Sermon Central
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Who Do You Please Series
Contributed by James Mccullen on May 12, 2005 (message contributor)
Summary: We must please God, and Paul gives us such an example. It is my desire to preach the Bible during the entire sermon. Please note all points and sub-points are tied to the scripture. This sermon is expository in style, you will have to open, and keep o
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WHO DO YOU PLEASE
Galatians 1:10-17 NASB
10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.
11 For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 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 manner 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 countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. 15 But when 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, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with 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.
Introduction
Have you stopped to ask yourself who am I pleasing? There are times in life when it is good to please others. There are times in life when it is good to please yourself. The time is always right to please God. Hen what about saying I am going to please myself by allowing God to please me. If we accept the plan God has for our life we will allow God to please us.
Paul talks about these matters in these verses.
1. You Can Seek To . . Please God. v 10-12
10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.
11 For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
The word translated please.
Strongs # 700 aresko (ar-es’-ko); probably from 142 (through the idea of exciting emotion); to be agreeable (or by implication, to seek to be so):
142 airo (ah’-ee-ro); a primary root; to lift up; by implication, to take up or away; figuratively, to raise (the voice), keep in suspense (the mind), specially, to sail away (i.e. weigh anchor); by Hebraism [compare 5375] to expiate sin: KJV-- away with, bear (up), carry, put away, remove, take (away, up).
A. Please God By being a . . Bond-Servant. v 10 b
If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.
B. Please God By being a . . Biblical Servant. v 11-12
11 For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
ILLUSTRATION Topic: Pleasure Subtopic: Worldly Index: 3200-3201 Date: 6/1987.15
The author Oscar Wilde was one who paid scant attention to his spiritual life. William Barclay quotes Wilde’s confession:
The gods have given me almost everything. But I let myself be lured into long spells of senseless and sensual ease.... Tired of being on the heights, I deliberately went to the depths in search for new sensation. What the paradox was to me in the sphere of thought, perversity became to me in the sphere of passion. I grew careless of the lives of others. I took pleasure where it pleased me, and passed on. I forgot that every little action of the common day makes or unmakes character, and that therefore what one has done in the secret chamber, one has some day to cry aloud from the house- top. I ceased to be lord over myself. I was no longer the captain of my soul, and did not know it.
I allowed pleasure to dominate me. I ended in horrible disgrace.
APPLICATION WHO DO YOU PLEASE
1. You Can Seek To . . Please God.
2. You Can Seek To . . Please Some Men. v 13-14
13 For you have heard of my former manner 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 countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions.
