{"id":26111,"date":"2023-05-03T22:00:14","date_gmt":"2023-05-04T05:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/galatians-1_1-12-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-04-18T12:11:25","modified_gmt":"2023-04-18T19:11:25","slug":"galatians-1_13-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/galatians-1_13-24\/","title":{"rendered":"Look to God First, Then to People"},"content":{"rendered":"

Galatians 1:13-24 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

\n

Today\u2019s passage is Galatians 1:13-24.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

\n
Galatians 1:13-16 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles\u2026<\/em>On verses 13-16a:\u00a0 Here in verses 13-24 Paul shares his experience of how he went from trying to destroy the church of God and one of the most zealous Pharisees to a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 As Paul writes, everything changed \u201cwhen God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles\u201d (v15-16).\u00a0 Notice those words: \u201cwho set me apart from birth and called me\u201d (v15).\u00a0 Long before Paul became passionate about persecuting the church or advancing in Judaism, God had a call on Paul\u2019s life and had set him apart from birth.Likewise,\u00a0long before you ever got involved in championing any other cause or advancing in any other passion, profession or pursuit, God set you apart for His purpose and called you.\u00a0 God\u2019s choosing you didn\u2019t happen after you championed other causes or after you spent much time pursuing other things; rather, God had His eye on you and chose you even before you were born, when you were in your mother\u2019s womb (Psalm 139:13-16).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Galatians 1:16b-24 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u2026I did not consult any man,
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him fifteen days.
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I saw none of the other apostles–only James, the Lord’s brother.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Later I went to Syria and Cilicia.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ.
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And they praised God because of me.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 16b-24:\u00a0 Why does Paul emphasize so much that the Gospel he preached was not something that he spent a lot of time learning from anyone else, that he “did not consult any man” (v16)? It’s not to say that Paul never needed the advice or help of others. Rather, it’s to support his point that the Gospel is a God thing not a man thing.<\/p>\n

Apparently Paul did not consult any person to learn the Gospel, but rather was given the Gospel \u201cby revelation from Jesus Christ\u201d (v12) and the help of the Holy Spirit as he searched the Scriptures. Only after three years did Paul meet the apostle Peter.\u00a0 Spending time with Peter over 15 days confirmed for both Paul and Peter discovered that the Gospel Paul was preaching was consistent with what Peter and the other apostles were preaching. What does that tell you? It shows that the Holy Spirit was at work in Paul’s life.<\/p>\n

In the same way,\u00a0like Paul, when you have a question may you seek God for the answer first before you look for wisdom from people. Then check what you’re hearing from God against what other respected Christians are saying.<\/strong>\u00a0May you experience the Holy Spirit working in your life, giving you insight that is affirmed by others in the church.\u00a0 As what happened with Paul,\u00a0may people see in you the positive change that can happen when we allow Jesus Christ to work in our lives. May others praise God because of you<\/strong>\u00a0(v24).<\/p>\n

Father, thank You that before I was even born, You already set me apart to know You and to serve You.\u00a0 Thank You.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Galatians 1:13-24.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Galatians 1:13-16 (NIV)
\n13\u00a0\u00a0For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it.
\n14\u00a0\u00a0I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
\n15\u00a0\u00a0But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased
\n16\u00a0\u00a0to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles\u2026<\/p>\n

On verses 13-16a:\u00a0 Here in verses 13-24 Paul shares his experience of how he went from trying to destroy the church of God and one of the most zealous Pharisees to a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 As Paul writes, everything changed \u201cwhen God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles\u201d (v15-16).\u00a0 Notice those words: \u201cwho set me apart from birth and called me\u201d (v15).\u00a0 Long before Paul became passionate about persecuting the church or advancing in Judaism, God had a call on Paul\u2019s life and had set him apart from birth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26113,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26111","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\/26111","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=26111"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26115,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26111\/revisions\/26115"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}