Continuing with part 5 of her series on running and finishing our race well, Pastor Nicole covered chapter 3 of Galatians where the church was having problems with division because they had forgotten the basic foundational truth of salvation...that we are saved by faith, not by obedience to the law. They were focusing on keeping the law again.

Pastor Nicole said that in running our race, we too can easily forget that our identity in Christ is a gift of faith. We can get distracted with our self-effort. It sidelines us in our race. If we rely on our own works, we are going back to living under the curse of the law that Christ took on Himself and removed from us to give us sonship. Relying on self-effort makes our race harder and brings discouragement. She pointed out that any time we experience division it is most likely from focus on the law rather than faith. We are all one in Christ Jesus, and heirs according to the promise of faith.

Pastor Nicole encouraged us to pray for one another, remembering who we are as sons and daughters of God. And to take time this week to spend before the Lord to see if there is any place in our own lives where we are forgetting how we got here, our faith in and through Jesus Christ.