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
