Message of the Week

The Little White Community Church

Scripture:  Gal. 1: 12-24     Jan. 12, 2025

Message: “Paul, an Apostle!”                                 

by Pastor George Gnade

Intro: 1. Last week, we began a new series on the Book of Galatians.  By way of review, Paul had led many of them to the Lord on his first missionary journey (Act. 13 & 14). 

a. He had even visited them a second time on the way back, making sure they had elders to lead them. We would call these elders the pastors of these new churches.

b. Happy that all was well, he and Barnabas returned to Antioch where new believers in Christ were first called Christians. This was their home base. 

2. They had only been back a very short time when word reached him that the Galatian churches had already been led astray by Jewish leaders who told them that in addition to accepting Christ, they also had to get circumcised and keep all the Jewish laws. 

a. They said that in addition to their faith in Christ, they had to keep all the laws of the O.T. 

b. In Eph. 2:8-9, Paul wrote: “By grace are you saved through faith, and that is not based on what you do, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.”

3. That is why Paul immediately wrote this letter. He was very upset. If the O.T. law could save them, they would not have needed Jesus. These laws were like a burden hanging around their necks. Jesus fulfilled all of them for us by dying for us. All we need to be saved is faith in Jesus and the help of the Holy Spirit to help us live for Jesus.

4. But why should the Galatians believe Paul? Why shouldn’t they believe these Jewish teachers instead? That is what the rest of this chapter is all about.

A. Jesus Himself called special people to be apostles to teach us what He said. They have passed these teachings on to us in what we call the N.T.

1. We all know how Jesus called the 12 apostles after spending a whole night in prayer. They were meant to be witnesses of His miracles as well as His death and resurrection.

2. In addition, Jesus called others to be apostles also. 

In Acts 9, we have the story how Paul, formerly called Saul,  was called by God to be an apostle to the Gentiles.

3. Saul was a Pharisee who didn’t believe in Jesus and was actually going to Damascus to persecute Christians. But Jesus stopped him, causing a great light to blind him, told Saul who He was, and told him to go to Damascus for further instructions. That is how Paul was called to be an apostle to the Gentiles.

B. In Gal. 1: 12-24, we learn how Paul was taught by Jesus and prepared to do the work God called him to do.

1. Paul wanted them to know he didn’t just make this all up. Nor did some other person teach him the gospel.  Rather he “received it by revelation from Jesus Christ”

(Gal. 1:12).

a. Paul was born in Tarsus of Cilicia about the same time as Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Wanting to please God, he was trained by Gamaliel to be a Pharisee. In vs. 14, he writes: “I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews my age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my faith.”

b. Some people believe if you are sincere and doing what you think is best that you will go to heaven. That is what Saul believed until his experience on the road to Damascus. 

2. In vs. 15-17 , Paul writes: “But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son to me that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not consult others, nor did I go up to Jerusalem… but I went to Arabia and later returned to Damascus.”

a. To understand the Bible, you must learn all that it teaches on a certain subject to understand the whole picture. In Acts 9, we learned how Paul was confronted by Jesus and blinded by the light.

b. Then Jesus sent him to Damascus where Ananias restored his sight, baptized him in Jesus’ name, and prayed he would receive the Holy Spirit.

c. In Galatians, we learn he was then sent to Arabia where he had other visions and instruction from the Lord Himself.

3. After all that, he returned to Damascus where he preached to the very people he had originally planned to persecute and kill. 

a. Up until then, the churches in Judea had not met him. Neither had the other apostles. In Gal. 1:24, it says: “They only heard the report: ‘The man who had formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy. And they praised God because of me.”’

b. While in Damascus, the unbelieving Jews tried to kill Paul but he escaped. This time he went to Jerusalem. 

4. By then, he had already been a believer for three years (vs. 18-20).  On this first visit, he spent 15 days with Peter and also met James, the Lord’s brother. They affirmed Paul and agreed he was doing what God called him to do. 

a. From there he went to Syria and Cilicia (vs.21) where he continued to grow in his faith. These cities were also close to where he was born. It is possible that he may have touched base with his family while in the area. 

b. Finally, in Gal. 2, we are told, after 14 years, he finally went up to Jerusalem again. We will learn more about that as we continue our study.

In Conclusion:

1. Every book of the Bible was written by a prophet or an apostle or someone close to an apostle. That is how the Christian church differentiated between a true book of the Bible and other books. 

2. Paul shared with the Galatians how he became an apostle and how he was trained to do the work he did by Jesus Himself. These other Jews who led the Galatians astray were false teachers. They may have been sincere, but they were sincerely wrong, just as Paul himself was sincerely wrong until Jesus spoke to him.

3. Paul also wanted the Galatians to know, that when he did finally talk to Peter and James, they also affirmed what he was teaching and what God called him to do. Peter agreed that Paul should go to the Gentiles just as Jesus had appointed him to go to the Jews. 

4. Not only that, I think Paul wanted all of us to know that he didn’t just become the greatest apostle overnight.

a. Just as the other apostles spent three years learning from Jesus, Paul did something similar while in Arabia.

b. Once God appeared to Moses, He continued to speak to him. Once Jesus appeared to Paul, He continued to speak to Paul.

5. In the beginning, Paul shared his conversion experience and used his testimony to reach others. But the more he learned from Jesus, the more he taught the truth of the gospel in more detail. Once we are saved, God expects us to keep on learning so we can also be accurate in what we tell others (II Tim. 2:15). 

6. Finally, in the beginning, God sent Barnabas to Paul to help affirm and train Paul (Acts 11:25). It was only after they were chosen to go forth as missionaries that Paul emerged as the leader over Barnabas. All of this was meant to help the Galatians and us to trust him. Amen. 

Galatians 1:12  For I did not receive it from a man, nor was I taught it, but it was revealed to me by Jesus the Messiah.