WEBVTT 00:00:01.879 --> 00:00:04.759 Welcome to Life Group. We invite you to join 00:00:04.759 --> 00:00:07.400 us in this verse -by -verse study through the 00:00:07.400 --> 00:00:11.539 Word of God. Today we are beginning a study through 00:00:11.539 --> 00:00:14.820 the book of Galatians. In this session we will 00:00:14.820 --> 00:00:18.440 focus on chapter 1. But before we get started, 00:00:18.760 --> 00:00:21.800 let's discuss some of the facts surrounding this 00:00:21.800 --> 00:00:25.960 New Testament letter. Galatians was written by 00:00:25.960 --> 00:00:30.620 Paul around 50 A .D. and this is approximately 00:00:30.620 --> 00:00:34.679 15 years after his conversion on the road to 00:00:34.679 --> 00:00:39.100 Damascus. Galatians is known as the Declaration 00:00:39.100 --> 00:00:43.520 of Christian Liberty. In it, we find that we 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:47.020 are free from the law, we're free to serve Christ, 00:00:47.320 --> 00:00:51.000 and we're free to be transformed by the Holy 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:55.789 Spirit. Galatians is a passionate letter. It's 00:00:55.789 --> 00:00:59.109 the outpouring of a soul of a preacher on fire 00:00:59.109 --> 00:01:02.750 for his Lord, who is deeply committed to bringing 00:01:02.750 --> 00:01:06.030 people to an understanding of what saving faith 00:01:06.030 --> 00:01:11.790 actually is. So let's begin with verse 1. This 00:01:11.790 --> 00:01:16.590 letter is from Paul, an apostle. I was not appointed 00:01:16.590 --> 00:01:19.549 by any group of people or any human authority, 00:01:19.950 --> 00:01:24.290 but by Jesus Christ himself and by God the Father. 00:01:24.760 --> 00:01:30.099 who raised jesus from the dead here we see that 00:01:30.099 --> 00:01:34.040 paul is starting out with an emphasis on his 00:01:34.040 --> 00:01:38.359 apostolic credentials and this is important because 00:01:38.359 --> 00:01:43.159 paul has strong words for the galatians and they 00:01:43.159 --> 00:01:46.859 needed to understand that he wrote with authority 00:01:46.859 --> 00:01:52.319 indeed apostolic authority Paul expected that 00:01:52.319 --> 00:01:55.599 Christians would respect his authority as an 00:01:55.599 --> 00:02:00.120 apostle of Jesus Christ. Now, Paul's calling 00:02:00.120 --> 00:02:04.480 as an apostle didn't originate with man. It didn't 00:02:04.480 --> 00:02:07.219 come through man. It originated with God and 00:02:07.219 --> 00:02:11.379 came directly from God. His standing as an apostle 00:02:11.379 --> 00:02:15.759 was not based on opinion polls, and it didn't 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:19.849 come from any human counsel. It was based on 00:02:19.849 --> 00:02:26.129 a divine call from God. Verse 2. All the brothers 00:02:26.129 --> 00:02:30.669 and sisters here join me in sending this letter 00:02:30.669 --> 00:02:35.610 to the churches of Galatia. Now we need to understand 00:02:35.610 --> 00:02:39.930 that Galatia was a region, not a single city. 00:02:40.210 --> 00:02:45.229 It was not addressed to a single church gathering. 00:02:45.270 --> 00:02:48.139 The letters addressed... specifically to all 00:02:48.139 --> 00:02:51.860 the called -out ones across the entire region 00:02:51.860 --> 00:02:56.560 of Galatia. Now, that word church, just a reminder, 00:02:56.680 --> 00:02:59.539 most of you who are involved at a Galatian church 00:02:59.539 --> 00:03:02.620 already know this, but the word church comes 00:03:02.620 --> 00:03:08.120 from a combination of two Greek terms, and those 00:03:08.120 --> 00:03:13.379 terms are out of and to call. So when the Bible 00:03:13.379 --> 00:03:15.340 uses the word church, it's not talking about 00:03:15.340 --> 00:03:17.979 an organization. It's not talking about a building. 00:03:18.259 --> 00:03:21.719 It's talking about a gathering of called out 00:03:21.719 --> 00:03:25.639 ones. People who've been called out of spiritual 00:03:25.639 --> 00:03:29.599 death into everlasting life. They've been called 00:03:29.599 --> 00:03:33.780 out of the shame and guilt of sin into the joy 00:03:33.780 --> 00:03:37.159 and freedom of Christ's righteousness. They've 00:03:37.159 --> 00:03:41.120 been called out of a life of darkness. into the 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:45.199 light of the gospel they've been called out of 00:03:45.199 --> 00:03:48.759 selfishness and self -centeredness into a life 00:03:48.759 --> 00:03:52.520 of surrender and purpose it's a people who's 00:03:52.520 --> 00:03:57.060 been called out of this world and called into 00:03:57.060 --> 00:04:00.560 the kingdom of God they've been called out of 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:09.120 being in sin into being in Christ Let's pick 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:13.060 up with verse 3. May God our Father and the Lord 00:04:13.060 --> 00:04:18.860 Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. Now, here 00:04:18.860 --> 00:04:21.779 we see Paul using this term that he often uses, 00:04:21.839 --> 00:04:26.259 grace and peace together as a greeting for the 00:04:26.259 --> 00:04:30.199 book of Galatians. Now, the traditional greeting 00:04:30.199 --> 00:04:34.639 for the Greek culture, when they would meet each 00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:37.100 other, they would say grace. They would use that 00:04:37.100 --> 00:04:41.819 word. And that meant favor to you, kindness to 00:04:41.819 --> 00:04:46.420 you, blessing to you. The traditional greeting 00:04:46.420 --> 00:04:51.939 in the Jewish culture was peace. And that meant 00:04:51.939 --> 00:04:55.199 being at one, having peace, a quietness, a rest. 00:04:55.600 --> 00:05:01.680 And it implied prosperity. Now, in the context 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:07.100 of Christianity, grace carries more meaning. 00:05:08.069 --> 00:05:12.329 You might be familiar with grace being unmerited 00:05:12.329 --> 00:05:15.930 favor, but we could take it to a next level saying 00:05:15.930 --> 00:05:21.550 that grace is God's acts of kindness and favor 00:05:21.550 --> 00:05:26.129 towards us that are undeserved and unmerited. 00:05:26.209 --> 00:05:30.250 It's the grace of God. Everything that he has 00:05:30.250 --> 00:05:33.149 done for us, every promise that he has made to 00:05:33.149 --> 00:05:40.040 us is grace based. It's not based on our ability 00:05:40.040 --> 00:05:43.680 to perform or something that we deserve, right? 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:48.699 It's God's grace. Let's pick up with verse 4. 00:05:49.300 --> 00:05:55.379 Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God 00:05:55.379 --> 00:06:00.199 our Father planned in order to rescue us from 00:06:00.199 --> 00:06:04.600 this evil world in which we live. That's what 00:06:04.600 --> 00:06:08.120 I call grace in action, right? And right at the 00:06:08.120 --> 00:06:11.800 start of this book, Paul is setting the foundation 00:06:11.800 --> 00:06:16.160 for the letter, the entire letter. Forgiveness 00:06:16.160 --> 00:06:20.560 and righteousness. Both of those things come 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:26.300 from Jesus' finished work on the cross. Being 00:06:26.300 --> 00:06:29.060 rescued from this evil world is not referring 00:06:29.060 --> 00:06:33.970 to the future heaven. It's talking about being 00:06:33.970 --> 00:06:38.689 rescued from any power this evil world once had 00:06:38.689 --> 00:06:42.790 over us now. That's what it's talking about. 00:06:43.290 --> 00:06:47.170 And then in verse 5, he goes on to say, All glory 00:06:47.170 --> 00:06:53.949 to God forever and ever. We looked at grace and 00:06:53.949 --> 00:06:58.370 peace and deliverance. And all three of those 00:06:58.370 --> 00:07:03.370 are grace gifts. from god for our benefit and 00:07:03.370 --> 00:07:07.829 they're also a reason for for us to glorify god 00:07:07.829 --> 00:07:12.550 as paul says all glory to god forever and ever 00:07:12.550 --> 00:07:18.870 amen now let's go to verse 6. it begins with 00:07:18.870 --> 00:07:25.230 paul saying i am shocked i am shocked now the 00:07:25.230 --> 00:07:29.120 actual greek words here don't actually translate 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:33.160 i am shocked it it translates like this that 00:07:33.160 --> 00:07:40.019 i admire i admire i marvel i wow but in a bad 00:07:40.019 --> 00:07:45.879 way not in a good way so basically paul is starting 00:07:45.879 --> 00:07:49.759 out by saying wow in a in a bad way i am shocked 00:07:49.759 --> 00:07:55.279 because of what's going on and in every other 00:07:55.279 --> 00:08:01.199 letter Paul expresses his thankfulness immediately 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:06.379 after his introductory greetings. But not this 00:08:06.379 --> 00:08:11.100 time, not in Galatians. Let's pick up in verse 00:08:11.100 --> 00:08:15.740 6. I am shocked that you are turning away so 00:08:15.740 --> 00:08:21.220 soon from God who called you to himself through 00:08:21.220 --> 00:08:26.939 the loving mercy. And that phrase, loving mercy, 00:08:27.139 --> 00:08:30.319 actually is the same word that was translated 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:34.419 grace earlier. Who called you to himself through 00:08:34.419 --> 00:08:38.159 the grace of Christ, the loving mercy of Christ. 00:08:38.580 --> 00:08:44.080 You are following a different way that pretends 00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:51.919 to be the good news. Wow. Paul is saying he's 00:08:51.919 --> 00:08:57.580 shocked. The Galatians, the people of Galatia 00:08:57.580 --> 00:09:00.419 in the churches across Galatia, it seems like 00:09:00.419 --> 00:09:03.039 they're turning away from a person. They're turning 00:09:03.039 --> 00:09:07.480 away from God and from the gospel that he had 00:09:07.480 --> 00:09:10.220 presented to them. They're turning away to false 00:09:10.220 --> 00:09:15.960 ideas. They're turning to a false gospel. They 00:09:15.960 --> 00:09:23.340 were turning away from grace. Verse 7. But it's 00:09:23.340 --> 00:09:28.960 not the good news at all, he says. Because turning 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:35.919 away from grace to legalism or to law is not 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:38.639 good news. It's never been good news, and it's 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:42.779 not good news at all to look at your ability 00:09:42.779 --> 00:09:47.080 to perform instead of God's acts of kindness 00:09:47.080 --> 00:09:49.700 and favor towards you that you receive by faith. 00:09:51.129 --> 00:09:54.009 Continue in verse 7. But it is not the good news 00:09:54.009 --> 00:09:58.950 at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately 00:09:58.950 --> 00:10:05.549 twist the truth concerning Christ. Here he uses 00:10:05.549 --> 00:10:09.690 that phrase that they twist the truth. And we 00:10:09.690 --> 00:10:13.470 need to realize something. Twisted truth is a 00:10:13.470 --> 00:10:17.470 scheme of Satan. And it's always been the scheme 00:10:17.470 --> 00:10:21.039 of Satan. Even backing up to... His first words 00:10:21.039 --> 00:10:24.100 in Genesis chapter three, verse one, it says 00:10:24.100 --> 00:10:27.679 the serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild 00:10:27.679 --> 00:10:31.879 animals the Lord God had made. And one day he 00:10:31.879 --> 00:10:37.399 asked the woman, did God really say you must 00:10:37.399 --> 00:10:39.840 not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the 00:10:39.840 --> 00:10:44.879 garden? And right out of the gate, he's trying 00:10:44.879 --> 00:10:51.049 to cause people to question what God. said by 00:10:51.049 --> 00:10:54.549 twisting the truth and that's that's a scheme 00:10:54.549 --> 00:10:57.429 of satan and for us we need to recognize that 00:10:57.429 --> 00:11:00.690 we need to know that second corinthians 2 11 00:11:00.690 --> 00:11:06.169 tells us that satan will not outsmart us for 00:11:06.169 --> 00:11:09.870 we are familiar with his evil schemes when we 00:11:09.870 --> 00:11:14.710 know that his scheme is to twist the truth then 00:11:14.710 --> 00:11:19.480 we cannot be outsmarted Let's go to verse 8. 00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:26.100 Let God's curse fall on anyone, including us 00:11:26.100 --> 00:11:30.940 or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a 00:11:30.940 --> 00:11:36.620 different kind of good news than the one we preached 00:11:36.620 --> 00:11:42.279 to you. I say again what we have said before. 00:11:42.419 --> 00:11:46.240 If anyone preaches any other good news than the 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:50.080 one you welcomed, Let that person be cursed. 00:11:51.440 --> 00:11:55.659 Here, Paul is talking about how important the 00:11:55.659 --> 00:11:59.700 gospel is, the good news is, and how it should 00:11:59.700 --> 00:12:02.320 be protected. And he's even saying to the point 00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:05.879 that, you know what, the curse of God, the curse 00:12:05.879 --> 00:12:13.320 of the law come upon anyone who twists the gospel. 00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:17.500 As an expression of God's love that can be received 00:12:17.500 --> 00:12:21.659 by faith. And that reminded me of Deuteronomy 00:12:21.659 --> 00:12:28.940 27 and 28. Where the blessings of the law, the 00:12:28.940 --> 00:12:32.620 people of God split between two mountains. Mount 00:12:32.620 --> 00:12:37.200 Gerizim. And on Mount Gerizim, the blessings 00:12:37.200 --> 00:12:44.980 of God were read. And on Mount Ebel. the curse 00:12:44.980 --> 00:12:49.440 of the law was read. So on one mountain, they're 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:51.620 proclaiming the blessing. On the other, they're 00:12:51.620 --> 00:12:55.779 proclaiming the curse. And the curse of the law 00:12:55.779 --> 00:13:01.100 in Deuteronomy 30, 19, this is what it comes 00:13:01.100 --> 00:13:05.679 to ultimately, where it said, Today I have given 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:10.940 you the choice between life and death, between 00:13:10.940 --> 00:13:16.039 blessings and curses, Now I call on heaven and 00:13:16.039 --> 00:13:21.700 earth to witness the choice you make. And then 00:13:21.700 --> 00:13:24.899 it goes on to say, oh, that you would choose 00:13:24.899 --> 00:13:30.779 life. That you would choose life. And Paul is 00:13:30.779 --> 00:13:35.340 comparing this, this Old Testament blessing and 00:13:35.340 --> 00:13:39.399 cursing to the choice that has to be made under 00:13:39.399 --> 00:13:44.850 the new covenant. according to the gospel. And 00:13:44.850 --> 00:13:48.049 the choice that the Galatians are facing is the 00:13:48.049 --> 00:13:53.629 choice between grace and law. And he's letting 00:13:53.629 --> 00:13:57.830 them know that grace will bring freedom and will 00:13:57.830 --> 00:14:02.110 bring life. But the law, if they choose law over 00:14:02.110 --> 00:14:06.669 grace, the law will bring the curse of the law, 00:14:06.789 --> 00:14:11.690 which is ultimately death. Picking up in verse 00:14:11.690 --> 00:14:15.909 10. Obviously, I'm not trying to win the approval 00:14:15.909 --> 00:14:19.669 of people, but of God. If pleasing people were 00:14:19.669 --> 00:14:26.090 my goal, I would not be Christ's servant. It's 00:14:26.090 --> 00:14:28.409 clear here that Paul is not shaping his message 00:14:28.409 --> 00:14:32.129 to please an audience. He's not trying to people 00:14:32.129 --> 00:14:35.940 please, we could say. We know in 2 Timothy 4, 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:39.399 3, for a time is coming when people will no longer 00:14:39.399 --> 00:14:42.379 listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They 00:14:42.379 --> 00:14:44.840 will follow their own desire and will look for 00:14:44.840 --> 00:14:47.299 teachers who will tell them whatever their itching 00:14:47.299 --> 00:14:51.000 ears want to hear. But Paul is not doing this. 00:14:52.220 --> 00:14:56.039 Verse 11, Dear brothers and sisters, I want you 00:14:56.039 --> 00:14:58.820 to understand that the gospel message I preach 00:14:58.820 --> 00:15:04.500 is not based on mere human reasoning. Here we 00:15:04.500 --> 00:15:07.820 see that the true gospel often contradicts and 00:15:07.820 --> 00:15:12.179 offends our human reasoning. It can offend our 00:15:12.179 --> 00:15:16.100 pride because we cannot save ourselves. It can 00:15:16.100 --> 00:15:19.580 offend our wisdom in the sense that it's foolishness 00:15:19.580 --> 00:15:23.740 that God would become a man and die for our sins. 00:15:24.539 --> 00:15:27.480 And it can also offend our knowledge in the sense 00:15:27.480 --> 00:15:30.580 that our knowledge of how the natural world works 00:15:30.580 --> 00:15:34.519 and that someone could die and then rise again 00:15:34.519 --> 00:15:39.059 in three days. But there is a vast amount of 00:15:39.059 --> 00:15:43.360 things we can learn, but God's revelation contains... 00:15:43.659 --> 00:15:46.600 all that we need pertaining to life and godliness, 00:15:46.740 --> 00:15:51.200 as it says in 2 Peter 1 .3. And believers need 00:15:51.200 --> 00:15:55.320 to place less emphasis on the good advice and 00:15:55.320 --> 00:15:58.860 the wisdom of man, and we need to place our value. 00:15:59.019 --> 00:16:03.220 What needs to be most valuable to us needs to 00:16:03.220 --> 00:16:06.899 be revelation from God, from the Holy Spirit 00:16:06.899 --> 00:16:11.379 in us. Let's continue reading in verse 12. I 00:16:11.379 --> 00:16:14.799 received my message from no human source and 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:19.120 no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct 00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:23.980 revelation from Jesus Christ. So here we see 00:16:23.980 --> 00:16:27.639 Paul is further trying to communicate the origin 00:16:27.639 --> 00:16:31.320 of this message. He's, you know, Paul's own relationship 00:16:31.320 --> 00:16:35.559 to the gospel he's saying is unique because most 00:16:35.559 --> 00:16:39.220 everyone who hears the gospel hear it from someone 00:16:39.220 --> 00:16:43.159 else. But here he's saying that he received the 00:16:43.159 --> 00:16:47.399 gospel in a dramatic, direct revelation. And 00:16:47.399 --> 00:16:49.639 we know that this happened when he encountered 00:16:49.639 --> 00:16:52.419 Jesus on the road to Damascus. And that's what 00:16:52.419 --> 00:16:55.299 he's referring to here, is that conversion experience. 00:16:56.080 --> 00:17:00.659 Verse 13. You know what I was like when I followed 00:17:00.659 --> 00:17:04.019 the Jewish religion, how I violently persecuted 00:17:04.019 --> 00:17:08.200 God's church, and I did my best to destroy it. 00:17:09.609 --> 00:17:12.289 This shows that Paul was not looking for some 00:17:12.289 --> 00:17:14.809 other truth when he was first confronted with 00:17:14.809 --> 00:17:27.410 the gospel of Jesus. Verse 14, We know that Paul 00:17:27.410 --> 00:17:30.349 was a Pharisee of Pharisees, you could say. He 00:17:30.349 --> 00:17:33.509 was the best student of the most respected teacher, 00:17:33.690 --> 00:17:37.069 and he was very passionate in everything that 00:17:37.069 --> 00:17:40.210 he did. And he genuinely had a heart for God, 00:17:40.329 --> 00:17:43.789 but he was operating under bad doctrine, under 00:17:43.789 --> 00:17:48.869 a bad belief. Verse 15, But even before I was 00:17:48.869 --> 00:17:52.730 born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous 00:17:52.730 --> 00:17:57.910 grace. Now, I want us to read this passage again 00:17:57.910 --> 00:18:02.230 out of the New King James Version. It follows 00:18:02.230 --> 00:18:06.759 more directly with, the direct Greek translation 00:18:06.759 --> 00:18:11.920 or, you know, the original language that Paul 00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:14.960 was writing this letter was Greek. And it kind 00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:18.119 of lays out better verse English translation. 00:18:19.359 --> 00:18:22.579 It says this, but it pleased God who separated 00:18:22.579 --> 00:18:26.279 me from my mother's womb and called me by his 00:18:26.279 --> 00:18:29.859 grace. That word separated there could be divided. 00:18:30.970 --> 00:18:34.789 He's saying he was divided from, and it pleased 00:18:34.789 --> 00:18:39.630 God to divide him from what he was born into, 00:18:39.809 --> 00:18:43.509 meaning the traditions of his ancestors, as it 00:18:43.509 --> 00:18:46.329 says in verse 14. What does that mean? It means 00:18:46.329 --> 00:18:48.829 that he was divided from a law -based Jewish 00:18:48.829 --> 00:18:53.869 heritage, and that's what he was called out of. 00:18:53.930 --> 00:18:56.250 Like we've talked about, the church is a called 00:18:56.250 --> 00:19:00.289 out. people. And here we see Paul is saying that, 00:19:00.349 --> 00:19:02.990 hey, I have been called out of this. I've been 00:19:02.990 --> 00:19:06.529 called out of my law -based belief system now 00:19:06.529 --> 00:19:10.089 into God's grace. He's been called out to live 00:19:10.089 --> 00:19:16.549 a life with the passion and love of Christ. So 00:19:16.549 --> 00:19:19.809 let's continue reading in 15. Then it pleased 00:19:19.809 --> 00:19:22.970 him to reveal his son to me so that I would proclaim 00:19:22.970 --> 00:19:27.700 the good news about Jesus to the Gentiles. Now 00:19:27.700 --> 00:19:30.079 this is interesting because Paul most likely 00:19:30.079 --> 00:19:32.920 grew up hating the Gentiles, like most of his 00:19:32.920 --> 00:19:37.779 other Pharisees in his day. Verse 16, When this 00:19:37.779 --> 00:19:40.700 happened, I did not rush out to consult with 00:19:40.700 --> 00:19:45.400 any human being, nor did I go to Jerusalem to 00:19:45.400 --> 00:19:47.799 consult with those who were apostles before I 00:19:47.799 --> 00:19:52.480 was. Instead, I went into Arabia, and later I 00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:56.960 returned to the city of Damascus. We know that 00:19:56.960 --> 00:20:00.019 this is not talking about Saudi Arabia, but most 00:20:00.019 --> 00:20:04.380 likely a quiet region outside of Damascus. And 00:20:04.380 --> 00:20:07.500 Paul showed that there was enough contact between 00:20:07.500 --> 00:20:10.779 him and the other apostles to show that they 00:20:10.779 --> 00:20:15.259 were in agreement, we could say. But he wanted 00:20:15.259 --> 00:20:20.160 to say that Paul got his message from God. He 00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:22.339 didn't get his message from them. He wasn't just 00:20:22.339 --> 00:20:24.950 repeating what they said. He wanted to... to 00:20:24.950 --> 00:20:28.849 clarify that Paul got his message from God, not 00:20:28.849 --> 00:20:32.730 just man. And he continues to labor to do this 00:20:32.730 --> 00:20:36.549 throughout Galatians. Verse 18, Then three years 00:20:36.549 --> 00:20:39.349 later I went to Jerusalem to get to know Peter, 00:20:39.529 --> 00:20:43.490 and I stayed with him for fifteen days. The only 00:20:43.490 --> 00:20:46.710 other apostle I met at that time was James, the 00:20:46.710 --> 00:20:50.569 Lord's brother. I declare before God that what 00:20:50.569 --> 00:20:56.119 I am writing to you is not a lie. Paul's message, 00:20:56.420 --> 00:21:00.900 the gospel, was true, and his experience was 00:21:00.900 --> 00:21:04.559 valid because it really came from God. And that's 00:21:04.559 --> 00:21:08.339 what he's trying to communicate here. Verse 21, 00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:11.900 After that visit, I went north into the provinces 00:21:11.900 --> 00:21:15.960 of Syria and Cilicia. And still the Christians 00:21:15.960 --> 00:21:19.640 in the churches in Judea didn't know me personally. 00:21:20.299 --> 00:21:23.980 All they knew was that people were saying, The 00:21:23.980 --> 00:21:27.059 one who used to persecute us is now preaching 00:21:27.059 --> 00:21:31.859 the very faith he tried to destroy. It's important 00:21:31.859 --> 00:21:35.460 to realize that Paul's testimony had preceded 00:21:35.460 --> 00:21:41.460 him. And how important is that for us? When God 00:21:41.460 --> 00:21:43.819 has changed us, when God has done something for 00:21:43.819 --> 00:21:46.779 us, that should be a testimony of God's goodness 00:21:46.779 --> 00:21:50.299 and his greatness in our lives. And that should 00:21:50.299 --> 00:21:54.440 precede us in our world because changed lives 00:21:54.440 --> 00:21:59.160 are recognized by others. So what is our testimony? 00:21:59.299 --> 00:22:03.259 What is preceding us? Is it a testimony of God's 00:22:03.259 --> 00:22:06.900 greatness or something else, right? We need to 00:22:06.900 --> 00:22:13.369 realize and recognize that. Verse 24, and they 00:22:13.369 --> 00:22:19.109 praise God because of me. So transformation should 00:22:19.109 --> 00:22:23.029 always lead to praising God, not praising the 00:22:23.029 --> 00:22:27.210 one who has been transformed. Thank you for joining 00:22:27.210 --> 00:22:30.109 us for Life Group. Allow God's Word to build 00:22:30.109 --> 00:22:32.329 your faith and transform your life.