Bayview Church Guam

What does a Christian brotherhood look like? Paul's exhortation to live in proximity to one another and help shoulder other burdens includes acts of grace, restoring fallen brothers, teaching and accountability. This plurality of Christendom acts as a protection from the influencers as well as the apparatus for restoration and the place for stewarding faith relationships for His harvest.

Paul addresses the age-old battle of continuing to sin that every Christian faces. Paul uses Greek word sarx which means "flesh" to represent the desire to sin. We see this great inward struggle by the contrasting appearance of the word Spirit (7x) with that of sarx (5x). Paul identifies the dueling presence of the words of the sarx with the fruits of the Spirit in this thought provoking...

How can we know we are really saved? Paul gives us THE TEST and he warns the Galatians if their salvation rests on performance they can be severed from Christ. You can't add anything to the work of Christ. How then does keeping the law matter once saved? Pauline theology shapes this view: The law is an expression of God's nature and keeping the law is a way to imitate him, but not to ear...

"If salvation is by works then only the fertile can have children." Wow - unpack that! Paul's brilliant use of the story of Sarah and Hagar condemns any dependence on works for salvation. Hagar was fertile and the effort to bring about God's promise through her failed. Sarah was old and barren, yet God in his own sovereign power and grace fulfills his promise through her. Paul...

How does Paul go from position of "like and angel" to that of an enemy in the eyes of the Galatians? The answer: influencers. This message addresses the issues of influencers and their work to build followers. Paul exposes that influencers ultimately care about themselves when he says, "They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much...

The greatest position in all of the created universe is to be in the family of God. A child of the king of the universe and an heir to that kingdom - what other identity could ever overshadow that? Paul destroys man's proclivity for tribalistic identities. Even his clever use of a pronoun accentuates his point. our first identity should always be...Christian.

The word promise occurs 7x in this passage where Paul leads us to the guardian of that promise - the law? Paul explains how the law functioned as a teacher who is preparing a child live life in the future as a free adult. Paul touches on the depravity of man and his need for the law to show him what he is really like underneath. The law helps us see our need for Christ so we may receive him in fai...

Galatians 3:10-14

Fools! Paul painted the perfect picture of Christ's work of the gospel in them. It was a spiritual work. He suggests the Galatians are under a delusion to think that something spiritual can be perfected through the works of the flesh. Anyone who tries to live this way is cursed. The alternative? Christ became a curse for us so we can receive the Spirit in faith. Paul gives us the example of A...

The word justified occurs 5x in these verses as Paul applies the fact our position before Christ is as if I died and was judged on the cross with Christ, but also we are seen by God today as if I lived the life the Christ did. Justified = Just-as-if I died in Christ and Just-as-if I lived His life. This is why we need to stop trusting in our moral efforts and trust in the work of Christ.

Clash of the Titans! One of the most astonishing scenes in all of the new testament is presented when Paul confronts Peter to his face in front of the church. Out of fearing man Peter had simply stopped acting in accordance with his convictions. This message addresses how unity is breached when we elevate other identities above that of Christians.

Traditions that become non-negotiables create legalism. Thus far Paul is laying groundwork to fight for freedom by defending his calling and expresses his concern now that his work for a fruitful ministry is being threatened because the Galatians are being pulled back into following unnecessary traditions. Spies against freedom have infiltrated Paul's ministry, but they will have to contend w...

What was the pre-Christian Paul like? He was a superman of Jews. He was zealous in pursuit of moral righteousness and a violent persecutor of the church. What changed him? He affirms it wasn't because of personal enlightenment, intellectual reasoning or reflection. The gospel was received and God set him apart as an apostle (what is an apostle?). This is perhaps the greatest testimony in the...

Is Paul Angry? The tone immediately suggests his hatred for the false gospel that is reversing the work he did in building the gospel into the Galatian believers. You have been rescued! Christ's work as your substitute satisfied any debt you owed and to add anything else to the effort (works) is to be suggest more is needed and God doesn't take 2 payments. Any other truth being presented...

Hebrews 12:12-17

Hebrews 12:5-11

Hebrews 12:1-4

Romans 1:16-17

Acts 4:32-5:11

Stewardship Series: Givers of the Bible

Stewardship Series: Givers of the Bible

Matthew 2:13-18 & Revelation 19:6-10

Luke 2:7 & Revelation 4

Luke 2:2 & Revelation 4

Matthew 2:11 & Revelation 4