Paul McKenzie

Memory Verse, Monday, March 16, Galatians 1:7

"which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ."

No one can create something out of nothing except God, and all that God creates is good. All anyone else can do is either reflect the good things of God and enjoy them, or pervert them for their own evil desires.

There are not "many pathways" to God. Nearly every false gospel tries to include some type of "Jesus" into their syncretic fold, but when you look at the "Jesus" they present, it is nothing but a perversion of Whom we see in His Gospel. Here is what Jesus said:

"I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him." (John 14:6-7)

There is no pathway to God but through Jesus, because Jesus is part of the Godhead, and only a relationship with the Triune God Himself can give you life. He sent the Third Person of the Trinity to seal that up for them that believe:

"And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." (14:16-18)

So, this is the path to God. According to Jesus there is no other. And all who believe will receive the Holy Spirit to verify that they are God's children:

"For the Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirits, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." (Romans 8:16-17)

And salvation comes through the work of God. And what is that work? Jesus answered that as well:

"This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." (John 6:29)

So, you can do nothing on your own but pervert the work of God. You can only depend on the grace of God: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Recently one of our FB friends asked the question, what is your "life verse" from the Bible. Well, to me, all of them give me life, so all of them are. But what she meant of course, is what is the verse or verses that you fall on constantly during your life. Ephesians 2:8-10 is one of mine, for this is the key to real life: the understanding that God is God, and we are His workmanship. That we are being perfected by Him, and we trust only through faith in Christ, who has transformed us into a new creation, and has works prepared for us before the foundation of the world. What we do is abide, and walk in them. He will guide our path.

And I love John 10:27-28, which lets me know that nothing can take me away from Him. And Colossians 3:1-3, where I'm assured that my life hidden in with Christ in God. And Proverbs 24:16: "For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: But the wicked shall fall into mischief." We find that in Christ, the only way a man can be just is to be justified, that is, declared righteous by the work of Christ. Nothing we can do can save us or make us righteous, only dependence upon the Creator Himself, which is the way it has been from the beginning, and the only way that makes sense.

Get it? There is only one "path" to God, and that is God Himself. And He inserted Himself into our time and space, "taking on" the form of man in order to free us from ourselves. And any understanding that contradicts that is simply a perversion. (Philippians 2)

Don't be fooled.

Today if you hear His voice, harden not your heart.

*KJV used*

Memory Helps

"WHICH is not ANOTHER; (4wds)
but there be some that TROUBLE you, (7)
and would PERVERT the gospel of Christ." (7)

First, I might get an anchor word from each division: "Which-Another/Trouble/Pervert", and then expand from those words until I master each line. (I note 4-7-7 in order to keep track of the line.)

Sometimes I'll use a word picture of a "witch" for the word "which", WHICH works well for this one. I find many times that if I just get the first word or words that start a verse down, they spark me to finish the rest of the verse.

So, my "witch" has a sign saying "not another gospel", and is troubling me to join her group, along with all sorts of "perverted" followers, but I am holding tightly to the New Testament which has a cross stamped on it representing the "gospel of Christ".

Linking verse numbers:

"Guy" Lafleur, an old hockey star is my "memory character" for verses 7, because K or the hard G phonetically represents 7, vowels fillers. I replace me with him, and he is swinging at these perverts with his hockey stick while holding on to "the gospel of Christ." They each are wearing a huge bow "Tie" (T-1) to remind me that this is in chapter 1. He could be knocking them off with his hockey stick. That way I link the verse to Galatians 1:7.