Latest / Bible Chat Devotional / May 22 - Leading With Integrity

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May 22 - Leading With Integrity · Bible Chat Devotional

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  Welcome to Bible Chat, where we have devotional conversations
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  rooted in scripture and relevant for.
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  Today, May 22nd, Leading with integrity.
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  Think about the last time you made a choice because of what
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  other people would think. Maybe you went along with
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  something you weren't comfortable with.
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  Maybe you stayed quiet when you should have spoken up.
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  Maybe you said something just because it was the popular
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  opinion, not because you actually believed it.
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  We all do it. The pull toward fitting in and
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  earning approval is one of the most consistent pressures in
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  life, and it doesn't go away with age.
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  Proverbs chapter 16, verses 10 to 13 paint a picture of a
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  leader whose words and decisions are guided by God.
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  The wise king doesn't speak carelessly or pursue what's
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  popular. His mouth reflects something
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  higher. His lips are gracious.
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  His judgement is sound, and the underlying reason is that his
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  heart is in God's hands, turned wherever God wills.
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  That's a remarkable image. Not a leader driven by ego or
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  the crowd, but one who is genuinely responsive to God's
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  guidance. And the principle isn't just for
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  kings. It's for anyone whose decisions
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  are noticed by others. Which, honestly, is all of us.
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  Galatians. Chapter one, verse 10 makes the
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  tension absolutely clear. For am I now seeking the
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  approval of man or of God? Or am I trying to please man?
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  If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of
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  Christ. Paul doesn't soften it.
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  He draws a straight line. You can chase human approval or
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  you can serve Christ. But you cannot fully do both.
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  Because the moment pleasing people becomes your primary
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  goal, it will eventually cost you your integrity.
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  You'll say what you don't believe.
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  You'll do what you know isn't right, and slowly, quietly,
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  you'll drift from who God made you to be.
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  And then Galatians chapter 2, verse 20 gives us the foundation
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  that makes any of this possible. I have been crucified with
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  Christ. It is no longer I who live, but
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  Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh.
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  I live by faith in the Son of God.
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  That verse is one of the most transformative statements in
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  Scripture. It reframes your entire
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  identity. You are not just trying harder
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  to be a better person. You are living a new life.
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  One where the old need for constant approval and self
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  protection has been put to death and something new and freer has
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  taken its place. When Christ lives in you, you
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  don't need the crowds validation to feel secure.
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  You don't need to perform for an audience.
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  You can speak truth even when it's uncomfortable.
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  You can make the right call even when it costs you socially.
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  Not because you're fearless or perfect, but because your
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  identity isn't built on what others think of you.
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  It's built on who God says you are.
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  This is one of the most countercultural things about
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  following Jesus. In a world that is constantly
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  telling you to manage your image and win people over, God is
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  calling you to something deeper, to let Him shape your heart,
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  your words, and your choices from the inside out, regardless
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  of who's watching or what they'll think.
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  That kind of integrity builds something that popularity never
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  can. It builds trust.
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  It builds character. It builds a life that actually
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  means something, not just to you, but to the people around
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  you who are watching, even if they never say so.
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  Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for
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  reminding me that I don't need to perform for anyone's
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  approval. Help me to seek Your opinion
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  above all else and to let that guide my words and my choices.
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  Where I've been chasing the crowd instead of following you,
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  bring me back. I want to live with genuine
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  integrity, not because people are watching, but because Christ
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  lives in me. Make my life a reflection of
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  your character in every conversation, every decision,
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  every ordinary moment. In Jesus name, Amen.
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  What if the battles hitting your family are not random and your
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  home can become a place where darkness loses every right to
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  stay? The Secured Home is a powerful
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  six book prayer series for believers who want to guard
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  their households with biblical authority, peace, and confidence
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  in Jesus Christ. Book 1.
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  Guarded Thresholds fortifies every doorway, room, and entry
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  point with prayerful protection. Book 2.
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  Cleansed Rooms helps reclaim spaces marked by fear, unrest,
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  and spiritual defilement. Book 3, Closed Breaches, exposes
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  hidden access points and severs every agreement with darkness.
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  Book 4, Broken Assignments, confronts oppression, torment,
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  and attacks against your family. Book 5, Consecrated Walls,
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  dedicates every space and rhythm of the home to God.
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  Book 6, Abiding Peace, shows how to maintain spiritual order,
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  rest, and holy presence every day.
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  Order now on Amazon or visit prayerscripts.org.
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  Now I invite you to spend time with God in today's three-year
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  Bible reading plan. Proverbs chapter 16, verses 10
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  to 15. World English Bible inspired
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  judgments are on the lips of the king.
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  He shall not betray his mouth. Honest balances and scales are
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  Yahweh's. All the weights in the bag are
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  His work. It is an abomination for kings
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  to do wrong, for the throne is established by righteousness.
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  Righteous lips are the delight of kings.
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  They value one who speaks the truth.
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  The King's wrath is a messenger of death, but a wise man will
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  pacify it in the light of the King's face is life.
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  His favor is like a cloud of the spring rain.
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  Galatians chapters one to two world English Bible.
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  Paul, an apostle, not from men, nor through man, but through
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  Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead,
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  and all the brothers who are with me to the assemblies of
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  Galatia. Grace to you and peace from God
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  the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our
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  sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil age
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  according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory
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  forever and ever. Amen.
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  I marvel that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in
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  the grace of Christ to a different good news.
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  But there isn't another good news.
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  Only there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the good
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  news of Christ. But even though we or an Angel
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  from heaven should preach to you any good news other than that
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  which we preach to you, let him be cursed, as we have said
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  before. So I now say again, If any man
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  preaches to you any good news other than that which you
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  received, let him be cursed. For am I now seeking the favor
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  of men or of God, or am I striving to please men?
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  For if I were still pleasing men, I wouldn't be a servant of
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  Christ. But I make known to you,
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  brothers, concerning the good news which was preached by me,
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  that it is not according to man, for I didn't receive it from
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  man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through revelation of
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  Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my way of
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  living in time past in the Jews religion, how that beyond
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  measure I persecuted the Assembly of God and ravaged it.
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  I advanced in the Jews religion beyond many of my own age, among
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  my countrymen, being more exceedingly zealous for the
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  traditions of my Father's. But when it was the good
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  pleasure of God who separated me from my mother's womb and called
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  me through His grace to reveal His Son in me, that I might
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  preach him among the Gentiles, I didn't immediately confer with
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  flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were
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  apostles before me. But I went away into Arabia.
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  Then I returned to Damascus. Then after three years, I went
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  up to Jerusalem to visit Peter and stayed with him 15 days.
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  But of the other apostles I saw no one except James, the Lord's
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  brother. Now about the things which I
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  write to you, behold, before God I'm not lying.
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  Then I came to the regions of Syria and Silesia.
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  I was still unknown by face to the assemblies of Judea which
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  were in Christ. But they only heard He who once
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  persecuted us now preaches the faith that he once tried to
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  destroy. So they glorified God in me.
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  Then after a period of 14 years, I went up again to Jerusalem
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  with Barnabas, taking Titus also with me.
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  I went up by revelation, and I laid before them the good news
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  which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately, before
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  those who were respected, for fear that I might be running or
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  had run in vain. But not even Titus, who was with
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  me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.
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  This was because of the false brothers secretly brought in,
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  who stolen to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ
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  Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage, to whom we gave no
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  place in the way of subjection. Not for an hour that the truth
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  of the good news might continue with you, but from those who
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  were reputed to be important. Whatever they were, it makes no
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  difference to me. God doesn't show partiality to
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  man. They, I say, who were respected,
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  imparted nothing to me but to the contrary, when they saw that
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  I had been entrusted with the good news for the uncircumcised,
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  even as Peter with the good news for the circumcised.
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  For he who worked through Peter in the apostleship with the
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  circumcised also worked through me with the Gentiles.
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  And when they perceived they grace that was given to me,
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  James and Cephas and John, those who were reputed to be pillars,
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  gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, that
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  we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcision.
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  They only asked us to remember the poor, which very thing I was
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  also zealous to do. But when Peter came to Antioch,
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  I resisted him to his face, because he stood condemned.
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  For before some people came from James, he ate with the Gentiles,
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  but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing
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  those who were of the circumcision, and the rest of
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  the Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas
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  was carried away with their hypocrisy.
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  But when I saw that they didn't walk uprightly according to the
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  truth of the good news, I said to Peter before them all, If
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  you, being a Jew, live as the Gentiles do, and not as the Jews
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  do, why do you compel the Gentiles to live as the Jews do,
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  we being Jews by nature, and not Gentile sinners, yet knowing
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  that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but
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  through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed in Christ
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  Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and
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  not by the works of the law, because no flesh will be
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  justified by the works of the Law.
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  But if while we sought to be justified in Christ, we
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  ourselves also were found sinners.
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  Is Christ a servant of sin? Certainly not, for if I build up
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  again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a law
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  breaker. For I, through the law, died to
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  the law, that I might live to God.
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  I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I
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  who live, but Christ lives in me that life which I now live in
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  the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of
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  God who loved me and gave himself up for me.
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  I don't reject the grace of God, for if righteousness is through
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  the law, then Christ died for nothing.
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  Thanks for joining us on Bible Chat, where Scripture meets
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  everyday life. If today's devotional encouraged
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  Until next time, stay rooted in truth, anchored in hope and
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  walking. Daily with Jesus.