Man Talk

I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. — Galatians 2:21 CALL OUT: Today, our callout goes to Shawn Wilson from Fruit Cove, FL, a new member of the website. Thanks for your partnership with us. Returning to yesterday's devotional, we learned that we live by faith. Faith in Jesus both saves and sustains us. Paul's follow-up today is that thinking that we can add anything to Jesus's accomplished work other than faith alone nullifies the greatness of God's grace and the purpose for which Jesus died. The bottom line is we need grace. Grace is our only hope when we stand condemned before the Great Judge because, in matters of salvation, grace is all we have. We are guilty and sinful to the core, trapped by inescapable guilt. Therefore, trying to work our way out when there is no way out is a waste of time. Moreover, it's equally foolish to reject grace and pretend like we don't need it. So stop wasting your time, stop nullifying God's grace, an

For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. — Galatians 2:19-20 CALL OUT: Today, I'd like to call out Chuck Peter from Roseville, MN, who yesterday marked his third year using our devotionals for his weekly Zoom meeting with his guys. It's my privilege to be a part of your group every week. Galatians 2:20 is undoubtedly one of the great verses of this chapter and the entire letter. Paul's point is that all our actions are futile. The law proved it. Our best actions on our best days were insufficient to reconcile our relationship with God. We needed the perfect action of a perfect man, Jesus, God's Son. Through his perfect work and his sacrifice for us on the Cross, we live. But from this point forward, it's not our life we live. It's his life. The life I live is a life lived by faith—fait

But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. — Galatians 2:17-18 CALL OUT: Call out today to all the Leaders from Forged, our leadership training event in Florida. What a powerful group of men's leaders. The point of this text is so simple and yet so profound. Paul is saying that it is not my work that matters. It's Jesus's work. I tried my hand at building my life. It didn't work. All my work (the best of it and the worst of it) had to be torn down so that Jesus could build something new in me. He's the master carpenter. He always has been. I am not. I am merely the work of his hands. Therefore, my job is not rebuilding my life. It is living in the house he has already built. In addition, it's now living in this house with His Spirit, enjoying the work he has accomplished in me. Too many believers accept Jesus and return to the same old patterns. A jus

We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. — Galatians 2:15-16 CALL OUT: Call out today to Bret Hoover from Allentown, PA, who is going to be baptized on March 17. A shirt is coming your way! The following seven verses of this chapter are a highly potent, compressed, and theological language that drives home the whole point of the book. Paul's single point is this: acceptance by God is affected by a simple act of trust in Jesus Christ, not by adding anything else. And you need to remember because it's easy for this to get lost; the problem in Galatia is not a denial of the faith but the dilution of the faith by additions to the faith. Keeping this in mind, Paul is stating that the only thing that matters is faith in Jesus Christ. A ma

And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?” — Galatians 2:13-14 CALL OUT: Call out today to Christopher Raynolds from Kingsport, TN, who is using the tools on our website for himself and others. Way to go, brother! There are a bunch of great one-liners in this letter, and these verses contain two that are powerful: Even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews? Both of these accentuate Paul's point that even subtle acts of hypocrisy by spiritual leaders can potentially lead believers and unbelievers away from God. They will even lead sincere believers away from the truth. This is why we must keep a

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. — Galatians 2:11 CALL OUT: Call out today to Joey Johnson from Woodbury, MN, who is leading a group using our easy-to-use resource 30 Men Who Lived With Conviction. Antioch is an essential city during Paul's time. Today, this is Antakiya, located in Turkey. However, during the Roman Empire, Antioch was the third largest city in the empire, with about half a million people. It was the capital city of Syria and was known as the "Rome of the East,” furnished with theaters, aqueducts, public baths, a great basilica, and a famous colonnaded main street adorned with marble pavement and vaulted stone roofs. Antioch was also ground zero for Paul and his apostolic ministry to the Gentiles. It played a crucial role in Paul's ministry for several reasons. First, it served as a base for his missionary journeys, launching him into diverse regions with the gospel message. Second, its cosmopolitan nature made it an ideal location for fin

And when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. — Galatians 2:9-10 CALL OUT: Call out today to Jim from Dayton, IA, a friend of Steve Pinkley, the Director at Hidden Acres Camp. I was pumped to hear you shared your testimony, and you mentioned "All In" numerous times. The three men mentioned are the inner circle of Jesus. Paul calls them those "who seemed to be pillars," which sounds a little derogatory even though Paul never contested it. We have to assume there was a slight veneration of these men, given the time they spent with Jesus and how others perceived them. Paul was sensitive to this type of public veneration. In Galatians 5, he states: If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one ano

On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), — Galatians 2:7-8 CALL OUT: Call out today to Brian Lydick from Belpre, Ohio. Thank you for sharing your testimony and God's divine intervention in your wife's life. Paul's point here is very positive. It is that they, Paul and Peter, are two men preaching the same Gospel called to two different spheres of influence by one Spirit as agreed upon in the meeting at Jerusalem. Paul is advocating for unity in the Gospel by the Spirit. Not a unity that ignores heresy or apostasy. A unity of effort that is true to the Gospel message that invites the one Spirit to reach many different people. This accentuates the point that, as believers, we need to try to work out our faith together. God gave us life. We are redeemed by Jesus. Th

To them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. — Galatians 2:5-6 CALL OUT: Call out today to 8 Men Baptized in Big Sandy, MN. I am excited about your big step to proclaim your new life in Christ. In conflict, we have choices, don't we? There is that moment of pause where we have the option to confront or dismiss. For example, I can recount many moments in "discussions" with my wife when I have a split second to decide whether I confront a particular issue or let it go. The issue is discerning which battle to fight and how vigorously I want to fight it. Have you been here? Maybe you're in the middle of a moment just like this today. This is the same decision Paul had to make regarding this issue. He had to make a choice. Was he going to dismiss the issue and build stronger

Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery — Galatians 2:4 CALL OUT: Call out today to Derrick Bressel and the team from Fresno, CA. Thanks for your friendship and partnership in the Gospel. If you think woke theology in the church is a new problem, well, you're wrong. Paul is writing this letter because false teachers in his day were sneaking in their own version of woke theology. I love the metaphor Paul uses here. He describes these false teachers as "spies" who have "slipped in" and "secretly" operate by dropping in misinformation for "enslaving" Gospel-believing people. This metaphor is so potent because it highlights the problem and the purpose of woke theology. The problem with woke theology is that it sounds like the truth, yet it only contains shreds of truth. Yet it has just enough shreds of the truth that it's pretty presentable and persuasive. It seems reasonable, even though it's no

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The Gospel is a message about Christ and from Christ. It does not belong to you, but it's for you. — A devotional by Vince Miller.

Will you live exposed before God and let your motivations for the Gospel be seen by all? — A devotional by Vince Miller.

Are you speaking up when you see others you love heading toward an eternally dangerous situation? — A devotional by Vince Miller.

Addition or subtraction to or from the Gospel is always desertion and departure, which makes it apostasy. — A devotional by Vince Miller.