Dancing with the Spirit

/ Bob / Leave a comment

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free.” (Galatians 5:1) In Chapters 5 & 6 of Galatians Paul is giving instructions in how to live by faith and how to grow in that faith as you live it out daily. In Galatians 5:16 he instructs his readers, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” As humans we have a problem – a sin problem – and it’s rooted in the human bodies which we rely on to literally live on this planet.

The term translated “flesh” refers to the physical body. Unfortunately, we can become much too attached and fond of the things that make our bodies feel good that we allow those desires to dictate our actions. The ultimate result of this problem is addiction, but there are plenty of wants and desires that exceed our needs and we have a tendency to indulge those emotional drives while ignoring the Spirit Who is trying to keep us from being ensnared by those desires.

Paul’s answer is found in Galatians 5:25 – Dance with the Spirit. Spend your time in the Word, in prayer, in worship, in fellowship with other believers – in other words – dance with Spirit. Then the ways of the Spirit, which Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit, will not only develop in you – those ways will become your ways. You’ll be dancing with the Spirit. But remember, when you dance with someone, only one person can lead. Let the Spirit lead and enjoy the dance – the Dance of your lifetime.

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, April 19, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers the Book of Galatians, is A Cry for Freedom: Grace that Is Still Amazing. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/a-cry-for-freedom-galatians-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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Class Notes – 04.19.2026 – Lesson 11 – Dancing with the SpiritDownload

The Slow Fade of Faith

/ Bob

In Galatians 4:12-20 we get a glimpse into the personal life of Paul. We see him in his vulnerability, in his discouragement, and in his relationships with those he once knew as close friends. Paul taught them well, but now his Gentile converts were following the misguided teachings of a group known as the Judaizers – those who believed that to be a good Christian you must first be a good Jew. Paul had left them on solid ground spiritually, but now they were fading from faith to a works-based belief system that was actually a trap. This was not the first time Christians had wandered from the faith of the Gospel and it won’t be the last.

Jesus dealt with the slow fade of faith within hours of dying on the cross. In Mark 14 Jesus says that all of the disciples will deny Him whereupon we find Peter saying, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I never will.” What we sometimes overlook is that in verse 31 we read that all of the others said the same thing. These were the same disciples who in Mark 14:50 all deserted Jesus and ran away.

The slow fade of the church is clearly seen in two of the seven letters to the churches in the book of Revelation. The Church at Ephesus was said to have left their first love. The Church at Laodicea was declared by Jesus to be neither hot nor cold but rather just lukewarm. So disgusting that He said He would vomit them out of his mouth.

However, the warning that we must heed today concerning hearts turning cold comes in Jesus’ discourse in which he describes the end of the age. Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers. Many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold.

~Matthew 24:9-12~

Guard your heart – even the most zealous can grow cold.

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, March 15, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers the Book of Galatians, is A Cry for Freedom: Grace that Is Still Amazing. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/a-cry-for-freedom-galatians-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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Class Notes – 03.15.2026 – Lesson 8 – The Slow Fade of FaithDownload

Slavery or Freedom; It’s Your Choice

/ Bob

When an only child in a wealthy family looses both parents that child naturally inherits the entire estate. That is if the child is “of age.” If the child is not an adult he or she becomes the ward of the estate and a guardian is appointed to oversee the child’s affairs, including the child’s finances. Paul point out that such a child has no say in his life and has no money unless it is given to him by the estate trustee. Paul then correctly points out that the child is no better off than a slave within the estate as, like the slave, he has no personal rights and no access to any of the wealth of the estate.

He goes on to point out that the Jews who claimed Abraham as their father allowed themselves to be enslaved by the law of Moses and were thus missing out on their inheritance – the blessings of Abraham. He goes on to point out the stupidity of going back to the slavery of the past when you have know the freedom of Christ.

God sent His Son to buy our freedom from slavery and adopt us into His family.

He then gave us His Spirit within us so that we would know Him as Daddy. We became God’s child and His heir all because of Jesus. Why would we ever want to go back into a life of slavery or worse, back into an orphan’s existence under a guardian with the rights and privileges of a slave? Paul was baffled by that question and we should be as well, because, even though we are children of the King, too often we live under the oppression of our own devices

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, March 8, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers the Book of Galatians, is A Cry for Freedom: Grace that Is Still Amazing. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/a-cry-for-freedom-galatians-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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Class Notes – 03.08.2026 – Lesson 7 – Slavery or Freedom; It’s Your ChoiceDownload

Christians, Covenants, and Laws

/ Bob

It all began with a man named Abraham. God established a covenant with Abraham. In the covenant God promised Abraham land, a descendant, and a blessing. He outlined the territory that He wanted Abraham and his family to live in and He said that Abraham would have a son that would be a blessing to all peoples on earth. Today we call this the Abrahamic Covenant.

430 years later God established a covenant with Moses and the Nation of Israel – Abraham’s descendants. In this covenant, which we call the Mosaic Covenant, God gave the Jewish People the laws, instructions, and guidelines that they were to follow in the building of their nation in the Promised Land. This covenant did not replace the Abrahamic Covenant, but rather it gave the people a clear understanding of what God wanted from them and how God wanted them to live their lives.

Jesus came not to abolish the Law, but that the Law might be fulfilled in Him. (Matthew 5:17) This was the message Paul gave to the Galatians and the Judaizers who were trying to pervert the freedom that Christ brought. The Law served as a good nanny teaching the Children of Israel right from wrong and teaching Who and What God is. But when Jesus came the whole dynamics of the relationship with God changed. After the resurrection the Spirit of God came to live within those who accepted Jesus as their Savior. It’s the Holy Spirit within us Who has taken on the roll of nanny so that we no longer need an outside force keeping us in line, the Holy Spirit will do that. . . . if we let Him.

The blessings of Abraham are now ours thought the blood of Jesus by which we are justified in the eyes of the Law and are adopted into the Family of Faith. And the result? We don’t have to work at keeping the Law – we just focus all of our attention on Jesus through His Word (Old Testament and New Testament), through prayer, through worship, and through fellowship with other believers. When we do, we automatically want to keep His commands. The closer we draw to Jesus, the more we want to be like Him and do the things He deems important.

As He said to the prophet Ezekiel, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” – Ezekiel 36:26–27

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, March 1, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers the Book of Galatians, is A Cry for Freedom: Grace that Is Still Amazing. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/a-cry-for-freedom-galatians-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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Class Notes – 03.01.2026 – Lesson 6 – Christians, Covenants, and LawsDownload

The Foundation of Faith

/ Bob

“God’s plan for salvation is not about how good you are nor is it about what you do and it’s most certainly not about how good you are at what you do.”

Meritocracy is is heralded in our country as the American way. You earn what you get and get what you earn. Self-reliance and self-sufficiency are drilled into young Americans from birth on. My father taught me to pull myself up with my own bootstraps any and every time I faced adversity. Other common phrases in our culture that highlight that same attitude are:

”If it’s to be – it’s up to me.”

“If you want something done right, do it yourself.”

“Fortune favors the bold.”

“God helps those who help themselves.”

All world religions beside Christianity are based on a system of self-justification – what we do to earn our own salvation. Only Christianity is based on grace and justification by an outside source (Jesus) which we do not and cannot earn. Paul didn’t understand it then and he wouldn’t understand it now. We are so busy trying to be good that we ignore the grace of God and at the same time ignore the Holy Spirit within us Who will empower us to be better than we could ever be on our own.  And to make matters worse, we listen to things that align with what our itching self-righteous ears want to hear.  (2 Timothy 4:3)  Paul dealt with the Judaizers; Martin Luther dealt with the hierarchy of the Church; must deal with those who would seek to impose on us their “new-and-improved brand” of Christianity which can sound quite reasonable and even Biblical – but it’s not.

Meritocracy is a good and, at times, essential plan for the marketplace and public arena, but it is not God’s plan for salvation.  His plan is not about how good you are nor is it about what you do and it’s most certainly not about how good you are at what you do – it’s about His mercy and grace offered freely to us through His Son, Jesus.

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, February 22, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers the Book of Galatians, is A Cry for Freedom: Grace that Is Still Amazing. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/a-cry-for-freedom-galatians-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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Class Notes – 02.22.2026 – Lesson 5 – The Foundatiion of FaithDownload

Behind the Mask and Beyond the Hypocrisy

/ Bob

Galatians 3 opens with a conflict between Peter and Paul.  It seems that Peter – who had been shown by God in a vision and in an encounter with a Gentile family that being a Gentile with Gentile ways was not a barrier to faith – was a little wishy-washy in living out those new found beliefs around his Jewish friends and James in particular.  Paul called him out on it, called him a hypocrite, and then began to explain to the Galatians that legalistic living is not for the one who professes faith in Christ.  He detailed how we have been crucified with Christ so that living by the legal system of the Jews was not just pointless, it was a slap in the face of Christ Himself.  We must all be careful not to hide behind a mask of self-righteousness but rather live in the freedom and honesty of Christ Who has redeemed us and Who lives within and through us.

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, February 15, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers the Book of Galatians, is A Cry for Freedom: Grace that Is Still Amazing. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/a-cry-for-freedom-galatians-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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Circumcised or Not?

/ Bob

Circumcision is a major theme of both the Old and New Testaments. And circumcision is definitely a point of discussion and contention in the Book of Galatians. It was contentious because of the importance placed on circumcision by the Judaizers with whom Paul had a serious objection. In order to understand the arguments on both sides, we take a look at the concept of circumcision from both sides of the argument.

The ultimate conclusion is that traditional circumcision is not required for salvation. As we read in Colossians 2:12 “You were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.” It’s not because you were circumcised or not. It’s not because you were baptized or not. It’s not because you go to church or not. It’s not because you pray or not. It’s not because you read the Bible or not. It’s not because you do good things. These things you do because you were raised to New Life in Jesus!

When we accept Jesus as Savior, He changes us from the inside out. He “cuts off” (circumcises) our sins and our fleshly nature and makes us a new creation – a whole new person who wants to honor Him and bring glory to His name in all we say and do. Hallelujah!

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, February 8, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers the Book of Galatians, is A Cry for Freedom: Grace that Is Still Amazing. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/a-cry-for-freedom-galatians-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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Class Notes – 02.08.2026 – Lesson 3 – Circumcised or NotDownload

Journey to Faith

/ Bob

Paul’s teaching was being challenged and questioned by the Judaizers who had invaded the churches of Galatia. They even challenged his authority as an apostle and as a teacher. The entire book of Galatians addresses the problems caused by these interlopers who thought they and they alone had the true moral high ground. Paul confronts them head on and addresses their fallacious claims concerning his background, authority, and the faith which he had instilled in the Galatians converts.

In Galatians 2:11-24 Paul reminds them of his personal journey to faith. He told them that his faith was not man-made – that his faith came straight from the heart of God. He showed them how his entire life had been planned by God so that he could be the one to deliver the Gospel message to the Gentiles. He reminded them that being Jewish wasn’t the gold standard for faith and that, if it was, he would run circles around them with his Jewish zeal.

As we look at Paul’s exposition of his journey to faith, we would all do well to reflect on our own personal journey of faith. Just as Paul’s journey began in infancy, so did ours. The events from our birth to the time we accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord were orchestrated by God to prepare us for his service. Even those occasions when we veered off of God’s path for us as Paul did, God was guiding us back to the path He wanted us to walk. And He will continue working in us and through us to accomplish His good will until the day we reach the ultimate destination in our journey – our glorification in Heaven.

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, February 1, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers the Book of Galatians, is A Cry for Freedom: Grace that Is Still Amazing. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/a-cry-for-freedom-galatians-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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It’s Your Turn – Esther

/ Bob

Esther was the Queen of Ancient Persia even though she was of Jewish descent. She did not seek the position, but through an improbable turn of events she became queen, and also became the source of salvation for the Jewish people living in Persia.

Being duped by an evil and vengeful Haman, the King agreed to and ordered the execution of all of the Jews living in Persian at that time. Mordecai, Esther’s elder cousin and adoptive father, went to her as queen to seek her help in delivering her people. In Esther 4:13-14 we read his plea, “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Even though approaching the King without his summons could lead to her death, she chose to act. A trap was set by Esther for Haman in the King’s presence and it was successful in not only eliminating Haman, but in saving her people as well. To this day Purim is celebrated by Jews around the world as a remembrance of Mordecai’s faithfulness, Esther’s courage, and God’s deliverance of His people.

At that point in time it was Esther’s turn to step up, speak out, and take action for the sake of God’s Kingdom. In Hebrews 12:1-2 we are reminded that someday it will be our turn to run our race. May we be found faithful and courageous when our turn comes around.

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

~Hebrews 12:1-2~

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, January 11, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons is How Great Is Our God: Passing the Faith Along. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/how-great-is-our-god-old-testament-digital-study-guide/. Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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class Notes – 01.11.2026 – Lesson 13 – It’s Your TurnDownload