The Gospel: Not From Man - Galatians 1:11-24

Remember your training.

Remember your training.

That's an expression or a phrase that are bringing some memory to some of your minds.

Maybe it's a class that you took.

I'm speaking to the adults in the room.

Remember your training.

Remember what you learned.

In stressful situations, in desperate times, in emergency situations, in order to save life, in order to preserve life, people who are responding to medical emergencies are reflecting back on classroom settings, on lab settings, where they would practice and rehearse and visualize what it would take in order to help someone in a time of great need.

And depending on what school you attended or what university or what training you gathered and who was your teacher, who was training you, you might be a little more equipped, maybe a little sharper to respond, a little more professional in the way that you conduct yourself in difficult situations.

I'm thinking of people in an emergency room setting or people that are responding to a traumatic car accident or a medical emergency when EMTs are responding, ambulances are lit up and sirens are blaring, and they're going to respond to someone.

Those people you want to have great training.

Those are the people that you want to be responding to you.

And when they are responding to you in your time of need, they are thinking back to what they have been trained, who they've been trained by and what they were trained in.

And Paul has an opportunity to share with the people that might be doubting him, might be questioning his authority, that might be skeptical about what he is preaching, what he is saying.

He has an opportunity to talk to them and say, the guy who trained me is not just a man.

This gospel that I'm bringing to you that's able to save your souls, that's able to rescue you, that's able to restore your life, that's able to revive you, is not from man.

The training that I received was not from just any guy.

Paul's going to go on to show us and tell us that his training, his equipping, this gospel that he received that is able to save is not for man.

It's from the Lord Jesus Christ, from God himself.

So this is where we're going to conclude chapter one today.

Paul is going to express to his listeners, to his doubters, so that people might be skeptical and say, listen, this isn't a work of man.

This isn't something that I learned in a classroom.

Paul was highly trained in a prestigious classroom setting from the top of the top in Jewish culture.

And he's not going to draw on his training in his life in Judaism.

He's not going to call people's attention to his training from any of the other apostles.

He was trained, he was educated with the gospel, for the gospel by the Lord Jesus Christ.

So that's what I want you guys to see tonight is that Paul is bringing a gospel, not from man.

He is bringing the gospel that comes straight from God Himself, from Jesus Christ, the risen Savior.

And a couple of Sundays ago, I was describing to you how Paul and his life was completely flipped upside down on the road to Damascus.

He had an encounter with the risen Lord.

And his life after that point would never be the same.

He was radically changed from the inside out.

He was a persecutor to the greatest, one of the greatest preachers and church planters that this world has ever known.

This is the Paul that we see that has written the majority of the New Testament.

This is the Paul that once persecuted and sought to throw Christians into prison and have them killed, to now being a slave to Christ and willing to say, I'm willing to die so that other people could know the Savior.

This is the Paul that we see and the Paul that we encounter as we look to our text now in Galatians chapter 1 and verse 11.

Galatians 1 · chapter mention

We're going to go to the end of the chapter here.

So we have a lot of ground to cover, twice as much as we did the past couple weeks.

So stay with me.

I'm going to read our text and then we're going to work through this together.

Follow along with me, starting in verse 11.

This is Paul's words.

For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel.

For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently, and tried to destroy it.

And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people.

So extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.

But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles.

I did not immediately consult with anyone.

He didn't go to anyone to say, Hey, this guy that I met on the road to Damascus, like, have you heard of him?

This Messiah, this risen Savior, this Christ.

He didn't go to any of the apostles, he didn't go to any other teachers.

No, he didn't go to Jerusalem, as we see in verse 17, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who are apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia and returned again to Damascus.

Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, that's Peter, and remained with him fifteen days.

But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother.

In what I am writing to you, before God I do not lie.

Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ.

They only were hearing of it, said, He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.

And they glorified God because of me.

As for every, this is the same as every leader in this room, as is Paul's, he desires the human that does not know Christ, the image-bearer of God, to be reconciled, to be redeemed by the blood of Christ.

We're gonna jump right into this.

There's gonna be a lot of subpoints, as you see in your note sheet today.

There's a lot of sub points.

This is an unusual sermon for me, but let's write this down for point number one, and we'll write down the seven sub-points.

This is Paul's desire.

This is my desire.

This is the desire of every leader in this room for you all.

Receive the gospel from the Word.

From the Word, from Christ.

The word that God has revealed to us, that's what we want you to receive with confidence, with an eternal hope that looks to your life and to the end of it and says, I have a blessed assurance.

I have a hope and a confidence that only comes from God and his promises.

That's what we want for all.

We want people to respond to receive the gospel that we see in the scriptures, the gospel that Paul is speaking of, not the gospel that might be manufactured or added to or taken away from or distorted or warped or customized by man.

No.

We want this OEM from the factory, from God Himself.

We want this uncustomized, unchopped, unmodified.

We want this gospel, as we see in the scriptures, to be received.

And not just like, well, what do I do with it?

No, receive, received in your heart.

You desire for this written word of God, this gospel to enter into your mind and into your heart and for it to transform you from the inside out.

That is Paul's desire.

And he's defending himself.

He's saying, this isn't me.

This isn't my words.

This isn't a collab with me and the other apostles.

This is from the Lord Jesus Christ.

He instructed me, he taught me.

I had an encounter with Jesus.

And he changed me.

And he can change you too if you would have faith in him, if you would believe and turn from your sins.

This is the word of God.

This is Paul's only hope in life and death.

This is Paul's desire is that people wouldn't get it twisted.

They wouldn't get it mistaken.

They would be informed by the gospel that Jesus delivered to him.

Unadulterated, unfiltered.

This is the gospel.

So he wants us to be in a position where we are receiving it with confidence, not doubting, not questioning, not, is this right?

Is this where we're going to go?

You're not going to consult your lifestyle coach.

You're not going to go to your dentist.

You're not going to go to your to your doctor.

You're not going to go to your coach.

You're not going to go to your vet.

You're going to go to the word of God to understand what God has said about himself.

What God has said about a perfect and holy God and sinners that are in need of a savior.

The gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel.

Paul did not receive it from any man.

He wasn't taught.

He wasn't instructed concerning the gospel.

He wasn't instructed by anyone else other than the Lord Jesus Christ.

How amazing is that.

Now you obey me.

Now you're my instrument.

Now you get to be a part of saving, saving souls and not killing them.

How amazing in that.

So let's write this down for the sub point.

Let's write this down for point A.

Receive the gospel from the Word with confidence.

Receive it with confidence.

Receive this gospel with confidence.

This is God's word speaking to you.

Do you see that?

Do you see that?

This is God's very word.

We don't need to consult outside experts, outside voices that would say, but actually, no.

We look to God's word and let him speak for himself.

We don't look to the creation and say, hey, can you tell me more about the creator?

No, we look to the creator and says what he's and see what he says about his created order.

In Jeremiah chapter 9, verses 23 and 26, the prophet says this of the Lord.

Jeremiah 9:23

Let not the mighty man boast in his might.

Let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth.

For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.

This is God's wisdom revealed for salvation, the gospel that leads to life.

We can have a confidence that God's perfect plan to save Paul through the gospel is effective and can be applied to you and your life today.

You're not killing Christians right now.

I know that for a fact.

None of you guys are killing Christians like Paul was, but you're still a sinner like Paul was.

And God says to you today, you need a savior, just like Paul needed a savior.

You should have confidence in that, that there is a solution to our sin problem.

And pride would have a say, actually, no, I'm good.

I'm fine.

Or like, not yet, later.

Maybe, maybe when I'm in high school.

Maybe when I'm graduated high school.

No, respond now.

It's foolishness to delay.

It's foolishness to say, you know better, you know more, you have better understanding, you have better insight.

No.

If you're wise, boast in the wisdom that God gives.

If you're strong, if you have great strength and might and athletic ability, that's a gift.

God says, boast in God who gave you those skills.

If you have great wealth, no, don't boast in your riches.

Boast, boast in the God that has given you that blessing.

If anyone boasts, boast in the Creator.

Boast in the Lord, the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in all the earth.

Paul, again, in Romans, he's writing a letter to Rome, the Christian believers there in chapter 15.

He has some words for the believers.

He's writing in an encouragement note to them.

He says, I myself am satisfied in verse 14.

I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.

They're able to look into the Word of God to exercise their God-given abilities for God's glory.

And he says this in 15, but on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder.

We all need reminders, right?

Paul says, Because of the grace given me by God, to be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

He says this.

This is Paul's boast.

Paul's boast is not his intellect.

Paul's boast is not his ability to speak so fluently and clearly, convincingly, with great charisma.

Paul's boast is in the Savior.

Paul's boast is in the one who changed his life.

And he's encouraging the believers to look at their skills, to look at their abilities and say, This is a gift from God.

You should boast in him.

Don't be proud in anything that you can do, because those are all talents and abilities that God has given to you.

This is Paul's desire for us.

He wants us to see this.

The world that would say, I don't need the gospel, the world that says, That's ridiculous.

I don't need a savior.

I'm good.

I'm a good person.

I don't need God.

God finds delight to use the people who are who are not wise, who are not strong, who are not super gifted in worldly terms, and he's going to use these people to glorify himself so that their boast might not be in anything that they can do, anything that they can say, anything that they can dream up.

Are you boasting in your talents today?

Are you athletic?

Are you smart?

Do you pick up things really easily?

Are you good at building things, learning things, understanding things?

Are you good at playing a musical instrument?

Are you good at dancing?

Are you what are your talents?

What are your skills?

Those are gifts from God.

Are you able to juggle a bunch of things in your mind and kind of sort them out and make sense of them when for other people it'd be overwhelming?

That's a gift.

That's a gift from God.

Are you able to memorize things and hold on to things and visualize things in your mind that other people are like, what do you mean?

That's a gift.

That's a gift from God.

So boast in Him.

Those are abilities that have been loaned to you, by the way.

If they're not yours, they're loaned to you.

Those are abilities that you get to use to bring glory to God.

They're on loan.

Don't boast in yourself.

Don't boast in a gospel that's man-made.

Boast in a gospel that is from the Lord.

Now, Paul had a new focus, a new mindset after his conversion.

If we look to verse 13, he's recalling his former life, the old me, the me, the me from my past life.

In verse 13, he says, For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.

He was zealous.

He found great pleasure and excitement and joy in going after Christians to seek them great harm.

He has a new outlook.

He has a new focus.

Do you have a new focus?

Write this down for sub point B.

Receive the gospel from the Word with a newfound focus.

Paul's focus changed from violently persecuting the church in order to destroy it to being the guy that's running into the fire, running into danger, embracing the path that would harm him, that would cause him great suffering.

And he's choosing this path so that people will taste and see that God is so good.

They would taste and see the gospel that's able to save their souls.

This is Paul's new focus.

And it's from the Lord.

He writes in Romans chapter 14, verse 8, this is his new outlook on life.

Romans 14:8

This is Paul's daily refrain.

For if we live, we live to, not ourselves, to the Lord.

And if we die, we die to the Lord.

So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.

In Toy Story, you know, adults, you know where I'm going with this.

In Toy Story, the movie, you know, like Woody, Mr.

Potato Head, Buzz Lightyear, Rex, all those guys, right?

On the bottom, on the bottom of Woody's boot, what does it say?

It says Andy.

It says Andy.

He is Woody is not his own man.

He's not a self-made man.

He belongs to someone.

He belongs to a boy named Andy.

Paul's saying, you are not your own.

If you're in Christ, you don't belong to you.

You are someone's possession.

You belong to the one who purchased you with his blood.

That is your identity.

You belong to the Savior.

You are his prized possession.

Imagine the love required to die for something so precious, but at the same time to die for someone who is your enemy.

That is a mysterious and divine love.

Paul's saying if we live, we live to the Lord.

And if we die, we die to the Lord.

Why?

Because we are the Lord's.

Do you belong to the Lord?

That's a question I have for you this evening.

Are you his?

Are you in his family?

Just like your parents will say, You are my son, you are my daughter, is Jesus saying of you, you are mine, you belong to me.

Later in 2 Corinthians in the New Testament, Paul goes on to say, Yes, in verse 8, 2 Corinthians 5, verses 8 and 9, yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and be at home with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:8

My focus, my aim, my desire is to be with God in heaven.

That is my number one priority.

He goes on to say, so whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.

So if you're here living life on this rotating sphere of blue and green, you are here to please the Lord, to bring him pleasure, to bring him honor, to bring him glory.

That is the Christian's objective.

The number one objective for every Christian: bring glory to God.

Live a life that is pleasing to him, submitted to him, obeying with joy and excitement, with great zeal.

Obey him, follow him, trust him.

All the while, Paul's thinking, it would be so much better to be with the Lord.

But while we're here, while we're away from him, we make it our goal, we make it our aim, while we're still in this fleshly body here on earth.

We're not home yet, but one day he will draw us there.

We will be with our Savior face to face.

Paul's saying, while you're still living, while you're still breathing here, make your aim to please him.

That's the newfound focus that Paul is living his life with.

A newfound focus.

And you might notice that a man saying, I used to kill Christians, now I try to make them through the power of the Spirit.

He does it with some energy, with some enthusiasm, with some zest, if I'm using the right word there.

There's some excitement, there's some energy.

What's the new word?

I need help.

What's the new word?

Juice?

With some new juice?

What's the word?

I need help.

Isaiah, what's the word that I'm thinking of?

Riz.

I think that word is more often used.

With God honoring Riz.

We'll say that.

With a vibe that seeks to honor the Lord.

This is this is Paul's desire.

Now I have your attention.

This is Paul's desire.

Verse 14, look with me.

Verse 14.

This is Paul.

I used to be after Christians, now I'm trying to make them.

And he goes on in verse 14.

And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among people, among my people.

So extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.

He was like, he was the number one hype man for Judaism.

He wasn't hype.

He was actually living it out.

He was actually seeking, in a certain way, he was seeking to honor Yahweh, to honor Yahweh, because he didn't identify Jesus as Lord.

He was a false Messiah.

That's how Paul and people in Judaism, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, they saw Jesus as a blasphemer, someone who was bringing disrespect and dishonor to God.

They didn't see him for who he truly was.

So naturally, as someone who's a devout Jew, he's saying, You're claiming to be God.

You're not God.

No, of course not.

That's blasphemy.

It was right for him in his own mind to say, well, if you're not bringing God on or you're blaspheming God, you need to go.

And that's how he saw Christians, though his vision wasn't clear.

His vision didn't see Jesus as Messiah.

He didn't see believers as new creations made in Christ.

No, no, Paul has a new zeal.

Write this down.

Receive the gospel from the word, like Paul does, with new zeal.

A zeal that is aimed to making believers.

The energy and the enthusiasm, the riz that he had for Judaism, that energy.

You know what I'm saying?

There was a lot going on.

It was going well for Paul in Judaism.

That same effort, that same energy, that same passion now is aligned in a correct way.

It's aligned in a way that truly pleases God.

And he's got his foot stomped all the way down, and he's not he's not slowing down.

He's not slowing down, Connor.

He's going all out for the Lord Jesus Christ.

He's going all out.

New zeal, new energy.

And now Paul is empowered by the Holy Spirit.

So it makes sense.

He has a new energy source, a new helper inside.

God's presence dwelling within him.

This is the source of Paul's enthusiasm, the source of his hope, the source of his joy.

It's the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Titus chapter 3, we read, starting in verse 3, for we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

Titus 3 · chapter mention

Paul hated Christians.

Verse 4, but when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us.

Not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.

Paul's saying, I can't do enough stuff to be saved.

I can't do enough good things to be justified.

I cannot do enough right things in my life to be pleasing in God's sight.

It's all God.

It's all Him.

It's His grace.

It's His mercy.

It's His work in me.

This is Paul's heart.

He was disobedient.

He was foolish.

He was led astray.

He was slaves to the tradition, the various passions of the Jewish elders.

He was excited.

He was excited by all of this, but he has a new zeal.

The Holy Spirit is in him.

Verse 6, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior.

This is a work of God.

He's not claiming, and I did, and then we did, and then I learned some other things, and then I created this portfolio, and then I made all these Christians.

No, he's saying this is God's work.

100%.

We don't have a boast in ourselves.

We have no credible resume to stand on because it's all Jesus Christ.

It's all his all his work.

Going on in verse 15 in Galatians chapter 1, he goes on to tell of his story.

Galatians 1 · chapter mention

He says this, but when he, meaning Jesus, but when he, verse 15, who had set me apart before I was born.

You know what he's saying?

Before I took my first breath on planet Earth, Jesus picked me to be his own.

Set apart.

You ever get a choice, like first, first go at something?

Like your parents give you options, like which one do you want?

You got options, you got like, there's only like one thing left of each variety, and you're like, oof, which one is it gonna be?

You're like, uh, and then you get stuck in your brain because like you can't pick two, you only have to pick one.

This this is this is Paul's excitement, and it's not in himself.

This is his excitement that he would be chosen by God.

He said, but when he who had set me apart, he's saying, before he was born, God said, Paul, you're mine.

You're mine.

Before any of his training, before any of the persecution that happened to God's church, before any that happened, Paul's saying, I belonged to God before I took my first breath.

It was he who called me by his grace.

This is all a work of God.

Verse 16.

By his grace, he was pleased to reveal his son to me.

This is God's plan.

It was pleasing to God to radically transform Paul's life, to radically change him from the inside out.

Notice here that Paul is not taking any credit.

The gospel made sense to me, so logically, I of course it was the best option, so I move forward with this plan.

No.

No, he's he's giving all credit, all glory, all honor, all praise to the Son of God, to Jesus, who he met face to face on the road to Damascus.

You notice that Paul isn't bragging.

There's no boast in this.

There's nothing to be like, he's not tooting his own horn.

No.

This is all credit, all credit and glory to God.

Sub point D.

Receive the gospel from the word with humility.

See the gift and the treasure that the gospel is, like Paul does.

Receive it with humility.

In Philippians chapter 2, starting in verse 3, Paul says this do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourself.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, this mind that's unified with Christ.

Think this way.

Think this way, which is yours in Jesus Christ, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

This is Paul's heart as he reflects on the Savior.

Because Christ humbled himself to become a man and came to serve and came to lay his life down as a sacrifice, so will I.

That requires humility.

That requires thinking of other people's greatest needs above your own.

Paul's not saying don't take care of yourself.

Paul's saying, take care of yourself and then some to others, and then some to the people that are in need of the gospel, that are in need of your care in the body of Christ.

This is Paul's desire.

Be like Christ, be humble, be a servant.

Don't make it about you, make it about other people.

He goes on to say, this all happened to me, this conversion, this setting apart, this grace-filled life, this conversion, it wasn't for me only.

He had a job to do.

Paul says in the second part of verse 16, all this in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles.

His radical life transformation happened in order that others might experience the same thing spiritually.

Not everyone's going to get blinded on the road to Damascus.

Not everyone is going to be as influential as Paul as we see in the scriptures.

Not everyone is going to plant the number of churches and write as many books in the New Testament as Paul did.

But we all have a role to play.

If you're in Christ, you have a role to play.

Receive the gospel from the Word with expectations to share it.

This isn't your treasure that you get to claim and say, mine, and you sit on it and you don't get up so that no one else can take it from you.

You're not hiding it.

You're not hiding it like you would hide your favorite snack and candy so that your siblings don't find it and eat it.

I've been there and I've done that and I've actually had snacks and samples for my siblings' candy.

No, this gospel is for you to share.

This gospel, if it's truly yours, is for you to give away, for you to make others' disciples through and with.

And sometimes we can feel a little uncomfortable sharing our faith.

Sometimes we can feel a little uncomfortable explaining and sharing what God has done on the inside.

Because it's kind of hard to explain.

Hard to explain how God has changed your desires, changed your affections.

But you can give a testimony and said, I used to, now I.

It used to be all about me.

Now it's all about God.

It used to be all about my priorities, my preferences, and my hopes and dreams.

Now it now you it's it's about what God wants me to do.

He's given me skills and abilities, now I use them for his glory.

Paul in Romans chapter 1, a famous verse, he says, I'm not ashamed, verse 16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is a power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

We have expectations to be distributing, dispensing, sharing this gospel with those who are in great need.

Some of you in this room have not yet responded to the gospel.

And it is weekly being shared with you.

And we trust God to do the work in your heart.

We trust God to be the one that is active, actively in the process of drawing you to Himself.

The lyrics and the songs that we sing are gospel saturated.

The questions on the back of your note sheet are mining the deepest of your thoughts and the deepest of your feelings to see how you respond to the gospel, the written word of God.

We're sharing the gospel with this group of students, South Valley Student Ministry.

This gospel is being shared with you week in and week out.

A challenge to the leaders, we we are to be equipped, ready, and prepared.

In 2 Timothy chapter 4, verses 2 to 5, we read this strong encouragement.

2 Timothy 4:2–5

Preach the word.

Be ready in season and out of season.

This is Paul's desire for his protege, Timothy.

Be ready, preach the word in any condition, in any situation, in any scenario, in any context, be ready to reprove, to rebuke, to exhort with complete patience and teaching.

For there is a time coming when people will not endure sound teaching.

Are you listening to the words that are being shared with you from this book?

Are you receiving them?

Are you kind of like, yeah, yeah, I've heard that before, I get it.

I know I'm a Christian, I grew up in a Christian home, I'm already saved, I don't need to do anything else, I'm good to go.

No.

Have you personally responded to the gospel?

It's been shared with this group of students.

I'm not saying it to talk down to you, I'm saying it to encourage you, to urge you to really take into consideration what we're talking about.

Do you prefer to hear that you're mostly a good person?

Do you prefer to hear, you know, yeah, you do more good than bad.

You're you're doing fine.

Yeah, you got room to grow in, but like you're not that you're not that bad.

No, like if if sin is what the Bible says it is, it separates us from God.

And separation from God is the worst, the worst thing that you can experience.

We need a we need a work of God in order to respond.

We need a gift of faith to respond to this gospel.

And with this gospel, with the Holy Spirit, with with a new heart, we have a new identity.

Write this down for your next point.

Receive the gospel from the word with a new identity.

Point F.

With a new identity, transformation from the inside out, a heart transplant, a new mind that is serving the Savior.

We have a new label, a new title, a new purpose, a new identity.

Some of you might be thinking, you understand what the identity is.

And I want to challenge you, I want to I want you to reconsider the desires that you have and what they tell about what's really going on.

Because what you could be saying with your mouths might not be actually what's going on on the inside.

For a long time, I I played the role of Christian.

On the outside, I produced a certain image that was conducive to other people saying, good job.

You're doing well, you're you're growing.

I can I can see what God's doing.

It was an act, it was manufactured, it was not genuine.

I did not have a new heart.

I did not have God's spirit in me, but I I played the part, I played the role.

Is that some of you this evening?

That's a gentle challenge and hopefully an encouragement for you to look again and reconsider who you are, what is your identity?

Who does God say that you are?

And it all depends on who Jesus Christ is to you.

Paul concludes, Paul concludes in the final verses here, and you might be thinking, Paul, you're you're you're saying it's it's all about God, but why why are you saying why are you saying this?

Why are you saying this?

Paul goes away, he he returns, he goes to Arabia, he he comes back again to Damascus, he meets with James, he meets with Peter, and he he goes on to say the the gospel that I was preaching, the person, the new person I am, the new me, that people are like, weren't you out to kill people?

Now you're preaching the faith that you once tried to destroy in verse 23.

Who are you?

This people are this people could could be confused.

And Paul goes on to say in this final verse, and they glorified God because of me.

All these all these people are saying, You we should be scared of you.

You're different now.

This faith that you were trying to eradicate from the face of the earth, now you're promoting it, now you're growing it.

Now you're a part of making more disciples.

Paul, what's going on?

And Paul's going on to say, these people that were confused, these people that were aware of his transformation, they glorified God because of me.

This isn't this isn't Paul saying, All that I did is what.

Is what is underscored.

All what I did is what is good.

No, Paul is acknowledging it's God that did a radical transformation in me.

It's God that deserves the glory.

And rightly so.

Someone who is against God and his church, a person who becomes a new creation, God should get the glory for that because it's all his work.

There's no one that went and convinced Paul, hey, you should really reconsider this whole Judaism thing.

You should really consider switching up the teams a little bit.

You should really like try try come over to the other side.

No, it was the Lord Jesus Christ that arrested Paul, grabbed his attention, gave him a new heart, and all the credit and all the glory goes to God.

And anything that Paul does in his life, if you're a Christian, anything that you do in your life is not for yourself.

It's for the glory of God.

So do whatever you're doing with God's glory in mind.

Receive the gospel from the Word with God's glory in mind.

If you are in Christ, you are a new creation.

Your life is no longer your own.

Your life belongs to Christ.

When you live a life that's devoted to following Jesus, you're proclaiming God's glory.

You're giving him the credit.

You're declaring God is the King and I am following Him.

I'm submitted to Him.

Any gift or talent that you might have, as good as you become at whatever that skill is, whatever that talent is, you refine it, you hone it, you make it the best that you can, it's to bring more honor to the King.

That is your role.

1 Peter chapter 4, we'll conclude here.

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

In 1 Peter chapter 4, verses 10 and 11.

1 Peter 4:10

There's a strong encouragement concerning the different gifts and talents that believers have.

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace.

Whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God, whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies, in order that in everything, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.

To him be long glory and dominion forever and ever.

Amen.

This is Paul's heart.

Whatever you're doing, it's to bring honor and glory to God.

This is your role.

This is your new identity.

This is your new mindset.

It's God's glory at the forefront of your minds.

And that comes, that comes through making disciples.

That comes through knowing God and knowing his plan for your life, knowing what this book says and how you are to obey it, how are you to follow this direction from God?

This is your role as a believer.

It all depends on who you're serving.

Are you serving yourself or are you serving God?

So as this book trains and equips and corrects and molds you more and more into the image of the author, who is Jesus Christ, through the power of the Spirit, I want to draw your attention to your training.

You have a time now when you're living under your parents' roof.

You have a time now when you are not fully responsible for you and your life right now.

You're getting some help, you're getting some assistance from your family, from your parents.

They are going to be pointing you to this book.

Their goal, their desire is to train you, to equip you, to give you the skills and the understanding, to show you wisdom and knowledge and insight from the scriptures so that you might be trained by them, trained by God.

So, my goal for you, our goal as leaders in this room, we want to see you know the Savior.

We want to see you submitting your life to the Savior.

Let this time be a training ground.

So that way you can say, when you're an adult, I remembered my training.

I remembered my time when I was in elementary school, when I was in middle school, when I was in high school.

I remembered how my small group leaders were always challenging me, trying to help me understand, encouraging me, calling me out on areas that I needed to be called out on.

That this is your training ground.

This is your time to be trained up before you get launched out as an adult when you are fully responsible for bills, for rent, for all the fun things of adulthood.

This is your training ground.

So I hope you can look back to this time in your life and you remember your training.

You remember the time that you were being trained up in your understanding in the scriptures and that you'll be trained up in your knowledge and love for Jesus Christ.

God, please help us.

We need your help through your spirit, through your word to do this job of disciple making.

God, help us to be discerning.

Help us to be a great encouragement to these students.

And God, will you do a radical work in the lives of these students?

Help them to see the beauty of the Savior.

Help them to see your love displayed through the gospel, we pray, in Jesus' name.

Amen.