Have You Been Bewitched Away From Grace?

May 31, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: When Neon Crosses Outshine Bargaining Tables

The cross isn’t a negotiation but a blazing billboard of grace. Religious systems tempt us to bargain with God, tallying rules to earn favor. But salvation begins when we stop negotiating and stare at Christ’s sacrifice, lit up like a public proclamation. Legalism shrinks God into a transaction; grace reveals Him as the initiator who gives freely. Our first breath of faith came not through deals but through eyes fixed on His finished work. [52:45]

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8–9, ESV)

Reflection: What “bargains” have you subtly tried to make with God lately? How does the cross’s unchanging brightness expose those attempts?

Day 2: Holy Spirit Fireworks in Dusty Bibles

The Spirit’s arrival isn’t a theological footnote but a heart explosion. Conversion leaves emotional fingerprints—a marked Bible, a prayer that stuck, a hunger that still burns. Legalism reduces faith to cold rituals, but the Spirit’s indwelling sparks awe, like fireworks in a dim room. Those early days of faith weren’t about systems but about a Person who rewired desires. [58:37]

“And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Galatians 4:6, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you still feel the warmth of your first encounters with the Spirit? How might those embers relight your walk today?

Day 3: Bulldozers, PTSD, and the Grace That Stays

Suffering carves grooves in the soul—bulldozed graves in Rwanda, silent dinner tables after loss. Yet grace clings tighter than trauma. Paul asks if we’ve suffered “in vain,” not to dismiss pain but to anchor it in redemption’s story. Our deepest wounds become memorials to the God who enters rubble. [43:02]

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” (2 Corinthians 4:7, ESV)

Reflection: What scar in your story feels too heavy to redeem? How might Christ’s resurrection rewrite its weight?

Day 4: Miracles in Tenths of Seconds

Grace hides in near-misses and split-second timing—a car swerve, a delayed text, a doctor’s abrupt insight. Legalism dismisses these as luck, but faith names them miracles. Paul reminds the Galatians that God still “works miracles” not through rule-keeping but through raw trust. Mundane moments become altars when seen through grace’s lens. [01:02:39]

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us…” (Ephesians 3:20, ESV)

Reflection: When did you last dismiss a “small” miracle? What if you thanked God for it today?

Day 5: Foolish Galatians and the Look That Unravels

“Foolish” isn’t ignorance but rebellion against known grace. Like spouses exchanging the “evil eye,” we divert our gaze from Christ to lesser things. Paul’s questions aren’t lectures but a mirror, forcing the Galatians—and us—to confront the absurdity of trading living water for broken cisterns. [48:29]

“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:11, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you subtly shifted your gaze from Christ’s face? What “look” from Him might realign your heart today?

Sermon Summary

Paul turns from the head to the heart and lets Galatians 3:1-5 do its work by questions that won’t let go. The text calls the church “foolish,” not for ignorance but for knowing better and not doing it, and asks, “Who has bewitched you?” The singular “who” could point to a prominent persuader or to the evil one himself, but either way the eyes have been hijacked. Against the evil eye, the cross stands like a neon billboard, “publicly portrayed as crucified,” so that faith fixes its gaze on Christ’s sacrifice, not on human performance. Legalism tries to bargain with God, to frame him with standards. Grace says there is no bargaining power here. God gives.

The second question presses the experience: did the Spirit arrive by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? The Spirit shows up, not as a theory but as a living presence, and he leaves a trail of holy desire, Scripture made alive, and a seal that holds. The third question exposes the drift: “Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” The beginning and the middle run on the same fuel. What started at the foot of the cross continues by the same Spirit day by day. The fourth question remembers the bruises: “Did you suffer so many things in vain?” Suffering carves deep grooves where assurance runs. Those wounds become memory markers that tie doctrine to life.

Finally, the text asks about the God who “supplies the Spirit” and “works miracles.” The church knows those mercies. Some are attention-grabbing, many are quiet providences, the just-in-time provisions and narrow escapes that outsiders chalk up to chance. Faith names them. Throughout, Paul works like a spiritual surgeon. He does not make pronouncements that can be dodged. He asks questions that bypass defenses and make the soul answer itself. The contrast is sharp: religious institution versus living organism, bargaining versus gift, rule list versus relationship. The line lands: God does the winning, believers do the relating. So the eyes must be re-centered. Not the evil eye, not the self’s performance, but Jesus Christ placarded before them, crucified. That sight started the life of faith, and that same sight sustains it.

Key Takeaways

1. Fix your eyes on crucified Christ The cross is not background art, it is the billboard that explains everything God gives. Faith does not look at its own grip, it looks at his sacrifice that settled the account before anyone asked. When the gaze drifts, the soul drifts. Re-center the eyes, and the heart will follow. [50:38]
2. Questions bypass defenses and heal Declarations can be dodged, but good questions make the soul answer itself. Paul’s interrogations work like surgery, cutting past the surface to rescue from deception, not to win an argument. Honest self-answering under Scripture is a means of grace. [46:11]
3. Grace begins and carries the life What started by the Spirit stays by the Spirit. The Christian life does not trade the cross for self-improvement projects, because flesh cannot finish what grace began. The same gift that saved sustains, moment by moment. [59:46]
4. Suffering and providence deepen assurance Affliction stitches truth to memory in a way ease never will. Alongside the bruises, God’s quiet timings and narrow escapes stand as personal miracles that faith names and keeps. These lived markers keep the soul steady when feelings wobble. [61:56]
5. Grace, not religious bargaining Legalism tries to frame God with standards and leverage him for outcomes. The gospel announces a sacrifice already offered, not a deal to be struck. That frees the conscience to receive and then to obey from gratitude, not from fear. [52:57]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[32:39] - Funerals and unsettling language
[33:50] - Honest questions without agenda
[34:56] - Open Galatians 3:1-5
[35:22] - From head to heart
[37:31] - Not rules, but living grace
[38:58] - Question 1: Who bewitched you
[40:22] - Spirit, sanctification, and suffering
[44:52] - Why questions, not statements
[50:38] - Fix eyes on Christ crucified
[52:57] - Salvation is sacrifice, not bargaining
[56:08] - When Scripture comes alive
[59:46] - Begun by Spirit, perfected by Spirit
[61:56] - Providence and everyday miracles
[63:37] - Prayer and sending

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Galatians 3:1-5 (ESV)
1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?

Observation Questions

What does Paul mean by calling the Galatians "foolish," and how does he connect this to their spiritual condition? [48:29]
In verse 1, Paul asks, "Who has bewitched you?" What imagery does he use to contrast this deception with the truth they already know? [49:20]
How does Paul link the beginning of their faith (receiving the Spirit) to their ongoing walk with God in verse 3? [59:46]
What two "evidences" of God’s work does Paul highlight in verse 5, and why might these matter to the Galatians? [01:01:56]

Interpretation Questions

Why does Paul use questions instead of direct statements to address the Galatians’ spiritual drift? What advantage might this approach have? [46:11]
The phrase "publicly portrayed as crucified" (v. 1) is compared to a billboard. How does this metaphor challenge a legalistic mindset that focuses on human effort? [51:36]
Paul ties suffering (v. 4) to assurance. How might enduring hardship actually strengthen faith rather than weaken it? [01:00:53]
What does the contrast between "works of the law" and "hearing with faith" (v. 5) reveal about how God’s power operates in a believer’s life?

Application Questions

When have you felt your spiritual focus shift from Christ’s sacrifice to your own performance? What practical step could help you "re-center your eyes" on the cross this week? [50:38]
Reflect on a time when God’s timing or provision felt like a "quiet miracle" in your life. How can naming these moments deepen your trust in His grace? [01:01:56]
The sermon mentions that "the same Spirit who saved you sustains you." What daily habit could remind you to depend on the Spirit rather than self-effort? [59:46]
Legalism tries to "bargain with God." Where do you catch yourself trying to earn God’s favor instead of resting in His gift? How might gratitude replace that striving? [52:57]
Suffering "stitches truth to memory." Share a hardship that solidified your faith. How can you encourage others with that story? [01:00:53]
Paul’s questions forced the Galatians to confront their drift. Who in your life could lovingly ask you hard questions to keep your heart anchored in grace?

Sermon Clips

38s

#GraceNotBargaining

“Well, because the image of salvation isn't an image of Jesus. The image of salvation is his sacrifice. Now, did you convince him to sacrifice for you? Did you have to convince him to die for you? How many how many of y'all convinced him to die for you? None of us convinced Jesus to die for us. This isn't us bargaining with God. This is God sacrificing himself to us. Legalism or religious institution puts you in the position of wanting to bargain with God so that you can get what you want out of this, whereas grace says you have no bargaining power.”

30s

#HolySpiritConnection

“Why didn't he simply say, the only thing I wanna know from you is where you were saved? He doesn't say that, does he? He says, the only thing I wanna know from you, did you receive the Holy Spirit? Why didn't he stay in the theological side? Well, there is theology in the Holy Spirit. It's because the Holy Spirit brings emotional connection. It's the emotive. It is genuine. You feel the difference. It's something that you know to be true. It's powerful.”

33s

#ActingOutOfCharacter

“He's basically saying what has gotten into you. We use that phrase because we assume people generally act according to who they are. You should be looking at Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. So when someone acts completely out of character, we assume something must have happened. Something influenced them. Right? You've been bewitched. You're acting differently. You're thinking crazy. Something got their attention. Their eyes got diverted. Something changed their thinking.”

41s

#GraceNotMerit

“Now, as followers of Christ, and the biblical way of seeing our faith is that we don't merit God. We don't earn merit in front of God. We come to God acknowledging that we are short and that we do sin. We are sinners, and we have a passive indifference toward him or an active rebellion towards him and everywhere in between, all of that. And then God comes from heaven and he gives grace to us. He extends his riches to us as poverty stricken people. And he extends his riches to us and in that, that's grace. He gives us grace.”

39s

#PaulTheSpiritualSurgeon

“Paul is acting like a spiritual surgeon. He he's not merely winning an argument. He is trying to rescue people from spiritual deception and Paul could simply have said, you're abandoning, but he didn't do that. He asked these five questions and they're penetrating questions. Let's look at them one at a time and you can look in your bulletin, you can see the little points, the five points that are asked. The first question has to do with one's salvation. It's at the foot of the cross. It's remembering going back your your newness in faith.”

40s

#ChurchDoesntEqualSalvation

“I needed salvation. But Jim, you didn't need salvation. You attended church. The religious leaders, they were very involved in church, but they needed salvation. Legalism says, let's frame God with standards. Religious institutions do that. God says, you can't frame me. I'm the one that gives. You can't bargain with me. And then when you sit back and think about what happened for me, it's kind of interesting that a guy, he gave me a four spiritual law track and he said, read the four spiritual laws and pray the prayer at the end.”

23s

#SincerePrayerMatters

“Right? Never happened for me. And he said something to me. This I won't forget. It's a spiritual memory focusing my eyes on him as a sacrifice. Jesus is a sacrifice. He said, when you prayed that prayer, did you mean it? I said, well, yeah, I meant it. I said, I'm not doing I meant that. He says, when you prayed that prayer and you meant that, then God forgave you of all your sins and you're his child.”

29s

#RelateDontArgue

“Be respectful in the conversation because you're not there to win an argument anyway. You're not going to. You're there to relate. That's the purpose. God does the winning. We do the relating. That's right. He does the winning. We do the relating. But frequently, people will say, you know, I don't want that because I see that as a list of rules. I don't need any more lists of rules. I already failed at the rules that my mom gave me, and you want to put on top of mom's rules, God's rules?”

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Menchville Baptist Church This sermon · AI assistant

Did you receive the Spirit by law or faith?

What bewitched believers away from Christ's crucifixion?

Are you now being perfected by the flesh?

Have You Been Bewitched Away From Grace?

Devotional

Day 1: When Neon Crosses Outshine Bargaining Tables

Day 2: Holy Spirit Fireworks in Dusty Bibles

Day 3: Bulldozers, PTSD, and the Grace That Stays

Day 4: Miracles in Tenths of Seconds

Day 5: Foolish Galatians and the Look That Unravels

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

Have You Been Bewitched Away From Grace?

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