Galatians, Part 1 — A ‘Time With God’ Audio Devotion

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Transcript

Good morning. As we head into this week, let’s just remember the number one thing in our day ought to be time with God. It forms the foundation of your spiritual life and sets you on the right path every day, and that is the path of life lived in good relationship with God.

So listen to God, and this week we want to do just that. I want this week just to read through the book of Galatians with you out loud. Let’s just listen to what God has to say to us in this beautiful book of the Bible.

Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia. Here goes.

Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through human agency, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), ² and all the brothers who are with me,

To the churches of Galatia:

³ Grace to you and peace from ^[a]God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴ who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil ^[b]age, according to the will of our God and Father, ⁵ to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.

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Distortion of the Gospel

⁶ I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you ^[c]by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel, ⁷ which is not just another account; but there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be ^[d]accursed! ⁹ As we have said before, even now I say again: if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be ^[e]accursed!

¹⁰ For am I now seeking the favor of people, or of God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.

Paul Defends His Ministry

¹¹ For I would have you know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel which was preached by me is not ^[f]of human invention. ¹² For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

¹³ For you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it; ¹⁴ and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my ^[g]countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. ¹⁵ But when ^[h]He who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace was pleased ¹⁶ to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with ^[i]flesh and blood, ¹⁷ nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus.

¹⁸ Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to ^[j]become acquainted with ^[k]Cephas, and stayed with him for fifteen days. ¹⁹ But I did not see another one of the apostles except ^[l]James, the Lord’s brother. ²⁰ (Now in what I am writing to you, ^[m]I assure you before God that I am not lying.) ²¹ Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. ²² I was still unknown by ^[n]sight to the churches of Judea which are in Christ; ²³ but they only kept hearing, “The man who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴ And they were glorifying God ^[o]because of me.

Could you say that in your life as people see what God has done in you – Are they glorifying God because of you?

I’m John North.