☕️ Coffee, 🍃 Cannabis, ⛪️ and Kirk • Galatians 4: 3-7 • Dr. Bryan Pain • Preparing the Way: The Road to Victory at the Cross

Hi & hello – welcome to another week – one more installation into CC&K. I am brewing Tribute from Starbucks and 💨 enjoying Lava Cake. Due to illness, my mind has been a bit slow recently. For months I had to ignore what was happening in the world, even had to stop these posts for a bit; I am happy to be back, is what I am attempting to say. This morning I did not expect what was eventually said in the sermon, something I would like to hear your opinions about – so do be vociferous in the comments, please! We are in Galatians 4 today ••• here we go!

Sermon begins at 28m mark.

In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come. G-d sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, G-d has sent the Spirit of his Son in to our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through G-d.

Galatians 4:3-7, ESV

Comfort the Children
by: Greg Collins
…not just a painting, but a visual embodiment of love & compassion.

• THE CROSS HAS BROUGHT YOU INTO THE FAMILY OF G-D.
  -that is sufficient. We could stop there & the news would be overwhelmingly good!
  v.3 • Our condition before we were in Christ, by nature & by choice, was enslavement to a worldly kingdom not of G-d.
  
  • We’re all image bearers of G-d, however, we are born with a nature in opposition to G-d.
  
• WITHOUT JESUS YOUR SITUATION IS HELPLESS & HOPELESS.
  We are all desperate for Jesus, no matter how we fare in this life, the cry of our heart is separation from our Heavenly Father.
  
• YOUR SALVATION IS FREE, BUT THE PRICE OF YOUR ADOPTION CAN NEVER BE FULLY COMPREHENDED.
  The adoption process in our country is not easy, quick, or even financially feasible for many. If you’ve never interacted with that system, it may be difficult to imagine how slowly the process seems to go. If we attempt to comprehend our adoption as children of G-d, something which required a sacrifice of unimaginable fortitude, in the fullness of time, G-d did what we could never do.
  

Hope by: David Hinds

Jesus Christ Collage by: David Hinds

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3: 27-27, ESV

• IN JESUS, YOUR WHOLE IDENTITY IS TRANSFORMED.
  Who you WERE is not who you ARE… in Christ. The failures & mistakes you have made in your life are made right in Christ, you are forgiven. Those things helped create you, they carved out the person you are, but in Christ you can let go of the bad and be remade in Christ.
  
  “Do you know why racism is such a horrible sin? Because somehow & some way you’ve elevated who you are, in your ethnicity, as greater importance than anything else and you’d look down upon others & cast judgment… But you are in Christ”. It is sinful to think that way.
  
  “…there is no male and female…” Oh dear, it seems that Bryan has decided to tackle racism and homophobia/xenophobia all at once today! Our gender identity is found in Christ, and as such, shouldn’t be subject to government oversight. But I digress…
  • Who you are is not what you have – materialism is dead in Christ. To be brought into the family of G-d is to be changed! We receive the Holy Spirit & are changed, perfected, & sanctified through our lives to be more like Christ.
  
• THE HOLY SPIRIT CHANGES THE WAY YOU RELATE TO THE WORLD.
  We have been given a spirit which colors the way we see the world, our world view. This spirit brings us closer to G-d, just as his only Son cried out, “Abba! Father!” • so too we have that ability & right.
  
• THE SPIRIT BRINGS THE CRY OF INTIMACY.
  An intimacy with the Father that cannot be felt without the Holy Spirit.
  
• THE SPIRIT BRINGS THE CRY OF DEPENDENCY.
  Realize that there will never be a time when you do not need Jesus, G-d, and the Holy Spirit. This is a cry that “I NEED YOU, FATHER; and will forever need this intimacy.”
  
  You’re no longer a slave, but a son.
  
• THE CROSS HAS BROUGHT YOU INTO THE FAMILY OF G-D. (Amen!)
  -The cross has made us whole in Christ.

Fulness of Time by: Bruce Blanchard Galatians 4:4

How will you respond today? Whether you have yet to accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour, or you need to recommit yourself to the Lord, or you have questions… let me know what you think!