Hello friends.  It sure was good to see you last Sunday.  I’m so glad we decided to come back together.  As we continue to heal as individuals, I look forward to seeing how God brings new life into our corporate body.  He has preserved us this far.  He is not finished with us yet.

As most of you will know, we had a scare with Ruth this week.  She was taking to the hospital with bleeding and kept overnight for observation.  The good news is they got the bleeding stopped and she is now back at home.  I’ll let Cathy share any further details as she sees fit during praise and prayer tomorrow.  Continue to pray for her and also for Cathy.

Tomorrow we have the joy of being together again, and I hope you’ll be with us.  I will confess that with the extra time I have had to spend at work the last few weeks, I have been prayerfully pulling from old notes for material to share with you.  God wouldn’t let me get away with that this week, so I know this message is meant for at least one person, identity unknown to me, who will hear it.

“What goes around comes around.” “He had it coming.” “They deserved it.”  We hear things like that all the time.  We have a sense of justice, and generally expect that eventually one’s actions will catch up to them.  We’re quick to judge the actions of others, but not so quick to judge our own.  We expect others to consider our motivations, but tend not to extend the same grace to them.  We are all in need of mercy.

We know and teach that God grants that mercy.  Does that mean we’re free to do as we please?  We all know better, but we don’t always act like it.  We say things like, “You can’t judge me.”, or a church favorite, “you’re being legalistic.”  Sometimes we are legalistic.  Sometimes we are too quick to judge.  Sometimes that judgment serves as a cover for our own weaknesses.

In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he writes primarily to confront the assault upon the good news of grace by those from the Jewish tradition who were attempting to add the necessity of keeping the Jewish law to the message of salvation.  The Galatians were being swayed by their arguments.  He explains the purpose of the law, declares the sufficiency of faith in Christ, and concludes with instruction of discernment and holy living.  Keeping the law cannot bring salvation.  Freedom from law does not give license for sin.  Paul makes this plain as he begins to wrap up his letter.  We’ll read from Galatians 6:1-10.

Love y’all!

Larry