Lesson 2916

(Lesson 2916)(12-24-19) Galatians 5:7-18
    “Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be. And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased. I would they were even cut off which trouble you. For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.”

    In today’s lesson, Paul pleads with the Galatians not to let one corrosive individual spoil the intire church.
    The churches of today suffer the same problems as those suffered by the Galatians. There are always those, sent by Satan, who wish to disrupt and destroy the effforts of those who would adhere to the strict gospel of Jesus Christ. The difference between now and then, is that, in Paul’s day, the trouble came mainly from the Jews. In today’s churches, the problems usually arise from someone within their own membership.
    Paul advised that we separate ourselves from those who would cause turmoil in the church. He said, in essence, that one trouble maker can destroy an entire church.~