This morning we are going to begin in the book of Galatians.
This letter from Paul is agreed by many, that this is the first letter that Paul wrote.
The MAIN message in Galatians is a passionate letter written by the Apostle Paul to churches in the region of Galatia. Its central theme isjustification by faith, the truth that salvation comes entirely through trusting in Jesus Christ, rather than by obeying the works of the Old Testament law.
Today in the 21st century, how many man-made religions still try to teach the ten commandments onto their congregations?
We are NOT under the law, we are under GRACE. ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS BELIEVE.
The following verse is not found in Galatians, but it is one of my favorite verses and I cannot understand why we are not teaching this verse to our kids instead of John 3:16.
Ephesians 2:8 ‘…For by GRACE are ye SAVED through FAITH; and that not of yourselves: it is the GIFT of God…’ AKJV
ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS BELIEVE.
Galatians 1:6 ‘…I am surprised at you! In no time at all you are deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ, and are accepting another gospel…’ GNT (Good News Translation)
What other gospel you might ask?
I believe they were falling back into the roots of legalism or works for salvation. Another words, they had to do something to be saved.
There were Judaizers who insisted that these followers of Paul, needed to follow Jewish Law.
Paul affirms that in his earlier days he did persecute the Jewish believers.
Galatians 1:13 ‘…You have been told how I used to live when I was devoted to the Jewish religion, how I persecuted without mercy the church of God and did my best to destroy it…’ GNT (Good News Translation)
In this book of Galatians, Paul writes about that day when he was confronted by Jesus that Luke writes about in the book of Acts.
Acts 9:3 ‘…And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven…’ AKJV
That ‘light’ from heaven was the crucified, resurrected and ascended Jesus Christ confronting Saul.
Saul was heading to Damascus to capture and persecute the Jewish believers, members of the Way, and take them back to Jerusalem and turn them over to the Sanhedrin, the same group of Pharisees that had Jesus killed and had Stephen stoned to death in Acts chapter 7.
Here is an important verse from the book of Acts.
Acts 13:9 ‘…But [a]Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit and led by Him, looked steadily at Elymas…’ AMP (Amplified Bible)
Footnotes
[a]Saul was the apostle Paul’s Jewish (Hebrew) name. As his ministry to Gentiles began he became known by his Roman (Latin) name, Paul.
I copied this verse from the AMP version on purpose, because of the attached footnotes.
Galatians 1
vs15 ‘…But God in his grace chose me even before I was born, and called me to serve him. And when he decided…’
vs16 ‘…to reveal his Son to me, so that I might preach the Good News about him to the Gentiles, I did not go to anyone for advice…’
vs17 ‘…nor did I go to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before me. Instead, I went at once to Arabia, and then I returned to Damascus…’ GNT (Good News Translation)
This passage I have just quoted from should be all that us in the 21st century need to see that will tell us that God wanted a CHANGE.
Paul wasn’t sent to learn about Jesus by the remaining apostles, he was taken and taught by Jesus Himself.
Go back a few verses:
Galatians 1
vs11 ‘…Let me tell you, my friends, that the gospel I preach is not of human origin…’
vs12 ‘…I did not receive it from any human being, nor did anyone teach it to me. It was Jesus Christ himself who revealed it to me…’ GNT (Good News Translation)
This book of Galatians, to me is one of the easier books to read of the apostle Paul describing what we have awaiting for us in our future and what we need to do to receive this promise.
Galatians 3
vs1 ‘…You foolish Galatians! Who put a spell on you? Before your very eyes you had a clear description of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross…’
vs2 ‘…Tell me this one thing: did you receive God’s Spirit by doing what the Law requires or by hearing the gospel and believing it…’
vs3 ‘…How can you be so foolish! You began by God’s Spirit; do you now want to finish by your own power…’ GNT (Good News Translation)
The man-made religions in this world, I wish they would just sit down and open their Bibles and read this book so their eyes would be opened.
This lie that they preach onto their congregation about following Jesus’ teachings during His earthly ministry is totally shown to be wrong in this book.
I wish I was even more able to voice my opinion even louder than I am capable of.
We are not to celebrate Easter Sunday morning and then return back to the three years that Jesus walked on this earth, we are to move forward and spread the Message that He really wants for us to see.
OPEN YOUR BIBLE AND READ HIS WORD.
The above statement is the ONLY thing this world needs.
FOLLOW the words that God has given us … STOP returning back to a day of sin and sorrow.
Here is a clipping found on google.com:
Paul wrote to combat a theological crisis caused by false teachers known as Judaizers. These legalists were telling Gentile Christians that to be saved, they had to convert to Judaism and follow Old Testament laws like circumcision.
After Paul and all of the original disciples had died, sometime in the 2nd century, a movement began that has been followed for nearly 19 hundred years.
Here is a timeline that I copied off google.com.
Replacement theology (also known as supersessionism) emerged in its earliest forms during the mid-to-late 2nd century, between 130 and 160 A.D. As the Christian church transitioned from a primarily Jewish movement to one dominated by Gentiles, theologians sought to explain why the majority of Jews did not accept Jesus as the Messiah.
The timeline of its development is marked by these key stages:
160 A.D. (Marcion): Marcion of Sinope was one of the first to actively attempt to purge early Christianity of its Jewish heritage, rejecting the Hebrew Bible entirely.
180 A.D. (Irenaeus): Early Church Fathers like Irenaeus solidified this thinking, arguing that because the Jews rejected Christ, God revoked his covenant with them and transferred those divine promises to the Church.
325 A.D. (Council of Nicaea): The concept gained institutional permanence when the Church formally separated itself from Jewish practices, such as changing the observation of Passover to Easter independent of the Jewish calendar.
16th Century (Reformation Era): Leaders like Martin Luther injected further anti-Judaic theology into early Protestant writings, which unfortunately fueled centuries of prejudice in Europe.
Following the Holocaust, many mainstream Christian denominations began formally disavowing hard supersessionism. For example, the Catholic Church’s 1965 declaration Nostra aetate and various Protestant theological movements re-emphasized God’s ongoing covenant with the Jewish people.
This entire fiasco is nothing more than Satan wanting to lead this world down a wide path to their own destruction, and in a very big way, it is working.
Paul warns this world of this bad behavior following false preachers.
Galatians 1:8 ‘…Nobody should ever teach a message that is different from the good news that we taught you. Neither we ourselves, nor even an angel from heaven, should ever teach a different message. If anyone does that, I pray that God would curse him…’ EASY (Easy English Bible)
This false message has been spread because people forgot to OPEN the Word of God and HEAR the words that He wants us to HEAR.
Paul warns us in 2 Timothy 4.
2 Timothy 4
vs3 ‘…For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires…’
vs4 ‘…and they will turn their ears away from the truth and will turn aside to myths…’ NASB (New American Standard Bible)
If mankind doesn’t or won’t OPEN their Bibles and READ the words that God wants for us to HEAR, there are going to be many that are going to hear the words ‘BEGONE … I NEVER KNEW YOU.’
Matthew 7:23 ‘…And then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you: begone from me, you doers of wickedness…’ WNT (Weymouth New Testament)
There is not a man alive and on this earth that knows exactly when the end is going to happen.
No one knows when God is going to turn the light switch off and this world is going to end.
We have got to get back in the Word and turn our lives over to God; we have got to get on the right path.
Paul ends this book with this:
Galatians 6:18 ‘…Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen…’ AKJV
I want to personally invite you to follow me in my pursuit to follow in Jesus’ footsteps.
Over the many years, God’s message has been stepped on many times.
It is up to us to seek the words that God has given us and stop listening to what Satan and his false prophets are spewing out for people to hear.
Join me and together we will FOLLOW Him.
I love ALL of y’all.
Here is a reading plan I’d like to suggest for the one searching to find God in the 21st century:
Day 1 – Galatians 1-6, 1Thessalonians 1-5
Day 2 – 2Thessalonians 1-3, 1Corinthians 1-8
Day 3 – 1Corinthians 9-16
Day 4 – 2Corinthians 1-13
Day 5 – Romans 1-10
Day 6 – Romans 11-16, Philippians 1-4
Day 7 – Colossians 1-4, Ephesians 1-6
Day 8 – Philemon 1, 1 Timothy 1-6, Titus 1-3, 2Timothy 1-4
Day 9 – Acts 1-7
Day 10 – Acts 8-13
Day 11 – Acts 14-20
Day 12 – Acts 21-28
The entire Bible, ALL SCRIPTURE has been given to us by God (2TIM3:16), but NOT ALL Scripture has been meant for us ALL to follow … we are told we MUST know how to RIGHTLY DIVIDE the truth of God (2TIM2:15).
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