My message today at NRN - 3 Lessons of the New Normal

This morning I launch a new teaching series from the book of Galatians.   A little background of the book is important to understand who the book was written too.

Paul was writing to the loved ones at the church he founded in the region of Galatia. There people were Gentiles and had not background of the Old Testament or of religious rituals.  Paul begins his letter with some hard hitting, in your face,  words:




I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are following a different gospel—  not that there really is another gospel, but there are some who are disturbing you and wanting to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we (or an angel from heaven) should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be condemned to hell!  As we have said before, and now I say again, if any one is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let him be condemned to hell!


Here is an overview of the three lessons about the New Normal:

 1. If we aren’t careful, the gospel can stop being GOOD   NEWS

What is the Gospel – the Good News?

Now let me remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News    I preached to you before. You welcomed it then and still do now, for your faith is built on this wonderful message. And it is this Good News that saves you if you firmly believe it, unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place. I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me – that Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, as the Scriptures said.                                          1 Corinthians 15:1-4 (NLT)

This is the New Normal: 

1. Christ died for our sins

2. He was buried.     

 3. He was raised from the dead

2. It’s fairly easy to be DECEIVED

…You are being fooled by those who twist and change the truth concerning Christ.                                        Galatians 1:7 (NLT)

3. Hard conversations become easier when you keep the FOCUS   in the right place

Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men?

 If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.                                                                  Galatians 1:10

Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character.

                                                                         1 Corinthians 15:33

But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.              2 Corinthians 11:3 (NKJV)

The main thing about being a Christian is to see that the main thing remains the main thing. That is what Paul is saying. The main thing is that at the heart and center of your life is the simplicity that is in Christ, a simple thing. I have noticed over many years of observation that when my relationship with Jesus becomes complicated, it is always a sign that it is drifting away from the realities and centralities of faith. The world around us is getting increasingly complex, and it is because it is drifting farther and farther from God. 

When your relationship with Jesus becomes complex, it is a sign that it is departing from Christ.  

Here is an example about sharing the Good News today: