How the Persecutor Turned Into a Preacher [Part 2]

Pastor, author and Bible teacher Alan Wright a theme that we see over and over through Galatians, they were essentially saying yes you are a Christian because you accept Jesus, but it's also important that you keep the old covenant ritual of circumcision to be fully accepted by God to be fully accepted, you must add something to the gospel. You must add something to what Jesus has done and that's the issue that is a statement that's faster Alan Wright welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new life and deliberate excited for you to hear the teaching today.

In the series Galatians is presented at renewal the church in North Carolina able to stay with us throughout the entire program I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month made to Alan Wright Ministries so as you listen to today's message go deeper as we send you today special offer. Contact us Pastor Alan.org@pastor.org or call 877-544-4860 877-544-4860. More on this later in the program. Now let's get started with today's teaching here is Alan Wright this is this is understandable to us in this and this and this world of tension that we live in.

If there were if there were Al Qaeda's operatives, spies that were in the midst of our Pentagon we would want to know. It wouldn't way. People who are acting like they are on your side. But they're not what Paul is saying is I is urgency for the Galatian church is an urgency for the early church to recognize the faults brothers is speaking of a spiritual dynamic that is taking place in one of these faults brothers were essentially saying was theme that will see over and over through Galatians, they were essentially saying that yes you are a Christian because you accept Jesus, but it's also important that you keep the old covenant ritual of circumcision to be fully accepted by God to be fully accepted, you must add something to the cost we must add something to what Jesus has done and that's the issue that is at stake here so this is what Paul has gone to address that he is very very forthright about these these spies you must realize that Paul is under an enormous pressure. Most of the persecution.

At this point in his ministry could've lifted if you would just compromised on this point, and after all is will talk about later how big a point. Could it be, is circumcision really is and what's the big deal if you would've just agreed to add to his gospel proclamation to the Gentiles. You should also be circumcised as a sign of your inclusion like they were in the old covenant if you just add that in all of this persecution against him would've lifted. Can you imagine the pressure you know what that feels like when somebody just hammering you all the time people around you just come at you just just just just pecking away at you, just over and over and over want to do this want to do this if you just do this would be happy if you just do this would be happy just enormous pressure I want you to see how important this was to Paul, he would just absolutely refused to cave the end of this pressure was resolute about this and he called them what they were.

He said these are spies in our ranks. I say this to took to paint a picture for you of a spiritual battle that is going on is going on every day Christians is going on a battle for your thinking a battle that is intended to dilute the gospel of its power, a battle that is meant to bring division in the body of Christ and such must be identified. I day one of the things that I really admire about the leadership of this church of our first payment of this church. Years ago, and I come from a place in which there was the denomination I was in before this there was there was so much emphasis on love, but there was never any emphasis on discipline you know love disciplines and here's one of the things it's really important about grace. If we believe that grace is important. Like Paul, Paul is willing to fight for grace to understand and call it what it what it is when there's an enemy of grace always like to fight. The shortage of discipline be you know it's like parenting, I think purchase was like this to you know we almost never have disciplinary matters coming before the session is pretty rare, but you know it's like once there is what's in a family and is well ordered and there's peace and there's tranquility. You don't have to discipline all the time is like parenting well, you know, if you haven't to discipline your children all the time all the time all the time.

Some is not right. Instead, there's a ordering authority that takes place in a healthy family and will have to do this very often, but I remember years ago was a man who came in this church that nobody knew, keep some of the details sort of vague but he purported to have some physical ailments. He reported himself to be in financial need and he also comported himself to have a certain standing in society. I met him up because it was a Sunday night and I was I was praying for people at the end of a Sunday I start I was just praying for people is a lot of people in this man came up to receive prayer and I realized pretty quickly is asked how I could pray form that EP wanted something much more than me to pray for him and he began instead to talk engage in conversation and what he wanted was for me to come over to his house that we can meet with him and I just I don't know I just had a moment of discernment.

I think that once both go meet this man's house plus does what in the time to be set up appointments with me. I was praying with people and also once in my for once in my people pleasing lifers are to ever admit that I can't do something this week off. I realize I had a really full schedule and I just said to him as blind as I could. I said I said well I'll be I want to pray with you tonight is that I don't know if I can come and visit you this week. I said but you know it might be one of our associates could come and make a visit with you and when I said that to him.

He cost me. He cost me in the prayer line and gotten out.

You don't have to have the spiritual gift of discernment to realize something wrong when you're praying for people in the man's cussing in the prayer line.

Well I know I wouldn't have anything to do with that man. But you know what he did. He spent the next week's coming in. And amazingly cleverly aligning himself with people in our church. I couldn't believe there were people in our church are given him money there people in our churches started saying we ought to do more for this man and their people in our church started coming insane is it true what he's been saying about the leaders.

It was go around telling lies about the leaders a maddening no archers not in part of our church because the senior pastor in the prayer line and people are falling for it and we went to the man we try to correct the man and a man wouldn't be corrected is a you know we do with that man. We sent some elders to speak to him is that you know what you can't come to this church and he mumbled some belt threatens him, no lawsuit or whatever and listen. One thing about your elders and they afraid of anybody. I love that and you know what the unity of the church in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Is that important in so partly what Paul's doing is yours and you be sure and recognize the spa's ballot to add to this as soon as I tell that story. So I will go out thinker buys a spot not advise us by most people are spies. I was reading Mark Driscoll's message that he I don't know when he preached on this tags oblations to Mark Driscoll as pastor at Mars Hill and very well-known and very fast growing multisite church. He is he is that he is ease of flame with the gospel in the very open and honest. I like the fact that he preaches one hour and has one of the fastest growing multisite churches make a mental note of that everybody. But here's what he told the story of his sermon oblations to thought you'd get a kick out of it to because this is what can happen if you thinker buys a spy is that I had a guy come in this week again don't know what Yuri's breach in this but he said he's a pastor from out-of-state Goodpaster good got a reading from his sermon transcript.

Right now he's got a charge of 4000 as pastor came to visit Mark Driscoll got a charge of 4000 people. I learned some things just visiting with them. He was very helpful. He loves the Lord and we were sitting there talking and he asked me. He says what is your position on smoking.

I said, Driscoll said. I said do you want my personal opinion or do you want the Bible and the pastor said well what your personal opinion, Mark Driscoll said well I'm asthmatic I don't like cigarettes or cats. It was that I don't like to smoke cats and I don't like To smoke I don't like cigarettes or captain any combination of form. I don't. He said well gave that your opinion was in the Bible.

Driscoll answered In the Bible, and Neither Are Cigarettes so I Can't Outlaw Either of Them, Though I Would like to See Continued I Might Get Rid of Cigarettes Cats and Country-Western Music.

If I Had Three Wishes.

That's What I Do No More Cats No More Cigarettes, No More Country-Western Music. Okay That's What I Would Ask for but You Know What It's Not in the Bible so Do I Have the Right to Make Rules about Things That Are in the Bible. I Don't Now, I'd like to I'd like to Be God and Set Myself on the Throne and Make Judgments about Everyone Else, Especially Country-Western Chain-Smoking Cat Owners Talent Right Will Have More Teaching Moment from Today's Important Series Mountain for 99 Days in a Row. Someone Tells You, I Love You I'll Never Forsake You.

When You Feel Cherished. The What Would Happen If I'm Hundred Today That Same Person. Sad That Sugar Get Enough for Me to Measure up. I Don't Think I Love You Anymore. When That One Day Contaminate the Meaning of the Other 99 Days When 1% of Conditional Love Poison. The Other 99% Will Just 1% of Lies Enough to Spoil Grace Bit of Luck in Introducing Unlimited Capacity for Fear That If I Don't Measure up. When Might Be Rejected. When the Judaizers Infiltrated the Galatian Church, the Apostle Policy Outraged and Read a Letter That Describes the Essence of the Gospel of Grace and Why It Must Not Be Mixed with Any Form of Alan Reitz 12 Message Ideas Series Trumpets the Power of the Gospel in Order to Set You Free Empower You with Pure Grace. It's Called Galatians and Asked the Gospel Discover the Purity and Power the Grace of God. When You Make Your Gift to Alan Wright Ministries Today Will Send You Pastor's Message Is an Attractive CD Album with Your Digital Download As Our Way of Saying Thanks for Your Partnership. Call Us at 877-544-4860 877-544-4861 Come to Our Website Pastor out and Got Work.

Today's Teaching Now Continues Here Once Again Is Alan Writing, but I May Visit Jesus like That I Don't Have That Kind of Authority or Right so I Said Well Here's the Deal Is Not Assented to an Issue of Contents. He Said Well What about the Blue Say That Your Body Is the Temple of the Holy Spirit and You Got to Good Care Of the Temple and I Said Well That's a Good Argument. Usually, Those People Also Drink A Lot Of Caffeine Eat Twinkies and Half Their Food Comes Out Of a Clown That Comes through the Window of Their Car They Said so There Are Other Issues with the Temple of the Holy Spirit.

So They're Going to Have To Be Consistent. They Gotta Take the Whole Thing and Asked the Finally Driscoll Said Why Do You Ask in a Man Said Well Because I Will Have a Cigarette. Is That Okay You Need to Know the Spies Are but Not by This. Why Was This Issue of Circumcision so Important I Want to See This Is How These Clever and This Is How This Can Emerge. This Was the Sign of the Old Covenant Was Given to Abraham. It Was a Sign of Inclusion in the Cup so Circumcision Was Something That God Had at One Point Commanded His People to Do Normally, the Tempter Will Seek to Snare You by Referencing Something God Has Said, but Twisting It in a Wrong Direction and What Happened in the Inter-Test the Middle. In This Period of the Second Century before Christ. There Had Been an Elevation amongst the Jews of the Importance of Circumcision Because of the Persecution against Them in the Hellenistic Roman. Circumcision Became More Prominent Because They the Jewish People Were in a Political Environment That Was Very Hostile and According to Maccabean Literature, the Reign of Terror Was Unleashed by Any August 4 in 175 to 163 BC Included, According to the Maccabean Literature Included a Prohibition of Circumcision and a Policy Which Babies Had Been Circumcised Were Put to Death along with the Mothers Good, Submitted Them to the Sign of the Covenant. So in Reaction to Such a Brutal Assault on Their Jewish Identity, If Anything, the, the Sign of Circumstance of Suit. Circumcision Was Elevated to Even a Higher Stature to Say Essentially We Been Terrorized about This and so We Must Absolutely Hold Firm That We Will Not Fail to Keep the Sign of the Covenant so You Can Imagine That by the Time That Paul's Preaching This Gospel amongst Jewish People Who Have Memories in Recent Centuries of Babies Being Even Put to Death Because They Been Circumcised How It Would Seem to Them. God Had Once Commanded This. It Must Be Important, How Quickly They Could Develop Thinking That This Must Still Be a Central Issue for Us As Christians. And Paul Is Is Addressing This Right at That Point. This Is How Tricky It Really Is Another Words, Paul Is Not Saying That It Is Circumcision Per Se That Matters Is Not a Sin to Be Circumcised Is Not a Sin to Not Be Circumcised What He's Saying Instead Is That the Pressure Is Being Exerted by These Spies to Add Something to the Gospel That He Says We Must Not Give into Not One in Which Is Also Much at Stake When the Purity of the Gospel Is at Stake. Paul Will Stake His Life Right There Right There Is Interesting That Paul Has Taken Titus on This Journey and What He Says in Our Text Today Is That We We Emerge from This Meeting and Not Even Titus Was Compelled to Be Circumcised That the Other Brothers. They All Said No He Doesn't Have To Have the Old Covenant Rituals Are Those That He Doesn't Have To Know the Gospel Stands As the Gospel Is Otitis Though. He's Greek and Gentile and Uncircumcised.

He Does Not Need to Be Circumcised and so He Claims It Is a Victory That Titus Was Not Circumcised. What's Interesting Is That Paul Had Another Young Man That He Meant toward and Love Very Dearly Named Timothy and Timothy in Acts Chapter 16 Verse One We Won't Turn Their Ability Read These Couple Verses to You. Paul Came Also the Derby and Lysistrata. A Disciple Was There, Named Timothy, the Son of a Jewish Woman Who Was a Believer so Timothy's This Devout Disciple of Jesus and His Jewish Mother Was Also a Follower of Christ. But His Father Was a Greeks Way to Jewish Mother and a Gentile Father. He Was Well Spoken of Timothy Was by the Brothers at Lister and I Coning Paul Wanted Timothy to Accompany Him and He Took Them and Circumcised Him Because of the Jews Who Were in Those Places.

They All Knew That His Father Was a Greek.

You Might Look at the Wait a Minute with Titus Heat. He Fought Tooth and Nail Wooden Luncheon in No You Can't Compel Titus to Be Circumcised Because He Is a Greek, but Here Come Timothy Who He Is, Men Touring in the Faith and Becomes His Dear Friend and His Traveling Companion. Preaching the Gospel Alongside of Him and He Says Timothy. I Think You Ought Be Circumcised Because the Difference Was Timothy Was Going to Go with Paul and and Mixing in with Jewish Circles of People and and Those Jewish Circles and in the Synagogue, It Would Mean Be Allowed to Mix with Them If He Was Considered a Gentile Because of His Greek Father, Then He Wouldn't Be Allowed to Interact with Those Jews and so Paul Is Just Saying It's Expedient, It Makes Sense That in Order for You to Help Me Preach the Gospel to These Jews, You Might As Well Be Circumcised Because It Doesn't Really Matter. Circumcision or No Circumcision Is This Is Just a Cultural Matter Now for You to Be Able to Mix in with Them Makes Me Think What I'm Going to Travel Speak in Somebody Else's Pulpit Because I Been a Pastor for 25 Years and When We Go We Do up a Conference Somewhere or I Preach There and Going There.

Not for a Platform but to Strengthen the Local Church Because You Know Your Pastor, You Just Love Pastors and You Love Churches You Would Ever Want to Do Anything That Would Undermine What the Work of the Lord Is That There and so Always on. Let Them Know I'm Here to Come Alongside of You and Help You This Ministry. So One of the Things That That All Is One of the Ask Is Just a Little Little Thing That I like Ask All Ask the Pastor Asks a Leader There Was a Pastor, Where, When He Preaches on Sunday Morning Because If He Wears a Coat and Tie and It's Kind of Formal Then I Want to Come in and a Coat and Tie.

I Don't Want to Come in and a Hawaiian Shirt and Flip-Flops. What Is His Custom to Preach in a Coat in the Time but If I Said What He Preaches in a Hawaiian Shirt and Flip-Flops. Then I'll Probably Go Man in a Hawaiian Shirt and Flip-Flops. Why Because Do I Need to Have on a Coat and a Tie in Order to Preach the Gospel, Absolutely Not Dry Need to Have a Hawaiian Shirt and Flip-Flops on Order Preach the Gospel, Absolutely Not. But You Know What Would Happen. This Is Why People Are If I Went in and a Hawaiian Shirt and Flip-Flops into a Church Where Pastor Normally Wore a Coat and Tie and I Preached in a Hawaiian Shirt Knows Flip-Flops and the Holy Spirit Fell on at Church in People's Lives Were Blessed Somebody Would Be Saying Afterwards Pastor Why Would You Wear a Hawaiian Shirt Flip-Flops like That Guest Preacher Didn't Always Bear Would Really Move Is Kind of Silly Thinking like That so Not Going to Ever Want to Undermines. I Want to Be Able to Come in and Relate to Spalls That I Would Be All Things All People, so That by All Means I Could Win Some to the Lord. But If Somebody Told Me You Can, and You Can Preach in Our Pulpit but Here's What We Believe. We Believe That the Gospel Is That Jesus Has Saved Us through the Cross.

Plus, You Must Wear a Coat and Tie, Because the Holy Spirit Only Move If You Wear a Coat and Tie. If Somebody Told Me That I'd Probably Show up in a Hawaiian Shirt Flip-Flops. Later in Galatians, Paul Just Puts It, Point Blank, You Says Circumcision Are Uncertain Which Is a Chapter 6 Verse 15 Circumcision Neither Circumcision or on Circumcision Means Anything.

What Counts Is a New Creation, but in the Case of Titus They Were Saying. He Is Not Fully Christian and Paul Saying He Is Christian. I like What Driscoll Said about This He Said If You Got a Book of the Bible Name for You.

You're Probably a Pretty Good Christian. He Also Was a Good Christian Book to Book the Bible Name Brand so We Got an Uncircumcised Guy Circumcised Got about Them Got New Testament Books Name for Them. Circumcision on Circumcision Is the Power of the Gospel That Is at Stake Might Today's Teaching How the Persecutor Turned into a Preacher Stick with This. Alan Is Back Here in the Studio. In a Moment with Additional Insight for Us Today for Your Life in the Final Word.

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Someone Tells You, I Love You I'll Never Forsake You. When You Feel Cherished. But What Would Happen If I'm Hundred Today That Same Person Said That Sugar Get Enough for Me to Measure up. I Don't Think I Love You Anymore.

When That One Day Contaminate the Meaning of the Other 99 Days When 1% of Conditional Love Poison. The Other 99% Will Just 1% of Lies Enough to Spoil Grace Bit of Luck in Introducing Unlimited Capacity for Fear That If I Don't Measure up. When Might Be Rejected. When the Judaizers Infiltrated the Galatian Church, the Apostle Policy Outraged and Read a Letter That Describes the Essence of the Gospel of Grace and Why It Must Not Be Mixed with Any Form of Alan Writes 12 Message Ideas Series Trumpets the Power of the Gospel in Order to Set You Free Empower You with Pure Grace. It's Called Galatians and Asked the Gospel Discover the Purity and Power at the Grace of God.

When You Make Your Get to Alan Wright Ministries Today Will Send You Pastor Our Lines Messages in an Attractive CD Album with Your Digital Download As Our Way of Saying Thanks for Your Partnership.

Call Us at 877-544-4860 877-544-4861 Come to Our Website. Pastor Our and Data Work Will I See Hope.

I See Freedom in Galatians and Is Actually with Today's Teaching Normally Think of Change Is Something That You Decide to Do, but What You See in Paul's Life Is That Real Change God's Types of Change Is Not Something That so Much.

You Decide on Is Something That Happens to You by God's Grace and You Respond to It. Another Thing Will Go to See Daniel Is That There Is so Much Discontinuity so Much Change in Paul from Being a Persecutor to Be in a Preacher, but There Also Many Continuities Many Things to Stay the Same. He Still a Man of Great Zeal after He's a Christian All That He Learned of the Scripture Would Still Be in Him, but Now in a New Light and so It's Almost Amazing That This Man Who Was so Strong Became so Weak and yet in That Weakness. He Was Made Strong Sewage.

I Have All of These Ironies. And That's the Way God Is, He Can Do Anything for Anyone and Do Amazing Things through Their Lot.

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