Key Thought: Faith in Christ frees us from slavery to sin, death, and the devil. We are free to express our faith in loving and joyful service.
[Teaching plan for "Freedom in Christ" November 7, 2011]
1. Have a volunteer read Galatians 5:1-6.
A. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
B. Why did Paul focus on circumcision as an example of being a debtor to the whole law?
C. Personal Application: [...]
Madeline and Melvin were in love. No question about it. At every opportunity they would steal glances at each other and talk with nudges and grins. Everybody knew.1
They would soon be married.
Then Melvin dropped a bombshell. Both Madeline and Melvin had been married before, and Melvin wasn’t ready to risk a repeat performance of what he’d gone through.
“I love you, Madeline,” he said. “I love you from the bottom of my heart.” [...]
Key Thought: Self-righteousness is referred to as the old covenant. The new covenant is the everlasting covenant of grace ultimately fulfilled in Christ.
[Teaching Plan for "The Two Covenants" November 30, 2011]
1. Have a volunteer read Galatians 4:21-23.
A. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
B. Why was the child born of the freewoman called the child of promise? And the child of the bondwoman called after the flesh?
C. Personal [...]
Carol knew the nausea would go away, but it was too much to endure sitting in the pews. At home she slept a while and then turned on the computer and within a couple of hours she was listening to Pastor Randy Roberts preaching at the Loma Linda University church.1
What was that he was saying? What?
Pastor Roberts was speaking with urgency. He was saying that no doctrine, no teaching, no lifestyle issue, no Scriptural interpretation—nothing—was as important [...]
Key Thought: After strong spiritual argument, Paul made an emotional appeal to the Galatians to remain in the gospel of grace.
[Teaching plan for "Paul's Pastoral Appeal" November 23, 2011]
1. Have a volunteer read Galatians 4:12.
A. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
B. What did Paul mean when he told the Galatians that he was like they are, but encouraged them to be like him?
C. Personal Application: Is there [...]
“I wish we would win the lottery,” Marcia announced at the dinner table.
“That’s impossible,” her father said. “We don’t play the lottery.” 1
“Why not?”
“Because it’s a foolish gamble. You have one in eighteen million chances of winning. And that’s in a lottery for a single state. Some lotteries are for several states, and your odds could be as low one in one hundred and twenty million.”
“It’s still one chance.”
Key Thought: As we accept Jesus Christ into our lives, we are called children of God, not because of our merits, but because of His gifts to His children.
[Teaching Plan for From Slaves to Heirs November 16, 2011]
1. Have a volunteer read Galatians 3:27-29.
A. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
B. What does it mean to “put on Christ”? How do we wear Christ?
C. Personal Application: How difficult [...]
Keeping within the lines 1
Darcy and Danielle laid out the pictures on the table next to the box of crayons. Darcy’s picture was of a giraffe surrounded by trees with a monkey peering around the giraffe’s neck. Danielle’s was of a picnic table in a forest, loaded with pineapples, bananas, and other tropical fruit with a big bird posed on one end of the table.
Before Dad left them to their coloring, he said, “Keep within the lines, do you understand?”
The girls [...]
Key Thought: The law points us to Christ. Christ fulfilled the requirements of the law in submission to His Father’s will. By living His life, God writes the law in our hearts..
[Teaching Plan for The Road to Faith November 9, 2011]
1. Have a volunteer read Galatians 3:22,23.
A. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
B. Why does the Scripture statement that all have sinned lead to the promise of faith [...]
Previously, we asked the question, “What is a Covenant?” Now let’s explore some covenants in the Bible.1
Long before sin entered this world through Adam and Eve, God made a covenant with Himself concerning a plan to deal with the sin problem. It was a comprehensive plan that would settle the controversy between Christ and Satan and provide a way to save sinners. Even though it was a one-sided covenant involving two parties, it still required acceptance by the sinner in [...]
