Raise you up from evil's wings, bear you on the bread of dawn, make you to shine What's up, everybody? Welcome to Chester AARP Church devotional podcast. I'm Clint Davis, your host. Thanks for joining us. We get back together today as we read together God's word, discuss it briefly. and spend some time together thinking on the Word of God which is always applicable to us and reveals the true character of God. We finished 2 Corinthians last week or last time I should say we were together which was just yesterday and I frankly am glad to be done with those two books not because they were... I was tired of them Though 1 and 2 Corinthians is a lengthy study, there were some very convicting things in 1 and 2 Corinthians that I think really challenged me and maybe challenged you as well. And it's also very helpful, very instructive, as we receive Paul's final instructions in 2 Corinthians chapter 13. Today we'll turn our attention, I thought what we do is just continue reading through some of Paul's epistles. And so the next one on the list is Galatians. So 1st, 2nd Corinthians, and then the book of Galatians. So we're going to pick this up in Galatians chapter 1. This is Paul writing to the church in Galatia. This is one of Paul's earliest letters, perhaps his earliest letter, writing to the church in the area of Galatia. And to the churches, to the congregations, we'll talk about that in a moment. But he is writing to them about the importance of understanding they are free in Christ. Free in Christ, one of the challenges facing the church in Galatia. was a challenge of how do you bring together the Jews and the Gentiles. We talked about that in first and second Corinthians and that was a challenge in the early church. How do you bring these two historical enemies together in the gospel and how do you get Jews and Gentiles who come from different backgrounds to understand they are one in Christ And in Galatia, the particular issue was what was known as the Judaizers. They were those who wanted to make the Gentiles become Jews before they could become Christians, or make them become Jews as well as Christians. So a Gentile male, for instance, one of the things Paul will discuss in chapter three, a Gentile male would have to undergo circumcision to bear the mark of the old covenant in order to be a true Christian. And Paul says, that's crazy. We come in Christ circumcised of the heart. And so Paul's addressing this issue. How do we bring these two groups together? And how do we unite them in one body? We talked a little bit about that in first and second Corinthians. We'll talk a lot more about it in Galatians. So let's pick this up here, verse one of Galatians chapter one. Paul an apostle, not for men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ in God the Father, who raised him from the dead, and all the brothers who are with me, to the churches of Galatia. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Now, as you can imagine, there are challenges in the church, as I simply laid out, bringing the two groups together, Jews and Gentiles. Do Gentiles need to become circumcised Jews? Do they need to adopt the Jewish heritage and the Jewish traditions in order to be true Christians? Once they come to faith in Christ, is it necessary to kind of step back in the old covenant people of God and adopt some of those traditions? and of its heritage as their own. And so Paul's addressing this church, got a very significant issue very early on, as I said a moment ago, very early on the spread of the gospel and the growth of churches out into the Gentile world. And he's writing to the churches of Galatia, which is not too far from Asia Minor. And he's saying to them, hey, listen, I want you to know I'm an apostle. The word apostle, as Paul uses, means one who is sent. In this particular case, if you are reading along with us you'll know that Paul comma, an apostle, the word an is an indefinite article, apostle is a little a, apostle, which means he is just one who was sent. Sent by whom? Sent by the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father. Right, he is sent by God, he is one who was sent by God, not from men, not from man, he didn't get his authority from men or from men or a man, he got it from the Lord Jesus Christ, through the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father, In particular, the Father is the one who raised Christ from the dead. So the Christ who was raised from the dead is the one who has sent him out. The Father who raised the Lord Jesus is the one who sent him out. And Paul says, he sent me with the authority that I have as his follower to testify to the truth of the gospel message as he sends me out. He says to the churches of Galatia, this means there's more than one congregation, most likely meeting in people's homes, right, home churches. But this is a letter that is circulatory and is to go to all the Christians there in the region of Galatia. He starts by saying, grace to you and peace from God, our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ. Right, grace to you. and peace from God. Peace from God, that means we receive wholeness from God and that wholeness from God unites us to Him, gives us an opportunity to live in relationship with Him and as a result of that then we are able to extend the grace and mercy of God to each other and live in relationship with one another. And so he says, grace to you, unmerited favor to you, peace, wholeness from God our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, who did what? He gave himself for us. He states the very heart of the gospel, reminds them of this Christ. He's the one who was raised from the dead. He is also the one who gave himself to deliver us from this present evil age. according to the will of God to him be the glory. So the one who has sent me is the one who was raised but also the one who delivers you from the present evil age according to the will of God the Father and the one to whom all glory is to be given. I'm not writing in my own accord. I'm not coming under my own pretenses. I'm not trying to advance myself. I am writing on behalf of God. I am one who is sent by God to you, the churches, to encourage you in the truth of the gospel. That's how Paul starts. What a wonderful way to start. Can you imagine getting a cool letter like that from the Apostle Paul? You have received it. It's not directly directed to you. You weren't the original recipients, but you've received it as it's in the Word of God. And so Paul is saying, in a sense, to you, grace and peace from God our Father, who delivered us from the evil age, and the Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself to deliver us from the present evil age. That's the will of God the Father. And we receive this word as it has been preserved for us in the word of truth. You guys have a great day. God bless you. And we do all things to the glory of God. See you next time. you.