Sermon Tone Analysis

Are we stuck, or can we be transformed?

Brian Edward Murray / General

Galatians / Galatians 1:11–24

Are We Stuck, or can we be Transformed?

Good morning, everyone; before we move on to the following few verses in the book of Galatians, we have some Reviewing and some revisions that I need to go over.

First, we learned last time in the book of Galatians that there is no such thing as a Big A – Apostle in 2022 because God these selected individuals with skills and abilities that he created to spread the message and help the Great Commission like the Apostle Paul, John, Matthew, mark and Luke for an example.

Jesus spent so much time teaching, studying, mentoring, and guiding them into whom we know from the pages of our Bibles.

The Apostle Paul spent time in the desert learning from Jesus instead of spending three years of ministry with Jesus with the other Apostles, including Judas, who betrayed Jesus.

Not Barnabas, like I mentioned Previously.

Next, we learned that the church is not meant to be legalistic or down to the letter.

Some in the early church believed that you had to be a Believer of Judaism on top of Christianity to party in heaven with Jesus.

However, this is not true and was passed along as a requirement in the early day of our church.

The third point that we covered and stressed was that we, as Believers and individuals, do not add anything to our Salvation except our sins and transgressions.

The only way we have been saved was by the grace and mercy of God's Son Jesus being humiliated, beaten, and dying on a Roman cross and then being raised from the dead on the third day.

There is no more straightforward way to explain this is something we can explain to those we love and including our grandchildren.

We also learned that those sitting in our auditorium have an essential job because you must remain on guard to false teachers.

Just standing at the podium or preaching on zoom does not mean that everything you say is correct.

For example, I goofed and said the wrong Apostle that Threw Jesus under the bus.

It was hard for me, but I admit I was wrong, and someone lovingly said, hey, you meant this.

False Doctrine can destroy churches and your faith.

If you are not on guard against the wolf in sheep clothing, then we can lose our foundation on God's word.

Just like cracking concrete on a homes foundation or the roads that we drive on in Southwest Florida.

The next thing that I need to tidy up is that I made a translation issue and missed something completely in verse eight that uses the language of accursed, which looks close to accused to some myself including.

The Apostle Paul was trying to tell us in verse eight that if you preach false Doctrine, you need to be released of your duties because you can damage a young Christian who will believe anything said from the pulpit.

The Apostle Paul tells us that we must watch out for each other because some cannot.

When your child was little, they could not watch over themselves, so you made sure that they would not put a fork in the outlet or that they could not fall off the couch.

Additionally, the word servant was covered in the last verse, which means an enslaved person.

I should have strongly encouraged and driven down that we are not our property and were bought and saved by our Heavenly Father.

A servant is too gentle because this would mean that we chose our Salvation.

We were selected before the earth's foundation to be saved and party in Heaven with Jesus.

We have a binary choice to follow the world and everything they do or follow our Heavenly Father.

Are you going to be a Sunday Christian who does what God commands us to do on Sunday, but by Monday afternoon, you are doing the opposite of everything we were told?

Are you getting drunk, lying, lustful thoughts, being deceitful, and many other things?

The theme for this morning is transformation and I have Title is “ Are we stuck or can be Transformed?”

something impossible is possible with our Heavenly Father, no matter if you are an ax murderer, Abuse victim, or Abuser and a sinner.

Can you genuinely change from someone so messed up that duct tape, super glue, and even nails cannot fix it?

Are we as Human Beings unable to be changed from what has happened to us or what we have done to something that honors and glorifies God and is the right thing to do?

Are we genuinely stuck into being bad people that were the same person that was sent to prison for 20 years and then released?

Do I deserve a chance to change my life, or will I be the same way forever?

We will touch base on these things and buckle up because it gets exciting and fun.

I know that I have stressed this in the past, but I love the bluntness of the Apostle Paul.

He does not beat around the bush and tells the people of Galatia how they need to hear it.

He says clearly that I did not make this Gospel.

Not Even humans have made this Gospel, but it was made by communication from Jesus.

We must stress to ourselves and others that Man does not create the Words of God, but we are like the pencil on a piece of paper.

The pencil does not know what to write or even how to write.

We are just the instrument, but our Heavenly Father allows us to add our flavor.

The Apostle Paul's bluntness, Doctor Luke's use of exact details, and other little traits we know from the Apostles and other Biblical writers.

God used the gifts, weaknesses, and flaws to help grow the Gospel, which is paramount for those writing this letter and us in 2022.

How often have you had to tell your coworkers or a close individual something that was not comfortable for you to tell them?

The old Saying do not kill the messenger, but hey our boss needs you to do this particular item instead of going of you going home ,

It is usually something that you really hate to do and is not fun.

This was precisely what happened with the Apostle Paul.

He did not start the message but was the messenger telling everyone what was happening, and sometimes this is not comfortable for you or the audience.

The critical thing we must keep in mind is that the Apostle Paul did not just decide this was what was going to happen, but he was the in-between.

He was playing a Biblical game of Telephone where you start on one end and tell the message to one person, and then it keeps going.

However, the message was not messed up at the end, but he had to add the disclaimer that states this is from our Heavenly Father.

The supreme being that created everything out of complete and utter nothing and not Even man cannot create the Heavens and the earth.

We add nothing to the equation, which we must continue to drive down into our thick skulls.

TO the day we are no longer on this earth.

The Apostle Paul has a broken past, and he thought he was doing what God wanted him to do when he was killing and torturing the early Christians for the Jewish synagogue.

He was being taught and felt that he was doing the right thing.

He was killing early Christians, and he thought that he was doing this for the glory of God.

He was climbing the ranks of the Jewish synagogue and was extremely zealous.

Now I know that everyone would make fun of me, but I have heard this word many times, but what did it mean?

Well, I must know what it means, so I do not misinterpret the scripture that God has been trying to convey to us right here.

The word incredibly means Enthusiast or gun-ho in what they were trying to do.

Who remembers when they first get into a new career or are young?

They are willing to do whatever it takes and learn everything they can.

I am at that stage in my career with my Secular job because I want to advance and do my best.

Suppose my boss says jump; I will jump unless unsafe or unethical.

The Apostle Paul was willing to do anything, even to kill for the Jewish church, because he believed that what he was doing was right, and he wanted to be the best Jewish guy that he could be.

For example, how often have we thought what was happening in our lives was positive or the right thing to Happen?

I wish I did not change jobs or start a relationship with this individual.

The critical thing is that the Apostle Paul thought that in the heat of the moment where the rubber meets the road, he was doing exactly what he was supposed to do until he was stopped dead in his tracks on the road to Damascus.

Now here is what I wonder, and hits hard are we being the best Believers that we can be?

Do we have the same fire and passion that the Apostle Paul had where he would do whatever he had to do because he wanted to be a good Jewish boy or be the best Employee he could be?

Are we doing this in the church, or are we spending time together?

This troubles my heart because the world is taking over.

We have lost ground in the past.

Are we doing the mission that God gave us?

However, there is so much more to these verses because the Apostle Paul also proves his Apostleship.

The church in Galatia does not believe that God called him because he previously was killing Christians.

People are hard to forget and forgive even when it is severe things.

They thought he could be a fake or something different because he was not like the Apostle John or Mark.

He did not study at the feet of Jesus for three years with the other guys but had special training in the desert.

We see in Verse 15 that he tells the church that he was set apart before he was born to be a Believer and an Apostle for his Heavenly Father.

He did not do a single thing to earn this favor, and there is not a single thing that we do to earn this favor.

He was elected before the earth's foundation to be a follower of Christ and do precisely what he was doing for his Father.

The Writer, the Apostle Paul, says right in black and white that this was a gift and not something he selected but was given by the Creator and Sustainer of the earth.

He did not talk with anyone but went into the desert to spend three years learning from his heavenly Father.

After this then, he goes somewhere near Damascus.

He visits Cephas, or we know him as Peter the Rock, for 15 days.

We learn more about this account and what happens in Acts.

We must remind ourselves that the Bible is interconnected with details from multiple people and multiple sources.

We learn so much by understanding the relationships, backgrounds, and details.

For Example in Acts we learn some other important details

We learn from Acts that the other Disciples were terrified of Learning that the guy killing Christians for the sport has now joined their team to spread the Gospel throughout the land.

My questions: Who took his spot in killing Christians, and where did they think he was for three years?

that is a long time to be missing in the desert of Syria.