Transformed Series

Transformed

Galatians 1:11-24

May 13, 2007

Galatians 1:11-12 (HCSB)

Now I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel preached by me is not based on a human point of view. For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by revelation from Jesus Christ.

Divine Inspiration

 Paul’s message was not man made

 Not the product of intellectual pursuit

 Not the product of vivid imagination

 The inspired Word

 Written from the inspiration of God

 2 Timothy 3:16

2 Timothy 3:16 (HCSB)

All scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness.

Divine Inspiration

 Paul’s message was not man made

 Not the product of intellectual pursuit

 Not the product of vivid imagination

 The inspired Word

 Written from the inspiration of God

 2 Timothy 3:16

 Transcribed as given

 Exodus 24:4a

Exodus 24:4a (HCSB)

And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord…

Galatians 1:13-14 (HCSB)

For you have heard about my former way of life in Judaism: I persecuted God’s church to an extreme degree and tried to destroy it; and I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.

Radically Changed

 Paul had persecuted the church

 The message of Christ threatened his ideology

 Acts 7:58

 Acts 8:3

Acts 7:58 (HCSB)

They threw him out of the city and began to stone him. And the witnesses laid their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Acts 8:3 (HCSB)

Saul, however, was ravaging the church, and he would enter house after house, drag off men and women, and put them in prison.

Radically Changed

 Paul had persecuted the church

 The message of Christ threatened his ideology

 Acts 7:58

 Acts 8:3

 Paul had been even more zealous than those who were currently attacking him

Galatians 1:15-17 (HCSB)

But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called me by His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me, so that I could preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately go up to Jerusalem with those who had become apostles before me; instead I went to Arabia and came back to Damascus

Set Apart

 Paul had been chosen by God

 According to His eternal plan

 Jeremiah 1:5

 Psalm 139:16

Jeremiah 1:5 (HCSB)

I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

Psalm 139:16 (HCSB)

Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began.

Galatians 1:18-22 (HCSB)

Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to get to know Cephas, and I stayed with him 15 days. But I didn’t see any of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. Now in what I write to you, I’m not lying. God is my witness.

Afterwards, I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia. I remained personally unknown to the Judean churches in Christ.

Being Led

 Paul had not received direction from men

 God directed his footsteps

 His journey had been God directed

Galatians 1:23-24 (HCSB)

They simply kept hearing: “He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they glorified God because of me.

The Power of Changed Lives

 Paul had been known as a persecutor

 Feared by other Christians

 Acts 9:26

Acts 9:26 (HCSB)

When he arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to associate with the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, since they did not believe he was a disciple.

The Power of Changed Lives

 Paul had been known as a persecutor

 Feared by other Christians

 Acts 9:26

 Not the same man

 Paul was totally transformed

 People were drawn to God because of the radical change in Paul’s life.

How About Your Transformation?

**power point available on request