm taking anything away from Barack Obama or the Pope of Rome by saying I am their equal. I have respect for them as they have high ranking positions; but at the end of the day we are all men; and part of the man family. They are no better or worse than the homeless man in the street. Jesus is God just like the Father is God; He is not taking anything away by saying they are equal.
8And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Jesus humbled Himself to be made as a man, then humbled Himself to be scrutinized by His own creation, obedient to the death on a cross. And the Father has lifted Him up, exalted Him above all that is.
10That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
We saw Isaiah say this of the Lord; now we are clear, which Lord Isaiah was speaking on; the Lord Jesus. This is why we must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. Our mothers, fathers, cousins, and pastors cannot save us. Only we can save ourselves through faith in Jesus Christ.
Philippians 3 3For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
5Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
6Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
He has some credentials coming from the priest nation, a Hebrew of Hebrews, concerning the law, he was a top-notch Pharisee; so most people do not have anything on Paul concerning the flesh. But Paul says all of that means nothing; absolutely nothing because he did not have Christ. This is comparable to scoring 81 points in a game and losing the game. All your efforts went into the trash. The same thing with the keeping all the laws but not having faith in Jesus Christ as the Jewish people do today; all that effort will go directly into the lake of fire, God's trash.
14I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
We all need to press towards the mark for the prize of eternal life.
Philippians 4
3And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.
4Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.
Rejoice in the Lord always, and rejoice if you are doing what it takes to have your name in the book of life. The Lord told the disciples to rejoice because their names were written in heaven; and not because they had power to cast out demons. We are in this thing to get eternal life.
6Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. I just like this verse; that we are to take everything in prayer and request to be made known to the Lord.
Moving into Colossians Paul does his customary greeting that avoids God the Holy Spirit
Colossians 1
2To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
God Wants Us to Increase in Knowledge of Him
9For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
10That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Jesus the First Born From the Dead
15Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: Jesus has the very same look or image of the invisible God we have never seen or heard His voice; and Jesus is the firstborn of every creature.
16For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
17And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
18And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. Jesus has preeminence over all things; this is why family and friends should not be put ahead of Jesus.
Colossians 2
1For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; 2That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; 3In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
This is a fascinating few verses; as Paul preaches about opening the riches of understanding to the acknowledging of the mystery of God, which is in the Father and the Messiah. In these two being, are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. WOW! If you want any kind of wisdom or knowledge you have to seek God.
8Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
Watch and pray on this matter because many men as Jesus said will come and attempt to spoil you through philosophy. They will through a zeitgeist movie at you or joke to the extent of Bill Maher with no knowledge, that if you read the bible you'd know exactly where they error at. Remember what Jesus constantly responded to the Pharisees; "have you never read the bible," or "you error in the scriptures..."
Do not follow the traditions of men, the Christmas, the Easter bunny, and other rudiments of the world all while not following Christ. It will only spoil you.
16Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
Wrong reading of this verse can lead you to think the feast days are no more; but Paul is warning the Christians keeping the feast not to be lured and discouraged from keeping their dietary commandments, and respected holy days, new moons, and Sabbaths; as they are commandments from the Lord.
Colossians 3
1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
This is not to say that you want to go to heaven; but that you are thinking about God always who is in heaven. If you thinking about Him constantly; you will do the things He commands.
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