Joshua Kennedy's Weekly Devotion

As we conclude our series, Crucified with Christ, we move from the gravity of the cross to the glory of the empty tomb. We often treat the crucifixion and the resurrection as two separate historical dates on a calendar, but for the believer, they are a singular, simultaneous reality. To live the Christian life is to understand that the "old man" didn't just go into retirement—he was executed so that a "new man" could take his place. The Great Exchange: Galatians 2:20 The foundation of our walk is found in the merging of death and life. Paul writes: "My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me..." This is the "Great Exchange."  When we die to self, we don't become empty vessels; we become conduits for His resurrection power. We still inhabit these earthly bodies, but the engine driving us is no longer self-will—it is a relationship built on absolute trust in the Son of God. Baptism as a Li...

The Cross as God’s victory, not defeat There are two ways to look at the cross. One way sees weakness. A failed Messiah. A shameful death. A tragic ending. But heaven tells the truth: the cross is not God’s defeat—it is God’s victory. What looks like loss is actually triumph. What appears foolish is, in reality, the wisdom of God breaking into a world blinded by pride, power, and self-salvation. Paul says it plainly: “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Cor. 1:18) The Cross Confounds the World’s “Wisdom” The world trusts in intelligence, influence, persuasion, and self-improvement. We live in an age where people believe the right argument, the right book, the right strategy, or the right motivational speech can fix what’s broken inside. But Paul confronts that illusion: human wisdom can explain a problem without curing it. Words can inform the mind, but they cannot resurrect the heart.
Arguments c...

  There’s a moment at the end of Galatians where you can almost feel Paul lean in close—like a father grabbing his child by the shoulders and saying, “Listen to me. This matters.” He’s nearing the end of a letter written with fire in his bones because the gospel itself is on the line. And the final word he wants echoing in their hearts is this: Don’t boast in anything but the cross. Big Letters, Big Urgency (v. 11) Paul writes, “See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.” Most likely, Paul had been dictating much of the letter, but now he takes the pen himself. The boldness of the “large letters” isn’t about style—it’s about emphasis. It’s like underlining the conclusion, writing it in all caps, or signing a warning at the bottom of an important document. This isn’t a casual closing. Paul is saying: What I’m about to say must be taken seriously, because your soul is at stake. The Trap of Religious Approval (vv. 12–13) Paul exposes the real motive behind the J...

The message of the cross does not just change our eternity — it transforms how we treat one another. When we say we are crucified with Christ, that confession must show up in community. The cross dismantles pride, crushes comparison, and births compassion. Galatians 6 reveals what a crucified life actually looks like in the body of Christ. 1. Restoration, Not Rejection (Gal. 6:1–3) A cross-shaped life does not kick people when they are down. It bends low and lifts them up. When a brother or sister falls into sin, the spiritual response is not exposure for humiliation but restoration for healing. We restore gently, remembering that we are made of the same dust. The one helping today could be the one needing help tomorrow. Pride is subtle. It whispers, “I would never do that.” But the cross silences that arrogance. Apart from grace, we are all capable of falling. The moment we believe we are above someone else, we have already stepped into dangerous territory. We are one body. If one mem...

 INTRODUCTION Paul has just finished declaring that Christ has set us free —free from the curse of the Law, free from religious bondage, and free from striving to earn righteousness (Gal. 5:1–15). But freedom is not the end goal; it is the doorway. Freedom without direction becomes chaos. Liberty without surrender becomes license. So Paul pivots. He moves from what we are free from to how we are now called to live . The question is no longer, “Am I saved?” but “What is shaping my daily life?” True freedom in Christ is not proven by what we claim, but by how we walk . And there are only two ways to walk: in the flesh or in the Spirit . There is no neutral ground. Galatians 5:16–18 THE BATTLE: FLESH VS. SPIRIT There are two operating systems for human life: the flesh and the Spirit . The flesh represents life governed by self—self-rule, self-protection, self-gratification. The Spirit represents life governed by God—submitted, surrendered, and empowered by His presence. These t...

  Freedom is not fragile because Christ failed—it’s fragile because we forget. Paul opens Galatians 5 with a thunderous declaration and an equally strong warning: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Christ has already done the work. The danger is not that we lose our salvation, but that we surrender our freedom. Christ Set You Free—So Stay Free (v. 1) Satan’s strategy changes when sin no longer owns you. If he can’t drag you back into sinful bondage, he’ll try to lure you into religious bondage. Instead of being slaves to sin, we become slaves to self-effort. We start measuring our righteousness by performance instead of the finished work of Christ. That’s the trap: trying to be right with God by what we do, rather than resting in what Christ has already done. Freedom doesn’t mean lawlessness—it means living as sons and daughters, not as hired servants trying to earn approval. You Don’t...

  Freedom is not learned overnight. Paul tells us to think of it this way : a child may legally own everything his father left behind, but until maturity comes, he lives no differently than a servant. The inheritance is real, but access is restricted. Responsibility hasn’t yet caught up with position. That was our story before Christ. From Slavery to Sonship (vv. 1–3) Before Jesus, we were spiritual minors—bound by the systems of this world, ruled by forces we could not overcome, and unable to enjoy the riches of heaven. Though the promises existed, we lived beneath them. Slaves to sin. Slaves to fear. Slaves to the basic principles that govern a fallen world. But something changed when we came into Christ. Maturity arrived—not through effort, but through union. The guards were dismissed. The locks were removed. Suddenly, what once belonged to us in promise became accessible in reality. We didn’t earn it. We inherited it. The Right Time, the Right Savior (vv. 4–7) At the exact...

Introduction:   Life often tempts us to earn God’s favor through our efforts, our good deeds, or our performance. But the truth of the Gospel is radical: God does not count our attempts at righteousness—He counts our faith in Jesus. In this devotional, we’ll explore what it means to live the “exchanged life,” where Christ’s life and righteousness replace our own. 
“Righteousness by Faith: Living the Exchanged Life” (Galatians 2:15-16)   “We are Jews by birth and not ‘sinners’ like the Gentiles. Yet we know that a person is made right with God not by obeying the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have believed in Christ Jesus so that we might be made right with God through faith in Christ, not by obeying the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.” When we read these verses, it’s easy to get caught up in the “Jews vs. Gentiles” language and miss the more profound truth: Paul is teaching us about identity and dependence. The Jews had an ex...

  When Obedience Confronts Tradition Galatians 2:1–3  Then, fourteen years later, I went back to Jerusalem again, this time with Barnabas; and Titus came along, too. 2 I went there because God revealed to me that I should go. While I was there, I met privately with those considered to be leaders of the church and shared with them the message I had been preaching to the Gentiles. I wanted to make sure that we agreed, for fear that all my efforts had been wasted and I was running the race for nothing. 3 And they supported me and did not even demand that my companion Titus be circumcised, though he was a Gentile.[a] Fourteen years is a long time to carry a burden in your spirit. Paul didn’t rush back to Jerusalem to settle the tension between grace and tradition. He waited until the Lord made it unmistakably clear that silence was no longer obedience. When the time came, Paul went up to Jerusalem not on a personal mission, but under divine direction. He brought Barnabas, a truste...

  Transformation through Christ’s Call The cross does more than forgive sin—it exposes the source of true transformation. In Galatians 1:11–24, Paul pulls back the curtain on how the Gospel came to him and what it produced in him. This is not a polished testimony meant to impress; it is a declaration that the Gospel is supernatural in origin and unstoppable in effect. When Christ calls a life, nothing remains the same. The Gospel Comes from God, Not Man (vv. 11–12) Paul begins by defending the source of the Gospel he preached. He did not receive it from human teachers or religious systems. He was taught directly by Jesus Christ. At that time, the written Gospels did not yet exist, so divine revelation was necessary. That truth matters, but so does humility. God does speak directly, yet He also speaks through people. Spiritual pride whispers, “I only hear from God myself.” That attitude cuts us off from the very instruments God often uses to shape us. Today, we are blessed to have t...

Introduction:   Galatians 1:1–10 – The Cross as the Only True Foundation Paul writes to the Galatian believers with urgency because something sacred is being distorted. Judaizers had infiltrated the churches, insisting that Gentile Christians must submit to the Old Testament law—particularly circumcision—to be entirely accepted by God. But this teaching strikes at the very heart of the gospel Paul preached:
We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone—nothing added. Rather than proving the inferiority of Christ’s gospel compared to the law, Paul does the opposite:
He exposes the insufficiency of the law and the absolute supremacy of Christ’s finished work. The central theme that emerges is this:
Righteousness is not achieved by human effort but received through union with Christ—being crucified with Him and raised into new life by the Spirit. It is only through Christ, and only by the Spirit, that we are made righteous. Our old life was nailed to the cross, and...