Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / November 20 - Galatians 1

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November 20 - Galatians 1 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here. It's Thursday, it's the 20th of
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  November, and today it's very exciting.
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  We get to open up. How can you smell it?
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  It's that new book of the Bible smell.
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  Today we're going to start reading through the Book of
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  Galatians. This is a letter that Paul
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  writes to the church in Galatia, and that church is going through
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  a challenging time because they are trying to weigh things up.
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  What do we do? We have been good Jews our whole
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  life. We've followed the teachings of
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  the Torah, and that is how we prove that we are good Jews.
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  But now all of a sudden we don't know what to do.
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  And so we think we still have to follow the Torah.
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  And so Paul is writing to them to encourage them to say no.
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  Don't be trapped into thinking that that is the way you win
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  God's approval. Be filled with the Holy Spirit
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  and follow Jesus teaching. This is the way of our faith
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  now. So it's about a community
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  grappling with letting go of the old and embracing the new and
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  Paul's encouragement for them to do that.
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  But before he can do that, he's going to prove that he is worth
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  listening to. So the opening of this letter,
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  the first two chapters really are like a a resume ACV of Paul
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  trying to convince them that he is indeed able to write with
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  some authority. So let U.S.
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  Open up this treasure trove of encouragement to be filled with
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  God's Spirit as we read together Galatians chapter 1.
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  This is a letter from Paul, an apostle.
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  I was not appointed by any group of people or any human
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  authority, but by Jesus Christ himself and by God the Father
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  who raised Jesus from the dead. All the brothers and sisters
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  here join me in sending this letter to the churches of
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  Galatia. May God the Father and our Lord
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  Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
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  Jesus gave His life for our sins just as God our Father planned
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  in order to rescue us from the evil world in which we live.
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  All glory to God forever and ever.
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  Amen. I am shocked that you were
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  turning away so soon from God who called you to Himself
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  through the loving mercy of Christ.
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  You were following a different way that pretends to be the good
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  news but is not the good news at all.
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  They were being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth
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  concerning Christ. Let God's curse fall on anyone,
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  including us or even an Angel from heaven who preaches a
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  different kind of good news than the one we preach to you.
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  I say again what we've said before.
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  If anyone preaches any other good news than the one you
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  welcomed, let that person be cursed.
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  Obviously, I'm not trying to win the approval of people, but of
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  God. If pleasing people were my goal,
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  I would not be Christ's servant. Dear brothers and sisters, I
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  want you to understand that the Gospel message I preach is not
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  based on mere human reasoning. I receive my message from no
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  human source, and no one taught me.
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  Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ.
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  You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion?
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  How violently I persecuted God's church.
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  I did my best to destroy it. I was far ahead of my fellow
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  Jews in my zeal for the traditions of my ancestors.
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  But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his
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  marvellous grace. Then it pleased him to reveal
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  the Son to me so that I would proclaim the good news about
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  Jesus to the Gentiles. When this happened, I did not
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  rush out to consult with any human being, nor did I go up to
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  Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before I was.
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  Instead I went away into Arabia and later I returned to the city
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  of Damascus. Then three years later I went to
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  Jerusalem to get to know Peter and I stayed with him for 15
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  days. The only other apostle I met at
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  that time was James, the Lord's brother.
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  I declared before God that what I am writing to you is not a
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  lie. After that visit I went N to the
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  provinces of Syria and Sicilia and still the churches in Christ
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  that are in Judea didn't know me personally.
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  All they knew was that people were saying the one who used to
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  persecute us is now preaching the very faith he tried to
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  destroy. And they praised God because of
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  me, our Lord, when the narrative of
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  the world around us is so loud and powerful, telling us to go
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  in one way because that is the conventional wisdom.
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  Our Lord, I pray that we can have your spirit well up inside
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  of us and draw us to your way to a better way.
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  A way that prioritises relationship, a way that
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  prioritises your ways, your ways of forgiveness, of grace, of
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  focusing on our identity in you rather than our identity in this
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  world. So Lord, I claim for myself and
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  for everyone praying this prayer with me, that we are yours and
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  that that can grow in us, to create in us an unshakeable
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  foundation that continually reminds us of that truth.
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  We love you, our wonderful saving Jesus, and in your name
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  we pray all of these things. Amen.