O Foolish Galatians! Who Has Bewitched You That You Should Not Obey The Truth?

GALATIANS 3:1-5
“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
”‭‭Galatians‬ ‭3:1-6‬ ‭NKJV‬
‬https://bible.com/bible/114/gal.3.1-6.NKJ

V

The Galatians had become fascinated by the false teachers argument as though an evil spell had been cast upon them.
Witchcraft was common in Paul's day (ACTS 8:9-11; 13:6-7) and continues today.
Indeed, many today are sucked in by our false church and world leaders as if they have been bewitched.
Magicians back then and today use both optical illusions and Satan's power to perform miracles, and many people are drawn into the magicians' mysterious rites without recognizing their dangerous source.
Some believers in Galatia may have received the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem at the time of Pentecost. They knew that they hadn't received the Holy Spirit by obeying the Jewish laws, but rather by their faith in Jesus Christ. Paul stressed that they began their Christian lives in the power of the Spirit, so they should grow by the Spirit's power.
The Galatians had taken a step backwards when they decided to insist on keeping Jewish laws.
We believers must realize that we grow spiritually because of God's work in us by His Spirit, and not by following man’s church projects and special religious rules.
Of course we must live our daily lives in obedience to God and the laws of the land, but we can only do that by the leading and power of the Holy Spirit (GALATIANS 5:16-26).
The Galatians knew that they received the Spirit when they believed, not when they obeyed God's law.
Today, believers still feel insecure in their faith because faith seems too easy, and many still try to get closer to God by following religious rules.
While certain disciplines, bible study, prayer, worship and service help us grow, they must not take the place of the Holy Spirit in us.
By asking these questions, Paul hoped to get the Galatians to focus on Christ as the foundation of their faith.
The Holy Spirit gives believers great power to live for God, but we must cooperate and walk in obedience to the Spirit (GALATIANS 5:16-26).
The old church system that operated by tbe leading of one Pastor, vicar, or minister, blocked the movement of the Holy Spirit. The true prophetic was usually ignored because it did not line up with the pastor’s plan, while false promises of blessing were received that were simply said to please the congregation or the leadership.
While many ministers are Spirit filled, the old system has been passed down through the ages by teachings of the religious past, through bible colleges and religious leaders along with rules, controls, and religious practices.
Jesus never intended church to operate in this way, but rather, that He would lead the whole congregation through the apostolic five fold ministry of Christ.
The old church system is today being dismantled, and Christ church is being reestablished.
In the first miricle, Jesus turned water into wine. When Mary asked Him for help when the wine was depleted, He said, “it’s not My time.”, But this miracle was a sign of what was to come, and Jesus time is now (JOHN 2:1-11).
The old is depleted and the new is here and the wine skins are being put into place (LUKE 5:37-39).
The time is now and the new wine is being poured.
With new wine comes new powers and new freedoms. Jesus said, ”“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.“
‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭12‬-‭14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
This world has become a very dark place to live and many are suffering all around the world like never before.
Corruption, lies, and deception in the world and church leadership has never been so great, and the moral standards of this world are all but depleted.
The media pushes propaganda and sexual immorality and all kinds of sin, calling it “normal”.
The devil’s work of deception is in our face, ”Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.“
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭23‬:‭4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
For God is in control and faithful to carry His people through these dark days into the final victory.
Whatever the devil throws at us, we believers can be at perfect peace and full of joy as we stand upon the promises of God, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.“
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭18‬-‭23‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
Even so, many church leaders are trying to hold on to the old ; their careers, fame and position are too valuable to them, and they are desperately looking for ways to operate their churches in their own strength, like they are all bewitched.
Sadly, they deceive themselves and their whole congregation.
The time has come to walk away from man’s church and hand the reins to Jesus. The old church leaders must stand back and allow Jesus to build His church His way. Not that anyone can stop Him.
“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.“
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4‬:‭11‬-‭16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
Today, we see Home churches be being birthed in every nation, and with them, the signs and wonders of Christ that have been scarce in much of the church.
Today, Christ is building His church, His way, in these very last days.
“”And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the Lord has said, Among the remnant whom the Lord calls.“
‭‭Joel‬ ‭2‬:‭28‬-‭32‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.