Commentary and Gospel to preach to yourself: does it get any better?
Josh Moody, pastor of College Church in Wheaton (which I love by the way, just the city, the college, the grounds), took his sermons from Galatians and poured it into a readable, short-chaptered, book you can read in a month (as long as the month has 31 days).
His only goal is to give a hard look at what it means to live our lives by ONE GOSPEL: The Cross, what the Bible says the Gospel is – and not let anything else interfere with that. He succeeds. The first couple of chapters were so highlighted I knew this would be a book I would pour into for years, and use readily as a resource when writing or studying or speaking at a conference, etc. Such depth and insight. Both scholarly and pastoral.
“We are practical atheists if we limit God’s usefulness of us to our personality. God did not greatly use Paul because he thought Paul had all the right credentials. It was not “Oh, Paul, he knows the Bible and has good connections, let’s get him.” No, it was the religious terrorist. How unlikely is that? God delights to take unlikely people and user them because then the focus is on God, not on the unlikely people.” – 16
In thoughts of planning worship services: “When we plan, it is the Bible that must guide. Our worship must be Bible-centered in order to be God-centered.” – 17
Just in case you ever wonder what you had to do with your salvation: “Our salvation does not start with us. We do not initiate the process. We did not come up with the plan. We did not start it. God did.” – 25
These are but a small taste to the rich truths that Moody brings out of Galatians into sermons and then puts them in your hands as a tool for you to know the gospel better. Use this as a secondary source when studying/memorizing/learning Galatians. It will be a blessing to your soul and life and ministry.
