The reality of Christ’s resurrection means that God rescues sinners!
RESOURCES: ESV Study Bible; The Resurrection of the Son of God by NT Wright; Reason for God by Tim Keller; Making Sense of God by Tim Keller
People Pleaser or Servant of Christ?
We must put to death the people-pleaser in us and live in freedom as servants of Christ.
RESOURCES: ESV Study Bible; Commentaries by Martin Luther and Todd Wilson; When People Are Big and God is Small by Ed Welch
The One True Gospel
Paul is astonished that the Galatians have deserted the Gospel by believing a distorted gospel and therefore calls them back to the one true Gospel.
RESOURCES: ESV Study Bible; Commentaries on Galatians by Martin Luther, John Calvin, Philip Graham Ryken, David Platt/Tony Merida, Tom Schreiner, and Todd Wilson
The Messenger, the Mess, and the Message of Galatians
The Apostle Paul writes this letter to the Galatian churches about the mess they’re in with a message of grace and peace.
RESOURCES: ESV Study Bible; Commentaries by Luther, Calvin, Schreiner, Ryken, Wilson, and Vaughan.
Family Discipleship
God deserves and demands our whole hearted devotion as our Creator, Redeemer, and King. Our love and devotion to him is far too weak and shallow, but he gives forgiveness, transformation, and compels us to change through the work of his Son and the power of his Spirit. As we’re changes by his grace, we’re empowered then to order our homes in such a way as to train our families to be devoted to the Lord and his Word.
RESOURCES: ESV Study Bible; Deuteronomy commentaries by Christopher Wright, John Calvin; Family Shepherds by Voddie Baucham; Family Worship by Donald Whitney
Children & Parents: Raising Godly Children in Our Homes
God uses the role of parents to provide both discipline and discipleship to their children, in order that their children may grow in Christ-likeness, obtaining the promise of salvation.
RESOURCES: ESV Study Bible, Family Shepherds - Voddie Baucham, Family Driven Faith - Voddie Baucham, A Quest for Godliness - J.I. Packer
Marriage: A Living Parable of the Gospel
God created marriage between a wife and husband to reveal something to us of the union that we as the church share with Jesus Christ. As a husband and wife share all that they are and all that they have with one another, Jesus does the same with his bride—the church. Wives and husbands also illustrate the Gospel in the way that they fulfill their perspective roles called for here in Ephesians 5:22-33
RESOURCES: ESV Study Bible; Ephesians commentaries by Calvin, Merida, and Snodgrass; Rejoicing in Christ by Michael Reeves; The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy & Cathy Keller; Family Shepherds by Voddie Baucham; Sermons on Ephesians 5:22-33 by Martyn Lloyd-Jones
The Family
God creates the family, therefore he is the one that gets to define it and determine how it functions. He also is the one who determines the reason the family exists in the first place. In Genesis 1 and 2, we see that God gives the gift of the family unit because man is humanity in the image of God. Part of what it means to image God is that we’re made for relationships. Another part of what it means to image God is that we’re given the vocation of ruling over God’s creation on his behalf. Ultimately, God sends our Savior through the means of humanity obeying this creation mandate, and when he comes, he ultimately fulfills it by making God’s kingdom manifest on the earth.
RESOURCES: ESV Study Bible; Bound For Glory by RC Sproul Jr; God and Sex by Matt Chandler; Created and Creating by William Edgar
Prayer: Lead Us Not...
Jesus teaches us to pray to our Father and Shepherd that we would not be overcome by and succumb to temptation. Instead, we’re called to run to the Father as our Deliverer, as he is the only one who can deliver us and has delivered us in the person and work of Jesus. Now, as those in Christ, we’re called to depend on God daily for strength to overcome sin in our lives.
RESOURCES: ESV Study Bible; Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin; A Letter on Prayer by Tertullian; Pray Like This by Philip Graham Ryken;
Prayer: The Forgiven, Forgive
Jesus teaches us to pray to our heavenly Father for the forgiveness of our debts. In the Gospel, we can rest assured that our forgiveness is certain, and that God will also empower us to forgive others their debts against us.
RESOURCES: The Prayer of Jesus, Hank Hannegraaff; On Earth as it is in Heaven, Warren Weirsbe; Praying the Lord's Prayer, JI Packer; Romans 14:23 Article, John Piper; Lord's Prayer Sermons, Tim Keller
