Worship for Today: We are free in Jesus Christ!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 5:24-26,

"Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature
with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us
keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking
and envying each other."

There are a couple of thoughts that strike me about this passage. The
first is that which marks us as a "new creation", 2 Corinthians 5:17.
Paul says that those of us who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith
have put to death, "crucified", the sinful nature. By that I assume
Paul is saying that the sinful nature no longer has mastery over us.
We need not serve sin any longer, we have been freed from our slavery
to our sin nature to serve another.

My other thought is that in our freedom to serve Jesus Christ, our
freedom is really freedom. Paul encourages us to "keep in step with
the Spirit". The obvious reason we are encouraged to do so is that our
freedom includes the option to not do so. Here is an amazing thing...
we are really free to express ourselves! We are not robots, we are not
automatically programmed to obey. Obedience is a choice. Without the
choice to obey God, we would not have a context within which we could
truly worship him. True worship and true love can only be expressed in
the context of freedom of choice to do so.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: The fruit of the Spirit manifests itself in our lives!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 5:22-23a,

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."

The things in life that bring us true happiness, a sense of well-being
and enjoyment are found in the Lord. You just can't go to Wal Mart and
find the things of the Lord sitting on the shelf. The world is full of
self-help seminars, classes, therapy sessions, pharmaceuticals,
commercials and quick-fix schemes promising to bring what only the
Lord can.

Take another look at the kinds of things the Holy Spirit brings into
our lives when we embrace Jesus Christ in faith: love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control... what would one give to have just a few of these
enriching their lives? And yet, all is ours as believers! No cost!

If we fail to experience these things in our lives, we need to be
drawing near to God. We cannot manufacture these things. We cannot
educate ourselves about them, take classes or seminars on how to get
them! They are a fruit of the presence of God in our lives. They
manifest themselves in our lives when we draw near God because these
are the very characteristics of the Lord himself. James 4:8a tells us,
"Come near to God and he will come near to you."

How wonderful the very nature of God becomes manifest in our lives, as
his creatures, when we spend time with him!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: The Holy Spirit dwells within us!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 4:6,

"Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts,
the Spirit who calls out, 'Abba, Father.'"

Paul tells us in this chapter that God sent his Son to redeem us "that
we might receive the full rights as sons." Galatians 4:5. Following
this, Paul says God sends the "Spirit of his Son" into our hearts!
Here is something both mystical and astonishing: when we embrace Jesus
Christ in faith, God sends the Holy Spirit to dwell within us! Paul
writes to Timothy and tells him to protect the "sound teaching", to
guard the "good deposit" with the help of the Holy Spirit, "who lives
in us." 2 Timothy 1:13-14. God's Holy Spirit lives right within us! In
1 Corinthians 3:16 Paul says, "Don't you know that you yourselves are
God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?"

This is the reality of becoming a child of God. So much so that Paul
says, "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not
belong to Christ." Romans 8:9. There Paul says that because the Spirit
of Christ lives in us we are controlled not by the sinful nature but
by the Spirit of Christ. Paul tells us that when we believed, we "were
included in Christ" and marked in him with a seal, "the promised Holy
Spirit". There Paul tells us that the indwelling Holy Spirit "is a
deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who
are God's possession-- to the praise of his glory." Ephesians 1:13-14.

How remarkable that God has chosen to dwell right within us through
the Holy Spirit! No wonder Paul claims we are a "new creation"! 2
Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God's work has a plan to it.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 2:7-8,

"They saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the
gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the Jews. For God,
who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews,
was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles."

Here Paul tells of the assignment of tasks God had provided Peter and
Paul. Paul was to take the gospel message to the Gentiles and Peter
was to take it to the Jews. This speaks to me of an orderly plan. The
manner in which God carries out his agenda in the world is so far over
my head, the circuit breakers start to pop when I consider it. What I
do see of God and how he accomplishes what he desires fascinates me.
Here we see a plan with a distribution of duties.

God gives certain assignments to his hand-picked people. In 1
Corinthians 12:7-11 we read, "Now to each one the manifestation of the
Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the
Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by
means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to
another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous
powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between
spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to
still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of
one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he
determines." In this passage we learn that we all have our
assignments. These all work together to accomplish just what it is
that our Lord desires.

I find the intentional outworking of our God as demonstrated in his
planning, his assignments and his enabling a fascinating thing to see
worked out.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God cannot be mocked.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 6:7-10,

"Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will
reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the
Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good,
for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people,
especially to those who belong to the family of believers."

God cannot be mocked. The book of Proverbs repeatedly tells us to
maintain a healthy fear of the Lord. There we are told that the
well-spring of wisdom is found in the fear of the Lord. "The fear of
the Lord is the beginning of knowledge", Proverbs 1:7. In his first
letter, Peter tells us to live our lives here in reverent fear,
because God "judges each man's work impartially", 1 Peter 1:17. In the
next chapter Peter tells us to live as servants of God and to "fear
God". 1 Peter 2:16-17. The writer of Hebrews tells us, "'The Lord will
judge his people.' It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of
the living God." Hebrews 10:30-31.

While I celebrate the wonderful love of God as his child and look
forward with great anticipation to the place I have in his family, I
never want to forget that God cannot be mocked. I will reap what I sow
and I will have to give an account of myself to my heavenly Father, a
father who is holy and righteous! God is not to be meddled with, he is
to be feared.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: Love in the family of God.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 6:1-2,

"Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should
restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.
Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law
of Christ."

As Paul has made his point that believers are no longer to be under
the law, the issue of the behavior of the believer, morality and
spiritual pursuit has had to be addressed. Paul does so and speaks of
the activity of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer in chapter
five.

Beyond this, Paul here speaks of the contingency of a believer getting
caught up in sin. He says that we are to "Carry each other's burdens,
and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." The law of Christ
is that we love one another. Here, in a beautiful expression of
responsibility toward other believers, we are told to carry one
another when sin takes place within the camp. We are to encourage, to
love, to confront, and to be there to help when a brother or sister is
caught up in sin. Where all too often a judgmental resentment of those
who struggle in some weak area is expressed (along with the
condemnation and gossip), love and a concern for a struggling family
member that promps loving action ought to prevail. How wonderful it is
when Paul's teaching is lived out.

As I think about what is expressed here, it brings to my mind the
wonderful beauty of what it means to be a member of the family of God.
We are asked to carry one another in our weaknesses!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: Jesus Christ delivers us from this present evil age!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 1:3-5,

"Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age,
according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever
and ever. Amen."

In Paul's greetings to the churches of Galatia, he declares that Jesus
Christ gave himself for our sins. At the last supper Jesus passed a
cup of wine for all of his disciples to partake of and said, "Drink
from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured
out for many for the forgiveness of sins." Matthew 26:27b-28. Jesus
Christ gave his life as a payment for all of my sin. All of the sins I
would ever commit. When Peter first took the gospel message to the
Gentiles, he told them, "All the prophets testify about him that
everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his
name." Acts 10:43. The payment of sins (and Jesus died for all the
sins of all mankind - a full and complete atonement) is applied to our
account with God, Peter tells us, when we believe in him, when we
trust in him. To me this is an amazing thing.

If that were not enough, the way Paul puts it in Galatians is that
when Jesus gave himself for our sins, he gave himself to rescue us
from "the present evil age". There is more to the sacrificial death of
Jesus Christ than judicial satisfaction (if that were not enough!) he
also rescues us from this world and its grip on us. Where we used to
be enslaved to sin, where we used to be held in the grip of "the god
of this age", 2 Corinthians 4:4, he rescued us from "the present evil
age".

Paul brings this out clearly in his letter to Titus, "For the grace of
God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to
say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live
self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we
wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and
Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all
wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own,
eager to do what is good." Titus 2:11-14.

How wonderful is this?!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God makes a new creation of us!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 6:15,

"Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts
is a new creation."

Paul tells the Galatian churches that circumcision, representing the
law, is a useless pursuit. Law-keeping counts for nothing. What does
count is a "new creation". In 2 Corinthians 5:17-19a Paul says, "If
anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new
has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through
Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was
reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins
against them."

No one will participate in the resurrection of life without becoming a
new creation. We are not going to make it as the sinful, fallen and
depraved folks we were when we came into the world. Even if we try to
improve on our depravity by efforts at law-keeping. Jesus told
Nicodemus that "you must be born again".

When we hear the message of the gospel and if we receive it in faith,
God makes a new creation of us. The Holy Spirit takes up residence
within us and begins a transforming process, changing us from the
inside out. No amount of law-keeping can bring this about. It is a
matter of faith in the gospel message of Jesus Christ. This is why
Paul makes such a strong statement about the gospel in Romans 1:16-17,
"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for
the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for
the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a
righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is
written: 'The righteous will live by faith.'"

God makes a new creation out of us!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: Jesus Christ frees us!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 5:1,

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and
do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

Paul tells the Galatian believers that Jesus Christ has set us free.
Free from what? The Galatians had begun to turn to law-keeping as a
way of keeping themselves acceptable to God. They had turned from the
freedom Jesus Christ provides and were seeking to enslave themselves
with the law.

Freedom is a wonderful thing. When we turn to Jesus Christ, embrace
him in faith, the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts. The Holy Spirit
fills our hearts with new desires and a longing for our God. Where we
had no freedom from sin and no freedom to live lives that are pleasing
to God, Jesus Christ has brought that to us. In Romans 6:17-18 we
read, "But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin,
you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were
entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to
righteousness." In that same chapter, in verses 20-23 we read, "When
you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of
righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things
you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you
have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit
you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the
wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord."

Paul makes a remarkable statement in Romans 8:1-4. There he says,
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set
me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless
to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending
his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so
he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous
requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live
according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit."

Jesus Christ has provided us freedom! We are free from the law and we
are free from the control of sin!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: Jesus Christ brings joy!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 4:8-10,15a,

"Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by
nature are not gods. But now that you know God—or rather are known by
God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable
principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are
observing special days and months and seasons and years!... What has
happened to all your joy?"

Paul's indictment against the Galatian believers was they were turning
from the faith that brought them into a relationship with God back to
the religious principles they clung to before they came to know God
through the gospel message Paul preached. They were placing themselves
in slavery under "those who by nature are not gods." and "weak and
miserable principles".

What captures my eye this morning is that as the Galatians began to
turn from the true faith, they began to loose their joy! Paul asks
them, "What has happened to all your joy?" This points to the fact
that having a right relationship with God brings great joy!

Joy is a word that has somehow lost popular circulation in our day,
except at Christmas time. Possibly this is a reflection of the pull of
our society away from the things of God these days. Joy is a natural
outflow of our relationship with God. For those of us who know God, we
are convinced of the wonders headed our way in the resurrection! Paul
tells us the kingdom of God is not a matter of splitting hairs over
every doctrinal issue that can develop within the church, "the kingdom
of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness,
peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" Romans 14:17. Righteousness, peace
and joy! In the next chapter Paul tells us joy is a fruit of the Holy
Spirit, Galatians 5:22. Because of this we should find ourselves
always joyful, 1 Thessalonians 5:16. We know that God's angels live in
the presence of the Lord and therefore are described as those who are
in "joyful assembly", Hebrews 12:22.

The one passage that sticks out in my mind relative to the joy that is
ours in Jesus Christ is what Peter has to say about believers, 1 Peter
1:8-9, "Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though
you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an
inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your
faith, the salvation of your souls." Here is the appointed disposition
of those who are eagerly awaiting the return of our wonderful Lord
from heaven: joy!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: We will have a standing of righteousness!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 5:5,

"By faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for
which we hope."

As Paul makes his point that attempts to be justified by keeping the
law are antithetical to being justified by faith, he observes that
those who are of faith await the "righteousness for which we hope." As
I think of this righteousness, I think of a whole new paradigm in our
relationship with God. This will be fulfilled in its entirety in the
resurrection, which is why Paul calls it that "for which we hope."

Before time began God had determined that, after he created mankind
with a free will and knowing what would eventually take place in the
Garden of Eden with the fall of man, he would redeem man though Jesus
Christ. This redemption brings an eternity we will live with God
himself, in his very presence. From that perspective of before time
began, God decided that it would be within the nature of that
redemption that we would live with him, not as "black sheep" of the
family, those family members with a sordid past, but that we would
have a standing of righteousness before him.

As Paul puts it in Ephesians 1:4, "He chose us in him before the
creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight." Imagine
that! Our standing before our holy and righteous God will be one of
holiness and blamelessness! No whispering behind closed doors of what
so-and-so did during his earthly life. No second-rate citizenship or
second-rate family member-hood for us in the resurrection! Indeed,
when we show in the resurrection it will be as Jude puts it in his
beautiful doxology, Jude 24, "To him who is able to keep you from
falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault
and with great joy..." Without fault! We will have the very
righteousness of Jesus Christ himself!

In our world things don't work this way. Forgiveness can be a
struggle, and where forgiveness has been extended, there often remains
a reservation about the culprit. The stain of wrong doing may be paid
for, forgiven or dealt with in some way, but removing that "black
mark" is another matter. Not for us in the kingdom of heaven! We will
enjoy a righteousness - a right standing before our God and everyone
else!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: We are co-heirs with Jesus Christ!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 4:4-7,

"When the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born
under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full
rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son
into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, 'Abba, Father.' So you are
no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made
you also an heir."

Something that has become a source of excitement to consider is the
nature of the relationship we, as believers in Jesus Christ, have with
God. Jesus came to redeem sinners for himself, bringing the kingdom of
God to planet earth. Because he paid the penalty for our sins we no
longer face judgment in the lake of fire, but become his as we trust
in him. As we become his, we enter into the kingdom, not as the
subjects of a kingdom, or merely his friends, we become family!
Imagine that!

As a member of a family there are those things that are enjoyed that
others cannot lay claim to. Here Paul mentions the "full rights as
sons." Paul also tells us that since we are sons, we have an
inheritance as heirs. We read in Romans 8:16-17, "The Spirit himself
testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are
children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ." We
all will share in what is Jesus Christ's!

In the resurrection I am not going to need a healthy 401K to retire! I
won't need a good health plan! I will be sharing in the inheritance of
Jesus Christ as his co-heir! Astounding, isn't it?

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God's salvation - I rest in him!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 3:2-3,

"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? Are you
so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to
attain your goal by human effort?"

The question Paul confronted the Galatian churches with pointed to a
contradiction the Galatians were pursuing. As today, there were folks
in the early church who were unable to rest in the finished work of
Jesus Christ and felt they had do things, beyond their faith, to
maintain God's love and acceptance of them. At that time folks were
teaching these new churches that even though salvation is by faith,
the members of these new churches needed to be maintaining God's
acceptance of them by keeping the law. Gentile converts needed to be
circumcised according to the Mosaic law, and all had to keep the law
in order to maintain their relationship with God.

In this letter Paul points out that as you are born again through
faith, you continue in that faith. Jesus Christ did all the work and
there is nothing we need do to maintain God's love and acceptance of
us. Paul will say in other places that our new life in Jesus Christ
will bring about lifestyle changes, as in Galatians 5:16-26 (the acts
of the sinful nature versus the fruit of the Holy Spirit). But these
changes take place because we become a "new creation" in him, 2
Corinthians 5:17, not because we are required to earn or maintain
God's love and acceptance by doing things.

Today there are all kinds of things folks tell us we need to do in
order to maintain God's love and acceptance of us as believers. The
law of Moses may be exchanged for newer things (and often it is the
law of Moses that some still say is required) but it is the same old
issue. Faith is not enough for some folks to feel comfortable with
God's love and acceptance of them so they engage in all sorts of
spiritual disciplines, requirements, rules and regulations. They
insist on it for themselves and everyone else.

Not for me. The writer of Hebrews tells me I have entered into his
rest. When I placed my faith in Jesus Christ, I believed that it was
what he did on the cross that makes me acceptable to God. There is
nothing I can do to add to it. It was a perfect work and entirely
effective to bring about my eternal acceptance of God and as such was
God's manifestation of his great love for me - just as I am.

"There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone
who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did
from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so
that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience."
Hebrews 4:9-11. That disobedience was displacing faith for works.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: Salvation is by faith!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 3:26-29,

"You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you
who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for
you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are
Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."

Paul reminds us that when Abraham believed God it was credited to him
as righteousness, verse 6. There he quotes Genesis 15:6. He goes on to
say that this is the means by which we are saved: faith in God,
trusting in the gospel message of the punishment Jesus took on our
behalf to secure our salvation from God's judgment of our sins. The
battle Paul had in that day was the conviction the Jews held that a
right standing with God could only come about by keeping the law. It
wasn't just the Jews but also the Gentile converts to Judaism Paul had
to reason with. Paul points out that it was 430 years before the law
was given through Moses that Abraham received the promise of God due
to his faith. Faith has always been the key to salvation. The law was
given to demonstrate the need we have for a savior. Our faith in that
Savior, Jesus Christ causes salvation.

Consequently all of us who have believed God are now children of God.
Paul could not be clearer- faith brings salvation. Faith does not
merely reflect our relationship to God but actually establishes it. By
this faith we become not just subjects of the kingdom of God but
actual son's and daughters of God - family!

It is truly a sweeping message that can take your breath away, to
consider what is ours by faith!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: Salvation is by faith!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 2:20-21,

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ
lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son
of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the
grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law,
Christ died for nothing!"

Paul claimed he lived by faith in Jesus Christ. He points out that if
righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for
nothing. Earlier, in verses 15-16 he said, "We who are Jews by birth
and not 'Gentile sinners' know that a man is not justified by
observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put
our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ
and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will
be justified."

For Paul, it is by faith and faith alone that we are saved. In Romans
3:21-22 he says, "But now a righteousness from God, apart from law,
has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This
righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who
believe." In Ephesians 2:8-9 we read, "For it is by grace you have
been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift
of God— not by works, so that no one can boast."

Paul recognized that because faith is the determining issue God
decided beforehand for who will be saved, he saw it as a manifestation
of God's great and wonderful grace. Paul said in Romans 4:16,
"Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and
may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring—not only to those who are
of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is
the father of us all."

How wonderful God has decided to make a place at his table for all of
us who will embrace him in faith! Outside of special circumstances,
all have the capacity for faith! If salvation were dependent upon my
performance, as in law-keeping, I would never have made it. From this
wonderful truth I realize that my salvation is not dependant on how
morally upright I am, how diligent I may be in exercising spiritual
disciplines, who I know or where I go. I does not depend on what any
other person might think of me, or my past failures and shortcomings.
It doesn't depend on what church I attend or what "distinctive" flavor
of worship I support and promote. It doesn't even depend on which
hymnal I am using on Sunday morning!

My salvation depends only and entirely on my trust in Jesus Christ who
took my punishment on himself on that cross! This is my theme of
worship for today!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God's wonderful gospel message!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 1:11-12,

"I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not
something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was
I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ."

Some subordinate the gospel message as a formality in the salvation of
folks. In many "evangelical" churches they teach us that it is an
important, yet perfunctory activity and the reception of it by faith
merely manifests that God has picked us out rather than bringing
salvation itself. Not me. In Romans 1:16-17 Paul says, "I am not
ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the
salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the
Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a
righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is
written: 'The righteous will live by faith.'"

I thank God for this good news! The gospel enterprise is no mere
perfunctory activity to me! It is the only path to God. It is his
invitation to us, that if we embrace the Lord in faith he will make a
place for us at his table! This gospel message brings life! It tells
us that Jesus Christ took our punishment on himself and that if we
trust in him, Jesus' punishment brings us peace with God, Isaiah
53:5-6. Paul says he received this gospel message directly from Jesus
Christ. It is the message Paul took to the Gentiles while Peter and
the other apostles took it to the Jews. Many were saved then and many
are saved now through it.

How precious this message and how powerful! It penetrates through the
most wicked and impenetrable of hearts! Only God could author such a
message that can reach even the most depraved! It even reached me!!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today:God provides us so much!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 1:1,

"Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ
and God the Father, who raised him from the dead."

Paul was sent to us by our loving Savior and God our Father. Paul
wrote thirteen of our New Testament books and laid out clearly the
gospel message of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. Paul provided us
an example of what hard work in the gospel looks like, what
determination and diligence looks like in his service to the Lord.

Paul was endowed with the gifts and tools given an apostle and was
faithful in executing his responsibilities. How wonderful the Lord
provided such a man as Paul and gifted him in such a way that we are
provided with so much!

Peter's perspective on God's gifts is that they are an expression of
his grace, 1 Peter 4:10. Certainly Paul and the brothers with him when
he wrote the book of Galatians were a wonderful expression of God's
grace. Surely God has provided us with so much!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: We are justified by faith in Jesus Christ!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 2:15-16,

"We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' know that a man is
not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So
we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified
by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing
the law no one will be justified."

In recalling an exchange with Peter, who at the time was caught up in
some duplicity, Paul makes his point that no one is justified by
keeping the law, but by faith. To be justified is critically important
for an individual, as without justification the only future one has
after death is the lake of fire: guilty of sin. Justification brings
eternal life, a place at God's table.

Paul points out that it is by faith we are saved from God's judgment.
This requirement of faith dispels any notion of doing good (as in
keeping the law), etc. in order to gain God's forgiveness of sins
committed. Because salvation is by faith, we say it is by God's grace.
It is not something we earn. In Romans 4:16a we read, "Therefore, the
promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace..."

How wonderful our loving and gracious God has provided us forgiveness
of all our sins simply by trusting in him! If it were based on my
performance I'd miss you all in the resurrection!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com