God's Gift of Grace (Galatians 6:11-18)

11 NOTICE WHAT LARGE LETTERS I USE AS I WRITE THESE CLOSING WORDS IN MY OWN HANDWRITING. 12 Those who are trying to force you to be circumcised want to look good to others. They don't want to be persecuted for teaching that the cross of Christ alone can save. 13 And even those who advocate circumcision don't keep the whole law themselves. They only want you to be circumcised so they can boast about it and claim you as their disciples. 14 As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world's interest in me has also died. 15 It doesn't matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation. 16 May God's peace and mercy be upon all who live by this principle; they are the new people of God. 17 From now on, don't let anyone trouble me with these things. For I bear on my body the scars that show I belong to Jesus. 18 Dear brothers and sisters, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) Why were false teachers forcing their legalism upon the Galatians? (v.12-13)
2) What did the Apostle Paul write about himself? (v.14)
3) What matters in God's kingdom, according to the apostle? (v.15)
4) Who are the "new people of God"? (v.16)
5) What did the apostle no longer want to be troubled by? Why? (v.17)
6) How did Apostle Paul close his letter to the Galatians? (v.18)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
7) What are you most proud of in your walk of faith?

LIFE LESSONS
8) By the Lord's design, children of God can never boast about earning our salvation, because it is a gift of God.

Sowing and Reaping (Galatians 6:6-10 NLT)

Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Galatians 6:6-10 NLT 

6 Those who are taught the word of God should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them. 7 Don't be misled--you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. 8 Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. 9 So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. 10 Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone--especially to those in the family of faith.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) What should those who are taught the word of God do for their teachers? (v.6)
2) What will those who live to please their sinful nature reap? What about those who seek to please the Spirit? (v.7-8)
3) What does the Apostle Paul tell believers not to do? Why? (v.9-10)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
4) What motivates you to do good (bless) others?

LIFE LESSONS
5) Whatever we do in obedience to the Holy Spirit's leading will be blessed.

Bear One Another's Burdens (Galatians 6:1-5 NLT)

1 Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. 2 Share each other's burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. 3 If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. 4 Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won't need to compare yourself to anyone else. 5 For we are each responsible for our own conduct.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) How are we to help those believers who are overtaken by sin? (v.1)
2) How do we obey the Lord's command to love others? (v.2)
3) Who are we responsible for, other than ourselves? (v.3-5)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
4) What, if anything, do you do to help those who are struggling with temptation and/or sin?

LIFE LESSONS
5) Obedience to the Lord's command to love others as ourselves, is maniffested in ministering to them as we would have them to minister to us.

Walking in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-26 NLT)

16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. 18 But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses. 19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. 22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's leading in every part of our lives. 26 Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) What did the Apostle Paul encourage believers to do and why? (v.16)
2) What dual natures exist within every believer and what are the desires/fruit of each nature? (v.17-23)
3) What are Holy Spirit led believers to do with the sinful nature and when are we to follow the Holy Spirit's lead? (v.24-26)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
4) Are you Holy Spirit led? If so, how do you know.

LIFE LESSONS
5) Those who are Holy Spirit led will manifest the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Our Freedom in Christ (Galatians 5:7-15 NLT)

7 You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth? 8 It certainly isn't God, for he is the one who called you to freedom. 9 This false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough! 10 I am trusting the Lord to keep you from believing false teachings. God will judge that person, whoever he is, who has been confusing you. 11 Dear brothers and sisters, if I were still preaching that you must be circumcised--as some say I do--why am I still being persecuted? If I were no longer preaching salvation through the cross of Christ, no one would be offended. 12 I just wish that those troublemakers who want to mutilate you by circumcision would mutilate themselves. 13 For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don't use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. 14 For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." 15 But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) How did the Apostle Paul commend the Galatians and what question did he ask them? (v.7)
2) How did the apostle answer his own question? (v.8)
3) What did Paul say that the false teaching was like? (v.9)
4) What was the apostle trusting the Lord to do? (v.10)
5) What else did Paul ask the Galatians and what was his response to his question? (v.11)
6) What was the apostle's wish concerning the false teachers? Why? (v.12-13a)
7) How were the Galatians to use their freedom? Why? (v.13b-15)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
8) How do you use your freedom in Christ?

LIFE LESSONS
9) We are to use our freedom in Christ to serve our spiritual brothers and sisters in the love of Christ.
10) Strife in our relationships with other believers is one sign that we are satisfying our sinful nature rather than living a Holy Spirit led life.

Living by the Spirit [Galatians 5:1-6 NLT]

1 So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law. 2 Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: If you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then Christ will be of no benefit to you. 3 I'll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses. 4 For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace. 5 But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. 6 For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) What does the Apostle Paul tell God's children about themselves and warn them against? (v.1)
2) What does Paul tell legalists that they must do if they insist on keeping the law to become righteous? Why? (v.2-4)
3) What do those who live by the leading of the Holy Spirit wait for? Why? (v.5-6)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
4) Do you know of anyone who insists on earning their righteousness through "works of the flesh" (self-effort or legalism)? If so, what if anything are you doing to help them?

LIFE LESSONS
5) The Holy Spirit, working in and through the Word of God and other believers, is the only one who can enlighten those who insist on keeping "rules" to earn their righteousness.  

Children of Promise (Galatians 4:27-31 NLT)

27 As Isaiah said, "Rejoice, O childless woman, you who have never given birth! Break into a joyful shout, you who have never been in labor! For the desolate woman now has more children than the woman who lives with her husband!" 28 And you, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac. 29 But you are now being persecuted by those who want you to keep the law, just as Ishmael, the child born by human effort, persecuted Isaac, the child born by the power of the Spirit. 30 But what do the Scriptures say about that? "Get rid of the slave and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the free woman's son." 31 So, dear brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman; we are children of the free woman.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) What did the Holy Spirit inspire the Prophet Isaiah to write about the "childless" woman? (v.27)
2) Who are the children of promise and who is persecuting them? (v.28-29)
3) What does the Scripture say about the slave and her son? Why? (v.30-31)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
4) Are you a child of the promise or a child of the law? How do you know?

LIFE LESSONS
5) The children of promise are those who have believed in Jesus Christ and have been born of God by His word and His Holy Spirit.

The Free Woman and the Slave (Galatians 4:21-26 NLT)

21 Tell me, you who want to live under the law, do you know what the law actually says? 22 The Scriptures say that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave wife and one from his freeborn wife. 23 The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God's promise. But the son of the freeborn wife was born as God's own fulfillment of his promise. 24 These two women serve as an illustration of God's two covenants. The first woman, Hagar, represents Mount Sinai where people received the law that enslaved them. 25 And now Jerusalem is just like Mount Sinai in Arabia, because she and her children live in slavery to the law. 26 But the other woman, Sarah, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. She is the free woman, and she is our mother. 

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) What does the Apostle Paul ask the Galatians? (v.21)
2) What does the Scripture say about Abraham and his two wives? (v.22-23)
3) What are these two women an illustration of? (v.24-26)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
4) Are you a child of promise or of bondage to the law?

LIFE LESSONS
5) The children of promise are those who receive the blessing and favor of God.

Deceptive Teachings (Galatians 4:8-20 NLT)

8 Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist. 9 So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world? 10 You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years. 11 I fear for you. Perhaps all my hard work with you was for nothing. 12 Dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to live as I do in freedom from these things, for I have become like you Gentiles--free from those laws. You did not mistreat me when I first preached to you. 13 Surely you remember that I was sick when I first brought you the Good News. 14 But even though my condition tempted you to reject me, you did not despise me or turn me away. No, you took me in and cared for me as though I were an angel from God or even Christ Jesus himself. 15 Where is that joyful and grateful spirit you felt then? I am sure you would have taken out your own eyes and given them to me if it had been possible. 16 Have I now become your enemy because I am telling you the truth? 17 Those false teachers are so eager to win your favor, but their intentions are not good. They are trying to shut you off from me so that you will pay attention only to them. 18 If someone is eager to do good things for you, that's all right; but let them do it all the time, not just when I'm with you. 19 Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I'm going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives. 20 I wish I were with you right now so I could change my tone. But at this distance I don't know how else to help you.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) Who, or what, were the Gentile converts slaves to before their conversion? (v.8)
2) Though they were known by God, who or what were the Gentile believers turning to? Why? (v.9-10) 
3) How did the Apostle Paul feel about their backsliding and what did he plead with them to do? Why? (v.11-12b)
4) What was Paul's physical condition when he first preached the gospel to the Gentile converts and how did they treat him then? (v.12c-14)
5) What did the apostle ask and remind the Gentile believers of when they first received him? (v.15-16)
6) What did the apostle write concerning the false teachers among them and warn them of concerning their behavior? (v.17-18)
7) What other feelings and thoughts did the apostle share with the Gentiles? (v.19-20)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
8) Has your faith in the Lord faltered because of the teachings of those who did not bring you to faith in Christ?

LIFE LESSONS
9) The Lord uses His Holy Spirit, and the counsel of Godly people, to correct us when we are led away from our faith in Him.
10) Any person, or thing, that leads us further away from the truth of God's word is false.

Sons and Heirs (Galatians 4:1-7 NLT)

1 Think of it this way. If a father dies and leaves an inheritance for his young children, those children are not much better off than slaves until they grow up, even though they actually own everything their father had. 2 They have to obey their guardians until they reach whatever age their father set. 3 And that's the way it was with us before Christ came. We were like children; we were slaves to the basic spiritual principles of this world. 4 But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. 5 God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. 6 And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, "Abba, Father." 7 Now you are no longer a slave but God's own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) How else does the Apostle Paul explain the purpose for the Law or what were we like when we were under the law? (v.1-3)
2) When did God send His Son and for what reason? (v.4-5)
3) What is the evidence that we are children of God and heirs to the promise of God? (v.6-7)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
4) How do you know that you are a child of God?
5) Do you consider yourself to be a spiritual infant, adolescent, or adult?

LIFE LESSONS
6) Spiritual infants may still be slaves to the law.
7) Maturity in Christ is manifested by our freedom in Him.

Children of God (Galatians 3:26-29)

26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if ye [be] Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) What makes us children of God? (v.26)
2) What have those who have been baptized into Christ done? (v.27)
3) Who is one in Christ Jesus, Abraham's seed, and heirs of God's promise? (v.28-29)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
4) Are you a child of God? If so, how do you know? If not, what will you do to become God's child?

LIFE LESSONS
5) All who have faith in Jesus Christ belong to Him and are children of God.

The Law and the Way of Faith (Galatians 3:21-25 NLT)

21 Is there a conflict, then, between God's law and God's promises? Absolutely not! If the law could give us new life, we could be made right with God by obeying it. 22 But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God's promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ. 23 Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed. 24 Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. 25 And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) How are we made right with God? By obeying God's commands or by faith in Jesus Christ? (v.21-22)
2) Why was the law given? (v.23-24)
3) When do we no longer need the Law as our guardian? (v.25)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
4) Are you still attempting to be made right with God by obeying His commands in your own minuscule strength? If so, why?

LIFE LESSONS
5) The only way to be in right relationship with God is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

God's Promise to Abraham (Galatians 3:15-20 NLT)

15 Dear brothers and sisters, here's an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or amend an irrevocable agreement, so it is in this case. 16 God gave the promises to Abraham and his child. And notice that the Scripture doesn't say "to his children," as if it meant many descendants. Rather, it says "to his child"--and that, of course, means Christ. 17 This is what I am trying to say: The agreement God made with Abraham could not be canceled 430 years later when God gave the law to Moses. God would be breaking his promise. 18 For if the inheritance could be received by keeping the law, then it would not be the result of accepting God's promise. But God graciously gave it to Abraham as a promise. 19 Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised. God gave his law through angels to Moses, who was the mediator between God and the people. 20 Now a mediator is helpful if more than one party must reach an agreement. But God, who is one, did not use a mediator when he gave his promise to Abraham.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) Who can revoke or amend an irrevocable agreement? (v.15)
2) Who did God make promises to? (v.16)
3) Did the law cancel the promises of God to Abraham? If not, why not? (v.17)
4) How was God's promise received? By keeping the law or by believing God's promise? (v.18)
5) Why was the law given and for how long were the people of God obligated to obey it? (v.19a-b)
6) Who was the mediator between God and His people under the law, or until Christ first advent? (v.19c-20a)
7) Who was the mediator when God made His promise to Abraham? Why?

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
8) How does God's promise to Abraham impact you, personally?

LIFE LESSONS
9) The Lord's promise to Abraham was to Jesus and to all who would believe on Him.

The Way of Faith (Galatians 3:10-14 NLT)

10 But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, "Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God's Book of the Law." 11 So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, "It is through faith that a righteous person has life." 12 This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, "It is through obeying the law that a person has life." 13 But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." 14 Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) What do the Scriptures say about those who under the Law and depend upon their obedience to the law to be made right with God? (v.10)
2) If the Law does not make us right with God, what does? (v.11)
3) How does the "way of Faith" differ from the "way of the Law"? (v.12-13)
4) How and why do we receive the blessing promised to Abraham? (v.14)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
5) Are you in right relationship with God? 
6) How do you know that you are a child of God?

LIFE LESSONS
7) Faith in Jesus Christ is what puts believers in right relationship with God.
8) Obedience to the law can never justify a child of God.

Another Gospel (Galatians 3:1-9 KJV)

1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? 2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? 4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if [it be] yet in vain. 5 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, [doeth he it] by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, [saying], In thee shall all nations be blessed. 9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) What five (5) questions does the Apostle Paul ask the church at Galatia? (v.1-5)
2) Who are the children of Abraham? Why? (v.6-7)
3) Who receives the same blessing that was promised to Abraham and what was that blessing? (v.8-9)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
4) With whom have you shared your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?

LIFE LESSONS
5) God's children have been blessed to bless others to know the God of Abraham through the Lord Jesus Christ.