Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] My name is Dean Annan. I'm the discipleship pastor here. If we haven't met yet, I'd love to meet you. I'll be down here in front. Please come up and say hi.
[00:00:13] So today we're finishing our series in Galatians.
[00:00:17] A very tense letter over with a divided church, very important topic.
[00:00:23] And the Apostle Paul, when he starts Galatians, back in chapter one, he said this. He says, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ. And you are turning to a different gospel.
[00:00:38] Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
[00:00:48] Well, you can just see it in the words and hear it in the words that he is astonished. He's amazed that so quiet. Quickly they turned from the truth and they turned to a false gospel. And if you're new with your new here with us today, let me give you a little background. The Apostle Paul writes this letter to rebut a heretical version of the gospel. There were some troublemakers. They were agitators, false teachers. They were called the Judaizers. And they insisted that the Gentiles, in order to be saved, needed to first follow the law of Moses and then be circumcised in order to be saved.
[00:01:27] This is a fight, it's a theological and spiritual fight of the heavyweight variety, like Mike Tyson and Buster Douglas. Some of you know who that was. Going back to my childhood, there was the fight of the century between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.
[00:01:43] Joe Frazier won that. A couple years later there was a fight, the Rumble in the.
[00:01:48] Thank you. Rumble in the Jungle in Zaire. Some of you remember that. Muhammad Ali won that. Of course. He used the great strategy, the rope, a dope strategy to beat, to beat big George Foreman in a dramatic eighth round knockout. And a year later was the Thrilla in Manila. Thank you. The Philippines, of course. Muhammad Ali versus Joe Frazier. After 14 rounds, finally they moved into the 15th round and Muhammad Ali was. Won that as well.
[00:02:17] The Apostle Paul is in a fight for the Galatians. You could call it the frustrations with the Galatians.
[00:02:26] Know, it's cringy. It's real fight, though, is for the truth. It's for their hearts, it's for their souls. For the church to follow Jesus and Jesus alone. You know, it's true.
[00:02:38] Usually in almost any side or fight or conflict, oftentimes we need to pick a side.
[00:02:45] That's what's happening here. The Galatians had. Had to pick a side. It's exactly what Paul is doing in this letter. It's how he's finishing this letter.
[00:02:52] You know, this. This fight continues today.
[00:02:57] We are in a fight. We're surrounded by it. We are impacted. Theological and spiritual fight. We are being influenced. You are being formed. You're being led. You're being coached in many different ways. Some of us are trying to lead us spiritually or politically or maybe socially. And of course, they reach out to you. You know how they reach out to you? Right through your phones.
[00:03:19] Yeah. Tv, radio, sometimes it's even friends. And so for us, the question is this.
[00:03:26] How do I discern who I should listen to or follow or champion especially? And I'm going to focus on spiritual leaders today, just in a few minutes, so you can turn to or turn on your device to Galatians, chapter 6, verse 11. That's where we're going to start. As we finish out the letter today, Paul writes this.
[00:03:49] He says, see, with what large letters, I am writing to you with my own hands. How important is this? As he closes the letter, well, here's what it seems. Here's what seems to be going on. He took from the scribe, most likely the pen, and he's finishing the letter with his own hand, in capital letters, to make a serious point. He wants to make sure they understand there's a fight going on here. You know, two camps, if you will, or maybe two corners.
[00:04:19] Of course, in the one corner, if you imagine with me, you have the judaizers and their black trunks. They are very impressive speakers. Fighting for grace plus works equals justification.
[00:04:33] They're trying to, again, you've heard, add the law of Moses and circumcision in order to be saved.
[00:04:40] But in the other corner, you have the Apostle Paul with white trunks, red stripe. Not very impressive guy.
[00:04:46] Not very impressive to look at. But he's filled with scars, literal scars from previous battles, where he stood for the truth. And Paul's saying no. He's saying no. And he's fighting for grace alone through faith, alone in Christ alone.
[00:05:02] Now, the village church.
[00:05:04] Young adults a while back went through Galatians and they had some T shirts made, and the T shirts said on the front it said, jesus plus nothing equals everything.
[00:05:14] Absolutely same sentiment. Just the same sentiment.
[00:05:17] Now, some of these truths, if we look back at where we've been these several weeks, some of the truths that Paul was fighting for was the doctrine of justification by faith. We talked about that faith alone in the blood of Christ for that work for salvation, the true gospel The Apostle Paul fought for and encouraged people to cling to and defend the true gospel. Also the doctrine of adoption.
[00:05:43] Interesting.
[00:05:44] You know we, we need to understand this, that when you come into the family of God by faith in Christ, you are a child of God.
[00:05:54] We are together as a family. And J.R. packer writes it this way, this idea of being adopted into the family of God. He says we must understand adoption if you are to understand Christianity.
[00:06:09] Then he goes on and Pastor Paul talks about the basis for unity, Christian unity. He fought for that. And I would say it's not just the basis for Christian unity, it's the basis for Christian community.
[00:06:22] Because it's not based on your ethnicity, your gender, your age, your common interest, none of that. Our unity as followers of Christ and our community is simply based on faith in the Gospel, which makes us brothers and sisters in Christ, a faith based family. That's who we are.
[00:06:43] Of course in just the last few weeks you heard more about Paul talking about freedom in Christ. That sets you free. It sets me free from a works based salvation. And of course just recently we heard Paul fighting for the Spirit. The Holy Spirit led life instead of being led, led by the flesh or fleshly desires. But Paul is also fighting for this, this big idea here. As we close out the letter that Christians will actually we need to, we must choose to follow leaders who are cross centered.
[00:07:17] When you let those who are spiritual lead you, are they cross centered? And so with big letters he's writing and he's serious about it. And then he gets the verses 12 and 13.
[00:07:30] Starting in verse 12, it is those meaning the Judaizers. Paul is saying it is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised. And only in order that they meaning Judaizers may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.
[00:07:51] Verse 13. For even those meaning the Judaizers who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.
[00:08:04] Paul comes out swinging.
[00:08:07] He's exposing their true selfish motives, the motives of the Judaizers. They want converts. They want those Gentiles to follow the law of Moses to be circumcised. But why?
[00:08:20] Why would they want that?
[00:08:22] Verse 12 says, the second part of verse 12 says only in order that they may not be here. It is persecuted for the cross of Christ.
[00:08:31] Again he's exposing, he's opening up their motives.
[00:08:35] If they, the Judaizers are thinking, if they preach the same gospel as Paul, in other words, the cross of Christ. The Judaizers figure we too might be beaten, imprisoned, tortured. Of course Jesus was beaten and killed. They knew that. So the Judaizers figured, well, if we just get more Gentiles, if we get more of them circumcised or following the feasts and following the law of Moses, certainly the synagogue, local authorities will just take it easy on us again.
[00:09:06] They want in verse 12, a good showing in the flesh and to boast in your flesh, in your circumcision. It's about boasting in numbers and self preservation. This is what they're about. And frankly, it's.
[00:09:20] Frankly, it's gross.
[00:09:22] Because the Judaizers were doing what was analogous to the Old Testament story of David, where King Saul required David to kill and take 100 philistine soldiers, foreskins as a bride price to pay King Saul so he could marry King Saul's daughter.
[00:09:39] The Judaizers, they're checking off more circumcision so they could pretend to act like David somehow to do something great for God, when in fact they were simply afraid.
[00:09:51] Afraid of persecution for the truth.
[00:09:54] Unless you're running for your life, fear can be a very bad thing. Fear can lead you to reject God's commands and to abandon your witness for Christ.
[00:10:06] So what are you doing today?
[00:10:08] Or maybe what are you avoiding today?
[00:10:12] Out of fear.
[00:10:14] You know, fear, like I said, can cause people to reject God's clear command in the Book of Numbers. We were in numbers not too long ago, right? And we remember that 10, that 10 of the 12 spies were against Israel going into the promised land, into Canaan that was already promised to them.
[00:10:31] They were fearful. They were fearful because of the giants and because, of course, the fortified cities. But fear can also, for us, for you and me as believers, can cause us to abandon our witness for Jesus Christ.
[00:10:45] Remember Peter in the New Testament, he boldly claimed he would never abandon Christ.
[00:10:50] Yet when some random people questioned him, he denied Christ three times.
[00:10:57] That fear of arrest, fear of persecution.
[00:11:00] That fear robbed Peter of his opportunity to stand for Christ. When it comes to the Judaizers, their selfishness, their fear, their persecution, potential persecution of the truth of the cross of Christ, the true gospel, caused them instead to preach a false gospel.
[00:11:19] That's verses 12 and 13. And Paul, he just uncovers their motivation, what was underneath their actions. But I want to get back to that word, discernment, or to discern.
[00:11:30] So again, that question was, how do I discern who I should listen to? Follow or champion.
[00:11:37] Let me say this, I just want to slow down here in all of this. In discernment, we need to be cautious.
[00:11:43] We need to be humble. That takes throwing away our pride so we can be teachable. And we need to be wise.
[00:11:50] The only way to be wise is to know the word of God, apply it to our life skillfully before we can even discern. Begin the idea of discernment from previous sermons. I want to put two things on screen. We remember that motivation matters. You heard this idea before. The people that are trying to influence you online, I mean, by and large, they do not love you.
[00:12:10] The platform people don't. Don't assume they love you. I mean, unless you know them, don't assume they love you.
[00:12:17] They are.
[00:12:19] They are using you. Let's be smart. What do I mean by that? You're a commodity to be monetized.
[00:12:25] How does that work?
[00:12:26] Well, when it's influencers, what they're doing is they're not expressing their simple opinions normally. What they're doing is they're generally intending to shape your behavior. And the behavior they want out of you is the subscriber to listen to them. Why?
[00:12:40] Well, again, they want to monetize you, but they'll do this by shaping your beliefs.
[00:12:45] That's the way it works.
[00:12:48] Also, we want to be careful of knowing our influences or our spiritual influences is how they live. Does that represent what they say? Are they hypocrites? Are they in it for themselves?
[00:13:03] So as we.
[00:13:04] I want to move to a rubric, something we can use when we continue in this idea of discerning and discerning, specifically identifying false teaching teachers. This is coming from what we've been talking about through Galatians and even a little bit today. We want to look at these teachers and see are they spreading some type of false doctrine or false gospel? Well, we've talked about this. When this happens, you can swipe away, you can turn off. You don't have to go back.
[00:13:30] Are they centered on justification by grace through faith alone or not? If not, why are we listening to them? Remember, salvation is a gift.
[00:13:42] It's a gift that comes from Jesus, period. The Apostle Paul or Apostle John said this.
[00:13:48] Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits. Do you test the spirits?
[00:13:54] Slow down, be cautious, be careful. Test the spirit to see whether they are from God.
[00:13:59] Jesus says this whole idea is super important. He said this in Matthew 12. He said, on the Day of Judgment, people will give an account for every careless word they speak.
[00:14:14] And what about fleshly living?
[00:14:17] Are the teachers we're listening to spiritual leaders, our small group leaders, Sunday school teachers who are.
[00:14:24] Do you know anything about them?
[00:14:27] Their lives should coincide with what they say. Are they greedy?
[00:14:31] Jesus said this about false teachers.
[00:14:34] Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing. What's that mean, sheep's clothing? Well, they come to you with kind faces. They look like they love you and they look like they stand for God. But inwardly Jesus says that these false prophets are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits or their fleshly living.
[00:14:56] Another thing is, do false teachers.
[00:15:00] When you're looking at teachers, are they flaunting results? Are they those who brag?
[00:15:06] Because false teachers are going to boast and brag about themselves or their converts instead of what Jesus is doing. They're going to brag on themselves. It's self or God, that's the choice. It's self or God. Is someone boasting they won you over. You're a number to them.
[00:15:23] False teachers boast in anything but Christ.
[00:15:28] The last thing I want to put on this list, identifying false teachers.
[00:15:32] False teachers can be fear driven.
[00:15:35] In other words, they would be avoiding topics, certain topics, those that sometimes push even against the culture. We see this all today. It's rampant in the US pulpits today. And Paul says this for am I now seeking the approval of man or of God?
[00:15:52] If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. You see the choice here, it's one or the other.
[00:16:01] We have to pick a side, not be fear driven.
[00:16:06] We need to throw in our lot, pick a horse, whatever works for you, whatever expression works for you. Because remember they're nefarious teachers, that they have platforms and they want to shape your behavior like a, like a lump of clay.
[00:16:20] So you will watch and listen more. And they do this by going after your beliefs.
[00:16:25] That's their motivation. And we can. All I'm saying here is we can. You can discern, you can discern for yourselves who are Christ centered teachers. From false teachers we get to verse 14 and 15. You're going to see a contrast. So we were in 12 and 13. We're going to see a contrast. Now we're moving on from the Judaizers.
[00:16:46] We're going to see a spiritual leader with the right motivation. Paul's way is different. It's a very clear choice. Verse 14, Paul says this, but far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to Me and I to the world he boasts in Christ's cross, the work of Christ. For him. This isn't a personal, prideful boasting. This is a glorifying Christ pointing to Christ, boasting, glorifying way which points only to Christ. That's the contrast between what Paul will do and the Judaizers. Remember the Judaizers. They desire to have you circumcised that they might boast in your flesh.
[00:17:31] Back to v.14.
[00:17:34] Thinking about 14, he's boasting in the cross. The. That sounded crazy back then.
[00:17:43] You have to think about that for a minute. It's illogical, it's crazy, it's absurd. It's actually a paradox.
[00:17:50] Paul is boasting in the instrument of extreme torture, extreme shame and death.
[00:18:00] And in polite Roman society, they didn't even want, literally in the households, they didn't want to talk about crucifixion. It was so distant, disgusting. But Paul boasts about the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:18:13] You know what?
[00:18:15] For Christians, boasting in the cross is biblical.
[00:18:21] Paul points to the cross in 1 Corinthians 2. Put it on the screen. For I is Paul speaking. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
[00:18:32] In our Galatians, chapter two, we read not too long ago, I have been crucified with Christ. Paul is saying, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
[00:18:50] How, Paul? How did Jesus give himself to me? By being nailed to the cross. The instrument of torture, the instrument of shame and the instrument of death.
[00:19:01] Jesus did that for Paul's redemption and for your redemption when you believe in him. And that's the focus here. Again, the point of focus is on the cross.
[00:19:13] So when it comes to discerning false teachers, when it comes to identifying those who are spiritual teachers or spiritual influencers, again, we never want to get over the cross. We never get past the cross. We are justified by, before God, by Jesus, work on the cross. Anything else, any other teaching for salvation is a false doctrine. But boasting in the cross is not only biblical.
[00:19:38] Boasting in the cross is our tradition. It's our tradition as Christians. A lot of us, we love to sing and love to sing words of truth. One of my old favorite hymns that I love is this one, when I survey the Wondrous Cross by Isaac Watts. Some of you know that song, some of you like that song a lot. What you might not know is back in 1707, that song had a subtitle, and the subtitle I'll read for you.
[00:20:01] Crucifixion to the World by the Cross of Christ.
[00:20:05] That was the subtitle back then.
[00:20:08] And what you also might not know is when I surveyed the Wondrous Cross by Isaac Watts, was influenced and was inspired by. By Galatians, chapter 6, verse 14, where it says, but far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.
[00:20:29] The hymn says, when I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, My richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride.
[00:20:39] So when we boast on the cross, it kills the idea of salvation by works and by. And kills the idea of all our pride.
[00:20:49] Some of you know, Ren Collective, you know who that is? Yeah, they're. Yeah, I see a few.
[00:20:54] They're from Northern Ireland and they're a worship band as well. And they have a song called Boast in the Cross.
[00:21:04] And that song goes. I will not be ashamed of my Savior, and I will not be ashamed of his power.
[00:21:10] I will boast in the cross. I will boast in the cross. It's not only biblical, it is our tradition, it is a good tradition that we, the family of God, we boast in the cross.
[00:21:20] So this means that I can listen to, I can follow, I can champion even those spiritual leaders who boast in the cross because we're all influenced.
[00:21:33] Paul's not only believing in this, he taught this, he lived this, and he paid for it.
[00:21:40] He took hit after hit after hit, standing for the cross of Christ, the only instrument of salvation.
[00:21:47] In verse 17, the last half of verse 17, Paul writes this. Paul speaking again, of course. He says, for I bear. This is the impossible. For I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. What's he talking about? What are these marks on his body? They're showing that he belonged to Jesus.
[00:22:06] He's saying that these. These marks that I have, Paul's saying from the punches, from the whips, from the beating, from the stoning, he's saying, I took it. I took it and I took it for the ministry of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. These marks show that he belonged to Jesus.
[00:22:28] Of course, Paul is writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
[00:22:31] But of course, in that time, there's always the original audience. And so what is Paul doing here? I think what he's doing here as he talks about these marks is we have to realize that there's at least a couple different kinds of folks there. There are some Galatians hearing this who themselves are slaves or were slaves. And in that day, of course, they would be branded. Most slaves in that day were branded, marked with the insignia of who owned them, their master, their badge, their identification, saying in effect, this slave is mine.
[00:23:03] Some of them listening were hearing Paul and they listened with attentive ears. There were others in the congregation hearing that also had marks on their bodies. Some of them had tattoos. In that day, tattoos often were about your association or your devotion to a certain God or cult or religion. And so they're hearing, they're listening.
[00:23:27] They got the idea of markings and scars and brandings and tattoos pointing to your identity or whose you are, who you belong to. Paul's saying, look, I've been branded too.
[00:23:39] I've been branded. I'm a slave of Jesus Christ and I boast only in the Cross. Nothing else matters, nothing else. Especially not circumcision or uncircumcision or following the law of modus. Moses, all that matters is that he's a new creation. And he says this in verse 15, he says, for neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.
[00:24:07] Paul is driving towards making a choice. Remember, pick sides.
[00:24:12] I want to add to how we discern for ourselves again, another, another rubric, how we can pick a side for Christ's sake.
[00:24:22] Identifying Christ centered teachers. Some review, some from today, of course before.
[00:24:29] But the first thing is we want leaders or teachers or mentors, our influencers spiritually, to boast in and teach the cross of Christ. Of course I've been talking about that. But these are people, they don't apologize, they don't step away, they just go for it. They tell the truth.
[00:24:49] And these same people, we want to see that the world system has lost its appeal and they have new priorities like Paul. Did we see Paul saying about worldly things, fleshly things? No, they don't appeal to him anymore. He is a new creation. He's moved on to being a new creation. And we can see evidence, the third thing we evidence of being a new creation.
[00:25:11] Do I see? Can you see new creation type living in those you let influence you for God? Do you.
[00:25:20] Has the worldly things, have they been replaced with faith and love, holiness?
[00:25:29] Not perfectly, but being empowered by the Holy Spirit. Do you see that?
[00:25:35] Do you see a new creation?
[00:25:37] Paul makes this Clear that there are new priorities for Christians. 2 Corinthians 5 says this. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away and behold, the new has come.
[00:25:52] Earlier I mentioned that big idea. The idea that Christians, we must, we need to. We need to choose to follow leaders who are cross centered. Paul closes his letters, his letter here to Galatians, and he gives two benedictions. And with these benedictions, he's poking the people to make a choice. He's prompting them to make a choice. Let me just. I'll just read this one. But this is how he actually ends the letter. The last verse, the last sentence says this. This is verse 18.
[00:26:23] See how sweet this is? He says, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Be with your spirit, brothers.
[00:26:29] Amen. He's talking to brothers and sisters in the congregation. Grace on you. This is his love for his people, wanting God's grace on them.
[00:26:40] If we back up to verse 16, that's actually another benediction, just verse 16. We already talked about verse 17, but verse 16, he says, this sounds so sweet as well.
[00:26:48] And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy upon you or upon them and upon the Israel of God. Now, if we're not careful, we go past this verse and miss what's happening here. What did Paul just do?
[00:27:04] Verse 16 is a restricted benediction. It's a actually conditional benediction. He's praying for peace and mercy, but only on those who are. There's two groups here, The Israel of God, the True remnant, who actually are following the Messiah, who believe in the Messiah. And this is not the Judaizers. He is not praying peace and mercy on the Judaizers. This was an intended insult to them. Actually, there's another part to this. Remember where it said, walk by this rule. Walk by this rule. What rule? What are we talking about? The rule from verse 15, the new creation rule. Which comes how? By justification.
[00:27:41] Justification by grace and grace alone. Justification by faith alone, not by works. This blessing here of peace and mercy are for those who choose the cross of Jesus Christ. That's his point. This blessing is not for the Judaizers and for those who continue to follow them. So Paul boasts in the cross, not circumcision, because that has nothing to do with anything, only the cross. That makes him a new creation, free from the law. And after reading this letter, so they would read these letters, they would have heard this.
[00:28:18] All who heard it, Paul was plainly letting them know they need to make a choice. They need to pick a corner or A side.
[00:28:29] Well, if you're new here to Village Church, we usually end our sermons with so what's.
[00:28:35] Which is a way to look inside, to challenge ourselves. And I have two, two for us today. The first is this.
[00:28:43] What are your influencers boasting in?
[00:28:46] And I'm thinking more in this spiritual world. But do you know, are you intentional or are you passive? I would say let's be more intentional to listen. Let's not shrug off things like if some of our influences or teachers, if it's this idea of what they sound sounds a little unwise or maybe a little ungodly, just swipe, get past them, move on. Another thing I want to say is when it comes to our influences, let others know what you are listening to. Friends, please. Young people, if you're a student, I'm going to ask you, please let your parents know what you're listening to, what you're watching. Let your parents do their job.
[00:29:27] Let your parents help you out. Let the family of God help protect you. If you're my age, doesn't matter what age you are, let people know what you're listening to. Let's do this together. Isolation can be dangerous.
[00:29:39] Proverbs 11:14 says this.
[00:29:43] Where there is no guidance, a people falls.
[00:29:46] But in an abundance of counselors, there is safety.
[00:29:50] Remember, we're in a fight.
[00:29:52] It's a theological and spiritual fight. It's for your soul. The influencers, whether it's they're looking to influence you spiritually, podcasters, preachers, teachers, they're looking to change you. They're looking to change your belief so you will listen to them. And ignoring that fact won't make it go away.
[00:30:10] Second, so what, what are you boasting in?
[00:30:14] You know, it's really cool. A few weeks ago, you may have seen, we had five people down here boasting in Jesus Christ. They were getting baptized. That's one way that people boast in Jesus Christ. Story after story of forgiveness and redemption, salvation and transformation all pointed to Jesus Christ.
[00:30:34] This week I was thinking about Iran and North Korea and China, Nigeria, some of the places where we have brothers and sisters in Christ who desperately need our prayers.
[00:30:44] And, you know, they're standing for the cross of Christ and they're paying a price for it. They're being imprisoned, they're being killed as we talk.
[00:30:53] And so when I think of that and pray for them and think of my own life and think of your life, how can we boast in Christ? There are so many ways we can boast in. In Christ.
[00:31:03] I Want to put a few up there? One is, let's continue to be of the mindset. Instead of looking what I have done, how about pointing back to Jesus? Let's look at what Christ has done, tell people about what Christ has done. We can do that with our testimony, right? If we tell people what Christ has done in our life, instead of it being a resume, let's talk about the mercy of Christ. Let's talk about the forgiveness we have in Christ and the transforming power he gives us to live for Him. And, and also as we live as a new creation in Christ, because you are we can live as a new creation by the power of the Holy Spirit. We can stand against sin. We can say no every day to sin. We can stand for the truth by the power of the Holy Spirit. And so if being a new creation is something you know you need to be, because you know today you've come here and you know that you're a sinner before a holy God, you know that you need to ask him, you're sorry, to ask him for forgiveness. Today you can do that. Today you can become a new creation because Christ has already paid for it on the cross.
[00:32:09] Believe in Jesus, one who is fully God and fully man, died on the cross to take the punishment for your sins, to forgive you personally. And he rose again three days later, believing that will make you right with God today.
[00:32:25] So jump in if there's nothing holding you back. This offer is all the time for everyone, anywhere, even now, if that's your choice today to follow him as your Lord and Savior, please let somebody know I'll be down here afterwards. Would love to talk to you more about that and actually help you take a next step into being part of the family of God.
[00:32:48] Amen. Church let's pray.
[00:32:53] Lord, as we finish our sermon series in Galatians, we thank you for the Apostle Paul's stance for truth and as an example that he set, as he boasted in the true Gospel. I pray that our lives today will reflect the new creation people that we are in Christ.
[00:33:13] Give us discernment, the discernment we need to follow you and your message of the true Gospel, the cross centered gospel, as we live for you every day.
[00:33:23] Amen.
