Intro: Little Billy, who was acting terrible one day, was asked by his mother, "How do you expect to get into heaven?"
He thought for a moment and then said, "Well, I’ll just run in and out and keep slamming the door until they say, ’For heaven’s sake, either come in or stay out.’
Then I’ll go in."
I don’t know if that theology will work, but the faith of a child is the key to getting into glory. We see how the Galatians were losing out with God and Paul urges them to get back to the beginning. Today we are going to look at Galatians 3: 1-9 and see four possessions that every believer has at the beginning, and make sure we possess these things in our service to God.
Getting Back To Our Beginning
Galatians 3:1-9
Background: the Galatians were like any other group of Christians, they wanted to do it right. They started off with fire, zeal, power, anointing, faith and Spirit, but after a while they had fallen into rules, regulations, dryness, staleness and rituals. So Paul says, get back to your beginning, get back to the things you had at the start. Today, let’s look at these four possessions.
Faith, Spirit, Power, Blessing
I. Faith—v.2 by the hearing of faith-Paul states to the Galatians that they had started out in faith, and faith was the key to living for Jesus Christ.
What is the faith of a new believer?
a. I am saved to the uttermost, I am white as snow, I am accepted by Jesus Christ, my sins are washed away. This is the first faith, a confidence in Jesus Christ to make me brand new. The Galatians had lost this faith, they were now trying to earn their salvation and work their way into heaven.
b. God can do all things—this early faith was the faith that says, God can move my mountains, God can do anything. I am persuaded, He is able. We start in faith, but in time we end up with doubt, fear and unbelief, sometimes people who started out trusting God for everything, end up not trusting God for anything.
c. Substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. New converts live their lives believing for things, God is going to come through, I am claiming my blessing, I am believing for my miracle. Sometimes you meet older Christians, and instead of them believing for their future, they spend most of their time dwelling in their past.
Ill) sometimes we forget this is a faith walk, and God can do anything. Years ago I had worn the same suits, pants, and shirts for quite some time and really could use some new clothes. A young girl who worked with my Mom at Gayfer’s said, my husband has put on a lot of weight and I have some suits, pants and shirts that I thought your son maybe could use. As I tried everything on it was amazing, the pants were 36-30, the suit coats were all 42 regular, and the shirts even had the right size neck and length sleeves.
II. Spirit—v.3 when you are first saved it is a spiritual event, and you start off living in the Spirit. You walk in the Spirit, you live in the Spirit, everything in your life is about the Spirit. The Galatians started off wanting spiritual things, but now they were getting away from the Spirit.
Ill) listen to this description of early services of the Methodist movement: as the congregation prayed for the anointing of God the power of the Spirit swept through the church. Many just sat in the powerful presence of God for hours, and many reports of miracles were given by the people. This powerful move is truly sweeping through the services of most Methodist churches of our day. Revival is in the air and people are coming in response to the call of the Spirit. I am glad to see many of our Methodist churches in the area are moving back to those early spiritual roots of Spirit led revival.
a. they began in the Spirit—that is why it is so important to get back to the beginning, if anything in your life is moving you away from the Spirit, you need to get back to beginning.
Ill) years ago someone visited First Assembly of God in Montgomery and there was a message and interpretation from the left side of the church. In the night service they sat on that side of the church because they wanted to be where the Spirit of God was moving. To me that proves there is a hunger in the lives of most people to be where the Spirit is.
b. keeping the church Spiritual must be the constant goal. Some churches get program oriented, some churches get over socialized, some churches become counseling centers and so on. But the spiritual life of any church must be maintained for the church to be alive.
III. Power—v.5—miracles—Paul asks the question, did miracles take place in the church by human effort or supernatural faith in God. The next thing that we find at the beginning is power, signs, and wonders. This should be the desire of every church member, to see the power of God manifested in lives.
a. the power to heal—a while back a man came by my office that we had prayed for in one of our services. The Spirit of God moved and we could sense God doing things. He told me that he used as many as two packs of tums per day for years to calm his stomach, but since that service he hadn’t had to use a tum in months.
b. The power to deliver—as the Spirit of God has moved we have had many testimonies of people who have been set free from addictions in their lives. One man who was set free from smoking told me, I walked out of the service and have never had one urge to smoke again.
c. The power to fill—we have had many people over the last few years visit our services who have experienced the Baptism in the Holy Spirit in our services. Many times during the praise and worship services.
IV. Blessings—blessed with faithful Abraham—v.9—Paul reminds the Galatians that those who walk by faith live in the blessings of faithful Abraham. People miss out on the blessings as they move from faith, spirit and power, into forms of religious activity.
a. the blessings of supernatural joy—years ago I heard an evangelist tell the story about a group of ladies who had left one of the services so full of the Holy Spirit that joy was all over their faces. They got pulled over by a policeman who asked them if they were high, and after sharing with Him their high was the Holy Ghost he got filled with the Spirit standing next to their car.
b. The blessing of influence—your life can make an impact. One of the great stories of influence is told by a friend of mine Tim Enloe who is an evangelist. He went to a very small church in Kansas and a single mom of very low means came to a service and received the Holy Spirit. The next night she had 6 or 7 ladies with her, and this is the story. She went to the washateria full of the Holy Ghost the day after she received, and as she shared with these other ladies, they were all filled with the Holy Ghost at the washateria.
c. the blessing of favor—a professor at Bible College relates God’s favor in a amazing story. After his first year at CBI, he went and did a summer intern at a church which was to give him enough money for the next years tuition. But the church had a split and the pastor at the end of the summer told him, sorry, but there is no money for your schooling. He went back to CBI with no money, and decided to work his way through the next year. As he was approaching the administration office, a man walked up to him, said, young man, God woke me up and told me to come to CBI, and I have just left the cashiers office, your next three years are paid in full.
Close: get back to the beginning where there’s faith, Spirit, power and blessing. Don’t settle for religion, don’t look for the easy way, go after God, go after all that he has for you.
I think if we aren’t careful, we will be like the young man who wanted to marry the farmers daughter. The farmer said, only if you pass the test. He said, if you can catch a bull by the tail, you can marry my daughter. The farmer said, you can choose between three bulls. The first bull let out was big, had long horns, and was pawing the ground, the young man let that bull pass. The next bull was even bigger and meaner looking, so he said, I don’t want to mess with him. The last bull was small, almost meek as a lamb, so he said, that’s my bull, but when the bull got near him he realized, the small bull had no tail. Sometimes to get what you want, you can’t look for the easy road, you can’t let life pass you bye, you have to grab on, hold on, and claim your blessings in God.
