{"id":26107,"date":"2023-05-02T22:00:56","date_gmt":"2023-05-03T05:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/jude-1_17-24-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-04-18T12:04:48","modified_gmt":"2023-04-18T19:04:48","slug":"galatians-1_1-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/galatians-1_1-12\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s About God\u2019s Power"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"flex_column av_one_full  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding first  avia-builder-el-0  avia-builder-el-no-sibling  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><section class=\"av_textblock_section \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='avia_textblock  '   itemprop=\"text\" ><p>Galatians 1:1-12 \u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Galatians+1%3A1-12&amp;version=NIV\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-26109 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/23-0503.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/23-0503.jpg 600w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/23-0503-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>Today we start our look at the book of\u00a0Galatians, a letter written by Paul to the churches in the region of Galatia in approximately 48 to 53 A.D.\u00a0 Our passage today is Galatians 1:1-12.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Galatians 1:1-2 (NIV)<\/strong><br \/>\n<sup>1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Paul, an apostle&#8211;sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead&#8211;<br \/>\n<sup>2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and all the brothers with me, To the churches in Galatia:<\/em><\/p>\n<p>On verses 1-2:\u00a0\u00a0The first thing Paul does in his letter is identify himself as an apostle.\u00a0 An &#8220;apostle&#8221; literally means sent one, a messenger, a person who has been sent on a mission by another.\u00a0 Notice that Paul goes out of his way to say that his apostleship is a God thing, not a man thing.\u00a0 He says he has been sent \u201cby Jesus Christ and God the Father\u201d, not \u201cfrom men or by man\u201d (v1).<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Galatians 1:3-5 (NIV)<\/strong><br \/>\n<sup>3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,<br \/>\n<sup>4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,<br \/>\n<sup>5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>On verses 3-5:\u00a0 In Paul\u2019s greeting and blessing to the churches in Galatia, Paul emphasizes what Jesus Christ has done, how Jesus gave himself for our sins to rescue us, according to the Father\u2019s will.\u00a0 \u00a0<strong>It is God&#8217;s power, not man&#8217;s power, that saves us from our sins and enables us to know God and serve Him.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Galatians 1:6-9 (NIV)<\/strong><br \/>\n<sup>6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel&#8211;<br \/>\n<sup>7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.<br \/>\n<sup>8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!<br \/>\n<sup>9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>On verses 6-9:\u00a0 Paul would often start his letters to his churches with thanksgiving.\u00a0 But in this case, Paul goes directly into expressing his dismay at the problem that is happening among the churches in Galatia.\u00a0 It\u2019s because to Paul the problem could not be more serious: the churches in Galatia were turning away from the gospel of grace and \u201cturning to a different gospel\u201d (v6).\u00a0 We\u2019ll learn later in this letter what this different gospel was about, but Paul says it is \u201creally no gospel at all.\u201d (v6-7)\u00a0 This is so serious that Paul twice says that those who have been perverting and twisting the gospel of grace should be eternally condemned (v8-9), because the way they are leading people astray will have consequences that last into eternity.\u00a0 This is serious business to Paul, and so it should be.\u00a0\u00a0<strong>When the gospel \u2013 which means good news \u2013 gets perverted, it stops being good news.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Galatians 1:10 (NIV)<\/strong><br \/>\n<sup>10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>On verse 10:\u00a0 Paul clarifies that the reason he is writing all of this is not to win the approval of any person, but to be faithful to the One who called him, Jesus Christ.\u00a0 In writing this Paul indirectly teaches us an important principle: a person cannot serve two masters. \u00a0<strong>Either you can live to please God or live to please people.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Galatians 1:11-12 (NIV)<\/strong><br \/>\n<sup>11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up.<br \/>\n<sup>12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>On verses 11-12:\u00a0\u00a0One of the big messages that Paul wants to communicate to the Galatians is that the gospel that Paul preaches is not something that he or some other human being made up, but is God\u2019s supernatural revelation.\u00a0 The gospel Paul preaches is all about God\u2019s power: how God, not man, originated, and how it\u2019s about God\u2019s power to save us, not our own power.\u00a0\u00a0Starting here and in the verses to follow\u00a0Paul is going to share his testimony of how he received this gospel that he now preaches.<\/p>\n<p>In the first 12 verses of Galatians,\u00a0Paul is coming against those who try to find human explanations for God&#8217;s work, and human solutions for problems that can only be solved by God.<\/p>\n<p><em>Father, may I never turn away from the gospel of Jesus Christ, for only You and Your gospel have the power to save us.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n<p>Today we start our look at the book of\u00a0Galatians, a letter written by Paul to the churches in the region of Galatia in approximately 48 to 53 A.D.\u00a0 Our passage today is Galatians 1:1-12.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n<p>Galatians 1:1-2 (NIV)<br \/>\n1\u00a0\u00a0Paul, an apostle&#8211;sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead&#8211;<br \/>\n2\u00a0\u00a0and all the brothers with me, To the churches in Galatia:<\/p>\n<p>On verses 1-2:\u00a0\u00a0The first thing Paul does in his letter is identify himself as an apostle.\u00a0 An &#8220;apostle&#8221; literally means sent one, a messenger, a person who has been sent on a mission by another.\u00a0 Notice that Paul goes out of his way to say that his apostleship is a God thing, not a man thing.\u00a0 He says he has been sent \u201cby Jesus Christ and God the Father\u201d, not \u201cfrom men or by man\u201d (v1).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26109,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26107"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26110,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26107\/revisions\/26110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}