Beacon Hill Church

06/21/2026

Sermon Recap
June 21, 2026

Before we dive into today’s message, I want to piggyback on something I talked about last week. What works for someone in talking to them about Jesus may not work for someone else.

Paul has used a variety of methods to try to reach the Galatians, who were going back to works based religion rather than living in Salvation by grace. He has been a lawyer, a professor, compassionate. What I want to encourage you with this morning is don’t give up the first time someone doesn’t get it when you share Jesus with them.

In our text today, Paul was saying it’s not the point that Abraham is your father, but who is your mother? Is your mother Sarah or Hagar?

I. GOD IS THE ULTIMATE PROMISE KEEPER.
Paul uses Abraham to drive home his point. Abraham is the biological father of the nation of Israel and we are first introduced to him back in Genesis chapter 12. When we meet him, he is 75 years old and he is childless. His wife is a little younger than him but definitely passed childbearing years. That is when God comes into their lives and promises them that they will give birth to a son who will father a nation who will bring Salvation into the world.

That is something that they couldn’t see as a couple who is old and way past even thinking about having children together. But Abraham believed God and Genesis 15:6 says that it was credited to him as righteousness, and at the same time their sterile bodies were infused with life, even though they didn’t know it at the time.

A. GOD IS ABLE.
Abraham‘s great grandson four times over was Jesus who brought Salvation into the world just like God said he would, and when we place our faith and trust in him, our sin – sick bodies are made righteous, and our bodies are infused with new life. If you are in here today and think that you have done things in your life that prevent you from being saved, then you are sorely mistaking the power of God.

When the Bible says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved, that comes with no stipulations other than repenting of your sins, and trusting Jesus with your life. But here is the mistake that we make that Paul sees the Galatians making.

B. GOD IS FAITHFUL.
Abraham and Sarah believed the promises that God would give them a son, but they did not get pregnant immediately. If you go back and Genesis, there was a 25 year gap between when God made the promise and when Sarah got pregnant. 25 years is a long time to wait. Sarah was patient, but after 15 years of waiting, she decided to take matters into her own hands. She thought she needed to help God out. Sarah brought a young and beautiful servant named Hagar to Abraham and said, it’s not going to happen with me so maybe you should have a child with her. She still believed God would fulfill his promises, but she thought it was on her to make it happen. She was attempting to fulfill the promises of God with a scheme of the flesh. Abraham‘s wife brought a young beautiful woman to him and said, I want you to sleep with her. Abraham got Haggar pregnant and they had a son named Ishmael who grew up to be a father of a great nation, but not the nation of promises.

And that is what Paul says the Galatians are doing when they try to turn the law to get closer to God. They are attempting to fulfill the promises of God with a scheme of the flesh. They haven’t lost their salvation, they have just lost their way and they think, like Sarah did, that they have to do something more than trust in his promises.

C. GOD’S PROMISES WILL NOT FAIL.
If they would have just waited on God there wouldn’t have been such a mess to clean up. Verse 27 shows us that God will use the least likely to bring him the most glory. Paul quotes an Old Testament song from Isaiah.
Rejoice, childless woman, unable to give birth. Burst into song and shout, you who are not in labor, for the children of the desolate woman will be many, more numerous than those of the woman who has a husband.
In short, Sarah will bear more fruits than young, fertile Haggar.

God often chooses the one with no potential to accomplish his purposes. And that is the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. God does not need potential from you. God will put potential in you from the form of the Holy Spirit. All God needs is your yes. As J. D. Grear says, it is not about your ability, but your availability.

II. HATERS GOING TO HATE. (29)
Ishmael and Isaac are two half-brothers who don’t get along. Scripture says that a child born of the flesh persecuted the one born as a result of the Spirit. They never could get along and scripture says that is what people who are in works based religion think about people who live by the Spirit.

For those of you who have been made to feel less than by religious people, and not worthy of God‘s love, grace, and forgiveness, I am sorry. But I want you to know that Salvation belongs to God and not man. God says who you are and not man. Learn to live as a child of promise and don’t worry about the children of flesh.

III. DRIVE OUT BO***GE AND LET GRACE PARK IN ITS PLACE. (30)
Let’s look at your life. Why do you think you are not good enough? Who told you that you are not worthy of God‘s love? It wasn’t God. Who told you that you had to earn his love? It wasn’t God. Some of you need to just let go this morning. Let go and let God have complete control of your life. Stop walking on eggshells and start living completely in his grace and his assurance that you are enough, that you are saved, that you are a child of God.

Is that you?

06/21/2026

Thank you for joining us. As we prepare to worship, please invite your friends and family to join us online.

06/20/2026

06/19/2026

Here we go again! Our favorite kind of Friday! Free Food Friday!

There’s a small chance of rain but God’s abundant blessings are for certain! Come out and see us.

3:30 devotional
4:00 distribution

06/14/2026

Sermon Recap
June 14, 2026

I have entitled today’s message: People Are Messy. Jesus Is Awesome.

Do you know what social media algorithms are? It’s how your feeds curate what you see the most when you are on things like Facebook. This week I made the mistake of clicking on an article that was talking about something that was going to be brought up for discussion at a denominations annual convention. It really didn’t concern us because we are a non-denominational church. But I clicked on it and that is all that it took. My Facebook feed was littered with posts regarding this specific issue. The issue may have been the subject, but what I saw was the problem. Christians fighting one another in an unhealthy and unloving manner. These were leaders of churches who were acting the fool. The devil wants us to get distracted and take our eyes off Jesus, to get distracted from the commission that God has given us to go and make disciples of all nations.

I’m watching this fight and my evangelistic mind can’t help but think 28% of your churches didn’t see one person come to Christ last year and that is not talked about at all. It is no wonder many of them don’t see people come to Christ. They are becoming over legalistic and under evangelistic. And what happens in the process is that unbelievers are watching this and do you think they want anything to do with Jesus when that is what they see about Jesus? Not by a longshot.

And that is what is happening here with Paul and the church at Galatia. They have taken their eyes off Jesus and sliding back into legalism and away from the grace message that brought them to faith in Jesus Christ.

The question is, how do you reach people that were once so on fire for Jesus that now they think they are doing Jesus a favor by demanding perfection instead of sanctification? It happens all the time.

In the letter to the Galatians, Paul had tried several different ways to get their attention. And up until this point in his letter, his way of trying to do so was largely confrontational and impersonal. He had referred to the Old Testament to teach the Galatians the basic truth of the Gospel. He had used his own experience and that of the Galatians to reinforce his teaching; that Salvation is by God‘s grace alone that only God can forgive us and save us and that is by faith and not by works.

To help put into context the way he was trying to reach them, it would be like me coming up to one of you and saying the Bible says what you are doing is wrong and leaving it at that. It sounds impersonal and can make people think you are more concerned about principles than their souls. It reminds me that people are reached in different ways. Some people need to hear it straightforward and some people need a softer approach. People need the truth in love.

In verses 12–20, Paul dramatically changes his approach on trying to bring back into the fold those who he had led to Christ. He goes from purely doctrinal to a more personal approach. In fact, versus 12-20 are the strongest words of personal affection that Paul writes in any of his letters. What follows is a good reminder of how to reach people on a personal level.

I. GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING (12-16)
Some Christians have been saved so long that they have forgotten what it was like to be lost, and it shows. Some Christians have been led astray by legalistic teachings. While all believers are called to live in obedience to God‘s moral standards, that never changes, you can know more live by the law then you can be saved by the law.

Sometimes it’s best to go back to the beginning and that is what Paul has done here. Paul goes back to when he first preached the Gospel to them. He said, I preached the Gospel to you in weakness of the flesh, and in fact, he was a burden to them in the physical state that he was in.

Here is a good rule of thumb when it comes to scripture. If God wanted us to know something, He would have told us. If it mattered what type of physical condition was a trial for them, God would have said it. But the point is that God can often use our weaknesses to display His strength and His glory and to bring people to faith in Him and not in any mortal man.

For those of you who think that God could not possibly use you to reach someone for Christ, you are putting the Holy Spirit in a box when you need to let the Spirit take control. Stop using excuses of why you can’t reach someone and start being a testimony of how God can use anyone and the beautiful thing about it is when God uses you, and if you allow him to, you realize that it was never about you and always about Him.

Paul says in Corinthians 12:10 that he took pleasure and weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Our weaknesses can make us more compassionate as we relate to others. Can make our faith more attractive when we take off our masks and are more vulnerable. Can make us more patient and dependent on God. Instead of being disheartened by your struggles, ask God to use those struggles for His glory.

Paul is taking it back to the beginning when they first met. They were treating him like he was Jesus Christ in the flesh. Not putting him on a pedestal, but loving him as he shared the love of Christ with them. They were so grateful that Paul uses hyperbole to remind them that they would have given anything to help him back then, even their own eyes, and now they are treating him like an enemy because they were being led astray from the truth he preached to them.

Here is a valuable truth that you need to underline in verse 12. You have not wronged me.
If you have friends that have gone off the deep end, made you an enemy, defriended you on social media, or whatever the case may be, don’t take it personal.

Paul says you have not wronged me. Because I know who you are at the core, I was sitting there at the beginning and it was a beautiful thing. Somewhere along the line the devil made you think I was the bad guy and I’m not going to let the devil win. Don’t take it personal when someone attacks your faith. The Bible says in Ephesians 6:10–20 that we are in a spiritual battle, not a physical battle. Take time to reclaim your joy and blessing in Christ Jesus. Recommit to following Jesus today.

II. EXAMINE MOTIVES (17-18)
Having started from the beginning when they first met to remind them of the love they had for one another, Paul then reminds them of who their real enemies are. It wasn’t him. It was the Judaizers who were eagerly courting them. Paul is challenging the Galatians to examine why the Judaizers are so passionate about them not associating with them. It’s because they are trying to build their own kingdoms and not the kingdom of God. Paul was telling them the truth and they were so caught up in the moment that they were unable to see it at that time. Paul was saying why did I pursue you and why did they pursue you? It’s great to be passionate, but don’t be passionate about the wrong things.

III. BEING MORE LIKE CHRIST IS THE GOAL (19-20)
Paul pours out his heart here as a parent having an intimate talk with their children. His ultimate desire for them was that they become more like Christ. You can see it in Paul’s plea here. I am suffering for you. I want to see Christ formed in you. I want to be there in person. I want to believe the best about you. You can see Paul’s heart. He wants the Galatians to become more like Jesus.

And that is the goal of our ministry. To help people know Jesus and become more like Jesus. Every Christian should take this to heart. Our supreme desire should be that crisis formed in those who have committed their lives to Christ. And the question you have to ask yourself is this. Are those following me becoming more like Jesus? If you have kids, are they becoming more like Jesus? If you have friends that you have brought to Church, are they becoming more like Jesus? And when you do that, you have to first start with yourself. Am I becoming more like Jesus? Am I setting the example for them to follow?

06/14/2026

Welcome to The Beacon Hill Church in Hopewell VA streaming live from the historic Beacon Theater. Pastor Michael Moore will continue our walk through Galatians. Please comment and let us know where you are watching from.

God Is Moving

06/13/2026

One elder has passed. Pray for their body and the community