NEWS, ARTICLES, DEVOTIONS AND MORE FROM BttB...

Galatians 5:16-18   16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. 18 But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under ob

READ   Galatians 5:19-21   19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.     Jesus said you would know

READ   Galatians 5:22-23   22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!     Galatians 5:19-21 lists the characteristics of unbelievers. Galatians 5:22-23 lists the characteristics of believers. Remember, you will know them by their fruit. Because the word “fruit” is singular, some think it refers to “love” and the others flow

READ   Galatians 5:24-26   24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. 26 Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.     Paul used the expression of something nailed to the cross to tell the Galatians to do so with their sinful nature’s passions an

READ   Galatians 6:1-3   1 Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. 2 Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. 3 If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.     Paul urged spiritual believers to help other b

READ   Galatians 6:4-6   4 Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. 5 For we are each responsible for our own conduct. 6 Those who are taught the word of God should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them.     Paul continued to warn believers about not comparing themselves to other believers. Each person should try to be his or her best for Je

READ   Galatians 6:7-8   7 Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. 8 Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.     Paul stressed that the way one lives will be evident later. It is important for people to realize the way they live will have consequences. Choices in life hav

READ   Galatians 6:9-10   9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. 10 Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.     Many Christ-followers are weary. It takes physical energy to have a spiritual ministry. Paul encouraged them to keep on with their good work. Note this should be done for everyone but especially for fe

READ   Galatians 6:11   11 NOTICE WHAT LARGE LETTERS I USE AS I WRITE THESE CLOSING WORDS IN MY OWN HANDWRITING.      The New Living Translation capitalizes all of these words to emphasize Paul’s point. Not all translations do this. The statement is also what gives more evidence to some who believe that Paul had eye problems. They join this with what Paul wrote in Galatians 4:15. The letter was dictated to a secretary and then Paul signed this one in his own large handwriting

READ   Galatians 6:12-13   12 Those who are trying to force you to be circumcised want to look good to others. They don’t want to be persecuted for teaching that the cross of Christ alone can save. 13 And even those who advocate circumcision don’t keep the whole law themselves. They only want you to be circumcised so they can boast about it and claim you as their disciples.     Paul wrote that those wanting the Galatians to add law keeping to believing in Jesus for salvation

READ   Galatians 6:14   14 As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died.      The only thing that Paul would boast about was what Jesus accomplished when He died on the cross. Although the cross is thought of as putting one to death, Paul said it also put to death his interest in the world and the world’s interest in him. 

READ   Galatians 6:15-16   15 It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation. 16 May God’s peace and mercy be upon all who live by this principle; they are the new people of God.     For the legalists who have their lists of what they think people ought to do to be considered believers, Paul says those items have nothing to do with one becoming a new creation in God. Paul wrote the similar truth i

READ   Galatians 6:17-18   17 From now on, don’t let anyone trouble me with these things. For I bear on my body the scars that show I belong to Jesus. 18 Dear brothers and sisters, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.     Paul referred to the scars he had because of preaching a gospel of grace and not of works. This revealed he truly belonged to Jesus. Read 2 Corinthians 11:16-27 that tells what Paul had experienced. No one should have questioned

By the time John wrote his letter, 1 John, in the late first century, he would have been one of the last living eyewitnesses to Jesus’ life and ministry. Through the work of Paul and the other Apostles, the Gospel of Jesus had been spread wide through the known world. But other voices were starting to muddy the clear message of Christ.    In this verse-by-verse study, we’ll read John’s encouragement to his readers to stand strong in the faith. He starts by reminding his reade

READ   1 John 1:1-2   1 We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. 2 This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us.     The apostle John was an eye-witness of Jesus from His baptism by Joh

READ   1 John 1:3-4   3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.     The apostle John wanted to share with others what he had seen and heard concerning Jesus. Notice his reason for doing so: so they might have fellowship with him and the other eyewitnesses. The heart of this f

READ   1 John 1:5-6   5 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. 6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth.     The main message John conveyed was that “God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.” John is contrasting spiritual light with spiritual darkness. Before salvation, unbelievers live in spiritual

READ   1 John 1:7-8   7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.     How does one tell he or she is living in the light? It is evidenced by having fellowship with other believers who have experienced that Jesus’ blood has cleansed from all sin. Jesus was perfect, but no on

READ   1 John 1:9-10   9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.     Union is established in the family of God by believing in Jesus as Savior. When fellowship in the family is disrupted because of sin, the believer is to confess it to the Lord. 1 John 1:9 promises that when it is co

READ   1 John 2:1-2   1 My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. 2 He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.     John appeals to believers as a father with his children. His concern is that they not sin, but he knows they are not perfect so he tells the

READ   1 John 2:3-6   3 And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. 4 If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. 5 But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. 6 Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.     God knows whether someone has trusted in Jesus as Savior. The only way peop

READ   1 John 2:7-8   7 Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before. 8 Yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment, and you also are living it. For the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining.     The commandment to which John referred was an old one in that it was known in the Old T

READ   1 John 2:9-11   9 If anyone claims, “I am living in the light,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is still living in darkness. 10 Anyone who loves a fellow believer is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble. 11 But anyone who hates a fellow believer is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness.     Do you know of anyone who claims to be a believer in Jesus and yet hates

READ   1 John 2:12-13   12 I am writing to you who are God’s children because your sins have been forgiven through Jesus. 13 I am writing to you who are mature in the faith because you know Christ, who existed from the beginning. I am writing to you who are young in the faith because you have won your battle with the evil one.     John was writing to those who were mature in the faith and to those who were young in the faith. “Maturity” is a matter of degrees and is not refer