Raise you up from the evil slings, bear you on the path of dawn, make you to What's up? Galatians chapter 2 is on tap today. I think this is one of those passages, or excuse me, chapters in the entire Bible that really just stand out. Galatians 2 is full of wonderful stuff. It begins by Paul's continued testimony. And there's some aspects to what is taking place here in Galatians chapter two that really will be an encouragement to us, but also somewhat shocking to us and unchallenging as well to us as we read it about Paul's testimony of what happens when he goes to Jerusalem and his interaction with Peter, et cetera, and those kind of things. So it's interesting, but let's start with verse one of Galatians two, and then go from there. Then after 14 years, That's three years plus 14, so this is about 17 years, what I understand, about 17 years after his conversion. So he goes after three years to Jerusalem at the end of chapter one and hangs out with Peter and James for 15 days. Then he returns to where he was, and now after 14 years, he goes back to Jerusalem. And he says he goes with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. And I went up because of a revelation and sat before them, though privately before those who seemed influential, the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek, yet because of false brothers secretly brought in who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus. so that they might bring us into slavery, to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. And from those who seemed to be influential, what they were makes no difference to me, God shows no partiality. Those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised, for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles. And when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be the pillars, perceived by the grace that was given unto me, that they gave me the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and to me that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised only they ask us to remember the poor the very thing I was eager to do so he's recounting his testimony of what takes place in Acts chapter 15 the Jerusalem Council Paul goes off and serves the Lord. He comes to faith in chapter 9 of the book of Acts, and then he goes off and serves the Lord. If you're familiar with the book of Acts, you know that in chapter 10, Peter gets the call from God to go to Cornelius, who was a God-fearing Gentile, which means he was a proselyte of Judaism, but he was a Gentile by birth. So Peter is speaking to Cornelius. Peter has the vision about what is clean and unclean, et cetera, and they go forward and they share the gospel. Meanwhile, Paul was out sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with the Gentiles. He's teaching them the gospel. He's sharing the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ, that God loved them and gave his life for them. He was raised from the dead on the third day according to the scriptures and so on and so forth. After 15 years or 14 more years, Paul decides that he has a revelation of God that he needs to go sit down with the believers, the brothers in Jerusalem. So he strikes out. And he goes down to Jerusalem and he has a conversation with the brothers in Jerusalem. And as he has a conversation with the brothers in Jerusalem, he says, I've met with the pillars of the church, the ones who are influential. But it's interesting that as I read Paul in a parenthetical note says, I don't really care if they were influential or not. I love that about Paul. I've got some kind of blue collar in the Western American world. We would call that blue collar versus white collar. I've got some blue collar chip on my shoulder. And so I don't really care what you think of yourself or how well you think of yourself or how highly you think of yourself. It's not of importance to me. You put your pants on, as my grandmother would say, you put your pants on one leg at a time just like I do. Right. Paul says, I don't really care what they are. I don't care how influential they are. I don't care how, whether they were pillars of the church or not. I'm not concerned about that. But he says, right. So basically he's saying two things. Number one, I didn't go meet with those guys because I felt like I had to meet with those guys to have affirmation for the work that God has called me to do, to do the work God had called me to do. I didn't go meet with those guys to get affirmed, in other words. I'm interested, he said in chapter one, of pleasing God, not man. So I wasn't worried about that. But I went with them, and this is the other thing, I spoke with them because they were influential, which means Paul was being smart here. I'm going to go speak to those guys because they're influential in the faith. And if they're influential in the faith and they're influential in the church, then getting their acceptance would then give me a broader opportunity to share the good news of Christ, to testify to the glory of God, and to be accepted by the church as a whole, as a testimony of the grace of God in his life. He's not worried about affirmation. His acceptance by the Christian community is not about affirmation. It's about accepting him as a testimony of the grace and glory of God in the transformative power of the gospel and understanding that his ministry is valid as he is sharing the gospel with the church in Galatia and with the Gentiles in different regions around the world. Again, Paul is trying to establish his own authority here. which comes from God. And he needs to be able to say, these brothers who are Jewish by nature, by birth, excuse me, who came to faith in the Messiah, they followed him and walked with him on this earth, they accepted me, they didn't force Titus to be circumcised. Paul was circumcised. But they didn't force Titus to be circumcised, who was a Greek. And they didn't add anything to us, because the simple gospel is that you trust Jesus Christ as Lord. And he says, they didn't add anything to us, and we believe in Jesus. They said, just remember the poor, and I was eager to do that anyway. I love that about Paul. He's stating here from the very beginning, this isn't about what you add to it or anything like that. This isn't about ethnicity, this isn't about resources, this is about the truth of Christ. And so I would challenge us, when we think about that in our own lives today, do we trust Jesus alone? And do we rest in Him alone? Is He a priority? And are we wise enough, as Paul, not to seek affirmation from everybody, for our affirmation comes from Christ and from the Lord. But we are instinctive enough and wise enough to look out for those who are influential so that we can use our testimonies as a wonderful demonstration of the transformative power of God. Hey guys, I've gone way too long. Hope you guys have a great day. God bless you. I'll catch you next time. Gotta go. ♪ Love of dawn, make me free ♪