Microchurch Minute
Wow—what a morning. In Galatians 3, Paul doubles down on the doctrine of grace through faith. The Galatians were still clinging to a Jesus + mindset, as if the grace received by faith alone wasn’t enough. But if works could save us, why would we need a Savior at all? They can’t. On our own, we will never be “good enough” for the Kingdom of God.
The law was never meant to save us—it was meant to expose our inadequacy and reveal our need for a Savior who could bear the penalty for sin (death) that we never could. Can you fully believe that accepting Jesus is all that is required for salvation? That kind of trust takes real faith in God’s promise.
I believe the covenant God made with Abraham is true. And I believe that by sending Jesus Christ—Abraham’s descendant—to earth, and allowing Him to be seen as cursed while hanging on a tree, God fulfilled that promise. Our mistakes could never void a covenant that came directly from God.
Once we accept this divine forgiveness, obedience flows from the joy of loving the Lord, not from striving to earn His approval. There is a difference between conviction and guilt: conviction draws us to acknowledge our sin, turn from it and run into the arms of Jesus; guilt is a weapon of the enemy, trapping us in the lie that we must fix ourselves. Send that guilt packing—it was already carried to the cross. Jesus does not require you to hold onto it.
The law was introduced for our good, to guard us like a babysitter watches over children. And though the babysitter has stepped aside, it doesn’t mean the rules no longer matter—it means we now answer directly to Abba.
How comforting it is to know that we are heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven, with no spiritual hierarchy, no second-class Christians, no competition for God’s favor. We are all equally covered by the righteousness of Jesus. I am deeply grateful that I don’t have to be a prosperous Jewish male to inherit the Kingdom, but am fully embraced, cherished, and chosen by the Creator of the universe.
We already belong to Him. Now, our calling is simply to walk out our true identity in everyday life.
Microchurch Minute
Paul continues his letter to the church of Galatia solidifying his belief in Christ’s redemptive love through grace and not by works. Paul shares that he did eventually go to Jerusalem and spoke with the apostles regarding the law he received from the risen Christ. When they confirmed that what Paul was teaching is the same Word as that which was given by the living Jesus, Paul is reaffirmed in the gospel of grace that he is sharing. Accepting this gift of grace secures our justification in Christ, which then shapes how we live. I’m so glad he’s not finished with me yet!
We practice the physical act of baptism (Romans 6) in accordance with symbolizing our joint death with Jesus (dying to our sinful lives under the first Adam) and being risen again in Him – now free from the spiritual bondage of sin and able to live life fueled by the Holy Spirit in us. It is written, the punishment for sin is death, by His death on the cross, Jesus fulfilled the law of punishment on our behalf. God justifies us through Christ despite our inability to keep the law.
Paul went on to call out Cephas (Peter) as he observed Peter breaking bread with the Gentiles, but quickly retreating as the “old school” Jewish Christians came into view. Plainly called out for hypocrisy, the actions of Cephas fall out of the realm of grace and back into the belief that the Jews and Gentiles were not equal in God’s eyes. How many of us have slipped into the same trap? That truly is how the enemy works. When a believer allows any room for doubt in the truth of grace, the enemy can embellish his own partial truth to cause believers to sway. In a world of influenceable men, it only takes the pull of a few to run with partial truths in the group think pattern. But this would result in grave spiritual danger for all that doubt and teach against the Truth! I commend Paul for the way that he addresses Cephas’ falling short in the end of this chapter. It takes a great deal of faith, courage and wisdom to know how to address these types of behaviors in your spiritual family. Let us learn from that actions of Cephas – as followers of Christ, our identity should be so deeply rooted in Him, that our external actions provide no confusion about who we are and the truth that we believe.
At the end of the day, the responsibility is yours to know the Word and rely on the Holy Spirit to guide your understanding. While God has gifted religious leaders and mentors in our lives, it is up to you alone to invest your time and energy into learning the truth of your Savior, so that when the time comes and the enemy tries to deceive you, you may stand solid in your factual knowledge of Him and be able to decipher what you know the Word to be and not what the enemy has distorted it to.
Microchurch Minute
Are you being deceived by false prophets? Apparently Paul heard that the church of Galatia was and decided he would not stand for it. His introduction to the church of Galatia is very blunt and strongly worded. Astonished is the word in my translation – Paul is simply blown away that he would share the Truth of God’s redemptive grace through Jesus’ death on the cross, but there were still religious figures that would not let go of the Old Testament traditions and rigid structure of their known gospel. Simply put, we may accept God’s grace and forgiveness through Jesus, it is not a Jesus+ subscription plan to fill our brains and hearts with ceremonial sacrifices. Ceremonial practices, circumcision, or rigid obedience to the law could complete what Christ had already finished.
Does this mean we simply stop doing good deeds? Absolutely not. You see, when we stop working for the approval of man and shift our focus to God we begin to choose good works to honor Him. Do your actions lean towards pleasing God or showing off to fellow sinful mankind? I’m grateful to be no longer attempting to please man, what a heavy burden to carry! When we can freely accept what God has given us through grace, we are allowed to be filled with the peace of not having to work for it. Imagine, the puny efforts of man being enough to buy your salvation, it’s laughable! Christ died to rescue us from a system that required sacrifice and rituals. Anyone calling us to return to that system is a false prophet and, Paul states, is doomed.
Paul’s message was not given by other apostles or teachers, but by the risen Christ Himself. I see how Paul was so swift to remove himself from the teachings that once defined his life, in favor of the Truth that Jesus revealed to him. If Paul had received what he deserved on the road to Damascus, he would have immediately been cast into the depths of hell. But in God’s perfect grace, He called Paul out of his destructive beliefs transforming a persecutor into a proclaimer and giving him new purpose.
So I’m left asking myself: Does my life reflect that kind of transformation? When others encounter me, do they see evidence of the grace God has poured out? And what about you—does your life point to the freedom, peace, and power of the grace of God?
Microchurch Minute
How does the Holy Spirit help us in our suffering? It has been given to ensure our victory over the indwelling sin that is permeating the fallen world. Since the initial sin of Adam, there has not been a time that Christians haven’t suffered due to our internal struggle with sin. The Holy Spirit helps us in our suffering by making us aware of sin, empowering us to resist it, and assuring us that suffering is not meaningless but purposeful. Unlike unbelievers, Christians experience a holy tension: we are freed from sin’s dominion, yet still feel its presence. That tension itself is evidence of the Spirit at work. Conviction is not condemnation—it is God’s loving pressure calling us toward freedom, dependence, and holiness. Unbelievers don’t experience that conviction. I have to wonder, when Paul says that our current sufferings can’t compare to the joy that’s coming – did he mean the external sufferings from the fallen world or our internal sin sufferings that will one day be relieved when we are in our Heavenly Home. Can you even imagine the pure joy that is coming? The day that we will no longer struggle with sin, no longer feel pain, no longer suffer death. We will simply be in the presence of our Savior, exalting Him for all eternity. The very things that the enemy is using to test and try to break your faith are the same endurances that God is allowing to build your faith in Him. How you handle challenges, both internal and external, are bearing witness to the God that you serve. As we live today, creation groans in external suffering – this can include persecution, death, decay, injustice and brokenness. We groan internally, through the battle of inward sin and the grief of craving His holiness. The glory that is coming is not just the absence of pain, but the complete absence of sin.
As Paul reminds us in Romans 8, creation groans, we groan inwardly, and the Spirit Himself intercedes for us as we wait for the glory to come.
Until that day, the Holy Spirit does not remove our suffering, but He walks with us through it, producing endurance, hope, and deeper dependence on Christ.
Microchurch Minute
On Sunday, we recalled our purpose as the Mission Community Church body of Christ and looked forward in declaration of what we pray God will use us for in the coming year.
At the end of Acts 2, we see a powerful picture of the early church—devoted to prayer, the Word, shared meals, radical generosity, and life together. That’s a lot of together, and it’s not just descriptive; it’s prescriptive. This is how God designed His Church to function. We are called to share our lives, open our homes, support one another, and live as an outpouring of the Holy Spirit to the world around us. And when we do, God adds to our number daily those who are being saved. What we choose to do today has eternal impact on the Kingdom of God. We were never meant to retreat from the world, but to live with a faith so full of the Spirit that it continually overflows.
Jesus calls us a priesthood of believers. I am so grateful for the teaching team that has been training to share biblical truths with us. They are living as a the modern day priesthood of God’s Church. This year we will pray in support of this team, that God would allow them not only to lead church gatherings on Sundays, but that they would also be held to the standard of biblical manliness. We pray that they would lead their families and their homes well through prayer and study of Truth.
There is often a focus on the idea of a 10% tithe, but that is not the primary emphasis of our gathering. Our heart is centered on how we steward what God has entrusted to us. As a church leadership team, we have spent time in prayer discerning how to support ministries, outreaches, and our own church community in ways we believe God is calling us. I recently said to a friend, “It’s time to put your money where your mouth is,” and I truly believe God is calling me—and all of us—to give generously in every way. Our time, talents, and finances are deeply intertwined, all working together for the good of the Kingdom of God.
I invite you to pray about this, as I have. Ask God to search your heart and reveal where He is calling you to invest every part of yourself.
If Sunday’s gathering stirred your heart to become more financially involved, we’ve included a link to the Mission Community Church giving page. We pray you will join us in what God is doing.
Microchurch Minute
On Sunday we looked back on our year and followed up with Samuel’s story of raising an ebenezer, an altar in recognition of God’s faithfulness. It’s easy to fixate on the tragedies of your year, traditionally we look at the negatives from last year and make resolutions to fix/improve or save ourselves from them moving forward. But friends, we don’t have to live this way. We have a good Father in Heaven that has shown up for us time and time again, no matter the hurts we have faced in this fallen world. Because we trust that God is good, we can simultaneously mourn with our spiritual family while recognizing and celebrating what He is doing and has done in our lives.
What did God do for you this past year? I saw God bring new families into our church family. I saw spiritual growth in so many people. While we have cried and prayed with those that have received hard news, we have also seen favorable diagnosis and God’s hand in aligning His perfect timing in circumstances that we couldn’t have imagined otherwise.
Loving God and resting in His promises doesn’t guarantee an easy life, Jesus even told us that we would face trials in this life. However, when we choose to look back and reflect on God’s faithfulness, we raise our own ebenezers – in recognition of where we saw Him shine. I have seen God’s goodness too many times to not believe that He will do it again! I have seen His “not yet” turn into a delayed blessing that wouldn’t have made sense if He handed it over in my timing.
Brothers and sister, I encourage you to go before the Father in prayer and petition for the yearnings He has placed on your heart. But, before you do, build Him an altar of your own, out of the ebenezers – the real life examples of what He has done for you. When you remember what God has done in your life, it builds your faith into what you know He is capable of doing (spoiler: it’s everything, He can do it all). You will pray bold prayers. You will expect God to show up, like He’s done before.
We each took a stone and took time to write words on it that served to remind us of events from the past year that wouldn’t have been possible without God. I don’t know about you, but I’m going to keep it going, until I have a front yard rock garden full of reminders that God loves us.
Heavenly Father, I know the circumstances we face are not always perfect in our eyes. Yet I have seen You delay what I wanted so You could bless me in Your perfect timing. I have watched You move in the hearts of others to accomplish Your greater plan. God, I trust that Your ways are infinitely better than my own. As I place my confidence in the evidence of Your goodness, I will continue to build my altar—stone by stone—each one a reminder of where You have shown up before and a declaration of my faith that You will do it again.
