Sunday Morning At Remnant by Grace

Pastor Jeff closes the Galatians series covering 6:11-18. The large handwriting in verse 11 most likely reflects a physical infirmity, probably poor eyesight, not a rhetorical device. Two commonly cited Greek parallels for the "gouge out your eyes" idiom in 4:15 being a standard expression turned out to be unverifiable, a lesson in source checking that applies equally to ancient commentators and m...

Pastor Jeff covers Galatians 5:26-6:10, where Paul gives practical instruction flowing from life in the Spirit. Believers should avoid conceit, provocation, and envy, and when a brother falls into sin, restore him gently, a process of mending, not a moment, with the warning that the restorer himself remains vulnerable to temptation. Bearing one another's burdens, financial, emotional, or spiritual...

Pastor Jeff covers Galatians 5:13-25, addressing the opposite danger from legalism: libertinism. Christian freedom is not license for the flesh but freedom from sin's bondage to serve one another, the doulos service of a willing bondservant modeled on Christ himself. The whole law is fulfilled in loving one's neighbor, and the law still offers good instruction even though it cannot save. Paul's re...

Pastor Jeff works through Galatians 5:7-15, opening with a personal running story that frames Paul's race metaphor. The Galatians were running well until the Judaizers cut them off. The Judaizers' persuasion is not from God, and Paul compares their false teaching to leaven that, left unchecked, corrupts the whole batch. Despite his concern, Paul's confidence rests in the Lord and the Spirit's guar...

Pastor Jeff works through Galatians 5:1-6, treating Paul's command to stand firm in freedom as a springboard for an extended examination of legalism. Legalism is defined as elevating non-essentials to essentials, a subtle danger that can creep into any church or individual life through passionate but misplaced priorities, whether circumcision in Paul's day or theological positions, political affil...

Pastor Jeff covers Galatians 4:12 through 5:1, opening with Paul's personal appeal to the Galatians, who had once received him with extraordinary kindness despite a bodily ailment, but now treat him as an enemy simply for telling them the truth. Paul contrasts his genuine pastoral pursuit of them with the Judaizers' manipulative flattery and exclusionary tactics, a strategy also employed by cults...

Pastor Jeff works through Galatians 4:1-11, where Paul illustrates Israel's time under the law using the image of a child-heir who, though owner of everything, is no different from a slave until the father's appointed time. The elementary principles of the world, stoicheia, refer to the fundamental governing principles of each group's old order: Torah for the Jews, idolatry for the Gentiles. When...

Pastor Jeff covers Galatians 3:21-29, where Paul resolves the apparent tension between law and promise. The law is not contrary to God's promises but complementary, serving to reveal sin and prepare people for kingdom living, never intended to grant righteousness. Scripture imprisons everything under sin precisely so that Christ's faithfulness, not merely our faith in him, can be received by those...

Pastor Jeff works through Galatians 3:15-20, arguing that the Abrahamic covenant, being unconditional and ratified by God alone, cannot be annulled by the later Mosaic law. The singular "offspring" in the Genesis promises points specifically to Christ, through whom God's family expands beyond Israel to encompass the church and ultimately the entire household of God, distinct entities with separate...

Pastor Jeff works through Galatians 3:10-14, where Paul contrasts the curse of law-keeping with the blessing of faith. No one can perfectly keep Torah, so all who seek righteousness through works remain under a curse. A notable excursion highlights that the Jewish Mitzvot, Maimonides' list of 613 commandments, includes listening to the prophet like Moses, equated with Messiah, as commandments 9 th...

Pastor Jeff covers Galatians 3:1-9, where Paul confronts the Galatians as "foolish," meaning willfully unwilling to think critically about the Judaizers' claims. His first argument is from their own experience: they received the Holy Spirit, the New Testament seal of salvation equivalent to circumcision, through hearing and believing the gospel, not through law-keeping. His second argument is from...

Pastor Jeff works through Galatians 2:15-31, the theological heart of the letter. The central question is who constitutes the people of God. Paul dismantles the Judaizer assumption that Jews are righteous by birth, arguing that no one, Jew or Gentile, is declared righteous through the law. A key exegetical insight: the Greek genitive in verse 16 points to two inseparable aspects of faith, Christ's...

Pastor Jeff walks through Galatians 2:1-14, where Paul defends both his apostolic authority and the gospel of grace against the Judaizers. Using Titus, a believing Greek never required to be circumcised, as his primary exhibit, Paul demonstrates that salvation is by faith apart from the Mosaic law. Peter, James and John affirm this by extending the right hand of fellowship. But when Peter later se...

Pastor Jeff’s Easter sermon argues that the resurrection rests on real historical evidence, not blind sentiment. Drawing from Luke and Acts, he emphasizes eyewitness testimony, the guarded and sealed tomb, the women who saw where Jesus was buried, the empty tomb, and Jesus’ many post-resurrection appearances. He stresses that Luke wrote within the lifetime of eyewitnesses, so false claims could ha...

Pastor Jeff taught that in Galatians 1:11–24, Paul defends both his apostleship and the true gospel by showing it came directly from Jesus Christ, not from human teaching. Paul’s dramatic conversion from persecutor to preacher proves the gospel’s divine power and undermines the legalistic message of the Judaizers. Jeff emphasized that Christianity is the fulfillment of God’s earlier revelation, no...

In Galatians 1:1–10, Pastor Jeff shows that Paul defends his apostleship and message as coming directly from the risen Christ, not from people. Paul confronts Judaizers who added obedience to the Mosaic and Pharisaic laws to the gospel, turning it into “a different gospel” that cannot save. Any teacher who changes the gospel is “anathema,” devoted to destruction and to be separated from the church...

Pastor Jeff examines Jeremiah 49:34-39, correcting the popular claim that Elam equals modern Iran. Elam was a small region in southwestern Iran, distinct from Persia, and its judgment was concurrent with Judah's Babylonian captivity. Drawing on Jeremiah 25 and 27, Jeff shows that Nebuchadnezzar, called God's servant three times, carried out God's decreed judgment against Elam around 596 BC. The pr...

Pastor Jeff opens in Micah 7 today with the prophet lamenting a godless society where the truly faithful, those practicing *chesed* (loyal loving kindness), have all but vanished. Corrupt rulers collude, trust collapses, and judgment looms. Yet Micah anchors himself in God, declaring that the remnant will rise even from captivity. The chapter looks forward to Israel's ultimate restoration under th...

In Micah 6, Pastor Jeff explains, God presents a covenant lawsuit against Israel, calling the mountains as witnesses to their disloyalty. God reminds Israel of His faithfulness, redeeming them from Egyptian slavery, providing godly leaders, and blessing them even when enemies sought to curse them, while Israel repeatedly chased false gods. Through rhetorical questions about burnt offerings and sac...

In this sermon on Micah chapter 5, Pastor Jeff explains how the prophecy begins with Jerusalem under siege from Assyria and King Hezekiah's humiliation, then shifts to the promise of a supernatural ruler from Bethlehem Ephrathah who was "active from ancient days" yet will reign in the future. This divine shepherd-king is revealed as Yahweh himself incarnate—Jesus Christ—who will bring lasting peac...

In this sermon on Micah chapter 4, Pastor Jeff contrasts Israel's coming judgment from earlier chapters with God's hopeful vision of a future millennial kingdom, where Jerusalem will be the supreme center of worship and Christ will reign. Both Jews and Gentiles will come to learn God's ways, war will end as nations beat their swords into plowshares, and peace will prevail. God will regather a fait...

Pastor Jeff teaches that Micah’s message exposes the danger of outward religious identity without true loyalty to God, warning that many in Israel believed they were secure simply because they belonged to God’s people, while in reality they lived in disobedience and self-deception. He explains that God’s judgment on Israel shows that proximity to faith, religious participation, or national identit...

Pastor Jeff teaches that Micah condemns the powerful in Israel and Judah who planned oppression and theft, using their influence to seize land, homes, and inheritances from ordinary families, and he emphasizes that God sees these injustices, cares for the oppressed, and will bring accountability, even to rulers and governments. He explains that the coming exile is God’s just response to sustained...

Pastor Jeff teaches from Micah chapter 1 that God brings a formal charge against Israel and Judah, represented by Samaria and Jerusalem, for covenant unfaithfulness, idolatry, and moral compromise, especially among their leaders. He explains that Micah’s prophecy presents God as a righteous judge whose announced judgment is both just and merciful, serving as a final call to repentance before inevi...

Pastor Jeff teaches from 1 Corinthians 16 that Paul closes his letter with practical instruction and pastoral wisdom for how the church should live, give, lead, and love. He explains that the collection for the Jerusalem church reflects both compassion for persecuted believers and unity between Jewish and Gentile Christians, establishing principles of regular, willing, and cheerful giving through...