Author Archive for: meiling

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Galatians 3:6-14.  Let’s go!

Galatians 3:6-14 (NIV)
6  Consider Abraham: “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
7  Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.
8  The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”
9  So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

On verses 6-14:  When I was a kid growing up in church, my teachers would get us to sing a song called “Father Abraham”.  It went like this:

Father Abraham had many sons
Many sons had Father Abraham
I am one of them, and so are you
So let’s just praise the Lord

There were these funny actions that accompanied the song.

Now why would a Chinese boy growing up in Vancouver be calling an old middle eastern man from ancient Mesopotamia, whom he has never met, his father?

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Galatians 3:1-5.  Let’s go!

Galatians 3:1-5 (NIV)
1  You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.
2  I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?
3  Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?
4  Have you suffered so much for nothing–if it really was for nothing?
5  Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?

What is the most common false teaching that billions of people believe about God and heaven?  It’s believing that through your own goodness or effort you can go to heaven or reach God.  That’s what Paul was warning the Galatians against in his letter called “Galatians”.

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Galatians 2:1-10.  Let’s go!

Galatians 2:1-2 (NIV)
1  Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also.
2  I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did this privately to those who seemed to be leaders, for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain.
 
On verses 1-2:  Paul’s goal is to show the Christians in Galatia that they are heading in the wrong direction by thinking that they need to be circumcised in order to be saved.  To help them see the error of their ways, Paul uses an interesting and commendable approach: he shares a story.  In fact, it’s his own story, the story of how years before he went through a similar struggle.  Paul shares about a time when he also wondered whether he was preaching the right thing by telling Gentile Christians that they didn’t need to be circumcised in accordance with the law of Moses.  So Paul goes to Jerusalem, along with his ministry teammates Barnabas and Titus, to ask for advice from leaders in Jerusalem. 

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Galatians 1:13-24.  Let’s go!

Galatians 1:13-16 (NIV)
13  For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it.
14  I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
15  But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased
16  to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles…

On verses 13-16a:  Here in verses 13-24 Paul shares his experience of how he went from trying to destroy the church of God and one of the most zealous Pharisees to a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  As Paul writes, everything changed “when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles” (v15-16).  Notice those words: “who set me apart from birth and called me” (v15).  Long before Paul became passionate about persecuting the church or advancing in Judaism, God had a call on Paul’s life and had set him apart from birth.