First off, i just want to say, that these last 4 days pretty much impacted my life in ways i didnt expect. what a great way to spend the last 3 days of 2011 and the first day of the new year! theres so much to say, and ill honestly try to remember all of it.
So the night we arrived, i thought they were just going to give an intro to the next few days and go over rules and such. i was wrong. literally the minute we got there, they announced that the first message was to be held in 5 minutes, and i thought to myself "dang, this is going to me intense". dont get me wrong, i was completely prepared physically n mentally for it. So that night we had 2 messages and one small group time adding up to 3 hours of study time alltogether.
The book we studied these past 4 days was Galatians. Now, im pretty sure no one gave me any warning of how confusing this book is. The first night was understandable, but the next few chapters just got more intense and hard to follow. Some days it was a stuggle to pay attention, but always in the end i got a better understanding of the chapter.
Whenever i read the bible, i try and relate it to my life, which im sure is what alot of ppl do. But this time, i was forced to focus on facts and studying the Word rather then trying to relate every sentence to my life. Let me tell you, Galations was the hardest to relate to out of all the books ive read. Dont get me wrong, studying the facts of the bible took me on a different life direction. After empower, all i want to do is go book by book and study the bible hard core. It was that awesome and eye-opening.
Instead of going message by message and telling you absolutely every little point i got out of Galatians, ill just sum every major point up:
Pretty much the main point of the first chapter that Paul was trying to make was that we are free. Everyone who believes in God is free. We dont have to do anything to try and justify ourselves. Isnt that crazy? People think they have to do all these good works like volunteering to be justified. But we dont! The next thing apostle Paul talked about, was the distinction between the Law (circumcision) and Gods Promise. The Law is basically what people of the flesh live by. Its the actions that people live by to try and "be a good person" or a good christian. And the Promise is believing that God set us free and the works we do come out of love and faith rather than trying to be justified. But Paul specifically said that anyone who lives by the Law cannot live by the Promise, and whoever lives by the Promise cannot live by the Law. So pretty much you live by one thing 100% or nothing. You cant live by both.
Galatians 5:6 pretty much states that God doesnt care about the works that you do. He cares that you have a relationship with Him, have faith in Him, and love Him. So now that we have been set free, when we have faith and love for God, our works come out of that faith and love. We serve our God out of faith and love, and not for the purpose of being justified.
So then how do we live according to the Promise and not by the Law? We live by the Spirit. Living by the Spirit basically means you have a Relationship with God. Galatians 5:17 says that the Spirit and flesh are opposite. In living by one, the other one cannot prevail. So pretty much saying that its good to live by the Spirit so the flesh doesnt prevail. How do you know you are walking by the Spirit and not by the flesh? Well Galatians 5:22-23 state that when you live by the Spirit, these things are present in your life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. And then Galatians goes on to say "Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another". To me, its all pretty straight forward how im supposed to live my life and walk by the Spirit.
The last chapter of Galatians (6) is positive, and probably my favorite chapter. Gal. 6:9 tells us not to give up on someone (that weve been praying for). Have faith, hope, and do not grow weary. Gal. 6:10 tells us that while we are here on earth, do good to others. Doing "bad" has no value. Give without expecting demand. Give out of faith and love. Gal. 6:15 says that whether circumsized or not (having lived by the law in the past, or not), we are a new creation in Christ. It doesnt matter the workds we do or not, we are in Christ!
So that being a very short summary of Galatians, ill just post the random points i got out of the messages and small group times. (Ill do it in bullet points so it makes more sense).
message #1: -in Him you are freed from everything you could not otherwise be freed from
- the Lord calls you by His grace
- we are joined to the one unique person of the universe (God)
small group #1: -Gal. 1:10 dont be a pleaser of man but stand firm in the Word of God
message #2: - the christian life is about God Himself and your relationship with him, not about what you do or what you cant do
- "what in the end are you inlove with"? are we inlove with God, or are we inlove with aspects of the christian life and how we look as a christian?
-dont look at where someone comes from or what they look like, look at where God is in their life and what God has done with them
message #3: - "our supreme desire should be to know Him and be conformed to His image"
- put the Lord first in everything
- the "american dream" (what we do in life, what we have, and how we look) should be thought of after God. God comes first
small group #3: - we have free will but its a willing servant/master relationship
- why would you suffer for something if its not real? (confirming our belief in God)
message #5: -if something (a thought or idea) in life isnt lifechanging, so what? ignore it
- the more you put yourself under your own law, the more you feel condemned
-you dont get more spirit by trying harder. by trying harder, you get cursed
small group #6: - Gal. 5:12 dont (you yourself) become a stumbling block to other christians
- Gal. 5:13 serve out of love (not for justification) for our Savior
message #11: -dont rejoice in someone elses punishment (from God)
-help someone else, bear someone elses load
-in the church life, our "load" is: be happy (joyful around others), show up to the meetings, spend time with God, and read the bible
message #12: -we are not here on earth to make a show or boast in ourselves
-God is working in us.
-He can be working in many ways in an unbelievers heart that we dont see
-a life of peace and mery is the "Israel of God"
So that is what i learned from Empower. Isnt that life changing?! I encourage you, GO TO EMPOWER AND VISION WEEK, it will change your life forever.
