Defending Truth
Notes
Transcript
Welcome & Opening Prayer
Welcome & Opening Prayer
TURN to GALATIANS CH. 2...
!! Open in Prayer !!
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Introduction 🎤
Introduction 🎤
Opening: 10 YRS AGO… ✈️FLEW on a PLANE—FIRST TIME I REMEMBER… ✈️
Backdrop: SCARED of HEIGHTS—SHORT LADDERS = LINE DRAWN...
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DOUBLE-DECKER PLANE—ACROSS OCEAN for 8 HRS
WINDOW SEAT
ANYONE ELSE FLYING,, TERRIFIED to SEE PLANE WINGS MOVE?
**METAL SHOULDN’T MOVE...RIGHT??**
Illustration 🖼️ ✈️WINGS = DESIGNED to FLEX ✈️
FLEX as MUCH as 25-30 FT UPWARD!
Conclusion: IF THEY DIDN’T FLEX—THEY’D BREAK.
**BUT THEY’RE ANCHORED to a WING BOX WITHIN the PLAN THAT DOES NOT MOVE...**
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Focus: NEED BOTH MOVABLE & IMMOVABLE for IT to BE SAFE…
SAME IS TRUE in CHURCHES…
PEOPLE FIGHT OVER SILLIEST THINGS…
COLOR of the CARPET
STYLE of MUSIC
ORDER of SERVICE
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Healthy Church:
IMMOVABLE MESSAGE—GOSPEL
MOVABLE METHODS
➡➡ TOGETHER MAKE a STRONG CHURCH…
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Exhort: 📢 must be ANCHORED in GOSPEL-TRUTH—BUT WILLING to BEND on OTHER MATTERS… 📢
Focus 📸 The immovable Christian message (gospel) = focus of our passage today… 💡
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Transition ➡ INVITE YOU to LOOK W/ ME @ PASSAGE…
READ: V1-10
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Passage Reading 📖
Passage Reading 📖
1 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me.
2 I went up because of a revelation and set 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.
3 But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek.
4 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—
5 to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.
6 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.
7 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
8 (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles),
9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.
10 Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.
CHURCH, THIS is GOD’S WORD FOR US THIS MORNING.
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Context Recap: “Used To” 🛡️
Context Recap: “Used To” 🛡️
Larger Context: PAUL’S GOSPEL = GOD’S GOSPEL.
HEAVEN-SENT MESSAGE & CALL
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Last Week: 3 YRS.... B4 GOING to JERUSALEM
MESSAGE DIDN’T COME from PEOPLE…
Recap P. Idea: GOD RECEIVES GREAT GLORY from a TRANSFORMED LIFE
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**GOSPEL MESSAGE = LIFE-CHANGING MESSAGE ABOUT the SON of GOD,,
➡BRINGING NEW BIRTH BY the SPIRIT of GOD,
➡➡ for the GLORY of GOD the FATHER…
Focus: 📸TODAY’S TEXT—PAUL CONTINUES HIS CASE for the VALIDITY of HIS MESSAGE— **NOT DEPENDENT UPON PEOPLE** 📸
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Transition ➡ PAUL WILL BEGIN BY RECAPPING TRAVELOGUE AGAIN…
LOOK W/ ME AGAIN @ VS. 1-2
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Passage Exposition 🔍
Passage Exposition 🔍
Thought 1: Setting the Meeting (v1-2) 🏛️
Thought 1: Setting the Meeting (v1-2) 🏛️
1 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me.
2 I went up because of a revelation and set 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.
Setting: 14 YEARS PASS (POSS. INCLUDING the 3, POSS EXTRA)
**BETWEEN 10 & 20 YRS**
PAUL, BARNABAS, & TITUS GO to JERUSALEM
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Barnabas Background:
Barnabas Background:
GUY WHO STOOD UP for PAUL—NEWLY SAVED
MISSIONARY COMPANION on 1ST MISSIONARY JOURNEY
Titus Background:
Titus Background:
SPIRITUAL SON of PAUL—RECEIVED LETTER of “TITUS”
**SHOWS UP as SIGNIFICANT CHARACTER in PAUL’S 2ND LETTER to CORINTH
GENTILE BELIEVER
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PAUL & CO HEAD to JERUSALEM—BECAUSE of a REVELATION
2 I went there because God revealed to me that I should go.
Background: POSS. AGABUS’ PROPHECY?.… POSS. PERSONAL?
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(v2b) Purpose: ENSURE RUNNING NOT “IN VAIN”
(v2b) Purpose: ENSURE RUNNING NOT “IN VAIN”
PAUL CLARIFIES HIS GOSPEL B4 LEADERS in JERUSALEM…
**CONFUSING**
Context: PAUL’S ARGUMENT— “I DIDN’T DEPEND ON JERUSALEM APOSTLES”
=> IF HE REQUIRED THEIR FACT-CHECK—UNDOES HIS ARGUMENT
?????????
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Answer: OUT of CONCERN for CHURCHES
Background: LOOKING @ ACTS—SEEMS TODAY’S “VISIT” = FAMINE RELIEF VISIT of ACTS 11…
Historical Setting: PAUL & BARNABAS MINISTERING in ANTIOCH
GOSPEL WENT to GENTILES—GROWTH in GENTILE CHURCH
BARNABAS SUMMONED PAUL to HELP…
Confusing Time: 🤔GENTILE CONVERTS OBEY the LAWS of MOSES/CIRCUMCISION???🤔
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**DISAGREEING— “LAW-FREE” GOSPEL = POTENTIAL FISSURE in CHURCH—CHURCHES SPLIT— PEOPLE LOST
RUNNING in VAIN —AT LEAST PARTIALLY…
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Conclusion: IF PAUL HAD FULL SUPPORT from JERUSALEM => IT WOULD HELP OTHERS * & SECURE UNITY in CHURCH**
Exhort: MINISTRY CONCERNS SOULS—ETERNAL MATTERS—
SOMETHING NOT to BE DONE FLIPPANTLY — CARING FOR PEOPLE = BIG DEAL.
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Transition ➡ HOW’D IT GO??
LOOK W/ ME @ VS. 3…
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Thought 2: Titus—The Case Study (v3) 👤
Thought 2: Titus—The Case Study (v3) 👤
3 But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek.
VERY, VERY IMPORTANT EVENT…
Backdrop on Circumcision
Backdrop on Circumcision
Essential Background: CIRCUMCISION WAS SIGN of the COVENANT GOD MADE W/ ABRAHAM—FOREFATHER of the JEWS.
PRACTICE OVER 1000 YRS OLD
SIGN—SUBMITTING to COVENANT— & LAWS of MOSES
***IT WAS ONE of the BIGGEST ISSUES FROM the GALATIAN JUDAIZERS**
Problem: 🚩SOME TAUGHT—APART from CIRCUMCISION—NO SALVATION 🚩
Famous Jerusalem Council—GATHERED,, ADDRESS THIS ISSUE!
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Paul’s Point in Context: TITUS WAS ACCEPTED WITHOUT IT! MUST NOT BE ESSENTIAL!
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Transition ➡ THIS ISSUE DIDN’T DIE EASILY…
LOOK W/ ME @ VS. 4-5
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Thought 3: Defending Truth (v4-5) 🛡️
Thought 3: Defending Truth (v4-5) 🛡️
4 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—
5 to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.
FALSE BROTHERS—PREACHING FALSE GOSPEL of FAITH + WORKS.
CIRCUMCISION/KEEPING of the LAW of MOSES…
Problem: THEIR CLAIMS—WOULD BRING PEOPLE INTO SLAVERY!
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Peter @ Jerusalem Council
Peter @ Jerusalem Council
Helpful Backdrop: PETER’S COMMENTS in ACTS 15…
10 Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?
FROM the BEGINNING—LAW WAS TOO MUCH for PEOPLE to KEEP—
— HENCE the SACRIFICIAL SYSTEM.
💡JEWS—RAISED to KNOW & LOVE GOD—COULDN’T PERFECTLY KEEP the LAW… 💡
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Transition ➡ BUT in CHRIST THERE is FREEDOM!!
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Gospel Presentation: True Freedom 📣
Gospel Presentation: True Freedom 📣
IN CHRIST — FREE from LEGALISM & FREE from SIN…
Exhort: 📢 OUTSIDE of CHRIST, HUMANKIND is in BONDAGE to SIN📢
**NOT AS BAD as WE COULD BE** — BUT ALSO NOT ABLE to BE SUFFICIENTLY GOOD…
Focus: IN SIN—PEOPLE THINK THEY’RE FREE—
— BUT THEIR DESIRES RULE THEM.
⚠️TRUE FREEDOM = FREEDOM from SIN—NOT FREEDOM to SIN… ⚠️
Quote: ⛓️SIN takes you FURTHER than you WANTED to GO....
KEEP you LONGER than you WANTED to STAY...
and COST you MORE than you WANTED to PAY…⛓️
IT’S a SLAVEDRIVER
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CHRIST CAME to FREE US FROM SLAVERY to SIN & to the LAW
New Life in Christ:
New Life in Christ:
IN CHRIST— WE ARE GIVEN WILL & POWER to DO GOD’S GOOD PLEASURE
NEW HEART—LAW WRITTEN on the HEART
💥SUPERNATURAL WORK — NOT MORAL SELF-IMPROVEMENT.… 💥
CHRIST WILL ACCEPT MOST WRETCHED SINNER THAT TURNS to HIM in FAITH
& TRANSFORM THEM
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Invitation: IF YOU’VE NEVER PUT YOUR TRUST in CHRIST—PROCLAIMING HIM as LORD & SAVIOR—YOU CAN EXPERIENCE FREEDOM TODAY.
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Transition ➡ GOING BACK to CONTEXT—PAUL DEFENDING THIS MESSAGE of GOOD NEWS
WORKS = NOT GOOD NEWS
WORKS = SLAVERY
NEW LIFE in CHRIST—DELIGHTING to DO GOD’S WILL,,, NOT a BURDEN!
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PAUL FOUGHT to PRESERVE TRUTH—ON BEHALF of FUTURE CHRISTIANS
NOT EVEN INCH GIVEN to PSEUDO-GOSPEL of WORKS…
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Transition ➡ TO BACK HIS GOSPEL—
— HE SHARES HOW JERUSALEM APOSTLES RESPONDED…
LOOK W/ ME @ VS. 6…
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Thought 4: No Favorites with God (v6) ⚖️
Thought 4: No Favorites with God (v6) ⚖️
6 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.
Setting: INFLUENTIAL GUYS (PETER, JAMES—BROTHER of JESUS—, JOHN) ADDED NOTHING.
**B4 WE GET THERE** — COOL SIDE NOTE.
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A God of No Favorites:
A God of No Favorites:
PAUL SAYS—THEY SEEMED INFLUENTIAL—BUT IT DIDN’T MATTER MUCH…
CRAZY CLAIM!!
PAUL, PETER, JAMES, JOHN = MOST INFLUENTIAL GUYS AFTER JESUS HIMSELF—
Paul concluded: GOD HAS NO FAVORITES.
Exhort 📢 GOD SHOWS NO PARTIALITY. IN THE EYES of GOD, THERE ARE NO FAVORITES.📢
Takeaway:🎒IF WE ARE in CHRIST— WE ARE EQUALS!!🎒
GOD DOESN’T LOVE ME MORE as a PASTOR—THAN the CARPENTER, SCHOOLTEACHER, I.T. GUY.
=>> WE DON’T EARN HIS LOVE ANYWAYS!!
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Relate: CAN BE TOUGH THOUGH… SEEMS OTHERS GOT IT BETTER ??
LACKING in TALENT??
BEAUTY??
PERSONALITY??
SMARTS??
Illustration 🖼️ T. Friel—JMAC—PREACH & SING???
IT FEELS UNFAIR. BUT HE ISN’T LOVED MORE; HE IS JUST RESPONSIBLE for MORE.
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Encourage: WE’RE MADE DIFFERENTLY W/ DIFFERENT RESPONSIBILITIES
Reference, T. Challies: IT’S OKAY to BE a 2-TALENT CHRISTIAN.
Takeaway:🎒 GOD LOVES the 5-TALENT, 2-TALENT, 1-TALENT CHRISTIAN EQUALLY!! — HE JUST EXPECTS US to USE WHAT WE’VE GOT!🎒
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Back to Paul’s Argument:
Back to Paul’s Argument:
INFLUENTIAL APOSTLES DIDN’T UPDATE HIS GOSPEL.
=> IT WAS GOD’S MESSAGE, NOT PAUL’S
Exhort: && 📢 GOSPEL TRUTH PRECEDES HUMAN PERSONALITY 📢
— DOESN’T NEED MAN’S APPROVAL—NO MATTER WHAT “MAN” WE MIGHT THINK OF!
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Transition ➡ THEY ACCEPTED PAUL’S MESSAGE & MINISTRY AS-IS…
LOOK W/ ME @ VS. 7-10
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Closing Thought: Shared Mission (v7-10) 🤝
Closing Thought: Shared Mission (v7-10) 🤝
7 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
8 (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles),
9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.
10 Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.
PILLAR APOSTLES— SAW PAUL’S MINISTRY = FROM SAME GOD.
SAME GOD
SAME MESSAGE
DIFFERENT AUDIENCE.
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Encourage: TRUE EVEN TODAY— WE AREN’T the ONLY BIBLICAL CHURCH AROUND…
IF WE AGREE on the GOSPEL... WE ARE BUILDING the SAME KINGDOM
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PETER => JEWS
PAUL => GENTILES.
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Transition ➡ ALL in ALL—PASSAGE TEACHES US…
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Application 🛠️
Application 🛠️
Passage Idea: Gospel-truth is unchanging, and we must fight to preserve it.
PAUL FOUGHT for GOSPEL—FOR SAKE of FUTURE BELIEVERS…
NOT GIVING an INCH on the GOSPEL…
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SAID IT B4—WE DIE on the GOSPEL HILL…
=> **GETTING the GOSPEL WRONG HAS ETERNAL NEGATIVE RAMIFICATIONS**
FALSE GOSPEL SENDS PEOPLE to HELL…
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PAUL’S MESSAGE (GOD’S MESSAGE) = SALVATION BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
NOT SAVED BY WORKS… BUT FOR GOOD WORKS.
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WE STILL HAVE to FIGHT the FIGHT——
2 Extremes in 1st Century:
2 Extremes in 1st Century:
ANTINOMIANISM—LAWLESSNESS—GRACE as a LICENSE to SIN
LEGALISM — RIGHTSTANDING W/ GOD = EARNED...
=> GOSPEL = LIFE-CHANGING—BUT THAT’S FRUIT,, NOT ROOT!!
PAUL DEBATED THIS—FOUGHT FOR THIS— 2,000 YEARS AGO!!
WILL WE BE FAITHFUL to PRESERVE & DEFEND TRUTH??
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Conclusion:
Conclusion:
ONE WAY—JESUS
ONE MESSAGE—CHRIST CRUCIFIED
ONE HOPE—SALVATION BY GRACE
& WE DON’T YIELD on THIS SUBJECT AT ALL...AMEN?
LET’S PRAY... 🙏
