Your pattern of worship will change, the watchman heard

A new pattern of worship has birthed, just as the Lord has foretold the watchman one morning in June when the Lord showed him the verse, “Your pattern of worship will change.” (Deu12:8)
In the micro house church the members from a few families range from seniors in their 70s and 60s to a junior of 5-6 years old. There is a representative variety of ages in between, including, 10s, 20s, 40s and 50s. the only missing age group is the 30s. The watchman observed.
Today’s gathering consisted of the older groups, as the younger ones are elsewhere. The worship, prayers in the Spirit and in understanding, and words went on for five hours. There was not one sick and not one feeble. (The oldest member who used to receive ‘infirm’ report, now walks about without support and she also raises her hands and says Amen and Amen as the Spirit of the Lord leads her when others pray. It is a weekly miracle as she sits through at least three hours and more of worship!)
The singing in the Spirit went supernaturally for a long time until there was a heavenly choir in training. The sound blended like the blowing of a gentle wind, rustling the leaves in poetic rhythm. The Bible verse, “He who is joined to the Lord, is one spirit with Him” came to reality to each of the participants.
As there was no fixed sequence or program, the Spirit led them to listen to the words of God first, followed by Holy Communion, and worship. By the time they listened to the message, they were merely continuing what the Lord had communicated to them through a pastor who was prompted to send some verses to the watchman on the previous day’s afternoon after the watchman had interceded and asked the Lord for the baptism with the Holy Spirit for the group who had earnestly sought the Lord daily now for a week. The pastor did not know this group. He was just led to send the verses to the watchman. After midnight he sent a third verse too. The three verses formed the basis of the day’s message. Amazing and awesome. They were all convicted by the verses and repented one by one.
After the five hours of worship, the group proceeded to watch the book of Acts in another brethren’s house for another two hours. As the young ones were elsewhere, the grown ups decided to eat up all the snacks of ice cream, fruits, chips and nuts. it was a wonderful Lord’s day, living the Holy Spirit way!
___________________Deuteronomy 12 (NLT)

The Lord’s Chosen Place for Worship

12 “These are the decrees and regulations you must be careful to obey when you live in the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. You must obey them as long as you live.
² “When you drive out the nations that live there, you must destroy all the places where they worship their gods—high on the mountains, up on the hills, and under every green tree. ³ Break down their altars and smash their sacred pillars. Burn their Asherah poles and cut down their carved idols. Completely erase the names of their gods!
⁴ “Do not worship the Lord your God in the way these pagan peoples worship their gods. ⁵ Rather, you must seek the Lord your God at the place of worship he himself will choose from among all the tribes—the place where his name will be honored. ⁶ There you will bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your sacred offerings, your offerings to fulfill a vow, your voluntary offerings, and your offerings of the firstborn animals of your herds and flocks. ⁷ There you and your families will feast in the presence of the Lord your God, and you will rejoice in all you have accomplished because the Lord your God has blessed you.
⁸ “Your pattern of worship will change. Today all of you are doing as you please, ⁹ because you have not yet arrived at the place of rest, the land the Lord your God is giving you as your special possession. ¹⁰ But you will soon cross the Jordan River and live in the land the Lord your God is giving you. When he gives you rest from all your enemies and you’re living safely in the land, ¹¹ you must bring everything I command you—your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your sacred offerings, and your offerings to fulfill a vow—to the designated place of worship, the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to be honored.
¹² “You must celebrate there in the presence of the Lord your God with your sons and daughters and all your servants. And remember to include the Levites who live in your towns, for they will receive no allotment of land among you. ¹³ Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings just anywhere you like. ¹⁴ You may do so only at the place the Lord will choose within one of your tribal territories. There you must offer your burnt offerings and do everything I command you.
¹⁵ “But you may butcher your animals and eat their meat in any town whenever you want. You may freely eat the animals with which the Lord your God blesses you. All of you, whether ceremonially clean or unclean, may eat that meat, just as you now eat gazelle and deer. ¹⁶ But you must not consume the blood. You must pour it out on the ground like water.
¹⁷ “But you may not eat your offerings in your hometown—neither the tithe of your grain and new wine and olive oil, nor the firstborn of your flocks and herds, nor any offering to fulfill a vow, nor your voluntary offerings, nor your sacred offerings. ¹⁸ You must eat these in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose. Eat them there with your children, your servants, and the Levites who live in your towns, celebrating in the presence of the Lord your God in all you do. ¹⁹ And be very careful never to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land.
²⁰ “When the Lord your God expands your territory as he has promised, and you have the urge to eat meat, you may freely eat meat whenever you want. ²¹ It might happen that the designated place of worship—the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to be honored—is a long way from your home. If so, you may butcher any of the cattle, sheep, or goats the Lord has given you, and you may freely eat the meat in your hometown, as I have commanded you. ²² Anyone, whether ceremonially clean or unclean, may eat that meat, just as you do now with gazelle and deer. ²³ But never consume the blood, for the blood is the life, and you must not consume the lifeblood with the meat. ²⁴ Instead, pour out the blood on the ground like water. ²⁵ Do not consume the blood, so that all may go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what pleases the Lord.
²⁶ “Take your sacred gifts and your offerings given to fulfill a vow to the place the Lord chooses. ²⁷ You must offer the meat and blood of your burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord your God. The blood of your other sacrifices must be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, but you may eat the meat. ²⁸ Be careful to obey all my commands, so that all will go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and pleasing to the Lord your God.
²⁹ “When the Lord your God goes ahead of you and destroys the nations and you drive them out and live in their land, ³⁰ do not fall into the trap of following their customs and worshiping their gods. Do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations worship their gods? I want to follow their example.’ ³¹ You must not worship the Lord your God the way the other nations worship their gods, for they perform for their gods every detestable act that the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods.
^32 [a]“So be careful to obey all the commands I give you. You must not add anything to them or subtract anything from them.

Footnotes:

1. Deuteronomy 12:32 Verse 12:32 is numbered 13:1 in Hebrew text.

Pray with Gospel For Asia online

Gospel for Asia - 1800 Golden Trail Ct. - Carrollton TX 75010 - 800-WIN-ASIA Dear Fellow Christian, Join the Gospel for Asia staff family during our monthly Friday night prayer meeting from 7:30 to 9:30 pm Central time. You don't even have to leave the comfort of your home to participate! Just visit our live video stream and invite your friends and family to intercede along with you for South Asia. Hear powerful firsthand updates of the tremendous work the Lord is doing in Asia and learn of ways that you can become more personally involved in all that God is doing. Together, as the Body of Christ, we can make a difference for eternity through prayer. The Lord bless you, Your friends at Gospel for Asia www.gfa.org/prayer

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The Holy Spirit says: Be Free! And no inhabitant will say, “I am sick”

 Today’s prayer from the watchman to the Lord is “O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait for you.Be our arm every morning,our salvation in the time of trouble.” Then the Lord answered, “And no inhabitant will say, “I am sick”. ““But where is this wonderful place Lord?” The watchman asked further. Then he knew. How did he know? Just by following the faith people, living in the Spirit, walking by faith and not by sight.

Lately he was led to renovate his abode by throwing out the stuff that hinder his spiritual journey by faith (worldly books and stuff of no value in the kingdom of God). He just obeyed. He saw in his spirit that some disciples looking persons sitting on the floor waiting upon the Lord. He asked the Lord and received the prompting that the place would be put to use as an intensive training ground for those who want to learn to hear God and be led by the Spirit. About three years back he first heard in his spirit the term “prophet-disciple school”. He put it aside as he had no other leading. Then a few months back the Lord prompted him again. He asked the Lord from where and how such ‘disciple trainees’ would come? He was told that the Lord would bring them and they would come from unexpected sources. He needed not do anything. They would self-sustain themselves. So he obeyed and free up the place by throwing away two lorry loads of unwanted stuff.
As it is spacious and empty he loves to sit there alone and waits upon the Lord. The early morning and evening time is the best. The garden is just a glass door away, with some trees and patches of grass and stone pavement. Mature red palms, an unnamed tree, a fir tree, and a young thriving avocado tree are all doing well.
One day he received a phone call. A brethren in Christ who had not contacted him for many years suddenly called him. The man had been fasting for 28 days and had encountered the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He was filled with joy and tears. He wanted to talk to someone and no one was willing to hear him out from his circle of brethren and friends, including his own wife, pastors and elders. They come from one of the most traditional churches in this region. They do not want to know his experience of baptism of the Holy Spirit and are also against praying in tongues (in the church or anything to do with the church ministry).
The pastor has even warned sternly that he should never speak or pray in tongue when he is at the pulpit (as a worship leader //deacon), leading worship or prayer meetings, or as a cell group leader, or anywhere around the church or where the church members gather. He was stunned. He has served the Lord for years and become bone dry. He has observed that others too have the same dryness in their souls and spirits. Their bodies too suffer sicknesses which warrant constant medicine intake. After he was filled with the Holy Spirit he was overjoyed and nourished by the Lord, feeding on the word of God like never before. The brethren also testified that he decided to stop his medicine during his fasting and he was healed of a chronic pain at the back of his neck!

So the watchman was contacted when this Spirit-filled brethren suddenly recalled his name! The watchman agreed to meet with him as the brethren indicated that he wanted to know more about Holy Spirit-filled living. At first they met around 10am. Then the Lord prompted that the brethren should join the watchman waiting upon the Lord early to learn hands-on. So they decided to meet at the newly renovated space at 5am daily Monday to Friday.

After the first meeting, they were joined by a couple who lived nearby. They decided to wait upon the Lord too in the early hours before going to work. So the 5am-8am/9am morning ‘wait-upon-the-Lord’ faith in action training had birthed. No agenda. No planning. No program. No schedule. No fixed message. No fixed time frame. They just learned to listen to the Lord Holy Spirit and obeyed.
The Bible verses flowed as the Spirit of the Lord led them. The Lord Jesus had promised, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”
Indeed, the watchman and the earnest seekers of God, daily encounter the reality of these verses, “Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty; they will see a land that stretches afar.”
“But there the Lord in majesty will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams,”
“And no inhabitant will say, “I am sick”; the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.”
________________________________Bible verses for today:
Isaiah 33 (ESV)
² O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait for you.
    Be our arm every morning,
    our salvation in the time of trouble.
³ At the tumultuous noise peoples flee;
when you lift yourself up, nations are scattered,
⁴ and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers;
as locusts leap, it is leapt upon.
⁵ The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high;
    he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness,
⁶ and he will be the stability of your times,
    abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge;
    the fear of the Lord is Zion’s^[a] treasure.
⁷ Behold, their heroes cry in the streets;
the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
⁸ The highways lie waste;
the traveler ceases.
Covenants are broken;
cities^[b] are despised;
there is no regard for man.
⁹ The land mourns and languishes;
Lebanon is confounded and withers away;
Sharon is like a desert,
and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.
¹⁰ “Now I will arise,” says the Lord,
    “now I will lift myself up;
    now I will be exalted.
¹¹ You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble;
your breath is a fire that will consume you.
¹² And the peoples will be as if burned to lime,
like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire.”
¹³ Hear, you who are far off, what I have done;
and you who are near, acknowledge my might.
¹⁴ The sinners in Zion are afraid;
trembling has seized the godless:
“Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire?
    Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?”
¹⁵ He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly,
who despises the gain of oppressions,
who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe,
who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed
and shuts his eyes from looking on evil,
¹⁶ he will dwell on the heights;
    his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks;
    his bread will be given him; his water will be sure.
¹⁷ Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty;
    they will see a land that stretches afar.
¹⁸ Your heart will muse on the terror:
“Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed the tribute?
Where is he who counted the towers?”
¹⁹ You will see no more the insolent people,
the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend,
stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand.
²⁰ Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts!
Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
an untroubled habitation, an immovable tent,
whose stakes will never be plucked up,
nor will any of its cords be broken.
²¹ But there the Lord in majesty will be for us
a place of broad rivers and streams,
where no galley with oars can go,
nor majestic ship can pass.
²² For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver;
    the Lord is our king; he will save us.
²³ Your cords hang loose;
they cannot hold the mast firm in its place
or keep the sail spread out.
Then prey and spoil in abundance will be divided;
even the lame will take the prey.
²⁴ And no inhabitant will say, “I am sick”;
    the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.
Footnotes:

1. Isaiah 33:6 Hebrew his
2. Isaiah 33:8 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll witnesses

today's message: “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 1

English Standard Version (ESV) Greeting

1 Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,

² To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
³ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Thanksgiving
⁴ I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, ⁵ that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— ⁶ even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— ⁷ so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁸ who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Divisions in the Church
¹⁰ I appeal to you, brothers,^[a] by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. ¹¹ For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. ¹² What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” ¹³ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁴ I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵ so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶ (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) ¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Christ the Wisdom and Power of God

¹⁸ For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
    and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

²⁰ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach^[b] to save those who believe. ²² For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

²⁶ For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards,^[c] not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸ God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, ²⁹ so that no human being^[d] might boast in the presence of God.  
³⁰ And because of him^[e] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, ³¹ so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Footnotes:

1. 1 Corinthians 1:10 Or brothers and sisters. The plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) refers to siblings in a family. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, adelphoi may refer either to men or to both men and women who are siblings (brothers and sisters) in God's family, the church; also verses 11, 26
2. 1 Corinthians 1:21 Or the folly of preaching
3. 1 Corinthians 1:26 Greek according to the flesh
4. 1 Corinthians 1:29 Greek no flesh
5. 1 Corinthians 1:30 Greek And from him

A List of Items for watchman-intercessor

How to be an effective watchman and intercessor? Often this question is raised by the enthusiastic watchman to be (who must be born again by the Spirit of Christ). There is a harvest field for watchmen/intercessors who are spiritual harvest laborers as well. So here are some words for those who really desire to soar into the spiritual realm watching and praying just as the Lord Jesus had commanded. The list is not exhaustive and is not arranged in any sequence of importance. Some of the items are inter-related or are expansions from previous items. (Note: Some may find some items on the list challenging or even ‘offensive’. Do not be offended. After all, it is between you and God who calls you.)
Always be led by the Spirit of the Lord, Jesus Christ Himself!

1. You need to be called.
2. You need to be spiritual, able to see, hear and discern in your spirit.
3. You need to be a disciple of Jesus.
4. You need to know the words of God.
5. You need to have faith.
6. You need to spend time, a lot of time, (for some, all the time) with God.
7. You need to know how to pray.
8. You need to love praying.
9. You need to live before God.
10. You need to live a solitary life, often misunderstood by close ones.
11. You need to be up when others are sleeping.
12. You need to travel far, often in the spirit.
13. You need to know and obey God’s will.
14. You need a variety of spiritual gifts, including the gifts of discerning spirits, word of knowledge, word of wisdom, tongues and interpretation of tongues when needed to pass on a message. For some who double up as prophets or teachers, they need the gift of prophesy or teaching.
15. You need to be after the heart of the Father (God), as David did.
16. You need to live a godly and holy life.
17. You need to fear God.
18. You need to know the will of God.
19. You need to know you have no option but to obey the Lord when called. You need to obey His will and His word.
20. You need to confess and repent of your sins as convicted by the Holy Spirit and the word of God.
21. You need to constantly examine your own thoughts and intents (motives) so they would not fool you into thinking you have heard from the Lord.
22. You need to know how to do spiritual warfare.
23. You need grace and truth.
24. You need the blood of Jesus.
25. You need Psalm 91 protection.
26. You need to put on the full armor of God.
27. You need to know to pray the right things at the right time for the right people.
28. You need to know how to use the sword of the Spirit.
29. You need to know how to pray and sing in the Spirit.
30. You need to live divine. (This means you can pray, bind and cast out your own demons, heal your own sickness, and deliver and cleanse yourself).

How Jesus spoke – (word gems from Mark)

After the watchman had completed reading Romans 1-8 in the small hours of the morning, he was led to read the book of Mark 1-5. He heard, “Jesus was a man of few words. Imitate Him.”
Jesus had set an example for His disciples. He did not waste words. He knew the power of God’s words when spoken with faith, as led by the Holy Spirit.
_______________________Here are the gems the watchman found:
1:5 The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.
1:7 Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.
1:25 Be silent and come out of him!
1:38 Let Me go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.
1:41 I will; be clean.
1:44 See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.
2:5 Son, your sins are forgiven.
2:11 I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.
3:3 Come here.
3:5 Stretch out your hand.
4:39 Peace! Be still!
5:8 Come out of the man, you unclean spirit.
5:34 Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.
5:41 Little girl, I say to you, arise.
__________________He continued the next morning and uncovered these gems as follows:
6:4 A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.
6:10 Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. 11 And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.
6:31 Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.
6:37 You give them something to eat.
6:38 How many loaves do you have? Go and see.
6:50 Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.
7:29 For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.
7:34 Ephphatha (Be open).
8:5 How many loaves do you have?
8:12 Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.
8:15 Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.
8:21 Do you not yet understand?
9:16 What are you arguing about with them?
9:21 How long has this been happening to him?
9:23 If you can! All things are possible for one who believes.
9:25 You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.
9:29 This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting.
9:31 The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And when He is killed, after three days He will rise.
9:33 What were you discussing on the way?
9:35 If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.
10:15 Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.
10:27 With man it is impossible but not with God. With God all things are possible.
10:31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
10:36 What do you want Me to do for you?
10:45 But even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.
10:49 Call him.
10:51 What do you want Me to do for you?
10:52 Go your way, your faith has made you well.
_____________________________
11:17 Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayers for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.
11:24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it shall be yours.
11:25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
11:29 I will ask you one question; answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
12:24 Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?
12:27 He is not God of the dead, but God of the living. You are quite wrong.
12:31b There is no other commandment greater than these.
13:11 …for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.
13:13 And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
13:14 But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
13:23 But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.
13:26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.
13:31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
13:35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows,^[c] or in the morning—
13:36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep.
13:37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.
14:⁹ And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.
²² And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” ²³ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. ²⁴ And he said to them, “This is my blood of the^[c] covenant, which is poured out for many.
³⁸ Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
⁴¹ And he came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. ⁴² Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.
⁶¹ But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” ⁶² And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
15:² And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.”
16:¹⁵ And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. ¹⁶ Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷ And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; ¹⁸ they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

THE MESSAGE TODAY: How to be curse free?

Galatians 3

English Standard Version (ESV)

By Faith, or by Works of the Law?

3 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. ² Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? ³ Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by^[a] the flesh? ⁴ Did you suffer^[b] so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? ⁵ Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— ⁶ just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

⁷ Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. ⁸ And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify^[c] the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” ⁹ So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

¹⁰ For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” ¹¹ Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”^{[d] 12} But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” ¹³ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— ¹⁴ so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit^[e] through faith.

The Law and the Promise

¹⁵ To give a human example, brothers:^[f] even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. ¹⁶ Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. ¹⁷ This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. ¹⁸ For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
¹⁹ Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. ²⁰ Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.
²¹ Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. ²² But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
²³ Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. ²⁴ So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, ²⁶ for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. ²⁷ For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave^[g] nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

Footnotes:

1. Galatians 3:3 Or now ending with
2. Galatians 3:4 Or experience
3. Galatians 3:8 Or count righteous; also verses 11, 24
4. Galatians 3:11 Or The one who by faith is righteous will live
5. Galatians 3:14 Greek receive the promise of the Spirit
6. Galatians 3:15 Or brothers and sisters
7. Galatians 3:28 Greek bondservant