DIG for Monday the 28th of December….. Abba Father, the second time…..Galatians 4 v 6

Jesus was the first to use the term Abba Father, and the Holy Spirit also said this.

We saw that Jesus used this term during His hardest time on earth, now we see the Holy Spirit using it during a more joyous occasion.

We can read in the Word that the Holy Spirit cried out this phrase as He entered our heart at our initial salvation (Galatians 4 v 6).

Jesus was sent to provide a route for our salvation and God wants every man to come to repentance and salvation (2 Peter 3 v 9).

So when a man comes to the realisation that he needs a Saviour and puts his trust and faith in Jesus this is a joyous occasion for the Lord.

Hence when a man is saved and the Holy Sprit enters his heart He cries out Abba Father in joy and happiness.

The Greek word for crying is “krad-zo” and means to shriek, scream and exclaim.

So the Holy Spirit is shouting loudly as in celebration.

The Lord was glad when you were saved, and His Spirit screamed out in joy.

And we can shout out in celebration too.

Yesterday I said we could say Abba Father in our pain and hurt, well we can also shout out Abba Father in joy and celebration.

God the Father, our Dad, wants to share in our good times as well as our bad times.

We can go to Him with our successes and our good times.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that I can use the example of the Holy Spirit and shout out Abba, Father”.

Galatians 4 v 6…..And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father

DIG for Sunday the 27th of December….. Abba Father, the first time…..Mark 14 v 36

Jesus was the first to use the term, “Abba, Father”; before this account in Mark we do not see this phrase in the whole of Scripture.

He said this in the garden at Gethsemane, as the enormity of His task was fully understood by his human mind (Matthew 14 v 36).

In His hardest time, at a time of great stress He spoke out to His heavenly Father and called Him Dad.

He came to His Father with an affectionate and intimate term, even in the hardest of times.

As we will see later we can also now say, “Abba, Father”.

In your hardest times you can approach your Heavenly Father and call Him Dad.

Even in my hardest times, and even when I had done some stupid things, I always knew I could still approach my earthly father and call him Dad.

I didn’t change my attitude or the way I spoke to my Dad at these difficult times.

It is the same with God.

Even if we have been stupid, even in really hard stressful times, the Lord wants us to approach Him in the same manner, with boldness and affection calling Him Dad.

In prayer we can use this term Abba or Dad; in prayer we do not need to change the way we speak into old King James’ English.

God is our Father, our affectionate and loving Dad, we can approach Him in the same manner at all times.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that I can use the example of Jesus and call you Abba, Father”.

Mark 14 v 36…..And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt

DIG for Saturday the 26th of December…..Abba Father, what does this mean then…..Galatians 4 v 6

There is a phrase used in the bible 3 times, “Abba Father”, that has huge implications for the born again believer.

We see Jesus using it, then the Holy Spirit and then are told that we can use it.

In the next few DIGs I aim to explore what this phase means and what it means for us.

Literally translated from the Greek it could simply be “Father, Father”, however the Greek means way more than this.

The word translated as Father is the Greek word “pat-ayr” and means ancestor, parent or forbearer.

Abba does mean father but it is a familiar and affectionate term and could be translated as Dad or Daddy.

This phrase gives us two pictures of Father God that is relevant for the born again believer living under grace.

Yes we are in the lineage of God and He is our parent, however He is also our Dad; He is affectionate, loving and intimate with us.

This is not a picture of a judgemental God, sitting waiting to pounce on our every mistake, waiting to rain down illness and poverty upon us to teach us a lesson and make us better people.

It is a picture of an affectionate Dad who wants the best for us as the children that He adores.

This is a picture of a loving Father, an adoring Father and a Dad who wants to spend time with His children.

More on this in DIG tomorrow.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that you are a loving and affectionate Father and that you do really want the best for me”.

Galatians 4 v 6…..And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father

DIG for Friday the 25th of December…..the real reason for Christmas….. Galatians 4 v 4 and 5

Do you know the real reason why Jesus came?

We have been looking at these “Christmas” verses in Galatians and they tell us why Jesus came.

He did not come to deal with our sin; that was one of the things that He had to do in order to fulfil His mission.

He came so that we could be justified by faith, He came for our righteousness, and He came so that we could come into the family of God.

He came to redeem us so that we could be adopted as sons of God (Galatians 4 v 5).

Here is the real “reason for the season”, right in the middle of Galatians.

He came for you and you are the reason for the season.

Yes, He died for your sin in a sense but that was what He had to do to achieve His ultimate mission, in reality He died for your righteousness.

He died, dealt with sin and was raised again so that you could be saved, made righteous, justified by faith and come into the family as an adopted son.

This is the real meaning of Christmas.

Christmas is not about stables, stars and wise men; it is about the King of the Universe coming in human form, born of a virgin and born under the law, so that you could be adopted by God as a son.

And there it is in black and white right in the middle of Galatians, not a passage that we normally see as the Christmas narrative.

I hope you now read this short passage in Galatians in a new light.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord for the coming of Jesus and thank you that His mission was to put in place my salvation”.

Galatians 4 v 4 and 5…..But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem then that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons

DIG for Thursday the 24th of December…..made under the law, what does that mean…..Galatians 4 v 4 and 5

When trying to understand the Bible we have to realise that there are important points at which things change.

At the cross we moved from Old Covenant to New Covenant, from the time of law to the time of grace.

Jesus was born and lived under the Old Covenant; He lived and ministered under the law.

This means a number of important things for us as born again believers.

Firstly it means that most of what Jesus said is not meant for us literally, as we are not under law as He was, we are under grace.

More importantly however it means that Jesus lived under law, He also fulfilled the law and that has huge ramifications for us.

He fulfilled the law so we do not have to!

He took the curse of the law upon Himself so that we do not have to.

Jesus was born sinless and He never sinned, thus keeping all the law and not failing in any of it.

He did this is a man in order to claim back what man threw away in the garden i.e. relationship with God.

Because of the finished work of Jesus (fulfilling the law and dealing with sin) mankind was reconciled and the opportunity for salvation, redemption, justification and righteousness was put in place.

Jesus was born under the law and fulfilled the law so that we could be justified by faith and brought back into the family of God.

Thank you Jesus!

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord for the finished work of Jesus Christ and thank you for my redemption and justification”.

Galatians 4 v 4 and 5…..But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem then that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons

DIG for Wednesday the 23rd of December….He had to be born of a woman, but not of man…..Galatians 4 v 4 and 5

We have seen that in the fullness of time, when God was ready, Jesus was sent forth.

He did not come in splendour and glory as a fully-grown man; He came just like the rest of us, as a baby.

He was no conceived like the rest of us however; this is where Jesus’ birth was different.

Ever since Adam, all men had been born with a sin nature.

Jesus was not born with a sin nature; He was born after being conceived through the Holy Ghost.

Isaiah prophesied that this would happen (Isaiah 7 v 14).

Matthew confirmed that this did happen (Matthew 1 v 23).

For Jesus to fulfil His mission and keep the law it was essential that He did not have a sin nature, so it is essential that the virgin birth was a reality.

Never let anyone tell you that the virgin birth is not essential.

Never let anyone tell you that the virgin birth was impossible.

The God who created the universe and everything in it, the God who created you and me, can and did orchestrate a virgin birth.

Jesus was born of a woman, but not conceived of man.

He was sinless and stayed sinless and therefore fulfilled the law so that we do not have to.

Thank you Jesus!

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that Jesus was sent forth and thank you that He was born to fulfil the law so that I do not have to “.

Galatians 4 v 4 and 5…..But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem then that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons

DIG for Tuesday the 22nd of December…..God sent forth His Son…..Galatians 4 v 4 and 5

God sending forth His Son is an amazing truth (Galatians 4 v 4).

Until I have been studying Galatians for my latest series of messages I had not realised that the “Christmas story” is in the middle of this epistle.

Galatians 4 v 4 reminds me of Isaiah 9 v 6.

This is a favourite verse to use in the run up to Christmas, telling us about the coming of Jesus.

Jesus was sent as a Son, this tells us about His divinity (Isaiah 9 v 6).

Paul says a very similar thing in his epistle to the Galatians, telling them that God had sent forth His Son.

Jesus, God in His own right and the agent of Creation (Hebrews 1 v 2), came to this earth knowing that most people would reject Him.

He was rejected then and He is rejected now, yet He still came.

He came, as it was the will of His Father for reconciliation to take place between Him and man.

God wanted to bring man back into relationship with Himself, and Jesus was the route for this to take place.

I still think that it is amazing that Jesus, the Son of God and yet God at the same time came onto the earth that He had created.

This displays His love for every single one of us.

He came to bring reconciliation so that every man would then have the chance to be saved and made righteous; that is love.

He came to suffer so that we could have this; that is love.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that you loved me so much that you sent forth your Son to pay the price for my redemption”.

Galatians 4 v 4 and 5…..But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem then that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons

DIG for Monday the 21st of December…..”Christmas” was always part of God’s plan for mankind…..Galatians 4 v 4 and 5

The birth of Jesus has been called the “first Christmas” and the account of His birth known as the “Christmas story”.

I have been preaching through the epistle to the Galatians at MGF for the last couple of months.

In the last message before Christmas I was at the start of Galatians 4 and was surprised and encouraged to read the “Christmas story” in verses 4 and 5.

The first thing we can take form this verse is that the birth of Jesus was God’s plan for mankind.

He needed a way to deal with sin, He needed to reconcile man to Himself and Jesus was to be the way.

Jesus is indeed the way, and also the truth and the life, and only through Jesus can mankind come into relationship with Father God (John 14 v 6).

God’s plan was for man to come into His family through faith in Jesus, it was always to fulfil Genesis 12 v 3.

This was His plan and He put it into operation through Jesus.

The Word says God sent Jesus “when the fullness of time was come” (Galatians 4 v 4).

This shows to me that God had a plan and Jesus was sent when everything was ready for Him to come; this happened in God’s timing.

There are lots of things that God has delegated to us, but when Jesus came (and when He is coming back) always was in God’s timing.

When the time was right God sent forth His Son.

His Son was born as a man, and God came to earth in the form of flesh (Isaiah 9 v 6 and John 1 v 14).

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that Jesus came and thank you that your plan was for our reconciliation through Jesus”.

Galatians 4 v 4…..But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem then that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons

DIG for Sunday the 20th of December…..no star either…..Matthew 2 v 9

Once again in this DIG I am going to advise you to read the Word of God instead of listening to the traditions of men.

We have been looking in DIG at what did happen and what did not happen at the birth of Jesus.

Much of what we see in nativities and on Christmas cards did not actually happen; the star over the birthplace of Jesus is one other such myth.

We generally think that the wise men (3 of them) followed the start to the baby Jesus when He was born, that they visited Him at the same time as the shepherds.

We have seen that this was not the case for the wise men; they visited when He was a child.

So the star was above His home when He was a young child not a baby.

Looking at all our recent DIGs we can see Jesus was not born in a stable, the wise men were not there and there was no star above His birthplace.

These things are traditions of men that seem to have come through time as truths, but they are not Biblical truths.

It is the Word of God that is important and it is the Word of God that we should go into in order to learn about Jesus.

The world is full of nonsense about Jesus and the traditions of men abound.

Forget about them and see what the Word says.

The Word of God is where you will find the truth, not only about His birth but also about all things regarding Jesus.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord for your Word and thank you for the truths held within”.

Matthew 2 v 9…..When they had heard the king, they departed: and, lo, the start, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was

DIG for Saturday the 19th of December…..3 wise men at His birth, No there was not…..Matthew 2 v 1

I’ve written a lot in DIG lately about what the Bible says about the birth of Jesus.

Now let’s look at some stuff that the Bible doesn’t write about!

We’ve already seen in the last four days that He was not born in a stable.

Do you also know that the wise men were not at His birth?

Do you also know that the Bible says nothing about the number of wise men that eventually visited Him?

In Matthew 2 v 1 we see the wise men coming from the east at the time of His birth, we do not see them visiting Him then.

Their visit came at a later time.

They came to see the Lord later, when he was no longer a baby but a small child.

When they saw Him the Word says He was a young child or an infant, according to the Greek word for “young child” (Matthew 2 v 11).

There are lots of wrong interpretations from the Bible and this is one of them; traditions of man tells us that the wise men were at the birth of Jesus and that there were three of them, yet the Word does not say this.

The temple shepherds came and saw the baby Jesus, the wise men did not!

This is a valuable lesson for us when trying to read and understand the Bible; we should actually take heed of the Word of God and not the traditions of man.

You may say well does this really matter?

I saw yes it does, as we are putting more faith in and believing traditions of man rather than the Word, and if we do this with the birth of Jesus we are capable of doing it with other important matters in the Bible.

Read the Word and forget about man’s traditions.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord for your Word and thank you for the truths held within”.

Matthew 2 v 1…..Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem