You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first, and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? — Galatians 4:13-16 CALL OUT: I want to give a shout-out to Dan Clements from Lawrence...
Apr 03, 2024•5 min
Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you, — Galatians 4:16-18 CALL OUT: I want to give a shout-out to Alan Cox from Napa, CA. Thanks for supporting the ministry, brother! If you have a friend who is about to make a mistake, and you know a truth that could help them avoid it, do yo...
Apr 02, 2024•4 min
GET THE BOOK: Daniel: A Strong Man Is Faithful here https://amzn.to/3ToZqOk Do you sense the persecution is heating up? Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their cloa...
Apr 02, 2024•4 min
You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. — Galatians 4:10-11 CALL OUT: I want to give a shout-out to Ron Ruch from Emmanuel Church in Minneapolis, MN. He's a legacy disciple-maker and sold-out man of God. Ron has lived a lot of life, but he also won't quit. I love you, brother. Have you ever been so exasperated that you've wondered if you've wasted your time? We all have. We have felt his way at painful points in our career, during a rep...
Apr 01, 2024•4 min
But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay." — Matthew 28:5-6 Imagine if you were standing before that tomb. The weight of grief is heavy on you. Then, out of nowhere, you hear a confident and calm voice say, "He is not here. He has risen!" Would your mind even compute this reality? You know what you saw over the last few days. You saw him flogged, ridiculed, ...
Mar 30, 2024•4 min
After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where...
Mar 30, 2024•4 min
What Makes It Good? On this day in history, the events that unfold mark what believers call Good Friday. This day is full of meaning, prompting us to reflect, remember, and rejoice. As you skim through the timeline of events posted below, you will recount the trials and tribulations that Jesus endured on this day. One question will emerge: "What makes this day so good?" To understand the answer, we must look beyond this day and the visible events. For a moment, we must look past what people are ...
Mar 29, 2024•5 min
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? — Galatians 4:8-9 CALL OUT: I want to give a shout-out to Andrew Leck from Rosehill, KS . Thanks so much for your partnership in the Gospel. Your generosity is much appreciated. Paul thinks it is incomprehens...
Mar 28, 2024•5 min
And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. — Galatians 4:6-7 CALL OUT: I want to give a shout-out to Larry Wargel from Columbia, SC . Thanks so much for your partnership in the Gospel. Your generosity is much appreciated. The Spirit is easily one of the most neglected topics in the church. Yet for Paul, the Spirit is significant and central. He is the sign o...
Mar 27, 2024•3 min
I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. — Galatians 4:1-5 CALL O...
Mar 26, 2024•5 min
GET THE BOOK: Daniel: A Strong Man Is Faithful here https://amzn.to/3ToZqOk What impossible situation do you need to bring to God today? In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him. Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. And the king said to them, "I had a dream, and my spirit is...
Mar 26, 2024•3 min
And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. — Galatians 3:29 CALL OUT: I want to give a shout-out to Mark Robinson from Slidell, LA, who is using our book 30 Men Who Lived With Conviction with his men. Thanks for leading men. We need men of conviction in the world today. Thanks for being that man. Yesterday, we learned how to exegete the previous verse more accurately than many do. We learned that our spiritual oneness in Christ is a status received by ...
Mar 25, 2024•5 min
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. — Galatians 3:28 CALL OUT: I want to give a shout-out to Chris DeBoer in Peachtree, GA, who is a new monthly partner. I am thankful for you, Chris, and all who support us monthly and faithfully. So many people have taken this text entirely out of context. They use it to leverage ideological positions that this Scripture does not endorse. Let me be clear: This text in...
Mar 24, 2024•8 min
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. — Galatians 3:27 CALL OUT: I want to give a shout-out to all the staff who follow me at Dekalb Mechanical in Illinois . This is for you today. If you read this text without reading the preceding and succeeding text, you will miss something so important. In the preceding text, Paul has established salvation by faith alone. In the succeeding text, he establishes that through faith, we are born as heirs into a family. Sandwiched ri...
Mar 23, 2024•4 min
So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. — Galatians 3:24-26 CALL OUT: I want to give a shout-out to Todd Hansen, our Prayer Team Leader , who is presently in Panama, MX. Thanks so much for your partnership in the Gospel. Which reminds me, if you need prayer, please reach out here: The Prayer Wall. The word "guardian...
Mar 22, 2024•5 min
But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. — Galatians 3:22-23 CALL OUT: I want to give a shout-out to Colin Steen from Brandon, SD, who purchased numerous copies of 30 Men Who Lived With Conviction . This is one of the easiest books we have for leading men through some great biblical conversation...
Mar 21, 2024•4 min
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. — Galatians 3:21 CALL OUT: I want to give a shout-out to Will Newcomb from Dover, DE, who watches our devotionals before his 4:00 am workout each day. Here's a spiritual workout for you today. One of the most reasonable and logical arguments against salvation by works is the argument, "If you could've done it, you would've done it. You t...
Mar 20, 2024•4 min
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. Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. — Galatians 3:19-20 CALL OUT: I want to give a shout-out to Robert Colbert from Hickory, NC, who purchased some of our leather journals. Thanks, brother! Paul asks a rhetorical question here, "What is the purpose or function of the Law? " In context, the qu...
Mar 19, 2024•4 min
GET THE BOOK: Daniel: A Strong Man Is Faithful here: https://amzn.to/3ToZqOk When masculinity is under attack, do you find refuge in your identity in God? Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego. — Daniel 1:6-7 The four young men in this text, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, were forcibly...
Mar 19, 2024•5 min
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. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. — Galatians 3:17-18 CALL OUT: Shout out to Chase Shrum from Houston, TX, who graciously encourages men to check out our resources and daily devotionals. I cannot thank you enough. I know sometimes texts like this one, read exclusively, can...
Mar 18, 2024•3 min
To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. 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. — Galatians 3:15-16 CALL OUT: Shout out to Adam Wallace from Chesapeake, VA, who is launching his own independent group for men in his community. We love and support you and we are praying for you....
Mar 17, 2024•3 min
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”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.— Galatians 3:13-14 CALL OUT: Shout out to Pastor Mark Roberts, from Crawfordsville, IN, who shares these devotionals with all the men of his church. "Redeemed" is such a good word. It's a marketplace term that means "to buy bac...
Mar 16, 2024•3 min
Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.”— Galatians 3:11-12 CALL OUT: Shout out to Mark Lerom, who is hosting me at Men's Advance this year. I am excited to be with you, 700+ guys. Let's see what God does! These verses may sound a bit cryptic if you only read them once, but if you read them multiple times, Paul is saying there are two ways to salvation...
Mar 15, 2024•4 min
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.” — Galatians 3:10 CALL OUT: Shout out to Resolute, all my current Board Members, and those who've journeyed with us over the past decade. Today marks our tenth anniversary since our inception. Looking ahead to the next decade, I'm eager to expand our reach, deepen discipleship, and offer even more valuable resources and suppo...
Mar 14, 2024•5 min
Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. — Galatians 3:6-9 CALL OUT: Call out to Mike Gole from Broken Arrow, OK , who joined us for leadership trai...
Mar 13, 2024•4 min
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. — Galatians 3:5 CALL OUT: Call out to Don Parker from Smithfield, RI , who is taking some men through our book Called To Act . I am excited for you and your men, and make sure they take that 35-Day Challenge ! With each one of these questions here, you can almost feel Paul's intensity building. His question could be reduced to five simple words: "What more do you want?" God ga...
Mar 12, 2024•5 min
GET THE BOOK: Daniel: A Strong Man Is Faithful here https://amzn.to/3ToZqOk Will you be faithful in unfaithful times? In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. — Daniel 1:1-2 As we begin, I want to highlight a few characters in this text because we need to know them to understand Daniel’s story of faithfulness. F...
Mar 12, 2024•5 min
Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?— Galatians 3:4 CALL OUT: Call out to Randy Cook from Mendota Heights, MN , who is taking some big steps of faith by reconciling some issues of the past. This is what men do. This is what we all need to do. Step into something hard today. Remember, Paul poses several questions in Galatians 3:1-6 . With each, he builds a list of logical fallacies against the reasoning of the false teachers. This one points to the fact that living by f...
Mar 11, 2024•3 min
Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? — Galatians 3:3 CALL OUT: This is to all the men who use these daily devotionals to disciple others. It's pretty simple: share the devotional with another man, and then use the questions below to spark a quick discussion. I know many men use these daily devotionals for weekly small group meetings as a discussion guide for their time, and you can, too. If you read this in context, you will see Paul posing se...
Mar 10, 2024•3 min
Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? — Galatians 3:2 CALL OUT: Today, our callout goes to Darwin Saunders at Next Step Recovery Home in Houston, TX . Thanks for serving men in this way. I would love to find a way to give group homes and recovery homes biblical resources this coming year. If you know a director at these homes across the country, please contact me. The rhetorical question posed to the Galatians is meant to challenge the...
Mar 09, 2024•4 min
