a. PRAYER
b. Introduction
a. Today’s message begins a three part series of studies as we take a look at the life and times of the Apostle Paul. We have just finished up the Book of Acts, so some of what we will be covering may be old hat to you.
b. But I encourage you to take a fresh look at the life Paul lived, and I believe that we can learn much from this man who gave up everything for the pursuit of Christ.
c. In his letter to the Philippians, chapter 3, Paul talks about his Jewish heritage, his pedigree if you will, and his time as a Pharisee, and he has this to say about it in verse 7 - 7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.
d. Why did Paul count these things as loss for Christ? I want to hold that question for the end of today’s message, and I want each one of us to think about it as we finish up Galatians chapter 1.
c. Background
a. The gospel changed Paul’s life, very literally. This was a man that was a walking billboard for the gospel. Look at verse 23 that we will study today - He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy
b. Over the next three messages, we will look at grace as it is played out in Paul’s life. Grace as it is played out in relation to the gospel of Christ.
c. If you remember from last week, the book of Galatians breaks down into three parts, chapters1 and 2 deal with grace and the gospel, 3 and 4, grace and the law, and 5 and 6, grace and the life we live.
d. Grace is the central theme in the letter to the Galatians, and if Paul were here to speak for himself, I would venture to say that grace was the central theme in his life as well.
e. The word gospel means simply “good news”. Grace means unmerited favor, a free gift, or getting something that you don’t deserve. Guys, without grace, the gospel ceases to be good, and it is no longer the gospel at that point, it is simply another system that man has devised to try and get to God.
f. You see, man has been trying to get to God ever since the fall. Man was separated from God at the fall, but man was intelligent, he could invent things. Turn with me if you would to Genesis chapter 11.
g. One day all these guys got together, and decided to build a tower to reach God. Let’s pick up the story in verse 1 - 1 Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. 3 Then they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4 And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth."
h. You probably know the rest of the story. God comes down and scatters them all over the earth, confusing their languages. The problem was that they didn’t learn from this experience. They didn’t try and build a tower to reach God anymore, but they came up with other systems to try and reach Him.
i. Man has tried and tried to reach God down through the ages. He has built system after system, and failed time and time again. The system of bricks and mortar didn’t work for those on the plains of Shinar.
j. The Hindus have a system of eight steps to spiritual enlightenment. The Mormons have a system where you have to do so much good works, so do the JW’s, a “quota” if you will.
k. Still others don’t have such a defined system as this. I hear people often saying that they just hope that their good works outweigh their bad ones when they die, so that they can go to heaven.
l. The problem with this line of thinking is that there is no system of man’s devising that will get us one inch closer to God. Our good deeds will never outweigh our bad ones, because the Bible tells us that even our most righteous deeds are like filthy rags in the sight of the Lord.
m. You see, God is an all-consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29), and our deeds in the flesh are either filthy rags, wood, hay, or stubble. These will all be burned up. The only things that remain are the things of God.
n. We are told in Acts chapter 4, verse 12 that it is only by the name of Jesus that we can be saved. Only if we call on Him, and have Him come to rule and reign in our lives will we ever do anything that will withstand the fire.
o. Truly, the life of faith in Christ is a life of grace. God’s grace changes your outlook. God’s grace takes care of you and comforts you when the storms come, and it is God’s grace that will bring us to Him.
p. Paul was a guy that saw God’s grace at work in his life every step of the way. Let’s open up our Bibles to Galatians chapter 1, starting at verse 11. If you need a Bible, just raise your hand. Galatians it is just before the Book of Ephesians -
d. Study
a. Intro
i. Galatians, chapter 1, verse 11 -
ii. 11 But I make known to you, 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 it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. 14 And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, 16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. 18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days. 19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. 20 (Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.) 21 Afterward I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. 23 But they were hearing only, "He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy." 24 And they glorified God in me.
iii. I’ve broken down today’s message into five parts, so that we can rightly divide God’s Word, so that we can apply His eternal truths to our lives.
iv. Some people think that the Bible is just an old storybook, and that it has no relevance to their modern lives. I would tend to disagree. Solomon said in Ecclesiastes chapter 1, verse 9, That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun.
v. That’s how we can gain insight by looking at the lives of people in the Bible, because they faced similar situations to the things we are facing today.
vi. Today, we will look at Teaching from God, the traditions of men, a three year absence, touching base, and taking the gospel, as we finish out Galatians chapter 1.
vii. Let’s look at verse 11.
b. Teaching from God (Galatians 1:11 – 12)
i. 11 But I make known to you, 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 it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.
ii. You see, the Judaizers that came to Galatia after Paul were trying to discredit him. They attacked his authority and they attacked his message.
iii. These guys were Jews that had been taught presumably by John, Peter, James, and the rest of the apostles there in Jerusalem. They knew that Paul had been a Pharisee, and that he had persecuted the church.
iv. They didn’t know where Paul got the message that he was going around teaching, so they assumed that he made it up. They had been under the teaching of Peter, James, and John! I can see it now; they ask the folks there in Galatia, “So, where did Paul get his training???” These guys knew it all, right?
v. Wrong. If these guys had gotten their way, Christianity would not have been the dynamic movement of the gospel that swept across the Roman Empire, it would have been just another sect of Judaism, confined to just a few people.
vi. The reason why Christianity exploded across the known world was because it was everything that the systems that man had built to get to God wasn’t. There weren’t rules and regulations. You didn’t have to measure up to a standard. You didn’t have to go through bizarre rituals.
vii. No, what sets Christianity apart from all the other religious systems is that it isn’t a religion, it’s a relationship. A relationship marked by grace.
viii. When Paul came into Galatia, with a message of grace, that was good news. That was gospel. The people of Galatia saw the love that Paul had for them, and the miracles that God performed through him, and they believed.
ix. I have to believe that when these guys came in though, teaching this doctrine of having to get circumcised, and following all of the Jewish dietary laws and such, that it turned people off, look up at verse 7, it says that they were troubled.
x. I think if I was a Galatian, I would be troubled too. They must have thought that Paul had pulled a bait-and-switch on them. You know what a bait and switch is right?
xi. You see this fabulous car advertised in the paper, and you run down to the dealership to buy it, only to find out that they sold it last week, but they have this other one over here with 8-way electric seats and a CD player, for 5,000 dollars more. Beloved, that’s a bait and switch.
xii. There was a switch going on, but Paul didn’t bait them. Paul was not instructed in the gospel by the apostles at Jerusalem. Paul had gotten his message, God’s revelation directly from God, and I think that we can learn a lot from that.
xiii. As believers, God will continue to reveal his truth to us. I’m not saying that we can sit down with a notebook and start writing scripture, by any means – God’s Word is complete.
xiv. But, we can learn from God by reading His Word, and the Holy Spirit will speak His truth into our lives concerning certain situations.
xv. I think that in the Body of Christ today, we put too much stock in what other noted scholars say about this subject or that subject, and we get bogged down into commentaries, study tapes, and Christian books on how to fix this or that in our lives without first going to God. We need to ask Him to reveal His truth to us through His Word.
xvi. Turn over to John chapter 14, verse 26 - 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
xvii. I am stepping on my own toes just as hard as y’alls when I say this. I have been guilty of saying, “I wonder what so-an-so says about this?” How about what God says about it? How about what the Holy Spirit says? Ouch!
xviii. Another way that God reveals himself to us is through the Gifts of the Spirit – prophecy, a word of wisdom, a word of knowledge, exhortation, or a message in tongues.
xix. God reveals Himself to us through these as well. Not in a big show, not in something contrived, but in simplicity, in order. When you see God ministering in the Gifts, it is a blessing, and you know that it’s from the Giver of the Gifts.
xx. So I want to encourage each one of us to take time, plan out time in your busy schedules, to sit down and meditate over God’s Word, and then just be still, and let Him speak to your hearts.
xxi. So, they attacked Paul by questioning where Paul had gotten his teaching from. That was simple enough – He got his teaching from God. They also attacked Paul’s witness by dredging up Paul’s past, the skeletons in his closet. Look at verse 13 -
c. The Traditions of Men (Galatians 1:13 – 14 )
i. 13 For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. 14 And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
ii. The Judaizers came into Galatia, and they tried to tear down the witness of Paul. They said something like this – “How can you Galatians listen to this man?”
iii. He persecuted the church! He drug mothers away from their children in chains. He had people tortured until they would blaspheme and say that Jesus wasn’t God. This man even stood by and watched the robes of the people that stoned Stephen to death.
iv. He was a member of the Sanhedrin, and a Pharisee. You know, these were the same guys that had Jesus crucified! How can you listen to teaching from this guy?
v. The problem was that we are looking at two different people. The first person, Saul of Tarsus, was a zealous and very powerful Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin there in Jerusalem. As he says himself in Philippians 3:5 he was a Hebrew of Hebrews.
vi. He knew the law backwards and forwards. His teacher in Judaism, the noted rabbi Gamaliel, said of Saul that he could not satisfy his hunger and thirst for knowledge with books. Saul consumed the traditional writings of Judaism, he consumed the law, and this hardened man that persecuted the church to death was the result.
vii. We in the church can learn from this too. There are denominations that go around teaching that if you wear your hair long, if you don’t wear makeup, if you wear long sleeves, if you don’t watch TV, if you don’t dance, if you give so much to the church… should I go on, or do we get the point? They teach that if you do all of these things that they say you should do, then you are leading a Godly life.
viii. Guys, that’s legalism. That’s what law brings – legalism. We read in Galatians chapter three that the law does not bring life. The law brings death. That’s what you feel like under something like that, like you’re dead! Or, like you want to die!
ix. There’s no joy there, there’s no passion there, and at that point your relationship with God is totally out of whack, because you just walk around in fear of breaking His laws all the time. You think that God is this big cosmic killjoy waiting to zap you when you step out of line. Ever been there? I have! You know what’s really sad about that kind of life? It’s that you become ineffective as a witness.
x. I wouldn’t want to join up to something like that! There’s no life there, there’s no freshness there. We are not about that kind of stuff at all at Calvary.
xi. You can wear what you want to church. You can come in shorts. You can have long hair, short hair, or no hair. You can have an earring, or several! You can have a tattoo.
xii. Read the stories of a good number of Calvary pastors. They were hippies that were strung out on dope that came to Jesus. Look at my pastor; he was the lead guitar player for a band that became Motley Crue before it became Motley Crue when he got saved.
xiii. You know, it doesn’t matter what you look like on the outside. That’s between you and God. If God puts it on your heart not to do something, or if you read in the Bible not to do something, don’t do it! What matters is your heart. Whether you’ve surrendered your life to Him. At Calvary we let God do the cleaning up, not the dress code.
xiv. I have seen so many people get bogged down on the Old Testament rules and regulations. I know people that are Christians that follow the Jewish dietary laws. They don’t eat pork, etc., etc.
xv. You know what; we are free from the law! It tells us in Romans 8:2. It also says in John 8:36 that he who the Son sets free is free indeed! If you are a Christian this morning, you are free indeed.
xvi. Free to walk in the grace that God has shown to us. You know, Saul was set free. He was set free from all of his sin and shame, to walk in grace, and he became the second person, the man that the Galatians knew as Paul. Look down at verse 15 -
d. A Three Year Absence (Galatians 1: 15 - 17 )
i. 15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace,
ii. Paul was set free to live the life that God had envisioned for him. Paul was sidetracked for a while, but in the fullness of time, God called him to the apostolic ministry of evangelism and church planting that God called him to.
iii. Guys what changed this zealous fanatic Jew whose one goal in life was to wreck the church into a missionary to the gentiles was grace, noting more, nothing less. Look up in verse 14. Paul says that he was more exceedingly zealous than his contemporaries. Not just exceedingly, more exceedingly.
iv. It was God that called Paul, and had this in mind for Paul since he was in his mother’s womb. Here again, like last week, Paul talks about God knowing all things, from the end to the beginning.
v. Another re-curing theme in the Book of Galatians, besides grace is this balance that we see between predestination of God, and free will of man. Let’s move on to verse 16. It says -
vi. 16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles,
vii. The purpose of God’s saving Paul is revealed to us here in verse 16. It was not because Paul was such a zealous and studious Jew. It was not because he was such a good guy.
viii. It was simply because of God’s infinite grace, and because God wanted the gospel spread to the gentiles, and here was the man that God chose to do it.
ix. Really, God saves each one of us for a purpose. God did not call us to be spiritual couch potatoes. He didn’t call us to form a holy little exclusive club here in College Station.
x. Remember the story of Esther in the Bible? Esther was a beautiful Jewish girl, who was chosen to be queen of Persia. Her uncle Mordecai worked for the king as a gatekeeper.
xi. But, the king’s top advisor, Haman hated Mordecai, and all of the Jews, and through deception, he got the king to sign a decree stating that the enemies of the Jews could extract their vengeance on a certain day.
xii. All of the Jews in Persia went into prayer and fasting. Mordecai came to his niece, Esther, and asked her to plead the case of the Jews before the king.
xiii. But, the punishment for appearing before the king without being invited carried the death penalty. So, Esther literally took her life in her hands by appearing before the king.
xiv. She must have struggled with the decision. I know I would have. But, Mordecai encouraged her with these words, which we read in Esther chapter 4, verse 14 - Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"
xv. The reason that God had placed Esther in that situation was to go to the king and save the Jews, which is exactly what happened. I think we are guilty many times of forgetting that God saved us, so that we can witness to others. We were born again into God’s kingdom for such a time as this.
xvi. So, what happens when Paul gets saved, and God tells him right there, on the road to Damascus that e is going to be God’s chosen messenger to take the gospel to the gentile nations? Let’s read on, Paul says -
xvii. I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
xviii. He didn’t run to Jerusalem to ask the church what they thought about it. If he even was able to get a hold of these guys, who were probably in hiding, because of what Paul was doing, they probably would have dismissed Paul as being crazy.
xix. Remember now, at this time, Peter hadn’t gotten his vision of the animals coming down on the sheet from God there on the rooftop in Joppa, in Acts chapter 9.
xx. So, the apostles were sharing the gospel only with other Jews, and they didn’t understand yet that the gospel was for the gentiles too.
xxi. He didn’t sign up for classes at the Jerusalem Christian College. He went out to the desert, to Arabia, and spent three years there. I think that in many cases, churches look nowadays at a piece of paper that someone gets from a seminary, as some kind of pre-requisite that you have to have in order to preach and teach the gospel. This is true in most of your mainline denominations.
xxii. I can’t seem to find that model anywhere in scripture, and I heard all kinds of excuses as to why they want people to go to seminary. When I was in a mainline denomination, I was weird because I was a Youth Pastor with no plans of seminary. I knew God called me, and equipped me, so I just did it.
xxiii. There was no way I could have ever been a senior pastor in that denomination though. You had to at least have a B.A. from Bible College to pastor the tiny churches. To get a bigger flock, most likely, you needed a Master’s Degree. If you wanted a large congregation though, you had to have a Doctorate. A Doctorate of Divinity, D.D.
xxiv. So, you see, Paul had a D.D. degree too, Doctorate of the Desert. So did Moses, Joseph, John the Baptist, and so did many others throughout the Bible.
xxv. God doesn’t care about the approval of man. God doesn’t care about what you learned from this scholar or that scholar because it really doesn’t matter to Him.
xxvi. The Bible tells us in 1st Samuel chapter 16, verse 7 that man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. I knew in my heart that God called me to be a pastor.
xxvii. I didn’t let degrees stop me, even though I was counseled many times to stop what I was doing and go pursue a seminary degree somewhere. I let God handle all of that, and that is exactly what He has done in my life. He handled it, and set all these things into motion that I never knew at that point would work out.
xxviii. Don’t misunderstand me though; I am not against seminaries if that is what God has called you to do. But I think that too many people put a whole lot of stock in the degrees of men, when they should put stock in God, and the work He is doing.
xxix. After three years, Paul returned to Damascus. Why did he return to Damascus? When he left, he had to be lowered over the wall in a basket.
xxx. Well, I think that Paul went to Damascus to thank Ananias. Remember Ananias? When Paul was led into Damascus blind, Ananias was out working that day, and God told him to go to Straight Street and pray for Paul.
xxxi. Ananias was faithful to what God told him to do; he went and prayed for Paul, encouraging him. The scales fell from Paul’s eyes, and he could see again.
xxxii. So, I think Paul went to thank Ananias for his faithfulness. Ananias put his life on the line by going to Paul, seeing as how Paul was in Damascus to destroy the church.
e. Touching Base (Galatians 1:18 – 20 )
i. 18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days.
ii. After his three years in Arabia and Damascus, and finally goes up to Jerusalem to see Peter. He remained with Peter for fifteen days. The point here is that Paul did not spend enough time with Peter to have learned the gospel from him.
iii. Three is a number in the Bible that is associated with perfection. God is God the Father, God the Son, Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit. Jesus was in the grave three days before He arose from the dead.
iv. So, the three years was the time that it took for God to prepare Paul for the ministry that he was called to. But, in the fullness of time, he came not to learn from Peter, but I believe that Paul came to Jerusalem to let the church know what he was about to do. I don’t think he could have persuaded him, but I think he wanted to let them know nonetheless.
v. 19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. 20 (Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.)
vi. While Paul was there in Jerusalem that first time, he was rather coldly welcomed into the fellowship. The only other apostle that he met while he was there was James.
vii. This wasn’t the James who was the brother of John, and one of the original disciples. This was James who was the half-brother of Jesus, and we are told here in verse 19.
viii. Paul’s reception there in Jerusalem can be attributed to first, his former conduct before his conversion, but I think second, it was because he told them what he was about to do.
ix. Jews didn’t like gentiles. They hated them, and the idea of eating with a gentile, let alone sharing the gospel with them was a foreign concept, even to the men that walked with Jesus.
x. Paul had no reason to lie to the Galatians about his story, and he states that in verse 20. He wasn’t trying to discredit the church there in Jerusalem. They were trying to discredit him, and now Paul was simply telling the truth.
xi. There is a lesson for us to learn here. Many times, people get saved, and plug into a church, and start hanging out together, and tend to isolate themselves.
xii. They isolate themselves from non-believers, because often times cultivating relationships with non-believers is hard when you are a Christian. You don’t have a lot in common with people that aren’t believers, and this makes things difficult.
xiii. We can’t do that, guys. We need to try to seek out non-believers, make friends with them, and love them, because as someone once said, it may be the only Bible that they ever see is your life.
xiv. I think it goes a little deeper than that though. As Christians, we tend to flock together, because that’s what sheep do. You tend to hang out and fellowship with other people that are in our flock.
xv. I’ve noticed a real trend of folks lately that tend to not fellowship with other Christians if they are not in their same particular denomination or flavor of church. That really disturbs me, too because all we do when we act like that is to weaken the body of Christ. We’re dividing in stead of standing together.
xvi. If they’re not in a cult, or if they’re not in a group involved in heresy, like denying the trinity, then it’s okay to hang out with them. In fact, I encourage you guys to hang out with other Christians and not cut yourself off.
xvii. You know, God speaks to different people in different ways. He’s a big God right? I don’t personally, but some people like hymns and organs. Some people like getting real excited at church, and working themselves up. Some people like dressing up, others like dressing down.
xviii. Jesus told His disciples in John chapter 13, verses 34 and 35 simply this - 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
xix. Let us in the church love one another. Paul got a pretty cool response from the church there, and he moves on, and we will close with this last passage today. Verse 21 says -
f. Taking the Gospel (Galatians 1:21 – 24 )
i. 21 Afterward I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
ii. After Paul left Jerusalem, he went to Syria and Cilicia. This was the area that he was from. Tarsus was in the Roman province of Cilicia. So, here’s the picture - he leaves one area of cool reception for another.
iii. Sometimes, one of the hardest things that we can do as believers is to share the gospel with our families. I know that this is difficult for me to do with my older sister, and also with my parents.
iv. Jesus said in Mark 6:4 - "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house." But that’s what Paul did; he shared the gospel with the people who knew him best. He continues in 22 -
v. 22 And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. 23 But they were hearing only, "He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy." 24 And they glorified God in me.
vi. After getting a cool reception in Jerusalem, apparently the churches started to warm up to Paul, and they glorified God for the work of grace that God had done in his life.
vii. Paul’s life was a picture of God’s grace, and even those who didn’t know him could see that. Paul would spend some twelve years laboring and witnessing for Christ in virtual anonymity to the rest of the church in Judea, as he spent this time in Tarsus of Cilicia.
viii. So, he had one period of three years in the desert, and another period of twelve years in Cilicia. God was preparing Paul for the work to come. This was the lull before the journeys and trials began.
ix. I want to encourage each one of us to not despise the desert times in our life. Just because things aren’t buzzing around you, it doesn’t mean that God’s grace is not at work in your life, in fact, God’s grace may be working overtime to prepare you for when you come out of that desert.
x. Now, I know today’s message was mainly directed to those of us who are already believers, but if you’re not a believer this morning, if you haven’t made a decision for Christ in your life, I want you to know that God’s grace is extending to you this morning, all you have to do is call on Him. We’re going to give you that opportunity in a minute.
g. Conclusion.
i. A story is told from Scotland that tells of a mother’s dramatic rescue of her child. Workmen were blasting rock in a quarry. One day after they had attached the fuse and retreated to a safe place and gave the alarm they saw a three year old little boy wandering across the open space where danger threatened. Every passing second meant death was closing in on the child.
ii. The workmen called to the little boy and waved their arms, but he only looked on their strange antics with amusement. No man dared run forward knowing the explosion was only seconds away. The child most certainly would have been killed, had not his mother appeared at this moment of crisis.
iii. Taking in the situation at a glance she did what her mother’s heart dictated. She did not run toward her son or yell to frighten him. Instead, she knelt down, opened wide her arms and smiled for him to come. Instantly the child ran towards her. Shortly later the area shook with the force of the explosion, yet the child was safe in his mother’s arms.
iv. 13 Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. 15 Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it." 16 And He took them up in His arms, put His hands on them, and blessed them.
v. Like the mother of the three-year old boy, Jesus is waiting with open arms for you this morning.
h. Let’s Pray.
