FBC Gallatin,
As we are coming out of Thanksgiving week and into the Christmas season, I am struck by how thankful I am to be the pastor of First Baptist Church. It is my joy to be your pastor and I’m thrilled to get to preach, disciple, counsel, and shepherd this flock week in and week out! Thank you for your continued support of the work of the ministry here at our church. I’m excited for all the Lord has in store for us the next few weeks through the wonderful Christmas season and I’m also excited about all that is ahead into a new year!
And as we are just getting started in our new series in the book of Galatians titled Gospel Centered Justification, we will see in the next few weeks that the heart of the Gospel is our justification before a holy God, for we know that Jesus died on the cross and rose again so that we might be saved (or justified) someday in the future when we first believed after his atonement. So, I hope you can see that this theme of justification in Galatians actually corresponds really nicely with the Christmas season we are in as the Son was sent into the world to justify sinners.
Do you realize that Jesus was born in a manger so that he could grow up and teach and obey the law and die for us so that we might live? Because of Christmas, we no longer have to observe the Old Covenant Mosaic Law stipulations like circumcision or food laws because Jesus came and was born for us! Jesus kept the law perfectly and died to atone for our sins fully and brought Jews and Gentiles together into one family of God under one faith and that all began when God became man as the Son took on full humanity that day of his birth all those years ago. This is why we have hope, this is why we have love, and peace, and joy! Our good tidings of comfort and joy are because the Son of God was born for us and is what we celebrate this month and all year!
So, we go from the words of Matthew 1:21 that we saw last year; “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” to Galatians 2:15-16 in a few weeks;“16 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” all on the topic of the amazing person and work of Jesus Christ our savior! And we also see much later in the series when we get to Galatians chapter 4; “4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” So, as you can see, Christmas is in Galatians as we will not only see thing month but also on into 2022 as we continue to see Gospel Centered Justification as opposed to works centered justification.
Would you commit to praying for me and our church as I prepare and preach and we all continue to explore the book of Galatians together? Would you pray that our church would be edified and strengthened in the Gospel, and that the message of Galatians would cause unity and encouragement among the believers of our church, and that it might even be used to bring unbelievers to the knowledge of the Gospel as well? I will continue to pray for you and I ask that you would also pray for me as well as we all need God’s help to profit from His Word.
Sincerely,
Pastor Daniel Pelichowski
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