GRINDIT podcast

While talking about freedom and that freedom coming from Jesus, Paul issues a warning to the church at Galatia, “Don’t use your freedom to gratify the flesh and its desires. He then posts a list of sins that gratify the flesh and in that list he says, “Those who do these and things similar, will not inherit the kingdom of God.” In the next breath, he lists the fruit of the Spirit and he says, “You...

Paul says to the church at Galatia, “Christ has set you free” and “You have been called to live in freedom.” Over ten times in this letter, Paul uses some form of the word “freedom”. What does Paul mean by “freedom”? If we only have true freedom in Jesus, then what about those who are outside of Christ? They are in bondage, but so are those who are trying to follow the law or work their way to sal...

Paul tells the church at Galatia, “Yall were running the race with all you had, exerting all the effort you could, but something happened and it has hindered your running.” What happened? Circumcision. It’s hard to run when you’ve had a knife cut into private part! That is a lot of pain and it takes a little while to heal up! Paul uses two words in the Greek to explain what he means by “hinder” bu...

Paul says to the church at Galatia, “So Christ has truly set us free.” What did Jesus set us free from? What put us in bondage to begin with? And the answer to that question is found in Paul’s letter to them, “The Law,” and in particular, they have listened to false teachers and have been convinced they, as Gentiles, need to be circumcised and follow the law. Paul makes it clear, if they follow th...

Paul calls the church at Galatia his “Dear Children” and then he says he feels as if he is going through labor pains over them again. Why would he say this? A man can’t have labor pains because a man cannot have children. What did Jesus say to Nicodemus in John 3? “Unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Paul has labored, his life threatened everywhere he went as he travels...

Paul tells the church at Galatia, who is made up of Gentiles, “Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist.” Think back to early in the Old Testament when God came to Abraham and said “Leave Ur and go to a land I will show you.” Abraham was in a pagan land where people didn’t worship Yahweh...they worshipped gods that didn’t exist! Where did they learn of...

We hear people say, “Salvation is free” or “Salvation is a free gift from God and all you have to do is receive it.” That is true in a way but our salvation wasn’t free...it cost Jesus everything. He willingly gave his life as a ransom, a payment, for our sin so that we could go free. Paul says he was born under the law, which made him subject to it, but he chose not to sin, yet he became sin when...

Paul is explaining to the church at Galatia that they cannot have a relationship with God through following the law because the law puts them in bondage. He says, “As a child, we are under the elements of this world” meaning we grow up hearing the alphabet. The letters of the alphabet make certain sounds and that’s the way it is. You cannot change the alphabet or the sounds. You are in bondage to...

The law was good because it showed us what sin is however, it also held us captive because there wasn’t any way to be set free from the bondage of sin...that is...until the way of faith came. That way of faith has a name, Paul says, and his name is Jesus, or Yeshua which means, “God is Salvation.” When Jesus came, he came with the authority from God and he would say, “You have heard it said (the l...

In the same way....that’s how Paul put’s it to the church at Galatia. What is he talking about? In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” Abraham believed God just like you did...by faith. He didn’t receive anything in his own effort. In fact, Abraham struggled when he didn’t trust God! He was fearful of dying when he was traveling through fore...

Paul is upset with the church in Galatia because they have believed a false gospel. They have taken the faith they have put in God, in what Jesus has done for them on the cross, and put it in themselves, in their own works, their own righteousness because they are trying to win God’s approval by following the law. Paul says, “You already had God’s approval! How else do you think you were filled wi...

The word Bewitched means someone has used something that is artificial, something fake to trick, to deceive…like a magician tricking our eyes and making us believe what they are doing is real. That’s exactly what has happened to the church at Galatia. Paul says, “I came to you and painted a clear picture of Jesus and what he did on the cross, yet you have believed a fake.” It may look real and it...

Paul confronts Peter because of his sin, his choosing to not fellowship with the uncircumcised Gentiles when the circumcised Jews came into the room. Paul lets Peter know that he is in sin and his sin has led others astray as well! We take a deep dive into the seriousness of sin and who it effects beside us. What we see is it comes down to who do we chain ourselves to, who are we bound to? Ourselv...

Paul is going to talk about confronting Peter when he sinned by getting up from the table while he was fellowshipping with some uncircumcised Gentiles, and going to set with the circumcised Jews and not having any fellowship with them. Paul says he wasn’t having that because sin is serious business and our sin could easily persuade others to sin as well, which is exactly what happened when Peter d...

Paul says some false believers tried to sneak into their meeting with the leadership at the church in Jerusalem to take away the freedom they have in Christ. These false believers wanted to make the Gentiles adhere to the laws God gave the Jews and Paul says, “No! They don’t have to do that, in particular, they don’t have to be circumcised!” We go on a deep dive in this podcast about “freedom” and...

Paul is rehearsing his story to the Galatians because he is proving to them that they can trust him. Why? Because he has been filled with the same Holy Spirit the apostles have and he has even had meetings with those apostles and they gave him their approval. He calls the apostles “pillars” which in the Greek means “Pillars of fire” and Paul says, “These pillars of fire accepted me and Barnabas as...

In establishing his authority and defending it to the churches in Galatia, Paul makes a profound statement, “But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace.” Paul makes it clear that he did not choose this life that he lives, God chose it for him. He was a bad dude that loved God. He was a Pharisee, knew God’s word, and he had a zeal for God like nobody else! However...

When you want to confront someone about an issue, you better have some authority or you’ll get laughed at to your face! In the episode of Andy Griffith where Barney confronts the two men for selling fruits and vegetables on the side of the road without a permit, they threaten to beat him up. Barney leaves because of fear but comes back to confront them pointing out that his badge represents a high...

Paul was a prisoner in Rome because he spread the gospel and told people about Jesus. He was literally in chains! Onesimus was a rebellious, run-a-way slave who happened to find Paul and, while in chains, Paul shares the gospel with him, and his life is changed forever. Onesimus is a completely different person and Paul tells Philemon to accept him back because he will now be useful to him forever...

We are introduced to a slave owner named Philemon and we have this tiny letter because one of his rebellious slaves, Onesimus, ran away and just happened to run into Paul. Paul shares the gospel with the guy while in prison and Jesus changes his life! He helps Paul spread the gospel there in Rome but Paul sends him back to Philemon with this letter. In this letter Paul describes Philemon and his f...

When reading the bible, people may have a tendency to skip through Paul’s greetings. At the end of his letters, he starts telling the people “thank you” and “greet (fill in the blank), but there is some good stuff found in his greetings if we will take the time to read them and such is the case in the letter of Colossians. Yes, Paul greets a lot of people, some even from another church (Laodicea),...

What does it mean to be “devoted” to something? I remember when I was a kid, sports players were “devoted” to a team. They played with one team their whole career. I don’t know of any player today that can say that because they follow the money. Whoever pays the most is where they go. To be “devoted” to something means you endure, you continue, even when things get hard. You don’t quit. Paul tells...

When we “put on Jesus”, we put on all these things Paul mentions in chapter 3, tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. We are commanded to be like Jesus in everything we say and do, how we live, and Paul says we are to give God permission to work in our lives which means we must allow Him to chip away at the stone walls we have built around our hearts because someone has...

“What should I wear?” is a question my wife asks me when we are going on a date and I always answer the same way, “Beautiful, you know I have no idea about fashion so whatever you choose will look fine to me.” There’s a clothing we need to wear every day that is very important and it absolutely matters. Paul says at least three times in Colossians 3 to “Put on” a certain type of clothing: Jesus, l...

Paul has made it clear that we have crucified the flesh, we have put it to death, buried the old man in the grave, and have come out a new creation in Jesus; We are filled with his Holy Spirit and have set our eyes on Jesus as we walk in this world. However, we must choose to do so everyday because Paul also makes it clear, even though we are filled with the Spirit, we will still be tempted and th...