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Speaker 1: Let us pray for do I now persuade men or God?

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Speaker 1: Or do I seek to please men? For if I

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Speaker 1: yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

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Speaker 1: Galatians one ten. Free me, Lord from my brothers and

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Speaker 1: sisters in Christ who were more focused on their own

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Speaker 1: works than on their faith. Free me from the legalistic

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Speaker 1: Christ followers who are bent on justifying themselves through the law.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, Jesus, that by your sacrifice, I am saved

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Speaker 1: by faith and not by my works. Thank you that

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Speaker 1: I can walk in complete freedom and enjoy my walk

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Speaker 1: with You, free from the opinions of others. Continue to

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Speaker 1: allow the fruits of the Spirit to be evident in

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Speaker 1: my life. I decree and declare that in Christ Jesus,

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Speaker 1: I am free and unchained. By decree and declare that

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Speaker 1: I serve You Lord by devotion and not obligation. As

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Speaker 1: I work out my faith in love, I will walk

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Speaker 1: in freedom and in step with the spirit. Where the

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Speaker 1: Spirit of the Lord is, there is always freedom. There

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Speaker 1: is no bondage in Christ. So Lord, I thank you

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Speaker 1: that I don't have to earn my way into heaven.

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Speaker 1: But because I place my trust and love in You,

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Speaker 1: you will guide me in the way everlasting in the

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Speaker 1: name of Jesus. Amen. Listening to these daily prayers strengthens

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Speaker 1: your relationship with God. Continue hearing from the Lord by

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Speaker 1: listening to to day's Bible in a Year, brought to

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Speaker 1: you by Bible in a Year dot com.

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Speaker 2: Dear Galicia. In our last story, we learned about certain

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Speaker 2: Jewish believers forcing Gentiles to be circumcised to be accepted

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Speaker 2: into the Family of God. Outraged by this, Paul and

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Speaker 2: Barnabas held a council of all the leaders in Jerusalem.

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Speaker 2: They debated whether Gentiles should be forced to follow the

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Speaker 2: Jewish customs laid out in the Law. The consensus was

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Speaker 2: a resounding no. Now we listen in on a letter

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Speaker 2: Paul wrote to the Galician church. Paul wrote to the

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Speaker 2: Galatians because they had men in their midst teaching them

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Speaker 2: that all Christians should be circumcised to be saved. Paul's

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Speaker 2: words would reflect the heart of Jesus as he defends

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Speaker 2: the grace given by Jesus on the Cross. Inspired by

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Speaker 2: the Book of Galatians.

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Speaker 3: Hello, I'm past Jack Graham with today's episode of the

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Speaker 3: Bible in a Year. In our previous time together, we

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Speaker 3: heard how the Counsel of Apostles and Elders in Jerusalem,

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Speaker 3: along with Paul and Barnabas, affirmed that gentile believers were

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Speaker 3: not bound to Jewish customs outlined in the law, but

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Speaker 3: should focus on abstaining from things that would hinder their

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Speaker 3: relationship with God in Christ, such as sexual immorality and

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Speaker 3: food sacrifice to idols. Today we'll hear Paul's words to

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Speaker 3: the Church in Galicia and his affirmation of their freedom

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Speaker 3: in Christ, not because of obedience to the law and

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Speaker 3: things like circumcision, but because of faith and the grace

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Speaker 3: of God. Let's hear now the reading from Paul's letter

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Speaker 3: to the Galatians.

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Speaker 2: To the Church in Galicia, Grace and peace to you

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Speaker 2: from our Lord. I am amazed that you would turn

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Speaker 2: from grace so quickly to adopt another gospel, one of

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Speaker 2: bondage and works. Let me tell you this, even if

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Speaker 2: you see an coming down from Heaven preaching another gospel

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Speaker 2: to you, it is false. I tell you this honestly,

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Speaker 2: since I do not seek the approval of man, but

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Speaker 2: of God. If I simply sought to please you, I

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Speaker 2: would not be a servant of Christ. I need you

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Speaker 2: to know this, brothers, that the gospel preached by me

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Speaker 2: to you is not a gospel forged and penned by man.

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Speaker 2: It is from the heart of Christ himself. You know

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Speaker 2: my past. You know that I was once a zealous Pharisee,

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Speaker 2: held bent on the destruction of the Church. I held

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Speaker 2: the law tightly and honored it my whole life. But

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Speaker 2: Jesus called me into grace. So I fled to Arabia,

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Speaker 2: and then Damascus, then to Jerusalem. I wanted to know

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Speaker 2: what was happening to my heart. I wanted to know Christ.

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Speaker 2: Those who saw me change glorified Christ. It was not

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Speaker 2: because I followed the law, but because I was changed

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Speaker 2: by grace. Fourteen years had passed and I was traveling

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Speaker 2: to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus, who was a gentile.

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Speaker 2: We did not force him to be circumcised. Yet false

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Speaker 2: brothers tried to bind him into slavery to the old

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Speaker 2: Covenant law. We did not yield in submission to them.

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Speaker 2: To do so would have been to deny the power

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Speaker 2: of the Gospel. It started to become clear to me

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Speaker 2: that I was to be an apostle of the gentiles,

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Speaker 2: just as Peter was called to the Jews. I want

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Speaker 2: to tell you something about Peter, so that you might

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Speaker 2: learn from him. Peter would eat with the Gentiles and

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Speaker 2: fellowship with them, but when his Jewish brothers were present,

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Speaker 2: he would not speak to them or eat with them.

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Speaker 2: This was too faced and not honoring to Christ. So

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Speaker 2: I opposed him to his face. Peter was supposed to

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Speaker 2: be an example to us, and instead his conduct was

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Speaker 2: not in step with the truth. I told him that

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Speaker 2: if he, being a Jew, was able to live like

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Speaker 2: a gentile, then he should not force gentiles to live

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Speaker 2: like Jews. It was simple, and Peter received his correction.

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Speaker 2: Let me make one thing clear. We are Jews by birth,

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Speaker 2: but it is not our tradition or race that makes

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Speaker 2: us justified. Our faith in the work of Jesus on

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Speaker 2: the Cross makes us justified. It is not by works

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Speaker 2: that we attain favor with God, for He is pleased

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Speaker 2: with us. In Jesus. We must die to the law

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Speaker 2: so we can live in Christ. I have been crucified

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Speaker 2: with Christ. I am no longer living. It is Jesus

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Speaker 2: who lives in me. The life we are to live

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Speaker 2: should be by faith in Jesus. He has loved us

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Speaker 2: and gave his life for us. If we gained our

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Speaker 2: righteousness from our good deeds or following the law, then

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Speaker 2: why would Christ have died for us? You foolish Galatians?

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Speaker 2: Who has cast a spell on you that you would

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Speaker 2: turn from this glorious truth? Some of you saw with

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Speaker 2: your own eyes Jesus being crucified. Let me ask you this,

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Speaker 2: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by being perfect?

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Speaker 3: No?

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Speaker 2: Are you so dumb that you would now try and

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Speaker 2: be perfect after receiving grace. Even Abraham was called righteous

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Speaker 2: because of his faith, not his ability to follow rules.

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Speaker 2: The truly righteous ones are the ones who look under

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Speaker 2: Jesus and have faith in him. The righteous live by faith.

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Speaker 2: Let me give you an example of what the law

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Speaker 2: is for picture a contract. Every human contract can be

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Speaker 2: annulled or ratified, but not with God. He keeps his

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Speaker 2: promises despite our failures. So what good is the law? Well,

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Speaker 2: the law was our tutor until Christ came. The law

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Speaker 2: was an image of the perfect character of God. That

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Speaker 2: character was fulfilled in Jesus, so we look to follow him,

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Speaker 2: not the law. That way, the Gospel is not only

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Speaker 2: for Jews who follow the law, but for people of

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Speaker 2: all nationalities. Who believe in Jesus and follow him. A

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Speaker 2: child is no freer than a slave until he becomes

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Speaker 2: a man, So the child must be looked after and protected.

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Speaker 2: That is what the law did for us. It took

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Speaker 2: care of us until we were ready to step into maturity.

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Speaker 2: You are sons, daughters, and heirs to all the gifts

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Speaker 2: of Jesus. To know Jesus is to be free. So

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Speaker 2: it concerns me that you are all trying to enslave

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Speaker 2: yourselves to the law. Stop. I am afraid that all

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Speaker 2: your effort and labor to be perfect is all in vain.

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Speaker 2: Brothers and sisters, I beg you be like me. Let go.

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Speaker 2: We were close ones. You would have laid down your

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Speaker 2: life for me. But now I feel like I am

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Speaker 2: your enemy just because I preach to you the truth.

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Speaker 2: I am perplexed and disturbed by you. Christ has set

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Speaker 2: us free to walk in liberty. The ability to do

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Speaker 2: what is good and noble comes from a place of freedom,

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Speaker 2: not bondage. Do not be slaves to mindless devotion. If

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Speaker 2: you decide that one must be circumcised to be saved,

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Speaker 2: then you put yourself under the bondage of the whole law.

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Speaker 2: You cannot pick and choose. You either follow the whole law,

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Speaker 2: or you follow the one who has made you righteous.

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Speaker 2: It is not about being circumcised, It is about working

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Speaker 2: out your faith in love. You are doing so well.

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Speaker 2: Tell me who has whispered lies in your ears, who

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Speaker 2: has hindered you from speaking the truth? Know this that

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Speaker 2: a little bit of leaven can ruin the whole loaf

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Speaker 2: of bread, the same as with people. Honestly, I wish

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Speaker 2: that those who told you you needed to be circumcised

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Speaker 2: would just cut off their privates altogether. For you were

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Speaker 2: called to freedom, and they have set you back. Walk

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Speaker 2: in freedom. Do not use your freedom as an opportunity

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Speaker 2: to sin serve one another, for the entire law is

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Speaker 2: truly fulfilled in these words. You shall love your neighbor

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Speaker 2: as yourself. But if you insist on devouring one another,

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Speaker 2: take heed, lest you all consume yourselves into oblivion. If

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Speaker 2: you keep in step with the Spirit, you will have

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Speaker 2: no need of laws, for He will guide you. For

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Speaker 2: the desires of the Spirit will oppose the flesh, for

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Speaker 2: the fruit of the flesh is obvious fits of rage, rivalries, division, envy, drunkenness, selfish,

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Speaker 2: sexual gratification, jealousy, idolatry, and all sorts of rage that

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Speaker 2: break instead of build. But the fruit of the spirit

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Speaker 2: is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and

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Speaker 2: self control. If you have these things, you have no

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Speaker 2: need of law. Yet we all fail, we all fall

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Speaker 2: in some way. So let us restore one another in gentleness.

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Speaker 2: If anyone is caught in sin, let us help bear

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Speaker 2: one another's burdens, and take heed of your heart. For

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Speaker 2: whoever thinks they have reached the heights of holiness are

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Speaker 2: sure to be brought low. Take care of one another.

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Speaker 2: As you can see, I have written this letter with

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Speaker 2: my own hand, from my eyesight is failing me, and

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Speaker 2: the words are large on the page. Understand these large

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Speaker 2: words of mine. Far be it from me to boast

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Speaker 2: except in the cross of Jesus Christ. From now on,

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Speaker 2: let no one cause anybody else to stumble. May the

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Speaker 2: grace of the Lord Jesus be upon you. Amen.

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Speaker 3: We begin today's reading with Paul's surprise at how quickly

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Speaker 3: the believers in Galicia had lost the point of the Gospel,

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Speaker 3: and we're trying to add requirements to the grace of

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Speaker 3: God in Christ and subject themselves again to bondage. There

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Speaker 3: were Jews among them who insisted that believers needed to

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Speaker 3: also follow the requirements of the Law in order to

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Speaker 3: be saved, and Paul is unequivocal in his words. Anything

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Speaker 3: different than the Gospel of God's grace through Christ and

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Speaker 3: Christ alone is a false gospel. To make this point

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Speaker 3: even stronger, Paul told them that even if an angel

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Speaker 3: were to come to down and give them a different gospel,

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Speaker 3: that angel would be cursed. The reminder to the Galatians

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Speaker 3: is ones that we should heed today as well. If

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Speaker 3: you try to add to the Gospel, whether you're subtracting

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Speaker 3: it or adding to it, you end up with a

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Speaker 3: lie is subtraction or its addition or subtraction by addition.

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Speaker 3: As Paul told these believers, he of all people would

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Speaker 3: know that following the Law does not save, and to

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Speaker 3: be saved means to know God and to be forgiven

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Speaker 3: of sins and to know eternal life. So how is

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Speaker 3: one saved not by works of the Law. Before his conversion,

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Speaker 3: he was an example of piety and zealousness among Jewish believers.

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Speaker 3: Paul knew the Law backwards and forwards, inside and out.

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Speaker 3: He followed it to the letter and even persecuted those

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Speaker 3: who preached the gospel he is now advancing. Paul argued

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Speaker 3: that if the law could have made him justified before God,

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Speaker 3: it but it did not because the law cannot save.

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Speaker 3: His life was changed because he embraced Jesus Christ as

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Speaker 3: his Lord and savior in God's grace in order to

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Speaker 3: save him. He then gave the example of Titus, a gentile,

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Speaker 3: a Greek man who came to faith in Christ and

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Speaker 3: joined Paul and Barnabas on their missionary journey. There were

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Speaker 3: Jewish believers who tried to impose the burden of circumcision

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Speaker 3: and Jewish law on Titus, but Paul defended him and

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Speaker 3: refused to let him be subject to the bondage of legalism,

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Speaker 3: which would strip away the power of the Gospel. Paul

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Speaker 3: even confronted Peter, an apostle and the leader of the church.

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Speaker 3: Paul had witnessed Peter eating with gentiles when Jews were

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Speaker 3: not around, but separating himself from them when Jews were present.

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Speaker 3: By his hypocritical actions, Peter was creating a division between

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Speaker 3: Jews and Gentiles, and this was inconsistent with the Gospel.

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Speaker 3: Not only that it was robbing the Gospel of its power.

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Speaker 3: Paul called on Peter to examine his own life and

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Speaker 3: to experience the freedom in Christ, the freedom that we

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Speaker 3: have because of what Christ has done, not because of

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Speaker 3: what the Law has done. If Peter could enjoy his freedom,

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Speaker 3: how could he not allow others to experience that same

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Speaker 3: freedom in Christ. It takes courage to stand up for

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Speaker 3: the truth, especially when a leader may be more mature

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Speaker 3: and yet is wrong and acting in a way that

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Speaker 3: undermines the power of the Gospel. Paul was willing to

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Speaker 3: confront Peter for the sake of the advancement of Jesus

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Speaker 3: Christ and the message of the Gospel. Paul's example is

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Speaker 3: one of encouragement for all of us to stand boldly

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Speaker 3: and courageously for the truth of God's word and the

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Speaker 3: power of God's message. And as Paul continued his letter,

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Speaker 3: he reminded the Galatians just what that truth is. Justification

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Speaker 3: does not come from our human efforts, but by faith,

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Speaker 3: and the object of our faith faith is Jesus. It

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Speaker 3: is our faith in Christ that makes us righteous, not

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Speaker 3: our works. To bring this point home, Paul said that

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Speaker 3: if the Law made people righteous, then Jesus died for nothing.

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Speaker 3: Why then, if we have righteousness through faith in Christ

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Speaker 3: and Christ alone, would these Galatians look to the Law

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Speaker 3: to make them righteous. Paul then pointed back to the

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Speaker 3: first patriarch, to Abraham himself, to explain that righteousness by

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Speaker 3: faith is nothing new. Righteousness has always come through faith,

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Speaker 3: not works. Abraham believes God, and his faith was credited

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Speaker 3: to him as righteous. The Law was not given to

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Speaker 3: make people righteous, but as a guardian, a guide, a teacher,

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Speaker 3: until the time when Christ came to set all people free,

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Speaker 3: not only Jews, but people of all nations. Listen to

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Speaker 3: what Paul writes in Galatians three twenty five to twenty

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Speaker 3: eight about what Jesus has done for us. These are

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Speaker 3: powerful words. But now that faith has come, we are

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Speaker 3: no longer under a guardian. For in Christ Jesus, you

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Speaker 3: are all sons of God through faith. For as many

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Speaker 3: of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

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Speaker 3: There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave

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Speaker 3: nor free. There is no male and female, for you

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Speaker 3: are all one in Christ Jesus. Don't miss how profound

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Speaker 3: this statement is. We are the children of God. We

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Speaker 3: are the sons and daughters of God. Heirs to the

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Speaker 3: promises of Christ. We have been adopted into His eternal family,

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Speaker 3: God's forever family, and it's all because of what Jesus

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Speaker 3: has done for us. This adoption means that we are

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Speaker 3: truly free and favored by God. Paul calls the Galatians

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Speaker 3: to not walk away from this freedom, but rather to

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Speaker 3: walk in it. It is a freedom to love and

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Speaker 3: serve god fully. But Paul knew also he needed to

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Speaker 3: caution against misunderstanding this freedom. Our freedom in Christ is

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Speaker 3: not license to live in sin as we please. It

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Speaker 3: is a freedom to live by God's grace in the

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Speaker 3: power of his Spirit. He then explained what it looks

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Speaker 3: like to live by God's Spirit, giving us the fruit

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Speaker 3: of the spirit love and joy, and peace and patience,

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Speaker 3: and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self control.

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Speaker 3: All of this flows out of a life committed to

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Speaker 3: follow Jesus Christ. The work of the Holy Spirit is

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Speaker 3: to fuel us for godly living and to fill us

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Speaker 3: that we might produce the fruit of the Spirit. The

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Speaker 3: fruit of the Spirit is Christ's likeness, and he reproduces

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Speaker 3: himself in us by the power and the presence of

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Speaker 3: the Holy Spirit. Finally, Paul concludes by acknowledging that we

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Speaker 3: will fail, and he impressed upon the Galatians that they

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Speaker 3: must support and encourage one another and bear one another's burdens.

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Speaker 3: The Christian life was never meant to be lived alone.

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Speaker 3: It was true then and it's true today. Dear God,

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Speaker 3: we thank you for this powerful letter that Paul gave

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Speaker 3: to the Galatians and to us. We are so grateful

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Speaker 3: that we are not saved by our own works, because

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Speaker 3: we could only fail, but by your grace, through your cross,

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Speaker 3: in the power of your resurrection, we are saved from

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Speaker 3: our sins. You live in our lives, and we can

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Speaker 3: live forever with you, all because of Christ. God, help

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Speaker 3: us to walk in the fullness, in the freedom, in

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Speaker 3: the favor that you have given us in Christ. And

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Speaker 3: may we live to humbly serve you and point others

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Speaker 3: to your Son in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for

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Speaker 3: listening once again to the Bible in a Year podcast.

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Speaker 3: I'm Jack Graham from Dallas, Texas, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church.

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Speaker 3: You can download the prey dot com app and make

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Speaker 3: prayer and Bible study a priority in your life and

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Speaker 3: if you are enjoying this podcast, Please let others know

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Speaker 3: share it with someone else so that they can also

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Speaker 3: join our journey with Jesus through the scriptures. God bless

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Speaker 3: you and thank you for joining us.